White Bean Soup with Salt Pork, Kale, and Apples

This is not really a "recipe" as I am not sure how much of most of these things I thew into the pot... more a set of instructions for making a hearty pot of soup/stew while suffering from some stupid case of the winter blehs.

Either hot soak your bag of dried beans (bring to a boil, turn off, go away for a hr leaving it covered) or soak overnight if you are more organized then I am.

Take the rind off of a large chunk of salt pork and put it, whole, into a smallish pot covered in water and bring it to a simmer. Leave it there for the next part.

Put a few tbl of butter (unsalted... we are using salt pork and parmesean here, we do not need to add any more salt to this pot omg) into a large pot over medium low heat.  Chop up 1 yellow onion and toss it in.  Add herbs at this point - I used a lot of thyme, rosemary, sage, and oregano personally.  Also a few whole peppercorns and a shake of red pepper flakes.  It could of used bay but I was out.  Open fridge to look for carrots and find a potato as well.  Chop up potato and put it in bc why not, will give body to soup and potato peel has vitamins in it right?  Throw in a few handfuls of baby carrots.  Smash and peel an entire head of garlic (you heard me, garlic is good for sick ppl) and into the pot.  Cut one medium sweet/tart apple (not a delicious and not a granny smith.. something like an empire or a macintosh) and throw it in also.  Now take your salt pork out of the water and (carefully it is hot) cut it into chunks and throw it in the pot as well.  Get out some good parmesean cheese - the block not the grated stuff if at all possible, and throw in about 2 square inches worth, chopped up, rind included is fine.

Add water to near the top of your pot and bring it to a simmer.  Add your greens - I used 2 bags of "baby kale blend" which was kale, chard, and spinach.  Any hearty green will do altho spinach on it's own would be boring, and careful with pepper if using arugula.  When greens start to wilt, drain your beans, rinse them, and add to the pot.  Put on the cover and gtfo, just checking to stir/add water if needed every 30 mins or so. 

This should cook 2-2.5 hrs, until beans are tender.  When it is nearly done, cut another apple (and some more carrots if you want) up into smaller bits and add them.  You can also puree the soup, or mash it up a bit w a potato masher (this is my preference) to make it less chunky.  If you want to be fancy, go back to the beginning and don't cut up the salt pork.. then cut it up now and fry it and add a few slices to each bowl.  (If you are sick this is too much fkn work really, only do this if you are making this soup FOR a sick person.) You could also have reserved some greens to throw in at the end so they are not all browns. 

Enjoy, and feel better soon. 

Turkey Loaf with Cheesy Cauliflower Puree

For me, this took advantage of some pre chopped veggies and the convenience of a pre flavored cheese product (as well as using a cake pan to bake in a thin layer instead of being loaf shaped...) in order to be a 30 min, 1 pot/1 pan, mealprep for the week.  At just under 320 cals and 32g of protein a serving this is 4 servings of delicious, nutritious, lunch.

1lb ground turkey - I used 99% fat free

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

4 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped

3 cloves garlic, same

5 cups raw spinach

1 tbl butter

splash of water

1 egg - please don't chop this

salt, pepper, thyme, sage to taste

1.5lbs cauliflower florets, chopped/cleaned

1 container reduced fat garlic herb allouette... or 8 oz low fat cream cheese and some salt/herbs/garlic

Turn oven on to 350.  Sautee onion, mushrooms, and garlic until onion is translucent.  Add herbs/seasoning, splash in a bit of water, and throw in spinach and stir until it wilts and water is mostly gone.  Mix veggies into turkey, using egg to hold it together, it will be a bit slimy but oh well.  Spread out into a cake pan so that you can have super mega fast cooking and set timer to 20 mins.

Put cauliflower into same pot, add water to cover and a dash of salt, and go sit on the couch for 15 mins or so.  By now the cauliflower is falling apart so just drain it, smash it a bit, and add cheese and stir it in. The turkey loaf should be cooked through at this point, so just portion things out and store and you're set.   

Chop and Drop Cheezy Orzo

This is barely cooking, it is mostly assembly.  It took me under 12 mins to make an entire week's worth of lunches.  A bit higher cal then I've been going lately, to avoid evening "eating the kitchen" incidents that seem to go along with small lunches, sadly. 640 cals, 47g of protein, 5 servings.

1 box (8 servings) orzo
1lb ground turkey or chicken (99% fat free)
1 jar (5 servings) pasta sauce - I used clasico 4 cheese
1 bag hearty greens (I used a baby kale/baby spinach/arugula blend)
1 entire large zucchini, chopped
few cloves garlic, chopped
8oz grated cheese(s) - I used a bag of kraft "italian blend" with motz, parm, asagio.  Use whatever you like really
Red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, etc as you like

Put water on for orzo, salted.  In another pan, put you poultry and the tomato sauce.  Chop up the zucchini and add it to the sauce pot, along with the garlic.  Stir every so often, adding extra herbs and red pepper flakes if you like to make it taste less jar-rish. Add orzo to pot once water boils, setting a timer for 9 mins.  When there is about 3 mins left on orzo, stir the greens into there to wilt them down.  Your chicken should be done about when the orzo is, so turn off that pot then stir in the cheese so it melts w the residual heat.  Portion it out and done. 

Burrito Bowls

After a week of some uninspired things-grabbed-from-cupboards-willy-nilly for lunch, I am back at organized prep.  Been craving tacos/burritos/chipotle/nachos/etc/etc so I made some sort burrito bowl analogs for the week.  4 servings, 430 cals, very little fat, lots of fiber, and 41g of protein. 

1lb ground chicken (I used 99% fat free)

2 servings brown rice, cooked

1 bag (12 oz) riced cauliflower/broccoli 

2 ears corn, fresh (or a small can of corn, but fresh is better), cut off cob

1 can/3 servings kidney beans

4 plum tomatoes, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped, seeded or not as you wish

3-5 cups some hearty green (I used arugula that was abt to die in the fridge)

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbl olive oil

cumin, coriander seeds, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, salt, pepper (I left this out bc arugula) to taste

Lime juice (also to taste)

Put cumin seeds and coriander seeds in a hot pan and toast till you can smell them, then add the oil, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. When oil is hot add the corn and bell pepper.  Stir infrequently, you want a bit of char on the veggies, until the corn starts trying to pop on you.  Then add the rice, cauli rice, and greens and stir a bit.  When it is heated through, add the beans and a liberal squeeze of lime as well for an additional few mins, then take off heat and portion this out into your bowls/tupperwear.  

Put pan back on heat and add your chicken, jalapeno, garlic, cinamon, salt, and pepper. While chicken browns, add  your tomato to your bowls.  When chicken is cooked through portion it out as well.  Done and done.

Protein Pasta Salad

I normally am a bit leery of items that have protein seemingly shoe horned in.  But I was looking for a carb-ier lunch this week that would still make my protein macro and these yellow boxes were staring me in the face.  Also I wanted something a bit less labor intensive after chopfest 2018 last week. 

Makes 4 servings, 540 cals, 73g carb, 13g fat, 37g protein per serving

1 box (7 servings) protein pasta (I used bow ties)
several handfuls basil left from last week
Juice of 2 lemons
3-4 oz of really good Parmesan cheese
1 package (4.5 servings) turkey peperoni
1 package (5 servings) frozen chopped broccoli (thawed)

Salt water and boil pasta as per directions, then drain/rinse and let it cool.  Portion out the broccoli, torn basil leaves, shaved or grated parm, turkey pepperoni (I cut this up in stacks w kitchen shears, but  you could leave whole if you like) into your tupperwear.  Add pasta, season with lemon juice, add a bit of salt/pepper if you want, seal, and shake.  Done.  Can be nuked or eaten cold/room temp as you like.

Larb (ish) Salad

This started with an attempt to make the standard weightlifters meal prep of chicken/brown rice/broccoli less boring, ran into my craving for this awesome meat salad from the thai place up the block, and somehow ended up here.  6 servings at 430 cals, 29g carb/17g fat/41g protein.  6g of fiber. nice chunk of potassium.  (Maybe a bit much sodium but, thankfully my blood pressure is low normal so....) More than a days worth of vit A and C, and 25ish% of both calcium and iron.  Not bad. Also, it tastes really freaking good. 

This recipe is 80% cutting things up, sorry not sorry, if you don't feel like chopping everything then don't make this this week.

Meat Component:

2 lbs ground turkey - could use chicken, but the salad this is based on uses pork and turkey gets closer to that, flavor wise.  I used 1 pkg 99% lean and 1 pkg 93% lean bc I was shopping in a post work fuge state.

1 pkg frozen steam in bag brown rice (thawed), or 2 servings leftover cooked brown rice

1 bag riced cauliflower - I used some that had broccoli and carrots in it also for variety

1 pkg white mushrooms - about 10 of them

1 long hot pepper, diced (seeded or not as you please)

1 handful basil leaves, chopped

 2 tbl coriander seeds

2-3 tbl chopped mint

2-3 green onions, yes also chopped

2 tbl sesame oil

3-4 tbl fish sauce 

Lemongrass - I used 1 tbl paste from a tube, if you have fresh avail use that

Juice of 1 lime

4 tbl peanutbutter (use the natural stuff that is just peanuts and salt) or a palmful or two of chopped peanuts

Put 1 tbl of the sesame oil in a wide bottomed pan over medium head and add the rice.  Stir infrequently and let the rice toast while  you start chopping up half the kitchen.  When you can really smell the rice/sesame oil then add the cali-rice and stir a bit more to incorporate it, then take that out of the pan and set it aside.  

Add 2nd tbl of sesame oil, the white mushrooms and hot pepper, and your fish sauce.  Saute until mushrooms start to reduce a bit then add your meat.  Put lemongrass, coriander seeds, and peanutbutter/peanuts in at this point.  When meat is cooked through, turn off head and add back in rice mixture.  Also add the green onion, mint, basil, and lime juice at this point and stir well to incorporate them while everything is still warm.  

Salad Component:

1 head napa cabbage, shredded

1 large english cucumber, quartered and chopped

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 bunch mint, chopped (minus the bit you put in the meat)

1-2 handfuls of basil, chopped

1 jalapeno - seeded or not as you wish

red pepper flakes to taste

juice of 3 limes

salt - you are sort of making quick pickles so you want some salt here, but use more or less to your taste/sodium requirements 

Just mix everything, you did enough work w all the chopping up.

Serve the meat on top of the salad, maybe don't mix them already in your meal prep containers.   You've got lunches for the whole week + one serving to taste test right now.  The salad component will get more pickle-ish as the week goes on. 

Lunch Lasagna

I want nothing more then I want comforting bowls of pasta lately, but, of course, my body does not appreciate this as much as my belly does.  This is a lasagna that will fall apart.. but it would of fallen apart in my lunch bag anyway... but will have the right flavor profile to fill this need.  With, ofc, some extra veggies in the name of smarter nutrition.

Makes 6 servings at just under 600 cals each, depending on pasta sauce used etc
1/2 a box lasagna noodles - precooked or not as you like (sorry Dad, I am an uncooked noodle heathen here myself)
6 servings sweet or hot or chicken italian sausage
1 jar good tomato sauce
1 jar diced tomatoes
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 medium zucchinis, diced
few cloves chopped garlic
9 cups (yes, 9) fresh spinach
1.5 cups part skim ricotta
1 cup part skim motz (do NOT use non fat for either of these... low fat dairy tastes/acts enough like full fat to work.... nonfat is fucking plastic, not food)
4 tbl grated parm (more if not using the good stuff)
1 egg
nutmeg, salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, etc to taste

Cook noodles if you are not a heathen like I am/will notice the texture difference.  You want enough noodles for just 2 layers worth in a small lasagna pan (remember, we are not worried abt the fact this will fall apart, it is supposed to be yummy and fit your nutritional needs, you are sacrificing a bit of appearance to save some cals/carbs here). 

Wilt all the spinach, it should end up being about a cup or 2 when done.

Toss the diced tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchinis, garlic and sausage (removed from it's skin) into a pot and cook until sausage is heated through.  Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed, remembering that you are getting a shortcut on flavor by using premade italian sausage instead of ground meat.

Chop up your now wilted spinach and squeeze out all the water.  Mix with ricotta, nutmeg, egg, and parm.

Put your sausage mixture in the bottom of your lasagna dish (yes, no bottom noodles) and top w a bit of jarred sauce, then a layer of noodles.  Put a bit more sauce on top of noodles.  Now your Ricotta/spinach layer, with the motz on top of that.  Then more noodles, and the rest of your jar of sauce.

Let sit an hour or so before baking, if at all possible.  Then bake at 350 for about an hour.  Let cool, portion into 6 containers (or 5 containers for the week + one bowl for your lunch now).

Greek Pasta Salad for Days

This would be good either hot or cold.  It makes a nice substantial lunch at 665 cals with 44g protein and 46 carbs.  It is not low fat, but could be if you want to use low fat greek salad dressing instead of the olive oil/lemon.

8 servings (ie one box) bow tie pasta
3lbs chicken breast
2oz chopped black olives
5oz baby arugula, or baby spinach, or regular either...some green which is not iceburg or romaine
8oz feta cheese
1/4th cup lemon juice (or more to taste)
1 cup olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Spread chicken breast out onto a cookie sheet, season liberally with lemon, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper and throw in the oven at 350.  While that is cooking, put on water and boil pasta according to directions on the box.  When pasta is 1-2 mins from done, toss the greens into the pot right along with it.  Drain pasta/greens and toss back into pot.  Put feta, olives, and tomatoes into the pot and stir to mix everything.  Dress w olive oil, lemon, and more oregano (or your light greek dressing if using that) . Chicken should be done by now, so take that out and chop it up and add that in.

Portion into tupperwear for meal prep or just store it all in one if you don't like 1000000000 small containers in your fridge. Makes a week of lunches + today's lunch and a few extras for lazy dinners. 

Updated Macaroni Salad

I wanted pure unadulterated simple comfort for lunches this week.  Of course, I did not want quite all the calories that usually come along with this, or low protein macros. So... update, go!

This makes 6 servings, at 37 grams of protein, 55 of carbs, and 13 of fat... just under 500 calories.  Pretty much a pretty perfect lunch.

14 oz of elbow noodles (ie, a box w one serving used already)
24oz (6 cans) of tuna
6 eggs
3 cups of chopped celery
12tbl olive oil mayo (lighter then the standard but no strange ingredients/aftertaste of low fat)
salt, pepper, celery salt, etc to taste

Put the eggs into a pot and fill with water, set on the stove to boil.  When it starts boiling, add the noodles and time them according to the package directions. The eggs should be done at the same time this way.  Drain/rince pasta/eggs.

Open alllllll the tunas and put one can's worth into each container for your mealprep, add half a cup of chopped celery and 2 tbl  mayo to each.  Shell the eggs and cut one of them into each container.  Season to taste with salt/pepper/etc.  Add an equal amount of (now hopefully cool) pasta to each one, and stir.

This, nicely, makes 1 extra serving beyond your 5 lunches so that you can have it for lunch now to make sure it's not poison. 

Meal-Prep Tikka Masala

This is NOT authentic Indian food.  It is, however, very tasty and super healthy (comes in under 400 cals with 40g of protein per serving for 6 servings.... make smaller portions and serve with rice if you want more carbs/less protein then I do).  It is loosely based on a chicken tikka masala recipe.

Spices:
Cumin (seeds if possible)
Tumeric
Cardamon
Garam Masala/curry powder (the better ones are usually labeled garam masala) (Do not use brittish style sweet curry powder unless you like that cloying shit but omg ewwwww you did not get this recipe from me if you do.)
Corriander if you cannot find fresh cilantro
Salt, pepper, maybe some cayane

Veggies:
1-2 inches chopped Ginger
3-7 cloves chopped Garlic
Serrano Peppers (or other 'green' tasting hot peppers of your liking) - this is to taste
1 large bunch Cilantro (fresh omg not dried) (If you cannot find fresh just use corriander, and add some fresh parsley if possible.)
1 Yellow Onion
1 can/2 cups Chick Peas
1 can Peas (leseur is my favorite)
Large bag (5 servings) Frozen Califlower
1lb fresh spinach
28oz Tomato Puree - or chopped/diced/etc tomatoes, whatever you have in the house rly.... except not ketchup or tomato sauce that has herbs/spices in it already

Other:
2lbs Boneless/boned skiness/skinned chicken breast (Thighs would possibly taste better, but, trying to be healthy this week so....)
4 tbl butter - or use coconut oil if you have, or ghee
Lemon

Note:
You could just use a LOT more chick peas and easily make this a vegetarian dish....vegan even if you use coconut oil instead of butter.

Start with butter/other fat in the pan.  Add your cumin and tumeric and stir it a bit to get them fragrant (I used abt 1 tbl of both).  Toss in your onion and your chopped peppers (I used 2 serranos, with seeds, bc I like spicy.... adjust for your heat tollerance), and salt if you use salt.  Stir a bit to let onions start to cook down.  Now add your cardamon seeds (I used seeds from 2 pods), your corriander if no cilantro (maybe 1tbl), your cilantro, ginger, and garlic.  Stir some more.  Next dump in your tomato product and let cook a few mins.

Next, peas, chick peas, and califlower.  Then, chicken.  At this point, put a lid on it and leave it alone for about 30ish mins (put rice in rice cooker now if you are serving with such, it will be a good timer for chicken).  Just stir from time to time so it does not stick to bottom of pot.

When chicken is done, dump spinach in and stir just enough to wilt it.  Then add about 2-3 tbl of your garam masala, and the juice of one lemon for brightness.  Taste, and adjust with cayane pepper, salt, more garam masala etc as needed.  If you have made it slightly too hot,  serve with rice and raita to balance it out a bit.

Moroccan-ish Chicken and Garbanzos

These amounts make 2 servings (3 if you are not greedaloxes or maybe have a salad with it), it would easily scale up though.

8-10oz chicken breast (boneless, skinless)
1 can (just shy of 2 cups) cooked garbanzos (chick peas for ppl other then my husband who insists on calling them that)
1 can (12 oz) diced stewed tomatoes
2 servings cooked rice (or quinona, or couscous to be authentic)
1 tbl olive oil
cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic powder, ground cumin, salt if you are not avoiding sodium

Season the chicken breast very liberally with the cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, and cumin.  You would not be overdoing it to use 2tsp of each.  Add salt if  you like it, and cut up chicken into bitesized bits and rub the seasoning in.  If time permits, put it in a ziplock w the tomatoes and olive oil and leave in the fridge awhile before you cook it (overnight is fine). Like if you were planning it for dinner yesterday and then decided to eat pizza instead and are now having it for lunch...

When ready to cook, throw throw everything except the rice into a pan (make sure you drain the chick peas) and cook over medium heat, stirring as needed so it doesn't burn.  Serve over rice (or other starch of your choice.. or califlower rice if you really want).

Pork Loin Chops with Cherry Whiskey Glaze

It helps to be really really hungry, but, these should be good even if you did not walk an absurd distance today.

Season 2 pork loin chops per person liberally (maybe a bit too liberally, we won't season the other side) with salt, pepper, garlic powder and sage.

Heat up a pan with olive oil, add some rosemary and wait until it gets a bit fragrant.

Add chops and set a timer for 3 mins (2 if they are thin) and WALK AWAY. Do not poke at them.

Turn chops when timer dings and reset it for same time. 

Open fridge looking for something else to add, and find good cherry jam (the stuff that is just cherries and sugar and maybe pectin).  Maybe other jam might work but... cherry should be in your fridge anyway what are you some sort of bad jam heathen?

Put 1 spoonful of jam onto each chop.

Snag bottle of whiskey (atm I am loving Makers Mark) and pour 1 shot or so into pan, also pour 1 shot or so into rocks glass with ice for the cook, ofc.

When timer dings, turn off heat, pop a lid on pan, and reset timer for the same time again.

Walk away. Enjoy your whiskey. Do not poke.

When timer dings your  chops are done.  Hopefully you cooked some egg noodles with some frozen veggie thrown in at the same time so you can just add butter to that and have a whole meal.  If not, maybe just eat a salad.

Keto Pumpkin Pancakes

Too many punpkin pancake recipes are sweet, I didn't want sweet, I wanted savory pumpkin. Also I do not want to make extra to feed an army/freeze...I want a decadant single serving for a nice Sunday breakfast for one hungry person who is trying to low carb.

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 oz cream cheese

2 tbl almond flour (or coconut, idk why ppl are over the moon about coconut flour, I am not)

1 egg

Pumpkin pie spice OR your own nutmeg/cinnamon/ginger and clove if you like it (I don't) blend to taste.

Pinch each of salt and baking soda.

Blend everything in a blender (because ain't nobody got time for getting cream cheese room temp and trying to whisk it in the morning). Heat up a pan with a bit of butter. (Or coconut oil if you are a coconut heathen. If you want, use coconut flour AND oil and add some vanilla and nocal sweetner and make this into those sweet things I didn't want, it's your breakfast.) Pour yourself a few pancakes and flip when bubbly.

Serve with 2 eggs and a few strips of bacon, because it's Sunday damnit, you deserve a nice breakfast. Add sugar free syrup if you like, or just dress pancakes with butter and runny egg yolks.

(Including sugested sides, this contains 7 net carbs (10-3 fiber) is about 565 calories and has 20% protein, 7%carb, 73%fat.)

Lentil Chorizo Soup

I was looking for a nice hearty snowy day kind of a soup and all of the cans in my cupboard fell short.  So, since I had time on my hands today anyway...

1 bag dried lentils (16 oz)
1 yellow onion
2-3 cups carrots, chopped
1-2 cups celery, chopped
Garlic to taste (I like garlic, I put in 5 cloves of it, adjust as needed)
6oz chorizo (soy alternative would work as well)
1 potato
 10 cups water or stock
salt, pepper, bay leaves, cumin seeds, corriander to taste
few tbl olive oil/butter to saute veggies in

Toast cumin seeds a bit in the dry pan before you add oil/butter for your veggies. Saute onion, carrots and celery with a bit of salt and pepper until they are cooked down a bit and carrots are just starting to cook through.  Add garlic, the potato (chopped) and the chorizo (chopped) at this point and continue to cook another few mins to render the fat out of the chorizo.

Next add your water, bay, and corriander seeds.  Pour in lentils and cook for 30-45 mins until desired tenderness,  slightly longer if  you want a thicker soup. 

Serve with crusty bread and put the leftovers in the fridge, they'll be better tomorrow.

Butternut Squash and Kale Lasagna

This recipe is a riff on   Food Network's Gnocchi with Squash and Kale that came about because I had several boxes of lasagna noodles in the cupboard that needed using and I wanted something I could prepare in the morning and pop in the oven later (and have leftovers for the week).

"Meat" Layer:
for omnivores:
12 oz chicken sausage
6 oz cremini (or button if you like white mushrooms) mushrooms
1 tsp thyme
3-4 sage leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbl butter
olive oil and chicken stock to cook them in

for vegetarians:
12-16 oz mushrooms
1 tsp thyme
3-4 sage leaves
veggie stock to cook them in
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbl butter
Soysage, or TVP, or just extra mushrooms

Cook sausage through (soysage or TVP just need to be heated/browned as they are fully cooked) and add chopped mushrooms, butter, herbs, and garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste and cook until mushrooms are nicely browned.

Butternut Squash and Kale:
1 medium sized butternut squash
1-2 cloves garlic
a few cups chicken or veggie stock to cook squash in
splash of olive oil
3-4 cups kale, chopped
3-4 sage leaves, chopped
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
1/4th cup or a bit more grated parmesean

Get out your heaviest sharpest knife for chopping up and peeling your squash. I recommend cutting it into quarters first before peeling it so you have nice pieces you can just put flat side down on your cutting board to work.  Scoop out the seeds and chop it up into cubes.  Cook in the stock with garlic, sage, salt, pepper until tender. Add splash of olive oil, the kale, cheese, and red pepper flakes if desired and continue cooking until cheese is melted and kale is wilted down.  (You can double the squash/kale layer and save the other half in the fridge to use just plain over pasta or rice later in the week if  you like.)

Cheese Layer:
16 oz ricotta cheese (I like part skim)
1 cup shredded mozzarella  or mozzarella/sharp provolone blend
1 egg
1-2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 cup parmesean or parmesean and romano cheese
1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped kale
2-3 sage leaves, finely chopped
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

Mix everything well to combine it, taste for salt/pepper and adjust as needed

Sauce
What? You thought this got tomato sauce? No way.  Sage and walnut pesto finishes off this dish beautifully.
2 cups walnuts
2 cups chicken stock or veggie stock
Large handful sage leaves
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4th cup good olive oil
1/4h cup parmesean
salt, pepper to taste

Put everything except the chicken stock into the food processor and pulse to chop/combine.  Add chicken or veggie stock to thin it out a bit.


Assembly:
You will need 1 box oven ready lasagna noodles, an additional 1 cup shredded cheese, some good olive oil, and possibly more parmesean and chicken/veggie stock for assembly.

Put a layer of sauce into the bottom of your lasagna pan. Next comes a layer of noodles, followed by your meat/non meat and a splash more sauce.  Put your next layer of noodles in the opposite direction from your first ones for some added structural integrity. Cheese comes next.  Depending on how deep your pan is, you can put another layer of noodles between the cheese/veggies or not.  Add veggies and a tiny bit of sauce and top with your final layer of noodles.  Pour remaining sauce over noodles and add a bit of chicken stock around the edges if your lasagna looks dry.  Top with shredded cheese, some more parmesean, and give the whole top a nice sprinkling of good olive oil.

You can make this up to several days ahead.  Bake at 350 for an hour or so, until the cheese is melted and everything is bubbly and brown.  Enjoy!

Chicken and Herb-Parmesean Biscuits

Because sometimes, you just want comfort food.

For biscuits:
2 1/4th cup Bisquick
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/4th cup grated parmesan
2 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp rosemary
pepper to taste
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450. Mix ingredients except for olive oil.  You can either turn the dough out onto a clean dry surface and kneed it a bit and cut it out with a cup or a cookie cutter for round biscuits, or just drop it by spoonfuls directly onto your baking dish for drop biscuits.Brush tops with olive oil so they brown well and bake for 8-10 mins until golden.

For chicken:
4 chicken thighs (with bones/skin)
1 'box' chicken stock (16 oz)
1 baking potato
10 or so cremini (or button if you like white mushrooms, I do not) mushrooms
1 yellow onion
4-6 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
12 oz or so baby carrots (or 3-4 regular carrots, whichever you have in the house)
2 tbl butter
1/4th cup cream/half and half/light cream
 Large handful fresh sage, including stems
Large handful fresh rosemary, also including stems
Smaller handful of fresh thyme
salt, pepper to taste

Put chicken thighs into a large pan with the stock.  Cut your potato up into 8ths or so (peel and all) and toss it in.  Add half your onion (roughly chopped), 2-3 cloves smashed garlic, 2/3rds of whichever type of carrot you are using (roughly chopped), the bay leaf, and the stems from your sage/rosemary/thyme (pay attention to how many stems there are so you can pull them out later).  Simmer approximately 45 mins until potatoes are starting to fall apart and chicken is cooked through. 

Meanwhile,  the other half of your onion up finely and put it in a small sautee pan with butter, salt, and pepper.  While it starts to caramelize, chop up your mushhrooms and add them to the pan.  Once mushrooms are cooked toss in 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped, your fresh herbs also finely chopped, and the remainder of your carrots cut into thin coins.  Add a splash of stock from your cooking chicken and cook for just a moment,  you don't want the carrots to be mushy.

Pull your chicken, bay leaf, and herb stems out of your stock. Get out a potato masher and smash the potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic that are in the pot.  The potato should be sufficient to thicken your stock, but you might need to reduce it just a bit.  Leave it boiling uncovered while you pick the chicken off the bones. 

Chop up chicken and toss it back into the stock once the stock has thickened up to your liking.  Stir in mushroom/carrot/herb mixture and cream.  Taste for seasoning and serve over biscuits (or rice, or mashed potatoes). 

Steak House @ Home

Sometimes, you really just want a nice simple steak house type of meal, without spending an arm and both legs.  Maybe you are entertaining carnivores, or you just want to celebrate something special.

Pour some wine and start with Mushroom Stuffed Mushrooms; and a simple iceberg salad with some blue cheese dressing (just get the good stuff like Marie's!).

Sear off some really good Steak; and serve with classic but amped up Mashed Potato; Lighten up a bit with Wilted Greens ; instead of creamed spinach.

A Chocolate Gran Mariner Cake would make an awesome ending to this meal, or you could just break out the port.  Or both, really, although then you really need to take away people's car keys.

"Restaurant" Steak at Home

The problem with steaks at home is that they are never as good as they are at a steakhouse.  Part of that is the quality of the meat, which you can only remedy by making friends with your butcher, but if  you are stuck with standard grocery store steaks you can still do a pretty respectable job of it.

Start with the steaks.  Choose nice thick ones if you like your steak anything other them medium well/well.  You want to be able to get a good sear without cooking it all the way through.  Bone-in steaks are often more flavorful then boneless, and some fat is actually a good thing.

Season your steak simply, salt, pepper, maybe a little garlic powder.  Don't go nuts with rubs and marinades.  Letting the steak sit in the fridge for a day pre-seasoned is ideal, but even seasoning it 20 mins or so before you cook it is good.

Don't put a cold steak into a pan.  Let your steaks come to room temperature before cooking them.

You don't want your pan to be cold, either!  Let your pan (preferably a cast iron skillet) get smoking hot before you put your steak in.  Don't use a ton of fat, just use a tiny bit of olive oil or cooking spray.

Cook your steak 3 to 3.5 mins per side for rare (scale up 1 min for medium rare, etc) and do NOT poke it.  Let it just cook.  Flip it when the timer says so.  Just leave it be.

The most important step: let it rest before serving.  Don't cut into the steak for at least 5 mins so that the juices have time to settle and your steak doesn't just bleed out when you cut it.  You can dress up the steak with some compound butter or a bearnaise sauce if you like that kind of thing. 

Pantry Soup

Cold fall weather always makes me want soup for dinner, and I did not have any cans that looked appealing in the cupboard.. but, I did find the makings for a great bowl of soup while I was in there.  If you keep some basic things like canned beans, chicken stock in a box (or bullion), and fresh veggies on hand you always have soup available. 

This version included:
boxed chicken stock
1 chicken sausage
1/2 a cup black beans
1/4th a cup canned fire roasted tomatoes
1 handful spinach, chopped
4-5 baby carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic
salt, pepper, cilantro, red pepper flakes

Just cook it all 5-10 mins so everything is cooked through and the flavors meld, done! Leftover cooked rice or other grains, egg noodles, and pretty much any other veggie you have in the house would work here.  Chick peas or pinto beans would be just as good as black beans. As long as you have stock and spices, you are never far from a good bowl of soup.

Pork Chops with Applesauce... Well, Not Really

I know I know I know, the classics are classics for a reason.  Really I do. I understand that some flavors were just meant for each other.  But... of course we know that I can never leave well enough alone.  Here is my take on this particular comfort food classic.

Apple and Sage Stuffed Pork Loin with a Rice and Snap Pea Salad

1 2lb or so pork loin (or 2 smaller ones)
3 small tart apples like mcintosh, or 2 larger ones like granny smith
small handful fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1/4th cup chicken stock
1 tbl butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4th cup apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbl spicy mustard
2-3 tbl honey
1/4th cup mayo
2 cups cooked brown rice (or some mix of whole grains)
about 3 large handfuls of raw sugar snap peas, cut up into thin slices
1/4th a head of red cabbage, shredded
salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme

Chop up one of your apples into bite sized bits. Toss it in a bowl with your cooked rice, cabbage, snap peas, and one of the shallots.  Mix the mayo with 1/2 of the apple cider vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Dress your salad with this and put in the fridge, this is even better if you make it in the morning and let it sit all day.

Mix the mustard, honey, garlic powder, salt, pepper, remaining apple cider vinegar, and thyme, and set aside.  Chop up your remaining 2 apples and put them in a sautee pan over medium heat with the chicken stock and butter.  Add in the remaining shallot, minced garlic, and sage once it starts to simmer.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Flatten out your pork loin(s) by cutting down the center and fanning them open. Salt and pepper both sides. Set your pork cut side up on the cutting board.  If you are using 1 larger loin you will be wrapping it around the stuffing, if you are using 2 you will make a sort of pork/stuffing sandwich.  Either way, you will want some kitchen twine or a few skewers or a lot of toothpicks to hold it together during cooking. 

When your apples start to get mushy and you can smell the sage cooking,  turn off the heat and drain most of the liquid out.  Stuff your pork and tie/truss it up.  Put it into a baking dish and cover it with your honey/mustard sauce. 

You can put it straight into the oven at this point, but if you have time try to let it marinade at least 30 mins or so.  Cook at 350 to your desired temperature, turning the heat up to 450 for about 10-15 mins at the end if you like to crisp up the outside.  (Personally I like pork medium/medium well but I know some people only eat it well done so cooking time is up to you.)

Let it rest a bit and slice carefully so it looks pretty on your plate next to your salad.  You can make a pan sauce by adding some white wine or chicken stock and a little butter to the drippings if you like.  This isn't really light, but it is at least a bit healthier then the standard pork chop with apple sauce and fried potato pancakes, but still manages to work as comfort food.