Chicken Piccata

When I was younger, there was only one pasta dish that my grandmother cooked that I absolutely despised. This dish is called Agli e Olio. Basically, it is just a pasta dish cooked with a heafty amount of sauteed garlic and olive oil.

Being a white pasta lover, one wouldn't see a problem with me liking this dish as it does not include tomato sauce. However, my grandmother would always add in capers-the part of this dish I disliked with a passion.

I would meticulously pick out the capers one by one until there was no trace of them in my pasta before I began to eat dinner. Eventually, picking out the capers became too much of an effort and I started to eat them because of my laziness. Granted, I did not like them at first, but after some time I decided "hey, these aren't so bad after all". Now, I love capers and look forward to making dishes that include them, which includes the one posted below!

It's funny how taste changes over time. While I have gotten MUCH less picky about the foods I eat (possibly because I've began to explore food and tastes on my own), I still choose to leave tomatoes and tomato sauce off of my palate. Perhaps one day I will eat and enjoy tomato sauce... just not today...

Chicken Piccata

Serving size: 2

2 chicken breasts, cleaned
half pound of pasta of your choice, I used angel hair
about 1/2 C flour, in bowl
2 tbs unsalted butter
3 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/3 C lemon juice, use a bit less if using fresh squeezed lemon
1/2 C low sodium chicken stock
1/4 C capers
1/3 C fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, lightly season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour.

Bring a large pan to medium high heat, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and garlic. When the oil is sizzling, add the chicken and cook one side until browned, about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook for an additional 3 minutes and remove from heat.

Add the lemon juice to the pan along with the chicken stock and capers. Bring the liquid to a boil, making sure to scrape up any browned chicken goodies that may have stuck to the pan. Reduce the heat to a simmer and return the chicken to the pan for an additional 5 minutes.


Transfer the chicken, sauce, and pasta to a serving dish, making sure to coat the pasta thoroughly with the stock sauce. If you need some extra olive oil, go ahead and add it now while you're mixing everything up. Garnish with fresh parsley and enjoy the delicious and easy meal you made!

Linguine con vongole

For some reason I have been on a seafood kick.  This is very strange for me, because a couple of years ago, I would not have touched any kind of seafood with a ten-foot pole (besides shrimp and tuna fish from a can, that is).  Almost everytime I've gone out to eat, I've been finding myself gravitating towards the seafood and ordering that. Very risky on my part as well.

Not to brag (okay, maybe I'm bragging a little), nothing I've ordered at a restaurant has tasted better than this one pasta dish I made with clams, shrimp, and scallops. 

Shrimp and scallops I had no problem with...clams however... If you asked me 3 years ago to eat a clam, I would have laughed and thought you were joking. My boyfriend, being the adventurous eater that he is, convinced me to try it. And guess what? I love them! I love the saltiness, although I do warn that a grain of sand can throw you off at first if you chew too vigorously. 

I'm so happy he convinced to me try it, because in addition to clams, he has helped me try many new foods that I've never tried before. I am also proud of myself for being brave enough to try things that once scared me. Hooray for trying new things!

Linguine con vongole (and shrimp and scallops)

1 pound pasta (linguine or angel hair)
1/4 C olive oil
4-5 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped
12 little neck clams (thoroughly cleaned from any sand debris)
1/4 pound shrimp
1/2 pound scallops
3/4 C white wine (Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
1 C fresh parsley, chopped
sprinkle of red pepper flakes (optional)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta, cook to package instructions, and drain well. 

Meanwhile, heat olive oil and butter over medium flame in a deep saute pan. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes if desired, and saute about 2 minutes.  Add clams, wine, and lemon juice.  Cover the pan with a lid to allow clams to cook.  Shake the pan periodically until all the clams have opened up--if some clams have not opened up, remove them from the pan and discard.  Add the shrimp and scallops and cook until shrimp is pink and scallops are opaque throughout.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce in the pan, season with salt and pepper, and toss pasta until it is coated with the sauce.  Extra olive oil may be used here if necessary.  Garnish pasta with the freshly chopped parsley.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi everyone!  It has been very stressful the past couple weeks for me.  The lease for my college house ended at the end of July, so I have been busy packing things up and moving things out to go back home. Once I got home, my room looked as if a hurricane came though and I just couldn't deal with the chaos for a few days before I was able to start tackling the mess and organizing it bit by bit.

Before I packed everything away, I had been scanning through my pantry to see what food I could use up... one less thing to take back (and I hate throwing away food). I noticed I had a bag of coconut that I had used just a little bit of for coconut shrimp. I was wondering, what could I use the rest of this coconut for? I knew I wanted it to be something sweet versus savory and I had asked my boyfriend if he wanted any cookies for when I went to visit him.

Enter coconut chocolate chip cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies are always a great cookie to make, because who doesn't love them? I thought it would be a fun and interesting twist to incorporate coconut into them as well!

I modified the chocolate chip cookie recipe I normally use and went from there! They were the perfect combination of crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 C sweetened coconut flakes
1 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

Combine softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time and until well blended. Add the vanilla. Making sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the flour mixture a little at a time until well blended.  Add the coconut and then the chocolate chips

Drop dough, about 1 inch in diameter onto a lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Depending on your oven, bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on a wire rack or a spare piece of parchment paper.

You can keep these in an airtight container for about a week, although they probably won't even last that long!  Cookies are best enjoyed with a glass of milk :)

Turkey Avocado Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

I've been on an avocado kick recently and have been trying to incorporate it into as many meals as possible.  I also do love the occasional burger, however I usually make them with ground turkey instead of beef to slim it down a bit.  In addition to being simple to make, you can easily make the patties and store extras in the freezer for a later time!

 

 Turkey Avocado Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

1 package of lean ground turkey

about 2 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 teaspoons garlic

1/2 white onion, caramelized

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

1 sweet potato

1 avocado, sliced

pepper jack cheese

lettuce, tomato, condiments of your choice 

Start off by sauteing the onions in olive oil, add in the garlic when the onions are fragrant and starting to brown.  Once caramelized, remove from heat and let cool. 

In a large bowl, empty the package of ground turkey, add the caramelized onions, Worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Mix together, with a spoon or hands (personally I find using your hands to be more efficient, just make sure they're clean).  Form patties, depending on how big you make them, set aside the ones to wrap up for the freezer.

Cook patties until the juice runs clear and is pink in the middle (for medium, medium rare), about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Cover patties with a slice of pepper jack cheese and allow it to melt.

Arrange patty on bun with lettuce, tomato, and sliced avocado on top.

For the sweet potato fries, preheat the oven to 400F.  Wash and slice sweet potato into slivers, or fry-like looking shapes.  Toss the sliced sweet potato with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Arrange on a baking sheet, making sure that the fries are spread out.  Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, flip the fries over, and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes depending on how crispy you like your fries!

 

Enjoy!!

Pasta alla Carbonara

Do you ever open up Pinterest looking for something specific (a recipe in my case) and just get sucked in to your main feed? You just keep on scrolling through, browsing and happily pinning away, then you glance at the time and a half hour has passed and you realize that you have not accomplished anything.

This happens to me frequently. I have a ton of recipes on Pinterest that I have lined up to try out.  Sometimes I look beforehand so I can get an idea of what I'll need to get at the grocery store, but sometimes I wait until the last minute and then I'm too hungry to pick up anything and need to eat right at that moment. This is when I resort to something quick and easy.

One of my go-to recipes is Carbonara.  I picked this up from my grandma, even I noticed some nights she doesn't feel much like cooking and makes something easy.  This is incredibly simple and the perfect recipe to start out with, especially if you're a new cook.  Also, it's a recipe that include bacon and eggs, who doesn't love bacon and eggs?!

 

Pasta alla Carbonara

Serving size: 2

1/2 lb of pasta (I believe linguine is pictured here, probably because it's what I already had, however I usually use penne for this dish)

4-5 strips of bacon, cut into bite sized pieces (try to find the leanest package)

3-4 eggs, scrambled

1-2 tsp garlic, finely chopped

olive oil

salt

pepper

Start by bringing water to a boil in a medium sized pot and cook your pasta according to their package directions or to "al dente".

Heat up a large skillet and drop the in the bite sized bacon to cook.  I generally like my carbonara to be on the bacon heavy side and for them to be extra cripsy.  When the bacon is almost cooked to your liking, turn the heat down, and add the finely chopped garlic. Cook for 2-3 more minutes.  

By this time, your pasta should be done.  Drain your pasta and dump it into the skillet with the bacon and garlic.  There should be enough bacon grease to act as a kind of "sauce" but I usually end up using a little bit of olive oil just to make not stick together and not to taste dry.

At this time, take your eggs, which should be scrambled in a bowl and seasoned with salt and pepper, pour the raw eggs over the pasta in the skillet and mix around until the eggs have cooked.

The key to this recipe is to have a large and deep enough skillet to contain and mix all the ingredients.  Also, in my personal opinion, the pouring of the raw eggs over the pasta and allowing everything to cook together is what makes this dish. I love when I'm about to eat a penne that has bacon and egg inside of it. 

In this last picture, my boyfriend and I had a salad along with our pasta to lighten it up a little bit. I cannot take credit for the salad though because he made it! He used red leaf lettuce, crumbled goat cheese, and Gala apple slices with some of our favorite vinaigrette!

 

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Wraps with Black Beans, Rice, and Avocado

Hi there! I hope everyone's Fourth of July was wonderful! I had a great time minus the 60+ mosquito bites I got while I was watching the fireworks... Later I found a trick on Pinterest to stop the itching by heating a spoon under hot water and applying pressure to the bite.  Apparently it destroys the protein that causes the reaction. I wish I found that sooner! Instead, I remedied myself by going to the beach this past weekend and had the salt water dry them out... which I'm not complaining about. I love beach days!

Anyway, I have a recipe for you tonight.  I was looking to make a quick dinner one night and I found a recipe for these wraps. I modified it a bit to suit my taste since the original recipe called for onions and I have to say, I am not a fan of raw onions. This recipe is pretty simple and feel free to modify it however you like!

Vegetarian Wraps with Black Beans, Rice, and Avocado

1 cup rice
1 red pepper, green pepper, and/or yellow pepper (seeded and diced)
1 avocado (peeled and diced)
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
about 1 cup of medium spice salsa (or whichever level of spicyness you prefer)
package of soft burrito/taco tortillas 
mexican blend shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste
*optional: low fat sour cream and salsa on the side

Cook the rice according to package directions. I believe I used Carolina long grain white rice.
Prepare the peppers and black beans. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, saving the avocado for last so it doesn't get too beat up during the mix.

Prepare your tortilla. Spread some sour cream and shredded cheese on your warm tortilla. Take a few spoonfuls of your mixture into the center of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla according to directions on the packaging. In a warm pan lay the wrap seam side down. You can cover the pan with a lid to heat it up and melt the cheese faster.

Enjoy for the next few days! These make perfect leftovers, just make sure the avocado doesn't get too brown.

As a variation, you could opt to leave it without tortilla and serve as a side dish! I did that for my graduation party, everyone loved it!

Hi there!

I'm back!! 

I've been trying to teach myself HTML and website design, however it's a lot harder than I imagined! I'm also torn between two different color schemes for this blog... I might just have to choose one out of a hat or I'll never be able to decide.

I wanted to share some of my plans for this blog because I'm thinking of changing it up a bit. I still love food and I will still be posting lots of recipes I try out and enjoy.  However, I do have other passions in my life that I would like to explore here. 

Food has always been my number one because of how I grew up.  I never ate "children's cereal" as a child and very rarely did I eat fast food or drink soda (usually only if I was with friends).  When I was younger, I used to resent my family for not letting me have the kinds of things all my friends would talk about or be eating for lunch at school.  Remember in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when Toula had a flashback to when she was young and all of her school friends would be eating wonderbread sandwiches while she had a thermos of homemade soup from the night before?  That was me.  I had a thermos of soup I brought for lunch... or lamb, or pasta.. you get the idea.  I was Toula.  I used to be embarrassed to eat my lunch when everyone around me was having PB&J sandwiches with the crusts cut off.  Now that I am older, I am thankful that I ate so well growing up because it has influenced how I eat and how I cook for myself now. 

Just recently I had a party with my family and friends to celebrate my college graduation.  My aunts and I all pooled together to make food for this gathering of almost 50 people.  All of my friends that came and ate dinner were raving about how delicious everything was and that they wished the food they were enjoying was their baseline for food quality.  I guess it was naive of me to think, but I had always thought that everyone ate as well as my family does.  I realize now that's not the case and part of the reason I want to share my recipes is because my goal is to inspire others to eat well.

One of my other passions is cosmetics.  I remember when I was younger I would try to get my hands on any makeup products I could, even if it didn't look good on me.  For my 13th birthday, one of my aunts took me to the Clinique counter and bought me a tinted moisturizer, mascara, and lavender eyeshadow.  It was one of the best days of my life; I finally had real makeup!  Since then I've been hooked.  I'm very brand loyal to Clinique, but I do have many different products from many different brands (I probably own way more makeup than I care to admit).  I'm a sucker for YouTube Beauty Gurus and I thought, "Hey, I can do that"!  So I decided until I invest in a quality camera, I will be content with writing beauty and fragrance posts.

Another passion that I intend to explore here is nothing in particular like food or cosmetics, but anything that is lovely in general.  I come across many things I like on Pinterest and even have a board titled "Pretty Things" which can include flowers, jewelry, fashion, lace, and many other girly type of things.

I hope you all are okay with me changing my blog up a bit!  Obviously, this also calls for a name change, but I still haven't thought of one I really like.  Stay posted for that!

Cookie Comfort

 

****In honor of the Fourth of July being well, today as I edit this post, I thought it was appropriate to post something that celebrated America like these All-American Chocolate Chip cookies!****

There's something comforting about walking into a room or a house that smells like cookies baking in the oven.  It's a warm, inviting aroma that entices you to wait until the cookies are cool enough to eat.... and then devour about ten of them.

I decided to make cookies today and I seem to had forgotten about the certain sweet smell of them baking in the oven.  I only did notice the aroma when I ran outside for a quick second and when I walked back into the kitchen--BAM sweet warm smelling chocolate chip cookies in the oven waiting for me to enjoy with a cold glass of milk.

I also had forgotten how difficult it was to make cookies by hand! I couldn't use an electric mixer because the one that I have is on it's last leg and might have spontaneously combusted while using it, so I mixed everything by hand with a wooden spoon!  This might not be so difficult for some people, but I'm a pretty small girl and after adding over two cups of flour, the dough gets pretty tough to mix!

I know there are a ton of chocolate chip cookies recipes out there, but to me, this type of cookie never gets old.  It's a classic cookie that pretty much everyone on the face of the planet loves.  When I make them, I usually use the same two recipes every time, but for whatever reason they come out looking different each time!  This time they are pretty tall and a bit cakey (which I'm not complaining about!).  One recipe I use is from my aunt and the other is from a cookbook called The Cookie Cookbook, which is the recipe I used this time.


All-American Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 pack semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat to 350 F

Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl

Cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add the flour (I did in 3 segments) to the butter mixture until well blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop dough about 1/2 in in diameter onto lined cookies sheet (I used parchment paper) and bake for about 12-14 minutes or until golden looking.  Transfer to a cooling rack (or onto another piece of parchment paper) and enjoy once cool enough to eat!