BBQ ribs and grilled veggie couscous salad

For Memorial Day we decided to do the typical grilling. We wanted something more than just burgers and hot dogs. So we settled on ribs. I wanted a side that was something not typical, and since the grill was going to be fired up, I decided to grill up some veggies and add them to couscous. So good!

BBQ Ribs

Slab of ribs
Seasonings of choice
BBQ sauce of choice

1. Put ribs in pot and cover with water. Add desired seasonings to water. Bring water to a boil, reduce to medium heat, and boil ribs for 20 minutes with lid on.

2. Meanwhile, preheat grill (not too hot though). When ribs are finished boiling, baste them with desired BBQ sauce and place on bottom rack of grill. Turn every 5 min and baste with more sauce. Cook until sauce has thickened to and you start to see char marks (about 10-15 minutes).


Grilled veggie couscous salad

1 green pepper
1 red onion
1 zuchinni
1 yellow squash
1 tomato
(any other veggies you might like- I tried eggplant and I didn't like it at all)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of couscous (any flavor you like- I used whole wheat olive oil and garlic)

1. Prepare couscous according to directions on box and set aside in a serving dish.

2. Dice tomato and set aside- tomato will not be grilled

3. Cut veggies in big enough pieces so they will not fall through grates of grill (I sliced squash and zuchinni long ways and the onions into big rings)

4. Brush grilling veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper and any other desired seasonings.

5. Grill veggies until char marks and to desired tenderness

6. After veggies are cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized pieces and add to couscous.

7. Add tomatoes, stir to combine and enjoy!

So tasty!

Smoky Mac and Cheese

I had so many tasty recipes over the weekend, so I am going to be posting more than one blog today.
Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion which was held at a park. We were having a bbq and asked to bring a side dish. I mulled over it for a while trying to decide what to make that others wouldn't also be making. I ended up choosing to make a mac and cheese, but wanted it to be different. Instead of using typical cheeses (cheddar, american, etc) I used smoked gouda. It was SO good! The entire tray was eaten. Even my picky eater husband enjoyed it.

Smoky Mac and Cheese

1 lb dry pasta
8-10 oz of smoked gouda cheese shredded
4 oz cheddar shredded
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
Bacon cooked and chopped

1. Salt water and bring to a boil and cook pasta according to directions on box (salt is important here because the gouda is not a very salty cheese)

2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cheeses, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly to avoid scalding milk. Continue to heat until all cheese has melted.

3. My cheese sauce was very thin at this point so I made a slurry of cornstarch and the hot cheese sauce. If yours is not thin, you can skip this step. If you add the cornstarch right into the sauce it is very lumpy. Take a small amount (1 Tbsp) of the cheese sauce and put into a small bowl. Add the cornstarch and mix until combined, then add all of the mixture into the pot of the cheese sauce and continue to heat until thickened.

4. Put pasta in serving dish, pour cheese sauce over and sprinkle with chopped bacon to garnish.

Mac and cheese is very versatile and you could make this with pretty much any cheese you would like.

Yum....I will have to try this....

In my search of recipe blogs, I came across this fabulous looking recipe for Perogi Lasagna on the blog entitled Omnomicon! Here is the link and instructions
http://www.omnomicon.com/pierogi-lasagna
Pierogi Lasagna
1 lb lasagna noodles4 lbs red or white potatoes1/4 c sour cream (optional)1/2 c milk2 c shredded cheddar cheese3/4 c butter (1.5 sticks)1 onion, sliced in rings
Cook the noodles. Chop potatoes into 1″ cubes, place in pot of cold water (enough to cover), and allow to come to a boil. Continue boil until potatoes are soft enough to yield to a fork stab. Drain, mash, blend with a mixer. Toss in the optional sour cream and milk, mix some more. Add salt to taste. Stir in cheddar.
Melt all the butter over medium-high heat, then sautee onion until the rings no longer hold their shape.
Preheat oven to 375. Grease the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with some of the onion-butter. Lay noodles on the bottom of the dish, then spread the potatoes, a dollop at a time, along the length of each noodle. Once done, smooth the potatoes, then spread about a quarter of the onion on top, and drizzle a small amount of butter as well. Repeat this twice (or more if your dish can accommodate), then top with noodles and the remainder of the onions and butter.
Pop in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Yum...I might just have to try this for Fathers Day because my dad is a huge fan of perogis!

Yummy Frosting

One of my co-workers is going on a prolonged "vacation" and Friday was his last day. I have boxes and boxes of brownie mix (I love brownies and buy them whenever they are BOGO), so I decided I would brownies. Now we have a lady who works with us and she likes to cut herself a piece and then lick the knife and then cut another piece, or she will lick her fingers which are covered in whatever and then touch the food...so I decided I will make them into cupcakes. They were so dense and so chocolatey..I loved them. Of course you can not have a "cupcake" without some type of frosting. I am not a big fan of frosting, but I found a recipe on the back of my box of cocoa and decided to try it out. It was DELICIOUS! So here it is...

Chocolate Lover's Frosting
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Level: Easy Rated:
Source:

Chocolate Lover's Frosting
Estimated Times:Preparation - 5 min Yields - 16 servings (2 Tablespoons per serving)
Ingredients:
3 cups sifted powdered sugar, divided
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
5 to 6 tablespoons milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:BEAT 1 cup powdered sugar, cocoa, butter, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in remaining sugar and milk until smooth. Makes 2 cups total.

Nutritional Info

Nutrition FactsServing Size: 1/16 of recipeServings per Recipe: 16 servings (2 Tablespoons per serving)
Amount per serving
Calories: 150
Calories from Fat: 50
% Daily Value
Total Fat: 6g
10%
Saturated Fat: 3.5g
18%
Cholesterol: 15mg
5%
Sodium: 40mg
2%
Carbohydrates: 25g
8%
Dietary Fiber: 1g
3%
Sugars: 22g
Protein: 1g
Vitamin A
4%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
0%
Iron

Panzanella

For Mothers Day this year, my mother wanted to have everyone at her house for pizza. She wanted to something easy so nobody had to cook or clean. To go along with the pizza I decided to make a salad. I searched the web for something different instead of the same old salad or the same old antipasta. I checked out thenest and found a recipe for Panzanella salad. It is basically a salad that you use old stale bread to soak up the juices of the tomatoes and dressing. It was quite good. I used the celestial seasonings italian salad dressing instead of theirs. So here is the recipe...

Panzanella

Ingredients:
1/2 pound Italian bread, 3 to 4 days old, cut into 1-inch thick slices1/2 cup cold water1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1⁄2-inch cubesKosher salt1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar2 cloves garlic, minced1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oilFreshly ground black pepper1 1/2 to 2 pounds ripe tomatoes (about 5), seeded and cut into 1/2-inch cubes1 medium red onion (4 to 5 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch dice1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn
Directions:
Sprinkle the bread with the water and let stand about 2 minutes. Gently squeeze the bread dry as you tear it into roughly 1-inch pieces. Spread the pieces of torn bread on paper towels to dry slightly, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread the cucumber pieces on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Let stand about 20 minutes to extract the bitter juices. Put the cucumbers in a strainer and rinse with cold water. Pat dry.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, torn basil, and the bread. Toss to combine and let stand until the bread has absorbed some of the vinaigrette, about 20 minutes.
Cooking Right: Reconstitute stale bread by sprinkling it with water. Gently squeeze out any excess water as you tear the bread into pieces. Don’t be too zealous as you squeeze or the bread will fall apart.
Excerpted from Cooking New American by the Editors of Fine Cooking. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted with permission from Taunton Press, Inc. Recipe by Joanne Weir.

Shrimp and Grits

So I did eventually use the rest of the ricotta in a ricotta ice cream that I found a recipe for on Foodnetwork.com. I tried to make it low fat by using low fat ricotta and skim milk, and I came out horrible...I won't bore you with the details. Onto a delicious meal...

I love shrimp and I love grits. I have often heard people dreamily talking about how delicious they are together, but didn't think they made a good pair. One night my hubby and I were out to dinner at Stumps Supper Club in Channelside. I saw they had this dish on their menu, so I thought, why not...I'll try it. It was AMAZING!! One of the best meals I have had a restaurant...really THAT good. I am sure it was quite unhealthy.
I was recently reading the newspaper and came across a shrimp and grits recipe...so I thought I would try it out. I didn't have the recipe in front of me, so I cooked the grits according to the package (get the quick cooking and NOT the instant), added some salt and cheese. Then I cooked the shrimp in a little butter substitute, garlic and a splash of wine. Put them together and viola! Delish!!
Here is the recipe from the St Pete Times article

Cheesy Grits and Shrimp

3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups quick-cooking grits
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
For the shrimp:
4 or 5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons sherry or white wine
2 pounds medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
To cook grits, bring water and salt to a boil. Pour in grits, stir and turn the heat to low. Stir regularly for about 7 minutes. Stir in pepper and cheese. Stir until cheese melts and set grits aside while shrimp cooks.
For shrimp, melt butter in medium-hot skillet. Add onion, garlic, jalapeno and salt and pepper. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add sherry or wine and shrimp. Cook until shrimp is mostly pink. Turn off burner and let residual heat cook shrimp the rest of the way through.
In individual bowls, scoop out some grits and ladle shrimp with some of the juice on top.
Serves 4 to 5.

Hope you like it!

More Ricotta

So last night I wanted to try to use up my ricotta....still no success, so check back tomorrow for a new and exciting ricotta recipe.
I was racking my brain of what I could do with that ricotta. My hubby is a picky eater, so it makes it a little harder. I wanted to try to incorporate it into some type of egg dish, but he says he doesn't like eggs. I could only come up with lasagna. Well, by this time it was almost 6 pm and he is on a lower carb diet, so I had to make it healthy and quick. So here goes....

Lower carb quick and dirty "lasagna" (more like a pasta bake)

2-3 oz of Dreamfields low carb pasta per person (so if you have 4 people, make 8-12 oz) cooked according to package directions and drained (I used spaghetti, but any shape would be tasty)
1 pound of ground beef (any ground meat you prefer would work)
3/4 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
Dash of oregano
1 can pasta sauce (we use the Hunts that is not seasoned....if you use one that is already seasoned, you don't need the following)
Garlic powder to taste
Salt to taste
1 Cup Mozzerella cheese
Parmesean cheese
You will also need a baking dish (I prefer to use smaller ones to get better portion control, so I used 2 laof pans- 1 per person and we only ate half each)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F

2. Cook the ground meat until almost completely cooked through. Add in sauce and season to taste (we use the garlic powder and salt)

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, oregano, salt and pepper and garlic powder to taste.

4. Put a small amount of sauce into bottom of baking dish (to prevent sticking)

5. Put the pasta into the baking dish and put cover with a layer of ricotta cheese.

6. Pour meat sauce over ricotta to cover

7. Put mozzerella on top with a sprinkle of ricotta cheese

8. Bake at 400 F until bubbly-about 15 minutes

It was so tasty...I am not a big fan of lasagna because sometimes there is too much cheese, so here you can put as much as you want. Making into 2 pans is nice too because if someone else likes more cheese, you can make one with less and one with more.

Tonight I plan to use the rest of the ricotta. I found a recipe on Foodnetwork.com that looks interesting. Stay tuned!

Calzones...Yum!

So tonight I tried out a new recipe I found on foodnetwork.com. I bought ricotta about 1 week ago and I had forgotten to use it for the recipe I intended it for. I went online looking for something to use it in and I came across a recipe for Ham Calzones on foodnetwork.com. I LOVE calzones and my hubby loves pizza (he has never had a calzone), so I figured why not! I tried to make it lower in fat by using less mozzerella. They came out tasty, but I would recommend forgoing the diet for one night and using the cheese it calls for....mine was not gooey enough. The dough I found I used less flour than it called for. I also tried to use some whole wheat flour. So instead of all white flour, I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups of white flour. I also did not use the wine in the dough...not my thing. I waited to serve so it would set up, but it might be more gooey if served right out of the oven. For sauce, we used Ragu pizza sauce. So here is the original recipe...

Ricotta and Ham Calzone
Recipe courtesy Mario Batali
Prep Time:
20 min
Cook Time:
25 min
Level:
Intermediate
Serves:
4 servings

Ingredients
1 recipe basic bread dough, recipe follows
1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1/3 pound prosciutto cotto or ham, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil, for the crust
Pizza paddle

Directions
I recommend buying a prepared tile baking stone for all pizza and bread working at home. They are available at gourmet shops and specialty chef supply stores.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare the bread dough as directed, cutting the dough into 2 pieces.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, prosciutto, mozzarella, 1 egg, and pecorino. Using a wooden spoon, stir the filling until well combined. Set aside.
Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into 2 rounds.
Coat the pizza paddle with the sea salt. Place 1 dough round on the paddle spread with coarse sea salt.
Spoon the filling onto the center of the dough round laid out on the pizza paddle. Using your fingers, dab a little extra-virgin olive oil all around the edge of the dough. Fold each round over itself to make a half-moon shape. Using your fingers, crimp the edges, sealing the calzone.
In a small bowl, use a fork to beat the remaining 1 egg. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, dab the top of the calzone with the egg mixture, which will help the top turn a beautiful golden brown.
Place in the oven and cook until the dough is cooked through and golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cut into 4 pieces and serve immediately.

Basic Bread Dough:
1/4 cup light red wine or white wine
3/4 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
Combine the wine, water, and yeast in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the honey, salt, and the olive oil and mix thoroughly. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to make a loose batter. Add 2 more cups of the flour and stir with the spoon for 2 to 3 minutes to incorporate as much flour as possible.
Bring the dough together by hand and turn out onto a floured board or marble surface. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until you have a smooth, firm dough. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Set aside to rise in the warmest part of the kitchen for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, cut the risen dough into 2 equal pieces and knead each portion into a round. Cover again and let rise for 15 minutes. The dough is now ready to be used.


I still have ricotta left over, so stay tuned for some other use for ricotta cheese.

Kitchen Essentials

The last few days have been pretty boring standard recipes (tacos last night, spaghetti and meatballs the night before last), so instead of recipes, I decided to post my favorite kitche items. These are the things I could not cook without. Of course I need my stove and oven, but besides that, here are the things I use on a very regular basis.

1. Racheal Ray pots and pans- I got myself the hard anodized steel set. They have a silicone rubber grip on the handles and a nonstick surface. They are easy just the right weight for me, heavy enough to cook the food evenly, but not too heavy where I cannot pick them up. Clean up is a breeze with these with the awesome nonstick surface. I also like that I don't have to use too much oil, which means lower fat cooking!

Here is a picture of the pots.....and here is a photo of Rachael Rays saute pan that I hope to add to my collection soon.

One quick thing to remember about these pots...they are oven safe up to 400F, however the silicone handles do hold heat...so you will still need to use an oven mitt!

2. Hand blender- I use this for SO much! Since I have a picky eater husband, I use it to grind stuff up to add to recipes so he won't always know what is in the dish. He likes smooth thin spaghetti sauce, I like mine a little chunkier, so I put 1 can of regular sauce and 1 can of diced tomatoes that I have ground with the hand blender. I use it to grind nuts to make bread crumbs for lower carb dishes. It is so versatile. You can use it as a whisk also.

3. Food scale- This is a great tool for those on a "diet." I have been doing Weight Watchers for over 5 years now. One major change I made was monitoring my portions, and it made a HUGE difference (I have lost over 50 pounds!). We use this to measure pasta so we can use portion control. I also will portion out meats for meals before I freeze them using this scale.

4. Kitchenaid mixer- This is the perfect machine for so many things. You can of course mix together cake mixes, cookie mixes, breads (I used it to make a pizza dough the other day and it came out better than any other I have made), but if you buy the attachments you will have a very versatile machine. I recently purchased the food grinder attachement. This can be used to grind veggies, bread into breadcrumbs, meats, etc. This can be a real money saver. If you have some stale bread, you can use that to make breadcrumbs and save yourself a trip to the store to get some....and lets face it, bread is less expensive than breadcrumbs. We wanted to add some ground veal to our meatballs, but ground veal is SO pricey! So we bought some tougher cut of veal and put it through the grinder. Saved us a lot!

Other attachements that are available- ice cream maker (you can make a lower fat ice cream using fat free half and half or even just milk at a way lower cost), pasta maker, can opener, citrus juicer, slicer/shredder.

5. A good knife set- We have yet to get one of these, I am still in the process of researching to figure out what knives we want. We got a Henckels paring knife free from BBnB for registering for a Henckels knife set. It is so sharp and is the best knife we have ever used! We use it well beyond what it was intended for! Definitley worth an investment.

More to come in the future as I try out new recipes...