Awesome Rosemary Chicken with Rice and Veggies

Another easy dish, even easier than the pasta and meatballs!

Note: When I cook I do not measure exactly, I spice to taste, and tweak the dishe as it goes if needed.

Ingredients
3 cups cooked jasmine rice
2lbs thinly sliced chicken breast
1 diced garlic clove
3-4 Tbsp of dried rosemary, or to taste
2 cups organic chicken stock
1 Tbsp sea salt
3-4 cups frozen mixed veggies
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese
Olive Oil

Step 1
Place chicken, spices, 1 cup chicken stock, in olive oil, cook chicken until almost done, add mixed veggies and another cup of chicken stock, let simmer for 15 minutes or until veggies are cooked. Add milk, sea salt to taste, and asiago cheese. Simmer until cheese is metled.

Step 2
Cook cook while cooking chicken

Step 3
Mix altogether with rice and enjoy!

Refreshing Pasta and Meatballs

So I do not like heavy italain food ie heavy creams, lots of butter, and lots of cheese. I like it simple, tasty, and healthy. I do not have any asian ingedients at the house right now so it has been other dishes that I have made up. This is simple, healthy, and tasty.

Ingredients:
1lb organic ground turkey breast
6 cups of crushed tomato
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Two sliced yellow squash
Litehouse freeze dried Italain seasoning
2 cloves diced garlic
1 tsp black peper
1 Tbsp sea salt
Italian style bread crumbs with Romano cheese
2 Eggs
Fresh block of asiago cheese
4-6 Hand fulls of cooked whole wheat thin spaghetti noodle

Step 1
Add tomatoes, olive oil, spices, and squash to a sauce pan, simmer for 20 minutes, add sugar, simmmer for another 10 minutes
Cook noodles, do not make a full 1lb box, that will be too much noodle not enough sauce

Step 2
In mixing bowl add eggs, 1/2 bread crumbs, and turkey, mix all together well, make sure that the meat mixture is firm but not too much bread crumb, ground turkey breast is low in fats and if you use too much bread crumbs it will suck up alot of the natural moisture. Roll into balls and place in olive oil, cook on medium until meat balls are cooked thoroughly. Use meat thermometer to test inside temp 170-180 degrees F

Step 3
Mix drained pasta with sauce, meat balls, and shave fresh asiago cheese on top, eat with a salad or by itself.

Very hardy and great for you.
Good Eating!!!

Italian Wrap Up

Note: The gleam on the wrap is the juices from the tomatoes! Make sure that you do not use too much oil, oil should never make a food gleam, it it does, you used too much!

I was thinking about doing something for one of my best friends for his birthday and I thought why not dinner? So I went to the store and started up my brain. I was thinking something not spicy but full of flavor, knock your socks off, and quicker than usual. Mandi helped me throw some ideas out there but nothing was coming to me and we were running late. Then I remembered how Josh told we about a month ago that we was in want of some really good cheese. I started from there, put the meal together with some great fresh ingredients and of course a good cheese.

Ingredients:
2 yellow squash sliced into thin strips
3 long red sweet peppers
3 diced garlic cloves
3 hand fulls of chopped fresh bella mushrooms
Basil and Sun dried tomato tortillas
Pesto, homemade or a good brand, do not buy the cheap stuff
1.5 lbs chicken breast cut into strips
6 skinned roma tomatoes
1 head of romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp Litehouse freezed dried italian seasoning ( best not live plant stuff so I have use)
Asiago Cheese, the real stuff, it should be a harder cheese, not mushy, or processed
Sea Salt to taste
Olive Oil

Step 1 sauté the squash, mushrooms, chicken, herbs, garlic, in some olive oil, salt to taste, add skinned tomatoes after 6-7 minutes, reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Step 2
Wash and prepare lettuce, grate cheese, and set aside

Step 3
While chicken is cooking roast sweet peppers in oven on 425 until skin bubbles and turns dark brown, remove skin, and cut into strips

Step 4
Layout the tortillas, spread some pesto, lay down the lettuce, cheese, sweet peppers cut into strips and put chicken dish on top. Eat up, it so good!

Slow Cooked Pork Loin with Black Beans and Rice

So besides Asian cuisine I like to dabble in Caribbean foods especially Cuban and Puerto Rican. This is a simple dish that I learned from my Cuban next door neighbor growing up.

This dish is not suppose to look fancy, it looks a bit dull, but the flavors are simple, yet robust, especially if you use freshly ground cumin!

A sofrito is used in most Cuban meat dishes but this one is using the spices to simmer and infuse in the beans and meat!

Ingredients
5 Long sweet red peppers roasted
1 pork loin roast seasoned with 1 tsp freshly ground cumin cumin, 1.5 tsp black pepper, 1 Tbsp diced garlic, and 1 tps oregano
1/2 sweet onion diced
White Rice
1 lbs black beans uncooked

Step 1
Defrost pork loin if frozen. Season and rub the spices into the meat, message it well. Place in crock pot and cook on high for roughly 2 hours, then cook on low for 4 hours. Slow cooking is Cuban cuisine. Do not start the beans until 2 hours before the loin will be done. Do not make the rice before hand or roast the peppers. you want everything fresh.

Step 2
Rinse black beans follow directions on the back of the bag, generally I like to soak overnight, but there is a quick cooking method, too much too type right now so look on the bag it will tell you. Add spices same as above for the loin but no oregeno and double amounts or to taste. I like more cumin in mine, but just eye it. Cuban food is not about measurements, it is about great aromas/slow cooking, so use the spices to your tastes. Simmer the longer the better the flavor, make sure black beans are fully cooked.

Step 3
Roast long sweet red peppers, let cool, skin, and add to beans with chopped sweet onion

Step 4
Cook white rice

Step 5
When pork loin is done it should fall apart to the touch, shred and put over rice and beans. Pour some juice from the beans and meat over the entire dish!

Mandi's Faux Cheesecake Pie

Okay, This is Delicious, EASY, CHEAP, yummy, and WAY less calories that real cheesecake! Enjoy!


Ingredients:
Cheesecake flavored pudding
1 1/2 C skim milk
1 Regular size tub Coolwhip (I like lite)
1C of fresh sliced strawberries
1 Graham cracker (Or nilla) Pie crust

In mixer combine pudding and milk until fully mixed. Add 1/2 the tub of Coolwhip (Save the other 1/2 for later.) Mix until well mixed! Pour into pie crust, stick in fridge or freezer. (Doesn't matter it's only a few minutes) clean out mixing bowl and throw in the fresh strawberries (YUM) and the rest of the coolwhip. Mix until coolwhip is pink and combined will. DON'T MIX TOO LONG YOU WANT COOLWHIP TO STAY FLUFFY! Take out pie and add the topping. Place in freezer for 8 minutes until firm but not frozen, and enjoy!!! If you have leftovers to save place i in the freezer so the next time you enjoy it it's a frozen delicious pie.

Zesty Steak Burger

So here is something that gets away from my obsession with spice and peppers well sort of. I still add hot sauce to mine afterwards just because I am an addict. We went to the store and looked around and could not figure out what we wanted to cook. There was a guy at the meat counter who asked the butcher if he could get some of the fresh top sirloin tender steak ground for tartare. It got me thinking get some of that same meat for a burger and add my own twist. With the inspirations that Mandi is always great at providing I put together this very delicious steak burger.

Please note that the reason why I say do not overcook the sweet potato fries is apparent, I slightly burned a few, but miraculously they still tasted great! But look at that burger it looks mouth watering!

Ingredients:

1 lbs Ground top sirloin tender steak ( I prefer grassfed beef over grain fed)
1/2 sweet onion in strips
Colby Jack Cheese
Green leaf lettuce
French style hamburger buns ( do not use the cheap ones you get at the family cookout)
1 bag frozen sweet potato fries unless you are willing to make them fresh, in our case we did not feel like peeling and cutting sweet potato.
Powdered garlic to taste
Fresh white peppercorn to taste
1/2 tsp fresh ground cumin
Sea Salt to taste
Sriracha hot sauce for spice if you want it like me, because it is the best hot sauce to go with just about anything!

Step 1
Mix ground steak with spices and cheese. Make sure you get a marbled effect with the cheese. Prepare patties and make sure you put an indent on the top of the burger.

Step 2
Caramelize the sweet onion in butter until golden

Step 3
Get your lettuce ready, put the patties on the heat, and put fries in the oven

Step 4
Cook the patties where you like them, raw, pink, slightly pink, or all the way. be sure to cover the pan with a lid it helps to cook the meat faster and melts the cheese all the way inside the meat. Do not forget about the fries, since they are sweet potato they will burn faster as the sugar content is higher. Toast your bun or have it cold. Place the patties on the buns, add the onions, lettuce, fries to your favorite plate and eat up. It is simple, delicious and oh so good!

4 Roasted Pepper Chicken Wrap

Onions in Picture not Finished

Ingredients:

4 Anaheim Peppers
4 Poblano Peppers
4 Red Bell Peppers
1-2 Jalapeno Peppers depending on spice level
3 Diced Garlic Cloves
2 Tbsp Sea Salt
1/2 Diced Sweet Onion
Large flour tortillas
Sour Cream
Home Made Salsa found on this page
1 Avocado mashed
Sharp Cheddar
1-2 lbs Chicken Breast
1-2 Tbsp Butter

Step 1
Roast your peppers either on a grill or in the oven (450 degree oven). Coat all peppers with some cooking oil spray. When roasting you must pay attention until done or you will over cook them. You want to have a very dark brown coloration on the outside of the pepper. The skin should bubble and start to separate from the pepper. Turn often to make sure all sides are cooked evenly. Set aside and let cool, peal skins from the pepper. Chopped peppers and place in a bowl, add diced garlic. Add the sea salt.

Step 2
Take diced or in strips sweet onion and caramelize in butter. Make sure to golden none should be brown or you will get a burnt taste. Add to peppers

Step 3
Sauté sliced chicken in olive oil until almost done, add peppers and finish cooking. After the chicken is done set this with a lid for 5-6 minutes.

Step 4
While chicken and peppers are sitting, either use the home made salsa recipe on here, or a good store bought kind. Mix with sour cream and set in frig until ready to use.

Step 5
Either hot or cold place tortilla on plate, add avocado, salsa mix, sharp cheddar, and chicken with peppers, wrap up and enjoy!