Lasghetti

Tonight was one of those nights where I didn't know what I was gonna cook and I'm pretty sure a new dish out of forced creativity was made!

Due to daddy working until 8pm or later, us all having the flu....needless to say I have not been to the store (or finished my Christmas shopping)...etc. lezzzbe honest I'm just trying to keep my sanity people! Being home 24-7 while you're sick, taking care of two sick very needy kiddos on your own is exhausting. It's practically a miracle supper gets made!

So tonight I took a lb of ground sirloin out the freezer and figured I could make spaghetti (didn't realize I didn't have any noodles until after I made the sauce...only noodles I had were no boil lasagna noodles...hence lasghetti was born)

I didn't take pics when I was cooking bc obviously was planning on this being that great of a meal!

So here's the recipe

Lasghetti

Sautéed onion, celery, bell pepper and carrots in olive oil. Pressed 4 garlics, once they were softened, added cherry tomatoes, let them cook down and smashed them. Season with salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, red pepper, oregano and basil. 

Added 1lb of ground sirloin.

Let it brown.

Add 1lg 20oz can of crushed tomatoes. Reseason and add fresh basil if you have it.

Let sauce cook for a good hour...

Then this is where I got creative.

I realized..oh crap where are those spaghetti noodles...I have 1/4 bag of penne..but the girls don't eat penne that great...I need them to eat good...ohh I have a box of no boil lasagna noodles, could that work? Well let's try!

(Hope you enjoyed my thought process)

So I broke up the lasagna noodles a bit, spread them around in the sauce, added some milk (prob 1cup) for creaminess and a lot of Parmesan cheese!

Mixed it all up real good. Then put the whole pot in the oven uncovered at 350 for about 35 -45 mins 

This is what it looked like!

It was a big hit!

A new dish was made on a night when I thought it was gonna be a disaster!

My husband just got home from work and is currently on his third bowl!

And Lord help me get to the store tomorrow bc we literally have nOthing left to eat!

Garlic Meyer Lemon Chicken

Well we aren't 100% over the flu yet but we are over soup!!!!

I haven't had a chance to go to the store, so I had to make something with what I had.

Garlic Meyer lemon chicken

I took the bone in, skin on chicken breasts seasoned with Meyer lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons) and the zest of one, olive oil, salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, red pepper, oregano and basil. 

I also put about 10 garlic cloves around the baking dish too. Did you know garlic is a natural antibiotic?? 

Baked at 350 for about two hours.

 

Goes great with a  over mashed potatoes  or just by itself with a fresh salad! 

Enjoy!

Lebanese Cucumber Feta Salad

The flu has hit our house:(!

I currently have two pots of soup in my fridge to help nurse us back to health-my old fashion chicken noodle and Mexico City style soup. But sometimes some salty comfort food sounds good!

Last night I cooked an easy Lebanese style comfort food supper.

Broiled kibbees I had in the freezer (a post in itself to come later), homeade French fries, big bowl of radishes (me and Giuliana are obsessed with radishes) and the perfect salad to compliment- cucumber feta salad. It's so easy and simple yet so delish and satisfying- the key is quality ingredients!

Lebanese Cucumber Feta Salad

Sliced 4-5 small pickling cucumbers

1/2 red onion

Crumbled feta- this is where quality ingredients come in. This is a high quality- unpasteurized goat milk block of feta I bought from Phoenician(Lebanese grocery store here) that I sliced and crumbled in.

Fresh basil

Juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon-again Meyer lemon makes it extra good! These are sweet tart lemons that are simply delicious I eat them like oranges!

Tossed with a little Tonys and olive oil.

Simple, easy and sooo good!

My girls love it too bc they love cucumbers and feta cheese! Warms my heart that they love our Lebanese food! #raisinglebanesebabies #sitteeslegacy

Mexico City Soup

I love chicken soup at Mexican restaurants and many if times I think it's called Mexico City soup - if not then I just made it up! Ha! But this is my version:

Mexico City Soup

I start it the same way I start my chicken noodle soup-

Boiling a whole chicken with lots of garlic.

Season with salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, cinnamon and red pepper.

Then add

Chopped onion, celery and carrots

Let that boil for a good hour.

When chicken has fully cooked and made a good stock (at least one hour) take chicken out.

Then add the following

Chopped Roma tomatoes, zucchini, squash, Mexican squash and frozen corn.

Then add 1/2 cup of rice

Add back deboned chicken.

Cover, let simmer on med-low for about 45 mins to cook vegs and rice. 

I like to top it with pico, avocado and cheese.

I made a pico with avocado to top mine but I usually just but store bought pico 

My pico I made to top it 

The best parsley stem picker!

Enjoy!

Sunday Supper: Jambalya

Tonight's supper was Jambalya.

One of those dishes you can out what you want in it; once you learn the basic recipe you can alter to your liking. 

Start with sauteeing the holy trinity: onion, bell pepper, and celery. I also put carrots bc I have little carrot lovers in my house! Jalapeño is also good to add. 

Season with, salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper and red pepper.

Once your vegetables have softened add one link of andouille sausage that is thinly sliced 

Also add cut cubes of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Once your chicken has cooked through add tomatoes. I usually add 4 large tomatoes that I quarter but I only had cherry tomatoes so I used those.

Reseason. Cover and let this all cook. Tomatoes and all the vegetables will create a bit of a liquid and it should start to smell good. Smash the tomatoes while they are cooking. It will look something like this :

Then add your rice. You can put as much or little rice you want depending on how big a pot you want to make. 

Just remember double the chicken stock to how much rice.

I used 1 1/2 cups of rice, so then I added 3 cups of rice.

I covered the pot with a crack 

Cook until all the liquid has cooked out and then I turn it on low and fully cover it so it will steam and the rice won't be too mushy-about 15 mins. 

Bon apetite!

Stuffed Mischi, stuffed what ?

Stuffed Mischi (pronounced mishhee) if that makes sense. That's the Lebanese name for stuffed bell peppers, squash, eggplant. This was one of my favorite things growing up. 

You can stuff bell peppers, squash, little baby eggplants, Mexican squash...

You start by prepping your vegetables.

Tonight I did squash and peppers

To prep your squash you need to core out your squash. 

Cut the top of your squash off

Using a corer, core out the inside of your squash.

S

But don't throw it away, it's good squash!

Put it in a pot to cook 

This is what your squash looks like cored out.

Prep your bell peppers by cutting stem off and pulling out all the seeds and cartilidge(is that what it's called?).

Then prep your stuffing

Mix 1lb of meat

1/2 cup rice

1 can of rotel

Season with salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder, red pepper

Mix it together thoroughly adding a little water as you mix it to make it moist.

Then you simply stuff your squash and bell peppers

A little trick when stuffing- when your are putting the stuffing in, tap your squash or bell pepper so that the stuffing packs in nice and good....that's my sittees secret!

Then place all your stuffed vegetables in a pot. Add 2 cans of tomato sauce and 1 can of tomato paste and then add water to it so that it covers all the vegetables.

Season your sauce with salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper, basil and oregano. 

Bring up to a boil, then let simmer for a good 2 hrs. 

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween: Chilli night

Chilli just seems to be the standard Halloween supper, right?

Tonight we are making my dads 3meat, 3bean chilli!

Start off by sauteeing onion, bell pepper, celery and jalapeño (I only used 1 so it's not too hot for the girls)

Then add 1lb of ground beef, veal and pork. 

Brown those so it's cooked through

Season with salt, garlic powder, red pepper, paprika and chilli powder.

Then add 1 can of black, pinto and kidney beans 

And 2 cans of whole tomatoes that I crushed by hand while putting into the pot

Then stir really well and reseason

Let it cook on a simmer for 3 hrs...

This is currently on my stove for tonight's Halloween!

I like to serve it with cornbread, Fritos, rice, sliced avocados and shredded cheese. Put it all out and let everybody build their own bowl!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Chicken Cacciatore

Being the one who does the grocery shopping and cooking means I also always make the decision of what we are eating. I'm always asking Jerry what he wants for dinner and he never gives me a real answer...which is frustrating but this morning he actually gave me a straight answer...chicken cacciatore! Ok awesome! Hadn't cooked that in a while...good call

So here's my version

Browned chicken breasts seasoned with salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder, red pepper, oregano and basil in a little bit of olive oil.

Then added 

Celery, bell peppers, carrots and onions

Let those cook down 

Then added cherry tomatoes 

Once the vegetables were all cooked down

I added

This box of tomatoes

Stirred and seasoned again with same seasonings then just let it simmer for 2 hrs.

Served it over cappellini pasta (we just like it better than spaghetti, it's very thin)

Bon apetite!

What, it's not chicken?

Lezzzz be honest...I cook a lot of chicken! Probably 99% of my recipes have been chicken...

So how about some Beef???

This is what I came up with tonight...

Started with a flank steak that I cut in chunks

Seasoned with a little olive oil as it started to brown, then added lemon juice, Worsteshire, salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and red pepper. 

I let the meat cook for about 20 mins then added

1green pepper, 1onion and 3 carrots

Seasoned again with same seasoning 

Then covered and let cook for two hours

I served this over rice (of course) but it would also be very good over mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower!

The meat falls apart!

Yummy fall supper!

Don't know what to cook?

In a food rut? Don't know what to cook. 

I feel like this all the time!

Well Jerry and I were in cabo the past five days and today is my first day home and getting things back in order. We had ballet and other fun stuff so getting to the store isn't going to happen until later. 

And this is what my frige looks like

EMPTY!

So I'm making the most of what I have. Momma always taught me, pull something together with what you've got. And you know what...sometimes our fav meals have been discovered from these times! My caprese pasta salad (Jerry's absolute fav) came from one of these nights!

So here is my make something from nothing recipe for today. 

I pulled the last three chicken breasts out of my freezer. Seasoned with olive oil, little lemon juice, salt, red pepper, garlic powder, oregano and basil

Then one chicken was cooked through

Then added the only veggies I had

1 zucchini, 2 small squash and a couple of sweet pepper

Also the last if some cherry tomatoes

Through it all in the pot

Let it cook, smashed some of the tomatoes 

Then added quinoa penne pasta

Hopefully this gives you some inspiration to dig in your pantry and fridge and make something up using what you got!!! You might make up a new fav recipe!

Sunday Supper: Chicken Stew

Slight crispness in the air, something warm and hearty on the stove.... It's fall! 

Waking up to a chilly rainy day put me in the mood to make a pot of chicken stew for supper.

Start by browning your chicken( turkey also works well) 

I used chicken thighs 

I just cut them in chunks and browned them in a little olive oil and seasoned with salt, garlic powder and red pepper.

Once it was browned I took the chicken out and put it to the side for later

Then I added a stick of butter to the drippings in the pan and let it melt

Then I added flour until it made a thick paste to make my roux 

Cook on medium heat and continually stir your roux

Cook until a golden brown. You can cook it and brown it more if you like. Since I'm doing a stew I did a golden brown. This takes a while and you need to stir it constantly so have patience! Gumbo you continue to cook it until it is dark dark brown.

Then I added chopped onions, celery and carrots

Then I added 2 boxes of chicken stock and added the chicken back.

Stirred really well esp bottom of the pot

Seasoned with salt, red pepper, garlic powder and brought up to a boil, then turned it down to medium low and let simmer for 2 hrs.

At the end I added half a bag of frozen peas. 

I served it over rice of course!

Enjoy!