Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Have a great day and enjoy all the yummy food!

 

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Gooey Enchiladas

I saw this recipe in Parenting Magazine and put into my files, I’m glad I found it, because it’s just a different spin on enchiladas!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon of garlic

1 can (14.5) ounces of diced tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon of coriander

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1/2 teaspoon of oregano

Pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 pound ground turkey

1 can (15 ounces) of black beans, rinsed and drained

6 tortillas

1 1/4 cups of reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in pan. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute longer, but don’t allow garlic to brown. Add the tomatoes, coriander, cumin, oregano, and pepper; cook for a few minutes longer. The  sauce will be a bit chunky. Stir in cilantro.
2. Cook beef; drain fat and stir in beans. Warm the tortillas in the oven for about 5 minutes to make them easier to roll; remove. Spread 1/2 cup of cheese among tortillas. Fold over tortilla sides, place seam side down in the baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce on top and bake, uncovered for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle on remaining cheese and bake another 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

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Chicken Rollantini

We eat a lot of chicken in our house and it’s always nice to switch up some recipes! I was in the mood for something totally different, so I decided to throw together this recipe!

 

Ingredients:

2 thin sliced chicken breast halves

4 slices of deli smoked turkey

2 slices of provolone cheese

4 large basil leaves

2 toothpicks

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread chicken cutlets on a cutting board, make sure they are thin.
2. Place 2 slices of smoked turkey on each piece of chicken. Top each slice with one slice of provolone cheese and 2 basil leaves. Roll up chicken to enclose filing, folding any overlapping edges of turkey over cheese. Secure closed with toothpicks. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken rolls and brown on all sides, turning about 4 minutes. Place rolls to a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
4. Make sure you remove toothpicks before serving!

Enjoy!

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Chefs On Call

Did you know that Shop Rite has an awesome feature next week for Thanksgiving? It’s called Chef’s On Call.  You might be asking what it is. Well from this Sunday(November 21st) to Thanksgiving Day, Shop Rite’s Culinary Chef’s will be on there on the other end of the phone if you need any help in preparing your meal for your family! How awesome is that!

Maybe you forgot an ingredient for that special dish and the store is already closed, well one of the Chef’s will be able to help you.  Maybe you’re looking for a great recipe to make, one again the Chef’s will be there to help you!

Some of the featured Chef’s are:

• Monica Duncan, Somerset, NJ
• Gail Hinson, Philadelphia, PA
• Peter Day, Bound Brook, NJ
• Paul Taylor, Scotch Plains, NJ
• Harold Glassman, Staten Island, NY
• Fred Paparella, Morris Plains, NJ
• ShopRite’s Corporate Executive Chef, Faith Alahverdian, Delaware County, PA

I was able to meet Fred Paparella, and the Executive Chef Faith Alaverdian at the New York Food and Wine Festival!

So if you need any help in the next week preparing your meal, just call 1-800-Shoprite(1-800-746-7748) and ask to speak with the “chef on call.”

The hours are:
• Sunday 11/21 – 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Monday 11/22 – 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday 11/23 – 12 to 7:30 p.m.
• Wednesday 11/24 – 12 to 7:30 p.m.
• Thanksgiving Day, Thursday 11/25 – 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Pumpkin Risotto

I love pumpkin, how can’t you? I usually make a TON, I mean a TON of pumpkin recipes in the fall, but with having a newborn, I haven’t had as much time to do so! I did make some quick pumpkin bread last weekend and I plan on making my to drool for as my husband says pumpkin chocolate chip bread this weekend! Over the weekend we were watching something on TV and a pumpkin risotto came up, so I researched a couple of recipes and came up with a pretty basic recipe on my own.  I wasn’t sure what to pair it with, I was going to make a fish, but decided to do it with a pork chop and the combination worked well.

 

But back to the risotto, when I joined the blog panel for Shop Rite, they sent us all a huge package of goodies and one of those was a nice sized box of risotto! You can find this risotto in your local Shop Rite!

Ingredients:

1 cup of dry risotto

1 can of chicken broth

1/2 cup of white wine

Water

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Half of onion, diced

1 cup of pumpkin puree

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet, add the onion and cook till translucent. Add risotto and spread out so it’s even in the pan and cook till it also starts to turn translucent.
2. Add chicken broth and make sure it’s covering the risotto. Add water if it doesn’t.
3. Continue to simmer risotto, add pumpkin about 15 minutes into cooking, also add white wine at this time. You may need to add water every 10 minutes or so. You need to keep your eye on the risotto as the water cooks off fast. Make sure you taste it often as well.
4. Once you’ve tasted and it’s completely done, serve immediately and top with grated fresh parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

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Slow Cooker Corn and Crab Chowder

With the crisp cool air of fall finally coming to use, I decided I wanted to make some sort of chowder. I looked through my recipe box and found this one that I found in the Family Circle July 2010 issue.  It was quite yummy! I love crock pot meals, because you just get them all together and let them cook and give your house a yummy aroma!

Ingredients:

2 can (14.5 ounces) each of low sodium chicken broth

1/2 pound of potatoes , peeled and diced

1 cup of baby carrots

1 medium sized onion, chopped

2 ribs of celery, trimmed and diced

1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1/4 teaspoon of old bay seasoning

1 package of frozen corn

1 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced

1 can (12 ounces) of evaporated skim milk

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

1 container (8 ounces) of crab claw meat

Directions:

1. Combine chicken broth, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, thyme and old bag in a large oval slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
2. In a bowl stir together red pepper, evaporated milk, corn, cornstarch and salt. Uncover slow cooker and add in stir in red pepper mixture into slow cooker, replace cover and cook on either high or low for one hour.
3. Stir in crabmeat into soup and heat through. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

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Lighter General Tso’s Chicken

When the awesome folks at Shop Rite, picked me to be on their blog panel and invited me to the NYC Food and Wine Festival. I was able to meet the other bloggers that were chosen as well to be on the panel. One of them was Keeley, if you haven’t checked out her blog yet, check it out at My Life On  A Plate. But anyways, she was awesome and her husband was just as awesome as well! Both of them are super funny, such a cute couple!   Of course after the festival, I had to go home and check out everyone else’s food blogs, wait, what I am talking about, I checked out everyone’s food blogs while we were in NYC, haha! But really, I took a more in-depth look at them after we returned home.  I found this recipe on Keeley’s blog. I was excited to try it, because Chris isn’t a fan of Chinese take out and I love it! So if I want that type of cuisine, I have to cook it at home, for some reason the husband will eat it at home but not out! Plus I was able to get out my wok, which I absolutely love cooking in! This dish is great, it has just enough kick in it for me!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of  cornstarch
4 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons of ginger
2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of red-pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb. fresh green beans
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Fresh brown steamed rice for serving

Directions:

1. In medium bowl, add 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 1/2 c. cold water until smooth; set aside.’
2. Add garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, and red-pepper flakes. Toss to combine, and set aside.
3. In a work or large skillet, over medium heat, heat oils to almost smoking.
4. Meanwhile, season chicken pieces well with salt and pepper.
5. Stir pan to coat bottom with oil and add seasoned chicken pieces. Once bottom side cooks through, about 3 minutes, flip chicken pieces to cook other side.
6. Cook chicken until almost done, then toss in green beans. Cook for about 3 minutes until chicken is done and green beans are crisp-tender.
7. Turn to almost high heat, add cornstarch mixture and stir to combine well. Finish cooking, stirring constantly, until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened.
8. Remove from heat and serve on fresh steamed rice.

Enjoy!

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Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Linguine a la Picante

Kiley and I were out shopping most of the day and I didn’t plan on anything in particular for dinner that night, so I wanted something that was fairly quick and easy to put together. I remembered that I had some Pace Picante sauce that the awesome people at Foodbuzz had sent me awhile ago, with having Kiley I put up on the shelf and totally forgot about it until I cleaned out our pantry this week! I’m so glad I remembered it, because this dish was awesome. I wasn’t quite sure how it would taste. When I told Chris what I was doing, his response was, are you sure? Well, yes dear I am sure and guess what he was even surer!

Ingredients:

Linguine enough for four people

1 pound of ground turkey

2 jars of Pace Picante

A handful of cheddar cheese(shredded to throw on top)

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add pasta and cook to al dente.
2. In a large saucepan, cook the turkey meat, make sure it’s in crumbles.
3. Add the picante sauce and simmer for about ten minutes.
4. Drain pasta, place on plate and then top with meat mixture. Sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top.

Enjoy!

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Pork Chops with Roasted Veggies

Simple, easy and fast.  Three words describe this meal. Great for a busy week night meal!

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

1 bag of baby carrotts

2 tablespoon of olive oil

A pinch of salt and pepper

2 bone in pork chops

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 teaspoons of dijon mustard

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place veggies on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, mix to coat evenly. Roast for 25 minutes browned around the edges.
2. Heat frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels and sprine both side with some  salt and pepper. Place pork in pan and fry on both sides for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from pan.
3. Discoard remaining fat and return pan to medium heat. Add broth to skillet, boil 4 minutes. Return pork and nay juice to the pan and stir in heavy cream; cook another 4 minutes  or until its thick. Stir in mustard. Serve with veggies!

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Curried Shepard’s Pie

I found this recipe in the Woman’s Day December 2009 issue. I ripped it out and saved it, for a long time you can see, almost a year! You may be wondering why I waited so long to make, heck even I am! I like curry, ok, I kinda like curry. The husband always wants to make dishes with curry in them and I always cringe a tiny bit and say “nah, let’s use something else.” I must say after this recipe I don’t think I’ll ever shy away from using curry.  It has such a great taste to it and adds great flavor to dishes. While this isn’t you traditional Shepard’s pie with lamb, this turned out really good and is a great alternative.

 

Ingredients:

4-6 potatoes

1 pound ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

1 bag frozen mixed veggies

1 jar (15 ounces) of Patak’s curry cooking sauce

1 can (14.5 ounces) of diced tomatoes

1/3 cup of water

2 tablespoons each of butter and sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

Directions:

1. Peel and cook potatoes till they are soft. Mash them and set aside.
2. Heat oven broiler on high.
3. Heat large ovenproof non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add  ground turkey and onion; cook breaking up meat, 5 minutes or until browned. Stir in vegetables, curry sauce and tomatoes with their juices. Simmer, covered, 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
4. Add the remaining ingredients to mashed potatoes. Drop spoonfuls of mashed potatoes on top of meat mixture spreading to cover most of the top. Broil 5 to 10 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

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