Pineapple Makes Everything Better

I wish I had a pineapple plant in my backyard. Yep, it's a plant. I am obsessed with it. Seriously can't think of one thing that wouldn't taste good if it had pineapple in it. And please never buy it in a can, unless you enjoy metallic, corn syrupy, yellow mush. Sweet, sour, spicy, savory...it can be anything you want.  Grilled, chopped,  sprinkled on anything. My favorite way to eat it is on pizza. With bacon. I ate it pretty much everyday in Hawaii. When I came back, I needed it on everything. I miss Hawaii.

Look for a pineapple that has even coloring

One of my favorite summer salads has pineapple in it. It's not quite summer yet, but I am in the mood for pineapple all the time. You can actually serve this salad with just about anything. Over steak, on top of a piece of fish, as a side dish with some tortilla chips, lettuce wraps or all by itself. And it's just stupid easy to make...

Black Bean Summer Salad

Serves 4-6 people

• One can of Black Beans...I don't have the patience for soaking them 
• 1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper (I think I used about 1/2 of a whole pepper)
• 1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 2 TBS olive oil
• juice of one whole lime
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 of a jalapeno, finely diced
• 2 TBS fresh cilantro (I made the mistake of buying it dried once because I absolutely love this herb but can never finish a whole bunch and it doesn't freeze well...it was a complete waste because it has no flavor whatsoever. Now I just come up with stuff to make just to use it all up. Not such a bad thing!)

Drain your beans really well. In a large bowl, throw in your beans, onions, peppers, jalapenos and cilantro.  *A good tip to chop your cilantro is to take the back of the knife you just used to mince your garlic and "scrape" off the leaves.  Once you have a good pile, scrunch it all together and chop away.
Combine your olive oil, lime juice, salt and garlic. 

Pour on top of the bean mixture.

You should really let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours so all the flavors really soak in. I would recommend adding the pinepple shortly before you are ready to serve it. That way the pineapple stays nice and firm and juicy.

Enjoy because it won't last very long!
 

You're Welcome.

Chinese...No Take out Necesary

I have a love/hate relationship with Chinese food. I love love love to eat it. I hate the feeling after I've only been able to finish half of my container full of General Tso's Chicken and remain planted on the couch the remainder of the night. I love opening the fridge the next day, knowing my leftovers are there so I can eat the rest... and feel like shit all over again.  My solution was to make Thai food. Check out my Coconut Curry Chicken. My last bout with that didn't go so well considering I had to throw away an entire dinner due to overcooked rice noodles. I'm a rule breaker and extremely impatient so this is the result of cutting corners. I'm slowly learning my lesson. I tried to salvage it by adding my freshly cooked veggies and peanut sauce. We couldn't get past the slurpy gooey texture. This one went in the garbage.

This week is my husband's birthday so I figured I'd make him something he really loves to eat.  I don't believe he ever had Chinese food before he met me. I had him eat it once...he was hooked. I found a recipe from i heart naptime. Why didn't I name my blog that?!  Naptime is my favorite. I've made this recipe before and it came out awesome. We will probably never order Chinese again...unless I really want an eggroll which would go perfectly with this, and only partially make me feel like crap. I had to alter it due to our addiction to any and all things spicy. I'm not really even sure what to call this. It's sweet, sour, spicy and salty and super easy!

Sweet 'n Sour n' Spicy Sesame Chicken
Serves 4

• Two large chicken breasts
  
• 2 tbs cornstarch
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• some squirts of Siracha
• 1 tbs of rice vinegar
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• dash of red pepper flakes
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• oil for frying

Cut up your chicken into small pieces, about the size of a half dollar.  In a bowl, toss your chicken, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper and cornstarch.

Heat up a small amount of oil in a pan, about 1/4 inch. I used vegetable but sesame would be awesome.

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs. When the oil is hot enough, coat your chicken in the egg then drop carefully in the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side. You are only frying them quickly just to get a crunchy outside. They will finish up in the oven. Have a pan ready with a paper towel on it to soak up an excess grease. I worked in batches.

When your chicken is done frying, put it on a foil lined pan and bake for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make your sauce.
 
In a bowl, combine ketchup, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Siracha, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, minced garlic and brown sugar. This sounded so unbelievably gross to me the first time I read this because I hate ketchup, but it does work really well. I would love to try it with chili sauce though.

After the chicken has been in the oven for about 20 minutes, take it out and toss with your sauce. Throw it back in the oven for about another 15 minutes while you cook your rice and veggies.
I serve over brown rice and broccoli.

Tomorrow I will open my fridge and eat my leftovers and my stomach will feel happy.


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Three Meals, One Meat

Steak tips. Try them. They're from the part of a cow not really exercised which results in the moistest, juiciest most succulent piece of meat....especially marinated for several hours.  If you don't typically like steak because of its texture, you must at least try steak tips.  I came across The Butcher's Blog that had some great ideas and info on cooking steak.

Grilled is our favorite way to eat them... and mostly everything else. It literally takes about 8 minutes to cook these since they're not very thick. I throw them in a ziploc baggie in the morning with some marinade...usually some kind of teriyaki sauce...and my husband grills them when it's time for dinner while I prep the sides...grilled sweet potatoes and crispy asparagus fries.

 We had a bunch of steak tips to cook and as delicious as they were, we couldn't eat them all. I ate all the potatoes and veggies so I had to do something else with the steak. My husband is not a big fan of leftovers.

This is an attachment from my Cuisinart emulsion blender
 that I use ALL the time

Between all the grilled cheeses I figured we needed a nice salad. In my fridge, I had fresh cilantro, lime and avocado. This has to be one of my absolute favorite food combinations. If it was an ice cream flavor, I'd eat it. I pureed this with some fresh garlic, olive oil, fresh pepper relish made from my garden and a little bit of water to smooth it out. That's it. Drizzle it over some romaine, red onion, and tomatoes with last night's teriyaki steak tips...you have a brand new meal. My husband loved it and even took it for lunch the next day. So fresh and so clean!

Even after the salad we still had some steak left. I had some cherry tomatoes left in my fridge that were a little wrinkly...definitely not ones that would pop nicely in your mouth. I could never throw them away, so I made a sort of pico de gallo with them using fresh jalapenos, red onion, lime juice, olive oil and fresh garlic.  I also had some avocado dressing left and always have black beans. We used to be huge fans of refried beans but I switched over to black beans and will never go back. They're healthier and much more appealing to look at.  Slice up some steak..I had some cooked chicken too left over from my grilled cheeses. Grab your Cholula, spicy cheeses, whole wheat tortillas, and some sour cream. Chow time.

 

You're Welcome.

Can't. Stop. Eating. This.

Warning: This is NOT by any means a healthy recipe but it does make excellent use of leftovers, not very expensive to make and overall god damn delicious. Please, stop yourself after two helpings to be sure you have enough for the next day, because you will shed some tears after it is all gone.

Who doesn't like a good ole' box of Kraft macaroni and cheese once in a while? Minus all the crap they put in it...I've graduated from that and moved on to the real deal with real ingredients and no artificial coloring or flavoring.

Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food and I like to feel comforted ALL the time.  The homemade mac and cheese I'm used to is my Noni's. She bakes it in the oven, adds lots of milk, uses American cheese and a variety of noodles, usually spaghetti and elbows. The best part is the few slices of cheese she puts on towards the very end that get all brown and crispy. We all usually fight over that part, in addition to the "coolie" end of the loaf of Italian bread.

A few years ago I began making my own mac and cheese, starting with a bechamel sauce then throwing it in the oven. I tried to make it a bit more "healthy" by adding broccoli or peas but it just took away from that comforting feeling I get in my belly when I eat a whole bowl of creamy, oozy, unable to move, deliciousness.

I started using my crock pot to make mac and cheese, after coming across a recipe for it, which I cannot remember from where.  It's quick and easy and requires the least amount of steps.  As incredible and easy as it was, it was missing that toasty almost burnt cheese on the top that I love from my Noni's.

I got home late the other night and had my heart set out on eating some crock pot mac and cheese but now I just didn't have the time. It usually takes about 3-4 hours on a low setting for everything to melt together. So I figured I'd go back to the traditional way of putting it in the oven, solving my cheese crisp dilemma as well.  Have I mentioned that this recipe is for BUFFALO CHICKEN mac and cheese?!  We have a slight addiction to anything edible with the word "buffalo" in it.

We had cooked an entire little chicken on the grill the night before and had leftovers. Frank's Red Hot Sauce is always in our fridge. I knew I wanted to make mac and cheese soon, so the last time I went to the grocery store, I picked up a package of mixed cheese from the deli. They usually toss the "scraps" from the ends of different cheeses and sell it that way for only a few dollars. This is the secret to a good mac and cheese...lots of different cheeses.

I will try to do my best with the amounts since I tend not to measure so here we go....

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese
Serves 2...lol 
Ready to eat in.. not soon enough, but if you can wait 45 minutes, you will be very happy 

About 1 good size chicken breast, cooked and chopped

1 pound of elbow macaroni

What's left from our grilled chicken

2 1/2-3 cups of a variety of cheese (American, Cheddar, Monterrey, Swiss, Mozz, Provolone all work great)

2 cups of milk

1 egg (replaces the need for a the bechamel)

At least 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Original  (I add more when I'm ready to eat it)

1/2 stick of butter (cut into chunks for easy melting)

6 strips of  bacon

1/4 cup Ken's Blue Cheese Dressing (Ken's is the only blue cheese dressing)

!/2 stack of Ritz crackers, beaten with a rolling pin

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook you macaroni per directions. Don't forget to salt your water!

While the macaroni is cooking, cook your chicken. I usually do it in a pan. You could also cook your bacon in the same pan afterwards or vice versa if you want to give your chicken some extra bacony flavor. To see other ways to cook bacon check out my post, The Potatoes Have Eyes...

Combine your milk and egg.

In a bowl, throw in your chopped chicken, cheese, bacon crumbles, milk and egg mixture, butter and hot sauce.  When the pasta is drained, toss it right on top of the other ingredients in the bowl and combine until everything is incorporated.

Leftover chunks of cheese from the deli! Only $3.45

Put the ingredients in a large baking dish. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 25 minutes, stirring frequently making sure all the ingredients are fully doused in cheese and hot sauce. You may also notice you might need a little bit more milk if the pasta is too dry. Add some and stir.

After 25 minutes, drizzle on your blue cheese dressing and stir carefully. We wouldn't want any of this to get wasted on the bottom of the oven!  Last, sprinkle your crushed Ritz crackers on top.

Broil for about 2 minutes or until the top is nice and toasty!

If you want to try the crock pot version, I highly recommend it! All you would do is combine all the ingredients in your crock pot and cook it on a lower temp for just a few hours. Like I said, it's super easy and comes out great but lacks the texture of oven baked mac and cheese. I would not put crackers in top. They might just get a little mushy.

If for some strange reason you don't like buffalo sauce...I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't...you can omit it. You can even omit the bacon too and try to make it with veggies but as I also said, for me, it's just not the same. Sauteed onions would be a good addition as well.

When you want to reheat this either later that night for a snack or the next day for breakfast, pour a little bit more milk on it and probably some more hot sauce too. You can never have enough. It will make it nice and moist again.

You're Welcome.