Braised Kale with Garlic and Tomatoes

I love greens. LOVE them. This probably stems from my childhood, when my grandma would cook dinner all the time, and we would have collard greens or kale at least once every two weeks. Tony had his first experience with kale recently when I made North African Stew. Needless to say, he wasn't really a big fan of the stew--just not his thing, I guess. He had eaten collards before, so kale as a side dish wasn't too big of a leap.

I tried this recipe as a side for Cajun pork loin, and the combination was excellent! The flavors really complemented one another. I had the idea to combine them from a terribly written (and I do mean terrible--typos galore) recipe found on the Food Network website, which I modified a bit to fit our taste.

Braised Kale with Garlic and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale, cleaned and chopped roughly, stalks removed
1 roma tomato, diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet on medium heat.

2. Add tomato, garlic and seasonings to the skillet, and allow the tomatoes to fully cook for about 5 minutes, stirring once every minute or so.

3. Add kale and broth, mix thoroughly and cover. Heat on medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, or until kale is dark green and tender.

See--how simple is this!?! It's a totally no hassle, extremely healthy side dish, and it takes no time at all if your veggies are pre-washed and already chopped!

Cajun Pork Loin Chops

I'm making a move to try and cook more frequently, while simultaneously using less pre-packaged foods to keep our grocery bill down, and to help us live a healthier lifestyle. For the past two weeks I've cooked at home every day during the week, which is a big deal.

The last time I cooked pork loin, dinner was less than tasty. In fact, it was downright disgusting. Ranch Shake 'n' Bake should not be used with pork. Ever. It's practically inedible. Shake 'n' Bake might be icky anyway, but add ranch flavoring to it, and you've got yourself a mess.

This recipe, however, has saved pork loin for me forever. This was moist, crispy and flavorful, definitely worth a try!

Cajun Pork Loin Chops

2 pork loin chops
2 Tbs Cajun Seasoning*
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil (or canola oil)
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 Tbs butter

*My Cajun seasoning involves a 1:1:1 mixture of cumin:chili powder:store bought creole seasoning. Probably the store bought seasoning would be fine, but we like spicy foods, so I added some kick.*

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.

2. Stir together 1 Tbs olive oil, salt and Cajun seasoning. Rub over all sides of rinsed and trimmed pork loin.

3. Sear pork loin for about 2-3 minutes in olive oil, until all sides are brown. Place on a baking sheet lightly greased with cooking spray. Cook at 350F for about 10-12 minutes, or until a instant read thermometer reaches about 160F in the thickest part of the meat.

4. Transfer to a room temperature cutting board and allow the meat to rest for about 5 minutes.

5. While the meat is resting, deglaze the frying pan with the chicken or veggie broth, add the butter and reduce. Spoon a little of this sauce over the pork loin for extra juiciness!

P.S. I can't actually take credit for the pictures this time, aside from my photoshop ability on the second photo--Tony helped me out by taking the photos for me!

Corn and Black Bean Salad

This recipe is an original. There are, apparently, many corn and black bean salad recipes out there, but when I was making this...I didn't check to reference even one of them.

I think becoming comfortable in cooking is marked by various steps, such as not giving a hoot about measuring cups (unless your baking of course, then the rules should be followed rather strictly) and not having a panic attack when you've added a little too much of something. Another step in being comfortable in the kitchen is being comfortable with spices, and combinations of flavors. I'm definitely not there yet, but this recipe does mark a change in my confidence in the kitchen.

Thursday night I made beef enchiladas, which were a big hit with Tony. I won't bother posting the recipe, because I made it from the Old El Paso can (can I get a "woo hoo" for eating something that had 3x the amount of salt a moose should intake?). Anyway, the salad I made on the side, which, humorously, Tony interpreted as salsa, not salad, was a little bit more healthy.

All in all, I would say it's a tasty, quick dish that would probably impress people, even though it literally takes about 2 minutes flat to prepare. On a side note, 1 minute of the two minutes was used to get the dang can opener to work. This actually could be used as a salsa, or a garnish (kind of like pico de gallo), I just wouldn't have really thought of it had I not seen Tony dive in with a chip :).

Corn and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
1 can of niblet corn, drained and rinsed thoroughly
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 tsp onion powder (or use 1 small, chopped onion)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 TBS Chili powder*
1 TBS Tabasco Chipolte Sauce*
1/2 tsp dried cilantro (or probably 1TBS fresh cilantro)
1/2 TBS concentrated lime juice (or juice from 1 lime)
ground black peper
salt

*We like our food SPICY! Add a little bit at a time and taste to get the appropriate amount of heat that you enjoy.*

Procedure:

1. Toss everything into a medium size bowl, and gently combine all ingredients.

2. Revel in the simplicity. Watch some TV and wait for dinner to finish baking.

3. Enjoy!

Happy Friday!

Stuffed Shells Florentine-EDITED!

Stuffed Shells Florentine

Sooo...apparently I didn't do a very good job of personalizing this post, which I will admit. Although, in my credit, I did write this very early on Tuesday morning, after Tony left for work, but before I got ready to go in for a long day.

I really enjoy making this dish--probably because it's so simple, and notably, cheap. Tony's mom sends us a bunch of goodies every now and then from a Mennonite store about 20 minutes from their house. When we visited I fell in love with the store, because they sell bulk items for cheap (basically, they just repackage them), and because they have a large selection of teas, which I love. They also sell my favorite brand of kitchen utensils, which I believe are also supplied from a Mennonite surplus store. At any rate, in the care packages she sends there is sometimes a bag of these shells. At first, I didn't really know what to do with them, then I found this recipe for stuffed shells Florentine, and the bag of shells found its calling.

This is one of Tony's favorites, and since I don't make it often, he's always pretty happy when this goes on the table. The coffee table. Please, I'm a graduate student. My dining room table is for storing stuff. Now, the coffee table--that's made for eatin' supper.

*Recipe for 2*

Ingredients:

1 cup cottage cheese (small curd) or ricotta cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2-3/4 cup of cooked spinach (either canned, frozen, or fresh)
8-10 Jumbo sized stuffing pasta shells
1.5 cups favorite pasta sauce

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, and coat a medium sized baking dish with cooking spray(a large lasagna pan works also for a larger recipe).

2. Heat appropriate amount of water to boil the shells, and bring to a rapid boil. Add the shells and cook until al dente, for about 9 minutes. Drain, and lightly coat with olive oil to prevent sticking.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the cottage cheese, Parmesan and spinach until mixed thoroughly.

4. Carefully (these shells can be hot!) stuff the shells full of the cheese mixture.

5. Coat the bottom of the baking pan with a thin layer of pasta sauce. Carefully place the shells in the pan. (I don't have a particular orientation I use, normally the stuffing is visible, though.)

6. Spoon on the rest of the pasta sauce on top of the shells and surrounding them, covering them thoroughly.

7. If you have any leftover Parmesan, sprinkle a little bit on top of the shells. Place the pan in the oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted.

Enjoy! I hope the edit added enough personality for ya'll :).

A Mirror with a Memory

You might as well hear it from me rather than someone else... ;)

A Mirror with a Memory

Lemon Blackberry Cake

Lemon Blackberry Cake

I love the toaster oven that my husband bought for me as a Christmas present. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it already, primarily because the things I normally bake are just for the two of us, and really don't require the entire oven. It's an excellent size for us, and it heats up SO quickly! I love it. The best part about the little oven is that it bakes exactly like a large oven, and it also has a "convection oven" feature that circulates the air and apparently cooks things much faster.

Anyway, here's my first baked item (aside from break and bake cookies) that I made in the toaster oven. Everything is done the same as if it were being cooked in a regular oven!

Ingredients:

2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2.5 tsp grated lemon zest (about one medium sized lemon)
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 c melted butter
1/2 c milk
1 c frozen blackberries (or any other fresh or frozen berry of your choice)
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Procedure:

0. Preheat oven to 350F

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and zest in a mixing bowl, and set aside.

2. Combine melted butter, eggs and milk and stir to combine.

3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined (don't overmix), the batter should not be smooth.

4. Add the berries and walnuts, mix until just blended.

5. Pour prepared batter into a 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan lightly coated with cooking spray.

6. Bake at 350F for about an hour and 15 minutes. Check the cake at an hour by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. It should look light-brown on the top as well.

Confession 1: I burnt mine a little bit. I was using the "convection oven" option on my toaster oven, and it cooks things much faster than the regular oven function.

Confession 2: I still ate it.

Enjoy!

Collard Greens

For as long as I can remember, my family has always eaten collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Years day. My granny always told me that it was supposed to bring financial happiness in the year to come, and that the collards were the "dollars" and the black-eyed peas were the "cents," and that if I didn't eat up, I'd get a paddlin'. 

This recipe for collard greens is directly from my mother, so it's going to be good. I made it this afternoon for Tony and me, along with black-eyed peas and Jiffy corn muffins. It was pretty awesome. No, I didn't have a meat main dish, but Tony didn't seem to notice. Or, he didn't say anything. He's pretty wonderful.

So, here is my mom's (Kaye's) recipe verbatim! Enjoy!

Collards
 

Ingredients:

1 bunch (1 to 2 lbs.) Collard leaves
Pam non-stick cooking spray
3 slices of fat back that is about 50:50 lean:fat (also called Streak-o-Lean) -- BEST
   (If you do not have fat back, you can use slices of bacon or ham for flavoring, but you will have to add some Oil if using ham.  If you don't have any of those either, you can try making it with 2-3 Tablespoons of melted butter or margarine.  Careful! Do NOT let the butter brown!)

Approximately 1 to 2 cups of Water
2 Carrots about 6" long each (adds sweetness)
1 pod HOT red pepper, or just a pinch of Red Pepper Flakes (adds a little "heat")
Salt and pepper to taste 

 

Procedure

Fresh collards are usually sold by the bunch. One bunch for two people should be enough. Look for bunches that have the smallest size dark green leaves, as these are the most tender and will not take as long to cook.  (However, at the end of the growing season they start cutting the entire top out of the plants instead of just breaking off the larger leaves at the bottom.  These "tops" will be a lighter green, since they have new shoots in the center, but that's OK, as they are tender and very good.)

 
Open the bunch and wash the leaves at least twice in a large pot of cold water to get rid of trapped dirt on the leaves.  Look carefully at both sides of each leaf on the last rinse, discarding any yellowed leaves and trimming away any portion of the leaves that are discolored or "dark" spots where they have been badly bruised and are starting to degrade.  Trim off the thick woody stem portion that has no leaves attached.

 

Lay the leaves flat, one on top of the other, until you have a stack 1/2" to 1" thick.  Then roll the stacked leaves into a tube (parallel to the main stem).  Slice the roll of leaves crosswise in 1/4" increments (called a rough CHIFFONADE), and set aside.  You will need the moisture, so leave on whatever water drops cling to them.

 
Spray the bottom of a large pot (a cast iron dutch oven is best) with PAM cooking spray.  Cook the 3 slices of fat back on medium heat in the pot until they are golden brown on both sides and crispy.  Drain these slices on a paper towel and set aside.  (If the fat back is TOO lean, you may have to add a little canola oil for them to sizzle in.)

 
Leave only about 2 Tablespoons of the rendered fat (oil) in the pot and turn up the heat to medium high.  When the oil is hot,  Pour the chopped collard leaves into the pot all at once. (The water on the leaves will make the oil "PoP," but if you put in a lot all at once, the grease won't splatter out on you!).   If they won't all fit at once, wait till the first batch has wilted down enough to add the rest.  Let them sit and saute in the fat for a minute or two, but do NOT let the leaves get brown.  Use TONGS to "turn" the collards over in clumps so that the other leaves have a chance to saute too. 

 
After the leaves have wilted down to about half the original volume, add enough water to just come to the top of the leaves, but not enough to cover them. Add the carrots and the hot pepper pod (or a few Red Pepper Flakes).

 
Once it all comes to a boil, cover the pot and turn the heat down to Medium Low.  Simmer until tender -- at least 30 minutes if they are very tender, but most will take 45-60 minutes.  After 30 minutes, add salt and pepper to TASTE -- DO TASTE it!  (If using Fat Back, remember it is salty and the rendered oil will be salty too.  So add a little salt, stir it in, cook for a couple of minutes more and taste again.)
 
What to do with the Fat Back?  Truly, the only reason you use it is for flavoring and generation of the rendered oil for sauteing the greens before adding any more water.  Some people just eat the Fat back as the meat entree (cooking more though if you actually need to FEED people).  Some cooks nibble on it while they cook!   Optional:  Before serving, you can chop up the slices of fried fat back (discarding the tough rind strip on one edge), and use this as a garnish on top of the dish right before serving,
 
The greens should be tender, tasty, nutritious and have a little "kick" from the hot red pepper.  Serve with corn bread, pork chops and a salad for a filling Southern meal.

***Isn't my mom great!?! She's much more thorough than me when giving instructions, and I have to say that they really came in handy for this recipe.

Here's a photo of our traditional southern New Year's day supper:

 Happy New Year, and thanks Mom!