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 :).