Thirsty(ish) Thursday: Bloody Mary Tomatoes

This recipe needs to be made about 3-7 days in advance.

I ran out of time (after being out of town until 2 days in advance), so my recipe had only 24 hours to marinate.

People still loved it, so I can only imagine how much better these will be over time.

The recipe is here from Oprah.

My only notes is that A) I couldn't find pepper vodka, but I did find Absolut New Orleans, which worked just as well, I imagine. (And it helps a good cause, so bonus!)

B) I didn't have a lot of patience for poking holes in the tomatoes (big surprise), so I took one of those double pronged corn cob holders and ran it completely through each tomato, twice.  It was the most time consuming (active) portion of this recipe.

Not too shabby, I think!

Caprese Salad Skewers

 There's not much to a Caprese salad, but I wasn't in the mood for finding forks.  Luckily, I found this idea at Terri's Table!

All you need is fresh mozzarella, grape (or cherry) tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves for the skewers.

If your basil leaves are large enough, you can skewers them on either side of your tomato and mozzarella cube.  If not, make due the best you can.  If you've grown your own basil, it's easy to pick the right size, but when shopping at the market, you need to just go with the flow.  No biggie.  Make it the best you can.

When you're done, just lightly drizzle the skewers with olive oil and then balsamic vinegar.  Instant hit and easy to eat.

*Healthy* Stuffed Pepper Soup

Thank you, Pinterest, for introducing me to Skinnytaste!  This blogger has all kinds of healthy recipes, and most of them are feasible with limited ingredients so you really feel like a master chef while trying to keep yourself fed!

Amazing!!

Well, in any case, everyone seems to be pinning this recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup.  I couldn't resist trying it since I love stuffed peppers, but hate making them!

Ingredients - I tweaked them a little...

1 lb ground beef
2 small green bell peppers (chopped)
1 lg red and 1 lg yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1 cup finely diced onion
2-3 garlic cloves (diced/pressed)
2 (14.5 oz) cans of diced tomatoes
2 (8oz) cans of tomato sauce
1 box (32 oz) of low sodium chicken broth
Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste
3 cups of cooked rice (Jasmine for me, but there are healthier options, of course.  Almost used Quinoa...  almost!)

Desilu (left) and Schatzi (right) love when I work with bell peppers.  I always give them some of the oddly shaped dices since I don't like how odd they look. I know I'm weird, but the dogs definitely love the benefits of my cooking!

Basically, you brown the meat, add the onions, and garlic.  Then add in your peppers and cook it up until everything looks done (browned meat, al dente peppers, clear onions...).

 Add your sauce, tomatoes, broth and seasonings.

Let the soup simmer for at least 30 minutes.  I added a lot of broth because I added lots of peppers and probably a little more than a pound of meat.

I'm not a broth person, so I love condensing the soup down as much as possible.

I cooked the rice while simmering the soup.

You don't need the rice, but if you're like me and like a heartier soup, then it definitely helps.  I just served up the soup, added a heaping spoonful of rice, and stirred it up.

Also, as a side note, I barely salted the soup because I knew I was salting the rice water and didn't want to double dip on the saltiness.  I'm not much of a salt person, but it's healthier that way, anyway!

One bowl is enough!  This soup is so delicious, you'll be tempted for more, but it's filling, so it's all good!

Quinoa con Queso

Holy time-suck, Batman!  I have fallen in love, and you might just reap the benefits of it.  My new obsession love?  Pinterest!  Pinterest itself is not a new idea, it's just taking the bookmarks I have in my favorites and putting them on a visual board for me (and my friends) to enjoy.  However, it has re-sparked my love of reading different blogs to look for new ideas for crafts, recipes, and inspirations in life.  It's also fun to peek into the heads of others to see what their bookmarked favorites may be.  Sure, Pinterest is getting to be old news now that almost everyone is there, but the more that join and play with it, the more fun it is becoming.

To keep this story short (too late!), one of my fabulous friends posted a recipe for Quinoa con Queso, and since we love to buy the 5lb bags at Costco, I figured this might be the perfect recipe!

 First of all, I only kind of followed the recipe.  I mean, I did, but if you look at the picture on the recipe link above, you'll see that my final picture looks nothing like it, so here was my recipe (and this was doubled for left overs).

Quinoa con Queso Ingredients
2 C of Quinoa
4 C Water
1 T Olive Oil
2 T Butter
1 Large Chopped Onion
2 tsp Pressed Garlic
4 Diced Bell Peppers
4 Diced White Chili Peppers
4 C Chopped Zucchini
4 T Tomato Paste (mine is far more red than the original recipe's photo!)
4 Roma Tomatoes (seeded and diced)
Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Italian Herb mix (I was out of Oregano)
10 oz of Queso Fresco diced
1 1/2 C milk



Directions:  This was SO SIMPLE, I'm definitely making it again!
1. Make the Quinoa according to the package (boil water, simmer, set - same as rice)
2. Take your big pan/pot and melt the olive oil/butter.  Add in your onion and cook until about halfway to clear.  Add garlic (for about a minute), then add your peppers and work them all until close to tender.  Then, add your zucchini, tomato paste, and tomatoes, and let the mixture cook down a bit.
3.  Next up, add your seasonings.  Once everything is tender and ready to go, add your cheese.  Our chicken wasn't quite ready, so the cheese was more melty than cubed, but I dug it that way.
4. Before serving, warm the milk and add it to your quinoa.  This finishes it off with a slightly creamy texture that compliments the cheesy warmth of the "con queso."

Sorry it's a bit blurry, but it was incredible just the same!

Brunch Squares

Any recipe that starts with bacon must be amazing!

Okay, today is another trip down to the brunch-tastic vault.  I can’t help that I’m not always original, but I can help that what I choose to place on my table is delicious, and almost always a crowd pleaser!  Today, we’re also looking at a Pampered Chef recipe for Brunch Squares.  No worries if you can’t read a pdf file, I’m here to give it away for free!

First off, of course, The Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 cups (8 ounces) grated Colby & Monterey Jack cheese blend, divided

1 package (22.5 ounces) frozen hash brown patties, thawed (10 patties)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

12 eggs

½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper (plus more, optionally)

  8 ounces thickly sliced deli ham (or 1 lb of bacon, cooked and diced)

 4-5 green onions with tops, divided (1 cup sliced)

 3 plum tomatoes (seeded and diced)

First, brush your stoneware bar pan with olive oil to ensure that it’s well seasoned.  You’d hate to have any of this stick behind while serving it up.  Next, crumble your hash brown patties into a single layer on the bottom of the pan.  Usually, I’m a wimp and my fingers freeze during this process, so I dice them with a handy dandy knife and then press them down once they’re in the pan.  Next, top with half of the required cheese; I buy pre-shredded cheese, but you could just grate your own, too.  Bake at 450 for 13-15 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the cheese is melted.

While that’s baking, whip the cream cheese until smooth, then gradually add in the eggs, and black pepper, whisking until smooth again.  I use a hand mixer to speed up the process, but it’s your call.  Then, add in ¾ C of your sliced green onions and your bacon (or ham) to the mixture.  It’s only there for a minute or two, so no worries, I promise.

When the hash browns are ready, remove from oven and let them cool while you’re finishing prepping.  If you’re ready, then go ahead and add your egg/cheese/bacon/onion mix on top.  Use a spatula to make sure everything is evenly spread, and then pop the tray back into the oven for 6-8 minutes.  This time, make sure the egg is set in the center and that the top looks like a cooked egg.  Sounds odd, but color helps!

Remove the pan, top with remaining green onions (1/4 cup), diced tomatoes, and cheese (4oz).  I then return it to the oven for about 2 minutes to heat through and melt the top layer of cheese.  Finally, remove it, cut it, and serve immediately.  Your guests will thank you for it.  While there is a bit of prep, and a lot of little steps to this recipe, it truly is easy, and so good.  It’s everything that makes a breakfast great, and you should give it a try when expecting a few for breakfast.  This makes 12 servings, but depending on your crowd, it’ll comfortably feed 8-10.

I'm not even a tomato fan and I find these delicious!!

Fall Bruschetta

Halloween Bruscetta - with orange tomatoes and black olives to help with your color scheme.  (No, these tomatoes don't taste any differently when you change the color.)  Make some crostini and enjoy!

Pasta?!? My triumphant return!!

I know it's been a month.  I'm so sorry, but I've left the teaching profession, started a new job as a Recreation Director for a  home owners association.  This means (occasionally) weird hours and (always) longer days, plus I'm still tutoring after work.  This basically equates to me cooking about once a month, Thomas cooking all the time, or lots more take out.  Sad, but true.  However, my garden is still producing, and I've had this recipe that I've been wanting to try, and what better way to jump back into blogging than pasta!

My Orecchiette with Spinach, Sausage & Tomatoes was my way back in, and by that point, Thomas was so excited to have me make dinner, ANY dinner, that he would gladly put up with the tomato based pasta sauce.

Now, my biggest objection to this recipe was the sausage.  I used half hot and half mild, but I had to take the casing off.  Yes, I know there are places where you can buy the sausage just ground without casing (it looks like ground beef), but I wasn't at one of those stores, so I had to get off de-case as soon as possible!

Thomas recommended that I cut off one end and squeeze it out like a tube of toothpaste.  Gross?  Definitely!  I lasted one link, and then decided to just make a slit up the side and let it drop out.  Much easier, much quicker, and a lot less...toothpaste-y. 

I was a bit worried about all the juice in here.  I didn't use any water, although I did use a veggie broth that we had in the house.  I also kept all of the tomato juice from the cans to add.  I'm sure I also used a bunch of Italian seasoning, too.  I didn't want my triumphant comeback to be bland.

Turns out the juice was enough, and I actually could have probably used a little more.  Everything cooked down nicely, and if I was more patient, it would have done even more so, but I didn't want the orechiette to get mushy.  Turned out amazing, and even better? The leftovers lasted all week and were equally delicious.  I was sad to run out of this, and my co-workers were all super jealous every time I ate it.  On a scale of ponies to unicorns, I'd give this recipe a solid pink elephant.

AMAZING!!  Oh, and I promise I have many more posts in the pipeline, I just have to find the time to post them.  Welcome back to the Pampered Jes, and dig in while you can!!

I feel like chicken tonight! Like Chicken Tonight!!

Yes, chicken is a common theme in these parts, but when it's cheap and easy - who could blame me?  I'm continuing on my trend of using my deep covered baker because it makes things so stinking easily, I can't resist!  So, without any real further ado, I bring you the Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco.

  I'm starting to use some of the tomatoes from my garden.

It's easy to tell the crazy looking homemade ones (with no fertilizer or pesticides) from the perfect ones from the store.  I have about 100 tomatoes that will be ripe in about a week, but for this recipe, I had to supplement.  I quickly diced them, threw them in the baker, and baked them with the garlic.

 Then I added the noodles and the other ingredients (except for the chicken and cheese) and threw the baker back into the microwave.

I ended up added the extra (extra large) chicken breast that was left over from my last baker round, and a whole cup of parmesan because we love our cheese!

Thomas loved it, but I would have loved to add some fresh garden zucchini, peppers, and maybe some more veggies!

Easy Chicken Fajitas!

It has come to pass, in my short decade or so of cooking, that if a recipe claims to be "easy," AKA, easy is part of the title, then I'm hooked.  I don't think I (necessarily) look for the easy way out of life, I just know that when it comes to my limitations, I don't want to spend my time making flop meals.  I'd rather make a meal that I'm almost guaranteed success in then to try one too difficult and fail spectacularly.



 
Hence, tonight's Easy Chicken Fajitas.  We make all sorts of wraps all the time, so I'm no stranger to the taco/fajita game.  I know what's going to tast great, and what I could probably skip on.  This recipe was easy enough, and it pretty much followed through on the way I normally make fajitas.  Since we had just about everything in the house, it was the winner winner chicken dinner of the night.  I can also say that I pretty much stuck to the recipe on this, although I also added some taco seasoning to the chicken for kick.

They say there's no wrong way to eat a Reese's.  I'd like to contend that there's no wrong way to build a wrap, just pile it on and enjoy!

A-side from the Obvious...

What the what?  I made a side dish?!?  Oh yeah!!  I found a recipe this week for Peperonata.

Thomas claims this dish is like ratatouille, but without the zucchini.  Since I've only seen the Disney movie, I have no basis for comparison.  There were no rats in the kitchen, I promise.  The other part about this recipe that surprised me was the tomatoes.  I'm not a fan, unless they're cooked, but I figured since the recipe calls for them diced, they would be negligible.  Sweetness.  I started with the tomatoes, since it's the part I dreaded most.  I used more huller (which is now part of the core and more), and this mess was actually a breeze.  I then used my nicer dicer to, well, dice them, and I was ready to roll!

Luckily, I still had some basil in the house from my crusty pasta, and I bought three packages of peppers (a red and a yellow per package), but I also had a pepper in the fridge that needed to be used, so there were a walloping seven peppers harmed in making this dish, in addition to the whole package of Roma tomatoes...

I followed the recipe pretty closely.  I only used half of an onion (I had already used the other half), and I used Italian seasoning mix instead of dried oregano.  Either way, it all worked out.  I had to upgrade the pan I was originally using, but I probably should have started with my stir-fry wok anyway.  The dish was easy to make, and Thomas worked on the grill and making the rice, so the night was a piece of cake for me!

Don't mind the screen, it's been very warm this week, and we needed the airflow.  No lights going in this household!  As you can see, Thomas grilled a whole chicken, made Jasmine rice (with some of my peperonata juice and tomato boullion), and I contributed the peppers.  I can't wait until my garden peppers are big enough so I can make this all out of my garden.  AWESOME!

"Spicy" Sausage and Pepper Penne

Hey, remember that one time I claimed that we could never be an Italian food blog?  Okay, well that still holds true, however that doesn't mean that once (or so) a month I won't be cooking a nice red sauced Italian dish.  I may be all about marital compromise, but that doesn't mean I have to be a pushover.

That being said, I do choose strategic days for the type of foods I like.  Days where there may have been a company party, or a big lunch, or any other number of reasons where I'm more hungry than he.  Days like last Tuesday: a perfect day for pasta!


I chose the penne recipe because it looked cheap, easy, and tasty.  Fortunately, I was correct on all of the above - AND it even contained a meat that started out raw that I had to cook by myself.

Since the meal wasn't that complicated, I decided to buy some quality ingredients from the local farm stand, or from my own garden.  I also used whole wheat penne, mostly out of personal preference.  I used two cans of tomatoes (one fire roasted, and one with garlic and onion), an extra clove of garlic, and almost 6 oz of an Italian cheese blend, instead of just Parmesan.  Oh, and I used a sweet Italian sausage instead of a spicy turkey sausage.

Okay, maybe the recipe was just a suggestion, but my tweaks were amazing.  There were second servings all around, and there was still enough for four hearty lunch portions to be made.  I also baked up an Albertsons fresh garlic bread with mozzarella on top for the side.  I probably should have made a side salad, but the dinner played well just as it was.  Seriously, amazing.  I might have to add this to my standard rotation of meals that I like to make.  I know I choose recipes that sound like they will be good, but I'm always surprised when the meal actually exceeds expectations.