Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 3 italian chicken sausage links with casing removed
• half of a red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup asiago/ parm cheese, grated
• 10 button mushroom heads
• olive oil to drizzle

Directions:

• Drizzle saute pan with olive oil and heat to medium
• Add in onion, garlic, pepper and sausage.
• Break up the sausage as it cooks and browns
• Once the sausage is cooked through, add the bread crumbs and cheese and break up the sausage so there are no large chunks
• Allow to cool and heat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Form the mixture into a ball about 1 inch sized and place into each mushroom cavity.
• Bake the filled the mushrooms on a cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes until browned.

Turkey and biscuits

So instead of chicken and dumplings I used turkey (since I had it frozen from Thanksgiving) and I made scallion biscuits instead of dumplings.  Recipe after photo...

For the Biscuits
Ingredients:

• 1 c wheat flour
• 1 c unbleached white flour
• 1 8oz container light sour cream
• 4 tbsp butter, cubed
• pinch of salt
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 1/4 c milk
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Mix all the dry ingredients first then add stir in the wet ingredients.  I break up the butter a bit with my hands and bring the dough together.  Heat the over to 425 degrees and use your hand to flatten the dough on the counter.  I flattened it to about an inch and cut about 12 squares (you can cut them as small or large as you wish).  Place them on a un-greased non stick cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

For the turkey and gravy part I used a recipe from Tyler Florence, which is amazing.  I left out the heavy cream of course! And it was still delicious.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-and-dumplings-recipe/index.html

Jambalaya Style Risotto

We had this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious I had to share it ASAP.  

Ingredients:

• 1 link of Chorizo or Andouille sausage
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• half of a red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp chile pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 pinch saffron
• 2/3 cup Arborio rice
• 1 cup shrimp, chopped into large pieces

Directions:

1. Remove the sausage from its casing and saute it in a pan heated to medium heat.  Break it up as it browns. After 5 minutes, remove some of the grease from the pan with a paper towel, then add the peppers, onion and garlic.  Saute for 5 minutes more.

2. Add the rice and saute for 2-3 minutes to brown it a bit.  Now add vegetable stock to almost cover the rice and stir in the spices and saffron.

3.  When the rice looks dry, add more liquid and stir.  Do this for 10 minutes and then toss in the shrimp.

4. The risotto should take about 25 minutes to cook, but taste along the way to make sure.  You might not use all of the 4 cups of vegetable stock.

It's simple and so good!

Asian Pork Dumplings

These taste better than a restaurant, so much so that it made me come back from hiatus!  These are for a day you have some time to cook but are easy.  This recipe made 36 dumplings.

Ingredients:

• Wonton wrappers
• 1 lb ground lean pork
• 1 cup chopped kale
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 rounded cup of chopped mushrooms (cremini)- about 10
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• half of a small red onion, chopped finely
• soy sauce/Tamari (I added it in dashes not measured out)
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• Glass of water (to fuse edges of wrappers)

Directions

1. Saute the mushrooms on medium heat until they release some water, add kale and spinach.  Cook until the greens wilt.  Add 3 dashes of soy sauce and garlic, cook for a minute or so until you smell the garlic.

2. In a bowl, add the ground pork and mix in ginger, red pepper flakes, 3-5 additonal dashes of soy sauce, onion and cooked mushroom mixture.  Mix well.

3.  Lay out a wonton wrapper, add a heaping tsp of the pork mixture and lightly line the edges with water (I just used my finger).  Pinch the sides together so it makes a triangle.

4.  Fill a pot with boiling water and place a colander on top so steam can get through.  Place 6 dumplings at a time in the colander and cover with a lid that will seal it.  Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the wrappers appear clear.

5.  Once all dumplings have been steamed, heat a pan on medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil and saute each side of the dumpling until they are golden brown.  It takes about 2 minutes per side.

I served them with a sweet chile dipping sauce!

Orzo with feta

Ingredients:
1/2 cup orzo
3/4 cup vegetable stock
1 zucchini, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup feta cheese

Start by boiling the vegetable stock in a small pot, add the orzo and cover.  Cook the orzo for 10-15 minutes, until it is cooked through.  You may need to add bit more liquid (water or stock) if it gets too dry before it's finished cooking, just check it periodically.  Heat a pan to medium heat and add the vegetables.  Saute them for about 10 minutes until they are soft.  Mix the vegetables into the orzo and add the feta cheese.  I served this with bacon wrapped shrimp!

BBQ Pulled Pork

It's such an easy, delicious winter dinner.  I used a crock pot to cook the pork but you can use a pot with a lid.

Ingredients:

Pork roast (I bought a random affordable cut of pork, I think the butt, it weighed about 1.5 pounds)

3 cloves of garlic

1 red onion

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups water

Cooking oil spray

Salt and pepper

1/4-1/2 cup of you favorite BBQ sauce (I love Bullseye original)

Start by heating a pan to medium heat sprayed with cooking oil spray.  Season the pork with salt and pepper and sear the meat on each side for about 3 minutes or until it is browned.  Set aside.  Chop the onion and garlic (It can be any size since its purpose is to flavor the cooking liquid) and add it to the crock pot.  Pour in the water and vegetable stock, then add the pork.  Set the heat/timing for 6 hours.  In a pot with a lid, cook on low for 2-3 hours, until the meat is falling apart.  When it is ready, shred the pork into chunky shreds and add to a saute pan.  Discard any fat left in the meat.  Saute the meat with the BBQ sauce on medium heat, stirring periodically, for about 10 minutes so the sauce coats the pork.  I served in a toasted bun.