MEATLESS MONDAY - Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pita Pizza

We have started doing Meatless Monday a few months ago. I can't lie...it's been a little rough. We are meat eaters in this family but our docs have told us to cut back on our red meat consumption and meat in general to give our bodies a break. I'm thinking, NO PROBLEM, how hard can it be, right? WRONG! If you're not used to a vegetarian diet, it's a little scary and frustrating coming up with main meals that make you feel full and satisfied. Well this pita pizza hit the spot. Not only was it delicious but it was probably the fastest meal I have ever made for dinner, no joke! I was in such a hurry to get my daughter to dance I bought the ingredients, ran in the door and had this on the table in 10 minutes. It was tasty, filling and easy...best COMBO ever when cooking dinner.

SPINACH ARTICHOKE PESTO PITA PIZZA

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Pesto

Can of artichokes hearts, roughly chopped

Fresh spinach

Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Freshly ground black pepper

I didn't include measurements because it's really all up to how much you like and how many family members you have to feed.

Spread pesto over the pita bread

Add the spinach, artichokes, and mozzarella and Parmesan.

Season with black pepper.

Place pitas on a baking sheet and stick under a preheated broiler for about 5 minutes or until your cheese is melted and the top starts to brown.

Your body and your heart will thank you for this meatless dish :)

I got this recipe off the Meatless Monday website. They have some great ideas...check it out: www.meatlessmonday.com

BLT Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing

This salad was so yummy and refreshing. Also quick and easy. You can pretty much put what you want in it. We love BLTs in this house and we love to add cheddar and avocado to them so I adjusted the salad to my taste. And the dressing...OH SO YUMMY!

Romaine Lettuce

Tomato

Bacon

Avocado

Cheese

Croutons

or whatever else you like

Salad Dressing: Recipe below

Avocado Ranch Dressing:

1 whole avocado

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

1 Tbl buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/8 tsp dried parsley

1/8 tsp dried dill weed

1/8 tsp onion powder

1 garlic clove, minced

Mash the avocado in a bowl. Add the mayo, sour cream, buttermilk and vinegar. Add the parsley, dill weed, onion powder and garlic. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

If your dressing is to thick you can add more vinegar or buttermilk to your liking.

Naan

I love naan, it's so light and delicious. Anytime we go to an Indian restaurant, we always ask for more naan. I decided to make naan because it had to be simple, right? Guess what? Not only was it simple, it's delicious and we can now have fresh naan anytime we want! Perfect with a salad, turn it into a pita or just drizzle melted butter on it. You'll love it!

Ingredients:

1 (.25 ounce) package of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm water

1/4 cup of sugar

3 T of milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons of salt

4 1/2 cups of bread flour

oil (I use olive oil)

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand for about 10 minutes or until the top of the yeast turns frothy. Stir in the sugar, milk, egg, salt and flour. On a dry surface, add flour and knead dough for a few minutes. Place dough ball into a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. I've made this dough at noon, and let it rise until 7 p.m., or you can just let it rise for an hour, makes no difference really.

Once the dough has risen, punch down the dough to release air. Pinch off small handfuls of the dough, about the size of a tennis ball and place back into oiled bowl, repeat until you have used all your dough and turned into small balls. Place wet towel over the bowl and let rise for another 15-30 minutes.

You can either use your bbq grill to cook these or your oven (I use a natural stone pizza slab to cook these at 500 degrees). Cook for 3 minutes and then flip for another 1 minute. They will puff up a bit.

Because we like burn marks on ours, I place our naan over our gas fire indoor grill and toast them up a bit. If you use your outdoor bbq, you can get great grill marks that way too.

Roasted Garlic Bulb

I love garlic, period. I decided to roast a few garlic cloves for Chicken Shawarma (recipe to come soon). It adds so much flavor to any dish, especially on sandwiches or pita bread. Mash up the cloves, add a little olive oil for a garlic spread for garlic bread. Easy and delish. Kissing optional after eating.

2-3 bulbs of garlic
olive oil
foil

Set temp at 400 degrees. While oven is warming up, cut off the top of each bulb and drizzle with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cover with foil and cook for 40-45 minutes. The garlic clove will pull away from the sides and you can remove it using your finger or a small fork.

Enjoy!

Crispy Bacon & Egg Fried Rice

My son loves fried rice - I hate spending $10 on a dinner size portion so I decided to make him some homemade fried rice with a tasty twist, BACON! Who doesn't love bacon? Two of my favorite things, rice and bacon.

This dish was a breeze and sooo good! Easy, tasty and back to basics!

Ingredients:

2-4 cups of cooked white rice (semi-cooled)

4 eggs

5 strips of diced bacon

2 T of veggie oil

soy sauce (I use the low sodium one)

sesame oil (you purchase this oil in the asian section of the grocery store)

black pepper

I also used a wok - of you don't have a wok, use a large frying pan

Directions:

Add oil and set heat on high, get the oil nice and hot and then add the bacon. Let the bacon cook in the oil until crispy. Add 4 eggs (make sure you scramble them before adding into the hot oil and bacon). Cook until all eggs are scrambled well. Add cooked rice and stir, make sure to blend up the bacon, egg and rice together. Now add soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Spinach, Artichoke with Feta (Served Hot or Cold)

Jaime and I were recently invited to Amber's baby shower for Rocco. Her sister, Chantel was the host and made this awesome spinach spread for crackers....I just had to have the recipe because it really is sooo tasty! I made this dish but forgot to purchase crackers so I decided instead of eating it cold (which was how it was served at Amber's baby shower for Rocco), I decided to bake it until bubbly and I am SO glad I did. Serve cold with crackers or bake as the best spinach/artichoke dip you will ever have! Thanks Chantel!

This is Amber, isn't she cute!?

This is Chantel sitting next to Jaime, she made this wonderful recipe that I just had to make!

1 package of frozen spinach (drain ALL water from spinach after it thaws)

3/4 cup of feta

1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Mix

2 teaspoons of galic

1 small jar of artichoke hearts (drain all liquids)

1 room temp block of cream cheese

I thawed the spinach in the microwave and then squeezed out all liquids with a cheese cloth.

Add your garlic to the spinach.

Add the Ranch mix powder.

Now add the artichoke (I diced my artichoke hearts up).

Add cream cheese, remember to make sure it's room temperature so it mixes easily.

Now add the crumbled Feta cheese to the mix.

Mix well, really well! If you want to serve it cold with crackers, mold it into a ball and place crackers around it. If you want it hot, bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!

Onions Rings

Hmmm, onions rings. This is not so much a recipe but more of a great dinner idea when you make for your favorite burgers. It's awesome even in your burger with pepper jack cheese and your favorite toppings. Easy and simple and I'm sure everyone in your family would truly love this!

Whenever I made onions rings, I get a sweet yellow onion and tempura mix not to be confused with planko.

Follow box instructions for the tempura.

Slice your onions into rings.

Add to batter.

Once coated, carefully add the battered onions into hot veggie oil.

Cook until golden brown. Enjoy!

Cheesy Spinach & Wild Rice Side Dish

Because I'm only 49 days into being a new mommy again, I'm still all about easy and quick meals. I made this dish to accompany our chicken and we fell in love....so in love, I made it again the next day, it's yummy. This is a perfect addition to chicken, steak or fish. It's creamy, light and fresh. This recipe comes from Hingham, MA - another east coast dish that I love!

Ingredients:

1 package of Uncle Bens Ready Rice - Long Grain and Wild Rice

4 oz. mushroom stems and pieces (drained)

1 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach

8 oz. cream cheese (cube the cream cheese)

3/4 cup of chopped onions

butter - 1 T

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tsp of mustard

Add the spinach (you don't have to thaw or drain - just add frozen into pan), onions, nutmeg, butter and mustard in a large pan over medium to high heat.

Stir and cook until well mixed.

Add small chunks of the cream cheese to the pan now.

Stir until well blended.

In an 8 x 8 layer the rice and the mushrooms over it.

Now add the mix from the stove over the rice and mushrooms.

This is what it looks like before going into the oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Bok Choy with Bacon

Anything with bacon is A-OK in my book. I really like bok choy and making it this way makes it even better. One of my favorite blog sites is Rookie Cookie and she just had a post where she talked about Pike Place Market. It made me remember a time we were there in Seattle. It was about 10 years ago. Scott and I were staying at a hotel that had a kitchen in the room. We went down to Pike Pike and bought two lobster tails and then went over to the butcher and bought a 1/2 lb of raw bacon pieces and then cruised over to the produce section and bought Bok Choy. (That place has everything!) We went back to our suite and cooked us up a fancy lobster dinner with Bok Choy and Bacon. It is one of my favorite meals and memories to this day. The food was so fresh. It was the first time I had ever had Bok Choy. I'm hooked!

Bok Choy with Bacon

Bok Choy

4 or 5 slices of bacon

I love this baby bok choy from Trader Joe's. It's cheap and just the right amount for my family. And it's easier to work with than the big bok choy.

Fry the bacon in a pan.

Remove the bacon and remove most of the grease. I would say leave about 2 tablespoons. Cut the big end off the bok choy and then cut the bok choy into big pieces (it shrinks when you cook it). Place all the bok choy into the pan and toss around to coat the bok choy really good with the bacon grease.

While that is cooking, cut the bacon into pieces. Once the bok choy wilts down to your likeness, add the bacon.

Cook for another few minutes and you're done. Enjoy!

Skillet Potatoes

Usually the day before G-DAY otherwise known as grocery day, my fridge is almost empty and the pantry shelves are longing to be filled again. I have a moment where I think, "what am I going to cook for dinner with next to nothing in the kitchen to cook"? I pull out the chicken breast I have and then check the pantry for an easy side item, I only find a few potatoes. So I have a couple chicken breasts and 4 potatoes....I put on my thinking cap and the bulb above my head goes off, skillet potatoes. Skillet potatoes were usually made in my parents kitchen for breakfast but I'm 32, 33 next week and darn it, I'm making them for dinner!!

I know the recipe is simple but it's a reminder that those lonely potatoes, onions, greens and whatever is in your kitchen could potentially be an awesome side, something even the children, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend and or visitor will eat.

So, here it is, my "version" of skillet potatoes...and oh boy, they are good.

3-4 potatoes to feed 2-3 people

diced garlic (optional)

diced onions (optional)

cooking oil

sea salt/kosher salt or table salt for those who yet to venture into the salt word

black pepper

ketchup

Wash and lightly scrub your potatoes before cooking.

Cube your potatoes as evenly as you can so they cook at the same rate. Pour water over the potatoes and place your microwaveable bowl into the microwave and cook for 10 minutes on high or until potatoes are tender but NOT TOO tender as they will cook more on the stove top.

(See my potatoes cooking in my microwave? I tend to document everything!)

After draining the liquids, add your potatoes into a big skillet pan that has been already pre-heated and oil already added. If you want, you can add garlic or onions to the potatoes. I kept it simple this time around and added pepper and salt.

Keep cooking and flipping potatoes until golden brown and crispy. Dip in ketchup if desired.

Steak Quesadilla w/ Black Bean and Avocado Salsa

Here's another great recipe from Whitney at Rookie Cookie. This was really easy to make and was quite tasty. There are a few things I would do differently next time though. Scott wanted the grill taste so the next time we'll throw the steak on the bbq instead of cooking it in the pan. Also, being the critic that he is, Scott suggested that we cook them in a pan next time so that we can really brown the outside of the tortilla almost to the point of crunchy. These are spicy so if you want to tone the spice down, mix the pepper jack cheese with some colby or monterrey jack. And the salsa...YUMMY! Great on the quesadilla but even better with chips or right out of the bowl with a spoon.

Steak Quesadilla

1 strip steak (8 ounces and 1 inch thick) (I used thin cut sirloin)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 teaspoons olive oil
4 flour tortillas (10-inch or burrito-style)
1 1/2 cups grated pepper jack cheese (6 ounces)
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced (I didn't have this and I regret it now)

Rub steak with oregano; season with salt and pepper. In a 10-inch skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over high. Add steak to skillet, and cook, turning once, until browned and still rare, 2 to 3 minutes per side. (Steak will cook a little longer in the quesadillas during baking.)

Transfer steak to a cutting board; let rest 5 minutes before slicing 1/4 inch thick.Preheat oven to 425 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Brush one side of each tortilla with remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Place 1 tortilla, oiled side down, on each of two baking sheets. Dividing evenly, layer with half the cheese, then onion and steak, ending with remaining cheese.

Top with remaining tortillas, oiled side up. (I just folded mine over). Press lightly to seal.Bake, turning over once (with a wide spatula), until lightly browned and crispy, about 7 or 8 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board; cut each quesadilla into 6 triangles. Serve with black bean avocado salsa.

Black Bean Salsa

1 can (15 1/2 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

2 plum tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (I didn't have plum tomatoes so I used little grape tomatoes, it was really good)

1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, combine black beans, cilantro, tomatoes, avocado, and lime juice; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.