Tag: I Can Cook That

Seafood Arrabbiata

My boyfriend and I have been trying to eat less meat and increase our seafood, shellfish, and vegetarian dinner options. In general, vegetarian and fish dinner options are also a great choice for a weeknight dinner because they take very little time to prepare.

 

This recipe for Seafood Arrabbiata from Cooking Light incorporates a few different types of shellfish into a spicy tomato broth that is served over pasta.

“Arrabbiata” means “angry” in Italian alluding to the spiciness of the dish. You can alter the spices to your liking. I’d suggest adding very little crushed red pepper, and then having a shaker of red pepper when serving so each person can customize their level of heat.

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 1 (16oz box) uncooked linguine
  • 2 tablespoons chili olive oil, divided  (I used Nudo Olive Oil with Sicilian Chillies), (can substitute regular olive oil)
  • 8 ounces sea scallops
  • 8 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon if using regular olive oil)
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon anchovy paste, optional
  • 1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup tomato puree
  • 1/2 cup clam juice
  • 24 littleneck clams
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish

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Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

My poor slow cooker never gets a break. Even in the summer, I use it quite a bit! Slow cooker meals are great because they don’t heat up your entire kitchen, and usually make at least 8 servings, great for a party or for leftovers. Plus, you can put the ingredients in a slow cooker, go to work, and have dinner nearly finished when you return!

My love of tacos is fairly obvious on my blog. I’ve made everything from Huevos Rancheros Tacos to Steak Tacos with Lime Mayo to even Kung Pao Chicken Tacos. But I’ve basically avoided doing a pork taco, mainly because I just don’t eat much pork.

But I need some variety every now and then, so I decided to finally try my hand at making some. This recipe for carnitas from myrecipes.com is really simple. All of the ingredients can be found in your local grocery store.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 (3-pound) boneless pork shoulder
  • 10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
  • 2 chipotle chiles canned in adobo sauce, drained and chopped
  • 20 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
  • 2/3 cup chopped onion
  • 2/3 cup fresh salsa (I have a Fresh Salsa recipe on my blog. Just omit the corn.)
  • 2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 10 lime wedges

Continue reading Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Peach Pie

August is National Peach month! My boyfriend is a big fan of peaches so I’ve been buying them a lot lately. We were going to visit friends this weekend and I wanted to bring something down so I decided to try to make a peach pie.

This recipe is from Southern Living and sounded oh so good; I had all of the ingredients on hand so I figured I could at least try! My pie experience is a bit limited but this one turned out great. I even made the pie crust from scratch which was a lot more simple than I expected.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 cups cold butter
  • 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or baking spice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup ice-cold water
  • 8 large fresh, firm, ripe peaches (about 4 lb.)
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

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Chicken Piccata with Spaghetti

One of my earlier posts on this blog was a chicken piccata recipe. I used to make chicken piccata probably once a week, because it was one of the only recipes I knew! But since I’ve committed to learning how to cook, I haven’t made it in probably 2 years (there are so many recipes I have to try, I rarely go back to my previous go-to recipes). So I decided to revisit the recipe with a few tweaks.

I’ve seen commercials for Land O Lakes Sauté Express products and just loved the idea. The Sauté Starters, made with butter, olive oil, and spices, are an easy way to cook up chicken or fish effortlessly. The Sauté Express Sauté Starters are specifically made for cooking on a stovetop and are portioned out in one ounce servings, enough to cook two chicken breast or fish fillets. So I thought the Garlic & Herb Sauté Express would be great in chicken piccata.

Because I use the same pan to both make the sauce and cook my chicken, my piccata is browner than most you’ll find in restaurants. So I apologize for the presentation. But trust me, the flavor makes it worth it!

 

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 lb chicken tenderloins (about 8 pieces)
  • 2 squares Garlic & Herb Sauté Express, divided
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
  • 1/3 cup white wine (whatever you have around the house)
  • ¾ cup chicken stock
  • The juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 box spaghetti (or your favorite pasta)
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
  • 2 tablespoons drained capers
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

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Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

My boyfriend really likes peaches. But, strangely enough, he’s allergic to the skin of peaches so he really only eats them in desserts. I owe him a peach cobbler at some point, but when I saw this recipe from The Pioneer Woman I thought he’d love it. (Plus, it’s a bit easier than a cobbler… baby steps.)

I didn’t have real maple syrup, so I had to use the stuff you use on pancakes. Because of that, the recipe is slightly altered from the original to account for the sweetness.

Ingredients:

  • 6 whole fresh peaches
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) – cold
  • the juice and zest of one lemon
  • 6 tablespoons pancake syrup, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Continue reading Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Tomatoes

Ravioli is a favorite of mine for weeknight meals when you just don’t have the energy to cook. You just throw them in the pasta pot and then toss them in a sauce. This recipe involves a bit more than just reheating sauce from the freezer, but it’s still really simple. I love ravioli in a traditional tomato sauce so this recipe for Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Tomatoes sounded great!

Roasting tomatoes brings out flavor you never even knew tomatoes had. When paired with balsamic vinegar to balance out their sweetness, roasted tomatoes are truly delicious.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound cherry tomatoes
  • 2 shallots, cut into wedges
  • Cooking spray
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 12 ounces cheese ravioli
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Continue reading Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Tomatoes

Bourbon Peach Lemonade

I am on a bit of a peach kick at the moment.  They have looked oh so amazing at the store recently, and my boyfriend is a huge fan, so why not? Expect a couple more peach recipes to show up on here in the coming weeks. (I’ll try to space them out a bit.)

A friend of mine made this absolutely delicious Honey-Ginger Sparkling Bourbon Lemonade a few months back that I haven’t stopped thinking about. It was SO good! So when I spotted Cooking Light’s recipe for a Peachy Bourbon Lemonade, I had to make it immediately, hoping it would be similarly delicious.

This lemonade is such a treat during this uncomfortably hot weather we are having. It would be just as yummy and refreshing without the bourbon (either as a non-alcoholic drink or with another spirit of choice).

 

Ingredients (Serves 4):

  • 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 cups chopped, peeled peaches (I used white peaches)
  • ¼ cup lightly packed mint leaves
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • ¾ cup bourbon
  • Ice

 

Note: Bourbon does include grains that contain gluten. However, distilled alcohol is considered gluten-free because the process of distillation removes the harmful gluten protein, which is why I have this recipe listed as gluten free. If you are highly sensitive to gluten, bourbon may be off limits for you.

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Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I made these Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting for a lovely vegan bride-to-be for her bridal shower this weekend. I’m not going to lie, I was going to do a test run of these, and if I didn’t like them, she was getting normal egg-filled, buttercream-topped cupcakes. But. These are good. Really really good.

So when I did my test run, I passed them around to friends and family and conveniently left the word “vegan” out of the description until after they tasted the cupcakes. My “test subjects” didn’t seem too upset with my experiment, many went for seconds!

These cupcakes use dark chocolate (versus milk chocolate), and have no eggs, butter, or milk. And they are still super fluffy and moist. The best part, most of the ingredients are probably either in your pantry or really easy to find!

Ingredients (makes 2 dozen) adapted from the Curvy Carrot:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
  • 2 oz vegan dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup sunflower oil
  • 1 1/4 cups vanilla almond milk
  • 3/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Peanut Butter Frosting:

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup vegan margarine
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk

Continue reading Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Grilled Sirloin Steak with Mango Chile Salad

I realized a few days ago that I rarely make steak. I tend to gravitate towards fish and shellfish recipes because they are usually so simple and quick to prepare on weekdays. But grilled steak is also a really great quick option, especially on hot days when you don’t want to use your stove. (Are you seeing a theme in my posts recently? My apartment is on the top floor and it gets quite warm up there in the summer months so my stove gets a break for the most part from June to August.)

The latest Cooking Light had a recipe for a simple grilled sirloin steak served with a really beautiful mango chile salad. The whole recipe from start to finish took less than 30 minutes, perfect for a weeknight!

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 1 pound sirloin steak, trimmed
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • The juice of one lime
  • 1 medium ripe mango, peeled and diced (I used a Haden mango)
  • 1 red jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped (you can use green if you can’t find red)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Continue reading Grilled Sirloin Steak with Mango Chile Salad

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

It is too darn hot to be using the stove/oven, don’t you think? The grill is a great option for hot days, but we have recently been getting the most inconvenient thunderstorms right around dinnertime. I wanted to find some recipes that are perfect for summer but can also be made in a slow cooker so your whole kitchen doesn’t heat up. This one for Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches is really easy to make: you brown the chicken, line the slow cooker with onions and garlic, pour the sauce over the chicken, and let it cook for 3 hours. You’re left with a really tender pull-apart chicken perfect for summer evenings!

Ingredients:

  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons molasses
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha
  • 8 hamburger buns, toasted
  • radicchio, sliced

Continue reading Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Diner en Blanc Picnic Food Inspiration

Today is International Picnic Day, so what better time to do a roundup of some of my favorite foods that are picnic friendly? With Diner en Blanc fast approaching, it’s also time to start thinking about what to make for the big event!

 

Diner en Blanc is celebrating its 25th anniversary and has grown to include a dozen participating cities. The first Diner en Blanc was held in Paris and included just a few of its founder, François Pasquier’s, friends. Now, thousands worldwide congregate to be a part of this great event! Philadelphia’s Diner en Blanc will be held on Thursday, August 22 and the wait list is being formed now. You can sign up for the wait list here.

 

Philadelphia’s first Diner en Blanc was held last year and it was a huge success. This year, 2,300 participants will be notified of the secret location moments before. Guests arrive with their own tables, chairs, place settings, and meals and enjoy the outdoors and company together.  Each attendee is dressed head-to-toe in white, with a white table cloth, and white chairs. Photos from last year’s event are truly beautiful! With the beautiful white place settings, the food can really be the star. So bringing a colorful, delicious, and easy meal is key! Here are some of my suggestions for the big night:

Continue reading Diner en Blanc Picnic Food Inspiration

Clams with Spicy Sausage

I (like most people, I’m sure) cook mostly things I want to eat. Every now and then, I will get a special request and will go outside my comfort zone (like this Meatloaf recipe, or this Sriracha Deviled Eggs recipe) but when it comes to a weeknight dinner, I’m really selfish about what I cook. So I thought it might be nice if I finally made something that was up my boyfriend’s alley more so than mine.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like what’s going on in this recipe. I just don’t usually make meals with sausage. But I was reminded of this recipe for Clams with Spicy Sausage as a suggestion to make on World Oceans Day as a Perfect Protein blogger (more information on that in my post on Thai Coconut Mussels), which was June 8. So. Um. I’m a little late. But this recipe is too tasty not to share!

This recipe can be found in the book The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lovers Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World and is from the ultimate seafood chef, Eric Ripert. This man knows his fish; one of his restaurants, Le Bernardin is known as a seafood mecca. But this recipe is really easy to make and cooks quickly, making it perfect for weeknight meals. I altered the recipe slightly but the gist is still the same.


Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 white onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • the zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 andouille sausage, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup low sodium chicken stock
  • 2 dozen littleneck clams, well scrubbed
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • lemon wedges, for serving

Continue reading Clams with Spicy Sausage

Thai Coconut Mussels

I am excited to announce that I will be a Perfect Protein Blogger for the summer, to help promote a book called The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lovers Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World. Written by Andy Sharpless, the CEO of Oceana, and Suzannah Evans, the book discusses how protecting, maintaining, and consuming wild seafood can help to fight both famine and obesity globally.

I am only a few chapters in to the book and already find it fascinating. The general idea behind the book is to try to eat seafood, but to try to eat WLLS: Wild, Local, Little, and Shellfish. Many supermarkets, such as Whole Foods, label their seafood which makes sticking to these more sustainable choices a cinch. But even without the labels, you can still find sustainable options at your local grocer.

As a food blogger, I immediately went to the back of the book, where there are 21 sustainable seafood recipes from some of the nation’s top chefs. They all sounded delicious, but I decided to start off my Perfect Protein posts with a recipe that is simple but packs a ton of flavor into the dish: Sam Talbot’s Thai Coconut Mussels. I love making mussels because they cook up so quickly. This recipe takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. (For another take on mussels, check out my recipe for Mussels in White Wine Garlic Sauce)


I altered the recipe a bit to make it into a meal for 2 instead of an appetizer. I also subbed in some ingredients for what I could find. All of these ingredients can be found in Whole Foods.

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
  • 4 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons lemongrass
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
  • 1 pound mussels, debearded, scrubbed well, and washed clean
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sambal (chile-garlic paste)
  • 1 (13.6 oz) can coconut milk, divided
  • 2 tablespoons torn cilantro leaves, stems discarded
  • 2 tablespoons torn mint leaves, stems discarded
  • juice and zest of 2 limes
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup white rice, preferably jasmine rice

Continue reading Thai Coconut Mussels

Blueberry Mushroom Risotto

Blueberry Mushroom Risotto. Hear me out. I know you read the title of this post and probably thought I’ve officially lost it. But I promise you this is amazing. I first heard about this bizarre combo in a book called The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook. This book is fantastic. It lists pairings, common and strange, to help make your cooking a bit more adventurous. I page through it all the time, and have learned some yummy pairings. But the one that has stuck out to me the most is the mushroom and blueberry combination.

Apparently northern Italy cooking commonly pairs fruit with mushrooms according to the book. Who knew? My fellow Philadelphian (and internationally known chef) Marc Vetri also has a porcini and blueberry lasagna in one of his cookbooks: Il Viaggio Di Vetri: A Culinary Journey.

So when I found myself the proud recipient of a bunch of mushrooms from To-Jo Mushrooms, I knew it was finally time to try it out. It has been a really crummy, rainy day so I was craving comfort food. Risotto is a perfect rainy day food: hearty, creamy, and absolutely delicious! I’m a huge fan of mushroom risotto so I was excited to try this spin on it. In the past, I’ve made a traditional Mushroom Risotto, as well as a Wild Mushroom Farro Risotto.

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1/2 cup shallots, sliced
  •  3 slider mushrooms, sliced (or 2 large portobello mushrooms)
  • 1/4 cup assorted dry mushrooms, optional (I used a mixture of morel, chanterelle, and trumpet mushrooms)
  • 1 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1 cup arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 4 cups beef stock
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Continue reading Blueberry Mushroom Risotto

Banana Bread Muffins

When I have time on Sundays (which isn’t terribly often), I like to make a batch of muffins so I have breakfast for the week. Because I had some overripe bananas, this week I decided to make Banana Bread Muffins. I was recently sent some coupons to try Kretschmer Wheat Germ products so I thought adding some of the Honey Crunch would add some nice texture and flavor to the muffins.

So what exactly is wheat germ? Wheat germ comes from the wheat kernel, which is the part removed when refining whole grains into white flour. Wheat Germ is a great source of Vitamin E, B vitamins and folic acid. You can find it in the cereal aisle. Wheat germ can be used in recipes calling for flour or breadcrumbs so its quite versatile. I’ve also used it in smoothies.

So that you can try wheat germ for yourself, Kretschmer is giving away some coupons good for free wheat germ products to an I Can Cook That reader! More on that below.

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcake-sized muffins, of 6 large muffins):

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup Kretschmer Honey Crunch Wheat Germ
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • cinnamon, to taste

Continue reading Banana Bread Muffins

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