I live in Philadelphia, and last week I was kind “stuck” at home because of the pope’s impeding arrival. So I used the opportunity to cook up a storm! (Seriously, I managed to make Saucy Chicken Over Rice, Chicken Tacos Bowls, Tomato Sauce, this recipe shared below, and a bunch of other yummy freezable dishes. My slow cooker and stove had quite the week!)
Here’s one of my favorite “freezer friendly” meals, with directions on how to store in your freezer and how to reheat when ready.
These Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells are easy to make, and are great to pack away for future meals (or eat immediately, that’s totally allowed too).
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SimplySpecialMeals #CollectiveBias
We all have those nights where dinner is the last thing on your mind. On busy days (especially Mondays), I just don’t want to think up something for dinner, and I don’t want to spend the money on delivery.
Having a main dish in the freezer, like Barber Foods Stuffed Chicken Breasts, is a lifesaver for busy days. I picked up a 6-pack of Barber Foods Chicken Cordon Bleu from my local Superfresh (you can find them in the freezer section) so that I’m set for future dinners. Look for their new snazzy packaging!
The stuffed chicken breasts are individually wrapped so you can make as many or as few as you want at a time. Barber Foods’ Chicken Cordon Bleu is a chicken breast stuffed with savory ham and Swiss and American cheese which is then breaded — they recently updated the recipe to go along with their new packaging, yum! The frozen raw chicken can go right in the oven from the freezer, so no preparation is needed. This allows me to get dinner going as soon as I walk in the door, so helpful!
I like to make a quick side dish to serve while the chicken is cooking, so for the Chicken Cordon Blue I decided to make sauteed green beans with garlic and toasted almond slices.
Ingredients:
4 Barber Foods Breaded Stuffed Chicken Breasts (I used Cordon Bleu)
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #KingOfFlavor #CollectiveBias
The countdown to the football season is almost over! As a Philadelphian, I am very much in Eagles territory, where Sunday (and Monday night) schedules revolve around the birds. A huge part of watching the game (at least for me) is obviously the food!
One of my favorite game day foods is a rack of ribs. I don’t have a grill, so my go-to method to get fall-off-the-bone ribs is to use my slow cooker.
The best ribs have a little bit of heat to them, don’t you think? This recipe brings both some heat and smokiness with the use of two El Yucateco hot sauces: Red Habanero Hot Sauce and Black Label Reserve Hot Sauce.
I actually picked up three of El Yucateco’s hot sauces at Walmart (you can never have too much hot sauce on hand!) I found them in the Hispanic Food Section.
El Yucateco Red Habanero Hot Sauce is a combination of red habanero peppers, tomato, spices and seasonings. What sets El Yucateco apart from other hot sauces is that it has less vinegar, so the flavor (and kick!) of the pepper comes through more. The red habanero sauce is a great pantry hot sauce and is a great addition to everything from a Bloody Mary to wings. The tomato flavor in the red habanero hot sauce also makes it a great addition to a barbecue sauce!
El Yucateco’s Black Label Reserve Hot Sauce is made from fire roasted habaneros and has an awesome smoky flavor without being overpowering. This hot sauce works great with red meat, chili, and even chocolate! The Black Label Reserve Hot Sauce adds the smoky flavor of barbecued ribs to my slow cooker version!
El Yucateco also has a Green Habanero Hot Sauce, which is a combination of green habanero peppers, garlic, spices and seasonings. This hot sauce is perfect with lighter foods — chicken, seafood, veggies, etc.
I’ve included two methods of cooking these ribs, based on if you’re watching a day or night game. I’m not going to lie, the results are best when you can cook the ribs at a lower temperature for a longer time, but are really delicious both ways!
Ingredients:
3 lbs baby back ribs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
2 cups ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons El Yucateco Black Label Reserve Hot Sauce
It’s probably no secret that I love pasta. My fiance and I eat it every Sunday night. But its so darn hot in Philadelphia right now and I’ve been craving something a bit less heavy to eat.
OXO must have known my pasta-loving dilemma because they sent me their new Hand-Held Spiralizer, which turns veggies into long thin spaghetti-like strands in no time!
Zucchini noodles (or “zoodles”) seem to be all the rage at the moment, so I was excited to try them out myself!
The OXO Hand-Held Spiralizer creates curly noodles from long vegetables like zucchini, carrots, and cucumbers, while it’s open blade design accommodates round vegetables like beets, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The food holder keeps hands safe from the blade and the easy non-slip grip container makes it simple to turn the Spiralizer. It is also BPA-free and dishwasher safe.
For this recipe, I decided to make a tomato sauce out of the fresh tomatoes I had in my house, so this recipe for Zucchini Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce is a very summery meal!
Note: I was sent an OXO Hand-Help Spiralizer to try for this post. Opinions are my own.
This post is sponsored by Door-to-Door Organics. All opinions are my own. #MyFarm2Table
These Zucchini Boats were my favorite part of my Farm-to-Table Meal last weekend. Stuffed with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese, the boats were nice and hearty and had great flavor!
This weekend, my fiancé went fishing with a friend and his friend’s father. They had quite a successful trip, and came home with a ton of Rockfish! Rockfish, also known as striped bass, is a mild whitefish that can be prepared many different ways, so I was jazzed!
We had some that night on the grill (yum!), but there was plenty left over, and my fiance’s friend was nice enough to send us home with more fish. I had a hankering for fish tacos, so these Rockfish Tacos are the end result! Rockfish, or striped bass, is the perfect balance of flaky and meaty, so it works wonderfully in tacos.
Ingredients:
1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon cilantro chopped, plus more for garnish
the juice and zest of 1 lime
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large fillet rockfish (striped bass), skin removed (~1.5 lb)
I am kind of obsessed with Zwilling JA Henckel’s knife of the month. It became my favorite knife overnight! The ZWILLING Pro 8″ Ultimate Serrated Chef’s Knife lives up to its name. This bad boy can be used for basically anything. The serrated edge is comprised of large and small scallops, which helps the knife stay share longer than a fine-edged chef’s knife.
From the website: Precision forged from a single piece of high-carbon, no-stain steel, the SIGMAFORGE® blade is exceptionally sturdy yet flexible. The FRIODUR® blade is ice hardened, making it extremely sharp and durable. The knife is hand ground and polished, then the angle of the cutting edge is checked with precise laser technology. The durable ABS resin handle is ergonomically shaped for a comfortable grip and is triple riveted to the blade.
I have been using it for anything and everything; fruits, veggies, meat, you name it! I typically gravitate towards Santoku knifes so I was surprised how comfortable I was using this chef’s knife. It works great to chop and thinly slice, but is super sharp so be sure to take care where your fingers are when using it (as you should when using any knife).
I chose a recipe highlighting this knife’s chopping skills, but it also works great on produce with more delicate out layers like tomatoes, and can even be used to slice chicken breasts with ease.
This recipe is adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe, so you know it’s a quick and simple recipe with tons of flavor. Per her suggestion, you should definitely have a loaf of bread on hand to dip into the yummy sauce!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken (I used a chicken broken down- 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs)
I’m in another busy period of work, so expect a lot of quick weeknight dinner meals! Seafood is always a favorite quick meal of mine, and this recipe from Cooking Light’s latest issue is ready in no time! I paired it with an adaptation of a Bon Appetit Couscous recipe.
The trout is pan seared and then topped with a chunky warm parsley-caper vinaigrette. I’d suggest doubling the recipe so you have some to toss into the couscous!
I am a carb fanatic — I’d eat pasta with some day-old bread every single day if I could. But on really hot summer days, sometimes you need something that feels lighter while still filling you up. Cooking Light’s Pulled Pork Lettuce Wraps are a nice filling meal that are perfect on warm days; pulled pork is wrapped in Boston Bibb lettuce rather than added to a roll. The result is a super yummy and crunchy dinner!
I use my slow cooker year-round and this adaptation is no exception. Slow Cookers are such a simple way to get an awesome meal on the table in no time. Plus, it gives your oven a break!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 white onion, quartered
1 (2 1/2-pound) boneless pork shoulder, trimmed
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons sherry
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted chicken stock
1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chile paste) (gluten free is available)
1 1/2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)
I live in an apartment that has no outdoor space, so we clearly do not have access to a grill, which is causing me to only want grilled food! Luckily, I have a grill pan so I can get my fix, and I’ve been using it nonstop!
A really simple weeknight favorite of mine is to grill up some shrimp and serve over rice. This recipe is quick and easy to make, but delivers on flavor! Blue Chair Bay Rum sent me a bottle of their Coconut Rum that I knew would be perfect for a glaze on grilled shrimp. The glaze caramelizes beautifully, adding a nice char and sweetness to the shrimp.
I adapted this recipe from a Cooking Light recipe, adding more hints of coconut to play off of the Blue Chair Bay Coconut Rum.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
the juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced
24 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 1 1/2 pounds)
6 sugarcane swizzle sticks, each cut into 2 pieces
One of my favorite cookbooks is Love and Olive Oil‘s Breakfast for Dinner. (I did a post highlighting their Huevos Rancheros Tacos a while back.) So it’s probably not surprising that I make a few recipes from this cookbook on a regular basis. One that I love to make in particular is their version of the Hawaiian dish Loco Moco.
Typical Loco Moco is usually made with white rice, topped with a hamburger patty (or spam), a fried egg, and brown gravy. Love and Olive Oil’s version substitutes coconut sticky rice for the white rice, uses ground pork instead of the hamburger patty, and finishes the dish off with a sweet-spicy-salty soy sauce reduction rather than brown gravy.
I decided to alter their recipe slightly to give it a local spin; this version is topped with pork roll (or Taylor ham) instead of the ground pork, and this recipe for New Jersey-style Loco Moco was born!
Pork Roll is originally from Trenton, New Jersey (hence the name of this post), but can also be found in parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The pork product is thinly sliced and pan fried and is a staple in most breakfast places in the area.
Most Sunday nights in my house are Pasta Night. Typically, we just thaw a batch of homemade tomato sauce from the freezer to mix in with the pasta, but I am all out of my tomato sauce at the moment! Cooking Light to the rescue!
This recipe from Cooking Light is really quick and easy — it takes about 30 minutes to make. I adapted the recipe a bit, but the general concept remained the same. For the original recipe, visit myrecipes.com.
Ingredients:
8 ounces uncooked mini bow tie pasta (or ziti, rigatoni, etc.)
Whew. I am having a crazy busy month, so unfortunately my cooking is suffering. I can never have too many weeknight meal options (ie. meals that can be on the table in 30 minutes or less) at my disposal, so here’s another quick and easy dinner that comes together quickly- Smoked Sausage with Rigatoni! I tend to usually make chicken or seafood recipes, so I am finally doing a quick beef recipe!
This recipe for Smoked Sausage with Rigatoni uses Hillshire Farm’s Beef Smoked Sausage to add some yummy flavor to a quick fire roasted chunky tomato sauce. It’s a great alternative to chicken to snazz up a midweek meal.
The beef sausage cooks up in no time. Using the same pan to cook the sausage and to make the sauce gives the sauce a subtle smoky flavor that’s so tasty!
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) box rigatoni, cooked according to package directions
1 package Hillshire Farms Beef Smoked Sausage, cut into slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped (~1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil leaves
2 (14.5 oz) cans Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
grated Parmesan cheese, optional
#spon: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and Hillshire. This could include Hillshire providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.Continue reading Smoked Sausage with Rigatoni
I can’t say that I know much about Hawaiian food, past that I assume is it fish-heavy and influenced by tropical and Asian/Polynesian flavors (with their favorite canned meat, Spam, sprinkled in, of course). So when I was given the opportunity to review Tommy Bahama‘s FLAVORS of ALOHA: Cooking with Tommy Bahama (paid link), I was really curious to see what the cookbook had in store.
The cookbook is filled with quite the range of dishes, from appetizers to dessert. Written by Rick Rodgers, the cookbook transports you to Hawaii through 100+ island-inspired recipes including:
Tuna Poke with Guacamole and Flatbread
Flavorful Ono Oxtail Soup
Saimin with Asian Chicken Broth (arguably Hawaii’s state dish)
Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger Dipping Sauce
Huli Huli Pork Tenderloin and Pineapple with Old-School Teriyaki Marinade
Pineapple Crème Brulee
Hibiscus Lime Cooler
The cookbook also contains little facts about Hawaiian culture and history as well as tips for eating, drinking, and “living the life,” FLAVORS OF ALOHAinvites aspiring cooks of all abilities to embrace the Tommy Bahama spirit by taking an “island time” approach to cooking for family and friends. Plus the photos are gorgeous!
I wanted to use this opportunity to work with a seafood I rarely make (although I am absolutely going to have to make the Kona Flan in the near future!) and adapted the cookbook’s recipe for Mahi Mahi with Macadamia Nut Crust and Papaya Salsa to use swordfish instead.
Adapted from Flavors of Aloha, Cooking with Tommy Bahama
