I love love love pomegranates. The burst of tanginess is awesome in both sweet and savory dishes.
It is once again pomegranate season (the season runs from ~October through ~January), so I am thrilled to be cooking again with one of my favorite ingredients.
POM Wonderful must have heard about my love of their products, because I was contacted to try out their POM POMS Fresh Arils and pomegranates. I will have a few recipes over the coming weeks, but lets start with something a little sweet.
This recipe for Pomegranate Olive Oil Cake is from the POM Wonderful website. It is topped with a Vanilla Crème Anglaise, a drizzle of olive oil, and some fresh pomegranate arils.
Last weekend, friends of mine invited us to an awesome Scotch tasting. They had recently visited Islay and brought back some for us to try as well! Each Scotch was paired with a bite of food to bring out some of the flavors, including oysters, lamb kofta, pheasant sausage and so much more.
I naturally didn’t want to come empty handed so I brought this simple olive tapenade along with me.
Tapenade is a pureed mixture of olives, anchovies, capers and olive oil. Salty foods always pair nicely with spirits, so this recipe was an easy choice to bring to the party.
May is (was) National Egg Month, and, well, the month of May ended more abruptly than I was expecting. So, happy June, and happy belated National Egg Month! (This Friday, June 3rd, is National Egg DAY though, so you can celebrate your little heart out then.)
I love using eggs in dinner recipes, because I don’t get much opportunity for a nice sit down breakfast with eggs. This Cooking Light recipe is the perfect eggs-for-dinner meal — Arugula Pizza topped with Poached Eggs.
Nellie’s eggs sent me some coupons, plus a cool little kit that included a t-shirt, stress egg, and a gift card so that I could try their eggs in a post, and this recipe seemed like the perfect opportunity. Nellie’s are free range, the hens are never caged, and have as much or as little access to the outside as they’d like.
Nellie’s works with over 40 independent, family owned and operated farms to provide their free range eggs produced from Certified Humane Free Range hens that are antibiotic and hormone free.
This time of year delivers some pret-ty great produce. All of the green veggies are in season! This recipe from Cooking Light for Spring Vegetable Penne with Lemon Cream Sauce makes the most of some spring vegetables, asparagus and peas.
The pasta recipe is a “two pot meal” so it comes together pretty quickly without giving you too make dishes afterwards!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped
1 (10-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons shaved Parmesan cheese, divided
I am SO ready for spring! Around this time every year, I tend to start making more “springy” recipes in the hopes that the weather picks up on my strong hints for warmer weather. And what are more spring than peas?
This recipe for Kritharoto (Orzo Pasta with Peas Lemon and Feta) is from the most recent Cooking Light magazine.
In this recipe, Kirtharoto (or orzo pasta) is cooked in a chicken stock, tossed with fresh herbs and citrus, and topped with feta cheese. This simple recipe is on the table in under 30 minutes too!
Ingredients:
3 cups unsalted chicken stock or vegetable stock to make vegetarian
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!
This month, Zwilling sent me a fun challenge: use a fillet knife. June’s knives of the month are boning and fillet knives, so Zwilling sent me their ZWILLING Pro 7″ Fillet Knife to try out. I have never used one before so I was so excited to learn how to use one; gotta love learning a new technique!
Fillet and boning knives are exactly what they sound like: knives used to cut meat off of the bone (to fillet something is to remove it from the bone). The knife is long, thin, and super flexible to allow it to get as close to the bone as possible.
You can fillet anything with a bone — chicken, beef, etc. but most people immediately think of fish, so I decided to revisit an old recipe on my blog to try out this lovely new knife!
This recipe for fish tacos with lime cilantro crema is a Cooking Light recipe and a favorite of mine. I switched it up a touch this time, just to try something a bit new.
This is another recipe from the Cooking Light Diet Plan. These tacos are great for a weeknight meal because it’s an under 30 minute recipe– it’s honestly mostly assembly.
As a reminder, if you’d like to try the Cooking Light Diet Plan along with me, use the code DIETSAVE20 to receive a special discount!
Ingredients:
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4-inch strips
Happy National Blueberry Pancake Day!! To celebrate, I partnered with Driscoll’s to bring you a really delicious spin on traditional blueberry pancakes: Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes.
Adding ricotta to your pancakes doesn’t make them taste like ricotta (no worries!), but it does make for a super moist, almost pudding-like center that is so decadent and delicious!
If you prefer dairy free pancakes, I have a homemade pancake mix recipe here. Add the blueberries to the batter once it has been added to the pan.
I adapted this recipe from a Bobby Flay recipe on Foodnetwork.com.
Now that Santa has waved from his sleigh in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it is officially the Christmas season! (Does anyone else use this reference, or just my family?)
New York may have the “official” start of the Christmas season, but Philadelphia is filled with its own wonderful holiday traditions from the old (going to the old Wanamaker building, now Macy’s, to see the holiday light show) to the new (ice skating at the outdoor rink on the Delaware Waterfront), but one of my absolute favorites is going to Christmas Village, located in LOVE Park (15th and JFK Boulevard).
Going to the open-air German Christmas Market, open daily between Thanksgiving and Sunday, Dec 28, is a priority of mine this time of year. Sixty-five international and local merchants and artists offer high-quality gifts that are sold in decorated tents and wooden houses located throughout Center City’s famous LOVE Park. With toys, apparel, jewelry, decorations, home goods, artwork and more, there will be something for everyone on Santa’s list.
Daily market hours starting Black Friday through the last Sunday in December will be Friday through Saturday 11:00am to 8:00pm, and Sunday through Thursday 11:00am to 7:00pm. Christmas Eve hours are 11:00am to 5:00pm (closed on Christmas Day).
Follow the smell of gingerbread and waffles to a full menu of European food, sweets and drinks, including mouthwatering German bratwurst or schnitzel served on a warm roll (Brötchen). Wash it all down with a warm mug of traditional German Glühwein (spiced mulled wine) or rich hot chocolate.
On top of the great shopping and dining experiences, be sure to check out the huge Christmas Tree in LOVE Park, a Wish Wall in conjunction with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a new kid’s zone on the weekends, theme days and weekends, tasting cheese and wine tours, live music during evenings and weekends, and other surprises to be announced.
So to get in the spirit, I wanted to make a traditional German Holiday Cookie to celebrate the return of Christmas Village! Cinnamon Stars (or Zimtsterne) are made with almond flour base so they are actually gluten free. And even better, they can be stored for quite a while, and taste even better as time passes, making these the perfect cookie to give as a gift!
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more for rolling
16 ounces sliced almonds, with skin (about 4 1/2 cups)
I love love love Brussels sprouts. I truly don’t understand why I was told they were gross when I was a kid, they are a favorite veggie of mine now! So I’m excited to share this recipe for Browned Butter and Lemon Brussels Sprouts!
Most recipes for Brussels sprouts include bacon, however. And as much as I love bacon, sometimes you just want a truly vegetarian side. Cooking Light had this recipe for Browned Butter and Lemon Brussels Sprouts in its November 2014 issue and it sounded so yummy! Lemons brighten up the flavor of the Brussels sprouts and works really well with the browned butter.
I have been in full on grilling mode recently. I can’t seem to get enough of recipes made on the grill! So as the end of summer continues to creep closer, I am trying to get in all of the grilling I can. As much as I would love to grill in the colder months, I’m a wimp and know I just won’t stand out in the cold.
I’ve used indoor counter top grills in the past and really wasn’t thrilled with the cooking results — it didn’t seem to heat up enough to get proper grill marks, all of the juices would flow out of the grill making for a very dry protein, and I’d always under or overcook the meat.
Source: https://optigrill.t-falusa.com/
So when I was contacted to test out the T-fal OptiGrill as part of T-fal’s OptiGrill Blogger Bash, I had some reservations about if this grill would really live up to expectations. Well, I was really pleasantly surprised! What sets the OptiGrill apart is its Precision Grilling Technology that adjusts the cooking time and temperature depending on the type of protein and the thickness of whatever you’re cooking.
Source: https://optigrill.t-falusa.com/
The T-fal OptiGrill has a cooking level indicator with a color changing display that notifies you when your protein has reached rare, medium, or well-done. It also beeps when your food reaches each of the cooking stages. (Keep in mind that if you want your meat to rest before slicing, it continues to cook. So if you wanted a steak at medium rare and planned to let it rest for 5 minutes, you should probably take it out when the OptiGrill hits the “rare” notification.)
Source: https://optigrill.t-falusa.com/
The grill comes pre-programmed with 6 settings that adapt cooking temperature and times for different types of food: burger, poultry, sandwich, pork/sausage, red meat, and fish/seafood. There is also a frozen food function button so that you can cook your protein even when frozen; just push the snowflake button and then one of the 6 pre-programmed buttons. The grill will defrost and cook the protein in one easy step! When cooking fruits and veggies, just use the manual mode, which allows you to determine when the food is done cooking. The OptiGrill also takes into account the thickness of your food using an integrated thickness sensor so that the protein is fully cooked correctly.
The grill is made of brushed stainless steel with die-cast aluminum plates with a non-stick coating. The plates are removable for easy cleaning and are even dishwasher safe. The plates are angled so that drippings can flow into the removable drip tray, which surprisingly doesn’t leave the meat tough, dry, or chewy.
Want to see the grill in action? I decided to test it out with a yummy recipe from Cooking Light that uses both chicken thighs and chicken breasts. Chicken is so easy to overcook leaving a dry meal so I thought it would be a perfect way to test what this grill can really handle. This recipe also includes grilled pineapple so I was able to test out the manual setting as well. I made the marinade from this recipe for Jerk-style Chicken and the salsa from this recipe for Jerk Chicken with Grilled Pineapple Salsa.
I also am giving away one T-fal OptiGrill to one lucky reader, courtesy of T-fal OptiGrill! Details below the recipe.
Note: I was sent a T-fal OptiGrill to test for this review. T-fal is also offering one I Can Cook That reader the chance to win their own T-Fal OptiGrill. All opinions are my own.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice plus 1 tablespoon, divided (about 3 limes)
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon brown sugar (substitute 1 tablespoon molasses to make paleo)
I love the flavor that grilling adds to a recipe but I struggle with grilling protein to the correct temperature. This means we sometimes end up with dry, chewy and overcooked food or, even worse, super rare/raw meat.
Luckily, Verizon Wireless’ Philadelphia Tri-State Region team gave me the opportunity to try out an iGrill thermometer that not only displays the temperature, but also uses Verizon’s LTE 4G network to send me an alert when my protein has reached the temperature I want!
I was so excited about this product that I decided to really test it out and used it on a pretty finicky meat: lamb. Lamb is a protein that should be cooked to medium rare and not much more. It gets really tough and chewy if overcooked. It’s pretty easy to overcook as well; lamb continues to cook after being removed from heat so it has to be removed before reaching the ideal internal temperature for medium rare. Plus, it’s a pretty expensive meat so you want it to be perfect!
The iGrill Thermometer takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process. The thermometer comes with two probes so you can track the temperature of two meats at the same time. You just insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat (not touching a bone). The thermometer pairs with your phone through Bluetooth. Using the iGrill app on your smartphone, you can set a temperature or a timer to alert you when your meat is finished cooking. Pretty nifty, right?
Ingredients:
2 racks of lamb, rib bones frenched
salt and pepper, to taste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup plain 0% Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
the zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, finely crumbled
note: “Frenched rib bones” means that the meat has been cut away from the end of the rib so that part of the bone is exposed
My version uses quite a bit of substitutes and including using sprouted spelt flour instead of whole wheat flour because I could not find my whole wheat flour when I went to make these (I guess I need to clean out my pantry!) I also have more blueberry filling in my version, and used a different sized pan. Be sure to check out the original version on the kitchn to see if you prefer their method!
When I have friends coming to visit, I like to make a batch of cocktails beforehand so that I have a pre-made refreshment to serve. Lemonade-based drinks are a favorite of mine: I’ve made a Rhuby-Lavender Lemonade as well as a Bourbon-Peach Lemonade in the past.
So to keep my trend going, I decided to make this Honey, Ginger Sparkling Lemonade with Rosemary and added in some bourbon. (My friends are big bourbon fans, if yours aren’t, vodka would work as an easy substitute). I changed the recipe a bit to fit my tastes, but you can find the original recipe here.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup local honey
1/2 cup water
the juice of 5 lemons, plus the zest of 1 lemon
the juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup minced ginger
10 full rosemary stalks
2 1-liter bottles of club soda
1 1/2 cups bourbon
Ice cubes
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.
