I have to thank my awesome neighbor Terry for letting us use their pizza stone. I'm convinced I need one now! :) So in case you haven't noticed my neighbors are simply amazing people I'm lucky enough to call friends. Terry always lets me borrow random kitchen utensils and what not. He often makes dinner for him and his fiancé Jen, and if Marc is out of town on business, will bring me over dinner, or coffee, or dessert.... how blessed are Marc and I?!?! Anyway he's an awesome friend!
I told him what I had planned to make for dinner and he said "do you want to borrow our pizza stone?!" YESSSSSSS I dooooo!! :)

I bought everything from Trader Joe's (am I getting commission yet on how much I endorse them!?!) pre-made, down to the dough, their garlic & herb dough is amaze amaze amaze. Anyway the assembly is pretty easy once you have the ingredients, I'd have to highly encourage buying fresh yummy ingredients... that makes all the difference.

What you will need:
1 package Trader Joe's garlic & herb pizza dough
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar of pizza sauce
1 firm large tomato on the vine (or any tomato you wish to use)
1 package of FRESH basil
flour- its needed for dough... and for the pizza stone.
**optional: shredded fresh parmesan cheese, I had some on hand and figured I'd use it.. who doesn't love extra cheese

Before oven..

So I left the oven on 400 (as called for on the dough) and placed stone in for 15 minutes.
As a heads up, the dough needs to sit on a surface sprinkled with flour for about 20 mins before you use it... if you don't it's no biggie, but when it's cold it is tougher to work with, rather than when it's been sitting at room temp. I rolled out the dough to the best circle I could possibly make.  Then took about 10-15 leaves of basil and sliced them, also sliced the tomato in fairly thin slices. Then I took the stone out, sprinkled a bit of flour on it and placed the dough on it, poured sauce on evenly, sprinkled cheese, sprinkled generously the chopped basil, placed tomatoes around the pizza to cover all basil, and sprinkled some fresh parmesan on top and into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the dough was golden brown.

After oven... YUM!

I paired this with a spinach salad... it was delicious!! There were NO leftovers... :(

So my neighbor Fulya makes this amazing spinach salad.. truly it changed my mind about spinach salad. She's from Turkey and has shared quite a few things she's made with us. So,after having her salad I tried to make it at home.. because as sweet as she is I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me asking her to make salad every week.  It's not as good as hers.. but its as close as I can get.. and it's the only way I can eat spinach salad now!

Spinach Salad:
3 or 4 cups of spinach (I buy it pre-washed/cleaned/trimmed)
1/2 teaspoon of dried DILL weed
2 1/2 tablespoons of EVOO.. I bought a flavored EVOO at a EVOO bar and can't go back to plain for this salad- Roasted Onion & Cilantro EVOO... amaaaaazing
pinch of salad/pepper to taste
3 tablespoons of feta cheese
1 green onion "chive" chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 cup diced english cucumber (if you have plain old cucumber that works too)
**optional: olives, now I personally don't like olives but if you bought some really great high quality ones I'm sure it would be delish!

So assembly is quite easy. Place spinach in glass bowl, pour EVOO in, dash of salt pepper, dill, feta, diced cucumber and green onion (I didn't have any today, taste fine w/out but I love it when I do) and toss a few times.

It's super fresh and so healthy! Salad is obviously easy, but just thought I'd share this delicious salad I adapted from a wonderful friend.

Kale can be intimidating, but it is packed full of some great vitamins and does wonders for your body. It's super easy, and so good for you! We had quite a bit of Kale left over from the zuppa toscana a few nights ago, so this was lunch today :) besides... who isn't sick of turkey by now?!?! Kale is a tougher salad, and I almost dare to say it's an acquired taste, but give it a chance :)

I didn't take pictures of all my ingredients, like a dummy however my quick tip is that I DID buy a prepackaged mix of sorpressata and assiago cheese from Trader Joe's.. so easy. But I'm sure you could buy a few slices of each from the deli counter at your local market.
 Here's what you will need:

3 or 4 cups of Kale ( I bought pre-washed/cut from Trader Joe's)
1 lemon
1/2 cup of EVOO (this can change depending on how much dressing you prefer)
salt/ pepper to taste
8 cherry tomatoes slice in 1/2 or 1/4
3/4 cup chopped english cucumber (you can always use regular cucumber)
1/2 or 3/4 cup garbanzo beans (up to your preference)
6 slices of sorpressata chopped (you can literally use any italian meat, salami, pepperoni....)
2 or 3 slices of assiago cheese torn apart (you can literally use any sharp italian cheese, peccorino.. parmesan..I would NOT recommend nor use mozzarella for this salad)

In a glass bowl squeeze lemon, begin mixing and slowly add EVOO mixing to create a dressing.. it should look creamy when it's done. Add a pinch of salt/pepper and mix.
 In another bowl toss in Kale, tomatoes, cucumber, garbanzo beans, chopped sorpressata (about size of thumbnail), tear apart cheese into salad (also size of thumbnail).
Add dressing and mix well, add a quick pinch of salt and pepper, taste a piece of kale.. you can choose to add more EVOO, salt, pepper depending on your palate.


Provecho!

My sister is NOT a cook, she would quickly agree. However, she does make an excellent meatloaf. Since she's gone for another 9 months, asking her to make dinner is a little out of the question. So, in her honor I attempted to make her famous meatloaf (which by the way she has no way of making a recipe because she "eyeballs it") and added the things she does... this time measuring in hopes that it could be replicated. It's pretty simple, the veggie chopping is time consuming, but I think a food processor would help. I used a chop-it once, but I hate the noise, and the mess of cleaning it up.... to each their own :)
It's veggie because we try to chop up as many veggies/color into it to punch up the health factor.. it is meatloaf after all... and to make it a little more exciting than a plain old chunk of beef. If, as you are chopping you think, "this is too many veggies" don't worry, it's not. If you don't want to add a bunch of bell pepper you can add whatever you have on hand, and I'm sure it would come out just as great.

What you will need:

1lb of ground beef
various colors of bell pepper (if you only have one just use that.. no sense it making it difficult, also I use about 1/2 of each bell pepper giving you approx. 1/2 cup of EACH: red, green, orange)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 small carrot chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1-2 jalapeños chopped (this depends on your heat-o-meter, if the jalapeño has brown/tan striations on the outside, chances are its on the spicy side... no striations generally means it's not very spicy- test it's hotness by cutting it open and licking it, if your tongue stays zinged ya know it's hot)
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 egg beaten
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
3 tablespoons BBQ sauce
3 tablespoons of ketchup
3/4 tablespoon Lawry's meat seasoning (or any meat seasoning you have on hand)
 1 package of bacon (you won't use it all, it depends on the size of your loaf)
1/3 cup chopped pepper jack cheese chopped into small cubes.

Preheat your oven to 375

In a large mixing bowl add beef, meat seasoning, beaten egg, bread crumbs, ALL chopped veggies (bell peppers, carrot, celery, jalapeño, onion), worcestershire sauce, bbq sauce, ketchup. Mix so that everything is evenly spread out, just don't over work the meat to mix, or it will turn out tough.

I used a large baking dish (13x9), lined it with foil for easy clean up, placed meat in and then "sprinkled" cubes on top of the loaf-pushing cheese in with my palm, a few squirts of ketchup and then placed uncooked bacon on top, covering the loaf, and for good measure added a bit of ketchup again.

Cover with foil and into the oven for 40 mins. Then uncover it, turn up head to 425 for bacon to brown/until the loaf has cooked through. I highly recommend doing a "thinner" loaf. I made mine about an inch and a half thick. Only because cook time is faster.  :)


Pair it with some mashed potatoes and you've got yourself a fantastic meal... well if you like meatloaf. :)

A friend made this soup and posted a picture, after deciding this week all the sickies in my house would be fed soups to recoup, this one seemed perfect to add to the mix. I didn't realize she had posted her recipe up until after I searched online for one, but they all seem to be about the same. One of the best things about THIS soup is that it literally requires NO spices. And tastes incredible. I know, it sounds impossible, but believe it.

Here's what you will need:

1lb of sausage- I bought Italian SPICY ground sausage, it is on the spicier side, so if you have a sensitive  
                        palate I'd say stick to the mild.
1 32oz carton of chicken stock
1 medium onion chopped
2 cups of KALE (I bought prepackaged kale)
2 tablespoons of crushed garlic
2 or 3 large russet potatoes (chopped chunky/bite-size)
1 cup heavy cream (or whole milk, whatever is easier/you have on hand)
3-4 slices of bacon COOKED and chopped into bits.

In a large pot, brown the sausage. After it has cooked about 95% through add chopped onion and garlic, mix it in well.
Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, then add potatoes and cook on medium or until potatoes are tender.
Then add heavy cream, bacon, and kale and let it heat through for about 5 mins, or until kale has softened.

*I don't know that the bacon is entirely necessary, I would venture to skip it next time around, the spice of the sausage did enough to bump up the flavor. But it is bacon, and who doesn't love bacon.

That's it! :) Keep salt and pepper on hand if you think it requires it, I didn't have any need for any spices whatsoever.

It's a shame I haven't posted any of the amazing meals I have made for my family this summer. Food blogging, I have come to realize, is a bit more time consuming than blogging about family, or work, or whatever else there is to blog about. At any rate, we have all been sick the past week, and have been making hearty soups to help get us all feeling better. I was surfing the web and came across a cream of broccoli soup, and did what I often do, change it up to fit whats in our pantry. It was AMAZING. I wasn't sure I was going to love it but holy moly, Marc and I kept saying "this is SO good, how on earth did I not make this before?!?!!?"

What you will need:
4-5 tablespoons of butter (NOT EVOO)
12 oz. bag of broccoli
1 large onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
 2 teaspoons minced/crushed garlic
pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Knorr chicken bouillon seasoning to taste (or salt, but bouillon adds a better flavor)
3 tablespoons of flour
32oz carton of chicken broth
1/2 cup of cream (or milk if that's easier for you)
3 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese (NOT powdered green bottle kind, if you don't have parmesan cheese just skip it, no use in buying it if you don't use it often, you can add shredded cheese of choice when you serve it if you so desire :)
Optional: Your choice of rice, we prefer brown rice,  or croutons,  or slice of bread....


Melt butter in a large pot, add broccoli, onion, carrot, 1tsp pepper, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of chicken bouillon. Sautee on med/high until onion looks translucent. About 5 mins.
Add flour cook for about a minute until the flour looks "blonde"
Add carton of stock and bring it to a boil
Simmer until the broccoli is VERY tender, pour in cream and parmesan cheese and turn off heat
Using an immersion blender OR regular blender: blending/creaming until all the broccoli has blended.
Taste: you can add more pepper/salt depending on your palate.

We love Trader Joe's microwave 3min brown rice. Added it on top after the soup was poured.

ENJOY!!

This casserole is SO easy to make and SUPER tasty! I was at a ladies breakfast a few weeks ago and one of my friends, Jamie, made it. She told us the ingredients and cooking time... and it was SO simple. I made it a few times and my husband said, "Please never make this again!" Why? Because he ate 3/4 of it!!
What's so great about it is you don't need ANY spices/salt. With the sausage and cheese it provides all the spice/salt you need, TRUST ME! It's assembled like a lasagna, super easy!

1package of lean sausage (I bought Jimmy Dean, it's about a lb.)
1 can of crescent rolls
4 or 5 beaten eggs
1 bag of shredded mozzarella  (you want to use ONLY mozzarella or else the cheese will burn and kill the dish)

Set your oven to crescent rolls baking temp, usually 375. Meanwhile, cook sausage. Once its cooked through drain/pat dry the fat. You don't have to do this but we try to eat as lean as possible even on less healthy meal choices. Roll out the crescent dough on the bottom of glass baking dish, cover with cooked sausage, pour beaten eggs over that, and top it off with shredded cheese. Place it in the oven for about 25-30 mins, or until the casserole has firmed up. If you slice it and it juices up, eggs haven't fully cooked. The cheese should brown up quite a bit. (the picture shown was 10mins before it was ready..so it browned quite a bit more)

I have to thank my sweet friend Christine for this recipe. She invited us over for dinner and made these short ribs.. I pretty much watered at the mouth the entire week after thinking about how awesome they were. She was nice enough to share her recipe and now I'm paying it forward. This tasty dinner couldn't be any easier AND the list is only 4 items.. YES I said 4!

Short Ribs (usually 2 to 3 per adult)
Meat tenderizer
BBQ sauce
1/2 cup water

I used my crock pot because when I tried making them in the oven it didn't come out so well, so turn your crock pot on LOW, I cooked them frozen from 10am to 5pm. The longer they cook the more tender they are. Pour water in the pot and place the ribs in the crock pot sprinkling each side lightly with meat tenderizer. Cover ribs with your choice of bbq sauce (I use about 3/4 cup) and let them cook! Easy no?!?!?


As sides I ventured to make some potato cakes which rocked! If you ever have leftover mashed potatoes from a previous dinner THIS is the side to make them with. I didn't have any so the process took a smidgen longer. Because this was an experiment I didn't take any pictures but when I make them again I will make a post dedicated entirely to them!

1 potato per adult (in this recipe I used 3 medium/large potatoes)
3/4cup breadcrumbs (I used an Italian breadcrumb mix and it was AMAZING)
1 beaten egg
1tsp garlic salt
pepper to taste
salt to taste
shredded cheese
optional: chives/green onion, sour cream
2tsp of butter
EVOO

Again, because I didn't have any leftover mashed potatoes I boiled some and smashed them in a mixing bowl. Make sure they have cooled down a bit before beginning to add ingredients, if not they are too hot and can cook the egg (the LAST ingredient to be added). Add garlic salt, butter, breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and mix. Taste the mixture to see if it needs salt, if you like you can add pepper as well, again this depends on your taste. If you like chives you can add them now as well. Once you have mixed it well you can ADD the beaten egg. Begin to roll balls and flatten them between your palms. In a flat plate pour some breadcrumbs so that when you flatten the potato balls you can cover them in breadcrumbs. Turn a skillet on high heat and pour EVOO into the pan until it covers the bottom. Take each potato cake and place it in the pan and fry on each side for about a minute or until it browns, you may need to turn the heat down to medium high while frying/cooking.
When you have browned both sides, you can add a sprinkle of cheese and dollop of sour cream to each cake. Of course we had green beans as well.... all the bellies around here were FULL!

Ok bloggies... I'm back! (I think) It's definitely been a while but I promise I will do my best to get some posts going, I have a camera FULL of pictures from dinners that I just haven't sat down to share with you all, but Brooke has had me on my toes to say the least. In any event, I made this a few nights ago and we all really loved it.

I found this recipe on one of the parenting sites I'm constantly perusing. It sounded like a pretty good mix - banana & chocolate. What can go wrong? NOTHING! My mom made it first and it turned out so perfectly. In fact, if you don't care for nutella, the banana bread recipe would stand by itself and be perfectly delicious.
Here is what you'll need:

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups very ripe, mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup plain lowfat yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup nutella (or more to taste)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray.


Mix together the sugar and butter in a bowl until they have the consistency of wet sand. 

Add the bananas, eggs, yogurt (or whichever you use) and vanilla and beat until well blended. There is no need to get all the lumps of banana out.
Add the flour, baking soda and salt and gently stir with a spatula just until combined. If you are adding nuts or other optional ingredients, throw them in just before the batter is completely blended.
(You'll notice that I used a mixer...OOPS! You definitely want to stir together with a spatula or your bread will be a bit tougher.)


Pour about half of your batter in your prepared loaf pan. Top with spoonfuls of Nutella. It's a little hard to spread out evenly, so you could microwave it for just a couple of seconds to get it a little soft and it would make it easier to spread over the batter. It doesn't matter too much, though, because as the bread cooks the Nutella will spread a little.


Pour the remaining batter on top and bake in the very middle of your oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the top is cracked and springy to the touch. Cool in pan on a wire rack (or like we always do in my family, eat it as soon as humanly possibly).


Enjoy!!