Lomo Saltado

My first attempt at peruvian food...

3 thin (fast fry) steaks
3 plum tomatoes
1 small hot pepper
1 large onion
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp corriander
1 package frozen fries


Marinate steak, cut into strips, in red wine vinegar, soy sauce, cumin and corriander for 4hrs-overnight

Heat a dip frying pan over medium heat
Add steak and marinade
Cook until no longer pink
Add onion and hot pepper
Meanwhile, bake fries in oven as directed
Add tomatoes to frying pan
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes
Once fries are done, toss them into steak mixture
Toss to coat
Serve over rice

mmm

beer brined pork chops

4 Chops, bone in
1 Bottle beer
2 Cups water
3Tbsp salt
1Tbsp sugar

Place pork chops in a bowl that they will be completely submerged in brine.
Mix together other ingredients
Pour over chops
Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours

Grill and enjoy. I'm serving mine with tomato zucchini salsa :)

fresh tomato zucchini salsa

The garden is huge again this year and producing more veggies than I know what to do with. So today for dinner I'm making beer brined pork chops on the BBQ with tomato zucchini salsa to go with it.

1 Cup chopped baby tomatoes
1 Medium zucchini diced
1 Green onion, diced
1 Clove garlic
1 Jalapeno (or 1 tbsp dried)
1 Sweet red pepper,diced
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tsp lime juice
2 Tsp cider vinegar
1 Tsp dried cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together, cover and refrigerate at least 4-8hrs

Stuffed Red Peppers SLOW COOKER style :)

Decided to try stuffed red peppers in the slow cooker for the first time.

Ingredients:

3 TBSP Olive Oil
2 red peppers
1 chicken breast, sliced into small pieces
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes (I used fresh yellow and red tomatoes from my garden)
2 TBSP Italian Seasoning
1/4 cup white wine
1 can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

In a deep frying pan, heat oil over medium high heat
Add chopped garlic, and italian seasoning, cook 2 minutes
Add salt and pepper to taste
Add chicken, mix well, cook covered until chicken just begins to brown

Meanwhile, cut tops off of red peppers and bottoms (only to make them sit without falling over)
Chop up the top and bottom of red pepper and add to chicken mixture
Saute chicken and red pepper mixture until cooked, 5-10 minutes
Pour white wine into chicken mixture, scraping pan with spoon
Cover and simmer until liquid is reduced (5-10 minutes)
Once liquid is reduced, add cooked brown rice and stir
Stuff red peppers with mixture
Pour diced tomatoes into slow cooker
Place stuffed red peppers in sauce and cook 6-8hrs

Enjoy :)

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Its been a long long long time since Ive posted a new recipe. Ive been making alot of new ones, just havent sat down long enough to put them online.

Here's one I came up with yesterday, made them last night and froze them, then cooked them today with a parmesan rose sauce and some fresh parmesan.

2 large sweet potatoes
1/4 cup light ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove
2 cups flour
1 egg
salt and pepper

-Cook sweet potatoes in 350degree oven, for 40-50 minutes, or until tender
-Remove and let cool
-Once the potatoes are cool, the skin should peel right off
-Place potatoes in a large bowl, and mash
-Add ricotta, minced garlic, and egg, mixing well
-Add the flour, a little at a time, until a nice smooth dough is formed (you dont want it too sticky, but dont want it to crumble, needs to hold together)
-Make 4 balls out of the dough
-Roll them into long thing 'snake' shapes, about 1in
-Cut them into 1in sections
-If you want the gnocchi indendations, use a fork, pressing down on each gnocchi

To freeze:
I sprinkled 2 cookie sheets with flour and placed the gnocchi on them, in the freezer for about an hour, then put them in ziploc bags

To cook:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add gnocchi, cook until they float to the surface

Taste amazing with any sauce, or just a bit of sage and butter :)

mmm

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Maple Glaze

Ingredients

1lb pork tenderloin
5-10 slices bacon
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 clove garlic minced

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix thyme, rosemary, sugar and garlic together
Rub spices into pork
Wrap pork crosswise with bacon
Place in oven, cook 30 minutes
Brush pork with maple syrup and balsamic vinegar mixture
Continue to cook pork another 45-50 minutes, brushing with mixture every 15 minutes
Ler sit 15 minutes before carving

Minestroni Soup

I know its been a while since I've posted, this is what happens when you're working 10.5hrs underground everyday again. But... I was bored the other day and since we made some really yummy homemade red wine, I came up with this...

Ingredients:
1TBSP olive oil
4 peperettes, sliced
2 shallots, diced
1 large carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 large zucchini, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp basil
1/2 tbsp oregano
2 cans tomatoes
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1/2cup red wine
1 can spinach (drained)
1 can red beans (drained)

Heat oil, Add next 7 ingredients, simmer 10 minutes over medium heat
Add remaining ingredients
Simmer on medium low, 1/2-1hr

Enjoy :) mmmmmmm

Bok Choy and Veggie Soup

mmm... Something completely different

Ingredients:

1/4 cup baby carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 head baby bok choy, chopped
3 small parsnips, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
4 cups beef broth
2 TBSP butter
2 TSP chinese 5 spice powder
1 TSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 bundle spinach linguini, or 1/4 package linguini, or 1 package soba noodles

Directions

In large sauce pan, over medium heat, melt butter
Add garlic, cook until barely browned
Add carrots, celery, parsnips, and bok choy
Lower heat to medium low, simmer 5-10 minutes
Add sugar, cook another 5 minutes
Add chinese 5 spice powder, salt and pepper, cook another 5 minutes
Add broth and bring to a boil
Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes

Meanwhile, cook noodles and drain
Once soup is ready, place noodles in a bowl and serve soup over noodles :)

mmm...

Warm Bacon Spinach Salad Dressing

MMM :)

Ingredients:

8 slices bacon
3TBSP red wine vinegar
1TBSP Dijon Mustard
1TBSP white sugar

In a medium frying pan, cook bacon until just crisp
Remove bacon to paper towel, reserving 3TBSP of bacon grease
In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, whisk together bacon grease, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard and sugar
Cook until sugar is dissolved
Serve warm over spinach salad, garnished with mushrooms, cooked crumbled bacon and onions.

Mushroom Onion Soup

Little healthier change on french onion soup.

Ingredients:
2TBSP Butter
5C onion, diced
1 Large clove garlic
2 TSP brown sugar
1/4tsp thyme
bay leaf
2C sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
1/3cup dry sherry
4C beef broth
4 sourdough baguettes
swiss cheese

Heat butter over medium heat in a large sauce pan, add onions, garlic, sugar, thyme and bay leaf, cook 20 minutes, covered.

Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, cook 5 minutes

Add sherry and scrape bottom of pot

Cook another 20 minutes, covered

Meanwhile, cover baguettes with swiss cheese and broil on low for 3 minutes or until lightly browned

Serve soup with baguette