Revamping Childhood Comfort Food

I still love to make a classic box of mac and cheese or have an occasional simple grilled cheese sandwich. It's those childhood foods that take us back to the good old days when life was simple. Now you can't beat the classics, but as we grow up our pallets crave more. So in honor of the "oldies but goodies", I revamped the grilled cheese sandwich. It's amazingly delicious, and its my new favorite comfort food. You are going to love this one.


Bacon and Apple Grilled Cheese


Ingredients

• 3 slices of baking made to your liking
• About 1/4 of an apple thinly sliced
• Cheddar cheese
• Two slices of bread (buttered)

Directions

Start making the bacon to your desire. As the bacon is cooking start making your grilled cheese on a skillet until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted. Once the grilled cheese sandwich is ready, peal it open and layer on the bacon and slices of bacon.

Green Beans with Garlic Chips

These green beans make a great side to any meal. They are very delicious and they only take about 20 minutes to make. Once again, since I made this dish for one, I cut the recipe in half. I had them along side a seasoned chicken breast, which made an easy healthy meal. 

If you're planning on making dinner for Valentines Day, this would make a great side dish!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds haricots verts, trimmed
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium heat. Prepare an ice bath of water and ice in a large bowl. Drop the greenbeans into the boiling water to blanch for 60 seconds. Immediately remove the beans and shock in the ice bath.

In a large saute pan, over low heat, add the olive oil and the garlic.Fry the garlic chips until golden in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove garlic chips to paper towels to drain.

Remove the green beans from ice bath and add them to the hot garlic infused olive oil in the saute pan. Raise the heat to high and cook, tossing frequently, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the cider vinegar and reduce the liquid to a glaze while tossing beans, another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mint and toss to combine. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Transfer the beans to a serving dish, garnish with fried garlic chips and enjoy!

Visit FoodNetwork.com for more great recipes

Love is in the Air

Well Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so I thought I would give you all a great tasty love snack. Now I haven't tried these yet, but judging from the reviews they are not going to fail. How can you go wrong with chocolate? I’m intrigued to taste the chili in the chocolate. I'm going to make them for my single roommates and I (just because we are single doesn't mean we deserve to be treated!). I'll keep you posted on how they turn out.

Ingredients

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/8 teaspoon ground pure chili powder, such as ancho
• 10 large strawberries with long stems

Directions

In a heat-proof mixing bowl, add the chocolate, cream, and butter. Place over a smaller pot of simmering water. Be sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir until chocolate is melted. Stir in the chili powder and mix until fully incorporated.

Hold each strawberry by the long stem and dip into the chocolate allowing the excess to drizzle back into the pan. Place chocolate covered strawberries on a parchment or waxed paper lined sheet tray. Once chocolate is cool, chill until fully set, about 30 minutes.

Game Day Snack

Looking for something yummy to bring to the big game on sunday? Here is a great snack that everyone will love. I am going to make them tomorrow and bring them to my friends Super Bowl party. They are super easy and only take about 35 minutes to make.

Jalapeno Snacks (retrieved from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry ranch salad dressing mix
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 20 large jalapeno peppers, halved and seeded
• 1 pound sliced bacon, cut in half

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees
2. Stir together the cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix, and garlic powder in a mixing bowl until evenly blended. Spoon some of the cheese mixture into each jalapeno half, wrap with half a bacon strip, and secure with a toothpick. Arrange the wrapped jalapeno halves onto a broiler pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the bacon is no longer pink and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes.

Planning Ahead

I find myself watching the Food Network daily, but fail to try any of the recipes shown on my favorite cooking shows. I make a note to myself, as I watch 30 Minute Meals, to look it up next time I am in the mood to cook. However, the chances of me remembering what meal made my mouth water are slim. Even when I do remember and manage to navigate through the website, after reading all the ingredients I need and how long it is going to take to cook, I end up throwing the idea out the window and resort to whatever I can eat right now (usually a Cup of Noodles).

Well, it dawned on me that planning ahead might help me solve this problem. From now on I spend parts of my free time building up a “recipe book”. I browse sites like Foodnetwork.com and Allrecipes.com for whatever looks easy and tasty, print them out, and put them in a folder. Then, I plan out what I am actually going to make for the next couple of weeks (usually one or two meals per week, because the left overs will last me through the week). Planning a week or two in advance makes grocery shopping easy and gets me motivated to cook. Picking out recipes ahead of time gives me something to look forward to and reduces my chances of eating instant meals or fast food.

Here is what I have planned out for this weekend and next week:

            Sautéed Green Beans with Garlic Chips

            Peanut Soba Noodles

            Spicy Teriyaki Chicken with Broccoli 

Cooking Tips

• Read the recipe from beginning to end. Make sure you have all the right ingredients, utensils, and appliances.

• Make sure you understand all the directions

• Assemble all your ingredients in one place before you start (you could even measure out each ingredient ahead of time before cooking). Pull out the utensils, measuring cups, and spoons you'll be using and keep them handy so you won't need to run all over the kitchen.

• Remember its YOUR meal, so if there is an ingredient you don't like take it out. You can even add to the recipe. Think of recipes as a blueprint.

• Taste test throughout cooking. Does it need more salt? Is it not spicy enough for you? Test tasting will ensure your on the right track.

• Don't be afraid to fail! Cooking takes practice. Even if your creation is a complete disaster, just remember:  delicious meals come out of creative, adventurous minds.

Lemon Past with Chicken

Yields 3-5 servings

Estimated cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried penne
• 2 chicken cutlets, cut into fingers
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, until done. Drain well.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large grill pan (or skillet) over medium high and add chicken. Grill until golden and completely cooked. Remove to a plate and slice.
3. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to a saute pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and saute until fragrant. Add the cooked pasta and turn heat off. Mix all together.
4. Remove pasta to a large bowl. Add chicken to the warm pasta and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in chopped parsley. Add the juice of 2 lemons and mix. Before serving top with Parmesan.

My Review

I found this recipe from FoodNetwork.com. This tasty meal only took 30 minutes, including prep time and cooking time. The combination of lemon and garlic was perfect. This meal was delicious, and best of all it was cheap and easy to make.

Since I was only making this for my self, I made a few changes to the recipe. My changes included:

    3 cups of pasta instead of 1 pound

    2 garlic cloves instead of 3

    2 dashes of chili powder (I did not have chili flakes)

    2 tablespoons olive oil instead of 3 tablespoons

    1 large lemon herb chicken filet instead of 2 cutlets

When i was grocery shopping I came across some pre-seasoned chicken filets, Foster Farms Zesty Lemon Herb filets. I highly recommend using these pre-seasoned filets. They definitely added more flavor and complimented the lemon pasta very well.

Overall this was a great meal! I would give it a 4 out of 5