Spring Couscous

Well, we certainly caught a glimpse of Spring...now we have returned to winter.

Spring always makes me crave things like fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, lighter meals. It's great. I had a great idea last week of combining some spring vegetables, olive oil, pine nuts, beans and lemon juice together with couscous to create a great spring dish. This was incredibly easy and can be made any way you like! Simply combine your favorite spring vegetables, cook couscous, and top with Greek yogurt (if you want) and lemon juice. We used asparagus, pine nuts, chick peas, olive oil, lemon juice, edamame, 1 garlic clove, and corn.

No recipe needed...just combine the things you like (the best part of cooking)!

Tomato-Mac

I haven't posted a slow cooker recipe on my blog in four entries, so I better get back into that routine! That's a joke, but seriously, we all know how much I love that slow cooker.

Usually my recipes have some sort of nutritional value. But, I admit that even I sometimes need a good 'comfort food.' The first weekend in May I solved my craving by making a mac-and-cheese with tomato dish in the crockpot. We've all had the traditional mac-and-cheese from the box, but it is so much better when you make it from scratch. Give it a shot!

One warning I have about this dish is that the cooking time will vary by crockpot and you will need to watch your recipe carefully. The recipe I was following suggested a cooking time of 2 hours on high. I was planning on cooking for 3 hours on low, however, within one hour and a half of cooking the meal was finished. Unfortunately, I had a yoga class to go to and therefore, my noodles were slightly overcooked...but the recipe was still tasty! You will know when your tomato-mac is finished when the macaroni noodles are soft.

This recipe will serve 4-6 people.

Tomato-Mac
14 oz petite diced tomatoes
1 12oz can evaporated milk
1 12oz can condensed cheedar cheese soup
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheese in the flavor of your choice (I used parmesan)
1/2 pound (half of a box) elbow macaroni

Begin by lining your slow cooker with foil and coating in vegetable oil spray. This will be important so your macaroni noodles don't stick to the side of your slow cooker.

In a large pan, bring tomatoes, evaporated milk, condensed soup, water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cayenne pepper to simmer on the stove. Adding more or less cayenne pepper will make your mac and cheese more or less spicy (the amount I have included in this recipe will give it a little kick). Slowly whisk in shredded cheese until melted and then stir in macaroni.

Transfer mixture to slow cooker. Cook for 1.5 hours on low. Stir the pasta, adding a little bit of hot water to create the right consistency. Enjoy. This recipe will make great leftovers!

 I should add, in case you are worried about the quantities pictured below, I actually halved the recipe I used for the blog because it made a ridiculous ammt of Tomato-Mac. (But at least I have plenty of frozen leftover lunches!)

Just a sidenote, in case you are still with me. D and I are in the process of planning our wedding and we are stuck on the food, which is obviously very important to us. We are doing a reception in the mid-afternoon. We want something unique and tasty, that most people will enjoy. So, I'm curious to all the readers out there, what is a type of food that you have always wanted to see at a wedding reception?

Reader Contest Winner

In my mind everyone who participated is a winner, but according to the rules I guess I do need to name only one winner.

Therefore...the winner is....drum roll please:

With eight reader votes!

Entry 6: Dan, Chicago. The Best Vegetarian Chili. Twist: Cooked in the oven for 8 hours on 210 degrees instead of a slow cooker. Ingredients listed up to garlic were sauteed before baking. Served with buttermilk biscuits from "The Joy of Cooking"

Although, as I said, I was impressed with everyone's entries. I loved how Cecilia and Pietro (Entry 3) used veal purchased from a local farm instead of steak from the grocery store. Kayla's (Entry 2) Oreo cake was even better composed than mine was! I adored the addition of real oreos and putting the cake in the shape of a one; it was so precious. And then of course Amanda (Entry 1) started the entire contest so she deserves credit for that. Let's not forget Jessica (Entry 4) who carefully positioned her cauliflower cake on a beautiful floral plate and Gal (Entry 5) who I do not even know personally, but decided to risk it and enter the contest. Not to mention the fact that bagels are not easy to make!

But since Dan is the official winner, himself and a guest are invited to our place for a home-cooked dinner for two. I might even throw in a free *crock pot* so next time you don't have to cook on low in the oven for eight hours! That's ridiculous! I will communicate specific details with you directly.

So props to everyone who entered and thanks to my readers for voting because obviously I am very glad I did not have to decide a winner in this contest.

Keep reading and continue to leave your comments.

Three Floyds Brewery

Going along with my new "doesn't necessarily have to be a recipe but could cover any culinary topic" I am offering a review of Three Floyds Brewery and Brewpub.

Three Floyds is a small Microbrewery right outside Chicago in Munster, IN. Now, if you live in Chicago you might think to yourself, "why would I ever want to go to Munster, IN?!" The truth is that it is really not that far, just the first exit off the highway as soon as you cross into Indiana...plus the beer is in my opinion, some of the best you can find in the midwest, the food is gourmet, and the service is unbeatable. Three Floyds is one of those places that truly cares about their customers and wants to make them happy. So, seriously, you should go.

Daniele and I took a trip there on the 23rd of April, the day before Easter. We ordered a full three course meal: an appetizer of octopus with grapefruit (it had a special name but I don't remember), a trout dish, a chicken dish, and for dessert we had creme brulee. Everything was wonderful (especially the french fries...I know it sounds silly but those were really great fries!). Now, I cannot promise that when you take your trip to the brewery you will be able to order the same thing we did because the food and beer menu is constantly changing...but what I can promise you is that whatever you have will be wonderful. They really do have a gourmet chef there who creates wonderful dishes at outside-of-chicago prices. This is not your standard pub food, and you will get a great deal. For example, Daniele and I had five beers, an appetizer, two main courses (the most expensive ones on the menu), shared a dessert, AND brought home a case of beer for $100. I honestly can't wait to go back and eat there again. (I have already suggested two times to Daniele that we go!)

Our experience at Three Floyds was great, and not simply because the food and drinks were delish. I had previously arranged with Phil, one of the Three Floyds staff members to serve Daniele's beer in a special pint glass. This beer had engraved in it "Daniele Rosso, will you marry me?/Daniele Rosso, mi vuoi sposare?". After our brewery tour, his glass was delivered without a hitch. I was a bit nervous but he did say yes, and now, we are engaged. I could not have picked a more suitable place for the proposal, everything was fantastic and perfect for our personalities. And don't worry, after I proposed, Daniele did step outside and call my dad for permission.

For those of you who are curious, we will get married the third weekend of June  next year in St. Louis, and will host a reception in Italy sometime in July. More specific plans are pending.

Enjoy the proposal and Three Floyds food photos below. Oh, and vote tonight in the reader contest! Voting ends at 11:59pm.

Tortellini and Homemade Filling

For Easter, Daniele got this great idea to make homemade tortellini, which is traditional from his area on holidays such as Easter and Christmas. As much as I tried to convince him not to do it, he would not hear of it and decided to give it a shot. Although we did have one success at making pasta with our pasta maker, I thought it best to try something a bit easier given our horrific failure at making homemade ravioli. But, to my dismay, Daniele prepared for Easter by making tortellini filling the day before and noodles Easter morning.

I should not have doubted him because although we were not successful before, he now has the pasta maker mastered. The tortellini were wonderful and I cannot wait for more. Unfortunately, it will be very difficult for you readers out there to replicate this recipe without a pasta maker, but if you have one or could get your hands on one, you should definitely try this!

Homemade (and Traditional) Tortellini Filling

100 g pork loin cooked in butter
100 g mortadella (bologna)
100 g prosciutto
150 g Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
nutmeg

Begin by cooking your pork loin in a pan on the stove. When cooked, put all meats in a food processor and process until one consistency. Put meats in a bowl and add Parmesan cheese, eggs, and nutmeg. This is your wonderfully tasting filling!

For the pasta noodles, you can use the same recipe as listed on the ravioli page, the noodles will just need to be in a different shape.  For this quantity of filling, we used 3 eggs to prepare our pasta, but to be honest, we had lots of extra filling and could have made much more noodles. (I wish we had!)

When preparing your noodles, make sure to prepare one thin sheet of noodles at a time and keep the rest of your dough in a ball in a covered bowl to ensure it doesn't dry out. When you have one sheet ready, cut into small squares, place a small ball of filling in each center, fold in a triangle, and then bring the two ends of the triangle together to get the tortellini shape.

Finally, since you have now prepared a traditional tortellini dish you must eat it in the traditional way: prepare some chicken broth and cook your tortellini in the boiling chicken broth for 3-5 minutes. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Wonderful. Can't wait to make this one again.

By the way, don't forget to vote in the reader contest. Be sure to vote by Friday!

Reader Contest Entries

Thank you to everyone who submitted entries to my first reader contest. I had six great submissions and since Daniele and I know many of you who have submitted, we are opening up the contest to a 'reader vote' so nobody can claim we played favorites. Here are the rules of the reader vote:

1) Voting opens now and closes Friday May 6th at 11:59pm. Any votes submitted after that do not count.
2) You can vote by commenting below. You can only vote for one entry and each person can only vote one time. Simply sign in (or write your name after your vote) and make sure to write the number entry you are voting for.
3) No anonymous votes count. The person voting must log in or at the very least sign their name.
4) No cheating! (Obviously there are some ways to cheat here with the voting. But this is supposed to be a simple, fun laid back contest so play nice and fair. Plus, I really don't like cheaters!)
5) At least 10 votes must be cast in order to declare a winner. If 10 votes are not cast (or if there is a tie), then Daniele and I will need to dictate the winner of a contest. By this I do not mean that the winner must have at least 10 votes, I am simply saying that at least 10 people must vote.
6) If you entered the contest, yes, you can vote! And feel free to invite your friends to vote, too.

The winner will be invited over to our place for a dinner for 2. Or we can cook at your place. You can select the menu (within reason of course!) If more than 2 people were involved with making your recipe then after you are a declared a winner we can discuss that. If you are not living in Chicago and you are the winner well...we'll have to figure out a different prize I suppose!

As a reminder for readers out there, here was the criteria I listed when I first developed the contest. Of course you can vote for your friends, but try to take these criteria into consideration as well:

Entries/photos will be judged in the following manner: 34% quality of photograph, 33% how tasty the food looks, 33% overall creativity in adapting the recipe/photographing your food

Please also note that if as an entrant, you submitted a bunch of photos, I only posted two since otherwise this entry/contest would be out of control!

And now, for the contest entries (listed in order of submission):

Entry 1-Amanda, New York City. Spanish Tortilla.

Entry 2- Kayla, St. Louis. Oreo Cake. Twist: Made in the shape of a 1 for her son's first birthday. Note: Kayla has her own blog. Check it out!

Entry 3- Cecilia and Pietro, Chicago. Steak Stroganoff. Twist: Veal purchased from a local farm was used instead of steak. Cooked over the stove on low for five hours as opposed to in a slow cooker. Stock was substituted for onion soup mix and rice was substituted for egg noodles.

Entry 4-Jessica, Chicago. Cauliflower Cake.

Entry 5: Gal, Chicago. Bagels. 

Entry 6: Dan, Chicago. The Best Vegetarian Chili. Twist: Cooked in the oven for 8 hours on 210 degrees instead of a slow cooker. Ingredients listed up to garlic were sauteed before baking. Served with buttermilk biscuits from "The Joy of Cooking"

So that's it folks. Those are your six entries. Begin voting now, one vote per person and make sure to sign in or list your name after your vote. Keep in mind the criteria listed above. Voting closes on Friday and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Thanks for reading and thanks especially for participating!

Chicken Tacos

A few weeks ago I posted photos of my mom's chicken tacos and noted that I would soon need to make something similar myself and then post the recipe.

Well, I did and it was great! I let the meat cook in my slow cooker all day long and then prepped the taco fillings at night. The meat made enough for dinner, lunch most of the rest of the week, and we still have frozen leftovers!

Chicken Filling
1 onion, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and minced
3 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1.5 teaspooons sugar
2 lbs chicken-mix between skinnless breasts and thighs
juice of 1 fresh lime
1/2 small can adobo sauce

In a small bowl, microwave the onion, chili powder, oil, jalapeno, and cumin in a bowl for about five minutes: place in show cooker. Stir tomato sauce, adobo sauce, and sugar into slow cooker. Season your chicken with salt and pepper, and put in the slow cooker and coat evenly with the sauce. Cook for six hours on low.

Transfer chicken to a large bowl and shred into pieces using a fork. Take liquid out of the slow cooker. Place the chicken back in the slow cooker and mix with 1.5 cups of the liquid and lime juice. We had a lot of leftover liquid, which we decided to freeze and use for later to season a pork roast.

Serve your chicken tacos with your favorite fillings: we used rice, beans, mango, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and cheese.