The "Oops I forgot to make a real vegetable" salad


This salad is really good and easy peasy japaneasy (yep, that's pretty dorky)... parenthood will do that. :) So, you can literally whip up this salad in 5 mins flat. Most likely you'll have most of these ingredients in your fridge and pantry. 

What's in this salad you ask?
Lettuce of some sort
Tomatoes any kind
Feta or any cheese you like
Bread for croutons*


Dressing;
Olive oil x 1/2 cup
Red w. vinegar x 1/4
Dijon mustard x 1 Tablespoon
garlic clove x 1
Salt & b.pepper x as needed
Sugar x as needed
Blend dressing up with a blender or immersion stick blender, if you have neither (REALLY??) just do it the good ole fashion way with a whisk or fork. 


Croutons;
I used some old ciabatta cut up into little cubes, toasted in a saute pan first. Once they started to toast up I drizzled in some olive oil and roughly chopped herbs (oregano, parsley) that's just what I had on hand feel free to use whatever you like or have. Croutons should be coated slightly and toasted, add salt and pepper. 

Ginger & Tofu Soup

Nice light soup, quite spicy and aromatic... it will definitely clear out your sinuses. I made this w/o starch, but you can add noodles (pretty much any Asian kind will work) or serve with rice. I made a small side of ramen noodles for Adam with it, but I ate it just as is and it was great! 

Ingredients:

Soft tofu - 1 package

Ginger - 1/4 cup

Bok choy - 1/2 head

Button mushrooms - 7-10

Dried shitake mushrooms - 1/4 cup

Snap peas - 7-10

Green onions - 1 bunch

Cilantro - half a bunch

Tomato - 2

Celery - 3 stalks

Shallot or onion - 1 whole shallot or half an onion

Garlic - 4 cloves

Jalapeno - 1

Soy sauce - 1/4 cup

Fish sauce - 3 Tablespoons

Rice vinegar - 2 Tablespoons

Beef stock or bullion (optional) -1 bullion, or 3 cups of stock

Sambal (garlic chili paste) -2 table spoons

Salt as needed

Water - 5 to 7 cups depending on how broth-y you like it

To make;

Saute shallots, ginger and celery in vegetable or canola oil then add garlic. Once  softened add button mushrooms saute for a bit and add bok choy, jalapeno. Place the tomatoes over an open flame and char a bit.. and add to pot. Add all wet ingredients at this point, and dry shitake mushrooms. Simmer for 15 mins or so just to get all the flavors out. Once the soup is 5 mins away from being done add snap peas, and celery (don't cook too long, as you want some texture). Garnish with green onions & cilantro. You can add more soy-sauce, sambal, fish sauce etc.. to your taste. 

I wanted to make a food blog about the everyday task of having to cook at home, you know the day after day job of making sure your loved ones are properly fed. 

I'm a professional cook, that's what I do for a living. Cooking in a restaurant on a line is a whole different animal to cooking at home. At work I'm using dealing with expensive products ie; fish, seafood, high end cuts of meat, poultry, exotic spices and oil, produce etc.. Stuff that the average family just can't afford to cook everyday. I wanted to make this blog about making beautiful, delicious, healthy, easy food... and stuff you don't have to spend hours making. Let's face it, most of us don't have much more then half an hour to make a meal for their family. I know I certainly don't! I recently had a baby who is now four months, and he doesn't let me cook for longer then half an hour most days while I sit him in a bouncer or bumbo. Plus all the other stuff you have going on in your day. So I get it! Most of my food can be made in a short amount of time, and ingredients substituted if you either just don't like them or don't have it on hand.      I'm also on a budget, so the food I make is VERY affordable. I like to cook by feel I don't measure... it's not like baking where you have to be precise or the entire recipe doesn't turn out. So have fun with your cooking, don't be scared to try cooking new things it's much easier then you think! And don't forget to season your food folks, that's one of the biggest mistakes people make... and it's such an easy fix. Happy cooking peeps!! :)

Meatloaf 
This is actually the first meatloaf I've ever attempted to make. I had it growing up and was never really a big fan of it...it was alright but never great. My mom loved to pack it full of oregano and tomato paste. (Sorry Mom :) ). 


Mine is made with lean ground beef, onion, celery, garlic, ciabatta breadcrumbs, s & p, 1 egg. I baked it in a saute pan... I didn't have a meatloaf baking thingy mjig.  I turned out pretty nicely, not too dry either. I took some bbq sauce I already had on hand and added horseraddish, ketchup, and brown sugar to it. Simmered it on the stove and then served it with the loaf. 

My little sous chef helping me from his Bumbo! :)

Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage with Sauteed Plum Tomato Garlic Spaghetti 


I sauteed up my garlic, celery, shallots on lowlowlow heat with a ton of olive oil and chili flakes, added my tomatoes and olives, deglazed with w.wine and finished with parsley, basil, and more olive oil. Crisped up my sausage in a separate pan, then added them to my sauce. 

Green cabbage, blue cheese, fennel & apple slaw.
I looked at my veggies today and came up with this! I had some cabbage and fennel to use up, and since I was making a rich pasta dish I wanted something light and acidic to go with it.
This is an easy slaw. Makes a great side dish on a hot summer dish with a picnic or bbq or whatever. Plus you can substitute most of these ingredients as well.

Salad
Fennel cabbage apple and blue cheese slaw.
1/4 head green cabbage (shaved or thinly sliced)
1/2 head fennel (shaved or thinly sliced)
1 gala apple (diced or matchsticks)
1/4 red onion (thinly sliced or shaved)
2 Tablespoons blue cheese (crumbled)
1 Tablespoon Dill
Dressing
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 Tablespoons blue cheese
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 pinch dill
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup olive oil

Red bean salad. buttermilk dressing.


This is such a healthy light lunch! I made this the other day, since we've been trying to eat healthier and lighter after the holidays we're eating a lot more beans and tofu. This was something a little different. Came out quite lovely.

Very easy little salad here, Red bliss potatoes boiled, blanched broccoli, raw sliced fennel, olives, dill, green lettuce leaves. You can use any other bean, I've used a red bean here but black, pinto, lentils whatever would be just as nice. I've sauteed my beans here with mirepoix, chili flakes, olive oil, tumeric, chili powder, chopped cilantro. I made a buttermilk dressing with applecider vin, olive oil, buttermilk, parsley, dill, lil bit of dried ranch seasoning, s & p. 


Assemble your salad together, I don't recommend tossing just drizzle the dressing on after... and you might want your beans warm rather than hot. Enjoy!