Tomato & Mozzarella Panini

Yesterday I completely forget to take meat out of the freezer to thaw for dinner, so a coworker suggested soup and sandwich! What a simple but comforting meal. Also, my panini press is totally underused (I've used it once since my wedding almost 2 years ago) so I decided to pull it out!

I decided on tomato and mozzarella for something really simple but tasty and it was a huge hit. I mean, what's better then a kicked up grilled cheese with some butternut squash soup?! Yum! Sometimes the simplest meals are the most appreciated.
Ingredients
4 slices white bread
4 tomato slices, very thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
Mozzarella Cheese (a "real" ball of mozzarella would be best, but the shredded can be used in a pinch. I used shredded for this panini and it was fine!)
butter

Directions
Preheat panini press (or heat up a skillet) and butter one side of each slice of bread. On the "unbuttered" side of the bread, sprinkle garlic (aprox. 1/2 clove for each sandwich), line with tomato slices and top with mozarella cheese. Place other slice of bread, buttered side up, on top of cheese and place on panini press and toast to desired donenness. Enjoy!

Wilton Course 1, Class 2

Since I missed the 1st Wilton class due to my vacation, the 2nd class was technically my first, but we decorated a cake in this one which I was really excited about!

I've been wanting to take the Wilton classes for ages now, but could never find the time/people to go with! So me and 2 other "nesties" got together and are taking the class!

The first class was so much fun but I am SO excited to learn the more difficult techniques. I have a lot of practice to do (ie. writing...I stink at it!!!) but I'm really looking forward to practicing more and more.

Everyone in the class did an Easter themed cake, but I asked my instructor if she had any birthday related patterns since I was bringing the cake into work and had two birthdays early this week! So I did balloons!

I used my favorite Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe, but used the "special dark" cocoa powder for something different. I filled it with strawberry mousse, which was a great addition.

All in all I was very happy with the 1st class and am SO excited to continue on with the rest of the Wilton cake decorating classes!

I'm Back!

Last week I forgot to mention that I was leaving for a week on vacation! But I'm back now and (trying) to get back into the swing of things!

My husband and I traveled to Sunny Florida...Clearwater Beach to be exact! It was very relaxing and such a fun trip. But since this is a food blog, I have to mention that the food we ate was fabulous! Every restaurant we went to was fantastic, and we were never disappointed by a meal!

If you are ever in the Clearwater area, I definitely suggest the following restaurants. Most are in the Sand Key area, because that is where we stayed.

Guppy's (Great variety, atmosphere and service)
Watercolor's at the Marriott (absolutely fabulous steaks and wonderful service)
Backwaters ("beacy" feel...it's a small place though so make reservations and sit outside if the weather allows!)
Frenchy's (Lots of locations; Fun, beachy and a great place to get a burger!)
Cabana Grill & Bar (great relaxing atmosphere...we sat outside overlooking the ocean which was so nice)
and our absolute favorite was the Columbia....we ate here twice and it was soooo good! I had the Cannelloni de Langosta both times which was absolutely delicious.

And some pictures from our trip:


(My husband celebrated his birthday on our trip!!!)

Roast Chicken

One thing that I've been wanting to do for a while now is roast a chicken. If I do say so myself, I make a pretty mean Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey, but I've yet to roast a chicken for my husband and I! So with nothing else to make on a Sunday evening, I decided to roast a chicken!

I went straight to Martha Stewart to find a recipe (that's where I got my favorite roast turkey recipe from) and was again, very happy with the results. The chicken was moist, tender and very flavorful! My husband really raved over it and it was honestly not that hard to make! A little time consuming perhaps, but it was definitely worth the effort! This was a really great Sunday dinner, and I will certainly be making it again!

Ingredients
Source: Martha Stewart

1 six-pound roasting chicken
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
1 lemon
3 large cloves garlic, peeled
4 sprigs fresh thyme (I used Rosemary instead)
1 cup Chicken Stock

Directions

1. Let chicken and 1 tablespoon butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove and discard the plastic pop-up timer from chicken if there is one. Remove the giblets and excess fat from the chicken cavity. Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Dry chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Tuck the wing tips under the body. Sprinkle the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, and set aside.
2. In the center of a heavy-duty roasting pan, place onion slices in two rows, touching. Place the palm of your hand on top of lemon and, pressing down, roll lemon back and forth several times. This softens the lemon and allows the juice to flow more freely. Pierce entire surface of lemon with a fork (I just sliced the lemon in half and put both halves in the chicken cavity). Using the side of a large knife, gently press on garlic cloves to open slightly. Insert garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and lemon into cavity. Place chicken in pan, on onion slices. Cut about 18 inches of kitchen twine, bring chicken legs forward, cross them, and tie together.
3. Spread the softened butter over entire surface of chicken, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, and roast until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when pierced, about 1 1/2 hours. When chicken seems done, insert an instant-read thermometer into the breast, then the thigh. The breast temperature should read 180 degrees.and the thigh 190 degrees. (My chicken was getting very brown after an hour, so I covered it with foil to prevent it from burning).
4. Remove chicken from oven, and transfer to a cutting board with a well. Let chicken stand 10 to 15 minutes so the juices settle. Meanwhile, pour the pan drippings into a shallow bowl or fat separator, and leave onions in the pan. Leave any brown baked-on bits in the bottom of the roasting pan, and remove and discard any blackened bits. Using a large spoon or fat separator, skim off and discard as much fat as possible. Pour the remaining drippings and the juices that have collected under the resting chicken back into the roasting pan. Place on the stove over medium-high heat to cook, about 1 minute. Add chicken stock, raise heat to high, and, using a wooden spoon, stir up and combine the brown bits with the stock until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Strain the gravy into a small bowl, pressing on onions to extract any liquid. Discard onions, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter until melted and incorporated. Untie the legs, and remove and discard garlic, thyme, and lemon. Carve, and serve gravy on the side.

Honey Glazed Baby Carrots

My mom used to make glazed carrots when I was younger, and I loved them! So the other night I made them because I thought that they would be a perfect accompaniment to my roasted chicken. I found this recipe on Food Network, and it was really fantastic.

The recipe was simple, straight forward, and didn't use any crazy ingredients. I did add a few different spices to the recipe though which added a wonderful fall/Thanksgiving feeling to the carrots. Overall, this was a great veggie side dish and I will make it again!

Ingredients
Adapted from Sunny Anderson, Food Network

Salt
1 pound baby carrots
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (I omitted)
A dash of the following spices: (I added these)
All Spice
Nutmeg
Ginger
Pepper

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil (it's not clear in the recipe about how much water, so I just added enough to cover the carrots which worked well). Add salt and then carrots and cook until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the carrots and add back to pan with butter, honey, lemon juice and spices. Cook until a glaze coats the carrots, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

Rosemary Mustard Pork Chops

I was browsing through Tastespotting the other day, hoping to be inspired to make something different for dinner, when I saw these Rosemary Mustard Pork chops. I had everything on hand, so I was anxious to try them.

These were fantastic. What a great way to prepare pork chops when you are sick of the "same old way". These were a fantastic departure from the normal pork chop, and all of the flavors worked so well together. In addition, the recipe is simple and most likely you have all of the ingredients on hand; that's my kind of week night meal! Definitely try these out if you are looking for something new to do with Pork Chops!

Ingredients
Source: Zesty Cook

4 Pork chops (I used 3)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. mustard (I used Yellow Mustard)
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 Cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tsp. paprika (I omitted)
1 Tbsp. rosemary (dried) (I used about a twig and a half of fresh Rosemary, minced)
1 Tsp. black pepper
1 Tsp. salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Preheat saute pan/frying pan to medium high heat and dry the pork chops with a paper towel.

Combine soy sauce, mustard, brown sugar and rosemary in a bowl; mix together.

Season pork with salt and pepper.

Add pork to pan and begin to sear on one side, about 3-4 minutes. Once complete on one side, flip and do the same on other side.

Remove pork chops and place on plate.

De-glaze the pan by adding the chicken stock and scraping all the bits off the bottom of the pan.

Add the sauce mixture from step 3 and let thicken for 2 minutes.

Add pork back on the pan and place into the oven to finish the cooking process; about 12 minutes. (After I put my chops in the pan to coat them in the sauce, I put them in a greased baking dish and drizzled the leftover sauce over the chops. In addition, I baked them for about 15-20 minutes because they were still really pink inside after 12).

Remove from oven, baste with sauce.

Fried Risotto Cakes

I've seen this concept done quite a bit on the food network and even on other food blogs, but I'd don't make risotto that often so I haven't had the chance to try it yet. However I did make risotto this past weekend and had some leftovers so I thought it would be fun to try! I didn't use a recipe since I've seen it done on the food network and it's basically just breading and frying! But I will share how I did it!

These were really great! Like my husband said, they aren't something that you'd want every night but they certainly were a nice treat to have every so often. I totally agree with him. The whole cake itself is on the heavy/rich side, which is why I don't think you'd want it every night. But it certainly was a nice treat and a perfect way to use your leftover risotto!

Ingredients

Leftover cooked risotto, chilled in the refrigerator overnight
aprox. 1/2 cup flour*
1 egg white*
splash of skim milk*
aprox. 3/4 cup Italian Style Panko Bread Crumbs*
Extra Virgin Olive Oil*

* All measurements are approximate because the amount you will need depends on how much leftover risotto you have!

Directions
Create a "breading" station; place flour on one plate, Panko on another and whisk together the egg white and milk in a small bowl. Create small "cakes" out of your risotto and coat with flour, then dredge in egg white mixture then lightly press into Panko, making sure there is a complete coating. Repeat with all cakes.

In a small - medium skillet, add enough Olive Oil to completely coat the bottom. Heat the oil on medium-medium high heat and when the oil is hot add about 3 cakes to the skillet. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip the cake with a spatula and cook on the other side for another 3-5 minutes. Repreat entire process with remaining cakes, if you have any. Place cooked cakes on a paper-towl lined plate and serve immediately.