Truffle Poached Eggs!

Just created the most delish breakfast!

Ingredients:

• eggs
• truffle oil
• avocado
• fresh basil leaves
• white vinegar
• salt 
• pepper

What to do:

• Start out by boiling water in a small pot, add in a dash of white vinegar (helps keeps egg together while poaching)
• crack eggs into pot of boiling water and vinegar
• poach lightly, or to taste - only 45 seconds to a minute in a half at most
• scoop eggs out with a spoon with holes in it so water isn't transferred to plate
• cut up avocado (I like a lot - half of an avocado per 2 eggs)
• drizzle truffle oil
• add desired amount of fresh basil
• add desired amount of salt a pepper

EAT! so easy and so good! 

Banana Bread - Dairy Free!!

People say that you need to follow baking instructions perfectly - I say, that sounds boring, I did things my way and made the best banana bread I have ever had!

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• a pinch of baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• a dash of apple cider vinegar
• 4 soft bananas
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 dash of vanilla extract
• Some maple syrup (to taste) 
• walnut pieces
• and... a dash of whiskey! yes! whiskey 

Throw everything in a big bowl and beat with an electric mixer.  Make sure it is able to pour, not dry dough. Pour in a deep medium bread pan. 

Bake on 325 for just over an hour - or until center is fully cooked, check by sticking a knife in the center and make sure the it comes out semi-clean.

so good!

Stuffed Mushrooms!

They are sooooo good! They taste gourmet, but they are so easy~!

Buy the white, basic mushrooms from the grocery store - very large (1-2 cartons)

Ingredients:

• basic, white mushrooms - large ones!
• bread crumbs - Italian style - 1/2 cup or so
• olive oil
• garlic - 4-5 cloves
• onion - 1/4 of a medium onion
• parsley
• salt
• pepper
• (cheese is optional - parmesan handful or two) - I never cook with dairy - but you can! :)

Let's start:

1) Take the stem out of the umbrella portion, or the top of the mushroom - place aside, do not throw away we will use this in the stuffing!

2) I like to rub olive oil over the whole mushroom - keeps it moist, yes moist, while it cooks.

3) Place the stems from all of the mushrooms into a food processor along with the garlic, onion, and bread crumbs. Process it until everything is finely chopped. I personally prefer to add in the olive oil while running the food processor. You will need a lot, even more than you think, of olive oil. You want the stuffing to be soft, not dry. You can add cheese if that is your thing! I add cheese afterwards for the dairy people, so I can still eat the non-cheese mushrooms!

4) Spoon the filling into the open side of the mushrooms, be generous.

5) Bake on 350 degrees for 30 or so minutes until cooked thoroughly!

yum yum yum!

Vegan Love Meal

I don't know what else to call it!
But yum! It is good!

ok:
Ingredients:

• Yucca! haha it is like a potato and a taro
• Quinoa 
• carrots
• celery
• tofu
• kale
• vegetable stock
• onion
• garlic
• parsley
• lemon
• salt
• pepper
• shallots (green onions)

Start by cooking the quinoa in a separate pot in vegetable broth

Chop up yucca and bring vegetable broth to a boil. Make sure to have enough broth to cover yucca.

Add carrots after a couple of minutes. 

Add onion and celery after a couple more minutes. Again make sure that broth is covering veggies.

Add in the tofu, lemon, salt, pepper, parsley - wait on the kale !

Add kale last - once everything is cooked and tender! Kale cooks quickly

Serve over quinoa ! 

DONE!!! YUMMY!!! Great for lunch or a light dinner

Veal Osso Buco

Veal Osso Buco

OMG! so good!

Ingredients:

• Veal Osso Buco - one cut per person - this recipe is 2 servings
• Pasta - half a pound - or make your own! http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html
• 1 large tablespoon of tomato paste
• Chicken broth - cover half of veal 
• Dry white wine for cooking - cover other half of veal 
• Carrot - chopped up 
• Celery - same amount as carrot after chopped
• Sweet Onion - 1/4 to 1/2 of an onion
• Garlic - a handful
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Parsley
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sugar
• Flour for thickening
• Lemon juice - squeeze half a fresh lemon
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Start by browning the sides of the Veal in olive oil. 
2. Add chicken broth and white wine - bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer
3. Throw in chopped up carrots, onions, celery, garlic and all of the seasonings. 
4. Cook on low heat for an hour to an hour in a half (1.0 - 1.5 hrs).
5. Sprinkle in some flour until sauce is a little thicker - be careful, it thickens as it cooks as well. You might want add a little bit at a time throughout the cooking process.
6. That's it!
7. After that you are done! Serve hot over pasta!

or make your own noodles- http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html -  enjoy!!! 

Autumn Veggie Mix

Autumn Veggie Mix :

Ingredients:
Golden Beets
Brussel Sprouts
Carrots
Fennel
Garlic
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive oil

You should have a similar amount of golden beet and brussel sprouts, a little less carrots, a little less fennel, and last - garlic (only 3/4 a bundle)

Start roasting beets with olive oil - they take longer than you think, the bigger they are the longer they take. I recommend cutting them in half before you cook, so they cook quicker. Start with 45 minutes on 350 degrees. then check them until the outer skin comes off semi-easily.

Chop up carrots and cook in a skillet with olive oil, add crushed garlic soon after... they are done when they are all almost tender (5-8 minutes).

Cut up brussel spouts and fennel, place on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over and place in oven at 350 degrees for 20 or so minutes

Add previously baked, peeled, and chopped beets

Add previously pan fried carrots and garlic cloves

Bake for another 15 or so minutes until all veggies are tender

Serve hot! yum! 

great side for a party! 

Chicken Cattiatore

Chicken Cacciatore !!

Ingredients:

Chicken breast or legs and thighs (preference)
a can of diced tomatoes
a can of chicken broth (or 1/3 of a carton)
cooking white wine (12oz)
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
half of an onion
5-6 cloves of garlic
parsley
oregano
basil
salt
pepper
sugar
flour to thicken sauce
lemon

preheat oven to 350 degrees

Start with boiling chicken broth in pot and chopped carrots for a couple minutes
chop up rest of veggies
add rest of veggies to boiling chicken broth

Place chicken in a baking pan (pan should be 2 inches or so deep)
pour cooking white wine and can of tomatoes over chicken, in pan
sprinkle one or two handfuls of flour
sprinkle seasonings to taste
once veggies are tender, pour them over chicken in pan

Bake covered pan of everything (except pasta) in oven for an hour to an hour and 20 minutes

Boil water for pasta and boil pasta towards end of the hour - or - make your own! http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html

squeeze a little lemon over served pasta!
serve warm! eat! and enjoy!

Lentil Soup

 Lentil Soup!

Ingredients:

• A cup of Lentils (dry and raw)
• A cup of Barley
• 1/2 sweet onion
• a couple stalks of celery
• a couple carrots (regular size)
• 2 small tomatoes
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• one carton of chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup of cooking white wine
• parsley
• bay leaves
• oregano
• cumin
• sage
• salt
• pepper
• parmesan cheese (optional)
• olive oil
• spicy Italian sausage (optional)

Start:

1. Boil water for barley - cook on low for 35-40 minutes until tender
2. Chop up all veggies
3. Cook Italian Sausage, I like to take the casing off or use bulk, but you can always chop up and put in soup at the end
4. Pour broth and white wine in pot, bring to a boil, then simmer low
5. Pour in lentils, cook for a 15 minutes
6. Then add chopped up carrots, celery, onion and garlic, cook for 15 minutes
7. Add all seasonings, a pinch to a tablespoon of each (to taste)
8. Add chopped up tomatoes at end... simmer a couple more minutes
9. Keep barley separate from rest of soup
10. When ready to serve, add a couple tablespoon of cooked barley per bowl of soup!

        Done! wasn't that easy!!! so nice and tasty!

*Optional:
can add a drizzle of olive oil to serving size bowl of soup
can add grated parmesan cheese to top off serving size bowl of soup

Veal Marsala / Scallopini

Veal  Marsala / Scallopini

I believe this dish is best mixed, so here is what I do.
You can cook this a lot quicker than you think. Less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
Thin slices of Veal (Scallopini)
flour
pasta (you can make your own here: http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html)
1-2 cups Marsala wine (for cooking)
1-2 cups chicken broth
half a carton of mushrooms
1 carrot
1/4 onion
garlic cloves
green onion (chives)
lemon for flavor
capers
parsley
salt
pepper


Start with sauce:

• pour in marsala wine and chicken broth - same amount for both
• chop up carrots and start to boil low for about 5-8 minutes
• Add in the mushrooms in pieces
• Add in crushed garlic cloves (I like a lot) and chopped up onion
• keep cooking on medium heat until veggies get semi-tender
• Put a handful of flour into sauce and stir to thicken
• Add some capers, squeeze some lemon, sprinkle parsley, salt and pepper to taste
• Keep on a simmer while preparing other steps (15-20 minutes)

Boil water and cook pasta (or make your own http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html)

Prepare veal:

• rinse veal in water 
• Take thin slices and place in a pile of flour, cover meat with flour, place to the side
• In a large pan - pour in a generous amount of olive oil for cooking
• place floured veal in pan, flip meat after 20-30 seconds, remove quickly (a minute total). Thin slices cook VERY quickly. 
• place veal in tin foil - wrap up and place in a warm oven, do not over cook! 

When pasta is done - serve while hot!

I like adding a little more fresh lemon and capers on top of the plate - YUM YUM!!!

Butternut Squash Soup!

VEGAN!! I am not even a Vegan!

You can pick any kind of squash you want:
butternut, or try a medley of up to 3 fall type squashes

Use 1.5 lbs - 2 lbs. of squash.
I recommend skinning the squash before beginning (with a veggie peeler)

Ingredients:
squash of your choice (ex. butternut)
vegetable broth
coconut milk (from a can)
half of an onion
a couple carrots
a couple stalks of celery
a handful of garlic cloves
sesame oil
honey
parsley
nutmeg
cumin
salt
pepper

START:

• steam the squash - I like to chop up squash and use a rice cooker
• you can also roast in oven with water on bottom of pan, cover with tin foil
• boil carrots, celery, onion, garlic in some vegetable broth for 8-10 or so minutes. 
• take all cooked veggies and puree them in a blender with some more vegetable broth (the more broth, the easier it is to puree)
• pour everything in a pot and start to cook on low
• add a couple table spoons of each seasoning: parsley, nutmeg, cumin, salt, pepper
• pour in a 1/4 cup of coconut milk or more to taste
• add a couple scoops of honey and stir
• pour a tablespoon or so of sesame oil into soup
• simmer for 30 minutes of so!

Now you are done! Let cool, and enjoy! 

Avocado sandwich~!

Do I have a simple a delish snack for you!

A piece of whole wheat bread - toast it~!
drizzle sesame oil on bread
half of an avocado - spread on bread
add a couple slices of heirloom tomato
add thin slices of onion
sprinkle salt and garlic power over veggies
pour over some balsamic vinegar 
top with spinach -or- alfalfa

eat it! yum! I like it open faced - so good!
If you don't like it, just make me one ! :)

Tasty Veggie medley!!

So good! Haha

ingredients:
You can add and/ or subtract to these

Veggie broth
Garlic
Portabelo mushroom
Red bell pepper
Tofu
Onion
Green onion (shallots)
Kale or spinach
Salt
Pepper
Couscous

This veggie medley is so so easy!
Pour a little broth in pot, boil
Put garlic in broth
Chop up veggies

Add veggies in this order:

Put Red bell pepper in broth, boil for a couple minutes, maybe 8
Add regular onion, boil for a couple more minutes
Add tofu and mushroom pieces
Add kale or spinach, it should look over full, kale or spinach will shrink
After a couple more minutes, make sure broth is almost covering all veggies
Add cous cous and green onion 
Stop cooking!
Let stand 1-2 minutes before serving
Salt and pepper to taste!
Yum!

Salmon and Kale salad!

yum yum yum!!!!
This is an amazing way to get lots of nutrition and have it taste good!

Feel free to switch things out if you would like!

Ingredients:
Kale
Salmon
strawberry*
fresh fennel
lemon juice
honey
white wine vinegar
olive oil
salt
pepper
parsley
optional - onion

*sounds like it won't taste good, but it does! TRUST ME!!

Put fresh Salmon on a cookie sheet (skin down) - ( I like to put fish on tin foil for easier cleaning )
Pour a little olive oil over fish, sprinkle parsley, lemon, salt, pepper
Add small slices of onion
Slice fennel and place on pan with salmon - to the side, not on top of the fillet
Good on 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until Salmon is fully cooked, please do not over cook fresh fish, that ruins it! :)

While fish is cooking, prepare rest of salad.
Cut up some kale and fresh strawberries, place in bowl
add a tablespoon of honey
sprinkle salt, pepper, parsley
Wait until you serve salad - then pour a little white wine vinegar and olive oil over your amazing Salmon, Strawberry, Kale Salad!!!

_________________________________________________

Take it one step further!!
lose the strawberries - they will not taste good in a pasta!
do everything else the same
throw over a pasta!!!
add tomato slices (and optional: sun dried tomatoes)
throw in a pan and heat everything together with some olive oil

yumyumyumyum!!!

My Homemade Pasta!

It is so easy to make pasta!!

I cheat with a pasta maker from Italy.
You can roll it out and try to use your hands - bad looking food still tastes good!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour (any kind you would prefer!)
• 1 egg
• splash of water
• <no salt!!!> salt ruins machines - just don't use it!
• Multiply ingredients for more dough!

Tools:
mixer
pasta maker (can roll out dough if you dare!)

Start:

1. In a large bowl mix in one egg for every cup of flour (one cup serves 1 person).
2. Add a small amount of water until dough is less firm and able to stretch.
3. Take a small handful of the dough, flatten the dough with machine or roller until pretty thin (thickness is different for each type of noodle - do not rip dough!)
4. Hang or lay on fresh surface for up to only 15 minutes or else dough will get hard.
5. fFatten rest of dough.
6. Immediately cut the dough and create noodles:
7. Run sheet of dough through machine at whatever setting (thickness of noodle) you prefer.
8. Hang up or lay noodles flat. Do not stack noodles, they will stick together!
9. No need to wait: place in boiling water until noodles float (30 seconds - 1 minute) - remove immediately.
10. Can place uncooked fresh pasta in fridge for a couple days in a sealed container to hold in freshness.

Add whatever sauce you like to make the pasta taste delish! Try my home made marinara sauce: http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2016/11/marinara-sauce.html

My Italian friend - Luca Petricca 

Just two small correction... 

1.For "Tagliatelle or Fettuccine" (noodles) you should not use water at all...just flour and eggs...
2. try to use "all-purpose flour" and avoid "pastry flour" (which is mainly used for cakes).

You can also p

repare a similar type of Pasta by using only FLOUR and warm WATER (same procedure that you described but no eggs)...it's very popular in south Italy and has many different names (Maltagliati, tagliolini, Stringozzi etc....)

So... Buon Appetito .. :)

Chicken and Artichoke Pasta

I just made this amazing pasta dish!

 ingredients: for 2 persons

• 1/2 pound of chicken breast
• 2 1/2 artichoke hearts
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 steak tomato
• olive oil for cooking and sauce
• 4 oz of chicken broth
• 4 oz of cooking white wine
• 3 pinches of flour to condense sauce
• 1 table spoon of capers
• lemon for squeezing
• 4-5 gloves on garlic
• a couple pieces of onion
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• parmesan cheese (optional)
• pasta (or make it: http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html)

Now you are going to cook:
Boil water for the artichoke. Cut artichoke in quarters, chop off top of leaves and most of the stem and scoop out the hairs. Boil artichoke (covered) for 10-12 minutes. Then place quartered artichokes on BBQ for 5 minutes each side.

While artichoke is cooking, boil water for pasta ( I used bow tie pasta for this dish! :) ). Place pasta in boiling water until cooked. (OR MAKE YOU OWN: http://mycookingisamazing.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-homemade-pasta.html)

Saute red bell peppers, while they are cooking, add chicken and the rest below:
Cut up chicken breast into 1 inch pieces, place in frying pan with a generous amount of olive oil on medium head. Add the small amount of onion for taste. Add garlic, a pinch of salt, pepper, lemon juice, and parsley to taste. Saute for a couple minutes.

Add chicken broth, a little drizzle of olive oil, and cooking white wine to chicken, simmer for a couple minutes. Add in chopped fresh tomatoes, capers, and a pinch of flour - simmer for another 3-4 minutes.

Cut off the artichoke hearts from the leaves (you can eat these too), chop up hearts and add to a bowl. Throw in the rest of the chicken, sauce, etc into a large bowl and mix - serve immediately and enjoy!