Dining Alone

Favorite Things #5 - Wings!

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:52:00 +0000

One of my favorite things in the world is chicken wings, I love them. However, eating fried wings all of the time just isn't something I can do if I want to still be able to fit in my clothes.

I was quite pleased when I saw a good baked wing recipe on My Bizzy Kitchen, a blog I read often.

Now the site has a great home made sauce recipe, but I like mine with just good old Franks Red Hot...

If you are a fan of wings go visit her site and give them a try.

Asian Slaw with Coconut Peanut Topping

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:05:00 +0000

I hope you are all having a nice start to your week! Congrats to anyone who is a Giants or Patriots fan, it should be a good Super Bowl this year. Of course it would be better if the Steelers were in it, but I guess we can give some other teams a turn.

This week's recipe comes from Sunset's Quick Cooking for Two, which I picked up at Goodwill after having it on my Amazon wish list for months. I love when stuff like that happens.

Lets gather up some ingredients!

The recipe called for a couple of different types of cabbage and carrots, I went the lazy route and just bought a bagged cole slaw. You will also need some oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, cumin, chili oil, lime, coconut, peanuts, garlic and green onion. The recipe also called for cilantro but you will never see that being used by me on this blog. Ever.

So lets start to prep, I don't put anything on the stove until I am totally ready.

Chop the green onion.

Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, chili oil, garlic and ginger. This will be your dressing.

Now we can move to the stove.

Get the oil, lime juice, coconut, cumin and peanuts in a pan over medium high heat. Keep these moving around so you don't burn it.

When it is toasty get it off the heat.

Pour all your veggies in a bowl.

Pour on the dressing and give it a good toss. You are ready to serve!

This can be a great side dish or a main dish salad. The flavors are perfect together and the salad has just the right amount of crunch. I will definitely be making this again.

Favorite Things #4 - My Husband

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 06:09:00 +0000

About a month ago our microwave broke, right in the middle of cooking some pasta. This is the same day our garage door broke as well. We got the garage door fixed right away and a new microwave arrived and then sat in the garage. I didn't miss it and neither did the husband. We finally got some help to install it tonight and we have a new microwave...who knows when it will actually get used.

BUT I want to say that while my husband may be the most frustration inducing eater on the planet, he is pretty darn awesome. He made sure everything with the installation was perfect, cleaned up after, and then reinforced the exhaust pipe.

Of course you can see he did have some highly qualified help :)

If you have a great husband, give him a hug and tell him Thank You for just being awesome. Life is too short not to.

Crock Pot Baby Back Ribs

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:11:00 +0000

I have made these ribs a couple of times and I cannot tell you how easy they are. This is not a single portion meal but that is just because I love the leftovers too. Preheat your oven to 400 and lets get started.

You just need the ribs, some grill seasoning, salt and whatever sauce you like. I love Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.

Rub the meat with your grill seasoning and salt.

Put it on some nonstick foil and get it in the oven. Let it cook for about 20 minutes, then give it a flip and leave it in for another 20 minutes.

Let the rack rest for about 5-10 minutes and then we make the cuts!

Chop it into individual servings.

Get the ribs in the crock pot and drown in the sauce. Pop on the lid and put it on low for about 6-8 hours.

I served them up with some couscous salad which didn't turn out that great, but the ribs were DELICIOUS! I hope you give them a try and that you like them as much as I do.

Favorite Things #3 - the Joe installment

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

So this week my favorite things are all about Joe. Not my super sweet and awesome dog Joe Stains but these Joes...

If you don't know, I am an avid reader, last year I read 73 books and I hope to do more this year. I have read all of Robert Crais's books and this is a novel about one of his characters, Joe Pike. I recommend the Elvis Cole series (where Joe Pike was first introduced) if you haven't already read them.

The other Joe is Trader Joes, one of my favorite places on earth. If you are fortunate to have one near you I urge you to go grab a bag of these baked onion rings. If you have other snackers in your house you must then hide them. My husband and I each get a bag when we go because we both love them so much.

What are you reading right now that you think I might like? Any Trader Joes items you love that I should check out?

Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Snack Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:27:00 +0000

So this recipe is a little different than what I usually make on the blog. These are snack bars you can make out of some cereal and a few other ingredients. I am not a big breakfast person so these were nice to have around over the holidays when I was headed out a lot to shop and do errands.

The recipe is from Betty Crocker's Just the Two Of Us cookbook.

You will need some brown sugar, peanuts or any kind of nuts you like, honey, cereal, peanut butter and some cinnamon. The great thing about these bars is you can really just use whatever you like in them.

Chop up your nuts.

Measure out your tightly packed brown sugar.

Get it in the pan with the honey.

Get it just to boiling over medium heat and then remove it from the burner.

Stir in the peanut butter and the cinnamon. This looks like a pan full of sweet delicious heaven to me and it smells amazing.

Stir in the cereal and peanuts until everything is coated.

Press it all into a greased loaf pan and walk away! I let mine sit for about an hour before I cut into it.

I flipped it out of the loaf pan and had a giant snack bar!

They fell apart a little bit and were sort of messy to eat, but they were so delicious. I want to make them again with total and cranberries instead of the raisins. You could kick these up by adding flax seed as well for added health benefits.

Favorite things number 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:14:00 +0000

Today while cleaning the garage I found some old flyers from some shows I went to many years ago. I had so much fun going to shows with my friends back in the day, now I am lucky if I get to a couple a year. I guess I am getting old because they just aren't that fun anymore.

BUT here are some that were totally awesome...

This was a weekend show that I was able to go to on my first visit back to PA after moving to AZ. It was such a great show and I saw it with some of my best friends.

The band Weston is my favorite band EVER. This show was in the town where I grew up and went to college. The last band was actually my boyfriend of the time's band.

What are some things you liked doing when you were younger but now just don't have the same appeal?

Hungry Girl's Big Bad Burger Wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

It is the start of a new year and everyone wants to eat better. I recently watched the Hungry Girl show on the Food Network and really liked all the tips and tricks she had for being smart about the food you eat. I picked up her cookbook of 200 things under 200 calories (not the exact name but close enough) and made these wraps and now my husband makes them at least once a week.

Most of these ingredients you probably already have. You need ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, pickles, fake burger, whole wheat wrap and some Laughing Cow Cheese.

Get your tortilla in the microwave or toaster oven and mix up your sauce.

Cook the fake burger on the stove or in the microwave.

Smear the cheese on the warm tortilla.

Chop up the burger.

Put everything on the tortilla and roll it up. It is ready to eat!

Not the most attractive thing I ever made but it was tasty, quick, and not that bad for me! The fact that my husband now makes it for himself is also testament to how good and simple it is.

2011 is over!

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:45:00 +0000

I can't believe 2011 is over already. I am so glad I got back to my food blog and met so many new friends and found some awesome cooking blogs. Please take a minute to visit some of the bloggers in my 'Links' down below to the right. You will be happy you did!

This year had its ups and downs, but it ended with a wonderful Christmas and I am looking forward to New Years with my In Laws. How many people can say they look forward to time with their In Laws? I am truly lucky.

I think next year I will start adding additional posts highlighting my favorite things, starting with my most favorite thing of 2011...

Steeeeeeve. He has tried our patience, made us laugh, and most importantly he has become best friends with our older dog Tanner. After we lost Joey we knew we had to get another dog and Steve ended up being the most perfect match for us.

Happy New Year to you all, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful 2012!

Reuben Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:40:00 +0000

A lot of people eat pork and sauerkraut for new years, this recipe is a good way to use up any extra sauerkraut you may end up with.

This comes from Taste of Home, one of my favorites. Preheat your oven to 350 and lets gather up some ingredients.

You need some kraut, onions, corned beef, swiss cheese, garlic, sour cream, butter and some bread.

Rinse and drain the sauerkraut.

Shred the swiss.

Chop up the beef.

Dice up the onion. Chop up your garlic too, that didn't make it into the pictures.

Combine the sauerkraut, onion, garlic, beef and sour cream in a bowl.

Cube up your bread, I just used white bread.

Put the meat mixture in a greased casserole dish, I am using cute Pyrex of course! Put the cheese on top.

Put the bread on top and drizzle with the butter. Put it in the oven for about a half an hour and that is it, you are ready to eat!

I used my toaster oven so the bread got a little extra toasty, but it was still great.

I am so glad I made two servings of this because I also enjoyed the leftovers.

I hope you all had a happy holiday season and are looking forward to a new year!

Spicy Sesame Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:10:00 +0000

This recipe is also from the Healthy Cooking for Two or Just You that I mentioned in my last post. I really recommend it if you are cooking smaller portions. The funny thing about the recipe I am sharing today is that I planned on making it just for me. Then the hubby started lurking in the kitchen and asking questions about what I was making. So after he scanned the ingredients he decided to give it a try. So I doubled the recipe and we actually ate together...and he LIKED it. I was pretty excited.

So here is the recipe that was husband approved:

Most of this is probably in your pantry already. Get a pot of water boiling and start gathering ingredients.

You will need pasta, tahini, ginger, red pepper, rice vinegar, oil, garlic, soy sauce, mushrooms, onion and celery...which I didn't have but it was fine without it.

Chop up your veggies and grate the ginger. You also need to chop your garlic but I missed getting a picture of that.

Combine the water, soy sauce, tahini, vinegar and red pepper flakes if you want them. Oh look there is the garlic hiding behind the measuring cup!

Get your noodles into the boiling water and get your veggies in the pan for about 3 minutes.

Add in your garlic and stir for about a minute.

Pour the sauce mixture in and stir that around until it is bubbling and smooth.

Drop in the pasta, give it a stir, and you are done!

Tasty, simple, spicy...the trifecta! My husband ate two servings, I would say that was successful.

I cannot believe Christmas is next weekend!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, stay safe and eat well.

Baked Potato Soup with Broccoli and Cheddar

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:49:00 +0000

I recently picked this cook book up by Frances Price, R.D. I found it at Goodwill and it looked perfect for me. It has a lot of great recipes and portions them to serve 1 or 2 or sometimes 2 or 4. I love it.

The first recipe I chose to make is baked potato soup with broccoli and cheddar:

I cannot tell you how absolutely easy this was. It is perfect for a weeknight and would go great with a piece of steak or chicken. This is also a nice dish to get kids or picky eaters (my husband not included) to eat their veggies!

You only need a few things, which you probably already have in your pantry and fridge. You need milk, shredded cheese, frozen broccoli or cauliflower (or both), baked potato, salt and pepper and my secret ingredient - nutmeg.

I baked the potatoes the night before, following a tip in the book so you aren't baking for an hour. Toss the potatoes in the microwave for 6 minutes on high. Take them out and put them in a 400 degree oven for another 15 minutes and they will be baked perfectly. I actually just used my toaster oven.

I put them in the fridge overnight and then chopped them up when I got home from work. That is all the prep you have to do!

Put the potatoes in the blender with the milk and process until smooth.

Throw in the frozen veggies, I used broccoli and cauliflower. I used the ice crusher setting since they were frozen and pulsed away.

I took a bite of this cold and it was already amazing. Get it in the pot and season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Give it a stir and heat over medium until it comes to a boil.

Remove it from the heat and stir in the cheese and you are done. That seriously took like 10 minutes.

I garnished with a little more cheese and dug in. This soup was very thick and rich, with so few ingredients. If you wanted to thin it out to be more 'soupy' just add more milk while heating it up. I actually liked the fact it tasted like a bowl of creamy mashed baked potatoes. This is perfect for cold weather and is ready in no time!

Slow Cooker Chili Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:01:00 +0000

This recipe comes from the book, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two. I got the most adorable new slow cooker...

Isn't it awesome? It was an exclusive at my local Fry's grocery store. I didn't have one in this size so I snatched it up.

This is comfort food without a ton of guilt.

You need some ground turkey or chicken, corn, pasta, onion, olive, chili powder, cumin, tomatoes, garlic and some cheese.

Mince up the garlic.

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Chop up the onion and we are ready to cook!

Get the onion and garlic in a pan and cook until its softened.

Add in the chicken and brown it.

Spray the inside of your crockpot with non stick cooking spray and then drop the meat and onions in the crock pot with the tomatoes, spices, salt and pepper. Give it a good stir and set the crock pot on low for 4 hours.

When the four hours are nearly done, boil some water and cook your pasta about halfway done. I am using adorable dog pasta.

Put the pasta in the crock pot with the olives and corn and give it a stir. Let it cook for another hour or so and then top it with some cheese. I told you this was easy.

This was so tasty, and perfect comfort food. I think it also tasted better because it came out of the cutest owl crock pot.

Christmas Cheer...

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:55:00 +0000

This is not a food post, but something I love almost as much as food is Christmas. I thought I would share a couple of Christmas photos...

This is one of my three trees, don't worry the other two are small trees. I am not that Christmas crazy!

My mother in law got me some gorgeous ornaments last year on clearance.

Even my dogs love Christmas!! Tanner makes a great Santa.

Ok...so maybe Steve declined the Santa suit, but I am sure it is just because this is his first Christmas ;)

I hope you are all getting in the holiday spirit, I will be back next week with some more food.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:36:00 +0000

I promised some more seafood recipes, so here you go! I very rarely cook with shrimp, and I really don't know why. They are usually on sale at one of the many stores around my house, so I have no excuse. This recipe is so easy, you could whip it up after work and be eating dinner in no time.

This came from Cooking Light's newest Quick Cooking book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, two of my favorites.

You don't need much for this one, just some shrimp, orzo or other small pasta, salt, butter, herbs, garlic and lemon. I just made this for me so I got almost half a pound of shrimp.

Get your water boiling for the orzo and then we can get started, there is not much to do.

Peel and devein your shrimp. If you have not done this before, here is a a great site to show you how.

Mince your garlic.

Drop in your orzo.

Melt butter over medium high heat, sprinkle the shrimp with some salt, and drop them in. You don't need to cook these guys long, just a couple of minutes. When they are almost done, get them out of there! Add another tablespoon of butter and stir in the garlic and keep stirring for about 30 seconds.

Get the shrimp back in the pan, and add the lemon juice and a little pepper, keep stirring for about another minute more.

Drain the orzo and stir in a little salt and parsley.

Get it on a plate and top it with the shrimp and the pan juices and you have a wonderful and easy meal. This definitely motivates me to try more shrimp dishes soon.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, back to reality this week!

Roasted Tilapia with Potatoes, Tomatoes and Olives

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:23:00 +0000

I really love fish, yet I rarely cook it, so I am dedicating the next few posts to delicious and healthy seafood! This might be a good way to get back on the diet track after Thanksgiving!

This is from a Cooking for One cookbook, so the recipe is for one serving.

You will need some potatoes, cherry or grape tomatoes, olives, white fish of your choice, garlic, lemon, wine, and herbs of your choice.

Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 425. Slice your potatoes and lemons.

Chop up your tomatoes and garlic.

Chop up your olives, be aware there may be pits in them!

Mix the potatoes with olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. Pop these guys in the oven for about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes get tender in the oven, juice your lemon and measure your water and wine.

When the potatoes are done, stir in the tomatoes and olives and then layer the lemons on top.

Place the fish on top of the lemons and pour the wine and water mixture over the whole thing. Season the fish with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Put this all back in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how thick your fish is and how well you like it cooked.

Once everything is done, just put it on the plate and spoon some of the tasty juices over everything. This is a simple and filling fish recipe that you can change up to include the veggies and fish that you prefer. Stay tuned for more fish recipes coming soon and everyone have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!

German Meatballs

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Did you know today is National Pickle Day? I didn't either, but my Food Network calendar alerted me to this great holiday. This recipe actually has pickle relish in the sauce. Sound weird? Well, it was actually very delicious.

The recipe is from an old Cooking for 2 cookbook I picked up at a thrift store.

You will need some lemon, bread crumbs, beef broth, worcestershire sauce, eggs, ground meat, flour, pickle relish, parsley, onion powder and some noodles to serve.

Lets get this German party started! Beat up one egg.

Combine the first 8 ingredients listed in the recipe. Just use your hands, its the easiest way to go.

Form the mixture into meat balls. Mine are on a cute Corelle plate, of course.

Put them in a pan with the beef broth. Layers of flavor, the only way to go!

Cover and simmer these guys for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, get some water boiling for your noodles.

So this looks TOTALLY gross, but you just have to skim off all that nasty fat and you will be good to go. Get the balls out of the pan and start removing fat.

Still looking pretty darn disgusting, but I promise it gets better.

Combine the flour with cold water...

Gradually pour it into the simmering broth...

Add in the worcestershire sauce and the pickle relish and stir stir stir until it thickens. Drain your noodles and get ready to eat!

Get the noodles in a bowl and top with the meatballs, sauce and a little parsley. This was so good, the ultimate comfort food and a great way to celebrate National Pickle Day!

Sausage, Pepper and Onion Hash Hoagies

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:22:00 +0000

The following meal was actually shared with my husband and he really liked it. Once again, this is from Rachael Ray. It was in her Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine.

You will need some hoagie rolls, sausage, garlic, pepper, onion and hash brown potatoes.

Cook the hashbrowns per the package directions.

While those cook, chop up your veggies, including the garlic.

Get your sausage in the pan and brown it up.

Looking pretty awesome!

Keep an eye on your taters.

Get the meat out onto some paper towels to drain.

Toss in your veggies and garlic and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

Get everything in the pan together and let it cook for about 5 minutes to get all the flavors mingling.

Serve up the sausage mix on a roll and enjoy! You could even add some of your favorite hot sauce if you want. I made the full amount of hash that the recipe called for and had a great idea for the leftovers...

Pizza! I don't know which my husband and I liked better to be honest. I hope you all have a great week.

Baby and Big Bella Mushroom and Chicken Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:37:00 +0000

This is another Rachael Ray recipe that is perfect for the chilly fall weather most of you guys are experience. Here in AZ it was 90 degrees today, but I know that it will cool off soon enough.

For this easy stew you will need some chicken, flour, wine, peas, carrots, onion, potatoes, mushrooms, stock, garlic, and some herbs.

Use a spoon to scrape out the ribs from 2 portobello mushrooms. Chop off the stem and chop them up.

Slice up your potatoes.

Chop up and season your chicken.

Now that everything is chopped we can start to cook. Get some oil in a big pan and get the mushrooms in there. Let those cook for about 5 minutes.

While those cook, sprinkle the flour on the chicken.

When the mushrooms are nice and browned, get them out of the pan.

Add some more oil to the pan and drop the chicken in. Cook that for about 4 minutes.

Add in the tasty veggies. Add in your herbs at this point as well. Cook this for about 5 minutes and keep stirring.

Add in the wine and scrape any tasty bits off the bottom of the pan.

Add in the chicken stock and bring it to a simmer. Get the mushrooms back in and cook for about 10 more minutes.

Add in the peas and parsley and simmer for 1 more minute. Go fishing for the bay leaf and throw it out.

This is so perfect for a fall day, and you could easily do this in the crock pot as well. I hope you are all having a great week, thanks so much for reading.

Enchilada Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:03:00 +0000

This is a slow cooker meal that I will be making often, it was delicious and very easy to switch up depending on what you like or have on hand.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons diced green chiles, divided
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (11-ounce) can corn with red and green peppers, drained
1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce
1/2 cup egg substitute
1 (8 1/2 ounce) package corn muffin mix
2 tablespoons chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican blend or cheddar cheese
6 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons thinly sliced fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Place 2 tablespoons green chiles and next 6 ingredients (through enchilada sauce) in a 3 1/2-quart electric slow cooker; stir well. Cover with lid; cook on low-heat setting 4 hours.
2. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon green chiles, egg substitute, muffin mix, and roasted bell peppers in a bowl. Spoon batter evenly over bean mixture in slow cooker. Cover and cook 1 hour or until corn bread is done.
3. Sprinkle cheese over corn bread. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Top each serving with sour cream; sprinkle with cilantro.

You will need some sour cream, cornbread mix, green chiles, roasted red peppers, black beans, green onion, enchilada sauce, salsa, mexicorn, eggs or egg substitute and cheese. Sounds like a winning combo already.

Drain your beans.

Set aside a tablespoon of the chiles.

Chop up your green onion.

Throw everything in except the cornbread mix, cheese, eggs, reserved chiles, peppers and sour cream.

Looking delicious already!

Say goodbye for about 4 hours, put your slow cooker on low setting.

Mix the ingredients for the cornbread.

Spread it over the top, this is a little tricky but it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect.

Say goodbye again for about 20 minutes, then you want to sprinkle the cheese over the top and cover for a few minutes. I was so excited to try this that I forgot this step!

I managed to get the cheese on before serving with a nice dollop of sour cream on top. This was SO tasty, I cannot wait to make it again. You can add chicken, pork, beef, whatever else you may like to change it up.

Kung Pao Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:26:00 +0000

My Mother in Law got me a subscription to Kraft's Food and Family magazine and it always has a lot of very simple and tasty recipes. This recipe for Kung Pao chicken totally threw me off because it calls for Catalina dressing. Even though that sounds totally odd, it ended up tasting good and you don't have to use any other oil to fry the other ingredients.

You will need some chili sauce, chicken, Catalina dressing (I actually used light and saved even more fat) broccoli, peanut butter, ginger, garlic and soy sauce. Please note my husband in the background eating Sonic hot dogs. He still will not touch chicken.

Chop up your garlic and ginger. Those two together just smell like delicious to me.

Cut up the chicken, I have mine on a cute Corelle plate.

Mix up the soy sauce, chili sauce and peanut butter with 2 tablespoons of the dressing.

I would add a little rice wine vinegar to this as well if you have it on hand, it was a little thick.

Now that we are prepped lets start cooking. Get some water in a pan and throw in the broccoli, you just want to steam this for a few minutes until it is done to your liking.

Green and tasty! Get it out of the pan.

Put the remaining dressing in the pan with the ginger and garlic and fry it up.

Add the chicken to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add in the sauce and cook for about 7 minutes.

Looking awesome and ready to eat.

I added a little salt and lemon to the broccoli and it was delicious. The chicken was tasty and so easy to make. The sauce was a little thick, but that is easily fixed with a little vinegar or even just some water.

Sweet Sausages Braised In Onion with Horseradish Smashed Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:40:00 +0000

What a surprise, another recipe from Rachael Ray, I swear I am not getting any kick back for recommending her recipes so much.

This is actually a main dish and a side, I cut the recipe in half so I wouldn't have a ton of leftovers.

So lets gather up some ingredients and get some things started.

You will need some sausages, chicken broth, vinegar, garlic, horseradish, potatoes, onions, butter, honey, herbs, milk and some kind of cream. I chopped the onions the night before so I would have less to do after work.

The first thing you want to do is chop up the potatoes.

Chop up the garlic.

Measure your chicken stock and we are ready to cook!

Get the potatoes in a pot with some water and throw a lid on it.

Get the sausages in a pan with some oil.

Brown them all around and then get them out of the pan. That cute plate is a Corelle plate, I have started to collect them. I have a Pyrex/Corning problem :)

Add in the onion, garlic and whatever herbs you like. Season with salt and pepper and let these guys go for about five minutes.

Check your potatoes! Get the lid off if the water is boiling and add in some salt.

When the onions are brown, add in the vinegar, stock and honey. Bring this to a boil and scrape up any bits off the bottom of the pan.

Get the sausages back in and let this simmer away for about 10 minutes.

While those braise away get the potatoes drained and back into the pan. Toss in your butter, horseradish, milk and cream and smash it all around.

Perfect!

Looks like our sausages are ready to go too, lets eat!

This may not be the most beautiful thing I have ever made, but it was delicious. The real stars for me were the onions and the potatoes. I will definitely make this again.

Cumin and Lime Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Creamed Corn

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:48:00 +0000

Today I am doing another Rachael Ray recipe, I really do like her cookbooks. This is a great combo meal that tastes great and looks nice on the plate.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, I used my toaster oven for this meal.

And now you will need some ingredients...

You will need some cream, jalapeno, red pepper, lime, onion, garlic, flour, pork tenderloin, chicken broth and some corn.

You also need some spices, but they didn't make it in time for the first picture. I don't have coriander so I just used paprika instead. This recipe also calls for parsley and cilantro. I will add parsley in the end but you will not see me using cilantro on this blog. Ever.

Lets get going! Chop your onion.

Chop your jalapeno and garlic.

Smash some more garlic to be put into the tenderloin. Don't worry about uniformity here, just smash it with your knife.

Juice the lime.

Measure out some of that delicious cream.

Slather the pork with salt, pepper, your spices and the lime juice.

Make some slits in the tenderloin and shove the garlic you smashed up into the newly made holes. Drizzle some olive oil on these beauties and get them in the oven.

When the pork is about 5 minutes from completion, melt some butter into olive oil in a small skillet.

Add in the corn, peppers, onions, jalapenos, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.

Your pork should be nearing completion, get it out and let it rest. This will allow all the juices to redistribute into the meat.

We have to get back to our corn! Sprinkle the flour over it and give it a stir and let it cook for a minute.

Add in the chicken stock and the cream and give it a stir. Bring it to a simmer and lower the heat and let it bubble away for about 5 minutes. Add in some parsley at the very end and you are ready to plate.

This was so delicious. I don't know what I liked better, the corn or the pork. I will be making both again for sure.

Indian Summer Turkey Chili

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:51:00 +0000

This is the time of year where some people may experience an 'Indian Summer', so I decided to give this Rachael Ray recipe a try. I love chili and this looked like a nice mix of flavors for a fun variation.

You will need...

Red peppers, ground turkey (or chicken), grill seasoning, cumin, tomato sauce, chili powder, onion, corn, BBQ sauce, worcestershire sauce, beer and hot sauce. This is seriously like a line up of some of my most favorite things.

Lets get cooking!

Chop up your onion.

Chop your red peppers.

Measure out the beer, and enjoy the rest of the bottle while you cook. I used a Shiner bock from Texas.

Measure out your spices.

Measure your corn and get everything ready to go in the pot because now it is time to cook.

Brown up your turkey in a little bit of oil. Now, had I been reading the recipe closely, I would have added my spices to the turkey also. But I screwed up and forgot, but guess what, it still turned out totally ok.

Add in those gorgeous peppers and onions. Let them cook for 10 minutes or so.

Add in the beer and use your spoon to scrape all the tasty bits off the bottom of the pan. This is also called deglazing.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and give it a stir. Let this bubble away for about 10 minutes and you are ready to eat!

This is one of the best chilis I have tried, honest. I thought for sure chili without garlic would not be good, but I was wrong. All the sweet and savory combos really make for a super tasty and fun chili.

Sausage and Rice Stuffed Peppers

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:56:00 +0000

So it is still hot in AZ, if you are tired of me talking about it, imagine how we must feel living in it. The toaster oven gets used a lot in my house in the summer as it is just too warm to turn on the big oven. This toaster oven meal comes from Everyday Food magazine, one of my favorites.

I cut this recipe in half and used the remaining stuffing in some scrambled eggs the next day.

You will need some peppers (your choice on color), onion, zucchini, rice, garlic, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. I also added a little Sunny Paris seasoning from Penzey's spices.

Preheat your oven, or toaster oven, to 400 degrees, get your rice on the stove and lets get prepping.

Cut the peppers in half and clean out the seeds and ribs.

Chop up the garlic.

Chop up the onion, I had some leftover red in the fridge so I just used it.

Chop up the zucchini.

Measure out the breadcrumbs and drizzle some olive oil in. Stir them up to combine. Once that is done, it is time to get to cooking!

Brown the sausage.

Check on your rice, I use that boil in bag stuff, because I am lazy.

Once the meat is browned, get it out of the pan.

Add in the veggies and season them with salt and pepper, cook for about 8 minutes.

Looking tasty already!

Now just throw everything except the bread crumbs in a bowl with some parmesan cheese and give it a stir.

Rub a baking sheet with oil or use some non stick foil. Stuff the pepper halves with the stuffing.

Top with the bread crumbs and pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes. I still like some crunch in my peppers so I pulled them out after about 15 minutes.

This is a great meal for all of you who may be harvesting out of your garden right now. Choose whatever veggies for in the stuffing that you have on hand or like!