Sometimes, and it’s rare, but sometimes during ‘Insanity’ my mind wanders …  & such a thing happened yesterday (I did two work outs, the first being Max Recovery, and I have a much less vitriolic mock conversation with Shaun T. during recovery work outs).

I was hungry.  I mean, really hungry, because when I’m gasping for breath and dripping with sweat and every muscle in my body is burning, it’s rare that I think about food.  Mostly I think about when the craziness will end.  So I must have been ravenous.

To be truthful, I was thinking about my days as a competitive swimmer (YMCA and high school teams), which lasted a few years until my shoulders gave out, and the doctors were like, ‘yeah, you should probably stop swimming if you want to be able to use your arms normally for the rest of your life’.  I was thinking about swimming NOT because it was boilingly hot outside and the idea of bobbing around in a body of cool water would be refreshing ~ no, no, not I.  I was thinking about how we used to carb-load the night before a meet. (Told you I was hungry).

Back in the day, eating pasta was right up there with eating ketchup for me.  I did not enjoy carb-loading before a meet. Luckily, after living in Italy for six months (study abroad in college), my thoughts on pasta have been amended.

I still thought it was weird that on a hot summer day, while doing an ‘Insanity’ work out, I was thinking about a huge bowl of pasta. But, once the idea got into my head, I was hooked.  As I did lunges, and leg lifts, and thing-o’s (not the technical term, obviously) to work the obliques, I mentally went through my kitchen food inventory.

Pasta with shrimp.

Pasta with shrimp and fresh basil.

Pasta with shrimp, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella.

Oh!  Pasta with shrimp, fresh basil, PINE NUTS, and fresh mozzarella.

All of a sudden, I couldn’t wait for dinner.  And dinner was a long way off.  I did my second work out (I missed last Sunday, so I wanted to catch up in order to have my one day off this Saturday. Considering it’s John’s 30th this weekend, I thought it would be nice if he didn’t have to sit through my work outs.  Shaun T. is great and all, but not as much if you’re only observing the workouts).  I did actual work (who’d’ve thunk it?). Then John came home, and we went on a walk (according to ‘My Fitness Pal,’ -the app on my iPhone that I diligently use to count calories and workouts-I burned 1835 calories … that’s 635 more calories than I’m supposed to be eating ~ needless to say, I ate over 1200 yesterday, and it was worth it!).

Then, my friends, then I started dinner.

It was a project.  I had no recipe, and only sort of an idea of how I wanted it to turn out ~ but that’s what made it fun!

What I used:

Half a box of linguine.

1 12 oz. bag of medium-sized frozen shrimp

~ 1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 large ball of fresh mozzarella

Portobello stems (I’d saved them from the Portobello En Croute I made ~ I’d read in “Portobello” by Jack Czarnecki that there’s a lot of flavor in the stems, so I’d wrapped them up and put them in the fridge for ‘later use’ … which turned out to be yesterday).

*** I would approximate 3-4 Baby Bellas depending on their size as a perfectly acceptable substitute for my stems.  In fact, that’s what I will have to use next time I make this, because I won’t have two gi-normous portobello stems in my fridge!

1 shallot

3 Tbsp butter

1/3 cup Olive Oil

Hand-full of fresh basil (picked out of the garden)

1 clove garlic, pushed through press (or finely minced if you don’t have a press)

Salt & Pepper

What I did:

1.  I thawed the shrimp (which were pre-cooked) and de-tailed them.  I know that a lot of people & restaurants like to leave the tails on (for aesthetic purposes, I believe), but there is not much about having to pick through my food with my fingers that I find enjoyable.

2.  I diced up the fresh mozzarella into bite size pieces.

3.  I cleaned the basil leaves and ripped the larger ones in half.

4.  In a small saucepan, I melted 1 tbsp butter, then added the pine nuts, and cooked them over medium heat until the pine nuts browned.  I emptied them into a bowl, and put to the side with the shrimp, mozzarella and basil.  *** Keep the saucepan out, tho’ because you can use it once more before relegating it to the dishwasher/sink for cleaning. 

5.  I filled up a large pot with water, added a sprinkle of salt, and turned it on to boil (for pasta-cooking purposes).

6.  While I waited for the water to boil, I got out my mini Cuisinart food processor (I just love it for when I have to dice up small amounts of things) and put in the portobello stems (cut into large pieces to aid in the chopping process) and the shallot (cut into quarters for the same reason).  I hit ‘grind’ and waited until everything was evenly chopped into coarse pieces.

7.  I put the ground up mushrooms and shallot into the small saucepan I used to brown the pine nuts, along with the last two tablespoons of butter (I added separately while stirring, but I’m not sure it matters one way or the other).  Over medium heat, I allowed the mushroom & shallot mixture to cook down while stirring in the butter.  When done, I put aside.

8.  In a large saucepan, I poured the olive oil and added the fresh garlic and a couple grinds of salt & pepper.  I then added the shrimp, and stirred them into the mixture over medium-low heat.  Once the shrimp had warmed up, I stirred in the fresh basil and mushroom mixture.

9.  It was at about this time that the water was boiling, so I put half a box of linguine in the pot, and diligently followed the directions on how to cook it (mine took about 10 minutes, and I left the shrimp/basil/mushroom mixture on low heat, and stirred occasionally).

10.  When the pasta was cooked, I drained in a colander, and shook out as much of the moisture as I could.  I then added it to the large saucepan, and mixed it up with my olive oil/shrimp/basil sauce.

11. Once those ingredients were suitably mixed together, I stirred in the pine nuts, and turned off the heat.

12.  The last thing I stirred in was the mozzarella, after I’d removed everything from the heat.  The warmth of the pasta and the sauce melted it sufficiently, but not too much that it turned into a stringy/gooey mess.

Voila!  It was delicious, and John and I slurped up every last bite.  We even ate our last ripe avocado on the side (I am pretty sure I could eat avocado every day, given the opportunity).

As  a little sidenote, the title of this blog is ‘good craic,’ which is an inherently British expression, and one that my mother’s side of the family uses often.  Loosely translated, it means a good, fun, enjoyable conversation or activity. I blasphemed my Scottish roots by using the Irish spelling, because the Scottish spelling is ‘crack,’ and I didn’t want anyone to think this post was about drugs.  (I’m pretty anti).

But, in a nut shell, last night’s dinner was good crack (I’m proud of my Scottish roots!).

So, John and I were so caught up in finishing our “Game of Thrones” marathon (the show is weirdly addicting) that I didn’t get to posting what we had for din-din last night.  I have to observe, for anyone who also watches “Game of Thrones,” that while the Dothraki and the people of Rohan (“Lord of the Rings”) are both considered “Horse People,” the similarities really stop there.  I’ve (sadly) thought a lot about it, because I love the people of Rohan so much (we have all three extended LOTR films and we watch them a lot).  It’s always interesting to see how fantasy realms resemble and differ from each other.  In this particular comparison, each universe has a ‘horse people,’ but whoa nellie, they could not be on further ends of the spectrum after that!  There are many things I like about “Game of Thrones,” but I will also say there are some things that aren’t my fav.

Soooo.  Din Din.  It was YUM.  And it took all of 20 minutes to prepare, which is great on weeknights when we don’t get home until about 7pm, and then try to go on a walk (yes, I’m cheating on Shaun T. at night by walking ~ altho’ I don’t think it’s really hurting our relationship … it may even help!).

Anyway, back to the dinner… realistically, it probably takes a little more than 20 minutes, but if you prep it ahead of time (which doesn’t take long, and is probably the best thing to do) then it takes about 20 minutes to cook after you pop it in the oven.

What you need:

2 chicken breasts, defrosted and cut into pieces (no need to obsess, just try to make them as uniform as possible ~mostly for cooking time purposes)

Carribean Jerk Seasoning (I used McCormick Brand Perfect Pinch ~ not sure if other labels make the same thing)

A glass casserole dish (or equivalent)

For the dipping sauce:

2 tsp. Curry Powder

1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

2 tsp. veggie oil

Small saucepan

1/3 cup Mayo

1/4 cup Greek Yogurt (plain, non-fat ~ trust me, it would be funny, but not as yummy, if you picked up vanilla by mistake)

And then, to prep …

1. If you are doing everything at once, then preheat the oven to 375.

2. To prepare~ grease the casserole dish and fill with the chicken (make sure to pat the chicken dry if you’ve just defrosted it ~ too much liquid in the dish won’t kill it, but it will take away from the chicken absorbing the jerk spice).

2.  Coat both sides of the chicken with Caribbean Jerk Seasoning (added bonus!!! the seasoning has ZERO calories).  If you’re prepping, cover with saran wrap, and put in the fridge so the chicken can marinate.

3. When you’re ready ~ pop that chicken in the oven and let it cook for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until you notice the juice is running clear.  Pull out and allow to sit for about five minutes before serving.

For the Sauce.

1.  Put curry powder, cayenne pepper and veggie oil in small sauce pan, blend together and heat over medium-low heat until aromatic.  (We’re talking 15 seconds ~ it’s quick).

2.  Allow to cool.

3.  Meanwhile, combine mayo & greek yogurt.  Mix until smooth.  When the spices are cool, combine with mixture.  If you’re prepping ~ cover with saran wrap and put in the fridge.  If not, it’s ready to serve.

As sides, we served ripe avocados sprinkled with a little sea salt (delish), John had a garden fresh cucumber salad and I ate fresh sweet corn (this girl is not a lover of the cucumber).

Hers & His! 

I have to say, that while I am not big on spicy food, this stuff is ah-may-zing.  Seriously.

Today, I got an idea in my head, and I just couldn’t shake it.

I was thinking about my ‘food evolution’ ~ how I got into the business, and where my food tastes come from.  And some things that I love love love are mushrooms.  I can usually find a way to add mushrooms to almost every dish.  And I learned this from my very first restaurant job in Reading, Pennsylvania at Joe’s Bistro 614.

Joe’s Bistro 614 was owned and operated by a family whose son went to school with my brother and I, and I worked there for my junior and senior years of high school.  I learned quite a lot at that restaurant ~ about mushrooms, and how they can enhance dishes with their own flavor, or add depth to a dish because of their inherent ability to soak up the flavors of other foods.  I also learned a lot about the composition of a dish, and ironically enough, it was where I first had (and fell in love with!) Israeli cous cous.

I am forever grateful for learning to love the ‘shroom.

Today, I was paging through some cookbooks written by my old boss (‘Portobello’ and ‘Joe’s Book of Mushroom Cookery’ by Jack Czarnecki, among others) and decided I was ready to make a Portobello En Croute.  I have thought of that dish for years (and I mean it ~ literally, I hadn’t had one since I was 16, and it used to be a complete fav). Today felt like the day to do it.

It was SOOO worth it.  I’m stuffed, but good golly, it was a gustatory dream come true.  (Yeah, I looked that up, because I had no idea what the name for the taste system in our body was ~ but now I do!).

What you need:

2 portobello caps (3-4 inches in diameter)

1 bag Fresh Spinach

2 cloves fresh garlic

Puff pastry (in theory, 2 pieces rolled out to 6 x 6 inch squares) ** When buying, look for butter puff pastry, and also make sure you’re buying sheets, not cups.

4 oz Roquefort cheese

1 egg (beaten)

Hoisin Sauce (but this girl used Soy Sauce with sugar dissolved in it)

What I did:

First, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.

Then ….

1.  I thawed out puff pastry (check the directions ~ the quick thaw for mine was 40 mins).  I only used one sheet and put the other back in the freezer per the package’s directions.

2.  Popped mushroom stems from Portobello Caps.

3.  Brushed hoisin sauce in gills of mushroom cap.  (Or my alternative, low sodium soy sauce with some dissolved sugar).

4.  While pastry thawed, and ‘shrooms soaked up marinade, I piled spinach in a saucepan, pressed two cloves of fresh garlic in, sprinkled with water and cooked over low heat, stirring occasionally. ** The goal is to get soft, sauteed spinach to fill the caps with, so use your own discretion regarding how cooked or not cooked you prefer your spinach.  I had to add another full pan of spinach once the first cooked down, so don’t be afraid to do that!

5.  When pastry dough thawed, I rolled it out until approx 12 x12 in, and then cut down the middle, to create two pieces of pastry.

6.  In the center of the pastry, I crumbled 2 oz Roquefort per piece.

7.  Then I set the portobello caps, gill side up, on top of Roquefort, and filled the interior of the cap with spinach (I distributed evenly between both caps).

8.  Next up, I wrapped the pastry around the cap, making sure to enclose completely.

9.  Then I put each cap (now ‘right side up’ aka gill side down) on a greased baking sheet, and brushed the egg wash (beaten egg for the lay person) over then entire outer area.

10.  I baked them for about 10 minutes ~ but you can do less if your cap is smaller.  I happened to get the last two that the supermarket had, and they were colossal.

11.  When the pastry was turned a very lovely golden brown, I pulled them out of the oven.

12.  I served with a side salad of diced avocado, drained mandarin oranges, and a cilantro vinaigrette (made with EVOO, lemon juice and diced cilantro).

Yum yum!  Even John liked it, and I could tell by his facial expressions as I made my way around the kitchen that he was a bit apprehensive.

A triumph again! Yippee!!

So …  when I started this blog I was still learning my way around organizing (posts, pages, etc).  This is the first recipe that I ever mastered and it’s still one of my favorites. I’ve modified it over the years to get better flavor, or to save some calories (I almost always use Greek yogurt in any recipe that calls for sour cream). Sometimes, when I’m feeling really inspired, I make my own pastry.  And a lot of times I’ll buy some fun, different cheese, and grate it or just cube it myself.  But I recommend either mozzarella or cheddar as a base.  This isn’t a really egg-y quiche (only 2 eggs per dish), and it packs a good punch with lots of spinach.  I love it as breakfast, but we also portion it up for lunch, or add it as a side dish for dinner.  Very versatile ~ which is a really good thing!

Spinach & Mushroom Quiche

Here’s what I use:

1 pkg 9″ deep dish pie crusts (either in the silver tins, or roll-out dough to be used in your own pie dishes.  Here’s the thing ~ when a person never cooks, such as myself for many a year ~ one learns how to make dishes while needing very little as start up).

Dough in pie dish.
Then trimmed and edged with a fork.

Simple simple!

2 bags shredded cheese (I prefer mozzarella and a cheddar mix, but go wild with your preferences … I might advise against anything with seasoning in it, but as I’ve never used shredded cheese with seasoning, it could be a miraculous discovery.  Some cheeses I’ve used in the past ~ brie, feta, colby jack.  All successful.  But slightly more time consuming. Next up, John is voting for Smoked Gouda because it’s his new favorite cheese).

2 boxes mushrooms (either sliced, or you can do it yourself ~ I usually get a box of button, and a box of baby bellas for that extra flavor).  If you don’t do mushrooms, just eliminate completely.  It won’t affect the quiche at all.

2 boxes frozen shredded spinach (here’s the time-consuming part ~ thawing and squeezing it until it gets as dry as you can get it).

16 oz Greek Yogurt, plain non-fat.  (If you must, you can substitute sour cream).

4 large eggs

1 large container of French Fried Onions (** hint hint, this is the secret ingredient!)

Here’s what I do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (I have a little Easy Bake Oven ~ you know, those lovely small space savers.  It’s not calibrated correctly, so I’ve learned over time how to adjust.  In general, 375 works for the quiche.  It’s my go-to temperature.)

2.  Combine cheese, sliced mushrooms in large mixing bowl.

3.  Beat eggs and greek yogurt together separately.

4.  Add egg/yogurt mixture and spinach to cheese and mushrooms.  Stir together to create a good blend.

5.  Add fried onions last, and stir in completely.

6.  Spoon mixture into both pie crusts ~ spread evenly.

7.  Bake in oven for 45 minutes to an hour.  You’ll know when it’s done by pressing the middle of the quiche.  Instead of being mushy, it’ll have a little body to it.
The greatest part about this recipe is that if you have bacon, and you want to add it, go for it.  Or perhaps chunks of ham?  Maybe you want to do half spinach, half broccoli?  It’ll work.   If you don’t want two quiche?  Put one pie crust in the freezer, and cut the ingredients in half.  Simple simple.

Okay.  So this is Part II of my polenta adventure.  As I shared a few days ago, I have a yummy go-to winter polenta dish.  But when it’s stonkingly hot outside, no one wants a sauce-heavy dish, no matter how delicious.  So on Friday night, I dared myself to do two things ~ use the polenta that was taunting me from its perch in the cupboard, and do so without going to the grocery store.

Silly me, we’d eaten the rest of our fresh mozzarella Thursday night, so as I dug around in our cabinets, I started to get really worried about how the meal would turn out.  Luckily, John’s a pretty laid-back audience, and after bringing me some fresh basil from the garden (we’re watering our landlord’s three-tier veggie garden for the week, and a person just can’t resist fresh herbs when they’re right there), which I figured couldn’t hurt, I set to work.

In the end, despite the, ahem, ecclectic, food choices I made, it turned out to be pretty good.

Here’s what I used:

1 pkg organic polenta

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 fresh tomato, diced

3 tbsp olive oil

garlic powder

dried basil

fresh basil

1.5 cups shrimp (tails off!) ~ make sure they’re defrosted if you use frozen

1/3 package of bacon

salt & pepper
Here’s what I did:

To start ~ I preheated the oven to 350.

1.  I cut the polenta in 1/2 inch slices, and put them in a glass pyrex casserole dish.

2.  In a large sauce pan, I poured the olive oil, and sprinkled the garlic powder, salt, pepper and dried basil.  I put it on low heat.   I added the shrimp.

3.  Then, I added the can of stewed tomatoes, and turned the heat to medium-low.

4.  Next, I added the fresh tomatoes, and the fresh basil leaves and put back on low heat.

5.  Then, I cooked the bacon in a separate pan until a little crisp-ness began on the edges, but it was still mostly chewy.  (Considering it was going to get cooked in the oven for a bit, I didn’t want to crisp it up too much and then have rock hard bacon amidst the meal).

6.  I laid the bacon strips across the polenta, and then poured the tomato, basil and shrimp mixture over everything, making sure to cover all pieces of polenta.
Bacon makes everything better, right?

7.  Finally, I baked it in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes (it was bubbling when I pulled it out).

We sprinkled a little bit of parmesan on the top (I think cheese makes everything better) and it was pretty yummy.  I know the shrimp/bacon combo is a little out of the ordinary in a dish like this, but I have to tell you, it works!

Last night, John and I got up at 4am, and sleepily wandered into our living room (the only room in the house to possess an A/C unit).  We’d woken up, and then tried to fall back asleep in the oppressive heat of our bedroom  (which, at 4am, with sweat trickling down your neck, feels fairly impossible).

Needless to say, yesterday was hot.  I mean, stonking, the air-feels-thick-when-you-breath, uncomfortable heat.  I’d had a whole plan for dinner, which John and I scrapped when we got home in favor of some cheese and pate with seaweed (our new favorite snack from Trader Joe’s).

Today is better, and so I think that I am going to dive right into my next culinary creation.  My idea is pretty basic ~ make some sort of shrimp and sauce, and serve with polenta.  Now, I’ll be honest ~ I haven’t braved making my own polenta yet.  Someday I will, but that day is not today.  Right now, I have organic polenta in my cupboard, and it taunts me every time I open the doors.  Last fall, I was craving a dish I’d loved at a restaurant I no longer patronize.  (Long, boring story).  I sort of remembered what was in it, and so (in my old school style), I went to the grocery store and bought my supplies.  I remember it was Monday Night Football, and the Giants were playing (normally, John and I don’t watch Monday Night Football unless either his team, the Giants, or my team, the Steelers, are playing ) so I distinctly remember this because I was in the kitchen all by myself.  Which was good, because I wasn’t really sure what I was doing.  I ended up muddling my way through, and the result was scrumptious.  We’ve since had it a number of times.  But …. it’s a little heavy for this time of year, so I’m trying to find a summer alternative.

For John, I’ll call this recipe  “Monday Night Football Polenta.”  (We did actually make it a couple times for football games, so it’s fitting!)  And tomorrow, I’ll let you know how my new version turns out.

What I used:

1 package polenta

1 package sweet, Italian sausage (or, if you like some kick, hot Italian sausage)

2 packages portobello mushrooms

1 ball fresh mozzarella

1 jar spaghetti sauce (I’d like to pause for a moment, as I know my grandmother is rolling over in her grave at the thought of her half Italian granddaughter using store bought sauce, but as I’ve mentioned, cooking is a little new to me, and I haven’t really done the whole ‘sauce’ thing yet … stay tuned, because it’ll probably happen someday for the purposes of this blog!)

**Note on sauce:  I like to get sauce that’s hearty ~ Paul Newman has a four cheese blend that’s really nice, and there’s also a portobello mushroom sauce that’s full of goodness.  But it’s really about what you prefer.  I made this dish once (for my annual Oscar Night dinner) and I used a much thinner sauce than normal.  I was hugely disappointed with the results, but everyone else seemed to like it.  Ce la vie, right?

Olive oil or vegetable oil

Garlic (again, fresh cloves used in a garlic press is best, but garlic powder or jarred minced garlic will also do the trick)

Basil

Salt & Pepper to taste

How I did it:

1. First, I covered a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  I pretty much do that all the time, because it expedites clean up.

2.  Preheat oven to 375.

3.  Cut mozzarella into cubes.  Set aside.

4.  Cut polenta into 1/2 inch slices.  Lay flat on cookie sheet.  Arrange with room on the sides.  Put one cube of mozzarella on top of each slice of polenta.  Save the rest for later.

5.  Cut sausage into bite-size pieces.

6.  Cut portobello caps into thick slices.

7.  Cover base of large sauce pan with thin layer of olive oil/vegetable oil.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic (in any form).  Add sausage bites.  Cook over medium to medium-high heat until then begin to brown.

8.  As sausage begins to cook and brown, add potobello slices.  Cook for a few minutes (portobello will begin to soften).

9.  Add jar of pasta sauce.  Heat through, but don’t bring to boil.

10.  When sauce is fully warm, spoon mixture over polenta slices on cookie sheet.  Spread remaining mozzarella cubes evenly over top of mixture.  Sprinkle with basil.

11.  Cook in oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until sauce begins to bubble.

12.  Remove, and allow to cool momentarily.  Sprinkle with some parmesan.  Enjoy!