Easy Meat & Mushroom sauce

Spaghetti and meat sauce definitely fall under the comfort food category in my book. Especially when the meat sauce is a bolognese and is rich and creamy. Friday was one of those days that just called for comfort food and luckily, I had all the ingredients to make spaghetti and meat sauce.

A lot of meat sauce recipes, although delicious, can be really fattening. Bolognese often is laced with heavy cream. This meat sauce is actually quite healthy. It still had that creamy taste because I used a surprise ingredient, fat free sour cream (Greek yogurt would work equally well). I also “beefed” up the recipe with lots of vegetables, like onions, carrots, and mushrooms and I used a very lean ground beef. I have to say, I wasn’t so sure about adding the mushrooms in but I actually really like the flavor they give the sauce.

Tilapia with bacon and pea puree

I’m obsessed with the Food Network and Cooking Channel. I can sit for hours watching people cook. Matt can’t understand this. He thinks it’s the most boring thing in the world. Although we have a lot of things in common, TV is not one of those things. I mean I can’t really blame him. I’m not sure how many men out there like watching cooking shows and the Bravo TV network, although he will watch Million Dollar Listing with me and we both love House Hunters International.

Bacon, egg and potato brunch casserole

I’m not much of a breakfast person normally. I love breakfast when I am on vacation, but on a day to day basis it’s the one meal I don’t set aside time for. Breakfast is a grab and go kind of meal for me. Lately my breakfasts consist of 2 clementines and a baby bel cheese ball. But on Saturday, my friend was dog sitting for a family in Princeton and mentioned that the house had a huge fenced in backyard. She had the brilliant idea of hosting a doggie play date/ brunch. We brainstormed and decided we would have mimosas, bagels with cream cheese and lox, french toast with fresh fruit, and a dish involving bacon and eggs. We split up what we would each bring and I volunteered to bring the dish with the bacon and eggs. This casserole is what I came up with and I was really pleased with how it turned out. We had the perfect weather, an amazing spread of food, and the dogs had a great time too. It was exactly what I needed after a long work week. There’s something about brunch that just makes everyone feel relaxed.

Balsamic roasted mushrooms and eggplant

Sometimes some of my best creations in the kitchen happen by accident. This was one of them. I had one lonely leftover eggplant that was in danger of going bad and a whole pack of sliced portabello mushrooms that I hadn’t used yet. I had already decided that I was going to be cooking up some mahi mahi burgers from the freezer that night because I really didn’t feel like cooking but then I remembered that I had these vegetables and the thought of food going bad and then throwing it out makes me really sad. So, I thought I’d just try roasting them. I roast veggies all the time and I think it’s the best way to cook them. They get carmelized and crisp on the outside but tender on the inside. Delicious. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how eggplant and mushrooms would turn out if I just roasted them in the oven like I do so many other favorite vegetables. Sometimes eggplant can be bitter if it’s not cooked the right way so this was a gamble. But, as I said, I didn’t feel like cooking and roasting vegetables is so easy that it almost doesn’t even count as cooking. The oven does all the work.

Let me just say that what I thought would be an average maybe even bad dish turned out to be one of the best vegetable side dishes I’ve ever made. And it is SO easy. I am going to stop at the grocery store after work today to pick up more eggplant and mushrooms because I’m going to make it again tonight. It was THAT good.

My version of Baingan Bharta (Indian eggplant curry)

I love eggplant. It can be a tricky vegetable to cook, but when it’s cooked properly it is delicious. I went a bit eggplant crazy the other day at the grocery store because the eggplants looked so good. I still have some leftover that I need to figure out what to do with before they go bad! After searching the internet for eggplant recipes and not finding anything that really suited my mood, I decided to try my hand at making baingan bharta, an Indian eggplant dish I often order at Indian restaurants. I love eggplant parmesan just as much as anybody but I was in the mood for something more exotic. I’ve been experimenting a lot with cooking Indian food, and although not everything I make has turned out well (I had a bit of a disaster the other day with some spiced stuffed peppers I made), I am learning which spices go well together and so I figured I’d give this eggplant dish a whirl. I’m glad I did, because it came out quite well!

Smoky spiced potatoes and chickpeas

Some of my favorite meals don’t include meat. I’m not a vegetarian but if I had to cut out one food group it would definitely be meat. I just don’t crave it the way I do other food groups, like carbs, unfortunately. Sunday night’s dinner was yet another meatless meal for me. I wanted something with a bit of an Indian flavor and this is what I came up. In this dish, potatoes and chickpeas are flavored with garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric and red chili flakes. One of the most important components of this dish is the carmelized onions. I let the onions cook probably for about 15 minutes until they turned a deep brown color and became really sweet. This really adds an amazing deep flavor to the dish so be patient as they carmelize. Greek yogurt, cilantro and lime are the perfect finish to the meal and add a nice freshness to the potatoes and chickpeas.

Side note, I also made beef enchiladas, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, because unlike me, my husband eats a lot of meat.

My quick and easy Thursday night dinner

This dinner is one of the fastest ones I’ve ever whipped up. The two dishes I created don’t necessarily go together but I happened to be trying to use up left overs so I made them in the same night. One dish, I can’t take credit for. It’s from Trader Joe’s frozen department. The other dish, I can take credit for and it consists of only 5 ingredients.

It started because I wanted to cook up Trader Joe’s frozen Thai lime shrimp skewers to try. However, I had just made couscous the other night and I didn’t feel like making rice. Plus I already had some leftover whole grain pasta from the night before when I made my favorite zucchini and mushroom pasta. So even though pasta and Thai flavored shrimp on skewers don’t go toghether, I decided to use up the leftovers in my fridge. The pasta actually may sound like a pretty weird concoction but it actually works and it’s so easy to throw together.

Lessons from Life of Pi

I saw the movie Life of Pi for the first time two nights ago. I haven’t had a chance to read the book, so I can’t compare the two. But what I can say about the movie is that I really appreciated all the quotes and life lessons. What a beautiful story of survival, faith and perseverance. I knew the basis of the story but I was not expecting it to be so moving. I must have cried like 15 times throughout the movie. Here are some of the quotes that stood out to me:

Spicy Cucumber Martini

I should tell you right off the bat that I did not create this delicious cocktail. I simply ordered it at one of my favorite happy hours. It sounds awful, doesn’t it? My friend had been raving about it and recommended I try it, but I was skeptical. It just didn’t sound good to me. I’m pretty picky when it comes to cocktails. I hate anything too sweet. And I usually don’t order martinis. They’re either too strong or too sweet for me. I’m more of a margarita or glass of wine kind of girl. Although I do love those sweet slushy style cocktails you order when you’re on vacation, like classic pina coladas and strawberry daquiries. I mean, who doesn’t love those?

Spring time couscous

It’s officially spring time here in New Jersey! Although the weather is not reflecting the season currently, I still felt inspired to create a spring time dish. I also desperately need to make a trip to the grocery store, and so last night was basically a night to use up some of the remaining ingredients in my fridge. The reason I call it a spring time dish is because it has so many bright flavors that people normally associate with the weather warming up. Scallions, corn, and lemon are the main components of this dish aside from the couscous, obviously.