Super Simple Dinners: Chicken Caesar Salad

For the past two weeks, I've been in NJ for work.  Overall, it wasn't a fun trip, but did result in 2 visits to my sister's...Which was fun.  The first visit, it was just the two of us, and we had a lot of laughs over dinner and a bottle of wine.  The second visit, Timur (her husband) was home and the three of us had a great dinner and wine.

While I was on my 2nd visit, I helped my sister prepare dinner and noticed something on the refrigerator....Something that I decided I was going to adopt as a habit.  It was a weekly meal list.  The simple act of writing out what is for dinner each night of the week can really make life so simple.  Basically, they decide what they're going to have for dinner over the weekend, and then go to the market on Sunday to buy needed ingredients for the week.

It's the simplest thing - but it takes the guess work out of dinner time...It also takes care of the "I'd really like to make X but I'm missing 3 ingredients."  

So Stephanie...You're a genius.  Just don't let it go to your head.  :o)

So one of the meals on my sister's list was Chicken Caesar Salad.  I got so excited when I saw this because she made it for me once before and I fell in love with it.  She gave me the recipe, but I still haven't made it yet...But I WILL be making it this week!

So here it is!!  (from www.myrecipes.com)

11 cup romaine lettuce 
1 cup red bell pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil 
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
2 tsp Dijon mustard 
1/4 tsp sugar 
1/4 tsp table salt 
1/4 tsp black pepper 
1 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s) 
1 1/2 cup(s) plain croutons 
1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese 
2 pound(s) roasted skinless chicken breast

Remove chicken from bones and shred with 2 forks to measure 3 cups meat. 

Combine chicken, lettuce, and bell pepper in a large bowl. 

For vinaigrette: combine oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. 

Pour over salad. Toss well, sprinkle with croutons and cheese, and toss gently to combine.

Enjoy!!

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love Nutella. I'm pretty sure the first time I tried it was when I was in Italy in the 10th grade on a high school trip. I think it was the first time a lot of us had tried it, and we were all completely taken in with it's deliciousness. I remember the guys on the trip stealing rolls from the hotel Continental Breakfast and indulging on bread and Nutella (they bought a monster bottle of it).

Since then, I usually have a bottle of it in the pantry. I don't eat it all the time, but when I do eat it, I remember WHY I love it so much. 

 Last night, I got an itch to bake. Work has been rough this week, and I wanted to do something that makes me happy. And baking makes me happy. In order to capitalize on as easy a recipe as possible, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies, but add in some Nutella, just for fun. I took my usual Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and cut the butter in half, and used the Nutella in it's place. The result? Deliciousness.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Recipe
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup Nutella
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2 1/4 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1-12oz bag Milk Chocolate Chips

The Method
Cream together the butter and Nutella until well mixed.  Add in the Sugars and beat until fluffy.  Add the Vanilla and Eggs, and beat well.  Add the flour, soda, and salt, and mix well.  Add in the chocolate chips and make sure they're mixed in well (Basic Cookies, here).

Bake at 375* for 10-12 minutes.

And ENJOY!!!

Cake Mix Cookies

Cookies can be some of the easiest desserts that can be made. I myself have made many different kinds of cookies, but I recently made the easiest cookie ever. And delicious.

Growing up, I don't think there was a single party that my mom's aunt came to without bringing a couple plates of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or sprinkle cookies. Sprinkle cookies? I don't really know what to call them. Maybe 'Auntie Ginny cookies' would be a better description of what they are.

Yummy cake mix cookies with sprinkles, just like my Auntie Ginny used to make!

In any case, I made said cookies the other day, and as previously stated, they are not only delicious, but also ridiculously easy.

The ingredients, you ask? Cake mix, eggs, and oil.

I did some measuring, and there is about 3 cups of mix in a box of cake mix. For one box, you need just 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of oil. Mix everything together well, and drop the mix on a cookie sheet. I then used the bottom of a glass to flatten the cookies, and I put some colored jimmies (sprinkles?) on top.

   

Bake for 10 minutes at 350!

Enjoy!!

Happy Day!

Today is March 18. Yesterday was St Patrick's day tomorrow is St Joseph's day.

While I am not at all Irish but I am very Italian, I ironically found myself only baking/cooking for St Partick's day this year.

I made an amazing Boiled Dinner.  This was not only my first time making a corned beef dinner, but I also took it a step further and made it in the pressure cooker.  Once again, it came delicious.  Here's what I did:

• In the pressure cooker, place the corned beef with the fattiest side facing up, pour in a bottle of Guinness, enough water to cover the top of the meat, and the seasoning packet (I used about a 2.5 lb piece of meat).
• Secure on the lid, and place the pot on the stove on high-heat.
• When the pop comes up to pressure, lower the heat to as low as it can go while maintaining the pressure.  Let the pot sit like this for 50 minutes.
• At the end of the 50 minutes, let the pot depressurize naturally by removing it from the heat and waiting patiently for the pressure to come down (this takes about 15 minutes).
• Once the pot is depressurized, remove the lid, and transfer the corned beef to a cutting board, wrap it in foil, and cover it with a towel to keep in the heat.  This allows the juices to redistribute through the meat.
• Pour out about half of the liquid from the pot, and add in the vegetables (I used potatoes, carrots, onion, and cabbage).
• Secure the lid back on, move it again to high heat, and as soon as it comes up to pressure, lower the heat again and maintain pressure for 6 minutes.  
• Slice the meat against the grain, and place everything in your serving platter!

My first attempt at a Boiled Dinner - SUCCESS!!

SO easy!  And from start to finish (including any prep time), this only took 2 hours!  If I had cooked this in a regular pot, I would have been in the kitchen for probably closer to 4 hours.  (Note:  The package on the corned beef said to cook the meat for 50 minutes for each pound of meat.  This means that I would have had to boil my piece of meat for 125 minutes, never mind the time to get up to a boil, and then the cooking time of the vegetables, which would have probably been about 20 minutes).  Pressure Cookers are awesome!

Serve with some mustard, and you've got yourself a feast!!

I also made an amazing (if I do say so myself) Irish Soda Bread.  I haven't made it in years, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results.  It's an incredibly easy recipe that my mom got from a friend of hers long ago, and I haven't made it any other way.

Irish Soda Bread, made from scratch, sliced, and ready to be eaten!!

So now that St. Patrick's day is over, and the non-Irish in me has celebrated, it's time to make some Zeppole and celebrate St. Joseph's Day!!!

Homemade Zeppole that I made a few years ago....It's time for another batch!!

Enjoy!!!