Gorgonzola Sauce

Oh my god this sauce....how have I lived without this sauce??!!! I've had this recipe on my Pinterest for a while now but it was attached to a steak recipe and then I discovered I could just make the sauce instead, which is what I did and I made up my own steak using the recipe I always did, with onions. You could actually put this sauce on anything, ANYTHING!!! Its that good and so much more!!! It's so cheesy and smooth and velvety. I ate it over 3 days and I don't think it would have lasted more than that because it was starting to separate more & more. It still tasted good but I couldn't get it to stay together after the 3rd day. Make sure you pay attention on how to reheat it-the consistency startled me when I tried to reheat in the microwave. Go make this sauce RIGHT NOW!!!!

You can find the recipe here

Baked Brie

My friend Mandi made this several years ago for a girl's Thanksgiving. She made it again this Christmas for the two of us and I realized how much I was craving it so I decided to make it on my own. I didn't let the pastry crust thaw out entirely so when I wrapped the brie it cracked and some of the filling oozed out during cooking, but it still tasted amazing. I made it a again a couple weeks and made it perfectly. I can't finish a whole block but that doesn't stop me from making it lol. Super easy and super tasty! You can use any kind of jam/jelly and any flavor.

Baked Brie (2-4 servings):

Sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1 egg yolk
Block of brie cheese
Jelly or jam of your choice and flavor (I used a homemade raspberry jam)
Crackers of your choice

Preheat oven to 350. Slice off the white rind from the block of cheese. I think you could leave it on if you prefer-I don't like the rind so I cut mine all off. Place the cheese on top of the thawed pastry sheet. Spoon about 1 tbsp jelly/jam on top of the cheese. Wrap up the cheese with the puff pastry like a purse. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg yolk on the pastry all over.

Place the pastry filled cheese on a cookie sheet covered with foil. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is hot. Serve with crackers. Enjoy!




Raspberry spooned onto cheese...






Brie wrapped up in the pastry crust...






Enjoy!...

Cheesesteak Soup

I found this recipe in the Food Network magazine and it sounded so good! I made it the other night and it wasn't bad. The soup base was kind of tasteless, which was disappointing but once the beef & croutons were added, it tasted much better. I also added some pepper to the soup base, which did help. I added some additional shredded cheese on top of the beef and it worked. The roll I had bought was rock-hard so I cubed 3 slices of bread for the croutons and it worked just fine. I think I'll make this again but maybe with only 2 servings this time.

Cheesesteak Soup (4 servings) (Food Network):

5 tbsp EVOO
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 tsp celery seeds
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 c plus 2 tbsp flour
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp hot sauce
6 c chicken broth
2 soft hoagie rolls, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Salt and pepper
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz shredded provolone cheese
1 lb shaved deli roast beef, chopped
1/4 c jarred sliced pepperoncini
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, plus more for topping

Preheat oven to 400. Heat 2 tbsp oil in Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery seeds and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, about 3 minutes. Add 1/3 c flour, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce; cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and 2 c water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med-low and cook until veggies are tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss bread cubes with 1 tbsp olive oil on a baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Bake until golden and crisp, about 7 minutes; set aside.

Puree soup with an immersion blender or in a blender until smooth. Return to pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to med-low and simmer 5 minutes. Toss cheddar, provolone and the remaining 2 tbsp flour in bowl; slowly whisk the cheese mixture into the soup until melted. Return to blender and puree until smooth. Pour back into the pot and bring to a low boil; remove from heat.

Heat remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in pepperoncini and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls; top with beef, croutons and more parsley and shredded cheese if you desire. Enjoy!




Veggies...






Flour added to the veggies...






Croutons...






Shredded cheese and flour...






Browned roast beef & pepperoncini...






Enjoy!...

Cheese-Stuffed Turkey Burgers

I did end up making the cheese-stuffed or Jucy Lucy's a couple days later. I had a recipe that called for 3/4 lb of ground turkey so I used the leftover ground turkey to make 2 cheeseburgers. Since I was using ground turkey, I added some garlic and ginger to give it a little more flavor. The first burger I made, I didn't put enough cheese in the middle and some of it ended up leaking out. The second burger, I made sure to add double amount compared to the first and it turned out much better! I don't normally eat my burgers on buns, which is why the last picture shows the burger sitting on some ketchup and mustard. Really yummy & I'll definitely make this again.

Cheese-Stuffed Burgers (2 servings:

1/4 lb ground turkey
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp minced ginger
Salt and pepper
4 slices of cheese, any kind (I used cheddar)

Mix all the ingredients except the cheese together with your hands. Form into 4 thin patties. Top with one slice of cheese, folded into 4 squares. Top each patty with another patty and crimp edges to seal in the cheese. Grill until done and juices run clear. Top the burger with a slice of cheese and cook until it just begins to melt. Enjoy!




Thin patties...






Cheese ready to be stuffed...






Enjoy!...

Blue Cheese Stuffed Meatballs with a Homemade Sauce

I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner one night and my mind kept going back and forth between a Jucy Lucy or cheese stuffed meatballs. It probably didn't help that I saw a cooking show earlier in the day about the Jucy Lucy. In the end I decided to try to make stuffed meatballs. But I made a couple mistakes. I only had blue cheese, which was good but so rich and since it's such a soft cheese, a lot of it oozed out of the meatballs during cooking. I also used too much parsley. But other than that, the meatballs had really good flavor.

I also wanted to attempt another try at making a homemade sauce. I did't have a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes but I did have a 14 1/2 oz can of diced tomatoes and a 14 1/2 oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes so I used that. Apparently I've never used fire-roasted tomatoes before because I didn't realize how spicy they are! Not a big fan! I think if I would have used regular tomatoes it would have been okay though. All in all I was happy with the taste of the sauce, just not the spiciness of it. I think I'd try to make this again and try to correct the mistakes I made.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Meatballs with a Homemade Sauce (4-6 servings):

1 lb ground turkey
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 c minced parsley
1 egg
1/2 c panko
Blue cheese, cut into chunks
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
14 1/2 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes (or 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes instead of the 2 cans)
1 c minced white onion
2 tbsp minced garlic
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 c red wine
1 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. If not using a meatball pan, cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Combine the ground turkey, garlic, parsley, egg and panko in med bowl and mix well with your hands. Shape into a small disc, place a piece of blue cheese in the middle and add another small disc of meat over the cheese. Carefully seal the meat around the cheese and form into a med-size meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared pan or meatball rack. Cook in the oven about 25-30 min or until cooked in the center.

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce. In a deep pan, heat oil until hot. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Once onion is soft, add the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Cook until most of wine has evaporated, about 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer about 20 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, grate in about 1 tsp of fresh nutmeg. If you don't want your sauce chunky, use an immersion blender to blend it down to a smoother consistency. Once the sauce is cooked, add 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar, to taste. (The brown sugar brings down some of the acidity of the sauce.)

I made some pasta to serve with the meatballs and sauce. Enjoy!




Ready to be cooked...






Cooked meatballs...






Cheese oozing out...






Sauce...






Enjoy!...

Stuffed Zucchini

When I went to the farmer's market last weekend, I found some large zucchinis. I've been wanting to try some stuffed zucchini but I wanted to make it my own way. I looked on Pinterest to get a general idea of how long to cook it. I found several recipes with all sorts of ingredients in it so I decided to experiment a little bit and it turned out fabulous!!! I will definitely make this again and again and again! Once again, since I was experimenting, I didn't notice measurements so I'll try to guess how much I used. I had planned on making this dish last night so I made up the turkey mixture last night. I ended up staying at a friend's last night so I just reheated the turkey mixture with the zucchini pulp tonight. On a side note, expect some more zucchini recipes-I have 3 more zucchini to use!

Stuffed Zucchini: 2 servings

1 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp butter
1 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, diced
2 tbsp veggie oil
1-2 tbsp taco seasoning
1-2 tbsp pepper
2-3 tbsp cumin
2-3 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1-2 tbsp paprika
1-2 tbsp dried basil
1-2 tbsp dried parsley
1-2 tbsp dried oregano
1 heaping tbsp bottled minced garlic
1 heaping tbsp bottled minced ginger
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
2 c shredded cheese, your choice of blend

Scoop out the pulp of the zucchini with a spoon, dice the pulp and set aside. Sprinkle the zucchini halves with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. Preheat oven to 350 and spread foil on a 9x13-in glass baking dish; place the zucchini in the prepared dish.

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the pulp; stir and cook for about 2-4 minutes, until heated through. In another skillet, add the veggie oil and heat to med-high. Add the ground turkey and onion. Add all the seasonings, ginger and garlic. Cook until the turkey is no longer pink; drain. Return the meat mixture to the skillet, add the zucchini pulp and soy sauce; stir to blend.

Spoon the meat mixture into the zucchini boats-don't press down, let the meat mixture sit naturally. Sprinkle the boats with cheese. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, until the zucchini is tender. Slice each zucchini in half and serve.




Hollowed out zucchini...






Zucchini boats sprinkled with olive oil and paprika...






Zucchini pulp...






Zucchini heating in butter...






Filling heating up...






Filling in the zucchini...






Fresh from the oven...






Enjoy!...

Polenta Bruschetta

This is what I was going to make as an appetizer for Easter but I was worried they would be too filling and I'm glad I waited since they are best served hot or warm. I used the salsa from the Red Lentil Rice Cakes recipe that I posted a couple weeks ago. I also used the pre-made log of polenta. All in all, it tasted pretty good. I only used half a log this time in case I didn't like it. Like I said, it tastes better hot or warm so make sure they are eaten right away. I think I sliced my polenta too thin since I had to eat it with a fork but you can slice it to any thickness you want.

Polenta Bruschetta:

3 plum tomatoes, diced
2-3 tbsp capers
1/4 c fresh basil, sliced
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 log pre-made polenta
1/4 c shredded cheese, any flavor, optional
Garlic powder, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Slice polenta into 1-in rounds. Bake until set and crisp, 15-20 min. During last 5 min of baking, sprinkle each round with a little cheese, if using.

Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, capers, basil and balsamic vinegar in bowl and stir to combine. Let the bruschetta sit at room temp while the polenta bakes.

Once polenta is done baking, sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper. Top with bruschetta and enjoy!




Bruschetta...






Fresh from the oven...






Bruschetta topped polenta...






Enjoy!...

'Ghetto' Spaghetti

I got this recipe from a guy I used to date a couple years ago. He made it up one night after we were hanging out and we were starving but there wasn't much food in the house. He wanted to make spaghetti but didn't have any spaghetti sauce. So he improvised and used Italian dressing instead and named it 'Ghetto' Spaghetti. Dumb name lol but it works and every time I make it now I think of him. When I was planning my trip to Vegas, my friend asked what kinds of food I wanted and I mentioned this spaghetti, not even realizing she had no idea what I meant! But she said she tried it and said she loved it. It's a simple meal to make when I don't really feel like cooking and it's delicious! I don't have actual measurements..it's pretty much made to your taste.

Cooked spaghetti noodles
1 tbsp butter
Italian dressing
Shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Combine the butter with the noodles as soon as they are done being drained so the butter melts into the noodles. Add as much or as little dressing as you like and top with however much cheese you want. Mix it all up and enjoy!




Enjoy!...

Parmesan Garlic Orzo

I was perusing around on Pinterest tonight (yes I know I may be slightly obsessed!) and came across this recipe via www.allrecipes.com I've had some left over orzo for a while now that I didn't really know what to do with and this sounded perfect. And I even had all the other ingredients so I knew I had to make it tonight. I made it as a side dish but I think it would also be good to add some chicken in it to make it a main dish. I also added more garlic than the recipe calls for but I love garlic so it tasted fine to me. I'll definitely be making this dish again!

Find the recipe here




All the ingredients...






Garlic & butter...






Everything mixed together...






Enjoy!...

Brown Butter Gnocchi with Sage and Blue Cheese Stuffed Bread

Bear with me...I have a couple other recipes I wanted to share but they are on my other computer..the one that shut down on me and started to smoke! My cousin is hopefully going to be able to save some of those pictures so I can use them later. In the meantime, I have other recipes to share and more to come later this week/early next week.

I made this recipe a couple weeks ago. I found this recipe among my many recipes on my computer (hopefully my cousin can save those as well since I didn't back those up!) and I have no idea where it came from. The recipe originally called for homemade gnocchi but since I have several packages of pre-made gnocchi, I decided to use one of them. I also added some garlic powder to my butter for a little more flavor, instead of salt and pepper. As for the bread, I got the idea on Pinterest. I had a Pillsbury pkg of French bread, so I used that.

The gnocchi turned out amazing and I would definitely make this recipe again. Browning the gnocchi after it cooks is the key to this recipe. It makes the gnocchi have a little crunch on the outside and the result is excellent!

For the bread, I laid down a piece of tinfoil onto a jelly-roll pan and sprayed the pan with cooking spray. After I took the bread out of it's pkg, I cut slits in it, making sure not to cut all the way through to the bottom. I melted about a tbsp of butter and brushed some butter on the dough. My mom had gotten me a big chunk of blue cheese from her co-op by her place and I love the stuff. It spreads like butter and it tastes amazing. I cut off a big chunk of it and crumbled it. I put several chunks into each slit I made into the dough. After, I brushed the bread with some more melted butter.

I baked the bread according to the pkg directions and kept an eye on it as well. The results were really good, although when I make this again, I am going to use a lot more cheese!


Chunk of blue cheese...






Bread dough with butter & blue cheese....






Baked bread...






Gnocchi (4 servings):

Pkg of gnocchi of your choice or flavor
10 tbsp butter, divided
1/2 c thinly sliced fresh sage
1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
Garlic powder, to taste

Cook 8 tbsp butter (I used unsalted mainly because I didn't have enough salted butter) in med skillet over med-high until butter begins to brown, about 4 min. This proved to be a little challenging since the butter foams as it cooks and it's hard to see if it's browning so use your best judgement here. Add sage and lemon peel. Season with garlic powder or salt and pepper to taste. And yes you have to taste the butter to see if it needs more seasoning. Take the butter off the heat and place in a non-reactive bowl.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter in large skillet; remove from heat. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add gnocchi; cook until gnocchi float to surface, then cook 1 min longer. Using slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to skillet with unseasoned butter (the 2 tbsp of butter). Saute gnocchi over med-low until beginning to brown, stirring occasionally. Once browned, add the seasoned butter to the skillet with the gnocchi and heat through, 2-3 min.

To serve, spoon gnocchi, with the butter, onto plates with some sliced blue cheese bread and enjoy!




Pkg of gnocchi I used...






Zested lemon and chopped sage...






Browning the gnocchi...






Ready to serve...






Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread

Found the idea for this recipe on Pinterest and found the actual recipe on www.food.com after a google search. It was really easy to make and it tastes pretty good. I'll definitely make this again, and maybe play around with the ingredients as well. I added garlic to mine this time around.

Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread:

2 boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp olive oil
1 can pizza dough
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
3 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c frank hot sauce
1/3 c ranch dressing
1 tbsp minced garlic

Preheat oven to 425.

Cut chicken into cubes. Season with pepper. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan and add chicken when hot. Cook chicken completely and add 1/4 c hot sauce. Stir to coat and let simmer 1-2 min. Take chicken off heat and let cool.

On well floured surface, roll out pizza dough into a long rectangle. Add hot sauce and ranch dressing and mix well. Spread onto the pizza dough. Add chicken and garlic and top with cheeses. You can add more sauce if you want it spicier on top of everything.

Starting at one of the short ends, roll up until you read the other end. Make sure to tuck in the ends of the dough so the middle doesn't 'ooze' out when baking.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (I used foil and sprayed that with the cooking spray). Place bread on the pan and bake 20-25 min. Let sit 5 min before cutting into it.

Hot sauce and dressing mixed together...

Chicken simmering in hot sauce...

Hot sauce and dressing spread on pizza dough...

Chicken & garlic...

Cheeses...

All rolled up...

I served my slice with a side of blue cheese dressing...Enjoy!