What's for dinner???

Growing up, my favorite dinners, were the ones that were cooked in one pan, and no, I'm ain't talking about no Hamburger Helper here.  I'm talking about the wonderful meals that your mom or grandma would make, by using a slew of ingredients from the fridge and pantry to make the most delicious comfort food concoctions.  

We call it comfort food, because it brings us a sense of warmth and the ability to relax, and get comfy.  Not to mention, after you stuff yourself full, all you want to do is crawl into your bed and call it a day.

Well, coincidentally, those are also the easiest meals to make and I'm going to share one of my favorite one pan, two if you like it over rice like me, meals.

Creamy Pork and Peppers.

Here's what you'll need.

1 lb pork tenderloin.  (Cut into bite size pieces.)  Or more, depending on how many savages are feasting.

1 Lg. Yellow Pepper (bite size or strips, whatever)

1 Lg.  Orange Pepper

1 Lg.  Green Pepper

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 Half pint of heavy whipping cream, more if you want it saucier.

Greek dressing of your favorite brand, because I haven't perfected that dressing yet, so I don't have my own recipe for it yet.

1/2 stick of salted butter.  Hey, I never said this was a healthy recipe.  

Bunch of chopped chives.

7-8 leaves of coarsely chopped lemon balm, substitute with a little lemongrass if you have to, but you don't really want a lot of lemon flavor, unless you want a lot of lemon flavor, in which case, add all the lemon flavor you want.

Handful of coarsely chopped Italian Parsley.

Olive oil, to cook your pork in.

Salt and FRESH GROUND pepper to taste.

I know that seems like a lot, but it really isn't, I promise.

In one giant skillet, add your minced garlic to your olive oil,      saute until you can really smell that garlic.  Add in your pork and cook until its done.  

This smells amazing.

Now add in your peppers, chives, parsley and lemon balm.

Remember not to over cook your pepper.  No one likes a soggy pepper.

Now, add your butter, salt, pepper, whipping cream and dressing, and let it come to simmer, then take it off the heat, so your peppers don't get soggy.

As you can plainly see, I like mine saucy.  It's because I'm saucy.

 Now, dish it up, I like mine over brown rice, you know, to health it up a bit.

Enjoy!!!

Now sit back and let your family shower you with compliments.

Yummy Monday

On Friday, while searching through the fridge, I discovered that I had taken both hamburger and hot italian sausage out of the freezer.  Well since it was entirely too hot for lasagna and we'd just had spaghetti, I decided to do something a little different, and since it was so yummy, I thought I'd share.

So I'm gonna be cool and write something here just to see if my mom notices well because I'm mean like that. Ha Ha, just kidding I love my mommy and she's the best. **I want it noted that my 17 year old wrote this, because she very mischievous, but don't worry, she got 15 minutes in the chokey for it.  Just kidding, it was more like a half hour. 

First off, I gotta let you in on a little pre-dinner scare I gave The Mister.

Me:  I'm making something radical for dinner tonight.

Him:  What do you have in your hands.

Me:  Finger nail polish remover and hair color developer, why?

Him:  I can go out to eat.

Now let me tell you it was a total coincidence that I had that stuff in my hands, but boy did it make him wonder.  Bwahahahahaa.

Now, back to our previously scheduled recipe, here's what you'll need:

1 lb.  ground beef

1lb. hot italian sausage

1 c.  grated cheese, I like the Monterrey jack, cause it's yummy.

1/2 c warm cream cheese

5-6 hot cherry peppers, diced.

Mix together the burger and sausage and shape into "hot dog" but making it about as round as a brat and fry them up, making sure that they are completely done in the middle, remember this is pork, although you could use beef sausage.

I'm really into spicing things up in the kitchen lately.

Something about this picture just doesn't seem right to me.

 While you wait for your "dogs" to cook.  Have yourself a glass of wine, you deserve it.

I've also been into sweet red wine lately.

 Now gather the rest of your ingredients and, dice up your peppers, warm up your cream cheese, and grate your cheese.  Also, I like to toss my buns in the nuker for about 20 seconds to soften them up as well.

Pay no attention to the gross grout.  I hate tile.  It is the bane of my kitchen existence.

 Layer them in whichever order you want on the bun.

Those little peppers are amazing.

 Then drop your hot from the pan "dog" on top and cover with ketchup, mustard, relish whatever else you might like.  I'm a plain cream cheese girl myself.

Baked beans, the perfect side dish to almost anything.

And enjoy!

Happy Monday,

Marisa

Cupcakes and Coffee. Is there really anything better?

I love coffee, I mean LOVE it.  I also have a sweet spot for a good cupcake, so when I found a way to combine the two in a drink, I saw no reason not to share the delicious concoction that has become my drink of choice for the last month or so.

If you read The Pioneer Woman than you have probably seen her recipe for The perfect iced coffee and if you haven't and if you love coffee, then you should go check our her simple and delicious recipe, like pronto!  Although her recipe is perfect all by its self, the ex-barista in me just couldn't let me drink it plain.

Then one day, I went to our local coffee stand (my home away from home) and their drink of the month was a Godiva Cupcake Mocha.  What?  Could this be true?  A liquid cupcake?  A chocolate liquid cupcake?  What could be more perfect?  So immediately, me and the kid decided that was exactly what we were going to get.

*Insert harps and angels holding a high C note*

It was.................the most delicious thing that had ever touched my tongue.

I then found out that Toriani's makes a new flavor.  Cupcake.  I want to kiss the person that created it...really I do.  So I got the recipe and went to the local coffee syrup supply shop, grabbed a bottle and went home to re-create this magical drink.

Let me share.

What you need:

Iced Coffee, you can use regular coffee, shots of espresso, or do this as a warm drink, it's all up to you.  Half and half, Toriani's Cupcake syrup, and chocolate milk.  Oh and a glass.

Fill your glass about 2/3 full of coffee.

Add a shot of Cupcake syrup, less or more, depending on your sweetness factor.

A couple splashes of chocolate milk, again, you can tweak it to your sweetness preference.

A splash of Half and half, for the extra fatness creaminess.

Stir it up, stick a straw in it, throw some whipped cream on the top and sit back and let your taste buds experience what euphoria is like.

I'm currently working on a really delicious caramel cupcake recipe and maybe a red velvet one too.  All I know is, if you love cupcake flavor, you gotta try the syrup, you'll thank me for it.

Have a smashing Thursday kiddies!!!
Marisa