Mascarpone & Basil Tomato Sauce with Chicken Sausage

You really can't go wrong with these basic ingredients, no matter how you combine them. But here's how I go about it:

What You Need:

• An onion, diced.
• Olive oil, a... dollop?
• A few cloves of garlic, chopped.
• 1 big can of crushed tomatoes with basil.
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste.
• Lots of fresh basil, chopped.
• Sun-dried tomato & basil chicken sausage.
• Mascarpone cheese!!

Put it All Together:

• Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add onion to soften. Add half your garlic when onions are almost done. (If you add the garlic with onion right away it tends to get bitter.)
• Pour tomato sauce & paste in. Add salt & crushed red pepper to taste -- as well as a sprinkling of sugar. Simmer for a bit.
• Add chicken sausage, cut into chunks.

• Add the rest of the garlic and lots of freshly chopped basil, turn the heat down low, partially cover and let it "simmer" for about an hour. (More like stew together.) Mix every so often.

• Just before serving stir in a few tablespoons of Mascarpone cheese (don't be shy) until melted.

Would have been even better with some freshly grated Romano cheese on top, but, alas... I had none. Nonetheless, it was delicious and super easy. 

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Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Skillet

How amazingly delicious does this look?!

 

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Chinese Food Re-Invented

So, you know how when you get Chinese take-out and you end up with lots of leftover sauces? And they just sit and keep accumulating in your fridge... Because the next time you get Chinese you end up with more sauces and they just keep piling up.

Weeellll... Tonight I finally put them to good use. Last time I ordered out I went the "healthy" route: I had steamed veggies and chicken, but it came with an amazing spicy, garlicky sauce on the side. A lot of it. So I used the leftover sauce and invented my own Chinese dish!

Marinade for pork chops. You're probably thinking, "Wow! Why didn't I think of that??" (Or maybe, "Yeah. No duh. I always do that... Where have you been?" If so, then sshhh.) I poured the sauce over a package of thinly sliced pork chops and added a few soy sauce and duck sauce packets (as well as one hot sauce) and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge this afternoon. And I just cooked them up on the stove for dinner, making sure I poured all that saucy deliciousness over the top as I went. I served them with brown rice (cooked in chicken broth for a little extra flavor) and some stir-fried veggies:

In the same pan used to cook the pork, pour a little bit of vegetable oil and some sesame oil and add a sliced onion and a few sliced carrots and cook about halfway to desired softness. Crush a few cloves of garlic in and soy sauce; cook a bit longer. When the veggies are just about to your liking (I like them in between soft and crunchy) add some frozen peas and sliced purple cabbage. The cabbage gets soft very quickly so it really doesn't need to cook long.

And there you have it.  A delicious, and pretty healthy, re-invention of Chinese food -- with all the flavor.

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Know What You Eat

Trying to stay healthy? ...Yeah. Me too. I thought I was doing a good job, reaching for banana chips as a snack. Err... wrong. I just looked them up on nutritiondata.self.com. 3 oz = 441 calories!! and 29 grams of fat!! (25 grams of saturated fat!!!!!) I wish I looked that up before I ate so many. Yuck. I feel gross now.

I'll be looking more foods up on that site before I even buy them from now on. 

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Heeyyy Yoouuu Guyyysss!! It's Pizza Night!

Ah, yes... pizza. But don't pick up the phone for it -- or go to the freezer. It's so much more satisfying to do it yourself. Ideally, you should make it with a bag of fresh dough from a local bakery or pizzeria -- they usually have some at the grocery store. But, of course, dear Bravo (the grocery store around the corner from me) had none of these. My only option was Pillsbury dough in a can -- not bad, but not my first choice.

ANYWAY. Other than dough, you can pretty much do your own Pizza Night however you want. Whatever toppings you like.

Here's what I did -- after pre-baking the crusts for about 5 minutes, like the directions say. It's important -- you don't want to get stuck with soggy crust!! Spray your cookie sheet AND sprinkle a little flour over the top to prevent any sticking. (I used a regular crust for #1 and the thin crust for #2):

PIZZA #1: Barbecue Chicken.

• Pour about 1/3 of a bottle (depending on size) of barbecue (this one is amazing -- sweet, smoky and a little spicy) sauce onto your crust. Use a little less of this sauce than you would tomato sauce -- it tends to be pretty salty and very tasty.
• Add chicken strips on top. (Just cut up & brown chicken breast in a skillet with some olive oil, garlic, paprika & cumin... or whatever.)
• Dump more than half of a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese on top.
• Final touch: Thinly sliced rings of red onion.
• Bake in the oven around 400 until the cheese is melty and the crust is browned to your liking.

PIZZA #2: Classic with Onions and Pepperoni.

• In a small pot, soften about 1/3 of an onion (cut into rings) in olive oil with garlic (I just used powder because I had no cloves!). Once softened, add half a can of tomato paste and about 5 tablespoons of crushed tomatoes (the kind with basil). This ratio can change depending on the thickness you prefer, but I found extra tomato paste was better for the pizza. Add some salt and crushed red pepper. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes then spread over pizza crust when ready.
• Add shredded cheese on top -- four cheese Italian blend was perfect. (I also added some of the leftover chicken since there wasn't enough to save for later.)
• Slice up some good pepperoni and spread over the cheese -- You know, an actual stick of pepperoni. 
• Bake in the oven around 400 until the cheese is melty and the crust is browned to your liking.

Perfect accompaniment for pizzas? Well, salad -- definitely. (I went the super-easy lazy route and just used a bag.) But more important than salad? The movie... ⚡

Homemade French Fries

This is the real deal. Potatoes; double deep fried.

2 - 3 lbs of potatoes (depending on how many fries you want to make - and any potato will do. They all have different textures)

canola oil

salt, pepper, old bay seasoning

2 paper bags

slice up the potatoes any way you want (I like mine in wedges; steak fry style)

fill a deep skillet with the oil and be sure to fill it high enough to cover the potatoes once they're in there.

Heat the oil on med high heat - you'll know its ready when you throw a drop of water in and it crackles. At this point carefully put the cut up potatoes in. you should have a nice rolling boil to the oil. Cook the potatoes until soft and a little golden - around 10 minutes.

Take the potatoes out and place in them in a paper bag. Roll them around gently to get rid of excess oil.

Turn the heat up under your skillet to high. When the oil is really hot, return the semi-fried potatoes to the oil, stirring frequently until they are a crispy golden brown.

Once they are done, take them out and place them in a second unused paper bag. Dump in salt, pepper and old bay seasoning (or whatever you feel like using).

Strain out your oil once its cooled and save it for the next batch of fries (and there WILL be a next batch of fries!)