Rosemary Garlic Potato and Turkey Sausage and Brussel Sprout Tacos

Rosemary and Garlic Potato Tacos (inspired by Turkey Sausage and Brussel Sprout Tacos)

I know what you're thinking,"What do you mean brussel sprout tacos?" We had leftovers from the other day when we made the Sausage and Brussel Sprout Torichiette, and on a whim I decided to warm them up and dress them in hard taco shells with shredded cheddar (the Fontina was sliced not shredded, and I'd rather maintain the texture). It was fantastic. I didn't imagine that it would turn out so killer, but it really did. I also made cheese tostadas on the side for Jennika and I. Again, Sriracha Sriracha. It's getting old I know, but my insurmountable paranoia about the possibility of it being discontinued has heightened my usage considerably.

Since the alternate ingredient tacos I have been stirring on other vegetables/ingredients to use, and came to the decision today to dice a few potatoes and a half an onion in some butter and garlic and rosemary. Topped with shredded cheddar and turkey bacon bits; I had found a winner.

As far as a recipe for the sausage and Brussel sprout tacos, follow the steps for roasting and baking the ingredients from the previous blog on the Pesto Torichiette recipe. The potatoes, a bit more.

Three potatoes diced into centimeter or slightly larger cubes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

One half onion diced

tablespoon of rosemary

two tablespoons of minced granulated garlic

teaspoon of jane's krazy mixed up salt

teaspoon of jane's krazy mixed up pepper

1/8 cup turkey bacon bits

10 corn tortillas warmed or steamed

Add butter to pan and melt, then add potatoes and seasonings. As Potatoes become slightly cooked and more tender add in the onion. Keep potatoes cooking but only until easily chewable in the mouth, do not overcook until mushy. Remove from heat once optimal tenderness is reached, and dish out servings onto double corn tortillas (each taco should be two corn tortillas for added support and tortillas should be warmed to avoid breaking), add cheese and desired toppings (sour cream, salsa, etc). Serve Warm.

Caprese, not just as a salad anymore.

 

The Other night after Jenn made Beer and Cheese Soup (recipe and entry pending), we didn't have much in the way of dessert but we were still a tad bit hungry. Seeing as tomatoes are a fruit, and Jennika loves any sort of cheese I rounded up the sliced Fontina I talked about earlier, and sliced a leftover tomato with the cheese layered in it. I topped it with a balsamic glaze. I Also got some of our mozarella balls in brine out and drained them. I sprinkled some Jane's Mixed up pepper on them and added some separate Stonewall Kitchen Balsamic Fig dressing to the other side for dipping. Sweet/Savory Dessert Achieved.

Dem Feels after successful weird tacos.

Garlic Bread Soup??

My Caprese Panini and Soup

As I'm sure everyone can tell - I have a special place in my heart for the caprese salad, and thus I try to find anyway to eat it... every day. So I made a half caprese sandwich on sourdough with fresh basil and mozarella and balsamic reduction and grilled it on the George Foreman which makes a suitable substitute for a panini press. For Jenn's sandwich I made a slight variation by just using pesto, mozarello, and tomato.

 Jenn's Pesto Panini and Soup

 

 

Now what about Garlic Bread Soup?

I was a bit skeptical at first of any sort of "bread" soup, but we found this recipe on the Pinterest so we decided to give it a try. Recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 large garlic cloves, mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 slices of sourdough loaf, cubed
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• Flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

1. Step 1

   Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat until hot but not smoking. Add garlic paste; cook, stirring occasionally, until very fragrant but not browned, about 10 minutes.

2. Step 2

   Add bread, and stir to coat. Stir in stock and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes.

3. Step 3

   Discard bay leaves. Stir in eggs to cook, stirring occasionally to break up eggs, about 10 minutes. Serve soup garnished with parsley leaves.

*www.marthastewart.com/317876/garlic-bread-soup?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/garlic-recipes#slide_20  -with adjustments for our personal taste.*

And there you have it.

It turned out fantastic, I had my doubts. The best comparison I can really come to is Egg Drop Soup, but more starchy and a heavy overtone of garlic. Which works out well for both of us as we're avid over users of garlic.

Was listening this today while I was whipping up lunch, hope you all enjoy this one.

Heavy Metal Veggie Bake

Veggie Bake in Cast Iron

I've been coming increasingly fond of cast iron. I don't really know why, but it just... tastes different I guess. So for dinner tonight, I baked an americanized Ratatouille.

1 yellow squash thin sliced

1 zuccinni thin sliced

1 potato thin sliced

1 tomato thin sliced

1/4 cup of grated parmesan

1/8 cup olive oil

tablespoon of Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees then slice and arrange your vegetables to your liking in your cast iron pan, or casserole pan. This recipe creates three small portions so increase as necessary to fill your pan or dish. Pour olive oil evenly on veggies and bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until veggies start to look flimsy and tender. Pull out the pan and put the Parmesan on top then toss back into the oven until melted. Quick, Easy, Healthy recipe.

What I'm feeling tonight.

Stir Fried Quinoa and Vegetables with Sriracha Mayo

Quinoa has lately become the forefront of healthy eaters and diets within the past few 

years (at least around here). I've been aware of it for quite some time, but I've never really

come up with quite as creative of recipes I've seen in magazines or on Pinterest. 

Basically, you would cook your quinoa as usual and simply stir fry with a little bit of butter and soy sauce. The vegetables I cooked in similar fashion, but used teriyaki instead of soy.

Vegetables of choice washed and diced (we used zuccinni, squash, onion, carrots, and peas)

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of water

1/4 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of teriyaki

1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds

1 tablespoon of granulated garlic

2 eggs

Add water and quinoa and water to a pot, bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Meanwhile,

stir fry vegetables until tender with a tablespoon of butter (amount of vegetables and types are up to you as listed in my ingredients we used zuccinni, squash, onion, carrot, and peas), add teriyaki and cook to desired tenderness. A lot of times I tend to slightly under cook my vegetables for a better crunch. Once the quinoa is finished add it to a saute pan with some a tablespoon of butter, and add enough soy to darken the quinoa, but DO NOT over saturate. Cook until slightly crisp and then add two eggs to quinoa stirring until the eggs are cooked. Top with vegetables and enjoy.

As always, I have to add a little something extra in the way of a sauce. Since it's Asian-inspired recipe, what better to add than a Sriracha Mayo drizzle. Sriracha mayo is the spicy mayo you usually get with sushi.

Sriracha Mayo

1 cup mayonnaise (I prefer Duke's)

1/4 cup of Sriracha

2 tablespoons granulated garlic

2 tablespoons lime juice

Mix well!

Dem feels. Picked out the chords on piano too :)

Chickpea Tomato Salad with HUMMUS DRESSING!

I found a pretty sweet chickpea salad recipe on Pinterest that is VERY reminiscent of my Fig Balsamic Caprese Salad, but is sans mozarella cheese and balsamic. I felt like it was sort of missing something so I added one of Jenn and my most recent finds at the local Kroger.

Girards Roasted Garlic Hummus Vinaigrette

You NEED this in your life.

Container of grape tomatoes halved

1 can of chickpeas drained

6 leaves of fresh basil julienned

A few good shakes of Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Pepper to taste

1/4 cup of Roasted Garlic hummus vinaigrette (enough to saturate salad)

In any event, mix all of the ingredients and serve cold. For some reason, serving it cold seems to really bring out the garlic flavor in the salad. Let me know what you think!

This morning's feels.

Moar Pastas

Pesto Torichette with Turkey Sausage and Roasted Brussel Sprouts
(Sriracha optional)

It's been a rather busy day, but we finally got home and got things together for dinner. Earlier I had precooked the sausages to save time while I was working. Sometimes, I'm really into pesto and would even go as far as to mix it in with mashed potatoes other times, not so much. In this instance, it was fantastic!

One package Italian Turkey Sausage
One package of Torichette Pasta
1/2 pound of brussel sprouts halved
two tablespoons granulated garlic
1/4 cup of pesto
Grated Parm (for garnish)
Sriracha to taste

As mentioned before I baked the sausage until crisp on the outside (at 350 for about 25/30 minutes). The brussel sprouts I simply halved and coated with a little bit of olive oil and the granulated garlic and baked until crisp at 400 degrees. Then we cooked the pasta until al dente and mixed in the pesto. I'm a big fan of topping my pasta and sauce rather than mixing in the meats and or veggies that have been cooked separately thus the reason why I topped instead of mixed in. I think garnished with a bit of grated parm, but something was still missing. In lieu of current circumstances regarding Sriracha sauce and it's possible extinction gave some healthy squirts and voila... Awesome Pasta.

Dem Feels for tonight.

Baked Egg in Avocado

Hey blog readers!  This is my first post here, but I whipped up a taste-tastic breakfast this morning that was begging to be shared.

We went out and bought a ton of groceries last week and made a pledge to not buy anything further until we need to food shop for Thanksgiving.  Working with what I had I eyeballed an avocado, some eggs that would be out of date in a few days, some turkey bacon, and a bit of shredded cheddar.  I remembered that at one point I had seen a baked egg in an avocado on Pinterest and decided that would be my breakfast's muse.

I started by putting my small cast iron pan in the oven, which was already on 350 degrees due to Dade pre-cooking the sausages for dinner tonight.  I continued by cutting the avocado in half and hollowing the middle out some.  I removed the preheated pan from the oven, cracked the eggs into the avocado's hollows, added some turkey bacon and topped with some of the cheddar.

I baked my new masterpieces until my eggs were done and my cheese was slightly crispy.  Some of the egg leaked out during cooking, so next time I will make a larger hollow.  Other than that, they were absolutely delicious!  I recommend you try it out.  It's a quick, tasty, and healthy breakfast.

Pastas and Salads

Creamy Avocado Pasta

I've been reading some recipes on Pinterest and Jenn and I decided to make our own twist on a recipe we found. This is our take on a creamy avocado pasta. It turned out a bit more citrus tasting that initially  intended but I feel that it worked out well.

2 whole avocados

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

1/2 cup of olive oil 

container of grape tomatoes halved

1/2 cup of pine nuts

 

Put avocados, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice in food processor and pulse until creamy. Put halved tomatoes and pine nuts on a baking sheet greasedlightly with olive oil, cook on low broil until tomatoes wither a bit.Mix al dente pasta of choice with creamy sauce, and top with tomatoes and pine nuts. Serve warm.

Fig Balsamic Caprese Salad

The caprese salad is my personal favorite ever since my days as a pantry chef at Travinia. Since then I have played around with Caprese for quite some time, and this is by far my favorite. I try my best to use my own recipes for everything, but there are some seasonings and sauces that I'm brand loyal to such as Stonewall Kitchen and Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Seasonings.

Stonewall Balsamic Fig Dressing

The only place I've been able to find it is Earth Fare, and it's worth the trip and every penny I assure you.

Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Pepper

Usually I can find this at Food Lion, Kroger, or Publix as well as other stores. It's much more common in stores now, than it was back when I used it the most at the restaurant I worked at back in my teenage years.

Balsamic Fig Caprese Salad

1 container of grape tomatoes halved

1 container of small fresh mozarella in brine halved and strained

6 large fresh basil leaves julienned

1/2 cup of dressing or enough to make the salad wet

Pepper to taste

Serve Cold

Sorry it's taken so long to churn out a new post, but I'll get on that. Next blarg will be about volunteering for Jaycee's Hall of Horrors, and a bit about today's pasta dish as well as my Chickpea Basil Salad!

P.S.

I wanted to leave you guys with a video of Ingrid Michaelson 

performing an old Elvis song that represents my current feels.