Last Friday the sandwich of the night was a Banh Mi Pork Meatball Sandwich. Banh Mi is a Vietnamese street food staple. It’s on a classic french baguette, with a creamy spicy siracha sauce, savory pork meatballs and a crunchy sweet & spicy slaw made with carrots and daikon radish. All the flavors come together in a totally delicious sandwich!
I used the recipe from Bon Appetit and followed it exactly. It was perfect! Get the recipe here Banh Mi Pork Meatball Sandwich.
It’s getting close to grilling, smoking and barbecue season! Please do not buy pre-made barbecue sauce. This takes 10 minutes to make and will stay in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. I make a double batch and keep it around for any grilling. The secret to this sauce is the bourbon. It gives it a rich flavor that has a little heat. This sauce is great on chicken, steak, ribs, pulled pork, burgers, you name it! Continue reading Bourbon Barbecue Sauce
One of my all time favorite salads. I make this as soon as I get spring fever and there are decent strawberries out. It’s best in June when Wilson’s has their own strawberries out but it still tastes damn good in April when I am done with winter stews and looking for fresh spring tastes!
The Poppy seed dressing will stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, so make it a few times 🙂 Continue reading Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
This recipe is an oldie but a goodie. It is super easy to make and the sauce tastes really rich and creamy but it’s still light from just using low-fat cream cheese. I will make this the day ahead when I know it will be a busy day and just pop it in the oven for a quick dinner. Add a salad and you are good to go. The leftovers are great too (if you have any) 🙂 Continue reading Chicken Enchiladas
I like to have theme nights for food and I recently decided that Friday nights were going to be “Sandwich” night for a while. It pushes me to try new things and it’s fun. Ok, I get my idea of fun may not be yours LOL.
So last Friday I made the “Rachel” which is a play on the Reuben but with pastrami. I hate sauerkraut so Cole slaw stood in. This is a great fancy grilled cheese. The salty pastrami with the slightly sweet Russian dressing, crunchy slaw and melted cheese work in harmony! Continue reading Rachel Pastrami Sandwich
I have a secret……..I have a new love in my life….De Cecco pasta. Any kind. OMG. Yes, it’s that good. I tried it last week for the first time, spaghetti. It was life changing. Serious. If you had told me before a brand of dried pasta could totally make the difference I would believe you..to a point. However, this De Cecco cooks absolutely perfect, the texture is amazing. It is imported from Italy and just amazing. I used to be a Barilla fan, but no more, De Cecco all the way for me now!!
This is a great recipe, if you like sun dried tomatoes, I highly encourage you to make this! Continue reading Fusilli with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Chicken
There is nothing like a great sandwich. The secret to a great sandwich is the right bread (and not too much of it) a great sauce and a mix of textures, fresh and warm, soft and crunchy etc. I made cajun chicken for a salad Monday and Brian fell in love with the cajun chicken and then I thought that will make a great sandwich but what would be a good sauce and then I thought chipotle mayo (a FANTASTIC condiment :)). This is a super quick weeknight dinner. Enjoy!!! Continue reading Cajun Chicken Sandwich with Chipotle Mayo
This is a very simple but complex dish. Potatoes, butter salt & pepper. It doesn’t get much simpler than this. The key is extremely thin layers of potato, butter, salt & pepper. I can’t quite explain how good these are, except to give you some evidence: I made them Saturday night in the mini tins as you can see below. I made them as a side with a fantastic filet mignon I got from the butcher. Bill took one bite of the potatoes and declared they were the most amazing he has ever had in his whole life……..better than the best french fry, or the best au gratin or the best hash browns, or the best mashed potaotes…..I think you get the drill.
I then proceeded to make them again Sunday night to go with family dinner. This was justified as I wanted a photo of when you make it whole and slice as well as the individual. I got no arguments from Bill, as far as he was concerned, as long as he got to eat it again, he didn’t care why! Oh and Will and Bill fought for the leftovers for breakfast 🙂
This is a tad tedious to make. You MUST use a mandolin or don’t even bother, the thin layers are what makes this. Pour yourself a glass of wine (after you have finished with the mandolin) and lovingly add the layers. Trust me, it’s worth it!
This is one of my top 3 favorite pasta dishes. Very simple and sooooooo good!!! I call it fresh tomato pasta because you are cooking the tomatoes very briefly, 10 minutes so they still have that fresh taste. They cook long enough to break down some of the juices and the fresh tomato juices make the sauce. Adding a little pasta water at the end holds the sauce together.
You can skip the chicken, or substitute shrimp instead. This is also really good with grape or cherry tomatoes. Enjoy! Continue reading Fresh Tomato Pasta with Chicken
These are the simplest, easiest, tastiest and pretty healthy snack! I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I skinnied it up by subbing low-fat cream cheese for full fat and center cut bacon for regular (as well as just putting the bacon on top instead of wrapping all the way around). Now you can take the calories you saved and drink a Margarita with it! Continue reading Jalapeno Poppers