Just Recipes!

Over the last two weeks, I've made quite a few yummy meals that I'd like to share! So, this post will be short with just that! Enjoy!

Bacon and Swiss Chicken Sandwiches
This is relatively straight forward, but it sure does taste good!

2 chicken breasts
6 slices of bacon
4 slices of Swiss cheese
2 Kaiser rolls or any type of bun or roll that you like
Dijon mustard
S&P
Lettuce or tomato, if you prefer

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cook the bacon on the stovetop or in the microwave, whichever you prefer. Next, take a piece of wax or parchment paper and fold it in half. Place the chicken breasts in between the parchment paper and pound the breasts with a mallet or something similar until they are about 1/2 inch thick. This may take a few minutes, but it is super important to get them even all the way across. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and S&P them generously. Bake them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes or until the internal temperature hits 170 degrees or is no longer pink, flipping them once halfway through. With just a few minutes remaining in the cooking time, place the pieces of Swiss on the chicken breasts and let them melt over the tops. If you like, you can place the buns on another baking sheet, and toast them in the oven for the last few minutes of cooking time as well, but you don't have to. When the chicken is done and the cheese has melted, get ready to assemble the sandwiches. Take the chicken and place it on the bottom half of the bun. Place a few strips of bacon on top of the chicken. Add lettuce and tomato, if you wish. Slather on a ton of Dijon mustard to the top half of the bun. Place it on top and you are ready to eat! We ate ours with some Lay's Kettle Cooked Cheddar chips, which are amazeballs, BTW. Just sayin'.

Italian Sausage Risotto
The next meal was by FAR the best meal I have cooked in a LOOOOONG time. Adam LOVED this because not only did it have lots of sausage, but it was SPICY too. I loved it because I could eat risotto everyday for every meal! It also has lots of onions in it. So, if you aren't into that, then avoid this. :)

1 carton of low-sodium chicken stock
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
8 ounces of HOT Italian sausage, about 4 sausages
1 shallot, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/3 cup white wine
3/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
S&P

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Don't let it boil! Keep warm over low heat. Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the chopped onion, S&P and the sugar and saute for about 7 minutes until it is softened. Place the softened onion mixture in a bowl and set aside. Next, remove the casings from the sausage by taking a knife and gently make a slice down the sides and pushing the meat out of the casing. Discard the casings. Add the sausage to the pot where the onion mixture was and saute on medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Make sure to S&P. Add the chopped shallot and saute for about 2 minutes until softened. Add the Arborio rice and stir for about 30 seconds. Next, add the wine and cook for about 2 minutes until the rice starts to absorb the liquid. Add about 1/2 cup of stock to the mixture and while stirring constantly, let the rice absorb the stock. Add the remaining stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more. This should take about 20-25 minutes. Once all the stock is used, remove the pot from the heat and add the reserved onion mixture to the pot of risotto, stirring slowly. Add more S&P, if you like. Let the risotto sit for a few minutes before serving!

Barbeque Chicken with Collards
This meal is pretty straight forward too, but dang it was good!

6 chicken tenderloins
Store bought mustard-based barbeque sauce, we used HT Trader's Carolina Mustard brand
1 can of collard greens, we used Southern Style collards from HT
S&P

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Brush the barbeque sauce all over the chicken tenderloins, and make sure to S&P them generously. Place them on the baking sheet and bake them for about 20 minutes or until the inside is at 170 degrees or no longer pink, flipping them halfway through. Cook the collards in a pot according to instructions, usually about 20 minutes until heated through. Drizzle a little more sauce on top and serve them together hot! Make sure you use new sauce and not the portion you used to brush on the raw chicken! If I had the time, I DEFINITELY would have served this with cornbread, so I suggest you do too!

So, that's it for now! Until next time..

GAMECOCKS!

Today is the first day of the University of South Carolina football season!! Let's go Gamecocks!! Beat Southern Mississippi! Everyone watch on ESPN at 7:30pm for tonight's win!

Go Gamecocks.. FIGHT! Wahoooo!

Photos courtesy of gamecocksonline.cstv.com.

Supper Club!

This past Sunday, I hosted me and my friends' first meeting of our new Supper Club! We started the monthly dinner party recently so we could all spend a bit more time together than just a night or two a week. We all decided it would be really fun to theme them as well, so since it was my turn to host, I decided on a University of South Carolina tailgate theme to go along with our first football game of the season this Thursday.

We also agreed that for each dinner, the host would provide the main dish, and everyone else would bring a side dish or dessert. I decided to take a page out of my friend Erin's recipe book and make BBQ chicken sliders. I cooked 8 chicken breasts on sheet pans in a 375 degree oven for about an hour until they were cooked through. Then I shredded them, covered them in HT Trader's mustard-based barbeque sauce and put it all in the crockpot on low until everyone came over. 

I also made one of my favorite coleslaw recipes EVER! My friend Megan made this for a yearbook lunch way back in high school, and I have loved it ever since. This recipe is a bit different, but it has most of the same ingredients. 

Crunchy Asian Coleslaw

Ingredients:

1 bag of coleslaw mix

4 green onions, chopped

1 package of Ramen noodles, oriental or chicken flavor

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1 can mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained

For the dressing:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/8 cup sugar

3 tablespoons rice wine or white wine vinegar, whatever you have

1 flavor packet from the Ramen noodle package

Recipe:

Put the cabbage and green onions in a serving bowl. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Crumble to Ramen noodles on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle on the almonds and toast them for about 5-8 minutes. Be careful because they can burn easily. Combine the dressing ingredients and whisk to blend. Just before serving, combine all ingredients and mix in the oranges, if desired. You can mix the slaw ahead of time, but it will lose some of the crunchiness.

Since I clearly have an obsession with cooking, I couldn't help myself and also made some guacamole with chips and I set out a goat cheese log covered with jalapeno pepper jelly served with Wheat Thins. 

We had a ton of other yummy dishes including a sausage dip with chips made by Heather, mini pigs-in-a-blanket made by Ann, and a delicious peanut butter brownie cake made by Courtney. 

The table before everyone arrived

Courtney's AMAZING peanut butter brownie cake

Everything turned out amazing and we all sat on the porch and talked and ate together. I can't wait until next month when Heather and Lauren host Supper Club at their new house in Glover Park! Now, if I could just contain my excitement for the first Gamecock football game this week!! I am hoping for a big win against Southern Mississippi! We'll be watching the game at a fellow alum's house with about 30 of our closest friends who also went to USC! Then it's on to Virginia Beach for the weekend for Labor Day (crossing our fingers that Hurricane Earl bypasses the coast and heads back out to sea.) Then we fly to SC to spend time with family and friends and attend the USC v. UGA game the next weekend!! So many fun things to look forward to, but in the meantime..

PSLs!

They're baaaaaaaaack!!! That's right, friends, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back at Starbucks. So you know what that means.. FALL IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!

And, we all know how OBSESSED I am with the Fall and Winter seasons.. Check it out here, here and here. I can hardly wait for the span of time between September and Christmastime throughout the whole year. Football games, PSLs, boots and sweaters, Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving, fairs, decorating for Christmas.. the list could go on forever.

But, since it is only August 30, I think I'll try to rein in the fall fantasies for a bit longer. So, I leave you with this from the Starbucks Web site..

"This is the drink to savor as leaves crunch under your feet on a crisp autumn day and the air hangs with the smoky scent of hearth fires. Pumpkin and traditional fall spice flavors are blended with our signature espresso and steamed milk, then topped with fluffy sweetened whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices. The comforting taste of harvest time in a cup..."

 Until next time..

Happy birthday Rannie!

I'm a two days late, but Tuesday was my roommate and dear friend Randan's 23rd birthday!! Courtney, and her talented self, baked a delicious and beautiful cake to celebrate the occasion! We woke Rannie up at 11:30pm the night before armed with the cake, candles blazing, and gifts. It was a rather hilarious moment for Court and I deciding if it would be a good idea to wake Ran up, but in the end it was perfect. :)

So, happy birthday to you Ran Pan and I hope that this year brings you everything you deserve! Love you!!

Heaven = Cheese Fries and Tapas

So, lately I have had a few opportunities to leave the comfort zone of my kitchen and head out to dinner at few restaurants around Arlington. It's a nice change from the usual meal-planning I have been taking part in for the last few months. During my college days, I feel like all I did was go out to eat at the all delicious restaurants around Columbia, so it's nice to be able to do that around my new hometown.

A few weekends ago, I was so fortunate to be able to meet up with one of my dear friends I made while studying in London, Alison. I found out on Facebook that she would be visiting DC from NYC for the weekend, and I immediately made plans for us to meet for dinner with Heather and Katie, who also studied in London with me. 

A few things about London, while I'm at it. Heather and I met Alison in the Atlanta airport before our flight. We became instant friends because she, too, was from SC and attended the College of Charleston. After arriving in London and finally finding our dorm room, we discovered she would be our upstairs neighbor in that crazy place.

Stonehenge with (L to R) Kate, Natalie, Heather, Katie, me and Alison

Dublin with Heather, Alison, Kate and Katie

Eiffel Tower in Paris with Alison and Katie

Cruising the Seine river in Paris

Trinity College courtyard with Alison

We decided to meet in Clarendon at La Tasca for some tapas and sangria. It was sooooo good! The Sangria Blanca was amazing and so refreshing. It was made with white wine, triple sec , brandy, peaches and cinnamon. We all shared a few dishes, which is perfect at a tapas restaurant! Lauren and I started with the Pan de Ajo con Queso, which is basically garlicky, cheesy bread, and is delish. Then we moved on to the Berenjenas Fritas - lightly fried eggplant slices served with a Calebreses cheese sauce. And finally I finished with the Mar y Tierra - grilled beef tenderloin, baby shrimp, sliced shitake mushrooms and calamari rings in a sweet sherry sauce. The dishes were just enough to fill us up without feeling so full and were so very tasty. It was such an enjoyable night and I am so happy I got to visit and catch-up with Alison! A trip to NYC is in order very, very soon!

Berenjenas Fritas - Fried Eggplant

Mar y Tierra - Beef Tenderloin, Baby Shrimp, Calamari and Shitake Mushrooms

The night before the reunion dinner at La Tasca, Adam and I went out for a date night. We decided to head to Spider Kelly's in Clarendon for happy hour. We had some great cocktails, including my Dirty Golfer, which was made from Firefly Sweet Tea vodka and housemade lemonade! We had been to Kora in Crystal City before heading there, where we had a few appetizers for dinner. But within 30 minutes of sitting at the bar, the couple next to us ordered the most A-MAZ-ING looking cheese fries I had ever seen or smelled. It only took one look at each other to know we were definitely ordering them. I think I may have died and gone to heaven after those babies. I swear to you, I have found the best cheese fries on the face of the Earth. I give you my word you will never find any better than these.. Their cheese is housemade, and we didn't even get them "loaded." You better bet next time I am there they will be. Thank you fry Gods for creating these!

I can't wait to have another fun night out to dinner soon. I hope y'all are having a great week! Work has been crazy for me, but I am still loving it! There are so many fun things coming up in the next few weeks that I can't wait to share: our good friend Philip will be in town from Alabama, the Arlington County Fair, Randan's birthday happy hour, me and my friends' new Supper Club, the first SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL GAME and traveling back to Virginia Beach for Labor Day for the last of the beach days!

Sometimes you gotta cheat..

Sometimes I like to food to be gourmet. Other times I like my food to be down-home. Other times I like it to come from the freezer. 
I'm not going to lie and tell you that everything I eat is fresh and prepared perfectly. Sometimes I come home from work exhausted, and could think of anything else in the world I would rather do than cook a meal from scratch. 
That's kind of how the last few days have been. I started off ambitious and then got kinda slack. Go figure.. :)

Sunday: Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus

Since Adam and I have been living together, we have been really good about planning our meals for our weekly grocery trip on Sunday afternoons. We start out being super excited about preparing food, and then it kinda slows down as the week goes on. We grilled the steak on the stovetop, since it was raining outside and I boiled some cut up Russet potatoes and then mashed them with lots of butter, milk and love. I also roasted some asparagus (my favorite vegetable) at 450 degrees for 15 minutes with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. It turned out fantastic, as you can tell. And as a side note, my boyfriend has taken it as his new favorite hobby to "plate" our dishes. You would think he was on Top Chef DC. But it does look nice, right? 

Monday: Bratwurst aka Yum in a Bun

First of all, if you had asked me five years ago what I despised most in the world, I would have told you Bratwurst, mustard and black olives. Well, I have reformed and now I love two of the three. I mean, I am OBSESSED with two of the three. I have literally changed my whole outlook on Bratwurst and mustard. I don't even know where it came from.. which is bizarre. But now, I love to burn the hell out of my Brat and smother it in mustard. I ate two. And, it did not look as pretty as the picture when I ate it. I put a ton more mustard all over that baby. Like I said, Yum in a Bun.

Tuesday: Fish with Crash Hot Potatoes

So sue me. I know this looks gross. But, by golly, Gorton's frozen fish is DELISH. Y'all, I kid you not. It is so easy to make and it tastes like you are eating a real-live fish fry.* Don't be scared because you have to stray from the fresh foods section of the grocery. Just try. If it makes you feel better, I did boil some red potatoes to make the Crash Hots and they were amazeballs! Had to add a bit of healthy, right?
So that's it. I'm not perfect, but I love to eat good foods. I hope you feel the same. 
Y'all have a wonderful rest of your week!

*Trust me, I know fish frys. I've been going to the Friday Fish Fry at Cracker Barrel with my parents for years, and I've also been to the source: Stoby's Fish 'n Chips in Salisbury, England.