This gallery contains 5 photos.
saraconner: “Life & Style with Sara” met “My Kids Really Eat This” yesterday when Vanessa Bronder Alward joined me in the studio to film my February show. Vanessa shared some of her easy, delicious, healthy recipes while I assisted and … Continue reading
Though chicken can seem boring at times, it’s versatility can make it wonderful. Chicken goes with so many different types of cuisines and flavors. It’s just about putting a bit of effort into changing it up from time to time. The supermarket had thin sliced chicken breasts on sale, so I bought some to stuff; they’re not worth the price difference otherwise. I’ve never actually made stuffed chicken breasts before but enjoyed them many times. My husband ended up coming home just in time to make these too! Wonderful thing about stuffed chicken breast is how versatile they can be: you can make all different kinds of stuffings — all types of vegetables or like this one, sausage and vegetable stuffings. It doesn’t take as long as one might expect too. 
Sausage, Mushroom, Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
8 pieces of thin sliced chicken breast or 3-4 pieces of regular breast, sliced lengthwise
1/2 med onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Italian sweet sausage links, removed from casing (slice lengthwise and separate)
8 Crimini mushrooms, diced
1/3 package frozen organic spinach (thawed) or
4 oz. fresh spinach, steamed and chopped (squeeze out excess water)
Handful or two of shredded flavorful cheese (we used Quattro Formaggio from TJ’s— Asiago, Fontina, Parmesan, and Provolone)
Salt and pepper (check before salting as it might not need any)
2 Tbsp melted clarified butter for oven roasting
Tbsp olive oil for sautéing
Optional breaded coating:
Panko or regular breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp flour
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350F. Sauté onions with olive oil and when nearly clear, add garlic and sausage. Using a flat wooden spatula, break up the sausage as it’s cooking. Once it’s brown add mushrooms and continue to sauté until mushrooms are tender. Add spinach and mix well. Pour into a metal bowl and chill (in a pile of snow if you have as much as we do!) for a few minutes. 
Mix in the cheese and check for seasoning. 
Put Tbsp of stuffing mixture on chicken breast and roll. 
(Optional bread crumb topping would be done now. First dip piece in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.) Put clarified butter in bottom of pan so chicken doesn’t stick and pour a little over each roll. Pop in oven for 20 minutes and serve with your favorite sides. We served it with harvest grains, broccoli and snow peas.
My sons all loved this dinner, although my middle son complained about mushrooms being in it before he’d even tried it. He ate the entire dinner anyway. The boys ended up eating the chicken like sushi rolls with their fingers (no grandparents around to disapprove). 
Bonus: I had leftover stuffing mixture that I turned into a layer of lasagna the next night. 
No, this is not about Taco Bell’s beef filling that only has 35% beef in it. Recently my husband got some “boneless short ribs” also known as “Flanken short ribs” from a meat supplier. Super tender and quite high in fat content, my husband had never used the cut before but found it’s very popular for Korean dishes. He found a great marinade online. We had friends coming over for dinner so it was the perfect opportunity to share with them.
Beef Kalbi
2 lbs boneless short ribs of beef, sliced to ~1 inch thin
Marinade:
2 kiwi, peeled
2 cloves garlic
1 med shallot
2 Tbsp Mirin
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Toppings:
toasted sesame seeds
1 scallion sliced
Mix all ingredients except beef, sesame seeds and scallion in food processor until well blended/chopped. Put beef in plastic bag with marinade for at least 2 hours (overnight is preferable). Take beef grill over open flame or in cast iron skillet over high heat for just a few minutes (turn to get both sides) so the inside is still on medium-rare side. Slice and top with scallions and toasted sesame seeds. BTW-– in Korea some people use 7up in the marinade.
We all loved it so much! My friend’s daughter thought so highly of it she referred to it afterwards as “Stephen’s Steak”. We did also serve chicken drumsticks coated in Penzy’s Mural of Flavor herb blend and panko bread crumbs. We made it again the other night because it went over so well. Kids loved it each time.
At least this beef is stll all real beef and now I have good reason why I’ve only eaten at Taco Bell once.
Can’t seem to upload any photos! Hope to put them up later.
I do make my own crusts and find I can control what sort of ingredients are in there (or not in there). I couldn’t believe how easy it was too! I have one crust that I used for a bacon and egg pie that would be perfect for pot pies. It’s really quick too if you use a food processor (cuisinart). Takes only 3 minutes or so to measure and mix. Rolling is another few minutes. Good luck!
We got home from a friend’s house after 6 pm and I had only an hour before I had to go out. We’d been busy since 1 that afternoon so I hadn’t considered what I was making for dinner until the moment we got in the door. Luckily I had a full fridge (due to so much snow, I was prepared) so I knew I could come up with something.
I figured a pork loin is fairly fast to make, and I sped up the cooking by slicing it into one inch medallions and sautéing them. I had spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on one side before I put them in the hot pan. 
While they were cooking I steamed spinach then added leftover broccoli to the pot to reheat. I turned the medallions over and also threw some leftover penne pasta into the microwave with an inch of water for one minute.
Then stirred and repeated to properly reheat.
Took the pork off the heat, let it rest and added beef broth (veal demi glace would have been preferable) to the pan. Brought that up to a boil and added white wine then cream, Manuka honey (New Zealand honey with distinctive flavor), and touch more mustard. 
Stirred that into a nice sauce, put the pork back in it for a moment, then served. 20 minutes from taking the pork out of the refrigerator to putting it on the table. 
The pork was superbly tender and tasty. I loved the extra dimension the Manuka honey lent to it. The boys liked it all but not the fact that the babysitter was coming. It was short lived once I promised them she’d give them ice cream regardless if they actually finished their meals!
Unless you purchase a corned beef already prepared (watch the nitrates/nitrites) it takes 2 days. The carrots, potatoes and cabbage take less than an hour (all depends on size you leave them).
Corned beef is usually poached in liquids on the stovetop at low temperature for a long time. Then strain the juices and chill (easier to cut the meat when it’s cold). Cook vegetables in juices next day. Right before they’re ready add back the sliced beef to heat. You can do it in a crockpot over two days too, that way you don’t need to stay home while it’s taking so long.
Btw, corned beef without all the preservatives will not be as red but brown.
Thank you so much! Actually having kids makes me do things I stopped doing long ago— like sledding. It’s still fun!
Eat well and be well.
This past week my kids have had a 6 days in a row without school (only 2 were actually snow days) and they’d just returned from the winter holiday break and had a snow day the week before. In the morning I will find out if it will be 7 days in a row. Luckily the inability to get to school has also turned our town into winter wonderland and without having to travel, the kids have had a blast sledding, making snow forts and just playing in the more than 2 feet of snow. If they stay inside too long they drive me and themselves crazy. Snow is such a great draw to play outside; it’s much more fun than rain!
When the first big snowfall of the year was falling I made a simple, quick yet delicious and nutritious meal using leftover roast chicken. We had chicken quesadillas, broccoli and cauliflower, brown and red rice, black beans and peas. Since the rice was left over from a previous meal it took only 10 minutes to cook/assemble the whole dinner.
I used pre-shredded cheese (Cheddar, pepper Jack and Muenster), chicken and chopped cilantro in the tortilla. My husband showed me how the Mexican cooks he works with cook their quesadillas by putting the filling inside one half then folding the tortilla over it.
I think it’s easier to flip. Once they’ve browned nicely and the cheese is melted you can cut into pieces and serve. I didn’t have any avocados for guacamole (and wasn’t going out in the snow) but did have some jarred salsa. I only had to heat the peas and beans (added oregano, 1/4 tsp chili powder, some chopped cilantro and garlic powder) and reheat the other veggies and rice.
The kids loved it and it was so little effort.
Funny thing about peas…My middle son said he had to “turn the plate around for the peas express” so it was easier to scoop up. My youngest said when he saw the plate, “I don’t want any. I don’t like them!” I just reminded him that peas are in snow peas and sugar snaps, which he loves, so he tried some. Minutes later when he’d finished all the peas on his plate, “Can I have some more?”
Braised Pork Roast: Oxymoronic? Redundant? Braise and Roast different or the same? Braising is basically roasting so the meat is in liquid (stock, gravy, sauce, etc.). Roasting is cooking it without added liquids; just maybe an extra bit of fat (olive oil). I had braised a pork “roast” and it was used in two different meals on two separate days. Well, my husband informed me after I’d done it, that I should have just roasted (dry) this cut of pork since it didn’t have much fat throughout it. Both dishes were good, but now I know how they could be better. The first was made into burritos/tacos and the second into the Thai Green Curry that I just posted.
There is something that might be unique to the US in that when we go over to friends’ for dinner we often bring a part of the meal— appetizer, main, dessert not just a bottle of wine. It makes for a creative night (may try something you’d never make yourself) but also when we’re watching our budgets, it’s nice to share the expense of feeding more than just your own family. I needed to bring some food to a friend’s New Year’s Eve Fiesta, so I threw the pork roast in the oven early in the day. I figure I could use half to bring and half for our dinner the following night as it was a good sized roast.
So, I used my trusty Dutch oven and sautéed a diced onion in olive oil. Added the pork (which I cut in half) to brown. 
Once each side was browned I added chicken stock (had no veal or pork stock), herbs (Penzy’s Mural of Flavor), and black pepper then covered it and put in 300F oven for 3 ½hours. 
I added about ½ tsp chili powder, just under ¼ tsp cayenne, ¼ tsp oregano, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp paprika, ¼ tsp cumin and sea salt to the half that became filling for tacos and burritos. It easily fell apart like pulled/shredded pork. I added a little of the left over liquid from braising and sautéed it all for a few minutes to open up all the spices. 
It wasn’t dry and made for delicious fiesta food. The fun of being with good friends made it even better.
Just wanted to say thank you for making this blog… I am new to cooking, and have been having fun trying recipes out but sometimes I feel so uncreative and stumped when it comes to deciding what to make for dinner. I’m trying to eat a variety of foods while pregnant to “train” my little one to enjoy a wide range of tastes. This blog will serve as great inspiration, I’m sure, as I continue my cooking adventures 🙂