At Home with Kristi

This is a variation  of this recipe

(Printable version coming soon)

First, I grated some Romano cheese

I used about 2/3 of a cup of grated romano and a little over 1/2 cup of mozerella

Spread that on the bottom of a pizza pan (with sides) that has been sprayed with non-stick spray

Next measure out 6 oz of low fat cream cheese and put it in the mixer with 4 whole eggs, 1 tsp of Italian seasoning and 1 tsp garlic powder and mix until smooth

Then pour the liquid mixture over the cheese on the pan

Put that in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes

Meanwhile, I made some homemade pizza sauce because all the commercial sauces I found had lots of sugar, but feel free to use whatever kind you want.

I started with tomato puree

Then added

• a few cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh basil
• 1 packet of Splenda

Then I set that to simmer while I got my toppings ready

Use whatever you want, as long as its low carb. I used a mix of regular and turkey pepperoni, onions, green olives and mozerella

Your crust should be about ready to come out of the oven now, it will be golden brown

Spread it with your pizza sauce

Load on the toppings

Sprinkle on the cheese

And return to the 350 degree oven for another 10 minutes

Remove and marvel at how good it looks

Slice it and serve

It really does taste like pizza, not “eggy” at all.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin (about a pound)
• 1/4 cup Lysanders pork rub (or seasoning of your choice)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp flour
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup water or stock
• 1 ounce chopped prosciutto
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme

Directions

1. Cut the pork tenderloin into 1/2 inch thick slices (its best to slice it when is very cold)

2. Coat the pork medallions with the seasoning mix (its easiest to put the seasoning or rub in a zip top back and shake it!)

3. Sear the pork medallions on both sides. Don’t be shy, get a GOOD sear on there!

4.  Next, move the pork medallions to a casserole dish (oh, and preheat the oven to 375)

5. In the still hot pan, place the vegetable oil

6. Add in the flour and stir it around to make a roux

7. Once you have the roux made, add the wine and water (or stock)

8. Add the prosciutto and mix in the herbs and spices and let simmer for about 5 minutes

9. Pour the sauce over the pork medallions in the casserole dish and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes.

10. Serve with rice

Printable Recipe

Cut 3/4 to 1 lb of chicken into small pieces

Place 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper in a ziplock bag, then place the chicken in the bag and shake to coat

Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large pot.  Once hot add the chicken and flour mix and stir occasionally until brown the chicken

Once the chicken has browned, add 1 cup of chicken broth

Cut one large russet potato into medium large chunks

Add the potatoes to the pot

Next add in about 2/3 of a package (about 5 oz)  of dried cheese tortellini

Add the tortellini to the pot along with 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic  and salt to taste.

Simmer for at least an hour, the longer the better, I think it would also be good in a crock pot.

I served mine with some fresh baked bread.

Here are two quick yet tasty, weeknight dinners, under 30 minutes each.

A co-worker and I had been talking about Swedish meatballs but I didn’t have all of the ingredients for that, so I made this instead.

Meatballs in Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

1. 1lb ground beef (lean)
2. 1/2 medium onion chopped
3. 1/4 cup egg substitute
4. 1/4 cup bread crumbs
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1/2 tsp black pepper
7. 1 tsp paprika
8. 1 tsp garlic powder
9. 1/2 tsp ground cumin
10. 1 can cream of mushroom soup
11. 1 cup chicken stock

Directions

Mix the first 9  ingredients together in a bowl

Tip: you can use whatever spices you want, I used what came handy that night.

Then either using a tablespoon or a small disher, make them into meatballs and put them in a pan sprayed with non-stick spray

Cook until they are browned all over (turning once or twice during the process to get a good crust all the way around), should take about 15 minutes.

Mix the mushroom soup and chicken broth together and pour over the meatballs

Simmer for about 10 minutes while you boil some egg noodles

Serve over egg noodles.

Pork Cube Steak

Ingredients

• 1/2 to 3/4 pound pork cube steak
• 2/3 cup milk or butter milk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika

Directions

Marinate the pork in the milk or buttermilk overnight (I am not counting this time in the 30 minutes obviously)

Mix the flour and seasonings together on a plate

Dredge the cube steaks in the flour mixture and put them in a HOT pan

Turn once at about 7 or 8 minutes

Serve with mashed potatoes and some canned low fat pork gravy (I like the Heinz brand)

A few days ago Matthew asked me what we were having for dinner. “Chicken Picatta” I said.

“What’s that?”

“Chicken in white wine and lemon sauce”

Matthew gives me a skeptical look.

“It will be good, you’ll like it.”

“It doesn’t  sound very good” he said, looking kind of sad.

“Trust me, you’ll like it”

“Ok” he said, still looking sad.

So I…..

Mixed 1/3 of a cup of flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and  1/2 tsp garlic powder in a bowl

Pounded some chicken breasts out flat

Dredged the chicken in the flour mixture

Melted 1tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan

Put the chicken in the pan

Waited a few minutes and flipped it over

Waited until it was nice and golden and removed it to a plate

and proceeded to make the sauce

You are supposed to use “rinsed capers”.  For those of you who have never worked with capers, they are tiny, not easy to rinse. Here is how I did it.

I then added the capers, about 3 tbsp worth, to the juice of one lemon, 1/2 cup of white wine and 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

Now, I am going to deviate for a moment and tell you what I SHOULD have done, not what I DID.

Remember the pan you cooked your chicken in?  Look at all the yummy butter and chicken bits left in it.

Mmmmm….

Okay, stop drooling and take about a tablespoon (maybe two depending on how much oil/butter is left in the pan) and make a roux.  I can’ t show you this, because I didnt do it, and my sauce did not get thick so I had to add the flour in after and do many tiring things to get the lumps out.  So do as I say, not as I do.  Once you have the flour incorporated into the oil in a roux, add the liquids (and capers).

And you’ll get a sauce that looks much nicer than this one

Now I returned the chicken to the pan for a few minutes to heat back up and get all saucy!

Finally I plated it up with a bit of pasta with the sauce over it, some crusty bread that I toasted a bit and a Caesar salad.

Then we sat down to eat.

A few minutes later Matthew looked over at me and says ‘This is good.”

“I told you so” may have slipped out.  I am only human after all.

Get the pdf of this recipe

First of all, no judgment on all of the pork in my blog, okay?  We like the pig!

I started making this dish a couple months ago and we both love it.

This stuff is your best friend, its delicious!  Lysanders pork rub.

Rub that generously all over your pork loin.

Then sear it on all 4 sides in a hot pan.

Then cut up some potatoes.  It dosen’t even matter if you have messed up and get some that are PURPLE inside!!!

Next, wrap some bacon around the seasoned pork loin thusly

Toss the potatoes with a dash of olive oil and some of the Lysanders and then throw them in the pan with the pork

Bake at around 375 for 35 minutes or so until the pork reaches between 145 and 170 degrees.

The last 10-15 minutes I like to take the potatoes out and crisp them up on a separate pan.

And its done!

Back in the days when we first moved to St. Louis (late 90’s) we used to eat at Houlihan’s a lot.  They had this dish that Matthew got, he thinks it was called Tuscan Lemon Chicken.  It was a breaded chicken breast and a lemony alfredo sauce.  They don’t have that particular dish anymore so he requested that I try to replicate it.  I had never made alfredo sauce before and I did learn a few things.

First, I made the chicken from this recipe.   Then I started two sauces, the lemon garlic sauce from the same recipe as the chicken and the alfredo sauce.

The alfredo sauce ingredients

• 1 pint half & half
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese

The procedure

1. Heat half and half and butter over medium-low heat and whisk to combine once the butter has melted
2. raise the heat to medium-high and whisk in the cheese

That is basically how you make alfredo sauce, now I make it into lemon garlic alfredo

1. Transfer the alfredo sauce to a tall sided container
2. Use and immersion blender to make it nice and smooth
3. Incorporate the lemon garlic sauce into the alfredo sauce in about for increments, blending well between each one

Have I mentioned that I now refer to my immersion blender as my “sauce saver”?

Return the now finished sauce to the pan.

Ladle the sauce over cooked noodles (I used linguine)

Throw the chicken on top

What I learned

1. use heavy cream instead of half and half so the heat can go higher to melt the cheese faster and make a smoother sauce

2. put the noodles in the sauce so you don’t end up with “clump o’noodles”

3.  Add a little lemon zest to the chicken breading

Ugh, I’m a messy cook!

Matthew said it tasted almost exactly like the old Houlihan’s dish, so I guess Mission Accomplished!

I saw Chicken Spedini on a restaurant menu recently and have been wanting it since. Tonight I decided to try making it for the first time.

First, pound out some chicken breast fillets flat.

Breadcrumb Mix

• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp grated parmesean/romano cheese
• italian seasoning
• 2 tbsp margarine
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Spread the crumb mixture over the flattened chicken breasts

Roll up the chicken around the breadcrumbs (jelly roll style)

Slice each roll into 3 or 4 pieces (depending on the size), and thread 3 or 4 slices on a skewer.  Then sprinkle with some of the remaining crumb mixture

Put the chicken in the oven at 375 for about 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile put water for pasta on to boil and start the sauce

Sauce

• 2 tbsp margarine
• 2 tsp garlic
• 3/4 cup lemon juice
• salt
• pepper

Mix everything together in a small sauce pan and stir while the butter melts.   I then transfered it to a bowl and used the immersion blender to make it smooth and a bit more homogoneous.

Plate the chicken and pasta, drizzle sauce over both.

Get the pdf of this recipe

Recipe by Alton Brown 2009 (modified by Jeff Hunt 2009, modified again by Kristi Evans 2010)
Cook time: 30 minutes. Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 whole egg
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup onion – white or purple, diced
1 cup portabella mushroom – chopped
1 whole pork tenderloin, approximately 1 pound
6 ounces thinly slice prosciutto ham
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 sheet puff pastry, thawed completely
spice mix
1/2 tsp each: rosemary leaves, cumin seed, mustard seed. grind in food processof

Directions
1.Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 400 degrees F.
2.Whisk egg and water in a small bowl, set aside.
3.Make the spice mix.
4.Saute the onion and mushroom in butter, low heat until onion translucent and mushroom very soft.
5.Trim the pork tenderloin of any excess fat and silver skin. Slice the tenderloin down the middle lengthwise, creating 2 separate pieces. Lay the tenderloin pieces next to each other head to tail, so when laid back together they are the same size at the ends.
6.Lay out a 12 by 16-inch piece of parchment paper on the counter and arrange the pieces of prosciutto in the center, overlapping them enough to create solid layer that is as long as the tenderloin.
7.Top with a second piece of parchment, and using a rolling pin, roll over the prosciutto to help adhere the pieces to each other.
8.Remove the parchment paper and sprinkle the prosciutto with the salt, pepper, and thyme. Set the tenderloin down the middle of the prosciutto.
9.Spread the sauteed onion/mushroom mix in between the 2 pieces of tenderloin and push back together so the mix is held between them.
10.Using the parchment paper to assist, wrap the prosciutto around the tenderloin to completely enclose in a package.
11.Sprinkle the counter with flour and roll out the pastry to 12 by 14 inches.
12.Spread the spice mix thinly over the pastry and lay the prosciutto wrapped tenderloin in the center of the pastry on the spice mix.
13.Fold the puff pastry up and over the top of the tenderloin, then roll to completely enclose, brushing the edges of the pastry with the egg wash in order to seal.
14.Turn the tenderloin over so the side of the tenderloin with the double thickness of pastry is underneath.
15.Pinch the ends of the pastry to seal.
16.Brush the entire pastry with the egg wash.
17.Place the tenderloin on a parchment lined half sheet pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of at least 140 degrees F.
18.Remove the tenderloin from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving

Our friends Jocelyn and Nancy came over tonight and all four of us made dinner together.  Pork Wellington, Crash Hot Potatoes and Chocolate Lava Cake.  I can’t take credit for any of the recipes, I borrowed all of them.

It was a lot of fun and all of the food was great.

For the Pork Wellington, you saute mushrooms and onions, stuff them inside a pork loin then roll that in prosciutto

.

Then that whole thing is wrapped in puff pastry dough.

Meanwhile, the potatoes are boiling and once those are done we SMASH them (sorry this was too intense for pictures)

Once we get the dinner items in the oven we start the batter for the chocolate lava cakes

You have to separate eggs

Melt chocolate into butter

Mix in some sugar and flour

Put it in the greased cups

Have a little pink wine out of a tumbler

Snack on some sausage and cheese

FINALLY the food is ready to come out of the oven. But the wellington has to rest for 10 minutes!

But finally, its dinner time

NOM! NOM! NOM!

Throw the lava cakes in the oven while eating.

If the lava cakes won’t come out of their ramekins intact, that’s okay, spoons work!

Matthew, do you like chocolate?

Play an enthusiastic game of Farkle to work off some calories

And round off the evening with a bit of snow

I will post the Pork Wellington recipe I used soon.