I somehow miraculously created a 3 point per slice pizza.  And yes, I’m talking weight watchers points.  At the suggestion of my friend Kelly, I’m going to start trying to add points when I can.  I’ve asked Mark to help since he’s on WW and I have no clue how the system works. I just try to make things as healthy as possible.

This pizza = magic.  I love goat cheese.  If I could, I would marry a 6’1″ tall mound of it.  Maybe not, but that would be delicious.

Recipe you say?  Okay, I may not have one, but I have a guide.  Well, to get the points correct, you have to do a 1 point pizza crust.  Mark is the pizza crust genius, and I don’t know what all he puts in the crust.  However, I can tell you that you have to roll it out crazy super thin to get it down to one point. Then pre-bake for 5 minutes.

Once you have your crust … you need to assemble.  Slice tomatoes thin and add some sliced onion and minced garlic.  Sauté until a lot of the moisture is gone from the tomatoes.  Spread tomato mixture on top of your pre-baked crust. Sprinkle some chevré on top and add fresh basil leaves. Bake for 10-12 more minutes and serve.

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We’ve been eyeing the sweet corn at Fareway when grocery shopping the past month. So we finally broke down and bought some. But what to make with sweet corn?

The answer?  Chicken strips.

Chicken Strips + Sweet Corn

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast (cut into thin strips)
1/2 c flour
1 t spices (we grind black, white and red pepper together)
1.5 T Louisiana hot sauce (or enough to coat chicken)
3 T olive oil
6 ears of corn
2 T honey
2 T mustard (we used dijon)

Coat chicken in the hot sauce and set aside for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the flour and spices and begin heating oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Turn the oven on to 350°.  Dip chicken into the flour mixture.  Once all are coated, transfer one at a time to the hot oil and cook for 1 minute on each side.  Remove from oil and put on a cookie sheet covered in parchment.  Cook for 20 minutes at 350°, then turn up to 400° and cook for 5 additional minutes.

While chicken is cooking, bring a large saucepan of water with the corn to boiling.  Once chicken is done, your corn should be done.

To make dipping sauce, combine mustard and honey.   Serve while hot.

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It’s almost the time of year to get the grill out and shut the oven off. Enter: light summer dinners.

Chicken Fajitas

1 full boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
2 green bell peppers, julienned
1 yellow, orange or red bell pepper, julienned
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
fresh cilantro
red pepper flakes
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t cumin
dash of nutmeg
lime juice
2 T olive oil
tortillas of your choice
salsa
lime/cilantro sour cream (see below)
shredded cheese (optional)

For lime/cilantro sour cream, mix these ingredients and refrigerate:
8 oz plain yogurt or sour cream
cilantro to taste
1 T lime juice

Put the chicken in a large ziplock bag with the red pepper flakes, cumin, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, lime juice and 1 T olive oil. Put on a plate in the fridge for 30 minutes or more.

Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Toss in the peppers, onion and garlic and sauté until not-quite cooked to the consistency you want. Remove veggies and set aside.  Throw chicken into the skillet (drain the marinade if you want — I put it all in). Cook through. Add veggies back to skillet and toss to combine. Remove from heat.

To assemble fajitas, warm a tortilla, add some shredded cheese, put your meat and veggie mixture on top and add salsa and the sour cream.

Best enjoyed on a porch with friends and some crisp beer.

*If you want crisp vegetables, cook the chicken first. If you want well-cooked veggies, cook the veggies first.

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This recipe is ALMOST out of season! I consider pot roast weather to be LONG over with, but this one is a bit lighter, so you might be able to enjoy it a bit longer.

Got a few half-empty (-full) bottles of wine lying around? Good! You can drown a hunk of meat and some veggies in them.

Slow Cooker Leftover Wine Pot Roast with Veggies

1 medium roast
1 bag baby carrots
1.5 c green beans, snipped
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 ranch dressing mix packet
3 c water
3 c red wine*

*wine and water can be added depending on taste

Put all ingredients in a large crock pot and turn on medium. Cook on medium for 6-8 hours or until roast falls apart and is completely done.

Potatoes on the side were diced, drizzled with olive oil and rosemary and put on a cookie sheet in a 450° oven for 30 minutes.

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Warning: These are in no way shape or form healthy. But, they are awesome. And amazing. And fabulous.

Mark decided that instead of pizza, that we’d do something a bit different and make calzones.

Holy lord look at those fillings … soooo yummy!

I don’t have a recipe per say, but I do have a small how-to.  Use whatever dough recipe and sauce recipe you want. Also, you can add as much or as little of the ingredients as you want. I’d be interested in any suggestions for additional ingredients.

1. Make pizza dough and separate into softball sized balls.
2. Roll out each ball to about 1/4 an inch thick.
3. Gather your fillings. We used mozzarella, onion, fresh spinach, cottage cheese, italian seasoning, pepperoni, italian sausage, tomato and tomato sauce.
4. Mix fillings together in a large bowl.
5. Scoop 1-1.5 c of your filling into the middle of the dough.
6. Fold in half. Fold the bottom edge over the top edge and crimp to seal.
7. Cut a couple slits in the top of the calzone.
8. Bake in a preheated 425° oven for 30-40 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheeses are melted.

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After Mark’s trek to the Des Moines Farmers Market last week, he came up with an amazingly awesome idea for dinner. He’d picked up a batch of garlic focaccia bread (and I wish I knew where he bought it from, because I’d love to credit them — not to mention, get MORE). I had some steak in the fridge from grilling a few nights previous. Thus, his idea was born.

Grilled Steak and Blue Cheese Sammies on Garlic Focaccia Bread

1 large chuck steak, grilled to taste (I like medium rare), sliced thin
1 loaf garlic focaccia bread, sliced into 4 quarters, then sliced lengthwise for sandwiches
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T butter
1 avacado
1/2 c blue cheese crumbles
baby leaf lettuce
steak sauce or hot sauce

Heat a small skillet over medium. Butter and spread garlic on the bread. Toast bread until brown and crispy. Repeat with all slices. Set aside. To assemble sandwiches, place steak, avacado, blue cheese, lettuce and choice of sauce on the sandwich. Serve warm. Makes 4 sandwiches.

Sorry I’m a terrible recipe-writer, but that’s pretty much what we did. It was amazing. Check out the photos. They’re totally drool-worthy.

Focaccia, pre-grilling

Mark grilling the bread

Of course, Mark added more garlic to his bread after toasting.

Sandwiches, almost ready to go — sans lettuce

And the finished product … almost too big for me to eat.

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Mark was challenged last weekend. The task: make dinner without going to the grocery store.  He could only use what I had in the apartment.

Could he do it?

Was there really any question? This kid knows his stuff. He pulled through. And in a fancy way.

I’m not including a recipe this time because we’re going to refine it with all the changes we talked about during dinner, but it was still amazingly delicious. The list of ingredients included: lasagne noodles, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fontina cheese, basil, italian chicken sausage, garlic … I think that might have been it. Not sure what order. He made a sauce of some sort out of the cheeses and rolled the lasagne noodles around the sausage. I added the basil towards the end (I LOVE BASIL. Especially fresh basil).

My addition to dinner was the garlic toast. I actually used rye bread instead of my normal wheat. I will share a recipe for that (so you don’t walk away feeling cheated!)

Calee’s Garlic Toast

(recipe is per slice of bread — because I may or may not just make one piece occasionally)
1 slice bread (I like Sarah Lee 45 Calories and delightful)
1.5 T olive oil
italian spices
1/2 t minced garlic (or less if you’re into that)
2 T parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°.  Mix all ingredients except the bread.  Pour or spread onto the slice of bread. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until toasted.

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It’s really hard to keep a straight face while eating dinner because this is the view I have every night.

Though — I shouldn’t complain. I’d rather he sit here than at my feet begging for my food.

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Hey all!

My boy likes to cook and I thought it’d be a cool feature to share his creations (with instructions) once or twice a month.

I shall call this segment: Wonder Bread Italian Boy Cooks.

For those of you who don’t get that, my boy is about as Italian as white bread. Wonder bread that is. He’s got the last name and the recipes. Not to mention he’s an amazing cook and comes up with crazy delicious meals on the fly.

So without further ado, this is installment #1 of Wonder Bread Italian Boy Cooks.

Sorry guys, I promise from now on I’ll have better photos. I did just buy a new digital camera! This was kind of an on-the-fly decision to add this feature, so the photo isn’t great, but it was YUMMY.

Everything from the Garden Pasta

Ingredients:

1 full chicken breast (both sides of the breast)
4 T olive oil (reserve 2 for the end)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 lbs assorted vegetables — he used:
1 small yellow zucchini squash, sliced
1 small green zucchini, sliced
1 red pepper, julienned
1 green pepper, julienned
1 yellow pepper, julienned
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 small package mushrooms, whole
1/2 c red wine
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
italian seasoning to taste
Cooked whole wheat pasta

Directions:

Heat 2 T olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook through and remove from pan. Set aside.

Add veggies to pan. Saute while stirring until onions start to get glossy and see-through. Add half of the red wine. Keep stirring and sauteing for 15 more minutes or until veggies have cooked through.

Add the rest of the red wine, the additional 2 T olive oil, both cans of tomatoes and the chicken. Sprinkle with some Italian seasonings. Cook for 15 minutes more. Toss with the cooked pasta and serve with parmesan cheese.

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