Moms Tortellini Salad for the Summer!

Well its June, which means summertime is getting into full swing! I love the warmer weather and just being able to be outside. Also, there are two big things that summer brings that Brian and I both love. Farmers markets and fairs, yahoo! We love stuffing ourselves with fair food and the fresh produce at the markets makes cooking so much more fun!

A big trend during summer is the grill of course! There are tons of amazing recipes and things you can do with use of the grill. You can even grill pizza! But I have yet to try that. So before I post all about my recent summer vacation I figure let me give you a couple of recipes to bring to BBQ’s.

First, up is my mom’s tortellini pasta salad. It is a little different than your regular pasta salad, but so easy to make! If you can let it sit for a couple of hours in the fridge it gets even better!

Ingredients:

1 pkg, of cherry tomatoes halved

½ of a white onion

1 can of black olives halved (optional)

1lb package of cheese tortellini (You can find it with the refrigerated pasta. I like to use Butoni cheese tortellini)

Salt

Pepper

Onion Powder

Basil

Red Wine Vinegar

Olive Oil

1. Boil water and put in the tortellini. Check the package for cooking time but 5-7 minutes should work to make it al dente. Then drain the pasta.

2. Once you have drained the pasta put it in a bowl and drizzle about 3 tablespoons of olive oil on it and mix. This will keep the tortellini from sticking together and getting funny.

3. Halve the cherry tomatoes and olives. Add them to the bowl.

4. Dice up about half of an onion. You can adjust this to your liking.

5. After combining everything in a bowl season the salad with salt, pepper, basil and a sprinkle of onion powder (so specific I know!). Then depending upon whether or not you are a vinegar lover like me, pour about a ¼ of a cup of red wine vinegar.

6. Mix together and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. Make sure to taste it and to adjust the seasonings and vinegar to your taste. That is what I do with everything!

Friday Night is Pizza Night!

Friday night is a lot of the time synonymous with pizza night! And you may be expecting me to post a pizza recipe. And I could, but I am not. Because even I want a break from cooking, especially after a challenging week at work. Also, I should be honest. My mom has mastered pizza, and Danielle has had successful attempts. Me, well I am still at odds with pizza dough. But when I master it you better believe you will know.

So in the meantime let me post two great places I have gotten pizza recently in the area :). And happy Friday!

  This place gives what I think of as more of a "foodie" spin on pizza. Mancinnis Coal Oven Pizza is a tiny little place that has pies with BIG flavors. It is really cute inside with wooden seating and white tiled walls. You can see the family making pies in the coal oven from every seat. Which should tell you how small the place is! You may have to wait for a table but it is worth it! Plus there is take-out! Brian and I sampled punttanesca pie (which is one of my favorite pasta dishes) and a white pie with prosciutto, artichokes and ricotta BAMMMM! Yes we loved it! Then they had a really interesting herb salad with  which we tried, pairs arugula with parsley, mint, thyme, oregano, a generous dollop of creamy chevre and house dressing, all atop a savory pizza-like disc of bread studded with raisins. I also got to have a boylans cream soda! Yes, it was quite a night!

Mancinnis Coal Oven Pizza

438 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, NJ 07042

(973) 744-4391

http://www.mancinnis.net

 

 Salugo Bistro is another new, small place. I had the pleasure of having a dinner date with one of my besties Melz! Sadly, she had to witness me eating a whole 12 inch pie which was topped with hot peppers, tomatoes, sopresatta, and smoked scamorza. Needless to say she is still my friend and she also let me eat two pieces of her  gorgonzola, fig, prosciutto, and balsamic reduction pie. YEP! If that is not enough to get you over there maybe one their pasta dishes, or piled high salads will! 

510 Bloomfield Ave
Verona, NJ 07044

(973) 857-2584

http://www.salugopizzeria.com/

 

Another Big Game, Another Big Bite

So my husband has a serious obsession with University of Michigans basketball team. His childhood room has Michigan border and posters! But funny thing is he never wanted to go to Michigan and no one in his family has attended there. Everyone has their thing right?

So his team made it to the final four and I have to admit I was excited as well. Apparently that hasn't happened since the early 90's. So long ago right?! Being the excellent wife I am I said if his team made it to final four I would have a little party. And of course that involves food, I always have an ulterior motive.

What I did was two crockpots, one pulled pork and one pulled buffalo chicken. My thought was people could make their own sliders. I made cole slaw and a nice big salad. I also tried out something new it was a take on an italian sub but baked. I did end up modifying it a little bit too and I have to say it was pretty popular. Just a couple of notes! You can change the meat and cheese to match the way you would build your italian sub, that is what I did. I also am going to try next time to use Pillsbury pizza dough. I am also going to try a version omitted the eggs. So here is my version:

Cooking Time: 40 min

What You'll Need:

• 2 (8-ounce) container refrigerated crescent rolls
• 8 slices sweet sopressata (about 1/2 pound)
• 8 slices ham (about 1/2 pound)
• 12 slice provolone (about 1/2 pound)
• 8 slices capicola (about 1/2 pound)
• 1 (12-ounce) jar roasted peppers, drained
• 4 eggs, beaten 
• salt, pepper, oregano and onion powder
• olive oil

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Unroll crescent roll dough without separating triangles.
    
2. Place the first container of dough into a pyrex baking dish; using your fingertips, press dough to fit bottom of dish.
    
3. Layer with half the sopressata, ham, capicola, provolone cheese, and roasted peppers. Pour half of beaten eggs over peppers and repeat with remaining meats, cheese, and peppers. Once you get to last layer then season it with salt, pepper, oregano, and onion powder.
    
4. Place remaining square of dough over peppers. Pour remaining beaten eggs over dough and drizzle the top with olive oil. Then
   
   
   cover lightly with foil.
    
5. Bake 20 minutes, remove foil, and bake an additional 20 to 22 minutes, or until golden and heated through. Let cool 15 to 20 minutes then cut and serve.

Lil Bit O'Green

This weekend I had the family over for dinner in honor of Brian and my grandpa's birthday! Being Italian we didn't get to into the green theme. No corned beef and cabbage, although I do know that if done right its really good! But I did manage to get something green on the table. Everyone really liked it so I think it will be added into Sunday dinner rotation. This is a really simple and healthy appetizer or side.

Note: I sliced up two zucchinis and thought I had so much. Once I fried them it looked like I had barely cut up one!

2 Zucchinis, sliced. I tried to slice them on the thinner side, leaving the skin on. Discard the very top where the stem is.
Salt
Pepper
Garlic 
Fresh Mint (you could also do without this if you do not have it on hand)
2Tsp of Red Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil

1. Fill a pan with olive oil about one inch high and put on medium heat
2. Slice the Zucchini and garlic. Set garlic aside.
3. Once the olive oil is hot, test it out by dropping in a piece of zucchini if it sizzles on contact, you are good!
4. Put a layer of zucchini slices in the hot oil. Watch for them to turn start turning a golden color and then flip them. You are watching more for the color here rather than a time. It takes like 3-5 minutes per side.
5. Once you have friend them all, in a bowl toss with salt and pepper to taste. Then add the red wine vinegar, garlic slices and mint. Gently toss it together.

The longer you let this sit the more infused it will become. I put it in the fridge over night and it worked out just fine!

Weekend Adventure- Momofuko

Brian and I love to watch Anthony Bourdain shows on the travel channel. We don't agree on the TV too often besides Modern Family! So we have a Monday night date with the Layover or No Reservations. Sadly, No Reservations is no longer on! But the Layover is keeping us alive!

While watching we are always wishing we could jump into the TV and eat what he is eating, and travel to where he is! When we plan our own vacations we always map it out according to food and spots he has been. Brian is very blessed, he gets to travel a ton for his job. So he is like my own personal Bourdain! We just finished watching the Layover in Tai Pei and got a craving for some good noodles. This let to my first experience at Momofoku in NYC. I have heard about it a lot, so I was super excited to go!

I got the pork buns and they were delicious. I don't know how they get the bun part to be so pillowy! I mean that really is the only way I can describe it! I feel like I could have eaten a dozen! Then I got the Momofuko noodles. It was a hug bowl filled with noodles, amazing broth, pork belly, and a fried egg on top. It was a unique experience to me and I loved it!

Momofuko Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave  New York, NY 10003

(212) 777-7773

Baking Blizzard!

So it seems we are going to be snowed in for the next two days! So whats the most logical thing to do with my time? Eat, Cook, Bake! And I am sure I will pray somewhere in-between there, especially for my baking!

I am a big fan of Nutella and it seems it is gaining popularity! So I tried these self frosting Nutella cupcakes that I found on pinterest. I have to say that these kind of come out on the dry side. So I am thinking of making a Nutella buttercream to frost them with in addition to what is already in the cupcake. Besides that they came out pretty good! If I can bake these, anyone can!

Self-frosting Nutella Cupcakes
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1/2 cup(ish) Nutella
Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; add half to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat just until combined.

Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Spoon the Nutella into a small microwave-safe dish and microwave it for 10-20 seconds, until softened but not liquefied.
Drop a spoonful of Nutella on top of each, and swirl through the batter with the tip of a bamboo skewer, knife or other pointy object. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Tilt them in the pan to help them cool.

Makes a dozen cupcakes.

I also have always been a HUGE fan of banana bread. My Aunt Carlene actually makes the best banana bread ever. Her son was in my kindergarten class and I was always so happy when it was his turn to bring in snack, because I knew it meant banana bread!

I saw one ripened banana sitting in my fruit bowl, yesssss! But alas, all the recipes called for 3-4 bananas. FAIL! But.....I found a recipe online that used one banana, score! So I tried it! Not as good as typical banana bread but still has a good banana flavor. Good recipe to try in a pinch!

One Banana Banana Bread
1 Large Very Ripe Banana (or two small ones)
1 Egg with enough milk to make One Cup liquid
1 Stick butter/margarine (softened) ( 1 stick = 1/2 cup )
1 tsp Vanilla
1-1/2 Cup Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
Nuts (optional)

Put all ingredients in a large bowl together (don’t need to sift or
mix anything beforehand). Use mixer on slow to medium to mix until
lumps are pretty well gone (not too long or bread will be too firm).
Pam-Spray® bread pans (do not flour).
Fill pans 2/3 full
Bake 55 Minutes @ 350 Degree until Golden Brown. Toothpick test for
doneness. This bread comes out q

Olive You All

So tonight I really wanted to try to make a roasted chicken with olives. I had seen a recipe during one of my all night recipe searches. Which seem to happen basically every other night! But it seems that I couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. Some recipes I found just seemed to lack some ingredients or steps I thought should be there. Plus, I had seen a one-pan meal that involved potatoes, chicken and asparagus. On weeknights those are perfect! So I decided to combine these worlds and this is what I came up with!

Just an FYI a lot of recipes tell you to cut up a whole chicken. I pumped the breaks on that, not on a weeknight! I just bought a package of breasts, thighs and wings. If you can marinate the chicken overnight, if not just try to marinate it before you put the potatoes in:

½ cup of Olive Oil

1/3 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tsp of Dijon

1 package of cut up chicken

1 1/2lbs Fingerling or new potatoes halved

3 Tsp of butter cut up

Salt

Pepper

1lb of Asparagus trimmed (white parts off) and cut into about 2 inch pieces

2 lemons cut into wedges

Sprigs of thyme

5 cloves of garlic

 A little over a ½ lb of Mixed Olives.

(I like to visit the olive bar at the grocery store and grab green olives, along with kalamata olives.)

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes and half the butter in a roasting pan; season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

2.     Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with a paper towel. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put it in a pyrex so you can pour the mixture below on it.

3.     In a small bowl, combine the vinaigrette (oil, balsamic, and Dijon mustard) with the lemon zest, olives, garlic, thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Pour the mixture over the chicken and turn to coat. Also pour over olives. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour or overnight.

4.     After the potatoes have roasted for 20 minutes then you can put the chicken, skin side up, on top of potatoes; pour the remaining mixture over it. Roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes.

5.     Lower heat to 375 degrees. Scatter asparagus, lemon, and thyme around chicken. Roast until asparagus is tender and chicken is opaque throughout, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve chicken, vegetables, and lemon drizzled with pan juice