Grilled Tuna Steaks with Potato & Green Been Salad

From Rachel Ray ... This recipe is so simple and so good!!!! I made it very easily after work one night in no time at all!

Ingredients
1/3 cup EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)
4 six ounce tuna steaks, 1 inch thick
Salt and pepper
1 pound small red or yellow potatoes, cut in half
1 1/2 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup packed basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preparation
Preheat an outdoor grill or a grill pan to medium-high. Drizzle EVOO on both sides of the tuna steaks; season with salt and pepper.In a medium pot, cover the potatoes with cold water and bring to a boil. Salt the water, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the beans; cook for 4 minutes.While the potatoes cook, using a food processor, puree the basil, pine nuts, garlic, lemon peel, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. With the machine on, pour in the 1/3 cup EVOO in a steady stream. Transfer the pesto to a large bowl and stir in the cheese.Grill the tuna steaks for 2 minutes on each side for medium-rare.Drain the potatoes and beans, add to the pesto and toss to coat; season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve alongside the tuna steaks.

Spinach-and-Cheese Casserole

This. Is. So. Good. I found the recipe through a long series of procrastinatory clicks, and I think it was on the Parents magazine website. Don't remember. Doesn't matter. Make it. It's like spanikopita meets spinach dip meets quiche. Which reminds me, I still have to post my spanikoptia and spinach dip recipes.

I'm still experimenting with low fat or no fat or full fat cheeses. The first batch was half no fat and half full fat so I suppose it came out pretty close to the intended result.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 75 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
Cooking spray
4 eggs
2/3 cup flour
Two 10-oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (you can dump the spinach into a dish cloth and twist it to quickly squeeze out all the water)
24-oz container low-fat cottage cheese
3 cups grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese
Salt, to taste (I used garlic salt and pepper. Nutmeg is also a nice addition.)

1. Coat a 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with flour until smooth. (I beat the eggs until they were light and frothy before adding the flour.)
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir well to blend. Spoon into prepared dish and bake, or cover and refrigerate.
3. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 75 minutes.

TIP: To prep and bake the day before, shorten oven time by 10 minutes. Cool, wrap, and refrigerate. Reheat in the microwave, checking at 10-minute intervals, until heated through.
Per serving: 273 calories, 13 g fat (7 g saturated), 818 mg sodium, 140 mg cholesterol.
(How do they know how much sodium is in it if I salted to taste?!)

Design Your Own Chocolate Cookie

I'm "working at home" today and Julia asked if we could make cookies. Actually she started daydreaming about cookies yesterday and i got her to sleep last night with the promise of cookie making today. I did a search for the ingredients I had in the pantry and came across the hershey's site (which I'm adding to the links list because the recipes look awesome!). This was the most basic recipe using the most basic ingredients and I have a feeling we'll be using it often. I made a dozen and froze the rest. The cookies are crispy and chewy at the same time and would probably be delish with some chocolate chips. We added a few m&m's in lieu of any of the suggestions in the recipe.

YUM!!!

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375 F.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat well.
3. Stir together flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 5 dozen cookies.

VARIATIONS:
CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES: Add 2 cups (one 12 or 11.5-pkg.) HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK, Semi-Sweet, Mini Chips or Milk Chocolate Chips to basic chocolate batter.
MINI KISSES CHOCOLATE COOKIES: Add 1-3/4 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S MINI KISSES Milk Chocolates to basic chocolate batter.
MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES: Add 1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Mint Chocolate Chips to basic chocolate batter.
CHOCOLATE COOKIES WITH WHITE CHIPS: Add 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Premier White Chips to basic chocolate batter.
CHOCOLATE COOKIES WITH PEANUT BUTTER CHIPS: Add 1-2/3 cups( 10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips to basic chocolate batter.
CHOCOLATE COOKIES WITH TOFFEE: Add 1 to 1-1/4 cups HEATH BITS 'O BRICKLE Toffee Bits or HEATH Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits to basic chocolate batter. Lightly grease or paper-line cookie sheets.

Spinach Sausage Bread

I saw this recipe on an episode of Rachael Ray and changed it a little bit. It's super easy (a trend in all my recipes...) and it was an awesome leftover too.

1 loaf of Italian bread
Spinach (about 3 or 4 bags)
1 package of breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean)
Shredded Provolone
Garlic

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the top off of the bread and scoop out the middle soft part of the bread. Make sure the save the top piece of the crust. Cook the sausage and set aside once it's done. Cook the spinach, adding as much or as little garlic as you'd like. Once both the sausage and spinach are cooked, mix them together and fill the emptied loaf of bread with the mixture. Sprinkle a generous amount of the cheese over the top. Replace the top of the bread, wrap the entire loaf in foil, and bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

The actual recipe called for broccoli rabe instead of spinach, but like most of RR's recipes, she said any green could be used. She said you could also experiment with the kind of meat used. She also loaded cheese on top. She sprinkled parmesan, shredded provolone, and huge slices of mozzarella. I thought the provolone was plenty though.

My roommate and I made this last week, but she is a vegetarian. So instead of getting a large loaf of bread, we each got a couple big sausage rolls and made individual servings. She used Boca breakfast patties and cut them up instead of the sausage. We each made 2 rolls and ended up eating only 1 each, so I reheated the second one in the over the next day for lunch. It was just as good the next day! We also used the bread we scooped out and dipped it in hummus.

(This is the actual recipe: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/rabe-stuffed-stromboli-bread/)

Mrs. Riley's Cake

This is the Best. Cake. EVER. My friend's mom, Mrs. Riley, used to make whenever I'd go over to her house.

• 1 box devils food cake mix
• 1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 eggs
• 1 package chocolate chips

1. preheat oven to 350 and grease a pan (any size and style...Mrs. Riley always used a bundt pan, of course.)
2. mix all of the ingredients. The batter will be very thick.
3. Pour the batter into the pan and bake it for 30-40 minutes (for a bundt cake...cupcakes will, obviously, bake faster.) Check with a toothpick to make sure it's done.
4. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes, then flip it out of the pan and onto a wire cooling rack.
5. Dust with powdered sugar or cover with frosting (cream cheese or chocolate work well).
6. Bring it to my house so I can eat it.

Call for recipes

So far so good, huh? There are several recipes that I think we need added here:

Ginny - Lasagna? Yorkshire pudding?
Ceil - Mrs. Riley's cake?
Mom - you've got a lot of work to do. Gumbo? Christmas cookies? Pickled pot roast?

I'll start categorizing these soon too, but feel free to add your own labels as you choose.

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions

This is yet another Epicurious recipe that I lurve. The meat is tender and the spices are perfect and the onion/apple mixture is just like a chunky savory applesauce. Plus it's easy and healthy. Love!

Ingredients
1 large pork tenderloin (about 14 ounces)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fennel seeds (or ground fennel for a milder taste)
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup dry white wine or apple cider

Preheat oven to 450°F. Season pork with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and sear until all sides are brown, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer pork to plate. Cool slightly. Spread mustard over top and sides of pork; press fennel seeds into mustard. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add onion slices and apples; sauté over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. (*I caramelized the onions by cooking them for a few minutes first before I added apples) Spread evenly in skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place pork atop apple-onion mixture.

Transfer skillet to oven and roast until apple-onion mixture is soft and brown and meat thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150°F, about 15 minutes. Transfer pork to platter and tent with foil. Let stand 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour white wine over apple-onion mixture in skillet. Stir mixture over high heat until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Cut pork on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Spoon apple-onion mixture onto plates. Top with pork and serve.