Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• basil to taste
• oregano to taste
• crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• Grey Poupon
• bread
• parmesan cheese
• olive oil and vinegar
• 1/4 cup milk

Like I said, this is just a quick egg sandwich with ingredients that you probably already have in your cupboard.  The key is in how you cook your eggs so that they’re a fluffy omelet-esque sandwich!

1.)  Crack open those eggs in a nice large bowl.

2.)  To your taste, add in basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper flakes.

3.)  Next add in 1/4 of milk.  This will help make those eggs super fluffy!

4.)  Add in salt and pepper to taste.

5.)  Use a bit of butter to coat the bottom of a small non-stick pan.  Bring heat to medium.

6.)  Whisk your eggs well.  Then add them to your pan.  ***IMPORTANT SECRET TO FLUFFY EGGS:  Cover your eggs and keep the heat at medium.  Be patient and your eggs will rise like bread!  Cook them fast and they’ll be burned and flat.  Don’t peak either!  Use a clear lid like this and you can keep that oven like heat trapped in there.

7.)  Once there is only a tiny bit of liquid left on top of your eggs, remove the lid and flip.

8.)  Toast your bread to a nice golden brown.

9.)  Your eggs should now be fluffier than a sheep in a static storm.

10.)  Olive oil and vinegar goes on one slice of bread and Grey Poupon on the other.

11.)  Use the pan to slide your eggs off onto the bread, then as they slide off use the pan to fold them over nicely.

I like toast with my egg sandwich, and Knotts  Boysenberry preserves are like gold around here!

12.)  Top your eggs with parmesan cheese and you’re ready for a delicious breakfast or lunch sandwich!  Enjoy!

Today’s Oh look, FOOD! post is a delicious penne alla puttanesca + shrimp.  There are a few notables about this dish.  First, the “+” is because the shrimp can be added or left out.  So for you vegetarians out there, this dish is for you too!  If you have a vegetarian coming to dinner, simply serve out their portion of sauce before adding the shrimp.  Everyone is happy!  The second notable about this dish is the name.  ”Penne alla puttanesca” translated to Italian, means “whore’s pasta”.  It’s origins are traced back to Sicily or the Bay of Naples.  Either way, that’s a funny name!  Said to be named because they were all ingredients that a prostitute could have on hand and easily whip up between clients.  Bit of history with your dinner!  Alright, let’s get cooking.  Unfortunately, if you don’t have all these ingredients in your cupboard, much like it’s name, this is an expensive, but easy dish ;)  (I really couldn’t help it!)

Ingredients:

• 2  Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil (also ironic considering the name)
• 4  large cloves garlic, diced
• 1  medium yellow onion, finely chopped (I had a large onion, so I only used about 3/4)
• 3  tsp. finely grated orange zest (about 1 orange)
• 1  tsp. dried oregano
• 1  tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2  cup dry white wine (I went for a sauvignon blanc)
• 1  28oz. can diced tomatoes and juices
• 1/3  cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 2  Tbs. capers, rinsed
• 1  pound penne pasta
• 1/3  cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 12  oz. frozen medium cooked shrimp
• Sea salt and pepper

Get all your ingredients together and prepared.  This dish is easy, but a lot goes into it, so you’ll need to be on top of your ingredients.

STEP 1)  Add the 2 Tbs. of olive oil and bring to medium heat.  Add the 4 cloves of diced garlic and cook until tender (about 2-3 minutes).

While your garlic is cooking, go ahead and zest your orange and chop your onion.  I like a little extra, but it’s cooking, so add what tastes good to you!

STEP 2)  Add 1 chopped onion, 3 Tbs. orange zest, 1 tsp. oregano, and 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes and cook until the onion is tender (about 5-6 minutes).

STEP 3)  Add the 1/2 cup dry white wine and simmer until the wine has reduced by half.

STEP 4)  Stir in 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juices, 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, and 2 Tbs. capers.

STEP 5)  Use a masher and mash the tomatoes.  This will squeeze out a lot of the juices from the tomatoes, so when you simmer your sauce down, the water evaporates, and leaves you with a rich tomato taste.  At this point, add salt and pepper to taste.

***If you do have a vegetarian coming for dinner, transfer 1/4 of the sauce to smaller sauce pan now.***

STEP 6)  Stir in 12 oz. frozen cooked shrimp.  I like to use frozen shrimp, because they’re already prepared and cooked, so I don’t have to hassle with them.  They’re also great at absorbing any flavor that you put them into.  With a dish like this, they come out tender, juicy, and full of flavor!

STEP 7)  Cook your pound of penne to a nice al dente pasta (slightly firm to the bite).  While cooking your pasta, keep your sauce at a medium heat.

STEP 8)  Strain the pasta and transfer the whole pound to the pan.  Stir the pasta in carefully.

STEP 9)  You’ll notice that you still have a lot of thin juices in your pan.  Cook down for 10 minutes until your sauce is nice and thick.  This also gives the pasta time to absorb some of those amazing juices!

STEP 10)  Serve and sprinkle with chopped flat-leaf parsley and Romano cheese.

There’s only one logical ending for a dish as delicious as this.  Yep, an empty plate!

Just typing up this post has made me ridiculously hungry!  I’m off to have some leftovers from this dish!  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cedar plank
• 1 salmon fillet
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 tablespoons Dijon mustard (approximate)
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar (approximate)

STEP 1)   Soak your cedar board in water for 2 hours!  This recipe goes quickly once you’re cooking, but does take a bit of foresight to get your cedar plank well soaked.  This is a VERY IMPORTANT step because if your plank is not soaked well enough it will burn and you will not get that delicious cedar smokey flavor.

Gather up your ingredients.  I always say to do this so you’re not running around the kitchen for things.  Organize now and save yourself a ton of time later!  This is also a great time to preheat your grill.  You’ll want to fire up all burners and get the grill to a high internal heat.

This is fresh water Alaskan Salmon from Costco (which is my happy place!  Seriously, Costco deserves it’s own post!  Which may or may not be coming soon).  The quality of your salmon is huge!  Lower quality salmon tends to have that fishy taste that nobody likes.  Yuck!  This salmon, when well cooked, is tender, delicious, and falls apart perfectly.

STEP 2)  Generously season both sides of the salmon with salt and pepper.

STEP 3)  Using your Dijon Mustard (I’m partial to Grey Poupon, check the old school commercial here!), rub GENEROUSLY over one side of your salmon.  Flip and repeat on the opposite side.  Really work your Dijon into the meat, but be careful not to pull apart your fish.

STEP 4)  Crumble the brown sugar over your salmon.  Once you have a good coating, go ahead and work the sugar and mustard into a mix in circular motions.  You’ll feel the sugar and mustard combine into a smooth coating.  This is going to create an amazingly delicious glaze!  Don’t be shy with the brown sugar.  I don’t even measure it, I just go for it!  Flip your fish and add sugar to the other side as well.

This is a better look at the sugar before it’s worked in.

STEP 5)  Bring the grill down to medium heat and turn off the middle burner.  Place the cedar plank on the grill for (1) minute, then flip.  You want the cedar plank to smoke, but not burn.  If the wood is soaked well enough, you shouldn’t have any flare-ups.  It’s a good idea to keep a spray bottle of water nearby though, just in case.  Lightly spray any small flare-ups.

STEP 6)  Place your salmon fillet on the cedar plank and close the grill cover.  Cook for 25-35 minutes.  Try to rarely open the grill to check on the salmon.  If you can’t help, but look, just know that it will take longer to cook.

This is what things should look like at around the halfway point.  You’ll notice that the sugar is seeping out onto the board a bit.  No worries, the sugar on the salmon is perfectly crisping.  Lookin’ good!

When your salmon looks like this, you’re done!  The glaze is perfectly crisped, the insides are moist and juicy, and there’s no need for a knife because this dish pulls apart so easily. Yuuummmm!!!

DROOOOOOOOLING just looking at this!  I’m hungry again.  Dang.

Delicious, fresh, and amazingly easy to make.  Throw in some rice and asparagus or green beans to complete the meal.  Definitely definitely try out this Tasty Tuesday, it’s one of my favorites so far!!!

My disclaimer is this though: ***THIS IS ONE VERY DELICIOUS DISH***  I only recommend this dish to you if 1)  You have wonderful self control. 2)  You have such a vigorous workout routine that something like this isn’t even a speed bump to you.  Or 3)  You are eating this with a bunch of other people.  Seriously, get lots of people… lots.

Alright, let’s get cookin’!!!  Errr… Baking!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury Grands Homestyle Buttermilk biscuits
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Alright, so remember, this IS NOT cooking!  That means that the ingredient amounts are quite a bit more strict.  Too much of one thing could really change the taste of this dish and even mess up the baked outcome.  So play it safe and stick to the recipe this time.  ***PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES NOW***

1)  Put your 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a gallon sized Ziploc bag.

2)  Open your Grands biscuits. (BOOM! BOOM!  I love that part.)

3)  Separate them out and cut them into fourths evenly.

4)  Pop the cut up biscuits into the Ziploc bag with your sugar and cinnamon.

5)  Shake shake shake… shake shake shake… shake that ba-ag… shake that ba-ag!  Ya know “bag” instead of “booty”.  Anyone?

6)  In a small bowl, melt your 3/4 cup butter.

7)  Then, add in your 1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar.

8)  Now mix them together until they are their own crazy delicious (and crazy not-good-for-you) sauce!

Have your 1/2 of chopped walnuts waiting.  They’re up next!

9) Alright, using a greased bunt cake pan, first sprinkle in some walnuts, then a layer of biscuits, then walnuts, then biscuits, and repeat until full.

10)  Next, pour your butter/brown sugar sauce over the pan.  Don’t worry about mixing it in.  As it bakes, the sauce seeps down into the bottom of the pan.

11)  Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

12)  After 30 minutes remove the Monkey Bread from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.

This 10 minute cooling period is VERY IMPORTANT!  If you just pull it out and flip it over, it’s going to go everywhere.  The cooling time allows things to congeal together.

13)  When you just can’t stand it anymore, because it smells so good, go ahead and flip your pan over.  It should fall right out and stay in a nice ring of goodness!

14)  Now chow down!  But like I said, make sure you have a bunch of people to eat with.  It’s one of the best desserts ever created and so hard to resist!

Look at the gooey goodness that is Monkey Bread!  Baaaahhh!  I might have to go grab another piece…  Enjoy!