Filet Mignon w/ Horseradish Cream Sauce

This dinner is super easy. Hardest part will probably be cleaning and prepping the meat. If you don't feel all that adventurous you can buy pre-prepped filet's.  But the whole beef tenderloin was on sale for $6.99/lb- that is a great deal. I was able to get 5 thick small medallion sized steaks, plus left overs that I froze and will deal with another time (fajitas maybe?).

And mashed potatoes and a roasted veggie of your choice makes this a super easy (and pretty quick cooking) meal.  I would have loved asparagus, but they didn't look good at the store and I didn't want buy a sub par veggie with such a high cut of meat.

Here is a great video for how to Trim Beef Tenderloin. But obviously instead of tying and roasting, we will cut little steaks of equal size and tie to help keep their shape when cooking.

Then I put back into the fridge for a couple hours (you don't have to put in for that long, maybe just an hour or so).  Then before cooking you want to pull the meat out of the fridge and let come to room temp before cooking.  

When the meat is ready I heated my cast iron skillet with a little canola oil.  All I seasoned the meat with was salt and pepper. I cooked these (because they are so small) about 5 minutes on each side (not even that long) for medium.  

ALWAYS let the meat rest.  When the meat is resting it will continue to cook because of the carry-over cooking time, so don't be afraid to pull them out of the pan early. You can always heat them up a little more in the oven if too rare for you-but once they are over cooked, they are ruined.

Let rest five minutes. Meanwhile make your sauce.

Horseradish Cream Sauce

For every 1/2 cup of fat free plain yogurt I used about 2-3 tbsp of horseradish.  We like it spicy. Then just a pinch of salt and lots of fresh cracked pepper. I also added a couple scallion bits.  Done!

Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli

Mashed potatoes: I used about 10-15 small russet potatoes. Peel, (I also like to cut mine into small chucks for quicker cooking time) put in a pot, and cover in cold water.  I added 5 smashed garlic cloves, salt and pepper to the water.  Bring to a boil and boil until the potatoes are soft and a fork goes in and out of them cleanly.  

Drain, return to the pot and then you can pick out the garlic cloves if you desire.  Add 2 huge tablespoons of butter and about 1-2 cups of milk, then mash away! It will depend on on how you like your potatoes.  (Not exactly healthy, but it tastes good and it is a special occasion).

Taste them before you add more salt and pepper, if it needs- add more.  I cover mine and let sit until everything else is ready.  I topped with scallions for garnish (you could use chives too)



Broccoli: Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.  Fill a baking sheet with broccoli florets, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper.  Toss broccoli and roast for about 20 mins.  Just keep an eye out, when they start looking burnt on the edges- that's when you can remove from the oven. Don't worry they will taste amazing.

Then just pour some wine (we had our fav Cabernet Sauvignon) and enjoy with your hunny! 

Gnocchi

One word: Gnocchi.  Delicious, filling pillows of awesomeness. (oh yea- pronounced roughly knee-aw-kee)

Gnocchi are basically Italian dumplings.  Traditionally made with potatoes, but also can be made with ricotta cheese (among other things).  They look intimidating, right? Wrong- probably one of the easiest pasta's you can make.  Have you ever watched that show that only needs 5 ingredients for her recipes? Well yea- this only needs 4 ingredients- FOUR- that is it.

It might not be the quickest dinner- but the whole process took me about 1-1 1/2 hours (and I was taking my sweet time).  That is also including boiling the potatoes.  You can eat the gnocchi straight from the water after boiling, but they are SO MUCH better fried in a bit of butter/oil after to get that crusty exterior. 

Have you ever bought fresh gnocchi in the store? Well you will never again- it probably cost me around $2 to make all this pasta- which would probably be around 3-4 store bought packages. Saving money AND making something downright impressive. Score.

To pair off the gnocchi I made quick blanched then sauteed string beans with pine nuts in garlic butter/oil sauce.  It is a good texture trade off and the flavors are clean and simple.

Best part is that if you have any left over you just lay out on a sheet tray, freeze them, then into a zip lock bag and you have a quick easy dinner ready to go whenever!  *Go ahead and pat yourself on the back after making this recipe*

**IMPORTANT**
Other quick thoughts: You don't need a ricer, I used a cheese grater (which I assume most people have- just use the larger holes because the smaller ones don't work as well), and if you really don't have a box cheese grater- you can always just mash the potatoes.  The potatoes I guessed on the weight- I have pics though. The flour will vary, I started with 1/3 of a cup then worked my way up to 2/3 cup, 1 cup etc.

I also skipped the "making ridges" part- which is a thing to do because the ridges hold sauce onto the pasta- butttttt the technique wasn't working with my dough- so for the first time making gnocchi I decided to cut my losses and not do the ridges.

Gnocchi

Ingredients

• about 2lbs of potatoes (use Russets)
• about 1 cup of flour
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions (also see pictures below)

1. Peel your potatoes. Put in a pot, cover with cold water, add a tbsp of salt to the water and bring to a boil. 
2. When the potatoes are tender, drain(time will vary on size of potatoes). You can tell when they are done when you can stick a fork in the potato and it slides off the fork clean.  (You can also bake in the oven, but I felt boiling would be faster).
3. While they are cooling, get your station set up- get a large pot of water to boil for later and also a large sheet pan dusted in flour to lay your gnocchi after you cut them.
4. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, grate them on the large holes of your box grater (or rice them, if you are cool enough to own one of these fascinating ricer devices).
5. Add the grated potatoes to a large bowl.  Add your salt and egg.
6. Then add the flour, I started by adding 1/3 cup at a time- you don't want to add too much flour, so start with a little, see the texture, then add more if it is still sticky.  Making this "dough" will seem odd and feel a little weird because it is potatoes.  But the dough will come together and finally be able to form a ball.
7. Turn out the ball onto a floured work surface and cut into 8 pieces (ya know- like you would cut a pizza).
8. Always make sure your surface is floured- So then take one section at a time and roll into a log, I would say roughly about a little fatter then your thumb.  Then cut into 1 inch pieces and then transfer to your floured baking sheet.  
9. Repeat will all sections of your dough.
10. When all your gnocchi are done, salt the boiling water and add in batches- don't over crowd the pot.  When they float to the top they are done!  When they float to the top be sure to take them out right away, if you leave them in the water too long they will disintegrate.
11. Serve with your favorite sauce!  Lighter sauces work better with these delicate pillow pastas.

I included the fork in the pic so you can see the size of the potatoes

Set up your workstation

Gnocchi w/ String Beans and Pine Nuts in a Lemon Garlic Sauce

• about 1lb of string beans cleaned and trimmed
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp of pine nuts
• 2 tbsp of oil
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 lemon
• pecorino cheese

1. In a small skillet, add the pine nuts and toast for a minute or so on med-low heat.  Remove from heat and reserve.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter. Smash the garlic cloves (but try and keep them intact) and add to the oil.  When lightly golden, remove the garlic cloves. 
3. Add the gnocchi in batches to the hot oil and pan fry until golden on one side then flip over and brown on the other.
4. Take out and let drain on paper towels, continue working in batches until all are browned.  
5. Blanch the string beans first (I just threw them in the left over pasta water for a minute) then add to the left over garlic oil and saute until tender but still crisp.  
6. Zest the lemon over the string beans and toss to coat.
7. Gently toss the gnocchi and string beans together.  Top with pine nuts and grated pecorino cheese.

Potato and Beet Layered Cake

So this idea is obviously a spin off of a classic Pommes Anna, but I decided to incorporate beets.  This is the first time I have ever bought beets.I love trying new foods, especially when they are healthy foods! You never know what you will actually like.  Be adventurous!  FYI the beets will stain your hands a bit, so make sure you either wear gloves or don't care your hands are pink for a little while. 

Beets are so beautiful in color and have a very earthy flavor.  They are fat free and packed with fiber and vitamin C.  So eat up!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of beets
• 2 pounds of baking potatoes (like russet)
• 1 cup of grated cheese of your choice (I used Pecorino)
• Chives (or scallions)
• Fresh Dill
• Salt and Pepper
• Oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2. Prep your potatoes and beets: wash them, peel them (I only peeled the beets) and then thinly slice on a mandoline. 
3. Put the beets and potatoes in separate bowls to maintain the potatoes natural color.  I usually like to soak any potatoes I use, so after I slice I throw the potatoes into a bowl of water, then just pat dry before layering them.
4. Shred the cheese of choice and chop the chives
5. In a skillet (I used cast iron) add about 1-2 tbsp of oil and brush it to coat the entire pan evenly.
6. Start layering the potatoes and beets in a circular pattern, alternating beet, potato, beet, potato.
7. When the first layer is done, sprinkle 1/3 c of cheese, a pinch of dill, chives and pepper.
8. Repeat the layering processing.  Push down the second layer and sprinkle cheese, chives, dill and pepper.  The second layer I also sprinkled a small pinch of salt.  (But the pecorino cheese is very salty so I only salted one layer)

9. Repeat once more (I was able to make three layers).


10. Crank the heat under the skillet to high.  You should hear it sizzling.  After about 7 minutes check the bottom the cake with a spatula, if brown pop into the oven and cook for about 45 minutes.  Or until all crispy and cooked throughout.

Chicken Nuggets and French Fries

(Right off the bat I must apologize for the pictures, it was late and we were hungry, and I burnt the french fries, so obviously I didn't take any pictures of those.  But the nuggets tasted awesome and were super easy to make too)

So we never eat fast food. Well not never, but rarely.  Just because we don't eat it, doesn't mean that I wouldn't want to eat it.  Who doesn't love those delicious hot crunchy greasy salty french fries? ::drool::  Anyway, having it once in a while is ok, but not all the time.  So that's why you can do it at home and know EXACTLY what parts of the chicken are becoming a "nugget" and save yourself from about a days worth of fat and calories.

I've heard so many moms say "Oh, my kids will only eat chicken nuggets".  First of all, I am not a mother, so I can imagine that nothing with kids is as easy as it seems, but I would like to think that if your child(ren) got involved in the cooking process then maybe they would be interested in eating other things and broadening their pallet horizons.  Believe me, my mom had to do the "yea, it's chicken" thing for everything that wasn't chicken for us, but that's because the pork chops were like chewing on a leather shoe, and veggies were boring (and gross).  So you have to make food interesting and fun for kids- why do you think they love nuggets and food on sticks?

Anyway, regardless of your child's eating habits, I think everyone loves chicken nuggets and french fries! This recipe will make it easier for you to let them to have seconds and the sauces to go with them are endless.  Anything on your fridge door- ketchup, honey mustard (honey + Dijon mustard), BBQ sauce, hot sauce, ranch dressing etc.  You can also add veggies into the chicken nugget mix- just make sure they are neutral color so the inside still looks white like chicken.

Also, these are perfect for freezing too.  Make 2 batches and eat one tonight for dinner and freeze the other for the next time- just gotta pop in the oven!

Ingredients 
(This will make around 21 nuggets)

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• couple grinds of fresh black pepper
• 1 egg
• panko bread crumbs (1-3 cups)
• non stick spray

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Combine first five ingredients in a food processor along with a handful of breadcrumbs. Cut chicken into chunks to make it easier to grind.
3. Blend until it is all ground up and incorporated.
4. Remove from food processor and put in a bowl.  If the mixture is too wet just add more breadcrumbs and mix together in the bowl. (This is why I can't tell you exactly how much breadcrumbs your going to need- it varies)
5. Take the remaining bread crumbs and pour into a separate bowl.
6. Time to form nuggets.  I'm pretty sure we all know what a nugget looks like so shape into little disks and coat with bread crumbs and lay on a sheet tray or baking rack.
7. When all are done, spray with non-stick spray and cook in the oven until golden brown and crispy. 
8. Cooking time will vary, but I think I cooked mine for about 20-30 mins.
9. To freeze left overs, just put into a ziplock and pop in the freezer.  Just be gently, you don't want all the breadcrumbs to fall off.

 

FRENCH FRIES
Which should more appropriately be named oven fries, but just be careful not to burn them like I did.  Making your own fries is awesome too, because you can flavor them anyway you want.  Any spice that you like- garlic, onion, cayenne, chili, rosemary, etc - can be added to this recipe.

Ingredients

• About 2-3 large Russet baking potatoes
• Oil, salt and pepper

Directions

1. First clean your potatoes.  I like to leave the skins on, but you can most certainly peel yours.
2. I used a mandoline with the french fry cutting blade, but if you don't have one you can always just cut them into french fries with a knife. 
3. Spray the baking sheet with non stick spray and lay all your fries down in a single layer.
4. Coat in oil, salt and pepper (and any other spice you like). Toss to coat everything.
5. Put in the oven along with your nuggets.  Check on them, because honestly every time I cook them it's different.  30 minutes is the about time they will cook.  (So figure the nuggets and fries will be done around the same time) I've also tried flipping them half way, if they come off the sheet pan easy- flip them, if not let them cook a bit longer then try again.  Otherwise they will break and smear and be a big mess and burn on the pan.  But there has been times when I didn't flip them and they came out fine too.

Roasted Pork Loin & Potatoes

This is definitely a "Sunday Dinner".  A classic meat and potato dinner that looks fancy.  Easy, but not super quick, yet still possible on a weeknight if you have the time. Overall it will probably take about an hour and a half with prep, cook and rest time.  Well worth it though.  When meat cooks a long time the heat breaks down and melts the fat so it isn't chewy.  Even my boyfriend Brendan who skeeves fatty pieces told me the crispy skin was delicious. 

I bought a full sized pork loin for $1.99/lb and it came in a cryovac of about 10 pounds.  I always cut this piece of meat into three different parts.  The fat end becomes the roast, the middle I cut into pork chops and the skinnier end piece becomes "pork tenderloins" (not because they are, just because I cut it into smaller pieces that resemble the tenderloin shape).  I bag them separate and freeze them. 

I will leave a good layer of fat on the roast piece and trim the rest of the loin accordingly.  Like I mentioned before, the long cook time and heat will melt the fat and help keep the meat juicy and flavorful over this long high cook time.  In the following pictures you can see a pretty presentation on the fat side because I "score" the fat.  Just make a deep cut in the fat layer in any design you like, I go for traditional crosshatch.

Ingredients

• About a 3lb pork loin roast
• 1 softball size onion, sliced
• 2 peppers of your choice, sliced
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 tablespoon each of: salt, fresh pepper, thyme, rosemary & adobe seasoning
• Oil of your choice

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Slice and prep all your veggies. 
3. Take the pork loin and dry off with paper towels.  Slice the layer of fat with the design of your choice.  Rub the meat with all the spices.
4. I used a cast iron skillet, but use any skillet that will be able to go from the stove top to the oven.  Heat the oil in the pan on high heat (you don't have to use too much oil if you have a good layer of fat on the pork, just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet).  It will be hot enough when you see the oil rippling.
5. Sear the fat side first.  Sear each additional side until it's brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side.  You aren't trying to cook the meat, just brown it.
6. When all sides are brown (don't forget the ends, use tongs to help hold it up if needed), take the meat out of the pan, and drain off any excess oil, but leave about a 2 tablespoons in the pan.
7. Reduce the heat a bit (to about medium) and add all your veggies and garlic. Season with salt and pepper as well.
8. Cook for about 4 mins, just until soft.
9. Place the pork on top of the bed of veggies and pop into the oven.

Potatoes

• about 2lbs of potatoes, diced into similar sizes (Any kind of potato will do)
• 1 tablespoon of: salt, pepper, rosemary and adobo
• oil of your choice to coat

1. Combine all ingredients on a sheet pan and put in the oven with the pork.

Oven times will vary depending on the size and shape of the pork loin and the size of the potatoes.  When the potatoes are golden and brown they are done.  About 30-40 mins.  I had to remove the potatoes before the pork was done, but when the pork was resting I put them back in the oven for about 5 minutes to reheat.

I always have to use a meat thermometer to know when my meat is done.  Call it unprofessional, but I never overcook/undercook anything because of it.  I took out the meat when it reached about 155 degrees (about 30-45 mins) and let it rest for about 5 minutes.  Cover with tinfoil when resting (you do this before slicing so the juices have time to redistribute and not make a huge mess on your cutting board).


Slice and serve topped with the onions and peppers along side the potatoes.