Happiness is breakfast (especially on a football Sunday)

Who doesn't love pancakes on a Sunday morning?! I am especially ecstatic today because it's the first football Sunday of the year! I know I'm not the one actually playing and chances are I will be sitting on my butt all day but I still feel the need to carbo load on Sunday mornings during football season. In college, I had a lot of Sunday afternoon games, so I guess old habits die hard.

Anyway, these pancakes were Nick's idea.  He was set on making dessert for breakfast again and these looked simple enough and had spent too much time on my Pinterest board.  Here is the recipe:

For the cinnamon swirl:

4 TB butter

1/4 cup + 2 TB brown sugar (we used 3 TB Splenda brown sugar blend instead)

1/2 TB cinnamon

1. Melt butter.  Allow to cool slightly.

2. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon.

3. Add mixture to ziplock bag and set aside. Cut tip when ready to add to swirl into pancakes.

For the pancakes:

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 TB oil (I used peanut oil)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg*

1/4 teaspoon allspice*

1. Beat egg in medium bowl. 

2.  Add milk and oil and stir to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.  

4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk together.  Do no overheat.  Some lumps are good! 

5. Stir in nutmeg and allspice.

6. Cook on a heated griddle or in a pan, greased with butter. 

7. Swirl in cinnamon mixture prior to flipping eachpancake.

*these are really optional.  I'm a huge fan of my spice cabinet and I like to put nutmeg and allspice in anything that has cinnamon so it's up to you!

For the glaze:

2 ounces cream cheese (we used Greek cream cheese which is nice and tart with am extra bit of protein, I think it helped cut the sweetness a little)

4 TB butter 

3/4 cup powdered sugar (we ended up using a little less than this, probably 2/3 cup)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat

2. Add in cream cheese and reduce heat.  Stir until well combined.

3. Add in powdered sugar a little at a time until smooth and remove from heat.

4. Stir in vanilla.

5. Top a stack of pancakes with some of the glaze.

(Not your average spinach and ricotta) Stuffed chicken (wrapped in bacon)

The first time I made this chicken it was in an attempt to impress a boy whom I had become quite fond of.  Yup, thats right, I'm talking about you Nick. It seemed appropriate to make it again since we have been on quite a cooking spree and we had bought some mouthwatering fresh packed ricotta from the Fairway.  

When I'm cooking Italian, I usually like to spice it up and use every green herb in the cabinet with lots of red pepper but I went sort of easy here.  I also usually just toss these herbs and spices in without any sort of measurement system.  It always bothers my friends and family though, because then I can't tell them an exact recipe.  I always just say, add some oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, sage, marjoram, etc., which usually just makes them say "I'll just google a recipe."  Well I finally decided to measure things out, which actually caused me to hold myself back.  Fear not, it is still delicious and very well flavored (according to the reviews.)

Here it is, in all its exorbitant glory.....

For the stuffing:

1 TB olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups fresh spinach

16 oz. ricotta cheese (I got some fresh packed from Fairway and it was the best ricotta I've ever had but any ricotta will do.)

1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

1 TB fresh parsley (probably closer to a teaspoon if you're using dried)

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

3/4 teaspoon red pepper (or less if you're not into that Italian spiciness)

Salt to taste

1.  Heat oil in a frying pan.

2. Add garlic and sauté until aromatic but not browned.

3. Add spinach to pan and cook until wilted. Set aside until ready.

4. Put ricotta in a medium mixing bowl and stir in grated Parmesan.

5. Add your spices next and stir thoroughly. 

6. Add reserved spinach and stir thoroughly.

7. Set filling aside until ready to stuff chicken.

For the chicken:

3 large boneless chicken breasts

"The lady's house seasoning"** to preference

1. Butterfly and tenderize chicken breasts until about 1/2 to a 1/4 inch thick.  

2. Sprinkle each side of each breast with "the lady's house seasoning"**

**the lady's house seasoning is a really simple Paula Deen seasoning containing garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Do yourself a favor--google it and make a bunch to put on chicken, pork, steak or really any type of meat you're making. It's simple but effective! If you don't feel like making some to keep around, just season this chicken however you want.

Putting it all together:

Now comes the fun but incredibly messy part (which is why I made Nick do it).  Add some stuffing into each of your butterflied chicken breasts.  Realistically, there is enough stuffing in this batch to fill 4 chicken breasts.  We just completely overstuffed ours 3, but another creative option is to save it in the fridge until you're ready and fill some crescent rolls with it to make homemade [Italian] spanakopita for an appetizer tomorrow night.

If you really want to go wild, as you can see we have done here, you'll need some strips of bacon or prosciutto.  In our case, we utilized both because we tend to be a bit excessive.  If you want to get even more extreme (now I know what you're thinking, how can it be more extreme?!), you'll want to add some pepperoni into the filling.  It is a crazy decadent, epic stuffed chicken, but it really is worth it.

So back to recap the assembly process:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheet with foil or parchment paper (for easy cleanup).

2. Fill chicken with spinach ricotta filling.

3. Layer pepperoni on top of filling. (Optional)

4. Close chicken breasts with toothpicks to the best of your ability.

5. Wrap in chicken, prosciutto, or some of both. (Optional)

6. Add more toothpicks to hold together if necessary.

7. Pop in the oven and cook for 45-60 minutes.

I actually just went over to the oven, turned the light on, and stared at them cooking for a little while, soaked in bacon fat and happiness.  So next time you're thinking you'd like to do away with side dishes and eat some meat wrapped in meat wrapped in meat, give this recipe a try.  I promise it will not disappoint!

Green risotto topped with prosciutto-wrapped scallops

I (literally) just finished eating what tasted like a meal of the finest restaurant quality.  If I closed my eyes (and disregarded the fact that I had just spent an hour or so cooking this meal), I would have thought I was at a 5-star restaurant eating the Chef's special.  I honestly don't even feel like I'm exaggerating.  

Yesterday, Nick and I went to the local Fairway and I decided I wanted to buy some scallops.  I figured we could wrap the scallops in bacon and sauté them with some asparagus, and make some sort of creamy sauce to drizzle on top. I was already thinking decadent but this morning in my foggy haze on the train into the city for work, it hit me.  I really wanted to make my first risotto.  I had always wanted to make risotto but I knew it was so time consuming.  I had to go for it.

I found a great recipe for a spinach asparagus risotto with plain scallops and I decided to take it a step further and wrap my scallops in prosciutto.  That's right, I said it, prosciutto-wrapped scallops.  B prepared though, this recipe is easier made with 2 people.  If you're going it alone, make sure you prepare all the ingredients before you start cooking anything and wrap the scallops in the prosciutto and store them in the fridge until the risotto is almost finished. 

Here's the recipe, adapted from Cooking Yummies.

Make 4-5 servings

For the risotto:

6 cups chicken broth (I used reduced sodium with no MSG)

2 TB olive oil

1 lb. asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 TB minced shallot (this wasn't even a full bulb so don't prepare too much)

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

1.5 cups uncooked arborio rice

1/2 cup white cooking wine

1.5 cups fresh spinach, chopped

2 TB chopped scallions

1/2 cup shredded or grated Parmesan

Sea salt to taste

For the scallops:

1 pound fresh sea scallops

1/3 pound prosciutto

2 TB olive oil

1 TB lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pour chicken broth into a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to large frying pan over medium heat.  Add asparagus, sea salt, and pepper and sauté for about 7 minutes until tender.

3. Reserve asparagus in bowl and set aside.

4. In the same frying pan, add second TB olive oil over medium heat.  Add minced shallot and garlic.  Cook about 4 minutes until soft but not browned.  

5. Add rice and thoroughly coat with oil.

6. Gently heat white wine (in the microwave is fine) so it is as hot as the pan (this is so the rice absorbs this liquid rather than it just boiling off.) Add white wine to pan and stir until rice absorbs all liquid.

7. Begin to add hit chicken broth 1/2 cup or so at a time.  Simmer and stir regularly until liquid is nearly absorbed and the proceed with adding another 1/2 cup increment.  Continue until all broth is gone. It will take about 30-45 minutes. 

8. If you have not done so already, begin wrapping scallops in prosciutto when risotto is about 3/4 of the way done.  If you are working alone, it is suggested that you wrap and reserve scallops prior to beginning risotto.  To wrap, slice prosciutto length wise, then fold each strip lengthwise.  Wrap around circumference of scallops and keep in place with a toothpick.

9. When there is about 1 cup of broth remaining to stir into rice, begin cooking prosciutto-wrapped scallops.  In a separate frying pan, heat olive oil over medium.  Add scallops to pan and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper as well as half the lemon juice.  After about 3 minutes, flip scallops and again sprinkle with sea salt and pepper as well as remaining lemon juice.  After about 2 minutes, turn up heat to sear outside of scallop for about 2 minutes.  Repeat on the other side.

10. Once all broth has been absorbed by rice, add asparagus, spinach, scallions, and Parmesan over low heat and stir thoroughly.  

11. Remove risotto and scallops from heat and serve!

Nick and I are hungry hungry hippos when it comes to eating and we were both stuffed after 3 scallops and about 1.5 cups of risotto so now we have plenty leftover for tomorrow's lunch!

Blueberry BBQ Baby Back Ribs

My boyfriend and I bought baby back ribs about a month ago with high ambitions and they have been sitting in the freezer ever since.  It was a lazy Labor Day and we finally decided it was time to make them.  At this point, though, these ribs had been built up in my mind and we knew we needed to go wild and find a superior BBQ sauce.  I consulted my handy "Marinades & Sauces" Pinterest board and found a blueberry BBQ sauce that looked like it was going to change my world.  Oh boy, was I right!  I could have eaten this sauce with a spoon straight out of the blender! The best part is it can be saved in the fridge for quite some time once prepared so we still have a ton leftover!

Here's the recipe, adapted from Rock Recipes.

Blueberry BBQ sauce

Yield: about 3 cups

2 TB olive oil

3/4 red onion, finely chopped

1 shallot, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 large red apple, diced

3.5 fresh blueberries (could also use frozen)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 balsamic vinegar

1 cup ketchup

1 cup apple juice (could substitute 1/2 cup of bourbon and 1/2 cup apple juice)

1/4 cup brown sugar ( I used 2 TB Splenda brown sugar blend)

3 TB Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup strong black coffee

1 TB fresh ground ginger (could probably use bottled ground ginger but I've always wanted to buy a fresh ginger root and it did not disappoint)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper

1 TB smoked Spanish paprika

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, shallot, and garlic and sauté until soft and aromatic.  Don't let them brown.  Reduce heat, add all remaining ingredients and let simmer for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, and allow sauce to thicken.  Remove from heat, let cool, and purée in blender for a couple minutes until smooth.  Now your sauce is ready to go!

We marinated the ribs in this sauce for about half an hour, then put them on the grill at around 300F for  about 35 or 40 minutes.  Ideally, we would have slow cooked these for about 2 hours but the BBQ didn't want to stay at a low temp and we were hungry.  

Here is the finished product, in all its glory (with some corn on the cob).  I was licking my fingers after these bad boys, and we still have plenty of sauce left, for chicken, steak, whatever!  Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!