Red Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I love this quick recipe. It's great for a meat and potatoes dinner.

7-8 Medium sized red potatoes
2 tspn. of minced garlic
1/2 cup of heavy cream or milk
1/2 cup of butter
1 tspn. of sugar
1 tspn. of steak seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of water, once boiling add pototoes and 1 tspn. of garlic. Boil for 25 minutes. Drain water out of pot.

Add cream and mix potatoes and cream with a hand-mixer until all potatoes are halfway mashed. Add 1 tspn. of garlic, butter, sugar, seasoning, salt and pepper. Continue to mix until all potatoes are mashed and creamy.

Spicy Orange Pork Chops

This is my all-time favorite pork dish.


2/3cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 handfuls of dried crainsins
40oz. large can of Sweet Potatoes
3/4 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 boneless pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick (1 lb)

-Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, mix marmalade, butter, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in cranberries and sweet potatoes; Mash Potatoes and mixture together than set aside.

-In shallow dish, mix flour and red pepper. In another shallow dish, place soy sauce. Dip pork into soy sauce, then coat with flour mixture. Spray 10-inch skillet with cooking spray or oil; heat over medium-high heat. Cook pork in skillet 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until coating is brown.

-Place pork in ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. Arrange sweet potato mixture around pork. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in center.

Penne with Spring Veggies

This is a very light fun meal that is great for the spring and summer time.

1 box of Penne
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp. of minced garlic (1 clove)
1 small chopped white onion
1 cup of a thinly sliced yellow bell pepper
2 cups of diced zucchinni
2 cups of diced yellow squash
1 bunch of asparagus cut into about 1-inch pieces
2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tsp. of basil
1 cup of Mozzarella cheese

-Cook pasta according to box
-Heat olive oil in a large skillet, add garlic and saute until golden brown, then add onion, and saute until onions looks clear.
-Add bell pepper, squash, zucchini and asparagus and saute until all veggies are heated -but not fully done.
-Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve veggies over a bed of penne, and sprinkle cheese on top.

Spinach Lasagna

I love Lasagna for two reasons... (1) it's the best comfort food, and (2) it lasts for daaaays. :P

1 box of Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles
1.5lbs of Lean Ground Beef
1 bag of Fresh Spinach
1 24oz. Jar of Prego Classic Italian Pasta Sauce
1 tub of Ricotta Cheese (either Fat Free/or Part Skim)
1 Egg
1 large bag of Mozzerella Cheese (4 cups)
1 tspn. of Thyme
1 tspn. of Oregano
1 tspn. of Basil
1/4 tspn. of Cayenne Pepper (or Red Pepper Flakes)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-In a large skillet cook ground beef
-In a medium pot, add about a 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil, once boiling add spinach and reduce heat. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes. Drain spinach when done, and set aside.
-Use a small mixing bowl to mix together ricotta cheese and egg, then set aside.
-Once beef is cooked, add Pasta Sauce (save the Jar do not throw away), Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Salt, Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper. Cover and cook on medium for about 15minutes.
-Add about a cup of water to your empty jar of Pasta Sauce, shake and pour into your empty baking pan. Add 3 lasagna noodles, set them in the pan side by side, then paint Ricotta cheese mixture on top of each noodle -just a thin layer. Then add Beef sauce on top of Ricotta cheese, then scatter pieces of Spinach on top of beef, then add a hand full of Mozerella cheese. Repeat these layers until all ingredients are used up. Typically I get about 3-4 layers with this recipe. Note: Do not leave cheese as top layer... we will add that at the end so that it does not stick to foil.

Cover with foil and bake for 30minutes. Remove foil, and add a handful of cheese to the top layer, and bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

Bon Appetit!

BBQ Chicken Pizza Calzones

This recipes is so awesome Max and I can not get enough of it. It's warm, cozy and makes you realize pizza is so overrated. Eat up!

About a pound of cooked shreaded chicken
1 bottle of BBQ sauce (you can pick your favorite sauce I normally just use Kraft Original)
6 slices of cooked chopped bacon
1/2 sweet onion
1 bag of shreadded mozzerella cheese
2 Philsbury Crescent Recipes Creations Dough

Preheat 400

In a large pan saute onions, once onions are cooked add the cooked shreaded chicken and BBQ sauce.

On a lightly greased cookie sheet lay out Crescent Dough and gently stretch out. Add about a cup of the BBQ chicken mixture, sprinkle with bacon and top with a handful of cheese. Fold over dough (to make a half circle) and pinch ends together to seal -Ideally you want about an inch after to seal around the edges of the dough. On a second cookie sheet repeat for second Crescent Dough -if you do not have two cookie sheets then just make one at a time.

Bake for about 25 minutes, let cool then cut down the center of the calzone and size

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This recipe makes 2 9x5 loaves or about 15 muffins:

3 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of vegetable oil (or you can use a 1/2 cup of apple sauce, and 1/2 cup of veg. oil)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of grated Zucchini
2 oz. of Chocolate
2 cups of Flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon if baking soda
3/4 cups of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and melt two 1oz. squares of unsweet chocolate squares (my experience is DO NOT melt chocolate in microwave -this is a short cut that will not work in this recipe). The best way is to use a double broiler steaming pot to melt the chocolate.

Combine 3 eggs, 2 cups white sugar, 1 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 cups grated zucchini and melted chocolate.

Gradually Stir in 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 3/4 cup of chocolate chips.

Spoon muffin mix into muffin pans.

Muffins bake for 25-35 minutes; loaves bake for about 40-50 minutes. But these times seriously depend on your oven, so I would start checking with a toothpick after about 20 minutes.

Turkey Meatloaf

I am now a Meatloaf fan after making this... I promise you will be too.

1 lb. of Ground Turkey
1 package of about 4-5 spicy turkey saugages
1 chopped sweet Onion
1 cup of Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
1 can of chopped tomatos
1 chopped Zucchini
1 small can of tomato paste
1 beaten egg
2 teaspoons of oregano (or your fav. italian seasoning)
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic
1 cup of water
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350

Finely chop Sausages.

In a large bowl add ground turkey, chopped saugages, chopped onion, bread crumbs, zucchini, beatened egg, salt and pepper, oregano, garlic, water and Worcestershire sauce. Hand mix all ingredients (yup, that's right -get your hands dirty) and fill meat mixture into a loaf pan OR hand form meat into a loaf form in a baking pan. Bake meatloaf for 1 hour. In a small bowl add tomato paste, chopped tomatos, salt and pepper and mix -this is your healthier "ketcup" topping. At about 30 minutes evenly add tomato mixture on top of your meatload and bake for the remaining 30 mintues.

Baked Apple Dumplings

Okay... I must admit, this recipe is addicting so be ready. ;)

2 cups of peeled and chopped (into cubes) Granny Smith Apples
Half cup of Brown sugar
Half cup of White sugar
Half teaspoon of Nutmeg
1-2 teaspoons of Cinnamon
1 beaten egg
Smuckers Caramel Topping
2 Pepperidge Farm Flaky Pastry Sheets (1 box) (Pastry Sheet needs to sit out in room temp. for 40mins before beginning this recipe)
Vanilla Ice Cream
Half cup of bread crumbs

Preheat Oven to 425

In a medium bowl, add sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon and bread crumbs. Flatten out each pastry sheet and cut it in half on a diagnal -making them all a triangle. Brush each triangle with your beaten egg. Then, add cinnamon mixture to the center of your pastry triangle. Then add "about" a half cup of your cubed apples, topped with a drizzle of caramel, and then lightly topped with another small layer of your cinnamon mixture. Pull up your three sides of your triangle and pinch to seal shut while making a dumpling pyramid -this part takes some creativity... you can do it! :)

Once you have your dumpling pyramid sealed on all sides, brush the outside of your pastry with the rest of your beaten egg. Place your four dumplings on a cookie sheet. And bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degree for a remaing 25 minutes. Allow to cool and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.... drizzle ice cream and dumpling with caramel sauce and devour!

Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs

I love Spaghetti & Meatballs.... with a twist. Pasta can be so bad for you. But, this recipe makes it good for you with Fat Free Ground Turkey and Whole Wheat Pasta.

1 lb. of Ground Turkey
1 cup of shreadded low-fat Mozzarella Cheese
Half cup Whole Wheat Wrap/Pita/Bread crumbs
1 beaten egg
3 teaspoons of Worcestershire
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
Salt & Pepper to Taste
Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Your Favorite Red Pasta Sauce (My Fav. is Prego)

Preheat oven to 425 degree and boil a large pot of water for the spaghetti -add a few sprinkles of salt to your water to season your pasta.

In a large bowl, add turkey, cheese, bread crumbs, egg, worcestershire, garlic and salt and pepper and hand mix ingredients together (it's okay, get your fingers dirty and mince it all together with your hands). Roll golf sized meatballs and place about 12 on a greased cookie sheet.... normally I can get about two full batched of meatballs with this recipe. Bake meatballs for about 10 minutes.

While meatballs are baking, start heating up your red sauce in a large pan (make sure this pan has room for all of your red sauce and your meatballs). Your spaghetti water is probably boiling now, if so... add your pasta and cook. I find that whole wheat pasta takes a little longer to cook -although the box says 10-12 minutes, I always cook it for at least 15 minutes then drain.

As your meatball batches are done, transfer them right from the cookie sheet to your red sauce. Continue to heat your red sauce until bubbly, then your done!

Szechuan Asparagus

This is a great side dish with chicken and fish. I almost always pair it with my Szechuan Salmon.

Roughly 1 lb. of Asparagus
1/2 teaspoon of Minced Garlic
1/2 teaspoon of Ginger
1/3 cup of Soy Sauce
1/2 teaspoon of Red Pepper Flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste
Olive oil

Heat a medium sized skillet with a few splashes of olive oil, leave pan to allow pan to warm up. In a small bowl add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and stir. Add soy sauce mixture to heated skillet... it should make a small "sizzle" sound.

While your soy sauce mixture is heating up, cut the ends (about an inch) off of your asparagus, then cut your asparagus into half and add to your skillet. You want to "stir fry" your asparagus in your skillet for about 15 minutes. Try a piece for your perferred crunchiness/softness.

Eat Up! :)

Sweet Szechuan Salmon

I love this dish, it's light and sweet and I serve it with brown rice and my szechuan asparagus. Eat Up!

1lb. of Salmon filet
1 cup of Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon of Ginger
1 teaspoon of Powered or Jarred Mustard
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl add soy sauce, ginger, mustard, brown sugar and red flakes. Wisk together and set aside. Place salmon in a medium size baking dish, lightly drizzle olive oil over top of fish, then pour soy sauce mixture over fish and bake for 30-40 minutes.