Almost everything I’ve cooked over the past couple months I have found here. This time, however, I’d like to share a recipe of my own. I rarely post my own “recipes” because I don’t really consider them recipes. There’s nothing special or unique about them. I just throw stuff together and hope it’s tasty. But that’s what cooking I guess, right? So here’s what I had for breakfast yesterday.

ingredients
3 eggs
1 avocado
1/2 to 1 Idaho or russet potato
Manchego cheese
Sriracha
salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. I like sunflower or safflower oil, but whatever. Do as you please.

2. Process potato in food processor and throw into skillet. I use the side that chops it into strings, not the crescent-shaped slicer part. I’m not really sure how long I cooked them, but don’t mix them up too much or else they won’t get crunchy.

3. Meanwhile, scramble eggs and mix grated Manchego cheese. I didn’t have milk, but you could definitely add milk as well to make them fluffier. Also salt and pepper would be good here.

4. Remove hashbrowns to plate and scramble the eggs. Depending on how much oil is left in the skillet, you may not have to re-grease it.

5. Place scrambled eggs on top of hashbrowns and top them with sliced avocado and drizzled Sriracha. I also added a little salt and pepper at the end.

Super easy, super filling. Enjoy!

Also, I realized that it may be easier if I list the ingredients on my post, in addition to linking to the website. I usually also change the ingredients when I cook. So here we go!
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 onion
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1/2 lbs mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup sour cream

1. Combine meat, bread crumbs, spices, and eggs and milk in a bowl. Simple enough.

2. Make 2″ meatballs. Obviously you can make them any size you want – it will just change the amount of time you cook them.

3. In a large pot, saute onions in oil, then add meatballs. The recipe says to brown them, but I hate cooking things too long, and so I cooked them until they were *mostly* brown.

4. Add broth, bring to boil, then simmer for 25 minutes; add mushrooms in last 5 minutes. The original recipe calls for bouillon, but it’s basically the same thing, right?

5. Turn off heat, add sour cream and parsley. Mix it up and cover while you cook egg noodles.

YUM!

Maybe next week I’ll try something new, but we’ll see!

As a kid I always liked minestrone. It’s simple and has macaroni. As an adult, however, I haven’t had it much. So when I searched YumSugar for soups, minestrone had not crossed my mind this winter. But crispy chickpeas and bacon sounded too good. The only problem I had is that, since I kept the soup all week, all the pasta and whatnot absorbed the broth. Still amazing and delicious.

First, I know it’s totally insane, but I forgot to buy bacon. So…there was no bacon in my soup.
1. In a large pot, saute carrots, celery, and onion until soft, then add garlic for one minute. I’m sure it will taste especially yummy sauted in bacon fat.

2. Add thyme, rosemary, chicken stock, kidney beans, chickpeas, and 1 tsp salt, bring it to a boil, then add pasta and turn down to medium-high heat for about 12 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Keep it at a “low boil.”

3. Stir in chicken, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm until toppings are ready. That’s another thing I really like about this soup recipe: it doesn’t take as long as other ones.

4. Heat oil in small pan over medium-high heat, dry chickpeas and kidney beans, then add to pan and cook until brown and crispy. It’s really not that difficult, but it’s totally worth it. And if you have some bread crumbs, it wouldn’t hurt to toss some of those onto the beans.

5. For the bread: tear it up into cubes, toast in oven at 275 degrees until dry, then heat oil in pan and brown the bread. Making your own croutons for the soup should also not be underestimated.

Top your bowl of soup with garnishing and some cheese and you’re ready to rock and roll!

My favorite thing about these quiche recipes is the absence of a crust. It makes them less intimidating I think.

preheat oven to 375 F and grease a quiche pan.

1. Heat oil in pan over medium high heat, then brown sausage, put aside, then saute spinach in same pan until wilted. Easy, right? Right.

2. Press spinach in colander to drain excess water, then line the bottom of the pan with it, and top with sausage and cubed cheese. I chose not to drain the spinach, but I probably should have. I also used colby cheddar as my cheese, and it was a prime choice.

3. Whisk together milk, butter, eggs, and spices, pour over sausage and cheese, then bake for 30-35 minutes. Easy shmeasy.

Give it a try, m’kay?

And, of course, I got really excited about the vegetables and made too many to put in the pan with the bread and chicken.

I don't know if you can tell, but the amount of veggies in the wok could entirely fill that baking pan. and then some.

But no matter. I saved the extra veggies and I’ll put them over pasta.

preheat oven to 350F.

1. Place bread cubes in an ungreased baking sheet/pan and toast in oven for 10 minutes. I wasn’t really sure what “bread cubes” were, but I got whole wheat mini hamburger buns at the grocery store that work fine.

2. Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat, then saute onions and brussel sprouts until soft, then add asparagus, then mushrooms, stirring occasionally. I had so many vegetables that I used my wok, which was awesome. Also, I cut up the chicken and cooked it in the oven when I started cooking the vegetables.

3. In a greased pan, spread bread cubes, vegetables, and chicken. Right? Easy.

4. In a blender, mix eggs, milk, and dill, then pour in pan, top with cheese, and bake for 40 minutes. Also easy.

Let it cool for 5 minutes and enjoy! Really delicious, really simple, really filling, and really…delicious.

Also…I ate all of it without taking a picture. Instead, here’s a picture of someone rolling around in a gigantic hamster ball in a tank of water in a mall. It was a weird moment to stumble upon.

whaaaa?

1. In large pot, saute red onion, garlic, and spices over medium heat until browned. Yup. Simple enough.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend black beans, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup broth. I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned, but I always try to use fresh ingredients. Also, I used the remainder of my chicken broth from last week’s recipe Pork Medallions with Vegetables.

3. Add puree to large pot and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. I mean, seriously. Easy shmeasy.

I can’t simplify this recipe more than Cathy at Noble Pig already has. It’s delicious and easy and you should make it.

Is it a beer? Is it a meal? It's a root beer float!

That’s right. I went to the Wrecking Bar to kick of Oktoberfest. They’ve got some really amazing stuff on tap right now, which they brew onsite. They also brew their own delicious root beer, as you can see above. A perfect dessert.

Yesterday I tried a recipe from my Southern Living 1988 Annual Recipes cookbook: Medallions of Pork with Vegetables. I was somewhat intrigued by the tomato sauce it suggests, so I made it. It’s pretty good. It also recommends I make these special grits (for which they provide the recipe), but instead I just made grits with some parmesean cheese. Still delicious.

It may not look as appetizing as the root beer float, but still quite delectable.

ingredients
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups Chablis or other dry white wine (I don’t ever cook with wine, mostly because I do my grocery shopping on Sundays, and in Georgia, you can’t buy alcohol)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp butter (WTF? Just add some butter)
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 1-lb pork tenderloins
2 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini
1 cup brussel sprouts
oil
(I did my veggies differently than the recipe did. Go figure.)

pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
1. Simmer chicken broth until reduced to 1/2 cup, set aside, then simmer wine in separate sauce pan until also reduced to 1/2 cup, then set aside. I simmered the chicken broth in the same big pan I used to cook the pork.

2. In a small sauce pan, melt butter over low heat, add tomato paste, cook over medium heat until smooth and dark, then add wine and broth. I never got the tomato paste to be really smooth. Whatever.

3. Cut pork tenderloins into medallions (~2 ounces). Since I only cook for 1 (to last through the week), I only used 1 pork tenderloin.

4. Heat oil in large ovenproof pot/skillet until very hot, saute pork for 1-2 minutes, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Easy shmeasy. Also, see why I used the same pan for simmering broth that I do pork? Less dishes to clean!

5. Meanwhile, chop vegetables, coat lightly in oil, salt, and pepper, then saute in big skillet until tender. This may be the time to cook your rice or grits or whatever else you’re serving with the pork.

My general philosophy with vegetables is that you need to cook them to your liking. I’ll save that though for another time. Enjoy!

a gigantic mountain of brussel sprouts and beets! sooo delicious.

I will being grilling almost anything I can until it’s too cold to feel my fingers.
1. Cut up chicken pieces and coat them in flour. Simple.

2. Heat oil in pot, lightly brown chicken, then remove chicken and set aside. Also simple.

3. Brown onions and mushrooms to pot, add tomato soup, then fill soup can halfway with water and add to pot. Easy.

4. Add sour cream, spices, and chicken to pan, then cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Yum.

Serve over some egg noodles or rice and devour.

BBQ, veggies, drink, thumbs up.

I’ve been using my grill non-stop since it’s about to get cold, and it’s much faster than cooking in an oven. I think. At least it doesn’t make my small kitchen a million degrees.

It seems so long ago that we did this, but here’s what I think we did with the ribs:

1. Mix marinade for ribs. We bought a basic bbq sauce from Kroger, then mixed it with brown sugar, thai chili, and sriracha. Make it all Asian-like. Ultimately this is your BBQ, so do whatever the fuck you please.

2. Slather ribs in bbq sauce, sprinkle salt and pepper over ribs, and marinate overnight. My man bought me a sampler pack of nice salts, so we used one of those.

3. Turn on the grill and warm it up, then lay the ribs on the grill fat-side down. Mmm. Fat.

4. After ~12 minutes, turn ribs over and grill for another 5 minutes. Like most of my recipes, I’m not one for exact times. Just grill until it looks deliciously edible, then wait another couple minutes to make sure it’s cooked through.

Yum.