I enjoy making my own pizza every other month or so, as delivery pizza is like crack to me and I eat it nonstop at every meal until it’s all gone. So I’ll make my own, as the store bought pizza dough tends to be like flat-bread style, therefore making it healthier. Here is a delicious pizza that I just made, inspired by Craig’s big bushel of basil that he was going to throw away until I stole it back to my apartment.

Ingredients

Store bought pizza dough

Fresh mozzarella

1/3 pound parma prosciutto

bushel of basil (approx 2-3 cups)

1/2 cup walnuts (or pine nuts, but pine nuts are expensive so I subbed in walnuts)

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange walnuts on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, checking frequently.

2. Wash basil leaves and pull them off stems.

3. Process toasted walnuts, basil, olive oil, and parmesan cheese in a food processor until walnuts and basil leaves are broken down. A few small walnut pieces may be leftover. That is your pesto. You can use this for any recipe, but let’s make some yummy pizza.

4. Set oven to temperature stated on your pizza dough wrapper. Brush a little bit of olive oil on the top of the crust.

5. Spread pesto mixture over the pizza. Season with salt.

6. Spread the mozzarella on the crust, after slicing the mozz into thin slices. I cover the entire pizza, but with small spaces in between each cheese slice.

7. Spread the prosciutto over the mozzarella, also covering the entire pizza.

8. Bake according to pizza wrapper directions.

ENJOY!

Other ideas for your pesto, because you’ll have some left.

a) Spread over crostini, top with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes

b) Spread over bread for a unique alternative to butter/jam/cream cheese

c) Add cream to pesto in a sauce pan, toss with pasta and any other ingredient (i.e. chicken, broccoli) for a restaurant worthy pasta dinner

I just recently got into quinoa and I love it. It tastes like a grain, similar to cous cous, but quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard. . You can substitute it for any starchy side dish, but unlike wheat or rice, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids, making it a complete protein source. This recipe makes a huge portion, which gives you a healthy, protein-rich snack or meal whenever you want it for 1-2 weeks.

Ingredients:
I box guinoa
I pepper, color of your choice (i.e. Red, yellow)
I onion
3 celery stalks
I can of red kidney beans
I can of canellini beans
Hot sauce
Fresh feta cheese
Olive oil or Pam spray
Salt and paper

Directions:
1. Start making the quinoa on the oven, as directed on the box.
2. Chop/slice the pepper, onion, and celery to sizes of your liking (I quartered the onion and pepper and then sliced them. I cut my celery into thin slices).  Sautee the 3 veggie ingredients on the stove with the olive oil or pam spray until the onions start to show brown marks (approx. 10 minutes). Season with salt and pepper during the process.
3. Finish cooking the quinoa. Add the quinoa and veggies. Drain the cans of beans and add beans to the mixture. Mix well.

4. Add hot sauce, salt, and pepper to your liking.
5. I serve with fresh feta cheese on top. You can also use this salad as a base for dinner with a grilled chicken breast, pork chop, etc.

Ingredients

The protein of your choice. I used 1 packet of lean turkey meat but regular ground beef, chicken or shrimp works too.

Carrots, chopped

2 stalks of Celery, thinly chopped

1 red pepper, sliced

1 white onion, sliced

3 14-oz cans of broth (beef broth if turkey beef or ground beef, chicken stock if using chicken or shrimp)

1 can low fat coconut milk

2-3 tablespoons of red curry paste

Salt, white pepper, curry powder

Directions:

1. Cut vegetables

2. Brown the meat/chicken/etc on the stove with the onions. Add the mixture to a pot or slow cooker.

3. Add all other ingredients in a soup pot or slow cooker. Season with salt, white pepper, and curry powder.

I used the slow cooker since I was going to be out all afternoon.

Easy, flavorful, healthy, and I had TONS of leftovers!

Gravy is so easy to make once you figure out the necessary ingredients (butter, stock, seasoning, milk, corn starch). I don’t measure anything while making the gravy or the mashed potatoes, but I estimated the measurements to make it easier for someone’s first time. After that, you can just eyeball it to make a delicious gravy and mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

4-6 pork cutlets (depending on how many people or how many leftovers you want)

flour

chicken stock

margerine and cooking spray

half a pack of mushrooms, chopped

corn starch

kosher salt, pepper, Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Magic Seasoning Blend, thyme, chili powder

as many sweet potatoes as you want, I used 4 large ones

skim or lowfat milk

Directions:

Mashed Sweet Potatoes 

1.  Start the potatoes first because they take awhile to cook. Boil a large pot of water. I enjoy sweet potato skin so I peeled stripes down the sides of the potatoes. You can peel them all if you don’t want any skin.

2. Cut the potatoes into pieces so that they will cook faster in the boiling water. Put in and cover the pot.

2. Cook the pork while the potatoes boil.

3. Once the potatoes are soft enough to mash, strain out the water. Mash with a large fork or spaghetti server. Add 2 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup of milk, Season with salt and pepper. Add more butter if you so choose.

Pork Dish

1. Season both sides of pork with poultry magic, salt, and pepper.

2. Pour some flour on a plate. Dredge each cutlet in flour. Shake off excess.

3. Spray a thick layer of cooking spray on a pan large enough to fit all the cutlets. Add cutlets. Cook on each side about 7 minutes or until cooked through but not burnt, spraying more cooking spray when you flip the cutlets. Preheat oven to 150 degrees.

4. Spray a cooking dish/pyrex. Put cutlets on and stick in the oven. At this time, I was able to mash and season my potatoes and set them aside, covered.

5. Using the pan the pork cooked in, melt two tbsp of butter. Add 1 cup of chicken stock and mushrooms.

6. Take 1/2 cup of chicken stock and stir in 2 tbsp of corn starch until completely smooth. Stir into the chicken stock/butter mixture. It should begin to thicken up like a gravy.

7. Stir in 1/3 cup of milk

8. Season with thyme, salt, pepper, chili powder.

9. Take the pork dish out of the oven. Stir in the pork juice from the baking dish into the gravy.

10. Place the pork in the gravy and flip so that both sides are covered.

Serve with the potatoes and a veggie. Enjoy! And this makes for delicious leftovers.

Here’s the recipe Craig and I made last night with this delicious salmon his friend caught and had shipped from Alaska. We have made this dinner 3 or 4 times, we enjoy it so much. It’s from Paula Deen.

Ingredients:

Salmon

1 lime

butter/margerine

box of plain favored couscous

feta (I used fat free)

bundle of scallions

3 small tomatoes

salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

To prepare salmon:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cooking sheet with Pam and put salmon on the pan. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place pats of butter sporadically around the salmon and squeeze lime juice onto the salmon. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

To prepare couscous:

Chop tomato and scallion. Prepare couscous as directed on the box. Put a little scallion and tomato aside with some feta. Add the rest of the tomato, scallion, and as much feta as you want. Mix.

To serve:

Sprinkle the extra scallion, tomato, and feta over the salmon. Service on top of couscous. I put some hot sauce on the couscous and make steamed broccoli for the side.

Healthy and yummy! I like the leftover couscous mix cold the next day.

I made this delicious dinner last night and it was so good I had to share it with you guys right away.

Ingredients: 

4 pork chop/cutlets

1 fennel

1/2 large red onion

1 can cannellini beans

olive oil

oregano

Chef Paul Prudhommes Poultry Magic seasoning (optional)

red wine vinegar

1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

1. Cut the 1/2 of a large red onion into strips. Cut the fennel bulb (the edible part) like an onion. I chopped it but into medium-large size pieces.

2. In a large sautee pan, sautee the onion and fennel in olive oil for around 10 minutes, until they are soft and starting to caramelize.

3. Sprinkle pork chops with Poultry Magic seasoning (optional). Move the fennel and onion around so that you can place pork chops directly onto the pan.

4. Add chicken stock. Shake red wine vinegar onto pork chops and onto veggies. Use sparingly, a little goes a long way. Sprinkle oregano, salt and pepper on everything.

5. Flip pork chops when cooked through. Sprinkle red wine vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper on that side of the pork chops. Add beans after straining out half of the liquid.

6. Cook for another 10-15 minutes on low.

7. Serve with roasted garlic couscous and steamed broccoli. YUMBO!!

How to Refrigerate Leftovers

Put leftover couscous in a tupperware. Pour everything from sautee pan on top. Brocolli on the side. The sauce soaks into the couscous overnight and it is super tasty.