Easy Olive Tapenade

This is a super easy recipe. I threw together 5 ingredients I had on hand into a food processor and that was it! Can be eaten with crackers and cheese, or as a marinade (which I ended up doing for my cod)

Ingredients-

1/2 of small onion

1 roasted red bell pepper

1 cup of green olives

1 clove of garlic

handful of cherry tomatoes

Steps:

1. Finely chop onion, bell pepper, green olives, tomatoes and garlic and place in a mixing bowl

2. Mix all the ingredients

3. Add some of the liquids from the container of green olives (about 1 tablespoon)

4. Add mixture into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds. You do not want it completely blended.

5. Place mixture into bowl and serve cold or room temperature*

Enjoy!

XOXO

* the longer the mixture sits, the better it will taste, but you do not have to wait for a couple of hours….eat it whenever you feel like it!

Arancini- Blue Cheese & Parmesan

I love risotto, I love cheese, and of course anything fried. So its a no brainer that I love arancini. The other night I decided to make my own rice balls that were stuffed with blue cheese and some with parmesan & pesto. I also made a homemade marinara sauce to go along with them. Here it is-

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce

1 can of Cento peeled tomatoes

Half of an onion, chopped

3 to 4 gloves of garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon of oregano

1/2 tablespoon of basil

1/2 tablespoon of onion powder

Rice Mixture

2 cups of cooked risotto (Cooled)

1/2 cup of Cento Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup of grated parmesan

1 egg, beaten

Blue Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Pesto

Vegetable Oil

Cast Iron skillet

1. Cook the arborio rice according to the package- or if you feel comfortable making your own rice, then do that. I tend to make my own, because when you cook according to the package, you do not always get the big flavors from garlic and white wine. (I posted a Risotto Recipe awhile back, look there for my recipe. Just don’t add any cream, butter or parmesan cheese once the rice is cooked).

2. Once the rice is cooked, put it into a large bowl and let it cool.

3. In the meantime, start the tomato sauce.

4. In a medium sauce pan on low heat, cook 3 to 4 gloves of chopped garlic and half a chopped onion. (You do not want to over cook the garlic and onions, just want them to be translucent).

5. After the garlic and onions are cooked, roughly 5 minutes, add in a can of Cento peeled tomatoes. Don’t be alarmed to see large chucks of tomatoes.

6. Let the tomatoes cook with the garlic and onions for 15 minutes.

7. Add in a tablespoon of oregano, 1/2 tablespoon of basil and 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder.

8. Using a potato masher, mash the tomatoes, so the sauce becomes smooth. (If you want it to be completely smooth, use a blender).

9. At this point the sauce is done, put the burner on the lowest setting to keep sauce warm while you make the rice balls

10. To the cooled rice, add in 1 beaten egg, 1/2 cup of seasoned italian bread crumbs, and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Mix it all together. Set aside.

11. Cut blue cheese into little chucks, as well as parmesan cheese.

12. Place a cup of bread crumbs on plate.

13. Grab a small amount of rice mixture (it will be very sticky, I found that when I put some bread crumbs in my palm and fingers, it made it easier to handle the mixture, or try wetting hands). Roll into a small ball, use finger to make a crater, place a chunk of either the blue cheese or parmesan cheese & pesto in divot.

14. Cover up cheese with the rice mixture and roll back into a ball. (Make sure to cover the cheese completely, or else it will melt out when you pan fry it). Roll in bread crumbs. Do this for the remaining mixture. I alternated between blue cheese and parmesan cheese & pesto, up to you what prefer.

15. Once all the rice rolled into balls, stuffed and dreged in bread crumbs place on a plate.

16. Heat an inch of vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.

17. Once oil is ready, place 4 to 5 rice balls in pan and cooked for 3 minutes on each side.

18. Take the fried arancini out of the oil and place on a paper towel. Cook the remaining rice balls.

19. Place a large spoonful of tomato sauce on a plate and place 4 arancini on top. Add a little more sauce on top, along with pesto and grated parmesan cheese. Serve hot!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Potato Pancakes- GLUTEN FREE

I remember years ago when I was much younger, my dad and I tried Rachael Ray’s recipe for potato pancakes. But for some reason we did not like how it came out- which was very odd because we loved her and were always pleased with her dishes.

Since then, I kind of forgot about it and never really tried making potato pancakes again, because I didn’t want to go through all the trouble. But last week I had a random craving for them. It was Labor Day, I had to babysit until well after dinner time and my family was a good family friends house for a BBQ.

Being home alone is great for me. I can create recipes and try things out without everyone coming into the kitchen asking me what am I doing, or sneaking a taste of whatever I might be making. So I decided to run to the store and grab 2 ingredients- Idaho potatoes and onions.

What I came up with was delicious and really easy. And only consisted of 4 ingredients (salt & pepper are always given). So here it is:

Ingredients- makes roughly 12 pancakes

1 Idaho potato
2 small yellow onions
6 to 7 tablespoons of GF flour
2 eggs, beaten
Salt to taste

Optional-

Apple Sauce

Fage Greek Yogurt (or sour cream)

1. Grate the potato with a hand grater and make sure to get the excess moisture out. Use a stack of paper towels and lay half of the grated potatoes onto of the stack of towels. Then place another small stack of paper towels on top and press down and squeeze the moisture out. Place the potato gratings in a bowl. Do the same with the other half of potatoes using new clean paper towels.

2. Grate 2 small onions on the hand grater and get the excess moisture out- do the same as the potatoes.

3. Once potatoes and onions are grated and the excess moisture is out- add in 2 beaten eggs. (beat eggs in a separate bowl and then pour into the potato and onion mixture.) Mix until everything is coated.

4. Add in 6 to 7 tablespoons of gluten free flour. I love using Trader Joe’s All Purpose GF Flour, but any all-purpose flour is fine (GF or not).

5. Mix it all up until the flour is coating everything.

6. Heat vegetable oil over medium in a cast-iron skillet. (Just enough is coat the pan)

7. Once oil is ready, place a small handful of potato mixture onto the pan.

8. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Sprinkle with salt when they come off the pan.

9. Serve with applesauce or Fage Greek Yogurt (I like 0% plain)

Enjoy!

xoxo

Homemade Tzatziki

I made some salmon filets for dinner tonight and realized I had all the ingredients for a yogurt sauce. So I decided to throw together my version of a tzatziki sauce while the fish was baking in the oven!

It ended up being reallllly really easy to make and it was perfect for the salmon. If you LOVEEEE garlic, like my family does, keep the amount I used, if you don’t like fresh garlic as much, just use half the amount! Here it is:

Ingredients-
1 cup Fage Greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded cucumber
1/4 cup of thinly sliced red onion
1 garlic clove, grated *
2 lemons (juice only)
Salt (to taste)
Dill

1. Throw everything into a medium bowl and mix! That’s it!

* I used a microplane to grate the garlic- I found that it was more like paste rather than using a grater which would make the garlic more minced…you want the garlic almost like a paste because then it mixes better and disappears in the yogurt, and you won’t get a chunk of garlic when you take a bite*

xoxo
Enjoy!

Fried Pickles

I’m slightly obsessed with fried pickles. Whenever it is on a menu, there’s a good chance I’ll be ordering it. I always said to myself that I’ll try making them one day, and today I finally did.

My friend is down in myrtle beach this week and sent me a picture of her fried pickles she got a BBQ restaurant. That picture inspired me to make them. Surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult at all. I only used THREE ingredients. Here it is-

Ingredients:

Large jar of dill pickle chips
1 cup of almond meal
1 egg white
Vegetable oil

1. Heat vegetable oil in a cast-iron pan, I used just enough to cover the pan

2. Whisk egg white in a small bowl and set aside

3. Measure a cup of almond flour and place in another bowl

4. Pat dill pickle chips dry with a paper towel

5. By now, the oil should be ready for frying. Place pickle in egg white and then immediately into the flour. Pat flour onto the pickle and shake the excess of.

6. Place the pickles into the pan of hot oil and fry on each side for a few minutes ( just until they’re golden brown).

7. Keep doing this until you have the amount of pickles you want!!!

ENJOY
xoxo

Dipping Sauce for Onion Rings or Potato Wedges- A MUST try!

When ever I make baked potato wedges, I always make my greek yogurt dip. I LOVE using Fage Greek Yogurt when I cook. I use it whenever sour cream is needed in a recipe. It is a lot more healthy, and honestly, I think it tastes better.

When I made onion rings, I figured my dip would be perfect with it. The recipe doesn’t call for much, just a few seasonings, along with the star ingredient. Here it is-

** Ingredients:

1 cup of plain Fage Greek Yogurt

1/8 a teaspoon of Chili Powder

1/8 a teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1/8 a teaspoon of Onion Powder

1/4 a teaspoon Seasoned Salt

1/8 a teaspoon of Paprika

Just mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and enjoy! Its that simple!

xoxo

** feel free to add different seasonings/change the amount of seasoning. I always do it a little different, so change it up depending on your mood!

Baked Onion Rings….YUM

Tonight I was in charge of making dinner for my younger sister and I. Something I have no problem doing because I volunteer to cook dinner all the time. I’ve been wanting to make onion rings for awhile now, and for some reason when I REALLLLLY want to make them, we never have onions. Of course. This time I made sure my dad got a bag of onions at the grocery store.

So when my parents told me dinner was up to me, I immediately texted my sister and said ill make pasta (cooked pasta, tossed it with homemade pesto, frozen peas, and sausage…came out delicious) and ONIONNN RINGSSSSSSS! (these were even better).

We are an italian family, so we have an insane amount of polenta, or ground cornmeal on hand at all times. I decided to use that as my coating, along with flour. This recipe is so simple, anyone can do it with their eyes closed. Here is how I did it:

Ingredients-

1 large onion

1 cup of polenta (cornmeal)

1/2 cup of flour

2 cups of buttermilk

4 egg whites

1. Cut ends of the onion, and slice the entire onion ( 1/4 inch thick)

2. Place onion rings in a deep dish and pour the 2 cups of buttermilk over them (make sure the rings are covered with the buttermilk). Let this sit for 15 minutes.

3. While onions are bathing in the buttermilk, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

4. Mix the cup of cornmeal with the 1/2 cup of flour, seasoning with salt and pepper

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the 4 egg whites

6. Grab a large cookie sheet and grease it

7. Take the rings out of the buttermilk, place in egg whites and then the cornmeal mixture. Coat completely and try to get excess mixture off and place on the cookie sheet.

8. Once all rings are coated with the cornmeal mixture, place cookie sheet in the oven for 20-25 minutes, flipping rings halfway through.

ENJOY

xoxo