Category Archives: Sunday Supper Series

Roasted Chicken & Goat Cheese

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Last night Luke and I were craving some goat cheese. If you haven’t eaten this type of cheese before, you are missing out! I’ve had friends who were picky eaters try it and fall in love with it’s savory taste and soft texture.

Typically I’ll stuff chicken breasts with it and top them off with a basil leaf, but for some reason a breast of chicken didn’t appeal to me. I decided to use a whole rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. This is really my favorite way to eat this meat because it’s so tender, juicy and flavorful. Plus you get a ton of food with no hassle.

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Luke beat me with the better half of the wish-bone!

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I seasoned the chicken with a little oregano and heated it up in olive oil. Then I added some organic (5 grams of sugar or less too) marinara sauce and ample bits of fresh goats cheese.

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I baked it for about 10 minutes at 325 until the goat cheese was soft and the marinara was bubbling. We paired ours with red cabbage sautéed in a lot of butter and sea salt.

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This is a SUPER easy preparation of chicken that was incredibly flavorful. It would be perfect for any busy weeknight.

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I hope you all have a great week! I’ll be posted about some fabulous weddings I recently attended later this week. :)

Lamb Loin Chops and Spaghetti Squash

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We recently bought a Groupon for $20 for $40 of groceries at Fox & Obel, and decided to use it on some really good cuts of meat. We landed on the lamb loin chops, which certainly did not disappoint.

I did a really simple preparation of the lamb using ingredients we had around the apartment starting with a garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper “rub.”

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I then seared the lamb in some olive oil for two minutes on each side, until the outside was brown and charred. After setting the meat aside to rest, I added some more olive oil, minced garlic and onions – making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get up any of the left behind fat.

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Once the onions were cooked, I added a bit more olive oil, water and a pinch of flour to thicken up the sauce. Then I returned the chops to the pan, coverd and simmered on low heat for 30-40 minutes.

While the meat was cooking, I worked on the spaghetti squash. If you haven’t seen this vegetable before, it’s usually found in the produce section near the other squash. Here’s what is looks like…

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Cooking spaghetti squash is really simple. Just cut it in half and cook (with the inside part on the greased pan) for 40 minutes. Once cooled, take a fork and scrape the inside of the squash so you get “spaghetti.”

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The shredded squash tastes surprisingly a LOT like real pasta. With just 42 calories per cup it is so much healthier than spaghetti. You can cook the squash with any sauce, toppings or seasonings you like. I chose crispy pancetta, butter and plain old S&P.

I had to include one food-porn shot of the pancetta cooking. YUMMMM

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The results were perfectly tender, juicy lamb and “al dente” spaghetti squash with lots of savory, salty pancetta. I only wish there was more meat on the lamb! I could have eated it all night.

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I think I found my favorite vegetable…spaghetti squash is awesome! Have you guys tried it before?

Macadamia Nut Sea Bass with Mango Cream Sauce

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Last night I broke into some of our new wedding presents to make dinner for Luke and his brother Matt. It’s so nice to have shiny, new pots, pans and plates to play with!

The menu for last night was some wild sea bass coated with a macadamia nut crust, topped with a mango cream sauce. Luke and I had some amazing macadamia nuts in Maui, and I’ve been craving a dish with the same tropical flavors since we’ve been home.

I started out by making the macadamia nut crust in our food processor. It took about a half cup of copped nuts, a tablespoon of olive oil, some red pepper flakes and pepper.

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Next I got the mango cream sauce ready. This sauce is very easy and really makes the entire meal. It’s sweet, rich and pairs perfectly with the macadamia nuts. Just chop half a ripe mango, combine it with 1/2 a cup heavy cream and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it thicken until your fish is ready.

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The last step to this easy recipe is to cook the fish. I started by seasoning it with salt and pepper and then searing it on medium-high heat in a skillet with some olive oil and crushed garlic. Once seared on each side, I transferred the fish to the oven, which was pre-heated to 350, to cook for another 8-10 minutes.

Once cooked through, I topped each filet with the macadamia nut topping and returned it to the oven until the crust was slightly brown.

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I topped each finished fish with a good heaping of the mango cream sauce and added some of our fav veggies: green beans and swiss chard.

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This fish was scrumdiddlyumptious! I would definitely recommend the crust and mango cream sauce, which can be paired with any type of fish from salmon to tilapia.

For dessert, I tested out my springform pan Luke’s sister gave me by making a chocolate-orange cheesecake. It turned out amazing, although it’s hard to go wrong with cheesecake. I got the recipe from the “I Love Cheesecake” cookbook that came along with the pan.

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Enjoy!

Meatza

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Luke here. About a month and a half ago I was reading my favorite blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, which I read…daily. I’ve been on the lookout for healthy alternatives to our favorite foods, and when Mark put a link to this recipe from one of my other favorite bloggers, Justin Owings of  Birthday Shoes, I knew we had a winner.

Birthday Shoes is a Vibram FiveFingers fan blog – definitely not where I typically turn for new food ideas, but buyoff from two of my favorite bloggers is enough for me to give it a shot.

Liz makes some amazing pizza, and one of our favorite restaurants in Chicago is Pequod’s, but we’ve been shunning most refined carbs for quite a while now. The big selling point of the recipe I had found was that it was for a pizza recipe with no bread – and we’re not talking about some cheese and pepperoni heated up in a bowl either. This was a MEATza.

A meatza is a vegetarian’s worst nightmare. It is a pizza where the crust is literally made out of ground beef. A LOT of ground beef. Like 8 quarter pounders worth. In other words, it was perfect.

I immediately recommended it to Liz, but she had other ideas…and more ideas…then a few more ideas…then some final ideas…and 6 weeks later I still hadn’t had any meatza. So last weekend, after spending all day Saturday and half the day Sunday with Liz stressing over placecards, programs, table seating, etc., etc., I knew this was going to be my big chance to finally feast on some meatza.

I gently asked, “Honey, why don’t you let me handle dinner for your Sunday Supper Series.” I took her dejected grunts as confirmation of her desire to also enjoy some meatza.

I picked up two pounds of 90/10 free range ground beef, an onion, garlic, green pepper, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese , and Trader Joe’s pizza sauce. In total, I spent about $20, although I already had the rest of the spices and parmesan cheese to follow the recipe.

IMG_1138I basically followed Justin’s (BirthdayShoes.com) recipe exactly, so I won’t repeat it. You can find the recipe here. The only differences:

  • I didn’t have nearly as much grease as to drain off as Justin describes, which might be from using 90/10 ground beef rather than the 80/20 that Justin uses. I think 90/10 was perfectly sufficient though because you add a lot of spices to the meat already so it is still packed with plenty of flavor.
  • I nixed the garlic salt since I had already added 3 cloves of minced garlic as toppings.
  • Liz hates fungus, so no ‘shrooms.

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Liz and I each had a piece and a half of the pie, which seems pretty weak until you consider that we each ate about 3 quarter pounders worth of beef (+topppings). From that perspective (and the fact that even Liz went back for seconds) testifies to the deliciousness of the meatza.

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