eggplantblogpic1

A Mediterranean inspired Coponata dish recipe!

by with No Comment beautycharitycommunityfashion
For those of you out there on a cleanse, or if you’re gluten free, or vegan, this one’s for YOU! So the night Fr. Leo came over to cook up a storm, one of our friends was on a cleanse (I know right, I felt so bad that all this carb dense food was staring at him!) and my daughter is a gluten free vegetarian, soooo we had to make something that wasn’t all carbs and meat haha! This dish was refreshing to our palettes and diet friendly to our friends. Win win baby! So lets get cookin shall we! 


So this egg plant dish is creamy in texture, but not creamy in an ‘I hate textures and can’t eat that’ kind of way. It’s mineral-ly and smokey, and light enough that I could literally eat this every day. 

We had this in between courses while our food settled, and it was light enough to refresh us, yet satiating enough to keep us from going back for seconds on the other dishes. 

What you’ll need for this Coponata: 

– 1 eggplant
– 1 clove crushed garlic
– 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
– 1 teaspoon sea salt
– 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
– 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
– half of one finely diced red onion

So cut the tips off of the ends of the egg plant and slice the eggplant in half, horizontally. Then cube and cook them on very HIGH heat in 2 tablespoons of heated olive oil. Cooking this on high heat will allow the eggplant to blister which we want. You may drizzle the eggplant with extra olive oil if it’s not frying enough, perhaps you didn’t add enough at the beginning (this is what we experienced). You don’t want the eggplant to dry out so if using more olive oil is necessary, go for it. 

Then add in the fresh garlic and onion, crack some fresh pepper over top and add in the salt, and give it a toss. Drizzle the red wine vinegar over top once the onions are softened, this will de glaze the pan, and then add in some freshly cut parsley to top it all off before serving. ENJOY! Nom nom nommyyy! 

This is really really yummy for an appetizer too, light enough for it, and gets you ready for the other 5 courses! Please visit Grace Before Meals for more yummy recipes, and thanks again to Fr. Leo! 
Hope you enjoy this dish, I know we did! Be sure to tag me on Instagram and Twitter when you make it, I love seeing your spin on recipes! 

hugs all around, 

Jess
pastablogpic1

The yummiest pasta a la norcina recipe ever!

by with No Comment DIYfoodlifestyle
Yes, I dare say yummiest! This dish is a creamy Italian sweet sausage pasta sauce over al dente rigatoni, and it’s the comfort food to end all comfort foods. Deeeliishhh! It’s day 3 of our 6 courses in 6 days and this won’t fail to impress! So grab your vino and meet me in the kitchen! 

This dish takes you all the way to Italy and back again! Thanks to Fr. Leo for creating this 6 course meal in 1 day! So today is day 3 and you’ll find that the creaminess of this sauce meets the savory notes of the Italian sausage, and your taste buds and house guests won’t believe it’s real! It seems too good to be true, but it is… mind blown, I know.

So for the sweet sausage pasta sauce you’ll need: 

– sweet Italian sausage– 1/2 cup of finely chopped white onion
– one clove crushed fresh garlic
– white wine (compliments the sweetness of the sausage)
– pinch or two of crushed red pepper
– 2 tablespoons of salted butter
– 2 tablespoons of flour
– 1/2 cup finely cut fresh parsley 
– 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
– sea salt
– fresh cracked black pepper
– rigatoni pasta (cooked al dente)

Cut each Italian sausage length wise just deep enough so that you’re able to remove the outer casing. Drop the sausage into a sauce pan and cook on medium heat. As it cooks it will crumble a part, when you see the sausage is just about done, add in the onion and garlic. 

Stir. Then add in JUST enough white wine into the pot to cover the sausage and let the wine cook out over HIGH heat. It will boil, let it cook for about 7 minutes and then lower the heat. Slowly add in the flour (dusting it in) and stir, this will thicken the mixture. Add in your butter and fresh parsley, and then add in the heavy whipping cream and turn the heat to LOW so that you don’t cook the cream out.

Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and allow the mixture to come to a soft boil over LOW heat. 

Remove from heat after a few minutes of boiling, and then pour on top of a bed of al dente rigatoni pasta! Try not to get too addicted to this sauce and want to put it over everything! I know I did!

Sending out a big ol’ hug to Fr. Leo for making my bday night so incredible with all this food! 3 more days of this! Be sure to check out Grace Before Meals for more recipes and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow for another mouth watering recipe! 


Have a delicious kind of day yo!

xoxo

porkblogpic2

Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with mango chutney recipe!

by with No Comment DIYfoodlifestyle

Oh it tastes even better than it sounds! Welcome to day 2 of our, 6 courses in 6 days, menu extravaganza! Today we’re making a bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with rosemary and cumin, a top a bed of creamy coconut rice, and then topped with mango chutney! Mango chutney! I mean, I can’t even describe how delicious this dish is! When people came over I kept blurting out what it was before Fr. Leo even got a chance to plate it! So wipe the drool and grab a fork, here we go! 

So start the rice first so that by the time everything is prepared, you can just let it sit in the pot or in the rice cooker until you’re ready to plate this amazingness! The coconut rice is so complimentary to the savory bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, and the sweetness of the mango chutney just puts it right over the edge. This is great for a dinner get together, or in my case, a birthday dinner!

So for the coconut rice:
-2 1/2 cups cooked basmati brown rice (you can use whichever rice you prefer)
-1/2 can full fat coconut milk
-1 teaspoon sea salt
-1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
-1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Cook the rice how you normally choose to do and then when it is done, add in all of the spices and coconut milk and stir. Set this aside until everything is ready. 

For the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin: 
-Pork tenderloin
-4-5 slices bacon
-1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
-2 teaspoons rosemary (adds the woodsy- piney flavor)
-salt
-fresh cracked black pepper

Crack the pepper over the pork tenderloin, sprinkle on the cumin, rosemary, and sea salt, and rub it all into the tenderloin. 

Wrap the tenderloin in the bacon by laying out the bacon horizontally next to one another and then placing the rubbed tenderloin at one end of the bacon, and wrapping it to the other end until the tenderloin is fully wrapped in bacon. 

Pre heat your oven to 500 degrees and allow the tenderloin to cook for about 10 minutes and then drop the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 20-25 minutes until the bacon is nice and crisp. Set aside. 

Now it’s time for the topping, the mango chutney! You’ll need: 

-2 mangoes
-2 oranges
-red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup of VERY finely chopped red onion
-freshly chopped cilantro 
-freshly chopped parsley (this combined with the cilantro will be about 1/4 cup)
– 2 teaspoons sea salt
-cracked fresh black pepper
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (this cooks the onion down)

Cube the mango and scoop out the squares into a bowl. Add in the finely chopped onion, and the rest of the spices and herbs. Almost done! 

Now for the plating of it! Slice your tenderloin and place a few slices on top of a mound of coconut rice, and then top it with a generous scoop of the mango chutney and enjoy devour! This is what it will look like! Mmmmm mmm mmmmmm!!!

This dish was sweet and savory, had a tropical twist with the coconut notes in the rice, and filling but not enough to where you’re gonna want to un button that top fly button! Give this a try and when you do tag me on Instagram and Twitter so I can drool over this food porn photo! I mean, I think this is by far one of my most favorite dishes ever. So tropical, so yummy, so enjoy!!!

Big huuuge thank you to Fr. Leo for coming out and cooking for us all, check out his site, he’s the best cook! I mean he beat Bobby Flay!!!!! haha 😉 http://gracebeforemeals.com/


Love to you, 

Jess


asiansliders1

Asian Sliders With Homemade Cilantro Aioli Recipe!

by with No Comment DIYfoodlifestyle
It’s cook out season! The air is cooler and fresher, and it stays warmer out longer, thanks to Mr. Sun not going away too quickly these days. So what better way to kick off the weekend than with an Asian slider recipe on toasted buns, and home made cilantro aioli! So it was my birthday last week and our dear friend Fr. Leo came by to treat some friends and I to this incredible 6 course meal! So grab your appetite and lets start cookin because today is day one of six!

I’ll be giving you one recipe daily so that each night you’ll have a treat to cook! These were incredible! I mean Fr. Leo did beat Bobby Flay!!! Haha, can’t wait for you all to make these! 6 courses in 6 days! So hold on to something because these are amazing! They were crunchy yet moist, salty yet sweet, refreshing AND satiating!

So what’ll you’ll need for the Sliders: 

1 TBLspoon Olive Oil
1/2 White Onion
Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
1 TBLspoon Garlic Powder
1 tspspoon Ground ginger
2 TBLspoons brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce 
Ground beef (I used 80/20 lean portion)

Saute half of a finely chopped white onion in olive oil, then roll it into the ground beef, add in all the spices, and fry on a pan. You’ll fry them dry since there’s fat in the beef so no oil is necessary.  

For the bun, simply take some hot dog buns and cut them in half, this makes them ‘mini’ buns. Then drizzle the inside halves with olive oil and lightly sprinkle them with sea salt, and bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes. Just until they are crisp (not burnt) and set aside. 

For the aioli: 
2 cups mayo
3 TBLspoons sea salt
Sprinkle of fresh cracked black pepper
1 1/2 TBLspoons old bay seasoning
2 Teaspoons garlic powder
Fresh Cilantro (de-leaf whole, you’ll want the leaves to top off the sliders)

Mix all of the ingredients (except for the cilantro) together in a bowl and whisk well. Put each slider onto a toasted mini bun, swipe on some aioli, sprinkle with the fresh cilantro leaves and ENJOY!!! Badabinggg badaboom!!!

This recipe is so incredibly delicious and if you make it for a dinner party or get together you WILL be the coolest and best cook at the party! So give these a try and let me know what you think! 

Tag me on Instagram and Twitter when you do! Here’s another photo of the yumminess you’ll put in your tummy, and of the night Fr. Leo cooked for myself and 9 of my loves! Check out the site for more recipes including the original one of this one! 



Happy week to you! 

xo

J