Caprese Bread Pudding

Mmmmmm.... This is what I had for breakfast this morning!

And dinner last night.

And what I may be making again tomorrow.

Don't judge. You know you do the same thing!

Caprese Bread Pudding

1/2 loaf day old french bread, torn into small pieces

1/2 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

10-20 basil leaves, chopped or torn

3-4 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil, divided

3/4 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

 4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Salt and Pepper

Use some Olive Oil to grease a small casserole pan or 9x9 square pan. Arrange the bread evenly.

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a small saute pan to medium heat. Put in the tomatoes and saute for 3-4 minutes. The skins of the tomatoes should start to get wrinkly. Stir in the basil and remove from the heat immediately. Pour over the bread and sprinkle with the cheese.

Whisk the egg and milk together with a little salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour the egg and milk mixture evenly over the bread and tomatoes. Let sit for about 20 minutes.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check it at about 20 minutes, the egg should be nice and fluffy and the bread should be browned and starting to get a little crispy. 

Red Pepper Bruschetta Pasta

Today's post was supposed to be a marinaded chicken skewers. But I did not get to go to the grocery store so there was no marinade. So I am sharing what I had for lunch yesterday instead. Marinaded chicken breasts soon.

Microwave Pasta Meal- Redo

1 pkg Microwave pasta meal

3-4 mini meatballs

Red Pepper Bruschetta*

1 tsp Italian Herb Olive Oil

Microwave your pasta according to the directions, but save the sauce for another time. Stir the pasta. Toss on the mini meatballs and the Bruschetta and pop it back in the microwave for 30-40 seconds. Drizzle with the Italian Herb Olive oil.

I had some crackers on hand, but it's probably better with bread!

*Bruschetta available in store or by phone only. Sorry!

Sausage and Kale with Cheese

March is winding to a close. Spring is upon us, and little flowers are coming up all over. Only too be eaten by hungry bunnies.

But it is still chilly at times, and the gusty winds of March have softened, but not stopped. So I am warming up with some comfort food.

I chose to only warm up a little and used mild sausage for this and cheddar cheese. But you can turn the heat up as far as you like with hot sausage. And you can take my mother's suggestion and add in hot habanero cheese. Phew!

Sausage and Kale with Cheese Sauce

1 pkg Italian sausage, spicy or mild, your call
2-3 cups fresh kale, rinsed and roughly chopped
1/2 - 3/4 cup shredded cheese, your choice
2 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
pinch of cumin

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Skin the sausage and break it up into the pan. Saute, stirring occasionally, until it is just about done. This should be around 10-15 minutes, but just check to make sure that most of the pink is gone.

Add the kale and cheese, stirring to fully incorporate. Now add the cumin and salt and pepper. Cover and let cook until the kale wilts and the cheese is completely melted, 2-3 minutes.

Tilapia and Fresh Herbs

Since I made meatballs the other day, I have extra parsley on hand. And when I have extra parsley, I like to fry it crispy. That may sound like a strange thing to do, but I love cooking with it and my favorite bits have always been the slightly burned bits. I figure, I am the cook, why don't I make it all that way and have a big pile of crispy awesome?

So I do that. And It's great. I like to pair it with fish because the contrast in the textures is just great.

Today, I paired my crispy parsley with some tilapia and other greenery. Yum.

Tilapia with Fresh Herbs

4 tilapia fillets

1cup curly parsley, rough chopped

1 red onion, diced

1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped

4 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil

Salt 

Warm the olive oil in a large saute pan. Place in the tilapia fillets. Saute about 3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan.

Keeping the heat on medium, add in the onions and the herbs. Keep everything moving so you don't over brown anything. Sprinkle on some salt to taste. Cook until the edges of the parsley start to crisp.

Spoon over fish.

Serve with whole wheat couscous or brown rice.

Chicken with Artichokes and Wine

This recipe is for my mother. She has recently discovered artichoke hearts. Years past, she would never eat them. She thought they looked funny.Then she had them on a salad and that was that. Artichoke love!


Chicken with Artichokes & Wine

4 chicken breasts
1 cup white wine
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 small can artichoke hearts
2 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil
1-2 tbsp brown or raw sugar
2 tbsp bottarga pate

Heat the Italian Herb Olive Oil in a pan to medium high. Add the chicken breast, bottarga pate and the onion. Saute until the chicken begins to brown. Preheat your oven to 375degrees.

Transfer to a casserole pan. Distribute the artichoke hearts around the chicken and pour in the wine. Sprinkle everything with the brown sugar.

Bake for 25-35 minutes.

Serve with Rice Pilaf.

Toasted Crostini with Eggplant and Mushroom Appetizer

I served this at Christmas with the appetizers. It's so simple, I think I'm bringing it to a New Years party too.

Toasted Crostini

1 long baguette
1/4 cup Olive Oil
    I like Zesty Onion* with this, or just Italian Herb
1-2 tbsp Italian Table Blend spices

Slice the baguette into thin slices. Heat the oven to 350degrees. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with the spices.

Bake about 7 minutes. But watch them, mine took about 6 minutes. My sister-in-law made these, but her oven took almost 10 minutes. They should be golden brown.

Serve with the Mushroom and Eggplant* appetizer.

*Available in stores or by phone right now. The olive oil will be up soon.

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce and Pasta

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce with Pasta

1 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped
1 28oz can plum tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup basil leaves, torn into pieces or
       2 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp Traditional Balsamic
1 pkg twisty pasta, I used our Maestri Pastai Torchietti

Cook the pasta and set aside. Keep warm.

Heat the Olive Oil in a large pan over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted peppers and cook 1 minute.

Crush in the the canned tomatoes and the sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the tempurature to medium and let simmer about 10minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the herbs.

Let cool slightly. Pour into your blender or food processor(leave your vent open!) and pulse until mostly smooth. If you have an immersion blender, that would be even better.

Stir in the balsamic vinegar and serve!

Sausages with Grapes

This recipe is something I found to cook just for me. I was unsure about the pairing of grapes with sausage, but don't let that scare you off. It's awesome! So nice and savory. This will be making it into rotation on the days my husband works late. And if adding grapes to sausage is great, I wonder what I can do with grapes and chicken?

Sausage with Grapes and Onions
Adapted from Oui, Chef

2 packages Italian sausage, any kind.
1 large vidalia onion, thinly sliced
3-5 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil
4 tbsp Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
2/3 cup vegetable broth
1 large bunch seedless red grapes
Oregano for topping

Heat 1-2 tbsp Italian Herb Olive Oil over medium high heat. Prick the sausages though with a fork. This will keep them from bursting their skins. Add them to the pan and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Remove sausages and set aside.

Add more oil to the pan and saute the onion until it softens and begins to lightly brown, about 7 minutes. Add Balsamic and chicken broth.

Reduce heat to medium-low and stir the sausages and grapes into the pan. Cover, loosely, and simmer for around 25-30 minutes.

Top with oregano. Serve with bread and salad. (Or mashed potatoes like I did)