Leg of Lamb and Manchego Cheese Smashed Potatos

This was a huge hit at my dinner party last night!
Ingredients:

Leg of Lamb
2 cups red wine (pinot noir)
2 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup onions
1/2 cup chives
1/3 cup of rosemary
1/3 cup of chive
1/4 cup of thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Manchego Cheese Smashed Potatos
cups of Manchego cheese (shredded)
Baby red potatos (cut in halves or fourths)
butter
milk
salt and pepper to taste



First, mix all the ingredients for the leg of lamb and marinade for 2-3 hours before baking. Bake at about 400 degrees for about 30-45 mins wiht marinade. Then, boil the red potatos until somewhat tender (you'll see the skin beginning to peel off), drain the water, and set aside. Shred the entire manchego cheese wedge, like below. Then mix all ingredients for the smashed potatos in a large pot and smash it altogether. No need to puree, leave some potato chunks.

Voila! Dinner is served!

Breaded Tilapia with Buttery Angel Hair and Mushrooms

There were quite a few steps for this one, so I'll just go in order. I decided to make this out of stuff I had in my fridge and pantry. It was very yummy!

Ingredients:

Tilapia Fillets

Italian Bread Crumbs

Angel Hair Pasta (multigrain or whole wheat)

Butter

Olive Oil

1 Egg

Wine (pinot grigio or chardonnay)

onions

lemon juice

garlic powder

cilantro

basil

salt

pepper

First, I mixed the melted butter (about 1 tablespoon), egg, wine, lemon juice, and salt & pepper in a bowl. I dipped the Tilapia in the sauce and then covered with Italian bread crumbs.

Then, baked the Tilapia in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 min and then broiled on low for a few more mins.

After boiling the pasta, I sauteed the mushrooms in the same mixture as above. But, this time, I added more butter (about 4 tablespoons), the onions, garlic powder, cilantro, and basil.

Once the tilapia was done, I placed it over the bed of angel hair pasta and just poured the mushroom and butter sauce over it. Then, sprinkled some parmesan.

It was a hit with the hubby!

First post!

Ok girls this is my first post and it is pictureless. So sorry! Ive been postponing posting because I never take pics since Im not sure if what I cooked was any good until it's all eaten!

Sorry that my recipes are a little sucky since I dont measure anything, but they are full of heart and love:)

So I hadnt been to the grocery store in a long time but I had to make dinner for Davey and I last night. (In case you dont know, I live in a small NYC apartment with my fiance. My kitchen is only big enough for myself and my stepstool. And while Im in there, I cant open the oven and the refrigerator at the same time. So cooking is more of a challenge for me than you would think!).

Anyway, I raided my freezer/fridge/pantry and found some stuff that I figured I could use for my chicken dish.

1 cup of olive oil
1 chopped onion
4/5 cloves of garlic
handfull of capers
salt and pepper to taste
chicken breast

I combined a cup of olive oil, 1 chopped onion, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, a handfull of capers, salt and pepper.

I had frozen chicken breasts which I defrosted. I put them in a casserole dish and then I poured a mixture of olive oil over it. I baked it in the oven until it was cooked. It came out delicious!!!

Then I had to slap together a side dish, which for me usually consists of rice and whatever veggies are around. Unfortunately, I was out of rice and the only veggies I had were carrots. I hate the texture of carrots. I also found a box of elbow pasta.

about 4 carrots
1 can of tomato sauce
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of Fage yogurt
box of elbow pasta
a few tbsp of olive oil

So I put some carrots in my mini food chopper and chopped them up as small as possible. I put those in a pot with some olive oil and chopped garlic and sauteed for a few minutes without burning the garlic. Then I added a can of tomato sauce and two tbsp of greek Fage yogurt. I let that simmer till it was just right. I poured that over the elbows and enjoyed:) This is a great way to get all those vitamins from veggies without having to taste them!

Happy Halloween

I got together with my co-worker again to whip up some cupcakes. . .Halloween cupcakes that is! I'm trying to be all health conscious, I know what you're thinking! "Health conscious and you're making cupcakes????" I know, I know, it sounds bad, but the chocolate cupcakes below are a Weight Watcher's inspired recipe, using only a box of cake mix and a 15 0z can of Libby's Canned Pumpkin (and I added about ¼ cup of water b/c the batter looked too thick). Can't ask for a more simple recipe. Using a regular box of cake mix, the cupcakes without frosting come out to 2 points each. BUT, did you know that Pillsbury is now making a "Splenda" cake mix? I bet you didn't :) Well, you know what that means? That by using the splenda mix, the cupcakes would be less points and I could actually frost them now! Yippie, FROSTING! But wait, that's not all, Pillsbury is also making a "Splenda" Frosting! It's a little runny, but tastes pretty darn good! I kid you not! People thought we were kidding when we told them they were WW cupcakes! LOL! A little TIP: Once you fill the cups with the batter, using a spatula sprayed with "Pam" pat the batter down a bit so that the cupcakes bake more uniformly. This made 12 nice sized cupcakes! (I'm thinking they were probably 1.5 pt and another .5 for the frosting. Not BAD I think! The fondant halloween medalions would be more points, but I don't eat those, so I'm not counting points for them ;) Yum-O! So there you have it kids, YOU can eat "CUPCAKES"! Here are a few pics, many thanks to Mari for joining in on the Halloween baking fun!