My New Pan, Swordfish Puttanesca And New Family Additions

Since I’ve made this recipe before, I normally wouldn’t post it again but I wanted to show off my new pan.  We have two 12” skillets and a 12” saute pan but I occasionally wish I had a larger one so I bought a 15” cast iron pan.  I normally don’t like to use cast iron pans on the cooktop as they heat unevenly but I decided to get it anyway and for this meal, I gave it plenty of time to preheat to help with this issue.  I increased the recipe amounts by 50% for the six pieces of good looking swordfish that came frozen from Food City.

Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes And White Beans

I discovered some shrimp in the freezer that needed to be used and decided I wanted to make something simple and friendly to my diet from them.  There was a bag 16-20 size that I had previously cleaned and frozen in water and a small bag of Alaskan Spot Prawns that had to be cleaned giving me a pound of a cleaned mix of the two.  To make the meal even more protein rich, I opted to add some white beans to the dish.  So, I looked around the web and found several recipes that included the beans or to which they could be added.  I settled on the recipe for Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes from the “Spicy Southern Kitchen” blog to which I added the beans.

Smothered Mediterranean Pork Chops, Karen’s Salad, And Posting Philosophy Addendum

Our kids, Rhett and Beth, gave us some special Iberico Pork from Spain’s Campo Grande for last years Christmas and we are just eating the first of it. From the web: “Known as the "Wagyu of pork," Ibérico pork is a premium meat from black Iberian pigs native to the Iberian Peninsula."  Renowned for its rich marbling, buttery texture, and nutty flavor, it is sourced from humanely raised animals with a traditional diet of grass and acorns.” For this meal, I selected a four-bone rack of pork chops which I cut into individual chops.  I looked around and found several recipes but smothered meat and pork is always a favorite of ours so I used the recipe for Smothered Mediterranean Pork Chops from the “A Labour Of Life” blog.  

Mashed Potato Pancakes And Oven Baked Ribs

Mashed Potato Pancakes

After our baked steak and gravy meal, we had four cups of mashed potatoes and I decided to turn them into one of my favorite things – mashed potato pancakes.  I looked around the web and found several similar recipes which I combined into the one below.  Since Cindy wanted to cook she took over and followed the recipe.

Creamy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake

If you’ve been reading this blog awhile, unlike many of you who create dishes, you know I'm pretty well just a recipe follower with the occasional light recipe adaptation until this meal.  Dennis recently posted the recipe for Creamy Chicken Alfredo Lasagna on his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog and the ingredients appealed to me.  We had ricotta, spinach, and chicken that all needed to be used but I didn’t have enough noodles to make lasagna and wasn’t willing to make a store trip so I used on hand ingredients and heavily adapted his recipe.  As it turned out, we had 24 oz of ricotta, only half a bag of spinach (I thought we had 1½), and no mushrooms so the recipe below was born.  You can get the original recipe and pics by clicking on the above link.

Creamy Tuscan Shrimp For Easter Dinner & Romeo

I’m aware that ham or lamb with sides make up the typical Easter meal, but for past several years I haven’t been inclined to go with a traditional meal for certain occasions plus I had some shrimp in the freezer that I wanted to use.  So, I opted to make Creamy Tuscan Shrimp that we had raved about several years ago  and I made extra sauce so we could have it over pasta.  Eliza's family and Cindy's friend Ernie joined us to make a party of eight.

Cindy And I Eat Seafood – Part 2

 We continue our seafood-a-thon into week two with swordfish and tuna.

Swordfish

Our next seafood meal was Swordfish Puttanesca using our go-to recipe which we hadn’t had in a few years and just as before it was delicious and a hit with the three of us - Cindy raved about it, even the leftovers.  I served it over small shell pasta.  

A Couple Of Very Good Meals From Leftover Chili And Meatballs And A Little Snow

We had some sauce and several meatballs left from our recent meal and in thinking about something other than the same meal, I decided to make a casserole dish by cooking additional spaghetti.

The Best Italian Meatballs And Winter Storm

We sure dodged the bullet with the winter storm impact here especially compared to Nashville.  We had a trace of snow on Saturday then rain which continued thru Sunday (while we made the meal below) then about a quarter inch of snow on ice fell overnight Sunday which made our road too dangerous to drive on so our Monday plans were cancelled.  And most importantly, we didn't lose power which I feel very fortunate about since I need it to keep the RV warm.

You know you are a serious Italian cook when you name your blog La Belle Vita Cucina (My Beautiful Life Kitchen), go to Italy to visit and cook with family members, and you attend the famous Mama Agata Cooking Class on Italy’s Amalfi Coast.  And so it is with Roz who takes us on her cooking journey via her blog and who recently published a post titled “Secrets For The Best Italian Meatballs.”  Since Bev and I had just discussed wanting spaghetti and meatballs, Roz’s recipe immediately moved to the top of the list.

Yet Another Tuscan Dish - Creamy Tuscan Chicken Breasts And Cindy Update

When I saw the recipe for Creamy Tuscan Chicken Thighs on the “Café Delights” blog, I knew I had to make it.  But since my ladies prefer breasts to thighs, I made that substitution and I cooked six of them (three for this meal and three for leftovers).

Tuscan White Beans

When Pam posted the recipe for Tuscan Gigante Beans on her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog I new I wanted to make it, but I also know that Bev doesn’t like lima beans in any form – it’s the texture and also applies to chickpeas.  However, she does like white beans so I decided to just make the dish with Great Northern Beans.  Since I was sure we would like the beans, I made a double recipe as shown below.  Click on the link above to check out Pam's site for the original recipe and some great pics.

Pork Loin Two Ways - Crispy Fried Cutlets and Baked Parmesan Crusted With Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

I had purchased a whole pork loin and cut it into 6-7 inch roasts with the idea of using some of it for schnitzel-like dishes and I’d saved Pam’s recipe for Crispy Pork Medallions on her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog, which I had planned to use as written.  But then I decided to use her recipe but substitute the loin cutlets for the tenderloin medallions.

Pesto, Pizza, Pasta, And Eliza BD

We had a couple of big basil plants at the end of the season so before they got frost bit, we opted to turn them into pesto just as we did last year.  After stripping the leaves from the plants, I packed them into large measuring cups and ended up with 12 cups.  Then I adjusted Ina Garten’s recipe for the other ingredients to match them. 

Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta & Mudpuppy Restaurant

I had some basil pesto in the freezer and leftover chicken in the fridge and decided Kevin’s recipe for Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta from his “Closet Cooking” blog would work well for them.  I made several changes to the recipe but the original can be found by clicking on the link.

Fresh Tomato Focaccia Pizza & Pups New Cut

These next two pics are from the web but they look just like Teddy Bear & Bodie's normal look.

A Little Blog Modification And WV Trip Continued - The Greenbrier Hotel And Resort

Since my buddy Dave has announced that he is giving up most of his blogging, it got me to thinking about mine. I believe my blog is as they were meant to be - my journal - where I can go back and find recipes, pics, our travels and so on, thus I have no intention of quitting right now or I would miss all of that documentation, plus it gives me something to do.  I have recently been posting every three days but I don’t have many folks stopping by to read quite a few of them and so I had an epiphany.  I can keep writing up my blogs to get the documentation I need but I don’t have to publish all of them but rather just the ones that I think you will find interesting and hopefully about more than just food.

Greenbrier Hotel pic from the web.

Easy Fish Piccata And Bruschetta, Chicken Parmesan With Italian Corn

Easy Fish Piccata

I had some Pacific Cod filets in the freezer and decided to turn them into a Piccata dish using the recipe for Easy Fish Piccata from “The Mediterranean Dish” as we love lemon, caper sauce.

Easy Chicken Milanese alla Florentine & A Delicious Breakfast

I wasn’t trying to keep making Italian but just thought this dish looked delicious and would be perfect for our Friday get together.  The recipe for Easy Chicken Milanese alla Florentine came from the “Ask Chef Dennis” blog and I made several changes to it but the original can be found by clicking on the above link.  Chef Dennis Littley’s comment on the dish – “Chicken MIlanese alla Florentine is a delicious restaurant style dish that is made with a crispy chicken cutlet topped with steamed spinach and sauteed mushrooms, topped with Swiss cheese and served with a creamy white sauce. It's easy to make and oh so delicious.”

Italian Pan fried Halibut with Creamy Lemon Caper Sauce Then Greek Sausage

I had some halibut in the freezer that I wanted to use and after searching my blog, I found a recipe that we had made previously but I didn’t have the sauce ingredients so I adapted my normal lemon, butter sauce for this dish.

Pasta al Pomodoro Crudo Replay And Pinot Grigio Taste Test

Since returning from Italy, we have been having Bruschetta regularly for happy hour and during a recent trip to the Mennonite Market, I bought a bag of Roma tomatoes to use for the tomato mixture so it wouldn’t be as watery – I removed the seeds from the Roma's.  I had six Roma's left and was thinking about another use for them when Bev reminded me of the pasta with fresh tomatoes we had made in the past.  So I did a blog search and found the recipe for Pasta al Pomodoro Crudo and recalled that I had a half box of small shells pasta in the pantry so a meal was born.  I’m posting this dish again to document the recipe using the Roma tomatoes.