So it’s been 2 weeks..but that’s better than 2 months!

We tried this because of the allure of a “one pot” label. Warning: This recipe takes a few pots than 1.

This was our first risotto and we definitely learned our lesson that risottos are time-consuming and relatively difficult to make. If you are willing to put the effort into this recipe, it has a great taste! We added bacon but you could add about anything you have in your fridge.

Men’s Health
1 cup 1/2″ cubes peeled, seeded butternut squash
1 cup diced cremini mushrooms
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
4 garlic cloves (2 crushed, 2 minced)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 Tbsp butter
1 white onion, finely chopped
2 cups arborio rice (a short-grain variety)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

How to make it:
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, toss the squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, and crushed garlic with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake until golden, 5 to 10 minutes.

2 In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a 4-to 6-quart pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter on medium. Add the onion and minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the onion softens, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

3 Add a ladleful of broth to the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until absorbed. Add more broth, a ladleful at a time, making sure it’s absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Cook the risotto until the rice is al dente, about 15 minutes.

4 Remove from the heat, stir in the vegetables, Parmesan, and basil. Adjust the seasoning and top with more Parmesan.

So… maybe once school starts our lives become not our own. This would help explain our severe lack of posts. Teaching, coaching and other basic duties and chores leech our life away like the little time-sucking vampires they are.

That being said, we’ve come up with a belated new-years resolution as it pertains to cooking and blogging;

1. Use all of our various cooking apparatuses at least once a month and

2. blog at least once a week.

Time will tell how well we stick by our resolution, or how quickly we let it fall by the wayside as most resolutions tend to go.

We don’t do pork very often and when we do, we usually do it this way because it’s so freaking good. And easy.

Anyway.

Here’s what we did. Notice how the picture looks a little different? Yeah… that’s because we took some stuff out and had to substitute fettuccine for udon noodles – we can’t find them anywhere down here! Nevertheless, it was pretty tasty and simple, a theme in our kitchen 🙂

Enjoy!

Bad title, I know.

Anyway, it’s shrimpin’ season in SC and that means we can get it pretty darn cheap at the farmers market. Couple that with the bounty that fall produces down here and we have had some incredibly fresh meals. Here’s our base recipe from the pic above. We deviated a little bit and added a small salad and fresh-baked bread to cool it off.

This has become one of our favorite recipes for a few reasons: it’s quick, simple and tasty! I think it’s a wash on “health” due to the cheese and cream. Oh well.

This is more of an assembly meal than a cooking meal, which is nice on nights when you don’t have a ton of time to cook. It’s basically a bunch of stuff we normally have around the house or in the pantry, with the exception being pork. However, if you watch pork prices grab some when it’s on sale next and freeze it til you need it. That’s what we typically do.

At any rate, here’s the recipe. We add a small can of black beans (be sure to drain!) to give it a little more volume and nutrition.

I came across this recipe while paging through a magazine that Lissa subscribes to – Real Simple. It was an article that featured dinners you could make for a meal exchange and gave you recipes to make 4 meals at a time (16 servings!). I glanced at the necessary ingredients and realized we actually had them ALL in our fridge sans the Monterey Jack cheese. I divided the portions by 4, added a box of mexican rice we had sitting in the pantry and created the picture above.

Three big reasons this goes on the blog:

1. It has simple ingredients!
2. The meal is easily extrapolated if you have company coming over or want to freeze some for later in the week.
3. It’s tasty!

We finally tried the southern classic…Shrimp and Grits! We aren’t experts on this dish, but it turned out pretty dang tasty if we do say so ourselves! We got the recipe from Jeff’s assistant principal and the grits from Anson Mills. This is definitely a recipe we will try again soon (and we’ll remember that grits take a looooong time to cook!)!

Here’s the long-awaited recipe courtesy of Melissa Royalty…
Ingredients
● 2 servings cooked grits
● 2 tablespoons olive oil
● 1/2 cup diced prosciutto – you can use ham if you need to
● 2 tablespoons diced leeks or scallions
● 2 tablespoons diced onion
● 2 tablespoons diced green peppers
● 20 medium to large shrimp, peeled and de-veined, with tails on
● 1 to 2 tablespoons white wine
● 1 cup heavy cream
● Salt and pepper
● Green onion tops, chopped
Directions
Cook grits according to package directions – use ½ the water called for in the directions and replace the other ½ with heavy cream – this makes your grits really creamy; set aside and keep warm.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add prosciutto and saute until crisp. Add diced vegetables and saute until onions are translucent. Add shrimp and saute for 30 to 45 seconds, or until pink. Remove from the pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with a little white wine. Slowly add the cream and let reduce until thickened. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Divide grits among 2 serving plates. Line plate edges with shrimp (10 shrimp per serving). Pour sauce over grits. Garnish with green onion tops.

We’ve never done a guest blogger before, but we figured it might be a cool way to spice things up a bit (pun DEFINITELY intended). We had our friend Susie over for homemade spaghetti and here’s what she had to say:

I lived with Jeff and Lissa for a month when I first moved to SC. In that month I had the benefit of great home cooked food. This meal was no different. The homemade spaghetti sauce was fantastic, not to mention the yummy homemade garlic cheese bread that came along with it. If you haven’t caught on from their blog, Lissa and Jeff are avid chef’s. Even over a week after the spaghetti sauce was made, I reheated it on the stove for my dinner tonight and it tasted just as good as the first time it was originally made. The sauce was rich and very flavorful and contained a great amount of meat (not too much and not too little). I do think the next runner up for the evening was the bread, probably because I’ve never made my own garlic bread. Even though I have a nutrition major and took (required) cooking classes, my skills of cooking are quite minimal. I do my best when cooking for myself but whenever Jeff and Lissa invite me for dinner, I never say no. Their cooking is very homestyle and in my opinion healthy/ natural. If you ever get the chance to have food made by Jeff and Lissa (both of them, they are quite the team) don’t pass up the offer.

Recipe…this is my (lissa) mom’s recipe. There aren’t any measurements, just add things to taste! Add burger, onion, garlic (plenty), mushrooms, green pepper (a little) and zucchini (and sometimes a chopped up carrot) to a skillet and cook until browned. Also add salt, oregano, basil and thyme at the same time unless using fresh herbs. Drain and add tomatoes (crushed tomatoes and some petite diced). If you want it thicker and slightly richer flavor add a little paste. Add some red wine. After it warms up taste and adjust spices (and wine) accordingly.

Lissa lived in France for quite some time and I am proud to say she picked up most of their delicious food taste and has since passed it on to me.

As she was strolling down the isle of our grocery store last week, she happened across REAL Mozzarella and inspiration struck. The result? This:

For a wonderfully fresh, healthy, delicious salad simply get 1 heirloom tomato, 1 small ball of REAL mozzarella, some fresh basil and some balsamic vinaigrette. Slice, layer and enjoy!

Undoubtedly the question on your mind right now: Is this recipe worth that lengthy title?

The answer? Yes. The marinade alone is delicious.

You can find the recipe here. We found it on an advertisement in a magazine, oddly enough, and decided to give it a try.

Our veggie in this meal, eggplant, came from a recipe book called “Simply in Season.” It’s a very basic, very simple cookbook designed with seasonal ingredients in mind. See below for a copy of the recipe.

1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch of ground cinnamon
stir together

1 large eggplant
Brush cilantro mixture on both sides of eggplant slices and transfer to greased baking pan. Broil eggplant 5-6 inches from heat until golden and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Overall, this meal was pretty good. I wasn’t as big of a fan of the vinaigrette as I was the marinade, so I used it sparingly (although Lissa thoroughly enjoyed it). The eggplant is wonderfully seasoned, but not very spicy, though its name suggests otherwise.

Suggested Changes and Additions:

* Half the vinaigrette recipe. We had way too much leftover.

* Carefully watch your eggplants. We are quickly learning that they are difficult to cook, and the line between crisp and burnt is fine.