Throw-Together Breakfast

Buttered toast with tomato, avocado, mozzarella cheese & bacon with a drizzle of EVOO

Grill, Oven & Stove Meal

NY Strip steak with scalloped potatoes and green beans

A Spanish Themed Dinner

Chicken Quesadillas with black beans & rice and malanga fritters

Sausage & Kale Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb of sausage, casings off (you can use whatever kind of sausage you like- I used mild)
1 bunch of kale, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 celery stalks and leaves, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 can of cannellini beans, drained
1 bay leaf
1 carton of chicken stock/broth (I used Swanson's)
EVOO
about a tablespoon of butter
poultry seasonings
nutmeg
S&P

Method:
In a large pot (like you use for spaghetti), heat up EVOO on medium heat before adding the sausage until it starts to look brown. Add bay leaf and onion to saute about 5 minutes before adding the celery, carrots and garlic for about 5-7 minutes. Add cannellini beans, poultry seasonings and butter. Add kale and nutmeg and saute until the kale starts to wilt down before adding the chicken broth. Bring to a boil on medium high for about 10 minutes before covering for the next 10 minutes, reducing the heat to low to let simmer. Fish out the bay leaf before serving.

Jayne Mansfield Cocktail

Apparently there's a cocktail paying homage to Jayne Mansfield. I admit I don't drink alcohol much- more of a social drinker and I do use alcohol when cooking (the alcohol cooks off).

Ingredients
4 Parts Aged Rum of Cuban Type
2 Parts Strawberry Liqueur
1 Part Simple Syrup
Champagne
1 Whole Strawberry

How to mix this cocktail
Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add aged rum of cuban type, simple syrup and strawberry liqueur. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne glass. Top up with champagne. Garnish with a strawberry.

Source: Absolut Drinks

Homemade Macaroni Salad

This was my first time of making macaroni salad ever. Never really thought of it before until this week when I  was eyeing at the macaroni box that spoke to me "use me". I also had quite a lot of organic vegetables to use before they quickly go bad. The recipe is very simple.

Ingredients:
-celery stalk (with leaves included)- chopped
-carrot- shredded by food processor
-cucumber- shredded with food processor
-mayo- about 3-4 large spoonfuls (eyeball)
-mustard- 1 spoonful (eyeball)
-balsamic vinegar- a shot (eyeball)
-dill- a few springs chopped
-S&P
-red spring onion- sliced thinly with either madonlin or food processor using the slicer blade
-lemon juice- squirt (eyeball)
-macaroni- 2 cups and boiled

Method:
While cooking the macaroni in boiling water, prepare all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Allow the macaroni cool down in the strainer before adding to the mixing bowl
Cover and put in refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes before serving.

Since I like to have my onions cooked (as I love the sweet taste rather than raw), I saute them in a small saute pan with a little EVOO, S&P till soften. Let cool before adding to the other ingredients.

Food Quotes: Isabel Gillies

"I'm way into every cookbook that Jamie Oliver has written. I just want to cook everything and go from one book to another because he's so precise and the recipes turn out exactly how he says they're going to. I get Gourmet and I buy cookbooks for fun. My husband is Jewish so now I'm getting into Jewish cuisine and the culture. I think part of creating a home is where it kind of focuses for me. That's what I do a lot."

"Getting in bed with a cookbook. Settling into an evening of good TV, a glass of white wine, and take-out...A jelly donut and cup of tea". (her happiness boost)

"Oh, my goodness, Jamie Oliver, everybody...Tony Bourdain I love" (her favorite chefs)

"Jamie Oliver. I love cooking out of his books!" (her favorite chef)

"Goodness how I love to read cookbooks. First of all they usually are so beautiful and heavy. If I didn’t need them in the kitchen I would keep all of mine in the bedroom (and in fact I have about five at all times in there as many nights, I read them before sleep). My mother had lots of wonderful cookbooks. I can picture her in front of her red shelf perusing each spine for one she wanted to pull out and use. I think sometimes her fingers even fluttered in anticipation of one of her old friends tumbling into her arms to be brought into the kitchen. I am the same. I love my cookbooks like friends. I know all of them, visit them on a weekly basis and thank them when they have done something awesome for me, like help me cook for my family. Love them! I also LOVE getting them as presents!"

"Greek yogurt, almond milk, frozen blueberries, brown rice, and carrots. What you’ll really find in my fridge are a lot of leftovers because I like to cook. I also love black beans and agave syrup." (Always in her kitchen)

"Fried chicken, whether it’s wings or a big fried chicken dinner. Of course, it’s free rang! I also love pizza" (Guilty pleasure foods)

"And Jamie Oliver- I respect his food point of view. My mother, too. She is 70-something and she does yoga. She doesn’t believe in denial, fear of food is bad. You have to treat yourself, but everything in moderation." (Biggest inspiration)

"I always have cookbooks on my nightstand..."

A Southern Meal

Country fried chicken with country sauce with collard greens and chicken-broth infused rice.

This was my first time of making and trying collard greens. First I heat up some bacon and saved the bacon fat to use (along with EVOO) to saute garlic, red onion and collard greens over medium heat. I then put in about a cup of chicken broth and cover to let it braise for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed. I added the reserved crumbled up bacon. I realized that I now like collard greens.