Honest excuses

I know, I know. It's been a while. I have a good excuse though, I swear. I broke my foot in March and I've been booted up since. You're probably thinking, "You don't use your FOOT to cook, Kristen. Excuse not accepted."

Partially true. It's tiring having a boot on, guys, and I haven't had the energy to cook up anything exciting or original in a while (read: I've been eating a lot of frozen pizzas).

I will be back in May with new recipes. And hey! It'll be grilling season by then. Do I know how to grill? Not yet, but we'll figure it out together.

Chicken Apple Sausage with Spaghetti Squash and Veggies

After some delay, post numero dos has arrived! Here's an easy dish I pulled together over last week's snow day: chicken apple sausage and spaghetti squash with baby spinach and green beans.

Boyfriend tried to capture the steam but iPhone magic only goes so far.

Overall, it turned out pretty well and was a nice, healthy change from the junk food I've been binging on lately. I think next time around I would use a different kind of chicken apple sausage. The ones I used came from Giant but I much prefer the ones from Trader Joe's that I've used in the past. Another win for TJ.

If you haven't cooked with spaghetti squash before, get ready to be amazed. It takes some extra work but it's a great alternative to pasta.

Anyway, here's how to do it:

Prep Time: ~20 min.

Cook Time: ~1 hr.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
• 1 package of chicken apple sausage (can be substituted with any sausage really)
• 1/2 lb green beans
• 1/2 lb baby spinach
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and pressed
• 2 tbsp butter
• grated Parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. First, we'll cook the spaghetti squash. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Wash and dry your squash.
3. Some people like to cut the squash in half before baking but since I lack upper arm strength and have a special talent for injuring myself, I prefer to cook it whole and avoid trying to hack at it raw. If you go the whole squash route, use a knife to stab the squash all over so that steam can be released while cooking (much like baking a potato).
4. Once the oven is ready, place the squash on a baking sheet in the oven and let it bake for ~ 40 min. or until you can pierce the skin easily with a knife.
   
   
   
5. While the squash is cooking, we'll move on to the green beans. If the beans aren't already cleaned and prepared, wash them in cold water and remove the ends. 
6. Bring an appropriately-sized pot of water to a rapid boil. With recipes like this, I prefer to blanch my green beans. Blanching is basically cooking a vegetable in rapidly boiling water for a short amount of time until the vegetable is tender. 
7. Once at a rapid boil, add the beans and cook for about 3 minutes.
8. Drain immediately and rinse under cold water. This will preserve the color and texture of the green beans while we wait for the other pieces of the meal to come together.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Is your squash ready now? COOL. Get it out of the oven and using pot holders, place it on a cutting board.
10. Holding the squash with one pot-holder protected hand, cut the squash in half. You'll want to use a good, sturdy chef's knife for this. Also, be careful as the squash will be very hot and probably releasing some steam as you do this.
11. Once you have your squash halves, scrap out and toss the seeds and fibrous center.
12. Then, using a fork, scrape out the inside of the squash into a bowl. Spaghetti squash separates into stringy pieces (like spaghetti) when cooked.

    

    Like so

13. Set aside the spaghetti squash for now. I promise we're almost done.
14. Heat a pan and melt the butter.
15. While that is happening, slice up your sausage.
16. Add sausage to the pan and sauté until almost cooked through.
17. Add the pressed garlic and continue to cook until garlic is golden.
18. Add your spaghetti squash and toss to mix. If you have more squash than the pan can handle, that's fine. You can save it for another meal.
19. Continue to cook about 3-5 min. so that the spaghetti squash absorbs some of the flavor from the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.
20. Add your green beans, toss to mix, and remove from heat.
21. Place raw baby spinach on a plate and serve the sausage-squash mixture over it, topping with however much grated Parmesan your little heart desires.

And that's it!

Since it's pretty basic, this would be a great recipe to experiment with if you want to try out say different types of spices or meat or veggies. If you try something new with it, let me know! I'd love to feature your variation on the blog.

Also, don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for the latest kitchen updates!

Pan-seared Ahi Tuna with Chili-Garlic Brussels Sprouts

And here we go! My first actual post. I've been fighting off a cold all week so I wanted to prepare something healthy and high in protein for dinner last night. I ended up with what you see above: pan-seared ahi tuna and roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic and chili flakes. I also learned that I've been spelling Brussels sprouts wrong for about as long as I've been eating them.

The tuna steaks were frozen from Trader Joe's, about 4 oz each, and cooked up perfectly. No weird gristle to be found (do fish have gristle?).

Prep Time: 10-15 min.

Cook Time: ~40 min.

Ingredients:

Tuna:

• 2 ahi tuna steaks (frozen or fresh)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or more, I won't judge)
• canola oil for cooking
• lemon to taste

Brussel Sprouts:

• 1 lb. Brussels sprouts
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tbsp. chili flakes
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Wash and pat down tuna steaks with paper towels.
3. Mix together the sesame oil, olive oil, soy sauce, cumin, ginger, and garlic powder in a bowl. Place tuna steaks in the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 min (or longer if you like).
4. Meanwhile, wash and cut the Brussels sprouts in half.
5. Mix together the olive oil, pressed garlic cloves, chili flakes, and salt in another bowl.
6. Toss the Brussels sprouts in the mixture then arrange on a baking sheet so that the flat, cut side is facing down and none of the veggies are touching. 
   
   
   
7. Roast for 30 minutes or until the topsides are partially browned.
8. Once your tuna has marinated, remove it from the mixture and season with salt and pepper. Be careful with the salt if you used full sodium soy sauce. You don't want it to overpower the other flavors.
9. Prepare a frying pan with a light coating of canola oil at medium-high heat.
10. Once hot, place the tuna steaks in the pan. Cook until a crust forms on the bottom then flip. You should cook each side about 1 minute if you like your fish rare, or 2-3 min if you prefer medium rare. Well-done tuna is a travesty and I will not give you advice on how to make it.
11. Serve immediately with Brussels sprouts and lemon.

And that's that! Pretty easy overall and great for a weeknight meal. If you try it out, let me know what you think in the comments section.

By the way, you can follow me on Twitter for all the latest updates from the kitchen (@cookingthumbs). My next recipe will be coming along this weekend.

And Here We Are

I know what you're thinking: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, not another cooking blog. Why in the world would I bother starting a cooking blog when there are already countless other blogs out there?

WELL, this blog is part of a personal challenge. I've always loved cooking. Last year, in a effort to branch out from the meals I had made to death, I made a resolution to make two new dishes a month. I'm proud to say I met that challenge and learned some useful techniques in the process.

This year, I've pledged to make three new recipes a year. To add to this challenge, these recipes must be self-created.

So what are you going to find here? Original recipes courtesy of yours truly mixed in with some technique tutorials, music to fuel your kitchen times, and most importantly, honesty about my progress. My successes will be right there along with the failures. I want everyone who reads this blog and tries out my recipes to know that I'm learning right alongside you.

I'm also going to do my best to provide you with nutrition information for all my recipes, because you should know what you're putting in your body.

What you won't find here? Recipes specific to any fad diet. Recipes without pictures (the worst). Anything involving sea urchin as an ingredient. Cupcakes.

Other than that, the only rules in my kitchen are always double the garlic and open the tonic water over the sink.

Buckle up. We're in this together.