Mussels and Chicken Macaroni Soup

Nothing says "perfect winter meal" better than soup. I LOVE soup. I've been planning on making this soup for a few days now and I wasn't supposed to add macaroni to it but they had a sale on macaroni at this Turkish grocery store I went to over the weekend (0.49 Euros for a big pack wudjabelieveit?!) so I thought, what the hey and good thing too because I don't think it would've tasted as good without it. 

So to make this tasty little soup, I sauteed some garlic and onions, added some chicken meat, red and green peppers, mussels, and some chicken stock. I let it boil a bit then I added the cooked macaroni. After letting it sit for a few minutes, I added some evaporated milk and some cheese--stirred it all up and it was good to go! Oh yeah, I also seasoned it with some salt and pepper of course. 


Mmmm, souppppa!


So tomorrow we're going to this traditional Austrian restaurant up in the mountains overlooking Italy. I haven't really had that much Austrian food since I've been here but what I have had so far, I've liked so let's see if tomorrow's fare will be any good.


I'll post pictures!


Happy eating!

Snack time! Tomato and cheese :)

I've always loved this recipe--it's my go-to snack recipe. I love it because it's not only easy to make, it tastes great, and it's healthy! 

All you have to do is slice a big tomato, drizzle some olive oil on it, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and add the cheese(s) of your choice. I prefer feta cheese but any cheese will do.

That's it! Easy, right?

Snack away!

Chicken and Bell Pepper with Onion Confit

Confit n. - A condiment made by cooking seasoned fruit or vegetables, usually to a jamlike consistency.

I posted that definition because before making this dish, I didn't even know what the hell a confit was. And now I do! So see, cooking is fun!

I was really excited to make this dish for dinner yesterday but I ended up having Italian in town with a colleague so I made it for lunch today instead. It's simple enough to make and ended up tasting really good. The bell pepper and onion confit had just the right amount of sweetness in it that complimented the chicken really well.

To make the confit, just sautee some garlic and onions in olive oil..add the bell peppers, some chicken stock and let all the ingredients cook over a low fire.

While that cooks over a low fire, season the chicken breast with salt and pepper, cover with some flour and fry in a pan..after both sides are slightly browned, stick it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Now, back to the confit: once the bell peppers are soft, blend all the ingredients together until thick and tah-dah! You're done!

Get the chicken out of the oven, pour that confit on it and enjoy!

Garlic herb and sesame-crusted pork chops with an arugula and sundried tomato salad

Being that I'm trying to swear off red meat pork red meat, this will be the last pork dish I post about. I have this Japanese mixed herb thingy that I really enjoy on rice but I haven't used in a while so I decided last minute to crust my pork chop with it, and it turned out great! 

Okay, I don't know what the Japanese thingy is called but I seasoned the pork chop with salt and pepper, added some lemon juice and garlic and then the Japanese stuff. I put in the oven for 15 minutes or so and that was it.

To make the salad, I just mixed some arugula, sundried tomatoes, anchovies, and goat's cheese. It was a great side dish. 

Hopefully I'll be able to keep my promise to swear off red meat. Let's wait and see!

Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich with prosciutto

Austria is cold. One of the fun things, food-wise, about living in a cold country is that you can make lots and lots of different soups! And I absolutely LOVE soup. I recently bought a hand blender and I've been going crazy making soups. One day I made a broccoli and asparagus soup, another day I made lentil soup and yesterday I made tomato soup. I also made a grilled cheese sandwich with prosciutto. It was the perfect winter meal. 

I used canned tomatoes for this soup. Just empty the canned tomatoes into a pot, add chicken stock, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and a bit of lemon juice. Let it boil. When it's boiling take it off the stove and blend everything together using a hand blender or any plain old blender. After everything is blended, put it back in the pot, back on the stove and then add shredded cheese to it. That's it!

To make the grilled cheese, I got two slices of whole wheat bread--put in lots of gouda slices, some garlic, and the prosciutto. Just put it in a sandwich maker and voila!

Happy eating!

oatmeal with tahini-cinnamon crunch

Here's the thing, I suck at baking. I really do. It's embarrassing how bad of a baker I am. 

Exhibit A: my failed attempt at tahini cookies. I had half a bottle of tahini left from the hummus I made and couldn't think of anything else to do with it so I searched for good tahini recipes and found a recipe for tahini cookies that seemed pretty easy and didn't need that many ingredients. The recipe called for tahini, honey, cinammon, and oats--that's it. I just had to mix it all together, glop in on the baking sheet, stick it in the oven and wait--easy enough right? Nope! Of course something goes horribly wrong with my "cookies" and they fall apart. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. and when life gives you failed tahini cookies, make tahini-cinnamon crunch! 

I put it on oatmeal, in vanilla pudding, on vanilla ice cream--it's fantastic! 

Another idea is to fry bananas, add maple syrup, the tahini-cinnamon crunch and some vanilla ice cream and you'll have a perfect little dessert!


Happy eating!

Tinumis

I've been craving tinumis since I got back from the Philippines a few weeks ago. I've had the perfect tinumis recipe ready for quite a while now but I had trouble finding chicken's blood anywhere. Good thing a colleague of mine knows someone who knows a butcher so I got my blood a few days ago and this is the result--the fulfillment of my week-long dream to eat tinumis!

I used only ground pork for this and chicken's blood instead of pork's blood. I don't know why but the idea of using pork's blood just icked me out more than chicken's blood. 

Okay, so I sauteed the ground pork very well in lots of garlic and onions, once the pork was a bit brown I added the green peppers (the large kind) and some powdered sinigang mix, after that I added the chicken's blood..mixed it all up, added a little bit of vinegar, more sinigang mix and that was it!

Yum!