Cucina Enoteco

As you probably discovered from this post, we have become TOTALLY obsessed with Cucina Enoteca.  We had a friend's wedding at the golf club this weekend and in our late night debauchery, I convinced everyone to do brunch at Cucina Enoteca the next morning.  Complete success!!

A little sampling of all the food and over-ordering we did. 

Olive Tapenade + Citrus Artichoke Heart

Burrata + Roasted Garlic Confit

Pepperoni + Fennel Sausage Pizza

Waffle Bar: Gruyere Waffle + Ivan's Hot Sauce + Sweet Pepper and Spinach +  Fried Chicken + Spicy Shrimp

Roasted Red Pepper Rissoto

Eggs Benny Caprese

Breakfast Pizza (can't remember what was on it besides the yummy egg)

Challah French Toast (wish this picture was better, it was so yummy! no nutella though.)

Pear + Gorgonzola Pizza

The great group.  Do you think we ordered enough??? 

Items not shown:
Tiramisu Pecan Cinnamon Roll
Honey Roasted Eggplant + Herb Goat Cheese (AMAZING!!)

Pretty sure this won't be the last post about Cucina Enoteca.  :)

Strawberry Cinnamon Muffins

What to have for breakfast?  It's a question that comes up every week, about twice a week, mostly on Saturdays and Sundays.  I don't normally shop in advance for the weekends becuase I never know what social plans we will partake in and I'm always secretly hoping that my husband will whisk me away on a weekend trip (and I don't want to have to say no because I don't want to waste food to spoiling!).

So it's Saturday, and the question comes from the Mr.  We don't have much time because we are headed out to play golf.  So I need something fast and something that I already have all the ingredients and it would be a plus if it was also healthy! I came across Low Fat Strawberry- Cinnamon Muffins.  I had all the ingredients and the prep and cook time looked reasonable.

Off I go.....

Dry ingredients first: flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.

Mix it with the wet ingredients: yogurt, butter, milk and eggs.



So far, everything looks as unhealthy as usual, except for the yogurt.  Do these really qualify as low fat?  Actually, they probably are low fat, but still full of sugar and flour that goes straight to you know where.  Can't it just go straight to the chest?  I mean, it can't be that hard to funnel it to that part of the body, right? 

Okay, back to the muffins.......

The recipe said to coat muffin tin liners with cooking spray.  That seems like overkill since the whole reason I'm using the liners is so I don't have to coat with anything and because it leaves my muffin tin cleaner which means easier clean up. Happiness!  I just used some liners.

This is where the trickiness of the recipe comes in.  Layering the strawberry jam with the batter.  First up, one scoop of batter.  I used my small cookie scooper.  Then I used a teaspoon measurer for the jam. 

Oops.  You really want the first scoop of batter evenly across the bottom of your muffin so that when the jam goes in, it's also even and in the middle of your muffin.  You can see from the picture below, that I left the batter in a blob (that's a word right??).  When I added the jam on top of it, it wasn't flat and therefore fell to one side.  So now I will have cinnamon muffins with one bite strawberry (depending on the side of the muffin you bite from). 

The batter was pretty sticky, but next time I will try and get it flat.  Maybe using spoons would be easier.

Next up is the top scoop of the batter.  The recipe says to spread out the remaining batter evenly.  I wasn't sure how much I should start with in each cup as to not run out.  I used my large cookie scooper and did one scoop on top of each muffin and left it at that.  I didn't have enough batter to go around all of them again so maybe that was the right measurement or maybe it was just luck. 

You can see from the picture about the result of not spreading out the first layer of batter and the jam.  When I put in the final layer of batter, it didn't necessarily stay straight up.  Most fell to one side making all kinds of lop-sidedness.  I tried to lightly shake the pan hoping it would all even out.  No such luck.  At this point there wasn't much I could do.  I mean, they have to still be edible just because the flavors aren't even right?

The recipe calls for a mixture of sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top of each muffin before baking.  To save time, I would just use pre-mixed cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on each.  If you don't have any pre

I baked them for 17 minutes.

I was pretty happy with them because they came out looking just like the picture on the recipe.  That's a good measure for success right?

I thought they tasted pretty good.  Nothing to rock my socks off, but sweet, yummy, and easy.  I don't think the Mr. cared too much for them because he only ate 1 I think.  That's a tall tell sign they weren't his favorite. I definitely think they would have been better if everything had been evenly spread out.  You really only got one bite with strawberry. 

Give them a try and let me know what you think.  I mean, each muffin is only 163 calories.  That's about 12 minutes on the treadmill.  I've definitely done worse damage during breakfast.

Sweet & Spicy Glazed Salmon

I've been on this HUGE fish kick lately!  I don't know if it has to do with summer and is paired so well with white wine, or maybe it's because whenever we go out I order fish since I've never cooked it myself.  I've BBQ'd shrimp (well Kevin actually) before, but that's the extent of it.  I have also been salivating over fish lately because it's good and you can make it really healthy.  My favorite!  Every week when I make my calendar of meals (which I do every Sunday), I always choose a fish dish, and then I end up not making it because the Mr. says he's not a fan of fish.  This week, I decided that was just no longer an excuse and I was going to make fish.  If he didn't like it, he can revert to his usual frozen pizzas or english muffins with whatever topping is the easiest to get his hands on. 

 

I went through the pile of fish recipes I've been collecting, and I chose Sweet and Spicy Glazed Salmon Sandwiches.  I thought this would help the Mr. be happy because the salmon is sandwiched between yummy bread and he could top it with all the stuff I don't eat (pickles, plain mayo, etc).  Plus, I could eat this without the break and still have a yummy meal.

 

I put all the spices in a small bowl.  It looked like a lot, but I just followed the recipe as stated.  The collection of different spices and color was pretty cool.

 

 

The recipe didn't mention if it should be mixed a certain way, so I just used a mini whisk and went to town.

 

For easy clean-up, I lined a baking sheet with foil (which I always do thanks to my mom telling me it makes clean-up faster and easier) and then placed the 2 salmon pieces on top.  Since I've never cooked salmon before, I've also never bought it before.  I wasn't really sure what I was looking for at the store, but these looked the best, had the best size and seemed like the best color.  (Since I'm still here writing about it, they obviously weren't bad!) 

 

Next I covered them with the seasoning.  I wanted to make sure they were really flavorful, so I made sure each piece had lots of seasoning and I pressed it into the salmon.  (I still had left over seasoning when I was done.)  I put seasoning on the top and sides.  I then drizzled some honey over the top. 

 

 

Here is a close up picture of the seasoning and the honey on top.  You can see that there was a lot of seasoning on there.

 

 

I placed the salmon in the oven on broil (high) for 10 minutes.  I started with 8 minutes but I didn't think they were quite done so I added two minutes.  I think it worked out okay because they were still moist when we ate them.  While they cooked, I put together a bagged salad.  I know, I should have made it from scratch, but this is all I had.  Plus I like the "Bistro Salad" mix from Fresh and Easy.

 

 

Once the salmon was done and had cooled, on the plate it went.........

 

 

I took one bite and holy moly the seasoning was soooo strong.  It was a good spicy flavor, but it was WAY too much!  We both scraped off the seasoning that hadn't soaked in and then ate the salmon.  Once the extra seasoning was scraped off, it was really good.  Even the Mr. said he like it and would eat it again.  HA, he now likes fish!  That was easy! 

I would definitely make this again, but I learned a few things:

Things I Learned:

1. Cut all the seasoning ingredients in half, it makes way too much for 2 people.
2. Salmon doesn't soak in the ingredients like I had thought/hoped, so don't put so much on.
3. Next time I make this dish, lightly coat the salmon with the seasoning.  No need to 'press' it into the fish.
4. Seasoning just the top of the salmon should suffice.

Healthy Dinner/Breakfast for One

What does someone make for a party of 1 that is also healthy and protein filled?  If I didn't care so much about the "healthy" part of it, I would have just eaten say ice cream, cheese and crackers, macaroni and cheese, pizza.....the list is endless.  But I just had a great workout and needed something that would be good for the muscles and body and still be yummy and fill me up.  Because I was just cooking for myself, I didn't want to go into the trouble of something fancy that would give me three days worth of leftovers.  Plus I like to save my fancy something for the Mr. I'm so sweet huh?  HA!

I was so hungry when I walked in the door I had to eat whatever I could get my hands on the fastest.  Plus, I'm totally over-the-top obsessed with these.  Down the hatch they went, probably a few too many.  But I love to suck on them and get that burning sensation in my sinuses.  Mmm....

Okay, back to dinner....  Egg-whites it is!  I have a new found love for egg-whites with lots of salsa!  I eat them almost every morning for breakfast lately.  Plus, I can make them without a recipe and they are really fast.  Yay me!! 

I decided to get a little crafty with my eggs and add whatever I had in the fridge.....mushrooms and tomatoes.  (Clearly I need to go to the store and get some greens!)  First up, cutting the mushrooms and throwing in the skillet to brown.

While those are browning (is that the right term?  I'm not sure.  I just want them to get darker and become softer...browning sounds right?!?!?), I cut my cherry tomatoes into quarters.

Once my mushrooms were browned, about 5 minutes, I tossed in the tomatoes and put in 4 egg-whites.  I wasn't paying attention with the first egg and almost put in the yolk...hence the little bit of yellow you can see in the picture. 

Since the pan was already hot browning the mushrooms, these eggs cooked really fast.  Once they started to look sort of white, I mushed them around the pan with a hard spatula until they were fully cooked.  I can't stand my egg-whites runny, so I probably cook them a little longer than most.  I did notice that these were harder to tell if they were done because the tomato juice in there made them seem runny.  Once I figured that out, on the plate they went.  I also added 1 cup of strawberry halves to my meal.  With all the summer strawberries, I'm totally obsessed and eat about 3 cups a day.  Can you overdoes on strawberries???  Hopefully not!

I don't think this picture makes it look totally appealing, but it was so good.  The eggs were darker than normal and I think that's from the mushrooms.  I also added my favorite salsa from Fresh & Easy: Roasted Pineapple and Peach Salsa to the top of my eggs. 

It was so yummy, healthy and left me with a full stomach before bed.  All is good in the world.  :)

Weekend Eats

It seems like all I've been doing is eating out every weekend and not cooking!  It's kinda starting to make me sad.  I'm missing my kitchen and adventures, not missing the messiness though.  This past weekend, I didn't make one thing.  Sad face.  But here are some yummy things that my belly sure did enjoy.

Friday:
I met the ladies at Renaissance ClubSport Aliso Viejo for early evening appetizers, cocktails and live music.  It was probably one of the most beautiful evenings of all summer.  I had to leave early to attend a family birthday dinner, but before I left we ordered the tuna app.  Holy yummy!

Then it was off to my Mom and Bruce's for the birthday dinner.  I definitely should have taken more pictures because dinner was very visually appealing, plus it was so yummy.  I did get a picture of the core of our dinner, which was 6.6 pounds of tri-tip.  This was accompanied with orzo salad, grilled vegetables (snap peas, yellow and red bell peppers, mushrooms, and red onions), and we finished it all off with pecan pie.

Saturday:
We decided to have a late, last-minute dinner out on Saturday and went to Opah so that we could have some oysters.  It also helps that the food is great and it's really close to the house.  We started with oysters, clam chowder and tuna tartare.  Then we moved on to scallops and a shrimp salad for our entrees.  I guess we wanted to be sea creatures with all that seafood.  That's what the warm weather does to you!  And btw....the clam chowder was not my idea, being that it was about 85* out.  The meal was perfect.  We also brought a bottle of wine from our favorite winery Saarloos and Sons. 

Sunday:

Sunday brunch was amazing because I got to go to my new favorite brunch place with a girlfriend and we had the best time!  Have you been to Cucina Enoteca?  If not, you are totally missing out!  It's at the Irvine Spectrum and has the yummiest of breakfasts, plus on Sundays they have bottomless peach Bellini's.  You definitely cannot go wrong.  Speaking of drinks, they have a great drink menu and they have very affordable wine prices because they have a store license to sell verses a restaurant.  On Sundays, they don't charge you the $8 corkage fee either.  Happy customer here!!

One of their breakfast choices is the waffle bar, HIGHLY recommended.  My waffle bar concoction (thanks to the Mr.'s order on our previous trip there) was vanilla waffles, with hot sauce, peppers and spinach and topped with spicy shrimp.  AMAZINGGGGG!!!!!!

We also ordered the tiramisu cinnamon roll to share.

We ordered a fantastic pizza and olive tapenade too, but of course I forgot to snap pictures. 

Needless to say, we both left Sunday very stuffed and very happy!  I can't wait to return!!  I would like to make this my new Sunday tradition.  Kevin.....are you listening?!?!?!? 

My mouth is now watering and I just may have to stop there on the way home today and pick up some food.  You should definitely go too!  You will not be disappointed.  But make sure you invite me since I told you about it.  Now go, and try it!

Grilled Peach Salad

Grilled fruit?  I do love everything grilled, but I'm not sure about grilled fruit.  Fruit is so good and sweet on it's own, why grill it?  Plus, then it's warm and warm fruit makes me think of dessert.  Mmmmm, dessert!  It turns out grilled peaches are AMAZINGly delish!!  OMG I now want them every night, for dinner and dessert. 

While browsing through recipes I came across this Grilled Peach, Chicken & Goat Cheese Salad with Honey White Balsamic Dressing.  Sounded good, refreshing, easy and healthy.  The perfect combination for summer meals!

I made the dressing first, as per the recipe.  As I was making it, it seemed like there wasn't going to be enough.....the Mr. likes to make his salad a soup with all the dressing he pours on.  About half way through the dressing mixture, I doubled it.  So it didn't get mixed exactly as the recipe suggests, but it came out great!  There was just enough dressing for the two of us.  If you like a lot of dressing or are making this for multiple people, then you definitely need to double or triple and so on, the recipe.

The dressing was yummy and very light.

 

Next up, time to grill the peaches.  I cut them in half, removed the pit and placed them directly on the grill for 5 minutes.  And voila!

OMG they are so good I now crave them!  I am definitely buying more peaches next time I go grocery shopping just to make these and have them as a snack.
I wanted to save time with the ingredients so I bought the pre-cooked chicken from the grocery store and just cut it up into cubes.

I know I've mentioned before that I normally follow the recipe exactly as indicated.  Well, I actually ventured out on my own on this one.  Not much, but I'm still proud of myself.  Please don't rain on my venturing out on my own parade!

I wanted to make sure the Mr.'s salad was very hearty so he wouldn't complain that all we were having for dinner was a salad and so that he wouldn't get hungry 30 minutes later.  I piled on the chicken and goat cheese, plus I added some raisins that I already had.  Additionally, I used sliced almonds (not toasted) instead of toasted hazelnuts. 

Next up I cut the warm peaches and placed them nicely on top of the salad.  I noticed while cutting the warm peaches that some of the skin was coming off as I cut.  So the end result had some peaches with the skin and some without.  I didn't notice a difference while I was inhaling my meal!

Isn't this salad pretty???  And guess what??  It tasted even better than it looks!!  The combination of the warm peaches and cold chicken and greens with the cheese was perfection.

You MUST try this salad, you know it looks good!  I wouldn't lead you astray.  Stop at the store on the way home and get everything you need.  And then let me know if you liked it as much as we did.  Plus, it takes 10 minutes to throw together.....so you can make, eat and clean up all before the start of the Bachelor Pad.  Sweet!

Breakfast Quesadilla for Dinner?

Sure!!  Why not?!?!?  This wasn't a planned dinner, but I didn't have anything planned for the night and eggs and breakfast sounded good, plus I already had all the needed ingredients on hand.  How convenient!!  And let's be honest, the best dinners are normally breakfast food anyway.  :)

I opted to try the Southwestern Breakfast Quesadilla Recipe with Eggs, Black Beans & Salsa.  I have never made a quesadilla before that wasn't out of the microwave with shredded cheese......now crawl yourself back into your chair and stop laughing at me.  So while this sounds easy and anyone could do this, I'm still learning.

In go the peppers and black beans.....

I whisked together the eggs, egg-whites and water and poured it into the skillet.  I probably should have read the recipe better before I started because this is going to make a lot of food.  4 eggs + 4 egg whites + everything else = fatness (and yummy of course).

Ummm, I think I might be making too much food for two people?

I haven't learned the talent of cooking while you take pictures, so I missed the whole assembly process of the quesadillas.  It actually went better than planned.  I did learn that besides putting a small layer of cheese on the bottom, with the egg mixture next, I also need to put a small layer of cheese on top to help seal the quesadilla.  Otherwise it was just the right amount of everything, perfect thickness.  I did forget the cilantro though.  Not sure where my brain was that night.  Maybe thinking about the upcoming episode of the Bachelor Pad?

I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Fire-Roasted Salsa Verde from fresh & Easy!!  I put it on everything from eggs and tacos to grilled chicken and even fruit.  Is that weird??  I mean, salsa really does make everything better. Especially THIS salsa.  If only I could make it hotter....maybe that will be my next adventure.  Back to the quesadilla, I topped it with my favorite salsa AND remembered to take some pictures before I scarfed it down.

Here is the "seal" issue I was talking about.  A good quesadilla should not be able to be pulled apart like this. 

So maybe it wasn't as cheesy as it should have been, and maybe it didn't "seal" properly, but it sure was yummy.  I scarfed it down.  I was still hungry (I used smaller multigrain tortillas), so I finished off my meal with a generous scoop of the egg mixture with a couple sprinkles of cheese and of course lots of salsa. 

I like these quesadillas a lot, but they were a little bland.  Probably because I forgot the cilantro.  I would also add really spicy salsa, just because I like the feeling of my mouth burning on salsa (and wasabi).  I'm weird.  I'd give them a B.

Things I learned:

1.  When making quesadillas, make sure to use enough cheese to seal (the deal).

2.  Make sure that if you skip out on an ingredient, if it's a flavor one, replace it with something else.



Grilled Brie

My mom had a casual BBQ on Sunday and we joined her so that I could see the family and my Grandma, Gaga, aka The Queen of Bling and The Original Lady Gaga.  I had a bunch of cheese left over from another party that actually never happened, so I offered to bring an appetizer.  This is definitely a new thing for me...bringing food to my mother's house!  For those of you that don't know, my mom is an amazing cook and I always said I would never cook because I couldn't make food as good as her.  Well, clearly that doesn't bother me so much anymore since all I want to do is cook.  My mom makes everything and I would never dream of trying to cook to her level.  And while I'm definitely not there yet, I try certain recipes around her......recipes that seem fool proof.  I have to make her proud of me of course!

For this appetizer I found this really interesting recipe that looked easy and yummy....the perfect combination of sweet, savory and cheesy and gooey!  I went for Grilled Brie with Honey and Trail Mix.

I soaked my cedar blank for about an hour before grilling.  I put the brie round straight on the plank and onto the BBQ for 10 minutes exactly.  I didn't check on it at all while it was cooking, and everyone kept asking me if it was okay.  My response..."I don't know, I guess we'll find out when the timer goes off.  If it doesn't go well, the BBQ is going to be a cheesy mess".  Well, it went perfectly and this was the result:

Of course I forgot to take pictures of it actually on the cedar plank...duh!  I should figure this out some day!

From here on I didn't follow the recipe exactly which is extremely unusual for me.  But I was so concerned that the brie was going to get cold (HA!, it would take some time since it's blazing hot here).  The recipe also suggested a berry trail mix, but when I was at the store buying trail mix, I didn't write that down and so I picked up a mix with nuts, cranberries and peanut butter chips.....amazing!  I first sprinkled the trail mix over the brie and around the edges so that it would look pretty (of course!).  I didn't measure it out, I just went for it.  Then I squirted honey back and forth over it until it looked like it had enough.  Here is the final result.

Isn't that pretty?  I think so, if my opinion counts! And let me tell you.....it tastes as good, actually better than it looks!  I could have sat and eaten the entire thing without taking a single breathe. 

Here is the piece of heaven with a slice cut out. Gooey greatness...

This will DEFINITELY be made again in my house.  It was AMAZING!!!!! And easy which we ALL love!

And since I was at my mom's house, I was blessed with some cocktail napkins from her collection of about 1,000.  These were just too good to not take a picture and post.