Tag Archives: Quick dinner

All Whisked Up! {Choripán Recipe}

Posted on by

10

 {Choripán}

Our fave (1)This week’s post is extra special!

Also a little longer than normal (bear with me)….let me explain!

Recently I became a member of a blogging group called Wisconsin Whisk. It’s a group of food bloggers in the great state of Wisconsin. The main goal is to connect bloggers in Wisconsin together with each other as well as with local producers, sponsors, advertisers to really nuture a community of support. As of right now, there are close to 40 blogs that are members! The majority are located around the Madison, Wisconsin area but there is certainly an impressive footprint of Wisconsin covered, from Eau Claire all the way down to Milwaukee and everywhere in between. Here is a list of members. Check them out! And if YOU are a food blog located in Wisconsin, consider joining!cropped-banny3_1A month or so ago, we had a first sort of ‘meet and greet’ event where some of us close to Madison got together to meet each other face to face and briefly cover what the goals of Whisk are and brainstorm ideas and discuss what members wanted to see Whisk help them accomplish.

One of the things we discussed was a sort of secret santa recipe swap if you will. The idea would be that if you wanted to participate you could put your name in a virtual bucket and you would be then be assigned another blog to go and research and find a recipe of theirs you wanted to try. You would make the recipe and document and photograph in your own style. Then those participating would unveil their “secret” recipes at the same date and time! We decided to call the event, All Whisked Up!

None of us know who is assigned our blog until posts are published (that’s today!).

My ‘assignment’ was to check out Kristin over at Everyday Celebrations.

Kristin describes herself as : “A former teacher turned wife, mom of 5, and author of Everyday Celebrations. She shares recipes and tips for celebrating life’s memorable moments and everyday celebrations. Some days celebrate a certain food, idea, or activity. Sometimes a day is set aside to remember or to increase awareness of a need. Each and every day should be celebrated by spending time with family and friends enjoying whatever time we are given”

Personally I absolutely love the positivity and gratitude that is practiced through finding the good in every day and having little celebrations all the time! Not to mention my admiration for a mom of 5 finding time to blog!

While looking through Kristin’s blog one of her posts and recipes really stood out to me. Kristin had a post highlighting when she made Choripan and I couldn’t help but try to make it myself.

What the hellllllz is choripan you ask? Ohhhh, sit tight, you’re gonna want to pay attention.

Super high level: Choripan is a type of sandwich that is incredibly popular in South America, most notably Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, and a ton of others!

It’s name comes from a combination of it’s ingredients chorizo (chori) and bread (pan). It’s basically an fancy adult version of the american hot dog. Chorizo sausage grilled to perfection, split down the middle and served on crusty bread with chimichurri and pickled onions (that’s the most popular method).

Through my research I found that while most recipes you will see call for Chorizo, not all chorizo is the same. Normally when someone says Chorizo you think of mexican chorizo which has that classic red color needs to be removed from it’s casing and ends up as ground meat. But there are many different kinds of chorizo. Spanish chorizo even has many version all depending on the locale. But most notably, Brazilian and Argentinian Chorizo is made with pork sausage which is very closely related to italian sausage and has similar flavors with more heat and less fennel flavors.

I looked at every.single.type. of chorizo that was available at my grocery store and tried to pick the one that was like what’s described above. I decided to give two of them try for comparison. Both were actually very good but I would pick the Usingers brand over Klements. Probably just personal preference but I like the consistancy (less crumbly, more sturdy) and the taste (more robust) better than the other. Both were great and totally tasty though!
Our fave

flag_of_brazil_heart_sticker-rd0816af7c62d425787003e4c3b1597b1_v9w0n_8byvr_1024I have a special place in my heart for Brazil (Brasíl  ❤ ) from my travels there when I was in high school. And actually had choripan while I was there! This brought back memories for me and the chimichurri was like a walk down memory lane for my taste buds. This post and recipe was fun to make and even more fun and delicious to eat.

Kristin is keeping her recipe for her chimichurri on lock down 🙂 so we made our own version but stayed true to her vision. So without further adieu, here is our take on choripán!
20151004_164217444444 ALWAYSSUMMER (1)I pan fried my sausages
20151004_162423and made the chimichurri
20151004_163058and the pickled onions & tomatoes
20151004_163226it was such a beautiful spread I couldn’t help but snap more photos!
20151004_163316
20151004_162912Then you put it all together!

I slathered both sides of the bread with chimichurri and then placed the sausage on top, garnished with pickled onions and tomatoes and squished together.
20151004_16393722222And take a big bite
20151004_16432533333My favorite part was definitely the chimichurri. I actually used the leftovers a few days later on a baked chicken. Just stuffed some under the skin of the chicken and rubbed it down all over. It seriously tasted so good. You might will have some left over of this so experiment, have fun, and find another use!20151004_162630Whew! Done with pictures 🙂 This was really super delicious and Jake loved it, I loved it, so unique and flavorful. You should definitely give this recipe a try.

Also make sure to check out all the other blogs and member of Wisconsin Whisk! You can click on the little blue frog link down at the bottom to see all the other members who are participating in the recipe swap!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

xoxo

669058772380712020613

To view all the other All Whisked Up recipes, click here:

 

*Here is the inspiration post from everydaycelebrations. 

Advertisement

Turkey, Leek, and Wild Rice Casserole

Posted on by

0

Turkey, Leek, and Wild Rice Casserole

DSC_9158

Hello fraaaaands!

Last year around this time, I posted this enchilada recipe to give you a new way to use your leftover turkey!It was different flavors than most of us probably had on Thanksgiving and we all know I like to spice it up 🙂 butttt we also know I’m a creature of habit and love the holidays. I love the food of the holidays and usually have too many recipes on my wishlist and end up cutting some out because making ungodly amounts of food is wasteful…… That’s why this year, I’m again going to give you an EXCELLENT recipe to use up some of your left over Turkey meat from next week, but it’s a fall inspired comfort food meal!

Yes Thanksgiving is next week and this recipe is a “week early” but if you’re like me, you like to plan and that includes meal planning. This post is extra special because it contacts some sponsored products!

A while back, I was contacted by popchips to see if I would be interested in trying some of their products and sharing them on the blog. Um yes.

Upon further research- popchips are all natural, gluten free, low fat, not fried, no soy(as far as I can tell- though I haven’t tried every kind) and non to mention- delicious!

Originally I was asked if I could try some of the Cheddar Cheese products because they were interested in teaming up with bloggers in Wisconsin because Wisconsin is apparently one of the only places where Cheddar cheese is a snack consumed at higher rates then anywhere else . I said yes, even if I try to limit my cheese intake we all know- I love cheese. Too much.

They sent me a big box of samples of tons of flavors and even some veggie pop chips.

So I won’t lie- they were so good just as is (especially with Hummus) that that’s pretty much how we enjoyed them. However I did get the idea (rather genius if you ask me 🙂 ) so use them as a crunchy layer on a casserole. It was the PERFECT way to get a healthy crunch!

I was inspired by a fellow Wisconsin food blogger, Sarah from Wisconsin from Scratch. I get her blog posts directly to my email and love every single thing she posts! This dish she made particularly caught my eye. So I did my own rendition. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

DSC_9188

Turkey, Leek, and Wild Rice Casserole
Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large leek, thoroughly rinsed, chopped
  • 8 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 3 Tbsp gluten free flour
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup chicken or veggie broth
  • 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • ½ cup plain greek yogurt
  • 1 ½ cups cooked wild rice*
  • 2 cups cooked turkey shredded or chopped (or chicken too!)
  • 1 ½ Tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese popchips, crushed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot,  add the leeks, mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook until vegetables are soft, around 5 minutes or so.

3. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, then stir so that the flour coats all the vegetables. Once coated, cook for about 1 minute more and add the milk and broth. Bring it all to a boil, and reduce the heat to low and simmer until it thickens a little, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Stir in the cheese and yogurt until well combined. Once cheese is melted in, stir in the already cooked wild rice and turkey.

5. Pour wild rice mixture into a medium sized (1.5 quart) baking dish or casserole dish.

6. Pour 1 ½ Tbsp melted butter into a small bowl. Add the crushed popchips and mix together.

7. Top the turkey/wild rice mixture with the crushed popchips. Place in the oven and bake at 350 until topping is golden brown and filling is hot and bubbling, about 20-25 minutes.

7. Let sit and cool for about 5 minutes and then ENJOY!!!

*To cook wild rice, combine ½ cup dried rice with 2 cups of  water(or broth) in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Then drain off any excess liquid. 

DSC_9199

Hmmm baked cheesy, crunchy goodness. Soo good and comfort foody. So there you have it- the perfect thing to do with your leftover bird.

Hope you enjoy and happy holidays to you and your families! Take time to tell them you love them and unplug from social media/technology and have a drink, laugh and love with them!

xoxo

669058772380712020613

Better Than Takeout Beef & Broccoli

Posted on by

1

Better Than Takeout Beef & Broccoli

Hi my lovelies!

I have had my share of cheap, delicious, questionable ingredients, Chinese take-out. In college that was my ultimate hang over remedy. Nothing like Sundays filled with headaches, Chinese, and the Green Bay Packers. Buttttttt those days were quite a while ago and since then I’ve (as you know) put a huge effort in to live a healthier life than back then. Somedays though, the craving for the old favorite strikes. So I’ve come up with this healthified version of my favorite and I have to say it tastes EVEN BETTER! You could so easily add way more or different veggies and it would be amazing. Yummmmmm I need to make this again.

One quick note: coming up within the next couple weeks I’m going to be hosting my very first GIVEAWAY on the blog!! I’m really excited about it and can’t wait to share more with you all in the next coming weeks! Make sure to check back often so you don’t miss your chance to win!

Now back to the fooood!

EDIT of DSC_8461

I even have take out chopsticks to make the whole “experience” 🙂

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp oil of your choice
1/2 lbs flank steak, sliced into thin strips
1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp flour of your choice (I used almond flour)
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp oil of your choice
2 heads broccoli, cut into pieces
3 or 4 small sweet peppers, cut into strips

Instructions:

1. Whisk together the baking soda, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and oil in a large bowl. Toss the steak with the marinade to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, flour and vinegar until smooth. Set aside.

3. In a large wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat until shimmering. Add broccoli and saute 3 minutes, stirring often. Transfer broccoli to a plate. I like my broccoli to still be crunchy but if you don’t like that- cook for a little longer.

4. Reduce heat to medium-high. Carefully add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the marinated meat and half of the sauce mixture and saute for 3- 4 minutes, stirring often, until the meat is cooked through. Stir in the broccoli that you had set aside, the pepper strips, and the remaining sauce. Saute 1 minute more to heat it all through. Serve over rice and fall in love!

EDIT of DSC_8423

So simple and delish! Give it a try and let me know what you think! As always thanks for stopping by the blog and come back soon to make sure you enter for your chance to win the giveaway!

xoxo

669058772380712020613

What is in my CSA?- Week 2

Posted on by

1

CSA1

Hi friends! I seriously cannot believe that it’s almost freaking July. Are you kidding me?!?!? I mean once 4th of July happens summers zooms by and it’s the dead of winter before you know it. I need to soak up what’s left of summer!

I am going on vacation in a little under 2 weeks! Can.NOT.wait. We’ll be going to Beaver Island, Michigan. It’s heaven on earth. We have been going since I was a little kid (a few years off here and there) but I can’t wait to carry on the tradition when I have kids of my own. While it’s not every one’s cup of tea, I love it. It’s secluded and there not much to “do” but there’s so much to do! If you know what I mean. I’m so excited to go! But back to the reason for this post!

So, this week (really last weeks) CSA box, could be summed up in one word: LETTUCE! Holy moly- lots of lettuce. But I loved it because I could eat salad for the rest of my life and be a happy camper 🙂

Here is what we got in the box this time:

Week2

– 1 bag salad mix
– 1 lb Asparagus
– 1 bunch Dill
– 1 bunch Cilantro
– 1 bunch Green Garlic
– 1 bunch mini Bulb Onions
– 1 head Red Romaine Lettuce
– 1 bunch Rainbow Chard
– 1 bunch Spinach
– 1 head green Leaf Lettuce

BOX 2

Bananas not included 🙂

So as you can tell- a sh*t ton of lettuce!!! I knew I couldn’t juuuust eat salad with it.

HERE IS WHAT I DID WITH THE GOODIES: 

Salad mix- nothing too creative here. Just really yummy tasty salads
Asparagus- Used it to make this delicious zucchini pasta dish (See below!)
Dill- I put some in a salad one night (very good) and then I made a really yummy dill and lemon baked tilapia very low fat and fresh and delicious! I just prepped the fish, sprinkled garlic powder, chopped dill, and one of the mini bulb onions from the box, on top and baked in a 375 oven for about 1o minutes.
Cilantro- This is one of the those things you either love or you hate. Personally I love it. There wasn’t a ton of this so I made a black bean/corn salsa. Similar to this previous post of mine!
Green Garlic-Now that I know what this stuff is, I’m obsessed! This week you could definitely see that this is a baby garlic plant. The bottom totally looks like a mini baby head of garlic. So interesting! I used some of this in the zucchini pasta dish (see below) and then I also used it in an omelet.
Mini Bulb Onions- Truth time: besides the one I used on my fish dish mentioned above, I ate these raw. I love onions and have since I was born, they tasted soooo good. Not inventive I know, but I’m being honest 🙂
Red Romaine Lettuce- This was such a beautiful color. And it was delicious mixed into some of the salads we had!
Rainbow Chard- I sauteed this up with some shaved brussel sprouts and fresh lemon juice. Along with a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar at the end. I thought it was delicious, though I’ll admit, a little off the wall.
Spinach- Primarily I used this in my morning smoothies. I also put some of it in a salad. I was a little surprised by this because it looks nothing like the spinach you buy in stores. I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that usually the spinach in stores is baby spinach but had they not provided a list of what I got, I’d have no idea what it was.
Leaf Lettuce- BLT’s. I used my lettuce as the bread and didn’t use mayo ( I hateeee mayonnaise) It was amazing and tasted like summer in my mouth!

That’s pretty much it! With the  first box we got I was very confident that we would have been fine getting an every week share but after this box, I’m not sure I could have eaten that much lettuce in just one week! I’m pretty content with my EOW share. Here is the recipe for the super healthy zucchini pasta with dairy free pesto!

This week’s CSA Recipes:

Zucchini Pasta with Creamy (Dairy Free) Pesto:

For the Pesto:

2 avocados, skin and pit removed
2 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of fresh basil leaves
Juice of 1  lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup of Olive Oil

– Add the avocados, garlic, basil, and lemon juice to a food processor and blend well.
– While the food processor is on slowly add in the olive oil until emulsified (fully incorporated so where the oil won’t separate after sitting).
– Set aside.
*you could also add any nuts to this, pine nuts, walnuts etc… I didn’t because I didn’t have any. 

EDIT OF DSC_8493

For the “pasta” part:

1 small onion, diced
2 stalks green garlic (could some more onion), roughly chopped
1/2 pound fresh asparagus, cut on the bias into 2 inch pieces
1 cup organic corn kernels
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
3 zucchini (depending on size), use a vegetable peeler to slice thin ribbons of the zucchini, do this until you hit the seedy center.
Olive oil (or any oil of your choice)

Instructions:

– In a large saute pan(or just a pan with tall sides) heat about a tablespoon of your oil until hot and add in your onions and green garlic. Cook until softened (about 5 minutes).
– Add the asparagus and stir to combine.
– Add the zucchini ribbons and stir to combine, then top your pan with the lid and let it steam for about 5 minutes until the zucchini is softened and reduced in size.
– Toss in the corn and tomatoes and heat through.
– Add in about 1/2-1 cup of the pesto and stir until everything is coated. You can use as much or as little of the pesto as you want.
– ENJOY!

EDIT OF DSC_8514

I loved this dish. Jake didn’t care for it. He said it tasted “green”….. no idea what that means but as a veggie lover I can assure you it tastes great! I’m currently doing a detox type of program where I’m eating gluten, dairy, and soy free so this dish was great. I was lovvvving the dairy free pesto. SO GOOD!

Whew! Another week down and I’m definitely loving the abundance of fresh veggies around the house. Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully you were inspired or learned something 🙂

xoxo

669058772380712020613

Check out week one here!

Goat Cheese, Sausage, and Arugula Stuffed Peppers

Posted on by

1

Goat Cheese, Sausage, and Arugula Stuffed Peppers

20140322-202648.jpg

Wowza you guys. This recipe is sooooo freaking good. simple. delicious. fresh. healthy. did I already say delicious? Because it is.

It probably doesn’t hurt that I am OBSESSED with Arugula. Something about that taste just gets my every time. Spicy. Nutty. A tiny bit bitter. Loveeee it.

This dish does a great job highlighting those flavors. And it has goat cheese. So, what’s not to like?

Ingredients:

3 medium bell peppers of any color, halved lengthwise, seeds and ribs removed
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 links sausage of your choice, casings removed (I used spicy italian)
1 onion, diced
4 ounces goat cheese, softened or just buy the pre-crumbled stuff
2 large handfuls of arugula (about 1½ ounces) *Rocket for all you non USA folks 🙂
Salt, pepper and/or red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 cup  freshly grated Parmesan (or mozzarella)

Instructions:

Turn on oven to 400º. Place the prepped peppers in a baking dish and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until it browns, crumbling with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Drain the sausage and return to heat. Add the onion and cook until softened. Reduce heat to low and stir in the arugula and goat cheese until the cheese has melted and the arugula is wilted. Taste and add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Spoon the filling into the peppers and sprinkle each half with Parmesan. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the peppers have softened slightly. Hit with the broiler for about a minute to get the golden cheese on top and serve!

20140322-202603.jpg

I tried some with and without cheese on top

So I tried baking both with cheese on top and without. Honestly, the cheese sort of helped hold everything together but it’s one million percent possible to make this without the extra cheese on top. Just as delicious, just slightly messier.

20140322-202729.jpg

so pretty too!

Hmmmmmmm seriously sooo delicious. This meal was so quick to make and the flavors were aaaaaammmazing. I could have eaten the pepper “stuffing” by the spoonful out of the bowl.

Ok, I did that.

Don’t judge. It was soooooo good. You could serve this as a side or meal by itself! You need to make this pronto!

Also I just wanted to share that I’ve created some social media pages dedicated to the blog, check us out on Twitter and Facebook!

Thanks!

xoxo

669058772380712020613