Tahini Bowl

WOW! This dish is soooooo good! So easy, so tasty and so healthy. Do yourself a favor and make this for dinner. Tonight! The following is the recipe the way I was given it (no idea what it is called by the way, someone posted it on Facebook). Under that will be the way I made it and I'm pretty sure I like my way a little better. BTW, kids loved it too!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup tahini sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup kale, chopped
1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped (optional)
brown rice
black beans (1 can)

Directions:
In a food processor or mortar and pestle, combine garlic and tahini sauce and salt. In a bowl whisk the lemon juice and sesame oil then add the tahini mixture to the bowl and mix. Pour over a big bowl of brown rice, black beans and raw, chopped kale. Top with some parsley and dig in!

*The Jo Way:
Bought my Tahini sauce from Trader Joe's (near the hummus) since the grocery store only sells Tahini paste. Tahini paste is not the same thing and if you don't live by a Trader Joe's or store that sells Tahini SAUCE then there are plenty of recipes on-line for actual Tahini sauce that are simple. Trust me, it makes a difference and you need the sauce not the plain paste. I've tried it with the paste and the consistency was like peanut butter and not that great. I don't have a mortar and pestle or a food processor, only a blender and a Magic Bullet. I used our Bullet and added way more garlic then recipe calls for, about half the amount of tahini sauce (I probably used about 1/4 cup of tahini sauce), 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 diced jalapeno (didn't give the jalapeno mixture to the kids) and mixed in the bullet. Then for the lemon mixture I used 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup of lemon. Really good meatless meal. My husband even told me he wouldn't mind eating it 2 nights in a row if we have leftovers. :)

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

100% without a doubt the best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe you will ever eat. The mix of cheeses give it a gourmet taste w/out taking away from the OG goodness of good ol' Mac and Cheese. This recipe has been tried and tested by some of the biggest food lover's I know. Another recipe from the kitchen of my bestie Elishia. I made it a couple times last winter and the entire family was happy. I normally only crave something like this when it's cold outside but I resurrected it for my step-dad's birthday since I'm pretty sure Mac and Cheese is one of his favorite foods ever. My sister-in-law made this recently for a friend's birthday also and served it with ribs. Great idea and great pairing! I think I'll make that combo next.

Ingredients:
2 cups elbow macaroni
1/4 cup oil
1 stick of butter or margarine cut into pieces
1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes (or substitute 1/2 the Velveeta with a blend of grated sharp cheddar cheese, Jarlsberg and jalapeno cheese)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/16 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce (optional)
1 egg
1 cup milk + a little more milk
1 (8oz.) bag shredded sharp Cheddar (2 cups)
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:
1. In a large pot, add 6 cups of water and 1/4 cup of oil. Bring to a boil. Cook macaroni in boiling water, approximately 9 minutes, until tender.
2. Slice butter and drop into crock pot. Turn crock pot on to melt butter while cooking pasta.
3. Drain macaroni, but do not rinse it. Place in slow cooker.
4. Add cubed Velveeta or grated cheese. Mix gently.
5. Mix egg, milk, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. If you like it spicy you can add 1/4 tsp. of Tabasco sauce to egg mixture. Pour over macaroni. Add additional milk if necessary, to come up to 1" from the top of the macaroni. Don't cover the macaroni with milk!
6. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over top of macaroni.
7. Sprinkle top of cheese with 1/4 cup of bread crumbs.
8. Cook 4 hours on Low or 2 hours on High.
9. 6-10 servings.

Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches with Sherry Vinaigrette and Manchego on Ciabatta

A Bobby Flay Boy Meets Grill masterpiece! This grilled veggie sandwich makes for a meal that is summery and so satisfying! This is more of a Shea specialty because of the grill work required but I'm working on that. Our 3 year old couldn't get enough of this meal so it is also pretty kid friendly once sliced.

Ingredients:
3 Japanese eggplants, sliced in half lengthwise
3 red bell peppers
1 red onion, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
1 large beefsteak tomato, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
extra virgin olive oil or canola oil for grilling
salt and pepper
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves plus 2 to 3 tablespoons torn leaves, for garnish
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling bread
1 loaf of ciabatta, sliced in lengthwise
Sherry Vinaigrette, recipe follows
8 slices Manchego cheese

Directions:
Heat grill to high. Brush eggplant, peppers, onion and tomato slices with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant, tomato and onion on both sides until slightly charred and just cooked through. Grill peppers on all sides until charred, remove from the grill, place in a brown paper bag and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove skin from the peppers and cute into 1-inch slices. Cut the eggplant, tomato and onion into large dice.
Whisk garlic, 1/4 cup chopped parsley and 1/2 cup olive oil together in a large bowl. Add the cut vegetables to the bowl and let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Drizzle cut sides of ciabatta with 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill cut side down for 1 to 2 minutes. Brush grilled bread with some Sherry Vinaigrette and then layer on the mixed vegetables and Manchego. Drizzle with more vinaigrette and top with torn parsley. Place other piece of bread on top, wrap sandwich in foil and place on grill with 2 foil wrapped bricks on top (we've never done the brick part, never had the bricks laying around) for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from grill and foil and cut sandwich crosswise into 2-inch thick slices.

Sherry Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup aged sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Whisk all ingredients together in medium bowl. Season to taste, with salt and pepper.

Spicy Turkey Burger

This burger is the BEST turkey burger you will ever eat...if you like zesty flavor and a lot of spice! This is not for the faint of heart. My husband got a grill bug and felt like grilling last weekend. He went to the store and came home to make us this amazing tasting burger. We don't have burger's that often but I know what a good burger tastes like! In fact, I would even say this rivals a Five Guys burger. I had no idea it was ground turkey when I first sunk my teeth into it, it was so good. We had left over ground turkey so we fired up the grill again last night. It looks like a Valentine's Day meal with the hot pink mess on the side but that was actually roasted beets with Greek yogurt dressing. Recipe for roasted beets coming soon but for now, do yourself a favor and make this burger.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. lean ground turkey

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root

2 fresh green chile peppers, diced

1 medium red onion, diced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons, paprika

1 tablespoon ground dry mustard

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Preheat the grill for high heat. In a bowl, mix the ground turkey, garlic, ginger, chile peppers, red onion, cilantro, salt, soy sauce, black pepper, paprika, mustard, cumin, and Worcestershire sauce. Form the mixture into 8 burger patties. Place turkey burgers on the grill, and cook 5-10 minutes per side, until well done.

Authentic Pasta Carbonara

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! This is most definitely my favorite pasta dish of all time. It's so simple with only a few ingredients but it can be tricky. When it is done right, you end up with a delicious and flavorful pasta that is light yet salty and dense at the same time. This recipe comes from Cathe Laurie on the Virtue web-site. Photos are also courtesy of Virtue. I tried taking my own but with our horrible apartment lighting and my point and shoot camera, the pasta was just looking funky.

Ingredients:

1/2 box of spaghetti

Hunk of pancetta or thick cut bacon (I use the Trader Joe's Pancetta that is already cut into little matchstick size square pieces)

Extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (love the nutty flavor of this cheese-one of our staples for pasta)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped Italian parsley to top, optional

Directions:

Put the pasta into a pot of lightly salted, boiling water.

Cut the pancetta into quarter-inch matchsticks and place into a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil.

While the pancetta and spaghetti is cooking, break the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add half a handful of freshly grated Parm.-Reggiano and a pinch or two of black pepper. Beat the mixture together, just enough to combine everything evenly.

Since the pancetta will only take about 5-10 minutes to brown nicely, turn down the heat to low until you're ready to assemble the dish. Once the spaghetti is cooked, strain it and add to the egg mixture. Add a small handful of cheese and toss the mixture well with a couple of forks until the spaghetti is coated.

Immediately turn the heat back up on the pancetta for 30 seconds, until it's sizzling, then pour off half the fat. Add the pancetta and remaining fat onto the pasta and sprinkle with more cheese, and some pepper. Let it sit for about 30 seconds before mixing; if the pancetta is too hot, the sauce won't blend well.

Serve in a clean bowl. Traditionally, the bowl that the pasta was mixed in is served to your guest. This is the "originale", which has the good stuff at the bottom and is considered a special blessing!