Mediterranean Spaghetti with Artichoke Hearts, Olives and Capers

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

It hasn’t been terribly hot here in SoCal this past week but the humidity is starting to really put a damper on things. We spent the day at Disneyland the other day & the weather literally felt like we had stepped into a time warp & landed at Disney World mid-August. It was so humid we didn’t even have the strength to really walk around & enjoy the park.

We hoped from store to store soaking in as much A.C. as we could get. I only got on about 3 rides, & one was indoor Space Mountain, so again… soaking in the A.C. I haven’t experienced a hot summer day in the Park that made me truly not want to be there, since I moved out here over five years ago. But we were committed to staying through at least the parade & fireworks show.

Since it is Disneyland’s 60^th anniversary, they recreated & relaunched a lot of attractions to celebrate their Diamond Celebration. The firework show & Paint the Night Parade are two of the best shows I have seen in a long time.

I am not a big parade watcher. I think they can really kill your day at the park. You have to stake out a seat hours beforehand, & then you are still crammed into a small space with hundreds of other people all trying to take the same picture & see the same thing. This parade, however, is probably one of the most entertaining, fun & impressive parades I’ve seen at Disney & is totally worth the wait in the heat.

Anyways, I digress. Back to the heat.

Needless to say the last thing I, or anyone we were with wanted was a heavy meal. So after much deliberation, we finally gave in & headed over to Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante, the Mexican restaurant right next to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad & had some carne asada Caesar salads. If there was about a table spoon of less salad dressing, it would have been the second best thing for a summer day next to jumping into the pool.

Fast forward to today, where I don’t go into work until after lunchtime, it’s again, kind of gross out. Best part, I am home alone so I can cook whatever I want for lunch & Chris can’t complain that he doesn’t like just about every ingredient I am putting into this pasta.

This is a pasta that my mom loves to make during the summer also. It’s light, has a ton of flavor, & doesn’t need to be served piping hot, like how I like my pastas with red sauces. This is even a nice pasta you could make with really anything you have laying around, & it is great when you need to start clearing out the fridge of things that way have been in there for a little too long. Here is how I am making it today. Enjoy!

Serves 2

1/3 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
10 olives
3-4 marinated artichoke hearts
1 Tbsp capers
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes
2 cups spaghetti, cooked

1. Boil water with a tsp of olive oil and a dash of salt. Once begins boiling, add spaghetti and cook to time on box.
2. Saute garlic in olive oil for 2-3 minutes on medium heat until golden but not browned.
3. Add olives, artichokes, capers and seasonings and continue cooking 5-8 minutes stiring every couple minutes. The artichokes with turn golden brown and olives will begin to wilt slightly when ready.
4. Add pasta to saute pan and toss using tongs until pasta is totally covered by olive oil and veggies are dispersed evenly.

12Jul2015

Turkey Tacos

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

It is very rare that I get a weekend day off being I work in retail but I absolutely love when I am off like the rest of the world. Weekends in Southern California can be so vast. You truly can go anywhere, & everywhere all in the same day.

We started our morning on Saturday heading down to the desert to pick up some wine at a few wineries that we are members at. Yes I said a few. We may have a slight problem of collecting wine clubs. I am a big fan of supporting small mom & pop shops. I will go to a home style restaurant before you ever see me at a Fridays or Applebees. (Don’t get me wrong, I love both of those places, but if I had the choice, the small window front restaurant is going to get my business first.) I love shopping at small retailers where not everyone is going to have the same thing as you. And I would shop at a farmers market every day if I could.

So when I first discovered Temecula, CA & the small wineries they had to offer, I said sign me up!

No but literally we signed up… a lot.

It works out to about once a month we head down to the desert & pick up anywhere between 2 & sometimes even 9 bottles of pre-selected wines that the wine clubs pick out for us. Best part is, while we are there we are able to have a flight or glass for free.

So Saturday we headed down to Temecula, picked up some wine, had a glass & soaked up the sun.

After all of that sun I talked Chris into heading to the beach to watch the sunset, & he is such a great guy that we drove almost two hours out of the way to make it just in time to Dana Point and watch the sun set over the Pacific. It truly is an amazing view, & one of my favorite parts of living in California. I grew up at the beach but the quaint beaches of Long Island Sound got nothing on the cliffsides and waves of the Pacific Coast.

After sunset we drove up Pacific Coast Highway, through Laguna Beach (picking out restaurants and bars we want to try), & ended up at Balboa Island in Newport Beach.

Balboa Island is known for two things: it’s cute beachside cottages that can run upward of a million dollars, and frozen bananas. YUM! There are two ice cream shops, about 500 feet from each other, that ironically, both claim to be the original home of the frozen banana. Now I don’t know who is embellishing, can honestly I don’t really care, but these things are amazing.

The only things that could have made the day any better was to stop at a little Mexican joint on the water, have some guacamole & of coarse… tacos. So instead. I decided I’d make my own.

Tacos growing up meant heavy McCormick’s seasoning, and hard taco shells. After Chris & I started dating, I began going to his house for dinner & that is when I saw true Mexican tacos, & how easy they can be to make! Lucky for me he was the seasoning taster in his family (aka the most judgmental about his tacos) so it didn’t take me too long to pick up how his mom made them.

I’m still working on the whole warming my tortillas up on the stove… for safety reasons of coarse. I am kind of a klutz. But this is one of my favorite go to recipes I have picked up. Try it out & of coarse, enjoy!

1 lb turkey meat
Garlic salt, pepper
½ head iceberg lettuce
1 roma tomato or 12 grape tomatoes
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
½ avocado
cilantro, chopped

1. Slice iceberg lettuce into ¼ inch slices, wash and dry lettuce. Wash and slice tomato into similar slices.
2. Pepper to taste and soak in apple cider vinegar and set aside.
3. Place ground turkey into heated skillet over medium heat. Cook over medium heat breaking up meat to small pieces. Season with garlic salt and pepper to taste.
4. Once meat looks cooked through, lower heat and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes stirring regularly.
5. While meat simmers place tortilla over open flame, laying directly on gas burner. Once edges begin to curl slightly, flip using rubber coated tongs. **Be careful here! I’ve burnt myself a few times.
6. Built taco using heated tortilla, turkey meat and topped with lettuce and tomato mixture. Top with salsa, diced avocado and cilantro.

9Jul2015

Blackened Shrimp Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Sometimes summer in SoCal can be a little brutal. Even though we are just a 20 minute drive to Newport Beach, where it usually tops out at 85 degrees during the hottest months, we live & work as far east in Orange County as you can get so we get zero beach breeze during the summers. Between July, August & September it is very common for temperatures to hit triple digits! That’s right… we’re talking 102⁰ & 105⁰ degree days, 5-7 days a week.

Gross.

The last thing I want to do on days like that is turn on the stove or eat a heavy meal. This weekend we are heading down to Temecula Wine Country with Chris’s boss & his boyfriend for some wine tasting & relaxation. I figured I’d make us some light salads to come home to. It will be the perfect thing to have after a day of drinking in the hot desert sun. Also we can grill and keep the heat outside.

We eat salads here all year round but summer is my favorite time to try new ones. Chicken, fish, shrimp. Everything is fair game. So far, this is one of my favorite at home shrimp salads. Enjoy!

Four salads:
2 medium heads of romaine lettuce
2 small sweet peppers, chopped
1 ear of corn on the cob, grilled and kernels removed
½ cup grape tomatoes, halved

Dressing:
½ cup Ranch dressing
½ avocado
Juice of a whole lime
4 Tbsp cilantro

Shrimp Seasoning:
¼ cup chili
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. black pepper

1. Mix shrimp seasoning together in deep bowl. Remove from bowl and place on parchment paper and allow to sit.
2. Compile salad using lettuce, peppers, corn, and grape tomatoes.
3. To make salad dressing blend Ranch dressing, avocado, lime juice and cilantro until smooth. Add more cilantro to taste.
4. Skewer shrimp 4-5 per skewer. Allow room in between each shrimp to cook.
5. Grill 3-4 minutes per side.
6. Toss salad with dressing and top with skewer of shrimp.

7Jul2015

Fiber Kicked Breakfast Smoothie

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Sometimes the mornings are a little rough, but nothing compares to when I was commuting an hour to work each day. I know I know, you are probably thinking, you live in Los Angeles, an hour is nothing, but this was the same time I had to be at work at 4am three times a week.

Pause….

Yep, there it is. I had to be out the door by 3 am work a full 9 hour day & then drive an hour home, if I was lucky. During those six months last year I would do anything in my power to stay in bed as long as possible. Sleep was my best friend but we were too busy to hang out ever.

I had a few ways to keep me up on my morning drive. Obviously I needed to have my coffee. But then again I can wake up at 4 in the afternoon & need a coffee. Sometimes I would bake muffins on Sundays & I would have just enough for breakfasts on the go. Other times I would just grab a fruit on my way out the door. I tried Greek yogurt a few times but driving & yogurt aren’t the safest combinations. So I started making smoothies.

It combined a little bit of everything I enjoyed for breakfast. I had some yogurt for protein, oats for grains & tons of fruits for vitamins & a little bit of a pick me up of sugar, which trust me, is a necessity at that hour of the day.

What else was nice was even though it was a little bit of a chore to prepare the fruits, blend the drink, & clean up afterward, I could do everything the night before & just grab the shake from the fridge in the morning.

There are hundreds of varieties that you can use but this one is my favorite. A little berry-banana blend. Hope you enjoy!

1 banana
10 blueberries
3 strawberries
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp Flax Seed with Blueberries
1/2 cup plain oats
Orange Juice

1. Mix Greek yogurt, Flax seed, oats, and fruits in blender.
2, Pour orange juice through top opening until fruit blends smoothly.

6Jul2015

Stuffed Artichokes

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

During my four month hiatus I wasn’t only working on content for my new and improved Megan and Eggs. I also was catching up on some much needed R&R.

Back in March my mom came to stay with us for a long weekend. I was super excited! My shopping buddy was in town, my fellow wine taster, and my head chef!! Before she even got here we had a list of things we were going to make. The morning after she landed we headed to the grocery store to pick up some essentials.

When her eyes caught our massive California artichokes she had to get them. Now that I have been here for five years I have gotten used to eating steamed artichokes the west coast way… dipped in mayonnaise. But my health crazy mom couldn’t stop gagging when I suggested we have them dipped in the artery clogging spread. Instead she insisted we have them the Italian way… stuffed.

Since it was a few weeks before Easter I couldn’t help but agree. You see, every year for Easter I remember one of the things my grandmother would make was stuffed artichokes. In a huge family, that was a lot of artichokes!! But it had been so long even my mom had to remember how they were made, so we called my stepdad. They ended up coming out so good before she hoped on the plane back to JFK she picked up two more California artichokes to take home to Connecticut.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

2 large artichokes
2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 button mushrooms
3 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Rinse artichokes and cut off stem. Cut close to body of the vegetable allowing it to sit on it’s own. Set aside. Cut off the top of the artichoke and any of the remaining points on the leaves on the outside of the artichoke. Throw this away.
2. Looking down on the artichoke push the leaves outward from the heart of the vegetable creating a small bowl in the middle. You want a 1.5-2 inch diameter to have enough room for stuffing. Set aside.
3. Chop steam of artichoke and quickly sauté with garlic in 2 Tbsp olive oil and mushrooms. Combine bread crumbs, egg, and sautéed mixture together in large mixing bowl.
4. Stuff mixture into center of artichoke. Using a small spoon will help push out the leaves to allow a big enough bowl in the center.
5. Place into large sauce pan with about 1 inch of water along the bottom of the pan. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and cover. Bring the water to a boil and then lower to simmer.
6. Allow to simmer for 45 minutes or until outer leaves are tender.
7. Dip outer leaves in mayonayes or melted butter or eat plain.
**Can also add two bay or sage leaves into simmering water to add flavor to the outer leaves.