What's for Dinner

Weekly Recipes 

Presto Pesto!

This week I made pesto with fresh basil from my garden.  Basil is an herb that grows abundantly on the east end this time of year, and pesto is a perfect recipe to use it for.  There are so many things you can use pesto sauce for, some of which I'll include here, and the best thing is pesto can also be frozen in small zip-lock bags to be enjoyed throughout the year, long after summer has ended and your basil has died.  I followed this basic pesto recipe:
http://afewshortcuts.com/2012/07/homemade-pesto/

The first night I added the pesto sauce to thin spaghetti, added 4 cut up grilled sweet Italian sausages, and 1 grilled red pepper.

A few nights later I made a White Pesto Pizza!

Ingredients:

1 tube of Pillsbury thin pizza crust

1/2 cup of ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of pesto sauce

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

4-6 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto

2-3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet and unroll the pizza dough onto it. 

Cook the crust for 5 minutes, the take it out to add other ingredients.

2.  While crust is initially baking, mix ricotta cheese, olive oil, and pesto in a bowl.  When the 5 minutes are up, take the crust out, spread the ricotta mixture on.  /Next sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan. then tops with torn pieces of prosciutto.  

3.  Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.  The pizza doesn't always look that pretty, but it's so good!

Finally another recipe which I'll be trying for the first time next week, comes from a good friend of the East End Mommies, Michelle Kelly.

Oven Roasted Pesto Potatoes

Michelle adds about 1/4 cup of pesto sauce to 4 cut up potatoes.  After she thoroughly mixes this, she spreads the potatoes in a baking dish, drizzles with some olive oil, then roasts the potatoes for 35-40 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. 

Any other ideas what to do with pesto?  Please let us know and we'll include your recipe on the blog!

What's for dinner?

Chicken Waldorf Salad

I recently made this salad for a potluck lunch with fellow East End Mommy bloggers, and promised to share this easy summer salad.  It's great to serve as a sandwich on any kind of bread or roll, or over mesclun greens!

Ingredients:

Salad:

2 large chicken breasts

1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 lemon, juiced

1 cup red seedless grapes, halved

1 stalk of celery, finely chopped

1/4 cup craisins

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Dressing:

3/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Boil the chicken breasts in water over medium high heat for 20 minutes.  When the chicken is cooled, chop it up into bite sized pieces.

2. Toss the chopped apple in the lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add chicken, grapes, celery, caisins, and walnuts.  

3.  In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, orange juice, salt and pepper.  Gently fold the dressing over the salad to combine.  

What's for Dinner

Perfect Steak Marinade

Summer grilling is in full effect and this is an easy and delicious marinade for most cuts of steak.  I love using flank since it's one of the leanest cuts, but skirt steak is always a nice treat as well!

Obviously the longer you marinate the more flavorful the meat will be, but marinate for no less than 6 hours!

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/3 cup vegetable oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a shallow long dish add the steak and top with garlic and onions.  

2.  In a bowl mix Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, and oil until well blended.  Pour evenly over steak then season with salt and pepper.  Cover and refrigerate flipping the steak over halfway through.  Steak is best if marinated overnight. 

3.  Bring the steaks to room temperature before grilling on med heat for 6-12 minutes.