Tag Archives: eat

What’s For Dinner? Simple & Fresh Flavors

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Flavors From Your Past

Italian SandwichGrowing up in Glendale, California there was no shortage of Persian and Armenian markets.  It was convenient for me to get everything I needed to make the Persian dishes I grew up on.  For my boyfriend it’s been a little harder to find that taste of home.  He grew up on the East Coast with an Italian deli always in close proximity.  He went to college in Boston, where he could grab his Italian favorites.  Living in L.A. was an adjustment, but with the opening of Jersey Mike’s and Rita’s Italian Ice he felt a little more at home.

Anyone who cooks dinner multiple nights a week will tell you that it’s easy to run out of ideas.  Coming up with a new menu plan for the week can become challenging after a while.  I look for inspiration every where.  If we go out to dinner, and enjoy a meal I will attempt to recreate it at home.  While attempting to plan this week’s meals I looked for inspiration from my boyfriend’s time in Boston.  Many times he spoke of this amazing sandwich he loved from the East End of Boston.  The sandwich sounded simple, and easy enough to make.  To make this sandwich more than ordinary it would take fresh ingredients.  Fortunately I know of an Italian Deli in Glendale.  Mario’s offers many Italian imports, serving everything from fresh bread to gnocchi and homemade marinara.  I was able to pick up everything I needed, plus some extra pastas for just $20.

Follow the simple instructions below to make a light and easy meal.  This sandwich travels well too, making it the perfect meal for a lunch in the park or office.

031What you’ll need:

Fresh French Bread
Fresh Mozzarella
Organic Basil
Organic Tomato
Prosciutto sliced
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar

Preparation:032

Make sure to rinse all your produce and pat try with a paper or clean hand towel
Slice tomato into thin slices
Cut bread loaf in half
Slice Mozzarella
Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over your tomato slices, mozzarella slices, basil, and the inside of the bread slices.
Sprinkle pepper over the mozzarella and tomato.
Sprinkle garlic salt over the tomatoes.
Stack your sandwich any way you like, piling up your ingredients.
Slice and serve! It’s that easy.

Enjoy 🙂

For more simple recipes visit the Feed Me portion of the Meeshme.com website.

Happy Dining XOXO

Pork Chops & Pasta? It Happened

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pork chops and pasta

What’s for Dinner?

Sometimes you have to force someone to take a chance, even if it’s just to experiment with food.  We can get so set in our ways when it comes to what we eat.  Visiting the same restaurants, ordering the same dishes, cooking the same meal night after night.  We grow up on certain types of food depending on our cultural backgrounds, then grow up and find other types of foods intimidating.  While the foods you grew up on were amazing, you’ll miss out on some great meals If you never try new things.

My boyfriend’s sister was kind enough to send us a giant package of meat from Omaha steaks for his birthday.  Among the amazing steaks were a few pork chops.  I knew my boyfriend would love them, despite his hate of pork. My mission would be to cook the pork chops in a way where he couldn’t deny their amazing flavor.

I chose to apply my fail-safe marinade to the pork chops, and fix a side of pasta to go with them.  The recipe for these bomb.com pork chops is below.

Ingredients:

Pork Chops (Amount depends on who you’re cooking for. My boyfriend was able to eat 3 in one meal)

Pasta (I used regular spaghetti noodles, you can use any type of noodle you prefer)

Marinade:

Balsamic Vinegar

2 tablespoon Oregano

1 tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes

1 tablespoon Pepper

1 tablespoon Garlic Salt

Olive Oil

Pre-Cooking Instructions:

The night before I coated the pork chops in olive oil.  Take a tablespoon of olive oil and rub it into the meat.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl: garlic salt, oregano, red pepper flakes, and pepper.

Sprinkle the mixture over the pork chops and pat down compacting the dry ingredients.

put the pork chops into a plastic Ziplock bag, and add the balsamic vinegar.

Put into the refrigerator, and let sit over night.

Cooking Instructions:

Heat your oven to 200 F

Add a teaspoon of olive oil to a sauce pan, and add your pork chops

Place the pork chops into the oven without a lid.

Let cook for 10 minutes then flip the pork chops, and let them cook for another 10 minutes

Take the pan out of the oven and put it on the stove top over high heat.

Cook the pork chops on either side for 1 to five minutes depending how brown you want the outside.

Take a piece of aluminum foil and loosely tent the pan letting the pork sit for 10 minutes

This will save the pork juices, preventing drying.

pork chops in pan

Pasta:

Boil Water

Add salt and teaspoon of olive oil

Add pasta when water comes to a boil

Cook aldente and drain

Remove pork chops from the cooking pan

Do not clean the pan.

Place pan over medium heat, and add pasta.

Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and tablespoon of olive oil

Mix the pasta with the drippings from the pork chops

Cook for five minutes or until mixed.

Plate with pork chops and serve!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe.  Come visit us here at Meeshme.com again soon!

Balsamic Salmon Sliders

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Barbecuing might seem intimidating, but it shouldn’t be.  The dishes you can make using your BBQ are endless.  Today’s recipe is simpler than you might think, thanks to your trusty grill.

salmon sliders

To make these delicious seafood sliders, start by preparing your salmon.  Start with a boneless, skinless filet of salmon.  Take out a large sheet of aluminum foil.  Set your grill to medium heat.  Create a dry rub using salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic salt.  Rub your salmon filet with these ingredients.  Place your salmon filet on the large sheet of foil.  Next, heavily drizzle balsamic vinegar over the salmon.  Add pats of cold butter on top of and around the salmon filet.  Cover the salmon completely by folding over the aluminum foil.  Place the foil directly on top of your grill.  Let the salmon cook on medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes.

While your salmon is cooking, you can begin to prepare the biscuits and cabbage slaw.  You can make biscuits from scratch, or take a shortcut by using the ready to bake kind found in your local freezer section.  I used Pillsburry flaky layers biscuits.  Using a biscuit that flakes easily is important, because you’ll be dividing them in half to make each slider.  Bake the biscuits per package instructions.  To make the slaw, start by making the simple dressing.  Mix four table spoons of olive oil and vinegar.  Add black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  Next, take shredded cabbage, and blend in bowl with dressing.

When your biscuits have cooled, pull them apart creating two equal pieces.  Do this to each of your biscuits.  You can add a slice of your favorite cheese.  I used provolone cheese.  Place the salmon on top of the bottom biscuit.  Add your cabbage slaw, and place the second biscuit piece on top.  And you’re done! Enjoy.

Recipes: Chicken Soup for the Soul

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chicken noodle soup

Making home made chicken noodle soup is a lot easier than you think!  My recipe is quick, easy, and only consists of a few simple ingredients.

Why make chicken noodle soup from scratch when it’s so easy to dump it out of a can?  When you ditch fresh food items for condensed sodium filled canned foods you increase your risk for heart disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis and more.  Not to mention the cost of buying canned soups is higher than purchasing whole ingredients instead.

So without further ado, let’s get cooking!

Ingredients:

Two boxes of low sodium chicken stock

1 bunch of celery or 1 package of cut celery

1 package boneless skinless chicken breast strips

salt

pepper

1 package angel hair pasta

By purchasing low sodium chicken stock you control how much salt you add to your soup.  You can certainly use regular boneless skinless chicken breast.  I opt for the breast strips, because it cuts down on the cooking time, and there’s less breaking up of the chicken involved.

Directions:

1) Poor the chicken broth into a deep pot with a lid.

2) Set the heat to low to medium, and let boil.

3) When chicken broth is boiling, add 1 package of angel hair pasta.

4) Remove the chicken breast strips from the package, and season with salt and pepper.  Season to taste.

5)  Add olive oil to a shallow pan.  Cook the chicken on low heat until cooked through.  Cook the chicken on low heat to avoid burning or browning the chicken.  When the outside of the chicken is white, and the inside is cooked through, your chicken is done.

6) While the chicken is cooking cut and clean your celery into desired pieces.

7) Remove the chicken from the pan.  If the pan is dry, add two teaspoons of olive oil to the pan.

8) Add your chopped celery to the pan, and cook until the celery is slightly soft.

9) Cook your pasta until it is soft, not too aldente.  This usually takes around 8 minutes.

10) Add your chicken and celery.

11) Let simmer on low heat for about five minutes.

12) Your soup is ready!

13) Enjoy!

Check back with Meeshme.com for more recipes!

 

February: Things I love (This Month)

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I get really obsessed with certain products, and then play them out until I can’t have anymore.  I like what I like, and I don’t stop liking it until I do.  Right now I’m obsessed with:

SNACKS

meeshme.comSpecial K Fruit & Yogurt Cereal

I have always been a fan of special K, a cereal I can eat to help me keep the pounds from fighting their way back.  I can however, eat more than one bowl of special K at a sitting, negating the dietary benefits of the cereal.  That’s why I love the new fruit and yogurt version.  This new twist on the classic fills you up much quicker than the regular cereal.  Added bonus: the dried berry clusters transform the remainder milk left into the bowl into a bowl of strawberry milk.  Find the fruit and yogurt special K at your local market.

meeshme.comPretzel Crisps & Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges

When I was around 5 years old I used to spend a lot of time with my Arabic uncle Emad.  He would give me these triangle of soft cheese as a snack.  He ate a lot of traditional food back then, so I thought he was giving me some special Arabic cheese.  Fast forward 20 years later, and I finally realize that those yummy cheese triangles came from Vons.  The laughing cow makes a variety of flavors now including a delicious sun dried tomato flavor.  At just 50 calories for the regular, and 35 for the light version, these cheese wedges can calm your hunger pains when you’re in between meals.  OMG do I love pretzel crisps.  So much better than a regular cracker.  At just 110 calories for 11 crisps, you can enjoy this treat guilt free.  I’ve recently topped my pretzel crisps with the Laughing Cow swiss cheese  flavored soft cheese.  It’s a great snack and fills me up.

MAKE-UP

meeshme.comNARS Sheer Glow Foundation

For years I went without using foundation.  I hate the feel of caked on make-up, and I was fortunate to avoid acne growing up.  It wasn’t until two years ago that I started to think I needed a little foundation.  I started using M.A.C tinted moisturizer, because it gave my skin a little color, concealed small imperfections, and protected my skin with it’s SPF.  I used the tinted moisturizer for almost two years, but started to notice that it gave me an orange look, especially in pictures.  I was afraid to try a true foundation, but the girl at the NARS make up counter insisted a try their foundation.  She said it was light, and she wasn’t lying.  I am in love with this product.  She worked with me to find the perfect color for my skin.  The light coverage hid what I wanted it to, but didn’t leave my skin feeling or looking cakey.  My skin looks smooth and soft.  The best part is that my skin doesn’t look white in pictures.  Most foundations contain a chemical that turns white under a flash, but it’s not found in NARS foundation.  The only downside is that the foundation can dry skin if you already have an issue, so always put on moisturizer before applying the foundation.  NARS sheer glow foundation can be found at your local department store for $44.

meeshme.comDisney Collection for Sephora

For Christmas my boyfriend’s little sister bought me the Cinderella eye shadow palette by Sephora.  Not only is the case beautiful, but the eye shadow variety is amazing.  I hate it when I have to use a ton of eye shadow just to make the color pop.  That’s not the case with this eye shadow palette. The color pops with a small amount of shadow, and lasts throughout the day.  The variety was awesome as well, with shadow colors ranging from purple to brown.  No matter what outfit I put on, there is an eye shadow to match.  Sephora recently released the newest set which is called the Jasmine collection. View the collection here.  You can order from Sephora online with no shipping cost for $55.  A great price for the amount and variety of shadows you get.

Shopping

meeshme.comLulu’s

I tend to purchase a lot of clothing from one particular store.  I’ll find an outfit I love, and keep going back.  This month I’ve been obsessed with Lulus.com.  I love pretty, delicate things, and Lulu’s has so many lovely things to choose from.  I’ve purchased four dresses from them so far, and one pair of heels.  If you love to look feminine, you have to check Lulu’s out.  Visit them here.