Oh my goodness my deepest apologies for not blogging about my food expeditions! The summer got away from me there for a minute! We moved from a small apartment into a gorgeous town-home where my kitchen has an island! WHAT A PERK!
The last few weeks my cooking has consisted of grilling on a small Weber grill on our tiny front patio, creating fresh food with fun summer ingredients, and enjoying meals with friends!
I must admit I haven't done ALL that much cooking in my own home and not all of it has been that exciting. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (must always toast bread first because peanut butter transforms into a thick almost ganache like quality when doing so), grilled cheese (or what my husband refers to as cheese toast ;), and good ole frozen pizzas. But amidst all the sub-par quick easy meals for the masses I have also created some fantastic flavors through my inspiration of summer!
My family came over for a relaxed laid back meal a few weeks ago and I realized that I didn't want to put a lot of effort into the meal because I wanted to spend a majority of my time enjoying my family. So pre Weber grill I decided to fry up some Italian sausage brats I had in the freezer, grabbed the good ole $1 white hot dog buns to thaw out and chopped up the 1/2 green pepper and 1/2 white onion I had leftover in the fridge. I sweated out the onions and green peppers as a topper for my brats and then decided I should make a salad with all the lettuce I had going on in my fridge before it went bad.
I wanted the salad to be a little different and after my scan in the freezer a little earlier I realized I had frozen apple slices peeled and ready for my imagination. I put a 1/4 c. of walnuts I had in a pan with a 1Tbsp of butter and a 1Tbsp of brown sugar and cooked them up until the walnuts melded with the sugar. I had saved a few white onion slices that I hadn't cooked and threw them in with the 1/2 c. thawed apple slices and candied walnuts! The only dressings I had were a balsamic vinaigrette and ranch. The balsamic vinaigrette was thicker then I wanted for my salad so I made my own! Just drizzled a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar (must have cupboard item!) over my salad and tossed it together. This actually turned out to be my favorite part of the meal :)
All this I served with my one luxury item, a mango and some blackberries, I had in my fridge. The blackberries were 2 for $3 so you can't pass that up. All in all it was a fantastically easy and refreshing meal. We had fun playing card games and talking together and I only had to use two pans for the whole meal!
Italian brats:
By your favorite kind of brat and fry them up in a pan or on the grill on medium high heat until heated through and browned/ blackened on both sides.
-1/2 green, yellow, or red pepper
-1/2 white onion
-hot dog or brat buns
-your favorite condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.)
Use hot brat pan and toss in pepper and onion and sweat ingredients until softened but not overly browned. Throw on top of brats and top with condiments!
Apple walnut salad:
1/2 c. peeled frozen or fresh green apple
Few slices of white onion
1/4 c. chopped raw walnuts
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Put small pan on medium low heat and toss in butter and brown sugar. When the butter and brown sugar has melted together into a thick sauce toss in walnuts and stir to coat. Put walnuts on a plate to cool and break up any big chunks before throwing into salad. Toss in white onion, thawed or fresh green apple slices, and drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar!
Recipes soon to come:
-fish tacos with fresh corn and rice salad
-open-faced summer cibatta sandwich
-5 ingredient french toast
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