A Hearty Breakfast

One of the things I love most about cooking is I get to experiment!!  This morning I experimented with my favorite meal of the day; breakfast. Now this recipe goes along with the left overs from the previous filet recipe. Remember when I saved the excess filet meat from the chain of the beef; well here I am going to use that in my breakfast. However, any tender meat will be great for this recipe as well. One of the most juciest and flavorful ways to give your meal a good kick is bacon!!! Using bacon fat, grease or wrapping bacon around many foods not only gives it more flavor but its a good insulator to hold many juices inside! This is what I craved for in my breakfast today.

Ingredients : 1 stick of butter for frying and a 1/2 stick melted for the meat
  - Left over filet chain or tender cut of meat cut into 3 inch long chunks
- 1/2 package of bacon                - 4 eggs         - 1 cup of fresh spinach
-1/2 stick of hot sausage              - 1/4 cup diced onion and shredded cheese      -1/4 cup milk
- S&P and EVOO

First melt the stick of butter in a frying pan on medium heat. Place your chunks of filet on a cutting board and pour the 1/2 stick of melted butter over the chunks . Take a strip of bacon and wrap them around each piece of meat. Sometimes you may need 2 if the chunks are big. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side then place them in the fryer.

Only put about 4 chunks at a time and cook them about 4-6 minutes on each side (note: this is for med-rare).

While those are cooking, cut up the hot sausage into small pieces and fry them in a large skillet with olive oil. In a large bowl, put your eggs, fresh spinach, milk, cheese, onions, cooked sausage and some S&P. Mix them up like you would scrambled. Pour the mixture in the large skillet and cook them like scrambled eggs.

Periodically check the doneness of your filets to the way you like it and once everything is all set cooking; just plate and serve with some toast! The flavors in this breakfast are to die for!!! I hope you enjoy it as well as we did.

Mangia :)                             

Loaded Baked Spinach Pie

Tonite I made one of my favorite Papa recipes, his spinach pies. Growing up I used to love walking in his house and smelling either spinach pies or his pizza baking in the oven. Since his passing, I was determined to keep carrying on his recipes. I guess you can sorta call it a recipe or not because there isn't exact measurements of everything; its all by taste which I always say is the best term of measurement. Please feel free to add or omit any of the ingredients in your spinach pie. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.

Ingredients: Preheat oven 400 degrees
- 1 package of fresh bakery dough          - 1 bag of fresh spinach
-1 small can of black olives                    - 1/2 stick of margarita pepparoni or any other brand of stick
- 1-2 hard boiled eggs                        - 1-2 Tbsp of minced garlic and parmesan/romano cheese
     - EVOO and S&P

Dough
First thing is to spread lots of olive oil in your pizza pan or stone, which I had used. If you use stone make sure you put it in the oven and heat it up for a few minutes, it helps spread the dough out. Make sure you have plenty of olive oil on the bottom so the dough doesnt stick. Next you want to spread the dough to whichever shape your pan is, but let some of the dough hang over the pan because you need the length for folding. You can see in the picture below I have it hanging over just slightly. Spread more oil on the top of the dough and rub it in with your fingers and make sure you get the edges too!

The Filling
Steam your package of spinach on the stove top. Use the entire package because it strinks down quite a bit. Drain the spinach really well, you may have to squeeze it to get all that water out. While its cooling for a couple minutes, chop up the 1/2 stick of pepparoni and the can of olives. I only used a half a can of olives for mine, but i left the pieces a bit larger. Take the yolk out of the hard boiled eggs, and dice up the egg whites. Once everything is chopped up, mix the spinach, eggs, pepparoni and olives all in a medium sized bowl. Now add the 1-2 Tbsp of minced garlic, olive oil, cheese and S&P, and mix really well. Here is where your taste buds come in handy, taste test to see what it needs. You want to put enough olive oil in it to enhance the flavors better. After its all mixed, spread it evenly in the middle of your dough.

Now you want to take one side of the dough and fold it over, pinching the ends together. Rub more olive oil on top to make your pie nice and brown. Make sure you add oil on the ends and pinch it together so it doesn't split apart in the oven.

Put your pie in the oven set at 400 degrees and let it bake for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your pie because some ovens cook it faster than others. You want it to be a nice golden brown on the top.

Cool off your pie for a good 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Yummy yummy!! Mangia :)
Thank you Papa!!!!

Chicken Bryan

This dish is one of my favorite Italian dishes. It has such dynamic and a variety of strong, beautiful flavors that just makes your mouth water. You might recognize this dish from Carabba's restaurant, and you are absolutely right! I fell in love when I was there and I had to make it for us myself!

Ingredients:
- 6 boneless chicken breasts               - 1 Tbsp minced garlic           - 1Tbsp diced yellow onion
- 2 Tbsp of butter                               - 1/2 cup of dry white wine ( personally I like a sherry)
-1/4 cup lemon juice                           - 4 Tbsp of cold butter sliced 1Tbsp each
-1/4- 1/2 cup of diced sundried tomatos    - 6 fresh basil leaves diced
- S&P and EVOO (salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil)     
- 8 ounces of goat cheese

Sauce
First you want to saute in a large skillet the garlic and diced onion in those 2 Tbsp of butter on medium heat. Once they are a nice golden color, stir in the wine and lemon juice while increasing the heat to medium high. Let that simmer for about 2 minutes then you want to reduce it by half; I actually only do about a 1/4 because I like the strong wine taste, but that is all personal preference. Now on medium low heat, add the 4 Tbsp of cold butter, 1 Tbsp of butter at a time while stirring. Then add your sundried tomatoes, fresh basil and few dashes of S&P. This is where your taste buds come into play; taste the sauce and match to your liking. If you want more lemon juice or wine u may add a little more here.

While you are making the sauce, rub some EVOO on the chicken breasts and grill them either in broiler or on stove top whichever you prefer. Once the breasts are almost done, slice your goat cheese into 1/2 inch thick round discs and place them on the chicken. I use about 2 or 3 per chicken breast, and continue to cook for another 2 minutes to get the cheese melting a little bit. Put the chicken on the plates and pour the sauce over them. Serve with a nice rice pilaf or sweet potato and dig in!! Mangia :)