Pass Me the Peas, Please!

Posted on April 27, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Kel's peas and potatoes with bacon

Here’s a tasty recipe that’s perfect for spring or anytime, really. Mix sweet green peas with new or red potatoes and bacon in a buttery broth for an easy and delicious side dish that’s sure to please young and old alike. If you don’t have fresh peas, or don’t want to bother with shelling them, go ahead and use frozen peas — I won’t tell! And if you’d prefer a meatless dish, leave off the bacon and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

I found this recipe in April/May 2016 edition of Allrecipes magazine, and changed the ingredients some (like adding the crispy bacon and omitting the parsley and mint.)

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Kel’s Chorizo, Corn and Cheese Filling for Stuffed Peppers or Nachos

Posted on April 15, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Cheesy goodness

Chorizo chicken sausage was recently on sale, so I decided to make a filling with it that included corn, cheese, black beans and other goodies to stuff some bell peppers, which were also on sale. I’ve been experimenting to get this filling just right, and Brad said that by using chorizo instead of kielbasa and adding some cilantro and a can of mixed tomatoes and green chiles, I hit on the perfect combination!

I knew I would have leftover filling since I only stuffed 3 large peppers, but I did that on purpose to make some loaded nachos the next day so we wouldn’t get tired of leftovers. Great call — with the addition of a few extra ingredients (black olives, jarred jalapenos, and a jar of salsa and queso cheese), it was like a completely different meal.

Nachos with chorizo filling

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Kel’s Easy Chicken Marsala, Molto Buona!

Posted on April 1, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Chicken Marsala

Is Chicken Marsala a dish you only order in a restaurant because you’re too intimidated to  make it at home? Well, it shouldn’t be — the key to this awesome and easy dish is in the mushrooms and wine.

If you’re not familiar with Marsala wine, I can tell you it’s too sweet (at least for my taste buds) to drink, but wonderful to cook with. According to Wikipedia , “Marsala wine is frequently used in cooking and is especially prevalent in dishes served in Italian restaurants in the United States. A typical Marsala sauce, for example, involves reducing the wine almost to a syrup with onions or shallots, then adding mushrooms and herbs.” And that’s exactly how you will create this recipe.

Make sure you use fresh mushrooms for this recipe, absolutely no canned or jarred stuff! I love shiitakes for my Chicken Marsala, but creminis, bellas or even button ‘shrooms will do. A few rough chops and you’re good to go!

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Kel’s Most Eggscellent Cheese Scrambled Eggs

Posted on March 23, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Eggscellent Scrambled Cheese Eggs

Do you have problems with how your scrambled eggs turn out — sometimes perfect, sometimes browned, and yet other times way too dry? Here are a few pointers to ensure your eggs are perfect every time, plus my recipe for some awesome smoked Gouda with bacon scrambled eggs.

Kel's egg and bacon biscuit

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Kel’s Colcannon, Great Year Round

Posted on March 17, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Let's eat colcannon!

For St. Patrick’s Day I decided to make some delicious colcannon — a yummy mixture of potatoes, cabbage, bacon, onions and other items that come together as a wonderful side dish or just to enjoy by itself. This is truly comfort food, any time of the year. Plus, it gave me a great excuse to use my delightful sheep linen that I picked up in Ireland several years ago!  Continue reading →

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Kel’s Best Beef and Barley Soup

Posted on March 8, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Best Beef and Barley Soup

Depending on where you live, there still may be some cool days or nights when all you want is a big bowl of warm soup. Here’s my wonderful recipe for a hearty beef and barley soup that you can enjoy year round. And it is so easy to make, whether on the stovetop in a Dutch oven or in your slow cooker. This tasty soup reheats well in the microwave, although you may need to add some more liquid to it since the barley absorbs some of the broth.

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Kel’s Sinful Smothered Slow Cooker Pork Chops

Posted on February 21, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Smothered Slow Cooker Pork Chops

Not only are these pork chops fall-apart tender, but the sour cream mushroom sauce is absolutely amazing. And if you make it in a slow cooker such as the Ninja 3-in-1 cooking system, browning and cooking take place in the same vessel — less for you to clean!

A couple of things about this recipe — 1) I used Progresso’s creamy mushroom soup, which does not have to be diluted. If you decide to use condensed Cream or mushroom soup, increase the chicken bouillon to 1¾ cups. 2) If you’d like, use boneless pork chops instead and serve them with the awesome sauce on top of hot, homemade biscuits. Talk about comfort food!

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Kel’s Splendid Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Posted on February 14, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Splendid Spinach salad

I love tossed salads with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, but not in the winter since these ingredients are not at their best. So during this time of the year, I reach instead for this yummy spinach salad with an awesome warm bacon dressing (of course a dressing is going to be awesome with bacon in it — need I say more!)

Instead of using raw mushrooms in this salad, I sauté them in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and season with a little bit of salt and pepper — they are much tastier to me when prepared this way. But if you don’t want to go to the trouble, you can just skip this step and add them raw.

The dressing is what makes this salad so incredible. Just make sure to serve it warm so that the bacon grease doesn’t become solid.

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Kel’s Asian-Style Slow Cooker Braised Beef Short Ribs

Posted on February 8, 2016 by kelleychisholm

Fall off the bone Asian beef short ribs

Braised beef short ribs. Probably my favorite meat dish in the world (with the exception of a perfectly prepared cheeseburger.) If they are on the menu, chances are 99 times out of 100, I am going to order them. For those of you who follow my blog and/or know me, it should come as no surprise that I love braised meats that are fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your-mouth, and fork-tender. And while I love pull-apart chicken, carnitas, and Osso Buco, braised beef short ribs just can’t be beat (although an awesome Osso Buco comes pretty darn close!)

I enjoyed my favorite short ribs ever at least a decade ago at Bloomsbury Bistro, an awesome dining destination in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood. They were cooked Asian style and were absolutely amazing. I think they were served with rice and some sort of green veggie, whatever — I just remember the ribs, which were incredibly tender with an awesome tangy, but not too sweet, flavor. They were perfect. Just perfect.

I’ve tried to recreate Bloomsbury’s awesome Asian beef short ribs, but honestly after more than 10 years since I’ve had them, who knows how close I am. What I do know is that you will love my recipe, which is so easy since your slow cooker does all of the work to achieve fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your-mouth, ribs.

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Kel’s Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup

Posted on January 29, 2016 by kelleychisholm

 Kel's Sausage Kale White Bean Soup

I’m a latecomer to the whole kale bandwagon, mostly because out of sheer habit I head straight to the spinach, collards, or cabbage instead, especially when it comes to making soup. So I decided to bite the bullet and pick up some kale the other day when I was shopping for ingredients for this rustic and heartwarming sausage and white bean soup, mainly because it was on sale.

What a great choice. I like how the kale’s sturdy texture makes it a great choice for soup, as it doesn’t wilt like spinach does. And I love how its deep green color brightens up this dish — perfect on a cold winter day. I definitely will keep kale in mind for other recipes, especially in late fall/winter when it’s in season.

If you want this soup to have a thicker consistency that resembles chili, reduce the amount of broth or add another can of beans – either way you’re in for a tasty treat.

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