Had some nice cremini mushrooms to use so I thought of making a simple gravy for a steak. For a low carb dinner I decided to stick with just the steak and Brussels sprouts on the side. 2 servings (and extra gravy)

Allen Bros ribeye steak (frozen)
6oz Brussels sprouts
4oz cremini mushrooms
2c beef stock
Flour
Butter (I used half regular and half savory compound)
evoo
italian seasoning
Garlic s&p

Started off by quartering the sprouts and using a ziploc bag to coat with evoo and garlic s&p. Put them in a baking dish and put in the Nuwave alongside a thawed ribeye steak. Cook/flip, toss/cook/rest...
Meanwhile, melted some butter in a pan to saute the mushrooms. Cooked with a bit of s&p til tender, then removed and set aside. Melted butter and compound butter in another pot, then added flour to make a roux, added beef stock and italian seasonings, brought to a boil, then reduced heat. Added mushrooms and cooked down to a gravy. Plate and eat!

Finally back in the kitchen after months of eating out! Made a trip to the grocery and picked up some great little tomatoes, goat cheese, figs, and proscuitto. Had pasta and pesto at home already.

Boiled salted water for pasta, made pasta as usual.
Sliced the tomatoes in half and placed in a roasting dish with a drizzle of evoo and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Nuwave'd for around 5 min.
Cut 3 slices of proscuitto into 8 strips (for the figs) and smaller pieces for the pasta.
When pasta was just al dente, drained and added around 3 tbl of pesto, tossed to coat.
Added the roasted tomatoes, proscuitto, and goat cheese, tossed to combine, and plated.

Sliced the figs in half, topped with goat cheese, wrapped in the proscuitto strips, placed in a roasting dish. Nuwave'd around 7 min, plated.

Simple and delicious! AND pretty healthy too :)

Pretty tired tonight so I was looking for a quick dinner to make. Got a frozen steak, frozen chopped spinach, and can of white beans. Seasoned the steak with some garlic/salt/pepper and put in the Nuwave for 11 min. While cooking, microwaved the spinach, and heated some garlic oil in a pan for the beans. Rinsed and drained the beans, then added them to the pan. Seasoned with a bit of the same garlic/salt/pepper and heated through. Smashed them up with a potato masher, added a touch of water to loosen and finished mashing. Meanwhile, flipped the steak (seasoned the other side) for another 7 min and put the steamed spinach in a blender. Added some parmesan and pulsed, then added a touch of milk and pureed. Plated the beans, put the steak over top, and spinach on the side. Pretty healthy overall... and less than 20 minutes!

Got to cook for 2 friends in an unfamiliar kitchen :) I made a variation on one of my recipe staples. All measurements can be edited to taste.

1.5 lbs macaroni pasta
3 strips bacon, cut into pieces (lardons/dice/etc)
3 large shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 cups frozen peas
white wine
grated parmesan
heavy cream

Set a pot of salted water over high heat for pasta (make pasta while working on the rest). Render bacon in a med-high pan. When crisp, remove bacon to a paper towel lined bowl to drain - leave fat in the pan. Sweat the shallots in the bacon fat. When translucent, add garlic and continue to saute. When browned, deglaze pan with white wine (around 1/2 cup) and reduce by half. Add cream (around 1/4 - 1/2 cup), mix and heat through.
Pasta should be done and drained and returned to the pot. Add frozen peas and mix with hot pasta. Pour shallot mixture over pasta and stir together. When serving, top with reserved bacon and parmesan.

Still thinking of the spam musubi experiment from my sis' wedding shower and still had leftover ingredients... so decided to try a different route this time. Mostly the same as last time, but cut the Spam into strips. Laid out a sushi rolling mat, covered with plastic wrap, and started with a sheet of nori. Spread sushi rice out, sprinkled on furikake seasoning, lined up the spam, and rolled up. Cut into cute little pieces and that's it!

Had a lot of dill growing in the Aerogarden so I found some things to use it on. Thawed some tilapia filets and prepped some red potatoes. Heated up some garlic evoo in a nonstick pan and put the potatoes in. Seasoned with a bit of salt and browned on all sides. Then turned down the heat to continue cooking the potatoes through, tossing occasionally. Meanwhile, patted the filets dry and seasoned with salt on both sides. Heated up more garlic evoo in a stainless pan and put the fish in. I should have let them cook a bit longer but I turned too early and they didn't come cleanly off the bottom. I also underestimated the size of the filets and ended up having to cut them in half in the pan. While cooking the fish, I made a topping of garlic evoo, dill, lime juice, and panko. Topped the fish with the mix and put the whole pan in the oven to broil and finish cooking. Sprinkled dill and parmesan over the potatoes and tossed to coat. Plated up potatoes and topped with fish. Not my prettiest plate, but man was it tasty!

As I thought about what I had in the house for dinner, I was pretty sure I had the makings of some semblance of coq au vin. I had been craving a hearty stew type dish, so I gave it a go. I'll list all the ingredients, but I was totally winging it, so measurements were all over the place.

Cast iron dutch or french oven (my super pretty turquoise 3.5Q le creuset!)
6 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)
Some kind of bacon-y product - I used some lonza and proscuitto
Random amounts of onion, shallot, carrot, mushroom, potato, Brussels sprouts
Red wine
Stock - I wanted to use chicken, but only had beef, so that's what I used
Herbs - I used rosemary, thyme, and sage
thyme butter (that I had in the freezer)
evoo, salt, pepper

Lots of washing and chopping! Heated up a bit of evoo in the pot and added the pork lardons. While rendering out the fat, seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper. Removed the pork, left the fat, placed the chicken skin side down in the pot. Browned both sides of the chicken, then removed. Added the carrots and onions and some garlic and sauteed for a bit. Seasoned with salt. Then added some red wine and beef stock, mushrooms, potatoes, and herbs. Seasoned again with salt. Boiled to cook the veg and reduce. Added the chicken back in and topped with Brussels. Lowered the heat and covered to simmer until the chicken cooked through. Removed all the solids and added a bit of flour to thicken the sauce. Mounted the sauce with the thyme butter at the end. Plated up a couple thighs with veg and drizzled the sauce on and around everything. Garnished with the reserved pork and a bit of rosemary. Took a while to make, but hit the spot!

Final dish for the shower! The ingredients are pretty simple, but next time I'll figure out a better assembly tactic. This amount makes 48 pieces (2 casserole dishes).

3.5 cups sushi rice
3 containers of Spam (I chose Spam lite)
Hoisin sauce
Mirin
Furikake seasoning
Nori sheets

Cook the sushi rice (I used my rice cooker). Meanwhile, slice the Spam into 8 slices per container. Make a glaze of 3 parts hoisin and 1 part mirin. Glaze one side of the Spam slices, place glazed side down in a pan over med high heat. Glaze the other side. When caramelized on the bottom, flip to cook the other side. Remove from pan and set aside while cooking more.
To assemble: sprinkle furikake seasoning on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish lined with parchment or plastic wrap (I didn't do this, making removal too difficult). With clean, wet fingers, spread half of the warm rice over the seasoning. Sprinkle on another layer of seasoning. Line the Spam slices on top (12 per casserole dish). I figured out later that it is easier to turn this out and cut with scissors than trying to use a knife. Also using scissors, cut 2" squares of nori (for the top and bottom, so 96 pcs). Assemble by making little 'sandwiches' of nori on the outside, rice and spam inside. Next time, I think I might try to make a sushi roll type so they'll hold together better. Still delicious though!

Side dish for the wedding shower! Since it was for a party the quantity is a lot more than normal.

3 lb elbow macaroni
3 carrots, grated
30 oz (1 container) mayo
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
milk as necessary (to re-moisten)

Cook macaroni as directed on package. While that's boiling, wash/peel/grate carrots into a large mixing bowl. Drain pasta, add to carrots and mix. Add mayo and condensed milk and mix. Cover and hold in fridge if necessary. Can be served at any temp. Just before serving, add enough milk to loosen and re-moisten.

So, while making the dessert in the previous post, I threw together a quick dinner for myself. Just popped a hamachi kama and some scallops into the Nuwave, glazed with hoisin mixed with a bit of mirin, cooked, flipped, cooked. That's it!