Seared Tuna with a Soy Sauce Marinade

This was AMAZING!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 (4 ounce) tuna steaks

Directions

In a large dish mix together the orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, oregano, and pepper. Place the tuna steaks in the marinade and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat stovetop

Lightly oil pan. Cook the tuna steaks for 5 to 6 minutes, then turn and baste with the marinade. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or to designed doneness. 

I served it with a steamed artichoke. 

The next day I threw the leftover tuna on a salad with goat cheese.

It was perfect!

Super easy breakfast

Take toast, put on cream cheese, sliced avocado, with black pepper and sea salt sprinkled on top. It's hearty but healthy and will keep you full for a good amount of time.

Bacon Wrapped Scallops

This is one of my boyfriend's favorites-- bacon wrapped scallops with a wedge salad and parmesan rice. It really surprises me how scared people are of scallops. They're so easy and delicious. 

What you need for scallops:

• slices of bacon, cut in half lengthwise
• medium-sized scallops
• butter
• garlic, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper
• toothpicks

Scallops recipe:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Cut the bacon slices in half lengthwise and cook on pan for a few seconds. You can also heat them in the oven to start the cooking process. Not too long though.
• Wrap a strip of bacon around each scallop; secure with toothpick (all the way through the scallop).
• Melt the butter in a pan on the burner
• Add garlic, salt, pepper in the pan
• place the scallop on the pan for a few minutes- I like the scallops really raw and they cook really fast, so be careful!

Parmesan rice:

• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions:

• In a medium saucepan with a lid, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and teaspoon salt. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Add butter, Parmesan, and parsley; fluff gently with a fork.

Easy Chicken 2 Ways

As you can see, we make chicken quite a bit. It's pretty boring but when you live in New York you can't eat fish and meat every night... it's just way too pricey. 

Just take it out of the freezer, defrost it in the microwave and add a side. 

I like bbq chicken and Jon just put some leftover carbonara sauce we made for pasta on his. (out of a jar). The side dish is homemade roasted sweet potatoes.

Roasted sweet potatoes:

• 1 1/2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch-wide slices, then again into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1 garlic clove, minced

BLT!!! you know what to do...

Easy Weekday Chicken

On our every day dinner we usually defrost some chicken and throw it on the George Forman. 

Our "go-to" is to put chicken on the George Foreman, grill, and then put some BBQ sauce over the top. We really like mashed potatoes and either make those with dill powder or garlic powder. We decided to be a little fancy and make some potato chips as well. 

russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and sliced diagonally 1/8 inch thick

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of butter, melted

Coarse salt to taste

we were extra lazy and the corn is straight out of a can...shh

I Have the Best Boyfriend

Jon makes me lunch every day for work- we are so economical!

He always draws something pretty cute on each of the bags. 

We have a rule, any time someone makes the other person a lunch, they can draw whatever they want on the lunch bag and carry it through the subway and commute. 

Crock Pot: Pulled Pork

Here's one of the easiest crock pot recipes known to man....

1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
One can of root beer
A bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Hamburger buns

Put the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker, pour the root beer over the 

meat, let cook for 6-7 hours or until the meat shreds easily. Add the

bottle of BBQ sauce and serve. 

YUM!

Crock pot roast

We absolutely love crock potting. We both work so much it's nice to come home at 9pm and have dinner ready! We made this roast and it was delicious. 

Ingredients:

1 (4 -5 lb) beef roast, any kind

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package brown gravy mix, dry
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package dried Italian salad dressing mix

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package ranch dressing mix, dry1/2 cup water. 

Pile potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions around it. 

Let it cook for 7-9 hours. 

Yum!

Bread Butt Burgers

We make turkey or salami sandwiches for work everyday and we always have a random piece of bread left along with the butt of the bread. It's such a waste to buy burger buns- what else would you use them for!I take lean ground beef, mix it with a good amount of garlic powder, and put them on the George Forman grill- easy! put a slice of cheddar cheese, lettuce, the sauteed mushrooms and onions (recipe below).
For the sides we go through sauteed spinach and mushrooms like there's no tomorrow. Just put about a tablespoon of butter in a pan, chop up some mushrooms, and onions and put them in the pan. Stir them around for about 5 minutes or until they are tender.
For the spinach, put the heat on LOW- I always burn them so watch out. Put some butter in the pan with 2 cloves of chopped garlic until the butter melts. Then put a bundle of spinach in the pan until it gets like in the picture. The little amount of spinach was a whole bag of spinach when it started so put a lot in there! 

Serve with ketchup and red wine of course!