Portuguese Pork with Bell Peppers & Broccoli

As the name of this blog aptly covers, the hubs and I are foodies.  If we're not eating, we're thinking about our next meal.  However, we are also known around town for our moonlighting as wine-o's.  That saying about the way to the heart being through the stomach definitely applies.  With all this food and wine, we're almost super duper classy....almost being the key word.  Sure, we love red wine and yes, the wine store recognizes my number on their caller ID.  But then we take notes on our fancy schmancy wines while playing Wii ping pong.  You see, almost...but not quite.

Ham & White Bean Soup with Pesto

June is without a doubt one of the best months of the year.  The weather warms up, the barbecues come out, the days are longer and you can sleep with the windows open.  Fresh produce predominates the market and silly things like frozen foods are nearly forgotten.  That is, until I get a whim to clean out my freezer one weekend and stumble across a bag of leftover ham from Easter.  "Good grief," thought I, looking at this forgotten little package of protein, "weren't you suppose to be soup?"  And not just any soup, but my all time favorite ham soup.  So yes, it's June and yes, I'm posting a soup recipe.  But it's still cold in Alaska, right?

Baked BLT Mac & Cheese

The hubs has a guilty pleasure for Velveeta shells and cheese.  Every time I'm out with the girls for dinner, he makes himself a box and goes to town.  And I secretly love him more for it.  I guess the way to my heart is a love of shell-shaped noodles and cheese.  So I decided to make an extra-special, gourmet version of his shells when we made our annual Cougar Gold baked mac & cheese this year.  Hence, the BLT Mac & Cheese was born.  Get ready for a hearty dinner, folks.

*Disclaimer:  the & sign makes it taste better.

Spinach & Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

Have you ever had a roasted mushroom?  If the answer to that question is no, stop reading right now and go eat a dozen or so.  I say dozen for it you attempt to stop after only one or two, you will find that it is a human impossibility.  This is the amazingness that is a roasted mushroom.  Warm, meaty, bafflingly juicy and oh so flavorful, these feble words cannot do them justice.  So what I lack in vocabulary, I make up in stuffing.  Man, can I stuff.  Hence, stuffed & roasted mushrooms.

Hubs in the Kitchen - Perfect Grilled Pork Tenderloin

The hubs is a grill master.  Give him a piece of meat and he can cook it perfectly on a barbecue.  It's pretty spectacular.  Fish, steak, chicken and pork, he can do it all.  Just one of the many, many reasons I love him.

Pork tenderloin is something that is a bit tricky to cook up.  It can go from undercooked to dried out very quickly, and often becomes completely charred on the grill before the center is even close when I attempt to cook one on the grill.  I simply do not have the patience for pork tenderloin.  But the hubs, he's a smart one.  His method for pork tenderloin on the grill is the easiest and juiciest I have ever tasted.  So today I bring you his grilling method for a perfectly grilled pork tenderloin.  Yum.

Grilled Chipotle Rhubarb Pork & Provolone Rosemary Quesadilla

I can now sympathize with Macaulay Culkin for I, my friends and readers, am home alone.  Take away the tarantula, shoplifting and Michael Jordan cut-out, and you have me.  

However, in the spirit of a true foodie, I am taking inspiration from Macaulay by indulging in my favorite foods while the hubs is away.  And while cheese pizza was the delicacy that abated his loneliness, I am getting creative and dreaming up new food possibilities to distract and comfort me.  

That, and overindulging in red wine.

Pulled Pork Tostada with Jalapeno Lime Cabbage

Lately I've been delightfully distracted by Deb at Smitten Kitchen.  Not only does she work in a teensy weensy apartment kitchen, but she likes to jazz up homestyle favorites and works with ingredients common to your local market.  This woman and I are on the same page when it comes to food, and I relish in reading her little corner of the blososphere.  This post is an ode to her conc and the inspiration a like-minded lady can provide from a tiny amount of counter space.