Recipe: Saucy Singles Egg Bake with Goat Cheese

I believe I've already mentioned (500-ish times) that I like my weeknight recipes to be easy. Just like my men! Bazinga. Here's another that fits the bill. And if you think ahead, you can get multiple meals out it. 

This may be my favorite recipe on the blog so far. It's eggy, a little spicy, fresh and comfortable. I want to put on a cable-knit sweater and eat this every day. I call it a singles egg bake because it is cooked in single-serving ramekins, but it also makes for a great single person meal. Leftover sauce can be saved in the fridge for a few days. When you're ready to eat it, break and bake, baby.

(makes 2 individual egg bakes)
tbsp EVOO
1/8 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 clove garlic, minced
3 large tomatoes, diced
sprinkle each of crushed red pepper, paprika, chili powder
1/2 tbsp fresh oregano
1 tbsp goat cheese (+ extra to top)
tbsp cilantro
sprinkle of sea salt
sprinkle of black pepper
scallion, diced
2 eggs

1. Heat EVOO in sauce pan over med heat. 
2. Cook onion until translucent. 
3. Add garlic - cook for about one minute. 
4. Add diced tomatoes.
5. Stir in crushed red pepper, paprika and chili powder. Cook about 10 min (until tomatoes are soft and sauce looks juicy), stirring occasionally. 
6. Heat oven to 375 degrees and lightly spray individual ramekins with oil.
7. Remove sauce from heat and stir in oregano and goat cheese. 
8. Place 1/2 of sauce in each ramekin. Push a little dent in the middle with a spoon. 
9. Break one egg into the dent. 
10. Bake until white is cooked but yolk is runny (roughly 10 min). 
11. Allow dish to cool. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, scallion, cilantro and extra goat cheese.

Recipe: Chickpea Salad

Sometimes your grannie's 90th birthday party starts at 5:45 and you get off work at 5:00 about 45 minutes away from party central and still have to swing by your house so you need something (a) super easy (b) healthful and (c) tasty that you can throw together the busy night before and grab out of the fridge in a mad dash to be fashionably late. During those times, you need chickpea salad.

1 cup spinach, finely chopped in food processor
4 cans chickpeas
10 oz grape tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1 lime

Rinse and drain chickpeas and place in a large bowl. 
Add all ingredients except lime and goat cheese. Toss.
Just before serving, squeeze juice of lime and crumble goat cheese over top. Toss again.
Eat. Remark on the freshness.

(Hack: Go heavier on the tomatoes and onion and add a jalapeno pepper or two for a sort of chickpea pico de gallo for enchilada night with your Bible study group. I did.)

Recipe: Super Easy Pesto Chicken Pizza

It's possible that I forgot to photograph this pizza when it was fresh out of the oven and looking its best.
It's possible that I warmed up a slice for breakfast just so I could take a photo. The sacrifices I make for blogging.

Turning Mediterranean is not about giving up food you like to eat. It's about making food you like to eat better. It's about saying yes. Today we say yes to pizza.

Confession: I do not like pizza sauce. I've been called un-American for this very reason. Pretty sure pizza sauce is not American so I remain secure in my citizenship. For now. Basil pesto has been the basis for many a pizza in my household (the word "household" totally applies when it's just you and a cat). It's herby and garlicy and olive oily - pretty much the best things that food can be. Grab your greens and we'll hop to.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
tbsp extra virgin olive oil
tbsp chili paste
pre-made whole wheat pizza crust of your choice (I used Mama Mary's. See my crust reviews.)
basil pesto (make it fresh - your taste buds will think you the coolest)
goat cheese, crumbled
mozzarella cheese, grated
cherry tomatoes, cut into slices/chunks

Preheat oven according to directions on pizza crust.
Heat EVOO and chili paste in saute pan over medium-high heat.
Saute chicken breast strips until just cooked through.
Spread pesto over pizza crust (as thick as you like it - remember, pesto is pretty flavorful).
Sprinkle mozzarella, tomatoes and crumbled goat cheese over top.
Strategically (or not) place strips of chicken on top of the other goodness and sprinkle more mozzarella & goat on top.

Bake about 10 minutes (may vary depending on type of crust used). When the cheese is melty and the tomatoes are soft, it's time to stuff pizza in your face take sweet nibbles between healthful bites of salad.

Recipe: Shrimp & Tomato Soup

I'm all about easy cooking on weeknights. And a recipe that only calls for dirtying one pot? Yes ma'am. This dish is the sort that you can toss together while you pay more attention to the latest episode of The Walking Dead than to the stove. Invite a couple pals over because it's also the kind of dish that will have folks believing that you really know your way around the kitchen. It tastes...fancy.

1 tbsp evoo	couple shakes of onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced	1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 cans of no-salt-added diced tomatoes (w/ juice)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro	1 scallion, chopped
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, precooked	2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Stir in onion powder and garlic; cook one minute. 
Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. 
Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer 5 minutes. 
Remove from heat, stir in cilantro, scallion, pepper and shrimp. 
Sprinkle with feta just before serving.

Recipe adapted from Food Network.