Today, I want to talk to you about steak. Steak is delicious, and we don’t eat it that often, so when we do, it’s a treat! Jeff loves cilantro (and I hate it) and I have been trying to add it slowly into dinner more and more. That, and spicy food. So a cilantro jalapeño steak marinade seemed to be a good test.

You’ll need cilantro, jalapeño, limes, honey, olive oil, and of course, steak. This one is easy-peasy to grill, so it’s counted as a 30 in 30, but if I were you, I’d make this in 10 minutes the night before you plan to eat it, and then spend your 20 minutes the next night getting your sides prepared and grilling your steak right up.

Slice your jalapeños. Leave in the seeds. Trust me. (Unless you really don’t like spicy. Then, take ’em out. I really don’t like spicy, and I left them in and let mine marinate for three hours, and it was fine for me. Do what feels right in your heart.)

Take some limes, and juice ’em.

Throw your jalapeños and your steak in a bowl, along with your lime juice.

Add your roughly chopped cilantro and about a tablespoon or two of honey. Add some olive oil until your meat is mostly covered.

Stir it up. Cover it. Let it marinate overnight in your fridge (ok, ok, I know this is a cavet to the whole 30 minutes thing. You can let it marinate for less time, but the longer the better!)

Before you grill, let your meat come to room temperature. 20 minutes can work (the 20 we have left from our 30, of course!)

Cook until medium rare (or however your pretty little family likes it) and you can go ahead and grill your jalapeños, too, if you want. We did.

Serve with a veggie and maybe some mashed potatoes, and you’ll be the hero of the household, I promise.

Happy Belated Easter, everyone! By now, I am sure that you have many colorful eggs in your fridge, and you’re not sure what to do with them. Sure, everyone loves a hardboiled egg on its own, or egg salad, but sometimes you get bored with that. Plus, no one wants egg salad for a week straight…except maybe my friend Liz. (Liz, how many days would you want egg salad?)

Anyways, the point is, I am here to answer your woes with a delicious recipe guaranteed to get rid of those eggs in a timely manner.

What you’ll need: an avocado, some eggs, some Greek yogurt, spicy mustard, a smidge of mayo, paprika, cinnamon, and some salt and pepper.

First, take the shells off your eggs. They may be colors, and that’s OK.

Slice ’em in half, so you can get at the yolks.

Scoop them into a bowl, and add yogurt, and your avocado, and salt and pepper, and mix ’em up.

This is roughly what your filling will look like – yum, yum!

Use a plastic bag to pipe the filling back into your eggs, and then top with paprika and cinnamon. These are definitely not your typical deviled egg, but they are a fun spin on the classic dish, and will certainly get rid of your hardboiled colored eggs.

 Share with your friends and family, and enjoy! Full recipe here.

Nearly two years ago, when I turned 25 and Jeff turned 27, we had a beach party. Jeff got an ice cream sandwich pan and a box of mix to make ice cream sandwiches. I can’t remember who gave it to him (maybe because it was nearly 2 years ago?!) but after sitting in our house, collecting dust and whatever herbs I drop near the drawers that hold our pans, I decided it was time to make ice cream sandwiches. For a crowd, of course, as we won’t eat them all, so Easter seemed perfect!

Here is the evidence that we received this nearly two years ago. I don’t know what’s going on with me, but I think that whenever I receive something I am REALLY interested in, I end up making this face, trying to figure it out. It’s my happy face…I guess?

This mix had been taking up precious room in our cabinets, taunting me on a daily basis to be made. We regularly go to CoolHaus and Diddy Reise, and because of this I am often left wanting an ice cream sandwich on any given day of the week. What’s worse, all along I’ve had all the tools to do just that! Madness, I tell you! The cookies had to be made.

And here is the pan. Now that I’ve finally used it, I can say that I am going to be using it again and again and again. It makes such pretty cookies, and they are the perfect size, too!

So here’s what you do: make the cookies, then let them cool. Get your fave ice cream, and shove it in-between two cookies. Add sprinkles, and chocolate sauce. Serve to your friends, who will undoubtedly tell you these are delicious and promptly have two.

I recommend vanilla, mint chocolate chip, or strawberry – all to die for ice cream flavors inside these dreamy chocolate cookies. Stonewall Kitchen sure knows how to make a mix!

The only problem with the fact that I made this is that now I have cookies leftover, and no one around to eat them….who’s hungry?

What’s your ideal ice cream sandwich?

Tucked away on trendy, tree-lined Melrose Place is Alfred Coffee, an awesome new cafe specializing in high-end beverages concocted with Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

I wish I could live here! The sleek black and white decor mixed with floral patterns makes for such a cool-yet-comfy vibe. And can we talk about how my life motto is painted on the wall??

While there is plenty of seating at street level, the main portion of the cafe is situated downstairs.

This visit was especially excellent for me because I got behind-the-scenes access!

This is the Gibraltar, named for its glassware. It has less foam than a cappuccino, but the taste is basically along those lines. I love seeing the drink through the glass!
 
I spy diner mugs…
Such a fun take on coffee sleeves!


These men are magicians. 
Stumptown Coffee is one of my favorite roasters! While I recommend splurging on a fancy espresso drink here at Alfred, the drip coffee is awesome too.

Even Alfred’s loyalty cards look cool:
I finished up my visit with a regular latte. I’ll admit, I’m one of those people who always adds some syrup/sugar to my drink because a plain latte is usually way too bitter. Well Alfred makes a latte at an entirely different level! I had it completely plain, and it was so smooth and delicious.
Seriously. This latte.

A huge thanks to the wonderful staff at Alfred for the kind welcome and for making me so many delicious treats!

Have you been to visit Alfred yet? What’s your favorite cafe in the Melrose area?

Please welcome to the blog Mike Palluzzi, also know as Jennie’s Dad. He and Jennie’s mom helped spark the desire to cook in her, and for that she’s thankful. He brings us the delicious Pizza Gain recipe that everyone should try sooner than later. Kylah and Terri Palluzzi (Jennie’s mom!) helped make this, too!

March not only brings you March Madness, but also the favored dish of Easter that will make you drool like Pavlov’s dog. It ends the fasting of lent with joy and celebration of Easter! It’s called Easter Pie, Ham Pie or what it is referred to in my family, manna from heaven. Also know as Pizza Gain, in the Italian American heritage, which I grew up in (just outside of New Haven, CT.) For sake of argument to make Nikki happy I have researched this so that she believes the pronunciation (this has caused arguments around bastardized terms she thinks her mother has made that she learned as a child from her the Italian side of her family.)

In my research the dish  goes by many similar names such as pizza rustica or pizza chiena. Chiena means “filled” in dialect. Basically, it’s stuffed pizza (but different than calzone.) Italian Americans changed the word from chiena to gain.

Whatever the name, I think this is more or less the same as your Easter Pie – an incredibly decadent dish filled with cheeses and meat and eggs. I know when Jesus rose from the tomb if he had eaten a piece of this he would have immediately fell back into the tomb with a heart attack! Seriously there is enough meat in the dish to land a complete basketball team in the cardiac ward – that’s why we love it.

So here we go:

First, travel to the finest Italian cheese house and deli that you can find. Fortunately here on the western side of Chicago we have one of the best Italian stores I have ever been to just five minutes away – Caputo’s Cheese Market. A oasis of fine Italian delicacies and more cheese than you can ever imagine.

Second put on some funky music a little blend of rock and roll and blues 107. 1 FM out of Ann Arbor fit the mood. Pour a drink of choice for the chefs and start the madness.

Find the Terri Palluzzi book of Secret delights, it really doesn’t has a title other than white binder with recipes. One lucky daughter will receive this part of the inheritance – we may need to make two copies soon so there is not fighting. As you can see it is definitely a work of literary art.

Turn to the yellow tab marked Easter and look for the unmarked recipe that has four Italian meats, eggs and cheese in it and you have found it – included is a crust recipe that’s very simple,too!

We really don’t know what the brown stain is but we think its coffee…

Now you have to decide who is going to cut up the meat and who will start the dough. Terri chose the dough, I chose the meat. Terri is actually much better at dough preparation. So the dough is as follows.

As you can see the cookbook follows Terri’s mantra: if you have to measure everything there can be no surprises…thus the ” I don’t measure after the pepper,” as Terri lets go two sneezes from the pepper, which if you haven’t been around her could definitely pierce your ear drums. Combine all ingredients, mix in a large bowl until mixed well, and place in the refrigerator to rest. Give it at least 20 minutes in the fridge before attempting to place in pans that you will bake the pie in.

In the meantime I am busily cutting the nine pounds of meat and cheese into 1/2 inch cubes that will form the basis of the filling.  The recipe calls for salami, pepperoni, capicolla, prociutto, prosciuttini (which is prociutto on the bone, also researched) and two cheeses (provolone and basket cheese?) Have the deli cut your meat and cheese into 1/2 inch chuncks it makes it easier to cut into the cubes.

So given that this is a Palluzzi project involving Terri, we improvised on the meats and this is what we chose, Volpi Genoa Salami, Fiorucci Hot Capicolla, Boars Head Pepperoni and Caputo Prociutto Di Parma, Caputo Provolone and Caputo Salted Tuma (Basket Cheese). The biggest pile of deliciousness that you can ever imagine.

What just exactly is basket cheese? I am glad you asked, basket cheese info here, but it’s basically a mild cheese – think ricotta or fresh mozzarella.

Once the meat is sliced and chopped mix it in a big bowl and then add the eggs – 18 of them as we took liberty with the recipe. It is easier to mix it with your hands folding the meat and cheese into the eggs.

Roll dough and make the bottom and top to the pies and place in any type of baking or pie pan you have in your kitchen. We choose a square and some round cake tins, it seemed to fit the bill.

Place in oven for 1  hour brushing the crust with egg white every 15 min.  Then eat at-will. We usually eat this for Easter breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert or until there is nothing left but a few pepper crumbs left. Who really needs to eat candy at Easter anymore!

Hope this will make your Easter a better one after all those Lenten promises of cutting things out. This year I gave up giving up things and it was much easier to keep my Lenten promises. Might not want to stand near me in case lightening strikes…

Godere!