Recipes for a Single Mom - Part 3

This is the last part of a series of recipes I’m sharing that I wrote for a single mom back in college. I met her while working at Starbucks. She was one of our semi-regular customers. She was looking to cook some healthy meals for her kids, but wasn’t sure where to start. So I offered to share a few recipes with her. Some of them were recipes I already had, and some were new ones I wrote for her.



Today, I am sharing a recipe for Arrabiata Sauce, which is a spicy tomato sauce.








The Recipe:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 28 ounce can tomato puree
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• fresh basil, chopped
• fresh oregano, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• Spaghetti 

In a sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and parsley and sauté until the onions turn translucent. Remove to a heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven. Add the remaining ingredients. Under low heat, let simmer covered for 6 to 8 hours, stirring occasionally. To finish sauce, puree with an immersion blender or in a conventional blender, until it is mostly smooth.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. This goes great with meatballs, chicken meatballs, or Italian sausage. It also makes a great sauce for lasagna.

Recipes for a Single Mom - Part 2

I like to pour the sauce in between the pieces of chicken to keep
the seasonings from washing of the chicken.

The second part of a series of recipes I’m sharing that I wrote for a single mom back in college. I met her while working at Starbucks. She was one of our semi-regular customers. She was looking to cook some healthy meals for her kids, but wasn’t sure where to start. So I offered to share a few recipes with her. Some of them were recipes I already had, and some were new ones I wrote for her.

The recipe I'm sharing today is Chicken with Lemon Butter Sauce.

The Recipe:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 large lemon, juiced
• 6 scallions, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 red potatoes, quartered
• 4 portabella mushrooms, chopped
• salt and pepper

I added some carrots to the veggies this time. They do really well
with the cream or butter in the sauce.

In a bowl, combine wine, chicken broth, butter, lemon juice, scallions, and garlic, and whisk together. Arrange the chicken breasts, potatoes, and mushrooms in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Slowly pour in the liquid ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour.

7 Healthy Recipes Using Fresh Bell Peppers

I love bell peppers - stuffed, raw, made into a sauce. They're really versatile. Here are some really great ideas to use bell peppers. I have made something similar to the Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce. It goes great with pasta and Italian sausage. Roasted red bell peppers also make a great dipping sauce for fried mozzarella, instead of the classic marinara sauce.



7 Healthy Recipes Using Fresh Bell Peppers:



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Chicken and Rosemary Meatballs with Sautéed Tomatoes and Spinach

I've been thinking about this one for a while, but have only recently gotten around to making it. I wanted to try something different with meatballs besides beef and veal. I haven't tried it yet, but I would imagine this would go great with lamb in place of the chicken. I'm a big fan of the lamb and rosemary flavor profile.


For the Sauce:

• 2 Garlic Cloves - Minced
• 1 14.5 oz Can Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Bunch of Spinach - Rough Chopped
• Salt & Pepper
• Pasta
• Olive Oil

Sauté the garlic in olive oil over medium heat until light brown. Add in salt and pepper and tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce reduces. Stir in the chopped spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally. 

Chicken and Rosemary Meatballs with Sautéed Tomatoes and Spinach

For the Meatballs:

• 1 lb Ground Chicken
• 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan
• 1/2 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs
• 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Rosemary - Chopped
• 1 Teaspoon Water
• 1 Egg
• Salt & Pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. This best done by hand. Roll the mixture in to balls a little bigger than a golf ball. If they are much bigger than, the outside will burn before the inside cooks. Arrange the meatballs on a sheet pan and place under the broiler. Cook until the top is brown. Remove the meatballs from the broiler and flip. The bottom will likely be brown already, but the middle still needs to cook a little more and you don't want to burn the top. Place back under the broiler for a more minutes. Serve the meatballs with the sauce over pasta. 

Recipes for a Single Mom - Part 1

Lemon Chicken with Red Wine Tomato Sauce shown here with penne
pasta and green onions.

Back in college I worked at Starbucks. One of our semi-regular customers was a single mom looking to cook some healthy meals for her kids. She really had no idea where to start, so I offered to share a few recipes with her. Some of them were recipes I already had, and some were new ones I wrote for her. I'll be doing a series on these recipes in the next few weeks.

The first recipe I gave her was for my Chicken Florentine. You can find that recipe here.

The second recipe I gave her was for Lemon Chicken with Red Wine Tomato Sauce.


The Recipe:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 large lemons, juiced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a ½ teaspoon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 small portabella mushroom, diced
• 1 bushel fresh basil, chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• salt and pepper
• rigatoni

Marinate the chicken in the lemon juice with salt and pepper for about thirty minutes. Remove the chicken from the lemon juice and lightly brown in a sauté pan in a ½ teaspoon of olive oil.

In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and some salt. After about 1 minute, add the tomatoes and the mushrooms, and let sauté about five minutes. Add the basil, red pepper, chicken, red wine, and salt and pepper. Cover and let cook for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and let cook for another five minutes, stirring once.

Remove from sauté pan and serve over rigatoni pasta.

Avocado Chile Burger with Crispy Onion Straws

Hatch Green Chile Burger

This recipe goes back to my days as the Houston Barbecue Examiner. In honor of Hatch Green Chile Month we used hatch green chiles instead of the serranos and jalapenos. I'll post both recipes below.


The Original Recipe:

• 2 pounds ground beef 
• 3 serrano peppers, seeded and minced 
• 3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk 
• peanut oil

Combine ground beef with peppers, garlic, salt and pepper and divide into four equal patties. For a more southwestern flavor, add 1 teaspoon of ancho chile powder. The secret to a good, juicy burger is to get a good sear, so make sure the grill is hot. To reach desired doneness without burning, it may be necessary to move the patties away from the heat after both sides have been seared.

Crispy Onion Straws

In one bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. In a second bowl combine breadcrumbs, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. In a third bowl, combine the egg and milk. Dust the onions in the flour and wash in the egg mixture, and then cover with breadcrumbs. Transfer the onions to a pot with about an inch of hot peanut oil. Remove the onions to a paper towel once they have become golden brown.

Assemble the burgers in Kaiser rolls, topping the grilled patties with sliced avocado and crispy onion straws.

The New Recipe:

• 2 pounds ground beef 
• 2 hatch green chilies, seeded and minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk 
• peanut oil
• Ranch dressing

Hatch Green Chile Burgers on the Grill

Combine ground beef with chilies, garlic, salt and pepper and divide into four equal patties. Put the patties on the grill to cook. Make sure the grill is hot to seal in the flavor. I'll end up moving the patties around to make sure they all get cooked evenly. 

In one bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. In a second bowl combine breadcrumbs, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. In a third bowl, combine the egg and milk. Dust the onions in the flour and wash in the egg mixture, and then cover with breadcrumbs. Transfer the onions to a pot with about an inch of hot peanut oil. Remove the onions to a paper towel once they have become golden brown.

Assemble the burgers in Kaiser rolls, topping the grilled patties with sliced avocado and crispy onion straws. Finish with some ranch dressing. 

Scientific way to make hamburger patties - Business Insider

Seems like a lot of extra work, but may be worth a try!



Scientific way to make hamburger patties - Business Insider:



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Pork Chops with Caramel Apples

Back in college, I got tired of only knowing how to cook spaghetti, at least only knowing how to cook spaghetti well, so I started watching cooking shows and experimenting in my kitchen. I would use my friends as guinea pigs. Before long, they started looking forward to my calls to come over for my latest creation.

One weekend my parents came to visit and I wanted to cook something special I had been working on. There wasn't time for a trial run with the friends, so Saturday night was purely experimental. Fortunately, after a day of visiting west Texas wineries, the experiment paid off. In my kitchen that night, I cooked Pork Chops with Caramel Apples for the first time.

Top Left: Seasoned pork chops in cast iron skillet.
Top Right:Sliced apples sauted in butter.
Bottom Left: Apples in finished caramel sauce.
Bottom Right: Pork chop with apples and caramel sauce. Served with sauted asparagus and onions.

The Recipe:

For the pork chops:

• 4 pork chops 
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Brush the pork chops with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until done, flipping as needed.

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter
• 4 medium apples - sliced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg

Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the apples and cook until the apples change color. Add in a few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and cook until dissolved. It is important not to cook much longer after the sugar is dissolved so that the sauce doesn't turn too thick.

I have served this with mashed potatoes, pureed cauliflower, roasted potatoes, and in this case, sauted asparagus and onions.

Crawfish Boil and Jambalaya

This weekend was one of my favorite times of the year, the annual Bonassin Boil! We're not math people, so we're not sure which one it was. We couldn't agree on the 7th or the 8th annual boil. Right or wrong, we went with number 8 for the logo to be emblazoned on cups and T-shirts. We all take on our own rolls to get the logistics of the boil accomplished. Various small dishes are brought and supplied by the party goers to round out the food selection for the day, but there are a few big items that must be handled to get things off the ground. Dad supplies the venue and much of the drinks, my brother, Will, takes on the task of cooking 265 pounds of crawfish and having the shirts printed, and I handle the transportation for the crawfish, cups, and an annual favorite, jambalaya!





My jambalaya has long, deep family tradition that starts with my grandmother. It has a smell that can evoke memories I make it. It is a staple that has been at most family gatherings since before I can remember. Once i got my hands on the recipe in college, I started to try a few different things, but always went back to the original.

It's easy to make jambalaya for a lot of people or for just a few. I'll list the ingredients as I made it for this weekend. The recipe is very non-specific when it comes to spices. It's a matter of preference.

The recipe:

• 4 15 oz cans stewed tomatoes
• 1 large onion - diced  
• 2 green bell peppers - diced and seeded
• 4 celery stalks - diced
• 4 garlic cloves - minced
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 small pork chops
• 4 links of sausage
• 1 large ham steak
• Worcestershire sauce
• Tabasco
• Salt & pepper
• Basil
• Oregano
• Parsley
• 2 cups cooked rice

Add the vegetables to a heavy bottom pot with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Stir occasionally of medium heat until the color changes. Add the bay leaves and cook a few more minutes. You'll be able to tell when the bay leaves activate. Add the stewed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the spices to taste and keep simmering until the meat is done.

I like to use a large cast iron skillet to cook the meat. I pile it on there and cover with a lid. Once the meat is done, chop it into small pieces and add it to the sauce.






Stir all of the ingredients together. Now that all of the flavors are together is the time to adjust any spices. I typically find that I haven't added enough Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. There's something about those that makes jambalaya taste like jambalaya.



When you add the rice, add a little bit at a time. The rice will absorb some of the liquid as you go it's always easier to add more. I used 2 cups for this recipe, but it may take more.