With a personal goal to try new things and push the limits of my cooking, I found a fun inspiration. It seems that Ancient Fire Wines and I have something in common; neither one of us are big pasta eaters. Now that’s not to say we don’t like pasta; we just couldn’t eat it every day. Ancient Fire Wines wrote a blog called Light & Easy Pasta Bake, and it looked wonderful. Now, I didn’t have all the ingredients in the house to make Jason’s pasta dish so I started scheming my own. It is such a fun thing to be able to take a risk and try something new, especially with cooking. You know the flavors you like and usually have a general idea of what tastes good together. That’s when the magic happens: trying combinations you have never tried before and coming up with something tremendous.

Now, just like Jason’s, my wife loves, loves, loves pasta! It’s very funny to read his blog and find these commonalities. It’s also fun to note that every once in awhile we like to make our wives happy and cook a little pasta. This dish is, according to my personal critic (my wife), one of the best pasta dishes I have made to date. Her exact words were, “You can make this any time!” And you  know, when momma is happy, we’re all happy. It’s a simple dish I threw together with random ingredients, and then we devoured. I am learning a great lesson in cooking. You have to take the things that are not your favorite ingredients (in this case, pasta) and find a way to make them their own. I am not a fan of red tomato-based sauces (I prefer cream white sauces). Also, I am a carnivore by heart, so almost any dish that is loaded with meat, I can take it a long way. When you try this dish be prepared for an amazing delight.

Italian Sausage & Linguini

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/4 Box Pasta, uncooked

1 Small Onion, chopped

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Italian Sausage Links, casing removed

1 Cup Button Mushrooms, sliced

1/4 Cup Olives, chopped

1 1/2 Teaspoons Italian Dressing Seasoning Blend (I used Good Seasons brand)

1 Cup Half & Half

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 Green Onion, diced

3 Slices Tomato, diced

Directions

1. Cook linguini to directions on the box.
2. In a large skillet, saute onions in butter until lightly opaque on medium-high heat.
3. Crumble sausage and cook until no longer pink (about 5 to 7 minutes).
4. Add mushrooms and cook for 1 more minute.
5. Stir in olives, Italian dressing mix, and half & half.
6. Bring to a boil; then simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.
7. Add tomatoes and mix in right before serving (you don’t want to cook them, just warm them up)
8. Serve and garnish with green onions and Parmesan.
9. Enjoy!

When I first started this food blog, I had already been cooking by a means that  my wife and I called “tempting fate.” We, jokingly, called it that because of the craziness of some things I’d sometimes throw in dishes or the ideas I’d sometimes come up with. When I decided to take on the challenge of cooking a meal once a week of something I had not cooked before, I knew what I had to call it. Hence, the new section on the blog called Tempting Fate. This is my first post in a series that will feature unique dishes from styles cooking that I have not done in the past. These dishes will be everything from vegan to Hungarian. Whatever recipes I can come up with within a given style.

Inspired by Cook Train Eat Race my first post is a vegetarian dish. Jason told me that a simple way to tip-toe into the vegetarian world is with what he called Soyrizo. What is Soyrizo? Well, it’s soy protein mixed with spices that comes out looking and, to our surprise, tasting like chorizo. Chorizo is a Mexican style sausage found in a lot of breakfast dishes. I wanted to do a dinner using Soyrizo as an ingredient, and my wife suggested Jambalaya. We thought it would be a good idea and a great way to mix some complex flavors and still keep it vegetarian. At our local store, I found a brand of Soyrizo from a company called Freida’s, whose biggest claim is 100% vegetarian. So with the Soyrizo in hand, I took my first dive into a vegetarian dish I hope you enjoy.

Soyrizo Jambalaya

Serves 2+

Ingredients

1 pkg Frieda’s Soyrizo Meatless Chorizo

1/2 Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ Cup Chopped Onion

2 Tablespoons Garlic, minced

½ Cup Tomato, diced

3 Dashes Worcestershire Sauce

4 Dashes Hot Sauce (adjust for desired heat)

1 Cup rice

1 Tablespoon Thyme

2 Tablespoons Paprika

2 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth

Pepper

Directions

1. Combine the Soyrizo, cajun seasoning, and paprika; mix it well and set it aside (remove the casing from the Soyrizo).
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil and onions, and cook until onions or beginning to turn opaque.
3. Add the garlic, tomatoes, hot sauce, Worcestershire, thyme, rice, and broth.
4. Cook everything until the rice absorbs most of the liquid (approximately 15 minutes).
5. Once rice is cooked, add Soyrizo and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Season with pepper to taste (avoid adding salt since the Cajun seasonings come with lots of salt already in them and you can quickly over salt this dish).
7. Enjoy!

Tempting Fate Thoughts:

The dish was great! We enjoyed the flavor of the Soyrizo. My wife and I both would have wanted more meat-like things in the dish. Not knowing vegetarian cooking well, I would need suggestions for next time that we could have a Polish sausage-style ingredient and something to replace the chicken. It was really easy to make and completely fulfilling. I am glad we gave it a go.

We love trying new food combinations and sending our palate on a roller-coaster ride of flavors. We love that risk-taking feeling of going out of our comfort zone and diving into a new dish. That’s what we have done. I have to admit I personally couldn’t stand the taste of bell peppers, no matter what color, until about a year ago. If I could taste or see them in my food, my meal would be over at that point. I’d go pop a bag of popcorn, make a cocktail, and call it day. However, like with most things, you have to move outside of your comfort zone and find a way to make it work for you.
For the last year that’s what we did. We tried different combinations and pairings and began to understand how the different color of the peppers brought different flavors to each meal. Experimenting on when to add them to a dish so they melded with the other flavors and didn’t completely take over the dish. We experienced how the flavor changes when you roast a pepper versus sautéing it, what foods paired up well, and some other flavor combinations to completely avoid. We all have that recipe or two from our childhood nightmare kitchen disasters that scarred our palates for life (goulash anyone? MAJOR YUCK!).  In the end, I found that bell peppers are definitely my friends. So if you have a food you don’t think you like, try it several ways until you find something that works for you. I missed out on a lot of great meals over the years by refusing to try them for fear of that overpowering bell pepper flavor. Now, I’m still weary when I see them, but I just choose to try it anyway. Now, as for pickles and olives. . . We’re are not there yet. . .

Here is a simple dish with a bell peppers that just complement each other tremendously.

Mango Chicken Wrap

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Mango (Frozen works great)
2 Tablespoons Red Curry Sauce
1/8 Teaspoon ground red pepper
2 Cups Chopped Cooked Chicken (rotisserie or leftovers)
1/2 Cup Chopped Red Bell Pepper
1/4 Cup Chopped Onion
Flour Tortillas
Mixed Red Leaf Lettuce

Directions

1. Combine mayonnaise, mango, curry, chicken and red pepper in a medium bowl.
2. On a tortilla add a small amount of lettuce
3. Add about a ? cup of the chicken mixture making a straight line down the center.
4. Top with onions, and bell peppers and serve.
5. Enjoy!

Last night’s dinner was a fun escapade for me. I am not the biggest pasta eater; however, pasta is one of my wife’s favorite things. That girl could eat pasta and seafood for every meal of the day. I dabble with cooking pasta every now and again to keep the sanity in our marriage, but I really have to step out of my comfort zone to make a dish that we can both enjoy. I am notorious for eating the toppings of a dish and leaving a majority of the pasta on the plate. It’s funny that I like cream sauces, and I like some red sauces, but I just can’t get into the combination of the sauces and pasta. If anyone has a pasta dish they think I could eat, let me know.; I’d love to have the recipe. Now, antipasto? I love that! Give me a plate of meat and a few veggies and I’m in. . . .

So back to last night’s dinner. . . .  For me to eat pasta, I have to give it a Manly Housewife twist. Put something in the pasta to really set the dish off. I didn’t feel like making sauce, so I needed something that would carry as much flavor as a sauce but be a lot less heavy. My answer: Italian sausage, and it worked great. The flavor really carried the dish, and I ate most of my pasta.

Italian Sausage & Pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Italian Sausage Links

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Dash of Red Pepper (optional)

1 Clove Garlic, minced

½ Small Yellow Onion

¼ Red Bell Pepper

¼ Yellow Bell Pepper

¼ Orange Bell Pepper

2 Green Onions

1 Bunch Linguini Pasta

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook linguini to package directions, and drain (for two people I usually use about ¼ of the contents).
2. Remove the casings from the Italian sausage and discard.
3. Add 2 tablespoon of olive oil to a large frying pan, and heat to medium-high heat.
4. Add Italian sausage and with a wooden spoon began to break it down to small pieces.
5. Cook sausage until almost brown; then and add garlic and red pepper and stir for 3 minutes.
6. While sausage is cooking, chop peppers and yellow onion into long strips; add to pan with sausage, and cook until seared well.
7. Add pasta to pan and stir to combine.
8. Top with finely chopped green onions

There is a lot to be said about the old adage that things happen for a reason. At the very least, a good argument could be made for this saying from my particular situation . I truly believe it happened for a reason. See, I just started blogging not that long ago, less than a month, actually, and it has been a great experience. Any blogger, as I am sure can tell you, gets very excited when he or she discovers site hits. Having recently re-watched the movie “Julie & Julia,” I now see it through different eyes. I had to laugh at the part when she gets all excited over her first blog comment. While just beginning my blogging adventure, I stumbled upon a site called Foodbuzz (if you’re a food blogger, visiting is a must). Now that I have successfully launched my blog, it has sent me on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of interesting visits and intriguing comments. I mention all of this as a preamble to an exciting story that happened all because of Foodbuzz. Three days after launching my new blog on There is a lot to be said about the old adage that things happen for a reason. At the very least, a good argument could be made for this saying from my particular situation. I truly believe it happened for a reason. See, I just started blogging not that long ago, less than a month, actually, and it has been a great experience. Any blogger, as I am sure can tell you, gets very excited when he or she discovers site hits. Having recently re-watched the movie “Julie & Julia,” I now see it through different eyes. I had to laugh at the part when she gets all excited over her first blog comment. While just beginning my blogging adventure, I stumbled upon a site called Foodbuzz (if you’re a food blogger, visiting is a must). Now that I have successfully launched my blog, it has sent me on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of interesting visits and intriguing comments. I mention all of this as a preamble to an exciting story that happened all because of Foodbuzz. Three days after launching my new blog on Foodbuzz, I received a comment that one of my dishes had been paired with a wine. To let you know just how excited I was, I called everyone who knew I was doing this blog (and a few that didn’t) to tell them all about it, which really was a lot of people. Not only did this recipe Smothered Pork Chops. receive great honors by being featured on Foodbuzz’s Top 9, it now had been paired with a great wine. We all have visions of grandeur in the things that matter most to us, and I love to cook. It’s not only fun, but it’s a passion to me. Only a few will understand the elation of having well-respected people pay respect to one of your dishes. After this great honor of pairing my dish with Pinot Noir and, specifically, the Francis Coppola Diamond Collection, I felt my desire of cooking elevate to a whole new level. I immediately contacted Jason at Ancient Fire Wines to thank him for granting me such a great honor, and I told him that I would love to do some additional pairings with him in the future. You see, The Manly Housewife has been an idea of mine for quite awhile, albeit a live-in-motion, ever-evolving idea, but an idea none the less. Each achievement only helps to confirm that this is exactly where I need to be. Jason and I had several conversations back and forth about ideas we could incorporate into our respective blogs to increase traffic, of course, but also to emphasize and complement one other’s talents. We finally decided on choosing a dish and both making our renditions of this dish. Now, before I go into my interpretation of the dish, let me quickly state that I did not fully keep up my end of the bargain, but that’s all explained as you read on below. . . .
Jason and I agreed to do a replica of a dish I had at Chef Pointe Café (an amazing, contradiction of a place, not far from my house). This is the craziest place you might ever eat. It’s been featured on Food Network because of its 5-star quality food, inspired, prepared, and served in, of all places, a gas station. Recently when I was there, I had the stuffed New York Strip Steak and was so intrigued that I was inspired enough to try to re-create it at home. We thought this would be a great dish to try and see what combinations we could each come up with. To fully explain how I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain is this: I did not use a New York Strip; instead I chose a ribeye. I like the ribeye better (and they were on sale). Also, because of a mishap on my part, which you can read about here Mandolin Safety , I omitted the potatoes and did not take as many pictures (it’s hard to snap photographs when your thumb is wrapped in a pressure bandage). And, lastly, after the mishap, I decided on stiffer drinks than what I had initially intended, knowing that Jason would totally rock that part with his recipe, and he did! But the show must go on. So my wife and I invited my parents over to enjoy a quiet evening of good food, good drinks, and good company.
Now that I am done rambling let’s get it on with the recipe. . .

Stuffed Ribeye Steaks,
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 20-oz Ribeye Steaks (we’re talking about ¾” to 1” thick Fred-Flinstone-Style Steaks)
Smoked Gouda Cheese (I used approximately ¼ -pound block of cheese and divided it between the four steaks)
8 Slices Canadian Bacon
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 Yellow Squash, cut into ¼ inch rounds (again, careful with the Mandolin slicer)
2 Zucchini, cut into ¼ inch pieces
½ Small Red Onion, cut into wedges and then separated
1 ½ Cups Your Favorite Prepared Italian Dressing
¼ Cup Red Cherry Tomatoes
¼ Cup Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

Directions (Steak Prep)

1. Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper.
2. Cut a slit along the fatty edge of the steak ¾ length of the steaks.
3. Into each steak, add a generous slice of cheese and 2 slices of bacon (I would suggest quickly pan searing the bacon 1 minute both sides to help it crisp up).
4. Secure the stuffing inside the steaks with 3 to 4 toothpicks.
5. Let steaks sit for covered in the fridge for about an hour (this will allow the steaks to soak up the salt and pepper).

Directions (Vegetable Prep)

1. Slice Squash and Zucchini into ¼ inch pieces, discarding the stemmed end pieces.
2. Cut onion into wedges and separate into individual pieces.
3. Keep tomatoes separate from the rest of the veggies.
4. In a large bowl combine Squash, Zucchini, onion, and Italian dressing and mix well.

Directions (Cooking the Meal)

1. Spray grill grate with grilling spray prior to lighting.
2. Fire up the grill to medium high heat. You want it warm enough that you can only hold your hand for 2 seconds 3 inches from the grate.
3. Places steaks on the grill and don’t touch (moving them will cause the juices to leak out and make the steaks cook unevenly). Now here is a trick of mine: if the grill is to the correct temperature, you should cook ¾” to 1” steaks 7 minutes on each side for medium-rare steaks. For this recipe, I suggest closer to 8 minute each side to allow the cheese to fully melt and the center to warm up.
4. In a grill pan, add vegetables, excluding the tomatoes, and sauté’ over the grill.
5. Cook the vegetables until you begin to see that nice charred look around the edges.
6. Add tomatoes to the pan and continue to roast.
7. If done right, you should finish the veggies and the steak right about the same time.
To serve, add a couple of spoonfuls of vegetables to a plate. Remove toothpicks from steaks and serve over the top of the vegetables.
I hope you enjoy this meal. I still have my war wound from the mandolin accident, but the food was fantastic and well worth the pain. My original plan was to pair these steaks with a Grenache wine and a Hefeweizen beer. But, instead, due to my painful injury, my wife and mom enjoy a simple glass of White Zinfandel, while Dad and I jumped straight into the whisky stash. This was truly a fun and exciting co-blog that Jason and I did. He and I would both entertain offers to do this kind of combo blog with any other food bloggers. If you would like to pair up and do a joint blog like this one, please contact Jason at his Ancient Fire Wine Blog, or leave a message here.

Good Food, Good Drinks, Good Friends. . .

The Manly Housewife