Best of the Month April 2014

A recap of my most popular recipes from last month (April 2014)

I've found out that any recipe containing chocolate will get almost three times the views of other posts.  April is my husbands birthday month so I made his usual chocolate cheese cake with some alterations.  As expected it received the most views and +1s this month.

Overall I think my blog is doing well.  I have some regular viewers and my google plus page is doing well with almost 1,000 followers.  My twitter, facebook, pinterest, and tumbler accounts are steadily gaining more followers (I'm starting to feel like a cult leader with all these followers ;-) ) too.

I installed rich pins for my blog so when my recipes are pinned you see my favicon and site name with each pin as well as the ingredients and web page.  I love the look of these pins and I'm slowly going through older posts and marking them up.  I'm also gradually updating some of my older posts.  I'm still co hosting Great Idea Thursdays every Wednesday to Sunday and we have more linkers than ever and that also contributes to my recipe views.  Still linking to other link parties weekly and trying to comment on other posts.  So things are looking good and I'm slowly but steadily being seen.  I don't expect fame but I love when my recipes inspire others.

My best of April:

Dark Mocha Cheese Cake

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A dark chocolate cheesecake with coffee flavor.  425 views and 100 +1s.

Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry

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A healthy stir fry made with shrimp, vegetables, and lots of garlic (update 4/7/14 from original 1/21/13).  182 views and 33 +1s.

Mushroom Spinach Tomato Pasta

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Linguine noodles in a light white wine and garlic sauce tossed with mushrooms, spinach and grape tomatoes.  151 views and 18 +1s.

Clam Linguine

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Clams cooked in white wine sauce then tossed with linguine.  A delicious dinner that may look fancy but is really quite simple.  140 views and 113 +1s.

Veal Scalopini

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Thin veal cutlets served with tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach in a white wine sauce.  139 views and 16 +1s.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  See Ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, Merry Monday, Two Cup, Teach Me, LouLou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About it, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Saturday Night Fever, Share it Sunday

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Veal Scallopini

Thin veal cutlets served with tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach in a white wine sauce.

I've never cooked veal scallopini before.  I don't seek out veal to buy, but I always check the discount bin at our grocery store (so does my husband).  Any food or meat that is close to it's expiration date or just isn't popular is usually 30-50% off.  It's a great way to eat good cuts of meat for pretty inexpensively you just have to cook it or freeze it that day.  Shopping this way has definitely broadened my cooking.  There are lots of meats and food I would normally never buy, because I'm not familiar with it or it's just too expensive, that come home when 50% off.  My husband has great faith in me, I still pass by some that I don't know how to cook, but he always says "you'll figure out something".  I think he was actually the one who brought the veal scallopini home.

As with anything I'm unfamiliar with I searched on line for "how to cook veal scallopini".  The internet is so great I almost never pick up a cookbook any more and I'm able to find so many recipes from so many cuisines with just the push of a button.  So I sifted through a few recipes until I found something that used ingredients I had or could easily find and seemed relatively simple.  I settled on Adam Siegel's Veal Scallopini.

Veal Scallopini

Slightly modified from Adam Siegel's Veal Scallopini

Ingredients:

4 veal cutlets also called scallopini
salt and pepper to taste
flour
olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 pound spinach
1/2 cup sliced caremini mushrooms
1/2 cup white wine
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes

Pound the veal cutlets, with the smooth side of a meat mallet (or bottom of a heavy fry pan) until about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Make sure you have all of the ingredients out and ready (this cooks quick).

Season both sides of the veal and dredge in flour (shake off excess).  Heat a large skillet over medium high heat (I used cast iron).  Pour in about 1 Tbsp oil and cook the veal, one at a time, about 2 minutes per side, until cooked through and browned (it's thin so it doesn't take long, add more oil as needed).  Remove the veal from the pan and set aside on a plate, cover or put in a warm oven to keep warm.  Pour out oil.

In the same pan, over medium high heat, melt a bit (about 1/2 Tbsp) of the butter.  Toss in the spinach and cook just until wilted (I cooked mine too long, it was still good just didn't look as pretty) then remove from pan and place on serving tray or plates and keep warm.

Again place the same pan back over medium high heat.  Melt 1/2 Tbsp butter and saute the mushrooms in it until they are softened.  Pour in the wine and reduce by half.

Add the lemon juice and the chicken broth and again reduce by half.  Add the tomatoes and the last of the butter (about 1 Tbsp).  Remove from the heat when the butter is thoroughly incorporated.

You can place the veal back in the sauce to reheat it if necessary.  Place 2 cutlets on top of the spinach and pour the sauce over the top.  Serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Much Ado, The Yuck Stops Here, Two Cup Tuesday, See Ya in the Gumbo, Tasty Tuesday, LouLou Girls, Brag About It, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Full Plate, Freedom Fridays, Eat Create Party, Best of te Weekend, Show Stopper, Saturday Night Fever

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