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2 Sisters 2 Cities

We are two sisters, Keelin and Meaghan, living in two different cities with two different lifestyles. We created this blog to share our day-to-day adventures in San Francisco and Boston. 2 Sisters 2 Cities was first started in December 2009. On our blog, we love to share our favorite recipes, DIY projects, party ideas, and stories about our lives.

Penne with Spicy Sausage and Kale

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I don't really have a regular menu item that I consistently make for dinner each week throughout the year.  However, one recipe that does seem to pop up on our menu a lot is Penne with Spicy Sausage and Kale.  I also like to use dandelion greens, broccoli rabe, or swiss chard instead of kale.
This is definitely a hearty meal, but I feel a little better being able to sneak in so many greens into one dish.  If you wanted to make this a lighter recipe, you could sub in chicken sausage and wheat pasta, but you might lose out on some of the flavor.  I find myself making this recipe throughout the year, but it's especially delicious as these cooler fall evenings start to kick in.
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Penne with Spicy Sausage and Kale
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 large bunch of kale, stalks trimmed and quartered crosswise (can also use swiss chard, broccoli rabe, or dandelion greens)
  • 16 oz. penne pasta
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb hot Italian pork sausage, casings removed
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • pinch of dried crushed red pepper flakes
  • ¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Boil large pot of salted water. Add kale and cook for about 5 minutes. Strain kale, reserving all the cooking liquid. Set aside.
  2. Cook pasta in same pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
  3. Meanwhile, in large heavy skillet, heat the oil over a medium flame. Add sausage and cook, breaking up with spoon until the sausage is brown and juices form, about 8 min. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for 30 seconds. Add kale and toss to coat.
  4. Add pasta and enough reserved cooking liquid, ¼ cup at a time to moisten. Stir Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, and pepper in to taste. (Depending on the size of your pots, it may be easier to combine all the ingredients together in the large pot you cooked the pasta in.)

Source: Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Do you have a particular recipe that you always find yourself making for dinner?

Costco Pantry Essentials: 10 Items to Stock Your Pantry

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I’m always amazed at how quickly my cart fills up whenever I make a trip to Costco so it pays to have a bit of a strategy when you shop there.  There are plenty of items at Costco for foodies and people who do a lot of cooking, however it’s sometimes hard to find items that can be used up before they go bad or don’t pose a storage challenge (50 pound bag of flour- I’m looking at you.)

While shopping at Costco,  I tend to focus on stocking up on pantry essentials and paper products (namely paper towels, toilet paper, baby wipes, etc.) In this post, I wanted to highlight some very high-quality Costco pantry essentials that every cook and baker requires.  Here is my top 10 list of essential list of pantry items to stock up on at Costco:

Top 10 Costco Pantry Essentials

1.  Extra-virgin olive oil- I really like the Kirkland brand and I think it’s very good quality for the price.

2.  Balsamic Vinegar- I’ve mentioned the Kirkland brand for the balsamic vinegar before in my Caprese Salad post.

3.  Organic Chicken Stock- I love the convenience of having the cardboard quart boxes in my freezer so it’s one less thing to buy in the regular grocery run.

4.  Cooking Spray- Pam or the Kirkland Brand.  I use cooking spray almost every day and it’s nice to have a back-up can in the pantry when you run out.

5.  Tomato Products in normal-sized cans- I would avoid the super large cans of tomato products as I can’t really picture myself using it all before it went bad.  Costco does sell diced tomatoes and tomato paste in large quantities of regular-sized cans though.

6.  Pine Nuts and Nuts (Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans, etc.)- While $18.99 for a bag of pine nuts may seem extravagant, it’s such a great value considering a teeny tiny bag at the grocery store can cost up to $7.  I store pine nuts in the fridge for long-term storage so they don’t go rancid.  I love to throw them in salad or use them in pestos.  We also go through a lot of almonds and walnuts in our house- I usually store them in ziploc bags or large sealable glass containers.

7.  Dried Fruits (cranberries, blueberries, cherries, etc.)- Great to throw in salads or baked goods

8.  Jarred Vegetables/Fruits- Roasted Red Peppers, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Capers are all great items to have on hand for regular cooking.  That jar of capers is huge so I would only recommend buying it if you use a lot of capers in your house.

9.  Vanilla- A must have for anyone who bakes regularly.

10.  Chocolate Chips- I tried to always have a bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips on hand for whenever I have the urge to make chocolate chip cookies.

What items do you prefer to stock up on Costco or other warehouse clubs?  What do you consider to be must-have items in your pantry?

Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Chicken

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Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken
Jalapeño poppers weren’t something I always desired.   I had thought they would be too spicy for me until a friend made me try hers in college.   After that, it was love at first bite and I couldn’t get enough.  I love jalapeño poppers so much I once telepathically communicated with my mom to tell her to make them for me.  Okay, okay, maybe it wasn’t exactly telepathic, but I did tell my little sister that I thought it would be amazing  to have jalapeño poppers when we got home.   Which we didn’t discuss again until we got home and my mom had made homemade jalapeño poppers.  She never had made them for us before either, so see, totally telepathic!   I have tried a few homemade jalapeño popper recipes on my own like the one here.  So when I found the recipe for jalapeño stuffed chicken I knew it would be a winner in my book.

I have been making this recipe a lot lately since my boyfriend basically asks for it every week.   This was my first stuffed chicken recipe I have made because I always assumed they were too much work or too fatty, but this recipe was easy to put together and actually somewhat low-fat.   To stuff the chicken I used all reduced-fat ingredients like reduced-fat cream cheese, reduced-fat shredded cheddar, and turkey bacon.   I then serve the chicken with a fiesta rice which I will give you the recipe for later this week.  So stay tuned for more yumminess Smile.

Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken with Fiesta Rice

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Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken
Author: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 slices of cooked turkey bacon, crumbled
  • 3 jalapeño, chopped with seeds and ribs removed*
  • 4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
  • 4 oz. reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 tbsp. chopped scallions
  • 4 3oz. chicken breast, rinsed, dried and pounded thin
  • ⅓ cup whole wheat Italian bread crumbs
  • 1½ limes, juiced
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • salt and fresh pepper
  • olive oil non-stick spray
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
  2. In a medium sized bowl mix together cream cheese, shredded cheese, scallions, chopped jalapeño, and crumbled turkey bacon.
  3. In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper then place bread crumbs on a large plate.
  4. Lay pounded out chicken onto a cutting board or working surface. Place 2-3 tbsp. of cream cheese mixture in the middle and then tightly roll chicken around the filling. Close the edges of the chicken with toothpicks so the filling doesn’t leak out (There will still be some small filling that leak out.)
  5. Take rolled chicken and dip in lime/oil mixture and roll around. Take chicken out roll in bread crumbs. Place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat for the rest of the chicken. Once all chicken is stuffed and breaded spray with non-stick spray.
  6. Bake for 22-25 minutes, and serve.

*Please note-  Jalapeño’s seeds and ribs are extremely hot and can burn the skin so please wear gloves or plastic bags on hands when handling and wash knife an cutting board with hot soap water after.   If you do get a jalapeño burn, soak your burn in milk of magnesia, brand name Maalox (it worked for me!)

Recipe Source– Adapted from Skinnytaste

Baked Beans

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Finally my last recipe from my summer party!  I know it took me a while to post them all but I finally did it on basically the last day of summer- how appropriate.  This baked bean recipe is so good and so easy to make you are going to be wondering why you haven’t tried it earlier.  This recipe can be doubled for large crowds.

Baked Beans

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Baked Beans
 
Ingredients
  • 2 large cans (28 oz. each) of baked beans
  • ⅔ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
  • Dash of chili powder
  • Dash of black pepper
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4-5 pieces of Bacon
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree and move rack to the center.
  2. Pour beans into a 13x9-inch baking dish. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, hot pepper sauce, chili powder, pepper and onions. Cut the bacon into 1-2 inch pieces and arrange on top of beans.
  3. Bake the beans for 55 minutes to an hour until the bean are bubbly and bacon is cooked. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Source-  Adapted from What Can I Bring?

Greek Salad Pita Wrap

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Greek Salad Pita Wrap recipe

I am officially “back” from stay-cation today.  Our family had a great week spending so much time together.  We enjoyed a lot of time at the beach, out on our boat, and lingering over good food and wine.  It was a great way to soak up those last few days of summer.  With the lower temperatures and the rain in the Boston area today, it certainly feels like fall has set in already.

My parents and youngest sister stayed with us for a couple days as they traveled to the area to return her to her senior year of college.  For dinners, I made the Sausage, Pepper, Onion, and Potato Bake and the next night we had lobsters, steamers, corn on the cob, and Caprese Salad for a perfect summer feast.  For lunch one day, I made everyone their own Greek Salad Pita Wrap.  I had so many tomatoes and cucumbers from my mom’s garden and our CSA that I needed to use up and this recipe was the perfect solution.  To make the Greek Salad Pita Wrap gluten-free, simply serve without the pita for a delicious Greek Salad.

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Greek Salad Pita Wrap
Author: 
Recipe type: Sandwich
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon finely grated garlic
  • 4 pitas
  • 2 small cucumbers, very thinly sliced crosswise
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
  • ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
  • ⅔ cup feta cheese, crumbled
  • ⅓ cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
  • ⅓ cup banana peppers, coarsely chopped
  • ⅓ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
  • 1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375. Stir together yogurt, lemon zest, and garlic. Arrange pitas on a baking sheet. Bake until warmed (about 3 minutes).
  2. Mix together lemon juice, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, feta, olives, banana peppers, parsley, and olive oil. Spread yogurt mixture among pitas. Divide salad mixture among pitas; roll to close.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 wrap Calories: 300 Fat: 3g Unsaturated fat: 3g Carbohydrates: 43g Protein: 15g

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, August 2010

I loved this sandwich so much that I ended up making this Greek Salad Pita Wrap for my lunch after I typed this post up :)

Summer Stay-cation

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Sorry for the lack of posts this week…we have been on stay-cation this week and I have been trying to get into a vacation mind set as much as possible.  For the past couple of years, we have rented a little cottage in Nantucket (read more on our ACK adventures here and here), but this year we decided to stay home and explore our new town and surrounding areas for the week.  I have been catching up on a huge stack of magazines, reading books, hitting up the beach, and finishing up a few projects around the house.

I’ve also decided to take a short hiatus from blogging this week to rejuvenate on that front as well.  I’ll be back next week with plenty of posts to kick off September!  In the meanwhile, if you need any end-of-summer recipe inspiration, be sure to check out what we are cooking up this week on our stay-cation:

Have a great week!

Pretzel Crisps Guest Post and Giveaway

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Earlier this year, you may remember that I won a 3-month supply of Pretzel Crisps and a featured guest post on the Pretzel Crisps website at the Blog Better Boston conference.  Well, my guest post is now up on on Fresh Out of The Oven, the official blog of Pretzel Crisps.  In my post, I feature some fun end of summer entertaining ideas, including my recipes for basil lemonade and my new and improved hummus recipe.  I also show some fun ways to serve up Pretzel Crisps for your next party.

To celebrate the guest post, I’ve decided to do a small giveaway!  I’m giving away a coupon for a free bag of any size Pretzel Crisps to one lucky reader.  (Pretzel Crisps is not sponsoring this giveaway- I just happened to have an extra coupon that I want to give away.)  Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fresh Produce Tuesday- Corn Recipes

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One of my favorite summer memories from growing up is sitting on our back deck shucking bags of corn.  We have finally started to get corn in our CSA and I have been looking for different ways to serve it up.  The standard in our house is of course good old corn on the cob, but there are many other types of corn recipes out there.

CORN RECIPES FROM AROUND THE WEB:

CORN RECIPES FROM OTHER BLOGGERS:

Bloggers, please link up as many corn recipes as you would like:



Too much summer produce and not enough ideas on how to prepare them? Be sure to check out the Fresh Produce Tuesday tag! We have a large assortment of recipes for the following types of produce: Peas, Radishes, Lettuce, Kale, Carrots, Chard, Raspberries, Zucchini, Eggplants, Heirloom Tomatoes, and Beets.

Caprese Salad- The Taste of Summer

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For the past couple of weeks, I have had a huge overflowing vase of fresh basil and a large basket of heirloom tomatoes on my kitchen counter.  This point of summer is culinary heaven!  One of my favorite ways to use up all those tomatoes and basil is to make a caprese salad.  It’s very simple to pull together and in my opinion, it is the perfect taste of summer.  My favorite way to prepare it is to get as many different color heirloom tomatoes as possible on the plate.

One of the things besides beautiful tomatoes that really makes caprese salad work is good-quality balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.  Two brands that I have really liked is the Kirkland Signature Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (available at Costco) and the Paesano Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (available at Whole Foods.) While there are certainly higher quality balsamic vinegars and olive oils out there, I think both types I listed are a very good value for their quality.

One day, I would  love to make homemade fresh mozzarella as well, but I may have to move that one to next summer’s bucket list.  Here’s to the last few weeks of summer!

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Caprese Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer or Side Dish
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
The quintessential dish of summer!
Ingredients
  • 4-8 heirloom tomatoes (depending on size)
  • 1 fresh mozzarella ball, brought to room temperature
  • Balsamic vinegar (good-quality)
  • Extra-virgin olive oil (good-quality)
  • 4-6 basil leaves, cut chiffonade-style
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Wash and cut the tomatoes into thin slices. Arrange the tomatoes on a decorative serving platter. Slice the mozzarella ball into 6-8 large slices or into many small pieces depending on your preference. Drizzle on the balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil (I generally prefer a 1:2 ratio of vinegar to olive oil.) Sprinkle cut basil leaves on top and season with salt and pepper.

 

Corn Pancakes with Smoked Salmon

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I’ve hit the point of summer where I don’t really want a huge meal for dinner each night.  While I was perusing the August issue of Cooking Light, I came across this recipe that sounded really interesting- Corn Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and Lemon-Chive Cream. We ended up getting a ton of corn in our CSA last weekend so the timing worked out well to make it this week.

I loved the combination of flavors- the savory corn pancakes melded perfectly with the smoked salmon and the light sour cream topping was the perfect touch to top it off with.  Baby T also enjoyed the corn pancakes (although I did not give him any of the smoked salmon- I did a little research online and the results were a bit iffy if it’s ok for toddlers.)  I actually made this recipe in the early afternoon and stored each individual pancake in layers of wax paper and the smoked salmon and cream in separate containers.  Then, at dinner, I reheated the pancakes in the microwave in 30 second intervals and then topped it with the slices of salmon and a dollop of sour cream.  While we had these for dinner, it would also work out great for a light lunch or a party appetizer.

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Corn Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and Lemon-Chive Cream
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer or Entree
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3-6
 
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup light sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, plus extra for garnish
  • ½ teaspoon grated fresh lemon rind
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1¼ cups fresh corn kernels, divided (about 3 ears)
  • ⅔ cup low-fat buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 12 thin slices cold-smoked salmon (4 ounces)
Instructions
  1. Combine first sour cream, chopped chives, and grated lemon rind in a small bowl and refrigerate.
  2. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, salt, and ground red pepper in a medium bowl. Combine 1 cup corn kernels, buttermilk, butter, and egg in a blender; process until pureed. Add pureed corn mixture to flour mixture, stirring until combined. Fold in remaining ¼ cup corn.
  3. Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Pour about 2 tablespoons batter per pancake into pan. Cook 3 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Carefully turn pancakes over; cook 3 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. For an appetizer serving: arrange 2 pancakes on each of 6 plates; top each pancake with 1 slice salmon and 1 teaspoon lemon-chive cream. Double or triple serving size for an entree size.

Source: Slightly adapted from Cooking Light, August 2012

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