For me, there are some days I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and others when I’ll more than happily spend half a day in there working on a single meal or dish that results in a mountain of dishes. What I love about Risotto is that it’s truly a labor or love. While it requires a bit of babying, the payoff in flavor is worth it, and this Wild Mushroom Risotto with Parmesan and Scallops is no different.

When you think of enchiladas, you probably think of the skinny, sauce laden covered tortillas that you get at most Mexi-merican restaurants. But at the house of the Would-Be Chef, enchilada night is decidedly more filling.

I love pork chops, but every now and then I get tired of having them grilled with different spices. This recipe provides a twist to the traditional porky preparation by bringing some Southern soul to your skillet. It’s incredibly quick and the pan sauce couldn’t be any easier to prepare, so long as you use a light flouring on your chops before you do your initial searing of the pork. I guarantee you have almost all of the ingredients you need to pull off this meal sitting in your house and you can get this piggy to the plate in under 30 minutes.

With a wife working 80 hour weeks and a lengthy commute that begins around 6 p.m. each evening, it can be 7 or 7:30 before I’m even able to pre-heat a pan, which is why I adore quick recipes like this Chipotle Turkey Cutlets with Charred Corn Salsa. It’s 15 minutes or less from the time I light my burners to the time this smokey and spicy meal hits the plate. And since turkey cutlets and frozen corn are reasonably priced, this quick meal is also really great for families minding their budget.

Jagerschnitzel is traditionally breaded pork, but we used chicken as an alternative to this traditional German favorite. Having spent some time in Germany in my younger years I’ve had the traditional preparation a number of times and I’m of the opinion that this was just as good as anything I had overseas. The recipe below is modified from this recipe from a Guy Fieri show that I caught on Food Network.

To make it more friendly for my wife, we substituted chicken breast and turkey bacon instead of using pork. It turned out to be a phenominal meal and matches well with the Spätzle With Parmesan And Parsley that was featured in the same episode.

I recently downloaded a new iPhone app called Lose It, to track my daily calorie intake. And what I’ve noticed, is that while the meals I make are reasonably nutritionally balanced, I’m killing myself with snacking later because I don’t always feel full when we’re done. So, to combat that, Vita and I are making some really hearty meals, including these awesome stuffed peppers.

They’re easy to make, albeit a tad time consuming. Since you’re getting a whole bell pepper, you’re getting a lot of veggies, and the ground chicken with …

For some time now, Vita has had to watch me mixing Chorizo in with my eggs. I go on and on about how delicious it is, giggling that she can’t eat it because of the beef or pork content. She’s never wanted to try Soy-Rizo, but thankfully, I came across some Turkey and Chicken Chorizo that was pre-cooked. So, after our Tuesday morning workout, we did some slicing and dicing and Vita was introduced to the wonderful world of spicy Chorizo, packed into an awesome little breakfast burrito.

I know it’s …

Last night, I didn’t make anything particularly exciting for dinner, but wanted to do something different for a side dish. More often than not, I often just wing it with my side dishes, using whatever I happen to have in the pantry or the fridge. One of the skills I’m trying hard to develop is pairing sides with meals properly and coming up with things that are different than sauteed veggies or the common side salad. So, when I found a recipe for “Blue Cheese Crusted Tomatoes” on Epicurious, I decided to modify it to something that sounded more interesting to me and came up with these Broiled and Stuffed Beefsteak Tomatoes (the stuffing is Danish Blue Cheese, Seasoned Bread Crumbs and Minced Garlic).

I’m a big, big fan of salty flavors and have been using salty flavors to dress up chicken dishes. One of my favorite salty flavors is the tart saltiness of Feta cheese. Here’s a great, quick, kick butt recipe for a feta cheese sauce that will dress up that boring old chicken. It’s also fantastic over steamed asparagrus.

The past few nights I’ve been working a bit later than I’d like to be. This fact usually means we do very quick things for dinner, like pre-made soups, leftovers worked into something new and different or meals that I can pick up on my way in from the office. Even though I knew I was in for a longer day, I’d have none of that tonight. Since I had leftover fresh spinach from Souper Sunday’s Creamy Chicken Florentine, I opted for a twist on a traditional Basil and Pine Nut Pesto.