Kristine Cocchiarella
Classically trained Cordon Bleu chef turned anti-GMO, pro-organic, food hippie blogger with a passion for REAL food.
-
Spicy Orange Ginger Soy Chicken Stir Fry
Stir Fry is one of our favorite go-to dishes here in Casa de la Real Food Girl. It’s simple, filling and most of all it really is easy. You may not know this, but stir fry isn’t a dish. It’s a cooking technique. Of all the cooking techniques I learned while attending culinary school, I’d have to say that learning stir fry was the most fun, and the most challenging. You have to master the flame when you stir fry, and you can’t stand around and twiddle your thumbs like you can when you’re braising or poaching. The Chinese value balance and harmony. Balance is very important to their cuisine You’ve heard about…
-
30-Minute Monday- Skillet Mac-n-Cheese
I love melted, gooey cheese sauce. I love melted cheese sauce as much as I love bacon, and because I love both, I am not only going to share a quick and simple truly comforting Macaroni and Cheese recipe, but also my secret mac-n-cheese bacon topping recipe with you. I’ve thought long and hard and felt the world needed to be privileged with the knowledge of this amazing topping. You’ll never do boring, buttered breadcrumb topping again, nor will you ever make naked mac-n-cheese ever again. I’m taking Mac-n-Cheese to a WHOLE new level y’all. This recipe is so good, you’ll name your next child after me as a tribute. I’m somewhat ashamed…
-
Slow Cooker Country Style BBQ Ribs
I have a serious foodie crush on barbeque ribs. My favorite have always been pork ribs. They are so tender, fall apart in your mouth, juicy and tangy and saucy. Yessum! Love me some ribs. This dish was The Man Child’s (My bonus child) favorite, growing up. I have a photo of him when he was 8 years old, sitting at the kitchen table with a huge grin and a face covered in BBQ sauce. It still makes me smile just thinking about it. I typically buy about 3-4 pounds of Country Style ribs for this dish so that we can have lots of left overs. This is one of the few dishes…
-
30 Minute Monday- Real Food Skillet Tamale Pie
Welcome to the fist installment of 30-Minute Monday’s. When I used to work out in the real world I never cared for Mondays. My biggest reason was I never slept well on Sunday nights and so I was always so sleepy on Monday. Typically I was dragging. By the time I got home from working a 10-hour day the last thing I wanted to do was spend 90 minutes or more in the kitchen making dinner. I wanted to jump in my flannel jammies, make something quick and filling and vegetate on the couch and snuggle with the fur babies and catch up on the day with The Stud Muffin. That ‘feeling’ was…
-
Real Food Split Pea and Ham Soup
Out of all the veggies in the world I strongly dislike peas. Naturally, I’m betrothed to a man who LOVES peas. I mean all out, get you in mah belly, I could eat three bowls each day LOVES peas. God has a sense of humor all right. Because I love my dear Stud Muffin, I make him Split Pea Soup, but I add ham because I love ham. Throw pork into a soup and I’m a happy girl. Throw peas into a soup and The Stud Muffin is a happy Man. Combine them, and you have two happy people eating a rather tasty bowl of soup, even though it does contain a pound…
-
Better than Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
Today is my 1 year Blogiversary and I’m quite excited. It’s a big deal to make it through the first year of blogging and I’m seriously excited about what the next 12 months will bring to Real Food Girl: Unmodified. To thank all of you for putting up with me for an entire 365 days, I asked you over on my Facebook page if you’d rather have this recipe OR my split pea soup with ham recipe. Hands down this recipe won. But for those of you who asked for the soup, don’t worry. It will be on the blog later this week. I also have some fun surprises for the rest of…
-
Real Food Triple Citrus Bars
Nothing brightens your house like the smell of citrus and I’d had lemon bars on my mind for a few days and felt it was time to break out Old Blue and make something citrus-y. It had been a while since I’d made any type of dessert since the kitchen in the house we’re renting- A) depresses me, and, B) it has virtually no counter or storage space which makes the normally joyful, fun, therapeutic and exciting task of cooking, baking and recipe creating about as fun as having one of the Dementors from Harry Potter suck out your soul. I think I’m going to call my kitchen the Horcrux, as that…
-
Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes
Pure beauty. That’s what these tomatoes are. Pure-brilliant-beauty. I’m not a fan of raw tomatoes. Shocked? Yeah, most people are. It’s a textural thing. Goes right up there with mushrooms and peas. Put a dish in front of me with a few of these roasted, deep-red beauties and it’s another story all-together. I’ve been promising this recipe for close to a year now, and I’m truly sorry it has taken me so long to getting around to photographing these. My excuse is that we eat them after I make them and only after we’re rubbing our bellies and dabbing the corners of our mouths with our high-falutin’ paper napkins, would I realized I’d…
