Beef Stroganoff

An oldie but goodie, this one is from my mom. It takes a long time in the oven, but putting it together is SUPER quick and easy, and it comes out ready to serve!

Beef Stroganoff

Mix in a large bowl:
-1 large onion, sliced thin
-1/4c. flour
-1/4c. dried breadcrumbs
-1 can of beef consumme (10.5oz, undiluted)
-1/2c. red wine or broth

In a casserole dish:
-1 lb. chuck roast, cubed
-Sliced mushrooms to your liking

Pour the bowl mixture over the meat and mushrooms. Cover and bake in oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours. Serve over rice or noodles.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Steaks are a rarity at our house, but the hubby is having a crazy time at work, so I decided to treat him to one of his favorites. Too lazy to light up the grill, I just seared mine on the stove top tonight.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes

-Quarter as many potatoes as you want to cook, put them in a pot and cover with water. (I leave the skins on - it's easier and I like the texture it adds.)
-Boil until soft.
-Drain and smash.
-Mix in a bit of milk, butter, honey or agave.
-Serve topped with sliced mushrooms sauteed in olive oil.

Chicken Parm Pizza

It's Friday night, which reliably means pizza night in this house! Tonight I tried something new... not bad!

Chicken Parm Pizza

Crust:
Here, you have lots of options. You can make your own, buy the pre-baked variety ala Bertolli in your grocery aisle, or stop somewhere in between, which is what I did. I like the refrigerated crust from Trader Joes. One tip contrary to the printed directions on the package, though... You'll get a better crust if you roll out the dough and bake it with no sauce or toppings for 10-12 minutes first!


Toppings:
-Pizza sauce
-Breaded chicken, chopped
-Fresh basil leaves
-Mozzarella cheese
-Parmesan cheese

Bake until the cheese is melted and chicken is heated through.

NOTE: Ours was actually faux chicken parm pizza since I tried out a new soy protein product on ours tonight, Gardein Chicken Tenders. My meat-eaters gave it 2 thumbs up :)

Unstuffed Peppers

I wish I could take credit for the clever name on this one, but all credit is due to a smart woman who wrote into the Rachel Ray mag. All the delicious flavors of the labor intensive stuffed pepper without all the labor. What more could you ask for? I took her fabulous idea and tweaked it to match my family's preferences. And I'm telling you... NOTHING gets me excited for dinner like a giant pan of colorful veggies!

Un-stuffed Peppers

Rice:
-If you've got some cooked and stored in the fridge, this becomes a one-pot wonder!
-If not, then cook up the rice of your choosing while you're prepping and cooking the veggies.

In a large pan or wok, combine:
-Crush, minced or chopped garlic*
-Bell peppers, chopped
-Mushrooms, chopped
-Onion, chopped
-Olive oil or coconut oil
-Salt and pepper

Saute to desired tenderness.
Top with cheese of your choosing (optinal).

*(I prefer fresh garlicbut this is a GREAT alternative found in your grocer's freezer section!)

**We used this as one of our vegetarian meals for the week and with all the great veggie flavors, we didn't miss the meat one bit. If you do want to add something in, the original recipe called for ground sausage.

Spinach Soup

On a rainy day like today, nothing beats a warm bowl of soup! This would have made a great entry for St. Patty's day, but either way, we enjoyed it tonight! I thought it tasted great, but it is going to take my preschooler (who will eat a spinach salad, no problem) a couple more exposures to get used to it. You wouldn't believe how much spinach is packed into this nutrient dense soup.

Spinach Soup

In a large pot:

-Melt 4 Tbs of butter.
-Add 1 Tbs of flour and cook until it becomes a thick, foamy mixture (about 2-3 min)
-Add about 1 lb of fresh spinach in and cook until wilted.
-Add 2 1/2 c. broth and remove from heat.

At this point you need to puree the soup. I dumped mine into a blender, but you could also use a food processor or an immersion blender if you're fancy (I only wish I had one!).

Once pureed, put the soup back in the pot over medium to low heat.

In a separate bowl:
-Mix 1/2 c. heavy cream and 2 egg yolks.

Slowly dump and mix the cream mixture and into the soup.

Finishing touches:
-Flavor with salt and pepper.
-I recommend serving it right away. I made mine a little early and waited for the hubby to get home, but it separated a bit after sitting.
-Serve with a salad and side of buttered toast.

Homemade Chicken Mac n Cheese

Okay, so this one definitely doesn't fall under the "good for you" category, but it is an amazing comfort food treat every now and again. I forgot to snap a picture of this before we dug in and with the help of our neighbors over for dinner, we devoured most of it, leaving us with what you see here.

Chicken Mac N Cheese

Prep:
-I love the flavor and protein a roasted chicken adds to man n cheese. Tonight I cheated and used a rotissere chicken from the store, but you could roast a whole chicken in the oven or the crockpot if you prefer to do it yourself.
-Once you've cooked (or bought) your chicken, remove the meat from the bone and skin and set aside.
-Boil your noodles of choice to al dente. Drain and stir in shredded chicken.
-Preheat oven to 325.


Cheese Sauce. In a large pan:
-Saute a small chopped onion and minced or chopped garlic in a bit of olive oil or coconut oil.
-Add 3 Tbs of flour and 3 Tbs of butter. Cook 2-3 minutes. This is your "roux", pronounced "roo".
-Just before the roux turns brown, whisk in 1 c. milk and 1 c. broth.
-Let it sit over medium heat until it bubbles and thickens.
-Sprinkle in a palm full of nutmeg.
-Melt 2 c. shredded cheddar into the sauce.

Finishing Touches:
-Pour the cheese sauce over the noodles and chicken.
-Put noodles and cheese into a 9 x 13 baking dish.
-Sprinkle a bit of shredded cheddar and whole wheat bread crumbs.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted and the top is crusty.

Get creative here based on your family's liking. A friend once made this with bacon (and it was DELICIOUS!). Another friend adds in pimentos because her young son and husband are big fans. Veggies of all kinds are good roasted in. What else will you add? The possibilities are endless!

Meatballs!

We're baaaaaaaack and after a 9 day break, I was ready to hit the kitchen and cook away today! I spent the morning making my very first batch of homemade baby food, sweet potatoes, and they were a hit! I am really looking forward to this adventure and am loosely following Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food methods for anyone who is curious.

Alas, tonight it was back to cooking for the "grown up" part of my family and meatballs were on the menu. These are some of my favorite because they are quick to put together and only take only a few minutes to cook through.

Meatballs
Prep:
-Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with foil and lightly grease with butter or oil.
-Preheat broiler.

Mix in a large bowl:
-1lb ground beef
-apple, grated
-small onion, grated
-hand full of bread crumbs*
-palm full of finely chopped parsley
-handful of shredded cheddar cheese
-1 egg
-salt and pepper

Take off your rings and dig in, squishing the ingredients until they are mixed well. Form into 16 meatballs, and place meatballs on the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake meatballs in the broiler for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through and browned on top. (I have a raw meat phobia so I always cut the middle one open just to be sure.) Our broiler cooks a little unevenly, so I also check and rotate my pan a couple of times during cooking, you just have to know your oven/broiler to know if this is necessary.

Finishing Touches:
I served ours over egg noodles tossed with butter (coconut oil would make a great substitution here) and fresh, chopped parsley.

*Substitute cooked quinoa for GF version.

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

Well, it's Wednesday and that means CROCK POT cookin around here! Admittedly, I was in the shower about 30 minutes before I needed to leave the house this morning when I realized that I hadn't put our crock pot together yet. I was able to finish getting ready, put the crock pot together and have 5 minutes to spare before we left. Granted, I don't take long to get ready, but really what this should tell you is that this one is SUPER easy. It also hit the spot for this mama who has been feeling on the edge of getting sick all week. Surely, it's enough to ward it off??

Crock Pot Chicken Soup

Toss in the crock pot:
-carrots, chopped
-celery, chopped
-1 onion, halved
-garlic cloves, chopped or minced
-salt and pepper
-chicken
-enough broth to cover all the goods

Cook on low for 7-8 hours. 20 minutes before you're ready to serve, shred the chicken and toss in a very small cut pasta and let sit until cooked to your desired tenderness. Fish out the onion halves. Serve with warm biscuits.

Get creative with this one! I had a sweet potato on my counter that needed a home, so I cubed it up and tossed it in. You can add additional spices (i.e. a couple of bay leaves and the beginning of cooking or some fresh parsley at the end).

As for the chicken, I tossed in a package of frozen breasts (which was literally a frozen block when I put it in). You could also use boneless skinless thighs. If you're really feeling brave, you could put a whole chicken in and remove it to shred and skin it, putting the meat back into the soup when done.

Once cooked, this one freezes really well, too!!

This family is getting a change of scenery for about a week and headed "home" to see our families. Sorry, but I probably won't be posting much, if at all during this time. I'll probably sit back and be pampered with mom's cookin'. :)

Mexican Lasagna

Mexican Lasagna

Brown on Stove Top:
-1lb ground beef
-1 c. black beans
-1 green pepper, chopped
-1/2 onion, chopped

Add and Simmer:
-Frozen Corn
-Salsa

Layer in a 9 x 12 pan:
-Beef mixture
-Tortillas
-Sour Cream
-Beef mixture
-Shredded Cheese
-Tortillas
-Sour Cream
-Beef Mixture

Bake:
-Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 375.
-After 25 minutes, uncover, top with shredded cheese, and bake an additional 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Finishing Touches:
-Top with shredded lettuce and salsa.
-Serve with chips and guacamole!

Ole!

Black Bean Burgers

I really feel it's my social and ecological responsibility to decrease the amount of meat my family consumes, so I shoot to make a vegetarian meal twice a week. I do play around with a lot of recipes, trying to make my veggie meals as "meaty" as possible. This one is a winner! Everyone loved it, even my 4-year-old!

Black Bean Burgers

Saute in olive oil until soft:
-1/2 an onion, finely chopped
-red pepper, finely chopped
-2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

In a large bowl, mix:
-2ish cups of black beans (or 2 15oz cans, drained)
-Sauteed veggies
-1 egg
-1 c. bread crumbs*
-Dash of cumin, salt, and pepper

Use a mixer, or take off your rings and get your hands dirty to mash everything together and create 4-6 patties.

Simmer the patties in a bit of olive oil on the stovetop for a few minutes on each side.

Finishing touches:
-Serve on a toasted bun.*
-Suggested toppings - avocado, colby jack cheese, and salsa!
-I served mine with a side of sweet potato fries.

*Use corn crumbs and serve without the bun for a GF version.

Thrifty Breadcrumbs

Recently, Ive been saving the scraps from my loaves of bread, mostly the ends. I have been collecting them in a ziploc bag in my freezer. When I could no longer close the bag, I decided to deal with them, and here's how:

-Lay bread pieces out on a cookie sheet.
-Bake at 400 until crisp and toasty.
-Cool, then put bread pieces in the food processor.
-Process until crumbs are to your desired texture.

I let mine go awhile and made fine breadcrumbs that I am using for breading chicken and fish, including in meat balls, etc.

I have a serious problem with waste (seriously, I think it might be obsessive!) so this trick is totally exciting the "use it all up" part of me!

Leftover Chicken Pesto Pasta

Remember that yummy lemon garlic roasted chicken I made earlier this week? The leftovers showed well in last night's creation. I boiled up some noodles, mixed in some pesto, leftover chicken and halved grape tomatoes. Easy, simple, delicious!

As for the pesto... tonight was a sad night as I thawed and used the last of my frozen pesto made with the basil from our garden last summer. I can't say that I follow any particular recipe, rather I usually just toss in basil, olive oil, pine nuts, and grated parmesan cheese. I have also made a more economical pesto by substituting walnuts or sunflower seeds for the pine nuts; same nutty flavor for a fraction of the price! And of course, if you want to simplify this meal even further, you can choose a pre-made pesto variety from the many available at any mainstream grocery store. Bon A petite!

Crock Pot Chicken Curry

I think my pet name for this one is going to be "Curry in a Hurry". Wednesdays are notoriously crazy for us and thus, I usually plan to serve dinner out of the crock pot on this mid-week hump day. I've tried, succeeded, and failed with many a crock pot recipe over the years and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the results of this one. Even better, it wasn't too spicy for my preschooler!

Crock Pot Chicken Curry

Dump in the Crock Pot:
-1/3 c. tomato paste
-4 cloves of garlic, chopped*
-2 Tbsp curry powder
-1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger*
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 onion, chopped

-Lay chicken seasoned with salt and pepper down on top of the mixture. The recipe called for boneless, skinless thighs, but I used breasts. I put them in whole to cook and they fell apart into shredded chicken upon completion.

-Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Finishing Touches:
-Just before serving, mix 1/2 c. Greek yogurt into the crock pot. (This gives the mixture an awesome creamy texture.)
-Serve over rice or quinoa and top with chopped green onions.

Yum!

*I've found a great product in my grocer's frozen section that has saved me so much time, money, and effort - Dorot Frozen Garlic and Herbs! I have found several options available at Trader Joes and at Target. It is super simple, just pop out the amount you need/want and in a few seconds, it's soft enough to squish up and mix into your creation. It's especially refreshing this time of year when fresh products are expensive and hard to come by. For tonight's dinner, I used the garlic and ginger varieties.

Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Garlic

This one is for all of you out there gun shy about roasting a whole chicken, I'm here to tell you, it's not that hard!! This is a super easy and flavorful variation. We ate it straight up tonight and if you check back later this week, you'll see the plans I have for the leftovers :)


Roasted Whole Chicken

To start:
-Preheat your oven to 325.
-Make sure your chicken is thawed and any innards have been removed.
-Warm up 1 Tbsp of olive or coconut oil in a pan on the stove. Place the chicken breast side down in the pan and sear it - about 5 minutes. DO NOT move the chicken during these few minutes.
-Transfer the whole chicken to a roasting pan.
-Drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper over the chicken.
-Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons over the chicken and stuff the rest of the lemon inside the chicken.

To Roast:
-Cover with foil (or lid if you're using a dutch oven) and roast at 325 for 30 minutes.
-After 30 minutes, add several unpeeled cloves of garlic (and some rosemary if you'd like) around the chicken in the pan. Cover again, and roast at 325 for another 30 minutes.
-Then uncover, bump up your oven temp to 375, and roast for an additional 25 minutes or until the juices run clear when pierced with a fork.

To Serve:
-Cut the chicken from the bone and serve alongside the garlic cloves.
-The garlic cloves will "pop" out of their skins with slight pressure and are delicious eaten alone or with a bite of the chicken.
-I included a green vegetable and crusty bread with our meal.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

After a 3-day hiatus from my kitchen, I am back at it in full force today! My preschool-aged daughter and I love nothing more than to do some baking on these long winter days. Today, we tackled a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Everyone in this household has a pretty strong sweet tooth and I don't believe in the deprivation of all sugar all the time. However, I do work hard to try and get some nutritional value into the sweet treats we have lying around. The recipe I followed today is from Jessica Sienfeld's new Double Delicious Cookbook, which I highly recommend. I'm not going to post the exact recipe here since her book is relatively new and available for sale or from your local library, but you can find similar one's online, like this one from Food.com.

These cookies don't betray the sweet craving you might be having, but because there are chickpeas, whole grain flour, and unsweetened applesauce added in, you can be sure you're getting a hint of nutrition AND they are so much more satisfying than traditional cookie recipes made only of refined sugars and flours.

Stay tuned... I'm headed into the kitchen to try a new roasted chicken recipe tonight!