Roast chicken and veggies

12-3-14

Roast chicken and veggies.

This was a very simple and easy dish to make. Doesn't take long to prep and best of all, it only uses 2 pans! 

Other than the green onions and tomatoes all of the veggies were from my Backyard Produce box, the potatoes were russet.

3-4 chicken legs
3-4 chicken thighs
4 large potatoes, sliced
8 baby carrots, sliced
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper, diced
3 green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and diced or grated
1 cup red wine
2 cups chicken stock
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
poultry seasoning to taste

Place chicken into large skillet, coat with olive oil, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Brown both sides and remove from skillet. 

In oven safe stoneware or dutch oven, place veggies on bottom. 

Add wine and chicken stock, garlic, salt and pepper. Place chicken on top, pour juices from skillet over top, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and serve!

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Steak Fajitas

11-19-14

Steak Fajitas

2 pounds steak, grilled with dry rub and sliced thin 
2 avocado, diced
2 ears of corn, roasted and removed from cob
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cups cooked white rice
1 15 oz can Western style beans
1 4.5 oz can chopped green chilis
lime, cut into eight pieces, few for salsa, use rest at table 
shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese mix
sour cream
flour tortillas (any size you like)

Dry Rub:
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine and mix well in small bowl. (I store the extra dry rub in a spice jar, this makes enough to use 3-4 times)

Coat both sides of steak with rub and cook on indoor grill to medium rare. Let rest about ten minutes and then slice thin.


Salsa:
Roast corn on indoor grill with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Remove from cob.

Mix corn, avocado, tomato and onion in one bowl. Drizzle with lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. 

Rice:
Heat beans and add to rice and chilis, mix well. 

Layer tortillas with rice mixture, salsa, steak, sour cream, cheese and lime juice, roll up and enjoy! 

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Pasta with veggie sauce

11-10-14

Pasta with veggie sauce

Wonderful box with great veggies from Backyard Produce this week. One of which was Turnip Greens. Had some red pepper and onion too and I had some tomato that needed to get used so came up with this sauce that I poured over spaghetti noodles. Yum! 

1 bunch of turnip greens, cleaned, stripped from stalk and chopped 
2 carrots or 6 baby carrots, grated
4 cloves of garlic, grated
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 cup white wine (or veggie stock)
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian herbs
salt and pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

1 box spaghetti, cooked and drained, place in serving bowl don't forget to salt water!

In large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Grate in garlic and stir until garlic starts to brown. Add in carrots, pepper and onion. Let cook for about 5 minutes, stir often, until onion starts to turn clear. Add tomato and cook another few minutes. Add herbs and white wine and simmer for about 15 minutes. Pour in the tomato sauce and bring back to a simmer then add greens and cook until they wilt down, about 5-7 minutes. 

Pour sauce over top of noodles and stir until all noodles are coated. Sprinkle cheese on top, stir to melt in and serve.

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Patty Melt

11-10-14

Patty Melt

1 pound ground meat

1 onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 tomato, sliced

8 slices Swiss cheese

1-2 tablespoons brown spicy mustard

1-2 tablespoons Worcestershiresauce

1 teaspoon parsley

1 tablespoon olive oil

mayo

8 slices bread, toasted

salt and pepper

Mix ground meat, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, salt and pepper together. Divide into four equal parts and form patties. Cook patties on indoor grill 4-5 minutes per side. 

In medium skillet heat olive oil over medium heat, add onions and peppers and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Set aside.

Toast bread on both sides. Layer mayo, one slice cheese, patty, 1/4 of pepper and onion mixture, tomato, one slice cheese, mayo, bread. Repeat until you have made four sandwiches. 

Place onto grill until cheese starts to melt, turn over and heat on other side. I cut sandwiches in half on the diagonal. 

Serve with fries or chips. 

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Mustard Green and White Bean Soup

11-1-14

Backyard Produce delivered a new to me veggie in the form of mustard greens. Spent a few days researching how to clean, cook and cut them. I looked at several recipes and came up with this soup which was delicious.

The mustard greens are similar to kale. Be sure to rinse them well, very gritty! I stripped the leaves off the stalks and chopped them fairly small.

Mustard Green and White Bean Soup

1 bunch mustard greens
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of diced ham (I buy boiled ham from the deli, have them thick slice it, then dice and freeze in pint bags)
2 15.5 ounce cans white beans
1 28 ounce can whole peeled plum tomatoes
2 cans chicken broth
1 teaspoon parsley
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flake
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese mix

In bottom of soup pot heat olive oil on medium low. Grate in garlic and add onions. Let soften a bit and then add in greens and let them wilt stirring often. 

Once greens have wilted add 1 and 1/2 cans of the chicken broth, 1 can of beans, parsley, salt, pepper, red pepper flake and the ham. Bring to boil, stir occasionally and let simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer another 10 minutes.

In food processor, mix rest of chicken broth and other can of beans. Add to soup, mixing well. Let simmer 5 more minutes, remove from heat and add shredded cheese to top. Stir slightly to help cheese to melt.

Serve with Italian bread and butter

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Apple Crisp

11-1-14

Apple Crisp

This recipe I have had for over thirty years. It is one of the first recipes that my Mom shared with me when I was first married. I made a few tweaks and can honestly say this is always a hit! We love it warm with ice cream on top. Enjoy!

6-8 apples, cored, sliced into wedges, any variety of apple!
1 stick margarine or butter
3/4-1 cup sugar, we prefer tart so I use less sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup water
cinnamon, to taste, 
nutmeg, to taste
lemon juice, sprinkle right out of container

My new toy for making perfect apple slices

Pan size you use depends on how many apples you use. Less apples, use 8x8 square, more apples use 13x9 pan.

Place apples in pan and sprinkle them with cinnamon and nutmeg, stir around until all apples are coated. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Add water.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar, add in flour and stir until blended. Spread this mixture over top of apples. Sprinkle a bit more cinnamon and nutmeg on top.

Bake at 350 for one hour. Oozy gooey goodness!

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Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salsa

10-24-14

Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salsa

This gorgeous box arrived from Backyard Produce and I needed a side for a party on Saturday. This salsa instantly came to mind! It is always a huge hit and easy to make!

1 large red onion, diced
1 large bell pepper, diced
2 ears corn, roasted, then kernels removed from cob
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can rotel, drained 
for those that like some spice, add in diced jalapeno pepper

for dressing:
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 tablespoon red cider vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
juice of half fresh lime 
your choice, chopped cilantro or chopped parsley or neither!

(If you don't want to make dressing, use a few tablespoons of robust Italian salad dressing)!

I use an indoor grill, with little olive oil, salt and pepper

Mix all veggies in bowl, add black beans and can of rotel 

In small mixing cup or bowl make dressing and whisk together. Drizzle over veggies and toss until all are covered. If too much liquid in bowl, just drain some off, as veggies sit, creates more "juice"!

Serve with your choice of tortilla chips.

Hint: leftovers are great mixed into scrambled eggs for an instant huevos rancheros! Eat plain or wrapped in a tortilla! 

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Loaded egg scramble

10-23-14

Loaded egg scramble, this is a family favorite!

8 eggs, I use 1-2 per person (adjust as needed)
link or roll sausage, for this batch I used links
bacon*
1 large potato, diced
onion, diced (I have also used green onion)
green pepper, diced
mushrooms, sliced
bok choi, sliced (just happened to have it so threw it in)
feel free to add or omit any veggie to fit your taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter or margarine (if desire for eggs)
2 tablespoons of cold milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheese, any flavor you like

*My bacon tip:
I cut packages of bacon into thirds and freeze them. When I need them for cooking, they cook quickly and easily in small fry pan and don't need to worry about long strips, the whole third fits in pan at once! When done, drain and pat dry then add to recipe. If prefer to crumble, put in paper towel and crumble away! One third is equal to about 6-8 slices.

Bok choi, Backyard Produce rocks!

In large skillet, heat olive oil on medium and add in potato. Cook about ten minutes, stirring often until potato starts to brown. Add onions, peppers and any other veggies and cook until tender (depending on veggies 5-7 minutes).

In smaller skillet, cook sausage, if roll, scramble it. If links, cook then slice to desired size, I usually halve or third them.
Drain and pat dry and add to veggie mix.

After cook sausage, drain grease and use same pan for the bacon. Once bacon is desired level of crispy, drain and pat dry. Add to veggie mix.

Break eggs into large bowl and whisk with cold milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Depending on your preference, can scramble eggs in bacon grease or use a fresh pan with butter or margarine. Once eggs are scrambled to your liking add them to veggies/meat mix and stir well. Top with shredded cheese and stir to melt. I have found that colby jack mix or sharp cheddar are good ones! 

Serves 4 at my house!

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Pork Chops smothered with onions, peppers, and squash.

10-22-14

Smothered Pork Chops

4 pork chops (I used boneless)
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 summer squash, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced 
salt and pepper to taste

Mix worcestershire sauce, teriyaki sauce and salt and pepper in shallow baking dish. Thoroughly coat pork chops. Cover and leave in fridge about thirty minutes to marinate.

Place baking dish in 375 degree oven for about twenty minutes, depending on thickness of chops may need to adjust baking time. For thicker chops add time, for thinner chops reduce time. I usually check temp with thermometer in center of chop. 140 to 150 degrees is perfect for us.

In large skillet, heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat for minute or two then add in onion and bell pepper. Cook for several minutes until onion turns clear. Add in zucchini and squash and cook another five minutes or so until start to soften. Reduce to low until ready to serve. I like to take some of the pork chop pan gravy and add to veggies. Stir and serve on top of chops. 

Depending on size of chops, serves 2-4.

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Roast Beef & Potatoes, Quinoa w/avocado & pomegranate, and Soy Sesame Green Beans, the next day- Salad!

10-22-14

Another gorgeous box from Backyard Produce and Joe was working all weekend so spent Sunday researching recipes for pomegranate. Liked the slaw but wanted to do something different with this one. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I had an entire meal planned out. Made this Monday and sent half home for my daughter's family, they gave it two thumbs up!

Menu is:
Roast beef with garlic
Roasted red and Yukon potatoes with sage
Quinoa with avocado and pomegranate seeds
Green beans with garlic, sesame and soy sauce

I'll set this up so that each recipe may be printed out alone!

Roast beef and potatoes

2-3 pound roast
1 pound red potatoes
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes
6 cloves of garlic
2 cups beef stock
big handful of fresh sage
Kosher salt
coarse ground black pepper

Peel garlic. Cut slits into top of roast (to make pockets) and insert whole piece of garlic in. Rub all sides of roast with salt and pepper.

Scrub potatoes and cut into quarters. Put in bottom of roasting pan. Chop up sage leaves and sprinkle over top of potatoes along with salt and pepper. 

Put rack in and place roast on the rack. Pour beef stock over roast and potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees, for medium rare, about 20 minutes per pound. 

After cooking, take out of oven and wait about ten minutes before slicing roast. Remember to slice against grain of the meat! I like to slice on a plate so can add juices back to pan for gravy. 

Put potatoes in a bowl and gravy in a separate container to keep potatoes crisp!

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Quinoa with avocado and pomegranate seeds 

I found many recipes that were similar using all types of grains. I had a box of quinoa with roasted red peppers so chose it as my grain. 

1 box grain cooked according to package directions
2 avocados, diced
1 pomegranate cleaned, use seeds only
1 lemon, for juice only (or couple teaspoons of lemon juice)
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper 

Cook grain ahead of time so can cool off. 

Best directions I found to clean pomegranate

Add avocado and pomegranate seeds to grain.

Drizzle with lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. (lemon juice keeps avocado from turning brown)

Serve as is.

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Green beans with garlic, sesame and soy sauce

Tip, straight from all the food channels I watch for the green beans. 

Wash all of the green beans and trim the ends. I like to cut them into inch size pieces, but that is personal preference. The trick is to keep them bright green. Boil a pot of salted water, throw the green beans in, cook for about three minutes, then put them into a bowl of ice and water. I scoop them out with a slotted spoon to avoid splashing boiling water in sink.

Ice water stops them from cooking too much, they'll soften the rest of the way in the recipe! I did these on Sunday so they'd be ready for Monday and stored them in an airtight container in the fridge. Be sure to drain out all of the water before you put them in fridge!

2 pounds green beans

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

salt and pepper

In fairly good size skillet, heat canola oil on medium heat, add in butter and then garlic. Stir and let start to brown, just a few minutes. Add in soy sauce and sesame seeds, mix well and add in green beans. Let green beans heat through. Be sure to stir enough to coat all of the green beans with the sauce. Add pepper and salt to taste. Remember that soy sauce is already salty and beans were cooked in salt water so taste before adding more salt! The longer you cook the softer the green beans will become. We prefer them a bit crunch so only heat through and then serve.

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Next Day Salad 

1 bunch whatever lettuce you have

1 tomato, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 yellow onion, diced (or part of one, those last ones were huge)

radishes, diced

leftover roast, diced

leftover green beans

leftover quinoa

Thoroughly wash and drain lettuce. Be sure to separate leaves and get out all of the grit!

Rough chop lettuce and add in all vegges except tomatoes, and the leftovers. I prefer to put tomato in a separate bowl and add to each salad as serve.

At table, I have dried cranberries, raisins, walnuts, and croutons as well as choices of dressing. We tend to prefer either robust Italian or a berry vinaigrette. The great thing about salad is you can pretty much add any veggie or fruit you like, great way to use the leftovers and tastes completely different! 

Now you can print the recipes (I hope)

10-16-14

If I did this right, every recipe posted now has a Print Recipe button at the bottom of the page. This should take you to the printable version. Whether it does or not depends on whether I did it right or not. Hopefully, I did. Please, please someone let me know so if it doesn't work I can fix it! I wouldn't be adverse to hearing that it worked either! 

I would like to thank a fellow blogger who posted the remarkably easy directions on how to make the recipes printable. Let's hope that I followed them correctly.

Her site 
Confessions of an Overworked Mom

Jalapeno poppers

10-15-14

Forgot to put the ricotta cheese in the picture, sorry!

Received two bags full of these gorgeous jalapeno peppers from Backyard Produce and figured I needed to do something with the majority of them all at once. Decided to do some research on poppers and was amazed at the variety of recipes that I found. Decided to go with the following cheese sauce combo for the stuffing and they were quite tasty. Warning, even with the ribs and seeds removed, they are not for the faint at heart!

16 medium jalapeno peppers
1/2 bar of cream cheese
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 small onion, grated
1 teaspoon dried cilantro (or parsley)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Wash and dry peppers. Cut layer off of pepper to create opening to stuff them. I set them on cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (shiny side down) and figured out which way they lay flat without rolling and cut accordingly! I scooped out all of the ribs and seeds. I used an ice tea spoon to scoop with, fits in perfectly! Saved pieces that I cut off of to use in chili or salsa!

Note to self: don't rub your eyes when you are working with jalapeno peppers. When you are done making the poppers, wash hands with plenty of soap and water! Hands will tingle for awhile!

In bowl, I mixed all of the cheeses until creamy, then added in grated onion and cilantro. I used a teaspoon to fill peppers and that worked fine. Have to play with filling them, too much or too high and they roll on their sides. 

Baked on center rack for 15 minutes, cheese was nice and bubbly and just turning brown. 

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Sesame Ginger Chicken with zucchini, tomato, green onion and couscous

10-14-14

Chicken:
2 small boneless chicken breasts or 1 large one butterflied
1/2 cup sesame ginger marinade  
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
coarse ground black pepper
kosher salt

Veggies:
2 zucchini, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
4 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1 box Parmesan Couscous, cooked according to directions

Cover bottom of small skillet with marinade and add chicken breast. Cook over medium heat. Sprinkle with half of garlic salt, cumin, black pepper and kosher salt and cook for five minutes. Turn over and sprinkle with rest of spices and finish cooking another five minutes. Turn heat off and let rest in pan for at least five minutes before slicing. Save marinade and pan juices.

Cook veggies in a larger skillet. Coat bottom with olive oil and mix around to coat all the veggies. Cook over medium heat for five minutes, stir and "flip" zucchini slices and cook another five minutes or so. 

Place chicken slices on top of veggies. Drizzle remaining marinade from pan over top.

Serve over couscous. 

Serves 2

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Roasted Veggies with marinade and roast

10-13-14

This gorgeous pan of vegetables was inspired by this great box from Backyard Produce:

I wasn't sure what to do with the butternut squash and started researching recipes. Played around with several of them and came up with another of my famous mish mashes! We have made this several times now and have used it with both pork and pot roasts. Tastes great with both! 

Sauce:  (use as marinade for roast, then add to veggies)
3/4 cup of stock, depending on roast use veggie or beef
1/2 cup wine, for pork, I use white and for beef, red (if you don't want to use wine, use more stock)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup Teriyaki sauce
Fresh and/or dried herbs of your choice*
salt and ground black pepper to taste
For zing add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flake!

*I like to use parsley, sage, basil and rosemary. I grow these so I always have these fresh on hand. I take several leaves and just fine chop and stir in sauce. If you don't have access to fresh use about a half teaspoon dried of each. It is okay to use fresh and dried together!

Mix liquids with a whisk and then stir in seasonings.

Make the sauce and use it to marinate roast (in refrigerator) for about 30 minutes while preparing vegetables. 

I like to use a rack in my roasting pan and I always put the veggies in first, then add liquid and mix before putting the rack and roast in.

Vegetables:1 butternut squash, cut into cubes
1 red pepper, diced
1 pound mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 white or yellow onion, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 pound red potatoes, washed and chopped
4 tomatoes, each cut into about 8 pieces
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin or diced

Put all of the veggies in the roast pan and cover with sauce!

Place rack back in pan over top of veggies and add roast. Baste with sauce and season roast with salt and pepper.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Every 30 minutes, baste roast.

Use a two to three pound roast to serve four people.

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Kale, White Beans, Garlic and Couscous

10-13-14

Serve with any protein, here I have marinated pork chops.

This is a quick and easy side dish that works with any variety of kale. Be sure you strip out all of the stalks and wash all of the dirt and grit off of the kale!

Kale, white beans, garlic and couscous:
1 box Couscous, cooked according to package directions, I use garlic and olive oil flavor
1 can cannellini beans, drain and rinse
1 bunch kale, stripped from stalks, rinsed, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
fresh shredded Parmesan cheese

In medium sauce pan, cook couscous according to package directions. Cover and set aside.

Heat olive oil on medium in fry pan. 

Add garlic, beans and kale and cook until the kale wilts. Takes about ten minutes. Stir often.

Stir kale mixture into couscous. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, add shredded Parmesan cheese to top.

Serves 4.

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