Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatos

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I can't. This recipe was originally on the Fuller Brush corporate blog, it is so good I'm posting it here!

Makes 6 servings


Ingredients:
2 pounds red potatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
1  teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1.5 tablespoons minced garlic (0r 4 cloves)
1.5 teaspoons fresh parsley
1.5 teaspoons fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1.5 tablespoons parmesan cheese


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the potatoes in halves or quarters (try to make evenly sized pieces). Place the potatoes in the stoneware dish and mix in the olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, parmesan and garlic. Toss until the potatoes are evenly coated and well mixed. Place your stoneware dish in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until browned. Toss once or twice during the baking process. If the potatoes aren't browned enough at the 30 minute mark, remove the lid and bake uncovered. Remove the potatoes from the oven and garnish with parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little extra parmesan if desired.

Oven Roasted Broccoli Florets with Cheese

Along with the Chicken in Honey Mustard Yogurt Sauce I made today, I had some broccoli and needed to decide how to cook it.  Since I was planning on cooking the chicken in the oven, I wanted something easy, that would also cook in the oven.

After perusing various recipes on the internet, I had an idea of how long to cook the broccoli, but no recipe that looked like anything I would enjoy. So I made my own.  It came out great, especially when some of the sauce from the yogurt chicken was drizzled over it. It is real simple too!

Rinse the broccoli florets in a colander and allow to drain.  Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with good quality Olive Oil.  Toss florets to coat with Olive Oil.  Spread single thickness on a baking sheet that was coated with Olive Oil.  Salt & pepper to taste.  Lightly shake garlic and onion powder on the florets.

Bake for 30 mins at 375*F.

Transfer back to the bowl and place a cup of shredded cheese on the top.  Mix well.  Allow to sit for a few minutes to allow the cheese to melt.

Enjoy! 

Free Range Chicken in Honey Mustard Yogurt Sauce

Updated 3/22/2014

I'm still working on my transition away from anything containing the items to which I tested allergic, here is a recipe I came up with. I used free range chicken breasts, if you do not have allergies you could use any kind of fresh chicken.

The idea for this came recently on a visit with some friends from India. She made chicken with a yogurt/turmeric sauce that was delicious. I like honey mustard and thought I might be able to do something along those lines. I really need to start taking photos. I usually want to wait to make sure I got it right before taking pictures, I think I got this right and while I have a full tummy, I have no photos of what I filled it with. Next time I make this I'll take photos and insert them in this post.

Here's the recipe:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 8oz cup of plain or honey yogurt
2 teaspoons Honey (if using plain yogurt increase to 1 tablespoon)
1/2 heaping teaspoon mustard
1/2 level teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Salt & Pepper

Wash the chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towels. Place them in a glass baking dish (one that has a cover, or you can use foil) and lightly salt & pepper.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. Pour over the chicken breasts and cover completely. Flip the breasts a couple times to get them covered all around.

Note: I mixed this up around 10 in the morning and let it marinate in the fridge until 4 PM.  I then removed it and let it come to room temp for 90 mins before cooking.  Make sure your glass dish is at room temp before placing in the oven! If you use a metal baking dish you should still allow it to come to room temp for more tender chicken, but if it's a little cold you don't have to worry.

Cover with oven safe lid or foil and cook for 45 minutes or until done. If you use smaller breasts decrease the cooking time accordingly.

To serve, place the chicken breasts on a plate, pour a small amount of the sauce over them. Place the remaining sauce in a gravy boat. Serve with rice, drizzling more sauce on the chicken as needed and over the rice.

Enjoy!

A Quick and Easy Meal...That Tasted Good!

Today was a busy day.  I had a couple boneless and skinless chicken breasts marinating in teriyaki to cook this evening.  To be honest, I hadn't decided what to cook with them, thinking I would have time to decide that later. 

WRONG! 

The day was so busy it was time to cook the chicken and I still had no clue what I was going to fix with them. I generally keep a few boxes and bags of various side dishes for such situations.

I chose a box of Rice-A-Roni Fried Rice mix.  My initial plan was just to make it as a side dish.  However, they had a "Chicken Fried Rice" recipe on the box, which basically was adding diced chicken and eggs, along with cutting back the water used. 

I tweaked the recipe as below and I hope you like the idea enough to give it a try!

1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts

Teriyaki Marinade

1 Box Rice-A-Roni Fried Rice Flavor

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

1/2 cup diced onion

I clove garlic, diced

1-1/2 cups water

Marinate the chicken.  If you use my homemade marinade give it at least a few hours, if you use a store bought marinade follow the instructions.

After marinating, cut the chicken into 1" pieces

Brown the rice/vermicelli mixture per direcection on the box, adding the bell pepper and onion

Add the garlic when the other is just about done browning

Push the mixture to one side of the pan and add the chicken

Brown the chicken, stirring to allow all sides to brown

Once chicken has browned, mix it with the rice & veggie mixture

Add the water and seasoning packet 

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally

Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let cook for 15-20 mins.

Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Basic Beef Stew

It amazes me how many people I've talked with that love beef stew but don't have the slightest idea of how to make it.  I've had folks say they looked up directions but it looked too complicated.

"Dredge in flour? Brown in oil?  How do I do that?"

I am here to the rescue with a basic recipe that requires no dredging, digging, oiling, browning or even stirring (if you don't want to stir it, that is).

Basic items:

1 to 1.5 pounds beef stew meat
1# package of baby carrots
3-4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into eighths
1 medium onion chopped (or 1 cup of frozen chopped onions)
1 clove of garlic chopped (or 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic from the jar)
Beef stock (about 2 quarts)
Salt
Pepper

Optional items:
1/2 cup or so of diced bell peppers (any color)
1 - 8oz can of corn, drained
1 - 15oz can of black beans, undrained

Take the beef out of the package and rinse it off, place it in a 6 quart Dutch Oven and add beef stock to cover.  Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Let it simmer for about an hour, a little longer is ok if you're busy.

Then add the baby carrots (after taking them out of the package), potatoes, onion, garlic, a pinch of salt and a couple of ground pepper. Also add the bell peppers if you're using them. Add enough beef stock to cover and return to a boil.  Turn down heat to a simmer again, and let it cook for about an hour, or until the potatoes and carrots are done.

Add the cans of corn and beans at this point, if you are using them, and if needed more beef stock to keep everything covered.

Let it simmer for about 20 minutes and then it is ready to eat!

If you're using a Slow Cooker, it's even easier.  Remove everything from the packages, put it in the slow cooker, pour in enough beef stock to cover everything, put the lid on it and turn the heat on the low setting for 6 - 8 hours.  How hard is that?

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Fall is here.  In my part of CA that means 80*F days and 50*F nights.  LOL!  Believe it or not, we do get fall colors and such, the leaves should start turning any week now.  You know it;s fall when the stores are putting out Christmas items before Halloween and the grocery has displays of pumpkins.

I'm not going to go into cooking your pumpkin so you can use the meat to make bread, but I am going to share a good recipe for pumpkin bread.  This recipe will make one loaf, I know a lot of recipes make 2 (or more) loaves, but why make more then one until you've tried it?  You may want to make adjustments so make it one loaf at a time until the recipe is unique to you and your tastes, then double (or triple or quadruple) it for more loaves at once.

Here we go! You'll need:

1/2 of a 15oz can of Pumpkin (Approx 1 Cup)
2 eggs
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar (a little more is ok to suit your tastes)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice mix

You can add a half teaspoon of salt.  I don't add salt to many things, but you decide for yourself.

First, get your oven preheating to 350*F.  Also get out your loaf pan, either an 8.5 X 4 or 9X5.

Take a large bowl and add the softened butter to it.  A neat trick I got from TheRedheadRiter is to use the paper from the cube of butter to grease the pan.  Rub the paper over the inside of the pan and the butter left on it will grease your loaf pan.  Great tip, Red!

To the  large bowl add the pumpkin, eggs, water and vanilla.  Mix well with your mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda and spice mix. Also the salt, if used.

Use a whisk to mix them until well mixed.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, mixing as you go.

When totally blended, pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for about 60 minutes, until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.

At this point you can sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top if you like.

Let it cool for another 10 to 20 minutes, then slice if you want to try it warm with a little melted butter.

As you can see, I was too anxious and didn't let it cool enough before slicing so it crumbled a bit at the edges.  It still tasted great!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix

Today I'm going to give you an easy way to make your on Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix. I'm going to give you an easy to mix batch that I and my family like.  It's cheaper to mix your own, and you can tailor it to your tastes!
There are several variations of this on the internet, obviously I like mine the best.
On a final note, the next few posts will tell you why I'm posting this today!  ;-)

This is easy to remember, 3-2-2-1-1 and the acronym CANGC. (Cangood).  It deciphers as
3 Parts Cinnamon
2 Parts Allspice
2 Parts Nutmeg
1 Part Ginger
1 Part Cloves

The spices are all ground, of course.

So now you don't have to buy the overpriced pre-mixed little jar in the store, you can make your own with items you probably already have on hand.

If you're itching to try it out, make up a cake using my Basic Cake Recipe and add 2 tablespoons of the Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix.  :-)

Southwestern Tater Tot Casserole

It feels somewhat strange to post a recipe like this after one about the veggies, but comfort food has a place too!  Also, this is a great recipe for tailgating, picnics, anytime you're on the go.  Make it up ahead and heat it at your destination.  All together it takes about 45 - 50 minutes.

You need:

1# Ground Beef
16oz jar of  Salsa
14oz bag of Southwestern Veggie Blend
8oz  Velveeta Cheese cut in small pieces
30oz bag of tater Tots
2 medium size flour tortillas

Grease two 8" square pans with butter
Arrange tortillas on bottom of pan and about 1 inch up the sides
(Cut to fit)
Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, drain off the fat
Add the salsa and the veggies, mix well
Place the Velveeta on the top of the meat mixture
As the mixture warms, stir in the cheese
Stir often until the cheese is totally melted and mixed in
Pour over tortillas into the pans and level with spatula
Arrange tater tots 1 deep over top of mixture
Cook in 350*F oven for 30 mins
Let set for 10 mins before serving

This is a recipe that is great for tailoring to how you like it.
Line the bottom with tortilla strips instead of tortillas
Use turkey or pork instead of beef
Choose your poison of salsa: mild, medium, hot or "OH NO!" LOL
Use whichever veggies (or none) that you like
EXPERIMENT!  HAVE FUN!

Redneck Turtle Burgers

I received an email from a friend with a recipe (with pictures) for "Redneck Turtle Burgers".  Seeing that in the subject line made me think it was a joke, but when I read it and saw the pics I knew it was serious.

The email had been forwarded, and like a responsible person, the previous sender(s) had been deleted. This created a problem as I wanted to make sure to give proper attribution.  Google to the rescue! By googling "turtle burger" I found what I believe to be the original blog post at bluegrassbulletin.com!

I haven't tried these, but they are on my "to do" list!

So for your enjoyment, here's the recipe (recipe and images Copyright Marcus Carey 2011)

Handmade ground beef patties, topped with sharp cheddar cheese, wrapped in a bacon weave, then the next step, add hotdogs as the heads, legs with slits for toes and tail.

Next step.  Place on an oven rack, covered loosely with foil and baked for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.  A little crispy, not too crunchy...just how a turtle should be, no?