Beans and Rice

Recipe

1 Tblsp olive oil

14 oz Kidney beans

one onion, chopped

green pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 cups of rice, cooked

Salt and Pepper

Start cooking the rice in a rice cooker.  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic and salt and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the kidney beans (drained and rinsed).  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes until the rice is done.

Serve over rice.  Add salt and pepper as needed.

Our Review

The kids liked it.  We all had seconds.  It wasn't amazing, but it was eat-able :)

Savory Mushroom and Herb Steel Cut Oat Risotto

Recipe

5.5c vegetable stock (we used chicken)

2 tbsp butter

1 leek, halfed and sliced thin

1/2 tsp kosher salt (we used pink Himilayan)

12 oz mushrooms (8oz white and 4 oz of interesting kinds)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1tsp fresh thyme leaves (we used ground)

1 tsp ground dried sage

1/4 c dry white wine (we used more broth)

1c steel cut oats

1/4c grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium saucepan with a lid, heat stock over medium heat and then reduce to low and keep covered.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add leek and salt, cook 2 minutes stirring often.  Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, and sage, cook 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add 1/4c broth and cook 1 minute.

Reduce heat to medium, add oatmeal, cook 1 minute stirring constantly.  Add 2 ladles of hot stock, cook until most of the liquid is absorbed by oats.  Continue adding a scoop of broth, and stirring often until it is absorbed.  It should take about 25 minutes and you can taste the oats to make sure they are tender.

When finished, stir in the cheese and serve.

Our Review

Although the youngest hates mushrooms, he did manage to eat this and actually ate more because he was hungry.  It was fairly good.

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Baked Scallops

Recipe

4 tablespoons butter, melted

 1 1/2 pounds bay scallops, rinsed and drained

 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

 1 teaspoon onion powder

 1 teaspoon garlic powder

 1/2 teaspoon paprika

 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

 3 cloves garlic, minced

 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Pour melted butter into a 2 quart casserole dish. Spread scallops evenly inside the dish. We added some shrimp that we also had available.  Combine the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, parsley, minced garlic and Parmesan cheese in a bowl and then sprinkle it all over the scallops.

Bake in pre-heated oven until scallops are firm, about 20 minutes.

Our Review

We liked this.  It probably could have had more flavor in the topping, but it wasn't bad.

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Chicken Marengo

Recipe

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in 2" pieces

1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped

1 can (14oz) Italian tomatoes or diced tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 c sliced black olives

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 c white wine

1 c chicken broth

2 tsp sriracha or hot sauce (optional)

Mix flour and salt and pepper in a shallow dish and coat chicken with it.  Heat up the oil in pan and then cook chicken until brown on all sides.  Remove from pan and keep warm.

Add onion to the pan and cook until soft.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Add wine and deglaze the pan.  Add tomatoes, broth, seasonings, and olives.  Bring to a boil and then add chicken.  Cook for 15 minutes until cooked through.  

Our Review

This was pretty good and we all enjoyed it.  Served with mashed potatoes.

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Slow Cooker Ground Beef Lasagna Soup

Review

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

10 3/4 oz. tomato soup, canned, condensed

14.5 oz. tomatoes, canned, petite diced

15 oz. tomato sauce, canned

2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 beef bouillon cubes

4 c. water

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/2 tsp. basil

1 tsp. parsley

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

8 oz. Ricotta Cheese

8 lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces - UNCOOKED

12 oz. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Combine all ingredients except for ground beef and mozzarella and ricotta cheeses in the crock pot.  

Recipe said to add RAW ground beef over top, however I added cooked ground beef.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or high for 4-5 hours).  Half an hour before done, stir in the ricotta cheese.  Serve with the mozzarella cheese on top.

Our Review

This was pretty good.

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Tofurky Tacos and Burritos

Recipe

We used two packs of the ground beef Tofurky, heated in a pan with diced onions and added taco seasoning.  That was it.  We added all of the toppings for tacos and burritos and ate.

Our Review

Two guests didn't even know that this was vegetarian and not real ground beef!  The boys ate it and never noticed a difference and everyone ate more than one taco or burrito, so I think it was a success.

Pork Chops with Ginger Pear Sauce

Recipe

4 pork chops

salt

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

1/3c minced shallots

2 Tbsp minced ginger (we used fresh)

1 large pear, peeled and diced

1.5c chicken stock

3 Tbsp cider vinegar

2 Tbsp honey

1/4 to 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary (we used dry)

fresh ground pepper

Salt the pork chops and let them sit at room temperature while preparing the other ingredients.  Heat the oil in a pan until shimmering.  Add the pork chops to the pan, without crowding, searing one side for 3-5 minutes and the other side for 2-3 minutes.  Then lower the heat and cook for about 15 minutes until cooked through.  Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm.

Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the oil from the pan.  Add the butter, shallots, and ginger and toss to combine.  Cook for 1 minute, then add the chopped pear and toss to combine.  Cook for 1 minute and then add the chicken stock, vinegar and honey.  Bring to a rolling boil and continue boiling until the liquid is reduced by 2/3, about 4-6 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the rosemary and pepper.  Add salt to taste and serve with the pork chops.

Our Review

Yummy!  We loved this one too.   We had issues with the pear mixture not reducing after about 8 minutes and we were hungry so we just ate it.  Still tasted great.  

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Grilled Marinated Salmon

Recipe

1/4c soy sauce

1/4c rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 pounds salmon

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Put salmon in a ziplock bag or a tupperware, pour marinade over and marinate overnight.

Cook over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes.

Our Review

This was amazing.  It may have been the fact that we used a wild fresh Alaskan Salmon that we ordered from a farm or it may have been the marinade itself.  In any case, it was amazing.

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Homemade Hot Pockets

Recipe

Pizza crust dough 

Ham

Cheese

Pepperoni

Pizza sauce

Break off a ball of pizza dough about 2 inches in diameter.  Roll out pizza dough, fill with meat and cheese. Fold over, pinch sides to seal.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  

To freeze, let them cool completely and then freeze.  Reheat at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Our Review

I made the pizza dough from scratch and then made ham and cheese versions as well as pizza sauce, pepperoni, and cheese versions.  While they are good, they were still too dry.  The next time I make these, I will add more sauce to the pizza versions, perhaps 3-5 tablespoons, and I will also look at adding something moist to the ham and cheese versions, although I haven't decided what would be the best thing to add.

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Mexican Lasagna

Recipe

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

6 oz tomato paste

1 Tbls chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

dash of ground cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

24 oz tomato sauce

14.5 oz diced tomatoes, drained

15 oz black beans, rinsed and drained

1.5c frozen corn kernels

6 oz chopped olives, canned

9-12 no-boil lasagna noodles

2c shredded mozzarella cheese

1c shredded cheddar cheese

1c sour cream

8oz cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 9x13 pan.

Cook ground beef with the onion, drain the grease.  Add the garlic and tomato paste, stir to combine and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in chili powder, cumin, cayenne, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well.  Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, stir to combine, and then add beans, corn, and olives.  Mix well and heat for about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Spread 1/2 cup of the mix into the bottom of the 9x13 pan.  Layer noodles over the sauce, then spread 1/3 of the mix on top of the noodles.  Dollop 1/3 of the sour cream and 1/3 of the cream cheese across the mix and then sprinkle 1/3 of the cheeses on top.  Repeat the layers two more times until all ingredients are used.

Cover lasagna with foil and bake for 35 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 10-15 more minutes until lasagna is hot and bubbly.

Our Review

This was pretty good, everyone liked it, but I couldn't get past the strange taste of noodles with the mexican ingredients.  I'd like to try it again with a few changes.  Next time I will use tortillas instead of the lasagna noodles.  I think it would also be a good idea to mix the sour cream and cream cheese together so they would be easier to spread around.  We didn't use a lot of cayenne pepper and we didn't have the olives, I think it would be fine with the olives too.

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Lemon Greek Chicken

Ingredients

2 tsp lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 Tbs olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 Tsp oregano

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

6-8 medium red potatoes (the size of a lemon)

1 green pepper, cut into strips

1 red onion, wedged

8 oz mushrooms, cleaned

4 bone in chicken breasts OR 24 oz boneless chicken breasts

Combine the first seven ingredients and set aside.  Spray a 10x13 dish with cooking spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Clean potatoes, cut into fourths, place in pan.  Add bell pepper strips, onion wedges, and mushrooms.

Drizzle half of the seasoning mix over the veggies and toss.  Place chicken on top and drizzle the rest of the seasoning mix.  Brush or rub the mix into the chicken.  Bake until chicken is no longer pink in the center, basting after 15 minutes.  (Bone-in chicken takes 1 hour.)  

Note:  If potatoes aren't done when the chicken is, remove the chicken and cover it with foil.  

Our Review

Another recipe that didn't cook the potatoes all of the way.  I ended up pulling out the chicken with veggies to serve that while the potatoes stayed in the oven.  Overall it was good.  Left overs the next day, not so much.  

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Stuffed Zucchini (Zucchini Boats)

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini

1 lb pound ground beef

1 lb Italian sausage

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

1 can condensed tomato soup (10.75 oz)

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 13 x 9 baking dish.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds, chop and save about 3/4 of the seeds for the stuffing.  (Feed the rest to your chickens).  In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef, sausage, onion, bread crumbs, egg, and zucchini seeds.  Place the mixture equally into all of the zucchini boats.  Mixture should be piled up over the top.  Place boats into the baking dish.

In a bowl, stir together the crushed tomatoes, tomato soup, and water.  Spoon the mixture over the zucchini boats, liberally.  Bake for about 45 minutes.

Our Review

There was a lot of liquid in the tray.  We used a cookie sheet, and it overflowed with the juices.  Besides that, it was pretty good.  I did use all of the zucchini seeds and used 5 zucchini's and there was still a lot of stuffing.  In the future I need to either use far less meat (maybe half a pound of each kind) or do 10 zucchini boats.  I also thought the tomato topping was good, but too washed out so next time I won't add the water.

All in all, we'll have it again.

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Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

Olive Oil

3 cloves of garlic, diced

Salt and pepper

Several leaves of fresh Basil

Half a jar of sun-dried tomatoes (or more)

Pour oil in the pan and heat.  Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and then add it to the pan with the basil and the tomatoes. Cook until chicken is done.  

Our Review

I made this recipe up tonight because I wanted to use the sun dried tomatoes and had some fresh basil.  It tasted great and the kids asked for more.  Definitely making it again.

Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef, cooked

2 cans (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained ****

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (8oz) tomato sauce

2 medium onions, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs chili powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Garnishes (shredded cheese, corn bread, tortilla chips)

Add all of the ingredients, except for the garnishes, to a crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  

***I used almost 3 pounds of ground beef and half way through the cooking time I realized there was way too much beef and not enough beans.  I added a HUGE can of kidney beans and 4 more ounces of tomato sauce because I'd originally opened a 12 ounce can.

Our Review

I'm not sure why I make a face and shy away from making and eating chili.  This is the third time that I have made it, and each time I have eaten it and thought it was pretty darn good.  Apparently I have a mental block.  My only other review is that it definitely needed more beans, even if I hadn't used more beef.

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Easy Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Ingredients

2.5 lbs chicken breasts

1.5 C of salsa

2 limes

2 tbs chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

salt and pepper

Add the chicken, salsa, juice of both limes, and chili powder to the slow cooker.  Place the lime halves in.  (We did not do this.)  Cook on low for 8 hours.  When it is done cooking, pull out and discard the limes, shred the chicken, and add the other seasonings.  Set the cooker to warm and continue cooking 30 more minutes.

I added the seasonings in the first step and did not do the additional 30 minutes on warm.

Our review

This was great as a burrito stuffing with lettuce, salsa, cheese, and guacamole.  I was surprised that the next day it didn't taste as good when it was reheated.  It wasn't bad, but it tasted more bland than the night before.  Perhaps it's because the next day I didn't add guacamole and salsa.

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Philly Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 large sweet onion, sliced

2 green bell peppers, sliced

3 chicken breasts, sliced

2 tbs Dale's Steak Seasoning ***

salt and pepper

sliced Mozzarella cheese

Hoagie rolls

Add the onions, peppers, chicken, steak seasoning, salt, and pepper to a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.  Serve on hoagie rolls with a slice of cheese on top.

*** I could not find this seasoning, and while I was going to look in other stores or create a "copy cat recipe" I ran out of time and ended up adding asian BBQ sauce that I had in the fridge.

Our review

It could be blamed on the seasoning, but I wasn't totally impressed.  It tasted fine, but definitely not like a Philly Chicken sandwich.  In fact, don't those usually have chicken cubed pieces?  Anyway, I would try it again with some tweaks on the seasoning, but I'm not in any rush.

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Cafe Rio's Sweet Pork Barbacoa

Holy cow this was good.

So I was looking online for a recipe like Cafe Rio's Pork Barbacoa because the salad they have is really good, and I found one.  I had to adjust it slightly, really I just had to adjust the measurements and I had to come to terms with using soda since I haven't had soda in over 17 years.  I'd like to try to find a way to do this again without the soda, if that's possible.

Ingredients

2 lbs pork (okay so maybe I used 5ish pounds of Wegmans' bone in pork shoulder blade roast $1.29 a pound)!

2 cans of coke - not diet (okay so maybe I used two bottles)

1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/4 c water

1 four-ounce can diced green chilies 

1 10 or 14 ounce can enchilada sauce (See below)

Okay so this recipe has two steps.  Step one is to marinate the pork.  Mix 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and 1 can of Coke and then marinate it with the pork.  You can marinate it for a few hours or overnight, I did it overnight.  Also, since I used a bottle of Coke I poured in about 2/3 of the bottle.  I put all of this in the crockpot.

Step two is the next day.  Drain the liquid from the crock pot and then pour 1/2 a can of Coke (I did about 1/3 a bottle), water, and garlic salt into the crock pot and cook for 3-4 hours on high.  I did 4 hours and it was fine.  

Pull the pork out and shred the meat.  Again, I cheated and just cut it into chunks.  Empty the crock pot juices and put the pork back in.  In a bowl or blender (I used a blender) mix the other half of the can of Coke (I used 1/3 the bottle), the can of chilies (I used about half a can because I don't like spicy things), 3/4 of the can of enchilada sauce (I used about 3/4 of the 14 ounce can but the original recipe said to use 3/4 of a 14 ounce can - which is about 10 ounces if you get a 10 ounce can), and the last cup of brown sugar.  Pour this mix over the pork and heat it in the crock pot until it is warm.

We made burritos with it (pictured above) and gave some with chips, cheese, and salsa to the neighbor to make nachos.  Next time I'd like to make the salad and I'll be prepared with guacamole.

Our Review

This was good.  The mix in the blender didn't smell anything like what I'd eaten at Cafe Rio so I wasn't very optimistic about it, but once I took the first bite of the meat, I was sold.  It's sweet, and ours really wasn't spicy, probably because I barely used any of the chilies.  We will definitely make this again.

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Mediterranean Salmon

Ingredients

1/2 C olive oil (EVOO)

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

4 cloves garlic, pressed

4 salmon fillets (3 ounces each)

1 Tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro

1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

Mix the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.  In a shallow baking dish, rub the garlic on the salmon.  Then pour the olive oil and vinegar mixture over them, turning to coat.  Season with cilantro, basil, and garlic salt.  Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.

Preheat the broiler.  

Place the salmon about 6 inches from the heat source and broil for 15 minutes, turning once, or until browned on both sides and easily flaked with a fork. Brush occassionally with the sauce from the pan.

Our Review

I used dried cilantro and basil and one large salmon fillet instead of 4 smaller pieces.  This was really good and both boys really liked it (which says a lot since the younger one hasn't been liking salmon lately.)

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Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

Olive Oil

Rosemary

Salt

Pepper

Bone-in Chicken pieces

Toss chicken to coat it with the other ingredients.  Bake it at 450 degrees for 40-50 minutes until cooked thoroughly.  

Our Review

I made this recipe to go along with the Roast Potatoes recipe.  I didn't measure the ingredients.  It tasted pretty good.

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

Ingredients

1/3 C olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/3 C soy sauce

1/4 C honey

1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds flank steak

kosher salt

ground black pepper

Mix the first six ingredients in a small bowl to create the marinade.  Pour the marinade into a dish or a plastic bag with the steak and seal.  Put in the fridge to marinate.

Our Review

This may be the best flank steak that I have ever had.  I marinated it for almost two days and then grilled it on the George Foreman grill because it was raining outside.  It was very good and I will definitely make it again.

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