Southern Green Beans

Ingredients

6 slices of bacon

3 Tsp butter

1 red onion

2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped

8 small new potatoes, diced

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 and 1/2 tsp white balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Cook bacon, and drain on paper towels.

Melt butter in a skillet with a lid over medium-low heat with onion, until onion is translucent.  Stir in the bacon, green beans, potatoes, garlic, and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat until the green beans are tender (about 10 minutes.)  Sprinkle with vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Our Review

I'm not sure why I keep finding recipes that claim potatoes will cook quickly.  I ended up cooking it for over 20 minutes and even then, some potatoes weren't done.  Overall, it was good, it just needs to have much smaller potato pieces or to cook longer so they are finished.

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Roasted Butternut Squash with Rosemary, Pecans, and Gorgonzola

Ingredients

1 butternut squash of about 2.5 pounds (peeled and cubed)

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh rosemary (2 tsp, finely chopped)

Salt

Pepper

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese (or blue cheese)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Toss the squash, oil, rosemary, salt and pepper together.  Grease the baking sheet and then arrange squash in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes.  Turn squash over and then bake for 15 more minutes.

Turn the squash again and spring pecans over the top.  Roast for 10-15 more minutes until the nuts are fragrant and the squash is soft and caramelized.  Put squash into a bowl and toss with the cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.

Our Review

Overall, it was good.  No complaints.

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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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Zucchini, Mushrooms, and Onions Bake

Ingredients

One huge zucchini and one small zucchini

Two good size onions

2 cups of mushrooms

Olive oil

Cheese - Cheddar and Mozzarella 

Basil

Salt and Pepper

Slice all of the vegetables and put them into a baking dish.  Sprinkle olive oil and then sprinkle the seasoning.  Top with cheese.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

Our Review

Okay so this was our recipe.  I had the oldest son look up some ideas on Yummly and he found something along these lines, but we changed things a bit as we were making it.   The directions above are what we did to make the meal.  We did add more oil and cheese as it was cooking.  It definitely smelled mushroom-y but it also tasted pretty good.  The onions could have used more time, but they weren't bad at all.  Final review, we will make this again.

Parmesan Red Potatoes

Ingredients

• 3-4 cup Red potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• ½ cup Parmesan
• 2 tablespoon Fresh chives
• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add in garlic and potatoes and saute until potatoes begin to soften, Sprinkle in cheese and oregano and continue to cook until potatoes begin to brown on both sides. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Our Review

This was pretty bad.  The directions are not complete, the potatoes need to be cooked much longer than the recipe says – BEFORE adding the seasoning.  They were still raw and hard and we tried to put them back in the pan with more oil but the seasoning would just burn… maybe we’ll try again someday – with a lot more time spent letting the potatoes cook.

Baked Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce

Ingredients

1 bunch of fresh asparagus, trimmed

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Arrange the asparagus on a baking sheet.  Coat with cooking spray, season with salt and pepper.  Bake asparagus for 12 minutes, or until tender.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from heat and stir in soy sauce and vinegar.  Pour over the baked asparagus to serve.

Our Review

It was pretty good.

Pat's Mushroom Saute

Ingredients

2 tbsps butter
12 tbsp olive oil
12 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove minced garlic
18 tsp dried oregano
1 lb button mushrooms (sliced)

Melt butter with oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in balsamic vinegar, garlic, oregano, and mushrooms. Saute for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender.

Grilled Asparagus & Feta Salad

Ingredients

• 1 bunch thick asparagus, about 24 spears, ends trimmed
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest, from one lemon
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• Preheat grill to high.  Place asparagus spears in baking dish and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Put asparagus on the grill, making sure spears are perpendicular to grates so they don’t fall through. Set asparagus dish next to grill (do not clean). Cover and cook asparagus for 3-4 minutes, until nicely browned and tender-crisp. Remove asparagus from grill and place back in baking dish. Let cool, then transfer spears to cutting board and cut into 1½” pieces. Place cut asparagus back in dish, then add remaining tablespoon olive oil, feta, lemon zest and lemon juice. Toss gently and season with more salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Serve room temperature or cold.