Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole

1 1/2  brown rice
4 cwater
1 head boccoli cut into florets and stem chopped too
1 can cream mushsoup
1 can cream of chix soup
1/2 c. water
1/2 onion chopped
1 tsp garlic
1 1/4 c water (or one can)
8 oz of shredded cheese, colby jack and cheddar mixed.

Cook brown rice in 4 c water until tender and beginning to split. Saute chopped broccoli and onion in 1tbsp butter and 1/2 c of water until bright green and softened/crisp. add the soups and 1 1/4 c water to a large bowl with the shredded cheeses. Stir to combine. Add the brown rice and the broccoli and onion mix and stir thoroughly. pour into a greased 9x13 dish and back for 30-35 minutes on 350. serves our family with no leftovers, or 7.

Sweet Potato Chili

4 med - small sweet potatoes diced (or two large,about 2 cups)
1 large onion diced
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 cup beef broth
1 cup water
1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
1 small can of chopped green chilies
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1/4 c chopped cilantro
2 tbsp lime juice or the juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (opt.)

In a large pot heat oil and add onions, saute until tender. Add garlic and saute until soft, but not brown. add the chili powder, cumin, pepper, salt and sweet potatoes, stir to combine. Add the cups of water and broth. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the tomato, brown sugar, beans and green chilies and then simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Take off heat, stir in the cilantro and lime juice, serve with tortilla chips and enjoy.

Irish Potatoes

• 2 pounds cabbage, shredded
• 2 cups water
• 4 pounds potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• Salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• Crumbled cooked bacon and minced fresh parsley

• In a large saucepan, bring cabbage and water to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving cooking liquid. Keep cabbage warm.
• Place cooking liquid and potatoes in a large saucepan; add enough additional water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-17 minutes or until tender. Drain and keep warm.
• In a small saucepan, bring milk and onions to a boil; remove from the heat. In a large bowl, mash potatoes. Add milk mixture; beat until blended. Beat in the cabbage, salt and pepper. Drizzle with the melted butter, bacon and parsley. 12-16 servings.

this is either a good side dish or a half of dinner with another meatless side dish like rice! 

Eggplant Parm

1/2 c Italian style bread crumbs (not panko!)
1/4 tsp each pepper and salt
2 tbsp parm
1/4 c mayonaise
1 whole eggplant, one peel strip removed from four sides and then sliced into 1/4 inch slices

preheat oven to 400. Mix together the first 4 ingreds in a shallow bowl. Spread mayo on both sides of each slice of eggplant and then dredge in bread crumb mix. Lay on a non-stick piece of foil on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. serve immediately.

we had this with pasta and marinara. Yummy veg only dinner! serves 4-6.

Pasta with Canellini Beans

2 cans canellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
2 tbsp wozzy sauce
3/4 red bell pepper chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2-3 stalks celery with leaves, super thinly sliced
1 lb ditalini pasta
3/4 c red cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Parmesan Cheese

Heat oil over med/high heat. Add sliced garlic and saute until golden (lightly golden). Add red pepper, saute one minutes, add celery saute 2 minutes more, add oregano and canellini beans, saute 5-7 minutes. Add crushed red peper, tomato sauce, basil, wozzy, and wine. salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, lower heat cover and simmer 30 minutes. While sauce is simmering heat water for pasta in pot. Cook pasta according to pkg directions or 1 min less. add cooked pasta to simmering sauce, stir. Add 1/2 c parm mix and serve immediately, with added parm if you like!

Cabbage and Noodles

1 sm/med head cabbage, shredded salted and left for 10-15 minutes then squeezed of water
1 med red onion sliced
salt and pepper
1/2 c butter
1 lb bag of wide noodles, cooked to pkg directions

In a pot or large saute pan add the butter and melt. Add the onions and the cabbage, sauteing until browned and tender, like making carmelized onions, only its with cabbage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the cooked noodles and saute with the cabbage onion mixture until they mingle the flavors. Serve immeditately! YUMMY!!

Easter Menu Change...

After planing my menu for Easter dinner we figured the scheduled plan would not be enough and decided to make a caserole of the sweet potatoes instead of roasting them. Here is the recipe we found which I made some changes to.

Ingredients
8 sweet potato, baked until soft and then flesh removed to a bowl
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Mash sweet potato flesh first.
2.In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract and cinnamon. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish, greased baking dish.
3.In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour and pecans. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
4.Bake in the preheated oven 30-40 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

Black Bean Enchilada Lasagna

Here is the recipe that inspired this meal, but it simply added some inspiration.

But here's what I did...


Enchilada Sauce:
2 cans of tomato sauce
1 can of cream of chicken soup
3 tsp chopped fresh garlic
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt

Black Ben Filling
1 tbsp jarred jalapenos
1 half large onion chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt or less( I didn't measure, just spinkled some)

12-13 corn tortillas
1-2 cups shredded cheese

What I did:

I put all the ingreds for the sauce in a large pot and brought it to a boil. I let my son Kace help me with this since it was pretty easy and he was able to measure and pour most of this and stir, so you know if my five-year-old can its easy. Then in a large skillet I heated the oil for the filling and added the onions, jalapenos and also the garlic and sauted on med until the onions were translucent, but not brown. I then added the salt and oregano until the oil was able to make the spice aromatic. Then the beans. I let them hang out with the other veggies until they were pipping hot and smelled yummy. Then I put a large spoonfull of the sauce into a greased 9x13 pan and then layered the first corn tortillas on, them layered sauce on top of them. The half the bean mixture and then someof the cheese. I repeated this and ended with tortillas and topped that with the reamining sauce. I baked in a preheated 350 oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly and the sauce was nicely absorbed. It was really YUMMY!

Greek Style Corn

Now I don't know why this is called this and I don't even remember where I first saw this recipe. But it is quick and very tasty and super easy to make.

3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp thyme
2 c. fresh, frozen or canned corn (if frozen you don't need to defrost, if canned drain well!)

Heat oil in skillet over med/high heat. add the thyme and toast until it becomes aromatic, do not let it burn. add the corn and saute until the corn is fried slightly. serve hot. You can add whatever you like to this, but we enjoy it just like this.

Carrots Side Dish

Tonight while looking for something to serve my family I was stumped as to what to serve along side our twice stuffed potatoes. I had carrots though so I just improvised and everyone wanted more, so I would say this is easy and a great recipe for us.

1 tbsp Butter
4 carrots cut thin on the bias
coarse salt
ground black pepper

In a med saute pan melt butter. Add the carrots and saute until tender and sightly carmelized. Add salt and pepper near end of cooking. Serve hot. Makes enough for our family to have a good sized portion. Remember not too hot on the saute or you will burn the carrots (which have alot of natural sugars) and not cook them through.

Cheesy Obrien egg casserole

1 28 oz pkg obrien frozen potatoes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 lb bacon cooked and crumbled (I don't usually use that much bacon unless I am serving more than just my family!)
12 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp butter
2 c shredded cheddar

In large skillet cook hashbrowns how you like them, we like 'em crispy. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Place in a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Top with soup. Sprinkle with 1/2 bacon. In another skillet or the same one (your preference) scramble eggs in butter until nearly set. Spoon over bacon. Spinkled with shredded cheese and remaining bacon. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese has melted and eggs are done.

Cheddar Broccoli Tart

1 1/2 c milt
3 eggs
1 pkg soup mix of your flavor preference
1 pkg frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
1 1/2 c shredded cheese
9 inch pie crust (or I often just grease the pie plate and serve this without a crust)

Heat oven to 375. In large bowl beat eggs milt and soup mix. Stir in broccoli and cheese. Spoon into pie crust. Bake 40 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. let stand 10 minutes and then slice into pie pieces.

Fall-Back Minestrone Soup

1 can beans drained, rinsed
1 can tomatoes
1 c broken egg noodles
celery chopped
4 c broth chicken or beef
carrots chopped

dump all ingredients in a pot. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until veggies are tender. Serve warm.

Parmesan Almond Pasta Toss

1 lb pasta of your chice, I like mostacholi in this one or other tubal pasta
1/2 sliced almonds
1/3 c. olive oil
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c shredded parm

Cook pasta according to box directions, drain. In large skillet, lightly brown almonds in olive oil over med heat, stiring often. Add italian seasoning and garlic. stir until garlic is translucent. add drained pasta to oil/almond mix. Toss to coat. Add cheese  and toss. Serve warm. For a heartier dish use whole wheat pasta. serves 4.

Manicotti

1 box jumbo shells (I don't like using the actual manicotti shells as they are seriously hard to stuff and rather large for my little'uns to eat.)
16 oz tub ricotta (I try to use the part skim)
2-4 c shredded mozzarella
1-2 tsp dried basil
Large Jar Pasta Sauce or homemade pasta sauce 4-5 cups worth
Couple handfuls of shredded parmesan cheese

Begin by cooking the shells according to box directions, but make sure to under cook them a little or they will fall apart and not absorb some of the tomato sauce. While pasta is cooking mix in a large bowl the mozz, ricotta and basil. When the shells are done and you have cooled them and dried them on paper towels, spray one or two 13x9 inch baking pans and add about 1/4 cup of sauce to each and spread on the bottom of the pan! Start by filling each shell with 2-3 tbsps of mix, you can shove them as full as you want to or as little as you want. Line them pretty close in the pan. When you have filled them all, pour the remaining sauce over all the shells and then top with shredded parm. Bake for 20-30 minutes in a 350 oven or until the cheese is melted and the sauce hot. Serve with a salad and garlic bread! Yummy!!! I never have complaints when serving this one!

Celery and Carrot Soup

1 onion minced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 carrots peeled and sliced thin
2 celery ribs sliced thin
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
2 c chicken broth
1/2 c. dry white cooking wine or more broth

melt butter in sauce pan and cook onion until tender. add celery carrots and tarragon. add broth and wine. bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. serve immediately. this recipe only makes 2 servings, so you will need to double or triple it for a larger crowd, you probably wont need to double up on the butter though.

Broccoli Twice Stuffed Potatoes

4 russet potatoes
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 small onion chopped
1 10 ounce pkg frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
1/2 c. ranch salad dressing
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Bake potatoes in foil or on a pan in oven at 400 for one hour. after they are done, allow to cool and then cut them in half and scoop out the pulp from each side keeping skins intact. Mash pulp in bowl. Heat small skillet over medium heat, add butter. Add onion and saute until tender, about 5 mins. Add onions, broccoli, salad dressing to potato pulp and mix well. Sometimes I add some cheddar cheese at this point, but it isn't necessary. Brush outsides of skins with oil and then sprinkle with the cracked pepper and coarse salt. Spoon the pulp mixture into the shells, dividing evenly. Bake potatoes until heated through, about 15 minutes at 425.

Homemade Alfredo Sauce and Pasta

3 tbsp unsalted butter
3tbsp flour
1 1/4 c milk (I use skim)
pepper and salt to taste
1/4 tsp onion powder or to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder or to taste
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 lb pasta of choice (I use was I have on hand sometimes spaghetti, sometimes linguine)

Heat to boiling a large pot to cook the pasta in. Add salt to taste. When the water is boiling and you have added the pasta and gotten that going, melt butter over med-med/high heat in a med size skillet. Add the flour to make a roue (sp?)  cook until light brown and the flour taste has been cooked out. Add the seasonings, salt pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. stir to combine. Slowly add the milk while whisking the mixture and allowing all the lumps to disappear. Cook the sauce about a minute more until it thickens, then add the Parmesan cheese, stirring until it melts. If the sauce is too thick, I use some of the pasta water to thin it a bit, but go easy. When the pasta is cooked add it directly from the pot into the sauce , don't shake too much of the pasta water off. Use a fork and spoon to mix the sauce with the pasta. I serve this warm with the canned parm that is basically hated in the culinary world, but my family likes it and rarely uses it for anything so we shake some on top of this and everyone eats it up. Can be easily pared with just about any side you can think of. I would go with a quick salad to make this super quick and some garlic bread sure couldn't hurt right?

Note: you can also double this recipe (minus the pasta) and use it to sub into stuff that calls for a jar of alfredo, I bet this is WAY healthier than the store brands!

West African Peanut Soup

veggies...veggies...yum!

All done!

4 c. Chicken broth or stock
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 c. chopped carrots
1 c. chopped scallions
3/4 c. peanut butter, smooth or chunky (your preference)
1 c. milk
1/4 c. instant mashed potato flakes
if you like hot sauce to taste

Bring broth tomatoes carrots and scallions to  a boil in a large sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer 5 -6 minutes or until carrots are tender. Stir in peanut butter until blended, then milk and potato flakes. Simmer 1-2 minutes to heat. makes four servings, you can imagine that it might be good to double this recipe for a larger crowd.

Salsa Rice

1 1/2 cups rice

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup mild salsa

1 tablespoons olive  oil

In a medium sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add in dry rice. Stir for about 5 minutes until rice becomes a golden brown color.

Add in broth and salsa (Slowly into rice, not directly onto hot pan!) Stir it up and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat to low and cover. Let it simmer for 20 minutes and fluff with a fork.


This rice is fabulous!! LOVE IT!