Roasted Vegetables

So at my moms house, and started talking about roasting some zucchini. And then also mentioned she had potatoes, so I said maybe roast those too. I mentioned roasting garlic, but that didn't happen. So we just roasted the potatoes and zucchini, zucchini my mother grew!

5 small red potatoes

2 medium zucchinis 

Olive oil 

Salt

Pepper

Parsley

Rosemary

Thyme

Garlic powder

Take two cookie sheets and line with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With the two sheets, drizzle and spread a little bit off oil. After washing and rinsing potatoes and zucchini, slice. 

In a small bowl mix spices. In another small bowl, pour a little olive oil. When you are done slicing, place potatoes on one sheet and zucchini and the other. Brushing the olive oil onto the potatoes and zucchini. Then sprinkle spices on top. Place sheets into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!!

Brownies!!!!

I found a brownie recipe that my mom wrote some years back. But I don't recall her ever making them. So I decided last year around Christmas time to make them, and add a few goody surprises along the way!


1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour, sifted
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
*1/2-1 package chocolate chips
*1/2 package peppermint chips
*2 tsp peppermint extract
*2 tsp mint extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one large bowl combine all dry ingredient; sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt, then fold in sifted flour. In a microwavable bowl, place butter and melt. In another large bowl, break eggs and beat well, add butter and vanilla. With a electric mixer, on the lowest setting, mix wet ingredients. Then once all is combine, add remaining dry ingredients until smooth and creamy. In a greased 9.5x13 pan, pour batter. Place in oven for 50 mins and enjoy!!

*For peppermint brownies, when all ingredients are combined add peppermint extract and stir. Fold in chocolate chips and peppermint chips. Bake for same time.

*Mint brownies, same as above. Once you add the mint extract you can either add 1/2 package or whole package.

*Chocolaty brownies. Once all ingredients are mixed, fold in 1 package of chocolate chips. Ooh wee gooey chocolaty brownies!!!

yields 35 brownies, or the least the way I had cut them :)

Mashed Potatoes ~ Loaded!!!

I love making food from scratch. Mashed potatoes being one of them. I can take one large potato and make 3 servings of mashed potatoes, loaded mashed potatoes! Yummy!!

Garlic and Scallion Potatoes

1 large russet potato
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp chopped scallions
1 cup milk
2 tbsp bacon bits*
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese*
salt
pepper

Taking one large potato, and chop into equal pieces and cook in water until potato is tender (using fork, pick up piece and if it goes throw easily or starts to separate, its good) Drain potato and set aside. Using same pot place butter and let melt a little. Add minced garlic, cook for a minute, then add scallions, cook for another minute. Then add potato back to the pot, take masher and start mashing!!! In the middle of your mashing add milk, continue mashing. Next add salt and pepper. *Optional and to make this loaded, add bacon bits and cheese.


Regular Loaded Potatoes

1 large russet potatoes
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 bacon bits
1/2 shredded cheese (your choice)
2 tbsp scallions*
salt
pepper

Start the same as recipe above. Once potato are drained and set aside, add butter to pot and let melt for about a minute. Add potatoes, start mashing, add milk and sour cream during the mashing process. Once potato is creamy add rest of ingredients.


Lemon Pepper Potatoes

1 large russet potato
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk
2 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning

Same as RLP recipe, once potato is creamy add seasoning. Its a head turner, but its pretty good.




With all my mashed potato recipes, I rinse and scrub the potato first. Then cut into equal pieces, or as equal as I can. I do not peel my potatoes......I am very lazy, and I like the skin in my potatoes. If you don't, feel free to peel.

Bon Appetit!!! :)

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole II

CHICKEN CASSEROLE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So if you read my blog, I love to make casseroles. Honestly its really easy, throw ingredients together, pop in oven, cook and enjoy. And I tend to be on this chicken casserole kick. Fine by me!! Love chicken!! (Honestly that's all I had for dinner this week) So for this casserole, I combined the last two. And the end result......................DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!


4 chicken thighs*
1 cup uncooked wild rice blend
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika

*bone-in with skin


Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In 8x8 casserole dish layer rice to cover bottom. In saute pan on medium heat, add butter letting it melt slightly, then add garlic, cook for about a minute. Add spinach and saute for a few minutes. As spinach sautes, spice both sides of chicken thighs, set aside. Add mushrooms to pan and cook for another minute. Stir in cream, sprinkle in salt, pepper, and red pepper. Finally add tomatoes and stir, turning off heat. Take chopped zucchini and evenly place on top of rice, then pour in sauce. Make sure sauce is evenly distributed. Place chicken on top. Cover dish with aluminum foil, place in oven for 1 hour. At the half way point pull dish out and remove foil. Remove chicken and place to the side. Take 1/4 cup of cheese and stir into rice mixture. Return chicken and add remaining cheese. Cover again and return to oven to finish cooking. When cooking is done, remove foil and let sit for 5 minutes, this allows the sauce to thicken.

Enjoy!!!

Experimenting.....recording

So once again I recorded myself cooking. This time BBQ sauce!
http://youtu.be/trkL2uE_i4g

The recipe is pretty basic, but great.

1 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 tsp honey
salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika

Add ingredients to sauce pan, whisking together. Caution do not let it sit on heat without stirring for to long, it'll start exiting out air bubbles, causing bbq sauce to fly.

Applesauce!!!!! Yes Please!!

2lbs of apples (6-7 small to medium apples)
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

For this experiment I used red delicious apples. Cut the ends to even the apple out and giving my peeler knife a better grip when I went to peel. Cut and cored the apples after peeling.

So take a large pot and fill with apples. Add water and lemon juice. Turn on stove to medium heat. Stir in sugar. Cover and let cook for 25-30 mins, stirring occasionally. Once the apples are nice and soft, place small amounts into a food processor (or blender, but I'd suggest getting a food processor, even a small one, they're GREAT!) Blend until smooth or whichever texture you prefer. Chill and then enjoy, useless you like warm applesauce, then dig right in!!

The loaf!!

Turkey Loaf!

1 lb ground turkey
1 packet of onion soup mix
1 cup chopped spinach**
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup smashed crackers
2 eggs
1/3-1/2 cup water
2 tbsp ketchup
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
*1/2 tsp minced garlic
*1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
*spice mix ~ thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper, garlic powder, celery salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In small bowl mix eggs and water together. In large bowl mix all ingredients together, by hand for best mix. In a greased 9x5 pan, place mixture and then pop into oven for 35-37 mins. Once cooked spread ketchup on top and let cool for about 2-3 mins. Cut into slices and enjoy!!!

** if using frozen spinach make sure it is completely thawed, makes things a lot easier when mixing.

* optional to mix in.

The hunt to cook dinner

So I don't have a whole lot of ingredients in my fridge or pantry currently. And so it makes it a little difficult to cook anything on a regular basis, or for that matter experiment. I've also been working long shifts at work, so I get home and either cook really simple meals or not cook at all. But tonight I really wanted to cook, and since I didn't have any meat thawed, I looked around in my pantry and fridge for anything available to make anything with. I found chicken in a can, noodles, broccoli, heavy cream, and no cheese......but I did have Laughing Cow cheese spread wedges. And yes I've used all these to make a chicken-helper like meal.

About 1-2 cups spiral pasta
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 laughing cow cheese spread wedges (garlic and herb)
1 5oz can of chicken
1 cup fresh broccoli
salt, pepper, red pepper, and onion powder

Bring water in a pot to boil, add lots of salt, add pasta, cook for 8 minutes. In sauce pan add cheese and heavy cream. Contentiously stir for about a minute, add chicken and let cook for about 2 mins. Keep stirring. Add broccoli to chicken mix. Add spices. Once pasta is cooked add to the rest, stir. To help thin the sauce and to help it also spread add a little bit of the pasta water. Serve and enjoy :)


Remember to look at what you have, think and experiment. The dish might be simple, but the soul is satisfied!!