Ham and Cheese Biscuits

These biscuits were quick and easy to make but also really good!  I got the idea from Shay at Mix & Match Mama.

What you need:

1 can biscuits

3/4 lb ham

8 slices cheddar 

Honey

Cook biscuits according to package instructions.  Best to cook to the lesser side of the time as they will go back in.

While biscuits are hot, slice and layer with 2-3 slices of ham and a piece of cheese.  

Place top of biscuit back on and drizzle the top with a little bit of honey.  

Place back in oven for 5 minutes, until heated through and melty.

These can also be wrapped up individually for breakfast or lunch next day and are good reheated, or even cold!

A Gloomy Day Calls for Chili

My dad's in town and was coming over for dinner tonight.  I had planned to make chicken sausage and veggies and then it was a rainy, gloomy day so I decided on chili instead.  I've shared a couple chili recipes on the blog in the past and thought I would just do a quick recap post.  Tonight I made the meaty chili with only 1 jalapeno.  The nicest thing about this chili (besides that it is delicious) is that it takes less than an hour to make; whereas, most chili takes much longer.   However, if you prefer a chicken chili, the crockpot recipe below is so easy and also reeally good!
Meaty Chili

 Crockpot Chicken Chili

Low Country Boil

In no way can I claim this recipe, it came straight off of the Old Bay website, but it was good and I thought I would share.  We made this at the lake on Saturday for a group of 7 and had leftovers.  The only things we did differently were to use more shrimp and sausage and Old Bay than the recipe called for.

Ingredients

1 can beer

3/4 C Old Bay

2 T salt

8 large red potatoes cut into chunks

2 large onions cut into wedges

2-3 lbs smoked sausage, cut into 2 inch pieces

8 ears of corn, shucked and halved

4-5 lbs shrimp

Fill large pot 1/3 to 1/2 way full of water.  Add in beer, salt and Old Bay and bring mixture to a boil.

Add potatoes and onions and cook for 8 minutes.

Add sausage and cook for 5 minutes.

Add corn and cook for 7 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook for 4 minutes.

Strain out liquid and pour mixture onto a platter for serving.

Prosciutto and Caramelized Onion Pizza

This recipe was inspired by the Pioneer Woman's  Caramelized Onion and Prosciutto Pizza.  We didn't really follow her recipe, just saw the idea then went from there.  We have made this a few times and it is really good.  Every time it's a little bit different.  We have also added roasted red peppers, crushed red pepper and/or Genoa salami to this pizza to change it up a little.  If you know us at all you know we love our homemade pizzas.

Ingredients 

Pillsbury Pizza Crust - I used classic, Artisan is our favorite but it seems to have disappeared from stores :(

Olive Oil

Red Onion, thinly sliced

1/4 C Brown Sugar

Salt

Prosciutto

Mozzarella, shredded

Bell Peppers, thinly sliced

Basil

First cook pizza dough according to package instructions.  Cook the crust to the lesser side of the time range because the whole thing will be going back in the oven later.

While the crust is cooking you are going to caramelize the onions. Do this by placing your thinly sliced red onion in a skillet with olive oil and brown sugar and cooking until they reduce down quite a bit.

When crust is complete, remove from oven,  brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Next dress up your pizza however you choose.  I typically add a light layer of shredded mozzarella, a thin layer of prosciutto and then maybe a small but more cheese, plus caramelized onions and peppers.  Sprinkle with fresh basil. 

Return to oven until cheese is melted.

Mongolian Beef

As per usual I was perusing Pinterest last night trying to decide what to make for dinner and I saw this copycat PF Chang's Mongolian Beef recipe.  I've only been to PF Chang's once and I have never had Mongolian beef but the picture looked good and we had all but one ingredient so it was decided.  It was really easy to make and we both liked it so I consider that a success and we will definitely make it again.  As a side note, it is also gluten free for anyone who doesn't eat gluten.

 

Ingredients

1 small flank steak (mine was 1.2 lbs)

1/2 C corn starch

1/2 C canola oil

1 C water

3/4 C soy sauce

2 T canola oil

1 C brown sugar

 6 cloves garlic, diced

3 green onions, chopped

Thinly slice the steak against the grain of the meat.

Place in a gallon sized ziploc bag.

Add corn starch and shake until steak is well coated.

Refrigerate until needed.  - I did this about 2 hours in advance.

Add water, soy sauce, 2 T canola oil, brown sugar, and garlic in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, cooking until slightly thickened.

Put 1/2 C canola oil in a large skillet.  Add corn starch coated flank steak to hot oil.

Cook until slightly browned. (I did this in 2 batches)

Remove flank steak from pan and set aside in dish.

Remove oil from pan.

Place steak back in skillet and pour the sauce over the steak.

Allow to simmer together for a few minutes.

Sprinkle in a little bit of corn starch to thicken.

Serve over brown rice (or white if you prefer).

Top with green onions.

Shrimp and Andouille Jambalaya

 

A few weeks ago I made jambalaya for Fat Tuesday.  Eric said it was the best I had ever made.  It was definitely really good, partly because the andouille was so good.  This recipe originally came from Zatarains several years ago.

Ingredients

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 green bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1 pkg Zatarain's jambalaya mix

1 C water 

1 lb shrimp

1 lb andouille sausage, browned and cut into slices - if you live in Culpeper or nearby the andouille sausage from Croftburn Market is THE BEST!

Add olive oil, peppers and onions to dutch oven and allow to cook 5-7 minutes until softened.

Stir in tomatoes (with liquid from can), water and jambalaya mix.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add shrimp and sausage.  Cover and cook for approximately 10 more minutes until shrimp are pink..

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

I get most of my recipes from the other blogs I read.  This recipe for BBQ Chicken Enchiladas is from one of my favorite cooking blogs called Gimme Some Oven.  These enchiladas have a southwestern vibe too them.  This is the first time I have remembered to take step by step pictures in quite some time.  However, I am taking cell phone shots as I go along, if you want to see how good it can look check out the link above to Gimme Some Oven.  The recipe below is similar to hers but I did adapt it slightly.

 Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

1 small red onion, diced

1.5 lbs chicken breast, cut into small pieces

1 4 oz can diced green chiles

1 15 oz can black beans

1 can mexicorn

8 large flour tortillas

3-4 C shredded Mexican blend cheese

2 cans red enchilada sauce

1 C BBQ (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)

Salt & pepper

Start by adding olive oil and red onion to large skilled and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add chicken & green chiles and cook 7-8 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Season well with salt & pepper.

 Stir in black beans and mexicorn and remove from heat.

 

Mix together enchilada sauce and BBQ in a bowl.

Assembly:

To assemble enchiladas spread a couple spoonfuls of sauce onto tortilla.

Top with chicken mixture and generous portion of shredded cheese.

 Roll tortillas and place into a 9x11 casserole dish.  I used a large Le Creuset dish.

Place 8 large tortillas in pan.

 

Top with remaining sauce and cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

These enchiladas are huge and very filling.  I found 1/2 of an enchilada to be plenty for one meal.  I may suggest that if you are not cooking for a large family to either half the recipe or give half of it to friends.  I'm fairly certain this would make a good freezer meal as well.

Pita Pizzas

This isn't so much a recipe as an idea.  We used to eat pita pizzas growing up all the time and last night I decided to make them for dinner.

Ingredients 

Pita bread (I used whole wheat)

Pizza sauce 

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Turkey pepperoni 

Optional toppings: onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, spices - oregano, crushed red pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lay pita bread on baking sheet.

Spoon pizza sauce on to your liking. Maybe 1/8 C on each.

Top with shredded mozzarella.

Apply toppings of your choice. 

Bake for 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melty and pita is getting a little crunchier.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

I originally saw this recipe on Pinterest from the blog SkinnyTaste with pictures that are obviously way prettier than my cell phone shots.  I made a few changes - left out mushrooms and used spaghetti noodles instead of linguine, marinaded the chicken, etc.

 

Ingredients

1.5 lb Chicken breast tenders

2/3 box Dreamfields Spaghetti Noodles

1/3 C milk

3 T cream cheese

1 T flour

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 clove elephant garlic, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 C chicken broth 

3 scallions chopped

olive oil

Salt

Cajun seasoning

Garlic powder

First I coated chicken breast tenders in cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt and refrigerated for several hours.

Blend together flour, milk and cream cheese.  I used my nutribullet for this step but you could do in a blender or by hand.

In large frying pan, cook chicken tenders and set aside.  This took me 6-7 minutes and I just cooked it til the tenders were cooked through and slightly blackened.  Set aside.

Cook noodles according to package instructions.

Add olive oil to pan, then add peppers, onions & garlic and saute over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Sprinkle with cajun seasoning, salt, and garlic powder.

Add tomatoes and cook for 3-4 additional minutes.

Add chicken broth and milk mixture and stir together for a few minutes.  More cajun seasoning, salt and garlic powder.  Reduce heat.

Add chicken and let cook over low heat a few more minutes.

Strain noodles and add to pan.  Mix all ingredients together.

Top with scallions.

 

 

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

I saw this recipe for oven baked fajitas and decided to give it a try.  We used to eat fajitas all the time and somewhere along the way we just stopped.  Don't know why because we both like them.  If you look at the pictures you will see that I don't like to eat my fajitas with the shells.  Eric does but I didn't remember to take any pics of them all wrapped up.  I adapted the above recipe a little bit and here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

2 small onions

1 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

3 T olive oil

Chili powder

Cumin

Garlic powder

Tajin

Red pepper flakes

Cut chicken into strips.

Mix olive oil & spices together (I didn't measure any spices just a generous shaking of each).

Marinade chicken for 30 minutes or longer.  You don't have to do this, I just find it gives more flavor.

Slice peppers and onions.

Place chicken, peppers & onions and the remaining marinade in sprayed cooking dish.  I used my Rachel Ray oven baker but you could just use any baking dish.

Mix together well.

Top with diced tomatoes.

Stir together all ingredients.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.

Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

We had a head of cabbage leftover from our last CSA portion last week and the original plan was to make cabbage rolls.  But when push came to shove, I just didn't feel like taking the time to make the actual rolls so we just mixed it all up and baked it together just the same.  I made my own tomato sauce from diced tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, peppers, etc but that isn't necessary.

Ingredients

1/2 head of cabbage

1 1b ground beef or venison

2 C wild rice, cooked

Tomato sauce

Cook rice according to package instructions.

Brown meat.

Chop cabbage.

Mix rice, meat, cabbage and sauce in a dutch oven.

Cook, covered, for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Shrimp Stir Fry with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Ya'll know I like quick and easy meals and this was one of them.  I found this recipe on the blog Iowa Girl Eats.  She called it a 20 minute meal and I would say that it was pretty accurate.  I followed her recipe fairly closely although I did do a quick cooking rice so it wouldn't take as long and made a couple other small changes.  If you actually cook rice according to the recipe it would not be a 20 minute meal.  Regardless, even with making your own teriyaki sauce this was a simple recipe.  If you preferred to go even quicker, you could use store bought teriyaki sauce.  Eric & I both really liked this meal and when something is quick, easy, and we both like it, it is likely to be made many times.  We have been in somewhat of a cooking funk lately so this was a nice change of pace.  It's nice when we are able to cook in the kitchen together, it cuts down cooking time even more when you can double team a recipe.

Ingredients

1 bag Uncle Ben's Boil in Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice

4 C Chicken Broth

2 tsp sesame oil (divided)

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

Garlic Salt & Pepper for seasoning

1 C corn kernels (I used frozen)

1/2 C peas (again I used frozen)

2 green onions, chopped

Homeamade Teriyaki Sauce

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 T water

2 T sugar

1 T mirin

2 tsp. brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp corn starch

First prepare rice according to package instructions.  I boiled mine in chicken broth instead of water but you don't have to.  Set aside.

Second, prepare sauce.  Mix all ingredients except corn starch together and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved into mixture.  This should only take a couple minutes.  Set aside.

Sprinkle shrimp with garlic salt and pepper.

In a wok, heat 1 tsp of sesame oil. 

Cook shrimp a few minutes until starting to turn pink.

Set aside.

In wok, add last tsp of sesame oil.  Cook peas, corn and onion 3-4 minutes until tender.  Add rice, shrimp, and sauce back to wok.  Mix together well.

Enjoy!!

Container Garden Updates & Pepper Recipes

It's been forever since I updated on our container gardens.  Some things are going strong, some thing are not.  Skip to the bottom if you'd like to see some recipes for all your peppers.

What's working:

Tomatoes - the actual plant parts look awful, but the tomatoes are delicious

Peppers - cayenne, jalapeño, habanero, & poblanos growing like crazy

Garlic - should be ready for harvest very soon

Herbs (minus dill & cilantro)  -- pesto coming soon
Lemons - they are growing...we will see if/when they are complete

What's gone 

Cilantro

Dill

Lettuce 

Some ideas for your peppers:

Candies Jalapeños

Jalapeño Popper Chicken 

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly 

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

Grilled Eggplant (&Pepper) Pizza

Jalapeño Popper Chicken

We have tons of peppers growing in our garden, especially jalapeños.  A few weeks ago, before we headed to the beach I was looking for a few recipes to use some.  I had seen this recipe for Jalapeño Popper Chicken on Skinnytaste previously so I just adapted it to work for us.

Ingredients Chicken breasts, thinly sliced 1/2 block cream cheese 3 jalapeños, diced  3/4 C cheddar cheese, shredded 1 T olive oil 1/2 C lime juice Panko S&P Wash chicken breasts. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Mix cream cheese, jalapeños & cheddar cheese together.

Lay chicken breasts flat.  Top with cheese mixture. Roll up chicken breast using toothpicks to hold the edges together. Mix olive oil & lime juice in a bowl.  Dip chicken breast in lime juice mixture. Roll in panko. Place on baking sheet, seam side down. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Squash, Corn & Green Onion Naan

I saw this recipe on the Elefantitas Alegres blog but it is originally from Cooking Light.  We had corn on the cob sitting on the corner and we had gotten green onions in our CSA portion last week so I only needed squash and naan to make this recipe happen. I made a few changes to the original recipe but it turned out really well.  

Ingredients (makes 2) 1 small yellow squash, thinly sliced 2 ears of corn, cut from the cob 3-4 large green onions, sliced (white & green parts) Whole grain naan (2 pieces)  1 C italian blend cheese, shredded 2 T Garlic Olive Oil Thyme, leaves removed from sprigs S&P Grill naan for 1 minute on each side.  Just enough to warm it and get some grill marks on there. Spread olive oil over warm naan. Top with squash, then corn and green onions. Cover with cheese.   Sprinkle with fresh thyme. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes on an oven rack close to the top.   Without removing from oven, switch oven to broil and broil for 2 minutes.  

CSA Haul

We got lots of good stuff in our CSA portion this week: lettuce, stir fry greens, turnips, broccoli, asparagus & chard.  I'm thinking stir fry tonight or tomorrow for dinner.

Stir fry is so easy to make and the best part is you can throw whatever you have on hand in it.  We make it quite a bit and no two times is it the same.  This week's will probably include the above mentioned greens, broccoli & asparagus plus some peppers and onions we have on hand and maybe some chicken or beef.  It's so simple just to saute everything in a pan with some spices and soy sauce and serve with rice.
Here are a few past stir fry style recipes we shared.
Chicken Stir Fry

Beef & Broccoli This recipe has been the most viewed and pinned recipe in the history of the blog.

Chicken Sausage & Sweet Potato Hash

A month ago or so my friend Sarah posted a picture on instagram of a dinner she made and I took a screen shot of it to remind me to make something similar.

  I didn't follow a recipe but I will share what I did.  The nice thing about a meal like this is you can put anything in it.  I bought sweet potatoes, apples & brussel sprouts but then I had red onion and red pepper in the fridge so I threw them in too.  This is an easy one pot meal.

Ingredients: 1 lb chicken sausage, sliced -  I used roasted red pepper & spinach from Costco 2 granny smith apples, peeled and cubed 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed Brussel Sprouts, halved lengthwise 1/2 red pepper, cut into pieces 1/2 large red onion, cut into pieces 1 T butter Olive oil Thyme S&P

First cut up all the ingredients into cubes, etc.  Brown butter in large frying pan over low heat. Add chicken sausage, apples and all vegetables. Add 1-2 T olive oil. Add 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme. Grind fresh salt and pepper over to taste. Cover and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until all ingredients are tender. Remove thyme sprigs. Add additional salt and pepper if needed.  

Pizza casserole

This is the second recipe I have used from the Here Comes the Sun blog in the last few weeks.  This was simple and we ate it for the last two nights in a row.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly, this is my adaptation.  Next time I would probably use a few more biscuits but we liked it a lot.

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat - I used venison 

1 C diced onion

1 tube original canned biscuits (10 count)

2 cans pizza sauce

1 C Mozzarella cheese

Handful of turkey pepperoni 

Brown meat and onion together on stove.

Add sauce to meat and simmer together. 

Cut biscuits into quarters and press into bottom of casserole dish.

Top with meat mixture.

Top with pepperoni.

Spread with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Spaghetti Squash Primavera

This was the first time I ever made spaghetti squash.  It was really easy.  I have to say I don't think it tastes just like noodles but it was good.  I got this recipe from Skinnytaste and you can find it here. This is a vegetarian dish but if you wanted it to be vegan you could leave out the cheese.

Ingredients 1 spaghetti squash 1 T diced shallot 1/4 C diced red onion 2 large ribs of celery diced 1/4 C carrots  (I used shredded bc that is what I had on hand) 1 C broccoli florets 1/2 C chopped zucchini 1 jar marinara 1 T olive oil mozzarella parmesan salt & pepper Stab spaghetti squash with knife or fork multiple times. Microwave whole for 8 minutes. Put olive oil in skillet over medium high heat.   Add shallot, red onion, celery, and carrots and cook for 5 minutes.

With heat at medium add broccoli, zucchini and marinara and cook 3-4 minutes until tender crisp. Slice spaghetti squash in half lengthwise.  Scoop out seeds. Shred squash into "noodles" with fork. Add 2 C spaghetti squash to veggie mixture. Salt & pepper to taste. Pour mixture into baking dish. Top with mozzarella and parmesan. Broil until cheese is melted.