Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I have been on a mission for a while to prove to Eric that he likes brussel sprouts.  He has always said he didn't like them.   But we went out to dinner a couple weeks ago and they came with our meal and he liked them so I figured I might as well make them now.  Well he said these ones could be served in a restaurant so I say my mission was successful.

Ingredients

 Brussel sprouts

4 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Balsamic Vinegar

Honey

Half brussel sprouts and place in a bowl.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast in oven at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.

 Remove from oven when slightly browned.

Place back in bowl.

Add crumbled bacon.

Drizzle with balsamic and honey.

Serve immediately.

Spanish Rice

Previously we would buy packets of Spanish or Mexican rice at the store whenever we were wanting rice to go with something like the BBQ Chicken Enchiladas I posted about last week.  That was until we didn't have any on hand one time and made our own concoction that is so much better than the its store bought counterpart.  Plus we usually have all these ingredients on hand.

Ingredients

1 1/4 C white rice

1 can rotel tomatoes with diced green chiles

1 can chicken broth

1 small yellow onion, diced

3/4 C diced red and/or green peppers

Chili powder

Cumin

Vegetable oil

In large skillet, add oil, onion, and diced peppers and cook for a few minutes.

Add rice and cook for another minute or so.

Add broth, rotel and a generous shaking of chili powder and cumin.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and cover.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender.

You may need to add some water if your liquid has cooked out prior to the rice being finished.

Thanksgiving Favorites

I thought I would go back through the archives and share some of my favorite Thanksgiving appropriate dishes.  There are several side dishes and also my gramma's pecan pie recipe listed below with links to the original recipe posts.  I hope you try some and enjoy!

Pecan Pie

Sweet Potato Casserole

Macaroni & Cheese

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

 

Crowder Pea & Corn Succotash

We had a few people coming over for dinner tonight and I made the Pioneer Woman's Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork for pulled pork sandwiches....this recipe is delicious, you should make it!  We needed a side dish to go with our pulled pork sandwiches.  So we went in the fridge to see what kind of produce we had left and we came up with crowder peas, a couple bell peppers, corn on the cob, and a few onions thus our succotash was born.  It doesn't look the prettiest, but we all agreed it was good.

Ingredients: Crowder peas (one paper lunch bag full) 1 small onion, diced 4 ears of corn, cut from the cob 2 small bell peppers, diced 4 pieces of bacon fresh parsley, chopped garlic powder onion powder 1 bay leaf, crumbled thyme 10 shakes of hot sauce 2.5 C water S&P Shell peas.   Cook bacon in frying pan.  Remove bacon from pan.   Add onion, peppers, corn, garlic powder, onion powder, bay leaf, thyme & hot sauce to bacon grease and cook until veggies are tender.   S&P to taste Add peas and water and simmer until tender and water cooks out.    Crumble bacon and stir into succotash.

Squash & Zucchini Pie

Last week's CSA portion included squash, zucchini and onions which was basically everything I needed to try this recipe I saw here.  As always I made some changes but this was easy and different from what I normally would do with zucchini and squash.

 

Ingredients

3 C squash & zucchini, sliced & halved

1 small onion, diced

1 C Bisquick

3 eggs

1/2 C canola oil

1 T fresh parsley, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 C shredded parmesan

Salt & Pepper

Mix together eggs, oil, parsley, garlic, parmesan, salt & pepper.  I didn't measure the salt and pepper, just ground it over the mix generously.

Add squash, zucchini, onion, and bisquick.  Mix well together.

Pour into a greased pie pan.

Bake on 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is golden.

We had this as a side dish with grilled chicken but I also think it could be used as a main dish.  I think it would be good with diced ham or shredded chicken added as well if you wanted a main dish with meat in it.

Corn & Tomato Salad

Our neighborhood had a Memorial Day Block Party and everyone was supposed to bring a dish.  I made this corn salad I saw on The Blond Cook's blog last week.  It was also a great way to showcase some of our homegrown herbs. 

Ingredients

8 ears of corn, shaved from the cob

1 pint tomatoes, halved

1/2 large red onion, dived

1/3 C red wine vinegar

1/2 cup basil, chopped

2 T fresh dill

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T garlic, chopped

S&P to taste

To make place tomatoes, onion, red wine vinegar, dill, basil, S&P in bowl and stir together.

Heat olive oil in skillet.  Add corn and cook for approximately 8 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for one more minute.

Add corn to tomato mixture.  Stir together.  Add additional S&P if needed.

Refrigerate until serving.

Coleslaw

Ingredients

6 shredded cabbage

1 C shredded carrots 

1 C mayo

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C white wine vinegar

1 tsp celery seed

S&P

Mix together carrots and cabbage. Stir together remaining ingredients then add into cabbage mix.

Some ways to simplify...

*use a pre-shredded coleslaw mix which includes the cabbage and carrots already 

*run cabbage and carrots through a food processor for a more finely shredded coleslaw

Most Popular Recipes of 2013

I thought I would recap some of the most popular recipes on the blog for 2013.   These are the top recipes by page views and pins on pinterest.   Far & away this was the most popular post...   Beef & Broccoli  

  Followed by my Crockpot Buffalo Chicken  

  Pesto  

  Pizza Rolls  

  Pumpkin Dip  

  Baked Ziti  

Pasta Primavera   

      NOW FOR SOME OF OUR FAVORITE DISCOVERIES OF THE YEAR... Strawberry Rhubarb Pie  

   Grilled Pizzas  

Shrimp & Grits

 Oven Roasted Butternut Squash  

Macaroni & Cheese

My mom used to make this macaroni when I was a kid and it is so good.  Of course when I was little I preferred the fake cheesy stuff from the box.  Now I know that this is much better.  My mom never makes it anymore so I made it for Thanksgiving.  My dad and brother were pretty excited, especially when there were plenty of leftovers.  I will tell you that this makes a HUGE portion.  Half of the recipe definitely makes more than enough for a family of 4.  I think the portion must be so large because growing up my mom's family had 6 kids and 2 adults to feed.  The whole portion makes a 9x13 pan (a deep one at that - I use a Le Creuset stoneware dish), half portion can fit in an 8x8 square pan.    

  Ingredients 6 cups uncooked macaroni noodles 1 stick butter 1/2 C flour 4 C milk 1 T onion flakes 1  T worschestire  1/8 tsp garlic powder 1/8 tsp pepper 16 oz American cheese or mild cheddar
Cook noodles according to package instructions. Melt butter. Add flour and stir together until mixed.


Add milk, onion flakes, Worcestershire,  garlic powder & pepper.  I never measure these ingredients and I definitely think I use more garlic powder and pepper than called for. Heat mixture over medium high heat until boiling and thickened, stirring constantly. Add 1/2 of cheese to mixture and stir until melted. Strain macaroni and stir together with sauce.  Spread in casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.   Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.


 

Sweet Potato Casserole

I started making this dish back in high school and I love it.  I have no idea where I originally found the recipe as I have it written on a scrap of paper in my recipe binder.  I should probably transfer the recipe to something that will last.  I love sweet potatoes but not with marshmallows.  This one is wonderful and has a nice crunchy top.  I took it to 2 Thanksgiving meals this year and it was well received all around.  Even better I had sweet potatoes left from my last CSA portion earlier in November.

 

  Ingredients   3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes (usually about 4 large potatoes) 1/4 C brown sugar 1/4 C granulated sugar 2 T butter 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon 1 5 oz can evaporated milk   Topping 1/2 stick butter, melted 1/2 C chopped pecans 1 C crushed corn flakes 3/4 C brown sugar       Peel & boil sweet potatoes until very tender.   Then mash. Add all ingredients through evaporated milk to sweet potatoes and mix well together. In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients for topping together. Spread sweet potato mixture into casserole dish - I usually use a 9x5 dish Top with topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
 This is my absolute favorite Thanksgiving side.  I like it so much I make it at Easter too!  Enjoy it!

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash - A Simple Seasonal Side!

We have had a butternut squash sitting on our counter for quite some time.  It was from our CSA at least a month ago.  In efforts to use the groceries we have at home I decided to make it today as a side for the pork tenderloin that was in the freezer too.  This is a very, very easy recipe with only 5 ingredients and would be an easy addition to any meal.  This could also easily make an appearance at your Thanksgiving dinner.   Ingredients: butternut squash 1/2 stick butter Salt  Pepper Chili Powder   Cut butternut squash into a small dice and place in a glass bowl.  If you have never cut a butternut squash, cut off the top, the bottom and then all the outside then slice in half.  Scoop out all the seeds, cut into long sticks and then into a smaller dice.  

    Melt butter and pour over squash.  Mix together to be sure butter is evenly coating all squash.

Add fresh ground salt, pepper & several shakes of chili powder.  Stir and re-season.  Make sure all ingredients are evenly mixed.  

Spread on baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

One squash is soft, increase oven temperature to 425 and cook another 5-7 minutes to crisp/brown it up a little.  

 

Tortellini Salad

If you read my pumpkin dip post you already know my Gramma was in town a few weeks back so I was cooking some things for a potluck at my parents.  The second dish I made was a tortellini salad.  I saw a picture of this on Pinterest and adapted it from this recipe on the Dream Home Cooking Girl blog.  

 

Ingredients
1 20 oz pkg refrigerated cheese tortellini
3/4 cup cherry or other small tomatoes, halved (I used currant tomatoes)
1 C fresh mozzarella, cubed
1 1/2 C mini pepperonis

1/4 C fresh basil, chopped
3/4 C creamy Caesar dressing

    Cook tortellini in salted water according to package instructions.   When finished cooking, strain from water and rinse under cold water.  

  Mix tomatoes, mozzarella, basil & pepperoni in bowl.  

  Mix tortellini and tomato mixture together in large bowl.  

  Top with Caesar dressing and stir together.  

  Allow time to refrigerate before serving so that flavors can meld together.     I tasted this as soon as it was finished and then I ate it the next day.  It definitely tastes better the second day once all the flavors are mixed together.  I got a lot of compliments on this past and it was pretty simple.  I'll definitely make it again.    

Eat Local Wednesday 9.18 - Recipe Edition

We are at the beach this week so we skipped our normal CSA portion.  I thought I would just post some recipes that we have made with our CSA portions this year.  All of these things are things I never would have made if not for getting the ingredients in our portions.  I didn't have a clue what to do with rhubarb or leeks before this little adventure.  I would encourage you all to join a CSA if one is available to you.  You are able to support your local farmers, get the freshest produce available that week, and learn how to cook new things.   Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

  Cucumber Tomato Salad

Potato Leek Soup

  Fried Green Tomatoes

  Grilled Eggplant Pizza

  These are just a few of the many things we have done with our CSA portions this year.  You can find many others if you read through the archives or use the label buttons in the side bar if you are looking for something more specific. The only thing that these have in common is that I would NEVER have made them if it weren't for getting the CSA portions that we did.  Honestly, before this summer I didn't even like tomatoes, I had never bought eggplant or rhubarb or leeks, etc.  Try something new today!