Mission Minestrone

Okay, I've been slacking. So here is an oldie but a goodie, I just throw whatever veggies I have on hand in, makes it quick, easy and gets rid of my left over produce that I haven't used yet. So today's, for instance, has yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage, and collard greens. Never got any complaints about it either. Also its a great way to introduce veggies to the little ones, I also found if you like a thicker soup you can throw either the whole thing in the blender or just the beans/tomato mix, still tastes great!

MM mm Minestrone.

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 carrots diced
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 1 whole onion diced
• 4 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 can beans
• another 2-3 cups of veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, spinach, zucchini, squash)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can or equivalent of tomato/vegetable sauce or juice
• 1/2 c small pasta
• 2 quarts broth (pork, veggie, beef, chicken)

Directions:

1. In a large pot heat up the olive oil and saute carrots, celery, onion. Cook until onion is translucent and add chopped garlic. Let cook for about 1 minute more.
2. Add can of beans, diced tomatoes, veggies, sauce, broth and pasta. Let cook for 30 minutes.
3. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread, enjoy!

LeGrand Gumbo

Hey guys! I know its been awhile but I have come back with a splash. What's the splash you ask? You all are about to be let in on my Top Secret Gumbo recipe. This is tried and true, loved by anyone who is fortunate enough to eat it. Ya'll ready for it? Here we go!

LeGrand Gumbo

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb snow crab in shell, or 1 c. of crab meat (no imitation please) or 1. c. chopped chicken breast and 1/2 c. Andoullie
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/2 c. margarine or butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 3 quarts beef broth or 1. quart seafood broth and 2 quarts beef broth)
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (no dark beers, please!)
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes, drain juice, set aside, and chop
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 can (4 ounce) diced green chilies
• 1 can (8 ounce) tomato sauce
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup Cajun seasoning ( I use Tony's)
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined

Directions:

1. Add 1. Tbs Olive Oil into saute pan and cook shrimp until pink. Remove from pan, add crab meat and set aside.
2. In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, blend olive oil, margarine/butter and flour to create a roux. Stir constantly until browned and bubbly. Mix in garlic, and cook about 1 minute.
3. Gradually stir broth and beer into the roux mixture. Bring to a boil, and mix in celery, onions, stewed tomatoes, diced chiles, and tomato sauce. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 40 minutes, stirring often.
4. Mix shrimp and crab meat into the broth/gumbo mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Serve with Rice or Rice Pilaf. Hope you enjoy!

Meal 2: Crabcakes and Easy Greek Salad

This is a little lighter fare, its still really good though, and its fast! Plus if you make extra crab cakes they can be easily frozen. I put ww points with these recipes. I calculated them myself soooo hopefully its accurate..its about as accurate as I can get.

Easy Feta Salad
whole thing=6 pt so divide into 6 servings and it is 1 pt
1 head romaine lettuce
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 c red onion, sliced
2 tsp. feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt

1. combine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and feta into a bowl
2. whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and salt
3. pour olive oil mixture over lettuce mixture and toss to coat

Crab Cakes
14 pts for 8 crab cakes, about 2 pts for 1 crab cake

2 cans crab meat, drained
3 stalks green onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tbsp mayo (reduced fat)
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 c. crackers (reduced fat)
2/3 c. panko flakes

1. Turn on broiler in oven
2. Mix everything together into a bowl.
3. Form mixture into patties and put on greased cookie sheet
4. Put crab cakes into oven and cook both sides for 7 minutes.

See quick and easy and soo good, enjoy!

Meal 1 Chicken and Dumplings

Now be careful and don't eat too much cuz this will fill you up in no time!

Chicken and Dumplings

• 1 whole chicken

• 2 quarts water

• 2 carrots, cut in quarters
  
• 2 stalks celery, cut in quarters
  
• 1 whole onion cut with skin on
  
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
  
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. shortening
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (add 1 tbsp. vinegar to 1 cup milk let sit 5 minutes, then measure 3/4 cup)
• 2 chicken bullion cubes

• 1 tbsp. corn starch mixed with 1 tbsp milk

1. Place chicken and cut up veggies in a pot. Add water and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil.
2. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 hour or until tender (should almost fall off bone).
3. Bone the chicken and cut meat into bite-sized pieces.

4. Strain broth and bring to a boil and add pepper, bullion, and milk/corn starch mixture.
   

5. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the shortening. Add the buttermilk, stirring with a fork until moistened.

6. Knead the dough 4 to 5 times pinch off pieces and drop into boiling broth. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. Add chicken to broth and dumplings. Serve and Enjoy!
   

yummy!

So yesterday I went grocery shopping and bought a bunch of fresh veggies and fruit. I promptly cut everything up and put into clear plastic containers. That way I see it and eat it. Try that trick in your fridge, honestly it makes it so much easier to make healthy decisions when it comes to eating. Especially when its already prepped for you, I also do this with garlic and onion. I have whole peeled cloves of garlic in a jar in my fridge and at least 1 chopped onion, saves on time.
Today I am making yogurt and granola, that way I can start my day out with fresh yogurt and granola on top of fruit. I make my yogurt in a crockpot that way I don't have to buy another peice of cooking equipment that I would only use once in a blue moon. This just gives me another reason to love my slow-cooker. I'm just gonna link you to the blog I got the recipe from because to explain the whole methodology would just be a bit repetitive and I want people to check out the blog because she has TONS of slow-cooker recipes. A Year of Slow-cooking
I used to think that making granola was hard, so like a lot of people I bought it from the store. Preferably Trader Joe's because lets face it, I love that store. Little known fact: Trader Joe's is owned by the same people that own Aldi..interesting huh? But anyways back to the granola, its actually pretty easy to make, but its really easy to ruin as well. I know this cuz I burnt my first 2 batches. The thing to understand with granola is that it gets crunchy outside of the over, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT overcook it, otherwise all you will end up with is burnt oats. The thing that I love about granola is not only is it easy to make your own, but it's very versitile, and you all know how much I love versitle foods. Let's say you don't like almonds but like pecans, well you can just sub those right in, same goes for the dried cranberries, you can sub any dried fruit in place of the cranberries. You can find granola recipes all over the internet, but I stick with this one, its quick, simple, and easy. Here ya'll go

Easy Granola Recipe
2 cups rolled oats
2 teas. cinnamon
1 tea. salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teas. vanilla extract
1/2 cup almonds
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Place the rolled oats in a bowl and add the cinnamon and salt to the oats. In a small bowl mix the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla together, pour wet mixture over oats and mix well. Preheat the oven to 325 and pour oats mixture onto a cookie sheet and spread out evenly. Put cookie sheet into the oven and leave for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes are up take granola out and add in almonds, put cookie sheet back into the oven for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, flip granola and add hazelnuts, put back into the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip the granola yet again and leave to cool for 10 minutes, then add the dried cranberries. Put granola into an airtight container, granola will be good for up to a week, if it is still around after that long. Enjoy!

On a side note, I figured out how to get my cookie sheets spotless without the pain in the butt of soaking and scrubbing and soaking and scrubbing them some more. Next time you clean the the oven throw the pans in there dirty side down. The oven will self clean itself and your pans, take them out after the cycle and wipe down. Ta-Da, clean pans, no muss, no fuss. Gotta love cleaning done easy!

easy lentil soup

Okay so I know I promised to post in here more often but I haven't been feeling to hot. Anyways today I made soup lentil soup. This soup is a great way to get all those veggies in, or use up any veggies you have laying around in your crisper drawers. You can sub out any veggie for veggies you have one hand. Aside from letting the lentils soak overnight this recipe is really, really easy.

Easy Lentil Soup.
1 c. lentils (soaked overnight)
2 cloves garlic
1 c. carrots chopped
1 c. onion chopped
1 c. celery chopped
1 c. broccoli chopped
1 c. shredded zuchini
1 c. cauliflower chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
6 c. water
2 c. veggie juice
salt and pepper to taste

I put all the veggies in a huge pot and sautee them and then add everything else and let cook for an hour. Serve with crusty bread and you are all done. Enjoy!

I'm back!

After being gone for quite some time I decided that I will try to do this blog like everyday. I need to do something to keep myself occupied and I figure everyone loves food as much as I do, so why not share what I have learned.
So yesterday I went to goodwill and I know this is gonna sound weird but I bought a breadmaker for $5, and guess what? After a good scrub down and disinfection session I made some bread. The first loaf was a bit of a complete failure. Still doughy, didn't raise, not that great tasting, but I wasn't about to give up on the machine just yet. So the second bread I made turned out FANTASTIC! It was light and springy and soo good. The secret was that instead of dumping everything in the breadmaker, you need to let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes. So here is the great recipe I used and when I find my USB cable for my camera I will post a picture of the bread.

Amish White Bread
2 and 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil works just as well)
1 tea. yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tea. salt
1 cup and 2 Tbsp. warm water

In a non-metal bowl, mix 1/2 of the water, yeast and sugar and leave for 5 minutes. Once yeast has proofed (it will look bubbly) mix with the rest of the ingredients and rest of water in the breadmaker.
Ta-Da and you are done! Enjoy!