White Chicken Chili

This is one of my families favorite dinners. It is a wonderful hearty chili that also has vegetables to add extra nutrition. It cooks up fast and is great for a small group or a big gathering. We really enjoyed it today. I hope you do too.

 Ingredients

3-4 T olive oil
2 C Cooked chopped  chicken (you could also use turkey)
1 C chopped onions
1 whole chopped red pepper seeds removed
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 C  chia *optional
4 C water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1- 4 oz can of diced green chilies)
1-11oz can white shoe peg corn
juice from 2 limes
2-14 oz drained and rinsed great northern beans
serve with
tortilla chips
grated cheese

Directions

1. In a large pot pour in oil and heat to medium heat. Toss in the chicken and let it start to lightly brown.
2. Then add onions, peppers and garlic, and chia if desired. Continue to let it cook on medium heat. If you need a little more oil then add some. Continue to cook until vegetables are softened and slightly browned. (The browning adds extra flavor)
3. Stir in the water, salt, cumin, chilies, corn and lime juice. Let it come to a boil.
4. Turn down the heat to low and then stir in the beans.
5. Cover and let cook for 30-40 min.
6. Serve in bowls. With chips and cheese if desired.
7. Store leftovers covered in the fridge. Enjoy

Turkey Quinoa Soup

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for. It was wonderful to have all of our family with us except our son and his sweet wife. We missed them. It was neat to look around the table and see the sweet people that I love. My life revolves around my family. They bring me my greatest joy. I think we can have Thanksgiving every day being grateful for all of our blessings.

So after dinner I was cutting the turkey off the bone and debating if I should use the bones to make soup. Britney encouraged me so I did. It made the house smell so good while it was cooking on the stove. It just isn't' the same smell when you pour soup out of a can. If you don't have the carcass you can make it with just chopped up turkey.

This is a wonderful soup that you could enjoy for lunch or dinner. Yum!

Ingredients

1 turkey carcass *Optional
water to cover it
4 C cooked chopped up turkey (if you don't have the carcass)
8 C water
1 C quinoa washed
3/4 C chia *optional (nice thickener and great source of protein)
1 C carrots chopped
1 C celery chopped
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp pepper
additional salt and pepper to taste if needed

Directions  serves 8

1. In a large pot place car carcass and water to cover it. Place on low heat and let it cook for a couple hours. The meat will fall off the bone.
2. Take pot off the stove and strain through the water to remove the fat, and bones.
3. Place broth back on the stove. Add water to make a total of 8 cups. If you don't have turkey carcass add chopped turkey and water together instead and cook together for 20 minutes.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and let cook at least another 30 min. to let the vegetables soften and the quinoa to cook. Add additional water if it gets too thick.
5. Serve in soup bowls.

Roasted Acorn Curry Soup (dairy free)

I had an acorn squash sitting on my counter and thought it would be fun to make into soup for these cool nights we have been having. It was a wonderful creamy soup. That was enjoyed by all.

Ingredients

2 acorn squash washed
3 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 T olive oil
1 onion sliced
3 scallion chopped
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 granny smith apple peeled chopped and cored *optional
3 C milk (I used cashew milk)
1/2 C canned coconut milk
1 1/2 C water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Directions  Heat oven to 350  Serves 4

1.  Cut a slit in the squashes, and place on cookie sheet. Place in oven and cook until you can cut it up easily. (For a faster cooking time you could do this part in the microwave until soft.)
2. Take squash out of oven and cut into pieces take out the seeds, and drizzle with oil and salt. Cook until nice and tender. Then set aside
3. In a large pot heat up the oil on medium heat and stir in onions and scallions saute for a couple minutes. Optional add apple cut up and cook until softened with the vegetables.
4. Stir in the garlic and continue to saute.   Cook until it turns a light golden color and is soft.
5. With a wire whisk slowly stir in milk, coconut milk, water, salt, curry, thyme, nutmeg, and pepper. Let cook together a couple minutes.
6. Peel off the skin off the squash and put the pieces into the soup and stir and let cook together a couple minutes.
7. Pour half of the mixture into the blender and blend until smooth. Continue the same process with the other half of the soup.
8. Return back to the pot and add additional salt and pepper and spices as desired.
9. Serve warm. I garnished with some pumpkin seeds and drizzled on some coconut milk.

Healthy Creamy Tomatillo Salsa or Dressing

So we had Birthday dinner on Sunday for Max who turned 1 and Britney who turned 30. My oldest child and youngest grand child. Family times are sweet. It was a nice evening and afternoon. We had healthy yummy food. This is one of the things that we served. It goes well on vegetables, salad, crackers, Mexican food or french dip sandwiches. :) Tomatillo's add a yummy flavor to the dressing. It was nice to make a healthy version of it.

Ingredients

1 lb of tomatillos (husks off)
5 cloves of garlic
1 serrano chili
1 T olive oil
1/2 C fresh cilantro washed
juice of one lime
1/4 C Greek plain yogurt
salt to taste preference

Directions makes about 1 1/2 Cups 

1.  Place a skillet on the stove on medium heat. When it gets hot put tomatillos, garlic, chili and oil in the skillet. Stir often until the tomatillos start to burst and the other vegetables start to turn slightly golden. 
2. Take off the stove and let cool. Take the stem off the chili and the peel off the garlic. Take the seeds out of the chili if you want it less spicy.
3. Put the vegetables into the blender. Then put in cilantro, lime juice and yogurt. Pulse until creamy and mostly smooth. It will have some texture to it still. Salt to desired preference. 
4. Serve or store in the fridge covered until ready to serve.    

Happy Birthday! We love you!

Add caption

Bruschetta on Whole Grain Bread

Whole Grain Bruschetta

tomatoes

Sliced  bread

This was a yummy snack this afternoon. I loved the color of the tomatoes. Even after cooking them they kept the bright color to them. It is a fancy-looking snack or appetizer to serve your family and friends that doesn't take too long to make.

Ingredients
1 whole grain French bread or baguette
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 C grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 C golden snacking tomatoes, cut in half
3 T olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
8 basil leaves, cut in small strips
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
3 T olive oil
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced
fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice bread in 1 1/2" diagonal slices. Place on cookie sheet and place in the oven and cook on one side until light brown. Then flip them over and toast them on the other side.
2. While they are toasting mix the tomatoes, oil, vinegar, basil and salt and pepper together. Set aside.
3. Then mix in a small bowl 3 T olive oil and garlic. Brush on to the toasted bread when you take it out of the oven with a pastry brush on one side.
4. Place back in the oven 2 to 3 minutes to let the oil get absorbed into the bread. Take out of the oven.
5. Scoop some tomato mixture on to each piece of bread. Place back in the oven and let it cook 5 to 10 minutes to your desired prefrence. Take out of the oven.
6. Grate cheese on top of each piece of bread. Don't prepare too far in advance or the bread may get soggy. Enjoy!
     

Grape Peach Salsa

By posting this recipe I am entering in a recipe contest sponsored by the California Table Grapes Commission and am eligible to win prizes. I was not compensated for my time.

One last grape recipe for you! We couldn't let the Recipe Redux's challenge go away without posting this last recipe. This was fun to make a salsa with grapes. I have never done that before. The grapes added a nice sweetness to salsa. We put this salsa on our baked chicken last night. It would also be delicious on chips, fish, beef, pork etc... Be creative.

Grapes of all colors are not only tasty, they are good for you. Grapes contain resveratrol, a polyphenol antioxidant that appears to be involved in reducing the risk or slowing the development of cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, viral infections, and Alzheimer's disease. Resveratrol is especially found in the skins of grapes. One serving of grapes (3/4 cup) contains just 90 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, and virtually no sodium, and also provide potassium and are good source of vitamin K. 

Ingredients
1 clove of minced garlic
3/4 C of quarted purple grapes
1 jalapeno minced
3 green onion chopped
1 ripe peach (or switch out for mango!), diced into small pieces
2 T diced purple onion   
1/2 lime juice
salt and pepper and to taste

Directions
1. Place in bowl garlic, grapes, jalapeno, green onion, peach, purple onions, Stir all together.
2. Then stir in lime juice and salt and pepper. Let the flavors meld together if possible. Serve.

Creamy Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes and tips on creamy potatoes

Creamy Potatoes

This month's Recipe Redux celebrates the Oscars by recreating recipes from our favorite movies. I'm not much of a movie person, but I do have some favorite chick flicks that I could watch and quote over and over again.

One of my favorites is While You Are Sleeping. I love the family dynamics and the cute story. One of the classic lines is given by the Grandma--"These mashed potatoes are so creamy." It's not a very spectacular line on it's own, but it's funny because the family is sitting at the dinner table and there are several conversations going on at the same time. I have a big family where that often happens, and some family members around here that love mashed potatoes.

Here are some lovely, creamy mashed potatoes that are also low on the fat, as well as some tips for making your mashed potatoes the creamiest of all.

Ingredients:
2 lbs potatoes peeled and sliced in 1/2 " pieces
3/4 C milk
2 tsp rosemary
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 T butter
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put sliced potatoes in pan cover with cold water. Simmer the water until the potatoes are soft, when you poke a fork in them.
2. In the meantime pour the milk, rosemary, and butter into a sauce pan. Heat until warm, and then keep it on low until the potatoes are all mashed.  
3.. Drain out the water. (Potato water works great for the liquid in bread) and then place back on the element that has been turned off but is still warm. To help all the liquid to to disappear.

4. Then mash with a fork if you have time or a disc masher. (If you use a beater of food processor it could make them gummy with the starch that is in the potatoes) Try to get out all of the lumps. 
5.Then strain the rosemary out of the milk and pour the milk into the potatoes. Mash until all combined. Sprinkle the  garlic over the potatoes and mash until all blended in.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve  warm.

Helpful tips:
1. Slicing the potatoes into 1/2" slices makes them cook faster so they don't become water logged. Easier to mash too.
2. Getting all the water out helps to not have watered down potatoes.
3. Having the butter melted and the milk warm helps to add to the creaminess.
4. Mashing with a fork, if you have time, gives a smoother texture.
Enjoy!  

Homemade Salsa

Yum! Homemade Salsa is always a hit at our house. Once you eat homemade it is hard to go back to the store bought. We have gotten spoiled.

Ingredients:
4 Roma Tomatoes* optional (You don't have to  use these)
1 16oz can of diced tomatoes
 1/4 white onion
1 small can of green chilies
1 clove of garlic
1 handful of washed cilantro
1/2 fresh jalapeno seeded
2 T fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Pour all the ingredients into the blender and pulse a couple times. Don"t blend to much if you want it chunky. Serve fresh is best.  Enjoy

Shitake Mushroom and other Vegetables Omelet

This was a nice breakfast for our holiday today. It was loaded with a lot of great vegetables. I was excited that my son enjoyed eating it. He sometimes is not a fan of lots of vegetables. The Parmesan cheese was a nice touch. The dried mushrooms worked great I have never used them before. :)

Ingredients: 2 servings
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
salt and pepper
2 T oil
1/4 Green pepper diced in pieces
1/2 C dried shitake mushrooms
1/2 C purple onions chopped
1 small jalapeno diced in pieces
2 Roma tomatoes chopped in small pieces
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 T oil (I used grape seed oil)
fresh Parmesan cheese grated

Directions:
1. Beat egg and egg whites together for a couple minutes. Heat frying pan on medium heat.

2. Pour in half the mixture. Swirl around in the pan. Heat and then lift up edge and let uncooked egg slide under. Let cook a couple minutes.

3. In the meant time. Heat another pan and pour in the oil. Throw all the vegetables into the oil and cook until tender about 5 min.

4. Scoop a couple spoonfuls of cooked vegetables on one side of the omelet. Fold the other half on over the top of the vegetables. Grate some cheese on top.

5. Repeat the process with the remaining egg. Serve warm. Top with salsa or ketchup.

Fettuccine with Cayenne Sweet Pepper Sauce

I was looking at the recipe cards at the grocery store, and I thought this sounded good. :) I love finding fun new recipes. I did a little tweaking and served it for dinner tonight. It was tasty. It had a great mixture of flavors. You could add other vegetables to it. I tried the sauce on brown rice and really liked it too.

Ingredients:
12 oz dry fettuccine pasta (You could put it on brown rice)
2 red peppers julienned
4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 white onion thinly sliced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 C plain yogurt and 1/4 C kefir or 1 C sour cream or 1 C plain yogurt
3/4 C water
2 tsp thyme
3/4 C grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add pasta, cook until al dente, then drain.

2. While that is cooking, spray a frying pan with non stick oil, and saute peppers, garlic, onion and cayenne.

3. Cook on me. heat for 5 min. Stir in yogurt mixture, water, thyme. Simmer uncovered for 5 min.

4. Take off the heat and add the cheese, stir until all mixed in.

5. Either pour the sauce over the noodles or mix the sauce into the noodles. (Or brown rice)

Enjoy!

Parmesan Popcorn

I hope that you had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I love Mother's Day! My husband and children fix an amazing dinner. The best part is the love that goes into it. It is a happy time. I got to be with all of my children except for one. I loved a wonderful phone call from her. :) I LOVE being a Mom! It is a wonderful part of my life.

Popcorn reminds me of Spring. We sing a wonderful song. "Popcorn popping on the apricot trees." My grandson loves it and so do I. Popcorn can be a great treat if you put the right ingredients on it. Hear is another recipe we love.

My daughter said this recipe tastes like bread sticks. :) It is a lot faster to make than bread sticks.

Ingredients:

8 C freshly air popped popcorn
1/8 C grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dill weed
3 to 4 T olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pour Popcorn in bowl.

2. In a small bowl pour in spices and cheese. Stir until all combined.

3. Drizzle the oil on to the popcorn. Start out slow you can always add more. Toss to get the oil on the popcorn.

4. Sprinkle cheese mixture over the popcorn and toss a couple time. Add salt and pepper to your preference.

Now all you need is a good movie. =) Enjoy!

Creamy Asparagus Leek Soup

This is a crazy time of year. Sometimes you wake up thinking Spring is here, and the next morning snow is back. The nice thing is that it is not as cold, and the snow melts quick. So my point is that it can still be a good time to make soup. I think soup is good all year. (I have a few kids who think otherwise.) This a delicious creamy soup . I made it yesterday when my daughter Britney came over, and we both really enjoyed it. It has a lot of vegetables loaded into it as well. :) Yum! It tasted so wonderful for lunch today as well.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

2 leeks washed and sliced into 1/4 slices

1 large yellow onion chopped

3/4 tsp sea salt

3-4 garlic cloves minced

1 sweet potato peeled and chopped small cubes

1 bunch of asparagus chopped in small pieces

4 1/2 C water

1/4 to 1/2 C fresh parsely chopped in small pieces

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

(any other spices you want)

2 T cream *Optional

Directions:

1. Heat 4-qt soup pot over med heat and add oil.

2. Pour into the pot leek, onions, and salt and saute for 5 min. Until the onion turns clear.

3. Add the garlic and stir well. Cook another minute more.

4. Add the potato, water, herbs, and asparagus cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and let simmer for 20 min.

5. Pour the soup into a blender. Blend it 1 cup at a time till it is creamy! Continue until it is all creamy. I then added 2 T of Cream to make it even more smooth and creamy. Blend the whole amount at one time. It is optional you don't have to add the cream.

6. Then pour back into the pot and heat the soup up again. Serve nice and hot!

A great way to eat a lot of vegetables! :)

Whole Grain Tomato Basil Wraps

Today I had fun making some wraps, this time I tried them adding tomatoes. You can try this past recipe for wraps too. I loved smelling the garlic in them while they cooked. Yum! You could add some more herbs to them as well. There are lots of fun things you can put in them. (Meat. Cheese, egg, vegetables)
I rolled one up quick for my son with pepper jack cheese, turkey, spinach and some mustard. He really liked it. He thought they were store bought. (Mission accomplished! :)
This is what the mixture looked like prior to adding the flour. It was bright red before I added the leek. The red and green combo, made it more brown.
This was the about the size I rolled them into. I made some big and some smaller. It made about 12 wraps.
Ingredients:

1 1/2 C Roma tomatoes pureed (about 4 to 5 tomatoes
2 T fresh basil
1 T marjoram (optional)
1 leek chopped small pieces
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4  C olive oil
3 C whole grain flour ( I used this combination. 1 C spelt, 1/2 C brown rice, 1/2 C quinoa, 1/2 C kamut, 1/4 C buckwheat )
*olive oil for your hands when you roll them into balls

Directions:

1. Put the tomatoes in the blender, and puree for a couple minutes. (It should equal to 1 1/2 C) Then add herbs, leek, garlic, salt and oil, pulse.another couple minutes.
2. Pour the mixture into the bread mixer. Then knead adding 1 cup of flour at a time. The dough will be sticky. (Moist is better)
3. Put oil on your hands, and roll the dough into balls. Let sit while heating up the tortilla maker. ( I have a chef pro)
4. Then cook on tortilla maker according to manufactures directions. (I found with my tortilla maker, not putting too much pressure on it works the best.)

Whole Grain Bolognese

This tasted really good. I kept going back for more sauce. :) I loved the flavor. I didn't have whole grain spaghetti, so I broke up lasagna noodles it worked out great. I think the Bolognese (Italian name for a meat based sauce) would work with any kind of pasta, rice, barley etc... I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1 onion chopped up finely
2-4 garlic cloves minced (I love garlic!)
1 tsp rosemary
2 tsp oregano
1/2 to 1 T basil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (added a nice mild bite to it)
2 tsp Italian seasoning* Optional I just had it on hand so added some more! :)
1 lb ground turkey or ground beef (I used turkey worked great!)
1 28 oz can plum tomatoes with liquid chopped up
4 T ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 water
1 small can of mushroom pieces with liquid
10-14 oz of pasta, rice, barley or ?
1/2 to 1 tsp of pepper
salt to taste
garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the pan, add the onions and garlic. Cook on med heat for about 3 min. Then add herbs and cayenne and cook a couple more minutes. Then add the meat. Cook an stir often until thoroughly browned. Drain off any excess grease.

2. Stir in the canned tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, pepper, mushrooms and water. Bring to a boil while stirring. Cover the pan and lower the heat. Let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring it occasionally.

3. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain off all of the water.

4.Scoop pasta of your choice, on to a plate. Then pour on the bolognese. :) Garnish with the grated Parmesan cheese.

Sweet Potato Fries with Herbs

My friend Melinda gave me a new way to make sweet potato fries. (I love hearing other peoples ideas. =) She said you could also use this mixture on squash and other kinds of potatoes too. I loved the smell of all the herbs. It was fun to use Oregano too! They added a wonderful flavor. I appreciated my husband cutting all the sweet potatoes. He does such a nice job. I like him being in the kitchen with me. Sorry I only have a before picture. I love to find new ways to eat vegetables.


Ingredients:
5-6 sweet potatoes or squash
4 minced garlic
1/2 C olive oil
1 C apple cider vinegar (I may cut this down a tad next time. I did like it!)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper

Directions: Heat oven to 350

1. Slice up potatoes in julienne pieces. 1/4' wide by 3 to 4 " long (roughly).

2. Mix in a bowl, with a whisk: oil, vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper.

3. Dip all the potatoes into the mixture. Place on cookie sheet. Single layer. Cover with foil for the first 30 min. Then take off the foil and cook another 30 min. Depending on your oven. Keep an eye on them.

4. Serve! Enjoy a nice healthy treat!

*Thanks Melinda for all of your great ideas! =)

Spicy Fried Noodles

This was another Asian dish that tasted really good. I had some rice sticks I had bought for fun. (I had never tried them before.) It was a success, because my family came back for second and thirds. =)


Ingredients:

1 pkg. of rice sticks 6.75 oz pkg or egg thread noodles
3 T coconut oil
3 garlic cloves minced (let sit for 10 min before cooking for extra benefits)
2 scallions sliced thinly
1 pkg. peeled cooked shrimp 140z
1 28 oz stir fry vegetables (mix had bean sprouts and water chestnuts in it too)
2 T coconut sugar or other sweetener
2 eggs beaten
1 T crushed red chili pepper
3 T cilantro
*optional hoison sauce

Directions:

1, Place rice sticks in a bowl of hot water that covers it. Let it sit 20 minutes to soften it.

2. In the meantime, heat up pan with oil, garlic and scallions. Fry and stir a couple minutes. Then cut up rice sticks and cook 5 more minutes.

3. Pour in vegetables, shrimp, sugar, and red pepper. Stir for a couple minutes.

4. Add the beaten eggs. Stir them in till all mixed. Put the lid on and let it all cook together for 5 to 10 minutes on medium heat.

5. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

6. I had some hoisin sauce that tasted good on it too. Tasty meal!

*You could use chicken in place of shrimp or have a combo of both. :)

Yummy Chicken Cabbage or Lettuce Wraps

It was fun to try something new. It is so easy to think we need to wrap our food in tortillas and wraps. It was a fun change to wrap it in cabbage. It is a great way to eat more greens as well. My son ate 6 or 7 of them. I know he would not been as excited to eat the cabbage, if it had been in a salad. You can roll them up, or fold it over and eat it like a taco.

Ingredients:

pouring sauce:
1/8 C honey
2 T coconut sugar or honey or sugar
1/2 C warm water
2T soy sauce
2T ketchup
2 T rice vinegar
1T lemon juice
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp dry mustard
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce (Gave it an extra bang. You could try hot mustard instead)

Ingredients for stir-fry sauce:

4 T soy sauce
4 T honey
1 tsp. rice vinegar

Ingredients for chicken stir-fry:

1 T virgin olive oil
4 T sesame seeds
1 1/2 to 2lb chicken tenders (cut in small pieces)
1-8 oz can sliced water chestnuts chopped finely
1 leek chopped finely
1 onion chopped fine
6 garlic cloves minced fine
3/4 C brown rice cooked
1/2 unsweetened fine coconut *optional
1 nappa cabbage head or ice berg lettuce washed well.

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together for pouring sauce put in the fridge.

2. Mix ingredients together for stir fry sauce.

3. Put a large pot on the stove, pour olive oil in the pan. Pour chicken tenders into the pan with sesame seeds, cook until lightly browned. Then add water chestnuts, onion, leek, brown rice and garlic. Pour on the stir-fry sauce. Stir it all together. Cook it another 5 to 10 min. on med. low.

4. Serve the stir-fry with the cabbage or lettuce leaves. Pour the Pouring sauce in individual small bowls. (So they can pour or dip it individually).

* I really enjoyed the nappa cabbage. It seemed like a combination of a cabbage and lettuce combined. It was a fun and yummy meal.

Brown Rice Pilaf

Since I was using my pressure cooker already for the meat, I decided to just cook the rice on the stove. lt had been a long time since I had done that. I was very pleased with the results. It turned out very light, it was a wonderful pilaf. This too was a popular item. (Like the roast yesterday) I think only about 1 cup was left.
I served this with the roast I posted yesterday. It makes a great combo.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 C brown rice
5 C water
1 small can of chopped mushrooms or fresh
2-3 minced garlic
1 T thyme
1/2 T butter
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste after it is cooked.

Directions:

1. Pour water into pan. Pour in the rice. Bring to boil.

2. While the water is preparing to boil, get a small frying pan. Pour olive oil and mushrooms and garlic into pan. Saute for a couple minutes.

3. Then when water boils add the mushroom mixture, and butter. Stir and let cook on med. to low heat. (You can add another 1/4 to 1/2 C water if it is too dry before it is done. It is done when it fluffs up, and nice and tender.

*I have been happy with the Lundberg Family Rice brand.

* I had leftovers for lunch today and mixed it with a bunch of vegetables. Still very light and good.

Seasoned Cross Rib Roast

This roast turned out great. I was feeding a crowd. It was all gone by the end of the meal. It was very tender and moist. The meat just fell apart. =)
This picture makes me smile because it looks like a plant. I went all out with the herbs. It had a great flavor. This is before it was cooked picture.

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs cross rib roast
1 onion chopped in big slices
5 garlic cloves minced
1 to 2 T fresh parsley or 1 Dried
5-6 basil leaves or 2 tsp dried
1 T thyme
1 T marjoram
1 1/2 C water
salt and pepper to taste after


Directions:

1. The meat was frozen. I put it in my pressure cooker and then just poured everything on top of it. Set the timer on high pressure for 99 min., and then it keeps it warm till you are ready to serve. Let the pressure release on its own.


2. Or you could do the same thing in the crock pot. Just start it in the morning on low, and let it cook all day, or put it on high and let it cook 4+ hours till tender. Depending on how big the roast is.

*Made great gravy!

Delicious!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

This is another great recipe that uses some great herbs. It is a great way to eat a lot of vegetables in one sitting. It is light on the calories as long as you don't go too heavy on the cheese or chips. :)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 lb chicken tenders
2 onions (Peel off outer cover. Keep them whole. Cut a large cross in the stem of each onion.)
10 C water
3-5 carrots thickly cut
3-5 celery sticks
1 small parsnip cut thickly
3 T fresh parsley chopped or 1 T Dried
1 T dried dill or 3 T fresh
1 tsp turmeric :)
1 T dried thyme
1 T poultry seasoning or chicken seasoning
5 garlic cloves minced
1 T salt
1 tsp pepper
optional: You could use, barley, brown rice, quinoa, dumplings or noodles too

Directions:

1. Pour water in a large pot. Then pour all of ingredients in the pot. Put the cover on bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat and let simmer 2-3 hours till chicken is cooked. The chicken should fall apart as well as the onion.

2. Then pour into bowls. You can garnish with fresh parsley, cheese, chips, fresh dill.

*If you have a pressure cooker. Put on high pressure and set the time for 30 min. It will be all done when you open the pot. You will have to cut the water down to 8 Cups. You could also put in the crock pot in the morning, and let it cook for the day.


*You could put some of the left overs in the blender,blend it up, and freeze and use as a chicken broth. :)