Mulligatawny Soup

We have enjoyed some snow. It has been a mild winter here. We were in need of snow. It was the perfect amount of snow for Christmas it made everything so pretty and white. It was fun to stay cozy in our warm home.

This is a wonderful soup that will keep you nice and warm in the winter. It is based on a soup that was popular with army officers in India at the beginning of the century.

Ingredients

3 T olive oil
1 large onion chopped
3 carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
1 large apple peeled and cored and chopped up
2 T whole grain flour
1/4 C chia *Optional
2 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
5 1/2  C water
1  14.5 can of whole tomatoes
2 C brown rice cooked
garnish with plain yogurt if desired

Directions

1. Heat oil in large pot add onion, carrots, celery, and apple. Stir and let soften and brown slightly.
2. Stir in flour, for a minute. Then stir in chia*, curry, salt, and thyme.
3. Then stir in water and bring it to a boil. Then stir in the tomatoes. Turn down the heat and let cook on low with the lid on. Le simmer about 30 min.
4. Pour into blender or food processor and blend and pulse until smooth.
5. Return to the pot and stir in the rice and heat until all warm.
6. Serve hot. You can put on a dollop of plain yogurt on top if desired.

Scrambled Eggs with Vegetables

It is my sweet husbands birthday today. We met 37 years on his birthday. When we were in high school. I am so glad I found him and feel like he is half of me. I can guess what he is going to say before he even says it. He is a great father and sweet grandpa. I am so glad I found him. I decided it would be fun to make him breakfast. He loved it.

 I was reading a great suggestion of adding vegetables to your diet first thing in the morning to get more vegetables into your daily diet. So that is what I did today. I added to eggs. It was wonderful. I have found that if you prepare vegetables the right way they are very enjoyable to eat. The average American falls short of the amount of vegetables they are suppose to eat in a day. We should be eating 5-10 servings a day. This recipe could make a great dinner as well.

Ingredients

3 T olive oil
1/4 thinly sliced onion
1/4 chopped red pepper (You could use other colors too)
1 clove minced garlic
handful of spinach
4 eggs beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper *optional
grated cheese *optional

Directions

1. Spray pan with non stick cooking spraying. Then pour in oil and heat pan to medium heat.
2. Put in to frying pan onions, peppers, and garlic and cook until softened.
3. Stir in the spinach and cook a couple minutes.
4. Stir in the eggs, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Cook until the eggs are all cooked.
5. Put on grated cheese if desired. Serve warm.

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.

Vegetable Lentil Salad

This salad is a great way to eat a lot of vegetables in a healthy way. I loved all the color in it. When you eat a rainbow of colors you know you are getting a nice mixture of nutrients. You get a added bonus of lentils, chia, and quinoa. You get some nice protein in it. I have a nice hand chopper that cubes the vegetables. That makes it really easy. You can find it at Walmart or any store that carries kitchen tools. This is so healthy and good. Winner! Winner!

Ingredients

1 C lentils cooked
1/3 C quinoa cooked (red adds great color
1/3 C chia *optional
1/4 C chopped purple onion
1 sweet potato cooked and cubed
1/4 C yellow pepper chopped in cubes
1/4 C red pepper chopped in cubes
1/2 C zucchini  chopped
1/2 C avocado chopped
2 Roma tomatoes chopped in small pieces
1/4 C cilantro chopped up
juice from one lime
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder

Directions
1. Toss all the ingredients in a bowl except juice, salt, pepper and chili powder.
2. Then squeeze on the juice and pour in salt, pepper and chili powder. Toss into salad.
3. Serve at once for best results or cover in an air tight container and put in the fridge until ready to serve.
4. Keep leftovers in airtight container in the fridge.

Tasty Refried Black Beans and Happy Healthy 2014

Love is having our children come for the holidays!

Love being grandparents!

We have enjoyed a nice holiday break. I hope you have enjoyed being around family and friends too. We rejoice in celebrating Jesus Christ's birth. However your family celebrates the season I hope it was a happy one. Grandchildren help the season come alive for all of us. We loved having our children come home for the holidays too. We missed having Bryce and Katie here this year.

Yesterday, we enjoyed thinking about what might happen in the year ahead. We made some fun predictions.  It is fun to have new energy and excitement for a new year. We had a fun family gathering yesterday and enjoyed one of our favorite kinds of food. Mexican! It was a great way to start out the new year. Yum! I will give you the Mexican Rice recipe tomorrow. :) I also made this Oatmeal Cake recipe for an evening snack and it was gobbled up. I fell in love with it all over again.

I made these re fried black beans and they were a big hit. I had never made them like this before. I will be making them like this again. This is also a yummy way to make black beans that I did last year. One of my goals this year is continue to make recipes that are healthy and delicious.

Happy Healthy 2014!

Re fried Black Beans

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1 chopped onion
4-5 cloves minced garlic
5 C cooked black beans, drained * Great way to make black beans.
1 1/2 C water
1 can diced green chilies
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder


Directions
1. In a skillet or big pot heat up the oil on med heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and let it cook for 3-5 minutes until it is lightly browned.
2. Pour in the drained black beans and stir around and let them all cook together 2-3 minutes. Stir in the water. Mash the beans. Don't mash them all so there is some texture to them.
3. Pour in the green chilies, salt, cumin and chili powder. Stir them all together. Let them heat up together and let the flavors meld together on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.    

Healthy Butternut Squash Soup

I was abundantly blessed with tons of butternut squash in my garden this year. So I decided it was time to make some soup out of one of them. I had made it before and a couple years ago and didn't like the consistency, It was too thick. This recipe turned out some much better. I changed around a recipe I found in family circle   It had some thickness to it yet was not too thick. I loved the combination of flavor the fresh scallions thrown on top were a nice addition. It tasted yummy on this beautiful Fall evening. We had it with some grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ingredients:
2-3 T olive oil
1 white onion diced
salt and pepper
4 carrots peeled and chopped
3/4 medium butternut squash peeled and cut into cubes
8 C water
1 T chicken seasoning (vegan option leave out)
1 tsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp garlic powder or granules
1 tsp salt or to taste preference
1/4 tsp pepper
scallion chopped in small pieces
*For taste variation: leave out the thyme and rosemary add 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp cinnamon.

Directions:
1. In a large cooking pot heat oil in pan on medium heat. Toss in the onion. Cook for about 5 min till softened. Add a little salt and pepper
2. Then throw in the squash and carrots. Cook with onion. Cover and  cook on medium low heat about 5 min. Stir as needed.
3. Stir in the water and spices, salt and pepper to your taste preference  Let the mixture come to a boil. Then turn down to medium low heat and let cook about 15 min. covered.
4.  Then pour a couple cups at a time into the blender and puree. Continue until the squash and carrots are all blended.
5. Serve in bowls and top with scallions.
6. Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas. baguettes with cheese or crusty bread.

Turkey and Pesto on Sourdough

Make your own pesto sandwich at home! I could eat pesto plain. It tastes so good. It was fun to put some great flavors together to make a wonderful meal. I didn't have time to make my own sourdough bread. I will have to do that next time. It was nice to have a dinner that whipped up fast after being gone watching my son play tennis. Spring is such a happy time of year! :)

Ingredients:
2 T oil
1/2 purple onion, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 to 1 lb of shredded turkey (I used turkey breast I had cooked)
1/2 C pesto
2 1/2 T mayo (optional)
provolone cheese or other cheese preference
oil to fry the sandwiches in
sourdough bread

Directions: makes 4 sandwiches
1. In a small fry pan, heat up the oil on medium heat and then throw in the onions. Let them cook on medium heat for about 3 min. Then stir in the garlic and let it cook a couple more minutes.
2. Stir in the turkey and let it cook for about 5 min. Take off the heat and set aside.
3. Blend the pesto with the mayo*(If desired) Spread the pesto on the bread on one side of each slice.
4. Scoop about 1/3 C of turkey mixture on one side of the sandwich. Place provolone cheese on top.
5. Put the other side of bread on top.
6. Heat up a skillet on medium high heat. Put a small amount of oil in the pan.
7. Place the sandwich in the pan and cook on both sides until the cheese melts.
8. Serve warm with fresh fruit and vegetables. YUM!

Whole Grain Steak Soft Tacos

"Nearly a century and a half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. 'There is a great work for the Saints to do,' he said. 'Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ' (Deseret News, Aug. 8, 1860, 177).

"The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Happiness, Your Heritage," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 119

This quote makes me happy! It makes me think about Spring. It also makes happy to think about the things that we can create and do each day. Each day has new opportunities for us to create in so many ways. What are you going to create today? Being in the kitchen is a great way to create. I love it.

This recipe is my latest creation. We had steak a couple nights before. It was a great way to use the leftover steak. I liked all the vegetables in it. My taco was 3/4 vegetables and 1/4 steak. It is a nice meal for this time of year.

Ingredients: Serves 4 or more

1 to 1 1/2 C cooked steak chopped up

2-3 garlic cloves minced

1 leek chopped in small pieces

1 onion chopped up small pieces

1 C bell peppers (yellow and red) chopped up

1 C mushroom chopped in small pieces

3 or 4 roma tomatoes chopped

2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

6-7 wholegrain tortillas

2 T oil

*I used 1 1/4 C of this too.

salsa and sour cream if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan. place garlic, leek, and onions and stir and cook 3-4 min. or till soft. Then add remaining vegetables and cook until softened.

2. Then add steak and cook for a couple minutes to heat it all the way up. Serve in tortillas shells.

Now you can make your own creation. :)

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.

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!

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Brown Rice

I took dinner to a friend. It is always hard to know what to make. I decided on this. It is always nice when it goes over well with my family. I feel like there is a good chance the family I took it to, will like it as well. I hope so! :) I am a big fan of sweet and sour. How about you?

Ingredients:

Brown Rice cooked
(I used the pressure cooker. I put 2 cloves of garlic, 2 T fresh marjoram, 2 1 /2 C Brown Rice, 5 C water, 1 T lavender mix. Cooked it for 20 min and let it cool down for 10 min. perfect! Added salt and pepper at the end. You can cook it in a Rice cooker, or how ever works best for you! ) *optional you could add a finely chopped onion.

1 1/2 to 2 lbs chicken tenders (They are on sale this week at Sunflower Market $1.99 lb)
1/2 C soy sauce (I am going to try to cut the soy sauce down to 1/3 C nest time)
1 to 1 1/2 C water
3 to 4 T lemon juice
1/4 to 1/3 C honey
4 fresh basil leaves dried basil 1 tsp
3 to 4 garlic cloves minced
1 T fresh ginger 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp thyme
1 onion chopped up fine
1 leek cut in small pieces
1 orange pepper chopped in small pieces

1. While the rice is cooking. I put the chicken in the pan to cook. You could put in a little water. Maybe a 1/4 C put on the lid. Let it cook a few minutes.

2. Then take off the lid and add the remaining ingredients, Stir it all,till its all combined. I then put the lid back on and let it cook on med to low for about 30 min. Letting all the flavors combine. I then used a pair of kitchen shears and cut the chicken into small pieces.

3. Then I mixed the mixture with the cooked rice. I didn't even have to add any thickener. It combined well and was a nice texture. Salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy

*You could add some other colored peppers to make it more colorful. :)
* You could also not mix them and just pour the chicken mixture over the rice.
*This was so good for lunch the next day! =)

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. :)

Triple Onion Cream Soup

This is not a low fat meal, but it tasted really good. You could cut down the fat by using half and half. Which I usually do, but this time I splurged. I incorporated 3 different kinds of onions. Yellow onions are a sweeter onion and a little more potent. White onions have a little less tang to them. Leek added another dimension as well. The picture does not do it justice.

Ingredients:

1/2 C unsalted butter
3 white onions sliced
3 yellow onions sliced
1 leek chopped fine
2 bay leaf
8 C chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 1/3 C heavy cream (You could use half milk)
a little lemon juice (optional)
salt and pepper , croutons, chopped chives to garnish


Directions:

1. Melt 1/4 C butter in large pan. Stir in all of the white onions with the bay leafs. Stir to coat with butter and cook on low for 30 minutes. Onions should be soft but not brown.

2. Turn up the heat and add the broth, and leek. Add a little salt and pepper too. Bring to a boil lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Set soup aside to cool down. Take out the bay leaves. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Pour the soup back into the pan.

4. Melt the rest of the butter in a frying pan. Cook the yellow onions slowly until soft, but not brown. Take off the lid and continue to cook until the onions are a golden yellow. (These onions add a nice texture and buttery flavor to the soup.)

5. Add the cream to the soup, in the pan with heat on low until the soup is hot. You can add some lemon juice for a nice added flavor. Pour in the yellow onions. Stir for 1-2 minutes. Serve with croutons, chopped chives, or crackers. Yum!