Friday, September 20, 2013

Green chile buffalo burger

1lb buffalo
1/2 cup mild green chiles (we were serving to the kids so we kept the chile heat down)
1-2 table spoons ghee (or butter) 
1 tablespoon hamburger or steak seasoning low sodium

Mash and combine all ingredients, form into round patties with a thinner middle so burger will be flat once done instead of raised in the center. Cook in a skillet or grill over medium heat, 3-4 per a side for well done.
Serve with toppings, cheese, etc. or open faced along side a green veggie!


Apple Cajun Pork Tenderloin

This would be a great Sunday lunch that can be made while your at church!

1-2lb pork tenderloin with little slits every half inch or so
1 apple cord and cut into several slices
1-2 tablespoons butter or ghee
2-3 tablespoons honey or blue agave
1 medium white onion cut into slices
Cajun seasoning
Salt and pepper

In a pan melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle Cajun seasoning on tenderloin and add to pan to sear all sides of the meat. Add honey. Add the pork tenderloin to crock pot and pour sauce all over. In each slit in the tenderloin, place an apple slice. Toss remaining apple slices and onions over tenderloin, cover and cook on high for 2 hours or low for 3-4 hours.

Slice and serve with the apples and onions on top of rice or mashed potatoes? 
This was so easy and Jonny asked for it to be added to the regular menu!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Pioneer woman's drip beef sandwiches

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/drip-beef-two-ways/

I went the spicy route for these Italian spicy drip beef sandwiches and they were really yummy!
What I used according to recipe from link above with a few alterations

1 chuck roast 
16oz can of beef broth
7-8oz of pepperoncinis with liquid (aka banana peppers)
1 onion cut up in eighths
1 packet Italian dressing seasoning  

Place all in a crock pot on low for about 9 hours, pull meat out and shred then return to pot with juices and serve on Hawaiian king rolls with drippings on the side.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Asian pork ribs with yummy slaw (crock pot!)

Pulled this from http://paleomg.com/asian-pork-ribs-over-tangy-slaw/. Did everything the same except used the crockpot and a few
Different ingredients.

The ribs:
2lbs boneless country style ribs, trimmed fat.
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 
2 tablespoons brags liquid aminos (she used coconut aminos, really a soy sauce would work)
2 tablespoons blue agave nectar  (she used raw honey)
1 teaspoon sesame oil (probably used a Lil more just cuz I like the flavor)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1-2 tablespoons olive oil (she used coconut oil)

Marinade the ribs over night and then put in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours until meat easily falls apart.

The slaw
She used a bag of broccoli slaw but I couldn't find that so here is what I used:
1/3 of a red cabbage grated
2 good sized carrots
2 good sized broccoli trunks (I normally chop off the crowns of the broccoli and steam for a side dish with a meal but this allowed me to use what I normally trash)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup almond butter
1-2 teaspoons Siracha sauce depending on the heat you prefer 
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 juiced limes
1-2 teaspoons of sesame oil 
1-2 tablespoons blue agave nectar (she used honey)
1-2 teaspoons brags liquid aminos

Sauté all in a pan over medium high heat for about 8min stirring and evenly coating the mixture.

Serve pork over slaw and garnish with sesame seeds :)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Sword fish and veggie pasta

2-3 sword fish steaks
Coriander 
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 limes

In frying pan coat in olive oil, season fish on both sides generously with coriander, salt and pepper. Cook each side 4-5 min on each side until fish flakes easily. Once cooked remove from pan ad a small slice of butter on top of fish and squeeze limes over fish.

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Veggie pasta

1/2 box veggie tri colored pasta (I used quinoa pasta)
2 tablespoons butter
2-3 sprigs of fresh dill
1 zucchini skinned and chopped into bites
1-2 fresh tomatoes chopped into bites
1 lemon juiced
1 red bell pepper copped into bites
Salt to taste
2 garlic cloves minced

Cook pasta. In separate pan melt butter and add veggies and garlic. Sauté unto veggies are tender, add lemon juice and dill last for about a min to cook in. Combine with pasts, add Parmesan cheese if desired.


Brynna's bites

1 spaghetti squash
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
8-10 dried apricots pitted, organic with no added sugars or sulf.

Half squash and cook in crock pot on low for 6-7 hours with a cup of water. Scrape seeds out and remove cooked squash from skin. Let cool then blend on high squash, apricots, and applesauce to purée.
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Acorn squash and/or 3-4 sweet potatoes
1 cup applesauce
Cinnamon to taste

Cook squash/sweet potatoes (can cook in crockpot as well according to directions above, just wrap sweet potatoes in foil). Remove skin/seeds, add all ingredients to blender and purée. I've done just squash and just sweet potatoes and both together. 

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Oatmeal
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup applesauce
Cinnamon to taste 

Cook oats with water, add applesauce to cool and cinnamon.

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Scrambled eggs and spinach

1-2 scrambled eggs
1tablespoon almond milk unsweetened 
Salt and pepper
Fresh chopped up spinach

Cook up scrambled eggs with milk, salt and pepper. Once 2/3rds of the way done add chopped spinach to lightly wilt, and serve!

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Green oatmeal

2 cups cooked oats
1 large banana
1 cup fresh spinach

Blend all ingredients in blender until well mixed and serve!



Monday, June 17, 2013

Curry tuna cakes

This is new favorite recipe! Made these for dinner the other night and tripled the recipe to have some left over, then put them on top of lettuce, avocado, red bell peppers and some Caesar salad dressing for lunch today and it was GREAT!
Here's the website: http://carrotsncake.com/2012/09/blogs-you-are-lovin-right-now.html 
The blog has some other recipes I am excited to try!

1 can drained tuna
1 egg
1 tsp curry (I doubled mine cuz we like curry)
1/2 table spoon coconut flour (I used almond flour cuz that's what I had on hand)
1tsp minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped scallions
(I added some fresh basil) 

Oil to cook in (I used coconut oil)

Mix together everything but the oil and form into two patties, cook in oil over med/high heat until brown on one side then flip and cook the other side... I would say about 2 min each side?

Serve with avocado! Veggies, sweet potato fries, etc. yummy! I will be making these and freezing them for a quick dinner!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Shrimp fried quinoa

2 cups cooked quinoa (I normally use left over, chilled quinoa)
2-3 tablespoons coconut oil (you can sub another just don't do olive oil cuz it leaves a weird taste)
1/2 a red bell pepper chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 a yellow bell pepper chopped
2 eggs
3/4 cup thawed frozen peas (I've used fresh snow peas/sugar snap peas in pods)
1tablespoon+ of brags liquid amino acids (it's a lower sodium soy sauce alternative, can use soy sauce if you want)
2 servings of cooked shrimp shelled and detailed (I use the pre cooked and frozen shrimp thawed, can sub cooked bite sized chicken or steak too!)

In a big frying pan melt oil on medium high heat, add quinoa, and coat in the oil, cook a few minutes, add shrimp and amino acids. Move around the pan to get a coat of oil, then add bell peppers and peas and let cooked a few minutes to tenderize a bit. Scramble eggs and add salt and pepper if Ou wish. In the pan push quinoa mixture to one side of the pan to make room to fry up the scrambled eggs, or you can use a separate pan to cook them up then add to the quinoa mixture and stir in. 


Brown sugar bacon wrapped smokies

These a addictive! My friend Sara DeArmon made these for Easter lunch and it was a hit! Made these for a couple of baby showers and this was a favorite with everyone! 

1 package bacon
1 package Lil smokies
1 cup brown sugar
Tooth pics

Cut the strips of bacon into thirds, wrap one third slice around one Lil Smokie and secure with a tooth pick. Do this for all the smokies and bacon. Place in a big baking dish, pour brown sugar evenly over Lil smokies, cook at 350 for 20 min. Then broil for 5-8 min to get the bacon a nice crisp!

Easy peasy! And yummy! 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Zucchini banana flax seed muffins

www.marthastewart.com/851872/zucchini-banana-and-flaxseed-muffins 

Here is a yummy recipe from Martha Stewart! With my own substations of course ;) first is her recipe from 
the link above and then I will post the substitutions I made.

Ingredients 
Nonstick cooking spray 
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
 1/2 cup ground flaxseed 
1 cup lightly packed light-brown sugar 
2 teaspoons baking soda
 1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (from 1 large zucchini) 
1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (from 1 large banana) 
3/4 cup whole milk
 1 large egg, lightly beaten
 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 12 standard
muffin cups with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk
together flour, flaxseed, brown sugar, baking soda,
baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add zucchini and
banana and stir to combine. In a small bowl, whisk
together milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined (do not overmix). 
2. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick
inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
Let muffins cool completely in pan on a wire rack,
about 30 minutes.

My subs-
Instead of all purpose flour I used white whole wheat and added a Lil extra milk.
Instead of milk I used almond milk
Instead of sugar I used maple syrup and only used half of what it called for.. Normally would use honey but
 since these were mostly something new for Brynna to try we skipped using it this time...   
Instead of cooking spray I grease my muffin tin with coconut oil.
Instead of using regular muffin tin, I used a mini muffin tin and cooked them for 20 min.

They were a hit! Jackson ate 6 right away!

I put the rest in a big freezer bag to freeze and pull out for on the go snacks since the baby rice crackers area bit pricey.

I think 15 secs in the microwave would quickly thaw them if you needed.

Cute and mini!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Racheal Rays rosemary honey garlic chicken

Saw this recipe on Racheal Rays top recipes the
other day :) made it and it was YUMMO! (her words
and mine after eating it!) 1 lb chicken breast ( I used tenderloins)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 shallot finely chopped ( I used dehydrated onions
from the seasoning section at walmart since a
shallot is a light tasting sweet onion)
3 springs chopped fresh rosemary (target and walmart have the living herbs above the lettuce
section)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon honey dijon or honey mustard. in a pan cook thawed chicken meat in olive oil,
season both sides with salt and pepper. after
chicken is cooked, remove from pan and add
minced garlic, rosemary and onion (cook for 2-3
min.) then add the rest of the ingredients and cook
for a few more min. then add chicken back to the pan and coat. Serve with rice pilaf and bitter greens like Escrole.
I served the chicken over the Escrole greens and
drizzled the sauce over it. It was yummy!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Brownies

Pampered chef brownie recipe with a few extra ingredients :)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup veggie oil ( can use coconut oil, apple sauce or yogurt)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Optional use a few teaspoons of instant coffee mix to give it a coffee mocha taste
1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients, then combine both. Bake in a 8x8 at 350 for 20-25 min. Take out at 20 min for a more gooey texture.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Guinness shepherds pie

This was a big hit tonight at small group! Lucky me I made enough for dinner on Wednesday when my dad comes in so there's one less thing to do this week and my hubby is pretty happy with it too!

I found the recipe on Pinterest and here's the direct link as well as my alterations down below- http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/2011/03/guinness-shepherds-pie-2.html

8 good sized potatoes
1 cup of butter

(Skin and cook potatoes however you make mashed potatoes and add butter. Set aside)

2 lbs ground beef 80/20 (you could probably use ground turkey if you don't do beef)
1 minced yellow onion
2 Guinness beers
2 brown gravy mixes
3-4 tablespoons tomato paste
1-2 cups of mixed frozen veggies ( I used peas and carrots, but saw it made withe corn, celery, carrots, peas, green beans)
2 tablespoons brags liquid aminos ( my salt and Worcester sauce substitutes)
2 cups sharpe shredded cheese

Skin and dice potatoes, boil and cook in salted water. ( I microwaved mine for about 15 min). Add butter, mash well and set aside. Cook beef in a skillet, drain meat, return to pan and poor 1 bottle of Guinness and reduce by half over medium heat. Mince onion and cook separate in a lil bit of olive oil until onions are clearish. Thaw mixed veggies. Add tomato paste to meat, stir well. Add veggies and onions to meat. In a separate sauce pan empty contents of gravy mix and use the Guinness for half of the liquid called for on the packet ( mine called for 1 cup cold water for each packet so I used 1cup Guinness and 1 cup water). Stir sauce constantly until it begins to thicken. Add gravy to meat and veggie mixture and mix well. Pour meat and veggie mixture to a large baking dish ( I actually had enough for a large casserole dish and a small casserole dish). Spoon or pipe on mashed potatoes over entire dish, top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Place in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 min. The last few minutes I put it on broil to give the cheese a nice crisp topping.

Serve with a Guinness! :)

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Tangy scallops and pasta

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup cold chicken broth or water halved
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon corn starch
Al dente roasted garlic fettuccine noodles 10oz or any other pasta and preference
8oz slice mushrooms
2 tablespoons capers chopped
2 healthy handfuls of spinach
1 package baby sea scallops

Bring capers, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of chicken broth to a boil. Stir in melted butter. Cook noodles according to package and drain in separate pot. Cook over medium heat:
Sea scallops and mushrooms in lemon caper sauce. Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup of chicken broth and corn starch together and combine with lemon sauce to thicken. After the sauce and scallops have cooked through then combine noodles and fresh spinach. Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Philly stuffed Bell Peppers

What you need:

2 Green Bell Peppers
1lb thinly sliced roast beef sandwich meat
1 medium yellow/white onion
4 slices of provolone cheese
1 package sliced mushrooms if you desire
2 tablespoons olive oil (or any kind of oil: coconut etc.)
1 tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos*
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cut Peppers in half and remove stem, and seeds and set aside. Chop up onion in quarters or smaller if you prefer. Slice mushrooms and roast beef in strips.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

In a frying pan put 1 tablespoon Oil, Onions, salt and pepper. Cook until onions are caramelized and tender, add roast beef to the pan and mix in with onions. In a shallow baking dish line with foil and place bell peppers open side up. Fill peppers with onion/beef mixture, place one slice of provolone on top and place in oven for 15min. In frying pan combine mushrooms, remaining oil, and braggs liquid aminos to cook up while peppers are cooking.

Serve with rice, cous cous, quinoa, etc. with mushrooms scattered around the bell pepper.

Makes 4 servings depending on who all is joining you for dinner ;)
*Braggs liquid Amino Acids is an alternative to Soy sauce
Feel free to omit mushrooms if those aren't your thing!