Roasted Brussel Sprouts

My journey with brussel sprouts started about a year ago when my neighbor brought me a large stalk of them she had purchased at the farmers market and couldn't finish off. At the time, I had no idea what to do with them. Enter Google. :)  So many recipes I found seemed to want to cover them with sugar or a creamy sauce, but I really wanted something that would show off their actual flavor (since I didn't know what that was).  I decided to stick with a more basic recipe and just roast them...and they were fantastic!  I was delighted to see them back out at the farmers market last week.  Whether you buy them by the stalk or pre-cut, I hope you enjoy them as much as me.  Don't be afraid to let the outer leaves get nice and dark.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Cut large sprouts in halves or quarters.  Toss in a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper.  Spread onto a baking sheet.  Bake about 10 minutes or until you see the outer leaves start to turn dark and crispy, giving the pan a toss every few minutes to turn some of the sprouts over.

Stuffed Portabellas

This is a great recipe that is very adaptable to your tastes and creativity!  If you don't want to make homemade bruschetta (see my recipe here), try the pre-made mix from Trader Joe's.

2 large portabella mushrooms
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup raw spinach, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup bruschetta
1/3 cup mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove stems from mushrooms and brush with a dry cloth to clean.  In a frying pan, saute spinach with garlic and a bit of olive oil.  Once spinach is wilted, transfer to a bowl and mix in the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.  Lay mushroom caps upside down on a baking sheet and fill with cheese/spinach mixture.  Top with bruschetta and mozzarella.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Frozen Yogurt

Who doesn't love a little frozen treat at the end of a hot summer day?  This recipe for frozen yogurt is spectacular. I found the recipe on EatingWell but opted to decrease the sugar a bit since the fruit adds so much sweetness on its own.  If you are planning ahead, it sets up nicely after freezing for a few hours but you can certainly still eat it right away if you can't bear to wait!  You can buy fruit in a frozen package, but I think it is most flavorful if you chop up fresh fruit and freeze it yourself.  I used peaches in the batch below.  Be patient if it seems to jam up in your blender/food processor, if you help it along by mixing it around it a few times it will blend nicely.

16 oz fruit, chopped and frozen
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Mix ingredients in blender or food processor. Store in freezer. Serves 4.

Guacamole

I LOVE guacamole!  Until about a year ago, we used to make it with the store-bought seasoning packets when I finally realized it wouldn't be that hard to make it from scratch.  After experimenting for a while, this has become our winner recipe.

• 3 avocados
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried cilantro
• 1 small tomato, diced (optional)

Peel and remove pits from the avocados, saving one of the pits.  Mash avocados in a bowl until there are no large chunks left.  I usually use a potato masher or a fork.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Place the pit in the bowl with the guacamole and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.  The pit will help keep the guacamole from browning as quickly.

Baked Apple Chips

These are such a great snack!  They disappeared so fast that I'll be making a double recipe from now on! They are easy to make but require a lot of baking time. Baking them in the oven doesn't quite compare to using a dehydrator if you have one, but this was a decent substitute to satisfy me.  Mine turned out a bit chewy in the flesh and crispy on the edges, and that is fine with me.  If you really want them crispy I'd suggest turning them over after the 2 hours and putting them back in for additional baking time.

2 apples
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp gr. cinnamon
parchment paper

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Core apples and slice paper thin (use a mandolin to slice the apples if you have one--it will make the job go quickly). You do not need to peel the apples. Technically, you don't even have to core the apples if you don't have an apple corer, but I prefer not to be eating the seed bits. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out apple slices in a single layer. You may need two baking sheets depending on the size of your apples and your baking sheet. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over apple slices. Bake for 2 hours or until golden and edges are crispy. Let cool and enjoy! You can store any leftovers, but be warned they will lose some of their crispiness in a Tupperware.

Caramel Corn

This caramel corn is such a tasty treat!  The coating has great flavor and the baking method makes it deliciously crunchy.  A large bowl of this disappears quickly whenever I make it!

10-12 cups popped popcorn
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


Put the popped popcorn in a roasting pan, removing any kernels that didn't pop so that you don't crack your teeth on them later. Put the roasting pan in the oven and preheat to 250 degrees (this step is not essential, but it helps to get the popcorn warm while you make the caramel so that you can coat the popcorn without the caramel cooling off too quickly).  In a medium size sauce pan, heat the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup on medium heat.  Bring to a boil for 1 minute.  Add salt and baking soda, then stir until mixture becomes foamy.  Remove the roasting pan from the oven and carefully pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn.  Stir to coat the popcorn with the caramel sauce as evenly as possible, but don't worry if it doesn't look even because it will spread more thoroughly as you continue to bake and mix it.  Return the roasting pan to the oven and bake for 2 hours at 250 degrees, removing the pan to stir every 30 minutes.  Lay out a long sheet of wax paper on a flat surface. When popcorn has finished baking, spread it out evenly to cool on the wax paper, breaking up any large clumps. Store in an airtight container once cooled.

Roasted Chicken

This week I endeavored to roast my first chicken! I started with this recipe for Juicy Roasted Chicken and made a few changes based on some other research I did.  The recipe is heavy on butter, but having just watched Julie & Julia, I was reminded how much butter really does make everything taste delicious. So I decided not to skimp on it this time and my, was it tasty! The flavor was excellent but even better was the tenderness of the meat--so moist it fell off the bone.  After seeing the amount of butter drained off in the bottom of my pan, I will definitely try reducing it to 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup to see if it still produces the same tender, juicy result.

I used a dutch oven and I kept the lid on until the last 15 minutes when I removed the lid to let the skin get a little more golden.  After removing the chicken from the dutch oven, I moved the pot to the stove and mixed some water and flour with the leftover butter and drippings in the pot to make a gravy.

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb whole chicken
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp dried parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
salt and pepper

Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.  Truss the chicken if desired (if you don't know how to do this--look up an instructional video).  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Salt and pepper the entire chicken liberally,  inside the cavity and the entire outside of the chicken. Sprinkle onion powder and parsley over the chicken, inside and out.  Cut celery stalk into 4 pieces and stuff inside chicken cavity with 3 Tbsp butter and the garlic clove.  Cut remaining butter into small pads and spread them over the outside of the chicken, rubbing into the chicken slightly so they stay in place.  Place chicken in roasting pan or dutch oven and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Turn down oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook an additional 20 minutes per pound of meat or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees.  Let the chicken rest about 15 minutes after taking it out of the oven so the juices can settle.

Chex Mix

I love a good batch of chex mix! My mother-in-law gave me this recipe and it works great to create that savory flavor that I love. The recipe fills a large roasting pan so make sure you have a large pan for cooking and an appetite for snacking!  It's perfect for having around during the holidays or football parties.  You can be creative with the snack ingredients.  This has been my favorite combination. Regular cheerios or bagel chips are yummy too.  I like the multi-grain cheerios because they add a little sweetness to the mix. *Make this gluten-free by eliminating the wheat chex, pretzels and cheerios and using gluten free-pretzels or bagel chips instead. Also double check that your seasonings are all gluten-free.

Snack Ingredients

• 1 box corn chex
• 1/2 box rice chex
• 1 box wheat chex*
• 1 lb pretzels*
• 1 lb mixed nuts
• 4+ cups multi-grain cheerios*

Coating Ingredients

• scant 2 cups vegetable/canola oil
• 2 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp seasoned salt
• 1 Tbsp garlic salt

Mix the snack ingredients in a large roasting pan.  In a liquid measure cup, combine worchestershire, seasoned salt, and garlic salt. Add enough oil to reach the 2 cup measure.  Whisk ingredients together until they are combined.  Pour over snack ingredients and mix gently until the snack mixture is evenly coated.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1-2 hours until golden and crispy, removing from oven every 30 minutes to stir.

Holiday Truffles

It's the season for holiday goodies!  With trying to eat a gluten-free diet, I was searching for substitutes to my usual holiday cookies and decided to try this truffle recipe (http://www.bakersroyale.com/candy/peppermint-crunch-truffles/).  Thankfully my sister helped me make these because they were definitely a process of learning!  The biggest lesson we learned was that temperature is everything.  It is important to let the chocolate set in the fridge, but we then had to let it sit out for a few hours before we tried to roll the truffles.  If the chocolate is too cold when you try to roll them it will be difficult, if not impossible.  You also need to give the truffles a roll to soften them a bit before rolling them in the coating so that they are sticky enough to pick up the coating well.  Use whatever kind of chocolate you like best, but make sure it is good quality--we used semi-sweet but dark would be great if you like dark chocolate. You also can experiment with the coating with whatever you think sounds good.  Between my sister and I, we've tried Peppermint Andes, Heath bits, salted almonds and Oreos. They were all delicious!

• 11 oz chocolate
• 8 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups coating of your choice

Melt chocolate with heavy cream in a double boiler. Let sit for the first few minutes untouched and then whisk together until mixture is melted and smooth.  Remove mixture from heat and let cool for 20-30 minutes. Pour into a shallow baking dish and refrigerate covered for 2 hours until set. Remove chocolate from the fridge and let warm up for a few hours.  Roll balls using a spoon or melon baller to help shape chocolate into spheres.  Roll ball in hands to finish shaping and roll in coating.  Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve and enjoy!

Quinoa Patties with Kale

I've decided to go gluten-free over the next month to see if it alleviates some issues I've had, so you're going to see some G-Free recipes on here.  I found this recipe on this gluten-free blog, which was adapted from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day, and it was delicious!  You can do so many things with this recipe!  We drizzled lemon juice over them and ate them with some avocado.  My husband also ate his as an open-faced sandwich on some garlic toast.  I think next time I'll try making a dijon vinaigrette dressing to pour over them.  They'd also be great with spinach or mushrooms mixed into the patties.  I made some slight modifications to the recipe this time so here is what I did:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 4 eggs, whisked
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp minced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups steamed kale, chopped
• 1 cup oats (the recipe called for breadcrumbs, but I couldn't find gluten-free ones)
• olive oil

Prepare quinoa by boiling it in the water until the water is absorbed.  Let quinoa cool slightly and then mix with whisked eggs, cheese, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, kale and oats/breadcrumbs.  Let mixture sit for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large frying pan.  Pat together patties from the mixture and place in the frying pan to cook.  Let the patties cook about 7 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown and crispy on the top and bottom.  Serve with the garnish of your choice!  This serves about 4 people. If you are cooking for less, I'd make the desired amount of patties and then refrigerate the mixture (rather than making all the patties and then refrigerating them), as suggested by the blog I read.

Stuffed Tomatoes

These were a bit tricky, but really tasty!  I modified a recipe my friend pinned on Pinterest: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/511633 to make it simpler.  The hard part for me was scooping the pulp out of the tomatoes without destroying them.  I think I'll try using a grapefruit spoon next time to see if the serrated edges help.

Tomatoes
2 large beefsteak tomatoes
Olive oil
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
3-4 cups fresh chopped spinach
1 clove garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Dressing
Pulp reserved from tomatoes
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard*
Pinch of basil

*Gluten free dieters: make sure your mustard doesn't contain gluten!

Remove tomato stems and blanch tomatoes by boiling them in hot water for 1 minute.  Then place them in a bowl of ice water and set aside.  This step will make it much easier to peel the tomatoes later on. In a frying pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Add chopped mushrooms and spinach and cook 3-5 minutes until spinach is wilted and mushrooms are tender.  Add garlic, lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper.  Remove from heat.  While the mushroom/spinach mixture cools, remove the tomatoes from the bowl of ice water.  Peel skin off of the tomatoes.  Cut off the top of the tomatoes about 1/3 of the way from the top.  Carefully scoop tomato pulp and seeds out of each tomato and reserve pulp in a separate bowl for the dressing.  Now that the mushroom/spinach mixture has cooled some, add ricotta and parmesan cheese and mix well--reserving a small bit of the parmesan for later.  Fill the tomato bottoms with the cheese/mushroom/spinach mixture.  Press the tomato tops back on the stuffed tomatoes and sprinkle tops with the remaining parmesan.  Grease a baking dish with olive oil and place the tomatoes in the greased dish.  Bake for 20-30 minutes at 325 degrees.  While the tomatoes bake, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Remove tomatoes from the oven when the cheese mixture looks melted.  Serve hot with dressing drizzled over the tomatoes.

Lemony Lentils & Kale

This dish has become one of our vegetarian favorites!  It is fresh, flavorful and hearty. I found the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemony-lentils-with-kale/detail.aspx.  I omit the onion from the original recipe since I can't eat onion, but I'm sure it would be delicious.

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 pound lentils
• 1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced

*Gluten free dieters: make sure your spices do not contain gluten.

Heat oil in a skillet.  Cook carrot until softened. Add garlic, thyme, salt, black pepper and red pepper; cook one minute.  Add lentils, tomatoes (and juice), and chicken broth into skillet.  Cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes.  Add kale, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Cook until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Serves 4.

Creamy Tomato Soup

We've been wanting to try homemade tomato soup for a while. I got hooked on Trader Joe's tomato soup last year because it was so much yummier than the can. Craig found a great recipe from King Arthur Flour and I made a few small changes.  This was so simple and inexpensive that I think I have a new favorite! You can read the King Arthur recipe here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/creamy-tomato-soup-recipe.  It makes about 4 bowl-sized servings.  It is definitely a creamy tomato so if that isn't your thing you can use less of the evaporated milk.

1 28-oz can tomato purée

1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp onion powder or minced onion

dash of thyme
dash of black pepper
3 Tbsp flour*
a scant 2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp sugar
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1 tsp salt

*Gluten free dieters: substitute cornstarch for the flour.

In a large saucepan, combine the tomatoes, basil, onion, thyme, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine the flour and broth, whisking till smooth, and add this mixture to the soup, stirring until well incorporated. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the baking soda (the soup will foam up briefly; don't worry, but be sure it's in a big enough pot), the sugar, the milk and the salt. Heat, stirring, to a bare simmer. Serve hot. Serves 4.

Salsa

I love chips and salsa. Who doesn't? In an effort to try and get some of that freshness that salsa always seems to have in the restaurants, I decided to try making my own and it's become a regular in our home. It's super quick to make, and it's pretty easy to keep the ingredients on hand. I will warn you that the quality of tomatoes you use makes a difference in the flavor. I tried to get away with buying the value brand and we could definitely tell the difference. Now I just watch for when the better brands are on sale and stock up. I make this in the blender, but I'm sure a food processor would work well (we just don't have one). I would rank this as medium in spiciness but you could certainly make it more mild by leaving out the tabasco or add some jalapenos to make it hotter.  Fresh cilantro makes it better too, I just don't always have it on hand.

1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 can Rotel (or any brand tomatoes with green chiles)
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 heaping tsp dried cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp minced garlic
few splashes of tabasco

Blend briefly to mix well, but don't over blend or it will liquefy too much. *Gluten free dieters: make sure your spices do not contain gluten.

Homemade Granola

A quick note about this recipe...the type of oats you use will make a big difference in how the granola turns out.  Quick Oats do not clump together as well and they also cook faster so I'd recommend decreasing the cooking temperature/time.  Old Fashioned Oats clump very well especially if you let them cool on the pan and then break them apart once cooled.  Also note it is important not to add the dried fruit until the last round of baking or the fruit will harden.

Ingredients

• 3 cups oats*
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup dried fruit (I use a mixture of raisins, craisins and dried cherries)

*Gluten free dieters: make sure your oats and spices (cinnamon, vanilla) do not contain gluten.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In large mixing bowl: combine oats, coconut and almonds. In a separate bowl: mix honey, oil, brown sugar and cinnamon and heat until boiling (on stove or about 30 sec in microwave). Stir in vanilla to mixture. Pour over oat mixture and coat evenly. Transfer the mixture into a large jelly roll pan (or any large pan with sides) by squeezing handfuls of it into clumps. Bake 15 minutes. Remove pan and mix granola. Bake another 15 minutes. Remove pan and add 1 cup dried fruit. Mix granola and bake another 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool in pan and break apart mixture if clumps are too large.

Black Bean Corn Salsa

This is a salsa recipe I created after browsing through several similar recipes online. I only add a small amount of onions and peppers for those of us in my family who can't eat much of them, but it's still enough to give it some flavor. :)  I'd suggest adding more.

Combine the following ingredients in a large mixing bowl:

• 1/4 green pepper, chopped
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 pearl onion, chopped
• 1 large tomato, diced

Combine the following ingredients in a small bowl. Then add to vegetables and mix well. Serve with tortilla chips.

• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp tabasco
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic