Tag Archives: veggies

Aug19

Stuffed Acorn Squash

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Stuffed Acorn Squash

  
Today the weather was almost fall-like with lows in the 50’s and a high of only 71. So I thought I’d prepare one of my favorite fall dishes of stuffed acorn squash. I call it a fall dish only because acorn squash is considered a winter squash, but it’s delicious year-round. Also, keep in mind that I’m stuffing with the vegetables I have on hand in my garden right now. I’ve done this with a ton of different vegetables, so just do whatever you’ve got on hand! It’s easy to throw leftover chicken into this dish or a can of drained black beans. Next time I’ll grab some sweet potato and Brussels sprouts from the store to throw in there too! 

Ingredients: 

  • Acorn squash halved and de-seeded
  • Olive oil
  • Seasonings
  • 1/2 sweet onion finely chopped
  • Small bag of frozen vegetables (I used a 12 oz bag of corn/green beans/carrot mix)
  • Garlic clove chopped 
  • 1 squash chopped
  • 1 zucchini chopped
  • 1 jalapeño chopped
  • 1 T butter
  • 1 c quinoa

1. First, sharpen your chef’s knife to cut this puppy open.

  
2. Now you’re going to remove the seeds. I like to use a grapefruit spoon, but a regular spoon works just fine too. 

   
 

3. Now drizzle with olive oil and season with your favorite all-purpose sort of seasoning. I love to do Tony’s, but of course you could just do salt and pepper too. 

  
4. Now pop into a 375 degree F oven and let’s get started on your veggies. These will cook for an hour.

  
  
5. Once you’ve got all your veggies chopped that you want in there, put them in your pot and drizzle them with olive oil and season liberally with either your all-purpose seasoning or salt and pepper. Also, throw a tablespoon or so of butter in there just ’cause it’s delicious. 

  
6. I like to cook these on medium heat for about 10 minutes or so just to give them a head start. 

  
7. Now add 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water to this and bring to a boil for a minute, then turn to simmer and put the lid on (exactly like you cook most rice). 

  
8. After 20 minutes or so, your quinoa is cooked! If you still have some liquid in there you’d like to cook off (depending on how much water your veggies released), just cook it a few more minutes. 

  
9. Would you look at the time? The acorn squash is done in perfect time for the stuffing!

  
10. Eat like a loaded baked potato with a yummy glass of red wine 😊🍷

  

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Oct27

Chicken Noodle Soup

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Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

There’s nothing better than homemade chicken noodle soup on a cool weather day, or when you’re recovering from an illness. Mmmm 🙂 This is only about a million times better than the canned version! I think the trick to making the chicken extra tasty is letting it marinade overnight in your favorite all purpose seasoning (something salt-free like a garlic herb seasoning) in the fridge (or at least for four hours if you can’t do it overnight). Let’s get started…

Ingredients:
1 package chicken thighs with bone and skin on
4 carrots
4 celery sticks (with leafy tops)
2 onions (I love sweet onions)
Chicken bouillon cube (as always, I use the Knorr brand)
6 oz egg noodles
1 stick butter
1/4 c flour
2-3 small garlic cloves chopped
Your favorite all purpose seasoning, salt, and pepper

1. Chop 1 onion, 3 carrots, garlic, and celery and place in saute pan. You’re going to reserve the celery leafy tops and bottoms, 1 carrot, and 1 onion sliced in half and place all of that in a pot to make your broth.
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2. Add your marinated chicken to the pot with the veggies and add your chicken bouillon cube and enough water to completely cover the veggies and chicken. Set to a boil and let this go for about an hour.
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3. Meanwhile, add your butter, salt, and pepper to your veggies in your saute skillet and set that on about medium heat. You don’t want to brown these – you want to sweat them out and cook until they’re soft and the onions are transparent. This should take about 20-25 minutes. You’ll notice in this picture there is only 1/2 stick of butter present. I decided halfway through cooking these they needed more butter. I think the lesson here is clear: When it doubt, add more butter! Amen.
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4. After your veggies are done cooking, add your flour and stir the veggies around for 3-4 minutes while the flour cooks through and it will thicken up the veggies. Then turn the heat off and set aside.
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5. At this point your kitchen smells delicious! Don’t worry, you’re almost done… Now you’ll get out a strainer and dump your broth and chicken pot into it, allowing the broth to go into a bowl under the strainer and then pick out the chicken to cut into bite sized pieces on your cutting board (discard skin and bones).
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6. Discard the stuff in the strainer and pour the veggies, chicken, and broth mix all back into the pot and bring to a boil. Also, I added about 2 cups of water after dumping the broth in to thin it out a bit, but you can use your own judgement here. Then add 6 oz or so of your favorite noodles (I love egg noodles here) and allow to boil until the noodles are cooked. That’s it! Now the most delicious homemade chicken noodle soup is ready to eat 🙂
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Jul23

Roasted Red Snapper With Veggies

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Roasted Red Snapper With Veggies

Roasted Red Snapper With Veggies

I love fish! There are so many people that tell me they love fish but that they’re scared to cook it or all they know how to do is fry it. Don’t get me wrong, I love fried fish, but there are so many healthier and just as delicious ways to enjoy our friends from the salty sea. This red snapper is a very mild white fish, and if you can’t find snapper where you are, a similar tasting fish would be grouper, flounder, or another mild white flaky fish. Halibut is delicious too, but it’s usually an arm and a leg, and I like to stick with the affordable stuff! Normally I do sort of a cooked pico de gallo recipe with this fish, but I had some bell peppers in my garden that were ready to pick, so those got incorporated into this dish and I was so happy I put them in there!

Ingredients:
1 fish filet per person
1 large tomato or a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 handful chopped cilantro
As many chopped jalapenos as you can handle 🙂
2 bell peppers any color
2 chopped onions (I did one sweet and one purple because I had them both, but if you’re just picking one, go with sweet)
butter
2 chopped garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Your favorite fish seasoning (I like to use the GOYA brands I normally use on chicken which are the Seasoning Total and GOYA con pepper in addition to a few cracks of fresh black pepper from the grinder)

1. Using an oven safe skillet (hello cast iron!), saute with about 3 T of butter and a drizzle of oil your onions and peppers and season with salt and pepper. This will take about 10 minutes or so on medium high heat. Then add your garlic and saute for a few more minutes.
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2. Turn the heat off and add your chopped tomatoes and cilantro and add additional salt if needed. Stir that around until everything is incorporated.
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3. Place your seasoned fish filets on top of the veggies and place into a 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes. You’ll need to vary your time based on how many filets you have, the thickness, etc, but you get the idea that they’re going in and coming out pretty quickly. Also, I find it helps roast the fish and hold in the moisture if you drizzle the tops with a little olive oil as well as the seasoning you put on them.
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4. I started checking my fish at 10 minutes and I could tell when it was done when the meat bounced back firmly and poked a fork in there and it was opaque. Remember, when you take it out it will continue to carry over cook, so there’s no need for you to cook the blazes out of it.
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5. Plate that puppy up and serve with a twist of lime or a side of rice for a delicious and healthy meal! -13

Jul7

Garden Vegetable and Shrimp Alfredo

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Garden Vegetable and Shrimp Alfredo

Garden Vegetable and Shrimp Alfredo

I am so happy when summer veggies start coming up in my garden and love to use them in tons of different recipes. This pasta I made tonight was so yummy, and it uses summer squash and zucchini as the vegetables, but really any veggie you could want would do great in here. Peas, broccoli, asparagus, carrots, etc would be tasty! I also added shrimp for some protein, but feel free to leave it out or substitute grilled chicken instead.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb linguini pasta
1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy whipping cream
5 oz shredded Romano cheese (or use Parmesan if you prefer)
1 zucchini sliced into 1/2 rings
1 squash sliced into 1/2 rings
1 lb shrimp that’s been peeled and de-veined
1 stick of butter
1 clove garlic chopped
1-2 T chopped fresh herbs (I used flat leaf parsley and basil from the garden)
Salt and pepper
Cayenne pepper (optional)

1. First get your water boiling for the pasta and get your veggies started in a separate skillet with 2 T butter. Oh hello there cast iron skillet! You know how much I love you 🙂
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2. Saute on medium-high heat for a few minutes and season with salt and pepper, then add your chopped garlic and saute a few more minutes. Drain into a bowl and set aside.
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3. Next, saute your shrimp in 4 T of butter and season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. The last minute they’re in there toss in your freshly chopped herbs. Remove pan from the heat and set aside.
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4. For the sauce, just melt 2 T of butter in a small sauce pot over low to medium heat, and add your heavy whipping cream once it’s melted. Season liberally with salt and pepper, then add 3-4 oz of your shredded Romano cheese.
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5. Once it’s thickened and melted, it will stick to the back of your spoon and become a deliciously sinful white cheesy sauce.
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6. Combine your veggies, pasta, sauce, and shrimp all together and stir.
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7. Top with more freshly chopped herbs and the rest of your shredded cheese, then serve with cheesy garlic bread for a yummy summer Italian meal!
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Jan14

Roasted Vegetables

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Roasted Vegetables

Roasted Vegetables

These roasted veggies are super delicious and very good for you. I’ve done virtually every veggie combo in this recipe, but these were what I had in my fridge: yellow squash, zucchini, asparagus, sweet potato, purple potato, sweet onion, Brussels Sprouts, jalapeño, sweet peppers, and green onion. Other veggies I love in here are cauliflower, broccolini, cherry tomatoes, carrots, whole garlic cloves, and bell peppers. The next day I love to chop any leftovers up and add to seasoned quinoa and add a can of drained black beans for dinner.

Ingredients:
Sliced vegetables
Olive oil
Seasoning
1-2 T of butter (optional)

1. Cut up all your veggies and arrange on a sheet pan lined with foil (helps with cleanup later).
Cut Veggies

2. Drizzle olive oil all over veggies on the pan and add your little pats of butter if you’re using it. Then season liberally with salt and pepper. I also love to use Tone’s Garlic Herb (salt free) seasoning on my veggies, but you can use virtually any seasoning you like, just make sure there isn’t any salt in it, and if there is omit adding additional salt.
Seasoning

3. Place veggies in the oven at 425F for one hour. Be sure to stir veggies around about halfway through to ensure even cooking.
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4. Veggies will be soft and roasted perfectly at an hour, but you can leave in a little longer if you like them browner. image

Nov16

Beef Fajitas

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Beef Fajitas

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Who doesn’t love a hot and delicious fajita? These are so delicious, and the marinade for the meat is the best I’ve ever tasted. So pour yourself a margarita and let’s get started!

Ingredients:
Skirt steak (you can use flank steak too if you can’t find skirt steak)
1 tablespoon of your favorite fajita seasoning
Juice of 1 lime
1 shot of tequila
1 cup Italian dressing
2 sweet onions sliced
1 bag of sweet peppers sliced into rings
1 jalapeño sliced into rings
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 stick butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Tortillas

1. Combine Italian dressing, lime juice, seasoning, and tequila in ziplock bag. Shake until combined and place your meat in there to marinade at least four hours. I usually do mine the morning of the day I’m cooking them for dinner. Here is a picture of my all-time favorite fajita seasoning:
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2. Sauté on medium to high heat onions, peppers, butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large skillet until it begins to caramelize. Then add chopped garlic and sauté another 7-10 minutes. It will look like this when it’s ready:
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3. Throw your fajita meat on the grill and cook until you reach desired doneness. Slice up and serve on warm tortillas and top with sautéed veggies, pico, sour cream, cheese, or whatever else you like on your fajitas. Don’t forget your margarita 🙂