Category: Recipes

Kale chips

Roasted veggies are a favorite in our house. The kids love roasted broccoli and carrots. We were turned onto kale chips by a neighbor, and we’ve made a few batches and they disappear as fast as they come out of the oven! They are really easy to make too.

Roasted Kale ChipsKale chips

  • One bunch kale washed and dried
  • 1-2 Tbs olive oil
  • Dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 375. Tear the kale into pieces, removing the ribs. Toss with olive oil. Add a sprinkle of salt if desired. Bake until crisp, 15-20 minutes. They cool quickly and are best still slightly warm.

 

Crock-pot pork tenderlion with lentils and bacon

A while back Dinner a Love Story had a post on Monday Night dinners and had note about a coworker’s plan for dinner:Crockpot pork tenderloin with lentils and bacon

This morning, my coworker, who lives and dies by her Slow Cooker during the week, did this: She took one frozen pork tenderloin, an ummeasured bag of lentils (about a cup and a half as she sees it), 1 onion (chopped), 2 cloves garlic (whole, smashed), about 4 sprigs of thyme, 5-10 peppercorns, 1/2 cube of beef bouillon, 2 strips of bacon into her slow cooker. She added water about halfway up the pork and set on the 10-hour setting

Well, that sounded really good, so we made it. It turned out really yummy. It was good on its own, though it would have also done well on a bun or toast. It ended up kind of like carnitas, the lentils more or less disintegrated and the kids never knew they were there. Probably add a little more water as ours dried out in some parts though our crock-pot tends to run hot I think.

Japanese Inspired Quinoa with Chicken and Green Beans

I came across this recipe looking around on, Chocolate and Zucchini, a site I’ve used before. It sounded good at the time, but when I went to prepare it, it seemed a bit too spartan. I had already planned on adding chicken, but need some veggies. We had some green beans in the fridge, so I threw those in. We also didn’t have shallots, sesame oil, or sake, so I ended up doing a lot of improv on this one. The idea was a nice start though and the meal ended up being really good. This recipe takes only about the 20 minutes or so that it takes to cook the quinoa. It could also be made with tofu for a veggie option.

Japanese Inspired Quinoa with Chicken and Green Beans

Inspired by Chocolate and Zucchine

  • 1 cup Quinoa, cookedJapanese quinoa with chicken and green beans
  • about 1 Tbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 lb Chicken breast
  • 1 lb Green beans, ends removed
  • 1 Tbs olive oil
  • 3 Tbs soy sauce
  • 2-3 Tbs rice vinegar
  • 1 tsb brown sugar
  • Sriracha pepper sauce

Cook the quinoa according to the package. Slice the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in pan over medium high heat, and saute the chicken until cooked through and starting to brown (~5 min). Add the ginger and cook a couple more minutes. Add the green beans, soy sauce, 2 Tbs rice vinegar and brown sugar. Cook until the green beans are the desired tenderness, adding a little more vinegar if needed to keep things from drying out.

Mix in the cooked quinoa and serve with sriracha pepper sauce.Japanese quinoa with chicken and green beans

 

 

Chicken and mushroom pasta

Rondele cheese was on sale last week, so I was looking for a recipe that included that. This Chicken and mushroom fettucini recipe at Just the Recipe looked like a good start. We added some spinach and used whole grain spaghetti instead of fettucini. This is also a fairly fast meal, taking only about 30 minutes or so to prepare.

Chicken and mushroom pastaChicken and mushroom pasta

  • 1 box of pasta, cooked according to box directions
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
  • 5-8 ounces Borsin or Rondele cheese or other creamy herbed cheese
  • 1 package frozen spinach

While preparing the pasta, cube the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in a skillet an saute the chicken pieces over medium-high heat until cooked through and starting to brown (5-6 minutes). Remove the chicken and add the mushrooms. Turn the heat down a bit and saute the mushrooms until they have released their water and started to brown (about another 5 minutes). While that is cooking, microwave the spinach to defrost. Drain the spinach in a strainer, using a spoon to press out the water.

Add the cheese, chicken, and spinach to the mushrooms and stir to combine. Continue cooking until heated through. Serve over the pasta.

 

 

Mint scones

Mint sconesLast February, we found a recipe for Mint scones, and have made them a few times. They are quite good, though I have always liked this scone recipe from Fine Cooking. So when it came to making Christmas breakfast I combined the two and made some delicious mint scones. Turned out we only had 1 cup of white flour, so I used some whole wheat too…still tasted yummy, and maybe a bit healthier!

Whole wheat mint scones

Adapted from Fine Cooking

  • 1 cup white flourMint scones before baking
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup  sugar
  • 1 Tbs baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. table salt
  • 6 Tbs cold unsalted butter
  • 1 Tbs chopped fresh mint leaves
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 6 tsp (2 Tbs) of strawberry jelly

Preheat the oven to 400˚ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix with pastry blender. Use the pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until the largest pieces are about the size of peas.

Separate the egg, saving the whites. Add the egg yolks, mint and cream to the flour. Stir to combine and gently gather the dough into a ball. Place the dough in the center of the prepared baking sheet and pat it out into a disc about 1 inch thick. Slice into six wedges and spread the wedges out.

Using a spoon make an indentation in the wide part of each wedge. Add about 1 tsp jam into each indentation. Put the egg whites into the measuring cup that you used for the cream and mix it up a bit. (The original recipe called for using another egg and a Tbs of milk, but this seems to work fine and is a lot easier). Brush the tops of the scones with the egg white.

Bake for 18-22 minutes.Mint scones

Sweet potato biscuit ham and cheese sandwiches

Sweet potato biscuit ham and cheese sandwichBella eats had these delicious sweet potato biscuits, and one of the photos featured some ham and cheese, which made me think that that would be a yummy dinner. The biscuits were fairly easy to make and were delicious…though having a stick of butter in them may have helped with that! I am sure you could cut the butter in half and still have a darned good biscuit. The ham and cheese sandwich idea was also a good idea, especially with everything warm and the cheese melting…

Zucchini and Ricotta Galette

This recipe from Smitten Kitchen was really good. Even though I cut the butter in the dough recipe by half (the full 1/2 cup seemed a bit too decadent), with the sour cream it turned out wonderfully. I also skipped freezing the flour and it was probably only in the fridge for 30 minutes. The only problem with the recipe is that our family of 4 finished it all off with no leftovers for lunch–make 2 next time!

Rustic Oatmeal Cornbread

We were running low on flour this morning, so I was looking for a cornmeal recipe that didn’t use much wheat flour. I stumbled across this at southern.food.com, and thought it looked like a good start. Here’s our breakfast version with some blueberries for good measure:

 

Rustic Oatmeal Blueberry Cornbread (adapted from Susie D @ southern.food.com)

  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 Tbs Baking powder
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 cup melted butter, plus about 2 Tbs for pan
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1/2-3/4 cup milk
  • 2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 450˚.

Mix dry ingredients together. Put about 2 Tbs of butter in a cast iron skillet and put in the heated oven to get the pan nice and hot. Add the melted butter, eggs, cream, 1/2 cup milk and blueberries to the dry ingredients and mix. The batter should be wet enough to pour, if it seems too dry, add some more milk. Take the pan out of the oven, tilt to spread the melter butter around, and pour in the batter.

Cook 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Slice and enjoy!

 

Spicy Sunflower Seed Noodles with Veggies and Chicken

Pink Parsley had this yummy sounding recipe with peanuts, to which our son is allergic. So we substituted SunButter in the recipe. I also had imagined this more like a stir fry than a salad, so we stir fried the veggies a bit and added the dressing and put it on top of soba noodles. It turned out great!
Spicy Sunflower Seed Noodles with Veggies and Chicken
adapted from Pink Parsley, adapted from Pinch of Yum, originally from Food Nouveau

For the dressing:

  • 3 Tbs soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs water
  • 2 Tbs Crunchy SunButter
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
  • 1/2 Tbs honey
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp sugar

For the stir fry (or don’t cook it and make it a salad…)

  • 1 cup julienne yellow pepper
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 medium shredded zucchini
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  • 1 cup chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast
  • 8 oz. cooked soba noodles or linguine
  • 2-3 Tbs minced fresh basil
  • 2-3 Tbs minced fresh cilantro
  • crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Mix all the dressing ingredients. Stir fry the veggies. Add the dressing and serve on top of the soba noodles.