Friday, March 30, 2012

Kale chips have gone mainstream!

So you know that kale, and its tasty little derivative, kale chips, have gone mainstream when you can buy these nifty little pre-cut and washed bags from even our little podunk grocery stores. This bag made two pans of kale chips. Which, according to Martha Stewart's April edition of her magazine, are passe. Whatever. I love them, my husband loves them, and even my three-year-old loves them.


I use Smitten Kitchen's kale recipe. There are gobs of recipes out there that are virtually the same, so you can tinker with spices or sprinkling some cheese, whatever floats your boat. I like them just rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. YUM.

Kale Chips

Ingredients:
Chopped kale (remove stems)
about 1 T. olive oil
sea salt

Preheat oven to 300. If you don't have the handy bag o' kale like I show above, give your kale a good rinse, towel dry, then cut out the stems and rough chop them (to potato chip size).

Arrange your kale on a baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle the olive oil on, then use your fingers to rub it in so that the leaves are all covered. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 20 minutes, until the leaves are all crisp (soggy kale = chewy kale, blech).

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Jambalaya

I love jambalaya, but in no way, shape, or form do I love shrimp. Or any other shellfish for that matter. This usually makes jambalaya at a restaurant a no-no for me. This is my favorite way that I've cooked it so far. And if you happen to like shrimp, feel free to add some. Just don't tell me about it, please.

Jambalaya

Ingredients

1 turkey kielbasa, sliced
1 chicken breast, cubed
2 T. olive oil, divided
1 onion, minced
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 c. carrots, diced (about 3 regular carrots or one handful of baby carrots worth)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
2/3 c. brown rice
3 c. chicken broth or stock
salt and pepper
1 T. worcestershire sauce
1 T. rooster (Sriracha) sauce
2 bay leaves
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. thyme

In a big dutch oven, heat 1 T. of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions, peppers, and carrots and saute until soft.

While the veggies cook, in a medium pan heat the rest of the oil over medium. Add the chicken and sausage and cook until the chicken is opaque and the sausage is browning. Remove from heat.

When your veggies are soft, add the garlic and cook another minute, then de-glaze the pan a bit with some of your chicken stock. Add the rest of the stock, the tomatoes, rice, and all of the spices. When the meat is done, add the contents of that pan as well.

Cook at low heat for 45 minutes, until rice is cooked through. Check the pan halfway and adjust the broth level accordingly so you don't end up with burned rice.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Green Enchiladas

My mom used to make these green enchiladas fairly often when I was growing up. I loved them then, and I love them now. I changed her recipe a tiny bit by adding some fresh onions and garlic (we would have likely all-out revolted if she had put onions in, I remember having a conniption the first time she made them and dared add the green chiles). These are super mild, though if you have any roasted chiles in the freezer, your version will likely be much spicier. These are also a super way to use up leftover turkey after the holidays.

Green Enchiladas

1 T. olive oil
1 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey breast
salt and pepper
cumin
1 cup sour cream (you could also sub in plain yogurt, especially Greek yogurt)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can diced chiles
garlic powder
onion powder
grated cheese
8 flour tortillas, soft taco size

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and turkey. Add some salt, pepper, and cumin to taste (I added just a little bit, maybe 1/2 t. at most). Brown the meat and remove from heat.

While the meat is cooking, combine the sour cream, soup, and chiles in a bowl. Sprinkle some garlic and onion powder in  (start with about 1/2 t. each). Taste and adjust as necessary. I added a little black pepper. The soup is pretty salty on it's own, but you may personally feel the need to add salt as well.

In each tortilla, spread a thin layer of the sauce, then add meat and cheese. Roll up and put in a greased 13x9 pan. Continue with all the tortillas (you should aim for evenly distributing the meat between each tortilla). Spread the remaining sauce over the top of the tortillas and bake for 30 minutes.


MMMM ... the finished product
Here's what the inside of the tortillas should look like before they are rolled up.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Beef Stroganoff

I'm not going to lie, I love me some beef stroganoff. I was really craving some last week and found Paula Deen's recipe for it. It was amazing! The only thing I really changed was the addition of Worcestershire sauce--no stroganoff is complete without it, in my book anyway. I served it with some sauteed zucchini and green salads, over a bed of whole wheat pasta. See--health food. Right?

Beef Stroganoff

1-2 pounds round steak or other lean meat, cut into thin strips
salt and pepper
garlic powder
2 T. butter
2 T. olive oil
1 onion, minced
8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 t. flour
1 1/2 c. broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
about 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. sour cream (if you have Tillamook brand locally, their natural sour cream is VERY good)
cooked egg noodles

Heat a large pan over medium heat, add the butter and oil. When the butter is melted, add the beef strips. Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Brown the meat then remove from a pan and set aside.

Add the mushrooms and onions, sautee until the onions are translucent. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and onions, stir. Add the beef back to the pot, the mushroom soup, the broth, and Worcestershire sauce, and stir. Cover and turn heat down to low, cook for 30 minutes.

Right before you remove from heat, stir in the sour cream. Serve over the egg noodles.

King Ranch Chicken

Oh boy have I been delinquent here ... I've got a few recipes to share. Last Monday, the Crockin' Girls shared a recipe for King Ranch Chicken. I had never heard of King Ranch chicken. I'd heard of the King Ranch from my husband's beef professor-uncle, and the King Ranch Ford pickup because I live in pickup country. But never chicken.

I served it over rice, and kind of mashed the two versions the Crockin' Girls offered based off what I had in the pantry. It was a good recipe to clear out the pantry cobwebs, I had everything already! I also used my last roasted Hatch chile from my freezer (sniff) instead of canned, so ours was a lot spicier than I think this recipe normally would be.

King Ranch Chicken

olive oil
1 onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 chicken breasts, cubed
salt and pepper
1/2 t. cumin
1 roasted chile or 1 can of chiles, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can mushrooms, drained
1 can tomatoes
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 can chicken broth
2 c. grated cheddar cheese
2 c. tortilla chips

Heat a large pan over medium heat. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the pan (maybe 1 T. total). Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the chicken and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste and add the cumin. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is opaque inside.

Stir in the chiles, both cans of soup, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, and broth. Remove from heat.

In a large crock-pot, put the tortilla chips down in an even layer. Add the contents of the pan. Cover with the cheese. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.

Serve over rice (if desired).


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

What's for dinner?

What did everyone have for dinner tonight? We did a super easy pulled pork--just a pork tenderloin in the crockpot with some barbecue sauce, cooked on low for 8 hours then shredded. Added a little more sauce and served on homemade buns.The buns were just ok, I'm still looking for a better recipe. Any bun/roll recipes out there you want to share?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Crescent Roll Filling Ideas

We don't buy crescent rolls very often at my house. Don't get me wrong, I love them. Probably too much. But they aren't the healthiest thing on the planet and we do try to avoid processed goodies so crescent rolls usually get pushed to the back burner.

When I do buy them, I like to put different fillings in them. My sister and cousin recently got excited about a pin with chocolate chip and peanut butter-filled rolls. I don't know which awesome blogger posted about that, but it was an amazing idea.


Unfortunately for me, when it came time to make them, I didn't have more than a couple tablespoons of peanut butter left. Boo. Nutella and white chocolate chips to the rescue! That was even tastier, in my opinion, than the peanut butter and chocolate chip filling.


The easiest way, for me, to deal with the floppy crescent roll dough is to fill the rolls on a sheet of aluminum foil, then transfer the foil to a baking dish and bake per package instructions. You could arrange them right on your baking dish, too. I used a stoneware pan, which I like to preheat with the oven, so the tin foil was easier.


My sister also made some with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled inside, which sounds amazing. What are some fillings that you like in crescent rolls? Here are some that I like:

  • cheddar cheese
  • ham and Swiss
  • pepperoni and mozzarella (you could use string cheese), dipped in marinara
  • chopped spinach and Parmesan

Thursday, March 1, 2012

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

This post is dedicated to my father-in-law. My father-in-law that hates, hates, HATES chickpeas and, especially, hummus. He is not a picky eater in the slightest, but for whatever reason hummus just sets him off. He also is a sugar addict, the kind that makes me feel better about my two boxes of Peeps a day habit. 

A mom friend of mine was raving about this recipe she found on pinterest. Immediately, I thought of my father-in-law. The recipe is a healthy version of cookie dough (the kind my husband eats by the pound if it's around the house), based on ... chickpeas. I can't lie, I had to try it. And ... it was pretty freaking good. Because of the beans and nut butter, it's also very filling so I found myself eating less the truckload I would have wanted to eat of regular dough.


So thank you to Chocolate Covered Katie, who came up with this tasty recipe. I tweaked it a teensy bit. If you are on the paleo bandwagon, this recipe is practically screaming for you to make it right now. Just substitute stevia or whatever non-sugar you like. Me? I used a combo of raw (turbinado) and brown sugars, and natural peanut butter. I want to try it next with cashew butter, I think that would be out of this world.

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a couple dashes of salt (I used sea salt)
pinch of baking soda
2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 c. nut butter
1/4 c. milk (non-dairy eaters will obviously want to sub a non-dairy substitute)
3T.-2/3 c. sweeetener (you can use brown sugar, raw sugar, maple sugar, or experiment with stevia-type fake sugars--the amount is to your taste. I used close to the maximum amount because I have burned off my sugar taste buds eating two packs of Peeps a day)
2-3 T. oatmeal or flaxmeal
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Put everything but the chocolate chips into a food processor and process until very smooth. Check the sugar/salt levels, then spoon into a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips. You can eat it straight or serve it with dipping instruments like graham crackers, ginger snaps, Nilla wafers ... you get the idea.