Orzo with Spinach and Mushrooms

Talk about an easy and filling side dish!  I tried this out for dinner a few nights ago, and it was a big hit.  I absolutely love pasta, so these little orzo bites help to satisfy my cravings while sneaking some extra veggies into the meal- which is always the goal!    I served it with baked Italian chicken... and wine, of course. 

This has approximately 6 good sized servings to it, but be careful you don't go too crazy munching down if you're watching your calories- although it's loaded with awesome veggies, and it's whole wheat (which means even more nutritional value) it is still pasta!

Ingredients:

1 cup 100% Whole Wheat Orzo
approx. 2 cups baby bella mushrooms
approx. 2 cups rough chopped fresh spinach (I packed in the spinach so it was probably a bit more)
4 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp. butter - this can be omitted, but mushrooms cooked in some butter?  So good. 
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan - this can be to your taste, but we like cheesy goodness around here

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan bring salted water to boil for the orzo, then cook according to package directions.  These are little guys, and cook quickly, keep an eye on your pot so you don't overcook it.  No one likes overcooked pasta, it should be al dente, right Em?    
2. While the orzo is cooking, heat your skillet for the mushrooms. You're going to combine all the cooked ingredients in this skillet, so be sure you grabbed one that is big enough!  Add 1 tbsp. of the EVOO, 2 tbsps. butter, and half of the minced garlic. Stir in the mushrooms and toss to coat. Sauté until very browned and caramelized. 
3. When pasta is just about done, turn off the saucepan and remove it from the heat, but don't drain it  immediately.  You may want some of the pasta water to add to your mushroom skillet.
4. Once you feel the mushrooms are caramelized enough, add the remainder of your butter, garlic, and EVOO. 
5. Lastly, add your fresh chopped spinach, cooked orzo and a little bit of the pasta water to the skillet.  Keep cooking a few more minutes to warm it all up together and give the flavors a chance to meld. 
6. Douse liberally with the Parmesan, and bon appetit! 

happy eating,
xoxo b

 

Serving Size: 1/6 of dish   

Calories: 201

Fat: 17g

Carbs: 8.7g

Protein: 3.2g

  

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce

Emily teases me all the time when I saw cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables because it's so versatile.  But it's so true!  This sauce is great.  Like seriously great.  Clinton even compared it to gravy (one of his favorite foods) and ate it by the spoonful.  Everyone loves the cheesy goodness of Alfredo, but who can afford to consume the massive amounts of calories and fat it's made up of?  Problem solved!  I'm convinced this will be an amazing combination with so many things.. we've had it combined with chicken, broccoli and linguine so far, and are putting it on top of spaghetti squash mixed with sautéed mushrooms tonight. 

Try it and see! 

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets (approx. 1 head)
• 6-8 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tbsps butter or olive oil (I tend to go for the EVOO over butter but what's not good cooked in butter?)
• 6-7 cups vegetable/chicken broth or water (the broth will lend to more flavor)
• 1 tsp salt, more to taste
• ½ tsp pepper, more to taste
• ½ cup fat free milk
• Optional: we also added in some cayenne pepper and green chile because we like spicy, and liberal amounts of Parmesan cheese because it's good on everything.  

Note: Play around with spices and flavors!  It is still cauliflower, so keep that in mind, but what a sneaky delicious way to add in more veggies to your diet..

Directions:

1. Bring the water/broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. You'll want to keep the some of the cooking liquid for your sauce, so just set the pot aside.
2. Sauté your minced garlic with the butter or EVOO in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook until the garlic is soft and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes.  Don't burn the garlic or you will have burnt garlic tasting sauce.. which is no bueno.  Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Transfer the cauliflower pieces to the blender, a slotted spoon is helpful for this to get all the little pieces over and ready to blend.  Add 1 cup vegetable broth or the cooking liquid that you made sure to keep, all the sautéed garlic, S&P, milk and anything else you want blended in. Puree for several minutes until the sauce is to the consistency you like.  Feel free to add more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. 
4. Serve hot over probably anything and enjoy! 

 

 

happy eating,

xoxo b

 

Serving size: 1/2 cup

Calories: 52 g

Fat: 3 g

Carbs: 6 g

Protein: 2 g

 

Red Beans and Rice

Becky and I decided that we would start doing weekly posts again!  Sooo, for the first new post in over a year - I just tried to throw together a slightly modified version of Red Beans and Rice.  It turned out pretty good! 


Recipe:

1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups chicken broth + 1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
1 package of sausage, chopped into bite sized pieces (any kind will do, traditionally it is andoiulle but I used kielbasa)
1-1.5 pounds ground turkey
Garlic
1/4-1/5 diced onion
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (including the liquid)
1 15 ounce can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 15 ounce can hominy (golden or white, drained)
Tony C's
S&P

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine rice, chicken broth and water.  Add the butter (just let it float on top) and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook for 15 minutes or until all liquid is dissolved and rice is cooked.

 

While the rice is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. I like to add the sausage first to give it a little more time to cook. Then add onion and garlic and cook until soft. 

 

 

Add the ground turkey, cooking completely through.  

Next, add the diced tomatoes, kidney beans and hominy and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium low. Season heavily with Tony C's and S&P.

 

 Once the rice is cooked, combine with the other ingredients (stir in thoroughly). Cover and simmer for 10 minutes on low.

 

Baked Rotini Lasagna

I love lasagna.  I love spiral noodles.  So I thought I would take the ricotta/mozzarella and pasta sauce and combine them to make the best possible lasagna/rotini dish.  HA.  Actually, I forgot lasagna noodles and only had rotini in the pantry.  It turned out reallllly good, and it was so easy.  Here is the result:

RECIPE

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 can tomato sauce
1 BIG can heavy tomato puree (Clasico)
Spices - crushed red pepper, Tony C's, garlic, S&P, cayenne
1-2 cups water
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1 Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 box Rotini (or any other favorite noodle - bow tie would be good), cooked and drained
3-4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3-4 tablespoons mozzarella

In a saucepan, heat your oil and saute the garlic.  Add in the tomato sauce and tomato puree.  Slowly add in your water (I used 1/2 increments) until your sauce reached a desired thickness.  Add in your spices - I used more crushed red pepper for a little spicier flavor.  Let simmer for 10 minutes. 

In a separate bowl, mix your ricotta, mozzarella and 2 eggs together.  Pour your sauce over the ricotta mix, add the ground beef.  Also, if you are into tasting things like I am, remember that there are 2 raw eggs in the mixture - I remembered that after about 3 "tastes".  Pour in your cooked pasta.  Mix well.

Spray a 13x9 with PAM to make clean-up easier.  Pour in your creation, top with bread crumbs and cheese.  Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.

Chicken Chile Mac and Cheese

Okay, so macaroni and cheese is pretty much my favorite food.  I'm always looking for ways to spice it up a bit, so I took from a few different recipes and made this delicious creation tonight.  If you like mac and cheese, you'll definitely like this :)

I had all of this in my pantry too, even better!

Ingredients:

1/2 16 oz bag of pasta of your choice
8 oz Velveeta, cubed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 10 oz can of Rotel with green chiles
2 cans of chicken (~3 cups worth, can use fresh cooked chicken as well)
1 green bell pepper
1/2 medium onion
chili powder
ground cumin

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put a pot with water on to boil and cook noodles as directed.

Dice green bell pepper and onion.  Heat a Dutch oven on the stove.  Add oil.  Once hot, add onion and pepper and cook about 5 minutes.

Add Rotel and cubed Velveeta.  Be sure to stir constantly so the cheese doesn't burn.  Once the cheese is melted, add in chicken and cream of mushroom soup and spices.  Add in cooked pasta and mix thoroughly.

Empty mixture into a greased pan (I used an 8x8) and sprinkle cheese on top.  Cook 25-30 minutes until bubbly and melted.

happy eating :)  xoxo b

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

I got these from Pinterest, they were soo good.

RECIPE

2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 tablespoons cold butter (cubed)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

butter glaze
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1-2 tablespoons SMSS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease your cookie sheet (I just used PAM).

Combine Bisquick with your butter - use a fork to mix the butter up.  There should be small chunks of butter in your mix.  Add remaining ingredients until just combined - do not overmix.

Drop by spoonfuls (large spoonfuls) onto your cookie sheet, it should yield 12.  Bake for 11-13 minutes.  While your biscuits are baking, combine ingredients for your glaze.  Once biscuits are done cooking, brush the glaze on with a pastry brush.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Fried Catfish

I was hesitant... but, it turned out really, really good.

RECIPE

4 whole catfish
buttermilk
2/3 flour and 1/3 cornmeal
Tony C's
S&P

Rinse your fish.  Pat them dry and soak in buttermilk for 20-30 minutes.

Placing your flour and cornmeal in a ziploc, evenly coat and batter your fish.

Ready to fry!!

These fish take about 8-10 minutes to cook completely.

Barbecue Sauce

I've been looking for a really good barbecue sauce recipe.  After looking at about 10, I decided to go for it without a recipe.  I didn't measure, so the ones below are just estimates.  When I make another batch, I will make sure to measure it out so I can update this, oops.  One note, make sure after dicing your jalapeno, not to rub your lips or eyes.  It burns.  I guess that is just common sense though...

RECIPE

2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 oz. tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4-5 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses
3-4 tablespoons Worcestershire's sauce
2-3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
4 tablespoons honey
S&P
Tony C's
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 jalapeno, diced

In a saucepan, heat your oil, add your garlic.  Once browned, add your brown sugar and molasses.  Mix until dissolved.  Add remaining ingredients, simmer for 20 minutes.  So easy!

 Put on top of a pulled pork sandwich!!!

Pulled Pork

I've been wanting to make some homemade BBQ sauce, and I had a pork loin in the freezer.  Perfect combo.  I reverted from my typical pulled pork in the crock pot and baked it this time... so much better!  When I took it out of the oven and poked it with my fork, it fell apart.

RECIPE

1 pork loin
SMSS
Tony C's

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lay out two sheets of foil, on top of each other (this will just help strengthen the foil and prevent steam from escaping).  Place your pork loin in the center of your foil, coat with SMSS and Tony C's.  Flip over and repeat.  Bringing the top and bottom pieces of foil together, create a seal, repeat with the ends of the foil.  It should look like this when finished:

Place on cookie sheet and bake for 3 hours.  It should look like this when done!:

 Chop it, dice it, shred it!

Empanadas

These were so easy to make AND you can either bake them or fry them.  These aren't traditional, more like a "white girl's" version...

RECIPE

2 pie crusts
1 pound ground beef (chicken, steak or pork would also be good)
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3/4 cup cheese (I used cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan)
SMSS
Tony C's
Cumin
Garlic Powder
Onion Salt
oil

Roll out your pie crusts - don't get it too thin to where it will break.  Using a round cookie cutter (or the open end of a glass), cut your crusts into as many rounds as possible.  Place on a cookie sheet, layered with wax paper to prevent sticking and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, cook your potatoes in 2 tablespoons of oil, add your spices as they cook.  

Drain potatoes, place in a separate dish.  Cook off your ground beef, return potatoes to pan.  Add cheese and mix well!!

Remove your rounds from the refrigerator.  Place one tablespoon of your meet and potato mix in the center of the dough, fold over and pinch sides together.  Using a fork, press gently on the edges of the empanada to make sure it is sealed!  In a pan (or deep fryer, or you can bake them in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes), heat 2 tablespoons oil.  Place your empanadas in hot oil, cooking about 2-3 minutes per side.  

I topped mine with hot sauce, sour cream and jalapeno sauce.

Enchiladas

Becky sent me a jar of green chiles and they had to be used within 3 weeks of opening.  I had about half a jar left so I decided to make some enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce!

RECIPE

sauce
2-3 cups green chiles
1 can red chiles (optional)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons flour
Frank's Red Hot
SMSS
S&P
Red pepper flakes

In a saucepan, heat olive oil and garlic.  Add your green chiles, hot sauce and seasonings.  Add your chicken broth and flour and whisk to prevent flour from lumping - let simmer for 10-15 minutes.  If not thick or thin enough add more flour or broth, respectively.

enchiladas
enchilada sauce
3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I poached mine in chicken broth)
13 corn tortillas
shredded cheese
**oil** (see note below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Pour your enchilada sauce in a shallow bowl, big enough to fit your tortillas.  In a 13x9, spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce - just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Taking the first tortilla, dip both sides in your enchilada sauce, fill with chicken.  Roll it up and put in your baking dish.  Repeat x13.  Cover with cheese and remaining enchilada sauce.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and the top is golden brown.

**Note for corn tortillas, I fried mine in a little oil before using.  This will do two things, keep tortillas from falling apart AND reduce the cook time needed**

Smoothies

When Emmy just visited me, she made me make her a smoothie for breakfast everyday- just call me Jamba Juice :)

Ingredients:

Yogurt - I vary between nonfat plain or vanilla, whichever brand is on sale- plain has less sugar, but vanilla tastes better.  I buy them in the big containers and since there are usually 4 servings I try and get 4 smoothies out of each one.

Frozen fruit tropical smoothie blend from Costco- but any frozen fruit will do
1 banana- a must!  Banana makes such a difference, maybe because it's my favorite fruit...
2 tsp flax seed- you won't be able to taste this, just for an added punch of nutrients
A squirt of agave nectar or honey for sweetness

Directions:

Put the yogurt into the blender and add the fruit on top.  I like to let it sit for about 10-15 minutes to give the fruit a chance to thaw.  This isn't necessary, it just makes it easier to blend.  Add the flax seed, agave/honey and banana.  Begin to blend starting with the ice crushing function on your blender. Add small amounts of water as you blend to achieve desired consistency.  Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Tip- when fruit goes on sale in the market, I'll buy in bulk and make my own freezer ready made mixes.  The season will determine the types of fruit but right now I have strawberries and kiwis in Ziplock bags just waiting for a grab n'go smoothie!

happy eating :)  xoxo b

Chicken Piccata

This recipe turned out soo good!  I served it with steamed broccoli and pasta.

RECIPE

4 chicken breasts - pounded out thin
flour
2 lemons
S&P
oil
garlic (about 1 teaspoon)
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter, softened

Preheat oven to 200 degrees - put a 13x9 baking dish in to heat.

Cut one of your lemons in half lengthwise.  Cut ends from one half and slice into 1/4 inch pieces.  Juice your remaining half and whole lemon, set to the side.

After pounding your chicken, season with S&P, coat evenly in flour and shake to remove excess.  Heat your skillet on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes before adding oil.  Once hot, add 2 tablespoons oil, let heat for 2-3 more minutes.  Place two pieces of chicken in the oil, do not move them around, let cook for 2-3 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Flip and repeat.  Note: it is important to not move them so that the breading stays intact.

Once your first two pieces are done, place in the 13x9 in the oven to keep warm.  Add 2 more tablespoons of oil to your pan, let heat.  Add remaining two pieces of chicken, following the same process as above.  Add to 13x9 pan.

In your now empty pan, add garlic and cook for 15 seconds.  Add stock and lemon slices, increase your heat to high.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent burning.  Simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until the liquid begins to reduce.  Add your lemon juice and simmer for 2 minutes.  Remove pan from heat and add your softened butter to thicken your sauce.

I just removed the 13x9 from the oven and poured the sauce directly over the chicken!