One of the best things I've made.

Not going to lie, I felt very proud of myself as I took the first bite of this sammich.  It rocked. It's also healthy. And fresh. And you can do some of the work ahead of time so that it doesn't take so long.  And leftovers taste great with chips. Or tortillas.
There are really four recipes involved to make this big thang, but you can definitely add/take things away.  I think that grilled veggies or a slice of pepperjack would also be great to add (but there is already a lot of goodness involved, so good luck keeping it all together on the bread).

Mango Salsa

• 2 roma tomatoes
• 1 mango
• 1/2 cup total of chopped bell peppers (I used a combination of red, orange, and yellow)
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• juice from 1 lime
• dash of ground chili powder (to desired spiciness)

Chop up your vegetables, then combine everything! Easy! You could also add chopped onion, but we don't like onions and it tasted great without them.  This stores well in an airtight container in the fridge.

Black Bean Spread

• 1/2 can black beans
• dash of hot sauce
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt, pepper, and chili powder (to taste)

Run all ingredients in a food processor until it reaches a hummus-like consistency

Basil Lime Spread

• 1/4 cup light miracle whip (or mayo)
• juice from 2 limes (or 2-3 Tbsp lime juice)
• 1 tsp basil

Stir all ingredients together. Taste, and add more basil or lime juice as desired.

Lime Grilled Chicken

• 2 Tbsp cilantro
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbsp lime zest (use additional lime juice if you don't have enough zest from your limes you used with the other recipes!)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

Whisk together all ingredients except for chicken.  Place in a large ziploc bag.  Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.  Place in bag with marinade and evenly coat.  Let sit at least an hour (or overnight).

Cook in a non-stick skillet until done.

To make the sammich (I prefer mine open faced)

• Toast, bean spread, lime basil spread, cooked chicken, salsa, spinach. You can also serve with chips and extra salsa and bean spread.

Perfection.

Spicy Thai Spaghetti Squash

This recipe is super easy, fast, healthy, and tasty!  It's probably my favourite way to eat spaghetti squash. Enjoy!

Spicy Thai Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash, cooked (about 2 or 3 cups)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or aminos
• salt and pepper to taste
• green onions, chopped roasted peanuts, and toasted sesame seeds

Heat oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet.  Stir in honey and soy sauce. Add spaghetti squash and mix together.  Season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with green onions, peanuts, and sesame seeds.  

Makes about two servings (depending on if its a side or meal :)

Tofu Manicotti

I felt very, very sneaky making this manicotti.  It's one of those dishes that you don't tell your family what is actually in it-- or at least not until after they try it and say that it's good.  It is good.  You really can't tell that it's tofu.  Trust me!  But don't worry-- I'll post the "normal" recipe in the near future if that's more your style :)

Manicotti shells:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c. flour
• 1/2 c. water

Beat eggs with an electric mixer.  Slowly add flour and water.  Batter will be thin.  Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray.  Pour a small amount of batter into pan and tilt to spread thin.  Cook both sides until spongy.

Filling:

• 1/2 lb tofu, drained and crumbled to resemble ricotta
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 lb chopped, cooked spinach
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients.

Tofu Manicotti

• Cooked manicotti shells
• Prepared filling
• 3 cups marinara sauce
• Additional mozzarella and Parmesan cheese

Pour 1 cup of sauce into a 9x9'' glass baking dish.  Take each manicotti shell, put in a few spoonfuls of filling, and wrap up like a burrito.  Place them in the dish with the seam on the bottom to hold together.  Pour remaining sauce on top, and sprinkle additional cheese on top. Bake at 325F for about 15-20 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. 

Turkey Tortilla Soup

This soup was super easy and really good!  It was perfect for using up some of our leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, but you could also just cook up your own chicken or turkey to use.  I added a bit more chili powder to make it spicier, but it was really good as is, too.  We ate it with a bit of sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chips. This one is definitely going into the regular rotation!

Turkey Tortilla Soup

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 4 cups water
• 1 (10.75oz) can condensed tomato soup
• 1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup salsa
• 4 cups shredded cooked turkey
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes 
• 1 (14oz) can black beans, rinsed, drained
• 2 cups frozen corn

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add minced onions and cook until onions begin to soften, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

2. Stir in the water, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, salsa, turkey, parsley, and bouillon.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes or until bouillon dissolves.

3. Add black beans and corn.  Simmer 20-30 minutes

3.  Serve soup with sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips, chopped green onion, or other desired topping.

Vegetarian Noodle-less Lasagna

This lasagna was satisfyingly awesome.  You use zucchini and yellow squash sliced thinly lengthwise instead of pasta, fat free cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and delicious spinach instead of meat.  Even Sam, who is a big fan of classic lasagna, enjoyed it.  It's filling, delicious, and healthy.  I loved it and will definitely be making it again!

Squash Lasagna

• 2 medium zucchinis
• 2 medium yellow squashes
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 small carton of cottage cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
• 1 package of frozen spinach (or 2 cups cooked)

Slice squashes very thin, lengthwise, using a very sharp knife (be careful, it's tricky!), vegetable peeler, or fancy-schmancy tool.  Cook very slightly in a frying pan to remove some of the moisture.  In a 9x9 dish, make a single layer of squash.  Cover with sauce, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, and spinach.  Make another layer running the other direction, continuing until you run out of squash.  On the top layer just put sauce and shredded cheese.  Bake at 350F for 1 hour, and then broil for a few minutes to brown the cheese on top.

Feel free to use whatever type of cheese you want, to add cooked ground beef, to add more or less of the ingredients to your layers (I had some leftovers of both cheeses!), or add other veggies!  The beautiful thing about lasagna is that you can do whatever the heck you want and it will probably still be good :)

Gnocchi

Yeah, I'm a pro food photographer. Hello there, webcam.

I love gnocchi.  If you've never had it, you're seriously missing out.  It is a dense potato dumping from Italy, and there are a ton of variations of what to put in it.  I haven't had it in ages because it's so darn expensive at the store!  Then I said to myself, "DUH! Make it yourself!".  Little did I know that it is also CRAZY easy.  Seriously.  The plain recipe has 3 ingredients. No kidding.

Basic Gnocchi Recipe:

• 2 russet potatoes
• 2 cups flour
• 1 egeg

Cook the potatoes, either by boiling or microwave.  Mash in a bowl and let cool slightly. Stir in most of the flour and egg. The dough may seem quite dry at this point, but just try squeezing it together with your hands until it makes a firm, dense dough.  Add additional flour if necessary.  Heat a large pot of water to a boil.  While the water heats up, form your gnocchi.  Roll a portion of dough into a snake about 1.5'' thick.  Cut into bite size piece and roll into an oblong shape.  Once water is at a rolling boil, insert gnocchi and stir immediately to prevent sticking. Stir every few minutes, cooking until the gnocchi floats to the top. Cover with your favourite pasta sauce!

These little guys are filling.  I would say that this recipe could feed 3-4 people easily.  

Now, these obviously aren't the healthiest in this form.  But hey, this was my first shot and I was going for something basic.  Next shot, I'm going to try it with wheat flour and chopped spinach. And I really want to try doing it with sweet potatoes... How awesome would that be?  Other variations include adding ricotta, ground meat, fun Italian spices... Good stuff.

You can also use gnocchi in soups (like at Olive Garden), casseroles, etc. 

Macaroni and Cheese (keeper version)

me and my mom

I've tried many, many macaroni and cheese recipes that I have found online and in cookbooks. They all fall short of my mom's recipe.  After trying so many different versions, I have come to the conclusion that her recipe is just the best one there is!

Macaroni and Cheese

Cook 1 cup macaroni until tender.

Melt in saucpan:
1/4 cup butter or marg
Add: 
1 Tbsp chopped onion
Cook slowly until tender but not browned

Blend in:
1/4 cup Flour 
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Few grains pepper

Gradually stir in:
2 cups milk

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Add:
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 
Stir until cheese is melted 
Add cooked macaroni and blend well

Pour into buttered 1 1/2 or 2 quart casserole 
Sprinkle with:
2/3 cup buttered bread crumbs

Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly and browned 
4-6 servings.

Asian Orange Chicken

I first found this recipe online, and then modified it over the many times I've made it to make it, in my opinion, even better!  It always gets rave reviews!

• Sauce:
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup + 3T packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
•  
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
•  
• Chicken:
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Place the chicken pieces into a resealable plastic bag. When contents of saucepan have cooled, pour 1 cup of sauce into bag. Reserve the remaining sauce. Seal the bag, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
3. In another resealable plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the marinated chicken pieces, seal the bag, and shake to coat.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken into the skillet, and brown on both sides. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels, and cover with aluminum foil.
5. Wipe out the skillet, and add the sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water; stir into the sauce. Reduce heat to medium low, add the chicken pieces, and simmer, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ginger Beef

My dad used to be the head chef in a fancy steakhouse restaurant.  I remember going to visit him at work while I was really young and seeing the amazing, hectic, busy kitchen.  I also loved going in the walk-in freezer (the huge slabs of meat and whole dead animals didn't traumatize me too much, I guess).  He is an amazing chef, and has a lot of great recipes up his sleeve.  His ginger beef recipe is my absolute favourite.  He actually came up with it himself, and it was on the menu at the restaurant.  I love it with rice and steamed broccoli!

Ginger Beef

Cut beef into thin strips. Coat in cornstarch.  Deep fry at 350F, then coat with sauce.

• 2T minced ginger
• 1/2 c. vinegar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1T chiles
• 1t garlic
• 2 splashes tobasco
  
  
  Combine above ingredients, and heat to a simmer
  
  
• 2T cornstarch
• 4T ketchup
  
  
  Blend cornstarch and ketchup, then slowly add to sauce mixture while whisking.  Heat at a simmer until thickened. 

Chicken Noodle Soup

Grandma Frache's chicken noodle soup is absolutely the best.  It's not like the typical translucent broth.  It's creamy, delicious, the noodles are homemade, it's fun to make, and about the best thing you could have on a cold winter day or when you're sick!  

I remember making noodles with grandma for as long as I can remember.  For my 19th birthday I got a pasta machine just like hers.  It was a very proud moment for me the day I recreated that recipe.  

grandma's handwriting

Yorkshire Pudding

This is definitely one of my favourite dishes.  Grandma Frache sometimes makes it for Sunday dinners with the extended family.  The puddings are like an eggy cup that is slightly hollow in the middle, so you just fill it up with gravy!

Yorkshire Pudding

• 7/8 cup flour (3/4 cup + 2T)
• pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup milk

Mix all ingredients together for minimum time.  Pour into greased muffin pan about 2/3 of the way up.  Bake at 450F for 20 minutes.

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

We made these in one of my classes, and we had a ton of leftover lettuce, so I decided to make it again at home for Sammy boy.  I especially love the dressing.  It's really good served with rice, and use less filling on each lettuce leaf... Sam was going a little crazy ;) Also, the recipe is how we made it in class, which was super tasty.  At home we don't have real chicken though- we just used canned chunks from the cannery and grilled 'em up in a pan. Still good.

Chicken Lettuce Wrap

• 1 heart romaine lettuce
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 heaping tsp reduced fat mayo
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 Tbsp anchovy paste (optional.  Never tried it so I can't vouch for if it's good or not.  It worked without, though)
• 1/2 cup grated Parm. cheese
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 3 Tbsp EVOO

• Preheat oven on broiler setting.
• Cut the bottom off of the Romaine health and then cut larger leaves in half lengthwise.  Rinse and leave to dry while preparing the rest of the meal.
• Season chicken (we used seasoning salt and pepper) and place on pan. Broil 7 minutes, flip, broil 7 minutes more.  When done, let stand 5 minutes before slicing/shredding.
• Place mayo, garlic, lemon, anchovy paste, W. sauce, and pepper into a blender and turn on.  Stream EVOO in slowly while blender is running.  When combined, remove and use.  Can also store in an airtight container.

Just put some chicken (and rice, if you want) on a lettuce leaf and roll it up! Super, super tasty!

Leek Soup

In my Family Meal Management class, our teacher challenged us to try a new vegetable that we hadn't had before.  She also offered us extra credit for doing it (but that's besides the point).  We decided to try:

LEEK!

Sam seemed worried.

The soup was actually way good.  I really like onion, but they make me feel sick.  Leeks, however, are like a more mild onion-- so problem solved!  The other great thing about this soup is that even though it tasted cream based, it was actually cauliflower puree based!  How awesome is that?  The original recipe also called for bacon, which I left out.  I also added some corn.  Try it out!





Leek Soup

• 1 tsp EVOO
• 2-3 large leeks, washed and chopped, white and pale green parts only, about 4 cups
• 1 small onion, chopped (I left this out)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large russet potatoes (about 1.5 lbs), peeled and chopped
• 3 1/2-4 cups low sodium veggie or chicken broth
• 1 cup cauliflower and/or zucchini puree
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper, to taste
• Additional seasonings, as desired (just make it taste how you want.)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the leeks, onion, garlic, and salt.  Cook until tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent browning.  Add the potatoes, broth, puree, and bay leaf.  Increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.  Discard the bay leaf.  Stir in salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Season as desired (I think I used Italian and chives).  Very tasty served with bread or toast!
This makes a lot of soup-- the two of us have had leftovers for a while.  You could definitely half it and still have some leftovers if it's just you or a few other people.

Mac N Cheese

This is another recipe that I got from Lottie + Doof.  To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan, but Sam loooved it.   The only homemade mac n cheese that I've tried and liked is the one my mom makes, and for some reason I keep trying recipes other than hers and they just don't measure up (PS: Mom, send it my way please? :) ).  I think the problem is that onions just make me feel sick now for some reason, so that was all I noticed in it.  We also didn't add bacon, which we all know tends to make things better.  Sam thought it was awesome, and I think it really is a great recipe.  And it looked awesome!  I did half of the recipe regular as I'll post below, and the other one I added about 3/4 of a small can of tomato paste.  Both were great! Anyway, here it is:

Mac + Cheese

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 3 slices bacon, diced
• 1 cup of finely chopped yellow onion
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or less if you would like this with less spice)
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3 cups coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese,  divided
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 4 ounces Mascarpone or cream cheese
• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese Breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pound Penne

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon to paper towels to drain. Remove all but about 3 tablespoons of fat from the pan. Add onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and garlic, stir for 1 minute. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter, allow to melt, and then add the flour and stir for a minute. Gradually whisk in 3 cups of milk; simmer until thick enough to coat a spoon, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in 2 1/4 cups of cheddar and all of the Parmesan cheese and marscapone. Return bacon to sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add panko and stir until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in parsley.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lighly butter a 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish or similarly sized gratin dish. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water until very al dente. Drain well. Toss pasta and cheese sauce and season again with salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake until hot and topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Roasted Almond Pesto

I found this neat website called Lottie + Doof that has some amazing food photography and recipes.  I found an almond pesto recipe that I wanted to try, but changed a few things.  I really liked it since I'm used to pesto, but the taste had to grow on Sam.  One problem was that we didn't have enough fresh basil (holy smokes, it is way too pricey at Macey's!) and had to add a bit of dry.  I think ricotta would taste a lot better than the cottage cheese in this dish, but ricotta=pricey and fatty, and we already had cottage cheese in the fridge.  If you can get the fresh basil and ricotta, do that instead!  The original recipe also added black olive, but I don't like them. Overall, pretty good, and worth a try!

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2/3 cup roasted almonds
• 4 cups basil leaves
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese

Finely chop garlic in a food processor.  Add almonds, basil, lemon juice, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.  Process until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil and blend.

Transfer to a large bowl and stir in cottage cheese.  Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

Toss with hot spaghetti, thinning with some cooking water if needed. 

Baked Tortilla Chips

These tortilla chips are great!  For one thing, they can be way healthier than bagged chips- baked rather than fried, you can add less salt, use whole wheat tortilla shells... They're also a great use for leftover tortillas.  Sam and I seem to have a hard time using a whole bag before they go nasty, so this time around I made these chips and had them with chili!  They are also great with quinoa and black beans.

Ingredients:

• 1 (12 oz) package torillas (corn, flour, whole wheat, spinach...)
• 1 T oil 
• 3 T lime juice
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Cut each tortilla into chip sized wedges and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet
• Combine oil and lime juice.  Brush onto wedges
• Combine dry ingredients. Sprinkle on chips. 
• Bake about 15 minutes total.  Rotate the pan halfway through.  Only bake until the chips are crisp but not too brown. 

This is similar to mt recipe for cinnamon chips (with fruit salsa!).  Coming soon ;)

7 Layer Tortilla Pie

I have this habit of buying tortillas and then never doing anything with them.  They just get forgotten in the bottom of the fridge!  I had a bag of them hanging out, and I decided that I needed to find something to do with them. I adapted this recipe from one I found on allrecipes.com

Layered Tortilla Pie

• 1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup salsa, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp cilantro (optional)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes (canned/drained works)
• 7 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• Enchilada sauce
• 1 1/2 cup corn
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a large bowl, mash pinto beans.  Stir in 3/4 c salsa and garlic

3. In separate bowl, mix together 1/4 cup salsa, cilantro, black beans, and tomatoes.

4. Place 1 tortilla in a round dish.  Spread some pinto mixture, some cheese, some enchilada sauce, and some corn to within  1/2 inch of edge.  Place another tortilla on top, then layer black bean mixture, cheese, enchilada sauce, and corn.  Continue the layering process until you have used up your ingredients.  Finish off with a tortilla, enchilada sauce, and cheese.

5. Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes.  Remove foil and broil to brown cheese slightly.  Cut into wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream.

This dish was SO good.  Tip: A regular pie plate is not deep enough.  I used a springform pan to get this all in there.  You can use less cheese if you would like (we did) and it's still fantastic.  The great thing is that you can change it to use whatever ingredients you have.  You could add rice or quinoa, omit the corn, use just black beans, whatever!  It was waaaay good, and I am slightly embarrassed to say that our gluttony got the better of us and we ate almost the whole thing in one night.  It was very sad to not have leftovers of this one. It would reheat in an oven to perfection!

Broccoli Chicken Divan

It tastes better than this picture looks!

Guys, just so you know, sometimes my recipe attempts are not a hit. Sometimes I make too many substitutions/reductions in an attempt to make it more healthy. It just doesn't always work.  Other times I do silly things like not set the timer, or sometimes things just don't turn out.  Fortunately, Sam isn't too picky and very graciously eats things anyway-- except that nasty pasta thing that one time... But we don't talk about that.

However, this is one dish that is SO stinkin' good that it just might be worth the calories.  I did reduce the fat, cheese, and sodium, so it's a little better.  No but seriously- totally worth it.

(I'm really sorry that my food pictures are really awful.  Just pretend they look awesome, ok? Excellent.)

Broccoli Chicken Divan

• l lb broccoli
• 1 cup cooked chicken meat, in bite-sized chunks
• 1 (10.75oz) can condensed cream of broccoli soup (other "cream of"s will also work)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 T butter
• 2 T dried bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 450F

2. Steam broccoli until slightly tender, but not completely booked.

3. Place the cooked broccoli in a 9inch pie pan.  Top with the chicken. In a bowl, combine the soup, milk, garlic, and some of the cheese, then pour into pan.  Sprinkle with the rest of cheese.

4. Melt the butter, then combine with bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the cheese.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly brown. Serve over rice.

Add more broccoli and less chicken if you want!  You don't even need to use chicken, really.  I think it would be awesome with just broccoli.  It might be good with black beans or beef as well, but I haven't tried it. 

Quinoa and Black Beans

disregard our little fragments of chips
 we got from the bottom of the bag :)

Quinoa (keen-wah) is great.  If you need a break from rice, give it a try! It's actually not a grain, but a seed related to the spinach family.  It seems like a grain, though!  It's also a complete protein and it a great source of fiber.  It's also gluten free.
I haven't tried out a ton of things with it yet, but this recipe t turned out really good!  It had a lot of flavour and costs very little. It reminded me of a chilli, but without all the fat of beef.
Here is the main recipe, but I also mentioned some good variations at the end.



Quinoa and Black Beans:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 c red and/or green peppers, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 c uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 c vegetable broth
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 c corn kernals
• 2 cans (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and brained
• 1/2 c cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the onions, peppers, and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper.  Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Other options:

• Some people find quinoa a little bitter. If you rinse it first this seems to solve the problem. Personally, I didn't rinse it and it tasted fine.
• If you prefer a softer consistency, soak the quinoa in the vegetable broth first (about 20 minutes, or just the time it takes to prepare the vegetables)
• If you don't want to add the oil, just boil everything with the quinoa instead.  I did this, and it was just fine.  
• If you don't have the fresh veggies, just use dehydrated onions or onion powder (and skip the salt), and dried red chili peppers.
• A good addition is canned tomatoes with a bit of the juice.  It will taste even more like chili. 
• We ate ours with tortilla chips, but I think it would also be great just by itself or in a tortilla wrap.
• This is good either hot or cold, so feel free to make extras to take leftovers!
• Feel free to use less or more beans and corn.

Cream of Anything Soup

Tonight I needed something to make for a sister in the ward who just had a baby, and since it was all snowy and cold outside, I decided to do soup.  I did cream of carrot, but I've also done cream of broccoli and it rocks.  

(serves 4-6)

Base:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
3 cups milk
4 cups chicken broth or stock
2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash (seasoned salt)
2 teaspoons onion powder or a small chopped onion

In a soup pot, melt and brown the butter and flour. Add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Add milk, chicken broth or stock, seasoned salt and onion powder or onion. 

Cook the desired vegetables, and then puree 3/4 of them using some of the soup base.  Mix in puree, spices, and remaining vegetables.  Season to taste.

Vegetables/spices:

Cream of Asparagus
5 cups asparagus
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Dash of ground nutmeg or mace


Cream of Green Bean
4 cups green beans
1 teaspoon crushed savory


Cream of Broccoli
6 cups broccoli
1 teaspoon thyme
Dash of garlic powder
2 bay leaf


Cream of Carrot
4 cups carrots
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon basil


Cream of Cauliflower
5 cups cauliflower
1 teaspoon curry powder


Cream of Zucchini
4 cups zucchini
Dash of nutmeg


Cream of Mushroom
4 cups mushrooms
Dash of nutmeg