Roasted Parmesan Asparagus

This is really quite simple to make. I don't even have exact amounts on any of the ingredients, I just add a few simple ingredients and bake. What can be simpler than that?

Ingredients:

Asparagus

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Wash your asparagus and break off the ends. If you bend your asparagus it will automatically break where it needs to. Wash the asparagus.

Place them on a large cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Use your fingers to toss it all together and get all the asparagus coated.

Bake at 415 degrees for 8 to 9 minutes or until tender - don't over bake, you still want a little crunch.

Pull the asparagus out of the oven and immediately sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Serve while hot!

Herbed Wild Rice

This side dish is very simple to make - however, it does take a long time to cook. Be sure to start early so that you're not waiting around for the rice.

Ingredients:

2 Tbs butter

1/2 cup chopped onions (or green onions)

1 cup wild rice medley (a combination of long grain brown, short grain brown, and wild rice)

3/4 tsp sage

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup water

Over high heat, sauté onions in butter until nice and tender.

Add rice, sage, thyme, and salt. Sauté for one more minute.

Add chicken stock and water to the pan. Bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, place the lid on the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 1 and 1/2 hours or until rice is tender.

Remove from pan and serve while hot.

Sweet Potato Puff

My friend, Gwen, has made these Sweet Potatoes the last few times we've done Thanksgiving together. It's hard to believe that they have about half the calories and about one third the fat of regular sweet potatoes.

Now, some of you might not care about that sort of thing, but for people like me who eat sweet potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner - it's something to think about.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato Mixture:

3 cups fresh (cooked) sweet potatoes

4 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. flour

Topping:

3 Tbs. flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs. butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Peel sweet potatoes and cut up into small 1/2 inch cubes. Place in a pot of water and bring to boiling. Boil until potatoes are soft - about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and drain. Use a potato masher and mash those sweet potatoes.

In a medium bowl, mix together egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and flour. Whisk to combine.

Now add those sweet potatoes and continue to stir until well combined.

Spread into the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish that has been greased (or sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray).

In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar and butter. Stir in pecans.

Sprinkle topping mixture over the sweet potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees form 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Serve warm - but really these things are good cold too.

Here are the ingredients for the regular Sweet Potatoes - if you're the type of person that likes all that melted butter and stuff. : )

Just follow the other instructions and swap out these amounts for the previous ones.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato Mixture:

3 cups fresh (cooked) sweet potatoes

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. flour

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Roasted Summer Vegetables

These vegetables are perfect for the summer - such a beautiful collection of colors. Plus, they're super easy - a lot like the Roasted Potatoes I did a few weeks ago.

Ingredients:

1/2 a yellow pepper

1/2 a red pepper

1/2 a green pepper

2 small zucchini

1 small yellow squash

half an onion - yellow, red, it doesn't matter

1 to 2 Tb. olive oil

2 tsp. garlic powder

salt (usually around 1 1/2 tsp.)

pepper

Seed all the peppers and cut all the vegetables into chunks that are roughly the same size.

Spread all the vegetables on a large cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Use your hands to mix vegetables all around and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Place in 400 degree oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes - depending on the size of your vegetable chunks. Remove from oven when vegetables are tender and transfer to a serving dish. Let them cool a bit and then eat.

Black Bean & Mango Salsa

I've had this a few times at my friend Emily's home, but I never actually made it until I got some large mangos in my Bountiful Basket.

You can eat this on fish, on chicken, with tortilla chip, or straight out of the bowl with a fork - like I do!

Ingredients:

2 ripe mangos - peeled, pitted, and diced

1 15 oz. can of black beans - drained and rinsed

1/2 cup chopped red onions

1 small green pepper - seeded and chopped

1 small red pepper - seeded and chopped

1/2 cup Italian dressing - any kind

salt and pepper to taste

In a blender or magic bullet, blend 1/4 cup of mango with the Italian dressing until smooth.

In a bowl, combine the rest of the mayo with the beans, onions, and peppers. Add the mango puree and stir.

Season to taste. Chill until ready to serve.

Roasted Potatoes

Growing up in Idaho, I absolutely love potatoes. So, I was grateful that there were some in my basket last week. I decided to make a family favorite - Roasted Potatoes!

Now...have you ever known someone that just throws all the ingredients together, never telling you how much of this or how much of that to add to it? You know - that person that drives you nuts?! Well, today I'm going to be that person. But don't worry....with only 4 ingredients it's near to impossible to mess up these potatoes.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - preferably red or yukon (russets aren't quite as good for this)

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Additional Seasonings - optional

Wash and scrub your potatoes. Cut into 1 inch uniform chunks. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet. You know your own family, so only do as many potatoes as you think your family will eat.

Drizzle some olive oil over the potatoes. For an entire cookie sheet of potatoes, I usually use about 2 Tablespoons (more or less) of oil. Once you've drizzled it on, use your hands to toss the potatoes.

Now it's time for some salt! Potatoes always need salt, and sometimes you might feel like you're using too much. But, those potatoes need it - just remember that.

Sprinkle on the salt, the pepper, and any additional seasonings you like. I decided to use my remaining Mrs. Dash - I had about 1 tsp. You could also use fresh chopped rosemary.

After the seasonings are all sprinkled on, you're going to need to get those hands dirty again. Use your hands to toss and mix the potatoes. This will evenly coat each one with all the seasonings.

The key to roasting these potatoes is the high temperature. Cook them at 415 degrees for about 20 minutes. I have heard to push that up to 425, but I've not tried that - if you do, let me know how it goes.

This next step is completely optional, but I will help to give the potatoes a golden look.

After the potatoes are nice and tender (use a fork to test them), turn up the oven to Broil and cooked them an additional 3 to 5 minutes to give them a more golden brown appearance.

Remove the potatoes from the oven. Allow them to cool slightly and then place in a serving dish. They will be really hot, so let them cool slightly before serving.

Basil & Chive Cream Cheese

This is a basic cream cheese spread. It is good for so many different things, so I decided to type it up as it's own post - then I can just reference it whenever I need to!

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese - at room temperature

2 green onions - chopped

3 large basil leaves - chopped

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. If your cream cheese is soft, you should be able to do this with a fork. Once everything is combined, use it on your wraps, or toasted bagels, or crackers, or....well, you get the idea.

Here's a little hint. I like to use the neufatel cheese - since it has 1/3 less fat - however, NEVER use the fat-free cream cheese. That stuff if just plain gross!

Frijoles Negros

I love having Black Beans whenever we have mexican food. After a few test runs, I've finally found some that my family loves!

Ingredients:

1/2 to 1 Tb. olive oil

1/3 cup finely chopped onions

1/3 cup finely chopped green pepper

2 cloves finely chopped garlic

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. cumin

finely chopped jalapeño (optional)

1 can black beans (undrained)

In a small pan heat the olive oil. Sauté the onions and green peppers (jalapeño too if you want the heat) until soft - about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds.

Add the undrained beans, salt, pepper, and cumin. Simmer the beans for 15 minutes to incorporate all the flavors.

Serve with your favorite meal - or just eat them on their own.

Enjoy!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Grill Week

Day 3

Grilled Corn on the Cob

This was a fun one. Easy and very few ingredients - my kind of cooking.

Ingredients:

Corn on the Cob

Water

Grill

Take your corn, still in the husks, and trim off anything that can burn. This includes the extra corn silk on the ends, the fly-aways on the sides, and even those long handles on the bottom.

Once they're all trimmed up, soak the ears of corn for 15 minutes in water. This will help prevent burning as well as help steam the corn during cooking.

This is also a good time to preheat that grill - set it on high, close the lid, and let it get hot.

Remove corn from water and pat dry. Turn the flames down to low and place the corn on the hot grill. Placement will be similar to kabobs - perpendicular to the grill so you can rotate them left to right.

Close the lid and let those things cook. Check them every 3 to 5 minutes and rotate to ensure equal cooking on each side.

The whole cooking process will take 15 to 20 minutes.

The corn is done when the husk looks wilted and dry. It will be a slightly faded, almost gray, color - but not burnt (remember that low flame).

Place the corn on a platter and take inside. Now you have to remove the husks - but be careful, they are very hot.

Once the husks are removed, you're ready to eat! You can use butter, salt, pepper, etc.

I decided to make a little herbed butter for our corn (recipe below).

Herbed Butter

Ingredients:

1/2 cube butter - softened

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp parsley

Mix together all the ingredients. Place on a sheet of saran wrap and lightly fold the saran wrap around the butter to form a log. Place in the fridge until it hardens.

Remove from fridge, place on a plate and roll your corn in the herbed butter.

Creamy Potato Salad

Tis' the season for Barbecue - and you can't have a barbecue without potato salad.

I absolutely love this salad...it's chuck full of dill and it's always a crowd pleaser. Normally when I make this, I just throw everything in...I've never taken the time to actually figure out the amounts.

Well...I finally did just that! And this is what I came up with. Just remember that everyone is different, so if you like a little more of one thing and a little less of another...go ahead and do it your way. After all...this will be your potato salad.

Give it a shot! I really don't think you can go wrong with this.

Ingredients:

4 cups potatoes - peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

5 hard boiled eggs - cut into 1/2 inch cubes

3/4 cup onions - chopped

1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles

1 1/2 cups mayo

1 Tb Dill weed

1 tsp mustard

1 to 2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Place potatoes in a pan of water on the stove. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender when poked with a fork. Drain potatoes and put in a bowl to cool.

Once the potatoes are cool add the eggs, onions and pickles. In a separate bowl add the mayo, dill weed, mustard, 1 tsp. salt and pepper. Stir to combine. If you feel that this mixture is a little too thick, you can add a tsp or two of the pickle juice (optional).

Pour the mayonnaise sauce over the potato mixture and stir to combine. Taste and add additional tsp of salt if desired.

Chill in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours before serving. This is even great the next day.

* As a side note, I like to use Hellman's Mayonnaise. It seems to be the best. You can use regular or low fat.

Caprese Salad

If you've ever wondered what summer tastes like - this is it!

(well, this and a big slice of watermelon, but today we're focusing on this)

Ingredients:

tomatoes

mozzarella

fresh basil - julienned

salt & pepper

balsamic vinegar

Drizzle just a little balsamic vinegar on a serving plate (not too much, you only want a slight hint of flavor). Slice the tomatoes and place them evenly around the plate. Sprinkle just a little salt & pepper over each tomato. Place a slice of cheese on top of each tomato and sprinkle julienned basil over the entire plate.

Additional Ways to Serve

* instead of julienned basil, just place one basil leaf on top of each mozzarella slice

* chop up the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Place in a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste

Classic Chicken (or Turkey) Gravy

drippings from Turkey or Chicken

corn starch or flour

chicken stock

Place your dripping in a sauce pan. Set heat to medium high. Depending on your amount of drippings, you may need to add more chicken stock.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup chicken stock with 2 Tbs. corn starch (or flour). Mix to combine. Add corn starch mixture to drippings and whisk constantly until thickened. If you like it thicker, do this again. Bring to a boil. Now it's ready to serve.

It's often hard with gravy to know exact amounts, it all just depends on the amount of drippings that you have as well as the desired consistency you are trying to achieve. Just remember not to add the thickening agent (corn starch or flour) directly to the drippings - always mix them with a small amount of liquid first. Also, always whisk the gravy. If you stop whisking - well, just don't.

If your gravy becomes too thick, just add more chicken stock. Once the gravy is boiling, it has reached it's final thickness. If you don't like it, add more thickening agent or more liquid until you get what you want.

Good Luck!

Ultimate Thanksgiving Stuffing

1 package Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix

1 tube sausage

1 onion, chopped (abt. 1 cup)

3 to 4 stalks celery, chopped (abt. 1 cup)

2 cups chicken broth

Brown sausage with the onion and celery. Once it is browned, place it in a large bowl. Add the Stuffing Mix and chicken broth. Mix it all together and place in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 -45 minutes.

* Optional - you can add a chopped apple and substitute half of the chicken broth for apple cider. I've never actually done this, but I've heard that other people like it like that. You decide.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

6 or 7 red potatoes
1/2 cube butter
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
milk
salt & pepper
1 green onion - chopped (optional)

Peal and dice potatoes. Boil potatoes in water until tender when poked with a fork. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter and then saute garlic. Don't burn! Remove from heat once garlic has cooked for about 30 - 60 seconds.

Once potatoes are soft, drain and return to pan. Add butter and begin mashing with a potato masher. Add enough milk to make them creamy. Salt and pepper to taste and top with chopped green onion.