dinner
Amber’s Veggie Chili
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
This one came from my friend Amber during this recent recipe swap. I’m excited to try it next week while Kelvin is away so I can load up the beans.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
1 can chick peas
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, chopped
1 (19 ounce) can kidney beans with liquid
1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions, carrots, and garlic until tender. Stir in green pepper, red pepper, celery, and chili powder. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes.
Stir in mushrooms, and cook 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, kidney beans, and corn. Season with cumin, oregano, and basil. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium. Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Tater Tot Casserole
Monday, November 10th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
This one is from a dear family friend, Michelle. She lived in a cottage behind our house, and was like an older sister to me when I was in high school.
1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Splash of milk
½ a small package of tater tots
Shredded cheese
Brown ground beef and drain. Add mushroom soup and milk, mix together. (Not too much milk to make it runny, about ¼ can) Pour into 9X13 dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Top with tater tots and cheese. Bake as the tater tots package says to bake. I don’t have my recipe, so I don’t remember the temp and time.
Crawfish Pie
Monday, November 10th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
½ stick butter
1 tsp concentrated crab boil
½ small yellow onion
1 can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic
1 tbsp garlic
1 bag Louisiana Fish Fry brand etoufee mix
1 lb crawfish tails
2 frozen pie crusts
1. Cut off pinched edge of one frozen pie crust and let both crusts defrost
2. Saute garlic and onion in butter, then add c-fish tails and crab boil
3. Cook down and add cream of mushroom soup (At this time place uncut pie crust into 400 degree oven for 7 minutes)
4. Once soup is mixed well, add etoufee mix slowly to thicken (at this time it is time to remove pie crust from oven); add mixture to bottom pie crust and lie the 2nd pie crust on top pinching the edges
5. Melt butter to top of pie crust and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (approx. 10 minutes)
Italian-ish Spaghetti Squash
Friday, November 7th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
One of our new favorite fall/winter vegetables is Spaghetti Squash. I generally just bake it, strip out the flesh and douce it with a generous shot of salt, pepper and spray butter. Last night I was feeling like doing a little more work so I adapted a veggie side dish to go with it inspired by my friend Brenda.
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp crushed garlic
- 1 large can diced tomatoes
- 1 small can black olives sliced
- 2-4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Saute the onion and garlic in a touch of olive oil (I use the spray olive oil by Pam). Add tomatoes and simmer 15-20 minutes. Add the olives and simmer another 5-7 minutes. Add parmesean when ready to serve.
To go with this, I put two chicken breasts in a glass baking dish with a couple of tablespoons of balsalmic vinigar, a dash of liquid smoke and a heavy sprinkling of coarse seasoned pepper. I covered that in foil and baked at the same time as the spaghetti squash.
It would have been terrific all mixed together, but I plated it just so everything overlapped a little.
Fresh tomato sauce
Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
The interwebs are a beautiful thing. My friend K and I were chatting over iChat today as she was looking for a tomato sauce recipe. After scanning a few that seemed rediculously time consuming, I came across this one on Chez Pim that looks easy and definitely worth a try.
I guess I should pull the rest of my tomtoes and give this a whirl.
Pork Stew
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
from my friend Tami…
1 pkg. pork tenderloin cut into 1 inch pieces
1 pkg. turkey kielbasa cut into 1 inch pieces & halved
6 carrots peeled and chopped
½ onion chopped
2 tsps, minced garlic
2 cans cannellini beans
1 can chicken broth
1 cup water
1 small can of tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
Handful of parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook pork, kielbasa, carrots, onion, garlic, parsley, chicken broth, and water on high for about 3 hours. Then add your beans, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. Stir it up! Cook an additional 2 hours.
The original recipe calls for Italian breadcrumbs to be drizzled over each bowl. I’ve tried the recipe with and without….tastes great with them but just as good without!
Acorn Squash Ravioli
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | randomness, recipes | No Comments
My friend A has me almost convinced to try our hand at making fresh pasta for acorn squash ravioli. The idea of using my virgin ravioli cutter is tempting, and I do love squash. Though I hate to even calculate the points on this one so maybe I’ll talk her into waiting a week or so until I get down to my goal for WW (only two pound to go!). It could be our celebration dinner.
But until then, here is the post she found with the recipe from A Chow Life: Make pasta tonight. Acorn Aquash Ravioli.
Chicken in Mushroom rice
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
Why is my comfort food usually tied to a can of cream of mushroom soup?
Tonight, in need of something easy that could sit in the oven while Kelvin finished up an online meeting, I retreated to an old stand-by.
In a 9×13 pan, mix together:
1/2 cup rice
3/4 cup water
1 can of reduced fat cream of mushroom soup
1 sweet onion chopped
generous sprinkling of Tony’s seasoning
I put five frozen boneless, skinless chicken strips on top of the mixture and sprinkled liberally with Tony’s.
Cover with foil and bake at 325 for an hour (or longer if you want the rice sticky).
Pork with white wine and balsamic reduction
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
Last week’s dinner experiment went pretty well. I was looking for something new to do with the pork tenderloin we purchased and this is what I came up with:
Two pieces of pork tenderloin seasoned generously with Tony’s and pepper blend.
Spray pan on stovetop with olive oil and seer meat on all sides. Leave meat in the pan.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add one sweet onion and one red bell pepper roughly chopped. Toss until beginning to soften. Add one cup fresh mushrooms sliced.
Add 1/2 cup white wine and 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar. Add Tony’s to season veggies. Stir until veggies are coated.
Cover and allow to cook down (approximately 10-15 minutes).
I served this with baked potatoes and actually put some of the veggies and sauce on my potato.
Creamy pasta with shrimp and peas
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 | recipes | No Comments
We’ve been watching entirely too much food network recently. I realized recently that although we watch, I seldom try any of the recipes. This creamy pasta with shrimp and peas is my lightened up take on a dish Rachel Ray cooked one night last week on 30-minute meals. I substituted turkey bacon for the real thing and fat free cream cheese for mascarpone cheese (i know my cheese connoisseur friends have now snubbed me, sorry, it’s what i had in the fridge). She served hers with talapia on the side, and we added shrimp. By my calculation, this recipe makes five servings at 6 WW point per serving.
3 tsp olive oil
5 slices turkey bacon
1 medium onion chopped
1 cup mushrooms
1 large can whole tomatoes
6 oz Barilla Plus Penne
8 oz fat free cream cheese
1 cup canned green peas
6 oz shrimp peeled, deveined
Slice bacon into half inch strips and saute in 1 tsp olive oil. Once crisp, add remaining olive oil, onion and mushrooms. Cook until translucent. Add tomatoes and break up into chunks. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Add cooked pasta and shrimp. Once heated through, add green peas.
My Tweets
- courtneyb: @FrostDavis and no one even realized she was in my lap. Score one for my good baby.
- courtneyb: In airport with infant. Everyone smiles, asks how old, then hopes their seat is not near ours.
- courtneyb: Lady A sounded great in concert last night, just disappointed at the brevity. Thanks Allentown fair.
- courtneyb: The babe slept in my lap through an amazing dinner at Amada in Philly. I can't get enough of that place.
- courtneyb: @snappity yeah Willa! but are you ready for her to be mobile?