Steak Sweet Potato Fries

The Goods:

• Two hearty sweet potatoes(makes about 6 big servings)
• salt
• olive oil
• brown sugar(optional)

The Mission:

1. Slice sweet potatoes thickly, about 1-1.5 inch
2. Place into a bowl
3. Slather with olive oil
4. Dish onto a pan
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE THEM SWEET: Add a pinch(whatever that is) of brown sugar to each fry.

1. Bake on 350 degrees, 20 minutes
2. BROIL for 5 minutes until crispy and lightly browned

Yummy Turkey Chili

I made this stuff for my hubs and he LOVED it! Super easy, and tasty!

(freepresshouston.com)

The Goods:

• 1 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 1(28 ounce) can canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 (16 ounce) can canned kidney beans–drained, rinsed, and mashed
• 1 tbls. garlic, minced
• 2 tbls. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth

The Mission:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Place turkey in the pot, an cook until evenly brown. Stir in onion, and cook until tender.
2. Pour water and chicken broth into pot. Mix in tomatoes, kidney beans, and garlic. Season chili powder, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Serve with tortilla chips, or saltines.

(courtesy of allrecipes,com, and my brain)

Peace and Chili!

The Mission:

1. In a large soup pot, heat the one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium high heat
2. Add

Emily’s Stuffed Peppers

My friend Emily recently turned me on to her fabulous stuffed bell peppers recipe. They sound fancy schmancy, but they’re so easy and your people will be impressed with you if you make ’em!

 

Those aren’t mine(spoonful.com) but they look just  like this…except mine have melted cheese on top…which is fattier…and better…

The Goods:

• 1 pound ground italian sausage
• 1/2 cup uncooked Rice-a-Roni rice pilaf
• 1 cup of water
• 6 green bell peppers
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 6 slices Pepperjack cheese

The Mission:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
3. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)
4. In a bowl, mix the italian sausage, cooked rice pilaf, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
5. Ad 1 thick slice of pepperjack cheese atop peppers
6. Bake 50 minutes-1 hour in the oven until peppers are tender.
7. Revel in your gourmet-ness

(in collaboration with allrecipes.com, my brain, and my sweet friend, Emily)

Sissy’s Garlic Knots

I do hereby dedicate this post to my sister, without whom the inspiration for this recipe would not exist. Back in high school, I performed at a community theatre in a neighboring city. Right across the street from the theatre, was a place called Gambroni’s. It was this sweet little hole-in-wall Italian joint. Some of the other cast members and I would eat there after rehearsal sometimes. Anyway, their absolute best appetizer was their garlic knots. I had never heard of nor eaten such a fine delicacy in my life and I FELL. IN. LOVE. On the way to watch me perform in a theatre competition a few hours away, my sister ran through Macon and picked up some of those delicious knots. Unfortunately, she got lost…and I never got to taste those particular knots. However, she did. And those knots ended up satisfying her appetite until she found her way back home. Ah, the love of a big sister. Nothing can replace it. Anyway…much to everyone’s dismay, Gambroni’s went out of business after a few years. I haven’t tasted anything quite as mouth watering since…until a couple of weeks ago when I realized I could recreate the recipe! So, without further adieu, here she is: the Queen of everything tantalizingly unhealthy.  It’s buttery. It’s carby. It’s fattening. And MAN, is it good! For those of you who still desire to eat something that’s bad for you every once in a while(or often…*cough*…like I do) this recipe is for you!

The Goodies:

• 1 stick of butter, unsalted
• 1 tsp. of cilantro
• A little bit of garlic salt(you know the drill: taste and modify as needed) OR minced garlic. Both work fine.
• Salt and Peppa [to taste]
• Lots of Parmesan(taste as you go and GO with the flow!)
• 1 can of pizza dough(you could be really domesticated and make your own dough…but if you don’t have time, you could just use store-bought. So far, Pillsbury dough boy hasn’t let me down!)
• I tsp. of Italian seasoning

Directions:

• Melt the butter in the microwave
• Stir in cilantro, salt and peppa and garlic salt/minced garlic
• Break your dough triangles into similar triangles(maybe Geometry wasn’t totally lost on me…) and roll each individual slice
• Now, before you go making your knots, take a moment and appreciate yourself. Maybe give yourself a pat on the back, or a round of applause(clap your hands in a circle…my students love this one) because you’re doing great! Also, roll a  bit of Italian seasoning into each slice. This gives the bread a “pop” of flavor!
• Knot each slice(Don’t worry, this won’t look perfect. It might even look like a blob. That doesn’t matter. We’re not going for aesthetics here, just taste).
• Place on greased cooking pan and bake for 10-15 minutes.
• Pour buttery mixture over the knots, and sprinkle with parmesan to taste. Now that I’m thinking of it, you may want to melt your butter mixture AFTER or WHILE the bread is baking. You don’t want it to clump. No one likes clumps anywhere. On anything. Just sayin’.
• Go to NOMTOWN! 🙂

apple-chips.jpg

Okay, I’m kind’ve a freak. I love my dehyrator. I’m serious about this. I feel like she’s(yes, it’s a girl) a friend of mine. She’s always in the kitchen waiting for me. We have the same interests(we both like to dehydrate food…) and she always provides quality entertainment. She’s almost better than most TV shows. Okay, I realize I’m pushing it with that last statement, but…whatever. You get it. She’s FUN.

This is probably one of my very FAVORITE snacks! And it is SUPER easy! If you don’t have a dehydrator, no worries! You can simply bake or broil your apples for chippified perfection!

The Goodies:

• 4 Apples(of your choice) I prefer Red Delicious or Golden Delicious, AND…if the Fall weather is upon us Honeydew apples! They are, obviously, the best. However since they aren’t in season all the time, Red D’s work, too.
• Cinnamon
• Sugar

Directions:

• Slice your apples(manually or with a slicer) at 1/2 in.  thickness. You want to make sure your apples aren’t too thick, because then they’ll take longer to bake and/or dehydrate.
• Mix your cinnamon and sugar together. The more sugar you use, the sweeter the apple chips…same goes for the cinnamon. Just mix it together and taste as needed…or desired.
• Lightly sprinkle the cinnamony sugar mixture over the apples.
• In your dehydrator, place the apples on wax paper evenly and close the lid.
• Dehydrate for 2-6 hours.

In your oven:

• Set your oven to 375 degrees
• Spray your cookie pan(10×12)
• Place apple slices on the pan
• Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crispy

ENJOY!

Crock Pot Chicken n’ Dumplins

This was one Southern recipe I could not do without when I moved to the West Coast. In our first year of marriage, I quickly became obsessed with my little crock pot. I didn’t realize how much of a blessing that sucker was until I started doing some research on the internet. You can just pop stuff in before you head off to work and then dinner is almost all ready when you get home! Brilliant, crock pot creators, just brilliant.  I love it. I think I already mentioned that…

ANYWAY, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I use these guys a lot because their recipes are quick and simple!

The Goodies:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons butter(or more…if you’re really feelin’ it)
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

I ADD:

• 1 can of chicken broth
• 1 tsp parsley
• instead of using plain biscuits, buttered biscuits

I also make my own cream of chicken soup because I think it adds to the yumminess factor. You can find that recipe here.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, onion and parsley in a slow cooker. Add chicken broth and stir.
2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on Low. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

This is, by far, a family favorite. My husband requests it at this point! Enjoy!!!

credit: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-and-dumplings/ and http://pinchofyum.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup and thepinkdish.blogspot.com

Deliciously Easy Asparagus

Recently for dinner, I wanted to try a new and easy recipe for veggies. I found this gem on Pinterest. It is healthy, quick, and man-oh-man is it tasty! Someone once said that it “tastes like candy” and I wholeheartedly agree!

The Goodies:

• lb fresh asparagus
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1  tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp parsley
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 c parmesan

Directions:

Now, the recipe I used called for lemon juice. I must admit that I did not use it. I can’t handle that lemony-citrus taste. I like my veggies salty, not sweet. But that’s just my opinion. The recipe’s directions are a bit different than what I tried, so I decided to post my spin on it here.

First, mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar and spices in a medium-sized bowl.  Then, dip the asparagus in the mixture in groups of 3-4 spears at a time. Now, I realize this may seem excessive, but I wanted to make sure that each spear was covered in the savory concoction. After every spear is thoroughly covered, spread the asparagus on a pan and sprinkle parmesan on top. Bake in the oven @ 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy this deliciously easy snack! Since asparagus is one of my very favorite recipes, I LOVE it!

Borrowed from: http://rufusguide.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/roast-asparagus/