Roasted Vegetable Stock

This year we brined a turkey for Thanksgiving. The brine recipe we used called for Vegetable Stock, so I thought this would be a perfect time to experiment and make our own stock. It turned out great. The vegetables smelled so good as they were roasting. You could use this as a base for soup too!

Heat oven to 400.

Wash and peel your vegetables thoroughly, unless they are organic.

Cut into chunks and put in a big bowl:

2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 large green onions
2 onions
8 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
6 cloves garlic

Once all of the veggies are cut up in the big bowl, than drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread out in a large baking pan and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

When done, remove from oven and pour the pan of veggies into a big soup pot on the stove. Pour one cup of water into the pan you used to roast with and scrape up the yummy brown bits and put that into the soup pot too.

Add 14 to 16 cups of water to the soup pot. Add 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 4 fresh parsley sprigs, and 3 fresh thyme sprigs.

Bring to a boil, then simmer about 1 hour.  Strain when done.

Kale Frittata

This was one of thee best egg dishes I have had, and even surpasses my all time fav, my mexican omelet!

5 extra large eggs
2 kale leaves, steam lightly
1 red pepper, roasted, then diced
1 large green onion, roasted, then sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesian cheese
salt and pepper

Heat the grill so it is hot to roast the red pepper and green onion.

Preheat the oven to 350 while preparing the dish.

Once the grill is ready, char the red pepper and green onion.  When the pepper is done put it in a medium size bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes. Then wipe away the char and dice the red pepper up. Dice up the charred green onion too.

Meanwhile, cut the kale into bite size pieces, and lighly steam it for about 5 to 7 minutes.

When the veggies are ready, start on the eggs:

Heat a 10 inch skillet on the stove top, and melt a dab of butter in it. Wisk up the eggs with a little bit of water and a dab of milk or cream if desired. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the beaten eggs into the hot pan and cook for a few minutes to set up, then add in the steamed kale, minced garlic, charred and diced green onion and red pepper, and top with the grated cheese.

Put the pan in the preheated oven and cook until eggs are set, about 10 to 15 minutes. We slice into wedges and serve country style right from the pan.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Leftover Taco Salad

We love mexican food and eat it once a week and we always have leftover taco meat and refried beans.

While we usually will use the leftover meat in my Mexican Omelet, I also love putting the leftover taco fixings on a salad.

So here I had leftover spinach and lettuce from last week that makes a nice bed. Then I did reheat the taco meat and refried beans and put them on top of the bed of greens.  I topped with chopped onion, tomato, and avacado.  For a salad  dressing I use homemade salsa. Most of the boughten ones have either sugar or corn syrup in them.

As a side note, the night you have tacos, if you want to avoid glutten, then switch to the corn tortillas instead of the flour ones. They also have less calories....Of course when you fry them in oil you put some back in!

Glazed Ham with Pineapple

Start with a 10 pound ham with the bone in. Remove the ham from the package and rinse it. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Line a shallow baking dish with foil. Place the ham on the foil lined pan and bake uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.

While the ham is baking, make the glaze (adapted from Bobby Flay)

Glaze:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup honey
1/3 cup dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 Tablespoon orange zest
juice of 1/2 orange

Mix all ingredients well.

After the ham has baked for the first 1 1/2 hours, remove the ham from the oven and brush with glaze. Return the ham to the oven, and then baste every 30 minutes for the next 1 1/2 hours. During the last hour, put the pineapple rings on the ham and secure with tooth picks.

Total baking time is about 3 hours for a 10 pound ham.

When the ham is done, remove from the oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest for a bit before slicing.

After slicing the ham, Save the bone for bean soup...this is the reason we make the ham in the first place, just for the bone and bean soup later in the week. You can freeze the bone in a large zipper bag if you don't want to make the soup this week.

Organizing your Greens

Since I have been juicing I have noticed it takes up a lot of space and have come up with a system that seems to work pretty well.

This morning again I was at the store to get Kale and Cukes. Depending in the selection I will buy enough for one or two days worth of juicing and eating. Any more than a couple of days worth and you run the risk of not getting it used up before it starts to go soft.

I have re-arranged my kitchen so I have a little assembly line going and it works out great.

First off I like to wash/scrub the veggies in the sink, then they go to the strainer to drip dry, and from there on to the kitchen towel to air dry.

I use a big bowl for the parsley and kale, and let them each soak in the water for awhile. You will be amazed at the dirt that is in the bottom of the bowl!

Once the Parsley and Kale are dried, I wrap them in paper towels and then put them into a large zipper bag and put them in the fridge. The Kale doesn't fit entirely in the bag, but that is okay, it still seems to remain crisp. If I have lots of Kale, then after washing and drying it, I just roll it up in a clean kitchen towel and put it in the bottom drawer of the fridge, and it will stay crisp for several days.

The Cukes just go in the drawer in the fridge, along with the green apples, celery and lemons.

Here is to your Health.  Stay Organized, Stay Clean, and Stay Green!

Chicken Penne

This was THE BEST Chicken Penne that I have ever had.

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed

1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 box penne pasta, cooked

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 cup pasta water reserved from cooking pasta

1 roasted red pepper

2 T capers

1 1/2 cup grated parmisian cheese

2 T chopped fresh parley

1/2 lemon, juice and zest

You do have to multi task for this recipe, but it does go pretty quickly once you have everything underway.

Start the pasta water to get the pasta cooking.

Fire up the grill, and put the red bell pepper on it to get it roasted.

Heat a big cast iron pan on the stove, add a drizzle of olive oil. Cut the chicken into bite size cubes, and add to the oil, and season with salt and pepper. (We use a splatter screen to control the splatter.)

Meanwhile mince the garlic, chop the sun dried tomatoes and parsley, grate the cheese, zest and juice the lemon so you have everything ready for when the chicken is done.

So now, everything is underway, and while you monitor the pepper, pasta, and chicken you can start on the sauce too. 

For the Sauce: Heat a medium size pan on the stove top and melt the butter, add in the flour, and season with salt and pepper. Let this cook while stirring, being careful not to burn it, just let it cook for a few minutes, then add in the milk and continue to cook, until think and creamy.  Add in 3/4 cup of the grated parmisian cheese, and as much of the reserved pasta water as needed so the sauce isn't too think.

When the pasta is done, drain the water reserving 1 cup.

When the pepper is charred, remove from the grill and put into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

By this time the chicken should be done, add in the garlic, sun dried tomatoes, capers, parlsey, and lemon juice...Good time to deglaze the pan with some good white wine.

Peel the char from the roasted red pepper, then chop the pepper, and add it to the chicken mixture. Add in the pan of sauce, and the pasta and mix everything together. Top with the remaining 3/4 cup grated parmisian cheese and garnish with parsley.

Enjoy with white wine....The wine that we forgot to add to the dish...Next time it will go in to deglaze the pan!

Serve with garlic toast...This dish was just as good reheated the next day.  To Reheat: put leftovers in a pan with a few tablespoons of water, cover, and re-heat in the oven until hot all the way through.

So Good.

Mocha Frappe

My new toy, the Ninja Blender, is awesome. I highly recommend it for crushing ice to make these great coffee drinks!

about 3 big handfulls of ice cubes
1 heaping teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 cup water
1 cup milk
1 packet stevia or sugar
1 Tablespoon chocolate syrup
Whipped cream

Measure about 1/2 cup of water into a cup and dissolve the instant coffee into it. Add in the sugar or stevia and mix well.

Put the ice in the blender, add in the dissolved coffee, and the milk and the chocolate syrup. Blend well, then check it for sweetness and consistency and adjust if necessary.

Pour into glasses, top with whipped cream, and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. And indulge!