Fun in the kitchen – Page 2

November 10, 2016March 1, 2020

Honey roasted butternut squash

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*For instructions on how to roast butternut squash for puree click here*

Ingredients:

One large butternut squash diced (about 4 cups)
4 Tbs olive oil
4 Tbs honey
3 Tbs maple syrup
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Place oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 450°.
Toss diced butternut squash in olive oil and spread on a lined cookie sheet.
Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Bake for 10 minutes
Mix brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a separate dish.
Carefully pull squash out of the oven (use caution as it is very HOT) and coat it with honey and maple syrup. Then sprinkle sugar and spice mix over the squash evenly.
Place squash back in the oven for 15 minutes to bake.
Switch your oven to broil. Broil until golden brown (about 5 min).

Enjoy!

^^Click here to pin the honey roasted butternut squash recipe for later^^

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November 7, 2016

Spaghetti squash noodle bowl with Italian meat sauce

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Italian meat sauce ingredients:

1 onion, diced
1 lb ground meat
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tbs fresh chopped basil
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
4-5 cups fresh tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients to complete bowl:

How to prep Spaghetti Squash

1 Prepared Spaghetti squash bowl (instructions on how to do that here)
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 Tbs grated parmigiana reggiano

Italian meat sauce instructions:

In a large pot, saute onions in olive oil over med-high heat until translucent (5-7 minutes)
Add garlic and ground meat and brown until meat is mostly cooked
Stir in seasoning and herbs and add about 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Add tomato sauce and allow to come to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until desired thickness then adjust for salt to taste.

Bowl assembly instructions:

Place your prepared squash bowl on a plate.
Ladle in a few cups of sauce
Top off with Parmigiana reggiano and mozzarella

Enjoy!!!

^^Click here to pin this recipe for later^^

November 7, 2016

Preparing spaghetti squash

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What you will need:

One large spaghetti squash
Sharp knife
Kitchen towel
Fork

Instructions:

Wash and dry your spaghetti squash
Place a Kitchen towel on your cutting board and put the squash on it (this is to prevent slipping)
Hold the squash tight and carefully cut off the stem end
Cut the squash length wise to make two oval “bowls”
Scoop out the seeds
Cook 1/2 squash in microwave for 7 min on high then carefully remove (use oven mitts or towel as it will be HOT). *Note* You can also do both halves at the same time in the oven. Put them face down in a glass baking dish with 1/2 inch of water and bake at 400 for 30min.
Using a fork, start combing the “spaghetti” off the inner sides of the bowl until you reach the outside edge and have a full bowl of “noodles” as pictured below.
Top with your favorite sauce (you can find my recipe here) and some yummy cheese to enjoy your spaghetti squash bowl 🙂

^^Click here to pin this for later^^

October 31, 2016

Garden Fresh Tomato Bisque

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This has been the month of soups, stews and comfort food!!! Fall is just a great time to sit back with a warm bowl of comfort food. After the Creamy Pot Pie Soup last week we went back to our childhood to the ultimate comfort soup meal Tomato bisque and grilled cheese on fresh baked bread!

I received soooo many requests for this tomato soup recipe so hope you love it as much as we do!!

**To Pin this recipe for later use the “Pin it” button at the end of the instruction section**

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh chopped tomatoes

1 large shallot or 1/2 mild onion chopped

1 cup broth or water

1/4 cup sherry (optional)

3 fresh thyme sprigs

6 fresh large (or equivalent small) basil leaves

2 Tbls olive oil

1 large clove garlic minced

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper

Instructions:

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat

Add onions and pinch of salt and cook until translucent, 5-7 minutes

Add garlic and whole herbs with another pinch of salt and toss for 1 min

Deglaze with the sherry

Add broth and tomatoes

Simmer over medium heat until tomatoes are easily mashed

Mash tomatoes thoroughly with a potato masher

Simmer another 5 minutes

Press the soup through a fine sieve, stirring until all of the liquid is out of the pulp

Stir in the cream

Salt to taste and top with fresh cracked pepper

*Options:
Some like a higher broth/tomato ratio.
We’re using heirloom tomatoes and I like to let them shine,
but you could go up to 4 cups broth here. I would increase the herbs
if increasing broth.
If the soup is not hot enough after adding cream, you can return to
medium heat, but don’t bring to a boil or it might break.

October 20, 2016

Creamy Pot Pie Soup

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Hi friends!!! It’s been a while since we have posted on here. Here is an update 🙂 If you follow me on Facebook you know we are expecting our third child. I’m now 29.5 weeks along!!! Here is the current view of my toes LOL

Thank you for all the well wishes, support and love throughout this pregnancy!!!

Now on to the yummies!!

This week we got to enjoy a farm raised rabbit for our dinners. I can compare the flavor to the best chicken you’ve ever had. Its moist tender meat that has amazing flavor, its naturally lean and easy to find without hormones and grass fed.

It was so much food that we were able to spread it out to feed our growing family of 4 (soon to be 5!!) for THREE nights. **see below for photos of the two other meals and links to recipes**

Here is the recipe for one of the dishes we used it for Creamy Pot Pie Soup. This dish will work with Turkey, chicken or farm raised rabbit.

Ingredients:

3 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion diced
4 large carrots sliced into rounds
3 large celery stalks diced
2 large potatoes diced
2 cups of white meat diced small (or cooked and shredded); turkey, chicken or farm raised rabbit will all work in this dish
12oz of peas (I use frozen)
4 Tbs butter
4 Tbs flour
4 cups broth or stock (learn how to make your own here)
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dill

Instructions:

In a warm pot on med-high heat, saute the onion with a pinch of salt and pepper in olive oil until translucent.
Add meat, carrots, celery and potatoes with another pinch of salt and pepper (we are layering in the flavors, adding a small amount of salt and pepper with every ingredient builds depth of flavor)
Sprinkle in the herbs and spices and saute for about 5 min to bring the heat back up in the pot.
Make a well in the middle of the pot and add the butter and flour.
Whisk the butter and flour together until its well incorporated and the flour is lightly toasted (about 5min) then whisk in one cup of the broth.
When its well incorporated stir in the rest of the broth. Bring up to a boil then cover and simmer for 40min on low (until the veggies are tender)
Increase the heat to medium, add peas and heavy cream then bring back up to a slow simmer. Stir until the desired consistency is reached (it will thicken the longer it simmers).
Taste for seasoning (Careful it’s HOT). Add salt/pepper and more dill if needed.

Enjoy!!

For more information on the first two meals from this farm raised rabbit follow the links below!

For Meal #1 we made Country fried rabbit. I used the oven “fraked” recipe (click here for recipe) in a large cast iron pan then transferred it to the oven.

For Meal #2 Farmer J smoked the remaining meat for Smoked rabbit Taco Tuesday. He made it with a side of guacamole (click here for his amazing guac recipe)

^^Click here to pin the Creamy Pot Pie Soup for later^^

August 4, 2016

Canning green beans the easy way!

Farmer J is always talking about his mamma’s canned green beans. For him that flavor brings him right back to his childhood. When we started canning we processed ours exactly how she did … I was blown away by how beautiful they were and the delicious fresh flavor!

Here is how to do it:

Wash and snap your green beans.
Raw pack the green beans in sanitized one quart jars.
Add one teaspoon of salt to each jar.
Pour boiling water over the green beans leaving one inch head space.
Remove the bubbles from the jar by running a spatula or butter knife along the inside wall of the jars.
Add sanitized lids and rings then tighten finger tight.
Pressure can the jars 10lbs for 25min. *adjust the weight for your altitude if needed*
Use caution when removing the jars from the pressure canner as they are HOT!
Allow to cool completely before labeling and store in a cool dark place.

Let us know in the comments below if you would like some of our green bean recipes!!

April 14, 2016

My mamma’s banana bread recipe

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Mom always made the BEST banana bread! Every weekend the house smelled amazing and we couldn’t wait to dive into that delicious sweet bread. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups flour
½ tsp Baking powder
¾ tsp Baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp Cinnamon
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana
½ Tbs vanilla (learn how make your own vanilla here)
¼ cup yogurt (learn how make homemade yogurt here)
Walnuts or pecans (optional)

Crumble Ingredients (optional):

3 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbs butter, softened

Instructions:

Preheat oven @ 350
Sift flour and add in baking powder, baking soda and salt
In a separate bowl, combine sugar and butter and mix well
Add eggs to sugar/butter mixture and beat until well incorporated and you get a soft texture
Add yogurt, banana and vanilla to the egg/sugar/butter mixture and mix well to combine.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat well to combine.
Pour entire mixture into a greased and floured loaf pan
In a small bowl, mix together crumble ingredients (sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter) until mixture becomes crumbly (I use a fork to combine)
Sprinkle the crumb mix on top of the loaf
Bake for 25-30 min or until you can insert a toothpick into the center and it comes out clean
Let cool before slicing and enjoy 🙂

^^Click here to pin this recipe^^

March 25, 2016

The secret to CRISPY Oven Baked Fries

One afternoon I had an hour to prep dinner early. We were having salad, burgers and fries. I started by prepping the salad and since the cutting board was already out I decided to cut up the potatoes into fries. I put them in cold water so they don’t turn brown. When it was time for dinner I pulled out the fries, gave them a good rinse, tossed them in olive oil and seasonings then put them in the oven. The result was a crispy french fry that was packed full of flavor! I have modified this technique and recipe a bit over the years since then to get the PERFECT flavorful crispy french fry. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 Large russet potatoes
4-6 Tbs of avocado oil
Salt/pepper to taste
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne (optional, this gives them heat – if you don’t like spicy foods don’t add the cayenne)

You will also need:

Large cast iron pan
Stainless steel locking tongs (12 inches or bigger)

Instructions:

Wash russet potatoes really well (use a veggie brush if you have one)
Slice potatoes into 3/8 inch thick french fry pieces.
Wash cut potatoes really well in cold water until water runs clear. Then soak in fresh cold water for 15min. **This step is what makes them crispy**
While waiting, get your cast iron pan on the stove heating at medium heat and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Drain potatoes
Put oil in pan (enough to have a thin layer of oil coating the entire pan) and turn heat up to medium high.
Using large tongs toss potatoes in oil and arange in an even layer.
Evenly sprinkle the herbs and spices over the potatoes.
Carefully move the hot pan into the preheated oven and bake for 25min.
Turn the oven to broil and let them crisp up on the top for another 15min.
Let them cool slightly before diving in 🙂

March 8, 2016

Meatloaf chili leftover upgrade

We loooove leftover upgrade nights. They are packed full of flavor and usually a delicious treat that technically took days to make but takes little to no effort.

From our “Bring dinner home again” post you know we do themed nights once a week. A few nights ago we did an “Alice in Wonderland” themed dinner. We had Queen of Hearts meatloaf, White Rabbit’s roasted carrots, and Card Soldiers salad. Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook page if you would like a more detailed post about our Alice in Wonderland dinner menu!

It was delicious, and we had enough meatloaf leftover to make chili!!
Here is how.

Ingredients:

2 cups dried black beans
4 cups water
3-4 cups meatloaf diced (or 1lb ground beef, browned)
1 green bell pepper diced
1 medium onion diced
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
Salt/pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Celery seed
1/2 tsp Chili powder (add more if you like it spicy, reduce if you don’t 🙂 )
1/2 tsp ground mustard seed
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbls Cilantro (dried or 3 Tbls fresh)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional. You can also add more to kick up the heat if you like it spicy)

Instructions:

Put dried beans in pot with one 4 cups water. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer and cover for one hour. (you can do this the night before)
Toss the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot on low.
when the beans are tender (after about on hour) drain and add them add them to the crock-pot.
Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with sour cream, diced red onion, fresh cilantro, chives and/or cheddar cheese.

March 2, 2016

Creamy mushroom soup

So many of our favorite recipes call for cream of mushroom soup. This is my version of this soup with an optional adult twist at the end …

Scroll down to the bottom for the instructional video.

*Note* you can make a double batch of this soup and freeze, or dehydrate it for use in other recipes. Make sure to only use one cup of broth for the “condensed” version. Freeze it in large ice cube trays for an easy grab option, every cube is 1oz.

Ingredients:

3 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion sliced
3 cups sliced mushrooms
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
2 cups broth or stock (for “condensed” soup only use 1 cup of broth, learn how to make your own here)
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian herbs
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, I add this for the health benefits)
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional, I add this for the health benefits)
salt and pepper to taste
Your favorite dry red wine (Optional, I add this for the yum benefits)

Instructions:

In a warm pot on med-high heat, saute the onion with a pinch of salt and pepper in olive oil until translucent.
Add mushrooms with another pinch of salt and pepper (we are layering in the flavors, adding a small amount of salt and pepper with every ingredient builds depth of flavor)
When the mushrooms release their juices sprinkle in the herbs and spices. The mushrooms will absorb the juices with the herbs and spices.
When the mushrooms have reabsorbed the juices make a well in the middle of the pot and add the butter and flour.
Whisk the butter and flour together until its well incorporated then whisk in one cup of the broth.
When its well incorporated stir in the last cup of broth. Bring up to a boil while stirring continuously.
Add milk and bring back up to a slow simmer. Reduce heat to medium and stir until the desired consistency is reached (it will thicken the longer it simmers).
Taste for seasoning (Careful it’s HOT). Add if needed.
Ladle the soup into your favorite bowl and drizzle with a little red wine.