Delightful Roasted Vegetable Mess "Recipe"

Delightful Roasted Vegetable Mess "Recipe"
from @amberskitchen on instagram
"Let the oven do the work!"

a few small red potatoes
olive oil
#amberskitchenitalianseasoning OR salt and pepper OR herbs de provence
1/4 head of cauliflower
1 zucchini
1 sweet bell pepper
Aidell's chicken sausage, about one per person
*optional, chopped kale (this cooks fast so add it at the very end)
(I have also added squash, asparagus, and extra cauliflower to this)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Slice sausage, dice vegetables.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread out potatoes and cover with olive oil and spices.  Roast for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and toss the potatoes with the remaining vegetables and the sausage, plus a little more oil and spices.  Roast in the oven another 15-20 minutes. 

Any other veggies you have work really well in this.  Harder veggies like butternut squash or sweet potatoes or carrots need longer to bake, so include them in the first bake with the potatoes.  Softer vegetables can be added for the second bake only.  Enjoy!


*****

Is something this easy really a recipe?  It is if it's this delicious! 
My baby LOOOOVES vegetables but sometimes it's still hard for her to eat them raw with her little teeth.  This makes everything just right!

Chicken Pillows

Chicken Pillows
from https://ohsweetbasil.com/chicken-pillows/print/

• 2 Cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 1 Rotisserie Chicken’s breast meat picked off or 2-3 Large Split Breasts, cooked with poultry seasoning
• 1 (8 oz) pkg Neufchatel Cheese
• 1 Cup Thinly Sliced Mushrooms* optional
• 1 Tablespoon Softened Butter
• 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
• 1 Cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs (In a dish)
• 3 Tablespoons Melted butter (In another dish)

FOR THE GRAVY

• 1 Packet Chicken Gravy
  or
• 1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 Packet Chicken Gravy

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Mix the chicken, cream cheese, butter, cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
3. Flatten out the crescent roll triangles and fill each with a large spoonful of the chicken mixture.
4. Roll the pillows in the melted butter and then the seasoned bread crumbs.
5. Bake for 20-30 min or until lightly golden brown.

Smoked Chicken Thighs

Smoked Chicken Thighs, Traeger style

chicken thighs (with bones and skin)

Traeger poulty rub

Start Traeger on Smoke setting.  Season chicken pieces with spice rub, under and over skin.  Once Traeger is pre-heated, place chicken pieces in the Traeger and place thermometer in thickest piece.  Close lid and let smoke 3 hours.  After 3 hours on smoke, turn Traeger up to 225 and cook about 45-60 minutes until thermometer reads 190. 

Eat all the chicken, or eat some and save some to put in other recipes, like green spaghetti or various soups.

Hammy Sammies

Hammy Sammies
  from Becky Higgins

24 rolls (I've used Sister Schubert's parbaked frozen rolls, Hawaiian rolls, and Costco's yeast rolls, and it doesn't matter they are all delicious.)
mayonnaise
12 thick slices deli ham (black forest)  
12 slices Swiss cheese
1/2 c. melted butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. mustard
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Slice rolls in half so they open. Spread mayo on top and bottom of the inside of each roll. Assemble rolls with ½ slice of cheese and ½ slice of ham. Place all of these in a baking pan or stone. Mix together the melted butter, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Brush this mixture all over the tops of the rolls and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until heated through.

This is one of my favorite things to make to take in to families who are sick or have a new baby because leftover sandwiches go well in lunchboxes the next day.  A bag of chips and a few grapes and you're ready to go.  In colder weather, serve with a nice brothy soup (visiting teacher soup, anyone?) as an indulgent roll, or with macaroni and cheese to make the kids happy.  It's also a good way to use up leftovers from an Easter or Christmas ham. (Save the ham hock for Bean and Ham Soup.)

See someone else's post, with photos, here: https://www.kerribradford.com/2011/09/21/ham-swiss-rolls/

Bean and Ham Soup

Bean and Ham Soup
from the delightful Tammy Adams

1 pound navy beans (2 1/2 cups)
5 cups water
1 clove garlic
1 ham hock
1 t salt

Soak beans in water at least 4 hours.  You'll want to add MUCH more water than beans because they expand.  Drain water.
Add garlic, ham hock, beans, and water to crock pot.  Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours of high for 4 hours.  Add salt during the last hour of cooking time.
Remove ham hock from cooker and allow to cool.  Cut ham off hock and stir back into bean mixture.

Note from the original recipe:  "The most important thing of this recipe is you MUST use a ham hock.  I will make a ham for Sunday dinner and then keep the blessed hock to use for this soup!  I will sometimes cook a ham just so that I can have the hock for this soup.  It is really that good.  Be careful for the occasional bone.  For added flavor or color, you can add onion, celery, carrots, or tomatoes."

Tammy brought me this when when I was sick with pneumonia and also had two newborns.  I ate it for days and then got the recipe and made my mom make me another batch.  Now it is one of my cold-weather favorites!

Things to Eat

A random list of things my family likes to eat that sometimes fall out of my rotation and I might need to be reminded are options.  I'm so digital now that I'm going to compile all my various scraps of paper into a blog post! 

SOUPS

chicken tortilla soup

cheesey broccoli soup

tomato soup with grilled  cheese

visiting teacher soup

ham chowder

CHICKENS

chicken piccata

chicky chicky parm parm

teriyaki chicken

hummus/pitas/rotiss chicken

orange chicken

chicky caesar salad

stir fry

PASTAS

concoction 

baked spaghetti

regular spaghetti

manicotti

tortellini pasta

ginger casserole

VARIOUS

ikea meatballs

taco salad 

hawaiian haystacks

garbage bowl

hammy sammies

bbq pork

turkey loaf

meatloaf

green chile pork

beef kafta

shepherd's pie

SUMMERTIME

TJ's sourdough sandwich

pasta salad

caprese salad

chicken salad on croissants

chef salad

pea salad

MKC's Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

My husband loved me just a little bit more after the first time I made these.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

• 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled 
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled

1. Heat oven to 475 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a silpat liner.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a 2-cup liquid measure, stir together the chilled buttermilk and melted butter until the butter forms small clumps. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula just until the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture slightly pulls away from the edges of the bowl.
3. Using a greased ¼-cup measure, scoop out mounds of the dough and drop them onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake the biscuits until the tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush with additional melted butter. Serve warm.

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie
Adapted and simplifed from Alton Brown

2 T canola oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 lbs ground beef
salt/pepper
3 T flour
1 t garlic powder
2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 c chicken broth
1 c peas
1 c corn
3 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups shredded cheese

Saute onion and carrots in canola oil.  Add beef and salt/pepper/garlic and cook until browned.
Sprinkle meat with flour and toss to coat.  Add Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and simmer 10 mins to allow to thicken.
Spread meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x11 pan.  Layer with peas/corn mixture.  Spread mashed potatoes over the vegetable layer.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and potatoes begin to brown.

Baked Spaghetti

My mom found this recipe on a blog somewhere and made it, then gave it to me.  So thank you, recipe blogger, and I'm sorry I can't credit you here, but we love your recipe.

Baked Spaghetti

Mix these ingredients together and place in a 9x13 baking dish:

12 oz angel hair pasta, cooked

1 egg

1 cup parmesan cheese

2 T chopped basil

Mix these together and place on top of the pasta:

1 lb hamburger, cooked

1 (13 oz) container ricotta cheese

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (save 1/2 c for the top)

1 jar pasta sauce

Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese over top of sauce.  Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until the cheese starts to bubble.

Manicotti

Manicotti

1 box manicotti shells

1 jar pasta sauce 

8 oz mozzarella

1 lb cottage cheese

1 c parmesan

2 T italian seasoning

1 T dried parsley flakes

2 eggs

1/2 lb ground beef, cooked (optional)

Put a little bit of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan.  Combine cheeses, seasonings, eggs and beef in large bowl.  Stuff shells with cheese mixture and place in pan.  Cover with remaining sauce and sprinkle remaining cheese mixture over top.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 60 minutes.  Add water as needed -- do not let shells dry out while baking.   

Goes well with a green salad and garlic toast.  

Ginger Casserole

Ginger Casserole

(aka Beef and Noodle Casserole) from Ginger Manning

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 onion, minced

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

1 8oz container of sour cream

1 pound egg noodles, cooked

8 oz grated cheddar cheese

Brown beef, season with salt and pepper and minced onion.  Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes to create sauce.  In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream.

Layer into a 9x13 pan - 1/2 meat sauce, 1/2 noodles, 1/2 cream cheese mixture, repeat.  Top with shredded cheese.

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melty and delicious.

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

1 large pork tenderloin (about 4 lbs)
Liquid Smoke (1/2 bottle)
Coarse ground Sea Salt
1 c. water

Toss pork and water in the crockpot, sprinkle generously with sea salt and add Liquid Smoke.  Cook for 6-8 hours.  Serve.

*****

This goes into everything.  We eat it with an Asian style green salad and macaroni salad (or mac and cheese) for a Hawaiian style treat.  We put BBQ sauce on it and eat it in sandwiches.  We use it in Green Chile Pork.  It's an easy and universally appreciated meal that is easy to take in.  Definitely a family staple.

Lemon Dill Salmon

Lemon Dill Salmon

big old salmon filet - I get a big one, 2-3 lbs, from Sam's or Costco.

1/2 c. butter, melted

3/4 c. lemon juice

2 T dill

1/2 t garlic powder

salt and pepper

Plop salmon in a big glass baking dish, coated with butter or Pam spray.  Combine butter and lemon juice and pour over salmon.  Sprinkle with dill, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.  

*****

I have been making simple staples this week.  One of our favorites is this lemon dill salmon that doesn't really take a recipe, but since it's a family staple I'll post it up here.  All measurements are approximate and will depend on how big your hunk of salmon is, but it's easy to scale up or down.

My little dude loves this with steamed broccoli, couscous or rice, and garlic toast.  It's one of his favorite meals.  (But then again, they're all his favorite.  Except stir fry.)

Also, if you leave out the lemon and dill and scale back the butter, this is also how I cook salmon on other nights or to go in other dishes.  (See a future post entitled "Concoction.")

Mexican Corn Bread

Mexican Corn Bread
from Jaimee Rose - with pictures!:

1 pkg Jiffy Corn Mix
1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 c. cheddar cheese, grated or finely chopped
2 T chopped chives
2 T green chiles, roasted and chopped
kernels from one ear of corn (or 3/4 c. frozen corn)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with papers, or spray pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, assemble all ingredients. Stir together, fill muffin cups half full, and bake 20-25 minutes. Makes about 8 standard-size muffins and 12-14 mini muffins.

Chicky-Chicky-Parm-Parm

Chicky-Chicky-Parm-Parm

from Cheryl-the-Great

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 (8 oz) plain yogurt.  

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

1 t. garlic salt

1/4 t. Lawry's seasoning salt

1/4 c. melted butter

Dip chicken in yogurt to coat.  Dip coated chicken in mixture of crackers, cheese, salt and Lawry's.  Place on Pammed glass baking dish.  Drizzle with butter.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  Serve with garlic toast and green salad.

Wendy's Chili

Wendy's Chili Recipe (copycat)


Cook 1# hamburger with onion, drain.
Add: 
1 - 10 oz can french onion soup
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
tobasco to taste
2 cans kidney beans, undrained
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce

Simmer all together.  Also works well in a crockpot!

Green Chile Pork

Green Chile Pork
from Cheryl the Great

1 pork tenderloin (3-4 lbs)
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 c. water
2 cans Stokes green chile sauce (with pork)
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles
2 cans (4 oz) roasted diced green chiles
sour cream to taste
shredded cheese to taste

Cook pork loin with water and Lipton soup mix in crockpot for 4-6 hours.
When pork is fully cooked, drain, retaining some of the liquid.  Shred pork and add Stokes, Rotel,  green chiles.  If it is dry, add some of the cooking liquid.  Serve with tortillas or chips, topped with sour cream and shredded cheese.


This is a holiday dish for me.  When the tamales come out at Christmastime, I start making green chile pork.  We're sending this to Jason's work potluck and it's an easy and delicious contribution.

Visiting Teacher Soup

Visiting Teacher Soup
from my visiting teacher, Jennifer Wright

1 chicken breast
2 quarts water
6 potatoes, peeled and chunked
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 c broccoli florets
3 T chicken boullion
2 T butter
black pepper to taste

Boil chicken breast in water about 12 minutes until cooked thoroughly.  Remove chicken from pot, chunk, and set aside.  Add potatoes, carrots, and onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.  Add butter, boullion, salt and pepper, and broccoli, and chunked chicken.  Heat through about 10 minutes.  Serve hot and feel better soon.