Tag Archives: dinner

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

8 Oct

Sorry for the short hiatus in posting, it’s been a weird week, so I haven’t gotten as much cooking in and haven’t been in our normal routine.  Anyway, it really cooled off here today (finally), so it was a soup for dinner kind of night.  My husband loves potato soup, I had potatoes I needed to get used up, so potato soup is was.  I originally was going along with this recipe, but forgot to get cream cheese while I was out, plus, my husband isn’t big on bacon in his soup, so I ended up with something a little different.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

8 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup diced onion
6 cups water and 6 chicken bouillon cubes (or use 6 cups chicken broth)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp dried dill weed

Mix water and soup in the slow cooker.  Add in bouillon cubes, potatoes, onion, and dill weed and stir.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours.  If you want a thicker soup, slightly mash the potatoes before serving.

I mashed the potatoes just a little to make it still chunky.  One time I completely mashed the potatoes and it was more like mashed potatoes than soup, so to keep it more soup-like, I like the potatoes less mashed.

*As an alternative to the can of cream of chicken soup, you can use 2 Tbsp melted butter, 2 Tbsp flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 cups of milk, half and half, or light cream.  Be sure to stir that well with the water/broth before adding the other ingredients.

**If you want to keep the chicken out completely, use the above substitute for the cream of chicken soup and use vegetable bouillon instead of chicken bouillon, or six cups of vegetable broth instead of the bouillon and water.

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Lemon Herb Chicken

4 Oct

When I got lemons this week, I knew I would make Lemon Herb Chicken.  It’s nothing real fancy, but it’s easy and the chicken is so moist, we love it.  Here is how to do it.

Lemon Herb Chicken

1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 lemons, cut into fourths
Italian blend seasoning

Spray a 9 x 13 dish with cooking spray.  Arrange chicken breasts in dish.  Squeeze lemon quarters over the chicken, then added the lemon quarters in around the chicken breasts.  Sprinkle chicken breasts with Italian blend seasoning.  Bake at 450 F for 30-40 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.

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Pepperoni Bread

2 Oct

I haven’t made pepperoni bread in quite a while, so when K asked for spaghetti for dinner, I knew I wanted to make this instead of garlic bread to go with it.

Pepperoni Bread

What you need:

  • Bread dough or pizza crust dough.  For this time, I used two 6.5 oz pouches of pizza crust mix, but I have also used the Pillsbury french loaf and pizza crust from the refrigerated section.
  • Olive oil
  • Italian seasoning
  • Grated Parmesan cheese
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese
  • Pepperoni

How to make it:

Spray a baking sheet with olive oil or cooking spray.  Spread dough into a rectangle on baking sheet.  Brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese, leaving an inch border around the outside.

Lay out the pepperoni.  If you like a lot of pepperoni, use more pepperoni.  If you like less pepperoni, use less pepperoni.

Then, roll up the dough lengthwise.  Place seam side down on the baking sheet and seal the ends.

Again, brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 450 for 10-15, or according to the directions for the dough that you bought, until golden brown.  Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

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Egg Rolls!

30 Sep

I have been working all week on a way to use the daikon radish I received in the Asian themed veggie pack that I bought with my Bountiful Baskets this week.  I decided I would try egg rolls, which I love, but have never made.  For the filling, I julienne cut some daikon and some carrots.  Then, I chopped 1 bunch of green onions and some leaves of bok choy.  I had bought a rotisserie chicken at Fry’s since I had a $2 eCoupon, so I removed the chicken from the bones and shredded it.  I added some vegetable oil to my wok, and put the daikon, carrots, and green onion in first.  Once they started to get tender, I added in the bok choy and chicken.  Once the bok choy started to wilt, I grated fresh ginger into the wok and poured in about 2 Tbsp of soy sauce.  It looked like this.

Next comes the egg roll wrappers.  I found mine in the produce section of the grocery store, they may also be in your freezer section.  You take a wrapper and lay it out, then add some filling.  For this size wrapper, it was about 2 Tbsp of filling.

To fold the egg rolls, my previous experience as an employee at Subway wrapping sandwiches in paper came in handy.  It’s also how I roll my stuffed grape leaves (that recipe will be coming hopefully in the next week).  Notice in the picture above how I placed the filling closer to one corner.  The first fold is to bring that corner up over the filling.

Next, you fold over both sides.

Then, you roll it and brush the tip with a little water to make it hold shut.

Then, you deep fry or add about 1/2″ of oil to a pan.  If your oil doesn’t completely cover the rolls, then you need to flip them when one side is golden.

Remove rolls from oil to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

This made 11 egg rolls.  I still had wrappers in that package, so I made more filling. The second filling was all veggies, bok choy leaves and stems, julienne cut carrots, julienne cut daikon, and chopped yellow onion, then grated ginger and soy sauce.  This made 7 more egg rolls.  They turned out great, both my girls ate 2 each!

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Sausage, Zucchini, and Tomatoes over Rice

29 Sep

I had been intending to make egg rolls, but still hadn’t had a chance to get everything I needed.  So, I needed a quick dinner using something else I had on hand.  I had bought Italian sausage and some zucchini that was on sale over the weekend, so I decided to make a dinner I haven’t made in a long time, sausage, zucchini, and tomatoes over rice.  My good friend and former neighbor introduced me to this dinner and we love it!  Plus, it really is quite easy.

Note: This is 2 packages of sausage since I have 3 adults and 2 kids in the house to feed.

What you need:

1 package of Italian sausage, mild or hot, depending on your taste
1-2 zucchini, diced
1 can flavored tomatoes, I use basil, garlic, and oregano diced tomatoes
Cooked rice

Remove the casings from sausage and break up.  Cook until all the sausage is browned.  Add in zucchini, cook about 5 minutes, or until it becomes tender.  Add in the can of diced tomatoes, and let simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Serve over cooked rice.

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Stuffed Peppers

28 Sep

I got a lot of peppers this week in my basket.  We aren’t big pepper fans in this house, but I wanted to do something else besides just chopping them and adding them to stir fry.  So, I decided to try stuffed peppers. I got a recipe from a friend of mine, then looked up a couple other recipes, and came up with this.

Stuffed Peppers

4-6 peppers, tops and seeds removed
1 cup cooked rice
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (Or any flavored tomatoes.  If you use plain tomatoes, you will want to add some kind of seasoning)
1 egg
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce (I used Ragu Traditional sauce)
1 cup water

Mix the rice, ground beef, onion, tomatoes, egg, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.  Fill the peppers with the stuffing, making it level with the top of the pepper.  Add filled peppers to a large saucepan.  In a separate bowl, combine tomato sauce and water.  Pour over the peppers in the saucepan.

Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer.  Cover, and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until meat is fully cooked and peppers have softened.

I cut open a pepper to make sure mine were done, and they were!

Note: This can be done in your slow cooker instead.  Place the peppers in your slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours.

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Fish Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce

26 Sep

This is a great recipe I got from Lori over at My Kinda Rain.  Since I get tortillas and the Mexican themed veggie pack regularly from Bountiful Baskets, this has become a regular in our house when avocados are available and cheap.  I have played around with this recipe a bit, I don’t think I’ve made it the same way twice, but every time it has turned out great.  So, I will go through the recipe and talk about some of the alternatives I have done.

First, you make an avocado cream sauce.  For this you need:

1 avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
Lime juice
Onion (I’ve used yellow, red, or green, I think my favorite is red onion)

I now also on occasion add:

Garlic, minced or garlic salt, usually 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
Cilantro
Tomato, diced

This time, I used all of the above when making the sauce because I had cilantro and tomato on hand that needed to be used before it went bad.

Next, you cook the fish.  You need 1 lb of white fish, I use either cod or tilapia, depending on what I can get on sale.  You add 1-2 Tbsp of oil, I use olive oil, to a skillet.  Season the fish with lemon pepper seasoning and pan fry fish.

Cook until fish is no longer translucent and easily flakes with a fork.  Flake fish apart with a fork.

Next, you put together the tacos.  I usually use small flour tortillas, but have used small corn tortillas as well.  I add a tortilla to a small skillet, then put the fish, avocado cream sauce, and cabbage or lettuce.

I fold the tortilla over the topping, cook it for a few minutes, then flip and cook for a few minutes, until both sides are just starting to brown.

I usually serve this with Spanish rice and black beans.  I was worried that my girls wouldn’t eat these because it has fish, but they both eat these up!

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Roasted Broccoli

25 Sep

I have been meaning to try this for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to it.  So, when I needed to find sides for the teriyaki chicken I had marinading to grill, I remembered the broccoli in the fridge I needed to use.  Add in some brown rice, and it was a perfect meal.  How do I know?  Both girls ate some of everything, mostly the broccoli!

Roasted Broccoli

1 bunch broccoli (about 1.5 lbs)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Garlic salt

Cut broccoli into bite-size florets.  Add to a bowl, toss with the olive oil and season with garlic salt to your taste.  Line a baking sheet with foil and add seasoned broccoli to the baking sheet.  Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender and starting to brown.

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Sesame Chicken

24 Sep

I found this recipe in a healthier eating cookbook a while back and it was an instant hit in our house.  I have made it so often that I have the recipe memorized!  It is a lot lighter than sesame chicken you find at restaurants; this doesn’t have the heavy breading and the chicken is cooked in a small amount of oil, not deep-fried.  I actually prefer this a lot more to restaurant sesame chicken.

Sesame Chicken

1/4 cup unbleached flour or all-purpose flour
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2″-4″ strips
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Veggies of your choice
Cooked rice

Place flour and chicken in a gallon size zipper bag.  Shake to coat chicken in flour.  Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the skillet in batches and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until white and no longer pink. Transfer to a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium. Combine the soy sauce and sugar in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Add the chicken and stir to coat.

Add in any chopped veggies you want.  For this batch, I used just broccoli.  Other times I have used different combinations of broccoli, onion, green, yellow, and red peppers, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, snow peas, water chestnuts, and mushrooms.  Cover your skillet and cook until veggies have softened.  I tend to leave the veggies a little crispy still because my husband likes them still crispy.

 Serve over cooked rice.

Note: You can buy toasted sesame seeds, usually with in the section with other Asian grocery items.  If you can’t find them, to toast sesame seeds, place in a dry skillet and toast, shaking the pan, over medium high heat for a minute or so, or until fragrant and lightly browned. Do this first and cook the chicken in the same skillet to pick up more sesame flavor.  Also, if you are using a lot of veggies, you may want to double the ingredients for the sesame coating so there is some for the veggies.

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Spinach Manicotti

15 Sep

I still had some spinach left, and I had intended to make spinach artichoke dip, but used some of the ingredients I had on hand for that to make last night’s Radish Dip.  I had wanted to make Stuffed Shells, but the store only had 1 box of shells that was beat up.  The manicotti was right next to it on the shelf, so I decided to make it inside.  The process and end result is pretty much the same, plus, my family really likes manicotti.  Here is how I made it tonight.

Manicotti

1 box manicotti noodles
2 eggs
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb fresh spinach, chopped
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 jar of pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cook manicotti according to directions on box.  Drain and cool on a piece of aluminum foil.  Meanwhile, beat eggs in a medium bowl.  Stir in the ricotta, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, garlic, spinach, basil, and oregano.  Pour 1 cup of the pasta sauce into a 13 x 9 baking dish, or enough to make sure to cover the entire bottom of the dish.  Fill manicotti with the mixture and place in the dish.  Pour the remaining sauce over the filled manicotti, then sprinkle the remaining Parmesan and mozzarella.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil, and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until sides are bubbling and the cheese is melted.

This didn’t last long in my house tonight!

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