Tag Archives: garlic

Roast Leg of Lamb

8 Apr

 

This is one of my husband’s favorites.   Unfortunately, the price of lamb makes it so we can’t enjoy it very often, but we do splurge to get it every so often.  This leg of lamb we got at the local Farmer’s Market from San Ysidro Farms.  It turned out really good, so good that even my 3-year-old asked for seconds.  This was our Easter meal, and I served bread and celery dressing and roasted asparagus with this.

 

Roast Leg of Lamb

What you need:

5-6 lb leg of lamb
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut lengthwise
Oregano
Rosemary
Juice of 1 lemon
Red wine (I usually use merlot)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Make quarter-inch deep incisions in all sides of lamb and insert a sliver of garlic in each slit.  See picture below.

Baste with lemon juice and red wine and season with oregano and rosemary.  Place on a rack inside a roasting pan.  Cook fat side up for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes.  You may need to add water to the bottom of the roasting pan to help with basting.  Turn leg over to brown other side as well, 1-2 hours, or until desired temperature is reached. 130 F – 140 F for rare, 140 F – 150 F for medium, and 150 F – 160 F for well done.

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Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

20 Mar

This is one of my favorite soups.  I haven’t made it for a while, but with the recent cold snap in the weather here, I thought it would be perfect for dinner.  I served it with roast beef and swiss on sourdough melts.  Delicious!

Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Serves 8 as a side, 4 as a meal
Original recipes here and here

What you need:

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons bacon bits, optional
2 cans (or 4 cups) chicken broth (I used my Homemade Chicken Broth)
4 cups water
1 pound potatoes, cut in 1/4 inch round slices
2 cups chopped kale or chard (or another leafy green, like salad savoy)
1 cup heavy whipping cream or half and half

How to make it:

In a large pot, break up and brown sausage.  Remove from pot and set aside.  Put onion, garlic, and bacon bits in the pot, cook until they have softened.   Pour in water and chicken broth, then add potatoes.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.  Add sausage, kale and cream or half and half.  Heat through, do not boil.

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Tomato Meat Sauce

8 Mar

 

Some day, I will get a chance to try making my own pasta.  For now, one of our favorites is tortellini, and I normally get the Six Cheese Tortellini from Schwan’s.  I normally use a jar of tomato sauce with this, but since I had tomatoes, green peppers, and onion from Bountiful Baskets, I decided to make my own sauce.  I didn’t really do any measurements, just added in as I went.  It turned out pretty good!

 

Tomato Meat Sauce

What you need:

1 lb ground beef
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
6 Roma tomatoes, sliced
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

How to make it:

In a large skillet, brown ground beef.  Add garlic, onion, green pepper, and parsley.  Cook until onions and peppers are soft.  Add sliced tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Crush tomatoes as they cook.  Let simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.  Serve with your favorite pasta.

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Spinach, Feta, and Pesto Pizza

5 Mar

This cauliflower pizza crust is really growing on me.  I was skeptical as first, but the second time around, it turned out great again.  I did notice that with 1 large pizza, the center stays a little soft, but I think that might be solved by making individual size pizzas.  Even with it a little soft, no complaints in this house, and everyone just used a fork to eat it.  Even my kids gobbled this up, and I love getting an extra veggie in them for the day hidden in the crust.  This time, instead of tomato sauce, I made Spinach Basil Pesto for the sauce. Then, I put chopped red onion, sliced black olives, torn fresh spinach leaves, a 4 oz container of crumbled feta cheese, and a 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.  I had forgotten how much I love feta cheese on pizza.  This was a delicious meal!

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Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

2 Mar

I made these tonight to go with the Garlic Butter Shrimp we had tonight.  These taste a lot like the biscuits they serve at Red Lobster, and aren’t very hard to make.

 

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
Based on recipe here 

What you need:

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, divided
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon dried parsley

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Mix together the Bisquick, milk, cheese, and 1/4 tsp garlic powder in a bowl.  Drop biscuits by spoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet, you should have dough to make 12 biscuits.

Melt butter, and stir in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the parsley.  Brush half of the mixture over all the biscuits.

Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush the remaining butter mixture over all the biscuits.

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Garlic Butter Shrimp

2 Mar

This meal is so easy.  Sometimes, I add some fresh or dried parsley, but decided to skip it this time.  I served this over white rice, but it would be good over wild or brown rice too.  Or, you could serve it over pasta of your choice.  I’ve served it over angel hair pasta, and they went really well together.  A vegetable like broccoli, asparagus, or green beans goes well with this.

Garlic Butter Shrimp
Recipe found here

What you need:

1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried parsley, optional (or 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped)
Hot cooked rice, about 2 cups

How to make it:

In a large skillet, saute the shrimp and garlic in butter for 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Add the lemon juice and parsley, if using; heat through. Serve with rice.

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Shrimp & Broccoli Alfredo

26 Feb

Tonight I used the first of the Zaycon Foods seafood that I got recently, 1 pound of the white shrimp.  The shrimp is deveined and fully cooked, so I just thawed it by running cold water over it, then removed the tails.  I made some Alfredo Sauce using fresh garlic and parsley from the Italian themed veggie pack from Bountiful Baskets, added in the shrimp at the end, along with some broccoli from Bountiful Baskets that I had steamed.  It was very good.  The shrimp was very tasty, nice large, quality shrimp.  I served it over thin spaghetti, but the shrimp and broccoli with sauce was enough to eat just on its own, without noodles.  I will probably try a Garlic Butter Shrimp next, or maybe something with the cod.  So nice to have some seafood in the freezer to use for meals!

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Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Au Gratin

20 Feb

Part of the fun of participating in Bountiful Baskets is that it’s a surprise what will be in the baskets each week, and there is a bit of variety.  And, it’s always more fun when you get something you’ve never seen or heard of before.  This week, the element of surprise was a dozen, small Jerusalem artichokes, sometimes referred to as sunchokes.  Despite having artichokes in the name, they are really nothing like artichokes you normally see.  Instead, they are a tuber, and look similar to other roots, like ginger.  I came across this recipe on the Bountiful Baskets Facebook page, and decided it was probably the best way for us to try these out.  It turned out really good, it was a nice mix of the almost nutty flavor of the sunchokes and potatoes, cheese, and spices.  Thank you to Bountiful Baskets for giving us something new to try!

 

Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Au Gratin
Based on recipe found here

What you need:

6 Jerusalem artichokes (about 3/4 pound), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices (I used my mandolin slicer)
2 large baking potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
Salt
Black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1/2 cup diced onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup dried fine bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Put the sliced Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes in a mixing bowl.  Toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 2 quart casserole dish (I used an 8×8 glass dish). Put half of the artichoke-potato mixture in the pan, spread evenly along the bottom.  Then, sprinkle with 1/4 cup diced onions, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, and all of the flour.  Put in the remaining artichoke-potato mixture, spread evenly.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup diced onions, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and 1/2 cup cheese. Pour the milk evenly over the whole dish.

In another bowl, mix together the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with the bread crumbs and parsley. Spread this topping evenly over the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are tender.

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Spinach Lasagna Rollups

10 Feb

I had some lasagna noodles in my pantry that I wanted to use, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do lasagna.  Then, I remembered the Cheese Lasagna Rollups my mom used to get from Market Day, and decided I wanted to try to make some of my own.  It worked out that cottage cheese was on sale, and I had spinach, basil, and oregano in my fridge that I needed to use.  The filling I made just like my Spinach Manicotti recipe, and the sauce was the Tomato Sauce I made a couple of days ago.  It turned out great!

Spinach Lasagna Rollups

What you need:

9 lasagna noodles
2 eggs
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese (or cottage 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 dried basil (or 2 tsp fresh basil)
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 tsp fresh oregano)
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
4 cups Tomato Sauce

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on box.  Drain water and cool on a piece of aluminum foil.

Meanwhile, beat eggs in a medium bowl.  Stir in the ricotta (or cottage cheese), 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, garlic, spinach, basil, oregano, and parsley.  Pour 1 cup of the Tomato Sauce into a 13 x 9 baking dish, or enough to make sure to cover the entire bottom of the dish.  Spread filling on each lasagna noodle and roll the noodle.  Place seam side down in the dish.  Pour the remaining sauce over the rollups, then sprinkle on 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.

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Tomato Sauce

9 Feb

You may remember a little while back I made Pizza Sauce.  I had tomatoes that I wasn’t sure what to do with, I decided to make Tomato Sauce again, but wanted to try to cook it instead.  It was a bit more time consuming than the other recipe I tried, but still very good.  I plan to use this for dinner later this week for Lasagna Rolls.  I still don’t have a deep red sauce like you see in jars, but it’s still very good, much better and fresher tasting than the jarred sauce.

Tomato Sauce
Makes approximately 4 cups

What you need:

4 lbs tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
Any other vegetables you want to add, peppers, celery, carrots, all finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh basil

How to make it:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato and place in boiling water.  Keep in water for about 30 seconds, long enough for the skin to peel of easily, but not too long so that tomatoes become mushy.  Carefully remove from boiling water and place in a bowl of ice cold water.  Skin should peel off easily, if not, return to boiling water a few seconds, then back in the water a few seconds.  Squeeze tomatoes over a sieve to remove excess juice and seeds.  Chop up the tomatoes.

Next, heat olive oil in a sauce pan.  Add onion, any additional veggies, and garlic.  Cook until onions and garlic are translucent, veggies are soft.  Add in chopped tomatoes  and basil, and allow to simmer over medium-low heat.  As tomatoes cook, you can mash them with a masher or use an immersion blender on low to achieve your desired consistency.  (I don’t mind mine a little chunky, so I just mashed them slightly.)  Simmer for 30-45 minutes, until you reach your desired taste.  Use immediately in a dish or store in an airtight container in the fridge for another time.

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