Dinner with a side of stitches....

So We had Buzzy over tonight for roast beef with carrots, cream corn, polenta and some yummy coconut cream pie for dessert! Naturally the dogs go nuts and start to play.. I'm thinking Shera's leg somehow got caught on Leela's tooth in the wrong way and tore a nice hole in her poor arm. We bandaged it up but it ended up getting bigger! Shera has an appointment with the vet for stitches first thing in the morning. She such a trooper! Here are some pics from dinner and my little princess...
Recipe for the roast and polenta are also below. Enjoy!





High Temperature Eye-of-Round Roast

Ingredients:

• 3 lb Eye-of-Round Roast
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Season the roast with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and place in a roasting pan or baking dish. Do not cover or add water.
2. Place the roast in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 475 degrees. Roast for 21 minutes (seven minutes per pound) then turn oven down to 150 degrees and let the roast sit in the hot oven for 2 1/2 hours. Do not open the door at all during this time!
3. Remove the roast from the oven, the internal temperature should have reached at least 145 degrees. Carve into thin slices to serve.

* For smaller roasts I usually check the temperature after 1 3/4 hours of roasting so it's not over cooked.

Polenta with Tomatoes, Basil and Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Ingredients:

• One package sun dried tomato polenta - sliced 1/4 inch
• 2 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil
• One lb tomatoes - sliced 1/4 inch
• 1/4 C. fresh basil leaves - chopped
• 1/3 C. shredded mozzarella cheese
• One recipe Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
• Season with salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pre-heat boiler.
2. Saute slices of polenta in olive oil on medium heat, approximately 3 minutes per side until soft.
3. Place polenta in baking dish with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese layered on top.
4. Place mixture into oven until cheese is melted.
5. Sprinkle basil and vinegar reduction on top, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C. balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbls. sugar

Directions:

1. Over medium high heat bring vinegar and sugar to a rolling boil.
2. Stir until sugar is dissolved and continue to cook until reduced to a thin syrup consistency (should only take a couple of minutes.)

*After you remove from stove-top, if the vinegar reduction is stuck to the pan or hard you can soften it up by turning the burner on low.

New Mexico Night

So we were bad... very bad! We had New Mexico night last night and I made sopapillas... ooo a very naughty little treat. They came out so yummy too!!! I also made green chile chicken enchiladas. I'll post both recipes below, the sopapillas take a little experience with oil temperature so don't be disappointed if they don't come out too fluffy the first time you try it.

New Mexico Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb chicken, cubed
2. 1-2 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil
3. 4 C. grated cheddar
4. Small package of corn tortillas (not flour)
5. 13 oz container of Bueno green chile **
6. 1 can cream of chicken soup
7. 1/2 C. skim milk
8. 1 tsp. chopped garlic
9. 1/4 tsp. chili powder
10. 1/4 tsp. cumin
11. 1/8 tsp. black pepper
12. 1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (optional)
    
13. 2 Tbls. chopped onion

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Saute chicken in large pan with extra virgin olive oil until cooked.
3. Brown garlic and onion in pan with chicken, add green chile, chili powder, cumin, black pepper and red pepper to pan. Stir.
   
4. Add cream of chicken soup and milk to pan, simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Layer corn tortillas on bottom of 13 x 9" pan, spoon half of chicken mixture onto tortillas, sprinkle 2 C. cheddar on top of chicken. Layer again with tortillas, remaining chicken and cheddar.
   
6. Bake in oven for 20 - 25 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
7. Serve with sour cream if desired.

** If you can't find already made roasted green chile you can roast it yourself, here is a recipe I recommend. Roasting Anaheim Peppers. It's easy just time consuming, you can do this ahead of time and keep it packaged in the freezer; I usually use about 5 peppers for this recipe.

Sopapillas

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 C. flour
2. 2 tsp. baking powder
3. 3/4 tsp. salt
4. 2 Tbls. vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2" pieces
5. 1/2 C. warm water
6. 1 qt. of vegetable oil, for frying
   

Directions:

1. Preheat oil in tall pan on med - high.
   
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
3. Cut vegetable shorting into flour mixture until crumbly.
4. Mix in warm water with blender until dough forms, let dough rest for 15 minutes.
   
5. Roll out (dough should be the thickness of a hard cover book about 1/2 cm, not to thick, not too thin.)
6. Cut dough into squares, about 3 x 4".
7. Fry two pieces at a time in very hot oil (med-high setting - oil should boil when dough is placed in pan.)
   
8. Turn sopapillas often until golden, remove and drain on toweling.
9. Serve with honey.
   

**If the sopapillas aren't puffing up like balloons your oil is not hot enough, see photo below.

Keepin' It Simple!

Two simple dinners for the past two nights... the first Wednesday was an easy herb roasted chicken with sauteed spinach and cornbread stuffing. Tonight we had baked potatoes, meatloaf and creamed spinach. I'll post detailed instructions for each meal below.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Sauteed Spinach and Cornbread Stuffing



I used just a simple box of Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing and sauteed a bag of baby spinach with about 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a teaspoon of chopped fresh garlic. Be sure to lightly brown the garlic on med-low before adding the spinach.

For the chicken I grabbed a couple chicken breasts and coated them in extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic, onion powder, and paprika. I roasted the chicken in the oven at 425 degrees for 50 mins or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

You can also cut up a sweet potato coat it with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and roast alongside the chicken!!! YUM!






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Meatloaf for Two with Creamed Spinach and Baked Potatoes



This meatloaf recipe is for 2-3 people, you can easily double it for a family meal. I picked up the creamed spinach already made at our deli and roasted the potatoes alongside the meatloaf. Make sure you poke several holes in the potatoes so they don't explode in your oven! I lightly coated them in extra virgin olive oil and covered with salt to create a crispy crust, I also put them in the oven before I started working on the meatloaf as they need about an extra half hour to cook.

Meatloaf:

Ingredients -

1. 1 lb ground beef
2. 1 egg
3. 1/2 C Italian bread crumbs
4. 1/3 C milk (I used 1/2 creamer and 1/2 skim)
5. 1/3 C ketchup
6. 2 Tbls. chopped scallions
7. 1 Tbls. chopped garlic
8. 1 Tbls. chili powder
9. 1/2 tsp worcestershire
10. 1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions -

• Preheat over to 325 Degrees
• Mix egg, milk and ketchup in a large bowl.
• Mix scallions and garlic into the same bowl.
• Crumble beef into mixture.
• Add bread crumbs, worcestershire and pepper, blend with hands.
  
• Press mixture into bread pan and sprinkle chili powder on top.
• Bake for one hour.
  

Hope you enjoy it!!
xoxo, V

Beef Stroganoff- YUM!

So I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner tonight, found a recipe on All Recipes.com but I can't find it now... anyway it came out totally yummy! It was a slow cooker recipe made with stew meat but I needed dinner fast and I only had ground beef on hand. Switched up the recipe a little and yum!

I'll post how I made it but if you want to make it the slow cooker way use the following:

• 1lb stew meat, cubed
• Mix No.s 1-9 in crock pot
  
• Don't add the cream cheese until right before you serve it
• 4-5 hours in the crock pot

I also used no yolk noodles instead of egg noodles (because of cholesterol) and left out the sour cream as I didn't have any on hand. (Recipe called for a dollop of sour cream alongside the cream cheese.)

Note: DON'T use cream of mushroom, totally different taste! Also, don't add extra salt, the cans of soup provide plenty of salt flavor.



Beef Stroganoff - Quicker Version

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 C water
2. 1/2 C chopped white onion
3. 1 lb beef (I made meatballs with a little Italian bread crumbs mixed in)
4. 1/4 tsp. pepper
5. 1 tsp. chopped garlic
6. 1 Tbls. Worcestershire
   
7. 2 Can's Cambell's Golden Mushroom Soup
8. Bullion Cube
9. 1/2 Packet of dried onion soup Mix (Lipton)
10. 1 Bag No-Yolk Noddles Cooked
11. 8 oz. Fat Free Cream Cheese

Instructions:

• Brown meat in large pan with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil.
  
• Once meat is cooked add onions and garlic, lightly brown.
• Mix water, pepper, worcestershire, golden mushroom soup, bullion cube, and onion soup mix in a separate bowl. Add mixture to meat and onion in pan.
  
• Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and add cream cheese, stir until well mixed.
• Serve meat mixture over cooked noodles.
  

Enjoy!!!
xoxo V

Chicken Pot Pie!

I made a homemade chicken pot pie a couple days ago that came out pretty good... I made my own crust using a basic recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, the pot pie recipe came from allrecipes.com. I also added a little garlic, took out the celery and added corn and green beans. YUM!!


Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 416 | Total Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 56mg