Veggie & Beef Stir Fry

     This recipe is simple, but satisfying.  It is also pretty healthy!  It was quick and easy to prepare and I can guarantee you it will be back on the menu again soon!  I know that because my husband even took the leftovers to work!  You have to love that sort of meal!  Plus, I got to use one of my favorite kitchen appliances, my electric wok.  Seriously, I got it at a garage sales quite a few years ago, but I love that thing!  If you don't have one, put it on your Christmas list - you won't regret it!

¼ - ½ lb.stir fry beef
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 zucchini, coarsely chopped
3 cups broccoli, coarsely chopped
1 yellow squash, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. teriyaki sauce
1 cup brown rice

     Coarsely chop the zucchini, broccoli, and squash.  Boil water for the rice.  Cook rice according to the package.  Meanwhile, heat the oil in an electric wok (or large skillet if you don't have a wok).  Add the beef, stir frying until no longer pink, about 2 minutes.  Add in the vegetables and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Add teriyaki sauce (more to taste if you would like) to the stir fry.  Serve the beef and vegetables over the brown rice.  Makes 4 servings.

Herb-Roasted Dijon Potatoes

     When I was a little kid, my mom used to allow me to help her meal plan and make dinner.  My brother, sister, and I each had one night a week that we got to decide what we would have for dinner and we had to help mom make it.  I remember looking through all of her cookbooks trying to decide what I would pick each week, but usually one of my kid cookbooks won out.  As a matter of fact, I remember one time choosing "kitty litter casserole" from my Gross Grub cookbook, which was made of rice and meatballs.  None the less, my mom worked very hard to get us to eat a variety of foods and to enjoy cooking and baking.  As you can tell, she did a great job...I love to eat and cook!  Before I moved down to Texas my mom had given me a file folder of all sorts of recipes she had been saving for my sister and I ever since we were younger.  They were clipped from magazines and duplicates of her recipe cards from Taste of Home.  It was like an antique version of pinterest!  While sorting through them the other day I came across this recipe and set it aside because I knew I would be making it soon!  It was different than the typical mashed or baked potatoes that I usually make, but every bit as delicious.

2 lbs. baby red potatoes
5 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp. Italian seasoning

     Preheat oven to 425°.  Cut potatoes into quarters.  Mix all ingredients except for potatoes in a medium bowl.  Add in the potatoes and stir until covered.  Place on a greased baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until fork tender.

Pretty Simple Pasta Salad

     There are just some things that you don't need a recipe to make, but I never used to realize that.  I always needed a recipe the first few times, no matter how simple the recipe.  So I remember diligently writing down the things that would go into pasta salad while my friend Ashley was making it for us one day.  Now I have made it enough that I don't need a recipe!  I add things or leave things out depending on what sounds good or what is in the fridge. Additional items that you may want to consider would be chucnks of salami or sugar snap peas.  But in case you are like me and need a recipe to get you started, here is a pretty simple pasta salad!  It is great for a light dinner, to pack in lunches, or as a side dish to a summer barbecue.  

1 box bow tie pasta

1 bottle Ken's Lite Northern Italian dressing (you can use another kind, but I think this is the best)

½-1 bag of Kraft Crumbles Cheese (again, shredded cheese works but the crumbles are more noticeable)

¾ cup of carrots, shredded or diced

1 cucumber, sliced and quartered (sometimes I cut off the skin, but sometimes I leave it on)

1 small broccoli head, cut into small florets

     Boil water in a big pot and cook pasta according to the directions on the box.  When the pasta is done cooking, strain from the hot water and immediately rinse with cold water.  Continue rinsing with cold water until all pasta is cool.  Add in all vegetables and cheese.  Pour the dressing over top, a small amount at a time.  Stir until well coated.  I usually only put about ½ the bottle in at first.  Refrigerate for several hours.  Before serving, add more dressing, to taste.  I usually only use about ¾ of the bottle total, but feel free to add more or less to your liking.

Country Chicken Casserole

      I remember making this quite a few years back for the first time.  My husband (then boyfriend) was living with his cousin and I was trying to make them a good meal!  But of course I messed it up! I didn't read in the instructions that the vegetables were supposed to be cooked, and I just threw them in the casserole still frozen.  Needless to say we ended up eating Dominoes pizza for dinner.  But after moving to Texas, I was brave enough to try the recipe again and this time it was delicious.  I have made it quite a few times since and it is always a hit.

1 can cream of potato soup

1 can cream of celery soup

1 cup milk

¼ dried thyme leaves, crushed (optional, I usually don't have it so I don't use it!)

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

4 cups frozen mixed vegetables (about 2 bags)

2 cups cooked chicken (I used some of the baked chicken I had frozen and just thawed before making)

4 cups Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned stuffing

1 14.5 oz. can of chicken broth (the recipe actually calls for water, but I think it tastes better with broth)

4 tbsp. butter

     Cook the vegetables according to the package.  Preheat the oven to 400°.  In a 9 x 13 baking dish, mix together the soups, milk, thyme, black pepper, vegetables, and chicken.  Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan.  Remove saucepan from heat and gently stir in the stuffing and broth.  Spoon the stuffing over the chicken mixture.  Bake for 25 minutes or until hot. Makes about 6 servings.

Roasted Root Vegetables

     I have recently become addicted to roasting vegetables in the oven.  It are such an easy way to add great flavor to some healthy vegetables without adding too much fat. This recipe is one I am sure to make again, so thank you to Jamie Cooks It Up!  You are more than welcome to change the amount of each vegetable, but this is what I made for the two of us, without much leftover.

2-3 medium carrots
2 medium red skin potatoes
1 small sweet potato
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
Montreal steak seasoning (McCormick Grill Mates)

     Preheat the oven to 350°.  Peel and chop all vegetables, making sure that the pieces are all about the same size.  Place all the vegetables in a large Ziploc bag and add the olive oil.  Shake bag until all pieces are coated with olive oil.  Place vegetables on a large bar pan.  (Note: You can pour olive oil over veggies on a pan, but using a bag will cut down on the amount of olive oil needed.)  Sprinkle vegetables with salt, pepper, and steak seasoning to taste.  Cook for about 30-40 minutes, turning vegetables about half way through cooking time.

Chicken Fried Rice

     My mom and I used to go to garage sales together all the time when I lived in Michigan.  As a matter of fact, I have quite a few kitchen items that I have picked up over the years at garage sales.  One of my favorite items was my electric wok.  My other favorite item was a brand new pampered chef mini muffin pan!  Anyways, I love making stir fry and fried rice in my wok because it is so fast!  But even if you don't have an electric wok you can still make this fried rice on the stove top.  You can also switch out the chicken for ham.  When I do this I usually don't put peas in, but you most definitely could.

4 cups whole grain brown rice (I use 2 boil-in-bag rice packets)
½ - 1 lb. chicken breast, cut into bite size chunks
3 large eggs (sometimes I have to add more because it is the hubby's favorite part)
2 tablespoons water
1+ tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil, divided
3 green onions, chopped
4 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
½ cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup shredded carrots

     Boil water and cook rice according to directions on box.  Allow to cool completely. (I didn't have time to wait for the rice to cool this time and it tasted fine, but it definitely is better if you can allow it to cool!)  Once the rice is cool, heat up the wok.  Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the raw chicken chunks to the wok.  Add 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce to help flavor the chicken while it cooks.  Stir fry for about 5-7 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.  Remove chicken from wok and set aside.  Add a drop of olive oil and the carrots to the wok.  Cook until carrots are soft, about 2 minutes.  Add in the green onions.  Stir fry for about 30 seconds.  Remove and set aside.  Beat the eggs with the water until just blended, then add to the wok and scramble.  When eggs are done cooking, add the rice to the wok and gently separate the grains.  Add peas, carrots, and chicken back to the wok and mix together.  Add the remaining 3 tablespoons (more or less to taste) of soy sauce.  Mix until heated through.  Makes about 6 servings.

Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms

     I found this recipe from Kayln's Kitchen, a pretty awesome healthy food blog!  I am really bad at making side dishes to go along with my main dish.  However, these looked so good when I was planning my weekly meals that I actually wanted to make this recipe and then just ended up throwing some barbecue chicken on the plate with it!  This is so simple and really delicious.

½ lb. of green beans
4 oz. mushrooms (I like baby bella crimini)
1 ½ tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. finely grated parmesan cheese

     First wash the mushrooms and green beans.  Remove the stems of the mushrooms by carefully twisting and pulling the stem out.  Slice into 1/2 inch pieces (I sliced mine thinner and they were cooked long before the green beans).  Make sure and dry the mushrooms well, either with a paper towel or a salad spinner.  Next trim the ends of the green beans and then cut then in half.  Place the beans and mushrooms in a gallon size Ziploc bag.

     In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and balsamic vinegar together.  Pour over the green beans and mushrooms into the bag.  Toss gently until everything is well covered with the mixture.  Dump onto a baking sheet and spread into a thin layer so that the green beans cook evenly.  Place in the oven at 450º for 20-30 minutes, or until green beans are crisp.  Remove from heat and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  (And being the forgetful person I am, I forgot to sprinkle with parmesan cheese, as you can see in the picture below!  They were still delicious, so I am sure the parmesan cheese will only make them better next time!)

Makes about 2-3 servings.

Healthier Chicken Pot Pie

I have seen a million pot pie recipes floating around, but when I saw this one on the Thyme for Wine blog it really stuck out.  The idea of a healthier version was appealing, but I won't lie...the heart on top was another reason this particular recipe caught my eye!  I didn't pull these out of the oven until my husband was walking out the door for work, so I quickly threw it in a plastic bowl hoping he would eat it on his way.  I wasn't so sure that he was going to like it (or even try it!) after I accidentally mentioned it was healthy, but he called me from work later that night to tell me it really was pretty good - "it just needed more crust!"  The next night he asked for leftovers and this time I put extra crust on his.  That was definitely one of the nice parts about making these in separate ramekins, I could make mine healthier with one layer of crust and him happier with three layers of crust!

1 russett potato, cubed
4 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cups chicken breast, cooked and cubed (I used my Baked Chicken recipe, thawed from the freezer)
¼ cup flour
1 ½ cups chicken broth
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup fat free half and half
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 egg white with 1 tsp water
1-2 store bought pie crusts

     Preheat the oven to 400º.  In a saucepan, bring water to a boil.  Add the potato pieces and boil for about 6 minutes.  Add the carrot pieces are boil for about 5 more minutes.  Make sure both the carrots and potatoes are tender before removing from water.  Use a slotted spoon to remove potatoes and carrots from boiling water and place in a strainer.  Add corn and peas to the boiling water and remove after about 2 minutes.  Drain and add to the potatoes and carrots.
     In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat.  Add the chicken.  Sprinkle in the flour and stir well.  Add the broth, wine, half and half, and parsley, stirring well.  Bring the mixture to a simmer.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the vegetables.  Transfer to 4 over safe bowls (fits perfectly into four 14 oz. ramekins).  Spray the rims of ramekins with cooking spray.

     Place ramekin on pie dough, cutting out the crust so that it is slightly wider.  Repeat so that you have 4-8 pieces.  Brush each side of the pie dough pieces with the egg white mixture.   Place one or two pie dough pieces over top of the ramekins.  Poke a few holes through the dough to allow heat to escape.  Place bowls on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
     Note: If you are making this because it is a healthy version, you may want to only use one pie dough piece.  However, my husband insisted on "more crust" so I used three pie dough pieces on top of his!   I only made two of the pot pies the first night and placed the other two in the fridge.  The next night all I had to do was throw the pie crust on top and put them in the oven for 30 minutes!


 Makes 4 servings.