St. Patrick’s Corned Beef Dinner
March 16, 2013 - Written by BuffThis is one of my favorite meals and I get to cook it only once or twice a year – once on St. Patrick’s Day [March 17th for those not in the know] and again when either the mood strikes me or I have special guests. Well, the other day we had special guests in and not only did I make this special dinner, we actually sat at the Dining Room table!
Beef Tenderloin with a Mushroom Wine Reduction
February 22, 2013 - Written by Diana
Beef Tenderloin Over Creamed Kale
My husband picked up a Dry Aged Beef Tenderloin from Bluescreek Farm Meats this week and I knew it was the beef we could use for a special dinner. I was looking forward to trying out the tenderloin – which I’ve never cooked before. I love an opportunity to try out something new, but it can be a little scary trying out something new when you know if you mess up. That’s it, we’re eating it anyway because we spent the money already. This one though, this was a big winner.
I researched the best cooking methods, and there was a consensus that high heat quickly was the way to go. I couldn’t use salt, because my husband is on a low sodium diet and meat carries its own sodium, so I wanted a way to keep it moist and flavorful but without added sodium. I decided to try out my dehydrated mushroom powder on the tenderloin. Last year I took mushrooms, dehydrated them, and then pulverized them to make it into a powder. I think mushrooms in gravy compliment steak. I …
Turkey Wing and Red Lentil Soup
January 16, 2013 - Written by Diana
Turkey Wing Red Lentil Stew
Did you know that Turkey Wings have just enough meat for a soup or stew ? I buy whole turkeys portion the meat out into separate labeled containers or bags and use them for separate meals. The turkey wings were set aside together and tonight used in a really quick and delicious soup. I am a beef and lamb lover – I also love turkey and chicken, but I forget sometimes that poultry is my husband’s preference over red meat. He likes red meat a lot, but every so often he’ll whisper in my ear and let me know we haven’t had turkey or chicken lately. That happened this week, so I today I dug through the freezer found a couple of turkey wings and threw together a delicious stew. A little bit of meat, a bunch of veggies and red lentils that melt into a thick creamy broth.
Ever since my husband has been on a low sodium diet, we’ve given up the curry powder. We try to stay away from …
Eggs and Tatsoi in a Sweet Potato Nest
December 15, 2012 - Written by Diana
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with three ingredients and my cast iron pan. I like that I can stick the pan under the broiler and bake some eggs, after I’ve partially cooked the other ingredients on the stove top. Cast iron is really great for even heat and works well even on my glass top, too. Trying the same dish over and over in different ways should give you perfection sooner or later, but I’m always thinking what if I did this, or this, or this. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
This combination of sweet potatoes, greens and fresh eggs has become family favorite. These aren’t the only ingredients I’m using, because often I add luna burgers broken up and I also use onions, shallots or leeks. Fresh herbs are good to sprinkle over top, and a little bit of chevre and swiss ( two of the lowest sodium cheeses my husband can eat). The greens are whatever I have on hand, sometimes spinach or chard, but this week tatsoi was in the market bag. Tatsoi …
Zesty Cabbage, Macaroni and Cheese
December 5, 2012 - Written by Diana
This is my way of dealing with my husband’s new low sodium diet – by coming up with new ways to eat without using salt or high sodium ingredients. Macaroni and cheese was out, because cheese has too much sodium unless it’s something a little on the bland side like lower sodium Swiss. So, I kicked it up with a Hot Sweet Pepper Relish and Kapow it was tasty without much sodium. This casserole had plenty of veggies, the creaminess of a good mac n cheese, and a nice kick to it. My husband had trouble backing away from the bowl even after eating two plates of it.
This is a much lower calorie version since we can’t use a lot of cheese, and it’s not as thick as a lot of other macaroni and cheese recipes. I like to add a veggie to my mac and cheese too, so this one had sauteed cabbage and leeks. I found a low sodium brown rice bread. The bread was too dry and bland for a sandwich, but toasted, ground up and sauteed in a little butter …
Creamed Greens
November 19, 2012 - Written by DianaThis recipe is a great way to use up greens – any kind of greens for your Holiday dinner. My market bag not only has greens in the form of collards, kale, chard, spinach, but there was bok choy last week and we even have greens on root vegetables – beet, turnip and radish. What to do with all of those greens. Cream them up. When we were little my grandmother made creamed spinach with the frozen spinach and mushroom soup. This is my version – using all different types of steamed greens, and leeks. As a plus I took the bok choy – the greens were steamed and the more sturdy white part was sauteed in the oil along with the leeks for extra flavor. My version uses a roux and also chevre instead of cream of mushroom soup.
My husband said he never had creamed greens or spinach, usually he had the canned spinach. I never liked canned, and frozen is okay, but nothing is as good as fresh, even if you are cooking it up. However, if you are creaming your greens, you can use frozen – stay away from canned. It’s just not nice at all.
It takes …
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes
November 18, 2012 - Written by DianaThis is low fat brussels sprouts because it does not have any bacon or any type of fat. I’ve found that brussels sprouts are the best when prepared simply without much other than a little olive oil for roasting. If you are looking for a great side that doesn’t require a lot of prep or messing around, this is it and truthfully, my son could do this one, no problem. It takes ten minutes at most to throw together, stick it in the oven and it is ready in about 20 minutes. My kids used to tell me that they didn’t want brussels sprouts because I bought the frozen boxes and heated it up. No, more. I buy fresh and give it a little roast with some olive oil.
Thanksgiving is coming and it’s good to have some dishes with sauces and then have some simpler dishes for those who don’t like it complicated. While you are making the dishes with many steps, the kids or your spouse could make this, easily.
Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Potatoes …
Pumpkin, Chard and White Bean Soup
November 8, 2012 - Written by DianaThis soup is easy, semi fast and very seasonal. I made this on vacation with a microwave, a bowl, and one pot on an electric burner. The kitchen was a small not even efficiency size kitchen. One microwave, a dorm fridge, a two burner cooktop and a small sink with a tiny counter made up the kitchen. I have trouble with how small my small kitchen is and I could live with this little efficiency for the one week we were staying in Duck, North Carolina – but I think one week is the limit.
While the recipe made four bowls of soup, my husband and I both ate two bowls each for dinner. It was a vegetarian dish for us, you can add sausage to it, or chicken and it would go well. Also, you could serve it as a soup course along with a sandwich. While spelt berries were cooking in broth, the microwave was used to partially cook the pumpkin – after slicing in into pieces and cleaning out the seeds and pulp. Only one soup/stew pot was used along …
Farm Market Frittata
September 20, 2012 - Written by DianaEggs are a lovely protein, don’t you think? We often turn to eggs when we want something quick and delicious for breakfast or dinner. I made this frittata the other day using eggs, farm market veggies and a vegetarian burger(okay, it’s a Luna Burger – anything tastes good with a Luna Burger in it) crumbled up, plus some cheese. My husband took a bite and told me it wasn’t right, because his eggs don’t taste this good, and aren’t this filling when he makes them. The end of summer is bittersweet because the fresh locally grown veggie supply starts to wane, but at the same time they have their best flavor. Get’em while their fresh.
Farm Market Frittata
Farm Market Frittata Print Prep time 15 mins …
Fast and Easy – Steamed Sausage and Vegetables
August 30, 2012 - Written by Diana
My son came home and asked what we were having for dinner. It’s a fun game we play. One of us asks what we are having for dinner and the other responds -”I don’t know, what are you making?”. If he’s cooking, sometimes I’ll tell him what to make, and if it’s me – I’ll figure something out. Tonight, I didn’t want to slave over the stove, but I remembered something my husband said when he brought home the market bag. He said that we should cook up the green beans and corn fresh and fast while we have them and not wait because they’re always best when they’re fresh.
I have a metal strainer insert that I use when I want to steam or blanch. Then I can either keep the ingredients from getting waterlogged because it doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot, or in the case of blanching, I can raise the strainer draining the water off without getting burned pouring it off. Tonight I filled the strainer with corn on the cob, green beans, potatoes, sausage (from an area farmer) …
