Polish Stew

This is such an easy soup that I have loved for as long as I can remember. Now KC loves it just as much as I do, and we love that it's cold so we can enjoy it more often. I don't know how authentic the name is, but that's what I've always called it.half a head of cabbage, cut into thick shreds
half of a kielbasa sausage, sliced, or cubed
1 c corn, frozen or canned (or you could use the whole can. whatever)
4-5 potatoes
half a medium onion
enough chicken broth to cover the cabbage, maybe 4-5 cups
Spicy brown mustard

In a large pot, saute in the sausage until starting to brown and renders a little fat. Add the potatoes and onion and let the potatoes start to brown a little. Add the shredded cabbage and corn, and cover with chicken broth. Simmer until the cabbage and potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Serve hot with mustard. It may sound weird, but the mustard is what makes it so good. Squeeze it right into the soup. Either stir it in, or enjoy it visibly on each bite. I like to add more as I go. I'm a little bit of a mustard fanatic. If you don't like mustard, it's good anyway. I hope you give this a try.

Spicy Potato soup

We made a smaller batch than this, but here's the full recipe. I made a few changes that I'll note in the recipe. Both versions are delicious and perfect for the winter.

1 lb. ground beef (I used turkey)
one onion, chopped
4 c water
4 c potatoes, cubed
1 c frozen green beans cut in half (my addition for color)
3-8 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 t salt
1 1/2 t pepper
1/2 t hot sauce (I used a little of this, and a little cayenne)
a few shakes of paprika and dried basil (I added these)
plain yogurt ( I added this for garnish)

Brown the meat and the onion until there is no pink showing. If using beef, drain the fat. Add everything else (except yogurt) and let simmer for about an hour, or until the potatoes are tender. Serve with a nice dollop of yogurt to help mellow the heat. Add fresh herbs like basil or parsley is you have any.

Three Cheese Fritata

I made this a while ago and am finally posting it. It was delicious and easy.

half of a red and green pepper, diced
about 1 cup diced kielbasa (I used turkey kielbasa to cut back on the fat.)
6 eggs
1/2 c bread crumbs
Mrs. Dash
a couple shakes of dried basil
a couple shakes of onion powder
1/4 c half and half
feta cheese
salt and pepper to you liking
cheddar and Parmesan cheeses

In a non-stick skillet saute the kielbasa and peppers in a little olive oil until the peppers have softened a bit. Keep heat on med/low. Turn on broiler. In a bowl, whisk the the rest of the ingredients, except the cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Pour egg mixture into the hot skillet. Stir vigorously a few times to make sure everything is distributed. Don't stir anymore. As soon as the eggs have firmed up on the edges, sprinkle on a little of the cheeses, and place under the broiler for a few minutes. Keep a close eye on it. It is done when you shakes the skillet and it appears to be firm. After a minute or two of cooling, loosen the fritata from the skillet, and slide onto a cutting board, or serving platter. Slice into wedges, and eat while it's still warm.

Mexican Pizza

I'm a HUGE fan. I'm telling you. When is Mexican food NOT good? I have so many recipes I want to post from many meals ago, but this was last night, and I couldn't wait to post it.

So, I made the good old salsa, crock-pot shredded pork the same way that many of us have made it. I guess it might be more well know to be made with chicken. It's much like the bbq chicken below, but instead I made it with a pork loin and salsa verde. I made a lot so I had a lot to play around with for other meals. We had it as soft Tacos the first night. I was feeling Pizza since I usually do it when we make bbq pork/chicken. But since the pork had the lovely Mexican flavors from the salsa, I thought maybe a cornmeal crust would help with the all around Mexican flavor. Lo and behold, someone has thought of this before, as I found when googling around for a cornmeal pizza crust. Here's what I did.You'll need:
One recipe Cornmeal Pizza Dough(we only used half and froze the other half, and I went ahead and used some wheat flour , like the recipe said, but I think you'd be able to get the cornmeal flavor better with all while flour.)
Shredded salsa pork (pork loin and salsa verde in a crock pot for about 7 hours)
more salsa verde
tomatoes
red onions
cheese
black beans
corn (this and the beans were acutally left over from our tacos. I had cooked them with an onion and a sprinkling of the same spices as below.)
cilantro
lettuce
cumin
chili powder
garlic power
s&p
cilantro-lime dressing (Made famous by Cafe Rio. The recipe can be found many places, though I used the one found here. I used like 3 times the amount of lime juice the said, and next time I'll use half sour cream, half mayo, instead of all mayo like the recipe says. Still so good.)

Roll your dough on a pizza stone that has been sprayed and sprinkled with more cornmeal. Spread a little salsa on as a base. Add as much pork as you'd like. Follow with the corn/beans, red onions, tomatoes, more salsa if you'd like, the cheese and the spices. Bake in a 475 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is baked, and the ingredients are warmed through. Cut into slices and serve with lettuce, cilantro (or any garnishes/flavor additions) and a good drizzle of the dressing. Oh, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed each bite. And, you probably need to eat this pizza with a fork.
The best part is, we STILL have tons of pork left. I'm thinking Navajo tacos. Tonight.

BBQ chicken

Here's an easy one for those busy weeknights. We've probably all made this easy crock-pot barbecue chicken. But I found these few more ingredients took it just past normal, to quite tasty.You'll need:
Chicken breasts-fresh or frozen (I used 3 so we would have plenty of leftovers. You'll want leftovers of this.)
barbecue sauce
liquid smoke
Worcestershire sauce
chili sauce
red onion-chopped roughly in large peices
garlic cloves-minced

Here's the fun part of crock-pot cooking. Just dump it all in. I didn't put any measurements because it all depends on how much chicken you use and how much you like each thing. I probably just put a whole bottle of bbq sauce couple shakes of each other sauce, 1/2 an onion, and a couple cloves of garlic. Liquid smoke really adds to the robust flavor.

Let is cook on high for 4-6 hours. Shred the chicken and it's ready to devour. We ate this as sandwiches, on a pizza, over rice, and there are probably a lot more ways than that to enjoy this. I've also made it with a pork loin for pulled pork sandwiches. Doesn't it just smell like summer now?

Turkey Fajita Burgers

This burger came about because I wanted to have burgers one weekend, but didn't have the traditional fixings-lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. But I did have some peppers, cilantro and salsa, so I thought, why not. The result was pretty rewarding. Two of the things I crave mixed into one.For the burgers: (This recipe makes 6-8 burgers depending on how big you like them. We grilled up two and froze the rest for later.)

20 oz. package of ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped finely
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 salsa
a handful of cilantro, chopped
a squeeze of lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t chili powder
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix all of that together with your hands and form into patties of your desired size. Place on a hot grill or skillet until they are completely cooked through (no medium burgers with poultry, folks). I use a meat thermometer and when it reads 165, I know they are good and cooked.

Toast your buns if you'd like. For the toppings, just use whatever you'd put on a fajita. I sauteed some red and green peppers with some onion, a little salt and pepper, and a little cumin and chili powder. Then I spread some salsa, and sour cream (with taco seasoning mixed in for fun) onto the bun with some cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice. We had ours with some sweet potato fries (I know, not really with the Mexican theme, but I had to use them up) and there you have it. We have decided to make this often. It helps to satisfy my obsession of Mexican food with out eating nachos every time I crave it. We went out to get an avocado just for this meal that night, but were disappointed to find that none of them were even close to ripe. The next time we ate them we did have a ripe one, and it was great, of course. You could also sprinkle on a little cheese, though we didn't this time.

This burger could easily be made vegetarian by replacing the turkey meat with mashed up black beans and rice in the burger recipe. Not that I'm vegetarian or anything, but that sounds good to me, just because it would complete the fajita flavors. Try it out.

Steak and Eggs

Whoa. I didn't know I'd like this so much. I hear of people ordering it at local diners, or whatever, and it always seemed like the two just didn't go together for me. I was wrong. I bought some steaks for fun (not a very regular occurrence), and decided to make an easy and different meal with them than the regular old meat and potatoes. With breakfast food being one of my favorites, this really does it for me. (Adjust amounts to the number of people you are cooking for. This is for two.)

Cook 2 slices of bacon in a skillet. Remove bacon from pan and drain most of the drippings. With the skillet still hot with reserved dripping, cook 2-3 cubed potatoes, about 1/2 c sliced onion, and cook until the potatoes are tender and golden brown. Salt and pepper both sides of a 10-12 0z. steak. Place in another hot skillet until done to your liking, turning when necessary. (I would've liked ours a little more rare, but I got carried away with something. I think I went about 1 minute over time. It was still juicy and tender.) Remove from heat and let the steak rest, covered with foil until everything else is ready. Fry a couple eggs to desired stage (nice and soft for me) and now you are ready to assemble. Slice the steak in strips against the grain, and place on a plate. Pile on the potatoes/onions, egg, them crumble the bacon over the whole thing. When the steak rests, a lot of yummy juice will accumulate. Pour that all over the tower. I had some pesto sauce in the fridge, and I added a little of that on top for the nice herbs flavors. I hope, actually, I know you'll enjoy it as much as I did. KC said the leftovers for lunch the next day were something for his co-workers to be jealous of.

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Barbeque Sauce

Sometimes I just don't have it in me to think up something new and delicious, so I turn to my resources. Again it was Cooking Light with this pork recipe that was calling my name.
For the BBQ sauce:
Cook 2 slices of finely chopped bacon in a skillet until almost crisp. Add 1 c chopped onion and cook 4 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 c yellow mustard, 5 T honey, 3 T ketchup, 2 T cider vinegar, 1/4 t chili powder, and 1/4 t cumin. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until slightly thick, stirring occasionally.

For the Pork:
Combine 1 T light brown sugar, 1 T paprika, 2 t chili powder, 1 t garlic powder, 1 t cumin, 3/4 t salt, 1/2 t black pepper, and 1/8 t ground red pepper in a small bowl. Rub mixture evenly over two 1 lb. pork tenderloins (Costco sells them at a great price). Place the pork on a hot grill coated with cooking spray. Grill 2o minutes or until thermometer reaches 155 degrees turning once. Let is stand 10 minutes. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve with sauce. This serves 6-8. Enjoy.

Turkey and Basil Stuffed Tomatoes

I had recently seen someone make stuffed tomatoes on TV, so the huge tomatoes at the store were calling my name. I made my own rendition that tasted very fresh, healthy, and perfect for a spring meal. Easy too.


You'll need:
Big, not quite ripe tomatoes with pulp scooped out and reserved

ground turkey, browned with:

onion

garlic

s & p

Combined in a bowl with:

Mrs. Dash

tomato pulp strained and chopped

olive oil
cooked rice

fresh parsley, chopped
Fresh basil chopped, and while leaves

cheese, preferably mozzarella, parm, or an Italian blend
(Amounts of everything is determined by how many tomatoes you are filling. I'm sorry but I can't remember any amounts. Just experiment for yourself)

Heat oven to 375

Salt and pepper the inside of the tomatoes and set aside, upside down on a paper towel while you prepare the filling. Brown the meat with above said ingredients. Combine in a mixing bowl with remaining ingredients. Save the basil leaves, and cheese. Scoop the filling into the tomatoes, packing it slightly to fit as much as you can. Place them in a greased baking dish. Spoon any extra filling around the tomatoes. Place a whole basil leaf and a sprinkling of cheese, and top with the lid of the tomato. Bake for 20 minutes. Tomatoes should be juice and tender. Wait about 5 minutes and serve. This is the dinner I made for this occasion. I have made a different version of this. I'll post it soon.We really like this in our regular menu.

Tangy Turkey meatloaf and roasted veggies

For the meatloaf: combine 2 lbs ground turkey (we were feeding more than just the two of us)2 eggs, about 1/2 c chopped parsley, a meduim onion chopped, a couple cloves of minced garlic, s&p, mrs. dash, about 1/2-1 c of both bread crumbs and parmasean cheese, 1/4 c ketchup, about a T of worchestershire sauce, and a few dashes of liquid smoke to a bowl. Work it together with your hands and form into a loaf. I made mine in an electric skillet set at 375. Place it in the skillet while you prep the veggies since it will take a little longer to cook than they will.

Barbecue roasted veggies:

Chop any veggies you want into a large bowl. I did red/yellow onions, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, and green peppers. Add s&p. olive oil, bbq sauce (store bought, or recipe to follow), and parsley. Mix together and distribute around the meat loaf. Stir them around every now and them to prevent the ones on the bottom from getting too dark. The flavors of the meat go into the veggies and vice versa so make a very juicy and delicious combination. Or course this can be made in the oven at the exact temp in a deep baking dish, I just like the electric skillet to make it easier to periodically stir and baste.

I happed to to run out of bbq sauce which I like to baste the meatloaf with and slather it on when I eat it. So I just made a quick version.

1 c ketchup

2-3 t br sugar

worchestershire sauce

liquid smoke

Whisk together and bring to boil just to dissolve sugar. Done.