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.

Cheddar Fondue

This is a very simple, and still delicious way I like to make fondue. I made this for a movie night with the girls, and KC and I enjoyed leftovers the next day. Fondue twice in a row. Not too good for the waistline.

1 c chicken broth
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 c sour cream
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T spicy brown mustard
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t nutmeg salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. cheddar cheese

In a saucepan whisk together everything except the cheese. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and slowly stir in the cheese a little at a time waiting between installments making sure it melts before you add more. If it seems too thick when all the cheese is added, add more broth. Transfer to a fondue pot and dip whatever sounds good to you. We usually like lightly steamed broccoli or cauliflower, ham, or kielbasa, rustic bread (Here's a tip for the bread: cut it into cubes, and toast it in a deep skillet drizzled with a little olive oil, and s&p until the cubes are lightly browned. I'm TELLING you, when I ate it with the cheese, it's the best thing I'd had in a long time.), apples, etc. You can get gourmet with cut up, steamed asparagus, grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, grilled zucchini, the options are endless. This Christmas Eve tradition in my family will continue on with me, that's for sure. I think I'll make it more often than that, though.

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.

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.

Mango Salsa

I'm a HUGE fan of chips and salsa. I eat way more than I'm supposed to. I guess this salsa is a pretty good for you since it's purely fruits and vegetables so maybe I shouldn't feel so guilty that I ate a good portion of it. But then there are all the chips I ate it with. Oh well, it was worth it.

This is a pretty basic recipe and I'm sure there are an millions other like it out there. In case you wanted my version, here it is:

3 ripe mangoes
2 avocadoes
1/2 c red onion
1 small red pepper
handful cilantro roughly chopped
juice or 2-3 limes
salt and pepper
garlic

Dice everything to the size of your liking. I used my food chopper for everything except the avocados, cilantro, and garlic and it worked like a charm. Toss everything together and refrigerate until ready to use. It's good to give it at least 30 minutes to get all the flavors to blend. A couple of my mangoes weren't as ripe as I would've liked, but still good. These are the red white and blue chips we ate it with on the 4th of July. Those Garden Salsa Sun Chips on the right are awesome. Check them out sometime.

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.

Homemade Basil Fettuccine

This is the fettuccine I referred to in this post on my blog. The recipe for the pasta dough is there also. It was so delicious and tender. And once the pasta is made, it only take a couple minutes to boil to the perfect al dente. This dish was pretty simple.Start a big pot of water boiling. Saute some chopped onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes in a large skillet. Add a clove or two of garlic, sliced zucchini, and cherry tomatoes to the onions and saute until the veggies are cooked through. While they are cooking, add your pasta to the rapidly boiling water. It will only take 1 1/2 minutes to cook if it is fresh, and about 2 minutes if it's frozen. Add the pasta directly to the pan with the veggies, along with about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. I wanted a nice fresh tasting sauce, so I just added about 1/2 c sour cream, s&p to taste, and any other herbs or seasonings you like with your pasta. Add as much Parmesan as you like, and toss is all together, take it off the heat and add a couple big handfuls of fresh spinach. Top with more Parmesan. I also added veggie meatballs that I mentioned in the post I wrote about before. Again, it was vegetarian with out trying to be so. It was quite good.

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.

Vegetable Pancakes with Pesto

I had a lot of veggies to use up so this seemed like a fun thing to do with them. Here's how to do it:

I grated up potatoes,, carrots, a yellow squash, and about half of a red onion. This can of course be altered to whatever amount you are making. I added a couple eggs, flour, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and a little Worcestershire sauce. I combined everything formed it into little cakes and let them fry in a little olive oil on a medium skillet. They took a while for the vegetables to cook all the way and get nice and brown, but turned out alright. Next time I am going to fill the skillet with about 1 inch of of oil and a do more of a deep fried version for a more crispy treat. And a faster cooking time. I added a dollop of sour cream and a homemade pesto sauce for fun. Here is the recipe for my pesto. It's pretty basic.

1/2 c basil

1/2 c parsley

2 cloves garlic

2/3 T pine nuts

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c Parmesan cheese

olive oil

Again, portions can be changed according to taste. Put everything except olive oil in a food processor. When everthing is minced, slowly pour in enough olive oil with the machine running to make a nice sauce. It really packs a punch, so a little goes a long way. It can be used to just toss with pasta, hot or cold, a bread dipping sauce or with any meat. It's great to have on hand and freezes well if you don't use it up in a couple weeks.

Salmon en croute with caramelizd shallots.

I have to admit, it wasn't my favorite. Probably because I'm not a salmon lover. KC liked it though. I place the raw salmon, along with a spinach, mushroom, onion mixture, I sauteed and mixed with cream cheese on raw pie crust an made a little pocket. Egg wash, poke a vent hole, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or something. I can't remember. I just made sure it was nice and golden. I also made a dill, lemon sauce for the top. I thought it needed something. The shallots were making our eyes water all night. Who knew. A little olive oil, salt and pepper and they are perfect. Saute a little on the stove and them put in the oven for a few minutes while the salmon is finishing up. I put a little red wine, but would omit it next time. I like the natural flavor of the caramelization.