Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

I was looking to branch out, try a few new recipes, mix things up a bit. I can usually read a recipe and know pretty quickly a) if my family would like it and b) how to change it up a bit, if needed. I came across a recipe for Cabbage rolls, honestly never in my life had I had one before, but the ingredients definitely sounded like something that we would like. However I did dread the idea of "rolling the filling into the cabbage." So...I thought on it and realized I could get all the same great flavors out of recipe without having to roll each cabbage leaf individually. So last night we tested my recipe and I will tell you it was fantastic. So good that I don't even have a picture to share, before I knew it we'd eaten the whole batch. So instead I'll share the recipe with you and urge you to try it.

Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls
1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lg onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium head of green cabbage, chopped
1 lg can of diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup bone broth (or chicken stock if you don't have bone broth)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

In large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat, add ground beef & onion
Stir ground beef until browned
Add garlic and cook for another minute
Add chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, bone broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper
Bring to boil.
Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes until cabbage is tender

We served over rice. It was delicious.

My go to meatloaf

Growing up we never had meatloaf, my brother hated it so my mom stopped making it. I think my brother hated it because my mom didn't have my recipe.  I'm not even sure how I really stumbled upon making meatloaf, especially since I didn't have it growing up more than a handful of times. I think the recipe came to me one time I was making meatballs for our favorite crockpot wedding soup recipe. I thought I'd try it and it was a hit, so now I'll share it with you.


My go to Meatloaf
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs
4 green onions, sliced
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt & pepper

Topping
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup yellow mustard

Mix all meatloaf ingredients together
Place in greased loaf pan
Mix topping ingredients and evenly spread on top of meatloaf
Cook @ 350 degrees for 1 hour
Enjoy!!!

Crockpot Carnitas

I am always looking for new crockpot recipes. I've tried so many at this point I feel like there's nothing "new" to try anymore.  I came across this recipe that just spoke to me, and I felt like I had to try it. I am so so glad I did as it was so moist and tasty and I can see it being transformed into different meals other than just Carnitas.
It's almost too simple, 4 ingredients in the crockpot for the most amazing carnitas. That's it, 4!


Crockpot Carnitas
2 lb pork roast
5 slices bacon
2 bay leaves
salt

Line the bottom of your crockpot with 3 slices of bacon
Place the 2 bay leaves on top
Sprinkle salt on your pork roast and place on top of bacon and bay leaves
Place the last 2 slices of bacon over the top of the pork.
Turn slow cooker on low, cook 4-6 hours (could go 8 and still be moist)
Remove meat from slow cooker and shred with two forks
Place back into crockpot juices and stir up.

Serve with corn tortillas, cilantro, green onion, guacamole, salsa, sour cream....your favorite taco toppings.

Artichoke Barigoule

This recipe may seem intimidating but it really makes an amazing soup, especially if you like artichokes. If you've never prepared an artichoke you'll quickly learn once you have done one artichoke the others are easy. 

Artichoke Barigoule

2 cups water

2 cups dry white wine

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup olive oil

6 artichokes (small artichokes are best)

2 lemons (halved)

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped fennel

2 cups chopped onion

3 tbsp minced shallots

2 tbsp minced garlic

3/4 tsp salt

bouquet garni: parsley, thyme, bay leaf tied up in cheesecloth

1 salt packed anchovy filet (optional)

In large bowl put aside water, wine, stock & 1/2 cup olive oil

Prepare artichokes: Peel the outer leaves from artichokes, peel stem to remove outer fibrous layer. Cut off spiny tips from leaves, cut artichokes lengthwise and remove chokes (the hairy part you see inside the heart of the artichoke).
Immediately put in water with a squeeze of lemon juice.

In a large stock pot, heat 1/2 cup olive oil with carrots for 2-2 1/2 minutes then add fennel, cook another 2-2 1/2 minutes

Add onion, shallots & garlic cook 4 additional minutes

Add artichokes (heart down)

Sprinkle with salt cover and cook for 10 minutes

Add bouquet garni & bowl of water, wine, chicken stock & olive oil

Cook on a low simmer for 15 minutes

Chop anchovy and add to soup

Cook another 15 minutes or until there is no resistance to artichoke heart

Prosciutto, Asparagus and Parmesan Spaghetti

I love a good pasta, a hearty, rich pasta, and this is one of them for sure.  You really can't go wrong when you mix prosciutto, asparagus and Parmesan.  This recipe goes together very quickly and doesn't take much prep work either which is nice on a night you don't have a lot of time.

Prosciutto, Asparagus & Parmesan Spaghetti
4 oz of prosciutto, cut into strips
1 lb of asparagus, trimmed and cut into pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small onion, diced
1 package spaghetti

In large pan heat oil over medium high heat.
Cook onion, garlic and mushrooms until fragrant and semi done
Add prosciutto and asparagus, cook until asparagus is bright green (about 3 minutes)
Add cream and Parmesan cheese
Reduce heat to simmer and cook until sauce has thickened (about 4 minutes)
Cook pasta according to package directions
Once pasta is cooked add to pan and mix thoroughly.
Enjoy!

Easy Shortbread Cookies

Easy Shortbread Cookies
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cold, cut into pieces
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp sprinkles, nonpareils or baking bits (red & green for Christmas time, orange & black for Halloween)

Preheat oven to 325
In food processor pulse flour and sugar until combined.
Add butter and vanilla, pulse until dough comes together
Place in medium bowl and with your hand gently knead in sprinkles, nonpareils or baking bits until a ball forms.
Pat dough out onto a floured wax paper covered cookie sheet.
Place in freezer for 10 minutes
Cut dough into 1/2 inch squares
Place on ungreased cookie sheet
Bake for 10-12 minutes
Cool on baking rack
Enjoy!!
Mine did have sprinkles in them but they were white (all I had in house) so you can't see them. Excited to try this with red & green nonpareils though.
****I highly recommend at least a double batch as these were devoured quickly.

Crockpot Butternut squash, sausage & spinach soup

Crockpot Butternut Squash, Sausage & Spinach Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lb sausage

1 lg onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken broth (I use my homemade bone broth)

2 cups butternut squashed, diced into squares

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes

1 cup rough chopped spinach

1 bay leaf

Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat

Add onion, garlic and sausage (removed from casing)
Cook sausage until browned, and onion is translucent

In crockpot add chicken broth, butternut squash, bay leaf, and can of diced tomatoes

Add sausage to crockpot when done

Cook on low 6-8 hours

10 minutes prior to eating turn temperature to high and add spinach

Good topped with shredded parmesan 

Enjoy!

***Can add pasta if you would like (just cook pasta per instructions on box and add to crockpot with spinach), I cooked up a loaf of fresh rosemary bread to go with mine. 

Fish Bowls

Sharing a easy all time favorite recipe. My family loves fish tacos, one night I had all the ingredients we typically use but didn't have any tortillas and seeing I try sticking to my "one grocery shopping trip a week" motto, I improvised and we used rice instead.  Renaming our fish tacos to "Fish bowls," and we haven't looked back since. It's a favorite, I usually get a request every week for it. So here it is, I'll share.

Fish Bowls
1 lb white fish (have used mahi mahi, cod, swai...etc)
1 jar green salsa (we love Trader Joes, salsa verde because its got great flavor but isn't too spicy for the tiny mouths in our house)
Shredded Cabbage
Shredded cheese
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Green onions
White rice (could use brown too, we just prefer white)

The fish I buy is frozen so I defrost in cold water for about 10-20 minutes
Cook in pan with 1/2-3/4 jar of green sauce (save some to add to fish bowl before eating)
Once cooked serve over rice, add toppings of cabbage, green onions, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and green sauce.
Enjoy!

Whole Chicken

I've finally mastered cooking a whole chicken. Now that it's Fall and we use our bone broth almost weekly in meals, we quickly run out of bone broth. In order to get the bones for bone broth, I need to cook a whole chicken.  This recipe took some work to perfect, but the last 3 times it's turned out perfect. So now it's time to share my secret.

Whole Chicken
2-5 lb whole chicken (I love the Organic, pre-brined chicken from Trader Joes)
4 carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
5 red potatoes chopped (I sometimes substitute, sliced butternut squash, acorn squash or delicata squash)
1 whole onion (red or yellow) cut into quarters
1 large rosemary sprig
1 large thyme sprig
1 garlic head (peel each clove individually)
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Turn on oven to 275 degrees
Place Whole Chicken in cooking pan large enough for chicken and the vegetables
Put potatoes (or squash), celery, carrots, onion and whole garlic cloves around the chicken
Pull some rosemary and thyme off the sprigs and sprinkle around the vegetables
Drizzle top of chicken with olive oil, garlic powder, salt & pepper
Place in oven (no foil necessary) @ 275 until chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit
We then save the bones and that same night make our own bone broth (you can find that recipe in my archives on September 29, 2013). That broth I use for the base of all my soup recipes.
****Mix it up a little bit by substituting the potatoes for a squash, either sliced butternut, sliced acorn, or delicata squash.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Beef with Broccoli

I've been wanting beef with broccoli for a few weeks now, but haven't gotten around to making it. By the time dinner came around we needed to do something a little bit faster in preparation. Today I was planning on it for dinner again and was thinking about timing, especially with the time change. Then I realized that I could probably manipulate my current recipe to be a crock pot recipe. So I gave it a shot. It turned out really good, simple and the meat melted in your mouth. So now I share with you.

Crock pot Beef with Broccoli
1 lb beef (I used flank steak), cut into bite size pieces
1 onion sliced into quarters (I used red because that's what I had you could use yellow)
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/3 cup slightly packed brown sugar
4 Tbsp garlic minced
3 Tbsp chopped ginger
2 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 cups broccoli florets
Green onions, to garnish
Sesame seeds, to garnish

Add beef and onion quarters to crock pot
In a bowl mix together, beef broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic & ginger.
Pour mixture over beef and onions in crock pot
Cover with lid and cook on low 4-6 hours
Ladle out 1/4 of broth from crock pot into a bowl, add cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
Remove onion quarters from crock pot
Return cornstarch mixture to crock pot and stir gently
Add in broccoli pieces (if you would like them to stay bright green you'll want to steam them first and then add right before you want to eat.)  To make things simple I prefer just adding the broccoli to the crock pot and turning on high for 20 minutes, or until broccoli has your desired tenderness and the sauce has thickened.
Serve over rice and sprinkle with sesame and green onions.