Chili and corn bread one night, curried potato and butternut squash the next.

hint: Cook in a large batch and freeze individual servings



Here's the curried potato and butternut squash recipe - you'll want to eat this!!!

Ingredients
2 TBS butter
1 Cup chopped onion
1 and 1/2 TBS grated peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 Cups 1/2 inch cubed potato
3 Cups 1/2 inch cubed and peeled butternut squash
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 (14.5 oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (14.5 oz) can fat free low sodium chicken broth (or veg broth for vegetarians)
3/4 Cup light coconut milk
1 Cup frozen green peas, thawed


Melt butter in large skillet (med-high heat)
add onion (saute 4 minutes) stir occasionally
add ginger & garlic (saute 1 minute) stir constantly
add potato, butternut squash, salt, cumin, & red pepper (saute 1 minute) stir constantly
stir in tomatoes and broth (bring to a boil) then cover and cook 5 minutes
Stir in coconut milk and peas (bring to simmer)
cook uncovered 12 minutes or until squash and potatoes are tender

Note: Peeling butternut squash is easy but takes a few minutes. Cut off the tip and use a good knife and peel lengthwise.

Turkey Wrap

Garden Spinach Herb Wrap
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 tsp taco seasoning mix
Colby Jack cheese, shredded
deli turkey, thinly sliced
tomato, thinly sliced
green leaf lettuce

mix 1/2 cup Mayonnaise with 2 tsp taco seasoning mix - you can store the left overs

Recipe courtesy of Mission Wraps, and this one is actually good!

Photo by Rebecca Watts - Utah 2010

Change the Menu

Cook something every night, even if you are short on time. There are several short cook time recipes available and cooking is one way to show your family you care. Further cooking is a simple way to engage your creative side and enhance your happy spirit. If your local store doesnt have the perfect ingredients change the menu. I once had ribs on the dinner menu and everyone was looking forward to ribs. So, even though the local store only had one package left and it didnt look very good, I bought it anyway; wrong decision. That experience tought me not to be afraid to change the menu, even if your loved ones are excited about what you've chosen to make. It's worth changing the menu if you can't find the perfect ingredients; especially when it comes to meat - freshness is EVERYTHING!. Change the menu based on the perfect ingredients you are able to find and make the perfect meal for your family.

It is also great to Change the Menu in general and cook things you've never made before. Add recipes from other cultures to your cooking repretrar. Search websites for the most exotic rare recipe you can find and give it a try. Let cooking be an outlet for inspiration, creativity, courage and LOVE for yourself and your family.

Cooking Like Crazy

my kitchen is a disaster from all the cooking. Friday night I made another roast. Roast is my all time favorite and I found Chuck Pot Roast, Brisket, Bottom Round, Rump so I just had to spoil myself. Here's what I did;

Throw 1 4lb roast, 2 medium chopped onions, 5 handfulls baby carrots, 5 cubed potatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, about a half cup water mixed with 2 tblsp flour, and one can beef broth in a pot and cook on a low setting (I cooked on #3 on my electric stove) for 3.5 hours.

pull the roast out of the pot and shred with forks - OH MY GOD this is the best kind of roast there is!!!...and you can use left overs for bbq pulled port sandwiches the next day :) yum, yum

Pull all the veggies out and server in a seperat dish.
Make lots of gravy. I used all of the broth in the pot. In a seperate skillet make a bisque by heating a tblsp EVOO while mixing a few tblsp flour, salt, pepper and garlic on a plate. Once the EVOO is heated, add your flour mixture to the skillet and mix, then add about a cup of your liquid broth from the pot to the skillet, heat until thickened and then add this back to the pot with the rest of the broth. This will thicken all of your liquid so you have lots and lots of gravy. Everyone always wants more gravy. so use all liquid and make more than enough.

Friday night I made roast, tonight I made my black bean chili with Pork tenderloin again, but used La Victoria red thick n' chuncky salsa instead of verde and it was just as good - hmm what will I make tomorrow?

Tonights Dinner: Chicken and Dumplins

I didnt follow a recipe so instructions may seem a little vague :) Place any questions in the comments section :)

What you'll need;
1 hen (I was lazy today and just used chicken breasts).
Bisquick, for the dumplins
Milk, for the dumplins
Broth
Water
Salt
Pepper
Garlic

Rince chicken
Boil chicken in 1/2 part water 1/2 part broth and add lots of salt, pepper, garlic for about 20 minutes (do not over cook).
Once chicken is cooked, pull it out of the pot (keep all broth) and shred chicken.
Make dumplin dough (follow instructions on Bisquick box)
Place shredded chicken back in broth, and reduce heat to medium.
Drop small spoons of the dough in with the chicken.

Note: Dumplins expand when added to the water so keep it to small spoons of dough.

I have never froze left over chicken and dumplins before, but did try that tonight and will make an update after I see how the left overs hold up. Make sure to put enough broth in each serving to cover the chicken and dumplins, then cover and freeze.

Heated up left overs and the chicken and dumplins held up nicely. Pop an individual serving in the microwave (do not uncover) until thawed and hot, about eight minutes and stir half way through.

Tonights Dinner: Slow-Cooker Black Bean Chili

I have a small 3 qrt crock pot so don't worry; it will all fit :)

What you'll need;
1 lb Pork Tenderloin, cut into 1-inch chuncks

16oz jar thick AND chuncky salsa (I used La Victoria Thick'n Chuncky Verde)

3 15 oz cans black beans, rince and drained

1/2 cup chicken broth (I used an Organic broth)

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tsp chili powder

1 and 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup sour cream

1.) Combine all ingredients except sour cream in slow cooker

2.) Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours

3.) Garnish individual servings with sour cream

Note: This dish can be frozen after cooking (I freez left overs in idividual servings sizes to reheat and eat when desired.) This dish is also good served over rice. Do NOT open the lid just let it cook. I just put the ingredients in the crock pot (meat on the bottom) and did not stir it or anything - just cover as is and cook.

6.5 hours later I opened the lid to give everything a stir and immidiately serve. The first stir made the pork feather apart and the more I stirred and served the more it fell apart. This dish created the perfect atmosphere for the tenderest pork you might ever see. I am simply in heaven righ now. What a tasty treat for my tastebuds - YUM!

Sunday Dinner: Slow Cooker Roast

Recipe courtesy of Lipton Onion Soup Mix for 3 and 1/2 to 4 pound roasts.

Brown roast in oil in large skillet
4 carrots, cut
4 medium potatoes, cut
2 envelopes lipton onion soup mix
3/4 cup water
cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-6 hours

I cut the recipe above in half since my roast was 1.71 pounds. So for example, I used 1 envelope of soup mix, 2 of each veggie, cooked on low for 3.5 hours and I also added celery. The roast I chose was SD Angus CHUCK under blade Roast - boneless

once its all cooked, pull the roast and veggies out.

For thicker gravy:
Add 2 table spoons all purpose flour to 1/4 cub of water and blend
poor the flour/water mixture into the crock pot with the flavored water still in the crock pot from your roast and cook on high until thickened