3. Potato Kielbasa Skillet: (Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes)
What you will need:
- 1 pound red potatoes, cubed
- 3 Tablespoons water
- ¾ pound smoked kielbasa or polish sausage, cut into ¼-inch slices
- ½ C. chopped onion
- 1 T. olive oil
- 2 T. brown sugar
- 2 T. cider vinegar
- 1 T. Dijon mustard ( I just had regular mustard)
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 4 C. fresh baby spinach
- 5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (I used turkey bacon)
Preparing the Potatoe Kielbasa:
1. Place potatoes and water in microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes or until tender; drain.
2. In a large skillet, saute kielbasa and onion in oil until onion is tender. Add potatoes; saute 3-5 minutes longer or until kielbasa and potatoes are lightly browned ( I think I did this a little too long. The potatoes werent quite soft after microwaving so I sauted the kielbasa and potatoes a little longer to soften the potatoes a little more).
3. Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, thyme and pepper; stir into skiller. Bring to a boil (it didnt have enough water in it for it to boil for me). Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Add spinach and bacon; cook and stir until spinach is wilted. (makes 4 servings).
Suprisingly, we both thought this one was really good. Ben actually cooked if for breakfast a couple of mornings; he just put it in a frying pan to heat it and then put it over some eggs. Ben gave this one a 8.5 I gave it an 8.
4. Turkey Meatloaf (Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 15th edition)
What you will need:
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 C. finely chopped fresh mushrooms
- ¾ C. finely chopped onion (1 large)
- ½ C. finely chopped green sweet pepper ( I just used a whole pepper)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 C. soft bread crumbs ( I used gluten free Udi bread from sprouts)
- ¼ C. ketchup ( I put a little extra ketchup in)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 ½ pounds uncooked ground turkey or chicken (I used turkey)
- ½ C. ketchup
- 2 T. apricot preserves
Preparing the Turkey Meatloaf:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13x9 baking dish with foil; set aside. In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic; cook about 5 minutes or until tender.
2. In a large bowl combine the cooked vegetables, bread crumbs, the ¼ C. ketchup, the egg, salt and black pepper. Add ground turkey; mix well. In the prepared pan, lightly pat turkey mixture into a 9x5 in. loaf. Bake for 45 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl stir together the ½ C. ketchup and the apricot preserves. Spoon over turkey loaf. Bake for 15-25 minutes more or until juices run clear.
4. Let meat loaf stand for 10 minutes. Using two spatulas, transfer loaf to a serving platter
Ben and I both liked this one. It seemed a littler healthier than your traditional meatloaf and I liked the veggies in it. We both gave it an 8.
(Sorry, dont have a picture for this one!)
5. Corn Beef and Cabbage (Heather’s version)
What You Will Need:
- 10 baby red potatoes, quartered
· 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick pieces
- 1 large onion, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 celery stalks
- 4 cups water
- 1 (4 pound) corned beef brisket with spice packet
- 1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 1 ½ tsp garlic
- 1 T. sugar
- 1 T. cider vinegar
- About 3 T. prepared mustard
- About ¼ C. brown sugar
Preparing the Corned Beef and Cabbage:
1. Cut the fat off the corned beef as best you can, rinse it and stick it in the bottom of the crockpot. Place the carrots, potatoes, celery and onion on top of the corned beef.
2. Mix together water, garlic, sugar, vinegar, and spice packet in a separate bowl and pour it over everything in the crockpot. Make sure beef is covered by water and set the cooker on Low for 8 hours.
3. I Cooked the brisket for about 7 ½ hours, took it out and put it on a pan. Then I spread mustard on top of meat and sprinkled brown sugar over top of mustard. Cook meat at 350 for 30 minutes more.
4. At the same time you take the meat out, cut the cabbage up into bite size pieces and put in in the slow cooker on top of the other vegetables for about another 45 minutes-hour.
I made this for Ben and I on St. Patrick’s Day because Ben informed, as I was unaware, that it is a “MUST DO” for St. Patrick’s Day! So we took it over to Gene and Annie’s for dinner and it was a really fun night! As some of you may already know… I love traditions! I think having traditions each year always gives you fun little things to look forward to throughout the year and creates great memories. So this recipe of corned beef and cabbage will probably make it onto the list of our traditions for St. Patrick’s Day. We loved the recipe! We both gave it a 9.5.
The best part about it… I made enough so that we had leftovers, and we made Reuben sandwiches for lunch the next day! Mmm Mmm GoodJ
Breakfast: I don’t always cook breakfast for Ben and I. I would love to, but since it’s just the two of us normally I make eggs in some fashion, quinoa, or we just eat whatever we have around. (I will share some of my quinoa recipes with you soon! They are easy, delicious and good for you!) But since it was St. Patrick’s Day, it seemed like a perfect day to make Saturday morning pancakes! And Ben suggested we make them greenJ
1. Homemade Old Fashioned pancakes: Allrecipes.com
What you will need:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted ( I used 2 T. olive oil and 1 T. butter)
- If it’s St. Patrick’s Day… add some green food coloring to be more festiveJ
Preparing your pancakes:
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
We didn’t have any syrup, so we decided to make our own…
2. Homemade Berry Syrup: Allrecipes.com
What you will Need:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups mashed unsweetened fruit (I used mixed berried from Costco)
Directions
- In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil. Gradually add strawberries; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over pancakes. (To thicken it a little bit I mixed a little bit of gluten free all-purpose flour and water together and mixed that in with the syrup).
This syrup actually worked great later on… I stored it in a glass container in the refrigerator and when I made the plain cheesecake and Ben and I were looking for something to put on the cheesecake it worked perfectly! It was delicious.
3. Homemade maple syrup: Allrecipes.com
What You Will Need:
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup (I used agave nectar since we didn’t have corn syrup; it is also possible to do the recipe without either of these, it just doesn’t turn out as thick)
- 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring (didn’t have maple flavoring)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparing the Syrup:
1. In a saucepan, combine the sugars, water and corn syrup; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 7 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in maple flavoring and vanilla. Cool for 15 minutes. Serve over pancakes, waffles or French toast.
The pancakes and syrups turned out great! We made some with blueberries, some with chocolate chips and some plain. The plain and blueberry were really good with the berry syrup. And since I can remember I have always had my pancakes with peanut butter and syrup, so that is how I had the plain and chocolate chip pancakes and they were delicious! They were not too thin and not too thick. Something I like to add to the batter is a little bit of cinnamon; it gives it a really nice flavor. Ben gave it an 8.25, I gave them an 8.5.
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| It might be hard to get past the green... but they tasted delicious! |
Dessert:
As most of you know Ben and I love desserts! (Mostly ice cream!) So sometimes if we are craving something sweet, I will make something for us and this week it happened to be cheesecakeJ (The recipe I used is posted in one of the previous blogs).
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