stuffed pepper soup

This is a great soup full of garden veggies.  It is almost too hearty to call a soup.  Nikole made this soup as part of a healthy welcome home meal and it is great.  It has all the flavor of a stuffed pepper without having to stuff and bake the peppers.

Unfortunately this picture does not do it justice.  It goes together, start to finish, in less than an hour and serves 6. 

Stuffed Pepper Soup

1 pound lean ground beef
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small yellow onion, chopped (1 cup)
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (just over 1/2 of a medium)
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14.5 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 oz) can low sodium beef broth
2 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, more for garnish
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 cup uncooked white long grain or brown rice

In a large pot heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat.  Once hot add the ground beef to the pot and season with the salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally while breaking up the beef until browned.  Drain and then pour onto a plate lined with paper towels, set aside.

Heat remaining olive oil in the pot and add onions, red bell pepper and green bell pepper to the pot and saute for 3 minutes.   Then add the garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.  Pour in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, parsley, basil and oregano.  Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring just to a light boil and reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While soup simmers cook the rice according to package directions.  Once soup is done simmering stir in the cooked rice (see below) and serve with garnish of additional parsley and grated cheese (optional)

For a thinner soup add only part of the rice.  For a thicker soup add all of the rice.  If making the soup ahead of time or planning for leftovers add the cooked rice to each bowl as it is served rather than adding it to the pot to keep it from turning mushy.  Orzo can be substituted for the rice.    .

healthier stir fry with Thai peanut sauce

In an effort to make a stir fry with less sodium Nikole made a great stir fry with a Thai peanut sauce.  The stir fry included carrots, onions, celery, garlic, fresh ginger, bell pepper, cauliflower, water chestnuts, pea pods and chicken thighs.  The ingredients were cooked in stages in a wok in oil and then combined and cooked all together for the last couple of minutes.  The chicken was seasoned with Mrs. Dash.  Once the stir fry was done it was served over a small portion of rice and topped with the peanut sauce that added great flavor while being more healthy for those watching their sodium intake than the traditional soy sauce or soy sauce based sauce.  It was great.  There are some of our family that prefer less heat and so the red curry paste was left out.  It was still very good and it the omitted salt was not missed either. 

Thai Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup coconut milk

2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste (Nikole left this out but would recommend using it)

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp sugar or to taste

2 Tbsp ground peanuts (Nikole did not use this but would recommend)

Salt to taste (none added)

Place all the ingredients except for the ground peanuts in a saucepan and whisk together.  Place the pan on the stovetop and cook over low heat.  Continue to whisk until all ingredients are well combined.  Once it begins to simmer and bubble, remove from the heat.  Add the ground peanuts and drizzle over the cooked vegetables and chicken.

lemon chicken orzo soup

I received this recipe from my daughter after having a chance to sample it when she had made it.  The recipe included a caption which absolutely captures the essence of this soup perfectly describing it as full of hearty veggies and tender chicken in a lemony broth.  It was originally found by my younger daughter who shared it with my older daughter who cooked it for us and then shared the recipe.  It was so tasty and done in only 30 minutes.  Makes six servings.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cloves garlic minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
5 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig of rosemary
 juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in dutch oven or large stock pot over medium heat.  Add chicken thigh pieces, season with salt and pepper and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes, then set aside.

Add remaining olive oil to the stock pot.  Add  garlic, onion, carrots and celery.  Cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Whisk in the chicken stock, bay leaves and 1 cup water.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in the orzo, rosemary and chicken.  Cook until orzo is tender, 10-12 minutes.  Stir in the lemon juice and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

sweet and sour meatballs

This is a recipe that I have had for over 30 years that was shared with me by a co-worker at my first nursing job. This recipe is for meatballs that are cooked separately and then added to the cooked sauce.  I bake my meatballs in the oven but they can be browned in a fry pan on top of the stove instead.  The cooked meatballs are then added to the sauce which has been cooked on top of the stove and then baked or put into a slow cooker.  If I am in a hurry I have served it right from the stove top and it is just as good.  I serve it over cooked white long grain rice.  I often make this for a crowd by tripling the meatballs and doubling the sauce.

Sweet and sour meatballs

meatballs

1 pound hamburger

small onion, chopped

2 slices white bread, cubed or made into crumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

2/3 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients.  I used the food processor to make the bread slices into crumbs and then mixed everything in the stand mixer.  Form the meat mixture into small balls a little bigger than an inch and then bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  I bake mine on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Sauce

2 Tbsp cornstarch

15 ounce can pineapple chunks in heavy syrup

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 Tbsp soy sauce.

Drain the pineapple, reserving the syrup.  Place the cornstarch in a cold pan with reserved syrup and whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved.  If you do this while it is cold it is easier to get it mixed together without any lumps.  Mix in the brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce and begin heating over medium or medium high heat, cooking until it thickens.  Once the brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce are combined add the pineapple chunks and green pepper.  When the sauce has thickened add the cooked meatballs and place in crock pot or bake in a casserole dish in the oven at 350 for 30-60 minutes.  Serve over cooked white rice. 

I first started making this when there was only one kind of brown sugar.  Either light or dark will work but I think the dark will give a richer, more interesting color to the sauce.

Thai peanut slaw

This recipe was found on facebook and it looked so pretty and sounded healthy so I decided to give it a try.  It was great.  Very colorful and flavorful.  It gave the knife a workout but I think that you could, if you were so inclined, buy at least some of the vegetables pre-shredded at the grocery store.  I planned this salad to be served at two events a couple days apart and the first event was kind of a run through for the second event.  I prepped the vegetables for both salads at the same time, placing the chopped and shredded veggies in a zipper bag in the fridge.  I then made the dressing for the first salad and will make the dressing for the second salad on the day that I serve it.  This was an easy salad to make.  Prepping the vegetables was a little time consuming but not hard.  I used a mandoline to make thin slices of the two cabbages and the carrots and then chopped the slices smaller with a knife.  I think that you could use purchased shredded cabbage and carrots or use a box grater or the shredding blade of a food processor to obtain the same results.  I was attempting to get slightly bigger pieces than your standard cole slaw.  I used a knife to slice the table onions and to chop the cilantro and peanuts.  The dressing came together quickly whisking a few ingredients in a small bowl and then poured over the vegetables.  The dressing calls for both grated ginger and grated garlic and I used my microplane to do both and it worked well.  It is a nice sized salad.  I used my big stoneware bowl to mix all the ingredients together and then transferred it to the bowl I planned to serve it in.  It did shrink down a little bit once the dressing was added.  The cilantro and ginger brought a nice freshness to the salad.  Definitely a keeper.

Thai Peanut Slaw

Ingredients

Green cabbage shredded (I used a whole large cabbage for two salads)
Red cabbage, shredded (I used two small heads for two salads)
carrots, shredded or cut into thin small slices (I used a pound for two salads)
scallions, one bunch sliced, both white and green parts (I used about 10 for both salads with all of the white and half of the green)
1/2 cup Cilantro, roughly chopped.  (I chopped up a large bunch and split it between the salads)

2/3 cup dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Dressing:

1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp Truvia
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 Tbsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Prep the vegetables, I elected to use slightly larger pieces hoping for a bigger pop of color and it was a good choice.  Place in a large bowl and mix together.  Place the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until the oil and soy sauce is thoroughly combined.  Roughly chop the dry roasted peanuts, stopping before they get to be too fine.  Pour the dressing over the vegetable mixture and stir.  Add the peanuts and stir.  Can top with additional peanuts and cilantro if desired.  The original recipe says that it will keep in the refrigerator covered for three days.

For my second salad I placed the prepped cabbages, carrots, onions and cilantro in a zipper bag in the fridge and will make a fresh batch of dressing the day it is served and toss together with the peanuts just prior to serving.  Alternatively, the dressing could be doubled and one half poured over the first salad and the second half stored in the fridge and re-whisked before pouring it on the second salad. 

source: here

omelet with browned butter and sage

I was wanting a quick lunch and figured eggs would be fast and easy.  I have a rack of seedlings under lights in my living room and decided to sacrifice a few of the sage leaves for my lunch.  I had started the sage plants in a couple different groups.  The earliest ones are already potted up in the greenhouse and I have some smaller ones that will be potted today or tomorrow with inch long leaves that were perfect for today's lunch.  The fresh herbs were just right for this omelet.   I have never been a great omelet maker.  Mine are never neatly rolled thin layers of egg, mine is kind of a folded scrambled egg pancake. 

Omelet with Browned Butter and Fresh Sage

1 Tbsp butter
3-4 large eggs
Splash of heavy cream (approximately 1-1 1/2 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper
herbs, torn (6-7 smallish sage leaves)

Heat a small skillet over medium high heat.  While the pan is heating crack the eggs into a bowl with the cream and break the yolks with a fork and whip with the fork until the eggs and cream are well mixed.  When the pan is hot add the butter and it should quickly start to turn brown.  Immediately add the egg mixture and stir the eggs around a bit and then stop stirring a let them set into a flat disk.  Salt and pepper. When the bottom is set and starting to brown gently turn the eggs over to cook the other side adding the herbs to the top on one half.  When the bottom is about set fold the omelet with the herbs inside.  Slide the omelet from the pan onto the plate and if desired, top with an dab of butter and garnish with a few pieces of sage.  .