postpartum meals anyone?

I'm always trying to think of the perfect meal to take to a friend who has just had a baby or whatever.  (yep, lots of babies born in my ward)

What is your go-to meal for this???

Lately I've been doing creamy chicken taquitos, green salad with creamy cilantro dressing, and black beans from a can.

Mexican-style corn on the cob

This is a great recipe for having corn on the cob as a meal.


Step by step instructions:

1. Spread a thin layer of mayo on cooked corn.

2. Roll mayo covered corn in cotija cheese (or Kelli, you could use queso fresco but cotija is saltier, or Mary - parm). I used to just spoon it on the corn, but rolling it in it covers it better. I just crumble the cheese onto a plate for rolling.

3. Squeeze some fresh lime juice on the corn.

4. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper (or hot sauce).

 And devour.


Andy ate this every day on his mission. Took me a few years to believe that it was good. And it's delicious! On our honeymoon, the corn street vendor guy just rubbed a sliced of lime on the corn as the first step. I used to do this, but the lime juice would make it hard for the mayo to stick, so I just squeeze it on later.

creamy lime cilantro dressing

Here is a dressing that is much easier and faster than the recipe I have for Cafe Rio dressing. It doesn't taste quite as much like Cafe Rio, but easier than messing with fresh tomatillos and stuff. I made it for a salad to have with these beef tacos the other day, and quickly learned that I could put the meat, tortilla, salad, and dressing together to have a complete Cafe Rio style salad. It was yummy. (btw, that meat is good for lots of meals ... tacos, salads, nachos, etc)

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Ranch Dressing
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa
hot sauce

This is tough folks. Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend ‘er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

chocolate chip cookies

So, here is the made-famous-by-Instagram chocolate chip cookies from my friend. I've tried making them before and they NEVER turn out like her's. She tells me to have room temp butter and make sure the dough is cold (put it in the fridge) before baking. Doesn't work for me. But here it is if you wanna give it a try. I always make Kim's recipe from the family cookbook. PS - this friend of mine is from St. George and went to high school with Jimi ... and had a crush on him. lol. Small world.

 

 

 

2 1/4 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

1 c. softened / room temperature butter (not margarine)

chocolate chips (I never measure)

 

Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  You might want to write on the recipe that dough should be refrigerated before baking.  Each batch makes 24 cookies that are pretty good size.  Not too small, not too big.

 

go to dinner

just curious what your favorite go to meal is on a night you don't feel like cooking or are busy running kids around or going to mutual or other things like that.

Mine is usually homemade mac and cheese.  It;s not my favorite, but the kids love it and i usually roast lots of veggies or have a tossed salad and some fruit to go with it. 

Disappearing zucchini orzo

I came upon this recipe in this month's facebookclub book, Animal Vegetable Miracle

Disappearing Zucchini Orzo

¾ lb pkg orzo pasta

(multicolored is fun)
Bring 6 cups water or chicken stock to a boil and add pasta. Cook 8 to 12 minutes

1 chopped onion

garlic to taste

3 large zucchini

olive oil for sauté

Use a cheese grater or mandoline to shred zucchini, sauté briefly with chopped onion and garlic until lightly golden.

thyme

oregano

¼ cup grated parmesan or any hard

yellow cheese

Add spices to zucchini mixture, stir thoroughly, and then remove mixture from heat.
Combine with cheese and cooked orzo, salt to taste, serve cool or at room temperature.

I thought it was a great light pasta.  Super fast too, it might be a new easy go to recipe on busy nights.  The kids liked it too.  I don't worry too much whether we have protein at every meal, but I think this would be really good with chicken in it.  I did add a tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil to the salad at the end.  We had ours with strawberries and roasted broccoli (lots of it, because I could eat one batch myself, I always omit the garlic on it).   Shame on me, I didn't grow the zucchini myself, nor did I make my own cheese.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

This is no original/earth shattering recipe, but since they were so good, I thought that by posting it here, you will be inspired and encouraged to try it :). We had these for Reese's birthday dinner.

I bought sweet potatoes thinking we would have them mashed with dinner, but just the thought of my stove/oven being on made me sweat. Since we were grilling everything else, I decided to try grilling these. It's my new favorite way to have sweet taters.

I just searched for a recipe and found one to help me out here. But here's mine because I didn't have all the spices it called for. I baked them instead of boil them to "parboil" them. I'm sure they would be good with just s&p too.

Here's what I did:

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

3 medium sweet potatoes (or however many you want)

1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp brown sugar
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 c evoo

Start by slightly cooking sweet potatoes in the oven (ya, ya ... I defeated the purpose of grilling them to avoid using the stove, but it wasn't on for long so it was ok). I cut a "slit" in the middle of each potato to help with even cooking/softening. Place sweet potatoes in 400* oven. Cook until potato is softened, but not cooked the whole way through ... I honestly have no idea how long this took b/c I was busy doing other things. Maybe 15 min??

While potatoes are in the oven, mix the salt, spices, sugar, vinegar, and oil together in a small bowl.

Once the potatoes are softened, remove from oven. Peel potatoes and cut in 1/4 in slices. Brush both sides with spice mixture.

Grill until cooked through and have pretty grill marks.

Devour.

Jimi's Chewy Cinnamon Granola

This is Jimi's recipe he invented after lots of tweaking and trial/error. It is my favorite! I love the consistency - it really is chewy and stays chewy for days (if it lasts that long). It's also a good mix of healthy stuff and stuff that makes it delicious. Ok, it tips the scale toward dessert...but you can tweak it to be more "healthy" if you are a weirdo.

In a large bowl combine:
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
2 1/2 cups chopped almonds and walnuts (we like a lot, but you can put in how much/little you like)
1/2 cup ground flax seed

In a saucepan on the stove, stir together on medium heat until well mixed and smooth. DON'T BOIL:
1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup honey
1 t vanilla
2 T cinnamon (lots!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t salt

Pour sauce over oatmeal concoction in the large bowl. Mix really well using elbow grease.

Now here is the trick of the century:
Add 2 egg whites to mix. They don't need to be whipped, just ooze them over the large bowl of goodness and mix it all together. They help the granola bind together and adds to the chewy factor (we think).

Prepare a cookie sheet lined with tin foil. Spread the mixture evenly, but don't break up the clusters too much.

Heat oven to 275, cook 20 mins, stir, then cook for another 15 mins.

Sweet Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

2 pound boneless pork loin roast, trimmed of large fat pockets
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced or crushed
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub the spices all over the roast. Sear each side of the roast in a hot dutch oven with oil in it. Place the pork roast in the dutch oven and pour in the 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook at 300 for 2-3 hours. Near the end of the cooking time for the roast, combine the ingredients for the glaze in a small saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce and let the mixture simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens.

Remove the pork from the Dutch oven, shred and place on a platter or plate. Drizzle the glaze over the pork and serve.

The original recipe said to stick it in the crock pot for 6hours. You could do that but I think crock pot stuff gets a little sad and mushy. That's why I did it like this. It turned out really good.

Found the original recipe here:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/09/sweet-balsamic-glazed-pork-loin-slow-cooker.html

Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta in Lemon-Cream Sauce

I haven't actually tried this, it just popped up in my google reader feed this morning, but it sounds good and I want to keep it queued for a later meal. And since we have been talking roasted asparagus, I thought it was timely. Perhaps Robbie and dad might give it another try (ha ha ha).

Recipe by Our Best Bites
1 lb. asparagus, tough ends snapped off
3-4 cups whole mushrooms, thickly sliced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup strained lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon Creole or coarse-grain mustard
8 ounces uncooked linguine
1 recipe Guiltless Alfredo Sauce
Optional: Grilled chicken breast or sauteed shrimp

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine trimmed asparagus and sliced mushrooms. Zest the lemons (enough to get 1 tablespoon of zest) and set the zest aside.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and mustard. Drizzle over the veggies and toss to combine. Spread the veggies out onto the prepared baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes or until the asparagus is tender but not mushy. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes.
While the veggies are roasting, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and, when the water is ready, cook pasta al dente. Prepare the Alfredo sauce. After you’ve added the cheese, add the reserved lemon zest to the sauce. When the asparagus and mushrooms are done roasting, you can either portion out the pasta, veggies, and sauce into individual servings or toss it all together. Serves 6-8.

This Cheese Will Change Your Life

I think I was watching Ina Garten on the Food Network, when she showed how to do this. It has totally changed my idea about Parmesan Cheese, and Italian food. I. Love. It.

I buy the huge block of Parmesan at Costco for around $15. It comes in a big wedge. 

Then I just cut the entire thing into small cubes-about 1/2" or smaller.

Then I grind it in my food processor. Only put a few in at first, because they kind of rattle around in there. It's super loud. But so worth it. Keep adding and process it in small batches.

Tons of cheese for $15! I store mine in a gallon Zip-loc in the freezer, and just take it out when I need it. No need to defrost. You will definitely taste the difference in this cheese! Do yourself a favor and don't touch that powdery stuff in the green container. You'll thank me. 

PS-This is a great alfredo recipe. Super easy. Its one of my go-to quick dinners.

Easter Dinner

I made this yesterday for Easter. Oh Man! It was really, really good. And actually really easy too .. I thought it was going to be more difficult. We also had roasted asparagus and homemade rolls (my first time ever making rolls and they turned out!)


Chicken Cordon Bleu 
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

INGREDIENTS:
25 Ritz crackers (I used whole wheat crackers and loved the extra nuttiness)
4 slices hearty sandwich bread, white or wheat (again, used homemade wheat bread and it was hearty and delicious) ... I just used leftover hamburger buns from our bbq the previous night.
6 tablespoons butter, melted
8 thin slices deli ham (about 8 ounces)
2 cups shredded swiss cheese
4 thick boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total), see note
Salt and pepper
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup all-purpose flour
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pulse the crackers and bread in a food processor until they are coarsely ground. Drizzle in the melted butter and pulse to incorporate together. Transfer the crumbs to a rimmed baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the crumbs are lightly browned. Transfer the crumbs to a shallow baking dish (a pie plate works great!). Leave the oven on.
Top each ham slice with about 1/4 cup shredded cheese. If your ham slices are too small, shingle two ham slices on top of each other to create a larger slice and roll the cheese up in that. Roll tightly and set aside. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Following the pictures below, cut a pocket in the thickest part of the chicken breast and stuff each pocket with 2 ham/cheese rolls. Pull the top flap of chicken over the rolls and press to seal (you can use a toothpick to gently secure the pocket edge, if you like). Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Refrigerate the stuffed chicken, covered, for at least 20 minutes.
In another shallow dish or pie plate, beat the eggs and mustard. Place the flour in a third shallow dish. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Working with one stuffed chicken breast at a time, coat the chicken lightly with flour and then dip in the egg mixture, covering both sides. Dredge the chicken in the toasted bread crumbs, pressing lightly to help the crumbs stick to the chicken. (The breaded chicken can be refrigerated covered for up to 1 day.)
Transfer the chicken to a lightly greased rimmed baking sheet. Bake on the lowest rack of the oven until the bottom of the chicken is browned, about 10 minutes. Move the chicken to a middle rack in the oven, reduce the temperature to 400 (you don’t have to leave the chicken out of the oven while the temperature adjusts, just put it back in the oven and then reduce the temperature), and bake until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through (160 degrees on an thermometer), about 25-30 minutes. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Shepherd's Pie

This is delicious. I pretended I was back at the "3 Broomsticks" while eating it.

recipe found at Our Best Bites

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, minced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1-lb. bag frozen vegetables (I used peas and carrots) (I used fresh carrots and boiled them with the potatos, and frozen peas)1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
pinch of dried thyme
10 dashes Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 ounces V8 juice
1 14.5-ounce can beef broth
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 cups mashed potatoes (I used this tutorial with russet potatoes and buttermilk)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions:
In a large saucepan of skillet, brown ground beef with onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is browned and the onions and garlic are tender and fragrant. Add the frozen veggies and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the moisture has evaporated. Add seasoned salt, parsley, thyme, and Tabasco and stir until combined. Add the flour and stir until completely coated.
Add the vinegar, V8 juice, and beef broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is thickened (about 15 minutes).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
While the beef mixture is simmering, prepare the potatoes according to your preference. Add the Parmesan and sharp cheddar cheeses. Spoon into a gallon-sized heavy-duty Ziploc bag and set aside.
When the beef mixture is done simmering, season to taste and then ladle the beef mixture into 8-ounce canning jars placed on a baking sheet. Cut the corner off the Ziploc bag and pipe onto the beef mixture. Place in oven for 15 minutes and bake until lightly browned on top. Serves 6.

Cajun Chicken Pasta on the Lighter Side

I like this website because she gives you all the nutritional/caloric details of her meals.
I loved this dish. I would be heavier on the seasonings, lighter on the spicy-heat (for the kids' sake).
(this copy/paste came with all the pictures...so whatever)


Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 323.8 • Fat: 6.2 g • Protein: 25.9 g • Carb: 44.1 g • Fiber: 6.3 g • Sugar: 3.2 g
Sodium: 126.5 mg (without salt)


Ingredients:

• 8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used Dreamfields)
• 1 pound chicken breast strips
• 1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp light cream cheese
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 scallions, chopped
• salt to taste
• Smart Balance cooking spray

Directions:

Prep all your vegetables. In a small blender make a slurry by combining milk, flour and cream cheese. Set aside. Season chicken generously with Cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt.

Prepare pasta in salted water according to package directions.

Heat a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; spray with cooking spray and add half of the chicken. Sauté 5 to 6 minutes or until done, set aside on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken. Set aside.

Add olive oil to the skillet and reduce to medium; add bell peppers, onions, and garlic to skillet, sauté 3-4 minutes.

Add mushrooms and tomatoes and sauté 3-4 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. Season with 1/4 tsp salt, garlic powder and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Reduce heat to medium-low; add chicken broth and pour in slurry stirring about 2 minutes.

Return chicken to skillet; adjust salt and Cajun seasoning to taste, cook another minute or two until hot, then add linguine; toss well to coat. Top with chopped scallions and enjoy!


recipe found here

Mom's Homemade Granola

This is really good on yogurt, and would probably be excellent with milk (Kelli).  It's considered healthy, so it's not very sweet, but you can definitely add more sweet if you prefer it that way.  I like to add a little vanilla too.

Granola
4 1/2 c old fashioned oatmeal
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c brown sugar
2 TBS flaxseed meal
as much as you want of the following
sunflower seeds
walnuts
pecans
sliced almonds
Mix everything together and spread out on a foil covered cookie sheet. Bake 25-35 minutes at 350, stirring 3 times.  You can add more or less brown sugar, however you like it.