Ground Beef, Tomato, and Dried Fruit with Olives Spaghetti Sauce

1 red onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 bay leaf
a sprig of rosemary, chopped; leaves from a few sprigs of thyme; sage leaves chopped; parsley chopped (altogether the herbs amounted to a few Tablespoons of herbs)
2 tsps of sea salt, and then add more to your preference
small handful of chopped cranberries and apricots
about 20 small green olives
3 Tablespoons of tomato paste
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 lb. lean groundbeef
1 cup of water


Add olive oil to large saute pan and turn on heat to medium/medium high. Add onion and garlic and saute a while, about 5 minutes. Add meat, salt, and continue sauteeing. Stir every so often. After about 10 minutes, add herbs, tomato paste, the chopped fruit and water. Stir and then reduce heat to medium/medium low and continue cooking for about another 30 minutes. By this time the sauce will be done, though feel free to continue simmering the sauce another 30 minutes to really allow the flavors to meld.

Serve over pasta.

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Broth

Sometimes, all I want around is homemade chicken broth. I recently discovered a way of making some, with little trouble and fuss, using a slow cooker.


Here's last night's recipe:

I threw into the cooker, 2 large frozen chicken breasts, 4 cloves of frozen, peeled garlic, half a cup of frozen sliced onions, 2 cups of frozen sliced celery and a few teaspoons of salt.

I covered everything with water ... filling the slow cooker 3/4 of the pot.

And then cooked it all on high for 5 hours.

I then removed the chicken; when it had cooled off, I removed the skin and bones; chopped the chicken meat; placed it all in a container and put it in the freezer. Lately, I've been big on freezing stuff.

Then, I strain the broth, disgarding the celery and onions. Taste the broth to ensure it's salted to my liking, and then I freeze the broth as well, in individual, single serving containers.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

I use water when I don't have enough broth. And I don't always add parsley and garlic. Nor the meat. It doesn't seem to make any difference whatsoever, in terms how much I enjoy this recipe. It smells and tastes delicious.


found on/source: WholeFoodsMarket.com


A perfect winter soup, filling and flavorful, you'll be glad this double recipe means leftovers! Carrots and garlic provide some antioxidant power. Round it out with a green salad and whole grain crackers.

Ingredients

1 (16-oz) package dried green split peas, rinsed
1 meaty ham bone, 2 ham hocks or 2 cups diced ham
1 cup sliced baby carrots
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 ribs celery plus leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
6 cups chicken broth
Method

Layer ingredients in slow cooker in the order given, adding the broth last. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on high 4—5 hours or on low 8—10 hours until peas are very soft and ham falls off the bone.


Nutrition

Per serving (About 11oz/317g-wt.): 300 calories (35 from fat), 3.5g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 26g protein, 42g total carbohydrate (less than 1g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 30mg cholesterol, 610mg sodium

Slow cooked Beef Stew

Place 1 lb of stew meat into crock pot. Add about 2 cups of water. Add garlic cloves, fresh, peeled and either whole or sliced. Add garlic pepper salt to tase and cook on high for 2 hours.

Add 1-2 tomatoes, 3-4 potatoes, and whatever other vegetables strike your fancy or which you have readily available.

Add another cup of water if needed, and cook for another hour or so.

When potatoes are done, add to stew a mixture of flour and warm water. The consistency of the flour water mixture needs to be a little watery yet it should stick a little to the back of a spoon.

Stir well into the stew and cook for another 20 minutes.

Add freshly grated parmeasan cheese, about ¼ cup

And if you have fresh herbs … like parsley, chopped and add.


This was very delicious.

Serves about 2.

Salt-Broiled Fish/Shioyaki

"Salt broiling is a simple but delicious way to prepare fish. The salt sprinkled on the fish before broiling gives it a special flavor. Any small whole fish may be cooked in this way. Fillets, or boneless pieces of fish, may also be used as long as the skin is left on."


2 whole trout, cleaned, or 1 lb. fish fillets with skin on
salt
soy sauce
lemon wedges

1. Salt fish lightly on both sides and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. With help from an experienced cook, start charcoal grill or preheat broiler.
3. Grill or broil fish for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
4. Serve with soy sauce and lemon wedges.*

* Grated daikon (Japanese white radish) adds a bit of extra zip to a dipping sauce for shioyaki. Give each diner a small dish to mix soy sauce, lemon and daikon to his or her personal taste.


Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Serves 4




"Simple flavors and ingredients help this fish dish shine."





excerpted from same cookbook as prior post.

Broiled Chicken Teriyaki - Japanese

This was taken from a cookbook I found at the library last year. It was so good, I made it often. It's time to throw the hard copy away, and so I'm posting it here on my blog today. :)


"One of the tastiest yakimono dishes is teriyaki, meat or seafood broiled with a sauce that gives it a shiny, glazed coating. This simplified recipe is baked in the oven instead of broiled, as broiled food can burn easily. Beef, pork, shrimp, and soe kinds of fish are also delicious prepared with teriyaki sauce."

1/2 c. soy sauce
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. fresh ginger root, grated
3 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 1/2 to 2-lb chicken, cut into serving pieces

1. preheat oven to 375F
2. combine soy sauce, sugar, ginger root, and sesame seeds in a large bowl.
3. Place chicken in a baking dish and pour sauce over it. Bake for 45 minutes. Brush on more sauce as chicken bakes (about every 15 minutes.)

Preparation time: 15 - 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves 4.

Robin's Delicious Banana Bread

Every 6 months or so for the past few years, I've asked my twin sister for her banana bread recipe. I've never had a better slice of banana bread. It's been so long however since I've had a slice of hers, I've been wanting to make a few loaves of my own. Finally, the day has come, where she's promised to send the recipe.

My email's pinged. Hurray! Maybe that's her now.

Excuse me while I check.



"shit, now i understand why i've never sent it. it's long!

hold on. will send soon!!!" robin



the recipe still missing in action. darn. but i'm optimistic it's forth coming.

Francesca & John's Slow Cooker Cooked Bar-BQ Pork Ribs

5 lbs of boneless pork rib

1 cup pork rub seasoning – we got ours from safeway.
1 cup brown sugar
rub onto meat, coating fully and let sit for 6 hours in fridge


slice/cube meat
cook meat in batches, in a large cast iron or heavy metal pan, searing both sides, about 5 min. on each side in total.
Add meat to slow cooker.


1 hot pepper, slice in half
½ cup vinegar
½ bottle jack daniels spicy original bar b q sauce
juice of 2 oranges
juice of 1 lime
add to slow cooker.
add water until meat is submerged in liquids.

Put on high and cook for 3 hours.

Add 1 large red pepper sliced in strips
Add 1/4 fresh pineapple, diced

cook for another 30 – 60 minutes.

You’ll know it’s done when the meat is tender and easily falls apart with a fork.


Serve over rice. Start meal with fresh green salad, scallions, carrots, and radishes. End meal with vanilla ice cream and fresh pineapple.

Loves

I love the wind.

I love to cook.  

I love to love and be loved.

And to wow and be wowed.

How?

Exceptionally simply and well.

Salad at Dale's

Dale lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
We met a few years ago when I was living for 5 months with my older sister.
I asked him if he'd be my friend forever.
He laughed, took my pinky and said "we'll be pinky friends forever."
And that's what we've been ever since.


I bought a nice big salad spinner from Macy's as a thank you gift for Dale. He purchased my ticket to Atlanta recently. The spinner's a big success and I highly recommend it.


One head of boston red leaf lettuce
5 mushrooms
some zuccinni and squash washed and diced


wash lettuce.
spin dry.
with moist cloth, clean mushrooms.

tear lettuce and place in spinner's bowl.
slice mushrooms and place in bowl.
place zuccinni and squash in bowl


for the dressing, add olive oil liberally to the salad.
add about 5 splashes of balsamic vinegar
a few generous dashes of salt
and ground pepper
add minced garlic, a few, 4, cloves

mix all together
and serve at room temp.

Chicken at Dale's

This chicken is fantastic! Dale said. when you were picking out things to buy for dinner at the store, I didn't know ... he said. I didn't know what you were doing and I didn't know that it would turn out like this, but this is fantastic.


I greatly and truly appreciated his words and told him so. there was no bullshit. I like no bullshit.


I promised him I'd write the recipe and post it before I forgot. I do often forget. It's the pace of the world I'm currently part of that leads me to forget. ... or rather, makes it difficult for me to remember. Because I can always remember, with a little attention and focus. ... :)

ingredients:

chicken, cut in pieces, select your favorite. most important and a must, in my option, um, opinion is to purchase chicken that is as healthy as possible. that's to say meat from chickens raised well, on natural grains, roaming free and killed gently.

i still have trouble with the whole killing thing, but moving on.



Marinate chicken in the following:

1 fresh lime, squeezed
1/2 a large orange, squeezed
1/2 a head of garlic, pressed
salt: coarse salt, rosemary, lavender
fresh ground pepper


marinate for a few hours.

fire up the grill.
place on grill.
watch.

i don't know. i cooked a double breast and a thigh with leg in 15 -20 minutes. first on med. heat and then on high heat and then back to med for the last 5 min. the high heat gave the meat a nice color. the med. heat ensured the meat would remain tender and moist.

dale says it turned out perfect.
and that it was healthy too, which was really nice.

he and i both agree that what's nice is when food is healthy and tasty and the same time, which is really hard to get because most places fill things with fat.

i don't think that's necessary.

i'm all about tasty healthy and yummy.
and when i'm living right, and doing right, that's the way i'm cookin'.

Regan's Chicken Soup

1 zero hormones, grain fed, free range whole chicken (or 6 lbs of chicken thighs)

vegetables (potatoes, squash, celery, carrots)

1 onion

garlic, lots of garlic

3 bouillon cubes

peppercorns

herbs: cilantro, dill, parsley, sage

limes

season chicken, with limes, olive oil, salt, pepper, put aside and allow to seasoning to permeate the meat. prepare vegetables - peel, dice, put aside

sautee the chicken in a little olive oil.

add to a large soup pot.

sautee the onion diced in a little olive oil, and add those to the pot

add vegetables and whole garlic cloves

cover with water

add peppercorns and bouillon cubes

bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer

cook for several hours

add fresh herbs

add more fresh lime juice, to taste.

this is my older sister's recipe,

it's delicious 

and i love when she makes it.

serves 6.

* i usually slice thinly a hot pepper and add that to the soup with the vegetables.  regan doesn't because she usually cooks for her kids who are sensitive to hot flavors.  she'll use tabasco at the table instead.

Simple Salad

washed and dried lettuce ... choose your favorite
yellow and red bell peppers, washed, sliced into strips 
cucumber, peeled and sliced

put all in a large bowl.


dressing:

olive oil
a few cloves of garlic, per your preference
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
a bit of honey
fresh lime juice

mix the ingrediants together and let sit for a while.

when you're ready to serve the salad, add dressing and coat all ingrediants evenly, and serve. 

Roasted chicken

1 fresh, natural whole chicken

a head of garlic
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
bay leaves
cinnamon
a hot pepper, cut in half and placed inside the cavity of the bird
sage
thyme
delicious smelling curry powder (follow your nose) - optional
3- 4 limes

season to taste ... do whatever makes sense to you. rubbing the bird with the garlic, olive oil and herbs. put some of the seasonings and garlic inside the cavity. cut in half and squeeze the limes onto the bird. rub again.

put the bird into the oven, cover,and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours ... depending how large the bird is. when i'm in a rush, i'll ask the butcher to quarter the bird for me and cook it that way. i know the bird is cooked when the meat along the bone is no longer pink/red. it's always important for the bird to be completely cooked through.

Simple Apple Pie

2 uncooked pie crusts, softened to room temperature
1/4 stick of butter
1/4 - 1/2 cup of sugar
6 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced

This is such an easy recipe. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place the apples in one pie crust, piling the apples up high. Cover with the other pie crust. Join the edges of the two pie crusts together (this is an important step), pinching the sides together. Puncture with a fork the top pie crust so that air is allowed to escape as the pie is cooking. Put in oven and bake for about an hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 - 20 minutes.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.