Sweet Potato Fries

I loved these! They are packed full of nutrients and are so yummy! You can flavor them a million different ways: cinnamon and sugar, Cajun, Italian, mexican...

4 sweet potatoes, cut into large French fries
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

1.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.) Place the cut sweet potatoes into a large bowl and drizzle with oil, salt, and pepper.
3.) Toss the fries until covered and spread on cookie sheets.
4.) Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, turning once, or until fries are crispy on the outside.

Emily's Vegan Food

Stewart's Cousin stayed with us on his journey out to California. He is vegan and I wanted to cook something that would be fitting for his diet. So I made some dishes that were not crazy or weird though still vegan...well I did try some vegan muffins which were weird and not my favorite but other then that I made normal dishes that are naturally vegan.

Now you must realize now how I cook - its very different from how I bake - I don't usually follow a recipe, never ever exactly. I add a little of this and a little of that and taste as I go until I am happy with it. So I am writing a recipe but know I am really just guessing here. I might have really used 1 TB oil - I really have no idea I just poured until it looked "right". So take this more as a recommendation and then make it your own. For me that is what cooking is all about.

Mexican Noodle Soup

2 TB olive oil
1 med onion chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
4 medium tomatoes diced small
4 TB fresh cilantro
dash of dried basil
1/2 to 1 cup small noddles like Mexican style broken vermicelli or orzo
5 cups vegetable stock - if you want you can use chicken stock
salt and pepper

heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Push onion to the side of pot and add the noodles. Saute until they start to get a nice golden brown color. Then add the garlic and cook just until fragrant. add the diced tomatoes, cilantro, and basil. Stir and let cook a little while. Then add the broth and salt and pepper to taste. Let cook until the noodles are tender but still firm and serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese (if not being served to a vegan), diced avocado, lime wedges, warm tortillas, and chopped cilantro.

Lentil Curry

1 large onion chopped
2 large garlic cloves minced
1 TB olive oil
1 large red pepper chopped
1 large carrot chopped
2 cups mushrooms minced
1/2 TB salt
pepper
red curry powder to taste
yellow curry powder to taste
cumin
citric acid to taste (a little goes a long way, if you don't have this used lime or lemon juice in its place)
1 - 1 1/2 cup lentils
5 to 7 cups vegetable broth
1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut milk

heat oil, add onion and cook for a couple minutes. Add garlic, red pepper, and carrots and cook for a couple minutes then add minced mushrooms and seasonings. Stir in rinsed lentils and coconut milk and broth. taste soup to adjust he seasoning. let simmer until the lentils are soft. I served with rice and I put cheese on the kids because it was "too spicy!" :) but I liked it best by itself.

Pasta With Fresh Tomatoes

My mother also made dishes like this all the time growing up. We had lots of tomatoes to eat up from our garden and this was a great way to do it.

Ingredients:

1 lb. pasta
4-6 TB olive oil
Peeled, chopped fresh tomatoes ( I don't think we bothered to peel)
1/4 cup sliced green onions
2 tsp. chopped fresh basil
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

cook pasta and drain. Immediately toss with remaining ingredients

Variations:

You may want to add some of the following: 1 clove finely minced garlic, 1/2 cup sliced ripe olives, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, 3 TB chopped Italian parsley

Italian Endive and Bean Soup

I remember eating this as a kid and loving it...yes, I was a little odd. I still crave it. Now I finally have the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup white beans, cooked
1 head of curly endive, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 49.5 oz. can of rich chicken broth
1 can water
2 TB olive oil

Directions:

Wash endive well and cool til tender. Drain. In large pot saute garlic in oil until lightly golden brown. Add broth, water, beans, and endive. Heat together fro about 10 minutes to blend flavors. Sprinkle in some fresh ground pepper. Serve. I think I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top when I was a kid.

Skillet Brussel Sprouts

500 g Brussel sprouts
3 TB Olive Oil
4 big cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Freshly Squeezed lemon juice Cut about 0.5 cm (1/4 inch) off the end of each sprout.
Remove and discard the outer leaves.
Remove and save the rest of the leaves until you get to a heart of a sprout.
Cut the heart of a sprout in half.
Heat the oil together with the sliced garlic in a big skillet on medium heat.
Fry the garlic for about 4 minutes until it's golden, but not burned.
Add the brussels sprouts leaves and hearts into the skillet and mix.
Season with salt and chilli flakes.
Cover and let it cook for about 4-5 minutes mixing occasionally.
After 4-5 minutes, turn the leaves on the other side, using tonks, cover and cook for another 4-5 minutes until they are cooked through and shrank a little.
The leaves shouldn't get too much colour, just a little caramelization here and there.
Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, mix and serve.

*recipe and picture from imagelicious

Split Pea Soup

I had a ton of left over ham after our Christmas dinner and so I made some split pea soup with it. Mainly to prove to my husband that split pea soup is really yummy despite its not so appealing appearance. Stewart dubbed it "Shrek Soup" so they kids would try it and it worked. My kids then thought it was cool and tried it and liked it.

1 pound green split peas

2 smoked ham hocks or left over ham works too :)

2 ribs celery--finely chopped

1 medium onion--finely chopped

1 medium carrot -- finely chopped

2 cubes chicken boullion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt ( I didn't add this and it tasted great)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8-10 cups water

1 bay leaf ( I didn't add this because I didn't have it on hand)

In a large saucepan combine all the ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and leaving mostly covered simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard bay leaf. Remove that ham hocks; when cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Return meat to the soup and heat through. If you want a smoother texture put half of it in the blender and blend till smooth. Return blended soup to the saucepan and mix well.

Yield:6-8 servings

Creamed Corn

I got this recipe from Stewart's Aunt Sue. It is so good you know its not a real vegetable side dish. My kids loved it!

2 packages (10 oz.) frozen corn, thawed
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp. Salt
5 Tbsp. sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I would probably omit this when I make it)

1.) Combine all ingredients except the butter, flour, and cheese in a large pan. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes. Watch it carefully so it dosen't scorch on the bottom of the pan.

2.) In a separate pan melt butter and add flour to make thickening. Slowly pour butter mixture into the corn mixture. Stir constantly and bring to a gentle boil.

3.)Pour into serving dish and enjoy.

*If you are adding the cheese then sprinkle on top and broil to brown the cheese and serve.

Cooking Yummy Vegtables

Growing up we ate a ton of vegetables. Every night we had two side dishes of some vegetable in addition to a green salad. This was largely do to my father being a vegetarian but also just because we grew a lot of produce and needed to eat it up. My mom didn't just put a pat of butter on top and call it good. She cooked our veggies as if they were the main dish and thus we kids loved them. I have a distinct memory of coming home for dinner in 4th grade and telling my sister, "Oh, I love the smell of broccoli cooking." And feeling genuinely excited to when I could eat that broccoli. It was all because I was smelling onions, garlic, olive oil, and who knows what else cooking along side that broccoli. To this day when I go home and my mom asks me what I would like her to fix for dinner I always answer "just cook a bunch of vegetables!" She really dose magical things to her veggies. So I have decided I need to be more like my mom and put a little more effort into cooking my veggies if I want my kids to love them as much as I did. So here are my latest creations.

Italian Green Beans

These were the hit tonight. I think we eat more of them then our favorite BBQ chicken pizza. They are healthy, a perfect vegetable for an Italian meal, and not very much work.

1 bag or frozen green beans
1 TB butter or olive oil
2 TB chopped onion or according to taste
Chicken broth or water
Chicken bullion
garlic powder
basil

I defrosted my green beans by placing them in a large bowl with warm water. While they warmed up I sauted the onion in butter. Once the onion was golden and soft I added the green beans, 1/4 to 1/2 cups chicken broth, a dash of garlic powder, a couple dashes of basil, and seasoned with chicken bullion to taste. I covered them and let them simmer until they were tender. Then I sprinkled the beans with freshly grated Parmesan and serve to my hungry family.

*If you omit the basil this is a basic yummy green bean recipe that goes great with any meal.

Awesome Corn

We don't have a microwave and so we heat everything on the stove top or in the oven. The other day I put a bunch of left overs in the oven and then threw in our left over corn too and to my surprise the corn was divine!

1 can of Corn
1 teaspoon Butter or more you want more
Salt to taste
Pepper taste

Toss your corn with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Then spread it on a cookie sheet and then let it bake until the corn is aromatic and warmed through. It tasted like grilled corn, you'd hardly believe it came from a can!

Salads I Cant Stop Eating

Oriental Chicken Salad

I served this with some fried rice and it was a hit. I added a little chicken bullion because my canned chicken wasn't very salty. I used a full bag of coleslaw mix that was larger then the recipe called for so I made a little extra sauce. It is super easy to make, healthy and yummy.

¼ cup veg oil

3 TB sugar

2 TB seasoned rice vinegar

1 TB soy sauce

¼ pound Chinese pea pod, strings removed (1 cup), cut diagonally in half

3 cups coleslaw mix

1 can (10 ounces) chunk light chicken, drained

½ cup sliced almonds, toasted

Mix oil, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients; toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Salad De Masion

This Recipe is from Stewart's Aunt Sherri Larsen. I have had this at her home twice and loved it. Over our Christmas trip I was able to get it from her. It is to die for!!! Usually I shy away from salads with bacon but this one won me over. It sure isn't healthy but when you want to wow people who wont realize how much mayo it calls for then I say just go for it!!!

Salad:
2 bags of Romain Lettuce raised and torn into bite size pieces
1 lbs. Bacon fried and cut up - I hate frying bacon so I bought ready to use stuff. The flavor
isn't quite as good but saving myself the time and mess was well worth it for me
grape/cherry tomatoes
1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly shredded - I used the high quality pre-shredded stuff
1 cup Swiss cheese - I found some pre-shredded stuff who knew they had that?!?!?!
croûtons

Dressing:
4 sliced green onions
2 cups mayo - please don't use miracle whip!!!
Juice of 1 large Lemon
Mrs. Dash lemon pepper to taste
I think I added a little slat and pepper too

Prepare the salad dressing and then ensemble the salad. Add as much dressing as you like and mix well. I like to give it a little time mixed together before serving so the croûtons can soften a little bit.