V7 Vegetable Juice Blend

Make your own vegetable juice blend full of Vitamins A, C and E,  potassium, iron, and magnesium to name a few. Nothing added like the "natural flavoring" or citric acid that the store sold juice shows as ingredients.  You control the salt.  Notice mine is called V7 not V 8 as I did not use watercress which is listed as one of "their" ingredients.

 V7 Vegetable Juice Blend

2 quarts canned crushed tomatoes or approximately 2-28 ounce cans (use low sodium so you can control your own salt)*
4 celery stalks
2 carrots
1/2 beet (or 2 Tablespoons beet juice)
2 Small handfuls of spinach
4 small handfuls of iceberg lettuce
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
salt, as needed

Send all through juicer. (If you are using already juiced beets then just add that to the juice at the end.)  Mix, add salt to taste, and enjoy!

That is a 1/2 gallon canning jar in the top picture so that is how much what my juicing made. 

*You could use fresh tomatoes but I have not worked out the pound/quart ratio yet.  I hope to make some when our garden is ready to harvest and can some for later.

White Chicken Chili

Play with the seasonings as you like.  If you like it spicier add more chilies and/or cayenne.  If I were making fajitas I would add lime juice and onion powder so it's nearly the same chicken meat and you could use the same here

.

White Chicken Chili

olive oil

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts

1-1/2 t cumin

couple dashes dried red pepper (cayenne) (more as you like)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
2 - 15 ounce cans Great Northern beans (white), undrained
2 cups chicken broth
4 ounce can green chilies, undrained
up to 1/2 cup sour cream

In a medium bowl add about 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil, seasonings, and chicken.  Turn to mix and coat. For best flavor grill chicken. Cut into nice size chunks.

Meanwhile, cook onions in a little bit of olive oil until soft.  Add broth and beans.

Stir in chunked chicken and cook for 20 minutes.  This will soften the beans a bit more and thicken your soup. 

 Stir in sour cream.

To serve, top with tortilla strips and more sour cream if you like.  

Fauxy Sauce (Soy Sauce Substitute)

I had a chef come teach me about spices and herbs and one of the recipes called for soy sauce.  My husband can't have soy so rather than have her come up with a new recipe I scoured the internet to find out what people subbed soy sauce with and worked out this combination of ingredients. Rather than call it Soy Sauce Substitute I thought it would be more fun to play on the word faux (meaning false) and call it Fauxy Sauce.

Fauxy Sauce - (said foy -like soy)

2 Tablespoons chicken or beef broth
4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
dash white pepper
1-1/2 cups water
salt to taste - I used 1 teaspoon to start then added 1/2 teaspoon at the end as my broth was not very salty since it was homemade

Stir together all the ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to boil and cook until reduced.  I reduced mine by about half.  That is when I tasted it and added the last 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Crock Pot French Onion Soup

This soup smells fantastic cooking all day.  If you want it on a week day and don't have time to caramelize your onions before you leave the house cook them the night before and put them in your fridge.  In the morning you can put it all together come home to a tasty soup.

Crock Pot French Onion Soup

2 Tablespoons olive oil

8 cups sliced onions

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup white Chardonnay wine

7 cups beef broth

salt, as needed

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 Bay leaf

1 teaspoon Kitchen bouquet (aff link) (optional for color)

3 Tablespoons cornstarch mixed with a little bit of water

Heat oil in large non stick skillet over medium heat.

Cook and stir until they begin to turn translucent, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with sugar, reduce to simmer and cook for, stirring often until brown and soft.  Should take about 30-40 minutes.  At first it won't seem like they are browning and then the color comes. Stir wine into onion mixture and cook for a minute or so. 

Pour beef broth into crock pot, add onions, bay leaf, thyme and Kitchen bouquet*. Stir.  You can add salt here or wait until the end after the soup has time to cook and mix flavors.

Cover and set on low for about 8 hrs or high for 4. When you are near serving time gently stir in your cornstarch slurry to thicken the soup. 

We served ours with grilled cheese sandwiches.  You could float a crispy piece of bread sprinkled with cheese on top and broil it. 

* I needed the Kitchen bouquet as my homemade broth wasn't very dark and I wanted more color. 

Mollie's Tender Chicken

Mollie's Tender Chicken 

(originally known as Parmesan Chicken but renamed by my niece)

1 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons white flour

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup milk

6-8 chicken breast strips (1/2 inch thick)

Oil for frying

Mix breadcrumbs, flour and Parmesan cheese together.  Put milk into a dish deep enough for dipping the chicken pieces.  Dip chicken in breadcrumb mixture, then in the milk and then back into the breading mixture.  Press the chicken pieces with your hands at this point to flatten them a little.

Heat oil in a frying pan and heat to a medium high temperature.  Place chicken pieces into the pan and lower temperature to medium.  Fry pieces until chicken is done and pieces are a crispy golden color.

Baked Chicken Tenders

Baked Chicken Tenders 

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley or a heaping 1/2 Tablespoon of dry

salt and pepper, optional

1/4 cup milk

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

olive oil or melted butter

(Additional ingredients for Garlic Lover's Version)

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Slice chicken breast halves into nice strips or leave whole.

Dip in milk.

Then in mixture of bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, and salt/pepper. For a thicker crust you could dip in dry, then wet, then back in dry.

Lay on greased cookie sheet.  Mist/drizzle with a little olive oil spray or drizzle with melted butter.
(If you are doing the garlic lovers version mix melted butter, garlic, and lemon to drizzle over instead.)

Bake tenders at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  If you do whole halves then bake for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy on a salad or dipped in your favorite dipping sauce (like Honey BBQ ) Great cold for school lunches.

Sausage Stuffed Squash

Sausage Stuffed Squash

1 butternut squash

Olive Oil

Salt

1 pound sausage (breakfast, pork, or Italian) You can even de-case brats to use.

1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced

1/3 - 1/2 cup diced onion

1 Tablespoon orange juice

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Cut squash in 1/2 removing seeds.  Core out the neck by scoring and using a spoon to remove to a cutting board to dice.  You will use this in the stuffing. Place large halves on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until soft.  

You are only going to reheat so be sure squash is as soft as you like.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, drizzle olive oil, add in onions, apple, diced squash, orange juice, and syrup. Cook until soft.

Add in sausage and cook thoroughly. Be sure to break apart the meat. Drain or pat off the oil if necessary.

 "Stuff" into squash halves.  I sprinkled Parmesan on the one on the left.  They enjoyed them both ways. Return to oven and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until heated through. Careful not to burn your sausage. 

The little one enjoyed it enough to ask for it as leftovers to eat in her lunch she takes to school.