Tortilla Soup

Veggie Tortilla Soup

I did not add any spice so my kids would eat it. Could add jalapeño or cayenne to spice it up.

Olive oil

2T butter

1 onion- diced

1 bell pepper - diced

3 cloves garlic - minced

2 cans black beans - drained and rinsed

2 cans pinto beans - drained and rinsed

1 28oz can diced fired roasted tomatoes with juice 

6 cups chicken broth (or vegetable)

3/4 cup frozen corn

2 T flour

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2-1 tsp salt

1/2 cup 1/2 and 1/2

4 corn tortillas- cut in 16 wedges each

1. In a large Dutch oven, sauté peppers and onions in olive oil for 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute.

2. Add 2T butter until melted. Sprinkle flour and mix until no longer white.

3. Add chicken broth and mix thoroughly. 

4. Add remaining ingredients except milk and tortillas. Simmer 45 minutes.

5. Add milk and corn tortillas. Simmer additional 10-15 minutes.

6. Serve topped with diced avocado, shredded cheese and Greek yogurt/sour cream.

Veggie Chili- crockpot

 1 medium onion - diced

1 red bell pepper- diced

1 green bell pepper- diced

4 cloves garlic- minced

4 cups chicken stock

1 15oz can fire roasted tomatoes

1 15oz can black beans - drained and rinsed

1 15oz can pinto beans- drained and rinsed

1 cup lentils- rinsed

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp cumin

1-2 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

Toppings- avocado, cheese, crushed chips

1. Sauté peppers and onions 7 minutes until soft.

2. Add garlic, sauté 1 minute more

3. Add sautéed veggies and remaining ingredients to crockpot. Cook in high for 3hrs or low for 6hrs.

4. Top with whatever toppings you like

Lentil meatballs

 1.5 cups green or brown lentils

3 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock)

1 small onion - diced

2 cups shredded carrots- chopped in smaller pieces

4 cloves garlic- minced

1 cup rolled oats (can be quick cooking but not instant)

1/4 cup chopped parsley

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 salt (or more if omitting Parmesan)

1/4-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven 425. Cook lentils in broth 20-30 minutes or until done. Cool slightly.

2. Sauté onion in olive oil until mostly cooked 6-8 minutes. Add the carrots and sauté 2 minutes more. Add garlic and sauté 1 more minute.

3. Pulse oats and parsley in food processor until it forms smaller crumbs.

4. Mix lentils, veggies, oats and remaining ingredients (except egg) until thoroughly mixed.

5. Add egg and mix well

6. Form meatballs and place on parchment lined sheet pan sprayed with cooking spray.

7. Cook 10 minutes, flip, cook 8-10 minutes more.

Lemon orzo with spinach and peas

1.5 cups orzo

3 cups chicken broth

2 garlic cloves- minced

2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 tsp dried

1.5 cups frozen peas

1.5 cups chopped fresh spinach

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese plus more for finishing

Zest of 1 lemon 

1. Sauté dry orzo in olive oil 60 seconds. Add garlic and cook  15-30 seconds more.

2.  Add chicken broth and thyme. Cook orzo 9-10 minutes until broth absorbed.

3. Remove from heat. Add chopped spinach and stir a minute to wilt a bit. 

4.  Add peas and Parmesan cheese. Stir until peas are heated through and cheese is melted.

5. Serve topped with extra Parmesan cheese.

Instant Pot Black Beans and Yellow Rice (stovetop)

Black Beans

1 lb dried black beans - rinsed and picked through
4 cups chicken broth
1 small onion - diced
1 small bell pepper- diced
1.5 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic powder (or 4 minced garlic cloves)
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp salt (optional, to taste)

1.  Add everything but the salt to the Instant Pot.  You will salt after cooking.
2.  Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes and allow natural release for 20 minutes.
3.  Add salt and adjust as needed.

Yellow Rice

1 cup white rice (can use brown, but not as good)
2 cups water
3/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups water
olive oil

1.  Add rice, olive oil and spices to a pan and cook briefly to toast the spices.
2.  Add the water and cook 20 minutes (or according to package direction for brown rice)

Serve black beans and rice with your favorite toppings.  Avocado, cheese, greek yogurt, chicken, etc.

Minestrone Soup

1 onion - diced
3 ribs celery - diced
3 cloves garlic - minced
2 zucchini - diced
1/4 pound green beans, or 1 can no salt added green beans, or frozen
1/2 head green cabbage - shredded
1 bunch kale - stems removed, roughly chopped
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes with basil (I like Muir Glen)
12 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp pepper
Parmesan rinds*
1 cup dried pasta

1.  Saute onion, celery, garlic, and zucchini in olive oil until partially cooked, approx. 5 minutes.  Include green beans if raw.
2.  Add green beans, cabbage, and kale and saute until cabbage is wilted, approx. 3 minutes.
3.  Add remaining ingredients except pasta.  Cover and simmer 45 minutes.
4.  Add pasta and cook additional 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked.
5.  Salt to taste.
6.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

*You can find these in the cheese section of most grocery stores.  I recently found at Whole Foods.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

8-10 chicken thighs
1 14oz can tomato sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 14oz can lite coconut milk
2 medium sweet potatoes - peeled and cubed
1 onion - diced
2 broccoli crowns - cut in florets (or 1 bag pre cut broccoli)
2 cloves garlic - minced
2 T curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt

Brown Rice and greek yogurt

1.  Mix all ingredients in a slow cooker.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
2.  Serve over brown rice and topped with plain greek yogurt (if desired).

The broccoli tends to overcook if it is in the crock pot the entire time.  I try to add the broccoli 1/2 or 2/3 the way through the cooking time.  But... add it at the beginning if you are not able to add later.  Put it in the pot last and leave on the top chicken mixture to steam rather than stew.

Italian Salad Dressing

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt

Combine ingredients in a jar and shake.  Great salad dressing or marinade.

Mexican Chicken and Veggie Casserole

3-4 chicken breasts
Green salsa verde
1 can green chilis
2 zucchini- diced
2 green bell pepper- diced
1 large onion - diced
1 bottle Enchalada sauce (Trader Joes is good)
1 envelope Trader Joe's taco seasoning (or other with no additives)
Corn tortillas
Shredded Mexican cheese
Pickled jalapeños for serving

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Sprinkle chicken with a little taco seasoning.  Roast in oven 20-30 mins or until cooked.
2.  While chicken cooks, sauté veggies in a large pan/pot.  Add 1-2 tablespoons taco seasoning when veggies are partially tender.  Cook veggies until fully tender.
3.  Remove the chicken from the oven and turn oven up to 400 degrees.
4.  Shred the chicken and place in a bowl.  Toss chicken with salsa verde and green chilis.
5.  Assemble casserole.  Spread thin layer of enchalada sauce on the bottom of your dish.  Place one layer of tortillas on sauce.  You may have to cut a few to fit them in.  Spoon in a layer of the veggies and a layer of chicken. Sprinkle with a little cheese.
6.  Repeat layer with tortillas, sauce, veggies, chicken and cheese.
7.  Repeat final layer as previous.  Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray.
8.  Bake 20 mins covered and 10 mins uncovered.
9.  Serve with pickled jalapeños, avocado and whatever else you like.

Veggie Quinoa Bake

2 green bell peppers - chopped in 3/4 inch chunks
1 red onion - chopped in 3/4 inch chunks
1 pint cherry tomatoes - whole
2 pints mushrooms - chopped in 3/4 inch chunks
3/4 cup olives - quartered (kalamata is good)
5-6 oz feta cheese - crumbled or chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2-1tsp salt (to taste, usually somewhere between depending on how many olives and feta used)
1 cup quinoa
2 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2.  Rinse and cook quinoa to package direction.  Allow to cool slightly.
3.  While quinoa cooks, roast bell peppers, onion and tomatoes on sheet pan 20 minutes, tossing after 10 minutes.
4.  Add mushrooms to sheet pan, toss with roasted veggie and mound a little in the middle (see picture), roast an additional 5 minutes.
5.  Mix quinoa, veggies, oregano, salt, feta and olives together in a large bowl, mashing the tomatoes as you see them (not a big deal but what I do).  Be sure it is cool enough, then add the eggs.  You don't want to make scrambeled eggs, so make sure the mixture is not too hot.
6.  Pour into a baking dish and bake in the 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until slightly browned on top and egg is cooked through.

Blue Cheese and Bacon Slaw

These measurements are approximate.  We eat this all week so I buy 3 bags of slaw and make 2 ziploc bags of the mixture, which makes a lot.  This recipe is for half of what we make.

Slaw

1.5 bags of tricolor slaw (with green cabbage, red cabbage and carrot)

2 large handfuls of red cabbage - finely chopped (half a really small head or 1/3 large)

2 green onions - chopped

1/2 medium bunch cilantro - chopped

Garnish

Crumbled Bacon

Crumbled Blue Cheese

Dressing

http://justthegrubklm.blogspot.com/2013/07/dijon-salad-dressing.html

1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup (scant) olive oil

1 T dijon mustard (regular not grainy)

1/2 tsp honey

1/8 tsp salt

1.  Put all slaw ingredients in a gallon size ziploc bag.  Shake to mix.

2.  Combine desired amounts of slaw, bacon, blue cheese and dressing and mix to combine.

For the entire bag of slaw, I would say probably 6+ slices of thick cut bacon (from deli counter), a 4oz + container of blue cheese and all the dressing.  The more the bacon/cheese/dressing the better, but obviously a personal choice!

Chicken Rub for Green Egg (or grill)

2 T smoked paprika
2 T salt
2 T onion powder
1 T cayenne pepper
1 T cumin
2 tsp dried whole thyme
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper

For the green egg, we spatchcock the chicken (take the backbone out and lay it flat).  Rub thoroughly with rub outside and under skin.  Cook for 1 hour at 350 degrees, flipping once.

We also rub chicken legs that have been skinned.  45 mins at 350 degrees on the egg flipping once.

Lemon Caper Chicken

4 chicken cutlets (1 lb total)
1 cup white wine
1.5 cups chicken stock
4  T capers
1/2 lemon - juiced
Arugula
flour
water
olive oil
salt and pepper

1.  Rinse cutlets and dry.  Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Dredge with flour.
2.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add cutlets.  Cook 2 mins per side until brown depending on thickness and until cooked through (maybe slightly under cooked but not much).  Remove chicken and set aside.  Reduce pan to medium/low simmer.
3.  Add wine to pan and scrape up any brown bits.  Cook 2 mins.  Add stock, lemon juice and capers.  Cook an additional 2 minutes.
4.  Make a flour water thickener.  2 T flour and 4 T water - whisk together.
5.  Add thickener a little at a time and whisk continuaously until desired thickness.  Probably stop a little early as it thickens as it sits.  Add chicken back to pan and simmer 5 mins.
6.  Serve chicken with sauce - add arugula either on top as a garnish or underneath as a salad.  Would also be good over rice or quinoa.

Roasted Tomato Soup

12-16 Campari tomatoes - halved and seeded
2 red bell peppers - seeded and quartered
1 yellow onion - peeled and quartered
8 cloves garlic - separated but in paper
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
3 T Olive oil (divided)
6-8 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 6oz can tomato paste
Fresh Thyme (optional, few sprigs)
Fresh Basil (1 whole container or bunch, to taste)
Salt and Pepper

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the tomatoes, peppers, onion, and garlic cloves with 2 T olive oil and 2 T balsamic vinegar.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves if using.
2.  Roast vegetables in the oven until charred in spots, 35-45 minutes.
3.  Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the tomato paste and cook a couple minutes to cook out the tin can taste.
4.  Add the roasted veg, stock and basil leaves to the dutch oven.  Bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
5.  Puree the mixture with an immersion blender.  Continue to cook to desired consistency.
6.  Salt - Taste the soup first then add.  I start with 1 tsp.  Stir it in and let it simmer for a couple minutes.  Taste again.  You might add an additional half tsp or full or none depending on desired amount and whether you used low sodium broth.
7.  Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich or cheese toast, of course.

(garlic missing in this photo)

Roasted Chicken Bites

Rub
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1.5 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt

1 package chicken thighs - usually 1.3-1.5 lbs

Baste
1/8 cup honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and put in zip loc bag
3.  Mix all rub spices together.  Drizzle chicken with olive oil in bag and throw in spices.  Shake around until coated.  Refrigerate until ready to cook.
4. Baste chicken with baste, roast in the oven 5 minutes.  Flip, baste again, and roast another 5-7 minutes.
5.  To crisp, broil for a couple minutes.
6.  Serve with toothpicks!

Fajita Steak Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 T chili powder

1 large garlic clove - minced

pepper

Marinate your steak, the longer the better!

Asian Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin usually comes in a bag of 2.  I usually marinate them separately, each in a gallon size freezer bag.  This is the marinade per bag, so double if marinating together.

1 pork tenderloin

Marinade

2 tsp olive oil

2 T finely chopped onion

4 T hoisin sauce (found in Asian section of grocery store)

4 T soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp Sriracha sauce

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1.  Combine marinade and pork in a ziploc bag and marinate 3-4 hours or as long as possible.

2.  Grill pork and serve.

Grilled Zucchini and Eggplant with Asian Dressing

Zucchini sliced lengthwise into 1/4 - 1/2 inch pieces

Eggplant sliced lengthwise into 1/4 - 1/2 inch pieces

Dressing

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 T Sriracha sauce

1 tsp honey

2 T sesame oil

2 green onions - chopped
2 garlic cloves - minced

1.  Combine all dressing ingredients.

2.  Drizzle veggies with olive oil and grill, 2-3 minutes per side or until done.

3.  Pour a little dressing over the veggies and serve.

Chick Pea Salad/Dip

This is a great side dish to grilled meat or use as a dip with pita chips.

Salad
2 16 oz cans of Chick Peas - drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper - chopped
1 green bell pepper - chopped
2 green onions - chopped
1 pint grape tomatoes - halved or quartered
1 english cucumber - seeded and chopped
3 oz feta cheese - about 3/4 a block chopped
1/2-3/4 cup kalamata olives - halved or quartered
1/4 bunch fresh herbs - cilantro or parsley - I like cilantro

Dressing - Lemon Honey Vinaigrette
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 T white wine vinegar
1 T dijon mustard
1 T honey
1 small garlic clove - minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup (scant) olive oil

1.  Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to combine.
2.  Combine all Salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with desired amount of dressing.

Jerk Spiced Shrimp

The Rub

1 T Sugar

1 T Paprika

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/4 tsp Thyme

1/8 tsp ground Allspice

Shrimp

Olive oil

1.  Toss the shrimp with olive oil then coat in the Rub to taste.

2.  Cook shrimp as preferred, I generally cook in a skillet, 2 minutes per side depending on the size of the shrimp.

3.  The shrimp are good on a salad or as an appetizer.  

Shown here: Toss 1 avocado with juice of 1 lime, salt and red pepper flakes.  Toast halved won ton wrappers coated in cooking spray, 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cut shrimp in thirds (mine were big).