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.