Lemon Broccoli

My sister gave this to me and I was too excited to try it. I love sharing good recipes. (Can you tell?)

Ingredients
1 large bunch broccoli cut into spears - Don't leave out the stems either. There's so much there, but if you only use the trees, you lose a ton. When you're taking bites of it, you can't tell if it's mixed in with stems, and then you get so much more broccoli taste.
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced - Mine was red, which you can see in the photo. I normally use yellow.
1 cup thinly sliced celery
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel - Don't forget about this lovely tip when it comes to lemon zest!
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Steam broccoli until crisp-tender. Rinse in cold waster; drain and set aside. In a large skillet, saute the onion, celery and garlic in butter for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Add the lemon peel and juice, salt, pepper and broccoli. Heat through. 

So please excuse my photo, aside from the blurriness, my broccoli is most obviously overcooked! It is the saddest shade of green. I had it steaming above my rice in the cooker and totally forgot about it. I was seriously in mourning over the sad color of this broccoli. But let me tell you that the broccoli tasted great. It was a wonderful side dish. I love good veggie dishes that I can eat with a plain rice, and just mix together. This was mixed with a little bam chicken, that I believe will be posted next. So stay tuned!

Sunrise Smoothie

I am very pleased with this, my very own creation. You have to try it. Delish!

Ingredients
1 cup orange juice - You can substitute other juices. I've tried apple and grape. Both worked fine, but orange is my favorite by far.
1 cup frozen strawberries - You can use fresh. I did, but found that the strawberry flavor was much stronger when they were frozen.
1 medium to large banana - This surprisingly adds a lot of the sweetness.
2 tbsp flaxseed. - This blends right in and is a great healthy boost for a morning drink.

Put orange juice in the blender.  You'll want to put your liquid in first, to help it blend smoothly.  Add other ingredients and blend until all chunks are gone.

I love this. My kids love this. I broke my blender a few weeks ago and have been dying ever since. I can't wait til the replacement part comes, because I want my smoothie!

Bacon Tip 2

Read this on the package of my bacon. Who knew the handy things they printed on there worked?  This was just an easier way to separate your bacon without pulling and stretching and ripping it in pieces. Stick your spatule between the pieces as you slowly pull them apart. It worked like a charm. I was left with fully intact, long strips of bacon.

Mashers

Otherwise known as mashed potatoes. Yes, a family staple, for most families anyway. I'm new to the potato band wagon. Outside of french fries, I didn't really eat potatoes growing up. This recipe is from Alton Brown (food genius) and his first book, chronicalling the first 80 episodes of his show Good Eats.

Ingredients

2 lbs russet potatoes (rinsed, peeled,m and cut into 1/2 inch chunks)

2 lbs red "boiling" potatoes (rinsed, unpeeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks)

2 tsp kosher salt (which I actually have from his Thanksgiving Turkey recipe)

3/4 cup buttermilk (You can use the last 1/4 cup for a chicken biscuit bake.)

1/4 cup heavy cream (You can use the last 2 3/4 cups of that for alfredo sauce.)

6 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed) I use my garlic smasher for this, since it specifies smashed, not chopped or minced.

Place all spud hunks in a 4-quart saucepan and add just enough cold tap water to cover. (You can put the potatoes in the water and refrigerate them for up to 8 hourse before cooking.) Add 1 tsp of the salt to the pot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. (This will take about 15 minutes.)

Meanwhile, combine the buttermilk, cream, and garlic in a 2 quart saucepan and bring to a bare simmer over low heat, watching to make sure the mixture doesn't boil over. Keep the mixture barely bubbling until the potatoes are done.

When the spud water boils, ditch the lid, drop the heat to a simmer, and cook until the spuds are easily crushed with tongs, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, then return them to the pan and the heat. Toss and shake gently for 30 seconds or so to knock off any excess surface moisture. (The drier the spuds the better.)

Move the pan to a trivet (hot pad, towel) on the countertop and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp salt. Pour on about a quarter of the buttermilk mixture and start mashing.

As the spuds break down, add more of the buttermilk mixture until you're happy with the results. Remember, these are mashed potatoes, not whippe potatoes. If you over-mash them in an attempt to smooth ever piece you will inevitably rupture starch granules, which can and most likely will result in gummy potatoes.

Let me just say that I love the way Alton words things. He explains it in a way you can understand, and even adds a little science in there if you're following that part well enough. For the recipe, it was really great. Like I said, I'm new to the potato scene, but I really enjoyed these. They had a really nice, subtle flavor that made them not boring. I did half the recipe. I also took the time during naptime to cut my potatoes really small. (1/2 inch chunks is really quite small.) Then I stuck them in water in the fridge for a few hours. I felt like the small chopping really helped it cook faster. (Because that's not common knowledge, but still.) Overall, fab recipe. Expect more from Alton Brown's Good Eats in the future.

Playdoh!

Oh yes. Homemade playdoh. It is edible (though extremely salt) and yes, I ate it as a child. Still, a fun family favorite. And just for the sake of clarification, I am putting this on here for fun, not for a snack!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp alum (in the seasonings section)
1 3/4 cup boiling water
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix flour, salt, and alum. Add food coloring to water if desired. (or you can knead it in later if you want to split it into multiple colors.) Add water and oil to flour mixture. Mix well. Store in an air tight container or zip lock bag in your fridge. This stuff can last for a really long time as long as it's air tight.

Decadent Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cheesecake

I stole this recipe from the Reader's Digest. It's pretty decadent. But not really sweet. In the end, we liked that about it. It took a while to grow on me, but by the end, I was scraping it out of the pan with Aaron. So a definite yummy dessert, without feeling overly sweet or sugary.

Ingredients
18 chocolate graham cracker squares, finely crushed (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
2 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 300. Combine crackers, melted butter, and 2 tbsp sugar. Press into bottom and 1 inch up sides of a 9-inch springform pan; set aside. (I bought a crust. I enjoy making them, but it was a slight time issue. Although each time I use a pre-made crust, I completely overflow it, even though I'm following the directions. So I'm making my own crust next time.)

In bowl, beat 1 package cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in peanut butter and 1/4 cup sugar until combined. Fold in 1 lightly beaten egg; set aside. In saucepan stir chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cube remaining cream cheese; add to choclate. Stir to combine. Stir in milk and vanilla until smooth. Fold in 2 lightly beaten eggs. Spread half the chocolate mixture into pan. Carefully spread all the peanut butter mixture over layer. Evenly spread remaining chocolate mixture.

Bake 45 minutes or until top is set when lightly shaken. Outer 2 inches of top will be slightly puffed and dry-looking; center will look darker and wet. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Use small sharp knife to loosen crust from sides; cool 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan (if using springform, which I don't have anyway.); cool completely on rack. Cover; chill 4 hours. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with peanuts, if desired.

Like I said, at first I wasn't really into this (and the picture of mine isn't nearly as cool as the one from Reader's Digest.) but by the end, I was really enjoying it. That might be because I didn't chill it for 4 hours like it called for. I really liked it after we pulled it from the fridge. So I would recommend making sure you do that step. Overall, a really tasty treat that's not over sugary.

Black Bean and Sausage Soup

I thought for sure I'd done this already, but I hadn't. So good!

Ingredients

1 cup dry black beans (can use canned beans)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
1 tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp salt
1/8 – ¼ tsp ground red pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. cooked, smoked turkey sausage or polish sausage, chopped
Dairy sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, fresh cilantro (optional)

Rinse beans. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven combine beans and 6 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans. Return beans to saucepan. Stir in 2 cups water, broth, onion, celery, coriander, salt, red pepper, and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1-1 ½ hours or until beans are tender.

If desired, mash beans slightly. Stir in sausage; heat through. IF desired, serve topped with sour cream and cilantro. -OR-

Prepare as above through step 1. In crock pot combine chicken broth, 2 cups water, onion, celery, coriander, salt, red pepper, and garlic. Stir in beans. Cover and cook on high heat for 5-6 hours. If desired, mash beans slightly. Stir in sausage. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more.

Or just used canned beans like we do. Then you only have to cook it for like 30 minutes and then add the sausage. Just cook long enough to get your veggies the way you like them.

In this one, we added some leftover rice just for fun. It added just a little extra. But this is a great recipe. I highly recommend using the optional ingredients. They're fun and tasty to add.