Healthy Rice Krispies Treats (pictured with Fall Spices added)
This one was a chance discovery because we had a bag of marshmallows that stuck together because of the humidity in the air by the beach where I live. We tried roasting them, it was a messy joke, so this idea came to me. The recipe is really tasty.
5 cups rice krispies
1/4 cup (half stick) butter
1 tbsp. coconut oil (heaping?!?)
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup flax seed meal
2/3 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
What was already hard to stop eating just became IMPOSSIBLE… You might never go back to the original recipe.
The version pictured has additional ingredients added to the butter as it melts:
Simple, tasty recipe and a great way to prepare spinach or kale.
One bag frozen spinach
One yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
pinch ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
if you have it – 1 tsp. bacon grease
Put half the olive oil in a sautee pan on medium low (and bacon grease if you have it) and cook the onions until clear, soft and sweet. Add the bag of frozen spinach and turn heat up to medium high to melt it. Once the spinach is no longer frozen add the remaining olive oil and turn heat down to just medium. Clear a place in the center of the pan, add the vinegar and then mix it all together along with the nutmeg and crushed red pepper. Salt and black pepper to taste.
Notes:
Olive oil can be increased by using your judgement. What I go for is just a hint of a sheen and a rich, savory taste.
Crushed red pepper: careful with this one, it can be over done, especially if you’re cooking for children.
If you wanted to get really daring you could use more bacon grease, especially with kale.
Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie with soyrizo
This is delicious and reheats in the microwave for a super-fast, very healthy breakfast, it’s vegetarian!
4 medium potatoes, boiled and sliced into wedges
1/2 large onion diced
one package soyrizo
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano (finely ground)
12 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. baking powder
4 heaping tbsp. chunky salsa (as spicy as you like)
2 tbsp. olive oil
8 oz. package of Mexican cheese blend
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Sautee onion in olive oil until clear then add soyrizo, cumin and oregano and brown, set aside. In a bowl crack 12 eggs and whisk in baking powder, flour, milk and salsa.
Place potatoes evenly spread out in your shallow baking dish. Add chorizo and onion mix evenly across this. Put in 4 oz. of the cheese then add the egg mixture and top with the final 4 oz. of cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
I believe I got this recipe from my sister Janeen. Ingredients:
2 lb. potatoes peeled and sliced thin
2 tblsp. butter
2 tblsp. flour
1 medium shallot
2 cloves garlic
Rosemary
1/2 cup heavy cream
1-1/2 cup Gruyere divided into 2 portions
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
3/4 cup beef stock
Pre-heat oven to 350. In sauce pan on stove melt butter, add flour, garlic, shallots, rosemary, pepper, stock, salt, cream but do NOT boil. Add the first half of the cheese. Layer potatoes in a greased baking dish. Pour mixture over the potatoes, sprinkle second portion of Gruyere on top. Bake for an hour and 30 minutes or until golden brown in places and the potatoes are done when tested with a fork.
This recipe was shared with me by my Mom, Ann Barczay Sloan.
Ingredients:
Bacon grease
1 lg. yellow onion diced into 3/8″ cubes
1 lg. green bell pepper, de-seeded, cleaned and diced
1-1/2 lb. Pork shoulder cubed
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp. caraway seeds
3 bay leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste
Paprika (My Mom recommends Szeged brand, sweet, not hot.)
2 cans sauerkraut, drained
1/2 cup Sour Cream
Preheat oven to 350. Brown the pork in bacon grease, salt and pepper the meat then add in onions and bell peppers until onions are translucent. Add garlic and stir that until it is cooked. Add paprika to cover/color meat, its an eyeball thing. Truth be told its hard to add too much paprika. Add caraway seeds and bay leaves then add the sauerkraut. Bring to a low boil, cover it and cook for 5 minutes. Move to oven for 40 minutes. 10 minutes before the time is up stir in the sour cream. Serve with boiled potatoes.
The filling portion has actually been pulled OUT of the pepper here.
My Mom, Ann Barczay Sloan, shared this recipe with me.
Ingredients:
6 bell peppers (green, red, a mix, all OK)
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
5 tblsp. cooked rice
3 tblsp. tomato sauce added to meat
1 can tomato sauce (minus the 3 tblsp. used above)
2 tsp. sugar (for sauce)
1 tsp. paprika (for sauce)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ground beef, pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder, cooked rice and 3 tblsp. of tomato sauce in a mixing bowl. Cut the tops off of the pepper and clean out seeds and extra veins of white material to maximize the available room for stuffing.
Stuff all of your peppers and place in a baking dish.
In a sauce pan on the stove pour remaining tomato sauce, sugar and paprika and heat until very hot/steaming and then ladle or pour over the peppers carefully so that they are uniformly covered/coated.
About 15 minutes into the 30 minutes cooking time you can open the oven and baste the peppers using the sauce (see photo below) that’s forming around them. Actually you could baste as many times as you’d like and they’ll probably be even more delicious. These are done when the peppers are soft but still hold together.
NOTES: this can be served with boiled potatoes, the sauce goes great with them.
I struggled for a name for this dish and settled on this as the most accurate. It mixes European (Italian, Hungarian) and North African (Tunisian) flavors. It’s easy to make and really reheats well.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
10 Chicken thighs
One large yellow onion, diced
2 bell peppers, one red, one green, deseeded and sliced longitudinally
2 tbsp. harissa (I found mine at Trader Joe’s. Add more if you want it hotter)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. I have a large ceramic coated metal roasting pan that’s shallow. On the stovetop I add the oil oil and then brown the chicken on a low flame because I want to get them nicely cooked before I put them in the oven. After you’ve flipped and browned the 2nd side of the chicken start adding the vegetables, you might boost the flame a little. I go onions, then bell peppers, then garlic, the raisins, then balsamic vinegar, then tomato sauce, then harissa. The mushrooms I stir in right before moving the dish to the oven for 20 – 25 minutes to finish it off.
I served mine with pine nut couscous but it would go great with linguini or other pasta.
Notes: you could easily add more garlic! Tastes even better the next day, reheats well in the microwave.
Mediterranean chicken up close in the pan after coming out of the oven.
one whole chicken, washed in warm water and dried with paper towel
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, cut into small pieces
2 tblsp. brown sugar
I like to fill the chicken with warm water and let it sit in there for 30 seconds and I do this twice while washing the chicken in order to try to warm it up to room temperature before cooking.
In a metal bowl I added the oil, Chef Merito Steak and Meat Seasoning, lime juice, garlic and cut up chipotles. This is the marinade that I coat it with.
So I hold the chicken upside down and pour in ALL of the marinade mix to the main body cavity while holding the neck cavity closed and swish it around the inside of the chicken to coat it. Then I pour it out into the bowl and coat the exterior of the chicken, on a vertical roaster, and paint it on with a brush for the first coat.
Cook for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, pull out and do the second coat of marinade, put back in for 15 more minutes but now at 375 degrees. Now take it out again (after the 15 minutes), add 2 tblsp. brown sugar and some of the drippings from the catch pan of the vertical roaster to what remains of the marinade and do the glazing stage for the final 15 minutes.
Next time I’m going to add Mexican oregano and ground cumin. My goal is to match (or surpass!?!) the chicken from El Toro Bravo here in Costa Mesa.
*Here’s another one of my attempts to match the fabulous chicken from El Toro Bravo.
Preheat oven. Beat together butter, sugar, eggs, maple and vanilla
until creamy.
Add oats, mix well before adding rest of ingredients. Add flour, salt and soda, mix well. Add chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet. Non-stick cookie sheet, don’t grease.
Can also use greased cookie sheet, or parchment paper.
For variety you can make bars, cook longer. Add raisins, or currants, or butterscotch chips, or chocolate chunks, or coconut, or salted peanuts. All of these variations taste good.
