Oregano and Garlic Stuffed Jalapenos

These are delicious!  I could eat a whole tray of them.  I added a little spin to the ones I usually cook by including some fresh oregano and garlic. 

Ingredients:

4 ounces low fat or nonfat cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp oregano, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

3-4 slices of turkey bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

6 jalapenos, cut in half, seeds and ribs removed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to broil.  Mix the cream cheese, oregano and garlic together in a small bowl.  Stuff the peppers with the cheese mixture and top each with a piece of cut bacon.  Place peppers in a greased pan and broil until the bacon is cooked.  Serve warm.

Broccoli with Garlic, Almonds and Asiago Cheese

This is one of my favorite side dishes and we eat it rather often.  It is super-easy, quick and rather healthy with a small amount of cheese added.  I think I got the idea years ago from Rachael Ray. 

The broccoli that I used was a great find at the local farmers market.  $1 a head!  Great prices, fresh and local!  Love it!

Ingredients:

2 lbs of fresh or frozen broccoli cut into spears

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup asiago cheese, grated

Directions:

Steam the broccoli.  Set aside.  Heat a large, nonstick pan to medium high heat and add olive oil.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the broccoli and almonds and toss all together.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and top with the cheese.  Cover with foil if needed in order to melt the cheese.  Serve.

I am adding this post to Side Dish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

I am also linking this post to the following:

All the Small Stuff - Tuesdays at the Table
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam - Tasty Tuesday
GirliChef - Two for Tuesdays
Foodie Friday - Designs by Gollum

Spicy Cilantro and Lime Potato Salad

I wanted to make a potato salad but not a traditional one.  I am not a fan of the mustard-based potato salad so, I came up with this recipe.  My son and I really liked it- my husband, not so much.  He likes the yellow potato salad and wasn't very excited about eating this green potato salad I set before him. 

I am posting this at Side Dish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.  Side dishes have always been a challenge for me.  I have very little creativity when it comes to side dishes and usually all of my attention goes to the protein part of my meals.  This monthly challenge has forced me to think about this important part of the meals we eat.  At least I am creating one good side dish a month.

I found the dressing recipe at For the Love of Cooking and just added to my ingredients. 

Ingredients:

3 lbs of red potatoes, diced in large chunks and steamed

1 onion, yellow or purple

2 large poblano peppers

2 jalepeno peppers

1/4 cup of sliced green onions

Dressing:

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

1/4 cup olive or canola oil

1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar OR red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 tsp oregano

For the dressing, whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Set aside while you prepare the rest of the salad. 

Roast the onion and peppers under a broiler or on the grill until they are nicely charred.  The peppers should be blistered.  Put the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 15 minutes to steam them.  Take them out and peel the skin off.  Roughly chop the peppers and onions and add them to the potatoes.  Add the green onions.  Pour the dressing on the potato, onion and pepper mixture and combine well.

The salad can be eaten cold or at room temperature.

This post is also being linked to:

Finer Things Friday

What's on the Menu Wednesday @ Dining With Debbie

Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade

Ultimate Recipe Swap @ Life as Mom

Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen

GirliChef - Two for Tuesdays

Broccoli with Balsamic Caramelized Onions

I am involved in the Sidedish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.  We have been cooking and writing about side dishes that we are creating at home.  You ought to go and check out the other submissions.  There is some great food listed!

We eat a lot of broccoli in my house.  It is one of the only green foods that my husband and son will eat (and he won't eat that much).  I know we all get tired of the boring steamed broccoli so I wanted to change things up a little.  This is what I came up with.

2 cups red onions, sliced thinly
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups steamed broccoli
1 tbsp of butter
asiago cheese
Chopped parsley and basil (optional)

Add oil to a large nonstick pan over medium high heat.  Saute onions until caramelized (about 20 minutes).  Add vinegar and cook for 5 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add steamed broccoli and butter and cook together for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and top with cheese, parsley and basil.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

This is a great, healthy side dish eaten cold or at room temperature.  I got the recipe from Cookin' Lean Like Paula Deen.  It makes a huge bowl so I froze some of it and it worked really well. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 17-ounce package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 small onion, diced
1/8 to 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl. Cover and chill overnight. Taste and add salt, pepper, or more lime juice as necessary. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Cucumber and Onion Salad

I was inspired by Mrs. Jenn B of Misadventures of Mrs. B to make this refreshing cucumber salad.  I have never made anything like this so I was kind of excited.  I changed up her recipe a little because I used balsalmic vinegar and red onions instead of white. I loved this salad.  It was very refreshing and healthy!

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin

1 onion sliced thin

1 tbsp salt

1/2 cup basalmic vinegar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar (I used Splenda)

2 tsps of Italian Seasoning

pepper to taste

Put the sliced cucumbers in a bowl and sprinkle the salt over them and toss gently.  Cover and refrigerate for an hour or so. 

Mix the remaining ingredients (except the onions) and bring to a boil in a small pan.  

Take out the cucumbers and drain excess water.  Add the sliced onions.  Pour vinegar mixture over the onions and cucumbers.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.  

Sauteed Fresh Asparagus

Our local farmer's market just opened up and the one thing I had on my list to buy was fresh asparagus.  It was quite expensive (about $6 a pound), but I was willing to spend that much to see if the taste was really that much better.  The guy told me the asparagus had just been picked the night before. 

I simply trimmed the asparagus and cooked them in a little bit of bacon grease I had left over from the weekend.  I let it sautee until it was a little black but still tender. 

This is one of my favorite ways to cook asparagus and my family loves it.  I honestly don't know if there was a huge difference in flavor because it was super fresh, but I do feel better knowing that it hadn't traveled hundreds of miles to get to my plate.  The fact that I helped a local farmer made it special, too. 

Great-Grandma's Rich and Cheesy Macaroni

This is my favorite comfort food of all time.  It just makes me feel happy and all warm inside.  The recipe comes from my great-grandmother.  My grandmother used to make this all the time for me and my brother when we were younger.  It was not Christmas or Thanksgiving without a huge pan of it on the table.  Back in my college days, when I would go home for the weekend, I would make a big pot of it and take it back to school with me.  Macaroni would be what I ate all week.  Lots of lovely memories come from this dish. 

It seems odd to some people, but the secret ingredient in Mam-maw's homemade macaroni and cheese is sugar.  Yes, I said sugar and quite a bit of it.  It turns into this rich, buttery, cheesy, happiness in a dish. 

I know that Velveeta is processed cheese.  I know.  I know.  I have made macaroni using several other cheeses and I just don't care for it.   This macaroni is what I judge all other macaronis by.  This is my macaroni. 

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

16 oz. elbow macaroni (large or small)

1 box of Velveeta (regular or 2%)

12 tbsp real butter

3/4 to 1 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop the cheese into cubes.  Set aside.  Melt the butter in a 9x13 dish and set aside.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water.  Drain pasta completely.  Put pasta back in the pot.

Move the dish with butter around so butter coats the bottom of the dish.  Pour the rest of the butter in the pot with the pasta.  Add the sugar, salt and cheese.  Cook on low until the cheese is melted.  Pour into 9x13 dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until slightly browned and bubbly on top. 

Smoky Kale with Onions

I have been browsing the produce section a little more intently lately because we need to find some vegetables other than potatoes and green beans that my family will eat.  The Side Dish Showdown on Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice was perfect to help push me into finding new side dishes. 

I was inspired by Lori of Fake Free Food in the 1st challenge.  She made Smoky Sauted Kale and Mushrooms.  I had never eated kale and decided that we would try it.  I changed up the recipe some.

Result:  My ten year old and husband ate it all- so I guess they didn't hate it.  It wasn't my favorite, but I may try it again some time using some different ingredients. 

This is how I made mine:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch of kale, coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 tbsp of smoked paprika
1/2 cup of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and saute onions until transparent.  Add garlic and paprika and cook for one minute longer.  Slowly add the kale until it's wilted.  Stir in the chicken stock and cover.  Steam the kale for about 5 minutes.  Uncover and stir in salt and pepper.  Cook until the remaining liquid evaporates.

I have linked up this post to Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker:Writer.  Go check out the other posts!

Blue Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

I love to order stuffed mushrooms when we go out to eat and I used to make them a lot at home, too, but haven't in a long time.  I forgot how easy they are to make.  You can put lots of different ingredients into these little natural cups, so just be creative.  One of my favorite things to stuff mushrooms with is crabmeat.  I use the canned.  This time, I used what I had at home already...Maytag blue cheese and bacon.

Ingredients:

9 large mushrooms

3 strips of bacon, fried and chopped or crumbled

1-2 ounces of crumbled blue cheese (depending on your taste)

3-4 tbsp of  melted butter

1/4 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms and discard.  Gently clean the mushrooms with a wet rag.  Place caps on a small, greased baking sheet.  With a pastry brush, brush a little of the melted butter on each mushroom cap. 

Mix the remaining ingredients (including the remaining butter) in a small bowl.  Spoon the mixture evenly into each mushroom.   Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until desired doneness. 

Blue Cheese and Walnut Roasted Potatoes

I picked up a small piece of Maytag blue cheese at the store the other day and have been looking for a recipe to inspire me.  The inspiration came to me from my newest cookbook, Flat Belly Diet Cookbook.

There are so many recipes that I want to try in this cookbook.  They are all healthy and look so yummy!  I also like that it gives all of the nutritional information for each recipe.

I cook roasted potatoes all the time and it gets a little old so I was excited to try this version.  They turned out quite tasty but I think I put too much blue cheese.  My ten-year-old couldn't eat it because the cheese was too strong.  It was definitely a keeper recipe, but I think I may try it with feta next time. 

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound thin-skinned baby potatoes, halved

1-1/2 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 ounces crumbled blue cheese

2 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Coat a 9"X9" baking dish with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.  Place the potatoes in the prepared dish and toss with the oil, pepper and salt.  Turn cut side down in the pan.  Roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until very tender and lightly golden on the underside.

2.  Meanwhile, put the walnuts in a small baking pan or skillet and place in the oven to toast for 6-8 minutes.  Tip into a bowl and let cool.  Add the blue cheese and scallions and crumble with your fingers.

3.  When the potatoes are done, turn them over and sprinkle evenly with the walnut mixture.  Bake for 5 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.