Sweet Carrots

I love a good side dish and this is my new favorite! I could eat the whole bowl for my main dish. 

Sweet Carrots

1 pound baby carrots
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Place everything together in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until carrots are tender. Drain and serve.

Serves 4-6


realmomkitchen.com

Cornbread Stuffing

I am not blogging as much as I once did. I am amazed at how busy my life got with another baby. I am out of the habit of taking pictures of the food I am making. And what's the point of sharing a recipe if you can't see how good it looks? I need to be better at that for my own cookbook that I have almost completed! 

I got this recipe at a cooking show I went to a few weeks ago. I am a stuffing girl and have never really liked anything other than my Grandma's stuffing recipe. But oh boy, this was dang good! I finally had to give my leftovers away so I would stop picking at it. 

Cornbread Stuffing

2 1/2 lbs Marie Calendar Cornbread mix

1 quart buttermilk

1 box Sage Stuffing mix (I used just an herb stuffing mix)

2 sweet onions

1 bunch celery

2 (12 oz) packages of sage sausage

3-4 cups of turkey or chicken broth, flavored with 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 cup butter

3 tsp sage

Salt and pepper

Prepare cornbread mix according to package directions, but substitute buttermilk for water. Cool and keep covered to contain moister. Can be prepared the day before. 

Finely chop onions an 8-10 stalks of celery. Saute in 6 tbsp of melted butter. Cook until onions are soft and celery is a faded shade of green. Drain excess butter.

In a frying pan, cook sausage and season with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 3 tsp of crushed sage. Drain excess fat. 

In a very large bowl, add onions, celery, and sausage. To that, add the cornbread and mix to combine. Add the box of stuffing mix and stir. (Don't be afraid to mix with your hands.) Add the broth, slowly until the mixture is well moistened. You want to be able to squeeze it in your hand and have it hold it shape without being mushy.) Stuff it in a turkey, heat it on a stove top, or heat it in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. 

Serves 6-10 depending on how much you like stuffing:)

Rebecca Cressman

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

For Mom.....

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
Parmesan cheese
Dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet. Place oil and garlic in a bowl. Mix and add cauliflower. Put into prepared pan and season with salt and pepper. Bake 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Broil 3-5 minutes until golden brown.

Hawaiian Chicken and Coconut Rice

I am trying to get the most out of our grill before the weather starts turning cold. Although, being almost 6 months pregnant, I am ready for some cold weather! I am tired of sweating when I am sitting still.

The sweat was worth standing over a grill last night! We loved this delicious chicken and rice!

Hawaiian Chicken

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (or you could use thighs)

2 cups Aloha soy sauce

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 bunch green onions, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup white onion, chopped

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp sesame oil

1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk

Trim the chicken of any fat. In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, water, sugar, onions, garlic, oil, and coconut milk. Place chicken in large ziplock bags and pour marinade over chicken, sealing bag and placing in refrigerator until ready to cook. Marinade 4 hours to overnight.

Grill chicken at low heat so the marinade doesn't burn, about 5-7 minutes per side or until done. Serve with coconut rice and garnish with additional green onions.

Coconut Rice

Coconut rice can be made by replacing half of the water in your recipe with coconut milk.

Dishes serve: 4-6

adapted from: girlwhoateeverything

Baked Zucchini

We still have zucchini coming out of our ears in our little garden! I saw this recipe on Food Network and made it to go with dinner last night. It was good and easy. Yet another way to use up all that zucchini!

Baked Zucchini

food network

1 tsp olive oil

1 lb zucchini, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

kosher salt and pepper

pinch of paprika

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp olive oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brush 1 tsp of olive oil on the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Arrange sliced zucchini in the dish with an overlapping pattern. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.

To make the topping, combine panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, thyme and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and stir until bread crumbs are soaked with a yellow tint of the oil. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the dish and bake until the topping is golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

Coconut Chicken and Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Tonight for dinner I made one of our favorites!

Coconut Chicken and Smashed Sweet Potatoes. It was delicious!

Coconut Chicken

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp water

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

4 tbsp melted butter

In a shallow dish, mix together coconut, flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. In another shallow dish, beat 2 eggs with the water.

Dredge the chicken in the egg wash, then coconut mixture. Place chicken on sprayed cookie sheet. Drizzle each piece with a little melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Dipping Sauce:

Combine 1/4 cup orange marmalade with 2 tbsp Dijon mustard. Serve with chicken.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes

2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup honey

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

nutmeg to taste

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and return them to pot. Mash with stock, honey, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Serve and enjoy!

(sources: adapted from Anna Can Cook and Rachael Ray)

A month ago I was called to be young women's president in our ward. Since then, Sunday's have been anything but a day of rest. Valentine's day was full of meetings and therefore-no cooking occurred. We had leftovers. I had a beautiful menu planned, but wasn't able to make it until this week. However, as I got dinner on the table, my kids decided to go wacko on me resulting in no nice tablecloth, no candles, and cold food by the time we sat down to eat. I was frustrated that it wasn't the nice, calm, romantic meal I had been hoping for, but I guess that is life. The food still tasted delicious (even though Tessa wouldn't touch it. I tried not to be offended.). Maybe next year will be a bit calmer-ha ha ha!

Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

Bake pork tenderloin at 325* for about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, combine vinegar and honey in a small saucepan. Simmer until reduced by half. Remove pork from oven, brush with reduced vinegar. Place under broiler until sauce is bubbly and starting to caramelized. Remove, turn, brush with vinegar and repeat. When finished, remove from oven and let rest 7-10 minutes before cutting. Drizzle with remaining vinegar.

Green Mashed Potatoes

redhead recipes

6 russet potatoes

1/2 bag frozen peas

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

milk

Boil potatoes until soft. Add in peas for last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain peas and potatoes. Add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper. Mash. Add milk as needed to obtain desired texture. Serve.