French Onion Green Beans

Green beans. I ate so many of them growing up that I swore them off for roughly a decade. Now that I'm an adult (in most ways), I have to put thought into eating vegetables and you can only eat so many green things cooked a handful of ways before you're just burned out and bankrupt of ideas. I had seen a recipe on Food Network's site where Tyler Florence had used caramelized onions in a green bean dish and I got inspired to write a recipe that transformed green beans into something even I would love. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
12 oz bag of frozen green beans
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced into strips
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp butter
a pinch of dried thyme
2 tbsp of Sherry*
1/2 cup hot water
1 tsp beef base**
salt and pepper to taste

Dissolve beef base into hot water and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt butter and oil together over medium low heat and add onion. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt and thyme over and toss together. Keep the heat at the same temperature and slowly cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and golden brown (about 15 minutes; you don't want them to brown on the edges, it needs to be a low and steady softening/browning).



Once your onions look about like this, pour in the sherry and stir until it has reduced almost completely. Turn heat up to medium and pour in your beef stock. Add frozen green beans and toss/cook until most of the liquid is absorbed and the green beans are tender yet still a little crunchy. At this time, taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly. 
 
*If you don't keep sherry around, much like I don't, you can buy cooking sherry in the grocery store where you find all your different vinegar. 
**Beef base is usually in the grocery store where you find bouillon and comes in a short little jar. If for some reason you can't locate it, beef bouillon (1 cube) dissolved in water will suffice. You just don't want to use beef stock because it will provide too much liquid to the recipe. 

Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream

Though I've had my ice cream attachment for my stand mixer for several months now, I hadn't used it until summer was in full swing. I am kind of proud of myself for having the restraint to not drown myself in my own home made ice cream. 

Around here, Blue Bell is king, and with every right. It is heaven, so I have set out to create their flavors at home. Vanilla went great (I will note at the bottom how to use this recipe to create the copycat of theirs), chocolate was even better, and this was delicious too. Get your freezer ready for some ice cream!!

Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream

2 1/2 cups half and half

2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

10 egg yolks

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups frozen, thawed, smashed strawberries plus

3 tbsp sugar

In a large sauce pan, add cream and half and half and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Separately, whisk together sugar and egg yolks until totally combined and light in color in a large bowl.

Once cream is hot, turn off the heat, and while constantly whisking, slowly add individual full ladles of hot cream to the bowl to temper the eggs until nearly half of the cream has been mixed into the egg yolks and sugar. 

Add all the egg/cream mixture to the pot of remaining cream and turn on burner to medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook the anglaise until it evenly coats the back of a spoon and when you run your finger through middle, it holds the line (if you have a thermometer, it will be about 175 degrees). Cool to room temp and add vanilla. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. 

While the ice cream is churning, smash the strawberries with a fork until mostly broken up, but still slightly chunky (let it be noted that the 1 1/2 cups measurement is POST smashing). Sprinkle on remaining 3 tbsp of sugar and allow to macerate for the duration of the ice cream making. Once the ice cream is prepared, stir in the strawberries and liquid until well incorporated. 

Transfer to your desired containers and freeze for 5-6 hours to harden. Enjoy! This recipe yields a generous 2 quarts of ice cream. 

~For vanilla: leave out the last two ingredients and adjust vanilla to 2 1/2 tbsp. 

~For chocolate: leave out last 2 ingredients and add 3/4 cup cocoa powder to cream and half and half when warming. 

Warm black bean and corn salad

In the quest to lose weight and get healthier in general, I'm always looking for new ways to take veggies and make them feel satisfying and offer a variety of flavors. I mean, you can only eat steamed or sauteed vegetables so many times before you just get sick of it and have a huge pile of buttery mashed potatoes with gravy for dinner. (Oh, that's just me? :sigh:)

This particular recipe I wrote to accompany a simply seasoned and seared Mahi Mahi filet to round out a light, healthy, and explosively flavorful dinner. It was a totally successful marriage in taste and texture! 

Warm Black Bean and Corn salad

1/2 large yellow onion, diced

1 green or red bell pepper, diced

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

12 oz frozen corn kernels

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil for the pot

1/4 cup of your favorite salsa

1 tsp cumin

2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

In a medium pot over medium high heat, saute onion and bell pepper in olive oil until onion becomes slightly translucent and soft. Add in frozen corn and cook for 1 minute. Reduce to medium heat and add in lime juice, cumin, and salsa, stirring a bit to combine. Add in black beans, taste, and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or cold! 

This tastes great alongside fish and would be great with chicken and/or as an addition to soft tacos! Enjoy!

Traditional Meatloaf

So meatloaf..... it's one of those things that no one thinks they like, but is essentially one big meatball. People like meatballs, but not meatloaf? I don't get it either. Meatloaf is a highly sought after thing in my house. My husband and daughter LOVE it, and I have come up with a recipe that I find trumps most all others I've had. It's got traditional flavors that have been intensified and a sweet/spicy ketchup sauce on top. I just wish we had leftovers.... :(

I apologize I didn't get a picture... the folks I feed were starving to DEATH (yeah..) and couldn't wait any longer.

Meatloaf

1 lb ground pork
2 lbs ground beef 85/15
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 large yellow onion
1 large green bell pepper
3 tbsp bacon fat
1 cup ketchup, divided
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, divided
3/4 cup 1 minute oats
2 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp packed brown sugar
4 dashes of your favorite hot sauce

Preheat your oven to 350º.

Dice onions and bell peppers and saute in the bacon fat until they are tender. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, add your meat, eggs, cooled veggies, 2 tbsp of Worcestershire, 1/4 cup of the ketchup, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly with your hands and once combined, sprinkle in oats, mixing again with your hands.

Once prepared, press the mixture into your loaf pan (you can also free form a loaf onto a baking sheet, but cooking time should be adjusted) and pat the top flat. Place the pan on a baking sheet lined with foil. Depending on the size of your loaf pan, there may be some drippings that spill out and this will allow for an easier clean up. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until it reads an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

While the meatloaf is baking, you can mix your ingredients to make the sauce. Add the remaining 3/4 cup ketchup, remaining 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, sugar, and hot sauce and whisk until sugar has dissolved some. Taste the sauce and adjust to your liking if necessary. After 1 hour of baking, spoon the sauce generously all over the top of the meatloaf and allow to finish baking in the oven.

Once it's done baking, allow to sit and rest for 5-8 minutes before slicing and serving. Slicing too soon will result in a loss of juicy goodness. Enjoy!

Shredded Chicken for tacos

I have a hard time getting my daughter to eat meat aside from fish, shrimp, bacon, or sausage, so when she gobbled this up I knew I had hit the chicken jackpot. We love Tex Mex and Mexican food at our house and tacos are just so versatile and easy to put together. I'll share my recipe for shredded chicken tacos so y'all can get hooked too!


Shredded Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 tbsp diced pickled jalapeno
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil


In a large pot over medium heat, saute onion until soft. Add garlic and peppers and saute an additional minute. Pour in tomatoes and scrape the pot if there are any brown bits. Pour in chicken stock, lime juice, and stir in spices. Once the mixture starts simmering, add chicken breasts, nestling them down into the braising liquid. Adjust the heat to low and once resuming a low simmer, cover with a lid and slow cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Once cooked, use two forks to shred the chicken. Keep uncovered and allow to simmer until most of the liquid has reduced. Taste for seasoning, add spices or salt and pepper as necessary.

This is particularly good served on a whole wheat tortilla with sliced avocado, sour cream, and your favorite corn salsa for crunch. Enjoy!!

Have leftovers? This makes some juicy, gooey, amazing quesadillas!

Olive Tapenade

Whether it is a Muffaletta or just as an accompanying condiment for bread, I LOVE a good olive tapenade. It's bright, salty, mildly sour, and not something you see everywhere. Recently, I decided to come up with a basic version of it so that I could have it whenever I want. I'm sure this will be a base for many variations and uses in the future.

Basic Olive Tapenade

1 2.25 oz can of black olives, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup green olives with pimentos
1 tbsp drained capers
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 large garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mince olives and capers, making sure to very finely mince the garlic. Mix in olive oil, lemon juice, and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper accordingly. Cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours (or make 1-2 days ahead) to allow garlic to mellow out. Serve with bread, on sandwiches, or as a garnish for meat dishes! Enjoy!

3 Cheese Mac and Cheese

Even the healthiest of eaters have those moments when they "cheat" or indulge, right? I have always had a love for comfort food, and the cold weather yesterday really had me wanting something rich, warm, and comforting. Now, I have dabbled with mac and cheese recipes for a past year or two, coming up with some that were good, but nothing that really stopped my quest for creating something better... until this one. Some people like creamy mac and cheese, drier baked mac and cheese, cheddar mac and cheese, fancy mac and cheese, there are just so many ways to make it and THIS is the kind of mac and cheese that I love. Baked, creamy, super cheesy, and ULTRA comforting!

A little tip about cheese: I never buy the shredded stuff in the bag. If you have the time, it is SO worth it to grate/shred cheese yourself. The bagged stuff is lightly coated with an anti-clumping substance that can really change the consistency of cheese when you are melting it. Plus, it's a few extra calories burned to compensate for all the yummy cheese you're about to devour! And, there is NOTHING like the good stuff when it comes to parmesan. The wedge of parm may seem expensive, but you are really getting just as much, if not more, cheese for your money grating it yourself and a TON more flavor.




3 Cheese Mac and Cheese

4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1 dash of nutmeg
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups room temp milk
4 tbsp grated parmesan
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 oz grated swiss cheese (this could be subbed for Monterrey Jack or Mozzarella)
10 oz grated extra sharp cheddar
1 lbs elbow pasta

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat. Whisking constantly, add in flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in milk and stir until it has thickened to a thin gravy consistency. Off the heat, stir in nutmeg, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese and set aside to cool. While cooling, cook pasta as directed but stop 1 minute short of package directions. Drain and return back to pot.

Preheat oven to 375º.

By this time, your white sauce should have cooled to a lukewarm temperature and can be poured over and mixed up with your hot, cooked pasta. Once well mixed, stir in your heavy cream and cool an additional few minutes. Stir in shredded cheeses (you want the mixture to be cool enough not to melt the cheese before adding it so the oven does the melting for you), reserving a large handful of cheddar for the top, and pour into a 9x13 baking dish, top with remaining cheese, and cover with foil.

Bake for 20 minutes and remove foil, turn up temp to 425, and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until the edges brown slightly. Serve hot and enjoy!