Quinoa, Spinach and Roasted Veggies

1 Red Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper

1 Green Pepper

1 Onion

3 Carrots

Olive Oil

Salt 

Pepper

1. Chop veggies into bite size chunks. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or so.

Meanwhile...

2 cups rinsed quinoa

olive oil

4 cups chicken broth

2. Place the 2 cups of quinoa into a heavy saucepan and roast for 5 minutes stir occasionally. Once lightly brown put a little olive oil in the pan and stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. When it is boiling cover and turn the heat to low for 15 minutes.

4 cups spinach

4 cloves minced garlic

2 TBS butter 

2 Tbs. olive oil

3. Heat the butter, olive oil and garlic in a large pan until the butter is slightly brown. Turn off the heat and place the spinach in the pan and cover. 

4. After a few minutes remove the lid and add the quinoa and roasted veggies. Stir and enjoy!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

1lb. chicken breast
1lb. chicken thighs
1 bottle of tomatillo salsa
4 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 cup of red or white wine
1/2 tsp. chipotle seasoning
1 tsp. cumin
black pepper

1. Place meat in crockpot. 2. Throw everything else into crockpot. 3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.

I served this with a choice of soft tortillas or hard, shredded cabbage, minced cilantro, salsa and shredded cheese.

• Lentil and Split Pea Soup

• 
  
• 5 Tbs. coconut oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4 finely diced carrots
• 6-8 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 11 cups chicken or vegetable stock, plus more as needed
• 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) green lentils 
• 1 1/2 cups  green split peas, picked
    over and rinsed
• 2 tsp. fine-grain sea salt, plus more, to taste
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 Tbs. madras curry powder
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 
  

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat, melt 4 TBS. coconut oil. Add the onion, carrots, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the onion softens, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the 11 cups stock, the lentils, peas and 1/2 tsp. of the salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the stick of butter and cook until it begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. When it starts to smell nutty and fragrant, stir in the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and set aside.

When the lentils are done, remove from the heat, stir in the coconut milk and the remaining 1/4 tsp. salt. Puree the soup with an immersion blender. You can leave the soup a bit chunky if you like, or puree until it is perfectly smooth. Adjust the consistency as desired with more stock or water. Stir in half of the spiced butter and adjust the seasoning with salt.

Adapted from William-Sonoma recipes. 

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

2 cups natural peanut butter

2 cups honey

2 eggs

2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine all ingredients and spoon onto cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Kale, roasted beet and sweet potato salad

3 peeled and diced sweet potatoes

1 peeled and diced beet

olive oil

maple syrup

cinnamon 

nutmeg

5 garlic cloves

pinch sea salt

pinch black pepper

1 bunch kale

2 avocados

4 diced carrots

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Dressing:

1 avocado

1/2 cup olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

pepper

2 tsp. honey, or to taste

roasted garlic

4 scallions

1. Place diced sweet potatoes, beets and garlic on rimmed oven sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and maple syrup. Sprinkle with cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, pepper and salt. Roast in a 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

2. While that is cooling, mix all the ingredients for the dressing with a hand mixer or food processor or blender.

3. Chop kale into fine strips, place in bowl and massage with a little olive oil.

4. Add chickpeas, carrots, avocado, cooled sweet potatoes and beets. Toss with dressing and serve!

My whole family LOVED this salad!!

Christmas Menu 2011

This was an epic year for our food menu. Everyone liked it! We had 4 adults and 5 kids who enjoyed all of the meal which is quite remarkable for us :). Before I forget it here it is-

Garlic Prime Rib - Here are my modifications :). I used a lot of fresh thyme as opposed to dried. I also used ground peppercorns. As for my cooking method, this was totally not planned but because we celebrated Christmas in a kitchen I was not familiar with we had a hard time working the oven properly. So I seared it at 500 degrees for 20 minutes and then the oven would turn off. Luckily we had a great meat thermometer and just left it in the oven until it reach 130 degrees. Essentially we did the cooking method of searing and then cooking for an hour and then turning off the oven and letting it sit in the oven for 2-3 hours. It took a lot longer than I had planned but the final result was amazing!!

Twice baked potatoes- I was able to make these ahead of time and freeze them and reheat on the day. They were great!

Pear and Pomegranate Salad- for this salad I just bought a nice champagne salad dressing although the one in the recipe sounds amazing- I really just needed to save time and a mess!

Green bean casserole- Just the standard version.

Christmas ribbon jello- Layers of red, white and green jello!

Hawaiian rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Tomato Bruschetta

2 tomatoes, chopped
1 small white onion, choppped
10 leaves of fresh basil
dash of sea salt
dash of freshly ground peppercorns
1 teaspoon garlic powder or fresh
drizzle of evoo
drizzle of balsamic vinegar

1. Combine all the ingredients and enjoy!

We love this served with toasted artisan bread