Thanksgiving Green-Bean Casserole

Homemade take on this classic Mid-west dish. It puts the old fashioned standard to shame! Worth the effort!

Ingredients:

-4 Slices of Bacon
-3 Packages of Mushrooms, Diced (I used crimini)
-3-4 TB Butter
-1 Yellow Onion, Diced
-Large Bag of Green-beans
-Olive Oil
-1 tsp Better than Bullion
-1 C Heavy Cream
-Salt
-Crispy Fried Onions

Directions:

-Heat oven to 350.
-Cook the slices of bacon on a baking sheet until crispy. Set aside.
-Turn up oven to 400.
-Spread diced mushrooms on baking sheet. Toss lightly to coat with the bacon grease. Sprinkle evenly with salt and return to oven.
-In a large saucepan, melt butter. Dice bacon and add to pan with diced onion and some salt. Stir occasionally.
-Roast mushrooms until well browned. Remove 3/4 of the mushrooms from the baking sheet and add to the saucepan with the onions.
-Add green-beans to baking sheet. Add a little oil and stir to coat. Bake until vegetables are well roasted and tender. Remove from oven and set aside.
-Turn oven down to 350.
-Add Better than Bullion to saucepan and extra butter/salt as needed. Continue to stir occasionally. When onions and mushrooms are caramelized, add cream. Simmer until well combined.
-In a food processor, blend onion/mushroom mixture until smooth. Add a few tablespoons of water if needed.
-Combine mushroom puree with roasted green-beens. Pour into a large round casserole dish and cover with a lid.*
-Bake for 20-30 minutes until mixture is bubbling.
-Remove lid and sprinkle crispy onions on top. Bake for 5-10 minutes without the lid.

*You can make this recipe the night before. Put in the fridge at this point and bake the next day!

Asparagus Salad

This worked out great as a low maintenance grill dish! I need more grilling in my life!

Asparagus

Cherry Tomatoes, Halved

Red Onion, Diced

Garlic, Pressed or Minced

Parmesan Cheese, Shaved

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Salt

Pepper

-Trim the ends off the asparagus and spread on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn to coat. 

-Grill or bake the asparagus until cooked through and soft. When finished, cut stalks into thirds. 

-On very high heat, flash fry the tomatoes and onions, adding just enough oil to keep ingredients from sticking. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

-When tomatoes have softened and onions are slightly translucent, turn heat down to medium and add a small amount of balsamic vinegar and garlic. Cook for 1 minute. 

-In a bowl, toss together asparagus, tomato/onion mixture, and shaved parm.

-Serve hot, or refrigerate and serve as a cold salad. *optional addition of pine nuts would be delicious!

Smoked Salmon Dip

I was craving smoked salmon dip, and had some fresh salmon filets in my fridge. After searching through several recipes, I found a pretty good way to fake smoked salmon without owning a smoker. The dip tasted great and pretty close to the real thing!

 
Ingredients:

-2 Small Salmon Filets

-1/8-1/4 C Hickory Liquid Smoke 

-1/2 Lemon, Juiced

-1/4 C Yellow Onion, Finely Diced

-1 TB Brown Sugar

-1 Garlic Clove, Pressed

-Salt & Pepper

-8 oz Cream Cheese, Softened

-Chives, Finely Diced

Directions:

-In a square baking dish, combine liquid smoke, lemon juice, onion, sugar, garlic, and salt and pepper. Stir until sugar has disolved and all ingredients are evenly distributed. 

-Place salmon filets in the mixture with skin facing up. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (the longer you can marinate the salmon, the more it will absorb the flavor). 

-Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Place salmon on baking sheet skin side down. 

-Broil salmon on low for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through and soft. 

-Remove skin from filets and transfer salmon into a bowl. Use a fork to flake salmon. 

-When the salmon is cool, add cream cheese and chives. Stir until well combined. Add salt to taste and if not smoky tasting enough, add a small amount of liquid smoke. 

Sauteed Brussel Sprout Salad

It's been awhile since I had a new recipe, but sometimes cooking on the fly yields the best results 😋

Ingredients:

-Your choice of cooking fat (I used pork lard, but you could use bacon fat, olive oil, butter, etc.)

-Thinly sliced yellow onion

-Quartered brussel sprouts

-Quartered cherry tomatoes

-Pine nuts

-Balsamic vinegar

-Salt

-Optional: shredded cheese of your choice (I used Beecher's cheddar and my sister crumbled goat cheese in top)

Directions:

-Heat fat in a large skillet. 

-Add sliced yellow onion and cook for ~20 minutes until cooked through and caramelized. Reduce heat as they begin to cook through. 

-While the onions cook, cut the brussel sprouts by chopping off the stem, peeling off any blemished leaves, and cutting into quarters. 

-When onions are cooked through, add brussel sprouts to pan. Cook on medium-high until sprouts are sauteed and cooked through ~15 min. 

-Add cherry tomatoes and pine nuts, stir frequently.

-Add balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.  Stir on high until the vinegar cooks out a little. 

-Serve hot and top with shredded cheese if desired. 

White Castle Sliders

It's been entirely too long since I've posted! I've been busy for sure and mostly just been maintaining the status quo as far as food exploration goes. This one is definitely because of a craving. I think I pretty much hit the nail on the head, but it will never taste quite right- maybe it's just the bad ingredients in part that make these things so tasty. Anyhow, for a fairly healthy version of these babies, I definitely enjoyed them!!!! This recipe is for a qty of 12 sliders. A lot of recipes I read were for 24, so you can definitely double this, if needed. 

Meat Patties:

~1lb of 80/20 Ground Beef

-1 Envelope of Onion Soup/Dip Mix

-1 Egg

-Pepper

-1tb Water

-Preheat oven to 400° 

-Mix all ingredients together. 

-Line a jelly roll pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. 

-Press meat mixture down into the bottom of the pan and spread flat. Try to spread the meat out to the exact size of the width and length of the roll sheet. 

-Bake for 5 minutes and remove from the oven. Cut the meat to create patties based on the roll size. Use a straw to poke 5 holes in the meat in the pattern of a die on each patty. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

-Remove from oven. 

 

Burger:

-Square Dinner Rolls (12 in a sheet)

-1/4 C Butter (you might need more)

-1 Finely Diced Yellow Onion

-American or Other Mild Cheese (I used Mild Cheddar slices)

-Pickle Chips

-Cut the entire roll sheet in half depth-wise (to create top half of buns and bottom half). 

-Melt butter in pan and add diced onion. Mix onions occasionally to keep from over-cooking. Cook until onions are translucent. 

-Place pickle slices face down on pan, flip after 5 minutes. 

-Put roll sheet halves in the oven, soft side up and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and spread onions over both halves on the soft side (the inner burger side). 

-Coat the inside part of the buns with melted butter. Place bottom half of buns on a foil covered pan. 

-Place each individually cut meat patty on each roll- don't remove the grease, it helps soften the buns. Put top half of buns on top. Wet a large piece of paper towel and drape over buns for 5 minutes (if there is flour on the top part of the buns, wipe it off with a wet cloth). 

-Cover with foil and bake for 5 minutes. 

-Remove from oven and set aside top half of buns. Place a slice of cheese on each burger patty and top with a pickle slice. Replace the top half of buns and brush with melted butter. 

-Return to the oven for a minute or two (to let the cheese soften but not totally melt) and then remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. 

-Cut sliders apart and serve imediately! Top with ketchup and mustard if you like.

Braised Pork Teriyaki with Pinapple Glaze

Slow cooker meat is a new fav of mine <3 I just got a new cast aliminum dutch oven for Christmas and it cooks like a dream. I'm totally in love! You can make this recipe in a slow cooker or any dutch oven, depending on how much time you want to give it. 

Ingredients:

Pork Shoulder

Beer (I used Hefeweizen)

Garlic Cloves, Peeled

Salt & Pepper

Cauliflower "Rice" (premade from Trader Joe's in the frozen aisle)

Soy Sauce

Pineapple Juice

Coconut Oil

Ginger

Brown Sugar

Baby Broccoli 

Sugar Snap Peas

Directions:

-Season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper on each side, and place in your dutch oven/slow cooker. Add a couple cloves of garlic, and cover with beer (mine took 2 bottles). Put the lid on. 

-Let it cook for several hours (this will depend a lot on the size of your cut and whether you're cooking on the stove, in the oven etc. - my cut was ~2# and on the stove top over medium/high heat, it took 5 hours). 

-Check on it occasionally, and when the beer has almost cooked out completely, lower the heat. When there is just a little liquid left (it will be a dark rich brown sauce), turn off the heat and put your meat in a bowl, leaving the sauce in the pan. Using two forks, shred the meat, discard any bones, and set the fat aside. 

-In a separate pan, add a tablespoon or two of coconut oil. Add the frozen cauliflower "rice" and cover the pan. Let it cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes. 

-Chop your vegetables, and steam them in a pan or the cheeting method - throw them in the microwave for 1 minute or until bright green. 

-In your meat pan, turn the heat back up to medium and add some coconut oil. Add a little ginger, soy or teriyaki sauce, pinapple juice, and a little sugar. Stir with a soft spatula until well combined and aromatic. 

-Assembly: Cauliflower "rice" on the bottom, cooked veggies on top, cover with shredded meat, and pour as much sauce as you want over the top!

-Optional: dice the fat up, and cook in coconut oil and ponapple juice on high heat until well cooked (fat is your friend contrary to popular belief!!!!)

One Pan Whole30 Dinner

So much yum! Brief description: chicken thighs, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and brussel sprouts. Delicious, nutritious, and Whole30 compliant!

Ingredients:

Clarified Butter or Ghee

Yellow Onion (finely diced)

Fresh Garlic Clove (minced)

Artichoke Hearts (frozen)

Kalamata Olives

Chicken Thighs (skin on is best)

Salt & Pepper

Cashew Milk (optional)

Brussel Sprouts

Fresh Lemon Juice

Directions:

-Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a large pan (bonus: make it in a cast iron skillet!!!)

-Add onion and garlic over medium heat. Cook until golden brown. 

-Add frozen artichoke hearts and kalamata olives. Stir until artichokes separate and are mostly cooked through. Add salt to taste. 

-Add more butter at this point if necessary and spread all ingredients evenly on bottom of pan. 

-Place chicken thighs skin up on top of other ingredients in pan. Rub a thin layer of butter on the skin and sprinkle salt and pepper in top. Cover pan for 10 minutes. 

-Flip chicken skin side down so that the skin is making direct contact with the oil and the pan. Add 1/3 cup cashew milk and cover pan. 

-Prepare brussel sprouts by cutting bottom off (where it would connect to the stem), and slicing in half vertically. 

-Add brussel sprouts to the sides of the pan and cover again. 

-After 5 minutes, stir sprouts so that they get coated with the oil and juices. Sprinkle with salt and squeeze a little lemon juice on top.  

-Cook for another 5 minutes or until brussel sprouts are cooked through. 

*If cooking in a cast iron skillet, preheat oven to 425 and after placing chicken on top of olives and artichokes, put in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Add brussel sprouts and bake another 10-15 minutes or until chicken and brussel sprouts are cooked through.