Sloppy "Newquists"

A little twist on Sloppy Joes!  Transformed from a recipe from Everyday Food

1/2 medium white onion, diced small 

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground dark-meat turkey

1 can (14.5 ounces) tomato sauce

1/3 cup ketchup

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

 1 Tbsp. yellow mustard

 3 Tbsp. brown sugar

4 large potato hamburger buns or slider buns

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add onion and sweet potato and cook until softened, 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds; season with salt and pepper. Add turkey and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 6 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook until sauce is reduced by half, 5 minutes. Serve on buns alongside kale chips.

Shaved Cucumber Salad

 

This is a super yummy summer time recipe! I've already made it several times and am in love! Once again, from my favorite Everyday Food Mag

Shave 3 English cucumbers into wide ribbons, stop when you reach the seeds. Reserve one seedy center. Thinly slice 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 medium onion (I always use sweet) and put all in a bowl. In a blender puree the one seedy center, 1/4 c. mayo, 1/4 c. fresh cliantro, 2 1/2 tsp. champagne vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Blend up and toss over the cucumbers. Enojy!

Rosemary Potato Pizza

 

As you've probably gathered, Friday night is pizza night at our house and I love trying new pizza ideas. With some potatoes on hand, this beauty was born:
pizza dough
1/2 russet potato, peeled and sliced very thinly
1/4 red onion sliced
3 garlic cloves pressed
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 c. grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. grated gruyere cheese
Sautee the red onions slowly in a pan with a little olive oil and a touch of butter. Once onions are soft, add about 1 tsp. sugar and caramelize.
Roll out the pizza dough and bake for 4 minutes in a 500 degree oven. Remove from oven and brush with olive oil and spread pressed garlic on top. Sprinkle the mozzarella over the pizza dough. Place the potato slices all over the top of the dough so it is covered completely. Sprinkle the gruyere and rosemary over the top, finish with the caramelized red onions. Bake at 500 for another 7-8 minutes. It's a winner!

Trader's Fish Tacos

The other night my husband offered to make dinner and I
quickly accepted! He pulled up a Trader
Joe’s recipe for fish tacos and they were fantastic! Paired with a margarita and we had a greatnight!
All from Trader Joe’s:
Breaded Cod Fillets
Broccoli slaw
TJ’s cilantro dressing
TJ’s pineapple salsaTortillas
Shredded cheese
Bake the fish, toss the broccoli slaw in the cilantro
dressing, put it all together in a grilled tortilla and enjoy!

Ginger & Cilantro Baked Tilapia

I got this recipe off Pintrist and holy smokes – it’s a
keeper!
2 large tilapia fillets
1 jalapeno pepper (optional – I opted out)
3 garlic cloves
1 inch grated ginger
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
¼ c. white wine
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/3 c. cilantro

Heat oven to 475. Pat
fish dry and season lightly with salt and pepper, place in glass baking
dish. Chop ppepper, garlic, grate ginger
and put in a small food processor with soy sauce, white wine, sesame oil and
cilantro. Blend completely. Pour over fish, rubbing in a little and bake
for 8-10 minutes (until fish is cooked through and flakey).
Serve immediately over brown rice. I also make stir fry vegetables. Delicious and very easy!

Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza

I had this amazing pizza at a restaurant and I had to try to recreate it!
Ingredients:
2 cups cubed butternut squash
1/2 sweet onion cut into ringspizza dough
2-3 Tbsp. butter (more for roasting the squash)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. olive oil
ground sage
2-3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Toss the butternut squash in some butter, brown sugar and sea salt. Roast at 425 for about 25 minutes or until tender and brown. In a small pan, slowly cook the onions with salt pepper, a dash of olive oil and some butter (just a smige!). Cook slowly to caramelize. Once the onions start to brown slightly, lightly sprinkle with some sugar. Continue to cook down the onions and at the end add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Set aside. In a small sauce pan heat the butter over medium heat and continue to cook util the butter starts to brown. Set aside.
Roll out pizza dough, brush with the brown butter, put on the balsamic vinegar and cheese. Top with roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions and sprinkle with the sage. Bake at 475 for about 9 minutes and enjoy!

Reuben Panini

Not Sure what to do with your left over corned beef?
Rye Bread, Thousand Island dressing on one piece, homemade
mustard on the other, corned beef and Swiss cheese in the middle, press in the Panini
until hot and toasty!

What Does Joe Know - Organic Broccoli Slaw

A little bit of heaven from Trader Joe’s!
Trader’s organic broccoli slaw in a bag in veggie section
Trader’s slivered almonds
Trader’s dried cranberries
Trader’s Cranberry, Walnut & Gorgonzola Dressing in the refrigerated section

Mix your stuff together and toss with some dressing. It’s crazy good – I promise!!! And if you’re not a broccoli fan, try it anyway! I bet you don’t even know it’s broccoli!!

Crazy Amazing Macaroni Salad

I first had this macaroni salad at a church potluck at The First Baptist Church of Vassar Michigan.  It was the church my Grandmother went to and served in for over 60 years.  I loved the macaroni salad so much that I asked the women working in the kitchen for the recipe.  They told me it was in their church cookbook, so I bought one on the spot!!  Nothing like a good church potluck macaroni salad!


Ingredients:
1 cucumber, diced
1 c. celery, thinly sliced
1 c. onion, diced (I like to use sweet onion)
8 radishes, sliced
1 lg. green pepper, diced
2 med. tomatoes, diced (I don’t care for tomatoes and didn’t include them!)
4 c. cooked macaroni

Dressing:
¾ c. sugar
2/3 c. vinegar
1/3 c. oil
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper

Mix together and mix with macaroni mixture. I added the dressing slowly, stopping when it was to my taste. I found that the recipe makes way too much yummy dressing!
And, you can add any other vegetables that you wish: green beans, zucchini, broccoli…

Grammie’s Doctored Up Fried Chicken

Adapted from an everyday food recipe
1 ¼ c. flour
2/3 c. corn starch
Course salt and pepper
Tabasco hot sauce
Chicken Grill Seasoning
1 qt. buttermilk (Grammie used powdered buttermilk so you can make exactly how much you need
1 chicken cut into 10 pieces (Grammie used 2 breasts cut in half and 7 thighs, all boneless and skinless)
Vegetable oil for frying

1. mix together flour, corn starch, and some salt and pepper. Take out 1 ¼ c. and set aside. In a separate bowl mix buttermilk, more salt and pepper, about 10-12 shakes of Tabasco, ½ tsp. Chicken Grill Seasoning. Dredge the chicken in flour mixture, then submerge in buttermilk mixture. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

2. Prepare a baking sheet lined with paper towel or paper grocery bags, topped with a wire rack. Heat about 1 inch oil in a cast iron skillet to 350 degrees. Take chicken out of buttermilk mixture and dredge in the remaining flour mixture that was set aside.

3. Fry the chicken until golden brown and cooked through. About 16-20 minutes per batch, flipping once. Cook in batches so the chicken isn’t touching and can brown on all sides. Transfer to the baking sheet to drain and enj oy! (Perfect for Father's Day!)

Pizza with Spring Vegetables

Pizza dough (here is my favorite)
3-4 pressed garlic cloves
Olive oil
Asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
Zucchini sliced
Thinly sliced white onion
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Cracked black pepper
Fresh basil

Roll out your favorite pizza dough, brush with olive oil. Spread on the pressed garlic cloves. Add the shredded mozzarella cheese and top with the fresh veggies and bake as your dough directs. Out of the oven grate fresh parmesan cheese on top, add freshly cracked black pepper and julienned basil. A delicious Friday night spring meal!

Orecchiette With Spring Vegetables

1/2 lb. Orecchiette pasta

1/2 c. Peas
Asparagus
Zucchini
1 cooked chicken breast
Zest from half a lemon
Juice from half a lemon
2 T. olive oil (plus more for sautéing)
Fresh parmesan

Boil ½ lb. orecchiette pasta
Sautee sliced zucchini and asparagus (cut into 2 inch spears) with some olive oil and salt and pepper
Put 1/2c. frozen peas in your strainer and when you drain the boiling pasta over the peas, they defrost! Add the sliced cooked chicken, pasta and peas into the sauté pan with the zucchini and asparagus. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and toss to coat. Top with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper!

Chinese Chicken Salad

Shred up some cabbage (Napa cabbage is super good!), shred up some carrots, add sliced almonds, bean sprouts, sliced scallions, mandarin oranges, top ramin crunchies and of course the yummy dressing!

Top Ramin Crunchies:
While in the unopened bag, crunch up the noodles (press firmly, hit, punch, get your aggressions out!)
In a hot skillet add a few Tbs. butter and the crunched up noodles and half of the seasoning packet (I like the chicken one).
Sautee until the noodles are browned and sooo delicious!

Dressing:
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. sesame seed oil
½ tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Combine and mix well

Spinach Strawberry Salad

Spinach Strawberry Salad:

Spinach, sliced strawberries, cut up fresh mozzarella cheese (or feta or goat cheese), candied pecans and the real star is the dressing – Brianna’s Home Style Blush Wine Vinaigrette (there is a big strawberry on the bottle).

Taco Salad

My mom introduced me to an amazing dressing that just might change your life! El Torito’s Cilantro Pepita Caesar Dressing. Tear up Romaine lettuce, add corn, black beans, chicken, shredded cheddar cheese, broken tortilla chips (they’re best if the crush them in your hands and blow them on your salad like Nacho Libre!), and of course the magic dressing.

Lentil Quesadillas

Hmmm… sounds like something I’d ever make let alone eat! But I was cruising through Trader Joe’s the other day and their little sample stand was handing this out and I quickly became a believer and bought all the ingredients!
Take Trader’s steamed lentils, heat them up with a little Trader’s Salsa Verde. Spread on a corn tortilla with some cheese on top and crisp up in a pan. It’s easy and amazing!

Bolognese Sauce

This is one of my new favorite things to make – it’s hearty, healthy, comforting… yummy!
Chop a small onion, some carrots, celery and a clove or two of garlic (sorry, no exact amounts around here!)
Sautee them with some olive oil, S&P, in a stock pot for about 10 min (until some crust forms on the pan). Add some ground beef (and ground veal if you wish) and mash it up as it browns so it is in small pieces. Once meat is browned, add some dry white wine and simmer until evaporated. Add 2 cans of tomatoes with juice (I use tomato puree because I don't like chunks of tomato!), dried oregano, basil, 2 Tbs of milk (to make the meat more tender) cover and reduce to a simmer for about an hour. Stir the sauce, smashing it on the side of the pot to get rid of any large chunks.
Enjoy over your favorite pasta. I love to use large rigatoni because the chunky sauce gets trapped inside and it’s delicious!!

Hillary's Pasta

Hillary’s Pasta
(this is the new name I’ve given the dish although I know she got the recipe from another friend!)
Bow Tie Pasta
Shredded cooked chicken
Pine nuts
Chopped tomatoes
Julienned basil
Lemon zest and juice
Grated parmesan cheese
Heat some butter and olive oil, S&P on low and toss with everything.
Can be served hot, room temp or cold – it’s amazing!!
Also, check out Hillary's blog - it's one of my favorites!

Romaine & Spinach with Buttermilk Dressing

Simple salad, but so delicious! I love to make homemade croutons by cubing bread, tossing in olive oil, Italian seasoning, Paremesan cheese and a dash of salt. Toast under the broiler. The dressing:
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 T. mayonnaise
small clove of garlic
1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
Puree in the blender until smooth. Toss over torn Romaine and Spinach with croutons.

Sloppy Joes

A friend had us over for Sloppy Joes the other night and it was a great flash back! My mom was known in our neighborhood growing up as the Queen of Sloppy Joes!!

Sautee some chopped onions and ground beef with some S&P. Add some catsup, brown sugar, mustard, worcestchire sauce, and perhaps some chopped bell pepper. (My girlfriend adds a can of Chicken Gumbo soup! It’s awesome!). Simmer on low until everything is sloppy and yummy! Serve on hamburger buns with some good old potato chips on the side!