Marinated Beef Kabobs with Leek and Turnip Pasta

Serving size: 4

Ingredients:
Kabobs -
2 8oz Ribeye Steaks, trimmed and cubed
1/4 cup red wine, your choice
1 shallot, sliced
3 cloves garlic, diced fine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper, liberal
dash of red pepper flakes
4 skewers soaked in water

1/2 yellow onions, cut into large slices

Pasta -
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 stalk of leek, cleaned and diced
1/4 cup turnip, diced
1/2 cup beef broth
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup Parmesan
salt and pepper, liberal

3 cups wheat pene pasta

Directions :
Marinate cubed steak in all following steak ingredients for 1+ hours. Put steak, shallots and yellow onions on skewers. Grill until medium rare, roughly 4 minutes on each side.

Heat olive oil on medium in a pan on the stove for 5 minutes. Add turnips and saute for 5 minutes, add leeks and saute for additional 5 minutes. Add beef broth and lemon juice, continue to saute for 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and Parmesan and stir.

Serve pasta under beef kabobs. Delish!

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Makes 4-5 large servings. Simple and delicious!

Ingredients:
2 medium sized chicken breasts, cut into cubes
3 smoked sausages, sliced (preferably grilled for charred taste)
1/2 lb. cooked shrimp
3/4 box reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can fired roasted tomatoes with garlic
Juice from 1 large lemon
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 russet potato, diced into small cubes
1 yellow onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced with seeds
3-4 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon thyme
2 bay leaves
A few drops of Tabasco sauce, to taste
4 servings of white rice, cooked
Parsley, chopped

Directions:
Combine all ingredients, except shrimp, rice and parsley in a slow cooker. Cook 4 to 8 hours. Turn slow cooker off, add shrimp and let simmer for 10 minutes. Serve in a bowl with a scoop of rice and chopped parsley on top!

Wine Pairing Note:
I would recommend a Shiraz with this dish. It pairs well with the spicy jambalaya while enhancing the notes of bay leaf and thyme.

A Pinot Gris would be a great white wine pairing with jambalaya as well.

Baked Potato Pizza

(pizza prior to final bake)

Ingredients:
1 large russet potato
1 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper

3/4 pound bacon, cooked and chopped into bits
1 Pillsbury thin pizza crust
4 green onion stalks, chopped
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Skin the potato and cut it into four chunks, boil for 30 minutes. Drain, put back in the pan with heat on low, add sour cream, buttermilk, garlic, salt and pepper. Mash until well whipped with no chunks remaining.

Spray baking sheet and roll pizza crust out. Bake as instructed, but for 8 minutes for extra crisp. Take crust out and spread mashed potatoes thinly on pizza crust. Sprinkle bacon, green onions and cheddar cheese on top. Add salt and pepper. Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes, until brown.

Use hot sauce if you prefer, but not necessary as the pizza is delicious without it!

Fried Rice

4 servings

Ingredients
3 carrots, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
A handful of asparagus, chopped and/or a handful of sugar snap peas
1/2 can water chestnuts, diced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

Riced, cooked (4 servings)
Meat of choice, cooked and chopped I recommend two chicken breasts OR 1 lb. of shrimp OR 1 chicken breast and 1/2 lb. of shrimp
2 eggs
Soy sauce (approx. 4 tablespoons)
Chicken broth (approx. 1 cup)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon spicy mustard
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Cook vegetables (through ginger) on medium heat in a large pan with soy sauce, mustard, lemon juice and chicken broth (don't add full cup of chicken broth right away - add in 1/4 cup increments as liquid absorbs) until soft, approx. 30 minutes. Once the vegetables are close to being done, scramble the eggs in a separate pan. Add scrambled eggs, rice and cooked meat to vegetable mixture with additional soy sauce to taste (a couple tablespoons) and heat on low for 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. For an extra touch, add diced green onions and/or sesame seeds just before serving.

Crunchy Baked Fennel

Sweet roasted slices of fennel topped with herbed bread crumbs make for a fabulous freezer-to-oven side dish! The unbaked gratin can be wrapped in foil and frozen for up to a week. Bake the foil-wrapped dish straight from the freezer for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes longer.

Ingredients
10 medium fennel bulbs - halved, cored and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, minced
2 teaspoons chopped thyme
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup dry white wine

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On 2 large rimmed baking sheets, drizzle the fennel with 1/2 cup of the olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes, until softened. Let cool for 30 minutes.

In a skillet, toast the panko over moderate heat until golden, 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; stir in the cheese and flour.

In the same skillet, melt the butter. Add the garlic, shallots and thyme and cook over moderate heat until the garlic is softened, 5 minutes; add to the panko. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of oil and the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the over to 400 degrees. Spread half of the fennel in a 9 by 13 inch glass or ceramic baking disk. Pour the wine over the fennel, then sprinkle half of the panko on top. Cover and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes longer, until the topping is browned and crisp. Serve hot.

BBQ Pork Chops with Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Feeds 4 people

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops
1/2 bottle regular BBQ sauce
1 TBS spicy mustard
2 tsp lemon juice
1 TBS cider vinegar
1 TBS balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 TBS red pepper flake
1 TBS BBQ seasoning
2 TBS dried, chopped onions (optional)
1 tsp smoke salt
1 tsp horseradish cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

4 medium sweet potatoes, 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 TBS cidar vinegar
1 TBS balsamic vinegar
2 TBS spicey mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 stalks green onion, diced

Directions:
Mix all BBQ sauce ingredients together and poor over pork chops. Marinate for 1/2+ hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 25 minutes. Turn to low broil for 10 minutes. Mix all sweet potato dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl and let sit.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake pork chops covered for approx. 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for additional 15 minutes.

Add sweet potatoes to dressing and mix.

Pumpkin-Honey Beer Quick Bread

Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine.

Though the name of the recipe is long, the recipe prepping/baking time is not - I make this bread every fall and LOVE it. For someone like myself, who is not the best baker, this is an easy, delicious recipe!

Ingredients:

14.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 1/4 cups)

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup flaxseed

2 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey beer (at room temp)

1/2 cup egg substitute

2 large eggs

1 (15-oz) can pumpkin

Cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, salt, and next 4 ingredients (through pumpkin pie spice) in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk.

Combine 1/2 cup water and flaxseed.

Place sugar and next 4 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add flaxseed mixture and pumpkin; beat at low speed just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until combined. Divide batter between 2 (9x5-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in a pan on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

*Note: I often use a mini loaf pan that yields four small loaves of bread for smaller portions. This is a great option to bring to holiday get together/party as gift or share with family/friends. If you decide to go this route, cut back baking time to approximately 70 minutes (again, use wooden pick to check).