Oven Roasted Balsamic Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts - either you hate'em or you love'em.  I'm a lover... my husband, not so much.  So I try my darnedest to flavor these up with things like.. bacon!  Who doesn't love bacon?!  I get my vegetables, hubs gets his pork fat.  Funny, reminds me of Labor Law this evening:  "tit for tat" negotiations.  Our professor actually ran us through an exercise starting with voting to unionize or not to.  Majority of class voted to join a bargaining unit.  We then submitted formal demands and received counter demands.  This evening we concluded the learning exercise with negotiations and one of the top labor law attorneys being our professor's representative.  In the end, we got our open book and open note exam.  Although we certainly tried for everyone getting A's.  But we weren't brave enough to strike... 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb brussel sprouts, washed and sliced in half
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400F.

2) In a bowl, mix the sprouts, oil & rosemary.

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3) Add the bacon to the bowl and mix in with sprouts.

4) Spread the sprouts and bacon evenly in a casserole dish or baking pan.  Roast for about 20 minutes, up to 30 minutes.  Time to pull them out when they edges start to crisp and they start getting a golden brown tint to them.

5) Optional - transfer into a serving dish.

6) Mix in the balsamic vinegar to the roasted sprouts and cooked bacon.

Steak, potatoes, & lager

I recently started donating blood on a regular basis; it's a good deed and only takes about an hour of my time.  And American Red Cross even tracks where your blood is sent off to, so it's really nice knowing that you've helped someone at the local children's hospital.  A few months ago, I woke up on the "wrong" side of the bed, and first thing I saw in my e-mail box was that specific alert.  That e-mail washed all the cranky away that morning.  

This weekend I had an appointment to donate blood, but I was turned away!  My blood pressure was too low.  Likely because my appointment was so early in the morning, that I literally rolled out of bed, had a quick cup of coffee, and made it there.  (My appointments will now always be in the afternoon)  My husband then made the off the cuff remark that I need to eat more red meat.  Now, there's not necessarily a correlation that red meat increases blood pressure... but golly, that one comment had me craving steak all day long!  But I didn't want to slave away at cooking a good meal... and it was below freezing, so the grill wasn't the most attractive option.

This meat in this dish will be just about as tender as if it was cooking for 2-3 hours in the oven or in the slow cooker all day long!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of petite steak (or any cut of steak) cut into 2-inch strips
• 4-5 small-medium red potatoes, sliced
• 1 medium sweet onion, sliced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, rough chopped
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 bottle lager (for 100% GF, use about 1 cup beef broth instead)
• 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400F

2) In a casserole dish, lay the cut steak strips at the bottom.  Season with salt & pepper

3) In a bowl, combine the vegetables and parsley.  Then add the vegetables and parsley atop the meat in the casserole dish.

3) Pour about 3/4 of the bottle over the veggies and steak.  Enjoy the rest.  

4) Place the casserole dish in the oven.  Bake for 50-60 minutes until the steak is done and potatoes are tender.  

6) Plate and serve with veggies, salad, rice, or any other side dish of your pleasing.  We just used leftover brussel sprouts.

Moroccan Slow Cooker Chicken and Lentil Stew

My husband and I have gotten in the habit of hitting up the gym in the evenings on my "late class nights".  Yes, this is how one fits in fitness and date night into a fully loaded schedule.  But that means that we get home a little late at  night.  We had left out chicken breasts to defrost and at 10 pm I was digging around the pantry and fridge to figure out what to make of this chicken in the slow cooker overnight.  Decided we'd take a trip to Morocco for this dish... since lately there's been so many Italian inspired dishes.  Coincidentally, the day after I made this stew, Morocco came up in my International Women's Rights course.  This is a great stew for lunch or dinner with the combination of lentils and chicken, it's also filling and good for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken (breasts, thighs, etc) - rough cut in cubes
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1/2 cup lentils
• 1/4 cup italian parsley, chopped
• 2 Tbsp chicken bouillon
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups water

Directions:

1. So.. this is a slow cooker recipe... get all of the ingredients and throw into slow cooker.  All of the happy foods will be swimming together in the water and spices as seen below.

2. Set the slow cooker on low and cook for 7-8 hours or so.  After the chicken and veggies have simmered in this warm jacuzzi for a better part of the day (or night), the broth will have picked up the color from the spices and tomato.  The chicken will be juicy and just shred into pieces.  And the lentils will be tender little morsels.

3.  Enjoy either immediately in serving bowls OR a ladle worth (or 2 ladles) in a container and enjoy at lunch time, as seen below.    

Zucchini noodles and lemon shrimp

It's definitely been a little while since I've had time to post.  The semester is coming to a close and as such, starting to get all my "ducks in a row" for final exams, papers, and presentations.  I was shopping with one of my girlfriends a few weeks ago, when at the end of the aisle there was the "as seen on tv" merchandise.  Gimmick.  I fell for it.  Ended up with a "Veggetti".  Not going to lie, I was doubtful about this purchase, but gave it a "whirl" last night.  Haha, get it.. a whirl... I made a funny... (the vegetable is twisted into the blades).  Anywho, overall conclusion on this purpose - SUPER simple to use, quick, and definitely handy for veggie noodles, veggie salads, stir fry, or anything else strip-like vegetables would add a little aesthetic appeal to the dish.    

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4-6 servings of shrimp - tail off and shell off
• 1 tsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
• 1/2 tsp dried basil (or a few leaves of fresh basil, rough chopped)
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup pinot grigio wine (or another white wine)
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch & 2-3 Tbsp water, mixed to form paste
• 2-3 zucchini squash, whole
• 1 tsp chicken bullion

Directions:

1. In a pot, bring about 2 cups to a boil - this water is for the zucchini
2. In a saucepan, heat EVOO over med-high heat.
3. Add onion, pepper, and garlic to saucepan.  Cook until onion is translucent.
4. Add cherry tomatoes, shrimp, italian seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning, basil, & parsley into saucepan.  Lower heat to medium.  Stir occasionally to avoiding burning the shrimp.
5. When shrimp is pink, add in the wine and lemon juice.
6. As the wine is about to come to a rolling boil, add in the cornstarch/water mixture.
7. Turn heat down to low and continue to cook until sauce thickens from the cornstarch.  (about 10 minutes or so).
8. While the shrimp finishes, turn your squash into noodles!   (or cook regular noodles or GF noodles, or rice).
9. Place the squash noodles into the pot of boiling water with the chicken bullion and let boil for about about 3 minutes.  Then drain the water from the noodles.
10. Place a serving spoonful size of "noodles" on a plate, top with shrimp and sauce.  Bon appetit!