This recipe is so easy and delicious. I’ve doubled and tripled it before to freeze ahead and it works really well.  You can use it for tacos, enchiladas, tamales-the possibilities are endless!  It’s based on this recipe from Recipe Zaar, with some modifications.

Ingredients:

-1 lb chicken breast
-1 cup chicken broth
-1 TBSP cumin
-1 tsp chili powder
-2 tsp onion flakes
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

-Place all ingredients in a crock pot, making sure that the spices are incorporated with the chicken broth.

-Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I’m away from the house for 10 hours, so I cook on low for 6 hours and then my crock pot switches to “warm” and it works perfectly.

-Shred meat with a fork and stir it really well to incorporate all the liquid.

-If you freeze it, make sure to include the liquid.

-Serve with all the fixins’-My spread included salsa, guacamole, hot sauce, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese (both dairy and non-dairy), and beans atop corn tortillas.

-Enjoy!

Shaun loves this (even though it’s chicken breast!). He gave it a 4.  Lu loved it too and couldn’t get enough tonight.  It’s so easy and always a hit.

I had plans to make pesto tonight with the basil off my plant.  I went out to harvest it and my plant was DEAD!  I totally had to improvise and what I came up with was a winner!

Ingredients:

-3 cups spinach
-3 sprigs rosemary de-stemmed (about a TBSP)
-1/4 cup pine nuts 
-2 tsp olive oil
-6 garlic cloves
-1/2 cup chicken broth (vegetable broth would work too)
-1/4 cup wine
-Juice of 1 lemon
-S+P to taste

Instructions:

-Throw the spinach, rosemary, pine nuts, olive oil, and garlic into a food processor. Process until smooth.

-While that’s doing it’s thing, reduce the wine and broth together.  (I actually cooked the chicken in the wine and broth and when I tasted the pesto the garlic was too strong and needed to be cooked down a bit-that’s why I mixed the two)

-Add the pesto to the wine/broth mixture. Add lemon and S+P.

-Toss with pasta and top with whatever protein you desire.

Here’s Shaun’s:

Mine (there is pasta underneath and that’s vegan parm):

And Lucy’s:

I originally didn’t give her much sauce but she ended up LOVING the sauce, so she got much more.

(Caption: “Mommy don’t bother me, I’m EATING!”)

Shaun and I both gave this a 3 out of 5.  Not bad!  Actually, quite delish!

To refresh your memory, in this household our rankings:

-1 = bad-don’t ever make it again
-2 =okay, tweak it and try again
-3 = good, put this on the monthly menu!
-4 = very good, put this on the monthly menu in heavy rotation
-5 = FANTASTIC (this is reserved for really amazingly outstanding meals)

Shaun is a tough judge and a 3 from him is a great rating!

Lucy gave it a 5!

Now you may look at that and say “Hey, there’s meat in the sauce!” Why yes, there is meat in the sauce but that’s only so Shaun would eat it.  Everything else is meat, dairy, and egg free. No meat needed and STILL packed with protein! The meat added nothing to this dish other than Shaun eatability.

Ingredients:

-1/2 package whole wheat, no egg, lasagna noodles
-~20 ounces of marinara sauce
-1 bunch of parsley, de-stemmed
-3 cups baby spinach
-14 ounces of firm tofu
-1/4 cup vegetable broth
-2 tsp dried oregano
-2 tsp garlic powder
-1 medium eggplant, sliced thinly, salted and squeezed
-4 medium portabella mushrooms, sliced thinly
-S+P

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 375*.

-Cook noodles according to package, after drained, let soak in cold water.

-Add the parsley and spinach to a food processor and chop finely.  Add the tofu, broth, oregano, and garlic powder to the greens and process until smooth.  Add S+P to taste. Mix well to incorporate S+P.

-Spray a casserole pan with nonstick spray (including edges) and cover bottom with your favorite marinara.

-Lay down one layer of the eggplant.

-Lay down one layer of mushrooms.

-Spread half of the tofu mixture on top of the mushrooms.

-Lay down one layer of noodles. (I almost forgot to take a picture before spreading the second layer of marinara.)

-Repeat the layering, with marinara, eggplant, mushrooms, remaining tofu mixture, and another layer of noodles.

-Cover noodles with remaining marinara.

-Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. 

-After an hour, take the lasagna out of the oven and let it sit for at least 15 minutes, uncovered.

-Enjoy!

Shaun had 3 servings of this but commented that it shouldn’t be called lasagna.  He said that when he thinks of lasagna, he thinks of “cheesy, gooey, goodness” and “more meat”.  I suggested “Vegetable Bake” and he thought that described it better.  He rated it a 2.5 and said it would be a 3 if I added “much more meat.” I give it 4 stars and will definitely be making this again.  I can’t wait to have it for lunch this week.

Ingredients:

-6 ounces of bacon (6 pieces)
-1 onion, chopped
-10 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 medium leek, finely chopped-whites and light green part
-2 cups chopped celery, including leaves
-3 carrots, chopped
-48 ounces of chicken broth
-~20 ounces of black eyed peas, soaked overnight
-S+P to taste
-Tabasco for garnish (optional)
-Avocado for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

-Cut up bacon and brown over medium heat (I used my kitchen scissors and the worked perfectly).

-Add onions, garlic, leek, celery, and carrots and sauté until carrots are tender.

-Add broth, turn heat to HIGH and bring to a boil.

-Once broth is boiling, add peas, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until tender.

-Add S+P to taste.

-Enjoy!

Can’t do without the Tabasco!

I know that avocado doesn’t seem to go, but I had cut up an avocado earlier for Lu’s snack and it was a GOOD avocado (Go Costco!), I added it and it was a nice touch. Parm would be good on this too.

Shaun gave it a 3 and said “This is GREAT!!! <5 second pause> …for soup”.  I loved it.  Lu only liked the carrots.  She kept trying the peas, making a funny face and spitting them out.

Good Luck!

And for an added good luck bonus, I made some chard.

I simply sautéed it in chicken broth and when it was done I added some dark agave nectar (about 1 tsp for an entire bunch of chard) and tossed to coat. YOM.

Back in 2005, when Shaun worked on an hourly help desk (oh how times have changed!), he had to work on New Year’s Eve until 6 PM.  We decided to do dinner in and I found a recipe for cooking shellfish in one pot.  I wrote it out on a piece of paper and can’t find the original anywhere.  I’ve modified it quite a bit since I wrote it out 5 years ago.

We’ve had this every year since then, except for the one year we spent in the Mojave Dessert camping for New Years 2007.  It’s our own little tradition and we love it.

Ingredients:

-2 onions, chopped
-1 head of garlic, chopped
-1 lb or 6 links of chicken sausage
-2 TBSP olive oil
-1 pound new potatoes cut in half (or fourths if they’re large). All the potatoes need to be approximately the same size.
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
-1.5 lb steamer clams
-1 lb mussels
-1 lb FROZEN shrimp 
-2 cups white wine
-Juice of 2 lemons

Instructions:

-Slice sausage into 1 inch thick pieces. Set aside.

-Over medium high heat, sauté onions and garlic for 15 minutes or until caramelized. Stirring frequently.

-Layer, in this order: potatoes, salt and pepper, sausage, clams, mussels, and shrimp.

-Pour in wine and lemon juice.

-Cook 15 minutes on medium.

-Lower heat to low and cook another 15 minutes on low or until potatoes are tender.

-Enjoy!

This serves about 4. It heats up well the next day but after that, I think you’d need to toss it.

I got the itch to make something holiday-ish and I wanted to do some canning.  I walked into Whole Foods on Sunday and they had stacks and stacks of beautiful organic cranberries and my decision was made-Cranberry Jam!

Ingredients:

1 12 oz bag of cranberries, rinsed and picked through
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple juice
The juice and zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup + 2 TBSP of amber agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla
A sliver of margarine/vegan spread

Instructions:

Rinse jars and lids.

Place in a big pot of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes is up, let the jars and lid sit in the warm water until your jam is ready.

While you’re sterilizing the jars, rinse the cranberries well and pick through them and discard any soft or shriveled berries.

Combine water, juices, and agave and bring to a boil.  Add cleaned cranberries.

As your cranberries start to pop and break down get your zest and vanilla ready.  When most of the cranberries are popped, add the zest and vanilla.

Stir well.

Let the cranberries continue to cook down on medium high heat.

When it starts to thicken, it’s close to being ready.  Notice the foam.

Add a sliver of margarine (I use Earth Balance) to get rid of the foam (I was dubious but this REALLY works).

Look! No foam!

It’s ready when it starts to coat your spoon.

Using your handy dandy jar lifter, lift jars out of the pan.

Fill jar, leaving 1/8th of an inch at the top. Clean jar with a moist paper towel. Place seal and lids and tighten and then invert.

Cover with a towel and let them cool completely. Make sure the jar is sealed (an unsealed jar with have give in the middle of the lid when you press down).

Store in a dark cool place for up to a year.  After opening, refrigerate and use within a month.

My friend Amanda made us these after Lu was born.  She made us tons of meals and was a godsend while we adjusted to life with an infant.  Shaun fell in love and they’ve become a staple in our household.

Ingredients:

-1/2 recipe of Ma’s Stuffing, unbaked or 1 box of traditional boxed stuffing (use Ma’s!)
-1 pound ground turkey breast
-Chicken broth

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Non-stick spray a muffin tin.

Mix stuffing and turkey with hands and add broth until pretty wet (I’d say I used about 2 cups of broth? NOT in addition to the broth from the stuffing recipe, the broth should be one and the same for this recipe). You want them to stick together but you don’t want them soaking wet.  I make mine pretty wet since we like our stuffing more moist.

Place the mixture in the muffin tin.

Bake for 30 minutes or until turkey is done and the tops are browned.

Serve with veggies and maybe some gravy made from your additional chicken broth.

These freeze REALLY well. Both before they are cooked and after.

Shaun gives this 4 stars and Lu LOVES them.  She’s too busy eating to smile:

Both last night and tonight she ate 1.5 muffins of these.  Super easy and yummy!

My grandma, who we called Ma, made the BEST corn bread stuffing.  I still make it every year for Thanksgiving and made it again this weekend for some Stuffing Bombs. This recipe is enough to serve 6 on Thanksgiving with leftovers.

Ingredients:

–Corn bread
-1 loaf of sprouted grain bread
-1 large onion chopped
-1 bunch of celery chopped (including leaves)
-1 TBSP dried sage
-1/4 cup torn fresh sage (optional)-if not using, up your dried sage
-1 16 ounce carton of chicken broth
-S+P

Instructions:

2 days before the stuffing needs to be done, set your breads out to get stale.  I like to do this on a wire cooling rack because the air flows on both sides. Alternately, cut your bread up into bite size pieces and put on a cookie tray in one layer. Bake in a preheated 300* oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Spray a pan with nonstick spray, or use a little butter or olive oil.  Sauté onions and celery until translucent.

In a large bowl, combine the celery/onion mixture with the bread mixture.  Add the sage, S+P, and chicken stock.  I eyeball the chicken stock and stop adding before the stuffing gets too soggy.  Taste the stuffing and adjust spices as needed.

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

I altered the recipe that’s on the back of the Albers Corn Meal box and I think it’s delicious!

Ingredients:

-1 cup corn meal
-1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
-1 TBSP baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-3 TBSP agave necter
-2 TBSP honey
-1 cup rice milk
-1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400*. Non-stick spray an 8-inch-square pan

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix. In a smaller bowl combine the wet ingredients and mix well.

Add wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Pour into prepped pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This was a yummy creation that I created yesterday.

Ingredients:

-1.5 pounds chicken breast
-1 small onion chopped
-2 cans of chopped tomatoes with chilies
-2 cans of great northern beans, rinsed well
-1 can of whole kernel corn
-1 can of creamed corn
-1 cup chicken stock
-1/2 a bottle of beer
-Juice of 1 lime
-2 tsp cumin
-1 tsp chili powder
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 1/2 tsp salt (use less if you didn’t use low sodium/no sodium above ingredients)

For Garnish:

-Plain Yogurt
-Cheese
-Hot Sauce

Instructions:

Dump all the ingredients into a crock pot and stir.  Cook for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Shred/cut chicken up before serving. Enjoy!

Shaun’s:

This was fantastic last night (I gave it 3.5 stars) but even better for lunch today.  Sooooooo good! Up to 4 stars the day after.  Shaun doesn’t like chicken or soupy type things and he gave this 2.5 stars.  His comments, “It was pretty good, but chili isn’t really my thing.  For chili, it was good.”

I served it with corn bread that I used tonight in my Turkey and Stuffing Bombs.  Recipe tomorrow!