Roasted Garden Veggies:

I'm pretty much convinced that roasted veggies are the.best.

Ever.

And they're super easy. And very versatile.

We always have way more yellow squash in our garden than 10 families could eat, and it gets old after a while. When you feel like you don't have anything to loose, why not try something new?! At least that's how I was feeling, so I just threw them in a pan and put them in the oven.

Turns out that was a good choice!

It ended up being super easy, and really delicious! 

So I wanted to document it for future reference, really, and also share it with everyone else!

Hope you give it a try!!

2 medium yellow squash

2 green bell peppers

2 medium onions

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 teaspoons season salt (more or less, depending on your tastes)

Line a baking sheet with foil; set aside.

Cut the squash in half. Using a spoon, scrape out all the seeds and discard.

Cut into 1 inch pieces.

Cut the pepper in half and pull out all the pale colored ribs and rinse out the seeds.

Cut the pepper into 1 inch pieces.

Cut the onion into 1 inch pieces

Place all the veggies on the baking sheet. 

Drizzle with olive oil. 

Using a spoon or just your hands, toss lightly to evenly coat everything with the oil.

Sprinkle with season salt and mix lightly.

Make sure all the veggies are spread out evenly. 

Place under the broiler (3-4 inches away). 

Broil for 5 minutes. Stir. Repeat at least 3 times 

(for a total of 15 minutes) 

or until veggies are fork tender, and some pieces are starting to look charred.

Enjoy!

{Roasted Brussel Sprouts}

Happy Thanksgiving week!!

Here's a super yummy, yet kind of healthy side dish to add to your thanksgiving menu this year!

I have always like Brussel Sprouts (I was a weird child).

Fresh or frozen, sauteed in some butter, or steamed. 

Either way, I loved them!

I had never tried them roasted, though. But I love other roasted vegetables, so I figured I might as well try them. 

My sister-in-law makes the best roasted asparagus on the planet, so I just used the same technique.

I'm not sure that I will ever make brussel sprouts any other way from now on!

They were SO good!! Oh my, the flavor was just excellent, they couldn't be easier to make, and it took away that tiny under-tone of bitterness that is sometimes in brussel sprouts!

So whether you are already a Brussel Sprout lover, or maybe even hate this magnificent, tiny, green vegetable, I hope you give them a try!

1 pound fresh Brussel Sprouts

3-5 tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil; set aside.

Cut sprouts in half lengthwise (so that each half has part of the root), and place in a bowl. Add oil, starting with 3 tablespoons. Mix gently until evenly coated. If there is not enough oil to coat all of them, add more 1 tablespoon at a time.

Spread out into a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with desired amount of salt and pepper.

Bake for 10 minutes; stir and flip the sprouts over. Bake for 10-15 minutes longer, or until just fork-tender, and golden brown.

Serve!!!

Slow Cooker Baby Carrots:

This is such a great recipe!
We are all about the crock-pots in this house, and it doesn't get much easier than this!
I love steamed carrots, but cooked carrots are entirely different. They tend to be so mushy and totally lost when it comes to flavor. But for some reason, the carrots in this recipe stay pretty crisp and the flavor is outstanding!
I hope you give it a try!

1 (16 oz.) bag baby carrots

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 & 1/2 tblsp. butter

1/2 tblsp. parsley

Place all ingredients in a 1 - 2 quart crock-pot. Stir to combine.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until tender.

Serve!

Chicken Zucchini Boats:

Our garden did not do well this year for some reason, so we're kind of missing our usual over-abundance of zucchini! However, someone very generously shared some of their over-abundance with us, so now we're making all things zucchini!

I was rather skeptical of this recipe when I first saw it. It was just pretty unusual, and I wasn't really sure. But I went ahead and gave it a shot, and I'm SO glad I did!!

All the flavors blended together really well, and it turned out to be a rather simple, yummy dish!!

I hope you try it out!

2 large zucchini 

4 medium chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch bites

salt and pepper

1 medium yellow or red onion, diced

2 cups corn (fresh or frozen, but not canned)

1 tblsp. minced garlic

Shredded Cheddar cheese

Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Place chicken pieces in a large skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Saute over high heat, until chicken is done and liquid is mostly evaporated. Add onion; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add corn and garlic. Cook and stir for 3-4 minutes or until all liquid is evaporated.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, scoop out the flesh of the zucchini, leaving a 1/4-inch shell. Dice the scooped out zucchini and add to the chicken mixture, if desired. Place zucchini shells on a cookie sheet. Fill with chicken mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with desired amount of cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted.

Slice and serve!

Note:

-You can add in the extra, chopped zucchini or you don't have to. I think it was very good added it, but it's completely up to you.

-I think this would be great with any kind of leftover, cooked chicken you might have - marinated, grilled chicken, rotisserie chicken, etc.

-As you can see from the picture, the zucchini I used were very large! I'm talking over a foot long, bigger around than a softball. If you are using smaller zucchini, you will want to adjust the recipe, and also the cooking time. You want a fork to be able to just barely poke down through the flesh of the zucchini.

-This is not a dish that would work well to prepare ahead of time. Zucchini has a very high water content, so once cut, the longer it sits, it will produce more and more liquid.
-Click HERE to view MyRecipe Magic, where you can find the nutritional info for this recipe.

Lots of Layers Green Salad:

A lady at our church (Mrs. Helmick) has brought a 7-layer-salad to a few potlucks, and we always LOVE when she does! It's so, so good! We had never tried a recipe for it before and Mrs. Helmick doesn't really have a recipe, so when I saw this salad, I knew we had to make it!

It turned out amazing and we absolutely loved it!! It was super easy and goes together very fast! It makes a lot, so it's perfect for a big party or get-together!

Don't be afraid of the peas or the dressing!!! It all goes together so well, and totally makes the salad!

Please excuse the pictures! The dish I put it in, was a little dark, so you can't see the layers quite as well! But trust me, it's super yummy, and I hope you give it a try!!

 

1 & 1/2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped

2 cups baby spinach

Salt and pepper, to taste

10 whole hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 (12 ounce) package bacon, cooked and chopped

4 tomatoes, chopped (1 carton cherry tomatoes)

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 (10 ounce) bag frozen peas

 

1/2 cup real mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2 Tablespoons sugar

 

In a large glass bowl, layer salad ingredients in order listed above.  Combine dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk together until combined.  Pour over the top of the peas and spread to cover.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.

Note:
-This looks SO, SO pretty in a big, clear punch bowl or trifle bowl, but it makes it hard to get all of the layers! That's why I like to put it in a 9x13 pan, or some other big, shallow dish. You can do whatever you want, though, and it will still be great!
-My family doesn't really care for Iceberg lettuce at all, but if you like it, you can use 1 head of Iceberg instead of romaine if you prefer.
-I LOVE onions (a lot), but not a lot of people do, so sometimes I leave the onions out and just serve them separately for anyone that wants them!
-Tomatoes are the same way as the onions; I love them, but only a couple other people in my family like them as well. It makes the salad look so pretty, though, I hate to leave them out! So, I prefer to use cherry tomatoes, that way if anyone doesn't like them, they can pick them out easily!!   

 

Baked Corn on the Cob with Honey Butter:

Where I live, "knee-high by the 4th of July" does not represent our corn!!

Its late August, beginning of September till we are enjoying any corn on the cob around here!

There is really lots of ways to cook corn - we usually steam it, but we've also tried grilling it.

Corn roasts are also big around here, and to be honest, that's the best way to have corn!! Of course, it also involves the most work!!

I had been seeing recipes floating around the Internet for baking corn on the cob and decided to give it a try. Am I ever glad I did! Talk about easy and delicious!!! We made it twice in one week! It's a cross between steaming it and roasting it. Super yummy!!

 

And you can't have corn on the cob without butter! Make sure you try out the super easy recipe for Honey Butter! It's SO yummy on the corn (and would be good on lots of other things too!) 

I hope you give these two recipes a try!!

 

Honey butter

 

1/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup honey

 

In a small bowl, beat together butter and honey with a hand mixer until well combined and light and fluffy. Place in a serving dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

 

Baked Corn on the Cob

 

 

 

There is no ingredient list for the corn, except as many ears of corn as you want!

 

Leaving the husks on, pull or cut off the brown, fuzzy, silky part at the top of the ear of corn. Make sure you don't cut farther down than just the brown part, because you don't want the corn to be exposed - it needs to be thoroughly wrapped in the husks.

 

Place the corn right on the racks in your oven. If you have a convection oven, you can place corn on all three racks and it should get done evenly. If you do not have a convection oven, placing corn on all three racks, may result in the top rack getting done, and the other two racks needing more time.

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven to a serving plate with oven mitts, and/or tongs. To test for doneness, VERY carefully pull the husks down and if a fork goes into the kernels of corn easily, it's done.

 

Serve!!

 

Note:

-Be VERY cautious while pulling away the husks after baking. There is steam trapped inside, and it can burn you, if you don't open it carefully!   

Apple Spinach Salad:

I love fresh spinach, especially in the summer! This salad takes only a few ingredients, and is super fast to put together. My family really enjoyed it and I hope you do too!!

8 ounces fresh spinach

4 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

2 red apples, diced

1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 tblsp. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

In a medium bowl, toss together the spinach, bacon and apple. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo and juice concentrate until smooth. Pour half the dressing over the spinach and toss to coat. Add more dressing, a little at a time, until you have as much as you like. I did not use all the dressing, because we don't like a lot of dressing on our salads, but you can use as much or as little as you like. 

Note:

-I did not have any bacon, so I used 4 tblsp. bacon bits and it worked out fine. 

-This is definitely not something you can make ahead. You will want to put it all together and serve immediately. 

I served this with:

-Grilled Speedy Chicken Marinade-

-Becky's Potato Salad-

Glazed Carrots:

This is such an easy recipe and is so yummy! I hope you'll give it a try!

1 & 1/2 lb. carrots (baby carrots or big carrots cut however you want)

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tblsp. butter

1/2 tsp. grated orange peel

Steam carrots until fork pokes through easily, or cook carrots in 1-inch of boiling water until fork pokes through easily. Meanwhile, combine sugar, butter and orange peel and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave 30 seconds more or until sugar is dissolved. Drain carrots and pour glaze immediately over carrots. Stir until evenly coated. Serve!

Potato & Green Bean Medley:

This was a fabulous side dish that my whole family enjoyed! It was pretty easy and tasted really good! It's nice for this time of year, too, if you have fresh green beans from your garden (which we did) and even potatoes (which we didn't)!! I hope you try it out!

4 strips of bacon, diced
3 cups potatoes, cubed (peeled or unpeeled)
1 & 1/2 cups fresh green beans, snapped into 1-inch pieces
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup water
1/8 tsp. black pepper

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels; drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Return the drippings to the skillet and add potatoes, green beans, onion, water and pepper. Bring to a boil; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender, stirring occasionally. You'll want to watch and add more water as needed to make sure they don't burn or stick to the skillet. Let the water evaporate out once everything is cooked. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the bacon. Serve!!

Slow-Cooker Vegetable Soup:

This was really easy and turned out really yummy!! It smelled so good while it was cooking all day too! It has to cook pretty much all day, though, so you'll want to definitely start it earlier in the morning. Hope you try it out!!

(Sorry no picture! I completely forgot and we ate it all! I'll try to remember next time!)

1 (1 lb.) round steak, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 cups water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and diced
2 celery ribs, diced
3 tblsp. beef bouillon granules (check the label for any gluten)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1-1/2 to 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

Mix first 12 ingredients together in a crock-pot. Make sure the potatoes are all the way under the water, so they don't turn brown. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours. Stir in mixed vegetables. Cover and cook an additional 2 hours. Serve!!!

Note:
-I did not have any canned, diced tomatoes, but I did have an over abundance of cherry tomatoes from our garden! I just quartered enough to equal about 1-1/2 cups, covered them with water and added them to the soup! It turned out just fine, so use whatever you have.

Cucumber Salad:

I love this stuff and it's a fabulous side dish during the summer...

especially when you are over flowing in cucumbers like we are!!!

6 cups cucumbers, peeled or unpeeled, and sliced however you like
1 small onion, chopped or sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
dash of salt and pepper

Toss together cucumbers and onions in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over cucumbers and stir until well coated. Serve!

Note:
-Some of the cucumbers we had, had a LOT of seeds in them, so I actually scooped them out before I cut them up. It helps to not make the salad watery.
-This is not something you really want to do ahead. You could have everything cut up and in a bowl, but for best results, wait until the last minute to add the dressing.

Salads:

Strawberries were majorly on sale this week at our grocery store and we took full advantage of that! We ate them plain, made Angel Food cake to eat with our strawberries, ate them plain, had them in cereal, ate them plain!!! But I wanted to try something more main dish with them. At a restaurant once, I had a Strawberry Pecan salad. It didn't sound very good, but it looked good, so I gave it a try! It was delicious!!! So since we had some extra berries, I decided to try a homemade salad. It turned out really yuumy, and I thought I would just share with you what I did.

Photo Credit: google search

This is what I had on my salad (amounts of each are according to your tastes):
-Lettuce
-Carrots
-Broccoli
-Yellow Squash, thinly sliced
-Cucumber
-Chopped Pecans
-Chopped Strawberries (We sliced out strawberries and sprinkled them with a little sugar. Then we let them chill in the refrigerator over night. That made them nice and sweet, and also gave them a little broth which was very good on the salad.)
-Dressing (Once I had it with Honey Mustard dressing and I've also had it with Ranch...both are equally good. Just make sure to check the labels!)

Feel free to add or leave out anything you prefer! I'm sure it would be great with some cooked or grilled chicken pieces.
So I hope you give my Strawberry Salad a try and enjoy it as much as I have!!!

Broccoli Casserole

I just love this stuff!!!!! Give it a try and I bet you'll like it too!!!

8 cups broccoli florets
1/4 cup butter, melted
Velveeta cheese
Cornflakes (make sure to check the label)

Cook or steam broccoli just until done. Place the broccoli in a single layer on a clean kitchen towel until cool and dry. Place in a greased 8x8 inch baking dish. Cut the Velveeta into thin slices. Cover the broccoli with a layer of cheese. Crush the cornflakes with your hands and cover the cheese. Drizzle melted butter over the cornflakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve!

Note:
-In my oven, the cornflakes started to burn a little before the cheese melted, so I just put some foil over it and baked a little longer.
-This is a recipe that you can make whatever size you want. Basically, you just need whatever amount of broccoli you want, and enough cheese slices and cornflakes to cover it!
-You can easily make this ahead by doing everything but the cornflakes and butter, cover and refrigerate. Add the cornflakes and butter right before you're ready to bake it.