Simple Salad

The weather where we live has gotten rather warm very quickly.  Because of this huge shift in the weather the last thing I wanted to do is heat up the kitchen (our outdoor grill hasn't been cleaned for use yet) so we opted to make a salad for dinner.

The salad consisted of:
Red Boston Lettuce
Green Leaf Lettuce
Carrots, sliced
Cucumbers, sliced
Green Pepper, diced
Dried Cranberries
Aged Cheddar Cheese pieces
French Dressing

Here is how I make the French Dressing:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 clove of garlic, pressed
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup olive oil
Put all contents into a jar and shake until mixed.

Greek Avgolemono Soup

Avgolemono is a Greek word for egg - lemon.

This soup is a great to have when you have a cold, it makes you feel better (the same way chicken soup does).  Of course you can eat it anytime.

I found this recipe a couple of years ago in Vegetarian Times.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium leeks, white parts finely chopped (4 cups) - save the larger green parts of the leek, freeze them to make broth with later
1 small onion, finally chopped (1 cup)
2 small carrots, peeled and diced (3/4 cup)
6 cups no-chicken broth (even though this is a vegetarian recipe I use my own homemade chicken broth, but you could use a vegetable broth)
1/2 cup orzo pasta
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
Lemon Wedges, for garnish

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add leaks, onion, carrots, and pinch of salt; cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until vegetables are softened, stirring often.  Stir in broth.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes.  Add orzo and cook 11 minutes more, or until orzo is tender.   Remove from heat.  Whisk together eggs and lemon juice in bowl.  Add 3 ladles soup broth to egg mixture, whisking constantly.  Whisk egg mixture back into soup, and cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until soup is thickened but without letting it come to a boil.  Serve sprinkled with parsley, mint, and oregano, and garnished with lemon wedges.

**Note:  When reheating this soup, warm it over low heat without bringing it to a boil, to prevent the eggs from curdling.
Feel free to decide how finely chopped you want the vegetables.  I have done it many different ways.

This post is linked on:

Sunday Night Soup Night - Easy Natural Food

Monday Mania - The Healthy Home Economist

A Texas Mom Blog - A Southern Fairytale

Homemade Pot Roast

I don't know about you but when the weather starts to change I think of hearty comfort foods.   With that in mind I thought of pot roast with root vegetables.

Here is my pot roast recipe.

Pot Roast
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 boneless chuck roast (I used a rump roast because it was what I had in the freezer)
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a Viognier, I already had a partial bottle open)
1-1/2 cups beef broth (I use an Organic Better Than Bouillon Beef Base - I haven't made my own homemade beef broth yet)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups sliced onions
6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Sear roast on all sides for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a 4-6 quart slow cooker.  Stir flour into saute pan; cook 1 minute.  Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute more.  De-glaze saute pan with wine, cooking until liquid evaporates.  Stir in broth and Worcestershire sauce; bring mixture to a simmer, scraping up any brown bits.  Transfer broth mixture to the slow cooker and add onions, carrots, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves.  Cover and cook until meat is for tender, on high heat setting for 4-5 hours or on low heat setting for 8-9 hours.  Discard thyme
 and bay leaves before serving.  Serve with gravy.

I also made mashed potatoes to go with this meal.   I keep it very simple when making my potatoes.  Cook peeled and cut up potatoes until soft.  Drain from water add potatoes back into the pan and put on stove.  Add a couple of pats of butter.  Mash potatoes along with butter in pan.   In another pan have milk warming on stove to add to the potatoes.  Add enough warmed milk to make potatoes smooth (continue to mash).  Add salt and pepper to taste.

A side salad was added to the meal as well.  Lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, a couple of croutons and a little Parmesan cheese on top.  Served with a Dijon Vinaigrette dressing.

Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing
2-1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Mix all ingredients together.

The dinner was pulled all together with a really wonderful wine.  We had a Virginia Wine called "3".  It got its name from 3 winemakers, 3 vineyards, 3 varietals, 1 wine.  The wine is 1/3 Merlot, 1/3 Petit Verdot, 1/3 Cabernet Franc.

Grilled Tuna

Tonight we had tuna that we bought yesterday from our local fish market.  It is sushi grade tuna which is great because we like our tuna cooked rare.

I put a Thai sweet red pepper sauce on the tuna before grilling and then brushed it on while it was cooking.

I made a corn relish (or whatever you might like to call it).  It consisted of fresh corn cut off the cob, onion, tomato, cilantro, salt, pepper, and a little white wine vinegar.  This was put on the top of the tuna when it was finished.

I sliced some carrots that I steamed, after they were steamed I added a little butter and a little honey.  The honey adds a nice little sweetness.

I also took red potatoes, sliced them and put them in a foil pouch with butter which was cooked on the grill.  It was a hot day and the more stuff we could cook outside on the grill the cooler the house would remain.

Chicken Pot Pie (Chicken Leftovers Day 2)

Tonight's dinner will be a homemade chicken pot pie.

I made a homemade pie crust with a top and bottom.  I love the crust on the bottom of a pot pie!  To this I added all the leftover chicken (cut up), 2 fresh carrots (chopped), a couple of new red potatoes (I peeled and chopped them), some frozen peas that were thawed, the leftover gravy from last night, small amount of onion, tarragon, and basil.  I placed the top crust on and it is ready to be baked.

I made this ahead of time so that after work and running errands it can just be popped into the oven and baked for about 30 to 45 minutes (until the crust is nice and brown).

The pot pie ready to be baked.  I will add an egg wash to the crust so that it get a nice crispy crust on it.  

Homemade Chicken Stock

I kept everything from the chicken I baked on Monday.  I put all the bones and carcass into a crock pot.  To it I added a couple of cut up carrots and an onion that I cut into wedges (I would add celery to this as well, but I am allergic).   I also added some fresh oregano, fresh basil, dried tarragon, and a bay leaf.  Also included in this is the herbs that I put inside the chicken when I baked it.  Add water to almost full and a little bit of vinegar and let cook.  It will take a couple of days for the broth to cook down.  I want the liquid to cook down by half of what was in there.  

Once it is done, I will strain it and pour it into pint and quart mason jars.  I put them into the refrigerator to settle, once settled I skim the fat that has floated to the top.  I then put them into the freezer. You will then have stock anytime you need it.

The chicken parts, vegetable, and herbs in crock pot

The only down side is that your house will smell like cooking chicken for the next couple of days.  Of course this can be good or bad (depending on how hungry you are at the time).

Herb Roasted Whole Chicken

I decided to do a whole chicken tonight in the oven.

The chicken is a pastured chicken which is what we only use.  Pastured chicken is so much better than store bought chicken.  There are no antibiotics, hormones, and can roam around in a field.  The feed these chickens are given to supplement their diet comes from a non-GMO grain that is specially grown for the farm.

I had some fresh thyme that a friend gave me (I love the herbs my friend gives me).

I also used a Chicken Herb Rub that came out of the cookbook "The Grassfed Gourmet".  The recipe is great on chicken, whether it is whole or just parts.

Here is the recipe:
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried oregano

All you need to do is rub it all over the chicken.  I also drizzled a little olive oil over the chicken.

The chicken all ready to go into the oven

Along with dinner I did a small salad, which had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mushrooms and a little blue cheese with a homemade Italian dressing.

I also did fresh carrots that I steamed.  After they came out of the steamer I added a little butter and a little bit of honey.

Carrots in the steamer

I also cooked a brown basmati rice to go along with everything.

The cooked chicken

The finished plate