Sauteed Lemon Kale

Have you ever had Kale? I hadn't up until this past week. Lately, I've been hearing all about it. It's the new 'thang apparently. This leafy green is jammed pack with tons of vitamins, anti-oxidants, cancer protectants, and all sorts of other stuff that's great for you! You can read up on it here.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Kale


• 1/2 chopped yellow onion


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 1 lemon

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add the chopped onion. Saute a few minutes until golden brown.

Remove the kale leaves from the stalks and add to your pan.

Cover and cook on medium until the kale has reduced by about half. 10 minutes or so.

Once the Kale has cooked down, cut 1 lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the pan.

Now your Kale should look like this. Dark green and a little charred. This was actually pretty tasty. Danny and I both loved it, and you can't beat all the nutrients this has. He has requested this be a regular side dish. Yes, my husband, is requesting KALE!

Try some for yourself this week and see what you think!

Supreme Smashed Potatoes

Let me start off by saying I never make mashed potatoes. I love 'em, I think they're great, I just don't buy potatoes when I'm at the store. You know, the whole carb thing. Now I know you're in shock hearing me talk about carbs...I mean, have you SEEN how many dessert/cookies/cupcake/pasta/CARB recipes I have on this dang blog?! I gotta save where I can. I'll give up potatoes for all the other carbs I can't live without. Give one carb up, take five. That's my math. Don't ask questions.

Back to potatoes. I had envisioned making twice baked potatoes, but all the potatoes in the bag I picked up at the store were so small, I didn't think it'd be worth baking them, scooping the insides out, putting the insides back in. You know the drill. So low and behold, I decided to make some supreme potatoes minus the "twice baked" part.

Ingredients:

• 6 small-medium potatoes


• 1/3 cup sour cream


• 4 tablespoons butter


• 1/4 cup milk


• 1 cup broccoli


• 6 strips bacon, cooked & chopped


• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese


• salt & pepper

Start out by peeling your potatoes. Chop in to pretty good size chunks and throw in a large pot. Add just enough water to cover the potatoes and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15-20 minutes or until done. They should fall apart if you stick a fork in it. Basically, just do whatever you would do if you're making normal mashed potatoes. Nothing fancy here folks.

While the potatoes are boiling away, cook 1 cup broccoli. You can blanch it, steam it, whatever you want. I just cooked mine in a saute pan on the stove with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Once the broccoli is cooked, chop it up and sit aside.

Drain the potatoes once their fully done. Leave a teensy (is that a word?) bit of the starchy water in the pot. Add the butter, milk, sour cream, grated cheese, chopped bacon, broccoli, and salt and pepper to the pot. Mix it up until it looks sinfully delicious like this...

Transfer to a serving bowl and top with some parsley. Danny went crazy over this dish. I think he was excited when he saw potatoes on the table. After all, this was only the second (no lie) time I've made mashed potatoes since we've been married. I had to fight him the next day for the leftovers.

Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's Mac and Cheese

The other night I noticed my big 'o (unopened) hunk of swiss chesse in the fridge wasn't going to make it much longer. I wanted to use it all rather than having to throw it out in a couple days, so what better way to use lots of cheese than Macaroni and CHEESE?? I got out my Pioneer Woman cookbook and used this new recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups dry macaroni
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 heaping tablespoons dry mustard
• 1 lb cheddar (or other) cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to suit your taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (or to suit your taste)
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Start out by cooking the macaroni until it's pretty firm - too firm to eat. In a small bowl, beat the egg. In a large pot, melt the butter and sprinkle in the flour.

Whisk it together over med-low heat and cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly so it doesn't burn. Pour in the milk. Add the mustard and whisk until smooth.

Cook for 5 minutes or until it gets pretty thick - whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low. Time to temper the egg. Slowly pour about 1/4 cup or so of the sauce into the bowl with the beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. Whisk until smooth. If you haven't figured it out by now, you will be doing alot of whisking with this recipe. Maybe even enough to burn off a couple of these delicios calories you're about to consume :)

Pour the egg mixture into the sauce, whisking until smooth. Now add it all but about 1/2 cup of the grated cheese, and stir until melted. Add the seasonings. Taste the sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed. Don't undersalt! I added several more sprinkles of both.

Pour in the cooked, drained macaroni and stir to combine. You can also add some extras to spruce it up a notch if you wish. I added a pint of fresh grape tomatoes and about 1/2 a red bell pepper I had sittin' in the fridge. I have to say, the fresh tomatoes definitely added a nice punch of flavor.

Pour into a large baking dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray...

Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Mmmm, homemeade mac and cheese...doesn't get much better than that!

Creamy Rosemary Potatoes

I absolutely love au gratin potatoes, so when I saw this recipe in my Pioneer Woman cookbook I had to try it. Not the healthiest, but come on, are potatoes ever healthy??

Here's the recipe with a few minor changes.
Ingredients:

• 5-6 potatoes
• 1/2 stick butter (4 tablespoons)
• 1 small/medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup half & half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons rosemary
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Thinly slice your potatoes.

Combine the milk and half & half. Place all the sliced potatoes in a large bowl, and pour half of the milk mixture over them and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt the butter and then add your garlic and onion. Cook about 4-5 minutes or so over medium low heat.

Add the softened cream cheese to the skillet. Cook and stir until the cream cheese is smooth and combined in. Pour in the remaining half of the milk mixture then add your salt and pepper to taste. Now throw in your green onions and rosemary.

Stir in 1/2 cup of the Parmesan.

Spray a large baking dish with Pam and add your soaked sliced potatoes. Pour the skillet mixture over the potatoes, and sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of Parmesan on top.

Bake for about an hour, or until it's nice and golden brown.

Add some parsley on top before serving to give it some color. :)

Enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli

Ok, this dish is an absolute staple in our house. I make it pretty much every single night. No joke. Danny would never go near broccoli until I started cooking it like this. Now, he can't get enough of it!! I even asked my mom the other day if roasting broccoli somehow takes all the nutritioal value out of it, because it taste just too darn good!! She said no, so we're good to go!

Here's all you do:
Cut 1 crown of fresh broccoli. 1 head is the perfect amount for two people.

Throw it on a cookie sheet, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over it all, toss it up, and bake at 400 or 425 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. The baking time is up to you depending on how done you like it. I never set the timer, I just check on it every few minutes.
It's also great to sprinkle lemon zest over it before baking if you happen to have lemmons on hand...

I actually cook it a little longer than this picture shows. I like it when it gets some of that good crispy black stuff on the ends. mmmmm....

And the great thing about buying fresh broccoli crowns, is they last a while in the fridge! I buy a couple produce bags full every time I go grocery shopping.

Now go try your broccoli like this, you'll be in for a treat!

Gorgonzola Pasta

Let me start by saying this is Danny's favorite pasta dish. It's definitely the richest and creamiest pasta out there....so fair warning.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 lb (1 box) pasta of your choice....(I like to mix it up with a couple different kinds of pasta, but that's just me)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup cream
• 8 ounces Gorgonzola, cut into small pieces
• Pepper, to taste
  

Heat water to a boil for pasta, salt water and cook pasta to al dente.
Heat butter in a large sauce pot. Add garlic, cook 2 minutes then whisk in flour, cook 1 minute. Whisk in stock then cream.

Bring to a bubble and stir in Gorgonzola, about 2 minutes until melted. Sprinkle in your black pepper then toss in your pasta and serve and enjoy!

Mac & Cheese

Ok so Mac & Cheese is probably my all time favorite food to eat. I'll try a new recipe for this any day. This recipe takes no time to prepare and is deee-lish! I loved it...hubby loved it...you'll love it too!

Ok so boil about 2 cups of pasta...I typically use penne, but use whatever you have on hand. 2 cups makes about 2-3 servings. Now spay a baking dish with Pam and put in half your cooked pasta, about 2 tablespoons of butter cut up, and a generous sprinkle of salt. Top with 1 cup of shredded cheese. Now, do the exact same thing - your remaining pasta, 2 tbsp butter, salt, and then top with 1 cup cheese.


Last step before baking - pour in 3/4 cup of milk until your baking dish is about 1/3 or so full of milk.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!