Instructions
- Mix everything together and add oil and balsamic mixture. Feel free to add chopped tomatoes, diced cucumbers, red peppers or other veggies.
Ingredient: olive oil
Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potato Bake
| Servings |
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Ingredients
You'll need:
- 1.5-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs diced (or approximately 1 package of cut of chicken of your choice)
- 3 large sweet potatoes diced
- 1/2 bell pepper diced
- 1/2 white onion diced
- greens of your choice
- 1/4 cup bacon or pancetta cooked and crumbled
- 3 green onions sliced (omit these if you're freezing this dish)
- hot sauce
- paprika
- garlic powder
- olive oil or ghee
Additional toppings:
- avocado diced
- fresh flat-leaf parsley
- monterey jack cheese or blue cheese
- diced tomatoes
Ingredients
You'll need:
Additional toppings:
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil or ghee, and add the bell pepper and onion. Season with salt and pepper, and saute until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a bowl, mix hot sauce of your choice (6 tablespoons get you a "mild" heat, 4 tablespoons is good for kids, 8 tablespoons is for your heat lovers!), with 1 tbsp of olive oil or ghee, 1 tbsp of paprika, 1 tsp of garlic powder and salt and pepper. Stir in the raw chicken to coat, then add the sweet potatoes. Then stir in the seasoned bell pepper and onion. Mix together in a baking dish, and bake, covered at 350 for 40 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- At 40 minutes, remove and add the crumbled bacon and stir in the greens. Cook for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sweet potatoes are fork tender. Remove from the oven and top with the green onions and another swirl of hot sauce.
- Serve with assorted toppings. Pairs nicely with a cold beer!
Recipe Notes
Make it vegetarian: Use firm tofu or tempeh! Pat your tofu dry, then dice. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet. Season your tofu with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder. When the oil is hot, sear the tofu until browned on each side. Stir into the baked sweet potatoes, vegetable and sauce mixture with 10 minutes left.
Weeknight hack: Use rotisserie chicken to reduce your cooking time!
Escarole and Pastina Soup
This delicious Escarole and Pastina soup includes many Italian flavors that remind me of my childhood. This soup is perfect for a wintery day. Add chicken or sausage to make the soup heartier.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
people
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Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1 carrot chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
- 1 15 oz bags escarole chopped
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 15 oz can cannellini beans
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 pound baby spinach Add more or less spinach if you like
- 1 dash Grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano Cheese
- 1 pound Pastina cook separately
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion, carrot and garlic, salt and pepper. Cook on medium-low heat until the onion is tender, about 8 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium-high. Add the escarole and cook, stirring for a few minutes until the escarole is wilted. Add the broth, beans, and tomatoes. Simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer until the escarole is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Add the spinach and stir for a minute or two minutes until the spinach is wilted.
- Cook the pastina separately. Scoop pastina into the bowls. Ladle the soup on top of the pastina. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve the soup hot!
Recipe Notes
The recipe was adapted from the Los Angeles Times.
Winter Squash Bake with Feta
There are a few dishes in my cooking rotation that I can make in my sleep. This winter squash bake with Feta cheese is one of them – thanks to my sister-in-law who first made this dish for us a few years ago. It’s evolved to take in estranged vegetables, like that last head of broccoli or a handful of spinach. You can swap out any vegetable you like, make this vegan or vegetarian. It’s easy to make ahead, freeze, is great comfort food and travels well. Even the pickiest eaters in our family will eat this one. Enjoy!
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 40 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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Ingredients
- olive oil
- Sweet Italian poultry sausage (ground)
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 red onion diced (or 1 sweet yellow onion, diced)
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 cup broccoli florets and stems diced
- 1 butternut squash (cubed) (or 2 packages of pre-cut cubes)
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tbsp thyme
- pinch red pepper flakes (omit if you have kids eating this)
- salt and pepper
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 lemon
- feta cheese
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425
- Heat your olive oil and brown your sausage. Once browned, remove the sausage.
- Add another swirl of olive oil to the pan drippings. Stir in garlic, onion, bell pepper and broccoli. Cook for two minutes.
- Stir in the squash and coat with the oil mixture in the pan. Add oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir in the spinach and squeeze some lemon juice on top of it. Stir for just a moment until it wilts.
- Combine the vegetables and sausage in a baking dish. Swirl in a little olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some more salt and pepper.
- Cover with foil. Bake for 25 minutes or until the squash is fork tender. Once it is, or slightly before, remove foil and add feta cheese.
- Bake for another 5 minutes or until the feta is bubbly and delicious. Serve with some crusty bread!
Sweet Potato Soup
Adapted from shape.com’s new ways to use thanksgiving leftovers article.
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Passive Time | 20 minutes of stirring |
| Servings |
people
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Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 diced onions
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 2 cups sweet potato either mashed or roasted
- 1 quart vegetable broth low sodium
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 spoonful greek yogurt garnish
- 1 pinch cilantro garnish
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Start by opening your web browser and Googling "dutch oven" like I had to do...
- Once you realize it's basically a large pot... Pour olive oil into the large pot, heat on medium.
- Take the onions and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. One bonus tip... we usually bake our Thanksgiving turkey over rings of onions to allow heat to get underneath. If you do the same, save those suckers for this portion.
- Grab the curry powder and slowly sprinkle over the onions. Or just slam them in. Whatever you prefer. Stir and get the smells going!
- Add sweet potatoes, veggie broth, and turn up the heat.
- Once boiling... take the temp back down to medium/low and give those ingredients a nice bath. The mixture should reduce and become one nice looking soup!
- Take an immersion blender and give them a swirly. You can now add the moo moo juice (also known as milk).
- Spoon into a bowl, add greek yogurt and cilantro, and dip the sandwich melt into this sweet tasting goodness.
Homemade Tomato Sauce
| Prep Time | 1 hour |
| Cook Time | 4-5 hours |
| Servings |
people
|
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 cups onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 8 cups tomatoes coursely chopped and peeled
- 1 tbsp oregano leaves dried
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp basil leaves dried
- 1 tsp rosemary leaves crushed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 cups water
- 12 ounces tomato paste canned
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Heat oil in 4-quart saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are tender.
- Add all other ingredients, mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally (simmer time varies based on number of tomatoes. Could take as many as 4-5 hours to get correct consistency).
- Ladle mixture into clean jars and cover with tight-fitting lids. Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for 3 months to 1 year.
Recipe Notes
*If you have extra green or red peppers on hand, you may add 1-2 for added flavor
*You may double or triple the recipe depending on the number of ripe tomatoes in your garden
Quinoa Summer Salad
| Servings |
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Ingredients
Quinoa
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa/wild rice mix
- 3 cups water
- dash salt
Veggie Mix
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 carrot shredded
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1/2 sweet pepper your choice!
- 1 cup corn
- 1/2 can beans your choice!
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- red onion to taste
- cilantro to taste
Dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients
Quinoa
Veggie Mix
Dressing
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Instructions
- Add the quinoa/rice mix, water and salt to a medium sauce pan. Heat to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover for about 20 minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, cut up all of the veggies and place in a large mixing bowl
- In a smaller bowl or dressing container, mix in all of the dressing ingredients.
- When it has finished cooking, add the quinoa to the large mixing bowl and top with the dressing and feta cheese. Toss everything together.
- Serve and enjoy! Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to a week.
Recipe Notes
- Beans of Choice: You can’t go wrong here, so try your favorite bean. I like using chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans or black beans.
- Quinoa: Don’t like quinoa? Swap in another grain like brown rice or couscous.
- Vinegar: Don’t have rice vinegar or red wine vinegar on hand? Try apple cider vinegar, white vinegar or even balsamic vinegar.
Tabbouleh
| Servings |
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup fine bulgur
- 1 cup boiling-hot water
- 3 Tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh mint finely chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 cucumber peeled, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup scallions sliced
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Place bulgur in a heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over, then cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand 15 minutes. Drain in a colander, pressing on bulgur to remove any excess liquid. Transfer bulgur to a bowl and toss with remaining ingredients until combined well. Enjoy!
Roasted Potatoes and Cauliflower with Chives
| Servings |
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Ingredients
- 3 large Russet (baking) potatoes
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 small head cauliflower cut into small flowerets
- 1/3 cup fresh chives sliced, plus 8 whole chives for garnish if desired
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Cut the potatoes to ¾ inch cubes. Place on a jelly-roll pan and toss with the oil, garlic powder, rosemary, paprika, salt and pepper. Roast the potatoes in the middle of a preheated 450°F. oven, turning them occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add the cauliflower, toss the mixture well, and roast 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and golden in spots. Toss the vegetables with chives and serve topped with a garnish of whole chives.
Chicken Sausage Pizza
| Servings |
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Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough already prepared
- 4 oz spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 lb chicken sausage combination of hot and sweet sausage
- 1/4 cup red pepper chopped (or other vegetables such as mushrooms, green peppers)
- Italian Seasoning Try any combination of fresh or dried basil, tarragon, thyme, parsley, chives
- red pepper flakes
- 1 tomato large, cored and sliced
- 16 oz mozzarella/cheddar sheese shredded (can use fat-free or low-fat variety)
- Parmesan cheese
- olive oil
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Stretch pizza dough to fit a round, lightly oiled pizza pan. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and cook chopped onion a couple of minutes until lightly browned. Add garlic and continue cooking for another minute or two. Add hot chicken sausage and cook until browned and crumbled.
- Cover pizza dough with desired amount of sauce. Layer with the sausage mixture. Top with chopped red peppers and other vegetables if desired. Sprinkle with seasonings and red pepper flakes for added kick.
- Place sliced tomatoes on top of sausage/vegetable/seasoning mixture, covering the pie. Brush any visible crust with olive oil and spray tomatoes with cooking spray.
- Place in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, but keep an eye on it. When it starts to rise and the crust just starts to turn brown, remove from oven and top with shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Brush crust with oil again and return to oven just until cheese melts.
- Remove from oven, slice with pizza cutter and serve immediately!