Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie

Not-so-healthy but gloriously delicious! This is the best pecan pie I have ever eaten.

Ingredients

1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy, and stir in melted butter. Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar and the flour; mix well. Last add the milk, vanilla and nuts.
Pour into an unbaked 9-in pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until done.

To mix it up, you can add one packet of Starbucks via instant coffee to the mix before baking. Coffee pecan pie is amazing!

Kale Chips!!!

I heard about these from a friend and KNEW I had to try it for myself.

Need:
1 bunch kale
salt
olive oil
baking sheet

Pre-heat the oven on 350 degrees
rinse kale
dribble olive oil across the bottom of the baking sheet
arrange kale leaves on baking sheet
lightly drizzle olive oil across kale
sprinkle salt across kale

bake for - I don't know - 5 to 7 min or until leaves are crispy.

These things are tasty right off the baking sheet! And they're super healthy. You can dip them in hummus but they are kind of fragile. I would also like to try them in a food dryer (Shelli's suggestion) and at lower temps.

Butternut Squash Soup

Hello all! I've tried my hand at one recipe for butternut squash soup and didn't like it much so decided to make up my own, with the help of a recipe a friend of mine used. It was much better. Here's what I did and some of the variations you can try.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash (I used 1 small butternut and 1 small acorn) peel and cube
1 med yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped or crushed
1 carrot, sliced
1 potato, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp butter
Water
Sea salt
Pepper
Cayenne

You can add chicken stock or bouillon to the broth. I would imagine that if you use chicken stock you probably don’t need to add water but you’ll want to add the bouillon to the water

Sauté the onions and garlic in the butter. When the onions are tender, add cubed squash, potato, and carrot then add water to cover the veggies
Let veggies simmer until tender
Blend everything in a blender
Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. If you use bouillon or chicken broth, you’ll probably need less or possibly no salt. I used only water so needed quite a bit of salt.
Eat and enjoy!

Anybody have any other good/interesting ideas for butternut squash soup? This was only my second attempt and it turned out delicious but I'll bet it could be better!

Autumn Soup

Brad asked me to take care of meals this week and last. This week I decided to make Autumn Soup, one of my childhood favorites. I know! It's not fall! What was I thinking! But really it's good any time of year. : )

Autumn Soup

1 lb beef
1 med yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 potatoes, cut up
1 large can tomatoes (or you can cut your own; I’m too lazy)
Any other veggies that sound good (green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, etc)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp basil
(rosemary?)
2 bouillon cubes
4 cups water

Cook beef (with rosemary?)
Add onions and cook for another 5 min
Add water and bring to a boil, then drop to a simmer
Add potatoes, salt, pepper, basil, bouillon, and simmer for about 10 min.

Add carrots and simmer for another 10 min.
Add tomatoes, continue to simmer until veggies are tender

Parsley Pasta

I wasn't really sure what to call this one but it's super delicious. It's one of my favorite dishes and I have it freqently.

I'm going to write it out as a single serving so if you're feeding more than just yourself, be sure to double, triple, whatever the amounts so you're not starving anyone.

I start by putting a pot of water on to boil for the noodles and putting a fry pan on for the meat and vegetables. Then I get all the ingredients together. I use:

crushed red peppers, rosemary, basil, and salt. You could try other herbs as well such as oregano, thyme, sage, etc - whatever sounds good, really.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped onions (I like lots of onions)
1/4 cup bell pepper
1 portabella mushroom
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 lb extra lean ground beef (you can try any meat or no meat at all if prefered)
1 serving Trader Joe's multigrain w flax spaghetti noodles

Make sure the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and mushroom are chopped. You can chop the parsley or just cut off the stems.

I add the olive oil to the pre-heated pan then add the herbs and spices in whatever amounts I feel like using - about a 1/4 tsp of each. I let everything heat up and make that olive oil tasty. Then I add the garlic, onions, and bell pepper and let them saute for awhile. If the water's boiling, go ahead and add the noodles.

Once everything in the pan is hot I add the ground beef and salt and get it cooking. When it is cooked I add the chopped mushroom, mix it around with the meat and oil for awhile, drain the cooked noodles, dump them on top of the veggies and meat, then add the parsley. Once everything is hot, it's ready.

Enjoy!