Sweet and Savory Vegetable Casserole with Rosemary Sage Dumplings
*Vegetarian*
Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 TB paprika
1 potato, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 (14 oz) can chopped tomatoes
1 can (14 oz) vegetable broth/stock
1 sweet potato (1 lb), peeled and chopped
1 bunch broccoli (1/2 lb), chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 TB balsamic vinegar
2 TB sour cream

Dumplings:
1 cup flour
2 TB chilled butter, cubed
1/2 TB fresh sage, chopped
1/2 TB fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
1. Heat oil in deep skillet. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic and paprika to skillet and cook 30 seconds. Add potato, carrot, tomato and veggie stock to pan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook on low for 10 minutes.
3. Add sweet potato, broccoli and zucchini and simmer for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Sift flour and pinch of salt into a medium sized bowl. Rub chilled butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Pour milk and herbs into bowl and using a knife slice into the flour and stir until in creates a dough.
5. Move dough to table surface and form into a ball. Cut into 6 equal sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball.
6. Right before you add your cooked vegetables to your casserole dish for baking mix in the balsamic vinegar and sour cream.
7. Top vegetable mixer with herb dumplings.
8. Bake casserole for 20 minutes.

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Macaroni and Cheese with Smoked Fontina Cheese
Prep. Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes for Bechamel Sauce, 10 minutes for pasta and 30 minutes of baking

Ingredients:
1 pound macaroni pasta
4 TB butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 ts thyme
2 cups shredded sharp cheese
2 cups shredded smoked fontina cheese
salt
black pepper
1 ts paprika

Bechamel Sauce:
4 TB unsalted butter
1 shallot, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
6 TB all purpose flour
4 cups milk
1 ts dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 ts salt
1/4 ts nutmeg
black pepper

Directions:
1. Make your bechamel sauce: Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over high heat. Add shallot, carrot, and celery to pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and bring it all to a boil. Add thyme and bay leaf. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes in order to thicken the sauce.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When it starts to boil add your pasta. Cook according to the packaging.

3. While your pasta cooks heat a medium sauce pan and melt butter with garlic cloves. Add the bread crumbs and thyme and mix.

4. When pasta is cooked, drain and toss with cheeses. Fold in the bechamel sauce, salt, pepper and paprika.

5. Transfer macaroni mixture to a greased baking dish. Cover top with bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

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Sweet Potato Ravioli in Garlic Cream Sauce

Prep. Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb orange sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
5 oz. ricotta cheese
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 TB Parmesan cheese
1 9 oz. package won ton wrappers
2 oz. butter
1 bunch green onions, chopped
8 oz. heavy cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Place sweet potatoes on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 40 minutes.
2. Transfer sweet potato to a mixing bowl. Add ricotta, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Mix and mash until smooth.
3. To make the ravioli: Place one TB of sweet potato mash in the center of one won ton wrapper. Brush edges of wrapper with water. Place another won ton wrapper on top and press all four edges together. Place on baking sheet with wax paper, cover with damp towel. Repeat this until your filling is gone.
4. Melt butter in skillet. Add green onion and garlic. Cover and cook 1 minute. Add cream and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes until cream sauce is thickened.
5. Bring a large sauce pan of water to a boil. Cook ravioli in batches 3 minutes each. Drain and place on serving plates. Cover ravioli with hot cream sauce and serve.

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Thank you Simply Recipes for providing such a delicious recipe.  Now, this isn’t the quickest recipe, but the deliciousness in the end makes up for it.

Lemon Chicken

Serves 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes PLUS 2 hours marinating

Cooking Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

3-4 pounds chicken parts (thighs and legs recommended), skin-on, bone-in, trimmed of excess fat
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 Tbsp melted butter
Lemon slices for garnish

Directions

1 Place lemon juice, lemon peel, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, whisk to combine. With the tip of a sharp knife, cut into each chicken piece one or two times by about 1/2 an inch. (This will help the marinade penetrate.) Place the chicken pieces and the marinade in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Rotate the bag so that all chicken pieces are coated with the marinade. Seal the bag and place in a bowl in the refrigerator (in case of leakage). Let marinate for 2 hours.

2 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove chicken from marinade and place in a single layer in a large baking dish, skin side up. Reserve the marinade. Use a pastry brush to brush a little melted butter on to each piece of chicken.

3 Bake for a total of 50 to 55 minutes, until the skins are crispy brown, and the chicken is cooked through, juices running clear. Half-way through the baking, at about the 25 minute mark, baste the chicken pieces generously with reserved marinade.

Depending on the size of the breasts, they may be ready before the thighs, so if you are cooking a mix of chicken parts, keep that in mind, you may have to take them out of the oven before the thighs.

Let rest, covered in foil, for 10 minutes before serving.

4 Pour the juices from the pan into a serving bowl. Use a tablespoon to skim the fat off the top (save the fat for cooking with later, or discard, but do not discard down the drain or it will solidify and clog your drain). Serve the chicken with the juices on the side or a little poured over the top of the chicken.

Serves 4-6. Serve alone or with steamed rice.

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For starters, letÅ› start with Slow Cooker Chili.

Ingredients:

8 strips of bacon, chopped
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
28 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 – 16oz. can tomato sauce
1 – 6oz. can tomato paste
2 – 16 oz. cans kidney beans
2 cups carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 TB chili powder
1 ts salt
1 TB cumin
1 ts black pepper
1 TB Worchestershire
2 ts Franks hot sauce
1 ts cayenne pepper
1 ts paprika
1 ts brown sugar

Directions:

1. Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Remove to paper towel to drain.
2. Brown beef and pork in bacon drippings in skillet.
3. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
4. Cover. Cook on LOW 9-10 hours. Stir occasionally.

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Serves 4
Prep. Time:  5 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

1 20 oz. bag frozen black eye peas
2 slices bacon
4 cups of water or chicken or veggie stock
1 1/2 cups onions, chopped
1 TB pepper
1 TB hot spice you like (red bell pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, etc.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 oz. cream cheese
1 canned chili, chopped

Directions:
1. Cook black eyed peas according to directions on the bag (add bacon slices), BUT replace the water with chicken or veggie stock for more flavor.
2. Add onions, pepper, hot spice, garlic, bay leaf to black eye peas. Cover with 2 cups chicken or veggie stock. Cover and cook 30 minutes. Remove cover and cook 30 more minutes.
3. Remove bacon and bay leaf. Add diced chili and cream cheese. Stir until liquid thickens.

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Pork Steak with Apple Cider Vinaigrette and Mashed Orange and Lemon Sweet Potatoes

Serves 4
Prep Time: 2 hours marinating + 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 TB ground cumin
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 pounds pork steak
2 ounces olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
2 yams, peeled and diced
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 TB butter

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix vinegar, water, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper. Place pork in bowl and marinate 2 hours. Remove and pat dry. Save the marinade.
2. Place yams in stock pot, pour in orange juice and lemon juice. Add enough water to cover the remainder of the yams. Bring yams to a boil and cook for 20 minutes (until yams are tender enough to mash).
3. While yams are cooking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Heat oil in saute pan. Add pork steaks and brown. Add marinade, cover and cook 5 minutes. Place pork in oven safe dish with marinade, cover, and cook 20 minutes.
5. When yams are tender, drain them. Add butter to yams and mash to your preferred taste.

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Prep Time: 45 minutes + 1 hour Refrigeration
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

4 slices white bread, crusts removed
½ cup milk
1 lb frozen spinach, thawed
8 oz Ricotta
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 cup all purpose flour

Garlic butter sauce:
3 ½ oz butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 TB basil, chopped
1 tomato, diced

Directions:

1.  Soak bread in milk for 10 minutes. Squeeze out any excess milk from bread and frozen spinach.
2.  Combine bread, spinach, ricotta, eggs and Parmesan. Mix well. Chill, covered for 1 hour.
3.  Remove from fridge and fold in flour.
4.  Start boiling water in large sauce pan. With flour on your hands, roll heaped teaspoons of spinach/ricotta mixture into dumplings.
5.  Carefully lower batched on gnocchi into boiling water. Cook for 2 minutes (gnocchi will rise to the surface when completely cooked. Transfer cooked gnocchi to plate and cover to keep warm.
6.  Garlic Butter Sauce: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Drizzle over cooked gnocchi and serve!

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Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 TB butter
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup carrot, chopped
3/4 cup celery, chopped
2 large tomatoes, quartered
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups low-sodium veggie or chicken broth
2 cups water
1 cup white wine or 1/2 cup vinegar
3 potatoes, halved and sliced
1/2 ts rosemary
1/2 ts sage
1/2 ts thyme
1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups kale leaves, finely chopped
1 small red chile pepper, seeded and chopped fine
ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large stock pot over medium heat; cook onion for 5 minutes, until softened and clear.
2. Add carrot, celery, tomatoes, and garlic; cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add chicken broth, water, and white wine/vinager; stir in potatoes, rosemary, sage, and thyme.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes. Check that the potatoes are tender.
5. Add cannelini beans, kale, chile pepper, and black pepper
6. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

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Prep. Time: 15 minutes (not including getting your grill going)
Cooking Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 (4 pound) whole chicken
2 TB vegetable oil
2 TB salt
1 ts black pepper
3 TB of your favorite dry spice rub
1 can beer

Directions:
**Get your grill going before you start prepping the bird, so it is ready when you are!**
1. Remove neck and giblets from chicken and discard. Rinse chicken inside and out; pat dry with paper towels.
2. Rub chicken with oil, then rub with salt, pepper, and dry rub inside and outside. Set aside.
3. Open beer can and take several gulps until can is half full. Place beer on solid surface.
4. Grab chicken leg in each hand and plunk the bird cavity over the beer can.
5. Transfer the “bird-on-a-can” to your grill and place in the center of the grate, balancing the bird on its 2 legs like a tripod.
6. Cook the chicken via indirect medium heat with grill cover on for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Internal temperature of the bird must be at 165 degrees F in the breast and 180 degrees F in the thigh.
7. Remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

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