#1,506: Hamburger Soup

This healthy, yummy looking soup is going to be my lunch for the next few (last few!) days of work/school.  I made it because I had most of the ingredients on hand, it's healthy, it was simple to throw together and was paleo (once I omitted the potatoes).  Although this would be great with potatoes, it doesn't need it.  It kind of reminds me of a stuffed pepper soup this way, and as you can tell from the many posts from this blog, I am a stuffed pepper soup fan.  :) 

2-1/2 pounds Ground Chuck (I used ground turkey)

1 whole Large Onion, Diced

2 stalks Celery, Diced

3 cloves Garlic, Minced

1 can (14.5 Ounce) Can Whole Tomatoes (I used petite diced)

3 cups Beef Stock Or Beef Broth, Plus More As Needed

1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced

1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced

1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced

4 whole Carrots, Peeled And Sliced On The Diagonal

5 whole Red Potatoes, Cut Into Chunks (I omitted)

3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, More To Taste

2 teaspoons Dried Parsley Flakes

1/2 teaspoon Ground Oregano

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (more To Taste)

In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown the meat with the onion, celery, and garlic. Remove the pot from the heat and drain off as much fat as you can. (Discard the fat once it cools.)

Return the pot to the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then cover the pot and simmer the soup for 15-20 more minutes, until potatoes are tender but not overly mushy.

Soup should be somewhat thick, but if you'd like it to be more "soupy," add 1 to 2 cups more broth OR hot water and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt if needed.

#1,505: Grilled Mojo Pork Tenderloin

I've mentioned before that I'm not a huge fan of pork, but I've got to give this recipe some credit.  It was REALLY, REALLY good.  It was so easy to make and it was ridiculously moist.  I am not a very good griller because I burn a lot of my foods (on purpose!), and as you can see the photo on the right is a little well done.  I was afraid this was going to be tough, but it was definitely not.  I will definitely be making this again...especially if I have company coming over because it looks like I worked hard on it, but I really didn't.  

2-3 pound pork tenderloin

3-4 large sweet onions

Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil

8 large garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1/3 cup fresh orange juice

1/3 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

For the marinade: In a small pot heat the oil, garlic, and cumin. Let the mixture simmer for 2-3 minutes then stir in all of the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Remove marinade from the heat and stir in the cilantro after it cools. Pour marinade over pork either in a covered container or in a large Ziploc bag and marinate in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

For the pork: After at least 24 hours, remove the pork from marinade, reserving marinade for later use. Preheat the grill to medium heat. Sear the tenderloin on all sides and continue to grill over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes rotating meat when needed until cooked thoroughly. The cooking time will vary depending how thick your tenderloin is. You want it to be slightly firm not gushy when you touch it with the grilling tongs. You want it to be cooked but not dry. Let pork rest for a couple of minutes before slicing so that the juices can settle back in. Slice pork into 1/2 inch medallions.

For the onions: Slice the onions into thick slices and brush with a little bit of oil. Grill onions when the pork is almost done so that they finish at the same time. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until soft.

For the sauce: Take remaining marinade and bring once again to a boil in a small pot. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. I made this, but could not eat it, and ended up dumping it.  I have a real issue with trying to use a marinade as a sauce...I was so afraid I was going to give my family food poisoning!! 

To serve: Pour sauce over sliced pork with grilled onions on the side. 

#1, 504: Paleo Egg White Muffins

I really, really, really wanted to like this recipe.  If you love eggs, then maybe you will be a fan of this one, but I hated it.  I actually threw it all away, I couldn't even finish one.  I'm sure it's my preferences/tastes and not the recipe itself, but blech!  This was super simple to make though and would be a great way to use up leftover veggies you have in your fridge and is great for paleo/whole 30/protein meals.  

6 eggs (I used egg whites) 1 zucchini peeled and chopped

1/4 jar sun dried tomatoes

4 ounces cooked ground beef (I used cooked and crumbled bacon)

1/2 onion chopped

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a pan sauté the onion and minced beef until the beef is cooked.  Remove from pan and combine with the remaining ingredients and whisk together.  Scoop the batter into a greased muffin tin.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 20 minutes | Number of Servings: 12 muffins

#1,503: Oatmeal Yogurt Breakfast Blend

During our farm unit in Pre-k, one of my students' grandma came and did a presentation from the Dairy Council.  When she came, she gave me a small recipe booklet with different dairy related recipes in it.  This was one of the recipes, and since I had all of the ingredients on hand, I was super excited to try it.  Sadly none of my kids like this, but I sure did.  I love the texture of this, the tartness of the yogurt, and sweetness from the fruit.  Delish!

1/2 c old fashioned oats
3/4 c plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 c diced apple
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp sliced almonds (I omitted)
2 tsp brown sugar
dash of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together and serve.  For best results, prepare the night before and let flavors meld in the refrigerator.

#1,502: Quick-Pickled Radishes

I really, really want to like radishes, and can tolerate them in small doses, but figured I would give this recipe a try to see if I like them more.  I'm super happy to report that I LOVED this recipe and will be making these again very, very soon.  They got pretty spicy the longer they marinated, so if you don't like a lot of heat/spice, I would cut back dramatically on these.  I was able to coerce 2 of the 3 kids to try these at dinner and although they did not like them, they still ate one small slice.  Love, love, loved this! PS...I'm 99% sure I found this recipe in the Rachel Ray magazine.  

12 radishes, thinly sliced
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
4 whole cloves
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
3/4 c distilled white vinegar
1/2 c water

Place thinly sliced radishes in a glass jar and set aside.  In a saucepan combine water, sugar, salt, cloves and red pepper, and bring to a boil.  Add vinegar.  Pour vinegar mixture over radishes and let stand 30 minutes; chill.

#1,501: Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee

I had a very similar recipe pinned for 2 years on my pinterest boards when I came across this recipe in a recent magazine issue of Real Simple.  So I figured it was about time for this iced coffee lover to give this recipe a chance.  Although I do think this is a lot of work for this lazy cook, I have to admit, it was really good.  I enjoyed this more and more as the days went on.  However, you go through A LOT of coffee grounds with a recipe like this and it sure does take a while to get the liquid to drain through a coffee filter.

6 oz (1 1/2 heaping CUPS) medium to coarsely ground coffee
4 cups room temperature water
milk of choice (skim, whole, almond, etc).
ice

Combine coffee grounds and water in a glass container.  Let sit at room temperature for 12 hours.

Strain through a mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter. This should yield about 2 3/4 cups of coffee base, and can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

To make iced coffee, combine 1/2 cup of strained coffee with equal parts of water or milk.  Pour over ice.

#1,500: Mini Sausage Quiche

This recipe was so much easier to make (and tastier) than I thought it would be.  I made these to take to a friend and I hope she enjoyed them as much as I did.  The recipe claims you can get 48 mini muffins out of a tube of crescent rolls....that's a joke.  Try half of that!!  I got 12 large ones and 12 mini muffin tin sized ones.  I would definitely make this again though.  

1/2 pound bulk hot Italian sausage (I used 1 lb bulk pork breakfast sausage)
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 tablespoons minced chives
1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls (I used crescent sheets)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese (I used Italian blend)
1 cup (8 ounces) 4% cottage cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Paprika

In a large skillet, brown sausage and onion over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in chives.

On a lightly floured surface, unroll crescent dough into one long rectangle; seal seams and perforations. Cut into 48 pieces. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups. 

Fill each with about 2 teaspoons of sausage mixture. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and cheeses. Spoon 2 teaspoonfuls over sausage mixture. Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Serve warm. Yield: 4 dozen.

#1,499: Paleo Tex-Mex Casserole

I LIKED this recipe (which has been on one of my pinterest boards for almost a year now!), but didn't love it and I THINK it's because of the coconut oil.  It was too sweet tasting, so I will omit the coconut oil next time or use olive oil instead.  I'm finding I don't love cooking with coconut oil as often as I thought I would.  I think I'm more of a savory girl than a sweet one...when it comes to meat dishes!  Personally, I probably will not make this recipe again, especially because there are SO many steps to this one.

1 – 1.5 pounds grass-fed ground beef (I used ground turkey)
2 cups spinach
2-3 carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced (I omitted)
1 zucchini, diced
2 cups diced bell peppers
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
14.5 oz can organic diced tomatoes
3 tbsp olive oil, bacon grease or lard
⅓ cup taco seasoning
½ tsp sea salt
5 cups shredded sweet potatoes, about 3 (I used 1 sweet potato)
½ cup coconut oil, melted
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground coriander

Optional garnish: fresh cilantro, sliced scallions, avocado and hot sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Chop, dice and mince all the veggies and garlic.

Melt half of your fat of choice in a very large skillet or heavy-bottomed pan and add in all the veggies.  Season with that ½ tsp of sea salt, toss together and cook these down until they are just about fork tender. Remove from the pan and set aside for later

.

In the same pan, add in the other half of your fat and get it up to temp.  Crumble in the ground beef, top with taco seasoning, mix and brown.

While the ground beef browns, peel enough sweet potatoes to get about 5 cups worth (about 3). Grate the sweet potatoes and set in a large mixing bowl.

Melt ½ cup of coconut oil and pour over the shredded sweet potatoes while warm, toss immediately! The coconut oil will start to solidify again as it cools, so work efficiently.

Once the coconut oil is mixed well, sprinkle the sweet potatoes with the onion powder, chili powder and ground coriander. Mix together.

Add the cooked vegetables and the diced tomatoes back into the pan with the beef, mix carefully to bring everything together and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Transfer all of this veggie-meaty goodness to a large casserole dish (I filled a 9″ x 13″ pan). Top with the seasoned, shredded sweet potatoes, cover with foil and pop this in the oven.

Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, then remove the foil and broil on low for 5 minutes — or until the sweet potatoes have browned and crisped up a bit.

To serve, top with fresh cilantro and sliced scallions with some avocado and hot sauce on the side!

#1,498: Choco-Avocado Fruit Dip

Only Allison and I were fans of this dip.  Too bad for the little kids because they were missing out on some good sneaky foods, that I normally can't get them to eat (but desperately tried to sneak past them).  But, on the bright side, it left more for Allison and I.  :)  I personally would definitely make this again...for myself! 

2 avocados
1 banana
1/2 cup raw honey
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 Tbsp coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt

Throw all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth and creamy, like a chocolate pudding.  Serve with fruit.

#1,497: Balsamic Marinated Chicken Breasts

I've intended to make this recipe several times and somehow it always got bumped from our menu, but I'm pretty sure this one is going to make it into our regular summer grilling recipe.  It was so simple to make, and we all really enjoyed the flavor (and moistness!) of this one.  The recipe says to bake in the oven but we are not oven-baked chicken fans.  The grill made it taste better...in our opinion!  

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh basil
Salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts

In a large zip lock bag combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, basil, salt and pepper and mix well.  Add the chicken breasts and seal, mixing to coat.  Place in the refrigerator for 2-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 400F.  Place the chicken in a glass dish and bake for 25 minutes.

#1,496: S'more Muffins

My kids and I really, really loved these simple muffins!  I over-cooked them a bit so they were a tad dry, but the flavor in these are good.  I don't know if it necessarily tastes like a s'more, but the ingredients are similar!  They are kind of fun to make too with the addition of the marshmallow fluff/cream.  Messy and sticky, but different.  The recipe says it makes 6 large muffins, but I got about 22 mini muffins out of it instead.  Overall, I would make these again. 

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

4 teaspoons sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons 2% milk

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup milk chocolate chips

6 tablespoons marshmallow creme

In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the sour cream and milk. Combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda; beat into creamed until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.

Coat six muffin cups with cooking spray; fill one-fourth full with batter. Spoon 1 tablespoon marshmallow creme into each muffin cup. Top with remaining batter.

Bake at 400° for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 6 muffins.

#1,495: Farmhouse Barbecue Muffins

My friend Jenny turned me on to this recipe several years ago.  I made it once or twice before and then it got filed away in my cookbooks.  I was going through recipes as I cleaned out our kitchen before a garage sale and found it again.  I figured this would be a good time to make it again for my family, see if we still liked it, and then add it to this list of recipes.  Fortunately we all still really enjoyed these muffins.  This is such an easy, and kid-friendly recipe that you can made partially ahead of time.  Brian also said they reheated pretty well as leftovers in his lunch.  (Bonus!)  

1 tube (10 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (not Grands!)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Separate dough into 10 biscuits; flatten into 5-in. circles. Press each onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased muffin cup; set aside.

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and chili powder; add to beef and mix well.

Divide the meat mixture among biscuit-lined muffins cups, using about 1/4 cup for each. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 375° for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 10 servings.

#1,494: Stuffing Meatballs

For years now I've been making meatloaf stuffing muffins, in muffin tins.  Although the recipe is super simple and my family loves them, I absolutely hate cleaning out the muffin pans when I'm done.  The ingredients in this recipe are quite similar so I figured we would probably like this one...but I also thought that trying to make this on a cookie sheet would end in a big globby mess.  I was happily proved wrong!  Not only do these taste so similar to the meatloaf muffins, but they are 1000 times easier to clean up!  I will definitely be making these again and there is a super strong possibility that these will be replacing my meatloaf muffins.  :)

This recipe says to make these the size of a meatball and serve over noodles....YUCK!  These are way too dense to eat with spaghetti.  It also says to make them using 1/4 cup of meat mixture, but that is HUGE for a meatball.  Unless you are a giant.  So I made these as directed but ate with a side of veggies.  I personally would have enjoyed this dipped in a little spaghetti sauce, but my family and kids ate it dipped in ketchup.  Let's be honest, I ate these right off the pan.  It doesn't need a dipping sauce.  :)  It's also great cut-up and eaten with roasted veggies.   

2 lb. ground beef (I used 1 lb ground turkey)
1 pkg. (6 oz.) StoveTop Stuffing Mix for Chicken (I still used the entire box of stuffing)
1-1/4 cups water (I started with about ½ cup and added more until it was moist and mixed well but not overly wet)
2 eggs

Heat oven to 400ºF.  Line two large cookie sheets (I only needed 1) with foil; spray with cooking spray. Mix ingredients just until blended; shape into 32 (1-1/2-inch) balls, using 1/4 cup for each. (I got about 20 out of it)

Place on prepared pans. Bake 16 to 18 min. or until done (160ºF).

#1,493: Enchilada Casserole

As you can tell by my continual lack of posting recipes, I am really struggling this semester to find the time to make new recipes for my family!  :(  I hate that!!  BUT never fear, summer is just around the corner and time off from school is sooooo close (11 more days to be exact!  Wahoo!).  So then I will have SO much more time to do the things I love: 

• Spend time with my kids
• Crossing items off our bucketlist
• Trying new (and often healthy) recipes!

I actually have made a few new recipes the last few weeks (not nearly as many as I'd like though), but just haven't had the time to upload them.  So since I'm at a standstill on my end-of-the-year slideshow for school for tonight, I figured this was the perfect time to update this and get these recipes posted. 

I guess I'll start with my most recent one...as I made this recipe tonight for dinner.  I had to modify it a little bit for my family and their picky needs, but it was pretty minor.  Overall my family really enjoyed this, especially Brian, Allison and I.  The other two are my pickier eaters so it wasn't a surprise that they weren't gaga over this.  (Don't let that dissuade you though). This was super simple and would be a great way to use up some extra taco meat.  

1 pound ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce (I used a little less than half a can)      
1 cup salsa
6 flour tortillas (10 inch) (I made this in an 8x8 pan and only used 3 shells)
2 cups fresh or frozen corn (I omitted)
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in enchilada sauce and salsa; set aside.

Place two tortillas, overlapping as necessary, in the bottom of a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Cover with one-third of the meat mixture; top with 1 cup corn; sprinkle with 1-1/3 cups cheese. Repeat layers once, then top with remaining tortillas, meat and cheese.

Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: 6-8 servings.