Roasted Broccoli…the unsung vegetable

Broccoli is one of those veggies that you either love or hate.  I actually used to hate it.  But, just after having my little sugar lump of a daughter, I was at a catered dinner where we were served a very miniscule sized main dish.  And it really didn’t even taste that good.  But that’s not what we’re talking about here…so back to broccoli.  So in addition to the teeny tiny main dish we were served some rice and broccoli.  Well, like I said, I had a newborn baby girl, and, well, without getting to personal here, let’s just say I was still eating for two…if you catch my drift.    Think mama cow and baby cow.  Okay, let’s continue with the story.  I knew I needed to eat a substantial dinner because my baby needed nutrients…and I was hungry!  So, after eating the three bites of the main dish (sorry, I said I wouldn’t talk about that any more!) I ate the rice.  I was still hungry.  Bbut I didn’t like broccoli.  What’s a broccoli-hating girl to do?  Well, when that girl is also one that has a sweet little bundle of joy to sustain, she must suck it up and eat the broccoli.  So, I hesitantly stabbed a piece of steamed broccoli and slowly raised the fork to my mouth.  I chewed once.  I chewed twice.  Wait.  This isn’t so bad!  No, this is actually GOOD!  From that day on, I’ve loved broccoli.  And I’m blessed with two kids who like broccoli (maybe it has something to do with mama cow eating broccoli when she was feeding baby cow??).  We eat steamed broccoli all the time.  And I mean All. The. Time.  So much, that we are getting tired of eating plain ol’ steamed broccoli.  So when I came across a recipe(don’t remember where I first saw it)  for Roasted Broccoli I thought I’d give it a whirl.  It was pretty darned good.  I tweaked it just a bit and it was even darneder gooder.  

 

Here’s how it goes down.

You need one or two heads of broccoli…depending on how many you need to feed.  My inlaws were visiting when I took these pics, so I used two heads which was plenty to serve 6 people.  If it was just the four of us, I’d probably just do one.  Give the broccoli a quick wash and cut it into small florets and place them on a baking sheet.

Drizzle it with some olive oil.

Use your hand to toss the broccoli around and get it all coated with the olive oil.  Season it with some salt and pepper.

Now pop it in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Give it a stir and stick it back in for another 10 minutes or so.  The edges should be starting to turn brown, but still be mostly green.   Give it the fork test, too and make sure it’s tender enough for your liking.  If not, give it a few more minutes.

Now, zest a lemon and sprinkle that over the broccoli.  Squeeze a little of that lemon’s juice on it too.

Grate some parmesan cheese on the top and you’re ready to go. 

So far, this is my favorite way to eat broccoli.  But, maybe there’s something better?  Do you have a way with broccoli?  Share it with me…and you just might see it featured here on my blog…and who knows…I might include a gift for ya.  Leave me a comment with your broccoli recipe!

Homemade Ranch Dressing…makes everything taste better

So, PW shared a recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing once.  I never printed it off or tried it because I thought “How in the world can you make delicious ranch dressing at home?  It’s probably nowhere near the same taste as the bottled stuff.”  Well, someone should slap me for that comment.  Why on earth would I think that something in a bottle would taste better than homemade?  I must’ve had a brain fart. 

Fastforward to a few weeks ago.  I wanted salad and was out of the bottled stuff  I wanted to redeem myself, so I went back to PW’s Blog, printed the recipe and tried it myself.  Come along as I try my hand at this homemade Ranch Dressing.  We’ll just see if it really is as good (or better??) than the bottled stuff.  We’ll just see.

Let’s do this thing.

Grab a bowl and dump in a cup of mayo.  Use the REAL stuff people, not the fake junk.  Sacrifice something else in your diet this week if you need to, but we need the real stuff here.

Grab some sour cream and add 1/2 cup to the bowl.

Stir that together real good.  Now, let’s go over to the cutting board.

Grab a clove of garlic.  Chop it up pretty good.

Sprinkle the garlic with some salt, oh, just shy of 1/4 tsp.  Then, mash it all up with a fork until it becomes like a paste.

Now you need to chop up about a 1/4 cup of fresh parsley and a couple tbsp of fresh chives.  I was amazed that I still had some growing in my herb pots this time of year, but if you don’t have any growing in your garden, you can almost always find these in the grocery store produce isle. 

Toss the chopped herbs into the bowl with the mayo/sour cream.

Now, you need to add some milk/buttermilk to get it to the right consistency.  Buttermilk will give it a nice tangy taste, but if you’re like me, you never have buttermilk on hand.  So, I fake it.  I take a little regular milk, add a splash of lemon juice to it,  and let it sit on the counter for a minute or so.  The lemon juice will thicken the milk a bit and give it a nice tangy flavor.  You can use this trick for pretty much any recipe that calls for buttermilk.  But I probably wouldn’t try drinkin’ it.  That’d just be gross I think.  Anyway, back to the dressing.  Pour your buttermilk, or fake buttermilk…maybe we’ll call it futtermilk…into the mayo mixture a little at a time.

Add just enough futtermilk to get it to the consistency you like.  Stir it all together and give it a taste.   I would suggest actually tasting it on a piece of lettuce and not just using a spoon or your finger. 

I know what you’re thinking.  That was too simple, right?  Mayo, sour cream, buttermilk, garlic and herbs.  That’s IT?  Yup.  That’s it.  Of course, you can add other stuff if you want, like vinegar, dill, worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, paprika,  tobasco, other fresh herbs or anything else that tickles your fancy.  But me?  I like it plain and simple. 

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.  It will thicken some as it chills, so you might need to add a little more futtermilk to thin it down later.  It’s all good.

 This stuff is awesome people.  I think the heavens opened up and I heard the angels sing when I tasted this stuff.  I’ll never buy that bottled stuff again.  Never in a million years.  This stuff is That. Good.

Printable Recipe:  Homemade Ranch Dressing

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

I love pasta.

I love sun dried tomatoes.

I love Ree (aka Pioneer Woman).

The three come together in this amazing pasta salad recipe she shared a few weeks ago.  It looked sooo good. It looked easy.  And we had a Bible Study meeting to go to, so I thought I’d try it out.  I have to admit that I adapted it just a bit (mainly because I didn’t have a couple of the ingredients called for), but it’s all good.  It’s cooking…not rocket science!  There’s room for experimentation!  So, if you wanna see P-Dub’s Original version, clicky here.  Hers is wonderful, I am most certain (I haven’t tried a single PW recipe that I didn’t like!), but like I said, I was missing a few things so I just kinda went my own way a bit.  

Here’s how it went down in my kitchen one lazy Sunday afternoon. 

While hubby is sawing logs in the recliner and the kids are playing Wii, you march your little self into the kitchen and put a big pot of water on to boil.  Once the water comes to a full rolling boil, pour in about a pound of your favorite shape of pasta.  I almost always have rotini on hand, so that’s what I used.

Throw in a good amount of salt and give it a stir.

While the pasta is cooking, we’ll get our sun-dried tomato dressing made.  At my grocery store, I’ve only found the sun dried tomatoes in a plastic container in the produce section.  But you may find them in a jar, packed in oil.  If you buy the jarred kind, be sure to drain them well before proceeding.

Place about a 10 or 12 pieces of sundried tomatoes into a food processor bowl. 

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil.

Toss in a couple cloves of garlic.

Now, here is where I first went astray from PW’s original recipe.  And for a couple of reasons.  One…it called for red wine vinegar and I didn’t have any in the pantry.  Two…remember the Chicken Bryan recipe?  It had a nice sauce of sun-dried tomatoes and lemon juice/zest.  Mmmm…what a nice combination.  So, to replace the acidic vinegar, I used lemon juice.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon right into the processor bowl (being careful not to let the seeds slip into the bowl!)

Add in a pinch or two of salt and pepper and blend until the tomatoes are chopped pretty well.  Take a peek and if it looks too dry, add some more olive oil and blend a bit more.  You’re finished when it looks something like this:

 

Here’s another point where I went astray…I was out of olives, fresh basil AND cherry tomatoes.  What?  Quit looking at me that way…it was time for a grocery trip, okay?  So, I diced up a couple slices of bacon that were hangin’ out in the fridge and cooked them till they were nice and crispy.

Grate yourself about a cup each of parmesan and pecorino romano cheese.  I like the combination of the flavors, but feel free to just use 2 cups of either one instead.

 

By now, your pasta should be done.  Drain it and rinse it with cold water until it’s cool to the touch.

Place your pasta in a large bowl.  Toss in the bacon, about 1-1/2 cups of the cheeses and some of the dressing, stirring gently to coat.  At this point, you’ll also want to add in some basil and/or parsley.  Sadly, my parsley plant has just about seen it’s last days, so I had to use dried.  Same with the basil.   Although the salad tasted fine, I know it would have been even better with fresh herbs.  *Sigh*

As you’re stirring it all together, add more dressing until it reaches the consistency you like.  If you like your pasta salad a little more ‘dry’ – more pasta, less dressing, don’t add much.  If you like your pasta salad all goopy and drippy with loads of dressing, add it all.  Or, if you’re like me (and Goldilocks) and you like it in the middle, use just enough to get it “just right” for you.

Then, sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of cheese over the top. 

And finish it all off by putting a couple of lemon pinwheels on top!

Yummalicious! 

PRINTABLE RECIPE FOR SUNDRIED TOMATO PASTA SALAD

Mini Potato Gratins

I don’t know about you, but I really like it when I go to a restaurant and get served my dishes in ‘individual portions’ instead of it being dished out of a big pan with a big spoon.  Do you agree?  It just makes it more appealing to me.  I think that’s why I love these Mini Potato Gratins so much.  Well, that and the fact that they are very tasty.  And…of course….easy.  I like that I can serve little individual portions of these potatoes at home that look so cute on the plate beside your main dish, and they don’t take forever to prepare.

Here’s the low-down on the mini-gratins.  You’ll need one average sized potato per person, which ends up being two gratins.  If you have a ravenous family, you’ll want to account for that and make more gratins.  But us…we are good with two per person.  There’s four of us, so that’s four potatoes = 8 gratins.

The first thing you’ll want to do is peel those potatoes and slice ’em up pretty thinly.  Shred a pile of cheese, too.  (I used swiss and mozarella this time, but you can use any type you like)  And have some heavy cream on hand as well.  If you like onions, slice up some green onions to throw in there.  I didn’t have any this time, so I just chopped up some chives to pretty up the tops of the gratins at the end. 

Now it’s time to assemble the gratins.  This is really technical stuff people.  Pay close attention.

You place a slice or two of potato in a muffin tin cup.  Put some cheese on top.  (This is also where you’d add onions if you wish)

Top that with another slice or two of potato.  More cheese.  More potato.  More cheese.  Do this until you fill the cup.  Add a dash of salt and pepper on top.

Now, this is the really hard part.  I hope you can make it through.  Pour a tablespoon or two of heavy cream over the potatoes.

 

If you still have the strength and energy after all that work, the next step is to sprinkle on some chopped chives.

Whew!  That was tiring, huh?    Now, just cover the pan with foil and bake the gratins at 375 for about 15-20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 15-20 minutes.  And they’ll look like this, just slightly golden brown:

Let them cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then run a thin knife around the edge to loosen them.  Use a small spatula or a spoon to remove the gratins to a plate.

Now, you have to agree with me that those little babies are much cuter than a pile of mashed potatoes!  Am I right???  Huh?  Am I?  Am I? 

These are a nice change of pace for your family dinnertime…but they’re also a great addition to your holiday meal.  Your extended family will think you’re amazing when you bring a plate of these little beauties to the table.  You don’t have to tell them how easy they are.  It’ll be our little secret!

MINI POTATO GRATIN PRINTABLE RECIPE

Simple Rice Pilaf

‘Sup Pilaf?  Sorry…if you don’t have kids who watch “iCarly” you probably have NO IDEA why I just said that.  If you DO have kids who watch iCarly, then you probably just chuckled along with me.  Ever since that episode where Mrs. Pilaf comes to talk to Carly about their private school and Sam greets her with ” ‘Sup Pilaf?” and a high five…I can’t say Rice Pilaf without chuckling and thinking of Sam.  Tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that’s hilarious?    We also use the phrase “How are your buttocks?” a lot now too…thanks to that same episode.  But, I digress.  And you probably think I’ve lost my mind.  Maybe I have. 

But, lost minds aside…I wanted to share with you today how I make a simple rice pilaf (heehee).  Sorry, I’ll try to contain myself.  This is a very versatile side dish because you can basically throw in whatever you have on hand and make it different every time.  Once you know the simple “formula” then you’re good to go.  So, let’s get started!

First, you want to add a good hunk’a butter to a skillet.  I’m making enough rice pilaf for 4, so I’m using probably 2-3 tbsp here.  It’s not an exact science, so don’t sweat it too much.  Let that butter get nice and melty.

Now, add your rice.  I used about 1-1/2 cups here. 

Add in any ‘aromatic’ vegetables that need a while to cook down…like onions, garlic, carrots, etc. at this point.  I added chopped onions and some garlic today.  Let this cook until the rice is a nice golden brown.  The veggies should be somewhat soft at that point as well.

Now add liquid…about double the amount of rice you used.  So, I used about 3 cups of liquid…in this case, chicken stock.  Chicken stock is what I use 90% of the time, but occasionally I’ll use beef stock, or just water.  You coud even use white wine for this, or a combination of wine and stock.

Now, put a lid on it and let it simmer until the rice is almost cooked through.  Then add any vegetables you have that don’t need a lot of cooking time…brocolli, peas, artichokes, etc.  I used some roughly chopped cooked brocolli I had left over from dinner the night before, so I just tossed it in at the very last.

 Add in any herbs you want, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Now you’re ready to eat!  Sometimes I even add some fresh parmesan cheese on top…yumm!

Now, let me run down that ‘formula’ again for you.

1. Melt butter in pan.
2. Add dry rice and any ‘firm’ veggies/aromatics; cook until rice is golden.
3. Add liquid, about twice the amount of rice you used.
4. Cover and cook until rice is tender.
5. Add ’soft’ veggies, herbs, salt and pepper.

So there you go, Simple Rice Pilaf that can be adjusted according to what you have on hand.  This is a good one to make on “clean out the fridge night”.    You can even add leftover cooked meat to this recipe (at the end, after the rice has cooked) and basically make it a meal in and of itself.

‘Sup, Pilaf?