Month: October 2012

meatless monday — creamy tomato pasta

Leave a comment

can’t go wrong with a bowl of pasta

despite the fact that it’s now october and we have had freezing temperatures, dad’s garden just keeps chugging out tomatoes.  for meatless monday i decided to create a creamy tomato sauce to use up the giant bowl of tomatoes i have.  first i sautéed tomatoes, garlic, onions, and red peppers in olive oil.  while that was sauteing i sent the noodles to boiling.  for a change and to use up the box of random lasagna noodles i broke up the lasagna noodles real small to create a more eatable noodle.  once all was sautéed and boiled i tossed them together.  to get a quick and tad bit healthier cream sauce the secret is goat cheese. crumble goat cheese into the hot pasta and viola cream sauce.  not bad for using up a lot of leftovers.

the guber burger

Leave a comment

what do i like on my cheeseburger?  peanut butter.  oh yes i said peanut butter.  where did i come up with this crazy idea.  one place ….. the wheel inn – drive in in sedalia, mo, home of the guber burger.  the guber burger is essential a basic cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, mayo and peanut butter. as a kid i used to think this was disgusting but then some peanut butter accidentally got on one of my cheeseburgers when we were eating there and i became a convert.  i even have a tee shirt to illustrate my love of the guber burger.

super fan of the guber burger

dad the other night fired up the grill for homemade hamburgers and as mom was pulling out all the items for burger toppings i headed right into the pantry and got the jar of peanut butter, declaring “i’m making a guber burger!”  although it wasn’t as good as the wheel inn- drive in, it was still a pretty damn good guber burger!

my homemade guber burger

pumpkin-rosemary turkey

Leave a comment

hello fall!  hello crock pot you ol’friend!  fall is upon us and i have decided saturdays are going to be my crock pot day. to kick off the crock pot season i roasted a turkey breast on saturday.  aided by pumpkin beer and some rosemary i made a very yummy turkey breast.

the bird

along with it was of course mashed potatoes, carrots that were in the crock pot, and cornbread stuffing.

mmmmmmmmmmm

to help me eat this feast were the parental units.  dad brought wine and mom brought dessert.

hosting the parents

mom brought the last summer batch of homemade ice cream for dessert.  topping choices including Hershey’s chocolate syrup and strawberries and of course we had to eat them out of sundae dishes.

goodbye summer, hello fall

RECIPE:  PUMPKIN-ROSEMARY TURKEY

3-4 lb turkey breast

2 bottles of pumpkin beer (i reccommend o’fallon pumpkin ale)

2 TBSP honey

1/4 cup mustard bbq sauce

3 TBSP rosemary

1 apple sliced

1 onion quartered

4 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cup baby carrots

*spray the crock pot with non-stick spray.  wash off turkey breast in cool water and place in crock pot.  add onion, apples, garlic, and carrots to crock pot.  in a bowl mix together beer, honey, and bbq sauce, pour over turkey and vegetables. sprinkle rosemary on top of items in crock pot.  slow cook for 5-6 hours on low.

meatless monday — beans and greens tacos

Leave a comment

so this monday was supposed to have been one on my “lets do dinner!!!” parties but do to various schedule changes and me being tired from being out of town all weekend i canceled it.  however one thing i do believe in is that you should cook for yourself like you would cook for others.  meaning i still cooked up a hell of a meatless feast.

on the menu:  beans and greens tacos, mexican millet, mango-cucumber salsa and for dessert mint-chocolate chip cookies

can’t go wrong when goat cheese is on the menu

the beans and greens taco was good.  its sautéed spinach, red onions and beans topped with goat cheese.  although i actually prefer a taco i make of fried potatoes, onions, beans and topped with goat cheese better i decided.  the mango-cucumber salsa on the other hand was about the best salsa i’ve ever made!  i think what made it better than times i’ve attempted in the past was that i got a mini-food processors so it had that true salsa quality to it.  i may have just put it on everything for the rest of the week. i’ve never made millet before.  its a type of rice high in iron.  sort of a cross between couscous and rice.  i liked it though i’m not quite sure i cooked it long enough, it seemed to have a slight crunch to it.

mexican millet

true story about the mint-chocolate chip cookies.  the recipe makes about 2 dozen.  i put one dozen into the cookie jar and froze the other dozen.  everyday when i got home from work this week i’d eat about 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 cookies for a snack.  on friday i came home, told myself i was only allowed 2 cookies, reached my hand in the cookie jar and found there were only 2 cookies left.  it was so sad and at the same time a startling fact i ate a dozen cookies in a week!!

i probably could have eaten the whole 2 dozen

RECIPE:  MANGO-CUCUMBER SALSA

1 mango – chopped

1 8oz can of chuck pineapple – juice drained

1/2 cup cucumber -chopped

1/2 cup tomato – chopped

1/4 cup red pepper – chopped

1 TBSP green onion – chopped

1 TBSP cilantro

1 lime – juice from

1 jalapeno – seeded and chopped

*place all ingredients EXCEPT for cilantro and green onion into a food processor.  process on high with a knife blade till a chunky salsa emerges.  place salsa into bowl and stir in cilantro and green onion.  chill salsa for 4-6 hours to allow flavors to marinate.