Cassie’s Ruminations

Turkey Kale and Bean Soup

This is a healthy and flavorful soup I concocted for lunches this week. I went with an Italian theme for the spices, which I think worked well 🙂

Turkey Kale and Bean Soup
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
20 oz ground turkey
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 quarts non-fat low sodium chicken broth
2 15.5-oz cans of cannelli beans, drained and rinsed
1 small bunch of kale, stems removed and torn into bite sized pieces

Pour the olive oil into a small stock pot and warm over medium heat. Add the turkey, spices, and garlic, and brown well, breaking the turkey into small pieces. Add the broth, beans, and kale, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Posted in Beans, Food, Poultry, Soup, Vegetables | No Comments »

More Sister Point Oysters

Another round of Sister Point Oysters for me today 🙂 The larger ones were a little harder to shuck, but I still managed quite well.

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Some of what we’ve been eating

Lots of standbys recently, so here’s some of what we’ve been eating:

Baked Salmon

Teriyaki Chicken, with one large green bell pepper added with the mushrooms

Roasted Leg of Lamb, Broccoli and Cauliflower

Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken

Ham Hocks and Beans

Beef Burritos, made with thinly sliced round instead of ground beef

Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage and Braised Brussels Sprouts

Garlic Rosemary Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Posted in Asian, Beans, Beef, Food, Mexican, Pork, Poultry, Seafood, Vegetables | No Comments »

Chicken in White Wine Mushroom Sauce

This recipe is adapted from one I found in this month’s issue of Cooking Light. The article on chicken has a lot of recipes I want to try, but this one stood out as a good first shot 🙂 I liked this a great deal. Shaun wasn’t as much of a fan but still thought it was decent. I served this with some roasted zucchini.

Chicken in White Wine Mushroom Sauce
Serves 4

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 1.5 lbs)
kosher salt and black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 lb crimini mushrooms, quartered
4 cloves garlic, pressed
2/3 cup white wine (1 small bottle)
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth (I like fat free low sodium)
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Season the chicken breasts lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the canola oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts and brown well on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken to a bowl and let rest.

Add the mushrooms and shallots to the skillet, season lightly with salt, and sauté until browned and starting to turn tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds until the garlic is fragrant.

Add the wine and deglaze the skillet, scraping up any browned bits. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the wine down until it just coats the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine completely. Add the broth to the skillet and whisk to incorporate the flour.

Add the chicken back to the skillet and bring the mixture up to a low boil to thicken the sauce. Cook the chicken for another 2-3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Turn the heat off, add the butter and thyme, and whisk until incorporated. Serve warm.

Posted in Food, One Dish Meals, Poultry, Vegetables, Weight Watchers | No Comments »

Waffles

This recipe comes from The Joy of Cooking. It’s a great basic waffle recipe. They also note that you can make it reduced fat by using only 4 tbsp of butter, or extra crispy and decadent by using 16 tbsp of butter. You can also add things to the batter to customize your waffles (about 1/2 cup total) – dried or fresh fruit, chocolate chips, bacon, or anything else you think would sound good. We just stuck with plain delicious waffles today and a fried egg on the side.

Waffles
Makes about 12 6-inch diameter waffles

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 1/2 cups milk

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs well. Whisk the butter and milk into the eggs, then dump the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Stir together with a few strokes to combine. There will still be lumps in the batter when you’re done.

Heat your waffle iron, and when it’s ready add the manufacturer’s recommended amount of batter (mine takes 1/4 cup). Close the lid and cook until the waffle is golden brown. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree F oven.

Posted in Breakfast, Food | 1 Comment »

Italian Beef and Bean Stew

This crockpot meal is a lovely warming meal for a drizzley lazy Sunday 🙂 It’s similar to my other beef stew recipe, but with beans and tomatoes instead of mushrooms and potatoes.

Italian Beef and Bean Stew
(for at least a 4 quart slow cooker)
Makes 4-6 hearty servings

2 tbsps vegetable oil
½ cup flour
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp Emeril’s Essence, or other seasoning mix of your choice
1 can (2 cups) beef broth, at room temperature
1 tbsp brandy
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 15-oz cans canellini or great white northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
8 oz baby carrots

Mix the flour, salt, Essence, and pepper in a large storage bag. Shake the beef in the bag, coating each piece completely. Set a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil to the pan and sear the beef in 2 batches until nicely browned, adding the second tablespoon of vegetable oil after removing the first batch so the second batch can brown well too. Remove the beef to the slow cooker. Add the remaining flour in the bag to the pan with the oil and make a roux. Deglaze the pan with the beef broth and brandy, scraping up any stuck brown bits from the pan. Add the spices and herbs stir to combine. Bring to a low boil to thicken and then turn off the heat.

Add the vegetables to the slow cooker on top of the beef. Pour the beef broth mixture over the top. Cover and cook the stew for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. About a half an hour before the end of the cooking time, taste the broth for seasoning and adjust if necessary. If a thicker broth is desired, dissolve 2 tbsp of cornstarch in ⅛ cup of cold water and stir the into the stew. If a thinner broth is desired, add a little water. Allow to cook for the remaining half hour.

Serve with crusty bread.

Posted in Beans, Beef, Food, Slow Cooker | No Comments »

New Couch

For our big Christmas gift to each other, Shaun and I got ourselves a new couch. It got delivered today. It’s super-comfy, reclines, and the microfiber so far seems to be much more dog hair resistant 😀

Posted in Ramblings | No Comments »

Rosemary Garlic Rack of Lamb with Roasted Pears

This was inspired by this Food Network recipe. The pears go quite well with the lamb, and the rosemary garlic rub is quite good. I served this with some gnocchi.

   

Rosemary Garlic Rack of Lamb with Roasted Pears
Serves 4

1 rack of lamb, about 1.5 lbs
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, divided
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 d’Anjou (or other firm fleshed) pears

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Strip the leaves off of 2 of the sprigs of rosemary. Finely chop the leaves with the garlic and mix with 1 tbsp of olive oil and the salt and pepper to form a wet rub. Let the flavors mingle for 5 minutes. Rub the mixture all over the rack of lamb and let rest another 2 minutes.

Cut the pears into quarters lengthwise and core the pieces.

Pour the other tbsp of olive oil in a cast iron or other oven proof skillet and heat over medium high heat. Place the rack of lamb in the skillet, fat side down, and cook until browned, about 4 minutes. Flip them lamb over bone side down and brown, 2-3 minutes. Add the pear quarters and place the other two rosemary sprigs on top of them.

Move the skillet to the oven and cook to desired doneness, about 15 minutes and an internal temperature of 135 degrees F for medium rare. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting the rack into individual chops and serving.

Posted in Food, Fruit, Lamb | 3 Comments »

More Snow for Emma

Another lowland snow for us thanks to the La Nina pattern this winter. It was brief, but pretty heavy. We got a bit over an inch over the course of a couple hours this morning from the convergence zone storm, but we already have clear skies.

Emma did get to go out as it was falling, though 🙂

Posted in Corgi, Ramblings | 1 Comment »

A Nice Christmas

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! We did. 🙂 Besides the orange french toast in the morning, we had a nice little standing rib roast with some roasted carrots and brussels sprouts. Emma got to gnaw on the bone for part of her Christmas treat. 🙂

Posted in Beef, Corgi, Food, Holiday Cooking, Vegetables | 1 Comment »