Wilted Arugula, Spinach and Herb Quinoa, and Broiled Pork Chop with Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce.

It's been a while since I have done any cooking, and tonight's fare was an easy one, but something I felt I could share.
On the menu tonight was:   Wilted Arugula, Spinach and Herb Quinoa with grape tomatoes and green onion, and Broiled Pork Chops with Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce.  Two of the three dishes used Tastefully Simple products.  (That was what simplified the preparation of the meal for me.)

So what I am going to do is post my pictures and tell you what I did because I didn't follow any recipes. Now, I cook by taste, so I will try to estimate the amounts but you go right ahead and tweak them to meet your own taste buds. :)

Wilted Arugula

2Tbsp grapeseed oil  

2 cloves garlic, chopped or sliced thinly

1 bunch of arugula, leaves and stems cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces

2 Tbs balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil in the sautee pan. I like using grapeseed oil rather than olive oil because it withstands higher heat without breaking down.  Add the garlic and sautee until the garlic becomes aromatic and golden, but not brown. Add the arugula. and sautee for about 2 minutes until it begins to wilt. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir, cover, reduce heat, and let it cook until the vinegar is mostly absorbed (about 2 to 3 minutes). At this point I left it covered and removed from heat until the rest of the meal was done, about 5 minutes later. My timing was a little off this day. 

If you love the Tastefully Simple products, try using Tastefully Simple Roasted Garlic Infused Oil instead of the grapeseed oil for a little garlic flavor. 

Spinach and Herb Quinoa with Grape Tomatoes and Green Onion

 1 c. quinoa

2 c. water

2 Tbsp Tastefully Simple Spinach and Herb dip mix

2 green onions, sliced 

6 grape tomatoes, cut in half. 

Bring the water and quinoa to a boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer until the water is absorbed, about 10 - 15 minutes.  At about 9 minutes, add the spinach and herb dip mix and stir.  Add the tomatoes and onions and cover, turn off heat but leave the pot on the burner until the rest of dinner is ready. This warms the tomatoes but doesn't cook them. 

Broiled Pork Chops with Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce

Pork chops

Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt 

Pepper to taste

Tastefully Simple Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce 

Spray a broiler pan with non stick spray. Salt and pepper both sides of the chops to taste. Place under a broiler in the center of the oven.  

Every five minutes flip the chops until they are done. The last five minutes add the Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce.  

Serve all together and enjoy. :)  

You can try other finishing sauces as well. Or try fresh or frozen fruit with a bit of sugar on top of your chops. 

Now its your turn. Have fun cooking!  

Sorry I didn't put into metric. These will be pretty easy to convert though. ;-)

Swiss Cheese, Ham and Asparagus Bake

After a few days off from fancy cooking, I went fast and easy today with a recipe from Kraft.  

Tonights Menu: Swiss Cheese, Ham and Asparagus Bake

Click here for the recipe 

This was super easy and a keeper for my family. I bought cubed ham but this would be a great way to use up leftover ham at Easter or other times. I think if you wanted a different flavor you could substitute any cream soup, but the celery soup really compliments the flavor of the asparagus in this. My son said, "Mom, It  was as if the asparagus disappeared!"  

Your turn to give it a try. Enjoy! 

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes and Wilted Arugula with Fennel

Tonight for dinner the menu was Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes, Wilted Arugula with Fennel (my own adaptation) and broiled steak with Tastefully Simple's Ultimate Steak Seasoning.  

The Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes came from the Food Network.  You can find that recipe here. I followed it exactly.  My family really liked it. It is a keeper.  

The wilted arugula and fennel is my own combination based on a recipe from Martha Stewart. The original recipe is here.  Mine is below.  

Wilted Arugula and Fennel

1 Tbsp grapeseed oil  (I like it because it handles heat better than olive oil)

1 garlic clove

1 frond and the portion of bulb it is attached to of fennel 

1 smallish bunch of arugula, washed and dried and chopped

2 Tbsp balsamic Vinegar

salt and pepper to taste. 

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Dice the garlic clove and add to the oil. Sautee until the garlic just begins to turn color. Add chopped frond and portion of bulb of fennel. Sautee with the garlic about 3 minutes. Add chopped arugula and sautee for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the balsamic vinegar over the mixture and sautee a few minutes longer until most of the vinegar is absorbed.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

I like the addition of the fennel. The licorice like flavor of the fennel really blends well with the peppery flavor of the arugula. I could see adding some tomatoes to it to give it a splash of color, just before the balsamic vinegar. 

My family liked it too. This was a keeper as well. :) 

Now its your turn. Enjoy. 

Creamy Artichoke Chicken

Tonight's fare is from the collection of recipes on my Tastefully Simple website.  

So this recipe is     Creamy Artichoke Chicken. 

You can get the recipe here.  If you like what you see and want to get the Tastefully Simple Warm Artichoke and Spinach Dip Mix, you can order it from that site as well.

This recipe is a slow cooker recipe. Funny thing...  I decided to doctor up the recipe like I often do and add zucchini and tomatoes to it about 45 minutes before we were to eat so they wouldn't be mushy. I went to add the vegetables and realized I hadn't turned the slow cooker on!!  So I transferred everything into a casserole dish and baked it at 350 degrees F for about an hour. I put the vegetables in it when I transferred it and gave it all a stir and they were fine, not too mushy.  About half an hour later I started boiling the water for my rice pasta. Then 15 minutes later I added the cheese. I did not have swiss so I added a cheese blend that I had which was already shredded. (I cheat. LOL).  It was wonderful. Here is what the final outcome looked like. 

In the recipe it tells you to serve it over top of potatoes, or pasta or rice. So it is very versatile. I personally think this recipe would be good with any vegetables added-- try spinach in the last half hour or so of cooking, or carrots added at the beginning, on the bottom of the slow cooker. I think broccoli added in the last hour or so would be good too.  I just have zucchini and tomatoes to use up so I added some. My husband, the zucchini hater, said I can put zucchini in this dish any time and serve it to him. 

So I guess this one is a keeper too!!  

Now give it a try yourself. Enjoy! 

Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad and Pizza Night!

It's Saturday!! Today for lunch I made us that wilted spinach and asparagus salad for which I posted the link the other day as as bonus.  Tonight is Pizza Saturday at our house. Now, we live 5 miles from the nearest town in which places are only open really during Tourist season and about 20 miles from any other town. So its not like we can just pick up a phone and call a place to have the pizza delivered. Either I bring it home with me if I am out, we go out to eat, or we eat frozen or serve it ourselves. I mentioned earlier that I am trying to keep my wheat intake to a minimum.  (Wheat, not gluten... I need to make that distinction)  So now that the best pizza place in the entire world (well, maybe this side of the Mississippi for sure) is open again, I treat myself to it every other week. On the off weeks I try to get myself a wheat free pizza somewhere, either frozen, make it myself or pick it up from a place in town that sells gluten free pizzas.  Tonight is a night that we go out to Big Time Pizza in Keystone, SD.  Run by Robert and Marie Davis, its a wonderful little Mom and Pop type place. Their daughter works there, last summer their son worked there as well. And it is by far the best pizza our family has ever had. A little pricier than we normally spend when we go out, but definitely worth it. SO WORTH IT. And they serve Baltika, Russian Beer which is a big hit for the beer drinkers out there.  If anyone is ever going through the Black Hills between March and December, its a definite stopping place. You can visit their page on Facebook. 

So now for the main event:  

Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad. 

(I know, my picture-taking skills are not the greatest, but you get the idea...  )

The link to it is here.

I do have some notes about this salad.  I changed a few things. I did not have red onion so I used Tastefully Simple's Onion, Onion.  It would likely be more colorful with red onion. I also used Tastefully Simple's Garlic, Garlic instead of fresh garlic because of time. (And you use less of the dried seasonings than you do of the fresh).Other than that I followed the directions in the recipe.  

Some things I would do differently next time...  I would cut the spears up into bite sized pieces or blanch them until they are softer. I do think they were lovely being still a little crisp but I like a salad where I don't have to cut things with my knife.  That's just me.  The other thing I would do differently is that in the recipe, they have you putting the 3 T of balsamic vinegar and the 2 T of oil into the frying pan and whisking with the herbs there. I found it quite difficult to whisk the oil and vinegar together in such a large area when there was so little of it. I would probably whisk the oil and vinegar together first in a small bowl, maybe with the onion and garlic but not necessarily. Then I can get them together well without it flying all over the place. I am not the neatest of chefs. LOL  

Other than that, I loved it. My son was neutral, and my husband liked it ok, but he's tired of asparagus.  So in my book, that means this one is a keeper. 

Now go and try it for yourself. Happy Eating!  

Crockpot Orange Chicken

Today is Friday. Fridays are very busy for us. My son has a standing therapy appointment and while he is in therapy I have a yoga class, so usually it is very late when we get home and I don't feel like cooking. Due to acid reflux I need to eat pretty quickly so that takes care of the idea of eating out. Dinner needs to be ready upon us walking in the door. So Friday at our house is Crockpot Friday.  (Used to be Pizza Friday before I started yoga, but Pizza night has been changed to Saturday now.)

Today I decided to try this recipe that I actually got off my newsfeed in Facebook. I did not save the picture that came with it, and I wasn't even thinking pictures when we got home and I started to eat. Sorry. You'll just need to make it and see what it looks like yourself.
I also don't know where the recipe came from. When I saved it for my use I wasn't thinking about sharing it in a blog. So I am sorry that I do not know who to give credit to. If you do know, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due.

We also had rice cooked in a slow cooker (I have four, in different sizes and sometimes all four are going at once!) This was my first time cooking rice in a slow cooker and it wasn't too bad. A little mushy, which is probably due to the fact that we were a little late getting home.  And I forgot to lightly grease the slow cooker so it was a bit of a job to clean up afterward.  It tasted good, anyway.

So I will give you the recipe as I copied it off the newsfeed, and then I will tell you what I did to it that was different.
Here it is... The Main Event:

Crockpot Orange Chicken 

Ingredients:
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/2-inch thick
2 large red or green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
8 ounces orange juice concentrate
2 cups Mandarin orange segments or fresh orange segments
2 Green ONIONS, chopped
hot cooked rice
Directions:
Put carrots, peppers, garlic, then the chicken, ginger, salt, pepper & frozen orange juice in Crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours. Serve chicken on hot cooked rice on platter. Top with orange segments and green onions. Serve chicken liquid in gravy boat, if desired.

Metric measures: 

1/2 inch =  approximately 1.3 cm

2 tsp = approximately 10 g

1 tsp = approximately 5 g

1/2 tsp = approximately 2.5 g

8 oz = approximately 237 ml 

2 cups = approximately 470 ml (500 is probably close enough)

What I did Differently: 

Ok, when I went shopping I forgot how many peppers I needed and I only bought one. So I used it. I put in an extra carrot because mine were smaller. Instead of the garlic cloves, I was in a hurry so I once again used Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic.   My husband doesn't really like onions, and I didn't have any on hand so I skipped the onions.  If I had green onions, I would have used them anyway.  The recipe doesn't say so, but I cut the chicken up into bite-sized pieces. 

It came out very well. It tasted pretty good.  I use unsweetened orange juice, and I think next time I might try it with sweetened and see how it is, or maybe add just a touch of brown sugar or maybe even a few drops of stevia.  My family loved it, so all in all it is a keeper. 

So on to your own cooking, and enjoy!!    

Asparagus Bundles with bonus recipe -- Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad.

Today's menu, Citrus Marinade Chicken, Asparagus Bundles and Rice. 

We have a ton of asparagus and zucchini to use, so I decided my main recipe would be an asparagus recipe. I also had to choose something I had the ingredients for as Tuesday is my normal grocery shopping day and this past Tuesday I was stuck at home due to an April winter storm.  So my choice was between the Asparagus Bundles and Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad. I finally chose the bundles because everything tastes great with bacon!! ;-)

The chicken is simply chicken breasts marinade in Tastefully Simple's 29 minute citrus marinade. That was a product from last summer and it is a lovely one.  I will be sorry when I am out of it and can't get any more. 

The Rice today is Jasmine rice. It cooks fairly quickly and has a lovely aroma and taste.  

So the main event:  Asparagus Bundles: 

This recipe is from the food network. 

You can find the recipe here.   

It will open in a new window so you can come back to my blog if you like. 

Now, I did do some tweaking to it. The recipe calls for garlic salt and I do not ever use garlic salt. I use Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic. 

Also I use Tamari soy sauce because it is wheat free. I try to keep my wheat intake to a minimum and as I like the occasional baked good, I try not to have wheat when I don't need to.  

It was a little tedious to wrap the bacon around the asparagus, but it was soooo worth it. Yum!!  I think this recipe is a keeper!  

Now for the bonus recipe:  

Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad

I am sorry I do not have a picture of it. The website didn't have a picture either. And since I didn't make it... well...  no photo. But the recipe can be found here. This is going to be on our lunch table on Saturday, I think. Maybe with some eggs. 

So with that, I will leave you to go ahead and try these recipes for yourself.  Enjoy! 

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Welcome to the Scene!

Well now. I was asked... no, commanded (begged, pleaded with and bribed) to start this blog. I have a bad habit of announcing on Facebook what we are having for meals and I have invariably been asked for the recipes I used. So someone finally suggested (see above) that I start a blog where I share the recipes I use. I decided, Ok. Why not? I also have a blog that is following my journey to health so what's one more?  The link to my other blog is over there on the side bar if you are interested.  I also have a board with collected recipes on Pinterest. The link to that is over there on the sideboard as well.
But I digress. I do that a lot. It's really quite amazing I can throw together a meal some days. :)  Back to the point of this blog.
So I collect recipes from many sources. I will include when I can the link, name of book, or other sources as applicable. I tweak recipes and substitute A LOT so I will include my substitutions and tweakings.  I take short cuts whenever possible so I will also add those and let you know how well the shortcuts work.  I might even take some pictures if there isn't one on a website to borrow.  In deciding how to do this, I chose to post the recipes I actually use. Otherwise it would take forever for me to post all the recipes I have collected and I wouldn't  be able to impart any wisdom about them.
We do have a 16 year old bottomless pit to feed, so I try to make my meals affordable and easily stretched. We eat a lot of chicken and pork so you will find a lot more of those recipes. I am also an independent consultant for a company called Tastefully Simple. You will see me mention these products often. This is not a blog to sell our products, but I do use them a lot in my cooking, so if you do not have a Tastefully Simple consultant of your own and you live in the US, I have included the link to my website.  Just sayin'.  ;)  Of course you can likely find substitutions but it won't taste the same as what I have made. Just sayin'.  :D
In an attempt to keep our food bill down, we have also started participating in a marvelous program called Bountiful Baskets. It's a food co-op that is nationwide and has reduced our bill immensely. So again, I search for recipes to use these fruits and vegetables in. So you will get a wide variety of recipes by following along with me.
So welcome to The Savory Scene!  I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say and maybe even find some recipes to try on your own family (including any bottomless pits you may have).