Dip Pickle Dip

16 oz sour cream, full fat

4 oz whipped cream cheese (or softened cream cheese)

2 Tbls dried dill weed

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 Tbls dried onions

dash of salt and pepper

1 cup diced small dill pickles

Mix everything in a bowl. 

You can eat it immediately or it gets better if you refrigerate 1-2 hours.

Dip with potato chips

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Butternut Squash Sausage and Wild Rice Soup

1 large sized Butternut squash ( I grow mine in my garden and they are larger than the ones at the grocery store, so if you have to buy 2)

olive oil

salt and pepper (I also put on my squash a homemade seasoning but I don't remember what I put in it.  I have it in a pepper mill.  Just salt and pepper is fine)

1 lbs hot ground sausage

3 medium carrots, chopped

1 medium onion, chipped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground sage

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

vegetable broth 1 cup at a time until thick soup consistency (or chicken broth or water, I used water and it tasted good)

1/2 of a can of coconut milk

1 can  (15 oz) of cooked wild rice, drained

Cut butternut squash in half the long way, clean out seeds.  Rub with olive oil and salt and pepper or seasonings. 

400 degree oven roast for 1 hour, remove from oven and let cool.

While the butternut squash is roasting, in pan brown sausage in crumbles.  

Drain sausage and keep in a bowl.

In sausage fat, cook carrots until brown and soft.

Add onion to carrots and cook until soft.

Add garlic to carrots and onions, cook 1 minute.

Add sage, salt, black pepper and nutmeg to carrot mixture, cook 1 minute. 

Take carrot mixture off the heat and cool until butternut squash is done.

When butternut squash is cool, scoop out insides and add to a soup pot along with the carrot mixture. Add vegetable broth (or chicken broth or water) to the squash/carrot mixture until soup consistency.  

Cook in pot for about 20 mins on low heat.  

Take an emulsion blender and blend up squash/carrot mixture until smooth.

Add in half the can of coconut milk and blend until smooth.

add in cooked wild rice. 

Now at this point you can eat it like this if you are a vegetarian (my daughter is a vegetarian, so I take out a couple bowls full for her, and add the meat to the rest of the soup.)

Add the cooked sausage to the rest of the soup or the entire soup.  If you took some soup out for vegetarians you might not use the entire pound of sausage. Just put in as much as you would like.  

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 This picture above is the carrots, onions, garlic, and spices

 This picture above is the roasted butternut squash

 This picture above is the butternut squash blended with the broth and coconut milk. there is no rice or sausage in it yet.

 This picture above is the coconut milk and wild rice I used.

This picture above is the blended soup with just the wild rice in it. 

Chili with Beef Tips

Chili with Beef Tips

2 lbs beef tips (I bought the beef already diced up, but you can get a roast and dice it yourself)

4 Tbls olive oil 

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 jalopeno peppers, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4  cup chopped parsley

3 Tbls chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black ground pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

46 oz tomato juice (I used V8 original)

2 (14 oz) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic

15 oz can tomato sauce

2 (15 oz) cans dark red kidney beans, rinsed

1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed

Topping: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, crackers, or corn chips

Add a little oil to a large soup pot and brown the beef tips. Remove from the pan.

Add more oil to the soup pot and add onion, green pepper and jalopeno. Cook about 5 minutes. 

Add the garlic, parsley and cook a few more minutes. 

Add spices and the rest of the ingredients except the toppings.  

Simmer on stove top for 1 1/2 -2 hours until beef is tender, stir frequently.  

If cooking in a crockpot, after browning the beef and cooking the onions, green peppers, jalopenos, garlic and parsley, add all the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4 hours.  

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Buffalo Chicken Chili

I saw this recipe on the internet from slow cooker gourmet, I changed it just a little. It was delicious. 

1 lbs ground chicken

1 can cannelloni beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained

1 can 14.5 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 can 15 oz yellow corn, drained

4 cups chicken broth

1/3 cups Franks red hot sauce (I used original, next time I will try buffalo sauce)

1 package dry ranch dressing mix 

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp dried cilantro

1/4 tsp salt

8 oz cream cheese

Add some olive oil in a pot, cook the ground chicken until done. I added some pepper.

Add everything else to the pot except for the cream cheese. 

Cook in a pot on low for a couple of hours. Stir every once in awhile. 

20-30 mins before eating, add the cream cheese in chunks. Stir until melted.

Enjoy

You can use a crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Fry ground chicken in a pan, add to crockpot along with everything else except the cream cheese.  when ready to eat, stir in cream cheese. 

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Mushroom Bolognese

MUSHROOM BOLOGNESE

3 baskets of Mushrooms (8oz each)

1 medium onion

3 medium carrots

3 celery stocks

5 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz tomato paste

1 cup milk, 2%

1 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper to taste

basil, oregano, red pepper flakes to your taste

In food processor add mushrooms until finely chopped. Remove to a bowl

Add onions, carrots and celery to food processor until finely chopped.

Add Mushrooms, carrots, celery and onions to a pan with olive oil. 

Cook until all the moisture is out of the mushrooms and it starts to brown.

This will take awhile so be patient.

Once brown, add garlic for 1 minute.

Add tomato paste and cook 2 minutes

Add wine, milk and salt and pepper, cook 1 -1 1/2 hours on simmer

serve with spaghetti noodles and enjoy!

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Spaghetti and Walnut Meatless Balls

I saw this recipe on the Chew and changed it a little bit.  I also cut the recipe in 1/4th when I made it. It ended up making 12 balls.  My 18 year old son tried it and said they were really good.  He is not a vegetarian like his sister.  

Walnut Meatless Balls

1 medium yellow onion, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 glove garlic, minced

2 cups walnuts ground fine in a food processor

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned focaccia bun I had left over, toasted it, then ground it fine in the food processor, this gave it an Italian seasoned flavoring, delicious.  You can used seasoned bread crumbs.)

1 Tbls dried oregano

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

4 large eggs

1 lbs spaghetti noodles (or any kind you want), cooked

parmesan cheese for garnish

fresh basil for garnish

Cook onions and olive oil for a few minutes until the onions soften.  Add the garlic, cook 1 minute.  Turn off the heat and let cool.

Mix ground walnuts, ground bread crumbs, oregano, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. 

Add the eggs, onions and garlic will all the olive oil in the pan. 

Mix well.

Form into balls

Place on pan with foil, spray with cooking spray so it doesn't stick.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 mins

Remove from pan and add to Red Sauce. 

Cook in Red sauce for 5-10 mins

eat with spaghetti noodles. 

garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves

Red Sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 can (28 oz) San marzano whole tomatoes, crushed in a food processor

1 Tbls dried basil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

In a pan add olive oil and onions, cook for a few minutes until the onions soften.

Add the garlic, cook 1 minute. 

Add the crushed tomatoes, basil and red pepper flakes

simmer sauce while walnut balls are cooking.

Simmer until sauce starts to thicken. 

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Before I baked them

After they were baked

Mediterranean Salad with Pasta

I didn't measure all my salad ingredients. I just put everything in a salad bowl and added as much as I liked. 

1 bag lettuce trio (iceberg, romain, green leaf)

1/2 bag 50/50 mix (spring mix, spinach)

 Cucumber diced

Grape tomatoes cut in half

Hard salami cut in small pieces 

Pepperoni cut in small pieces

Provolone cheese diced

Feta cheese 

Pepperoncini as many as you want

Rotini pasta cooked (pour some dressing on the noodles until you are ready to dress the salad)

DRESSING

1/3 cup oil (I used canola oil)

1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves minced

1 Tbls white sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a mason jar with a lid, shake until blended. Pour over salad and enjoy

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