Farro Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Red Onion, and Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato, unpeeled and sliced into 1/2 - inch thick rounds, large rounds halved

1 red onion, cut into 1/2 - inch wedges

4 TBS olive oil, divided

salt and pepper

3/4 cup dried farro (or Israeli couscous)

2 TBS red wine vinegar

3 radishes, thinly sliced on mandolin

1 small handful of dill, roughly chopped

2 TBS salted pistachios, roasted and roughly chopped

2-3 oz goat cheese, broken into bite-size pieces

1/2 lemon, juiced

pinch of smoked paprika, for serving

flakey sea salt, for serving

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425º F.

Spread sweet potato rounds and onion wedges on baking sheet, drizzle with 3 TBS olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast, shaking the baking sheet 1/2 way through, until the sweet potatoes are golden brown and tender, 15-20 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Cook farro according to the package directions. Drain.

In a medium bowl, season the warm farro with vinegar, remaining 1 TBS oil, salt and pepper. Add sweet potato, onion, radishes, dill, pistachios, and goat cheese. To finish, drizzle the salad with the lemon juice and sprinkle with smoked paprika, flakey sea salt, and pepper. If the dish seems a little dry, drizzle it with extra oil.

Notes:

I always use couscous, but I'm sure farro is delicious. Also, I usually omit the paprika out of laziness and it's still delicious. 

Source:  Epicurious

Grilled Asparagus and Shiitake Tacos

Ingredients:
3 TBS Canola Oil
4 Garlic Cloves, crushed with press
1 tsp ground chipotle chile
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
1 bunch green onions, trimmed
8 corn tortillas, warmed
1 cup homemade guacamole
Lime wedges
Cilantro sprigs
Hot sauce, for serving

Directions:
Heat grill on medium. In a large baking dish, combine oil, garlic, chipotle, and salt. Add asparagus, shiitakes, and green onions; toss to coat. Grill asparagus until tender and lightly charred, turning occasionally; 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer vegetables to cutting board. Cut asparagus and green onions into 2" lengths and slice shiitakes. Serve with corn tortillas, guacamole, lime wedges, cilantro, and hot sauce.

Notes: We just cook the asparagus and shiitake mushrooms in butter and salt, and we cut before we cook. The original recipe is good, but this way is easier, and tastes so much better! We heat up the tortillas on a cast iron skillet with butter. The green onions we just chop up and serve raw. The homemade guacamole we just use avocados mixed with Herdes salsa, lime, and salt. Also, we smoke chicken tenderloins and chop them up before serving.

Source: Good Housekeeping

Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb beef
1 lb lamb
1/2 cup grated onion
1 cup rice panko
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
salt
pepper
Korean Buckwheat Soba
parsley

SAUCE:
4 TBS butter
3 TBS - 1/4 cup flour
2-3 cups beef stock
1 cup cream
(1 TBS Worcestershire sauce)
(1 tsp dijon mustard)
salt
pepper


Directions:
Cook meatballs in TBS olive oil and TBS butter. Make sauce from drippings.

Notes:
We made this by 2 recipes, whatever we thought looked good, and since that was over a month ago, not sure which parts we used-which is why some measurements have a range. Pretty sure we used Worcestershire sauce and pretty sure we did not use the dijon mustard. We served it with asparagus sautéed in butter. It was so amazing. We used Buckwheat soba instead of rice or noodles, and it complimented the flavors soooooo amazingly.

Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignons

We made this Julia Child recipe last night. Our thermometer was broken so it gave us the wrong reading on our chicken, and it was way overcooked. We thought smoking the chicken would taste delicious with the flavors of the sauce. Also the sauce was so amazing, we thought it should be doubled (or even tripled, who knows! It was amazing). So here is our adjusted version.

Ingredients:

Chicken tenderloins

Salt

Pepper

10 TBS butter

2 TBS minced shallots

1/2 lb sliced mushrooms

1/4 tsp salt

Fresh, minced parsley 

Lemon Juice (maybe)

For the sauce:

1 cup pinot noir

1 cup beef stock

2 cups whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400º. Season chicken with salt and pepper and put on the smoker. Heat the butter in an oven proof pan until it is foaming. Don't brown. Stir in the shallots and sauté, without browning. Then stir in the mushrooms and sauté lightly for a minute or two, without browning. Cover and place in oven for 15 minutes. (I'm sure you could skip this, this is where the chicken was cooked, but I am keeping this step in because it made the mushrooms this amazing texture).

Remove pot/pan and add the stock and wine. Boil down quickly over high heat until liquid is syrupy. Stir in the cream and boil down again over high heat until cream has thickened slightly. Off heat, taste the sauce and add salt, pepper, and lemon drops to taste. Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with parsley and serve. Serve with steamed green beans and possibly rice. (Although we were glad we didn't make rice as planned because the sauce was that amazing)

Source: Julia Child

Aloha Mango Chicken Salad with Creamy Mango Passion Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

Salad:

1 head romain lettuce
1 mango, diced
1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 red pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
4 chicken breasts, cooked, diced
1 cup tortilla strips

Creamy Mango-Passion Vinaigrette:

2 TBS Dijon mustard
1/2 mango, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 lime, juice only
2 TBS rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 garlic clove

1 tsp chili paste or chili garlic sauce

3 tsp honey

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions: For the salad, combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Toss dressing with salad. Top with tortillas. Serve immediately. 

Moroccan Stew

Ingredients:

1 TBS olive oil
1 small onion
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth/stock
4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1  14.5-oz can tomatoes
1 carrot, sliced
1 cup green beans
1 cup squash (butternut, acorn, zucchini)
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1/3 cup raisins
(couscous/rice)

Directions: Heat oil and sauté onion for 2 minutes. Add garlic, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth, chicken thighs, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer with pot covered for 20 minutes.

Add carrots, green beans, squash, and chickpeas. Cook covered for another 10 minutes. Break up or shred chicken pieces. Add raisins and simmer 10 minutes more. Add salt to taste. Serve over couscous or rice.

Source: Stefani Omerza

Chicago's Best Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
oil
chicken, chopped
onion, diced
mushrooms, sliced or chopped
carrots
celery
white wine
heavy cream
peas
puff pastry



Directions: Heat oil on pan and add chicken, onions, and mushrooms. Then add carrots and celery. Deglaze with white wine. Chicken isn't cooked through yet. Once chicken is cooked, add heavy cream. Add peas. Let simmer down. Pour in oven safe bowl and top it with puff pastry and cook in oven.

Source: Johnny O'Hagan's

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast cooked and shredded
2 carrots, sliced
3 ribs celery, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
Thyme
1/3 cup butter
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
2 -9 inch unbaked pie crusts

Directions:  Heat oven to 425º. Melt butter in a large saucepan and sauté celery, carrots, and onions. When veggies are close to being soft add in frozen peas and cook until veggies are soft and onion is translucent. Add flour to coat vegetables. Add broth and milk a little at a time. Add salt, pepper, celery seed, and thyme. Stir and simmer over low heat until thickened.

In a deep dish pie pan, lay out one pie crust and add chicken. Pour vegetable mixture over the chicken. Place second pie crust over the pie and seal. Cut slits in the crust to vent. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden.

Source: Stephanie Westwood

Beef Barley Soup

This is the most delicious soup EVER. I'd switch the soy sauce to either fish sauce or fermented soy sauce, and add some good stock instead of boullion cubes. Seriously, BEST SOUP EVER.

1 # gr. sirloin
16 oz can of tomatoes
6 oz tomato juice
7 cups of water
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 bell pepper, cut up
1-2 cups grated cabbage
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup celery tops
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 TBS light soy sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 cup pearl barley

Brown ground sirloin. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 45 minutes. Add 3-4 Beef boullion cubes, 2-3 carrots, cut-up, and 2-3 diced potatoes.

Cook 20 minutes more. Can cook in crock-pot. Tastes even better the second day.

Source: Luann Roberts