Slow Cooker Swiss Steak

Tonight I made a dinner that yielded rave reviews from my husband. Mmmm, home cooking! This recipe is great over mashed potatoes.

Makes 4 servings

1 1/2 lbs round steak
3-4 Tbs flour
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Olive oil
1 cup sliced onions
4 peeled sliced carrots
14-1/2 oz canned chopped tomatoes
1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1-1/2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce

1. Combine flour, dry mustard, salt and pepper.
2. Cut steak into serving size pieces. Dredge in flour and brown on both sides in hot oil.
3. Add licked onions and carrots, stir in hot oil briefly. Ass meat and vegetables to the slow cooker.
4. Combine tomatoes, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce, pour into slow cooker.
5. Cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours, or on high 3-5 hours.

I added a cup of frozen peas shortly before serving just to give the dish a little more color. My mother was a 4-H cooking judge, and always looked for a pleasing color and presentation. If the dish met her high expectations, she would declare, “This gets a blue ribbon”. I think she would have awarded me a blue for this dish.

Black and White Quilt for Baby White

I made this quilt for a newborn soon to arrive.  Babies like to focus on black and white images, so I created this floor quilt for playtime.  Thinking it might just be a bit over-stimulating at times, I put a soft blue polka dot on the back so the stimulation can easily be tuned down.  I wanted to put town and road fabric on the back so the quilt could be used as a play mat when Baby Boy gets older, but shucks, couldn’t find town and road fabric at the last minute – so much for my planning!  Also – I didn’t have a pattern for the front of this quilt, so it’s a bit, shall I say, “folksy”.

The photo looks a little pinkish and grayish here and there and that is just shadow and reflection from the wood floor onto the photograph – oops! The quilt actually looks very black and white.

Kale Chips

We have some beautiful kale in the garden – have had it most of the winter. Here is something new to try:

Recipe:

1 bunch kale – I’m not sure how much this is, I just loosely filled up the salad spinner

1tbs olive oil

1tsp season salt  - I used a mixture of Spike seasoning and coarse salt.

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Carefully remove leaves from the stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and spin dry with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt, mix well. Layer onto the parchment paper.  Bake until the edges are brown but not burnt, about 15 minutes. I turned mine once during baking and they turned out nice and crisp. The second photo shows the finished chips.

Quinoa, Asparagus, Kale, and Artichokes

We have beautiful fresh kale in the garden, and the asparagus is coming up nicely, too.  Hmm… what to make with these in combination?  Found this lovely, vegan, and nutritious recipe from Avocado Pesto.  It is very good, quick, and luckily we had what we needed on hand.

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked quinoa
• 2½ cups vegetable broth
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons sunflower oil
• ¾ pound asparagus bottom inch of spears discarded, the rest cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup canned artichoke hearts, quartered
• 2-3 cups kale, chopped
• ¼ cup walnuts, broken into smaller pieces
• salt, pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Parmesan, freshly shredded (optional) (omit for vegan)
• 2 scallions, chopped

Instructions

1. Rinse quinoa in cold water. In a medium pan add quinoa, lemon juice and zest and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce heat, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a cover, cover and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
2. In a pan heat sunflower oil (or vegetable oil) over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until just starting to brown – transfer to a bowl. To the same pan add asparagus and cook 2-3 minutes then add kale and cook until just starting to get wilted.
3. Add artichoke hearts and walnuts and continue to cook for a couple minutes. Add garlic back to the pan and mix to combine.
4. When quinoa is fully cooked add it to the pan with the vegetables and mix. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan and scallions.

Update:  After making this dish, I decided it needed a little punch.  Next time I would omit the parmesan, and add a sprinkle of dried cranberries.  Another alternative I'd like to try is to add chopped pepperchinis or something spicy like that, and feta cheese instead of parmesan. 

Weeknight Dinner

I grew up in a coastal town in northern Oregon. My parents - my mother a Norwegian and my father Alaskan native, served fish regularly. This dish reminds me of a dish my mother would have made. This is Cod with Parsley Sauce from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. For those of you on Weight Watchers the point value is 4, but that was for the previous point system.

The recipe book says that the subtly flavored dish requires a mild-tasting fish.  If cod is unavailable, try halibut, grouper, or perch.  Use flat-leaf parsley, if possible, since it has more flavor that then curly type.

Makes 4 servings

1 cup low-fat milk

1 1/4 pounds cod fillets, cut into 4 pieces

4 tsp reduced-calorie margarine

3 TBS all-purpose flour

1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 TBS minced parsley

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1.  In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the milk.  Add the cod; poach, covered, until fish is just opaque in the center, 4-5 minutes.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the fish to a platter, reserve the milk.  

2. In a medium saucepan over low heat, met the margarine.  Add the flour and cook until bubbling, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in the milk and broth, then add the parsley, salt, and pepper.  Return to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.  Pour over the fish.

Since this is a fairly colorless main dish, it's nice to have a colorful side dish to go along with it.  We generally like peas with this - they are delicious with the sauce.  And, there is plenty of sauce to be a nice "gravy" for potatoes, too.   Enjoy!

Envelope Budget

Oh my, this year I spent more than I intended to on incidentals! I found this system of keeping cash in appointed envelopes and using this to budget my money. I thought I'd try it.  Jesse at Simple Dimples inspired the idea, which was possibly initially inpired by the infamous Dave Ramsey.  You can read more about how to use this system on Dave Ramsey's site. I found Jesse's printable template here.

Suppplies needed: Templates, scrapbook paper, and gluestick. For 10 envelopes I used five sheets of 12X12 double sided scrapbook paper. I was able to cut two templates from each 12X12.  I glued the tabs down with gluestick. 

 I used remnants of the scrapbook paper about an inch wide and the length of the envelope to glue one evelope to the next  between each page like this:

Then I took a final scrap, about 1 1/2" wide, and applied this to the bottom, adhering with gluestick to the front to the back.  Along with the templates you'll find circle lables which fit nicely onto the tabs. While there wasn't a circle that read "Books", since I buy way too many books and need to budget for this, I created my own circle with Ariel font, size 20.  There are blank circles so you can change this up to meet your needs.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Autumn is a time when the last of the tomatoes in from the garden are harvested, and hung in the shop to continue their ripening process. We end up with a beautiful assortment of tomato varieties. Today I decided to make  Roasted Fall Tomato Soup from Vegetable Soups cookbook by Deborah Madison. The soup was delicious!  Here is the recipe:

3 TBS olive oil
1 onion, sliced
3 lbs ripe late-summer or black-skinned tomatoes, rinsed and halved
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 TBS agave syrup or brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, slivered
1 pinch saffron threads
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed well in cool water
1 to 2 tsp curry powder, to taste

To finish:
1/2 cup yogurt, whisked until smooth
Minced serrano or jalapeno chili
Chopped cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush some of the oil over a 9X13 inch baking dish, scatter the onion over that, then add the tomatoes, cut side up.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, plenty of pepper, and the syrup.  Slip the garlic into the tomatoes.  Drizzle with the remaining oil and bake for 1 hour.

2. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil with the saffron and 1/4 tsp salt.  Add the quinoa, reduce the heat to low, then cover and cook until the grains have absorbed the water and the germ is visible, about 15 minutes.  Set aside.

3. Puree the tomatoes with their juices, then pass them through a good mill or strainer.  Stir in the curry powder, holding back a little is the soup is going to stand for a day. Season with more salt and syrup if needed.

4. Ladle the soup into bowls, divide the quinoa among them, swirl in a spoonful of yogurt, and garnish with the mince child and/or cilantro.