Monthly Archives: July 2011

Crock Pot Magic – A Whole Chicken

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We’ve all been there, not enough time to prepare a fancy meal, but there’s company coming. Our family favorite recipes are healthy and delicious chicken dishes that we can put together easily either before the meal or at the time of the meal and have a yummy good meal that looks and tastes company ready. Throw these ingredients in the crock pot and you’ll have a company ready meal just in the nick of time for dinner – EVEN if you have to work all day.

Before you leave for work –

One whole chicken
One handful of rosemary off your kitchen counter herb garden
Zest of one lemon & half the juice
2 cups water or chicken broth
1 lb of baby carrots
2 onions wedged
3 lbs baby red potatoes with skin on
Salt and Pepper to taste

When you get home from work –

1 small package frozen peas
2 tbsp flour and 1/2 cup water blend before you pour it in and stir the contents of the pot

Simmer 30 minutes longer while you change clothing and toss the salad.

We keep ice cream and chocolate sauce on hand for just such an occasion. Company dinners require dessert.

Chicken N Pepper Casserole

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Here’s a summer family favorite – complete with easy sides.

Chicken N Pepper Casserole
Heat through 4 cups diced chicken and one can of diced tomatoes with peppers, pour over 4 cups of cooked steamed rice in large casserole. Top with 1/2 cup green onions and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Cover or bake 10 minutes to melt cheese.

This favorite family meal includes enough yummy food for guests who might stop by if you add a salad, vegetable and desert.

Some of our favorites include green peas, spinach salad and sherbet. Nothing better than orange sherbet topped with whipped cream for a summer gathering.

Franks Chicken Cream Cheese Wraps

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Looking for a NEW hot and spicy meal for dinner? Try this healthy and delicious chicken recipe.

About 2 lbs shredded cooked chicken
1/4 cup Franks Hot sauce
6 – 8 ounces of cream cheese
Heat through – stirring to keep from browning or burning.

In spinach wrap, place about
2/3 cup of chicken mixture
2 – 4 tablespoons grated cheese
4 – 5 slices of avocado
Sprinkle with a bit of Franks Hot Sauce
Wrap tight and serve.

Makes 5 – 8 wraps, depending on size of wraps.

We’re all really big on wraps, because they can be increased or decreased in size according to the number of people and side dishes.

This one is spectacular with a salad full of greens, tomatoes and onion.

Denver Food and Fun

On the run?

Just tuck the salad in the wrap too! These are perfect take along meals for the ball game, just tuck them in the cooler with your drinks and a freezer pack, they’ll be yummy when you get there!

The kids call these Buffalo Chicken Wraps, because the flavor reminds them so much of Buffalo Wings. They are quickly becoming one of our Summer favorites.

Corn OFF the Cob Salad

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This is a summer favorite at our house – you can’t miss with grilled corn, it’s so sweet and delicious, everyone loves it!

Grill corn for about 10 minutes to create black grill marks on corn.

Fry up a pound of bacon and break it into pieces.

Toss Spring Greens with Spinach leaves and red onion rings for salad base. Lightly toss in some bacon and the grilled corn you’ve sliced off the cob.

Top with a Sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing with a bit of extra honey for that natural sweet flavor.

If serving this for dinner, add some sliced boiled egg, shredded cheese and a crusty bread. You’ve got a great meal for a few cents per person!

Garlic Chicken Breasts – Deliciously Served with a HUGE Salad

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My kids now refer to my salads as Grasshopper Greens. LOL

Dandelion GreensGotta love kids who recognize the Dandelion Greens in the grocer’s freezer. Either they were raised harvesting the front yard (we don’t say THAT in front of the City Code Inspector) or they grew up in a neighborhood where Dandelion’s were a sacred part of the gardening scheme, right? Well, in reality, neither one, but they THINK they harvested the front yard, because they’ve been eating Dandelion Greens since they were knee high to the pup next door.

Serve up a handy sized portion of greens on a plate with this incredibly yummy delicious chicken, pan sauteed in butter with a sprinkle of garlic powder, onion powder and a little seasoning salt and you’ve got a meal fit for a King, if he’s even the least bit REAL on the inside. We love this menu, drizzled with a bit of lime juice and some great sunflower seeds to add crunch to the salad, it’s an amazing meal. The kiddos like theirs with a handful of grape tomatoes and some garlicky cheese bread straight from the oven. But I take mine straight with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on the salad, maybe throw in a handful or two of craisins for that sweet flavor without the sugar.

It takes about twenty minutes to saute the chicken with the seasonings ready, and you’re sitting down with candle light before the sun goes down. Can’t you just imagine a candle light dinner on the deck with the sun setting, and a flavorful meal before you? Sounds extra yummy.
Live Green - Eco-Friendly Alternatives

World Series 2011 – Famous Jan’s Ball Park Franks

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These are only famous this year, because I deemed them famous. HA

In reality, they’ve been famous for MANY years, as everyone comes from miles around for a taste of my INCREDIBLY delicious Ball Park Franks.

Start out with a HIGH quality ALL Beef Hot Dog, we tend to like Jewish Franks the best, because they cut like a steak. YUMMM Can y’all say that? “They cut like a steak. YUMMM!”

Then run on out to the local grocery and pick up some good hefty sourdough buns, the kind you cut up for Hoagies, but don’t cut ‘em up yet. Those individual ones are just about the right size for a good Ball Park Frank if you’cut ‘em in half and spoon out some of the bread. (Just whir the spooned out bread in the blender for a moment and you’ve got bread crumbs for a delicious meat loaf later, but for now, bag ‘em up and save ‘em for later.) Be sure you have enough buns for everyone, because EVERY one will want their own Ball Park Frank.

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Tournament Photos Available
Call ahead for group photos, appointments and fundraiser photo shoots for your team!
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Now here’s the good part.

Grill up a bunch of those ball park franks and while they’re on the grill, chop up the veggies you’ll want on your World Series 2011 Ball Park Frank. These take a heavy load of veggies and keep on rockin’ the good flavor, so let’s try about 1 cup of each of these to make salsa to spoon on your Ball Park Frank eaters.

Onion – chop it good’n fine.
Tomato
Hot peppers (go ahead and dice up those chilies and jalepenoes).
Mango
Pineapple
Pickles (we just chop up whole dill pickles and mix it all into the salsa)
Celery
Cilantro or Parsley

Chop these all up pretty fine, and mix them all together – ratio is about a cup of each one, little more tomato and onion if you like it more “salsa like” or a little more pepper if you like it hotter.

Be sure you warm up the sour kraut and get out all those required condiments (mustard, catsup etc.) We like a little barbecue sauce on ours.

Pull out the dogs and put them in the center of the bun (in the hole you dug out), add condiments, spoon over some warm sour kraut, a good hefty spoonful of salsa and eat it up. You’re going to LOVE these Dogs. Be sure to serve them with plenty of potato salad and baked beans! YUMMMM! That’s delicious!

Pages of Parenthood by Brenna Verhoeff

Another Decadent Cobbler Recipe

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This one comes highly recommended and it tasted delicious, though I haven’t had a chance to try making it myself yet.

2 – 3 cups berries or fresh ripe fruit – however you prefer it (we do unsweetened)

Mix up a yellow cake mix and pour over the top of the berries in a large bake pan

Pour over the top of that 2 cups HEAVY whipping cream and 1/2 cup sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

This creates a pudding rich cobbler with fruit on the bottom.

Black Bean Chips – Salsa de Verde is Big Business

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When we sit down to dinner at our house, there’s just something about the conversation. Recently my son-in-law came up with the brilliant idea of opening a restaurant. He’s an Army cook, so that wasn’t a big stretch for him, but the concept was flying right over my head, until he shared that he wanted me to help run it.

Ping… I’m awake now.

What? Me run a restaurant? Okay, it’s not a huge leap, I did it before. But seriously? Now?

Okay… breathe. What’s on the menu?

My recent ventures into glutton free eating raised a giant red flag and the world stopped turning, then he said, “We could do a specialized menu for people who have stopped eating junk food. Limited portions, good food with real flavor but glutton free?”

Bea Kuntz suggested a sustainable restaurant on Sit and Sip, her Facebook group where foodies discuss… um, food. Bea is the gardeness at Sage Hill Farms, a fresh produce and herb garden in middle Tennessee. The thought definitely struck a chord with me. I love Bea’s teas. They’re an amazing addition to our diets and we all sip them eagerly in the mornings, as the fog lifts and life becomes busy again.

Sustainable menus in a restaurant that specializes in glutton free recipes. This could be a real deal. How about it? What do you think?

The next words out of his mouth sent me reeling for paper and pen, I had to take notes. Not only did the menu for our restaurant begin to take shape, but the process of putting it all together morphed into a planning session. While we chattered, he pulled out a bowl of fresh Salsa de Verde and we nibbled on glutton free black bean chips and salsa as we discussed the options of building a restaurant based on healthy food in healthy portions – reasonably priced, healthy portions, even.

These concepts came out pretty fast:

  • Create a sustainable menu that appeals to most age groups
  • Provide healthy, attractive children’s options on plastic dinnerware
  • Design a light, bright, appealing logo that says “food” in healthy proportions
  • Flavor has to be a BIG part of the package
  • Increase personal awareness of diet, nutrients and sustainable food sources
  • Magnify healthy options while keeping traditional flavor opportunities
  • Make sure it’s not only healthy but tastes great too!

The easy methods of starting a business were pretty much ironed out in that first discussion. The hard parts will be ironed out over the next several months as he’s deployed and returns to live his dream via a family restaurant where he’ll be manning the chef’s table with his mother-in-law. How fun!

Black Bean Chips you can get most any place – be sure they say Glutton FREE in the label.

Salsa de Verde —

2 cups finely diced tomatoes (peeled)

1/2 cup finely chopped jalepeno pepper

1 cup finely diced onion

2 cups diced avocado

1/2 cup diced mango

Toss it all lightly and add sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Serve up with plenty of Black Bean Chips. Delicious!

Starting up businesses is what I do best.

Cooking – not so much, I’ll be leaving that part to him, while I man-up the “ADvertiZe” portion of the business, attracting clients with good presentation, attractive design and skilled business building techniques that I teach at http://advertizeyourbusiness.com with a great Ezine. Sign up for your FREE Copy, today.

© http://janverhoeff.com

Basil Tomato Salad

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Salads are a favorite at my house and I absolutely adore fresh herbs in my salads. There’s something incredibly yummy, not to mention healthy, about tossing in a handful of fresh herbs, straight out of the garden, when preparing salads. I feel so decadent when I go pinch off the herbs to add to a salad too. (Like a murderous villain!)

This salad is incredibly delicious and so simple!

Large bowl of red cherry tomatoes cut into 1/4 pieces vertically. (For color, feel free to add some yellow cherry tomatoes, if you wish.)

One large cup of loosely torn basil leaves, straight out of your herb garden (rinse in cold water).

1/4 cup olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Toss together lightly and refrigerate 1/2 hour before dinner.

This salad goes with grilled steak or chicken and adds a divine element to dinner.

For extra glam and protein, toss in a handful of feta cheese as you serve the salad.

If you need more salad – cut up more veggies and serve in the salad. A few of our favorite additions are onions, zucchini, cucumber or mushrooms – you can add a few of all of them or just one.

Black olives add a rich texture and flavor to this salad.