40 Cloves and a Chicken

I love to watch Alton Brown on Foodnetwork and this is one of my favorite of his recipes. It is pretty fragrant, so beware - your house will smell like garlic all day. The roasted garlic comes out so soft and sweet. And, the saucy oil is the secret. I try to get a bite of chicken, a little soft garlic and some oil in each bite to get the best flavor. I use my enameld cast iron pot so I can brown the chicken and roast it in the oven in one pot.

Recipe
From Foodnetwork

1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces (or I buy the picnic pack and use 4 legs and 4 thighs)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat.

Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

Weekly Menu

Monday: 40 cloves and a chicken, sweet potato fries
Tuesday: Pork chops, rice, broccoli
Wednesday: Stir fry with brown rice
Thursday: Sausage in onion sauce, salad
Friday: Hawaiian chicken and rice
Saturday: Leftovers

Meatballs

A friend made these for me once and I fell in love with the recipe. When I make them now I usually triple the recipe so I can make enough to freeze extras to go with the pasta sauce.

Recipe

Adapted from William Sonma

1/4 c. Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 c. milk

1/2 pound mild italian pork sausage, casings removed

3/4 pound ground beef

1 egg

1/2 c. low-fat ricotta

1/2 c. finely shredded parmesean

1 large shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. dried margoram

Salt and pepper

Directions

In a large bowl combine bread crumbs and milk and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Seasonwith salt and pepper. Mix until just combined. Form into balls 1/2" to 1" in diameter (I use a #40 discher to portion out the meatballs - it's a great size and keeps them uniform). Place on cookie sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

Place in 350 oven for 10-12 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Remove to paper towels to soak up any extra grease.

Serve warm with spaghetti and pasta sauce. I put the leftover meatballs in ziptop freezer bags in groups of 12-15 and freeze to eat with future meals.

Pasta Sauce

We love homemade pasta sauce, so when I make a batch it's pretty large. That way I can portion it out in plastic containers and freeze it for future use. I can usually get 7-8 meals for our family out of this recipe (it makes around 25 cups). It can be easliy reduced for smaller batches or families. Sorry for the lack of pictures - I had camera issues that I didn't notice until the end so I only got the final shot.

*Note: You can also exchange small or large cans of ingredients when needed, as long as the total amount works out to the same. Use what you have.

Recipe

6-14 oz. cans peeled, petite diced tomatoes, drained (or 3 large cans)
9-15 oz. cans tomato sauce (or 4 large cans plus one small can)
4-6 oz. cans tomato paste
1 1/2 onion, diced
10 cloves garlic, minced (we love garlic but you can use less)
5 T extra virgin olive oil
5 T Italian seasoning
1 1/2 T dried basil
1 T dried oregano
1 cup brown sugar (we like ours a little sweet but you can use less)
Additoinal spices and sugar as needed to taste

Directions

In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Add half of the drained stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir together. Add spices and sugar. Simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes. Add remainder of stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir together. Simmer for and additional 15 minutes. Add additoinal spices and sugar to taste. Simmer on low for 30 minutes or until all flavors have come together.

Mustard Pan Sauce

We had a lovely filet steak dinner tonight (I LOVE when filets are on sale). I pan seared and then oven roasted them so that I could make a mustard pan sauce I have been wanting to try. It was yummy.

Recipe

1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 c. low sodium chicken stock
1 T coarse ground mustard
2 T heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

After cooking the beef, remove from pan and let rest. In the pan over medium-high heat, add the shallot and saute until tender, about 1 minute. Add the stock. Whisk in the mustard and cream. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Weekly Menu

Monday: Steak & baked potatoes
Tuesday: Pasta & meatballs with salad
Wednsday: Salmon, roasted carrots & cous cous
Thursday: Chicken & rice with broccoli
Friday: turkey Taco Salad
Saturday: Country pork ribs and corn
Sunday: 40 cloves & a chicken with roasted mixed potatoes

Slow Cooker Sausage Lasagna

We tried this for the first time. It made a good Sunday dinner. I always like dinners that I can start before church and have it ready when we are ready to eat.


Recipe
Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine, March 2009

1 pound mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely shredded carrot
3 finely shredded garlic cloves
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes in puree
9-12 lasagna noodles (depending on if you like more meaty or noodly lasagna)
2 ½ cups shredded mozzarella (reserve ½ cup in refrigerator)
Salt and pepper

Directions
In a large pot, cook sausage and ground beef over medium heat, breaking up meat into pieces, until no longer pink. Add onion, carrots and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook 3-5 minutes, until onion has softened. Stir in the tomato paste, then crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Spoon 2 cups of the meat mixture into the bottom of a 5-6 quart crock-pot. Layer 3-4 noodles (breaking them as needed to fit) over the meat. Layer another 2 cups of meat mixture, then ½ - ¾ cup cheese, then 3-4 noodles. Spread the remaining meat on top.

Cover slow cooker and cook on low 4-6 hours. Sprinkle the reserved ½ cup of cheese on top, cover the crock-pot again and cook 10 more minutes to melt the cheese.

Spinach & Proscuitto Pizza

Making home-made pizza is always a fun treat. It's a great activity to get kids involved in, from rolling out the crust to spreading out toppings. You can customize the pizza with toppings your family likes, or experiment with new flavors. This pizza was the latter. I love to buy whole wheat pizza crust from the refrigerated section at Trader Joe's, but I wanted to try some new toppings that were a bit healthier, so I found a recipe that I thought would work (even though there is no sauce)

Recipe
Adapted from Foodnetwork.com

1 whole wheat pizza crust
4 cups baby spinach
3 oz. prosciutto
½ c. shredded parmesean cheese

Directions

Roll out the pizza crust according to package directions. (We rolled out ours into a sqare, but you can use whatever shape you want). Spread the spinach out all over the crust. Cut up the proscuitto into bite-size pieces then spread over the spinach. Top with parmesean cheese. Cook 12-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is cooked and golden. Slice and serve.

Grown-up Mac & Cheese

This was really yummy and a fun change to the regular mac & cheese. Hubby thought it was a little strong on the blue cheese, but he is really sensitive to that (he isn't too fond of what he calls "stinky cheeses). I thought it was perfect (however I love "stinky cheeses"). It is a little involved, but it was worth it for me and I got to have leftovers for lunch for a couple days.

Recipe
From Foodnetwork

Kosher salt
1 (16-ounce) package macaroni (cellentani or other curly noodle)
1/4 pound bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more to butter baking dish
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated fontina
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
3/4 cup grated Gruyere
3/4 cup grated white Cheddar
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and butter a 9x13 glass or other baking dish (I used my stonewear dish).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain.

In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot, saute the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Saute the onion in the bacon drippings until soft. Add the 5 tablespoons butter to the onion mixture and melt the butter stirring with a wooden spoon.

Using a whisk, add the flour, and stir constantly until well mixed with the fat making a roux. Whisk in the mustard. Gradually add the milk and cream whisking constantly. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and salt. Let come to a simmer and stir frequently for 15 minutes.

Strain the hot milk mixture into a metal bowl and discard the solids. Working quickly, mix in 1 cup fontina, blue cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyere, 1/2 cup white Cheddar, 1/2 cup Parmesan, the reserved bacon, and parsley. Continue to stir until all cheese is melted. Add the cooked noodles to the cheese mixture to coat.

Add the noodle mixture to the prepared baking dish. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumbs together and sprinkle on top of the noodles.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown. Remove from oven when done and rest for 5 minutes.