Kale, Butternut Squash, and Chicken Soup

I picked up a bag of butternut squash at Trader Joe's to try, found this recipe on pinterest and decided to try it.  Was expecting to like it but it actually came out really delicious!  Even my 4 year old daugther loved it.

Kale, Butternut Squash, and Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

Chicken:
1 boneless/skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons white wine
1 teaspoon grape seed oil
1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt, Black Pepper

Soup:
1 tablespoon grape seed oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup peeled and chopped carrot (about 2 large)
3 stalks celery chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 cups low sodium broth (I used chicken)
2 cups water
12 oz chopped butternut squash (I had the bag from Trader Joes)
2 cups chopped kale leaves
13 oz garbanzo beans drained (I used the boxed ones from Whole Foods, 365 brand)
1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence
Salt and Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
optional: crumbed gouda cheese for topping

Directions:

1.  Put chicken in small baking dish, mix rest of ingredients together and pour over chicken.
2.  Cover and bake at 375 for 25 minutes
3.  Take out and cube/shred then set to side.

1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot, then add the onion, celery and garlic. Cook 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring when needed.
2.  Add chicken and cook another 10 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients (minus the kale and cheese) then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the kale and simmer an additional 10 minutes.  If veggies are not soft enough for your liking, you can continue cooking on low.  Sprinkle individual servings with Gouda cheese. 

Stuffed Bell Pepper and Fried Okra

Made this spur of the moment tonight after picking the okra and bell pepper from the garden and it came out delicious!  No measurements on this because I was originally making dirty rice and decided to steal some of the meat from that before adding the rice and did this last minute.
I made 3 small stuffed peppers.

Stuffed Bell Pepper:
Whole Bell Peppers (stems cut off and cleaned)
Ground Turkey
Diced Onion
Diced Bell Pepper
Minced Garlic
Salt, Pepper, Italian Seasoning
Bread Crumbs
Parmesan Cheese
Feta Cheese


 Preheat oven to 400.  Brown the turkey, add onion, diced bell pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Cook down until veggies are soft.  Mix in bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.   Put mixture in bell peppers then top with feta cheese.  Bake until bell peppers are soft (took mine about 25 minutes but they were small).

Fried Okra:
8 fresh okra, diced.  Mine were cut in about 1/4" pieces
Egg wash (1 egg with about 1/4 cup milk)
Corn Meal seasoned with a little salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder
Coconut Oil (you can use any oil you want)

Pour enough oil in a pot to cover bottom about 1/4"
Coat okra in egg wash then corn meal.  Drop in oil.  Cook about 5" then turn and cook another 5".  Take out with slotted spoon and put on paper towel.  Sprinkle right away with a little salt and black pepper. 

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

I forget to take a picture but I also don't want to forget my recipe for this :)  I usually just throw things in the pot but I actually measured this time since sometimes my jambalaya comes out good and others not so good.  Luckily, this batch was good since I measured/wrote it down.

1 tablespoon olive oil
14 oz andouille sausage
2 boneless/skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 green bell pepper - diced
1 medium onion - diced
Seasoning Mix (see below)
1 cup rice
2.5 cups water (I use 1/2 cup more water than my rice directions call for)

Seasoning Mix:
1/4 tsp dry basil
1/4 tsp dry oregano
Pinch of dry thyme
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1.5 tsp onion powder
1.5 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paparika
1/2 tsp salt (you may want a little more, we aren't big salt eaters in my home)
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Start by dicing up about 14 ounces of andouille sausage and 2 boneless/skinless chicken breast.  Pour about one tablespoon of olive oil in a pot and let it heat.  Add the meats and BROWN.  Browning is very important with jambalaya.  My first attempt at making it, I just cooked and did not brown anything and it looked like just chicken and rice.

Once the meat is good and brown, add in your onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  Cook this down and BROWN.  Don't burn, but you do want it good and brown.  It takes me about 15-20 minutes to brown good.  Then add in your dry seasonings.  Mix.  Add in your water and rice.  Cover and cook per rice directions.  I use brown rice so it always cooks about an hour.  I find brown rice NEVER cooks in only 45 minutes.  I also sometimes have to add a bit more water towards the end because it will dry out but the rice is still hard.

Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Oat Muffins

I was talking to my neighbor about different flours and such and she mentioned how she likes oat flour.  Its light and not as heavy as whole wheat flour.  So, on my most recent trip to Whole Foods I went ahead and got some.  Although there are plenty of sites that say you can make your own by just grinding whole oatmeal in a food processor.  The next step was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the oat flour, I decided on muffins!

Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Oat Muffins

2 cups oat flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp brown sugar (optional for extra sweetness)

1 large mashed banana

1 cup vanilla almond milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Topping:

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnmon

1/4 tsp cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a 12 cup muffin pan (I use liners because I HATE cleaning muffin pans)

Mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, oats, cinamon, nutmeg cocoa powder, brown sugar) in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another (mashed banana, milk, vanilla, honey, applesauce).  Combine the two bowls into one until blended well.  Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.  Combine topping ingredients together. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan until full (they will not rise).  Sprinkle topping.  Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Banana Muffin Whole Wheat Pancakes

Banana Muffin Whole Wheat Pancakes

I always try to find recipes that are good and healthy.  This is a recipe I found on 100daysofrealfood.com and I modified it a little bit.  I didn't count, but I would guess this made about 15 small/medium size pancakes.

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used Hodgson Mills)

2 tablespoons baking powder

1.5 tablespoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon honey

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons applesauce

2 ripe bananas

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl then mix in the two milks.

Mash up bananas then combine with rest of wet ingredients.

Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry and mix together.

Pour onto heated pan or griddle (I use a ladle) and cook about 3-4 minutes per side.

Serve with your choice of toppings.  My husband likes maple syrup and slithered almonds, my daughter and I used cream cheese and strawberries. 

They also freeze well!  I freeze on a baking pan for 2 hours then put into a freezer bag for easier storage.