Zinfandel – Braised Beef Brisket with Onions and Potatoes

Greeting from FL, I am spending time with my brother. I will meet Samantha and Mark in Orlando on Tuesday for a pharmacy conference. I have been having a great time. This weather is making me anxious for spring to come to the midwest. I loaded some photos on here before I left so I could post a couple of times while I am gone.

I found this recipe in one of my Cooking Light Cook Books.  It is a perfect meal for a cold day….and it has to be healthy, it was in Cooking Light

Zinfandel – Braised Beef Brisket with Onions and Potatoes

• 2 cups zinfandel or other fruity dry red wine
• 1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 (2 1/2-pound) beef brisket, trimmed
• 2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• Cooking spray
• 8 cups sliced Walla Walla or other sweet onion (about 4 medium)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme, divided
• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices (I used baby carrots)
• 2 celery stalks, cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices
• 1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, cut into quarters
• 1 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• Chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Combine first 3 ingredients, stirring with a whisk.
3. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef to pan; cook for 8 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan; cover and set aside.
4. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, onion, sugar, and 1 teaspoon thyme to pan. Cook 20 minutes or until onions are tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, carrots, and celery; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place beef on top of onion mixture; pour wine mixture over beef. Cover and place in oven.
5. Bake at 325° for 1 3/4 hours.

6.  While beef mixture cooks, place potatoes in a large bowl. Add 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon thyme, oil, oregano, and red pepper; toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.

7.   Remove beef from oven; turn beef over. Place potatoes on lower rack in oven. Cover beef; return to oven. Bake potatoes and beef at 325° for 45 minutes or until beef is tender.

 8.   Remove beef from oven; cover and keep warm. Increase oven temperature to 425°. Place potatoes on middle rack in oven; bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until crisp and edges are browned.

9.   Remove beef from pan; cut across the grain into thin slices. Serve with onion mixture and potatoes. Sprinkle with parsley.

Note: I could not find brisket, so I went to Food Subs website. They said I could use a bottom round roast instead. That is what I used.

Ingredient Line Up.

Combine wine, chicken broth and tomato paste.

Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Add beef to pan, browning on all sides.

Remove beef from pan; add seasoned onions.

Cook until tender.

Add celery and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes.

Place beef on top of onion mixure; pour wine mixture over the beef. Cover and place in oven.

While beef is cooking, place potatoes (I added some carrots) in a bowl. Toss with seasonings.

Place in oven with the beef and and cook until tender.

Remove from oven when tender. Slice into thin slices.

Zinfandel – Braised Beef Brisket with Onions and Potatoes

 The potatoes were good, but I think this would have been really good with mashed potatoes. This dish tasted even better the next day.

Penne with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

Wow, we have had some  gorgeous days here in the Midwest. It has been in the 60′s for the past 4 days.I have been taking advantage of the nice weather with taking a walk, grilling, washing my car and my favorite…putting my top down on my car  I am getting Spring Fever really bad!

I planned out some meals this morning and hit the grocery to stock up on the ingredients. Tonight I made a recipe that I had saved on my recipe box on Epicurious.com, Pasta with Spicy Sun-Dried -Tomato Cream Sauce. I changed it up a bit. My version is below.

Penne with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 cup julienne sun-dried tomatoes (not oil packed)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 12 ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 pound whole grain penne pasta – I thought I would make it a little healthy with the whole grain;)
• 1 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; saute 1 minute. Add tomatoes and peppers; saute a few minutes. Add crushed red pepper and creams simmer over medium heat 2 minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup basil and 1 cup cheese; simmer 2 minute longer. Season with salt and pepper. You can keep this on low if your pasta is not done.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Put pasta into a serving dish. Add sauce and toss around. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and basil.

Note: Kate and I decided that this would also be yummy with cooked chicken or shrimp added.

Ingredient Line up minus the half and half. I tend to make decisions to add or change things while cooking the recipe

I got all the chopping done ahead of time and had Mark grate the cheese while I started cooking. The jar of peppers I had on hand were mixed red, yellow and orange.

Saute garlic, then add peppers and tomatoes. Saute a few minutes.

Stir in cream, red pepper and basil.

Add cheese.

Pour sauce over cooked noodles. Stir around.

Top with remaining cheese and basil.

Penne with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

The garlic, roasted peppers and sun-dried tomatoes are a great combination. Then a little heat from the crushed pepper flakes…soo good.

~Relish Food & Life

Super Duper Easy Potato Soup

On my last post, I posted a photo of me wearing a scuba mask while dicing onions. Well, I was watching Katie Brown Workshop this morning and she had a chef on there chopping onions. He made a comment that the only way not to tear up while cutting onions is to wear a SCUBA MASK! See I am not so crazy I believe I have mentioned this before, I  have onion goggles and I love them. They are a little more stylish than the scuba mask

I purchased my goggles from my friend Marcus. He owns a store in Duncan, OK. You can purchase them from him on his website Distinctive Decor.

I love Baked potato soup. One of my favorite places to get a bowl is in St. Charles at Magpie’s. This is not a baked potato soup, but it’s the cheater way of making Potato soup.

            Super Duper Easy Potato Soup                                                                        adapted from Pearls, Handcuffs and Happy Hour

• 1 30 oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns
• 42 oz.   chicken broth (or 3 – 14 oz cans)
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• heavy pinch of ground pepper
• pinch of salt
• 1 pkg. cream cheese

In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese.  Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat.  About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted.  Serve with the toppings of your choice. I topped mine with Mexican blend cheese, sour cream, bacon bits and green onions.

Note: After chopping the onions, I sauteed them in olive oil for a few minutes. Totally not necessary, but I didn’t want the onion to be crunchy….because Grace would have figured out there was onion in it Check out my comment at the bottom of the post on the hash browns.

Seriously…this must be the easiest soup to make!

Ingredient Line up.

Put everything in the crockpot BUT the cream cheese. Cook for 6 to 8 hours on low.

Add cream cheese an hour before ready to serve. Continue cooking for an hour.

The toppings are really necessary, at least the bacon and cheese are.

Super Duper Easy Potato Soup.

After I had already purchased my hash browns. I started thinking that this would be really good with the hash browns that already have the red peppers and onions in it. Next time I will use those, but the ones with the cubed potatoes. I think that would make it really really good. When I make it next, I will let you know which way is better.

~Relish Food & Life

 

Baked Chicken Taquitos and Creamy Cilantro Sauce

I spent last weekend visiting Samantha in West Palm Beach, FL. It was so nice to get away to nice weather, but especially nice to spend some one on one time with Samantha. I am so proud of her and the woman she has become.

The first night we attended the West Palm Beach Art Show, which was across the street from her apartment. The art was great, but the people watching was fabulous

Friday night we had dinner atFood Shack in Juniper. Then we headed for a drink at Guanabanas Island Restaurant and Bar.

On Saturday Samantha treated me to an exercise class and a massage at Exhale located in Omphoy Ocean Resort.

We got to enjoy the beach a little bit in the morning before our class and massages.

Between the class and massage we enjoyed breakfast beachside. We both ordered Lobster Omelets. They were soo good. The little jar in the background was jelly and everyone got their own jar to use. It was yummy.

Samantha, Jeff and I enjoyed dinner  that night at one of my Mexicans places in West Palm, Rocco Tacos. On Sunday we decided to cook dinner for a few of her friends. So, we hit the Green Market to buy some of the ingredients.

I LOVE that place. There is a bakery there that has the BEST Almond Croissants ever! Unfortunately, I did not take a photo before I ate the whole HUGE thing. Well, Sam did take a photo of me stuffing it into my mouth, but I could not figure out how to send to my computer. Just trust me, it was delish and I relished every moment of it.

We stopped at a road side truck and purchased the Stone Crabs...which were yummy!

Then we took a long walk on the beach ♥

We prepare dinner together along with her friends. I really meant to take photos of the food…but I think the Mexican Martini kicked it and I forgot

I had the job of slicing onions for the Onion Bacon Marmalade. This was our solution to onion goggles when cutting 4 lbs of onions.

Dinner was great, but the company was awesome!

I was sad to leave, but I get to see her in February at a pharmacy conference.

On the way home I had a layover in Chicago and I had the BEST Chicago Hot dog!

This is a sign they have posted at the hot dog place.

No, I did not put any ketchup on it...it did not need it. Sooo good!

Ok, are you ready for a recipe? I love Mexican food and pinned this recipe on Pinterest. The recipe, I think originally came from Our Best Bites.  Taquitos are usually fried, this a baked version. It was very easy and yummy.

Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup salsa verde
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• 2 tsp chile powder or 1 tsp. Chile powder and 1 tsp. Ancho Chile powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 Tbs chopped scallions
• 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
• 1/2 cup shredded Mexican Taco cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Pepperjack cheese
• 8-12 (6-inch) Flour tortillas
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese with the salsa, lime juice, cumin, chile powder, cayenne, onion powder, garlic, cilantro, scallions, and 1/4 tsp kosher salt.  Fold in the chicken and cheeses.  Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.

Working 3 tortillas at a time, stack them on a microwave-safe plate and cover with plastic wrap.  Cook 30 seconds, or until tortillas are soft and pliable.  I did not find the need to do this, but wanted to include it just in case your tortillas are not pliable. The original called for corn tortillas, I used flour and they are softer than corn. I like flour better.

Spoon 3 tablespoons of filling onto the lower third of each tortilla, and roll tightly.  Place seam side-down on the prepared(spray with cooking spray) baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Spray the taquitos lightly with cooking spray, sprinkle with salt.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the tortillas are crisp and golden-brown.  Serve with salsa, sour cream, and/or guacamole.

Ingredient line up.

The tortilla I have here are so soft. You can find them at Super Valu in the Mexican food area. They are not in the refrigerated section.

I cooked my chicken in the microwave in a covered casserole dish.

Mix cream cheese, spices, cilantro, green onion, salsa, garlic and lime juice.

Stir in chicken and cheeses. At this point, you can refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

Place approximately 3 T at the end of the tortilla

and roll up.

I had a poblano pepper, so I decided to roasted it and add it some of the Taquitos.

I brought home some FL avocados from the Green Market and decided to add it to some of the Taquitos.

It is hard to see here, but FL avocados are HUGE. They are at least 2 times the size of the avocados we have here.

Here I just added avocado. Some I added avocado and the poblano strip...oh man those were good.

Put the seam side down on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

I made the whole package of 10 tortillas and had this much chicken left.

Spray lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake 15 - 20 minutes.

I decided I would serve it with a Creamy Cilantro Sauce and taco sauce. I wanted to serve it with salsa. But, I hunted high and low for salsa….never found any. Kate came home after we ate, walked to the frig and pulled out some salsa!?! Anyway, I made Creamy Cilantro Sauce ahead of time and refrigerated it. I found this recipe years ago on All Recipes website. It was very good with the Taquitos along with Taco sauce.

 Creamy Cilantro Sauce                                                                                    

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 (7 ounce) can Salsa Verde
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped 
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Put it all in food processor and blend.

Ingredient Line Up. I have salt in here by mistake. It does not need it with the celery salt.

No need to chop the cilantro...doesn't it get chopped in the food processor??

Creamy cilantro Sauce.

This is great with just chips, chicken, fish or any Mexican dish.

Baked Chicken Taquitos with Creamy cilantro Sauce...YUM!

You really could add what you want with the chicken. I kept some of them without any add ins for Grace. Some ideas of things you could add: corn, chopped jalapeno, poblano, avocado, green chilies and tomatoes. Maybe not all together, but you could easily add one or two of them.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to share my trip with you.

~Relish Food & Life!

Upside Down Potato & Onion Tart

Holy Cow….this potato recipe is really good. My favorite potato recipes right now are this one, Roasted Greek Potatoes  and Crash Hot Potatoes.  This is the second time I have made these. The first time Mark and I made our New Years Eve dinner together instead of going out and then last night. Grace would have eaten the whole pan if I would have let her. There was not much left and I ate the rest for lunch Sorry Grace.

I found the recipe on Pinterest. If you have not been to the pinterest site….you need too! If you need an invite, just let me know and I will invite you. I followed the recipe from Hizzoners website. I really did not change a thing, which is rare. It looks harder than it really is. So simple. The hardest part is finding Gruyere locally

• 2 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 12 sprigs thyme, strip the leaves from the stems
• 1 large onion, sliced somewhat thickly ( a tad more than 1/4 inch thick)
• 1 lb. small red potatoes, washed and very thinly sliced ( I may have used a bit more than 1 lb. What you see in the photo is what I used.)
•  2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyere
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 1 cup grated mozzarella
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt the butter in a 9-10 inch ovenproof frying pan (cast iron is great) over medium heat. Add the thyme and onion and cook for 5 minutes. Place the potato, oil, cheeses, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to combine.

Top the onion with the potato mixture and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Turn upside down to serve.

Ingredient Line up...for some reason I thought Fontina cheese was in it. It is not.

See my new handy dandy mandoline ♥ Slice potatoes thin. Leave skin on. I am not a potato peeler. So, I usually leave it on. I am sure all the vitamins are in the skin See the gloves? That is so I do not slice a finger off!

Melt butter in cast iron skillet. Add onions and thyme. I did not have big onions, so I used 2 medium size. Cook for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss potatoes, olive oil, cheeses, salt and pepper together.

After the five minutes, add potato mixture to the skillet.

Remove from the oven and turn up side down on a plate.

Oh, how I love crunchy things. Like I said I have made this twice and LOVED it both times. Both times, it looks a little brown after turning over….but it is still sooo good. I have a hot oven. I did not try to  make it until it looks like the original recipe’s photo and  deprive you of this recipe. So with that said…here is my photo.

Upside Down Potato Onion Tart....YUMOLA!

Oh, how I LOVE crispy potatoes!

I am heading to FL on Thursday to see my daughter, Samantha. I am so excited to see her and be in the warmth and sunshine.

I hope weather.com is right

~Relish Food & Life!

Baked Pesto -Tomato -Spinach Chicken Penne

I found this recipe on Pinterest. It sounded yummy. It is a recipe from All Recipes. Click to see original recipe. After I started to make it, I ended up changing it up a bunch. I decided to make my own alfredo sauce since I had everything in frig to make it.

Baked Pesto -Tomato -Spinach Chicken Penne

• 16 oz penne
• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1 (15oz) jar Alfredo sauce or make your own (recipe to follow)
• 1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup pesto
• 1/2 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes (not oil packed) (optional, but makes it really yummy)
• handful or more of fresh baby spinach
• pinch of pepper
• 2 cups Italian 5 cheese Blend
• Italian Seasoned PANKO breadcrumbs

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the penne, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite. Drain well in a colander set in the sink. Do not rinse.

Heat the jar of alfredo (or make your own) add crushed  tomatoes, pesto and pinch of pepper.

Combine chicken, penne, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes. Add sauce. Stir to combine. Top with shredded cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for 35 minutes or until bubbly and lightly brown on top.

Alfredo Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cup heavy cream
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 8 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese (if desire, you could add a bit more)

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add garlic. Saute one minute. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, add cheese and whisk quickly, heating through.

I do not have an ingredient line up photo…since I decided to change it all after I started making it.

Here I am making the alfredo sauce. Just added the cream and simmering for 5 minutes.

 

Then added cheese. Cook until cheese melts and has thickened a bit.

Add pesto and crushed tomatoes.

and pinch of pepper.

Toss together the chicken, penne

I cooked my chicken in the microwave in a covered dish. I seasoned the chicken with  Italian seasonings.

sun-dried tomatoes

and spinach. (This is a great way to sneak in spinach)

Toss in sauce.

Top with cheese and bread crumbs. ( Mark and I agreed, the bread crumbs were so tasty on top. Make sure to use the italian PANKO crumbs) Pop into the oven.

Baked Pesto-Tomato-Spinach Chicken Penne ~ really good.

You could take out the spinach and the sun dried tomatoes and it would still be good. The crunchy topping is really good. I was happy that I made my own Alfredo sauce. Alfredo in a  jar is ok, but fresh is really good.

It is a cold winter day here in the midwest. We had our first snowfall….now I am ready for spring

~Relish Food  & Life

Chicken with Pepperoni – Marinara Sauce

Wow, what a crazy busy 3 weeks! Sorry for the delay in posting. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did….love spending time with family and friends.

I have been under the weather the past week. Last night I was wanting to cook something simple. This was super easy and very tasty.

I found this recipe in Jan/Feb 2012 Cooking Light magazine.

• Cooking spray
• 2 Teaspoons  3 cloves minced fresh garlic
• 16 slices pepperoni, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon 1 heaping Tsp.  dried oregano
• 1 1/2 cups 24 oz Jar lower-sodium marinara sauce (such as McCutcheon’s) ( I used Paul Newman’s Marinara sauce)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil   2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken cutlets
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese Fresh mozzarella slices

1. Preheat broiler to high.

2. Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic and pepperoni; cook 2 minutes or until garlic begins to brown, stirring frequently. Add oregano; cook 30 seconds. Add marinara sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in basil.

3. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Sprinkle chicken with pepper. Add chicken to skillet; cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, turning after 3 minutes. Spoon sauce over chicken; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Broil 2 minutes or until cheese melts.

Jill’s Notes: I did not have fresh basil or the mozzarella they suggested. I think if you have either of these the dish would taste just as good.  I also upped the oregano, sauce and garlic a bit.

Ingredient Line up minus garlic - I always forget something.

I sprayed the pan with cooking spray and added the minced garlic and chopped pepperoni. Saute.

Add oregano.

 

Add marinara sauce. I added some water to the jar to get out every bit of sauce.

I really do not know what it means by Chicken cutlets. I looked at various stores and found these thinly sliced chicken breast and decided that would do After starting the recipe, It thought it might be tasty breaded. So, I breaded a few and just peppered the others. You do not need to salt the chicken. The sauce will have plenty salt in it from the pepperoni.

All ready to bread the chicken with Italian Seasoned Panko crumbs and egg.

Get your pan hot. Add oil. Swirl to coat and add chicken.

Cook; Flip and cook until done.

Pour sauce over chicken. Top with mozzarella cheese. Put under broiler until cheese is melted.

Chicken with Pepperoni - Marinara Sauce served with fettucine.

After the taste test…Grace liked the chicken breaded. I liked it both ways and Mark liked it without the breading. You really cannot go wrong. It is very tasty, kid friendly and tasted great again today for lunch

We have had some young people pass away the last month. My heart breaks for their families. It is a reminder that we need to relish life.

~Relish Food & Life!