Fresh – A WordPress Photo Challenge!

Jen H. over at WordPress has chosen the topic “fresh” for this week’s photo challenge. What came to mind: Fresh vegetables from the garden! Are you ready to see my view of fresh? Here we go!

Who doesn’t like fresh sweet corn from the garden?

Sweet, sweet corn

There is nothing better than fresh broccoli fresh from the garden!

Broccoli

Tomatoes from the garden beat store bought hands down!

Heirloom tomatoes

Here is a photo of some freshly picked potatoes that I grew last year.

Colorful potatoes

I love the sweet fresh sequoia strawberries from my garden!

Sweet, sweet strawberries!

Love my raspberries too!

Raspberries!

Fresh acorn squash is a perfect accompaniment to ham!

Acorn squash

I love those green beans too!

Green beans

Well, there you have it! My view of fresh!

Thanks for stopping by today and be well! ^..^

Read Full Post »

Beef Stew

Normally I make beef stew in the crock pot. Yesterday with the snow event and no power for most of the day I had to prepare this on the stove top. Nothing is better than a stew on a very cold day, and our bones were definitely warmed by this dish!

Ingredients
1 1/2# stew meat
flour
garlic powder
salt and pepper
Hungarian paprika
1 onion
extra virgin olive oil
64 oz. beef broth
1 cup good red wine, I used Zinfandel from Storey Winery
3 potatoes
handful of prepared baby carrots
3/4 cup of frozen peas
1/4 # fresh green beans
2 bay leaves
1 TBS savory
1 TBS coriander
2 TBS rosemary
2 TBS parsley

Cut up the meat into bite size chunks…sorry the photo is poor… 😦

Meat is cut up and ready to use

Then take the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper and the paprika and add to a zip lock bag. Put the meat in and shake it vigorously. Set aside. Next take the onion and chop coarsely. Add this and 3 good glugs of olive oil to your stew pot. Turn on the heat, add the onions. Cook down for about 3 minutes and then grab the pieces of beef out of the bag. Do not worry about excess flour as you grab the meat as it will thicken the stew. But do not add in the rest of the flour from the bag. Brown the meat. While this is browning, peel the potatoes and cut into bite size chunks. Trim up the green beans.

The vegetables are ready to go

When the meat is brown add the broth and the wine. Then add your vegetables. Next add the herbs.

Everything is added

Bring this up to a boil, and then cover, turning the heat down to low. Check your stew often to ensure that it does not stick to the bottom of the stew pot. Cook on low for about 2 hours, and then serve.

Dinner is served!

Don’t forget to have a glass of the wine that you used in the stew!

Read Full Post »

Turkey Cutlets

I wanted to make another comfort food dinner and found some turkey cutlets at the grocery store. This is such an easy dinner! I had everything else I wanted at home.

Ingredients
1 package of turkey cutlets
1/3 # fresh green beans, washed and cut
2 potatoes, skins on, washed and cut into wedges
Panko bread crumbs
Thyme
Onion powder
Flour
Paprika
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
Vegetable oil
Hot salt mix (given to us by friends, but feel free to try Spike instead, or whatever seasonings you like!)
Butter

Start with the green beans and get them ready and in the steamer basket.

Green beans ready to steam

Next cut the potatoes into wedges and put them in a bowl of water to soak out the starch. Let this sit for a half hour. While this is soaking, get the items ready for the cutlets.  Measure about a cup and a half of the panko and put it into a bowl. Add a couple of good shakes of onion powder, and three shakes of thyme leaves. Mix this together. Next, add to a ziplock bag a little bit less than one cup of flour. To this add some paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper then shake the bag. Then take two eggs and beat them really well.

Cutlets, flour bath, egg wash and panko are ready

The potatoes should be ready by now to prepare, so drain them and pat them dry. Then  put them into a bowl and add a bit of oil and the hot salt seasoning, and a good shake of paprika. The oven – heat to 350 degrees. Lay the potatoes out on a silpat if you have one, or on a greased baking sheet.

Potatoes are seasoned, on the silpat and ready for the oven

Bake these for 30 minutes, and get the cutlets ready.  First, take a cutlet and shake it in the flour bag.  Then dip and turn a number of times in the egg.  Follow this by dredging in the seasoned panko.  Set the cutlet on a bread rack to dry.  Repeat this with all the cutlets, and let them sit to dry.

Cutlets are breaded and need to sit to dry a bit

At this point the potatoes should be ready to turn.  Do this and set the timer for another 30 minutes.  At this point, if I have anything left to clean up I get it done now, and get my plates and silverware ready.  20 minutes before the potatoes are done, start to heat some butter in a large skillet and when it just starts to bubble, add the cutlets. Cook these over medium high heat.

Cutlets are cooking in butter

Five minutes into cooking the cutlets, turn on the heat to start the green beans steaming. After another five minutes, turn the cutlets.

Turn and continue to cook

The cutlets, green beans and potatoes should all be done at the same time!

Sit back and enjoy this dinner with a Grenache!

Dinner is served!

Read Full Post »

Corned Beef in Beer

I love my crock-pot and making corned beef in the crock-pot is really good. The meat is tender from the long cooking, and the flavor from the beer is incredible!

Ingredients
Flat cut corned beef with seasoning packet included
2 bottles of beer (today I am using a combination of Sam Adams Light and Latitude 48 IPA)
Water to cover

Place the corned beef into the crock-pot with the fat side up. Sprinkle with the seasoning packet included with the meat. Slowly pour beer into the crock-pot.

Pour the beer over the corned beef

Don’t worry about the bubbles, they will subside.

Beer bubbles...

Then add water to just cover the meat.

Set the crock-pot to low and cook for 8-9 hours. When done, let the meat stand, covered, for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve this with buttered potatoes, steamed green beans, and of course, a really good mustard!

Dinner is served!

And, enjoy a beer with this too!

Read Full Post »