Lemony Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch broccoli, cut into spears
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil (we used a little more than 1 Tbsp. of extra-virgin olive oil)
  • ¼ tsp. salt (we used ¼ tsp. plus extra) (we used Kosher salt)
  • ¼ tsp. pepper (we used ¼ tsp. plus extra) (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • Garnish: lemon juice

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, add the broccoli, oil, salt and pepper to it, tossing to coat the broccoli*.
  2. Take an ungreased baking sheet (we chose to line ours with aluminum foil) and spread the broccoli** out on it. Place the sheet in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the broccoli is tender and golden (ours took about 14 minutes). Pull the sheet out and sprinkle the lemon juice over the broccoli and enjoy !

*After tossing around the broccoli, it didn’t seem like there was oil to around so we poured a little more in, tossing to coat again afterwards.

**Once the broccoli was spread out, it just didn’t look like it had enough seasoning so we sprinkled some more salt and pepper over the broccoli before it went in the oven.

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The broccoli tasted good just with the salt and pepper but it was even better with the lemon squeezed onto it.

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !

Lemon Garlic Green Beans

Ingredients

  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp. olive oil (we used extra-virgin olive oil)
  • 1 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and broken into pieces (we cut it into bite-size pieces, roughly 1 ½-inch pieces)
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (we used 1 Tbsp. plus more to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
  • ¼ tsp. ground pepper (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • 1/8 tsp. salt (we used at least ¼ tsp. Kosher salt)

Directions

  1. Take a large skillet out and pour the oil in, setting the heat to medium. Once the oil’s hot, add in the garlic, stirring constantly for 30 seconds.
  2. Add the green beans into the skillet. Cook and stir frequently for 10 to 13 minutes or until they reach your desired level of tender-crispiness.
  3. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, pepper and salt and enjoy !
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We weren’t satisfied with how much lemon flavor was coming through in the dish so we decided to add more lemon juice until we were happy with the flavor. 1/8 teaspoon of salt just didn’t seem like it was going to be enough to us so we started off with ¼ teaspoon and still added a little more to help bring out the flavors in the dish. The garlic didn’t taste burnt but it was dark enough looking by the end of cooking that we’re going to try adding it in later on during the cooking process next time we make this.

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !

Three-Cheese Creamed Spinach

Ingredients

  • 2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
  • 1 ½ cups spreadable chive and onion cream cheese (we used Philadelphia Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread) (we had to buy 2 (7.5 oz. each) packages in order to get 1 ½ cups worth)
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • ¼ cup butter (we used salted butter)
  • ¼ tsp. pepper (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • Kosher salt, to taste (the original recipe never calls for salt but we think adding it helped make it even tastier)

Directions

  1. Take a large saucepan out and add the butter and pepper to it, setting the heat to medium. Once the butter’s melted, add in everything but the salt, stirring for 8 to 10 minutes or until everything’s heated through. Add salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Serves 6.

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This is the first time we’ve had creamed spinach so we don’t know how this recipe compares to other versions but it’s got us sold on creamed spinach ! This tasted pretty good on its own but with some salt added to it, the flavors were even more pronounce ! You have to eat this immediately or else the cheese starts to solidify again. It’s gonna be tasty enough that you’ll want a big helping of this but it fills you up quicker than you’d think.

Recipe source unknown.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Philadelphia cream cheese.

Take care everybody !

Chipotle-Cilantro Slaw

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. sour cream
  • 1 tsp. lime zest
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
  • 2 tsp. red wine vinegar
  • ½ tsp. salt (we used Kosher salt)
  • ½ tsp. pepper (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • 2 canned chipotle chile peppers in adobe sauce, finely chopped (since the peppers were so small we used 4 of them)
  • 1 (16 oz.) pkg. shredded coleslaw mix
  • 1 carrot, shredded
  • ½ cup minced fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. Take a large mixing bowl out and mix the first 9 ingredients together in it until combined. Add in the remaining ingredients, stirring until all components are coated in the dressing. Serve the slaw right away or cover and let chill for at least 1 hour.
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This is one of our favorite coleslaw recipes ! It’s got an awesome blend of heat and acidity and it’s just a great, fresh tasting dish. There’s also plenty of crunch from the coleslaw mix. You can eat this right away but it’s better in our opinion when it’s chilled. We hope you’ll try this dish and love it as much as we did.

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !

Slow-Cooker Smoky Chipotle Beef Tacos

Ingredients

  • 2 onions, chopped (we finely chopped our yellow onions)
  • 1/3 cup chili powder
  • 3 Tbsp. minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jalapeño chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced (we left the seeds in)
  • 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
  • 1 (15-oz.) can tomato sauce
  • 2 tsp. packed light brown sugar
  • ½ tsp. liquid smoke (we used mesquite)
  • 1 (3-lb.) boneless beef chuck-eye roast, trimmed and halved
  • Salt and pepper (we used Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper)
  • 12-18 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
  • Toppings (optional): sour cream, chopped onion, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced radishes and/or lime wedges (we tried it with radish slices, radish slices and pico de gallo, and tried a few tacos that only had avocado slices as a topping)

Directions

  1. Take a large microwavable container and add the onions, chili powder, chipotle, oil, garlic, jalapeño, tomato paste and cumin to it (the directions don’t say to but we mixed everything together once it was all in the container). Microwave for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally or until the onions have softened*. Once the onions have softened, place the mixture into the bottom of a 5 ½- to 7-quart slow cooker. Season the beef with salt and pepper (we did so on both sides) and put it in the slow cooker afterwards.
  2. Put the lid on the slow cooker and let it cook until the beef is tender, either 9 to 10 hours on LOW or 6 to 7 hours on high (we cooked ours on low heat).
  3. Once the beef is tender, take it out of the slow cooker and put it in a large container, letting it cool a little. Using two forks, shred the beef into bite-size pieces, tossing out any excess fat pieces (we did try a piece of fat before throwing the rest away and it was so tender, it melted like butter in  your mouth). Skim any excess fat from the surface of the sauce left in the slow cooker (we didn’t do that).
  4. Stir 1 cup of the sauce in with the beef, adding in more if the beef starts to look dried out (honestly we just added our shredded beef back into the slow cooker with all of the sauce, stirring to combine). Season with salt and pepper if you think it needs it (we didn’t think it needed any more salt and pepper). Serve with the warmed tortillas and leftover sauce (and the optional toppings if you’re using any of them).

*After 7 minutes in the microwave, our onions were still crunchy but we decided to move on.

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The chili powder flavor really comes through in this dish. The beef and onions were so tender by the end of the cook time. You really can’t go wrong with any of the toppings. The various toppings we tried all worked harmoniously together flavor-wise with the beef and most of the toppings added some nice contrasting textures to the dish.

We got this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote America’s Test Kitchen.

Take care everybody !