Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

This is a very easy way to make flavorful potatoes and a nice change from baked or mashed potatoes.

Potatoes of any kind, russet, white or red, as many as you need to feed who are going to feed
Olive oil
Dried rosemary
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Wash and scrub the potatoes clean.

If you are using russet potatoes, dice them.  Here is a pictorial guide- how to dice potatoes:

 On a cutting board, with a large sharp knife, slice the potato in half lengthwise.

Keeping the two halves together, roll the potato 1/4 of turn so the halves are one on top of the other.  Cut down through each half, cutting them each in half, creating a 4 part potato.

Keeping the four parts together, rotate the potato so your knife is at one end.  Cut about 1/2 in. from the end down through all four parts.  This will cut of 4 diced pieces of potato.

Continue moving your knife in 1/2 inch from the cut end of the potato, cutting down through all 4 parts.

This will continue to cut of 4 diced potatoes with each cut of the knife.

Until you are at the end of the potato, when you will end up with 8 diced pieces of potato if you have spaced your piece to allow a decently sized end section.

One regular sized russet makes about 1 serving of diced potatoes.

If you are using smaller red or white potatoes, depending on their size, you can leave them whole, cut them each in half or in 4th's if the the potatoes are on the larger size.

Place potatoes in a large enough bowl to allow room to toss the potatoes without having them fly out of the bowl.

Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes, and toss or stir the potatoes.  Sprinkle the oiled potatoes with rosemary, salt and pepper.  Toss again to distribute the seasonings among all the potatoes.

Spread the potatoes out onto a cookie sheet, tray or large casserole dish large enough to hold all the potatoes in a single layer. 

Place the tray in the preheated oven.  Roast the potatoes for 10-15 min.  Pull the tray out and stir up and flip the potatoes over.  Return to oven and continue to roast for another 10 min. or until potatoes are soft and somewhat golden brown.

Remove potatoes from the tray and place in a serving dish and serve immediately.   Yum!  

Chinese BBQ Pork

This is a Soy Sauce Free version of Chinese BBQ Pork!

1 or 2 Boneless Pork Tenderloin 2-3 lbs (Picture is only 1 tenderloin)

For Marinade:
1/4 cup Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos
2 T. honey
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. five spice powder
red food coloring (optional) (No food coloring in the pictured version)

For the Sauce: Marinade plus 1/2 T. cornstarch
Sesame Seeds

Trim all fat from meat. Place tenderloin(s) in a gallon zippered bag. Combine remaining ingredients with a whisk until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over tenderloin(s) in the bag.  Seal out as much air as possible.  Place in the refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally.

To cook:  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Reserving the marinade, place tenderloin(s) on a race in a baking pan.  Put in the oven and bake 45 min. or until internal temperature measures 165 degrees. Remove from oven, wrap in foil and let rest 10-15 min.

To make sauce:  Add cornstarch to a small saucepan.  Whisk in reserved marinade.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 1 min. more or until thickened.

Use an electric knife to thinly slice the tenderloin.  Serve with thickened sauce and sesame seeds.

Butternut Squash Saute

 This is how I used the remaining squash I had after I made SunButternut Quinoa Soup.

Serves 6-8

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled*, seeded and cubed into bite sized pieces, about 4 cups cubed

1 T. olive oil

1 T. ground thyme

1 T. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

*Use a potato peeler and peel the squash like a potato!

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add olive oil, heat.  Add remaining ingredients.  Stir well.  Cover. Cook 2-3 min.  Open it and stir it.  Cover it again.  Repeat until squash is tender, about 12 to 15 min. depending on size of pieces.  Serve warm.  YUM!

SunButternut Quinoa Soup

I adapted this recipe from the Adam's Peanut Butter website!  Only I used Sunbutter instead.  I found it very good indeed!

Makes 6 (1 cup) servings

1 T. olive oil

1/2 c. chopped onion

2 cups, peeled, seeded, cubed to bite-size butternut squash

1 cup yellow corn

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1/4 cup Sunbutter

1 cup water

1 tsp. cumin

1/2/ tsp. salt

28 oz. reduced sodium broth, chicken or vegetable

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed well until water runs clear

2 tsp. finely minced cilantro

Cayenne pepper to taste, if desired (I didn't use this in mine, I don't like spicey)

Heat 4 qt. saucpan over medium heat.  Add oil.  Allow the oil to heat up, add onions.  Cook slowly until soft and yellow in color.  Stir in squash, corn and red pepper.  Cook 5 min.

Blend Sunbutter, water, cumin and salt in blender or food processor until combined.  Add to vegetables in saucepan.  Stir in broth and quinoa.  Bring to boil; reduce to simmer.  Cover and simmer 15 min. or until quinoa is tender.

Remove from heat.  Stir in cilantro; cover.  Allow soup to thicken 10 min.  Season to taste with cayenne pepper, if desired.

I typed this recipe into my Lose It! Kindle App to get the nutrition results:

per 1 cup serving:

206 calories

6.5 grams Protein

7.8 grams Fat

0 Cholesterol

using not low sodium chicken broth: 711.8 mg Sodium

28 g. Carbohydrates 

Enchilada Casserole with Rice

A dairy free version of Enchiladas, serve shredded cheese and sour cream on the side if desired for those who choose to eat dairy.

3/4 to 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 c. chopped onion, optional
1/2 c. chopped black olives, optional
1/2 to 1 c. refried beans, optional
10 oz. La Victoria Enchilada Sauce, 1/4 cup reserved for rice if desired
8-10 corn tortillas
Guacamole, optional

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown ground meat and onions over med-hi heat in a skillet.  Stir in olives, refried beans and enchilada sauce, reserving 1/4 cup of the sauce for rice if desired.
Grease a small casserole dish, about the size of the tortillas.  Add just a thin layer of ground meat mixture to cover the bottom.  Place a corn tortilla on top of meat mixture.  Add another thin layer of meat, then another corn tortilla.  Repeat until casserole dish is full and all meat mixture is used up. Finish with a ground meat layer.  Carefully, so you don't wash away the top layer of ground beef, add 1/2 to 2/3 cup water over the top, more if you used 10 tortillas, less if you only used 8.
Bake 30 min.
Serve with rice, guacamole, shredded daiya cheese (contains yeast) or cheddar cheese(contains dairy), and sour cream (contains dairy).

To make Rice: Combine 1 cup rice with 1/4 cup enchilada sauce and 1 3/4 cups of water in a nonstick saucepan.  Bring the rice and liquids to a boil over high heat.  Cover.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer, covered for 15 min.  When rice is done, there with be small holes throughout the rice.  Fluff it up with fork, serve with Enchilada casserole.

Quinoa Chili

Made this up for a Relief Society activity and the ladies all loved it! Spiced nicely, but not hot spicey. Hannah liked it too.

(I doubled the recipe for the activity)

2 tsp. olive oil
1 med. onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed well until water runs clear and drained ( I used red quinoa)
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 cups tomato sauce
3 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. chili powder or cayenne (I use chili powder)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water plus more (added as quinoa cooks for good consistency)
1 can bean (cannellini, red, pinto, or black) drained and rinsed well.  (I used pinto and black)

In a large saucepan, saute onion in olive oil until clear; add garlic.  Add quinoa, carrots, tomato sauce, spices and water.  Bring to simmer and cook 20 min. Add beans, cook 5 min. more.  Add water as needed.  It shouldn't be too thick, but also not runny like soup.

Catalina Chicken- super easy!

Catalina Chicken

I apologize for the lack of photo.  This was an experiment for dinner tonight.  Didn't think to take a photo until the girls said they loved it!  I'll post a picture the next time I make it.

approx. 1/2 cup Low Fat Catalina dressing
5-6 bone in chicken thighs and legs, skinned

Make sure top rack in oven is in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven broiler 5 min.  Place chicken meaty side up on a broiler pan.  Broil chicken (I shut the oven door for this part) 10 min.  Turn chicken pieces over, broil another 10 min. (again I had the oven door shut).   Turn chicken again, this time, with a basting brush, brush chicken with Catalina dressing.  Return to oven, only this time, leave the door open.  Broil 4-5 min.  Watch it closely for burning.  Turn chicken, baste 2nd side with Catalina Dressing.  Broil 3-4 min. with the door open.  Again, watch closely for burning.  Lower chicken down a rack if burns too quickly.  Again turn so meaty side is up, give it a 2nd coat of Catalina dressing.  Broil 2-3 min.  Turn one last time and brush 2nd side with its 2nd coat.  Broil 2-3 min.  By this last turn, I moved the chicken down a rack as the dressing was getting dark rather quickly.  Then I turned the oven off but left the chicken in it about another 5 min. to be sure it was cooked thoroughly, but no longer burning.

What resulted was juicy perfectly cooked Catalina Chicken.  It was much like BBQ chicken but with a completely different flavor.   Yum!

Alternatively, you could use boneless chicken, broil just 5 min. each side before you add the Catalina dressing.