Old-Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup

Photo from Insanely Good 
Recipes

Soup is the word this time of year. Cold and blustery equal soup or stews to me. Comfort food. 

This was a standard beef soup. All the components are what you'd expect in a beef vegetable soup. I made some modifications, of course. 

1. No canned veggies for me. I used frozen peas and frozen corn
2. I put in just a splash of Worcestershire sauce. The tomato sauce made it a little too sweet for me.

I'd make this again for sure. I've made a dozen vegetable beef soups. The concept is the same for each one. The ingredients vary slightly.

Old-Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup

Recipe from Insanely Good Recipes

Serves 6

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cubed
• 1 large onion
• 2-3 celery ribs, diced
• 3 (14-ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• 2-3 large carrots, diced or sliced
• 2 large potatoes, cubed (or baby potatoes, halved)
• 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder, or to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 (15-ounce) can green beans, drained
• 1 (15.25-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (8.5 ounce) can peas, drained

In a large pot over medium heat, brown the beef in the olive oil on all sides. Remove to a plate.

Add the onion and celery to the pot and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

Add the browned beef back to the pot, along with the beef broth, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for about an hour.

Add the carrots and potatoes and cook for another hour. Then, stir in the garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste, followed by the green beans, corn, and peas. Cook for another 30-45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Serve with crusty bread, and enjoy!

Banana Bread Cookies

Here we are again craving banana bread but knowing its not something I should put in my pie hole. 

I saw these on Instagram and thought I'd give them a try. They are DENSE, but really good. 

I made just a couple modifications to keep them low glycemic. 

1. I used sugar free peanut butter (Jiff Creamy to be clear)

2. I used sugar free chocolate chips. (Hershey brand)

Both sugar free options are surprisingly good. 

These cookies scratched the banana bread itch for me. I'm set for a couple of weeks. I froze half of them to have later. 

Banana Bread Cookies

Recipe from The Big Man's World

Makes 12 cookies

• 3 large bananas mashed
• 2 cups rolled oats can sub for rolled or quick oats
• 1/2 cup peanut butter can sub for any nut or seed butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips optional

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking tray with baking paper, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the bananas, oats, and peanut butter and mix very well. If the batter is too thin, add more oats. Fold through chocolate chips if using them.

Using your hands or a cookie scoop, form into 12 balls and set them on the lined baking tray. Press each ball into a cookie shape and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slightly firm on the edges, and remove. Allow to cool on the tray completely.

Cuban Picadillo

The great debate. You either like them or you don't. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

I love Picadillo. I've made it a few times. 

This one. 

This One. Or

This One.

Really they are all similar in the ingredients. The ONE ingredient that people will debate over is raisins. You either like them in savory dishes or you don't. 

I'm not a raisin fan in anything BUT savory dishes. They add a nice, surprising sweetness to each bite.

This was a good one too. I'd make this or any of the others again.

Cuban Picadillo

Recipe from Hola Jalapeno

Serves 4

• 3 T olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 ounces Spanish, dry-cured chorizo, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 15 ounce can chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 c pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced
• 1/3 c raisins
• 2 T capers
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add chorizo and garlic and cook another 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, olives, raisins, capers, cumin, and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered until meat is cooked through and flavors have melded, about 15 minutes.

Stir in parsley then taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed. Serve with steamed rice or potatoes.

The BEST-EVER Salad with Strawberries & Manchego Cheese

I needed a salad to go with Sunday dinner. I wanted it to be a light salad, but flavorful. I found this one while trolling around looking for Spanish recipes.

I think the only thing Spanish about this recipe is the Manchego cheese. I  happen to LOVE Manchego cheese. I should remember that. I don't eat it enough. 

I had a bit of a problem with the balsamic glaze I had. I had to dump it and then just use regular balsamic. It turned out fine. 

Oh and I had to swap out the strawberries. I know that's a major ingredient in this recipe, but the strawberries at the store just looked sad. And were super expensive. I chose blueberries instead and, you know, I think I liked it better.

The BEST-EVER Salad with Strawberries & Manchego Cheese

Recipe from Spain On a Fork

Serves 2

FOR THE SALAD:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 small red onion
• 8 fresh strawberries
• 2 ounces Manchego cheese
• 10 walnuts
• pinch sea salt
• dash black pepper

FOR THE BALSAMIC DRESSING:

• 1 tbsp glazed balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp agave syrup
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• pinch sea salt
• dash black pepper

Remove the leaves from a head of romaine lettuce and stack them up, tightly roll the leaves together like a cigar, cut it right down the middle and into 1 inch pieces, add to a strainer and rinse under cold running water, dry the lettuce either with a salad spinner or dishcloth, add the cleaned dry lettuce into a large shallow bowl

Thinly slice 1 small red onion and add over the lettuce, wash & pat dry 8 fresh strawberries and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices, add the slices of strawberry into the salad, season everything with sea salt & black pepper

Add some thin shavings of Manchego cheese over the salad (I used a potato peeler) and crumble 10 walnuts over the salad

To make the dressing, add 1 tbsp balsamic glaze into a bowl, along with 1 tbsp Dijon mustard and 1 tbsp agave syrup, lightly season with sea salt & black pepper, start whisking together and at the same time slowly add in 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, once all the olive oil is incorporated and you end up with a creamy texture the dressing is done

Using a spoon drizzle some of the dressing over the salad and serve at once, enjoy!

Shepherd’s Pie

To be accurate, I made, technically, Cottage Pie. Shepherd's Pie is with lamb. Cottage Pie is with beef. I am not a fan of lamb, so beef it is. 

Photo from My Incredible Recipes

This is one of the simplest meals that serves a ton of people. It's December Sunday Dinner perfect. 

I changed up just a couple of things: 

• I added parmesan to my mashed potatoes. Just a handful - give or take
• I added frozen peas to the meat

Y'all...one of the best meals ever. It's going into the favorites category for sure. Then general consensus was it was a winner recipe. 

Shepherd’s Pie

Recipe from My Incredible Recipes

Serves 8

POTATOES

• 4 large russet potatoes
• 1 stick of salted butter
• 2 tsp of garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ c half & half

MEAT FILLING

• 2 T of oil
• 1 c chopped yellow onion
• 2 lb of ground beef or Lamb if you want traditional
• 1 T minced garlic
• 3 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 &½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 3 T flour
• 3 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 T tomato ketchup
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 &½ c beef broth/bullion
• 1 8.75 oz can corn
• 1 14.5 oz can carrots

POTATOES

Peel the potatoes and slice them into smaller pieces. Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil and reduce it to a simmer.

Depending on the size of your potatoes, simmer them on medium heat for 15-18 min. You want the potatoes to be soft enough that a knife will slice through them easily. Drain the water off the potatoes and return them back to the pot.

Break the potatoes up with a potato masher and add the butter, garlic, salt, black pepper and half & half.

Continue mashing until the potatoes are smooth and creamy.

MEAT FILLING

Preheat the oven to 350

Heat up the oil in a pan. Add the onions and fry until soft. Add meat to the onions and brown.

Once the meat has started to brown sprinkle in the flour. Combine the flour with the meat and stir continuously for 1-2 min. Pour in the beef broth and mix well. It will thicken as it cooks.

Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and cook for 5 min. Stirring occasionally so the meat doesn’t stick to the pan. Pour the mixture into a 9×13 casserole dish.

Spread the potatoes evenly on top.

Place the casserole dish into the oven and bake for 30-40 min.

Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies

Y'all...I am without words. 

Tomorrow is the Annual Christmas Sunday Dinner cookie exchange and this year I chose Molasses Cookies. I love a good crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside molasses cookie and these hit the mark dead on.

I have never made molasses cookies and have relied on other people making them or **gasp** buying them. No more. These will be on my rotation forever. 

I did make a modification. I used Swerve sugar (low carb) and Swerve Brown Sugar. Swerve's Brown Sugar tends to have a stronger molasses flavor and I think that really added to this cookie. 

It's taking every ounce of my will power to not go grab another to "test". 

Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies

Recipe from Insanely Good Recipes

Makes 24

2 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

1 large egg

1/4 cup unsulphured molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt until well blended.

In a separate large bowl, beat the softened butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Turn the mixer to low and blend in the egg, molasses, and vanilla extract one by one until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix gently by hand until just combined. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Scoop the chilled cookie dough into 1-1 1/2 tablespoon portions and roll it into balls. Roll each ball in the remaining granulated sugar until fully coated on all sides.

Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are set but the centers are still soft.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Pan-Grilled Steak with Olive Sauce

I'm so very close to my goal of 170 new recipes this year. I really need to hunker down and cook for the next couple of weeks, but I can do that no problem. In fact, I may go over the goal. We'll see.

Tonight I made this steak with olive sauce. You can be sure I did not pan grill the steak. Grilling all the way. 

The Olive Sauce was what made this recipe though. I make olive tapenade all the time, but this recipe was slightly different. The mustard and lemon juice really set this sauce off above all other tapenades. 

Pan-Grilled Steak with Olive Sauce

Recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen

Serves 4

• 4 lean, tender steaks, about 6 oz. each  
• 2 tsp olive oil, to rub steak
• 1 tsp Steak Rub  
• salt and fresh ground pepper to rub steak

OLIVE SAUCE INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 tsp garlic puree (ground garlic, or use finely-minced fresh garlic)
• pinch salt
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
• one 6 oz. can good-quality pitted black olives (slightly over 1 cup of olives)
• 1/2 c pitted green olives (without pimento preferred)
• 1/4 c pitted Kalamata olives
• 4 T olive oil

Remove steaks from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

This recipe uses canned black olives, green olives, and Kalamata olives for the olive sauce, but feel free to substitute any olives you prefer.

Put garlic, salt, dijon mustard, lemon juice,olives, and half of olive oil in food processor or mini-chopper.

Pulse until olives are coarsely chopped, then blend at full speed for a few seconds to combine all ingredients.

Remove from processor and put in large glass measuring cup or a bowl, stir in the rest of the olive oil.

Trim fat from the steak (as much as you prefer). I cut two very large New York Steaks in half to make four 6 oz. servings.

Rub steak on both sides with olive oil, salt, pepper, and steak rub.

Put cast iron grill pan on top of stove, turn on burner to medium, and heat pan for a few minutes before putting meat in pan. (If the pan starts to slightly smoke, it’s hot enough!)

Lay steaks at a diagonal and cook until grill marks are showing, about 3 minutes.

Rotate and cook about 3 minutes more on first side, or until you see nice grill marks when you lift up the corner.

Then turn and cook 3-5 minutes more on second side, depending on how done you like it.

I cooked my one-inch thick steaks exactly 10 minutes and they were perfectly medium-rare.

Of course, the steak could also be cooked on any type of outdoor grill.

Remove steak from pan and let rest about 5 minutes, then serve with olive sauce spooned over the top.

Hatch Green Chile Vinaigrette

Book Club night! We have a nice "grid" that schedules what we bring depending on who's hosting. This time it was Janet (and her book was Four Winds from Kristen Hannah...so good). My assignment was to bring a side dish or a salad. 

Janet mentioned she was making Santa Fe Chicken, so I thought I'd bring something to go with that theme. Enter this green chili vinaigrette. 

I sliced up cucs and tomatoes and let them sit in this vinaigrette. It was so good. Nice chili flavor with no heat. 

Hatch Green Chile Vinaigrette

Recipe from Flippindelicious.com

Makes about 1 cup, enough for 4 -6 dinner salads

• 5 tablespoons lime juice (approx 2 limes)
• 2-3 tablespoons honey
• 2-4 tablespoons roasted hatch green chile (more means more heat)
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ cup oil (I used a light flavored vegetable oil, but olive oil would be great too)

For the Hatch Green Chile Dressing:

In a blender, pulse the lime juice, 2-3 tablespoons honey (depending on how sweet you like it), 2 tablespoons of hatch green chile, oregano, and cumin until smooth.

While blending on low speed, pour the oil in a steady stream. Continue to blend until smooth and emulsified.

Taste the dressing with a piece of arugula, and add more green chile as desired, pulsing until smooth.

Ciao Bella Balsamic Grilled Chicken

I had high hopes for this recipe. I love balsamic based marinades so I thought this one would be good. The problem, for me anyhow, is too much Italian Seasoning. Way too much. In fact, I'd prefer it be left out all together. 

I marinaded it for only 4 hours today. I forgot to put it together at lunch in time for dinner. I think it was fine. The Italian Seasoning is what ruined it for me. 

Ciao Bella Balsamic Grilled Chicken

Recipe from Just A Pinch

Serves 4

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 lb chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Italian seasoning, and Dijon mustard.

Pour marinade over chicken in a zip top bag. Refrigerate for 4-24 hours.

Grill over direct heat for about 7 minutes per side.

This marinade can easily be doubled or tripled for family size packages of chicken.

Slow Cooker Nacho Soup

Its C-O-L-D outside! Sunny, but cold. Thank goodness I had planned a soup today. And not just any soup, but Slow Cooker Nacho Soup.

This one is being added to this years favorites. It's that good. I cooked mine for 6 hours on low - I prefer low over high for some reason. The house smelled amazing all day and I just kept getting hungrier and hungrier. 

I was so hungry, in fact, I forgot to put any toppings on it. Honestly, it was fine as it was. I did make one small modification and that was I used a canned of Pinto beans instead of black beans. I had the pinto beans in my pantry and I wanted to use them up. And I prefer pinto over black. 

I also just realized reading the recipe again I completely forgot to put in the shredded cheddar cheese. That would have made this THAT much more amazing. Oh well, guess I have to make it again. 

Slow Cooker Nacho Soup

Recipe from Insanely Good Recipes

Serves 6

For the Soup:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel)
• 1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 jalapeno, sliced (optional) - I definitely added this
• 1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, softened and cut into cubes
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• salt and pepper, to taste

For Toppings (optional but recommended)

• sour cream
• extra shredded cheese
• tortilla chips (for crunch)
• sliced avocado or guacamole
• diced tomatoes
• sliced black olives
• green onions
• fresh cilantro

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until browned and fully cooked. Break it up into crumbles as it cooks. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the skillet. Sauté until the onion is translucent. (About 3-4 minutes.) Drain any excess fat.

Transfer the cooked meat, onion, and garlic mixture to the slow cooker. Add the black beans, diced tomatoes with green chilies, corn, chicken broth, taco seasoning, cumin, smoked paprika, and jalapeño (if using).

Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

About 30 minutes before serving, stir in the cubed cream cheese and shredded cheddar. Mix well until fully melted and incorporated into the soup. Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper as needed.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with desired toppings. Serve warm and enjoy the hearty, cheesy, nacho-flavored goodness.