Hibiscus Lime Drumsticks

I was so excited to receive dried Hibiscus with my last Bountiful Basket order, but I have been having a hard time trying to use it.  This was an excellent way to use Hibiscus and added a light and delicious flavor mix with the lime. 

Ingredients:

 3 Tbsp Olive Oil

 Juice of 4 Limes

1-2 Handfuls of Dried Hibiscus

4-5 Leaves of Fresh Basil (Can be substituted to 1 Tbsp of dried Basil)

 Seasoning (Tarragon, Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt)

5-6 Chicken Drumsticks

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the Oil, Lime Juice, Hibiscus, Basil. and seasoning together in a bowl. Roll the drumsticks one at a time into the mixture and place into a deep pan (I covered with tinfoil to make cleaning easy). Once complete, pour the remaining mixture over top of the drumsticks in the pan and the sprinkle with additional seasoning. Cook for 40-50 minutes or until done all the way through. Serve & Enjoy!

Getting ready to cook :)

Mix up the ingredients to coat the chicken into :)

Bake and enjoy!

Orange Brandy Pork

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love pork.  So what is better than to mix some delicious brandy into your pork?  Enjoy this succulent and easy recipe!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Butter (Unsalted)
3 Pork Loins
Seasoning (Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt, Basil, Thyme)
1 Carrot (Outside peeled off and then peel the rest of the carrot down to the core)
2/3 Cup Orange Juice
1/3 Cup Grand Marnier

Directions:
Add the butter into a heavy bottom skillet. Season the pork generously and add to the butter.  Cook until barely pink in the center (about 4 minutes per side).   Transfer the pork to a plate and cover. 
Add the carrot to the skillet and saute over medium heat until softened (about 4 minutes).  Add the orange juice and liquor and scrape up and remaining bits on the bottom of the pan and cook for 1 minute.
Return the pork and any remaining juices to the skillet until heated all the way through.  Serve the pork with carrot on top and sauce spooned over.  Enjoy.

Add the seasoned pork to the skillet

Saute' the carrot slices

Add the remaining ingredients

Bring the pork back to the sauce

Serve & Enjoy!

Steak Au Poivre with Disaronno

It had been far too long since I had made a delicious rendition of Steak Au Poivre, so it was time to pull this bad boy out of storage.  I was definitely not left disappointed. 

Ingredients:
Seasoning (I used Alpine Touch, Mediterranean Basil,  Spicy Montreal Steak, and Garlic Powder)
3 Steaks (Cut of steak depends on your preference)
Unsalted Butter 3 Tbsp
2 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
6 Package Mushrooms Sliced
2/3 Cup (3 fl oz) Amaretto (I used Disaronno)
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Tsp Tarragon

Directions:
In a Large Frying pan over med-high heat melt 2 Tbsp butter.  While the butter is melting season the steak on both side with the seasoning of your choice.  Add the steaks to the pan to cook.  Turning once for a total of 6-8 minutes for medium rare and longer if you like your steak done more.  Transfer the steaks to a plate and store in the microwave to keep warm. 
Add the remaining 1 Tbsp butter to the pan and melt over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and garlic, saute' until softened (about a minute).  Stir in the amaretto, cream and tarragon.  Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer until slightly thickened.  Simmer for about 1-5 minutes.  Turn the heat off and return the steaks to the pan to soak into the sauce.  Serve by spooning sauce over the steak onto the plate.  Enjoy!

Cook the steaks and you can also make garlic mashed potatoes at the same time

Saute' the garlic and mushrooms

Serve & Enjoy!

Goulash From The Garden

I have been craving some delish hearty goulash for a very long time, and had a ton of veggies to use up before they went bad, so I decided to mix it all together into some delicious goulash.  I tried perusing the internet for goulash recipes to get an idea of where I wanted to go, but everything that I found was very boring and looked the same.  In the end I deiced to just close the computer and the cookbooks and just create my own from scratch, so here it is:

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
Seasoning (Garlic Powder, Spicy Montreal Steak, Alpine Touch)
10 oz Ditalini dry pasta (or elbow)
24oz basil, tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 carrot (peeled and chopped)
1 ear of corn (cook, and cut the corn off the cob)
6 grape tomatoes (sliced)
4 mushrooms (chopped)
1 zucchini (peeled and chopped)
1/2 eggplant (peeled and chopped)
1 red pepper (seeded and chopped)

Directions:
Add the hamburger to a heavy bottom skillet and cook on med-high, add the seasoning.
Boil the pasta until al dente.
Once hamburger is browned add the sauce and warm. 
Now add all remaining ingredients and cook on low until all ingredients are thoroughly cooked and warmed. 
Serve with the hamburger sauce over a plate of pasta and enjoy!

Brown the seasoned hamburger

Add the sauce to the hamburger while the pasta is cooking

Add all remaining ingredients

Serve the hamburger sauce over the pasta and enjoy!

Orange Mint Chicken Drumsticks

I was wanting to do something with mint, and happened to have drumsticks needing to be cooked.  Viola; Orange Mint Chicken sounded delicious, and here you go:

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Orange Juice
1 tsp Orange Emulsion
1 Tbsp Dried Mint (Juiced)
Seasoning (Alpine Touch & Tarragon)
5-6 Chicken Drumsticks

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the Oil, Orange Juice, Emulsion. and seasoning together in a bowl.  Roll the drumsticks one at a time into the mixture and place into a deep pan (I covered with tinfoil to make cleaning easy).  Once complete, pour the remaining mixture over top of the drumsticks in the pan and the sprinkle with additional seasoning.  Cook for 40-50 minutes or until done all the way through.  Serve & Enjoy!

Mix the Oil, OJ, Emulsion and Spices together in a bowl

Roll the Drumsticks in the mixture and place on a foil covered cookie sheet

Take out of the over after about 50 minutes

Serve & Enjoy!

Cheese-Stuffed Italian Meatloaf

It had been awhile since I had made some delicious Italian Meatloaf, and cheese makes almost anything better, so here is the delicious recipe. 

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Breadcrumbs (Tightly Packed)
Seasoning (Alpine Touch, Garlic Salt, Mediterranean Oregano, Mediterranean Basil, a couple of dashes of red pepper flakes, a pinch of roasted garlic)
1 lb Ground Beef
1/2 lb Ground Italian Sausage
1 Cup Three Cheese Cheddar (grated)
1/2 Cup Mexican Shredded Mix (grated)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the eggs, bread crumbs and seasoning.  Mix thoroughly.  Crumple the meat over the mixture and mix all together.   Press half of the meat mixture into a loaf pan.  Sprinkle 3/4 of the cheese over the top of the meat.  Pat the remaining meat mixture on top of the cheese.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.  Meat thermometer should read about 160 degrees.  Turn off the oven.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and let sit in the warm oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.  Serve & Enjoy!

Combine the breadcrumbs, eggs and spices

Mix in the sausage & hamburger

Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan

Top with 3/4 of the cheese

Finish off with the remaining meat mixture

Cook for 50-55 minutes

Turn off oven and top with remaining cheese

Remove after 5 minutes and enjoy!

Sloppy Joes

I hadn't made any sloppy joes in about 4 months, so I figured it was about time to do some tweaking to the delicious recipe.  Here it is!

 Ingredients:

1 lb ground hamburger
Alpine Touch

2 Tbsp Butter

3 Carrots (Peeled & Minced)

3 Garlic cloves (minced)

2 Celery Stalks (Minced)

1 Tbsp Vinegar

1/2 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/2 Tbsp Thyme

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar Bourbon Grill Mate (or another great steak seasoning) 

1/2 Tbsp Parsley

3 Tbsp Brown Sugar

3 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1/2 Cup Ketchup

1/2 Cup BBQ sauce (Hickory Mesquite Smoke for a delicious smokey flavor)

Directions:

Brown the hamburger.  Drain and set aside.

In a separate pan add the Butter, minced carrots and garlic and saute' for 2-3 minutes.  Add the minced celery and cook for another minute.  Add the Vinegar and seasoning and cook for another minute or two to thoroughly season the veggies.  Add all remaining ingredients and thoroughly mix.  Add the hamburger to the mixture and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Sauce will be ready to serve.  Serve on your favorite bun, roll or bread for the best eating experience. 

Season and brown the hamburger

Add the butter, minced garlic and minced carrots to a heavy bottom skillet

Add in the minced celery and cook on medium heat

Add the spices

Add the remaining ingredients

Mix thoroughly

Add in the hamburger and stir to warm

Serve & Enjoy

Creamy Chicken Pasta

I love the Bear Creek Mixes.  I also love adding onto them to make them heartier and more delicious, which is exactly what I did with this dinner!  Quick and easy, and so I also had to whip up some homemade cinnamon honey butter to put on our toast.

Creamy Chicken Pasta
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Chicken Breast (Chopped)
Seasoning (Rosemary, Garlic, Sea Salt, Mediterranean Basil)
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Milk
1 Bear Creek Creamy Chicken Pasta Mix
1 Large Carrot (Peeled & Chopped)
1 Celery Stalk (Chopped)

Directions
Heat the oil into a skillet.  Add the chicken and generously season.  Cook on med-high heat until browned all the way through.
In a large pot bring the water and milk to a rolling boil.  Add in the celery and carrots and mix thoroughly.  Add the pasta mix and cook until noodles are al dente.  Simmer while adding in the cooked chicken and cook for another 5 minutes. 


Cinnamon Honey Butter
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Butter (1 Sticks, softened)
3 Tbsp Honey
3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
3 Tbsp Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Directions:
 Add all ingredients together and mix with a hand mixer until smooth.

I used the Creamy Chicken :)

Add the chicken to the skillet and season while also adding the milk and water to a pot

Continue cooking the chicken and add the celery and carrots to the pot

Cook chicken thoroughly, add the pasta mix to the pot

Add cooked chicken to the pot

Simmer for 5 minutes until sauce thickens

Soften the butter

Add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl

Blend thoroughly

Serve & Enjoy

Potato Pesto Soup

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes, as it always turns out amazing.  It saves well and has great repeat meal value. 

Ingredients:

10 slices of Maple Bacon (Chopped)

5 Large Red Potatoes

1 Large Red Pepper (Seeded)

2 Tbsp Butter

2 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock

2 1/2 Cup Milk

6-8 oz Conchigliette (small shell pasta)

2/3 Cup Heavy Cream

Chopped Parsley

Garlic Salt

Basil

Pesto Sauce Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley (Chopped)

3 Garlic Cloves (Crushed)

1/2 Cup Pine Nuts (Crushed)

2 Tbsp chopped Basil

1/2 Cup Grated/Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2/3 Cup Olive Oil

Directions:

To make the pesto sauce, put all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend for about 2 minutes. 

Chop the bacon, potatoes, and red pepper.  Cook the bacon in a large pot over medium heat for about 4 minutes.  Add the butter, potatoes, and red pepper and cook for 12 minutes, frequently stirring. 

Add the chicken stock and the milk to the pan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  add the conchigliette and simmer for an additional 10-12 minutes.  

Blend in the cream and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the parsley and mix thoroughly.  Stir the pesto into the soup until mixed all the way through.  Serve topped with a sprinkle of the shredded cheese and a dash of basil or parsley on top.

Add the pesto ingredients into a blender

Blend until thoroughly mixed

Add the chopped bacon into a large pot

Add the butter, potatoes and red pepper

Add the milk and chicken stock

Add the conchigliette

Simmer with the cream

Add int he pesto and the parsley

Serve & Enjoy