Roasted Carrots With Feta and Parsley

Hi all! I'm back from my extended hiatus to share this delicious recipe from Martha Stewart. Jen over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is looking for Thanksgiving recipes for today's Tasty Tuesday. I tried this for the first time earlier this year and have planned on adding it to our Thanksgiving feast since the first bite. Not only is it delicious, it's super simple to throw together and looks quite impressive.

Photo from marthastewart.com

Ingredients:

3 pounds medium carrots, cut 1/2 inch thick on the bias
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss carrots with oil on a rimmed baking sheet, and season with salt and pepper. Roast until carrots are caramelized and tender, about 25 minutes.
Transfer carrots to a bowl, and toss with feta and parsley.

Check out Jen's blog for more new dishes to add to your Thanksgiving feast.

Leftover Rice Lunches

When Hubby was stationed in Okinawa with the USMC one of his favorite meals out in town was TRC - Taco Rice and Cheese. He has talked about it often and I have tried to make it many times, but there's always something not quite right according to him. Last month he spent some time in the kitchen on our anniversary and whipped up some TRC for lunch. Even then he complained that it wasn't authentic enough. Well, I don't know how to help him, but I do know my kids loved the meal and have asked for it often since then. Hubby and I are not fans of leftover rice, but the kids don't mind it so I've taken to incorporating it into their lunches anytime we have it. TRC is pretty self explanatory...take some rice, add some taco seasoned meat and a little cheese on top and serve. Last time I made it I added in a little taco sauce too and got rave reviews.

Now, it's a rare occasion when we have leftover taco meat. The other day we had leftover rice and no taco meat, but the kids were clamoring for TRC. On the fly I came up with PRC - Pizza Rice and Cheese. I threw some rice in a bowl and chopped up a few pepperoni slices and some cheese. We didn't have any unfrozen pizza sauce so, in another moment of desperation, I stirred in some tomato paste and Italian seasoning. They LOVED it and I love having two frugal, easy meals to add to our lunch rotation.

I'll be linking these "recipes" to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday.

Angel Food Surprise Cake

It doesn't get any easier than this! All you need is this...

to make a delicious low-cal, low-fat, low-sugar dessert that the whole family will enjoy. (Well, except for Spice of course. She was out as soon as she saw that a fruit that was NOT grapes or apples was involved. Oh well, just leaves more for the rest of us.) To top it all off, you only need to dirty one dish - two if you count the spoon - to make this tasty treat.

Here's what you do:

Dump angel food cake mix in an ungreased 8 x 12 sheet cake pan. Add in 16 ounces of crushed pineapple in its own juice. Stir with a spoon and watch it grow. (Sport really likes this part. I'm sure there's a science lesson in there somewhere. I just haven't figured it out yet.) Once well mixed, pop it in the oven and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. We like to top it with Cool Whip - fat free of course.

This post is linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday and Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family because any dessert that my kids can make from start to finish works for me!

Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream

 

I admit, I have a thing for cake batter. My favorite flavor snowball is wedding cake. Even when I tell myself over and over that this time I'm going to order something different, I always cave at the end and go for the sweet taste of cake. On those rare occasions when I set foot in a pricey ice cream shop, the only thing that can tear me away from peanut butter and chocolate goodness is cake batter. If cake batter is on the menu, I'm ordering it. If I had been in Marie Antoinette's shoes, I would have shouted, "Let them eat cake...BATTER!" So I may be a bit biased when I tell you the kids and I whipped up some homemade cake batter flavored ice cream Sunday and it was awesome! It would have been even better if I hadn't scorched the mixture ever so slightly. It was barely noticeable though and the kids had no complaints. I'm sure if you asked them, they'd say they're used to mom burning stuff. But a day later there wasn't the slightest trace of ice cream left and Hubby wasn't even here to get in on the action. I hope to get
more made up for the 4th. It just isn't the 4th of July without homemade ice cream and this will make a nice change from boring old vanilla. Guess I'll have to replace the leftover red and green Christmas tree sprinkles we used for a topping with something a little more American though! I found the original recipe on All Recipes and made a few changes. Here's my lightened up version:

1 cup milk (I used 1% Hood Simply Smart)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups evaporated skim milk
3/4 cup white cake mix, sifted

Whisk all ingredients together in a saucepan until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Stir constantly! I only stopped stirring for a second to put the milk back in the fridge and the mixture was already beginning to stick to the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator or freezer.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Once it has the texture of soft-serve ice cream sneak a little for yourself all the while telling your kids it's not ready and needs to harden some more. Place whatever's left in the freezer in your ice cream maker's container or in a lidded plastic container to harden.

Next time I will double the recipe since this only made about 8 small servings. I also want to try cutting the sugar down to about 1/3 cup. As is, it was not too sweet, but I think the sugar could be reduced some without it making much of a difference.

This post is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Parade of Foods and Works For Me Wednesday.

Suffering Succotash

 

Before I came across the recipe several years ago, I didn't have a clue as to what succotash really was. The only reference I had for it was hearing Sylvester the cat exclaim, "Suffering Succotash" on a regular basis while watching Looney Tunes, and the way he said it didn't make it sound all that appealing.
I love Lima beans and nobody could cook them like my Grannie. When she passed away 6 years ago I actually mourned the fact that I would never have such great tasting Lima beans again. I can't cook 'em like her and don't know what her secret was, but once or twice a year I break out this recipe for family holiday feasts so I can at least enjoy Lima beans for a day or two. Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is looking for Easter meal traditions for this week's Tasty Tuesday so here's my contribution:

Succotash

5 bacon slices
2 green onions, chopped
4 cups corn
3 cups Lima beans
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 tsp. chopped, fresh basil or 3/4 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. Tony's (or you can use 1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper)

Cook bacon in large skillet, drain, & reserve 3 Tbsp. of drippings. Saute onion in drippings for 2 minutes. Stir in veggies and broth. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in crumbled bacon, tomatoes, basil, and seasoning. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Makes 10 servings.

Disclaimer: I serve this dish every year at Thanksgiving, but have never actually made it for Easter. For Easter, we make...reservations.

This recipe is being linked to these posts:

Cajun Oven-Fried Chicken

Chicken parts and pieces are on sale super cheap this week at Kroger ($.99/lb for Tyson or $1.99/lb for store brand organic chicken) so I thought I'd share this recipe. Sport loves this like there's no tomorrow. Makes him wish chickens had 8 legs. I picked up an extra pack of drumsticks just for him today with this recipe in mind.

3/4 cup buttermilk (I use regular milk and stir in a tablespoon of vinegar.)
1 cup breadcrumbs (Original recipe calls for plain. I usually use seasoned.)
1 Tbsp. Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (No kitchen should be without this. If I ever go on Survivor, Tony's will be my luxury item. It makes anything edible.)
2 tsp. minced dried onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 lbs chicken pieces with skin removed

Preheat oven to 400. Line a pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Pour milk into a bowl. Combine all seasonings in a large zip-loc bag. Dip chicken in milk then place in bag. Shake to coat. Place on pan and coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday. Check it out for more great recipes.