Super Loaded Baked Potato

I made this for dinner one Sunday night.  Sure was yummy and fairly quick to make.You don't need a lot of ingredients and would guess you could put whatever you like in it.  I followed the post I saw the only change I made was that I added red sweet pepper and 3 oz of cream cheese too.  (I also made a much larger batch  - cooked 9 potatoes.  But the ingredients below are for the 4 potatoes

Ingredient:
4 large russet potatoes (cleaned and poked)
6 oz steak sliced or chopped into bite size peices
3 TBL Worcestershire sauce
1/2 - 1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 large green pepper - diced
1/2 large red sweet pepper - diced
1 large diced onion
salt and pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese
2 oz cream cheese **optional**

Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes at 400 °.  Let cool the cut in 1/2 and scoop out insides
Place skins back on baking sheet and bake for another 8-10 minutes.  In a skillet heat 1 TBL oil,  add
steak, cook until almost done, add peppers, onions, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes, don't overcook because they will cook a bit more when you put them back in the oven.  Fill potato skins, top with cheese and return to oven for about 10 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and green onions.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week and always remember to Find the Time To Do All the Things You L♥ve.
Donna

Turkey Stir Fry

What to do with all that turkey that you have leftover.  Well this is the perfect quick dinner dish.  Add all the veggies that you enjoy and you have a healthy LC dinner.  The only thing that takes time with this dish is getting all those veggies cut.  But all that work is well worth the end result.

Ingredients:
left over turkey (or chicken)
3 small sweet pepper (I used red, yellow and orange)
1 medium onion
1 1/2 stalk celery
2 carrots
5 cauliflower florets
15-20 snow peas
1 pkt chicken broth
2 TBL cornstarch
1-2 TBL soy sauce
1 1/2 TBL sesame oil
oil for frying

In a large skillet heat the regular oil, add a few pieces of onion to get the oil flavorful, add the rest of the veggies and stir fry until almost tender,  add the soy sauce, sesame oil and cooked turkey then add the chicken broth packet and water.    In a small cup add about 1/2 cup of water and the cornstarch and stir until you have a slurry, add that to the veggies and meat.  Cook until it thickens.
Serve over your choice of either faux fried rice *here* or regular rice.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend and Remember to Find the Time to Do All the Things YOU L♥ve
D♥nna

Sweet and Sour Chicken (baked)

That was a very good meal, and not long to make. 
Instructions

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
1½ cup cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
¼ cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup (no sugar added)
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon  soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 carrot sliced thin
1 onion sliced
1 celery stalk sliced
1 small red pepper
Fresh Pineapple (can use 20 oz can of pineapple chunk drained)
2-3 TBL of the pineapple juice
sesame seeds to top

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture.
Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic powder. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour.
I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.
separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture.
Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.  After the chicken is cooked, pour oil off and leave a tiny bit in skillet, add the onion saute for a minute or so then add the rest of the veggies.  Add to baking dish.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic salt, mix well add the pineapple. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour. Stir the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.  Just before serving you can sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.  Serve with your favorite rice.   I always make cauliflower fried rice.
Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment if you like.  Have a great week and always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU LOVE.
Donna

Sausage Calzone

I made these the other night for dinner. They sure were tasty. The dough is my favorite pizza dough...best I've tasted. It is best if you make the dough the day before and let it sit in the fridge overnight and then about 2 hrs before you make your calzones take it out and let it rest covered on the counter. You can find the recipe for the dough here.

Ingredients:
5 links of sweet Italian sausage (taken out of casing)
1 green roasted pepper (cut into strips)
1 red roasted pepper (cut into strips)
1 Sweet onion (cut into strips)
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 TBL olive oil
2 TLB fresh basil
8 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
2 TBL fresh parsley
1 egg
fresh homemade sauce ( recipe found here )

In a large skillet saute the onion and garlic, add the meat and brown, add salt and pepper in some olive oil. Set aside. Roast your peppers in the oven on broil. When charred place in plastic bag and let steam help remove the skins. When done remove the skin and slice.
In a bowl mix ricotta , 1 egg and 2 TBL fresh parsley.
Take golf size balls of dough and roll out into a circle. Place sausage, peppers, onions, a couple of TLB of ricotta and a couple of slices of mozzarella. Fold over and pinch dough so it seals. Brush with olive oil and bake in 500 degree oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve with sauce and enjoy.



Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week, and those mom's that have kids going back to school, Take a breath and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the Things YOU love.
Donna

Pepper Steak

This is one of my favorites.  I love Chinese and Italian food.  This is a very simple quick recipe that can be ready in 30 minutes or less...Sound like Rachel Ray huh??  LOL  There's only 4 ingredients and you put it over brown rice or white rice, your choice.  I also make this with  fried rice which I will post in the future another very quick and great side dish.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. of top round steak (or whatever you want to use) cut into strips
1 - 2 green peppers sliced
1 large sweet onion sliced
1 pkg of brown gravy mix
* soy sauce to taste.. about 1 1/2 TBL...
1 TBL oil for frying 

Cut the meat, peppers and onions.   In a large skillet heat oil, add a couple of pieces of onion and let cook for about a minute just to flavor the oil, the add the meat and cook until done.  Add the rest of the onions and peppers and cook for about 5 minutes.  (cook the veggies so they are to the tenderness you like, either crisp or soft)  Add the package gravy as per instructions and add the TBL of soy sauce cook until thickened.  Serve over rice.  YUM YUM..  Enjoy

 

 Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do ALL the things you Love.
Donna

Red Sauce (Marinara Sauce)

 I love Italian food and when I was growing up I had two friends, they were sisters and they were Italian.  I looked forward to Sundays because I was always invited to their house for the usual Italian Sunday Family dinner...and boy could their mom make wonderful Italian food.  Having red sauce for your pasta didn't come ready from the can.  You used whole canned tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato puree and of course all the good seasonings.  The other main ingredients where the meats.  I remember their mom always had pork, sausage, chicken and at times beef.  Cooking the sauce for most of the day with the meats in the sause is what made it so tasty.  Well last summer we had a some tomato plants so what better to do with them then to make red sauce.  I had never had roasted tomatoes until I ate at a place here in town called Milton's.  Excellent food, so if you ever get to KS you must try it.  It's just a little place in downtown and they are only open for breakfast and lunch, think they close at 2.  So with my tomatoes I roasted them in the oven for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees, these pictures also have some black cherry tomatoes that I bought from a local farmer. 
I roast my tomatoes and peppers on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  It is easy for cleanup and also you can get all the good dripping that are created and put it in the processor.


This is the tomatoes with the salt, pepper, evoo, garlic salt and Italian seasoning.








In the following pictures you will also see red sweet peppers which I bought at Sam's.  I use these in the sauce to give it an added delicious flavor, you can also use these peppers (before you puree them) on top of homemade pizza or a sandwich.

I cut the peppers in rounds instead of strips, just a personal preference.   You can cut them anyway you like.

These are the peppers after 15 or so minutes, see how the onions are starting to become translucent? 

These are the tomatoes done.  You now put them in your food processor and puree them, be sure to get all the good stuff that's on the parchment paper. 

Making the puree

I add this to the sauce to give it body.  This is also the can that I used to cut my English Muffins.  It's a great size, I also think it would make a great cookie size and a good size doughnut.  Yet another thing on the list to make.  :-)

Now here is the sauce before the can has been added.  As you can see it's fairly thick.










And the final product.  With all the flavors from roasting the tomatoes, onions and peppers it makes a great flavorful sauce.  I also toss in about 5 or 6 gloves of garlic during the roasting.  I have also roasted garlic (the whole head) in foil for future recipes.  It makes the garlic very sweet and when you squeeze it from the casing you have almost a paste.



This sauce is great for pasta, pizza and calzones.  Really any Italian dish that calls for a red sauce.  Try it I'm sure you won't be disappointed.  You can buy your tomatoes and peppers from your local grower or even the grocery store (if you had to)  If you do choose the later be sure they are the vine or Roma's  type for the flavor.
I'd love to know if you try this.  Thanks for stopping by, and Remember to Always find the time to Do the All the Things you Love.
Donna