Aspargus Soup - The Food Lovers

Ingredients

• 1 quart Chicken Stock (Free Range, Organic)
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil, Organic
• 1 Vidalia Onion, chopped
• 2 lb Asparagus, ends removed, and chopped
• 3 clove Garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp Prosciutto, diced, for garnish
• 1 tsp Chives , minced, for garnish

Process

1. In a large soup pot on medium heat, sauté onion and garlic in coconut oil, adding salt and pepper to taste.
2. Sauté until the onion becomes translucent.
3. Add the asparagus to the pot, and cover with the chicken broth.
4. Cover the pot with a lid and boil the asparagus until soft and tender.
5. In a medium-sized frying pan, sauté prosciutto for 5 minutes, set aside.
6. Transfer the soup to a food processor, or high-speed blender, and process until smooth.
7. Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle with ground pepper, prosciutto, and chives.

Mashed Turnips and Parsnips - The Food Lover

Ingredients

• 1 Onion, chopped
• 2 cup Turnips, chopped
• 3 cup Parsnip, chopped
• 3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black Pepper

Process

1. Preheat oven to roast at 400°F.
2. Rinse and chop turnips, parsnips, and onion.
3. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
4. Spread out evenly on a roasting pan.
5. Roast at 400°F for 45 min.
6. Puree vegetables in high-speed blender or food processor until smooth.
7. Serve.

Notes

Keep an eye on these to ensure that they do not burn. It is best to stir them every 15 minutes to ensure even cooking.

Pear and Walnut Salad - The Food Lover

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Dried Cherries
• 2 Bosc Pear, very ripe
• 3/4 cup Walnuts, Organic
• 5 cup Spring Mix Salad Greens, mixed spring greens

Process

1. Cut pears into chunks, chop walnuts, and slice cherries in half.
2. Toss with spring greens.
3. Serve with Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Stuffed Turkey Breast - The Food Lover

Ingredients

• 1 cup Vidalia Onion, chopped
• 2 cup Baby Spinach, Organic, chopped and stems removed
• 2 cup White Mushrooms, chopped
• 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Rosemary, minced
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 4 lb Turkey Breast, boneless, skin-on
• 1 tsp Salt and Pepper, to taste

Process

1. Preheat oven to roast at 375°F.
2. In a non stick skillet, sauté mushrooms, baby spinach, onion, garlic, and rosemary in 1 tablespoon olive until mushrooms have softened slightly.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Carefully remove skin from turkey and set aside.
6. Place turkey breast, skin side down on a large cutting board.
7. Spread halves of breast apart, so the turkey breast opens like a book.
8. Release thickest tenders of meat with a sharp knife so that you can open the breast more to create an even thickness of meat.
9. Cover turkey breast with parchment paper and carefully pound to even thickness with a meat mallet (or cast-iron skillet like we had to resort to using).
10. You want the meat to be as even as possible without damaging the breast.
11. Spread stuffing over turkey and tightly roll the breast for roasting.
12. Cover the stuffed breast with the reserved skin, and tie with kitchen twine in three evenly spaced intervals to keep skin in place.
13. Lay stuffed breast in a roasting pan or baking dish, seam side down.
14. ProcessRoast at 375°F for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, or until the roast has reached 175°F in the breast.

Sauteed Bosc Pears With Toasted Walnuts, Balsamic and Basil - Healthy Eating Tips

Ingredients:

Bosc Pear

• One bosc pear, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 2 tsp butter
• Cinnamon to taste
• 1/4 c. walnuts
• 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
• 5 basil leaves, chiffonade into strips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, core and cut bosc pear into 1/4 inch slices.
Place balsamic vinegar in small sauce pan and gently heat until simmering. Allow to reduce, swirling occasionally until reduced to 25-30% volume, about 10 minutes. Reduction should be dark and thickened. Test by seeing if it coats the back of a spoon (and tastes good). Do not over reduce.
While vinegar is reducing, place walnuts on a cookie sheet and put in oven. Toast walnuts, turning once or twice for 6-7 minutes. Do yourself a favor and set a timer. It is very easy to burn toasting nuts. I set the time for 3 minutes, toss the nuts, then reset for another 3 minutes. Remove nuts from oven, allow to cool, then coarsely chop.
Heat butter in a pan on medium heat until it begins to foam. Add pear slices and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook gently until slightly tender, about 3 minutes on each side. Turn with a thin spatula.
Place pears on a plate and drizzle with balsamic reduction. Sprinkle on chopped walnuts and basil. I didn’t try it, but I bet this would be awesome with gorgonzola and port (or other dessert wine).

MOW - 4.2.12

Meal of the Week - 4.2.12

Bacon Alfredo

Steam and green veggie or make a salad

Guacamole Salad - Health Bent

• avocados, diced
• 1 English cucumber, diced
• 4 large-ish tomatillos, diced
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• handful cilantro, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• salt

Method

The only thing I really need to explain (probably) is how to deal with tomatillos, so here goes…
Remove the green husks. You’ll feel that the tomatillo is slightly sticky to the touch. Rinse those suckers under some warm water, then chop ‘em up like the rest of the ingredients.
In a large bowl, add all ingredients together. Consume.

Zesty Cilantro Lime Roasted Chicken - Food Renegade

 The Players

• 1 whole fryer chicken, somewhere around 8 lbs
• 1 lime, zested & juiced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 3 green onions, roughly chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 c olive oil (where to find quality olive oil)
• coconut oil or lard for greasing (where to find coconut oil)
• salt

The How-To
Get your chicken out of the fridge pronto. It’s ultra, super important, for the most moist roasted chicken ever created, that you bring the chicken to room temperature. Think about it this way, if you stick the chicken in the oven straight out of the refrigerator, at least 1/2 of the time it’s cooking, you’re actually trying to bring the temperature of the chicken up…and by doing it this way, you’re getting different temperatures within different parts of the chicken, so some parts cook faster than others, resulting in dryyyyyy chicken.
Now we’re going to split the chicken in half — trying to get it to lay flat as it can. Splitting the chicken in half is just another trick that will help the chicken cook faster, thus keeping it moist. Using a pair of kitchen shears, or a cleaver, cut the chicken along its back (not the breast side), making sure you start cutting to the side of the backbone, don’t actually cut into the chicken’s backbone. Sit the chicken on the counter to give yourself a sturdy base and start at the neck opening, cutting down towards the end at the tailbone. The chicken will look like it’s doing a split — sort of. Lay the chicken, breast side up, in a roasting pan or large oven-safe baking dish.
In your food processor, puree the lime zest & juice, green onions, garlic, olive oil and salt. Also add the cilantro, but I want you to include the stems, along with the leaves. Think of it as nose-to-tail cilantro use. Smear the mixture all over the top of the chicken. Use the time it takes the chicken to come to room temperature as marinade time too.
Preheat your oven to 400F. Clean off the bottom of a cast iron pan and lightly grease it with oil. Stick the chicken in the oven and place the bottom of the cast iron pan on the top of the chicken. This allows the oven heat to cook the chicken from the bottom and the cast iron pan to crisp the chick from the top. Bake until the temperature in the thigh of the chicken is around 150-165F. It should take about 45 minutes. Carefully remove the cast iron pan from the top of the chicken, and if you’d like the skin crispier, just stick the oven on broil and peek at the chicken every minute until it’s done to your liking

Fajita Chicken Salad - Health Bent

• 1- 1½ lbs chicken, cooked anyway you like & chopped (breasts or a mix of breasts & thighs or leftover rotisserie chicken)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• 1/3 c mayo, preferably homemade
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt, to taste
• hot sauce or chili garlic sauce, to taste

Method

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayo, lime juice, cilantro, salt and chili sauce. Add the chopped chicken, bell pepper and green onion. Mix to combine. Let the salad sit in the fridge, so the flavors can meld, at least 30 minutes. Serve cold.

Cabbage Slaw with Cilantro

• 1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 (8-ounce) bags coleslaw mix
• 2 medium carrots, peeled, coarsely grated
• 1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, cored, cut into thin strips
• 6 medium green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

Whisk orange juice concentrate, rice vinegar, and olive oil in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Combine slaw mix, carrots, red bell pepper strips, sliced green onions, and chopped cilantro in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand 15 minutes for flavors to blend. Toss again and serve.