Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:
*cooking spray
*2 lb. frozen brussel sprouts, completely thawed, and DRY
*olive oil
*salt to taste
*ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with sides with cooking spray.

2.  Place DRY brussel sprouts in a gallon sized Zip Lock bag.  Pour in just enough olive oil to lightly coat them--about 2 Tablespoons or so.  Close the bag, letting out all the air.  Use your fingers on the outside of the bag to move the olive oil all around so that all the brussel sprouts are lightly coated.

3.  Pour the brussel sprouts onto the baking sheet in one layer.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir.  Season the other sides with salt and pepper.

4.  Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes.  We like it when they get brown.  We eat them even browner than this.

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

Another adapted recipe from Pinterest. I let mine get a tad too brown.  It wasn't pretty and bright green, but they tasted delicious.  I got my son to eat this too.  He'll eat anything if it has Parmesan cheese all over it.

Ingredients:
*cooking spray
*1 lb. fresh green beans, ends snapped off.  Make sure they are completely dry.
* 1 Tablespoon olive oil
*pinch of kosher salt
*fresh ground black pepper to taste
*1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
*3 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2.  Place the dry green beans in a gallon size Zip Lock bag.  Pour in the olive oil.  Close the bag, letting out all the air.  Using your fingers on the outside of the bag, move the green beans all around so that they all get lightly coated with the olive oil.  Open the bag and dump in the kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.  Close the bag again like before and move the green beans all around so that the seasonings are evenly distributed.
 
3.  Spread the green beans out on the baking sheet so that none overlap.  Roast for 10 minutes in the oven.

4.  Remove from the oven.  Shake the pan so that the green beans turn.  Return back to the oven for 5 minutes.

5.  Remove from oven.  Top with Parmesan.

Roasted Tomatoes with Basil and Parmesan

It's always hard to find a side dish to go with Italian dishes, other than a green salad.  I get tired of that.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and adapted it a tad.  The family loved it.

Ingredients:
*olive oil flavored cooking spray
*4 tomatoes, sliced to 1/4 inch slices
*1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
*1/4 cup provolone cheese, shredded
*3 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
*1 teaspoon dried oregano
*1/2 tsp salt
*ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with the olive oil flavored cooking spray.  Place tomatoes on the baking sheet.

2.  Top each tomato slice evenly with Provolone, then basil, Parmesan, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Spray the top of each tomato slice with the olive oil cooking spray.

3.  Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes are tender.

Sneaky Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce

My four year old is in a vegetable rut.  He will only eat the same vegetables over and over, and not many of them are green:  carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes, corn, roasted green beans (sometimes) and canned Lasueur peas.  I invented this spaghetti sauce recipe as a way to get him to eat more green vegetables without being able to see them or taste them!  This sauce is chock full of zucchini and chopped spinach.  The particular sauce that I add the vegetables to also has more than 1 full serving of vegetables per half cup.  Because of the particular flavor of this jar sauce, there is not a hint of spinach or zucchini taste.  Sneaky, sneaky...


Ingredients:
*1 jar Robusto! Ragu Parmesan & Romano spaghetti sauce
*2 Tablespoons olive oil
*2 zucchini, chopped
*1/2 box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:
1.  Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil.  Once hot, add the zucchini and spinach.  Saute until the zucchini is very tender.  Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

2.  In a food processor, pour in the jar spaghetti sauce and the spinach/zucchini mixture.  Process until smooth and no chunks of vegetables remain.

3.  Pour into a pot.  Cover, and heat on medium-low heat until hot.  Serve over angel hair pasta.

Hominy Casserole

This is a recipe from the Taste of Home website.

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients:
*cooking spray
*1 yellow onion, chopped
*1 Tablespoon canola oil
*1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
*3/4 cup light sour cream
*3/4 cup 2% shredded cheddar cheese, divided
*1/4 cup milk
*1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chiles, drained
*1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
*3 cans (15 oz. each) golden hominy, drained

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees  Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Heat a small skillet over medium heat.  Add the canola oil.  Saute onion for a few minutes until tender.  Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, combine the onion mixture, sour cream, half of the cheese, milk, chiles, and cumin.  Stir in hominy.

4.  Pour into the baking dish.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until heated through.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake 5-10 more minutes.

Roasted Rosemary Acorn Squash

This is my adapted version of the Pioneer Woman's recipe.  I use way less rosemary and less brown sugar.

Ingredients:
*2 acorn squash, cut into 8 wedges each
*4 dashes olive oil
*salt to taste
*1 stick butter, room temperature
*1/4 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
*1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed (I use a mortar and pestle)

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place wedges in a baking dish and drizzle with the dashes of olive oil.  Sprinkle lightly with salt to season.  Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

2.  In a small bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, rosemary, and salt to taste.  Mix into a paste.

3.  Remove the squash from the oven.  Smear the paste over the squash wedges.  Put back into the oven for 15 minutes.  By this time the paste should now be a sauce.  Brush the sauce over the squash.  Roast for 15 more minutes or until brown and caramelized.

Walnut, Goat Cheese, and Honey Sandwich

This makes a good lunch with a side of fruit of strawberries and blueberries.  The sweetness from the fruit brings out the flavor in the goat cheese.

Ingredients:
*1 multi-grain sandwich thin, sliced in half
*2 Tablespoons goat cheese
*5-6 fresh basil leaves
*1/8-1/4 cup chopped walnuts
*honey

Directions:
1.  Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the walnuts onto a baking dish in one single layer.  Toast the walnuts in the oven for just a few minutes until fragrant.

2.  Lightly toast the sandwich thins in a toaster.

3.  Spread half of the goat cheese on one sandwich thin and the other half on the other sandwich thin.  Set one half aside.

4.  On one sandwich thin half, spread the basil and then the walnuts.  Drizzle with honey.  Top with the other half of the sandwich thin.

Garlic & Savory Herb Spicy Vegetable Saute

Ingredients:
*2 large yellow squash, diced
*2 large jalapeno, seeded and chopped
*1/2 yellow onion, sliced into strips
*1/2 red onion, sliced into strips
*2 Tablespoons olive oil
*1 packet Lipton Soup Garlic & Savory Herb (1 box has 2 packets)
*1/2 can (14.5 oz. can) diced tomatoes, drained
*salt to taste
*ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Place the squash, jalapenos, yellow onion, and red onion in a gallon sized Zip Lock bag.  Pour in the olive oil.  Close the bag, letting out all the air.  Using your fingers on the outside of the bag, move around the vegetables so that they are all lightly coated in olive oil. Pour in the Garlic & Savory Herb.  Close the bag and use your fingers on the outside to make sure all the veggies get coated with the seasoning.

2.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the olive oil.  Once hot add the vegetables from the Zip Lock bag.  Stir in the tomatoes.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Saute for a couple of minutes.  Reduce heat to medium.  Continue sauteing until the squash is tender.

Roasted Honey Balsamic Carrots

This is one of my go-to recipes for a vegetable side dish.  It's super easy.

Ingredients:
* 3 - 4 lb. baby carrots
* 2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus some for lightly coating
* salt
* fresh ground black pepper
* 2 Tablespoons honey
* 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place carrots in a gallon size zip lock bag.  Pour just enough olive oil in to coat the carrots very lightly--you will just need a tad.  Close the zip lock bag and let all the air out.  Move the carrots around in the bag using your fingers on the outside of the bag so that all the carrots will get coated.

Pour the carrots onto a baking sheet, getting them into as much of a single layer as possible.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to season.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in pourable measuring cup, whisk together the 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, honey, and balsamic vinegar.

At the end of the 20 minutes of roasting, remove the carrots from the oven.  Give the honey mixture one more whisk.  Pour over the carrots.  Stir the carrots so that they are all coated with the mixture.  Arrange into a single layer again.  Roast in the oven for 20 more minutes.  We like a little brown on them, but if you don't then roast them a little less.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

Quick and easy, healthy and delicious.  My kind of recipe.

Ingredients:
*2 bunches asparagus
*olive oil
*salt
*black pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Rinse the asparagus and pat really dry with paper towels.  The water will make the asparagus limp, which is not good.  Pick up one asparagus, holding it by the ends with each hand.  Bend the asparagus until it snaps naturally.  Discard the bottom part that snapped off.  Line the top of the snapped asparagus up with the rest of the asparagus on a cutting board.  Use that piece as a template and cut off the other ends of the asparagus.  Discard the bottoms.

Place the asparagus in a gallon-size zip lock bag.  Pour in some olive oil--just enough to barely coat the asparagus.   Close the bag and shake around so that all the asparagus gets lightly coated.  Add more if needed.

Dump the asparagus out on a large baking sheet.  Spread the asparagus out so that they are in a single layer.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for 12 minutes.  The asparagus will be cooked but still have a crispness to it.  Yum.

Lentil Barley Vegetable Skillet

This is another great low-fat dish full of things that are really good for you.  I got this recipe from a Speedy Stove Top Meals cookbook at my mom's house, but I have modified it a bit.

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
*1 1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 Tablespoon olive oil
*1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
*2 medium carrots, sliced
*1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
*3/4 cup normal cooking (not quick-cooking) barley
*1 teaspoon dried basil
*1/4 teaspoon black pepper
*2 cans (14 oz. each) fat-free chicken broth
*1 medium green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
*2 medium stalks of celery, finely chopped
*1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
*1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs (with juices and all)
*shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:
In a large stockpot bring the chicken broth, basil and black pepper to a boil.  Add the barley.  Boil uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add water as necessary so that it looks like it retains the same amount of liquid as when it started.

Meanwhile, saute onion in oil for 3 minutes.  Add carrots and saute for about 2 minutes.  Add celery and saute for about 2 minutes.  Add bell pepper and lentils and saute 3-5 minutes.

Pour vegetable mixture into boiling barley pot.  Reduce heat to medium low (level 2).  Cover.  Cook for 20 minutes.

Add salt.  Stir in corn and tomatoes (with liquid).  Increase heat to level 3.  Cover and simmer 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils and vegetables are tender and liquid is almost absorbed.

Uncover and cook for 5 more minutes if there is still too much liquid.  Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan in individual bowls if desired.

Mexican Pizzas

My husband and I discovered this recipe when we were dating in college.  It's from the Pillsbury Quick & Easy Bake-Off Contest 39 magazine.  This was the first dish that we ever cooked together.  The original recipe calls for quite a lot of cilantro that you add just before the cheese--so much cilantro that it has made us sensitive to cilantro ever since.  It was overkill.  So, we leave the cilantro off now.

Makes 8 pizzas

Ingredients:
*1 can refrigerated Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits (I recently made this with a store brand that was similar and less expensive.)
*1 cup fat-free refried beans (from a 16 oz. can)
*1 cup salsa
*1/4 cup sliced ripe (black) olives
*1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies, drained
*1 1/2 cups shredded Colby-jack cheese
*4 green onions, chopped
*fat-free sour cream--optional


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Press or roll each biscuit to form
a 5-inch round.  Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Spread 2 Tablespoons refried beans on each round.  Top each with 2 Tablespoons of salsa.  Top evenly with black olives and green chilies.   Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with green onions.  My husband likes to top his with a dollop of sour cream.  Serve immediately.

Note:  I leave off the green chilies on my son's Mexican pizza because it is too spicy for him.  I also leave off the green onions and sour cream.  I cut his pizza into four wedges.

Poblano Florentine Casserole

Mexican or Italian?  This dish has elements of both.  This is from Pillsbury Prize Winning Bake-Off Recipes, Collector's Edition, Vol. 2.

Makes 9 servings

Ingredients:
*5 fresh poblano chilies
*cooking spray
*1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Chihuahua cheese
*1 cup 2% shredded Mexican blend cheese
*1/3 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
*2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
*1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
*1 box (9 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain
*1 can (12 oz.) Pillsbury Grands! Jr. Golden Layers Butter Tastin' refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits)
*1 can (10 oz.) mild enchilada sauce

Directions:
Set oven to broil.  Broil poblanos whole on a cookie sheet with the tops of the peppers 2 inches from heat for about 10 minutes, turning frequently with tongs until all sides are blackened and blistered.   Place chilies in a zip lock bag.  Seal bag.  Let chilies steam 15 minutes.

Heat oven to 350.  Spray 8-inch (2 quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix Monterey Jack and Mexican cheese blend.  Reserve 3/4 cup for topping.

In another medium bowl, mix ricotta, garlic, cumin, and spinach.  Stir shredded cheeses (except for that 3/4 cup).  Set aside.

Wearing food-safe plastic gloves, peel blackened skin from chilies.  Cut open chilies, remove stems, seeds, and membranes.  Cut each chile in half lengthwise into 2 pieces.  Pat dry with a paper towel.

Separate dough into 10 biscuits.  Separate each biscuit into 2 thin layers.  Flatten slightly.

Pour half of the enchilada sauce over the bottom of the baking dish.  Place 10 biscuit layers on the sauce, cutting biscuits if necessary to fit.  Top with 5 chile halves.  Spread spinach mixture over chilies.  Top with remaining 5 chile halves and remaining biscuit layers.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce over biscuits.

Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray.  Cover baking dish with the foil with the greased side down.  Bake 55-60 minutes or until thoroughly heated and bubbly around edges.

Sprinkle with reserved 3/4 cup shredded cheeses.  Bake uncovered 5-8 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Cool 10 minutes before cutting.

Creamy Spinach and Tortellini

This is a recipe from the Pillsbury Bake-Off Prize-Winning Recipes Collector's Edition, Volume 2 magazine.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
*18-20 oz. refrigerated or frozen cheese-filled tortellini
*2 Tablespoons olive oil
*1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
*3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
*1 package (9 oz.) frozen chopped spinach
*1 cup cubed seeded Roma tomatoes
*1/4 cup fresh chopped basil (MUST be fresh!  I use dry basil all the time, but this recipe specifically needs fresh.)
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon black pepper
*1 cup heavy whipping cream
*1/4 - 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook the tortelinni to desired doneness according to the package directions. Drain.  Cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until hot.  Add the onion and garlic, and saute until tender.  While this is going on, cut a slit (about an inch long) in the top of the spinach package to vent.  Thaw by microwaving it on high for 2-3 minutes.  DO NOT DRAIN THE LIQUID FROM THE SPINACH!

Once the onions are tender, add the spinach with the juices.  Add the tomato, basil, salt, and pepper.  Stir occasionally, and cook for 5 minutes.  Stir in cream and parmesan cheese.  Cook just until the mixture comes to a boil.  You may have to gradually increase the heat to bring it to a boil.  Stir frequently to prevent the cream mixture from burning on the bottom.

As soon as it boils, reduce the heat to low.  Stir in cooked tortellini.  Cook an additional 4-5 minutes on low heat or until thoroughly heated through.