THU Awesome Cheesy Sausage Potato Pie

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is pretty nifty.  It’s in the same vein as Brussel’s Sprouts Awesome, seeing as I’m not sure how I never made this before now and how I ever lived without it.

Ingredients

  1.   1 large sweet potato, cubed into 1/4″-1/2″ cubes
  2.   3 large egss, beaten
  3.   10 oz sage breakfast sausage
  4.   1 small onion, diced up super ass small
  5.   8 oz monterey jack cheese
  6.   2 tablespoons basil (fresh is better, dried is ok)
  7.   3 tablespoons vegetable broth
  8.   4 slices of pepperoni, trust me, only 4, no less, no more
  9.   3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
  10.  2 cups spinach

Recipe

  1.   Sweet potatoes into a pie pan and bake for 15 minutes at 375 in a preheated oven
  2.   Saute the onion with the vegetable broth and sausage.  Keep going until there is no liquid left, then pull off and drain well to get all that sausage grease off
  3.   Put back into a pan with the spinach and saute until the spinach is soft and mixed in.
  4.   Add the basil, stir and cook for another 3-4 minutes on medium, with lid on is better
  5.   Dice up the pepperoni and put in a food processor with your block of Monterrey Jack cheese, pulse until the cheese is crumples and there are little red specks everywhere (that’s the pepperoni.  It’s being used as a spice in this dish)
  6.   Take out your sweet potatoes, sprinkle with Parm cheese.  Cover them with the sausage-onion mixture.  Evenly poor over the beaten eggs.  Then evenly spread your cheese mixture back over the whole thing.  Put back into the oven at 375
  7. Bake about 20 minutes or until the whole thing is nice and bubbly and the cheese is all Melty and awesome.
  8. This should easily feed 4 people and have 2 servings for leftovers for work.

This is super yummy.   This is ridiculously paleo friendly and is phase 3 (being generous here) for us LTL types.  For a slightly healthier version, use turkey sausage.

 

Brussels Sprouts Awesome – Fall Edition

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a very similar recipe to the Broccoli Sprouts Awesome recipe.  The difference is that it focuses on some more Autumnish flavors, meaning Thanksgiving leftovers are ingredients here.

Ingredients

  1.     3 cups shredded brussels sprouts. (You can either take a long time to do it yourself, or pick up two bags at TJ’s or whereever)
  2.     5 ouces of diced Thanksgiving turkey (or turkey breast if you don’t have leftover turkey)
  3.     2 ounces of unroasted pepitos (these are shelled pumpkin seeds)
  4.     2 ounces of monterey jack cheese (shredded works well, sometimes I dice it into 1/2″ by 1/2″ squares, that’s fun too)
  5.     2 tablespoons of vegetable broth
  6.     1 tablespoon of smoked paprika

Recipe

  1.    Put the pepitos in a large frying pan on medium heat.  This is a way to get some of the oils out of them, which gives it a bit of a nutty flavor in the overall dish.  The way you can tell if they are done or not is to smell them.  If you are about 2 feet above the pan and it smells nutty, it’s done.  If you are the bathroom and they smell nutty, they are overdone.  Toss them and start over.  There is no timing this as pepitos are not uniform in size.  They are done when the smallest one is done, not when the largest one is done.  You would rather have 75% underdone pepitos and 25% perfectly done pepitos, than the other way around.
  2.     When you smell the nutty smell, pour the veggie broth, turkey and paprika all in.
  3.     Saute all for about 3 minutes, then add all the brussels sprouts in.  (you see why you needed a medium saucepan)
  4.     Brussels sprouts are done when they are done. Mine usually take about 8 minutes of stirring fairly often.  But brussels sprouts can be finicky and are awful when overcooked.  Do your best.  They do not need to be soggy to be done.  A bit of crunch is desirable.
  5.   Cut the heat and stir in your cheese.  Some people stir it in to melt it, some people cover it and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Either way is fine.  I like to stir it in so it gets all melty and awesome.

Let me know what you think of this variation.  We cook with brussels sprouts a lot and find them to be a hearty and great substitute for a starch in a dish.  This dish also works well with cauliflower as the base as well.  (Riced of course)

Creole Shrimp and “Rice”

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is quite the uncomplicated recipe, but it ends up being awesome due to a simple trick of resting it.

Ingredients

  1. 20 ounces of raw and peeled jumbo shrimp
  2. 1 medium green pepper chopped
  3. 1 medium onion chopped
  4. 3 8″ stalks of celery chopped
  5. 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
  6. 2 tablespoons dried lemon peel
  7. 1 large cauliflower, riced
  8. 2 tablespoons salt, yes it seems like a lot, but wait for it
  9. 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  10. 1 tablespoon “Penzey’s Cajun” spice mix.  (Now, we use pretty much only stuff from Penzey’s, but I assume that any Cajun spice would work for this.  You can get this particular spice here.  It’s delightful.  We do not receive any compensation for hawking their stuff by the way.)

Recipe

  1. Take the onion, pepper, and celery and put in a skillet with the salt and oil.  Sweat this on medium heat until the onions are translucent, should take about 10 minutes or so.  (This is why you are using so much salt, when you cook salt without water, the lack of alkilinity in the mixture causes the salt to break down into its component minerals, thus seems less salty.)
  2. Add the lemon peel and garlic at this point and turn to medium high heat.
  3. Add the shrimp and remaining spices.  Give a couple of good tosses to coat it all and cover for about 2 minutes.  Repeat this process until the stuff is all cooked through, mainly the shrimp.
  4. Remove all of this from the pan and put into a bowl or dish and cover with foil for about 15 minutes.  Everything should come down to room temperature.  This is a good secret in a lot of shrimp cooking.  It will finish cooking and not be rubbery.
  5. While that is happening, take the entire riced cauliflower and put in the same skillet (hope you used a big enough one, if not you have an extra pan to wash, huh.) Increase the heat to high stirring often, the goal is to heat the cauliflower without losing the crunch and without it becoming soggy, this should not really take more than 5 or so minutes.
  6. Take of the heat and combine the shrimp mixture with the cauliflower.
  7. Now, you have two choices and they depend upon how big your dish and skillet are.  I did not mix it all together in the skillet because I had a really big bowl.  I mixed it in that.  If your skillet is big enough, you can mix it there.

We made this for a dinner for a couple of friends and it was a big hit.  The amazing thing about it is that it needs 2 tablespoons of oil and 20 ounces of shrimp and amply fed 5 people (counting myself twice).  That means that each person took in 1/2 tablespoon of oil, 4-5 ounces of shrimp, and 2-2.5 cups of veggies here.  That’s awesome.  And I do not want to hear about how it’s not “Creole” it’s Cajun blah blah blah.  There is citrus and slight caramelization on the veggies, not cajun things.  Don’t give me any crap people   🙂  Please try it out and let me know what you think of it.

Cajun Chicken with “Rice”

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients:
1. 8 drumsticks (I use drumsticks or dark meat for this recipe because it provides a stronger chicken flavor. If you are really looking to go lighter, use chicken breasts)
2. 1 head of cauliflower “riced” (this means break it into chunks and put in a food processor until about the same size as rice)
3. 1 can of diced tomatos well rinsed.
4. 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
5. 1 medium onion, minced.
6. 1 teaspoon of the following: paprika, salt, celery seed, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, oregano, red pepper, caraway, dill, turmeric, cumin, bay, cardamon, basil, marjoram, rosemary and thyme. (Looks like a lot, right. That’s cause it is. Use any decent cajun seasoning that has no sugar in it, that’s what I did. We use Cajun Seasoning from Penzey’s: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/cajun-style-seasoning/c-24/p-351/pd-s)
7. 1 tablespoon dried cilantro
8. 3 tablespoons vegetable broth/chicken broth

Recipe:
1. Clean and wash your chicken, put the 3/4 of the rub on it generously, then put in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until done. Drain off the liquid into a pan, then cover with foil.
2. In the saucepan, add the tomatos to the chicken liquid, bring to a simmer, cover for 10 minutes.
3. Toss the cauliflower in the remainder of the rub and add to the pan with the vegetable broth and recover for another 10 minutes.
4. Take lid off, smell, say yummy.
5. Stir the mixture around until well mixed, then leave uncovered for abot 10 minutes on medium heat.
6. Unwrap your chicken and pour whatever liquid is left onto your “rice”.
7. Put on plate, sprinkle with cilantro, eat.
8. Say yummy again.
This recipe will make approximately 4 servings, each having 2 cups of veggies each with about 3.5-5 ounces of chicken. We ate, two, then packed the other two up for work lunches.

Clean Easter Dinner – Salmon Cakes, Caramelized Cheddar Sweet Potatoes, White Wine Zucchini

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Salmon Cakes – Ingredients

1.  2 x 6 ounce cans wild salmon

2.  1 cup almond flour

3.  1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped

4.  1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

5.  3 stalks celery, chopped

6.  2 cloves minced garlic

7.  2 eggs, beaten

8.  2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

9.  1 tbsp. white wine vinegar or lemon juice

10.  1 tsp. dried dill

11.  1/2 tsp. sea salt

12.  1/2 tsp. pepper

Salmon Cakes – Recipe

1.  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until it is sticky and chunky.  Preheat your oven to 375.

2.  Make about 6 large cakes (about 4.5 ounces each) or  medium cakes (about 3.5 ounces each)

3.  Put them on a piece of parchment paper on a pan,  very important so that they do not stick and become a sticky, broken, very unattractive mess.

4.  Bake these at 375 degrees for 26 minutes (yes, that is correct, 26 minutes) and take out to let sit for about 2 minutes.

Basil Remoulade Sauce

Put all of the following in a food processor until mostly smooth:

  1.  1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  2.  2 tablespoons avocado oil
  3.  1 cup chopped onion
  4.  1/4 cup chopped celery
  5.  2 tablespoons chopped garlic
  6.  4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  7.  3 tablespoons ketchup
  8.  3 tablespoons chopped basil leaves (this is about 4 big fresh leaves)
  9.  1 teaspoon salt
  10.  1/4 teaspoon pepper

Caramelized Onion & Cheddar Sweet Potato – Ingredients

1.  4 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed into 1/2 inch cubes

2.  2 medium onions, caramelized (cut into strips, put in a pan with 2 tablespoons veggie broth, saute on medium for about 20 minutes, til they are caramelized, if you need more instructions, shoot me an email or a Facebook message)

3.  1/2 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese (I would grate it yourself, it will be better and seem cheesier.  They put fillers in store-bought shredded cheese)

4.  2 tablespoons of salt

 

Caramelized Onion & Cheddar Sweet Potato – Recipe

1.  Put the sweet potatoes in the oven while you are sauteing the onions, cover them with the salt.

2.  When the onions are done, pull out the sweet potatoes and dump the onion on them.  Then cover them with cheese.  Put back in oven for around 10 minutes.  Yummy.

 

White Wine Vinegar – Ingredients

1.  4 small zucchini, washed and cut into 1/2″ pieces

2.  1 tablespoon of salt and pepper

3. 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar

White Wine Vinegar – Recipe

1.  Put the zucchini, vinegar, salt and pepper in pan, cover with lid. Walk away for about 5 minutes.

2.  Come back, delid, stir and relid for 5 more minutes.  Walk away.

3.  Come back, remove lid and remove zucchini.  Eat.

 

 

 

 

 

Spinach – Orange – Pine Nut Salad

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Salad – Ingredients
1. 3 cups raw spinach washed and well-drained
2. 8 or so radishes, cut into 1/2″ pieces
3. 8 or so grape tomatoes halved
4. 1/4 cup raw pine nuts
5. 1 small apple or pear, cut into 1/2″ pieces
6. 4 stalks of celery, cut into 1/2″ pieces

Dressing – Ingredients
1. Juice from 1/2 orange (about 1/4 cup or so)
2. 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3. 3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
4. 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
5. Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe
1. For the salad. . . It’s a salad. Make it a salad.
2. Whisk together the dressing ingredients with a fork, whisk, or whatever makes it combine.
3. Pour over your salad. Eat it.

Big Ole’ Mess

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a big mess of stuff that may or may not go together in the true culinary sense of the word.  However, in the kitchen where the rest of us live and eat, this works well.

Ingredients

1. 2 medium onions cut into 1/2″ sections

2. 4 ounces of uncased chorizo sausage, cooked and drained

3. 1 cup of mushrooms, cut into 1/2″ sections

4. 2 red, yellow, or orange peppers, cut into 1/2″ sections

5. 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2″ sections

6. 1/2 cup vegetable broth

7. 1 cup of broccoli florets, cut small enough to be in a bite

8. 1 tablespoon of salt

Recipe

1. In a large pan, put onions, chorizo (already cooked and drained) mushrooms, and peppers over medium high heat and add salt, cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

2. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil

3. Add sweet potatoes, lid and turn to medium heat for 10 minutes

4. Unlid, stir well, add broccoli and relid quickly.

5. After 5 minutes, turn heat off and let sit for 5 minutes.

6. This makes either two big servings or 4 smaller servings. Originally I was going to add come shredded cheese to the top of it, but it turns out not to need and is plenty full of flavor.

 

Quick and Easy – Chicken and Green Tea Squash

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1.  8 ounces of cooked cubed chicken.  (Note:  I say it like this because we always have chicken on hand for snacking, ease or whenever else we need to eat a protein with our veggies.  If you do not, then cook enough chicken to make this dish.  But you should always have snacking protein available throughout the day.  I should make a post on this.)

2.  2 medium yellow squash, cut into 1″ pieces

3.  1.5 cups of vegetable broth

4.  3 tablespoons soy sauce

5.  1 cup green tea

6.  1 teaspoon ground ginger

7.  1 tablespoon of date paste.

Recipe

1.  In a medium saucepan, combine veggie broth, soy sauce, green tea, date paste and ginger and bring to a rolling boil for about 5 minutes.  This should reduce it between 1/8 to 1/4.

2.  Add the squash and cover for 4 minutes, you do not need to turn the heat back on.

3.  Uncover and place the chicken in the pot and recover.  Keep this about 3 minutes or so.

4.  Uncover this and separate into 4 servings.  Eat 2 of the servings with someone you like and put the others in the fridge for lunches.  This will be as soupy as you want.  The picture shows it less soupy.  I love broth and the soup involved, especially in the winter.

 

Total time to cook:  About 14 minutes, depending on how prepped you are.  If you have to cook the chicken, it takes longer of course.

Ridiculous Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1.  4 Portobello Mushroom Caps

2.  6 ounces chorizo sausage, without casing

3.  2 cups of spinach

4.  1 medium onion, chopped

5.  1 tablespoon minced garlic

6.  4 ounces shredded Parmesan/Asiago cheese

7.  2 Tablespoons of vegetable broth.

Recipe:

1.  In a medium saute pan, put chorizo in on med high heat.

2.  When fully cooked, strain all the chorizo to get as much fat as possible off of it.  Set it aside.

3.  Brush 1 teaspoon of the vegetable broth onto the 4 mushrooms.  Place the mushrooms into a 300 degree oven.

4.  In the saute pan, place the medium onion with 1 tablespoon of vegetable broth to sweat.  Do this for about 4 minutes,

5.  Add the spinach, chorizo and garlic into the pan to cook together.  The mixture should be done when the spinach is wilty and there is some liquid there.

6.  At this point, your caps should have been in the oven for about 12 minutes, they are now done.  If it has not been 12 minutes, make it so.  Then remove them.

7.  Place 1/4 of the mixture onto each Portobello cap and cover each with 1/4 of the cheese.

Each cap will have 1.5 ounces of chorizo, 1/2 cup spinach, 1/4 cup onion and 1 ounce of shredded cheese.  I would suggest eating this with a giant salad as a meal.  Serve 1 to yourself and someone else you feel warm towards, and put the others in the fridge for lunch.  Enjoy.

Clean Beef with Broccoli

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a great one for a Chinese food craving.

Ingredients:

1.  10 ounces of tenderloin, sliced as thin as you can and drenched in soy sauce

2.  Approximately 5 cups of broccoli florets (about 1 large broccoli bunch)

3.  1/4 cup soy sauce (see #1)

4.  2 cups vegetable broth + 2 tablespoons vegetable broth, kept separate

5.  1 medium orange or yellow pepper, julienned

6.  1 medium onion, sliced thin

7.  1 tablespoon minced garlic

8.  1 teaspoon dried basil

9.  1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional) substitute for the 2 tablespoons of veggie broth in #4

10.  1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

11.  2 tablespoons date paste.

Recipe

1.  Heat up a pan to hot, really hot, really really hot.  A wok would be best, but any pan works really.

2.  Put, in this order, into the pan, 2 tablespoons veggie broth, onion, pepper, date paste and garlic.

3.  Stir briskly and do not let sit still, for about 3 minutes.  Some of the pieces will brown on the corners.

4.  Reduce heat to medium and add the soy-sauced meat.

5.  Stir to coat everything and put lid on for 2 minutes.

6.  Take this time to reflect on the great cultural contributions of China.  Good.

7.  Pull off the lid, add the vegetable broth and basil, kick heat to high and lid till boiling.

8.  Pull lid off and cook on high for 10 minutes to let some of the broth evaporate.  Stir it a couple of times.

9.  Add all the broccoli to the pan.  Stir it as much as you can, it’s not that important.  Lid the pan, and reduce heat to medium.

10.  You should turn this off after about 10 minutes, the broccoli will be done.  This will make 4 servings.  Eat 2 now with someone you have warm feelings for, and then pack the other 2 up for lunches.

Important Point:  This will not make traditional beef with broccoli that has the thick brown sauce, that sauce has tons of starchy substances and lots of sugar in it.  This is brothy and hearty and really quite awesome.  Please email with questions, suggestions or other ideas.