Versatile Italian veggie and sausage topper!

Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a fun dinner that is truly versatile. My friend Mindy shared this with me and I (FINALLY) tried it out. So delicious! We're big fans of this now. I'm not sure what to call it because it can be changed and tweaked in many ways, so I'll just say it's a versatile Italian veggie and sausage dish!

 It's a super easy dish but involves a lot of chopping. Get out that food processor, or if you're like me, ask those teenagers to help!
You'll need:
3 red bell peppers
6 celery stalks
3 lbs mushrooms
2 lbs Italian flavored sausage

 So bright and fresh looking!

 So, once the sausage has cooked and the veggies are starting to soften, you can add several options:
2 large cans tomato sauce
OR
2 large cans chopped tomatoes
OR
1 large container V8 (spicy version or regular)

Start adding spices. We've cooked this with spicy V8 and added Italian seasoning, with regular tomato sauce and added cumin and oregano, and with canned tomatoes and Italian seasoning.
It makes a difference because...

Here's the really versatile part:
you can serve this over noodles, in a bread bowl, or over rice pilaf. I even had some leftover over steamed cauliflower. SO GOOD! I really think this might be one of those recipes you can't ruin.

So, there you have it! A dish I waited way too long to try, and now is a family favorite. It sounds simple and ordinary, but the flavor is a crowd-pleaser. Thank you, Mindy!

 Here's my oldest so kindly giving her sweatshirt to my youngest at a baseball game. I'm so happy it's warmed up a little because those first games were COLD.

Happy, happy Spring! (Today it was 86F but the night is still chilly, so I'm sticking with "Spring".)

Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to stop by my author page at Mary Jane Hathaway, or at my blog The Things That Last!

Lenten Broccoli Tuna Casserole

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a tasty dish for your Friday in Lent. For those of you who don't practice Lent, a season leading up to Easter, it's tradition to abstain from meat and snacking on Fridays. Some people give up meat and snacks all through Lent, some have bread and water on Fridays, and I know quite a few who only have bread and water the whole forty days. I don't know if I could do that, but I love this ancient practice of following in Jesus' footsteps as he fasted and prayed in the desert for forty days.

So, this follows the traditional recipe except for a few additions. I don't think I've ever cooked tuna casserole before, actually. My kids said they remember having it at a church potluck, but I've never cooked it because it calls for condensed soup, and I have an MSG allergy. So, I made a small side dish that left out the condensed soup.
                                     

 You'll need :
two packages noodles, any kind
fresh broccoli
1 cup cheddar
2 can condensed mushroom soup
2 large cans white chunk tuna in water
1 large can mushrooms
potato chips, if desired
                              
Preheat the oven to 350F
                             
Add chopped, fresh broccoli to a steamer and steam until cooked to the desired amount.
I mixed one batch and added the cheese and potato chips.
                            
At this point my kids are thinking this is pretty weird.
                             
The potato chip loving child is looking teary-eyed at such a waste of good chips. LOL
                                            
The second batch I added Slap Ya Mama spices, broccoli, and left off the potato chips.

 The non spicy, no veggie version is out of the oven and several kids are willing to try it. And... they say it's edible!

 The spicy, broccoli mix is out and everyone says it's delicious!
                                           
It's been a long time since I've had canned mushrooms and they seemed a little chewy-squeaky to me so I might make this again with some sauteed fresh mushrooms, but otherwise... DELICIOUS. For my non MSG dish, I added a few splashes of whole milk, a little more salt, and lots of broccoli. Definitely a filling dish for this cold, rainy day!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs and Ice Festivals

Hello, everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a fun recipe for you, but first, I just have to reminisce a little. I used to think I loved all seasons, but I'm beginning to realize that I have a strong preference for summer. Not because I like to stay warm (which I DO), but because we're so spoiled with delicious fruit, grown right here in our backyard garden and the local farms.

 Our seedless champagne grapes. We share them with everyone who wants any because they turn ripe all at once and we get close to 100 lbs a year. They make great raisins, too!

 I get a little teary-eyed looking at this. But July is coming soon and, God willing, the weather will cooperate for a wonderful blueberry harvest!

 Mulberries from our tree turned into amazing home made yoghurt with local honey. *sobs quietly*
                                                    

(All photos from the official Leavenworth.org page.)

But even though I miss summer oh-so-much, there are wonderful things to enjoy during winter, too. I'm having a little trouble uploading our photos so I can't share our most recent travels, but I can show you what we're up to this weekend.
                                    
Leavenworth, Washington is about four hours from us. A younger me scoffed at the idea of traipsing around such a touristy spot. I mean, really... a whole town built to look like Bavaria? UGH!
But the older me is suddenly appreciative of skipping another flight and just plunking the kids in the car and driving over for the weekend.
                     
Yes, it's a bit overdone and of course nobody really runs around in those costumes 24/7 in Germany, but it hits the spot! (Oh, here's there official link if you want to peek at the town. It's a very fun concept. http://www.leavenworth.org/)

The busiest time is right near Christmas, with the Kinder market filled with toys. The ice festival is more for the sporty types and there are all sorts of activities the tourists can sign up for, including sledding contests and cross country skiing sprints. My boys have their eyes set on a prize but I'm reminding them that there are professionals competing and we get a few inches of snow a year. LOL

So, on to the recipes that will keep us warm and fuel our ice and snow sprinting! You'll need several lbs of hamburger, garlic, oregano, salt, and mozzarella.

Flatten a small disk of the hamburger after seasoning it.

Wrap a small (1 inch) cube of cheese inside the meat.

Fry in a pan until completely browned and cooked through.

This was the tricky part, as the cheese wanted to ooze out.

I tried to roll them around as little as possible. Still, we had leakage.

The final product! The kids all agree they liked this kind of meatball best, but hubby and I are too traditional, I guess. We preferred the cheese-less batch.

One more shot of the ooey, gooey, cheesey goodness! Keep warm everybody!
Feel free to stop by my author page at Mary Jane Hathaway, my blog at The Things That Last, and my blog at HuffingtonPost Books page. Until next time!

Revisiting a Favorite Warm Weather Dish

Spring is still springing here in Texas, as evidenced by the flooding rains we've had in recent weeks. After a five year drought, I am happy to say that many of our lakes now full and the grass is greener than its been in years. And I haven't had to turn on the sprinkler once.


Best of all, I once again have fresh basil growing on my patio. You know what that means. Soon, I'll be able to enjoy one of my favorite dishes whenever I want.


Typically, a caprese salad is a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese topped with a tomato slice and a basil leaf, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with some coarse ground black pepper. However, there are times when I want to make a meal of this amazing combination.


First, we need some yummy tomatoes. Like these campari tomatoes. Very tasty.

 

Chop three or four of those babies and tossed them together with some cubed fresh mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella is the kind that comes in a ball, not a brick. Very soft with a mild flavor.

 

Then we'll add some chopped basil, a bit of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, and some fresh ground pepper. Toss it all up and voila!

A light and refreshing lunch that's not only easy, but oh so delicious.

 

I may have to fix this sooner than later, because my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

What's your favorite warm weather dish?

Epic , Quick, and Easy Thai Chicken Peanut Noodle Dish

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a super quick Thai dish to warm up your February weekend! (And if you add extra red pepper flakes, it could reallly warm up your night.)

 First things first:
1/2 cup fresh peanuts
1/2 cup green onion
one lime
1 can water chestnuts
1 cup sliced bell peppers
2 tsp Thai seasoning you can find in the produce are of your grocery store
1 tsp dry garlic (or fresh)
 1 cup peanut sauce (I'll also post a super quick recipe to make your own sauce, but I had this in the cabinet so, I opened it up. It was pretty tasty!)
1-2 lbs pounds of sliced chicken breasts
Your favorite Asian noodles

The peanuts can be found in bulk and keep pretty well.

 I'm not a fan of water chestnuts but my kids are so... here they go.

 I just love this stuff. I've used it in so many dishes since I bought it and it only needs a few teaspoons. All natural and certainly saves money when I was buying this ingredients fresh, in the middle of winter!

 I love this stuff. My husband prefers fresh garlic for his home salsas so we always have that on hand, but for pan frying, I really like the way the dried garlic gives off a nutty aroma. YUM.

 OK, here's a quick peanut sauce recipe if you don't have a bottle of this on hand:

 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

 1/2 cup chicken broth

 1/4 cup lemon juice

 1/4 cup soy sauce

 4 teaspoons  hot  sauce 

Whisk all those together in a saucepan on medium until the peanut butter is thoroughly incorporated. 

 OK, here's the chicken. (Sorry, Kav. Gruesome, eh? Imagine this is tofu, which I've had in this dish and it's super tasty.) Slice and brown in a pan until cooked through.

 Slice peppers, green onions and any other veggies you'd like to add. I like onion but one of my kids asked me to skip it and so i did, this time.

 Take the chicken from the pan and add a few Tbs of oil, dried garlic, and the Thai seasoning. Let it heat up and then add the peanuts, bell peppers, green onions. water chestnuts, other veggies (I had some snow peas in the fridge so I added those). Stir on medium high heat until bell peppers are sauteed.

 Add the cooked noodles, the diced and cooked chicken. Add the peanut sauce and toss gently.

Serve with a slice of lime and a small bowl of red pepper flakes if anyone wants to add extra zing. Since we have several kids who hate spicy food, and several who love it, it's best to serve most of the heat on the side.

  OK, I hope everyone is having a warm and productive February! I'm almost done with my latest book and I'm so excited to reveal it...  as soon as I can!

Easy Chicken Wings for Dad

Well, is everybody enjoying summer? Although it won't officially arrive until Saturday, I think we're all finally feeling some warmth, aren't we? Kav, how about you?

Here in Texas, we're just thrilled that we haven't hit 100 degrees yet. That means we can actually be outside. We had  pleasant temps and a nice breeze this weekend, meaning it was delightful weather to just sit outside and read, grill or hang by the pool.

But Sunday was Father's Day and while not quite as exciting as Mother's Day, we had a grand time.

As always, I was faced with the dilemma of what to fix for dinner. And since I'd been staring at a large package of chicken wings in my freezer for a few months now, I decided it was finally time to give those babies the lovin' they deserved.

First, I had to thaw out the wings. These were real wings, the kind with three sections to them, so first I cut off the tip section and set it aside. No real meat there anyway. Then I cut the little drumette from the rest of the wing and tossed both sections into a bowl. 

Now let's add a little seasoning. You can use whatever you like. Anything from seasoned salt to hot and spicy.

You might remember Julie and I talking about Penzey's Spices before (you can find them here).

They have all kinds of wonderful seasoning blends, but there were two in my cupboard that fit the bill.

I actually prefer the flavor of the BBQ3001, but I only had a couple of teaspoons of that. So I started there, then added a teaspoon or so of the Barbecue of the Americas and tossed everything together.

Nope. They're not there yet. They needed something more. 

I grabbed my old standby that I mix up and keep in the cupboard in a large container. It consists of kosher salt, ground black pepper, granulated garlic, some paprika and who knows what else. I put several tablespoons into a bowl then added some wonderful smoked paprika (also from Penzeys) and stirred it all together.

PERFECT!

I sprinkled in some of that.

Stirred it some more and then let it sit while I fired up the grill.

Once the grill was nice and hot (I used a gas grill), I added as many of the wings as would fit and still have enough space in between to get crispy.

Flip them halfway through cooking.

They're looking good.

When cooked through, remove from grill and keep warm until ready to serve.

Of course, if anyone sees them, you might find yourself missing a few.

Oh. My. Word.

These were some of the most delicious wings I've ever had. Hubby even told me they were "way better than the frozen ones" and that I was not to buy the frozen variety any more. Now if that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is.

Just think of the fun you could have with these little babies. We had them for a meal, but you could also do them for a party. Set up a little wing bar with a variety of seasonings and dipping sauces. Hot sauce, Ranch dressing, Terriyaki sauce... You name it. Bet there'd be a crowd gathered there.

Ah, but summer is just beginning.

How is yours shaping up? Are you doing anything special?