Rescuing Produce that is Almost Ready for the Trash Bin

Missy Tippens

How many of you have got some wilted produce in your fridge that's on it's last legs? I went to prepare lunch the other day and decided to pull together a meal using floppy, wilted kale, and chopped cabbage that was over a week old. Plus, I had a container of leftover spaghetti noodles. So all that together solved my lunch dilemma. Veggie pasta!

I've made this type thing a million times. But I think this is the first time I used these two vegetables. Cabbage with pasta?? You bet!

I chopped a clove of garlic and heated in the skillet with olive oil. Then I added the kale (I ripped the leaves off the ribs and discarded them) and the chopped cabbage.

After looking at it, I realized I needed something a little saucier, so I added a can of diced tomatoes (the ones with garlic and oregano).

Then I added the noodles to heat and served with parmesan.

Here's where I'm getting real with you... At first, I got out my pasta bowl. Then I looked at that storage container the noodles had been in and weighed my options. I decided why not just eat in that used storage container to save dirtying a dish?! (Shhh, don't tell anyone.) :)

Pasta with kale and cabbage was a little different, but I liked it! I'd make it again if given the same ingredients. And the droopy kale ended up tasting just fine after it was cooked. A win! Plus, I saved a dirty bowl. A double win!

www.missytippens.com

Trying New Things

Missy Tippens

I hope you're all staying well. I have to say that over the last two weeks, I've been doing much better with my eating habits. I think the secret to this change is that I've stocked up on frozen vegetables. So now I always have something healthy to go with leftovers or sandwiches or even...

A simple baked potato!

I microwaved a russet potato (it took about 7 or 8 minutes, I think), then sliced it in half. I had leftover mixed veggies from the night before. I've found a mix that I absolutely love. It's Birdseye Steamfresh Gold and White Corn, Carrots and Asparagus. Some of my favorites!

I also added light cheddar cheese and fat-free plain Greek yogurt. That's a big pile of yogurt! But I'm trying to eat more calcium. And the plain Greek yogurt tastes just like sour cream to me. My favorite brand is Fage.

[Side note: one way I'm eating more plain Greek yogurt is by mixing it with almond butter and sometimes a bit of Truvia.]

One last thing to share. It's not as healthy, but certainly VERY delicious!!

My daughter and I saw this special limited time pizza offer at Your Pie the other night and ordered it for curbside pickup. I can't begin to tell you how good this was!!

Peach and prosciutto with basil and a honey balsamic glaze drizzle. Came also with mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan.

If you're making pizza home sometime, I can vouch for how well these ingredients go together. (Or look for a Your Pie near you.) :)

Happy cooking to all of you!

Missy
www.missytippens.com

Spring in Georgia

Missy Tippens

It seems everyone has been sharing spring in their area this week, so I figured it's time I share some too. Especially since we're going to be past the peak of flowering trees before long.

This is a beautiful tree, and I loved the lamp post in the photo. There's also nothing quite like the blue of the sky this time of year.

This is the view out our front window. It looks like snow!

And this is that same tree you can see through the window--across the street at the neighbor's house.

This photo has a terrible glare, but as you can see my camellia bush is loaded with blooms this year!

Below, a close up of a gorgeous tree near the grocery store. Yes, I parked in the bank parking lot and took a ton of photos!

 As you could see above, the Bermuda grass in our yard is still brown. But a few weeks ago, I snapped this photo at a nearby hotel. They'd just mowed the grass and I got my first whiff of freshly-cut grass of the year. Such a wonderful smell that brings memories of relaxing childhood days, listening to the drone of a lawnmower while the distinctive fragrance of summer wafts in the window. Ahhhh...

And because we usually talk about food, I thought I'd share this quick twist on comfort food that I saw last weekend on a Food Network show with Damaris Phillips. (Click here for recipe.)

Basically, Damaris doctored up macaroni and cheese with roasted veggies. It looked sooo good to me! Yesterday at lunch, I decided to just quickly roast the veggies but eat them by themselves. Next time, I'll take the time to make the mac and cheese first.

I used sliced portobello mushrooms, broke cauliflower into bite sized pieces, and cut fresh corn off the cob. I sprinkled with a little bit of olive oil and added seasoning salt, then roasted at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Before serving, I sprinkled the veggies with a few flakes of Maldon sea salt. (I can't tell you how much I LOVE Maldon flaked salt as a finishing touch on certain foods--especially corn!) With some grapes, this made a great meatless lunch!

www.missytippens.com

Roasting Vegetable Mixes

Missy Tippens

I wanted to share something new I discovered. I've been having fun with my air fryer and have enjoyed finding freezer items I can cook quickly. It's nice for side dishes, of course. But I've been cooking these as a way to snack on vegetables.

There are several of these PictSweet mixes. Here's one...

Another I tried and really enjoyed was a mix of potatoes and onions.

I just put the frozen veggies in the basket and give it a little spray with Pam. The cooking times have varied, mainly because I'm not sure what to use. I just keep trying different temps and times.

I really enjoyed this combo! Here they are after the veggies have started to caramelize a bit.

I've also really enjoyed cooking fresh cauliflower bites.

You'll have to let me know if you have any air fryer favorites!

Now, for dessert...

I finally did my second oil painting for the class I've been taking with Dreama Tolle Perry! It's a little squatty and lopsided, but overall, I'm pleased with it. And I had fun, which is the most important part! :)


www.missytippens.com

Roasted Turnips!

Missy Tippens

I tried something new this week! I roasted turnips.

I've made turnip greens multiple times, but this time I wanted to roast the vegetable. I'm not sure if this is something southern. Do y'all eat turnips?

I washed and peeled them. Then I went hunting for a recipe so I'd know about how long to roast them. My go-to is to roast veggies at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. But I wasn't sure about these.

I found this recipe at Martha Stewart's site: Roasted Turnips with Parmesan. I changed it up a bit...

4 turnips, washed, peeled and cut into thin wedges
Toss with olive oil
Sprinkle with seasoning salt and pepper and toss to coat
Sprinkle with fresh shredded parmesan cheese

Bake 20-25 minutes (check to make sure cheese doesn't burn). Mine were a little overdone but still tasted good.

These could have used the cayenne pepper the recipe called for. They were a little bland even with the cheese. So I'll follow directions next time! :) Still, it was a nice alternative to potatoes.

www.missytippens.com

Roasted Chick Peas (Kitchen Fail!)

Missy Tippens

This post is going to be short.

I heard about roasted chick peas (some of you may call them garbanzo beans) at a Weight Watchers meeting.

I made them how I thought they should be made.

They turned out a disappointment. :(

The end.

See--short story. I think it's called flash fiction. :)

Soooo... I wanted to share with y'all the RIGHT way to do this and went in search of a recipe (why didn't I do this beforehand?!).

I just found a recipe at The Kitchn by Emma Christensen that gives tips for doing it the right way.

For my fail: I opened the can of chick peas, rinsed them, tossed them on a cookie sheet with olive oil and salt, then roasted them for 20 minutes. They ended up chewy and not very tasty. I had been hoping for a nice crunchy snack!

In Emma's recipe, she says to dry the beans with towels or paper towels after rinsing them. Duh! That makes perfect sense. I think this was my biggest mistake.

She also recommends seasoning them after baking (if you're using anything beyond salt). And to make sure to use enough olive oil.

She said to bake them 20-30 minutes AND eat them hot. She even says if you let them cool, they'll get chewy. I think by the time I got the rest of dinner ready, the chick peas were cool. Plus, I didn't bake them long enough.

Now I know! I want to try to do this again. I'll have to let you know how my next attempt goes!

Coming Soon!

www.missytippens.com

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Soup

Missy Tippens

I have a feeling I've shared something like this before. I tend to throw together strange things to make soup. So forgive me if I'm repeating myself. But this just turned out so delicious I wanted to share!

One evening, I decided I wanted vegetable soup to have on hand as a healthy snack. Of course, like usual, I made the decision spur of the moment, without going to the grocery or preparing. I just started digging--in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry.

I first sautéed some onions and green peppers in olive oil. Then I tossed in a little chopped garlic. Then I started adding anything I could find.

Fresh zucchini
Mushrooms (fresh but past their peak and a bit wrinkled)
A can of Mexi-Corn
Canned fire roasted tomatoes
A bag of frozen vegetable soup mix (from Publix) that included okra, limas, carrots, peas, green beans, and cubed potatoes, celery, and onion (and even had some freezer burn!)
A carton of vegetable stock
Canned pinto beans (drained) for some protein

Season well. I added salt and pepper. I also added dried thyme and oregano. I even added some dried curry! I think that's the ingredient that added such good flavor and warmth.

I let this simmer for a while. When I went to taste it, I thought it was so delicious I decided to serve it for dinner. Besides, I had just been working on it for a good while and didn't want to cook another meal! LOL Instead of making the shrimp dish I had planned, I just added the shrimp to the soup at the last minute.

It was so good! I highly recommend making your own version of this and adding some shrimp or maybe some shredded leftover chicken (or even rotisserie chicken).

If you try this, let us know what ingredients you used!

www.missytippens.com

Roasted Green Beans

I've mentioned them on more than one occasion. I make them at least once a week. And yet I have never actually blogged about them. So today, roasted green beans are finally getting their place in the sun--er, on the blog.

Okay, so there's really no right or wrong here. No specific amounts. But you do want to begin with the stars of the show--green beans.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Snap or cut off the ends of the beans. If they're really long, you can snap or cut them in half. Then rinse well, drain well and spread them on paper towel to remove as much of the excess water as possible. 

While they're drying, cut some bacon into bite-size pieces.

How much bacon you add depends on the amount of beans you have. If I'm fixing just enough for the family, I usually only add one slice of thick-cut bacon which, I suppose, would equate to two slices of regular bacon. Of course, if don't want meat with your veggies, you can skip this step.

Transfer beans to a large sheet pan that's been lined with foil. This will make cleanup SO much easier.

Dot beans with the bacon.

Drizzle with coconut or olive oil. Since this bakes at such a high heat, I prefer coconut oil. If it's solid, I simply put in the microwave on defrost for a minute so I'm able to drizzle it. As for how much oil, not too much, but not too little. You want to coat the beans, but you don't want them swimming.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, or until you begin to see some color on the beans.

These could have actually gone a couple more minutes, but I was in a hurry.

My boys never liked green beans before I started making them this way. And while I wouldn't go so far as to say they love them, they do actually put them on their plate and eat them now. 

So it's September. School is back in session and fall decorations are cropping up all over. Things at the ranch are pretty mellow right now.

That is, until cattle or deer wander into the dogs' line of vision. Then all bets are off.

We still like to do our evening rides around the ranch and I captured these two reveling in the sunset the other night.

Sigh. Such a serene image. Horses are so beautiful.

So what does September bring to your neck of the woods? And have you ever had roasted green beans? Would you?

-----------------------------------------------

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Green Beans Southern Style (Then and Now)

Missy Tippens

I discovered an item at the grocery store last week that I'll be buying again often. Pre-cleaned and ready to eat fresh green beans. Easy-peasy!

Here's the empty bag (forgot to take photo and had to fish it out of the trash. You're welcome!) :)

These were ready to just dump in the pot, however if you like your beans cut, you could break them or cut them to the size you like. I do prefer cut green beans but was hungry and just dumped them in whole.

Then

When I was growing up in Kentucky, we grew green beans in our garden. I hated picking, stringing and breaking those things!! But I sure did love eating them. Here's the way we would have made them when I was a kid...

Fry a couple of slices of bacon, leaving the grease and bacon in the pot. Or, sometimes, rather than frying fresh bacon, we would just put a tablespoon or so of bacon grease in the pot (we kept a coffee cup of the grease just for cooking!).

Add some salt. And my mom always added a bit (maybe a teaspoonful) of sugar to every vegetable we cooked.

Add fresh beans and some water, cover and cook until they're very soft. We'd sometimes simmer them for hours. Just be sure the water doesn't cook off! I once scorched them so badly I had to throw the pot out. Not good!

Now

Once I was an adult, I switched over to canned green beans (which were quicker when I had young kids and needed to make dinner). Which also meant I didn't take the time to fry bacon. That meant draining the can, putting the beans in a pan and adding a little canola oil to help flavor them. However, on occasion, I would make fresh beans--like yesterday.

So I tossed those fresh beans in the pot, added some canola oil (about 1-2 TBS because it was a large bag), and then some seasoning salt. When I tasted them later, they needed a little more salt, so I added kosher salt flakes. (If you make canned beans, do NOT add salt.)

I let them cook for about an hour. They needed a little longer to be the southern beans I'm used to (no crunchy beans for us!), but it was past lunchtime already.

They turned out yummy! The Belle had a nice lunch remembering the days of growing up (minus the bacon grease). :)

www.missytippens.com

Roasted Veggies and Ranch Life

We are officially into the dog days of summer here on the coastal plains of Texas. Rain chances have fled, humidity is high and African dust has settled in, creating some hazy days. Unlike most years, though, we've had rain, so even though we are in the middle of July, things are still blissfully green. 

Don't you just love the clouds after the rain?

Even the wildflowers are popping out to say hi.

But the hot weather means hillbilly hot tub time. 

Yes, it's a trough that we use for relaxing. Something we've done for 20 plus years without a problem. Until recently.

First I caught this cow staring longingly from the other side of the fence.

A couple of days later, I looked out the window to see this.

How rude. Not only his this cow drinking out of my pool, she brought the children. I mean, there's a pond just beyond the trees. (insert rolling eyes) I wonder how she'd like it if I swam in her pond. Stupid cows.

So you've heard me talk about roasted green beans. Or maybe not, since I can't seem to find the recipe. How is it possible that I haven't shared my favorite green bean recipe with you?

Okay, so my favorite way to cook vegetables is to roast them. There's just something about roasting that ignites the flavors of the veggies. Like the other night, I had some broccoli in the fridge that I was planning to use for broccoli salad. Except I was too lazy, but I didn't want to just steam it either. Aha! I'll roast it like I do my green beans, only slightly different. I'll explain that in a minute.

All you do is cut up your broccoli, rinse it, then pat it dry. Spread the dried broccoli onto a foil-lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss everything to coat. Place pan into a 400 degree oven for  15-18 minutes, or until broccoli is slightly browned. And voila! 

Honestly, I could make a meal out of this alone. It's like popcorn. You just can't stop eating it. Cauliflower is good, too. And about those green beans. Trim, rinse and dry them. Then, along with the olive oil, salt and pepper, add a couple slices of uncooked bacon you've cut into bite-size pieces. Toss everything together and bake for 18-20 minutes. Even my boys eat those. And that's saying something.

Now it's your turn. What's your favorite way to fix/eat vegetables? And what are your thoughts on those pesky cows? And what are you doing to beat the summer heat?

-------------------------------

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus, lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children, two dogs and countless cattle. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining and sometimes adventurous manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at mindyobenhaus.com.