The Food Brie Cooked and Baked

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

I’m still working on using up carrots from BP’s garden, and both BP and I love love love carrots cooked with a pot roast. We actually could care less about the roast – it’s all about the carrots in our house.

This recipe instructs you to sear the roast before placing it in the slow cooker. I highly recommend this step, as it does improve the quality of the roast, but if you’re short on time (as I was), you can just throw everything in the crock and it will still taste good.

This is a very easy, classic pot roast recipe for those days when you need a good, hearty slow cooker meal.

Kathy's roast and vegetables

Recipe source: Diane, my super-sweet coworker

When Diane told me about this recipe a while back, I tucked it away for future reference. And it sounded like a good, easy meal for this weekend, so I pulled it out.

It’s a simple recipe:

Add some water to cover the bottom of a large skillet. Layer one head of cabbage (cut up into pieces), some sliced potatoes (enough to cover the cabbage), salt and pepper, and then slice Polish sausage on top. Cover and simmer for 1.5-2 hours.

This was a very simple, really good meal – and economical, too! We like bread (a lot), so we also had a baguette with our meal.

sausage, cabbage and potato skillet

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

With cool weather comes soup season!

This was very similar to Bob Evans’ cheddar potato soup.

BP ate it right up, and he doesn’t even mind the leftovers. Nor do I. Nothing like a hot bowl of potatoes and cheese to warm you up.

baked potato soup

Recipe source: my memory, according to what I thought BP’s mom told me

This wasn’t even worth a photo.

Neither BP nor I had made this before, and I didn’t write down the instructions when his mom gave them to me. The result: bad.

This was so bad that I didn’t even save the leftovers for lunch.

Recipe source: Fix-it and Forget-it Recipes for Entertaining by Pellman Good and Ranck

Ho-hum. Meat, vegetables and cream of mushroom soup.

And I know the title of the recipe says “turkey,” but the grocery store didn’t have any boneless, skinless turkey thighs, so I used chicken instead.

On the plus side, the onion and carrots were from BP’s garden.

slow-cooked turkey dinner (with chicken instead)

Recipe source: Simple & Delicious, June/July 2010

Grilled pineapple may just be my very favorite grilled food item. It is seriously delicious, and I think it’s what made these kabobs rock it out.

BP and I did not eat this with ranch dressing, as the recipe suggests. They were delicious by themselves, straight off the grill.

sausage & chicken kabobs

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. seasoned salt

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2-in. cubes

1 lb. fully cooked kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 3/4-in. slices

4 medium red potatoes, cut into 1-1/2-in. cubes

2 c. cubed fresh pineapple

Combine the first five ingredients; add chicken and sausage. Stir to coat. Refrigerate one hour.

Meanwhile, place potatoes in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes or until almost tender, stirring twice.

Drain and discard marinade. On metal or soaked wooden skewers, alternately thread the chicken, potatoes, sausage and pineapple. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until chicken juices run clear, turning frequently. Serve with ranch dressing.

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com for both the roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar and the easy spicy roasted potatoes

Yesterday evening, BP and I hosted his parents for an early Mother’s Day supper at our place.

It was a really good meal, which included two new variations on similar items I’ve made before: roasted red potatoes and roasted asparagus.

Unfortunately, with the hustle of getting the food to the table and feeding our guests, I didn’t get a photo. But, these recipes were good enough that they are worth sharing with you, so I threw in a couple of stock images for color.

The potatoes were slightly spicy with the addition of garlic powder and chili powder. The asparagus was especially tasty with a splash of balsamic vinegar added just before serving. Both sides were super easy to prepare – especially helpful when having guests for supper!

BP grilled Italian-marinated chicken breast to go with the meal. We finished it off with a trip to Dietsch for ice cream.

All in all, it was a very tasty supper with two of our favorite people!

Recipe source: Crepes of Wrath

Simple and easy, this was a very good meal that I will make again.

The red pepper added to the vegetables gave it just the right boost of flavor, and the chicken came out just perfect.

As an added bonus, I used my new old cast iron Dutch oven! It was super swell. If you don’t have one, I suggest you find one – or find a really, really nice coworker who is willing to give you one.

one-pot paprika chicken with potatoes

Recipe source: Simple & Delicious, January/February 2010

This was as bland as it sounds (and looks). I’m not really even sure why I decided to try this recipe. It was a lapse in judgment. It won’t happen again.

And don’t let “mushroom sauce” fool you into thinking it was something gourmet. The sauce was a can of cream of mushroom soup with a few other ingredients added to it.

pork chops & potatoes in mushroom sauce

Recipe source: Real Simple

BP and I were split right down the middle on this recipe. I really liked it. He told me he’d rather have eaten a peanut butter sandwich.

Ah, well. You win some, you lose some, right?

chicken with roasted sweet potato salad