Currently Browsing: vegetables
Dec 5, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Dec 5, 2011 in vegetables | 9 comments
Last year I was the lucky recipient to be sent a reserve kit basket of 4 cans of Muir Glen’s reserve tomatoes.
When they contacted me again this year to ask if I would spread the word, I jumped at the chance. Basically Muir Glen plants a limited number of reserve tomatoes and this year they created spectacular ones.
This is what the basket looks like:
Inside this deluxe basket is:
One can of Reserve Harvest Sunset Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
One can of diced tomatoes
One can of diced tomatoes with green chiles
One can of no salt added diced tomatoes
1 recipe booklet with recipes featuring a variety of cuisines created by award-winning chefs from around the country.
A $1.00 off coupon off any purchase of Muir Glen Tomatoes
Do you have a foodie on your list this year – for $10.00 + shipping, these beautifully packaged tomatoes could be a great gift for the cook in your life (or for you!)
To order these CLICK HERE which will take you to the ordering page.
*I was sent a basket of the reserve tomatoes, but the opinions stated here are my own.
Have you tried these reserve tomatoes in the past? They don’t disappoint! I’ve used the diced tomatoes in homemade pasta sauce, and with the diced tomatoes and green chiles, I added those to tortilla soup.
So – to win this reserve basket – leave a comment – get 2 entries if you LIKE them on Facebook Here.
The winner will be picked December 10th
Also, I’ve started a page on Facebook for Slim-Shoppin. Click HERE to like my new page!
Have a great day and good luck for the give-a-way!
*Restricted to residents within the US. Sorry Roz!
Oct 8, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Oct 8, 2011 in general ideas, kid friendly, vegetables | 5 comments
I am lucky to have a really well seasoned cast iron skillet. I don’t use it nearly enough as I could have, but the one thing I love about it is that you can start cooking something on the stove (brown some chicken for instance) throw some veggies in there and just pop it in the oven.
MANY years ago, I made Dutch oven pancakes similar to this recipe in the skillet and they turned out amazing. Way before I started to blog or could have taken a picture of it.
For this recipe, it takes about 2 minutes of prep and the oven does the rest.
Ingredients:
5-6 red potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into chunks
1 tablespoon canola oil
salt and pepper and paprika to taste.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, add the cut up potatoes and oil and seasonings and stir until well coated. Put those into the cast iron skillet and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until nicely browned and when pierced with a fork, they are soft and cooked through.
I did check on them a few times and stirred the potatoes around so that they could brown on all sides.
They turned out so great. For any leftovers, you can heat these back up with some peppers, add a cooked fried egg for a great breakfast hash.
Later on today I have taped Kelsey’s Essentials Cooking show on The Cooking Channel because her whole show features recipes you can make in a cast iron skillet. Check out her menu of what she is making HERE
Do you have a cast iron skillet? What do you like to make in yours???
Sep 14, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Sep 14, 2011 in breakfast, eggs, vegetables | 6 comments
Yesterday at work, our salad club regrouped after a couple weeks off and we had an awesome salad choices! For those of you who don’t know, me and a few of my friends at work bring a green, and a fruit or veggie to share and we make a huge salad. I brought cauliflower, blueberries, mixed greens, and green onions to share.
My friend Laura at work has a garden in her back yard and she brought stuff from her garden for people to take home. I got fresh cilantro, fresh basil, green beans and baby eggplant, and some of her homemade pesto – score!
To be honest, I’ve NEVER eaten eggplant in my life, so I thought trying the baby eggplant would be a good way to start. I decided to add it to my breakfast hash.
I had a leftover baked potato, so I chopped that up, added 3 links of turkey sausage, cut up the baby eggplant, some green onion and fried an egg to go with. I also added a little of Penzey Spices breakfast sausage seasoning, because that makes everything taste better!
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So, those of you who’ve eaten baby eggplant before, what do you make with it?? I would love to hear about it 
Sep 7, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Sep 7, 2011 in breakfast, eggs, vegetables | 7 comments
I’ve passed by the vegetarian chorizo so many times over the years at the store but always hesitated in buying it. Sometimes you buy soy products and they have a horrible taste and taste super fake. So I was leery about what it would taste like. The only thing that changed my mind was that it was only .99 cents! So I started to think about what I could make with it and decided to make my breakfast hash. You can use any veggies, an egg, throw in a small cooked potato – chopped add the soy chorizo and you’ve got yourself an awesome breakfast! And, for 2 oz. serving it’s only 80 calories.
Here’s what I did:
1 potato
1 carrot
1/4 yellow pepper
1 green onion
1 oz. soy chorizo
1 egg
fresh cilantro
In a small skillet, add the soy chorizo and cook for a few minutes. Next, add the carrot, pepper and green onion and cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, bake the potato in the microwave and slice. Add that to the stir fry and stir until everything is incorporated.
Transfer to a dish. Wipe the skillet clean and fry an egg with a little cooking spray so it won’t stick. Cut up egg and add it to the mixture.
The soy chorizo made it so flavorful. I was thinking the soy chorizo would make a great base for a Mexican pizza. Use either a pita bread or pizza dough, cover with the soy chorizo, black beans, a little cheese and bake…I can’t wait to try that!
Have you ever tried soy chorizo before?? What do you make with it?
Sep 3, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Sep 3, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, general ideas, pasta, potluck, sauces, vegetables | 7 comments
Hi everyone! It’s been a super busy week and I haven’t had time to post new stuff! The first few weeks of school are always hectic, keeping track of 3 kids at 3 different schools – making sure what things they have going on, it’s crazy!
But, one highlight this week – my baby is in 4th grade and do you know what that means?? She gets to decide if she wants to play an instrument.
They had an assembly at school, she came home and declared she wanted to play the saxophone!
We went to the open house and she tried some instruments…
She tried the cello:
And in the end….she went with the CELLO! Great job Claire!
So now on to my fire roasted tomato sauce. I make pasta every week, because its cheap and feeds a big family. Having 2 teenage boys I count them as 2 servings, and my husband will most likely have 2 servings, so even though I have a family of 5, I cook for a family of 8!
I do the majority of my shopping at Aldi .
When I was there over the weekend, I noticed they had fire roasted tomatoes for only .89 cents a can!
So I decided my sauce this week would be with that.
Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce
1 28 oz. can of tomato sauce
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 green pepper
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 baby orange peppers
1/2 large white onion
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
splash of Worcestershire sauce
2 links Italian sausage, casing removed
I almost always add just a little meat to my sauce. Not a ton. 1/2 pound of ground beef, or ground chicken, or a few links of Italian sausage.
Directions:
In a cast iron skillet, add a little olive oil and add the Italian sausage. Break it up and cook until browned on all sides.
Meanwhile in a large blender. I add everything else. All the veggies, the cans of fire roasted tomatoes, the tomato sauce and spices. Blend until its all smooth.
By the way, this is a great sauce to make towards the end of the week, just throw in veggies left over in your fridge, no one will know what you put in there! I’ve even been known to add fresh spinach into the mix, but make sure you don’t put too much or else the sauce will be green and then the jig is up – your family will know you crammed healthy stuff in the sauce!
Add the pureed sauce into the skillet with the Italian sausage and cook for about 20 minutes on low/medium heat.
That night I made bow tie pasta. The sauce was delicious, kind of smokey from the fire roasted potatoes. Everyone had seconds.
And lastly – what do you think of the new layout for Slim-Shoppin??? After almost 4 years of the same look, it was time for a FRESH look!
There are a lot of things I am still learning about this template, it’s got a lot of bells and whistles, so I will be tweaking things here and there. The one thing I did notice is it takes a few seconds for the page to upload everything, so please be patient with that
OK, time to enjoy the weekend. My niece is getting married tomorrow so we’ll be seeing lots of family we haven’t seen in a while, so I am looking forward to that.
Have a great weekend!
