Main Dishes
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All these recipes are family approved!
ALMOND CHICKEN WITH SNOW PEAS
This recipe uses those wonderful snow peas from your garden.
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Breadcrumbs and flour
Coconut Oil (or preference) for frying
Season Salt
Snow peas (cleaned)
Chicken Gravy, prepared ahead of time
1 can sliced water chestnuts
Tamari sauce (fermented soy sauce)
Sliced almonds
Cooked rice
You need about 20 to 30 minutes for the chicken portion, so time rice accordingly so that both chicken and peas are ready when rice is ready.
Slice chicken breasts into strips about 1 inch wide. Put breadcrumbs and flour in a plastic bag; coat chicken pieces by tossing in the bag with breadcrumb mix. Brown in heavy pan with oil, sprinkle with season or sea salt. After chicken is thoroughly browned, remove chicken from pan, keep warm. Drain oil, in same pan pour in gravy, snow peas, tamari sauce or other seasoning (to taste) and water chestnuts. Add water if needed. Simmer and stir occasionally until snow peas are tender but not over cooked.
Place chicken on top of pea mixture, spoon some gravy on top of chicken. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top and serve with cooked rice.
JOEY'S POTATO, GREEN BEAN AND SAUSAGE DINNER
Sauté (in olive oil) banana peppers, onion and diced red skin potatoes for about 10 minutes.
Add salt, pepper and a little Tuscan seasoning from Penzeys or favorite seasonings.
Add 4 spicy Italian Chicken sausages (sliced) to the pot and place in the oven to roast at 375 degrees until potatoes are tender.
Boil the green beans with a half of an onion until tender. Drain the beans and place back in the pan with about a Tablespoon of bacon grease if you have it or use olive oil if you don't and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Let the flavors meld together for about 5 minutes and then add green beans to the potato, pepper, and sausage and again let those flavors meld.
JANINE'S VEGETABLE LASAGNA
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1pkg lasagna noodles, organic whole wheat is the healthiest
12-16 oz. of mozzarella and or Monterey jack cheese, grated or pre-shredded saves time--
1-2 bunches of fresh, organic spinach
32 oz. of large curd cottage cheese
1. rinse clean, dry, and finely chop spinach into a large mixing bowl or pot
2. if necessary, drain then pour cottage cheese into pot with spinach and mix well
3. pour small amt. of spaghetti sauce at the bottom of your lasagna pan
4. lay and overlap lasagna noodles
5. spoon spinach/cottage cheese mixture onto lasagna noodles evenly about 1" thick
6. pour half of the jar of spaghetti sauce evenly all over mixture
7. drizzle half your shredded mozzarella cheese all over
8. lay some more noodles on top
9. spoon rest of spinach/cottage cheese mixture on top
10. this time drizzle rest of mozzarella cheese onto mixture
11. pour remaining spaghetti sauce on top
12. cover with foil and bake in preheated oven (375F) for one hour
You can also add a layer of ground beef before the second set of noodles; sometimes I chop onions, bell pepper, and/or mushrooms and add a small amount of taco seasoning to the beef while browning/cooking it. You could also substitute some mozzarella cheese for ricotta. I must confess that I have tried different cottage cheeses, and though it is not preferred from a healthy, extra-hormone-free standpoint, Kroger large curd cottage cheese gives the best results from a taste standpoint. If the pan seems watery after baking an hour, you just need to drain out the liquid and return it to the oven for another 15-20 minutes or upon reheating. It always tastes better the following day, so I usually make it the night before serving.
CHICKEN TORTILLAS AND FRESH GARDEN RELISH
Chicken filling
Marinate thin sliced chicken breasts in lime juice, Chile powder and cumin. Sauté in pan over mid- heat in oil until golden.
Fresh Garden Relish
1 sliced onion
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
2.5 cups zucchini, diced
Ripe tomatoes, diced and drained
1 T. chopped fresh oregano or marjoram or 1t. dried
2 Tbs. Lemon juice
Fresh ground pepper and sea salt
Sauté onion in oil until softened, a few minutes. Add zucchini to onion and cook 4 minutes. Add lemon over vegetables. Add tomatoes and herbs and cook 1 minute longer.
Optional-green peppers or tomatillos. Diced and added when tomatoes are added
To serve: warm the tortillas, serve with chicken, salsa and sour cream
ITALIAN GARDEN SAUTÉ
Chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
¼ c. olive oil or butter
Mushrooms, sliced
2 pints chopped tomatoes
Chopped zucchini or summer squash
Sliced colored peppers
Basil, chopped
Chopped kale
½ cup chicken stock
Sea salt and pepper
Basil, oregano, thyme, splash balsamic vinegar
Sauté garlic and onions in oil or butter until translucent, add mushrooms, cook 1 minute
Add tomatoes, squash, peppers, kale; sauté until crisp tender.
Add basil, oregano, thyme, splash balsamic vinegar
Serve over cooked penne pasta, sprinkle with freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE
This one of a very few casseroles my husband will eat; and most people really like it, even kids. It uses broccoli and carrots from your garden.
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups of cut up broccoli
1-½ cups of sliced carrots
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1/3 cup Italian Dressing
1 to 1 ½ cup uncooked rice
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning or oregano
1 large can French Fried Onion Rings (I have tried to find an organic substitute but to no avail)
1 tablespoon of chicken bouillon
4 cups water
Cut chicken breasts into pieces. Lay chicken in a 9 X 13 pan. Sprinkle rice over top of chicken. Place vegetables on top of rice. Heat water and add bouillon to dissolve. Pour over top of mixture. Sprinkle Italian dressing on top of mixture. Sprinkle seasoning. Cover with onion rings. Place foil on top and crimp edges to keep steam inside. Bake for 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees. Check rice in middle of pan for doneness.
KOHLRABI VEGETABLE STEW
2-3 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into pieces
Kale
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, cut in slivers
3 medium carrots, cut in 3/4" chunks
2 medium potatoes, cut in 3/4" chunks
1 C peeled chopped tomatoes
4 C broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried oregano (If you want to use fresh oregano, use more; I'd suggest maybe 2 teaspoonfuls, chopped. Dried herbs are always more concentrated in flavor than fresh)
1 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp. molasses
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions & sauté for several minutes. Add kohlrabi bulb chunks, carrots, tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, oregano, salt, pepper, molasses & mustard. Turn up heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover & simmer for about 15 minutes, and potatoes. Once the veggies are almost done add kale cut into pieces simmer, uncovered, for another 5 minutes.
STIR FRY SAUCE
Learning to make a good stir-fry sauce is important when you have soooo many veggies from a summer garden. For years I couldn't figure out how to make a decent stir-fry sauce and finally came up with something that rivals Oriental Restaurant's mixtures. You can use this as is or doctor it up to your suiting; such as add hotter spices if you like spicy.
Try serving stir-fries on a bed of chopped lettuce or other greens when in abundance, yummy! Add some nuts (cashews our personal favorite) on top and you will be surprised!
Mix following ingredients to your liking:
Raw honey
Tamari Sauce
Molasses
Garlic
Ginger
Optional -Chutneys are great to add if you have them or if not use a little berry jam
BASIL BURGERS (John's favorite meat! We eat with ketchup, no bun.)
One pound of ground beef
One chopped onion
Lots of chopped basil
Beef Roast seasoning (Penzeys)
Worcestershire sauce
Mix all together and make into four patties. I brown ours in a cast iron skillet but they could also be cooked on a grill. We eat them without buns, with plenty of ketchup. Sorry, I can't give you measurements; I just dump in what looks good. Use plenty of basil and lots of onion.
ORGANIC BARBECUE SAUCE
Mix to your tastes with the ketchup being the greatest amount and then in descending order for amounts.
Organic Ketchup
Raw Honey
Organic Molasses
Prepared Mustard
Tamari Sauce
All Spice
CHICKEN WITH SUMMER SQUASH AND LEMON CHIVE SAUCE
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 chicken breast halves (4 ounces each) boneless, skinless
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups ½-inch cubed yellow squash
1 ½ cups ½-inch cubed zucchini
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
½ teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons honey mustard
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken breast halves with salt and
pepper. Add the chicken to the skillet. Cook 4 minutes on each
side; remove from the skillet and keep warm.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the cubed squash and zucchini to the
skillet and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Return the chicken
to the pan.
In a small bowl, whisk together the chicken broth, chives, lemon
rind, lemon juice, cornstarch and honey mustard. Pour the broth
mixture over the chicken and vegetables in the skillet. Cover,
reduce the heat to medium-low and cook 3 minutes until the sauce is
thickened and clear.
Serve over rice or couscous.
FIESTA BEEF & VEGGIE BARBECUE
This meal is good enough to serve company. I like to make it for special occasions, like summer holidays.
Beef (tender selection and cubed)
Assorted vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, onions, summer squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes) Cut up vegetables into chunks. Leave cherry tomatoes whole.
*Marinating sauce:
Envelope of French onion soup mix
2 tablespoons sweetener such as agave, honey, etc.
½ cup ketchup
1-teaspoon vinegar
¼ cup oil
1-tablespoon mustard
Mix together
Marinate the cubed beef for several hours. Add onions and any vegetables that need a longer cooking time to the mixture. Grill or Broil this mixture. Near the end of cooking add the remaining vegetables. We prefer our tomatoes to be firm so I don't add them until serving time but if you like them cooked add them near the end of cooking.
Serve with favorite flavorful rice
*Marinating sauce has a wonderful flavor. It can be used for other recipes when you want a special sauce.
GREEN BEANS, SAUSAGE AND POTATOES (all in one pot)
Every summer when the beans start to come in my family gets excited for this dinner.
Smoked Sausage
A bunch of green beans with ends snapped off and cut into shorter pieces
Potatoes (washed and scrubbed and cut into chunks, I leave the skins on but you don't have to)
Garlic
Season Salt
Tamari sauce
Slice sausage approximately into ½ inch slices or less. Put sausage and beans into a large pot with water just covering contents. Add garlic, season salt, Tamari sauce. After the water has started to boil add chunks of potatoes and simmer all together, stirring occasionally.
Depending on the type of green beans you use, the timing of cooking both the potatoes and beans together could be different. You want both the beans and potatoes to be tender but not mushy. I grow a firm Spanish type green bean that needs a few more minutes of cooking than the potatoes; not all types will need this.
Spoon out of pot with a large slotted spoon. Serve with bread or rolls or some fresh sliced tomatoes. Summer produce-YUM!