Grains and Garbanzo Bean Salad with Kale

So this isn’t technically one of the 101 simple salads, but it is a salad and it is simple. Also it is delicious, and I eat it a lot in the summertime. 

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 cups cooked brown rice (or today I used Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend)
• 1 to 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (1 can will do just fine)
• 2 cups chopped raw kale
• 2 large carrots, diced
• handful of chopped green onions or fresh chives
• handful basil leaves, chiffonade (I always forget this, and it’s still tasty)
• scant 1/4 cup olive oil (I usually go really scant)
• juice of one lemon
• (sea) salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss together.

 

Perfect Potatoes au Gratin (with Ham)

I had potatoes and I had ham, so that settled it—time to make Potatoes au Gratin. I selected The Pioneer Woman’s recipe, tweaked it a little and doubled it for our small group dinner last night. It was crazy good; as in, two helpings good. Which is saying a lot for me because I usually choose to eat two helpings of dessert, not potatoes. Eat! And enjoy.

8 whole russet potatoes, peeled
2-3 T butter, softened
1 pint heavy cream
2 cup whole milk
4 T flour
8 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 t salt
pepper, to taste (don’t skimp!)
3 C ham, cubed
2 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Smear softened butter all over the bottom of a 9×13″ baking dish.

Slice potatoes, then cut slices into fourths (thicker slices will take longer to cook). In a separate bowl, whisk together cream, milk, flour, minced garlic, salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Place 1/3 of the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish, then place approximately 1 C of ham over it. Pour 1/3 of the cream mixture over the potatoes. Repeat this two more times, ending with the cream mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown and really bubbling. Add grated cheese to the top of the potatoes and bake for 3 to 5 more minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Allow to stand for a few minutes before serving by the spoonful.

**This modified recipe serves 8 adults easily and allows leftovers for lunch the next day. To make a nice side dish you could omit the ham and reduce quantities of ingredients by half.

Buttermilk Devil’s Food Cake (with White Chocolate Frosting)

Made for Jeremy’s 42nd birthday. Taken from The Cake Mix Doctor.

Solid vegetable oil for greasing pans
Flour for dusting pans
1 pkg plain devil’s food cake mix
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 C buttermilk
1/2 C vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 t pure vanilla extract

1) Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out excess flour and set pans aside.

2) Place cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides, then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. The batter should look well-blended. Divide between prepared pans.

3) Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until cakes spring lightly against your touch and start to pull away from pan. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes on cooling rack. Run a dinner knife around edges and invert onto rack. Cool completely.

4) Frost with White Chocolate Frosting (separate post).

* Place this cake, uncovered, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. Cover the cake with waxed paper and store, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week. Or freeze, wrapped in aluminum foil for up to 6 months. Thaw cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Originally posted in July 2009. Straight from the old church cookbook, this recipe is always good, especially for potlucks or Easter dinners. And since my dad asked for it the other day, I figured I would post it on Needs More Butter for easy accessibility.

Crust:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
2 2/3 cups chopped, crushed pretzels (not too fine)

Creamy layer:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 small carton (8 ounces) Cool Whip

Gelatin layer:
1 large box (6 ounces) strawberry gelatin
1 cup boiling water
16 ounces frozen strawberries

Directions:

1. In a bowl, cream butter and 3 tablespoons sugar; add pretzels and press into a 9×13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 and cool.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, add cream cheese and 1 cup sugar; fold in Cool Whip and spread over cooled pretzel crust. Refrigerate at least one hour.
3. Mix gelatin and boiling water. Add strawberries. Let partially set and spoon over cream cheese mixture. Chill until set. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Enchiladas

Originally posted in October 2008, this has been a regular in our household. Brook’s friend Melissa taught her how to make these, and Brook taught me. It’s an extremely flexible recipe, a little iffy on the measurements. It’s one of those recipes that gets better with a little experimentation.

Ingredients:

• Chicken marinated or seasoned however you like (ranch dressing, cumin, salt, garlic powder, taco seasoning, etc.), cut into 1-inch chunks (Last time I made this, I used four large chx breasts and it made enough for 10 enchiladas)
• Onions
• Green peppers
• Beans (refried beans or black beans or refried black beans)
• Cheese
• Tortillas
• Enchilada sauce
• More cheese

Directions:

1. Cook chicken and onions and peppers with seasonings until the chicken is done and the vegetables are on their way to soft.
2.  Spoon beans into a tortilla and add chicken mixture and a sprinkle of cheese. Roll up the tortilla and set seam-side down in a baking dish. Repeat until you run out of filling.
3. Pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Add more cheese on top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Lazy Day Lasagne

This recipe is from the (old) Zion Cookbook. I think Brook has a similar recipe from her mom. It’s on the menu at our house this week.

1 12-ounce carton cottage cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 eggs

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 pound ground beef or sausage, browned

9 lasagna noodles, uncooked

1/4 cup water

Parmesan cheese, grated

In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, eggs, parsley, onion powder, basil, and pepper; set aside. In medium bowl, mix spaghetti sauce and ground beef; set aside. In a 9 x 13 pan, spread 3/4 cup meat mixture in bottom. Layer with 3 uncooked noodles. Spread half of cottage cheese mixture and 1 1/2 cup meat sauce. Layer with 3 more uncooked noodles. Spread remaining cottage cheese mixture over noodles. Top with remaining noodles and meat sauce. Pour water around edges. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 additional minutes or until golden brown. Just before serving, sprinkle top of lasagna with Parmesan cheese.

Black Bean Dip

I really don’t know what to call this. It’s kind of a dip. It’s kind of a salsa. It’s fresh-tasting and pretty.

1 can (16 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (16 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
1 can (16 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained and rinsed (actually, it’s better to use fresh tomatoes if they’re available)
1 big handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 medium red onion, diced
2 tablespoons (or so, maybe up to 1/3 cup) red wine vinegar.
1 medium avacado, diced

Mix all ingredients except the avacado together in a large bowl and refrigerate. Add the avacado just before serving.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Curried Lentils

Another side dish from our Life Group’s Indian-themed dinner. This recipe is from More with Less.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lentils
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 beef bouillon cubes (I only had chicken bouillon, so I used that; it was fine, obviously)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine (I use less)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1–2 tablespoons curry powder or garam masala (I use a mixture of both — a curry curry, if you will)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Bring lentils, water, bouillon cubes, bay leaf, and salt to a boil and simmer 20 minutes.
2. Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter or margarine. Add the curry powder when the onions are soft, and fry briefly.
3. Add curry mixture to lentils and finish with the lemon juice.

Aloo Gobi

Our Life Group went with an Indian-themed dinner this week and, boy oh boy, was it delicious. I picked this cauliflower and potato side dish from The New Indian Cooking Course. It was simple to prepare and very tasty.

Ingredients

• 1lb potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 T oil
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1 green chili, finely chopped
• 1lb cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1 t ground coriander
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t chilli powder
• 1/4 t ground turmeric
• 1/2 t salt
• chopped fresh coriander, to garnish

1. Parboil the potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan and fry the cumin seeds for 2 minutes until they begin to splutter. Add the chili and fry for another minutes.

3. Add the cauliflower florets and fry, stirring, for 5 minutes.

4. Add the potatoes and the ground spices and salt and cook for a further 7-10 minutes, or until both vegetables are tender. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.

**This recipe serves 4. I doubled it (roughly) and we served a lot more people with smallish portions. I didn’t have cumin seeds or coriander (we call it cilantro in US grocery stores) so I simply left them out. The dish was still incredibly flavorful.

Potato Chicken Corn Chowder

This recipe comes from my sister-in-law’s friend Genni. Kristin sent it to me after hovering over her Genni’s shoulder to get the approximate measurements for this amazing, soul-feeding, ultimate comfort food of a chowder. Enjoy!

5lb Yukon Gold potatoes
5 large celery stalks
1 med white onion
5 chicken bouillon cubes
42oz (or largest size) chicken broth
2 sticks butter
1lb chicken
Wondra
Tony Cachere’s Original Creole Seasoning
2 cans corn
s&p (to taste)
1 pint heavy cream

1) Peel and cube all potatoes. Boil in bouillon. Slightly mash, leaving some cubed.
2) On medium heat, blacken chicken in Tony’s, then cut into cubes. Saute diced onions and celery in leftover seasoning with one stick of butter.
3) Melt second stick of butter in another pan. Add Wondera until pasty, then add 1 C heavy cream and combine well. Add more Tony’s and the rest of the cream. Finally, add 1/2 C chicken broth.
4) To potatoes, add corn, veggies, chicken and rest of broth. Heat at medium high until bubbling. Add cream sauce, mix well. Salt to taste.