Two stuffing like recipes without the bread

These have been modified by me for how I cook and what we eat.

Harvest Casserole Hash 

Do not double this recipe 

chicken sausage or 2 chicken breasts 
2 medium sweet potatoes cubed
1 lb Brussel sprouts halved (fresh or frozen)

1.5 cups raw wild rice 
No salt chicken broth 
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika 
1 tsp cumin
1 apple (honey crisp), finely diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds 
Salt/pepper to taste

Eggs

Put wild rice and 3 cups broth in rice cooker. 

Preheat Oven 425° 

Roast Sweet potatoes, *Brussel sprouts, sprayed with olive oil, salt/pepper, 25 minutes, stir partway 

*roast raw/fresh Brussels sprouts. If using frozen, just thaw, but do not pre-cook/roast.

Spray large skillet with olive oil 

cook cubed chicken. 

Add onion, garlic, thyme, paprika, cumin.
Add apples. 

Stir in cranberries. 

Reduce oven to 400° 

Spray 9 x 13” baking dish, 
Combine all ingredients (except eggs)

Add 1/2 cup broth over mixture

Remember to add almonds, salt/pepper! 

Bake 20 minutes covered

Cook eggs over medium so they are still runny. 
Serve Harvest Casserole Hash with egg on top

This (below) is a slightly different take on the recipe above. We are making this version for Thanksgiving 2024.  

Cranberry-Glazed Roasted Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, and Sweet Potato Salad with Cranberries and Goat Cheese 

Roasted Vegetables:

1 sm butternut squash, peel/cubed

1 lb Brussels sprouts, trim/halved

2 med sweet potatoes, peel/cubed

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Cranberry Glaze:

1/2 cup cranberry juice

1/4 cup dried cranberries

2 T honey or maple syrup

1 T balsamic vinegar

Finishing Touch:

4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup dried cranberries 

1 T fresh parsley, chopped 

Roast Vegetables

• Preheat oven 400°F 

• In a large bowl, toss the butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme until well coated.

• Spread vegetables on a large baking sheet in a single layer.

• Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring halfway through, until tender and caramelized.

Cranberry Glaze

• While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the cranberry glaze. In a small saucepan, combine the cranberry juice, dried cranberries, honey (or maple syrup), and balsamic vinegar.

• Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens into a glaze.

Assemble Salad

• Transfer roasted vegetables to a large serving bowl.

• Drizzle cranberry glaze over roasted vegetables, toss to coat.

• Sprinkle crumbled goat cheese and extra dried cranberries on top.

Chinese beef and noodles

My husband’s cousin is married to a woman who was born and raised in Taiwan. Parents of middle’s best friend from college were also born and raised in Taiwan. We love their cooking.

The cousin’s wife makes fabulous Chinese Beef and Noodle Soup. With her version, there is about six hours of effort. I wanted a simpler method. 

My goal was to get the flavor of the broth correct, add a lot more broth volume and more veggies, reduce the size of the meat to bite size, and simplify the process.

I started following the online directions at 8pm one night, thinking I was crazy for starting so late, that lead to the crock pot. And I would do it the exact same way again, overnight.

Middle found a recipe online -

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/chinese-beef-noodle-soup/

I used that recipe as my starting point and modified. The smell was correct as it was cooking. The broth seems right too. 

Note - Chinese grocery needed for whole peppercorns (which I did not have at 8pm that night) and the noodles. 

Prepped the night before, in water over night, ready to add in the morning -

My Chinese beef and noodle soup

Ingredients/directions 

• 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes 
• 3 pounds stew meat, cut tiny

Brown on stove

• 8-10 cups water
• 4 tablespoons apple juice
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 heaping tsp chili bean paste 

Bottom of large crock pot

• 8 star anise pods
• 5 peeled slices ginger
• 5 bay leaves

Spices in strainer in broth, top of meat in crock pot, on low, over night 

• 8 chopped carrots 
• 1 peeled/chopped daikon radish 
• 2 chopped baby bok choy

Next morning, remove/discard spices

Move broth/meat to large pan on stove 

Add vegetables, lid, low heat for an hour 

• Cook Shanxi Noodles separately at mealtime 

“Shanxi noodles are a type of Chinese noodle that is popular in the Shanxi province. They are made from wheat flour, and have a chewy texture. Shanxi noodles are often served with a beef or pork broth, and can also be stir-fried or boiled. Cooking shanxi noodles is not as difficult as it may seem.”

Kale Chips

Wash kale, dry.
Remove stems, utilize leaves.
Place leaves on cookie sheet, I use a jelly roll pan.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle with scant sea salt.
In my oven, 12 minutes at 350 is perfect.

Recipes

This was dinner on Friday night. We are all eating two meals a day most days.

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-veggie-supreme-egg-bake-242506

I use kale instead of spinach.
I put the kale thru the food processor.
I use skim milk instead of half and half.
I do not use the cheese.
I use red potatoes instead of frozen.
I put in larger volume of veggies.
I use a huge glass pan.


Middle also made drop biscuits.
http://www.shutterbean.com/2020/simple-drop-biscuits/
I like this recipe because there is no yeast, simple ingredients, and it makes a small amount. We had 1 and 1/2 each.

Middle had never made anything like this and had never used a pastry cutter. She was pretty impressed with herself.

Everyone thought it was a really great dinner.

If a chef came to my kitchen, of course there would be things he/she would find missing. But for the average person, I have a well fitted kitchen. And everything is organized and pleasant.

28 days

Both daughters (with me) put together lists of meals.

One list (14 dinners) is vegetarian (my youngest, my niece, niece’s boyfriend). The other list (28 dinners/4 weeks) is regular.

The (4) regular week list mostly contain dinners with chicken and turkey. Fish is included once a week. Beef appears once every other week. One pork dinner alternates weeks with the beef. There are a few vegetarian dinners included in the 28 day list, but not many. We mostly saved the vegetarian meals for when they are visiting, then we just all eat (mostly) vegetarian.

There is also a short list of breakfasts that people (here) like to eat when we have company.

I started the regular 28 dinners list this week.

I shopped with the first seven days in mind. And then each day, I simply cook whatever is on the list for dinner. I make enough so there are leftovers for lunches, my husband and *daughter pack their lunches every day. I package leftovers in individual containers that can be added to lunch boxes. That reduces dish volume and makes things easy.

I should have done this a long time ago.

I do not mind cooking as long as I am cooking what people want to eat.

We sold our garage freezer and so my freezer spaced is reduced to the big freezer drawer under the refrigerator. This list helps me only keep what I need in the freezer. The process is worth it just to have food rotating in and out of the freezer and pantry regularly.

I still keep the kitchen stocked. But not over stocked. And I can just look at the week’s dinner list and then verify what is in the kitchen, and then shop. It is easier.

I can make and eat a lot of traditional dinners by limiting my carbs the rest of the day and reducing the carbs in the dinner and adding a lot of vegetables. And I usually eat two meals a day (not three) so that helps the numbers hugely.

28 days/4 weeks is a good list. We think by the time it starts again, with so much variety, we will not get bored. I suspect people repeat dinners more often than once a month on average. the only repeat on our list is tacos, they appear once a week.

I also built the list so I cook meat and then use it 2-3 times that same week. That makes things very easy.

When the vegetarians are here, I simply switch lists. They are not usually here for more than a week or two.

Even though I am just a couple days into this process, I really see how much it helps. My mother who lives alone, cooks actual/full meals for herself. She does not just snack. I have a hard time cooking for just myself. I can see that if I were to live alone at some point in the future, this 28 day process would insure I ate real food/meals.


* I have one daughter living at home and this helps her too. She works full time. She helps me a lot. This process means her dinners and lunches are cooked and she only has to cook her breakfast. She does better if she eats from home too.

Veggie casserole - this is a breakfast egg casserole with NO bread and a lot of veggies.

Here is the original recipe

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-veggie-supreme-egg-bake-242506

 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for the baking dish
 8 ounces sliced white or brown mushrooms
 2 cups shredded carrots
 5 ounces baby spinach (about 5 packed cups)
 2 cups frozen diced potatoes (do not thaw)
 1 cup roasted red pepper strips
 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
 12 large eggs
 2 cups half-and-half
 2 teaspoons kosher salt
 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


 I do this -
Spray the pans instead of olive oil.

Use fresh organic (except for the spinach where I use a whole package of frozen organic loose leaf).

I use small amount of chopped red skinned potato (not peeled) instead of frozen Potatoes.

I use skim milk instead of half and half.

I sometimes use half eggs and half egg whites depending on who I am feeding (if it is going to be gone immediately, and I am only eating one piece, I use all eggs. If I might be eating a lot of leftovers, I use half egg whites).

I use lower fat Colby cheese instead of sharp cheddar.

I add asparagus or broccoli or both.

I add a lot more mushrooms.

I add a whole chopped onion.


This is a beautiful, colorful breakfast casserole with lots of veggies and NO bread.

medical binders and recipe binders

Four of us now each have a medical binder. They are three ring binders filled with sleeve/page protectors. Medical forms go in the sleeves. There are sections, labeled wide dividers (that are made to work with sleeve/page protectors). We buy the dividers with the half circle labels so the labels do not slide out. Office Depot.  Sections include - immunizations, family records, lab work, Ortho, neuro, asthma/allergist, gyn, ENT, eye, GI, etc. Each binder has slightly different sections as we have different doctors.

Very pleased. I take my binder to doctor’s appointments. If I need to find information, I have it with me. I ask for copies of things and put it directly into a sheet protector in the binder, while I am there. No loose papers/records floating around the house.

(EOB’s and receipts/bills go in a hanging file in my file cabinet by year. Many years ago I made all the hanging files. Like 2000-2019.)

The girls use their binders exactly as I use mine. They keep their own binders. I only keep my own.



AND


I went thru two fat binders of recipes in my kitchen. They took up a lot of room. I realized I used the recipes in one binder much more than the other. I cleaned out a lot of weird things and got myself down to one 2” binder. I kept about 1/3 of the recipes and got rid of 2/3.

Middle made a recipe binder for herself and one for youngest. They all have overlapping recipes and they have unique recipes. So not exact duplicates.

Very pleased.

Garlic cauliflower, green beans, chicken

This is a simple one we (husband and I) like.

 It is the only combination, so far, where we like the garlic cauliflower.  We love it this way. It is so so every other way (to us).

I either bake/chop chicken or chop chicken and then cook on top the stove. I barely book the veggies, only enough time and heat to get them hot. I mix all of it. I divide into 3 servings. Dinner for two of us, lunch for one of us. 

I do not cook anything in the plastic bag/microwave. So some of the medleys I buy are advertised that way, but I do not cook them that way. 

food combinations, one pot

There are several combinations I buy in the freezer section at the grocery store. I do NOT microwave them (especially not in the bag).

I chop a package of raw skinless/boneless chicken breasts and start it in a sprayed pan on top the stove.

I chop a medium onion and add it.

I stir and cook that for a bit.

Then I add two identical packages from the selection below.

I also add a package or two of frozen (plain) veggies.

I sort of layer it all in the pan. Chicken/onion on the bottom, then 2 pkg of the blend, then veggies (different combinations that seem to "go" with the medley). I put a lid on it and cook for 20 minutes on medium.

Depending on how many veggies I have added, we get 4-6 servings from that one pan. At the end of 20 minutes, I stir it so everything is pretty even and then divide it in sections in the pan. I then put it in individual glass bowls and let them cool. Lids go on each one and they go in the refrigerator.

If I have bought a huge package of chicken, I do this twice in a row. I chop/cook half the chicken and add to it, cook and then divide it. Then I chop/cook the other half the chicken and add to it, cook and then divide it.

My point in posting all this is not to promote these products. But it is to mention the food combinations. Because I am going to start doing my own medleys. Cooking my own quinoa (etc) and adding the ingredients. I am going to use the packages as combination suggestions.

Risotto Recipe youngest loves

I make this for youngest, so it is vegan-ish. We always add the "ish" because she is not strict vegan, just mostly. This is one of the things I took middle too. My husband might eat this, but would add a lot of cooked chicken to it. Other than a couple spoonfuls to check as I am cooking, I do not eat it.

Figuring my food - cilantro and lime chicken

I found this recipe.

I simplified it putting a large bunch of fresh cilantro (from my produce box) in the food processor, squeezing 5 smallish limes, and spreading both of those over thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts in a sprayed 9 x 11. I covered and baked at 350 for 1 hour. Very good.