Main Dish
It’s been all Greek to me this week! I’ll be honest I don’t eat a lot of Greek food so when I was asked to come up with some original recipes, I really had to do some research. I also wanted recipes that are simple and without a million ingredients, but still had lots of flavor. This recipe did take a little bit of time and the Tzadziki sauce needs some time to come together in the fridge. I started with the sauce first and everything comes together very simply after that. This was a fresh and flavorful recipe that we really enjoyed. It was definitely a little different from my usual recipes, but very tasty!!
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough (your recipe or store bought)
1/2 pound ground lamb
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Greek seasoning (found in the spice aisle)
2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
4 Roma Tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 sun dried tomatoes, diced
12 large green olives, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced red onion
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
One big handful of spinach/arugula mix
TZATZIKI SAUCE
1 cup plain Greek yogurt, drained
3 Tablespoons grated cucumber
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped dill
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Starting with the Tzatziki sauce, drain the yogurt. Once drained go ahead and add all of the other ingredients mix well and store in the fridge until ready to use.
For the lamb: in a large fry pan add the ground lamb breaking up as it cooks. When it’s about half way through cooking, drain the fat if needed and add minced garlic, lemon juice, Greek seasoning, salt, and pepper. Mix well to combine and finish cooking through. Remove from heat.
Preheat your oven according to your pizza dough (mine baked at 425 degrees for 15 minutes). Spread out your pizza dough on a baking sheet or pizza pan.
In a medium bowl, add the chopped tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, green olives, garlic, red onion, olive oil and a pinch of red pepper flakes if using. Mix well and spread over your pizza dough. Top with your ground lamb mixture covering your pizza, top with the feta cheese and bake through until your pizza dough is cooked through and everything is warmed through. Remove from oven top with the spinach arugula mix and drizzle with Tzatziki sauce and serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Summer is almost here and what is better than beer and spicy sausage? How about raspberry beer? This is so easy and you can easily double the amount of sausages with the amount of sauce this makes! I love the combination of sweet and spicy and the raspberry beer really brings some sweet flavor to the spicy sausages! This is an easy party dish that uses your slow cooker so you can spend time with your friends and family and not over the stove!
INGREDIENTS
1 bottle raspberry wheat ale
1/2 bottle of honey BBQ sauce (from an 18 ounce bottle)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 orange pepper, sliced
6-10 spicy Italian sausage links
Hot dog buns
DIRECTIONS
Place the raspberry wheat ale, BBQ sauce, ketchup, onion, and peppers in a slow cooker and mix well to combine ingredients. Turn slow cooker on low and cook for six hours. In a large skillet add your sausage links and brown over medium- high heat until all sides are browned. Transfer to the slow cooker and continue to cook until fully cooked through. Serve warm in the hot dog buns.
Enjoy!
Another great recipe from Taste of Home Magazine! This became an instant favorite of mine so much that I made it twice in two weeks! The recipe calls to make the chicken in a slow cooker, but this would be great with grilled chicken as well. I served this with a choice of ranch and blue cheese dressing and that worked out very nice. This would also make a great pocket sandwich too. My husband will put anything on bread and this is a great recipe for that too! The only ingredient that I left off was bacon, but feel free to add that to yours!
INGREDIENTS (6 servings)
1 bottle (18 ounces) of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
12 cups chopped romaine
3 plum tomatoes chopped
2 avocados peeled and chopped
2 small carrots, diced
1 medium red or green pepper, chopped
3 large hard boiled eggs, chopped
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (optional)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Blue cheese and/or ranch dressing
DIRECTIONS
In a greased 3 quart slow cooker mix the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, and paprika. Add the chicken breasts and coat with the sauce. Cook covered on low 3-4 hours until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker, cut into bite size pieces. Add back into the slow cooker and coat with the sauce.
Place romaine on a large serving platter, arrange chicken, vegetables, avocado, hard boiled eggs, bacon and cheese. Drizzle with dressing or let everyone add their own dressing.
Enjoy!
I have two great Taste of Home recipes for you this week. This recipe was simple and fast to make, not to mention very good with ingredients you probably already have on hand! This recipe is very good as is, but when I make it again I may add a handful of Parmesan cheese to the sauce at the end of the cooking time. Maybe even some crispy bacon bits on the top just before serving!!
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 Tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
8 ounces uncooked thin spaghetti
2 1/2 cups frozen peas (about ten ounces)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet add the butter and oil over medium heat. Break the pasta in half and add to the pan cooking 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the peas, broth, half and half, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until noodles are tender. Stirring occasionally. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
That’s some title, right? I was at a loss for a good name for this recipe but it definitely falls in the delicious category no matter what it’s called! This recipe does take some time and does use more pots and pans than I typically like to use, but when you take a bite you will agree it is worth the effort! This recipe would also be very good with fresh mushrooms added to the veggies. I did not add them as I am not a fan of ANY mushroom no matter how they are cooked, but if you like them feel free to add them!
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch of fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
12 ounces (one small container) of cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt
Pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons of butter, divided
3 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup of 1% milk
Pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup freshly grated Asiago cheese
1 large egg yolk, beaten
3/4 of a sleeve of buttery round crackers such as Ritz, crushed
1 box of penne pasta, cooked to al Dante
DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta in salted water until al Dante. For roasted vegetables turn your oven to broil and leave the oven door slightly open. On a sheet pan, add the sliced tomatoes and asparagus, drizzle with the olive oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well, being sure to coat all the veggies with the oil. Place in the oven still leaving the door slightly open. Broil until the veggies are tender and just starting to char. Remove from oven and set aside.
To make the sauce, combine the 1 Tablespoon of butter, nutmeg, garlic, heavy cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring sauce to a simmer and remove from heat stir in the Asiago cheese and the egg yolk whisking constantly to prevent egg from scrambling. If the mixture is too thick add a little more milk. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To assemble combine your cooked pasta, veggies and alfredo sauce mix well to make sure everything is coated with the sauce. Pour pasta into a 9 x 13 dish. Top with crushed crackers and 2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Bake for about ten minutes, just long enough for the crackers to slightly brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!
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