Beef Brisket, Tacos, & Raspberry Chiffon Pie

   For Superbowl Sunday I made this delicious Atlanta Beef Brisket that was so yummy & there was plenty of leftovers.    It was slow cooked over a bed of onions, with a sweet cola & ketchup sauce.

 I served it with the easiest mashed potatoes that I made in a skillet with the filling that I scooped from potatoes I used earlier that day to make potato skins.

I just melted some butter in the skillet & put a good splash of milk into the melted butter.  Stir to combine, then add the leftover potatoes & stir & mash until warm.

Then with the leftover meat, which I also warmed up in a skillet with melted butter, 2 days later we made delicious Tacos for dinner.  I just added what I had on hand; cheddar cheese, salsa, spinach, and some fresh squeezed lime juice.  They were delicious.  I even tried the whole grain taco shells & they were pretty good.

Then to top it all off, I made this wonderful Raspberry Chiffon Pie for dessert.  Yummy!

More Menu Ideas

Here are some more ideas for Dinner if you are getting bored eating the same old thing:



Friday; Jan 6th  -  Roasted Salmon w/ Green Beans & Buttermilk Biscuits

Saturday; Jan 7th  -  Sweet and Sour Chicken over White Rice

Sunday; Jan 8th  -  Green Pork Chili (a work in progress)

Monday; Jan 9th  -  Stuffed Shells

Tuesday; Jan 10th  -  Salisbury Steak w/ Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli

Wednesday; Jan 11th  -  Chicken w/ Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce over Pearl Couscous

 

Thursday; Jan 12th  -  Ham Steak w/ Brown Butter Sauce, Corn, & Babycakes

New Year 2017

   Last Year in January I posted a month worth of dinners for Healthy New Year Recipes every night.  This year I am going to do things a little differently.  I will be posting just a menu of meals as opposed to posting dinner every night.  Reading menus and seeing what other people are eating I find very interesting & maybe it will help to give you some ideas of what to make for dinner instead of the same old thing.

Here is the first week's menu:

Sunday; Jan. 1  -  Veal Chops w/ Pancetta, Bean, & Spinach Side

Monday; Jan. 2 -  Pork Tenderloin w/ Roasted Fennel & White Rice

Tuesday; Jan. 3 -  Sirloin w/ Zucchini Au Gratin

Wednesday; Jan. 4 -  Bow-tie Pasta (Farfalle) w/ Sausage, Kale, & Mushrooms

Thursday; Jan. 5 -  Chicken & Waffles


      More ideas to come!

Pumpkin Puree

    I know everybody says that canned pumpkin is just as good as fresh pumpkin, and that may be so, but I can't help but want to still make my own pureed pumpkin to use this Thanksgiving in many different recipes - not just pumpkin pie.

 I used Alton Brown's recipe for roasting and pureeing the pumpkins:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pumpkin-puree-recipe.html
I have tried other methods, including simmering in a little water, or dicing first then roasting in cubes, but I like this water-less recipe best, cause pumpkin is so watery itself, it seems best not to add any.  Also it is so much easier to make this way and not have to cut up the pumpkin, just scoop it out - it comes right out!

This year I am going to use my puree for:

- Pumpkin Crescent Rolls
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Tiramisu
- and for Breakfast on Thanksgiving:  Baked Pumpkin Cream Cheese French Toast

I was hoping to get about 6 1/2 cups of puree and from the 2 pumpkins I ended up with just shy of 7 cups.

I used Cheese Pumpkin, as I heard these are best for baking.  Not to mention their seeds also taste much better.  I really love this recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Seeds from Martha:
http://www.marthastewart.com/318249/sweet-and-spicy-pumpkin-seeds

Thanksgiving Runsas

   Have you ever heard of Runsas?  It is a German recipe of sweet bread with beef, cabbage, and cheese.  It is wonderful to make around St. Patrick's Day when there is plenty of fresh cabbage around in the stores.
The recipe is here from Food.com:
http://www.food.com/recipe/runsas-386848

   I made this dish into a Thanksgiving Runsa!  It's like a whole Thanksgiving Dinner all wrapped up in a wonderful sweet bun.

I made the dough recipe just as you would with the cabbage Runsas, but instead of beef, cabbage, & cheese, I stuffed mine with Turkey, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, & Cranberry Sauce.  They were fantastic!

  You can use any leftovers you have from Thanksgiving & make them just as you like - add green bean casserole if you want, or sweet potatoes instead of mashed.  Whatever you have to fill them, they will be delicious I am sure.

Cider Baked Pork w/ Apple & Fennel

  If you are looking for an easy Fall dinner, you should try this recipe from Delicious Magazine:
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/cider-baked-pork-with-apple-and-fennel/

It was really easy to make.  
And tasted really good too.

Just roast the veggies.

Then season and brown pork chops.

And finally put pork chops on top of veggies and pour a mustard cider sauce over top and roast again.

Really tasty!

Butternut Squash Stuffed Turkey Tenderloin w/ Cranberries and Pecans

This Turkey Tenderloin recipe from "Skinny Taste" was excellent!  It was really wonderful for this time of year, a perfect November meal.
The recipe is here:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/butternut-stuffed-turkey-tenderloin/

I made this recipe just before they had the fresh cranberries available, so I substituted canned whole berry cranberry sauce.  Or you could use frozen cranberries as well.

Another note- I toasted the nuts first.

The shallots were key to the filling & I would NOT substitute onions.

I had a lot of leftover filling and it was kind of difficult trying to stuff all that goodness into a tiny tenderloin.  This dish would also be terrific with just plain turkey tenderloins - not even stuffed & the vegetables just eaten on the side.  I served the extra vegetables on the side anyways.