AwesomeBites

Tag: Carrots

  • Pickled Shrimp and Peppers, Onions, Green Beans, Asparagus, Carrots!

    IMG_6022

    IMG_6023
    Original recipe makes 8 – 1 quart jars
    4 Tablespoons old bay seasoning
    2 pounds Shrimp Large (26-30 count per pound with tails on)
    8 cucumbers, thinly sliced
    2 onions, thinly sliced
    48 green beans
    32 small asparagus spears
    16 small peeled carrots trim to jar size.
    2 green bell peppers, diced
    8 cloves garlic, chopped
    1 bunch of seedless green grapes
    1/2 cup salt
    Brine
    3 cups cider vinegar
    3 cups white sugar
    3 tablespoons mustard seed
    1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
    1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
    1 tablespoon ground turmeric
    If you want them spicy….
    1 tsp chili pepper flakes or you can use sliced jalapeno peppers

    If you have fresh shrimp, peel and clean leaving the tail on. Boil for 2 minutes with Old Bay Seasoning. Place in ice water to chill.
    While you are heating the brine, pack your jars with shrimp, onions, peppers, garlic, stand the green beans, asparagus, carrots upright, top each with a few grapes.

    Pour hot brine over your packed jars to 1/4 inch of top.
    Place lids on and allow to cool on your counter.

    Keep refridgerated. Eat early at 2 days 3 weeks.
    Enjoy on toast or over a Caesar Salad. Awesomebites!

  • Pumpkin, Butternut Squash, Carrot Soup

    Pumpkin, Butternut Squash, Carrot Soup

    PumpkinButternutCarrotSoup

    It is nearing Halloween and with all the great pumpkins and squash and carrots, it has to be the beginning of soup!

    I love soup and give me bread and I am happy. I blame it all on my mother and at the same time thank my mother for being a wonderfully awesome soup chef! When she worked as a Chef/Cook for the San Joaquin County Hospital, all the doctors and nurses would seek her out to find out what kind of soup was going to be available that day.

    It tickled her to have her very own fan club and an equivalent of a facebook thumbs up would be their return in the line the next day!

    While I am making this soup for my office to feed 25-30 people, my mother would make soup for 300 people!

    Olive oil 1/4 cup
    Carrot 1 Quart
    Pumpkin 1 Quart
    Butternut squash 1Quart
    1 head of Roasted Garlic
    Cayenne 1 tsp
    Ginger 2 tsp
    Coriander 2 tsp
    Ham bone with ham bits
    Salt and pepper to taste
    Chicken stock 3 Quarts
    add water as needed

    Roast garlic(wrap in foil), pumpkin, carrots and squash for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Chop onions into a rough dice and saute in the bottom of a large soup pot with a little oil. Add Roasted vegetables, and 3 Quarts of Chicken Stock and ham bone to pot. Bring to boil and add spices. Let simmer slowly for 1 hour.

    Shut off and allow to cool so you can remove the ham bone. Shred the meat and set aside. Using a handblender to the soup until you get a creamy consistency, add water as needed to maintain consistency you like. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust your spices to your liking. Careful with the Cayenne Pepper. Add the ham back into the creamy mixture.

    Serve with a drizzle of Pure Maple Syrup, or a spoon of sour cream, or cinnamon croutons for some fun!
    Serve with freshly made bread!

    Another awesome bite.

  • Coq Au Vin

    Coq Au Vin

    My sister-in-law once said she loved Coq Au Vin. I had never made it, but the thought was stored until the other day. The time was now. So, I put this together. Husband Dennis loved, loved, loved it!

    Since all my kids have flown the coup, my office is the lucky group that get my leftovers. I think they are goin’ like it!

    4 pieces of bacon or ham slices, coarsely chopped
    2 chickens
    2 chopped onions
    3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thyme
    Salt and Pepper
    16 ounces large crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, halved
    8-12 carrots, chopped into 1 inch chunks
    1 fennel bulb chopped into quarters
    4 whole garlic cloves
    2 bottles red wine. Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah all work.)
    1 small can tomato paste
    1/4 cup beef gravy mix

    Instructions
    Preheat oven to 300°F. Sauté bacon or ham in large cast iron pan that will hold two chickens. Add all ingredients except the gravy mix.

    Bake for 4 hours at 300 degrees. Move the pot from the oven to the stovetop.
    Add Gravy mix to 1/2 cup water, stir to mix and then add to drippings.
    Let simmer 5 minutes and serve over mashed potatoes.

    If you do not have gravy mix, use flour. Place flour in small cup.
    Add 1/4 cup water, stirring until smooth. Add flour mixture to sauce. Cook until sauce thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange chicken on platter; stir juices from dish into sauce and spoon over chicken. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon fresh thyme.

    I started this at lunch time, and finished it off by making mashed potatoes when I got home from work. This is a keeper.

  • Pumpkin Thai Curry Soup with Shrimp

    Pumpkin Thai Curry Soup with Shrimp

    Serving the office "Soup of the Day!"

    2 Cans Pumpkin
    2 Cans water (measure using the pumpkin cans)or Chicken Broth
    2 Cans unsweetened Coconut Milk
    1 Can Carrots and Onions pickled with jalapenos
    2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
    1 tsp black pepper
    1 tsp salt
    Using a stick blender, puree ingredients.

    Serve with the following garnishes:
    1 Tablespoon of Coconut Milk
    Chopped Green Onions or Thai Basil
    2-3 Deveined, Cooked Shrimp with the Tails on
    Wedge of Lime
    1 tsp Sweet and Spicy Chili Sauce

    Garneshing the Soup

    Very good soup. I made for the office and they loved it!
    I know it seems like a bunch of garnishes, but they are all worth it.

  • Beef Pot Pie

    Beef Pot Pie

    Beef Stew Filling
    Chop Beef into bite size pieces
    1 diced onion
    6 celery stocks diced
    6 carrots sliced into coins
    1 cup diced potatoes (optional)
    Saute onion, celery and carrots
    48 ounces beef stock
    1/2 cup brewed coffee
    1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
    1 can green peas
    1 tsp Thyme
    Salt & Pepper to taste
    Let ingredients simmer until vegetables are fork tender, add peas after other vegetables are done. Remove from heat.

    Crust
    3 Cups Flour
    1 Cup Crisco
    1 T Baking Powder
    1 tsp Salt
    6-8 T Cold Water as needed

    Blend together, roll out, top on individual pot pies or one large pie over beef stew filling.

    Bake 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Yummy good.

  • St. Patty’s Day Baked Corned Beef

    St. Patty’s Day Baked Corned Beef

    I’m making this for an office luncheon, so I will bake the corned beef, wrap in foil and place in an ice chest, less the ice, to keep warm. I will slice right before serving. Also on the menu, sauteed cabbage, brussel sprouts and onions. Oven roast potato wedges, sweet potatoes and carrots.
    This will be our St Patty’s Day feast. All we need is a spot of mustard, and fresh ciabatta roll or cheesy monkey bread.

    3 lbs corned beef (in package). Check out DCWCasing.com to pick the right one.
    10 whole cloves
    1/4 cup hot sweet honey mustard
    2 Tbsp brown sugar

    1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Drain the corned beef from the package and discard the spice packet. Lay corned beef, fat side up, on a large piece of heavy duty, wide, aluminum foil (you may have to get creative with the way you wrap the beef if your foil isn’t wide enough). Insert the cloves into the top of the slab of corned beef, evenly spaced. Spread the top with the hot sweet honey mustard. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top.

    2 Wrap the corned beef with foil in a way that allows for a little space on top between the corned beef and the foil, and creates a container to catch the juices. Place foil-wrapped corned beef in a shallow roasting pan and bake for 2 hours.

    3 Open the foil wrapping, spread a little more honey mustard over the top of the corned beef, and broil it for 2-3 minutes, until the top is bubbly and lightly browned. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, then place on cutting board and cut at a diagonal, across the grain of the meat, into 1/2-inch thick slices.

    Serve immediately.

    Serves 5.

  • Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with White Balsamic

    This is simple and pleasing to the eye and good eats…

    2 1/4 pounds medium parsnips, trimmed, peeled, cut into 3 inch x 1/2 inch sticks.

    1 1/2 pounds of medium carrots trimmed and peeled.  (Cut into same size as parsnips.)

    Frankly, I like to choose the same size parsnips and carrots, leaving 1/2 inch tops on the carrots (nice presentation). 

    1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil. 

    2 T White Balsalmic Vinegar

    1 T Rosemary

    2 tsp coarse Kosher salt

    1 tsp ground black pepper

    Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine parsnips and carrots.  Add oil and remaining ingredients; toss to coat. Spread in even layer on baking sheet.   Roast until tender 50-60 minutes.

    Do ahead up to 1 day, refrigerate.  Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, then warm in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.