Roasted Carrots

It's embarrassing that it's taken me three months to post a recipe as easy as this.

Roasted Carrots
From America's Test Kitchen

1.5 lbs carrots, peeled, halved crosswise, and cut length wise to make even pieces
2 T melted butter
Salt and pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. In large bowl, combine carrots with butter, 1/2 t salt, and 1/4 t pepper; toss to coat. Transfer to foil lined baking sheet and spread in single layer.
2. Cover baking baking sheet tightly with foil and cook for 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook, stirring twice, until carrots are well browned and tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to serving platter, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

We love this and make it frequently.  I can't handle too many boiled carrots,  but these are fine. One note though-- don't use baby carrots, they don't taste as good.

Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini

I was hoping fall cool weather, and thought making soup would encourage it to come quicker.

1 lb. sweet Italian sauage, casings removed

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 cups beef broth

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup red wine

4 large tomatoes-peeled, seeded and chopped

1 cup thinky sliced carrots

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1 (8 oz) can tomatoe sauce

1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini

8 oz fresh tortellini pasta

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a 5 quart Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove sausage and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings.

2. Saute onions and garlic in drippings. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

3. skim fat from the soup. Stir in zucchini and parsley. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving.

We really liked this soup. The kid Chubbs gobbled it up. Big Chubb said that this soup was just like what he ate in Italy which means it must be good. The only thing that I would change about this recipe was the zucchini. I don't particularly care for boiled zucchini.

Here is a good substitute for red wine: beef broth plus a little vinegar, red wine preferably. 

Mom's Stew

The scouts went camping last weekend and had a dutch oven cook off. Big Chubb was assigned to make some stew, so I decided this would be a good chance to use this recipe. I ended up making it because Big Chubb had less than an hour between when he got home from school and when he had to leave to go meet at the church. We don't eat stew often because we never have beef. I used some of the venison Dad gave us at Thanksgiving. Plus, if it turned out gross the scouts would be eating it.

I'm not sure which Mom this belongs to, but I don't feel like we ever had stew like this.

Mom's Stew

2 pkg. stew meat
1 green pepper
1 onion
celery
potatoes-4 big
carrots-6 good size
tomato sauce (big) 29 oz.
1 can water
salt
pepper
6 TBLS tapioca
2 bay leaves

Put in lg. casserole. Stir to mix. Cook 5 hours without opening lid. 350 degree oven. Makes a lot!

So it would have been fairly easy to assemble, but we don't have a huge casserole. And, I wasn't about to clean out the dutch oven Big Chubb got from church. So I used our huge stock pot. It seemed to work fine. It started getting stuck to the bottom of the pan, but it was right when Big Chubb was moving over to the Dutch oven to take it, so it didn't get burned. I also had to cut up the venison, which took for ever. Plus, Baby Chubb was screaming at me the whole time, and Little Chubb had been sent to take a nap for being naughty. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Anyway, it was well received by the campers. The leaders all enjoyed it, and some of the scouts (all deacons) who poorly planned their meals were very happy to have some. Big Chubb said it had a very tomato-y base, not like a regular stew that has a much more beefy base. I had forgotten that we were out of celery because Big Chubb ate it all, but he said it wouldn't have changed the flavor profile much.

I forgot to snap a picture before Big Chubb took it away, but just imagine all those veggies in a red broth. It did look pretty with the green and orange and white in the red.

Carrot-Bran Muffins

I was in the mood for something special for breakfast, so I dug through my recipes and chose this one. What I really wanted was a really good coffee cake, but I felt like I needed something healthier (and faster), so I whipped up these. It's an old recipe written by Mom on an index card and taped onto a sheet of notebook paper.

Carrot-Bran Muffins

1 1/2 c whole bran cereal
1 c buttermilk
1 c flour
1/4 c brown sugar, packed
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 beaten egg
1 medium carrots, finely shredded (3/4 c)
3 T cooking oil

Combine bran and buttermilk; let stand about 3 minutes. In mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Combine milk-bran, egg, carrot, and oil; add to flour all at once, stirring just til moistened. Fill greased muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 12-14 muffins.

They were very...healthy. There was just a slight hint of sweetness (Read: Add more sugar). They would also probably do well with raisins. I'm trying to increase C's fiber intake, so hopefully these help. Note: They were done in 16 minutes. 25 would have been way too long.

Roasted Carrots

This was a nice simple recipe for a side dish. I give it four and a half stars.

1 pound baby carrots
2 T olive oil
1 t house seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder)
2 T butter
2 T chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Coat carrots with olive oil. Toss with house seasoning and place in 9x13 in. roasting pan. Roast until tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and toss carrots with butter and chopped parsley. Serves 6-8.

Since we don't buy baby carrots, I peeled and cut ours, and I used dried parsley. It was still very good