TAILGATING TIME 2.0

IT’S OFFICIAL – FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!
We have decided to make a change this year in the way Tailgating Time will work. Instead of a new linky for each week we will be using the same linky to keep all the great recipes in one place. This will provide easy access to the recipes and create one big awesome recipe index collection. There is no limit to how many you add – of course we hope you will add a new recipe each and every week! Tailgating Time will generally be posted each week on Sundays at noon.

It doesn’t matter if you are a football fan or not, great party food is always a good thing. Bring over your grilled goods, chips and dips, appetizers, chili and chowders, cocktails, or any recipes that would be great for the football party buffet!

If any of you would like to host along with us you can click –> get the InLinkz code to add the linky to your blog too. You can post it once in awhile or every week during football season, that’s up to you. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment here to let us know you are co-hosting, and that you visit and comment on as many of the participants as you can. 
 
 We can’t wait to see what you will bring to the party. Let the games begin. Whoo-hoo!

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

yields 4 servings
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1/4 tablespoon salt
3/4 pound lean sirloin beef, trimmed, thinly sliced against the grain
2 teaspoon canola oil
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
5 cups broccoli, florets (about 12oz bag)
1 tablespoon ginger root, fresh, minced
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water

Directions:  On a plate, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch and salt; add beef and toss to coat.

Heat oil in a large nonstick wok or large deep skillet over medium-high heat.  Add beef and stir-fry until lightly browned, about 4 minutes; transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

Add 1/2 cup broth to same pan; stir to loosen any bits on food on bottom of pan.  Add broccoli; cover and cook, tossing occasionally and sprinkling with a tablespoon water if needed, until broccoli is almost crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.  Uncover pan and add ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes; stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a cup, stir together soy sauce, remaining 1/2 cup broth, remaining 1/2 tablespoon, cornstarch and water until blended; stir into pan.  Reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer; simmer until lightly thickened about 1 minute.

Return beef and accumulated juices to pan; toss to coat.  Serve.  Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.

Modifications:
-I also added 2 stalks of green onions and a few mushrooms.

Here’s what you’ll need:

If you are using fresh broccoli, cut up the broccoli.  Mince 1 Tbsp of fresh ginger and 2 cloves of garlic.  Trim and slice the beef.

I went ahead and added some green onions and mushrooms.
Put some cornstarch in a bowl and then toss and cover the beef.
Heat some canola oil in a wok or a pan.
Put the beef in the wok until lightly brown, around 4 minutes and then pull out and sit to the side.

Pour 1/2 cup of chicken stock in to the pan.  Stir the pan and get all of the leftover meat and crumbles.

Add the broccoli, cover for about 3 minutes until tender-crisp. (They will also turn a very bright green)
Uncover and add the ginger, garlic and any other veggies.
In a separate bowl or cup, mix 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup chicken broth and about 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch.

Mix and pour into the wok.  Let simmer and thicken just a couple of minutes.
I added some rice to the pan (see below for details) and then put the beef back in.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
I served this with one of those whole grain rice-in-a-bag.  I boiled them separately and then threw them in the wok at the end when the beef went back in the wok.

You could do all type of variations and add a lot more veggies.  You could buy a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, add grated carrots, or bean sprouts.

1 serving of the beef and broccoli (1 cup)=5 points
1/2 cup of the rice=4 points

Hope you enjoy!
April

MAGIC BEANS and RICE ~ Fire Day Friday

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.  

I took this on a walk at our family’s cabin in North Carolina yesterday.

These purple hull beans that we picked up at the farmers’ market aren’t really magic. They just turn color while cooking and end up looking like regular green beans. But “Beans that change color and rice” just didn’t sound that catchy.
But if you have kids and can get your hands on some purple hull or purple teepee beans, you have to show them and say you have “kitchen magic”. The purple beans will turn green in less than the first 60 seconds of boiling.
I made these to go with my barbecue chicken a while back, so this kind of counts for Fire Day Friday.
It’s ironic that I’m posting about these since they were the ONLY part of the meal not cooked on the grill.
I barbecued chicken.
I fire roasted new potatoes in garlic butter.
Alexis even baked rolls on her Big Green Egg.
Not Green Beans and Rice
  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • 1 pound purple hull beans (or substitute green beans)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 clove garlic, diced
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon oil

Instructions

    1. Cook the rice according to directions.
    2. Boil the purple or green beans about 4-5 minutes and then shock them in an ice bath to stop the cooking and preserve their color. (Chlorophyll, the pigment in green veggies is sensitive to heat and acids.  Unfortunately, there’s no saving the purple in purple hull beans, they are going to turn green when you cook them.)
    3. “French” the green beans by slicing them 3-4 times each on a sharp diagonal. Season with the salt. Toss into the rice, fluffing with a fork.
    4. Put the butter and oil in a preheated pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic until turning golden. Pour over the rice/bean mixture.

      HAPPY THANKSGIVING & OATNUT SOURDOUGH HERB DRESSING

      We hope you and yours have a wonderful, safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

      I’m sharing my family’s scratch recipe for my Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing. My brother has been after me for years to always make it the same way dad always did (tradition) and write it down, so this one is for him and to see if he really does read my blog! LOL! We use this recipe for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and I always make enough to freeze for weekday meals too. It’s a great way to use up stale bread. Sometimes I will collect the stale bread into a wrapper in the freezer until I have enough to make a large batch.
      Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing
      10 slices Brownberry or Oroweat OATNUT bread, cut intobite size chunks
      1/2 loaf sourdough French bread, cut into bite size chunks
      1 large sweet onion, chopped fine
      1 small bunch celery (leaves and all), chopped fine
      1/2 bag baby carrots, chopped fine
      1 box mushrooms, chopped fine
      1 tablespoon sea salt
      1 tablespoon white pepper
      2 sticks unsalted butter
      4 cups hot water
      2 tablespoons Better than Bouillon Chicken base
      2 tablespoons Buttery Herb & Garlic Mix (I believe McCormick makes it)
      4 cloves garlic, minced


      • Cut bread into bite sized chunks and spread out in a thin layer over cookie sheets.
      • Bake at 200 degrees for 3-4 hours until pieces are actually hard.
      • Chop all the vegetables.
      • In a large cast iron pan melt 1/4 cup of the butter.
      • Add the onions and saute until translucent. The add the celery and carrots and continue sauteing until crisp tender. Add the garlic last as it will burn first.
      • Whisk together the water, better than bouillon chicken base and all of the seasonings.
      • Add the melted butter.
      • In a large pan toss the bread slices together.
      • Add the sauteed vegetables and toss again.
      • Add the liquid mixture and toss again until well absorbed.
      • Fold entire mixture into at least a 9×13 baking dish.
      • Bake uncovered 1 hour.
      • At this point I use a small portion for our dinner that night and freeze the rest.
      • When it’s time to cook it again, I defrost it, put it back in the same baking dish and bake it again, but this time covered with foil until the last 15 minutes so it doesn’t dry out. We like it crisp on top so I remove the foil the last 15 minutes. 

      HAPPY THANKSGIVING

      I hope you and yours have a VERY wonderful, safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
      Now because it is Thanksgiving and everyone is sooooooooooooooooo busy this time of year I invite all my readers that want to participate to consider themselves tagged! Be sure and leave me a message so I can come read your answers!  I did this a couple of years ago and we had a lot of fun with it!

      Now on to the FUN!!

      1. Which do you like better: hosting Thanksgiving at your home, or going elsewhere?

      Years ago I somehow ended up hosting for my family and that became tradition. I think I prefer it, but we have had many wonderful Thanksgivings elsewhere. Last year was at my sis-in-laws and 2 years before that at her DIL’s and while were both wonderful, they were much different from having had it here.

      2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free-range?

      Depends on what is available in the small town neck of the woods. I don’t care whether it is frozen or fresh per se, but do want a free range one.

      3. Do you make stuffing or dressing? What kind?
      Absolutely make it from scratch! It’s an Oatnut Sourdough Herb Stuffing.

      4. Sweet potato pie or Pumpkin pie?
      Neither, it’s Pumpkin Cheesecake here.

      5. Are leftovers a blessing or a curse?
      Definitely a blessing. We love the leftovers for easy meals the following week and MUST HAVE turkey sandwiches.

      6. What side dishes are a must-have in your family?
      Oatnut Sourdough Herb Stuffing, Apricot Carrot Casserole and Baked Pineapple.

      7. What do you wish you had that might make Thanksgiving easier?
      A double wall oven would be easier on my back.

      8. If/when you go to someone else’s house for the holiday, do you usually bring a dish? If so, what is it? My Apricot Carrot Casserole because it is so different and blends well with whatever their menu is.

      9. What do you wish one of your guests would bring to your house?
      Smiles, appetites and positive attitudes.

      10. What do you wish one of your guests would NOT bring to your house?
      Bad attitudes coupled with deep seated arguments over politics and/or religion.

      11. Do you stick with a particular menu from year to year, or do you mix it up?

      While I do try to mix-it up now and then, a lynch mob quickly forms if I don’t keep it pretty close to what it has always been. For Christmas I have been able to mix it up better as it is also our youngest son’s birthday. He gets to pick the basic meat and then everyone else gets to pick a favorite to go with it and that has become our tradition since.

      12. Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday in your home?

      It is a beautiful melding of both. We celebrate the pilgrimage with the influence God has always had on it.

      13. Share one Thanksgiving tradition.
      The Thanksgiving traditions in my family seemed to dwindle as the kids grew older and then the extended families and alternate get togethers grew. We do have a traditional meal with the same traditional recipes we have always used though.

      14. Share one Thanksgiving memory.

      As for disaster, it seems that in my parent’s house it always happened on Thanksgiving and usually involved the garbage disposal backing up and creating a HUGE mess. One year in particular it was really bad! So bad we couldn’t even have people over. My grandparents only lived a few blocks away. Long story short, grandpa brought their red Chevy station wagon over to our house with and old quilt spread out in the back and the adults loaded all the food there. My uncle and I rode in the back to keep all the bowls and pans from tilting over. While grandpa had been at our house, grandma had set the table at their house. All the food was unloaded from the station wagon and the preparation continued in grandma’s kitchen. It was one of the more memorable Thanksgivings I can remember.

      15. Name five things you’re thankful for.

      1. My Faith and love of God
      2. The love of family and friends
      3. A roof over our heads
      4. Food on the table and Dirty Dishes
      5. Babies & Puppies

      Bean & Sausage Cassoulet

      I’ve already made this twice.  It was that good. It’s on the higher side of calories per portion but it was super filling.  It was wonderful to have this is the refrigerator for lunches all week.

      I don’t cook with sausage too often but I happened to have 2 packages of sausages.  Which is why I ended up making this twice.  I could probably drop the calories by adding chicken instead but the sausage was SOOOO good!  I also loved the slight tang from the red wine.  You could use beef broth but I encourage the red wine as it tasted wonderful!

      Bean and Sausage Cassoulet Recipe

      1 (15 oz) can of black beans
      1 (15 oz) can of white beans
      1 (15 oz) can of red kidney beans
      1 lb. turkey sausage, diagonally sliced
      1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
      3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
      1 large onion, sliced into rings
      1/2 cup dry red wine or beef broth
      2 tbsp. brown sugar
      1 1/2 tsp. thyme
      3 cloves garlic, minced

      Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients in an ungreased 3 qt. casserole dish. Cover and bake until carrots are tender, about 1 hour or until hot and bubbly. 

      Total calories = 3320 calories
      8 servings = 415 calories per serving