2-3 turnips, peeled and sliced
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2-3 golden beets, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup celery root, peeled and cut in chunks
1 potato, cut in chunks
1 small fennel bulb, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put all vegetables in a 8x8 baking dish. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and thyme. Cover with foil and cook for 30-40 minutes.
Any combination of vegetables works.
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery. chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c. cremini or white button mushrooms, sliced
3 c. dried pasta, penne or your choice
2 cans of tuna, packed in water
2 cans semi-condensed cream of mushroom soup(I use Amy's Organic)*
1/2 c. reduced fat milk
1 c. frozen peas
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4-1/2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 c. fresh parsley,minced
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a pot of water on stove to boil for the pasta. In a large skillet, cook the onion, celery, and the garlic over medium heat until softened(about 10 minutes). Remove to a 9x13 baking dish. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook until soft. Add them to the baking dish with the other ingredients. Open the cans of tuna and add to the baking dish. Mix the milk with the cream of mushroom soup. You may not use all of this mixture. When water is boiling, salt the water and cook the pasta. Add the cooked pasta to the baking dish along with the peas( it's not necessary to thaw them unless they are very frozen). Mix up all the ingredients and then add the soup/milk mixture little by little. Again, you may not end up using all of this so just see how it looks. Add the breadcrumbs and the cheese to the top along with the parsley. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
Feel free to add broccoli to the mix or substitute it for the peas. *I prefer Amy's Organic Semi-Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup because it is lower in fat and sodium than other brands. This is an easy, healthy twist on tuna casserole.
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the dry ingredients except the brown sugar. Combine brown sugar with the egg, the pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and melted butter. Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, little by little. Blend well.
Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan with butter(or cookings pray) and flour. Pour batter into the pan and put in oven. cook for 45 minutes. Cooking times may vary with oven so check at 40 minutes with toothpick.
This is a tasty lower fat pumpkin bread recipe.
1/2 # ground sirloin
1/2 # lean ground pork
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh basil, minced
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds, minced
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes(optional)
salt and pepper
2 quarts homemade or store bought marinara sauce
1 package dry spaghetti
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients except the marinara sauce and pasta in a large bowl. Note on the fennel seed: Put it in a small skillet on stove over low heat and cook until it's aromatic. Remove to a cutting board and mince to the best of your ability. It need not be perfect. Roll the ingredients into balls(I usually get 12 or 13). Place them on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apaprt and cook for about 10 minutes, turn them and cook for 10 minutes more. Put the marinara sauce in a large pot and add the meatballs. Keep heat on low/medium and let them cook together for about 30-45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve with cooked spaghetti and top more more parsley and parmesan if you prefer.
Here is a comparative review of variouse kitchen knives that are made in Germany. We get to use a variety of knives in our home and thought that we would share some opinions of these knives with you. Most of these German kitchen knives are forged and are considered high end.
#1 Wusthof Le Cordon Bleu: Wusthof has hit a home run with these knives. They have combined the best attributes of Japanese knives with the bolsterless design and very steep angle on the edge. These knives are consequently well balanced, light and have superior sharpness. The handle design is traditional with 3 rivets that many will be accustomed to other Wusthof knives like the Classic line. This line gets a grade of A.This line was developed 2 years ago to compete with the explosion of popularity in high end Japanese kitchen knives. In fact, Henckels manufactures these knives in Japan. The blade is as sharp as a scalpel. We found the Micarta handle to offer excellent ergonomics. The fit and finish overall get our highest mark. Unfortunately, these knives are also the most expensive they offer and there are a limited number of styles available. If you want a great knife from Henckels this is the line to choose. Henckels Knives are the most popular cutlery sold in the world today. It is suprising that they have gone so far to make this niche line excellent but they have. Overall we give this knife line an A-.
#3 Messermeister Meridian:
The Messermeister meridian line has several features we like in a top quality knife. First, they polish the edge which gives the knife a great aesthetic quality. Second, they use a tapered bolster which is comfortable to use against your index finger while allowing for easy re-sharpening over years of use. These are great knives and would be a fine addition to any kitchen. This line gets a B+
The Henckels Twin Select line has an all stainless steel look which we find very attractive. We found these knives to have comfortable, ergonomic, stainless steel handles. Some of our testers thought that they may be hard to grip if you have wet or greasy hands. The blade edge was very sharp but not as sharp out of the box as the Henckels Twin Cermax. We suspect that the edges were sharpened to differing angles. Also the knives have a large bolster which is common among many German knives which make the knives difficult to sharpen at the base of the blade over time. We much prefer tapered bolsters or bolsterless designs. Overall we give this knife line a B+.
#5 F Dick:
F Dick has a long and storied tradition but an unfortunate name. Their premium plus line of knives is comparable in steel quality to other more popular brands but tend to cost less money than the others. For this reason we give the nod to this brand for best buy. Also, the handles were updated 2 years ago and are slightly superior to Wusthof's Classic and Henckels Pro S lines. This line gets a B+ and our Best Buy Rating for German Knives.
#6 Wusthof Classic:
Wusthof's best selling line of knives. We like these knives very much but we think a few small changes are needed to put them near the top. We like F Dick's ergonomic handle better and Messermeister's tapered bolster. If you like Wusthof we recommend the Le Cordon Bleu line listed above. We give this line a B.
#7 Henckels Pro S:
This is Henckels best selling line. It features their famous 3 rivet handle design along with their premium forged blades and full tang. Some have criticized Henckels for welding the blade to the handle instead of the more traditional method of forging the entire knife at once. This is a cost saving method but we have never heard of anyone breaking a knife at the weld which is invisible to the user. Again we would prefer this knife to have a tapered bolster and the edge is not very steep out of the box which makes them a little less sharp than we prefer but on the flip side the edge they provide lasts a long time before you need to re-sharpen. Overall we give this line a B.
