Goulash & Kale Ceaser-ish
Brown ground beef/bison/turkey with onion and garlic base. Add chopped tomatoes (optional add carrots, green peppers). Add 2-count pour of stock and let simmer while starting/finishing pasta. Remove stems of kale; chop, toss in shredded parm, one-count pour of EVOO, dash of pepper.
Meat & Roasted Veggies
Prepare any loin, roast, or steak as desired. Toss broccoli, onion, and sweet potatoes (optional add garlic cloves and any additional veggie) in EVOO, salt, and pepper. Roast in oven at 350 degrees F, tossing every 15 minutes for up to one hour.
Sausage Pasta
Cook sausages and prepare pasta. In a medium saucepan sauté one quarter onion and a couple of garlic cloves in three-count EVOO; when onion turn translucent mash in two roughly chopped tomatoes. Stir the tomato sauce in to pasta then plate. Top with sliced sausage and top with fresh cut parsley and shaved parmesan.
Meatballs & Pasta
These are a mix of veal and pork, onion, garlic, fresh herbs, and two eggs. No bread crumbs. Cooked in a cast iron then topped on pasta with leaves from a whole bunch of parsley and diced tomatoes.
Nachos!
Any dish may be created to align with an end goal. Enter: nachos! Hand pick (rather than scoop) the number of tortilla chips to suit the hand-sized portion. Cover with seasoned beef then sprinkle with freshly grated, aged cheese. Bake for 10-minutes at 400 degrees F. Top with an assortment of colorful veggies…including fermented vegetables. Enjoy!
Uncommon Nicoise Salad
Flank steak on a bed of greens (parsley, too). Hard boiled egg and avocado. Colorful veggies to accompany, plus a side of rice to achieve adding a carb-dense grain. Blue cheese and nicoise olives puts this in the nicoise salad family!
Beef Tater Scape
Cook your preferred red meat then side with mushroom scape (filed in the ‘Select’ post and a buttered baked potato. Swap horseradish or meat juices for sour cream.
Pork & Rice & Roasted Veggies
Pan-cooked pork loin prepped 4 hours ahead of time by marinating in three-count pour of white vinegar, salt, and pepper. Oven roasted veggies. Rice with chopped fennel.
Chicken Green Salad
Chicken and potato may be baked ahead of time. One baked chicken breast on a bed of greens tossed with green beans then topped with onion; baked potato on the side. Dill for the potato and salad dressed in vinegar and oil. Bite by bite the potato is forked with a slice of chicken, plus a few veggies.
Rueben Alternative
A traditional sandwich may be simply modified by swapping bread for a high-starch carbohydrate. Cauliflower is one main-stream carbohydrate alternative these days. This take swaps bread with acorn squash, which also fulfills taste to nix the secret sauce (aka thousand island). Drizzle with your choice of oil or shredded Swiss. Top with micro greens or sauerkraut.
Sweater Salad
The temp of this salad, plus variety of textures and colors feel like putting on a sweater on a cold fall day. Acorn squash, bacon, chicken, spinach, and wrist-wag of shredded, aged cheddar cheese (that melts so easily as it lays on this warm bed of tastiness). Add spices, as preferred.
Method: Bake squash; when done, cut desired portion and return to oven at 200 F degrees with all ingredients on top. Heat through to desired temp.
Big Rapids Paella
My husband named this dish because it resembles a paella in that the rice was added in dry to all the ingredients, soaking up all the flavors then cooked through after adding vegetable broth.
This has venison, yet any ground meat will do. Base fat started by cooking bacon in a oven-safe pan; set the bacon aside and poured out all but a handful of the residual bacon fat. Added diced onion, garlic, fresh and dried rosemary and thyme then sautéed until translucent. Mix in ground meat, plus a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes. Cook through until the tomatoes are soft, bursting when bruised with a wooden spatula. Then add the dry rice (I used bomba - the rice used for paella). Stir so the rice gets to know the flavors in the pan then add enough stock to cover the ingredients. Put a lid on the pan until the rice cooks through. Then crumble the bacon set aside to top on the dish, plus a few shavings of Parmesan cheese. Place in oven set at 400 F degrees for 10 minutes to crisp. Then serve!
Cauliflower Steaks
Bring a larger sized cauliflower home from the produce section, cut in ~1 inch slices then broil on low. Top with a tomato or creamy sauce (I used nutritional yeast). Then sautéed veggies (i.e. mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, onions, etc).
Open Face Italian Sandwich
Toasted bread layered with Italian sausage, tomato sauce, and hearty leafy greens - kale, spinach, mustard greens, etc. Garnish with an herb if you so desire and/or grated cheese.
Open Face Egg Sandwich
Hard boiled eggs on hand makes this a 5-minute meal. Cut open eggs over toasted bread then garnish with microgreens or a green of choice. Side of veggies then voila! A simple meal.
Salmon Quinoa MIcrogreens Bowl
Pre-prep salmon and quinoa to reduce time to 5-minutes. Pictured is broiled salmon on top of a quinoa medley mix with green onions and parsley. Add a veggie of choice (radish here), plus top with an herb or microgreens.
Grandma's Steak and Greens
A name for the familiar smothering of sautéed onions and mushrooms with tomato sauce on red meat - vacio in this picture. Pan fry a steak then top with your sautéed mixture, a side of sautéed greens and - with the theme of simplicity, a slice of toast (to sop up those juices!).
Lamb Shank. Mashed Potatoes & Caprece
Pork or lamb - a shank is a simple way to round out one serving of meat. Side of mashed potatoes. And a caprece salad. The timeliness of this dish is generally waiting for the shank to slow-cook.
Boiled Chicken & Rice Medley
Cover one whole chicken with water, a couple pinches of peppercorns, kosher salt, and herbs then bring to a boil; simmer for 45-mintues. Debone and set aside enough meat to plate. Top on a bed of rice finished with peas, green onions, and sliced carrots (we like the pickled, jarred slice carrots). Major leftovers!
Homemade Pizza
Cup 4 Cup offers an outstanding pizza mix for pizza pies. Alternatively, buy a pre-made pizza pie in the freezer section. Top with whatever you choose! A simple, more health pizza option.
Broiled Salmon & Creamy Noodle Salad
Set salmon on foil then place under the broiler on low for 15-20 minutes, until just cooked through. A meat thermometer is useful! Boil pasta then when ala dente toss in with halved cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a creamy sauce (simmer milk with a favorite cheese until the two meld together).
Savory Squash & Salmon
Squash may be cooked ahead of time - sliced or cooked whole. Salmon may be cooked preferred way - broiler, pan fry, or baked. Pan fry bacon; then sautéed onion in the bacon grease (remove a good portion of the grease…otherwise onions will be super greasy). Toss squash, onion, and bacon together then top with salmon. Garnish with a big handful of parsley, or your favorite herb.
Pork Pho What
Ramen noodles can simplify adding pasta to a dish. For the ‘Pho What’ make a vegetable soup with stock (veggies here are leek and peppers). Sautee your favorite sausage, chop, then toss in to your Pho What. Spoon over desire portion of ramen noodles.
Baked Chicken & Cole Slaw, Cornbread
Much of this may be pre-prepped (significantly reduces time!). Cornbread may be store bought, although simple to make from a dry mix. Cole slaw: half a head of cabbage, a couple of carrots, all tossed in a couple scoops of mayonnaise, 2-pour of apple cider vinegar and one scoop of dijon mustard. Bake your chicken then make your plate. Garnish, as desired (parsley here).
Steak, Salad, & Rice
This salad is heavy on the avocado and tomatoes with lime drizzled over it. Rice is sassed up with cilantro then topped with cut flat steak. A quick, yet flavorful meal (salad and rice may be pre-prepped).