Oktoberfest: Beer-Braised Vegetables

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cabbage, carrots, celery, food, foodie, Oktoberfest, onion, potatoes, recipe, side dish, vegetables

I made these veggies to go with the Hänchen Schnitzel last night. The sun sets earlier, so I couldn’t get a very good pic for my daylight was gone! At least Oktoberfest helps ease the transition into longer nights and shorter days.

Oktoberfest: Beer-Braised Vegetables

Beer-Braised Vegetables Ingredients:

4 potatoes, 2 handfuls baby carrots, 4 celery stalks, 1 sweet white onion, 12 oz. to 24 oz. of beer (I use Franziskaner hefeweiss), fresh dill weed, fresh cracked-black pepper, fresh-ground sea salt

Beer-Braised Vegetables Directions:
Heat pan over medium heat. Cube, cut, slice veggies and put into hot pan. Stir constantly, as vegetables brown. Add in beer, dill, salt and pepper and stir. Cover and allow to simmer until vegetable are tender. Remove from heat and serve hot!

Any medley of vegetables could work for this dish, have fun with variations… I sometimes add cabbage and a golden apple.

*Drain juices and reserve to make a hefeweiss pan gravy.

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Sunday Seeds & Sprouts 2012: Week 2

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celery, frugal gardening, gardening, green onions, kitchen garden, scallions, seedlings, seeds, sustainable living

It’s all over Pinterest: every blog telling you how easy it is to start celery and green onions from their ends. And it is easy. This was another “experiment” we used to do as kids. No matter whose directions you follow, please, please, please remember to use only organic celery. This veggie is at the top of the dirty dozen.

This weekend we started celery in a small plant saucer, since it was a bit deeper than the saucers in our dish set. We also started the scallions (or some people call green onions) in a jar. Look at the roots!

Organic Celery and Scallions Started

Also in our window sill garden: Pumpkin is still amazed by the fact that the sweet potato is all roots and only has two small dots are emerging from the top, while the potato is all plant and no roots.

Friday night we sprayed the seeds we planted last week. On Saturday Pumpkin noticed the tomato seedlings popping up from the soil. He was amazed that a plant could grow two inches over night. We’re patiently waiting for the peppers to emerge.

The Tomatoes Emerge

Another highlight of weekend garden preparation is purchasing a stainless steel compost pail (with charcoal filter, so no odors escape) for my kitchen. No sense running out to the compost bins each time I have a handful! Now the waste is hidden in a sleek container I keep next to the sink, so Hubster doesn’t accidentally throw the egg shells down the garbage disposal.

Week 1: Tomatoes, Peppers, Sweet Potatoes & Potatoes

Did you start any new seeds/plants this week? What other preparations did you make for your garden?

Hubster’s Beef Stew

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beef, beef stew, carrots, celery, crock pot, dinner, food, hearty meal, lunch, meat & potatoes, meat and potatoes, postaday2011, potatoes, recipe, shallots, slow cooker, supper

Monday… does anyone really love Monday? I don’t and especially after DST Spring ahead… Tonight, I needed to whip Hubster up something hearty, simple and easy. Once again, something I could just prep and forget… This is personally my busiest month at work.

Hubster's Beef Stew

 

Ingredients:
cubed steak, 2 shallots, 2 Tbsp. butter, 4 cubed potatoes, 5 sliced carrots, 1 bunch celery (chopped), 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp. celery seed, 1 tsp. mustard seed, 2 c. white wine, water, fresh cracked black pepper, fresh ground sea salt.

Directions:
Melt butter in stock pot, add shallots and meat and brown. Add wine, bay leaves, celery seed and mustard seed, bring to a boil. Add potatoes, carrots, celery, salt pepper and cover with water. Place lid on pot and simmer for a few hours. Discard bay leaves. Serve hot.

Hubster doesn’t like gravy in his stew, but you can take the broth and thicken it with cornstarch or flour.

Tonight, my meat & potatoes man had his meat & potatoes and ate it too…
Serve over alone, over rice, with biscuits or bread. Hubster had his stew with a big chunk of Irish Soda Bread. I used a semi-sweet whit table wine for this recipe.

What are Mondays like for you?

Minestrone

Tags

carrots, celery, Garbanzo beans, minestrone, recipe, red kidney beans, shell pasta, soup, tomatoes, vegetable soup, vegetarian, vegetarian recipe, vegetarian soup, zucchini

Hubster asks how can I eat hot soup in the summer? With fresh vegetables at fingertips length, how can you not make a minestrone?

The zucchini was fresh from my neighbor’s garden.

Minestrone

Ingredients:
2 zucchini, 4 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 3 tomatoes, 2 c. dark red kidney beans, 2 c. garbanzo beans, 1 bag fresh spinach, 2, Tbsp., butter, 3 Tbsp. minced onions, 1 tsp. dried sage, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp. thyme, pepper, salt, 1/2 lb. small shells, 6 c. water

Directions:
Dice the tomatoes, chop celery and slice carrots. Sauteé vegetables with butter. Add minced onions, herbs, bay leaves, salt, pepper and water and bring to a boil. Cut zucchini into half moons. Remove bay leaves and add zucchini and spinach to soup and continue to slowly boil until zucchini is tender. Add beans and pasta and boil for 10 minutes.

Top with fresh grated pecorino romano cheese and serve hot.

Serve with homemade crackers or bread. Mmm…

What hot dishes do you still like to enjoy during the summer?

Chicken Pot Pie

Tags

carrot, celery, chicken, chicken breast, chicken stew, corn, crust, dinner, dinner recipe, dough, lunch, lunch recipe, pie crust, pot pie, potato, recipe, rosemary, rosemary pie crust, savory pie crust, wheat germ

Yesterday, I had my nieces help me with dinner. I forgot how much longer it can take to make something, when you have kids doing it for the first time. While I made the filling, I talked them through making the dough. They each made enough dough for several pot pies, measuring, mixing and rolling it out. These are not exact measurements, I definitely estimated for the filling. The dough had more precise measurements.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. chicken breasts, 2 large potatoes, 2 carrots, 3 stalked celery, 2 c. corn, 2 Tbsp. minced onions, 1 tsp. ground cumin, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. celery seed, 3 Tbsp. butter, 3 Tbsp. flour, 3 c. water, cooking wine, 2 bay leaves,  2 c. milk, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper.

Filling Directions:
Cube chicken. Over medium heat melt butter, added cumin, paprika and minced onions. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan. Chop celery, carrots and potatoes. Add vegetables, water, wine, celery seeds and bay leaves to frying pan, cover and reduce heat. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaves. Return chicken to pan, add milk, flour, salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Dough Ingredients:
3 c. flour, 1/2 c. wheat germ, 1 c. butter, 1/2 c. vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp. rosemary, 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. water.

Dough Directions:
Mix ingredients together. Chill for two hours. Roll dough on a floured surface. Cut six smaller circles for the top crust and 6 larger circles for the bottom crusts.

Pot Pie Directions:
Preheat oven 350°F. Press large dough circle to bottom and sides of each dish. Scoop filling into dish and place smaller dough circle on top. Press seams together. Beat an egg and brush egg over top crust, cut a small slit in top of the crust. Bake on a tray for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

My nieces worked really well in the kitchen, I am impressed with their developing culinary skills (they seemed to enjoy getting their hands messy in the dough).

*I didn’t have any cooking wine on hand, I used the only open bottle of wine I had, Hazlitt’s Red Cat.

This recipe would work well with beef as well. Any combination of you favorite vegetables would work well.

What do you do with teens in the kitchen?