As we head into the cold, winter months, cravings for our favorite comfort foods settle in. Hearty, creamy soups and casseroles are what I love to make and eat on nights like these. So what do I do now? Well… Challenge excepted! I have reinvented a few of my favorite dishes as well as tried some new ones.
Dill Pickle Humus by Bree’s Vegan Life. I love humus and have wanted to try my hand at making it for some time now. It is so easy, I can’t believe it has taken me this long to do it. As I was in the process of making this one I discovered I some how did not have any pickles. Which is unheard of, so I had to once again get creative. I may not have had pickles but I did have Dill relish. Leaving out the garlic powder, I put everything into my blender and presto! You have to love pickles for this one, I believe that the relish gave mine a more intense flavor. It was good for both tortillas chips and veggies.
This is another of those favorite family recipes, we call it Goulash. Different than the traditional goulash recipes out there, this one is made with bacon. To save my husband the torture of messing with one of his favorite dishes, I made two separate 8×8 pans instead of a 13×9. One with his noodles and one with mine. 🙂
Bowl your noodles, I would normally make like 2- 2 1/2 cups of noodles. My favorites are elbows or shells. For this one I used Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Quinoa Elbow noodles. Cook till very al dente, you don’t want them fully cooked at this point. While pasta is boiling, I chop bacon into pieces and saute until the fat is rendered. Add in chopped onions and continue cooking until soft. Drain grease. Combine pasta, bacon and onion mix with 2 cans of Tomato Sauce and 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese. Cover with foil and bake on 375 for about 30 min or until center boils. This turned out okay but the quinoa noodles have a very dominant corn flavor to them and I don’t think they were the best fit for this dish.
German Potato Soup by Ela Vegan. I subbed in shallots for the garlic but everything else was good to go. This was very good. Be careful with the nutmeg, a pinch goes a long way.
Grilled Flat Iron steak tacos. These were so good but I think I might be biased since I love tacos 😄. We marinated the steak in salt pepper worcestershire and Traeger Beef Rub for a couple hours. Smoked it for 30 minutes before grilling it to finish off.
I kept these super simple with just tomatoes, cheddar cheese, lettuce, cocnut sour cream, and Cholula.
Slow Cooker Potatoes, Cabbage, and Kielbasa by The Magical Slow Cooker. I used Vegetable broth instead of Chicken. I did not put in cayenne pepper but when I dished up I added Cajun seasoning. I love the combination of kielbasa and Cajun seasoning! This is a new favorite now, it really hit that comfort food spot for me.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins by Slender Kitchen. I substituted aquafaba (garbanzo bean liquid) for the eggs, coconut milk for the almond milk, I used nutmeg instead of the pumpkin pie spice and dairy free chocolate chips. It didn’t specify what kind of oats to use and I only had quick oats so that is what I used. These are great for mornings, they tasted like eating pumpkin oatmeal 🙂. The oats got really soft so I would recommend using rolled oats instead. I would also say that mashed bananas would have been good to use for the eggs as well.
Leftover steak salad. I love using using leftover meat and making salads for lunch. This was just a grilled steak that I had in the refrigerator and sliced it thin. Added it to Romaine, carrots, broccoli, and peperoncinis. Dressed with balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.
Beef Stew is one of our favorite winter dishes. The most important ingredient in this is of course the beef. I never like to use the precut “stew meat” from the store. They always use the scraps and crappy pieces left over, full of sinew and chewy. We choose a good looking roast and cut it up ourselves. Carrots, celery, onions, we used shallots this time instead of garlic. Put it all in the slow cooker, add half a can of tomato paste, 3 cups beef broth and salt and pepper.
Grilled Sea Bass with Balsamic Spinach and Mushrooms by Served From Scratch. The Sea Bass I just seasoned with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning and grilled on the Traeger. For the spinach and mushrooms, I substituted shallots for garlic. I did not measure out the balsamic but eyeballed it and I think I put a little too much. It was still really good though and went well with the fish.
Hamburger Steak with mushroom gravy, fried potatoes and romaine. I season the ground beef with Weber Steak N’ Chop Seasoning and worcestershire sauce, mix well and form into patties. I pan cooked these till cooked through, set aside. In the same pan, add chopped mushrooms and onions, saute until soft. I added beef broth to deglaze the pan, scraping up any fond bits. Simmer until reduced down and slightly thickened. Spoon this on top of the hamburger. I served this with just simple fried potatoes and romaine lettuce. I was being lazy and didn’t want to make a full salad. Just throw on a little balsamic and its good to go!
Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Avocado Lime Sauce by Food Love. These vegetarian tacos are fantastic! My husband was very leary about them at first, as he is a meat guy, but he was pleasantly surprised. Starting with the Best Ever Mexican Black Beans. I did not fry my tacos like directed, I just made them like I normally do. Added cheese, lettuce, coconut sour cream, Cholula, lime, and the Avocado Lime Sauce.
Spinach Artichoke Humus by Darn Good Veggies. This was another super easy humus recipe and yummy. I made this as one of our Thanksgiving appetizers so I did include the garlic.
Easy Baked Italian Meatballs by The Bettered Blondie. These were marvelous and I have added them to our normal dinner carousel. I am even thinking of adding them to our spaghetti sauce. I just went the easy route this time and just used marinara from Costco. I used mild Italian sausage for the ground pork so I cut down on the Italian seasoning and left out the fennel seeds. I paired this Bionaturae Gluten Free Rice & Lentil Penne Pasta which is now my go to pasta. This is the closest one I have found to regular pasta.
I had some Slow Cooker Cuban Pork by Magic Skillet in the freezer that I took out for these beauties! Mixed it up a bit with chedsar cheese, shredded cabbage and cilantro. Topped with my coconut sour cream, the Avocado Lime sauce from earlier, lime juice and Cholula. Tasty!
I took the leftovers from the Mexican Black Beans and the Cuban Pork and made a taco salad for lunch. Just a simple one with romaine, tomatoes, corn chips, sour cream and a little salsa.
Cheesy Kielbasa, Rice, and Broccoli Skillet by Mom on Timeout. This one is so simple and easy and I love it. I first tried this recipe a year or so ago and now I do make it a bit different. I like to use brown rice instead so I find it easier to use my rice cooker. I used vegetable broth instead of chicken, left out the garlic and bell pepper this time. While the rice is cooking, I brown the Kielbasa with chopped onion. While that is cooking, I boil the broccoli in water until softened but still has a little bite to it. When the broccoli and rice are done, add to the pan with the kilebasa and onions, add in the shredded cheese. Once the cheese has melted, its ready to go!
Grilled Beef Fillet with Sauted Mushrooms and Onions. I sauted the mushrooms and onions until soft and then added a couple tsp of Coconut Aminos. This is a Soy Sauce substitute and it wasn’t bad. A little on the sweet side but not bad at all. Paired this with a nice salad.
Poor Man’s Stew by Yummy N’ Sunny. This is a really good hearty stew perfect for a good cold day. I don’t always have stew meat but I do always have ground beef on hand, makes this soup super easy to make. I did substitute shallots for the garlic. I had worried that the 2 cups of broth wouldn’t be enough but it was perfect! Everything really breaks down as it cooks and the broth thickens nicely without any flour or cornstarch needed.
