ON THE MENU MONDAY~ Week of November 7, 2011

StoneGable's Constructed Pear Salad, Click HERE for recipe and how-to's

If you live in my neck of the woods, the nip in the air is exhilarating! Fresh and clean... and the kind of chill that makes you want to run for a big sweater or a tartan throw. Chilly but not bitter cold yet!

I LOVE November! Even though the peak color is all but faded, the view from the porch is golden and subtle and the farmland aged to a perfect earthy brown.

Yesterday a huge doe walked along our property line looking for the last kernels of corn from the harvested field. She was magnificent! Just like the landscape around her! Quiet and tentative and a wondrous sight!

When the weather makes it's final turn towards frost and flurries I usually bring in the porch and patio furniture. But not this year... I saw a show about Scandinavia and saw happy people bundled up in scarves and sweaters with lap blankets sipping cofffee in the sunny, yet cold outdoors. It looked marvelous to me. So I am putting the tartan's on the porch rockers and taking coffee there... and taking in November and all it has to offer.



Now here's what's on the Menu...

MONDAY~ SLOW COOKER DAY
Southwest  Steak Tacos
Refried Beans
Coslaw

Recipe: Slow Cooker Southwest Steak Tacos
All I can say is OLE" and these are sooooo delicious!
1 lb flank steak
1 cup pale ale ( I have a stout beer)
Juice from 1/2 orange
Juice from a lime
salt and pepper
8 (6 inch) flour tortilla
salsa
sour cream
Combine steak, ale, orange juice, salt and pepper, in a slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or 4-5 on high.
At the end of cooking time, transfer steak to cutting board and shred with 2 forks. Discard all but 4 TBS cooking liquid. Add shredded steak and mix.
Soften tortillas and top each with steak. Roll up and top with salsa and sour cream.


TUESDAY
Grilled Planked Salmon
Tasty Taters
Sweet Pickled Beet, Carrot and Apple  Salad


Recipe: Tasty Taters
4 Baking Potatoes
2 sticks butter
1-2 onions, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
Aluminum foil


Preheat oven 400 to degrees. Scrub baking potatoes. Place potato horizontally on a cutting board and make 5 evenly spaced cuts in the potato almost all the way through ( If you cut it through, don't worry, just stick it together when you wrap it). The potato will fan out slightly.  Slice all 4 potatoes.


Place a thinly sliced onion and a pat of butter (aprox. 1 tsps.) in each slit in the potato. Onion will stick out of the potato. Salt and pepper potato.
Wrap securely in aluminum foil. Put potatoes on baking sheet and bake until done, approximately 50-60 minutes. Potato should be fork tender.
Serve with foil intact and take off foil just before eating. 
Printable Recipe

Recipe: Pickled Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad
I use my canned pickled beets. They have a hint of clove! Store bought pickled beets work well too!
1 cup jarred pickled beets, drained
1 cup shredded carrots ( from bag)
2 apples, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup poppyseed dressing ( I use Brianna's, it's so delicious I don't make homemade)

In larger jar or bowl, add 2 TBS of honey to pickled beets and juice and let sit for 2-24 hours in refrigerator.
Drain and cut into matchsticks. Place in bowl.
Add all ingredients and gently stir. Serve immediately.
Printable Recipe

WEDNESDAY
Grilled Ham Steak With Apples And Pears
Sauteed Green Beans In Garlic Oil

photo credit

Recipe: Grilled Ham Steak With Apples And Pears
Doesn't this recipe sound luscious? Ham steaks are wonderfully full of flavor and just so easy to prepare! This one comes from Cozy Home Scenes. Click HERE for this quick and scrumptious meal!

THURSDAY

Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken With A StoneGable Twist
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Root Vegetables
Pan Sauce 

Recipe: Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken With A StoneGable Twist
This is a delicious herbed infused chicken that is easy and so company worthy! I usually make 2 chickens and freeze the meat of 1 for other meals. When I cook 2 chickens I have enough carcass, skin and wings to make an incredible slow cooker chicken stock. This recipe gives us a BIG bang for our grocery buck! To see recipe and a tutorial full of easy to follow pictures, click HERE.

FRIDAY
Chip Chicken Tenders
Oven Fries
Roasted Broccoli With Garlic

photo credit

Recipe: Chip Chicken Tenders
Oh my chip-lovin'-stars! This recipe is not only for kids, but for anyone who wants to indulge their crunchy, delicious, yummy, spicy side! Chips are such a guilty pleasure for me! I cannot keep them in the house. I could easily eat a whole BIG bag all by myself. When I saw this recipe from Hanna at HANNAH'S NEST I knew I was going to make it, FOR SURE! Thanks Hanna for making me so happy!

Recipe: Oven Fries
4 large baking potatoes, cut into thin strips (I use a Mandolin)
2 tsp veggie oil
garlic salt 
pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mop up moisture from potatoes using a paper towel.  Toss potatoes with veggie oil, a dash of garlic salt and pepper.

Spray large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and put potatoes in a single layer on sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, turning a couple of times. They should be golden brown and cooked through. 

SG TIP: I make this same recipe using Sweet Potatoes for my son. Omit the garlic salt. Use kosher salt.
Printable Recipe

SATURDAY
Lobster Ravioli In  Vodka Sauce
StoneGable Ceasar Salad

Recipe: Lobster Ravioli In Vodka Sauce
This is an easy and beautiful meal!
This is an easy sauce to make if you start with a good marinara sauce from your favorite grocer's!
Store bought lobster ravioli (or any good ravioli)
1~ 32 oz. favorite good marinara sauce
2/3 cup Vodka (or wine)
1/2 cup heavy cream'
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
pepper
2 TBS chopped fresh basil

Cook ravioli according to package directions. Drain and put in a large serving bowl.

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan over medium heat cook marinara sauce and vodka until it reduces by 1/4, about 15 minutes.

Add heavy cream and stir well. Continue to cook until hot. Add Parmesan cheese until melted. Pepper to taste.  Garnish with chopped basil.

Recipe: The best Ceasar Salad In The World! Not Bragging.... Just Fact!
This is the ONLY Ceasar salad recipe you will ever need! It is one of StoneGable's all time favorite recipes!
Click HERE for the recipe and a tutorial with easy to follow pictures!

SUNDAY~ SLOW COOKER SOUP DAY

Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
Crusty Bread 

Recipe: Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
This takes a little work up front, but it is sooooo worth it! This recipe will make you very popular with all who eat it!
8 large yellow onions, Make sure to use YELLOW ONIONS, peeled, sliced in thin half-moons
2 TBS olive oil
2TBS butter
1 1/2 TBS  sugar
1 1/2 TBS salt
3 cans Campbell's Double Strength Beef Broth
32 oz. chicken broth
1/2 cup good white wine, dry sherry or Marsala 
1 dried bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme, tied with kitchen twine
1tsp pepper
1 baguette, cut into 1/2 thick slices
1/2 shredded Gruyere cheese for EACH serving


Combine oil and butter in a frying pan and put all 8 cups of onions in pan.  Add sugar and salt and toss to coat.  Cook onions on medium low heat for 40 minutes to 1 hour stirring occasionally. They will cook down to a fraction of their former volume and most of the liquid will evaporate.  You can do this step ahead, and put in refrigerator until you are ready to make soup.


Add onions to slow cooker. Add broth, wine, bay leaf and thyme to slow cooker and cook for 2- 3 hours on high.


Preheat oven to 350 degree. Put baguette slices on baking sheet and toast for 15-20 minutes until dry. Increase oven temp. to 400 degrees.


Put baguette in soup bowl and ladle soup over baguette. Grate cheese on top of soup.
Put bowl on baking sheet and bake in oven until cheese is melted and brown, 10 minutes.
Printable Recipe

I am so excited to see WHAT'S ON YOUR MENU...

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