Roasted vegetables are easy, fancy, and healthy. No matter what you make for dinner, a plate of roasted vegetables is always a good addition.

How to Roast Vegetables

Preheat your oven to the vegetable’s desired temperature (see table below).

Rinse and pat dry your favorite vegetable. Slice or chop your vegetable [...]]]> Cooking School/ Roasted Vegetables

Roasted vegetables are easy, fancy, and healthy. No matter what you make for dinner, a plate of roasted vegetables is always a good addition.

How to Roast Vegetables

Preheat your oven to the vegetable’s desired temperature (see table below).

Rinse and pat dry your favorite vegetable. Slice or chop your vegetable into manageable pieces (no bigger than an egg, no smaller than a grape).

Lightly drizzle pan of vegetables with high quality olive oil. Bake at recommended temperature for 10-15 minutes, depending on how crisp you like your vegetables.

Asparagus is roasted at 400 and goes well with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Shredded Parmesan cheese
*Lemon Juice, Olive Oil

Broccoli is roasted at 425 and goes well with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Brussel Sprouts go in at 400 and are yummy with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Pure Maple Syrup

Butternut Squash cooks at 400 and is delightful with
*Pure Maple Syrup
*Alfredo Sauce

Cauliflower likes to cook at 450 and can be bathed in
*Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Sweet Potatoes want to be baked at 375 and like
*Pure Maple Syrup

Tomatoes (cherry) are roasted at 400 and are paired well with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Fresh Mozarella and Basil

Zucchini is roasted at 450 and can be dunked in
*Tomato Sauce
*Alfredo Sauce
*Basic Vinaigrette

Becca’s Roasted Veggie Dipping Sauce
1 cup mayonaisse
fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp minced garlic
dash of salt

Peel garlic clove and cut the garlic into teeny tiny pieces. Set aside.
In mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, lemon juice (just squeeze as much lemon juice as you can out of any ‘ole lemon), minced garlic and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined. Put in a pretty bowl for people to dip their veggies in!

You have before you all of the instructions you need to make a nice dinner for your family. The recipe below is adjustable according the amount of people you will feed. You will need 12 different ingredients (well, 13 if you want to count salt and pepper as two different [...]]]> Chicken Tenders/Roasted Potatoes/Simple Green Salad

You have before you all of the instructions you need to make a nice dinner for your family. The recipe below is adjustable according the amount of people you will feed. You will need 12 different ingredients (well, 13 if you want to count salt and pepper as two different ingredients). Follow the steps below and you will impressive even the naughtiest person in your family.

What you need to make an impressive dinner for your family:
(If you are at the grocery store, this is what you need!)

1. Chicken Cutlets (or chicken tenders, 1-2 per person)
2. 1 egg
3. milk (just a splash)
4. bread crumbs
5. Spring greens salad (you need about one small handful of leaves per person)
6. olive oil
7. red wine vinegar
8. honey (just one squirt)
9. shallot (2 cloves, also known as “pink garlic”)
10. baby potatoes (3-4 potatoes per person)
11. herbs de provence
12. salt and pepper

Follow these steps in order:

Preheat the oven to 375 (for your chicken and potatoes).

1. THE POTATOES
Place your baby potatoes in a colander and wash them thoroughly. Dry those little babies, then spread them out on a cookie sheet (make sure they don’t sit on top of each other. You want one layer of potatoes). Pour 4 Tablespoons olive oil on your potatoes. With your hands, move those potatoes all around and make sure they are covered in oil. Add 2 Tablespoons of Herbes de Provence. (Herbes de Provence is a mix of dried herbs that is yummy on roasted vegetables, soups, eggs, and lots of other things. You can buy it any any grocery store.)

Put the pan of potatoes on the UPPER rack in the oven immediately, even if the oven isn’t finished preheating. The longer those potatoes have, the better! Set the timer for 15 minutes. Now, the potatoes probably won’t be done in 15 minutes, especially if the oven is still preheating. But, the timer will remind you to check on them.

(turn this page over for the chicken and the salad)

2. THE CHICKEN
Unwrap your chicken tenders, rinse them off in a colander, and pat them dry.

Pound your chicken tenders until they are nice and thin. Put all of them in a flat ziplock bag and pound them down with any can of food you can find. Just pound them until they are a little flatter than they came, but not too flat! If you pound them until they are too flat, the chicken will fall apart. Gross.

Make your egg wash. Crack your egg in a bowl, add a splash of milk, and mix together with a fork until it is well combined..

Put breadcrumbs and a dash of salt and pepper in a ziplock bag. You need about ¼ cup of breadcrumbs per chicken tender.

Bread your chicken tenders by bathing them in the egg wash, then shaking them in the bag of crumbs.

Lay chicken tenders on a baking sheet and place the sheet on the LOWER rack in the oven (because the potatoes are already on the upper rack). Set the timer for 15 minutes. Bake those tenders until they are golden brown.

While your potatoes and chicken are cooking, make your salad.

3. THE SALAD
Peel 3 cloves of shallot and thinly slice them, set aside.

Make the vinaigrette. In a tall glass, combine 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, 5 Tablespoons olive oil, dash of salt, a quick squirt of honey, and sliced shallots. Stir around, quickly, with a fork. Set this aside (The shallots will soak up the mixture and people will think you are very fancy pants.)

Place the leaves in a colander and wash them thoroughly. Lightly dry them with a paper towel.

Place the leaves in a pretty bowl but don’t add the dressing yet!

Pull the potatoes out of the oven when they are easily pierced with a fork.

Pull the chicken out of the oven when you can cut through a tender and see NO pink.

Put the potatoes in a pretty bowl. Put the chicken tenders on a serving plate.

Right before everyone sits down, pour your dressing all over the salad and toss the leaves with two forks.

EAT YOUR DINNER!

Chicken with Wild Rice Soup
Winter is getting to me. Here is a soup I make when I want comfort food but don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen. Plus, my friend brought me some the other day to cheer me up and I was reminded of how much I like it. Yummy.

Chicken with Wild Rice Soup
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped onion
3 Tblsp. Butter
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
3 Tblsp. Flour
1 box of Uncle Ben’s wild rice
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

Saute celery and onions in butter, then add milk, broth, and flour.  Add 1 box Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice Original Recipe and two breasts of shredded chicken.  Heat through until rice is done. If you want a clearer soup (less rice), add more broth.

It’s 6pm and you are at a loss. I am here to help. I threw the above ingredients together and impressed my little ladies and my little man. Not included in the above picture are the ingredients I thought of at the very end, but ingredients that you can not forget. Soy sauce [...]]]>

It’s 6pm and you are at a loss. I am here to help. I threw the above ingredients together and impressed my little ladies and my little man. Not included in the above picture are the ingredients I thought of at the very end, but ingredients that you can not forget. Soy sauce and sesame oil. Enjoy.

Potsticker Soup

2 cans chicken broth
1 package of Trader Joe’s pot stickers (or count on 3 potstickers per person)
fresh broccoli, chopped to spoon friendly size
2 Tblsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add pot stickers and cook for 2 minutes. Add broccoli and cook for 3 additional minutes. Potstickers are done when they float; broccoli is done when it is barely crisp. Once you see one or two potstickers reach the surface (indicating they are done), add your fresh broccoli and only boil 3 more minutes. Don’t overcook the broccoli. You will regret it.)

Ravioli with Simmered Tomatoes
1. In medium saucepan add 2 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 small diced onion, [...]]]> December weeknights are tricky. You want something warm and yummy but you have no bandwidth, given that you are wrapping, baking, shopping, and doing who-knows-what-else all day. Here is the first of a few shortcuts I use.

Ravioli with Simmered Tomatoes
1. In medium saucepan add 2 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 small diced onion, and one clove garlic, minced.
2. Once garlic and onion are simmering, add one 14 oz call diced tomatoes, drained. (add two cans if you are feeding more than 4 people).
3. Let tomato and onion mixture simmer while you prepare raviolis.
1. Boil water in large pot, add 2 cups chicken broth.
2. Cook frozen raviolis (Costco sells high quality frozen ravioli). Raviolis are finished once they float to the top.

Spoon simmered tomatoes over cooked raviolis. Top with grated parmesan or pecoreno romano. Add crusty bread. Enjoy while you watch the snow fall.

Sometimes. Just sometimes, I hit the ball out of the park. And friends, I hit the ball out of the park when I make bruschetta. Instructions below.

Becca’s Bruschetta

4-5 fresh tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes
fresh basil, cut
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic [...]]]>

Sometimes. Just sometimes, I hit the ball out of the park. And friends, I hit the ball out of the park when I make bruschetta. Instructions below.

Becca’s Bruschetta

4-5 fresh tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes
fresh basil, cut
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
salt to taste

crusty bread (I’ll keep it real here and tell you I use Costco baguettes. I buy them, freeze them, and thaw them when I need some decent bread)
More olive oil

Dice tomatoes and combine with garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Toss together and set aside.
Slice bread in 1/2″ thick slices. Using pastry brush, brush each slice of bread with olive oil. Brush both sides.
In largest fry pan, toast bread slices over medium heat (with additional olive oil in pan, just enough to cover surface).

When pieces are adequately browned, top with bruschetta tomato mixture and serve immediately.

Tonight we are having friends over for Minestrone Salad with Grilled Sausage and Arugula Pesto. This is one of my favorite summertime menus. I make the salad and pesto in the morning, clean my house like a madwoman in the afternoon, then grill the sausage on the deck [...]]]> Originally posted June 12th, 2009

Tonight we are having friends over for Minestrone Salad with Grilled Sausage and Arugula Pesto. This is one of my favorite summertime menus. I make the salad and pesto in the morning, clean my house like a madwoman in the afternoon, then grill the sausage on the deck in the evening. People rave about this meal. Do yourself a favor and try it.