I love, love ham loaf ~ the saltiness of the ham with the luscious brown sugar and vinegar glaze... So, when I saw this recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook for ham slices, I was ready to try it, and ~ I already had slices of smoked ham in the refrigerator!
This ham is quick and easy and good as an entrée at dinner time, like I served it, or at breakfast or brunch. The sauce adds the perfect touch, complimenting the smoky taste of the ham. It’s a great way to use leftover ham from Easter!
The next time, I will serve it with a quiche or breakfast casserole and fruit salad. It will be delicious…
Ham Slices with Shallots & Vinegar
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup shallots, sliced
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
4 slices smoked ham
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Method:
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Add shallots and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add vinegar and water; cook until reduced by half.
Add ham and cook for 4 minutes or until heated through.
Remove from pan and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.
ENJOY!
Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes!
This dish incorporates foods I love ~ chicken, pasta, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and especially garlic. The aroma of the sautéing garlic is enticing!
What would we do without garlic? To me, garlic is addicting! When I eat a little, I want some more! Thankfully, for the people around me, I don’t eat it raw (yet.) Garlic has quite a reputation. It has supposedly aided everything from curing countless illnesses to warding off vampires and evil spirits. Believing garlic would increase their physical strength when building the pyramids, the Egyptians fed it to the slaves. In these times, Americans consume 300 million pounds of garlic a year! I certainly eat my share, do you?
I cook with garlic on a regular basis and probably like you; have read many times about the health benefits of garlic. It promotes the well-being of the heart and immune systems with antioxidant properties and helps maintain healthy blood circulation. Garlic is also great for your pets; cats, dogs and particularly horses should you have one. It is even effective as a natural insect repellant. And….if you are worried about vampires stalking you, relax in a “garlic delight” bubble bath!
Now, to combine garlic with chicken: this recipe I came up with is one of our favorites. The succulent chicken, pasta and garlic combination hits the spot; being a flavorful, quick dish that you will love when you try it!
Chicken with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Garlic and Vermicelli
Ingredients:
3 cups vermicelli
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 chicken breasts cut into ½” thick strips
3 shallots, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, sliced or chopped
1 ½ cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ cup low-sodium chicken broth, more if needed
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried basil
¾ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup black olives, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
Method:
Cook the vermicelli in boiling water according to directions and drain well.
Sauté chicken strips in olive oil until done. Set aside on plate.
Add shallots, mushrooms to skillet and cook until soft.
Add garlic and sauté.
Blend chicken broth, herbs, salt and pepper, tomatoes and black olives in skillet with mushroom mixture.
Simmer until broth has reduced and thickened slightly.
Combine chicken and cooked pasta in skillet with tomato mixture. Simmer on low heat until heated through.
Serve on a platter or in a bowl and top with Parmesan cheese.
How about a satisfying, enticing entrée for your family’s dinner tonight? Cube steaks are a great change of pace and the price is right for families in the present economy with sales of cube steak being up 10%, making it one of the hottest cuts of beef in the country right now.
I just really love them and was happy when Mom cooked them as I was growing up; a fast good dinner. Years later, I sautéed them in a little butter or olive oil, added some salt and pepper and dinner was ready. It is kind of like hamburger that is kicked up a notch. But, the great news is that I have got a delightful amazing ingredient that will put some zing into your cube steak. It will not be just any ordinary cube steak for you and your family!
Remember when I told you about the delicious Meijer’s Gold Garlic Parmesan Spread on January 18th? There are close to 100 products in the Meijer Gold line and all of the products have a distinctive story to tell regarding origin, such as the cream pasta sauces that are sourced from legendary Chicago restaurateurs, the Mugnolo family. The products are made with the finest ingredients at affordable prices and you should try them. It’s a wonderful thing!
And, who doesn’t love Vidalia onions? Meijer’s has done it perfectly: they’ve combined red ripe tomatoes and select spices with Vidalia onions and came up with another tasty product, Meijer Gold Vidalia Onion Steak Sauce!
The exclusive sauce is created by their chef and a renowned, family-owned Texas company to add a tangy flavor to your steak, stews, gravies or sautés.
This is the amazingly delicious ingredient in my cube steaks. The Meijer Gold Vidalia Onion Steak Sauce adds a zing to cube steak that will knock your socks off! You will love it! Please give it a try!
Tangy Cube Steak
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons, olive oil, divided
4 beef cube steaks (about 2 pounds total)
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
½ each, green and red bell peppers
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/3 cup water
½ cup red wine
1/3 cup Meijer Gold Vidalia Onion Steak Sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Method:
Place a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Place cube steaks in skillet, sprinkle salt and pepper and sear until they have a nice crust on the outside, about 3-4 minutes per side.
Remove from skillet and set aside, keeping warm.
Add one tablespoon olive oil to skillet.
Sauté mushrooms for 4 minutes until they start to turn golden.
Place peppers, shallots, garlic and water in skillet, cook until tender and water has evaporated.
In a small bowl, combine Dijon mustard, wine and Meijer Gold Vidalia Onion Steak Sauce. Pour into skillet and mix well with other ingredients.
Season with salt and pepper.
Return cube steak to skillet with sauce.
Cook down until the liquid reduces by half, a minute or two.
Transfer cube steaks to a serving platter.
Spoon the sauce over cube steaks and serve.
Incredibly delicious and a dish you will love!!!
Pam’s note: Not only does the Meijer Gold Vidalia Onion Steak Sauce taste amazing on cube steak, it jazzes up hamburgers to the max! Ummm! Ummm!
Disclaimer: This product was provided in a gift basket from Meijer Stores for my utilization. Thanks again to Meijer’s!!!
Not only can Kathy, Matt’s girlfriend, make gorgeous flower arrangements (Nov. 28 post), she's a great cook also!
She prepared this delicious dish for our Thanksgiving dinner and it was an instant hit so I just had to make it myself.
You know how green beans always make an appearance on the holiday table with the ubiquitous mushroom soup and onion rings? Although being tasty, it is a creamy rich dish, high in calories. Well, this recipe is an up-graded green bean recipe taking them to a higher level. Roasting the green beans and shallots with a little olive oil, pine nuts and salt and pepper is an excellent way to amplify their flavor without adding a lot of extra calories.
After tasting it, this dish is now my favorite way to prepare green beans! It’s amazing how the ingredients all come together, rendering it absolutely delicious. The oven roasting makes it extra flavorful and is an amazing alternative to a casserole or steaming the green beans. Roasting the shallots gives it a caramelized flavor and the pine nuts top it off in a grand delicious way.
Thanks, Kathy, it's an excellent side dish!
Roasted Green Beans & Shallots
Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds fresh green beans
2 large shallots, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pine nuts (as many as you wish….Kathy uses ¼ cup toasted, so do I)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place green beans, shallots, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Spread evenly on baking sheet (use two if necessary). Bake for 15 minutes.
Stir beans, return to oven for 15 additional minutes. Check on them and see how they look. Roast them longer if you like.
Put pine nuts in small pan and toast on medium heat for a few minutes. Watch carefully because they will brown quickly. Toast evenly.
Transfer green beans to a serving dish and spread toasted pine nuts on top.
With the holiday baking beginning, it’s a great time for a light entrée. Orange roughy is a wonderful sweet fish that’s low in fat, has firm white flesh with a mild flavor and was virtually unknown until 1975 when it was discovered in deep waters off New Zealand. It became a hit at the fish markets almost instantly and an industry quickly established itself. It’s available year round.
The secret to cooking orange roughy is not overcooking it, which makes it tough. When done, its flesh is opaque and the inside is moist. Since it is not an oily fish, it is best to add butter or olive oil when cooking it. Orange roughy is a versatile fish that lends itself to a wide variety of preparation methods. The following recipe of mine is a favorite of ours; light, very easy to prepare and good. Serve with your favorite side dish and you will have a delicious dinner!
Orange Roughy in Garlic Butter Sauce
Ingredients:
4 (6 ounce) orange roughy filets,
4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
2 shallots, chopped finely
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (10 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained well
salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
Method:
Melt butter in micro, add olive oil and chopped garlic and shallots.
Place orange roughy in 13” x 9” baking dish.
Place mushrooms on top.
Drizzle butter mixture over top.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over all.
Spread chopped parsley.
Top with paprika.
Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until done. Fish should flake easily.
Transfer to serving plate, spoon mushrooms over top, serve immediately.
American pilaf’s originated in the South. Rice pilaf is different from ordinary steamed or boiled rice in that the pilaf’s rice is cooked in butter or oil first, which makes the grains begin to swell. The liquid added is not plain water, but a flavorful liquid such as vegetable or chicken stock, which along with seasonings, adds richness to the rice.
Rice pilaf is a great dish with lots of flavor when you want more than just regular rice and the addition of dried cranberries makes it a winner. It would work just as well with dried cherries, raisins or apricots.
This recipe takes rice to a new level and is a wonderful side dish for your holiday table. It will go with any meat or seafood and is a great alternative to potatoes; you will love the aroma of it!
Cranberry Rice Pilaf
Ingredients:
2 cps. vegetable or chicken stock
1 T. butter
½ T. olive oil
1 or 2 large shallots, minced
1 c. wild rice
8 ounces sliced mushrooms 1/3 c. dried cranberries
1/8 t. dried thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 c. flat leaf parsley, minced
1/4 c. pecans, coarsely chopped and toasted (or pine nuts) *
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small pan, bring the stock to a simmer.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the oil.
Add shallots and sauté 2-3 minutes until translucent.
Add rice and stir until well coated, about 3 minutes.
Stir in the heated stock, mushrooms, dried cranberries, salt and pepper and thyme, bring to a simmer, stirring well.
Transfer to a 1 ½ quart casserole dish.
Place in 375 degree over and bake for about 40-45 minutes, until rice has absorbed the liquid.
Remove from oven.
Add parsley and toasted pecans. Fluff with a fork.
Serve hot or warm.
* To toast pecans or pine nuts, spread on small baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Stir frequently. Watch that they don’t burn.
