Bacon Balsamic Vegetable Medley

I love roasted vegetables.  They're easy and they taste so good!

This combo is one of my favorites.  I like to make a huge batch and eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.  

Bacon Balsamic Vegetable Medley

1 lb Brussels sprouts

1 lb broccoli spears

1 small onion, sliced in half rings

4 pieces of bacon

2 tablespoons olive oil

sea salt

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash sprouts and cut into fourths.  Place the Brussels sprouts, broccoli spears, onion, and oil in to a large bowl. Toss to coat.  Place evenly on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Dice bacon into small pieces and sprinkle on top of veggies. Roast in oven 15-20 minutes; stirring halfway, until bacon is fully cooked any veggies have some browning on them.  Remove from oven and sprinkle balsamic vinegar over top.  Serve immediately.

Broccoli Soup (Healthified)

The temperatures in my neck of the woods have dropped this past week.  Things are starting to look and feel like Fall around here.  SO, this past Sunday I decided it was time to reinstate "Souper Sundays", a little tradition I started last winter of serving soup for Sunday dinner.  One of my family's favorite soup is Broccoli Cheese .  It's is chock full of broccoli which is super healthy and good for you.  However, it is also full of butter, white flour, and cheese.  Last week, I decided to try to makeover my original recipe into a healthier version. I substituted clarified butter for regular, arrowroot powder (sometimes called arrowroot starch or arrowroot flour) for the white flour, and coconut milk for the whole milk. I'm happy to report that I succeeded.  In fact this version tastes identical to the original - really.  Go ahead try it and see for yourself. 

This recipe yields 6 large servings.

Broccoli Soup 

(made-over)

2 (10 oz.) packages frozen chopped broccoli

3 tablespoons clarified butter

1/4 cup chopped onion

3 tablespoons arrowroot powder

2 cups chicken broth

1 can full-fat coconut milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Fill medium pot with one inch of water.  Over high heat, bring water to a boil.  Add broccoli. Cover pot and steam broccoli  5-6 minutes or until tender.  Strain to remove excess water. Set aside. In a large soup pot, melt clarified butter over medium-high heat.  Add onion and cook until clear.  Stir in arrowroot powder.  Let cook for 1 minute before slowly add broth and coconut milk.  Stir until slightly thickened.  Add salt, ground nutmeg, and cooked broccoli and nutritional yeast, and stir to combine.  Let simmer an additional 3-5 minutes. 

STEP-BY-STEP DIRECTIONS

1. Fill medium pot with one inch of water.  Over high heat, bring water to a boil.  Add broccoli. Cover pot and steam broccoli  5-6 minutes or until tender.  Strain to remove excess water. Set this aside.

 2. In a large soup pot, melt clarified butter over medium-high heat.  Add onion and cook until clear.

 3.  Stir in arrowroot powder and let it cook for 1 minute.

(This greatly improves the flavor.)

4.  After the 1 minute is up, slowly stir in the chicken broth and 

 can of full-fat coconut milk.

4.  Now it's time to add in the rest of the ingredients - the salt, nutmeg 

 nutritional yeast,

 and broccoli.

5.  Let the soup simmer 3-5 minutes to help incorporate all the flavors.

6.  Ladle it up and enjoy!

Quick and Easy Summertime Zucchini

We love zucchini at our house.  Growing up, my mom would always saute thinly sliced zucchini in a little browned butter until the circles of zucchini had bits of brown spots on them.  It was delicious.  A year or two after I was married I was introduced to adding sliced tomato and cheese to the top.  

Either way- You can't go wrong. 

Quick and Easy Summertime Zucchini

Zucchini (about 1 medium-size per person)

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper

1-2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

Parmesan Cheese

Monterey Jack cheese

Slice zucchini into thin (1/8" or so) slices.  In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat; allow the butter to brown.  Add zucchini slices.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Allow the zucchini to brown (about 4-5 minutes) before stirring.  Continue to brown zucchini until tender.  You can stop here and serve as is or:

turn heat to medium-low; place slices of tomato over the zucchini.  Top with Parmesan and Monterey Jack cheeses.  Cover with lid for 1-2 minutes until cheeses are completely melted.

Note:  Delicious served over prepared Ramen noodles. 

STEP-BY-STEP

Begin by thinly slicing zucchini, about 1 per person.

 

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Allow the butter to get really hot and begin to brown.  Be careful not to let it burn.

 Once the butter has begun to brown, add sliced zucchini.

 Salt and pepper to taste.

 Allow the zucchini to begin to caramelize for about 4-5 minutes before stirring it.

 Continue stirring and browning until the zucchini is tender and carmelized.

 If you're continuing on, turn the heat to medium-low.  Add sliced tomatoes to the top of the zucchini

 Sprinkle Parmesan cheese (fresh or from the can) 

 and a few slices of Monterey Jack cheese to the top of the tomatoes.

Place the lid on top for 1-2 minutes until the cheeses are completely melted.

Serve as a side or eat as a complete vegetarian meal.  If you're not watching your calories, see Note above.