Kiwano Melon

My kids are very adventurous when it comes to food, so we are lucky our local grocery carries an assortment of products. Today my youngest was interested in this fruit that was foreign to me so we picked it up and tried it. You cut it in half and scoop out the fruit. It has a very banana like flavor, and is a little sour. You can eat the seeds, but my kids like spitting out the seeds. Its fun to try something new. Enjoy!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

St Patrick's day is one of my absolute favorite holidays,. I love the food the beer, and I look pretty good in green. I have been making this recipe for over 10 years, and its always a crowd favorite. Every year I ask myself why I don't cook this more often through out the year. One thing I do change up is the way I prepare my potatoes. Some years I cook them along with the other vegetables, but sometimes I roast them, and one year I made smashed potatoes. You have to make it your own. I promise a leprechaun will not come out of nowhere and scold you.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

The meat will shrink by about half, so don’t under buy your meat. I usually plan on 1 pound meat per person.

8 lbs. corned beef brisket (flat cut), with spices

4 celery stalks, cut into 4 pieces each

1 lb. baby carrots

1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges

4 to 5 lbs. baby red potatoes

2 cans Guinness stout

2 medium heads of cabbage, cut into 6 wedges each

Place celery, carrots and onion in the bottom of a large slow cooker. Rinse the corned beef under cold water and place on top of the vegetables along with the spice packet that came with the corned beef. Add the bottle of Guinness, and just enough water to cover the meat. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove the meat and vegetables to an oven safe platter, and cover. Place in a preheated oven on keep warm or 170° Increase heat on slow cooker to high, add cabbage wedges to broth and cook for 30 minutes.

Slice the corned beef across the grain, serve immediately with mustard horseradish sauce.

This dish can easily be made on the stovetop as well. Bring ingredients up to a boil, low heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Remove beef and vegetable, add cabbage and cook for 20 minutes.

Mustard Horseradish Sauce

½ cup sour cream

½ cup horseradish

½ cup stone ground mustard

Mix all ingredients, and refrigerate for at least on hour before serving.

Enjoy Courtney Rathweg, The 30 Minute Mom 

Sorry for my absence

Its been a long several months. Its nice to see you all were still checking up on me. One thing I have learned in the last few months in CANCER SUCKS. I'm not going to go into to much detail, but too many close to me are dealing or have dealt with this terrible disease. This just leads me to better believe that you have live everyday like its your last. Eat right, get out and exercise, hug more,and laugh often. I will do my best to post recipes and cooking advice, or just babble on more often.

National pack your lunch day

Today is National pack your lunch day. I will be on Fox 45 Dayton and Living Dayton at noon to help you pack heathy and fun lunches and snacks for your whole family.

Fall cooking

Fall is officially here. Its 52 degrees where I am. I love this time a year mostly because Im a sucker for anything pumpkin, and candy corn of course. Around this time of year I like to add things like pumpkin, squash, and heardy beans to some of my favorite dishes to "fall them up" a bit. Enjoy!

Living Dayton

http://wdtn.com/2014/08/15/national-bratwurst-day/ Please check out my my debut on Living Dayton

Summer harvest

There is nothing like going out to your yard and bringing in yummy, fresh vegetables to enjoy right away. I took the fresh sage and flash fried it in coconut oil for 10 seconds.  I immediately dusted it with sea salt. I like to call it adult chips,  but the kids love it as well.

Egg cups

One of the biggest struggles I have when feeding my family is breakfast.  My husband is the biggest culprit of just skipping breakfast all together.  These quick, easy and very healthy egg cups are the perfect solution.  The key to the recipe is the silicone muffin pan. You can add whatever ingredients like, and you do not even need to pre the add ins.

Egg Cups
Torn up spinach (or your favorite greens)
Diced peppers
Diced onions
Egg whites (or beaten eggs)
Cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 deg
Bake for 25 minutes

Roasted Acorn squash with sauteed beet greens

What a yummy lunch this turned out to be. I love beets and hate to throw out the beautiful greens that come with them. So awhile ago I decided to chop them up and sautee them just like spinach. Im so happy I did because it has turned out to be one of my family's favorite side dishes. Im challenging myself to eat only vegatables today, so after scanning what I had on hand as far as produce, I came up with this dish. I popped a whole acorn squash in the microwave for 12 minutes (poke it a couple times with a knife). While this was cooking I prepped the beets. I cut off the bulbs and washed them thoroughly, wrapped them individually with aluminum foil (you can add a drizzle of olive oil and some s&p) and baked them for an hour at 375°. I did a rough chop on the stems and leaves of the beets and sauteed them in a large pan with just alittle bit of oil. Season to taste. When the squash was done I cut it in half, removed the seeds, and filled one half of the cavity with the sauteed beet greens. Yummy, I had to share with my 4 year old because she liked it so much, good thing there were two halves. The best is you still have your roasted beets to look forward to later. Enjoy!

Use what you got!

Look around your house, and listen to your tastebuds. Some of my greatest recipes came from throwing ingredients together that I have laying around the house. The salad I made this afternoon is a perfect example.

Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Courtneys everything seasoning

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy.

Dayton Daily News

http://tablet.olivesoftware.com/Olive/Tablet/DaytonDailyNews/SharedArticle.aspx?href=DDN%2F2014%2F02%2F26&id=Ar02302

Miami beach

Sometimes even the cook needs a break.
Joes stone crab is great way to do it

Pretty Little Puffs

For those of you that know me, I HATE TO BAKE. No really I would rather have a tooth removed, but as it goes  I often have to do it for a cooking class or a catering event. Today I am making many, many, many cream puffs. Now, this is my kind of baking. 4 ingredients, very little time, and the result is tasty little puffs of deliciousness. You can fill these little puffs with just about anything depending on how big you make them. Today I am filling them with a vanilla pudding mixture, but you could easily fill them with chocolate pudding  or fruit filling. Go savory with bigger puffs and fill them with chicken, egg, or tuna salad.

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.

Zucchini Sausage Crescent Bake

I had a wonderful class at Cooks'wares in Springboro, OH on Monday. It was so special to see so many familiar faces in the sold out crowd. One of the recipes that we discussed with the sautéed zucchini and squash.  I told the students about a quick and easy recipe that my family loves, that I would like to share. This is great serves for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For dinner I would probably serve it with a nice salad.
Enjoy!

Zucchini Sausage Crescent Bake

 

8 oz can crescent rolls
1 Lb bulk sausage
4 cups zucchini, thinly sliced
1 cup onion, chopped
4 T butter
3 T Italian Seasoning
2 eggs, beaten
8 oz mozzarella, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°

Cover bottom of 9X13 baking dish with can of crescent rolls.
Brown sausage and break up. Cover top of crescent roll with sausage.
In the same pan sauté zucchini and onions in butter, stir in Italian Seasoning. Pour and spread evenly over sausage.
Combine eggs and mozzarella and, pour over zucchini mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Sautéed Zucchini and Yellow Squash

3 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. olive oil
3 medium zucchini, cut into half moons
3 medium yellow squash, cut into half moons
1 large yellow onion, sliced
CES

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Melt butter with olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add zucchini, squash and onions, sauté until soft and just begin to brown. Season with CES to taste.

 

Slow Cooker 2 Ingredient Chicken

Sometimes you need a quick and easy foolproof recipe to save the day. I have been making these chicken legs for a couple of years now, and they are one of my kids favorites. I usually make it when I find the chicken legs on managers special. You simply can not beat a two ingredient recipe.

Chicken

Teriyaki or BBQ Sauce

8 hours low

 

Serve these taste legs with rice and a steamed vegetable, and you have a complete meal. These are also great for parties if you use wings.

ENJOY!

Pub Roast

Please Forgive Me

 

I can not believe it has been since June that I have posted. I really do apologize to my followers. Sometimes life just comes up and bites you on the butt, and something has to give. I cant make any promises but I am going to do my best to post at least once every other week. So with that being said on to the recipes.

 

It is starting to get cold here in Ohio, so yummy comfort food that can cook all day is back on the menu. We love pot roast, but the kids have discovered that they do not like when vegetables such as carrots, and potatoes get all brown and mushy. That is why I developed this recipe without all of the vegetables that normally go in a pot roast. I always serve this dish with roasted vegetables on the side, and mashed potatoes.

The reason I call this pub roast is that beer is a main ingredient, of course you are more than welcome to omit it. I love adding seasonal beers to it, for instance today I added a Oktoberfest beer. I have even been known to use red wine instead for a richer dish, and serve it over polenta. Go nuts, and Enjoy! 

 

Pub Roast

 4 Lb Boneless Chuck Roast

Courtney’ Everything Seasoning

¼ Cup vegetable oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 bay leaves

3 beef bouillon cubes, crushed

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 portabella mushrooms, sliced thick (optional)

1 bottle of dark beer

Season both sides of roast with Everything Seasoning. Brown both sides of roast in oil and transfer to a large crockpot. Pour all the ingredients on top of roast and cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli.

Serves 6 to 8



Austrian Festival promises good time at the Fraze

Austrian Festival promises good time at the Fraze

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the proud Papas out there. What are you cooking for you Dad today?

Wine journal

Need a great way to remember great wines. Check out my new Pintrest board http://pinterest.com/the30minutemom/wine-journal/
This can also work for favorite store bought items as well.

Join us June 19 at the Fraze