Sous Vide Garlic Confit

This is so very simple but a jar of this in your refrigerator is great to have. Both the garlic cloves and the infused oil can be spread on bread, used in stir fry, fried rice, in dressings and marinades, on steaks, grilled vegetables, in mashed potatoes, and so much more.

Creamy Swiss Chard

You should stop whatever you are doing and make this. Or at the very least put Swiss Chard on your grocery list and read on. I love this, the coconut makes the chard a bit sweet, and so creamy with a spice from the pepper flakes. I usually use ground dried Thai chili powder but red pepper flakes are great and I have used them also. I've had this for dinner, for breakfast. It's so yummy. You won't even miss the cream!

Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash

Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash season is practically over! I hope to enjoy them more before they are all gone until the next season. One of the easiest ways to cook these is in the Instant Pot.

Spaghetti Squash (Instant Pot Method)

1. Wash the outside of the squash.
2. Cut each squash in half.
3. Scoop out the seeds.
4. Put 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot.
5. Put the trivet or a steamer basket into the liner.
6. Place each squash half into the Instant Pot liner.
7. Cook on MANUAL, HIGH/MORE, for 4-6 minutes.  
8. Once the cook time is over, do a quick release and test each squash to make sure it is tender.
9. Add more cook time if needed.

You can also cook these whole in the Instant Pot. You'll have to cook them for about 10 minutes though.

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Glazed Carrots

Glazed Carrots. There are a few recipes, well, methods for these here on Give Peas A Chance. All the methods are easy. Pick one, season with what your family likes, and DONE. The one's I'm posting today are Green Goddess Glazed. You can use a Green Goddess seasoning, like Penzey's which we really enjoy. OR if you have them, use the herbs and spices from this post HERE.

Some other ideas:

Maple and cinnamon

Dill and butter

Curry powder

Parsley

Ginger

Pumpkin Spiced

Chai Spiced

Winter Squash Love

Hello everyone! Happy Happy Fall. This post came about when my kids were talking about how I don't decorate for Halloween. Which, I admit, I hardly do unless it's Christmas. Because Christmas. Is. My. Favorite. To decorate for that is. Halloween, it's just not my thing. I do put out a few fall items though. What about you do you decorate for all the holidays? Certain ones?

(Winter Squash) Pumpkin Puree- Instant Pot

Instant Pot Pumpkin Puree ready for the freezer.

It's Pumpkin season y'all! Before we go any further, I mean: it's winter squash season y'all! We are huge fans of winter squash around here. So many varieties to choose from, SO yes, make pumpkin puree. But don't forget all the other wonderful varieties which are great for both savory and sweet applications!

Any of these winter squash can be made in the Instant Pot, oven, or slow cooker.

Matzo Ball Soup

Matzo Ball soup, or as my friend calls it "Jewish Penicillin"

Matzo Ball soup. Comfort in a bowl. I don't know what it is but, this soup has been on my top three as far as comfort foods. Always. It's so good. Especially if I'm sick. Chicken noodle soup? Sure, if it's handy. Matzo Ball soup. All day. Every day, please.

Forget any other recipe for Matzo Balls you've seen on this blog. Because this one is perfect. It produces light, fluffy matzo balls that still have substance to them. So they are still "sinkers" and not falling apart. The texture throughout is tender. Perfection. I honestly don't know if the texture could be anymore perfect. The flavor, well, you're using Schmaltz. Fat is good flavor.

Hatch Green Chile Sauce

New Mexico Hatch green chile makes the best sauce to smother over just about everything. But other roasted peppers can be used too, like poblanos.

Fall isn't just pumpkin season, fall is also Hatch Green Chile season and it's right up there with pumpkin to me! This sauce is versatile. I use to for eggs, enchiladas, dipping sauce, on steaks, shrimp tacos, on burgers, on chicken...
If you can't find Hatch Green Chile use Anaheim, Poblano, most any big green chile that is fresh.  This sauce can be made grain free, check the notes section.

Use this sauce for these amazing Green Chile Pepper Jack Enchiladas.

Pumpkin Spiced Caramel Rolls

I can't tell you how many times I've made these, tweaked this, baked these, tweaked some more. I mean really. It's one of those things where I would bake them, and we would like them, but I wasn't jumping up and down. I wanted some Pumpkin Spice flavor, pumpkin flavor, I wanted tender rolls, gooey caramel, then I wanted cream cheese glaze, crunchy seeds, no seeds. I finally tonight made some that I just think are PERFECT for us. I may at times leave off the Pumpkin Spice Glazed seeds, I may use a Maple Cream Cheese glaze. But the Pumpkin Spice caramel roll is so good as pictured above. The tender pumpkin spiced dough, the gooey caramel, the crunchy candied pumpkin seeds. SO perfect. I also have thrown the flour, yeast and heated pumpkin mixture into my bread machine to let the machine mix, knead, and proof for the first rise and it's worked beautifully. 

Here are some pictures of  my journey...

Big Hero Six Birthday Party Food

I can't believe there's a number nine candle on that top cupcake. What on earth? I just keeps going faster and faster and people keep getting older and growing. These kids. I'm so blessed that they are healthy, happy, and growing. But come on now. Where are all my babies: Sigh.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ahem. *taps the mic timidly* Testing. Testing. 1-2-3... anyone still here? It seems as if I've taken a long break without meaning to. If you're still here, or stumbled upon this quite blog, welcome! Today happens to be Manic Monday, which really helps me ease back into blogging! Manic Monday is when I post family favorites that I've blogged before. Sometimes with updated pictures and recipes.

As per my last post, it's SUMMER here. That means soaking up family time. We are enjoying every singe minute of each other. I hope that you are able to enjoy some time with loved ones also this summer. I do apologize for not being around, I have missed blogging and all the wonderful interaction with everyone. Facebook being as it is, it's hard for anyone to see my posts. It's a little discouraging. You can however find me on Facebook, and Instagram for the most part. All social media links are on the right side of this blog.

I do want to continue posting here on Give Peas A Chance regularly again. I also have some great giveaways coming up and I hope you'll stick around for them and enter for some fabulous prizes!

Today I'd like to share a recipe from May 2008, for Strawberry Spinach Salad. What says summer better than fresh picked berries? This salad is wonderful with other berries also, and even pineapple. We have a nut allergy in the house, all nuts except almonds. So I did make this salad with almonds, you can use oat clusters also. I do hope you'll try this salad, and thanks for reading :) Follow the link to find the original post with recipe.
Have a wonderful week.

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Roll Your Own Sushi Bar

YUM. We're big fans of sushi, the kids and I. Sometimes it takes too long for me to roll so many rolls. Roll your own/assemble your own sushi to the rescue. Yes, we could just throw it in a bow and Chirashi it, but this is fun also!

All you need are ingredients you like, we had-

Short grain rice. I mixed it with rice wine vinegar, water, and palm sugar. Sometimes I add soy sauce.

Sushi grade fish (We had salmon, I made a spicy salmon with it. Roe, salmon, sriracha, mayo. I didn't have green onion)

Crab stick

Cucumber

Avocado
Roe

Soy Wraps

Nori

Wasabi

Soy Sauce

Other ingredients, even non conventional ones as long as you like them!

Steak
Asparagus (pickled, fresh, blanched)
Pickled ginger

Sesame seeds

Brown rice

Sweet potatoes

Tempura pieces

Cooked fish

Steak (Cowboy roll anyone?)
Cream Cheese

Quail egg

Tamago

Spam

Carrot and other vegetables

Daikon

etc...

Below is a sashimi platter I had for lunch one day...


Another one below...

Chirashi Bowl

Sashimi Dinner

Tamago

April Fools Day "Sushi"

Bento Lunch
Bento Lunch

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts (On the Stalk)

This is such a fun way to have Brussels Sprouts. The children think it's so fun to cut their own sprouts off of the stalk to eat at the dinner table. The recipe and method for this is so simple my oldest two girls can make this. The sprout leaves get a little crisp on the outside and are tender on the inside. Such a great side dish.

Give Peas A Chance Roasted Brussels Sprouts on the Stalk

Stalk of Brussels Sprouts
Olive oil (Or butter and olive oil, or bacon grease, or coconut oil)
Salt and Pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Wash the sprouts. Trim the end of the stalk of it's too long to fit in your microwave/oven.

Remove loose leaves from Brussels Sprouts.

For the bigger sprouts, make crisscross cuts at the tips of them. This will help them cook through evenly.

Wrap the sprout stalk in damp pepper towels. Place in the microwave heat for about 5 minutes.  (If you want to skip this step see the notes below).

Remove sprouts from the microwave and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast until caramelized on the outside, rotating the stalk a couple of times to evenly cook the sprouts. (About 25 minutes)
Serve as is or with a wedge of lemon.

Optional seasonings/flavorings
Brush the sprouts with a little maple syrup
Brush the sprouts with orange juice

If you don't want to use a microwave, start the sprouts in a lower 350 oven so that the insides of the sprouts can get tender. Then for the last 10+ or so minutes increase the temperature in the oven so the sprouts can get crisp.

Happy Thanksgiving...

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend it the way you wanted. We had a quiet time at home and t was such a blessing. DH was home, we didn't go anywhere, rush anywhere. On Friday we went with DH to his school for about an hour, actually we went to a store while he did some things in the lab. I got a shower curtain liner, I know big spender right? I can't remember the last time where we just didn't feel rushed or feel like there was somewhere we needed to be or DH needed to be. It was a wonderful long weekend. I hope that your time was blessed.
We didn't have turkey. The girls voted for King Crab. Here's our menu

Chirashi Bowl

Chirashi bowl with salmon, daikon, avocado, cucumber, longan, dragon fruit, and rambutan.

Isn't that a lovely Chirashi Bowl? I'm quite please with how it turned out. I know it's "just food" and it doesn't have to look pretty so everyone. But I really like it when you can "eat with your eyes" first. I don't really style my pictures when I take them. As in food styling. I don't blanch vegetables, then arrange them in a bowl of stir fry. I don't cool my food, or photograph it cold, if there's steam, there's steam. Spritz with water? Nope. I am just not that talented. I simply photograph a plate or bowl that I'm feeding to someone around here. Then pass it on to them to eat. But I still like to arrange everyone's food so it's appealing. I can see how some people thing it's silly, but I love doing it. It's fun for me. I love seeing the kids light up when something looks pretty or fun. It's the beginning of our meal together, I enjoy it, so why not?

Green Chile Corn Chowder

I'm not sure I've ever made Corn Chowder before. This chowder was quite the gamble for me. It has both potatoes and corn kernels in it. I've tried to stay away from anything with corn kernels because the children don't really like just kernels, but they love corn on the cob. It's only recently that they have been eating potatoes (white/yellow) also. Unless it was fries/chips, mashed and drenched in gravy, or butter stewed they weren't too interested in potatoes. They love my Best Baked Potatoes now, and will eat oven roasted potatoes if they are seasoned well and crisp on the outside. I just never make a big deal about foods that don't have much nutritional value, and while white potatoes have some, they really are just starch. That, and I'm not a fan of potatoes either. Whoa... life story there. Sorry. Moving on. This chowder is just a little spicy, it's easy to make, even my children ate it! I can't say they loved it and asked for seconds, but potatoes and corn kernels you know? The bacon helped :P 

I wish I had fresh Hatch Chiles here but I don't. Last year I found some locally. No such luck this year, and I'm not sure I want to order online yet. Who knows. I may cave. As per the notes below use your favorite chiles. I found Hatch Chiles canned.
Make this chowder for those cool Fall and Winter nights that are coming quickly! It's a quick weeknight meal.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers and 101 ways to stuff a pepper.

It's the holiday season, bring on the food, bring on the appetizers, bring on the bacon! I was thinking about these poppers. I think you could freeze them. I mean why not? Everything is cooked. Cook, cool, then freeze. When company stops in, pop them in the oven!
The original post for these is from 2008. But here it is in all it's Give Peas A Chance glory.

Here's one for Pepperoni Poppers, we love poppers around here!

Crab Stuffed? Fancy schmancy? Not really.

 The Original 2007 post.

How about on the grill?

Forget the jalapenos how about Grilled Rellenos? 

Your choice! Enjoy!

Nehm Khao- Lao Crispy Rice Salad

Lao Crispy Rice Salad.

Nehm Khao is a childhood favorite. It's rice that is seasoned with coconut cream, red curry paste, and my mom always added fragrant kaffir leaves and lemongrass. Lemongrass and kaffir leaves aren't traditional but my mom uses them and it's so very good. You don't have to add them, a good curry paste will already have these ingredients in it. You can also make your own Curry Paste and keep it in the freezer. The rice is formed into balls and fried until golden brown. The result is a flavorful crispy rice ball that is a great snack, and it makes an awesome Crispy Rice Salad called Nehm Khao. I used to snitch a couple as they came out of the fryer to snack on. When I was a little older my mom had me sit outside to watch the pot and fry the rice balls. The recipe makes a lot of rice balls. I would guess enough to make the salad for 6 servings, and a few leftovers to be eaten as is.

Give Peas A Chance- Taco Soup

 Taco Soup, this one pictured above is regular taco soup with corn and black beans which is pretty standard. I have a Paleo Taco Soup that I keep saying I'm going to blog, no grains, nothing processed, I just am so backlogged. BLAH. I'll post a picture of it below (if I can find it), I even won first prize for it. It was a small gathering of peeps, but don't rain on my parade alright?

Creamed Spinach

Creamed Cheese is an easy side dish that can be made with ingredients that are on hand. 

Pixie and Piglet don't like Creamed Spinach. I don't even understand that. Pixie likes spinach in soups, Piglet  too. I'm not understanding this Creamed Spinach issue though. Oh well, I find often that I just can't win them all. The rest of us think Creamed Spinach is awesome blossom. I love that it's so easy to put together. This is a more lightened version of what's posted HERE. I also streamlined everything so there's not so much, cook, remove and set aside, cook, remove and set aside, stir it all together. I just moved steps around, and make it all in the same pan, no extra bowls etc. Easy peasy. This can be made ahead of time and  frozen. When ready to serve, just heat it in the oven, covered with foil.  If you decide to do that, make the sauce with extra milk, so that it's extra saucy. Once baked, it sauce will absorb.