5-Ingredients: Beer Bread & Gnocchi Soup

These recipes are both super easy to make, require very few ingredients, and will warm you up in this dreary weather!

This beer bread is simply foolproof and comes together FAST- no need for rising, punching or kneading.

The gnocchi soup uses ingredients very similar to Gina’s Italian recipes from October, so you can put your leftover items to good use.

(OK- so they have 6 ingredients if you count salt or water.)

Beer Bread

Food.com- I used whole wheat flour and 1554 beer.  Delicious!

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (sifted***)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

 ¼ cup sugar

1 (12 ounce) can/bottle of beer

¼ cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients and beer.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Pour melted butter over the top.  Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour.

***If you are not a sifter (I am not!) do the following: lightly spoon the flour into your measuring cup, and then gently level it off using the flat part of a knife.   DO NOT SCOOP the flour up with the measuring cup- it will pack the flour in, and result in a brick-like loaf.

Turkey Sausage-Gnocchi Soup

From Cooking Light- Fresh Food Fast

1 (4.5 ounce) link hot turkey Italian sausage

2 cups water

1 (16 ounce) package vacuum-packed gnocchi

1 (14 ounce) can fat-free, low sodium beef broth

1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian style stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped

Grated Parmesan cheese

Remove casing from sausage.  Cook in large Dutch oven or pot over medium high heat until browned, stirring to crumble.

Add 2 cups water and next 3 ingredients to pan; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer 4 to 5 minutes, or until gnocchi float to the top of pan.   Serve sprinkled with cheese.

Brunch Edition

best banana bread

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups flour

1 ½ cups sugar

2 to 3 overly ripe bananas

¼ cups buttermilk, sour cream, or plain yogurt  (Any of the three will work)

2 eggs

½ cups oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Use a whisk to mash the bananas in a mixing bowl until they form a semi-liquid without any large chunks.  Whisk for a minute, then add in the buttermilk/sour cream/yogurt, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
3. Beat in the sugar.  Add in the salt and baking soda.  Stir in the flour.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 9-by-5-inch or 8-by-4-inch (just a regular-sized loaf pan.  Bake for about an 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
5. (Optional, but highly recommended) Spread with a little soft butter before eating.

Note: This banana bread freezes particularly well.  Just double-wrap it in aluminium foil and stick in in the freezer.  Also, if you are making a lot of banana bread, make each batch individually and do not try to "double" the recipe. sweet potato, goat cheese, and & egg bake

Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ sweet yellow onion, chopped
4 ounces goat cheese
4 eggs

Instructions

1. Peel sweet potatoes (I use my Y-peeler) and then dice them into ½-inch cubes.  Remember:  the smaller you dice them, the less time that you will have to wait for them to roast.
2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped onion with the sweet potatoes, olive oil, and salt.  Spread the mixture onto a large, rimmed baking dish.  For mine, I used a 10-by-15-inch jelly roll pan.
3. Roast the sweet potatoes mixture at 375 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft in the middle.  You should be able to easily stick a fork in them.  Remove them from the oven briefly, but leave the oven on.
4. If you're using a large dish (as did I with my jelly roll pan), it will be easier to crack to do this next step if you use a heat-resistant spatula to push the sweet potatoes closer together (don't pile them up, though).
5. Use a spoon or your fingers to crumble the goat cheese evenly over the sweet potatoes.
6. Crack each egg over the sweet potatoes & cheese.
7. Return the tray to the oven and bake about 15 minutes more or until the whites are set.  If you want your yolks to be more solid, bake for another 5 minutes or so.
8. Remove and use a shallow spoon or large spatula to serve hot.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper before serving.

BBQ Pulled Pork + Pork & Pineapple Tacos

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I’ve followed this recipe, however Simply Recipes recently posted a very similar slow-cooker pulled pork/taco recipe I plan to try next.

Ingredients:

1 onion, roughly chopped

a few cloves garlic, roughly chopped or sliced

5 or so lbs whole pork shoulder (aka Pork Butt, Boston Butt)

BBQ rub

1 Tbs Liquid smoke (optional, about $2 at Schnucks)

BBQ sauce

Buns

Add onion and garlic to crockpot.  Season with salt and pepper.

Season the pork liberally with BBQ rub.  Place on top of the onions and garlic.  Add liquid smoke, if desired.

Add 2 cups water.  Cook about 8 hours on low, or 4 on high.

Remove pork and shred (it will just fall apart).  Discard juices. 

Stir in BBQ sauce to taste.  (I keep it minimal, and pile it on my sandwich later.) 

Eat now, or let cook another hour or so on low.    

Easy ways to use leftovers all week long:

1)   Pork and Pineapple tacos (see below)

2)   Top your Mac N’ Cheese (a brilliant combo by Noodles & Co)- I recommend using cheddar and American cheese in Gina's recipe for this purpose

3)   On a salad with Easy Black Bean and Corn Salsa

4)   Freeze for a rainy day

Pork and Pineapple Tacos

Adapted from Whole Foods

BBQ pulled pork (leftovers!)

½ bag frozen pineapple (use leftovers from Crockpot Chicken Curry)

½ red or white onion, roughly chopped

corn tortillas

cilantro , roughly chopped

lime wedges

Preheat broiler.  Arrange pineapple and onion on a foil lined baking sheet.  Broil, stirring once or twice, until softened and browned in parts, about 8-10 minutes.

Toss in large bowl with BBQ pulled pork. 

Spoon onto tortillas; top with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Get Up and Go Green Smoothie

This delicious smoothie wakes me up better than coffee.  Of course, this recipe can be customized to your heart’s content.  It yields a lot of smoothie, so feel free to scale it down.

Click HERE for a bunch of other smoothie ideas.

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of spinach, kale, or other dark, leafy greens

2 cups of your favorite fruits, cut into 1 inch pieces* 

1 tablespoon of sugar, more or less

1 tablespoon of lemon or orange juice

2 cups of milk or water

2 cups of ice cubes

*Bananas tend to make the smoothie creamier 
*Apples have great soluble fiber
*Other suggestions: frozen berries, peaches, mangos, etc. Eat the rainbow!

Procedure:

1. Place all of the ingredients into a blender
2. Blend until the chunks are gone.  If your smoothie is too thick, add more liquid.
3. Enjoy :)

Tip: If you’d like to avoid the dirty dozen, try finding organic spinach, kale, frozen fruit, and apples in bulk at stores like Costco or Sam’s Club.  These stores tend to offer much larger amounts of produce for lower prices than other grocery stores like Schnucks and Dierbergs. Trader Joe's also has great deals on clean produce to feed one or two people.

Rise and Shine Quesadilla

This quesadilla reminds me of the mediterranean egg white sandwich at the St. Louis Bread, Co.  It makes a great meal any time of the day.  

Click HERE for some other great ways to use the rest of your tortillas.

Ingredients:

2 uncooked tortillas*

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried

2 egg whites or 1/4 cup of egg whites from a carton

1 teaspoon of oil

Salt + Pepper

*Cooked tortillas can be substituted for uncooked ones (available in bulk at Costco), but the texture of the quesadilla will be different.

Procedure:

1. Heat the oil in a small pan until it sizzles.  Pour the egg whites into the pan and allow them to set before seasoning them with salt and pepper.  Turn the semi-cooked disk of egg whites and continue cooking until it is lightly browned and crisp.
2. Layer one tortilla in the following order:
1. mozzarella
2. spinach
3. mozzarella
4. egg whites
5. mozzarella
6. the remaining tortilla

If you’re using a panini press/electric grill:

Place the filled tortillas on your grill, close the lid, and cook until the tortillas are browned and the cheese has melted.

If you’re using a pan on a stovetop:

Heat a small amount (<1 tsp) of oil or butter in the pan, place your filled tortillas on it and cook until the bottom tortilla is crisp.  Flip it over and cook until the last tortilla is crisp and the cheese is melted.

Enjoy :)