quinoa beef vegetable soup

I stumbled upon this recipe by adding ingredients that we had on hand. I even had it as an after-hours snack in lieu of my usual bowl of ice cream (it turned out that good- or just happened to really satisfy an intense craving for vege'bles).

Here's what went into it--

1 lb ground beef
5 cups water
2 beef bouillon cubes (to be dissolved in 4 cups water)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 medium potatoes, cut into 1" cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil, chopped (I used freeze dried)

I don't think there was any rhyme or reason to the how or order of things going in. Just how I thought best. And I think this would actually be a good crock pot meal with the ground beef replaced with cubed beef (and the cooked quinoa reserved until the end- or added, uncooked, in the beginning). I have to add, too, that I got "Thank yous" from at least two of the four kids for making this meal tonight.

potato kielbasa skillet

Even the kids, who usually reject all potatoes proclaimed that they liked this. I boiled the potatoes first because Mike likes his potatoes extra-soft.

potato kielbasa skillet

5 large potatoes, cut in bite sized chunks
1 lb kielbasa, sliced
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup broth
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I skipped this)

1. In dutch oven, brown potatoes, kielbasa, onion and peppers in oil.
2. Add seasonings and broth.
   
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Cover tightly and cook for 20 minutes on low, stirring occasionally.
5. Uncover and put cheese on top.
6. Simmer until cheese is melted.
   

grilled kielbasa with hawaiian salsa and sweet potatoes

I based this dinner roughly on the recipe found here for ham with Hawaiian salsa and sweet potatoes, but I mostly just threw in ingredients I thought would be tasty from what we had on hand. And it turned out very tasty indeed (all partakers agreed). I didn't have the recipe on hand at the time, but we had these oven fries at my parents' last weekend, and I was attempting a similar approach when making the sweet potato fries.

From 04/15/2010 (by Eye-Fi)