Balsamic Glazed Vegetables

I don’t remember where I found this recipe (somewhere on the interwebs), but the original recipe called for regular balsamic vinegar.  I’ve made these veggies a couple times now, with regular balsamic and white balsamic...I definitely preferred them with the white balsamic.  You can use all different veggies in it, so it’s a great recipe for using up random veggies in the fridge.  I also like it because I always make brussel sprouts exactly the same way, and they’re great, but it’s nice to have at least one other way to prepare them.  Alrighty…here we go…

Ingredients

1 ½  - 2 lbs of your choice of carrots, brussel sprouts, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini (I used 1 lb brussel sprouts, 4 medium-large carrots, ½ head of cauliflower)

½ cup water

½ cup white balsamic vinegar (or regular balsamic vinegar)

1 tbsp butter

salt & pepper

Have I mentioned that I grew up under the rule of having
green, orange/yellow and white veggies with every meal?

Instructions

Place the veggies in a pan with the water and vinegar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Remove the lid and turn the heat back up.  Allow the water to boil away and the vinegar to reduce and glaze the veggies, about 5-7 minutes.  When the veggies are glazed, add the butter to the pan and turn veggies all around to coat.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

All ready to serve with venison cube steaks
(thanks to my "little" brother, the deer slayer).

enjoy!

 ~ j

Spicy Cauliflower

It's been a while since I've posted.  I've been in a food rut. UGH.  Been making a lot of my old standby's and pantry meals.  We are moving soon and we are trying to use up a lot of what is in our pantry so we don't have to move it.  So I'm pulling this one out of the vault.  I made it a few weeks ago and forgot to post it.  Don't forget to email us your favorite recipes to try and post here at hayjucook@gmail.com

A side dish. This might be the first side we have posted.  I love cauliflower, but struggle with ways to make it 'more fun'.  Don't get me wrong, I like it raw, steamed, plain, or with a little butter, but sometimes you wanna spice things up a bit.  So for this easy recipe, I added a few asian-esque things and served it with pan seared venison that also had an asian-inspired sauce (yes, we eat a lot of venison in this house).

What you need:
1/2 head of cauliflower- steamed
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 cloves garlic- minced
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (we like sriracha brand)

What you do:
Heat oil up over medium or medium high heat.  Add garlic to infuse into the oil.  After about 30 seconds add pre-steamed cauliflower and saute for a few minutes adding in the hot sauce at the last minute.  Easy as pie!

Enjoy!
-hayden

note: I thought I had a picture saved of this, but I wiped my computer last week and must have only saved the blog folder that contained the recipes. Hopefully they are still on my camera.  Whoops.  Use your imagination for now!