Food Junkie From Texas

Roasted Spiced Nuts

2011-07-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

I have not posted in a long time....it's actually been almost a year. I'm a teacher and during the school year, meals tend to be quick and not blog-worthy. It's usually something I throw together with no measuring or recipe involved. I cook something and we eat. During the summer, I get a little more creative and try new recipes.

There is something I have been thinking about blogging for quite a few months. It's a recipe I put together after trying some that I found online - roasted spiced nuts. This recipe came from my need to use up a supply of almonds and cashews that I had. I was tired of eating them raw and wanted something sweet and spicy.

It is a super-simple recipe and can be adapted many different ways with a variety of spices, extracts and nuts. They are versatile, also. We eat them as-is, on ice cream, and my favorite, on salads. My next experiment will be to put them in a chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Roasted Spiced Nuts

8 cups of nuts (raw, if available)
2 egg whites
1 cup Splenda
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cardomom
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Cover a large cookie sheet with sides with non-stick foil.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and vanilla until foamy.

In a small bowl, mix the Splenda, brown sugar, salt and spices.

Add the nuts to the large bowl with the egg whites and mix thoroughly until all the nuts are coated. Add the sugar, salt and spice mixture and stir gently to coat all the nuts. Spread the nuts into the pan. Bake for one hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Let cool completely and store in air-tight container for up to two weeks.

Back to School - Be Back Soon!

2010-08-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of the year. Teachers had to be back at work yesterday and students come next Monday. This week is full of meetings, training and getting ready for kiddos.

I will start posting again as soon as I get some time and I actually cook something blog-worthy (which hasn't been happening much lately).

Until then!

Almost Guilt-free Alfredo Sauce

2010-08-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pasta dishes is chicken or shrimp alfredo. It is rich and creamy and full of fat and calories. I've been working on my own recipe for a healthy version of this dish but haven't quite mastered it yet.

When I came across this recipe on The Gracious Gourmet I didn't believe it could work. There was no way it could be this easy and delicious. The secret to Tiffany's recipe is cottage cheese. Yes, cottage cheese. To tell the truth I had never tried cottage cheese until this past week. The texture of it has always turned me off. I have a feeling there are a lot of people that feel the same way. I was brave and tried it. Believe it or not, it is really good. It tastes like little bits of cheese in tangy cream. I'm going to have to do some more research to find out how it is good for you. It doesn't really taste like it should be.

This sauce couldn't be any easier. It turns out to be thick and rich and it's a very good option if you are watching your wasteline.

This made a lot of sauce so you may want to half the recipe. Now, I just need to come up with another use for the leftovers.

Almost Guilt-Free Alfredo Sauce

adapted from The Gracious Pantry

Ingredients:

2 16 oz containers of lowfat cottage cheese

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried rosemary

1/4 lowfat milk

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until the mixture warms and bubbles for about 5 minutes. Transfer the warm mixture to a blender or food processor. Process until the mixture becomes smooth. Add a little more milk if it is too thick. Pour back into the pan and heat until hot and bubbly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over cooked pasta. Add some grilled chicken and steamed broccoli if desired.

This post has been linked to:

Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade

and What's on the Menu Wednesday at Dining with Debbie

Cook the Books- White on White Cake

2010-07-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I found a food blog that combined two of my passions, reading and cooking. The blog is Cook the Books. Each month one of the hosts, Rachel, Debbie or Jo chooses a novel that is entwined with food. Those that choose to participate read the book, cook something inspired by the book and then blog about it.

This month's book was The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.

This is a heart-warming story about a group of people that come together on Monday nights for a cooking class at Lillian's restaurant. Through cooking, food and each other, these individuals find passion, hope and friendship.

The characters and story made me feel many different emotions as I was reading. The most prevalent emotion was envy. I know, crazy right? Well, I would love to have an opportunity like these characters had. A cooking class by a professional chef and restaurant owner. Wow! I have taken one cooking class before (one night only) with my sister in law and it was such a great experience that I will remember forever. I still make the recipes I learned from that evening.

One of these days..........

Maybe some day I will win the lottery, quit my job and go to culinary school. Who knows? Big dreams....

So, my contribution to this month's Cook the Books is a White on White cake. I loved the way the author described the cake and all of its simplicity in the story. To tell you the truth, I had trouble with this simplicity when I was making the cake. When I bake, I like to go "all out". If I'm going to bake something this unhealthy then it's going to be full of vibrant flavors and ingredients. I wanted to put lemon curd between the layers. I wanted to add something because it was just going to be white and vanilla flavored. Sounded pretty boring to me. Needless to say, I restrained myself so it stayed true to the white cake with white icing as in the story. I did add some lime extract to the icing, though. I needed some more flavor. I know...I'm weak. That's okay. It turned out incredible. and beautiful!

The recipes come from Cake Love by Warren Brown. The cake is a white butter cake and the icing is an Italian Meringue Buttercream. I will be posting the recipes in a couple days. We decided to take a last minute road trip to St. Louis this weekend so I will be adding the recipes when I get back.

Orange and Vanilla Dreamsicle Cookies

2010-07-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

These are some of the most tasty cookies I've ever made. They aren't healthy in any way, but I like to splurge a little sometimes. These are definitely worth it!

Orange and Vanilla Dreamsicle Cookies

adapted from Baked Perfection

1 1/2cup all purpose flour

1 white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp orange zest

2 cups vanilla chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in vanilla and egg until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and chips.

Drop rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Cool for several minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to cooling racks.

16 Spice Shredded Beef Enchiladas with Zucchini and Onions

2010-07-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

Tacos are one of my fast and easy "go to" meals. I have always used ground beef until I recently tried cooking a beef chuck roast in the crockpot for my taco meat. Check out the Tacos de Barbacoa recipe here. I wanted to use the same concept but with a different spice rub. I chose Bobby Flay's 16 Spice Rub. I made this spice blend a while back and still had a lot left. It was perfect for this meal. I know 16 spices looks a little intimidating, but many of them I already had. You could use any spice mixture that you want and still make these enchiladas. But, I challenge you to make the 16 spice rub sometime. It is really delicious. It has some heat but also some warm and earthy flavors from the allspice, cinnamon and cloves.

I made this recipe up as I went along. I don't post many of the meals that I make simply because they are usually just thrown together. I had a good feeling about this one so I actually wrote things down as I cooked.

My husband was skeptical when he walked in the kitchen and the enchiladas did not look like the usual covered-in-cheese-and-meat ones we have cooked for the past 15 years. These were plain on top. I decided to bake the enchiladas without sauce on top because I knew the salsa I planned on using would make them soggy as they baked. They were not filled with the old standard meat and cheese of the old days. These were filled with shredded beef, onions, peppers, a little sour cream and cheese, and guess what...zucchini. Yes, zucchini. I've learned that zucchini can be a great filler and make a meal go a lot farther. AND add some nutrition. They don't have a lot of flavor so they are perfect for this. These enchiladas are stuffed full, but not with a lot of fat and bad-for-you stuff.

These enchiladas were a hit! My husband even apologized later for judging and jumping to conclusions before he had eaten them. WOW! (That doesn't happen too often and it made me feel good). He ate them for lunch the next day and said they were great reheated, too.

The roast that you cook is enough for two meals. I made tacos one night and these enchiladas the next night.

Bobby Flay's 16 Spice Rub and Roast

3 tablespoons ancho chile powder (heat level: 4)
3 tablespoons pasilla chile powder (heat level:4)
3 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons ground coriander
3 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground fennel seed
1 teaspoon chile de arbol – can substitute cayenne (heat level:7)
3 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (heat level:8)

4 lb beef chuck roast
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 cup water or beef broth

In a small bowl stir all spices together. Rub on all sides of the roast; rub in with your fingers. If you can, put it in the refrigerator for a while (I let it sit for about 2 hours).

Place in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker with broth. Add sliced onions on top of the roast. Cook, covered on low-heat setting 10-12 hours or until tender. (I cooked mine for about 8 hours and it was perfect).

Enchiladas

1 cup chopped onions
1 cup zucchini, chopped fine
1/2 cup poblano pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
1 cup cheese, grated (cheddar or monterey jack)
12 corn tortillas
4 cups of salsa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Heat a large nonstick pan to medium high heat. Add olive oil. Add onions, zucchini, and peppers. Cook for about 7 minutes or until the onions start to turn translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and sour cream. Set aside.

Cover two cookie sheets with foil or spray with nonstick spray. Lay out tortillas on the pans in a single layer. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Place pans in the oven and cook for about 4 minutes.

Spray a 13x9 baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread about 2 tbsp of zucchini mixture on one of the warm tortillas and add some of the shredded taco meat. Roll up the tortilla and place in the pan seam side down. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve the enchiladas with warm salsa on top.

I have linked up this post to Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative.

Oregano and Garlic Stuffed Jalapenos

2010-07-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

These are delicious! I could eat a whole tray of them. I added a little spin to the ones I usually cook by including some fresh oregano and garlic.

Ingredients:

4 ounces low fat or nonfat cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp oregano, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

3-4 slices of turkey bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

6 jalapenos, cut in half, seeds and ribs removed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to broil. Mix the cream cheese, oregano and garlic together in a small bowl. Stuff the peppers with the cheese mixture and top each with a piece of cut bacon. Place peppers in a greased pan and broil until the bacon is cooked. Serve warm.

Lemon Berry Bars

2010-07-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

I get in the mood to bake. I have been in this mood a lot lately and this doesn't go well when I am trying to feed my family healthier. Typically what I do is bake something, give my family one serving of the treat and send the rest to work with my husband.

These bars were completely delicious! The guys at my husband's work sang high praises of it, according to my husband.

I found the recipe at Twopeasandtheirpod.com. I changed up the crust some due to what I had on hand. I needed to use up this package of cookies and thought it would be great combined with the graham cracker crumbs. The results were scrumptious!

For the crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup Pepperidge Farms Chessman cookies, crushed

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

zest of one lemon

For the filling:

2 lg. egg yolks

1- 14 ounce can fat free sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

10 ounces fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker and cookie crumbs, melted butter, sugar and lemon zest. Stir until crumbs are moist. Press crumbs into the prepared pan, pressing the crust mixture one inch up the side of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Once the crust is cool, combine the egg yolks and condensed milk until well mixed. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until mixture begins to thicken slightly. Gently fold in the berries. Fold carefully so you don't break the berries.

Pour the lemon berry filling evenly over the crust. Bake for 15 minutes or until set.

Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least one hour before serving. Cut into bars and serve. Keep bars in the refrigerator up to five days (if they last that long).

This post is linked to Tempt my Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace, Tasty Tuesday at City Wife, Country Life and What's on the Menu Wednesday at Dining with Debbie.

Peanut Butter Banana "Tacos"

2010-07-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea in the Clean Eating magazine I think. This makes a perfect snack, breakfast and I even thought about putting it in my son's lunchbox. He loved them!

I spent the past week taking care of my 4 nephews while my brother and sister-in-law went on a fabulous cruise in Mexico. I could not wait to make these for the kids. They were a huge hit! (We came up with the banana taco name together.) What makes it even better is that they are healthy.

They are very simple to prepare and cook.

Ingredients:

bananas

honey or agave nectar

natural peanut butter

whole grain flour tortillas

butter

Directions:

Spread about a tablespoon of peanut butter on the tortilla and lay the banana in the center. Drizzle a little bit of honey or agave over the banana. Roll it up. Spread a little softened butter (it doesn't take much) around the outside of the rolled up "taco". Heat a large nonstick pan to medium high heat. Place the taco(s) in the heated pan. Cook and roll them in order to brown on all sides. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

I have linked this post to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum and Wholesome Whole Foods at Health Food Lover. Go check out all the great recipes and ideas!

Tacos de Barbacoa in a Crockpot

2010-07-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

I cook a lot of Mexican food. I love the flavors of the chiles and spices. I really miss having good Mexican food living in Kansas. What the people here say is wonderful Mexican food is terrible to me. ICK! So, I end up making my own. Usually I end up creating my own dishes, but I recently bought this special edition magazine that has tons of great looking recipes.

The recipe in the book and the original version of this dish is supposed to be smoked. I don't have a smoker so the book said that you could do it a crockpot. I can't imagine how yummy it be if it were to be smoked in banana leaves. YUM!

In the old days, prior to my obsession with eating healthy I used to fry the corn tortillas in vegetable oil. Talk about bad for you! Now, I have found a more healthful way to cook the tortillas. I lightly coat a nonstick pan with nonstick spray and throw the tortillas in (one at a time) and cook till slightly bubbled on one side. Flip and cook for about 20 seconds longer. They are perfect! I can now eat a taco without grease running down my arm. (I know- gross, right?)

This was so easy and delicious and I can't wait to make it again. Maybe this Sunday when I have family coming over?!?

Oh! and the leftovers made a perfect wrap for our roadtrip to Texas.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cider vinegar or red wine vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp dried oregano, crushed

2 tsp chili powder (I used ancho chile powder)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 4 lb beef chuck roast

1/4 cup beef broth or water

corn tortillas

possible toppings: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salsa, quacamole, crumbled queso fresco, and/or fresh cilantro

Directions:

In a small bowl stir together the vinegar, garlic, oregano, chili powder, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves to make a paste. Spoon spice paste on all sides of the roast; rub in with your fingers. If you can, put it in the refrigerator for a while (I let it sit for about 2 hours).

Place in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker with broth. Cook, covered on low-heat setting 10-12 hours or until tender. (I cooked mine for about 8 hours and it was perfect).

I have linked up this recipe to the following blogs:

Finer Things Friday at Amy's Finer Things

Hasselback Potatoes

2010-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

My family loves potatoes and we could eat them with every meal. I saw this idea here and decided that I could always use a new way to prepare and serve potatoes. They were very good and kind of fun to make!

Ingredients:

potatoes

fresh garlic, thinly sliced

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

Italian seasoning

butter

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Carefully slice potatoes as seen in the photo above. Be careful not to slice all the way through. Slide garlic slices in between the layers of potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Bake for about an hour or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and top with a pat of butter and sprinkle a little more Italian seasoning on top. Add sour cream and chives if desired.

Broccoli with Garlic, Almonds and Asiago Cheese

2010-07-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite side dishes and we eat it rather often. It is super-easy, quick and rather healthy with a small amount of cheese added. I think I got the idea years ago from Rachael Ray.

The broccoli that I used was a great find at the local farmers market. $1 a head! Great prices, fresh and local! Love it!

Ingredients:

2 lbs of fresh or frozen broccoli cut into spears

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup asiago cheese, grated

Directions:

Steam the broccoli. Set aside. Heat a large, nonstick pan to medium high heat and add olive oil. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the broccoli and almonds and toss all together. Cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and top with the cheese. Cover with foil if needed in order to melt the cheese. Serve.

I am adding this post to Side Dish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

I am also linking this post to the following:

All the Small Stuff - Tuesdays at the Table
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam - Tasty Tuesday
GirliChef - Two for Tuesdays
Foodie Friday - Designs by Gollum

Sweet Blueberry Blue Cornbread

2010-07-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

I think this dessert looks a little patriotic with the red, white and blue. Perfect for the 4th of July! It turned out very yummy. I love the texture of the blue cornmeal and the yogurt added a little twang and lots of moisture. You need to try this recipe! It was very different but good.

It is not too terribly sweet, so if you want it sweeter you may want to add more sugar. Maybe this would be even better simply with a little butter on top instead of the strawberries and cream. They were almost too sweet for the mild cornbread.

I found the recipe on Paula Deen's website. I changed the recipe trying to make it a little more healthful. Here is the original recipe.

Sweet Blueberry Blue Cornbread
adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients:

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar (I used part Splenda and part sugar)
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten (I used Eggbeaters)
1/3 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup fresh or fresh frozen blueberries
1 tbsp vanilla extract
strawberries and whipped cream for garnish if desired

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8” square baking pan with non stick baking spray and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, vanilla, eggs, oil and butter. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and stir just until blended. Gently fold in blueberries.

Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Serve warm with strawberries and whipped cream.

This post is being linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap @ Life as Mom.

and

Chocolate Mint Water, Goodbye Diet Coke and My New Friend Stevia

2010-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

It's official. I have not had a Diet Coke in two weeks now. I am a fiend when it comes to this wonderfully delicious, bad for you drink. Early Morning Large $.99 large drinks and Happy Hour at Sonic are some of my favorite times of the day. I am addicted to the drink.

I decided to stop drinking it once and for all. At least I said, "Let's see how long I can go without one." I have known for a long time now that aspartame is terrible for you. It's poison on our systems but my family and I consume it in great quantities. After I watched this video (see below) on Underground Wellness on YouTube, I knew that I needed to make some changes.

I have to say, water is very boring especially when you are used to the fizzy flavorful soda. I have found something that helps break up the boredom of plain water. Liquid Stevia. Flavored Liquid Stevia to be exact. I bought some chocolate flavored liquid stevia the other day not really knowing what to expect. I knew what I was going for....one of my favorite flavor combinations- mint and chocolate. My plan was to use the chocolate stevia and some crushed mint leaves (from my potted plant) and make some healthy, no calorie, flavorful water. My plan was successful. This water is wonderful! I add four drops and about 4 or 5 mint leaves to my glass of water and I have a refreshing beverage. It is not Diet Coke by any means but for now it is helping. If only they would make a Diet Coke flavored liquid stevia! Boy, would I be in heaven!

AND, my son LOVES it!

I have to figure out the easiest and most painless way to cut the soda completely out of my son's diet

(not going to happen with hubby). Ughhhh..... It's going to be a fight, but it has to be fought.

The bottles are pretty expensive. I paid $15. I can rationalize the expense in many ways:

1. We will be healthier without the soda and aspartame

2. I am not making daily runs to Sonic

3. I am not buying Diet Coke by the case.

4. It doesn't take much and my water becomes sweet and flavored. It should last a while.

If you would like to learn more about the dangers of aspartame there is tons of info out there. I recently found Sean Croxton at Underground Wellness. He has videos on YouTube about health and wellness. He is very informative. You ought to check him out!

Here is a video that he made about Stevia.

I would love to hear from those of you that are going through some similar challenges.

Let me know if you watch some Underground Wellness videos.

Let me know if you try or use the liquid stevia.

Wish me luck. Everyday, I want a Diet Coke. I have not given into the temptation, but I can make no promises. Everyday, I want a Diet Coke.

Update:
I have gone 4 weeks without Diet Coke. The first week or two was very difficult, but it has gotten much easier. I still have cravings if I eat certain things. AND my son stopped drinking sodas all on his own...no force involved on my part! I am so proud of him taking charge of his health like he is and making good, healthy decisions. He is only 11 by the way. Pretty impressive, huh???

I have linked up this post to Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade. Come check out all of the great ideas and recipes!

Spicy Cilantro and Lime Potato Salad

2010-06-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a potato salad but not a traditional one. I am not a fan of the mustard-based potato salad so, I came up with this recipe. My son and I really liked it- my husband, not so much. He likes the yellow potato salad and wasn't very excited about eating this green potato salad I set before him.

I am posting this at Side Dish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice. Side dishes have always been a challenge for me. I have very little creativity when it comes to side dishes and usually all of my attention goes to the protein part of my meals. This monthly challenge has forced me to think about this important part of the meals we eat. At least I am creating one good side dish a month.

I found the dressing recipe at For the Love of Cooking and just added to my ingredients.

Ingredients:

3 lbs of red potatoes, diced in large chunks and steamed

1 onion, yellow or purple

2 large poblano peppers

2 jalepeno peppers

1/4 cup of sliced green onions

Dressing:

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

1/4 cup olive or canola oil

1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar OR red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 tsp oregano

For the dressing, whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Roast the onion and peppers under a broiler or on the grill until they are nicely charred. The peppers should be blistered. Put the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 15 minutes to steam them. Take them out and peel the skin off. Roughly chop the peppers and onions and add them to the potatoes. Add the green onions. Pour the dressing on the potato, onion and pepper mixture and combine well.

The salad can be eaten cold or at room temperature.

This post is also being linked to:

Finer Things Friday

What's on the Menu Wednesday @ Dining With Debbie

Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade

Ultimate Recipe Swap @ Life as Mom

Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen

GirliChef - Two for Tuesdays

Chocolate Banana Almond Smoothie

2010-06-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite breakfast lately! I kind of made it up and have been adjusting a little as I go. My newest addition is the spinach. You don't even taste it (proof- my son didn't) and it only changes the color a little.

I thought I was doing great with this smoothie until I entered the recipe into Spark People. There are quite a few more calories and fat than I expected. Now I know that I will only drink half of this smoothie from now on. My son can drink the rest.

1 banana

3/4 cup (about) lowfat/fat-free yogurt or kefir

4 cubes of ice

1 ounce almonds

1 tbsp milled flax seeds or chia seeds

1 tsp dark chocolate cocoa powder

1 tbsp chocolate chips

1 handful of baby spinach

Nutrition Facts

(this is just an estimate)
1 Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 496.6
Total Fat 25.1 g
Saturated Fat 6.7 g
Cholesterol 11.0 mg
Sodium 147.3 mg
Potassium 1,242.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 58.5 g
Dietary Fiber 10.0 g
Sugars 36.0 g
Protein 19.2 g

Pineapple with Mint

2010-06-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite summertime treats. I got the recipe from Whole Foods years ago. Don't you love walking through that store eating all of yummy samples that they offer?

It's very simple to make. All you need is some fresh pineapple, mint and sugar. I use about 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of fresh mint. I put them (sugar and mint) in my mini food processor and pulse until everything is chopped and the sugar is green. Combine the mixture with the pineapple. Let it rest for a little while before serving so the flavors can mingle together.

This is best if served the same day. The mint tends to turn black/brown if it hangs around too long.

I have linked this recipe to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum. Come check out all of the fabulous recipes that have been posted.

Strawberry Almond Clafoutis

2010-06-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe on Cinnamon Spice the other day and knew that I had to make it. It looked like a fancy French dessert that was didn't look too difficult. The name is pronounced (kla-foo-tee). I would say that mine is not a traditional clafoutis because you are supposed to use cherries. I had strawberries in my refrigerator so that's what I used. It's a crepe-like, custardy dessert that is so easy to put together because all you do is mix everything in a blender and pour it into a dish and bake.

I made it for breakfast the other day. Hey! It was a nutritious breakfast including fruit, protein, whole grain and dairy. What else do you need? I rationalized it anyway....

You can eat this warm out of the oven or after it has sat in the refrigerator for a while. I actually preferred it eaten cold.

Cherry Almond Clafoutis

(adapted from Saveur)

1/3 cup Sliced Almonds
1 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
6 Eggs (I used Egg Beaters)
6 tablespoon Sugar
1 + 1⁄4 cups Milk
2 tablespoon amaretto
Pinch Salt
3⁄4 cup All-purpose or White Whole Wheat flour
3 cups strawberries, sliced
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

1. Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until they get a golden-brown color to them, tossing often. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 425° and generously butter a 9" cast-iron skillet or baking dish. Combine vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, milk, amaretto, and salt in a blender. Blend for a few seconds to mix ingredients, then add flour and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.

3. Pour batter into buttered skillet and evenly spread strawberries over top then sprinkle with almonds. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Dust with confectioners' sugar and a dollop of whip cream if desired.

PBandJ - Updated Healthier Version

2010-06-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

We love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at our house. I have done my best trying to make them a little healthier by using fresh all natural peanut butter, reduced sugar jelly and whole wheat bread. The biggest problem in this sandwich was the jelly. Even with "reduced sugar" it still wasn't great.

I found this idea in my new favorite book, The Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids by Tosca Reno. This is a terrific book if you are looking to improve the diet of your family.

Instead of plain peanut butter, I decided to make some of the healthy peanut butter dip (minus the chocolate chips) I made a couple weeks ago and use that on the sandwich. It was perfect! AND instead of the "reduced sugar" jelly I just used some sliced strawberries....no sugar at ALL! I thought it turned out very yummy and so did my son. It made a quick lunch after his baseball game today.

I am sharing this post at Souper Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen, Make it From Scratch and Tasty Tuesday at City Wife, Country Life so come check out all of the wonderful soup, salad and sandwich recipes that others are sharing.

Ranch Chicken Salad Sandwich

2010-06-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't think my son would ever eat chicken salad, but I found a way to make it that he loves. As I have said before, he will eat ranch dressing on just about anything. I decided to make some chicken salad using the homemade healthy and clean ranch dressing recipe I tried a couple weeks ago. Total success!

This makes a lot of chicken salad so you may want to half it. You will also have some ranch dressing left over to use elsewhere.

Ingredients

4 small chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

3 ribs of celery, chopped
2 cups of grapes, cut in half
1/2 cup of pecans, chopped
2 cups of ranch dressing (recipe below)

Mix all ingredients until well combined.

Healthy and Clean Ranch Dressing

1 1/2 cups of low fat buttermilk

3/4 cup of plain nonfat greek style yogurt

1 1/4 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried dill

2 1/2 tsp dried parsley

2 1/2 tsp dried chives

2 1/2 tsp salt

I have linked this recipe to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum and Food on Fridays. Come check out all of the fabulous recipes that have been posted.

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

2010-06-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

My son and husband get to feeling a little neglected at times because I don't buy ice creaWem often. I thought that I we could try some frozen yogurt. Little did I know that this stuff is EXPENSIVE! I couldn't believe it was at least $3 for a little bucket of frozen yogurt. Well, I am always on the lookout for new ways to use my homemade yogurt so this provided me the perfect opportunity to use a batch. I bought an ice cream maker and made my first batch of vanilla frozen yogurt. I wasn't sure I liked it at first because it was so tangy, but I quickly grew to love it. I chose to just make a simple batch of vanilla, that way we could flavor it individually.

The problem with this little treat is that we have it in our heads that it is healthy because it is yogurt. It is, but there is still quite a bit of sugar that you add. I have made it several ways; with all sugar, with half sugar and half Splenda and with all Splenda. I enjoyed all of them. I think next time I may substitute some honey for some of the sugar.

The possibilities are endless with this new ice cream machine and all of the different flavor combinations and ingredients that I can use. AND, at a fraction of the price it costs to buy the store bought. I figure it costs about $3 to make 1/2 gallon of homemade frozen yogurt. How can it be better? I can't wait to experiment!

3 cups of plain yogurt

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tbsp of vanilla

Mix all ingredients well until the sugar disolves. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Simple as that!

We like to top our frozen yogurt with a little vanilla agave nectar and fruit or mini chocolate chips. Enjoy!

Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry

2010-06-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

I love chicken teriyaki and found this recipe by Ellie Krieger from Food Network. I added onions and bell peppers and stir-fried. It was wonderful!

Ingredients

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, crushed with a garlic press or minced
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 pounds skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Directions

Combine the soy sauce, sugar, sherry, vinegar, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes and stir until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag and add the chicken. Seal the bag and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator, turning once, for 1 hour. The chicken can be marinated for up to 4 hours.

Add some oil to a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. Add the onion, peppers and chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice and top with sesame seeds and green onions (if desired). Enjoy!

Healthy and Clean Ranch Dressing

2010-06-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

My son loves ranch dressing and will dip just about anything in it. I found this recipe on The Gracious Pantry while I was seaching for information on Clean Eating and healthy recipes. I am baby-stepping my way into Clean Eating. My family is not really excited about it, but I am going to push forward anyway. I have tried another recipe that I found for healthy homemade ranch dressing and we didn't like it at all. This one turned out really good.

I made some to dip broccoli in on our way to Texas tomorrow. I have spent most of the day preparing food for our 550 mile trip and some for the week while we stay at my brother's. I am determined to not stop at McDonald's tomorrow like we usually do. I made chicken salad using this dip as the combining agent today and will make pita sandwiches with it (recipe coming soon).

I will let you know how the trip goes and how our healthy eating on the road goes. I am a little nervous, but I plan on doing my best to eat the right food most of the time.

Check out The Gracious Pantry for more great recipes.

Healthy and Clean Ranch Dressing

(Makes about 8 tablespoons)

5 tablespoons low fat buttermilk
3 tablespoons nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste

Directions

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl until well blended.

Nutritional Content

1 serving = 2 tablespoonds

Calories: 10
Total Fat: 2 gm
Saturated Fats: 0 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 0 gm
Sodium: 55 mg
Carbohydrates: 1 gm
Dietary fiber: 0 gm
Sugars: 1 gm
Protein: 1 gm

This post has been linked up to:

Food Revolution Friday @ Notes from the Cookie Jar

Fight Back Friday @ Food Renegade

Spinach and Feta Fritatta

2010-06-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

This was a yummy recipe that I found at Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes.

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs

8 egg whites
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
3 scallions, chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 oz crumbled feta
2 tbsp Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Squeeze all water from spinach. In a 9 inch non-stick sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and scallions and cook until soft, about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add salt, pepper, cheeses and spinach and mix well. Pour the mixture into the skillet and cook until the bottom sets, about 5 minutes. Hold a large plate over the pan and invert the frittata onto the plate, then slide it back into the pan. Cook about 5 minutes longer. Serve hot.

Rosemary Chicken with Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

2010-06-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

This chicken was incredible! I took advantage of my new herb garden for the fresh rosemary. I quickly realized that I'm going to need another rosemary plant. It took quite a few little branches to make the required amount of minced rosemary for this recipe.

The dipping sauce was so easy to make and went perfectly with the chicken. We will be having this chicken again very soon.

Rosemary Chicken with Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

from The Best of Fine Cooking

Fresh and Quick

1Tbsp plus 1tsp minced fresh rosemary

2 tsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat

2 tbsp vegetable oil; more for the grill

1 cup orange marmalade

1/4 cup rice vinegar

Directions

In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp fo the rosemary with the brown sugar, red pepper flakes, 2 tsp salt, and 1tsp black pepper. Put the chicken thighs in a shallow pan, drizzle with the oil, and toss to coat. Sprinkle the chicken evenly with the rosemary mixture.

In a small saucepan, warm the marmalade, the vinegar and the remaining 1 tsp rosemary over low heat until just warm. Set aside in a warm spot.

Prepare a hot charcoal fire or gas grill with all burners on medium high for 10 minutes. Clean the hot grate with a wire brush and then lubricate it with an oil-soaked paper towel. Put the chicken on the grate and grill (uncovered over a charcoal fire, or covered on a gas grill) until one side has dark grill marks, 5 to 6 minutes for large thighs or 4 to 5 minutes for medium and small thighs. Turn and continue to grill until well marked on the other sides and cooked through, another 5 to 6 minute for large thighs or 4 to 5 minutes for medium and small thighs.

Transfer the thighs to a platter and let rest for 4 to 5 minutes. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature, with individual bowls of warm marmalade dipping sauce.

Healthy Peanut Butter Dip

2010-06-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

This makes a perfectly healthy mid-afternoon snack for the kiddos and for us, also. I got the recipe from Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen. I added a tsp of vanilla agave nectar to sweeten it a little.

We ate the dip with apples as you can see but I was thinking that it could go on our waffles in the morning, also. Cameron wants to eat it with bananas. YUM!

Healthy Peanut Butter Dip

1/2 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt (I used some of my homemade yogurt)
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla agave nectar

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve with apples, celery, pretzels or anything else you can think of that will go well with peanut butter.

Broccoli with Balsamic Caramelized Onions

2010-05-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

I am involved in the Sidedish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice. We have been cooking and writing about side dishes that we are creating at home. You ought to go and check out the other submissions. There is some great food listed!

We eat a lot of broccoli in my house. It is one of the only green foods that my husband and son will eat (and he won't eat that much). I know we all get tired of the boring steamed broccoli so I wanted to change things up a little. This is what I came up with.

2 cups red onions, sliced thinly
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups steamed broccoli
1 tbsp of butter
asiago cheese
Chopped parsley and basil (optional)

Add oil to a large nonstick pan over medium high heat. Saute onions until caramelized (about 20 minutes). Add vinegar and cook for 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add steamed broccoli and butter and cook together for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and top with cheese, parsley and basil.

Homemade Yogurt Made in a Crockpot

2010-05-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite new recipe. I have made around 10 batches of homemade yogurt in the past couple months. I found the recipe at A Year of Slowcooking. Who knew it was so easy? I didn't really eat a lot of yogurt to begin with but I saw this and knew that I had to try it. Now I eat it almost every day in one way or another. I make smoothies. I eat it with a variety of fruit with a squirt of amaretto agave nectar. I add it to my blueberry muffin batter. I have put it in soup. My newest passion is homemade frozen yogurt. YUM!

I used whole milk in my first batch, because I read that you should start here when you are new at making yogurt. I then went to 2% and now I only use 1%. It worked equally well with all of them. You aren't supposed to use ultra-pasteurized milk, but I accidently bought some organic milk that I didn't realize was ultra-pasteurized. By the time I realized what I had done I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I had no hope of it turning out. But, it did! I was shocked!

So, this is how I make the yogurt. The only three ingredients you need are a carton of plain yogurt that has active live cultures, some fat free powdered milk and half a gallon of milk (not ultra-pasteurized). This is the yogurt I have used as a starter.

The two tools you need to make your yogurt is a thermometer and a crockpot. This is my crockpot that I use.

I pour the milk into the crockpot. Turn it onto low and heat for 2 hours. I then turn the crockpot off and let it cool to about 120-130 degrees. This is very important! If it is too hot the live bacteria will die. If it is too cold the bacteria will not grow. I check the temperature with a candy thermometer. Once it is cooled to the correct temperature, I take the yogurt starter that has been brought to room temperature and mix it with 1/2 cup of powdered milk. The milk is supposed to thicken the yogurt. I then add two ladles full of the warmed milk from the crockpot to the yogurt mixture. Mix well. Then, I gently mix in the yogurt/milk mixture into the rest of the warm milk in the crockpot. I put the lid on the crockpot and then cover the crockpot with about five blankets. I leave it like that for about 24 hours. AND THEN! I have homemade yogurt!

I usually put my milk in the pot around 6:00. Let it heat until 8:00. It cools in about 2 hours to the correct temperature. I add the yogurt and powdered milk and then I cover it before I go to bed. When I get home from work the next evening the yogurt is ready.

There are many methods online for making yogurt. Some involve putting the yogurt mixture in a cooler with warm blankets. Some involve setting the pot on a heating pad. I didn't put this much effort into mine and it turns out perfect every time! The only time mine did not turn out was when I forgot about my milk heating in the first stage. It cooked for about 4 minutes. Way too long! I had to dump it out and start over again.

So some people ask: Why would you make your own yogurt when you can just go buy it at the store? There are several reasons. First of all, I know what is in my yogurt. There are no preservatives, chemicals or sugar. Next, it is super cheap. One carton costs around $1 each at the store. I make about 8 cups of fresh yogurt with very little effort and about $2. Why wouldn't you make your own?

Note: This yogurt is not super thick. If I want thicker yogurt I strain it in a coffee filter over a bowl.

I have let it strain for 2 days and it turns into the consistency of softened cream cheese. This worked very well in my fruit tart I made.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

I am posting this at Make It From Scratch. Come check out the other posts!

Chocolate Coconut Pecan Croissants

2010-05-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning thinking about these tasty treats. I couldn't wait to get in the kitchen! They couldn't be any easier, either. I used canned croissants and sprinkled chocolate chips, coconut and pecans and then rolled them up. I brushed them with an egg wash and made them pretty with some chocolate sprinkles. Next time, I think I will sprinkle them with a little powdered sugar. I made two cans so we will have some to grab and eat on the way to school this week.

The recipe came from my new favorite blog as seen below: For the Love of Cooking.

My next recipe I will try from this blog is either going to be the Baked Potato Soup or the Broccoli and Sharp Cheddar Soup. Not sure which we will have for dinner tonight.

Fruit Tart

2010-05-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

I made this for my son to take to his read-a-thon at school. He said he needed something healthy. Well, this was the best thing I could find. It is not exactly healthy, but much healthier than a lot of things I could have made. I found the recipe at CopperSweets. I changed some things in the recipe such as trading 1/2 cup of homemade yogurt (recipe coming soon) for 1/2 cup of cream cheese. I also traded some WW white flour for some of the AP.

I don't know why it has taken me so long to make a fruit tart. This was my first attempt and it was super easy and super delicious! The kids in Cameron's class liked it a bunch, too.

The students in my class were jealous and wanted one of these treats so I made one for them. We had Wacky Watermelon Day at school today and I tried to make my tart look watermelon-ish. The kids got it so I was happy. :)

1 ½ C. All Purpose Flour

½ C. Confectioners Sugar
1 ½ Sticks of Butter
16oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 C. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Lemon Extract
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
Fresh Strawberries, 5 whole & the rest sliced
Fresh Kiwi, peeled, and sliced
Fresh Blueberries

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an electric mixer mix: confectioners sugar, flour, and butter until your mixture comes together. In a 10 1/2” non stick spring form pan press your dough evenly into the bottom and onto the sides. Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let Cool.

Now combine your cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and lemon with you mixer until smooth. Evenly spread your filling into your cooled crust. Place a vignette of kiwi, whole strawberries with the flat end facing down and the pointed end facing upward, and blueberries, in the center of your tart. Now place some some of your strawberry slices vertically along the edges of your crust...inserting it into the cream cheese. Now layer your kiwi and strawberry slices alternately working your way from the edges towards the center.

Place your tart in the fridge to set for about 20 minutes before serving. Serve chilled!

Chocoflan

2010-05-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

I saw Marcela Valladolid on Mexican Made Easy from Food Network make this cake and knew that it would be on my to-do list. I have been looking for an excuse to make it and that reason came up this past week at school. We had a Multicultural Art and Food Fair. All of my students brought a dish or snack so we could sample food from a different culture. It turned out to be a wonderful day with all of the kids trying new things and finding something they wanted to eat again. I made this cake and it was a huge hit.

I love flan and I love chocolate cake so how about putting them together? It could not have been easier! I made it even easier by using a cake mix instead of making the cake from scratch. The kids don't know any better. :)

This recipe is sorta magical. All I could think while I was making it was, "This will never work. This will never work." First of all, I put a bunch of caramel sauce in my pan. I just knew that it would stick and ruin both my cake AND pan. Then, when I put the flan batter on top of the cake batter it looked like this.

How in the world is it going to turned into this layered cake I saw on Food Network??? Well, it actually did separate AND the cake and flan switched places. Yes, switched places. The flan ended up on the bottom and the cake on top. Don't ask me how that happened because I have NO idea.

I realized I made a mistake after the cake had been in the oven for almost an hour. I forgot to cover it with foil like the recipe instructed. I continued cooking it without the foil because it was too late to change anything. Even with all of the questions and issues I had with the cake, it ended up coming out of the pan perfectly after cooking it for one hour.

Ingredients:

12-cup capacity Bundt pan
Softened butter, to coat pan
1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce

For the cake:

Devil's food cake mix prepared as directed.

For the flan:

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For garnish:

1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)

For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.

Scoop the prepared cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.

Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake 1 hour, until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, giggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta from the pan onto the cake, garnish with chopped pecans and serve.

MIA - End of School Exhaustion! Be Back Soon

2010-05-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

I feel bad about not posting for a while. It's that time of year where everything is getting wrapped up at school. I come home after a long day with kids that are energetic, wild and ready for summer vacation, and I collapse on the couch. I'm doing good to find enough energy to get off my butt to go to bed at night.

I will be back soon and post about some of the tasty cooking and baking I've been doing. My plan for tomorrow night is to make Food Network's Marcela Valladolid's (Mexican Made Easy) Chocoflan recipe. I saw her bake this one Saturday morning and knew I HAD to make it. My 3rd grade class is having a Multicultural Art and Food Fair Wednesday and I thought that this will be a perfect time to try the recipe. Is it too fancy for 3rd graders? Maybe, but I'm going to do it anyway. So, look for the post coming soon!

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

2010-05-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is a great, healthy side dish eaten cold or at room temperature. I got the recipe from Cookin' Lean Like Paula Deen. It makes a huge bowl so I froze some of it and it worked really well.

INGREDIENTS:

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 17-ounce package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 small onion, diced
1/8 to 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl. Cover and chill overnight. Taste and add salt, pepper, or more lime juice as necessary. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Cucumber and Onion Salad

2010-05-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Mrs. Jenn B of Misadventures of Mrs. B to make this refreshing cucumber salad. I have never made anything like this so I was kind of excited. I changed up her recipe a little because I used balsalmic vinegar and red onions instead of white. I loved this salad. It was very refreshing and healthy!

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin

1 onion sliced thin

1 tbsp salt

1/2 cup basalmic vinegar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar (I used Splenda)

2 tsps of Italian Seasoning

pepper to taste

Put the sliced cucumbers in a bowl and sprinkle the salt over them and toss gently. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or so.

Mix the remaining ingredients (except the onions) and bring to a boil in a small pan.

Take out the cucumbers and drain excess water. Add the sliced onions. Pour vinegar mixture over the onions and cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Sauteed Fresh Asparagus

2010-04-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Our local farmer's market just opened up and the one thing I had on my list to buy was fresh asparagus. It was quite expensive (about $6 a pound), but I was willing to spend that much to see if the taste was really that much better. The guy told me the asparagus had just been picked the night before.

I simply trimmed the asparagus and cooked them in a little bit of bacon grease I had left over from the weekend. I let it sautee until it was a little black but still tender.

This is one of my favorite ways to cook asparagus and my family loves it. I honestly don't know if there was a huge difference in flavor because it was super fresh, but I do feel better knowing that it hadn't traveled hundreds of miles to get to my plate. The fact that I helped a local farmer made it special, too.

Fabulously Easy Fruit Cobbler

2010-04-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe a while back when I was trying to figure out something to do with a box of Bisquick I had bought. I also had a big grocery bag of fresh pears that had been given to me and I didn't know what to do with them. I put the two ingredients together and came up with this. You can use any fruit, I suppose, fresh or canned. I didn't cook the pears or anything, just sliced them up and put them on top of the batter. It is so delicious and unbelievably easy that you can have it in the oven in less than 5 minutes. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

(Sorry! This is the best picture I could get before everyone dug in).

1 stick butter
1 c. Bisquick
1 c. milk
1 c. sugar
2 c. your favorite fruit, i.e. cherries, peaches, blueberries

Melt butter in 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Mix together milk, sugar and Bisquick. Add mixture to pan of butter, pour fruit onto the mixture. Bake at 350-375 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6.

Green Chile Cream Cheese Burger

2010-04-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon Spice decided to start a Blogger Burger Club and she chose the green chile pepper and cream cheese burger to start it. I knew that I had to try it. I used some freshly roasted poblano peppers and some homemade buns. The buns came from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes Master recipe. I am addicted to this recipe!

I don't really have a recipe necessarily. I just mixed up some caramelized onions, salt, pepper and garlic in my hamburger meat. Grilled the patties and piled some chopped roasted poblanos and slathered some fat free cream cheese on the bun. Yummo!

I give this 4 stars!

AB in 5 Sticky Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns

2010-04-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

I chose not to bake any of the gluten free bread this round. I actually broke down and bought the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes book. I made the Master Recipe and turned it into these delicious, sugary, buttery breakfast treats.

I can't post the recipe due to copyright issues, but check out the book and try these sticky buns. YUM!!!

Homemade Barbeque Sauce

2010-04-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

This is the first homemade bbq sauce I have ever made. It is quite tasty and super easy to make. I doubled the recipe so I can have plenty on hand for several meals. I planned on freezing some of it but never needed to. We used it all!

Neely's Barbeque Sauce
from Food Network

Ingredients:

2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 tablespoons light brown sugar
5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon ground mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to simmer. Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Lemon Gooey Butter Bars

2010-04-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

These are some of my favorite sweet treats. The recipe comes from Paula Deen. I love them because they are super easy, versatile, and most of all delicious. The picture above is for the lemon version. You can get as creative as you want with the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well. Pat into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside.

Still using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth; add eggs and vanilla. Dump in confectioners' sugar and beat well. Reduce speed of mixer and slowly pour in butter. Mix well.

Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Don't be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time, because oven temperatures can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don't bake it past that point!

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares.

Different Varieties:

Pineapple Gooey: Add a 20-ounce can of drained crushed pineapple and an extra egg to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above.

Lemon Gooey: Use a lemon cake mix in place of the yellow cake. Add the juice (approximately 1/4 cup) and zest of 2 lemons to the cream cheese filling. Proceed: as directed above.

Carrot Cake Gooey: Use a spice cake mix, and add 1 cup chopped nuts and 1 1/2 cup finely grated carrots to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above.

Peanut Butter Gooey: Use a chocolate cake mix. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter and an extra egg to cream cheese filling. You can sprinkle the top of batter with 1 cup chopped peanuts if you like. Proceed as directed above.

Chocolate Chip Gooey: Use either yellow or chocolate cake mix. Sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped nuts on top of filling. Proceed as directed above.

Banana Gooey: Use a yellow cake mix. Prepare cream cheese filling as directed, beating in 2 ripe bananas and an extra egg. Proceed as directed above.

Nutty Gooey: Use a yellow cake mix, and add 1 cup chopped nuts to the cake mixture. Proceed as directed above.

Chippy Gooey: Stir 1 cup white chocolate chips, peanut butter chocolate chips, butterscotch morsels, Heath Almond Toffee Bits or Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits into filling. Proceed as directed above.

HB in 5 Bread Braid #8

2010-03-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Carrot and Pecan Bread

I had read some reviews about this bread from the HB in Five group saying that it was good but don't expect a sweet bread. Well, I wanted a sweet bread. I changed a few things- I added some real vanilla extract, some Vietnamese cinnamon and doubled the amount of brown sugar that was listed. I also used pecans instead of walnuts because I like pecans better. Golden raisins were my fruit of choice.

I decided to make them into rolls. The dough is hard to work with so I grabbed my ice cream scooper and scooped away - right into my lightly greased muffin tins. I gave each one a little egg wash and sprinkled some turbinado sugar on top and baked.

This is my absolute FAVORITE bread from this cookbook so far. I spread a little butter on one right out of the oven and I truly wanted to eat half a pan of them. It was 11:00 at night so I restrained myself and waited until the next morning. These rolls (I don't know what else you would call them) were the first thing on my mind when I woke up the next day.

I have some baking in my oven right now, as I am typing this. My home smells heavenly!!!

Pesto and Pine Nut Bread

The next bread that I baked (although off schedule for the challenge) was the pine nut and pesto bread. We all liked this bread a lot. I love anything with basil so it wasn't a hard sell for me. The dough was very hard to work with even after refrigerating it a couple days. I had this brilliant idea to make bread sticks but they didn't quite turn out as visually appetizing as I had anticipated. They tasted great though. I added a little flavor by brushing some spicy garlic butter on top on top of them after baking . YUM!

I also made some buns for barbeque pulled pork sandwiches. These were messy but delicious!

Avocado and Tomato Bread

One of the other breads I made for the HB in 5 Challenge was the Avocado and Tomato Bread. I almost didn't make this because I wasn't sure that I would like it, but decided to give it a try. I added some ingredients to the dough because I wanted some of the traditional guacamole flavors. Cilantro, minced fresh garlic, and 1 chopped fresh jalepeno pepper (without ribs and seeds) were added to the wet ingredients.

I made this bread into buns for some jalepeno and lime grilled chicken sandwiches. We all loved the bread and the sandwiches were excellent!

Check out the other bread from the group Healthy Bread in Five.

I Made Cheese!!! Homemade Queso Blanco

2010-03-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Crazy! I know. Some people are probably saying, "Why would you make your own cheese?" My answer would be, "Because I can!"
I've seen a lot of posts about making cheese lately and I'm also reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Vegetable, Animal, Miracle. She has a part in her book about her adventures making cheese. I knew that I had to try it!
My son was helping me in the beginning but got a little bored and frustrated with the process. The milk wasn't curdling fast enough for him (or me, for that matter). I added a little more vinegar and it curdled much faster.

The result: The cheese didn't have a lot of flavor. I put it into my corn and black bean salsa and it really didn't add that much flavor. If I'm going to add fat and extra calories to my food, it needs to improve the food somehow.

I will probably try this again but add some fresh garlic and peppers or something to it and see how it turns out. My next cheese adventure might just be mozzarella! I will let you know!

Queso blanco
from Homesick Texan

Ingredients

One gallon of whole milk, can use pasteurized or raw but don't use ultrapasteurized
1/2 cup of lime juice (about four limes) or 1/4 cup of white vinegar
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the milk in a non-aluminum pot on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes or until it looks like it’s just about to boil (but don’t let it boil!). If you’re using a thermometer, the temperature should be 185 degrees.

Add the lime juice. The curds will separate from the whey and the mixture will look grainy, kind of like you’ve just thrown a bunch of corn meal into a pot of skim milk. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

Pour the pot’s contents into a cheesecloth-lined colander and let it drain for a couple of minutes.

Sprinkle the curds with salt (you can go saltier than you normally would as a lot of the salt will drain from the cheese as it dries). Now is the time to add any herbs, spices and/or chopped chiles.

Gather the curds in the center, tie the cheesecloth’s ends and hang the cloth on the faucet so it can drain for a few hours.

Great-Grandma's Rich and Cheesy Macaroni

2010-03-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite comfort food of all time. It just makes me feel happy and all warm inside. The recipe comes from my great-grandmother. My grandmother used to make this all the time for me and my brother when we were younger. It was not Christmas or Thanksgiving without a huge pan of it on the table. Back in my college days, when I would go home for the weekend, I would make a big pot of it and take it back to school with me. Macaroni would be what I ate all week. Lots of lovely memories come from this dish.

It seems odd to some people, but the secret ingredient in Mam-maw's homemade macaroni and cheese is sugar. Yes, I said sugar and quite a bit of it. It turns into this rich, buttery, cheesy, happiness in a dish.

I know that Velveeta is processed cheese. I know. I know. I have made macaroni using several other cheeses and I just don't care for it. This macaroni is what I judge all other macaronis by. This is my macaroni.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

16 oz. elbow macaroni (large or small)

1 box of Velveeta (regular or 2%)

12 tbsp real butter

3/4 to 1 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop the cheese into cubes. Set aside. Melt the butter in a 9x13 dish and set aside.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water. Drain pasta completely. Put pasta back in the pot.

Move the dish with butter around so butter coats the bottom of the dish. Pour the rest of the butter in the pot with the pasta. Add the sugar, salt and cheese. Cook on low until the cheese is melted. Pour into 9x13 dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until slightly browned and bubbly on top.

Smoky Kale with Onions

2010-03-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

I have been browsing the produce section a little more intently lately because we need to find some vegetables other than potatoes and green beans that my family will eat. The Side Dish Showdown on Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice was perfect to help push me into finding new side dishes.

I was inspired by Lori of Fake Free Food in the 1st challenge. She made Smoky Sauted Kale and Mushrooms. I had never eated kale and decided that we would try it. I changed up the recipe some.

Result: My ten year old and husband ate it all- so I guess they didn't hate it. It wasn't my favorite, but I may try it again some time using some different ingredients.

This is how I made mine:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch of kale, coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 tbsp of smoked paprika
1/2 cup of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and saute onions until transparent. Add garlic and paprika and cook for one minute longer. Slowly add the kale until it's wilted. Stir in the chicken stock and cover. Steam the kale for about 5 minutes. Uncover and stir in salt and pepper. Cook until the remaining liquid evaporates.

I have linked up this post to Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker:Writer. Go check out the other posts!

Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

2010-03-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to try Thai food, but for some reason haven't. Instead of playing it safe and going to a restaurant I decided to cook some myself. Kevin, at Closet Cooking, posted a recipe and it looked and sounded really good so I gathered all of the ingredients and started cooking. To say my family was skeptical is an understatement.

We got 6 inches of snow last night, but I had my son go and shovel the patio just so I could grill this meat. I know all my neighbors were talking about me but that's okay. I would have never got the flavor and crispy places on the chicken. It was well worth my 10 year old's efforts (and me wearing my snowboots and coat).

The only ingredient that may be a challenge to find is the lemon grass. While I was in Dallas this past week I went to my favorite store, Central Market. I love browsing their bulk bins. I found some dried lemon grass and thought that this would have to work. I wasn't going to spend a fortune on fresh lemon grass when I could get what I need for 30 cents. I just rubbed it in between my palms and then put it in the marinade. Before I put the chicken on skewers I tried to squeeze as much of the marinade off, but of course, some of the lemon grass remained. It was fine after grilling.

Result: I LOVED the chicken! (My family liked it too...probably not as much as I did, though). The combination of ingredients gave the chicken such a unique flavor. I will definitely be making this again. The spicy peanut dipping sauce was not my favorite. It was a little rich and really not needed because the chicken already had so much flavor.

Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

from Kevin at Closet Cooking
(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons coriander seeds (toasted and ground)
2 teaspoons cumin seeds (toasted and ground)
1 teaspoon turmeric (ground)
2 stalks lemongrass (peeled & chopped)
2 cloves garlic (grated)
1 tablespoon galangal (or ginger, grated)
1 lime (juice and zest)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar (grated or brown sugar)
1 pound chicken (cut into thin strips)
* wooden skewers (soaked in cold water for 30 minutes)
1/4 cup peanut sauce

Directions:

1. Mix the coriander, cumin, turmeric, lemongrass, garlic, galangal, lime, fish sauce and sugar in a food processor.
2. Marinate the chicken in the marinade for up to 4 hours.
3. Skewer the chicken and grill it for about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Serve with peanut dipping sauce (see recipe below)

Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon panang curry paste or red curry paste
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili sauce (or 1 birds eye chili, sliced)
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons peanuts (roasted and crushed)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the panang curry and saute until fragrant.
3. Add everything else and simmer to thicken it a bit, about 2-3 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Coconut Molten Cookies

2010-03-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles Molten Lava Cookies at Baking and Boys! I found it several months ago and have been on the hunt for either the mint truffle Hershey Kisses and/or the Truffle Hershey Kisses. I cannot find them ANYWHERE! I have to go search the candy aisle of any grocery-type store these days because I want these Hershey Kisses and no one has them. One positive in this search is that I found Coconut Cream Kisses. I decided that I would have to settle with these. (They are some kind of yummy BTW!)

These are really easy cookies because you can use any chocolate chip cookie recipe that you want. You put some cookie dough on the bottom of a ramekin then stuff 3 kisses in. Last, you cover up the kisses with more cookie dough. Bake and when you cut into this little treat, the Hershey Kisses oozes out . It was extremely rich- even more so with the ice cream added on top- but I never have a problem with that.

I decided to use the recipe Katrina provided on her website. I only made 4 of the large cookies in the ramekins. I made regular sized cookies with the rest of the dough (umm..except for all the cookie dough I ate before the cookies got made several days later).

INGREDIENTS

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsps. pure vanilla extract
3 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. flavorful bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used chunks)
INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 4-6 ramekins with nonstick spray. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

3. Press some dough into the bottom of several ramekins. Press 2-3 Hershey Kisses into the dough. Add enough cookie dough to cover the Kisses. Place the ramekins onto a cookie sheet and place into preheated oven.

4. Bake for 14-17 minutes or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Grilled Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

2010-03-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Gina at Gina's WW Recipes when I saw her recipe for Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts. I took her idea and came up with my own recipe. I had some low-fat ricotta cheese and frozen spinach so I decided to use that. This was the first time I stuffed chicken with anything so I was a little nervous but I was so pleased with the result.

The weather was beautiful in Topeka today so I HAD to grill. I am so tired of being stuck inside and smoking up the house every time I try to cook meat on the stove. I was afraid that the filling would ooze out onto the grill but it didn't! I pinned each one shut with some toothpicks I soaked in water for an hour or so. I can't even tell you how excited I was about this dish! It turned out to be the prettiest piece of chicken I have ever cooked AND quite delicious if I do say so myself.

Grilled Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

1/2 tbsp garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp shallots, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese

1 cup chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed

4 large chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thick

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a nonstick pan saute garlic and shallots for one minute in the olive oil. Add chopped spinach and mix well. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until well combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat.

Lay out the chicken breasts and spoon a tablespoon or two of the filling onto one side of each of the chicken breasts. Fold over the empty side of the chicken breast and pin closed with toothpicks. Drizzle some olive oil over the chicken and sprinkle some salt and pepper on to each piece. Grill chicken for 10 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

HBin5 Catch-up Post

2010-03-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

I joined a group called Healthy Bread in Five based on the book: We are working our way through the book, but I haven't done very well so far. I've missed several of the recipes. I am going to try to get caught up on some of them here.

These are the red beet buns from the book. I have never even touched a beet before so I was a little hesitant but excited about baking the this bread for the HBin5 challenge. They are the most beautiful vegetable when you cut them up. The vibrant red juice goes everywhere and stains everything in its path, but it's okay because it is so pretty! I didn't really care for the smell, though. They kind of smell like dirt. I was just hoping the whole time that they wouldn't actually taste like dirt.

Instead of grating the beets (laziness) I chopped them some and threw them into the food processor to chop. I wish I would have left them in there a little longer and made more of a puree, because there ended up being some larger chunks throughout the dough.

The dough turned this gorgeous purple color after resting in the refrigerator for 48 hours.

I took the rolls I made to work for "Red Food Day" in honor of Valentine's Day. I didn't tell anyone what they were and just put them in a bowl with a stick of butter set in front of it. There were only a couple left by the end of the day (out of about 18).

I thought they were pretty good. I don't know that I will ever make them again, but I may attempt to cook beets in a different way.

Southwestern Focaccia with Chicken, Feta and Onions

One of the challenges for March is the Southwestern Focaccia with Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese. I had to change this a lot so my family would eat it. I traded feta for goat cheese because I knew my child would not go near goat cheese. I also didn't use the corn- didn't sound good to me. So in other words, I made this recipe my own. I used the Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil recipe from the book and made it into a free form pizza crust.

It turned out really good, but it was very spicy. I shouldn't have put the entire 1-1/2 tsp of ground ancho chile powder in the sauce. It was way too spicy for us (we're kind of wimpy when it comes to heat).

The last post I will make for now is the loaf of Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil I made. I am still getting used to the homemade whole wheat bread taste. I wish it tasted a little more like some of the store bought bread I buy sometimes. I just haven't found the recipe that I absolutely love. BUT I will keep trying. One loaf at a time.

Corny Dog Muffins

2010-03-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

I have been searching for a recipe for a healthy lunchbox meal for my son that he will actually eat. Up until now, the search has been futile. I saw this idea on Lynn's Kitchen Adventures and knew that I had to try it. I didn't use the recipe that she used but took the idea and ran with it. I used the recipe for the cheddar and jalepeno buttermilk cornbread I made last month. I changed a few things to make it a little healthier.

This recipe made 36 mini-muffins. That's a lot of lunches and after school snacks! I let them cool and put 4 to a baggie. I put several baggies in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer.

The results: they were very tasty right out of the oven and at room temperature. My son's comment after school was, "my lunch was really good, Mom!" He did request some marinara sauce to dip them in next time. I know he's gotta be happy about having an alternative to PBandJ.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Splenda
1/2 cup Egg Beaters
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese chopped in small chunks
1/4-1/2 cup jalapeno or poblano pepper finely chopped (optional)
6 hot dogs cut into bite-sized pieces (I used light turkey hotdogs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray mini-muffin pans with nonstick spray.

2. Melt butter in microwave and stir in both sugars. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into butter and egg mixture. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Fold in cheese and peppers. Pour batter into the prepared pan (about 3/4 full). Push a hotdog piece into the batter of each cup.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chicken and Dumplins

2010-03-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

I ate chicken and dumplins a lot as a child. I found this recipe several years ago in a cookbook by Sandra Lee from the Food Network show, Semi-Homemade. It's not like my mom's, but I love it. This is one of my son's favorite dinners I make. Any time it's cold outside, he says "it's a perfect chicken and dumplins day." It's a great meal any time of the year, actually.

It's a simple recipe because of all the premade ingredients like the store bought roasted chicken and canned biscuits for the dumplings. The original recipe calls for the frozen, prechopped vegetables so you could definitely use those.

Chicken and Dumplings
(adapted from Sandra Lee)

Ingredients:

1 whole store bought deli roasted chicken
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
6 cans (14 ounces each) chicken broth
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
All pepper flour, for dusting
1 container refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough (I like Pillsbury Grands)
1 can (10.5 ounce) condensed chicken gravy

Directions:

Remove skin and bones from chicken; shred meat into large pieces. Set aside.

In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Cook until soft, about 10 minutes.

Add broth, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, and chicken. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

While stew simmers, prepare dumplings. On a flour-dusted surface, roll each biscuit 1/4 in thick. (I just stretch them out with my hands.) With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut biscuits into 1 inch wide strips. Set aside.

Skim off any scum that has risen to surface of soup. Stir in chicken gravy. Stir in dumplings, a few at a time. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 10 minutes more. Ladle into bowls and serve piping hot.

Blackberry Yogurt Muffins

2010-03-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

I needed to get in the kitchen and bake something this morning. Baking is very therapeutic for me. It calms my soul and allows me to create. I used to scrapbook and make cards as my creative outlet, but I haven't done that in quite a while. Now, I create in the kitchen. What can be better than creating something yummy that you can eat?

These muffins were delicious minus the terrible batch of blackberries I used. YUCK! I used some frozen blackberries I had and they were sour and had a yucky flavor. I plucked out the berries and loved the muffin! They were moist and very flavorful due to the vanilla yogurt I added. I used half AP flour and half white WW flour in order to make it a little more nutritional. I will make these again, but will probably use blueberries instead of blackberries.

I found this recipe at The Bad Girl's Kitchen. She adapted the recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

Blackberry Yogurt Muffins

3 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour (I used 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 white WW flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 generous, heaping cup plain yogurt (I used vanilla yogurt)
2 cups blackberries
1 teaspoon vanilla
Softened butter, for muffin pan
Raw sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter muffin pan.

In a large bowl stir together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Be careful not to over-mix.

Add blackberries, reserving 1/2 cup, to mixture and gently fold in.

Add mixture to well-buttered muffin pans. Top each muffin with 2 or so berries. Sprinkle raw sugar over top.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

2010-03-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

So, tonight was going to be a chicken enchilada soup night. We have had it several times lately and I knew I needed to add something a little different to the meal. I was browsing food blogs and came across a recipe at Two Girls and an Appetite for homemade tortillas. They seemed easy and quick enough so I decided to give it a try. Using my food processor instead of blending the shortening with a pastry blender made it so much easier. I threw it all in the food processor and mixed it enough that I could work with it on a floured board. They rolled out smoothly and cooked rather fast. They were super tasty and I will for sure be making these again very soon.

There was one thing about these tortillas that was not so great...I couldn't stop eating them. Maybe my lack of self control and eating all of this yummy food I find on blogs is the reason my butt doesn't want to fit right in my pants anymore....hmmm.....

Flour Tortillas

2 Cups Flour (I used white whole wheat flour)

3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Cup Shortening

3/4 Cup Warm Water

Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Add warm water to make medium stiff dough. Form dough into a ball and knead on floured surface until smooth.

Divide dough into 8 balls, roll into circles and place on non-greased hot pan. Cook until lightly brown with flecks on one side. Turn and cook other side.

Light 'n' Tender Wheat-Oat Pancake and Waffle Mix

2010-03-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

I have a passion for pancakes. It's one of my favorite comfort foods. I get a craving for them and HAVE to have them. I just don't like the guilt that comes along with them. I found this recipe and decided to see if these healthy pancakes would satisfy my occasional craving. They were definitely great pancakes- not at all healthy tasting. What's great about this recipe is that it makes a bunch of the mix and you put it in a baggy or container and store it in the freezer. The pancakes were good so I decided to make waffles using the mix. I added a tsp of vanilla extract and substituted some vanilla yogurt for some of the buttermilk (I didn't have enought buttermilk.) I made extra waffles and put them in the freezer so we would have a fast breakfast to pull out and put in the toaster quickly in the mornings. They were so much better fresh out of the toaster! They were crunchy and oh, so satisfying! Spread a little butter, sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top and add some sliced bananas and you have a super delicious way to start your day.

Give this recipe a try!

This recipe comes from the cookbook, King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. You can also find it on their website King Arthur Flour.

Printable Recipe

Light 'n' Tender Wheat-Oat Pancake and Waffle Mix
3 1/2 cups (12 1/4 ounces) old-fashioned or quick rolled oats
4 cups (1 pound) King Arthur whole wheat flour, traditional or white wheat
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) vegetable oil

To make the mix: Grind the oats in a food processor until they're chopped fine, but not a powder. Combine the oats, flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, preferably the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed, and drizzle the oil into the bowl slowly while the mixer is running. When all the oil has been added, stop the mixer and squeeze a clump of the mix in your hand; if it holds together, it's just right. If it won't hold together, stir in 1 tablespoon of oil at a time, until it does. Store indefinitely in an airtight container in the freezer.

To make the pancakes: Whisk together 1 cup (4 3/8 ounces) mix, 1 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup each yogurt and milk), 1 tablespoon orange juice, and 1 large egg. Don't worry if the batter seems thin at first; it'll thicken as it stands. Let the batter stand for 15 minutes before cooking.

Heat your griddle or pan till a drop of water sputters when you drop it on the surface. Lightly grease, and pour pancake batter by the 1/4-cupful onto the griddle. A muffin scoop works well here. Cook the pancakes till they're golden brown on the bottom, flip them over, and cook till golden brown on the other side. Serve with butter and syrup; fresh fruit is a plus, of course. Yield: 10 medium-sized (3 1/2") pancakes.

For waffles, try this with each cup of mix: reduce the amount of milk by 1 tablespoon and increase the amount of oil to a total of 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons.

Note: These pancakes are so tender and moist, they're even good cold (not refrigerator cold; room-temperature cold). Just spread with a little jam, roll up, and enjoy.

Chicken, Green Chile and Spinach Enchiladas

2010-02-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

These are some really yummy enchiladas! The first time I made them they turned out a little too spicy for our family. I only used one of the chipotle peppers this time and they turned out perfect. I added some chopped baby spinach to the green chile sauce, mostly because I had it and needed to use it before it went bad. I found the recipe at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

Printable Recipe

Chicken, Green Chile and Spinach Enchiladas

(by Reeni)

4 cups Chicken, boneless, skinless, cooked and cut into bite-size hunks
2 and 1/2 cups Sharp Cheddar, shredded
1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried
1/2 cup Sour Cream plus additional for serving
Salt and pepper
8-10 taco size flour Tortillas

Green Chile Sauce:

1/2 Yellow Onion, diced
1 tablespoon Canola oil
2 tablespoon Butter
2 tablespoon Flour
1 and 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
1 small can Green Chiles
1 -3 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, seeds scraped out, minced
1 and 1/2 cups Sour Cream
2 cups baby spinach, chopped

In a medium saucepan saute the Onion in the oil over medium-low heat until soft. Push the Onions to one side and add the Butter and Flour. Whisk together and cook for three minutes. Slowly whisk in Broth. Add Green Chiles and Chipotle(adjust the amount according to your heat preference). Bring to a slow simmer and continue to simmer about five minutes, whisking occasionally. Add the Sour Cream and spinach. Whisk until sour cream is melted and spinach is wilted and incorporated. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with baking spray and put a thin layer of Enchilada sauce in the bottom.

To a large mixing bowl add the Chicken, 1 cup Cheese, Cilantro, ½ cup Sour Cream, 1 cup Green Chile Sauce, dash of salt and pepper, and mix well.

In a skillet heat the Tortillas one at a time over medium heat about 30 seconds on each side.

Put a 1/2 - 2/3 cup of the Chicken mixture into each Tortilla, one at a time. Roll and place in pan. Repeat until all the Chicken mixture is used up. Pour the rest of the Green Chile sauce over the top. Sprinkle the remaining Cheese evenly over top.

Bake 20-25 minutes until bubbly throughout. Let set for five minutes before serving. Serve with Sour Cream and Avocado.

Chicken, Brie, Onion and Roasted Poblano Pannini

2010-02-26T20:53:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big fan of sandwiches. I think I ate so many of them as a child that I just don't want them anymore. I will eat a good hot sandwich occasionally, though. When I saw this recipe for Steak, Roasted Pasilla Pepper, and Sharp Cheddar Cheese Panini at For the Love of Cooking, I knew I needed to try this sandwich. Poblano and jalapeno peppers have become favorites of mine. They aren't too spicy (without the seeds and ribs) and have wonderful flavor. I've decided that I need to try some different types of peppers and experiment. I'm not sure which one to try next, though. Any ideas?

I had some leftover chicken breast leftover from dinner the previous night, so I used that instead of steak. I also used brie instead of cheddar and added some carmelized onions. I skimped on the peppers because I was afraid it was going to be too spicy. I wish I hadn't. Next time, more peppers will be piled on!

Per sandwich:

cooked chicken cut into thin strips
2 slices of whole wheat sour dough bread
poblano peppers, roasted
brie
Mayonnaise
Hot Sauce

Roast the peppers:

Clean the poblano peppers and carefully slit them down the center. Gently remove the seeds from the inside of the pepper. Line a baking sheet with tin foil then place the pepper on top. Broil until peppers are blackened on all sides. Transfer the peppers to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let cool for 10 minutes. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the blackened skin and stem gently. Slice into strips.

Prepare the sandwich:

Preheat your panini grill or a large skillet over medium heat. Mix a few tablespoons of mayonnaise with a few teaspoons of hot sauce; taste and add more hot sauce if desired.

Spread the mayonnaise mixture on each slice of bread. Next add the slices of chicken then roasted poblano peppers and finally the brie; top the sandwich with the other slice of bread and place on the panini maker then cook for 5 minutes.

If you are using a skillet, cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until it's golden brown. Place a heavy pan on top of your sandwich so it presses and smooshes it a little. Slice and serve with extra mayonnaise sauce on the side.

Blue Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

2010-02-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

I love to order stuffed mushrooms when we go out to eat and I used to make them a lot at home, too, but haven't in a long time. I forgot how easy they are to make. You can put lots of different ingredients into these little natural cups, so just be creative. One of my favorite things to stuff mushrooms with is crabmeat. I use the canned. This time, I used what I had at home already...Maytag blue cheese and bacon.

Ingredients:

9 large mushrooms

3 strips of bacon, fried and chopped or crumbled

1-2 ounces of crumbled blue cheese (depending on your taste)

3-4 tbsp of melted butter

1/4 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms and discard. Gently clean the mushrooms with a wet rag. Place caps on a small, greased baking sheet. With a pastry brush, brush a little of the melted butter on each mushroom cap.

Mix the remaining ingredients (including the remaining butter) in a small bowl. Spoon the mixture evenly into each mushroom. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until desired doneness.

Chicken Taco Soup

2010-02-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

Running late for work, I was determined to get something in the crockpot before I left the house. I went to my freezer and pulled out baggies filled with the following: boneless skinless chicken breasts and chicken thighs, homemade black beans, chopped celery and chopped onions. I dumped all of this into my trusty little crockpot, frozen and all. Added a large can of enchilada sauce and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. The only prep work I had to do was chop up a poblano pepper I added in at the last minute. Set the crockpot on low for 8 hours and I had the most amazing dinner ready when I got home.

All of this because of some prep work done days before. I have been reading some blogs about cooking once a month and bulk cooking. I don't think I could ever do that but I am doing my variation on the concept. I got out my food processer one Sunday afternoon and chopped up a lot of onions, celery and carrots. I put them in baggies and put them in the freezer. I also cooked up 2 pounds of dried black beans and put them in baggies with about 2 cups in each baggy. This is close to how much would be in a can of beans. I got about 7 or 8 baggies out of $2 of dried black beans...can't beat that! My next cook-ahead recipe is going to be this homemade enchilada sauce at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.

This recipe was definitely inspired by a recipe I made a while back, Chicken Enchilada Chili. Actually, the two are almost identical, but I wanted to share the process of how this meal came to be more than anything.

I love this idea of doing a lot of the prep work ahead of time. It makes meal preparation so much easier when time is short. Not having to use a lot of processed food is another big bonus. I seriously had this meal in the crockpot in less than 10 minutes. It would have been faster if the poblano pepper had been chopped and frozen, also. The food in the pot didn't look like much when I left for work, but when I got home it was like magic had taken place in my kitchen. I LOVE IT!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken (breasts, thighs, whatever you have)
1 can black beans
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 cup onions, chopped
1 large can enchilada sauce (not sure about exact size)
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with tortilla chips and cheese on top if desired.

Chipotle Pork and Onion Casserole

2010-02-20T07:59:00.000-08:00

This makes for a healthy, warm comfort food on a cold winter night. I found the recipe in my new favorite cookbook, Flat Belly Diet Cookbook. See previous post.

Printable Recipe
Ingredients:

12 ounces boneless pork loin, cut into 1/2 pieces
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups onions, chopped
1 tsp sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 can (8.5 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes, unsalted
1 chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce, minced
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine the pork, chili powder, cumin and 1 tbsp of the oil in a bowl. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sugar and cook, stirring often, for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions are very soft.

Add the garlic, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes or until the onions are lightly browned and the vegetables are softened. Stir in the corn and cook for 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl and reserve.

Heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil over medium-high heat and add the pork. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes or until the pork is no longer pink. Add the reserved onion mixture, tomatoes and chile pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and scatter the cheese on top. Cover with a sheet of foil that has been coated with cooking spray.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the pork is tender and the filling is bubbling. Remove the foil and bake for 3 minutes longer or until the cheese has browned slightly. Divide among 4 serving plates and top each with 1 tbsp of the sour cream.

Cranberry, Chocolate and Pecan Scones

2010-02-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Another recipe from Belly Fat Diet Cookbook. These scones were a pretty big hit especially warmed a little with some butter. They were super easy! I added 1/2 cup of mini-chocolate chip cookies...gotta have chocolate!

Printable Recipe

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup pecans, chopped

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/4 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt

2 tbsp canola oil

2 eggs

2 tsps vanilla extrac

1 tsp freshly grated orange zest

2/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries

1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat a 9" round baking pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together the flour, pecans, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together the yogurt, oil, and orange zest in a small bowl.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the yogurt mixture and cranberries. Stir just until blended.

Press into the prepared pan. Score the dough with a knife to form 8 triangles. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Nutrition Per Serving: (without chocolate chips)

308 calories

6 g protein

38 g carbohydrates

15 g fat

1.5 g saturated fat

2 mg cholesterol

350 mg sodium

5 g fiber

Cheddar and Potato Breakfast Bake

2010-02-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted something to go along with my creme brulee French toast so I tried this recipe out of the new Bisquick Recipe Card book I found at the grocery store. You know these great little books they have by the check-out. I have a rather large collection of them and do actually try some of the recipes sometimes.

Click here if you can't find it at your local grocery store.

We really liked this recipe. It is rather healthy if you use the Bisquick Heart Smart Mix (which I didn't because I didn't have any). It makes a very large casserole so I cut some into squares and put some of them in the freezer in individual baggies. It also is very tasty in a whole wheat tortilla for breakfast. I'm wondering if you can make this recipe using other types of baking mixes because I would like to try it with a whole grain baking mix. What do you think? Let me know if you try it.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups frozen potatoes with onions and peppers, thawed
1-1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
5 slices of Canadian Bacon chopped
1 cup Bisquick Heart Smart mix
3 cups fat-free (skim) milk
1 cup fat-free egg product
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix uncooked potatoes, 1 cup of the cheese and the bacon. Spread in baking dish.

In same bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk, egg product and pepper until blended. Pour over potato mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown around edges, the center is set and the cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2010-02-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

My sister was wanting some oatmeal cookies so I went looking for a tried and true recipe online. I found this one at Baking Sheet that had tons of good reviews. They were really good, but didn't turn out quite as thick as I was wanting. They were very flat but chewy and delicious. I only made up half of the cookies the first night and put the rest of the dough in the refrigerator. The cookies did turn out a little thicker after the dough was chilled for several days.

Stephanie, I know you are wanting to give up sweets for lent, but unfortunately these cookies are on their way to you! Sorry! Hope you enjoy them!

Printable Recipe

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from The Frog Commissary Cookbook)

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups oats (rolled or "quick," but not "instant")
2 cups chocolate chips (about 12-oz.)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until mixture is light in color. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the milk and the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Either by hand or with the mixer on low speed, gradually beat the flour in to the sugar mixture until just incorporated.

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips by hand.

Drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart so they have room to spread.

Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.

Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen.

Notes:

- If you chill the dough for about 30 minutes before baking, you will have a slightly puffier cookie.

- You can substitute raisins for the chocolate chips.

- You can add up to 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts in addition to raisins or chocolate chips. You might want to make the cookies slightly larger if this is the case.

Creme Brulee French Toast

2010-02-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine told me about this baked creme brulee French toast that her sister made that is just incredible. I got the recipe the other day and decided this would be a great after church, Sunday late lunch on Valentine's Day. She sent me the link to a recipe that was exactly like hers at AllRecipes. There are many reviews on this website regarding this recipe. Many people cut down the amount of brown sugar because it was too sweet. I did not. I also doubled the vanilla extract and increased the orange liqueur to 1/4 cup instead of one teaspoon. I wanted to taste the orange liqueur and the flavor definitely was pleasingly noticeable. I didn't cut off the crust either because I wanted the crisp crust in the end. No butter or syrup was necessary. This was some of the most divine French Toast I have ever had! It was so rich and decadent and simple to prepare. Thanks Diane and Barbara!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
8 thick slices of French bread (enough to cover the pan in a single layer)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup brandy-based orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier®)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mix in brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Remove crusts from bread (if desired), and arrange in the baking dish in a single layer. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla extract, orange brandy, and salt. Pour over the bread. Cover, and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature.

4. Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until puffed and lightly browned.

Cheddar and Jalapeno Buttermilk Cornbread

2010-02-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I made Black-eyed Peas Soup and wanted to make some homemade cornbread to accompany it. I found this recipe at AllRecipes and made some adjustments. My favorite thing about this cornbread is the ooey chunks of gooey cheese that you bite into. YUM!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese chopped in small chunks
1 jalapeno pepper chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan or deep dish pie plate.

2. Melt butter in microwave and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into butter and egg mixture. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Fold in cheese, peppers and corn. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Blue Cheese and Walnut Roasted Potatoes

2010-02-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

I picked up a small piece of Maytag blue cheese at the store the other day and have been looking for a recipe to inspire me. The inspiration came to me from my newest cookbook, Flat Belly Diet Cookbook.

There are so many recipes that I want to try in this cookbook. They are all healthy and look so yummy! I also like that it gives all of the nutritional information for each recipe.

I cook roasted potatoes all the time and it gets a little old so I was excited to try this version. They turned out quite tasty but I think I put too much blue cheese. My ten-year-old couldn't eat it because the cheese was too strong. It was definitely a keeper recipe, but I think I may try it with feta next time.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound thin-skinned baby potatoes, halved

1-1/2 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 ounces crumbled blue cheese

2 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a 9"X9" baking dish with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Place the potatoes in the prepared dish and toss with the oil, pepper and salt. Turn cut side down in the pan. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until very tender and lightly golden on the underside.

2. Meanwhile, put the walnuts in a small baking pan or skillet and place in the oven to toast for 6-8 minutes. Tip into a bowl and let cool. Add the blue cheese and scallions and crumble with your fingers.

3. When the potatoes are done, turn them over and sprinkle evenly with the walnut mixture. Bake for 5 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.

M&M Valentine Sugar Cookies

2010-02-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

At 9:30 Monday evening I realized I hadn't bought any Valentine goodies for my sweet 3rd graders. The class party was the next day, but I had no time (or energy) to come up with anything so their gifts would have to wait until the day after. I don't really have any money to spend so I decided to bake something. They love me baking for them so I started my search for a soft sugar cookie recipe. The easiest and quickest one I found was this recipe at AllRecipes. I like finding recipes that have reviews and tips from others that have tried them. This particular recipe has almost 2,000 reviews and has scored a 4-1/2 stars out of 5. Worth a shot!

The dough was simple to make, but turned out really dry. I don't think I messed up any of the measurements, but I guess I could have. I decided to take a chance and add another egg because I didn't think the dough would work out. With the extra egg mixed in, it actually looked like cookie dough.

The cookies turned out perfect! They were soft and buttery, even the next day. My kids were happy with their afternoon snack and Valentine's Day treat. I will definitely be making these again!

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg (I used 2)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 2)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Printable Recipe

German Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

2010-02-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

My husband wanted something sweet to take to work with him and I found this recipe at Mommy's Kitchen. I wanted to eat the icing right out of the pot! Yummy and rich! Perfect for potluck gatherings.

CAKE:

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) German Chocolate cake mix

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten

FROSTING:

1 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter, cubed
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups flaked coconut
1-1/2 cup chopped pecans

Prepare cake batter according to package directions; set aside. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour half of the cake batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Gently pour cream cheese mixture over batter. Gently spoon remaining batter over top; spread to edge of pan. Bake at 325° for 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. For frosting, in a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and egg yolks Cook and stir over medium-low heat until thickened and a thermometer reads 160° or is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla; fold in coconut and pecans. Cool until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Frost cooled cake. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 16 servings

Printable Recipe

Mongolian Pork

2010-02-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

This recipe comes from Culinary in the Desert. It was super easy and quite delicious. I knew that I was going to have a limited amount of time to cook dinner the next night and I was determined to cook this recipe so I mixed the sauce ingredients (minus the constarch) together and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next evening, I cooked the meat for a few minutes and dumped the sauce in. It was finished in less than ten minutes. Cooking the rice was the most time consuming part of this recipe due to my prep work the night before.

The recipe was originally for mongolian beef, but I didn't have any. I have stocked my freezer with pork loin so chose to slice it into strips and use it instead. I doubled the sauce recipe and I'm not sure I needed to. It turned out pretty rich and salty so I think I will adjust the amount of soy sauce next time and not double the recipe.

I had dinner made in 20 minutes. This is a perfect meal for those busy weeknights, especially if you do a little of the prep work ahead of time.

Printable Recipe

Mongolian Pork

(adapted from Cooking Light)

4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons chile paste with garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil
16 ounces (1 pound) sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 to 6 green onions, sliced into 2" pieces

In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, sherry, hoisin, vinegar, chile paste and salt.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Stir in beef, garlic and ginger - cook until beef is browned, stirring to crumble, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in green onions - cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour in soy mixture and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute.

Serve over hot cooked rice or noodles.

Makes about 4 servings.

Pretzel Bites with Sharp Cheddar Cheese Sauce

2010-02-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my husband mentioned that he could eat a whole bucket of those little pretzel bites you get at the mall. Well, two days later Maria, at Two Peas and Their Pod, posted a recipe for these tasty little morsels. Talk about luck! She made it sound really easy so I decided that they would be a treat on Super Bowl Sunday.

They really were very easy! My son and I had fun making them into different shapes and sizes. They weren't swimming in butter like the ones at the mall but that's okay. I will definitely be making these again and next time maybe I will try using some whole wheat flour to make them a little more healthy. YUMMO!!!

Printable Recipe

Soft Pretzels:

recipe adapted from Bobby Flay
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 package active dry yeast
3 ounces unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil
3 quarts water
3/4 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
Coarse sea salt

For the Pretzels:

Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape: take the right side and cross over to the left. Cross right to left again and flip up. Boil the pretzels in the water solution, 2 at a time for 30 seconds, splashing the tops with the warmed water using a spoon. Remove with a large flat slotted spatula or a spider. Place 4 pretzels on each baking sheet, brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

Remove to a baking rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating. Serve with cheese sauce, recipe below.

Cheddar cheese sauce:

½ Tablespoon unsalted butter
½ Tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ cup milk
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

For the cheese sauce:

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the Cheddar cheese until smooth and all of the cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Mandarin Pork with Garlic and Thyme

2010-02-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

The crockpot has been my best friend and my worst enemy lately. I've made some wonderful meals and then some absolutely terrible ones. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to put pork loin chops in my crockpot again. Every time I have cooked them lately they turn out the consistency and texture of sawdust. I'm not sure what I'm doing but it's not working. I thought maybe I was cooking it too long (8 hours on low), but I cooked it on low for 3-1/2 hours and it turns out the same.

The sauce had a great flavor and I will definitely try this recipe again but not in the crockpot. Next time, I will use it as a marinade maybe.

I found the recipe on Megan's Cookin. She used chicken and that might work better.

Ingredients

1 lb - pork loin chops - about 1 inch thick
1 - 8oz can - mandarin oranges,
1 tbsp - Ginger, ground
1 tsp – Salt
5 cloves - garlic (minced)
1/2 cup - orange juice
1 tsp fresh Thyme
1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

Place pork in Crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the cornstarch, to the Crockpot.

Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 8 hours.

Remove pork and put orange sauce in a small sauce pan. Stir a little water into the cornstarch to make a this paste. Add to orange sauce and cook on medium heat till thickened. Spoon over pork and enjoy!

Ginger, Lemon and Garlic Chicken

2010-01-31T12:02:00.000-08:00

Lemon, ginger and tons of garlic...how can I go wrong? This turned out to be some of the best chicken I've ever made. I found the recipe on Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice. It was juicy and tender and full of flavor. I paired it with some buttermilk mashed potatoes with parmesan cheese. I sliced some baby spinach and mixed it in the potatoes. It was a terrific meal!

Printable Recipe

Ginger Lemon Garlic Chicken

(by Reeni)

1 and 1/2 pounds boneless Chicken Breast or 2-3 large bone-in Breasts
Sea or Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
2 lemons*, one of them juiced, the other sliced
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
12 large cloves of garlic, sliced lengthwise
1-inch of fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon Oregano

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a 9x13 inch baking or casserole pan by spraying it with oil or first lining it with aluminum foil, then spraying with oil.

2. If using boneless breasts pound out with a mallet or skillet until about 1-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper. Place in pan.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the juice, mustard, and Worcestershire until well combined, Add the garlic, ginger and oregano, whisk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over chicken and pile the garlic cloves right on top of the breasts. Cover with slices of lemons.

4. Cook the boneless breasts about 25 minutes or until juices run clear, bone-in breasts about 45-50 minutes until juices run clear. Let set for five minutes before serving.

5. Serve with the juices spooned over top.

*Use room temperature lemons. If using straight from the refrigerator microwave for 15 seconds first. Roll the lemon under your palm against the counter top before slicing.

Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2010-01-31T11:46:00.000-08:00

I decided that these are actually healthy cookies. I changed the recipe and made some substitutions that make me feel a little less guilty about eating them. I used Eggbeaters instead of the egg and whole wheat pastry flour instead of the all purpose flour. Also, I used a stick of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter instead of real butter. I found the recipe on The Ungourmet.

Printable Recipe

Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

recipe from The Ungourmet

makes about 2 dozen

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup toasted shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups rolled oats

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and coconut. Beat butter for 30 seconds until creamy. Add the egg, extracts, and sugar. Mix well. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix well. Fold in the chips and oats.

Place tbsp sized scoops on baking sheet. Press down each scoop just a bit. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Blueberry, Chocolate and Banana Pancake Squares

2010-01-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

I love pancakes and wanted some for dinner the other night but didn't want to mess with it. I had seen this recipe for pancake squares at My Tasty Treasures and thought it would be easier than making "real" pancakes. I added a bunch of fruit (blueberries and half of a ripe, smashed banana) and some mini-chocolate chips and used all white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. I served it with some turkey sausage links and we ended up having a relatively healthy breakfast for dinner meal.

Ingredients

¾ cup milk
2 T. melted butter
1 large egg
1 T. sugar
1 cup flour
2 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish. In a large mixing bowl, beat together milk, butter and egg. Add sugar, then gradually beat the flour in. Carefully stir in the baking powder and salt. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20–25 minutes. Serves 4–6

Bite-Size Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

2010-01-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I searched many recipes trying to find a cake-like red velvet cookie recipe. I wanted to make little bite-size red velvet sandwich cookies with cream cheese icing. I tried 3 different recipes before I found the one that was exactly what I was looking for. The first ones I tried always ended up being crisp and crunchy cookies instead of the mini-cakes I wanted. Perseverance pays off because I found this recipe at Dinner and Dessert.

Once I found the recipe, I needed to figure out how to make them bite size and cute. Four cookie scoops later I have officially given up. The teaspoon sized scoop that I finally broke down and bought the other day ($18) didn't work. The batter was too wet and it just wouldn't come out of the scoop. Talk about defeated and disgusted! I tried using regular teaspoons and they just looked sloppy. The final idea I had was to use a piping bag. The mini chocolate chips I put in the batter wouldn't go through the Wilton tips I had so I just snipped off the end of the bag. Worked like a charm!

So now I have to find a use for the $18 scooper that I bought. I don't think that will be too hard.

They turned out adorable and delicious! The cookies come out of the oven rather crisp but I have found that the day after they take on more of the cake-like consistency that I was looking for.

We had a covered dish luncheon at school and the theme was "red food". I am guessing due to Valentine's day coming up. This was the reason I had been looking for to make these once again.

Here are the ones I made at Christmas time. They were very festive.

Chicken Enchilada Chili

2010-01-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe on A Year of Slow Cooking and instantly knew that it would be in my crockpot in the very near future. It looked very simple and included common items that I usually have in my pantry. My crockpot has been used quite frequently lately...not always with great success. Somehow, the meat I cook tends to be super dry. The porkchops I cooked last week, I swear, tasted like soy sauce flavored sawdust. It was awful! I feel like I am on a losing streak with my crockpot and hoping that this recipe will cause it to end once and for all. Of course, I won't blame the recipe if it doesn't turn out moist and luscious... because obviously, there is some user error here. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Cooking it too long....Not putting enough liquid..... I don't know!
Ten minutes is all it took to mix this up last night. I threw it all together in the pot and put it in the fridge so it would be all ready to go this morning. I'm thinking that there is no way the chicken can turn out dry. There is so much liquid from the enchilada sauce and canned tomatoes that surely.......! We'll see when we get home today.

Verdict:
We loved the chili! It was so nice to have a meal ready when we got home. I only wish I would have had more time to make some corn bread. That would have made the perfect meal. I think next time I will also add more spice to it through either more chili powder or the medium enchilada sauce (I used mild).

These are the tomatoes that I used- they're the only ones I had in my pantry. I also used black beans instead, because I had some frozen ones that I had made a couple weeks ago. YUM! Thank you Stephanie for a great recipe!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken (boneless & skinless, OR fish out the bones and skin after about 4 hours)
1 1/2 cups prepared enchilada sauce (read labels carefully if avoiding gluten)
2 chopped celery stalks
2 (14.5 oz) cans tomatoes with seasoning (your choice: I had garlic and olive oil on hand)
2 (15 oz) cans pinto or kidney beans, undrained (or 1 cup dried pinto beans, soaked overnight)
1 onion, diced (or 1 tablespoon dried, minced onion flakes)
1-2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin

The Directions:

Pour enchilada sauce and canned tomatoes into the bottom of a 6 quart slow cooker. Add beans, celery, onion and spices. Stir to combine. Place chicken on top.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until flavors have combined. If you are using dried beans, you may need to cook longer to fully soften the beans. Since I was using the chicken quarters I got on sale, I fished out the chicken after about 4 hours, and removed the bones. I then stirred the chicken back into the pot.

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

Broccoli and Rice Casserole

2010-01-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

One of my husband's favorite dishes that I make is broccoli and rice casserole. I don't make it very often because it usually takes so many pans...I hate doing dishes! My sister brought up the fact that she still hasn't gotten this recipe from me, so it gave me the idea to make it to go along with my boneless pork ribs tonight (which didn't turn out that great). We ate Chinese take-out yesterday and had a ton of steamed rice left over so that made the dish much quicker and simpler to prepare.

The recipe I have used every other time I've made this dish called for Cheese Whiz and cream of mushroom soup. I'm trying to reduce the amount of processed food my family eats so I decided to take a risk and make my own cheese sauce. I turned out really good. I had the can of cream of mushroom ready just in case I thought I needed it. It needed a little more moisture so I chose to add some more milk instead of the soup. The resulting casserole was pretty tasty and my husband was happy that I finally made it for him.

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 cups cooked rice
4 cups cooked and chopped broccoli

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet. Add onions and cook until tender. Add flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk. Whisk constantly until sauce thickens. Stir in grated cheese until melted and well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix in rice and broccoli. If mixture seems too dry, stir in some more milk. Pour into the prepared dish. Cover and bake for 20-30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole and put back into the oven for 10 minutes. Cook until hot and bubbly.

Chocolate Orange Caramel Crunch Cookies

2010-01-24T17:45:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite stores is TJ Max. Browsing their gourmet food aisle, I came across some Ghirardelli chocolate bars on clearance for $1.50 each.

I thought that I could make some unique cookies by chopping up the chocolate and adding it to some of my favorite cookie dough.

The result was a tender, rich and delicious cookie with a citrusy, chocolatey sweetness!

I used another one of the bars to make a filling of sorts and piped a dollop onto the center of the cookie after a dusting of powdered sugar.

Cookies

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp milk
1 3.5 oz Ghirardelli Citrus Sunset chocolate bar with orange bits and caramel crunch

Filling

1 3.5 oz Ghirardelli Citrus Sunset chocolate bar with orange bits and caramel crunch
1 Tbsp shortening
2 Tbsp white corn syrup
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large mixer bowl combine brown sugar, butter, vanilla and orange extract. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). In a separate bowl, mix flour and salt together with a whisk. Reduce speed to low; add flour, and then milk. Beat until well mixed. Add chopped chocolate and mix well. Scoop dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 6 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Cool completely. Sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the other chopped chocolate bar and shortening on low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Cool slightly. Stir in corn syrup, water and vanilla. Spoon or pipe about 1/2 tsp filling into the center of each cookie.

Homemade Granola Bars

2010-01-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned before, we are trying to eat healthier in our home. I have been looking for ways to include more whole grains into our diet. I saw this recipe for homemade granola bars at Our Krazy Kitchen and decided to give it a try. One of the reasons I loved this recipe is that it was simple. I can adjust the recipe any way I like.

I didn't think my son would like it especially since I included craisins, but he did. The one thing I am going to change the next time I make this will be to use nonfat sweetened condensed milk. I want to lower the fat that the first batch had. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but I think it will be worth the try. I also bought some dried blueberries today that I will trade for the craisins. I'll let you know how it goes! I am excited about experimenting with this recipe.

Update*** The blueberries were very sweet and perfect with the chopped cocoa roasted almonds I used in my second batch. What to try next....hmmmmm......

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups oats
1 can condensed milk
1/4 cup craisins
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons melted butter
2 teaspoons honey

Spray 9x13 pan with nonstick spray, mix all ingredients well and pour into pan, press flat and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Flip upside down on parchment paper, let cool for 5 minutes, cut.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-01-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Some may think that mint is only meant for Christmas...not me! I saw this recipe a couple weeks ago at Picky Palate and knew that I wouldn't be waiting until the next holiday season to bake a batch. I love the flavor of mint and these definitely packed in the minty yumminess. Now I just need to give them away before I eat them all. I have been really good all week with eating healthy (well, except for the trip to the pizza buffet Tuesday night because my electricity went out during the day and ruined my dinner in the crockpot), but I just "needed" cookies tonight.

1 Cup softened butter

1 Cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 Cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag Nestles Limited EditionDark Chocolate and Mint Morsels
1 1/2 Cups white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients along with the chips. Mix until just combined. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until slightly golden on outside edges. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.

3 dozen cookies

Turkey Pesto Burger with Butternut Squash Fries

2010-01-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

We've been eating a lot of turkey lately. I've made quite a few turkey burgers and haven't quite mastered it yet. They always turn out on the dry side without a lot of flavor. These turned out pretty yummy because of the pesto I added to the meat before cooking and the feta, spinach, tomato and onions added afterward. They aren't the greasy burgers that we love to eat (and suffer from later), but I guess if we are going to choose to eat healthy, then these will have to do.

The fries are made from butternut squash. I parboiled them first for about 3 minutes. Then I took them out and dried them off with some paper towels and then tossed them with some olive oil and a spicy herb mixture. Next, I spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet and cooked them at 450 degrees until they got a little charred and crispy.

My son saw me as I was cutting up the squash and I told him what I was doing. This was his quote: "I have never been so unexcited to have french fries!" He ended up loving them and swore they were sweet potato fries. VICTORY!

Whole Wheat Hotdog Twists

2010-01-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

One of my main goals this year is to learn some healthy and delicious recipes that will help my family get healthier and more fit. I am constantly on the lookout for easy recipes that I can make ahead of time and heat up for a meal quickly. A challenge we have in our house is that we are always running late in the morning and that always means that we have to "grab and go." Poptarts and other packaged products were outlawed in my house long ago.

We love pigs in a blanket in my house. I've never tried to make them healthy so I thought I would give it a go. I decided to try turkey dogs which are very low in fat and calories. I made another batch of the Whole Wheat Master Recipe dough from HBin5 and cut thin strips and wrapped them around the weenies. In the end, the hotdogs had very little flavor so we added some seasoning to make them a little more flavorful before we cooked them. They turned out okay, but I don't know that I will make them again. I am all for eating healthy but I can't sacrifice flavor. I'll try some other low fat hotdogs next time. I'm not giving up.....

Oh, and the soup is not even worth writing about. I had to post the picture because it's one of my best pictures of food I've taken (in my opinion.) I am working on this skill and hopefully it will get better. :)

This is my next attempt at making a boule using the Whole Wheat Master Recipe. It turned out a little lighter than the last loaf and a lot prettier.

Bread Baker, not am I....

2010-01-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, I joined a bread baking group based on the book, Healthy Bread in Five. Michelle, at Big Black Dog, is graciously hosting the challenge. I decided to take the challenge, because I have always had a fear of baking homemade bread. It just seemed too laborious and difficult. This week, the challenge was to make a batch of the master whole wheat bread recipe and bake a loaf, a shaped bread and Spicy Whole Grain Snack Crackers. I have tried several other recipes from the book in the last couple of months and none have turned out well.

This is the loaf of bread that I made. My husband and son liked the bread, but I did not. It's too dense and didn't rise like it should have. Actually, it hardly rose at all.

These were the disasters that were supposed to be the crackers. Rolling out the dough was a mess! Then trying to transfer the rolled out dough was impossible. They just ended up balled-up clumps. I attempted to roll them out again and just put the dough on the pan and baked it. I thought some rustic crackers would be good, but they didn't crisp up enough. They were chewy and difficult to eat.

This was the most successful attempt using this bread recipe. My son loves pizza rolls so I decided to try using the dough sort of like pizza dough. They were very tasty, especially when dipped into marinara sauce.

I rolled out the dough and sprinkled mozarella cheese, mini pepperonis, and browned ground turkey seasoned with Italian seasoning.

I rolled it up as tight as I could and sliced it, cinammon roll style. I put them in the pan and let them rest for almost two hours, then baked. They didn't rise much but turned out quite yummy. They worked out perfectly for Cameron to take in his lunch box with a little container of marinara sauce.

I'm not giving up on bread baking or this challenge. I am doing something wrong and I have been reading others' comments and plan on watching some of the videos to figure out how to do things correctly. I will be posting some new pictures soon. :)

Broccoli, Potato and Cheddar Soup

2010-01-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well, the broccoli and cheddar soup was the winner tonight. I found this recipe from For the Love of Cooking and decided that it would be perfect for our dinner on this cold and dreary night. I made quite a few changes to the recipe. I added some cut up red potatoes with the skins to make it a little heartier. I also tasted the soup and it still needed some more flavor. Not sure what to add, I looked around the kitchen and saw the magic ingredient for my soup.....crushed red pepper. Last night, we had Dominos pizza and I had some of those little packets of crushed red pepper left over. I added two of these packets to my soup and it was perfect! The flavor was incredible now!

Next, in order to cut some of the calories and fat from the recipe I decided to take a huge risk. I read somewhere that you can add nondairy creamer to soup to make it creamy so I took the plunge. I was terrified to say the least that I would completely mess up my pot of soup that I had going. The recipe calls for 3 cups of 2% milk, so I substitued one cup of milk with nondairy creamer. I kept waiting for my soup to curdle or turn into a lumpy, disgusting mess, but it never happened. It actually worked and I have to say, this was one of the most delicious soups that I have ever made or tasted for that matter.

***update*** So, I told my husband about the substitution of nondairy creamer for the milk. He asked me what nondairy creamer actually was if it is "nondairy". I wasn't really sure, so I googled it and found out that I won't be cooking with it, or using it, anymore. It listed all sorts of ingredients and chemicals that didn't sound that appetizing. I have been trying to cook and eat healthier (before the holidays anyway) and eat more natural and unprocessed foods, so this nondairy creamer goes against all of that.

So back to the fattening milk..... Maybe I will try the 1%, soy or rice milk. I bought some soy milk and then later found out that males should not consume soy because of all the female hormones it contained. What to do now???

Printable Recipe

• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• ½ cup chopped carrots
• ½ cup chopped celery
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
• 3 cups milk
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 4-5 cups of broccoli florets
• 4 red large red potatoes chopped into bite-sized pieces
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• green onions and grated cheddar cheese for garnish

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery and sauté for 3 minutes. Add flour, stir and cook for a few minutes. Slowly add stock and milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper. Add potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. Smash some of the potatoes with a potato masher. Add broccoli and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in cheese. Garnish with green onions and cheese.

Coconut Pecan Brownies

2010-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

I spent hours yesterday browsing food blogs. I wasn't looking for anything in particular and I came across a blog that is my new favorite, For the Love of Cooking. I saw these brownies and knew that I had to make them. All of my favorites - coconut, pecans and chocolate. I decided to make them and send them to work with my husband (so I don't eat them all myself). I did keep 3 for home. They are very rich and delicious. I added some chocolate chips to the topping...you can never have too much chocolate. I think I may cut the topping recipe in half next time. It was a lot! Not that it wasn't yummy and I am one that usually believes that more is better, but it was a lot of pecans and coconut. I don't think it was all necessary.

Black-eyed Pea Soup

2010-01-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

My earliest memories of New Year's Eve are of my cousins, brother and I spending the night at my grandmother's house. We would stay up all night playing Monopoly and would go out to her car and honk the horn when the clock struck midnight. She would always make black-eyed peas for New Year's Day, because it would bring good luck in the new year.

I decided that I would attempt to make some black-eyed peas this year. I browsed for a recipe because I wasn't quite sure how to cook them. I found this recipe for black-eyed pea soup that sounded quite yummy and decided to give it a try. I honestly thought that I would be the only one eating them, but both Cameron and Danny loved them. Cameron wanted a second bowl! Needless to say, I was completely thrilled. There is little that pleases me more than for someone to truly love something that I have cooked or baked. It's kind of a rush. It's even better when I create something myself that didn't come exactly from a recipe. I did start with the recipe I found on the website, A Year of Slowcooking, but changed up some ingredients based on what I had in my refrigerator and my new love of poblano peppers. These tasty peppers have been finding their way into a lot of my cooking lately. They have great flavor and add just the right amount of heat.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

--1 pound dried black eyed peas

--1 pound spicy sausage (Andouilli)
-- 5 cups chicken broth
--1 yellow onion, diced
--1 cup diced carrots
--1 diced poblano pepper
--4 cloves garlic, diced
--1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning
--1 tsp kosher salt
--1/2 tsp black pepper
-- 4 slices of bacon
-- cilantro chopped

The Directions.

Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (broken, discolored beans) in the morning.
Use a 5 to 6 quart crockpot. This will serve about 8 people. Dice the veggies, and dump them into your crockpot with the pre-soaked beans. Add sliced sausage. Pour in broth, and stir in Mexican seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6. Before serving, use a stick blender to smash up about 1 cup of beans. If you don't have a stick blender, scoop out 1 cup of beans, blend them in a traditional blender, and add back to the soup. Don't blend too much---just enough to get the broth thicker and creamy-looking.

Ladle into bowls, and add cilantro to taste.

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies

2010-01-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

This recipe is actually what fueled my new obsession with food blogs. I was looking for pumpkin recipes and found this blog, Culinary in the Desert. The recipe for Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies looked unbelievable so I started browsing and I found many other recipes that I knew I would have to try. I doubled the recipe and it make gigantic, thick, rich brownies that were loved by most that tried them. The cayenne pepper gives an unexpected heat that made me want more. My 3rd graders actually loved them and requested them for a special reward day we had planned. I made two huge batches of these over the holidays.

Stuffed Shells

2010-01-09T15:13:00.001-08:00

Cameron and I watched Cooking Yourself Thin (one of my favorite new cooking shows) the other day and they cooked Stuffed Shells. Both of us thought that it looked very yummy so I decided to cook it tonight. He came in the kitchen and asked me, “ugh, what’s that green stuff?” Of course he saw the same show that I did, but I guess he completely blocked out the whole zuchinni and spinach part of the recipe. AND Danny came in and saw the zuchinni and asked, “What are you going to do with that?” When I told him that it’s going in the pasta he was shocked and I think not real excited.

Well, it turned out quite tasty and they ate it. Danny actually ate half the pan. Cameron did pick out some of the zuchinni. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will cut the zuchinni a lot smaller. I added two large links of chicken sausage, because I knew that they would freak out if there was no meat.

I have changed the recipe some.

Ingredients:

12 oz. box of pasta shells

8 oz of chicken sausage with spinach and asiago cheese (from Sams)

I jar of Smart Balance pasta sauce

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 small purple onion chopped

2 medium zuchinni (chopped or grated)

1 pkg of baby spinach

2 TBSP of Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder

olive oil

2 cups skim milk ricotta cheese

mozzarella cheese

parmesan cheese

Partially cook the pasta shells (about 7 minutes), drain and remove to a pan sprayed with cooking spray. Set aside.

Cook sausage with a little olive oil in the pan until done. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, add the onions and zuchinni, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Saute until softened, but with a little bite. Add sausage and ricotta cheese. Mix thoroughly. Spoon mixture into shells and place in a single layer in a baking dish. Carefully pour the pasta sauce on top. Sprinkle both cheeses over the sauce. Cover and bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.