Real Moms Cooking

Sausage Zucchini Pasta

2010-07-26T21:06:00.001-04:00

5 stars

We plant a garden every year. So, this time of year we have a lot of zucchini. Last year, we had so much that we couldn't even give it all away! I came up with this recipe just for our garden.

Sausage Zucchini Pasta

Prep Time: 15 min. Cook Time: 20 min.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. sausage (I use sweet Italian sausage)

2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 t. minced garlic

1/2 large red onion, diced
1 Large zucchini or 2 small

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 T. tomato paste

1 t. Italian Herb mixture

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Pour 1 T. of extra virgin olive oil into a saute pan. Over med-high heat add the sausage (casing removed) and break into small bite size pieces as you are cooking. Cook until no longer pink.

Set aside to drain the grease.

In the same saute pan add 1 T. of extra virgin olive oil, diced red onion and garlic. Saute until onion is clear (around 3-4 minutes).

At this point I remove the onions and garlic and run it through my mini food processor. If my daughter sees an onion in her food she won't eat it. If this doesn't apply to you, then skip this step.

Add sausage back to the pan. Add the zucchini, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste (I use the paste that comes in a tube so nothing is wasted), and Italian seasonings.

Let simmer until you pasta is done. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese and serve.

For the pasta I have used all different kinds, it really depends what I have in the pantry. On this day, we had rotini.

Enjoy!

Easy Summer Supper

2010-07-02T17:48:00.001-04:00

Here in Michigan it has been window weather, high 70's, a nice breeze. It's been wonderful. Yesterday I made dinner inside and our house turned into a hot box, so today I knew that I needed to find something to cook outside. Add to that to the fact we are going away for a week and I needed to rid our house of all our veggies, I came up with this meal. It was so good. My husband went back for seconds and even my picky eater son ate it!

On the menu:
Grilled Chicken
Grilled Zucchini
Grilled Avocado
Grilled Romaine Lettuce

Easy Grilled Chicken:
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken breast with Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Seasoning. Grill until done, about 9-10 minutes each side depending on your grill.

Grilled Zucchini:
In the morning, cut 2 medium zucchinis in thick slices. In a baggy place zucchini with 1/2 cup of Italian Dressing, 1 t. of Italian Seasoning mix, and 1/2 t. garlic powder.

Place on grill and leave for 3-4 minutes. Turn 180 degrees and grill for 3-4 more minutes. Flip and grill until soft in the middle, about 5 minutes more depending on your grill.

Serve with ranch dressing.

Grilled Avocado:
Chill your avocado overnight in the fridge. Right before grilling, cut in half, remove seed, and sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Place on grill for 5 minutes or until the flesh is lightly browned.

Grilled Romaine Lettuce:
Cut in half. Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. Grill for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

Bow Ties with Chicken and Cream Sauce

2010-05-24T16:39:00.000-04:00

5 stars

This is a long time favorite of mine. I was given this recipe from a coworker years ago on a piece of paper that I still have today. It will be nice to have the ingredients on the internet now so if I forget what to buy I can use my phone to check now. :)

here is the hand written recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2lbs boneless chicken breast
1 lg white onion sliced/diced
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 sm can sliced mushrooms
1 can italian style peeled tomatoes
6 tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 cup white cooking wine
salt & parsley to taste
16oz cooked bow tie pasta

Directions:

combine butter & olive oil in lg skillet on med - high heat, fry chicken until golden brown (pre heat oven to 350 degrees)
set chicken aside, saute the onion and garlic until tender, add peppers and mushrooms.
saute for about 5 minutes then add the tomatoes, until warm.
put veggies in lg casserole dish, put the chicken on top of the veggies.
bring wine to boil and pour over the chicken.
cover and bake for about 50 minutes.
add olives and mix well then add the heavy cream.
bake another 10 minutes or so
serve immediately.

Blueberry Flax Pancakes

2010-04-26T20:58:00.002-04:00

4.5 Stars

I have been in the mood for homemade pancakes, so I went on the search for a good recipe. After reading over at AllRecipes, I decided to combine a few recipes and make my own!

You can substitute any fruit you like or just leave it out all together. My husband does not like blueberries, so his were "plain". I added flax seed meal to the recipe because I really like the taste, and flax is really good for your body. Read about it here. It has a slightly nutty taste, so if you don't like that, leave it out. It did not change the texture of the pancake.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. Milk
2T White Vinegar
1 c. flour
1 T. Flax Seed Meal
2 T sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda (I used 1 t. in my recipe this morning by mistake and it was fine)
1/2 t. salt
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 T butter, melted
Cooking Spray
1 c. blueberries (I used frozen that I thawed overnight)

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine milk and vinegar. Set aside.

In a large bowl sift flour, flax seed meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Stir egg, vanilla, and melted butter in the milk mixture. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well mixed.

Spray skillet or griddle pan with cooking spray. Heat on med/high.

Poor 1/4 c. batter onto the griddle. Place the blueberries on top of the poured batter. Wait until they start to bubble and flip.

Enjoy!

Texas Hold-em Cookies {Joint Recipe}

2010-04-19T13:29:00.000-04:00

Its time for another joint recipe from Jeannie and Andrea. Last month we did the Oven fried Chicken as our joint recipe. This time we thought it would be good to do a desert dish.

Jeannie: 5 stars- "OMG These are so good." and "OMG Thanks for the cookies, they are the best cookies I have ever eaten in my whole life"... are a couple of things my neighbors told me after I gifted them with some of these wonderful little treats. I have to say, that I was a bit sceptical about this recipe to start off with.. I realized it only had 1 cup of flour in it.. I thought it had to be a typo or something.. but I made this recipe with no substitues or changes.. and was rewarded dearly! The trick is to no over cook them.. I cooked them for exactly 20 minutes and let them cool. They came out very soft and buttery! I guess I did do one thing different.. I didnt use chocolate chips, but instead I used chunks.. I thought they better fit the TEXAS name.. (everything is bigger in Texas) LOL By the way, you all know I live in Georgia, but I am from Texas, Corpus Christi actually is where I was born. So this recipe was kinda special to me, just because of the name.. my family will appreciate it anyway! :)

Andrea's Review: 4 Stars

I was excited to try this recipe. I haven't made cookies in a long time so my family (and neighbors!) were looking forward to them as well. I'm wondering if i did something wrong to these cookies because they didn't turn out like Jeannie's cookies.

After mixing the recipe as written I realized that I didn't have any chocolate chips. So, I headed to the corner market and they didn't have any either. Not wanting to head to the grocery store on a Sunday night, I decided to get 3 Hershey bars and just crumble them up instead of using the chips. I ended up using only 2, but these really needed the 3.

There just wasn't enough chocolate. Also, we usually don't like nuts in our cookies, so I only used 1/2 c. of pecan chips.

Once again, the nuts tasted great in these, so next time I'm using the full 2 cups.

With all that said, these are VERY sweet, and I don't think mine were completely "done". They never got fluffy and stayed completely flat. Having one this morning, they are a bit better, but still, really, really sweet.

I am going to make these cookies again, only this time I'm waiting until my sous chef is in bed, because I feel like I did something wrong with these.

Try them and let us know what you think!

Texas Cookies

1 Cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups pecans or walnuts
Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a small jelly roll pan or small cookie sheet with foil and butter. (I used non stick foil no butter)

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. (I did sift these too)
Cream together the butter and sugar and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture. Mix well.

Spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate chips. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cookies are almost set. Do Not Over Bake.

Remove from oven and let cool. Slide cookies and foil out of pan on to cutting board. Cut into squares

Wheat Pizza Crust

2010-04-01T06:13:00.003-04:00

4 Stars

A few months ago I started collecting pizza crust recipes. I have them written on small scraps of paper and most have the website or person who gave them to me. This one does not. So, if you recognize it from a blog or recipe site, please let me know and I'll give credit where credit is due!

I've made this a few times and here are the things I've learned. This recipe is enough to make 2 thin crust pizzas or 1 medium crust pizza. You need to bake it for around 5 minutes before adding your toppings if you want a crispy crust. When you think it is done, cook for 3-5 more minutes to give the middle more time to cook.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 c. white flour (I use unbleached white)
1 t. salt
2 T. olive oil
1/4 t. sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 c. warm water

Add yeast and sugar to 1 c. warm water. Stir gently and let sit for 8 minutes. The yeast will be bubbly.

Mix whole wheat flour, white flour, and salt. Add olive oil.

Pour yeast mixture and combine.

Knead for 5 to 10 minutes. Well kneaded dough will be smooth and elastic. If you press your finger into the dough, the mark should spring back.

Pour a small amount of olive oil into a bowl. Place dough in the bowl and turn once. Cover the bowl with saran wrap or a clean towel and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

If making 2 thin crust, then cut in half. I freeze one half for a later date.

Roll out to desired thickness. Don't worry about getting a perfect circle or rectangle. Concentrate more on the thickness being even across the entire crust. Bake at 450 degrees for 5-8 minutes.

Add toppings (I used green pepper, olives, and mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, and Italian seasonings) and bake for 15-18 minutes (thin crust) or 15-20 minutes (for thicker crusts).

Enjoy!!

Chipotle Chicken Wrap

2010-03-31T14:53:00.000-04:00

4.5 stars

I agree with Jeannie about running a food blog. A lot of my e-mails start with "Hey, I have this recipe I want you to try..." these days. I really enjoy getting those e-mails too, so if you have something, send it my way!

Anther thing that happens is that everything new that I try at a restaurant I think "How could I make this at home?" or "What's in this?"

Well, this happened to me on Saturday when I was at Chili's with some friends for a birthday lunch. I ordered their new Santa Fe Chicken Wrap, and after my first bite I knew I would have to try this at home.

Something that I do that saves me time when I make meals like this is that I cook my chicken ahead of time. I'll thaw out more chicken than I'll need for a dish, cook it all up and then put some aside in the fridge for quick meals later in the week. It saves so much time!

Ingredients:

1 Pkg. Tortilla Wraps

1 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast

1 Avocado, diced

1 Tomato, diced

1 cup Mexican Shredded Cheese
1 ear of corn or 1 can of corn

1 1/2 cups Romaine Lettuce

2 T Mayonnaise

Chipotle Pepper Seasoning

Salt

Pepper

2 t. Olive Oil

Directions:

Lightly salt and pepper clean, dry chicken breast. Add olive oil to skillet. Over med/high heat, cook chicken breast until no longer pink and juices run clear. Place to the side to cool.

In a small bowl mix 2 T. mayonnaise with chipotle pepper seasoning. This seasoning is very spicy. I added a little at a time until I found the perfect taste for us. We like things on the spicy side, so I added about 1/8 t. for us.

Once chicken is cool, slice on a diagonal.

On one tortilla wrap place diced avocado, diced tomato, cheese, corn, and lettuce. Add chicken.

You can add the mayonnaise mixture to the inside of the wrap or use it on the side as a dip. I like it on the side so I can add or take away as I need it.

Roll the tortilla. Cut in the middle on a diagonal.

Enjoy!

Mexican Nacho Casserole

2010-03-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

4.5 stars

A couple of things that happen when you start a food blog, one is you spend countless hours searching for appealing easy family recipes and the other thing that happens is your family and friends offer up their family favorites.
This casserole dish was given to me from a friend. My family loves Mexican food, so I was pretty sure they would like this dish. I should really consider making more casseroles. I just never think to make them. I know there are so many of them, Im pretty sure that I have a casserole cookbook too.

We really liked this dish, I did change a few things when making this. I decided not to add the can of soup, but rather I used chili pepper seasoning and add a bit of flour and milk to make it somewhat creamy. I also added some cumin spice as well. My kids loved all the Doritos in this dish too. OH the other thing I added was some corn. I was not all that happy about the nachos on the bottom, they seemed kinda mushy, but no one else said anything about it, so maybe it was just me.. This is why I gave this dish 4.5 stars. I will make this again for sure.

Here is the original recipe, you can decide to change it up like I did.

Ingredients:

1 12 oz bag of Doritos
1 medium to large onion chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 can Rotel tomatoes
2lbs ground beef
1 bag of shredded cheese

Directions:

Brown ground beef with onion and drain, add the rotel tomatoes, can of chicken soup to the beef slowly cook while preparing chips.
Crush chips in the bag and cover the bottom of casserole dish with chips.Save some chips for topping. Pour meat mixture over chips and top with cheese and more chips. Bake at 350 for 30minutes.
You can substitute ground beef with chicken.

Monkey Bread with Apples

2010-03-30T09:52:00.000-04:00

5-stars

I think the best part about this dessert was the bits of apples.. They were so yummy and I should have put more than I did. I will be sure to make this again, very easy and yummy!

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 (12 ounce) cans refrigerated biscuits, separated and cut into quarters
3 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a tube pan.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon together in a large sealable plastic bag; add the biscuit dough in batches of 6 to 8 pieces and shake to coat. Alternate layers of the chopped apple and the coated dough pieces in the prepared pan.
Melt the margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat; stir the brown sugar into the melted margarine. Bring to a boil; cook at a boil for 1 minute, remove from heat, and pour over the apple and biscuit layers.
Bake in the preheated oven until cooked through, about 35 minutes. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a plate to serve.

Nice Healthy Snack - Roasted Cauliflower

2010-03-30T09:40:00.000-04:00

5-stars

Glad I only made one head of this.. I would of ate it all by myself.. well I did eat it all by myself, but 2 heads would of been a bit much. I really like grilled or roasted veggies a lot. Cauliflower is no exception. This recipe is super easy and you can use this basic recipe for roasting or grilling other veggies as well.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F Grease a large casserole dish or a cookie sheet. I used non-stick foil.
Place the olive oil and garlic in a large resealable bag. Add cauliflower, and shake to mix. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.

Japanese Zucchini and Onions

2010-03-30T09:25:00.000-04:00

5 stars

Just like at the Japanese Steak house.. Yum yum! I actually made 4 Asian/Japanese type dishes to go along with this, but they ended up being so much prep work and cooking them all at once was a bit of work, so getting photos of everything didn't happen.. LOL I ended up making this recipe, plus Terriyaki Chicken, Shrimp, Fried Rice and Soy/Ginger Noodles.. Everything was fantastic..

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchinis, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
ground black pepper

Directions:

Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, and cook 5 minutes. Add zucchini, and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Stir in teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Cook until zucchini are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in ground pepper, and serve immediately.

Bran Flax Muffins

2010-03-26T07:03:00.000-04:00

4.5 Stars

I am forever on the hunt for healthy snacks for my kids. I would rather make them something than pull something out of a box, but some days I just don't have time. That is when I started looking for muffin recipes. I thought muffins could be made ahead of time and pulled out when needed.

I found these on Allrecipes and didn't have high hopes for them. I mean, they got good reviews, but would my kids like them? Would they taste like cardboard with all that flaxseed? I decided to give it a try and I figured my husband and I could eat them if the kids didn't like them.

They are amazing! I mean, so good. Moist, great flavor, and fairly dense, so not little crumbs all over the place.

They didn't get 5 stars because it took a lot of prep. work. So, you may want to make these during nap time or after the kids are in bed.

Ingredients

3/4 c. all purpose flour

3/4 c. all wheat flour

3/4 c. oat bran

3/4 c. ground flaxseed

1 c. brown sugar

2 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 t. ground cinnamon

3/4 c. skim milk (I used 2%)

2 eggs, beaten

1 t. vanilla

2 T. vegetable oil

2 c. shredded carrots (I did the smallest shred on mine)

2 apples, peeled, cored, and shredded (I used the largest shred on mine)

1/2 c. raisins (I forgot these and mine were still fine)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix flour, flax, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the milk, eggs, vanilla, and oil. Mix just until blended.

2. Stir in carrots, apples, and raisins.

3. Lightly grease muffin cups. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full w/ batter.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I had to cook mine for close to 25 minutes before they were done, so make sure you check these before turning the oven off.

Enjoy!

Sugar Biscuits

2010-03-25T13:44:00.001-04:00

4 Stars

We love strawberries in this house! Now that spring is around the corner and strawberries are on sale 3 for $5, I knew it was time to make my sugar biscuits. They have a slightly sweet taste, but still taste like a biscuit.

I found this recipe last year around this time, but I can't seem to find it again. It is not my original recipe, so if you find it on the web, let me know and I'll post a link.

The reason these get 4 stars is that they must be eaten the same day they are made. They do not last over night.

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
3 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter
1/3 t. baking soda
1 c. buttermilk
1 well beaten egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1. Stir flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/3 c. sugar. Work butter into the flour mixture with fingers (like making a pie crust).

2. Mix baking soda with buttermilk (I just add the baking soda to the buttermilk in the measuring cup.). Add buttermilk and egg to flour mixture. Blend LIGHTLY.

3. Place dough on floured surface and knead lightly. Dough will be crumbly at first, be careful not to over knead.

4. Roll dough 3/4 inch think. Cut into rounds and place on well greased baking sheet.

5. Brush tops with butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. My oven takes exactly 10 minutes.

To make my strawberry shortcake I butter the inside of the biscuits lightly, add crushed and chopped strawberries, top with whipped cream, and add the other side of the biscuits. So good!!

Enjoy!

Chicken Fried Steak Fingers

2010-03-23T09:23:00.000-04:00

5 stars

My family really loves chicken fried steak, but it was fun to do this little twist to this meal. These are very yummy and even the kids like them, of course not with gravy, they like theirs with ketchup, just like with everything they eat. LOL

Oh Also, my son (age 14 soon to be 15) is the one that made this dinner for our family! With my supervision of course.

Ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 pound cube steak, cut into thin strips
oil for frying enough to cover steak fingers 1/2 way

Directions:

In a shallow bowl, combine egg and milk. In another shallow bowl, combine flour and seasonings. Dip beef in egg mixture, then in flour mixture. Dip again in egg mixture and coat with flour mixture. Let stand for 2 minutes.
In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Place a few pieces of meat in the skillet at a time. Fry until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Ok, you probably need the recipe to make the white pepper gravy too.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
salt to taste
2 tsp pepper

Directions:

In a stock pot, over medium high heat, bring to boil 3 cups of milk.
Reduce heat to medium heat.
In a large measuring cup or bowl, add 1 cup of cold milk and the flour, wisk until there is no lumps.
Pour your flour mixture into boiling milk, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and bubbly and to desired consistency. Add salt and pepper.

Two-Tators Shephards Pie

2010-03-19T19:35:00.000-04:00

5 stars

We love shepherd's pie, but but I wanted to find something just a bit different to do with this dish. I think I found it.. It had great flavor, which sometimes this dish is a bit bland for me. I used cream of chicken soup, because my family does not like mushrooms.. but I prefer the cream of mushroom soup, but any cream soup will work in this dish. Also any veggies will work as well and I only use frozen.. they taste so much better. This time I used a Mexican seasoned frozen veggie mix and it gave everything a great flavor. Feel free to mix it up. But most often we use green beans. Oh and any cheeses are fine too, I used mozzarella tonight, but usually I use mild cheddar.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream soup (chicken or mushroom)
4 cloves garlic
salt/pepper to taste
1/2 onion chopped
6 cups frozen Tater Tots (or enough to make one layer on the bottom of dish
2 cups frozen veggies thawed
3 cups Hot mashed potatoes (real or box is fine)
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink add garlic and onion; drain.
Stir in soup, salt and pepper.
Place Tater Tots in a greased baking dish.
Top with beef mixture and veggies.
Spread mashed potatoes over the top.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until heated through.
When there is about 20 minutes left sprinkle top with cheese.

Butternut Squash Fries (baked)

2010-03-19T19:22:00.000-04:00

s5 stars

These are so yummy! I love homemade fries from potatoes, sweet potatoes.. so thought I should try this too.. I was asked the other day if I had any butternut squash recipes.. and come to think of it,, nope I didnt.. so I wanted to try this one.. If you have a favorite recipe with butternut squash.. Send them to realmomscooking@gmail.com I would love to try them out.

Oh and did I say, these are super easy to make.. the only thing that I recommend is having a very sharp knife to cut these with.. thank goodness i have sharp knives now.

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) butternut squash, halved and seeded cut into shapes of fries
2 tbs olive oil
1 gallon size zip lock bag
salt to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Use a sharp knife to carefully cut away the peel from the squash or use a super sharp potato peeler. Cut the squash into sticks like French fries. Put olive oil, your squash sticks and salt into bag and shake making sure each are coated with olive oil. Arrange squash pieces on a baking sheet.
Bake for 20 - 30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning the fries over halfway through baking. Fries are done when they are starting to brown on the edges and become crispy.

Frosted Sugar Cookies

2010-03-19T18:59:00.000-04:00

4 stars

These sugar cookies are super soft, just like the ones at the stores. They are not your super sweet ones that you eat at xmas time. (which are my favorite) So that is really the reason for only 4 stars. Like I said these are like the ones you buy at the stores, which the cookie part is super soft and not all that sweet, piled high with frosting.

On some I used chocolate frosting from the container.. LOL and the others I made frosting, but didn't have butter so had to make the old fashion shortening frosting. So I will give ingredients for that frosting as well at the end. I also flavored my frosting and I usually go for strawberry or something, but did this one in banana..

Cookie Ingredient:

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup shortening
2 tbs water
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cookie Directions:

Cream the margarine, shortening, water and add the sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt gradually to the creamed mixture. Cover and chill dough overnight or for 1 1/2 hours in freezer.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or non-stick foil.
Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut into your favorite shapes. Place cookies onto the prepared baking sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 6 to 8 minutes or until cookie has a golden appearance.

Frosting Ingredients:

4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
other flavoring like strawberry
food coloring

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla and other flavor with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

Oven Fried Chicken Joint Recipe

2010-03-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

Well as you all know, and if you don't, this blog is the work of two moms. We separately try out new recipes and post about them. Well every now and then, (maybe once a month, but dont hold us to that) we will pick a recipe and both of us will make it and then post about it together in one post. How fun is that? We wanted to do this well over a month ago, but we were waiting for my oven to get fixed, then we just too busy to post about it.

Jeannies review- 5 stars

I will be making this again for sure. My family all really loved this chicken and I liked that it was crispy like fried, but baked for a healthy alternative. The only thing that I didnt like was the saltine cracker flavor. I loved the spicy-ness of it and also liked the corn flakes. I think maybe a seasoned cracker next time or none at all. We also had a friend over that night and he got the opportunity to eat this as well and he really loved it and ate more than any of us. LOL I made it exactly as the recipe called for. It was fairly easy to make as well, which was really nice.

Andrea's Review-4 Stars

We didn't like this one as much as Jeannie family. We also thought the the Saltine taste was very overwhelming for the other ingredients.

I cut my chicken breasts into small pieces so they were more like nuggets. The kids really liked this about the recipe as they love chicken nuggets. They were very crispy, but I just couldn't get past the saltine flavor. I like Jeannie's idea of adding a spiced cracker instead, and I will try that next time. I also thought adding crushed almonds would add an extra layer of taste and crunch.

Oven Fried chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 sleeve (about 20) whole-grain salted crackers, pulsed in a food processor until fine (about 1/2 cup)
2 1/2 cups corn cereal flakes, pulsed in a food processor to fine crumbs (about 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 egg whites
1 cup lowfat, plain yogurt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
Olive oil cooking spray
4 medium sized skinless chicken breasts and 4 skinless chicken thighs, rinsed and patted dry (about 3 1/2 pounds chicken)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil.
Combine the crackers and corn cereal crumbs, sesame seeds, cayenne, and garlic powder in a shallow bowl. Reserve.
In a large bowl, combine egg whites, yogurt, Dijon mustard, and salt. Add the chicken pieces and coat thoroughly with the yogurt mixture.
One at a time, dip the chicken pieces in the cracker mixture, packing crumbs onto chicken. Arrange the chicken on a baking sheet and spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife.

Spinach and Chicken Tortellini Salad

2010-03-15T21:39:00.000-04:00

5 stars

It was hard coming up with a name for this salad, as it has so many other things in this salad that could be in the title, like artichokes and red peppers or even the pesto. But alas.. this is the name I came up with. Kinda boring compared to the flavor for this recipe.
My mom first made this salad a few years back and I or we make this on special occasions. Not for holidays or anything like that, but when we get together or family is from out of town type occasions. I also love to serve this with a baquette.. I could have baquette with anything really, but goes perfect with this salad.

Ingredients

1 pound boneless breast chicken
4 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
salt pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 can baby artichoke hearts cut in half
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes cut in halves or sliced
1 bag baby spinach rinsed/cleaned
1 family size cheese tortellini cooked (I use the tri-colored ones)
2 tbs Classico green pesto

Directions

I start with heating olive oil in a pan and cutting up my chicken breast into chunks. Small enough bite size pieces. I add to the hot pan and then add my cut up garlic. Let his cook on med heat until done. Cool just a bit.
In a bowl add you cleaned well drained spinach. Add you cut up tomatoes (another alternative that is tasty is adding about 2 tbs of cut up roasted tomatoes from the jar) Add your drained artichokes.
Cut up your red and yellow peppers, drizzle with olive oil, and add salt and pepper. Put in oven with your broil on hi. check it often, as they can burn fast, but about 5-7 minutes they are done. Add to your bowl of spinach.
Add the cooked chicken and the pesto and stir until the pesto has coated everything.
Add your cooled tortellini to the bowl and stir a few more times.
Serve and enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Icing

2010-03-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

4.5 Stars

I've been searching for an easy icing for sugar cookies for a while now. I was so excited to find this recipe on Blonde Invitations and Designs blog. I love all of their work, and knowing that they both used to work for Martha Stewart makes me trust them all the more!

Since St. Patrick's day is right around the corner, my daughter and I made some sugar cookies. I will admit that these are Semi-Homemade. When baking with my daughter who is almost 4, things need to be quick. So, I use the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix that comes in a bag. Judge me if you wish, but once you try these, you won't turn back. :)

Now, about the frosting. This was my first time making it and it is super easy.

Ingredients:

2 T. softened butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

Milk to thin

Mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Use milk to thin to spreading consistency.

That's it! Crazy, right?!

To make it the green color, I used food coloring gel made by Wilton. I found my at Jo-Ann Fabric for around $5. I mixed the yellow and blue in a bowl until I found the color I wanted and then added it to the frosting.

To ice the cookies I used two different methods. The first I'll call the "neat" method. I took a butter knife and very gently spread the icing on each cookie.

The second method is the "sloppy" method. First I dipped the cookie in the icing.

Then I took a butter knife and took off the excess. I then placed them on a cooling rack to drip any excess icing off the cookie.

(Notice the bite missing? :) )

The cookies must set out until the icing hardens before you stack, so make sure you have someplace to let them dry.

Enjoy!

Suffering Succotash Steak

2010-03-14T21:17:00.000-04:00

5 stars

I have been making this dish for my family for years. I have used rice instead of egg noodles, but lately we like the noodles instead. I have used all sorts of canned tomatoes as well and I really like the Mexican stewed tomatoes, but sometimes you can not find them. So we just use Italian or the pepper and onion ones. Its a good hearty meal and we never have left overs after I make this either.

Suffering Succotash Steak

Ingredients

2 pounds beef cube steak (3-4 steaks)
4 cloves garlic
1 onion chopped
2 bell peppers chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 (14.5 ounce) can canned diced or stewed tomatoes (mexican flavor is great)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
dash of red pepper optional
salt/pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
cooked white rice or cooked egg noodles

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown the cube steak. Reduce heat to med, and add garlic and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes then add bell pepper. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. Cover, and simmer at least 30 minutes, stirring ocassionaly.
Serve over a bed or rice or egg noodles. I also like to boil my egg noodles in a beef flavored water, using about 2-3 beef cubes.

Ranch Roasted Red Potatoes

2010-03-13T17:28:00.001-05:00

4.5 Stars

With the weather warming up, this makes the perfect side dish along side a juicy steak. What makes it even better is that it is so easy to make, but tastes like it is anything but easy!

Ingredients

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1- 1.5 lbs. red potatoes

1 package Ranch dressing mix

salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut the potatoes into eighths making sure each piece has red skin. Place the oil, potatoes, and ranch mix in a gallon size plastic bag. Shake until coated.

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the coated potatoes on the baking sheet making sure that they are spread out evenly.

Place in hot oven for 15 minutes. Take out and turn to coat. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until roasted.

Lightly sprinkle with salt before serving.

Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread

2010-03-13T07:24:00.000-05:00

2 stars

Let me first say, I have never had Irish soda bread or even heard of it before. Until the wonderful world of facebook, I got a message to join a month long Irish Soda Bread making group. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day.
For more information about Irish Soda Bread go here.

I guess there are a number of recipes floating around for this.. The basic soda bread is made with flour, baking soda, salt, and soured milk (or buttermilk). That's it!

It was easy to make and turned out cute. I only made one, but this recipe makes two. The flavor is not something I am used to and was not a fan of it. I guess that means I have no Irish in me? I was still glad I made it, just to say that I have.

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:
6 cups all purpose flour
2 teasp baking soda
2 teasp baking powder
3 tblsp cornstarch
2 teasp sugar
l teasp salt
2 l/2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix very well. Pour all of the buttermilk into the bowl at once and stir, using a wooden spoon, just til a soft dough is formed.

3. Pour the contents of the bowl onto a lightly floured counter and knead for a minute or so till everything comes together.

4. Divide the dough into two portions and shape each into a round loaf, pressing the top down a bit to just barely flatten it. Place the loaves on a large ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with some addition flour on the top of each loaf and, using a sharp paring knife, make the sign of a Cross in slashes on the top of each.

5. Allow the loaves to rest for 10 minutes and then bake on the middle rack for 40 mins or till the loaves are golden brown and done to taste.

Very Moist Banana Bread

2010-03-11T19:39:00.000-05:00

5 stars

I can't believe I finally found it.. The perfect Moist flavorful Banana Bread. I have made many banana breads before.. most just been ok.. But this one is it. I was so excited about it I had to post this tonight. I have many other recipes waiting to be posted.. but this one I just had to share.

I found this recipe on youtube here.

The very Moist Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flower
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 stick butter (room temp) (½ cup)
1 ½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 tablespoons of sour cream
6 small banana or 4 large very ripe
1 small package of chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mash the banana until it they are smooth. Then, mix together the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, butter and sugar. Use a sifter to add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and salt. Then add your pecans or other nut you like.

Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray. Pour your batter into pan.

Cook for 1 hour. Let it cool for about 30 minutes then transfer to a serving tray.

Ooie Gooie Lemon Bars

2010-03-10T15:53:00.000-05:00

5 stars

This recipe is super easy and full of lemon flavor. Ooie Gooie tartness best describes these lemon bars. . They are so good that while my mother and my grandmother was at my house they ate a few before leaving and my grandmother could not stop thinking about them, so she had to call to get the recipe so she can make for her church group. :) You can also make this recipe as lime bars, just substitute the lemons for limes and also good idea to add about 2 drops of green food coloring.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 lemons, juiced
2 lemon zest
powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an 9x13 inch pan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/12 cups sugar and 5 tbs flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice and zest. Pour over the baked crust.
Bake for an additional 25 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top when cooled, and cut into squares.

Zuppa Tuscana Soup

2010-02-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

5 stars

The first time I had this soup, my friend made it and brought some to work.. It was so yummy. I had to wait about a year for her to make it again. I finally asked her for the recipe because I like this soup that much. I hoped that I would be able to make it the same as she did. Im happy to announce that I think I pulled it off.
You will find this is super easy to make, with only about 5 ingredients.

Ingredients:

64oz chicken broth
1 cup milk
16oz heavy cream
5-8 small to med pototoes cubed
1 med onion chopped
2 bunches of kale
1 1/2 packages seasoned or spicy hot Italian sausage

Directions:

In a large pot fill with water half full. Bring to boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt. Clean and cut your kale. Add to boiling water. Boil for about 6-8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a pan, add sausage by squeezing the it out of the skins. Cook like you would ground beef. Once done, drain off oil and set aside.
In a large pot, add chicken broth and bring to boil. Add your cube potatoes and cook until done about 8 minutes. Add onions and your cooked sausage, milk and heavy cream. Cook for about 3 minutes on medium heat. Add kale and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!

My Fried Rice

2010-02-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

5 stars

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon sesame seads
1 onion
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup matchsticks carrots chopped
1 cup frozen sweet peas (or more I love these)
5-6 cups cold cooked rice (this time I used 1/2 brown and 1/2 white)
2 eggs scrambled
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin Sauce (or to taste.. it can be a bit spicy)
2 teaspoon of ginger sauce (I used orange ginger grilling sauce it was fine)

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sesame seads, garlic and onion and saute until soft, then add carrots 2 tablespoons soy sauce and the other sauces and stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes.
Then add rice and stir thoroughly. Add more oil if needed.
Finally, stir in scrambled eggs and frozen peas and 1/3 cup soy sauce, heat through and serve hot.

Tips:

Use cold rice, otherwise it will turn out very sticky. Dont add peas in the begging or they get really wrinkled and over cooked. Have fun with adding or substituting veggies and rice. Asian tastes are with ginger, garlic and sesame. You can use sesame oil instead of veggie oil. Also add any meat you like, chicken, pork, steak or shrimp.

Rice Balls

2010-02-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

3.5 Stars

I got this recipe from the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I've had this book for a few years now and have made a handful of recipes. They have all been "okay" to "good". The one thing that is deceptive about this cookbook is the time involved. Her whole basis is to "hide" vegetables and fruit in dishes and desserts. So, you need to factor in the time to cook/puree/store the ingredients needed for each recipe.

Yesterday, I spent basically the entire day doing the cook/puree/store part of the recipes. It took me a little bit longer than average because I was taking care of my children (preschool/shopping/lunches/naps). I would say to put at least an afternoon aside and get this done ahead of time so you don't have to prepare each puree right before you cook/bake.

Prep Time: She says 30 minutes, but it took me around 50.
Total: She says 40, but it took me around 1 hour, 15 minutes
Serves 6 to 8, makes about 40 rice balls. My version made about 20, so I guess my proportions were a bit off.

Rice Balls
Ingredients:

1/2 c. short -grain brown rice (I made this the night before for our stir fry, so this was ready for lunch) or 1 c. leftover cooked rice
Cooking Spray
3 t. olive oil
1/4 lb. chicken cutlets, rinsed and dried
1 1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/2 c. sweet potato puree
1/4 c. shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
1/4 c. lowfat buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. spinach, broccoli, or butternut squash puree (I used broccoli)
1 1/2 c. whole-wheat cracker crumbs or breadcrumbs. (I used regular breadcrumbs)

Cook the rice according to package directions. Like I said, we had stir fry the night before so I just made more than usual and stored it overnight in the fridge.

While the rice is cooking, spray skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1 t. oil. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink in center. I went ahead and cut my chicken into strips before cooking to cut down on cooking time.

Cut chicken into small chunks and place them in a food processor or blender. Add the sweet potato puree, cheese, 1 t. salt, and buttermilk. Blend until smooth. Remove blade and mix in rice. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place them on a sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil.

In a shallow bowl, beat the egg and vegetable puree of your choice (I used broccoli) with a fork. Put the crumbs in another bowl. One at a time, dip the rice balls in the egg mixture, then roll them in the crumbs to make an even coating.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the remaining 2 t. of oil. Add the rice balls and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, turning occasionally and spraying with cooking spray until browned and crisp all over.

Serve warm.

This recipe has the potential to be very good. Next time I'm going to use less chicken (I used 1 medium chicken breast), more cheese, and some red pepper flakes to add a bit of a "kick". I'm also going to use some sort of dip. Maybe ranch dressing? Any ideas?

If you try this one, please let me know your thoughts or changes you would make.

Enjoy!

Classic Stuffed Bell Peppers

2010-02-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

5 stars

This is a long time favorite of mine. My mother made these when I was younger. I only recently (well about 10 years ago) realized that these are actually very easy to make. Before then, I would buy only the frozen ones. So if you are like me and think these are too hard to make for your family... keep reading!

I gave these 5 stars.. but really they deserve more than that. They have so much classic American flavor. My entire family loves these so much.

Ingredients:

6 green bell peppers
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup water
1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or mozzarella)
1 can tomato sauce
1 tbs ketchup
1/4 tsp basil
water as needed

Directions:

Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 8 minutes or steam peppers about 10 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.
In a large skillet, saute beef and onions for 5 minutes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Stuff each pepper with the beef/rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato sauce, ketchup and basil. Spoon over the peppers.
Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-02-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

4-stars

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Cholesterol Free)

I really was craving something sweet to eat, so started out looking for a recipe that was easy and something I had all the ingredients. Chocolate chip cookies sounded good, then in the middle of looking for a good recipe, I started feeling guilty about them being bad for us. So I found a recipe and adjusted it with other ingredients that would be better for us. Like Ultra Grain all purpose flour. It has 9 grams of whole grains and double the fiber. I also opted to use egg beaters instead of real eggs. Egg beaters are about 1/2 the calories and no cholesterol. I substituted the butter for vegetable shortening as well. Vegetable shortening has no cholesterol and also has 50% less saturated fat than butter. If I use this again, I will opt for the butter flavor though.. I think it would have tasted better.
I gave these 4 stars, because they did not taste exactly like chocolate chip cookies. You can taste the grains in the flour.. Which is not a bad thing, but different. We like them, but we didn't love them, which is also a good thing LOL. The kids love them I think. Tyler is on his 4th cookie.. I dont feel bad giving him them either. :)

Ingredients:

1 cup vegitable shortening Crisco (butter flavored would be better)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup egg beaters
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups Ultra Grain all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour and chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls or roll balls and smash down. I use non-stick foil.
Bake for about 10-13 minutes in preheated oven.

German Leibniz bisquits topped with Nutella and strawberries

2010-02-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

5 stars

I totally forgot about World Nutella day on Feb. 5th... but I still wanted to celebrate the day with this easy peazy yummy treat! Whats a few days late right?
My sister-in-law introduced this yummy combination on New Years and wow.. I could eat them all.. Even my husband was at first trying to say he was allergic to hazelnuts (which is mostly all nutella is besides the chocolate) until after I "made" him eat one, he wanted 3 more after that.. hahahhaha I love that the most as a parent and wife of a picky eater. Having them think they will not like it, to really enjoying it and asking for more...
When I was younger, (middle school and high school age) my family and I lived in Europe. Nutella was very popular in Italy. We bought it all the time and ate it on white bread. I still do today, but not as much because I can easily eat the entire jar. :) Sometimes in Italy, the Nutella was in fun jars and bowls for you to keep after the Nutella was all gone. My parents to this day still have a few of the bowls that it came in one year.

For this recipe you only need 3 things... well 4 things.
Nutella, Leibniz cookies, strawberries and a hungry mouth. LOL

Directions:
slicing your strawberries is the most you will have to do.
lather your Nutella on the cookie, using as much as your heart desires.
Layer your strawberries on top and eat! Oh so yummy!

It is best to make them all at once, as many as you think is appropriate, then put everything away. If you leave everything out and make one at a time, you will easily look down and the entire jar of Nutella is gone along with all the strawberries and the cookies...

Philly Cheese Steak Dip

2010-02-07T20:41:00.000-05:00

4 Stars

I made this dip for lunch today. I think it would be perfect for a party as an appetizer or a dish to pass at a pot luck.

I did have to alter the original recipe a bit by adding a little milk. I think next time I'll also add a bit more provolone cheese (1.5 cups).

This is best served very hot because when the cheese starts to cool down, it makes it hard to dip on the cracker.

Ingredients

1/2 c. chopped onions

1/2 c. green bell pepper

1/2 c. Italian dressing
1 c. shredded provolone cheese (I'm adding 1.5 cups next time)
1 -8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 lb. finely sliced roast beef, chopped
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
Splash of Milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place onion, green pepper, and Italian dressing in large skillet over medium heat.

Cook and stir for 5 minutes until the onion is soft and has turned translucent. About 5-7 minutes.

Add Provolone cheese, cream cheese, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is melted.

Remove the skillet from heat and pour mixture into an oven safe dish. Stir in chopped roast beef. You may have to add a little milk at this point to thin out the mixture a bit. Only a splash, be conservative.

Bake for 25 minutes until cheese is bubbly and it is heated through.

Serve on crackers, toasted bread, or bagel chips, or Melba toast.

I used roasted garlic Melba toast and I liked the extra flavor the garlic added to the dip.

Enjoy!

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2010-02-04T21:04:00.000-05:00

5 Stars

I'm calling these homemade oreo cookies because they look like them, but they taste very different. They are soft, gooey goodness.

I started looking for this recipe after reading a blog about homemade oreos. I googled and didn't find anything. Then, tonight, while looking around Bakerella, I saw this recipe for easy Valentine treats. I had the red velvet cake, but my husband wanted chocolate, so I went with that and I'm so happy I did!

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Cookie Ingredients:

1 Box Cake Mix (any flavor, I used fudgy chocolate)

2 Eggs

1/2 c. butter (room temperature)

Mix together until combined. If you have a stand mixer, use it. I only have a cheap hand mixer and this mix was almost the death of my trusty friend.

Measure out mixture into even balls. I used a tea spoon to measure and just hand rolled them or you could use an ice cream scoop.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until done. I like mine on the softer side, so I baked them for 10 minutes.

Cool completely.

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter (room temperature)
1- 8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature, I used 1/3 less fat version)
1- 1 lb. box of confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together until creamy. Once again, if you have a stand mixer, use it. I used my little hand mixer that could and it was fine. Add sugar in slowly until smooth.

Take two similar size cookies. Place a small amount of icing in the middle and press together until icing is even with the sides.

Make sure you can share these with someone. They are very rich, but too good to keep only for yourself!

Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Peacy Crunch Cake

2010-02-01T15:16:00.000-05:00

5 stars

Man this cake is easy.. No mixing required.. What? No mixing? Was that a typo? NOPE! NO MIXING!!
If you have not yet visited bakerella before.. do so after you read this post. I love going to blog and seeing all the creations that are so picture perfect.. But when I found this ever so easy recipe.. I had to try it.. and it will have been the first thing I have made from here webblog.. Mostly because its all so intimidating. Her webblog is here.
Now I had to bake in my NU Wave, cause my darn oven is still not fixed.. and I keep forgetting that its broke when I buy stuff to make in it.. This really should be made in a large shallow pan... This did ok in the NU-wave, but had to cook way longer as well.

Start with layer of peaches, then add your cake mix ontop of peaches.

Then add pads of butter...

Oh and then the yummy brown sugar.. You know right off this is going to be good with all this brown sugar on top of that butter.

Add the nuts

Then bake... do not need to have a lid on it, but as you an see Im using the NuWave oven and was not sure about the browning part too soon.

Then serve with vanilla ice cream!! This was the perfect sweet treat!

Easy Peasy Peacy Crunch Cake
Ingredients:
24.5 oz jar of sliced peaches in light syrup
1 package yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), cut into 16 pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Layer ingredients in a 13 X 9 dish, in order starting with the peaches.
Bake for about 40 minutes.
Serve warm with ice cream...

Pasta Puttanesca

2010-01-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

4.5 Stars
Weekly Rotation

I was looking for a dish that fit into the "Blue Zone". For a few weeks in the summer I followed the Blue Zone and I felt wonderful. I had so much energy, good mood, and I lost some weight. It was great. The down side of the blue zone is that being a meat eater, I didn't have a lot of vegetarian dishes.

When I googled "Mediterranean Meals" I found this recipe on Food Network from Ellie Krieger. I forgot to buy arugula. I also just bought a jar of black olives and I had to make my own anchovy paste, but otherwise I made it exactly as her recipe.

Ingredients

8 oz. whole-wheat thin spaghetti
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 c. pitted chopped Spanish or Greek olives (I used Black Olives)
2 T. Capers
1 t. anchovy paste
1 T. Fresh Oregano leaves or 1 t. dried (I used dried)
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, preferably "no salt added"
3/4 c. chopped fresh arugula (I forgot this and it tasted fine without it)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to the directions on the package.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium flame. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the parsley, olives, capers, anchovy paste, oregano and crushed red pepper to the skillet and saute for 2 minutes more.

Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the arugula and simmer for 1 minute more, until the greens wilt slightly.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the skillet, tossing it with the sauce to combine.

Top with grated cheese.

This dish was so good! On the website, it says it takes 12 minutes. It took me about 20 because I didn't time my pasta cooking correctly with my sauce cooking. I made this dish on a weekend because I was afraid it would be labor intensive, but it was a breeze and would be so easy to make with the kids underfoot.

Enjoy!

Coconut Chicken Chunks

2010-01-31T07:28:00.000-05:00

5 stars

When I asked my husband what he thought about having Coconut Chicken, he was hesitant. He stated that he was not a fan of coconut, but that he would try it just for me. I have to say, I am not much of a fan of coconut either, I like the flavor of coconut, but the coconut shavings always reminds me of some coconut dessert and I dont like any desserts with coconuts on it. But I was excited about making this and thought that it would be good for some reason.
The wet base was usual I thought and had no clue by reading it what it would taste like. Slaw dressing as it turns out is very tangy and sweet.. once I tasted that alone I knew I would like it. However, it was very think and maybe next time I will thin it out with some cream or milk.
This recipe calls for apricot preserve, however I used peach preserve and I think orange would be good too. The cucumbers didnt do anything I thought in regards to adding flavor to the dip, but I did like them anyway.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups Marzetti® Slaw Dressing, divided
2/3 cup apricot preserves
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup cucumber, remove seeds, chop and drain on paper towel
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut
1 pound chicken breasts

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sauce: Mix together 2/3 cup Marzetti® Slaw Dressing, apricot preserves, chopped pecans and chopped cucumber; set aside.
Mix the bread crumbs and flaked coconut together. Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces. Spoon remaining slaw dressing over each piece, and roll the pieces in the bread crumb/coconut mixture.
Place on cookie sheet and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve chicken with sauce on the side.

Fruity Curry Chicken Salad

2010-01-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

5 stars

Fruity Curry Chicken Salad

I stumbled on the recipe on allrecipes.com here when trying to find something that looked good to make with curry in it. I was not even going to make this dish because it just seemed to weird.. I mean all those fruits and curry for chicken salad.. No way would it work.. However I could not resist due to 171 reviews all giving it 5 stars.. What? Everyone giving it 5 stars.. OK ok ok already.. I will make it too! But I secretly thought to myself that it will be ashamed if I make this and be the only one that does not like it. :)
Surprise surprise.. It is wonderful! For sure it is not your original chicken salad that we are used to.. but very pleasant with all sorts of flavors and textures.. My husband even liked it.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
4 green onions, chopped
1 Golden Delicious apple - peeled, cored and diced
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup seedless green grapes, halved
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3/4 cup light mayonnaise

Directions:

In a large bowl combine the chicken, celery, onion, apple, raisins, grapes, pecans, pepper, curry powder and mayonnaise. Mix all together. Refrigerate for one day and Serve!

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

2010-01-30T13:24:00.000-05:00

4 Stars

Bi-Weekly Rotation

I've had a taste for sweet potato fries for a while now. We like things on the spicy side, so when I found this recipe on AllRecipes, I knew we would like it.

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

1 1/2 t. paprika

1 t. brown sugar

1/4 t. black pepper

1/4 t. onion powder

1/4 t. dried thyme

1/4 t. dried rosemary

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/8 t. cayenne pepper (as much or as little as you like, can be omitted)

2 Large Sweet Potatoes

1 1/2 t. olive oil

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 375 degree F.

In a small bowl, stir together all spices.
Wash, peel, and julienne the sweet potatoes.

Place the julienned sweet potatoes, olive oil, and spices in a gallon plastic bag. Shake until all the sweet potatoes are covered with the spices.

Place the spice covered sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. Flip the fries and bake for 10-15 minutes more or until tender.
Take fries out of oven and turn on your broiler. Place fries in oven and broil for about 5-10 minutes until crunchy. Watch closely as they will burn.

Enjoy!

I added the entire amount of cayenne pepper and these were spicy! So, if you don't like spicy, add accordingly. I served them with roast beef sandwiches and after dinner I found my husband in the kitchen snacking on the leftover fries. That's always a good sign.

I gave them 4 stars because they were so spicy. Next time I'll but about half the amount so they aren't so spicy.

Crockpot BBQ Pulled Chicken

2010-01-28T13:46:00.001-05:00

5 Stars

Bi-Weekly Rotation

I was looking for an easy meal in the Crockpot and came across a discussion board. You know how you start off on website and click, click, click and have no idea how you got there or what you were really looking for in the first place? Well, that was me. I found a recipe for BBQ Pulled Pork in the Crockpot, but didn't have the ingredients. It got me thinking how I could make a BBQ Pulled Chicken.

2 Cans Chicken Broth

2 Large Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts (or 4 small)

BBQ Sauce (We like Sweet Baby Rays)

Pour one can chicken broth in crockpot set on low. Put in your chicken breasts and pour 2nd can of chicken broth. Make sure the chicken is completely covered with liquid.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Check chicken to make sure it is cooked completely. It should be very tender at this point. Place chicken on cutting board and begin to "pull". Take 2 forks and pull using each fork with the grain of the chicken.

After chicken is pulled. Empty out leftover broth in crockpot and place pulled chicken back in pot. Add as much BBQ as you like. I like to add just enough so that it just moist. Cook on low for 1/2 hour more.

Serve!

This is one of the easiest recipes I have and when you are in a pinch, you can serve it to a large crowd. They'll think you were working all day!

Bread Pudding - My first time!

2010-01-26T19:37:00.000-05:00

5 stars

I can not believe I have never eaten or made this before. This was such a good dessert to make and easy too.. I know they call this bread pudding, but its more like a custard right? Now my oven is still out, but my NU wave oven is getting all the attention lately and it did wonderfully with this dish as well. I really love how this dish is creamy through out and crispy up top.. and totally cinnamony sweet. My youngest even ate a bowl of it. Im going to test this dish out on my oldest and my husband when they get home too.. I will be making this dessert again for sure... as I had a lot of homemade bread that was not getting eaten fast enough.

As I was writing this, I was eating my second bowl.. YUM YUM!!

Ingredients:

3-4 cups old bread cubes

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 TBS butter

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
in one bowl mix, eggs, milk, vanilla and honey and wisk until all blended.
in another bowl mix butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and heat in microwave about 45 seconds just to melt the butter.
in a baking dish spray bottom with cooking spray like pam. Line your bread cubes all along the bottom of the pan. Pour your egg custard mixture evenly over all the bread. cook for 30 minutes.
remove dish and pour the butter, cinnamon mixture over the bread. Sprinkle with raisins. Bake addition 15 minutes.
Watch the bread that it does not get too brown and toasted, if it does cover with foil.

Homemade Kettle Corn

2010-01-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

5-stars

Popcorn is not really something we eat very often, however kettle corn has been making its way into my home more often.. Its so yummy and my husband will ate an entire bag all by himself. Today it occurred to me that I could probably make it myself. I stumbled upon this recipe, and glad I did as some of the others didnt say anything about pre-testing the oil with three kernels first.
This was super easy to make and what a money saver too. My husband did mention that he would like his kettle corn a bit sweeter next time, so I will just up the sugar a bit more next time. The kids sure loved it!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Canola oil
1/3 cup unpopped corn kernels
1/4 cup sugar
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Put the oil in a pot (ideally a pot with handles and a cover!) and heat to medium high.

2. Put 3 kernels in the oil and wait for the three kernels to pop. When this happens, you know the oil is hot enough.

3. Add kernels. They should be spread out in one thin layer at the bottom of the pot.

4. Cover and let pop - it should start popping almost immediately. Start shaking the covered pot around to let the kernels shake around so that the un-popped kernels can get to the bottom where it's hot!

5. When the popping seems to have slowed down a bit (2-3 minutes), dump the sugar in. I used cane sugar, but you can use normal white sugar as well.

6. Continue shaking the covered pot around, distributing the sugar and also letting the rest of the kernels pop.

7. When it seems like the popping has slowed considerably (1-2 minutes), remove the pot from heat and let it cool. Stir the popcorn around to make sure the sugar has evenly distributed.

Melt in your Mouth CrockPot Meat Loaf and Fingerlings Potatoes

2010-01-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

5 stars
The family ate every bite of this.. There was no left overs of anything tonight!

Still improvising cooking methods without having my oven. Nu Wave Oven and Slow Cooker tonight! Worked out great!

I must say that I really never have liked meat loaf, I eat it, because my husband loves it, however he does not love the frozen kinds, but those are the ones I always buy. I hate all the grease that it leaves soaking around the meat and its usually dry by the time its cooked to the temperature I like my ground beef to be. Until I found this recipe. I never would of thought about making a meat loaf in a slow cooker.. How cool. What I did was made up the meat the night before and formed into the loaf look and put into a steamer/skimmer and then placed that in the crock pot and stored in the refrigerator overnight until I was ready to turn it on. The biggest thing for me was to either have super lean meat so it would not be greasy or come up with something that would allow the grease to drain off.. and I remember I have all these metal steamers and strainers that would work great! I actually thought that the one I used would had fit all the way on the bottom, however it did seem to matter at all.

Meat Loaf
Ingredients:

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 diced onion
1 celery stalk diced very small
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well (mixture will be moist.) Shape into a round loaf; place in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160-180 degrees F.
For a sauce, use ketchup, BBQ sauce and either brown sugar or molasses depending on your taste

Fingerling Potatoes
Ingredients

1 bag fingerlings
1/2 diced onion
2 small peppers diced small (red, orange or yellow)
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl add all the ingredients and toss around until the oil coats all the vegetables. Put into a large baking dish or a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 400 at 35 minutes or until you can insert a fork into the potatoes easily.

Caramelized Apples and Carrots over Pork Chops

2010-01-22T19:48:00.000-05:00

5 stars

I have been making this dish for a while now. My entire family loves this dish so much. I remember in the early days, my husband would not even eat pork chops ever. I had to get creative to get him to eat them and this was it. The sweetness and the parts for apples that caramelize is just wonderful. My oldest son says its like a meal and dessert all in one. :)
There are different ways you can do this, with or without the carrots, you can pre-cook the pork chops a bit before baking. In a frying pan heat up some oil and brown both sides before putting in the baking dish. I just put in the baking dish with some butter and bake for about 25 minutes, then turn, bake for about 5 minutes then I add my apple mixture then bake until the apples are caramelized. The time with differ depending on the thickness of your chops. I always use the thicker ones.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped carrots
4 (1-inch thick) pork chops
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 apples - peeled, cored and diced
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter or margarine.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place chops in an 8x12 inch baking dish, sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
Mix in a bowl the carrots, apples, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Cover the chops with the apple mixture.
Cover and bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until the chops are done and the apples have caramelized. Enjoy!

Rutabaga and Potato Gratin

2010-01-22T18:22:00.000-05:00

4 stars-me
2 stars-my husband (he said it was ok, but not for his taste and he did eat it)

Rutabaga and Potato Gratin

If you remember my post from here I realized my oven was broke just as I was putting this dish in there. I had to get creative a bit to figure out how I was going to cook this new dish. I have never had rutabaga before the other day. I was pleasantly surprised that I like it. It really has an unique taste. Somewhat like a turnip or a squash I think, but texture like a potato. Its not a very strong flavor either, at least not how I have cooked it. I will try to incorporate it into our meals more from now on.
So getting this dish cooked, I could have either taking it to a neighbors house and borrowed their oven, but I decided to give out my NU-wave oven a try for something like this. I kept it covered the entire time, and actually it did very well, but did take a bit longer than I expected because the NU-wave is supposed to cook faster, or that is my understanding.

The next time I make this dish, I will make a few changes, like not adding butter or cream cheese. I was not following any recipes per say on this dish, but knew I wanted a very cheesy gratin. The cream cheese did not cook well I think, maybe if I had mixed it with the milk it would have been better. Also, most gratins call for heavy cream and I didnt have any, so I used milk, I think that makes a difference as well, not a lot but mine was more runny, but also still could have been from the butter I used.
The flavor is very nice for this dish, creamy and cheesy is exactly what I wanted.

Over all I was very please with this and am so happy to have tried a new vegetable. I still have to wait and see if my husband and my oldest son likes it, and I will not be telling them that it has rutabaga in it until after they eat it. :)

Rutabaga and Potato Gratin

Ingredients:
1 rutabaga (peeled, sliced thinly)
4 small potatoes (peeled, sliced thinly)
1 cup heavy cream
2 cloves garlic (chopped)

2 tablespoons green onion (chopped)
1 teaspoon thyme (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cheese, (cheddar or others)

Directions:
Heat the sliced rutabaga in boiling water for 3 minutes and set aside.
Pour a bit of the cream into the bottom of a casserole dish.
Place a layer of rutabaga and potatoes on top, followed by some cream and some cheese. Continue to layer ending with a layer of cheese.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven until bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top, about 40-60 minutes.

Haystack Cookies

2010-01-21T21:28:00.000-05:00

4 stars

I know I have seen these before and heard of them. Maybe even had them when I was a kid.. But it also seems so unfamiliar me. When I came across these, my husband insisted that I make them for him and that he loves them.. I was like REALLY? looking at the ingredients, does not seem like much or even that good.. But oh man they are very yummy! They are very rich and you can only eat one or two.. so making them often is out of the question.

The origianl recipe is here. You can see I made a few changes, not adding nuts for us.

Ingredients:

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups butterscotch chips
5 (5 ounce) cans chow mein noodles

Directions:

Melt both chocolate and butterscotch chips in a saucepan on low heat. Stir in the the noodles.
Then drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Cool and then store covered in the refrigerator.

Creamy Steamy Hot Cocoa

2010-01-21T21:19:00.000-05:00

5 stars

Im still on a chocolate hunt.. Im completely out of chocolate chips, but I sure do have cocoa powder. There are many things you can make the cocoa powder, from fudge, to brownies.. just about anything really. But lets settle for something warm and relaxing like Hot Cocoa. Oh and what about something nice to stir it with.. If you are like me, you have a ton of candy canes left over from Christmas that you are about to throw away... So yummy.. I am not really sure why I dont eat candy canes more often, they are very yummy all by themselves.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt and water in a saucepan. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add some whip topping or marshmallows to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

Gravy Baked Pork Chops

2010-01-21T19:12:00.000-05:00

Monthly Rotation

4.5 Stars

I found this recipe on allrecipes in December of 2008. Since then I've changed it a little bit. The original recipe can be found here.

2 Pork Chops

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 t. garlic powder

2 T. butter

1 small onion

Fresh Mushrooms (canned are fine too)

3/4 c. milk

1/4 c. water

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt 1 T. of butter. If using fresh mushrooms, saute in butter with the small onion until browned and soft. If using canned, saute the onions alone in the butter until translucent.

On this night I had forgotten to buy an onion, so I used dried minced onion. It tasted fine, but fresh onion of course tastes better.

Season pork chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Melt the remaining butter in a large skillet over med/high heat.

Saute the pork chops for about 5 minutes on each side until browned.

In an 8x8 baking dish (use 9x13 if using more chops) mix together milk, water, and soup.

Place the sauted pork chops, mushrooms, and onions in the baking dish and cover with the soup mixture.

Bake covered for 45 minutes or until done.

As you can see, I lowered the number of chops used, but kept the "sauce" the same. Around here, we love our "sauce". If you don't, then you may want to cut it in half or add in the other 2 pork chops. I also added garlic because we L-O-V-E garlic here. My husband and my daughter also enjoy mushrooms and I'm learning to like them, so I added in extra for them. As for the onion, the first few times I made it without and then one night we had one and I thought, "why not" and it justs adds that little something extra. If you don't like onions, you can of course, omit it.

I rate this one a monthly dish because it is very heavy, not something you would want every week. It is very good, but you may need to play around with the salt/pepper to get it to your taste level.

I usually serve with a noodle side or mashed potatoes.

Fried Rutabaga

2010-01-21T18:30:00.000-05:00

4-stars

Can you believe I have never had rutabaga? Its true. I have heard of it, and I like the word.. rutabaga, rutabaga, rutabaga, rutabaga. Its sounds so cool. But I have never eaten any, I was not even really sure what it looked like.. But once I found out, I had to buy some. I searched for all sorts of recipes. I found one that looked really good, Potatoes and Rutabaga Gratin.. Yum! Anything with that much cheese has got to be good. I got it all prepared and ready to go in the oven and my stupid oven is not hot. Its broke, the coil broke in half.. How in the world does that happen? So I have this huge pan of Gratin and no oven... Darn it, I wanted to try Rutabaga so bad. So I put the pan in the fridge and start thinking of something else to make for dinner. I did have some rutabaga left over that did not fit, so I chopped them up smaller and decided to fry them in some EVOO and garlic.. So yum! I dont think you can go wrong cooking anything in a pan with garlic. But I was very pleased with this little snack! Next time I will add some onion I think, maybe even bell pepper.

Ingredients:

1 rutabaga (peeled, sliced thinly)
3 cloves garlic
1 TBS olive oil
2 TBS butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp parsely
1 tsp basil

Directions:

heat up frying pan with oil and butter, add in prepared rutabaga and let cook for about 3 min then turn cook for 3 minutes then add the garlic and season, cook until garlic is getting crisp.

Frosted Mini Wheat-White Bread

2010-01-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

5 Stars

Frosted Mini Wheat-White Bread

I kinda came up with this at the last minute as everyone was heading to bed, I was getting excited about making a new bread. I have no idea if anyone has made this type of bread before, but came up with the idea to make bread last night while reading this blog post. I was going to make her recipe, but got diverted when I started pulling out ingredients. That is when I thought it would be good to try something different..and Im so glad I did. This bread is wonderful! The mini wheats are not at all over powering either. I had some toasted with butter this morning.. Fantastic!

Ingredients:
This makes a 2lb loaf

1-1/2 cups milk (room temp)
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup Honey
2 tsp Salt
3 cups Bread Flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 TBP gluten
1 cup frosted mini wheat
2-1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast

Directions:

Place ingredients in your bread machine per the manufacturers specifications. Before placing mini wheats in pan, break apart or crumble into smaller pieces.

Select White Cycle, 2lbs loaf, medium crust.

Banana Meringue Cookies

2010-01-21T11:08:00.000-05:00

5-stars

Banana (overnight) Meringue Cookies
These have also been know as overnight cookies, because you leave them in the oven overnight... with the oven off of course. You can really have a lot of fun with meringue cookies, they are so easy to make and you can add all sorts of colors and flavors to your liking. The kids LOVE them so much and with only egg whites and sugar they are much better choice than lets say a chocolate chip cookie.

Most important thing when making this recipe is to make sure you have stiff peaks before adding the surgar.

I started with this recipe here.

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoon banana extract
3/4 cup white sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 315 degrees F (150 degrees C). To prevent burning you can bake on an air cushion baking sheet or put parchment paper on a regular cookie sheet.
Beat egg whites, salt, cream of tartar, and banana extract until very firm. Gradually add sugar and mix.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on pan. Bake 315 degrees for 20 minutes. They should only be lightly browned.
Turn off oven and leave them in the oven overnight.

My favorite Mashed Potatoes and the rest of the stuff for dinner

2010-01-20T21:30:00.000-05:00

5 stars

Sometimes us moms have to resort to already cooked or boxed items. That is ok as long as the food is good. I mean taste good and all. We like chicken fried steak and I really am not a fan of frying.. but I have found this kit that we like real well.

It even has the bag of pepper gravy mix inside. We usually have 1 or 2 left over as well, so the next day I like to make a sandwich out of these too, piled high with lettuce and tomatoes. The one thing that I do make is my mashed potatoes. For years I have just boiled the potatoes then mix with butter and milk. Right? NOPE! I learned about 5 years ago that you can add a few more things to make your mashed potatoes something to write home about. Ever tried roasting some garlic and throwing in there? Its wonderful.. but tonight that is not the one I made.. I made the cream cheese mashed potatoes. You still use the milk, the butter but also add some cream cheese and to top it off, white pepper.. not black, just white and salt... such a fantastic flavor.. Sometimes I wonder what is the side dish and what is the entree... LOL

Ingredients:

For Biscuits: found here

1-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup bread flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
2 Tbsp. solid vegetable shortening, chilled
1/2 cup cup cold milk
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven. In large bowl, combine flours, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add butter and with your fingertips, 2 knives, or a pastry blender, cut in the COLD butter and shortening until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Stir in the cold milk and buttermilk and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gather the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured work surface.
Roll the dough into a 6" by 10" rectangle. Fold one-third of the long side over on the dough, then fold the other side on top to make three layers. Roll the dough into an 8" square and cut into 9 biscuits. (This prevents scraps of dough and re-rolling, which makes tough biscuits.) If you prefer round biscuits, cut with a 2" biscuit cutter, flouring the cutter in between cuts. Make sure that you press straight down with the biscuit cutter so your biscuits will have straight sides.
Place biscuits 1-1/2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush tops with melted butter. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

For mashed potatoes:

6 medium potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1/4 milk
4 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
salt to taste

In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes (cut into chunks), salt, and enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes

Return the potatoes to the pan. Add the butter, milk, cream cheese and white pepper, plus salt to taste and use your blender to mash these potatoes until smooth. Leave some of the bigger potato chunks. Serve immediately.

Beef Ravioli

2010-01-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

Beef Ravioli- 3 stars

I am not a cook or a chef, just a mom making dinner and having fun. One thing that I have always wanted to try my hand at,is making pasta. With the start of this blog, I knew this would be something I would try very soon. I must say, that now that I have done this, anyone can do it. It really is not that hard at all, however I have a few tips, especially for pasta ravioli, the dough needs to be rolled very very thin. A few of my ravioli was too thick, even though I thought they were thin. The dough was very good though. Rolling the dough did take some time to do, the dough does not roll that easy. Also, this dough recipe really does not make very many either, so I had a ton of meat left over. So the filling you make, whatever kind you decide on, you do not need very much at all cause you are only going to use about 1 teaspoon in each ravioli.
All in all, I am so happy that I tried to do this.. I think I want to try my hand at some other pastas... Is there a pasta maker in my future? More kitchen machines.. OMG help me! :)

I got my dough ravioli recipe here and I did try some of the dough before even cooking it and it tasted just like pasta.

Ingredients

For pasta

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water

For filling:
ground beef cooked
1 small onion cooked
2 cloves garlic
1 TBS Italian seasons
salt/pepper to taste

To make pasta dough in a food processor: Blend flour, eggs, salt, and water in processor until mixture just begins to form a ball, adding more water, drop by drop, if dough is too dry (dough should be firm and not sticky). Process dough for 15 seconds more to knead it. Transfer to a floured surface and let stand, covered with an inverted bowl, 1 hour to let the gluten relax and make rolling easier.

To make pasta dough in bread machine: Place ingredients in bread machine per manufactor settings and push pizza dough setting.

To make meat filling: Brown hamburgar meat in pan, add diced onions and minced garlic, spices and salt/pepper. cook until onions are translucent. Turn off heat and let cool. Transfer to food processor and process less than a minute to get all meat mixture into small ground mixture.

Roll pasta and make ravioli: Cut pasta dough into 2 pieces, then use your roller to roll the dough out very thing into a somewhat rectangle.
Put sheet of dough on a floured work surface and drop 6 (1 1/2-teaspoon) mounds of filling 1 1/2 inches apart in a row down center of one half of sheet. Brush egg wash around each mound, then fold other half of sheet over filling. Press down firmly around each mound, forcing out air. (Air pockets increase the chance that ravioli will break during cooking.) Cut pasta (between mounds) with cutter into 3-inch rounds. Line a large shallow baking pan with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and dust towel with flour, then arrange ravioli in 1 layer in it. Make more ravioli with remaining pasta dough, 1 sheet at a time, and remaining filling, transferring ravioli to lined pan.

Cook Ravioli: Bring a 6- to 8-quart pot of salted water to a boil. Add ravioli, carefully stirring to separate, and, adjusting heat to keep water at a gentle boil, cook until pasta is just tender, about 6 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a colander.

Do ahead: Dough can be made (but not rolled out) 4 hours ahead and chilled, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Ravioli can be made (but not cooked) 4 hours ahead and chilled in lined baking pan, covered.

Simple Authentic Italian Pasta Sauce

2010-01-20T08:16:00.000-05:00

Simple Authentic Italian Pasta Sauce- 5 stars

I have made pasta/spaghetti sauces before, but I really like this one the best I think. I love how authentic this sauce tastes. It reminds me of being back in Italy. Yes, I lived in Italy in my pre-teen years. I miss all the wonderful foods and flavors of Italy so much.
I adjusted this basic recipe a bit by adding a very small amount of sugar and some minced garlic. These additions fit my family a lot better, however I really love the sauce just as the original recipe called for. I would suggest making the original recipe and adding to it as your taste requires.

I got the recipe from here but it seems this recipe has been around the block a few times else where.

Ingredients:
28 ounces (800 grams) can whole tomatoes
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

I added:
4 cloves garlice minced
1 TBS sugar

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

I would never discard onions... so I ate most of these as a side dish.. yum yum!

Had to do it again, to clear the air.

2010-01-20T06:31:00.000-05:00

Cinnamon and Raisin White Bread -5 stars

Let first say that the other night, I tried to make this bread from another recipe from allrecipes.com, but increased the recipe a bit and well the experience ended in me running out of the shower with just a towel around me, to find my husband in the kitchen, yelling and screaming about the bread machine being on fire. The bread machine was NOT really on fire, however it was smoking really bad. What happened was my calculations were off and the dough was way to wet, which led to over rising and it overflowed the pan and ran off the sides onto the burner coils. Yuck yuck yuck.
The house smelled all night and all the next day. But I had to try again and get that bad experience out of my kitchen. With proper calculations and this recipe from my breadmans recipe book, everything turned out great! ~~Im giving this 4 stars because I think the bread is too spongy.~~ Im giving this 5 stars.. after cooling down all the way, the bread is perfect.. the flavor is very good, but still would like more raisins. I like the flavor very very well, but maybe with whole wheat next time, it will be much better, or even half and half, half white and half wheat. I may want more raisins next time too.

Cinnamon Raisin White Bread
This is a 2lb loaf

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups + 2 TBL Water
2 TBL oil
3 TBL brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 TBL cinnamon
2 TBL dry milk
4 cups bread flour
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2/3 cup raisins (add in extras dispenser or at second rise)

Select fruit and nut cycle, 2lb loaf, medium crust.

Chocolaty Chocolate Chip Muffins

2010-01-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

4-stars

I have been craving chocolate lately and instead of eating the chocolate chips right out of the bag, I decided to make these muffins. I was not looking for cupcakes or any dessert items really, so muffins seemed like a good idea. I got the recipe from here. The only thing I substituted was the buttermilk for my poor little 1% and also I used higher fiber white all purpose flour.
Im giving this recipe only 4 stars, because they came out dry and flat. Not sure if that has to do with me blending too long, or the substitution for the milk. Also, I think they need to be sweeter... I know I said I didn't was cupcakes.. but my mouth does not know what it wants. LOL
Regardless we will eat them, and the boys ate one each before bed. They called it cake. hahahaha

Chocolaty Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups buttermilk (I used 1% milk)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Equipment:
12-cup muffin pan

Directions:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

2. Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Do not overmix the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Melon Ball Toddler Snacks

2010-01-19T21:34:00.001-05:00

5 stars

Not much of a recipe, however if you have small children, then you know feeding them sometimes can be an issue. Fruits and vegetables can be fun snacks, especially if you make them more interesting. Remember that melon baller you have stuffed under all your utensils. Ya, that one. You probably have not used it in ages. Well ball up your melon and give to the kids. My two boys ate an entire cantaloupe tonight in these fun little ball shapes.

not sure what a melon baller is? It looks like this:

Julie & Julia Tomato Bruschetta

2010-01-19T20:09:00.000-05:00

Weekly Rotation

5 Stars

Have you seen the movie Julie & Julia? I thought it was a good movie. I've almost finished Julia Child's My Life in France so I knew more information than the filmed presented, so that was nice. I have not read Julie Powell's Julie & Julia so I can't speak for how true the film is to that book.

Anyway, at the beginning of the movie Julie Powell is making a tomato bruschetta and it looks wonderful. Like so good that you want to stop the movie and go get the ingredients.

So, I went searching and found the food designer, Susan Spungen, of the movie and found a blog post where she posted her recipe! Yeah!

I decided to get some heirloom tomatoes and found this pack at Meijer. It was more than enough for the 1/2 baguette that I bought.

I cut them in pieces roughly the same size and did a small splash of extra virgin olive oil and set it aside.

I cut the bread in equal size pieces and rubbed down both sides with garlic. It had a very big garlic taste (which I like, but if you don't do one side only).

She gives several ways in the post to cook the bread, but I followed how it is made in the movie, per Nora Ephron. I fried it in olive oil.

I was slightly intimidated to do this, but it was really easy. I made sure that I had just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. It took around 2 minutes on each side to get it nice and brown, but not burned on each side.

I did half the batch of bread and then put the next batch in and then remembered that I didn't put more olive oil in the pan. By this point, that side was almost burned, so I took them out, put more oil in, and then fried the other side. I then flipped them quickly and they actually turned out okay.

I then put all the bread on the plate, lightly salted the tomatoes, and piled them on the bread. I let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I tore up some fresh basil and served to my family. It was so good! Oh goodness, I could have ate than entire plate. Yummy!

Try this one! Now!

Paul's Lemon Chicken

2010-01-18T22:35:00.000-05:00

4.5 Stars

Bi-Weekly Rotation

I got this recipe from my father-in-law when he found out that I liked artichokes. He got it from my sister-in-law, and she got it from the chef at a restaurant where she worked more than 15 years ago. Confused yet? Well, I'm just going to credit Paul, my father-in-law, for this recipe since he gave it to me.

The prep for this dish is really easy. All in one dish, so hardly any dishes when you are done! That is worth half a star right there! Don't you agree?

Paul's Lemon Chicken

2-3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 TBS Olive or Vegetable Oil

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 chopped/diced garlic cloves

2 to 3 chopped celery sticks

1 fresh lemon cut in wedges

1 can/15 oz. artichoke hearts, drained and cut in half

Wine

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

Add oil to a 9x13 baking dish. Wash/dry chicken breasts and coat in oil. Sprinkle oregano, basil, salt and pepper over chicken. Add garlic. Squeeze lemon wedges over the entire dish.

Bake for 1 hour, uncovered.

Add artichokes and cook for 15 minutes more.

You would think that this dish has an overwhelming flavor, but it really doesn't. The spices used blend together very well and the slight tart flavor of the artichokes really balances all the flavors.

I usually serve with mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Lemony Lemon Cake/Bread

2010-01-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

Lemon Bread/Cake - 5 stars

Is it Lemon Bread or Lemon Cake? That is the argument going on right now at my house, however the one thing we can all agree on... This cake/bread is very yummy! Light and fluffy dessert! I like all things with lemon, lemon chicken, lemon pork, lemon bread, lemon fish, lemon lemon lemon. I love lemon! Anyway, I actually started to make this the other night in my bread machine, however that was a big flop that I blogged about here and ended up making white bread. So I had to give this another try, but this time make it in the oven.
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but I added more lemon zest and lemon juice, but cut down the milk to compensate for the lemon juice. I wanted a good strong lemon taste...and that is what I got, perfect in my book!

Kinda looks like a lemon too huh?

Lemony Lemon Bread Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
lemon juice from 2 lemons
grated lemon zest from 1 whole lemon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 TBSP confectioners' sugar

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, lemon juice and zest. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into creamed mixture alternately with milk. Pour into a greased bundt pan or loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until bread tests done. Remove bread from pan; sprinkle confectioners sugar on top.

The Wow Factor!

2010-01-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

Spicy Garlic Green Beans -5 stars
I knew the minute I saw these green beans here that I had to make them and soon. For one, I love fresh green beans. The snap and the extreme flavor is like non other. Second, the beautiful color of these beans.. well I knew right off I wanted to photograph them. But OMG (oh my gosh), the flavor of these had a huge WOW factor.. and I mean for real, when I tried one I said out loud WOW. I will make this again and again just to eat.. It was super easy!

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

Ingredients:
1 lb green beans, ends trimmed
2 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
sea salt
Pepper

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the green beans and cook until just tender but they still have a bite. Drain and shock in an ice bath.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute as they release their flavor. Add the green beans to the skillet and combine while heating the green beans again. Remove and finish with a sprinkle of finishing salt and pepper if desired.

I like big Butts!

2010-01-18T19:39:00.000-05:00

Slow and slower smoked, slow cooker Boston Butt pulled pork. -5 stars

In the south these are called Boston Butts, not sure really why, but they are popular and even the boy scouts sell them as a fundraiser.
Man this was yummy!
Slow roasted, simmer smoked for days! All my efforts paid off and we were rewarded with yummy soft pulled pork.
I ate mine as a open face sandwich.
I started cooking this yesterday morning, so you can imagine what my house has smelled like.

Slow and slower smoked, slow cooker Boston Butt pulled pork.
Instructions:
I started off with steam smoking it on the stove in a HUGE pot. I put in on an metal steamer/stainer upside down with water at the bottom of the pot with smoke season all over it. I cooked it on low for about 5 hours like that. Then put it in the fridge overnight and then in the crockpot covered it with BBQ sauce cooking on low for about 5 hours and then keep warm setting for about 5 hours.. Then we had the best pulled pork ever! Eat plain or on bread as a sandwich.

Best Bread Yet!

2010-01-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Slightly sweet white bread - 5 stars

After a flop in trying to make a lemon cake in my bread machine and having to throw it out.. I needed to erase the bad air of my failure with something else. Turns out that everyone, meaning my 14 year old and my husband, says this is the best bread yet... yay! I love to hear stuff like this. Making food is so much fun, eating it is so much fun, photographing it is so much fun, sharing all that with you guys is so much fun, but hearing that someone really LOVES it, is priceless. This recipe comes from allrecipes.com Have I told you before that I love that website? I did? Ok, no need to tell you again I guess. I did make this in my bread machine, but if you are bread maker, and I mean a hand bread maker, any of my bread machine recipes can be made by hand. If you ever need help converting bread machine yeast to dry yeast, just email me.
5 out of 5 people in my house likes this bread. I ate a huge chunk of it this morning for breakfast, no butter no toasting.. just plain.

Slight Sweet White Bread

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp and 1/8 teaspoon bread machine yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4-1/2 cups bread flour

Directions:
Add all ingredients per your bread machine manufacture settings. Choose basic/white setting, this makes a 2 lb loaf and I choose light crust.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

2010-01-18T08:54:00.000-05:00

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread - 4 stars

Some days I am just looking around in the kitchen at things that I can cook or bake.. like the apples on my counter... What to make with these? I go to my favorite recipe site, allrecipes.com and look up things with apples. Did you know there are all sorts of recipes with apples in them? wow.. but my love for bread once again brought me to this recipe and because I have a new kitchen gadget, the bread machine I thought I would try it out for this recipe. I had not used the batter bread setting yet so this was going to be fun. The recipe called for instant apple and cinnamon oatmeal, which I decided to use plain non instant rolled oats would be better. Then the recipe called for apple sauce and I wanted to use the apples on the counter, which was the reason for the apple recipe to begin with right? So I used fresh diced apple and a bit of apple sauce. Then I put the ingredients in the bread machine. I did have to do more manual work than normal to get the ingredients stirred. The beater in the machine did not work that well for this recipe. Once it was done mixing and just starting baking, I sprinkled some oats on top of the batter just for looks. I think it turned out nice. I will make this again, but next time I will bake in the oven, in the bread machine did not bake out all the way and could have used more time or higher heat. The center was not all the way done, but the flavor was great!

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 apple diced and with no skin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

bread machine: put all ingredients in machine and choose batter bread cycle.
oven: preheat oven 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together until smooth, pour batter into greases loaf pan and sprinkle with a bit of oatmeal. Bake in oven for 60 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Pasta Fagioli

2010-01-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

4 Stars

Month Rotation

This winter I have been craving soup. Anyone else? I did this a few years ago and ate so much soup that I didn't want soup again for a few years. So, I'm trying to take it slow so that I don't go on a soup boycott again when the weather turns warm.

I found this recipe on my go-to site, Allrecipes. I love that site, although at times it can be overwhelming. I suggest going in with at least a few ingredients so that you don't find yourself looking for recipes 2 hours after you started.

You'll need:

2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup uncooked spinach pasta
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, with liquid

I put my little worker bee to work and we both chopped.

Directions

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook celery, onion, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, red pepper and salt until onion is translucent. Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes..

Cook pasta, per directions. I used this one, and it is really great! It doesn't get soggy and has a wonderful taste.

Add undrained beans and mix well. Heat through. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
3 out of 4 people enjoyed this meal. I wanted to serve it with bread, but forgot to get some, and we really didn't need it. It is very hearty and has a great flavor. My husband usually always adds salt, but he didn't even add any to this one. If you are serving more than 2 adults then you will need to double the recipe. It was just enough for one bowl each for 2 adults and 2 small children, so no leftovers. I think this one would be amazing as a leftover when the flavors blend a bit more.

I put this in the monthly rotation because it isn't something we would enjoy weekly, but it is good enough to have at least once a month.

Tangy Rosemary and Zucchini Chicken

2010-01-17T19:39:00.001-05:00

Tangy Rosemary and Zucchini Chicken - 5 stars

The entire family really liked this dish. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com but of course I had to add a little twist to mine. I have baked whole chickens before with rosemary and I just love rosemary, so I was excited to try this out on chicken breasts. The only addition that I was not sure about was the zucchini. I had some in the fridge that I needed to use and use soon. I really was only concerned about the family not liking them. But guess what? They didn't even say anything about them. Yay! I did dice the zucchini up small enough, but for me, the flavor was just what I was going for! Me, my husband and my 14 year liked this.

Tangy Rosemary and Zucchini Chicken

Ingredients

3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
1 zucchini diced (skin on)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Cover the chicken breasts with garlic, then sprinkle with rosemary, lemon or lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes then add zucchini to dish and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is done and juices run clear (baking time will depend on the thickness of your chicken breasts). I also turned my chicken a few times to baste in the butter.

Easy Creamy Cheesy Sausagy Potato Soup

2010-01-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

Easy Creamy Cheesy Sausagy Potato Soup -5 stars

I have been hungry for potato soup for months now. However, I really wanted something a little more than just plain potato soup. There are plain recipes, then recipes with ham, or sausage, or extra veggies, or cheese... So I thought it would be great to add a little of each. Potatoes, cheese and sausage.. Yum yum! It was truly a complete meal in a bowl. Me, my husband and my 14 year old liked this. I thought my 2 year old did, but then after 2 bites, he said he didnt.. mostly I think the peer pressure from he 3 year old brother got to him.

Easy Creamy Cheesy Sausagy Potato Soup

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 stalk celery, diced
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups chicken stock
1 can cream of chicken
1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups diced smoked sausage
2 cups milk
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Cook and stir celery, onion, and garlic until the onion is translucent. Stir in potatoes, sausage, chicken stock, thyme, and parsley. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Mix the flour in a bowl with a small amount of water until smooth.
Slowly pour your flour mixture into the soup, stirring constantly to prevent clumps. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cheese. Cook until the cheese is melted.
Season with salt and pepper.

Dangerous Hard Candy

2010-01-17T12:19:00.000-05:00

Dangerous Hard Candy - 2 stars for this batch, not the others which I give 5 stars

Ok, hard candy is not dangerous when its hard, its the cooking part that is dangerous. It is so very hot and of course you can get burned. I had never made hard candy before except for that one time in science class about 28 years ago. (not telling my age, not telling my age)
So like other things, I wanted to give this a try. Seemed pretty easy reading directions and all. My first batch I made was root beer.. and Oh yum.. it was so good. But a bit of a pain to break apart. The pan I used was my smallest cookie sheet.. so the candy was very thick. My next batch was just and experiment for my son who loves sour candies. For some reason I was doing all sorts of experiments with this batch. The flavor I was using for this batch was Koolaid, which Im sure you can do, but didn't work well for what I did. Also, trying to get the candy to cool faster I put the hot cookie tray with the boiling 300 degree liquid sugar on top of a pan of ice. Well that flopped.. I noticed the ice melting not evenly and the candy was about to pour all out. So I picked up the pan and started to move the pan to the counter, in the mean time it started to pour out and drip all over my jeans and my foot, my bare foot.. OUCH! I will say that it was a horrible experience. No visits to the ER or anything like that.. but was unable to wear socks or shoes for a couple of days.
The candy pictured here is the actual candy that burned my foot, and also did not taste as well as my other candies I have made since. But oh boy did it look pretty. I thought it looked a lot like Italian glass or Sea glass.
So I give this candy 2 stars, but only this one bad batch not all the others I have made. My husband is patiently waiting for me to make him a batch of butterscotch hard candy.

Dangerous Hard Candy
Ingredients
3 3/4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 tablespoon extract or 1 dram of concentrate extract
Cookie Sheet
non stick foil

Directions
Use a med saucepan and stir the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, and bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C) Hard Crack stage.
Remove from heat and stir in flavored extract and food coloring, if desired. Pour onto cookie sheet with non stick foil. Let cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container or a zip lock bag (freezer type). You can also dust with a bit of confectioners sugar to prevent from sticking, however we just kept ours in the fridge and that works well too.

Cheesy White Bread

2010-01-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

Cheesy White Bread - 5 stars

If you are a bread lover then you just might be a cheese lover too? Maybe not, but if you are, then this bread is to die for. My entire family loved this bread for snacking and at dinner time instead of rolls. wow it was good. If I could give this more than 5 stars I probably would.
5 out of 5 people in our house liked this.

Cheesy White Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 TBS white sugar
1 pkg bread machine yeast
1/4 cup oil3 cups bread flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 cup cube cheese
3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar)

Very Yummy Rye bread

2010-01-16T15:35:00.000-05:00

Very Yummy Rye bread - 5 stars
I have a serious weakness for bread. All breads in fact. sandwich bread, muffins, french breads, rolls, bagels you name it.. if it starts with some sort of flower, I probably love it! :) One bread that I really enjoy, but rarely eat it, unless we go out to eat for breakfast is rye bread. I had a number of recipes in my head I wanted to try when I got my new bread machine and rye was definitely on my top 5. One thing I noticed right off about rye bread recipes was none of them actually had rye seeds, only the rye flower. That is not what I wanted for my recipe.. so the search continued. I never really found one that fit exactly what I was looking for, so I made up this one. It came out light and fluffy just like rye bread should be.
I really liked this, my 14 year old said its not for him but that it was good, same with my husband. My 2 and 3 year old said nope, they didnt want to try it at all.

Very Yummy Rye bread
Ingredients

1 1/2 tb Butter; or veg. shortening
2 1/2 c Bread flour
3/4 c Wheat flour
1 ts Salt
1 tb rye seeds
2 tb Wheat gluten
2 1/2 ts Dry yeast
1 1/4 c milk
3 tb Sugar

add ingredients per your manufacture settings on bread machine. set to basic or white and medium crust.

The best gifts come in small packages

2010-01-16T15:26:00.000-05:00

Almond Roca Gifts - 5 stars
For Christmas this past year, I handmade my fathers all time favorite candy. Almond Roca. We usually buy him the Almond Roca that comes in the pink tin can, but this year I thought I would do one better and make it for him. Turns out everyone likes almond roca. Who knew? So I made almond roca for a month straight it seemed. But my gifts were a huge hit! For sure this is getting 5 stars, and I can not image anyone at all not loving this candy.. best thing about this, it was so super easy!

Almond Roca Gifts
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup slivered almonds crushed into small specks
* 1 cup butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 3 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons corn syrup
* 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

In a saucepan over low heat, cook butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add water and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees F (hard-crack stage). Quickly pour onto medium cookie sheet (I used non stick foil on my pan). Sprinkle chips on top; let stand for 1-2 minutes or until melted. Spread chocolate over candy. Sprinkle fine crushed almonds on top of chocolate. Cool completely; break into pieces.

Best Dang Banana Puddin'

2010-01-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

Best Dang Banana Puddin' -5 stars

Sometime last year, my mother awakened my love for banana pudding. However, this banana pudding does not taste like it did was I was a kid. Its creamier and you just can't have one serving.. (which by the way I can't have just one serving of a lot of things, hahahaha.) It was funny that day when my mom stated that she should make the banana pudding instead of some other dessert that I thought would of been better.. I mean come on.. banana pudding.. boring... But its not boring, its something wonderful in your mouth. Since this time, I have seen many variations of this "new" banana pudding and there is nothing all that fancy about making it. Its super easy to make, just needs a few extra things in it that really makes it WOW!

Best Dang Banana Puddin'

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 bananas, sliced
1/2 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in condensed milk, pudding mix, cold milk and vanilla until smooth. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping.
2. Line the bottom of a 9x13 inch dish with vanilla wafers. Arrange sliced bananas evenly over wafers. Spread with pudding mixture. Top with remaining whipped topping. Chill. Eat.

Brings me back to childhood Goulash

2010-01-15T19:23:00.001-05:00

Childhood Goulash - 5 stars

When I was a little girl, my parents never had much money so Goulash was a real treat for dinner. I grew up loving this dish, so much so that I would request it for my birthday dinner each year. As I grew older and wiser, I still requested this meal. Something about this meal really feels like childhood. Now, as a mother, I make this for my family on a regular basis and even taught my 14 year son old how to make this. We probably make this about once every 2 weeks or so. I take all the leftovers to work as well. Yummy in my tummy!

You can add more veggies to this like mushrooms and zucchini to your liking, but I never have. You can also serve it with rice, however I prefer it with pasta. Specially large elbow or large shell pasta.

Childhood Goulash
Ingredients
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 1 med onion diced
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasons
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• Pepper and salt to taste
• 1 can of Italian flavored diced tomatoes. (basil and garlic or whatever you like)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of tomato paste
Directions
1. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef. Stir in all veggies and spices cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in tomatoes and sauces; simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour into your large pot of already cooked shell or elbow pasta and stir.

Welcome!

2010-01-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

This blog will follow 2 Moms as we cook for our family and friends.

Cooking and baking with small children can be a challenge, but we both love to experiment in the kitchen and try out new recipes. Hopefully we will give you a list of "go to" recipes that have been tested not only on adults, but also children.

We are always looking for interesting recipes, so if you have one you want us to try out, please e-mail us.