Tried and Tried Again

Apple Pudding Cake

2011-10-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love making this cake in the autumn time. It reminds me of my mom. I remember her making this cake. I don't know where she got this recipe, but it reminds me of one of those fantastic recipes that you get out of your grandmother's old wooden recipe box. You know...the beautiful hand written card that is worn and stained from so much use? Well, I WISH that I was lucky enough to find stuff like that in my grandmother's kitchen, but alas, my grandmother hates cooking and baking and pretty much anything to do with the kitchen. So, I'm really quite sure that this isn't an old family recipe, at least not from my family. But, I'm so lucky that my daughter will be able to find cool things that I only day dream about in both of her grandmother's kitchens!

Anyway, back to the cake. It's a super easy cake to make. It's really basic, but the caramel sauce that you dump...uh...er...I mean drizzle on it just brings it to a new level. But, as you can see in this picture, it's actually a VERY ugly cake. Don't make this and plan on just sticking candles in it and singing "happy birthday" and taking great pictures. The cake is just NOT beautiful!

But, it doesn't look too shabby all dressed up pretty with whipped cream and caramel sauce, does it? (ooh...I love my new camera!)

So, please, please, please don't let it's ugliness deter you. This is an amazing fall dessert, and you must try it! What's your favorite fall dessert?

Apple Pudding Cake

1 Cup Butter, softened (2 sticks)

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs

4 Cups peeled and grated Apple (I like to use a mixture of tart and sweet apples, but you can use whatever you have on hand)

2 tsp. Baking Soda

2 tsp. Cinnamon

2 Cups Flour

Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer, cream butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Gradually add the dry ingredients, alternating with the grated apple. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be thick. Scoop into prepared pan and smooth out batter. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done when it's dark in color and looks spongy and firm, and no runny spots remain. (See ugly picture above). The "toothpick" trick (i.e. the toothpick comes out clean when it's done) doesn't really work on this cake because it's so moist, so use your best judgement. If it's super ugly and dark, it's probably done! Cool completely, and serve with whipped cream and easy caramel sauce:

Easy Caramel Sauce:

1 C Brown Sugar

½ C Butter

½ C Whipping Cream (don't forget to buy more if you want to top it with whipped cream as well...and uh, believe me, you do!)

To make the sauce, heat butter in small saucepan just until melted. Stir in the sugar until it is dissolved. Remove from heat and whisk in the whipping cream. (Really, this takes like 5 minutes total. There's no cooking to 240 degrees and all that jazz.) Serve cake topped with warm caramel sauce and a spoonful of whipped cream.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

2011-06-12T18:51:00.001-07:00

(This was one of the first recipes I ever posted, but I didn't post any pictures, so I decided to do a re-do!)

So, I know that most people haven't been completely obsessed with food their entire lives like I have been...but do you remember eating peanut butter bars in elementary school? I totally do. They served them as dessert with school lunches. I remember thinking that one bar was just not enough, and searching for ways to get more.

Well, then when I grew up, I worked with this nice woman who was a former lunch lady. She took the cafeteria's peanut butter bar recipe, and scaled it down, and came up with this gem. They are the best peanut butter bars I have ever tasted. Ever.

This recipe makes an entire cookie sheet full, and I can only make them if I have a place to take them and share. I could pretty easily down the whole pan by myself without really trying. They're kinda dangerous...at least in my chocolate/peanut butter loving world.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

1 1/2 C Flour

1¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking Soda

¾ C Butter

¾ C Sugar

¾ C Brown Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split)

2 Eggs

1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaning ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Turkey and Pesto Panini

2011-04-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

I promised to post the recipe for this sandwich way back when I posted about freezing pesto but then I realized that I didn't have any good pictures taken. Sorry to make you wait!

This is one of my favorite sandwiches! I usually have everything I need to make it, and it's so easy and very good. I found this on myrecipes.com a few years ago, and I think that we have them for dinner once every couple of weeks. You can make these without a panini grill. Just toss them on to a large skillet and make them just like a regular grilled cheese sandwich. If the tomato on there grosses you out, just skip the tomatoes!

Turkey and Pesto Panini

2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use low fat mayo)

4 teaspoons basil pesto

8 (1-ounce) thin slices sourdough bread (It really is best with sourdough!)

8 ounces sliced cooked turkey breast

2 ounces thinly sliced provolone cheese

8 (1/8-inch-thick) slices tomato

Cooking spray

Combine mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl. Spread 1 tablespoon mayonnaise mixture on each of 4 bread slices; top each slice with 2 ounces turkey, 1/2 ounce cheese, and 2 tomato slices. Top with remaining bread slices. At this point, you can spread the outside of the bread with butter, or just coat the outside of the bread with cooking spray if you want to cut down on the calories a bit. I have found that if the bread has nothing on the outside of it, the sandwiches are a bit dry and hard to eat.

Preheat panini grill or a large nonstick skillet to medium heat. Add sandwiches to pan. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot! Makes 4 sandwiches.

Banana Bread - TWO ways!

2011-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I love banana bread! I love it plain with a glass of milk or with some chocolate chips thrown in. One day I decided to switch it up a bit and came up with these two variations. You can use your favorite banana bread recipe. I like the Classic Banana Bread recipe from Cooking Light. I am including the recipe below with a couple of notes. I usually substitute a cup of whole wheat pastry flour to boost the nutrition. But, I like this recipe because it calls for yogurt. Yogurt helps cut down on the fat without really changing the texture of the bread.

Once your batter is made, then comes the fun part! You can mix cinnamon chips into the batter! I found mini cinnamon chips at a local restaurant supply store called Gygi's. You can order them online at Prepared Pantry too. Or, you could use the Hershey's brand cinnamon chips that you can find at the grocery store, and just chop them up a bit. Cinnamon chips are such a great addition to banana bread or pumpkin pancakes, or oatmeal cookies....or by the handful. Okay, I'm a bit addicted to these little babies.

The other thing I like to add to my banana bread batter is Nutella. Mmmmm...Nutella. Again, just use your favorite banana bread recipe. Mix up your batter and pour half of it into your prepared pan. Then, drop a few big spoonfuls of nutella in and spread it out as much as you can. Add the remaining batter to the top and bake as directed. The Nutella leaves this yummy, moist surprise in the middle of each slice of bread.

Be careful, both of these variations are addicting. You will probably find yourself eating banana bread for breakfast, lunch and snacks! (maybe dinner too!)

Classic Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour (I usually substitute 1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, and 1 cup all-purpose)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I use vanilla yogurt)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. (If using a 9inch bread pan, bake for about 50 minutes.)

Yogurt Parfait Bar

2011-01-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

My cute sister-in-law is having a baby boy in the next few weeks, so we got together to throw her a baby shower. This was a morning time shower, and we were having some trouble coming up with things to serve that were not sweet and carby. (it's a word, right? As in "loaded with carbs"?!) My sister-in-law called and said "What do you think about a yogurt parfait bar?". My mind started going about a million miles an hour, thinking of different combinations of yogurt, fruit and granolas. I was so excited!

So, I'm going to share with you what I did! I think that it turned out great, and we received a lot of compliments. (My mom-in-law did the decorations...aren't they SOOOOoooo cute?!!)

I decided on 3 different parfaits that people could assemble, and made a little sign to show the delicious suggestions! Some people followed the suggestions, and some people just threw things together.

There was an Apple Pie Parfait made with an apple pie type filling that I made (recipe to follow), vanilla yogurt, and graham cracker crumbs. It surprised me, but this one ended up being my favorite parfait overall.

Then, we had a Berry Berry Parfait with Strawberry Yogurt, mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries), and Triple Nut Cranberry Granola (recipe to follow). The berries were fabulous and so sweet. Thank goodness Costco sells good produce even in the middle of the winter!

The last was a Tropical Paradise Parfait that consisted of vanilla yogurt, mixed fruit (pineapple, kiwi, bananas, and mandarin oranges), and a fabulous Coconut and Cashew Granola that I found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe Blog. I adore Melanie and all of her yummy recipes! This granola was to die for. I still can't stop eating it...days after! Visit her blog and make it!

My awesome mother-in-law ran to IKEA for me and picked up these cute jars so that I would have something fun to put the granola in. They worked out great, and were a pretty good deal!

Now for the recipes!

Triple Nut Cranberry Granola

2 cups regular oats
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped slivered almonds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup apple juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1/3 cup dried cranberries (Craisins work well)

Preheat oven to 300°. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine juice, honey, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat just until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in the oil and vanilla. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture, stirring to coat. Spread mixture in a thin layer onto a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray (or you can use a silpat). Bake at 300° for 10 minutes, then stir well. Bake an additional 10 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Spoon granola into a bowl and stir in dried cranberries. Cool completely.

Note: Store completely cooled granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Yield about 4 3/4 cups (serving size: about 1/2 cup) **If you’re going to double this, use two cookie sheets or else it doesn’t get done enough!

Apples and Cinnamon Filling/Topping

(this makes a pretty large amount...you can cut it in half!)

2 pounds Granny Smith Apples (about 6-7 medium sized apples)

1 Cube Butter

3/4 C Brown Sugar

Cinnamon (to taste)

Dash of Nutmeg

1/2 Tablespoon All Purpose Flour

Peel and chop apples into small pieces. Place butter into a large frying pan and turn heat to medium. Melt the butter, and then add the apples. Sprinkle apples with brown sugar and stir to coat apples. Liberally sprinkle apples with cinnamon (this is to taste...I went back and added more at the end). Sprinkle with a dash of nutmeg (or more if you really like nutmeg!). Cook apples for 4-5 minutes and then add the flour towards the end to help thicken the butter/juices just a little. I cooked my apples for a total of about 7 minutes before they were the consistency that I wanted. I didn't want them too soft and mushy.

I didn't get a good picture of the apple topping at the shower, but the next day I heated it up and topped our pancakes with it, and oh my goodness... I may never eat another pancake without this topping. It was to die for! The tart granny smith apples are so good with the caramely sweet brown sugar and spicy cinnamon. I thought that this would also be fabulous over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt as well. Mmmm....now I need a snack!

P.S. We also served delicious cinnamon rolls, some mini apple muffins and my favorite Chile Eggs! It was a delicious brunch!

Tip - Freezing Pesto

2011-01-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season! I apologize for being MIA. I usually have lots going on during the holidays and lots of family visiting from out of town. So, if it doesn't really need to be done, then it doesn't get done...hence no blogging!

I have a couple of good recipes that call for pesto, but since pesto has a strong flavor, it doesn't take much to put some good flavor into a dish. My favorite place to purchase pesto is at Costco (so, it's a big bottle!), and instead of letting it go bad because I can't use the entire jar at once, I freeze it! My favorite way to freeze it is in an ice cube tray. I just spoon it into the ice cube tray, and then once it's completely frozen, I pop them out and seal them into a Ziploc freezer bag. Then, I can just pull out a few at a time when I need them.

You can use pesto in this recipe for pizza rolls, or you can thaw a few and drizzle it over some pasta. Stay tuned and I'll be posting a recipe for a yummy panini that uses pesto in it too!

You all are sure quiet! I'd love to hear if you've tried any recipes and how they worked for you. What's your favorite way to eat pesto?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pops

2010-11-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

I'm kind-of a cheesecake freak. I like almost anything to do with cheesecake. You may recall that I am not a fan of pie, so every year at Thanksgiving time, I make a pumpkin cheesecake. Well, this year I will be in Connecticut for Thanksgiving, so I decided to bake my cheesecake early and make it into these cute little treats! This is my Aunt Vicki's pumpkin cheesecake recipe, and it is SO big and dense and creamy and good. But, the dense part is what makes it work well in these cute little pumpkin cheesecake pops!

First you start out by baking the cheesecake, without a crust. The crust is not needed for these sweet babies. You just want that creamy, yummy center.

Aunt Vicki's Pumpkin Cheesecake (sans crust)

2 lbs (4 packages) Cream Cheese at room temperature (NO lite cream cheese!)

1 ½ C sugar

5 Eggs

¼ C flour

2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 15 oz can Libby’s Canned Pumpkin (I always use Libby's because it is consistently the same

color and flavor, while other brands are not)

Set out cream cheese and eggs a few hours before you are going to make the cheesecake. You want everything at room temperature to avoid lumps! Wrap the bottom (the outside of the pan) of a 9 inch spring form pan with foil. Because this cheesecake doesn't have a crust, some filling may leak out the bottom of your pan. Preheat oven to 350. Whip cream cheese until fluffy, then add sugar and eggs, one at a time. Beat well, and then gradually add flour and pumpkin pie spice. Mix in pumpkin and pour into pan (no need to grease). Bake for 1 hour and 30-45 minutes, or until center is firm. You want to avoid browning the cheesecake too much because the creamy center part makes the best pops, so try not to over bake it. It's fine if it's still a little wiggily in the middle, but definitely not really wiggily or liquidy. Cool cheesecake and chill in the refrigerator over night.

Before starting the cheesecake balls, first make sure that you have enough room and clearance for a cookie sheet or other pan with sucker sticks sticking out of the top in your freezer. Next, take your small or medium sized cookie scoop and scoop out balls of cheesecake. Roll them into pretty balls and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Then, stick a cute dowel or sucker stick into each one. (You can do these more like truffles and omit the sucker stick,

but the stick makes these super easy to dip!) Freeze for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Once the cheesecake centers are frozen, you can dip them in white or milk chocolate. Refer to my Chocolate 101 tips for melting and dipping info! Because the pops are frozen, the chocolate will set really quick, so I would suggest making sure that your chocolate is pretty melty. If it starts to thicken up, it will coat the pops too thick, and then the chocolate may crack. So, every now and then, pop your chocolate back into the microwave for a few seconds to keep it nice and smooth. Also, if you're going to use cute sprinkles, you need to work quickly before the coating is set up. I rolled the white chocolate pops in these cute little sprinkles, but I wouldn't suggest doing this. It made that part of the pop really crunchy, so if you want to decorate them with sprinkles, just sprinkle them on.

These pops are so fun and SO delicious. I love that you can make the cheesecake a few days ahead of time and get the pops to a frozen stage, and then just dip 'em when you have a minute. It really is a very easy process, and not too time consuming if you spread it over a couple of days. I made 24 pops using my small cookie scoop, then I used some of the rest of the cheesecake to make pumpkin cheesecake milkshakes (and I wonder why I gained 5 lbs in the past 2 weeks! ) So, you could probably get more like 30 out of this recipe. Kids and adults can't resist these! Make them for a fun Thanksgiving day treat!

Mmmm...the cheesecaky middle....mmmm.

Yummy Yummy Yams

2010-11-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

Since I can remember, my mom would make the Thanksgiving day yams from real, baked, yams. I think that they taste so much better than the canned yams that lots of people use. Yams are easy to bake and really don't take that much more time than the canned variety. My husband is a sucker for toasted marshmallows on top (and really, who isn't?), but of course, you can make these without the extra little clouds of sugar on top!

The great thing about this dish is that you can make it a day or two in advance and then bake it and add the marshmallows just before dinner.

Yummy Yummy Yams

2 large Sweet Potatoes/Yams (about 2 lbs)

¼ C + 1 Tbs. Brown Sugar

2 oz (1/4 C) chopped pecans (optional)

1 apple, finely chopped

¼ C Butter (1/2 stick)

Mini Marshmallows (optional)

Line a large baking pan or cookie sheet with aluminum foil. If the yams are very large, cut them into big chunks so that they will roast evenly. Bake yams at 350 until softened, 1 1/2 -2 hours. Remove yams from the oven and let them sit until slightly cooled. Remove skins and put the yams into a large bowl. Mash cooked yams with the butter and brown sugar. Then, stir in the pecans and apple. Mix well and pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish. (At this point, the yams may be stored in the refrigerator up to 2 days.) Bake yams at 350 for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. If desired, just before serving, top the yams with mini marshmallows and place under the broiler until the marshmallows are toasted. Don’t leave marshmallows unattended! Serve immediately. Makes 8 side dish servings.

Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake

2010-10-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

I kind-of forgot about this cake, but for some reason it came to mind when I picked up a bag of butterscotch chips at Walmart. Then, we were having a neighbor over for dinner who doesn't like chocolate (I know...who doesn't like chocolate?? It's hard for me to fathom!). So, I decided to make this cake, and oh boy...I'm so glad I did. It's moist and pumpkiny with a hint of butterscotch, and then you can boost the butterscotch flavor by dumping...um...I mean drizzling on some of the butterscotch sauce. It's a slice of fall on a plate!

Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake

Source: Verybestbaking.com

1 2/3 C butterscotch morsels, split (11 oz pkg)

2 C flour

1 ¾ C sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

1 C canned pumpkin

½ C veg. oil

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Powdered Sugar

Butterscotch Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour a bundt pan. Microwave 1 cup morsels in small bowl on medium high heat for 1 minute, stir. Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10 to 15 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Stir together melted morsels, pumpkin, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl with a wire whisk. Stir in flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cook in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve with Butterscotch Sauce.

Butterscotch Sauce: Heat 1/3 C evaporated milk (I just used regular milk and didn't ever let it boil. Just heat it until warm enough to melt the chips, whisk in chips, and cool.) in a medium sauce pan over medium heat just to a boil; remove from heat. Add remaining morsels; stir until smooth. Return to heat, stirring constantly. Bring mixture just to a boil. Cool to room temperature. Stir before serving.

Did you know?

2010-10-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Did you know that if you cook your buttermilk
syrup until it's a deep amber color...then you refrigerate the leftovers, and it thinkens up...(if you never have leftovers, make a double batch...please!)

It's pretty much caramel?

Caramel that's perfect for dipping apples in or eating with a spoon? Or...probably drizzling on ice cream?

Well, I may or may not have tried one or three of those ideas in the past 5 minutes.

Zucchini ideas and Zucchini Bread

2010-10-02T06:55:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year! I'll be posting some fun fall recipes soon...but recently we have been harvesting lots from our garden! Since I'm not a pro at canning (yet!) I have been doing simple things like making freezer jam (raspberry peach...yum!) and shredding some zucchini to freeze and use during the winter. If you like baking with zucchini and you have some big ones from your garden, this is a must!

I made some low fat zucchini cookies while we were shredding.

We had this pasta for dinner this week. I used peppers and zucchini out of my garden. Mmmmmm....

Also, Zucchini Bread! When I have those big zucchini's sitting on my counter, all I want to do is make zucchini bread. Zucchini Bread is so moist and yummy. I experimented with my recipe and made a healthier version so that I can eat it more often, or eat more in one sitting...or (insert here whatever YOU tell yourself to make yourself feel better about stuffing your face).

When I say "healthier", please don't think "yuckier". I really try not to sacrifice taste to make something healthier. I thought this bread turned out really good and I got some good reviews from others as well! I have included the original recipe, and in the parenthesis, I included the changes I made to make it a bit healthier. I may or may not have added a bunch of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to my "healthier" recipe. shhhhhh!

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour (substitute half whole wheat pastry flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil (substitute half vanilla yogurt, so 1/2 C oil, 1/2 C yogurt)

1 C brown sugar

1 1/4 C white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Cinnamon and sugar (optional)

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch or two 9x5 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together for 1-2 minutes, or until well combined. Add sifted ingredients gradually to the creamed mixture, and mix just until combined. Stir in zucchini and nuts or chocolate chips. (Tip: Combine nuts and/or chocolate chips in a small bowl with 1-2 tsp of flour before mixing into the batter. Sometimes this helps the nuts and chocolate chips not sink to the bottom of the pan.) Pour batter into prepared pans and sprinkle the top with some cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about 60 minutes (or about 50 minutes for two 9x5 pans), or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Breakfast Panini Sandwiches

2010-09-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

I am such a blog slacker. I have been so busy with three kids! I got out of the habit of blogging, and now it's just hard to find time! But, we had this for dinner last night, and it was a hit, so I thought I'd share. We love breakfast for dinner!

I got a panini grill for my birthday, and we've used it at least once a week since then. If you're on the fence about whether or not you want to own a panini maker, stop thinking about it and get one now! They are so handy and you can make lots of things with them. I've made desert, sandwiches, breakfast, and wraps. Yum!

I started these yummy breakfast panini's by making some English Muffin Bread from a blog called "What Megan's Making". This stuff is the easiest bread ever...and totally delish. I'm sure that you could use regular store bought english muffins, but believe me...it's going to be much better with this bread. Did I say it was easy? Even if you're afraid of yeast, try this. I don't know that you could mess it up. It doesn't even have to be kneaded! Plus, it makes the best.toast.ever.

Breakfast Panini Sandwiches

8 slices of English Muffin Bread, or English Muffins

6 Eggs, scrambled (but not dry, they'll cook a little in the grill) and seasoned to taste

Cheese, grated

Ham, Bacon, Sausage

Butter

Take two slices of bread and butter the outsides. Make sure that your butter is soft because this bread is soft (but it gets a tiny bit crispy when grilled or toasted...ooohhhhh!). Add a layer of ham or bacon or sausage (or all 3!), scrambled eggs, and cheese on top. Grill in a panini grill or in a hot frying pan until the bread is a bit brown and toasty. Serve with fruit and juice or other yummy breakfasty items. Makes 4 sandwiches.

What's your favorite thing to make for breakfast?

Mixed Roasted Vegetables and Pasta

2010-06-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

My cute sister-in-law Kristen sent me this recipe. It's so yummy and quite healthy for you, which is good cuz my little family can pretty much finish the entire dish in one sitting....and it fills a cookie sheet, so...uh...good thing it's loaded with veggies! I made a couple of slight changes, but it was pretty fantastic to begin with! If you have planted zucchini and peppers in your garden, bookmark this recipe and get excited to make it soon!

Mixed Roasted Vegetables and Pasta

1 medium green or yellow bell pepper, cut into one inch pieces
1 medium red bell pepper cut into one inch pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges and separated
2 medium zucchini, cut into one inch pieces
8 oz whole mushrooms, optional (if they're big, I cut them in half)
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed (or 2 tsp. bottled chopped garlic)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 C (6 oz) pasta - penne, cavatappi or gemelli work well
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and cut into 2 inch pieces (the picture shows cherry tomatos, which can be a bit overwhelming unless you really love them)
1 bag (8oz) shredded Italian Style 4 cheese blend (2 cups)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a 15x10x1 inch pan (standard cookie sheet with sides) or 3 quart casserole, place bell peppers, onion, zucchini and mushrooms. Sprinkle with 1/3 C chopped basil. In a small bowl, mix together oil, vinegar, Italian seasoning, garlic, and salt and pepper. Drizzle evenly over vegetables. Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook and drain pasta according to package directions. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and add tomatoes and pasta to vegetable mixture; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered 15 minutes longer or until veggies are tender and cheese is melted. Just before serving, sprinkle with reserved chopped basil. Serve immediately. This is excellent with a green salad and some garlic bread!

(This time I added some grilled chicken that I seasoned with olive oil, garlic, and S&P just before the 2nd baking, but really, it's so good either way!)

Baby Shower Food

2010-06-05T12:52:00.001-07:00

My sweet friend from high school, Hillari, is now a cute cute pregnant lady. I made the food for her baby shower and had some requests for recipes, and I'm finally getting around to posting them. Uploading these pictures made me hungry, and I might need to go get a little chocolate fix when I'm done with this post!

Let's start with the lemon bars... I like Paula Deen's recipe, and who wouldn't with all of the butter that she uses in everything. One time I saw a show where she deep fried butter. Then, she ate it. True story.

Lemon Bars

Source: Foodnetwork.com (Paula Deen)

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
Pinch salt
2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing

Filling:
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch pan.

Make the crust by combining the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter to make a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. You may need to dip your fingers into a little flour or confectioners' sugar to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the eggs, granulated sugar,

flour, and lemon juice. Pour this over the baked crust and bake for 25 minutes longer. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired, when the bars are done.

Next, Coconut Bread. If you like coconut, you must try this. My brother doesn't like coconut and gobbled this down like he hadn't eaten in days. It's from a blog called Taste the Joy. She has some fun recipes. Her recipe calls for a glaze at the end, but it kind of soaks the bread more than glaze it...which is fabulous if you're serving it like a cake. But, I wanted it a little less messy for the shower, so I made a simple glaze with about a cup of powdered sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of milk, along with a teaspoon of coconut extract. I baked the batter in smaller (5 inch, I think) loaf pans, cooled it, glazed it and then sprinkled it with coconut flakes. Yuuuuuum. Little slices of heaven.

Coconut Bread

Source: tastethejoy.blogspot.com

2 C sugar

1 C buttermilk

4 eggs

1 C vegetable or canola oil

2 tsp coconut flavoring (extract)

3 C flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 C coconut

1 C walnuts (optional)

Cream together sugar, buttermilk, and eggs. Gradually add oil. Mix well and add extract. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, soda, salt and coconut. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients just until incorporated. Gently fold in the nuts. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch loaf pans, or 4 5 inch loaf pans. Bake 9 inch pans at 325 for 50-60 minutes, or 5 inch pans for 35 minutes. (or until lightly brown around the edges, and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes (in the mean time, prepare the glaze) and remove from loaf pans. Place loaves on a cooling rack and place on a foil lined cookie sheet.

Glaze: (this is her original glaze recipe)

1 C sugar

½ C water

2 TBS butter

1 tsp coconut flavoring

Heat all ingredients to boiling, and boil for 5 minutes (or a few minutes longer if you want it thickened). Poke small holes in bread and pour over top. Top with additional coconut if desired.

Brownies... Mmmmm...I love brownies. If you haven't noticed, I'm a chocoholic. If it were up to me, everything I made would have had little bits of chocolate in it somewhere, but the cute prego lady was craving fruity type stuff, so I only made one chocolate treat. But, I decided that since there was just one, it had to be over-the-top, rich, yummy, with lots of chocoly chocoly (a word that my 4 year old daughter invented...bless her little heart) goodness. So, I made this yummy brownie recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. The recipe is easy, soooo good, and calls for ingredients that I always have. Then, I threw in a bunch of chocolate chips and slapped on some fluffy home made chocolate frosting. Seriously...I gained two pounds that weekend...

Easiest Brownies in the World
Source: melskitchencafe.com
1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips (use the kind you prefer) ( plus 6 oz if you're making them my way!)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and remove from heat when chips are fully melted. In the same pot, blend in the sugar and vanilla. Then add eggs, blending fully one at a time. Add flour and salt and beat until air bubbles form in the batter. (This is when I added another cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips!) Pour into a greased 9 X 13-inch pan (this recipe works great doubled and poured into a large 11 X 17-inch rimmed baking sheet). Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

Adapted From: Hershey's Cocoa Box

1 Stick (1/2 C Butter), at room temperature

2/3 C Cocoa Powder

3 C Powdered Sugar

1/3 C Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Cream butter until fluffy (1-2 minutes). In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Measure out your milk and add vanilla. Gradually add sugar mixture alternating with milk mixture until the frosting is the consistency you want. It should be nice and fluffy and spreadable.

Now, spread that frosting over the cooled brownies. Chill for 1-2 hours and cut into bars. Try not to eat the entire pan.

Mini Fruit Pizzas. Hillari wanted fruit, and I love fruit pizza, so I decided to make a mini version of the one I usually make. You can use your favorite sugar cookie recipe, or heck, even a refrigerated dough would work if you're really in a crunch. I used a recipe from Ourbestbites.com, which worked perfectly. 2 days before the shower, I made and chilled the dough, and cut out round cookies with a 2 inch biscuit cutter. Then, I baked the cookies and layered them carefully between parchment, inside a Tupperware container, and froze them. I wanted everything to be as fresh as possible, but I couldn't make everything the day of the shower. Freezing these for a day and a half worked out great. Here's the recipe for the cookies:

Sugar Cookies
Source: ourbestbites.com

1 C real butter (no substitutions!)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t almond extract (I used vanilla instead)
3 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy- about 2 minutes. Add in eggs and extract and mix to incorporate.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined.

Shape the dough into 2 flat disks and wrap in waxed paper (I used plastic wrap because I didn't want the dough to dry out) and place in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours. If you want your cookies to hold their shape well, the dough needs to be chilled properly. A great tip to speed things up is to immediately roll dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper and place on a flat surface in the fridge. It will chill super fast and be ready to go in no time.

When you're ready to roll out dough lightly sprinkle flour onto your work surface and roll out dough with a rolling pin.

Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. The baking time really depends on how you like them. If you like them really soft under-bake them. In my oven, about 8 minutes does it. However if you're making large cookies, or ones with small parts or heavy frosting, you might want to be careful because they might break when they're super soft.

About 8 minutes will get you a really soft cookie, a few minutes longer (when they start to just brown around the edges) and you'll get just a little crispiness around the edges and then a soft center, bake even longer (and roll thinner) and you'll get a buttery, crispy cookie that will just melt in your mouth. Any way you do it, they'll taste good. Remove onto cooling racks when you're done and let cool completely. I honestly think these even taste better the second day.

Topping the pizzas:

To make the white "frosting", mix together 1 8 oz container of Cool Whip (light works well too) and 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature (light works okay too). Beat until nice and fluffy. Add 2-3 Tablespoons of sugar, to taste.

I frosted and topped the cookies with fruit right before the shower started so they wouldn't get soggy. I used strawberries, kiwi and little chunks of mango. You could use pineapple or mandarin oranges, blueberries, bananas, blackberries....any fruit really. Serve immediately.

These would make a super easy last minute dessert if you had some frozen cookies on hand and just had to whip up the topping and top with whatever fruit you had on hand. These are so pretty and so delicious!

Now, wake up from your sugar coma and start baking! What are your favorite finger foods to eat or make for baby/bridal showers?

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo

2010-05-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite food blogs is Our Best Bites. They have a recipe that I use all the time, even when I'm on a diet. (which is why I haven't been posting a lot lately...food at my house has been kinda boring!)

It's called Guiltless Alfredo Sauce. It's super easy to make, always turns out great, is pretty close to guiltless, and tastes wonderful! Oh, and it may even taste better as leftovers! What more could you ask for? I love those girls!

My favorite thing to make with this sauce is Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo. If you don't like shrimp, don't stop reading now! It's also great with chicken or veggies or whatever! My 4 year olds scarf this down like they haven't eaten for days.

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo

1 recipe of Guiltless Alfredo Sauce
1 pound Shrimp, raw, de-veined and shelled (or substitute chicken chopped into small pieces)
1 clove garlic, chopped or pressed
12 oz Fettuccine or other pasta
1 Tbs. Butter

Make the Alfredo sauce, and while the Parmesan cheese is melting in, cook your pasta according to package directions. In a large frying pan, melt the butter and add your garlic. Saute garlic for 30 seconds or so, just until fragrant. Add shrimp and cook until no longer pink, 3-4 minutes on each side. Drain your pasta and combine sauce, pasta and shrimp (including any juices from the shrimp). Toss and serve immediately!

If you choose to make this with chicken, saute your chicken in the butter and garlic (along with some salt and pepper) until the chicken is no longer pink. Add a dash of nutmeg to your sauce, then toss pasta, sauce and chicken together. Try adding some steamed broccoli at the end...it's soooo yummy!

Italian Stuff

2010-04-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason, I had a lot of time to cook while I was in college. Some of my favorite recipes come from the time that I used to cook for my room mates and my...uh... boyfriends. (shhhhh...don't mention this to my husband) This recipe came from that time in my life. I always just called it "Italian Stuff", and I've never officially named it. Anyone have a good idea for a real name?

Baked pasta has a tendency to be dry, so don't be afraid if it looks a bit saucy. In my opinion, it needs more than one jar of sauce, so you can use a jar and a half of sauce, or add some tomato sauce and Italian seasoning to a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce.

1 lb Mostaccoli, Rigatoni or Penne noodles
1 lb Italian Sausage, bulk or removed from casings (I always use pork sausage)
36 oz Spaghetti Sauce (or a 24 oz jar plus 2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce and 1 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning)
2 cloves Garlic
1 Medium Onion, chopped
1 Zucchini, thinly sliced
1 small Yellow Squash, thinly sliced
8 oz Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 medium Tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1-2 tsp. Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Saute onion and sausage together in a large frying pan until brown. Drain sausage if needed. Add spaghetti (and tomato sauce plus Italian seasoning if using) to the sausage mixture. Simmer on low for 5 minutes to let flavors come together. Boil noodles according to package directions. I usually cook the noodles for the minimum time on the package because they're going to be baked, and you don't want soggy noodles! Combine cooked noodles, sauce, and 1 1/2 cups grated cheese. Spoon mixture into an 11x15 pan or deep casserole dish and bake, covered, for 20 minutes, or until it's a little brown around the edges.

Add 1-2 tsp of olive oil to a frying pan and add 2 cloves of minced or pressed garlic. Saute for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add squash and mushrooms and cook, just until softened.

Remove pasta from oven and cover with remaining cheese, sauteed veggies, and sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle tomatoes with a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Return the pan back to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until tomatoes are softened. Serve hot with garlic bread and a green salad!

Oh, by the way...this makes probably about 10 servings. It's pretty large, so feel free to freeze half of it, but I would freeze it without the veggies on top because I can imagine that they would get pretty soggy. Enjoy!

(the yellow squash didn't look great, so this time, I used 2 zucchinis)

Creamy White Bean and Apple Chili

2010-01-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

I am not a huge fan of chili, but this recipe and I are more than just friends. I just might love it. My husband on the other hand just "likes" it...so there are two reviews for you.

This is a super easy crock pot recipe. I originally found it on the "Year of Crockpotting" blog...the one where she was making a recipe in her crock pot every day for a year. Brave soul. You can find the original recipe here. Anyway, I modified it a bit so that it's a rich, creamy, kinda sweet, yummy soup.

Creamy White Bean and Apple Chili

3 cans of white beans, drained and rinsed (I used Great Northern Beans)
1 onion, chopped
2 apples, cut in tiny chunks, no need to peel
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 T butter
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Put the butter into the bottom of a warmed crockpot. Dump in 2 cans of drained and rinsed beans. Add the onion, apples, garlic and spices, and pour in the broth. Stir in the yogurt. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4-5. This is done when the onion has reached desired tenderness and the flavors have melded. Slightly blend or puree soup, not until smooth, so that there are still some small chunks. (You can do this with a hand blender, or do 2-3 batches in a regular blender.) Then, stir in the last can of drained and rinsed beans. Heat until the beans are warmed through. Serve with corn chips, grated cheese, and sour cream….and/or corn bread…yum.

Cap'n Crunch French Toast

2010-01-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I have an obsession with breakfast foods. What can I say? I just love breakfast. Well, over the holidays I was watching a lot of Food Network, and on the show "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives", they showed this little diner/shack that made french toast covered in Cap'n Crunch. My first thought was..."that's going to be too sweet". But, my next thought was "I'm totally making that for my husband's birthday breakfast!!". (see how happy he is? The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? he he!)

Well, I can honestly say that I liked it even more than the Frosted Flake French Toast. But, let me tell you the secret...lots of butter. Sometimes I try to cut out a few calories by just spraying the pan when I make french toast, but this needs to be cooked in butter. The butter kinda softens and caramelizes the cereal, so don't skimp on the butter!

Cap'n Crunch French Toast

2 beaten eggs
½ C milk
¼ tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
5-6 slices French bread
2-3 C crushed Cap’n Crunch cereal
Butter
Maple Syrup

Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour into a shallow bowl or pie plate. Heat your frying pan or griddle to medium low heat, and melt a tablespoon or two of butter. Dip bread into the egg mixture, and coat the bread according to your preference. I like my french toast really...uh...frenchy? Anyway, I like it kinda soaked in the egg mixture, so I let it sit for a few seconds. THEN, toss it into a bowl of crushed Cap n' Crunch. Kinda press the cereal into the bread. Cook the toast according to your desired doneness. Just be careful not to burn the cereal on the outside of the toast. A little brown is good, black is, uh, burned! Top with maple syrup, and enjoy!

Back!

2010-01-07T20:21:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been SO LONG since I posted anything. I was pregnant and sick, then sick of being pregnant, and now I'm busy chasing around two three year olds and holding, kissing, snuggling and loving this little guy...

But, I have been cooking a bit, and have a few fun things up my sleeve to share soon.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

P.S. Happy Birthday Jay-Dub! :)

Easy Creamy Fresh Fruit Pie

2009-06-29T15:27:00.001-07:00

I'm not much of a fruit pie fan, (am I crazy?) and I think that some of it has to do with the fact that I like most fruits fresh, not cooked. This is a pie that my mom made a few times as I was growing up, and I've always really enjoyed it. I got a great deal on peaches last week, and decided that I NEEDED this for Sunday dessert. It really hit the spot...nice and fresh! (and did I mention easy??) I personally think that a home made crust tastes best, but you could use a store-bought crust as well.

This would be so cute with sliced strawberries and blueberries for the 4th! Enjoy!

Easy Creamy Fresh Fruit Pie

8 inch graham cracker crust:
½ package of graham crackers, crushed
2 Tbs. Butter, melted
1 Tbs. Brown Sugar

Filling:
1 8 oz package cream cheese (I used lite cream cheese, and it worked great!) at room temp.
1 8 oz package frozen whipped topping (cool whip), thawed
2-3 Tbs. Sugar

Fresh Fruit of your choice: Peaches, Nectarines, Strawberries, Blueberries, Mix 'em...whatever!

Prepare graham cracker crust by mixing the crushed crackers, sugar and butter. Press into an 8 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let crust cool completely.

With an electric mixer, whip cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add sugar and cool whip and whip just until incorporated. Spread mixture carefully into cooled crust and chill for 4 hours or overnight.

Top with fresh fruit. You can sweeten the fruit to desired sweetness, or purchase a fruit glaze in the produce section of the grocery store. I just added a little sugar to my peaches and topped the pie as I served it so that the crust didn't get soggy. If you want a nice presentation, I would gently mix the fruit with a glaze and lay it out nicely on the pie.

Sloppy BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

2009-06-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being such a slacker. I'm not doing very well at posting on this blog! I'm going to give you two easy recipes today, both of which would be super yummy to make for the upcoming 4th of July holiday!

My mother-in-law made these sandwiches a few weeks ago for Sunday dinner, and I really enjoyed them. So, I put them on the menu the next week. They were really easy to make, and we enjoyed them. I don't know where this whole putting Cole Slaw on your sandwich thing comes from, but I'm definitely a fan!

Sloppy BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or this would be fab with pork too!)
1/2 bottle of BBQ Sauce

1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 package Cole Slaw mix (just the kind with shredded cabbage and carrot)
Cole Slaw Dressing
2 green onions (optional)
Buns

Place chicken, onion and BBQ Sauce in a slow cooker and cook on low for 3-4 hours, or until chicken is tender enough to shred. Shred chicken and return to sauces for about another 1/2 hour on low. When you're just about ready to eat, chop up the green onions and stir them into the cole slaw mix with enough dressing to make the cole slaw look creamy (do this to taste...how your family likes cole slaw). When you're ready to serve, place shredded chicken on a bun and top with a spoon full of cole slaw. Serve immediately. Makes about 4-5 large sandwiches

Lemon Berry Pie

2009-06-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this dessert made on "Good Things Utah", but to be honest they made a complete mess of the pie. The flavors sounded so good, I decided to just try it (modified a little), and it turned out so YUMMY!

I am not a big pie maker, and I only own a small 8 inch pie plate, which is completely worthless (never buy one). So, since I was making this for a big group, I decided to just make it in a 9x13 pan. I think that it would fit well into 2 small pre-packaged pie crusts, or you could just half it and make it in an 8x8 square pan. Either way, this was super easy and great for summer!

Lemon Berry Pie

6 ounces cream cheese, softened (lite worked great)
1 Tablespoon milk
2 Tablespoon sugar
2 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest (about the peel of one lemon)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 tub (8 ounces) whipped topping (or more for serving)
1 pound (16 oz) strawberries, hulled and halved or sliced (I like things less chunky, so I sliced them)
2 cups cold milk (I used 1%)
2 packages (4-serving size) lemon flavor instant pudding and pie filling
2 (6 oz) prepared graham cracker crusts

OR make your own:

1 pkg graham crackers, crushed (crush them in a food processor...really easy!)
4 Tbs. Butter, melted
2 Tbs. Brown Sugar
Mix all crust ingredients together, and press mixture (Hint: use the bottom of a flat cup or measuring cup to press a crust into a pan, it makes it nice and compact!) into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Cool completely before adding other layers.

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 tablespoon milk and sugar in medium bowl for 1-2 minutes until smooth and fluffy. Stir in lemon peel and juice, then gently stir in half of the whipped topping. Spread evenly over the crust. Layer half of the sliced strawberry on top of the cream cheese layer.

Pour 2 cups milk into large bowl, and add pudding mixes. Beat mixture with a wire whisk about 1 minute, or until the pudding is completely dissolved. The pudding will thicken quickly. Once the pudding is thick, gently stir in the remainder of the whipped topping. At this point, you can add another layer of strawberries, or reserve the strawberries to spoon over the pie as you serve it.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until set. Serve with additional whipped topping or whipped cream if desired. Makes 12-15 servings.

Pudding Pops

2009-05-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

I receive the Kraft "Food and Family" magazine in the mail every so often. It has a lot of easy family friendly recipes. Well, this time we decided to try the recipe for pudding pops, and it turned out to be lots of fun, and quite yummy! The possibilities are endless!

This is the recipe as written in the magazine:

Cookies and Creme Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 C Cold Milk (I used 1%)
6 Oreo Cookies (I used 8...love the Oreo's!)
1/2 C Thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping (used more, like about 1 cup)

Beat pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a resealable bag and seal. Crush cookies using a rolling pin. Add cookies and cool whip to pudding; stir just until blended. Spoon into 9 (I got 12) small paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle. Freeze 5 hours or until firm.

As most of you know, I have two 3-year-olds, and we had a blast making these together! So, it was fun AND we had a tasty treat to eat during this hot weather. Yesterday we finished off the last of the chocolate pops, and I opened the pantry to see what else we could make. I found banana pudding, and some leftover Nutter Butters....hmmmmmm...

So, we ended up throwing together an other batch with these ingredients:

And again, the kids had so much fun helping! Really...get out the play hammers, it's so much more fun!

And today, we ate another yummy treat!

Banana Nutter Butter Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Jell-O Banana Cream Instant Pudding
2 C Cold Milk (I used 2% this time, and it was SO creamy!)
7 Nutter Butter Cookies
1 C Whipped Topping, thawed

Beat pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a resealable bag and seal. Crush cookies using play HAMMERS!! Add cookies and whipped topping to pudding; stir just until blended. Spoon into 15 small paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle. Freeze 5 hours or until firm. Enjoy!

Banana Nutter Butter Trifle

2009-05-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of peanut butter, and I love almost anything to do with bananas. So, I was pretty excited (to say the least) to see this recipe on a food blog. (I can't remember which one...sorry!)

I decided to make this with banana bread instead of cake, which made it rich and heavenly. I doubled this recipe for classic banana bread that I found on Our Best Bites. Those gals never let you down! The bread was so yummy! I made this to take to a get-together at a friend's house, so I wasn't able to get many pictures. But, it looked great in my crystal bowl, and it made TONS. I would dare say that this will serve 12 people pretty generous servings. It looks best right after you put it together, before the bananas start to turn brown...but, let me just tell you that it tasted pretty fabulous the next day even after the bananas were a tiny bit brown. If you have a small trifle dish, you might want to half this recipe! What's your favorite kind of trifle?

Nutter Butter Trifle

1 1/2 loaves of banana bread cut into cubes or crumbled
1 package peanut butter chips (1 1/2 cups of chips)
2 (3.4 oz each) packages instant banana cream pudding mix
1 8 oz carton of whipped topping (like cool whip)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whipping cream
4 1/4 cup milk (I used 1 percent)
4 large ripe bananas
12-14 nutter butter cookies, plus more for garnish

Bake (or purchase) your favorite banana bread recipe, and let it cool completely. Mix together both packages of banana pudding mix with 4 cups of the milk and chill until the pudding is well set. In a small sauce pan, combine on low heat the extra 1/4 cup milk, cream, and peanut butter chips. Stir until the chips are melted and smooth. Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature. Crush nutter butter cookies.

For assembly: Place half of the cubed or crumbled bread into a trifle bowl, then top with half of the peanut butter sauce. Next, layer half of the banana pudding, followed by 2 sliced bananas, half of the whipped topping, and then half of the nutter butter cookies. Then, repeat! Garnish with additional whole nutter butters, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes 12 servings.

Banana Filled Graham Cracker Pancakes (revisited)

2009-05-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, I should have eaten breakfast before starting this post because just looking at these pictures is making me drool. I made these again a few weeks ago, and couldn't help but take some pictures and re-post this because they were SO good. It really would be worth purchasing the special pan so that you can enjoy these. This time I served them with buttermilk syrup, and it put them on a whole new level!

Banana Filled Graham Cracker Pancakes

4 oz graham crackers, broken into pieces (this is 7 whole graham crackers, or enough crumbs to fill a 1 cup measuring cup)
3/4 C all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
5 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 C buttermilk
6 Tbs. (3/4 of a stick) of butter, melted
2 bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 cup heavy cream
maple or buttermilk syrup syrup for serving

Put graham crackers in blender or food processor and blend on high until powdery. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, 3 Tbs. sugar, and salt; pulse to combine. In large bowl, whisk egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk in flour mixture; batter will be lumpy.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form, 1-2 min. Gently stir whites into batter in 2 additions.

Put 1/2 tsp. butter into each well of filled-pancake pan. Heat over medium heat (I kept it on medium-low to avoid burning them, and my pan is cast-iron). Pour 2 tsp. batter into each well. Place 3 banana pieces in center of each pancake; top with 1 tsp. batter. Cook 3-5 minutes.

Using 2 skewers or forks, gently flip pancakes over and cook 2- 3 minutes more. (You know that they are ready to flip when you move it around with the skewer, and the whole pancake moves...if part of it sticks, they're not ready to turn yet.) Transfer pancakes to plates. Repeat with remaining batter.

Whip cream until firm and sweeten with the other 2 Tbs. of sugar if desired. (Once I just served them with spray whip cream from a can because it was easier, but the whipped cream is best, of course!) Serve pancakes warm with whipped cream and maple syrup or buttermilk syrup. (oh, really, click on this link and try the buttermilk syrup...it's SO worth it!!) Makes about 35 pancakes.

Peanut Butter Crunch Snack Balls

2009-04-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've had this recipe in my "to try" file for a while,
and finally got around to trying them. I follow a few food blogs, including mykitchencafe.blogspot.com, and that is where I found this recipe. The recipe on her blog is huge, and makes over a hundred of these little goodies. I didn't want to waste a ton of peanut butter just in case we didn't love them, so I ended up doing 1/3rd of the huge recipe. If you want the larger measurements, click here.

Anyway, we ended up loving these...even my two 3-year-olds! Yeah! Also, they are pretty healthy, and I liked how they stayed crunchy even after a couple of days of being in the fridge. I rolled them in crushed mini-wheats, which are kind-of pokey. So, next time I think that I'll roll them in something else, like graham cracker crumbs or nilla wafer crumbs. These are great for a summer time treat since they don't have to be baked. Try them!

2/3 Cup Honey
2 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Rice Krispies (I used generic...cheaper)
1/2 Cup Grape Nuts (Do NOT use generic grape nuts, they're really gross for some reason)
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2/3 Cup Shredded Coconut
1 Cup Crushed Cereal (I used Honey Nut Cheerios, it's just what I had)
1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips or Butterscotch Chips (I used both, but I would stick with the mini chips in the future because the other chips were too big and you didn't get one in every ball. You could also use raisins or something a little more healthy...but why? :) )
1 1/2-2 C crushed mini-wheat cereal (plain or frosted shredded wheat) or other crumbs of your choice (maybe graham crackers)
3-4 Tablespoons Dry Powdered Milk

Combine all ingredients except for the powdered milk and the crushed mini-wheat cereal. Stir well until all ingredients are combined. Add powdered milk a tablespoon at a time until you get a soft dough-like consistency. I ended up using 3 1/2 Tablespoons. At this point, chill the dough, covered, in the refrigerator for about a half hour. This is not necessary, but it makes them less sticky and easier to roll. (My small Pampered Chef cookie scoop worked perfectly for these, but if you don't have one, just use a spoon.) Scoop out small pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Then, roll the balls into the crushed shredded wheat or other crumbs of your choice. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Baked Beef Taquitos

2009-04-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe that I got from my good friend Amy, and we love it. I made these the other night, and I think that my husband ate like 7 in a row. They are easy, and good, and not fried like other taquitos! I don't know about your kids, but my kids like to dip whatever they can, so these go over pretty well at our house!

1 tsp oil, plus a little more for brushing (optional)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
½ c salsa, plus more for dipping
2 tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
10-12 flour tortillas
shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
Sour cream

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Put onion in skillet and cook for about 3 minutes or until onion is transparent, stirring often. Add garlic and cook for about another minute. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add beef and cook until done. Stir in salsa, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.

If your tortillas need a little softening up, place tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for about 45 seconds. If they're already soft, just use tortillas as they are. Spread about ¼ c beef mixture down the middle of the tortilla, until it is about an inch from the edges. Sprinkle cheese over beef. Roll up tortillas and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet, seam side down. Brush taquitos lightly with oil, (or if you're lazy like me, spray them with some cooking spray) then bake them until filling is heated and they are lightly browned, 8-12 minutes. (I measured out the beef mixture with a 1/4 C measuring cup, and I ended up with about 12 taquitos.) Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Broccoli

2009-04-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite shows to watch is a local show called "Good Things Utah". They always have a cooking segment, which is my favorite part. A few weeks ago, one of the hosts talked about how she fixes broccoli, and how her kids gobble it up. Well, my kids have never touched broccoli, so I decided to try it. It was so easy, and my little girl begs for more every time I make this. Try it! It's different and so good, and I can't explain why, but we're addicted!

1-2 heads of Broccoli (depending on how many you're serving, I do one large head for 2 adults, 2 kids)
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt

Preheat the broiler on your oven. Chop broccoli into small, bite-sized pieces. Place them on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil. You don't need a lot of oil, just enough to make sure that each piece of broccoli has a little on it. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Start with less. This is to taste, but YOU really have to figure out how much you like! Mix it all up, right there on the cookie sheet. I just use my hands. Place under the broiler, but make sure that your top rack is pretty close to the broiler. Broil for 2-3 minutes and then get it out and stir it well. Place the broccoli back under the broiler for another 2-3 minutes. You want there to be little pieces of brown on the broccoli, not lots, just barely starting to brown. That is what gives it the yummy flavor. Serve hot, right out of the oven!

Green Chile Enchiladas

2009-03-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

I apologize for disappearing from the food blogging world for a while, but I've had a little case of morning sickness that hasn't made cooking or eating very pleasant. Well, now that I'm over that (mostly), I'm back to loving food, and hopefully can keep up a little better on my blog!!

These enchiladas are an original recipe that I created while I was in college. Evidently I was a little more creative then than I am now! So, for those of you who were my room mates, you have probably had these. I hadn't made them in a really long time and forgot how good they were, so I had to post them. They take a little time to do all of the prep work, like chopping the veggies, but they're really not difficult to make, and SO worth it!! They are excellent with either hamburger or chicken. This time my wonderful husband grilled the chicken, and they turned out really good! You can make these vegetarian by leaving out the meat. The flavor of the enchilada sauce is so good! Make sure you try these!

Ingredients:

28 oz can Green Chile Enchilada sauce, or more if you like it sausy (La Victoria is my favorite)
1 medium Zucchini, sliced
½ Bell Pepper (red, green, yellow, or whatever you like)
2 Carrots, grated
2 small Tomatoes chopped
1 medium Onion, chopped
1 15 oz can black beans, drained
1 lb. Hamburger or chicken

12 flour tortillas

½ pkg. Taco Seasoning
1 Clove Garlic
8-10 oz Jack or cheddar cheese, grated

If you are using hamburger, brown the meat. Add ½ package taco seasoning and half of the water called for, and continue to cook according to the package directions. If you are using chicken, drizzle chicken with 1-2 tsp of cooking oil and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Grill or saute until chicken is no longer pink. Once the chicken is cooled enough to handle, cut it into bite sized pieces.

Saute onion, bell pepper, and zucchini with a little bit of oil or cooking spray and garlic for just a couple of minutes, until they are tender. Don't cook them too long, or they'll become soggy. Add tomatoes and carrots last since they cook the fastest. (sorry for the steamy picture...but I love the beautiful color of the veggies once you put everything together!)

Here are step by step pictures of putting them together. First spread a couple of large spoon-fulls of sauce on the bottom of your greased pan. (Note about the pan: I used an 11x15 pan this time, but if you don't have one, use a 9x13 and also an 8x8 pan to fit all of the enchiladas, you may half this recipe!!)

First, put a spoon full of beans on the tortilla,

then, add some chicken,

and veggies

roll them up and put them in your pan.

Pour the rest of the can of sauce over your enchiladas, and then make sure that the edges of the tortillas are covered with sauce so that they don't turn out dry and crunchy after baking.

Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove pan from the oven and sprinkle the top with cheese. Put the pan back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve hot with sour cream.

Chocolate Waffles

2009-02-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

I will forever be in debt to my fabulous mother-in-law, not only for raising such a wonderful son, but for giving me one of my favorite easy dessert recipes! Just to clarify...these are DESSERT, not breakfast. These Chocolate Waffles are SO good, and so versatile. We have topped them with so many things, including a smear of peanut butter and vanilla ice cream, bananas and ice cream, mint ice cream, just plain vanilla...they are good with so many things! The best thing is that they are made from ingredients that I always keep around the house. These are great to make if you're in a time crunch and don't have a half hour to bake a cake or a pan of brownies. All you have to do is make the batter, and then when you're ready to serve dessert, you just put some batter in your hot waffle iron and wahla...hot...yummy...dessert. Make 'em, you'll be so glad you did!!

½ C Butter, at room temperature

¾ C Sugar

2 Eggs

1 C Milk
1 ¼ C Flour

4-5 Heaping Tbs. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. Cinnamon

Preheat waffle iron. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cream the butter, sugar, and eggs with a mixer for 2-3 minutes or until well combined. Gradually add dry ingredients, alternating with the milk. Pour ¼ to 1/3 cup batter into hot waffle iron (depending on the size of your waffle iron). Cook chocolate waffle for slightly less time than a regular waffle. Chocolate waffles do not get crispy like regular waffles, so don’t over cook! Remove from iron and immediatly top with your favorite ice cream and toppings. Serves 6.

Oh my...look how that ice cream just melts on those hot waffles. Need I say more?

Frosted Flake French Toast with Buttermilk Syrup

2009-02-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

I woke up this beautiful snowy Valentines Day to the sounds of my wonderful husband making breakfast for me! Back in December, we took a trip to Vegas and we ate breakfast at a little cafe inside the hotel where we were staying. My husband ordered this French Toast that was rolled in Frosted Flakes. My first thought was...gross. But, it was SO good. So, on V-day he re-created this gem, and I was SO excited! (I should let him cook more often, he really is brilliant!) The combination of the frosted flakes and the buttermilk syrup was really sweet. So, an addition of some slightly tart strawberries was perfect. You must try this...now!

4-5 slices of French Bread, or any other bread you like

2 Cups Frosted Flakes cereal, crushed

2 Eggs

1/4 C Milk

1/4 C Buttermilk

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Sprinkle of Cinnamon

A Dash or Pinch (just a tiny bit) Nutmeg

Whisk together the milk, buttermilk and eggs until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla, and spices until everything is incorporated. Heat a frying pan to medium low heat. Add a small pat of butter (maybe a teaspoon or so per slice of bread). Once butter is melted, dip bread, one side at a time into egg mixture, and then into frosted flakes. Make sure both sides are covered in cereal. Put bread into the heated pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness. (Some people like their french toast a little soggy in the middle, some like it really set up, so cook it how you like it!) Top with sliced strawberries or other fruit and drizzle with buttermilk syrup (recipe to follow). (I say "drizzle" because it's really sweet, and you might be sorry if you dump it on!) Makes about two adult sized servings.

Buttermilk Syrup

(compliments of my husband's co-worker Ashly...thanks Ashly!)

1 cube butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon Karo Syrup (lite corn syrup)

Add this all together and stir. Use a bigger pot than needed because when you add the baking soda it boils up high. Heat everything on low heat, stirring constantly until ingredients dissolve and sauce thickens. When sauce has thickened, add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir and remove from heat.

(note from me: I didn't make the syrup, but I imagine if you cook it for a few minutes longer, it will be a bit more caramely...yum!)

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken

2009-02-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

I love this recipe because it's easy. It only has 6 ingredients! You make it in the crock pot, and it's just SO good. I have had this recipe forever, and I can't remember where I got it, but it works great for Sunday dinner, and is forgiving enough to take to a neighbor when they are in need of a meal. Last time I made it, I served it with a green salad, and this bread, which made such a fabulous meal.

1- 1 1/2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Tenders

1/4 C (half of a stick) Butter

1 package Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix (just the dry mix, not all mixed up into dressing)

Place the chicken into a 3-4 Quart slow cooker. Cut up your 1/2 stick of butter and toss it over the chicken. Sprinkle all ingredients with the dressing mix. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2-3 hours, or until the chicken is done and will shred easily with a fork. Ok...I know that these instructions sounds weird because you don't add all of the sauce ingredients and stuff, but it works just fine, don't worry. This semi-plain chicken doesn't take as long to cook as a full slow cooker would, so just keep an eye on it to make sure that your chicken doesn't get too done and start to dry out. The cooking time will vary depending on how hot your crock pot cooks.

After shredding your chicken (I just stick two forks right into my crock pot and shred it.) add:

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 8 oz package of Cream Cheese, softened (I've used lite, and it works fine)

1 Cup of milk

Stir and let everything cook on low for another hour. Serve over rice or egg noodles. Serves about 4 adults. Warning: This is addicting and the leftovers are even better!

Oreo Mint Truffles

2009-02-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post something that would be fun to make for Valentines Day. These are so simple! I made them at Christmas time, and everyone loved them. Nobody could figure out what was in the middle! I would suggest making these the day before or on the day that you will serve them, just so that they are fresh and the middle doesn't get too gooey.

1 Package Oreo Cookies

8 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature

10 oz Package Andes Creme De Menth pieces (found next to the chocolate chips, or substitute of package of regular Andes Mints if you can't find these)

Line 2 cookie sheets with waxed paper or parchment. Crush the Oreo Cookies in a food processor or blender. The idea is that you want very small crumbs. If you want to, you can reserve a few tablespoons of crumbs to garnish your truffles with. Place crumbs and cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Using your hand mixer or stand mixer, mix the cheese and crumbs just until they are incorporated.

I made some truffles small, and some larger, and I liked the larger truffles better, but the size is up to you! I used my small cookie scoop, which is about a tablespoon, and popped each out into my hand, and rolled them into a ball. If the Oreo mixture is really sticky, you can try putting some powdered sugar on your hands or try chilling the Oreo mixture for a few minutes. Place the little balls on one of the parchment covered cookie sheets, and put them into the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Chilling them helps them to stay together when you dip them. But, you also don't want them too cold, or it might make your chocolate covering crack. If they crack, just drizzle them with some white or red chocolate and eat them anyway!

Once your little Oreo balls are chilled, melt the mint chocolate pieces. You could also use a regular chocolate coating chocolate instead of the Andes mints. If you like dark, use dark, if you like milk, use milk. If you're daring, use white! Place the mints or coating into a small bowl and pop them into the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Put them back into the microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring well between each, until your chocolate is smooth.

Remove the Oreo balls from the freezer and begin dipping. Start out doing about three at a time. I suggest doing three at a time because you want them to still look wet when you put them back into the freezer to set up. If you do too many at once, the first few will start looking dry. Putting them into the freezer while still wet gives them a nice shine. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it faster, and dip more at a time.

Before they dry, sprinkle each with the crumbs you set aside or some unsweetened cocoa powder (this might taste best with the non-minty chocolate coatings), or drizzle with a contrasting color of melted chocolate. You could even get some red chocolate and draw a heart on top! Oh, cute! (Hint: Go to your local craft store or candy supply, and get a little squeeze bottle. If you can find a ketchup or mustard squeeze bottle with a small tip, that would work too. Melt your contrasting color of chocolate, and pour it into the bottle. This makes a great little tool for drizzling!) Place the truffles into the freezer for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate is completely set. Repeat until all truffles are dipped. At this point, you can pop them inside some little candy cups and place them in a cute box (or cellophane bag!)...and there you have it...the perfect valentine!!

Hot Cereal

2009-01-16T21:10:00.001-08:00

I love hot cereal. There's nothing like a bowl of warm yumminess on a cold snowy morning. My current favorite right now is a mixture of cracked wheat and oatmeal....mmmmmm. This is low fat and high in fiber, and really good for you if you don't load it down with sugar. Oh, and did I mention cheap? You can find cracked wheat at lots of health food type stores, or order it online. My secret to not adding tons of sugar (I have a hard time with this cuz I have a sweet tooth!) is to add a bit of unsweetened applesauce and some raisins, and then it only needs a little sugar. This is my favorite way to prepare it:

1/4 C Cracked Wheat
1/4 C Old Fashioned Oats (don't use quick oats, or you might have a soggy mess)
1 1/2 C Water (or 3/4 C water, 3/4 Cup milk...this makes it a little creamier)
Pinch of Salt
1/4 C Raisins or Craisins (you could also use fresh or frozen blueberries, but I wouldn't add them until the last few minutes of cooking time)
4 tsp. Brown Sugar
1/2-1 tsp Cinnamon (depending on how much you like cinnamon)
2 Tbs. Applesauce

Add cereals, salt, and water to a small pot and simmer, stirring periodically, on low heat for 13-15 minutes, or until it reaches your desired consistency. If you are using milk instead of water, be sure not to let it get above a simmer. If you like your raisins soft and plump, add them in at the beginning. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Serve with additional milk (or sugar, or honey), if desired. There are lots of possibilities, be creative and have fun with your cereal! If you split this into two servings (as written), it is about 3 weight watchers points per serving.

**If you need to have a quick breakfast during the week before work, make a double batch of this on Saturday or Sunday and put it in the fridge. Each morning, just spoon some out, add a little milk, and reheat it in the microwave. I was surprised at how good and fresh it tasted after being reheated!

Mini Meatloaves

2009-01-15T07:55:00.001-08:00

I stumbled upon this meatloaf recipe a while back when I was searching for a recipe that didn't call for 2 pounds of hamburger. This has been my favorite meatloaf recipe since. You can make it for two people, or ten (put your math skills to the test!). It doesn't have to cook for hours, and everyone I've made it for loves it. Oh, and the little loaves really are quite cute!

1 egg
¼ C Milk
1/3 C crushed Saltine crackers
3 Tbs. chopped onion
¼ tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Sage
Dash of Pepper
½ lb Lean Ground Beef (I usually use one with 10% fat or less. Figure 1/4 lb per person, or more if you have hungry boys at your house.)
¼ C Ketchup
2 Tbs. brown sugar
¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl, beat the egg. Add milk, cracker crumbs, onion, salt, sage and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture, then get your hands in there and mix well. Don't over mix. Just squish it together until everything is incorporated.

Then, shape into loaves, place in a shallow baking dish or cookie sheet lined with foil. (This makes clean up SO much easier!)

Now for the sauce! Do not skimp on the sauce! Spread it all on there, and try not to lick your fingers. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until sugar is mostly dissolved and then spoon it evenly over meat loaves. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. I love to serve these with baked potatoes, green beans and salad!

Easy Parmesan Rolls

2008-12-27T22:12:00.000-08:00

I have family in town staying at my house, and that makes me want to do EASY meals. These rolls are about as easy as they get. They are incredible with a slow cooked beef stew or pot roast. In fact...I've served them with just about anything. The great thing about them is that I always have everything on hand to make them. I really like freshly grated Parmesan cheese on most things, but on these, I actually prefer the Kraft type Parmesan powdered cheese. SO easy. My brother will eat 3 or 4 of these right off the pan before I can even get them into a basket. They really are that good.

1 dozen frozen bread dough rolls, like Rhodes
1 cube butter, melted
1 C Parmesan cheese, powdered or freshly grated

Roll each frozen roll in butter, and then in cheese. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let raise 3-4 hours. Cook according to package directions. Serve hot!

Chile Eggs

2008-12-22T20:13:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law served these eggs on Christmas morning the year that my husband and I got married. I've been serving them for Christmas morning breakfast ever since. I haven't ever met anyone who doesn't LOVE them. They are super easy to put together, and you can even throw them together the night before and then pop them in the oven while you are opening some gifts the next morning. They are really good, and you can top them with whatever suits your fancy. Sometimes if I'm serving them to a small group, I half the recipe and cook it in a 8x8 square pan.

10 Eggs, beaten
½ C Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Salt
1 Pt. Cottage Cheese
12-16 oz Shredded Medium Cheddar or Sharp Cheddar Cheese
½ C Melted Butter
2 (4 oz) cans diced Green Chiles

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, and pour into a buttered 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45-50 min, or until set. Serve with salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

Seriously, if that doesn't say "Merry Christmas"...what does?

Eggnog Fudge

2008-12-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

Wow...it's been forever. Sorry! I've been really busy with Christmas cooking and family in town. Hopefully this recipe will make up for it! This Eggnog Fudge is to DIE FOR. If you like Eggnog, definitely try this.

2 C Sugar
½ C Butter
¾ C Eggnog
11 oz White Chocolate chips, or other white chocolate
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 1/4 C mini Marshmallows
2 tsp. light corn syrup
1 C Chopped Pecans (optional)
1 tsp. Rum Extract

Line an 8x8 square pan with parchment paper or wax paper, cut to fit the pan, and overlap the sides. I usually use two pieces, one overlapping the other. Combine sugar, butter and eggnog in a heavy 2 ½ to 3 quart sauce pan. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 8-10 minutes over medium heat, or until a candy thermometer reaches soft ball stage (234 degrees), stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat. Let mixture sit for a few minutes to let the temperature drop a bit. Stir in white chocolate and nutmeg. Stir until all chocolate is melted. Melt marshmallows and corn syrup together in a large microwave safe bowl (large, because the marshmallows explode!) for about 30-40 seconds. Stir until marshmallows are smooth. Add marshmallow mixture to fudge, along with the nuts and rum extract. Beat until well blended. Pour into parchment lined pan, and let cool at room temperature for several hours or over night. Cut into small squares. Small…this is seriously rich stuff!

Chocolate 101

2008-11-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Now, we're on to Christmas, and to me, that means candy making! I have made chocolate goodies for many years now, and have taught several classes on how to work with chocolate. If you're unsure about working with chocolate, please read through these notes so that you can have fun creating some wonderful and easy chocolate treats for your friends and family!!

I haven't mastered tempering chocolate, so I mostly use chocolate that doesn't need to be tempered. You can find this type of chocolate in any cake and candy supply store, and they come in large chips or buttons. It is often called coating chocolate, molding chocolate or compound coating. You can buy the Wilton brand coating chocolate at many craft stores, but I wouldn't reccomend these just because I don't think that they taste as good as other coatings. I usually purchase Guittard Appeals, Nestle brand coating chocolate, or Merkens coating chocolates. If you live in Utah Valley, you can buy coatings at the Bosch Kitchen Store ($4.75 for a 2 lb. bag) or Funfinity ($3.99 per pound). In Salt Lake County, I would reccomend Gygi's ($10 per 5 lb bag).

There are several different ways to safely melt chocolate without scorching it or causing the chocolate to seize. If your chocolate has changed from a shiny liquid to a dull thick paste, the chocolate has seized. This can happen if the chocolate is burned, or if moisture gets into your chocolate. Chocolate melts at a very low temperature. Temperatures that feel comfortable for your finger can be too hot for chocolate. Chocolate does not mix well with moisture of any kind. The moisture from a damp spoon can contaminate a batch of melting chocolate. Once the chocolate has seized, it can not be un-seized, and must be discarded. So, keep these points in mind as you work with your chocolate!

Methods of melting chocolate:

1. Microwave: Place one or two pounds of coating chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Take out of the microwave and stir well. Keep in mind that the container you're heating the chocolate in will hold enough heat to cause the chocolate to continue to melt. Put chocolate back in the microwave for 20 seconds. Take out and stir. If the chocolate is still not completely melted, put it back in the microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring well after each, until chocolate is completely melted.

2. Heating Pad: Place one or two pounds of coating chocolate in a flat bottomed bowl. Turn your heating pad to medium heat and place bowl on pad. Chocolate will be melted and at a good dipping temperature in about two hours.

Note: Remember, never add water, milk or any other liquid to “thin” your chocolate! This will make the chocolate seize, and you will not be able to use the chocolate. If you need to thin your chocolate, you may purchase Paramount Crystals to add to your chocolate that will help thin the chocolate.

Coloring Chocolate:

White coating chocolate may be colored by adding Powdered Food Coloring. Powdered food coloring will not thicken the coating and should not change the flavor. Pastel colors such as pink, green blue or lavender only require a small amount of food coloring. If you are trying to achieve a darker color such as red or dark blue, use about 1 tsp of color to ½ cup melted coating. To achieve black colored chocolate, use milk or semi-sweet chocolate and add black powder until you get the desired shade.

Flavoring Chocolate:

Chocolate may be flavored with a Pure Oil Flavoring. Never use an extract flavoring, it may cause the chocolate to seize. Many extracts contain water. Also keep in mind that chocolate easily takes on the flavor of other things. It is best to store chocolate in an air tight container so that it doesn’t take on the flavor of other foods in your pantry.

Storing Chocolate:

It is best to store chocolate at about 68-72 degrees, the temperature of a cool pantry or dark cabinet. Kept at this temperature, chocolate (assuming it isn't covering fruit or other perishables) has a shelf life of about a year. It is best not to store your chocolate in the freezer. Chocolate that is frozen and then thawed, could bloom (or develop what looks to be a filmy white residue). But if you must freeze your chocolate, let it warm gradually to room temperature before you try cooking with it.

Peppermint Bark

2008-11-28T12:18:00.000-08:00

I love making Christmas candy, especially anything having to do with Chocolate! So, today I made my first round of candy and I wanted to share it with YOU!! Peppermint bark is one of the easiest and yummiest Christmas candies to make. This is what you will need...

1 lb White Coating Chocolate

1 lb Milk or Dark Coating Chocolate

8-9 Candy Canes, crushed

Easy right? The answer to that is...YES!

First, read my post "Chocolate 101", so that you know how to melt your chocolate. Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Either one will do. I use wax paper because it's cheaper. Melt a pound of milk or dark chocolate and then pour the chocolate directly onto your wax paper. Spread the chocolate as thin as you can without it being transparent. I used my offset spatula, which worked brilliantly.

Then, pop the whole thing into the freezer for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate is set. Pull it out of the freezer, and let your chocolate come back to room temperature.

While your dark layer is coming back to room temperature, crush your candy canes and start melting your white chocolate. (Note about crushing candy canes... I just put mine in a couple of zip lock bags and hit them with a hammer. I have tried putting them into the blender before, but it crushed them up way too tiny. I like this best with small chucks of candy cane, not candy powder. Figure out how you like it best!) If you really like the taste of mint...at this point you can add a few drops of oil mint flavoring to make it more minty. I think that the candy cane adds enough mint, but it's up to you! You can purchase oil flavorings at candy supply stores, or sometimes you can find them at Walmart.

Once your white chocolate is melted, add the candy cane to your white chocolate and stir until well mixed. If desired, reserve about 1/8th of a cup of the tiny crumbs to sprinkle over the top. That just makes it pretty.

Spread the white layer over your set-up dark layer. This layer is a little harder to spread because it has chunks of candy cane in it. But, do your best to make it as thin as possible. Then, sprinkle your white layer with reserved candy pieces. Pop it back into the freezer to set up for 2-3 more minutes.

Next, just break your creation into pieces. They can be as big or small as you wish. I like to break them into a combination of both large and small.

Then, package them as you wish! I have a fetish for cellophane bags, so I put almost everything in a shiny cellophane bag. I think it makes everything prettier!

Note: You can make this bark without the darker chocolate layer. Simply skip the steps regarding the darker chocolate all together.

Also, it's cute to do this inside a cookie cutter, like a cool copper or stainless steel one. Just lay the cookie cutter flat on the wax paper, then pour the different chocolate layers into it, following the same steps outlined. Just make sure not to fill it too full. Let it set inside the cookie cutter, and wrap up the whole cookie cutter in cellophane.

Let your imagination run wild! There are so many possibilities when it comes to bark. You can omit the candy cane and add nuts and dried fruits. One year at Easter time, I made this without the dark chocolate layer, and then used lemon heads instead of candy canes. It was really yummy! There are so many things you can do! Get creative!

P.S. I just received a William's Sonoma Catalog today. They sell peppermint bark in a cute tin for$26 per pound. Go on...make it for $2.50 a pound!

Beef Fajita Soup

2008-11-17T22:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's late at my house, and I'm tired. But, I just noticed that it's winter time, and I have hardly any soup recipes posted! Oops! So, here is one for you, and BONUS, it's a crock pot recipe! Yeah! This is seriously one of my favorite soups. It's just nice to have a soup that isn't chicken (even though I love chicken). Anyway, it's just different. I have adapted this from a recipe that I saw in "The Best Slowcooker Cookbook Ever" cookbook. You can leave out the onions and peppers in the beginning, and then add them in when you have about 4 hours left to go. This just makes the onions and peppers a little more firm in the end. But, it's great both ways. Make it tonight!

1 Pound Top Round Beef (or top sirloin), sliced into strips
14 ½ oz Beef Broth
2 Cups Water

1 Green Pepper, cleaned and sliced in strips
1 Onion, cut into strips
½ T Chili Powder
16 oz Tomato Sauce
3 Cloves Garlic, minced

½ tsp black pepper

2 tsp Cumin

15 oz Pinto beans, drained and rinsed

2 (15 oz) cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed

In a 3 ½-4 quart electric slow cooker, combine the beef, broth, water, vegetables, tomato sauce, pinto beans, cumin, pepper, and garlic. Cover and cook on low 8 hours, or until beef is tender. Stir in the black beans and heat, covered, for 10-30 minutes longer. Serve topped with sour cream, avocado, cheese, and corn tortillas or tortilla chips. (Weight Watcher's points: makes 6 servings, which is about 4 ladle scoops per serving and is 5.6 pts each without toppings)

Yeast Bread 101

2008-11-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

My friend Nicole left me a comment about the Pizza Roll post that got me thinking... But, instead of answering her questions in the comment section, I'm going to do a brief (can I do brief? I think I like to talk too much to label anything "brief". :) ) and very basic little lesson on bread making. Now, keep in mind that this is Yeast Bread Making 101 according to Aubri. I'm just telling you what I've learned over the years as I have made bread. So, feel free to take it with a grain of salt, or leave me a comment and let me know if I left something out!

First things first... You want to make sure that your yeast is alive. I make bread at least once a week, so I buy a Costco sized bag of yeast and put it in the freezer so that it lasts longer. Then, I have a small container in my fridge that I add to from the freezer. I will get the small container out of the fridge a few hours before I start making bread so that it can warm to room temperature. I always combine the yeast with the water (or milk), along with the sugar or honey or whatever sweetener the recipe calls for. This way, you can see your yeast bubble, and know that it's alive before you go through the trouble of putting everything together. If you think that your yeast might be old and dead, then add 1 Tbs. of yeast to 1/4 cup of warm water, and wait 5-10 minutes. If the yeast bubbles up, then it's still good to use.

Second...liquid temperature. Lots of recipes tell you what the exact temperature of the water should be. I haven't ever actually used a thermometer to take the temperature of my water. I just know that it needs to feel warm to my hand, and not hot. If the water is too hot, it will kill your yeast. The sugary/honey stuff that you add is to feed the yeast (yeast has a sweet tooth, just like me!!) so that it can bubble up nicely. If your recipe lists milk as an ingredient, it will usually instruct you to heat it up, but just make sure that you cool it down enough before adding any yeast to it.

Next...flour. I have found that bread making is all about finding a happy balance between sticky dough and heavy, hard as a rock dough. It all has to do with the amount of flour that you add to your bread. I have found that bread turns out best when you add just enough flour to make the dough manageable. What I mean is that it's one step past sticky, just so that it doesn't stick to absolutely everything it touches. Make sense?

So, I usually (gradually) add the minimum amount of flour called for in the recipe, knead it for a few minutes (actually, I let my Kitchen Aid do that part) and then check the stickiness of the dough. Then, I will add flour about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup at a time until it gets to be the right consistency. It's okay for the dough to be a bit sticky before the first raising. Sometimes after the first raising, the dough is a bit more manageable. I usually leave out about 1/4 cup of flour, and set it aside to use while working with my dough while shaping it. So, if the recipe calls for 5-5 1/2 cups of flour total, I will add 5 cups to the dough, and leave my other 1/2 cup to use when I roll out the dough, or whatever. Get it?

Wheat vs. White.... Wheat flour doesn't have as much gluten in it as white flour does. This is why you see a lot of recipes that call for whole wheat flour AND white flour. The white flour helps in the gluten development. If you want to make a truly whole wheat bread, with all wheat flour, then add some wheat gluten or some kind dough enhancer to your recipe to get a softer, less crumbly bread. Another thing to remember when making wheat bread is that it takes quite a bit more kneading. Wheat bread dough needs more kneading to develop the gluten, so make sure to knead your wheat bread for 7-10 minutes in a Kitchen Aid type mixer, and up to 15 minutes by hand. If you have an awesome tough machine like a Bosch, you can get away with only kneading it for 5-7 minutes. Since learning about the whole kneading thing, I have started kneading my white breads for a bit longer, and I can tell a difference in my dough. I would suggest kneading your white breads for 5-8 minutes to get a nice smooth dough.

An egg wash almost always makes your bread look a little prettier. You can use an egg white whisked together with a little bit of water, or milk (maybe like a tablespoon of liquid), and just brush it over your bread dough to help it have a nice golden crust. This is optional. I don't ever do this with my wheat bread unless I'm making it into buns or something, but it looks really nice on white bread. Keep in mind that if you find a bread recipe that you really like, you can use it to make rolls or buns, pizza dough, or whatever. It's all about how you shape it!

The first bread recipe that I ever made is the recipe that I have posted for french bread. It's really easy, and hard to mess up. So, give it a try! I really do think that making good bread takes practice. So, don't be frustrated if you have never made bread and your first batch turns out badly. Just keep trying!

Oatmeal Scotchies

2008-11-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

I love the verybestbaking.com website, which is where I found this recipe. My mom used to make these all the time when we were kids, but she always made them into pan cookies and cut them into bars, which is why I always cut them into bars. If you've never made cookies like this, try it. You just spread the cookie batter onto a greased cookie sheet, bake them, then cut them into bars. They're not quite as pretty, but the take a fraction of the time to bake, and they taste just as good. I don't think that butterscotch chips are as popular as they should be...

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 2/3 cups (11-ounce package) Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Pan Cookie Variation: Grease a 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

Curried Butternut Apple Soup

2008-11-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

I woke up to snow this morning. Snow on the ground equals soup in my house. This is a simple and yummy squash soup. It is good as a main dish, or would be great as an appetizer/side dish as well.

Last year, I made this soup and chopped up two medium sized butternut squash (which is a pain, by the way). I then washed my hands and realized that the skin was peeling off of my fingers, and they were all itchy. I had a bad reaction to the squash. Who would have guessed? So, this year, I baked the squash and scooped it out of it's shell. If you haven't done this, it's so easy. Just cut the top stem off of your squash, and then cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds. Line a cookie sheet with foil (do this please...squash leaves a yucky film on things when you bake it) and place your squash cut-side down. Pour about a cup of water in the pan, and bake it at 350 for about an hour or until it's soft. You can scoop the squash out and use it in this soup, or just as a side dish with some butter, salt and pepper. Easy. OR...you can buy a bag of pre-chopped, skinned and cleaned butternut squash at Costco. Easiest!

Okay, now get your other ingredients ready:

¼ C butter
2 C chopped onion (about 2 medium onions)
1 rib celery, chopped
2 ½ tsp. curry powder
2 medium butternut squash (about 2 1/2 – 3 lbs) peeled, seeded and cubed
3 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup apple cider or apple juice

In a heavy sauce pan, combine onion, celery, butter and curry powder. Cook over low heat until veggies are tender (10-15 minutes), stirring often. Add squash, apples and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until squash and apples are cooked thoroughly.

You need to strain a little bit of liquid off of the mixture once it's cooked. I do this by getting a big ladle or spoon and just skimming liquid off of the top, while trying to keep most of the ingredients still in the pot. Take off as much liquid as you can. Next, puree the apple-squash mixture with one cup of the strained liquid. You will probably need to do this in 3-4 batches in a blender. Don't over-stuff a blender with hot soup or it will pop the top off of your blender. Don't ask me how I know that. If you have a hand mixer, excellent. Stick that puppy into your pan and just blend. Add cider or juice to reach desired consistency. Garnish with grated apple, or chopped pear, yogurt or sour cream.

This is, of course, excellent in bread bowls. I'll post the bread bowl recipe soon!!

Sour Cream Waffles

2008-11-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

I love waffles. Blueberry, strawberry topped, green for St. Patty's day. You name it...I love it. I used to try not to make waffles very often because they usually have quite a bit of oil in them, and let's face it...they're not that healthy.

So, when I found this recipe, (I can't remember where, and I'm sure that I've changed it enough to call it my own recipe) I was excited. They don't have any oil, and they taste great. We have these for dinner quite often. They are so filling and yummy! I love breakfast for dinner! Keep in mind, these are not light and fluffy waffles. They are more dense and kinda chewey...but a good chewey, don't worry.

I use Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, which has the same health benefits as other whole wheat flour, but it's light and fluffy. You can purchase this gem at some supermarkets, and probably any health food type store. I get mine and Sunflower market (I heart Sunflower) and it looks just like regular all purpose flour. You can buy it in bulk, or in a 5 lb bag. If you don't have any WW pastry flour, just use all AP Flour. Do spray your waffle iron generously with non-stick cooking spray because they tend to stick more than other waffles. Last time I made these, I put the batter into my waffle iron, then threw in a few half frozen bluberries, and it was SO good!

1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten

In a bowl, mix together milk, sour cream, yogurt, and vanilla. Sift flour into a separate, large bowl; stir in baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add sour cream mixture and eggs to flour mixture; blend until smooth. Cook on a greased waffle iron until golden brown; lift off with a fork.

Pizza Rolls

2008-11-03T13:21:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but I love pizza in pretty much any shape or form. I first had these pizza rolls at my husband's grandmother's (Nana) house. His mom started making them for the family to have during Conference time, and they're so yummy. I haven't ever actually had a written recipe, so I just got creative with it this time. I thought that they turned out great...and so did my husband :) I usually make these as a main dish, but they could also be made as a side dish, a fun appetizer, or in the place of a breadstick/roll. This time, I made ham and pineapple rolls, as well as pesto and cheese. I haven't ever had pizza rolls with pesto before, and was unsure about which toppings would go well with the pesto, so I just used it with cheese. It was REALLY good, and would probably be excellent served in the place of a breadstick. I think that it would also be excellent with pepperoni or salami (I LOVE salami...if you haven't ever had it on pizza, seriously, try it. It's so much better than pepperoni!).

I'm going to post the recipe that I used for the dough, but feel free to use whatever recipe you usually use for pizza. I think that this would be good with the "Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Dough" that I posted previously. This recipe probably feeds 3-4 adults, so you might want to consider doubling it if you have more people.

Pizza Dough

1 ¼ C Warm Water
1 tsp. Sugar
1 pkg. Yeast
¼ C Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Salt
3 ½ C Flour

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add yeast mixture to 1 ½ cups flour, oil and salt. Gradually mix in the rest of the flour. Knead until thoroughly mixed. Let dough raise once until doubled in size. Punch down and roll out. Top with your favorite sauce, pizza toppings, and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until desired doneness (about 20-30 minutes). Makes one large pizza, or two smaller thin-crusted pizzas.

Pizza Rolls

1 recipe of pizza dough (see above)
6 oz cream cheese, softened (lite will work fine, just make sure it's soft!)
1 ½ C shredded cheese (I used 1/2 Mozzarella and 1/2 cheddar for more flavor)
pizza sauce or marinara
pesto sauce (optional)
pizza toppings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the pizza dough according to recipe directions. Let the dough raise once and then punch down. Roll the pizza dough into a rectangular shape, (just like cinnamon rolls) about an 11x15 inch rectangle. Spread the softened cream cheese over the dough. If you are planning to use pesto, then spread a small amount of pesto thinly over the cream cheese, and top with the shredded cheese. If you're not using pesto, just sprinkle the shredded cheese over the cream cheese. Add all desired toppings (I used lunch meat style ham, just because I thought that it would be less bulky to roll up, and it worked great.) Then, roll up the dough so that you have a nice long roll. Place the roll (or just a part of the roll, depending on what will fit) onto a cutting board and cut into 1-1/2 inch wide slices. Place pieces on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping!

Halloween Party Mix

2008-10-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

I had to get this posted really quick so that you could grab the ingredients and make it this week before Halloween! I ended up taking lots of pictures of this, so hang in there!

I got this recipe from a friend and have been making it every year since, for probably about 7 years now. Warning...it's very addicting, and cute. What more do you need? It makes a great bit bowl full, so plan on giving some to friends or neighbors. Here we go....

First: Stir together in a large bowl:
11 oz Pretzels
½ C Peanuts
8-10 ½ oz package of mini Nutter Butter Cookies (“Nutter Butter Bites”)

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

(This is my new red candy making pan that I got for my birthday...isn't it cute? I've officially used it now! Thanks Mom)

Heat in a heavy bottomed sauce pan until boiling:
1 C Sugar
½ C Butter
½ C Corn Syrup
2 Tbsp Vanilla
1 tsp. Baking Soda

Boil for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. This mixture will turn darker, to kind-of an orange-golden color. Remove from burner and add (this is optional, but I do it because I am in love with Peanut Butter) a heaping tablespoon of creamy peanut butter. Stir until peanut butter is dissolved. Pour mixture over pretzel/peanut mix.

At this point, it should be all shiny and glossy, like this.

Spray an 11x15 cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Pour coated pretzel mixture onto the pan and spread it out as evenly as you can. Bake at 250 for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until done.

When mixture is done, it should look more like this...not so shiny. But, wait...it will still turn out cute. Don't worry. Let this mixture cool completely. Be patient, I know you want to taste it, but you must let it cool so that it doesn't melt your cute candies.

When cooled, put your pretzel mixture in a large bowl and add: 10 oz Halloween Peanut M&M’s and 18 ½ oz Candy Corn or other Halloween mix. (I used a Brach's mixture that has the little cute pumpkins) Now you can taste it. Get a bite with a pretzel, an m&m, and a candy corn...now shove it in...perfect! Note to self: Try to keep all of the little fingers out of the bowl long enough to take a picture.

Who are you?

2008-10-15T10:57:00.001-07:00

I started this blog because I found myself forwarding on a lot of recipes to my mom and other people as I tried new recipes. I put a counter at the bottom of the page, just because I was curious to see if anyone was really looking at it. Is my mom looking at this page tons, or do I have other visitors? Leave me a comment and let me know! If you don't have a google account, you can still leave a comment, just try! It would be fun for me to see who checks my blog. Do you have any comments on the food? Is anyone trying these recipes? Any suggestions of recipes you would like to see? Let me know!

Harvest Pumpkin Dip

2008-10-11T20:58:00.001-07:00

I am WAY into Fall right now, and Fall to me equals...pumpkin! I got this recipe from my husband's cousin Jessica. It is so yummy and great with apples and pears. I have used light cream cheese in this, and it works just fine. Make sure that your cream cheese is at room temperature.

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 can (15 oz.) solid-pack pumpkin

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Apple and pear slices

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Gradually add the pumpkin, pie spice, vanilla and ginger; beat until smooth. Serve with fruit. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 3 ½ cups. (if you use light cream cheese, there are 2.5 Weight Watchers pts per ¼ cup)

Easy Caramel Sauce

2008-10-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is my go-to recipe any time I need something sweet to drizzle (or pour) over ice cream or cakes or whatever. Some day I'll post my mom's recipe for Apple Pudding Cake, which is where this caramel sauce recipe came from. Don't stress...the sauce really is THAT easy!

1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter (please, please, please use real butter)
1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream

Melt butter on medium-low heat in a small sauce pan. Add sugar and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved, 4-5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in the cream. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Re-heat in a sauce pan or microwave after it's been refrigerated.

Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake

2008-10-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Despite what many people think, cheesecakes really are pretty easy to make. This one was a little bit involved because of all of the different yumminess that goes into it...but WELL worth it. I opted to cover mine with caramel sauce, as you can see. I'll post the recipe for the easy caramel sauce as well...hold your horses.

My two brothers and my in-laws were coming over for dinner a few Sundays ago, and I decided to test this out on them for dessert. As I started serving this cheesecake, the room all of the sudden became quiet, and then I realized that more than one person was going "mmmmm..." outloud. Ahhh...music to my ears.

One of the big secrets to making a good, smooth cheesecake is to have ALL of the ingredients at room temperature. I would suggest setting everything out on the counter about 4 hours before you're ready to start making your cheesecake....yep, even the eggs. Oh, and don't even TRY to use light cream cheese...shame on you. I think that another great secret in making a deliciously smooth cheesecake is the water bath. BUT...don't stop reading now. I have made plenty of cheesecakes without the water bath. Don't freak out.

If anyone is a recipe blog stalker like I am, you will have probably heard of the "Tuesdays with Dorie" group. They all bake the same recipe out of one of Dorie Greenspan's cook books. This recipe is one of the recipes that the TWD group made, and then posted the recipe on their blogs. I wonder if Dorie is okay with all of her recipes being posted on blogs...oh well, at least I won't have to buy her cook book! She seems pretty brilliant to me, so far. Anyway, sorry for the ridiculously long post. This cheesecake is definitely Cheesecake Factory material. Try it...but beware that from start to finish, it took me about 3 hours.

For the Crust:
30 gingersnaps (or a scant 2 cups graham cracker crumbs) (NO...use the gingersnaps. please.)
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional) (I didn't add anymore cinnamon cuz my gingersnaps were really snappy)
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

For the Apples:
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter (I had salted...whatev)
3 large Golden Delicious or Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
2 tbsp (packed) light brown sugar

For the Filling:
1 1/2 pounds (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
6 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp apple cider (I just used apple juice, cuz that's what I had)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
Apple jelly, for glazing, or confectioner’s sugar, for dusting (optional)

To Make the Crust:

Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Put the gingersnaps in a food processor and whir until you have crumbs; you should have a scant 2 cups. (If you are using graham cracker crumbs, just put them in the food processor.) Pulse in the sugar and cinnamon, if you’re using it, then pour over the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Turn the crumbs into the springform pan and, using your fingertips, firmly press them evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan as far as they’ll go. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven. (The crust can be covered and frozen for up to 2 months.)
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the pan from the freezer and wrap the bottom tightly in aluminum foil, going up the sides. (I used 3 pieces of foil and mine stayed dry...yeah!) Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is set and lightly browned. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the apples and the filling. Leave the oven at 350 degrees F.

To Make the Apples:

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, toss in half of the apple slices and cook, turning once, until they are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the apples with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and cook them, turning, just until coated, another minute or so. Scrape the apples onto a plate, wipe out the skillet and repeat with the remaining apples. (I had a really big frying pan, so I just did this in one step...worked just fine) Let the apples cool while you make the filling.

Getting Ready to Bake:

Have a roasting pan large enough to hold the springform pan at hand. (I used an 11x15 Pyrex type pan) Put a kettle of water on to boil.

To Make the Filling:

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium speed, scraping down the bowl often, for about 4 minutes, or until it is velvety smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the cider, vanilla, and cinnamon. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream, beating just until the batter is smooth.

Pour about one third of the batter into the baked crust. Drain the apples by lifting them off the plate with a slotted spoon or spatula, and spoon them into the pan. Cover with the remaining batter and, if needed, jiggle the pan to even the top. Place the springform pan in the roasting pan (at this point, the pan is STILL wrapped in foil) and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 to 45 minutes, (I used a 9 inch pan, and it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes) covering the cake loosely with a foil tent at the 45-minute mark. The cake will rise evenly and crack around the edges, and it should be fully set except, possibly, in the very center–if the center shimmies, that’s just fine. Gently transfer the cake, still in the pan, to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least 6 hours; overnight would be better.

Run a blunt knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the crust, open the pan’s latch and release and remove the sides.

***it's me, Aubri, again***I found it easiest and prettiest when I sliced it with a knife that had been run under hot water for a few seconds. Do this between each slice, and you're cheesecake will look fabulous! Oh, and don't forget to drizzle it with caramel...yum.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

2008-10-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is for all of you who are scared of this yummy purple veggie. I decided to take pictures as I went along so that you can see that this is easy and NOT scary. Eggplant is kind-of like Zucchini in that it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. Eggplant Parmesan is usually fried, but this version is baked and very healthy. I got the original recipe out of a Weight Watcher's cookbook, and the tailored it to my tastes (and made it a bit easier by using prepared sauce and bread crumbs). My husband is a meat kind of guy, but he loves this dish. So, now that you're out of excuses...go ahead and try it!

Ingredients:

1 medium-large Eggplant

2 large Eggs

2 Tablespoons Fat Free Milk

1 Cup Italian-seasoned Bread Crumbs

1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

3 T grated Parmesan Cheese

Prepared Marinara Sauce

When shopping for an eggplant, make sure that your eggplant is firm, not squishy. The skin should be purple and smooth. You should plan on using your eggplant within 1-2 days of when it is purchased. Store it in the refrigerator in a paper sack. When you're ready to prepare the Eggplant Parmesan, wash your eggplant, chop off the stem end, and slice the eggplant into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. The thinner you cut them, the faster they will cook. Preheat oven to 375 and spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

Lightly beat together the eggs and milk in a shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in another bowl. Dip the eggplant in the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs, and arrange in one layer on the baking sheets.

Lightly spray the top of the eggplant with non-stick spray. Bake until the eggplant is softened, and lightly brown, about 25 minutes.

While the eggplant is baking, spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray, then cover the bottom with sauce. Grate your cheeses.

Remove the browned, softened eggplant from the oven and carefully layer your eggplant and sauce. The eggplant will soak up some of the sauce, so make sure you pile on the sauce! You should use the whole jar.

Sprinkle with cheeses and bake uncovered until hot and bubbling, and the cheese is golden, about 20 minutes.

Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with salad or a side of pasta with sauce. Makes 6 servings, 5 Weight Watchers points per serving.

Three Cheese Stuffed Shells

2008-09-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

I recently made these shells for my brother's birthday dinner. I thought that I would post them because they're really quite easy and taste great. This shell recipe is very similar to a lot of recipes for cheese manicotti, but these shells are so much easier to stuff. I will never stuff manicotti shells again...unless someone begs me to. These can be made a day or two ahead of time and refrigerated, then just pop them into the oven 45 minutes or so before you are planning to serve them.

I didn't think to get a picture of them once they were all hot and bubbly, sorry...but I was hosting a dinner!! Here is a picture of the shells after I drained the water off of them. If you place them on a piece of foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, they cool off faster and don't stick together. The other two pictures are of the shells stuffed. I did a pan with regular marinara and a few with pesto sauce...as my brother requested. Of course, you do need to cover the shells with sauce once you are done stuffing them!! These are fabulous with the french bread recipe I posted a little while back!

1pkg Jumbo Shells (about 20 shells)
1 beaten egg
12 oz Cottage Cheese, drained
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 T snipped fresh parsley
1 lb, 10 oz jar of Spaghetti Sauce

Cook pasta shells according to package directions. (Make sure to not over cook them, or they'll be too soft!) Drain well and cool shells in a single layer on a piece of greased foil or parchment paper. For filling, stir together egg, cheeses, and parsley. Spoon filling into each cooked shell. Pour a small amount of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan or large casserole dish. Place shells in a single layer in pan and pour enough sauce over shells to cover them. (If you’re making a lot of these, you can also layer or stack the shells with sauce in between them. See picture above.) Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until heated through. Makes about 4 main dish servings.

Better than WHAT Cake?

2008-09-22T17:05:00.001-07:00

We usually call this "Skor Bar Cake" at our house, just to avoid the word "S-E-X". Anyway, this is a really yummy cake, and if you've never had it, you're seriously missing out. If you've never made it, you should. It's SO easy. I've had this made with a german chocolate cake mix before, but I just don't think it's as good as Devil's Food....mmm...I certainly know why the name of this cake contains the word "devil"...

1 Devils Food Cake Mix, plus ingredients to make it according to package directions.
1/2 Jar Caramel Ice Cream Topping (I'm partial to Mrs. Richardson's brand)
1/2 Jar Hot Fudge or Fudge Ice Cream Topping (again, Mrs. Richardson's)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
8 oz Cool Whip
5 Skor Bars (Health Bars work too)

Mix and bake the cake mix according to package directions in a 9x13 pan. While cake is baking, mix together the toppings and milk until well blended. Once cake has baked and cooled, poke holes in it all over with a skewer or chop stick. (a knife works too) Pour all of the yummy topping mix over the cake and let it sit in the fridge for for 6-8 hours or overnight if you have time. It will soak up most of the toppings. Put the candy bars in the freezer for a while or overnight. This will make it a little easier to break the candy bars up without melting the chocolate on the candy bar.

Just before serving, put the candy bars in a zip lock bag and let out all of your frustrations! "Frost" the cake with the cool whip, and sprinkle with the candy bar pieces. Serve with your favorite ice cream! You can make this more fancy by using real whipped cream and adding a handful of chopped roasted almonds. YUM!

Zucchini, Zucchini and MORE Zucchini

2008-09-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

I've been baking all day...a birthday cake for my brother (more on that later), granola bars with craisins this time, and Zucchini cookies (see below), not to mention this little project. This is what only one corner of my kitchen looks like...I have some work ahead of me.

Why does Zucchini grown at the wrong time of the year? In my opinion, the best thing to do with Zucchini is to bake with it. (Although, I do love it sauteed in a little bit of olive oil and fresh garlic...yum) But, I never want to bake in the middle of the summer when I have tons of zucchini, do you? So, I just wanted to share this tip about Zucchini that my friend Kim Mills shared with me a few years ago. Do you know that you can freeze these lovely squashes? You can't really make what you would make with fresh zucchini, but zucchini that has been frozen is great for baking with.

Here's what I do: I take the big zucchini's that aren't any good for much of anything and put them through my Kitchen Aid shredder on fine shred. (You can also just use your cheese grater if you want.) Then, I package it in sandwich baggies, each 2 cups (just because that's what most of my recipes call for). I then put several full baggies in a freezer bag and pop them in the freezer. In the middle of the winter when you don't want to pay $3 a pound for squash, you just get a baggie out of the freezer, thaw it, and dump it into your zucchini bread ingredients and everything is great. However, zucchini tends to release all of it's juices while thawing, so don't be surprised if your little shredded zucchini is floating in liquid by the time it's thawed. Make sure to dump it all, or at least most of it, into your recipe. This is where all the yummy moisture in your baked goods comes from.

And, that's my tip of the day...or week...or my only tip so far! If you don't have a garden, go beg some big zucchinis from your neighbor and get to shredding. When it's frigid in February and you want some zucchini bread, you'll be glad you did!

Low Fat Zucchini Cookies

2008-09-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Honestly Folks, I'm not one to sacrifice taste when it comes to dessert. I do not make low fat cookies or cakes or whatever. I got this recipe from the munch n' crunch blog (see side for link) and decided to try them while I had all of my shredded zucchini out. Look at those yummy chocolate chips and pretty green flecks! They are actually really good. I wouldn't have guessed that they were low fat if I didn't make them myself. They're more of a cake-like consistency, but the oatmeal also gives them some chewiness. So, go ahead...try them...and don't feel guilty if you eat six or seven! (At least that is what I told myself as I was sampling every batch that I got out of the oven.) My first batch was a little dry (just a little tiny bit, don't panic) so I put the next one in for one minute less...and wallah...perfection! Mine took 9 minutes. I used whole wheat pastry flour, which is light and fluffy and perfect for baked goods. You can get it at any type of natural foods store like the Good Earth or the new Sunflower Market that just opened near me. (I am in love with that store!) I thought that 1/2 tsp. of cloves was a bit much, so next time I'll use 1/4 tsp of cloves, and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, but that's just my preference. I also added 1/2 tsp of vanilla. Make them. Now...before Zucchini is no longer in season!!

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup grated zucchini (fine grate)
1 cup chocolate chips
* Optional Items: Protein powder, wheat germ, craisins, etc.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Cream together sugar, butter, applesauce and egg with a mixer on low speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, alternating with grated zucchini. Once all ingredients are well combined, fold in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon full onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until cookies are barely starting to turn brown around the edges. Let cookies stand for 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack for cooling. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

***NOTE: I put them all in a tupperware, and the next day, they looked a little different, but don't be alarmed. They are still pretty tasty for a low fat cookie.

Nutrition Facts: per 1 cookie Calories: 86 Fat: 3 grams(2 grams saturated, 1 mono-unsaturated)Carbs: 14 grams Fiber: 1 gram Protein: 1 gram (My batch made 40 cookies, so that's about 1 1/2 points on Weight Watchers)

Baked Spaghetti

2008-09-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is an easy week night meal that is popular with kids and adults (at least at my house, it is!). It sounds weird to add the cream of mushroom soup on the top, but it adds a lot of flavor and is creamy and good. You can also add some chopped olives if you like!

½ medium onion minced
1 Lb. Hamburger
2 C. Mozzarella Cheese
Jar of Spaghetti Sauce (24 oz or larger if you like it saucy!)
Mushrooms (optional)
12 oz Spaghetti
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
¼ C Water
Parmesan Cheese
Olives, chopped (optional)

Brown hamburger with onion and drain. Add Spaghetti sauce and mushrooms. Simmer over low heat until heated through. Boil Spaghetti according to package directions only until slightly undercooked. Layer spaghetti, sauce and cheese in a greased 9x13 pan. Mix soup and water, and pour over layers. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and olives. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Crusty French Bread

2008-09-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out how to take some close up pictures, and I'm still experimenting to see what looks best, so bear with me until I become a better photographer!

This is a recipe that my Aunt Vicki acquired in a cooking class that she took in High School, I think. It's been around for a while. I have been making this recipe for years, and I love it. It's so versatile. I've used it to make pizza dough. My mom used it to make focaccia bread once. I add some garlic and Italian Seasonings to it to make a soft white bread that goes great with Italian food. (This is my brilliant Mother's idea) It's just yummy! I made this for dinner last Sunday and my brother ate almost an entire loaf himself. This bread is best hot, and isn't quite as good the next day, so don't plan on making tons and freezing it...it's just not as good!

5-5 ½ C Flour
1 pkg. Yeast
2 C Warm Water
1 Tbs. Shortening
1 Tbs. Sugar
3 tsp Salt
1 Egg white
1 Tbs. Water

Combine 2 C Flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Add warm water and shortening (I always substitute 1 Tbs. of Olive Oil when I make the Italian style loaf) and beat until smooth. Add remaining flour and knead on floured surface until dough is no longer sticky. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled (1-1 ½ hrs.). Punch down. Shape into one long or 2 small loaves and place on a greased cookie sheet. Brush with combined egg white and water. With a sharp knife, make 3-4 diagonal slashes across top of loaf. Let bread rise for another 30 to 40 minutes. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes (30-35 for 2 loaves, or 40-45 for one loaf) or until light golden brown. For crustier loaf, bake with a shallow pan of water on lower oven rack. For Italian style bread, add 1 tsp. Italian seasoning and ¼ to ½ tsp garlic powder (or 1-2 cloves of pressed garlic) to dough while kneading. Serve hot with butter or olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Easy Cucumber and Tomato Salad

2008-09-16T20:16:00.001-07:00

We are growing both cucumbers and tomatos in our garden this year, and one of my favorite things to do is to chop them up and throw them together with some balsamic dressing. They look so pretty and taste so good!

I just buy a packet of Good Seasonings Italian Dressing mix, but instead of using what it calls for, I use balsamic vinegar and olive oil and mix it according to the package directions. For a different taste, sometimes I use apple cidar vinegar and canola oil. Both dressings are easy, and fabulous on these veggies! Sometimes I add a little bit more water and a little less oil just to save a few calories. These are two of my favorite dressings!

Cinnamon and Raisin English Muffins

2008-09-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

My kids love English Muffins. I try to buy the healthy ones that are whole grain. Their favorite ones are the whole grain with cinnamon and raisins, which cost almost $3 for six, and never go on sale. So, I came across a recipe for English Muffins. After a few times making it, I think that I finally got it down. Who knew that you could make home made English Muffins? They don't have all of the nooks and crannies that regular English Muffins have, but they sure are good! Don't be intimidated, they're pretty easy to make. I tried making them with all whole wheat flour, and they were a little too dense, so I would suggest adding *** half white flour as the recipe below calls for. Enjoy!

1 cup milk
3 Tbs. Honey
1 1/2 Tbs. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
¼ cup shortening
3 C All Purpose Flour
3 C Whole Wheat Flour (I used White Whole Wheat Flour)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ C raisins

Warm the milk and shortening in a small saucepan until the milk bubbles (don't let it boil!) and the shortening is melted. Then, remove mixture from heat. Mix in Honey, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. (this is important because you don't want to kill your yeast) Once the mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add your warm water, and the yeast. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the milk mixture and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt, cinnamon, and the rest of the flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead for 7-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double, about 1 hour.

Punch the dough down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on it to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 30-45 minutes. Spray griddle with non-stick cooking spray. Cook muffins for about 25 minutes at 300 degrees on an electric griddle, flipping every 5 minutes. (You can also cook in a large frying pan on the stove top. Cook for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes on medium low.) Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Makes about 18-20 muffins.

***Revision: After I started grinding my own wheat, I have made these with all whole wheat flour, or 5 C whole wheat flour, and 1 cup AP flour, and they turn out fabulous! There is something about grinding the wheat that makes it not quite as dense!

Creme De Menthe Brownies

2008-09-09T21:11:00.001-07:00

This recipe is for those of you who think that my blog is too healthy!! My sister-in-law, Emily, made these brownies for my birthday, and I LOVED them. I've always enjoyed mint and chocolate, and these really hit the spot. I love making easy and delicious desserts, and this one fits into this category because it uses a brownie mix!

Crème de Menthe Brownies

1 brownie mix
Eggs (according to mix package)
Oil (according to mix package)
1 (10-ounce) package Creme de Menthe baking chips (recommended: Andes)
Shaved Creme de Menthe thins (recommended: Andes)

Frosting: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan. Mix brownie mix, eggs, oil and water according to the package’s directions. Add baking chips and bake according to package directions. While brownies are baking, prepare frosting. Combine butter, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until dry ingredients are moistened. Beat at high speed until spreading consistency. Remove pan from the oven and allow brownies to cool in pan on wire rack. Spread with chocolate frosting. Top with shaved mint thins.

Chicken Caesar Pizza and Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

2008-09-08T16:26:00.001-07:00

I found this recipe on the "Taste the Joy" blog (see links to the right). It was really good! The recipe calls for a Boboli pizza crust, but I made my own, and I'll post the recipe for the pizza dough. I used Briann's Caesar dressing because it's my favorite. I also used a large leftover chicken breast that we grilled that had been seasoned with Italian seasoning, garlic and a little olive oil. I added some chopped green onion and tomato to the pizza before I cooked it. Without the salad on top, it reminded me a lot of Papa Murphy's Chicken Garlic pizza. With the salad, it reminded me of something that you order at California Pizza Kitchen. Yum!

Chicken Caesar Pizza

1 Boboli pizza crust
fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
romaine lettuce, chopped
3 Roma tomatoes
1-2 chicken breasts
1 C Cardini’s Caesar dressing
2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cut chicken into thin strips and sauté in 2 TBS Caesar dressing. Brush 2 TBS (I added a little bit more than this) of dressing on pizza crust. Top with mozzarella cheese and cooked chicken. Grate Parmesan cheese over top of pizza. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is hot and melted. While pizza is baking, combine lettuce and tomatoes in bowl and coat with dressing and Parmesan cheese. Let pizza cool 10 min and top with lettuce mixture.

Now for the crust:

I think that I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but I can't remember. We have mostly used this pizza crust for grilled pizza, but it is good baked as well. I have made a few different pizza crusts that call for whole wheat flour, but I feel like the ones that have ALL whole wheat flour are too dense and overwhelming for pizza. I think that this one is a good compromise with part white flour. When I made the Chicken Caesar Pizza, I split the dough in half and rolled out two (one plain cheese for the kids, of course!) thin crust pizzas on two different greased cookie sheets and baked them for 15-20 minutes. This made a lot of pizza, and we had great leftovers!

Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
2. Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
4.Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
5. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

2008-09-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

I was a little hesitant to try this recipe just because the mixture of ingredients sounded...well, different. But, I am a sucker for things that go on top of rice, and this looked SO easy...I decided to try it. I buy the big container of taco seasoning at Costco, and it seems a little bit on the hot/spicy side. So, I reduced the taco seasoning to 2 Tbs, and will probably use about 1 1/2 Tbs next time just because I like things more on the mild side. I was done with this meal before the rice was done cooking, so I can honestly say that this dish and a green salad can be made in less than 20 minutes! I LOVE those kids of meals! I got this off of the blog/link on the right called "Taste the Joy". She has some fun looking recipes!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

¾-1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 Tbs. Taco Seasoning
1 tsp. Oil
1 ¼ C Salsa
½ C-3/4 C Peach or Apricot Jam
Rice, cooked

Cut chicken breasts into ½ inch squares. Toss with taco seasoning. Spray a large frying pan with non-stick cooking spray and add 1 tsp oil. Brown chicken in oil over medium-high heat, then add salsa and jam. Cook until heated through. Serve hot over steamed rice.

Grilled Potatoes and Onions

2008-09-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

My new favorite recipe blog is: ourbestbites.com. (see the link on the right) I tried 3 new recipes from their blog last week and LOVED them all. Unfortunately, this is the only one that I remembered to take a picture of, so here you go... I always have problems coming up with things to go with meat when we're grilling, and this side dish was SO great. The smoked paprika is NOT regular paprika, and is SO delicious! I used Yukon Gold potatoes, just because I had some that needed to be used. These packets were so easy to make...I did it all by myself on the grill!! Make sure to try this before grilling season is over! (or, if you're like us and grill all year around...enjoy them from now on!!)

1 potato per person (any kind of potatoes work)
1/2 small onion per person
1 Tbsp. butter per person, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp. salt per person
Freshly-ground black pepper
Smoked paprika
Aluminum foil

Tear sheets (1 per person) of aluminum foil into about 16" pieces. Fold each in half into a sqaure, and set aside. Preheat grill. Slice potatoes into pieces about 1/4" thick. Slice onions about 1/8" thick. Place 1 potato in the middle of each foil square and dot with butter pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then sprinkle GENEROUSLY with smoked paprika. Remember, paprika is super mild, so it's hard to add too much. Top each pile with onions. Fold edges in and secure tightly. It's important to get a good seal because the moisture will cook the potatoes and onions and you want all those yummy juices, so if it seems like there's not quite enough foil, wrap packet in another layer.Turn heat on grill to low. Place each packet on the grill. Close lid for 15 minutes. Turn and allow to cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully open each packet (or, even better, let each person open their own packet--hey, less work for you, right??)

Marinated Grilled Shrimp

2008-08-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry, bad picture. I am a bit shrimp obsessed right now, and my mom made these for my birthday dinner. The recipe seems a bit weird, but they were VERY good. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (fresh is important!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds fresh shrimp, peeled and de-veined (26-30 per pound worked well)
skewers

In a large bowl, stir together the garlic, olive oil, tomato sauce, and red wine vinegar. Season with basil, salt, and cayenne pepper. Add shrimp to the bowl, and stir until evenly coated. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring once or twice.
Preheat grill for medium heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head. Discard marinade.
Lightly oil grill grate. Cook shrimp on preheated grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque.

All Bran Muffins

2008-08-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

I got done making the banana chocolate chip cookies, and decided to test this recipe that I found on the Munch n' Crunch blog. I was very skeptical because I don't really like low-fat muffins, but I thought that they turned out yummy. They are a bit chewy, as low-fat muffins often are, but the flavor was great. My kids each ate a whole one! The best thing was...the nutritional information shows that they are about 1 1/2 Weight Watcher's points ! (on the old plan) If you like bran muffins, definitely try these! Next time, I'm going to add some small pieces of chopped up apple and a bit more cinnamon just for fun.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups of All Bran Cereal (boxed, ready to eat)
1 1/4 cups skim milk
2 egg whites
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine All Bran cereal and milk. Let it stand about 2 min or until cereal softens. Add egg whites and applesauce. Beat well. Add flour mixture stirring only until combined. Divide evenly into 12 2 1/2 inch muffin pan cups coated with cooing spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min or until golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 12 muffins
Nutrition info: 124 calories, 1 gram of fat, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein. (1 ½ WW points per muffin)
**This is a great recipe to double and freeze. These muffins are great quick breakfast to pull from the freezer and heat up in the microwave.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

These are one of my favorite cookies. They're not the prettiest cookies, but they taste so good. They are a cake-like cookie. This is a great way to use up over-ripe bananas without having to make bread.

Add to blender, and blend until smooth:
2/3 C Ripe Banana (2-3 small bananas)
1 tsp. vanilla
Add Evaporated milk (most of the time I just use regular milk) until to you have a total of one cup banana mixture (about ¼ C evaporated milk)

Sift together:
2 ¼ C Flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

Cream together 2/3 C soft shortening, 2/3 C sugar, and 2 eggs. Gradually add, alternating, the banana mixture and the flour mixture. Mix until well blended. Fold in 1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips, and ½ c nuts (optional). Spoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Waldorf Coleslaw

2008-08-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

We had this the other night with sloppy joes, and it was such an easy dinner. This is a nice twist on the traditional coleslaw. It is best if you let it sit for an hour or more before serving it to let the flavors develop. This recipe is from myrecipes.com. I figured that it has 1 point per serving for those of you doing Weight Watchers! I didn't tell anyone that this is a light recipe, and everyone eating dinner loved it!

3 cups shredded cabbage
3 cups diced Granny Smith apple
6 tablespoons raisins
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons plain fat-free yogurt
2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine yogurt and remaining ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. Pour over cabbage mixture; toss well. Cover and chill 2 hours. Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup)

CALORIES 69(23% from fat); FAT 1.8g (sat 0.2g,mono 0.2g,poly 1.1g); PROTEIN 1.3g; CHOLESTEROL 1mg; CALCIUM 27mg; SODIUM 91mg; FIBER 1.9g; IRON 0.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14.1g

Playgroup Granola Bars

2008-08-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

We've really been enjoying these granola bars. My little girl begs for them all day long. I was surprised at how good they turned out, and how they really do taste like granola bars! I am going to try some variations next time just for fun. I got this recipe on allrecipes.com, and one of the reviewers said that they like their granola bars chewy, so she only cooks them for 18 minutes and they stay chewy instead of getting crunchy. I baked mine for 20 minutes, just until they were barely browning around the edges. They are chewy and just how we like them! I listed some variations that I made to the recipe below.

Playgroup Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I only used ½ C)
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1 tsp)
1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
3/4 cup raisins (optional, next time I'll try dried blueberries)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm.

UPDATE: Okay, I made these again. This time I used all Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (you can find this at natural food stores, like the "Good Earth". It has the same nutrients and fiber as any other Whole Wheat Flour, but it's ground very fine and is great for this type of thing.) and dried blueberries. Holy Cow...I might be in trouble. They are SO good.

Banana-Filled Graham Cracker Pancakes

2008-08-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Can I just say.... A-M-A-Z-I-N-G? I clipped this recipe out of a William's Sonoma Catalog. We had it for breakfast this morning and it might be my new favorite breakfast. You make these in a "filled-pancake" pan, or some of you may know it as an abelskiver pan (NO idea if I spelled that correctly). Either way, it's a pan that you put on a burner and it has 7 little wells to put batter into. I would dare say that these are almost worth purchasing a pan. (They sell them at William's Sonoma!) If you live close to me and want to borrow my pan, let me know. I'm doing a bad job at remembering to take a picture of the actual food, so for now, here's just a picture of the pan.

4 oz graham crackers, broken into pieces (this is 7 whole graham crackers, or enough crumbs to fill a 1 cup measuring cup)

3/4 C all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

5 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs, separated

1 3/4 C buttermilk

6 Tbs. (3/4 of a stick) of butter, melted

2 bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice

1 cup heavy cream

maple syrup for serving

Put graham crackers in blender; blend on high until powdery. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, 3 Tbs. sugar, and salt; pulse to combine. In large bowl, whisk egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk in flour mixture; batter will be lumpy.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form, 1-2 min. Gently stir whites into batter in 2 additions.

Put 1/2 tsp. butter into each well of filled-pancake pan. Heat over medium heat (I kept it on medium-low to avoid burning them, and my pan is cast-iron). Pour 2 tsp. batter into each well. Place 3 banana pieces in center of each pancake; top with 1 tsp. batter. Cook 3-5 minutes. Using 2 skewers flip pancakes over; cook about 3 minutes more. (You know that they are ready to flip when you move it around with the skewer, and the whole pancake moves...if part of it sticks, they're not ready to turn yet.) Transfer pancakes to plate. Repeat with remaining batter.

In measuring cup, combine cream and 2 Tbs. sugar. Whip until firm. (I just served them with spray whip cream from a can because it was easier.) Serve pancakes warm with whipped cream and maple syrup. Makes about 35 pancakes.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

2008-07-31T21:42:00.001-07:00

I haven't made these in a while, and I think that I forgot how good they are. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, this is the recipe for you!! Sorry, I forgot to take a picutre!

¾ C Butter
¾ C White Sugar
¾ C Brown Sugar
¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
1 1/2 C Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 C Quick Oats

Frosting:
¾ C Peanut Butter
½ C Butter
3 ½ C Powdered Sugar
2 T Cocoa
¼ C Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla

Cream butter, sugars, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients, and gradually add dry mixture. Stir in oatmeal. Spread evenly onto a 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes. For the frosting: Whip ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until fluffy and spread over cookie. Combine butter, milk and cocoa in a small sauce pan over med heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over cookie, and spread evenly. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Open Faced Pepper and Cheese Melts

2008-07-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry, sometimes these pictures don't turn out looking very appetizing. We had this for dinner last night and it was so easy. My husband doesn't like tomatoes, and my kids don't like tomatoes or peppers, so I just adjust the sandwiches to everyone's preference before broiling them. It's easy to make everyone happy with this dinner. I served it with watermelon and sliced cucumber with balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!

Open-Face Pepper & Cheese Melts

1 Cup Green or Red bell pepper strips (about one large pepper)
1 Tbs FRESH minced Basil (don’t skimp on this!)
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 Tbs. Stone ground mustard, yellow mustard, or Dijon mustard
4 slices of Rye bread, toasted (wheat and white are also good)
4-8 tomato slices, depending on size of the tomato
4 1 oz slices mozzarella cheese (or mixture of cheddar and mozzarella cheese, grated)
Mayo or Miracle Whip (optional)

Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Saute pepper strips, garlic, and onion until tender, add basil and cook another minute or two. Spread toasted bread with mustard and mayonnaise if desired. Top with pepper mixture, tomato slices, and then the cheese. Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve hot with your favorite salad or fruit.

Grilled Fajitas and Spanish Rice

2008-07-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

I love fajitas on the grill. You can use any kind of meat or peppers that you want to use. They are so good and pretty healthy (if you don't load them up with too much stuff!).

Fajitas

Chicken or Steak (a pound or a little more)
Packet of Fajita Seasoning
3-4 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T Oil
3-4 T Water
Onion
1-2 large bell peppers

Combine seasoning packet, Worcestershire sauce, oil and water. Pour half of it over the meat and then the other half over chopped vegetables (in separate containers or plastic bags). Let marinate for ½-1 hour. Grill meat until it reaches your desired doneness. Grill veggies in a grill basket until tender. Cut meat into strips just before serving. Serve with tortillas, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, cheese and guacamole.

This is my husband's aunt's recipe, and it's fabulous! It's kind of tempermental, so don't be surprised if it doesn't always turn out the same way. This is the original recipe that I was given, but I add less water than it calls for (only about 1 1/2 cups of water per cup of rice).

Spanish Rice

4 C White Long Grain Rice (I've also used Jasmine Rice, which is good)
2 T Oil
15 oz tomato sauce
8 C Water

Salt, Pepper, Garlic (I usually use 1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed)
2 big spoonfuls Knorr Caldo con sabor de Pollo (Chicken Bullion, found with other Mexican foods) 1 Onion, cut into small wedges or slices
1 Lime
Chopped Tomato

Fry uncooked rice in oil until amber colored. Combine water, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic and onion. Add water etc. to rice, then cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender. Add tomato and lime juice. Serve with fresh limes and tortillas or as a side dish. **I usually half this if I am serving it as a side dish for 6 people.

Delicious Whole Wheat Bread

2008-07-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

This bread is the best whole wheat bread I've ever had. My husband complained one day about how much I was spending on bread, so I decided to look for a recipe and try baking my own. I found this on http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/. This wonderful mother of 8, who makes her own EVERYTHING, and also home school's her children, developed this recipe. It is fabulous. I have altered it a little to fit my taste, so click on the link to see the original recipe. I haven't been baking because it's been so hot, but today I broke down and made 4 loaves because I missed this bread so much. The best thing is...it's SO easy!

You can get the wheat gluten at a natural food stores, or many grocery stores sell it too. I bought mine at Walmart. I ordered some white whole wheat flour online, and my favorite for this bread is 2 cups of red wheat flour, and 3 cups of white wheat flour. Here is a picture of the dough and a finished loaf.

Delicious Whole Wheat Bread

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup honey

1 T yeast

1/4 cup olive oil

2 t. salt

1/4 cup gluten flour

5 to 7 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour

In a large bowl or in a large mixer combine the water, yeast and honey. Let sit for a few minutes to give the yeast a chance to start working. Add the salt, oil, gluten flour and 3 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Continue to add more flour until the dough does not stick to the side of the bowl and does not feel sticky to the touch (about 5 ½ cups for me). Knead for 7 to 10 minutes in mixer. (This is the key! Knead lots!) When dough has finished kneading let it rise once until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and divide it into 2 pieces and form into loaves and set in bread pans. Let it rise again in a slightly warm oven (this means that you turn the oven on for just 2 or 3 min. or until you can feel the heat and then turn it off, if it is too hot then it will kill the yeast) for 15 to 25 minutes or until the dough is ½ inch above top of pan. Turn oven to 350 (without taking bread out) and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Then, the key is to try not and eat a whole loaf while it's hot! I made the mistake of making some strawberry freezer jam a week after I discovered this recipe...wow...those are incredible together!

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

2008-07-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

I've been craving shrimp for a few months...weird. Anyway, I found this recipe on myrecipes.com. We had it for dinner last night and I really liked it. My husband doesn't like shrimp as much as I do and would have preferred chicken, beef or pork, but he said that he liked these. I thought that the cabbage was going to be too chewy, but it was really quite good!

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

1/2 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

3 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled (mine were 26/30...good size)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 large garlic cloves, minced (or pressed in a garlic press)

4 limes, cut into quarters (unless you REALLY like lime, this might be too much, I did 2)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

8 6-inch corn tortillas

2 to 3 cups finely shredded green cabbage

Bottled green tomatillo salsa

Whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, milk, and cumin. Set aside. Skewer the shrimp. (If using wood skewers, soak them in water for 10 minutes beforehand.) In a small bowl, combine the butter and garlic. Preheat a gas grill to high; adjust to medium after 15 minutes. (If cooking over charcoal, allow the coals to burn until they are covered with gray ash.) Brush the skewered shrimp with the garlic butter. Place them on the grill with the limes. Cook about 4 minutes on each side or until the shrimp are opaque and the limes are browned. Remove from grill. Lightly salt the shrimp. Grill the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side, then place inside a paper bag to keep warm. To serve, pull the shrimp off the skewers and divide them evenly among the tortillas. Top with the cabbage, sour cream sauce, tomatillo salsa, and a spritz of grilled lime.

Rainy-Day Method: Broil the shrimp and limes about 4 inches from the heat using the cooking times above. Wrap the tortillas in foil and heat in a 350° F oven for 15 minutes, or wrap them in a napkin and microwave for 3 minutes.

Yield Makes 8 first-course or 4 main-course servings

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 247(0% from fat); FAT 13g (sat 5g); CHOLESTEROL 147mg; CALCIUM 96mg; CARBOHYDRATE 18g; SODIUM 345mg; PROTEIN 16mg; FIBER 3g; IRON 3mg

Hummus anyone?

2008-07-08T16:11:00.001-07:00

I know, this isn't a very appetizing picture of the hummus, but it really was good. If you haven't tried hummus, you should. It is loaded with fiber and if it doesn't have too much oil in it, it's pretty low fat. You can eat hummus with pita chips, homemade or store bought, or with veggies. I bought these pita chips at Costco, but evidently they sell them at the Good Earth too. This recipe has you make your own pita chips, but I haven't tried that part of the recipe...seems too expensive. You can add more water, or liquid from the beans until you reach your desired consistency. You definitely have to process or blend this for a minute or more for it to be smooth. I added more garlic and more sun dried tomatoes because I liked the flavor. I LOVED this with cucumber slices! I also got this recipe from cookinglight.com. If you don't try the hummus, try the pita chips, they are addicting!

Garlic and Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

Cooking spray
2 (6-inch) pitas, each cut into 10 wedges
1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-2 garlic cloves
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

Preheat oven to 425°. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place pita wedges on pan, and coat with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 6 minutes or until golden.
Combine water, tomato, salt, pepper, garlic, and beans in a food processor, and process until smooth. Serve with pita wedges.
Yield 5 servings (serving size: 1/4 cup hummus and 4 pita wedges)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 175(9% from fat); FAT 1.7g (sat 0.2g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.6g); IRON 1.9mg; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 52mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.7g; SODIUM 623mg; PROTEIN 6.6g; FIBER 4.5g

My new favorite breakfast!

2008-07-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, these aren't going to be the best photos, but here you go! I started making my own granola. Most of the recipes I looked at were very high in fat, but this one wasn't. It's also very nutritious. The nuts and flaxseed have all kinds of nutrients, like omega 3's and fiber. The oats have fiber as well, and the berries are all being called super foods!

This is my current favorite way to eat it... on yogurt (Yoplait large packaged yogurts come in strawberry and vanilla and have 1/2 % milkfat. They are awesome with this) and sometimes with fresh fruit if I have some. Oh yum! My two year olds BEG for this. If I don't have "granona" at lunch time, my daughter will cry. I found this recipe on cookinglight.com. If you're doing Weight Watchers, 1/2 C of this yogurt, with 1/4 C of granola is about 4 points! It's also great with milk.

Power Granola

2 cups regular oats
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped slivered almonds (I used whole raw almonds that I chopped myself.)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1/3 cup dried cranberries (or I used ¼ C dried cherries, ¼ C dried blueberries, and ¼ C dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 300°. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine orange juice, honey, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat just until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in oil and vanilla. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture, stirring to coat. Spread mixture in a thin layer onto a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 300° for 10 minutes; stir well. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Spoon granola into a bowl; stir in dried cranberries. Cool completely.
Note: Store completely cooled granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Yield about 4 3/4 cups (serving size: about 1/2 cup) **If you’re going to double this, use two cookie sheets or else it doesn’t get done enough!

CALORIES 196(31% from fat); FAT 6.8g (sat 0.7g,mono 2.2g,poly 3.3g); PROTEIN 4.1g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 38mg; SODIUM 5mg; FIBER 3.6g; IRON 1.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.5g

Here we go

2008-07-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

The site where I usually get my cute backgrounds is under construction, so for right now you'll have to look at this naked blog...sorry. I am starting this blog because I LOVE food. I have always loved to cook and bake. (I think that I baked my first cake from scratch when I was 8.) I wish that I had more time to be creative with cooking, but for now I am mostly doing what is easy and fast...that's what you do when you have two kids, right? I love to try new recipes and am really trying to feed my family healthy. I would love any new recipes from you if you would like to share!!