November 15, 2013

I'm going to see a movie tonight!  I haven't been to one in ages, and I hope this will be a good one.  I am going with a bunch of friends to see About Time.  I'll let you know how it is next Friday.  Going to the movies is another indication of the time of year - who wants to go see a movie when you can be out enjoying the beautiful weather?  But now, since the sun sets at about 4:15 in the afternoon, and the evenings are chilly (sometimes down right cold) it is time to head indoors and see a movie!  It should be fun!

With the cold wintry weather that swooped in on us early this week, we pulled out some dearly loved comfort food dinners...shepherd's pie and chicken pot pie.  They are both really scrumptious, and though a bit of work the results are well worth it!!!  You could even do these in individual ramekins to serve in smaller portions, or follow the recipe for one large dish.  Either way, they are great!  These were some favorites of ours that we discovered before and previously posted, but click on the links if you want to check them out again.  You could book mark the chicken pot pie and used any leftover turkey you might have on after Thanksgiving...just an idea!

As for new recipes, Ryan and the kids had off on Monday, so we tested out two new recipes, and both were keepers!  For breakfast I made oatmeal waffles and for lunch we had black bean quesadillas.  Both were huge hits!  The waffles were unbelievable light and fluffy, and because they have oatmeal in the batter they kept the kids fuller for longer.  If you know my kids you know this is truly an amazing feat...typically about 2 minutes after they get up from the table they are hungry again!  And the black bean quesadillas were a fantastic lunch.  You could also cut them smaller and serve them as appetizers or for a first course.  Again everyone was satisfied after lunch since the beans have so much protein and nutrition packed into them.  I will be definitely making both of these again!

What tips or recipes do you rely on to keep your kids fuller longer?

Happy Cooking!

New Recipes
Oat Waffles
Black Bean Quesadillas

Black Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients
* 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
* 2 green onions, chopped
* 2 tbsp chopped red onion
* 2 tbsp finely chopped roasted red pepper
* 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
* 1 tbsp lime juice
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 4 or 5 flour tortillas
* 3-4 oz shredded Monterey jack or cheddar cheese

Directions
1. In a small bowl, mash the beans with a fork.  Stir in the green onion, red onion, red pepper, cilantro, lime juice and garlic.
2.  Spread the bean mixture on  each half of the flour tortillas, then top with cheese and fold in half.
3. Cook on a griddle coated with cooking spray or a small amount of oil.  Over medium low heat cook for 1-2 minutes on each side of until cheese is melted and tortilla is golden.  Cut into wedges.

Notes
Talk about delicious!  We had leftover beans from a previous dinner, and didn't want them to go to waste.  I saw this recipe and we all thought it sounded great.  We used 5 tortillas, but may have been able to stretch this to 6 if we needed to.  The filling was spilling out of some of the quesadillas!  You can serve these with salsa or sour cream. 

Oat Waffles

Ingredients
* 1 cup AP flour
* 1 cup oat flour
* 4 tsp baking powder
* 1 tbsp sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 eggs, separated
* 1 3/4 skim milk
* 2 tbsp oil
* 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. In a large bowl combine the flour, oat flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
2.  In a second bowl combine the egg yolks, milk, oil and vanilla.
3. Beat the egg whites in a third bowl for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine.  Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, fold in the egg whites.
5. Use batter in your preheated waffle maker.

Notes
This made 11 waffles in my waffle maker, but depending on the size you may get more or less.  For the oat flour, I used my food processor to make it from quick cooking oats.  I used 1 1/4 cups of quick cooking oats to make the oat flour and I ended up with just over 1 cup of oat flour.

November 8, 2013

November 8th!  The leaves are almost entirely off the trees, parent-teacher conferences are here (or around the corner) and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away.  The weather is turning colder, in fact snow showers are predicted for the week ahead.  All this talk of fall would lead you to believe I had some great recipe for mulled apple cider, or a warm pot roast.  But you'd be wrong...instead I bring you taco hummus and banana muffins!

Yes, this week we tried a hummus recipe.  Hummus is so easy to make it is a shame to buy it if you have about 8 minutes to spare, and a blender or food processor.  A can of chick  peas (or garbanzo beans - same thing!) is very inexpensive, and you can flavor it with nearly anything!  I made some that had taco seasoning in it and we used it with veggies and tortilla chips during game night.  Quick and easy and delicious to boot!

As for those banana muffins, they came about because we had a fruit bowl with the last few bananas that were looking overripe, and no one was going to eat them.  Rather than wait for a fruit fly infestation, I found the most basic banana muffin recipe and went with it.  Seriously - there is barely anything in this recipe.  This then gives you a blank slate upon which you can add cinnamon, or walnuts, or streusel, but we just left ours plain.  The kids adored them!  Sometimes plain is the way to go!

Perhaps next week, if we really see the snow they are predicting, I'll have some of those more autumnal recipes for you.  But for now you'll just have to settle for taco hummus and banana muffins!

Happy cooking!

New Recipes
Nothing but Banana Muffins
Taco Hummus

Taco Hummus

Ingredients
* 3 tsp taco seasoning
* 15 oz can chick peas
* 1 tbsp lemon juice
* 2 tsp olive oil
* 1 clove garlic

Directions
1. Drain the chick peas and reserve the liquid.
2. Add the chick peas, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and taco seasoning to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Add chick pea liquid until you reach your desired consistency, 1 tsp at a time.
3. Serve with chips or veggies.

Notes
This was really easy and yummy!  I added quite a bit of the chick pea liquid, but did add it just a tsp at a time so I didn't go overboard.   Hummus is so easy to make, and there are so many recipes out there - give it a try!

Nothing but Banana Muffins

Ingredients
* 2 cups AP flour
* 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 tbsp baking powder
* 1 1/2 cups ripe mashed bananas (about 4)
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg

Directions
1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar and baking powder) in a large bowl.
2. Combine the wet ingredients (bananas, milk, oil and egg) in a second bowl.
3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
4. Fill greased muffin cups with batter and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool in the pan 4- 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes
These are very basic banana muffins.  Feel free to add cinnamon, or walnuts, or a streusel topping, but I was looking far a very basic recipe.  I had 4 bananas at the end of their lives on my counter, and needed to use them.  I saw this recipe, though the original called for 1 cup toffee bits in the batter, and another 1/2 cup bits sprinkled on the tops before cooking!  It is just after Halloween and my family is off the candy train, so I left that out.  My kids thought these were great!  The next time you have a few bananas on your counter and are looking for an easy outlet to use them in, try this recipe!

November 1, 2013

I sat down at the computer, got sidetracked for a few minutes, and then wondered what I was doing here...oh, that's right...the blog posting!  Ha!  I must be getting old; I'm already forgetting things.

Bummer, I have no new recipes to share. My chances weren't that great this week, however, as I only made one new recipe.  It was a recipe for yellow cake that I wanted to use as the base for Ryan's favorite pumpkin squares.   It was fine, but a fair amount of work and it called for A LOT of butter!  Given that the cake wasn't over the top amazing, I just don't think I can make this recipe again.  The pumpkin squares will definitely be eaten though so don't worry!

I wanted to make pumpkin squares because I processed two pumpkins so far, and have a lot of fresh pumpkin!  My family loves pumpkin anything and everything, so I process pumpkins and freeze it in one- and two- cup portions.  Then no matter what time of year we can enjoy pumpkin goodies!  You know fall has arrived when pumpkins are in my oven for a few hours.  Tomorrow we will probably roast the seeds.

Although I have no new recipes I did want to update you on our dilly beans (maybe we should call them Barney Beans)!  We made our first batch last fall and are just now finishing them up.  They are fantastic!!! Mine are spicier than the original ones even though I used the same recipe.  Not sure if it was the amount of time that passed between when we canned them and when we ate them, or if we just used more red pepper, but either way we loved them.  I suppose it is about time to put up a new batch.

Well, the week ahead may be a bit more promising in terms of recipes.  A new soup is part of the meal plan for sure so hopefully that will be a keeper.

Happy Cooking!