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Tonight's Dinner

Hopefully it is good, but I thought I would blog it while the kids are sleeping!

Hot Meatball Subs

1 package (18 oz) frozen cooked meatballs - I used my homemade that I cook fully and then freeze-about 30
1 jar (26 oz) chunky garden style spaghetti sauce
1/2 t minced garlic - optional
Mozzarella cheese
Buns

Combine meatballs, sauce and garlic in a sprayed slow cooker.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Place meatballs and sauce on bun.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Sesame Wheat Braids

2 packages (1/4 oz each) active dry yeast
2 1/4 C warm water
1/3 C sugar
1 T oil
1 C whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 T water
1 T salt
5-6 C all-purpose flour
2 t sesame seeds

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add sugar and oil, mix well.  Stir in whole wheat flour, let stand until the mixture bubbles, about 5 minutes.  In a small bowl, beat eggs and water.  Remove 2 T to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.  Add remaining egg mixture and salt to batter, mix until smooth.  Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Turn onto a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.  Punch dough down and divide in half.  Divide each half into thirds.  Shape each into a rope about 15 inches long.  Place three ropes on a greased baking sheet, braid. Pinch each end frimly and tuck under.  Repeat, placing second braid on another sheet.  Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.  Brush braids with the reserved egg mixture, sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on rack.

I've never made a braided bread. I also don't have any regular flour in the house so it is 100% whole wheat.  Hopefully it turns out edible!

Cornmeal pancakes

This is my go-to pancake recipe.  If I ever make pancakes this is the one I use, but one Saturday morning I decided to get adventurous and try the cornmeal variation.  A tasty change but not going to replace the buttermilk ones.

Orginal Recipe
2 C all purpose flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 large egg
3 T melted butter
2 C buttermilk
1-2 t vegetable oil to grease griddle

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter and then the buttermilk. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in buttermilk mixture and whisk just until incorporated.  Don't over mix.  Then cook on your griddle.

To feed our family a Saturday morning breakfast I usually double or triple this recipe, but that is because we have 5 breakfast monsters living in this house.

Cornmeal variation
Replace1 C of the all purpose flour with 1 1/2 C fine ground cornmeal and whisk 1/4 t vanilla into the buttermilk mixture.

Whole Wheat Waffles

BEST WAFFLES EVER!  These were so tasty and sweet enough you don't need syrup.  Anytime I can convince the kids to not put syrup on something is a win.  I hate cleaning up sticky tables, chairs, floors, hair, and clothes. 

Whole Wheat Waffles

1/2 egg substitute - I didn't have these so I used 2 eggs
1 3/4 C 1% milk
1/2 C fat free plain yogurt
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C sugar substitute - I just used sugar
2 T sugar
4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

In a mixing bowl, beat egg until frothy.  Add the milk, yogurt and vanilla.  Mix well.  Combine the flours, sugar substitute, sugar, baking powder and salt, stir into milk mixture just until combined.  Bake in preheated waffle iron according to directions until golden brown.  The waffles split in half if it wasn't well greased and cooked till a bit crispy.

Polynesian Sausage Supper

 
Polynesian Sausage Supper

1 lb fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into 1/2 in slices
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 can diced tomatoes - undrained
1/2 C beef broth
1 T brown sugar
1/4 t garlic powder
1 can pineapple chunks
2 T cornstarch

In a skillet, cook the sausage, onion, and green pepper until the sausage is lightly browned.  Add tomatoes, broth, brown sugar, garlic powder and pepper.  Drain pineapple, reserving juice.  Stir pineapple into sausage mixture.  Bring to a boil, cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and reserved pineapple juice until smooth, gradually add to sausage mixture.  Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Serve over rice.  Makes 6 servings.

This was good and really easy.  I've never cooked with this kind of sausage.  The kids loved it!

Mexican Fiesta

We had a great Mexican dinner.  We tried Brazilian Lemonade from ourbestbites.com - pretty tasty but I probably won't make it again.  We also enjoyed fruit salsa and cinnamon cups.  For our new recipe we tried

Taco Grande
1 lb ground turkey - but we tried it with shredded cooked chicken
1 package taco seasoning
16 oz salsa
8 flour tortillas
2 C shredded cheddar cheese or colby jack
1 green onion

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray bottom of deep dish pie pan.  Cook turkey or put chicken in pan.  Add taco mix and amount of water directed on package.  Continue cooking according to package directions.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 C of salsa.

Arrange 4 tortillas in bottom and up side of pie pan - tortillas will overlap.  Spoon meat mixture evenly over tortillas.  Sprinkle with 1 C cheese and sprinkle green onion.  Top with remaining 4 tortillas, overlapping tortillas slightly to create a scalloped edge.  Press tortillas down over filling.  Spread remaining salsa and cheese over top.

Bake for 30 minutes.

This was really good and we will make it again.  The kids loved it too!

Pork Chops and Gravy

These was quite good.  It was a good Fast Sunday recipe and so easy to put together.

Pork Chops and Gravy

3 large onions, quartered
3 ribs of celery, sliced
3-4 pork chops
10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup

1. Place onions and celery in slow cooker.  Place pork chops on top.  Pour soup over all.
2. Cover.  Cook on High for 1 hour and then reduce heat to Low and cook 3-4 hours, or until chops are tender.

Potato Chip Chicken Fingers

This recipe was so good and so easy.  We have made it since using a different flavors of potato chips and even cheetos - all very tasty!  I great way to use up the broken chips at the bottom of the bag.

For the life of me I can't remember what the other recipe for the other plate of chicken nuggets, but it was also new.

Potato Chip Chicken Fingers

1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast
5-6 oz potatos chips, plain, barbecue, or sour cream
1 egg
2 T milk

Preheat oven to 400.  Cut the chicken into finger-size pieces.  Fill a large, sealable plastic bag with potato chips, and crush.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg and milk.  Dip the chicken pieces into the egg mixture, then into the bag.  Shake gently to cover.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once.  Serve with bbq sauce for dip.  Serves 4 - I'd say we doubled this recipe for our family.

Cherry Dump Cake

2 (21 oz) cans cherry pie filling
1/2 t almond extract
1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 C butter or margarine melted
Whipped cream or Ice cream for topping

Combine pie filling and extract, then pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle cake mix over cherries.  Melt butter and pour evenly over cake mix.   Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.  Makes about 12 servings.

It was a tasty treat.  We planned on making it for President's Day but that didn't really work out.

Crab Shape Bread

I'm the leader for the Wolf Den.  I love, love this calling.  It is perfect and I get to be in there with O.  This last week we were learning about the food pyramid and nutrition.  For fun we all shaped crab out of bread dough.  I love this Rhodes dough cook book.  This is one I've never tried before.  We will definitely be trying more shapes from the book.  I like to use my own french bread recipe.  It works perfectly.

Italian Sausage Bean soup and breadsticks

The soup was really tasty - the breadsticks were yucky.  I guess when you have a breadstick recipe you love you should never try a different one.

Italian Sausage Bean Soup

1 1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes - undrained (I used crushed)
1 T Italian seasoning
3 cans (14 1/2 oz each) beef broth
1 can kidney beans - rinsed and drained
1 can great northern beans - rinsed and drained
1/2 C water
1/2 C additional beef broth
1/3 C uncooked elbow macaroni
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 t salt

Crumble sausage in a pot.  Cook until no longer pink, drain.  Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.  Cook and stir for 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes and Italian seasoning, cook 10 minutes longer.

Add the broth, beans, water, additional broth, macaroni, tomato sauce and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cook, uncovered, until macaroni is tender, about 10 minutes.  Serve with Parmesan or mozzarella cheese.  Makes 16 servings.

Wow - where has the year gone!

I need to pick up the pace if I'm going to finish this goal.  The year is almost 1/3 over and I'm about a 10th done.  Yikes.  I really want to follow through to the end on this.

So watch out the new recipes are going to be come faster.  Also watch for at least one weekly update each weekend!  Quite a few new posts and a few more to still finish typing.

Also would someone please stop me from acquiring new cookbooks, I just can't resist.

One Meal - Four Cookbooks!

Dave loves Country Fried Steak and to be honest so do I (super unhealthy - I know)!

Tonight I made a very delicious meal!  We all loved it.  O and Wats wanted to know what the meat was called.  When I told them Country Fried Steak, they responded "We have this at school but this is much better."  Thanks boys!

So on the very rare splurges of making it, this will be my forever recipe.  It tasted better than a diner.

Shoney's Country Fried Steak
     Top Secret Restaurant Recipes

2 C flour
2 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
2 C water
4 4 oz cube steaks
Oil for frying

It says to prepare them several hours in advance but I did it just 30 minutes and it worked great.

Combine flour, salt, and pepper.  Pour water into another bowl.

Make sure the steaks are flat.  Dredge each steak, one at a time in the water and then in the flour. Repeat one more time so each steak has been coated twice.  Place on waxed paper and freeze for several hours (just 30 minutes for me). This makes it so the coating doesn't fall off.

Heat oil to 350 in a deep fryer or pan.  I just used a frying pan so I did it a bit different.  It says to just drop it in the fryer for 8-10 minutes.  In the frying pan it wasn't deep enough to get both sides so I cooked it 4 minutes on one sides and flipped it for 4 more.  Worked great!  Drain on paper towels and serve.

Old Fashioned Mashed Potatoes
       Lion House Entertaining

12 medium potatoes
1 t salt
4 T butter
1/4 - 1/2 C half and half (I used milk)

Peel and quarter potatoes. Cover with cold water.  Sprinkle with salt.  Bring to a rapid boil and cook until tender.  Beat with electric beater until light and fluffy.  I like them left a bit chunky.  10 -12 servings.

Sky High Biscuits
     Taste of Home 2002

3 Cups flour
2 T sugar
4 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t cream of tartar
1/2 t salt
3/4 C cold butter
1 egg
1 C milk

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients.  Cut in butter until crumbly.  Combine egg and milk, stir into crumb mixture just until moistened.  Turn onto a floured surface.  Knead 10-12 times.  Roll out to 1 inch thick.  Cut with 2 in biscuit cutter.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.   Makes 1 dozen.

We love biscuits at our house.  These were really good.

Crunchy Corn
       Betty Crocker's Microwave Cookbook

1 can whole kernel corn - drained
1/4 C chopped celery
1/4 t celery salt
dash of pepper
1 T butter

Mix all ingredients in 1 qt casserole.  Cover tightly and microwave 4 minutes and stir.  4 servings.

This was really good.  I loved the flavorings and really fancied-up just regular canned corn.  Next time I'll try without the butter.  It will feel a bit healthy.

What a delicious fancy Wednesday night dinner!  It was really good but I don't think my Zumba class could help me if I ate like this every night.

Lemonade

I really like my local produce co op Bountiful Baskets, however you occasionally find yourself with a large quantity of one type of produce.  That is what happened when I had 12 lemons! 

Lemonade

For each cup of water, add:

1 1/2 T lemon juice
3-4 T sugar
1/8 t salt

Boil sugar and water for 2 minutes.  Chill the syrup and add the fruit juice.  Chill completely.  I made a whole gallon of this and we drank it all with dinner.  So delicious!  I also had enough lemon juice to freeze for a whole other gallon. 

Bananaberry Bread

Super Tasty!  Q was in heaven he loves blueberries.  The berries add a twist to the bread but I would probably only add them if I had them on hand.  It would still be a good banana bread recipe with out them.

Bananaberry Bread

1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 C margarine or butter softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas - 3-4 medium
1/2 C buttermilk
2 1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1.  Heat oven to 350 and grease 9 inch loaf pan

2.  Stir sugar, margarine, eggs, bananas and buttermilk in large bowl until mixed. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened.  Stir in blueberries.  Pour into pan.

3. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from pan to cool completely.

Note on Buttermilk - I'm in love with Augason Farms #10 can of powdered buttermilk.  It is great.

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Aren't they so cute!  Tasty but too much work for 12 cupcakes.  But I did make homemade lemon curd - that recipe is worth sharing.

3 T plus 1 1/2 sugar
3 T lemon juice
4 1/2 t butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 t grated lemon peel

In a heavy saucepan, cook and stir the sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth.  Stir a small amount of hot mixture into egg, return all to pan.  Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly, cook 2 minutes longer or until thickened.  Stir in lemon peel.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Cover and chill for 1 1/2 hours or until thickened.

Like-Homemade Baked Beans

These aren't as good as Mother's Baked Beans but they were done start to finish in 15 minutes!

2 bacon strips, diced (once again I used the real bacon bits from Sam's I love those)

1/2 C onion (I used dry onion flakes)

1 can pork and beans

2 T brown sugar

1 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t ground mustard

Cook bacon until crisp, add onions and cook until tender.  Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

We had a fun Sliders dinner but I went a little crazy and over estimated how many sliders we would need,  super tasty leftovers though.  I just love my tiny sliders press so I went crazy!

For the buns I used the America's Test Kitchen Baking Book's recipe for Fluffy Dinner Rolls.  They looked beautiful but they were not fantastic which is weird because America's Test Kitchen is usually always great.  But the following night I sliced them like little loaves of bread and the kids were in heaven.

Potato Salad with Bacon

This is possible the BEST recipe I've tried this year.  I've made it multiple times since and it will be the only potato salad I will ever make.

I've always wanted to make potato salad but never had before.  We had another family over for a Super Bowl Party - even though we didn't watch the game.  So this was the perfect time to try.  It turned out great.  Dave found the recipe in all my cookbooks.  I'm so glad he did. 

Potato Salad Bacon

My friend told me I should call it Baked Potato Salad

3 lbs red potatoes - I just used regular potatoes

4 hard-cooked eggs

3/4 C sour cream

2/3 C mayonnaise

1 t salt

1 t prepared mustard

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t pepper

11 bacon strips - cooked and crumbled - I just used the real bacon bits from Sam's Club sbout 1/4 C

1/2 C chopped celery

1/4 C chopped green onions

1/4 C Italian salad dressing

Cut potatoes into 1/2 in cubes, place in a large kettle and cover with water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until tender.  Drain and cool to room temp.

Cut eggs in half, separate, chop egg whites and set aside.  In a bowl, mash the egg yolks.  Stir in the sour cream, mayo, salt mustard, garlic powder and pepper.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, bacon, egg whites, celery, onions and Italian dressing.  Fold in mayo mixture.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Also we made this cute seven layer dip.

Food Nanny Rescues Dinner

This is one of my favorite cookbooks - Thanks Margaret I've wanted my own copy for years!  I really like the author Liz Edmunds.  She has a TV show on BYUtv.  For Valentine's Day Dave took me to one of her classes.  I've never cooked a recipe from her book I didn't love.  Here are the new ones I've tried this year.

Pear Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Sugared Nuts

I combined romaine lettuce, pears, strawberries and bacon.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 C olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

2 T balsamic vinegar

2 t Dijon mustard

I added about 1 t white sugar that is not in the original recipe

Whisk together and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  Shake before serving.

Watson loved this salad!  He practically ate the whole bowl and would have if we didn't stop him.

Easy Sugared Nuts

2/3 C walnut halves or pecans

1/4 C sugar

Mix nuts and sugar in a small skillet over medium heat until the sugar is melted.  Stir to coat.

Spread on foil and let cool.

Break apart and eat or store in fridge or freezer.

Italian Bread

Really tasty but recipe way too long to type out.

Classic French Toast

8 slices firm white bread - such as the Italian Bread above

3 large eggs

1 C milk

1 t sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1/4 t salt

1/8 t cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1 T oil

1 T melted butter

Preheat griddle to medium.

Trim the crusts off the bread - I didn't because the crusts were still soft.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Add the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Combine the oil and butter and spread 2 tsp. on the surface of griddle.  Dip bread in egg mixture and turn to coat evenly.  Put on griddle, fry until bread is light brown on both sides.  Spread additional oil/butter when needed.  Serve hot!  Our family needed to double this recipe.

Really, Really Good!

I highly recommend her book, show and her website.

http://www.byutv.org/foodnanny/

And surprisingly she is that energetic in person as she is on her show!

I really have still been cooking

I have been, I just have a hard time getting time to put up the new posts.  I don't understand what I do with all my time but I think it has something to do with a boy named Lincoln.  He is a full time job. 

Best Mashed Potatoes EVER!

I love homemade mashed potatoes.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes
From Pressure Perfect

3 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 in chunks
1 t salt plus more to taste
4-5 T butter
2/3 C half and half

Pour 1 c water into a 4 qt pressure cooker.  Add the potatoes and sprinkle with salt.

Lock the lid in place.  Over high heat bring to high pressure.  Reduce the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 8 minutes.  Turn off the heat.  Quick release the pressure.  Make sure the potatoes are fork tender.

Drain the potatoes in a large colander.  Set the cooker over low heat.  Melt 4 T butter and stir in 2/3 c of the half and half.  Mash the potatoes.

Delicious!!  I'm so excited to try the garlic and Parmesan varieties.

Pineapple Chicken

Today's recipe was sort of a bust.  First - always read the entire ingredient list before you start a recipe and check that you have those items.  Who knew I wouldn't have soy sauce or ground ginger in the house?

It was still tasty but not wonderful.  For those of you who have Mother's Sweet n' Sour recipe stick with that.  It didn't even get a picture.   But the fresh pineapple from Bountiful Baskets was a nice touch. 

Pineapple Chicken
From The Ultimate Chicken Cookbook

Corn Bread, Root Beer Butter and Frozen Raspberry Yogurt Salad

Corn Bread
From Go Forth to Serve

2 eggs
1 C sugar
2 C buttermilk
2 C flour
1 C corn meal
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
2/3 C water

Mix the eggs, sugar and buttermilk. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the egg mixture.  Add the oil and water.  Bake in a 9 x 13 pan for 30 minutes.

This was tasty cornbread but more like cake.  I'm still on the searched for the perfect corn bread.

The Root Beer Butter was my homemade Root Beer Jelly mixed with butter - Super tasty!

Frozen Raspberry Yogurt "Salad"
From 101 Things to Do with Gelatin

1 small box raspberry gelatin
1 C boiling water
1 container (6 oz) raspberry yogurt
1 C fresh or frozen raspberries
1 C frozen whipped topping (thawed)

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.  Chill until partially set about 45 minutes.  Fold in yogurt, raspberries, and whipped topping.  Pour into an 8 x 8 pan.  Freeze until set.  Thaw slightly before serving.

Lincoln LOVED this.  Everyone thought it was pretty tasty but Dave said we shouldn't have frozen it at all.

I've got to work on my food pictures, but in my defense Lincoln was freaking out when I was trying to take this picture.  He did not see the need for photography - He just wanted to eat it.

The Goal

I have been in a serious funk lately.  I just can't seem to find a good motivation for life.   That is a depressing statement but sadly true.  I needed something to get excited about.  So I decided 2011 was going to be the year I find that.  You know with all the blogs that do the word for the year.  I've decided my word for 2011 was New.  New Outllook, New Attitude, New Adventures, New Challenges, New Furniture, New Workouts, New Schedule, etc.  New New New!

I started with a silly goal on one of my cookbooks I just bought.  52 Weeks of Proven Recipes for Picky Kids.  Once a week I was going to cook their menu plan.  It wasn't working out so great some of the recipes were just not an option.  So here on the third week of January I'm changing the goal.

 Here is the new goal.

I'm going to cook something new out of everyone of my cookbooks this year.  All 99 of them.

Cookbooks are one of my passions.  I would have a whole room dedicated just to them if I could.  I own so many and I've never even used at least half of them.  I don't expect many people to read this blog but it will be my journal.  I hope to post a picture of each recipe.  This will be also a New thing.  New more techinally savvy person who knows how to take her own pictures off her digital camera.

I was inspired by my brother Dave.  If he can wear a tie everyday of the year I can try something new from each of my cookbooks.