Berry Granola

My sweet friend Heather sent me an encouraging card with Scripture verses and this delightful recipe.  I felt very "crunchy" eating my parfait made from homemade yogurt (with a little Truvia and vanilla extract in it) and homemade granola (sweetened with agave nectar).  Thanks Heather!

Berry Granola

1/2 c. pumpkin seeds (optional)

1/2 sunflower seeds

1/2 C. agave nectar (or 1 cup brown sugar)

1/2 stick of melted butter

2 t. cinnamon

3 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. cardamom

4 C. rolled oat flakes (or you can use barley)

1/2 C. wheat germ

dried berries (I used cranberries)

Mix all ingredients except berries and toast on a couple of cookie sheets at 350 for 10 minutes.  Stir and toast more until golden brown in 5 minute increments.  Cool.  Add berries.  Use in parfaits, eat by the handful, or use as breakfast cereal. 

It makes the whole house smell like cinnamon rolls are baking when it is in the oven, just as my friend Heather promised it would!  Yummy!

Absolutely Delicious Cocoa

A lot of homemade cocoa mixes I've tried just haven't been too tasty.  And as a hot cocoa lover, I want my cocoa to be rich and creamy.  I found this recipe this year, which I LOVE!

 These darling felt-topped pencils were made by my friend Amanda, who sold them at a local craft fair for $1.  Soooo cute!

A perfect gift for Sunday School teachers, neighbors, or girl friends!

Fall Food

 When I had a mountain of zucchinni in my kitchen thanks to friends and family, I wasn't sure how to use it all.  I asked my facebook friends for tips.  In addition to serving some sauteed and making a quadruple batch of chocolate zuke bread, I processed about 20 C. in the food processor and froze it for future baking.  One friend suggested I freeze some in ice cube trays to be added to smoothies and sauces for an extra boost of nutrition.  What a great idea!

 Apple Ladder Loaf is one of the tastiest things I've ever made!  Mmmmmm!

Ali and I made 4 loaves in the week following our trip to the orchard for various social functions and everyone agreed that it was amazing stuff!

 I wanted to try making pumpkin-shaped rolls but I had never done it before.  I discovered that adding food coloring to the dough is very difficult, especially when you have a huge double batch of dough to work with.  I used my favorite, tried-and-true roll recipe.  My cousin suggested that next time instead of using food coloring I should try adding juiced carrots to the liquid part of the dough in place of some of the water or milk.  I took a small part of dough and dyed it green to make stems with and since I had extra I made a few "zucchinni rolls."  Next time I think I'll try making actual pumpkin roll dough for pumpkin-shaped rolls! 



Slacker Fudge

Slacker Fudge with almonds made for our church's Coffee House night

where there are endless yummy desserts and hot drinks (for free)

and great music performed by church members

For those of you who still haven't made your special someone a Valentine treat, this fudge is for you!  I had always been intimidated by complicated fudge recipes until I found this gem online!  It is very versatile and INCREDIBLY fast!

What you need:

1 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips (I go with Guittard, Ghiradelli, or Tollhouse)

1 container of chocolate frosting (chocolate fudge flavor works well--go with Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines as they tend to be tastier than generic brand)

Any nuts, PB chips, marshmallows, etc.

that you may wish to add in.

Line an 8x8 pan with foil and lightly butter the foil.  Put a large saucepan full of water on the stove and put a smaller saucepan inside the large one.  Put the chocolate chips in the small sauce pan and stir as they melt.  When they are fully melted, remove from heat and dump the container of frosting into the sauce pan and stir well.

Add in any marshmallows, nuts, etc. that you desire and spread the chocolatey mixture out in the greased, lined pan.  Put in the fridge and pull out a few hours (or a day) later and cut into squares.  Enjoy!!!

*Notes: Don't add marshmallows when the chocolate mixture is super hot and still on the stove.  Also, don't add too many.  I made this mistake once and ended up with fudgy syrup instead of solid fudge.  So, let it cool slightly and perhaps add the marshmallows by poking them into the fudge that has just been spread in the pan. 

Variations:

*Try milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips depending on what your family likes best

*Try mint or peanut butter chips either as the fudge base or as garnishes on top of the fudge

*Try making 2 or 3 layered fudge by doing a layer, letting it sit in the fridge for a day, and then adding another layer of another flavor

*Drizzle caramel sauce and nuts on top of the fudge

*Drizzle white chocolate over the fudge

*Spread the fudge on a bigger pan and use mini cookie cutters to cut shapes from it

Two Pizza Tips

Last fall I found some great veggie tray markdowns. Instead of the usual $10 they were $2. We ate lots of fresh veggies that week! I decided to use some of them on our Friday night pizza.

I had some Vodka Sauce, which is basically just a creamy spaghetti sauce, in the fridge leftover from a pasta meal I had made earlier in the week. I used this for the pizza sauce.

My Vodka/Veggie Pizza was a tasty success!

Pizza Tip#1--Be Creative! Try something new and experiment with what you have on hand!

At best, you may find a new favorite topping and at worst, you can laugh about the flop and at least congratulate yourself on breaking out of a rut and trying something different!

Pizza Tip #2--BEST PIZZA CRUST!

Back in November, I used up some chickpeas and made and froze 5 containers of garlic hummus. Though I love hummus, I've found that it's not getting used up as fast as I had thought. Since I've often thrown chickpea or white bean puree in with my pizza dough in the bread machine (thanks to my cookbook The Sneaky Chef) I decided to try using up my hummus by adding it to my pizza dough. It was the best pizza dough EVER! I thought it would make the pizza taste strongly like garlic and cause the kids to not like it, but there wasn't a strong taste at all! It was delicious and the whole family wolfed it down! I may just continue making hummus for the express purpose of adding it to the pizza dough!

My favorite bread machine pizza crust:

11/4 C. warm water

3 T olive oil

3/4-1 t. sea salt

2 t. yeast

1/3 c. hummus or chickpea puree

2 C. whole wheat flour

2 C. unbleached white flour

Put on dough cycle and once done, divide in half. Spread on pizza stones sprinkled with cornmeal or lightly greased pizza pans. If your crust is thin, add toppings and bake for 15 minutes. If it is a thicker crust, pre-bake the crust for 10-15 min., then add toppings and bake for 15 minutes more. Makes 2 medium-large pizzas.

Our favorite toppings:

Mushrooms and onions and green peppers that have been saute'd in butter and sprinkled with garlic salt

Taco pizza (use taco sauce instead of pizza sauce) top with taco-seasoned ground beef, black beans, crushed tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, olives, salsa, etc.

Pepperonis that have been snipped into heart shapes or baby pepperonis (sold at Walmart) are fun!

Ham and Pineapple

For More Kitchen Tips, please visit Tammy's Recipes!

Easy Freezy Recipes

I tripled all of these recipes for my Feb. bulk cooking day. I also made roast beef by slow-cooking it in the oven in water and 2 packets of onion soup mix. The Cheesy Fries recipe, also from this cookbook, was posted a few days ago.

Taken from Taste of Home's 5 Ingredient Cookbook

Green Chili Burritos

1 can of beans (refried)

8 flour tortillas (6 inches)

1/2 # cooked ground beef (we skipped this ingredient)

1-2 C. shredded cheese

1 can green chilis

Mix ingredients and put in tortillas. Roll up the tortillas into burritos and place in a pan. Bake until heated through.

I opted to dump a can of enchilada sauce over my 3 pans of burritos before freezing. They are super yummy!

Green Chili Rice Casserole

1 can of cream of celery soup

1 C. sour cream

1 can green chilis

1 C. shredded cheddar

3-4 C. cooked rice or 1.5 C. instant rice (I used cooked brown rice)

Mix all ingredients and bake until heated through.

Fiesta Macaroni

1 16 oz. package of elbow mac

1/3-1# of ground beef (I used 1# of ground turkey for my tripled recipe)

1 16 oz. jar of salsa

10 oz. shredded cheese

1 can chili beans

Cook beef and drain. Cook and drain macaroni. Mix beans, cheese, and salsa and add to the cooked macaroni. Add hamburger. Stir well and bake until heated through.

(This is my adaption of my mother-in-law's easy lasagna--my kids love this!)

Easy Lasagna

1. C. sour cream

2 C. small curd cottage cheese

3 C. shredded mozarella

11/2 jars of Ragu (I used the Six Cheese flavor)

1/2 box of lasagna noodles

(You can add hamburger if desired, or chunky tomatoes, etc.)

Cook lasagna noodles until done. Drain. Put 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce in bottom of pan. Put one layer of noodles across the pan. In bowl mix sour cream and cottage cheese together well. Spread 1/3 of white mix across noodles. Add a layer of about 1 C. of mozzarella. Put another layer of sauce on top of the cheese and then another layer of lasagna noodles. Do the white layer, cheese layer, sauce, and noodles again and then one last time, ending with sauce-covered mozzarella on the very top of the lasagna. (Feel free to do 2 layers instead of 3 if you prefer--it doesn't really matter). Cover with foil and bake until heated through, pulling foil off for the last 20 minutes to let the top brown a little bit. When frozen, you can thaw for a few days in the fridge or bake frozen, just be aware that it may take 2 hours to cook, depending on your oven. Leave 20 minutes for the lasagna to "set up" before dinner and it will be more firm for cutting rather than runny. Feel free to added grated parmesan with the mozzarella for a more authentic (but also more expensive) lasagna.

Cheesy Bacon Fries

At Teresa's request here it is! Now you know how much I copped out with my easy recipes this go-around of bulk cooking! Anyone could make the things I made this month!

2# of frozen french fries (or, if you want to cut costs and make your own, cut up several potatoes into french-fry shaped wedges)
1/3 C. chopped green onions
2 cups of your favorite cheese (add more if desired)
1/2 C. cooked crumbled bacon.

Put fries on a baking sheet and top with remaining 3 ingredients. Bake until fries are cooked through.

Top with or dip in ranch dressing!

*Not the healthiest recipe, but one I definitely knew my hubby would love!

The Best Blueberry Muffins

My love for blueberries dates back to the early 1980's, so I'm told.

In recent years I've been searching for a delicious blueberry muffin recipe to no avail.

Sure, the box mixes are good, but they are expensive and have a slightly artificial taste and probably all kinds of preservatives in them. A month ago, my friend Heather, served these muffins at a playdate.

They were AMAZING! I've finally found a great recipe!

She got the original recipe from The Betty Crocker Cookbook (2001)
but she has tweaked it a bit and so have I.

Blueberry Muffins

3/4 cup milk (I used whole)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or use coconut oil or melted butter--I used butter)
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (Heather used roughly 1/3 c freshly ground flaxseed, 2/3 cup whole wheat flour, and 1 cup white flour. Lindsey used 1 C. white, 1 C. wheat)
1/2 cup sugar (you can use sucanat or brown sugar--if so, do 3/4 C)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups fresh or frozen blueberries or huckleberries (Heather used huckleberries, which were amazing, but they are rare! I've found that fresh are the key to good blueberry muffins. Frozen will do, but the muffins don't taste quite as good! If you do use them, thaw them completely first and stir in very gently.)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of muffin tins or line with paper liners.

Beat milk, oil, and egg with whisk. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will still be lumpy). Fold in berries.

Bake 15-20 minutes (mini muffins take around 10-15).

Note: Double or triple the recipe! These are so yummy, they will go very fast!

New Recipe--No Hurry Vegetable Curry

This is soooo yummy! And makes enough to last through about 4 or 5 meals at our house. I served with homemade whole wheat tortillas and yogurt with cumin mixed in as a dip for the tortillas.

Trying New Recipes

Brocolli Couscous stir-fry (made according to the recipe on the back of the couscous), spinach salad with salsa ranch dressing, and 7-Grain rolls fresh from the oven. Yum!