Peanut Butter Oatmeal

So today I tried a breakfast from a healthy living challenge you can view HERE.

Breakfast: Peanut butter oatmeal ~400 cal
1/2 c dry oats
2/3 cup milk 
1 big spoonful peanut butter
1 tsp cocoa powder
few drops of honey
Mix milk and oats, microwave on 50% power for 1 - 3 minutes. Then mix in pb, cocoa and honey. (It's not a flavor explosion, but it's smooth, creamy, low sugar, high fiber and good protein... don't expect it to taste like a cinnamon roll wink emoticon
*Regular peanut butter and dairy milk are higher protein, but it's fine modify to almond/soy/etc for your personal preferences. 

Turns out, she's right, it is rather bland, but it isn't bad at all. And I can eat exactly half of it. Hmm...But I like the change up from my daily smoothies, so I'm keeping the recipe!

Smelling Good!

I used to burn candles alllllll the time. I now have a candle warmer but I don't use it very often...
I went thru a phase where I used Febreeze on the couches, carpets and curtains daily, but I don't know if we even have any Febreeze.
Since just before Christmas I've been simmering a smelly-good pot of stuff that I dump and start new almost daily. My family is tired of it, but the kick of vitamin c in the air gets me going in the morning and keeps me motivated. I think that's pretty important with the gray days we have around here most of the winter...!

I put in the peel of a clementine (Cutie, little orange...its not a tangerine, it really is called a Clementine)
the core of any apples or pears I slice up for the kids, and any peel that I might cut off
4 craisins
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
and the peel of a ginger root

I turn the burner up to medium high heat to get it boiling, then I keep it a very low temp the rest of the day, adding water as it boils off!

I absolutely love it!

Lasagna Soup!

Apparently this is the third year this needs moved out of the draft folder and published!! I made it this week, and discovered this was a partial post, so the photos are new, and here we go!
~~~~~
Its been rainy the last several days and I think it is finally cool enough to have soup for dinner! We'll start off the soup season with this one! I don't understand how it didn't get put on the blog last year...but whatever, haha....

This is a recipe a friend shared with me. It's not a hard soup, but it takes a little bit of time....Maybe an hour to make?

Lasagna Soup:

Ingredients: 

Soup: 

2 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage

3 cups chopped onion

4 minced garlic cloves

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

6 cups chicken stock

8 oz mafalda or fusilli pasta

1/2 cup finely chopped basil leaves 

salt

freshly ground pepper

for the cheesy yum:

8 oz ricotta

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/4 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

2 cup shredded mozzarella

Sooo I have finally learned that you don't have to follow cooking recipes exactly to the letter. Baking yes, I think so, but not cooking. And so, I took a lot of liberties in this recipe, hee hee....I didn't measure anything except the tomatoes and the pasta, haha! 

I drizzled in the olive oil, and put in a 1 pound tube of sausage to brown. While it was browning, I chopped up two onions and added them. Then I took a big spoonful of minced garlic and put that in, along with the oregano and red pepper flakes. After it was all mixed in together, I added the tomato paste. Then you're supposed to stir it well, and cook until the past turns a rusty brown color, which takes a couple minutes.

Then you pour in the diced tomatoes, bay leaves and chicken stock. Stir it and then allow it to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Add the pasta (I use either rotini or Radiatore) and cook til the pasta is al dente. *Don't over cook it because mushy pasta is not good eats! 

Now mix up the "cheesy yum" haha! 

I scoop out some ricotta, then sprinkle on some parmesan, a dash of salt and some pepper. Then I mix it together in kind of a paste. Put a scoop of that mix in the bottom of each bowl. Top it with shredded mozzarella, just like this: 

Then! add the basil (I don't use fresh basil), a bit of salt and some freshly ground black pepper to the soup, stir it all up, and ladle it over the cheeeeese! YUM! 

Liz's Special Chocolate Chip Cookies

This would be my second chocolate chip cookie recipe I'm posting here, but this one is truly UH-mazing. And really, I'm just keeping it here because my handwriting is that bad, haha, and I can get to it even if I'm visiting family or something!

My friend Liz brought over a plate of cookies and they were totally incredible. It was really difficult saving the cookie for my husband to eat later, haha, and I messaged her asking for the recipe! My husband prefers to eat several cookies at once, not just one and he almost didn't eat it! But almost as soon as he took a bite, he asked me to get the recipe!
I got a copy of the recipe yesterday, and made them today! Yep, really!

The instructions were very specific, but I went ahead and followed them all.
and oh yes, they ARE that good.

DeeDee's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter-flavored crisco
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients well, then add:

1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi sweet chips

Mix well and shape into medium size balls. Put onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes until slightly cracked on top, and a hint of golden brown.
Then bang pan onto stove or sink when cookies first come out- this flattens them perfectly.
Allow to cool before moving to cooling rack or paper towels.

Do not skip or substitute these things:
- Butter Flavored Crisco
- 2 inch size balls (or smaller)- flatten
- Take out of oven when they crack on top.
- Bang pan on stove top to flatten cookies.

*Now for my notes...when I flattened the cookie balls before baking, they got really spread out and not as "pretty". I left them as balls and just banged the pan to flatten them after they baked. I also mixed the dry ingredients and added them in together, and ended with the chips.

Makes about 65 medium sized cookies

* Dec 2019 Edit:
This time I bought some peppermint chunks for Christmas cookies. I added 1/4 cup cocoa powder right at the end, and then the peppermint chunks and it worked great and tasted amazing!

Edited Dec 2024: 

This year I wanted to try chopping up a Chocolate Orange and using that in place of chocolate chips. I did a regular batch with a milk chocolate orange, and a batch with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and a dark chocolate orange. They were both amazing!! 

*I tried using a food chopper to turn the orange into bits, but even after just a moment, it was blending the orange instead of chopping. Maybe my house was too warm, but I found that chopping with a knife worked great. The orange is only 5.5oz instead of the 8oz the recipe calls for, but diced like that it works just fine. No cookie was lacking for chips.

My Favorite Zupas Copycat!

I {heart} Zupas! If you don't know what that means, you can check it out HERE.
My very favorite is their Nuts About Berries Salad, with an Ultimate Grilled Cheese on the side, haha!
I can't recreate the salad dressing and I won't usually pay for the fresh berries either, so that one I really get there. the sandwich is another story...!
I found a link on Pinterest to make their mayo, and splurged on a jar of pesto and a block of Muenster cheese, and made myself this:

So, just in case I stop making this any time soon (HA!) and forget how, I'm recording the instructions here!

Combine 3 tbsp mayonnaise and 1 tbsp pesto. Spread onto insides of both slices of bread.
Thinly slice Muenster cheese to cover one of the insides of the sandwich.
Thinly slice a tomato, lay across one side cheese.
Top with thinly sliced cheddar.
Melt butter in frying pan...set sandwich in the butter, press down using a spatula, to get the cheese all over the tomato and sandwich.
Cut in half and ENJOY!!!

*I do NOT like real mayo. Ever. On anything. I always pick Miracle Whip, or nothing. But that would completely change the flavor soooo I actually DO use real mayo.
*I didn't have cheddar in the house, so I used American cheese instead. However, it is actually too cheesy for me, so I just use the one slice of Muenster.
and I'm eating this 3-4 times a week. Yuuuuummm!!!!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake!!!

(This post is a year old and finally moving out of the "draft" collection! I had to find it so that I can make it again! Trust me, you need this!) 

The first time I made this, it was for a small surprise baby-shower-dinner for a friend. I was in charge of bringing the dessert and I thought it was a perfect time to try this! I found the recipe on one of our favorite food sites, Mel's Kitchen Cafe. You can check out her post HERE.
I got it all made, had the gift ready to go, and needed to get the things over to the hostess without my friend seeing it. In my rush, this dreamy dessert flipped out of my hand in my parking lot, and turned into this:

Not. Even. Kidding.
Yes, I laughed.
Yes, I cried.
And my sweet husband stopped by Kneaders and picked up little desserts for us all instead!

A few weeks later I tried again! And then! We took it to Thanksgiving last year too!
I'm going to start copying the recipes to my blog in case they are deleted from the original sources, so here's my picture...

And here's the recipe, in case the link ever stops working:

APPLES:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Base:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cream Cheese Layer:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

½ cups half-and-half or cream

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, two tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

For the streusel, in a medium bowl, combine all the streusel topping ingredients and mix until crumbly. Set aside.

For the base, in a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly but combined. Press evenly into a 9X13-inch baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

For the cream cheese layer, while the crust is baking, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Then add eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla. Mix well. Pour over the warm crust.

Spoon the apple mixture evenly over the cheesecake layer. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the apples. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling is set.

Cool the bars to room temperature. Drizzle with the caramel topping (or plate individual slices and drizzle with topping one by one).
For the caramel sauce, mix butter, brown sugar, half-and-half or cream, and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until thickened slightly. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off the heat and pour the sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold. If the caramel sauce has cooled in the fridge long enough to harden, warm slightly before drizzling on bars.

Butternut Squash Soup

Edited, photographed, revised and recreated on 10/13/14.

1 small butternut squash
2 strips fatty bacon
1/2 white onion
3 small russet potatoes
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
1 cube chicken bullion
nutmeg
salt
black pepper
half and half cream
shredded parmesan

I cut and roasted the squash for almost an hour, til it was fork tender.

I cooked two strips of almost-white bacon like I do for my potato soup - super crispy and then set aside to be crumbled in at the end.

I sauteed half a large onion in the bacon grease that was left in the pot.

I cubed up 3 russet potatoes and put them in, then added the soft squash.

I had chicken stock on hand so I used 4 cups of that, and another 1 cup water + 1 cube chicken bullion just to get to "enough" liquid.
When the potatoes were completely softened, I pureed it all with the stick blender and added the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and bacon, and! about 1 tablespoon of half and half, and about 2 tablespoon shredded parmesan.
We then served it with a homemade sourdough baguette, made into garlic bread.

YUM.

Original recipe posted 11/10/12 and found below:
On another lovely produce sale, I picked up a butternut squash. I knew a snow storm was coming, and different soups are more and more welcome in my house, lol. I used THIS recipe as my starting point, but I changed it up a little.

1 butternut squash
2 large red potatoes
1 smallish onion
6 cups water
8 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup crumbled bacon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt
pepper

I started by roasting the squash. That just means I cut it in half, scraped out the seeds, stuck it in a large baking pan with 1/3 inch or so of water (cut side down) and put it in the oven for 40 minutes til it was super tender.
I chopped the onion finely and sauteed it in the pot with the melted butter. Chopped the potatoes into chunks, scooped out the roasted squash, added the water and the smashed bouillon and let it simmer til the potatoes were softened. Then I pureed the whole thing with my stick blender, added nutmeg, salt, pepper and crumbled bacon, and there you go!!
I also picked up some artisan sourdough bread to enjoy on the side. YUM!!!

*My husband thought it needed cream, but we didn't have any. He also says the bacon was a kind of weird addition, even tho it was his suggestion. so, take that into consideration if you choose to make this!
~~~

Apple Crisp

There is no better way to welcome the cold mornings and nights than a freshly made apple crisp! Several years ago I made apple crisp pretty often. I don't know if the recipe got lost or if I gave it away thinking it was permanently memorized...or what, but I haven't found it for a long time, and its not accurate in my brain, lol! Well, now we have Pinterest! I was given some apples the other day, that needed used and after a quick Pinterest search I found THIS. I am pretty sure that is the recipe I used to use! Hooray!!

Here's the recipe I followed: 

6 Granny Smith apples

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cups quick oats

1/2 cup butter 

1 tsp nutmeg

1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Slice & peel apples (easier in that order if you can't find your peeler!). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish and put the apples all over the bottom. Combine other ingredients in bowl and sprinkle all over the apples. Bake for 30 mins at 375*

I sliced my 5 apples into 8ths, like you would for a kids' lunch? and then I peeled them, and diced them! (and since I only had 5 apples, I used an 8x8 pan)

I also happened to have some cinnamon chips in the house (like chocolate chips, but cinnamon) so I sprinkled about half the bag on top of the apples before adding the crumbled mixture!

I like the butter melted before I add it to the topping, it seems to come together better: 

just looook at the bubbly apple juicing and butter...!! 

And here is the scrumptious finished product!! 

I cover it with foil and refrigerate the leftovers, and I even microwave a serving for 30 seconds to get back to that freshly baked taste! I would top it with some yummy vanilla bean ice cream, but I don't have that today. Or whipped cream would be good too! 

*I also like it for breakfast!! 

Bagels!!!!

6 cups bread flour
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tbsp dry milk powder
1/4 cup potato flakes
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp dough enhancer
2 eggs

Egg wash:
1 egg
2 tbsp water

Breadmaker version:
Put all of the dry ingredients, oil, and eggs into the breadmaker set on a dough only cycle. Put the yeast and the sugar into the two cups of warm water (110 degrees), stir to thoroughly combine and let sit for about 10 minutes or until the yeast water is bubbly. Pour into the breadmaker and let go through the dough cycle. At the end of the cycle, pull out the dough, knead a few more times and form the dough into a big round and smooth dough ball. Pull the dough into a big bowl (punch bowl size at least) with a couple of tablespoons of oil. Turn over the dough to completely to coat with the oil, cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and let rise until it is about 2 1/2 times it's size or fills the bowl. Should be between 60 to 90 minutes total.

Turn on the oven to 400 and position two racks in the center part of the oven. The racks should have enough space between them to allow the bagels on the lower rack to bake without touching the upper rack. Punch down the dough, put back on the counter and roll it into a long log. Using a kitchen scale, cut off 4 or 5 oz portions. 4 oz dough balls will give you about 18 bagels. 5 oz dough balls will give you about 15 bagels.

Form each portion into a small dough ball and then flatten out into a dough disk on the counter. Using your finger, punch a hole into the middle of the disk then widen the hole by spinning the disk in between your two fingers.

Lay the formed bagels onto parchment lined half sheet pans. Allow them to rest and relax (raise) another 10 minutes.

Once all of the bagels have been formed, start dropping them into boiling salted water (2 tbsp salt to 3 qts of water) 3 or 4 at a time depending on the size of your pot, starting with the first bagel formed working until the last. Drop the bagels into the boiling water one at a time. Let them boil on one side for 1.5 minutes (90 seconds), turn them over and allow them to boil on the other side for another 1.5 minutes.

After a total of 3 minutes of boiling, place the bagels back onto the baking sheets and brush them with the egg wash when they have mostly dried off. They dry off fairly quickly so it won't take long. After all of the bagels have taken their boiling bath and been brushed with the egg wash, put both pans into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, rotate the pans back to front, move the pan on the upper rack to the lower rack and move the pan on the lower rack to the upper one. Bake for another 10 minutes then rotate in the same manner. Rotation of the pans will ensure even baking/browning. Bake for an additional 5 minutes then pull them out. They should have a honey/golden color to them. Place the bagels on a dish towel or tea towel on the kitchen counter to cool. Once cooled, bag them up and leave on the counter or place in the freezer. Do not put them in the fridge as it will only dry them out!

Its That Time Again!

I know I have lots of posts to catch up on and post, and maybe in a week or two I'll sit down and do that. In the meantime, here is what I'm currently thinking about in the food department....

School Lunch Menu 2014-2015
	Main Dish		Dairy		Other		Drink
Day 1	PBJ Sandwich		Gogurt		pretzels		capri sun
Day 2	Bean/Cheese Burrito				tortilla chips		capri sun
Day 3	Pasta		String Cheese		beef jerky		capri sun
Day 4	Meat/Cheese/Crackers				treat		capri sun
Day 5	Deli Sandwich				granola bar		capri sun
Day 6	PBJ Sandwich		Gogurt		cheese nips		capri sun
Day 7	Pizza/Pepperoni sandwich				treat		capri sun
Day 8	Wraps		Yogurt Cup		chips		capri sun
Day 9	PBJ Sandwich		String Cheese		beef jerky		capri sun
Day 10	Hot Lunch
Vegetable		Fruit
Cucumber/Ranch		Watermelon
Carrots/ranch		Apples
S Potato/Ranch		Clementines
Olives		Coconut
Celery/PB/raisins		Grapes
Peas in Pod		Berries
Cauliflower/ranch		Trail Mix
Broccoli/Ranch		Pears

We'll see how that shows up with the blog formatting... hahaha....

But in case you can't tell, this is our plan for school lunches! I pinned a few of those "collection of ideas" and we used that for inspiration, and created this menu based on what our kids like.

Each Sunday evening, we'll prep all the fruit, veggies, snacks and dairy into bins.

We thought we'd make the sandwiches, burritos and wraps and stick them in the freezer, but that didn't work very well for the deli sandwiches. Instead, we grab everything in the morning, make the main dish, and toss it all in!

Each school morning the kids choose a prepped fruit and veggie, and otherwise follow the menu! Hopefully this will make things much easier for us all this year...I'll get back to you on that for sure, haha!

Kabobs in Tin Foil!

Last night we did something just a little different...I saw an idea to skip the skewering of kabobs, and instead wrap it all in tin foil and grill it! That's about perfect for the super busy nights we've been having- I prepped it all ahead of time and my husband put the packets on the grill as soon as we got home!

It was quite a bit like a tin foil dinner, but we used our kabob ingredients instead. This night was cubed russet potatoes, our marinated chicken, thinly sliced zucchini and frozen corn!
Super easy, super tasty!

Vegetables for dinner!

While it is true we've gone a lonnng time without trying any new recipes that I cared to keep, really, I just haven't had time to blog about food. But I happen to have a little time, so here's at least this post! haha...

A long time ago, I pinned THIS on pinterest. We finally got around to trying it!!
I followed that recipe almost exactly. I used at least three tomatoes and I think two small potatoes, and filled an 8x8 pan. Yep, I layered them in a pattern and had my son photo the process...

 Here it is, ready to bake...

 And now it has melty cheese all over it- ready to eat!

I figured if we split it in fourths that was about an average dinner for each of us, along with a slice of bread. Well, it was enough food for me, but not for anyone else in my family, so I'd recommend you use it as a side dish along with some grilled chicken or something like that!
It was easy, but a little tedious to make.
Two of us liked it, one of us tolerated it and the fourth didn't like it at all.