Sorbet

I found a nice way to use up some fresh fruit! I have not always been a sorbet fan but recently, I came across a nice recipe. I think it's pretty good and my kids eat it up when they want a nice cool treat. We have been enjoying Sorbet! I am sure you could use less sugar and add more fruit if you would like...

4 cups fresh fruit

2 cups sugar

1 cup orange juice

2 Tbs. lemon juice

Puree fruit in blender. Mix sugar, orange juice and lemon juice in medium saucepot. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Stir in puree and put in 9x13 inch pan. Freeze. After it's mostly frozen but not hard, working in small portions, puree again until light and fluffy. Store in 1/2 pint freezer containers. It's delish!

Vegetable Chow Mein

If you enjoy chow mein from Chinese restraunts, you will love this recipe! I am a big fan of chow mein, and was really happy with how this recipe turned out. Tastes just as good as anything you'd get from a restaraunt, it makes a lot and the left overs are great heated back up. Don't be afraid to add different veggies if you prefer!

1 package chow mein style egg noodles
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots peeled and cut into matchstick pieces
1 & 1/3 cup sliced mushrooms
4 ounces snow peas in the pod
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into sticks
1 small zuccini cut into small pieces
2 cups shredded spinach
2 cups bean sprouts
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking sherry
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp sesame oil

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Set aside.

Heat three tablespoons of oil in a wok or large skillet. Add the onion and sticks of carrot, and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, peas, cucumber, and zuccini and stir fry for an additional minute. (If you prefer softer veggies, adjust time accordingly.)

Stir in the remaining vegetable oil, and add the drained noodles with the spinach and bean sprouts.

Blend together the remaining ingredients, and pour over the noodles and vegetables. (I had a lot of noodles, so I made another batch of the sauce. If your noodles taste a bit bland, make more sauce or just add more soy sauce!)

Stir fry until thoroughly heated through and serve.

Yummy Cannery Bread

This is the best Bread that I have found. It's great because it uses so many storage items that you most likely have on hand...


I use a Bosch Mixer but it works the old fashioned way as well. I have done both and it turns out just about the same. You may also do 1/2 wheat if prefered. You may also add more honey if you would like a sweeter tasting bread.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups Warm Water
• 3 Tbs. Yeast
• 2/3 Cup Potato Pearls
• 2/3 Cup Honey
• 2/3 Cup Powdered Milk
• 2/3 Cup Oil
• 2 Tbs. Salt
• 12 Cups Flour (approx.)

Add Water, Potato Pearls and Yeast. Dissolve for 5 minutes. Add Honey, powdered Milk and Oil. Mix Well. Measure 12 cups flour and add salt. Gradually add flour mixture until dough comes away from the edges. Kneed for 10 minutes on Speed 1.

Let rise until Double. Punch Down and let rest for a few minutes. Form into loaves. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes and 350 for 15 minutes. I usually get 3 large loaves and 6 mini loaves, because that is how we use it the best. After the bread has cooled, I freeze the rest. Fresh bread for weeks. MMmmmm!

Little Pink Chicken

We tried this chicken this past weekend with some yummy ham fried rice. It was really good , with really common ingredient (simple). Andy (who doesn't, generally care for chicken) loved it.

"Little Pink Chicken (Sweet and Sour Chicken)"
Yields: 6 servings
INGREDIENTS:2 large chicken breast
s1/2 tsp. garlic saltCornstarch1 egg beaten with
1 Tbsp. water
1 C. sugar
1/3 C. vinegar
1/3 C. ketchup
1/4 C. chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
DIRECTIONS:1. Cut chicken in pieces and sprinkle with garlic salt.
2. Let sit one hour.
3. Dip in cornstarch, then in beaten egg.
4. Fry in hot oil until brown.
5. Place in casserole dish.
6. Combine sugar, vinegar, ketchup, chicken broth, salt, and soy sauce.
7. Microwave or five minutes, stirring mixture halfway through. 8. Pour over chicken and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until the sauce is thickened.

MMM Cookies

This is a recipe I got from my friend Brittany with a few adjustments.
Urban Legend Cookies:

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups all-purpose flour
5 cups rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups white sugar
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I add about a half of bag of Milk chocolate chips)
3 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In a blender or food processor, process the oats until finely chopped.
Add the chopped oats, flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder into the creamed butter and sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate and nuts.
Roll dough into 1 1/2 - 2 inch balls (do not press) and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

$5.00 Dinners

Check out this Totally Awesome website I just found. I think I'm going to try some of the recipes there. I have a family of 6 so dinner for $5.00 would be stellar!

http://www.5dollardinners.com/

Spinach Artichoke dip/pasta

This recipe is supposed to be similar to spinach artichoke dip but it is a pasta dish. Instead of an appetizer it is a complete meal with all of the food groups. I apologize, I don't know any of the exact measurements, but it is such a yummy recipe I had to post it.

Cooked cubed chicken breast
Tortellini
Canned artichokes
frozen spinach
butter
garlic (if I don't have fresh I just use garlic powder)
flour
milk
any Italian cheese
salt and pepper

Saute the chicken

Boil the tortellini according to package directions.

Microwave spinach until it is thawed out but not hot. Then squeeze out all the juice. This works well in a kitchen towel but will stain it. I just squeeze it over a colander.

Break up artichokes

For sauce:
melt butter in pan (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
add chopped garlic just for a minute or two (I use a lot but I really like garlic)
add flour to the pan and boil 1 minute more (1 to 2 T)
add milk to the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat no higher (2 cups, I am really not sure so if it is to thick just add more milk)
add spinach and artichokes
add Italian cheeses (about 1 cup, and more if you don't want to taste the spinach)
salt and pepper to taste

Pour the sauce over the pasta and chicken and mix well, enjoy!

Mushroom Gravy

Me and Ian made this for the first time tonight, and it was sooooooo good! Next time you plan on having mashed potatoes, you have to try this out. By the way, we halved this recipe and there was still A LOT of gravy, so unless you're feeding a lot of people, you may want to halve it also. (I didn't halve the mushrooms or garlic though, because I love mushrooms and garlic!)

• 3/4 cup white or button mushrooms, chopped
• One clove of garlic, minced
  
• 1 small yellow or white onion, minced
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine (obviously, plain ol' margarine will work just fine.)
  
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tbsp poultry seasoning (or 1/2 tsp each of sage, thyme and marjoram)
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, melt the vegan margarine and add the garlic, onion and mushrooms. Sautee for just a minute or two over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium and add vegetable broth and soy sauce. Slowly add flour, stirring well to combine and prevent lumps from forming. Bring to a simmer or a low boil, then reduce heat.

Add poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, stirring consistently. Allow to cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until gravy thickens. (I didn't cook it for quite that long. Just cook it until it has a consistancy that you like.)

Artichoke Risotto

If artichokes aren't usually on your menu, then this recipe may kind of scare you at first, because artichokes aren't the most appetizing looking vegetable out there. But I challenge you to try this out anyway, because I don't know anyone who doesn't like marinated artichoke hearts after they get brave enough to try them, and this recipe is sooo super yummy! I was also a little wary of this recipe at first, because the way you're supposed to cook the rice sounds a little difficult at first, but if you just do exactly as the recipe says, it will turn out well.

ARTICHOKE RISOTTO

*1 tablespoons olive oil
*1/2 tablespoon unsalted margarine
*1 small onion, chopped
*1 cup uncooked carnaroli rice (I couldn't find this exact name of rice, so I used arborio rice, because on the package it said "great for risotto" lol)
*1/8 cup soy milk (or skim milk)
*1/8 cup apple juice
*3 cups vegetable broth (Here's where that vegetable broth recipe comes in handy!)
*1 (6.5 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts
*1/2 can yellow corn
*Cayenne pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat oil and margarine. Stir in the onion, and sauté until tender.
2. Stir in the rice, and cook until lightly browned. (Stir occasionally so you don't burn the rice. I found that using a rubber spatula was very helpful with this recipe)
3. Pour milk and apple juice into the rice.
4. When the rice has absorbed the liquids, gradually pour in vegetable stock, about 1/2 cup at a time, until absorbed. Reserve about 1/4 cup stock. Cover, and cook about 20 minutes, until rice is tender. (This is copied from the recipe I found, but when I cooked the rice it absorbed the liquids a lot faster than 20 minutes. Probably about ten. Just be sure to keep your eye on the rice so you don't burn it, and when all the liquids are absorbed, taste it to make sure the rice is tender.)
4. Remove the rice from heat, and thoroughly mix remaining vegetable stock, artichoke hearts (Don't drain the marinade, add it to the rice), corn, and cayenne pepper into the rice.

This makes 4 good sized servings.

Smoothies

I had a request for smoothie recipes. Unfortunately, I never measure when I cook and can't even take a guess here. Here is what I put in though.

The one rule when making smoothies is using extremely ripe fruit. The fruit that you think has gone bad and would never eat, goes fabulously in a smoothie.

My favorite Smoothie
Milk
Orange juice concentrate (straight from the can no water added)
vanilla extract
Peaches (with out peal)
strawberries
blueberries
sugar (this depends on how sweet you like your smoothie)
whey protein powder (your smoothie won't taste as good with it, but it will stay with you longer)

If you use protein powder first add the milk and protein powder in a blender and blend for 1 full minute.
Then add vanilla and orange juice
then add fruit and ice

1 pot cheesy chicken and pasta

In a large pan cook
1 pound chicken (dice chicken before or after you cook it)

To pan add:
4 oz pasta
1 can chicken broth
1 bag frozen veggies (I use carrots, broccoli, and, cauliflower)
Boil until pasta is done

In a separate bowl mix
1 can cream of chicken
1/2 cup milk
1 to 2 cups cheese (just about anything you have will work)
1 T Dijon mustard
garlic
salt and pepper

When the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid in the pan is evaporated, mix in the sauce and cook until cheese is melted.

Enjoy

Doug's favorite super easy chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken (anything you have will due)
b-b-q sauce
Italian dressing

Simply mix 1 part b-b-q sauce and 1 part Italian dressing (I use about 1/3 cup each). Put chicken into baking dish and pour 3/4 of the sauce on it. Bake on 350 until done. (I check mine with a meat thermometer) You can then pour off the juices from the chicken into a sauce pan to make gravy. Last, put the rest of the b-b-q sauce mixture onto the chicken and bake for 5 more minutes. Super easy!

This goes well with mashed potatoes. To make the gravy I:

Melt 2 T butter in a sauce pan
Pour in drippings from chicken pan
bring to a boil
add flour (I'm guessing 1-2T)
boil for 1 or 2 minutes
add milk or chicken broth to thin out
boil until done

Bean and Rice Veggie Wraps

This is a recipe that started out as "black bean and rice burritos", and has grown over time. It's good for you, easy to make, and surprisingly filling! Also, it doesn't cost too much to make, but makes quite a bit. If you have left overs, they store well in an airtight container in the fridge. You can even pre-wrap them before you put them in the fridge. They're pretty good hot or cold, but I prefer mine warm.

* 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
* Oil of your choice
* 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
* 1 green chili pepper, finely chopped
* 1 can black beans
* 1/2 can pinto beans
* 1/4 can whole kernel corn
* 1 tomato, diced
* 1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
* 4 T salsa of your choice (Or to taste)
* Hot sauce of your choice, to taste (This is optional, but I like my food spicey)
* Salt and Pepper to taste
* Flour tortillas

1. Cook brown rice according to instructions on the package.

2. While rice is cooking, prepare your other ingredients. First, mince your garlic clove, and chop up your chili pepper. Put a bit of oil in a frying pan over low-medium heat, and throw in the garlic and chili. Keep these moving with a spatula, or your garlic may burn. (This step is actually optional. You can just throw in the chili raw, but I prefer mine to be softer. Cooking also takes out a bit of the heat if you're not into spicey) Cook until the chili is as soft as you like it.

2. Pour black beans and pinto beans in a colander over the sink, and rinse. Once rinsed, put beans in a large bowl and add the chili and garlic to the bowl.

3. Drain corn and add to the bowl.

4. Chop tomatoes, and add to the bowl.

5. Shred cheese, add to the bowl.

6.Once your rice is done cooking, add this to the bowl while it's still warm. Mix everything together.

7. Add salsa, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Mix, and add more of these last ingredients to taste if needed.

8. Spoon mixture into tortillas, and wrap burrito style.

This makes around 6 wraps, depending on how full you like your wraps to be. Enjoy!

How to Make Your Own Vegetable Broth

I decided to try out the Vegetable Primavera recipe tonight, and wanted to use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth or plain water. But since Ian worked today, I didn't have the car, so needed to walk to Sacco's to get my veggies, but didn't want to also walk to Smith's for vegetable broth. So I thought, "Hey, I guess I'll try to make my own!" I'd never done this is the past because I thought it would be complicated, but it's really super easy! Here's what you do:


1.Get some veggies to make your broth. You can use any vegetables you'd like. (I just chopped up what I needed to make the Vegetable Primavera in advance, and then used the left overs. So I used yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli stalks, red onion, the top of a yellow bell pepper, and white mushrooms. I also had some carrots in the fridge that needed to be used before they went bad, so I threw those in too.

2. Put all your veggies in a BIG pot. You don't need to peel or even chop up the veggies. Adding the peels is also a good idea because there are lots of nutrients in them.

3. Add a clove of garlic. You can cut this into big chunks, or hit it with the handle part of a knife to just break it up a bit. (This is optional...but who doesn't LOVE garlic?)

4. Add some herbs if you'd like (I added LOTS of parsley, and a couple of bay leaves) and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add enough water to cover your vegetables, and put the pot on the stove with the heat turned up high.

6. Once the water starts boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer, and let it cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

7. Remove from heat, and let it cool down a little bit.

8. Pour into a large bowl thru a strainer or colander. (A strainer would obviously give you a better broth, but I only have a colander.)

9. If you want to save left over broth, you can freeze it in ice cube trays, or other types of storage containers.


I use recipes that call for vegetable broth a lot, but it usually isn't very much so the left overs go to waste. I also usually have a lot of left over vegetables that end up getting thrown away. So, this is a good economic idea in my opinion! Also, most broths you buy at the store have loads of sodium in them, so this is a much healthier option.

Marilyn's Turkey Turnovers

You know what Marilyn ~ Your turnovers are still my favorite! I make them whenever I need to take a meal to a family and special occasions at my house. Mmm... Yummy! (Bet you never thought you would hear that from me -miss picky eater- LOL)

Crock pot Thai Curry

I'm not much of a meat and potatoes girl and I love to experiment when I cook. However, my husband is the pickiest eater I have ever known. That being said I may post a recipe that seems weird, but I will never post one my husband doesn't love. So even if your first thought is, REALLY? You still may want to give it a try. We had this for dinner tonight and loved it so much we stuffed ourselves silly.

The sauce in this recipe is to die for, so if the vegetable combo does not sound appealing to you try it on chicken and rice only. Plus Doctor Oz says that curry prevents Alzheimer's Disease.

In a medium bowl mix
1 can coconut milk (don't use the lite version, the fat in this is a healthy fat and the recipe is huge so the portion you will get is small.)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T brown sugar
2 T curry powder (curry powder is not spicy)
5 dashes of cayenne pepper for mildly spicy (more or less for your taste)
salt and pepper

Put into a crock pot either
1 pound chicken (frozen is fine)
or
1 can garbanzo beans (for a meatless dinner)

Then add
1 green bell pepper
2 zucchini

pour sauce over all of it

On the top add one large sweet potato sliced
(I always thought I didn't like sweet potatoes but I love them in this)

Cook on high for 5 hours

Serve over rice with soy sauce

Recipe sent to me by Gloria

I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds good, Bre you could try this and just leave out the chicken broth.
Vegetable Primavera

2 T. low sodium chicken broth or water
2 tsp. Dijon style mustard
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
Non stick cooking spray
1 cup sliced yellow summer squash
1 cup sliced zucchini squash
1 cup chopped red or yellow pepper
½ cup thinly sliced sweet onion
2 cups broccoli florets
4 tsp snipped fresh parsley

In a small bowl, combine 1 T. of the broth, the mustard, oil, and vinegar. Set aside.

Lightly coat nonstick pan with cooking spray. Heat over med. Heat and add vegetables to pan. Cook about 5 minutes or until almost tender. Add remaining 1 T. broth and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the mustard mixture and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

4 servings

Per serving: 58 Calories, 3 g. fat, 8 g carbs, 3 g. fiber and 2 g. protein

When I make this, I sometimes throw in 2 cups of baby spinach leaves, and sometimes 1 cup sliced mushrooms during the last 2 minutes of cooking.

This dish is so incredibly packed with nutrients and antioxidants! You’ll feel better just knowing you’ve made such a healthy choice for a side dish.

This blog is...

This blog is a place to share all your cooking successes. Healthy meals your family will actually eat, new recipes your trying out, delightful deserts, crockpot meals, meat free dinners, dinner on a budget, low cal meals, ethnic recipes, or anything else I haven't thought of.

Just introducing myself...

I really need to get my butt off the computer and clean my house, so I don't have time to type up any recipes at the moment, but I just wanted to take a second to say "hi", and that I'm excited about this blog! I actually have started to REALLY love cooking. I think it's so fun to see recipes come together, to smell all the good stuff cooking, and to be proud of making something myself. I also love trying new things.

For those of you who don't know, I am Marci's little sister. I've been a vegetarian for four years, so yes, all my recipes will be meat free. Don't let that scare you off though...I'll only post yummy recipes, I promise. ;) Even if some of the stuff sounds weird to you, I challenge you to try it out. Being vegetarian isn't about restricting yourself, it's about trying new things, and you'll be surprised to find how many "weird" things actually taste REALLY good!

I just bought a cook book online yesterday and I got a ton of free e-books with my order. Let me know your email address if you are interested in any of these and I will shoot them over to you. It does say that it can be sent in it's original form so it's not infringing on any copyrights. The topics I have are:

Cakes
Cheesecake
Crockpot
Holiday
Jello Salads
Mexican
Muffins
Pizzaria
Quick Bread
Salad Dressing
Soups and Chowders
Zucchini
Preserving (Canning)

I am not huge on cookiing at all. In fact, I hate it more than anything else I get to do in life. If you want to try out some of the recipes in these e-books, maybe you could post some of the good ones on this site. ;)

Trisha Yearwood's Chicken Pot Pie

I don't think this recipe is super healthy, but it's sure yummy!! I got it out of Trisha Yearwood's cookbook and my kids actually eat it too!

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups chicken broth
1 10-ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 cup self-rising flour (see note)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk, well shaken

Preheat oven to 425 F

Put the chicken in a 2-quart casserole dish. Combine the broth and soup in a medium saucepan and bring the mixture to boil. Pour the broth mixture over the chicken.

In a seperate medium bowl, mix the flour with the pepper. Pour the mixture over the casserole and smooth the top; do not stir. Bake the casserole for 45 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the filling beneath is hot and bubbly.

Note: If you do not have self-rising flour, you may substitute 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

I bet you could put veggies in it too if you wanted to add a little extra nutritional value. The first time I made this I didn't use the best casserole dish and I barely got it all to fit. It started to bubble over the sides of the dish! I put a piece of tin foil on the second shelf in the oven and it caught all the drips. If you use a bigger dish, you won't have the problem I did ~ but you can use this tip for an easy clean up. Enjoy!!

Super Healthy Mexican Casserole

This casserole is loaded with nutrients, protein, and, fiber.

Cook 1 cup rice. I use wild rice.
While the rice is cooking saute in olive oil;
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 onion
When tender add to pan
1 can black beans drained
1 can diced tomatoes drained
1 can corn drained
1 to 2 cups salsa
chili powder
cumin
garlic powder
salt and pepper
Tabasco sauce if you like it spicy
rice

put it all in a baking dish and bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with cheese and sour cream.