I made Brussels Sprouts!

Last week, I made fish, quinoa/rice and brussels sprouts. I didn't really follow a recipe, I just washed them, trimmed them, and cut them in half. I tossed them with olive oil and salt/pepper. I roasted them for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees. They were yummy just as they were, but I really wanted something more flavorful on them, so I reduced balsamic vinegar and a dash of sugar to toss on top. I put a few cranberries on the the kids' plates.

Is than an almost clean plate I see?

Basic Green Smoothie

There's nothing too special about this smoothie. All I did was add a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach to my usual smoothie.

1 c. berries

1 frozen banana

1 c. orange juice

1 handful of spinach

6 ice cubes

Blend well. It's pretty tasty. I didn't even taste the spinach.

Pineapple Orange Banana Smoothie

This one earned me a thumbs up!

1 cup orange juice

2 peeled oranges

1 cup chopped pinapples

2 frozen bananas

6 or so ice cubes

Blend well, and enjoy! The kids loved their drinks.

Yummy Winter Salad

I made this salad when Keith's parents came over for Christmas lunch, and we've been eating it at least once a week since then.

Super-easy...

* 1 container of salad greens

* 2 avocados

* 1 bottle of mandarin oranges

* 1 handful of craisins

* 1 handful of walnuts

I like to use a pomegranate vinaigrette salad dressing. Doesn't really matter which kind, as long as it doesn't contain Sodium Benzoate.

If I have some grilled chicken left over from dinner, I'll toss that in, too.

Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup

After a chilly afternoon playing at the park, something warm for dinner was in order. It was already 5:30pm when we walked back into the house, and dinner needed to be on the table right now. I've stopped buying canned soups because the sodium content is too high. And it looks as though my crazy obsession with BPA-free containers seems to be catching on, at least to the folks at Harvard, or so says NPR.

Super quick supper...

1. Bring two cartons of chicken broth to a boil.

2. Add chopped chicken.

3. Add noodles (I used adorable shaped gluten-free rice noodles.)

4. About 10 minutes later add some carrots and celery.

5. In the time it takes to have everyone wash hands, seek out clean bowls from the dishwasher and feed the dog - dinner is ready. Dish up, and enjoy.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Another blast from the past...

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 oz package of craisins

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well.
3. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in separate mixing bowl. Then add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition.
4. Stir in craisins and white chocolate chunks.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

The kids love them! They are a good mix of sweet and savory.

Creamy Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients

16 oz. broccoli

2 tbs butter

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp flour

2 c. milk

8 oz cream cheese cubed

1 c. crushed buttery round crackers

1. Prehead oven to 350.

2. Steam broccoli.

3. Melt butter over medium heat, stir in salt, flour and milk until thick and bubbly. Stir in cream cheese until melted.

4. Remove from heat, stir in broccoli.

5. Sprinkle 1/2 cup crushed crackers in pie plate. Layer with broccoli mix. Top with remaining cracker crumbs.

6. Bake for 30 minutes.

Yummy! Quick and easy. The kids loved it.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey breast

1/4 c. dry bread crumbs

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp minced onion

1 egg

1 16oz can jellied cranberry sauce

1/3 c. ketchup

1/4 c. chili sauce

*

1. Combine turkey, bread crumbs, parsley, onion and egg. Mix well and shape the mixture into 24 meatballs.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min.

3. Combine last 3 ingredients in large pot. Gently mixed meatballs in sauce.

Delicious!!

Resurrection Biscuits

Here it is the day after Christmas and I'm posting recipes for the Easter season. Notice that chunky little hand a couple of pictures down!

Ingredients:

Grands biscuits

Melted butter

Cinnamon Sugar

Marshmallows

1. Flatten out each Grand biscuit. Brush with butter and place marshmallow inside. Discuss the relation between the while marshmallow and the purity of Jesus. Annoint with spices and seal up tomb by wrapping biscuit around marshmallow and pinching to seal. (I brushed tomb with more butter and sprinkled more cinnamon sugar.)

2. Cook according to biscuit directions (350 degrees for 18 minutes worked for us). Take out of oven and let cool - if you slice them too soon, they will collapse, they need to cool for it to work right.

3. Once cooled (about 20 min or so for us), slice in half. Notice that the marshmallow is gone. Discuss why the tomb is empty.

Banana Carrot Muffins

The kids and I made these recipes quite often up in Alaska in the winter time. Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

5 bananas

1/2 cup orange juice

2 cups shredded carrots

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

1 cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda and salt.

3. In mixer, cream butter and sugar.

4. Mix in eggs and juice.

5. Mash bananas.

6. Mix carrots and bananas into the egg-sugar mixture.

7. Stir in dry mix

8. Put in lined muffin tins

9. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Makes 24 muffins. I sometimes add some chopped walnuts if I have them on hand. I first made these for the kids in November 2008.

Peanut Sauce Chicken and Veggies

Here's another recipe from back in 2008. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp honey

1tsp water

*

Whisk all these things together (except the chicken - that'll mess up your whisk!), and pour over the chicken. Place in fridge to marinate anywhere from 10-60 minutes.

*

More ingredients:

1/2 cup chickpeas

1 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp water

dash of Frank's

*

Toss all these things into the food processor and blend until very liquidy...I added about 1/4 cup more water through the top to make it very liquidy so it was easier to use as a stir-fry sauce.

*

1. Brown chicken, add stir fry sauce and whatever veggies you want.

2. Enjoy!

Stirred into the chicken tonight I used a 1/2 yellow onion (that's all that caramelized yummy goodness sticking to the chicken and veggies in the picture!), one cup of carrots, and one cup of broccoli (that I added about 2 seconds before serving, since I like my broccoli very crispy.)

I like this meal alot. The chicken had a great flavor to it and the stir fry sauce wasn't too sweet. But if you add enough Franks to anything, it's going to come out good!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I'm working on carrying over some previously posted recipes. So cute to see the pictures of the kids when they were a little smaller! Here's one from April 2008.

Okay, so I never said all of our snacks were healthy. This is far from a healthy choice! However, it's one of Keith's favorite things to snack on. Ingredients:

2 cans of chunk chicken, drained

2 packages of cream cheese softened

1 cup ranch dressing

3/4 cup Franks

1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

*

There are two different ways we make this dish. I like it this way -

1. Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet on the stove over medium heat. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese and transfer to slow cooker, top with remaining cheddar cheese.

This keeps it in the slow cooker nice and warm for parties.

*

Keith, on the other hand, makes it this way -

1. Take all the ingredients, dump into Kitchenaid mixer, mix with paddle blade until well mixed, toss into baking dish, cook on 350 for 30 minutes.

It doesn't come out nice and smooth like the crock pot method. When it's baked there are still pockets of cream cheese, and it isn't blended as well. But, hey, he's in the kitchen cooking, so what am I complaining about? :)

*

Serve with celery or tortilla chips or Chicken in a Biscuit crackers or in Keith's case, just a spoon will do.

Awww...I miss when the kids used to eat off of character melamine plates. I think this picture was just a few months after Megan gave herself her own haircut!

Kale Chips

We have a bearded dragon, Walle, and he loves dark leafy greens. Sometimes it causes some serious mommy-guilt that one of our pets eats more nutrient-dense foods than my kids sometimes! While I was in the kitchen planning our Christmas Eve lunch, I came across a recipe for Kale Chips. Bunch of Organic Kale

1 tsp EVOO

Pinch of salt

1. Pull kale leaves off of hard stock. Tear into potato chip size pieces.

2. Toss all kale chip leaves in bowl with EVOO and salt to ensure even coverage.

3. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes.

Reviews:

Daniel crushed them all up in his bowl.

Megan tried to drown them in water.

Joshua ate a few and asked for an orange.

The hubby scarfed down his bowl and ate all the kids (even the ones Daniel crushed) and asked for more.

I thought they were great and will make them again soon.

I think the biggest problem isn't the taste, or that they are green, or that they are vegetables...I think the biggest problem is that I can't compete with this....
the plate full of junk food that came home from just one classroom's holiday party.

Be sure to check out the tab at the top of the page. I'll be going through the blog over the next few days to label each of the recipes and merge our old recipe blog onto this one to share our tasty treats (and some flops) with everyone.

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can assure you, I'm probably going to be wolfing down 2 or 3 of these in the mini-van tomorrow morning at 6am on my way to work. They are that good. And with oatmeal in the name - they could be breakfast, right?

Ingredients:

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. butter - softened

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3 c. flour (I use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat)

4 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Convince Daniel to mash bananas with a fork; then run a stick of butter out to the table in the backyard to "soften" in the 86 degree weather.

3. Combine the first 5 ingredients in KAM (my name for my Kitchen-Aide Mixer - catchy, right?). Mix until smooth, then add the eggs.

4. Combine all the dry ingredients (minus the chocolate) in a large bowl - give it a whisk or two to fluff it all together.

5. Mix the dry stuff in KAM with the wet stuff and keep the mixer going until everything is mixed nicely together.

6. Open bag of chocolate chips and brace for the stampede of children running to the kitchen. Give everyone ONE chip to hold them over until the cookies are complete.

7. Mix in one cup of chips into the cookie mix.

8. Drop by cookie-scooper onto a parchment-covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Recipe bakes around 4 1/2 dozen cookies; yet, somehow, I only have 36 cookies remaining on the cooling rack.

Carrot Applesauce Cup Cakes

As promised here is the recipe for some yummy cupcakes -

4 eggs
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. applesauce
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 c. shredded carrots

1. Preheat oven to 300. Pop cupcake papers in muffin tin.

2. In mixer, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla. In another bowl - mix together the remaining dry ingredients. Gradually add dry to wet mixture. Stir in carrots.

3. Bake for 35 min.

Frosting

1/2 c. butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat all together in mixer - add more or less powdered sugar depending on desired consistency.


Now, if you are really hungry - go check out Clarissa's recipe for banana cookies (on the Day family of four). Yummy!

Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Craisin cookies

I surprised the kids with some cookies today. I made Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies. They were very good. The recipe can be found on the Craisin website(http://www.oceanspray.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?id=1143&nid=9) along with some other yummy looking treats.


The recipe states that it makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies, but I tend to make small cookies so I've got about 3 1/2 dozen small cookies. The kids love to have 2 or 3 small cookies instead of one giant cookie. Yummy!

Black Bean Soup

This one came in at 3 pts for a 1 cup serving according to my recipe tracker. This yummy soup comes from my friend Heather here in Kodiak. She gave me this recipe just a few weeks before Megan was born (March 18th, 2004).

10 sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
1 c. boiling water
1 1/2 c. finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin
1/3 c. water
28 oz of undrained canned tomatoes (I like the petite diced)
32 oz of undrained black beans

1. Cover sun-dried tomatoes with boiling water and set aside.
2. In pot, saute onions, garlic, and cayenne in the oil for about 5 min, stirring frequently.
3. Add cumin, 1/3 c. water and the juice from the tomatoes.
4. Squeeze tomatoes into the pot.
5. Cover and bring to a boil.
6. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Add black beans and their liquid and continue to simmer stirring occaisionally to prevent sticking.
8. Drain and chop sun-dried tomatoes.
9. Add to soup and cook for 5-10 minutes.
10. Puree half of the soup and return in to the pot.

Potato Soup

Let me just say that I am not even going to plug this into my recipe tracker to check the health statistics on it. It's high on the yummy scale, but low on the healthy scale. By the way - I calculated out that a 1 cup serving size of the squash soup (without the 1/2 and 1/2 - was only 2 points).

Potato Soup - from Katie (a former co-worker in 2004)

2 med baked potatoes (baked, peeled, chopped)
3tsp butter
1 c. diced onion
2 tsp flour
4 c. chicken stock
2 c. water
1/4 c. corn starch
1 1/2 c. instant mashed potatoes
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp basil
1/8 tsp thyme
1 c. half and half

1. Melt butter in soup pot and saute onion until light brown.
2. Add the flour to onions and stir to make a roux.
3. Add stock, water, cornstarch, instant mashed potatoes and spices to the pot, bring to boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add flesh from baked potatoes.
6. Add half and half, bring soup back to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Ladle into bowls and enjoy.

*The recipe does not call for garlic, but I added 1 clove of chopped garlic when the onions were browning. I also like to add lots of broccoli and cheese to this soup - the kids love it even more when it is more than one color.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

By popular request - the recipe for one of the soups last night...


APPLE-BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

1 med. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced coarsely
2 c. apples, peeled, cored and diced (I used two medium sized granny smith apples)
1 c. onion, chopped
3 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. half and half
4 tbsp. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 tbsp. curry powder (I added a bit extra)
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in soup pot. Add squash, onion, apples and curry. Saute for five minutes with frequent stirring. Do not brown. Add flour and mix well. Cook, with constant stirring for two minutes. Add chicken broth and mix well.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes with occasional stirring. Puree in food processor and add back to the pot with the half and half. Milk can be substituted. Bring to serving temperature but do not boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.


*I ate a bowl of the soup before I added the 1/2 and 1/2 and then tasted a little bit after it was added. I liked it better without the 1/2 and 1/2. So when I make it again, I'll save myself the fat and calories and exclude the dairy. The dairy gives it a creamier texture, but significantly cools off the kick from the curry powder, and I like spicier foods, and I'm lactose intolerant.


Enjoy.