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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Egg and Sausage Casserole

30 Apr
This was a great last minute save for our dinner a few weeks back!

This was a great last minute save for our dinner a few weeks back!

Ever have one of those nights where you’ve counted on leftovers for dinner but yet when you open the fridge, there aren’t any?

Yup. It really stinks when that happens, doesn’t it?

We must’ve had a very hungry week the week prior to our spring break because when we made our menu for the week, knowing we’d be going away for the break week, we tried hard to use what we had and we worked in leftovers on the menu for a particularly busy night where we’d have to eat and run. But, we did an extra good job of using what we had because when I looked, I realized I needed a new plan for dinner that night.

Coincidentally, because I get so many meal ideas and recipes in my inbox each day, one happened to catch my eye and spark my interest for dinner that night. It was an egg and sausage casserole which was supposed to be cooked in the slow cooker, most likely for an Easter brunch type of meal, but it gave me an idea for my last minute Wednesday-before-the-chorus- concert-and-dance-class night type of meal instead.

I began looking on the internet and Pinterest for egg casserole ideas. I wanted to make a good-sized one so that I could also use it for the remaining week’s breakfasts and lunches too. I am a big fan of the “Cook Once, Eat Twice” philosophy.

The recipe I came up with was well-received by my family and I even served it with an English Muffin bread, which I made in the bread maker while I was gone for the afternoon. I did not need to slow cook my casserole, so I baked it in the oven instead. It was a perfect meal.

Here is the recipe I somewhat created, based on all the recipes I saw that day.

EGG AND SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

Olive oil

12 package cooked sausage (I used a combination of cut up low fat turkey sausage links (8) and what I had left of my Jimmy Dean low fat Turkey sausage crumbles.)

14 eggs beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 small onion, chopped

Several small potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces (I used six potatoes, I could’ve done with five. Six was just a bit much, even for a large casserole.)

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (we use low fat)

DIRECTIONS

I precooked my potatoes and my onions and sausage in olive oil on the stove top first. I put them into two cast iron skillets since I had such a large amount, and cooked them before putting them in the bottom of my casserole dish. I poured my eggs on top of them once in the dish, and topped with the shredded cheese.

I baked my casserole for one hour at 350 degrees. Be sure to check it by putting a knife through. The casserole looks done about halfway before it is done. Halfway through, I covered it with foil because the top was golden brown but the inside was still loose.

 

 

 

 

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Sponsored Post: Dairy Pure Milk with a Worry-Free Flip Cap Recipe and Giveaway!

28 Mar
Have you seen it yet? Dairy Pure Milk has a great new flip cap!

Have you seen it yet? Dairy Pure Milk has a great new Worry-Free flip cap!

Do you ever have one of those “Why didn’t I think of that,” moments when you see something new on TV? I know I do!

I recently had one of those moments when I saw the television commercial for Dairy Pure’s new “Worry-Free” flip cap. I can’t tell you how many times our milk caps have gotten lost, accidentally thrown in the trash, or gone flying on to the floor upon being opened. In the past, I’ve had to put plastic wrap over our milk cover with an elastic band or use an old cover, or put all the milk into a pitcher, all to solve our milk cap problems.

Clearly, I’m not the only one whose household has had these types of milk cap worries, because Dairy Pure Milk recently introduced their new Worry-Free flip cap, which now keeps the cap ON the milk, where it’s supposed to be.

You can say it, I know you want to: “Why didn’t *I* think of that?”

Exactly.

Since we’re big smoothie people, especially now that the warmer weather is coming, I was excited to try out Dairy Pure milk and the great new worry-free cap, for a new smoothie recipe, which I’ll share below. I also enjoy using locally produced products and Dairy Pure is made by Garelick Farms in Franklin, Massachusetts, which is the town where both my husband I used to work.

Five important points!

Five important points!

When I tried out the Dairy Pure Milk, I made note of their Five Point Purity Checklist, which states the following:

*Our Farmers pledge NO artificial growth hormones

*We test our milk for antibiotics

*Continuously quality tested to ensure purity

*Only from cows fed a nutritious diet

*Cold-shipped fresh from your trusted dairy within hours

Those five points are all important, and I was pleased to know that Garelick takes those things seriously.

But it’s the cap….I love that cap! My days of plastic wrap, elastic bands and pitchers are a gone with the Worry-Free cap.

Before I share my smoothie recipe with you, I wanted to also pass along the Dairy Pure Recipe page in case you’d like to find even more recipe inspiration using Dairy Pure Milk!

And remember: Be sure to read to the end of this blog post, as I’ll be putting my instructions there for a Dairy Pure special giveaway!

Dairy Pure Milk with a Worry-Free cap is an excellent choice for your own smoothie concoctions!

Dairy Pure Milk with a Worry-Free cap is an excellent choice for your own smoothie concoctions!

Now…for my recipe! I often post smoothie recipes for my Fun Friday posts, and since it’s Friday, I thought a new smoothie recipe would pair well with my Dairy Pure Milk! I recently received a gift from my friend Amy: a jar of crunchy cookie butter!! She knew that I’d given up my favorite hazelnut spread for Lent, and she thought this delicious crunchy cookie butter would help me through the 40 days. She’s right! The jar is almost empty! I’ve been eating it with a spoon, but I thought I’d try it, along with the milk, in a smoothie and it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g!!

Here’s the recipe that I created last week:

Throw it all in a blender and you're ready to go!

Throw it all in a blender and you’re ready to go!

COOKIE BUTTER & BANANA SMOOTHIE

32 oz. of milk (You can use your choice of skim, low fat or whole milk, We used skim.)

Two frozen bananas

1/4 to 1/2 cup crunchy cookie butter

Three scoops fat free vanilla frozen yogurt

Whipped cream (optional)

Place all your ingredients into your blender or smoothie maker and blend it up! So simple! You can choose to add a little whipped cream to your smoothie if you’d like!

And now….the moment you’ve been waiting for! The Dairy Pure milk GIVEAWAY!
I know that if you’re like me, keeping your cold groceries cold between the store and home is important! Therefore, I’d love to give TWO READERS a special insulated, re-usable, handled shopping tote bag from Dairy Pure Milk! You can use it to keep all your cold foods cold when you’re en-route from store to home. Now you can shop for all of your smoothie ingredients: milk, fruits and frozen yogurts and keep them all cold so that when you get home and unpack, your ingredients will be ready for blending!

Do you want one? Leave a comment on my blog! What would *you* make with Dairy Pure Milk?

Do you want one? Leave a comment on my blog! What would *you* make with Dairy Pure Milk?

Here’s how to enter for a chance at the giveaway:

Leave me a comment here on my blog, telling me something yummy you would make with Dairy Pure milk!

That’s it! Easy peasy! I will take all of the responses and randomly draw two names for the totes. Be sure to check back so that you know if you’ve won!

I will run this giveaway for ONE WEEK, until Friday, April 4th, at which point I will announce the winners on the blog and on Facebook.

Good luck!!

 

 **This is a sponsored post. I was compensated for this post.

However, all of the thoughts, and opinions I have expressed here are my own.**

 

 

 

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Simple Shrimp and Chicken Stir Fry

26 Mar
I loved the flavor in this stir fry!

I loved the flavor in this stir fry!

You might think to yourself that if you’ve had one stir fry, you’ve had them all. How different could they possibly be?

I think it depends on what your ingredients are. There are so many different flavors out there, whether it’s the sauces you throw in or the ingredients and vegetables that you include.

Recently I had so many veggies left in my fridge that I didn’t want to go to waste, I decided to do a stir fry. I wanted to try a new one though, just to see what was out there. I also knew that besides the veggies I wanted to utilize, I also wanted the stir fry to include both chicken and shrimp, since I have kids who like one or the other, but not both.

I Googled “shrimp and chicken stir fry” and chose this one from http://hipfoodiemom.com and I really loved it! I had everything the recipe called for except mushrooms and snap peas, but I also had zucchini so I threw that in instead. It seemed reminiscent to me of a “Dump Cake” recipe I once read, where you literally just dump all the ingredients in together. That’s what I love about stir fry recipes, you can really throw in a lot of different things.

I think that the difference between this recipe and some of the ones I’ve tried in the past are the sesame oil and the balsamic vinegar. Those are new to any recipe I’ve tried before.

Here is the recipe as Hip Foodie Mom has it on her site. I hope you’ll pay her a visit!

It was the unique combination of sauces that made this recipe so good!

It was the unique combination of sauces that made this recipe so good!

Author: Hip Foodie Mom

Recipe type: Main
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1-2 cups broccoli, cut into florets
  • 1 package mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 to 3 carrots, cut
  • 1 bell pepper (red or yellow), chopped
  • 1-2 cups sugar snap peas, chopped
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • salt and pepper
  • about 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • about 1 pound shrimp (fresh or frozen, but if frozen, make sure it’s completely thawed)
  • 2 cups rotisserie chicken; chopped
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1-2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
  • Serve with brown rice
Instructions
  1. Get all your veggies prepped: washed and chopped. And cut up your rotisserie chicken.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. After a minute or 2, throw in all of your vegetables and allow them to cook until just tender, for about 2 minutes. Stirring occasionally. After 2 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook your vegetables or another 3 minutes or so. Season with a little salt and pepper.
  3. Add the shrimp and chicken. Drizzle the sesame oil, add the low sodium soy sauce and a splash or 2 of balsamic vinegar. Taste and add more soy sauce or balsamic vinegar if needed. Cook for another 5 minutes or so. Serve over brown rice.
Recipe by Hip Foodie Mom at http://hipfoodiemom.com/2012/12/06/shrimp-and-chicken-or-beef-stir-fry-like-mother-like-daughter/

 

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Fun Friday: War Cake

7 Mar
I love when books contain recipes that go along with the story. This was a great one!

I love when books contain recipes that go along with the story. This was a great one!

My kids and I are huge readers, and when it comes to history, all five of us, my husband included, are big fans. We all love to cook and bake, so when my daughter found a historical fiction book about the life and times of a girl during World War II, she was excited to read it.

“My Secret War: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck” is part of the Dear America series of books.

At the end of the book there was a recipe for War Cake, something that was spoken about throughout the story.

She was so excited! We had to make it.

I looked at the ingredients and we had them all. Well, we had almost all of them. The recipe called for walnuts and I don’t love them so we don’t often have them here.

I came up with a great substitution though: chocolate chips! Everything goes well with chocolate chips.

This was an excellent book and the recipe inside was a bonus!

This was an excellent book and the recipe inside was a bonus!

We decided that on Sunday afternoon this would be a great recipe for her to make. Looking at it further, I realized that it was ultimately pretty healthy too, as far as cakes and desserts go.

Due to the fact that ingredients were hard to come by during World War II, this cake is made with brown sugar rather than white, no eggs, no milk, and only a little butter. My daughter learned in the story that white sugar was used to make gunpowder during the war and therefore, was almost impossible to come by. Although the character in the story is fiction, the events are based on true historical events during WWII and are based on the author, Mary Pope Osborne’s own parents’ experiences as well. Mary Pope Osborne is also the author of the popular Magic Treehouse series of books.

I know that my daughter will be returning this book to the library this weekend during our weekly Saturday visit and she’ll be on the lookout for another Dear America story to read, since she devoured this one.

Almost literally.

Until then, here’s the recipe for Mary Pope Osborne’s War Cake.

Enjoy!

War Cake

By Mary Pope Osborne

INGREDIENTS

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup water

1 cup raisins

2 T. margarine (I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (I used chocolate chips instead)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8×4″ baking pan (we used 8×8).

Place the brown sugar, water, raisins, margarine, cinnamon, and cloves in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil.

Turn down heat and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool until mixture is lukewarm.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add flour mixture to the cooled sugar mixture, beating until the batter is smooth.

Stir in the walnuts (or if desired, chocolate chips).

Spread evenly in the baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Not your Grandma’s Fried Chicken

19 Feb
With the added spices and Panko bread crumbs, this chicken was a huge hit!

With the added spices and Panko bread crumbs, this chicken was a huge hit!

Ever think you just can’t do one more original thing with chicken? Ever feel like you have just done it all and can’t look at another piece of boneless, skinless chicken?

It’s not just me, is it?

Usually when I shop, I grab a bag or two of frozen chicken tenderloins, and this time when I did I thought to myself, “I don’t even know what to do with this chicken, I’m so done with chicken.”

But then, a wonderful thing happened! I got a surprise goodie bag in the mail from SheKnows, the company I’ve been working with lately, and they saved my dinner that day. Inside my box was a new cookbook, “Chop Chop: The Kids’ Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family.” Elizabeth receives Chop Chop, the magazine, from a birthday gift she got this summer, so we were *very* excited to see this newest addition to our cookbook collection.

You’ll be seeing other recipes from the cookbook, I can guarantee, but as we thumbed through it, I saw a recipe for “Not Your Grandma’s Fried Chicken.”

Now I happen to really like my Grandma Rose’s fried chicken cutlets, but I gave this recipe a second look. It called for Panko bread crumbs, which I had, but it also called for Dijon mustard and thyme in the recipe. Most importantly, it gave a tip which I wanted to try out: It said that refrigerating the chicken after it’d been coated with the egg mixture and the bread crumbs for at least 30 minutes, would help to keep the coating on the chicken.

I love breaded chicken and I hate leaving the breading in the pan and eating naked chicken for dinner, don’t you?

For that reason alone, I decided to try this recipe out that night, and I’m so glad I did! The flavor with the added mustard and thyme was delicious and the tip about the refrigeration really did work! Everyone at this, all five of us gave it a thumbs up. That type of five out of five rating is rare in this house!

I served this dish with one of our favorite side dishes from our dinner at the White House: Quinoa Corn and Black Bean Salad. You can click on it to get the recipe.

I found the recipe online, and I have put the link to it here, but I found it interesting that the online version from the magazine doesn’t have the refrigeration tip. It was in the cookbook though and I wouldn’t do breaded chicken without it from here on in!

Here’s the recipe from the online version, with their cookbook’s refrigeration tip added in.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons

olive or canola oil

1 cup fine bread crumbs or panko

1⁄2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2  large eggs
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme
6  skinless chicken thighs
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
1  lemon

Instructions

  1. Wash your hands with soap and water, then gather all your equipment and ingredients and put them on a counter.
  2. With the help of your adult, turn the oven on and set it to 400 degrees.
  3. Pour the oil on the baking sheet and, using your clean hands or a paper towel, spread it around.
  4. Put the bread crumbs, flour, salt and pepper, and, cayenne (if you like it) on a large plate. Mix well.
  5. Crack the eggs into a bowl (throw the shells away). Add the mustard and thyme and mix well. Add the chicken pieces and swish them around until they are well coated with the egg mixture.
  6. Remove the chicken pieces, one at a time, from the egg mixture and let any extra egg mixture drip off.
  7. Dip the chicken pieces, one at a time, in the bread crumb mixture, rolling them and pressing down to coat each side.
  8. Shake off any extra coating, then put the chicken pieces on the baking sheet. **Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. This step is very important in order to make the coating stick.**
  9. With the help of your adult, put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Using a spatula or tongs, turn the chicken pieces over and bake until golden brown, 15–20 more minutes. Serve right away, with a quarter of a lemon on each plate.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons

olive or canola oil

1 cup

fine bread crumbs or panko

1⁄2 cup

whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon

kosher salt

1⁄4 teaspoon

cayenne pepper

2  

large eggs

1 tablespoon

dijon mustard

1 teaspoon

dried thyme

6  

skinless chicken thighs

1⁄2 teaspoon

black pepper

1  

lemon

Instructions

  1. Wash your hands with soap and water, then gather all your equipment and ingredients and put them on a counter.
  2. With the help of your adult, turn the oven on and set it to 400 degrees.
  3. Pour the oil on the baking sheet and, using your clean hands or a paper towel, spread it around.
  4. Put the bread crumbs, flour, salt and pepper, and, cayenne (if you like it) on a large plate. Mix well.
  5. Crack the eggs into a bowl (throw the shells away). Add the mustard and thyme and mix well. Add the chicken pieces and swish them around until they are well coated with the egg mixture.
  6. Remove the chicken pieces, one at a time, from the egg mixture and let any extra egg mixture drip off.
  7. Dip the chicken pieces, one at a time, in the bread crumb mixture, rolling them and pressing down to coat each side.
  8. Shake off any extra coating, then put the chicken pieces on the baking sheet.
  9. With the help of your adult, put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Using a spatula or tongs, turn the chicken pieces over and bake until golden brown, 15–20 more minutes. Serve right away, with a quarter of a lemon on each plate.

– See more at: http://www.chopchopmag.org/content/not-your-grandmas-fried-chicken#sthash.ceJP57AG.dpuf

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Fun Friday: Valentine’s Day Edition

14 Feb
Valentine's M&Ms made these cookies extra special!

Valentine’s M&Ms made these cookies extra special!

It’s a Friday, and it’s Valentine’s Day! I love when special days fall on a Friday or a weekend day. It makes them all the more enjoyable.

I got a sweet treat myself this week, when my kids who give out Valentine’s Day cards both decided to hand make them and to do it with absolutely no direction from me. For years we made them together and the last couple of years I’ve had to buy them. I just couldn’t pull it all off. It warmed my heart to come home from a meeting earlier this week and see that they were making them.

In addition to Valentine’s Day, we’ve also had a snow day this week, which has provided an extra opportunity for Valentine’s treats, and school vacation is coming up next week, which even though we don’t go anywhere special, is still a fun week off.

Earlier this week, we were having a friend over for one of the kids after school so I decided that in between my morning and afternoon work schedules, I’d make a quick little Valentine’s treat to greet them when they got home.

It called for only three ingredients and one of them was Valentine’s- themed M&Ms. The recipe didn’t use the entire bag, so I used them instead of chocolate chips in the cookies you see above when we had the snow day, and that’ll make a great treat today in the kids’ lunchboxes.

The after school treat was a three ingredient Skinny Dark Kisses treat which a friend posted on Facebook, shared from the Skinny Kitchen site. I can tell it’s going to be a site that I visit often! I hope you’ll check it out.

The recipe is shown below, just as they have it on their site. It was easy, other than unwrapping all of the Hershey Kisses, and a word of warning: they say you need to cool them for two hours, or put them in the fridge to speed up that time. I had a 1:30 story to cover, so I made them on my lunch break at 12:30, left in time for my story, and when I came home with the kids after 3, it had been just enough time for them to cool and be ready to eat!

The recipe below makes 25, but I made slightly more than that since I had a bigger tray. I was able to make 45 and I still had half a bag of M&Ms leftover and a quarter of a bag of Hershey Kisses left as well.

A cute Valentine's treat, you won't be able to eat just one!

A cute Valentine’s treat, you won’t be able to eat just one!

Another word of warning: you can just eat one. They’re slightly addicting!

«

Prep Time: 15 minutes total (for 25 of them)
Bake Time: 5 minutes
Set Time: 2 hours for chocolate to firm up or 1 hour in refrigerator


Ingredients



25 Special Dark Hershey’s kisses, un-wrapped

25 mini pretzels

25 dark chocolate M&M’s available in bags of Valentine’s Day colors or use a regular bag


Instructions



1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.

2. Place pretzels on cookiesheet. Top each pretzel with one unwrapped chocolate kiss.

3. Bake 4 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to soften, but not melt. Remove from oven; top each with 1 M&M. Be sure to press it down a bit to set into the chocolate kiss.

4. Cool completely. This takes about 2 hours. To cool quickly, refrigerate until chocolate is firm.

Makes 25 total

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Fun Friday: Paula’s Whole Bag of Chips Bars

24 Jan
These were delicious, especially when topped with ice cream!

These were delicious, especially when topped with ice cream!

If you’re a longtime reader, you know that I often reference my friend Paula’s blog, My Soup for You. It’s a great blog and it’s so much more than soup!

Most recently I was honored when I saw that Paula had posted a new dessert recipe on her blog, and lo and behold, she named it after my blog! When I saw the post for The Whole Bag of Chips Bars, I was so flattered, and of course I had to make Paula’s recipe right away!

The recipe is a healthier dessert treat, but it includes of course, The Whole Bag of Chips! It also uses I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, an ingredient I now use instead of butter in all of my baking, and white wheat flour, another staple in our pantry here at home.

I hope you’ll head on over to My Soup for You and take a look at all of Paula’s recipes, but most especially The Whole Bag of Chips Bars! She wrote up the nicest post, you’ll want to read it!

Here is her recipe, just as she has it on her blog.

Enjoy!

Whole Bag of Chips Bars
1 cup I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups white wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
splash of milk
A twelve ounce bag of baking chips of your choice – I used semi-sweet chocolate

1. Combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and mix until nice and velvety and smooth
2. Add the salt and baking soda to the flour, and add that to the sugar etc a little bit at a time because you probably will still have the mixer on and you don’t want to make a mess.
3. Add in a splash of milk and mix thoroughly.
4. Stir in the WHOLE BAG OF CHIPS!
5. Transfer batter to a 9×13 baking pan sprayed well with cooking spray.
6. Bake at 350 for at least 40 minutes. These are very thick bars and take a long time to bake.

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Fun Friday: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

10 Jan
I was actually shocked at how much everyone liked this cake!

I was actually shocked at how much everyone liked this cake!

Last week we had some very cold weather here; colder than our normal winter weather tends to be. When the weather gets cold, the first thing I think of doing is baking. I like the warmth of the kitchen when the oven is on, and the warmth of the atmosphere in the house when something delicious is baking as everyone is coming home.

On this particular day, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make for an after school snack but I happened to be thumbing through an old issue of “Food Network Magazine” from July/August 2013. Being a summertime issue of the magazine, it was featuring recipes with zucchini; a garden staple for many.

It just so happened that I had two zucchinis that I’d bought to use for Christmas dinner and hadn’t used. This recipe would be perfect for making use of at least one of my zucchinis. Even better, it wasn’t just any zucchini cake, it was a *chocolate* zucchini cake! When I looked at the ingredients I actually had them all and it looked rather healthy, considering that it was a cake. I knew I could healthify it even more by making the flour a mix of white and wheat.

I decided to try it.

Well, it was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s!!!!!!  Everyone loved it! They enjoyed it with a nice, cold glass of milk, which made me even happier. I’d definitely make it again, and I think I was a little bit shocked at just how rave the reviews actually were.

The only thing that I didn’t love about the recipe was that it used a lot of bowls. Not having a ton of work space, I prefer recipes that don’t need a ton of space. With so many bowls, this one took up some space. However, it was so delicious, it was well worth the extra bowls!

I am posting the recipe below, just as it appears in their magazine and on their website.

Besides changing the flour to include both wheat and white, I used a bigger baking dish and therefore doubled the ingredients for the frosting so that it would frost the whole cake.

Next time you’re looking for a healthier cake recipe, I recommend this one!

Thanks to “Food Network Magazine” for sharing such a great recipe!!

Look at that healthy, secret ingredient in the chocolate cake batter!

Look at that healthy, secret ingredient in the chocolate cake batter!

FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE’S CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

IngredientsUnsalted butter, for the pan (*I used a fat free cooking spray instead*)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan (*I used a mix of 1/2 cup wheat, 1 cup white flour*)
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or allspice (*I went with nutmeg*)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil (separated)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium zucchini, grated and squeezed dry
1 teaspoon honeyDirectionsPreheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch-square cake pan (I used 11×7). Dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.Toss 1/2 cup chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl. Whisk the remaining flour, the cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.Beat the sugar, 1/2 cup olive oil, the eggs and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until smooth and pale, about 3 minutes. Add the flour-cocoa mixture; beat on low speed until combined, about 2 minutes (the batter will be thick). Add the zucchini and beat until combined, about 2 more minutes. Fold in the flour-coated chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.

Make the glaze: Combine the remaining 1/3 cup chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon olive oil and the honey in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium-high power in 30-second intervals, stirring, until the chocolate is melted. Spread over the cake, then cut into pieces. (*I doubled this glaze recipe*)

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

13 Nov
Lunch or dinner, this was a great new recipe!

Lunch or dinner, this was a great new recipe!

Things are constantly getting lost in our house.

“Have you seen…”

“Does anyone know where…..”

“I can’t find my……”

This recipe is one of those lost items. I’d ripped it out of a magazine over the summer. It’s from the June 2013 Woman’s Day magazine. I thought it sounded great.

My husband’s family is Lebanese, he loves Lebanese food, especially tabbouleh, and so does Elizabeth. I love it as well. I thought for sure it’d be a hit.

If I could find it.

Once I ripped it out and showed him, he agreed it sounded great, and then I never saw the page again.

Until last week.

We happened to move the couch away from the wall to get something one of the kids had seen fall back there, and lo and behold…my Woman’s Day recipe!

It just so happened that we’d made quinoa the night before as a side dish for our dinner. We had leftovers and it was in the fridge already.

With the quinoa cooked and cooled previously, this was a super-easy lunch to throw together in the morning before school for Don and Elizabeth’s lunchboxes. I even had sliced cucumbers leftover from the day before too, so I was really already on my way.

The votes came back with big thumbs up for the new salad. I sent wheat pita pockets on the side. Elizabeth scooped hers up with the bread, Don put his right inside the bread.

We had a little bit leftover and they used it as a side dish one night with dinner.

This is a great, quick tabbouleh and if you like Middle Eastern foods, give this a try!

QUINOA TABBOULEH SALAD

Woman’s Day June 2013

In a medium bowl, whisk together:
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 Tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon olive oil
a pinch each of salt and pepper

Add:
3/4 cup cooked quinoa1/2 cup canned chickpeas
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 seedless cucumber, chopped

Toss to combine.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Sweet and Sour Meatballs

6 Nov
This week's recipe is definitely a keeper at our house!

This week’s recipe is definitely a keeper at our house!

When I was in the midst of my crock pot cooking frenzy of eight weeks, I came across a crock pot recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs that the kids wanted me to try.

I never got the chance to try them out, the recipe was still on my list of things to make in the future, but I did not like that the “sweet and sour” part of the recipe was a jar of sweet and sour sauce. I like to make things on my own when I can, so that I know exactly what I’m putting into the recipe and I can modify if I need to.

In the meantime, I follow Six Sisters’ Stuff on Facebook, and this week I clicked on a link of theirs that came through for ground beef recipes, and somehow I kept clicking until I ended up at a recipe from one of the sisters, Mel, on her site, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe for sweet and sour meatballs with a homemade sauce. The Six Sisters often have some good stuff on their sites!

I decided to try it out this week, and I’m glad I did! All but my little non-meat-eater, Alex, liked this recipe. LOVED this recipe. Even Alex ate one meatball. She just didn’t like it.  I got so many compliments on it other than from her though, that it was well worth it!

We also decided that this would be great for a party. We often do traditional meatballs in sauce, but this would be a nice change. When I made them this time, I used my larger of the two Pampered Chef scoops, the same one I use to scoop my muffin batter into my tins. If I did this recipe for a party, I’d use the smaller of the two scoops, which is the same one I use for cookie batter.

I did, in fact, modify this recipe just a bit:

* It called for 1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef but I used 2 lbs of ground turkey instead.

* It said it wasn’t a particularly saucy recipe and that you could double the sauce. Since I prefer saucier than not and since I was using more meat than it called for, I did opt to double it.

*The directions called for making the meatballs and baking them right in the sauce for 30 minutes. I wasn’t all that comfortable with putting the raw meat into the sauce, so I baked them for 15 minutes first, added in the sauce and then baked them the rest of the time in the sauce.

*I left about 12 out of sauce for those who wanted plain. I’m glad I did. We all tried both and we all liked both.

I made sure to bake these in a deeper casserole dish rather than on a baking sheet, so that there’d  be plenty of space for the sauce.

Below is Mel’s recipe, just as she has it here on her site. I encourage you to try it out and take a look at some of the other recipes on her site as well!

Ingredients

Meatballs:
    • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (you don’t want the beef to be too high in fat because the fat will all pool at the bottom of the baking dish after baking – big time grody-ness in my book)
    • 3/4 cup quick oats
    • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
    • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Sauce:
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1/4 cup barbeque sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

  1. For the meatballs: Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Form into about 12 balls, eacha bout 2 inches in diameter. Place in a casserole dish. Cover with sauce (below). Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve over rice.
  2. For the sauce: Combine ingredients and blend thoroughly. Heat in a small saucepan until combined and sugar is dissolved and pour over meatballs. (This dish is not overly abundant on sauce so if you enjoy things a bit saucier, double the sauce ingredients.)

Notes

Freezable Meal: After covering the meatballs with sauce, cover the pan with two layers of aluminum foil and freeze. To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake covered without thawing for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 20-30 minutes more, until meatballs are cooked through.

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