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On the side please

17 May

There’s something for everyone in this easy side dish.

Time for dinner: chicken. With rice. And a side.

Ugh. What to make “on the side” this time?

There’s green beans, asparagus, green beans, asparagus, corn, green beans…..

Okay our sides are not *quite* that routine, but almost. Throw in some cauliflower or broccoli on that list and that makes up our usual list of “on the side” veggies to go on our plates at dinnertime. Not everyone likes corn, not everyone likes peas or spinach so we only rarely have those, but they’re on the list every once in a while too.

Ugh.

I get tired of the same old thing.

On occasion though, I throw this one into the mix: carrrots/apples/craisins sauteed with honey, brown sugar, and butter. Sometimes I even put a squirt of maple syrup in there. Why not?

Now you know why it’s only on occasion. It’s a veggie and look: it’s dessert! Sort of.

It’s not something you can have every night obviously, and even if it didn’t have all those yummy ingredients in with the fruits and veggies, even this would get boring after a while too.

The thing I like about this one (other than the brown sugar and butter and honey) is that some people LOVE the carrots, and others LOVE the apples and craisins. There’s a lot of “I’ll eat your craisins” and “Can I have your apples?” going on at the table when I serve this on the side.

Although this is not a recipe, per se, it is a recommendation for a side dish which I’m passing along to you today. Give it a try and see how your family likes it!

My occasional side dish shown here with rice pilaf and marinated pork tenderloin.

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Alfredo Sauce for a dinner of your choice

16 May

Remember Karen’s Cookbook?

Remember a while back when I mentioned that my college roommate, Karen, had given me a handmade cookbook when we graduated? Well, if you don’t remember that post, you can read it again here with a recipe and again with another recipe from it here as well.

Since pulling out that cookbook again a few months ago, I have been reminded of all the recipes that are in it, and I’ve been making them again, one at a time. Last week was one of those times, and this time around, I made her Alfredo Sauce recipe.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I love recipes where my family members can eat what they like from the meal or leave what they don’t like, and a recipe with sauce provides that same opportunity. They can have their meal either with the sauce or without. They can have it “on top of” or “on the side.”

It works out perfectly for us.

This Alfredo Sauce recipe was one that I remember making a long time ago and using over pasta, but it’s also good over chicken and over cauliflower or broccoli. Last week when I made it, we had pan fried chicken with rice pilaf and cauliflower, and I have to say, all five of us liked the sauce!! My kids started out putting it “on the side,” but ended up dipping everything into it as they realized how much they liked it. I was so pleased.

Karen’s recipe is simple and delicious, and I’m sharing it with you today. I apologize that I forgot to take a photo before we ate it! Sometimes, I just eat and forget to play paparazzi with my meal and this was one of those times.

ALFREDO SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 tsp. flour

1/2 tsp. pepper (I would skip this, personally, next time, or use less. I don’t love pepper.)

1/2 cup half and half

1/2 cup shredded parm. cheese (I used regular grated parm.)

1 tbl. parsley (I skipped it. Green Stuff throws my kids right off sometimes, and they won’t try something just because of that.)

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter.

Stir in flour and pepper.

Gradually add half and half.

Stir frequently.

Add cheese and stir until melted.

Serve with pasta and broccoli (or chicken or whatever you want!)

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Apple Pie for Breakfast

15 May

Apple Pie for Breakfast, one of my dreams come true.

If you saw that title on a recipe, and you loved anything apple as much as I did, wouldn’t you try it too? I know you would. I did.

Recently on another friend’s post from Pinterest, I saw that very thing: Apple Pie for Breakfast on a recipe for overnight oatmeal, one of my favorite things to make and eat for breakfast at my house during the week, and I knew I had to try it out, so I did. It was from a blog called Cooking with Jax. It also gave me the chance to try out my Reynold’s Slow Cooker Liners for the crock pot again, since I hadn’t been so convinced of their necessity the first time around. (I am now though!)

I loved this recipe. It truly did taste like Apple Pie for Breakfast. The difference between this recipe and the Weelicious recipe that I use and just add apples to, is I think, the apple juice in the liquids and the amount of apples it calls for. (I doubled this recipe for my family.) One of my kids loved it, two weren’t big fans, and Don liked it, but I’d make it again, even if I were the ONLY one who ate it (wishful thinking there.)

My Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner left my crock pot sparkling clean, just as it said.

And the liners…they were amazing. The crock pot truly was sparking clean afterwards, and I’ve used them again since and again it came out sparkling clean, so I guess my first experience with them was not the norm. I have one left in my box and then I’m definitely buying more (and hoping for another coupon).

Here is the recipe. Try it and see what you think! The notes below are all from the original recipe as seen here.

Ingredients
– 1 cup of steel cut oats*
– 3 diced apples (I use Gala)
– 1 cup apple juice (I use Oasis)
– 3 cups water
– 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions – Slow Cooker

For Best Results:  Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook for 2-4 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low until it reaches the consistency that you like.  Be sure to stir every hour or so.

* You can also cook longer without stirring, but you have to add more water liquid and it does come out a bit mushier.  Add an extra cup of liquid for 7-8 hours in the slow cooker.

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Happy Mother’s Week Day 5: Mom’s Black Bottom Squares

11 May

My mom’s Black Bottom Squares were just as I’d remembered them.

You may remember back in March, when I posted about Bakerella’s Black Bottom Cupcakes. I talked about how they reminded me of my mom’s Black Bottom brownies that I remembered having a long time ago, and remembered loving. When my mom saw the Bakerella recipe she too, thought it was similar to her Black Bottom squares recipe and she passed that recipe along to me. It took me a while to have a chance to make them, but last weekend I did get that chance.

I had never made these squares before, but they were just as I remembered them, dark chocolate and delicious. I prefer them served cold because of the cream cheese. This recipe also made me want to bake some Cream Cheese Swirl or Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies too, so that’s on my list of things to do next. I kept wanting to swirl these as well, but the recipe didn’t say to, so I didn’t do it!

Here is the recipe, which my mom put a note on: “from North Kingstown Newcomers Cookbook 1979,” so when I said it reminded me of something I’d had a long time ago, that explains it. These have been around for a while in our family. The recipe is credited to Jean Bolles in the cookbook itself.

Today’s recipe will complete my gifts to you for Mother’s Week, just in time for Mother’s Day on Sunday. If you are a mom enjoy, enjoy, enjoy your day on Sunday and if you are lucky enough to be able to spend the day with your mom, be sure to enjoy every minute!

Thanks for today’s recipe Mom!

BLACK BOTTOMS

This recipe is completed in two steps: the chocolate layer and the cream cheese layer.

INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate:

1 cup water

1/3 cup oil

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cups cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

For the cream cheese:

1 egg

1 eight ounce package of cream cheese

1/3 sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 six ounce pkg. chocolate chips

Before they bake…this is where I realllllly wanted to swirl that cream cheese, but I did not. Next time though, I might just do it!

DIRECTIONS

Combine water, cocoa, oil, vinegar, vanilla, flour, 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp. salt.

Pour into a well-greased 9×13 inch pan and sprinkle with a six ounce package of chocolate chips.

Beat together egg, cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 tsp. salt.

Spoon over chocolate chips and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

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Mother’s Week Day 4: Blueberry Cake

10 May

This cookbook has literally hundreds of recipes using blueberries.

As you know, we’re celebrating moms all week long here on The Whole Bag of Chips! Today we’re celebrating with a recipe I tried recently and immediately knew it’d be perfect for the week leading up to Mother’s Day. It’s from a cookbook we received from my parents back in 1999 when they visited Maine.

On this one particular day last month, I was in the mood for *something* but I didn’t know what. I didn’t want something chocolate, which is a little unusual, and I was scanning all the cookbooks and recipes I had until I found something that struck my fancy. I’ve used this cookbook a couple of times for muffins and crisps, but I had not done this cake before. It calls for fresh blueberries but I only had a bag of frozen, which increased the baking time but other than that, worked out great.

Caroline wanted to help me so I put her to the task of making the topping for the bread, which was listed as optional, but not to me!

This would be perfect for a brunch, a dessert for a hostess or just to have with a cup of coffee or tea. It was delicious and I’d make it again. So far I have not found a recipe in this cookbook that I would not make again! They’ve all been good.

Enjoy this recipe and enjoy the last couple of days of Mother’s Week!

Caroline was in charge of the topping, and she did a fabulous job!

INGREDIENTS

Blueberry Cake from “The Maine Wild Blueberry Cookbook”

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups blueberries (I used a pack of frozen which increased our cook time by about another 20-30 minutes.)

This made a delicious dessert on a cold, rainy day!

DIRECTIONS

Mix dry ingredients together.

Cream margarine and sugar.

Beat in egg.

Stir in milk and add dry ingredients.

Add vanilla and berries.

Bake in greased 11×7 pan at 375 for 40 minutes. (Or til knife inserted into center comes out clean.)

Thumbs up for blueberry cake!

Topping:

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinn

1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)

Mix to coarse crumbs and sprinkle over top before baking.

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The proof is in….the powdered cheese packet

3 May

A double batch, even!

A few weeks back I did a blog post about the convenience of using the Knorr sauce mix packets and I mentioned that yes, even I make hot dogs and mac & cheese, and that I actually love hot dogs with mac & cheese. I promised to prove it to you by taking a photo of my meal the next time we had that for dinner.

Well, today’s the day.

Dinner!

We had the meal this week for dinner and I did remember to take a picture. Here is my dinner table ready for one of the easiest dinners ever. You’ll notice though, I assuage my guilt by putting out a big veggie tray to go along with the mac & cheese and hot dogs. This particular tray had fresh green beans on it, which my kids love, but by the time I took the dinner table photo the beans were gone. They were there though.

So there you have it.

Hot dogs, mac & cheese and veggies. My house. Dinner.

I love hot dogs grilled on the stove top griddle!

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New dinner recipe: Butter Cream Chicken

2 May

This was a new recipe for us, and the entire family liked it!

I’m going to apologize right off the bat here: although I know that this recipe came from a blog called Jamie Cooks It Up, I have no idea how I happened upon the recipe, so I apologize to whomever found it first and passed it on to me.

It was delicious.

Very rarely do we have a meal that absolutely everyone likes. There’s just too many varying tastes in our house. However, this one, everyone liked it, even Alex. That’s saying a lot.

That all being said, it’s probably not the healthiest recipe, so kind of like my Chicken a la King recipe, it’s best had on occasion only.  I served ours with Rice Pilaf and my new favorite way to make asparagus: roasted. The sauce was so good though, I even put it on my rice. I would’ve put it on just about anything I could find, I liked it that much.

Here for you now, is Jamie’s recipe. Any modifications I chose to do are in parenthesis. The rest is as she wrote it.

Time: 30 minutes start to finish  (It did take me slightly longer on my first try. Like, 30 minutes longer.)
Yield: 6 servings
Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up!

Simple ingredients!

INGREDIENTS:

4 chicken breasts (I used a bunch of tenders)
1 1/2 sleeves Ritz Cracker, ground into crumbs
Olive Oil
1 C chicken broth
4 T butter
1 C  + 2 T half and half, divided
1/2 t thyme, dried
2 T cornstarch
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS
 
1. Cut your chicken up into chunks with some kitchen scissors. I usually cut each breast into thirds or sometimes fourths depending on the size of the breast. (*Because I used tenders I did not have to do steps one and two.)
2. Place your chicken into a gallon sized ziploc bag and seal the bag. Pound the chicken flat with a meat mallet. 
3. Grind the Ritz Crackers into crumbs in a small food processor. (*I put them in a ziploc bag and used a rolling pin to crush them up. Then I put the chicken right into the bag to coat with crumbs.) Place them in a shallow pan, I find a loaf pan to work best for this step. 
4. Press each chicken piece into the crumbs, being sure to coat both sides generously. Place each coated chicken piece on a plate. “Don’t they look lovely, June. Love the feathers.”…name that movie, anyone?
5. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Once it is good and hot, pour about 5 tablespoons Olive Oil into your pan. 
6. Let your oil heat up just for 30 seconds or so, and then put the chicken carefully in the pan. Don’t crowd it now. You’ll need to cook the chicken in two batches. 
7. Let the chicken cook until it’s nice and golden brown on the bottom, should take about 3-4 minutes. Turn each piece with a fork and allow it to cook on the other side. The chicken is done when it’s no longer pink inside. 
8. Remove the chicken to a separate plate and cook your second batch of chicken, adding another few tablespoons of oil to the pan before you add the chicken.
9. Once you have cooked all of the chicken you’ll have some beautiful crispy treasures left in the pan. Add 4 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup chicken broth to the pan allowing the butter to melt. Whisk the mixture around a bit, scraping the bottom of the pan to break the crispy pieces loose.
10. Add 1 cup half and half and 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme. Whisk it around to incorporate and allow it to come to a boil. 
11. Into a small bowl pour 2 tablespoons half and half and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Stir it around until smooth.
12. Pour the cornstarch mixture into your pan and stir it with a whisk. Allow it to return to a boil…as it heats it will thicken into a nice smooth sauce of wonder and bliss…here comes your kiss. 🙂
13. Remove it from the heat, give it a taste and add a bit of salt and pepper to you liking. 
14. Serve it over the crispy chicken and enjoy!

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Another great recipe from The Budget Gourmet Mom

1 May

Do you ever get tired of the same old thing?

I love asparagus! I found out earlier this year that most of my kids like asparagus, so I was so thrilled when Aldi’s started carrying it in their frozen veggies section because it meant that we could afford it and afford to have it any time we wanted to.

I bought it by the boatload. We had it all the time.

I’m tired of asparagus now.

Well, not tired of asparagus so much as I am tired of cooking it the same old way every time, which everyone likes: sauteed with oil and garlic in a frying pan on the stove, which is also the same way we make our green beans because it’s everyone’s favorite way.

I was happy to see a new cooking suggestion a few weeks back from The Budget Gourmet Mom blog that I follow. It was a recipe for Roasted Asparagus with Red Onions and Garlic and it made me wonder why I’d never thought to roast my asparagus before.

Sometimes you just need it to hit you over the head, I guess.

It also reminded me that I have another recipe for preparing asparagus that my mom used to make, so when I make that one, I’ll post it as well. I haven’t made it in years and years.

So here is Krista’s recipe for you for Roasted Asparagus with Red Onions and Garlic. If you’d like to see her beautiful photography to go along with her preparation of the asparagus, head on over to her blog. I go there EVERY day and I always love her posts.

Thank you Krista!

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb asparagus
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • a few thin slices of red onion
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400°
  2. Wash and trim the asparagus. Lay out on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.
  3. Mince the garlic and sprinkle over the asparagus. Top with red onion rings.
  4. Bake 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

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If it’s free, it’s for me

30 Apr

Recently I’ve taken up couponing, as many of you know. I’ve written about it in both February and in March. I’ve loved being able to save lots of money for my family with coupons and with additional money-back rebates, and I’ve loved the challenge of it all. I’m a bit obsessed.We’re not rich by any means, but we’re saving more money than we were before, and that’s important to me.

However, I’ve always been about saving money, even before I discovered the couponing obsession. I’ve always been good about taking advantage of a good deal or even better, a free deal. My motto is always “if it’s free, it’s for me,” which is not something I made up, it’s just something I tend to live by, especially when trying to save money for my family.

As a mom who has chosen to give up a full time job in order to be home to raise my family, I’ve always considered it my personal responsibility to be as frugal as possible to make up for the income I do not bring into our budget. I feel that it’s important for me to be home, and therefore it’s just as important for me to work hard to make money and equally as important to work hard to save money, and I always have.

Today in the mail I received our free Kodak photo book of our April Vacation activities. In fact,  just about all of the photo books in my cabinet were free.

This week I also received our free sample of the new Quaker Oatmeal cookies and a free magazine to start my year-long free subscription. We gave up all paid subscriptions when we cut back on our budget a few years back.

Yesterday I received a free makeup bag full of make up and coupons from Target and free lotion samples from another offer.

Our dog’s been eating free dog treats on and off for weeks and I’ve been drinking free Gevalia Coffee mixed in with my Price Rite brand coffee.

Next weekend we’re taking a free family photo to replace the free family photo that’s been on our wall since my youngest was a toddler.

When we visited family in California two years ago, our whole family got into Disney for free.

Our kids all got into Legoland on that same trip, for free.

It can be done.

Now obviously everything in life isn’t free, but there’s lots of opportunities out there to have fun for free, and to get a few items here and there for free as well. And in this economic climate, free is good. Many of us are struggling, so every little bit helps.

Summer is coming and there are lots of things out there you can do for free. There are some free things we take advantage of every year.

I’ve already signed my family up for the AMF summer bowling program where you can bowl free all day every day from May to September.

I’ll sign up for the free summer programs for my kids at our local library and we’ll frequent the free music concerts that are held all summer long across the state.

On Wednesday afternoons we’ll try to make it to AC Moore for their free craft every week throughout the summer and should we want to take in a movie, there will be several theaters that offer them free throughout the summer.

We’ll check out the list of museums that offer free entry on Fridays and maybe do a day trip.

Doing things for free will give us more money in our summer budget to do special things as well, like getting ice cream after those free music concerts or maybe purchasing the featured craft at AC Moore if they especially love it, with a coupon of course!

What kinds of free things do you take advantage of during the year?

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Jacob’s Cookbook

27 Apr

A brownie recipe from Jacob's new cookbook

I know I’ve mentioned it in the past, but I meet some amazing people in my job at the newspaper, and I mean really amazing. So often I come home after a story, completely stunned by what I’ve just learned about the person I’ve just interviewed. Two weekends ago I had an interview that completely blew me away both as a parent and as someone who loves food and cooking.

Two weekends ago I met Jacob.

Jacob is 14. He’s an eighth grade student and he’s about to publish a cookbook as part of a project he has to do for school. The proceeds from his cookbook will benefit the local community food bank.

That in itself is amazing, but that’s not what blew me away, actually.

Here’s what did: when I interviewed Jacob I asked him where he got all of his recipes from for his cookbook.

His answer: he made them up.

Jacob has not only created a cookbook at age 14, which will benefit a worthy cause, but he created all of the recipes himself from scratch, including how much of each ingredient for each recipe. He created the cookbook page layouts, made all of the recipes, took all the photos of all the foods, and typed them all up himself.

I just about fell out of my chair.

I said to Jacob, “That. is. amazing.”

Jacob with his cookbook before it goes to print.

Jacob said he knew that, but I don’t think he REALLY knew that. I mean I don’t think I could just MAKE UP a recipe (never mind a cookbook full of them) and figure out all the stuff that has to go in it, all by myself and I am FORTY YEARS OLD-I’ve been cooking for several of his lifetimes and I couldn’t do that!!

I sat and interviewed Jacob for about 45 minutes or so, and my article about him can be seen here.

More importantly though, I have one of Jacob’s dessert recipes right HERE on my blog!  That’s right, he was kind enough to share one of his recipes with me and one with the newspaper. I am so glad that the one I have is a dessert recipe, since apparently Jacob and I both have a sweet tooth.

Here it is, Jacob’s recipe which he created himself for Orange Zest Brownies.

**************************************************************************************************************************************

“As most people know, opposites attract. Well it is the same for flavors in food. A citrus flavor will go great with a sweet and creamy flavor. That is why orange chocolate brownies are perfect! Enjoy!” -Jacob Gebhart,  Amazing Appetizers and Decadent Desserts

Easy ingredients!

INGREDIENTS

BROWNIES

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1/3 cup shortening (I used 1/3 cup butter instead.)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP orange zest
FROSTING

3 oz. cream cheese

1-2 TBSP milk

2 and 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 TBSP orange zest

The orange zest gives it a great flavor.

DIRECTIONS

BROWNIES

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Heat chocolate and shortening in a 2 quart sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly until melted.

Remove from heat, add sugar, eggs, vanilla, mix well. Then add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

Spread batter in prepared pan evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Make sure to cool completely before cutting and frosting.

FROSTING

With an electric mixer, on medium speed, combine cream cheese and 1 TBSP of milk.

Add sugar, a little at a time, beat after each addition. (I added the last TBSP of milk halfway through as it got thick.)

Then add the orange zest and combine.

Cut cooled brownies into 9 pieces. Spread each square with orange cream frosting.

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I found the recipe very easy to follow and quick and easy to make, just how I like my recipes to be! If you’re a taster when you bake, I highly recommend tasting the batter after the sugar is added but before the eggs. SO GOOD. I also tasted the cream cheese frosting before and after the zest was added, to see just how much the zest changed the flavor, and I was amazed at what a little bit of zest can do both to the texture (it was immediately creamier) and to the taste (it did now have that hint of orange flavor in it.)

For the orange zest, I used the zest from two medium oranges and split it between the batter and the frosting. It did work out to be just about one whole tablespoon in each, I’d say.

I opted to serve my frosting “on the side” as optional because with all the different likes and don’t likes at my house,  I didn’t want anyone not to want the brownies because they had “stuff” on them.

I also took half the batch to a friend’s house one afternoon and we enjoyed them with our coffee.

Great job Jacob, thanks for sharing your recipe with me! It truly was a decadent dessert!

Anyone who is interested in purchasing Jacob’s cookbook, Amazing Appetizers and Decadent Desserts, when it’s published, please send an email to Jacob at jayg@cox.net.

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