Cheep Eats & Sweets

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

2011-02-26T18:29:00.000-08:00

I love cookbooks, especially bright ones with photographs of all the recipes. I'm a terribly visual person, so a cookbook with no pictures I steer away from. For Christmas, I told my husband I wanted "a cookbook from Costco." In my experience, Costco always has the best cookbooks. I knew if I sent him that direction, I'd end up okay. The man pulled through. I ended up with two fabulous Costco-approved cookbooks, among other things. In a typical Sarah fashion, I put the fabulous cookbooks on my cookbook shelf and...

kinda sort forgot about them.

Oops. The other day I needed a recipe for streusel; I was whipping up a muffin mix before school since I was out of milk. I pulled out one of my new cookbooks and was amazed to find all the categories. There was a muffin category, and the first muffin recipe I flipped to was one with streusel. Clearly, this was a recipe book that deserved my attention! When I got home from taking the kids to school, I put my baby down for a nap and settled my toddler in front of Dora (yeah, I'm that Mom. Your point?), and propped my pillows up in bed for a nice read. I flipped through the book, mentally tagging the recipes I'd need to make asap.

The first third of the book is dinners, apps, salads, etc., and the last two thirds are the essentials: baked goods! The recipe lists are all short and look phenomenal. The book is uber organized with a category for brownies, cakes and cupcakes, special occasion cakes, and... oh! I should tell you what the cookbook is called, huh?

It's the Land O Lakes Recipe Collection: Baking and More Cookbook.

I just realize how seriously side tracked I got from the recipe, huh? I'm going to stop singing the praises of this cookbook and tell you how to make some yummy cinnamon streusel muffins. But first, I need to tell you that this clever little cookbook even comes with 2 clear removable page protectors. You simply move them to cover the page you will be using and voila, your pages will be protected from all sorts of baking goop!

I'm done about the cookbook. Really.

This recipe is originally a nutmeg streusel muffin, but in our house, we're all about the cinnamon.

Plus, I was out of nutmeg.

First you start your streusel. This is actually the base for your recipe too. Just flour and brown sugar. Mix it up and add the secret ingredient...

cold burro! Which is the Italian word for butter, in case you're wondering. My dad never once said "please pass the butter" at the dinner table. He always requested burro. Just a little insight into my childhood.

The cold butter is important because you don't want to cream the butter into the flour and brown sugar mix. You want to cut it in with a fancy Nancy pastry cutter. (Is that a thing?) Or a fork, if you're lacking fancy Nancy pastry cutters in your life.

Like this! (Picture courtesy of Amazon.com.)

Now if you have practically every kitchen tool known to man except a pastry whatever, you can use a fork. Which is what I did. I cannot tell you how many hand cramps I got trying to cut in the stupid freaking butter into the stupid freaking blour. (<-- a typo for real, but a good name for brown sugar and flour, yes?) I highly recommend a pastry cutter. It's officially on my list of things I need for my kitchen. Anyway, you want it to look like course crumbs. This was really hard to replicate with a fork but I didn't worry about it too much. That's the way I roll.

If you ~~read the recipe first~~ plan ahead this can actually be a one dish bowl. I used two. :) Remove some of that streusel-y goodness. You'll thank me later. Now you're going to mix in:

flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, some salt and

buttermilk and an egg. If you don't have buttermilk (and really, who does?), put a teaspoon of lemon juice in your milk and let it sit for a few minutes.

You want to mix it in just until moist. If you over mix quick breads and muffins, they get very tough and develop tunnels in the final product. Not so good.

Spoon your batter halfway full into your muffin tins. Sprinkle with that reserved streusel and pop those babies in the oven.

Can you say yum??

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

adapted from Land O Lakes Recipe Collection: Baking and More

1 1/3 c. flour

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. cold butter, cut into chunks

2/3 c. flour

2/3 c. buttermilk

or 2 t. lemon juice and milk to equal 2/3 c., let stand 5 min.

1 egg

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin pan cups; set aside.

Combine 1 1/2 c. flour and brown sugar in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 c.

Add the rest of the ingredients to remaining streusel mixture in same bowl; stir just until moistened.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin pan cups. Sprinkle each with reserved streusel. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.

Here's your recipe card. Click to enlarge, then right click to save. Print out as a 4x6 recipe card.

Macaroni and Cheese

2011-02-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

When asked what their comfort food is, many people frequently respond that it is macaroni and cheese. I know this because I watch the Food Channel.

That's not true. I don't have cable anymore.

Macaroni and cheese is definitely one of my comfort foods. While no one is going to run around claiming its health benefits, I think we can all agree it's pretty delicious stuff.

Mac & cheese from scratch? Am I for real? Isn't it easier--and cheaper--just to buy the dang box?

Answer: Yes, I'm for real.

Yes, it's easier, and yes it's cheaper.

But this is comfort food, and sometimes a mama just needs to feed her kids real stuff that they will actually eat. And you will be surprised at how easy it actually is. I've included pictures even! So if you're a visual learner like myself, you can whip yourself up a batch of this cheesey goodness asap.

Another cool aspect of this recipe is that it can totally be grown-up-ified, by using a fancy blend of Gruyère cheese and some other fancy stuff.Google macaroni and cheese and you'll come up with plenty of recipes that are all fancy. This recipe is about pleasing the kids and your palate and your checkbook which in turn pleases your husband, am I right?

Let us begin.

Your first step will be melting some butter. See, this is simple. You can do this. Melt it in a pot.

Actually, your first step will be starting the water to boil noodles. I always forget that step. Do that in another pot.

Now whisk in flour, equal to the amount of butter you whisked in. It's going to be all bubbly and start cooking the flour taste out. This is called a roux ("roo") and will serve to thicken your cheese sauce. I'm not an expert on roux's, I'm not even sure if it's grammatically correct to say "roux's" so I'm going to leave you to decide when it's done. Unless it starts going very dark on you, I don't think you'll screw it up. I learned by doing and haven't entirely failed a roux once.

Add four cups of milk to your roux, whisking it in. You're doing great! This is how you make a bechamel ("beh-sha-mell") sauce, which is the mother of all sauces. Well, many, many sauces anyway. This is a life skill, baby.

Right now your milk will be all milky and sloshy. Like milk. Whisk pretty frequently. This is a good time to add salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Now in those fancy recipes you googled, most of them will tell you to add some nutmeg and Dijon mustard. I personally don't have Dijon mustard in my fridge, and I sometimes add a dash or two of nutmeg, sometimes I don't. I will tell you it's "traditional" to add the nutmeg and Dijon, but in my book, it's totally optional.

Don't forget to add your noodles and some salt to that boiled water. I'm here for you forgetful, ADHD types with four kids and a puppy under your feet.

Hmm... who is here for me then??

After awhile the milk will be considerably less sloshy. It will thicken up slowly, but certainly not like a pudding or anything. Just a little thick.

According to Rachael Ray, the correct way to stir cheese into a bechamel sauce is a little at a time, in figure eights. So that's what I try to do. :) By the way: I used the Costco cheddar/Monterey jack cheese blend for this. It's relatively inexpensive and does all the shredding work for me. Simplicity!

I took this picture specifically to point out the grain of the cheese. This is not a super smooth macaroni and cheese, it has a little texture to it. The nice thing about this is that it makes a great recipe for hidden veggies like pureed cauliflower or carrots in small amounts. Your kids won't even notice and it ups the health quotient. Of which there is currently none.

This post is brought to you by my fabulous sister-in-law Savannah, who gave me this super cool rubber spatula. I can't remember what it's called though to recommend it to you. But it's super cool.

Hopefully you listened to me and remembered to cook your noodles. Pour them into a 9x13 casserole dish.

Pour your cheese sauce over the noodles and gently stir. Top with more cheese or bread crumbs (the traditional route) or both. Or something else. :)

Pop your casserole dish under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until your macaroni is golden brown. Oh my, so yummy. Indulge. Please.

Macaroni and Cheese

3 T. butter

3 T. flour

4 c. milk

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1 t. garlic powder

4-6 c. shredded cheddar cheese blend, 1 c. reserved

bread crumbs (optional)

4 c. macaroni noodles

salt

Cook macaroni noodles with a dash of salt in boiling water until al dente. Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour, cook until golden. Whisk in milk and seasonings, whisking occasionally until mixture thickens. Stir in cheese a handful at a time, stirring in a figure eight motion.

Pour noodles in 9x13 casserole dish, pour cheese sauce over. Mix gently. Top with reserved cheddar cheese and bread crumbs. Put casserole dish under the broiler for 5 minutes, until cheese is golden brown. Serve immediately.

Click on image to enlarge. Right click to save and print as a 4x6 recipe card.

Digi kit by Fee Jardine and paper clip by Shabby Princess.

Creamy Poppyseed Chicken

2011-02-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you have someone you love to cuddle up with and share this special day with you, even if it's just your snuggly little children. If you don't, I hope you enjoy your Single's Awareness Day, and just think how the rest of us fondly remember the days we could walk into Walmart without saying "no" 458 times and at least one potty trip. Ah, blessings.

My post today doesn't really have much to do with Valentine's Day, but Slacker Mom's relax, you can check out yesterday's post for a super quick Valentine's treat. Today's post is a simple, filling dinner you can toss in the crock pot in the morning and finish up in minutes in the evening.

Don't you love crock pots? Crock Pot Company, please sponsor this blog. I will write each and everyday about my love for Crock Pots. For real.

This is a true dump recipe. In fact, I didn't even defrost the chicken first, just zapped it in the microwave for a few minutes so I could break them apart. Not sure on the safety issues for that, so I'm not totally recommending it. I'm just saying. In case you're like me and nevereverevereverever remember to defrost stuff before you need it. (Which reminds me, do I need to defrost something for dinner tonight? No, I'm good.)

I just re-read this post and thought I wrote that it's a "true dumB recipe," but rest assured, this is a recipe where you dumP the ingredients in and not worry about it. Because of the nature of the recipe, I didn't bother taking step by step photos. In fact, next time I probably won't even measure anything. Just throw it in the crock pot and turn it on. As long as you remember to turn your crock pot on, you will be fine and your kids will be telling you it's their new favorite meal and can you please make this for their birthday?

Idea: puree some cauliflower or other light veggie your super picky kids won't eat, and toss it in the crock pot too. They won't notice!

Another idea: If you're a dutch oven expert, this would be amazing in the dutch oven. You could even add potatoes instead of egg noodles. I'm not an expert at dutch oven though so I can't tell you cooking time or number of briquettes or whatnot. So don't ask. :)

Creamy Poppyseed Chicken

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1-2 lb. chicken breast (you can cube it now if you'd like)

1 t. salt

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. black pepper

1 T. poppy seeds

1/4 c. milk

1/2-1 c. sour cream (use as much as you won't feel guilty about, and feel free to use light)

3-4 c. egg noodles

Add all ingredients but egg noodles into the crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4-6 hours until chicken is cooked through. About 2 hours until the end of cook time, open crock pot and quickly shred chicken. It will easily fall apart. Cook egg noodles about 20 minutes before cook time is up, and serve chicken over egg noodles. Add more poppy seeds to garnish, if desired.

Here's your recipe card. Click on the card to enlarge, and right click to save. Print as a 4x6 recipe card. Enjoy!

Digi kit is from www.shabbyprincess.com

Love Brownies

2011-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I've totally slacked off on posting. My lame-o excuse #1 is that I cook and bake in the evenings and during the winter the light is non-existent. The lighting in my kitchen is terrible to cook by, forget about photography! That's my biggest excuse coupled with other even lamer excuses (such as "I forgot to take pictures of what I just made," "My kitchen is a mess, there's no way I'm taking pictures right now," "I've posted about this already, I'm in such a food rut," or my favorite, "Cooking? Forget it, I'm taking a nap."

One not lame excuse, and in my opinion is a viable reason, is that we temporarily have custody of my sweet step kids. Which is a wonderful blessing, but my life is even less conducive to blogging than normal. BUT I have a quick little post for you today, and I have several more posts ready to get up asap. I wanted to post this one because tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and perhaps you need a Slacker Mom treat to prepare for your family tomorrow? I thought you might.

This recipe is something I came up with, but it's kind of cheatery to call it "my" recipe. Let's look at the ingredients: boxed brownies, prepared as directed but unbaked, and one can of frosting. Obviously this is a recipe that doesn't take a lot of brain power. You can, of course, make your own fabulous brownie batter from scratch. More power to you if you do, but this is a slacker mom post, not a super mom post. :) Feel free to use our good friend Betty Crocker and don't feel bad if you do!

Love Brownies

1 brownie mix, batter prepared as directed

1 can white frosting

food coloring

Prepare a jelly roll pan (15x20x1) with a piece of parchment paper. Spray with baking spray. Bake brownies at 350 degrees on jelly roll pan for approximately 20 minutes (ovens will vary), until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Using a cookie cutter, cut out hearts. Heat up frosting in microwave on high for 1 minute. Add food coloring, stir. Pour over brownie hearts and decorated as desired.

Here's your recipe card. Click on the card to open it, then right click to save. Print as a 4x6 recipe card. Enjoy!

This digi kit was created by my fabulous neighbor, Carina Gardner.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

2010-11-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I needed to get out of the house. Like, really. My husband rarely understands this need since he's hardly ever home during the week. But since I hardly ever leave the house, except for trips to and from the school, on weekends I gotta get out. I talk and beg and sometimes I can get him to come out with me. This weekend was a total fail on that front.

So I took Garden with me to Robert's, our "local" craft store. (I say "local" because they moved the one a mile away and now I have to drive 20 minutes to get to one.) There I found something I've been casually searching for: holiday Scentsy candle wax! Okay, not really Scentsy, but it's wax that comes in a brick and made for a nifty little wax warmer that looks remarkably like the Scentsy candle warmer I have at home. So Garden and I smelled every single holiday wax. So, so, so yummy! I finally ended up with Cinnamon & Cider. Love! I'm officially in the holiday mood.

Like I wasn't before!

Which leads me to this bread; this rather fabulous, tasty loaf of bread! This is the bread we look forward to all year, and it's not exactly strange for us to be scarfing this bread down in April! But in our house, something pumpkin baking in the oven means it is definitely the holiday season. So warm up those ovens, and bake up some delicious, super-moist pumpkin bread!

And by the way, since we're friends: I'm currently testing the freezing capabilities of this sucker. Meaning, there is frozen bread batter/dough/mix (?) in my freezer. Soon I'll pop it in the oven and see how it bakes up, and I'll let you know!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

from www.allrecipes.com

3 c. white sugar

1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

1 c. vegetable oil

2/3 c. water

4 eggs

3 1/2 c. flour

1 T. cinnamon

1 T. nutmeg

2 t. baking soda

1 1/2 c. salt

1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill pans 1/2 full. Bake for 1 hour, or until knife comes out clean. Cook on wire racks before removing from pans.

Here's your recipe card! Click to enlarge, right click to save, and print as a 4x6 recipe card. Enjoy!

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

2010-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

Mmm, the Holidays! It's the one time of year we happily loosen our belts and indulge ourselves in the yummy food we've been withholding ourselves from all year! Or maybe it's the one time a year we happily admit we eat stuff like homemade mashed potatoes?

This recipe is, of course, simple. You peel and quarter the potatoes, and put them in a pot of cold water. Add some salt and bring to a boil, cooking them until tender. Drain the water.

The next step is the trick to creamy, practically lump-free potatoes: put them in your mixer! Use a stand mixer or a handheld mixer and beat them. Add some butter, continuing to beat. Then add some milk and beat until the potatoes are creamy and fluffy. I like to add a little salt and pepper, too. I had no idea how simple homemade mashed potatoes could be until recently. Even better, potatoes are ridiculously cheap as of late. I've seen sales where you can get 10 lbs. for less than a dollar in my area!

Mashed Potatoes

from Better Homes and Gardens

1-1/2 pounds baking potatoes (such as russet or Yukon gold), peeled and quartered

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 to 5 tablespoons milk

Salt

Black pepper

Butter or margarine (optional)

In a medium saucepan cook potatoes and the 1/2 teaspoon salt, covered, in enough boiling water to cover for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender; drain. Mash with a potato masher or beat with an electric mixer on low speed. Add butter. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Gradually beat in enough milk to make mixture light and fluffy. If

desired, serve with butter.

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Bread and Celery Stuffing

2010-11-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

I realized the other day that my blog had reached its one year blogiversary! I had great plans to post some great recipes for some great food but... life got in the way.

We got a puppy, for one.

Yes, we're completely mad for even considering a puppy in this stage in our life. But let's face it... puppies are so cute! So that's what's been occupying my time, but congratulations to me for reaching the one mark on my blog... and still blogging!

Back to business. This month is November, which brings us the official holiday of foodies. Well, perhaps not the official holiday, but it's the only holiday we have that completely focuses on what's served for dinner! In preparation for that, I have two easy recipes for you that will make you look like a super star on Turkey Day. This recipe is for my favorite stuffing. It's simple and totally classic. It's not fancy, pretentious, nor does it list any fruit as an ingredient. It's kind of the epitome of what this blog is all about: delicious, simple meals that are easy on the pocketbook, and maximize time spent with family. Another bonus about this recipe is it's easy to prepare in the morning, before your guests arrive. Put it in the fridge until it's time to bake.

Bread and Celery Stuffing

adapted from www.allrecipes.com

1 bag pre-cut bread cubes

1 c. butter

1 c. chopped onion

1 c. chopped celery (4 stalks)

2 t. poultry seasoning

salt & pepper

1 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. hot water

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Cook onion and celery until soft. In a large bowl, add bread cubes and seasonings, toss. Add celery and onion to bread cubes, stir. Add broth and gradually add hot water to desired moisture. Mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Here's your recipe card! Click on card to enlarge, then right click to save. Print as a 4x6 recipe card.

Pumpkin Muffins

2010-11-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

You know how I blogged over at The Lunch Diva?

Well, I got this recipe from her site. It's so easy. So ridiculously easy.

And let's call a spade a spade here:

these are really cupcakes.

But feel free to call them muffins if it makes you feel good. Serve them with cream cheese frosting and feel really good until you step on the scale.

Advice: don't step on the scale.

It's no secret that I love to bake. I also love sharing that love with my kids (and they love this too). That's alotta love goin' around. This would be a great recipe for kids, especially if they're ready to go solo in the kitchen. I love a recipe you just can't screw up, don't you?

First, you'll need to assemble your ingredients:

Yup, that's all you need! Oh, and by the way? Completely coincidental that everything here is brand name. I only buy brand name where it counts (like Oreos!), unless the good stuff is on sale. Oh, and I have here a big can of pumpkin. You will need a small can of pumpkin OR use about half the can and save the rest for one of the other yummy pumpkin recipes appearing soon!
Then mix your ingredients (the batter will be thick), and scoop them into a paper-lined muffin tin.

Have I told you about this little gadget?

It's my cupcake scoop! I have a cookie scoop (aka an ice cream scoop), but I found it a bit small for cupcake batter. So I bought a 4 oz. cookie scoop specifically for cupcake batter and it works like a dream. I'm such a sucker for kitchen gadgets. :)

Pumpkin Muffins

from The Lunch Diva

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Spoon equal amounts of batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

Click on recipe card to enlarge. Right click to save, and print as a 4x6 recipe card. Enjoy!

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-11-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

Question:
What do you do when you accidentally buy the jumbo chocolate chips at the grocery store?

Answer:

Make jumbo chocolate chip cookies, of course!

I know, so obvious, right? But that's the dilemma I was faced with when I came home from the store the other day. I could see no other solution to this problem! I would like to know what else one would do with extra large chocolate chips, beyond melting. Any ideas?? Because I have leftovers!

This recipe is your basic chocolate chip recipe, but with years of trial and error I have tweaked it to be just so. This particular recipe yields a fluffier cookie. These monster cookies are big in circumference, but they've also got height. In other words, this is a serious cookie!

Garden wanted her picture taken with the cookies. Here you go, Garden! You're famous!

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter (2 sticks)

1/2 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 T. vanilla

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

3 c. all purpose flour

2 c. extra large milk chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly add to wet ingredients, mixing well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop out dough and roll into balls. Bake for 12-14 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Makes approx. 20 jumbo sized cookies.

Click on the recipe card to enlarge. Right click to save, and print out as a 4x6 recipe card. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-10-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have so many delicious pumpkin recipes ready to share with you in the coming weeks! I know I should have posted these earlier in October but to me, pumpkin is just as much a November treat as anything. I mean, Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie? Unforgivable.

I have been wanting to try a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe for quite awhile. Actually, ever since I tried one of these cookies at my local grocery store where I got my flu shot. Last year. They make my favorite PCC cookies. So I hunted down this recipe from allrecipes.com. I made a few slight adjustments based on reviews and my personal preference for a cookie.

These cookies are really good. Initially I found them a bit bland and wished I added a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice rather than the teaspoons of cinnamon it called for. However, upon chilling in my fridge, the taste sort of... amplified. I think I'll still try it with the pumpkin pie spice next time around for comparison's sake.

I will warn you though... should you arrange your cookies on a plate to take a picture, then walk away to grab your camera and get distracted by one of your kids who needs computer help... you might come back to something that looks like this:

And a cute little face that looks like this:

Just saying. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

www.allrecipes.com

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

or 1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Notes: I baked these at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. I used a medium cookie scoop and got about 30 cookies. After scooping the dough, I dropped the pan onto the counter a couple of times. Refrigerate cookies after they cool for the best taste. You could also add 2-3 drops of red food coloring for a more orange color, as these turn out very lightly orange.

Click on the recipe card to enlarge. Right click to save, and print as a 4x6 recipe card!

Easy Flower Clip

2010-10-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

Pardon this venture from recipes. I actually have several recipes ready to post about but by the time I upload pictures (even if my memory card wasn't acting up), make a recipe card, and actually post... it adds up to quite a chunk of time! So I wanted to post something quick and easy, and hopefully something you mama's of girls will benefit from.

A long time ago, I made hair bows. I made several bows with ribbon, but they never looked "quite right." Sure, I used them on my girls' heads, but I'm not picky. I also made a bunch of flower clips with flowers I bought at the store. Adorable, but the bows were really expensive. I couldn't afford to keep it up.

Enter this bow:

Cute, right? But here's the secret:

It's really easy.

Trust me, you uncrafty moms! You can make this!

All you need to do is make a bunch of graduated circles out of polyester (or a poly cotton blend fabric). By that I mean circles that start out big (mine was about 3 inch in diameter) and gradually get smaller (my smallest was about an inch, maybe less, in diameter). This was probably the hardest part, making decent circles. I struggle.

Now if you want to make a carnation-y flower, like I did here, take your scissors and snip around the circle, about every half inch or so You're just going to make a simple cut, about a half inch deep. Don't make this complicated, you hear me? If you want your flower to look more rose-y, then forgetting the snipping.

Next you're going to operate a flame starter. A fire stick? You know, one of those candle lighters. I made a circle or two to experiment with first. But basically all you're going to do is slowly run the flame starter (with the flame going, obviously) around the edges of each circle. The edges will curl up. If you bought truly cheap fabric (like moi) your fabric may, on occasion, catch on fire. No biggie, just blow it out.

Now you should have circles with curled edges. Stack your flower. Take a cute brad and poke it through the layers and push out the prongs. That's it! Glue it to an alligator clip, a headband, or if you're truly pressed for time, your daughters hair. Whatever. :)

Stroganoff Skillet

2010-10-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

The first time I discovered this little gem of a recipe, it was Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. It dawned on me:

There's nothing in the house for dinner.

So I scoured through cookbooks trying to find a recipe that would feed us all, and I had all ingredients on hand. I found this recipe in my Gooseberry Patch cookbook. There are two things I love about it. Okay, three. No, wait, four. (I should really think before I type, huh?)

1. It's easy and very, very quick.

2. It's food storage friendly. I had all ingredients on hand because they are ingredients I always have on hand. That's something I look for in a recipe; I don't want to have to google ingredients to figure out what the heck I need to buy. I (almost) always have ground beef in my freezer. The other ingredients are simple pantry items. I even have dehydrated onion that I've used in this recipe and yes, I was tempted to use my powdered sour cream too.

3. You boil the egg noodles in the sauce. I can't tell you how many times I've started a spaghetti sauce cooking to realize at the end that I never cooked the noodles. Please tell me I'm not the only one?

4. I plain forgot what #4 is. I apologize for misleading you but I'm pretty sure there were four reasons... oh! I know! It's yummy! My kids love this dish, eat it up, and ask for seconds. Even my toddler. And that's impressive! I do make one simple change. I add about a tablespoon of lemon juice. It's a trick I learned from the fabulous Rachael Ray to brighten up stroganoff. A delicious dinner that's quick enough for a weeknight!

One last note--this serves 4 to 6, but that's really stretching it for my family. No room for seconds! Next time I make this I'll double it and have lunch the next day, too.

Stroganoff Skillet

from Gooseberry Patch's Country Quick & Easy cookbook

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 c. sour cream

1 c. beef broth

1/2 c. water

3 c. wide egg noodles

1 T. lemon juice

In a larger skillet, brown ground beef and onion over medium heat. Gradually blend in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Lion House Rolls

2010-09-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Lion House Rolls. I have such a love-hate relationship with those suckers. As a former employee of Lion House Bakery, I used to spend my Thursday nights flipping thousands of rolls... on my feet, for hours. Okay, it was like 4 hours a night, but spending four hours a night doing the same thing over and over again is miserable.

But then. Then at the end of the long miserable night, when my muscles are screaming and my feet were swollen, something magical would happen. They could only send out pans of rolls that were completely full, and the last pan out of the oven rarely was. So rather than waste all that wonderfulgoodness, the other workers and I would get to divvy the rolls up and take them home. I would usually come home with anywhere from four rolls to a couple dozen. I would eat about six on the way back to my house and share the rest with Gary. Sophia was about a year at this time and loved Lion House rolls, and Josh still talks about when I brought the rolls home from the bakery. It's the only thing I regret about quitting that job--no more wonderful rolls.

When I was making dinner rolls for my family, it was only natural to pull out my Lion House Bakery cookbook. I followed the directions until the very end. In the cookbook they recommend cutting your rolled out dough into 2 by 4 inch strips then "rolling them" up into rolls. Here's the true bakery method: cut your strips and brush melted butter on them. Pick up a strip, pinching it on either side of the strip, so you have 6 inches hanging down in front of you. (Gosh, this is hard to explain. But it also would have been hard to take pictures!) Then jerk the strip around so it flips over itself, forming a neat little roll. Does that make sense? Have I lost you? Trust me, it's easier to "get" once you're holding the dough in your hand but if you're totally confused, let me know and I'll get a picture tutorial up asap.

In the meantime, enjoy these rolls, no matter the shape they end up, they'll be delicious.

Trust me.

Lion House Dinner Rolls

from the Lion House Bakery cookbook

2 c. warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

2/3 c. nonfat dry milk

2 T. active dry yeast

1/4 c. granulated sugar

2 t. salt

1/3 c. butter, shortening, or margarine

1 egg

4 1/2 c. to 5 c. all-purpose flour or bread flour

1/2 c. butter, melted

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine water and dry milk powder, stirring until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 c. of the flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet. Increase mixer speed to medium and mix for 2 min. Add 2 c. flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 min. at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff, and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand.) Add remaining flour, 1/2 c. at a time, and mix again until dough is soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff. (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour.)

Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about 1 T. of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl. Turn dough over so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out.) Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Sprinkle cutting board or counter with flour and place dough on floured surface. Roll out and shape as desired. Place on greased or parchment-lined baking pans. Cover lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until rolls are doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter while hot. Makes 1 1/2 to 3 dozen rolls, depending on shape and size of rolls.

Note: This recipe can be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled if you have a large enough bowl.

You can also freeze shaped rolls for later use. Simply double the amount of yeast used when making dough. After the first rise, shape the rolls but do not rise again. Instead, place rolls on a baking sheet and immediately place in freezer. When dough if frozen solid, remove rolls from pan and place in a plastic bag, squeeze excess air out of bag and seal. Rolls can be frozen for 3 weeks.

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Bow Tie Chicken Salad

2010-09-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Ages ago, my sister was thrown a baby shower. Our family friend Sallie Petersen (and wife of my dad's business partner and former neighbor), offered to host it at her home. She also offered to throw together this simple salad. Since then, this is our family's favorite salad. It's the perfect salad to toss together for company.

My only complaint with this salad would be that it errs on the more expensive side of things. Unless you stock up on the ingredients on a regular basis anyway, it's definitely one to save for a special occasion if you're on a budget. But everyone needs a good recipe for a luncheon or shower, am I right?

The only "tricky" step (and I'm sorry I don't have pictures for this, maybe soon!) is melting the sugar. The first time I made this I was so scared I would screw it up or burn down the house. It's quite easy but it does take patience, something of which I have very little. Once the sugar barely starts melting it will look a little grainy (um, grainier than just regular sugar looks), and soon will start clumping. Be patient. It will melt. I personally like to use almonds for this salad, not the pecans the recipe originally calls for. Once the almonds are all coated with the caramel sugar I like to spread everything out on a silicone mat and let it cool off.

Everything else is pretty straightforward. A little more costly, but sometimes with the expense, is buying frozen grilled chicken strips and heating them up a bit. I do highly recommend the Litehouse dressing! This salad, overall, is an amazing medley of deliciousness. I actually hate anything remotely pasta salad-ish, but this has such a pleasant mix of textures and tastes!

Bowtie Chicken Salad

by Sallie Petersen

3 to 4 chicken breasts

salt & pepper

garlic powder

1 bag romaine lettuce

1 container shredded parmaesan (about 1/2 c.)

1/2 box bow-tie pasta

2 c. pecans or almonds

3/4 c. sugar

1 jar Ceasar LITEHOUSE dressing

1. Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Grill chicken, let cool and cut into bite-sized pieces.

3. Cook bow-tie pasta and set aside.

3. Chop pecans or almonds and place into frying pan. Sprinkle sugar over pans and stir constantly until sugar is melted and coats the nuts.

4. Add lettuce, parmaesan cheese, pasta, pecans/almonds, and chicken to a big bowl. Pour dressing over and toss until coated. For 6 people you will use just under 1 jar of dressing.

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The Lunch Diva!

2010-09-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

I posted my first guest blog post today over at The Lunch Diva. She has the cutest blog and she's so sweet. I posted a recipe for my Quick 'n' Easy Chicken Noodle Soup with a recipe card. Scoot on over to her site and check out the post!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream

2010-09-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

I'm a little sad as I type this blog post. I'm about to show you a recipe that is so delicious, so ridiculously bad, and so easy that I will understand if we can't be friends anymore. Really. Because I'm the woman responsible for giving you the recipe that will destroy any shred of self control.

Sorry.

Those of you who know me will think I left out the "dough" from the title. Cookie dough is my all-time favorite ice cream. My go-to flavor. I mentioned to Gary that I was going to make cookie dough for Labor Day and he politely requested that I leave the cookie dough out of part of it because he was sick of cookie dough ice cream. (In my defense, I never make or buy cookie dough ice cream if I know it's the only flavor in the house.) So I came up with plan B, which pretty much rocked plan A out of the park.

Like I said, this is so simple.

First, you need cookie dough. This can be your great-grandma's classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, lovingly handed down through the years. Or it can be Pillsbury in a tube. Confession: I used Pillsbury. While I've perfected my chocolate chip cookie recipe, I was making several other dishes for our Labor Day barbecue. I didn't want to add "make cookies" to the list. So use whatever cookie dough you want and feel free to not feel guilty either way. No judgement here!

Once you've acquired your cookie dough and tossed the guilt out the window, bake your cookies. I baked mine just slightly on the crispy side. Put your cookies on a cooling rack, and refrigerate. You don't have to refrigerate but if you're like me, you're in a hurry to eat ice cream and you can speed the process up that way!

Moving on to the ice cream. Mix your milk and sugar in a medium bowl until the sugar dissolves. Add your vanilla and cream and mix well. Pour into the ice cream maker of your choice. Have we talked ice cream makers? This is mine and I swear by it. As does America's Test Kitchen but certainly my opinion counts more here right?

It's my blog, I can make stuff up if I want to!

Anyway, love love love this ice cream maker. I actually got it for my husband for his birthday a few years back as a frozen yogurt maker. He makes his own yogurt... I should invite him to be a guest blogger one day, huh? I've used it about a million times more than him. Well, not a million. I really am trying to diet, I swear.

There's your mini ice cream maker review. :) Though I feel like I've posted it before. Where were we? Oh yes. Pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and let it work its magic. While you're waiting, crumble up those cookies and chop up half a cup of chocolate chips. They don't have to be super fine but I find I don't like the taste of normal sized chocolate chips in my ice cream. Now, if you buy mini chocolate chips you can skip this step and really be a super time saver. But I didn't so I got to chopping.

When the ice cream maker is about five minutes from being finished, pour in your chocolate chips and slowly add your crumbled cookies. If you have an ice cream maker that is smaller than 2 quarts you definitely won't get all the cookies in there and may want to halve this recipe. My ice cream maker just barely fit all the cookie goodness. I did consider putting hot fudge ripples in the ice cream but ~~was feeling chicken~~ ran out of time. Interestingly my fab sister in law, Savannah, made an ice cream nearly identical to this one the same day. She used vanilla ice cream, brownies, and a fudge ripple! Great minds think alike, huh? Check out her blog for her post on Brownie Ice Cream!

Let it mix for another few minutes and pour into a freezer safe storage bowl with a lid. I've bought one specifically 2 quarts to use as my ice cream bowl. Let it set up for a couple of hours and serve... welcome to ice cream heaven, my friend. And until you step on the scale the next day, we will be friends when you try this ice cream.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream

adapted from Cuisinart's Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

1-1/2 c. milk

1-1/8 c. sugar

3 c. heavy cream

1-1/2 T. vanilla extract

12 chocolate chip cookies

1/2 c. chocolate chips, roughly chopped

Crumble chocolate chip cookies, set aside. In medium bowl, mix milk and sugar together until sugar dissolves. Mix in heavy cream and vanilla extract. Pour into ice cream maker bowl, freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Five minutes before ice cream finishes, add chocolate chips and slowly pour in crumbled cookies. Allow mixer to mix thoroughly. Pour ice cream into freezer safe bowl with lid and freeze until firm. Serve and enjoy!

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Easy Lunchboxes

2010-09-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

The Lunch Diva is having a giveaway! Have you seen these Easy Lunchboxes?

How cute are these? Totally practical, and maybe I can actually get my husband to eat a healthy lunch for once. Yes, it's my husband with the lunch issues, not my picky toddler. Go figure! To be fair, he's busy and his wife is a little, um, forgetful about packing lunches. So he ends up grabbing fast food if he eats anything at all.

Enter the giveaway at thelunchdiva.com to win a set! But hurry, the giveaway ends soon!

Nice Cream Pie

2010-08-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

I made this ice cream pie for my husband's family a couple of weeks ago. Despite its simplicity, they raved about it, so I decided to make it again when my stepkids were around so they could enjoy it too. I don't remember why, but on that day we were all just snippy with one another. No major fighting or anything, but the kids kept getting annoyed with each other, Gary and I kept getting annoyed with each other, and we kept getting annoyed with the kids. All around, everyone was annoyed.

I had whipped this simple dessert up the day before and was prepared to serve it that night. Before I served it though, I told everyone who wanted a piece that they must say something nice about everyone at the table. Josh went first, and, thinking hard, came up with something nice to say about everyone. Then around the table we went, including little Sophia. So this dessert was dubbed Nice Cream Pie by our family, and I think it's a tradition we'll stick with. When I make this pie, you better have nice things to say if you want a piece! (Oh, and it was amazing what a transformation our family went through... the snippiness ended and everyone was happy and laughing by the end of dessert. And I'm sure the sugar rush had nothing to do with that!)

I'm actually a little embarrassed to post this recipe because it's so simple! But somehow the magical combination transforms into a lovely, amazing little dessert! The recipe is at the bottom of the post, but to start you're going to need about 2/3 a package of Oreos. This will give you plenty to snack on while you work. That's essential! Throw them into your food processor.

Note: my processor is really really small, so it's likely that your Oreos will not come to the top like mine do!

Okay, process and pulse and whatever else ya gotta do until it looks like this:

Mmm, crumbly Oreo goodness. Keep the kids out of the kitchen for this recipe.

Actually, this is a simple recipe that kids could definitely help with! But then they'd watch you sneaking all those Oreos, and they'd want in on the action.

Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and pour it into your processor as you pulse. Or just dump it in and pulse after, should you have a baby on your hip. It doesn't matter!

Now you're going to want to press those crumbs into a pie pan.

Not gonna lie, it gets messy. So before you pour them into the pan, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or something). This way you'll be able to save those crumbs for later.

Okay, now you can press the crumbs down.

Now your pie crust is made.

You got your ice cream out to melt right? What? I didn't mention that? Okay, hurry and get it out and wait till it's all melty. If it's still sealed let it sit in the sun for a few minutes, that'll soften the sucker up.

Now when it's nice and melty--but not soupy--glob it into your pie crust. Smooth it around till it looks pretty. You only need about 3/4 of a 1.5 qt. of ice cream.

Can we talk ice cream for a minute? (I have personally never said "no" to that question.) I used a Breyer's All Natural Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. But only because it was on sale. In truth, it was delicious, but you could use any mint ice cream you want. Oh, you think mint ice cream tastes like toothpaste? (You know who you are.) Then try something else! The next time I'm making this pie, I'm going to try a chocolate flavor, maybe with cookie crumbles. Cookie dough would be fab, and Oreo ice cream is an obvious choice. Homemade ice cream of any flavor would be divine. Customize this pie so your family will say nice things to get a slice!

Okay, back to directions. I like to freeze the pie at this step. A few hours, or overnight, until it's nice and firm will be good. Now you're going to need light whipped cream in the can. Well, I suppose it doesn't have to be light. Or from a can. Technically, it could even be Cool Whip. To be perfectly honest, Gary and I have been addicted to light whipped cream in the can ever since I made this the first time. We're to the point we're just buying it to eat it plain! I do like it in the can though because it's easier to get fancy with the can than Cool Whip. Once your pie is frozen, decorate with whipped cream and some of those leftover Oreo crumbs. Freeze until the whipped cream is firm (optional). You may want to let it soften 10 minutes before you serve it. And don't forget: say nice things before you indulge!

Nice Cream Pie

2/3 pkg. Oreos

3 T. butter, melted

4-5 c. ice cream, very soft

whipped cream in a can

Crush Oreos in a food processor. Pulse in melted butter and press Oreos into pie pan. Save extra crumbs.

Spread ice cream in pie pan, freeze 4 hours or overnight.

Decorate with whipped cream and extra Oreo crumbs.

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French Dip

2010-08-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my sister, Anna, decided to make our family a meal she had first had in the school lunch room: french dip. At first, I told her I didn't want to try it. I don't like roast beef sandwiches, and to this day I'm not a fan. But she looked at me and told me I had to try it. From that day forward, a beautiful relationship was born. I loved french dip and it's accompanying cup of au jus. If I go to a restaurant and french dip is on the menu, chances are, I'm going to order french dip.

Now, I've made french dip before. Typically I use deli sliced roast beef, lay it in a hoagie roll, top with some cheese, and broil it. And for the au jus, well, I'm sorry to say, I used the little packet that is in the seasoning aisle. You know, next to the taco seasoning?

I have seen the light, thanks to this excellent recipe by a new favorite food blog, Our Best Bites. The recipe is so simple, inexpensive, and definitely worth the extra time. The recipe is at the bottom but here are the instructions.

Start by seasoning roast beef with salt and pepper. I used a frozen rump roast and I was terrified the whole day that it would be dinnertime and I'd have frozen meat to serve. Anyway, sear the meat with a little olive oil in the pan on all sides. This acts to lock in the flavor and juices of the meat.

Place the seared roast beef in your crock pot. See that plasticy thing in my crock pot? It's a crock pot liner. You can find them next to the plastic wrap at your grocery store. Love. At the end of cooking for hours and hours, rather than soaking the pot over night, I just ball it up and toss it then wipe out the crock pot.

Anyway, place two packets of Liptons Onion Soup Mix on your roast. Off-brand is okay too, but seriously, put both packets in. I forgot and added the second one halfway through. :)

Add two cans of beef broth.

And two cups of water.

You just made your au jus. You're awesome.

Cover the crock pot. If you thought ahead and defrosted your roast you can just cook this on low for about 8 hours. If your meat is frozen, then cook on high until the liquid is boiling. Once it has reached a boil, reduce the heat to low. I cooked it about 4 hours on high, and 4-5 hours on low.

I was going to take a picture of all the shredded beef, but the family got home and life happened. So once your meat is cooked (and it will be cooked! No frozen beef for you!), remove it from the crock pot and shred it with a fork.

Put your meat on hoagies (I did 10 small hoagies and had enough leftovers for a big sandwich for Gary for tomorrow), and top with a slice of provolone. Broil until the cheese is bubbly and the bread is lightly browned. Serve with the au jus in the crock pot.

I loved this. I really did. Much more rewarding than anything that can come out of a little seasoning packet. And I really, really loved being done making dinner at 9 a.m.

Here's your recipe, from Our Best Bites:

French Dip Sandwiches

1 2.5-3 lb. beef roast (you can use a frozen roast if you want)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper

2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix

2 c. water

2 cans beef broth

6-8 large buns (or more...6 would be VERY generous servings!)

Swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.

Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mixes. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. It's hard to screw this part up; basically, the longer it cooks, the more tender it will be. But you know it's done when you pop a fork in it and the meat just falls apart. When meat is ready, shred with a fork.

Place meat in crusty rolls. Top with cheese and broil open-faced in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melty.

Ladle juices into small cups for dipping and enjoy!

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Pizza On the Grill

2010-07-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I'm so mad. I posted this big long lovely post about my Summer on the Grill 2010 adventure, and I clicked something and poof. It was gone. I was almost done! If you have a little baby, you know how hard it is to get even a few minutes to do something the first time. Time to repeat it? Very unrealistic.

So here's the summary, sorry you missed the original post!
Summer on the Grill: turning off my oven and kicking up the grill/crock pot/stove top (mostly grill) to save cooling costs this summer.

Pizza on the grill: a delicious concept that you must try. ASAP. In fact, forget reading this post. Just go make pizza on the grill, okay? Wait. First go to Kitchen Project to find out how to make pizza on the grill. FYI, I made it on a gas grill. Next time, totally trying charcoal. Can't wait.

Pictures of our un-gourmet Pizza on the Grill:

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Blog Neglect.

2010-07-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, it has been a long time since I've posted! May I tell you why? I have two reasons.

First:

Yes, I was busy having a baby. In a tub. In my living room. (Because I can't do anything the easy way!)

Paisley was born very very very late on March 1, 2010. She's now four months old so I can't really use that as a blog-neglect excuse anymore, now can I?

The second reason came about two weeks later, and it's this:

That's my kitchen. I took Paisley and Sophia up to Logan to visit my parents for the weekend, and Gary discovered a big hole in the pipe behind the cabinets. So we ripped out those cabinets without a lot of forethought about what we would do for a kitchen after that! Luckily, we do have a small kitchen "area" downstairs, with no appliances. So I spent the next two months running up and down the stairs, getting the food from upstairs, bringing it downstairs to prep, and cooking it upstairs.

It wasn't fun.

But that's over with now. Well, mostly. I still don't have a tile backsplash, just drywall. There are a few other odds and ends that need finishing. I'll post pictures as soon as it's completely finished.

Anyway, I'm going to repent of blog neglect ASAP by posting a yummy recipe up next!

Burritos

2010-02-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

My favorite thing about this recipe-my favorite thing-is that it freezes so well. My mom and I (with help from my husband, bro-in-law, and sister) recently made 18 freezer meals and split those up between her family, mine, and my sisters. I'm in love with freezer cooking I think. Anyway, this is one of the dishes we made and I didn't get to taste it until a week later. So good and ridiculously simple. If I make these again, I'll probably make some for dinner that night and an extra batch (or two!) for the freezer. Beats store-bought frozen burritos any day.

Because this recipe was frozen in advance, and making 18 meals in one afternoon gets rather chaotic, I didn't get a chance to take step-by-step pictures. I'm going to skip straight to the recipe on this one. Forgive me! I haven't tried this yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that these will microwave in a jiffy too. These are awesome served with sour cream and salsa, and I bet they'd be delicious with guacamole on the side too!

Burritos

1 lb lean ground beef

1 can refried beans

1 small can diced green chilis

1 package burrito seasoning

10 slices cheddar cheese

10 flour tortillas

Brown the ground beef. Stir in refried beans, green chilis and burrito seasoning (if meat is still warm it's easier to mix). Divide and place equal amount of meat mix into into each prewarmed tortilla (easier to wrap.) Top with a slice of cheddar cheese and roll like a burrito, tucking the sides in first. Serve immediately. Double/triple this recipe and wrap extra burritos individually in tin foil and place in freezer safe zip lock bag. Freeze for up to 6 months. To serve, cook frozen burritos (wrapped in tin foil) in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 40 min.

Thanks Anna for the recipe!

Beef Pot Pie

2010-02-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

This is one of the few recipes I've come up with on my own. I absolutely love chicken pot pie, and I'll post my super simple recipe for chicken pot pie soon. About a year ago though, I was watching a lot of Food Network, particularly "30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray." I started experimenting with foods more, in particular, beef. Steak isn't my favorite food, and I never eat it plain. But I got creative one day and came up with this lovely little dish.

First, you're going to start with about a pound or so of steak. This is the part where you're going to want me to tell you which kind of steak, because I'm aware there are different, um, varieties. Cuts? Anyway, that's neither here nor there because I have no idea. I've never paid attention since I don't eat it! Here's what I use: whatever my husband will let me use. He has "gourmet" steaks or something that I'm absolutely not allowed to cut up and use in something as mundane as a pot pie. If I happen to notice a steak in the freezer (obviously, I don't buy steak since I don't eat it) that looks less-fancy, I'll ask him if he minds if I use it. But as far as I know, pretty much any steak your husband won't kill you for using will work with this pot pie. It's forgiving.

Start by cubing your chosen steak into bite sized pieces. After cubing the steak, pat the meat dry.

Throw about a cup of flour in a gallon or quart sized baggie and add your meat. Toss this around till all the pieces are well coated.

Add the meat into a pan you've heated with olive oil. You can use a frying pan if it has deeper sides, since we'll be making our gravy in this pan as well. Throw in a little salt and pepper.

I like to cook my meat thoroughly and give it a nice sear on the outside too. Sometimes my husband will slice a steak into strips, and throw some seasoning into the baggie with the flour and fry those up. He calls them "Steaklets." (This is typically a meal he makes when I'm out of town and he's fending for himself. Man-food, I suppose.) Now when those are good and done, take them out of the pan and set them aside.

Add 3 T. of butter to the pan and let it melt. Then whisk in 3 T. of flour. It will start to bubble and brown just a little bit. This is called a roux, pronounced "roo," in case you're curious.

Now add 3-4 c. of beef broth or beef stock. I think I normally use most of a carton of broth. Stir it frequently, and just when you're really starting to doubt yourself, it will thicken up.

I promise. It will.

It'll be the consistancy of a nice gravy. And it will smell really good, too.

Next, prepare your pie crust. Maybe if you're a plan-ahead-er, it will be good to go, just waiting for you. But if not, do it now. You can make it from scratch, buy it premade, or buy one of those refrigerated crusts that you just roll out. I use a just-add-water pie crust mix that we love and is super easy. But no matter how you do it, it's still homemade with love. Don't let people tell you differently!

Now mix the gravy, the meat, and about 2 cups of frozen vegetables together. I also add a can of cream of potato soup. Add a little salt and pepper too, if you'd like.

Add your pie crust lid and seal the edges. Cut a slit in the center for a steam vent and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.

Beef Pot Pie

2-9" pie crusts

1 lb. steak

1 c. flour

olive oil

3 T. butter

3 T. flour

1 qt. beef stock

2 c. frozen veggies

1 can cream of potato soup

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare 9" pie pan with crust. Cube steak into bite-sized pieces and toss with flour in a zip-loc baggie. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook steak until well done. Remove steak from pan and set aside. Add butter to pan, melt. Whisk in flour and let cook until bubbly and just starting to brown. Whisk in beef stock. Cook, stirring frequently, until thick. Add meat, veggies, and potato soup to gravy. Season with salt and pepper and pour into pie crust. Add pie crust cop and press edges to seal. Cut slit in pie crust to vent. Bake for 30 minutes.

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Recipe Cards!

2010-01-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

It's one of those weeks where I'm not cooking as much as just using up frozen meals and the like in the freezer. Yum. Anyway, so I don't necessarily have a new post as much as I have a bunch of recipe cards. I made these awhile back but I haven't made them recently. Hopefully I'll make them soon with a detailed post for each. Till then, you can delight yourself with these totally yummy, cheap, and simple meals! To print, click on each image to enlarge. On a PC, right click and click "Save Image As." They're now ready to print out as a 4x6 recipe card.

Please let me know if you make any of these recipes!

Mom's No Bake Cookies

2010-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

As a newborn photographer, I work on commission. And as such, I occasionally get paychecks that aren't quite what I'd like them to be. We always get by okay, but as my checks pay primarily for groceries, there are times when I need to get a little creative in meal planning to stretch the budget. I also tend to procrastinate going to the grocery store as long as possible, waiting until most of our basics (milk, eggs, bread, etc.) are gone. The one problem with this is that, considering I'm 8 months pregnant, the cravings for sugar and chocolate just do not go away. So last week I was looking for a recipe that would satisfy this baby's sweet tooth and not require eggs. Yes, I know I can substitute applesauce for eggs in many recipes but it always tastes "diet" to me, and these cravings aren't going to be touched by anything diet-y.

I had no-bake cookies on my mind. My sister loves these, and I figured they'd give me my chocolate fix. Since they're no-bake, I assumed they'd not require eggs. The last time I made these the recipe wasn't so great, so I tried a new one. This recipe comes from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook, which is a line of cookbooks with home-cooked type meals. Simple, hearty food that mom would make. The recipe is so simple and takes only a few minutes, plus cooling time.

In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, margarine, and milk on medium heat. The recipe says stir constantly until sugar is melted by I snuck away quickly here and there to grab the next ingredients. I turned the heat off just as the mixture started to bubble.

Stir in your vanilla and peanut butter. The residual heat will melt the peanut butter quite nicely. By the way, I never measured the peanut butter. I just plopped it in till it seemed about 1/4 c.

And stir in your oatmeal. The recipe calls for quick-cooking, I had the old fashioned kind. Overall it didn't seem to matter. Next time I buy oats I'll try the quick cooking and see if that improves anything but bottom line is, use what you have on hand. It's definitely not a thick batter. Use your cookie scoop to drop onto parchment paper. You'll get 15 cookies with a scoop, 16 if you don't help yourself to a spoonful. Or two.

Then pop these babies into your fridge till they are cooled. They will harden a bit and be delicious little morsels of chocolatey goodness. My husband commented that they were the best no-bake cookies he'd ever had. And the baby was just happy to have a little chocolate in her!!

Here's the recipe, modified a bit.

Mom's No Bake Cookies

1 c. sugar

2 T. baking cocoa

1/4 c. margarine

1/4 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

1/4 c. creamy peanut butter

1 3/4 c. oatmeal, uncooked

(or 1 1/2 c. oatmeal and 1/4 c. wheat germ)

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cocoa, margarine, and milk; stir frequently until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla and peanut butter; stir until peanut butter is melted. Add oatmeal; combine until oatmeal is well coated. Use a cookie scoop to drop onto parchment paper and cool in fridge. Makes 15-16 cookies.

Click on recipe card to see full-size. On a PC, right click and "Save Image "As." It is then ready to print as a 4x6 recipe card.

Almost Oreo Cookies

2010-01-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, I asked for Lion House's new cookbook, Lion House Bakery.

I already have the Lion House Classics book, but I wanted this book particularly because I used to work for Lion House Bakery. In case you're curious, I made cakes, pie crusts, cookie dough, and helped roll the rolls. I have a little bit of a negative feeling towards Lion House rolls because rolling them is the most boring thing I've ever done in my life. And I've done some boring things. Of course, if you do ever make them, you probably won't find it nearly so boring. There is a technique (demonstrated on DVD that comes with the book), but once you master it, you'll be "rolling" in compliments. Pardon the pun. Also, you probably won't find yourself making 4000 of them on a weekly basis either.

Anyway, shortly after Christmas I was flipping through the book to see what goodies I'd be soon making. It was fun to see recipes that I used to make at the bakery but never got the recipe for. That particular day, however, I was simply looking for a quick, easy recipe that only called for ingredients I had on hand. Which brought me to the recipe Almost Oreo Cookies. Very simple, and definitely a "pantry" recipe, meaning it calls for things you probably have in your pantry right this very second.

So what are you waiting for??

We'll start by mixing the cookie dough. Dump a devil's food cake mix, eggs, water, oil, and cocoa powder into your mixer. Mix it up.

It'll be a pretty dry mixture, and don't worry, won't resemble cake batter.

Roll into balls, oh, about this size. Place on a greased cookie sheet and flatten. Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

The cookies on the right I actually forgot to flatten, so I did it as soon as them came out. They look a little bit different but it wasn't a big deal. Now let's get started on our filling.

Here's the trick I use for measuring shortening: place a piece of plastic wrap into your measuring cup first then measure as usual. Pull out the plastic wrap and dump the shortening into your bowl. (This also works great for peanut butter.) It is really tricky getting a good photo of shortening, by the way. Anyway, put your shortening in the bowl and beat until fluffy.

Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, vanilla, and water, and beat again. Add the rest of the powdered sugar gradually, scraping the sides occasionally.

Mmm, nice fluffy filling. Spoon a little bit on the back of one cookie, and sandwich with a second cookie. Repeat until you've made all your cookies.

Enjoy! These cookies are definitely kid-fare, in my opinion. I didn't love the shortening flavor, but they still tasted pretty good. Kids would totally love squashing these little sandwiches together to make "Oreos."

Here's the recipe, from the Lion House Bakery.

Almost Oreo Cookies

1 box devils food cake mix

2 eggs

3 T. water

3 T. veg oil

1/2 c. cocoa powder

Filling:

1 c. shortening

1 pound plus 1 c. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

1/4 c. water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine cake mix, eggs, water, oil, and cocoa powder until well mixed. Form into balls and place on greased cookie sheets. Flatten each ball and bake 6 to 8 minutes. Remove cookies from cookie sheet and place on paper towels. Let cool for 20-25 min.

Prepare filling: Beat shortening until fluffy. Add 1 c. powdered sugar, vanilla, and water and beat until fluffy. Add half the remaining powdered sugar and beat well. Add remaining powdered sugar and beat well. Place desired amount on one cookie. Place second cookie on top of filling. Gently squeeze together. Repeat until all cookies have been made into sandwiches. Makes 18 cookies.

Click on the image to see full-sized. Save it to your computer (right click, "Save Picture As" on a PC). The recipe card is then ready to be printed out as a 4x6 recipe card.

Simple Chili

2010-01-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

Chili is one of those recipes that can get pretty darn fancy, considering it came about as hearty cowboy fare. I've seen recipes that look truly delicious but who has the time or energy to prep such an elaborate bowl of chili? Well, some people do, but I certainly don't. I like to keep it simple, and keep it cheap. So here's my version of an uber quick, but totally yummy, bowl of chili.

Dice some garlic and an onion.

Throw these into a large skillet with some ground beef. Mmm, raw beef... aren't you hungry already?

While the ground beef is browning, throw a can of diced tomatoes into your crock pot.

Add a can of chili beans.

And a 30 oz. can of tomato sauce.

When your meat is browned, add it to the crock pot too.

Toss your seasonings in. Do it to taste, or measure it. Most likely, you won't screw it up, and you can taste it later to decide if you need more.

Stir it up, and let it cook in your crock pot for 8-10 hours on low.

Enjoy your chili! We like to top ours with sour cream, cheddar, and Frito chips. It's kid-friendly and super easy. My favorite kind of meal!

Simple Chili

2 lbs. hamburger

1 can diced tomatoes

1 30 oz. can tomato sauce

1 30 oz. can chili beans

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. brown sugar

1/2 t. oregano

1/2 t. black pepper

1 1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 t. cumin

1/4 c. chili powder

Cook beef with onion and garlic. Combine beef, sauce, tomatoes, beans, and seasonings in crockpot. Stir and cook on low 8-10 hours. Serve with sour cream, cheddar, and corn chips.

Thick and Creamy Potato Soup

2009-11-14T11:11:00.001-08:00

Hello, winter! And hello, soup weather! Last night was the first seriously cold night we've had, so I decided it was time to break out the soup pot. I have another recipe for potato soup from my sister-in-law, but I wanted to try something a bit creamier. I found a recipe from Cooking by the Seat of My Pants for a Thicky and Creamy Potato Soup. It sounded lovely and just what I was looking for. Even better, I had most of the ingredients on hand, which is something I always look for in a recipe.

The recipe itself is pretty straightforward. First, you're going to want to cook up some bacon. You can do this in a pan, (I typically do) but the recipe suggested baking it in the oven. As much as I love bacon, I don't really enjoy cooking it, so I thought baking it might be up my alley.

Ah, bacon...

The recipe suggested cooking it on a cooling rack to keep it nice and flat. It did the trick, but honestly didn't crisp up as quickly as I would have liked. It probably took 25 minutes or so and still wasn't "crumbly." Next time I'll risk that crinkly bacon and just throw it on a sheet pan and bake it in 15 minutes.

Now, don't toss all that lovely bacon grease. Carefully pour a tablespoon or two into your soup pot.

And add your diced up onion. The recipe calls for a whole onion, I used a leftover half. And probably should have cut the bacon grease accordingly, but I didn't think about it at the time! Simmer that up until it's nice and transclucent.

Then grow in your diced up garlic and cook another minute or two.

Toss in your potatoes. They should be one inch cubes but who has time to cube a potato?

Well, maybe some people do. But I certainly don't.

At any rate, mix up your potatoes. Give it a minute to start sizzling.

And add enough chicken stock to cover the potatoes. This is about where the recipe and I seemed to have different opinions. First, it called for about 32 oz. of chicken stock. I easily used 42 oz., and still felt like I could have added more.

At this point, you're supposed to throw the lid on and let it simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Perhaps because I didn't "cube" my potatoes, but my cooking time ended up being more like 35 minutes.

It was a late dinner.

I'm sorry to say it, but things got pretty crazy in my kitchen about then. So you'll have to use your imagination because I don't have pictures.

Loosely mash up the potatoes with a potato masher (or giant spoon!). Throw about half of your soup into a food processor/blender/KitchenAid and puree.

Pour the puree back into the mashed potatoes. Add your butter, and cream. (I didn't say this was a healthy recipe, did I?) Stir, add seasonings, and add more chicken stock if you want it less-thick. I certainly did. Honestly, this would make a fantastic mashed potato recipe if you halved the chicken stock and left out the bacon.

When your soup is ready to go, crumble your bacon and stir in. Serve, and add some additional bacon, and possibly chopped green onions, on top as a garnish if you desire.

If you have kids that are totally starving at this point, omit the garnish and just feed the lil' monsters. I mean, the lil' sweeties.

Oh, I also added a little milk to the kiddies' soup to cool it down quickly. They really were hungry at this point! Overall, absolutely delicious. And even though the ingredients weren't high on the health food list, the soup is so filling it's unlikely you'll overindulge. Everyone loved the soup and we're having the leftovers for lunch today. Here's the recipe...

Thick and Creamy Potato Bacon Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 lb (1/2 package) thick cut pepper bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped

2 – 3 tbsp. Bacon drippings

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

5 lbs. russet or red potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes

42 oz. chicken stock (approximate)

1/2 pint heavy cream

1/8 lb (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Cook bacon using preferred method until crisp. (I bake thick cut bacon on a cooling rack over a sheet pan so that it remains flat). Allow to cool and chop or crumble into small pieces. Reserve several tablespoons of drippings. (add more bacon drippings if onions look dry. This will depend on the size of your pot and particular onion.)

Place a large soup pot or heavy casserole over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. bacon drippings and cook onions, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes, stirring often.

Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes. When everything is sizzling nicely, add enough stock to just cover potatoes. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for approximately 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender.

Mash potatoes roughly with a potato masher. Scoop out about half of the remaining mixture and puree in a blender (in batches!) or food processor. (Or if you’ve got an immersion blender, go for it with that.) Make sure to leave a good bit of the potatoes chunky, for texture.

Add butter and heavy cream. Stir to combine well. Taste for seasoning and add more stock if soup is too thick for your liking. When the consistency is right for you, stir in bacon and bring to just a bare simmer, stirring often.

Serve hot. Garnish with additional crumbled bacon and some chives or green onions.

Click on the recipe card to save. This is formatted to be a 4x6 recipe card and will probably not format well to a 5x7.

Corn Dogs

2009-11-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Today we're making something you can typically only find in a box in your frozen foods section at the grocery store, or even better, at your state fair. I tried making these delicious corn dogs once a long, long time ago... and they were a flop. I've recently learned a few tips and tricks (thanks, Alton Brown!) and decided to try, try again.

First, you'll start your batter. Mix buttermilk (see below for a substitution!), eggs, oil, sugar and salt in a bowl.

Add corn meal, flour, and baking powder.

Mix it up so it's nice and... yellow.

Now, skewer your hot dogs on a stick. Alton Brown recommends Chinese takeout chopsticks (not broken apart), but all I had was skewers. They worked okay, but I can see the benefit of the two chopsticks. Pat your dogs dry and roll in flour so the batter will stick.

Pour your batter into a tall cup and dunk your hot dogs.

You'll want to swirl it around a bit and scrape off the excess. Fry them up in pan of hot oil, a few at a time. Turn them once the bottoms get brown. When fried, place them on a kitchen towel to absorb some of the oil. Of course, Alton Brown recommends a deep fryer, and I bet they would be easier that way. However, we all gotta work with what we got, right? If you have one of those fancy machines, heat your oil up to 375 degrees.

And here they are, in all their glory. Next time I might try to use corn flour. My stepkids weren't home when I made these, but I know my stepdaughter would have pretty severe issues with the crunch from the corn meal. Corn meal and corn flour are the same, corn flour has just been ground more. These were really crispy. I have yet to find a recipe that gives me the nice "breaded" corn dog I'm always looking for. Delicious though, and a fun project! Kids would love the "mini corn dogs" the recipe suggests at the end.

Buttermilk substitution: pour just shy of 1 c. milk. Add enough vinegar or lemon juice to make 1 c.

Corn Dogs

from Mommy's Kitchen

1 cup buttermilk

2 medium eggs

1/4 cup oil

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/3 cups corn meal

2/3 cup flour

1 to 1-1/2 pounds hot dogs

flour for dusting (about 1/2 cup)

Oil for Frying

Popsicle sticks, Chop Sticks or Wooden Meat Screwers

In a large bowl combine the buttermilk, eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Mix it very well. Sprinkle in the baking powder, corn meal and flour. Stir it all up to make a slightly thick batter. Take your hot dogs and dry them off on paper towels. Dust the hot dogs with flour, coating them completely. The cornmeal batter won’t stick to the hot dogs unless they are coated in flour. The batter just slides right off of the wieners naturally slick outsides. Shove Popsicle sticks into the flour coated hot dogs. Set the hot dogs aside. While all of this is going on, it’s a good idea to get the oil heated up. You want the temperature to be about 375°. Allow the oil to preheat so it is almost smoking by the time you are ready to add the corn dogs. Now, to coat the floured hot dogs with batter you have two choices. You can swirl the hot dogs in the bowl of batter until they are coated, and then drop them into the hot fat. If this is a little difficult I know of an easier way. Scoop some of your corn meal batter into a narrow jar or cup which is as tall as your hot dogs are long. Fill the jar or cup about 3/4 of the way full.

Dip your hot dog into the batter while you hold onto the stick. Swirl the hot dog to coat it evenly. Be careful or the batter will overflow. Raise the wiener above the cup and let any excess batter drip off. Quickly place the battered dog into the hot oil. The fat (oil) will bubble up and cook the outside of the batter, making the corn dogs the exact same shape as the ones you buy at the store. Only fry a few corn dogs at a time. If the corn dogs crowd each other they don’t fry very well. I only fry 2 or 3 at a time. Turn the corn dogs when the bottom side is well browned. Use tongs to remove the cooked corn dogs from the fat (oil). Allow them to drain on paper towels. Repeat the process, coating and frying a few at a time, until all of the corn dogs are cooked. Refill the narrow jar or cup with batter from your bowl as necessary. Continue until all the hot dogs are coated or until you no longer have enough batter to coat the hot dogs efficiently. If you don’t want to waste any unused batter, it can be dropped by small spoonfuls into the hot fat (oil), and fried until brown. Serve these along side the corn dogs.

If desired, you can make small corn dogs by cutting hot dogs into thirds, or quarters. Poke a toothpick up into the end of the hot dogs. Coat and fry them as described above. These are nice for fancy days, and for kids parties. Provide plenty of ketchup and mustard for dipping.This recipe makes about 12 to 14 corn dogs.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Streusal Bars

2009-11-11T21:07:00.000-08:00

Whew! That's quite the name, isn't it? Well, it's also quite the dessert, and I can't see how you could possible shorten the name. They're not plain ol' pumpkin bars, not these fellows. And it certainly isn't pumpkin cheesecake... So the name sticks for now, but it doesn't matter. You're going to forget all about the silly name the second you bite into these suckers.

To begin, add oatmeal cookie mix, ginger snaps, and cold cubed butter into your food processor. Pulse it until it's nice and crumbly.

Like this. Now, my food processor is ridiculously small, and truly not made for this type of endeavor, so I ended up splitting the cookie base into two batches. If you're lucky enough to have a normal sized food processor, life will be much simpler for you. If you're so unlucky you don't even HAVE a food processor, then just crush the cookies and cut the butter in.

Reserve one cup of the crumbs and set aside. Press the remaining crumbs into a 9x13 pan and bake for ten minutes. Your kitchen is going to smell good.

While you're giving the cookie base ten minutes to cool, wash out your food processor bowl. Throw in your cream cheese and sugar. See that cream cheese on the right there? It looks a little sad... that's because it was previously frozen. They say you can't freeze cream cheese, but it's totally fine if you do. It just looks a little sad at first. It needs love. So let's pulse it up some...

Ah! And it's smooth and creamy as the stuff you put on the baby's bottom. Uh. Sorry. I won't go there now. Anyway, it's fine. So stock up on cream cheese when it's on sale (usually around the holidays) and feel free to freeze it for six months.

Ok, so I gave up on trying to make the food processor work. I dumped the sweetened cream cheese in my KitchenAid, along with the pumpkin, flour, pumpkin pie spice, whipping cream, and two eggs.

Now, you food processor gals just keep going in the food processor. No need to messy up another bowl! Once you've got everything mixed, just scrape the sides to make sure everything is incorporated.

Pour the filling onto your warm cookie base and spread around. Top with the 1 cup of streusal crumbs you set aside.

Bake until the filling is set. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Drizzle with a little chocolate'n'caramel action, and you have yourself Dessert! Here's the recipe, thanks to our Betty Crocker friends:

Pumpkin Cheesecake Streusal Bars

1 pouch Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1/2 cup crushed gingersnap cookies
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
2 packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons whipping cream
2 eggs
1/3 cup chocolate topping
1/3 cup caramel topping

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix, crushed cookies and pecans. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or fork, until mixture is crumbly. Reserve 1 cup mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining filling ingredients; beat until well blended. Pour over warm cookie base. Sprinkle with reserved topping.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is set. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.

Before serving, drizzle with chocolate and caramel toppings. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Hearty Lasagna

2009-11-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from Home Baked Memories. I've never made a lasagna without using a jar of spaghetti sauce. This only had a couple more steps to it, and my family LOVED it.

I modified it just a bit. Here's the lowdown:

Brown your hamburger, onion, and garlic.

Then add your stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Let that simmer for 2 hours. Yeah... 2 entire hours. Go do something productive. OR you can take my route, and get on facebook. But it's up to you!

About an hour and a half into your simmer, boil your water and start cooking those lasagna noodles. Throw in a pinch of salt for luck... er, flavor.

Now you'll start layering. Spread a little of your sauce down in the bottom of your casserole dish.

Add your noodles. Mine look a little skewampus, but don't worry. It's lasagna, it doesn't have to be pretty!

Add your sauce. I like to add a pretty thick layer.

Glob on your Ricotta. If you're not a big fan of Ricotta, you can take a tub of cottage cheese, place it in a strainer and wash off all the cream, and use that instead. But my husband won't eat cottage cheese, and I'm not going to waste time making food he won't eat!

Now shmear the Ricotta around. It's okay if it mixes with the meat sauce a bit. :)

Add your cheese. I happened to have a mozzarella blend from Costco on hand (80% mozz, 10% cheddar, 10% parmesan), but use what you have. An Italian blend would be great, but plain Jane cheddar would taste yummy too. After the cheese layer, you can add your parmesan cheese if you didn't. Or if, like me, you just wanted to add more cheese. Repeat that layer, then for your final layer, you'll add the noodles and cheese. Cover with foil and bake.Here's the finished product. Aren't you just ready to dive into it? It really was so good, and my family of 4.5+ (one dad, one pregnant mom, two kids, and a toddler) stuffed ourselves on half the lasagna. So hubby and I have lunch for the next couple of days. I just LOVE when dinners make my life easier the next day! Okay, here's the recipe, and of course, your recipe card is below.

Hearty Lasagna

2 lbs Lean Hamburger

1/2 Onion, chopped

2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped

Brown together in a skillet. Drain off excess fat and add:

2 Large cans of Stewed Tomatoes

2 small cans of Tomato Paste

2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp. garlic powder (to taste)

Simmer for 2 Hours

3 c. of mozzarella blend cheese

15 oz. Ricotta cheese

1 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Cook One 16 oz package of Lasagna Noodles until tender.

Put a little sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish - layer of noodles, then meat sauce, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, parm cheese. Repeat and then top with Cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until bubbly.

Welcome!

2009-11-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Cheep Eats & Sweets! I'm Sarah, the writer/designer/photographer/cook/creative mind/busy mom behind this yummy food blog. I wanted to start this blog because a) I adore food blogs, b) I love to cook and have the fab camera to prove it and c) I wanted to show other moms some great, quick meals to cook on a budget.

And I am. On a budget, that is. Occasionally I might throw in a "splurge" meal here or there, but the majority of my meals feed a family of 4.5+ for less than $10 and mainly using typical pantry items. No fancy shmancy gourmet cookin' here, just plain good food. And bonus, I'll include a 4x6 recipe card for each recipe to add to your own recipe box.

So to kick it off, I'll start with a recipe I just loved as a kid. It's called Poppyseed Chicken. I think my mom asked for the recipe after eating dinner at a family friends' house. I'm sure she regretted it once us kids requested it over and over and over... and over. It's delish, and easy enough to prep in the morning and pop in the oven at night. Or if you have a super busy day ahead, prep the night before!

Poppyseed Chicken

2 c. cooked chicken, cubed (use leftover chicken, grilled chicken, rotisserie chicken, whatever you have on hand!)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 c. sour cream OR 1/2 c. sour cream and 1/2 c. milk

Ritz cracker crumbs (about 1 sleeve)

1 T. poppyseeds

1 T. butter, melted

1 lb. egg noodles

Cook the egg noodles and drain the water. Mix the sour cream and cream of chicken. Stir in the chicken. Pour egg noodles into 9x13 casserole pan. Pour on chicken mixture. Top with cracker crumbs and pour melted butter over crackers. Sprinkle poppyseeds. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Here's your recipe card!