I need a nap. Instead I'm making Pumpkin Muffins.

(P.S. that's a Straight-Out-Of-Camera shot :-P)

Hubby requested Pumpkin Muffins. I do *heart* my pumpkin muffins, with a recipe given to me by my high school crush's mom (at least SHE liked me! lol). I decided since I'm doing all sorts of freezer-ish-stuff, I'd make a BIG batch, and freeze most of them so we can nibble on them to our hearts delight as I get less and less mobile. So I wrote up the "big batch" recipe (aka, using a WHOLE CAN of pumpkin mash, instead of 1/3 of it), went to take a sip of water from my glass... and well... I need a nap.

First: Pumpkin Muffins though, yes? Feel free to join me in one, or both of these efforts.

First, we get all our ingredients out, to make sure we actually HAVE them all. It was a close call for this chica on the Nutmeg - EXACTLY 1 1/2 tsps left in the jar (this must be because I went grocery shopping today). And yes, I use my stove as more counter space when cooking - that's what the flat-top is for, right?!?

Then, we set our oven to preheat to 350*, because if we don't do it now, we'll forget and have to wait longer later.

Now... we measure out our dry ingredients and mix them all together nicely!

Ready to get movin here... cream your margarine. For this "big batch" of 36 muffins, you'll use 2 sticks and 2 tbsp... get it all mushy and light and fluffy, and then slowly add in your brown sugar.

I did this by adding 1/2 a cup at a time. Once all your sugar is in, and it looks all yummy deliciousness, add the pumpkin and eggs. It will then turn gross looking. Like this:

But have no fear, we're adding in the flour mix alternately with the milk, and it'll end up all satiny smooth... just wait. Now... this is the hard part. Add flour mix first, then milk, then flour, then milk, slowly and letting it combine fully before adding more goodies making sure you add flour FIRST AND LAST. Ok, tricks over... now it looks all smooth and delicious again.

Spoon it into muffin tins (with papers) 3/4 full, pop in the oven, and 20 minutes later... DELICIOUSNESS.

And there's NO REASON not to pop one out of the pan IMMEDIATELY and eat it piping hot. In fact, do it. THEN take your nap ;)

BIG BATCH RECIPE (Because you'll want it. And so will your neighbors. And family. And dog.)
Makes 3 dozen muffins
Takes 20 minutes at 350*
Prep-Time, maybe 30 minutes?

4 1/2 cups flour
5 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/8 tsp cloves

18 Tbsp Margarine (2 sticks + 2 tbsp)
2 cups Brown Sugar, packed lightly
3 eggs
1 15oz can mashed pumpkin

1 1/2 cups milk

1) Combine first 7 ingredients (dry ingredients sans sugar) in a large bowl
2) Cream margarine
3) Slowly add brown sugar until light and fluffy
4) Add pumpkin and eggs and mix well
5) Add flour mixture alternately with milk slowly, mixing well between additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6) Fill muffin cups 3/4 full
7) Bake in 350* oven for 20 minutes.
8) EAT!!!!
9) Share with neighbors, or freeze extra muffins for defrosting and enjoyment later. **never froze these before, so this is an experiment for me, but seeing as how I've polished off 3 muffins in the writing of this post, that might be why**

**UPDATE**
I packaged these in 12 muffin batches in freezer ziplock bags, placed 2 carefully in our big freezer... and am happy to announce that when removed and left on the counter, they defrost marvelously!  So go ahead and freeze them up, knowing it will be LIKE you had fresh-baked muffins after you've finished the first dozen off!


-Betsy

What's for dinner? The Which Came First Bake!

I'm on a roll lately, and I'm not squelching it. I even remembered to take pictures of NOT ONLY the finished product on this meal... but some of the STEPS!! Radical... I know. Especially since I was "rationing" my camera battery until my (MARVELOUS) Mother In-Law mailed it back to me (oops).  Thanks, I got it this afternoon!! :-P

SO, since this has a catchy name... you can bet I didn't name it. Hubby did. So yes, it's the "Which Came First Bake" Why? Because it's Chicken and Eggplant Parm... but not... cause I didn't use that much Parmesan cheese... and which came first... the Chicken... or the Eggplant?!? (yes, we're ham's in this house)

ANYWAY, this is really hubby's mastermind. I'd seen some REALLY nice eggplant at the store, and bought a big one... and it sat on the counter long enough that I decided it was now or never... time for Eggplant Parmesan. But then I thought "I need protein, and brother-in-law might come for dinner... and he just needs lots of food... so I'll fry up some chicken fingers to 'spread it out a bit' and we'll be all set". Well, hubby decided that what I REALLY should do is defrost a BUNCH of chicken breasts so we could have leftovers, and "parm" them... and make them the bottom layer of the eggplant parm dish. So I did. It ends up... this is a dish you can prep-ahead somewhat and bake to finish later, and it's DELICIOUS. So are the leftovers 0:-P

The basic gist (since there are NO measurements here) is to fry up some 1/2" thick slices of eggplant like you would to make eggplant Parmesan (except I just used seasoned breadcrumbs... not Parmesan anything). Then fry up some pounded chicken breasts the same way. (real hard, right? You don't even have to finish cooking them... just get them breaded and browned.)

Now, I used my "deep dish baker" from Pampered chef for this, and a large eggplant + four chicken breasts + cheese and sauce filled it up pretty well... so pyrex might not cut it this time around. But you put some sauce in the bottom of the pan, and lay the chicken breasts in as best as possible. Then some Parmesan cheese (because this was, after all, SUPPOSED to be eggplant and chicken PARM) more sauce, and mozzarella. Then layer your eggplant in the same manner (not a ton of sauce here people though) cover, and bake for 30 minutes at 350*. Now... mine ended up sitting in the covered baker for close to an hour while I made these cookies and then remembered the pasta (totally unnecessary by the way) so it may have continued to cook a bit, but I've found that pre-cooking the chicken on the stove means 30 minutes in the oven and you're done.

Here are my "in process photos" with the short-and-sweet directions: Fry, layer, bake, eat.

ENJOY!

-Betsy

Experimental Dinner Success!! Chicken and Rice with Beans and Veggies Bake

Man, I really need to work on my "titling" skills. And my remembering to take photos of food. I'm blaming it all on pregnancy. ANYWAY, I made an "experimental dinner" tonight (which always makes Hubby a little nervous) but it came out pretty well! I was even given permission to use the technique and change up the flavors for different variations!

I always liked the idea of Cambell's Chicken and Rice bake that used condensed cream of mushroom soup... but it was never soupy enough for me, and always seemed to come out dry (maybe I cook it too long, I don't know). So today, having defrosted 2 chicken breasts with NO idea what I was going to do with them, and the only request from Hubby being that "whatever we have for dinner... I want a LOT"... I thought of chicken with black beans and rice. But I didn't know what to do with the chicken part... and since I'm working on getting more veggies and less salt in my diet to help reduce the pregnancy puff.... I was even more stumped.

So I looked up how to "bake rice" to find out how much LIQUID is required for that method. Turns out: 1.5 to 1.75 times more liquid than rice. With this knowledge, and a can of black beans... I went to brainstorming. This is what I came up with (including some changes I would do next time)

Ingredients:
2-4 defrosted and trimmed chicken breasts, pounded flat (seasoned with salt/pepper/garlic powder/cumin)
1 small/medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic (or a minced clove or two)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 cup pepper, diced (I used frozen)
1 can of black beans, drained (and rinsed if you wish. I used reduced sodium beans)
1 cup rice
1 15.something ounce can of chicken broth (aka, 1 3/4 cup, again... reduced sodium)
Ovenproof cooking vessel with some sort of lid. I used a deep-dish-baker from Pampered Chef, but a pyrex dish and some tinfoil should work too.
Frying Pan

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375*
In a frying pan, heat up some olive oil, and sautee the onion until translucent, and add garlic until aromatic.
In Baker, place 1 cup uncooked rice, 1 cup pepper (frozen is still fine - no need to defrost), onion and garlic, cumin, black beans and broth (feel free to add additional veggies like tomatoes or 1/2 cup of salsa, or corn or what-have-you) and stir together.
Season your flattened chicken breasts with black pepper, cumin, garlic, salt... whatever floats your boat.
In now-empty, but hot, frying pan, place chicken to brown on each side (maybe 2-3 minutes each side?)- don't worry... you're not cooking it through, just getting some color on the outside.
Nestle the chicken into the rice/veggie/liquid mixture, throw a lid (or tinfoil) on and put in the oven. TECHNICALLY, it should take 35 minutes... mine took 45 to fully cook the rice. The chicken was done at 35 minutes (probably an extra few to heat up the stoneware).

Let it sit for a few minutes (to cool, and let the rice finish soaking up the broth after cooking) and you'll have moist chicken, flavorful moist rice, and a yummy dinner that took very little prep and follows up with very little cleaning. Heck, you can wash the frying pan, cutting board, knife and chicken-pounder all before dinner even starts!

The changes I included were: Seasoning the chicken. oops. Using 4 breasts instead of two (because portion wise... that's the right quantity for everything else). Using TWO instead of one tsp cumin. Using a WHOLE can of black beans (I used 3/4 cause... it looked good, and meant I'd have beans for quesadilla's later... and that's what came out of the can unassisted when I dumped it in the strainer). Not cooking the pepper ahead of time, and honestly? Using a frying pan. (my stock-pot was already coated in oil from popcorn!! I just went with it. Not ideal for browning chicken however...)

The hubster wanted "a lot" of food... so I doubled the amount of rice we normally eat - and after gorging himself, I still had about 2 cups of rice left-over (which is in the freezer in a ziplock now, waiting for us to eat quesadilla's next so it can be microwaved back to marvelousness - yay for freezing rice!) It always amazes me how much COOKED rice you get from RAW rice.  If you'd like a little heat... feel free to add some chili powder. About 1/2 a cup of salsa would be great too (in an attempt to avoid heartburn tonight, I refrained from heat and tomatoes).

I'll have to think up another flavor combo to try soon... a few ingredients thrown into that covered baker for a bit, and coming out with a meal-in-one?!? I LIKE it. It might become the "Crud. I didn't defrost a freezer-meal today" solution come December...

And speaking of freezer meals (I'm babbling tonight, sorry) - the chicken-pot-pies from yesterday came out well!! (although my crust never browned :-/ It might have been that I baked them in the toaster oven... which is part of why I didn't take a photo. The other part was that I cooked them FOREVER waiting for them to get brown, so I was super hungry by the time we caved and just ate.) Hubby wanted more salt in his since I made it SUPER low sodium... I want sleep lines that disappear in less than two hours, so he can deal for now. Maybe I'll go back to "regular salt" when I don't feel as puffy ;).

-Betsy

Spicy bruchetta with sausage

And THIS is my first post from my phone... With a photo from my camera! Lets see how this works.
This was just diced tomatoes, some (not as spicy as I thought) peppers, minced onion (about a quarter of a small one), a ton of minced garlic, and basil with a little olive oil and salt.
Then I grilled up some sausage, toasted some homemade bread on the grill, and made "mini pizzas" without cheese at the table. It was yummy (and I definitely got my veggie servings in!).  A simple "appetizer dinner" for a Saturday evening.

Happiness.

Oreo Cream ice cream

Fresh cut strawberries

Dark Chocolate Syrup.

And a spoon that just beckons you to pick it up.

-Betsy

My Lunch :-D

Well, I've discovered one good thing about not being "allowed" to eat cold meat: hot sandwiches.

Like this "cheese steak" I made with a bit of leftover onion in the fridge (cooked up first - I attempted to caramelize them, but was too hungry to wait... so sauteed), scissor cut roast beef from the deli (added to onions till pipin' hot!) and some cheddar cheese (melted and mixed in with the hot beef and onions) served on a fancy roll from my deli that's just stinkin delicious (toasted up whole in the toaster oven while cooking filling) and topped with ketchup... cause... that's how I eat my cheese steaks.

Needless to say... I didn't have an early dinner 0:-P AND I finally have an original photo posted that I actually like :-P. Used natural light and everything. And no edits!! whoot woot!

So maybe this hot-cold-cut thing isn't all bad...


-Betsy

Food Friday - Zebra Bread and Pasta Salad

The other day, I made bread from my favorite recipe (Crusty White Bread) in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day... what I didn't expect however, was to pick up the POWDERED SUGAR from the cabinet instead of the flour when it came time to cloak it...

Well, I eventually figured out what I'd done (and used real flour too), but it was too late... I went with a "well... lets see how this works" attitude, and discovered that powdered sugar (probably sugar in general) doesn't really appreciate 450* steam...  but the bread tasted fine (kind of like kabob's... you can TASTE the char, but it doesn't bother you?). Hubby said he even LIKED it! However... I've named it "Zebra Bread"... because, well... see for yourself!

 And for dinner last night, I made Balsamic Tomato Mozzarella Spinach Chicken Pasta Salad. I should PROBABLY work on the name of it... but it was pretty yummy!

I have NO measurements at ALL for this... BUT, the ingredients are...

Mini Bow Ties (or any pasta that makes you happy)
Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
Spinach, ripped and wilted on the hot bow ties
Mozzarella Balls (I got the tiniest ones so there would be more bites with cheese :-P)
Chunked, leftover Rotisserie Chicken (from those $6.00 ones at the store?)
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt
Pepper

I know... there were a bunch of "surprise ingredients" in there, lol. It really should be left to sit for a while to let all the flavors meld, and I think next time, I'd roast the tomatoes first too. But it was a delicious summer meal that you can eat cold, and even use as a side-dish at a picnic (it's still yummy without the chicken too, by the way).

An alternative dressing to the "balsamic vinaigrette" is Italian Dressing. My preggers-ness didn't want it TOO flavorful yesterday, so I went with the balsamic (I really didn't add much) but I did "try" both 0:-P I'm sure hubby would have liked it better with the Italian (or more balsamic).

I served it with some "fake garlic bread" too... a few slices of the "zebra bread" doused with olive oil (and rubbed together, cause I'm weird like that) and a shake of garlic powder and dried basil. MMMMM MMMM good.

-Betsy

Busy Day!!

Yesterday was a busy day around here!! And I'm a LITTLE surprised at the fact that I woke up with hubby, and after 30 minutes of lying in bed trying to go back to sleep... decided to GET UP. Wha-huh?!? Ok, so it's 6:45, I've read all my e-mails, checked all my blogs, done a few internet searches, had my breakfast and am writing today's blog post. Weird.

So yesterday... I had planned on sewing. Baby presents, maternity clothes, alterations... it was a "craft room" day... until I randomly decided (ok, not really randomly, but close enough) that I needed to make spaghetti sauce (I buy the giant cans of sauce from Sam's Club and make my own sauce, cause it's what keeps hubby happy). Which of course, meant that I needed to make bread (this WAS unexpected) to go with the obvious dinner choice: Spaghetti with sausage. And my dad-in-law wanted to WATCH me make dough last time I was there... but we ran out of time, so I decided to do a "cooking video" (Very low-tech) of how I do it. Except my sound input was from the wrong spot... so it's really a silent movie with no written words to help out. Oh well... I'll have to try again when this batch of dough is gone. And THEN, a friend came by to visit (and pick some stuff up) and suddenly, lunch was late. So I grabbed a PB&J and scarfed it down... but needed... SUGAR!! So I made cookies, like I've been meaning to do for days (but was also unexpected). I chose a half recipe of In Katrina's Kitchen's Award Winning Cookies Recipe. Very yummy. Best chocolate chip cookies I'VE turned out (they are not my forte).
But P.S. They're the same recipe as Nestle Toll House on the back of the bag... with an extra half cup of flour... for future reference. However, I think the extra flour helped make them not totally flat, like I usually do.

Don't they look delicious? (borrowed from her blog post)

I did still get the latest baby-present finished... and hopefully I'll figure out how to take a picture of it soon. Warning: this may require a trip to Target with my camera. Can't wait to see the looks on people's faces, haha!

Maybe today I'll get some sewing done... of course, that will be around grocery shopping, yoga, watering the garden, making corned beef and soda bread for dinner, and folding laundry...
-Betsy

Food Friday - Mine, and where you SHOULD be looking.

Friday. I'm supposed to deliver some yummy-ness or something.

Except this week, I ate this (or tried to at least)

Pizza from the local shop, frozen, and reheated in the microwave with some cucumbers and dip as a "veggie". Bean likes pizza. Bean doesn't like dill dip apparently.

And the next night I ate popcorn and gingerale. Yes, I ate 2 bowls of stove-popped popcorn and 2 cans of gingerale as dinner. Dessert was 2 slices of American cheese.

Knowing this, I pass on Fidelio's recipe of the week, which she graciously posted on a Thursday, so I could schedule this post. ;)  No-Bake Key Lime Cheesecake.

-Betsy

Wordless Wednesday - Panini Fail

This is what happens when you try making a ham and american cheese panini on a George Forman grill and walk away. You end up with a ham sandwich and american cheese-its.

-Betsy

Food Friday - Mac and Cheese?

I apologize. I tried out a new recipe this week, which was a big hit... and never took a picture of it. And I even had the opportunity, since there were leftovers! But looking back at the food photos I have of recipes I haven't posted... they're not that exciting. So I'm going to hammer on and post this Mac and Cheese recipe I found on the internets with this instead:

I quartered the original recipe for the two of us, but it would be MUCH easier to make only halved... so here's the halved recipe (with my tweaks). The reviews of the recipe had said to double the sauce... so this is the doubled sauce measurements:

Baked Mac and Cheese - serves 8-10
8 oz Elbow Macaroni (half a box generally)
1/2 cup evaporated milk (one tiny can will work)
2 eggs
8 oz sour cream (comes that way in the small container :-P)
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1.5 cup shredded cheddar (I used colby and it was still yummy)
1/4 cup parmesan
(1/2 tbsp butter, melted) - I didn't use butter and it was still delicious.

1. Cook pasta according to package - al dente. Strain pasta and cool off pot slightly with cold water.
2. Mix milk, eggs, sour cream, season salt & pepper in cooled pasta pot (saves dishes!)
3. return pasta to pot, and add (or grate in) cheese (not the parmesean). FOLD IN the cheese to the pasta and milk mixture. Try stirring with figure 8's and don't expect the cheese to melt. DO NOT ADD HEAT. Once the cheese and milk and pasta are all mixed together, put it in a small glass dish. I used our round, straight walled pyrex.
4. Sprinkle the top with the parmesan, and if you want... drizzle the melted butter on top (it might make the parmesan crispier?)
5. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or until the milk mixture thickens.


We all know by now (and if you don't, you will) that I don't measure well, and by well, I mean at all :-P. So I didn't really measure the cheese... I grated about... 4-6 oz in though probably? And then sprinkled a... bunch? of parmesan on top.

This mac and cheese could totally suffice as a meal. I never understood Mac and Cheese as dinner before... but I'd always imagined Kraft. This stuff was delicious, and I totally didn't have room for all my chicken 0:-P

-Betsy

Mmmmm.... Pizza.

I love pizza.

In my mind, there are two different kinds of pizza. "Comfort pizza" which generally comes from a pizzaria, is HUGE and is plain cheese - extra greasy. And then there's good for you pizza - made at home with wholesome ingredients and toppings and generally personal sized. I love them both. In fact, even though I'm from NJ, and just outside Manhattan, home of the "New York Pizza"... I'm not very picky about my pizza. I'm much pickier about my cookies. If it's got dough, red sauce and cheese on it - I'm usually a fan. Heck, I used to eat Ellio's as a kid and thought it the greatest thing EVER. BUT, I have recently discovered that I can make a quick, delicious pizza in about... 20 minutes at home. And when you make it at home, it feels "free" since you bought the groceries already. At least... it does to me. I'm SURE it's cheaper than a pizzaria pie either way.

I got this book for Christmas, which you'll probably see me plug a whole lot from now on, because it's fabulous. It's one of those "Revolutionary" books that you see on the bookshelf at Borders and go "pshhh... yea, whatever" but they aren't lieing. It's a fabulous book. It is, so far, the most used of all my Christmas presents... and I got that new camera (which these pics were taken with by the way - and had ABSOLUTELY NO EDITING done to them).

Anyway - to get to the point - you should all go out and buy
Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.
It is going to make hubby and I fat, and it's marvelous.
It's more than just a recipe, so I'm not going to give quantities/instructions here... but the main bread recipe (of which I've made 12 lbs of bread/pizza with so far) is just flour, water, yeast and salt. That's it. The book has a "recipe" for pizza - use one of the dough types, roll it out super thin, slide it onto a hot stone in the oven and cook at super high heat. It's good - I made it... but I like thick dough best. So today, I made thick crust. No rolling pin, just squishing with my hands and I cooked it at closer to 475-500* instead of 525* for 10 minutes instead of the 6 the first one took. You can see the delicious, topped crust here...



This was a "I just finished 2 classes at the gym and now WANT PIZZA" pizza - so it's got some tomato sauce (home-made and frozen until it made friends with Mr. Microwave), what mozzarella we had left (maybe 1/4 cup?), a few small chunks of cheddar (cause it needed a little more) and 2 HUGE grape tomatoes (these are like, mutunt grape tomatoes, they're seriously twice the size of normal ones). I brushed a little olive oil on the exposed crust... cause I could? and popped it in the oven. It was so yummy. I want more. Which is another reason at-home pizza is good for you... it's only as big as you make it originally, and they don't offer a second pie for $2.99....

-Betsy

Banana Bread!

So I had a baking day today. It was fabulous. Cheesecake, Chocolate Pudding Pie, Refridgerator Bread (as I'm calling it at least) and Banana Bread. A lovely, double batch of banana bread.

This, banana bread.

With it's yummy crisp top and soft and moist center that I just KNOW is inside... waiting for breakfast tomorrow :)

This is super-easy to make banana bread... at least, the way I make it :-P

The Tricks:
1) freeze your banana's when they start to get too brown for you to eat. Not only does this keep you from throwing them away, but it lets you make banana bread when you want it... as opposed to when the bananas are ready. ALSO, the freezing makes them super mushy... so you don't end up having to "mash" them - one less thing to clean... two actually... no fork and no mashing bowl.
2) make sure you're ready to put the bread in the oven RIGHT after you mix it.

The Recipe is (slightly modified) from The Joy of Cooking, 75th Anniversary Edition. I know what page it's on from the wrinkled, egg-spattered-ness because I use this recipe more than any other in the book 0:-). No bookmark needed.

YOU WILL NEED (my version)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable shortening (or margerine or butter - softened)
2/3 cup sugar
1 to 2 large eggs
2-3 frozen bananas (defrosted, in their skins)

a measuring cup, a wisk, a Big bowl, scissors, and a 8ishx4ish baking pan.

FIRST, mix the dry ingredients together while your wisk is still dry

SECOND, mash up the vegetable shortening- it says to beat until creamy... I've never seen shortening get creamy, i just break it up a bit with the wisk, and then add sugar, mixing them together till they get crumbly.

THIRD, add the eggs. Whether you use one or two kind of depends on the amount of banana. The more banana... the more eggs. If I use 2 bananas, I use one egg (the egg is a binder). It always comes out yummy no matter what though, so don't sweat it.

FOURTH, cut the top of your defrosted black squidgy bananas off, and squeeze them into the bowl... kinda like toothpaste. It's gross, yes, but oh so easy, so little cleanup and darn yummy. Mix it up with the wisk... you'll still have banana chunks. That's OK. I like it that way - try it once... if you don't like it... you can "fully mash" your bananas next time.

FIFTH, add the dry ingredients in three portions, mixing until smooth after each addition

SIXTH, put all the mushy goodness into a greased baking pan, throw it in a preheated 350* oven for an hour (yes, it takes the whole hour, often a little longer for me) until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool it for a bit, then pop out of your pan and cool fully before slicing. Don't worry, a quick zap in the microwave, or a run in the toaster will warm it right up and make your butter melt all over it in deliciousness. Hubby likes it with cream cheese (hmmm... cream cheese... that ever-popular refrigerator inhabitant - by the way... for those who keep up with me, the sale was still going, so I bought another 8 bars this week. But it's 8 instead of 12, and there's no Christmas break inbetween, so I should be good. And if I'm not... I totally mastered the cheesecake. It really is just as simple as following directions, lol)

-Betsy

CREAM CHEESE!!

(Photo stolen out of laziness - thanks Google images)

So a while back, the store had Philadelphia Cream Cheese on sale for 99cents a bar. SUPER DEAL, so I bought a case. The best-by date was Jan 4, and I figured hubby eats cream cheese on a bagel every morning for breakfast, so a bar a week for that, a little extra for when I eat some too, and enough for a cheesecake for the new year. Well, I apparently didn't eat my share, and hubby didn't eat bagels for about 2 weeks, so I was suddenly left with 7 bars of cream cheese, with an impending due-date.

Things I've learned about cream cheese:

1) "Best By" is NOT "expires" and the cream cheese is still good to go for at LEAST a week or two.

2) Cream cheese does NOT freeze well - it still tastes kinda the same, but is NOT creamy upon defrosting... it's kinda grainy and definitely not my favorite.

3) Cheesecake apparently doesn't freeze top notch either, unless you "do it right" - and I'm not sure how that is, so we're not trying.

4) You get a lot of good ideas when you say something like "I have an overabundance of Cream Cheese. Other than Cheesecake... what can I do with it?!?!" on Facebook.

Other ways to use cream cheese (other than bagels and cheesecake, but no better for you really) are:

1) Put it in your mashed potatoes (thank you Gramma!) - we did this tonight, and it was DELICIOUS. Like, best mashed potatoes ever. Like, now a standard ingredient in mashed-potato-ness.

2) Make a cheese ball. From what I know, finely grated cheese, cream cheese, little seasoning, mix, roll in nuts - Gourmet! Or you can try an ACTUAL recipe like the one at my fav food blog. OR for a third option: cream cheese, splash of OJ, chopped dried cranberries and chopped pecans rolled into a ball (courtesy Aunt Liz)

3) Mix with milk until the consistency of sour cream, and make dip (like you'd do with sour cream)

4) Layered dip - my friend Anne-Marie suggested cream cheese, chili, cheddar, microwaved until the cheddar melted with fritos - sounded yummy! Or you can go with the 7 layer Mexican standby (and one of my fav's)

5) Mix with milk and use in Scalloped Potatoes (another Gramma suggestion, so I'm sure it's delish)

6) Cheese SPREAD (I think) - Mix cream cheese with spices and then cover with pesto and grated parmesan cheese. Eat it with crackers. Also good with sundried tomatoes in the layers - Courtesy of Mary-Ann :)

7) Breakfast pastry. Essentially, croissants laid out, with cream cheese icing and pie filling on it, and strips of croissant on top. Haven't made it in a LONG time, but it was DELICIOUS with Peach Pie filling when I did.


This week's cream cheese uses:
Stick 1: Added to Mashed Potatoes for dinner tonight (1/3 stick) and dip/cheeseball for visitors tomorrow (2/3 stick)
Sticks 2 and 3: Cheesecake for Sunday's Visitors. (leftovers will be sent home with them. I hope they like cheesecake)
Stick 4: Bagels for hubby to go to work with
Sticks 5 and 6: Cheesecake for visitors next Saturday
Stick 7: Breakfast Pastry for after Church next Sunday


On the shopping list this week... more cream cheese.


-Betsy

Spaghetti Sauce

So today, I am making spaghetti sauce. Last time, I made it from fresh tomatoes, and hubby and I decided it was missing just... more seasoning. This time, I got a HUGE can of whole, peeled tomatoes from Sam's Club, and read up on how to make spaghetti sauce. And what I learned: add olive oil and as much seasoning as you want. You almost can't go overboard. So a handful of dried basil, a big handful of oregano, a small handful of ground up rosemary, 2 small onions, diced, and 3+ tbsp of minced garlic, a bunch of salt (that one you probably CAN go overboard on, but tomatoes need a lot of salt, so don't worry too much).

Hardest part? Cook FOREVER. Without the lid on is probably better - tomatoes are really juicy, and sauce isn't supposed to be. Why is this hard? You PROBABLY shouldn't leave the house while you have an active stove going. But it's a great thing to do if you're going to be baking bread on laundry day.  Yup... that's the hard part. And even the not flavorful enough sauce was delicious. Can't wait to try this batch :-D

-Betsy

Mmmmmmm... beer cupcakes with alcohol frosting....

So I'm made cupcakes today. I had to ask a GROOM for help with his fiance's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette... and he would only comply with the promise of "Car Bomb Cupcakes" being delivered. I needed the guest-list help that bad! I love them both, but haven't quite been part of the "local watering hole" for the past... 4 years, so I was stuck. Car Bomb Cupcake Bribe to the rescue!

They smell delicious coming from the oven with hints of Guinness. The delectable taste of bailey's in the buttercreme... I'd recommend halving the batch unless you have lots of people to share with, as these are RICH, but YUMMY. And definitely get the special icing tip for filling cupcakes... I can't imagine doing it any other way - just make sure that you stop if you start to "pop" the cupcake, lol.  And make 1.5 times the icing recipe... maybe even double. Unless you want just a dollop on top, which might be a good idea when it's filled with ganache, but I went with "go big or go home" :-P

Photos first... then link to recipe.

The recipe is here: at Annie's Eats.

-Betsy

For Hadley.

Who's Hadley? The cutest little girl of the Anderson Crew!
Why Hadley? Because the poor girl has exema and is allergic to EVERYTHING.
Her mom is super cool, and takes FAB pictures. And while I don't KNOW Hadley, I figured that if I enjoyed reading her mom's blog every day... I could post a few recipes from my box that she might be able to eat, without getting the itchies (and hopefully easy for mom)

SO: Massive Recipe Overload commencing.....

NOW!


Italian Chicken Parsels
Chicken, Mozzarella Slices, Zucchini, Onions , basil or oregano, pepper, rice
- Cut squares of foil and brush with oil.
- Slash chicken 3-4 times and tuck mozzarella in the slashes.
- Place zucchini and onions maybe on foil and season with pepper and herbs
- Place chicken on veggies and close the packets (fold up the foil)
- Place on cookie sheet and cook in a 400* oven for 30 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. The veggies will steam while the chicken cooks. (or you can do it on the grill - slightly lower temps though - due to direct heat)
- Serve with white rice


Chicken Nuggets!
Super simple.  Chunk up chicken breast. Coat with (gluten free) flour, optionally seasoned with salt and pepper (nothing else needed) and pan fry in butter. It's a light coating, but delicious. I use this method in my Popcorn Chicken Salad.

Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce
1.5 cups mayo
1/4 cup Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup honey. Mix well, chill for 2 hours and serve.


*side note: Lumpia Sauce is very similar to sweet and sour sauce - which generally uses corn starch and/or ketchup. Lumpia sauce uses BANANA Ketchup... which might be a good alternative to some other dipping sauces that use tomato.


Tuna Noodle
1 Can Tuna
1 Cup Gluten-Free Pasta
1 cubed apple
Mayonaise 
Easiest summer food EVER. Cook Pasta, rinse with cold water (or you can make it hot and let it cool in the fridge... or eat it warm, but I don't like it warm). Drain tuna, cut apple, mix with as much mayo as you like. DONE. 


Poppy Seed Chicken - This one's been blogged... so I won't repeat it


Mustard Baked Chicken
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp mild mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp poppy seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Arrange chicken in an oven-proof dish. Combine butter, mustard, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
Brush mixture on chicken (I generally use a small dish and practically sink the chicken in the sauce)
Cook in oven on 400* for 15 minutes, then turn chicken over.
Serve with gluten free pasta, egg-noodles are good (although may cause itchies... I dunno), and rice is yummy too!


Scalloped Potatoes
4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
Salt and pepper
about 3 tbsp gluten free flour
about 4 tbsp butter
about 1.5 cups milk
Butter a 1.5 qt casserole dish. Cover bottom with a single layer of potatoes. Sprinkle generously with salt pepper and flour and add dots of butter. Repeat until all the potatoes are used. Pour milk over potatoes until almost covered. Dot top with additional butter. Bake 1 hr at 350* until potatoes are soft.

Hopefully, gluten free flour and the other alternate flours around can replace your regular flour for the wheat!  I have a lot of friends with allergies - one has celiac's, and does all her own bread making with the gluten free flour and rice flours. Another is allergic to celery (talk about not eating out - EVERYTHING is cooked with celery salt!) and has started her own garden so that she can avoid all the STUFF she's allergic to. Sunflower seeds are a hit with her. And my cousin is allergic to fruit... and that's near impossible to avoid, so he takes  a Zyrtec every day... and wishes he'd known years ago that would fix it. It's always best to avoid as many foods that cause you allergies as you can... but sometimes ya gotta go the medicinal route. Like me - I'm allergic to Virginia... but I'm stuck here for now... so Clariton and Nasonex are now part of my everyday routine :-P. Good luck! And enjoy the potatoes and water Hadley ;)
 
 -Betsy

Soulvaki... AKA, Chicken Gyros

I had 2 cucumbers from the garden that were almost at the "overripe" state... and we don't eat THAT many cucumbers (which is why I grew them... I hate buying them and throwing half away... growing them and throwing half away I'm much more comforable with) so I decided that I needed to make Tzatziki Sauce... which means gyros - but I didn't have any lamb around, so we had Soulvaki instead :)

Boy was this yummy - and way easier than I had expected. Lettuce, tomato, peppers, a little shallot, feta, grilled marinated chicken and Tzatziki on a pita. Heaven and even potentially a "quick meal" if you do a little prep ahead of time!

Tzatziki:
1/2 cup grated cucumber (I food-processed mine to save my fingers and cause I'm lazy.)
1/2 cup strained greek yogurt (I just put mine in from the container that said "strained" but it ended up being soupy... don't know if that's right, the cucumbers, or if I was supposed to drain the yogurt again...)
1 garlic clove (I used a rasp to mush mine in)
1 tbsp Lemon Juice (mine was from a bottle)
1/4 tsp salt
**combine, eat. Keeps in fridge for a week

Soulvaki
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic (SOOO yummy!)
1.5 tsp fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp dried
1/2 tsp salt
**marinate chicken for 30 minutes, flipping once. I cubed the chicken and put it on skewers... you could use chicken fingers and just throw them on the grill, or use a grill pan too.

"Gyro" - Gyros are basically Lamb with Tzatziki on a pita. Anything else you add is considered a condiment. Soulvaki is the "chicken version" of a gyro.

-Betsy

Dinner Tonight

This is what happens when you suddenly realize you have a bajillion cherry tomatoes from your garden, a HUGE bush of basil and a nice little bit of fresh oregano!

And I ate it all forgetting the picture of the noodles tossed in. :-P mmmmmm... yummy!!

-Betsy

today's harvest

Which may soon become