Posts belonging to Category Recipes

Ok, so I decided today that I need to “modernize” my shopping lists and recipes.  No more post-it notes reminding me to buy peanut butter.  I don’t want several cabinets in my kitchen dedicated to recipe storage (I don’t use 90% of those recipes anyway!).  I spent this afternoon investigating different meal-planning, recipe-creation, shopping-list-organizing sites.  I didn’t find a single site that suited all of my needs.  The three most promising sites were Cozi, Allrecipes, and RecipeThing.

Cozi has a beautiful layout, and is very easy to use.  However, it doesn’t allow me to store my own recipes and create a database that easily loads into my shopping lists.  If the recipe is already on their site, it is PERFECT.  But I can’t store my recipes, so I would need to type ingredients in each week, rather than just add those ingredients with a single click.  I love all the different shopping lists though.

Allrecipes offers a free online recipe box.  You can upload your own recipes or recipes from the web into their cache, and then it generates a shopping list/meal plan.   The big catch–you cannot add additional items to the shopping list.  So, for example, if you need cereal and milk, the only way to get them into your list is through a recipe.  This is annoying and will not address my post-it problem.  I think you can upgrade, for a fee, and then this service might be available, but I’d like to check out free options first, and I’d also like to make sure the site does what I want before I start to pay money.

RecipeThing offers a free online recipe box.  It is very easy to use, and stores recipes very nicely.  It allows for meal planning and the creation of a shopping list.  Unfortunately, it does not allow you to upload recipes from the web (unless you create a new recipe card), nor can you add items to your shopping list or delete items you already own.  If I need cereal and milk, they must be part of a recipe from the calendar to make it on the list.  As I mentioned earlier, this does not address my post-it problem.

Maybe I need to compromise.   I would love to sign up for a meal-planning, recipe, shopping-list creation site that does all of the following:

1.  Allows me to create my own shopping lists (preferably multiple lists like Cozi).

2.  Allows me to upload my own recipes, store them, and then with one or two clicks add the ingredients from those recipes to my shopping list and meal calendar.

3.  Allows me to easily print said lists (I do not have a technologically advanced phone where I can view my list from the store).

4.  Allows me to “search” for recipes by ingredients.  So for example, if I have a lot of eggplant, I can easily search for recipes using eggplant.

Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?

Happy Monday morning, everyone! Here are two of our favorite recipes around here – a simple, moist banana bread, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I always seem to have over-ripe bananas in the house, which means that I almost always have a banana bread on reserve in the freezer – handy for those times when last-minute company comes over or someone has a new baby. And we almost always have these cookies in our pantry – I make half the batch fresh and then freeze the rest of the batter for another time.

Happy baking, everyone!

Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups of flour (I use 1/2 cup of whole wheat, and add 1 T of vital wheat gluten)

1 c sugar (I usually use only 1/2-2/3 c. of sugar)

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

3 ripe mashed bananas

1/4 c. vegetable oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and fold in until well-mixed. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan and add batter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. (I usually put 3/4 of the batter in the loaf pan, and use the rest of the batter to make 6-8 muffins – that way, the top of the banana bread loaf doesn’t get so brown because it doesn’t need to bake as long.)

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 c. oats

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 c. butter, softened

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. In another bowl, beat butter, sugars, and vanilla in a mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, and then on medium-high for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium-low until well-incorporated.

4. Add flour mixture slowly until well-blended.

5. Mix in oats, then chocolate chips.

6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto nonstick baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a 375 degree oven – Do not overbake!

Enjoy

Here is the recipe from my Thoughts below.  It will also appear in our recipes tab for later access.  Enjoy!

Corn tortillas (15-20 small)

1 large can enchilada sauce

2 cans cream of chicken

1 lb. ground beef

big bag of shredded cheddar

Brown meat.  Add enchilada sauce and cream of chicken.  Let simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Butter the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish.  Layer starting with tortillas torn into pieces, top with grated cheese, spread 1/2 of the meat mixture, repeat tortillas, cheese, and meat, ending with a final layer of tortillas and cheese.  Bake 20-30 minutes at 375F.

Not to add to anyone’s homemaking stress level, but nothing says Happy St. Valentine’s Day more than a silky, rich, chocolate pots de creme.(Keep in mind I had a gourmet cook for a mother…this was her go-to dessert. Pots de creme pots were high priority essentials on my wedding registry list.)

If you are like me and add cream to your coffee, you will have all the ingredients!

Pots de Creme au Chocolate

2 oz bittersweet chocolate (I use semi sweet chocolate chips if I don’t have good stuff)

1 C heavy cream

3 egg yolks

2 T sugar

2 t pure vanilla

Preheat oven to 325.

Add cream and chocolate to a heavy saucepan and heat, stirring, over med-low until melted. (Don’t let boil.) Let cool to warm.

Beat egg yolks until lemon colored. Add sugar slowly while beating. Slowly stir in warm cream mixture to eggs a little a a time so it doesn’t cook the egg. Stir in vanilla.

Pour into 6 little pots with lids or custard cups (cover with foil) and place cups in a 13×9 pan and fill pan with 1″ hot water. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool and chill for several hours.

(based on an old Williams-Sonoma recipe)

I let my kids pick their own color.

As promised, here is my homemade play dough recipe.  We  make the stove top variety, as it tends to be a little more elastic and smooth than the no cook recipes.

Ingredients–

2 cups flour

2 cups warm water

1 cup salt

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon cream of tartar

5-6 drops of food coloring

scented oils

Stir all ingredients except the food coloring and scented oil together in a pot over low heat.  Continue to stir as mixture thickens.  When mixture pulls away from the sides and clumps together in the middle remove from heat.  Allow mixture to cool enough to handle.  If the play dough is still sticky, you should cook it a bit longer.

Once cool enough to handle, knead dough until it becomes smooth.  Divide evenly into balls and add 5-6 drops of food coloring to each ball.  Make a divot in the center of each ball and drop food coloring into the divot.  Fold dough over and avoid contact with hands and counter tops because food dye will stain!  Knead dough until dough turns a nice and even pastel color (colors will not be as bright as the store bought variety).  My kids love to watch this stage!

Add a drop of scented oil to each ball and get rid of that yucky play dough smell!

Play and enjoy!

Start to finish this recipe takes only 15 minutes and if stored in an airtight ziplock bag the dough will last for weeks.

It just barely feels like fall, with very warm afternoons in Texas and the Rangers still (!) playing baseball. We are finally making the first batch of butternut squash soup. This recipe is an Incredible family favorite that we serve up in bowls shaped like pumpkins. I think I adapted it from a Wolfgang Puck recipe long ago.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

3 C butternut squash, peeled, seeded, chopped into large chunks

1/2 C apple cider

1/2 C brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

1/4 C unsalted butter

3 large leeks, white and light green part, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 granny smith apple, peeled, seeded and chopped

4 C chicken stock

1/2 C heavy cream

salt, white pepper

For oil: 1/2 C canola oil, 1/4 C sage leaves, 1/8 C Italian parsley

Preheat oven to 450F. Toss squash with juice and brown sugar and cinnamon stick on a foil lined baking sheet and cover with foil. Roast for about 45 minutes or until tender. Discard cinnamon stick.

In a pot melt butter and add leek, onion and apples, cooking over low heat until tender (don’t let color). Add 4 C stock and bring to low boil. Add squash (not juice). Cook for 5 minutes. Add cream and simmer for 5 more minutes. Cool and puree with and immersion blender until smooth. Taste and season as desired.

Put 1/4 C sage leaves, 1/8 C Italian parsley and 1/2 C canola oil in blender with a few ice cubes. Blend on high until smooth. Can be refrigerated.

For garnish: fry 6 sage leaves in oil in a small pan and drain on paper towel.

Ladle soup into bowls, top with 1t sage oil puree and garnish with fried sage leaf.

I am astounded on (what seems like) a weekly basis how quickly our home runs out of food.  At the week’s beginning, our fridge and pantry are burgeoning forth with edible goodness only to feel vacant and sparse by the weekend.  Usually at this time, my meal planning has gotten us through the week and I’m quickly running out of steam.  Alas, what is a mother to do but… cook pancakes!  They are easy, use ingredients most of us have all the time, and in this case, don’t require eggs!  I found this recipe for FLUFFY EGGLESS PANCAKES last week when I was in an eggless predicament and they turned out wonderfully and were so delicious!  My theory is that the cinnamon adds a little extra something.  You can even substitute in whole wheat flour to make them extra nutritious!

Maybe try them for your Pancake Saturday?  Maybe try them for dinner?  Whenever you do, you’ll most definitely enjoy them!

Ladies, I’ve had a few requests for the Granola Bars recipe, so I’ll post it again. I posted a similar recipe a few months ago, but this one is modified from the original to be dairy-free: