7 Layer Cookies

These cookies are my absolute favorite. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas we make them. I remember the tattered scrap of paper that had the recipe written on it. My grandmother gave the recipe to my mom. After a while, no recipe was needed. Every member of our household knew it by heart. I have seen a similar recipe now, on the back of the can of sweetened condensed milk. They are super easy to make, kids can help and you can tweak and modify them to your preference. The 7 layers are butter, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans and sweetened condensed milk. I would say the only ingredients that you must have are the butter, graham cracker crumbs and sweetened condensed milk. The other stuff you can leave out or add more of or add less of. You just melt 1 stick of butter. Add in about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs, mix together. Mash this down into a 9x13 pan to form a crust. Then layer in your stuff, and top with 1 can of sweetened condensed milk. I use about 2 cups of coconut, 2 cups of chocolate chips, 1 cup of butterscotch and about 1 cup of pecans. Some people like to put the condensed milk on the crust first, but I prefer it last. After the condensed milk layer you could sprinkle a bit of coconut on the top. The layers don't have to be even and with measurements this vague my kiddo can make these (mostly) on his own. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Cooking time might be longer depending on how thick you make your cookies.

Vegetarian Chili

So, I realized that I haven't posted in nearly a month. WOW that went fast! But, I am back, with something wonderful. Vegetarian chili. It is perfecto. Super simple and in a crockpot. Full of veggies and delicious. What more can you ask for? Well, I found the recipe and procured the necessary items. I did ASK my boy to do the actual cooking. I came home to the house smelling lovely and I had a wonderful meal. I used tortilla chips for dipping and added some shredded cheese.

There are several variations around, but this is the one we went with.

Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, not drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (16 ounce) can vegetarian baked beans
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chopped tomato puree
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced chilies
• 1 -2 jalapeno, chopped  
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon cilantro (optional)

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, saute the onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and celery for about 5 minutes.
2. In a slow cooker, combine black bean soup, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, baked beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno, chilies, and celery.
3. Season with garlic, chili powder, cumin, parsley, oregano, basil (and cilantro if using).
4. Cook for about 6 hours on low.

ENJOY!!!

Egg Salad (Yummy Yummy)

Tonight's dinner was super easy and everyone loved it. Egg salad, yummy yummy. No real recipe, just boil eggs, cool and peel. Smash in a bowl, add mayo and mustard. Some people like to do salt and pepper. We like paprika, a little in the mix and the grown ups add more later. I also like to add fresh onions to mine, while my kiddo likes using baby carrots to dip and scoop with.

I also found that there are a lot of ways to boil eggs. Who knew? I have always just boiled them my way, which turns out is wrong. I used to just put in the eggs and then bring to a boil and then boil for 10 minutes. Not how it is done! Not even ONE of the ways it is done. Not even CLOSE! Well, close as in you put eggs in water, but beyond that, NO. Some methods want the eggs left out to come to room temperature (approx 15 minutes). All methods bring the water to a boil, with a division between those that salt the water and those that don't. Some use the lid on, others off. After the water boils, the options are endless. Boil for 1 minute or 3. Remove from heat, leave on heat, or reduce heat and simmer for 7, 10 or even 15 minutes. After spending too much time on this, considering my current method does what I needs it to, I decided on a mixture of several different methods.

I placed eggs from the fridge into water. The water level was about an inch over the eggs. I did not salt the water, but I did use a lid. I brought it to a boil, and let it boil for 3 minutes. I then reduced it to a simmer for 10 minutes. I immediately drained the water and filled the pan with cold water. I do this because I am impatient and want the eggs to cool quickly. And guess what? I got hard boiled eggs! *cheer*

And did I mention that all of this was for hard boiled eggs? There is of course research to do for soft boiled...

Menu Plan

With the holidays approaching (so quickly!) we are trying to empty the freezer and pantry. As always the meal plan is Veg Friendly, meaning if it's not already vegetarian then there is another option available. I'm linking up to Meal Plan Monday.

Monday- Egg Salad sandwiches with carrots
Tuesday- Ravioli, Garlic bread and salad
Wednesday- Baked Tilapia or Pasta Soup
Thursday- Lentil Sloppy Joes (recipe to come)
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday- Dine out
Sunday- Appetizer Smorgasbord (Jalapeno Poppers, Crab Rangoon, Spinach and Artichoke Wantons)

Vegetarian Pasta E Fagioli Soup

Soup! We love soup around here! The other day we made a vegetarian version of Pasta E Fagioli Soup. It is really easy and done in a slow cooker. So, you might be asking yourself, why does the soup in the picture not look, well, soupy? Because I got home late and let it cook for too long. It looks a bit different, but it tastes the same. And I just told the family it was Italian Chili!

Chop up 3 carrots, 4 celery stalks, and 1 onion. We used whole petite baby carrots. Put the chopped veggies into the slow cooker along with 2 (28 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes, 2 (16 ounce) cans 1 of red kidney beans and 1 can of white kidney beans, 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce and 30 ounces of vegetable stock. Add in 3 tsp oregano, 2 tsp pepper, 5 tsp of parsley and 1 tsp of Tabasco sauce. Allow to cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. About 30 minutes before time to eat add in 8 ounces of pasta, I like the multi color rotini, but you can use what you like. Also, the recipe states that the Tabasco sauce is optional, but I think it is necessary. Actually I add extra to mine.

Now, if you don't want to go the veg route, you can always use beef stock instead of vegetable and add in 2 pounds of browned ground beef.


And that's it! Time to eat. I made it one morning before I left for work and we came home to the house smelling lovely and dinner being only moments away. I like to serve it with nice crusty bread for dipping, you know for all the brothy goodness...

Super close up because I love this soup chili soup chili soup!

Tea Cup Cupcake

 Perhaps I am not quite current in the world of cupcakes. I have to admit this makes me a little sad. In my quest for knowledge of all things cupcake, I came across CUPCAKES! Okay, so not soo surprising. But these CUPCAKES were in TEACUPS! *shock* *awe* No? Overuse of the SHIFT KEY much? I digress.

Where was I?

Oh yeah.

TEACUPS!

I think it's a cute idea. Sorta fun right? But upon further investigation I found that there are many different uses for this style. For EXAMPLE!

This lovely post outlines how you could bake the cake in teacups that are oven safe. Hmmm...

This post uses the method in order to make up for a cake fail. I am a big fan! Even if you always make perfect cakes, this could be a way to use teacups that aren't oven safe.

And of course, FRED comes through with silicon teacups to bake in.

*all images are via the site they are linked with*

Thai Iced Tea

I find that I go through phases with beverages. I will become slightly obsessed with some tasty concoction and try to consume it daily. The current obsession is Thai Iced Tea. Now, I have to admit that it's not what comes to mind for November, but the heart stomach wants what the heart stomach wants. Besides! It's orange, very autumny? autumnal? fallish? autumnmonopoly? Yeah...moving on! Sadly, I have not yet found the ultimate recipe and I have been relying on the "within walking distance of work Thai place" to get my fix tea. I have tried to have sweetened black tea with condensed milk at home, but it's not the same. I think that the tea actually make a big difference. Look for something like this tea. Also, you might consider this, which is a Thai tea filter. My next recipe to try is the Emeril recipe over on Foodnetwork. It says it serves 6, but I like having 2 glasses for myself, just saying. I also might double the milk/cream part, since it seems like not quite enough. But I guess we shall see.


Ingredients
6 cups water
1 cup Thai tea
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cream
6 tablespoons condensed milk

Directions
In a kettle, bring the water to a boil. Place the tea in a teapot or glass container. Pour the water over the tea and let steep until bright orange in color, 3 to 5 minutes. Strain into a clean container, such as a pitcher (or, if in tea bags, remove the bags). Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fill 6 tall glasses with crushed ice and add tea to 3/4 full. Add 1 tablespoon cream and 1 tablespoon condensed milk to each glass.

Serve with iced-tea spoon so guests can swirl the mixture themselves. And don't worry, it's part of having the drink is mixing it yourself, sorta like a Caramel Macchiato.

Happy Tuesday!

I make adult milkshakes, so I am totally on board with this.

Menu Plan

 It is fall! The weather around here is finally getting cold and that does mean SOUP right? One of my favorite recipes is a super easy crock pot recipe for Pasta E Fajioli. However, the recipe is not vegetarian. And while I don't mind making some things that aren't veg, I think this recipe might be easy to adapt. The link to the recipe for the soup is not veg, but I'm going to change a few things and if it comes out okay, then I will be posting about it later in the week. I'm linking up at Menu Plan Monday.

Monday- Burritos with Guacamole and raw veggies (leftover from Halloween get together)
Tuesday- Ravioli Bake or Tilapia with Salad
Wednesday- Pasta E Fajioli Soup and Garlic Bread
Thursday- Paneer and Tomato Curry and Basmati Rice
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday- Dine Out
Sunday- Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Pumpkin Seeds Part 2

I went ahead and made some pumpkin seeds this afternoon. I made this recipe with a few modifications. I don't have any chipotle and my grinder broke so I didn't add any pepper. Also, I added in about 1/2 a teaspoon of chili powder. I cooked them for about 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for, but that's because I am easily distracted. They turned out wonderfully. I had made them with butter last year and as tasty as they were, they were too rich. I like the salty, sweet and savory combination that these have. I am actually tempted to buy a pumpkin just for the seeds!

Pumpkin Seeds

There a lots and lots of recipes out there for pumpkin seeds. I have yet to find one that I am in love with, but we are carving up pumpkins tomorrow so I will have lots of seeds to experiment with! I'm linking up recipes that I think look promising. If you have a recipe that you love link it up, or if you try one of the following recipes let me know what you think.



Roasted Seeds (plain)

Spiced Seeds

Gourmet Seeds

Two types, spicy or sweet

Sweet Seeds


*image via fabulousfoods*

Evil Cupcakes!

In the spirit of Halloween, check out this book. So neato!

*image via cakehead loves evil*

Blueberry-Banana Pancakes 2

I finally got around to making these. Let me just say, SO YUMMY! I skipped putting the blueberries in because we didn't have any on hand. I did find that putting the banana in the freezer for 10 minutes made slicing the banana super easy. Everyone liked them. I took some of the random pieces of banana that I had left over and threw them in the pan with some butter after I had cooked all the pancakes. I stirred them in the pan until the bananas were slightly browned and used it to top some pancakes that I didn't put a banana in. I think that next time I will just do that instead of placing the bananas into the pancakes. I think the bananas tasted better that way. I have to admit that these were by far the best tasting pancakes I have ever made.

Meal Plan

It's Monday and that means time for a meal plan. The menu is vegetarian friendly, meaning, if there is meat, there is another option. I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com.

Monday- Burritos and salad
Tuesday- Grilled sandwiches (ham, cheese, lettuce etc.)
Wednesday- Garlic Tilapia (skipped from last week) with Pasta and Baked Broccoli
Thursday- Chickpea Curry (if it comes out great I'll post the recipe later) and Samosas (from the freezer)
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday- Eat Out
Sunday- Halloween (probably fast food)

Hot Chocolate Part 2

I got to thinking about all the ways you can modify hot chocolate and personalize it. I decided to list all the different add in ideas that I have come across.


Grown Up Versions: Add in Kahlua, Vanilla Vodka, or Irish Cream


Top it: Roasted marshmallow, flavored whip cream, any type of sprinkles

Add extracts: ½ teaspoon of maple, orange, or almond after you remove the cocoa from the heat

Spice it up: with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, chili powder or pumpkin pie spice to the cocoa powder

Add in some coffee to make a lovely mocha!
 
Mix ins:

Marshmallows

Butterscotch Chips

Caramel

Chocolate shavings

Creamy Peanut Butter or Nutella

Mix in crushed candy: peanut butter cups, Butterfinger, toffee, Red hots, peppermints

Marshmallow Creme

Ice cream

Flavored syrups

Fun Stir Sticks:

Candy Cane

Cinnamon Stick

Chocolate coated spoons

How do you do your hot chocolate? I'm a sucker for all things chocolate and peppermint. You could make this for a holiday party and have a hot chocolate bar.
 

Hot Chocolate

It was rainy today. I thought it might inspire me to make soup, but instead I was sidetracked by Hot Chocolate! I keep the packet, instant stuff on hand, but the best is making it from scratch. Every year, around the holidays, I end up making the following recipe several times. I like to top it with whip cream and festive sprinkles. Or add in a shot of Irish Cream and make it a grown up hot chocolate.

Hot Chocolate
½  cup sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, cocoa and salt in 6-quart saucepan; gradually add water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk. Heat to serving temperature, stirring frequently. Do not boil. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Serve hot.

Smoky Paprika

I have smoky paprika amongst my spices. We bought it after searching several stores, and used it to make Smoky Split Pea Soup and it really shined in that soup. Now I see it, and yes, sometimes I open it and smell it because I am weird. And I think to myself, there HAS to be another use for this. Today I was reading about making deviled eggs and substituting Greek yogurt for mayonnaise. We always have Greek yogurt on hand. Hmmm... And then it hit me! I always have paprika on my deviled eggs! I put directions, just in case someone doesn't already know how to make deviled eggs. I found another recipe that added in sun dried tomatoes and had fried shallots on top, but I know I won't be doing that any time soon, so here is what I think would work.
 
Smoky Deviled Eggs


6 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt

Slice the eggs in half and scoop out the yolks into a bowl. Set the whites aside. Smash the yolks with the back of a fork. Add the Greek yogurt and stir until well combined. Add smoked paprika and salt. Put the filling into the eggs and EAT!

Pumpkin Dip

Pumpkin Dip. Served with ginger snaps and tart green apples. So yummy. And seriously easy. The recipe is forgiving. As in, I didn't put in the pie spice and added in vanilla. I sorta just mixed it all together. Well, actually kiddo did the mixing. It was fun. I used whipped cream cheese instead a regular block that needed to be softened. I also sifted the powdered sugar, but it might have been overkill. It was such a hit with my boy and the kiddo that I plan on making it for the next family get together. And I plan on putting the finished dip into a sugar pumpkin for a festive presentation.

Pumpkin Dip

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon frozen orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in the pumpkin. Stir in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and orange juice until smooth and well blended. Chill until serving. 

J-E-double hockey sticks-O

I bought a silicon jello mold. It had leaves and pumpkins and I thought it was lovely. I took kiddo to the store and he selected raspberry jello. We also grabbed a container of cool whip because we were doing this up right! I made the jello and the next day as I removed the tray from the refrigerator it hit me. How was I going to get the jello out of the mold? Here are my ideas, in no particular order:
-Butter knife around the edges
-Pressing them out from the back
-Swearing
-Scooping with a spoon
-More swearing
-Placing in warm water
-Smashing them out
-Inverting the tray onto a cookie sheet and banging against the counter

Let's just say we were a chainsaw shy of a jello massacre in my kitchen that night.

The picture above is the lone survivor. There was a nice heap of jello pieces and luckily the kiddo is not picky. And honestly, neither am I. We enjoyed our jello pieces with our cool whip and we were happy! And don't worry, I didn't try to feed any to my vegetarian boy. Because jello is delicious, but not veg friendly. Don't feel bad for him, he had a cupcake.

Reason #88

This place! This site is brimming with recipes that have been illustrated. The artwork is gorgeous fun lovely enchanting amazing and the recipes look delicious. It is a site for sore eyes after combing through tons of recipe sites. (get it? site? heh)

Meal Plan Monday

The menu is vegetarian friendly, meaning, if there is meat, there is another option. I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com.

Monday- Pasta Shells, Garlic Bread, Salad

Tuesday- Split Pea Soup, Crusty Rolls

Wednesday- Banana Pancakes, Fresh Fruit

Thursday- Baked Garlic Tilapia, leftover Pasta shells, Baked Broccoli

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- Dine Out!

Sunday-  Burritos

And here is the grocery list for this meal plan.
Grocery List for October 18, 2010

Pea Soup Andersen's Knock Off

So I have spent my day so far searching for a knock off of Pea Soup Andersen's soup. I have found many, many recipes. Some have chicken broth listed in the ingredients list, or even a ham bone, which I found funny since the original is vegetarian. The one below is the one that I think would come the closest to the original. I found several sites referencing the same recipe. And don't forget to serve with bread for dipping or you can really try to recreate the Andersen's experience and have toppings. If I remember correctly, they offer croutons, scallions, shredded cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon.

Andersen's Split Pea Soup

8 cups water
2 cups green split peas
1 rib celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 tsp thyme
Dash red pepper sauce
1 bay leaf
Salt
Pepper

Combine water, peas, celery, carrot, onion, thyme, red pepper, and bay leaf in large pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Boil vigorously 20 minutes, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until split peas are tender. Press soup through fine sieve. Or you can remove the bay leaf and puree. Then reheat just to boiling point.

Today I had...

Yeah, I ate that today. As well as the stuff pictured below. First we have a cottage pie, which I consumed at the Renaissance Faire today. It's a pastry filled with beef, carrots, potatoes and onion. It was tasty. I've been trying to find a suitable vegetarian dinner type pie to make at home, but haven't came across a recipe that I've wanted to try. Kiddo wasn't interested once he found out that the pie wasn't sweet. Then we went to Pea Soup Andersen's for dinner. The bowl of soup below is what they are known for, and for good reason. It is lovely. I already have a go to recipe for Split Pea soup, but I can honestly say that this soup is different enough that I plan on spending some time trying to recreate it at home.

The last picture, which is slightly blurry *sorry*, is the roll that was our bread service. I should have thought to cut it open for the picture too, because there were poppy seeds in it. It was an onion roll, with poppy seeds and I think some cheddar cheese on top. Sounds weird, but they were actually pretty good.

Finishing up with a picture of the windmill at Pea Soup Andersen's because I think it is pretty.

Popcorn and other tales

I haven't been posting much this week. We have had a packed schedule and lots of day trips. I keep meaning to take pictures of the yummy food we have been enjoying, but I keep eating it before any pictures can be snapped. Today is my official day off, at home, doing nothing. That includes cooking! The kiddo and I watched 3 movies and went out for lunch. I did, however make the peanut butter popcorn. Let me just say, SO TASTY! It's super easy and impossible to mess up. I think I put more M&Ms than most people would, but I seriously think there should be 1 candy per bite. A note about the recipe, we use organic, all natural peanut butter. That means it's just peanuts and salt. If you use, say JIFF or Skippy, I think that it might be a little sweeter. Below is a picture of the popcorn cooling, before I added the M&Ms. I didn't have wax paper, so I just spread it out on a plastic cutting board. Then I just scooped it into the popcorn boxes that I had impulsed bought from World Market forever ago that I always forget to use. I sorta layered M&Ms and popcorn to try and get an even distribution. Reminds me of when I go to the movies and dump my candy into my popcorn.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Popcorn + Peanut Butter + Chocolate = YUM! An easy snack that kiddo will love.

Pop 1/2 cup of popcorn however you like to pop your popcorn. I use the microwave method. Melt 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the microwave and mix together. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the popped popcorn and mix. Then spread on wax paper to cool. Add in the some plain M&M's, the amount is up to you. Then eat until your mouth hurts enjoy! Delicious and easy!

*image via foodgawker*

To Build A Better Pancake

I am in a pancake mood! I have found that everyone has a few tips on how to make the best pancakes. Here is a list of the ones that I thought were the most helpful:

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet in another. Then combine.

Measure your ingredients carefully.

Sift your flour twice.

Gently mix the batter.

Don't overbeat your batter.

There will be lumps, don't worry!

Refridgerate your batter for 30 minutes before using.

Heat the griddle until drops of water dance and evaporate immediately (375 degrees).

A 1/4 cup measuring cup is a good size to use to scoop batter. 

Space the pancakes about 2 inches apart.

Let the pancakes cook until the edges start to look dry and bubbles form on the uncooked surface. Don't move the pancakes before this, because they will just break apart.

NEVER press down on your pancakes with the spatula while they are cooking.

Serve immediately.

If you have to wait to serve, don't stack them! Place them in a single row on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven.


*image via google*

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Here is another idea for pancakes. Cottage Cheese! Now, some people have an aversion for cottage cheese, but I don't. As I scoured the internet for a recipe, I found a lot of variations and had a hard time choosing one. I ended up with the one that follows, and only mostly because the ingredients list wasn't that long AND it calls for sugar and I like my pancakes sweet.

1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
4 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese (use whatever % you like,)
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp canola or veg oil
Cooking spray or Butter or whatever you use to grease a pan

Mix flour, baking soda, salt and sugar together. In a different bowl, whisk together eggs, cottage cheese, milk and oil.  Add in the flour mix and whisk until completely blended.
Grease up your pan over medium heat.  Add around 1/4 cup of batter to the skillet. Flip pancakes once. You want golden brown on both sides. It takes about 5 minutes total.

*image via foster farms*

Blueberry-Banana Pancakes

So, I have been on a french toast kick for awhile now. I don't think I have found the absolute best way to create it, but I know that I have greatly increased my ability to make it. And despite the fact that My Boy wouldn't mind french toast every week, I have to admit to a wandering eye. And after seeing the lovely pancakes pictured above on Food & Wine, I can't resist. I think my favorite part is the banana cut lengthwise and placed into the pancake. We have a rather busy and mixed up schedule coming up next week, so I might dish these up for dinner at some point. We usually have everything needed on hand except for the buttermilk. I think I might even sprinkle some chopped pecans over it. And a little tip, freeze your bananas for about 10 minutes prior to slicing.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup blueberries
2 bananas, sliced lengthwise 2/3 inch thick and cut to fit the pancakes
Confectioners' sugar and pure maple syrup, for serving

Directions
   1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the buttermilk. Quickly stir in the flour mixture, then stir in the melted butter and blueberries.
   2. Heat a griddle or a large nonstick skillet over moderately low heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter per pancake onto the griddle, leaving room for the pancakes to spread. Gently lay one banana slice in the center of each pancake and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown on the second side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Generously dust the blueberry-banana pancakes with confectioners' sugar and serve with maple syrup.

*image and recipe via Food&Wine*

Hack

In my first meal plan I had linked a recipe for stuffed pasta shells. Super delicious! Also, we doubled up the recipe, filled all the shells, and then placed them on a cookie sheet. We placed them so that none of them were touching and stuck them in the freezer. After they were frozen, I placed them in bags and popped them back into the freezer. Next time we want them, just pull out how many we want, place in a dish, cover with sauce and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. We ended up with 50 stuffed shells. That means we stuffed 50 shells. I wish I had known of, or thought of, this hack before we started.

All you have to do is place the filling in a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off. You can then fill the shells with ease and little mess! Neato huh?

Ah well, next time I suppose.

*image via ziploc.com*

Reason #76

This place looks a lot like this place. But, food porn is food porn, right?

*image via Tasteologie*

What's Cooking Wednesday

I was invited to participate in the What's Cooking Wednesday over at The King's Court IV. I linked up the Smoky Split Pea recipe that I posted the other day. Head on over to their site, they have a few recipes that look tasty! I think I'm going to try to link up there weekly, and it's another resource to find recipes!

Frosting!

This frosting is one that you cook!! I was a little worried about it, but I had to try it. Also, you get to use a hand mixer, which I happen to LOVE to use. It's very zen for me. AND I think it's yummy.

Frosting
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

2 sticks of butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk together the flour and milk in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Keep whisking until it thickens. Allow this to cool to room temperature. It has to cool first! If you need to, put the pan over ice in the sink to speed things along. While waiting for the mixture to cool, cream the butter and sugar together. Add in the vanilla. Then add in the COOLED milk/flour mixture. Using a mixer beat until the consistency of whipped cream.

Everyone loves this frosting. I wonder if it's all the butter?

Meal Plan

Last week’s menu worked out quite well! The tilapia was a hit and was requested again this week. The menu is vegetarian friendly, meaning, if there is meat, there is another option. I will post the recipe for the quesadillas tomorrow. I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com.

Monday- Tilapia, Pasta, Salad
Tuesday- Lentil Sloppy Joes on Thin Buns
Wednesday- Chicken or Black Bean Quesadillas, Broccoli
Thursday- Smoky Split Pea Soup with Crusty Bread
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday- Eat Out
Sunday- Bean and Cheese Burritos, Salad


And here is the grocery list for this week.
 Grocery List October 3, 2010

Smoky Split Pea Soup

I love this recipe! We have made it several times. I came across it in a Vegetarian Times magazine. It freezes quite well too, so we usually make a double batch. I like to take it to work for an easy, filling, lunch. The recipe below is from Vegetarian Times.

Smoky Split Pea Soup

1 cup green split peas
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (3 cups)
2 medium onions, diced (3 cups)
3 ribs celery, diced (1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced (4 tsp.)
1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes

1. Soak split peas in large bowl of cold water overnight.
2. Heat oil in 3-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add paprika and chipotle, and stir. Add sweet potato, onions, and celery, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover, and cook 10 minutes, or until onions are soft and translucent. Add garlic, and sauté 2 minutes.
3. Drain split peas, and add to pot with 6 cups water. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 1 hour. Add tomatoes, and cook 30 minutes more, or until split peas are tender. 

*image via vegetariantimes*

Lentil Sloppy Joes

After several failed attempts to make a vegetarian version of Sloppy Joes, we tried the recipe that follows. I have come to the decision that there isn't a version that can replace the traditional hamburger sloppy joes. We did, however, find a yummy recipe that we all love. The recipe is good for you and is made in a crock pot. It's super easy too! Use whatever type of lentil you like, we used red since that's what we had on hand.

Lentil Sloppy Joes

1 tbsp oil
1 chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2cups cooked lentils

Heat the oil, add onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, cook 1 minute.
Stir in ketchup, water, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard.
Transfer to slow cooker and add lentils. Stir well.
Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3.

Happy Friday!

3-in-1 Multi Cooker

I remember the first time I saw Alton Brown holding a fire extinguisher in his hand and telling me his television audience something about “the only unitasker allowed in my kitchen”. This stuck with me. Why buy an item if it has been developed in such a way that it is now severely limited? Makes sense, and with this knowledge I have refrained from purchasing several small appliances. One such appliance is a rice cooker. Who needs that? I have a pot. Although, there is a small part of me that yearns for the luxury. That small part of me did cartwheels when I came across this! The Fagor 3-in-1 Electric Multicooker. This little beauty is 6 quarts of lovely. It’s a pressure cooker AND a slow cooker, AND, wait for it….a rice cooker. It also has a brown and warm function. Oh and rainbows and ponies. Well, I might be exaggerating a bit about the ponies. But I swear I saw a rainbow! It’s a shiny stainless steel with LED lights.  It is available from a couple sites on the web, each one at about $120. I think this will be a nice addition to my kitchen, and I would venture to guess that even Mr. Brown would approve.

Fagor 3-in-1  Sur la table for $120

*image via sur la table*

Reading is food for your brain.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -Michael Pollan

Hmm. This man wrote a book. I am going to read it. I've been neck deep in culinary magazines lately and I need a new book. If it's worthwhile, I promise to follow up with a book report.

*image via bn.com*

Hack

Kiddo loves peanut butter. Well, honestly, who doesn't? So, we buy the organic, all natural stuff. And I hate having to use it. One day while I was ruining a piece of bread (again), tearing it up with the impossible to spread stuff, I thought, there has to be a better way. The way it separates! There is an oily part, followed by a thick, impossible lump. In desperation I tried to mix the stuff. After about 30 minutes my hand cramped beyond use. Frustrated and nearly defeated by a jar of peanut butter, I had an idea. I threw the stuff into the blender. It mixed up quickly and easily. It was a bit messy to put back in the jar, but I didn't care. I had won! I made the sandwiches I needed and placed the jar into the refrigerator. The next time I needed peanut butter, I reluctantly reached for the jar. I didn't want to have to use a blender every time and the mess was too much to handle daily. What did I find out? It stayed mixed. YES! Smooth and perfect, just like the peanut butter that is full of all the extra stuff. Now, every time I open up a jar, I put it into the blender and we have smooth all natural peanut butter. Sometimes me being stubborn pays off.

Meal Plan

So I did it! I actually planned out an entire week's worth of recipes. 5 meals, plus a left over night and a dinning out night. It's a vegetarian menu, with the exception of Thursday, which has Tilapia along side of a stuffed pepper recipe. Either of those recipes can stand alone, so I can feed the Kiddo fish AND keep my vegetarian Boy happy. I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com.

Monday- Stuffed Pasta Shells with garlic bread

Tuesday- Slow Cooker Enchiladas

Wednesday- Black Bean Burritos with Jicama Cucumber Slaw

Thursday- Garlic Alfredo Tilapia and Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Friday- Left Overs

Saturday- Dinner Out

Sunday- Eggplant Parmesan with Baked Broccoli

Also, here's the grocery list for the recipes listed above.
 Grocery List Sept 27, 2010

Baked Broccoli

This is hands down one of my favorite recipes. Not only is it super easy, but Kiddo gets to help. And it's tasty. I came up with it on my own after eating pizza with broccoli on it and realizing that I love baked broccoli. I'm sure other people have done it before, but this is how we do it.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Take whatever amount of broccoli you would like to have and chop it into small pieces. Kiddo like to do this with our chopper. Put onto a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over. Sprinkle on powdered garlic to taste. Mix up a bit and then spread it out evenly. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, but keep an eye on it. As soon as it gets cooked looking with the cheese melted, barely brown, pull it out. It's super gross if burned, trust me.

*image via freedigitalphotos.net*

Make your own Sriracha Sauce

I know, why make your own? It's cheap to just buy it. But! Everything is better homemade right? And you can tweak this to EXACTLY how you would like it. I know I'm going to scope out some fresno chiles. I'll post results once I give it a try. (Once I convince My Boy that we neeeeed a food processor).

    1/2 pound red fresno chiles, coarsely chopped
    4 garlic cloves
    1 teaspoon kosher salt
    1 cup distilled white vinegar
    2 tablespoons palm sugar (light brown works too)

Take everything but the sugar and put it into a glass bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit overnight. The next day put the mix and the sugar in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Throw it all into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Put through a fine mesh strainer. If it is too thick add a tablespoon of water. If needed, add any salt or sugar to taste.

RAWR!

Isn’t that cool? I don’t have the talent patience to make such things. I love the creativity. It gets my brain churning too. I wonder if someone makes a silicone mold for those of us with less talent patience? I wonder what other food could be used to create fun meals? Kiddo is really into dinosaurs, so I might have to figure out a way… Clicky below for the site.

Jim's Pancakes

*photo via Jim's Pancakes*

Moros y Cristianos

 

I have something to admit. When I first met My Boy and found out that he is a vegetarian, I was a little intimidated. Combining the 2 ways of eating into one household might be easy for a meal or two, but over the long term… So when faced with this challenge, I did what I always do, RESEARCH! We went to the library and schlepped home a very large, very heavy pile of books. I spent hours (and still do) looking online for recipes that would work for us. One of the things I look for are meals that are vegetarian on purpose. By that, I mean it’s not full of fake meat substitutes or just a recipe that has had meat removed from it. One such recipe is Moros y Cristianos or Christians and Moors. Such a lovely, delicious dish, full of flavor AND it uses many ingredients that I always have on hand. And to top it all off, it’s a crock pot recipe! I read that traditionally it is served with an egg or some fried plantains. I know that the egg works very well with it, but we haven’t tried the plantains yet.


Christians and Moors
1 roasted bell pepper, finely chopped
~1tbsp oil
2 finely chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2tsp oregano leaves
2tsp crushed cumin seeds
1 peeled, chopped tomato
14-19oz beans (or 1cup dried/cooked)
1/2 cup vegetable stock
2 cups long grain rice
1 green bell pepper
2tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/4cup cilantro
4 green onions, white part only


Heat oil in skillet, add onion and cook until soft.
Add garlic, spices, stir 1 minute.
Add beans, tomato and stock, bring to boil.
Transfer to slow cooker. Cook low 8-10 or high 4-5.
Cook rice.
Add peppers to slow cooker and cook about 30 minutes.
Stir rice into slow cooker, add remaining ingredients.