Carrot muffins

 

Emma and I have made a few different versions of carrot muffins recently, and this is our favorite. We made an earlier version without the white sugar, but it only tasted good with frosting (we used buttercream frosting, but a cream cheese frosting would also taste good). This version is good with or without frosting, and it’s the only version to get Johnny’s stamp of approval.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup grated carrots
2/3 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 cup milk

Combine all dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients. Mix well, and spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 400F. Makes 12 muffins. 

I tried baking these in muffin tin liners, but they stick to the liners. Anyone know why?

Turkey Soup

I made this soup last night, and it was a huge hit so I thought I’d share. There’s nothing fancy about it, but it tasted good and even Johnny ate it (he hardly eats anything that isn’t sweet). If you’re wondering why there’s no picture, it’s because I didn’t take one before dinner and the soup was gone afterwards.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon chicken base
• 3 large carrots
• turkey (we used the canned kind – one 11.5oz can - but leftover turkey would work great too)
• 3 stalks of celery
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon basil leaves
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup frozen baby peas

Start water heating and add chicken base. Peel and chop carrots and add. Add turkey and celery, chop potatoes (I left the peels on since they are supposed to have a lot of nutrition and I had the thinner-peel type) and add. Add spices. Pour the cold water into a small container with a lid that seals well. Add flour, put on lid, and shake. Add the water/flour mixture to the soup to thicken the broth a little. Simmer for 1+ hours, adding the frozen baby peas right before serving.

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is based on this one from allrecipes.com, but I changed so many ingredients that it made more sense to rewrite the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 11.5 oz package chocolate chips

STEPS:

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth
3. Mix in baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg
4. Add flour
5. Add oats
6. Stir in chocolate chips
7. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes

This recipe made about four dozen cookies. The dough towards the end is VERY thick, you’ll need a good wooden spoon to mix it. Emma loved stirring the dough before it got too thick. We used Ghiradelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips, which I’ve written about loving before. These are huge chocolate chips, it’s more like eating a cookie with chunks of chocolate.

Rice, Ham, and Veggie Casserole

This casserole was inspired by leftover ham and rice that were sitting in the fridge needing to be used. It was a huge hit (somewhat to my surprise), so I thought I'd share it here. Sorry I don't have any measurements...

INGREDIENTS:

• cooked rice
• mixed veggies (I used Costco's frozen organic veggie mix)
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• hot water (add enough that the mixture is easy to stir, but not runny)
• cubed ham
• grated cheese (I used a six-cheese Italian mix)

You basically mix all the ingredients (minus the cheese) together, put them in a casserole dish, sprinkle some cheese on top, cover with foil, and bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. You can remove the foil for the last ten minutes or so if you like a toasted cheese top.

Dinner

I learned how to make these calzone-type pies from my mom.

INGREDIENTS:

• Bread dough - I used the Brown Irish Potato Bread recipe from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook
• Vegetables - I used the frozen organic veggie mix from Costco (carrots, peas, green beans, and corn)
• Chicken - I used the canned chicken sold at Costco; this is also a good thing to make with leftovers from a chicken roast.
• Seasoning

MATERIALS:

• Rolling pin
• Dough Press
• Cookie sheet
• Parchment paper
• Pan or slow cooker

STEPS:

1. Mix veggies, seasoning, and chicken; simmer for half an hour (or cook in slow cooker for a couple hours on high)
2. Roll out dough
3. Place dough in dough press
4. Add veggie mix
5. Close dough press
6. Place pie on parchment paper
7. Allow to raise for 5-15 minutes
8. Poke holes in pies to allow air to escape while baking
9. Bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes
10. Enjoy
    

    You can fill the pies with other things, if you like - jam, for example, for dessert pies. The pies are nice for lunches, and they freeze really well (although we rarely have enough left over to freeze...)

Scrumptious Chocolate Cake

Johnny turned one year old today! We celebrated yesterday, since Mike is gone for the week at a conference. Johnny continued the tradition Emma established of my children not refusing to eat their first birthday cake, but everyone else really enjoyed it.

I made the cakes using the Buttermilk Chocolate Cake recipe found in this cookbook. I split the batter between two round cake pans, added strawberry puree in the middle...and topped with cream whipped with a little vanilla, sugar, and cocoa. I sprinkled some cocoa on top also (not as evenly as I would have liked...)
It was an easy way to make a very yummy cake - and since the recipe I used doesn't call for eggs I could let my daughter lick the bowl without worrying about salmonella.

Looking for an egg-free recipe for chocolate cake but don't want to buy another cookbook? Try this.

Great Food Friday

Andrea at The Train To Crazy asked her fellow bloggers to share a favorite Christmas dessert recipe this Friday. I recently discovered this butter cookie recipe, and it's by far my favorite cookie cutter recipe to date. I think the strong vanilla flavor is the best part, and the high butter content probably helps too...

Pumpkin soup

I made pumpkin soup yesterday using this recipe, and it turned out really nicely, like something I would expect to have served at a fancy restaurant. It was really easy to make, too. I didn't really follow the recipe (I have issues with that), but I used those ingredients. I did substitute sharp cheddar cheese for part of the heavy cream, and I think it tasted much better that way. Next time I think I'll just use all cheddar cheese and no cream, I like the taste of the cheddar with the pumpkin and it's lower fat too.

This soup tastes really good with the Irish potato bread made from my favorite bread machine cookbook, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

Need a bread machine? I love the Breadman TR875 2-Pound Breadmaker, Stainless Steel

Vegetarian Lasagna

MATERIALS:

• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup sweet potato puree
• 1 package Barilla no-boil lasagna
• 1 14.5 oz can of cut green beans (drain liquid)
• 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Italian spices
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 16 oz low-fat cottage cheese
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 15oz can pinto beans (well rinsed)
• 1/2 cup grated Mozarella or Italian cheese mix
• 1 large casserole dish

STEPS:

1. Combine tomato sauce and sweet potato puree, and pour on bottom of casserole dish
2. Add one layer of lasagna noodles
3. Add green beans
4. Mix crushed tomatoes, Italian spices, and sugar. Pour 2/3 of this mixture over green beans
5. Add another layer of lasagna noodles
6. Combine cottage cheese, nutmeg, and egg. Pour this over lasagna noodles
7. Add another layer of lasagna noodles
8. Add pinto beans and remaining crushed tomatoes mixture
9. Top with cheeseCover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. If you want the cheese to brown, remove tin foil for the last 5-10 minutes of baking.

Instant pizza

We got this idea from a friend, and it's been a favorite ever since.

INGREDIENTS:

• tortillas
• tomato or pasta sauce
• pizza toppings of your choice

STEPS:

1) Lay tortillas on pan with parchment paper

2) Add toppings

3) Broil in oven on high for 5-10 minutes

4) Slice into pieces (scissors work great for this)

5) Enjoy

Some cool posts and sites

A Year of CrockPotting: Recipes from one blogger's New Year's resolution to use their crock pot every day for one year.

BeFreeForMe: A site catering specifically to gluten and allergy free diets

A-line elastic waist skirt tutorial from The Train to Crazy

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com: some awesome felt food, sock animals, and tutorials for several projects

Slow Cooker Soup

I love cooking things where you can throw the ingredients in, leave, and come back to great food hours later. This soup turned out nicely, so I thought I'd share:

INGREDIENTS

• Mixed frozen vegetables (This time I used the stir fry mix from Costco, but I've used their organic veggie mix in the past if you prefer more standard American veggies)
• 1 12oz. can turkey (may be substituted with beans or lentils)
• 1 cup quinoa, well rinsed (otherwise it will have a bitter taste to it)
• 1 tsp sage
• 2 tablespoons dried onion
• water
• chicken base or bouillion, or a veggie soup base
• salt to taste

Put everything into a 4 quart slow cooker. I didn't put an amount for the veggies; put them in first and they should take up 1/3 to 1/2 of the space.

Add everything else (enough water to cover the top) and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

This soup is gluten-free with the right soup base, although if you're cooking for someone with celiac's disease make sure they can have quinoa (some can't).

Enchiladas (not remotely authentic)

I know, this isn't a craft, but I know I'm always looking for quick, easy, relatively healthy dinners to cook and this is a big favorite at our house. Like I said in the title, it isn't remotely authentic though...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 4oz. can mild green chiles (I like the fire-roasted kind)
• 1 11oz. can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup 1/2" pieces of cooked chicken (I sometimes use canned chicken)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• pinch cumin (optional)
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 tortillas (I used whole wheat this time)
• 1 15oz can black beans
• 1/2 cup grated cheese

All measurements are approximate because, for whatever reason, I find it ridiculously difficult to use measuring cups. Pay attention to the salt content on the canned portions of this recipe and try to find one can without salt or at least reduced salt because it can get too salty otherwise. I usually use unsalted black beans.

I'm a fan of adding pureed fruits and vegetables, so I also added about 1/2 cup pureed spinach, carrots, and green beans and 1/8 cup pureed apricots and apple sauce (both from baby food cans) to this.

STEPS

1) Mix chicken, cream of chicken soup, chiles, sour cream, yogurt, water and cumin together in a pan while heating on stove top

2)Put a thin layer of this mixture on the bottom of a baking pan - the glass pyrex type works well

3) Spread the mixture on each tortilla, then roll and place in the pan

4) Spread remaining mixture across top of tortillas

5) Spread black beans across the top

6) Add cheese

7) Cover with tin foil and back at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes

Voila!

I have no idea what the caloric count for this is; if anyone knows and wants to tell me feel free to post in a comment.