The Working Mom's Recipe Box

If You Like Pina Coladas....

2011-07-06T19:46:00.001-05:00

Sorry to get that old song stuck in your head, but I wouldn't want to be the only one humming Rupert Holmes' "Escape." I wanted to make a frozen treat for my husband, since he accomplished the major task of taking down a nasty old tin shed on the corner of our property yesterday afternoon.

Of course I had to find the song on YouTube, for those of you who either haven't heard this awesome song or for those of you who may have forgotten the tune :) I adore the cartoons in Tamibashi's video:

I had to share this recipe, since it was really simple and yummy. I know what goes into a Pina Colada, but didn't have a recipe on hand - so I had to experiment a bit!

The first batch was a bit heavy on the pineapple and very light on the alcohol, but my goal was to give Hubby a pick-me-up after working all day in the hot sun, not to get him drunk and dehydrated. However, the heavy work's all done now and I've got a big bottle of Malibu just waiting in the freezer.

ABOUT RUM...
I do not claim to be a rum connoisseur. I might be able to tell the difference between the cheap and the expensive brands, but I cannot tell you which cane was used or what island it grew on. I merely know what I like, and since I do not drink often I would prefer not to waste my money on the less-expensive brands. Rum has a natural sweetness to it, since it is a product of sugar cane (or more precisely molasses, in most cases). Wikipedia has a well-cited article that has more info on how rum is made. In my humble opinion, Malibu coconut-flavored rum is the best for making a Pina Colada. Bacardi light is also good, but I like the added coconut flavor and lower alcohol content. I do not suggest using cheaper brands, but that is my own personal preference. Pina Coladas should be made with light rum, not spiced rum such as Captain Morgan. Morgan's great with Coca-Cola or pineapple juice, but I think the spice tends to overpower the coconut in a frozen drink. That's just my two-cents on rum. If you drink more often than I do, you will probably have your own ideas on what alcohol goes better with coconut, but that's the lovely part about food and drink: we are all entitled to our own opinion, and taste is a matter of personal preference.

**If you decide to use my (or any) recipes with rum or other alcohols, please abide by the laws of the land where you live. Plan to enjoy your alcohol in moderation, either at home or at a friend's home where you are welcome to stay if you need to so you will not be tempted to drink and drive. Thanks!**

Alright, now down to the nitty gritty (which I am sure will start a whole new slew of songs flowing incessantly through my brain, but I digress) here's the recipe for Sandi's Pina Coladas (or Pina Coldadas if you've already had a few).

PINA COLADAS

These are the basic ingredients:

Of course I am not going to be a foodie-snob, but I do prefer organic. If Dole is on sale, however, our economy dictates I buy commercial over locally-grown & organic. Actually, I'd be rather surprised to find local, organic pineapples at local Minnesota farmer's markets. Minnesota Grown.com is a great reference for finding some of these growers and markets, if you are in the area and looking for things that actually do grow here.

I used half a 13.6 ounce can of coconut milk (this does separate, so you may want to blend it and then take out half)
half of the big 20-ounce can of pineapple (tidbits or crushed - it's going in the blender anyway)
half of the orange-pineapple-banana juice concentrate - NOT prepared, just scoop the frozen concentrate out of the can (or just orange-pineapple or pineapple will work, too)
6 oz light rum or prepared pineapple juice

Blend all together in an electric blender and freeze for at least six hours (overnight works great). The alcohol will keep the mix from freezing solid; if you use prepared juice in place of alcohol it might get a bit more solid. This is the concentrated mix:

Add 2 cups of this mix to a blender with about 5-6 cups ice (fill the blender 1/2-full of ice) and as much juice or rum as you would like.

I used 12 ounces of rum, and it wasn't too thick, but not too liquid. However, I would recommend only using 4 to 6 ounces and then adjusting for taste.

The finished product, garnished with a sprinkle of coconut. Mix the garnish in before drinking unless you like the look of a flaky, sugary mustache.

*Alcohol-free tip: If you put a scoop of the frozen concentrate mix into a cup, top it off with a lemon-lime soda like Sprite or 7-Up. It's a refreshing drink to serve at showers or brunches.

Enjoy!

Homemade Focaccia Pizza

2011-03-14T18:04:00.000-05:00

I had the best intentions of getting a photo of this pizza before it disappeared.

By the time I pulled out my camera, there were only five slices left.

I was not thrilled with how the first photo I took turned out. I am a better cook than a photographer.

By the time I was able to focus on the second shot, there were only three left (I was lucky to get a piece!). This can be made with the sauce or without, and when I make it without I heat spaghetti sauce on the side for dipping.

Homemade Focaccia Pizza

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped (or 1 tablespoon minced dehydrated garlic)
1 teaspoon dried oregano or italian seasoning
1 pound frozen bread dough,thawed
Small jar of sauce for pizza or pasta
1/4 cups tablespoons Romano or Parmesan, grated
8 oz. shredded mozzarella

Place frozen dough in a large greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator (or for a couple hours at room temperature).
Combine the garlic and italian seasoning and set aside.
Oil a 12" pizza pan with a little olive oil. Stretch and flatten the dough so it fits the pizza pan. The dough will want to shrink away from the edges of the oiled pan, so just keep working at it until the dough stays put. Prick the dough with a fork all over, going all the way down to the pan.
Brush the top of the dough with the seasoned olive oil and let it rise for about 45 minutes.
If you want to add sauce, brush on either spaghetti, pizza or alfredo sauce. Top with cheeses and whatever toppings you like and bake at 425 degrees for approximately 25 minutes.

Just Another Apple Pie Recipe

2010-09-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

Photo taken by digicla, at Flickr.com

It turns our that my oldest son, a senior in high school this year, has decided to take a "Foods" class. It's not like he doesn't know how to cook, I think he figured it would be an easy A. So with all the recipe books in our house, instead of just opening one, he approached me after school today with a request for apple pie.

Of course it couldn't be the cheapie-cheater pie recipe that simply consists of a frozen pre-made crust and canned, mushy, lifeless apples suspended in a clear, flavorless glue-like substance called pie filling, so here goes - the apple pie recipe that I use each fall for the annual Our Savior's Fall Bake Sale.

There are two ways this pie can be made: with streusel topping, or a two-crust version (crust on top and bottom). If a one crust, streusel top is what you prefer, either roll out both halves of the pie crust & freeze one so it's ready to go at a later date or just double the apple filling and streusel and bake two pies. Pie is a great thing to share.

This crust recipe will make a double (or two single) crust 8 or 9 inch pie(s).

Crust:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup water

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add water, sprinkling in a little at a time, tossing lightly with a fork. When all the water's been mixed in, work dough into a firm ball.

Now here's a little trick for perfect pie crust that doesn't stick to the pastry board:
Divide dough into two equal parts. Shape each part into a round ball. Place one ball at a time between two large sheets of wax or parchment paper, and roll out evenly into a 1/8" think circle. Peel off the top sheet of paper, and tip the pan upside down on top of the pie crust. Flip both together and remove the remaining sheet of paper. Press the dough into the pan, trim the edges evenly, with a little crust dough hanging over the edge. For a one-crust pie, roll the excess dough instead of trimming it and flute the edges of the crust by working your way around the edge of the pan, pinching the dough as you go to form a twisted rope or zigzag pattern.

For a double-crust pie, roll the second half of the dough out flat between the two pieces of paper and set aside until the pie filling has been added. After filling has been added, moisten the edge of the bottom crust, carefully peel the paper away from the top crust and lift onto the filled pie. Trim excess dough so that it hangs about 1/2" over the edge. Roll that hanging dough under the edge of the bottom crust and flute. Prick the top crust with a fork.
(For a decorative touch, cut small shapes in the top crust before removing the 2nd sheet of paper. A very sharp, pointed knife will work well for this. If you don't want to waste the dough, layer the cut-outs on blanks spots on top of the pie.)

Filling:
6 large baking apples
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter (margarine is ok)

Peel, core and slice apples, and put in the prepared bottom pie crust. Mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the apples.

If you are going for the two-crust version, this is where you add the top crust, seal and flute it. For a beautiful, sparkly top crust, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar before baking at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Regardless of which crust variation you prefer, I find it best to divide some tin foil into 6" strips and wrap those around the outer edges of the crust so the edges don't get too dark.

Streusel Topping (undoubtedly my favorite):
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
dash salt
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Combine all ingredients except butter. Once those are mixed well, cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the pie, right up to the edges of the crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Once again, regardless of which crust variation you prefer, I find it best to divide some tin foil into 6" strips and wrap those around the outer edges of the crust so the edges don't get too dark.

I'm on a pie roll now, I hope you all like pie. I realized I only have one other apple recipe here as of today, so I will have to add a few more for good measure. After all, baking season is pretty much here, and the apple orchards will be busy soon!

Full-Time Blogger?

2010-06-09T08:08:00.000-05:00

If my full-time job was inhibiting my blogging (which, yes, it was), I guess I have no excuses anymore. I was fired from my "real" job last Tuesday, or should I say, the job I get paid for, anyway.

I still have my blogging and my garden and my family to take care of, and my sewing and my Etsy store... whoever said that stay at home moms ("SAHM's") don't have full-time jobs had no idea what they were saying. It's just easier to be a better wife & mom, I think - and this is my own humble opinion - when you don't have a "real" 40-hour-plus-per-week job in the rat-race. Now I will be able to focus my attention better on things that are more important.

No more fast food. I think it's okay every now and then if you are on the go and have no other alternative, but it's really not good for you. I really don't care for the expense of it, either - when I consider that for the $25 it would cost to feed my family at a fast food restaurant, I can purchase a roast, a bag of potatoes, some carrots and onions and a gallon of milk and still have over $5.00 change left in my pocket.

The focus of my writing here in the past was food, and recipes that anyone can make on a budget. That focus will continue to remain, and as I am more driven to save my own money and make our family budget stretch a little further, I will be sharing everything I can since I will now have more time to do so.

The second day I was home, unemployed, was far from the depressed muck-on-the-couch with a bag of chocolate chips and a bottle of wine one might expect from someone who'd just been fired from their job. My garden will expand to three times its size by the time I'm done. It's already doubled with the help of my youngest son. In addition to the tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, rhubarb, spinach, lettuce, carrots, onions, peas and beans we had already growing in the garden, we turned up another 15 x 15 plot and planted more beans, peas, radishes and peppers. My son dug another 12 x 2 strip along the fenced dog kennel and we planted wax beans there. Today we'll be putting in another plot for corn, pumpkins and cantelope.

The more I plant, the less grass we'll have to mow. I really can't see the downside to that!

Lasagna From a Jar...

2010-03-30T17:43:00.000-05:00

Well, the sauce is, anyway. And my family loves this one - so what the heck, I will share this one any day since it's so awesome.

This recipe will make enough for a 9"x13" pan, and there may be enough ingredients to put a couple layers in a small 8"x8" pan, too. It varies at my house, depending on whether or not my kids are sneaking noodles behind my back. I've never figured out what exactly the appeal is in regard to plain lasagna noodles, but everyone fights over a leftover noodle if there is one.

2 - 32oz. jars Ragu Garden Style spaghetti sauce (I like the chunky sauce, it adds some nice veggie texture to the lasagna)

2 lbs. hamburger, browned (I usually chop this with my spatula as I'm browning, so the chunks of meat are fairly small - the sauce spreads more evenly this way)

1 box of lasagna noodles, cooked till al dente (should still be firm, not mushy!)

1 lb. shredded cheddar

1 lb. shredded mozzarella

1/4 - 1/3 cup grated parmesan

16 oz. Ricotta cheese for layering, if you like it

Mix spaghetti sauce with browned hamburger and heat through until hot.
spoon a small amount into the bottom of the pan so the first layer of noodles don't stick, then lay the first 4 noodles lengthwise in the bottom of the pan. Spoon an even layer of sauce over the noodles, then sprinkle about 1/2 cup each of the cheddar and mozzarella (and some ricotta if you want) over the sauce. Add the next layer of noodles, then repeat the steps until you run out of room or ingredients. On the last layer of noodles, spoon sauce and remaining cheddar & mozzarella. Top with parmesan. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and return to oven for 15 minutes longer. If you are going to heat up a loaf of french bread, now's the time to put that in the oven, too.

When you remove the lasagna from the oven, it should stand for about 10 minutes or so before cutting. That's a great time to pull together a quick mixed green salad and pour drinks.

If there's enough ingredients left over for a small pan, that can easily go into the freezer for a heat & eat meal later on when you don't have the time to cook. This recipe can be divided in half for a smaller pan, or just make the entire thing and put some in the freezer for a rainy day. The leftovers are almost better the next day on this one - your coworkers will be jealous when they see what you've got for lunch!

On Chocolate, or "The Chocolate Swizzle Stick that Broke the Mama Camel's Back"

2010-03-09T14:58:00.000-06:00

What on earth has become of DOVE® Promises? The wrappers, which used to be printed with sweet little sayings like,

"Go to your happy place"

"Smile, people will wonder what you're up to"

are now quoting random people that must've emailed the Mars Candy Company. Now the messages on the inside of the wrapper spew crap such as

"follow your heart, it's never wrong," or

"if you fall down seven times, get up eight."

Sorry, Dearie - I've followed my own heart several times. Most of the time it's wrong. And that last one doesn't even make sense. I fall down seven times, I get up seven times. These people can't do simple math and we are quoting them across America. What's even worse is that I've heard that they have been or soon will be putting Martha Stewart's tips inside the wrappers. What the...?!? No, I'm not cutting your little marshmallows into bunny shapes for your cocoa. Talk about a waste of time and marshmallows

I don't want to be told that I must inspire others to do their best so that they will do their best. I'm a mom. I have three teenagers. I know this already. Most of my life is already dedicated to being a living example for my children. Frankly, I'm getting really tired of being the dependable, responsible one.

What I need is a break. I need to take my "me" time every so often. Even if it is just a quick 5 minutes of silence where I go to my happy place with my two little squares of melt-in-your-mouth bliss. After I'm left with nothing but the urge to brush the sugar off my teeth and a bit of regret when I realize I probably just negated that 15-minute power walk after my lunch break, I don't want to have even more thoughts zooming through my brain that focus on how I can do yet more for everyone else around me. Call me selfish, but that doesn't exactly make my 5-minute chocolate break into "me" time.

What I really could use is a wrapper that opens up into a coupon for maid service, Martha, you are more than welcome to step in at this point and organize my home. Oh, by the way, don't forget - you will have to talk my husband into moving the over-sized sectional away from the wall because it hasn't been vaccuumed back there for about six months. I know that if I can't move that sucker, there's no way you will. Good luck with that. And after I've fallen down seven times from exhaustion after working fulltime, going to school part-time and still managing to do the grocery shopping, bill-paying, checkbook balancing and the occasional meal-cooking, I could really use a $50 coupon for a spa day to pick me back up again. Now that's what they should print on the inside of those DOVE® wrappers.

Our Relationships With Food

2010-03-05T12:57:00.000-06:00

As you may know, in case you've read any of my other blogs, I've gone back to school. This semester's focus in my writing class is on a topic that might interest readers of this blog: FOOD.

Yes, this topic does seem rather broad, so what we're really looking at are people's realtionships with food. I will admit I've learned a lot from the documentaries we've had to watch as research. Some of it makes me want to turn our entire .28 acre lot into an organic garden, especially after learning more about the ways big agribusinesses have been chemically and genetically modifying our food. If you want to learn more, just pick up or rent a copy of the documentaries The Future of Food, The World According to Monsanto, or Super Size Me. You might not want to eat before watching these films. There are plenty more films on this, which I may reference as I get a chance to watch them.

On that note, I've got some space near a south-facing window that I think I going to use to get my garden seedlings started. It's warming up here in Minnesota - it's even over 40 degrees F. here today (yay!) and I'm really itching to get my garden started after seeing all the horrible things that are happening to our food supply.

Good Intentions, and Ramen Noodle Florentine

2010-01-13T12:54:00.001-06:00

I've always got the best intentions and grand plans for my blog. Truth be told, I ran out of gumption, time & sanity during this Christmas baking season to get all of the recipes published that I wanted to. But who says I can't keep going anyway? It may seem like a bit out of season, but I will probably keep posting my "Christmas" recipes anyway. At least until the snow melts.

I started back to school on Monday the 11th. Yes, I believe I am certifiably insane. My full-time job (my "real job") has been getting busier lately, and if it's any indication of the way our economy is headed, HALLELUJAH! Even though that means that there will be less time for blogging and everything else that's not supposed to be considered my "top priority".

If you read this blog regularly, you've probably noticed I haven't been here as often lately. I've also neglected stopping by the Blogger Coffee Shop. I do miss out on some things, regretably - however I will still post here as I get time. Hopefully it will be more often than not.

For now, here's a quick way I have found to dress up the simplest of side dishes: Ramen Noodles. This one's for the college crowd, whether you are eating Ramen Noodles because of budget or time constraints, it can get pretty old just adding water and the flavor packet. If you aren't doing the school thing and just want to try something new, don't feel left out - anyone can make this one!

Ramen Noodle Florentine

Prepare Ramen according to directions. Use at least 1/2 the flavor packet or more - to taste.
If you like spinach, add a few leaves of fresh spinach or about 1/4 frozen while cooking. When the noodles are done, drain off most of the broth, add 2 Tablespoons sour cream, garlic powder to taste and a few shakes of Parmesan cheese (about 2 Tbsp).

Serve alone or with chicken - grilled or broiled is good, chicken from a can will work, too.

Scandinavian Baking, Part III - Swedish Tea Ring

2009-12-15T09:55:00.000-06:00

This one's for serving company, unless you have a really big family! I made this with the intention of bringing some to work to share.

My mother and her mother made julekage, which is similar to this, except it was full of raisins and currants. I like raisin bread, and it would be easy enough to mix a pound into this recipe, but hubby won't eat them so I omit.

This isn't my family recipe, although it tastes the same (sans fruit). It is from our church cookbook, submitted by Margaret Wicktor.

Swedish Tea Ring

2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (I use only the real stuff)
1 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. yeast (or 4-1/5 teaspoons)
5 cups flour
1/4 cup lukewarm water

For the inside:
1/4 cup melted butter
1 to 1-1/2 cups brown sugar (or more, this recipe didn't specify, so that is about the amount I used)
cinnamon for sprinkling

Mix yeast in 1/4 c. lukewarm water. Scald milk (heat just until it starts to boil, then remove from heat - it will be about 180 - 185 degrees F, or 82 deg. C) and pour into a large bowl. Add sugar, butter and salt. Add half the flour, yeast and eggs. Beat well.

Add remaining flour, and make a soft dough.

Knead on floured board (or your countertop) until light (I took this to mean "not as sticky" - I kneaded the bread about 10-15 times). Place the dough in an ungreased bowl (no need to cover) and let it rise until doubled in size (about 30-45 minutes).

Punch down and divide into 2 parts.

Roll out to 1/2-inch thick (mine measured about 7"x10").

Spread with melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, then roll up as if you were making cinnamon rolls.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet (or two), and cut top with scissors (see picture).

Put in a warm place to rise until doubled (there is no need to cover the bread. For a warm place to rise, I always put a pan of hot water on the bottom rack of my oven and set the temp to 200 degrees for a few minutes, then open the door so it's not too hot).

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes (I baked mine for 20 minutes, then shut off the heat for the last 10, so it wouldn't get too dark).

While still warm, frost with icing .

I didn't have an actual recipe, per se - but this is how Mom used to do it: dump some powdered sugar (about 3/4 c. - 1 c.) into a bowl, mix in about 2 Tablespoons softened butter and 2 Tablespoons milk. Mix well.
Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Makes two 12" rolls, which should serve 24-30 people, depending on how thick you slice it.

My hubby's a bit on the picky side, so I didn't ice the whole thing. It would have looked much better with the sliced almonds or chopped walnuts on top, but it was late so I forgot to do that part!

It still tasted good, though. Especially on a chilly 7 degrees below zero morning, with a cup of hot coffee.

Enjoy!

Scandinavian Baking, Part II: Peppernuts and Fløtegrøt

2009-12-14T23:54:00.001-06:00

The part of the world we call Scandinavia consists of five countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. I've found that a lot of recipes originating in different parts of Scandinavia are similar to each other. All in all, just about any Scandinavian Christmas cookies can be served together - they are all good!

Last weekend, I spent some time with my MIL, getting our Christmas baking done. My Mom and Dad-in-law have six kids and are now great-grandparents several times over. Holiday gatherings have grown to huge proportions. So there is NO such thing as too many cookies, right?

So MIL is Danish and German. I'm half Norwegian and then Swedish, with a few other things mixed in. We baked some things that have been in her family for generations, and some from mine, too. I think my lefse griddle is about shot, which means I may not make it this year, otherwise I will have to muddle through with my smaller electric frypan or the other griddle that I use for pancakes - which is also smaller. Someday I will buy a really nice new electric lefse griddle like this one from Bethany House:

But for now I will have to make do. I digress - sorry. We made about 30 dozen cookies and a double batch of homemade caramels, which is about 5 lbs., I think. Maybe a little more.

While I mixed the Chocolate Crinkles and Andes Mint Chip Cookies, MIL cut up and baked the peppernuts she'd mixed the day before. I will start with the peppernut recipe. I believe this is Danish in origin. This recipe comes from Grandma Nelson, who was my husband's great-grandmother. We guessed that recipe is well over 100 years old, since Grandma Cohrs, who would be Grandma Nelson's daughter, is now 102 years old. She's not baking anymore, but I know she'd love to if she could still manage it.

Peppernuts

1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup shortening
1 cup boiling water - with 1 tsp soda mixed in
1 tsp. ginger
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
5-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. pepper

Mix everything together. Roll out into long ropes, about 1/2" to 1" in diameter. (These can now be refrigerated if you want before cutting and baking).

Cut into pieces about the size of a hickory nut or a hazel nut. Bake at 350 degrees.

I think those bake for about 10 minutes, we never set a timer when we were baking. When these are baked, they should retain their shape, and not flatten out like a cookie. I've seen and tried a few other recipes I've found online and in other cookbooks, but those seem to flatten and aren't very spicy. An option I've seen is to add cardamom and lots more pepper. Another option is to use ground white pepper; we used black in ours.

Another recipe we didn't make this weekend but we talked about is Fløtegrøt. This is as Norwegian as it gets. It's a pudding that's made with milk (or cream) and flour, and served warm with sugar, cinnamon and butter. My Grandma Hilda used to add a splash of heavy cream to the top to cool it down for us girls. After she died, my uncle found that she'd kept boxes and boxes of journals - and this recipe was written down for us there.

Grøt (* Note - you roll the "r" when you say this. It sounds like "grute". Also, the milk Grandma used was directly from the cow - not skim, 1%, or even 2%).

1 gallon of milk - bring to a slow boil, keep stirring so it won't burn in the bottom of the pan
Add a little flour to thicken like pudding
Add a little salt.
BOIL REAL GOOD!

Add cinnamon, sugar, and sweet cream to taste.

I wonder why she had the "boil real good" part in caps and underlined. Perhaps a bad batch at some point? I haven't had this one since I was little, and I don't know if the boys would like it. I used to love it. I think I will make it on Christmas morning. If no one likes it, I could always mix in a little oatmeal, I think.

Scandinavian Holiday Baking, Part I: A Primer

2009-12-14T14:45:00.000-06:00

As I promised, I have dug into my stash of Scandinavian recipes, especially for the Christmas holiday. These have been gathered over the past 20-odd years or so, from various sources. Some have come from family, some from the huge collection of inherited printed cookbooks, and some from the internet. I am lucky enough to attend a church that is comprised mainly of Norwegian-Americans, and a bunch of my recipes have come from our own church cookbook and also during our fellowship hour via some quickly scrawled notes written in ballpoint pen on the Thrivent Financial For Lutherans-embossed napkins provided by the insurance company.

Some of these recipes are for basic foods that were eaten on a non-holiday basis in the past but are now reserved for the holidays because of either the fat content or the lengthy process that goes into making them.
Others are traditional holiday treats that have traveled the world with immigrants and kept in families for generations.

Then, there's lutefisk. How shall I explain lutefisk to a non-Scandinavian? Well, let's just say you don't really want to know. But, since you insist, it's really just dried fish, reconstituted. In lye.

"What? In lye?!?" you cry.

Well, yes. But after it's been soaking in the lye, it goes into a water bath for about 5 days. All the lye is gone by then, really. Trust me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adam_d_/ / CC BY 2.0

"But the smell!" you exclaim, as the noxious aroma fills the room when the bag of white fish from Morey's Fish Market is cut open. By now the tears are rolling down your cheeks, partially from the fear of eating something that was soaked in lye, partially from the fumes.

Mmmm. That's the smell of my Auntie Yvonne's kitchen at Christmas time. Brings me back to my childhood, with the smell of roasting turkey mingled with lutefisk in cream sauce. Yvonne's a Swede. So is my mother. They both married Norwegians, my dad and my uncle Trueman are 100% Norsk. Norwegians usually eat their lutefisk drenched in melted butter. That's how I prefer it, but Aunt Yvonne still makes the best lutefisk, even if it is in cream.

For more info on lutefisk, look to Wikipedia. I can't say the article is perfect, but there's some good info there.

Before I really dive into the recipes, there are a few things that you may want to know. If you are in the U.S. or would just generally be interested in a good metric conversion chart for cooking, I found one here: Metric Conversion Chart.

Another thing that is good to know is what your options are for hard-to-find Scandinavian ingredients. While it seems that finding eggroll wrappers or agave nectar is as simple as taking a trip to your local Cub foods or Walmart, finding things like pearl sugar or hornsalt can be difficult if you don't know where to shop.

Luckily for me, Minnesota has a large enough population of people with Scandinavian blood that it's a bit simpler here. Ingebretsen's , located at 1601 E. Lake Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota has been selling Scandinavian foods and gifts for over 85 years. You can even take classes there, from knitting and making Hardanger lace to cooking and wood carving. Or just go to a story telling event to hear some stories from Norse mythology. If you are unable to get to Minneapolis, they have other locations as well, and online shopping is also available.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtds/ / CC BY 2.0

Even if you aren't as lucky as I, to be living smack dab in the middle of little Norway (a.k.a. Minnesota), at least most of the ingredients are pretty basic: eggs, flour, milk, cream and sugar. Which of course means that most of these cookies and other treats turn out white - or just a shade darker than that. My German-Danish husband kids me all the time that all of my cooking turns out either white... or black. Brown is cooking, black is done, as my dad always used to say.

Well, I am going to break this into a few shorter sections, as not to bore you too badly. So consider this an introduction, more pics and recipes will follow - stay tuned :)

Time For a Re-post!

2009-12-10T15:05:00.001-06:00

I posted this recipe back in April, but since Christmas is approaching with break-neck speed I figured it was time to post it again!
I even posted a picture this time, looks like I left it out last April.

LAST COOKIE.

I was lucky to get this photo. This batch went awfully fast!

Toffee Almond Sandies...mmm...

I often find myself swapping recipes with relatives or friends at work, church or elsewhere. We are all working moms, and who would know better than a working mom how important it is to share good things that work?

My hubby's aunt, Punky, gave this recipe to my mother-in-law, Dawn, who is the source of some of the best and easiest recipes I have. Absolutely maaavelous! These melt in your mouth...

Auntie Punk’s Toffee Almond Sandies

My new favorite cookie!

1 cup butter (Auntie Punk uses ½ margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
4 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
2 cups chopped almonds (sliced almonds work well, too - Punky uses walnuts)
1 package English toffee bits (I use the Heath candybar brand bits without the chocolate).

Mix together butter, powdered & granulated sugars, oil, eggs and almond extract with an electric mixer.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix by hand. Roll dough into 1 ½” balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and flatten a little with a glass, fork or fingers (if you use a glass, dip the bottom of the glass in sugar to keep the cookie dough from sticking).

**NOTE - This cookie dough may seem a little sticky. It's ok to chill the dough in the refrigerator before rolling into balls. I make mine one day, then bake it the next to break up the work if I'm really busy.**

These cookies will spread a little, flattened cookies should be spaced about 1 ½” – 2” apart.

Bake at 350° F. for 12-14 minutes (only until set firm, not brown). Allow cookies to cool on the pan for a couple of minutes before moving to a towel or cooling rack.

Yield 8-10 dozen.

I am going to try something different next time: substituting rum extract for the almond extract, and pecans in place of the almonds. I will let you know how it turns out!

12/10/09 - P.S. - I did try out the recipe with the pecan and rum extract substitutions. They tasted alright, but the original is far better! Something about the almond flavor and scent of the cookie and the almond chips with the toffee just seemed to mix better to me.

Seven Layer Bars

2009-11-06T14:03:00.003-06:00

I have had Seven-Layer Bars before. I will say that the ones I had at work today were the best, though!

My friend Terri, made a pan of these for another one of our friend's birthday. Or should I say pre-birthday? It's really tomorrow, but that's alright. Bars are good anytime!

2 packs of graham crackers, crushed
2 sticks of butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1-1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt two sticks of butter, Add in crushed graham crackers. Mix well. Press graham cracker mix onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan ( don't grease the pan, but I use a glass one) .

Then sprinkle both flavors of chips and walnuts. Pour sweetened condensed milk over chips and walnuts- spread to cover evenly. Sprinkle coconut on top. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes.

Apple Butter

2009-11-02T15:03:00.007-06:00

OK, I know - I said Scandinavian recipes would be the focus of my next few posts. As far as I know, apple butter is German in origin. But that's close enough, right?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spigoo/ / CC BY 2.0

Germany is right below Denmark, anyway - which is part of Scandinavia. Hubby is German and Danish on his mother's side, and she makes the apple butter in the family. She usually sends some over, but the kids gobble it up so fast that Hubby & I have sometimes missed out if we don't make toast right away. That's what happened again this year.

About a week ago my sister in law asked me if we could use some apples. We happened to be at her house when someone dropped some off for her. Of course, we could use some apples!

I didn't count on "some apples" being a bushel full! I had already pulled out about 3 pounds for apple crisp, and about the same amount for the first batch of apple butter when I took this photo:

The shiny thing in the background is our big metal cooler, if you want to put this into perspective.

They may not look very pretty, but they are perfect for baking or eating. Sweet, tart, and perfectly crisp. Minnesota has the perfect climate for apples. I haven't tried the Sweet Tango, which is the newest apple developed at the University of MN, but the Honeycrisp is wonderful - and I've heard the new one is even better. I have no idea what kind of variety these are, but that's ok, they are still good!

Here's the recipe that I found for apple butter in one of my many recipe books and clippings. It comes from a Land O'Lakes cookbook I got from my mother years ago, and it doesn't take 24 hours to make!

Apple Butter

3 lbs. (9 medium) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, quartered
1/2 cup apple juice or cider
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Cook apples in apple juice or cider in a large saucepan (covered), until apples are soft (25 to 30 minutes). I use my Dutch oven for this - since it's big enough to hold all the apples and they won't jump out of the pot when I'm stirring. Put apple mixture in food processor bowl fitted with metal blade (or 5-cup blender - that's what I use). Cover; process until smooth (1 to 2 minutes).

Return apple mixture to same pan; stir in all remaining ingredients.

Cook over low heat, stirring often, until mixture is very thick (30 to 45 minutes). I cooked mine longer, as it didn't seem thick enough. I think it was more like an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes. Serve warm or cold on pancakes, waffles, toast or warm breads. Store refrigerated.

You can freeze this for as long as you want, or you could also put it into jars and can it as well. If you do that, I'd process the jars under an inch of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes.

What, you haven't done any canning before? It's easier than you'd think. We'll have to talk about that later. Questions about canning before then? Ask away, I'll answer what I can.

Norwegian Baking

2009-10-28T15:52:00.001-05:00

07-dec-26
Originally uploaded by sashafatcat

It seems as though I always start digging out my Scandinavian recipes as soon as the temperature drops near the 40 degree mark. That would be about 4 1/2 degrees Celsius, if you're in Norway or any part of the world other than the U.S., Burma or Liberia.

I guess when I realized that most of the world is using the metric system, it dawned on me that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to post the metric equivalents for ingredient measures when I post recipes! Well, I may or may not - all depending on how motivated I am.

Lately that hasn't been much, as I'm sure you've noticed by the frequency of my posts. Sorry, I hope you haven't been waiting for any ideas for dinner! If you read any of my other blogs (just check my profile for links if you are interested), you'll know just how crazy my life has been lately. Or shall I say how crazy I am? Crazy enough to go back to school besides working a full-time job and raising three teenage boys.

Oh, yeah - I also hit a deer last Wednesday with my van. More venison recipes will follow! But venison aside, I digress - where was I? Oh yeah, the Scandinavian recipes! I found a steal of a deal on eBay, and couldn't pass it up. I bought an old Krumkake iron for under $10. They're usually more like $40. Of course this isn't the fancy electric kind that makes two at a time, but it will keep me busy while the boys are frying rosettes. The picture here was another one I found on Flickr - so good of the kind people there to share their photos and allow others to use them! It sure helps me out when I'm too busy to get photos taken of my own. Check back for step-by-step photos of my Norwegian recipes - My next few posts will be dedicated to those, just in time for holiday baking.

Pretty Enough to Eat?

2009-09-15T13:08:00.003-05:00

Photo of Green Bean and Nasturtium Salad With Tarragon Dressing

I found the above photo on foodistablog's photostream on flickr. Pretty, isn't it? I learned something interesting recently, and wanted to share it with you. A lot of people realize that some flowers are edible. Nasturtiums, like the ones shown above in that beautiful salad, dandelions, chamomile and lavender flowers are commonly used as food. There's a great article on What's Cooking America, which goes into detail which flowers are edible and how you can prepare and use them.

The interesting fact that I learned, which I mentioned above, is that morning glories are definitely NOT on the edible list!

Not that I had planned on eating my morning glories, I think they are too pretty to cut. This beautiful bloom is from my own garden, caught after a morning rain.

Eating morning glories can cause LSD-like hallucinations, which in itself doesn't sound all that horrible if that's your cup of tea, but the "...which leads to rapid heart rate, failure, and death" part didn't appeal to me!

The part that bugs me the most is that I can't find the site that listed all of those poisonous plants and the symptoms that accompany contact with them. Let's just say that I was attempting to look up what it was that I tried pulling out of my garden without gloves. The little spines that stuck my hand left my right hand feeling like it had been injected with novacaine for about 24 hours. A little alarming, but it didn't warrant a half-hour drive to the ER at 9pm that night. I took some Benedryl before bed, though!

Word to the wise: know which plants in your area are poisonous, and always wear gardening gloves!

Mmm... Pot Roast with Potatoes

2009-09-09T22:45:00.005-05:00

A good, tender, pot roast is really not so difficult. In fact, I like to make this when it gets cool outside, especially since it's not labor intensive at all.

First, heat (on high heat) about 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil in a big pot with a lid. I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, since it's better for you and it will make your roast delicious. When the oil is very hot, carefully place the chuck roast into the pan, take care not to splatter the hot oil on yourself. I use either two large forks, or a large fork and a knife. You don't want to just flip this into the pan, you may get burned.

Season well with salt, garlic salt or powder, and black pepper. Sear the roast on high heat for a few minutes on each side, until dark brown. It may look close to burned, but it's not.

After the beef has been seared on both sides, add 1 cup of water. Cover and transfer from the stove top to a 350 degree oven for one to one and a half hours (depending on the size of the roast - I did an hour and a half for a 3-lb. chuck roast). After the first hour, add quartered potatoes, some carrots, and onion if you like. Stir those into the meat juices and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes I was really rushed with other things tonight, so I only added the potatoes and did the mixed veggies in the microwave.

When the timer goes off, check a potato to see if it's tender. If it is, you are done!

If you like gravy, transfer all of the meat and veggies from the pot to a large bowl or roaster pan and cover, leaving the meat juices in the original pan. Add about 1 1/2 cups water to the pan, blending the meat juices with the water. If the mixture does not taste strong enough, add a cube or two of beef boullion. The broth should be strong. In a separate bowl (or even better yet - a cup with a tight-fitting lid, combine 3 tablespoons flour and 1 cup of water, mixing or shaking until all the lumps are gone. Stir thoroughly into the broth. Heat to boiling, stiring constantly as to avoid lumps. Boil for at least one full minute. Gravy will thicken a little more as it cools. If you like mushrooms, add a can of cream of mushroom soup to the gravy - that will stretch it a little further. I never seem to make enough gravy for potatoes, my guys all like it a lot - so the cream soup is a handy trick I picked up from my mother-in-law.

S'More Bars

2009-09-01T06:49:00.004-05:00

I will admit, when the mixture for these bars was all blended together, I thought, "wow. This looks awful." The hot marshmallow goo melted the Hershey's chocolate and the whole mixture looked like a sticky brown mess. But when I tasted one, I no longer cared what it looked like. It was heaven! Not only that, it helped me use up the enormous quantity of marshmallows I purchased for my middle son's birthday party. Hardly anyone made s'mores, so what would our family do with all the leftovers? My husband hates anything marshmallow-related, even Rocky Road. Blasphemy! How can anyone hate Rocky Road???

S'More Bars

5-6 cups Kellogg's Crispix Cereal (1/2 a box)
1 pack graham crackers, crunched into 1" to 1/2" pieces
6 1.5-oz bars of Hershey's chocolate (an entire 6-bar multi pack), broken
into 1/2" to 1" pieces (reserve 1 broken up candy bar for the top of the bars)
2 bags of marshmallows, at least one of those bags should be mini's
1 stick of butter

Mix the cereal, graham cracker pieces, half a bag of mini-marshmallows
(reserve 1 cup of the minis for the top) and 5 of the broken candy bars (except
for one for the top) in a really big bowl.

Grease a large 9x13 pan with some of the butter.

Melt the rest of the butter on low to medium heat, just until melted. Add a
full bag of marshmallows and what's left of the other after putting half of it
into the cereal mix & holding out a cup for the topping. Mix the
marshmallows and butter together while they melt, blending until smooth.

First, coat your hands with a bit of butter or shortening - this will get
sticky. This next part should be done quickly, the marshmallow goo cools
quickly:

Once the marshmallow is melted and gooey, pour over the cereal mix, mixing
together until everything is covered in marshmallow.

Dump the mix into the pan, pressing it down evenly. While still warm, top
with the remaining pieces of chocolate and marshmallow and then allow for at
least 30-40 minutes before serving. I would recommend refridgerating this one if
your kitchen is warm, so the chocolate doesn't get too melted on top.

The Birthday Salad

2009-08-24T19:25:00.006-05:00

I didn't manage to get a photo of this salad before I served it - the guests at my son's birthday party were hungry! It's got a lot of the same ingredients you might find on your favorite pizza. I assembled the following ingredients on Friday night, and let it marinate over night in the fridge:

16-oz box of rotini pasta, cooked, drained & rinsed
1, 3.8 oz. can of pitted, sliced black olives, drained
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
8 oz. sliced mushrooms, rinsed
4 oz. sliced pepperoni
1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 bottle of Italian salad dressing
garlic salt & black pepper to taste

Before serving, I should have sprinkled parmesan cheese over the top, but I never took it out of the cupboard. I think everyone liked it anyway.

This recipe easily fed about 20 people (as a side dish), and we still had leftovers afterward. I used two packets of the Good Seasonings Italian Salad Dressing mix and mixed those according to the directions on the package. If you want a stronger seasoning, I would recommend sprinkling a bit of the seasoning mix (unprepared) into the salad before you marinate overnight.

Another Birthday Party!

2009-08-21T14:43:00.001-05:00

I love parties – especially the kind where your guests can help prepare their own food :)

We are having a party for my middle-son’s 15th birthday tomorrow – complete with bonfire, s’mores and cake. In hopes of keeping the kitchen cool, I will be purchasing a few packs of hotdogs, which the partygoers will be able to roast on their own. I will also put together a salad and serve the other obvious sides (a.k.a. baked beans and chips). Yes, there will be photos – I have to, because you will want it for the salad recipe. So hang on for another day or two – the recipe is in the works!

The Diet Wagon

2009-08-13T11:59:00.003-05:00

If I drink Slim-Fast for breakfast and then have a
glazed donut with my coffee during my morning break, does it really mean I’ve fallen off the diet wagon? And landed squarely on a big, cushy pile of bakery items?

I’d like to think that all of the fresh veggies from the garden and the Slim-Fast (even though it is the milk-chocolate flavored kind) balance out all of the sweets my co-workers insist on sharing. Sitting in a cube has its disadvantages, like being the one who is located closest to the cabinet where all the goodies are put after meetings! I was doing so good, too: my desk was stocked with organic cereal bars and fruit, a few cans of Slim-Fast just in case I either forgot to pack a healthy lunch or was just too rushed to grab something before leaving the house in the morning.

I need to work on replacing all of the quick stuff (a.k.a. unhealthy, overly-processed fast-food type stuff) in my freezer with some healthier, home-cooked meals for when I am short on time. I used to do this when the kids were younger and my husband and I worked opposite shifts.

Some of the things I prepared extra of and froze were lasagna, tater-tot hotdish and chili. The chili isn’t so bad for you, but I really need to work on finding a few more healthy (and tasty) short cuts to add to my quick-to-cook arsenal.

I’ve been really slacking lately, as far as the home-cooking goes. Frozen pizza and chimichangas are far to enticing in the frozen foods aisle. I know this because I saw a horrible picture of myself taken by my husband a couple of weeks ago. Let’s just say I won’t be sharing that photo on any of my blogs! It was less than flattering.

Here’s my healthy recipe for this week. This is a bare-bones recipe that can be added to however you wish, so have fun!

Crunchy Mandarin Almond Salad With Chicken

1 package ramen noodles, broken apart into small pieces and separated
1 small can Mandarin oranges
½ a head of lettuce, torn or shredded
¼ cup toasted almonds
sesame oil
1 grilled, skinless, boneless chicken breast – cut into strips or bite-sized pieces (or substitute 1 can of cooked chicken)
sliced red onion
Dressing of your choice: a fat free poppy seed or any Asian-inspired dressing you like will do.

Sautee the ramen noodles in hot sesame oil until lightly toasted. Remove noodles from pan and put chicken in the pan to heat through. While chicken is warming, toss toasted ramen noodles with remaining ingredients (except dressing), then top with the chicken immediately before serving.

Here’s a list of additions, if you want to add more:
Dried cranberries
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Cashews
Sliced green onion
Sliced red or green cabbage
Chopped bell peppers (any color)
Fresh edemame (baby soybeans in the pod)
Fresh sugar-snap peas
The greatest thing I love about salad is that you can mix together just about any combination of vegetables and it still tastes good :)

The Rhubarb Is Officially Done!

2009-08-09T22:08:00.003-05:00

There it is. The last of it. I picked the last few stalks of rhubarb, sliced them neatly into 1" pieces, measured 2 cups into each small baggie, then tossed those baggies into labeled, gallon-size freezer bags. Most recipes that call for rhubarb require multiples of 2-cup measures, so this way I do not have to measure it later. No preparation is required before freezing, so it's really quick and easy. I don't even need to include directions for this one! It does last a very long time in the freezer, though - so I do recommend dating the freezer bag.

I still haven't gone through the stuff from last year. I will be baking rhubarb cake and crisp again as soon as it cools down. Like I'm really disappointed with that! Hah! Well, the scale might not like it, but I guess that means I will have to share :)

Marinated Zucchini & Peppers

2009-08-05T17:01:00.001-05:00

Marinated Zucchini & Peppers
Originally uploaded by suzukiQ

Simple stuff to throw on the grill. Yum. If you slice the veggies thick enough, put them right on to the grill, otherwise, make a shallow bowl of tin foil & add them about 6 or 7 minutes before the meat is done grilling. Mmm...

sliced vegetables - zucchini, peppers, onions - whatever you like
Italian dressing

Combine & marinate for about 20 minutes or so, then grill.

: ) Short & sweet - no mess, no cleanup!

Do You Remember the Jam Recipe I Promised?

2009-07-23T15:33:00.002-05:00

I couldn't find it! I am horrible! But I think I remember it - because it's a variation of one I have on hand from another source. So while I was in the process of cutting rhubarb for freezing, I remembered the jam and thought that it's time to get that posted. About this time of the year I start getting ready for canning and freezing, so while I find all of my jars and seals and lids and things this blog may be a bit quiet. But keep checking back - because I usually can't keep quiet for long, according to my hubby :)

So for your reading enjoyment you may possibly find some odd things tossed in here. It will pertain to food, but it may end up that one day you will find a restaurant review, the next you may find a recipe for a lemon drop martini - who knows?

Here's an enjoyable way to use up some rhubarb! I got this recipe from my friend Terri K. at work:

Rhubarb Slush

8 cups Rhubarb
2 quarts water
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice

Combine all and cook until tender. Strain and put in ice pail.
Add 2 cups vodka and 1 package strawberry jello, then freeze.
Scoop frozen slush into cups and top with Sierra Mist.
Great for parties - this recipe makes a LOT! Enjoy!

Wild Goodness

2009-07-20T19:10:00.004-05:00

Good things can sometimes happen when you don't mow the lawn.

Well, that is, if you live in a rural township where you won't get fined for letting the grass get a little long. I knew there were wild grapes, raspberries and gooseberries growing abundantly in the woods surrounding our house, and I noticed this tiny grapevine growing in the ditch on the edge of our yard.

So I told the boys and my husband not to mow the ditch. The boys certainly didn't mind, and my husband could have cared less - well, if there was a good reason for it, anyway. It's not like he wants the yard to look like a wild overgrown mess, but he realizes that I can identify edible things in the woods, so he trusts my judgement when it comes to wild foods.

This tiny, weed-like plant to the right is a raspberry cane, sprouting from the earth near the road.

I've discovered about 10 wild grape vines and an uncountable amount of thorny little raspberry shoots. Not all thorny plants in the woods of Minnesota are raspberries, though.

The American gooseberry is also very prickly. Each adult berry bush can yield 6 to 8 gallons of berries, which are great for jam and wine. This berry on the left isn't ripe, yet. When ripe, the berries are a stunningly beautiful shade of deep, wine red.

As with any wild berries or fruits, you must be certain that you've identified the plant correctly. Some plants are poisonous, and may look similar to other plants that are edible.

Like mushrooms, for instance. NEVER, ever pick wild mushrooms. Unless you have been trained to properly identify which ones are edible, it is far too easy to make a fatal mistake. If you eat a poisonous mushroom, you may be lucky enough to get to an emergency room; however, you might not. I'd rather not take that chance, mushrooms are much better from the grocery store, anyway :)

Slimfast vs. Take-Out?

2009-07-17T14:01:00.005-05:00

The Strawberries ‘n Cream Slimfast in my cabinet at work did not appeal to me today. In fact, I find that flavor repulsive. It doesn’t taste like real strawberries, and the only way to consume an entire can is to refrigerate it to near freezing and then chug it all down as quickly as possible. The grocery store was out of my usual Milk Chocolate flavor, so I decided against my best judgment to try something new. Unfortunately, I got stuck with a whole 6-pack of the nasty stuff.

I hope the people at Unilever are reading this. If so, listen up: diet food won’t appeal to anyone unless it tastes good! Not so good as to make you want to consume the entire 6-serving package all at once, mind you. Just good enough to make me want to eat it again will do. I crave chocolate on a daily basis, so they did make a wise choice in using that flavor in their products.

Because I avoided the Slimfast today, I decided to try a new Vietnamese restaurant near my place of business. I wish I had taken my camera with me today so I could show you all how good the presentation was, albeit was in a Styrofoam box. I guess that is my excuse to eat there again. Perhaps I will have to try each dish on the menu, in order to get pictures of them all… hmmm… that’s a concept… I will have to think on that a bit… Well, here's my review of the restaurant:

The Rice Box on Hwy 10 in Ramsey, MN is definitely worth a try, if you like Vietnamese food – or just Asian, in general. The menu has a wide selection of dishes ranging from mild to spicy, with traditional foods like lemongrass and of course things that anyone would recognize such as sweet and sour chicken. There is a definite emphasis on “fresh” in the wording of their menu, and the dish I ordered was awesome in that aspect.

The typical Styrofoam to-go box was half-full of a divine sweet and sour chicken in a sauce that I would describe as light and not too sweet, with the perfect balance of acidic tartness one would expect in a sweet and sour. The chicken strips are all-white breast meat, lightly battered and fried, although not greasy at all – they must have actually drained off the fat! Large chunks of fresh pineapple and green pepper are added to the mix. The other half of the box contained a generous portion of white rice and a very fresh salad of lettuce, tomato and sliced mild white onion. I could live on egg rolls, so of course I ordered one on the side, and that was great, too – with the thin, crispy shell fried till golden but not overdone. The interior was not the bland, flavorless egg roll filling that you might expect from a grocery store deli or a frozen, pre-packaged product, but this was really good, the kind of flavor that can’t be reproduced en masse from a factory kitchen.
Not to mention that the service was fast and friendly. I will definitely go there again. Of course I have to – I did promise pictures, right?

About That Jello Recipe...

2009-07-14T14:50:00.002-05:00

As "They" say, there is always room for Jello.

My Mother-in-Law almost always has jello prepared; I believe one could drop in, unannounced, and she would be able to serve a lunch at the drop of a hat that would be inevitably followed by some sort of Jello. One that is my favorite is made with pie filling, and ends up more like a dessert than a fruit salad, so I hesitate to call it such.

2 packages of cherry Jello
2 cans of cherry pie filling
1 tub of Cool Whip or the equivalent of real whipped cream

Prepare the jello according to the directions on the box, using the speed-set method (with ice-cubes). Remove any remaining ice, and thoroughly stir in pie filling. Pour into a 9x13 glass baking dish & refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until fully set-up. Top with Cool Whip & serve or refrigerate until you are ready to.

This one is very easy & can be made a day ahead of time if you are serving a crowd or have a potluck to go to!

Summer Dinners

2009-07-10T14:50:00.001-05:00

2009_0621StrawberriesAndCBPie0010
Originally uploaded by suzukiQ

Yes, I will say it again. I am a slacker. And this is the reason why: I don't like to cook during the summer. I promise that if I cook something that requires a recipe, I will most certainly share it. As of late, our dinners look something like this. Toss a couple frozen, pre-formed burgers on the grill, boil some corn on the cob and add a salad. Voila! No recipe required.

But check back, I may still find some ambition to cook, you never know. I do have some really good recipes for jello... :)

Have a great weekend!

Chicken Enchiladas

2009-07-08T11:58:00.003-05:00

My kids have grown, and so have their appetites. I can easily cut this recipe in half if it's just Hubby & me at home, but when the boys are around I usually have to double it!
Now before I get into this recipe, I know there are some pretty creative cooks out there, but one of my Google ads at the bottom of my blog reads "Dog Recipes". WHAT??? I sure hope they are referring to recipes for homemade doggy treats - the kind you give to your dog, not the kind made from your dog! If anyone knows, please tell me it's not the latter! Otherwise, please just keep quiet, Jasmine and D.O.G may just be reading your comments from besides me as I sit on the couch with my laptop... Eew! I don't even want to think about it!
Now this recipe is absolutely wonderful. And it contains NO dog :)

Chicken Enchiladas

1-2 green bell peppers
1 medium onion, chopped (this can be omitted if you dont like onion)
1/2 stalk of celery (about 2 cups), chopped
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces

In a large frying pan, fry the chicken in about 1-2 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil, salt and pepper to taste. Add the chopped veggies and sautee until the vegetables are only a little soft, they should still have some crunch left in them.

In a separate bowl, mix an 8-oz container of sour cream (light sour cream is ok) with a 16-oz. jar of prepared chicken or turkey gravy (or 2 cups of homemade).

Stir 4 tablespoons of the gravy/sour cream mixture into the chicken/vegetable combination.

Spoon about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the meat/vegetable mixture onto 10" flour tortillas. There is no need to fold over the ends. I prefer Reser's brand, because they are thin but don't rip apart. This recipe is better with a thin tortilla than with thick ones.

Line up the enchiladas in a microwave-safe glass baking dish as you roll them up. My microwave will accomodate a 9x13 baking pan, be sure to check yours before you fill the dish. This can also be baked in the oven for 30 minutes if you prefer. When all the enchiladas have been rolled up, pour the entire bowl of gravy/sour cream mixture over the top so that everything is covered. Cover the dish with saran wrap or a cover if you have one, and microwave on high for 10 minutes.

Remove from the microwave (or oven) and sprinkle an entire 8-oz. package of shredded Monterey Jack cheese over the top (I use a Mexican blend, sometimes the kind with jalapenos), and return to the microwave, uncovered, for 3 minutes longer, so cheese is melted.

For ease in serving, allow this to stand for about 3-5 minutes before dishing up.

I serve this with a lot of lettuce, tomatoes and salad-type veggies. Refried beans or Spanish rice are good on the side, too...

If you try any of the recipes on my blog, this one has to be it! It's one of my personal favorites :)

~Enjoy!

Simple Summer Stuff

2009-07-02T07:28:00.005-05:00

I can't stand wasting a lot of time preparing food in the summer. Most of the meals we have are light and quick. A lot of evenings I say, "everyone is on their own for dinner tonight" - which means there are leftovers that need to be eaten or I know there's plenty of sandwich stuff that just needs to be put out. We still eat together as a family, but that's my way of letting everyone know that Mom's tired and I'm just not cooking!

One thing that I like to have on hand in the fridge to go with sandwiches is this recipe that came from my mom and my grandma. I don't know where it came from to begin with, but everyone loves this so I make it a lot during the summer. Not to mention that it's a great snack during the summer when cucumbers are fresh from the garden.

Creamy Garlic Cucumbers

3 cucumbers, peeled and sliced (1/8" to 1/4" thick slices - no thicker than that)
1 cup Miracle Whip (not mayo, you need that "tangy zip") - light is okay
1/2 tablespoon garlic salt (or more - to taste)

Mix everything together in a bowl with a lid and refrigerate for at least
1/2 hour before eating. The juice from the cucumbers will mix with the Miracle Whip & get creamier as it sits. This will keep in the fridge for about a week (ours never last that long).

Charlie Brown Pie

2009-06-24T07:45:00.004-05:00

My youngest son turned 13 on June 16th. Man, do I feel old. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when I turned 13; now my youngest kid is 13? When did that happen???

Well, anyway, we often times do not celebrate with the traditional birthday cake, since no one in our house is a huge fan of frosting. At least not the commercially-made stuff, for the most part. And of course, everyone knows that frosting can make or break a cake. So my not-so-little one chose a family favorite for his birthday: Charlie Brown Pie.

This concoction was a favorite of all the students at the elementary school which we both attended. It consisted of a graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding, followed by a layer of Cool Whip and then topped with chopped, salted, roasted peanuts; named for the Peanuts cartoon character whom we all loved and could identify with. I've seen similar recipes on the web, but this one doesn't have peanut butter in the graham cracker crust.

Charlie Brown Pie

2 packs of graham crackers (not 2 boxes, 2 of the packs that come in a box)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

2, 4-oz. boxes instant chocolate pudding

16-oz tub of Cool Whip, whipped cream or other whipped topping

1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts, chopped

Put the graham crackers into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Mix sugar into crumbs. Add butter and mix well, then press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, then allow to cool completely.

Prepare pudding as directed on package for pie filling (the directions will call for less milk than if you are preparing the mix for pudding alone); then pour over graham cracker crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Top with whipped cream or whipped topping.

I do not put the chopped peanuts on top until we are ready to serve. This recipe is a great one to make ahead of time (like the day before) to share. If you refrigerate this overnight with the peanuts on top, they will get mushy - not good!

This recipe can easily be divided in half for a 9x9 square pan, if you are not serving a huge crowd - and it's great for summer, since your oven will only be on for a short while.

If you choose to add peanut butter to the crust, mix in about 1/2 cup or so, then refrigerate before adding the pudding - then you will not have to turn on the oven at all :)

The Best Lunch Ever!

2009-06-13T18:20:00.006-05:00

Girlfriend time is important. It doesn't matter how old you are or how busy you get, you must make time for your girlfriends. My friend Diane & I had a girlfriend day today; she had a lot of plants to put into pots and the kids were at their dad's for the weekend. I simply had to go out to her place for a visit, so we made a day of it. We started out with a trip to the nursery in a neighboring town to pick up pots & had a great lunch of salad with yummy little croissant sandwiches before we got to work. The sandwiches were Diane's idea. Call it Divine Inspiration, but she said, "Oh! I know what we can do with these!" And before I knew it, she'd sliced one in half, added a dollop of fat-free vanilla yogurt and tossed in some berries. Voila! The perfect addition to a healthy salad - good for you and tasty, too.

The salad was just a mix of things from the produce section: Dole Greener Selection salad blend, organic yellow baby carrots, Cherubs cherry tomatoes, shredded colby cheese and sunflower seeds topped with a Kraft Fat-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing. Then on the side we had a little more of the yogurt topped with the fresh berries. It was really filling for a salad! And of course, being a "girlfriends day", we had to have a glass or two - what the heck, a whole bottle - of Barefoot Pinot Grigio. If you haven't tried that one, I highly recommend it - it's a light, fruity wine that's good with a salad or just for drinking when you're out with the girls.

And guys, I'm not leaving you out, either - guy time is important, too - especially because it gives us girls a break :)

Marinated Chicken Shish Kabobs

2009-06-10T21:15:00.004-05:00

So I realize that marinating is not necessarily a quick thing; if you marinate meat overnight the results are wonderful, juicy & tender cuts that may have otherwise been tough as shoe leather. However, if you are marinating a meat that is tender to begin with, you might not want to let it sit in the fridge for two full days - or more like three. Well, I did just that. I planned on making Shish Kabobs on Sunday evening, so I put together a very simple marinade for some boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Marinade
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup white wine (red is good if you will be marinating red meat like beef, venison or buffalo)
1/4 cup grilling spice (or a mix of whatever you like from the spice rack: garlic, salt, pepper, oregano & basil - if you like a Mediterranian flavor. Spice blends make this easy, because you don't have to think about what proportions will do well together. Chili powder, cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper are great spicy additions, but remember that those spices will really heat up your recipe when used in a marinade for longer than a few hours.)
1 cup water

Mix everything together in a Tupperware bowl or another sealable container. A gallon-size freezer ziplock bag will work; if you use one of those, put the bag on a plate in the fridge to marinate - just in case the bag doesn't get sealed properly - not saying the bag would leak otherwise:)

I used an entire 3-lb bag of individually quick-frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts for this recipe. We're really picky at our house about getting all the fat off of the meat prior to cooking, if you are too I would recommend that you remove the "nasty goopy parts" before marinating, and cutting the meat into 2" pieces while still partially frozen. Your hands will get cold, but it will be easier to handle.

For the vegetable, I used two bell peppers (three would've been better), cut into 2" squares, and one 8-oz. package of button mushrooms. If hubby weren't allergic to onions, I would have added wedges of red onion to the mix. If you choose to marinate the veggies as well, toss them in a bag with about 1/2 italian dressing about 15 minutes before assembling the shish kabobs.

Add whatever meat you plan on marinating, and mix so that all pieces are covered. Let that all soak together in the fridge for 2 hours to overnight. I used chicken for these kabobs, and although the meat was practically falling apart when I assembled the skewers, letting it marinate for an extended time frame wasn't so bad. I simply added some mushrooms and green bell peppers (which helped to hold the chicken on the skewers so it didn't fall off and between the grill grates)The results were delicious...

Even if they didn't hit the grill until Wednesday evening!

**Helpful grilling hint: Soak the bamboo skewers in water for about 10 minutes, then stand them up in a cup in the freezer for at least 2 hours before grilling - this will prevent them from burning on the grill. If you do this when you prepare the marinade, they will be ready when you are.

Drunken Pork Ribs

2009-06-08T07:03:00.007-05:00

If you can spare a can of beer (or steal one from your hubby's stash, like I do occasionally), this is a great recipe for a hot summer day when you'd rather be outside than in. There's virtually no prepping, and if you use paper plates there will be just as little to clean up, as well.

Drunken Pork Ribs

Boneless pork ribs

1 can of beer (one can for 6-8 ribs, use 2 cans if you need more)

Steak or grilling seasoning of your choice (Lawry's Seasoned Salt or Famous Dave's Steak & Burger Seasoning work really well)

Generously season the ribs in a large bowl with a cover or a big pot with a lid.

Pour the beer over the ribs.

Stir the mixture so that all the ribs have been coated. Marinate for 2 hours to overnight.

Light up the grill; if you are using the old-fashioned charcoal grill like I have, be sure the coals are white-hot and spread evenly across the bottom of the grill to avoid hot spots.

Put the ribs on the grill, no additional seasoning is necessary. Discard the marinade - never reuse that stuff!

Grill for about 7-8 minutes, then flip and grill another 7 to 8. I cut halfway through the thickest piece to check for doneness - any juices should run clear.

Serve with BBQ sauce, if desired, & enjoy!

Easiest Baked Rhubarb Dessert Ever

2009-06-04T10:26:00.004-05:00

This one is weird. I mean it. If you've never made a dump cake you will find yourself wondering if you really are not supposed to prepare the cake mix first or add the water to the Jello. But go ahead, just follow this one exactly as it's written. I felt guilty making it, because the only thought running through my mind is that the kids were going to be climbing the walls with all the sugar in this dessert. But Rhubarb Season doesn't last very long, anyway, and I am only going to make this once; or at least I consoled myself with this thought as I dumped all of the ingredients into the pan and popped it into the oven. Then I tasted it. I will definitely make it again, I will have to share it at work though. I told a friend at work about this, and she said the only reason I had to feel guilty was that I didn't share!

This one comes from a friend at our church, via the Our Savior's Lutheran Church Cookbook. She's one of those Lutheran church ladies, you know the kind - reminds everyone of their favorite grandmother and can cook and bake like no one's business. It's simply called

Quick Rhubarb Dessert

3 to 4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces

1 box white or yellow cake mix

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 box strawberry jello (dry powder) - 3 oz. size

1 cup sugar

1 cup hot water

Grease and flour bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking dish. In the order given, layer the ingredients into the pan. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

We had ours when it was still a little warm, with a scoop of ice cream on the side. Yet another dessert I could easily finish off entirely on my own! I brought a piece to eat with my lunch, but it didn't make it to noon. I will say it was even better when it had totally cooled off, and it was easier to take out of the pan. Somehow, I totally missed the "grease and flour the pan" part of the recipe; the only part that was hard to take out was the top, because all the sugar in the topping adhered to the sides, which is why I would recommend greasing and flouring the sides as well as the bottom of the baking dish.

This blog should have probably been called "Sandi's Expanding Derriere Recipe Box", as I've noticed a lack of healthy stuff here. I really don't cook and bake like this every day, but I will admit that if I could eat like this all of the time, I would. If you've ever seen the movie called "Defending Your Life" (with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep), heaven is depicted as a place where you can eat whatever and as much as you want and not gain a pound. It does sound a little gluttonous, but the concept is a pleasant dream! So I will add a few more healthy recipes, too - because I know we don't all want to be blogging about our weight problems, and I certainly don't want to be the blame! But maybe next time. For now, try out this recipe - just make sure you bring it to work or the next family gathering so you aren't tempted to eat the whole thing :)

Potato Soup - Souper Cheap Meal!

2009-06-01T21:53:00.015-05:00

My family has never been wealthy. Most of the meals I remember best from my childhood were simple to make, required very few ingredients, and are still very accomodating for any budget. My grandparents survived the Great Depression - as working adults who had to watch every penny. During my early teen years I spent a lot of time with them, and it made a huge impression on how I spend my money (which means I usually don't if I can go without) and how I cook. The following recipe is one that's been in our family for longer than I know. My grandmother was Swedish and Scots-Irish, so take your pick - it's probably originates from one of those!

Potato Soup
4-5 medium potatoes (one per person usually works well if you want to make a smaller or bigger batch)
water
1 medium onion (white or yellow), diced, or 1/3 cup dehydrated onion flakes
salt
pepper
1/2 cup or 1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup flour
baking soda
1 egg
milk - about 3 to 4 cups

Peel & dice potatoes, about 1/2 - to 1 inch cubes. Put in large pot, add water to cover by 1/2-inch. Add onion, about 1 tsp salt and about 1/2 tsp black pepper. Turn heat on high, until the water is at a full boil.

While the water is heating up, prepare dumplings as follows:

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup flour, a little salt (see photo - I hardly ever use measuring spoons. this is about 1/4 to 1/3 of a teaspoon or so), and a pinch of baking soda.

See this next photo - this is how my mother taught me to measure the baking soda: just a little on the end of a fork handle will do. I just happen to have flatware that is similar to what Mom had! I'm guessing 1/8 teaspoon would work fine.

Add 1 egg to the flour, salt and baking soda, then mix together until the dumpling mix is the consistency of big crumbs; it should look like this:

By the time you are done preparing the dumpling mix, the potatoes and onions should be boiling.

Once this is at a full boil, add 1 stick of butter and enough milk so that the soup looks more like milk than water. I never measure this, as I was taught to do this by sight - which is why the pictures are necessary! If I had to guess, probably about 3 cups of milk go into the pot.

If you add less milk than is needed, your soup will be very thick and can be thinned with more milk later. If you add too much milk and the soup is too thin, a little more flour or a little mashed potato flakes will thicken the soup - and no one will notice (trust me - I know!)

Bring the soup back to a boil, then stir in dumpling mix. Clumps are good - those will cook into dumplings; I don't recommend leaving clumps larger than an inch or so in diameter, as the larger ones will not cook through as quickly as the others. After the dumplings have been thoroughly stirred into the soup, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the dumplings are tender and cooked all the way through.

If you choose to add other items to the soup, the last 20 minutes is the time to do so. Additions aren't traditional, but some people like a little more than potatoes and dumplings in their potato soup.

Some good additions are ham, chopped roast beef, sauteed garlic, mushrooms, and/or whatever vegetable you like. This is a good way to use up whatever leftovers you have in the fridge that might not be enough to serve an entire family. Cheddar cheese sprinkled on top makes this soup really good, too. We've always served it without the extras, adding a pat of butter to the top. If you like the soup a bit thinner or need to cool it, just stir in a little milk.

Of course, when serving homemade soup, don't forget the crescent rolls!

Tater Tot Hotdish

2009-05-30T10:31:00.004-05:00

Tater Tot Hotdish is a huge family favorite of ours. In Minnesota, we call it "hotdish", not casserole. There are many variations floating around out there, so I will give you two that I've used. Pretty soon it will be too warm here for baking, so I guess it's time to use up that bag of tots in the freezer!

Version #1:
2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 cans French-cut green beans, drained
2 cans Campbells's Nacho Cheese soup
tater tots

Press the uncooked ground beef into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Mix
the green beans with the soup, and spread over the top of the hamburger. Arrange
the tots across the top in a single layer, cover with foil then bake at 350
degrees for one hour(remove foil for last 15 minutes to brown the top).

Version #2:
2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 medium onion, diced
24-oz bag frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Cheese - one 12-oz bag of shredded cheddar (or slices of Velveeta)
tater tots

Brown the meat with the diced onion, drain. Spread in the bottom of a 9x13
baking dish. Combine the veggies with the soups, and spread over the top of the
meat. Sprinkle the cheese over the top, then arrange tater tots on top of that.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (again, covered with foil for the first 45
minutes).

These are both great recipes to prepare ahead of time. Whoever gets home from school or work first can put it in the oven. When it is done I usually throw into the oven a pan of the store-bought crescent rolls (from a tube), when those are done the hotdish is cool enough to eat.

The best part about this hotdish is that it is customizable. If you want to make it spicy, add chili powder or tabasco sauce to the hamburger, and substitute leftover or canned chili for the soup. If you do it that way, corn is a good vegetable to mix in. Instead of serving with crescent rolls, cornbread is a good option.

Rhubarb Bars

2009-05-28T12:35:00.013-05:00

Yes, it's officially rhubarb season at our house. My plants are almost big enough to start using, and so I decided it was time to bake bars to use up the frozen stuff before the fresh stuff is ready to pick.

A little OCD of mine is clipping recipes out of our local paper. Darlene Dixon is a local writer who publishes a column called "Kitchen Delights." Her recipes are always very good, so when I saw a whole column dedicated to rhubarb I made sure to clip that one for my own recipe box. The bars I made last night are from that article, out of the Wright County Drummer, dated May 11, 2008:

Rhubarb Bars

3 c. rhubarb, diced
1-1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. vanilla

CRUST:

1 c. butter, room temp (not melted)
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 c. quick rolled oats

1-1/2 c. flour

1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Mix water with cornstarch in medium saucepan or microwave bowl. Add rhubarb and sugar. Cook until thickened, add vanilla.

Set aside to cool. For crust, mix butter and sugars, add baking soda, oats, flour and walnuts. Reserve one cup for topping (I reserved about 1-1/4 c. for the top), press the remaining mixture into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Take out of oven, spoon on rhubarb filling. Top with the reserved crumbly mixture, then return to oven for 15-20 minutes.

I assure you, these bars taste even better than they look. I could have eaten the entire batch, but I've tried to teach my boys to share and that would not have been a very good example to follow!

Peanut Butter & Honey Dip

2009-05-21T00:57:00.004-05:00

Here's a quick and simple dip that's great with apple slices, banana chunks - or even on a bagel. This is an easy one to bring to a potluck or picnic.

Peanut Butter & Honey Dip

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup (or 1, 8-oz. carton) sour cream
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey (more or less - to taste)

Apple, pear or peach slices, banana chunks, etc - even graham crackers or bagels, whatever you want to dip

Mix all ingredients (except for fruit) in a medium-sized bowl. Use as a dip for fruit or whatever you like. Store refrigerated.

Per Tablespoon:
60 calories
2g protein
3g carbohydrate
5g fat
4mg cholesterol
32mg sodium

Stripe-It-Rich Cake

2009-05-19T21:32:00.015-05:00

My boys and I went to my grand-niece's 4th birthday on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful, warm day. It's amazing how fast the little ones grow! When we talked on the phone a couple of weeks before, I asked Jordan what she wanted for her birthday. Of course, she wanted anything Hannah Montana or Tinker Belle. She did ask for a yo-yo, but believe it or not, I couldn't find one at Wal-Mart!

I did find her a Tinker Belle pop-up teacup house, though. I think she liked it. It looked like an extension of her birthday cake... which was really, really good. I love cakes with whipped cream frosting. Much better than the overy-sugared greasy stuff you usually get from a grocery store bakery! This cake came from Cub - I will admit, I was impressed.

I don't think Jordan cared one way or another about the cake. She had so much fun that day, she was ready for a nap by the time her candles were ready to be blown out!

While I'll admit it was a great cake, I must say that my favorite for birthdays is still the good old-fashioned Jello Pudding Stripe-It-Rich Cake.

You simply bake a cake according to the directions on the box (yes, this is an easy recipe - prepackaged means time-savings, in most cases);
before the cake has cooled, poke holes all over the top of it with either a clean wooden dowel, the handle of a wooden spoon, or a pencil that's been wrapped in plastic wrap.

Pour 4 cups cold milk into a large bowl. Add two, 4-serving-size each packages of Jello pudding and mix for two minutes with a wire whisk. Pour the pudding over the cake before it has a chance to set up. Cover, then refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

We've mixed and matched all types of flavors. I think my favorite was a yellow cake mix with pistachio pudding on top, although anything chocolate is always popular at our house :)

Terry's Caramels

2009-05-18T06:39:00.004-05:00

The boys & I went to a couple antique shops over the weekend. One shop had some wonderful homemade caramels for sale, but they don't even compare with this recipe. If you want to see some pics from our antique browsing - check out Dad's Tackle Box - there will be pictures there later on today. My mother in law got this recipe from one of her former patients (she used to be a home health nurse), hence the name "Terry's Caramels".

Terry’s Caramels

2 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cups white (Karo) syrup
1 c. whipping cream (not whipped)
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat butter in big, deep pan (I use my heavy cast aluminum Dutch oven) just until melted. Add the rest of the ingredients and heat to 248 degrees (measured by a candy thermometer), stirring frequently - do not leave unattended. When the temp is 248, stir in the vanilla.

Pour into a parchment-lined (or buttered) 9x13 pan. Once cooled, cut into 1” or 1”x2” pieces, and wrap in squares of waxed paper.

(**NOTE** Be careful not to allow this to boil over – if you have not made
candy before you may want to keep a constant eye on this one; the first couple
of times I made this without my mother-in-law, I stirred it constantly; if this
does boil over, it will make a huge sticky mess. Be careful not to touch
the hot caramel; it will leave a really painful burn!)

We usually make a double batch at Christmas time to share, sometimes even a triple or quadruple batch because everyone loves these! They're good any time of year, though.

Enjoy!

Pancakes From Scratch

2009-05-14T21:19:00.010-05:00

I'm tired. Most nights I am. My day starts around 5:30; all three boys and myself need to be out the door for school and work by 6:50am. My van usually doesn't roll back in the driveway until around 5:00pm, by then my youngest has been home for a couple hours and I've just picked up the two older kids from track. Cooking, of course, is the last thing I want to do. Tonight was no different from any other night when I'm bored with the quick pop-in-the-oven pre-packaged stuff, like tater tots and pre-formed, frozen burgers; or even worse, pizza - AGAIN! But my youngest insists that pizza five nights a week is good for you, right? All of the food groups are there...just not in the right proportions, unfortunately.

At least there's one thing I can make from scratch that's quick: pancakes. Not the most nutritious meal, but it's something to put in your stomach. I may be more ambitious tomorrow! At least I took step-by-step photos this time :)

Now I'm thinking I need to take some egg photos for another post - there's a family at our church who has an over-abundance of eggs this year, so they've been giving them away. The brown ones from the farm are so pretty; you never know what color variations you'll get in each carton.

Pancakes (Serves 4-5 people)

2 Eggs, beat in a large bowl until frothy.

Add the following ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups milk

3 Tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 Tablespoons sugar.

Mix well with a whisk or hand mixer.

Heat an electric frypan or griddle to 350 degrees, or heat frypan over stove on medium-high heat (If you do not have a non-stick pan, you will have to add just a little oil or cooking spray before heating). The pan is hot enough when a drop of water dropped on the pan bounces and evaporates quickly.

Pour or ladle pancake batter onto pan, about 1/2 cup per pancake, all depending on how big you want them. When bubbles form and then pop on top, and they start to turn just a little golden on the edges they are ready to flip.

If you are curious whether they are done or not, just lift up an edge - if it's golden, it's done. There are a few variations, all depending on what you have on hand. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of cinnamon, a teaspoon of vanilla or some finely chopped apple (about 1/2 cup) - which is good with cinnamon; blueberries are good too. Strawberries turn into a sticky mess, as they tend to stick a bit, but they're good too. Experiment! It's hard to screw up pancakes! I will have to give you my mother-in-law's recipe for buttermilk pancakes. Those are heaven! Maybe next time!

Risengrynsgrøt, Norwegian Rice Pudding

2009-05-14T06:40:00.004-05:00

I am half Norwegian, and a little Swede too - among a few other nationalities. While a lot of the foods we ate at my grandma's just seemed like normal food, the older I got I realized that a lot of people had no idea what I was talking about when describing what we had for a meal (unless they were Scandinavian too). This was especially common during the holidays, when we were more apt to bake Norsk or Svensk (Norwegian or Swedish) cookies. Not all of these recipes are for the holidays, though. Here's a good one for anytime:

Norsk Risengrynsgrøt, Norwegian Rice Pudding with Raisins

Ingredients:

1 cup white rice

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup raisins (optional)

milk &/or cream (see below)

Bring water to a boil and add rice, and salt according to directions.
Bring up to a boil again for a few minutes and turn heat down to simmer. Add raisins if you want, and cover with lid.
When rice is soft and all the water is absorbed add milk and stir until you have a creamy consistency (lots of stirring!). It will take a while for the rice to fully expand and all the milk to absorb into the rice.
For an extra creamy pudding, add 1 cup heavy cream before serving.
Rice will keep expand as it cools. So be sure you add enough milk while it is still simmering and keep stirring to prevent it from burning.When the risengrynsgroten is done, ladle it onto regular dinner plates; sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. My mom used to put a dollop of butter on top, but that part's optional.

I like mine with vanilla ice cream :)

Poppy Seed Salad Dressing

2009-05-12T06:33:00.006-05:00

Poppy Seed Dressing

¾ cup sugar
1 cup oil
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp grated onion
Mix & refrigerate.

We had this dressing on cole slaw on Mother's Day. It was awesome! I personally like the creamy cole slaw better, but I usually end up with the stuff that has the clear dressing. That's super easy to make as well, which explains that one. This dressing is not as "heavy", I suppose you could say, as the creamy dressing, but not as tart as the clear stuff. This recipe wasn't originally intended for cabbage, but it worked out great. I think it would be good on a pasta salad, but haven't tried that yet - so if you do, let me know how that turns out.

Mandarin Delight

2009-05-11T06:20:00.003-05:00

I wish I had a picture of this one to share as well. On Mother's Day while visiting my mother-in-law, I told her of my recent foray into blogging world; she thought it was a great idea, and said, "OH! You have to put this recipe on your blog!"

She rummaged through a kitchen drawer and pulled this recipe out, along with a few others:

Mandarin Delight

1 pkg. white cake mix
1 11-oz. can mandarin oranges, including juice
4 eggs
¼ cup oil

Mix ingredients and bake at 325 – 350 for 35-40 minutes in a 9x13 greased and floured pan.

1 8-oz. container Cool Whip
1 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1 lg. can crushed pineapple, drained
Beat with mixer and spread on cooled cake.
Refrigerate.

This was dessert after a turkey dinner, and boy was I ever glad I saved room! It was so good I may just have to make it during the week so I can get a photo for my blog. It's very light and citrusy - perfect for spring.

Enjoy!

Keep Your Heart Healthy - Eat More Beans...or Maybe at Least Some Mexican Caviar?

2009-05-06T21:50:00.004-05:00

I think we should be eating healthier at our house. Due to some stress on the homefront, I will have to make a point of serving some more heart-healthy meals. It's been far too convenient to toss a pizza or frozen chimichangas in the oven...and of course the latter will need to be smothered in melted cheese and served with a side of sour cream! Not exactly good for you, but it's quick and everyone likes them. My hubby survived the motorcycle accident, I would hate for him to have a heart attack due to the stress of dealing with the insurance company. So it is up to me to make sure he eats healthy!

Here's a great recipe that makes it easy to eat beans - even if you hate them!

Mexican Caviar

In a bowl, combine the following:

(rinse & drain the first three items)
1 can black-eyed peas
1 can black beans
2 cups shoepeg corn
1 can jalapeno peppers
1 jar pimento
a bunch of green onion (white & some green)

Bring the following to a boil, then pour over bean mixture:

¾ cup red wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
¼ cup oil
1 Tbsp water

Serve with tortilla chips just as you would salsa. This is a great one to bring to a get-together or a potluck.

Thanks to my friend Patty, she made this for our church choir’s Christmas party & everyone loved it!

If You're Wondering Where I Am...

2009-05-05T06:34:00.002-05:00

If you are wondering where I am this week, check out my other blog,

http://sandi-k.blogspot.com/

My husband had a motorcycle accident on Sunday - so this week will probably be a busy one for me!

Have a great week,

Sandi

Chamomile Tea

2009-05-01T15:59:00.002-05:00

Yet more photos... here's some chamomile for a nice relaxing cup of tea to unwind with after a long week! Well, I was thinking somewhere along the lines of a nice scotch, but this is healthier :)

This is just your basic run-of-the-mill German Chamomile, purchased from the local grocer's bulk organic department. Simply toss a tablespoon or two into a cheesecloth or cotton pouch with boiling water & sweeten with sugar or honey. Smells great, even if you aren't a tea drinker!

I'm going to scatter a bunch of chamomile seeds in the sunny spot near the edge of our yard...if it works out, I will have tea, if not, maybe a few flowers would be nice.

Have a lovely weekend!

Homemade is BEST!

2009-04-30T09:20:00.002-05:00

Here are some more of the pictures I took with my new camera. It's not the most fabulous, high-tech camera, but I think I've taken some pretty good pictureswith it.

This jar of homemade cherry jelly was canned a little over a year ago by my mother-in-law. The cherries are so pretty when they are ripe; they are the small, bright red ones that are tart and sweet at the same time. We went out to the two bushes on the edge of her yard, and spread a huge old bedsheet on the grass around the first bush, and then the second. My three boys and Grandma and I picked cherries for about an hour and a half, eating some and making sure to keep enough for the jelly.

I have a ton of jam & jelly recipes to share with you, but that will come later in the season when it's time to start canning... so get ready!

This is raspberry jam...

Which is another one I love. I also love the color...

The best way to enjoy homemade jam...

Now is the best time to plant strawberries. Mine have almost taken over the entire garden, so I may just let them go and start another garden in another spot of my yard... maybe. My husband liked that idea, because he likes the berries. We will see. I may just transplant some to strawberry planters, so I can add a little height to a vacant area in my flowerbed. I haven't decided yet.

Yellow & Red Canned Tomatoes and Rosemary 4-18-2009

2009-04-29T15:46:00.001-05:00

Yellow & Red Canned Tomatoes and Rosemary 4-18-2009
Originally uploaded by suzukiQ

I bought a new camera a few weeks ago, and decided to take some food photos. My mother-in-law canned these tomatoes last summer; I thought they looked pretty with both the red and yellow tomatoes in the same jar, so I wanted to share this one with you. The rosemary in the dish was just thrown in for the heck of it, but I figured you may also want my very simple recipe for rosemary potatoes - one of my kids' favorites.

Rosemary Potatoes

Small red potatoes, washed (leave the peels on), 2 or 3 per person
4 tablespoons Butter (enough for 10 small potatoes)
1/4 cup chicken or turkey broth
2 tablespoons rosemary

Boil the potatoes in water until almost fork-tender (about 5 minutes until done); add rosemary, continue to boil until potatoes are done.
Drain off water. Some of the rosemary will remain in the pot, that's ok. Melt butter in microwave, then stir in chicken broth. Pour over potatoes, stir to coat.

This goes well with chicken or turkey.

Indian Tacos and Thanks, SquirrelQueen!

2009-04-23T14:13:00.004-05:00

Day 133 - Indian Taco
Originally uploaded by Terrawoods

Many thanks to SquirrelQueen for a bit of inspiration for today’s blog. To answer her question, yes, in fact, I was a Girl Scout! Well, a Brownie, anyway. My own experience with scouting wasn’t very outdoor-oriented, in fact most of the activities we did involved indoor crafts and volunteering at the local nursing homes. It was a great experience, nonetheless.

I’ve always loved spending time in the woods and outdoors. I learned most of my outdoor survival skills from my father, and added to those during my time spent at an outdoor survival camp for delinquent girls. I learned a ton more while living with tribal members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, in Central MN. I have camped outdoors in all types of weather, even at temperatures of 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero. I can build my own shelter and survive on berries and plants if I have to. I could give you a recipe for wild rice cooked with onions and wild mushrooms; or I could ramble on about how the root of the cattail is edible, once peeled and boiled like a potato. However, many wild mushrooms that look edible can kill you, and cattail does not really taste like potato, unless you like your potatoes grown in a mucky, fishy swamp, with the taste to match. Venison is great, but if you don’t hunt or know someone who does, it can be hard to find in your typical grocery store. I may eventually get to a recipe or two for that in the fall, though – we had some venison sausage last night for dinner and it was wonderful! Not to mention that I have a recipe for the world’s best venison crock-pot stew. I will have to share that with you some other time, though!

First of all, I need to explain that when I say Indian, I am referring to Native American. None of the Natives I personally know take offense to it, which is why I use that term. Some people of the younger generation would rather be called Native, and I use that term too. Though I myself am not Native American, my father was born on the White Earth Indian Reservation, and my nephew is Native (I just love him to pieces!). I would never purposely insult him or anyone else by using a derogatory racial slur. I know some people are rather sensitive to this issue, so if you are, it is not intended to be insulting.

When I lived at the ranch in Onamia, very near the Mille Lacs Reservation, there were always lots of people around; mostly kids, often there were plenty adults there, too. My friends that owned the ranch had at least 40 horses, and during the summer they gave guided trail rides and would allow people to camp on their land. That is how we met. Every weekend I was camping up there and riding horses. Eventually, with the guidance of my friend, I bought a horse at auction and boarded her there. When I moved from Minneapolis to the Mille Lacs area, I lived with my friends on the ranch for about 4 months while looking for a farm of my own to purchase. In exchange for room & board, I took care of animals and did daycare on the side for other friends who had to work “real” jobs. Each morning started around 5:00am. I would roll out of bed and pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and then my crappy little canvas tennies without socks. The big pasture where my horse was to be found was about 80 acres, so it would be a long walk through wet grass to find her. Before catching my horse I fed and watered the chickens and turkeys, gave the cow some grain and alfalfa and fed the donkey, if he wasn’t out in the pasture with the horses. Sometimes there were other horses that were kept in a pen closer to the house and the barn, so those would get some grain, too. On my way out to the big pasture, I would drag the hose along and start the two big troughs at the near corner of the pasture filling while I went out with a rope and halter to catch Penny. I usually had time for an hour’s ride before everyone else was up and moving. During the summer months, trail rides were usually scheduled as early as 9 or 10 am, which allowed plenty of time to get showered and put on clean clothes after chores & riding. On the weekends, when most everyone was around, we could have as many as 20 people or so for breakfast. My girlfriend and her husband had recently had twins, so I would cook for everyone and handle general cleanup afterward. Weekend breakfast was always a big affair, and the older kids would often help with cracking eggs, peeling potatoes and chopping peppers. Hash browns with chopped onions, green pepper and cheese would be started first, along with the bacon or sausage. Scrambled eggs and toast were the last two items to start, since they don’t take as long to make. When making scrambled eggs, I would always count two or three eggs per person (plus one for the pan), and add a shot of whole milk or cream to the mix before adding to the pan. Breakfast would usually be a really filling meal, since lunch was typically something quick and light, like sandwiches. With people coming and going all the time, it was always a guess when it came to planning on how many to cook for. When the grill was started up, I think people could smell it for miles; lots of people would drop by at dinnertime, we never ran out of food, though.

One of my favorite Indian foods has got to be Indian Tacos. It’s very easy to make, and a great way to serve a crowd. The best part of those tacos is the fry bread. It might not be the healthiest thing on the menu, but it’s a wonderful treat. My friend’s mother, Shirley, makes the BEST fry bread, bar none. The first time I tried making it, to be honest with you, my fry bread turned out more like hockey pucks. Shirley laughed about that one. One of the elders writes about fry bread, along with a simple recipe for it, on the Mille Lacs Band website:

http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/cultureColumn.asp?id=130

And, if you are interested in learning more about the Mille Lacs Band, please stop by their main page:

http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/

If you ever happen to pass through the area, the Mille Lacs Indian Museum is well worth a visit. It is filled with artifacts and beautiful art; when I found my visit there very interesting since I know many of the people whose ancestors are in the old photos on exhibit, and some of the people who have created some of the costumes and art. If you do go, try to get the guided tour. The dry wit of an elder may cause you to think twice, and will definitely leave you with a smile.

To make Indian Tacos, you will need fry bread (1 piece per serving), and whatever other taco fixings you like. At our house, that’s usually taco meat (prepared with the packaged seasoning) or sliced grilled chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, jalapeno peppers and salsa or green chili sauce.

To assemble, layer all of your toppings on the fry bread, like an open-face sandwich. If you want to be really polite, eat with a knife and fork. Otherwise, just dig in and make a huge mess – that’s what we do around the campfire, and the dogs are quick to snap up the fallen crumbs!

The picture in this post is from another talented Flickr poster, Terrawoods. Please be sure to stop by her Flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrawoods/ for more beautiful photographs!

Rhubarb...Rhubarb Cake, Rhubarb Nectar, Rhubarb Mmm...

2009-04-18T07:05:00.003-05:00

I just love it when my perennials start to sprout up out of the dirt! I am still waiting for my rhubarb to make a dramatic entrance. I guess all I can really do now is the spring clean up part and figure out where I want to grow what this year. I’ve decided to grow chamomile for the first time; I have a good sunny patch in a ditch near our mailbox that is currently nothing but crabgrass, so I figure I should give it a go and see how that turns out. If it grows, I will have tea; if only a few flowers grow, they are pretty, if anything. My hope is to eliminate the need to mow that area and catch a little rain that otherwise would partially wash out the foot of our sand driveway. My county is for the most part sand.

Speaking of rhubarb, I stumbled across a wonderful photostream on flickr.com the other day. GreenWellies is the name of the user, and she is graciously allowing me to use her rhubarb photos. They are absolutely gorgeous. Even if my own rhubarb had sprouted, her photos would still knock mine out of the park!
In her post for her photo, 'Rhubarb Maximus and the Aftereffects of Watering With Comfrey Tea', (please see it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenwellies/2510773072/ ) there is a recipe for her comfrey tea, which I am going to try if I can get some comfrey to start somewhere in our yard.

She has also posted a fabulous recipe for Rhubarb Nectar, here's a link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenwellies/2515593976/ . If you haven't tried it yet, you absolutely must! My mother-in-law made it for my wedding, mixed with Ginger Ale & served with Raspberry Sherbet on top. Another favorite of mine, definitely worth serving at a special occasion!

Here's my own contribution in the recipe genre for today. A Rhubarb cake worth making!

Rhubarb Cake

2 Tb butter, melted
1 c. packed brown
sugar
4 c. sliced rhubarb (fresh or frozen – if you use frozen, drain,
but do
not press out)
1 ½ c. sugar
1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ tsp baking
powder
⅛
tsp. salt
3 eggs
½ c. water
1 tsp.
vanilla

In a greased
9x13 pan, combine butter & brown
sugar. Top with
rhubarb.

In a large bowl, combine the
sugar, flour, baking powder
and salt.

In another bowl, whisk
the eggs, water and vanilla;
stir into dry ingredients just until
moistened. Pour over rhubarb.
Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or
until cake springs back when touched.
Serve with whipped cream or ice
cream.

Hobo Stew & Spring Digging

2009-04-17T12:14:00.005-05:00

Spring always gets me in the mood to dig in the dirt, but I don’t know if my back will take anymore of the heavy work. This year, I think I will rent a roto-tiller from our local hardware store to turn up the dirt and mix in some compost before planting this year’s plants. Last year I told my boys that I needed the garden dug up and turned over; my middle son dug a 6-foot deep hole in the middle of my would-be potato patch. Not exactly what I’d had in mind.

My husband uncovered the flowerbed about 2 weeks ago. Already, the bright green shoots of my baby iris were about 2” tall. Those were a gift from my mother-in-law about 2 years ago when she divided hers, and I will probably have to divide mine within a year or two. No flowers yet, but it actually got up into the upper 60’s yesterday, so hopefully I will get some good pictures soon!
I have some big irises, also – another gift from a friend who needed to divide up an overgrown clump of plants on the side of her garage. These did not bloom last year, but I only just put them in the ground the previous fall, and then they were trampled by my horrible dogs. Those cute little garden border fences that are made of coated wire are useless against pit bulls! Do not get me wrong, my dogs are far from the vicious man-eaters the media will have you believe all bully breeds are.

Our female dog is afraid of most men and will cower behind me if my husband raises his voice to one of our kids.

Our male dog (her puppy who was born on 1/1/08) is my protector and best bud. He’s half pit-bull, half dachshund. Yep – go ahead and laugh, he looks like a wiener dog on steroids.

They are members of our family, but they are, of course, dogs – they have no concept of what garden borders and decorative edging are for. I believe I will invest a few more dollars this spring for the 2’ tall wrought-iron border fence. Maybe that will stand up to pit bulls! Although if I really need help digging, I’m sure they’d be happy to help...

When we are spending so much time outdoors, I love to grill. There’s no need to be stuck in the house, watching a boiling pot on the stove when you can be doing something better, outside! Not only that, but we are in the woods, so we don’t need air conditioning to keep the house cool (unless the oven is on). If it does get hot in the kitchen from cooking, it usually takes a while to cool down, which gives me another excuse to cook outdoors. We have a fire pit, in addition to a regular charcoal grill, so if I am really lazy, I can tell the boys to throw some sausages or hotdogs on a stick and put it in the fire for a while. Not much effort there, and Dad can supervise the fire so Mom doesn’t have to stop digging or planting or whatever! Then, if I am really lucky, one of my boys will even cook something for me, too. It’s nice when they are old enough to do things for Mom without being asked!

Here’s an easy recipe for the grill or over some coals on the edge of a campfire – I like to do this when we go camping, as there is very little mess!

Hobo Stew Packets

Ground beef (about 1/4 to
1/3 pound per person – do not use extra lean, you will not have enough moisture and the food may burn)
Vegetables (about 1 cup per person) – I use the frozen bags of mixed dinner vegetables
Cheese (2 slices per person, Velveeta, Bongard’s or other processed cheese works well in this recipe)
Tin foil – 1 square for each packet, about a foot to a foot and a half long

To prepare each packet, crumble ground beef onto a square of tin foil, top with vegetables and 2 slices of cheese. Wrap the foil around the food, sealing the edges. Place either on a hot grill or over coals at the edge of your campfire. Depending on how hot your coals are and how rare you like your hamburger, the packets should be done in 15 to 25 minutes. Be very careful removing these from the fire pit, use tongs if you have them as the packets will be very hot. The meat juices mixed with the melted cheese will make a gravy as everything cooks together, so be careful to open packets from the top, over a plate. Season to taste with salt & pepper & enjoy!

RE-USE! And a recipe for Egg Bake ala Leftover Easter Ham, too!

2009-04-08T11:56:00.003-05:00

Day 4: Re-Use

In my book, re-using can be sometimes the same as recycling. To some, recycling means putting your old newspapers and plastic in a bin at the end of the driveway. OK, so if “garbage” means it will eventually end up in a landfill, the recycle bin is better than throwing that stuff in the garbage can. In our community, the garbage goes to an incinerator, which provides power. So, if it is going to be used, whatever – do what you like. I personally would rather re-use my old egg cartons for things like starter pots for my garden (cut them apart and plant the whole works in the ground once the seedling is big enough), or turn the coffee cans into something useful like a candle holder for the citronella candle we use on the deck to keep mosquitoes at bay. Once that coffee can is nasty and rusted, then it can go into the recycle bin

As I mentioned in my last post, it will be easier to re-use your cast-off items if there are fewer of them. If you can re-fill your water bottles by refilling them at the store, do it. It will save you money and you will have one less plastic jug to dispose of. For the items you do have, which have already outlived their original purpose, there are unlimited possibilities.

I love to play in my garden (I guess most people would call that work), and most of my re-used items end up there. Newspaper makes good mulch. It doesn’t have to be shredded, either. When you put your new plants in the garden, lay a piece or two down on top of the soil, then soak it thoroughly. Dig a hole where you want to put your plant, through the paper and all, and drop that plant right in. It will help to retain moisture in that spot, and will also hinder weed growth. The more time you can spend enjoying your garden (with less effort) the more you will appreciate it. Table scraps, vegetable peelings, eggshells and coffee grounds all end up in our compost pile.

A compost bin is easy to put together, if you don’t want to spend money on one. There are all sorts of things on the market if you’d like to just purchase something; I recommend something that will be easy for you to move, like the round, rollable balls that simply get rolled around every so often to mix the contents. A friend of mine has a worm barrel; she swears that she gets the best compost from it – although she has to keep it in her basement during the winter so the worms don’t freeze. Our compost pile is just a big pile of dead leaves and scraps in our back yard. My husband put up an old section of chain link fence around it (one of his own re-used items) to keep little furry friends from the woods out of it. My mother in law had the best one yet, last year – the tomatoes froze one night, the year before that; to her distress they had to pull out about 6 plants with tomatoes still on the vine. They also lost some squash. The following year they had the coolest garden “mound” – tomatoes and squash growing in reckless abandon across the ten-foot wide compost pile. Those tomatoes were better than the ones she started in her house months before the snow melted.

If I have a project that I need items for, which I don’t already have on hand, Craigslist.org has been awesome! You can always find leftover construction materials if you need wood for a small project. Good place to find what you need for a compost bin, too.

A friend of mine had a cute idea for used soup cans. She peeled off the labels and washed them up; then, with a 10-penny nail she popped holes into the can in the shape of Christmas bells, trees and stars. After painting them red, green and gold with spray paint, she gave them away to her grandkids as candleholders. It sounds tackier than they looked! I haven’t made one myself, yet – when I do I will post a picture.

My husband really likes to re-use glass pasta sauce jars as drinking glasses. If they get broken, it’s not such a big deal. If one gets left somewhere, it’s not a big loss, either. Those same jars (baby food jars especially) are really good containers for spare nuts & bolts in the garage. My grandfather had a tool collection that was the envy of every man he knew. Not only did he have every Craftsman tool ever made since the beginning of time, he also had a ton of miscellaneous hardware, all meticulously labeled and stored in its own spot. One thing he did to organize all the small stuff, was to put a screw through the inside of a baby food jar lid into a board, which he then mounted to the underside of the shelf above his workbench. The jar would be filled with washers or what-have-you, then the whole works would get screwed back onto the lid, to be suspended above his work bench. One word of caution: be sure the jar is really screwed into the lid; otherwise you will have broken glass and washers or whatever all over.

When our boys were still in diapers, I loved the wet wipe boxes – they are great for storing matchbox cars and other small toys, crayons and pencils. They easily fit in a diaper bag if you need to bring a few distractions to keep baby occupied while you grocery shop or whatever. Old t-shirts and stained dress shirts became art smocks. When I was really little, my mother’s old formal gowns and dresses became mine for playing dress-up. Never would she have dreamed of buying dress up clothes! Now I see them at Wal-Mart and praise God I didn’t have girls. No way in hell I’d dress a daughter in some of those hoochie-in-training outfits they have on their racks!

Another use for used clothing that may not be good enough for donation is to cut them up & follow Grandma’s example: start stitching! Many of my favorite quilts are made from old clothes. I can still remember which of Grandma’s dresses the aqua polyester square came from (circa 1970’s, of course); the blue, tan & white striped cotton was left over from a sewing project of my mother’s. Grandma’s gone now, and those quilts are great thing to have around – something worth keeping, that’s not clutter!

Well, with all the talk of re-using and recycling, I guess you want me to tell you what to do with your leftovers, too, right? If you’re stuck with a lot of extra ham and veggies from Easter dinner, it will go great with eggs and whatever leftover veggies you’ve got:

Egg Bake
Serves 6-8

12 eggs
3-4 cups day-old bread, dinner rolls or English muffins, torn into 1” – 2” pieces (coarse bread like ciabatta is good for this recipe)
2 cups leftover ham, diced or cut into strips
1½ cups of milk
1½ - 2 cups of leftover veggies – when I make this recipe I rarely have enough leftover veggies, so I add about 1 cup of fresh or frozen spinach
1 cup shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese (Jarlsberg is great in this recipe)
Salt & Pepper (Cayenne, too if you’d like a bit of spice) to taste

Grease a 9x13 cake pan. Spread torn bread in the bottom of the pan, and then sprinkle veggies and cheese over the top. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk together; pour evenly over the top of everything. Cover with foil and refrigerate over night. The next morning, sprinkle salt and pepper on top, then pop that pan into a 350° oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean – it’s done if the eggs are cooked through.

Day Three: Reduce!

2009-04-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

So we all pretty much get it, right? Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle, the three R’s of living in a happy, healthy planet. I think the recycle part may be catching on, slowly but surely… but the other two?

Day Three in my Spring Cleaning series is all about REDUCING… probably the one part of the Three R’s that people are least likely to embrace. Well, wait a minute… no one likes to re-use, either… ok, so we’ll get to that one on Day 4.

There are probably a lot of us who could stand to reduce in a few areas: the clothes we keep that are no longer worn, the unmatched Glad Ware lids in our kitchen cupboards, the extra dessert we sneak when no one’s looking. The hardest step to accomplish in this arena is to avoid the excess to begin with. Reduce the amount of money you spend on “things” in general, and you may find you have less to deal with when de-cluttering time rolls around.

I’ve learned, through the course of having to move six times in three years, that there are a ton of things people carry with them that weigh them down, emotionally and physically. It can be a positive experience to purge your life of things you’ve been hanging onto, rather like “giving up the binkie” can be for a toddler. Your life moves on, bringing you into a new era; sometimes things you held on to anchor you to a phase that is better off part of your past.

Another thing I’ve learned throughout my travels is that I am capable of surviving on the bare minimum. At one point in my life, I found myself living in a trailer home in the woods of Northern Minnesota. I had no dishes or flatware when I moved in, no bed to sleep on, and not a stick of furniture in the living room. I was slowly able to find the things I needed to make the trailer resemble a home; at that point I had decided that quality was of far greater value than quantity. I did not have a lot of money, but I quickly discovered that if the need were great enough, God would provide.

Re-evaluate you purchases. It will save you money, as well as time you will spend cleaning out closets & throwing away spoiled food from the fridge. This one’s a no-brainer: If you usually buy a magazine, go to the library and check it out. Find some friends who would be interested in hand-me-downs, maybe they’ll have some for you, too. Instead of buying 3 cheap suits, get 1 really nice one and an extra sport coat to mix things up, then accessorize for a different look. Buy in bulk if it will save on packaging and money, then freeze things if you won’t use it all at once. Instead of eating out, cook extra for dinner a couple nights a week and learn to enjoy leftovers. And I mean it! No one is too good for leftovers; no matter what you picky ones may think! Just be sure to mark them with a date so you know when something’s been sitting around too long! If you think you need a gallon pail of ice cream, settle for the ½ gallon box – your waistline & pocket book will thank you.
I’m out of time for today, so I will have to post an extra recipe tomorrow!

Green Recipes for Spring Cleaning on the Cheap & 5-Bean Salad

2009-04-06T13:32:00.000-05:00

Green Recipes for Spring Cleaning on the Cheap
Step 2: Spring-Cleaning, Day Two

I have been inundated with emails from a lot of ‘wonderful’ chemical-based cleaning product companies, trying to get me to buy their products. Spring is a great time to clean out the cobwebs & get those windows sparkly…but who says you have to buy a $5 bottle of poison to get those windows clean???

Vinegar is a great multi-purpose liquid. If it’s safe enough to consume, it won’t be harmful to you as a cleaning agent, either. Throw together this salad in the morning, it will be chilled and ready to eat when you’re done with your spring-cleaning. Goes great with grilled skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

5-Bean Salad
1½ cup sugar
¾ cup vinegar
1 can yellow wax beans
1 can green beans (not French-cut)
1 can red kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can navy beans
1 medium onion (white, yellow or red) sliced and separated into rings or 1½” long slices

Combine sugar and vinegar in saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until it boils, stirring constantly to dissolve all the sugar (do not allow it to over-boil). Boil until mixture is clear; remove immediately from heat.

In a large bowl or Tupperware container, combine all of the canned beans and onion. Pour vinegar syrup over all, mix well and refrigerate. Serve cold.

Because of the vinegar content, this salad will keep in the fridge for a long time – at least one whole week if not longer (it usually doesn’t last that long at our house!)

Windows
One thing I always keep on hand is a good, old-fashioned jug of white vinegar. I know the smell isn’t the greatest, which is why we do the windows first. Dilute the vinegar about 50/50 with some water, spritz on your windows & wipe with yesterday’s newspaper. The newspaper will be absorbent enough to clean the glass without streaking, and is lint-free. If you choose not to go the newspaper route, remember those old, mismatched socks, doomed to never be reunited with their mates? They’re also great rags. Once the windows are clean, wipe down the frames and sills. For the outdoor side of your windows, a squeegee is a great investment. A sponge mop works well to scrub the dirt off (using the vinegar solution), rinse with a garden hose & then squeegee from top to bottom.

Now that your windows are clean, open them up! Nothing airs out a stuffy house like an open window. That fresh air is way better than a can of air freshener! This will also help to clear the vinegar smell as well.

Kitchen
Vinegar is also great for cleaning your automatic-drip coffee pot. Run a cycle of the 50/50 vinegar/water solution through your coffee pot, and then run a cycle of clear water. I clean the basket with a baking soda & water paste on a toothbrush (a cheap toothbrush is a handy tool to keep in your cleaning arsenal).

I also keep baking soda in the house at all times. It will clean just about anything – from your teeth to your kitchen sink. Make a paste of baking soda and water, and use it wherever you have a stained countertop or baked on grease. I use it to clean the baked-on grease on the chrome burner rings on my stove. This is also effective and safe to use on uncoated pots and pans. If you want to add a little fragrance for the household applications (I don’t recommend this one for your cookware), add a drop or two of essential oil – I like oil of sweet orange or oil of lemon. Texas cedar is great-smelling oil, too – but unfortunately my allergies don’t care for that. If you are allergic to something, remember that you may also be allergic to the essential oil, as well!

Soft Surfaces
I clean from top to bottom, because that’s the direction the dirt will go. If you have curtains, take them down and shake them out - if you can hang them on a clothesline or balcony rail for an hour or two, great. Upholstered surfaces have a sneaky way of gathering dust over the winter, and absorb smell as well. Some draperies need to be dry-cleaned, but if yours don’t, spring-cleaning time can be a good time to launder them.

Thoroughly vacuum your upholstered furniture. If you don’t get in between those couch cushions often, now is the time to do it! You may even find enough spare change to buy that squeegee you need for your windows. This is a great chore to give to the kids. The prospect of finding loose change may be enough to motivate. The furniture part is where I enlist help. We have a huge sectional, which is heavier than I can possibly move on my own. Lucky for me, my three boys do not have a choice when it comes time to help. After the vacuuming part has been done, we move furniture around so the floors can get really clean. With the size of our couch there is only a limited amount of arrangement possibilities, but spring-cleaning is a good excuse to rearrange. Not only does the floor get really clean, but I also make sure the baseboards that are usually hiding behind furniture get wiped down and corners get vacuumed out, too.

Finally, pick up a bright spring bouquet at the grocery store (if you can’t pick them outside yet), and put it in a spot where you will see it. No need for a fancy vase: a mason jar from canned tomatoes or even an old piece of stoneware works. It will make the house smell good, look cheery, and help get rid of those residual winter blahs.

Day 1: Recipe for De-cluttering

2009-04-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

Day One in a series…
Enlist everyone in the house! They helped make the mess. Why should you be the only one cleaning? This is a great project for a Saturday. Before you get busy with this project, start this roast in the crock-pot – you will have barbequed beef sandwiches for dinner with little to no effort:

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

1, 2 to 3-lb beef chuck roast
1 12 or 16-oz. Bottle BBQ sauce
Hamburger buns

Put roast in crock-pot, cover with BBQ sauce (go ahead and use the entire bottle). Turn heat on to Medium, cover and cook for 4-6 hours, or until roast pulls apart easily with fork. When done cooking, shred with fork and serve on buns. If you do not have a crock-pot, bake in a 350 degree oven for a couple of hours. There is no need to sear the meat prior to cooking.

Recipe for De-cluttering
Step 1: Pre-Spring-Cleaning, Day One

My husband is a pack rat. If there is any possible use for an item, even if it’s something that appears to be garbage to you or I, it is tossed into a box for use at some later time…if, that is, I am lucky. Those boxes end up stacked near the doorway; sometimes they even make it out to the shed. Many times these ambiguous items never find their way into a box or even get used at all; rather, they will sometimes sit on our mantle or the marble-topped bombe chest in the corner of our living room. I am sure I am not the only woman in the world with this problem, but it really stinks having a home that is decorated in the Early Garage Sale style.

When my patience has reached its limits (and Spring-Cleaning time is usually a point where my limits lie), I begin the de-cluttering process on my own. When Hubby sees this and realizes his treasures are in danger of a date with the garbage can, he’s usually more than willing to pitch in with his time and effort. Items that seem worthless to me (a handful of washers, zip ties, old hinges, nuts & bolts and other hardware odds & ends) sometimes do get used on the occasional repair project or kids’ school project, so it’s usually in his best interest to lend a hand.

Since our living room is a general catch-all for “stuff”, that’s where we put the boxes: one box we call “Stuff to Put in Its Place”, one box called “Worth Paying the $85.00 per Month for the Storage Unit”, one box that is “Still Useful Enough to Donate” and one box for “Really Not Worth Keeping (a.k.a. Garbage)”.

Once everything that does not belong in that room has been divvied up into above-mentioned boxes, everyone in the household is responsible for their own belongings that have ended up in the “Stuff to Put in Its Place” box. All the other boxes are sent to their new homes in storage, the local charity or our choice, or the trash bin.

I have certain criteria for items I part with, especially when it comes to clothing. I mustn’t allow myself to spend too much time on sorting these items, so it’s a task I know I have to be objective with. Have I worn this in the past 6 months (subjective to the seasonality of the item)? Does it have a sentimental value? Does it still really fit well? If I say no to all of the above questions, I part with it. If the item is a stained t-shirt, I know no one else will want it so that shirt may end up meeting my scissors and becoming a new dust rag. If I can recycle it, I will – as long as it will indeed get used. A 50-lb bag of dust rags won’t be plausible to keep around, and if I donate that and it’s deemed unworthy of resale it may be recycled into insulation or what-have-you. I also remind myself that if this item was liked at one point but not so wonderful anymore, I can be cleaning out closet space for a new one! Even better than the first one!

Items that appear to be clutter sometimes aren’t, really – they just are not presented neatly enough to qualify as “part of the vignette”. The afghan that is balled up in the corner of the couch needs to be folded neatly across the arm of the couch or draped artfully across the back of the recliner. The scattered mess of magazines on the floor can be stacked or fanned across the coffee table or find a home in a magazine rack. I love storage ottomans. Big or small, they provide a nice hiding spot for frequently used things like my crochet or the board games the kids like best. As long as you can keep the “hidden stuff” from accumulating to an unmanageable point, hiding places are great when you need to tidy up in a hurry.

As much as I hate the idea of a “junk drawer”, I have one. The drawer that is in an awkward spot to begin with is where we have ours. Full of useful items that have no other home, I have compartmentalized this space with Velveeta cheese boxes and a small fishing-lure box. It’s been the home to our household flashlight, tape, pencils & pens, fuses and batteries. We keep steel wool in there, too – but it a different box as the batteries, as steel wool in combination with a 9-volt battery can cause a fire – I did not know this until last summer, so keep that in mind if you have a junk drawer of your own! In our house, the kids are not allowed to put anything in the junk drawer. Is essence, it’s more of a “utility drawer”; we don’t allow anything that is just junk to go into it – so remember, the “junk drawer” shouldn’t be a hiding spot for random stuff. The Box Method works in the kitchen, too – if you’ve accumulated your mother-in-law’s Tupperware, send it back! If you put some cookies or cupcakes in one of those containers, she may forgive you for having held onto it for the last three months.

The bathroom is really an important place to keep clean. Now is a good time to clean out expired things like cosmetics, sunscreen and medications. NEVER flush old prescriptions down the toilet. In our area, we can turn them in to local law enforcement, clinics or hospitals. Check with your local agencies before disposing of these items.

Once your house has been de-cluttered, you are ready to begin Day 2… go ahead and wait until next Saturday…Sunday is a day of rest, right?

Mock Chow Mein

2009-04-05T14:15:00.000-05:00

A quick, low-cost alternative for those busy nights when it’s tempting to grab take-out...

Mock Chow Mein
Serves 6, cook time approximately 20 minutes

1 lb chow Mein meat (or other ground meat such as hamburger, turkey or pork)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1½ cups chopped celery
½ cup sliced almonds or cashews
3 cups white rice (quick-cooking or regular, I use regular - enough to serve 6)
Crunchy chow Mein noodles
Soy Sauce

Prepare white rice as indicated on package. While rice is cooking, do the following:
Brown meat in fry pan on high heat, chopping into small pieces as it cooks. Drain off excess fat. When browned, add chopped celery to the pan, stirring constantly, for only 3 minutes or so – just enough to heat through (celery should still be crunchy). Add both cream soups and 1 soup can full of water. Mix well until thoroughly heated through. Remove from heat and sprinkle almonds or cashews on top. Serve over rice with crunchy chow Mein noodles, add soy sauce to taste.

Feel free to switch the cream soups with whatever you have on hand. If you use ground turkey, cream of chicken soup will work well, too. If you have celery haters in your house, substitute canned water chestnuts for crunch.

Low fat hint: When browning meat, I usually do not put any oil in the pan first. If there’s not enough fat in the meat to keep it from sticking (and I usually try to buy the extra lean, when possible), add a small amount of water or broth to the pan.

Toffee Almond Sandies...mmm...

2009-04-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

I often find myself swapping recipes with relatives or friends at work, church or elsewhere. We are all working moms, and who would know better than a working mom how important it is to share good things that work?

My hubby's aunt, Punky, gave this recipe to my mother-in-law, Dawn, who is the source of some of the best and easiest recipes I have. Absolutely maaavelous! These melt in your mouth...

Auntie Punk’s Toffee Almond Sandies
My new favorite cookie!

1 cup butter (Auntie Punk uses ½ margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
4 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
2 cups chopped almonds (sliced almonds work well, too - Punky uses walnuts)
1 package English toffee bits

Mix together butter, powdered & granulated sugars, oil, eggs and almond extract with an electric mixer.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix by hand. Roll dough into 1 ½” balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and flatten a little with a glass, fork or fingers (if you use a glass, dip the bottom of the glass in sugar to keep the cookie dough from sticking).

These cookies will spread a little, flattened cookies should be spaced about 1 ½” – 2” apart.

Bake at 350° F. for 12-14 minutes (only until set firm, not brown).

Yield 8-10 dozen.

I am going to try something different next time: substituting rum extract for the almond extract, and pecans in place of the almonds. I will let you know how it turns out!