Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

1 tsp. olive oil
1/4 c. apple juice
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. diced red bell pepper
4 c. chopped fresh or canned tomatoes (I used 1 qt. home canned tomatoes)
1 c. vegetable stock (I used chicken broth)
1/3 c. orzo pasta
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 c. butter

Directions:

In soup pot, heat oil and apple juice over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic and pepper 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is soft but not brown. Add small amounts of water if mixture becomes dry). Remove from heat. Add tomatoes and broth. Stir. Puree in blender and return to the pot. Add pasta; cook 10 minutes, stirring. Add butter and cream. Stir in. Simmer 15 min. do not boil. Add basil and serve immediately.

from here

I hoped it would taste like Zupas, but it wasn't exactly the same. Some similarities. Ruby liked it, but the others choked it down.

Quinoa Taco Salad

My friend, Nicole, posted this one year ago, and I just got around to making it. The kids thought I was trying to poison them, but the three older boys ate everything. Milo and Ruby were not as adventurous. Maybe next time.

2 c. cooked quinoa (I cooked 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup water)

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. oregano

1 to 2 tsp. chili powder, depending on heat preference

Dash cayenne pepper

Half each red, green and yellow bell peppers, chopped (I just used one whole yellow pepper)

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

¾ c. diced fresh tomato

2 limes

Salt and pepper to taste

6-8 oz. baby spinach

1 bunch cilantro

1/3 c. feta cheese (or cheddar if you prefer)

1 avocado, diced

Cook quinoa according to package instructions.

Saute onion in olive oil for 3-5 min. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, cayenne, and peppers; sauté an additional 2 min.

Remove from heat. Stir in the black beans and the juice of 1 lime. Stir in quinoa. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill.

Roughly cut baby spinach into strips. Remove about 1 cup of cilantro leaves from the bunch, rinse and pat dry, and toss with the spinach. Divide spinach and cilantro mixture evenly among 4 salad plates. (I thought it would be more like 6 salad plates) Top each plate with a large scoop of quinoa salad.

Top each salad with tomatoes, avocado, and feta or cheddar cheese. Cut the remaining lime into slices to garnish the plates.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I found it here -

http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/10/chocolate-zucchini-bundt-day-5-i-like.html

and they found it here -

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate_zucchini_cake/

Week 66(ish)

Sunday - Sweet and Sour Chicken, vegetable fried rice, fresh peaches, yogurt cake (from Greg's mission)

Spring Rolls

A friend of mine shared her spring rolls with us last year, and they were so good that I asked for the recipe. When I tried to duplicate it exactly, things didn't turn out like I remembered. My results have been better when I've used italian sausage rather than just ground pork. Today I looked online for some seasoning ideas for the ground pork, and combined what I found with my friend's recipe. Here's what I came up with:

Ingredients -

1 package spring roll wrappers

1 pound ground pork

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

3 green onions

3 garlic cloves

1 small chunk ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp sugar

sprinkle of red pepper flakes

2 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP water

Method -

Combine all ingredients except wrappers and pork in food processor and puree.

Add a little oil to the pan (I used canola) along with the pork and the processed mixture and cook till pork is well done.

Place about 1 TBSP of filling in each wrapper, roll up, and seal with a little bit of water.

Fry in a little bit of oil until golden brown.

Serve with sweet chili dipping sauce.

Week 65ish

Sunday - shredded beef tacos, chips and salsa

Monday - corn on the cob, fettuccine alfredo, chicken, and fresh cherries for dessert

Tuesday - pizza and broccoli

Wednesday - spring rolls, rice/ramen

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Waffles

The kids like waffles, and I had some buttermilk that I wanted to use up, so I made this recipe tonight. The waffles were really good. I got about 10 rectangle waffles from the recipe. Enough for our family and Mike along with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and cantaloupe. It's from food.com. http://www.food.com/recipe/whole-wheat-buttermilk-waffles-353102

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3/4 cup butter, melted (1 1/2 sticks)

1/4 cup milk, if desired

1 Put the flours into a mixing bowl and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir with a fork to blend.

2 In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs until well blended. Stir in the buttermilk and the melted butter (cooled off a little). Stir the mixture until well mixed if the batter seems rather thick, add the 1/4 cup milk to thin it. The batter should flow from the spoon, not plop.

3 Bake in a hot waffle iron until crisp and golden. Serve hot.

Tortellini Bake

A couple of weeks ago we ate Our Best Bites Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce for dinner. I made it without the bacon or the bacon grease (I used butter instead) and it was pretty good. A few days ago I made Chicken Piccata from Second Sister Suaviloquy. We had leftover chicken, so I made Laura's Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza. Tonight we are finishing off the chicken and the bacon with a variation of the Tortellini Spinach Bake.

I used butter for the white sauce, and added the chicken, but it is otherwise mostly the same.

Here's my variation:

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)

4 oz bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces (about 4 strips bacon)

1 cup chicken breast, cooked and diced or shredded

3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced

3 Tbs flour
3 C milk
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C broccoli, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions. About half way through cooking time, add the broccoli.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce (I just added all the juice this time and really liked it that way). Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8 x 11 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Piccata

20 or so Chicken Tenders (I bought the Foster Farms tenderloins and used 3 of the prepacked bags - located in the fresh meat section)

I used a 9 X 13 pan, and a pie pan and it fit 3 packages of chicken just fine.

2-3 eggs (beaten)

Bread Crumbs:
1 cup Italian Bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes (finely chopped)
Garlic Salt (sprinkle a little)
Flour (I didn't use this, so try just a little)
salt and pepper (sprinkle a little)

Sauce:
1 cup half and half
1 stick of butter
Juice of 2 REAL lemons (not the juice from the store)

Optional: capers, mix a half of jar into the sauce after you have blended the 3 above ingredients

Dip tenders in egg, then in the crumbs. Brown in hot pan with melted butter. Do not cook through. Just enough for each side to be a little crispy. Place in baking dish and put in oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Pour sauce over chicken and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Be careful to not overcook.
My suggestions: I made this recipe last night and the family loved it! It was very tender and moist! Try mixing the sauce in a blender to get a better consistency (I didn't do this, and I think it will make the sauce smoother). Also, I did 1 cup of butter for the sauce (the first time) and it was a little too much, because when it came out of the oven, you could see a layer of butter in the pan. So, using 1 stick of butter worked better instead of two sticks. Another thought: really coat the chicken with the bread crumbs. The ones that were coated were the better ones. :)

From Second Sister Suaviloquy

Week 54(ish)

Friday - Mexican "Flatbread" Pizza (I'm sure the biscuits are full of junk, but I need fast and easy.) We'll have them without the hamburger meat - just refried beans and toppings.

*edit - Maxwell's quote during dinner - "I can't believe I like this!" He ate a ton.

Saturday - Beef Taquitos, black beans (?), chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

Sunday - hamburgers and fries

Monday - Southwest Pasta Salad

Tuesday - Pizza

Wednesday - Black Bean Tacos (like this but in taco form)

Thursday - Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes (didn't get to these last week, so we'll try again)

Week 53(ish)

Friday - "take out" to celebrate Max as a Student of the Month

Saturday - pinto bean tacos

Sunday - sloppy lasagna (mother's day so John gets to cook), pound cake

Monday - veggies and noodles with thai coconut curry sauce

Tuesday - pizza

Wednesday - sweet peas chicken taco soup

Thursday - whole wheat blender pancakes

Spaghetti Pie

8 oz whole grain spaghetti

4 TBSP butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/3 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cup sour cream

1 - 2 TBSP onion (I used 2 green onions)

1 small jar marinara sauce (14 oz?)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and return to pan. Add 2 TBSP butter, the parmesan cheese, and the eggs. Stir to combine, then press into a 9 inch round casserole dish to form a crust.

Melt 2 TBSP butter in a small pan. Add onions and cook till tender. Stir in sour cream and heat through. Spread the sour cream/onion mixture over the pasta.

Pour the marinara sauce over sour cream, spread to edges.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle mozzarella over the top, and return to over until mozzarella is melted and casserole is bubbly.

Notes: I forgot to buy cottage cheese, and I wanted a vegetarian meal, so I tweaked the following recipes: Spaghetti Pie, and Sweetheart Pasta Pie.

Whole Wheat Waffles

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 TBSP baking powder

3 eggs

2 cups milk

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

4 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In small bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In large bowl, mix together eggs, milk applesauce, sugar, and vanilla. Once combined, add the dry ingredients and stir together.

Bake in a waffle baker that has been greased or sprayed with cooking spray. Keep waffles warm in the oven while you prepare the rest of the waffles.

Notes: These heat up well in the toaster. I don't like to use the Belgium waffle maker for these. The small, rectangular ones heat up better in the toaster.

Made about 10 waffles and fed our family plus Mikey

adapted from this recipe

Pasta Night

Monday is still Pasta Night at our house. Tonight I tried three new recipes for our dinner.

The main dish was Pioneer Woman's Fettuccine Alfredo. It was pretty good, although not as good as I had hoped it would be. It was good enough that I will probably try it again sometime. Maybe next time I can get it just right.

For our vegetable, I tried used a Food Network recipe for Sauteed Broccoli. I really liked this one. Hopefully the next time I make it it will turn out as well as it did tonight.

I wanted to have french bread with our pasta tonight. I have made this recipe from Our Best Bites before, but I'm trying to use whole wheat more often (and less sugar) in my baking, so I did a quick search and tried this recipe for Whole Wheat French Bread. It uses 2 cups white flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour. It was okay, but not great. I think I'll keep looking for the perfect recipe.

ps we also had mandarin oranges with dinner

Shepherd's Pie

I tried this recipe with a few changes. The recipe below is with my changes.

Ingredients

For the potatoes:

• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg yolk

For the meat filling:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed rosemary leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

Directions

Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a colander. Place the half-and-half and butter into the pan and heat until butter is melted. Add the potatoes back into the pot, and mash them. Add the salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the ground beef, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

Add the corn to the beef mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Graham Crackers

Carla shared this recipe.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

Tried this recipe tonight, and I think it will be keeper.

Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Quick Bread

Ginger shared a link to this recipe recently, and I gave it a shot tonight. Maxwell and Bentley really liked it. John and I thought it was a little salty. I want to try it with sausage instead of the pepperoni, so we'll see how that goes. It took longer than I thought it would, because you are supposed to cool it for 30 minutes before you eat the bread.

American Enchiladas

Ingredients:

8 flour tortillas, uncooked

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 TBSP oil

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 cup water

2 cups cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup monterey jack cheese, grated

1 cup sour cream

1 jar Frontera Gourmet Enchilada sauce, mild

Method:

Brown tortillas in frying pan, set aside.

Heat oil in frying pan (or sauce pan). Add garlic and cumin; simmer till nice and fragrant. Add beans and water. Bring to a boil and mash beans. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes. Mash beans and set aside.

Combine cheeses and sour cream.

Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13" pan with enchilada sauce.

Layer a heaping TBSP beans and 1 or 2 TBSP cheese mixture in a tortilla.

Roll up and place seam side down in baking dish.

Repeat with remaining tortillas, then cover with sauce.

Sprinkle with a little more cheese and bake for 20 minutes at 350.

This was one of those meals that my kids ate without complaining, but didn't love.