Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatos

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I can't. This recipe was originally on the Fuller Brush corporate blog, it is so good I'm posting it here!

Makes 6 servings


Ingredients:
2 pounds red potatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
1  teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1.5 tablespoons minced garlic (0r 4 cloves)
1.5 teaspoons fresh parsley
1.5 teaspoons fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1.5 tablespoons parmesan cheese


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the potatoes in halves or quarters (try to make evenly sized pieces). Place the potatoes in the stoneware dish and mix in the olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, parmesan and garlic. Toss until the potatoes are evenly coated and well mixed. Place your stoneware dish in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until browned. Toss once or twice during the baking process. If the potatoes aren't browned enough at the 30 minute mark, remove the lid and bake uncovered. Remove the potatoes from the oven and garnish with parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little extra parmesan if desired.

Honey Kefir Bread

A little while back I saw a link to this post by The Restless Chipotle on making Honey Buttermilk Bread.  I pretty much avoid breads due to wheat allergies.  Yeah, I cheat once in a while.  So sue me.

There were a few things I needed to tweak for it to work for me. First, because of a rash on my hands (probably from cheating on the wheat products  - but those cookies were good!) I couldn't knead the dough. So it had to be doable in the bread machine.

Second, I didn't have any buttermilk, but I do make my own dairy kefir so I decided to substitute that instead. I purchased my kefir grains from Cultures for Health. They are very helpful, my first attempt at kefir didn't work and they replaced the grains and gave me some excellent advice which ultimately enabled me to get homemade kefir going.

If your kefir is thick you may want to thin it down a bit with some milk to where it has the consistency of buttermilk.

Back to the bread. It's a simple recipe, nothing exotic, and you can go from Zero-Yum in about 3-1/2 hours. Add the following ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed. This is for a 1-1/2 pound loaf.

1 Cup Kefir
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Honey
1 Teaspoon Salt
3 Cups Flour

Now stop and smooth the flour out over the liquid ingredients to form a barrier between these last two ingredients and the liquid.

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Teaspoons Dry Yeast

At this point you turn on the bread machine and go take a nap.  :-)  All bread machines I am aware of have a 3 hour cycle.  In 3 hours your bread should be ready, tap it out of the bread pan onto a wire rack and allow to cool 20 minutes before slicing.

It will still be warm, slather on some butter and enjoy!

Easy Drop Bicuits

To go along with yesterday's Basic Stew Recipe, I thought I'd post an easy recipe for drop biscuits. It's pretty similar to what you'll find on the box of any baking mix, like Bisquik or Pioneer Brand. If you have a box of baking mix you really don't need this post. If you don't, read on and then add a box to your grocery list when you pick up the stew items.

2-1/2 cups baking mix
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425*F

Mix the baking mix (BTW, I prefer Pioneer Brand) and mix in a bowl until just mixed.  Don't overdo it.
Grease a muffin pan and spoon equal amounts of your biscuit batter into each cup. (about 1/3 of a cup)
Bake for about 12 minutes, until light brown on top.

Enjoy!

Baked Ziti (Sort of)

Baked Ziti is an Italian comfort food.  Just about everyone has their on way of making it, with their favorite ingredients.  This recipe is a baked "Ziti" recipe, but tweaked as I am in the middle of a VERY BUSY stretch, without a lot of time to cook. As a result, most of what is used in this recipe comes from a jar.

First of all, maybe it should be called "Baked Pasta", as I seldom use Ziti.  Click here for an explanation of Ziti. I usually use Penne Pasta, and that is what I used in this recipe. You can use Ziti, Penne, Mostaccioli, Rigatoni, in a pinch you could even use Spaghetti noodles.  Whatever you like, or what you have on hand.


This will make one 9X13 pan or two 8X8 pans.

On to cooking! You'll need:
1 pound of ground beef
1 small onion, chopped up
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 15oz jar of Alfredo Sauce (I used Classico Creamy Alfredo)
1 24oz jar of Pasta Sauce (I used Classico Cabernet Marinara)
1 - 1# package of Penne pasta
Parmesan Cheese

Place about 4 to 6 quarts of water in a large pot and start it to boiling.

Brown the ground beef in a medium skillet.  When it is about halfway browned, add the onion and allow it to cook with the beef. When it is almost done add the garlic and mix it in well for the last minute or two of browning. Drain well and set aside.

By now the water should be boiling. Add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package.

Drain the pasta and put it in a large bowl.  Pour the Alfredo Sauce over it and mix it in well. Place a tiny bit of the red sauce in the bottom of your baking pan(s) and use it to cover the bottom of the pan(s).  Mix the rest in with the pasta. Add the meat mixture and mix well.  Spoon the mixture into the pan(s) and level the top.  Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over the top.

Place in a cold oven, turn it to 350*F and cook for 25 minutes, including the warm up time.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.  The whole recipe will serve 8 - 10.

It goes well with a loaf of Sourdough or Faux Sourdough bread.

This is one 8 X 8 pan, the other is in the freezer for another day!

If you liked this post, please join my site using the link to the right.  If you didn't like it, please join anyway.  Maybe I'll get lucky and post something you like soon!  :-)

                                                  

Applesauce-Pumpkin Bread

If you made a loaf (or 2) of my Pumpkin Bread you'll notice this recipe is almost the same.  I use vegetable oil instead of butter, cut the amount of oil in half and add some applesauce.  In the Pumpkin Bread recipe I said you could use 1 cup sugar (or more, to taste).  In this recipe stick to 1 cup, no more, due to the sweetness of the applesauce.

 Try it, I think you'll like it!


1/2 of a 15oz can of Pumpkin (Approx 1 Cup)
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup apple juice (use water if you don't have juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice mix

You can add a half teaspoon of salt.  I don't add salt to many things, but you decide for yourself.

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients (the wet ones).  Mix together with your mixer until well blended.

In another bowl, Add the remaining ingredients (the dry ones) and mix well with a wire whisk.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing as you go.  Continue mixing until blended.

Cook for 60 mins at 350*F or until a toothpick or sharp knife inserted comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Fall is here.  In my part of CA that means 80*F days and 50*F nights.  LOL!  Believe it or not, we do get fall colors and such, the leaves should start turning any week now.  You know it;s fall when the stores are putting out Christmas items before Halloween and the grocery has displays of pumpkins.

I'm not going to go into cooking your pumpkin so you can use the meat to make bread, but I am going to share a good recipe for pumpkin bread.  This recipe will make one loaf, I know a lot of recipes make 2 (or more) loaves, but why make more then one until you've tried it?  You may want to make adjustments so make it one loaf at a time until the recipe is unique to you and your tastes, then double (or triple or quadruple) it for more loaves at once.

Here we go! You'll need:

1/2 of a 15oz can of Pumpkin (Approx 1 Cup)
2 eggs
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar (a little more is ok to suit your tastes)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice mix

You can add a half teaspoon of salt.  I don't add salt to many things, but you decide for yourself.

First, get your oven preheating to 350*F.  Also get out your loaf pan, either an 8.5 X 4 or 9X5.

Take a large bowl and add the softened butter to it.  A neat trick I got from TheRedheadRiter is to use the paper from the cube of butter to grease the pan.  Rub the paper over the inside of the pan and the butter left on it will grease your loaf pan.  Great tip, Red!

To the  large bowl add the pumpkin, eggs, water and vanilla.  Mix well with your mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda and spice mix. Also the salt, if used.

Use a whisk to mix them until well mixed.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, mixing as you go.

When totally blended, pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for about 60 minutes, until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.

At this point you can sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top if you like.

Let it cool for another 10 to 20 minutes, then slice if you want to try it warm with a little melted butter.

As you can see, I was too anxious and didn't let it cool enough before slicing so it crumbled a bit at the edges.  It still tasted great!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix

Today I'm going to give you an easy way to make your on Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix. I'm going to give you an easy to mix batch that I and my family like.  It's cheaper to mix your own, and you can tailor it to your tastes!
There are several variations of this on the internet, obviously I like mine the best.
On a final note, the next few posts will tell you why I'm posting this today!  ;-)

This is easy to remember, 3-2-2-1-1 and the acronym CANGC. (Cangood).  It deciphers as
3 Parts Cinnamon
2 Parts Allspice
2 Parts Nutmeg
1 Part Ginger
1 Part Cloves

The spices are all ground, of course.

So now you don't have to buy the overpriced pre-mixed little jar in the store, you can make your own with items you probably already have on hand.

If you're itching to try it out, make up a cake using my Basic Cake Recipe and add 2 tablespoons of the Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix.  :-)

Easy Applesauce Cake

Want something a little different? Not sure what you have to make a good dessert?  Here's a simple cake you can throw together quickly if you have some applesauce and a couple basic spices.

Start with the Basic Cake Recipe

To the dry ingredients:
Substitute brown sugar for the plain sugar in the recipe.
(if you already added plain sugar, don't sweat it)
Add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Add 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

To the wet ingredients:
Omit the vanilla
(again if you already added, don't sweat it)
Cut oil to 1/4 cup
Add 1 cup applesauce.

That's it!  Follow the mixing and baking instructions in the
Basic Cake Recipe and enjoy!

Southwestern Tater Tot Casserole

It feels somewhat strange to post a recipe like this after one about the veggies, but comfort food has a place too!  Also, this is a great recipe for tailgating, picnics, anytime you're on the go.  Make it up ahead and heat it at your destination.  All together it takes about 45 - 50 minutes.

You need:

1# Ground Beef
16oz jar of  Salsa
14oz bag of Southwestern Veggie Blend
8oz  Velveeta Cheese cut in small pieces
30oz bag of tater Tots
2 medium size flour tortillas

Grease two 8" square pans with butter
Arrange tortillas on bottom of pan and about 1 inch up the sides
(Cut to fit)
Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, drain off the fat
Add the salsa and the veggies, mix well
Place the Velveeta on the top of the meat mixture
As the mixture warms, stir in the cheese
Stir often until the cheese is totally melted and mixed in
Pour over tortillas into the pans and level with spatula
Arrange tater tots 1 deep over top of mixture
Cook in 350*F oven for 30 mins
Let set for 10 mins before serving

This is a recipe that is great for tailoring to how you like it.
Line the bottom with tortilla strips instead of tortillas
Use turkey or pork instead of beef
Choose your poison of salsa: mild, medium, hot or "OH NO!" LOL
Use whichever veggies (or none) that you like
EXPERIMENT!  HAVE FUN!

Applesauce Flax Bran Muffins

Most recipes for bran muffins that I have tried were dry and tasted somewhat like I think compressed sawdust would taste like.  As a matter of fact, I think some of the store bought ones were compressed sawdust!

I looked at different muffin recipes to get some basic ratios of items, did a little experimenting, and this is what I came up with.  I hope you like it.


3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Flaxseeds Meal
3/4 cup Rolled Oats Cereal
3/4 cup Sugar
1-1/2   tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
2   tsp Saigon Cinnamon

3/4 cup Applesauce
3/4 cup Milk
2 Tbspn Molasses
1 Beaten Egg
2 tsp Vanilla

Preheat Oven to 350*F
Line muffin tin with paper liners or oil cups lightly
Mix dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients.
Combine and stir
until ingredients are moistened.
DO NOT OVERMIX.
Fill muffin cup 3/4 full and bake @ 350*F for 15-20 mins.

You can add 1/2 cup or so of raisins, dried cranberry, chocolate chips, whatever else you desire to change the recipe around so it's not the same all the time.  :-)

Basic Cake Recipe

This basic cake recipe will serve as the basis for many cakes. As an example by adding 3 tablespoons cocoa powder and an extra teaspoon of vanilla you have a good chocolate cake! Add 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg & cloves and you have a spice cake. I have also used it for the basis of other cakes that I plan to write about in the future.

Here's the basic recipe:

1-1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup oil

Whisk together the dry ingredients
Beat the eggs and add to milk, add the vanilla and mix
Add the milk/egg mixture and oil to the dry mix, mix it well
Pour into greased 9" cake pan

Cook at 375*F for 35-40 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

Enjoy!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I wish I could take credit for this, but I can't.  I found this at Do It Yourself...Naturally in an article written by Matt Jabs.  It made a lot of sense to try, to I made up a batch.  Great stuff!

Simplified, you need a Fifth of Vodka and 6 Madagascar Vanilla Beans.  LIGHTLY rinse the beans, slice them either lengthwise or into 1" chunks and add them to the bottle of Vodka. You will probably have to remove a little vodka to make room for the beans (HIC!)   Shake it up, then put it in a cool, dark place.

Every few days, give it a shake.

In about 2 months you'll have vanilla extract!

Strain it through a coffee filter and you're ready to go.

Because I had store bought vanilla I needed to use up, mine actually aged for about 4 months.  It has a nice strong vanilla smell and taste.

It's so easy and so much less expensive then store bought extract I will be using this the rest of my life!