UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This blog is under construction this week. Thank you for your patience.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

AND, for the last post of the year- somehow this got posted yesterday accidentally as a rough draft...to my neglect...but it was supposed to come AFTER the post below. So, be sure you don't miss the Gingerbread House post.... and re-read this one in case you read it before it was fully edited.

I've been working hard to simplify our Christmas this year which has included cutting down the Christmas budget, cutting down the number of gifts the kids get (big time), and cutting down the amount of cooking I'm doing during the holidays. I'm also going to cut down on blogging for the next two weeks as a way to better enjoy our time and to take a break, in honor of Jesus' birthday and mine.

You can see some of the things we usually make for Christmas here though....

~like Great-Grandma Clara's Coleslaw that she served in her restaurant
~or the Prime Rib I usually make every year that my husband looks forward to
~the homemade biscotti that I make to give away every year

and just so you don't miss everything else Christmas you can click on the Christmas link...

Our family also makes Rogies (aka. Perogies) every year for my birthday (Dec. 24th) since it's one of my favorite dishes and my mom is German so she has a wonderful recipe for them. I'll post that recipe eventually. =0) It's tough though, it's one of those "you-have-to-learn-from-someone-showing-you-how-to-make-them" sort of recipes... like Tamales.... But I need to get the recipe on here for my daughter! =0) Oh and this year we are changing things up a bit and my sweet husband is hosting my family at our house for my birthday on the 24th and he's doing tamales in the crock-pot which I can hardly wait for! I'll post that later too.

I also want to make English Toffee this year and if I do I'll eventually post that recipe as well.

Meantime, keep Christmas simple and keep it focused on the One that we're celebrating....Christ, Emmanuel...God with us....come to rescue the world and give us hope.

I'll be back here January 5th with lots of new recipes that I've been trying and working on. I have so many things I want to make and perfect..... can't wait to get back to it! See you then!

Gingerbread Houses

Okay, this was yesterday's post...goodness things have been a bit crazy around here this week!

I have a friend who makes homemade gingerbread houses in a mold and then constructs them with icing for each cousin in the family to decorate. They are the full size ones and she makes them one at a time in this mold she has. That's love! It's really impressive but I'm not that good. So, here is my version. I can do flat! =0)

I baked up gingerbread cookies using this recipe from my friend (but I changed it up a little). I used a house shaped cookie cutter for them. Then I iced them with this royal icing recipe that I love and quickly passed them to the kids at the table for them to decorate before the icing hardened. They turned out wonderful and tasty! Once they were dry they were easy to stack up and store.

Here are the recipes again:

Gingerbread Cookies
½ c butter
½ c sugar
½ c molasses
¼ c water
2 ½ c all purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice

Cream butter and sugar together.
Blend in molasses, water, flour, salt, soda, ginger, nutmeg, and all spice.
Cover and chill 2-3 hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll dough ¼ inch thick on lightly floured cutting board. (Wood works best if you have it.)
Cut with gingerbread boy cutter.
Place on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes.
Immediately remove from baking sheet. Let cool completely before frosting.


Royal Icing
2 egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
2 c sifted powder sugar


Give the egg whites a good beating with your mixer for about 30 seconds with the lemon juice and then add the sifted powdered sugar. Mix till smooth and shiny. Start frosting. You want to frost right away because this frosting will not keep and will begin to harden. Let cookies dry completely and then store in an airtight container.


And don't forget to buy lots of fun little candies and sprinkles to decorate them with.

Yikes

I promised two posts and then I had some unexpected things come up today that kept me from my computer. I'll get them posted tomorrow.

Chicken Taco Soup and Corn Chips

I made this chicken version of taco soup the other day with leftover taco chicken... It was really good! I also cut up corn tortillas into triangles with a pizza cutter and then put them in the oven on about 475-500 degrees on a cookie sheet. Turned them over once and kept checking them. Don't leave them in too long or the edges will burn like mine in the picture. =0) But they were SO good with this! I like making my own chips that are so much healthier! No, I didn't put anything on the chips...just laid them on the cookie sheet and into the oven they went.

This taco soup had in it:
shredded taco chicken
can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
beans
frozen corn
2 taco seasoning packets
water
garlic
salt to taste

topped with fresh diced tomatoes, shredded mexi-cheese, chopped avocado, chopped cilantro

Don't forget the salad....

In trying to eat healthier I try to remember to serve salad with dinner as many nights as possible in addition to a vegetable so that we don't all fill up on main dishes. But making a chopped fresh salad every night can be a lot of work (no, I don't use those ready-made salad bags that have preservatives...I really can't stand the taste of those but I'll eat them when I have to).

Don't forget the ease of a Caesar salad. it makes throwing a salad together for dinner very easy and quick especially if you pre-chop your lettuce ahead of time and store it in a zip-lock. Don't be fooled by iceberg lettuce either....choose a lettuce that has some nutritional value like romaine or curly leaf, etc.

I keep a bottle of Lighthouse Caesar dressing and dip in my fridge to make it fast and easy. Lighthouse is also lower in sodium than other dressings. If using it as a dressing you may want to thin it a bit with a little milk because it's really thick.

Answering Questions- spreadable butter

Can you bake with the spreadable butter?

I made cookies with this butter and I'm not happy with the results. They melted down to thin cookies like those made with margarine (I don't like cookies made with margarine...just butter ones). They also were crispy on the edges (got dark on the edges) and were super crumbly. They just didn't want to hold together.

So, there's the baking test that some were asking about concerning the healthier butter mix.

Healthy Chicken N Dumplings

I've been trying several new healthy recipes and I'm still working on tweaking them enough to make them great. Meantime, I did a healthy make-over of chicken and dumplings that was quick and easy and delicious.

I cooked 3 chicken breast in the crock pot through the day. When it was time to make dinner I pulled it apart into large chunks like restaurant style chicken n dumplings. In a separate large pot on the stove I sauted in a drizzle of olive oil about:
5-6 chopped carrots
4-5 celery stalks
1/2 a diced onion (or dried minced onion)
2-3 garlic cloves minced

Once that was tender, I added the chicken and 1 quart of chicken broth (plus the broth that was in the crock-pot from cooking the chicken).

Add:
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tbsp parsley
4 cups of water

Dumplings: (these were quick and easy)
2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
ice water till moist

Blend dough together until wet and sticky. Drop into pot and cook till dumplings are cooked through. (These dumplings are dense and doughy like some restaurant dumplings-but if you like light and fluffy dumplings, use my Prairie Chicken dumplings instead.)

Baby Jesus in the Manger Cookies

These no bake cookies are right up every kid's alley (or at least the ones that are NOT allergic to peanuts!). I made these years ago when my little ones were just toddlers and it was so much fun to do with them. It was even more fun this time since they are older and could really help more. The key to these is to work quickly. It's the perfect cookie to make with little helpers who can place the little baby Jesus marshmallows into the mangers as you drop the haystacks.

2 12oz bags of dry chow mein noodles
1 jar (16 oz) peanut butter (I use creamy but you can use chunky if you want)
2 bags (12 oz) butterscotch chips

Prepare 4 cookie sheets (or lots of plates) covered with foil or parchment paper or wax paper. Pour noodles into a large bowl. Melt the peanut butter and butterscotch chips together in a pot on the stove. Stir continually as to not burn it (like I did with the first batch!). Pour the melted pb/butterscotch mixture over the noodles and toss with salad tongs till WELL mixed and coated. Working quickly, use two spoons to drop the coated noodles onto the cookies sheets in little mounds. Using the back of a spoon, press down the center a bit. Have kids quickly place mini marshmallows end to end to look like baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. Let the cookies sit out till dry.

NO- these are not healthy! =0)

Variations:
- these are really yummy and can be made for a more sophisticated group (i.e. instead of children) by omitting the marshmallows.
- make a chocolate version by either dipping halfway in chocolate after they have hardened OR drizzle chocolate on them OR use one package butterscotch chips and 1 package chocolate chips when melting the peanut butter mixture.
- make these as bird nests for a bird nest themed baby shower by using candy coated almonds as eggs instead of the marshmallows.

Recipe for Dryer Sheets

Awhile back I started making homemade wool dryer balls in hopes of replacing them for dryer sheets. Many reviews have said that they have had great success with these wool dryer balls because they
1. eliminate static
2. soften clothes
3. speed up drying time to make your dryer more efficient

So, I made them at the end of this last summer:

1 spool of 100% wool yarn for one ball (has to be the kind that will felt when you wash it-if it says "washable" then it's not the right kind)
1 crochet hook


Wind the yarn into a ball. About half way through, cut it off and tuck the end into the ball using the crochet hook. Then put the ball into an old foot of a nylon and tie in a knot. Throw in your washer machine with a few loads to felt it. Then throw the nylon with the yarn ball (or more-you can tie up several in a chain) into your dryer to complete the felting process. Now you have a core for your ball.

Use the rest of the yarn to wrap around the ball making it bigger and closer to the size of a tennis ball. Tuck the end into the ball with a crochet hook. Now put it into a nylon again and repeat the felting process in the washer machine and dryer.

Now you can take them out of the nylon and leave them in your dryer with every load.

I used one of these for several loads and my clothes still had static. Upon further research, I made sure that I didn't over dry the clothes..it improved but still had static. Running the dryer on my auto moisture cycle helped insure I wasn't over drying them.

So, I did more research and it turns out that some places are just too dry for these to eliminate all the static. My next tactic was to use more than one but I noticed no difference even with 4 balls in my dryer load. BUT- they did speed up drying time which made my dryer more efficient and they did soften the clothes!

So, now I use a combo of wool dryer balls (here's a good tutorial but the only thing I did differently was to actually tie the nylon in a knot at each ball because when I tied it off with yarn it came undone and was a huge tangled nest mess in my washer!) and a washcloth sprayed with liquid fabric softener. This eliminates having to buy dryer sheets and makes the fabric softener last a long time which saves me money. I use the same washcloth over and over and wash it from time to time to get rid of build up.

Go here to see my homemade laundry detergent recipe.

Recipe for a Simmer Pot

I saw this idea on several other blogs and I thought it was wonderful so I made some for our Sunday School teachers as a THANK YOU for all they do. =0)

I tested it out before giving them away as little gifts and I was really impressed with how good it made the house smell. Yum! I just had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't a drink!

My version per jar:
1/2 sliced lemon
1/2 sliced orange
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp whole cloves
1 tsp Italian herbs (dried)

Tip: you can buy spices and herbs much cheaper in the Hispanic cooking aisle of your grocery store usually than in the regular spice aisle.

Fill a jar with the above ingredients and then fill with water. Tie with a ribbon or raffia. Use an address label to stick on directions:

Simmer Pot
Empty this jar into a pot on your stove (or crock-pot on high) and add another full jar of water and simmer on low for aroma for several hours. After it has reduced back down, place contents back into jar and store in refrigerator till ready to use again.

psst....a few things to note this week....

I'm making biscotti this week. If you haven't tried making it before click here and scroll down to last year's biscotti series.

Our family business is running a Christmas sale. Check it out here.

Tis the season to make dough ornaments...don't forget they are here....or better yet, make them into handprint plaques for gifts.

Looking for a unique little ornament to bake....try these apple cinnamon ornaments.

Check back here this week for Jesus in the Manger cookies....

Homemade Laundry Detergent

This recipe is one that I'm really happy with. It's a dry mix of laundry detergent. I researched and found all kinds of recipes that used water and made a gel type detergent that required large buckets in your laundry room....something I wasn't interested in storing or tripping over....so this compact version works well for me.

Why make my own? For me it's about saving money! I'm AMAZED at how much money I can save making my own detergent. Some people do it because it's "green" but I'll admit that it comes right down to saving money for me! One little container will last so longgggggggggg!

How well does it work? I wouldn't put it on here if I didn't think it was shockingly great! It doesn't make a lot of suds...commercial detergents have sudsing agents added to them so that when you look in your washer machine you feel good about the soap doing it's job but really suds are not what clean your laundry. This recipe makes a little bit of suds at first but they die out. For me, the true measurement was how much dirty the detergent pulled out of the clothes and into the water and I have to say I was impressed with how dirty the water got or frightened with how dirty it got...depending on how you look at it. Once the clothes came out I actually felt that they were even cleaner than my commercial detergent had done! I'm completely switched over.


1 bar of Fels Naptha soap grated (I grate it with my salad shooter but any electric cheese grater works well)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Super Washing Soda (made by Arm & Hammer)


Grate the fels naptha bar of soap. I was concerned that this would be the difficult part and if anything is difficult or time consuming you can just count me out. But, I had the idea of using my salad shooter that has a cheese grater attachment. It worked great and was super easy clean up cause I just stuck it in the dishwasher afterwards!

Mix the grated soap, borax and washing soda together. That's it, you're done!

Add 1 tbsp to light loads
Add 2 tbsp to large loads or heavily soiled clothes

What is Super Washing Soda? I have no idea! The better question is where to buy it. I couldn't find it in my area until calling the number on the back of Arm & Hammer baking soda (NOT THE SAME THING!) and asking the company to tell me what store in my area sold it. There was only one so off I went to get it. Need to find one in your area...you can ask online here or you can call this number 1-800-524-1328

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use BAKING SODA! It has to be Super Washing Soda as seen in the picture. One box will do cause you only need 1 cup but I bought two because I had a hunch that I'd be making a lot.

I usually make a double batch of this and store in a container.

Not interested in my dry recipe? Here is a link to several other laundry detergent recipes of all sorts.

psst....I stopped buying dryer sheets too....more to come on that later.

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I made up this recipe a few years ago when I was trying to use up apples. This coffee cake is wonderful in the fall or winter but the best part is that it's easy!



1 box spice cake mix (plus ingredients on the back of the box)
2-4 apples peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 c brown sugar combined (optional)


Mix the box cake mix, the apples (2 large or 4 small) together. Add the ingredients called for on the back of the box EXCEPT for the water. The juice from the apples will make up for the water you are leaving out. Mix well until it looks like peanut butter and apples. Pour into a greased pan and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon if desired. Bake according to box mix directions. Test center for doneness.

It doesn't look like much when you spread it into the pan but it does bake up.

Second-Time-Around

For quite some time I've been wanting to post about second-time-around meals. That's when you use leftovers to turn them into something else...

Second-time-around meals make meal-planning easier and helps assure that leftovers get eaten. When I make my menu plan for the week or month (depending on my mood) I try to plan on some second-time-around meals knowing I'll have leftovers of some things. In fact, sometimes I intentionally cook more of something so that I can use it the next day. Saves cooking time in the kitchen. So, here are some ideas.....what they WERE and WHAT THEY CAN BECOME:

Roasted Turkey
turkey potpie
turkey sandwiches
turkey casseroles

Baked Potatoes
mashed potatoes
shepherd's pie
hash browns or country fried potatoes
potato soup
potato salad

Taco Meat
taco salad
burritos
Frito salad
taco soup
taco lasagna

Veggie Tray
soup
steamed veggies
veggie kabobs on the BBQ
oven roasted veggies
BBQ veggie wraps
stir fry
chop and add to casseroles


Roast Chicken
chicken salad sandwiches
chicken soup
chicken wrap
chicken tacos
chicken burritos
chicken Caesar salad
chicken enchiladas
green chicken chili
chicken Ala king
chicken and dumplings
chicken bakeover

Rice
soup with rice
breakfast rice
add to a casserole
meatballs with rice
stuffed peppers

Pasta
baked pasta
throw it in soup
add to a casserole
pasta salad
put it on a green salad

Beans
taco soup
taco salad
taco lasagna
mash and make a dip
put on green salad
burritos
tacos
add to any soup
cold bean salad

Beef Roast/Ground Beef
shredded BBQ beef sandwiches
beef burritos
beef tacos
beef taco lasagna
beef pot pie
beef stroganoff
beef shepherd's pie
stuffed peppers
chili
taco soup
meatballs (with those leftover make meatball subs)

Dinner Rolls/Loaf Bread
chicken salad sandwiches
BBQ beef sandwiches
meatball subs
deli subs
french toast
stuffed french toast
baked french toast
panini sandwiches
slice, butter and layer over a casserole
cube and make croutons
cube and put in a strata
grilled cheese sandwich

Got second-time-around ideas that you don't see here? I'd LOVE to hear them! Please share with us in the comments!

Half the Cholesterol Butter

My friend posted a while back about spreadable butter on her blog but I didn't really get just how much healthier it is until I borrowed one of her health cookbooks. I've been looking for ways to cut down on cholesterol and this is a great way to start! Thanks for the tip, Katey!

I'm using:
2 sticks (= 1 cup) of unsalted butter softened completely at room temperature
1 cup of saffola oil or canola oil (both are low in the bad fats and higher in the good for you fats)

Mix together with a whisk or in mixer till smooth. Pour into containers and refrigerate. It's almost as soft as margarine.

Using this method, you can cut your bad cholesterol in-take of butter by almost HALF. This is a great option compared to some of the store bought margarines or the yogurt based butters because this keeps the sodium very low which is important to me as well.

Crock-pot Wisdom

I've been learning so much about the crock-pot lately so I thought I'd share it all here.....

~Don't lift the lid.....no peeking. Lifting the lid can add 30 min. to an hour of extra cook time.

~No stirring needed as a general rule with crock-pot cooking.

~Spray inside of crock with non-stick spray or olive oil to help prevent sticking.

~Don't rinse the hot crock in cold water to help prevent cracking. Let it cool to room temperature before putting in cold water. You can wash it in hot water while it's still hot though.

~Heat varies from brand to brand. To test what your low heat temp and high heat temps are, fill your crock-pot 3/4 full of water, cover and cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 4 hours). Stick a thermometer (the kind used for roast will work well) into the water as soon as the lid is lifted to test the temperature. It should be 180-185 degrees. If it is higher than that you will need to reduce your cooking times (newer crock-pots are manufactured to cook at a higher temp because of concerns about undercooked food poisoning) but if it is lower than that, your crock-pot may be getting old and needs to be replaced. Another way to test it is to make sure the food you are cooking has reached 140 degrees after 4 hours of cooking on low.

~In general, one hour on high heat is equal to 2 1/2 hours on low heat.

~Converting your oven recipes....

Baking Time-----------Low Heat Crock-------------High Heat Crock
15-30 min. ------------4-6 hours ------------------1 1/2-2 hours
35-40 min.------------6-10 hours------------------3-4 hours
50 min-3 hrs. ---------8-18 hours------------------4-6 hours

~Your crock-pot should be filled at least 1/2 full to ensure proper cooking. Crock-pots come in many sizes so use the right size for the right amount or double recipes when needed.

~Some recommend not cooking frozen meats at all in the crock for risk of food poisoning since the meat needs to reach a certain temp in a short amount of time. I do cook my chicken from frozen but I usually turn it on high for the first few hours and then down to low the rest of the day to speed up the initial cooking.

~If cooking with alcohol be aware that leaving the lid on traps the alcohol instead of cooking off. All foods retain a little alcohol that was used in cooking even after cooking in a skillet. Using a crock-pot will retain most of the alcohol.

Greek Feta Pasta

THANKS Kiley for pointing out my typo! Nope, this is NOT geek pasta, it's GREEK pasta. LOL Thanks! I needed that! Oh my, that's funny!

1/4 c olive oil
1/2-1 stick butter
1 package pasta
1 c peas
3 garlic cloves minced
1/4 of an onion minced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp dry basil
dash of lemon pepper
heavy dash of black pepper
1 tsp dried parsley
1 handful of shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 c of greek feta cheese
1 diced tomato

optional to add: olives, chopped artichoke hearts, chopped fresh baby spinach leaves, capers, or anything else you have on hand that sounds good. =0)

While boiling pasta, saute garlic and onion in olive oil and butter till onions are browned. Add seasonings, peas and any other "optional" seasonings. Saute for about 2 min. Drain pasta and add to butter sauce skillet. Toss the pasta in the butter sauce. Toss in cheeses just before serving. Top with chopped fresh tomatoes.

The Pumpkin Mousse Pie that didn't

Is it Monday already? Wow, I was really enjoying those days off of blogging. Well, here's the scoop on my pumpkin mousse pie that never materialized. My husband didn't think it sounded good.....so I abandoned that recipe plan and decided to make a pumpkin cheesecake. I had never made a cheesecake at all before....I know shocking....so this recipe sounded fool-proof...but apparently this recipe hadn't met me yet! It seemed like it was perfect right up until I cut it. Oh boy, what a disaster. Let's not even talk about it other than to give you all great comfort in knowing that if you have flops too, then you're not alone. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that has recipes go wrong! I'll never forget the shock on one of my friend's face when I told her that I made a dinner that didn't turn out right so we had to pack up the kids and head to a restaurant. Um, ya, that happens around here. That's what I get for trying new things. But, when I try new things is also when I've discovered wonderful recipes too.

Lest you think that everything I cook turns out right and picture perfect. HA! LOL. Uh, no.

ps...no I'm not posting pictures on here of my flopped cheesecake. You were hoping weren't you?!

pasta recipe coming shortly