My Recipe Collection

I have a mish-mash of recipe cards, cookbooks, pages torn from magazines, and notebooks of pages I've printed out.  Search engines, blogs, and pinterest make it really easy to find recipes online these days, but I'm still a fan of having them on paper in front of me.  Much easier to make notes that way - to double a particular recipe next time, use only half as much of a particular ingredient, or any other note on how I may have varied the recipe. 

Some of my cookbooks and recipes remind me of particular people.  These lists of ingredients and instructions are more than just how I turn basic ingredients into something wonderful.  They come together to form a scrapbook of sorts.

Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese
Mom's Chocolate Frosting
JA's Blueberry-Orange Muffins
The cookbook that N gave us as a wedding gift
Zucchini bread - reminds me of our friends, B and S.  My recipe makes two loaves, and until they up and moved across the country, I'd always give them one when I made it. 
 
Tonight, I was making JA's muffins.  The house was fairly quiet - the kids already in bed and my husband working late - so I was alone with my thoughts.  I realized I was out of orange zest (I usually keep some in the freezer), and wondered if the same thing had ever happened to JA.  I thought about her family.  Thought about how we originally connected (through the internet - I've never met her) and what we had in common (peanut allergy).

As I measured, sifted, poured, and mixed, I had a chance to not only be thankful for my full pantry, but also to be thankful for my friends and family.  As big and busy as the world can seem, sometimes something as simple as a recipe from a friend can remind me of what's most important.

Vegan-ish Oatmeal Cookies - 3 Ways

I occasionally check in over at Daily Garnish, and recently read the recipe for these Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Normally, vegan recipes require ingredients that aren't in my pantry (as we're not vegan), but I was eager to try these because I knew we would have all of the ingredients on hand.  You see, even though I rarely purchase bananas, they always, always, end up getting too ripe before they are eaten.  And this recipe calls for a ripe banana - apparently as an alternative to egg.  (By the way, this recipe is a guest post by Madison, who also has ripe bananas on hand.)

Miss M and I mixed them up earlier today, and since we had plenty of bananas on hand (I'm not a fan of banana bread) I went ahead and doubled the recipe.  Then, when it was time to add the mix-ins, we split the cookie dough into thirds and turned two batches of dough into three varieties of cookies.  I let Miss M choose, and we ended up with walnut-chocolate chip, walnut-craisin, and craisin-chocolate chip. 

They haven't been out of the oven long, and I think we've already eaten close to a half-dozen.  While the banana flavor is noticeable, I think it might be less so once the cookies cool.  I'll let you know.  Either way, they are delicious.

Ours aren't completely vegan.  I didn't use vegan chocolate chips.  Also, since I washed it down with a glass of milk....

Mini Muffin Success!

If you have seen my Facebook status in the last several weeks, you will know that, on occasion, I have been frustrated with some mini-muffin pan disasters. I tried to make two-bite brownies, and failed miserably, on two occasions (I thought silicone baking pans would be almost disaster-proof). Today, I had my first mini-muffin pan success. That is, the muffins came right out of the pan as I'd hoped they would - the taste, um, needs some work. But, in case you are interested, I tried this recipe for Pepperoni Muffin Bites from FamilyFun.com. They came out a little bland, and we ended up dipping them in extra sauce. I think next time I might try to put some Italian seasoning, or maybe even the Parmesan cheese, into the muffin batter. I think the fine cornmeal is a must - the muffins had a very nice texture. In fact, I may make the muffins (without the pizza ingredients) again when I have a meal that calls for such an accompaniment. For now, I'm just pleased with the success.

Orange Blueberry Muffins

I found Gravity of Motion when Jane Anne guest posted over at Rocks In My Dryer about life with a food allergic child. I've continued reading GoM (and RIMD, and many others!), and Jane Anne recently posted a delicious muffin recipe.

The kids had a 'snow' day today - using that term very loosely - and we needed something fun to do. They were not as interested in helping me clean and organize the pantry as I'd hoped. So, we made Jane Anne's muffins! You'll have to check out GoM to get all of the details, including the recipe (and leave a comment while you're at it - bloggers love comments!). Let me just tell you that it's a scratch recipe, it takes a full stick of butter (so you know it's yummy!), and it uses orange zest and juice. Since we were zesting an orange, we used fresh juice, too (zest of one navel orange, juice from two). The kids helped me measure, sift, mix, squeeze, stir, and scoop. Then they helped me taste. Oh. My. Goodness. You must make some for yourself. You will not want to share.

Pancakes

I should have taken pictures, but the house (as usual) is a mess. The kids are out of school today, so we made pancakes this morning. The kids wanted blueberry, and I wanted to try a new recipe for sweet potato pancakes, so we made both. They were yummy - both kinds. The kids ate more than I thought they would, which is just fine by me. Miss M didn't like the sweet potato pancakes (no surprise) and Mister J did (again, no surprise).

The kids were great helpers - pouring and stirring and then getting seated while Mommy cooked. It didn't take too much extra patience on my part - I'm trying to relax and let them participate more, and I guess I'm getting better. It was actually fun. Now back to real life - cleaning up the kitchen, emailing everyone I owe a reply to, and washing some laundry (well, maybe not the laundry....).

Recipe Adventure - No. 1

I borrowed a recipe and a 6-quart crock pot yesterday and made the most delicious soup I've ever made. It has earned a place in my recipe box - written on a recipe card. Trust me, that's a big deal. I wish I could remember where I found it - besides on a blog. When I do figure that detail out, I'll post the link to give credit where credit is due. In the meantime, anonymous blogosphere friend, thank you for sharing your recipe for...

Crock Pot Taco Soup!

You'll need:
4 chicken breasts
2 cans each corn, pinto beans, black beans
1 can Ro-Tel
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
1 package dry taco seasoning mix
1 cup chicken broth

Toppings:
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
tortilla chips
sour cream

You need at least a 6 quart crock pot for this recipe. You can use frozen chicken breasts, too - run them under hot water for a minute and put then in the crock pot frozen. Then dump the other ingredients (except toppings) on top of the chicken. This really means dump - don't drain anything. Cook all day long on low or 4-6 hours on high. Before serving, remove chicken, shred with forks, and return to crock pot. Top each bowl with cheese, sour cream, and chips.

Additional notes from my experience....
Don't try to make it in a 4 quart pot. It won't fit. Hence, the borrowed crock pot.
I used fresh chicken, but you better believe I'll try it with frozen sometime (as if it wasn't already easy!).
I was hesitant to just dump the black beans since most recipes call for you to rinse and drain them. I wondered if I could drain/rinse/add a little extra chicken broth. However, I have my own personal rule about not changing a recipe until after trying once as written, so I dumped them in.
I used low sodium taco seasoning, and have decided I'm going to look for recipes to make my own taco seasoning and dry ranch mix (to see if I can make them preservative-free).
The only ingredient I questioned at all was the dry ranch mix - but don't leave it out!

After letting it cook for about 5 1/2 hours on high, I was starving! So, I filled a bowl - and this soup was good even before I added the toppings! But who can argue with adding cheese, tortilla chips, and sour cream? Not me! Mister J gave it a taste, and actually dipped a few chips in before declaring himself "full." Big J tasted it when he got home (late, so he'd already eaten dinner) - he's excited about having it for lunch tomorrow. Did I mention that this makes a LOT of soup? By the way - if you want to make this vegetarian, I bet it would turn out just fine. I can take or leave the actual chicken, but I'd probably still use chicken broth for the flavor.

Shakin' Things Up!

Every mom knows that kids who play hard take great naps. That's exactly what I had in mind today when we made ice cream! Yes, you read that right - we made ice cream. The twist - and the reason your kids will nap well afterwards - is that instead of using an ice cream churn, we shook it up. It didn't take long - but you will me amazed how much energy it takes to shake your soon-to-be ice cream for 5 minutes!

Here are the kids, hard at work - before they let me take over:













And, here are the kids tasting the final product:













I learned a couple of lessons during the process:

1 - Be prepared to do some (no, a LOT) of the shaking yourself (but you won't earn a nap....)
2 - Dig out the mittens from last winter before you get started.
3 - Homemade beats store bought - especially since this was so easy!

The recipe? Did you want the recipe? Oh, okay.....
(By the way, I got the recipe from FamilyFun.com - I watched the video first, and you can get a printable version of the recipe, too).

For the ice cream, you'll need:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small (quart-sized) zipper bag

For the "shaker" bag, you'll need:
1/2 cup kosher or rock salt (we used kosher)
ice cubes
2 large (gallon-sized) zipper bag

Prep time: less than 5 minutes; Shaking Time: 5 minutes; Yield: 2 servings

Pour the sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla extract into the small bag and zip closed (squeeze out most of the air, but not all of it). Double-bag the large bags, and put the small bag with the ice cream ingredients inside. When you are ready to start shaking, add the ice (I filled it a little more than 1/2 way) and the salt. Close the bags and shake for about 5 minutes, until the ice cream is a little thicker than soft serve.

We did not add any toppings to the ice cream - I'm a big believer in trying it "as-is" the first time. You shouldn't get any complaints - it was fantastic!

I doubled the recipe to make four servings. I did not increase the portions within the small bag - I made two "shakers" and then shook each recipe-worth of ice cream individually (it is possible to do all of the shaking yourself....). By the way, I highly recommend double-bagging, and I also suggest using store-brand bags. I used name-brand bags, which got torn, so in any case you probably won't be able to use them twice.

We will be making this ice cream again, and I will update this post if we come up with any good variations on the original recipe. Hope you will try it - it's great fun, and a great way to cool off on a HOT summer day!