Homemade Pumpkin Spice Creamer

My disclaimer for this post is that I LOVE Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Lattes, hot or iced. This recipe is not a replacement or copycat of a PSL, but it will help scratch the itch between your Starbucks runs.

Over Labor Day weekend, I spent some time searching for pumpkin recipes. I found recipes for bread, muffins, desserts of all kinds, and pancakes. But when I found this recipe for pumpkin spice creamer, I was really excited to try it. This week, in Houston, was slightly cooler and very rainy. It's our first hint that our seasons are changing from oppressively hot to mildly hot, our version of fall. 

This creamer involves just a few ingredients and it is super easy and fast to make. Simply combine a milk of some kind (I used half and half this time), some pumpkin, maple syrup, and a ton of spices in a saucepan.  Whisk until warm. Then stir in the vanilla extract and allow it to cool. I poured it back into the half and half bottle and relabeled it for easy storage. All in all, I think it took about 10 minutes from start to finish. And as a bonus, it cost less than $2 to make about 16 servings of creamer. You have to try this scrumptious taste of fall!!!!

Adapted from :  http://www.afitnurse.com/2013/10/clean-pumpkin-spice-coffee-creamer.html

Ingredients:

2 cups (1 pint) half and half 

2 Tbls. canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

2 Tbls. maple syrup (use the good stuff, this serves as a sweetener as well)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except the vanilla extract in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until combined and mixture is warmed. 

2. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. 

3.  Allow to cools. Then place it in a container in the fridge. 

Sunday Lunch Prep

Ok - so I posted an innocent comment about packing up lunches for the week on Facebook and I got an onslaught of replies.  :)  I was there a couple of months ago too.  The dreaded lunch packing in the morning, just grabbing anything in sight and throwing it haphazardly towards the lunchboxes lying on the counter.  (Some mornings are still like that!) But for the most part, this is what Sunday lunch prep looks like now...

Stella's lunch (pink) and Jackson's lunch (right)

and....

Lunches stacked up on one shelf in the fridge

I'll try to take better photos for this upcoming week, but in general here's what lunches look like in out house.  

Braeden & Jackson - We try to choose as healthy as possible foods.  We stay away from artificial colors and flavors.  I pack a main dish (protein), a chip/cracker, fruit/veggie, drink, and homemade snack.  Braeden definitely has an affinity for junkier foods than Jackson does.

Stella - Same as the boys but soy and dairy free due to her allergies.  Think Paleo life here!  :)

Dusty - likes some kind of salad around 400 calories.  He prefers vegetarian.  

Amy - I want it to taste good!!!!  But I'm also trying to stick around 500 calories.  

For this week, lunch prep went like this...

Braeden - He wanted PB& J!  He's on a kick.  But I don't pre-make sandwiches on Sunday.  I've heard of people making them on Sunday and then freezing them, but I haven't tried that yet.  I add in grapes, Ritz crackers, and my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies and he's ready to roll.

Jackson - He wants Lunchables!  Our compromise is mommy-ables.  I picked up Ritz crackers, a Boar's Head uncured ham lunch meat, and cheese sticks.  Of course, nothing can touch!  I add in grapes and my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies and he's all packed up.  These lunches I do fully make on Sunday.  Then each morning, I just grab out a container and put it in his lunch box.

Stella - She gets the exact same lunch, with these minor changes.  She gets a different dairy/soy free cracker and no cheese stick.  She gets all packed up on Sundays as well.

Dusty - He is hooked on this Tomato Mozzarella and Basil Salad.  We tried it with quinoa first, like the recipe said.  He LOVED it!  Then, the next week I forgot the quinoa when I went to the store and substituted orzo.  He SUPER LOVED it with the orzo.  It's a great sturdy salad that just gets better as it sits in the fridge.  

Amy - I'm taking a hard-boiled egg with a whole-wheat English muffin for my lunch.  I also eat my breakfast at school so you see my yogurt stacked up in the fridge too with a serving of granola to put on top.  

Check out the salad and the links for the handy containers are below!  Do you prep your lunches on the weekend?  Or do you make your lunches each day?  I'd love to hear some of your tips too!

Easy lunchboxes

Easy lunchbox Little Dippers     

On the menu board for the week of February 18th

On the menu board for the week of February 18th:

If you're anything like me, you often fight the "what's for dinner" battle.  I LOVE to cook at home, but it does take a little bit of planning.  Defrosting meat or picking up produce or making sure that you have a side dish, there's quite a bit that goes into planning a family dinner.  I've tried half-a-dozen different solutions but I've finally stumbled onto a system that works for me.  I sit down and plan out a month's worth of meals at a time.  And then each week, I write the menu on our chalkboard wall next to the fridge.  I defrost any meat that we need and make a list of produce to pick up from the grocery store.  

Monday:  chicken taquitos - No special recipe here.  But I have to thank Dr. & Melanie Bellinger who taught me you just have to heat up the corn tortillas a bit more so that they don't fall apart when you're rolling them.  :)
Tuesday:  breakfast tacos with chorizo, country potatoes, and fruit
Wednesday:  pork fried rice - Wednesdays are our fast dinner nights.  So I'll cook the brown rice of Tuesday night and slice the pork thin.  Then when I get home on Wednesday night, all I have to do it throw everything together.
Thursday:  alfredo mac & cheese - My kiddos wouldn't have anything to do with alfredo until I called it white mac & cheese.  :)  I substitute the cream for 2% milk - yummo!
Friday:  almost always pizza night in our house.  But I found this adorable idea on Pinterest and so this Friday will be Angry Bird pizza night! Check out the idea here.
Saturday: grilled brats
Sunday:  copycat Chik-fil-a nuggets.  This is a new recipe for me and I'll let you know how it goes...  Check out the recipe here.

My plan is to post my menu plans each week.  I think it will help me stay organized and if it can help someone else tackle their what's for dinner battle then that's awesome too!  

Bread Basket - English Muffins

Bread Basket - English Muffins

I LOVE English Muffins!  Ever since I was a girl, these were a special treat.  Lately, I've been working on making all of the bread that my family eats.  Number one because it is way cheaper!  Number two because I'm really intrigued by clean eating and trying to minimize the amount of preservatives that my family consumes.  This recipe is also a great way to sneak in some more whole wheat to my family's diet.  So a few weeks ago, I stumbled onto this recipe on Pinterest and I just couldn't wait to try it.  This last Saturday, I finally had my chance.  A few edits and then English muffin bliss   They were delicious.  An amazing cross between a biscuit and bread.  They didn't have the characteristic nooks and crannies that I am used to, but they were tender and had a fantastic flavor.  You definitely MUST give these a try for your next breakfast treat.  :)

Ingredients:  

1 c. milk

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 c. warm water (105-110 degrees)

1/4 oz yeast

3 c. all purpose flour

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. salt

cornmeal for pans

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over the warm water.  Stir to combine.  Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
2. In a small pot, combine the milk, butter, and sugar.  Stir over low heat until the butter is melted.  Allow to cool until it is between 105-110 degrees.
3. (I used my KitchenAid for this part, but it can also be done by hand.)  In the mixer bowl, with the dough hook attachment, combine the 3 cups of all purpose flour, the yeast/water mixture, and the milk/butter/sugar mixture.  Stir to combine.  Once incorporated, all the whole wheat flour.  Allow the mixer to run for about 3 minutes to lightly kneed the dough.  Then, allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
4. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thick.  Using a biscuit cutter, cut out the English muffins.  Do not twirl the cutter as you cut out the muffins.  Carefully place each muffin on the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with corn meal.  Cover with a towel and place in a warm spot to rise for 45 minutes.  Dough should at least double.  
6. Heat a cast-iron (or other heavy bottomed) skillet over medium-low heat.  WITHOUT adding any grease, carefully place muffins in the pan, careful not to overcrowd and ensuring that muffins are not touching.  Cook muffins on each side for about 8 minutes until well-browned.  Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.  
7. Split English muffins and enjoy!

* Yields about 16 muffins.

**Adapted from My Fair Baking Recipe (http://myfairbaking.blogspot.com/2012/12/homemade-english-muffins.html)

Beignets

Dusty and I took our first jobs after college in New Orleans.  We absolutely LOVED it there: the people (especially our friends at St. John), the food, Mardi Gras, and so much more.  We lived there for just over 15 months until Hurricane Katrina relocated us back to Houston.  One of the new foods we tried and fell in love with were beignets.  There was nothing like walking around in the French Quarter and stopping into Cafe du Monde for a cup of coffee and an order of these sweet, fried, delicious treats.  When we moved back to Houston, I tried everything to recreate the experience at home.  I've used the box mix you can find in the grocery stores and several other recipes.  But this is hands-down the best recipe I've ever found.  I prepared the dough in the bread machine but you could adapt this recipe to be made without it too by blooming the yeast first and then adding the remaining ingredients.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup milk
1/4 water
1 egg
1 Tbls butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
cooking oil for frying
sifted powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation Instructions:

1.  Add all ingredients (except the oil and powdered sugar) in the order listed to the bread machine.  Select the 1 1/2 pound dough cycle.  When the cycle is complete, remove dough from the machine.  Punch down.  Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
2.  Divide the dough in half.  On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 9-inch square.  Cut into 16 squares.
3.  Fry dough squares (2 or 3 at a time) in hot oil (at 375 degrees) for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown, turning once.  Using a slotted spoon, removed from oil and drain on paper towels.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

adapted from Better Homes & Gardens:  The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking

Funfetti Sandwich Cookies

From the first minute that I saw this recipe, I just knew I HAD to try it.  You see, I LOVE sprinkles.  Not in the childish, just add a couple to the top of your ice cream, way.  No, no, that's not nearly enough sprinkles.  Instead, my mom (and now Dusty) have always teased me that I need some ice cream with my sprinkles.  I love Funfetti cake mix too.  This recipe was really simple and turned out deliciously!  Braeden and Jackson agreed with me that this was one of our new FAVORITE cookie recipes and they will definitely be showing up in our cookie jar quite a bit.  So grab a mixing bowl and these ingredients and get to work.  I guarantee you're going to love these cookies too!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Red, White & Blue Jimmie sprinkles
2 tablespoons Red, White & Blue nonpareil sprinkles

For the Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Blue food coloring (I used powdered)

Preparation Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and egg. Beat until well combined.

3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low speed until ingredients are combined. Gently mix in the sprinkles. Don't over mix or the sprinkles will bleed into the dough.

4. Form cookie dough into small balls, about a teaspoon in size. Place cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are light golden brown around the edges. The cookies will harden as the cool, so don't over bake.

5. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

6. While the cookies are cooking, make the buttercream frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until nice and smooth, using the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Once sugar is fully incorporated turn the mixer up to medium speed and add in the salt and vanilla extract. Add the heavy cream and mix for 3 minutes or until frosting is smooth. Check the consistancy of the frosting, if it is to loose, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add a little more cream. Mix in food coloring and beat until you have your desired color.

7. To make the sandwich cookies, pipe (using a pastry bag or plastic bag) small dollops of frosting on a cookie and sandwich another cookie on top. Store cookies in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Check out the Fourth of July version of this recipe @ http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/red-white-blue-funfetti-sandwich-cookies/

Chex Muddy Buddies

Okay - I'm on a total sweet kick!  :)  I had a couple of boxes of Wheat Chex that were going to expire in mid-July.  So I checked the pantry and I had all of the ingredients to whip up a batch of Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow, as my husband calls it.  I've had Muddy Buddies with Corn Chex and Rice Chex but my absolute favorite kind is made with Wheat Chex.  The Wheat Chex makes this yummy treat so crunchy and delicious!!!  It took just a few minutes to prepare this recipe so grab a box or two of Chex, some chocolate chips and head to the kitchen.  Your sweet tooth will definitely thank you!!!


Ingredients:


9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar


Preparation Instructions:


1.  In a large bowl, measure out 9 cups of cereal.  Set aside.
2.  In a 1 quart mixing bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter.  Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir.  Microwave for 30 more seconds or until smooth.  Stir and then pour over cereal.  And mix to coat cereal evenly.
3.  In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, add half of the cereal mixture and half of the powdered sugar (3/4 cup).  Shake to coat all of the pieces.  Spread on waxed paper to cool.  Repeat with the remaining cereal mixture and powdered sugar.  When completely cool, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  


Adapted from:  http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chex-muddy-buddies/92e4756c-abc1-452a-9b2c-dd124d858050

Brown Sugar Pecan Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

One of my goals this summer is to perfect my cupcake baking abilities.  I really LOVE a great cupcake. And if it's even possible, the three boys in the house love sweets even more than I do.  So yesterday, Jackson (my youngest son) and I headed out to the store to pick up cake flour, whipping cream, and pecans to give my first cupcake recipe a try.  I found this recipe on Epicurious and it seemed like a great place to start.  The cake part was really straight-forward but the frosting was a bit more daunting.  I have to admit that this was my first time making caramel and attempt number one had to go down the drain.  The results were super yummy!!!!  The cake was more like a muffin but the brown sugar flavor was awesome.  I only used about half of the caramel sauce in the frosting so that it wasn't too runny.  Jackson declared that the frosting was the BEST EVER and immediately licked it all off the top of his cupcake.  :)  It was so exciting trying something new and I hope that you'll give this cupcake recipe a try too!

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped toasted pecans
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

• Preparation Instructions:
  
  
  
  
  For cupcakes: 
  Put rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Spray 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray; line with muffin cups.
  Whisk both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt in medium bowl. Stir in chopped pecans. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add brown sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; beat on low speed just to blend. Divide batter among muffin cups.
  Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.
  
  
  For frosting: 
  Stir sugar and 1/4 cup water in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high; boil until syrup turns deep amber, swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat; add cream (mixture will bubble up). Stir over low heat until caramel bits dissolve. Whisk egg yolks in medium bowl. Very gradually whisk hot caramel into yolks. Cool to room temperature.
  Using electric mixer, beat butter and salt in large bowl until smooth. Beat in caramel. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Let stand at room temperature until thick enough to spread, about 1 hour.
  Spread frosting over cupcakes. Place pecans on plate. Roll edges of cupcakes in nuts. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Taken from: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brown-Sugar-Pecan-Cupcakes-with-Caramel-Frosting-355851#ixzz1yRWpJZUx

Watermelon Granita

Okay - so it's been a while, a long while since I've blogged. You see, I've been doing a different kind of baking. On June 3rd, I delievered our third child, a sweet baby girl, named Stella. We are so blessed!!! But it wasn't an easy pregnancy by any stretch of the imagination. And for the last nine months (well, eight, I always deliver early) we have eaten a lot of pre-packaged frozen food. Dusty makes a great freezer pizza. :)

But I'm not pregnant any more, and I have the summer off with my family, and I'm so ready to get back to cooking and blogging. I just downloaded Pioneer Woman's new cookbook to my Nook and I am totally in LOVE!!!! It's just amazing. One of the included recipes in her book is for Watermelon Granita. And we had a TON of cut up watermelon that just wasn't getting eaten in our fridge. So I picked up 2 limes from the grocery store and got to work on this delicious new recipe.

Ingredients:
8 cups of seedless watermelon, cut in to chunks
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup sugar

 Preparation Instructions:
1. Use about half of a seedless watermelon. Cut into chunks and set aside.
2. Juice 2 limes
3. Add lime juice, sugar, and as much watermelon as will fit to the blender. Process until completely smooth. My blender is VERY small so I would pour almost all of the pureed watermelon into my 13x9 dish, reserving just a small amount in the blender container to help the next addition of watermelon to puree. Keep going with this process until all of the watermelon is pureed and added to the 13x9 dish.
4. Cover dish and place in the freezer. After 3 hours, remove from the freezer and gently scrape the top layer with a fork. Repeat every few hours until all of the mixture has been scraped.
5. EAT this delicious summer treat!!!!!

Check out her recipe and great photos here (my photo does not do this recipe justice):  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/07/watermelon-granita/

At home does not always mean homemade

If this is going to be an honest blog about what really gets cooked over here at the Drosche house, I need to lay all my cupboards bare.  :)  Yesterday for dinner, it was one of those get food on the table in 30 minutes or less kind of nights; I know you have them too.  I had leftover spaghetti and meatballs in the fridge and some hunks of leftover pot roast.  Spaghetti did not sound good at all.  So I grabbed the leftover pot roast, shredded it, threw it in a saucepan and flavored it up with a bottle of barbeque sauce from the pantry.  I know, I know, I could make a homemade sauce and it would probably be uber delicious, but it was definitely a get it done and get-to-the-table kind of night.  I cringed as I read the first ingredient on the label of the barbeque sauce which was high fructose corn syrup, but then I thought about what the first ingredient in McDonald's chicken nuggets might be and I let it go. So just a few minutes later, with barbeque beef on the buns, some frozen french fries (gasp), and apple slices on the plate, our family was sitting down to eat.  The truth is that I'm not going to be able to make everything from scratch everyday; it's just never going to happen.  So I'm going to be honest about these quick, throw-together meals that hit the menu (whether planned or unplanned) here at the Drosche house.  Maybe they'll help you in your get dinner to the table on those 30 minutes or less kind of nights.

Chocolate glaze

My mom has been out of town for the last week, dropping my little brother off at college in Nebraska.  My brother, Adam, is nine years younger than me, and I love him so much!  He was accepted this fall into the business program at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.  He's going to do a fantastic job, but we're all going to miss his, ah wit and charm, so very much.  To welcome mom back, we picked her up from the airport and had a delicious dinner ready for her.

We tried out a new chili recipe (post coming later) and made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  Yummo!  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is my absolute favorite.  But truth be told, the cake came from a box, but I still count it as homemade because I had to mix and bake it myself.  :)  I didn't want a ton of big, puffy, chocolate frosting so I went searching for a simple chocolate glaze to cover the cake.  This recipe came together so easily and was super delicious!!!


Ingredients:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.  Then add vanilla.
2. Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides. 
3. Add sprinkles!!!  Because no cake is complete without sprinkles.  :)
4. Hide from your husband - mine kept trying to convince me to cut him a slice of the cake before dinner so that he could assure quality control.

From an All Recipes recipe found here:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/satiny-chocolate-glaze/detail.aspx

New Year's Resolutions

Ok - to be perfectly honest, I'm not a huge New Year's fan.  I don't like to stay up late.  I'm terrified of sparklers.  And I hate making New Year's resolutions.  But, I totally appreciate setting achievable goals and well, Dusty's been bugging me about them so I guess I'll jump on the band wagon.  :)  My cooking, grocery shopping, and budget-maintaining responsibilities in my house give me a ton of satisfaction so I'm going to center my goals around that. 

1. Try a new recipe each week.  I like routines and predictability but sometime that means that the food at our house can get boring.  I can get new cookbooks on my Nook super cheap and I've found a ton of other food blogs that I love (Pioneer Woman, Two Peas and their Pod, and Taking on Magazines one Recipe at a Time to name a few).  I'm going to set a goal to try a new recipe each week.
2. Have a plan.  Although I try to be organized, sometimes I totally miss the mark (we all do, right?).  Either I haven't planned meals for the week, or thawed out meat, or scheduled my time well.  I going to set a goal to write out a meal plan each week on Saturday and get organized for the coming week so that meal time isn't stressful and I'm totally organized.   
3. Eat out less.  I really want to eat out less.  Nothing against eating out, but we usually fall back to fast-food or kid-friendly restaurants when I don't have a plan.  If we're going to eat out, I want it to be for a special occasion not because I didn't have my act together.  So for this year, I really want to keep the eating out to once a month or less.  
4. Use coupons.  Coupons are like free money.  Yes, it takes some organization and little bit of extra effort, but the savings can add up super fast.  We are already staying away from the boxed/prepared foods (think inside aisles of the grocery store) and I know a lot of coupons are for those items.  But there are a ton of great coupons out there for cleaning and paper products, meat, cheese, fresh produce, and health and hygiene items.  I know some people the can figure out these deals on their own but the Grocery Game (check out the link below) makes it super easy for me.  I'm going to set a goal to keep up with the Grocery Game for the entire year (sometimes I get lazy and jump off the coupon train) and keep track of my savings.  

Alright, I think those are four great and achievable goals.  And I'll keep you posted through the year on how it's going.  :)  Oh, and Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Cutie Beef

Jackson, my youngest son, is totally enthralled by the Cutie orange commercials.  He insisted that I buy them for him at the grocery store because they are made for kids and he is a kid and so he needed them.  Since he was asking for a healthy snack, I totally gave in and bought some.  (Plus, they are on a crazy good sale right now at HEB and I had a coupon!)  Of course, as soon as we got home, he took one bite of one section and decided that cuties were not for him.  The baby and I have been tearing them up though, so yummy!

I started up on E-Mealz again (and Grocery Gaming).  Links for both sites are listed on the blog here, but combined they make my life so easy.  Grocery Game is a great way to match coupons and store sales to save a TON of money on food.  E-Mealz recently came out with a new Natural/Organic plan that features easy-to-make recipes without using a lot of processed or canned/boxed products.  So, I'm using E-Mealz to help plan meals for the family while using Grocery Game to stock our house with healthy food super cheap.  It's a good plan.  :)  Tonight's meal, Cutie Beef, is an adaptation of an E-Mealz recipe with items that I had on hand already through my stockpile by doing the Grocery Game.

Long story short...  this was a super yummy meal that we all enjoyed!  It marinated overnight and was quick to prepare.  The kiddos ate it deconstructed, as we like to say here, and we enjoyed it with the beef over rice with the pan sauce.  You really have to try this meal, yum-yum!

Ingredients:
(for the marinade)
1 cutie orange, zested and juiced 
 4 green onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1" of fresh ginger, grated using a microplane
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons of sugar
red pepper flakes to taste
3 thin-cut, lean beef steaks (a little more than 1 lb of beef)
(for the pan sauce)
2 Tablespoons of orange marmalade

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade, Cutie orange zest and juice, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and red pepper flakes.  Whisk together.  Place thin steaks in a baking dish.  Pour the marinade over the beef, cover dish, and place in refridgerator overnight.
2. Place a cast iron skillet on medium-high heat.  Add one Tablespoon of butter to the pan.  (Reserve the marinade.)  Cook steaks until medium rare, just about 4-5 minutes on each side.  Remove beef to a cutting board and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes.  Tent with aluminum foil.
3. Add the reserved marinade to the pan, scraping up the pan drippings.  Allow it to come to a boil and thicken slightly.  Add two Tablespoons of orange marmalade and allow the sauce to come together.  
4. We served our Cutie beef with cooked white rice and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. 

Weekend Waffles

After much nagging from Dusty over our Christmas vacation (love you honey!), I'm once-again writing for my blog.  :)  There hasn't been a lot of cooking in our house during the last part of 2011.  Just a month after my shoulder surgery in September, Dusty and I found out that we had a baby on board.  Drosche #3 is due in June 2012 and since then I've struggled with morning (noon & night) sickness.  We've eaten a lot of boxed, already prepared, and fast food.  But it slowly starting to get better and I'm looking forward to cooking again and resurrecting the blog.  :)

So, onto a new and exciting post...  I love big breakfasts! During the week, I have a list of quick and healthy breakfasts for me and the kiddos posted on the side of the fridge, things like yogurt, cheese sticks, toast and peanut butter.  Lots of things that we can just grab and go.  But on the weekends, I like to do breakfast up right.  This morning, we had the cousins over for a sleepover and so with three extra mouths to feed, I knew my go-to waffle recipe would be awesome.  We're trying to cut out a lot of the processed, boxed/canned foods and so a few weeks ago, I found this waffle recipe.  It's super easy and if you double it, you'll have plenty of leftovers to freeze.  And the best part is that you can pop them in your toaster or microwave just like an eggo during the week.  So this is written as my doubled recipe which will make a TON of waffles, but you can always half it if you don't want all of the leftovers.  And fear not, I know there's a lot of powdered sugar on those waffles in the picture, they are sweet enough, I just like my waffles almost like desert.  :)

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
4 eggs
3 cups buttermilk (regular milk can be substituted but I love the tang this provides)
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Set aside. 
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the buttermilk, butter and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture; beat until blended.
3. Preheat your waffle iron.
4. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately. 
5. If you are going to freeze the leftover waffles, allow them to cool completely.  Then stack between layers of wax paper in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.  

Adapted from a recipe posted on All Recipes:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/classic-waffles/detail.aspx 

Greek "Spanakopita" Spaghetti and Meatballs

My boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pasta.  They really don't care how it comes as long as it involves pasta.  However, they have a strong aversion to anything green.  So when I stumbled upon this recipe for a Greek-style pasta dish and I just had to try it, even if it had a lot of green.  I think what drew me in was the Feta cheese.  You see I've discovered this new love affair with Feta.  I'm not quite sure what kicked it off but we've been putting Feta deliciousness on just about everything coming out of our kitchen for the past week.  Creamy, salty, tangy, yumminess!!!

So tonight, I nervously prepped all of the ingredients for this new dish.  I rarely make homemade meatballs and I had never made a creamy pasta dish on my own before.  I have to say if you get all of the prep work done ahead of time, this recipe is a breeze!  From start to finish it was about a 45 minute dish, which probably could have been faster if I wasn't so nervous.  :)

I promise you that this recipe will not disappoint!  And if you have picky kiddos, you might be surprised by how much spinach they will willingly eat when it is surrounded by pasta.  Enjoy - and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
1 lb of ground lean ground beef
1 Tbs of lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic - grated
1/2 Tbs of fresh mint minced
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of red chili flakes
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
2 Tbs of milk
salt and pepper to taste  

For the Pasta Sauce:
1/2 medium onion chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic - grated
1 cup of milk (whole)
1 cup of chicken broth 
1 Tbs of fresh mint minced
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp red chili flakes (or to taste) 4oz of crumbled Feta
4oz of onion and chive cream cheese 
1lb of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed) 

Preparation Instructions:

1. Cook 1 lb of pasta according to instructions.  Cook just shy of done since pasta will cook more in the sauce.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water in case it is needed for the sauce. 
2. Mix ingredients for meatballs - beef, lemon juice, garlic, mint, oregano, red chili flakes, bread crumbs, milk, salt, & pepper.  Shape into meatballs and cook in a large skillet with 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.  When meatballs are browned, removed from skillet to a plate.  
3. With the remaining oil and drippings from cooking the meatballs, saute onion.  When onions are softened, add garlic and cook for another minute.  
4. Next, create the sauce for the pasta dish by adding the milk, chicken broth, mint, oregano, chili flakes, Feta, and cream cheese to the onion & garlic mixture in the skillet.  Cook, over medium heat, until the Feta and cream cheese have melted into the sauce.  Add the meatballs and any drippings from the plate where they were reserved.  And finally, add the spinach and then taste for seasoning.  Adjust the salt and pepper if needed.
5. Finally, add the cooked pasta to the sauce.  If needed, thin the sauce with the reserved pasta water. 
 

Adapted from Curry and Comfort post found here:  

http://curryandcomfort.blogspot.com/2011/09/greek-spanakopita-spaghetti-and.html

Pear & Blue Cheese salad

Well, the school year got off to a fantastic start.  However, on the fourth day of school, I dislocated my shoulder.  Yes, you read that right, on just the FOURTH DAY OF SCHOOL!!!  In the process of dislocating it, I tore the ligaments from the bone of the front of my shoulder, some from the back of my shoulder, fractured the back side of my socket, and lengthened the ligaments in the joint.  I've since had surgery to correct it and will start physical therapy next month.  It's been an incredibly frustrating process and I'm dealing with doing things with just one arm.  But I've been blessed by tremendous support from my family and my work family.  :)  So my cooking for now is extremely limited but we are still eating home-cooked, wholesome meals.  It may not be fancy, but I have missed blogging and I am committed to getting back to it.

Over the summer, Dusty and I ate at some "fancy" restaurants.  You know, the kind of places where they don't have kiddie menus or crayons or color sheets.  On one of our trips. we went to RDG Bar Annie with my mom, my brother and my sister.  One of the dishes in the four course meal we enjoyed was a pear, endive, and blue cheese salad.  I did not like blue cheese at all before this salad but I stepped out of my comfort zone and I was truly surprised.  I loved the creamy texture and tang of the blue cheese.  That combined with the sweet crunchy pear and delicious salad greens, and I was in heaven.  Salads at my house up until this past week have been pretty boring.  Salad greens, grated cheddar cheese, bagged croutons, and bottled salad dressing.  With this salad, I'm kicking up the bar a bit.  :)  And I invite you to take a step out of your comfort zone and try a new salad this week!

Ingredients:  (enough for 2 nice sized side-salads)
5 cups of mixed spring greens
2 Tbls. italian dressing
1/2 pear, peeled, cored, and diced
2 Tbls. chopped walnuts
2 Tbls. blue cheese

Preparation instructions:

1. Toss mixed greens with Italian dressing in a bowl.  Divide between two plates
2. Peel pear.  Cut in half (reserve remaining half for another salad).  Dice pear into small pieces.  Sprinkle pear pieces on top of mixed greens.
3. Sprinkle walnuts and blue cheese on top of pears and mixed greens.  
4. Abandon blue cheese fears and dig in!!! 

Tortilla Soup

To start, I have to say that I typically only eat soup during the winter.  But out of nowhere, I had a hankering for tortilla soup.  I checked my freezer and pantry and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had most of the items needed already on hand.  So last weekend, I whipped up a yummy batch.  With some crushed up tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and a dollop of guacamole, it was a delicious summer treat and not heavy winter food at all.  So now, I'm not sure why I had regulated soups to a winter-only menu item.  I was surprised by the fact that I had a hearty dinner on the table in 30-45 minutes.  And I really only dirtied one big pot.  I'm thinking I should start searching for some more soup recipes.  :)

This soup had the right amount of kick and lots of delicious vegetables.  If you'd prefer a meatless meal, I would suggest adding another can of black beans or some frozen corn.  And rather than add tortillas at the last stage of the cooking process, we opted to top the soup with crushed tortilla chips.  Have fun experimenting with different toppings, between pico de gallo, guacamole, shredded cheese, sour cream, and more, you just can't go wrong!   

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 cup Diced Onion
• ¼ cups Diced Green Bell Pepper
• ¼ cups Red Bell Pepper
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 2 cups of shredded chicken
• 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 4 cups Hot Water
• 2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
• 3 Tablespoons Cornmeal
• 5 whole Corn Tortillas, Cut Into Uniform Strips Around 2 To 3 Inches

Preparation Instructions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the spices (cumin, salt, chili powder). Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.
Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, and black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.
Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water. Pour into the soup, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Check seasonings, adding more if needed—add more chili powder if it needs more spice, and be sure not to undersalt. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.


adapted from Pioneer Woman's recipe
 

MIA - San Antonio trip

I know, I know, I've been MIA.  This is the crazy time of year at work.  The time of year when you could work all day and still need a couple of extra hours.  Truth be told, our dinners have come from jars, or boxes from the freezer.  Not at all blog worthy.  At our house, we call it junk food night and I just can't say enough about taquitos and poppers from the freezer. 

Dusty also whisked me away to San Antonio for the weekend.  You see, my 30th birthday is coming up in a week.  I'm actually really excited about it, not nervous at all.  But Dusty loves to spoil me and I love to be spoiled, so it kind of works out.  We had a great weekend in San Antonio and ate the most delicious dinner at Biga on the Banks.  You simply must try it and it is a post all to itself.  The delicious items above (plants, giant zucchini, baby red onions, and yellow grape tomatoes) came from a farmer's market near Pearl Brewery.  It was amazing to see all of the different produce and be able to purchase directly from the people that poured their heart and soul into it.  Dusty and I have been researching farmer's markets here in the Houston area and have found this one and this one.  We are making plans to take the family to one really soon.  More posts to come soon about my amazing dinner at Biga on the Banks and some more dinner ideas for the busy working mom. 

Elote - Mexican style grilled corn

Hi - my name is Amy - and I'm addicted to grilled corn.  It really is a problem, well, maybe it's not.  I like grilled corn and it's sort-of a vegetable.

Ok, I digress.  On to the recipe!!!  Ears of corn have been a on sale at the grocery store and we've been grilling at least once a week.  The perfect side dish has been grilled corn.  But I was reading on another blog (check out Bon Appetempt here) about her recipe for elote - corn, mayo, cheese, spicy delishishness.  Now I have to admit, using mayo for anything other than sandwiches kind of grosses me out.  But I'm growing and I'm stepping out of my mayo-belongs-only-on-a-sandwich box.  The grilled corn was fantastically sweet.  Add to that the creamy mayo topping and cheesy-spicy mix - wowie!  It's grilled corn magic.  Give it a try the next time you and your family grill up a meal and let me know what you think.

Elote:

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn (silk & husk removed)
3 Tablespoons lite mayo
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder (can substitute regular chili powder)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.
2. In one bowl, mix mayo and lemon juice.  Set aside.
3. In another bowl, mix parmesan cheese, chipotle chili powder, cumin, and salt.  Set aside.
4. Grill corn, until bright yellow and/or slightly charred on all sides.  (I like mine with just a few black spots, Dusty likes his mostly black.  Your choice.)
5. Remove corn from grill.  Using a silicone brush "paint" the corn with the mayo mixture.  Sprinkle cheese/spice mixture immediately afterward onto the corn.

Red Velvet Brownies

I have had an insatiable sweet tooth lately.  But, I do not bake.  Baking is precise.  Not only that but you have to follow the steps exactly, you have to measure everything, and it's just not my cup of tea.  But my fantastic husband, Dusty, does bake.  Dusty is lots of things, patient, kind, supportive, as well as being a great baker!  So he's making a guest appearance on the blog with red velvet brownies.  I've been searching for a good red velvet brownie recipe for the better part of the week.  The initial recipe that sent me on the hunt had a good brownie base and had a cream cheese icing.  I don't know why, but it just didn't scream yum to me.  So I went searching some more.  Other recipes just had a stand alone brownie with lots of red food dye.  Again, just wasn't what I was looking for.  Then this morning, I found it!  This recipe had a delicious, cakey red velvet brownie base.  And it was swirled with cream cheesyness goodness (yes, that's a word).  I showed Dusty the recipe and declared that he just HAD to make them for me.  I ran out to get cream cheese and red food dye while Dusty looked over the recipe.  Lots of measuring, mixing, pan-greasing, and layering ensued while I watched from the sidelines giving "helpful suggestions" all along the way.   I am a horrible back-seat baker.  :(  We omitted the walnuts from the original recipe and cooked them for 33 minutes rather than the 30 minutes.  Me & Dusty and the boys dove into these as soon as we snapped the pictures and they are so yummy!  If red velvet is a favorite of yours, you will want to try these brownies. 

And I got to thinking about a few questions... Do you have split cooking/baking responsibilities in your house?  Do you prefer cooking over baking too? 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for pan

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Special equipment: 8 by 8-inch baking pan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking pan, and set aside.

Brownie layer: In a saucepan on medium heat melt the butter. Remove the butter to a large bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, in that order, mixing between additions. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and stir it into the cocoa mix. Fold in the flour until lightly combined. Stir in the walnuts and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, saving 1/4 cup of the batter for the top.

Cream cheese layer: Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Gently spread the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie batter in the pan. Dollop the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, drag the tip through the cream cheese mixture to create a swirl pattern. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before cutting.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/red-velvet-swirl-brownies-recipe/index.html