Archive for » November, 2008 «

Pumpkin Spice Cake

My sister used to call this “pumpcake” and she loved it.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package Spice cake mix
  • 1 cup pumpkin 
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 small package instant vanilla pudding
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup pecan halves

Directions:

  1. Add ingredients together in order given, mix for 5 minutes
  2. Grease and flour Bundt pan
  3. Place pecan halves in bottom of pan with a pat of butter
  4. Pour batter in
  5. Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes and turn out of pan

Lentil Burritos

Ingredients
1 cup rice, uncooked ($.20)
1 cup green lentils, uncooked ($.50)
1/2 of an onion, finely chopped ($.20)
1 small can Muir Glen tomato paste
1 packet Taco Seasoning,
1 bag corn or flour tortillas ($.69-$1.29) I used corn to keep it gluten free.
1 cup shredded cheese ($.75) 
Salsa or sour cream or other favorite Mexican garnish ($.50)
1/2 bag Cascadian Farm frozen corn ($.75)

Directions
1. Cook rice in 2 1/4
2. Cook lentils in 4 cups of water.
3. Combine cooked rice and lentils in large saucepan. Add tomato paste + 2 tomato paste cans worth of water. Stir through.
4. Add seasoning packet or spices. Let simmer about 10 minutes. Check on it to make sure it doesn’t get too “dry”.
5. Spoon lentil-rice mixture into tortilla. Add shredded cheese. Wrap up burrito style!
6. Cook frozen corn as directed. Serve as side dish or inside the burrito.
Category: Vegetarian Leave a Comment Tags:

Crock pot Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, mashed
  • 1 (28 oz) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (6 oz) can tomate paste
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 12 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta)
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese or asiago cheese
  • 12 oz lasagna noodles, uncooked
  • 16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

  1. Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic in pan (can add mushrooms if desired)
  2. Add tomato sauce, tomate paste, salt and oregano. Cook until warm
  3. Spoon layer of meat sauce into bottom of crock pot
  4. Add a double layer of noodles (break to fit) and top with cheeses
  5. Repeat sauce, noodles, and cheeses until all gone
  6. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours

Snowball Cookies

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Time to pull this recipe out!

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks margarine or butter (I use unsalted butter)
  • 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
  • 2 cups of all-purpose flour (I’m trying whole-wheat flour this year)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 1 cup of pecans; chopped fine (by my handy-dandy Pampered Chef chopper)

 

Directions:

  1. Cream margarine and sugar together
  2. Add other ingredients
  3. Mix well and form into balls
  4. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes
  5. Let cool and then roll in powdered sugar
Category: Dessert One Comment

Chipa

Got this from Wiens World blog

Chipa

2 eggs
300 gr. cheese
1/2 c. oil
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt

Put these ingredients into a blender and mix well.

1. Then pour this liquid into a bowl and add 2 tsp. baking powder and enough corn starch to make a dough to form little balls. Bake them in a moderately hot oven, until golden brown.
This is one variety.
or
2. Add 2 tsp. baking powder and enough corn starch to make a dough that you can still pour. Then I pour the dough into my mini muffin tins and bake them until golden brown.
These chipa will be a little softer.

Crockpot mashed potatoes with sourcream and cream cheese

Got from A Year of CrockPotting

–5 pounds of red potatoes
–1 block of cream cheese, room temperature (8 oz. I used light)
–1 cup sour cream (I used light)
–1 chicken bouillon cube
–1/2 cup of water, reserved from boiling the potatoes
–1 tsp garlic powder 
–1 T dried parsley
 

The Directions. 

Wash and peel the potatoes, leaving the skin on some if desired. Cut in quarters to quicken boiling time. Put the pieces into a large pot and cover completely with water.

Bring the potatoes to a boil on the stove top. Boil rapidly for 10-20 minutes, or until potatoes are fork-tender.

Scoop out 1/2 cup of the water from the pot. Add the bouillon cube to the water. Drain the potatoes, and return to pot. 

Open the cream cheese and put into the pot with the hot potatoes. Add sour cream. Pour in the water with the bouillon cube, also. Add the parsley and garlic powder.

Mash with a potato masher. If you don’t have a masher, the way that I seem to not, you can use a wire wisk. It’ll work just fine. 

After smashing well, scoop the potatoes out of the pot and place into a 4 to 6 quart crockpot. Cook on high for 2 hours, or on low for 4. Can be kept on warm indefinitely. After two hours on high, my potatoes got a bit crusty on the top and edges.

Graham cracker dessert

I had this at the beach so I went hunting for the recipe. This one looks right.

Cookie pan with edge

Graham crackers
1 c. almonds (or pecans) or walnuts!
2 sticks butter (I use 1 of butter & 1 of butter)
1/2 c. sugar

 

Layer cookie pan with graham crackers (break them apart). Place close together so that most of the glaze will stay on top of the crackers. Sprinkle on nuts.Heat butter and sugar on low until butter melts and sugar is dissolved. Then bring to a boil for 2 minutes.

Pour mixture over crackers and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Take out onto foil and let cool. (The first few are difficult to get out of pan.

NOTE: 1 box of graham crackers will make 3 pans of cookies.

Lentil Meatloaf

From $5 dinners

Ingredients
1.5 lb ground beef ($2.24)
1 cup leftover BBQ lentils (Free)
1/2 cup sour cream ($.25)
1 egg ($.12)
Ketchup ($.25)
Salt/pepper, paprika and garlic powder ($.10)
Acorn Squash ($.69)
Butter/Brown Sugar ($.25)
2 slices Italian loaf bread, 2 GF apple muffins ($.50)

Directions
1. Mix ground beef, egg, sour cream, lentils, salt and pepper, spices in mixing bowl. Place meat mixture into 9×5 loaf pan. Sprinkle ketchup in a cool design along the top! Sneak in some veggies on this one…finely diced green peppers or shredded carrots would be easy to add in!
2. Slice acorn squash in half. Bake upside down in baking dish with 1/4 inch water. Cover with foil for super tender squash.
3. Serve up the meatloaf with some ketchup and butter/brown sugar for the squash if you like!

Category: Beef Leave a Comment

Chickpea Stew

CHICKPEA STEW
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic (or more, if you’re a garlic fan like me!)
1/2 tsp basil -or- italian seasoning mix (depending on your taste)
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 med zucchini, quartered lengthwise and then cut into bite size pieces
1 med onion, diced
1 large tomato, diced (you can also use canned stewed or diced tomato)
2-3 cups chopped fresh spinach
2-3 cups cooked rice
Parmesan cheese

1. In a large saute pan, heat oil – add garlic and herbs/seasoning, let it sizzle for just under a minute or until the garlic is slightly browned
.2. Add chickpeas and zucchini, stir to coat with oil and garlic. reduce heat slightly, cover and let cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add onions, stir to mix, re-cover and let cook for about 3 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
4. Add tomato, stir to mix, re-cover and let cook for about 2 minutes.
5. Add spinach, stir to mix, re-cover and let cook for about 4 minutes. Remove cover and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, or until the spinach is cooked.
6. If desired, serve over 3/4 cup of rice, add parmesan cheese to taste.Makes 4-6 servings.

Category: Soup Leave a Comment Tags:

Creamy Minestrone soup

Creamy Minestrone  

24 oz. beef broth (I’ve used vegetable stock with no noticeable difference in taste)
1 pack/10 oz frozen chopped spinach (fresh works too if you don’t mind chopping)
1 C. macaroni (shells are my favorite for this soup, but anything works.  Medium to small pasta works best)
1 can condensed tomato soup (see notes below)
4 C. milk
1 1/2 C. sliced & quartered zucchini – about 2 medium
1 tsp. dried oregano (a good handful if you use fresh)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (I usually mince up 3 cloves, but we love garlic)
2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 C. grated parmesan cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled (optional)

Place beef broth and spinach in a large saucepan or dutch oven; cook over low heat until spinach is thawed, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile,  cook macaroni according to package directions.  Rinse and drain well.  (I usually only cook the macaroni for about 1/2 of the suggested time – it holds up better in the soup that way)

To the pot, add tomato soup and tomato paste, milk, zucchini, oregano, garlic and macaroni.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Sitr in cheddar cheese until melted.  Garnish soup with parmesan cheese and/or bacon.

Serves 4-6

Category: Soup Leave a Comment