Have You Made Your Own Granola Yet?

If you haven't tried this granola yet you are really missing something!

It is so yummy and crunchy and texture-y... Plus it's fun to play around with and add stuff to!

This week's version includes dried apples and sunflower seeds.

Leave a comment on Facebook if you have some ideas of tasty things to add to granola!

Make Macaroni & Cheese -- Stove Top Style

We have been entertaining quite a bit since moving to our new home in Indiana.  And by that I don't mean that we're a laugh riot now and we make those around us un-bored -- what I mean is that we are "being hospitable" (as my husband says).  Having people over for dinner.  Making new friends.  It's fun and I'm enjoying having the kind of home and kitchen that makes doing this a pretty easy thing.

When there are young children accompanying their parents to our house for dinner, I like to have a dish of mac & cheese available to suit their sometimes simpler palate...  and the baked kind, though it can be delicious, doesn't hold up to sitting around very well.  Plus it takes up space in my oven.  In search for a recipe that could be made ahead and then sit on the back of the stove while I prepared the other dishes, and still be creamy and yummy it when it was time to eat, I found this popular version -- Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese, courtesy Alton Brown and the Food Network.  It's a good one, but I've tweaked and toned it down just a bit to make it even simpler to make and less intensely flavored -- we're not big mustard fans around here so I took that out entirely.

Once you get the hang of this recipe (and make a habit of keeping these simple ingredients on hand) you'll find it's really not that much more work than the blue box, for a much tastier and healthier result.

Macaroni & Cheese -- Stove Top Style

Serves 4-6 as a hearty side dish.

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni (approx. 2 cups)
• 4 T butter
• 6 oz evaporated milk (this is half of a large can or use a small can which is 5 oz -- should be fine)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• black pepper, to taste
• 8 oz medium cheddar cheese, shredded (most grocery-store blocks are 8 oz, or use a pre-shredded bag which should also come in 8 oz size)

Directions:

 

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the elbow macaroni until al dente.  Drain.  Return the pasta to the pot.  Add the butter and toss to coat.

In a separate bowl or large glass measuring cup, whisk together the evaporated milk, eggs, salt, and black pepper.  (You can do this step while the pasta is cooking and have it ready to go when the pasta has been drained & buttered.  You can also shred the block of cheese while the pasta is cooking, if you haven't bought the pre-shredded kind.)  Stir the egg & milk mixture into the pasta.

Now add the shredded cheese to the pot and turn the heat to low -- stir the (somewhat strange looking at this point) mixture steadily with a wooden spoon and after 3 to 4 minutes it will magically morph into a creamy, sauce-y, yummy pot of mac & cheese!  Make sure it's nice and hot, and enjoy immediately, or cover and set on the back of the stove (no heat) until you are ready to serve -- you may need to add a splash of regular milk and stir it a bit over very low heat before serving but I have had this sitting for up to an hour and it's been just fine!

Make Mexican Chicken & Rice

Okay peeps, here is my FAVORITE easy dish for those crazy busy days...

Mexican Chicken with Rice

This recipe was originally a crock pot idea, but I am going to share how I prepare it for my family.

In the morning I take 1 pound of boneless chicken breasts out of the freezer (do you keep a stockpile of chicken in your freezer? If not, you should! More on that another day...)

I also put just under 2 cups of rice with 2 cups of water in my rice cooker. (This is the amount that works for our family of 5, plus the occasional babysitter who is eating with the kids while I am teaching in the music studio.) My rice cooker has a delay timer, so I can set it and forget it!

After the chicken has thawed enough for me to cut it into cubes, I throw the pieces into a skillet and sprinkle them with cumin and seasoning salt to taste. I cook the chicken until it has just turned from pink to white and then I toss it all into a bowl with 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce. If you want to have less dishes to wash, just pour the enchilada sauce in an 8x8 baking dish and then stir in the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with 4 ounces of shredded cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 10-20 minutes. Scatter with 3 chopped green onions and serve over the rice that has been cooking in the rice cooker!

If you're like me and enjoy making things from scratch, then you have to make this homemade enchilada sauce. It's so good!!! And you can freeze it!

Easy Chicken Stuffing Bake

Looking for a FAST dinner that only gets one pot and one baking dish dirty?! I've got one...

I sorta made this up with influences from several friends and pins. I am a collector of one-pot meal recipess, not only because it makes clean-up easy, but because I am not often the one who is fixing it and feeding it to my kids. I run my own private music studio and therefore my work day begins around 3:00 and wraps up around 7:00. I have various caregivers during the week who watch the little ones while I am teaching, so these kind of meals are the BEST!

I can fix this meal ahead of time, cover it and leave it for my sitter to heat up when bellies start grumbling. It's super easy for her to scoop out and serve to all three of my kids. It's also easy for hubby to find and serve himself when he gets home from work. And if there's anything left for me when I am finished... I, too, can quickly get a bite to eat before bath time and tucking my children in for the night!

Here's what you'll need:

1-2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, pre-cooked and shredded
2 batches of cream of whatever soup (meaning 2/3 cup of mix with 2 1/2 cups of water, heated and stirred on the stove in a medium saucepan)
10 oz (or so) frozen veggies
Box of Stuffing (or homemade, whatever you like really)

Make the cream of whatever soup and pour it over the chicken and the veggies in a shallow baking dish. Stir until completely coated. Make stuffing according to directions - in the same saucepan that you heated the soup in - and spread it on top of the chicken mixture. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes COVERED and then 15 more minutes UNCOVERED. Serve. That's it. So easy.

Enjoy!

A Quick Hash for Dinner

One of the things that I like to keep on-hand in my refrigerator is Turkey Smoked Sausage. This stuff can make for a very quick meal and you don't have to worry about defrosting any meat!

My favorite recipe to use is my Smoked Sausage Hash -- I guess I will call it -- and it goes like this...

Slice the sausage into silver dollar sized pieces and sear it on a frying pan with a little bit of butter and some onions and green peppers. Once the veggies have cooked down some (to your liking --either all the way until they are soft, or leave a little bit of crunch to them) and the sausage is crisped on the edges, add some potatoes. I usually boil some diced potatoes and throw them in the pan so they will brown as well... but to make things even quicker, this time I just added some natural french fries that I had heated up in the oven.

Toss everything around and while it is cooking, scramble enough eggs to cover the whole mixture in egg. I scrambled my eggs with a bit of milk, but water works well also and doesn't add extra calories. Pour the eggs into the pan and let it cook on low until it starts bubbling. Give it a stir, but don't stir too often. Cover the pan and let it finish off. Season to taste. (I used seasoning salt that I added when I put in the french fries.) Sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top and let it melt.

Serve with condiments if you like -- my kids like ketchup on it. My husband likes hot sauce. I like it plain.

Fast and Yummy!

Make Chicken Pie for Dinner



Pictured here with my
Freezer Mashed Potatoes (for another day)

I have never been a pie person. Probably have mentioned it once or twice on here before; just not crazy about the crust. I know, strange, right? I do love biscuits, however... so when I came across a chicken "pot pie" recipe that called for a biscuit topping, I just had to try it!!!



Apparently I didn't have a SMALL saucepan...

In a small saucepan, melt 3 Tbsp butter. Add 3 Tbsp flour and mix it together thoroughly. Gradually pour in 1 1/3 cups chicken broth--whisk constantly to prevent lumps. Keep stirring and cooking until it thickens and boils. Add 2 cups of cooked chicken [TIP: When you buy chicken breasts on sale, butterfly fillet them and grill them with seasoned salt -- chop up and store in the freezer!].


At this point I go away from the original recipe because I like things to be as one-pot as possible... so I also throw in some veggies. This evening we had peas in our Chicken Pie. You can pretty much add 1-1 1/2 cups of anything and you'll still be okay with the amount of sauce you created. Anyway, after you have mixed that all together add salt and pepper to taste as well as 1 tsp dried parsley flakes [or 1 Tbsp fresh minced parsley]. Mix it all up and pour it into a pie plate.

Make a biscuit dough:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like crumbs. Lightly stir in milk until you have a soft [rather sticky] dough. Roll or pat out in a circle, about 1/2-inch thick. Place over chicken in the pie plate. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Serves 4-6. 

Make-it-your-own Turkey Meatball Soup

This isn't so much of a recipe as a method...  you can make this soup your own by adjusting the amounts or seasonings to your family's taste.  (This method of soup making works great for all kinds of chicken or turkey soup.)

Reach into your produce drawer and pull out whatever savory vegetables you have...  a stalk or two of celery (or just the tops, if you've chopped them up when preparing celery sticks) and a carrot or two.  Grab an onion (fresh from the pantry, or the half-an-onion that you put in a ziploc bag when you only needed a half of one yesterday).

Finely chop the vegetables, you want roughly equal amounts.  Put a large pot on your stove, turn the heat to medium-low and put in an equivalent amount of tablespoons of butter per cup of veggies.  (I know that explanation is crystal-clear, but just in case you're confused, what I mean here is that if you have about 2 cups of veggies then put 2 T of butter in the pan, 3 cups of veggies then 3 T of butter, etc. etc.)  Stir this around and let the veggies cook until they are soft and your kitchen smells awesome.  Then sprinkle an equivalent number of tablespoons of flour over the veggies and stir until nicely combined.  (Again, it's obvious to you I'm sure what I mean here but just in case...  if you melted 39 T of butter (because you had 39 cups of vegetables) then you should add 39 T of flour, etc. etc.)

After this mixture has cooked for a minute or two while you've stirred it around, turn the heat down to low and pour in some chicken broth. (I usually don't have chicken broth actually, but if you have some homemade then great, or canned, that's fine too...  I generally add the powdered or cubed stuff to water and microwave and stir it up and voila, I have broth!)  Again, the same magical match-the-amounts thing applies: add the equivalent amount (in cups this time) of broth to the mixture.  Add it slowly and whisk all the time that the broth is going in.  It will not glob up and make lumps and be disgusting if you make sure to have the heat on low and add the liquid in a small stream and be sure to whisk all the time.  Oh, and chew gum while counting backwards from 30 at the same time, that's the key to a successful soup, believe me!

Just kidding, you don't have to chew the gum.  That was a joke.

OK so now go ahead and add another equivalent amount of broth.  So actually that means that you are adding DOUBLE the amount of broth.

Math is so cool.

And it's late at night and I'm punchy.

So back to the soup.  At this point I would like you to add some turmeric to your yummy soup. This can be to taste, if I am making a full pot of soup to serve about 6 people, then I'd add about a teaspoon.  The turmeric will make your soup all beautifully golden yellow and very healthy, and it will also stain your wooden spoon if you aren't careful to immediately rinse it.  (This I know by experience.)

You should also add some other lovely herbs at this point.  I recommend adding equal amounts of dried parsley, dried thyme, and dried (or rubbed) sage but you can add what you particularly like.

UND NOW, add the frozen meatballs.
Since this is turkey meatball soup it'd be a shame to forget them.

Last step is adding some rice or another small pasta or grain.  I suggest brown rice, but that's because I'm all healthy and superior. 

Ahem.

Now let the pot of yummyness simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the rice is cooked and the meatballs are heated through.

Sadly, I don't have a photo. You'll just have to imagine it...

Meanwhile here is an image that will certainly inspire you as you prepare soup for your family.

"May I have some more, sir?"

Here's what you'll need (ingredients-wise) for a pot of soup that should make 6-8 servings.

• a stalk or two of celery, or just the tops & leaves
• a carrot or two... or three
• an onion, or so
• 3 T flour
• 6 cups chicken broth (or bouillon cubes/granules dissolved in water)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 cup brown rice (or a small pasta like orzo or tiny shells, or quinoa or some other small grain)
• 1 bag of store-bought frozen turkey meatballs or your own homemade meatballs, frozen

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

A family favorite... Sausage Gravy!

This really isn't a recipe exactly... more like a list of "to-dos..."

1. Get yourself some high quality pork sausage. Here's why it's a good idea in the first place. Besides all of THAT, you need to do it because you don't want your sausage to have too much fat cooking off because then you would have to drain it and that would be messy and take too long and frankly it's just gross. It's better if whatever cooks out of the meat just stays there in the pan because it will help make your gravy really yummers.

2. Gather up the ingredients: pork sausage, flour, milk, seasonings.

3. Brown the pork sausage in a large pan (preferably one with higher sides). As the meat is cooking, add spices/seasonings that your family might enjoy. We like sage, thyme, maybe a bit of garlic or paprika or oregano. We also like this stuff. And of course salt and pepper. This is really "to taste."

4. Once everything is cooked, sprinkle some flour over the meat, enough to coat it thoroughly. Don't use too much so that everything looks white... It should just be an even layer on the meat, soaked up by the fat drippings that remain in the pan.

5. Pour milk over the meat until just covering all the crumbles.

6. Cook until it starts to bubble and thicken up. Stir.

7. While that is going on, make yourself some biscuits. We like these. Or you could also fry up some hash brown potatoes.

8. Scramble some eggs and then the most important part: smother everything with gravy.  (At least that's how my husband likes it.)

Homemade Chili

Here's a super easy, super yummy recipe for chili! Family favorite... I make it from memory. :-)

Tried & True Chili

My 8-year old really wanted to take the photo this time...

You'll need:

1 lb ground beef
1 small chopped onion
3 cans of beans (I use 2 kidney and 1 black)
1 quart tomato sauce
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp water
Toppings

Brown the ground beef and onion in a large pot. Drain fat. Add the beans (drained and rinsed) and the tomato sauce and cook for 10 minutes. Make a paste from the chili powder, flour, salt and water and stir it into the pot. Cook on low heat for at least 45 minutes until beans are soft and flavors are well mixed. Stir every so often.

Serve with your favorite toppings (shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions, etc.)

I also really enjoy fixing some cornbread to serve with this chili. My favorites are Trader Joes and Marie Callendars.

Enjoy some Colcannon on St. Patty's Day!

Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?"

Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.

And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry.
Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.

This weekend, enjoy some Colcannon with your family.  [We don't think you have to be Irish to do so.] This traditional Irish dish is a savory combination of mashed white potatoes and dark, leafy kale (or cabbage) cooked together with leeks or scallions and enough milk and butter to make it all smooth, creamy, and yum!

There are variations on this dish but the basic gist is as follows.  (See the complete recipe here.) You can experiment to make it to your taste, I don't think the measurements are hard and fast at all!

To make a big pot of it, you'll need:

• about 2 lbs white potatoes (Russet, Yukon Gold, whatever you like and have on hand)
• a few scallions or leeks (you could skip these if you don't like 'em)
• about 3 lightly packed cups of chopped kale, chard, cabbage (I prefer kale)
• 6 T butter, divided (4 T, and 2 T melted, for serving)
• 1 c milk 
• Salt & pepper, to taste

The plan is simple -- peel, chop and set the potatoes to boil in a large pot of water.  Meanwhile, chop up the scallions or leeks and wash/chop the greens as needed.

Drain the potatoes when they are tender (this will take 10-15 minutes).

The recipe I've linked to has a slightly different preparation but here's what I suggest -- take the same large pot (that you boiled the potatoes in) and add an inch or two of water and a steamer basket.  Put the greens in the steamer basket, cover, and set the pot to boil again.  Place the leeks/scallions in another smaller saucepan with the 1 c milk and allow this mixture to come to a boil and then simmer for a few minutes until the scallions/leeks are soft.  Watch the big pot and turn the heat off when the greens have wilted.

[I realize my directions will now have turned this into a 2-pot meal.  Sorry about that.  I just like it better.]

Remove the wilted greens from the steamer basket and then put the drained potatoes back in the big pot and mash 'em up.  Add 4 T butter, the hot greens, and then pour in the milk & scallions/leeks.  Stir and mash the whole mess, over low heat -- to your desired consistency -- making sure it's all heated through and yummy.  Salt & pepper to taste.

Serving --  It is traditional to serve Colcannon in a bowl with a small well in the middle, into which you have poured a bit of melted butter. Go ahead, I give you permission.  At any rate, enjoy this hearty dish right away or the next day -- it will keep and re-heat very well.  Especially yummy served as a side to kielbasa sausage, like the Dutch version which is called Boerenkool Stamppot.

P.S.  I imagine you're thinking why isn't she suggesting corned-beef-and-cabbage?  Well that's because I don't like corned-beef-and-cabbage and my family would run from the house screaming if I even appeared to be thinking about making that for dinner. Just so we're clear.

Fast-5-Feasts: Spicy Chicken Casserole

Yes, Thomas the Tank Engine joined us for dinner...

The first of (what I hope will be) many:

Recipes for you to try that only require
FIVE ingredients!!!

Why is that so cool?

It's CHEAP.

It's QUICK.

It's YUMMY.

It doesn't require you to THINK.

Spicy Chicken Casserole
1. Cooked, shredded chicken (2lbs)
2. Corn chips, crumbled (2/3 bag-ish?)
3. Cream of Chicken Soup (1 can)
4. Salsa (1 small jar)
5. Shredded Cheese (sharp cheddar is best)

In a bowl stir together the chicken, soup and salsa. Then spread half the mixture in the bottom of a shallow baking dish. Cover that with a layer of chips. Repeat. Melt some shredded cheese on top, or just serve as is and have a bowl of cheese on the table for people to add for themselves if they so desire. Bake until heated through (like 20 minutes) in a 350 degree oven.

Serve with a quick salad and you're done!!!

Leftover Ham Crockpot Soup

You'll need:

• a ham bone and any other leftover ham you want to use (from Thanksgiving probably and in the freezer)
• a can of Northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
• about 4 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
• 1/3 c Israeli couscous (or barley or other very small pasta like orzo)
• 2 T flour

Earlier today I put the ham bone and beans in the crock pot, added the spices and enough water to cover.  Since I didn't have any carrots in the house at that point, I didn't add them then, but you could if you were more organized than me.  (On the other hand I kinda prefer to add the carrots in later so they don't get too mushy and so they still taste like carrots.) I turned the crock pot on High and left it for several hours, until the ham was coming off the bone.  Then I pulled all the bones and meat out of the crockpot using a slotted spoon and left it on a plate to cool, turning the crockpot to Low (since all that was left in there at this point was broth and beans).  There was quite a bit of meat since I'd used a large bone plus another hunk of meat.  After it was cool, I chopped up the ham that was good and threw away the bones and fatty bits, adding the ham back to the pot.  I turned the crock pot back up to High and added the couscous (I actually used this blend from Trader Joe's but you can probably use any small grain or pasta that you have around -- you just want to be careful not to overcook it so add last if you are using something kinda soft.) I also added the carrots at this point after steaming them for about 8 minutes.  The last step is to thicken the soup with a flour and water paste -- put about 2 T of flour in a small bowl and add enough cold water to make a thick paste, stirring with a fork to remove lumps.  Pour this mixture into the very hot soup and let it cook for another 15-20 minutes in the crock pot.  It should thicken nicely. 

We enjoyed our soup with cheese biscuits.  Yum!  I expect it will taste even better for lunch tomorrow.

She Cooks One-Pot Meals: Potato-Cheese Soup

  

You'll need:

• 6 cups chopped potatoes
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (6 oz)
• 1 12-oz can evaporated milk (1 1/2 cups)

In a 3-4 quart slow cooker combine potatoes, water, onion, bouillon granules and pepper. Cover, cook on low-heat for 9-11 hours or high-heat for 4-5 hours

Stir cheese and milk into soup. Cover, cook on low-heat for 1 more hour or high-heat for 30 minutes more. Mash potatoes slightly.

We like to have this soup with homemade bread or biscuits. We also like to sometimes add broccoli or bacon to this soup for variety.

from Great Recipes Collection: Crockery Dinners

She Enjoys the Harvest (Week 6)

 

Great basket this week! I am pretty excited about everything. I have been wanting to try fennel and we have been hoping for another melon...

• Broccoli
• Fennel
• Watermelon
• Bananas
• Cabbage
• Blackberries
• Apples
• Kiwis
• Pears
• Tomatoes
• some kind of zuchini-like Squash
• Red Peppers

Here's a recipe to share that I tried for Sunday dinner: first time ever making Cabbage Soup! I based my soup off of the recipe found here.

Rustic Cabbage Soup

• 6 small red potatoes (leave the skins on)
• Olive Oil
• 1/2 large onion (sliced really thin)
• 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 6 cups of chicken stock (use whatever broth you have)
• S&P
• Turkey Sausage (optional)
• 1 small-medium head of cabbage, sliced 1/4" thin
• Parmesan Cheese

Throw a couple of swishes of olive oil around the bottom of your pot. Dice up the potatoes into small pieces and cook them covered for 5-10 minutes with a pinch of salt in the oil until they are tender. Add the onion and garlic and stir around. Cook a few more minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and dice up some leftover turkey sausage if you want. Fill the pot with your shredded cabbage and cover. Cook until soft and tender over low heat. Serve with a little bit of parmesan cheese on top. It's good without the cheese, too... but every recipe needs cheese, so hey!

For being a "poor man's soup"... this stuff smells divine!

She Cooks One-Pot Meals: Tex Mex Chicken

A friend of mine shared this recipe with me a while back and it has been a family favorite ever since. We prefer it with brown rice, but only had white when I made it recently...









Ingredients:

• 1+ lbs chicken (depending on your family's size)
• Cumin/Salt/Pepper/Oil
• Quick-Cooking Rice
• 3 cups Corn
• Chicken Stock
• 1 jar Salsa
• Shredded Cheese (optional really, really must add because it's soooo good)
• Sour Cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook pieces of chicken in oil. Sprinkle them with cumin, salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Pour in the amount of servings you need for your family of quick-cooking rice.
3. Add corn.
4. Pour chicken stock over everything until covered.
5. Put the lid on your pot and cook until rice is tender.
6. Stir in salsa.
7. Sprinkle top with shredded cheese and heat until melted.
8. Serve with sour cream, if desired.

We like to have corn bread with it, too!
So good.
So quick.
So easy.
And only one pot to wash!!!