Archive for the ‘food’ Category
This is one of my go to delicious, nutritious, and highly suspicious (as my kids say) meals. We just call them rice bowls, and there are umpteen million ways to do them. I make up some brown rice, and cook either some beans or ground turkey or buffalo. Usually I serve them up with some cheese, a little bit of sour cream, salsa and scallions. They are delicious with sliced avocado and olives.
If you made this with white rice and loaded on the cheese and sour cream it could quickly turn pretty unhealthy, good, but not quite as nutritious as it could be. Usually I serve them up in a bowl, and they really are good. You can make as many variations as you can think up, I do hope you enjoy.
food • Thursday, March 11th, 2010 • 1 Comment »
Wherever I can, I like to make cooking supper easier, especially as the hour right before always seems to be when things start falling apart. One of my tricks is to make a huge batch of spaghetti sauce at the beginning of the week. Then I can use it for several different meals and part of the work is already done.
Friday night is our pizza/movie night so I use the sauce for that. I also can then use it for spaghetti or some other kind of pasta bake such as lasagna. If I know I won’t be able to use it all, then it freezes really well, so I can always freeze portions of it for another time.
Spaghetti sauce is also a great way to use up some other bits of veg as well. Sometimes I cook up some ground turkey too. I saute onions, and often peppers and mushrooms when I make my sauce. I chop them up pretty small and the kids don’t really notice them, especially if it is on the pizza. It’s not really a recipe as such, but I got the method from my sister-in-law.
First I chop up and saute an onion (and whatever other veg I want) and then sprinkle some dried oregano and basil, and let it saute until the veg is soft. Next I add a 102 ounce can of crushed tomatoes. Stir it up really well and add a sprinkle of sugar and some salt and pepper. Taste and adjust. If it tastes too acidic, you need a little bit more sugar. Feel free to experiment, it is fairly forgiving. Let it simmer a while and taste again, and there you go. Delicious sauce and part of your cooking for the week just got easier.
What are some of your timesaving/ multitasking foods?
family, food • Thursday, February 18th, 2010 • 9 Comments »
Please don’t let the cheese put you off, I want you to trust me on this one. This was the first cookie I ever had, when I was two, and I have loved them ever since. They are fantastic and the cheese just melts in, you can’t really see it, or taste it, it just makes them extra scrumptious. They are chock full of oats, apples, cheese, and raisins, so they are pretty healthy as far as cookies go.
Yesterday morning we spent taking our eldest to the dentist to get spacers put in (the pediatric dentist here in town is more butcher than dentist, so we drive 45 minutes away). In the afternoon was the boys swimming lessons (which they love by the way) where they are slowly turning into fish. In between, I had just enough time to whip up a batch of cookies while the kids played outside. It was chilly, but clear and bright, and not a single breeze.
I hope you try them, they really are delicious.
Apple Cheese Cookies
- 3/4 cup AP flour (plain flour)
- 2/3 cup softened butter
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups oats
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1 apple peeled and chopped
- Combine flour, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
- Add oats, cheese and raisins, mix well.
- Stir in apples.
- Drop by heaping tablespoons full onto an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake at 375 ° for 15 minutes (mine are usually done at about 12 so keep an eye on them). You want the bottom edge to just be browning, they will look a tad underdone when they need to come out.
- Cool and enjoy!
food • Thursday, February 11th, 2010 • 16 Comments »
How do we love thee? Let me count the ways….
apple blueberry oatmeal
chocolate orange oatmeal
banana cinnamon oatmeal
As we have six people in our family, breakfasts need to be filling, nutritious, and cheap. Oatmeal often fits the bill. After a while oatmeal can get a bit boring, so when I saw these three recipes I knew we had to try them out. They are in Jamie’s Food Revolution, which was a gift for Christmas.
The recipe actually called for blackberries, but we had blueberries, so it became apple blueberry. It was really good, with a sauteed apple, oat, and honey topping. The chocolate orange oatmeal wasn’t bad. The boys liked it allright, but I guess I’m just not really wanting any big bowl of chocolatey anything first thing in the morning. Our favourite by far was the banana cinnamon. With plenty of cinnamon, and a topping of sliced bananas, coconut, toasted almonds and a drizzle of honey, it was absolutely scrumptious.
We will definitely be keeping these fruity oatmeals in our repertoire. The beef and ale stew I made last night was also from this cookbook, and boy was it delicious. Also a keeper, but next time I will have to double the recipe as there were not enough leftovers.
Now I need to pick out some more recipes because if they are as good as these last ones, we’re in luck. What is your favourite breakfast?
books, food • Friday, February 5th, 2010 • 12 Comments »
All of my good intentions with bread and yogurt went out the window yesterday. I’m in the middle of dealing with a logistical nightmare with the closets around here. The last couple of days I have been sorting through the girls clothes, trying to pare down to what we actually use. Hang on, I’m getting sidetracked, more about the closets later.
I needed a few baskets to corral things in, so I ran to the thrift store. I found what I was looking for and swung by the blanket table. A little background first. Two years ago I knitted blankets for Hubby and the three bigger kids. They were a lot of work, a tad expensive, but totally worth it. For some reason, I just couldn’t justify spending the time or money on a blanket for myself. Since then, I’ve just been borrowing everybody else’s blankets.
Part of the love of thrifting for me is waiting to find the perfect thing. The success of finding something is sweeter the longer you’ve been waiting for it. Since I made the blankets, I’ve kept my eye out for a blanket for me. I’ve come across dozens of crocheted blankets, but most of them were really scratchy acrylic or the colours were just atrocious.
Today was my day. I went over to the blanket table and there she was. A gorgeous granny square blanket. It was big, 68″ x 51″. It was soft, and it was granny squares. (I have a really hard time photographing red, it never turns out right this is a beautiful scarlet colour). What could be better? Wait, maybe the price. Go on, take a guess. Yup, that’s right, $3. A whole $3. I couldn’t believe it, I almost squealed with delight in the middle of the store.
I was so excited. There is something about waiting and searching and then finally finding what you’ve been after. We got home, had some extra snuggles with the girls and I made the most delicious beef and ale stew (more on that later too) for supper.
The girls are doing a bit better, but my scratchy throat has now turned to a drippy nose ickiness. I had so many plans for this week around the house, but I’m not sure how much I’ll get done now. Now I think I might just need to get something warm to drink and curl up with my new blanket.
crochet, food, thrift store finds • Thursday, February 4th, 2010 • 20 Comments »
Yesterday, we did a big grocery shop. One of the things I like to do if I have time is do a lot of prep work ahead of time. It saves time and some of my sanity when I can pull out ingredients all ready to go. It’s usually between 4:00 and 5:00pm when I am trying to make supper that things start to fall apart. Kids are getting hungry, and cranky. The babe wants some extra snuggles, and I’m trying to make supper. So anything that is done ahead of time is a huge help.
Yesterday afternoon when we got home, I tackled the chicken. I sliced and sauteed up about 8 pounds of chicken breasts. Now it is all in the freezer waiting to be put into stir fries, curries, fajitas, and anything else I can think of. I can just pull a pre-portioned bag of chicken, thaw it and toss it in.
My other job for yesterday was granola. I recently found this recipe over at katie did. It is perfect for us. Not too sweet at all, which is huge for me since the kids like to gobble it up. I’m not a huge seed person, and right now I can’t really eat them because they get caught in my braces, so this was extra perfect.
This recipe makes a huge batch. Huge as in approx. 20 cups, which again is perfect for my family. You could always half the recipe if you didn’t want quite as much at once. I used quick oats instead of the regular ones (just smaller pieces of oats) and unsweetened desiccated coconut, so that it would not be too sweet. I think because the pieces of oatmeal were smaller, my batch took 45 minutes to bake instead of the two hours. If you make this granola, just keep an eye on it to make sure you don’t overcook it.
Granola has been one of those things that I have been trying to find a great recipe for, for ages, and now I have one. It’s a huge hit with my kids and me and Hubby. If you’ve been searching for a great granola recipe, do give this one a try.
If all goes well today, I’m hoping to get some bread and yogurt made. What are some of your favourite things to make?
food • Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 • 11 Comments »
We use washcloths and dishrags instead of paper towels. We use them all the time, and have quite a few. We need them for the dishes, spills, washing up the babe after every meal. For months now, they have been a big pain. They have been juggled from one place to the other not really having a proper home.
When we were visiting Hubby’s grandparents in December, his grandmother had a massive box of magazines ready for recycling. She let me go through them and keep whatever I wanted. I saw this idea in a Good Housekeeping, though they intended it for keeping lingerie in the closet.
I had completely forgotten about this until I ran by the torn out picture the other day. This, I thought, would be perfect to house all of our towels. It needed to be somewhere in reach of the kids (so that they can grab a washcloth), but still not a huge eyesore.
In a perfect world, all of the towels would be neatly stacked somewhere, but let’s face it, that isn’t ideal. I spend all the time to fold them up, and then they just end up in a messy pile anyhow. So now, as soon as they are clean, they go into their new bag and just stay there until needed. No folding necessary.
All you do is find a pretty vintage pillowcase and a wooden embroidery hoop. I already had these in my stash, two vintage pillowcases at 25 cents each, and two wooden embroidery hoops at 25 cents each from my thrift store. I used a 10″ and 12″ hoop. Now, technically this is no sew, unless of course you’re me. Then, because you haven’t loosened the hoop quite enough, when you try and scootch the fabric around, you simultaneously tear two rips into your pillowcase. Then you spend the next 20 minutes hand mending the tears. Normally though, this involves no sewing at all.
If I really wanted to take a lot of time, I could have trimmed the top of the bag to make it even instead of just letting it fold down into the bag, but I kind of like this way better. Then if I ever decide to swap the pillowcase out for another colour or pattern, I haven’t ruined these.
Anyway, you need to put the inner hoop down inside the pillowcase and fold the top down into it. In order for it to lay straight, you need to put more of the front side of the pillowcase down in , than the back. I hope that’s not too confusing. Really, just play around with it and get it to lie like you want it to. Then cut an approx. 6″ length of ribbon (I used twill tape) and fold it in half. You are going to lay the raw edges down on top of the fabric that is folded over the inner ring. Make sure that the raw edges are pointing away from you and that the fold is hanging towards you. Carefully put the outer hoop on top, catching the hanging ribbon, and tighten.
If you are using vintage fabric, especially, be careful not to pull the fabric around too much, otherwise you might indeed end up sewing.
On a completely side note, the other day I really felt like some kind of hot chocolate with a twist. I opened the cupboard that holds all of our tea, coffee, etc. and saw a tub of Nutella staring at me. I wonder… Yes indeed it was delicious. I heated up some milk on the stove, stirred a spoonful of Nutella in, and yum. Yum, Yum, Yum.
The girls both have colds, and I think I’m coming down with one too. I’ve got a nice scratchy throat. I’m hoping it doesn’t last too long.
food, green, home, sewing, thrift store finds • Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 • 19 Comments »
Last month I signed up for the One Small Change challenge. I had been getting a little lax about using cloth bags every time we went shopping, so that was my change for January. It went really well. I used my cloth bags when we went to the store, and came up with some new produce bags.
I only ended up using a plastic bag once. Hubby and I were on a date and borrowing a car (ours wasn’t driveable). I hadn’t planned on stopping at the store, so didn’t have any bags on me. Other than that, it was a plastic bag free month.
This month our goal is to not have any food waste, none at all. There isn’t usually much anyway, but occasionally there is a mouldy grape or two, or a slimy scallion. It is sometimes hard to get local food where we live, so I want to make sure that any resources that are used up by having food travel aren’t being tossed straight in the bin.
So, this is our February challenge, not a single bit of food waste. I anticipate it going well, I just need to be really good at keeping on top of what’s in the fridge.
Onto the winner, thanks so much for all joining in the giveaway. It was really nice to meet some new gals. The winner of the cloth bags is Wendy, congrats! I just need to get your address and then they’ll be on their way.
Hope everyone had a good weekend! I’ve got a few more projects up my sleeve for this week, so if all goes well, I’ll be sharing some new things with you soon.
food, green • Monday, February 1st, 2010 • 17 Comments »
I love chai tea. I love it’s sweet spiciness. Usually I just buy decaf chai tea bags, but I don’t measure very carefully with the honey, so it’s usually trial and error as to weather I get it exactly how I like it or not. The other day when I was over at Angry Chicken, I saw that she made a chai concentrate. I knew I had to try it.
She used this recipe. I realize that it doesn’t technically have all the same spices as real chai tea, but it’s a pretty good substitute. It was really easy, all you do is mix some spices into some sweetened condensed milk. At first I tried to leave out the extra spoon of sugar, but I did find that it needed it, so went ahead and added it back in. Also, there was just a touch too much cardamom in my opinion, so next time I will probably only put 3/4 teaspoon in.
Now all I have to do is brew some black tea, and spoon in a couple of spoonfulls of the chai concentrate and voila, chai tea. When you need a good cup of something hot, what do you reach for?
food • Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 • 17 Comments »
I don’t think I can actually call this a recipe, it’s more just throwing things together in a bowl and stirring. Either way, it’s delicious, and nutritious. Here is what you need.
equal amounts of black beans, corn, and diced tomatoes
diced jalapeno
garlic
lemon or lime
fresh parsley
sea salt
If I’m being really good and planning ahead, I will cook the black beans from scratch. If it’s summer time, I’ll dice up fresh tomatoes. This time, I was out of garlic, didn’t have any jalapenos and trust me, the “fresh” tomatoes are not so tasty in Wyoming in January.
This is one reason why I love this salsa, it’s so forgiving and very flexible. I used two cans each of beans, corn, and diced tomatoes that had diced mild chiles already in them. I used garlic powder (because raw garlic is a bit too much for me). Normally I squeeze lemon juice over it, but this time I had limes, and it was just as tasty.
Normally I hate when somebody tells me their recipe and includes no measurements. I’m really sorry, because it’s what I’m doing now. I don’t ever measure any of this, I just taste it a lot as I mix it together. I make a huge batch because the kids love it and it goes quickly. So if you don’t have four kids that devour food like locusts, you might not want to make quite such a big batch. I figure if I’m gonna make it, I may as well make enough to last a few days.
Just dump the beans, corn, tomatoes, and diced jalapeno together in a bowl. If you are using canned beans etc. remember to drain them and rinse the beans also, otherwise the salsa gets really goopy. Chop up a handful of fresh parsley and throw it in. Squeeze approx. one lime worth of juice in and start mixing. Season with garlic and salt and enjoy! It makes a great snack, or a quick lunch in a pinch.
food, gardening • Thursday, January 21st, 2010 • 12 Comments »
