No Bake Cookies

I forgot to set aside cookies for Tyler and Keira's teachers and school bus drivers. So i whipped up these cookies in a jiffy, threw them in the fridge for a quick cooling job and sent them with Tyler ten minutes later!

1 stick of butter
2 C sugar
3 T Hershey's co co powder
1/2 C milk

Boil in microwave--about 4 1/2 minutes

Stir and add...in this order
1 t vanilla
1/3 C peanut/almond butter
2-3 C dry rolled oats

Stir in oats until the mix is no longer runny. Use your Tablespoon to scoop out Tablespoon size cookies onto cookie sheet or wax paper and let cool. To help the cooling process along, I threw mine in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Yummy Recipe

I've been following Lil Runner's Blog and am dying to try this recipe! Yum! It has to be delicious and if it helps my children and husband eat veggies? I'm all about it!

Butternut Squash Quinoa Doughnuts

BUTTERNUT SQUASH QUINOA DOUGHNUTS
This was adapted from the banana quinoa muffins.


2/3 c quinoa flour (toasted ground quinoa)
1/2 c oatmeal
1 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 to 3/4 c butternut squash
2 T maple syrup (might want to add more)
2 T coconut oil
1 T flaxseed (ground)
1/2 to 3/4 c almond milk
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
1-2 T Coconut oil
1-2 T Cinnamon
1-2 T Sugar

Mix the flours, oatmeal, powder, soda and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, add the squash, maple syrup, coconut oil, flax, almond milk (start with 1/2 c) and vanilla. Microwave 20-30 seconds and let sit about 5 minutes. Add the wet to the dry. If the mixture is too dry, add more milk and/or squash. Bake at 325 for 13-15 minutes till set.

Dip one side into coconut oil then cinnamon sugar. Let cool. These aren't too sweet so the topping makes them!

 

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

A dear friend of mine, Becky, made her weekly menu. One of her days included "Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce", compliments of the Pioneer Woman. Of course, I had to start my "South Beach Diet" today which eliminates all carbs (God forbid!) for the first 14 days. But I do believe, yes....I'm quite sure...I'm digging this for dinner tonight and I'm going to add some grilled chicken to the mix in order up the protein a bit. Nom Nom!

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

compliments of "The Pioneer Woman"

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 cans (15 Ounce Each) Tomato Sauce Or Marinara Sauce
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• Dash Of Sugar (more To Taste)
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• Grated Parmesan Or Romano Cheese, To Taste
• Fresh Basil, Chopped
• 1-1/2 pound Fettuccine

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for a minute or so. Pour in tomato sauce and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in cream. Add cheese to taste, then check seasonings. Stir in pasta and chopped basil and serve immediately. (Thin with pasta water before adding basil if needed.)

Posted by Ree on September 9 2010

Yogurt Popsicles

We a very simple project today during daycare: Yogurt Popsicles! Yogurt has high protein keeping bellies full longer and lots of vitamins making bodies healthy.  I highly recommend this project for children of all ages!

Supplies:

Yogurt--I used Organic French Vanilla

Fruit--Optional, but really makes it fun! We used bananas sliced in small pieces

Popsicle Sticks

Small Paper Cups

Freezer

Grab paper cups (the small ones work best) at your local grocery store.

Layer your fruit and yogurt in the cups: fruit, yogurt, fruit, yogurt...I'm sure you get the idea. Then place the Popsicle stick in the middle until it touches the bottom of the cup.

Place the cups in the freezer for five or more hours until solid. Peel the paper off the yogurt like a "Push-up Popsicle" and enjoy!

Chloe (in pink) and Paige (in purple) enjoying their Popsicles. Chloe went on and on about how "yummy" the "ice cream" was.

Ms. Keira and Mr. Miles

Keira pretending to lick Tyler's Popsicle.

Queen Elizabeth's Own Cake-->to Die for!

After college my mom bought me the cookbook "500 Treasured Country Recipes" by Martha Storey and Friends. It is still one of my favorites and has managed to stick around for over 7 years (quite the accomplishment, for a cookbook, in my house). It wasn't until a couple years ago that I decided to try the "Queen Elizabeth's Own Cake" recipe. Now it is one of my favorite cakes.
Since it is Chloe and Paige's four year old birthday, I figured this would be a simple fun project for us to do during "art/craft" time. The children LOVE to cook in the kitchen. I still can't believe the moist sweet--not too sweet--fluffiness that comes out of my oven! Even better? I can make it with my organic ingredients and they are all easy to find ingredients!

"Years ago, Esther Green's cake was one of the traditional bake sale items at our annual church fund-raiser. Her source was a secret, but she swore that it was authentically Queen Elizabeth's! Moist and delicious, it's fit for a king and queen alike."

Queen Elizabeth's Own Cake

1 cup boiling water
1 cup chopped dates (I used raisins)
1 level teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut or chopped pecans

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F; grease a 9-inch square cake pan. In a large bowl, pour the water over the dates. Add the soda and let stand while the remaining ingredients are prepared.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter. Add the egg and vanilla; stir in the coconut, flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour into the date mixture and blend well
3. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake for 35 (I cooked mine for 45 mins) minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake before icing.

Icing

5 Tablespoons light borwn sugar
5 Tablespoons cream
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup coconut or chopped pecans

1. Combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. While the icing is still warm, spread it on the cooled cake. Sprinkle with coconut.

Yum Yum....I don't have a sweet tooth so I usually grab a piece before I pour the icing on, but either way it's delightful!

Check out this link to find a bit of history on the cake. My cookbook follows the same storyline.

My recipe does vary a little bit from this one, but I'm sure it's still de-lish!

Healthy Muffins from a Sister

My sister, Nicole, just passed this recipe on to me. I can't wait to try it! I've also started to follow the blog because the lady's recipe is SO intriguing. I will admit. I'm questioning the entire idea of broccoli in muffins, but mainly because it's the only veggie that I absolutely can not stand. I will try anything at least once though! Next grocery trip I'll purchase me some broccoli!! Review to come.

Successful Bread!

As I mentioned in my pizza dough blog, I am horrible when it comes to working with yeast, but when baby #3 insisted on some yeast rolls tonight for dinner, I caved. I searched high and low on all recipes for an "easy" recipe, found one, baked it, and conquerored the challenge! The family devoured every last roll that I made--yippee!

Quick Yeast Rolls

2 T shortening
3 T sugar (or honey/agave)
1 C Hot water
1 Pkg of active yeast
1 egg beaten
1 ts salt
2 1/4 C flour (any is great, I used organic all purpose)

Mix the first three ingredients and allow to cool until luke warm. Once the water is luke warm add the yeast.
Allow the yeast to disolve.  While the yeast is disolving, beat the egg. Add the egg and the salt to the yeast mixture. Slowly add in the flour. The mix will be extremely wet, but trust me, do not add any flour, the end result is worth the stickiness!
Cover the dough and let double in size.
(Useful tip: Place a piece of scotch tape on the outside of the bowl to mark the starting point of the dough.) 
Once the dough has doubled, seperate into 8 pieces--mine were more like blobs. I used a pie pan and dropped 8 pieces together and just pulled apart later. Allow the dough to rise another 10-15 minutes. Place in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes until knife comes out clean.

We topped our rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter--Nom Nom!

Dig in and enjoy!

*Note: if you want to have any for the dinner table do not taste before you serve dinner.

Counting and Ice Cream

We were sitting around the table the other night talking about our day(s). Randy said he was walking out to the car and heard Tyler just counting away, the little booger! "7....8....9...." Mind you, we've been working on Tyler's counting for years with no luck. It is always..."1.....2.....1!!!! I did it!"
Well, as Randy was telling his story, Tyler commentted, "I do it again!"
Of course we encouraged him and gave him the spot light. I was estatic! My son was finally going to count to 10 for me!
Tyler holds up his fingers and counts..."1...2...3...4...10! I did it!!"
Yeah, to say the least my excitement vanished, but then...
Tyler says, "Now I do it backwards!"
The family replies, "yeah! do it Tyler!"
Tyler..."1....2....3....4....10!!! See I did it!"
Cue laughter and applause. 

On another note a friend of mine posted a blog about single ingredient icecream! Impossible...right? I'm all over it the next time I have some overly riped bananas! Check it out here. Oh and while you're at it, check out all of her other recipes--yummilicious!

Kabob + Noodles = Yumminess

A couple weekends ago my family grilled out. We made Jamacan Kabobs! YUM. We had some left over and I decided to throw them in a sauce pan with 1/2 c of whole milk, 1 ts of corn starch, and a couple slices of white American cheese. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper to taste. I poured the Kabob mix over some whole wheat noodles and ended up with a great leftover dinner! My husband even gobbled it up and he doesn't like to try new things. :)

Step One: Mixing everything together.

Step Two: Cook your pasta!

Step Three: Pour everything on top and Enjoy!

Healthy Pancakes!

So I've been playing around with some recipes that have higher protein. I took a basic recipe I found at allrecipes.com (great site!) and changed it up a bit. I did triple the recipe because my kids gobbled them up. Try them out! Yum!

Blueberry Pancakes

1 1/4 C. Wheat Flour

3/4 C. Wheat/Oat Bran

2 C. Spelt

1.5 Tb Baking Powder

3 Eggs

3 C. Milk (I use whole w/ V. D)

1 1/2 ts. salt

5 Tb. Brown Sugar

1 C. Blueberries

Mix all dry ingredients. Add Eggs and Milk until smooth. Add in Blueberries

Heat Pan to Medium. (if Stainless Pan lower temp just a bit) Melt 1 Tb. Olive Oil or Coconut Oil to keep pancakes from sticking. Cook and Enjoy!

We love to top ours with vanilla yogurt and honey.