Thai Chicken

Yet another chicken that started in the American Test Kitchen slow cooker revolution volume 2 book.  This one however didn't really look like the original dish by the time I finished with it.  It was however, delicious!  I've been wanting to blog it forever so I wouldn't forget what I did.
You can certainly be more traditional and not shred the chicken and serve it over rice.  I made it into a casserole because we had already eaten a lot of rice that week.

Ingredients

• 1 can (15 oz.) coconut milk
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I lowered this, but then upped the coconut  milk, I'd go back up to 2 Tablespoons if making this the same way again.)
• 1 Tablespoon instant tapioca
• salt and pepper
• 1 package bone-in split chicken breasts, trimmed (I also skinned them.)
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch lengths
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
• about 12 oz noodles of choice (we used up some bowties and some other macaroni)

Directions

1. Whisk 1/2 cup coconut milk, curry paste, tapioca, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in slow cooker.  Roll chicken in mixture and cook in slow cooker 3-4 hours on high (until super tender and shredable.)
2. When Chicken is tender, cook noodles according to package directions.  Microwave asparagus and oil in a bowl for 5 minutes, stirring mid way through cooking.  Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred.
3. Add remaining coconut milk, lime juice and fish sauce to sauce still in slow cooker.  Heat through.  Add shredded, chicken, asparagus, noodles and cilantro.  Stir to combine and serve.

Bath salts and scrubs

So for mother's day I decided to make some bath salts and scrubs.  My mom happens to be allergic to most scents, so I went looking for ideas and recipes that used natural, organic ingredients thinking that she would be able to enjoy those.  I ended up making a large batch and giving them to a couple of friends with May Birthdays, my mother, and mother in law, and to teachers as teacher's gifts.  I also of course got to keep the left overs.  Fun!  These are the scrubs and salts I made.

Lemon Rosemary Bath Salts

Ingredients

• 2 cups epsom salt
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 2-3 Tablespoons fresh rosemary; finely chopped (I tossed mine in my coffee grinder)
• 6-8 drops lemon essential oil
• 2-3 Tablespoons lemon zest

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients.  Store in an airtight container.

Coconut & Lime scrub

(I think I did like 4 times this amount)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• zest from one lime
• lime and/or coconut flavoring oils (I couldn't find these, so I added a drop or 2 of lemon essential oil or citrus bliss I can't remember which.)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, adding more sugar or coconut oil until desired consistency is reached.

Chocolate Lover's scrub

(I also did 4 times this amount, but I was making gifts.  It took a lot of cocoa butter - just a warning.  At the store I bought a 7 fluid ounce container, but it was only about 1 cup of cocoa butter - also just a warning.  This stuff smells like chocolate chip cookies or something - it is yummy.  The cocoa butter is also a great lotion.  I love using this on dry skin.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (1 oz) cocoa butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 2 Tablespoons sweet almond oil
• optional extra - 1/2 -1 teaspoon vanilla -I did not use this.

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients.  Store in an airtight container.

Soapy scrub

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Dr. Bronner's Peppermint castile soap
• 4 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 Tablespoons glycerin
• 1 teaspoon ground rosemary - I ground some fresh rosemary in the coffee grinder - the original recipe called for 5 drops of rosemary essential oil but I didn't have it.  I like the flecks of green in the mix though.
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients.  Mix well.  Store in an airtight container.

Invigorating Foot Scrub

Ingredients

• 1 cup epsom salt
• 1/4 cup sweet almond oil
• 10 drops peppermint essential oil
• 1 Tablespoons dried peppermint leaves (I didn't have these, but they were in the original recipe and would add a nice touch.

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients.  Mix well, store in an airtight container.

foaming hand soap (or body soap)

Here is another recipe I'm looking for again on pinterest.  Blogging it to make finding it easier on myself.  I found this on kitchenstewardship.  I have a couple of her e-books, but this is from her website and I love it.  Super simple, uses ingredients I had already bought to make some scrubs and body washes (recipes to follow) and simple to make.  This amount also makes just enough to refill my pump bottles.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup liquid castile soap (I used Dr. Bronners - I found it cheapest at HEB - like $10 instead of $16 a bottle.)  Use the baby one if you want to add essential oil.  I've also made this using the peppermint soap and not added the oil at all because it already smell great.
• 3/4 cup distilled water
• 8-10 drops essential oil

Directions

1. Mix everything together and pour into foaming soap dispenser.

pancake mix, shake and pour

Obviously, I've let my food blog go lately.  Life got a little bit insane for a while.  While it hasn't really calmed down per se (I just had a baby a week and a half ago) at least I have a couple of seconds to add a post or 2 to the food blog.  I sure do miss being able to find the yummy food I have made quickly and easily on the blog.  Sadly I won't have pictures for the next few since I'm really out of that habit right now, but hopefully I'll get back to that soon too.

This recipe I found on One Good thing by Jillee.  I pinned it and actually made it pretty soon after pinning.  I did change the oil used from shortening to coconut oil.  It makes the most delicious pancakes - small hint of coconut flavor.  Yummy!  I don't add the sugar she calls for -I don't see a need.  I've also made them at least part wheat both times I've made them.  I don't think even my wheat haters noticed because the flavor from the coconut oil is so good.

I loved that these were also made in a mason jar to be a shake and pour mix.  I actually made them for my younger boys to enjoy while I was in the hospital having the baby.  They do have fun helping shake the batter up.

Here is my version of the mix.

Ingredients

• 9 cups of flour (I've used a mix of wheat and white each time.  The first time - lots less wheat, the second time I used 4 cups wheat and 5 cups unbleached flour)
• 1/3 cup baking powder (I use and aluminum free)
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 cups coconut oil (this is just about one 14 oz container making these a bit on the pricey side unless you find a good deal on coconut oil but they are delicious this way.  Be sure to use extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil to get the subtle coconut flavor.)
• 1 3/4 cups non-fat dry milk

Directions

1. I toss all the ingredients in my bosch, put the paddles on and let it do the work of mixing in the oil.  Or, you can hand mix it until it is well mixed - it will look a bit crumbly with the oil mixed in.
2. To make shake and pour jars, add 2 cups mix to a 1 quart mason jar.
3. Label with these directions (add 1 egg and 1 cup water.  Shake until combined.) 

Notes:

• Just an FYI, I always find I need a bit more than 1 cup water.  I start with 1 cup and end up adding a bit more because the batter looks too thick.  Maybe it is because I've used wheat and it absorbs more, that has just been my experience.  
• Also, I find that some of the batter usually likes to stick to the jar and I end up stirring it up in the jar.
• Because I end up stirring, and also to make them easier to clean, I prefer to use wide mouth quart jars.  

Ravioli with tangy butter

I am the queen of bad bloggers right now for many reasons but we have had a few meals that were delicious lately and I really wanted to post them.  This ranks right up there for super simple, and Sooo yummy.  I don't know if the kids loved it as much as I did, but I thought it was absolutely wonderful.  All 4 boys ate all of it, so I guess it wasn't too bad, and Duncan even had the 2 left over raviolis (yes only 2 - and DH was out of town) for breakfast the next morning. 
I had worried with the name tangy in the title and with 2 Tablespoons of vinegar that it would be a bit too tangy for the kids - especially when I added the vinegar and it boiled and smelled strong.  However, it was definitely NOT too vinegary.
Sadly, there is no picture of this one.  With my lack of blogging has come a lack of picture taking.  :(


Ingredients

• 18-20 ounces ravioli (I used closer to 21 oz of cheese ravioli - tortellini would also work fine.)
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped (more or less - I used less because only 2 people wanted walnuts)
• Parmesan cheese, grated for topping

Directions

1. Cook ravioli according to package directions
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the butter over medium heat stirring occasionally until it begins to turn golden brown (about 3 minutes.)  Turn off the heat.  Let cool for about a minute.  Stir in balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Stir in raviolis (or pour over raviolis.)  Stir to combine.  
3. Serve and top each serving with walnuts and Parmesan cheese.  

Taco seasoning

Well, I seem to have a working computer again, so I figured I may as well take advantage and blog.  Yesterday for dinner I ran out of my taco seasoning mix.  I LOVE my taco seasoning mix.  I found it in a book by a lady from 3dhealth.net.  While the book has some great ideas, it is so unorganized that I hate trying to find things in it.  For example, this recipe is called chili mix even though I always think of it as taco seasoning.  It also calls for a veggie mix that you then have to try to find in the book.  I really hate using the book, but I love the recipe.  It pretty much has everything you need including a few veggies.  I also like the flavor and so do all of my kids except 1 who doesn't seem to like ground beef in general.   Be warned, these probably aren't items you will have in your pantry unless you are into food storage.  You will probably have to buy them at some sort of specialty place on online.  My particular favorite is honeyvillegrain.com.  I like them mostly because they are the most economical because their shipping is always 4.49.  I can't say that I got any of the items I used yesterday from Honeyville though.  I just find them easiest to use.  If you care to know, my celery and peppers were Thrive products, my tomato powder was Auguston farms - although purchased through 3dhealth.net and not my favorite quality wise - I do not recommend it.  Could have been old from the person who sold it to me though.  My onions were from the lds home storage center, and the other items from costco.  
On to the mix -here it is with everything all together.  Yea!

Ingredients

• 1 cup tomato powder
• 1/2 cup dried onions
• 1/2 cup dried celery (mine were freeze dried)
• 1/2 cup dried bell peppers (I have a red and green mix)
• 1 Tablespoon garlic minces or garlic powder (I used powder yesterday.)
• 1/2 cup chili powder (this makes a pretty mild mix - you may want to add more if you like it spicier)
• 3 Tablespoons cumin
• 3 Tablespoons coriander
• 1 Tablespoon salt

Mix all of the ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

To use:
Tacos - 1/2 cup seasoning with some water to 1 lb meat (or 1 cup lentils or beans to make vegetarian)
Chili beans - 1/2 cup seasoning to 1 cup (dry measure) beans
rice - 1/4 cup mix to cooked rice with 1/2 cup water
refried beans -1/4 cup mix to 3 cups mashed pinto beans

You get the picture - honestly I usually only make this as taco seasoning, but I have used it with beans, ground beef, and chicken.  Personally for refried beans I prefer mashing salsa up with black or pinto beans.

Fish and chips

Don't be fooled by the title.  This isn't the fish and chips you are thinking of.  This is chips like potatoes chopped and baked that crisp up almost like a potato chip, with fish, just plain, no breading, on top.  Super simple meal and super yummy!
This idea came from Mark Bittman's book the minimalist cooks at home.  So far I'm liking this book.  It is set up so be simple.  Not a ton of ingredients, just simple meals with lots of flavor.  For every recipe he gives a story behind it, the recipe, keys to succes, and with minimal effort ideas (extras to add for more/different flavor, or to add veggies....)  Definitely a book I will continue to investigate while I have it checked out of the library.
This really was super simple.  Aside from peeling and slicing the potatoes, there wasn't an overabundance of work.    I did add one of his with minimal effort suggestions to add garlic (although I was already thinking about doing that when I read it.)    This was a perfect recipe for me.  I had fish in the freezer that I wanted to use, and potatoes in the pantry that I needed to use.
As far as amounts on this recipe - I can't really say too well.  I actually made 2 pans - an 8 X 8 and a 9 X 13 baking side by side.  I had no problem doing this.  I used more potatoes and fish in the 9 X 13 pan and a little less in the 8 X 8 pan.  I'll list the original amounts which say they make 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium potatoes, 2 lbs or more.  (I used 7 or 8?  kind of lost count.)
• 6 Tablespoons butter (I used 8 1/2 or 9) -melted -or use olive oil if you are anti-butter.  
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 lbs white fish about 1 inch thick, skinned - in 2 or more pieces.  (original called for cod.  I used mahi mahi.  4 fillets on one pan (about 2-2.25 lbs) and 2 fillets in the other (about 1 lb)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  (I put the butter in the pan and put my pans in the oven to melt the butter I used 4 Tablespoons in the 9X13 and 2 1/2 in the 8X8 -see next note) Peel the potatoes and cut into slices about 1/8 inch thick.  (I cut mine on a mandoline and think they were a bit thinner than 1/8 inch.  
2. Toss the potatoes with 4 Tablespoons of the butter (or just toss in the pan if you already melted the butter in the pan. I'm not sure I'd melt the butter in the pan again.   I loved how the butter browned, but it would be easier to toss the melted butter with the potatoes with my hands which I may opt to do next time.)  Season potatoes liberally with salt and pepper and spread them evenly.  Place pan in the oven.
3. Cook for 40 minutes checking occasionally, until potatoes are tender and have begun to brown. Remove from oven. (This didn't take 40 minutes for me - maybe because my potatoes were thin.  I set my first timer for 15 minutes (they were already in the 3-5 minutes so max 20 min.) when I checked them, they were already tender and starting to brown.  I stirred them because some were stuck together and not as browned and cooked them for a few more minutes (while I got my fish together and melted some butter - maybe 5-10 minutes.)  
4. Turn the oven to broil and make sure to have a top rack 4-6 inches from the heat.  Top the potatoes with fish, drizzle with the remaining butter (I used the last of the first stick I had, and a bit more.)  Season with more salt and pepper.  Broil until fish is done, 6-10 minutes - depending on thickness.  Mine took 10 to have all pieces done.  Keep an eye on it while it broils.  I saw a potato starting to burn because it was kind of sticking up, so I knocked it over to flat with a spatula and it solved that problem.

 

no bake oatmeal peanut butter bites

I found these little beauties on pinterest.  They come from a website that is new to me howsweeteats.com
I changed them around a bit - grinding my flax and chia to better hide it from the kiddos.  They can sometimes get persnickety about seeds being in their food.  I also didn't bother rolling mine in crushed nuts like she did.  It was just one more step that didn't seem necessary - and of course the first time I made them I was trying to get them done quickly before it was time to pick up my first grader from school.  They worked fine without the nuts on the outside and were such a hit that we made a second batch the next day.  Yea!  A healthy snack everyone likes that is easy to make.  What more can a mom want?

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 Tablespoons flaxseed
• 2 Tablespoons chia seed
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, chopped - or if you are hurrying like me, crushed in you hand to make smaller pieces.
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (6 Tablespoons) creamy peanut butter, melted
• 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon (5 Tablespoons) honey
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Melt peanut butter and allow to cool slightly.  (I store my peanut butter in the fridge because it is natural peanut butter, so I microwaved it for 30 seconds and stirred.  Then I think I did 30 seconds more - I didn't get it totally soupy, just melted enough to be pourable.)
2. Grind the flaxseed and chia seed in a coffee grinder (or spice grinder/food processor/blender.)
3. Combine oats, almonds, flax and chia seed, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Stir.
4. Stir the honey and vanilla into the peanut butter, then pour that mixture into the oats mixture.  Stir to combine, adding the chocolate chips.  
5. Roll into desired size balls and place on a silpat on a baking sheet.  I stored mine in the fridge although they had a good enough consistency to be left on the counter.  I just wanted them cooler after coming in from biking back from school.  To tell the truth, I would have stuck them in the freezer like other cookie dough balls I've made, but my 3 year old didn't want them frozen, so take your pick.

cherry pecan brownies

I've been eyeballing these in the Rodale whole foods cookbook I have checked out of the library for more than a couple of weeks now.  I finally made them this evening making substitutions as needed /desired.  They like to claim the the book that these are made healthier by using flax seed instead of 2 eggs, but they still use 2 more eggs.  The book also used plain old white sugar and brown sugar.  I swapped the plain old white with some healthier alternatives.  I also fiddled with the chocolate - mostly because I didn't have any bittersweet chocolate, but I did have some dark chocolate chips.  The brownies turned out wonderful.  I definitely don't want to change anything and ruin them.  Super moist and chewy but not doughy.  To me the perfect  brownie texture.  Add to that lots of nice crunch from the pecans and chewy bits of cherries.  WOW.  I had to give some to the neighbors to keep myself from eating them for lunch today.  :)  I must get back off sugar.  :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 10 oz. dark chocolate chips.  (Mine were a 63% cacao all natural variety)
• 2 heaping Tablespoons flaxseed (I used light)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar - I used a combination of sucanat (about 2/3 cup) and coconut palm sugar (the remaining 1/3 cup or so.
• 1 cup brown sugar (I just gave up and used brown sugar for this.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 9 X 13 pan with 2 sheets of foil crisscross.  Oil the foil.
2. In a small ovenproof bowl (I used a very large mug) combine the butter, oil and chocolate.  Place in the oven while it preheats and let the butter and chocolate melt.  (I loved this idea - no using the microwave, just the oven that is already on anyway.  Takes about 10 minutes.  I took it out and whisked/stirred it to get the last bit of butter to melt.)
3. Grind the flaxseeds in a coffee grinder (or food processor or blender.  I just prefer the coffee grinder.)  Mix with water and let set. (now would be a good time to chop nuts and cherries -letting the flax gel, and the chocolate melt.)
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, vanilla, salt, and flaxseed.   Stir in the chocolate mixture.  Stir in the flour.  Fold in the nuts and cherries.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 45 minutes or until the toothpick poked into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  (45 minutes was perfect for me.  The toothpick didn't have any crumbs, and the top didn't look super crackly or anything but it didn't look under done.  Top felt done with my finger, and I figured no crumbs was a good sign but worried that they were overdone.  They weren't - they were perfect.)
6. Cool in pan before cutting into squares. (book says 32.  I made 24 (4 X 6) and they seemed small enough.  Lets just say Mr. 15 year old cut his own on the second half and didn't follow my scoring at the edge and took a brownie twice as big for lunch today.  :)  I'm sure he thinks he took a small piece.  :)

2 More popcorn snacks/cereal combinations

Last month I made a chocolate peanut butter popcorn cereal/snack.  I posted then that I wanted to try some variations.  I just made up my second one today and figured I ought to go ahead and post both of them.

Cinnamon Popcorn - This one was Super tasty. (5 star)  I think everyone loved this flavor.   Even Tavio who didn't like the chocolate peanut butter version.

Ingredients

• 1 cup pop corn kernels
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Pop the popcorn kernels in an air popcorn popper. (It is 2 batches in mine)  Remove unpopped kernels.
2. Heat the honey, coconut oil and cinnamon in a small saucepan just until melted and smooth.
3. Pour the liquid over the kernels and stir until well coated.  (I actually dump mine in a very large stock pot I have.  It is really the only thing in the kitchen that fits the entire batch.)
4. Prepare 2 cookie sheets by covering with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.  When the popcorn is coated, divide it among the 2 cookie sheets.  
5. Bake at 300 for 5 minutes.   After 5 minutes turn the oven off and leave the popcorn in there for a couple of hours.  Remove from oven and store in an airtight container.

Maple pecan popcorn (4 star) - this one is tasty, but I liked cinnamon better.  The pecans also don't stay put, and for some reason I must have stirred this one more vigorously or something because I have a lot of crushed popcorn.  Go figure.  The flavor is good though.  I did find it was harder to mix.  I ended up mixing with my hands just to feel if it had coated well because you couldn't really tell just by looking at it.  I'm also not sure I'd add the nuts again.  I like them in there, but they sink to the bottom.  It did however give me the idea to try and make a granola type popcorn bar that could be a breakfast bar --- writing it down here or I'll forget.  :)

Ingredients

• 1 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used a bit over 1/2 a cup -it was just what I had left.  The amount was OK.  I could have put more, but again, they kind of fall to the bottom anyway.)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• sea salt ---I did not add salt, but when eating this, I felt like it would have been tasty with some added salt.  Kind of like a kettle corn -so I'm adding this for next time.  I'd just toss it in with the maple syrup so it gets coated well.

Directions

1. Pop the popcorn kernels in an air popcorn popper.  Remove unpopped kernels.  
2. Heat the butter and pecans in a small saucepan until pecans are a bit toasted.  (Really it took about that long for my butter to melt because I tossed the whole chunk in there straight from the fridge.  Worked out perfectly.)  Add the maple syrup(and salt if using)  and stir to combine.  
3. Continue with 3-5 from above.  Mix, bake, let cool in oven, store.  

raw cookie dough bites

I've been a busy baker, but not a very busy blogger.  Mostly because I have had no camera.  However, I did realize that I wasn't entirely cameraless.  I do have a phone, so I just opted to take some pictures from my phone for the last couple of days.  Now to just get them uploaded right?

These are totally tasty.  I found them fiddling around on pinterest the other day and new I had to try them.  I found them on adashofcompassion.com but I'm thinking they must be elsewhere because I saw the exact same recipe shared by someone from church just the other day.

There is nothing not to LOVE about these cookie dough bites.  They are totally simple to make, raw - as in no cooked or processed ingredients (except probably my chocolate chips, but I'm sure they make raw chocolate chips.  I just haven't invested in any.)  I did change up the directions a bit just because I didn't want to deal with a gummy mess in my blender.  Worked great and easy.  You can make these entirely in the blender or food processor if you so desire.

So if they are so great -on to sharing the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup raw almonds
• 2/3 cup raw walnuts
• 2/3 cup raw oat flakes (I used groats which I rolled so I know they were raw.  If you are rolling I found that the 1/2 cup groats I rolled yielded 1 cup of rolled, so you should be fine to just roll 1/3 cup - or just toss 1/3 cup groats in without rolling if your blender can grind them up.)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup raw agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 Tablespoons dark chocolate chips or cacao nibs (I used mini semi sweets because it is what I had)

Directions

1. In a food processor or high powered blender, process the almonds, walnuts, oats, cinnamon and salt to a fine meal.
2. Move powder to a bowl and stir in agave and chips (or process them in if you want.)
3. Roll into balls (I made about 25 and the dough was super sticky, I didn't really roll them.  I jsut kind of put them on the mat.  )  Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat or other silicon mat.  Freeze until firm.  Store in a tightly covered container in the freezer.  

Chickpea wraps

OK, as I was making this recipe I decided I definitely was NEVER making it again because it was way too much work.  Here is the mess....  (believe me, it continues out of the picture.)

This isn't even all of the mess, there are more dishes to the left of the picture.  SAD

They also burned even when turning the heat all the way down to medium - check them out - NOT pretty.

Then I fed them to the children.  Here are their plates...

And to that their commentary - and these comments are from my 2 toughest critics - "Mommy these are delicious!"  3.5 year old who rarely eats all of dinner finished every spec.  And "These taste like McDonald's snack wraps."  13 year old who didn't even eat dinner last night and tried to get out of the house with no breakfast because we were out of milk = no cold cereal for him = no food apparently.  He was offered waffles made from waffle mix or eggs.   Neither was good enough for him.   He did manage to drink 2/3 of his green smoothie, but only because my logic won.  Our conversation went something like this...Him  "I'm still full from dinner."  Me "You ate 1/3 of a pancake and a small bit of lettuce."  Him ... starts drinking green smoothie.  So like I said, commentary like that earns this a post and I guess I'll have to give it a 5 star.  I hesitate wanting to deduct for the difficulty, but then I look at the plates and have to go 5.  :)  I guess I'll be making them again in the future.

I do have to add - giving myself hope for future endeavors, that although it doesn't seem like these make very many, the go a long ways.  We probably only ate 1/2 of them and everyone liked them.  I've had them twice for lunch as left overs, and while they were lacking the nice crispy quality they had fresh, they were not lacking in flavor.  Still tasty enough that I've had them twice.

Problems I had with this recipe and their resolution for next time (hopefully)

• wouldn't grind in my food processor or blender.  Too thick of a paste.  I should have known better and just gone straight to the immersion blender.  I know it is better for super thick batters.  Somehow I just thought this would be thin enough. 
• The burgers wouldn't hold together well when cooking.  I actually just realized that I used waffle mix instead of flour.  Maybe wheat flour would have worked a bit better.  Seems like waffle mix should have given it some sticking power, but it wasn't nearly enough.  
• Burgers hard to flip (because they didn't stick together super well.)  Try frying in more than 2-3 Tablespoons of oil (like submerging them?)  Not sure I want to try this option, but I'm contemplating it.

I figure you deserve a picture that is at least somewhat appetizing after the other pictures right?
Here are our wraps on the plate with their ranch dressing and lettuce.  

OK, here is the recipe

chickpea patty ingredients

• 1 1/2-2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cup onions, minced (1 semi large)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 cup carrot, finely chopped (between 1 and 2 carrots depending on size.)  
• 1 3/4 cup cooked and drained chickpeas  (3/4 cup dry, or about 1 can)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons peanut butter (or tahini but I don't have tahini)
• 1/2 Tablespoon dried parsley (original called for more but I'm not huge on parsley -add more if you like it and/or use fresh.)
• 1/3 cup flour (I ended up adding another 1/3 cup, but then again I was accidentally using waffle mix.)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• coconut oil - for frying.  (I used extra virgin and it gave it a wonderful light coconut flavor.  I think it was really key in these being so wonderful.  The slight hint of coconut was perfect in this recipe.    I ordered my extra virgin coconut oil online.  They don't carry it at my local grocery store, just the regular coconut oil.  My local health food store does carry it though.  (I just didn't know they even existed until after I ordered mine online.)  I definitely recommend trying to find it for this recipe if you don't have it.)

wrap ingredients

• tortillas - I used a wheat wrap, but let the kids use flour tortillas
• ranch dressing - I used this new recipe.
• chopped lettuce (I used romaine.)

Directions

1. Chop onions - in a food processor if desired.  Start sauteeing in the butter.  Meanwhile chop carrots and garlic in the food processor and add to the onion.  Add carrots, garlic and cumin and saute for another minute or 2.
2. Mash the chickpeas into a paste (again, I used the food processor, then tried the blender, but next time will use the immersion blender.  Add the sauteed veggies and process until well mixed.  Stir or process in the peanut butter and parsley.  In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in chickpea mixture.  
3. Heat 2-3 Tablespoons of oil in a skillet.  Make small patties.  I scooped about 1.5 Tablespoons into the oil and flattened it with the back of my rubber spatula.  

guacamole and pico de gallo

I know I said that 7 layer dip would be the next post, but to post on 7 layer dip, I felt I had to post the guacamole recipe we use.  Honestly I have to admit that we totally cheated this time around because we just used salsa, but we do normally make guacamole following this recipe.  I'm including our pico de gallo recipe becasuse it seems like everyone would know what it is so it doesn't merit it's own post.  However, in case you don't, or I ever forget the proportions, I've included it here.

Again, no picture - other than as part of 7 layer dip.

Ingredients

• 3 avocados (Hass medium), 
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice (freshly squeezed)
• 1/2 cup pico de gallo (see below)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced (3 cloves)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon jalapeno, stemmed seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Pit avocados.  Score without going through the skin.  Scoop dices our into a mixing bowl.  Add the lime juice and stir to coat.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients and stir and mash until desired consistency is reached. 

****Tip - We learned this awesome tip a while back - if you toss an avocado pit in with the guacamole it will keep it from going brown.  

~~Like I said, today we totally cheated.  I love the Jack's Special fresh salsa that they sell at our costco.  It has a nice limey flavor.  We just subbed that for the jalapeno, pico, and lime juice.  I'm pretty sure Brandon still added a bit of garlic, the olive oil, and salt to taste.  But like I said, I share the recipe because it is our go to guacamole recipe.

Pico de gallo

Ingredients

• 2 cups (1 pound) tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup white onions, diced
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 2 teaspoons lime juice (fresh is best)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  

Limey refried beans

So when I saw this recipe it sounded delicious.  I must say I wasn't disappointed.  It oricinally came from an e-book I have from kitchen stewardship. Of made it my own way.  Mostly just leaving out the cheese plus changing a few proportions.  It was so tasty.  Definitely no need to buy refried beans at the store.  These were much better and really I've decided it is no big deal to cook beans at home.  I always avoided it in the past thinking it to be too time consuming.  Honestly, it isn't because they don't have to be babysat or anything.  It just requires a little pre-planning.  Put them on to soak the night before and start them cooking a couple of hours before you want to eat.

We used this to make 7 layer dip.  (Recipe to follow.)   I actually served that for dinner, not an appetizer.  I figured why not?  Beans are good for you, avocados and tomatoes are good for you...  Why can't it be dinner?  But I digress, this isn't a post about 7 layer dip - that is my next post right.  On to the beans. (which apparently I didn't take a picture of by themselves, but refried beans are refried beans right?)

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked pinto beans (I cooked up 2 cups of beans, but didn't use them all.  I'm pretty sure I could have though.)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• sea salt (or Himalayan pink salt) -to taste (I used 20 grinds in the beans on their second hour of cooking (even though they were doing very well at 1 hour - I cooked them longer since I knew I was mashing them - and I was busy cleaning.:) - then I used another 5 grinds in the actual refried bean part.
• 3 Tablespoons lime juice (3 limes - juiced)
• 1/2 teaspoon lime zest - zest of 1 lime - I didn't measure

Directions

1. After cooking the beans, reserve the cooking liquid to thin the refried beans.
2. In a large pot (to save dishes, use the one that cooked the beans) heat the butter.  Add onions and begin sauteeing.  Add cumin and continue sauteeing.  Add garlic and oregano and cook until onions are lightly browned.
3. Stir in 1 cup of bean cooking liquid and 4 cups of beans (you can play with this if you want -adding only 1/2 of the beans, pureeing, then adding more and pureeing a bit less if you want it a bit more chunky.  I know I wanted mine smooth, so I added all of the beans at once.)  Mash with a potato masher, or if you have one (my preferred method) an immersion blender.  Blend until desired consistency.  
4. Heat until desired consistency (for example, if it is too watery, heat to thicken.)  Add lime juice, zest and salt to taste.  

healthy chocolate squares

While making this treat, I determined that I was definitely NOT going to blog about it or ever make it again because first I had it in my food processor.  It started smoking - thought I had ruined it.  I have to admit that I have a super cheap, tiny food processor, so I can not complain about that.  Then I threw this into the blendtec and it was so thick that it was still hard to blend and I had to stop and push it down into the blades a ton of times.  The dates never got really chopped up, and it was a total pain to make.
However, then I ate them....
Well, you see the post don't you.  Yes, they were that good and healthy to boot.  I WILL find an easier/more effective way to make these.  (Starting out with fresher dates may be helpful.)  :)
This recipe is also adapted from one in my new e-book.
I have to say the picture isn't much to look at - they were sticky and hard to cut, but again, you see the post right?  After it was difficult to make - but look at the ingredients - who gets a bunch of fruit and nuts when they eat chocolate???  OK, now I want to make some more.  I finished these off today before dinner. Too bad I'm out of dates.  Better go add them to my shopping list.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/4-1/3 cup walnuts
• 1/4-1/3 cup hazelnuts
• 5 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup honey
• pinch salt
• coconut oil (for greasing the pan)

Directions

1. Process all of the ingredients except coconut oil any way you can think of.  I would say high powered blender, or a better food processor than I have.  I may even try my immersion blender - not sure but rest assured I'll keep trying.  :)  Process until it is a nice gooey glob.  It should still have chunks of nuts, but hopefully not much fruit (although mine had plenty of date chunks and it was still delicious - but I used whole dates, not chopped.)
2. Line a bread pan with wax paper. (I didn't originally line the pan, but I found I didn't want to cut it in the pan and it was a bit hard to take out.  My thought is paper will make it much easier next time.)  Coat the wax paper with coconut oil (or butter.)  
3. Press mix into the bottom of the pan.  Freeze for 20 minutes or so to make the mix more solid.  
4. Remove paper from the pan and cut into square.
5. Keep stored in the fridge.

Muesli

This "recipe" is from another one of my Healthy cooking groups.  More than a recipe, it is just kind of an idea of things to toss in to make a home-made muesli.  It is super simple.  There are no measurements, no right or wrong, and I actually toss in ends of other cereals we have at home making it a great way to get rid of that last 1/4 cup of rice crispies someone left in the box.  I've made this a couple of times now, and last time didn't actually "make" a new batch, I just tossed in some more oats, cereal and raisins.  See, super easy right.
Serve this with milk, or on top of yogurt.

Here is what it looked like today.  I had some organic chocolate crisp cereal
I tried in there this time.  The white balls are the puffed millet.  Looks like I got
a bit carried away with it.  :)

Ingredients

• rolled oats - lots - think about 1/2-3/4 of the amount you want to make.  I use a big bowl and fill it about 1/2 way with oats. 

Optional ingredients - just pick and choose what you like

• chopped nuts - any type
• seeds - ground flax, flax, chia, sesame...
• wheat germ
• any desired cereal - I try to stick to healthy ones.  Read labels carefully...  Really you can put anything here - just not a lot.  I like the cereal for a change of flavor and/or texture - grape nuts add a great crunch, rice crispies do too.  I also like puffed grain cereal - found a puffed millet I added for fun last time.
• any dried fruit - raisins, blueberries.... (I love to add raisins - they add sweetness.)
• unsweetened coconut
• Granola - home made is great.  Use enough to make the muesli sweet.  

Directions

Fill a large mixing bowl about 1/2 way full with rolled oats.  Add any optional ingredients and stir to combine.  Store in an airtight container.

ice cream

So I finally got a blendtec about 2 weeks ago.  I use it all the time now.  At least 2 times a day and sometimes more.  I have to say it isn't perfect, it has jammed on me, and can't seem to ever finish an ice cream cycle without me having to push the ingredients down.  In that respect, I guess the vitamix and it's tamper would be nice.  However, I wouldn't trade the capacity of the wild side jar for anything.  It's the only thing that will make enough green smoothie in the morning for my family.   OK, enough about the blendtec.  I'm happy to have such a powerful blender that cleans up so easily.  This recipe is actually a modification of a recipe in the blendtec book.  Their strawberry ice cream had lemon juice in it.  I didn't have lemons so I left it out.  Today I made the same recipe with cherry.  Also turned out well.  A bit tangy, but still sweet enough for my tastes.  Would have been better with sweet cherries, but I have pie cherries this year.  Anyway, on to the recipe.  LOVE it - couldn't be simpler.  Can't say that the half and half is wonderful for you, but at least I know exactly what is in my ice cream, and over half of it is frozen fruit.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup half and half
• 3 Tablespoons agave
• 16 oz. frozen fruit

In a high powered blender, blend until smooth. (unless you want a couple of frozen chunks of fruit left.)  

We have tried this with strawberry and cherry, but I have plans to try it with other fruits in my freezer like peaches, pineapple (will probably throw in some coconut with that one.), loganberries, raspberries (may need another tablespoon of agave for that one.)  You get the idea.  I bet it would even be good with the tropical blend of fruits I use in my smoothies sometimes.

sweet potato pancakes

So, I've tried potato pancakes before and not been very successful, so I approached this meal with a bit of trepidation.  However, I will worry no longer because these were SOOOO delicious.  I absolutely loved them.  Everyone else did too.  Even my non potato eaters (I'll admit, I was quite worried about them.)  Definitely a meal worth repeating.  As I was making them Brandon walked by and said they make them in Germany and eat them with applesauce.  That was actually suggested in the recipe book I used, but honestly, I loved them plain.  So sweet and delicious.  Serve with a large salad.
This recipe idea came from The Six O'clock Scramble.  I love that book.  All healthy meals, and many meatless.  Of course I had to modify somewhat.  Much of it due to the size of my sweet potato - let's just call it Texas large.  But I also made some healthy and preferential substitutions.  Here's my version.

Ingredients

• 1 extra large (or 2 medium) sweet potatoes
• 2-3 medium/medium small potatoes (mine had quite a few bad spots so it was really about 2.5 potatoes from the 3 I used.  Together it was actually less in quantity than the 1 sweet potato.)
• 1/2 large sweet onion, diced (probably close to 1 cup diced)
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• dash cayenne pepper
• Coconut oil for frying - about 2 Tablespoons per batch.  I did about 6 batches of 4 pancakes each so 12 Tablespoons for me.  Although I may have not used a true 2 Tablespoons - I didn't measure.)

Directions

1. Coarsely grate the sweet potatoes and potatoes.  (I used my food processor on the thicker grating side.)  You can also grate the onion, but I thought that would make it entirely too juicy so I diced it.  
2. Drain the veggies and wrap them in a clean dish towel for a couple minutes to get the remaining water out.
3. While you are waiting, in a small bowl, combine the flour salt and cayenne pepper.   Stir to mix.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the veggies to the eggs and stir to coat.  
4. Toss in the flour mixture and stir to combine.
5. In a large nonstick skillet, heat approximately 2 Tablespoons of oil over medium high heat.  When oil is hot, scoop in spoonfuls of the potato mixture and flatten them out with the back of the spoon.  Cook until browned on that side, flip and cook until browned on the other side.  For each pan full add a tablespoon or 2 of oil.  If they brown too quickly reduce the heat, but I found medium high to be just right.  Medium was too slow.  
6. The author of the book tells you to keep these in a warm oven while baking.  I transferred them to a plate and covered it with my microwave cover to keep warm.   

Catalina Dressing

One of my favorite salad dressings is Catalina.  With all of the salads we've been having lately I really needed something I really liked to make my salads tasty.  I searched online for a "Catalina" recipe and they all had ketchup.  Seems to defeat the purpose of buying commercial salad dressing if you're just going to use commercial ketchup in the recipe.  In addition to the ketchup, they also all had a full cup of sugar.  I used agave and cut the quantity in half but then added an extra bit to make up for missing sweetener in the ketchup.  Here is how I made it.  I loved it just like this.
My 3 year old loves this.  He calls it pink ranch (even though it is more orange in color.)  He has it on the side and dips individual pieces of lettuce in the dip and devours them.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons Agave  (5/8 cup or 10 Tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• dash paprika
• dash garlic powder
• larger dash onion powder (original was grated onion to taste.  I almost threw in a chunk of onion but I got lazy and went with the powder.  I'm sure you could use 1/2 teaspoon and be fine.  I just sprinkled.
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup water (can trade for more olive oil if desired but I don't like things to feel too greasy.  Can also omit for a more concentrated sauce.)
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce

Directions

Blend until smooth.  I found this tasted better the next day when the flavors could blend a bit, but it was still plenty tasty the first day.

Potato and feta Spanish "tortilla"

This is another modified recipe from six o'clock scramble.  Here I mostly just upped the amount of eggs and milk to make it go farther.  As it was, it was all eaten and we had to make some more scrambled eggs to fill up our hungry teenagers. (and the original recipe was supposedly able to serve 6 - with only 5 eggs.)
I absolutely adored this meal.  That is saying something because I'm not a huge fan of eggs in general.
The original did say you could add optional fillings.  We did not although since I had asparagus in my meal this evening, I'm thinking that asparagus would have gone very well as an optional add in.
Definitely planning to make this again - maybe even for breakfast tomorrow.  It sounds sooo good.

Ingredients

•  2 medium potatoes diced
• 1-2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 8 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 Tablespoons feta

Directions

1. Place the potatoes in a medium sized microwave safe bowl and sprinkle with water.  Lightly cover them (I used my microwave cover.)  Microwave on high until they are fork tender (3-5 minutes)  Drain any excess liquid.
2. Preheat the broiler to high and set the rack 4-5 inches from the heat.  
3. Spray a heavy, oven proof 12 inch skillet with nonstick cooking spray.  Saute the onions in butter until fragrant.  Add the softened potatoes, rosemary, salt, and pepper (and any additional ingredients -ie veggies I'm thinking spinach would probably be good as well)  and saute for a few more minutes.  (It should smell awesome at this point between the onions and the rosemary.  YUM!)
4. In a bowl, mix eggs, milk and cheese.  Pour it over the potato mixture in the pan.  Cook (without stirring) over medium-high heat until the eggs begin to harden.  (about 4 minutes)
5. Place the skillet under the broiler and cook until golden brown on top.  For me I did 3 minutes on high then turned my broiler down to low and did 2 minutes more.  That was perfect.  
6. Cut in slices and serve.