A New Cook Book!

A couple days ago I was at Savers looking for a new cook book. To my great merriment I found one that is AWESOME! and I only paid 3 dollars for it. Oh Savers...how I love you.

Anyway, this weeks menu is completely from this book and so far, so good.

You can buy this book on amazon for a few dollars!

Fiery Fusilli

Ingredients:

8 oz fusilli noodles (I couldn't find any at the store so I used mini farfalle aka bowties)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2 banana chili peppers, minced (use gloves when handling)

4 plum tomatoes, diced

2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley

2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon crushed red peppers (I omitted this. Too spicy for me :)

1 large red pepper, diced

1/8 teaspoon salt

Cook pasta as directed. Drain and place in large serving bowl

Meanwhile, warm oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic banana peppers and sweet red pepper; cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, parsley and oregano; cook 4-5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to release their juice. Add chickpeas, broth and crushed red peppers;cook 2 minutes. Pour sauce over pasta. Sprinkle with salt.

Banana-Pecan Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I used sifted whole wheat flour)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk or soured milk

1 large egg, separated

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup chopped ripe banana, about 2 bananas (I used puree bananas. Warm banana chunks=ew)

2 table spoons chopped toasted pecans (I used walnuts)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Using a whisk, blend together.

In a small bowl, combine milk, egg yolk (egg white should be in a separate bowl), and oil. Mix well and add to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Beat egg white until they form peaks. Fold in bananas and pecans. Then fold in whipped egg white. The batter will be lumpy.

Coat skillet or griddle with cooking spray. Set to medium-high heat until hot. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake. When bubbles appear on top and the edges are barely dry, turn the pancakes over and finish cooking. The pancakes are done when the centers spring back when touched.

We topped ours with strawberries, blueberries and homemade syrup.Enjoy!

Spaghetti Sauce.

I have recently taken on the challenge of making my own spaghetti sauce. Guess what?! It's easier than it sounds and you know exactly what you are getting. Who wants high fructose corn syrup in their spaghetti sauce? NOT ME!

I came across this food blog and it had this recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce. I modified it a little and served it to my family. It was yummy and jam packed full of veggies!

I LOVE to throw in shredded or diced veggies into my meals whenever I possibly can. Whatever vegetables I have in my fridge at the time goes in. Try it sometime. It's a great way to add extra nutrients to your meal.

Ingredients:

1 pound extra lean hamburger meat (I used 1/2 a pound)
1 cans tomato paste
1/4 cup of water
1 cans tomato sauce
1 cans of stewed tomatoes (blended) ( I used dice tomatoes)
2 tablespoons of brown sugar (I used 1 TBS)
1 tablespoons of basil

1 tablespoon of oregano
garlic salt to taste
To this I added:

a whole yellow squash, finely diced

three carrots, shredded

Brown the beef and saute the veggies,

mix in everything else,
add water if too thick,
add paste if too thin,
add ingredients to your taste.

This isn't the exact amount that we use of everything, we usually make it to taste. Try different things until its just how you like it.

Blueberry-Sour Cream Muffins

I found this recipe while I was visiting my friend, Jillyn, in Utah. They had sour cream and blueberries in the fridge so I googled "blueberry sour cream muffins". It worked like a charm. a link to the recipe came up. I already follow this blog so I knew it most likely would be a good recipe. They turned out wonderfully.

When I came home I made these muffins again but modified them a little to make them a little more healthful. It was a success! They were still delicious and more nutrients.

Check out The Idea Room (where I found this recipe). It's called the Idea Room for a reason!

These are the whole wheat ones. You can't even tell right?!

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used sifted whole wheat flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar (I reduced it to 2/3 C)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream (10 ounces) (I used plain yogurt. Less fat with basically the same effect)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (wild)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.

3. Add frozen berries to dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. (Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not overmix.)

4. Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and insert toothpick into the center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes. Serve as is or with the cinnamon sugar topping below.

Cinnamon Sugar Topping: (I didn't even do this and they were still so good)
While muffins are cooling, mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon in small bowl and melt 4 tablespoons butter in small saucepan. After baked muffins have cooled 5 minutes, and working one at a time, dip top of each muffin in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar. Set muffins upright on wire rack.

Let's Blow this Popsicle Stand...

Does anyone else have trouble spelling Popsicle? Without fail, it is spell checked.

Anyway, Summer is here people! I know where I live it isn't being shy. Summer has kind of an ego here. It wants everyone to know what it is capable of and it's not afraid to show it.

Call me crazy but I LOVE IT!

I also love these...Homemade Popsicles!

I found this delicious recipe from cherryteacakes.com (one of my favorite blogs to follow). The recipe is for a cantaloupe popsicle but I have tried other fruit, too. Note to self: watermelon not so bueno. Get creative and use other fruit or do banana and substitute milk for water. A creamy banana popsicle. ooh yeeah! Let me know what you try!

Homemade Popsicles

1/2 cup water

dash of unflavored gelatin

1 cup fruit

1/2 cup water

1 T fresh lemon juice (I don't know if I have ever added this...)

Pour water in a bowl. Sprinkle just a little unflavored gelatin over, at most a fourth of a teaspoon. This is just to keep the popsicles from being too granular in texture.

Mix the remaining ingredients in a food processor (Its easier in the blender) for about half a minute, or until it reaches your desired consistency.

Combine the two mixtures well, and pour into a popsicle mold.

Freeze.

When you are ready to unmold, if the popsicles stick, run the mold under warm water for about 10 seconds, and it should release more successfully.

Tipsy Tuesday

Every Tuesday (hopefully) I will be giving little cooking tips. These are tips I have discovered from wise cooks who have come before me or from trial and error. You may be familiar with the tips. If that's the case, Great! If not, hopefully they will make your life in the kitchen a little easier.

Here is today's tip:

When you measure out shortening, line the measuring cup with plastic wrap. This way the shortening pops right out and there is no greasy measuring cup to clean! Three cheers for plastic wrap!!!

Note: Again, another shout out to my sister Heidi who gave me the Tipsy Tuesday idea. She has always been a huge cheerleader for my cooking and starting this blog! Did I mention she does beautiful photography? Go here to refresh your memory.

The 1,000,000 Calorie Cake!

Ok. So 1,000,000 calories may be a bit of an exaggeration, but with 3 pounds of butter and countless cups of sugar, I am still burning the calories I consumed from this cake that I ate 2 months ago. And I only had 1 slice!

I made this cake for my mom's 50th birthday. It was a hit. I am glad because it took me five hours to make! A shout out to my sister Heidi for letting me use her kitchen to make it. She was a LOVELY assistant. She also took these gorgeous pictures of the cake. She is amazing!Check out the rest of her work here.

I should probably give a shout out to Martha Stewart since it is her recipe. You can find the recipe here. Read the instructions for the cake from beginning to end. This way it won't take you five hours to make this super rich cake! (hint:start the frosting before you start the cake!I learned this the hard way!)