Zucchini Quesadilla's

With the left over tortilla's from the last meal, we like to make quesadillas for lunch the next day. The possibilities are endless, but typically I like to:

-grate a zucchini

-cut up some olives

-cut up tomatoes

Then layer a tortilla with shredded cheese, the toppings I cut up, a little more cheese, and another tortilla.

You can add meat or other vegetables that you might like. A suggestion from Food for Tots is to microwave for 30-50 seconds if you want, or serve with plain yogurt or sour cream.

Cheesy Rice & Veggie Burritos

This is a yummy meal that can be made up quickly!

-Tortillas*

-Flavored Rice (Rice-a-Roni Nature's Way makes rice in Parmesan & Romano cheese, and Italian cheese and herb... so good!)

-Frozen Veggies (peas or broccoli are great!)

-cream cheese

-shredded cheese

-Ranch dressing (my sister-in-law uses it, we don't, it's up to you!)

-Cook rice according to directions

-Cook Veggies according to directions

-Then fill up your burrito!

-I spread cream cheese, then add the rice, veggies, top with cheese, and roll them up!

*If you'd like to make your own tortilla's, here's a great recipe that has a higher yield.

Makes 20+ 8 inch tortillas. Dough can be made ahead of time but should be used within 24 hours.

Ingredients
6 cups unbleached all purpose flour or whole wheat flour
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil (corn, sunflower, olive oil, or canola)
2 cups of very hot water (or less)

Directions
In a large mixing bowl or Bosch place flour, salt, baking powder, and mix with your hands or sifter, or in the Bosch with the wire whisk attachment until well blended. Add oil and mix with a fork, or fingers, or with the Bosch until thoroughly mixed an crumbly like pie crust.

Add hot water slowly, and mix with hands, making sure all flour mixture mixes. If using a Bosch, exchanged whisk for dough hook. Make sure you add water slowly and make sure the flour from the bottom of the bowl gets mixed into the dough. Add a little water to collect flour from bottom of the bowl. Mix until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and forms a ball. Whole wheat flour is less smooth and pulls apart easily. Place dough on un-floured board and knead until smooth, or slam on the counter about 20 times. Let dough rest about 15 minutes.

Pull the dough into approximately 20 gulf ball sized balls. Keep covered with a damp cloth. Squeeze each ball into a flatten disc shape. Then place back under the moist cloth. Remove one disc from under the towel, and roll out into a circle. Place in a medium high pan for 30 seconds, until you see small bubbles appearing on the underside. Turn tortilla for another 30 seconds.

Cool on a paper towel, serve. Fill with desired filling.

White Chicken Chili

3 chicken breasts, cubed

1 med. Onion, chopped

1 ½ tsp. garlic powder

1 T. vegetable oil

Saute until chicken is golden brown and add:

2 cans (15oz) great northern beans (drain and rinse)

1 (14.5 oz) can of chicken broth

2 cans (4 oz) of green chilies

1 T. jalapenos

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp. black pepper

Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add:

1 C. sour cream

½ pint whipping cream

Stir in and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with chips, sour cream and cheese.

*****Variation****

We're picky meat eaters, so if we can't find free range chicken, we'll opt for using free range chicken broth (because it's easier to find), and we won't use chicken at all. Instead, we'll make everything like normal, and serve it over rice. It tastes great and all of our friends love it!

Sneaky Joes and Dilly Dip

I honestly have avoided this recipe for years, and then one day I looked it over and thought it sounded good, so I made it and it was a hit! Again, it's from Food for Tots. The reason I never made it was because I have never wanted to "sneak" my kids any food, so the title went against everything I stood for. Low and behold I was craving meat and barbecue sauce one day so I swallowed my pride and tried this little number:

1 cup bottled barbecue sauce

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey

1 small onion, chopped*

6 hamburger buns

1. Put barbecue sauce into a blender or food processor.

2. Add mixed vegetables a little at a time and blend until smooth.

3. In a frying pan cook meat and onion over medium heat until partially done.

4. Stir in sauce mixture, cover the pan and simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently until meat is thoroughly done.

5. While meat simmers, butter the hamburger buns and toast them lightly under the broiler.

6. Spoon meat mixture into buns and serve.

Yield: 6 sandwiches

*If you haven't discovered chopped frozen onion, give your freezer section a try! It makes meal starts so easy!

I serve these Sneaky Joes up with baby carrots, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, whatever is around really! My kids love veggies! We also like to make Dilly Dip for them:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon dill weed

1/2 teaspoon Bon Appetit (or 1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes & 1/8 teaspoon salt)*

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir them until they're blended.

*I've always used the parsley and salt and it works great!

-Dilly Dip is also a favorite of ours to pair with homemade pizza and veggies... we found that dipping our pizza in it adds a whole new dimension of flavor!

Grilled Cheese & Apple Sandwhiches

We LOVE this Food for Tots recipe! It is especially wonderful on homemade bread:

4 slices bread, any kind

-butter or margarine

-cheddar cheese, thinly sliced (we keep grated at our house, and it works great!)

1/2 apple, peeled and thinly sliced (we use a Pampered Chef peeler/corer/slicer tool).

-cinnamon sugar (1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon).

1. Butter each bread slice and place thin layer of sliced cheese on unbuttered side of two of the bread slices.

2. Place layer of apples on top of cheese and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

3. Add one more thin layer of cheese. Top with remaining bread (butter side out).

4. In a medium frying pan, grill sandwich over medium head until both sides of the bread are golden brown.*

Yield: 2 sandwiches

*We make this meal on a bit bigger of a scale, so I use my electric griddle and can fit about 4 sandwiches at a time. Works great!

Crepes... great for breakfast or dinner!

This is a recipe from Food for Tots. Very easy!

2 eggs

2 cups milk

1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

1 cup flour (sometimes I use half white and half wheat)

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a medium bowl beat eggs well with a fork.

2. Add milk and butter to the eggs.

3. In a separate bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt.

4. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir until evenly mixed.

5. Pour onto a hot buttered griddle or crepe pan. Use 1/3 cup for an adult, 1/4 for a child.*

6. Cook over medium heat until first side is lightly browned then turn and cook other side until set.

Yield: 10-12 crepes

*I use an electric griddle and I don't put down butter first, I've never had problems. The book suggests spraying your spatula with a nonstick spray to make turning easier, I've never tried that, but it makes sense! Lastly, it's MUCH easier to use a ladle to pour and spread thin the batter.... you can still do a child and adult size if you want, but my kids devour these, so I don't put forth any effort to make a smaller size.

-We put yogurt in the middle and garnish with whipped cream and fruit, sometimes even a drizzle of good syrup (real maple or fruit... they're worth the money!). I'll also cook up some eggs and bacon to round everything out. This makes a great dish no matter the time of day!

Cookbook Suggestion

I'm going to be posting a few of my favorite recipes from a cookbook called Food for Tot's by Dr. Janice Woolley & Jennifer Pugmire. My mom sent it to me a couple of years ago, and it has a few recipes that I just LOVE. I'll post them tonight or tomorrow, but thought I'd give you a name and link because you might just want a copy of your own!

-Cherie

Curry! My favorite last minute meal...

I wanted to try and at least post one thing today, so here it is, a quick and easy meal that everyone loves... even picky kids!

There are many different curry recipes out there. This one started with my husband's mission in Japan, and has evolved over time, so I think of it as Jorgensen Curry :-).

You can seriously use any vegetables you have on hand (a couple of weeks ago I set out to make it and realized I had NOTHING I normally use, so in went a bag of mixed veggies from the freezer), but for simplicity, this is usually what I do:

Jorgensen Curry:

-3-4 red potatoes (depending on their size)

-baby carrots (because it makes things even easier, but you can definitely get the bigger ones and chop away),

-bell pepper and onion frozen mix (again for ease, but is just as good fresh.)

-Vermont or S&B Curry (Basically a bouillon of sorts. Pictures are at the end)

-First saute the onions and bell peppers in a little bit of olive oil.

-Then add cubed potatoes... here is where I eyeball how many are going in since I don't want it to be too overpowered by potatoes.

-Then I toss in carrots... maybe half to 3/4 bag or so?, and let those saute with everything else for a little bit. I let these sit on medium-ish heat while I stir every now and then for a few minutes.

-Then you'll add enough water to cover the vegetables and let them boil for about 10-15 minutes, then check a potatoes to see if it's soft enough for your taste. You may need to add more water.

-When the potatoes are soft you'll add the curry. If you're using Vermont Curry you'll only need one packet (there's two in a box). You'll open it and break into squares (which are pre-marked). Just toss it into the vegetables and let it dissolve. You can stir it around a little bit here. The biggest thing will be to watch the texture of your curry. The sauce mix will be thickening everything up, so you will probably need to add more water to thin it out... but not too thin... then you'll have to let it sit on the burner to thicken up again.

That's all there is to curry really. Saute vegetables, boil them, then add the sauce mix.

Start to finish it's about 20-30 minutes depending on what you're having to chop etc. I usually don't cut my potatoes until the onions/peppers are cooking... saves me time? I don't know. It's just one of those quirky things I do.

This dish is best served over sticky rice. I HIGHLY suggest a rice cooker... they make this meal even easier because you just throw the rice in and it cooks perfectly all by itself and is done about the same time as the curry. Additionally, it really is handy for other things... steaming vegetables, making soups... I know my cookers have always come with quite the impressive recipe book, just a thought!

********************************************

Assembly:

Rice

Curry

Cheese

Sauce (when we were first married we used Ranch... now we love to put on homemade Thousand Island, again, easy! Mayo, Ketchup, and Dill Relish all mixed together. -You can save money by buying a jar of hamburger chips and chopping them up. Viola! Dill Relish at a fraction of the cost and you have pickles for anything else you want.- Make the mixture a light pink, and add some pickle juice if you think it's too thick.)

*The S&B brand can literally be found everywhere. I've seen it in every single grocery store I've been to in their "Asian" aisle, we're even talking about Walmart... it's everywhere!

*Vermont Curry is by far my favorite, but you will need to acquire that at an Asian market because I haven't seen it anywhere else. It's honestly worth looking for! So yummy, and from that one box you'll have enough for two meals. Trust me, try the S&B stuff because you want to get your feet wet with a quick easy meal, but definitely hunt down the Vermont stuff.

-All of these brands have different hotness to them, the milds are very mild. I've even taken medium-hot to friends with kids who've never tried it and were leery, and have yet to hear a single complaint! We take this to church functions in a big pot, or have friends over that have never had it, and have yet to meet anyone that has turned it down... even on down to the sauce. It's a winner! If you're passing through Texas in the next few weeks or are going through New Mexico soon we'd be happy to have you over to try some!

New comers to our blog!!!

Okay so I am in a cooking rut and always am in need of good recipes. So I have invited my side of the family and a few of my best friends to contribute to the blog. I figure they are my family so now they are yours. Plus we are all LDS stay at home moms that are always in need of a good recipe. And it keeps me from having to make another blog bc these days I seem to be slacking off! 

I hope that everyone is doing well and keep the recipes coming... I love the quick and easy so feel free to post away!!!

Nestle Toll House Cookies

Mix together:

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

 

Cream together:

          1 cup softened butter

          ¾ cup white sugar

          ¾ cup brown sugar

          1 tsp vanilla

 

Then add:

2 eggs

One-bag morsels of your choice (or 2 cups)

 

Bake: 350 degrees for 11 to 13 minutes

Pecan Coffee Cake (MY FAVORITE!!!)

1 Package Yellow Cake Mix

1 Package Instant pudding (butterscotch)

¼ tsp imitation butter flavoring

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

½ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup water

 

Beat well with mixer

 

Mix together:

          ¾ cup chopped pecans

          3 tsp cinnamon

          4 ½ Tbsp white sugar

 

Alternate layers of above and cake mixture in Bundt pan that has been greased.

 

Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes

Chocolate Bundt cake

1 package Chocolate cake mix

1 small package chocolate instant pudding

1 cup sour cream

½ cup oil

½ cup water

4 eggs

Beat together

Add 12 oz package of chocolate chips.

Bake in Bundt pan 50 minutes at 350 degrees

Pumpkin Roll

Sift together:

¾ cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Beat:

3 eggs 5 minutes until thick

Gradually add:

          1 cup sugar

          2/3 cup pumpkin

          1 tsp lemon juice

 

Fold in dry ingredients.  Cook in cake roll pan at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and roll in dishtowel.  Cool, unroll, and fill with filling

 

Filling:

          1 cup powdered sugar

          6 oz cream cheese

4 Tbsp butter

½ tsp vanilla

1 cup nuts

Monster Cookies

3 eggs

1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 12oz jar creamy peanut butter

1 stick butter softened

½ cup M&M’s

½ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup raisins

2 tsp baking soda

4 ½ cups quick cooking oatmeal (not instant)

 

Preheat oven to 35o degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or non stick baking mats.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars.  Mix well.  Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter.  Mix well.  Stir in the candies, chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal.  Drop cookies 2 TBSP apart onto cookie sheets.

 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.  Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.  When cool store in large resealable bags. 

Better than *anything* cake

1 Box German Chocolate Cake Mix—Bake as directed in a 9x13 cake pan

 

Poke Holes throughout the cake then pour:

          1 can Sweetened condensed milk

          1 bottle caramel ice cream topping

 

Smear 1 container cool whip and top with heath bar bits

Mrs. Fields Cookies

 2 cups brown sugar

2 cups white sugar

2 cups Crisco

4 eggs

3 tsp soda

2 tsp vanilla

1 ½ tsp salt

4 cups flour

4 cups oatmeal

2 cups coconut

3 cups chocolate chips

2 cups chopped nuts

Mix and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes

Request - Christina's pizza ball recipe

Christina,

When we were at my moms you made very yummy pizza balls. They were even faster and easier than mine. Could you post the dough recipe? Gracias.

Jen