Basic Baked Beans

This is my 200th post on my blog! So in honor of that I'll be posting 200 things you didn't know about Jill!

Just kidding!

It really is my 200th post but even I don't know 200 things about me. Instead I'm going to post one of my favorite bean recipes, baked beans.

Baked beans are so versatile. You can use them as a side dish for all sorts of things. We like them as a main dish, either with chopped ham stirred in or served over a bed of rice. Add some cornbread and a crunchy salad and you have a fabulous, healthful, cheap dinner.

I have heard of using baked beans as a bottom layer in a shepherd's pie like dish, or top with cornbread batter and bake and make a tamale pie type of thing. I also read a tip in my More With Less Cookbook that suggests spreading leftover baked beans on bread and toasting with cheese or a strip of bacon on the top.

This recipe comes from the More With Less Cookbook (have I mentioned that this in one of my favorite cookbooks?). It is a nice basic recipe that is fabulous by itself but allows itself to a lot of tweaking if you feel like it. It works great in the crock pot (I never make it in the oven, I only make it in the crockpot).

Basic Baked Beans

Soak overnight or by quick method:

1 lb navy beans (about two cups or so)
2 qts water

Drain the water and add fresh. The bring the beans to a boil and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hrs. Drain, reserving liquid

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine in a 2 qt. casserole:

cooked beans
1/2 c. molasses
1/4 c. ketchup (optional)
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 onion, chopped
2 slices bacon, chopped or 1/4 lb salt pork (optional)
bean liquid to cover

Bake 4-8 hours, adding liquid occasionally if necessary. Cover during first half of baking time then uncover.

Notes:

• I almost never use the bacon/salt pork. I usually leave it "vegetarian" until I stir in big chunks of ham (which my veggie kids can pick out). It does need some kind of fat though, so I add a Tb. of so of oil or butter/margarine. It just gives it a smoother, richer mouth-feel.
• You do need to simmer the beans ahead of time. I learned this the hard way when I served my husband's family crunchy baked beans one summer at a bbq. I think it is the salt you are adding to the cooking liquid, it didn't allow the beans to get soft. I usually just soak the beans overnight then simmer them in the morning while I'm getting ready then stick it all in the crockpot and let it cook all day.
  
• I sometimes use prepared mustard and sometimes I use dry mustard, doesn't make a huge difference.
• I sometimes use dried onion flakes instead of a chopped onion.
• I almost always use the ketchup, but that's me.
• You can add a couple of TBs. of brown sugar for a different taste.
• You can add some "heat" ingredients if you like that kind of stuff - I don't. I'm a total "spice wimp."
• If you cook it in the Crockpot, you won't need to add additional liquid, just cook it on low for 6-8 hours and you'll be fine.

Enjoy!

Jill

Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole

In our house, we have a very simple but much loved lentil and rice dish that we call, amazingly enough, Lentil Rice Casserole. This dish is prepared on the stove-top and I have never been able to figure out how to make it with brown rice, I always use white.

While perusing over at the Grocery Cart Challenge (a site I would really recommend if you are looking to help lower your food budget), I came across a new recipe for lentils and rice.

This version is baked in the oven and uses brown rice and some Italian seasoning but otherwise is very similar to our version. I decided to try it out the other night, at the very least it requires less fussing than my recipe.

The original version is posted over at RecipeZaar, I have of course, made some changes already.

Brown Rice and Lentil Casserole

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine in a 11x7 pan (I used an oval casserole dish):

3 c. stock or broth (we used half vegetable boullion and half chicken)
3/4 c. lentils
1/2 c. brown rice
3/4 c. chopped onion (I used dry minced onion)
1 tsp Italian seasoning (I didn't have that so I used 1/2 tsp basil and 1/2 tsp oregano)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (I used lots more than this because we love garlic)

Cover the pan tightly and place in the oven. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle with:

1 c. grated cheese (I used cheddar but mozzarella or a blend would be good - I also used more like 1 1/2 cups)

Return to the oven (uncovered) and bake 20 more minutes. Serve.

Notes:

• I had a hard time getting all the liquid to be absorbed. We ended up draining off the extra at the end. I'd do 2 1/2 c. stock next time and see if it made a difference.
  
• This was very, very tasty and everyone liked it.
  
• How cheap is this? VERY! Bulk lentils and rice are super cheap and the only expensive thing is the cheese but you are only using 1 c. or so. This whole casserole comes out to less than $2.00! Add a salad and a loaf of bread and dinner for under $5!
• I would change to temperature to 325 degrees next time, maybe that would help with the liquid problem.
  

Give this one a try, you might just like it!

Guess what I bought myself today? A couple of new cookbooks. One from Borders called The Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon (I've been drooling over it and had a 40% off coupon), and one I found at Goodwill called Bread for All Seasons by Beth Hensperger. I'm sure I'll be posting some new recipes soon!

Jill

Bread and Cheese Soufflé

Another really cheap and meat-free meal that we have recently discovered is Cheese Souffle. This recipe also came from my friend Kari. It is really good. Not particularly low-fat but so yummy!

Bread and Cheese Soufflé

6 eggs beaten

2 1/3 c milk

1 small can green chilies

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 stick melted butter

1 loaf fresh French bread

Grated cheese (save for last)

Mix eggs and milk, add milk, chilies, onion powder, garlic powder salt and butter.
Add bread - just the inside not the crusts. I get out all the bread I can. You just rip or cut it into cubes. You don't have to have it perfect because you won't be able to see the shape in the end anyway!

Pour half of mixture into a greased pan approx 9 1/2 x 11 sprinkle approx. 1 cup cheddar cheese over that. Pour last half of mixture over cheese and then on top of that approx. 1 more c. cheddar cheese. Bake 325 for 50-65 min. (Until knife comes clean in the middle.) I cover it for the first 30 minutes or so then uncover. It will puff up and be really beautiful when you take it out of the oven. Call everyone over before you pull it out. It deflates really fast and you want everyone to "ohh" and "ahh" over it first!

I served this with salad and fruit and we ate every last little bit. I even took the outsides of the bread and buttered them and broiled them as a side dish. Yum.

Broccoli Cottage Cheese Casserole

I have mentioned this recipe a couple of times in the last week. I have gotten several requests for it, so here goes!

When I first heard the ingredient list for this recipe, it seemed to me that it would not work. How would it set up, I wondered? If I had read this recipe in a book or online, I never would have tried it, it just sounded too weird. But a good friend of mine suggested this recipe to me and told me it was one of her family's favorites. She'd given me some good recipes in the past so I decided to take her word for it.

I'm glad I did. This recipe bakes up sort of like a quiche and everyone in my family liked it (my 16 yo went back for fourths the first time I made it!). It is incredibly easy to put to together can almost be a complete meal in itself. We usually serve it with some bread and some fruit. The other thing I like about it is that it uses up my eggs. My chickens are laying in abundance these days and I actually have to plan things to use the eggs up!

Broccoli Cottage Cheese Casserole

Thaw one 16 oz bag of frozen chopped broccoli. Squeeze out any extra water (you don't want a soupy quiche!)

Mix together in a bowl:

the thawed broccoli
6 eggs
2 lbs cottage cheese (I use the low fat kind)
6 Tbs flour
1/2 lb grated cheese (I used cheddar and used about a cup and a half or so)
1 stick melted butter (I used a half a stick - 1/4 c. and it was great)

Mix everything together well, making sure the eggs get well incorporated. Throw it in a 9 x 13 pan that has been greased. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out almost clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

As I'm writing this, it sure doesn't sound low-fat. However, using my modifications and keeping in mind that it makes about 8-10 servings, it isn't all that bad. And tons of protein!

Enjoy!

Jill

Meatless Cooking to Save Money

One of the things that my family does to save money on food is that we eat meatless several times a week.

Saving money isn't the only reason we eat meatless. We also do it to save the planet - the UN has suggested that people eat at least one meatless meal a week to help curb greenhouse gas production.

We also do it to save our health. A vegetarian diet (one in which meat is replaced with high protein/high fiber foods - such as lentils, beans, whole grains and of course, vegetables) can help improve heart health. Of course, if you just replace the meat with lots and lots of eggs and cheese it probably won't help all that much.

We also do it because two of my children have decided to be vegetarian for a variety of reasons. I fix meatless meals sometimes because I'm just too lazy to fix two meals.

Even when we do have meat meals we use meat as an ingredient rather than a dish. By this I mean I do chicken soup instead of roast chicken, beef stirfry instead of steak, etc. I buy very little meat for this family even though we do eat meat several times a week.

Ok, whenever I explain to people my food philosophy and how I spend so little, when I get to the low-meat part people always freak. "My family would never allow this!" "I'd have to make twice that much meat to keep my hubby happy." "My kids would never eat vegetarian!" "My family would mutiny if I tried that!"

Here's my question - who's in charge of food here, anyway? Who's the grown-up?

Ok, with your husband I guess he has some say in the matter, but with your kids? If your kids pitched a fit if you didn't serve Twinkies at every meal, would you give in? What if your family demanded filet mignon three times a week, would your budget allow you to oblige them? What if they would eat nothing but the most expensive cereal for breakfast? Would you continue to buy it or would you eventually say, "Tough, I'm not buying it more than once a week. There is other cereal or you could have toast or scrambled eggs. Deal with it." Of course you would!

Somehow we have convinced ourselves that meat is required, and to deny our family of meat is cruel and unusual punishment. It isn't!! Having a vegetarian meal once and a while is not only frugal, it is healthy and "green," too! Stand up to your family and serve a vegetarian meal once and a while. They will adjust, I promise.

To aid in the transition, may I suggest some meals that are meatless that we don't think of as "vegetarian."

• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup
• Bean and Cheese Burritos
• Cheese and onion Enchiladas
• Breakfast (pancakes, waffles, etc with hashbrowns, fruit, etc - but no bacon!)
• Swiss Cheese Quiche
• Taco Soup (without the hamburger, of course)
• Homemade Mac and Cheese
• Pasta with Marinara Sauce (no meat)
• Good Ol' Rice and Beans
• Bean and Vegetable soup
• Cheese Fondue
• Cheese Pizza
  

I have lots of other recipes that I'll be posting later this week - Cheese Soufflé, Broccoli Cottage Cheese Casserole, Brown Rice and Lentil Casserole, and a maybe another one.

So take the plunge - try a vegetarian meal - it's good, really!

Jill

My Master List of Meals

Earlier this week I posted about my "food book," the little book that keeps my food life and menu planning organized. In that post I mentioned that in the front of my food book I have a "master list of meals." These are the meals that I know my family likes and I cook on a regular basis.

Because I enjoy cooking, enjoy trying new things, and because my family is pretty easy to please (ie, they enjoy lots of different meals), this master list is pretty long. Not everyone will have 86 meals on their master list! Some will only have 30 (one for every day of the month), some will only have 14 (a two week rotation that gets repeated). My family (and I) really enjoy variety so we have a lot of different meals on here. Plus, I cook differently in the summer than I do in the winter.

Due to overwhelming demand (ok, one request), I thought I'd post my master list of meals. It is grouped by meat so if you are looking for a certain thing you can look in that section.

Vegetarian Meals

• Quesadillas
• Lentil Rice Casserole
• Crepes with berries
• Dutch Babies (German Pancakes)
• Torts and Brodo (An Italian recipe for tortellini soup)
• Toasted Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup
• Our Favorite Potato Dish (a scalloped potato sort of thing)
• Cheese Beer Soup (using non-alcoholic beer)
• Vegetable Pie
• Fondue
• Spanish Tortilla
• Baked beans and rice
• Waffles
• Pancakes
• Good Ol' Beans and Rice
• Baked Lentils with Cheese
• Cottage Cheese Casserole

Chicken Meals

• Stir fry
• Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
• Chicken and Rice-a-Roni (a skillet meal of chicken added to rice-a-roni)
• Chinese Chicken Salad
• Mar Far Chicken or Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Chicken Broccoli Oriental
• Creamy Baked Chicken Breasts
• Parmesan Chicken
• BBQ Chicken on the grill
• Hawaiian Haystacks
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken Tetrazini
• Chicken ala King
• Fajitas
• Chicken Crockpot thing
• King Ranch Chicken
• Chicken Packets

Sausage Meals (using Polska Kielbasa)

• Potato, Sauerkraut, and Sausage
• Red Beans and Rice
• Smokey Sausage Skillet
• Sweet and Spicy Sausage

Ham Meals

• Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
• Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Ham
• Croquettes (and Italian version with rice and mozzarella cheese and ham)
• Ham-fried Rice
• Ham and Noodle Toss
• Ham and Cheese Baked Potatoes
• Ham and Potato fry with eggs

Beef Meal

• Impossible Taco Pie
• Beef-Topped Bean Enchiladas
• Sloppy Joes
• Tacos
• Braid Bread
• Taco Soup
• Meatballs with variations:
• meatballs with gravy over rice or mashed potatoes
• Sweet and Sour meatballs
• BBQ meatballs (or BBQ meatball sandwiches)
• Meatball stew
• Meatloaf
• Pot Roast
• French Dip Sandwiches (using leftover pot roast)
  
• Vegetable Beef Soup (using leftover pot roast)
• Corned Beef hash

Pasta Meals (ok, I know this isn't actually a meat, but whatever . . . )

• Pasta with Red Sauce
• Pasta Bake
• Polenta with Sauce (and I know this isn't actually pasta, but whatever . . . )
• Spaghetti Carbonara
• Stuffed Pasta Shells (stuffed with a mozzarella/ricotta cheese mixture)
  
• Taco Stuffed Shells (stuffed with taco meat and cream cheese and topped with salsa)
• Homemade Mac and Cheese
• Spaghetti Pie
• Pesto Pasta
• Wagon Wheel Chili
• Homemade Egg Noodles with Butter Sauce
• Pasta Salad

Tuna Meals

• Tuna Loaf
• Tuna Salad
• Tuna Noodle Casserole
• Creamed Tuna on Toast

Other Miscellaneous Meals (that I couldn't figure out where to put)

• Breakfast Burritos
• Homemade Pizza
• Baked Potatoes with Chili and Cheese
• Bacon and Swiss Cheese Quiche
• Homemade Chili
• Frito Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Navajo Tacos
• Soup and Rolls
• One-Eyed Egyptians

Whew! That took a long time! I cook a lot of things. If there are specific meals that you would like a recipe for, tell me and I'll try to post them in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

Jill

Only the Best Waffles, Ever!

Don't you love it when you finally find the perfect recipe for something? You know, that peanut sauce that tastes exactly like the local Thai restaurant? Or those biscuits that taste just like you remember from childhood? I'm always on the lookout for the Perfect Recipe for everything. My husband claims that someday I will find the One Perfect Recipe and I'll stop reading cookbooks.

I don't think so.

But I can cross one perfect recipe off my list - waffles! I have been looking for a recipe for waffles that is crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and not doughy. I have finally found it and even better, it is super easy. You make them the night before and let them rise in the fridge overnight. Then add a few quick ingredients in the morning and bake 'em up. These are only the best waffles, ever.

Yeasted Waffles

This recipe originally came from the book Bread For Breakfast, by Beth Hensperger. I have altered it to work better for me. The original recipe calls for brown rice flour, not something I keep on hand. I substituted whole wheat flour and increased the proportion of wheat flour to white flour. It is healthier and uses stuff I have on hand.

The night before you want to serve them, place in a large bowl:

1/2 c. warm water
2 1/2 teaspoon yeast (one package)

Allow the yeast to dissolve for about 5 minutes or so. Make sure you use a really big bowl, the batter will double in size overnight and you don't want waffle batter all over your fridge!

To the bowl add:

2 cups warm milk. It just needs to be kinda warm, not really warm.
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white all purpose flour

Mix well. I use a wire whisk for this and beat it really good. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a lid if the bowl has one) and put it in the fridge over night. In the morning it will look something like this:
It is bubbly and frothy and way more than twice the size it was last night. This is good.

To this mix you add:


2 eggs
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda


Whisk everything until it is smooth and the eggs are completely combined. Pour into your waffle maker and close the lid.

Wait patiently.

Ok, not so patiently because they smell really good while they are cooking! When the waffle iron says they are done (or when most of the steaming stops) open the lid and behold the perfect waffle.

Try not to moan as you eat it because your children will mock you. Ask me how I know.

Serve with butter, syrup and/or jam. I eat them plain while I am cooking the next batch, because they are just that good.

Notes:

• You can play with the proportions of flour. If your family wants all whole wheat, try it. I never have but I've done much higher proportions than half and half.
  
• This is a good way to introduce your family to whole wheat if they are resistant to the idea, the whole wheat adds a nice crunch without weighing the waffle down.
  
• I have used less butter and added a little unsweetened applesauce with good results.
  
• I always, always, always make a double batch and freeze the extras. They reheat well in the toaster and that way I can serve waffle for breakfast without doing any work. Yeah, me!
  

Enjoy!

Jill

One-eyed Egyptians

I know you've heard this before but . . . we have chickens in our backyard, so we have a lot of eggs. Since we have lots of eggs, we have lots of ways we use them. One of my kid's favorite ways is to use them to make One-Eyed Egyptians. These go by lots of names: Bird-in-a-Nest, Toad in a Hole, Hobo Eggs, Egg in a Nest. We call them One-Eyed Egyptians for reasons unknown to me. Whatever you call them, they are frugal, healthy and ridiculously easy - can't get much better than that!

Here's what you do:

Take one egg and one piece of bread for each person (these are great made with homemade bread, and obviously the better the bread, the better the finished product. However, it will work with whatever you have on hand, it just needs to be big enough to fit your cutter and still have intact edges.).

Butter one side of each piece of bread, then salt and pepper it. Take a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter (or a knife if you are desperate!) and cut a circle out of the middle of the buttered bread.

Place the bread, butter-side down, in a frying pan/skillet that you have sprayed with cooking spray (trust me when I tell you this step is important! I have had to soak far too many pans when I have forgotten this step. Eggs stick!) Let the bread sit in the pan for a minute or so. You want the butter to start to melt, this forms a "barrier" so that when you crack the egg in, it doesn't leak out from underneath. Don't forget to put the "hole" on the pan, also. It gets nice and toasty. My kids call this part the "cookie" and it is their favorite part!

When the butter has started to melt, crack one egg in each hole. Salt and pepper each egg.


Cook until the whites on the bottom have set and it is solid enough to flip it over without egg flying all over the kitchen. You can cover the pan for awhile to speed things along.

After you flip them, just cook until the egg is the way you like it. My kids are squeamish and want the yolks cooked hard. No runny eggs for them. We have about as fresh eggs as you can get, but they don't want to eat uncooked eggs. Oh well.

When it is done, plate it and add the cookie. Serve with some fruit and call it a day.

Enjoy!

Jill

Good 'Ol Beans and Rice

(I'm taking part in Fugal Upstate's Frugal Food series. This post is about those amazingly frugal beans. Check out Frugal Upstate for even more bean ideas.)

When you read or hear a discussion about cheap eating you invariably hear about eating a lot of rice and beans. Usually this is accompanied with a sigh or a grimace. I recently found a recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks for something called Good Ol' Rice and Beans. The author was saying that she had a discussion with some people about all the prepared foods in the American diet. She noted that people don't seem to have time to cook anymore. A sweet lady said to her that people "could always find time to cook good ol' rice and beans." The accompanying recipe is one my family loves and would eat once a week if I made it. We serve it with fruit, corn bread and maybe a salad. Cheap, quick and nutritious - can't beat that. And not a sigh or grimace in sight. (By the way, the cookbook is Cheap Fast Good and I'll be reviewing it later this week.)

Good Ol' Rice and Beans

In a large skillet sauté:

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped

When onion is softened, add to the skillet:

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

When the garlic is fragrant (but before it turns brown) add:

1 can (15 oz) red or white beans, drained

1 can (15 oz) black beans, not drained
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, not drained
1 cup frozen yellow corn kernels
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Reduce heat and simmer until the flavors blend and frozen corn is no longer frozen! Serve over rice (we prefer brown rice but the white rice cooks faster if you are pressed for time). Top with a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese.

Notes:

• If you use canned beans it goes together in about 20 minutes or less. If you use dry beans it would be cheaper but you have to think in advance. Unless you cook a whole bunch of beans at once and store them in the freezer.
• We blend the can of tomatoes in the blender because some people in my family "don't like tomatoes." We like the flavor of the tomatoes and I want the nutrition that the tomatoes add, so I just blend them and that person doesn't even know they are there.
• You can change it up by using tomatoes with added flavors (garlic, Italian spices, Mexican spices, etc.) You could really go crazy and add a can of Ro-tel tomatoes.
  

Enjoy!

Jill

Book Review - More With Less Cookbook

I decided to do a review of my all time favorite cookbook, the More-with-Less Cookbook, by Doris Janzen Longacre. But first a little story (it is what you have come to expect from me, right?). When I was 20 years old I was a student in my second year of college. Actually, to be more accurate, I was not a student in college - I had opted to stay in the college town I was living in and get a job rather than go to school. I was burned out on college and I really couldn't decided what I wanted to major in and felt I was wasting my money. While reading the campus newspaper one day I noticed some ads - "Nanny Wanted." Seems there was a booming business finding cute college coeds to be live-in nannies for families on the east coast. Hey! Since I'm not going to school anyway, why not travel, get paid, and not have to pay rent - all at the same time!! Sounds like a winner to me. So I interviewed with an agency then had phone interviews with several families. The family that I immediately clicked with was a family in Washington DC. The Bentons had two little boys, ages 18 months and 6 weeks. They had amazing red hair and the pictures were of some of the cutest kids I had ever seen. A few weeks after Christmas I packed up my life, boarded a plane and flew off to live with a family I had never actually met in person. I look back now and marvel at my chutzpah and bravery. I should have been scared to death (and at moments I was), but overall I was just excited for this new adventure.

My year in Washington DC, turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. The first month was a huge adjustment period and I cried often, but I learned to rely on myself and to trust myself. I made amazing friends and traveled all over the east coast - Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut. The Bentons are vegetarians and one of my jobs was to cook dinner for them on week nights. I learned how to cook vegetarian dishes and founds some great vegetarian recipes. And, I found my favorite cookbook, More-with-Less Cookbook.

This cookbook isn't strictly vegetarian, it does have lots of meat recipes, but as the name implies, this book is about eating better with less and sometimes that means less meat. The book was inspired by a 1974 resolution by the Mennonite Central Committee. Part of this resolution was the call for all Mennonite and Brethren in Christ households to reduce their food budgets and consumption by 10%. This cookbook was intended to help them figure out how to do that.

This cookbook is not gourmet and it doesn't even try to be. But almost every ingredient in the book is something you probably have in your pantry right now (or you should if you consider yourself a frugal healthy cook!). There are "from scratch" recipes for sandwich bread, granola, tortillas, pizza, white sauce, "cream of" soups, and much more. The recipes are simple, cheap and quick. These recipes do not rely on heavily processed convenience food (no Velveeta here!), they rely on vegetables, beans, grains, and small portions of meat. Some of my favorite recipes from this book are:

• Basic Dry Cereal Formula - granola from scratch but this recipes allows you to customize it for what your family likes or what you have one hand or what happens to be cheap!
• Basic Baked Beans - baked beans from scratch - yummy and oh so cheap!
• Baked Lentils with Cheese - a vegetarian dish that is so good.
• Cottage Cheese Casserole - another vegetarian dish that tastes like comfort food.
• Indian Fry Bread - not low cal but cheap and can be used in a myriad of ways.
• Torta Pascualina - Argentine Spinach Pie. Trust me on this one, it's great.

The book also has dessert recipes and some weird stuff like recipes for Homemade Laundry Soap using "1 can lye."

For me cookbooks are kind of like good literature. I enjoy reading them even if they don't apply to my life directly. But when I find a cookbook that inspires me to get in the kitchen, that one I keep. This book is a keeper.

Jill

Crashed Potatoes!

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

I love to search the internet for recipes. Recipes with pictures are even better. Much like how I read cookbooks, I love to just read the recipes and the comments. I often try these recipes; some have become family favorites. When I find a good one, I love to share. So, here is my new find - Crashed Potatoes!

I found this recipe on a fabulous cooking site called Pioneer Woman. She has fabulous recipes and she is a crackup to read - so funny! This recipe looked especially fabulous. I am a potato girl. Should have been born in Idaho, sigh. I like potatoes anyway you can think of - fried, baked, boiled, in salad, potato chips, mashed, anyway but raw! So whenever I find a new way of making potatoes my little heart goes pitter-pat. I decided to try this one right away. So we had it Tuesday night. Every single member of my family loved them. That rates six stars in Crazyville! So here is the recipe, if you go to Pioneer Woman she has photo illustrations for the whole recipe (and some really witty commentary). But here is my version:

Crashed Potatoes

Take some small red or new potatoes (I used small yukon gold potatoes which is why they look so golden-y in the picture). They should be relatively small, single serving size. You want enough for each person to have at least one, but if they are really small two each (or if you just really like potatoes, three or four each!!). Boil the potatoes in a big pot of salted water until they are fork tender (you know, cooked until they are tender enough to be easily poked with a fork). Drain in a colander. Now place these boiled potatoes on a greased cookie sheet (or a silpat, silicone baking sheet). Grease well because we all know how potatoes like to stick!

Now take a potato masher (or the bottom of a cup, or a fork) and gently smash those potatoes. You don't want mush! You just want to open the potatoes up and expose the insides. This is the "crashed" part of the recipe, but we just want a rear-ender not a wipe-out! Now liberally brush the tops of the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle with salt (lots, potatoes need salt!), add some pepper and some fresh herbs - I had chives and parsley in my garden so that's what I used but you could use whatever you want. Next put them on the top rack of a really hot oven (425-450) and bake for 20-25 minutes. Then eat - don't moan when you taste them even though you will really want to!

This recipe is definitely a keeper in my home. Next time I will try brushing them with melted butter instead of olive oil (or get some really good olive oil, you can really taste it and my tasted just slightly off. Time for a trip to Costco!). I would like to try different herbs, also. Rosemary? Thyme? No matter what I am sure they will be delicious and they are cheap too. Can't beat it! Try these, I promise they are worth it!

See you all on Monday when we talk spicy!

Jill

Broccoli Cheese Soup - Fast!

I love good soup. It makes me happy. Sometimes, Campbell's hits the spot, partly because it is nostalgic, and partly because it is brainlessly easy! Sometimes, however, I really want a good soup. Soup with lots of fresh ingredients, that has been simmered and stirred into yumminess. But I want it fast. How do I accomplish that? By cooking giant batches of soup and freezing them. Then I can have great soup super fast. I do French Onion Soup, which I freeze in individual containers because I'm the only one who likes it. I do Chicken Tortilla soup which is wonderful. I found a great recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice soup, too. But this week I tried a recipe that I have been wanting to try for weeks. The recipe is from the book Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell an Bonnie Garcia. As you can see from the picture above, I shamelessly photocopied the recipe out of the library copy. However, there are a lot of great recipes and it might be worth finally buying it (the French Onion soup recipe and Chicken and Wild Rice recipe are from this cookbook also).

The recipe I tried this week is for Broccoli Cheese Soup. I love broccoli cheese soup and I order it whenever I get the chance. Quiznos has a pretty good version that I order sometimes. This recipe is very similar and everyone in my family ate it!! Even Tali, my vegetarian! I made a single batch on Monday and made a triple batch for the freezer on Friday. So I have three nights of Broccoli Cheese soup for dinner, waiting in my freezer - YUM!


Broccoli Cheese Soup

Combine in a large pot and bring to a boil:

1 cup carrot, finely chopped
1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh broccoli, cut in small pieces
1 3/4 cups chicken broth

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Combine in a bowl:

2 cups milk
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt

Add the milk mixture to the vegetable mixture and cook until thick and bubbly.

Add to the pot:

4 oz. Velveeta cheese
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. shredded provolone cheese

Stir until cheese is melted, but don't boil. Freeze in large gallon bag. On serving day, heat until warm but don't boil.

• NOTES: Ok, I never make a recipe as listed and as I was typing this I realized I changed this one a lot!
• When I was making it, I didn't think I wanted the veggies to be chunky so I pureed the vegetables after they were cooked and added them back to the broth. We liked it better smooth.
• I left out the green pepper, no one here will eat it.
• I added additional broccoli, this is, after all, Broccoli Cheese soup, I thought there should be at least as much broccoli as carrots.
• I upped the amount of chicken broth, only because I was worried about there being enough for my family. I upped the amount of flour to compensate.
• I left out the provolone cheese because it was expensive and I couldn't bring myself to spend $7.00 on cheese!
• So, my final version wasn't actually very much like the original, was it?? Oh well, it was good anyway!

Jill

Links to Stuff I've Found

I spend an amazing amount of time surfing the web and reading interesting articles. Actually, I spend way too much time surfing the web! I've decided that I'm going to share some of those interesting articles with all of you, my adoring fans! (Hi, Jen!)

Remember Magic Shell? That stuff we used to pour over ice cream and it formed a hard shell over the ice cream? Well, it turns out, you can make it yourself. Brownie Points shows us how. It actually looks pretty easy and I think I'll have to try it. My kids would think it was great.

We are trying to do more vegetarian meals at our house. My 14 yo daughter, Tali, went "veggie" on us about a year ago. At first I made two meals, one regular and one vegetarian. Lately I've been just making more Tali-friendly meals. I'm always looking for good vegetarian recipes that are quick and easy. The Kitchn recently answered a question about resources for people going vegetarian, make sure and read the comments section as there are lots of good links there.

I tried a new recipe from Cheap Healthy Good, my new favorite blog! I tried the White Bean and Kale Soup with Turkey Sausage and man was it ever good. Ok, it wasn't veggie and Tali wouldn't eat it but everyone else ate it (even my six year old who is very picky about "green things" in his food). The kale was surprisingly good. Tali will eat chicken and we recently found a great chicken italian sausage at New Seasons so if I made it with that I think she would eat it. It was cheap, healthy, and good, can't ask for anything more!

Next week I'll post more links, and maybe even some that don't involve food!

Jill