Homemade Hummus

 Homemade Hummus

One 15 oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained but save liquid

1/3 cup Tahini

1/4 cup Greek extra virgin olive oil

3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in blender except saved liquid. Start to purée on low adding garbanzo bean liquid to make it smooth. I needed to add liquid to get it to start to blend. I used most but not all of the liquid.

Add some olive oil on top of you wish.

Enjoy! Soooooooo darn good!

 

Banana Pecan Streusel Muffins

You’ll need three bowls. One for dry ingredients, one for not so dry ingredients and one for the topping.

Dry ingredients 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Not So Dry Ingredients 

3 mashed, elderly bananas

3/4 cup white sugar

1 beaten egg

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pecan pieces

Streusel topping ingredients 

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1 Tbsp butter (not melted)

1/4 cup pecan pieces

Directions

Preheat oven 375 degrees and prep muffin tins with Pam. This recipe makes 6 giant muffins if you have a giant muffin tin. You’ll need three bowls.

In large bowl mix your dry ingredients. In another bowl mix your not so dry ingredients. Stir banana mixture in flour and mix until moistened. Spoon into muffin tins, until tins are nearly full but not too full.

In small bowl mix streusel ingredients but don’t add pecans yet. Cut the butter in first then mix in the pecans. So much easier than adding the pecans and then trying to cut in the butter! Sprinkle over the top.

Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Ricotta Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups ricotta

1 stick butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries (not thawed), divided saving 1/4 cup for top

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Prepare 9 inch round or square pan by lining with parchment paper (if you don’t have parchment spray the pan really well)

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) and set aside

Mix eggs, ricotta, vanilla and then fold into dry ingredients

Fold in butter, fold not stir or mix, don’t overmix

Fold in 1 1/4 cups of raspberries, again fold and don’t overmix

Pour batter onto parchment covered pan. Spread evenly as necessary.

Top with remaining raspberries 

Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick from center comes out clean.

Cool at least 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Store at room temperature. This is very moist so be sure to eat it relatively quickly or it will mold. Of course it’s so good that likely won’t be an issue.

Enjoy!

 

Homemade Pita

Homemade Pita Bread via Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

Ingredients
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup flour

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup flour

8 drizzles of olive oil for frying

Never made pita bread before. Never even considered making pita bread before. Who knew it was so super easy! There are a lot of steps and its homemade bread so it'll take time, but it's oh so worth it! And you get to use your beautiful new tangerine KitchenAid Mixer! WooooWhooo!

Add 1 cup flour, yeast and water in stand mixer bowl. Use the whisk to mix - you'll probably have to scrape the sides to get the flour to combine but this is a super quick step - just get it all mixed together.  

Let sit for about 15 minutes. It will rise a little and be bubbly.

Replace the whisk with the dough hook. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, salt and 1 3/4 cup flour. Mix at low speed until soft but will be a little sticky. (If dough sticks too much to the sides add a little flour to get it to combine off the sides.)

Knead for 5-6 minutes on low speed. Dough will be a little sticky and might even be stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Trust the process. It is a little sticky just not wet. After the allotted kneading time dump the dough into a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides of the dough. 

You're an accomplished bread maker so you have already worked on creating that warm spot to allow your dough to rise. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp cloth (or flour sack towel) and let rise in its toasty location for 2 hours. Dough should be doubled.

Lightly flour your surface and lightly pat out the dough to around 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball by tucking the dough under the bottom of your round ball. Cover and let it be for 30 minutes.

Using a little flour, pat the balls out to thin circles of dough (1/4 inch). Let them rest again while you get your cast iron skillet warmed up and ready.  Medium-high heat and drizzle of olive oil between each piece frying. Pick up your dough in such a way that you cradle the edges to keep your nice round pieces and lay in hot pan. Dough will puff and blister. A few minutes on either side is all you need - you're just wanting it to brown and cook. Flip and brown. Stack on a plate to cool.

So good!

Go ahead and make yourself some pita pizza and try to go back to store bought pita bread. Nope! Yum!

Sweet Potato Kielbasa

Sweet Potato Kielbasa

1 20 oz bag of Simply Sweet Potatoes (or cut up some fresh) Or use red potatoes if you prefer.

1 13 oz Kielbasa, cut (I used Turkey)

1 chopped Onion (size and kind of your choice)

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp Dry Mustard

1 bunch baby Spinach (more or less to your tasting)


Add chopped onion of your choice and sweet potatoes to your frying pan. Add a drizzle of olive oil. Heat on medium heat, covered for 10 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes.

Meanwhile combine the brown sugar, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl. Set aside.

At your 10 minute mark add the cut kielbasa and brown sugar mix to the potatoes. Stir. Add the spinach to the top and put the cover back on. After a minute or two turn the heat down to a simmer. Now the goal is for the spinach to cook. Stir and cover until your spinach is cooked.

That's all. Serve and Enjoy.
It's super simple, healthy and tasty. What more could you ask for?

Lucky Lemonade

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

What makes it lucky? 3 ingredients! Can't get much luckier.

7 lemons (should end up with 1.5 cups of juice, pulp)
1 3/4 cups sugar
8 cups water

Squeeze those lemons and get rid of the seeds. If you can do that all at one time that will save you a ton of time. I didn't and it took for...ever. Not that it wasn't worth it - this is sooooo good, but still....

Side note, if you don't have a juicer/squeezer thingy not to worry - use a beater from the hand mixer...but the seeds present an issue. Update: got myself a juicer and ooooh the ease!

Take 1.5 cup (of your 8 cups) of water and boil. Add sugar and mix well. You want a syrup although it isn't very thick. This dissolves the sugar really well and makes the lemonade awesome.  Let it cool at least 20 minutes.

Mix the lemon juice, water and syrup.  Chill.  Enjoy.

That's all there is to it and it's the best darn lemonade. Summer or not it's so good. I tried some while it was still warm and was tempted to drink it all. So good.

Seemed like a lot of sugar to me but oh wow it was good. Might try with a little less but it was pretty fabulous so maybe just leave it alone. :)

Rueben Casserole

Rueben Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound pastrami or corned beef, chopped to bite size yumminess
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces (1/2 normal bottle) Thousand Island salad dressing, of your choice obviously
3/4 package rye bread (16 slices). Unseeded, unless your a fan
8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
Two 14 ounce cans sauerkraut (or just one depending on your love of the kraut)
4 dill pickles, good sized if your a pickle lover 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray your 9x13 cake pan. 

Start by ripping up 14 of the 16 slices of rye bread and plop randomly in the cake pan until you've coated the bottom. This is your crust.

Layer pastrami/corned beef with sauerkraut. Two layers each.

Next mix the sour cream, Thousand Island dressing and pickles together. And pour evenly on top of the kraut.

Slap on the cheese. Top with the two remaining slices of bread - ripped up.

Bake 30 minutes.

Ooooohhh laaaa laaaa. That be good. Take some beano and enjoy! :0

Potato Salad

Potato Salad

4 good sized red potatoes (or other kinds if you prefer)
4 hard boiled eggs
6 chopped mini dill pickles (more or less depending on the size and your preference)
1/2 cup mayo
2 Tbsp mustard
3 sliced/chopped green onions

Hard boil your eggs - easy peasy - put room temperature eggs in a pan of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and turn the burner off but leave the pot on the burner. Put a lid on the pan and let them sit for 12 minutes. Drain and cool. Chop them to bite sized pieces.

Meanwhile.... Boil your potatoes. I chop my potatoes into bite sized piece and then boil but however you want to do it is probably fine. Bring the potatoes to a boil and turn down to a simmer for about 20 minutes. Cool. (And chop up if you need to.)

Throw your potatoes, eggs, chopped dill pickles, mayo and mustard and green onions into a big bowl and mix well.

Throw it in the fridge after you sample some and try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

Good stuff.

Basil Pesto

Basil Pesto

What's better than green goopy food!? Looks tasty doesn't it!? Ha! It's pretty wonderful actually!

Ingredients
6 cups loose packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts (or walnuts if you prefer - or maybe both!)
1-3 small cloves of garlic (to your taste)
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
First step is cleaning those leaves! While you are cleaning stick the glass blender container in the freezer (not the whole blender - just the glass container). Update: I cut the leaves at the base so there is no stem left.

Clean and prep those leaves! Submerge basil leaves in cold water. Let them soak for 5 minutes then lift out and put in a colander. Don't dump. Lift. Drain the water and repeat the process. Drain that water and repeat the process one more time. Then lift the leaves out. Drain the water. And submerge one more time only for 15 minutes this time.  

Remove the blender container from the freezer and add the pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. Puree until chopped and creamy. Add salt.

Lift a bunch of basil leaves, shaking water off but it's ok to have some water on as it aids in the blending process. Puree. It took me a bit to get this going. Dunk the leaves under the liquid - take some leaves out if you got too many. Once under the liquid it will blend quickly. Continue until you have all of your leaves pureed. Original recipe says don't over-puree...not sure how you'd know but it should have just little bits of leaves but mostly liquidy.

Finally add the Parmesan cheese and blend again.

If using later put in a jar and drizzle with olive oil. Good in the fridge a few days and a few months in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Pie

Spaghetti Pie

A friend asked if I'd ever had spaghetti pie. I'd never heard of it. Well she raved so I looked it up and gave it a shot. I wasn't overwhelmed but might try again with some tweaks. For one, from the picture you can see that it didn't hold its shape - it was supposed to - the noodles should have been a crust. Well, I think the noodles should have been dried after cooking - too much water left on them after draining caused it to run. So, I made that update but haven't tried the recipe again so I'm not sure if something else needs to be done as well or not.

6-8 oz cooked spaghetti, completely drained to the point of being dry
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup (3 oz) shredded mozzarella
6-12 oz ricotta (could substitute cottage cheese) (I like ricotta so I went heavy)
1 package Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
1 cup sauce (or however much you like - I don't think 1 cup is enough). Use the Homemade Tomato Sauce recipe.

Toss noodles with olive oil. Add beaten eggs and Parmesan until well mixed. Dump into greased 10 inch deep dish pie pan. Smooth out so it's even...this is your crust.

Spoon ricotta over the crust. 

Decide if you want your sausage as part of your sauce or separate. If separate, add sausage on top of ricotta and top with sauce. If together, add your sausage sauce on top of ricotta.

Bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Top with 1/2 of your mozzarella, and bake 5 more minutes. Top with the other half of mozzarella and let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Cream of Mushroom Wild Rice Oink Soup

Cream of Mushroom Wild Rice Oink Soup

This is another creamy soup made in the slow cooker. Creamy soups require a few steps so you have ingredients for the soup and then ingredients with steps for then making it creamy.

Initial Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups water
3 Tbsp butter
1 pound pork stew meat (cubes of pork)
4 cups chicken broth
3 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup long grain Minnesota wild rice
16 oz white button mushrooms (sliced and cubed)
8 oz portobello mushrooms (sliced and cubed)

Throw it all in the slow cooker on low for 6 hours. You can cut your mushrooms however you want them. I sliced them and then cubed the slices so they are small pieces. You can also use whichever kind of mushrooms you want/like.

Ingredients to make it creamy:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half

Melt butter and stir in flour. Add milk and half and half and stir until thickens. Temper the milk mixture with the soup broth to ensure you don't curdle the milk. Once tempered pour into the soup. This is a thickens the next day type soup. It won't thicken right away but it's still tasty.  Great the next day. 

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Creamy Broccoli Potato Soup

Crock Pot Creamy Broccoli Potato Soup

2.5 steps but they are super easy steps. Steps 2 and 3 you do at the same time but separately, thus them being called Steps 2 and 2.5.

Ingredients for Step 1 (note more for Step 2 and 2.5)

2 Tbsp butter
1 chopped onion
5 cloves chopped garlic
2 cups shredded or cubed potatoes (frozen or fresh your choice)
3-4 chopped broccoli heads (and stems)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth

Throw it all in the crock pot and set on low for 6 hours.

Ingredients for Step 2

1 package of bacon. Turkey or pork your choice.

Fry chopped bacon. And add to crock pot soup made in step 1.

Ingredients for Step 2.5

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half

Melt butter then add flour on low heat. Slowly add milk and half and half. Simmer until thickens.

Add big spoonfuls of crock pot mix to the flour saucepan until the flour mix has been tempered (you are slowly bringing the flour mix up to be the same temperature as the broth/veggie mixture to avoid curdling the milk). Pour the Step 2 flour mix into the Step 1 broth/veggie mix. Mix well. I added on more tablespoon of flour as I like a really thick soup (if you do this sprinkle the flour don't just dump it) and mix well. 

Let crock pot simmer on low for 10 more minutes.

If you wish you may add cheeses of your choice. Sharp cheddar with muenster recommended. Yum!

Enjoy!

Guac

Tasty Guacamole

Ingredients
5 avocados (firm, slight give when squeezed)
2 roma tomatoes
2 large limes
1 medium sweet yellow onion

Dice your onion and tomatoes. Set aside.
Juice your limes. Add half the juice to the onion tomato mix.
Shell and remove the seed from the avocados - add the saved half of the lime juice. Use a fork to creamy the avocados. Add the tomato/onion lime mix and mix thoroughly. 

That's it. Enjoy!

You can add cilantro if you like it. It's uber tasty without. No need for any other seasonings. Seriously you are done and can enjoy!  Who knew it was so simple!? And if you compost you have no waste! Excellent!

Old Fashioned Rolls

Want those rolls that Mom always made during holiday get togethers but don't want the hassle of kneading that dang dough. Boy, do I have a treat for you!  Super easy to make rolls that come out perfect and there is no kneading needed. (I just wanted to say no kneading needed.)

2 1/4 tsp yeast (or one package)
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup butter
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in water in a big bowl. 

Scald your milk - this means warm it in a pot until it almost wants to boil. I pull it as soon as I see the first bubbles. Set aside to cool slightly while you measure the butter and sugar. Add butter and sugar to the milk. Once milk is warm rather than hot add it slowly to the yeast.  If it's too hot you've just murdered your yeast (don't murder your yeast). Blend together.

Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Stir in flour and place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise in warm spot for about an hour (about doubled). Punch dough and form into rolls of your desired shape. I do either two or three balls. Place in greased muffin tin. Cover and let rise another hour or until they double once again.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Perfection! Enjoy!

Banana Nut Crumble

Looking for an alternative to banana bread or banana muffins for proper disposal of your elderly bananas?  Love butter and sugar?  Well, you're in the right spot!

Ingredients
Cake mix
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
3 ripe bananas
1 stick (1/2 cup) room temperature butter
2 cups (white) sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk

Crumb mix
2 sticks (1 cup) cold butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup nuts, your choice and option

Preheat oven to 350. Spray your 9x13 pan generously.

Start by mixing your cake mix bananas, room temperature butter, white sugar, eggs and vanilla until lumpy but relatively smooth. You are supposed to mix the flour and powder well but I always mix in my powder now - until well mixed. Then gradually and alternately mix in your flour and milk.  Set aside while you make the crumb mix.

Use a pastry knife to cut your butter, brown sugar and flour together. Tip: if you don't have enough brown sugar use 2 Tbsp molasses for every cup of white sugar as substitute. I used 1 cup brown sugar, 2 Tbsp molasses and 1 cup white sugar for mine. Apparently you can substitute white sugar directly for brown but it might be crispier than if you add the molasses or use brown sugar as you are supposed to.  Also, cut your cold butter in before you add the nuts - makes things easier.  Once you have the butter cut in well add the nuts and stir until well mixed.

Now the fun part! 

Add half of the cake mixture to the pan. Then 1/3 of the crumb mix followed by the rest of the cake mix and topped off with the remaining crumb mix.  If you have problems getting the cake mix to cover the first crumb topping let it set for a minute and then smooth it over. If it doesn't work just know that it worked well for me and that's what matters. :)

Bake for 50 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes and then you are ready to cut and enjoy!

Good stuff.

16 Bean and Ham Soup

Homemade 16 Bean and Ham Soup

With football season starting and the trees starting to change color I decided it was time to learn to make soup! I used a bag of 16 bean soup starter (which is a bag of beans, no seasonings or anything else in it).  Simply followed the directions (for the most part).

Ingredients:
1 bag 16 bean starter (the one I got had no need to soak the beans)
8 cups chicken broth
1 16 oz bag of baby carrots chopped up
1 normal sized red onion chopped up
2 Tbsp no salt tomato paste
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Set aside for later
1.5 pound ham chopped up
1 14.5 oz can no salt diced tomatoes (undrained)

Combine all the first ingredients in a big slow cooker (it will fill it!)
Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Stir in the ham and tomatoes and cook for 15 more minutes before serving.

It made a LOT but luckily it's tasty! :)

Blueberry Delights

Blueberry Delights

1 cup softened butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 can blueberry pie filling
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat your over to 350. 

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Mix with the flour and baking powder until completely mixed.

Fill the 9x13 baking pan with half of the batter. It will be a somewhat sticky mess but you should be able to flatten it with your hands to coat the bottom of the pan.

Pour the filling over the crust and spread evenly. Sprinkle the nutmeg over the filling.

Plop the remaining crust mixture over the filling.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

You can drizzle a glaze over top: made of 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp lemon and 1 Tbsp melted butter.

It was a giant hit at work. And seems healthy what with the antioxidants in there. :)  Ideally you'd use real fresh blueberries but they can be super expensive so I went with the filling in this case.

Cheesecake Delights

Cheesecake Delights

Simple and delicious!

What you will need:
2 boxes of cream cheese of your choosing - full fat, partial or fat free - you choose; I go with Neufchatel
One package of Oreo cookies
Greek yogurt
Sugar
Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
Muffin Tin
Muffin Papers
350 degree pre-heated oven
A little bit of time
Desire for cheesecake goodness

How to make:
16 oz cream cheese (2 boxes)
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
Mix well, until smooth

1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix

2 eggs
Mix one at a time and mix well, until completely combined.

Put muffin papers in regular sized muffin tins and add one Oreo cookie as the crust.  Plop some cheesecake filling on top of the Oreo - keeping in mind that it is not going to grow much so fill close to the top.  Bake for 20 minutes or so. Not until brown but it shouldn't jiggle either - find the sweet spot. I take them out just before I think they are perfect as they sit in the muffin tins and will cook slightly until they are cool enough to take out and place on a cooling rack.

Super tasty and fun and quick to make. I received numerous comments about just how tasty these were - that they had a great flavor to them.  Then you say it's make with Greek yogurt and you get to go back and have another because that must mean they are good for you.... ;)

Variations I haven't tried yet would be to use lemon extract instead of vanilla and adding fruit to the top.

One variation I have tried that I highly recommend is to use any leftover Oreos and make a cheesecake sandwich. Yum.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

1 pound uncooked chicken, cubed
1 cup lower fat sour cream
1 jar taco sauce or enchilada sauce
12 corn tortillas or tostadas
1cup sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine chicken and sour cream.

Pour 1/2 of jar of sauce in bottom of 9x13 nonstick pan. Top with 4 tortillas, then 1/2 the chicken mix, and 1/2 of the cheese.  Top with 4 tortillas, the last chicken mix, and the other half of the cheese. Top it off with the 4 remaining tortillas and pour the other 1/2 jar of sauce on top.

Bake 35 minutes.

I topped it all with some extra cheese because cheese is gooooooood. :) Another recipe from my low fat cooking class that is pretty remarkable. How can it be so tasty with hardly any ingredients in it!? Yummers.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Looking for an amazingly easy and quick homemade tomato sauce?  Look no further.  This was part of my low fat cooking class with my slight modification.

1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
15 oz diced tomatoes (no salt added)
8 oz tomato sauce (no salt added)
6 oz tomato paste (no salt added)
1/4 cup fresh basil (or slightly less of basil paste)

If you'd like it to be a beef sauce - add another 8 oz of tomato sauce and a pound of cooked ground beef.

Cook the onion and garlic to your liking.  Add everything else and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  If you want it a bit sweeter add a bit of sugar (Tbsp or so).

Done.
Yum.