Peppermint Popcorn

The last few holiday seasons, my mother has talked about making large batches of chocolate drizzled popcorn to give away as visiting teaching treats, for neighbors, or just to people she thinks are wonderful.  I've sampled it, and while it's okay, I'm just not a chocolate person, even when it's on popcorn.  BUT...I bought a couple of bars of peppermint bark a few days ago when I was wandering the Dollar Tree...I figured I could try making popcorn with it.  It is AMAZING! 

I melted 2 bars in a double boiler (about 9 oz total) and gradually drizzled it over freshly popped corn (old maids removed).  When it seemed evenly distributed, I would drizzle more, that way it worked out that I didn't have big chunks of peppermint bark in there.  I ended up doing 20 cups of popcorn to the 9 oz of peppermint bark.  If you were doing white or milk/dark chocolate I'm guessing you'd want more.  The flavor of the peppermint is a strong one so it went a long way.  It was lightly coated, but I loved it!  In fact, I went back to Dollar Tree today and got 20 more bars so I can do this for our wonderful people around here...it's FAR faster than baking bread or cookies. 

If you try it, let me know what you think!

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I LOVE these cottage cheese pancakes!  You can use pretty much any fruit puree for the egg or oil, though I'm not sure I'd swap it out completely-I'd leave at least one egg OR the oil.  Today, I halved the recipe and used 1 egg, 1/8 c pumpkin and applesauce in place of the oil.  I added some cinnamon and they were divine!  Lots of protein and not too many carbs even-something I'm aware of as I try to take my fitness to a new level.  =)  (Totally thinking of Anne, Julie, Wendy, Beth, MaryAnn and my other virtual workout buddies there.)

http://guyerfamilyblog.com/2012/04/15/great-for-kids-pancake/

The texture is a little different than a normal pancake, but that's not really surprising given that they are mostly cottage cheese and egg/fruit instead of flour and water, right?

DIY Dry Brownie Mix

I put one batch, which makes a 9x13 pan, in a quart size jar.

For the jar:
1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 c baking cocoa
2 c sugar

Then when I'm ready to bake, I put the dry ingredients in a bowl and add:
1 c butter (actually, I usually use 1/2 butter or oil and 1/2 applesauce)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

I bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes...tonight it was 20, but they were in a jelly roll pan so they were thinner than usual.  These taste a whole lot like a boxed mix, but without all the preservatives and junk they add!

Mom's BBQ Sauce

This is one of my all time favorite comfort foods.  It's a little sweet n soury for a BBQ sauce, but I love it!  It's easy enough that when I was expecting Rialyn, Cam made it like twice a week for a long time.  I got a little burned out on it, but my love is rekindled.  It's easy to make a big batch and keep it for multiple meals, and with a little cornstarch and cold water added to just the sauce, it'll thicken nicely.

Combine:
1 c ketchup
1 c sugar-we like brown these days, but the recipe says white
1/2 c onion-we usually do about 1/2 an onion, so a little less
1 tsp prepared mustard
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 c apple cider vinegar-white works in a pinch but does change the taste a little
 
That's it!  Treat it like any BBQ sauce.  We prefer to cook chicken in it-often in the crockpot-and then thicken a little additional sauce.  Then we serve it with rice.  I like it over my rice, my family likes it on the side so they can eat their rice like cold cereal, with milk and sugar.

We like it with cornbread and honey butter too.  Here is the recipe we usually use for that.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grandmothers-buttermilk-cornbread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=grandma%27s%20buttermilk%20cornbread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Only thing we do different is use whey with a scoop of greek yogurt when we have it to replace the buttermilk.

Shepherd's Pie, Lura style

So I never had a Shepherd's Pie I actually liked, until Lura moved to town and had us over for dinner.  Super simple to throw together, inexpensive, and easy to tweak, I just LOVE her way of doing it. 

I use 1.5-2lbs ground beef.  If I have them, I throw in some garlic, bell pepper and onion, but it's okay without them too.  Brown that up.  When you've got it cooked through and have drained the fat off, add BBQ sauce to the desired level of sauciness.  I like mine about like sloppy joes.

You can use frozen or canned veggies if you like, and you can use whatever kind you like.  I prefer to use steamed carrot slices and cooked, frozen sweet peas.  Green beans and carrots are popular too-I'm pretty sure that's what Lura served.  Anyway, slice, dice, steam, saute, boil, nuke your desired veggies so they are tender and ready.

Finally, taters.  This dish needs mashed taters.  I, of course, prefer to make fresh mashed taters-russet taters, sour cream, real butter and some garlic and onion powder (sometimes I even throw in some BBQ dry seasoning).  The instant stuff from a box works too, it just doesn't add the same texture and flavor that fresh will.

Assembly in a deep pie pan, casserole dish or something like that--saucy meat on the bottom, then the veggies-I have been known to just spread the carrots in a layer and then do a layer of peas, then smooth the taters over the top of the whole thing.  Some folks, I honestly don't remember if Lura is one of them, like to add cheddar cheese sprinkled over the top.  I don't.  Even though my family would like it that way, I am trying to help us eat healthier, so I leave off those extra calories that we don't miss. 

Throw the whole thing in the oven on 350 for about 45 minutes--really you just want it all warm through and all melded together into comfort food goodness.  I like to serve it with homemade biscuits.

For a fun, but more labor intensive variation, cut biscuits to fit the bottom of a muffin pan, then do your pie layers on the top and bake for 15-20 minutes.  My kids love this serving size version!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches on Homemade Rolls! (and cinnamon rolls for breakfast!)

So while my in-laws were in town, we tried to feed them well.  This was our Sunday dinner because it was easy to put together on Saturday.  We started it in the crock pot at bedtime Saturday night and let it go about 14 hours before turning it to warm until dinner.  I made rolls instead of buying buns.  The best part is that these rolls make great cinnamon rolls too!  I just roll the dough out, brush with melted butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.  YUM!  I stuck the cinnamon rolls in the fridge overnight and then let them rise and bake in the morning.  With a little buttercream glaze-abt 1 Tbsp melted butter, a few drops of vanilla, tiny pinch of salt, abt a cup of powdered sugar and milk to consistency-it is a fabulous, sweet, comforting breakfast! This roll dough really does work with no mixer, just be ready for a tiny bit of a workout.  I have no issues with a single batch, but when I do two back to back it makes my arm achy!  I generally use shortening, not butter or margarine, but if you do that do not heat it up!  Also, I prefer the added sweetness and whole food factor of honey in place of the sugar, but when I make them for buns I don't think they need that sweetness. 

 http://eatcakefordinner.blogspot.com/2012/03/school-lunch-lady-rolls-no-mixer-needed.html

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-texas-pulled-pork/detail.aspx

Biscuits Don't Come From a Tube

In my quest to feed my family well, and leave chemicals and all the junk of processed foods behind, I decided I should try some biscuits.  Pillsbury is great in a pinch, but it's probably not great for you.  I found a recipe that sounded basic enough to try, and I gave it a whirl.  These come together really fast, use ingredients I always have around, and have already become a favorite and a staple around here.  They are great with soups, chili, as sandwiches and probably alongside almost anything.

I might call them "Instead of Biscuits from a Can Biscuits", but you can call them whatever you like.  =)
http://grannyskitchen.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/grannys-homemade-biscuits/

DIY Yogurt

We eat a lot of yogurt, so this summer I tried making it.  I tried the crockpot wrapped in a towel, and big pot in the oven and determined that it works best for me to heat the milk in the microwave and then put it in my big crockpot.  I use a Pampered Chef thermometer that has the probe attached to a cord so it can stay in the pot the whole time and I can monitor the temp easily.  I watched the video when I was getting used to it, and now I just use the cheat sheet to remind me.  The links to both are below.  We did discover that while we appreciate the economy of making yogurt, we do not care for plain yogurt at all...so we've been using the yogurt and the whey in place of buttermilk in pancakes and waffles.  It's fabulous and since I make the yogurt from skim milk it's much lower fat.  I can eat pancakes and waffles without guilt.  And the links to our favorite recipes for those are below as well.

Yogurt Video Instructions
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-secrets/now-showing-how-to-make-healthy-homemade-greek-yogurt-fat-free

Yogurt Cheat Sheet
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/family-recipes/homemade-greek-yogurt-a-cheat-sheet-and-a-cookies-and-cream-treat

Cinnamon Belgian Waffles
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cinnamon-belgian-waffles/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=cinnamon%20waffles&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Truck Stop Pancakes
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/truck-stop-buttermilk-pancakes/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=truck%20stop&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe

DIY Oatmeal Packets

So I'm getting really tired of having to find my favorite recipes and tricks over and over and over again.  A blog I was looking at this weekend had "a master list of all my favorite recipes" in the tagline, and I knew I needed to have one too!  So starting today, I will be posting recipes and links to recipes that my family loves.  Old favorites, new favorites, and even mixes and tricks I use to make our money go farther and work harder.  

That's where we begin today.  My kiddos love instant oatmeal packets, but a box of ten packets is only one breakfast around here!  I needed something more frugal, and love that I get to avoid a lot of the chemical preservatives when I make my own, so we taste tested several different DIY oatmeal packets and came up with this favorite version.  It's not the same proportions I found anywhere else, as we like ours pretty sweet, and we only ever eat the one flavor.  

DIY Oatmeal Packets
1/2 c. instant oats-you can zip rolled oats in the blender a little if you want to use them instead
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp nonfat powdered milk powder
pinch of salt-boosts the flavor but doesn't take much
snack size ziploc bag

Combine all ingredients in a bag.  To prepare, add contents of bag to bowl-big enough for it to bubble up some-with 1 cup water.  Microwave for about 2 minutes, watching for boil over.  (Cooking time will vary depending our your microwave.)  

I make these up by the dozens.  We keep and reuse the baggies.  Occasionally, I will add a few drops of maple extract too, or some diced apples.  YUMMY!