Artichoke Pie

Last night we had artichoke pie from Greek Food and Beyond by Peter Minakis for our Meatless Monday meal. I thought it was very good! Kevin thought it was just good. I added my leftover roasted veggies (organic carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, and parsnips; and conventional bell pepper and zucchini) from making the veggie lasagna on Sunday and Kevin isn't a fan of roasted parsnips. He thinks they're too sweet, while I think they're becoming one of my favorite veggies. He thought the bites without the parsnips were pretty good, but the bites with the parsnips were gross. He said he'd also have preferred some mozzarella cheese on top instead of all gruyere. This makes a lot. I cut the recipe in half, but still ended up having to use my 8x10 pan.

Artichoke Pie
(Ταβερνίσια αγκιναρόπιτα της Τήνου)

a buttered 13X9X2" bakiing dish
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large onions, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large loaf of rustic bread, crust removed & cut into thick slices
2 tsp. of fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
approx. dozen artichoke hearts, cut into bite-sized pieces, poached if fresh (I used the canned ones)
1 1/2 grated Graviera cheese (Gruyere is fine)
3 cups of Bechamel Sauce (or 1/2 of Peter's recipe - see below)
thyme sprigs for garnish

Melt the olive oil in a large skillet and add your onions and garlic and saute over medium-low heat for about 20-30 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add your fresh thyme and season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool and set aside.

Pre-heat your oven to 400F. Now make your Bechamel sauce as per my instructions with the 1 cup of grated Graviera and set aside and keep warm.

Spoon some Bechamel Sauce on the bottom of the baking dish and lay your first layer of bread slices. Now spoon half of your sauteed onions over the bread, followed by half the artichoke pieces, some Bechamel sauce and some grated cheese. Repeat with the remaining ingredients in the same order.

Bake until tender and the top is golden-brown, about 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, slice into portioned squares and serve.

Bechamel Sauce

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
5 cups of warm milk, no lighter than 2%
4 eggs
3/4 cup of Kefalotiri or Romano cheese (I used parmesan b/c that's what I had)
salt to taste
pinch of grated nutmeg

Put the butter in a pot to melt. Add the flour, stirring quickly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps from forming. Stir & cook the flour/butter mixture to a golden color.

Pour in the milk while stirring and then and salt to taste, stirring the mixture constantly. When it thickens, turn off the heat and add your cheese and slowly pour in your eggs, continue stirring.

Add your nutmeg and stir.

Roasted Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette and Spelt Pasta

I whipped up a batch of homemade salad dressing for the first time this afternoon. One of my best buds Jaime posted the recipe on her blog last week. She found it in Self magazine. It sounded delish and in my attempts at making more of our food from scratch and buying less processed foods, I decided to give it a try. (I'll also be giving the second recipe in her post a try, so look for that in the weeks to come.) I roasted the garlic while I was roasting my veggies for my veggie lasagna for Carson's birthday party. Then once the garlic had cooled awhile, I threw everything into the food processor and voila! Homemade salad dressing! I stuck it in the refrigerator for a bit until dinnertime when I could try it out on my salad of organic baby greens/carrots/cucumber/feta and conventional bell pepper. It was fabulous! A warning, though, you don't need a lot of it, as it's pretty strong. I put a little too much on my salad and had a slightly burning nose by the end of dinner. :) The bites with just a touch of dressing on it were great, though. Definitely a keeper and something I'll make on a regular basis! I used some organic balsamic vinegar that I picked up at Better Health, and organic garlic and honey.

Roasted Garlic–Balsamic Vinaigrette
From the November 2008 Issue of Self
Makes 1/2 cup

1/2 head garlic
1/2 teaspoon honey mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra light olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 400°. Slice 1 inch off top of garlic, exposing cloves; wrap in foil and roast until soft and fragrant, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool slightly. Squeeze cloves into a mini-chopper or food processor. Add remaining ingredients and 2 tbsp warm water; blend until smooth. Refrigerate up to 7 days.

The skinny: 43 calories per tbsp, 3.4 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 3.2 g carbs, 0.1 g fiber, 0.2 g protein

Spelt Pasta

I picked up some organic VitaSpelt whole grain spelt penne at Better Health last week. I've never tried spelt pasta, but had heard that it is good. So I decided to give it a try to further my attempt at working more whole grains into our diet by having it with some of my homemade meat sauce. And even better, VitaSpelt pasta is made right in Okemos, so its a local food, too! This was a very good pasta. We didn't really notice a different taste or texture or anything. It held up well during the cooking process, too. Definitely an easy way to work in more whole grains.

Meat Sauce

This afternoon, I made up a huge batch (double recipe) of meat sauce. This recipe is one that my family has used for as long as I can remember. Its super simple and really good - not too sweet, not too spicy. The regular recipe (below) makes a ton of sauce. We usually make it up, use whatever we're going to fresh, then freeze the rest. Today I reserved enough for my veggie lasagna before I added the meat, then made my two meat lasagnas and pressure canned the rest. I now have 3 quarts and 6 pints of canned meat sauce.

Meat Sauce

2 pounds ground beef (I used all-natural, lean)
4 (28 oz) large cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 cup dried parsley
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the meat, drain the grease. Add all the ingredients together. Bring to a boil and simmer for one hour.

To pressure can it, fill the jars leaving a 1-inch headspace. Then process at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes (only need 60 minutes for pints, but I did the entire batch at once, so did mine all for 75 minutes).

Millet Muffins

I baked a batch of millet muffins this morning. I got the recipe from my friend, Lina, at work - she got it from Allrecipes. She brought these in to work a few months ago and I've been wanting to make them ever since. They're so good! And healthy, too! And a perfect way to work in more whole grains and fiber. The original recipe on Allrecipes is for 16 muffins, I reset it for 24 muffins because I wanted to make a larger batch to freeze a good portion of them. Carson has tried them and really liked them - though I've only allowed him a small piece of one so far since I'm not sure how these whole grains will react in his little system. Kevin tried one and thinks they're ok, but he'd rather have regular ol' blueberry. :) He wasn't all that crazy about the crunch from the millet - which is my favorite part! As I'm just posting this recipe now, I realize I am a total ditz! I totally left out the egg - oops! I was wondering why there were no eggs in the muffins when I was making them, but totally missed them on my list of ingredients. They still turned out really good, even without the egg! I used mostly organic ingredients - flour, millet, milk (that I mixed with conventional powdered buttermilk), agave nectar, cherries, and raisins. The others were conventional.

Millet Muffins
Yield: 24 muffins

3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup millet (I used about a cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 egg, lightly beaten (I missed this)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup applesauce)
3/4 cup honey (I used agave nectar)
(I also added 1 cup dried fruit (cherries and raisins) - I'll add 1 1/2 cups next time)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups (I just used liners).

In a large bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, millet, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, egg, vegetable oil, and honey. Stir buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture just until evenly moist. Transfer batter to the prepared muffin cups.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

(To increase the fiber even more, you can substitute some of the whole wheat flour for wheat bran or wheat germ.)

Meal Plans

Another new week already. These weeks are going by so quickly.

This week, I'm going to try to work in some more salads as side dishes at dinner to increase our veggie intake. We don't eat salads with our dinner often enough. I'm going to try out some homemade dressing recipes that Jaime has posted on her blog, which I'm very excited to try out - I hope they're as good as they sound! The more that I can make from scratch at home, the better! I've also planned a Meatless Monday meal this week. I'm going to try to have a Meatless Monday every week from now on. This will also help increase our veggie intake and will save us some money, too. With the economy the way it is and the uncertainty of the auto industry (and therefore Kevin's job), I'm looking for all sorts of ways to save money nowadays since we just never know what the next day will bring.

Sunday ~ whole grain spelt pasta with meat sauce, green beans, baby greens salad, garlic toast
Meatless Monday ~ either roasted veggie soup (if I have enough veggies leftover from prepping the lasagna) or artichoke pie, baby greens salad
Tuesday ~ salmon cakes, romaine salad, baked potato, peas
Wednesday ~ lamb stew in the crockpot, romaine salad
Thursday ~ leftovers, or else pancakes with blueberry syrup if I get the mix made
Friday ~ panko crusted pork chops with scalloped corn and broccoli, romaine salad if we have lettuce left
Saturday ~ going to Grand Rapids as long as the weather is good

As far as extras this week in line with my healthy eating goals, I'm going to make millet muffins hopefully today, otherwise tomorrow for sure (I'm off for MLK Jr. Day). If I'm ambitious, I'm also going to make up some whole grain pancake mix to have on hand so that I'll be more likely to make some pancakes on the weekends (or for dinner) so we can finally try my home-canned blueberry syrup.

I'm also planning to make up some homemade meat sauce and do up the meat lasagnas for Carson's birthday party next month. I'm going to pressure can the leftover meat sauce. I usually just freeze it, but it'll be nice to have it canned instead. No waiting for it to thaw and it saves on my freezer space. I'll also be prepping the veggie lasagna for the birthday party, as well.

I never had time to do the homemade hot fudge last week, so maybe I'll make some up this week. I just want to do as much in advance as I can for Carson's party. It'll save me lots of grief the week of the party. We also need to try out another homemade ice cream flavor so that we can figure out what types of ice cream we're going to make for the party. We'll do those the week of the party so that they're nice and fresh.

Bday Party Prep Ahead

I'm trying to do as much as I can in advance of Carson's 1st birthday party next month so that I won't have so much to stress out about the week/day of the party. There will be 34-38 people there (including the kids), so I've got to prepare quite a feast. I've decided to go with an italian menu. Definitely a veggie lasagna in my huge lasagna pan, and two meat lasagnas in my smaller 9x13 pans. Hopefully that will give everyone at least one slice of lasagna. I keep thinking I should make a fourth... but think that might be a little overboard. I might possibly do a baked ziti or baked spaghetti pie to supplement - not totally sure on that yet. I'll definitely do up a huge salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, plus hard-boiled eggs, shredded cheese, parm. cheese, and croutons on the side. And some garlic bread or breadsticks, too. What else could I add to the menu?? I had originally been thinking about doing a minestrone soup in the crockpot, but again, is that overboard? Probably. I'll have some hors d'ouevres, too, of course. Probably a raw veggie tray with dip, chips and dip, and maybe spinach artichoke dip if I'm ambitious. So what do you think? Do I need more?

So anyway, I'm going to make up the lasagnas this weekend and freeze them. I went shopping at the new Meijer in Davison today on my lunch hour for the ingredients. I was not looking forward to the produce shopping for the veggie lasagna at a Meijer, but I was pleasantly surprised by this Meijer's produce area. It was so much better than the other Meijer stores I've been to. I ended up being able to get mostly organic veggies for the lasagna - spinach, purple kale, carrots, broccoli, leeks, mushrooms, and peas (frozen) - although some of the veggies are conventional - zucchini and bell pepper. But much better than I've done at Meijer in the past. I think I'm going to roast the veggies first, too. I've never done this before using them in lasagna, usually just put them in raw. But roasted veggies are just much tastier than they are regular, so I think it'll be really good. Maybe I shouldn't try something new for a party, though...

Did you know?

I wouldn't normally post things like this here on this blog, but this was just too amazing not to post. Its a video of a presentation given to the Sony BMG executives in June 2008. Its about five minutes long, but its very interesting. You don't need your sound up, just can read everything as it appears.

2009 Garden

So I finally have finished up my seed and plant orders for our 2009 veggie garden! It took me longer because I ended up switching companies. This year I'm using Fedco. I really liked their policies - none of their seeds are genetically engineered or treated with fungicides and about a third of their seeds are organic. Plus, they had many different varieties of the veggies than the company I was going to use... including the Purple Haze Broccoli, which I didn't see in many companies (its an all-edible broccoli plant with normal broccoli shoots and leaves like kale that you eat as a green - how cool is that?). A good part of our garden this year will actually be truly organic - I'm excited about that! I changed up some of the things I'd originally planned, too. I'll post an updated list for those that are interested. I'd also love to hear feedback from those of you that have grown any of the varieties I've chosen or have any advice.

Basil - Sweet
Beans - I went with Organic Golden Rocky (yellow snap), Organic Blue Lake (green snap), Masai Bush Haricots Verts (french filet green bean), Cannellini (dry), Midnight Black Turtle Bean (dry)
Broccoli - Organic Purple Peacock (broccoli and kale in one plant), Piracicaba (half-way between broccoli and broccoli raab)
Cabbage - Melissa Savoy
Carrots - Scarlet Nantes, Organic Yaya, White Satin, Purple Haze
Cauliflower - Snow Crown
Celeriac - Diamante
Celery - Golden Self-Blanching
Chard - Argentata
Corn - Organic Luscious Bi-Color Sweet Corn
Dill - Fernleaf
Leeks - Lincoln, Organic King Seig
Melons - Halona Muskmelon, Organic Sweet Dakota Rose Watermelon
Okra - Organic Cajun Jewel
Parsley - Gigante d’Italia
Parsnips - Andover
Peas - Oregon Giant Snow Pea, Mammoth Melting Sugar Snow Pea
Peppers - Organic Klari Baby Cheese Sweet Pepper, Organic Chocolate Sweet Pepper, Organic Peacework Sweet Pepper
Potatoes - I ended up ordering several varieties - Kennebec, Red Pontiac, Butte, and German Butterball - all of them except the Red Pontiacs are organic
Shallots - Piccasso
Spinach - Olympia, Space
Fall/Winter Squash - Organic Uncle David’s Dakota Dessert (buttercup)
Zucchini - Jackpot (green), Sebring (yellow), Organic Costata Romanesca (green)

And I already have some Organic San Marzano Tomatoes, organic Buttercrunch Lettuce, and organic Sumter Cucumbers.

I'll also have my perennial herbs that I planted last year - Chives, Oregano, Thyme

Black Bean Burrito Bake

I tried out a recipe from Cooking Light last night for black bean burritos. They were so good - a definite keeper! It is a quick and easy meal, plus its very affordable. The original recipe doesn't contain meat, but you could very easily add some shredded chicken, pork, or beef if you didn't want a meatless meal. I'll make a few changes the next time I make them to give them some more flavor, but they were great as-is. Very filling! I made a double batch because Kevin tends to be a big eater and I'd wanted some leftovers for lunches. One of these burritos is definitely very filling, though. I didn't have time to make the mexican rice I'd planned to make with them, but that worked out okay since these were so satisfying. Next time, I'll add even more seasoning to the bean-corn-sour cream mixture. I added cumin and chili powder this time, about 1/2 teaspoon of each, I'll double that at least next time. And I'll have to remember to add the chipotle pepper with the adobo sauce next time, too - I totally forgot about that since I was going off of memory on the recipe when I threw it together last night. I think I'll add the salsa and cheese into the bean mixture, too, rather than having it on top. I think it'd be even better that way. I used my home-canned organic black turtle beans; and my home-canned salsa which isn't technicaly organic since my tomato, pepper, and jalapeno plants weren't from organic seeds, but I'd say its all-natural.

I'll update with a picture later in the week.

Black Bean Burrito Bake

1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (I totally forgot to add this!)
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
Cooking spray
1 cup bottled salsa
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
(I also added about 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove one chile from can. Chop chile. Reserve remaining adobo sauce and chiles for another use. Combine sour cream and chile in a medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes.

Place half of beans in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add chopped beans, remaining beans, and corn to sour cream mixture.

Spoon 1/2 cup bean mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread salsa over tortillas; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Whole Grains

I've been doing some research on whole grains lately, reading about all the health benefits of eating more of them. I'm going to try sneaking more of them into our meals. Kevin tends to not like many whole grains, but I'm hoping we can change that if I find some good recipes to incorporate them. As I mentioned in my meal plans post, I have some cracked bulgur that I'm looking for uses for (which I've found tons of recipes that sound so good since my post!). I've also picked up some quinoa, buckwheat, and millet. I've eaten things containing these whole grains, but have never cooked with them myself. And of course, I always have brown rice and generally try to use whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour whenever I can. I'm hoping to use these whole grains in our meals in the coming weeks, then expand into some new ones for us - barley, rye, and spelt to start with.

I picked up some recipe books at the library on using whole grains. One, in particular, seems like a fabulous cookbook and I think I'll have to order it for myself because there are just so many recipes that I want to try in it. It's The New Whole Grains Cookbook - Terrific Recipes Using Farro, Quinoa, Brown Rice, Barley, and Many Other Delicious and Nutritious Grains. I haven't made any of the recipes in it yet, but from what I can tell, they sound great and look delicious in the pictures! The recipes don't seem overly complicated, either, which is always good. If any of you are looking for a new cookbook to add to your collection, I think this would be a great one!

Moroccan Lentil Stoup

I tried out another recipe from A Year of Crockpotting for Moroccan Lentil Soup. Although, its a pretty thick soup, not quite a stew. I think Rachael Ray would call it a stoup, so that's what I've called it in my post. It was good - it reminded Kevin and I of a chili without meat. It was kind of spicy for me. The spice from the cayenne pepper built up in my mouth after eating about half of my bowl and I had to take a break for awhile. Kevin, on the other hand, didn't think it was spicy at all and didn't understand why I thought it was. He said that if I can eat the medium salsa verde at Qdoba, I shouldn't have a problem with this (I don't think Qdoba's salsa verde is spicy, but he does - weird I know). Kevin didn't like the lentils - but I love them. I'm not super crazy about garbanzo beans when they're in soups, but then Kevin really likes them. Next time, I'd put less cayenne pepper and probably substitute the garbanzo beans for black beans or another can of pinto beans. I used Eden Organic garbanzos and pintos - they're the only canned bean that doesn't have BPA in their cans, plus the company is here in Michigan! I also used organic onions, garlic, celery, carrots, veggie broth, cayenne pepper, and ginger.

Crockpot Moroccan Lentil Stoup

1 cup dried lentils (I used green lentils)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
28 oz can of diced tomatoes and juice
4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated (I just used ground ginger)

Chop up all of your vegetables and add them to the crockpot. Drain and rinse off the beans, add to the pot. Add the dried lentils. Grate your ginger, and add it along with the dried spices. Stir in the vegetable broth and tomatoes.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (ours cooked for 10 hours on low and then switched to Keep Warm for a couple of hours till we got home from work). Soup tastes best the longer you cook it, and it is even better the next day.

Before serving, use an immersible blender and pulse to blend some of the vegetables and beans together. This isn't necessary, but it really improves the texture of the soup and melds the flavors nicely. (I didn't do this)

Greek Chicken Pasta

Tonight I tried out a recipe I found on AllRecipes for greek chicken pasta. I had some feta that needed to be used up and this sounded good and easy. Plus I had all of the ingredients in my pantry or freezer - so even better. This was really good. Kevin, Carson, and I all really liked this. Its very light-tasting and is pretty healthy, too. I was kind of surprised Kevin liked it so much since he's usually not too crazy about pastas that don't have some sort of tomato sauce on them. The pasta, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and feta were organic ingredients.

(Also note, I updated pictures back to the corn dogs.)

Greek Chicken Pasta

1 pound uncooked pasta (I used Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Penne)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I chopped mine finely)
1/2 cup chopped red onion (I used a whole yellow onion, medium-sized)
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cut into bite-size pieces (I just used some pre-cooked chicken breasts I'd cubed and frozen a few weeks ago)
1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 large tomato, chopped (I used a can of diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 lemons, wedged, for garnish (I skipped this)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion, and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low, and add the artichoke hearts, tomato, feta cheese, parsley, lemon juice, oregano and cooked pasta. Stir until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with lemon wedges.

Meal Plans, Cracked Bulgur?

So as you can see I ended up doing more extras this past week than I thought I would. That's how it goes, though. I just never really know how much time I'm going to have on my hands - or what sales I just won't be able to resist. :) I'm hoping to do some more extras tomorrow. I still have the homemade graham crackers and homemade wheat thins on my list of things to try, so I'm really hoping to try one of them tomorrow afternoon. At some point in the next few weeks, I also need to do up some more hot fudge. Probably a couple of jars so I can have it if folks want it at Carson's birthday party. I can't believe he'll be a year old in just over a month now! I still haven't completely decided on the menu for his party - either mexican or italian - but I'm going to try to do up as much as I can in advance. If you have any yummy mexican or italian recipes that freeze well, let me know!

Anyway, back to the menu for this week. Here's what I'm thinking at the moment. I have the majority of all the ingredients on hand - I'm trying to use up my stockpiles. But a few of the recipes will require a trip to the store this week, so hopefully I'll have a chance to run out on my lunch hour at some point. Otherwise, I'll be changing it up a little.

Sunday ~ greek chicken pasta since we ended up just eating leftovers last night
Monday ~ moroccan lentil soup/stew, homemade cornbread from the freezer
Tuesday ~ black bean burrito bake, mexi-rice
Wednesday ~ chicken veggie stir fry
Thursday ~ leftovers
Friday ~ if I get the dough made beforehand, maybe we'll do some homemade pizza, otherwise maybe lobster ravioli and green beans
Saturday ~ I'll be at my cousin Jorie's baby shower during the day, but I'm hoping to try the baked falafel pitas for dinner since I didn't do them last week

I totally didn't plan this, but looking over my meals for the week, I notice I've got three meatless meals on the menu (Monday, Tuesday, Saturday). Shhh! Don't tell Kevin! ;-P We'll see if everything pans out and I end up doing all three (i.e. if I remember to get some tahini at the store for the falafel).

I'll be making up a huge batch of meatballs this week - I'm taking swedish meatballs to the baby shower. I'm planning to make up a ton of meatballs, bake them, and freeze a good portion of them, though.

I have some cracked bulgur that I need to find some new uses for. Any ideas anyone?? I've only ever used it in my veggie burgers and in tabbouleh. But since I still have some veggie burgers in the freezer and I'll be waiting until I have fresh parsley again next summer to do tabbouleh, I need some new ideas.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Tonight I prepped a batch of homemade chocolate ice cream. It'll cool in the refrigerator overnight and I'll be able to pop it in the ice cream maker in the morning. I'm excited to see how it turns out. The recipe came from my Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream. UPDATE: We couldn't wait for it to set up completely, so we ate it at more of a soft-serve consistency. This was really good! Very rich, though. I think next time I'll use just three squares of chocolate and see how that goes over. We didn't seem to notice a difference with using the 2% milk instead of the heavy cream, either. So that is good! Carson loved this - he kept coming back for a little more and got mad when we told him he couldn't have anymore!

Chocolate Ice Cream

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
3 cups half-and-half
3 cups heavy cream (I decided to try substituting 2% milk instead)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Melt the grated chocolate in a double boiler over low heat (simmering water) - do not boil. Add 1 cup half-and-half very slowly to the mixture. Mix until smooth and creamy. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the half-and-half, heavy cream (milk), sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Add the melted chocolate mixture and mix.

Cool mixture to 40 degrees in your refrigerator.

Transfer cold formula to ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. (which for the KitchenAid is roughly 15-20 minutes)

Breakfast Casserole

I decided against the pork chops for dinner last night and decided to finally make the breakfast casserole I'd been planning to do on New Year's Day morning. I got the recipe from RecipeZaar. Kevin really liked this. I ate it, but I'd rather have a more egg-y casserole with very few potatoes and more veggies and cheese. I think I'll make it again, just with some changes to help me like it a little more than I did. Carson hasn't tried any yet, he'll have it for lunch today to see what he thinks. I bet he'll like it, though.

Breakfast Casserole Supreme

1/4 cup margarine
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2-3 medium tomatoes, chopped
(I just used a frozen veggie medley with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots, and green beans)
1 (24 ounce) bag frozen hash brown potatoes
12 eggs, beaten
1/2 lb cubed ham or thin sliced ham or cooked crumbled bacon or sausage (I used ham)
3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt margarine and place in the bottom of 9" by 13" baking pan.

Spread potatoes (still frozen is okay) in bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle chopped vegetables over potatoes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle meat over potatoes and vegetables.

Note: At this point you may continue or casserole may be refrigerated overnight.

Pour beaten eggs over potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. (Mine took about an hour before it was set up well enough)

Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese evenly over top.

Bake another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Remove from oven and let set for approximately 5 minutes.

Cut into 2.5"-3" squares and serve with a spatula.

Canned Mushrooms

I used the remaining 3.5 pounds of the organic baby bella and white mushrooms to can as normal, sliced mushrooms. I ended up with two pints and two half-pints. The next time I see organic mushrooms on sale at Meijer, I'll pick some more up to can into half-pints probably. I figure that will be the best size for most things, but I know I'll be able to use the pints, too. Canning mushrooms is super easy, too. Just saute the mushrooms up till they're brown, meanwhile have a small pot of water coming to a boil. Fill your jars with the mushrooms to within a half-inch, then cover with the boiling water to within a half-inch. Put the lids on and put them in your pressure canner. They need to be canned at 10 pounds of pressure for 45 minutes.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

I know I said I wasn't doing any extras this week, but I didn't know Meijer had organic mushrooms on sale when I said that. I picked up 5.5 pounds of mushrooms yesterday - organic baby bellas and organic white mushrooms. I used 2 pounds tonight to make this soup and I'll be canning up the remaining 3.5 pounds tomorrow as sliced mushrooms. I got the recipe for this soup from one of the canning boards I follow. It was very easy and came together very quickly. Including processing time, I was in the kitchen from the start of prepping to the end of processing and a clean kitchen for about an hour and a half (45 minutes of that was the processing time). I'm excited to have this on hand for use in casseroles or whatever. I made a double recipe and ended up with 10 pints. Most of the ingredients are organic - the mushrooms, the butter, the Better than Boullion. The ClearJel and the lemon juice are not organic.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/3 cup butter
1 pound mushrooms, chopped or sliced
3/4 cup ClearJel
2 quarts meat stock (I used water with Beef Better than Boullion to make the stock)
1 Tablespoons salt (I left this out)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Melt the butter in a large stockpot. Add mushrooms and saute until brown.

Add meat stock, saving enough to mix with the ClearJel. Make a paste with meat stock and ClearJel. Mix all ingredients and heat until it boils.

(In my case, I used the stockpot to first bring the water to a boil, then added the Better than Boullion. I scooped out about 2 cups of the stock to mix with the ClearJel. I sauteed the mushrooms in a large saute pan. Then just dumped everything into the stock.)

Put into pint jars and process in pressure canner for 45 minutes at 10 lb.pressure.

When opening to use, add equal amount of milk and soup.

Makes 5 pints.

Tater Tot Casserole

We're having this for dinner tomorrow night, but I cooked the meat and prepped it all this afternoon while Carson was napping so that its ready to go right in the oven when we get home tomorrow night. Kevin has been asking for some "normal" recipes lately... i.e. something that he's used to, not something new. I found two last cans of cream soup when I cleaned out my pantry this past week and figured I'd better use them up soon since I've decided not to buy them anymore (I'm going to try making my own cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup). So I decided to make tater tot casserole. Its a recipe that I got from Kevin's mom, he loves it, I love it, and I'm betting that Carson will love it, too. I don't make it too often (twice a year, if that) because its not very healthy, but it is very good if you like casseroles.

Tater Tot Casserole

1 pound ground beef (I used all-natural/grass-fed/hormone-free lean ground beef this time, but I've used a mixture of half beef/half turkey in the past and it was good)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used the 98% fat free stuff. I've used cream of celery in the past and it was good.)
1 can peas (salt-free)
cheese slices (I used 2% milk Kraft American)
1 pound bag of frozen tater tots

Brown the meat, drain the grease, and pour the meat into a casserole dish. Top with cream soup. Then top with peas, then cheese slices, and finally tater tots.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for one hour. Remove foil during the last 15 minutes of baking.

Oven-Baked Corn Dogs

We had oven-baked corn dogs for dinner tonight (an early dinner). I got the recipe from my SIL Mary - it was a Rachael Ray recipe in one of her cookbooks, I believe. I didn't have the Jiffy corn muffin mix, so I substituted with the cornbread recipe I'd made a few months ago. I thought they were pretty good. I've never had a corn dog, so I didn't really have much to compare them to. Kevin wasn't impressed - but then again he couldn't get over the fact that they weren't on skewers and that these were baked and not fried. I used organic flour, organic cornmeal, an organic free-range egg, and organic milk. Here's the original recipe from Mary's blog and my changes/substitutions in parentheses. I only made half a recipe, too. So my substitutions are for only half a recipe.

I'll update with a picture later in the week.

Oven Baked Corn Dogs

2 (8oz.) boxes corn muffin mix (I used 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup cornmeal, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons baking powder)
2 eggs (I used 1 egg since I was doing half a recipe)
1 1/4 - 1 1/3 cups milk (I still used just shy of 1 cup of milk)
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (I left this out)
1 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot sauce (I left this out)
2 scallions, finely chopped (I left these out)
8 hot dogs (I still used 8 hot dogs with a half-batch of batter and had a ton of batter leftover)

(Preheat the oven to 400 - Mary, I'm not sure if this is the temp. you used or not, but I didn't see the temp on your blog. All of the cornbread recipes I have use a 400 degree oven, so that's what I went with.)

In a shallow dish combine corn muffin mix with eggs, milk and melted butter (you may want to add the milk gradually and stop before it gets too runny). Season mix with chili powder, cumin, hot sauce and scallions. The batter will be thick like a wet dough.

Place the dogs on skewers (if you want them on sticks). Place each dog into the bowl of batter, swish it around to coat, remove the coated dog to a nonstick cookie sheet, and use your fingers to spread the batter on any exposed dog spots. Don't coat it too thickly, just shy of half an inch should do the trick. If it is too thick the batter will slide off while baking. Repeat until all hot dogs are coated. Bake 12 minutes, or until evenly deep brown all over.

(I used less milk to make the batter thicker, but it still slid off the hot dogs while they baked.)

Meal Plans, Rutabaga & Kohlrabi

Tomorrow will probably be kind of busy getting ready for going back to work on Monday... which I'm NOT looking forward to at all. So I figured I'd post our meal plans a little early since I'm not sure how much time I'll have tomorrow.

At dinner the other night with Jaime and Jeff, we were talking about strange vegetables. Rutabagas came up. I've never had them, but have heard from lots of people that they're good. I want to work them into our meals probably next week maybe - as part of my goals to eat more/new veggies. If you have any recipes or methods of preparing rutabagas, I'd love to hear them since I really don't know where to start with them! Another veggie I'd like to work in sometime is Kohlrabi - so the same goes for that, if you have any recipes or methods of preparing it, please let me know!

Sunday ~ depends on how our plans work out, but probably a pork roast oven-baked corn dogs, homemade french fries, green beans
Monday ~ tater tot casserole (since we didn't have it on Saturday because we went out for my bday instead)
Tuesday ~ leftovers for Kevin and Carson since I'll be going to MOPS
Wednesday ~ some kind of soup in the crockpot... maybe chicken and black bean
Thursday ~ leftover soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Friday ~ pork chops... I can't make up my mind between crispy pork chops with sage cream gravy, pan-fried pork with blueberries, or stuffed pork chop saltimbocca with seared kale... I have the ingredients for all of them already (except the kale, but I could use spinach instead), I just don't know which one sounds best to me right now... breakfast casserole
Saturday ~ maybe we'll try baked falafel sandwiches greek chicken pasta

Probably little to no extras this week. We'll have enough going just getting back into the groove of working again... did I mention how much I'm not looking forward to leaving Carson and going back to work?? :) If anything, I might try out another homemade ice cream recipe. I think I'm going to try making all homemade ice cream for Carson's 1st birthday party in February, so I've got to do some trial-and-error now. I want to see how light I can get it (i.e. more milk than heavy cream or half-and-half) with it still tasting good. Plus, I need to try out some different flavors.

2009 Veggie Garden Planning

For many of us that have home gardens, this time of year we're all receiving all sorts of seed catalogs encouraging us to begin thinking about our 2009 vegetable gardens. I took some time today to sit down and browse through the catalogs I've received (9 of them all from different companies!) and do some quick sketches of some possible garden plans. I'll be putting in my orders here soon - hopefully over the weekend - since I've been hearing and reading a lot of rumors of a potential seed shortage for home gardeners this year... with the tough economy, more people are turning to growing their own food. Just a small heads-up to those of you faithful gardeners out there... don't wait too long to order your seeds, just in case.

I'd still consider myself a novice veggie gardener - 2008 was my first real veggie garden and it was a small one (about 12'x12'). I've had many different container gardens on the patios of my different apartments in college, but I don't really count those. We're fortunate to have quite a bit of space for gardens (and lots of other different things, too). We have about five and a half acres, three of which we maintain. For those familiar with our property, we'll be putting the garden out behind the fenced part of the yard, kind of out by the home orchard. We have lots of open space back there, so the garden will get pretty much full sun all day long. Having so much space is very tempting to go all out (which after reading through my post, to some our plans may seem all-out, but we really have scaled them back a lot), but I'm trying to keep it limited to something that I think I can (hopefully) maintain. I think that my Grandpa is letting us keep his small rototiller over here again this year, so we'll just be planning for wider row spacing so the tiller can do a good majority of the weeding work for me this year. :)

As you may know, we're not totally sure how long we'll actually be living in the area - Kevin still hasn't heard anything definite on a job transfer, but is supposed to hear something in January possibly. So this past fall, I wasn't even sure I'd have a garden in 2009. Even though everything is still up in the air, I'm pretty sure we won't be selling our house before the end of the harvest next fall. The market just isn't right for it right now. We had originally planned to invest in a few blueberry bushes and a strawberry patch this spring, but with all of the uncertainty over where we'll be living in the years to come, I'm going to hold off on that till we hear something more on Kevin's job situation.

This year I'll be trying lots of new veggies - at least new to me anyway. Last year, I just had the basics - tomatoes, green beans, green zucchini, butternut squash, green peppers, jalapenos, romaine/buttercrunch/mesclun lettuces, cucumbers, scallions, onions, and herbs (chives, oregano, parsley, basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, cilantro). So I'll be expanding my horizons as far as veggies go this year. Here's what I'll be planting in 2009:

Potatoes - We'll have one 25'x4' garden just for the potatoes. It'll be my first time growing any potatoes. I'm going to do Yukon Golds and Red Pontiacs. I decided against doing sweet potatoes this year. Just seems like potato overload to me, especially when only Carson and I like them.

Sweet Corn - We'll have one 25'x4' garden just for the sweet corn. This will be my first time growing any corn.

We'll have another large garden (haven't figured out the total dimensions, but most likely it'll be somewhere between 24'x24' and 30'x30') with the following:
Cabbage - three different mini-head types (red, green, savoy)
Carrots - two different types (nantes and a rainbow hybrid trio)
Parsnips
Lettuce - just doing Buttercrunch this year since it was our favorite last year.
Spinach
Onions - some sweet white ones
Leeks
Peppers - green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, and banana peppers
Tomatoes - I've decided to just do Roma tomatoes (San Marzanos) since I had such good luck with them last year and we don't really eat many fresh tomatoes, just use them for sauces, so Romas are the way to go for that.
Dill
Cucumbers - some slicing cukes and some pickling cukes
Beans - yellow wax and green snap beans, as well as some beans to dry (black turtles for sure, probably some sort of pinto, and possibly cannelini)... the beans to dry will possibly go in their own separate garden, probably another 25'x4' space.
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Okra
Zucchini - both yellow and green ones
Squash - either butternut or delicata, haven't decided yet
Melons - cantaloupes and watermelons
Herbs - basil, parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, chives, oregano

I am also exploring the idea of growing some of my own grains this year - millet is a strong possibility, not sure on the others yet since I haven't had a lot of time to look into it.

So there's my list. It might seem like a ton of stuff to some, but everything in the large garden will be limited in the space we are allocating for that particular veggie. Some veggies we don't need a ton of plants - like cabbage... we can only eat so much cabbage, so a 4'x4' area for the cabbage will be sufficient for us.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what your garden plans are - if you've begun thinking of them. Also whether you've grown some of the veggies I'll be growing for the first time this year and what you thought of them... and especially if you've grown your own grains!

Herb Roasted Lamb with Roasted Veggies

Our good friends, Jeff and Jaime, came over for dinner tonight. I made a roasted leg of lamb and roasted veggies. It was all soooo good! I think we all went back for seconds (and some even for thirds and fourths!). I used a Barefoot Contessa recipe for Herb Roasted Lamb. It was very tasty and definitely a keeper for future legs of lamb. I just roasted veggies in the same pan as the lamb - potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and garlic. I had been a little nervous about making a leg of lamb for the first time - and making it for guests - but it was actually very easy and turned out very well! I cooked it a little longer than the recipe says to - none of us like our meat bloody. This was a little pink in the middle still, probably would be considered medium-well. It was so tender and flavorful - so yummy! I also should note that the lamb is all-natural, hormone-free, grass-fed. I also used organic carrots, parsnips, and garlic (not potatoes, though).

Herb-Roasted Leg of Lamb with Roasted Vegetables

12 large unpeeled garlic cloves, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves (I just used my home-dried rosemary from my garden)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (I totally forgot this part!)
1 (6-pound) boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and tied
4 to 5 pounds small unpeeled potatoes (I used probably 8-9 medium-sized russet potatoes)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
(I also added 5 parsnips, peeled and chopped into 2-inch pieces and about 8 carrots, peeled and chopped into 2-inch pieces.)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven so the lamb will sit in the middle of the oven.

Peel 6 of the cloves of garlic and place them in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the rosemary, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and butter. Process until the garlic and rosemary are finely minced. Thoroughly coat the top and sides of the lamb with the rosemary mixture. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Toss the potatoes and remaining unpeeled garlic in a bowl with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place the lamb on top of the potatoes and roast for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature of the lamb is 135 degrees (rare) or 145 degrees (medium). (I cooked mine for just about 2 hours total and it registered a heat of about 154 degrees for medium-well.) Remove from the oven and put the lamb on a platter; cover tightly with aluminum foil. Allow the lamb to rest for about 20 minutes. Slice and serve with the potatoes.

Cookie Monsters

Figured I'd post a picture and the method for the cookie monsters. The name comes from a dessert at Cheddar's restaurant. Basically, just a chocolate chip cookie, vanilla ice cream, and hot fudge. I think Cheddar's might add whipped cream and a cherry, but I didn't have any, so we didn't have them (much to Jeff's and Kevin's chagrin). :) The picture isn't the best because the hot fudge slides off the ice cream and melts it on its way, but they are sooooo good! Especially knowing that everything is homemade! Jaime made the chocolate chip cookies, which we warmed up in the microwave, then topped them with my homemade vanilla ice cream and hot fudge! A perfect end to a yummy meal!

Hot Fudge

I made up a batch of homemade hot fudge this morning to go with our Cookie Monster desserts tonight. I got the recipe from my SIL, Mary. I've had it before and know its a very good hot fudge recipe. I'm excited to have it tonight!

Hot Fudge

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
2 Tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 Tablespoon butter
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Blend sugar, cocoa, flour and salt in sauce pan. Turn on heat and add boiling water. Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Store in refrigerator.

Makes about one pint.

French Vanilla Ice Cream

So I decided a little too late what I was going to do for dessert for today's New Year's Day dinner with Jeff and Jaime. I decided to do homemade Cookie Monsters. If you've eaten at the restaurant Cheddar's, you know what I'm talking about - chocolate chip cookie, vanilla ice cream, and hot fudge. I say I decided a little too late because I decided I wanted to try out my ice cream maker finally and make homemade ice cream - but I was limited to the ingredients I had on hand. I did find a recipe in my Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream for french vanilla ice cream that I was able to do with just a tiny swap. We'll see how it turns out. I can't start making it till 12:30 since I had to let my bowl chill for at least 15 hours. So I'll update later with our verdict, as well as pictures of the whole spread.

So I have to say that this ice cream was soooo good. When it first came out of the ice cream maker, I tasted it as when I transferred it into the freezer container and it was quite sweet. But after sitting in the freezer for a few hours, it tasted perfect. Definitely a recipe I'll make again. Jeff and Jaime thought it was really good, too. They'd made one or two different vanilla ice creams that were so rich and sweet you couldn't eat much of them. Jeff and Kevin both went back for seconds and thirds if that tells you anything. :)

French Vanilla Ice Cream

5 egg yolks
2 cups half-and-half (I used 2 1/2 cups to make up for only having 1 1/2 cups cream)
1 1/3 cups table sugar
2 cups heavy cream (I only had 1 1/2 cups left in my carton)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. I used my KitchenAid.

In a double boiler, over medium heat, add half-and-half and the egg mixture. Stir constantly until temperature reaches 160 degrees or coats the back of a spoon. Do not boil.

Remove from heat, add heavy cream and vanilla. Mix well.

Place a piece of plastic wrap over bowl so you don't have a film build-up.

Cool mixture to 40 degrees in your refrigerator.

Transfer cold formula to an ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Taco/Nacho Bar

Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope everyone had a fun, but safe NYE last night. We just stayed home this year. We had a taco/nacho bar for dinner. Just taco meat, whole wheat flour tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, taco sauce, and homemade tortilla chips... I forgot to get some lettuce for Kevin. I used all-natural, hormone-free, grass-fed lean beef for the tacos, though nothing else was natural or organic in this meal. Nothing too special with just a taco/nacho bar, really, and I normally wouldn't post about it, or a picture of it, but I thought I would this time with the homemade tortilla chips. I didn't actually make these chips, my Aunt Sharon's boyfriend, Reno, made them. Reno and my aunt make them all the time - they're soooo good! So much better than store-bought tortilla chips. They're much crispier than store-bought chips and they have more flavor. I'm going to start making our own homemade tortilla chips as part of my goals to make more things homemade. They're very simple to make, here's just a quick run-down for you.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

corn tortillas (White or yellow, whatever you prefer. Reno uses yellow. And make sure they're the soft ones, not the ones that have already been fried up for tostadas and things)
salt
paprika
oil (one that is good for frying. Reno uses peanut oil, I think. Canola would be good, too.)

Use a pizza wheel to cut the tortillas into chips - usually fourths is a good size. Heat your oil up till its ready to fry (flick a little water at it and see if it sizzles). Drop in the tortillas - do them in batches, not all at once. They'll puff up and start to turn a little brown. Once they look done, scoop them out and onto paper plates covered with paper towels. Sprinkle with a tiny bit a salt and a lot of paprika just after removing them from the oil. Let cool and store in a large paper bag folded down and clipped.

You can also make your own tostadas - just don't cut the tortillas up.

I'm going to try baking these sometime to see how they are when baked... though I don't think they'll be nearly the same.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Tonight I tried out a recipe from A Year of Crockpotting for Broccoli Cheese Soup. I ended up using the same cheeses that Stephanie used, mainly because I already had them on hand. It was a very good soup. I pureed it a little with my immersion blender so that Carson could eat more of it - and I kind of wish I hadn't done the entire batch. Kevin and I both were missing the broccoli pieces, but it still had a great flavor and taste, just didn't care for the pureed texture too much. I'd make it again, just wouldn't puree it all next time.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 qt chicken or vegetable broth (I used some of my home-canned chicken stock)
2 cups milk (I used 2% organic milk)
2 10 oz bags of frozen broccoli florets
1/2 diced white onion (I added the whole thing since it was a small one, and I added a small shallot, too)
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 cup each of three different cheeses, I used jarlsberg, gruyere, and cheddar

Mince the onion into really small pieces. The onions are going to soften in the milk and the broth, and need to be quite small so you don't crunch on onion pieces when the soup is complete.

Add the onion to your crockpot, top with the milk, broth, and spices. Stir in the two frozen bags of broccoli.

Cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. The broth is done when the onion is cooked nicely. (I had mine on high for 6 hours... I wouldn't recommend going that long on high with this soup. By the end of the cook time, it was starting to stick to the crockpot and get a curdled look to it. I was just careful not to scrape the sides or bottom of the crock while I was stirring, pureeing, and ladling.)

20 minutes or so before serving, shred all the cheese you are going to use, and stir it in. The cheese will be stringy and will stick to the broccoli florets---that's okay!

Serve with your favorite rolls or drop biscuits. (I had every intention of making a beer bread to go with this, but time got away from me and I never had the chance to make it.)

New Year's Resolutions/Goals

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, but I figured I'd set some goals for myself for the new year. I hope that I'm successful on most of them and I figure that if I post them here I might hold myself more accountable and it will help to keep them. None of these are going to be immediate changes, more gradual changes so that I hopefully have more of a chance of succeeding. You'll see many of my goals are inter-related to lead a healthier lifestyle in general, but I've gone into detail on them all with how I hope to change. Anyway here's what I hope to accomplish by this time next year. They're in no particular order, just the order by which I have been thinking of them.

~ Get organized. I used to be so organized, but then I like to say I met Kevin who is soooo unorganized. :) His tendencies have rubbed off on me instead of the other way around. I make substantial efforts to get us more organized, but it never seems to stick. Mainly because Kevin isn't into it at all. Since Carson has been born, I feel like we're spinning out of control, being so unorganized. I feel like an unorganized house just leads to an unorganized life and it has really be frustrating me lately. I can't take it anymore. So I'm going to try my darnedest to get Kevin more motivated about staying organized with me. I figure even if I can break him of one or two of his habits that waste so much time, it'll be a huge improvement. I don't feel like its a totally lost cause anymore - I recently got him into the habit of hanging up his jacket/coat in the closet right when he takes it off rather than leaving it laying on one of the dining room chairs. I feel like this is a huge step in the right direction... especially since it only took my asking him to do it a few times before he started remembering... for those of you that know Kevin, you know that is huge! :) I know we can continue to make improvements - both of us can. And I know that making these improvements in our home will lead to a less stressful, less chaotic life.

~ Be more creative. I want to try making more time for creativity. I love doing crafts, scrapbooking, photography, gardening, etc. The only problem is that I rarely carve out the time for them. I want to make more of an effort to make the time for these types of things. Even if its just an hour or two a month at first. I need to catch up on my scrapbooking - and I need to put the finishing touches on my college and wedding scrapbooks still, too. I want to do a few scrapbooks for Carson - an ABC book to start with. I want to learn more photographic techniques and learn how to use the Adobe Creative Suite (i.e. Photoshop... right now I use the cheap version Photoshop Elements, but you can do so much more with the full-out Photoshop program). I also want to learn how to use my sewing machine. I bought it about a year and a half ago now and its still in the box. I had every intention of learning how to use it when I bought it to make some things for Carson... but it never happened.

~ Read more often. I've been reading quite regularly for the past months now, but I want to try to increase it a bit. Its great for my brain and for my sanity and I learn a lot of new things, too. I've been listening to books on CD on my commutes to and from work for years now, but I want to increase the books that I actually read with my eyes. I've been reading quite a few MOPS books lately and have been really enjoying them, so I'll continue reading more of them in 2009, as well as other fiction, nonfiction, and inspirational books. I'm also going to focus on reading the entire Bible this year. Its something I've never done and think it'll be a great book to read finally. I know I won't accomplish this entirely in 2009, but I want to read it regularly so that I can hopefully get through the entire thing in two years... maybe three.

~ Love authentically. You're probably thinking what the heck does that mean, right? Well, I've been reading a book called Love as a Way of Life by Gary Chapman. Its a great book that I think everyone should read because I think if we all took just one thing away from the book, the world would be a better, happier, more loving place. In order to love authentically, I need to work on the seven key elements discussed in Gary's book - Kindness, Patience, Forgiveness, Courtesy, Humility, Generosity, and Honesty. I have a lot of work to do on all seven of these elements. By making improvements in all of these seven key areas, I feel that I will become a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister, etc.

~ Get healthy. I know this is a vague, far-reaching goal. But its the simplest way to put it. Those of you that know me, know that I can stand to get my booty into shape. Its very difficult for me to look at myself the way I am now when I know what I used to look like 10 years ago. I know I wasn't healthy then either (some would consider me anorexic), and I don't want to be that thin again, but I do want to lose a good amount of weight (like 80+ pounds) so that I'm healthy (and also because I'll be fulfilling the Matron of Honor duties in my friend Sara's wedding in May and we'll be having my 10-year high school reunion this year and I want to look better than I do now). This means exercising and eating better. The goals below all refer to the eating better. I need to start exercising more regularly and keep with it. I'm very good at starting an exercise routine... but I'm not good at sticking with it. This is what I need to work on in 2009. Even if I just start with 10 minutes a day, or even every other day, then increasing it bit by bit so its not such a shock to my current schedule/routine.

~ Eat less processed food. Every time I read a food label and as I've been reading more and more about all of the nasty chemicals, genetically modified ingredients, and other junk that goes into so much of the food that we eat, I just get so frustrated and angry. It is maddening to me that food companies aren't required to provide quality products and be truthful on their packaging (i.e. letting us know if there are GMOs in their product). This will be a tough one to convince Kevin of - he doesn't read the things I do (and won't read them if I ask him to) and he doesn't think the ingredients/chemicals/GMOs are that bad for us... so this will be an uphill battle for me with him. But I don't want Carson ingesting so many chemicals, GMOs, and just plain old nasty stuff.

~ Make more homemade food. I'm talking crackers, graham crackers, marshmallows, canned beans, granola, cereals, pasta, grains, etc. I want to invest in a pasta roller and cutter attachments for my KitchenAid so that I can make my own pasta. I'd also like to invest in a grain mill so that I can possibly grow some of my own grains next summer and grind them myself. Or at the very least, buy local/organic grains that I then grind myself. I'll definitely be continuing my home canning next year - and I hope to do even more next year than I did this year. This will be another tough one to convince Kevin of the benefits. He doesn't believe that the time invested in making things homemade is worth it. I know it is, though.

~ Eat more organic/local food. I already do buy quite a bit of organic and local foods, but I know I can do better. I wish we had a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods closer to us. I've been stopping at both stores in Rochester Hills on my way home from work meetings in Detroit, but I need to plan a little better from now on. I never think about what I'll be buying beforehand, its just shopping on a whim. I've found that Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have the best prices on organic foods, so I'll need to stock up on things we use a lot when I make my trips from now on. I like shopping at Horrocks in Lansing, but its more expensive than TJ and WF - so it'll be nice to just be able to fill in some random needs here and there at Horrocks, rather than doing a good majority of my shopping there (as I do now). I also want to buy more local/natural meat. With the new freezer, we actually have space to buy this type of meat in bulk. And we've already been doing a good job - buying a whole lamb and a good amount of pork... next summer I want to get some local/natural/grass-fed beef. And I need to find a good (and affordable) source for chicken, too.

~ Eat more vegetables. I want to work more veggies into our diets. Not only the veggies that we eat regularly as it is now, but I want to try out new veggies that we've never had before. I'm sure with some it'll take a few times eating them before we'll know how best to cook them, or if we even like them, but I really want to try to increase our intake and variety of veggies. I want Carson to grow up loving all different sorts of foods. It will be tough to convince Kevin to eat some of the veggies I'm thinking of, especially without complaining, but I do hope that he'll give it his best shot for my and Carson's sake... if Carson sees Kevin making faces and saying bad things about a food, then you know he'll pick up on it and won't want to try it either.

Well I think that's it for now. I know its a big list and all of the goals will take some time to implement. But I hope by this time next year I can look back and say that I've been successful on each of them.

Sausage Smothered in Cabbage

Tonight I tried a new recipe for sausage smothered in cabbage from AllRecipes. This was very good and I'd make it again. I'm trying to decide what to grow in our garden next year and have been wanting to try out different dishes using cabbage to know if it'd be worth it to put in some cabbage plants. I think it'd be worth it to put in some plants, especially since cabbage keeps so well in cold storage, so we wouldn't necessarily have to eat a lot of cabbage dishes all at once.

Sausage Smothered in Cabbage

1 small head red cabbage, shredded (I used savoy cabbage and just chopped it)
1 apple, cored and diced (I didn't have an apple, so I just used about a quarter cup of applesauce instead)
3 teaspoons salt, divided (I only used 2 teaspoons, but next time would not put any in, or only a trace amount)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped (I used a shallot)
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
1 pound kielbasa sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces

Place the cabbage in a large kettle, and add the diced apple, 2 teaspoons of the salt, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, about 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

In hot butter, saute the onion until golden. Add the onion to the cabbage along with 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, vinegar and sausage. Cook, covered, 20 to 30 minutes, or until sausage is heated through.

Meal Plans

Can't believe it'll be 2009 this week. Wow. It'll be another busy week. Kevin and I are both home all week again, but Carson is sick again - the poor little guy. His little immune system just doesn't have a chance to recover before he gets something else right now, it seems. Lots of projects and we'll have a trip or two to the pediatrician, too. Hopefully the carpet will be done today so we can put the breezeway together and get the furniture and carpet steam cleaned during the week (Tuesday or Friday hopefully). Kevin didn't do much with the insulation last week, so he's planning to do a little more this week and really needs to finish it up if he can. I want to finish painting the doors in the hallway still and I'll have a lot of cleaning/sorting/throwing away to do with all of the junk from the breezeway (which is everywhere in our living and dining rooms right now).

I still need to update my posts from last week with pictures. Hopefully I'll get to uploading all of our pictures later on today or tonight.

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking as far as meals go..

Sunday ~ My parents are over - my Dad and Kevin are installing the carpet, the house is a wreck with everything from the breezeway everywhere, so I'll spend most of my time today cleaning/sorting/throwing out. We were supposed to go over to Kevin's parents' house for dinner and movie night, but I think we'll have to skip it with Carson being sick again. I think we'll probably just end up ordering pizza again ourselves, though, since the house is such a wreck.
Monday ~ let's try the sausage smothered in cabbage since I didn't make it last week
Tuesday ~ for the third or fourth week in a row... broccoli cheese soup. Let's hope I actually make it this time! :) I think I'll try making beer bread to go with it.
Wednesday ~ New Year's Eve! We're just hanging out around our house. Can't really go out too late with Carson anyway, so we'll have our own little party here at home this year. I think we'll do a taco and nacho bar.
Thursday ~ Happy New Year!! Jaime and Jeff are coming over. I'll be making a roast leg of lamb, roasted potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. Jaime is bringing a salad. And I still need to figure out something to make for dessert.
Friday ~ possibly just leftovers from throughout the week, otherwise something with pork since we picked up about 60 pounds of all-natural pork at Sara's house yesterday.
Saturday ~ tater tot casserole

Some morning this week, I'll be making a breakfast casserole with leftover ham from Christmas Eve. Just depends on how our plans pan out with doctors appointments, steam cleaners, and Kevin making a trip to South Bend with Danny to buy a new car (for Danny, not us).

Fruit Salad

Tonight I made up a fruit salad for tomorrow's Christmas celebration with the Hollebooms. My Grandma B. has made this for as long as I can remember. Its simple, but still so good. And its a great fruit salad for winter when fresh fruit isn't so readily available (or tasty).

Fruit Salad

1 can chunk pineapple, save the juice
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 jar maraschino cherries, drained
3 bananas, sliced
1 box cook 'n serve vanilla pudding
water

Use the juice from the pineapple plus some water to make 2 cups of liquid. Put this in a pan on the stovetop and bring to a boil. Add the vanilla pudding and stir. Chill for a bit.

Dump the fruit into a bowl - all except the bananas. Once pudding mixture is cooled a little, pour over fruit. Toss a little to mix it all up. Refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving the next day, slice the bananas, add, and stir.

(I don't have any bananas today and didn't feel like going to the store to get any, so ours won't have bananas tomorrow. I added a second can of pineapple to make up for it.)

Overnight French Toast Bake

Last night I prepped an overnight french toast bake to have for breakfast this morning. I got the recipe from Jaime's Aunt Pati. She made it for Jaime's and Jeff's day-after-the-wedding-day brunch and it was so good I asked her for the recipe. This is very simple to make and you don't even need syrup with it since the syrup bakes with it. I used a 13x9 inch pan as the recipe suggests, but next time I think I'll use an 11x17 inch pan so that the bread isn't overlapping as much. I'm guessing that's what Pati did since hers wasn't soggy at all... and mine was kind of soggy in the parts of the bread that were overlapped. Even with some sogginess, this was awesome to have on Christmas morning!

Overnight French Toast Bake

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 16oz. loaf white bread, unsliced (I used whole wheat since that's what I had)
1 1/2 cups milk
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a pan on the stovetop, combine the light corn syrup, butter, and brown sugar. Simmer until syrup-like, about 7 minutes. Pour half of the mixture in the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Slice bread into 1-inch slices and place on top of mixture in pan. Pour remaining syrup mixture over top of bread slices.

Combine eggs, milk, salt, and vanilla. Beat until mixed well. Pour over bread.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, uncover pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until brown.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Bars

I'm trying out another new recipe from Baking Bites for Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Bars. They're baking in the oven as I type, so hopefully they turn out okay. They were very easy to throw together. And you don't have to worry about baking them in a water bath like you would a normal cheesecake. I thought they'd be a good treat to take to our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations along with the Oatmeal Carmelitas and possibly S'more Cookie Bars, too... we'll see on those still... how much time I end up having after I make the hot dogs in crescent rolls and get everything packed and ready for tonight's party.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Bars

Crust
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup half & half/light cream (I used fat free half & half)
2 (8-oz) packages plain cream cheese, room temperature (I used 1/3 less fat)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract (I just used the extract)
1 tbsp all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan (or used the Baker’s Edge).

Begin by making the crust. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until smooth and fluffy. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into prepared pan and bake for 15-17 minutes.

While the crust bakes, combine sugar, half & half and cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Add in eggs one at a time, waiting until each in incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the mixture (or add extract) and add the flour. Pulse until smooth.

Pour the filling over the hot crust when it has finished baking. Return pan to oven and bake for 23-26 minutes, until the filling is set (baking time should be reduced slightly if using a 9×13-inch, as the filling will be slightly thinner) and not jiggly.

Cool completely before slicing (don’t be alarmed if the cheesecake appears to deflate somewhat as it cools), or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 20-24 bars.