From scratch: Microwave popcorn

I am not sure that this can really be considered as a "from scratch" recipe or even really a recipe. I think of it more as a tip. And a really great and easy one.

 It has been a few years since I have bought microwave popcorn, but it was because it is cheaper and tastes better to make it on the stove. But I really dislike the mess it makes and I really dislike using that much oil when cooking it on the stove. 

Then I found this nifty trick!

Microwave popcorn:

You need a paper lunch bag, a 1/4 measure cup and popping corn.

Put a quarter cup of the popping corn in the bag and fold the top over a few times.

Put it in the microwave and cook for about 2 minutes or until the popping almost stops completely.

(It took me a few tries to figure out the perfect time on my microwave to not burn it).

Pour popcorn in bowl and butter and season however you like. 

I use one bag twice and it makes a full bowl of popcorn to enjoy.

ENJOY!

From scratch: Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I ate two slices of this loaf before I remembered to take a picture of it. Boy was it yummy! And the white stuff on the top is melted butter.

I really love making this bread because it doesn't take a whole lot of work. It does however take a lot of time. I would say from start to finish it takes at least two and a half hours. But like I said, it doesn't take much work, just a lot of waiting. But it IS really yummy and great for sandwiches or toast. When I got the recipe from a dear friend, her recipe made four loaves, but I have a Kitchen Aid and it doesn't hold enough to make a four loaf recipe. So this recipe will make two loaves.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Step 1:

2 3/4 cups of warm water

1/3 cup of honey (or sugar)

2 1/2 cups of flour*

1 Tbs of dry yeast

Mix together and let sit in the bowl for about 30 minutes or until it has risen and is bubbly.

Step 2:

To the mixture above add

1/3 cup oil

1 Tbs salt

Mix well.

Step 3:

To the mixture above add

about 4 cups of flour* (add more or less until the dough has cleaned off the sides of the bowl)

Knead it or let the mixer knead it for about 10 minutes. 

Step 4:

Oil hands. Remove dough from mixer and half it. Mold dough into loaves. Place loaves in oiled bread pans. Cover loaves with a damp cloth. Let them rise 1/3 in bulk for approx 35-40 minutes.

Step 5:

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Remove from pans immediately. Put on rack and butter the tops of bread and then let cool. 

(We rarely let it cool before we cut into it because fresh out of the oven bread tastes too delish!)

*I use white whole wheat which makes it a bit less denser than whole wheat. Sometimes I will do half white whole wheat and half bread flour just to make it a bit less denser. But use what ever you prefer.

From scratch: No-Bake Energy Bites (Cookie balls)

My kids call these cookie balls, and they love them. They are pretty yummy and really handy when needing a  filling snack on the go. And super easy and quick to make.

No-Bake Energy Bites

(Cookie Balls)

Ingredients:

1 Cup of dry oatmeal (I use quick oats)

1/2 Cup of peanut butter

1/2 Cup of ground flax seed or wheat germ (I use 1/4 cup of each)

1/2 Cup of chocolate chips 

1/3 Cup of honey

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (I make mine about 1 inch). Store in airtight container and keep refrigerator for up to 1 week.

From scratch: Fluffy pancakes & tasty syrup

For a while now, I have been searching for the perfect pancake recipe. It has been a hard battle, because seriously, every single recipe is different by just a smidge. Actually it was annoying, not really a battle. All I wanted in a pancake, was fluffy and buttery. Why was the perfect recipe so hard to find?

But guess what? I FOUND IT!!! Are you as excited as I am? You should be, especially if you really like pancakes.  I am not much of a pancake fan (but my kids are, I prefer french toast) and I LOVE these. They cook perfectly, they are so fluffy without being raw in the middle and they have the yummiest buttery taste. 

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com HERE.

Fluffy Pancakes

makes about 9-10

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of milk

2 Tbs white vinegar

1 cup all purpose flour

2 Tbs white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2 Tbs butter, melted

cooking spray

Directions:

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. 

4. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

(Batter will be super thick!)

5. heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with cooking spray.

6. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto skillet (the batter is so thick you have to spread out the batter a bit to get it to pancake size) and cook until bubbles appear then flip and brown the other side. 

~~~

Because syrup goes with pancakes I want to share my favorite syrup recipe. I have to say that I have NEVER bought a bottle of syrup in my life (well at least for my home). I grew up with warm home made syrup and I really hated it when I would stay the night at a friends and we would have pancakes and they would put a bottle of cold store bought syrup on the table to use. yuck! I have always just done the standard boil water, sugar and maple until I found this recipe. I have no clue where I got it, but I love it.

Maple Syrup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp of maple

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Boil water on the stove then add sugars and boil until dissolved. 

(Don't walk away or stop stirring, it will boil over very quickly and make a HUGE mess.) 

Take off burner and stir in maple and vanilla.

From scratch: Chicken Taquitos

These are seriously AMAZING!! And they are worth every effort that it takes to make them. This makes A LOT! About 40. I usually will cook all of them and freeze what we don’t eat. The frozen ones you can pull out and stick in the microwave or back in the oven for a bit. But they still don't last long, because they are too yummy to stop eating. I thought I had originally got this recipe from a PIN on Pinterest, but when my sister-in-law asked for the recipe, I couldn't find my exact recipe in any of the links. 

Creamy baked chicken Taquitos

Ingredients:

12 oz cream cheese (softened in the microwave)

1 small can green chiles

1T lime juice

½ t cumin

1 t chili powder

¼ t garlic powder

3 T chopped cilantro ( I like it with this, Hubs doesn’t, so I don't usually use it)

2 T sliced green onions (optional, I have never added any)

4 C shredded cooked chicken**

1 C cheddar cheese

Small corn tortillas

Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

1.       Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray

2.       Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so its soft and easy to stir. Add green 

chiles, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and/or green onions (if you are using them). Then add chicken and cheese and combine well. You can prepare all of this ahead of time and stick it in the fridge until you are ready to make them.

3.       Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat them in the microwave in between a damp cloth or 

paper towel. They need to be pretty soft or they will crack when rolling.

4.       Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla then roll it up as tight as you can.

5.       Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Make sure that none are touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle a bit of salt on top.

6.       Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get 

golden brown.

**I have cooked my chicken in the oven or crock pot. (I am not a fan of boiled chicken) For the oven, all I do is put it in a glass baking dish (sometimes I line it with tinfoil) and cook on 350 until it is done, about 30 to 40 minutes depending on how thick the chicken is and how much is in the pan. Crockpot, I just put it in with a bit of water and cook on high for about 3 to 4 hours.

From scratch: English Muffin Bread

I love this bread, it makes the yummiest toast. It tastes just like english muffins, and I LOVE english muffins. This is a quick and easy recipe. I don't remember where I got it, off of a blog somewhere in blog land. 

english muffin bread

ingredients:

2 3/4 cups of warm water

1.5 packages of RAPID RISE yeast

1 Tbs of salt

1 1/2 Tbs of sugar

5 1/2 cups of bread flour

directions:

mix all ingredients together, then spoonful into two greased bread loaf pans. 

let rise in pans until dough reaches the top of the pans.

bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

From scratch: Pizza crust

On Friday nights we like to have a pizza picnic on the floor while watching a movie. We have loved making pizza from scratch this past year. It is so easy and so much cheaper than buying pizza. I have tried a few different recipes and the one I am about to share we have loved the most. It really is quick and easy and it tastes great. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com 

Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1.5 tsp of active dry yeast

1 tsp of white sugar

1 Cup of warm water (hot water from tap)
2 1/2 cups of bread flour
2 Tbs of olive oil
1 tsp salt

directions:
1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. In a medium bowl (I use my kitchen aid) dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about ten minutes.
3. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for about five minutes.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan. Add toppings and then bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. 

From scratch: Graham Crackers

We really love these!! They are really quick and easy to make so sometimes when I am in a pinch and need a snack for my kids but have run out of options because I need to go grocery shopping I will make these really quick. They take a little bit more than ten minutes from start to finish. I got the recipe from HERE at Little Birdie Secrets. 

They really aren't anything like the graham crackers in the store. They are more of a cookie than a cracker. 

Graham Crackers

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup honey

directions:

1. mix dry ingredients together in med mixing bowl.

2. in a separate bowl mix together the melted butter and honey.

3. add liquid mixture to dry mixture, stir until combined.

4. drop the mixture onto cookie sheet and roll out.

(I use my SILPAT and I just flatten it out with my hand as much as possible because it is sticky.)

5. bake for 8 minutes at 400 degrees.

6. Once out of oven (while still hot) cut with a pizza cutter into cracker size rectangles.

***Another reminder that these don't keep stored for very long because of the lack of preservatives (which is a good thing!).

From scratch: granola

So here is my first "from scratch" recipe post

I got the original recipe from the 100 days of real food blog HERE (this blog helped me a lot in our adventure to change our diet). I have simplified the recipe for our family as Mac has a tree nut allergy and I like the simple taste of just cinnamon. Hubs has added peanut butter when he has made it a few times, which is also really good. So I am sharing how I make it and if you want the full version with all the nuts and seeds and other spices then go to the link above.

We love ours as cereal with milk for breakfast and if I have some blue berries or strawberries I will put that on it. YUM!! Our kids love it! We will also just eat it dry for snacks. Although a bit messy that way. I don't make it very often, maybe every couple of weeks, because we go through a double batch in about 3 days. Yes, we love it that much. 

Granola

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups oats (we like to use quick oats)

2 tsp of ground cinnamon

6 Tbs butter

1/2 cup of honey

2 tsp of vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchament paper (we use our SILPAT).

2. Mix the dry oats and cinnamon (and any other nuts, seeds or spices that you want) in a large mixing bowl.

3. Heat butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once butter is melted, stir in vanilla.

4. Pour hot liquid over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.

5. Spread granola mixture onto prepared pan in one even layer and bake for 60 to 75 minutes. (I like it at 60 minutes because I don't like it super crunchy). 

6. The granola will become crisp as it cools. You can store it in an air tight container at room temperature for up to two weeks***. 

***A little side note about making food from scratch is that it goes bad faster than food you would buy pre-made because there are no preservatives in it to keep it from going bad. 

from scratch!

I have talked a few times on here about changing our diet about a year ago but I don't remember if I have ever talked about what kind of change we made or not. The change came after a lot of research and praying and then realizing it was the change we needed to help with a few things in our family in regards to health. The diet change we made was to reduce the amount of processed food we ate.

I won't go into the reasons why processed food but it has been pretty life changing and will be a permanent life change for our family. We aren't extreme and just try to eat this way as much as possible. There are times when we will eat fast food although that is few and far between because I have never really like fast food ever and we don't like to spend our money there if we can help it. Our kids stay with grandparents and friends every once in awhile and I don't expect them to feed my kids this way. But at home we eat this way about 75 to 80 percent. To do this we make a lot of food from scratch and where once I was a lazy baker and cook I have started to really enjoy making things from scratch and finding  new healthy recipes to make for dinner. It is so satisfying sitting down to eat with my family and looking at our table and knowing what they are eating is healthy and will benefit them forever.

We are far from perfect at it and there are a few things that I know we shouldn't use and I just can't bring myself to change it out. But this whole process has been a slow one and we take this little by little. But with every new recipe I find it easier and easier.

The whole point of this post though is to share some recipes we use that have helped our transition into eating this way. A few of the actual recipes I won't share on here because they are not mine to share publicly, but if it looks good and you want to try it, please email me and I would love to give you the recipe. Also, since I realized that my list of all the recipes I want to share is a long one I will be just sharing one or two at a time over the next couple of weeks. I am so excited about this!!

To start off here is the list of the recipes I plan on sharing with you (although not in this order)...

-granola
-honey whole wheat bread
-muffins (blueberry and apple cinnamon)
-english muffin bread
-veggie stuffed peppers
-energy protein balls (cookie balls)
-pizza crust
-zucchini fries
-chicken taquitos
-homemade chicken nuggets
-graham crackers
-pancakes
-brownies
-taco seasoning
-baked cauliflower and broccoli
-green smoothies

chicken and freezer meals...

So a few months ago I found THIS blog post (probably on Pinterest) about some freezer crockpot meals. And in my effort to make dinner more often, not spend so much money on food, and to make thinking about what's for dinner less stressful I decided I would try it. After buying the ingredients, it took me a good week (or  more) to get to the "putting together" part of it. I ended up doing it one night when Hubs was out of town  and was a good way to spend my evening alone after the kids were in bed. Surprisingly it was pretty fun to put together and not hard at all. And if I remember right it didn't even make very many dirty dishes. But the best part of it was that all five meals were fantastic!! My pickiest kid would even eat them. 

I don't know how many of my readers have heard of Zaycon. But I have heard a few friends and a couple of family members talk about Zaycon for the last couple of years. It is a company that provides good food and decent prices in bulk. They tour the country and you can only get certain foods at certain dates in certain towns. They sell honey, all kinds of fruit and all kinds of meat. I recently made my first purchase with them and bought 40 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken-breasts.  It cost me $67.60 and they are natural with no hormones or other yucky stuff straight from the farm and never frozen. They are HUGE breasts and had very little fat on them. 

It was interesting going to pick it up. They give you a location, date and a one hour time slot which is the same for everyone buying in the area. I didn't really know what to expect, but when I got there, there was a huge semi truck parked in a parking lot with a long line of cars driving buy it. I actually ended up parking and  walking over to the truck to get mine since I just ordered one 40 lb box. I handed them my receipt and they gave me a box straight from the truck. It was pretty cool actually. 

The pickup time was between 6 & 7pm so I didn't get to "processing" my chicken until the next day. Thankfully my  mom  was visiting and she was a HUGE help. I was a bit overwhelmed with what to do with 40 lbs of raw chicken, but after asking others I figured out what to do. I separated mine into meal size portions (after cutting of the fat) and made 4 bags with marinade, 2 bags of chopped, 6 bags of freezer crockpot meals (I chose three of the recipes from the link above and doubled them) and 8 bags of just chicken for other meals. And then my mom suggested I make chicken broth from the fat trimmings and got about 6 or 7 cups of chicken broth that I separated in baggies and froze. 

I was a little bit worried about how we would fit it all in our freezer (especially since we are buying 1/8th of a cow next month) but all of that fit on one of my shelves (see picture above) no problem. 

I am so excited and happy that I did this and I will for sure be doing it again. 

And now bring on the cow...

New Recipes...

So thanks to Pinterest I have been making at least one new recipe a week, but more often it has been two new recipes. I have been trying to be better about making dinner every night and all of us sitting at the table together to eat. It has been a little bit harder with it being busy season for Hubs. The only thing I really don't like about this goal is how much I have been spending on groceries, yikes!!

But I did want to share some of  recipes that we enjoyed and will make again.

Courtesy of Plain Chicken

Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chile

I just made this last night for dinner. The recipe doesn't tell you what size can for the Rotel, but I used the large and think that is the right size. Also the Rotel was too spicy and I couldn't feed it to my kids (not that they would actually eat it). Next time I will substitute the Rotel for a large can of plain diced tomatoes. But even thought it was spicy, it was SO GOOD!! I couldn't get enough of it!! And I can't wait to make it again.

Courtesy of Our Best Bites

Roaste Garlic-Parmesan Cauliflower

We use cauliflower alot. Well I guess I should say that Hubs uses cauliflower alot. He uses it as a substitute for rice or pasta since he eats a low carb diet. I actually like cauliflower and decided to try this as a side the other night when we had Hubs's parents over for dinner. I usually buy the frozen bags but for this I wanted fresh.  It was really good, but I think you have to like cauliflower to really appreciate it.  Hubs's dad really liked it and kept on asking how I made it, so I sent him home with the recipe. I will probably make this again, but since fresh cauliflower is so expensive it won't be very often. I will however probably try the same recipe with broccoli.

Courtesy of The Way To His Heart

Mexican Stuffed Shells

This recipe has been my absolute favorite by far!! I could eat this every night for dinner, seriously!! It requires a little more work than I like to put together, but it is so worth it. To make it not to spicy for my kids, I make sure I use all mild ingredients: mild taco sauce, mild salsa, and mild taco seasoning. I also double the meat and add a little extra cream cheese (which helps in making it less spicy). I double the meat because I put some of the meat filling in tortillas for Hubs since he doesn't eat pasta. So those end up being kind of like an enchilada. They are also really great as left overs.

Courtesy of MmmCafe

Honey Sauced Chicken

This was a really easy crock pot recipe. It was really good! The only thing about when I made it was that it wasn't very saucy. The sauce seemed to be more watery than glazy. Not sure if I did something wrong or if that is the way it is supposed to be. It was really good over rice. But I will be making it again. In fact it is on my menu for the week.

Courtesy of Cinnamon Girl Recipes

Oven Fried Zucchini Chips

I made these this summer. And they were so yummy! Mouthwatering and I could sit and eat them all in one sitting. The only thing that was hard about them was towards the end of making them the milk made the crumb mix all wet and then it wouldn't stick to zucchini. I didn't make the sauce that comes with the recipe, we just dipped ours in ranch. But I am not against trying it sometime.

Courtesy of Saving Money Living Life

Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake

This was another good one. I am not totally sure I will make it again, but it was good. Both my kids ate it, so that is a plus. It was not good as leftovers however, yuck! We thought about making it again, but instead of using pasta using cauliflower. We will see. I also did not use the whole amount of spinach it asks for. I used a small portion and it was plenty. My husband hates cooked spinach but he didn't mind the spinach in it at all.

That isn't everything new I have made. Just the ones we liked or really liked!

Hope you enjoy!!

Recipe: Crisp and Creamy Baked Chicken

Here is another easy, SO yummy recipe! I usually have all the ingredients for this on hand too, so it is another easy one to make when I have no clue what to make. It also probably takes from start to finish about 40 minutes, possibly less.

Crisp and Creamy Baked Chicken:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 pouch of Shake N Bake (I like the Italian or Ranch & Herb flavor)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup of milk
1-2 cups of cheddar cheese (when I have it I add monterey jack too)
And we also like to eat rice with this.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease pan and prepare chicken with the recipe on the Shake N Bake package. While chicken is cooking whisk together well the soup and milk and then grate cheese. When chicken is done evenly spread the soup/milk mixture all over the chicken then cover with cheese. Put back in oven for about 5 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly. When done serve over rice.

Beef Stroganoff Recipe

I don't have a picture, sorry. But I did want to share this recipe with you because it is easy, and I almost ALWAYS have the ingredients on hand and can make it in a pinch. It takes, start to finish, 30 minutes tops. I got it from my friend, but have made one tiny adjustment to the recipe since then. I think that this recipe is so good that I literally have to make myself stop eating it when I get full. It is really good for left overs too. And both my kids will eat it, which is always a plus.

Beef Stroganoff

1 pound of browned beef
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
3/4 of a can of water
1/4 cup of butter (half stick)
lots of onion powder (to taste)
1 cup of sour cream
rice or pasta (we like it with rice)

Brown your beef, drain and add back to large pan. (While I am browning beef I will get the rice started in the rice cooker).  Add the soup, water, butter and onion powder. Bring to a simmer and let simmer (stir occasionally) for about 10 to 15 minutes. Put on low and add sour cream. Mix well and keep on low. DO NOT BRING TO BOIL! The sour cream will curdle. When ready to eat put it on top of rice or pasta.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Banana Bread

Seriously, this is the best banana bread recipe I have made or ate, so yummy! It is so quick and easy! And I love the cinnamon part, tasty, and smells so good! Can you tell I love this stuff...

CINNAMON BANANA BREAD

• 3 ripe bananas mashed
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 egg beaten
• a pinch of salt
• 1/4 of melted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 50 minutes at 350 degrees

ENJOY!

POTATO CASSEROLE

This is a M family favorite. The recipe actually came from the Girls Camp Tator-tot-casserole recipe that we made every year at girls camp in the dutch oven. And then about 10 years ago my mom kind of changed it up and started making it at home.

Need:
1 lb of browned ground beef
2 bags of Potatoes O'Brien
1 16 oz container of Sour Cream
1 Family Size can of Cream of Chicken soup
some grated chedder cheese

Brown the beef.
In a bowl mix Sour Cream and Cream of Chicken Soup
Mix in browned beef.
Then mix in both bags of Potatoes
And as much grated cheese as you want.

This is enough for 4-6 people.

Put in casserole dish covered in oven 400 degrees for 1 hr.

Since it is just the two of us...before I cook it, or add the cheese, I put half in a small casserole dish then add cheese to that and cook it and the other half in a large ziplock container and freeze it for another meal another night. (And I add cheese to that before I cook it.)

ENJOY!!!

SUNDAY RECIPE --- Cheesy Chicken Sauce (Crock Pot)

Cheesy Chicken Sauce

Ingredients:
1 Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can of Cream of Celery Soup
1 Pkg of Cream Cheese
1 Pkg of Italian Season Dressing Mix (Found in the Salad Dressing Aisle)
About 1 Pound of cut up raw chicken (frozen or thawed)

Dump in Crock Pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

For Family Size double everything.

Eat on top of Rice or Pasta.

Share-A-Recipe!!!

I have been wanting to share recipes with all of you in hopes that some of you would share some of your recipes too. So I encourage you all to try to post a recipe every so often on your blog.

We happened to be making this tonight for dinner. This recipe comes from Hubs's family.

Zucchini Patties

2-3 cups of shredded zucchini
1 egg
1 cup of Bisquick
1/2-3/4 cup of shredded cheese

Mix all together in a bowl. Then cook patties on the griddle (like hamburgers).
Make sure that they are cooked all the way through since there is egg in them.

We like to eat them with ketchup and a little tabasco.