Valentine's Crepes

I love Valentine's day.  I can't help but have some fun with at least one of the meals we make.  Last year I made pink beet pancakes, and they were a hit.  Breakfast isn't so easy to make into something fun now with our oldest in school, so I decided to do crepes for lunch.  I figured since the beets worked so well last year, I'd do them again this year.  They turned out great!

 

Isn't that a beautiful pink color?  And for fun, I sliced the strawberries into hearts to go with and made whipped cream.

Just lots of yum! 

Don't they just look delish?  Oh, and did you know that February 2 was crepe day?  Made crepes then as well... did about 1 and 1/2 recipe and it ended up not being quite enough. 

 

Valentine's Crepes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar (I omitted this)
2 cups milk
2 Tablespoon melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.  Add 2 or 3 Tablespoons beet puree* to the mix to make it pink. 

Heat a pan on medium low heat with butter to grease it.  Then put 1/4 cup batter and swirl it to a thin circle.  When cooked enough to lift it (doesn't take long, maybe a minute or so) loosen the edges with a spatula and flip.  Cook a minute more.  Then remove, recoat the pan with a little butter, and do it again.  It will probably take almost an hour, but it is worth it.

Serve with whipped cream and fruit!  So tasty.

Whipped Cream
Whip one cup of whipping cream with 1/4 cup date paste** until peaks form.

*Beet Puree - Wrap beets in tin foil, and roast in the oven at 350F for 45-60minutes.  Remove, and wait until cool to the touch.  Then, using plastic gloves (or plastic bags), remove the skin (it's slippery and actually comes off pretty easily).  Puree the beets in a food processor, and store in the fridge for a week or freeze for up to three months.

**Date paste - Soak dates overnight in a bit of water.  Place in a food processor and process until smooth.  Store in the fridge for 3 months.

A Meatless Day

Today I decided to make meals meatless.  I used to do this twice per week ages ago, and have since stopped for some unknown reason.  So, today is meatless day.  For fun, I figured I'd post the meals we had and their recipes (if necessary).

Breakfast -
old fashioned oatmeal cooked with berries, cinnamon, and honey. 
toasted buns with pb and bananas

Lunch -
bean burritos
no sugar gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough dip

Snack -
fruit (apples, oranges, that sort of thing)

Supper -
Stir fry with rice, veggies, and freshly sprouted lentils.
chocolate avocado pudding


The no sugar gluten free cookie dough dip is amazing.  Found the recipe on Pinterest.  You can get it here.  Never thought chickpeas and dates would make for such great stuff!

Sprouting lentils is new to me, too!  I'll post more on that later.  The stir fry is basically cooking all your veggies in a bit of oil for a bit with some soya sauce, making rice, and serving with soya sauce.  Super simple.  I learned how to do this back in seventh grade in home economics class.

Not only is it great to have a day without meat for digestive health, it also reduces costs a bit.  Beans are way cheaper than ground beef, and the bean burrito meal cost us less than $1.50 for a family of 4!  I cannot be certain how much exactly since I can only know that the tortillas cost $0.15 (and there are leftovers), the beans were less than $0.75, and the rest is unknown.  And the beans made as much as one pound of beef!  I only used about 1.5 cups dry... and we still have some left.  Next time I make burritos we'll be throwing the leftovers in with the beef.

Bean Burritoes

The bean burritos are something I've never done before.  I soaked my black beans overnight, and then at 5 this morning when Baby A woke up to eat, I went downstairs after she was snug in bed again and rinsed the beans, putting them into the crock pot with enough water to cover them 1 inch plus some salt, and stuck it on low.  At 9am I stirred them, adding more salt, and then left them until noon... time to turn them into refried beans.  To do that, I drained and rinsed them.  Then I sautéed a bit of onion in a pan with some lard (bacon fat would have been wonderful had I had some), put the beans in with enough water to mash them into a paste, and added chili powder, cumin, oregano, and a dash or two of garlic powder, plus salt to taste.  The recipe called for one can refried beans plus 1 tsp chili, and 1/2 each cumin and oregano and a dash of garlic.  I didn't measure.  I also made my own tortilla shells.

Tortilla Shells
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
salt
1 Tbsp lard
3/4 cup water

Mix dry ingredients, add lard and blend with fingers until the mix feels like cornmeal.  Add water and knead until elastic and smooth.  Divide into 12 balls.  On a floured surface, roll out one tortilla shell very thin.  Fry it in a pan over medium heat until it bubbles on one side.  Flip and fry a little longer.  You might be able to roll out your next tortilla shell in the time it takes to fry it.  When done, place on a plate with a towel over top to keep it warm (and prevent it from drying out).  Makes 12 medium tortillas.

To make the burritos, we assemble them at the table.  We like to mix in sour cream, green onions, peppers, salsa, cheese, or whatever else we have on hand.  The kids enjoyed these as they didn't fall apart as easily as our usual burritos.

Bright Beet Pancakes

Since Thursday was Valentine's day, and we can't all have breakfast together on Thursdays due to preschool, I decided that we'd have our 'Valentine's Breakfast' on Friday instead... and we made these bright pancakes together.  They turned out rather well, and although more work than my usual pancake recipe, the kids loved them and I would probably make them again... as long as I already had beet puree prepared before hand.  This recipe was once again adapted from Parenting magazine... see page 54 on the Feb 2013 issue for more fun things to do with beets.

 

Bright Beet Pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar (I omitted this and used a bit less than 1/4 cup date paste*)
1 Tbsp baking powder
dash salt
3/4 cup beet puree** (enough from one beet)
1 1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup plain Greek Yogurt
1 large egg
3 Tbsp melted butter (if salted, omit the salt from the recipe)
1 tsp vanilla.

Sift together flours, sugar (if using this.  If using date paste, put that in with the wet ingredients), baking powder and salt into a medium bowl
Whisk together the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Once blended, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Drop about 2 Tbsp of batter onto a greased pan (or pancake griddle) over medium heat.  Cook 3 minutes per side.  Serve with raspberry sauce, honey, or syrup.

We just buttered ours and added fruit to the top.  We also added thawed strawberries and raspberries to the batter to stretch it a bit, and that fruit tasted great in there!

* To make date paste, take as many dates as you can manage and pack them tightly into a large measuring cup. Add water just to fill in the spaces to let them soak and soften (if they are soft enough already, I believe you can skip this step). Soak for 1-4 hours, depending (some say 1hr, some say overnight... I just do whatever until they feel soft enough to process alright). Drain and reserve liquid, and put the dates into the food processor. Process until smooth. If very thick, add some of the reserved liquid. Put in the fridge for up to 3 months. It probably won't last that long though, if you are like me. :) Use as a substitute for sugar in recipes!

**Basic roasted beets: Preheat oven to 375F. Wrap the beets in tinfoil and bake 45-60 minutes, until fork tender. Remove from the foil and set aside until cool to touch. Wear disposable plastic food gloves (or use Ziploc baggies over your hands) to avoid staining your skin, and rub the skins off the beets. Puree in food processor until smooth.

Christmas Breakfast

Christmas Wife Saver Breakfast
adapted from a friend's recipe.
I made this recipe a lot smaller than that which was given. I'll post what I did. It's easy enough to modify for your own family.

Ingredients
4 slices bread, crusts removed and set aside
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 chopped tomato
1/2 cup corn flakes (rice krispies work too... maybe do the Christmas colored ones!)
Shredded cheddar Cheese (about 1/4 cup... more if you like)
Ham (about 2 slices works)
1/4 cup chopped onion (saute it first. I didn't and wish I had) OR use onion powder... I just shake it in.

Place de-crusted bread on the bottom of a 8" square baking pan. Place crusts in corners to fill. Chop up the ham and arrange over bread. Add shredded cheese. Mix onions, eggs and milk and pour over the whole thing. Place in the fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Place chopped tomato on top of casserole, and spread the cereal on top of that. Place in the oven for one hour. And you are done!!

Dinner for One

Today my hubby went out with a friend for supper, so I was on my own. So, to make something simple for myself, all I did was put a bunch of stuff in the oven for 40 minutes and voila... dinner served!

Spray a small baking pan with cooking spray. Add a piece of chicken. You can shake n bake it if you wish, but I like mine plain. Add one chopped potato and other various veggies, sprinkle your favorite salad dressing over top (I used Italian), about 1/4 cup. After it's done, sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Voila.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I got this recipe from Kraft as well. It's quite tasty! Perfect for when you need a little fish on the cheap.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

serves 3

Place a can of drained tuna, 2 cups water, 2 cups macaroni (or other small dry pasta), 1 cup milk and a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat until the pasta is tender, stirring frequently.

Add 2 cups (I usually do much less) shredded cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, or whatever you like) and a few spoons of grated parmesan. Stir until melted, then add 1 cup chopped celery and a dash of italian seasoning.

Deep-Fried Breaded Shrimp

So, since we are not having any red meat on Wednesdays or Fridays for Lent, we wanted to still have something fun for our Friday night in, and pizza is always just the way for us. So, we had Margerita pizza, and wanted to have something else with it... but not chicken... something... fish. I thought, why not breaded shrimp!? Boo Yah!

Deep-Fried Breaded Shrimp

I'm not going to list ingredients here, mainly because it's super easy and didn't require a recipe in the first place. So, the meal here is a frozen margarita pizza from Costco, salad, and the shrimp.

To bread the shrimp, crush some crackers (or use bread crumbs) and add some spices to it, whatever you want (we used oregano, pepper, salt,). Put in a bowl. In a seperate bowl, put in some flour. In a third bowl, beat an egg till blended. Take the tail off the shrimp, dab dry, coat in flour, then egg, then the crackers. Deep fry until done! Now they're ready to eat. Make some of your favorite dips for it.

Honey Dill Dip
Mix together some mayo, honey, and dill. Voila!

Milkshake
Mix some icecream and milk in a blender. For various variations (wow... that's some fun with english), try the following...
Berry berry - add strawberries, blueberries, and yogurt of berry flavors
Vanilla - add some vanilla! To taste
Chocolate - chocolate sauce in there... awesome
Chocolate peanutbutter - add some chocolate sauce, and some melted peanutbutter... SOOOO good.

Pancake Day

Tuesday was pancake day, and I'm sorry I didn't post this then... oops. Anyway, I have this 'from scratch' pancake recipe memorized and thought, why not put it on my blog? So here it is!

Pancakes

serves 2-4

Ingredients
1 cup flour (I use whole grain)
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
dash salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Drop onto frying pan, flip when bubbly on top. Serve with butter and syrup (maple is the best).

For variations, try the following:

• Add one mashed banana to the batter for banana pancakes.
• Add chocolate chips (1/2 cup should do) and a mashed banana for banana chocolate chip pancakes.
• Add 1 or 2 peeled and chopped apples and some cinnamon (to taste) for Apple cinnamon pancakes.
• Add blueberries or strawberries or a mix of both for berry pancakes. Blueberries will turn the batter blue... it looks pretty cool. Maybe have some fun with it and add some food coloring for the kids.
• Get creative in adding different fruits and other things from the pantry to your pancakes to make them all your own. You can even serve them with ice cream, whipped cream, or just sprinkle some sugar on top.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is one recipe I plan to make again. I grabbed it from Canadian Living.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
salt
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I just omitted this)
1 lb spaghetti, cooked

Meatballs
1 egg
1/2 cup onion
garlic
1/4 cup each breadcrumbs (or use crushed crackers) and Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp each basil, oregano, salt, pepper
1 lb ground beef

Meatballs: Mix all except meat, then mix in beef. Shape into 16 balls. Bake 400F on foil lined sheet for 10 minutes. Put in slow cooker.
Meanwhile: In skillet heat olive oil over medium heat and cook onion, garlic, oregano, salt, stirring occasionally till onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
Stir in tomatoes. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours. Add parsley. Serve with spaghetti (and toast and salad).

Spaghetti Squares

Ok, I found this recipe on Kraft and since I had some leftover green pepper and cottage cheese in my fridge I needed to use up before it went bad, I figured... why not? Of course, as usual, I modified it a bit. I divided the recipe into two containers and froze one for later...

Spaghetti Squares

serves 8

Ingredients
300g (1/3 pkg 900g) spaghetti, uncooked.
1 lb ground beef
red or green pepper
1 jar pasta sauce (700ml or 3 cup) OR, since I don't have that I used 2 cups worth of tomato sauce, some tomato paste and ketchup to make the remaining 200ml
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp butter
2 eggs beaten
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350F. Cook spaghetti. Brown meat in the pan, drain, add peppers and cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Add pasta sauce.
Drain spaghetti. Toss with Parmesan, butter, eggs, and place in a greased 13x9 pan (or two smaller pans). Top with cottage cheese, then meat mixture. Add mozza to the top.
Bake 20 minutes until heated through. Serve with salad
From frozen: Bake at 400F for 40 minutes until heated through.

Slow Cooker Chops

So, here's an easy recipe that is great for the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Pork Chops
serves 4

Ingredients
4-6 potatoes
1 onion
4 pork chops (remove bone)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper
carrots, mushrooms, or other veggies of choice

Peel and slice potatoes, and chop onion. Place potatoes and onion in slow cooker (onion can be at the bottom, or 'layer' it with the potatoes). Add veggies. Place chops on top. Pour can of soup over the chops, and add salt and pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Voila... quick and easy!

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

So I made half recipes of two different meals that required one can of soup and one bag of stove top... and since I did halfers on both, I needed to make use of the other "halves" of the can and package.

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

Ingredients

1 cup hot water

1 pkg Stove Top lower sodium stuffing mix for chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1/3 cup sour cream

3 cups frozen mixed veggies

Heat oven to 400F. Add hot water to stuffing, stir until moistened. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and veggies in a 13x9 inch baking dish and top with stuffing.

Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

So, here's another new one I wanted to try in my Kraft magazine. I did this one halfers as well, and it worked pretty good. That just means I now have half a bag of stovetop to use up later... lol. And sorry I didn't get a pic of the casserole right out of the oven... hubby was so excited to eat that he dished it out before I had a chance, lol.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Ingredients
1 can (19 fluid oz or 540mL) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg (120g) Stove Top stuffing mix for Chicken
2 cloves garlic (I just used a bit of garlic powder)
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat oven to 400F. Mix tomatoes, stuffing mix, and garlic until stuffing is moistened.
2. Layer chicken, basil, cheese, and stuffing in a 13x9 inch or 3L baking dish.
3. Bake 30minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Enjoy!

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

Here is another recipe from Kraft's What's Cooking mag... I love a lot of the recipes they have in there. I did a half recipe because it serves 6 and we don't need THAT much, lol. I changed the recipe a bit too.

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream, divided

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

3 cups frozen mixed veggies, thawed

1 cup old cheddar shredded cheese (I used mild)

3 Tbsp milk

1 cup all purpose baking mix

- (I made the same amount of dry biscuit mix instead: mix 1 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar)

Heat oven to 375F. Mix soup and 3/4 cup sour cream in 8 inch square baking dish. Add chicken, veggies, and cheese. Mix

Place baking mix (or dry biscuit mix) in a medium bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and the milk. Stir until stiff dough forms.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls into 6 mounds over chicken mixture. Bake 35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and chicken mixture is hot and bubbly (I hand molded my biscuit dough until it would cover the top of the pot pie like a crust, and only baked for 30 minutes).

Homemade Mac N Cheese

Can you believe I've never made homemade mac n cheese before? My mom used to make it, and I thought... hmm... why not? So, I found this recipe online through Mom's Budget and adjusted it a bit for my liking.

Homemade Freezer Macaroni And Cheese

Serves 6-8
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups dried macaroni noodles
5 tbsp butter
6 tbsp white flour
3 cups milk (since I'm on a farm, whole milk is what I used)
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 red pepper (or green), chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (about 2 slices. I used whole wheat)
salt (optional)
pepper (optional)

1. Cook macaroni noodles. Drain. Melt a small amount of butter and mix with noodles, to prevent them from sticking together (instead, I rinse with cold water). Cover and set aside.

2. Melt 5 tbsp butter in a large saucepan (really large), add flour and stir over medium heat for about thirty seconds, being careful not to brown. Add milk and whisk until thick (boiling). Add nutmeg, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer.

3. Heat red pepper on stove in a separate pan, or in the microwave for about a minute. Add to milk mixture, then add cheese. Stir until melted.

4. Add macaroni noodles and mix well. Place in a casserole dish (a disposable foil casserole dish may work nicely for freezing). Top with breadcrumbs.

5. To bake immediately, place in preheated 350F oven for 30-40 minutes. Top with cheese if you like for the last few minutes.

I split this recipe into two, baked one, and for the other I cooled, covered and froze.

Instructions from Freezer: Allow to thaw at room temperature for one hour, or all day in the fridge. Preheat oven to 350F, and bake for 45 minutes. (If you split it into two, baking time may be reduced... I figure to about 30 minutes).

Serve with meat of your choice (ham of sorts is great, we did pork chops from the local farmer... and hotdogs are great for the kids) and salad or cooked veggies. To make it into a complete meal, add chopped ham or weiners with the macaroni.

Lasagna

I've made this recipe a number of times now from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, and I really enjoy it. Of course, mine is a bit different from theirs, but that's OK. It tastes real good and is great for freezing. I like to divide the recipe in thirds and freeze 2/3 of it while cooking one portion. I forgot a photo yet again... this has been a bad week for that. However, I figure it's lasagna, and lasagna looks the same no matter how you cook it. ;)

Lasagna

Ingredients
Meat sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 pressed garlic clove, or enough garlic powder to your liking (not too much!)
1 16oz can whole tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried basil leaves
dash salt

Cheese Mixture
2 cups creamed cottage cheese (or ricotta)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

9 uncooked lasagna noodles (or however many you need for layers... I use 12)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Cook and stir meat, onion, and garlic clove until light brown, drain. Add tomatoes with liquid, sauce, parsley, sugar, basil and salt (if using garlic powder, add here instead of with onion). Heat till boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered until consistency of thick spaghetti sauce, about 1 hour. Reserve 1/2 cup.

2. Cook noodles unless using those that don't need it (I love those noodles). Mix cottage cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley, salt, and oregano. Layer in pan(s) 1/3 of noodles, 1/3 of sauce, and 1/3 mozza cheese and 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture. Repeat 2 times. Spoon reserved sauce mixture on top and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cook uncovered at 350F for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. 8-10 servings.

Freezing: After cooking, lasagna can be covered and frozen up to 3 weeks. Cook uncovered in 375F oven for 1 hour or until bubbly.

Leftover Burritoes

Sorry, once again I forgot to take a picture. That's ok though, right? They are burritoes after all.

Leftover Burritoes

Scramble one egg per person, add leftover meat of your choice (we used chicken), and add leftover brown/wild rice (about 1/2 cup to 1 cup per person). Add salsa (however much you like). Cook till warmed up. Spread into burrito (whole wheat is best) and top with cheese. Tastes great served with veggie sticks (celery, carrots, etc).

Tangy Tuna Patties

I got this recipe from another website... I cannot remember which, I've had it for so long (if it happens to be yours, feel free to comment and say as much! I love it). I changed it a bit depending on what I have in my fridge. It's quite tasty!

Tangy Tuna Patties

Ingredients

12 ounces canned tuna, water packed and drained (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp chili sauce (we used a chicken spicy sweet chili sauce... very tasty)
1 Tbsp prepared horseradish (I used dijon mustard)
1-2 cups oatmeal (regular is better than quick cooking)
ground pepper

Combine all ingredients except oatmeal in a large bowl, mix well.
Mix in 1/4 cup oatmeal at a time until mixture is a good texture to form patties (moist, not drippy)
Place bowl in fridge for 10 minutes to make it easier to make patties.
Form mixture into a ball with your hands (makes about 9 total) and flatten into a pattie and fry on medium heat on the stove. We've also grilled them on an indoor grill (they'd fall through a BBQ).
Serve by itself with tarter sauce and rice and steamed veggies, or do like in the picture and make into a fish burger with tartar sauce and serve with salad and fries.

Meatless Lasagna

I got this recipe from Amanda Beale from Babyzone's forums! Thanks Amanda! I broke it into 3 pans, about bread loaf size, and froze two for later.

Meatless Lasagna



Ingrediants

filling
1 cup cottage cheese
1 jar pasta sauce (about 700mL or just less than 3 cups)
1 grated zucchini
1 package frozen spinach (optional)
1 can mushrooms (or fresh, again optional)
grated carrots (optional)

Lasagna noodles (about 12)
shredded mozza cheese
grated parmesan cheese

1. Mix filling ingrediants
2. Layer pan with the following: 1/3 noodles, 1/3 filling, mozza cheese. Repeat 2 more times.
3. Add parmesan cheese to top if desired.
4. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

This is a rather flexible recipe. I added spinach to mine (didn't feel like grating carrots and had no mushrooms left... sigh). It takes about 1 hour total time from start of prep till ready to serve. Serve with salad and toast or breadsticks.