Bagel Attempt #1

I came across this simple bagel recipe in the cookbook, Church Socials, and decided to give it a try. Having never made bagels before, I was a little nervous. They turned out pretty good for my first try albeit a little nonuniform. My kids gobbled them up with enthusiasm, so that's always a good sign.  I'm definitely going to try some more bagel recipes. 

Bagels

from Church Socials recipe submitted by Rachel McClean Dabritz

1 envelope active dry yeast

2/3 cup water, boiled and cooled to luke warm (temp should be between 110-115)

2 TBSP sugar plus more for cooking

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 TBSP oil

1 egg beaten

3 cups flour (mine ended up a tad dry and I had to add some warm water)

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup of the water.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  (Your yeast should get foamy in the water.)

2. Place remaining water in a large mixing bowl.  Add sugar, salt, and oil and stir to combine. Stir in yeast, egg, and half of flour using a dough hook attachment.  Gradually add remaining flour.  Knead for 8-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic and springs back when pressed with a finger.  (The dough is very stiff.)

3. Transfer dough into large oiled bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, 2-3 hours.  (Tip: Boil a small amount of water in the microwave.  Place the covered bowl of dough in the microwave with the steaming water.)

4. Punch down dough, divide into 12 pieces, and form into rings.  Allow enough time so that dough begins to rise, up to 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease baking sheet. (I used my exopat mat.) Bring a stockpot to boil over high heat.  Sprinkle sugar into the water.  Place dough rings into the boiling water in batches, cooking until they rise to the surface (approximately 1 1/2 minutes). 

Remove with a large slotted utensil and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes (It took mine 15 so watch them!) or until lightly browned. Makes 12 bagels.

Sunday Morning Scones

Just thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes: Buttermilk Blueberry Scones from Average Betty.  She has really excellent step by step photos. You don't have to actually purchase buttermilk, just sour milk using 1 TBSP white vinegar or lemon juice per 1 cup of milk.  Do this step first because it needs to sit for five minutes.  She suggests using frozen blueberries because fresh bleed too much.  I think she said this backwards. Fresh blueberries bleed less than frozen.  I've been getting really good fresh blueberries at the store lately.

Of course I've made changes to this recipe to suit my tastes, and I think it is improved to perfection!  Instead of cutting with the biscuit cutter, I prefer to just dust my baking stone with a little flour, form a disk and cut the traditional scone triangles.  You will want to separate them some so that they don't bake together.  I do not coat with the buttermilk at the end, but sprinkle sparkling sugar on top and pat them in lightly before popping them into the oven. After baking, I make a glaze out of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Drizzle this glaze over the cooled scones.  YUM!

Regular Me and Chicken Spaghetti

Every six months or so I suffer from an identity crisis.  Just when I think I'm feeling comfortable staying at home with my children, I get that itch to seek employment; to do something slightly more incredible with my life than cooking, cleaning, laundry, shuttling people around, and bottom-wiping.  It can be depressing.  Now I know that raising kids is an incredible job, but I can't help but feel that I'm not living up to my own expectations.  Yes, I know too...enjoy them when they are little, and I do.  But.......

Yet, I really have no direction at this point.  Some days I want to go back to teaching.  This seems unlikely with the current teacher layoffs in our county. Some days I think I'll get my masters. But in what?  I love to read, so maybe library science.  I just have this fear that I'd spend all that money and not be able to find a job near my home. This kind of wallowing can go on and on. Luckily, I married a very patient man.  

What pulled me out of it this time was a conversation I had with my three year old son yesterday.  It went something like this:

Charlie in his favorite batman t-shirt and black "batman" socks

Me in my PJ top, robe, and blue jeans 

Me: There's my batman!

Charlie: I'm NOT batman!

Me: There's my batboy?!

Charlie: I'm NOT batboy!  I'm Charlie! I'm REGULAR Charlie!  (sounds like rehyoular Charwee)

Well if he's okay with being regular Charlie then I should be okay being regular Emily. Right? Not professional Emily.  Not extra educated Emily. Just regular Emily.  It's okay to just be regular. There's a certain peace in accepting that.  (Isn't funny how children can be the best life coaches?)

Which leads me to......Chicken Spaghetti.  Just regular chicken spaghetti.  It isn't too fancy.  It isn't too hard.  But it IS rather good and comforting and filling.

I followed Ree Drummond's recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks pretty closely.  I can't seem to ever follow a recipe exactly...part of a rebellious nature perhaps.  Here is the link to her recipe: Chicken Spaghetti

Here is what I did differently:

Instead of cut-up fryer chicken, I cooked a whole chicken because it was cheaper to do this even when buying humanely treated. 

1. Rough cut 2 onions, 3 stalks celery, and 2 carrots.

2. Rinse chicken and remove gibblet bag.

3. Place chicken in the pot and cover with vegetables, about 10 peppercorns, and a dash or two of salt.

3. Cover all with water.

4. Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2-3 hours.

5. Remove chicken.  Remove and discard vegetables and pepper.

Follow Ree's recipe from here.

This made a very large casserole.  It could easily be made ahead and popped into the oven later.

Toad-in-the-Hole and Being Holed Up

Holed Up - sitting at your PC - Day and Night - in the dark in your jammies without any human interaction (The Urban Dictionary)

I woke up feeling great today!  After being sick from one ailment or another since the beginning of December, I truly feel like the world is my oyster...I'm on top of the world...watch out world, here I come!  There's something about being sick and then getting better that gives one a new lease on life (and the freedom to use cliches whenever the heck she wants).

With the single digit weather and winter storm blast last week, I have been holed up in my house with stir crazy children and dogs.  Now I'm holed up in my house with all this energy and feeling a bit stir crazy myself. In the warmer months, I'd take to the outdoors and dig in the dirt or hack away at something that needs a good trim down. This is not going to happen for awhile as I'd like to keep my fingers and toes.  

I could take on some indoor project.  The walls are barren and sad from lack of decoration, and there are several areas in need of some organizational attention.  But that's just not very appealing to me.  

So, I think I will bundle up, hit the store, and cook up something tasty or two.

My inspiration today is the wonderful book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.  (Thank you Doug and Carrie!) I've read it cover to cover a couple of times.  The pictures of ranch life are just absolutely beautiful, and Ree Drumounds commentaries are fun and informative. Many of the recipes are tried and true and have been around for years and years: Texas Sheet Cake, Buttermilk Biscuits, Country-Fried Steak (though here in Indiana we are very fond of the Pork Tenderloin version of this), Chicken Spaghetti, etc, etc.  Maybe her versions are somehow better.  They are definitely worth a try. (I was shocked to see that she doesn't put cinnamon in her Texas Sheet Cake, which in my opinion is THE ingredient that makes that cake special.)

I haven't tried anything substantial from it yet. I did manage to make a very simple recipe called Egg in the Hole, more commonly known around these parts as Toad in the Hole. It is not only simple and tasty, but it is the perfect thematic tie-in to being holed up. Just click the link to find the recipe.  The only thing I changed was toasting the cut out piece of bread in the butter as well. Then I slipped it underneath the finished Toad in the Hole.  I didn't want to waste it! Enjoy! 

Wilton Candy Kit for Pretzels

This kit was an impulse buy for me at the store this week. It turned out to be a pretty fun and tasty activity. If you'll notice on the box, some of the examples are fancy, using multiple colors. I tried to be fancy, too, but it was not as easy as it looked. I found it very difficult not only to paint with the chocolate, but also to actually see where I was supposed to paint.

Thinking this was beyond my artistic abilities and gaging my patience, or lack thereof, at the time, I decided I better just fill the molds with solid colors. It was very easy and practically mess free. The molds are washable, so I'll be able to do this project again next year.  It was well worth the $9 spent as all of the melting chocolate came in the kit.  It ended up making 18 chocolate coated pretzels.  

Mine may not look as pretty as the ones on the cover of the box, but my children love them! 

Velvety Vegetable Cheese Soup

The past couple of weeks have been a flurry of activity around here.  With all the holiday bustle, it's sometimes hard to get motivated to prepare dinner at home. Picking it up seems so much easier.  Here is an extremely easy and fairly quick soup that is perfect for those tired nights after a busy day.  Velvety Vegetable Cheese Soup comes from Kraft Food and Family online.  If you puree the vegetables, your kids won't even know they're in there!

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) package frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot mix

2 (15 oz) cans of chicken broth

12 oz Velveeta cheese cut into pieces (I use the 2% kind to cut calories/fat)

1.  Put vegetables and broth in large pan.  Cover and bring to a boil on med/high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 min. or until vegetables are soft.  

2.  Mash vegetables.

3.  Add cheese and and cook five minutes, stirring constantly.  

Optional:  Puree vegetables for a smoother consistency. 

Serve with bread or a sandwich.

Tangy Pork Chop Stuffing Bake

Tangy Pork Chop Stuffing Bake comes from Kraft's Food and Family magazine. You can also access this recipe and many others online, without being a subscriber. The addition of cranberries to the stuffing makes this a really festive looking dish. I kept the basic recipe, but simplified it a bit.  

Ingredients:

6 bone-in pork chops 

1 pkg. (6 oz) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Pork (or Chicken)

1 can (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce

3/4 c KRAFT Original BBQ Sauce

2 TBSP brown sugar

Directions:

(These are based on my modifications.  Follow the link above for the original Kraft recipe.)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix stuffing, cranberry sauce, BBQ sauce, and brown sugar together.  Let sit.

3. In a skillet on medium heat, brown pork chops.  Aprox. 5 min per side.

4. Mist 9x13 pan with cooking spray and place chops in a single layer. Spoon stuffing mixture over chops.

5. Bake for 30 min. or until chops are cooked through.

Sophie McKay's Chocolate Fruitcake (Sort of)

For the Christmas Reading Challenge, I chose Debbie Macomber's Glad Tidings as one of my selections.  There are two stories in this book, and I'm still on the first, so this is not my official review.  It's just that there are fruitcake recipes in this book, and one is for chocolate fruitcake! I'm not especially a fruitcake fan, but this recipe intrigued me.  I wanted to try it.  Although it is still in the oven as I write these words, I decided to go ahead and post.  If you want to make this cake, get on it in the next week because it takes 3-4 weeks in the fridge before it is ready.  

This recipe calls for soaking the cake in creme de cacao, which is a chocolate liquor.  I love Kahlua, so I am using it instead.  

Sophie McKay's Chocolate Fruitcake (Sort of)

Make 3-4 weeks in advance.  Store in a refrigerator.

Place into a large bowl:

2 c maraschino cherries (cut in half)

2 c chopped dates

2 c pineapple tidbits, well drained

1 c coconut

2 c pecan halves

2 c walnuts (I actually substituted 2 cups chopped pecans)

2 12 oz packages semisweet chocolate chips

Beat the following ingredients on low for 30 seconds, then on high for three minutes.  (I put my stand mixer on medium because the bowl was extremely full.):

3 c flour

1 1/2 c sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c shortening

3/4 c butter

2/3 c creme de cacao (or Kahlua)

1/2 c cocoa powder

9 eggs

**Now at this point, I had my extra large mixing bowl full of this:

My stand mixer full of this (After I mixed, it expanded to the top of the bowl):  

And I was getting nervous about mixing the two together, so I was feeling like this:

Fortunately it all fit.

Pour batter over fruit and nut mixture. (Pour is a very poor word choice. Unless you can hold a 10 lb bowl of batter steady with one arm while using the other to scrape the bowl.  I could not, so I spooned it. It was 10 lbs btw, I weighed it.) Pour into two well-greased loaf pans.  (I used a flute pan and a mini loaf pan...and then ate the leftover.)  Bake at 275 for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  After two hours, check with a toothpick every fifteen minutes. 

When cool, set each loaf on a large piece of plastic wrap and pour a jigger (This is the word she used) of creme de cacao (or Kahlua) over them.  Wrap tightly and place inside a Ziploc bag and keep refrigerated for 3-4 weeks.

I have no idea what this will be like.  The batter was delicious, and that is usually a good indicator.  Stay tuned for Fruitcake Part Deux.

Gingerbread Boys

Every Thanksgiving I enjoy making gingerbread cookies.  My recipe is a slight variation of one that appeared in Country Living Magazine ten or so years ago. Thinking that the dough was too dry, I cut down on the flour.  What I really love about this recipe is the strong spice flavor and slightly less strong molasses flavor.  

Gingerbread Boys

Country Living Magazine

(Makes 2 to 2 1/2 dozen cookies depending on cutter sizes)

2 3/4 c flour

1 TBSP ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon 

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 TBSP butter, softened

1/4 c brown sugar (packed)

1 large egg

1/4 c molasses

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 c molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed. Beat in egg, molasses, and vanilla.

4. Gradually add flour mixture.  Form into a ball and wrap in plastic.  Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

5. Roll, cut, and bake for 7-9 minutes on lightly greased sheet or Exopat Mat.

I always frost mine.  You can make your own icing using powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Just keep adjusting until you get the consistency you want. Cake icing in the tub is also good.

The Last Piece of Birthday Cake

Another birthday come and gone. All that is left is this last piece of cake with one bite missing. It was a good one, and I enjoyed it all week. (Thank you, Mom!)  Luckily, I have the recipe book in which this cake appears, so I can share it with you even if I didn't actually bake it myself.  

Amaretto Cake

from The Cake Mix Doctor 

(I highly recommend this book.  The recipes include cake mixes that you "doctor up" to create fancier cakes.  One of my favorites is the Macadamia Fudge Torte!)

Cake:

Vegetable Spray for misting pan

Flour for dusting the pan

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 pkg (5.1 oz) vanilla instant pudding

3/4 c  amaretto

1/2 c water

1/2 c vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1/4 tsp pure almond extract

Glaze and Garnish

1 c powdered sugar, sifted (I'd be too lazy to sift.)

3 1/2 TBSP Amaretto

1/3 c slivered almonds, toasted

1.   Preheat oven to 350. Mist 10 in. tube pan with spray and dust with flour.

2.  Blend all cake ingredients on low for 1 min.  Scrape sides of bowl and beat on medium for 2 more minutes.

3.  Pour batter into the pan with a rubber spatula.  

4.  Bake 48-52 minutes until golden brown.

5.  Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.  Run a sharp knife around the edge and invert onto rack, then again onto serving plate.

6.  Mix powdered sugar and Amaretto.  Drizzle over warm cake.  Scatter toasted almonds over the top.  Allow to cake to cool before slicing.

If you don't feel like making this cake, you could always just buy some Amaretto.  My Dad assures me that it's quite tasty all on it's own.

Here are some other Birthday highlights:

cute new shoes...

a comfy sweater...

And a new cookbook!

Mitford Series Week 2: Louella's Buttermilk Chess Pie

You, like me, may be wondering why this pie is called chess pie.  After looking it up on Wikipedia, I learned that no one really knows why it's called that, but there are a few theories. One is that the look and consistency of the pie is like that of soft cheese.  After making this pie, it seems like a plausible explanation.  It is a cross between a sugar cream pie and a custard pie...very sweet and very eggy and looks a little like soft cheese.  Another theory is that the pie kept well in a pie chest.  Chest pie turned to chess pie eventually.  The last is my favorite. Once there was a clever housewife (domestic engineer) who created a new type of pie.  When her husband wanted to know what her delicious new creation was called, her not so clever answer was "It's jes pie."  Just pie in a southern accent turned into Chess pie eventually.  It is an apt name for this pie.  It's not too fancy, but it's oh so tasty.  If you don't want to make this pie, please take note of the pie crust recipe, also from the Mitford Cookbook.  It is the perfect crust and would please the pickiest 4-H judges in the "flakiness" category.  

Louella's Buttermilk Chess Pie

(from Jan Karon's "A Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader" pg. 128)

1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled, more for greasing the pie pan

1/2 recipe Pastry for a Double Crust (see below)

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 TBSP all-purpose flour

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk (I used low-fat.)

1 TBSP fresh lemon juice (I used lime)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of salt

1.  Butter your pie dish.  I like to use clear so that I can see if the crust is done on the bottom.Roll out crust and press into dish.  

2.  Mix sugar and flour.  Add beaten eggs.  Add the butter and buttermilk.  Mix well after each addition.

3.  Stir in the lemon juice, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt.

4.  Pour into the crust and bake at 400 for 15 min.  Then lower heat to 350 and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Mine actually went for 45 minutes.  It will be lightly browned on the top...kind of reminded me of creme brulee in appearance. Cool before serving.

It is very good slightly warm.  I stored the leftovers in the fridge, and it made a very tasty, if unhealthy breakfast.  

Pastry for a Double Pie Crust

(From Jan Karon's "A Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader" pg 4)

***Remember to halve this recipe if making this pie.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup butter chilled and diced

1/2 cup shortening chilled and diced

1 TBSP sour cream

4-5 TBSP ice water.

1. Place flour, salt and sugar in large food processor and mix.

2. Add butter and quickly pulse five times.  Repeat separately with shortening and then sour cream.

3. Pour into a large bowl and add ice water until dough starts to form.  Form into two disks and place in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes.  (If you half the recipe, make just one disk.)  

The recipe suggests cooling the crust for 30 more minutes after you put it in the pie dish.  I worked quickly and didn't have to do this.

Insanely Delicious Apple Streusel

This is one of  the best apple recipes ever, and it is very simple to make. Here is the link:  http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/05/apple-streusel-bars.html

Kids in the Kitchen: Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Bryce did not have school today because of the Columbus Day holiday.  I wanted to plan a simple Halloween activity that would be fun for the boys, which led to the chocolate pretzels.  This was a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) activity a few years ago, and I've been making them ever since.  They are fast, easy, cute, not too messy, and most importantly yummy.  

The first step is to gather the children, wash their hands and fingernails, and make them behave!

That's better!

Ingredients

1/2 bar Chocolate Flavored Almond Bark

1 bag pretzel rods

1 large shaker of sprinkles (I bought Halloween themed sprinkles from ALDI)

1. Cover a large cookie sheet with a strip of wax paper.

2. Melt chocolate in the microwave according to package directions.  Stir well.

3. Dip a pretzel into the chocolate and use a spoon to pour chocolate over the length of the pretzel leaving about an inch at the top.  ( I do three at a time.)

4. Hold the chocolate over the wax paper and shake on the sprinkles.  

5. Let set on the wax paper until hardened.  Then put them in the fridge for 10 minutes or so.         Store in a Ziplock bag.

These make cute gifts.  Put them in a clear plastic bag and tie with a ribbon.   

Mitford Series Week 1: Puny's Chicken and Dumplings

Warning: this is not a quick recipe.  You will need to be home for several hours for this one.  Everything is fresh and from scratch.  No pre-cooked chicken, pre-made broth...no shortcuts please.  The work is well worth it I guarantee you.  

You will need to start the chicken stock first.  All the vegetables are rough chopped.

Puny's Chicken Stock

(from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook 2004, pg 137)

1 (3-4 lb) chicken, rinsed and giblets removed (the plastic bag in the cavity of the chicken)

2 large onions, quartered

2 large carrots, sliced thick

3 stalks celery, sliced thick

10 black peppercorns

2 teaspoons salt

3 sprigs fresh parsley

4 quarts cold water

In a large pot, combine all ingredients, adding water last.  Bring to a rolling boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2-3 hours.  Remove chicken.  Strain and discard the vegetables.

Puny's Chicken and Dumplings 

2 cups self-rising flour (more for rolling out dumplings)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup buttermilk

4 1/2 cups Puny's Chicken Stock

3 TBSP unsalted butter

4 cups cooked chicken meat (from the chicken stock)

1 cup milk

1.  Combine flour, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large bowl.

2.  Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until coarse crumb consistency 

3.  Add buttermilk and stir with fork just until dough forms.

4.  Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface (put a sheet of wax paper down for easy clean-up) to 1/8 in thick and cut into 1 inch squares.

5.  Bring the 4 1/2 cups of stock to a rolling boil in the large pot and drop dumplings in one at a time so that they don't stick, stirring gently occasionally.

6.  Put chicken meat on top of dumplings and pour the milk over all.

7.  Cover, reduce heat to med. low, and simmer for 20 min.  Do not open the cover.

8.  Add more milk, if it's too dry and season with salt and pepper if needed. 

I served my on top of homemade mashed potatoes.  

For more information about the Mitford books or how to purchase them please visit:

http://www.mitfordbooks.com/

Working My Way Through Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader

Throughout the next couple months, I plan on trying out some of the recipes in the Mitford cookbook and sharing them with you.  For those of you who are not familiar with the Mitford novels, they are about an Episcopal minister living in the small quaint southern village of Mitford, North Carolina.  There are many colorful characters, and the recipes come from all these fictional folk. Please visit Jan Karon's website at http://www.mitfordbooks.com/ for information about the series, the cookbook, and where to order them.  I highly recommend these books.  

If you'd like to get started with the series the first book is called At Home in Mitford.  This is the amazon.com review of the book:

Father Tim, a cherished small-town rector, is the steadfast soldier in this beloved slice of life story set in an American village where the grass is still green, the pickets are still white, and the air still smells sweet. The rector's forthright secretary, Emma Garret, worries about her employer, as she sees past his Christian cheerfulness into his aching loneliness. Slowly but surely, the empty places in Father Tim's heart do get filled. First with a gangly stray dog, later with a seemingly stray boy, and finally with the realization that he is stumbling into love with his independent and Christian-wise next-door neighbor. Much more than a gentle love story, this is a homespun tale about a town of endearing characters-- including a mysterious jewel thief--who are as quirky and popular as those of Mayberry, R.F.D. --Gail Hudson --This text refers to the Paperback edition. 

The recipes are homestyle, southern, and from scratch!  I will not be following the order of the series, but will pick recipes based on what I think sounds good for the week.  First up is Puny's Chicken and Dumplings.

Soft Pretzels

I usually try to make healthy dinners for my kids.  Occasionally on the weekend, we are bad and eat something like ice cream for dinner.  Tonight, I made soft pretzels.  I used my stand mixer with dough hook attachment to knead.  The dough was very sticky, so I ended up adding a bit more flour.  I made these pretzels using cinnamon and sugar rather than coarse salt. Then made a simple glaze with powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to drizzle on top and to use as a dip.   

Here is the link to the recipe:

 http://www.onceuponachef.com/2009/08/soft-pretzels.html

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

Just thought I'd share this link for perfect scrambled eggs.  I follow the recipe exactly, and they come out great every time.  

http://www.mrbreakfast.com/article.asp?articleid=17#recipe

Baked Ham Sandwiches

I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com submitted by Charlotte Rowe, but of course I didn't follow it exactly, adjusting the ingredients to my own tastes.  These are great for freezing and baking later.  I like to have them with soup or as a quick meal on the weekend.

Ingredients:

1/3 c butter (softened)

1/3 c prepared yellow mustard

1/3 c dried minced onion

1 TBSP poppy seeds

8 hamburger buns

1 pkg deli sliced ham

8 slices swiss cheese

aluminum foil

 

1. In a bowl, combine butter, onion, mustard and poppy seeds. Spread about 1 tablespoon over both halves of buns. Layer ham and cheese on the bottom halves; replace tops. Wrap each sandwich in foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 6-10 minutes or until cheese is melted, or freeze for up to 2 months.
2. To use frozen sandwiches: Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Spill-the-Beans Minestrone Soup

I found this vegetarian recipe in a Light & Tasty magazine and have been making it for a few years.  Thanks to Reuben Tsujimura for this one!  It is as easy as spilling the ingredients into the pot and cooking for fifteen minutes.  The only modification I make is omitting the kale, so my children will eat it.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 TBSP olive oil 

1 32 oz carton Swanson Certified Organic Vegetable Broth 

1 15 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 16 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 can (14 1/2 oz) stewed tomatoes (cut up)

1/2 cup uncooked small pasta shells

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes or more to taste (1/2 tsp is pretty spicy.)

6 tsp freshly shredded parmesan cheese (NOT grated)

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is tender.

2. Add broth, beans, tomatoes, shells, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.  (I usually work on breaking down the tomatoes with my spoon while waiting for it to boil.)

3. Add pasta. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until pasta is tender.  

4. Sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese.