Turkey Tetrazzini

The cooking from the Guilt Free TOH book continues! Riley, my 7 year old, picked this recipe....there was no picture, but he thought it sounded good. Since it said it made 6 servings and there are 6 of us, I doubled it to ensure we'd have enough for the meal. Riley was not thrilled. JoJo and Tucker ate it, but I think that was only because they were HUNGRY...like "I GOTTA EAT RIGHT NOW, MOM, YOU'RE STARVING ME OVER HERE! ALL I'VE HAD TODAY IS 40,000 GRANOLA BARS AND 100 APPLES AND A GALLON OF MILK AND A JUG OF JUICE. YOU GOTTA FEED ME, LADY." Rugby liked it and TIm and I thought it was alright, but not something I'd make again, probably. It was a bit on the bland side, but I kind of expected that. There really isn't much for seasoning, but if that's your thing, then this is good for you! We just like a bit more zip. Enjoy!

Turkey Tetrazzini

1/2 pound uncooked spaghetti
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 can reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can fat free evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups cooked, cubed turkey breast (A 3# turkey breast is enough to make a double batch)
1-4 oz can mushroom stems and pieces, drained (or do yourself a favor and use fresh...just saute them up with the onion and garlic)
1/2 tsp Lawry's season salt
Black pepper, to taste (I used about 1 tsp for a double batch, but I we like a lot of black pepper)
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (I like to use the fresh kind rather than the powdered)
1/4 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook the spaghetti according to pkg directions, drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, saute onion and garlic (and fresh mushrooms if you choose that) in the butter until tender. Combine cornstarch and broth until smooth and add this to the saute pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the milk. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the spaghetti, turkey, canned mushrooms, season salt and pepper.

Transfer to an 8x8 pan that you've sprayed with cooking spray. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with Parmesan and paprika and bake another 5-10 minutes or until heated through and cheese is nice and melty.

1 serving = 1 1/4 cup. 331 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g fiber, 28 g protein.

Chuck Wagon Wraps

We're turning over new leaves left and right over here! First, I got bitten by the running bug, now I've got Timmy working out with me in the morning....and to go with that, we need to start watching what we eat. Here's the challenge...we have 4 boys that need to eat fat. They have boundless energy and need the fat and calories to keep them from losing weight. And they can be a bit fussy sometimes. Well, I've been struggling to find recipes online. I don't make too much time for that, honestly. But, my FABULOUS MIL, bought me a book that, so far, we are enjoying! It's from Taste of Home and it's called Guilt Free Cooking. When I was looking through the book the first time, I said that one recipe sounded interesting....Timmy wasn't real sure...it was a veggie "burger" that was carrots and onions and zucchini and not a speck of meat. He told me not to bother making them. So, when he saw the book out tonight he was leery about what I was making and he thought I was trying to sneak something past him until I let him read the recipe...it's simple and tastes good and appeals to his "meat and potatoes" side, and it's so fast to make!! 5 of the 6 of us enjoyed this, so I'd say it's a winner! Enjoy!



Chuck Wagon Wraps

1# ground beef (I use the cheapest stuff and make sure that I drain it)
1-28 oz can BBQ baked beans (I used the new Bush's Grillin' ones...Southern Pit BBQ and added some Sweet Baby Rays original since it wasn't a big enough can)
2 cups frozen corn (use the frozen, not canned here, pretty please.)
4 1/2 tsp Worcestershire
1 cup (4 oz) reduced fat shredded Cheddar cheese
12 tortillas, warmed (I use Chi-Chi's whole wheat and no one complains)
3 cups shredded lettuce (please use leaf lettuce or something other than iceberg, though that would work too it just isn't as good)
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup reduced fat sour cream

Brown the hamburger in a large skillet. Drain. Stir in baked beans, corn, and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Allow to simmer 4-5 minutes, uncovered. Sprinkle with cheese and simmer another 1-2 minutes.

Spoon 1/2 cup meat mixture for each tortilla and top with choice of toppings.

1 wrap = 1 serving. 373 calories, 11 g fat, 4 g fiber, 20 g protien.

Check out other great recipes today at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

'Nola Bars

Yesterday I wanted to make a treat that was going to a) warm up the house, b)taste yummy, and c)be healthy-ish. I asked for ideas on my facebook page. I LOVE my friends, they always have great ideas and suggestions. Someone suggested Caramel Cookies....it's a weight watchers recipe and sounds awesome...but the kids didn't want them this time. I will make them and post about it, though another time. I'm hoping to have time to make them today or tomorrow. Someone else suggested granola. Well, every time I make granola, I'm the only one that eats it unless it's granola bars, then I barely get one before my vultures kids have them gone. I found a recipe on allrecipes that sounded good and I bought some wheat germ a while back to make granola bars and lost the recipe that called for it. The one I made yesterday was really good! I cut back on the sugar, skipped the raisins, and trimmed the salt just a tad and they were so good! Oh, I added chocolate chips, too. I made a double batch and put them in an 11x17 pan which they filled nicely. Reviews for this one said that a single batch doesn't quite fill a 9x13 pan. Enjoy!

'Nola Bars

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar (1/2 cup is plenty)
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup ap flour
3/4 cup raisins (opt)
3/4 tsp salt (again, about 1/2 tsp is plenty)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, sunflower seeds(opt)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together oats, sugar, flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla. Mix well with your hands (I used my big KitchenAid mixer.) Stir in any extras that you like. I used a whole bag of chocolate chips for a double batch. Pat the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 18-30 minutes, depending on your oven. The edges should just start to brown. This will give you a nice chewy granola bar. Bake a bit longer for crunchy ones. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars and allow to cool completely.

A single batch makes 24 servings. Each serving is: 161 calories, 5.5 g fat, 1.4 g fiber, 2.4 g protien

New Years

Long time, no see! We have just been UBER busy over the holidays. We had 6 Christmas parties that we attended and lots of visiting here, there and everywhere. You know the drill. :) For New Years this year, we had both of Tim's brothers, one of their girlfriends, and one of Tim's sisters over for dinner. We're the only ones (of those) that have kids, so it was just easier to be here. Anyway, I made a prime rib that I got on sale for $4.75 a pound, Windsor glazed carrots, twice baked potatoes in a casserole dish, and two dips (beer and bagel). Tom's fiance, Dawn, brought stuffed mushrooms, veggie pizza, and turtle cheesecake. It was quite the feast. We had a few unexpected visitors which was interesting and we had all the kids in the car with us as we rang in the New Year...that's a long story I'm not going to be sharing. Sorry. Anyway, it was super nice.

Back to the food, afterall, that's why you're here, right?! The Windsor glazed carrots. My BIL left some Windsor here this summer, so I wanted to use that up. PW posted a recipe for whiskey glazed carrots that fit the bill....plus I got to use my NEW cast iron skillet!! Enjoy!

Copy and pasted from PW's website...

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (to 3 Pounds) Carrots, Peeled And Cut Into Thick Circles
• 1 stick Butter
• ½ cups Jack Daniels Or Other Whiskey (We used Windsor)
  
• ¾ cups (to 1 Cup) Brown Sugar
• ½ teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Salt
• Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add carrots in two batches., cooking for 60-90 seconds each batch. Remove from skillet.

Pour in whiskey and allow to evaporate 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium, and add remaining butter. When butter melts, sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Stir together, then add carrots to skillet. Cover, and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

Remove lid and add salt and pepper. Continue cooking until carrots are done and glaze is thick, about 5 more minutes.

Pour onto a platter and serve immediately. Sprinkle with chopped chives if desired.

Just in time for Christmas!

I keep meaning to write this and never do. Today, I WILL because it's awesome and you need to know that BEFORE Christmas when you still have time to gift this!

Last year, my mother bought something from an infomercial. It took a long time for that one to come in, but when it did, she was in love. So she bought my SIL one and she bought me one. You know that I LOVE to be in the kitchen, so the thought was lovely for me to get a new something to use in the kitchen. Let me introduce you to the NICER DICER.

It makes dicing onions a breeze, tomatoes are no problem. Fruit works awesome, makes short work of chopping potatoes. Seriously, YOU NEED ONE.

There are two size cutting blades. A small one for dicing finely and a larger one for chopping. It comes with two cups that attach to the cutting blade so that it catches what you are chopping so you don't have to. The cups have lids, so after you dice it full of say, an onion, and you only need half, you can twist the lid on and stash it in the fridge for later.

The blades are super duper easy to change and you don't have to touch anything sharp to do it. The whole top piece comes off and you can replace it quickly. It comes apart for easy cleaning, too! The "receiver" of the blade snaps out, too to make it super easy to clean the base! I toss mine in the dishwasher and we're good to go!

Also, it's easy to use. MY KIDS DO IT! They love that they can help me chop and I don't have to worry about them with sharp knives. They just place the object to be cut on the base and flip the cover over it and press it down. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!

And at $20 on Amazon, they are a steal!


**This is not a paid endorsement. I just loved a gift that I got from my mom and had to share!

Rhubarb Pie

Today I taught my good friend Kelly to make pie crust. Her's turned out amazing! We used it to make Rhubarb Pie from all recipes and it was AWESOME! I'll definitely make this recipe again! Enjoy!

Rhubarb Pie

4 cups fresh rhubarb
1 1/3 cups sugar
6 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
pie crust for a double crust

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of this on top of the bottom pastry. Top with the rhubarb, then the rest of the flour/sugar mixture. Dot with the butter, then place the top crust. Bake at 450 for 15 min and then reduce heat to 350 and bake 40-45 min or until golden. Cool before serving.

(pie crust recipe to follow soon!)

Pumpkin Pancakes

A couple weeks ago, each of my boys bought two pie pumpkins at the store. So, imagine 8 pumpkins waiting in my storage room for me to deal with them. That's a LOT of pumpkin! I cooked some of it up last week when Tim wanted pie, so I still have 3 pumpkins to deal with and I have pumpkin in the freezer!! I love that. So, the day after I was doing all the pumpkin stuff Tim wanted to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. We searched a recipe out and made some modifications. OF COURSE and the results were yummy! I made them again last night. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Mix:
2 cups flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl, mix:
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (regular milk will work, too but NOT sweetened condensed)
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 tbsp vinegar

Combine the wet and the dry. Drop by 1/4 cup onto hot griddle. Spread each pancake out a bit so they aren't as thick.

Really good with whipped cream and/or syrup. Also, I made some with minced pecans and they were super, too!

AMAZING dinner rolls

My family loves breads of all kinds. Especially warm and homemade. I'll eat it, but usually I'm not a major bread fan....now noodles is another story ;) A few weeks back, the Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for Rosemary Dinner Rolls that looked pretty good. I even followed the recipe EXACTLY! That's gotta be a first! lol! They were AMAZING. I almost ate them instead of my spaghetti (and I LOVE my spaghetti!), they were that good!

Here's the link, you MUST try them!

Pioneer Woman Rosemary Dinner Rolls

M&M Bars

As promised, here are the M&M bars. These make a really nice, big pan so they are great for taking to a potluck...or bake sale. :) Enjoy!

M&M Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup ap flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups quick cooking oats
14 oz pkg caramels (unwrapped)
3 tbsp water
1 cup mini chocolate chips*
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts as you prefer*
1 cup mini m&m's*

*I don't bother to measure, usually. I just pour them on til it looks good. :)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats. Press into 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the caramels and water. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with chips, nuts and m&m's. Gently press into the caramel and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Bake Sale

Saturday our Boy Scout Troop is having a bake sale at the Raddison for some conference that the Oneida tribe is hosting. There are 1600 people expected to attend. The money raised will go directly into the boys Scout Savings Account to pay for things like camp, scout outings, etc. So, I will be baking my heart out the next two days. Here's what I'm planning to make:

Lemon Biscotti
Cinnamon Sugar Almonds (the thought here is maybe someone wants a "healthy" snack...or at least a bit healthier than cake and cookies...)
Caramel Apple Bread
Chocolate Mint Cookies
M&M Bars (I'll post this recipe soon!)
Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing (maybe...)
Rosemary Brown Butter Popcorn (Is it odd to have popcorn at a bake sale? I thought it might be nice to munch on while they are in the conference...not sure...)
Some plain old popcorn (?)

So, you probably won't see me again until Monday since the kids are off tomorrow and Friday and then the fun weekend!! See you then with the recipe for M&M bars!!

Venison Stew

Friday was another cold and rainy day here in Wisconsin. Great weather if you're a duck. I'm not a duck and I'm not enjoying it. Top that off with three coughing kids and you've got a ton of fun, let me tell ya. So, we needed comforting and soothing and relaxing. What better than a vat of stew? Yes, I mean a VAT of stew. I inherited this problem from my mother...I over cook. When it was just Tim and me it was a pretty big problem, but now that I have 4 additional healthy eaters, it's a bit more manageable. We have a freezer full of venison and we've slowly but surely been eating away at it, but it's hunting season again and I still have venison in the freezer, so I guess we'll have to eat even more venison and cut back on my beloved chicken. So, I wanted a recipe for venison stew that didn't include gravy mix because 1) I'm out and 2) we don't need all the extra salt. So, online I go...and I find a recipe that I fully intended to use as written...until I started making it and realize that there is NO seasoning in it whatsoever....unless you count the beef bouillon. So, I tweaked it and added some spice and some of this and that, some more veggies (because what's stew with only 2 potatoes in it??) the results were pretty tasty. Enjoy!

Venison Stew

2-3 pounds venison stew meat
4-6 cloves garlic
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
5 potatoes, peeled and chopped
5+ carrots, peeled and chopped (adjust the amount to your liking)
1 onion, chopped
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1-2 cups chopped celery
5-6 tsp beef bouillon (1 tsp=1 cube)
1 tsp crushed rosemary
1 tsp marjoram
water (7ish cups?)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour

Cut meat into bite size pieces. Toss with 1/3 cup flour. Pan fry meat in hot skillet with butter and garlic until browned.

Dissolve bouillon in some hot water. Add browned meat and add enough hot water to cover meat by 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 hours. Add vegetables and spices and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender. (I added my veggies the first time I brought it to a boil and made sure there was enough water that the veggies were covered.) Before serving, melt butter in a small pan and stir in flour. Stir this mixture in the stew and it will thicken.

**Edit 10/25/09: I made this again today, but used Country Herb Seasoning (found at Aldi's) and it was insanely awesome!!)

Pumpkin Seeds

Rugby carved pumpkins at school on Friday. They take them to the Navarino Nature Center for their annual Fall Event (that's tonight, btw!). They have them lit and along a trail and it doesn't start until 6:30, so it's plenty dark to see them and the cool designs the kids carved into them. Normally, we don't carve our pumpkins. I have the kids paint them so that right after Halloween I can use them to make pies and the seeds are an added bonus. This year, the seeds are the main event since Rugby and Riley weren't able to be convinced to paint the pumpkins. Rugby was really excited about roasting seeds, though....he brought home 4 pumpkins worth after their carving event at school and we had 2 pumpkins that they carved here at home, so it's a nice amount of seeds to work with. Most of them were just olive oil and sea salt, but one batch I did get to make the "Martha Stewart" way. Years ago, I had seen her make these and tried them and INSTANTLY loved them. Then I forgot about them and now I haven't made them in a few years again. Today we made them and Rugby is also in love with them. Enjoy!



Martha Stewart Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from 1-2 pumpkins
5 tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cumin
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tbsp oil (I use EVOO or butter for this)

Preheat oven to 250. Line baking sheet with parchment paper before placing seeds on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour or until dry, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

In a medium bowl, mix salt, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne (I do a little shake), and 3 tbsp sugar. Set aside.

In a non-stick skillet, heat oil. Add seeds and 2 tbsp sugar. Cook until seeds begin to caramelize (45-60 seconds-ish). Pour seeds into the spice mixture and toss to coat. Allow to cool before eating. They will last 1 week in an airtight container...if you can resist them that long!

LF Chicken and Dumpling Soup

The other day, while we were all sick, my mom brought me Taste of Home's BIG BOOK OF SOUP. There are a TON of recipes in this book that I'd love to make. So, expect to see some soup here soon!

So, last night, it was 4:30 and I hadn't given any thought to dinner. AT ALL. Nothing thawed, no leftovers, nothing I could just throw on the table. I opened this book and this recipe just jumped out at me. I had everything in the house and it was QUICK. Love that! So, here's the recipe...Enjoy!

Low Fat Chicken and Dumplings

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2" cubes (I cut mine smaller because of the babies)
2tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cans chicken broth
3 cups water (I used 4, just because)
4 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped (I used a bit more since all I had were the inner ribs with the leaves...used the leaves, too!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
rubbed sage, crushed rosemary, and marjoram...to taste. I think I used about 1/2-1 tsp combined
1/4 tsp black pepper

In a large skillet, pan fry the chicken in the butter and garlic cloves. In your stock pot, bring to a boil the broth, water, vegetables and seasonings. Add chicken to this. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered about 30 minutes.

Dumplings:
3 egg whites
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup ap flour

Beat the egg whites and cottage cheese in a mixing bowl. Add water and salt. Stir in flour, making sure to mix well.

When soup has simmered for 30 minutes, bring the soup back to a boil and drop dumplings into the soup by the tablespoonful. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes longer. DO NOT LIFT THE LID WHILE SIMMERING. Serve immediately.

(Looking for a use for the egg yolks?? How about this recipe? YUM!)

Weird popcorn

This post is from the archives of It's A Boy's Life For Me. An oldie, but a goodie from August 25, 2007. This was 15 days after I had Tucker. It was probably one of the first days that I was alone with all 4 kids after I got home from the hospital. Since it involves a recipe, I thought I'd post it over here. I was craving it today, anyway. :) Enjoy!

August 25, 2007

Of all the time I got to spend in the hospital with nothing to do but watch TV, I took the time to catch up on the happenings at the Food Network. One of my favorite chefs is Michael Chiarello. There's something about him and his shows that's mesmerizing. The show that I happened to catch, he was making Brown butter, rosemary and lemon popcorn. Interesting flavors to put on popcorn, but I like rosemary and lemon so I thought I'd try it. Tonight. The flavor is really light and it's a nice change to regular popcorn. The weird part of this is though that RUGBY LOVES IT. Riley rolled his nose up, tried it, and wasn't impressed. Rugby went nuts for it. I'll make it again, I'm sure! Here's the recipe if you wanna try it yourself:

Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Lemon Popcorn Recipe courtesy Michael Chiarello

1 cup popcorn 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves 2 teaspoons salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest Heat the popcorn and oil in a 1-gallon, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When the popcorns starts to pop, cover the pot tightly and continue to cook until all the popcorn pops, about 2 to 3 minutes, shaking the pot occasionally. Pour the popcorn into a large bowl. In a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and cook until it is brown, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the rosemary to the butter and pour the butter mixture over the popcorn. Toss well. Add the salt and pepper and lemon zest. Toss well.

Lemon Biscotti

About 2 years ago, the church we were attending had a "Ladies Tea" social event. There were all kinds of yummy treats to go with the tea, too. It was a really nice night to socialize and it was NOT for the kids, so I got to go alone which was also super nice! One of the yummy treats that we had that night was Lemon Biscotti. It was AWESOME. The hostess, Dagney, was kind enough to share the recipe with me...and it's been in an e-mail folder ever since. It happened to come up in a convo the other day again and I thought it'd be nice to try and make it. It sounded easy enough. So I did and it was wonderful, just like I remembered. YAY! I love when that happens!

Friday, Tim had a bake sale at school he wanted to take something for so he had me whip up another batch. They didn't really sell. Apparently no one knew what they were. So one lady tried them and then bought a bunch. Then she told another lady about them and she bought the rest! I guess they had to know what they were, then everyone loved them!

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Lemon Biscotti

2 3/4 cup ap flour

1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp lemon rind
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
1 tbsp lemon extract
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 large eggs

2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder. In another bowl, combine lemon rind, 1 tbsp lemon juice, lemon extract, oil and eggs. Whisk until well combined and add to flour mixture, stirring until well combined. (I start with the whisk and then finish it with my hands) It will be dry and crumbly. Turn dough out on a LIGHTLY floured surface and knead lightly 7-8 times.

Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into a log about 8 inches long. Flatten each log to a 1 inch thickness. Transfer to parchment lined (or sprayed) baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer dough to cooling rack. Reduce oven temp to 325. Cool for 10 minutes. Slice diagonally into 1/2 inch wide pieces. You should be able to get 10-15 pieces from each log of dough. Place pieces, cut side down, back on the baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the drizzle, stir together the powdered sugar and 1 tbsp remaining lemon juice. Add more juice a little at a time to get the drizzle to the consistency that you want. Drizzle over cooled biscotti and let it dry completely before putting away.