Three Ingredients = Oreo Truffles

My kids started their Spring Break on Thursday. I decided that since they were off, to take them my deep-water aerobics class at the YWCA.  I am not sure who had more fun, the kids or the instructor, Tanya. The kids though all I did was just get in the pool and splash around. Ha silly kids!

 About ten minutes into the hour workout, both declared that it was hard work. Then Tanya started teasing them that eighty-year-old women were beating them down the pool.

 If you have never done, a deep-water aerobics class let me explain. We swim in a seven-foot deep pool, and use noodles, kickboards, balls to target on certain muscles. It requires core muscles to do some of the exercises. One of the instructors, Craig, loves to have us stand on kickboards. We then paddle forward and backward across the pool, before making us spin in circles.  This doesn’t sound too hard? Wait until you are standing on a few of these stacked together. Balance is the key to not falling off, and you need good core muscles to achieve this.

When class was over Tanya was talking about her friend who made this Oreo treat, I am sharing with you today. Tonya said she wasn’t sure how her friend made them...

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Green Peas...

How boring do just green peas sound? Personally, I like plain old boring green peas withbutter, the kids, eh not so much.

The challenge was dressing up the green peas into something that was tasty, had texture and my get my non-pea loving children to eat them.

My first thought was what are some of their favorite food ingredients, and build from there. Cheese, crackers and peanut butter were the first things that came to mind. Peanut butter and peas, oh that would not go over good. However, the idea of cheese and crackers was stuck in my head, repeating over and over, skipping like an old record.

What kind of cheese to use, I didn’t want stringy melted cheese with peas trapped into like fly paper. I was looking in the fridge and found some gruyere, I had used in a Croque Monsieur sandwich. Next to the gruyere was parmesan cheese, yeah that will work nicely. It doesn’t melt easily and has a nice flavor to match the sweetness of the peas.

Next was the crackers, this was a bit difficult to master. I started outwith Ritz crackers. Good flavor, but the texture was not there and they can get a bit soggy. I decided that a good wheat cracker, like Triscuits might do really well. I used the garden herb flavor; by changing, the variety of crackers will change the taste. I think the next time I will use either the black pepper and olive oil or the roasted garlic variety.

My non-pea eating children, looked at me as if I had three heads, when I tried to serve this too them. In our house, the rule is you have to take three bites of everything new. If you don’t care for it after three bites, you don’thave to eat it. It did not take three bites… the kids loved this dish after the first bite! **Mom throws confetti and toots her horn**

Feel free to double this recipe, I made it and served four with leftovers. It would be safe to say you could get six servings using ¾-cup portions.

I think between the cheese and crackers there is enough salt. If you are on a salt restricted diet, try using the hint of salt crackers. You can always add in extra garlic or black pepper instead of more salt.

Ingredients:

16 ounce package of frozen peas

½ - ¾ cup of crushed Tristcuit crackers

2 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

2-3 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine



Directions:

Cook green peas per package directions, be sure not to overcook them, wrinkled peas are not pretty

In a bowl toss, crackers, cheese and butter until well coated

Pour drained peas into a large bowl, top with cracker mixture. If you wanted, you could pour the mixture around the perimeter of the bowl, instead of over the top, thus forming a ring around the peas.

Hot Cross Buns...

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One ha' penny, two ha' penny, Hot cross buns! If you have no daughters, Give them to your sons One ha' penny, Two ha' penny, Hot Cross Buns!

You have just enough time to get these made for Good Friday breakfast. The hot cross bun is a traditional sweet-spiced bun with a cross marked on top.

Originally eaten by the Saxons to honor the goddess Eostre; it was believed the bun represented the moon and the cross the moon's quarters. To Christians, the cross symbolizes the crucifixion.

 There are centuries old myths and legends that surrounding the buns.  According to sailors bring a hot cross bun on board a boat will prevent it from sinking. Want to cure your cold? Grate a left over and mix with water. My favorite, if you hang a new hot cross bun every year from the rafters in your kitchen, you will not burn any bread.

Want to share with a friend? Make sure you say the old rhyme that states, "half for you and half for me, between us two good luck shall be".

Dried currants are traditional in hot cross buns, but feel free to substitute them for raisins.

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Bread Pudding…

My dad sent me a few recipes awhile back for bread pudding. My step-mom, Kit says, “She was ruined on bread pudding when she ate it in London. Since then she has never had anything like.”

To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of it the few times I have had it. I think my issue has been the sauce poured over the top of it; this recipe does not have the sauce with it.

I came across this recipe for bread pudding in The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook. This recipe is a favorite from Chowning’s Tavern.

With any bread pudding, you want to use day old French or Italian bread, just like when making French toast. Stale bread will hold the custard better, this way you don’t end up with a soppy, gooey, sweet mess.

Still not sure, what type of bread to use? Click here to continue reading...

Cinnamon French Toast Muffins…

Do you love French toast? Do hate how fattening they are? Would you like make a low fat- healthy version of French toast that is portable for those hectic Monday mornings?

I found this recipe a few months ago in First for Women magazine. These muffins are tasty, and good for you. They have flaxseed and applesauce in them.  This combination not only boosts your mood,but also revs your energy levels. The best part is they are perfect to hand the kids on the way out of the door to school.

The muffins also have pure maple syrup in them. I would use the pure maple syrup, not Mrs. Butterworths or Logcabin for the following reasons. The fake syrups are made with corn syrup. Real maple syrup is lower in sodium, and the taste is more intense.

The recipe calls for a topping made from heavy cream and maple syrup. Personally, I don’t think the muffins need the topping. I would save the topping for special occasions like a holiday, birthdays, or even when you have guests.

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Sushi Salad…

I tried a new recipe yesterday and thought some of you might enjoy it; it will serve five people.  I like sushi, but don’t really have the budget to eat it all the time. This recipe will give you all most the element of sushi without having to learn to how to roll.

The recipe calls for small, shelled, cooked shrimp. I would suggest if you can find small bay shrimp, you use them. They are tiny and sweet and would be perfect for this recipe. If you don’t like or are allergic to shrimp, try substituting crab or imitation crabmeat.

The directions state to use five large butter lettuce leaves, to place each serving on. Instead of using large butter head, lettuce leaves, I bought a package of chopped butter lettuce.

Even thought the recipe did not call for it, it placed a few dots of Wasabi on my plate and it really made a big difference. When I do buy sushi, I usually eat the pickled ginger first. Yes, I know it is to go on top of the sushi, but I love to eat it. I purposely avoid the sushi aisle at the Asian market, so I won’t buy a big old jar of it!

 

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You Don't Have To Eat Out...

With the economy as bad as it is going out to eat does not happen very often. So what do you do? Make those special dishes at home of course!

I do not think I know anyone who does like Olive Garden’s salad and bread sticks. One of my favorite dishes there is the Chicken Parmesan. 

For the bread sticks, you can cheat, by buying ready to cook bread sticks. Brush with...

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Victor’s Pea Salad…

 

If you have been with me for a while, you have heard me talk about my friends Cheryl and Victor. The salad today is something Victor threw together one year after Easter. I love this salad, it is simple to put together, easy to make, and can be made anytime of the year.

This perfect side dish or meal on a hot Spring evening.

The hardest part of this salad was trying to get the recipe from Victor. This was not because he did not want to give it to me. This was because he really didn’t know what he had put in the salad. The salad was created by throwing leftovers from Easter dinner in a bowl. I have played with the ingredients over the past few years and think I have recreated it.

Ingredients:

1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped

1 cup green peas, uncooked

½ cup ham, cubed

1 hardboiled egg (you can increase to 2 if you prefer, but I think it is too much)

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ cup low or non-fat mayonnaise

Directions:

Toss the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl

Add mayonnaise by gently stirring into the salad, make sure to there are no clumps of mayonnaise. Refrigerate half hour before serving. Stir the salad before serving to re-coat the mayonnaise.

Ann Richards Lemon Yogurt Cake…

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Since today is the last full day of winter, I thought I would share with you a wonderful spring cake. This is perfect to serve as desert on Easter. The recipe comes from The Texas Celebrity Cookbook and was submitted by Ann Richards.

Ms. Richards became nationally known when she gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1988. Ms. Richards served as Governor of Texas from 1991 – 1995 and was defeated for re-election by George W. Bush.

 While she was the second woman to serve as Governor of Texas, she is often considered the first elected woman. The first was Miriam Ferguson, who stepped into the position after her husband was impeached. Mrs. Ferguson missed becoming the first woman to serve as Governor in the United States by two weeks. Nellie Ross, of Wyoming was the first after her husband passed away.

 

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Pot Stickers…

A favorite in my family is Pot Stickers. When I was a child, my mother would make huge batches of this Chinese appetizer for dinner. There was five us and it was an all day process, pressing one teaspoon of the meat mixture at a time into the wrapper.

When my husband and I got married, my father-in-law thought he won the lottery, when he found I knew how to make these.  My father-in-law wore contacts and traveled several times a month for work. Air travel dehydrated him to the point his contacts would get uncomfortable to wear. He sound found that if he ate pot stickers, twenty minutes later his eyes would not be so dry.

To be honest, I always thought he was pulling my leg and used it as an excuse to get me to make them for him. It was not until I wore contacts, I was able to test his theory. I was surprised to find that my eyes did not feel as dry after eating them. Strange, I know! I would not recommend though you give up eye drops for pot stickers.

Today I made 100 hundred pot stickers for a friend of my husband. A few weeks back, we had them for dinner and my husband took the leftovers to work. There was more than enough so he shared them with his friends. On Thursday, I got a text from husband asking if I would consider making 100 pot stickers for this person.  At first, I laughed off the request until a response came that it was serious request. So I sat watching the Oakland A’s playing the Chicago Cubs and made pot stickers all afternoon.

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Peanut Butter Sauce...

Most of you know that I cannot stand peanut butter. My sister-in-law, Brandi loves it, almost as much as I detest it.

One of Brandi’s most favorite ways to eat peanut butter is on her ice cream. This is a two-step process of melting the peanut butter and then pouring on her ice cream. We all know what happens when you pour hot on to cold. Most times Brandi is left with a soupy melted mess, but she loves the peanut butter taste.

I know you are saying why not buy ice cream with peanut butter already in it. I guess I should back up and tell you, it does not matter what variety of ice cream she eats. The ice cream will be covered in peanut butter.

When you can fruit, you make a simple syrup to go into the jar with the fruit. If you have ever bought fruit cocktail on the label, it will state in heavy or light syrup. I took this idea of syrup and started to figure out how to mix it with peanut butter.

I ended up not making the syrup from scratch, I could not get the portions right to make a heavy enough syrup without sending the sugar levels sky high.

I next thought about mixing water to honey and thinning it down, before adding the peanut butter. The peanut butter would pick up the taste of the honey. I also worried, that even though I would thin the honey, it would crystallize. The thought of chunky honey crystals, in a peanut sauce does not sound pleasing to me.

So almost two years later, I was getting ready to make candied popcorn, my hand lands on the clear Karo syrup. This was the “ah ha” moment, when the angels are singing.

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Rice Krispy Treats...

Tonight, I almost had my "Super Mommy" membership revoked, when I could not remember the recipe for Rice Krispy Treats. I had a total brain fart on what amounts went into the treats. Making these is like one of the first things you master after “babyhood.”

We use various types of cereal for the treats and tonight I was mixing generic krispy rice cereal and coco krispy type cereal. My son said, “Just dump everything together.”” Yeah no kidding, I got that part! I need the proportions; we are baking not cooking chicken!”

So for all of you who have had the same brain fart and forgotten how to make these I am posting the recipe. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of cereal. I have found no difference in buying the cheap no name generic to the expensive major brands.

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Are You Irish?

In less than a week, is St Patrick’s Day. The one day out of the year where anyone can claim, they are Irish. Through researching my family tree, I was able to find, I am able to claim to Irish blood the other 364 days of the year. This came as a surprise, since Irish was not a known nationality to my family.

I thought I would share with you a few Irish recipes I have found at a website called Irish Abroad. The first is the typical corn beef and cabbage that most people associate with St Paddy’s.  If you have ever bought corned beef, you know it comes with a seasoning packet. I would suggest you toss the seasoning packet and use the spices in this recipe for an authentic Irish corned beef.

The next recipe is for an apple crumble. Here in the states we know it as a Brown Betty or a Cobbler. So what makes this one so special? Well besides the use of Irish oats (which can be substituted), this lovely crumble has a whiskey cream sauce made with Irish whiskey. What better way is there to finish a St Patrick’s Day meal than with an Irish dessert? The recipe is from Margaret Johnson. Ms Johnson is the author of 5 Irish cookbooks, has authored more than 200 food and travel articles in a number of publications, including the "Irish Echo," "Irish America Magazine," the "Los Angeles Times Syndicate," "Newsday," and Dublin's "Food and Wine" magazine.

 Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:
 5 lb Corned-Beef brisket
 2 Whole cloves
 2 Bay Leaves
 8 Medium Potatoes, pared

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Shrimp Creole…

Do you save your left over bacon grease? Do you save those last little bits of left over chopped onions, celery and green peppers?

Save bacon grease.  I pour it into a jar and store in the refrigerator. Bacon grease has many uses, I use it grease my pan when I make meatloaf, and fry chicken in it. Some of my other uses for bacon grease is making gravy or a golden roux.

Since onions are not meant to be saved in a refrigerator after slicing, and you can’t leave them out without stinking up the house. Do you throw them away? Nope! I take leftover celery, onions and green peppers and chop them up. I have a zipper freezer bag, I keep in the freezer; I toss the “leftovers” into. This provides me a ready supply of seasoning blend for soups, stews, gumbo and other dishes that need this blend.

Since I already had a seasoning blend stored in the freezer, the only ingredient I had to purchase was the shrimp. If you watch the grocery adds, sometimes you can get bagged shrimp that have already been cleaned, on sale buy one get one free. I found one of these sales; I only spent $5.00 to make this dish.  

Ingredients:

2/3 cup fat (bacon drippings)

¾ cup flour, sifted

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper (you can do a mix of red and green bell peppers)

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Crock-Pot Carne Guisada and Refried Black Beans

 If you have more than one crock pot or slow cooker get them out! Today you will need to crock pots, one for the carne guisada, and the other for refried black beans.

 

 

So what is carne guisada, it is a Mexican style beef stew served over rice or in tortillas. This is a simple recipe, not a lot of vegetables and the meat is extremely tender. We ate this on tortillas, spooned in steamed white rice and the refried black beans. Add a little lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro to dress up your tortilla and expand the flavors.

 

 

 I like to cook dishes like this in a crock-pot or slow cooker. The smell of it cooking all day, keeps anticipation of a great dinner coming our way. I warn you now that you will have to guard your crock-pot while this cooking. The drool worth smell drives people to want to remove the lid and savor the scent. With slow cookers and crock-pots, removing the lid is a very bad thing! It takes almost half hour plus for them to regain the heat that is lost from removing the lid. If you ever needed an endorsement for these recipes, they did win a “you’ve got to put this on the blog” comment from the kids.

 

 

Another plus of cooking this stew in a crock-pot, is during the summer you can have a fantastic meal without heating the oven or your house!

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Hot and Sour Soup…

My daughter and l love hot and sour soup. I had been looking for a while for a recipe that was simple, and had the right balance between hot and sour.  Some were to hot others to sour, the balance has to be just right.

Most Americanized versions of the soup have cornstarch in it. There are no health benefits from the cornstarch, and it is only there to thicken the soup. Traditional Asian versions do not add the cornstarch. I have had it both ways; I actually prefer it with a thinner broth.

To me hot and sour soup is the Asian version of Chicken Noodle Soup. This tastes so good when you are sick and congested. The more congested I am, the spicier I make soup.  If you have ever eaten Wasabi and had your nasal passages cleared out, hot and sour soup reacts the same way. It usually takes about ten to twenty minutes and you are breathing out of both nostrils.

 There have been several articles written about the health benefits of eating the soup. The soup is typically lower in salt than chicken noodle. The tofu is a low fat wonderful way to add protein into your diet. This recipe does not have the traditional lily buds and for black fungus, I have chosen to use straw mushrooms. The only reason is this recipe is meant to be easy, quick and ingredients easy to find. I was thinking of my dear friends, Cheryl and Victor, living in rural Kansas when I put this together.

 I do not use any meat in the soup; this is also the only time I can slip Tofu into the family diet without much protest. If you are an Ovo-lacto Vegan, you can replace the chicken broth for vegetable stock.

**One side note, when you purchase the tofu try to find it already cubed. This will cut one step and make the prep-time quicker**

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It'sFriday! How About A Cocktail?

I am not sure about the rest of you, but for me, it seems like it has been a really long week.  Instead of food recipe today we try some how about cocktails. The first two recipes come from Sandra Lee from Semi-Homemade. The others from Colonial Williamsburg.

The problem here for me is, I drink alcohol maybe once a year. When I worked as a cocktail server, it was difficult to try to explain certain liqueurs. I will not even attempt here to tell any of you what these taste like; I have picked a few that sound good. Please feel free to post comments if you try these and let us know!

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Heaven On A Bone and Rice with Pine Nuts…

This might seem like a strange combination, but it is wonderful!

 Many of you might be saying to yourself, “Pine nuts? I have never had those.”  Well if you have eaten Pesto sauce, then you have had pine nuts.

Pine nuts are actually a little sweet and tender. There is a miniscule taste of pine, that if you are not looking for it you will miss it. Where can you buy pine nuts? The baking aisle, in your grocery store or health food store.

I love this recipe it is super simple.  The broth seasoning and butter, mixed with the pine nuts, gives plain rice a warm woody taste. There are golden raisins in this recipe. My family does not care for raisins in their food; I just omit them. If you do omit them, try adding in ¼ teaspoon of crushed red peppers.

I like to pair this with a baked chicken breast recipe called Heaven on a Bone.

The recipe calls for skinless chicken breast.  I personally don’t care for bones in my chicken breast, so I use boneless skinless chicken breasts. When I received this recipe, it was a recipe of ingredients only, no amounts or measurements. I have tinkered with the ingredient amounts. I think I have come up with the correct proportions.

 Feel free though to add or subtract any of the amounts to your own liking… After all, we are not baking pastry we are cooking chicken!

The recipe calls for breadcrumbs mixed with butter. I prefer to use Ritz brand crackers because of their butter taste and omit the extra butter.

So what does this taste like? The honey gives the chicken a hint of sweetness, while also sealing in the juices. This will not be a dried out chicken breast! The crackers add a crunchy, mild saltiness and the cheese makes it a bit sharp; it really is heaven!

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Strawberry Honey Butter...

Through Marshall Farms, I found The Unintentional Urban Farmer. On their Facebook page is a recipe for Strawberry Honey Butter.

If you have been following my blog for a few months, you know I like to make butter from scratch and flavor it. So I could not resist trying this recipe! If you follow the link, you will be taken to my blog entry on how to make butter from scratch. http://ohthatisyummy.blogspot.com/2012/10/make-it-from-scratch-monday.html

If you prefer not to spend the time making butter, the recipe is written using stick butter. Please make sure you use butter and not margarine.

When I contacted The Unintentional Urban Farmer for permission to use the recipe, they told me "however much we would love to claim it as ours, the recipe is  not ours." They told me where they had found the recipe and were unable to find the source. I also was unable to find source, but if you get a chance, go check out The Unintentional Urban Farmer. http://theunintentionalurbanfarmer.com

I do not see why, you could not make this recipe with blueberries or blackberries. The biggest and most difficult task in making this butter would be getting the berries through the sieve. The blackberries would be the most difficult, because of their seeds.

If you like Honeyed Strawberries, I am also including a recipe for those. These are great alone or over vanilla ice cream!

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Belgian Carrots…

So I tried something new for a side dish last night and have debated about putting it up here. We are not real big carrot eaters as a side dish. I had some baby carrots I was going to pickle, that I had to use before they went bad.

 I did not go looking for a carrot recipe; I went looking for recipes from Belgium. After some research, I still cannot tell you if this recipe actually comes from Belgium or is just a part of the name. Maybe somebody out there can help clarify this.

 My cooked carrot eater loved these; my raw carrot eater tried them and did not. I liked them; my husband touched a carrot to his tongue and said, “Nope sorry can’t do it.” I threatened no sherbet for his dessert if he didn’t try it. The kids and I sure did enjoy our sherbet last night!

The carrots are sweet, in cream and butter with nutmeg. The recipes I saw called for sugar. I left that out since I didn’t have any cream and used evaporated milk. In addition, cooked carrots are sweet by themselves, and to be honest the dish was sweet.

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The Five-Day Tomato Salad...

One of the most depressing parts of winter is the farmers market. During the winter months, there are less than half a dozen venders. During the other three seasons, there are six rows of bustling shoppers. If you are not at the market by seven a.m. all the good produce is gone.

 

I am a faithful market shopper; during the winter months, I typically only get eggs and pork sausage. The market has farmers, wholesale and reseller venders. Saturday morning, my husband mentioned he wanted a BLT for lunch. I reminded him that I would have to visit the grocery store to get them. I then complained that some of the reseller venders should have been at the market, since Florida tomatoes and strawberries were showing up in the grocery store.

 

The farmers market god must have been smiling down at me this morning. When I arrived, there was a resale vender with tomatoes. Thank goodness, the tomatoes were green house and not imported tomatoes treated with gas to make them ripen.

 

Now if my two partners in crime, Debbe from Windy Hill Orchards and Linda from Marshall Farms would magically show up with peaches, potatoes, tomatoes and apples the farmers market would be my favorite place again. Hurry up Spring!!!

 

My mother gave the five-day tomato salad recipe to me years ago. The only problem I have with this salad is I can never make it past day one.

 

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Yes! You can have cookies and watch your weight!

Between my daughter and mother-in-law, their food allergies can make cooking a bit difficult. The combined allergy list for them is as follows: milk, corn, apples, peanuts, red food dye and eggs. The corn and apples are really tough to get around since everything is sweetened with either corn syrup or apple juice.

The milk allergy actually comes from the corn. I see you scratching your heads on that last sentence. In the states, dairy cows are fed a diet mostly of corn, whereas overseas cows are fed more grasses. Did you know up until seven years ago when the food packaging laws changed there were over 30 ingredient names just for milk? Now if you look at the ingredient list on packaged foods, it clearly states in bold print if there is milk, eggs, soy or wheat in the product.

There are several substitutes out there milk, but eggs are a bit harder. When it comes to baking, most everything has eggs in the ingrdient list.

I came across this oatmeal cookie recipe without any eggs. It is called a skinny oatmeal cookie. Some of us might actually think we hit the jackpot with these little gems. You can eat healthy and feed your sweet tooth all at the same time!

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Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich…

One of my favorite nights of the week is leftovers/feed yourself. There are two reasons I like this night, A. I don’t have to cook and plan a meal and B. this gives the kids a chance to be creative.

Usually though on feed yourself nights there are two givens. 1. The daughter will make a baked potato topped with Ranch Style Beans. 2. Someone always make something better than what you have… usually me. I don’t know how many times, I have given up a creation to one of the kids (usually my daughter!)

This sandwich is a gooey, spicy combination that has become a favorite in our house. You can try any combination of cheese you prefer. We like the cool creaminess of the American cheese in contrast to the hot sauce. For those who like tangy bite of Blue Cheese, try mixing it with the American cheese.

When I make buffalo chicken sauce, I use two sticks of butter or margarine (1 cup) to one bottle of Franks Red Hot Sauce. Melt the butter in a pan then add the Frank’s Red Hot, stir on low heat until they are combined. Remove from heat, set aside until cool. You can store in the fridge for a week, before spoiling.

To make two sandwiches you will need the following ingredients:

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