Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category
Rainy Day Ponderings … or Freezing Bananas
I love bananas … I could eat 2 or 3 a day as I attempt to meet the recommended daily number of fruit servings. However, not unlike Goldilocks, I am very picky about the ripeness factor of my bananas. I probably like them greener than most people, almost “crisp” if a banana can be such a thing.
You can only make so many loaves of banana bread! I’ve even been known to share what I consider to be bananas-ripe-beyond-edibleness with Jen and her family (who live conveniently right down the street) or take them into work.
I bought some bananas yesterday – they had just the right amount of green and I’ve already eaten a couple. By tomorrow they will be “too ripe” on the ripeness scale! The reason I bought new bananas yesterday is because I had bought a large bunch prior to last weekend thinking I would do some baking before a good friend came to visit. Well, I did bake, but made those yummy Butterscotch Brownies again and some Irish Soda Bread muffins for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner … no banana recipes! So, I had six ripe, but not yet mushy, bananas sitting on my counter … Jen and the kids are out of town and the college is closed for spring break – I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them away, so what to do? I’ve frozen over-ripe mushy whole bananas still in the peel before, which is convenient for future banana bread or muffins, but needed another plan.
I follow the Freezing Your Way Fit blog of one of Jen’s friends (the source of that yummy hummus recipe). Her post on “Unleashing the Power of Your Freezer” under “Getting Started” helped me change the way I was saving leftovers; previously a large container of frozen leftover soup would eventually be thrown away to make room for something else (and probably was harboring some bacteria since larger portions take longer to freeze), but small individual portions go with me to work for lunch … saving time and money! This past year I’ve lost over 50 lbs. (and kept it off without denying myself treats) by doing two things – trying to eat healthy and adding some minimal exercising to my daily routine. Instead of eating half of a pie, my guilty pleasure now is sucking down a frozen fruit/Greek yogurt/honey smoothie!
Back to the bananas … I wondered if they could be frozen in a manner which would be convenient for adding to my smoothies? Yep, it worked! I knew if I just sliced and threw them into a bag they would probably end up in a sticky lump so I sliced and then froze them individually overnight on a cookie sheet. They didn’t even turn brown.
This morning I divided the frozen little nuggets into six freezer bags.
And, then put the six small bags into a larger labeled bag (wouldn’t do any good if I just lost them in the freezer!).
Who would’ve thought I could write a whole post just about bananas? :-) Rain is pounding down outside today, our last day of spring break … I think I saw some split pea soup in the freezer this morning.
Enjoy!
Colorful Couscous Salad — One More Gooseberry Patch Cookbook Recipe Early Review (plus a Giveaway!)
Today was a rainy, nap-taking kind of day here in NW Florida … only I don’t take naps, so I got myself into the kitchen and made recipe #3 from Gooseberry Patch’s new Meals in Minutes – 10th Anniversary Edition.
If you follow all of us here at Threaded Together then you already know that we are all trying to eat healthier. Without knowing what I would do with it, I picked up some couscous a few weeks ago when I was on the shopping aisle looking for some alternatives to plain white rice (I LOVE plain white rice, but I’m trying to LOVE brown rice, too!). So, when I saw this recipe in the new cookbook, I knew I had to try it … I loved it! I think it is my new favorite salad recipe! Yum!!! The couscous was unbelievably easy to make (bring water to a boil, toss in the couscous, cover and remove from heat…wait 5 minutes and then fluff!). The dressing is an exotic blend of flavors … sweet, tart, spicy. This salad was so good that I called Jen and told her I was on my way down to her house to bring her lunch – a small container of this salad!
I did make a couple of minor ingredient substitutions … I did mention that it was rainy, right? Not only did I not want to spend the money, but I also didn’t want to get wet!
Colorful Couscous Salad
Donna Cash
Dexter, MI
(Page 41)
Ingredients:
Salad:
10-oz. box couscous
1 green pepper, diced
1 bunch green onions, diced
4 carrots, shredded
15 ¼ oz. can corn, drained
15 ½ oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
Dressing:
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 T. garlic, minced
3 drops hot pepper sauce
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. lemon pepper
½ tsp. seasoned salt
¼ tsp. turmeric
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
Directions:
Prepare couscous according to package directions; drain and set aside. In a large serving bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar and seasonings; stir in vegetables and beans.
Add couscous, mixing well. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Things I did a bit different:
*I didn’t have any white wine vinegar so I substituted red wine vinegar.
*I used 2 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
*I used Tabasco for the hot pepper sauce
*I didn’t have any turmeric. After doing a bit of online research (Google is my friend!), I decided since it seemed to be mainly for color, to just leave it out. No harm, no foul!
*Don’t look too hard in the pictures for the diced green pepper … I’m not a huge fan, so left it out. I increased the amount of carrots and green onions to make up for the “bulk”.
*I don’t have a 1/8 tsp. measuring spoon, but I have these to meaure a smidgen, a pinch, and a dash … aren’t they cute??
I think I used a smidgen each of cinnamon and ground ginger.
It is not too late … Do you want a copy of Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition before it hits the bookstores? Be sure to enter by clicking here!
Tags: Cooking, Debbie, Giveaways, Gooseberry Patch, Salad
Zucchini Pie — Another Early Gooseberry Patch Cookbook Recipe Review (plus a giveaway!)
A couple of days ago I shared a yummy dessert recipe from Gooseberry Patch’s new-not-yet-in-stores-near-you cookbook, Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition. This cookbook is full of yummy, quick and easy recipes — I had a hard time selecting just a couple to make for review purposes!
I love zucchini, year round, and had all of the ingredients necessary for this recipe right on hand. It was delicious! Most of the time I am cooking for one (which is not a whole lot of fun). I try to make at least one dish on the weekend which will make a good Sunday dinner, lunch on Monday, and then provide some leftover which can be frozen for the future (because two days in a row is about all I can take any meal — this way I’m not throwing out food, and I have a variety stocked up in the freezer, especially for the working-through-lunch days, and I’m-tired-of-cold-cereal-after-a-long-day-in-the-office days).
Zucchini Pie
(page 35)
Ginny Paccioretti
Oak Ridge, NJ
Ingredients:
1 cup biscuit baking mix
4 eggs, beaten
¼ cup oil
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups zucchini, sliced and quarters
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a bowl, combine baking mix, eggs, oil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; Stir in vegetables.
Spread into a lightly greased 13”x9” baking pan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.
It is not too late … Do you want a copy of Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition before it hits the bookstores? Be sure to enter by clicking here!
Tags: Baking, cross-stitch, Debbie, family, Giveaways, Gooseberry Patch, vegetable, zucchinni
Special Eggs in a Basket
Life, it seems, has been crazy for all of us here at Threaded Together since the last post we put up was Chocolate Pretzel Pieces before Valentine’s Day. I don’t know about everyone else, but I am HOPING beyond hope that my life is about to slow down a bit. I am a high school teacher and just finished coaching Girls Indoor Track for my school. My girls placed 3rd overall in the STATE, which is HUGE, but I am SOOOOO glad it is over. I will now have more time to be organized at home (thanks hubby for carrying the housework load for the last four months!), get some projects done that I WANT to do, and SLEEP! Yes, SLEEP!!! Track meet days were literally 17 hour work days. No joke. Now that I am five months pregnant, those days have been pretty rough to handle! So I am hoping this will mean more opportunity to post on our little bloggy blog.
This little project was actually another thing I did for my family on Valentine’s Day, but any day is a good one to show your loved ones that you are thinking about them!
Eggs in a basket is simply another way of cooking your morning eggs (some people call it chicken in a basket). You cut a hole into a piece of bread, put the bread in a greased hot skillet, crack the egg into the hole in the bread, and cook it! When it’s time, you flip the entire thing over – bread and egg together and cook to desired doneness.
My children only like to eat their eggs scrambled, so I had to mix them up first. To make the meal special for a special day, I used heart-shaped cookie cutters to cut the bread instead of a circle (any round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter will work if doing the round method).
I put the heart cut-outs in the toaster oven and covered them in raspberry jam. Eggs, toast, and jam! What a great breakfast! YUM!
Special Eggs in a Basket
- 1 egg
- 1 slice bread of your choice (I use honey wheat for everything)
Place a medium or large skillet on the stove top on medium-high heat (whatever you usually cook your eggs on). Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut a hole in the middle of the slice of bread (make sure the cookie cutter will create a hole large enough to hold the entire egg – which expands while it cooks!). Place bread onto greased skillet and immediately crack egg into the hole in the bread. Cook to desired doneness on that side and flip. Cook until completely done. Remove from skillet with a spatula and enjoy!
Black Bean & Rice Salad
This recipe can be filed under “Quick & Easy” for your weekly menu rotations … Now that the holidays are over, everyone is trying to get back into the groove of jam-packed schedules. I tore this recipe from Three Many Cooks out of the newspaper last spring and have made it in assorted variations several times since — this version is my favorite. It makes a great meatless main dish, but I make it on a regular basis so I’ll have something substantial to take to work for lunch … other than an occasional lunch out with work buddies, I would much rather save my “going-out” funds for spending time relaxing over good food with friends and family (which is not only good for the budget, but also much better for the “healthy” eating I’m trying to do these days)!! Even with the “splurge” of feta cheese (actually the “splurge” is probably the cherry tomatoes — good grief — just cut up a tomato!), I don’t think it costs more than $5-6 to make a large bowlful to enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup uncooked white rice – cooked per standard directions and cooled (I tried it early in my experimenting with this recipe using brown rice and didn’t like it as well, but I’m going to try it again since I’m still working on that “eating healthier” theme)
- 1 cup fresh corn kernels (or thawed frozen corn)
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (or 2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced)
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 4-6 green onions, chopped
- about ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (more or less, depending on how much you love cilantro!)
- Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
- Lime wedges for garnish and to add an extra little kick
Dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 4 tsps. Lime juice (you can substitute lemon
juice, but I think lime was better for this recipe)
Directions:
Combine the cooled rice, beans, corn, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and cilantro. Make sure you cool the rice before mixing with other ingredients or the feta cheese will melt. The pictures which follow are actually from a double batch I made a while back. This is also one of those recipes that can easily be “stretched” if you are feeding a crowd. You can double the rice and dressing and you still have a good salad; the other flavors will just not be as intense.
Wisk the olive oil and lime juice and pour over rice mixture. Chill in the refrigerator at least one hour before serving. Serve with lime (or lemon) wedges. Salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!
Homemade Tomato Sauce (or Where I Learn to Peel a Tomato)
My husband is adhering to a strict Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and I have been trying to be the supportive wife. It hasn’t been that difficult once I realized I have lost 13 pounds since we started the diet!!!
There is a lot of information out there about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (just google the term!) so I am not going to go into lots of detail (and the information is extensive!) but basically it means we have gotten rid of all processed and boxed food (which we had been slowly getting rid of anyway), white sugars and flours (the kids and I use wheat flour and I do use white sugar in some baked goods that my husband doesn’t eat but my husband has to use almond flour), and buy organic when we can. We make a lot of what we eat from scratch now and the diet is similar to the Paleo diet.
Enter the homemade tomato sauce. Do you realize how many recipes call for tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes or paste? I didn’t until my husband told me that canned tomatoes et. al were off the list. Tomatoes and homemade sauces made following the SCD directions are both fine. I sort of followed a recipe and made my own homemade tomato sauce.
Ingredients:
10 tomatoes
1/2 cup of basil (1/2 a cup?!?! seriously?)
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 medium onion
The first thing you have to do is peel and de-seed your tomatoes. Supposedly, the easiest way to do this is to drop the tomatoes into boiling water for one minute.
Amazingly, this is what happens:
Move the tomatoes into a bowl until they are cool enough to peel. The skin of the tomato falls right off. To de-seed them, the directions that I read said to cut them in half and squeeze the seeds out.
Um…okay…
Squeeze, squish, splat…
So, when I cut the tomato it didn’t exactly cut in half perfectly so there was tomato flesh instead of seed. I ended up just ripping the tomatoes apart and taking the seeds out. My kitchen was a disaster. My hands were covered in tomato juice so I couldn’t take a picture of it for you.
Cook the onions, 2 tablespoons of oil, and three pressed garlic cloves in a large pot until soft. Crush up the tomatoes and add them to the pot. Instead of crushing them, I put them in my food processor. I also added about 3-4 cups of tomato juice (which is SCD legal).
Add the basil. The recipe I (kind of) used said to use 1/2 cup. Measuring out half a cup worried me but I dumped it all in the pot.
Simmer on the stove until the liquid has evaporated.
The recipe makes about 2.5 cups without the juice. With the tomato juice added, I got about 4.5 cups of sauce. I bagged the sauce up in 1/2 cup bags to freeze for use in the future.
And the verdict?
The tomato sauce was a hit. My husband is planning homemade pizza (with almond flour crust) for dinner tonight and I think he is happy that I don’t have to keep asking if he is sure that he can’t have canned stewed tomatoes! I thought that I added a ridiculous amount of basil but it wasn’t overpowering. I didn’t add any salt or any other seasonings so it might need a little bit of salt if it is used as a pizza sauce rather than a mix-in.
Now if I find a recipe that calls for tomato sauce, canned tomatoes or tomato past, I have a substitute ready to go!
Grilled Chicken & Zucchini Wraps
A few weeks ago, I shared a great seafood salad recipe from Gooseberry Patch’s 101 Soups, Salads and Sandwiches. Since I shared that recipe, I have made the salad at least three times. It is the perfect meal for me because I am watching what I eat. I am able to make a big enough salad to last a couple of meals and it makes for a healthy lunch.
We recently tried another recipe from the book that was just as healthy and delicious.
Grilled Chicken & Zucchini Wraps
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 to 6 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2c ranch salad dressing, divided
8 10inch whole-grain flour tortillas
8 leaves of lettuce
Brush chicken and zucchini with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Grill until cooked thoroughly. Doesn’t that look awesome?! Chicken, zucchini and steak (for my husband, not related to this recip!)…yum!
For the record, we have never grilled zucchini and have never grilled chicken with just olive oil, salt and pepper. I am amazed at how tasty it was with no added calories from sauces or marinades!
Slice cooked chicken into strips. For each wrap, spead one tablespoon of salad dressing on a tortilla (we used a carb control wheat tortilla). Top with a lettuce leaf (we used romaine), chicken strips, and zucchini.
Sprinkle with cheese of your choice (we used cheddar), roll up, and enjoy.
Aunt Christine’s Cheese Ball
Yep, just checked the calendar and it is December 23. How did that happen? Are you ready? Do you need a quick appetizer? You just might have all of the ingredients on hand for this one, and it is quick and easy! If you have a food processor, it will be even quicker and easier!! This cheese ball is always a crowd favorite — as in, they-practically-lick-the-plate-clean favorite! We call it “Aunt Christine’s Cheese Ball” because I got the recipe from my sister about 20 years ago.
Ingredients:
1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
½ tsp. season salt
1 ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 green onions
1 package luncheon meat, thinly sliced (the cheap stuff!)
Directions:
Finely chop the green onions. Chop the luncheon meat (I like to use Buddig beef), reserve half. Combine the remaining beef, onions and all other ingredients.
Refrigerate for a while so that it isn’t “sticky”; form into a ball and roll the ball in the remaining chopped beef. Serve with crackers.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a health, safe, and Happy New Year with friends and family.
Tags: Appetizer, Christmas, Cooking, Debbie, Entertaining
Gooseberry Patch 101 Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches Giveaway Winner
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Gooseberry Patch cookbook giveaway. It was so fun to read about everyone’s favorite soups, salads, and sandwiches…so many tasty choices!
The winner, selected randomly by a random number generator, was Sandra W. who said that her favorite was “Potato soup and my own recipe for Curried Chicken Salad. MMMMM!!!”
Congratulations Sandra! Please email me at jennifer at twokidsandamap dot com or use the contact form as soon as possible (within three days) with your contact information to confirm the prize! I wonder if we could talk you into sharing your curried chicken salad on our site!?!
Stay tuned! I will be sharing some more recipes from the cookbook and we will have another early review for you soon!
Tags: Giveaways, Gooseberry Patch
Beef Tortellini Soup
October is one of my favorite months…I love the sights, smells, and tastes of fall! Even here along the Florida Gulf Coast there is a little chill in the air, especially in the evening. I was done with soups last spring, now I’m tired of salads — it is time again for soup! This is one of my favorites, and it is also one of those easy-to-keep-all-of-the-ingredients-on-hand-in-case-you-have-impromptu-company kind of recipes. It is fairly economical and healthy, and can even be made meatless (but then I would probably “beef” up the veggies).
I love this recipe and it is very “forgiving” … if you can’t find frozen French cut green beans, then use canned. If you’re watching the budget, get a bag of
frozen tortellini and use those cute little bouillon cubes with water for the beef broth. Every ingredient can be adjusted to taste, or doubled/tripled to
make a larger pot of soup. In fact, this is such a rich, hearty soup, if you’re trying to stretch it for a large group (or for extra leftovers!) you can just add
2-3 more cups of water and an extra bouillon cube without it tasting “watered down”!
Note: This recipe doesn’t lend itself well to the crock pot … the tortellini tend to absorb the liquid and EXPLODE in size.
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained (I also rinse mine with hot water)
1 large can crushed tomatoes
6 cups of beef broth
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 package frozen French
cut green beans
1 – 9 oz. package “fresh” cheese tortellini (usually found in refrigerator section of your local grocery store)
1 medium zucchini, grated (skin on)
1 tsp. dried basil
Grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Directions:
In a large pot on top of the stove, cook the onions in the beef broth until tender.
Add all of the other ingredients, except for the tortellini. Bring to a boil and then lower heat, cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tortellini and cook until done.
Serve with a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese (optional).
Serve with a salad and nice crusty bread and you’ve got a hearty meal to chase the chill away!
Makes 4-6 servings.
Enjoy!
