Breakfast Pizza

Biscuit crust:
2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening, make a well in the center. Add milk and stir just until moistened(don't over mix.)

Topping:
(adjust toppings to your taste.)
1 pound sausage, browned and drained
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 pkg frozen hash browns, thawed
2 cups shredded cheese
9 eggs, beaten with salt and pepper added

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8x13 pan. Roll out biscuit crust and place in bottom of pan, pressing 1" up sides. Top with sausage and veggies and cheese. Pour beaten eggs on top and bake for 30-45 minutes or until center is set.

Lemon Bread

1 3/4 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 c oil
2 t lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
1 t sugar
2 T lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and 1/2" up sides of an 8x4x2 loaf pan. Stir together flour, 3/4 c sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, mix the beaten egg, oil, milk, and 1 T lemon juice. Fold in lemon zest. Spoon into pan, bake 50-55 minutes. Stir together 2T lemon juice and 1 T sugar. Brush over the loaf when it comes out of the oven.

Baked French Toast Casserole

5 cups bread cubes
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, divided
dash nutmeg, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 pan. Place bread cubes in pan. Beat eggs, beat in milk, salt, vanilla, 2T of sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over bread cubes, let stand 10 minutes. Combine remaining 2T sugar with 1 t cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden.

Kitchen Clutter

That is what I think of most kitchen gadgets. Clutter that you may have rushed to use once when you bought it, but now sits cluttering up your cabinets or taking up valuable counterspace gathering dust. Here is my list of useless gadgets that I won't buy or that I regret buying(these are my personal opinions and preferences, depending on my personal cooking needs:)

-Giant Stand Mixer with detachable clutter. I know you have one of these!!
-Iced Tea Maker
-Machine just for cooking rice.
-Vacuum sealer
-Expensive, but useless, cake decorating accordion thingie. (I was better off with my tip-and-baggie routine)
-Kitchen scissors that have 50 different uses, and cost $50. For scissors. They had better iron my laundry.
-Panini maker
-Small electric grill
-Machine that does nothing well but it intended to slice and grate stuff.
-Tiny food choppers, both electric and the kind you hit(again, and again)
-Anything with missing parts, or accessories you always intended to buy, but just haven't gotten around to it.
-Expensive machines made with one recipe in mind.
-Cheap machines made with one recipe in mind.
-Cheaply made gadgets that you can't bear to throw away because you spent so much money on them.
- Anything you bought after watching the infomercial for it for an hour.
I think you catch my drift, or should I go on??

Now here is my list of gadgets I love and cannot do without. And I have very limited countertop and cabinet space, so you know these are necessities!

-A Good Blender, not necessarily an expensive one, but a quality made one. Mine is an Osterizer with a glass jar. I have had it for about 8 years. The glass jar is a must for me.
-Food and Rice Steamer, mine is not this one, but looks like this:
I received this as a gift, and it is one of the most used gadgets in my house. Fantastic for healthy cooking. A Godsend. Pros:I can cook rice below and steam broccoli above. Or steam two kinds of veggies simultaneously. Vegetables are always cooked evenly and perfectly to my taste. Wash them, put them in, set the timer and walk away. Rice is never scorched.
Cons: rice takes a bit longer to cook than on the stove top. Food has to cook longer when both baskets are full, so allow extra time. Planning ahead is a must. And so is seasoning.





-Large Slow Cooker. Mine is 7 quarts. Love it.

-Food Processor. I just got one. I think mine holds 10 cups. It is sort of like this one.

Got this about a month ago, and I have already used it to slice veggies, grate, puree soups, cut butter into flour for shortbread, and lots more.I made graham cracker crumbs in 10 seconds, then added sugar and drizzled in melted butter, and Voila! Graham cracker crust in less than 30 seconds. It is not as difficult to clean as I feared, and the parts are dishwasher safe. I would not recommend sticking a plastic spoon down the chute, however. Never never do that. Bad idea.

-Cast iron griddle. I bought mine at least 9 years ago unseasoned in the camping supply aisle for ten bucks, I think. Seasoning it was no big deal, and it was inexpensive. I use it all the time. It rarely leaves my stove. I think it came with instructions on how to season it, I rubbed oil on it and heated it on the burner, then repeated a couple times. Never put this in the dishwasher, or submerse in water. Wipe it down with a paper towel and salt to clean it. If you must wash with soap and water, I turn on the burner under it to dry it quickly so it doesn't rust. I make tortillas on it, quesadillas, grilled cheese, pancakes, tons of stuff.

-A good hand mixer. Doesn't have to cost a lot of money. I received mine for a wedding present 10 years ago, and it is a champ. It also comes with a case which keeps me from losing the beaters and such.
-A good peeler. Find one that is comfortable in your hand and WORKS. Important detail.
-an electric griddle. Again, none of the pictures are exactly what I have, but as close as I could find without taking my own pictures. Which I am too lazy to do.
Pros:You can make burgers and hotdogs on a rainy or cold day. You can make bacon, and the grease gets deposited in a little drawer for easy disposal. Make 6 slices of French toast simultaneously, or several pancakes, depending on the size. Mine has a thermostat I set for the temperature I want to cook at(325 for perfect French Toast, by the way.)
Cons: There is a slant to it for the grease to drain, so take care when pouring batter close to the edge.
-A set of quality cookware. Find which type you like and go with it. I bought a set of stainless steel pans for $20 bucks at a tool sale. No joke. So far, they work just as well as the heavy skillet and dutch oven I paid more for individually than the whole lot of 'em. So don't think you have to pay thousands for cookware. I have a large saucepan and a small skillet I love to make omelets with that are nonstick, but the rest is the stainless for me.
-One good chef's knife. You don't have to have 10,000 different knives for every purpose, one good chef knife does almost everything for me. And you can get a much better quality chef knife for less than a whole set of lesser knives.
-Baking dishes. I have a set of glass Pyrex dishes that have all the standard size pans in it, 4 muffin pans, and 4 cookie sheets. Those are all necessities for me. There are a couple more I may invest in in the future, but for now these serve my purposes.

So here is my challenge to you: take an objective look at your kitchen. What things do you really use? Get rid of stuff you don't. Donate it, or sell it if you feel like it is worth a couple bucks. Clearing out some of the clutter really is cathartic!

Apple Muffins

Made with fresh apples, these are healthy and so scrumptious! Substitute an artificial sweetener for the sugar, if you want to cut even more calories.

2 cups apples, peeled and chopped

4 cups flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

----------------

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 cups water

2 beaten eggs

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. I would not recommend paper liners for this recipe.
Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add apples and stir to coat. In a separate bowl, stir together eggs, water and applesauce. Make a well in the conter of the dry mixture and pour in the wet mixture. Stir gently just until combined, do not over mix or your muffins will be tough. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes, don't overbake. Makes 3 dozen. Store tightly covered. They can be frozen.

Per muffin: 82 calories, .4 grams fat, .6 grams fiber

Crock Pot White Chicken Enchiladas

2 onions, chopped
2-3 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 can diced green chile
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can corn, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
1 t salt
1 t cumin
1 t coriander(opt.)
1 t chili powder
1 t garlic
20-24 corn tortillas, cut into wedges
1/2 cup milk or water, if needed
2 cups shredded cheese, cheddar or your favorite

Spray a large pot with cooking spray. Spray crockpot and turn on low.
Add onion and saute on medium high for 5 minutes. Add green chile and chicken, stir in seasonings. Add cream of chicken, corn, and beans, add milk or water if the sauce seems too thick. Spread a thin layer of sauce in the crock pot, then a layer of tortilla wedges. Continue layering tortillas, then sauce until you use the last of the sauce. Top with cheese and cover. Cook on low 2-3 hours, or high 1- 1 1/2 until cheese is melted and starts to bubble up.

"Crab" Spaghetti

1 pound whole wheat thin spaghetti
2-4 T Olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2-3 small zucchini, halved and sliced into 1/2" slices
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 8 oz pkg imitation crab
about 10 leaves fresh basil
salt to taste

Heat olive oil in large skillet, saute onion and zucchini until tender, about 15 minutes. Add garlic during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
While that is cooking, boil water and cook spaghetti according to package directions.
Take the crab out of the package and cut into bite size pieces. Add to the top of the cooked zucchini mixture, don't stir it in yet, cover and turn the heat down to low. Heat until crab is hot, then gently toss together. Turn off heat.
When spaghetti is al dente, drain and return to pot. Add zucchini and crab mixture, toss gently and salt to taste. Tear basil up and top individual portions with it.

Strawberry Muffins

Try making these with blueberries or peaches!

4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 t baking soda
1 t cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon
2 c sliced strawberries(I halved them before slicing)
2 beaten eggs
2 c water
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray(do not use liners, they will stick!)
Combine dry ingredients, gently stir in strawberries. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to dry mixture. Stir just until combined, don't mix too much. Fill muffin tin halfway full and bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges start to look golden(do not overbake.)
This recipe made 3 dozen muffins for me, which makes them 55 calories each.

Pizza Dough/Foccacia Dough

Pizza Dough

9 Cups Flour
1 Tbsp Salt
3 cups very warm water
2 Tbsp Yeast
¼ cup sugar
½ cup powdered milk
1/2 cup olive oil(or whatever you have)

In large bowl, combine flour and salt, set aside. In medium bowl, stir sugar into warm water, then add yeast. Wait 10 minutes for yeast to bloom, then add powdered milk and oil. Add medium bowl mixture to large bowl and mix. Let rest 10 minutes, then knead until smooth. Place in oiled bowl and turn over. Cover with plastic wrap or cloth and let rise 1 hour. Roll into pizza crust, let rise 15 minutes. Bake crusts 8-10 minutes at 425 degrees, then add pizza toppings and bake 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Can also wrap crusts up and freeze after baking the first time.

I actually used this pizza dough recipe to make the focaccia(I saw it on Emeril.) I made a couple pizzas out of the dough and used the rest to make focaccia bread to freeze for later. After rising the first time: for focaccia shape it into about a 12" circle about 1/2" thick. Press your finger into it and make indentations all over about 1" apart. Cover and let sit a minute while making the topping.

Topping:
1 large onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
Saute onion in olive oil with rosemary and oregano for about 3 minutes, then let cool slightly. Spread on top of Focaccia dough, cover and let rise 30 minutes or until double in size. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Original Pancake Recipe

This is a large recipe.
3 cups flour
3 cups milk(may need to add up to 1/2 cup for desired thickness.)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon oil
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Batter will be lumpy. Add additional milk if batter is too thick. Pour circles of batter onto a hot griddle. Turn over when edges start to dry and bubbles on the surface start to pop. Cook other side a minute or two until browned, then remove from griddle. Top as desired with butter, syrup or fruit.
Cook all batter, any leftover pancakes will freeze and reheat well.

Biscuits and Beef

This name is boring, if you try this recipe, please give me ideas for better names!

1 pound ground beef
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
2 Tablespoons oil
1 large onion, diced
1/2 teapoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper(or to taste)
2 cups shredded cheese

Biscuit Batter:
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortning
1 1/2 cups milk


Preheat oven to 450.  Cook potatoes in oil 5 minutes on medium heat or until tender.  Add onions and cook until they are also tender, the potatoes will brown a bit, that is good.  Add ground beef and season with salt and pepper, brown.  Drain that mixture well.  While it is cooking, put the flour, salt and baking powder in medium mixing bowl with shortning.  Cut it with a fork or pastry cutter until the shortning is all mixed into the flour.  Stir in milk, it will be a lumpy.  Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and place ground beef mixture in the bottom of it.  Top with cheese and then batter over everything.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until it is golden brown on top.  Cut and serve.

Taco seasoning from scratch

You can use this as a base for seasoning your Mexican food when you don't have the store bought kind.

2 Tablespoons ground cumin
2 Tablespoons red chili powder
1 Tablespoon garlic salt

Mix together, store tightly sealed if you don't use it all.  Season to taste tacos, burritos and sauces.

Chicken and Eggplant Tostadas

1 eggplant, cubed
3-4 yellow squash, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, diced
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 large can green chile
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 can cream of chicken soup
------
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup water
taco seasoning, see my recipe if you don't have it on hand.
------
precooked tostada shells
cheese, salsa and sour cream, if desired

Saute onion and squash in large pot for 10 minutes.  Add eggplant and saute until tender.  Add cream of chicken and simmer 10 minutes.
-----
Cube chicken breasts and simmer 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.  Shred and season with taco seasoning.
-----To serve:
Top one tostada shell with eggplant, then 2 Tablespoons or so of chicken, then top with desired toppings.

Pizza Pasta

1/2 pound Penne

1/2 jar  of your favorite pasta sauce

2 cups Mozzarella cheese

12 pepperonis

Boil Penne according to package directions, drain and place in skillet with a lid(I also boiled mine in this deep skillet.)  While the pasta is draining, pour the sauce into the skillet and bring it to a simmer.  Add pasta and gently fold in.  Top with cheese and pepperoni.  If you have an oven-friendly skillet you can place it in the oven to melt the cheese.  I did not, mine has a plastic handle I would like to keep, so this is what I did:  After placing pepperonis on top, put the skillet lid on and put the heat on as low as it will go.  Heat for 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts.  Be careful not to have the heat on too high, you don't want the pasta to stick on the bottom.

Another Attempt to Replicate Grandpa's Chili Beans

2 pounds dry beans

2 large onions, diced

1 7oz can green chile, diced

1 can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1 Tablespoon garlic salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 or 2 Tablespoons corn starch

Water

1. Soak beans according to package directions.  Drain the liquid out.  Saute onions with cooking spray in skillet.

 2. Place beans in Crock-Pot with onions and chiles and about 11 cups water, set it on high. Simmer without lifting lid for 8 hours. 

Pay attention: if the water starts to run out, you may need to add more boiling hot water, but try not to add too much water or lift the lid unless necessary. 

3. After 8 hours in the slow cooker, brown the ground beef with the spices and add it and the tomato sauce.  4. Dissolve one tablespoon of cornstarch in 1/4 cup water and add it to thicken.  You may need to add another tablespoon depending on the thickness desired.  Taste it and add more salt if desired.

You want it spicy?  I roasted 3 fresh jalepenos and another green chile from the garden, chopped them and added them as well.  I let them cool after roasting and peeled them wearing gloves.

Quick Creamy Noodles

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, diced
garlic salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound egg noodles
1/4 cup(1/2 cube) butter or margarine
1 cup milk
2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Brown ground beef and onions together, season with the garlic salt and pepper.  Boil egg noodles  in large pot according to package directions, drain well.  When ground beef is done and onions are tender, add butter, milk and soup.  Simmer while egg noodles finish cooking.  After draining noodles, place them back in the pot and add skillet contents.  Fold in gently, simmer a few more minutes if desired, and serve.

Hot Jalepeno Squash

Hot, hot, hot!!

4 small yellow squash
2 small onions
1/4 cup bottled or canned jalepenos, chopped(use half for medium heat)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425. Peel squash, quarter lengthwise and slice in 1/4" slices.  Dice onions, chop jalepenos.  Mix squash, onion and jalepeno in a large mixing bowl with garlic salt.  Spray 9x13 casserole dish and add contents of the bowl.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and cover with foil.  Bake 45 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 15 minutes more or until breadcrumbs brown.  Leftovers are even hotter the next day.

Andy's Chicken(Cream Cheese Chicken)

A huge hit from the last family reunion...my cousin Andy and his wife's contribution

4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 package dry italian dressing mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
milk(enough to fill soup can halfway)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
Place chicken in crock-pot with italian dressing mix. Let cook for one hour. Stir. Add the can of cream of mushroom soup, then fill the can halfway with milk and add that to the crock-pot. Stir. Cut up the cream cheese into a few pieces and add that to the crockpot, then cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours. Serve over rice. Serves 4.

Alternate quick cooking method: Brown chicken on stove with seasoning mix. Add other ingredients and simmer on low for 30 min.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts
1 cup cornstarch
salt/ pepper
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup oil

Sauce:
3/4c brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce.
4 tablespoon ketchup
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic salt

1 can pineapple chunks, with juice, optional.

Cut chicken into cubes and season with salt and pepper and dip in cornstarch, then egg. Fry until brown, not cooked through. Place in single layer in baking dish. Mix sauce and pour over. Bake 1/2 hr. @ 325 degrees. Turn over every 15 minutes. Make another batch of sauce. Add 1 can pineapple- boil 6-8 minutes. To thicken dissolve 1 tbsp cornstarch in cold water and add to sauce. Bring to boil, boil another minute.

Optional: Thinly slice and lightly steam 4 carrots and 1 bell pepper. Add to sauce just before serving. As seen in picture.

Serve over rice.

Butternut Squash Soup

We saw a cooking show where they made a Butternut squash soup, this is my healthy version, sorry the measurements are not exact, but it also depends on the size of your squash.
4 Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed
2-4 cups chicken broth(maybe more)
1 onion
4-6 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon basil
Spray large pot with cooking spray. Saute garlic and onion. Add Butternut Squash cubes and saute 6 more minutes. Add parsley and basil. Add chicken broth, enough just to cover cubes. Simmer 40 minutes. Blend with hand blender until smooth.