What's for Dinner?

This morning I decided to relocate my shelf of cookbooks from the pantry to the empty bookshelf in the family room because I've started shopping at Sam's Club to try to save some money by buying in bulk, which meant I needed to make some room in my pantry. As I pulled down books and magazines and loose leaf paper, I sorted into three piles - keep, toss, donate. It was surprisingly easy to lessen the total volume by giving away the cookbooks that I haven't opened in years, or that I never opened.

When I finished the sort, I realized that the remaining books wouldn't take up nearly as much space on the pantry shelf. I greatly prefer to keep them near the food supplies, which makes it so much easier to determine if I have the required ingredients when I'm flipping through them. So they went back up on the shelf. Then I looked at the other shelves to see what else I could toss or donate. After about 40 minutes of reorganizing the remaining items on my shelves, I now have plenty of space to stock my Sam's Club shopping. And it's much easier to find my favorite recipes.

Here's a family favorite from The Stocked Kitchen cookbook, written by two authors in my community.

Cheesy Chicken Chili
Serves 6

1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken
2 Tbl olive oil
4 15 oz cans beans, white or cannellini
1 15 oz can or 2 cups chicken broth
2 cups salsa
1 tsp cumin
2 cups cheddar cheese

1. Cut chicken into 1" cubes. In stock pot over medium heat, cook chicken in olive oil until no longer pink inside.
2. Stir in beans, chicken broth, salsa and cumin.
3. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add cheddar cheese and stir until cheese is completely melted.
5. If desired, top with cheddar cheese and sour cream, and serve with tortilla chips.

Chicken Salad

What's for lunch?

When I'm home working all day, I usually look in the fridge for leftovers. When there are none, I'm often stumped for a tasty, easy lunch idea. Today I remembered this easy and fast version of Chicken Salad.

Easy Chicken Salad for One
1 frozen chicken breast cooked in microwave on high until done
1 spoonful of sour cream
1 knifeful of mayo
2 dashes of tarragon
1 dash of salt and pepper to taste

This was all I had time for today before I had to leave for an appointment. I used two chicken breasts today, so tomorrow I will add some chopped celery, apple and walnuts to the uneaten portion for my lunch.

This can be served on a lettuce leaf for a low carb lunch or on toast or stuffed in a pita pocket.

Enjoy!

Soup's On! (Again)

In the winter I love soup for lunch and dinner. And amazingly, my boys have decided they like my soup this year. And my hubby loves it, too. It is so nice to find a dinner that everyone appreciates, and they tell me!

When I make soup, it never tastes the same twice because I always play around with the quantity of the ingredients. I like the freedom to throw in more or less of whatever I have on hand.

So here is an approximation of what I do to make Chicken Noodle Soup.

Chicken Noodle Soup
1 lb chicken breast, cooked and cubed
1 onion, chopped
Splash of olive oil
5 thick carrots, chopped (or 10 skinny ones)
3 celery stalks, chopped
6 cups chicken broth
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups dry egg noodles

Saute onion in olive oil until browned. Add carrots, celery, chicken broth, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Add chicken and dry noodles. Boil 14 minutes or until noodles are cooked.

It makes enough for my family of 5 to have dinner, and I get at least 2 lunches out of it.

So, go ahead and play with the ingredients and make as much or as little as you like! Enjoy!

Frozen Fruit

Happy Wednesday.

I am going to write about a simple way to satisfy that sweet tooth I have. If you are like me and are still trying to shed those extra pounds, this might help us!

Freeze some grapes and when you crave sugar, pull them out of your freezer. I like the red seedless kind. I wash them and put them in snack size freezer bags.

I have also melted chocolate (chips or another kind you like) and dip half of a banana in it. Then I put the banana on wax paper until the chocolate is hardened. Then I freeze them. They are a very good way to satisfy that craving instead reaching for a candy bar.

If you have any other ideas on how to satisfy a sweet tooth, please post your ideas. I would love to hear them. Thank you for reading and have a fantastic day.

Ingrid

The Best Fudge EVER!

Dickinson Family Fudge

Melt 1/2 lb butter in large heavy saucepan. Add 12 oz can of evaporated milk. Add 4 1/2 cups of sugar. Put over medium heat and stir constantly until it boils, about 20 minutes. Do not stir while it boils 10 minutes. (Boil slowly.) Take off stove and add 24 oz of chocolate chips and 13 oz marshmallow fluff. Stir together. Pour into mini loaves or a large pan for cutting into pieces.

Makes 5 lbs.


Warning: Don't eat it all at once! It's dangerous to the hips, but so good crossing the lips!

Ice Cream Cake

This is a fantastic recipe.

Ice Cream Cake

1 stick of margarine or butter
1/2 package of Oreo cookies crushed. I put them in a ziploc back and crush them.
1 block of your choice of ice cream. I use Cookies and Cream, but during the holidays it is fun to use peppermint ice cream.

Melt margarine in microwave about 30 seconds. While doing this, let block of ice cream sit on counter to get soft, usually about 15 minutes.

In a Ziploc bag, crush 1/2 package of Oreo cookies. Pour cookies into a 9 x 12 pan. Add melted margarine and stir. Spead out to make crust.

Remove ice cream from carton. Slice and lay on top of cookie crust. Use a knife to spread and even out the seams and make smooth.

Refreeze over night. Before serving, set on counter for 10 minutes. This makes is easier to cut. Enjoy!

Ingrid

White Chili

Last Friday at our weekly critique group, Ann made a delicious white chili for us. I asked her to share her recipe with us. Here it is.


White Chili

One roasted chicken from the store (already cooked), meat picked off the bones and cut or torn in bite size pieces.

4 cans of pinto beans (15 oz, drained)

One 16 oz. jar of the salsa with corn and beans (I used the Meijer naturals--medium spicy)

One 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes undrained

Two teaspoons cumin

Mix all above ingredients in Crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hrs., stirring occasionally if you are there (not necessary, however). On Friday, I put it on high for 2-3 hours and it also worked fine.

This recipe is very easy to play with--I have made it with different kinds of beans and with mild salsa, too. You can also put in less cumin if you would like.

This is a super-easy recipe!

Ann

Mexican Dip

Here is a fantastic recipe from my sister, Sherrell.

Mexican Dip

Layer the following in order:

1 can of refried beans
mix together the following then layer
2 avocados mashed
2 TBSP of lemon juice
1/4 tsp of salt
1/8 tsp of pepper
mix together the following and layer
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 pkg of taco seasoning
1 bunch of green onions chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1 can of black olives chopped
1 pkg of 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese.

Then decide what you want to scoop the dip out with. You can use tortilla chips. I personally like corn chips. Enjoy!!!

Ingrid

Almond Glazed Sugar Cookies

I got this recipe from a tear-out card in a magazine years ago. It was an advertisement for Land O'Lakes butter. It is one of my favorite cookies to make for Christmas.

I just made a double batch for a celebration of Advent last night. That's why the glaze is tinted blue. :D

Almond Glazed Sugar Cookies

Cookie:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 to 5 teaspoons water

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Combine butter, sugar and almond extract in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add all remaining cookie ingredients. Beat until well mixed.
• Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness with the bottom of a buttered glass dipped in sugar.
• Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.
• Stir together all glaze ingredients in small bowl with wire whisk. Decorate cooled cookies with glaze.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for reading our blog!

Thanksgiving is a great time of year. One of my favorite recipies is from Rachel Ray. It is her version of a pumpkin role but in a fantastic little cream cheese filled individual cake. Really, they are easy to make and take a short period of time. I have made them several times and highly recommend them.

Go to RachelRay.com and type in Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. You won't regreat it. They will become a favorite!!!!!!

Ingrid.

Soup's On!

The winter is a great time to make homemade soup. And when you make your own, you can make it healthier by reducing salt and using fresh vegetables. Here's a healthy and delicious recipe for Minestrone.

Minestrone
1/4 lb turkey bacon
2 medium onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 sliced carrot
1 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped turnip
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup chopped parsley
6 cups vegetable stock or low-fat, low-salt chicken broth
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1 cup cooked white beans

Saute vegetables and then add broth and spices; cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add beans. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Goulash

Here is an easy recipe for a cold day.

Goulash

Fry up a pound of ground beef or turkey and season with salt, pepper and onion flakes.
While cooking meat, boil a half a box of macaroni noodles with salt to season. Boil for about ten minutes. Drain.

Add noodles to meat mixture along with two cans of tomato soup. Stir, simmer and enjoy. Sometimes, I put a little white sugar in it to sweeten it up. Either way, yummy.

Enjoy.

Ingrid

Easy Peasy Pizza

My kids love pizza. Whose don't? This recipe is a great way to make pizzas without a lot of work, and you can make them healthy by adding a little veggie matter to the toppings.

Easy Peasy Pizza
4 pitas
8 oz. can of Pastorelli's pizza sauce (yummy!)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella (shred it yourself and skip the potato starch in the pre-shredded bags)
Your favorite toppings - pepperoni, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, mushrooms, olives, red pepper, go crazy!

Place pitas on cookie trays, spread evenly with sauce, then cheese and toppings. Cook at 400 degrees until cheese starts to brown, about 15 minutes.

Baked Beans

Happy Wednesday. I often find myself looking forward to comfort food mid-week. Here is a great recipe that was passed on to me by a friend. Enjoy!

1 large jar of Randall's Navy Beans drained
1 chopped onion
1/2 cup catsup
1 1/4 cup of white sugar
1 tbsp of vinegar
1/2 pound of bacon (bake the bacon in the oven on a pan at 350. Then cut into small pieces and mix into the bean mixture)

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour then at 250 for 2 hours. I also make this in the crock pot on low all day.

Enjoy.

Ingrid

Ho-Ho Cake

I know it's hard to start thinking about Christmas, but here is a recipe that you don't need to wait that long to make. It's a great thing to make on a cheat day when you want to eat chocolate and feel good about yourself. I know the little girl, Gillian, in my WIP would love this!

Ho-Ho Cake

1 box of chocolate fudge cake mix (Betty Crocker)
Prepare as directed on package, cool completely.

Filling: 2/3 cup of Crisco
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp of vanilla
1 5 oz. can of evaporated milk.

Cream Crisco and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and evap. milk. Beat for 10-15 minutes. The longer the creamier it gets! :-) Spread over cool cake and refrigerate until set.

1 Tub of chocolate fudge frosting.
warm in microwave for 25 seconds, stir to soften and spread over filling. Let set.

Enjoy!

Ingrid

Apple Cake

It's autumn. One of my favorite seasons, spring is the other. Time to cook with all the delicious apples that are ripe and ready to be picked off the trees.

In my current WIP, my heroine is mother to a five-year-old girl. Apple picking and baking Apple Cake are two of their favorite fall activities. But because the book takes place in May and June, you can't read about them doing it... maybe the second book in the series will take place in the fall...

Anyway, enjoy Apple Cake. This recipe comes from my husband's father's family.

Apple Cake
1 - Combine in large bowl: 3 cups flour and 3 teaspoons baking powder.
2 - Combine in small bowl: 1 cup oil, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
3 - Combine in medium bowl: 4 eggs beaten and 2 cups sugar.

Add 2 and 3 to 1 and stir to make batter.
Core and dice 6 medium apples (you can peel them if you want or not!).
Combine 5 teaspoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a very small bowl.
In 8-inch greased and floured tube pan, pour a bottom layer of batter, then 1/2 the apples and 1/2 the sugar/cinnamon. Repeat layers.

Bake 90 to 105 minutes at 350 degrees.

Typing "The End" and Digging In!

Happy Wednesday!

This is a special week for me. As a new writer, one of the big moments is writing "The End." This happened on Sunday for me. I cried. It was fantastic. Then I wanted to eat to celebrate. :-) Why is it we always go for food when we want to celebrate and not the nearest kick-boxing class? I think we all know the answer. Because we love the way good food tastes.

Since I'm trying my best to work the Body for Life program, I couldn't eat what I wanted. So, I'm posting what I would have made if it was in my eating plan for the day. This recipe is from a very good friend of mine. It is excellent for those cooler fall days coming up. Who knows, maybe I'll make it on my next cheat day. Enjoy.

Artichoke Dip

2 - 14 oz. cans of artichokes drained and chopped
1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese. I use finely shredded.
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of mayo

Mix together and bake in a dish for 25-35 min. at 350 degrees until it looks bubbly and golden brown on top. Serve with good crackers. Best of luck not eating the whole dish at one sitting. :-)

Herb Bread

It's back to school time and all that! So, I thought I would post a recipe that makes itself while you go do something else.

It's time to get those bread machines out and put them to work. This is a family favorite recipe. We just had it last night with Beef Stew. I'll post Beef Stew in the coming weeks. It was yummy!

Herb Bread
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons instant dry milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian Herb Seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons Bread Machine Yeast

Combine ingredients in loaf pan according to bread machine instructions. Process in basic/white bread cycle; medium/normal color setting. Press start and walk away!

Strawberry-Cranberry Dessert

Happy Wednesday!

I was thinking this week about my female character in my WIP. Her name is Micaella. She is very independent, yet hates to cook. She has a three year old daughter, and I can see her making the following dessert for them both to eat. It is easy, even for the person who hates to cook.

I make it every holiday and ordinary times of the year. It is all made in a blender so no messy bowls to clean up. I hope you enjoy!

Strawberry-Cranberry Dessert

Put all ingredients in blender in the order.

1. 1 6 oz. package of suger free strawberry jello.
2. Add 1 1/2 cup of boiling water. Blend to mix. Make sure you hold the top of the blender. Sometimes the jello can leak and stain a countertop. I put a dishtowel under my blender.
3. Add 1 block of cream cheese (can use fat free). Blend.
4. 1 can of jellied cranberries. Blend.
5. 1 10 oz. unthawed tub of frozen strawberries. I get them at Meijers.
6. Blend one final time. Your blender should be full to the top.

Pour into a pretty dish. Cover and let sit until firm. Then, frost with Cool Whip.

Enjoy.

What's for lunch?

Tomorrow I will be serving my critique partners lunch at my house as we plow through our latest chapters in our WIPs (work in progress). We rotate houses every week, and it's fun to experience each other's cooking.

Ingrid is a fantastic cook. She watches the Food Channel all the time and experiments on Ann and me. I asked her to make the Strawberry Shortcake Cake from Pioneer Woman's website last week. Ingrid knocked it out of the ballpark. Oh! If you could only have tasted it! The last time Ann hosted, she made comfort food for us with a warm chicken salad with crushed potato chips on the top layer. Gotta love anything with potato chips, right?!?

When it's my turn, I tend to look for low-carb or low glycemic index foods. My body reacts violently to sugar and flour by gaining major pounds in a short period of time, so I try to keep myself stable with less carbs. This week I will be serving an easy Greek salad, crusty bread, sliced watermelon, and fudge brownies (yes, I still eat dessert! A girl still has to enjoy life!).

In my current WIP, my hero's heritage is Greek, so in honor of the Pello family. Here is a simple Greek salad.




Greek salad, or horiatiki, is a rough country salad of juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumber, sliced red onion, green pepper, crumbly feta cheese and plump kalamata olives. Serve this delightful combination as a side dish or as a light meal with some crusty bread.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic—minced

½ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and extra for garnish

3 tomatoes—cut into wedges

¼ red onion—sliced into rings

½ cucumber—sliced into thick half-moons

½ green pepper (capsicum)—julienned

4 oz (120g) feta cheese—cut into small cubes

16 kalamata olives

PLACE the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake to combine. PLACE the salad ingredients in a large bowl. POUR the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine just before serving. Garnish the Greek salad with a little freshly ground black pepper.