Healthy Wraps

I recently had a veggie sub from Jimmy John's and thought it was really good!  I wanted to re-create it but wanted to make it a little bit healthier so I used a whole wheat tortilla shell and made it a wrap.  I loved how it turned out! :)  If I were to use meat on this, I think a couple of slices of bacon would be a great addition.  I didn't measure any of the ingredients in the avocado spread, just sort of winged it.

1 Wheat Tortilla Shell

Sliced Cucumber

Provolone

Shredded Iceburg Lettuce

Avocado Spread - 1 avocado, juice from half a lemon, minced garlic, fresh cracked black pepper, diced red onion (whipped in my food processor to make it really smooth)

Mustard - to taste

Black Pepper - to taste



 

Another New Recipe

As a side dish to go with our bbq pulled pork sandwiches, I made roasted garlic and parmesan angel hair pasta.  This recipe will work with any pasta but I had angel hair on hand.  It was pretty easy, very tasty and best of all, the whole family loved it!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 lb. your choice of pasta

4 heads of garlic

Drizzle olive oil

2 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Pinchful of oregano leaves

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Directions

Cook the pasta noodles as directed on the package.

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut off the tops of the garlic heads and place them in a small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and place a small piece of foil over the top, so the tops don’t burn.

Roast for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool until you can handle them, about 5 minutes.

Squeeze the roasted garlic into a small bowl or chopper/food processor.

Add another drizzle of olive oil, the parmesan cheese, oregano leaves, salt and pepper.

Mash well, or chop until “paste” forms.

Once the noodles are cooked and drained, add the paste and toss together.

Trying A New Recipe

I'm not a huge fan of pork.  I love bacon (of course!) and ham but have never been crazy about pork roasts, chops, etc.  In the past few years, however, I've been to gatherings where they roasted a pig and had pulled pork for sandwiches.  It's always so good!  So today I'm using my crock pot to cook a pork roast and we'll hopefully have pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.  I found this recipe and it just looked good!  The recipe is for ribs but it was also suggested to use with a roast for pulled pork.

For the Ribs

• 1 cup barbecue sauce


• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke


• 1 large onion, sliced into rings


• 1 large apple, sliced into rings


• 5-6 pounds country style pork ribs  (or roast)


• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

The Rub

• 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika


• 1 tablespoon sugar


• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, finely ground


• 1 1/2 teaspoons mustard powder


• 1 tablespoon chili powder


• 1 tablespoon ground cumin


• 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper


• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic


• 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Mix the liquid smoke into the barbecue sauce and set aside.


2. Layer onion in the bottom of the slower cooker. Layer the sliced apples over the onions.


3. Mix all the rub ingredients together. Rub all over the ribs.


4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet. Brown the ribs on all sides. You may have to work in batches. Add remaining olive oil to the skillet if needed.


5. To the slow cooker, add a layer of ribs (start with any that contain bones) on top of the apples and onions. Cover those ribs with about 1/3 cup of the barbecue sauce mixture, brushing on to cover the meat.


6. Layer remaining ribs on top of the first layer and pour on the rest of the barbecue sauce. Use a brush to ensure all ribs are covered.


7. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high 4-5 hours.

 

Fruity Goodness

I've starting drinking smoothies in the mornings, as a way of incorporating more fruits and vegetables in to my diet, and yesterday I had the best tasting one yet!  We always have clementine oranges and bananas on hand and I found a recipe that called for those and almond milk.  It was delicious and super simple!

1 clementine orange, peeled and sectioned

1 banana, cut up and frozen

1 c. almond milk

Pour milk in blender first, add clementine and banana.  Blend until smooth.  Easy and tasty!

Mandarins in Light Syrup

After canning the chicken soup, I felt I wanted to do some more.  Seriously, I think I have an addiction!  :)  I was looking online and found a recipe for canning mandarin oranges.  So off to the store we went and I picked up three boxes, thinking that they're so small, I would need a ton to get a good batch.  I went a little bit overboard but that's ok!  That's just more to put in the cupboard for my family.  When all was said and done, after doing it two different days, I ended up with 13 pints and 8 half pints.  The recipe couldn't have been more simple!

Peel mandarins and remove as much of the pith as possible.

Make a syrup from sugar and water.  (I did a light syrup using a 3 parts water, 1 part sugar) Simmer on the stove.

Prepare jars for hot packing.

Process in water bath for 10 minutes.



 

Getting Into Canning Again

I swear, once I start canning, I don't want to stop!  The other morning I woke up, just itching to do some canning.  I realized that we were down to three jars of chicken soup and since we LOVE it, I wanted to make some more.  The bonus was that I had everything, spices, veggies, jars, lids, etc., but the chicken.  So $8-ish later and I was getting started on the chicken soup.  I use the recipe that I got from Diane, The Canning Diva.  I took a class she taught, last February, and that's what we made.  It's delicious!  As long as I can help it, we will never be without it!  It's great alone or, my favorite, over egg noodles.  You can find the recipe and many more HERE on The Canning Diva's site. :)

[caption id="attachment_4825" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pressure cooker at 10 lbs of pressure. Perfect![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4824" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Straight out of the pressure cooker. Delish![/caption]

 

Pizza Seasoning

A couple of years ago, after much trial and error, I came up with my own recipe for pizza sauce.  One of the ingredients was pizza seasoning, which came from a jar in my spice rack.  The pizza seasoning ran out a while ago, and I haven't found anything quite like it in the stores, so I decided to try to make some.  I looked at a few recipes online, to get some ideas, and I think I came up with a pretty good mixture.

Cari's Pizza Seasoning:

1 1/2 Tbsp. Dried Oregano

1 Tbsp. Dried Basil

1 tsp. Dried Rosemary

1/4 tsp. Dried Thyme

1 1/2 Tbsp. Dried Minced Onion

1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Fennel Seeds

Roughly 1/8 tsp. Black Peppercorns

Since I don't have a spice mill or mortar and pestle, I ran it through my food processor, after using the back of an ice cream scoop to break down the peppercorns.  The combination of spices smells fantastic, even Lauryn thought so,  and I can't wait to see how it tastes in my pizza sauce.

[caption id="attachment_4783" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The front jar is the pizza seasoning all mixed up.[/caption]

Crescent Chicken

I saw the recipe for Crescent Chicken on Pinterest, and thought it looked like something my family would enjoy, so I made it for dinner last night.  It was pretty good.  It reminded me of chicken and dumplings.  It calls for 2 cups of shredded chicken so I put a couple chicken breasts in my small crock pot with chicken broth, a bay leaf, basil, carrots, celery and garlic and simmered it for about 6 hours.

Crescent Chicken:

2 c. shredded chicken

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 can of cream of chicken soup

milk - fill empty soup can

1 can of large pop-out crescent rolls

salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together cream of chicken soup and milk; set aside.  Open crescent rolls and spread out.  Sprinkle cheese and shredded chicken on each one, and roll up.  Place in a 9x13 pan.  Pour over soup mixture, add salt and pepper and bake for 30 minutes.

[caption id="attachment_4767" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ready to go in the oven.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4768" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Golden brown and delicious![/caption]

 

Mini Pizzas

Tuesday we were supposed to go to a friends for a play date and lunch.  We ended up rescheduling the play date, due to the weather, and I felt I needed to do something to make up for it.  We ended up making mini pizzas for lunch.  Lauryn had so much fun making hers.  We used Pepperidge Farm garlic parmesan biscuits for the crust, my pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni and bacon.  I baked them according to the time and temperature for the biscuits and they turned out really yummy!  Later on, I cleaned the Valentine's Day drawings off of the windows in the dining room, got out the markers and we drew rainbows, pots of gold, and clovers for St. Patrick's Day.  We were bummed to have to cancel our plans but we made the most of our day.  :)

 

[caption id="attachment_4755" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Lauryn making her pizzas.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4756" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ready to go into the oven.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4757" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Lunch is served. Yum![/caption]

 

 

 

 

Ham and Cheese Sliders

I'd seen variations of these on Pinterest and thought they'd be something simple to make, that everyone would enjoy for our Christmas party.  They were a hit!

Hawaiian Rolls (12 ct)

1 lb. sliced deli ham

12 slices of cheese - Your choice  ( I did slices of mozzarella)

1 tub of Philadelphia Chive and Onion cream cheese

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 Tbsp.  Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

 

Cut rolls in half and place bottoms in a 9x13 pan.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place ham on top.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next comes the cheese.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spread the Chive and Onion Cream Cheese on the inside of the top of the roll.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a small bowl. mix melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, and Parmesan.  Pour over the sliders.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refrigerate for a couple of hours.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and tops are browned.

White Chocolate-Cherry Shortbread and White Chocolate Dipped Piroulines

White Chocolate-Cherry Shortbread

1/2 cup of maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of sugar

                   

1 cup of cold butter

                   

12 ounces of white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped

            

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

                   

2 drops red food coloring (optional)

                   

2 teaspoons of shortening

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.


• In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.


• Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.


• Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.


• In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off.  Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set.

 

White Chocolate Dipped Piroulines

1.  Melt white chocolate

2.  Dip one end of pirouline in chocolate.

3.  Place on wax paper to set.

Super yummy and easy peasy! :)

 

[caption id="attachment_4654" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Mama's Little Helper :)[/caption]

 



 

Rock Candy

I hadn't made this in years!  I'm so glad I added it to my list of treats to make this year.  I forgot how much we all like it!

 

3 3/4 c.  sugar

1 1/4 c.  light Karo syrup

1 c.  water

1 tsp. oil flavoring or 1 Tbsp. extract flavoring (I used spearmint, cinnamon and raspberry)

food coloring

powdered sugar

 

Sprinkle cookie sheet with powdered sugar and set aside.            

Combine sugar, syrup and water in a saucepan and continuously stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.            

 

Continue to cook without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees.           

Remove from heat and add food color and oil or extract.

 

Pour mixture onto prepared cookie sheet and allow to cool completely. Once completely cooled lay a clean towel over top of sheet and break candy into pieces by tapping with a hammer. Sprinkle candy again with powdered sugar.

Buckeye's

I've been meaning to post the recipes to all of the Christmas goodies I made this year. I got a lot of nice compliments on the goodie plates I made and a few people have asked for the recipes, so I'm starting with the Buckeye's.  I ended up making three batches!  I'll post the original recipe I used but I did end up using less powdered sugar in the second and third batch because the first batch seemed a little dry.  Using less powdered sugar (the recipes calls for 4 cups, I used 3-3 1/2) made them so much creamier.

 

1 1/2 cups  creamy peanut butter                                                                        

1/2 cup butter, softened                                                        

1 teaspoon vanilla extract                                                  

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar                                                                   

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips                                                                 

2 tablespoons shortening

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar with hands to form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.

Melt shortening and chocolate together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.

Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.



 

Breakfast Sandwiches

I know they say "breakfast is the most important meal of the day," but I rarely eat breakfast.  Either I lose track of time or, more often than not, my stomach isn't ready for food early in the morning.  I've been trying to make a point of eating breakfast, to help get on a better eating schedule, and to be a good example for my kids.  One thing that I've always found quick and easy, are Jimmy Dean's bacon, egg and cheese biscuits.  I only buy them when they're on sale, which isn't very often, but when we have them, I tend to grab one for breakfast.  I want to have these on hand more, so I decided to make my own.  I know I need to have different choices, and not eat these every morning, but I figured, it's a start.  They were so easy to whip up and now I have 8 of them, all wrapped up in the freezer, ready to pull out for a quick, filling breakfast.

I started by baking the bacon.  I like to bake it because it keeps it nice and flat for sandwiches.  I baked the slices at 375 for 10-12 minutes.  I used Grand's Honey Butter biscuits and cooked them according to the package.



Then I cracked 9 eggs into a bowl, added a splash of milk and a little salt and pepper, and whisked.  I poured it into my greased 9 x 13 cake pan, and baked for about 13 minutes at 35o degrees.  Long enough for the eggs to be cooked through, but not browned.



I used one of my canning jars to cut circles in the eggs.  There was a little bit of leftover egg so I saved it and Lucas will eat it tomorrow for breakfast :)



Once every thing was cooled off, it was time to assemble.  I put the cheese on the bottom, egg next, bacon on top of that and topped it with the top of the biscuit.



I wrapped each one in saran wrap, put them in freezer bags and voila!  :)  I can either put one in the fridge to thaw overnight, or take it out of the freezer, wrap it in a paper towel and microwave.  So simple!

 

Moving on to Dehydrating

I think I've done all the canning I want to do this year.  Unless I come across something else I just have to do, that is!  I spent Saturday canning chicken soup.  It's The Canning Diva's recipe, Nature's Cold & Flu Remedy and it's delicious!  With that and the beef stew I've canned, I'm ready for the cooler weather!  Now I'm moving on to dehydrating.  I made Cajun seasoned jerky yesterday and tomorrow I plan on drying apples.  I think I'm going to do a batch of mesquite jerky and a batch of banana chips soon too.

Just Two More

After I finished canning the beef stew and the applesauce, I decided I was going to do one more thing and that would be if for the year.  Well, I've changed my mind.  I'm canning caramel apple pie filling tomorrow, which was the last thing I was going to do, but I decided to do some chicken soup too.  A while back, I went to a class that a friend was teaching about canning, and we made her chicken soup.  It was delicious!  I decided I have to make some of that too!  She shares the recipe at her awesome site, The Canning Diva, along with a lot of other yummy recipes and tips about canning.  I'm going to try to give it a rest after that....but honestly, we'll see!  I truly didn't expect to get into canning as much as I have and when I find something I really want to try, it's become like an addiction, and I can't stop thinking about it until I make it!  I guess there are worse things to be addicted to, right? :)

Mmmm.....Fresh Salsa!

Last weekend, our friends, Jeff and Teresa, were here and we were talking about canning.  I mentioned that I couldn't wait to start canning salsa and they said they preferred fresh salsa.  I do too, but I also like canning it so when we get a craving, it's there.  After we talked about it though, I started the fresh salsa and had to make some.  I don't have a recipe, I just throw a few things together and it usually turns out pretty good.  Here's todays (approximate) version:

5 tomatoes - diced

2 jalapenos - finely chopped (we like it HOT so I leave all seeds/membrane in)

1 Serrano pepper - finely chopped

1 white onion - diced

3-ish Tbsp cilantro - finely chopped

4 cloves garlic - finely chopped

Lime juice

It turned out garlicky and with a nice medium heat.  Even though it made a pretty big bowl, I don't think it's going to last long :)

Crunchy Beef Burritos

I saw a commercial a few weeks back for Taco Bell's Crunchy Beef Burritos.  They sounded pretty good so the next time the kids and I picked up some lunch, I got one.  I really liked it!  About a week ago, I started craving one so instead of going to Taco Bell, I thought I'd try to make them myself.  The only problem was I couldn't find the Flamin' Hot Fritos anywhere.  I decided to substitute them with Chili Cheese Fritos instead.  They were awesome and we all loved how they turned out.  So here's how I made them:

1 lb. burger

taco seasoning

cheese queso dip

sour cream

Zatarain's Yellow Rice

burrito size tortilla shells

Chili Cheese Fritos

 

Cook rice according to package.  Brown burger and drain grease.  Add seasoning mix and water, simmer.  Warm cheese dip.  When everything is ready, warm a tortilla shell over the fire on the stove to make it pliable.  Fill with burger, rice, cheese dip, sour cream and a handful of the Fritos.  Fold in the ends and roll.  This recipe made about 5 burritos with leftovers for the next day.  Seriously and simple and very tasty!  I'm sure these are horribly fattening but, in my opinion, totally worth it! :)

My Pizza Sauce Recipe

A couple of years ago I decided to try to make my own pizza sauce.  After a little trial and error, this is what I came up with.  We love it!  If you try it, let me know what you think :)

1 (6 oz.) can of tomato paste

1 (8 oz.) can of tomato  sauce

1/4 tsp. pizza seasoning

1/4 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp.parsley

1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese

Whisk together.

*I make this early in the day and refrigerate it for a few hours so the flavors really come together :) *

Deep Dish French Bread Pizza

I made this the other night and it turned out really good!  It was simple to make and we all loved it!  Next time I'll fill it more but other than that it was great!  I'll post my recipe for pizza sauce in the next post.  Here you go:

 

[caption id="attachment_4170" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Start by scooping out the inside of a loaf of French bread.[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_4171" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Spread a generous amount of your favorite sauce in the bottom of hollowed out bread.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4172" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Add your favorite toppings.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4173" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Top with cheese.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4174" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bake at 375 of 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.[/caption]