Cider-Glazed Chicken

This is easy and delicious.

1 T. olive oil
1 1/4 pounds thin-cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 T. oil. Coat chicken in flour and add half to skillet. Cook 2 minutes per side (more if chicken is thicker). Remove to a plate and repeat with remaining tablespoon of oil and chicken. Remove chicken to plate.
Reduce heat to medium and pour cider into skillet. Cook 1 minute, scraping up any browned bits from pan. Stir in mustard, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and simmer on medium-low, covered, for 4 minutes. Spoon sauce over chicken and rice.

Cake Pops

I did these with my Bible study tonight and they came out pretty well! (We made snowmen!)

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (and ingredients that it calls for)

1 can icing

baking chocolate wafers (chocolate chips can be used, but they're more expensive...I got the wafers in bulk at Wegman's for about half the price!)

sprinkles, colored sugar, or other decorations

skewers, if desired

Bake cake according to box directions. After it comes out of the oven, tear it up with a fork until it's all crumbs. Let it sit until it's closer to room temperature, and mix in the can of icing until it's doughy and can be shaped with your fingers. Roll dough into little balls and put on wax paper on a cookie sheet and let chill in the fridge for a few minutes.

In the meantime, melt the chocolate (I did 30-second intervals, stirring each time in between--chocolate is very easy to burn.). Prepare a cookie sheet with wax paper. Remove the cake balls from the fridge and dip in melted chocolate until covered. Add sprinkles or other decorations before the chocolate hardens!

If you want, you can put skewers in them so that they become cake pops like we did.

Cookie Dough Dip

Made with chick peas, so it's not even very bad for you!! Sushi and I made this on Wednesday and everyone loved it!!

Click here for the recipe. The girl who writes this blog has a lot of interesting variations on it that we want to try (brownie batter dip, snickerdoodle dip, pumpkin cookie dough dip...).

We served it with graham crackers, but it would probably be great with bananas or pretzels too.

Also, we only used about 3 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar and it was great.

Homemade Ravioli

This is the ravioli recipe we use to make raviolis, usually at Christmas and sometimes during the year. 

Filling:
about 3/4 lb ground pork
2 pounds ricotta cheese
8 to 12 ounces mozarella
6 to 8 eggs
1 cup Parmesan or Romano grated cheese (or other grated cheese)
salt and pepper

Mix up filling ingredients, using 6 to 8 eggs, depending on consistency of ricotta. The filling should be thick and juicy but hold together.

Dough:
Beat 2 eggs in a big bowl. Add 1½  cups cold water; beat up well. Add a little salt and pepper. Then add enough flour to make a soft and pliable dough, about 5 to 6 cups of flour. Knead dough on board.

Use small amounts to roll out. (I like using the silicone mat, rolls out very nicely. Use a fair amount of flour on your rolling pin and mat so it doesn't stick.) Drop filling in teasponfuls on half of dough, then fold over and cut with small juice glass. Place on cookie sheet that is sprinkled with cornmeal or farina.

Cook in salted water with a little oil for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bananas

I bought a pound of pre-cut butternut squash this week planning to use it in soup, but I didn't end up having the rest of the ingredients. I didn't really know what to do with the squash so I ended up improvising a little and came up with this!

Ingredients:

-butternut squash, in chunks

-2-3 bananas (depends on how much squash you want to make)

-2 Tbs olive oil

-cinnamon

-nutmeg

-allspice

Preheat the oven to 350. Toss the squash with the olive oil and spices and arrange on a jellyroll pan. Fill in the gaps on the pan with banana slices and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.

It came out really well! Roasted bananas taste like banana bread and help sweeten the squash. If I'd had canola or vegetable oil I'd probably have used that instead of olive oil, but I don't think it makes a huge difference.

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

This is a great soup for winter. It doesn't have as many fresh vegetables as I usually like but its really easy. It also gets better as it sits so its a good one to make the night before.

2 (15 ounce) cans Black Beans drained and rinsed

1 yellow onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

½ Tbsp olive oil

1 (14 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp cumin

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 can (15 ounce) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 Tablespoon Balsalmic Vinegar

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in a large soup pot over high heat stirring frequently until the onion begins to soften (5 to 10 minutes). Lower heat to medium and continue to sauté stirring occasionally (10 minutes) until onion is tender and translucent.

Add the tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper and sauté until the tomatoes begin to break down and give off juices (about 5 to 10 minutes). Pour in stock, pumpkin, vinegar and beans. Bring soup to boil. Lower heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove soup from heat and let stand until cool enough to puree. Puree soup, heat and serve.

Butternut Squash and Chickpea Soup

This is good. The red pepper gives it a kick. Good for the fall with the butternut squash, which I bought already cut up at Giant.

1 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
2-inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 15-ounced cans diced tomatoes
juice of one lemon (I used lemon juice in jar)
1 ounce dried tart cherries (raisins or other dried fruit may be substituted)
1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about two cups)
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Israeli couscous
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 t. crushed red pepper
1/4 t. salt for taste

Saute onions in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon stick, stir for one minute. Add tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients except for salt. Turn up heat and bring to simmer. Turn to low and let simmer for 30 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired. Yields six servings.

Molasses crinkles

These are really yummy to make in the fall/winter

Ingredients:
3/4 c shortening
1 egg
1/4 c molasses (spray the measuring cup with cooking spray before you pour it and it will come right out when you add it to the bowl)
1 c sugar
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ground ginger
2 c flour

Directions:
I usually just mix together all the ingredients except the flour and then add that in last. Form the dough into 1" balls and roll in white or raw (demerara) sugar. Bake about 2" apart on a greased cookie sheet for 10 min @ 350 degrees ( might need to go ~1 minute extra on a stone). I usually let them cool for a few minutes before removing from the baking sheets. Makes ~3-4 dozen.

Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

I made these for Peter's birthday last week and they came out really well!

Click here for the original recipe. I changed a few things, though:

-I used another cup of chopped pecans instead of the dates because I don't like dates. I think raisins would work well, too.

-I added a teaspoon of nutmeg to the dough. I would recommend adding any other pumpkin pie spice that you have, too--I would've added cloves if we'd had any.

-I used store-bought whipped cream cheese frosting instead of the recipe they provide for caramel frosting.

I ended up refrigerating the dough overnight because I didn't want to stay up really late baking them. I'm not sure if that changes anything. They didn't spread out at all when they baked.

Stir Fried Vegetables and Pasta

I’ve recently been cooking this dish a lot in the dorm. It’s pretty quick and easy and I think it tastes good! The quantities are completely up to you, I have no idea how much I use. I really just eyeball it. It also depends on how much of each flavor you prefer. You can always add more soy sauce later on when you’re eating if you feel it’s lacking.

I like to start cooking the vegetables when the pasta is almost cooked to save on time.

Ingredients:

Pasta of your preference

Frozen stir-fry vegetables (I just buy the pack from the grocery store. The one I’ve been using consists of broccoli, carrots, onions, water chestnut, celery, and green beans)

Cooking oil or vegetable oil (not olive oil)

Garlic powder

Ginger powder

Chicken stalk (optional and only about a teaspoon for one serving of this dish)

Soy sauce

Oyster sauce (not essential)

Procedure:

Cook the pasta to your liking and strain.

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add vegetables. Add garlic powder and ginger powder. When vegetables are heated through, add pasta. Like in a stir fry, you don’t need to cook the vegetables very much. Add chicken stalk, soy sauce and a little bit of oyster sauce. Basically just cook a little until it’s dry.

That is all.

P.S.
You can buy some sort of Asian chili sauce to eat with the dish if you like. I prefer Thai chili sauce.

Chicken Masala

This is a pretty simple chicken masala recipe. In Indian cuisine, masala usually means the dish has curry powder in it and is spicy. The curry powder I use is from home. I have yet to try this recipe with a curry powder you find in stores, but the curry powder I use is red rather than yellow and is spicy because it has chili powder mixed in. Unfortunately, I’m not very familiar with the curry powders you can find in stores but I’m sure it’ll work just as well!

For the onion, you can really use red or white. I have tried both but personally prefer red onions because they’re more like the onions I use back home. As far as fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, and cloves go, you don’t HAVE to use all of them. If you don’t like cloves, take them out! These ingredients basically flavor the oil.

I’m really not the best cook and my estimations are often off (a lot of my quantities here are estimated) so hopefully you are a decent cook (of course you are!) and can judge the amounts as you go. I think I estimated pretty well this time though.

Ingredients:

For Marinade:

1 tbsp Curry powder

1 tsp Ginger powder

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 to 2 tbsp Honey (just enough to make a thick paste when mixed together. I say 1 to 2 because I can’t remember exactly.)

1 tsp Salt

For the Rest:

Vegetable oil or cooking oil (not olive oil)

½ tsp Cumin seeds

½ tsp Fennel seeds

1 stick Cinnamon, cut into 2 or 3 pieces (I like to sort of whack it with the blade of the knife because you can’t really cut a stick of cinnamon like you cut a green bean. If it’s not too strong, you can also just break the stick by hand).

8-10 whole Cloves

Onion, chopped (I would say about a quarter of an onion considering how HUGE onions are here)

4 Chicken breasts

Procedure:

Cut chicken breasts into cubes (I like to cut them into roughly ¾ inch cubes) and set aside.

Combine curry powder, ginger powder, garlic powder, and salt. Add honey to form a paste. Mix marinade into chicken (I just use my hands to mix it in a bowl). Transfer to a ziploc bag and allow chicken to marinate as long as you like. If you don’t have time to let the chicken marinate for a long time, no worries! It works just as well if you don’t let it sit.

When you’re ready to cook it all up, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a frying pan (less oil if you’re using a non-stick pan). Add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cinnamon, and cloves. Toss it around a little, the cinnamon stick will get darker. Then add the onions and cook until the onions start to change color. Finally add the chicken cubes and cook until the meat is cooked through.

P.S.
If you like drumsticks and wings, you can use this recipe as well. Just don’t cut the chicken into cubes, and be prepared to cook the chicken longer. Also I would suggest covering the chicken while it’s cooking so as not to burn the outside while trying to cook the inside. Sometimes liquid will collect because the pan is covered; so just take the cover off when the chicken is almost cooked to dry up the liquid.

Also, feel free to experiment with quantities for the marinade. Those are just the quantities I think I use.

White Chicken Chili

This is Greg's favorite.

1 T. vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped (1 cup)
3 cups chicken broth
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
2 T. lime juice
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. red pepper sauce
1/4 t. salt
1 can white shoepeg corn, drained (I use frozen)
2 15-ounce cans canelloni beans, drained
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast

Heat oil in heavy pot over medium heat. cook onions and garlic in oil, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except chicken. heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes. Stir in chicken; simmer until hot. You can serve this with sour cream if desired.

Chicken Marsala

This was really good, especially the second day. I looked on youtube for a tutorial on how to flatten the chicken breasts. It is a little pricey for one person, though, unless you have the appropriate wines or good substitutes lying around.

Citrus-Curry Quinoa Salad

I had this salad at John's aunt and uncle's anniversary party in New York and it was amazing. John's cousin Chuck had made it and gave me the recipe at the party because I wanted to make it for our People of Praise picnic the next day. He told me the ingredients and I was able to remember it (that's amazing!). It was really good. I had to use regular quinoa but the red quinoa is better. Also I substituted orange juice for the citrus juice mixture and it was just as good. Here it is:

2 cups cooked red quinoa
1/2 cup diced apples with skins
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup sliced raw amonds
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 golden raisins (I actually used cut-up dried cherries)
1/2 cup diced red pepper

Dressing: (makes enough for two recipes)
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup grapefruit, orange, and lemon juice (I used all OJ)
1 T. pure maple syrup
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. curry powder
pinch of salt

Mix together salad ingredients. Mix together dressing ingredients and whisk. Pour over and chill.

Slow cooker sausage and tortellini soup

Another slow cooker recipe... once the weather gets cold I am using mine all the time. This meal is easy (only one thing to cut up) and the ingredients are stable so you can work it around your schedule. Makes 8-10 servings.

Ingredients:
2 14.5oz cans Italian-style stewed tomatoes
3 cups water
1 10.5oz can condensed French onion soup
2 cups frozen cut green beans
14oz cooked smoked turkey sausage,halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/2" pieces
2 cups packaged cabbage and carrot coleslaw mix
9oz package refrigerated cheese tortellini

Directions:
Combine undrained tomatoes, water, soup, green beans, and sausage in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Stir in coleslaw mix and tortellini and cook an additional 15 minutes on high. Top with parmesan cheese to serve.

A Healthier Egg Strata

I often make an egg strata that is delicious but has lots of saturated fat in it because it uses pork sausage. I tried this version last week when Nana was down and it was really good. I used whole grain bread instead of white and it was fine. I didn't have to fry up the sausage, which made it really quick to put together. You can use other types of chicken sausage and vary the type of cheese.

1 lb precooked chicken sausage with spinach and garlic, without casings
6 eggs beaten
2 cups skim milk
6 pieces whole grain bread, heels removed
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cut sausage in small pieces. Remove heels from bread and cube. Beat the eggs with the milk, then add bread and sausage. Place in slightly greased casserole dish (9 x 13). Cover with shredded cheese. This must sit overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, cook at 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. It serves at least 8 people, sometimes more.

Pasta alla vodka

This is really easy to make but it is one of our favorite dinners. It is spicy and very rich so it is a nice special meal to make every once in a while. Makes 6-8 servings.

Ingredients:
1 lb spicy chicken sausage (turkey or pork is fine too), casings removed
1 T olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
1 t salt
1/2 t crushed red pepper
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes in puree
1 lb dry penne
1 cup whipping cream
2 T vodka
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring to break up, until cooked through (around 6-8 minutes). Transfer cooked sausage to a plate lined with paper towels. Wipe skillet out with a paper towel. Heat olive oil in same skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, salt, and red pepper and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and stir to blend. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare pasta al dente according to package directions. When pasta is drained, add sausage, whipped cream, and vodka to sauce, stir to combine, and poor over pasta and stir. Cover and let sit for 2-4 minutes to let pasta absorb the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Slow cooker Texas staple chili

This is really easy because most of the ingredients come from your pantry except the pork, which I usually buy and freeze so I can defrost whenever and make this. It is a little spicy so you can always top with cheese or sour cream and serve with cornbread to take down the heat. Makes ~6 servings.

Ingredients:
2 lb pork tenderloin (can also use 1 lb pork tenderloin and 1 lb boneless beef chuck steak), cut into 1" pieces
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 10oz cans rotel (diced tomatoes w/ green chiles), drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c chopped red onion
2 T chili powder
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
1/8 t ground cinnamon
12oz beer

Directions:
In a large zip-loc plastic bag, combine pork and flour, seal, and shake to coat. Mix pork with all remaining ingredients in slow-cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours or high for 3.5-4.5 hours.

Microwave mashed potatoes

Thise are a nice shortcut side dish. Peel and cut up (1" pieces) about 1.5 lbs of potatoes and place them in a large microwave safe dish (not sure if tupperware would be good for this, glass is probably best). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cut a 1" slit in the middle. Microwave on high for 10 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and definitely use potholders to remove. Add about 3/4 cup milk, salt and pepper to taste, and mash. You could reduce the milk slightly and add a little sour cream or yogurt, or add chives or garlic powder or anything else you would like. Makes about 4 cups.

Slow cooker chicken paprikash

This is really easy and good, and pretty healthy as well. Serve over spaetzle (German egg noodles) or regular egg noodles or rice. It makes about 6 servings.

Ingredients:
3 T all-purpose flour
2 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2in strips (I usually just use whole frozen chicken tenders from Costco that I've thawed a day ahead in the fridge)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c shredded carrot
2 T Hungarian sweet paprika (regular paprika is fine)
4 cloves miced garlic
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
8oz package pre-sliced mushrooms
1 small can tomato paste (tip: open both ends of the can and then push the whole thing through with one end, much easier than trying to scrape it out with a spatula)
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups light sour cream

Directions:
Combine flour and chicken in a gallon ziploc bag, close and shake to coat well. Add chicken and all other ingridents except sour cream to slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Turn off slow cooker and let mixture cool a bit while you boil whatever you're serving it with. Stir in sour cream just before serving.

Pop Tart Toast

A healthy(er), quick version of pop tarts!!

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread

butter

your favorite jam

Spread a thin layer of butter on both pieces of bread, leaving a little bit of room around the edges. Spread jam on one of the pieces, making sure not to get too close to the edge. Put the pieces of bread together, butter- and jam-side in. Trim off the crusts with a knife and fork the edges (like ravioli!) so that the bread stays together. Then...put it in the toaster!

I tried this twice today (with one piece of bread cut in half, which is perfectly snack-sized) with butter and strawberry jam and then with peanut butter, cinnamon and sugar. It's so fun! I was a little worried it wouldn't actually stay together in the toaster, but it was fine.

One word of warning, though--since it's thicker than one slice of toast would be, the bread is much closer to the coils inside the toaster. Don't toast it for as long as you would a single slice--it'll burn!

Dinner Omelet

The other night Sushi and I made one big omelet for both of us for dinner. We used:

4 eggs

2 egg whites

1/2 can canned chicken (they sell it at Costco; I wouldn't eat it plain but it works well as an ingredient)

1 tomato

1/4 cup mushrooms

1/4 onion

fresh cilantro

spinach, cut into pieces

garlic powder

shredded cheese

We sauteed the mushrooms and onions first and put them aside in a bowl. Then we beat the eggs and egg whites (using just the egg whites for a few makes it fluffier) and poured it into a dinner plate-sized frying pan. We added all the ingredients and let it cook. Because we didn't want to deal with flipping it, we just covered the pan and cooked it on a lower temperature for longer--and then we were able to just remove it from the pan when it was done, without worrying about making a mess of turning it over. Then we just cut it in half. It was the perfect amount of food for 2!

Pasta Vazule (or Pasta Fagoli)

So we say it the first way but it's really spelled the second way. This is a very cheap and tasty soup that will last several days. I'm going to estimate amounts because I don't really use a recipe.

2 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic crushed (or 2 large ones)
salt (at least one teaspoon) and pepper
1 teaspoon each oregano and basil
1 to 2 cups tomato sauce (depending how "red" you want it)
1 15-ounce can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
12 cups water or 4 cups chicken broth and 8 cups water
1 pound pasta, preferably elbows and whole wheat

Heat oil in large stock pot. Saute garlic on low and add spices. Then add  the tomato sauce. Let simmer for a few minutes, then add beans. Simmer a few minutes more, then add broth/water. Bring to a boil. Boil pasta until al dente. Serve with grated parmesan cheese. Good left over!

I've always wanted to add some veges to this, like leaf spinach, to make it a little healthier. I'll let you know if it works next time I make it.

Mixed Vegetables

Frozen vegetables are perfect for one person -- they never go bad, so a good variety can be kept on hand at all times. I've been using them a lot. These days, the "mixed vegetables" packages have my attention. It's basically a great way to add a healthy assortment of veggies to any meal, salads especially. And you don't have to chop or wash anything. Steam a quarter to a half a bag, drain them and pour over the whole salad and you instantly add nutrition and taste. I'm sure there are more applications. Think about wraps, soups, etc.

Greek Yogurt Substitutes

I bought some Greek yogurt the other day and the back of the container had this website. It has a bunch of recipe ideas for yogurt and Greek yogurt substitutes. I mentioned it to Mom, and she suggested I post it. Check it out! The stuffed French toast looks pretty good to me...

Easy and Tasty Couscous

You can do just about anything with couscous, but over the summer Laura and I devised a nice little combination of ingredients for a fast, easy, and very tasty couscous casserole. Also, it's very likely that you will already have the ingredients at home. Just combine:

-Couscous
-Corn (we used frozen corn)
-Spinach (we used chopped frozen spinach, too)
-Craisins

Steam the corn and the spinach and add them to the cooked couscous along with some craisins and you're all set. We just eyeballed it on the proportions -- use your judgment there.

Tuna Melt

I'm still figuring out the ins and outs of grocery shopping, which has left me with a somewhat random assortment of food. I haven't accumulated a whole lot yet so today I made do with what I had: tuna, bread, and cheese!

Ingredients:

1 slice of bread (your choice; I used whole wheat)

1 can tuna

garlic powder

2-3 Tbs shredded cheese or 2 slices cheese

Toast the bread until it's dark brown; you need it to stand up to the tuna without getting soggy, so leave it in the toaster for a little longer than you would normally. Mix some garlic powder into the tuna and stir. I didn't add any mayonnaise; with the cheese, you don't really need it. Top the piece of toast with the tuna (there's probably enough in one can for two slices if you want more than one) and the cheese. Microwave it for 30 seconds, or until the cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Chicken and Mushrooms

This is very quick and easy and tastes good.

1 T. olive oil
1/4 c. chopped onions
1 pound chicken breast
1 can cream of mushroom soup (use Campbell's Healthy Request; less sodium and fat)
1 to 2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup water or wine if desired

Heat oil in skillet. Either pound out breasts or cut in half horizontally so they are not too thick. When oil is heated, saute onions. Add breasts and brown on both sides. Add salt and pepper if desired. Add mushrooms and saute lightly; then add mushroom and water or wine. Bring to light boil, then lower and cover for 15 to 20  minutes to allow chicken to cook through. Serve over rice.

Coffee Oatmeal

So I've found yet another way to incorporate caffeine into my daily life...

The other day, I was inspired to make oatmeal using freshly brewed coffee instead of hot water or milk. Add about a half cup (or more, depending on whether you like your oatmeal thick or soupy) and add coffee creamer and sugar/Splenda to taste. You don't need to microwave it, just stir after you add coffee to the oats. And there you go! Your whole breakfast in a bowl: tasty, caffeinated oatmeal.

Disclaimer: I'm not sure any of you would actually like this (though I genuinely do!). In part I just want to encourage creativity with oatmeal. It's a terrific vessel for lots of things--fruit, granola, peanut butter...

Also, I've only tried it with instant oats, not regular, but I assume it would still work with the regular kind.

Quick and Easy Italian Noodles and Sausage

This is my stand-by -- I made a big pot last week and I'm still finishing it up. All you need is:

1 box of pasta of your choice (I go for elbows)
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes (even better if you can find one with basil or garlic or something else inside too)
1 package turkey sausage -- Italian
fresh garlic or garlic powder
basil, fresh or dry
oregano

Just boil up the noodles and cook the sausage -- if you get that pre-cooked Costco sausage you may just need to microwave it a little. Slice up the sausage and fry the garlic in olive oil in a big skillet with the garlic and oregano. Add the noodles, the sausage, and the cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, and mix it up over medium-low heat for a while. Nothing too special, but it's really easy to store those ingredients if you're in college, and it's great to use as leftovers for lunches or dinners by yourself.

Berry banana smoothies

I make these once in a while as a snack/dessert. They are great on a hot day! It makes 2 pretty big glasses or 3 smallish ones. The measurements are pretty eyeballed but you can always add more to taste and re-blend.
Combine in a blender:
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 frozen bananas (peel and break up when they are getting too ripe and store in a zip-loc bag)
1/3 package frozen mixed berries
2 packets splenda

Pour in soy milk or orange juice (don't need the splenda if you use OJ) to about cover the ingredients and blend until smooth. If the blender gets stuck add a little more liquid and blend again.

Using orange juice makes it a little sweeter and using soy milk makes it a little creamier.

Greek Yogurt in Potato Salad

I've always wanted to substitute plain, nonfat Greek yogurt for mayonnaise in potato salad and other salads because it would make these types of salads so much healthier. So today I tried it, and it's really good -- in fact, I like it better than mayonnaise. I used it in Michele Maguire's famous potato salad, which is my favorite. Here's the recipe I used:

2.5 lbs potatoes
2 T salad soil
2.5 T. cider vinegar
2 T. finely chopped onions
1 t. salt
1/2 t. dill seed ( very important, has to be the seed, and it is what makes this so good)
3/4 c. mayonnaise but I substituted all the mayo for Greek yogurt

You cook the potatoes, peel them, and then mix all the ingredients besides the potatoes and onions together and pour over and mix up. We're going to have it tonight for Laura's friends.

Brownies

Colleen brought over homemade brownies last week that had peanut butter in them. She made regular brownies, then heated up a cup of peanut butter until it was soft and liquidy. Then she swirled it around in the brownie mixture already in the pan with a knife. They were amazing.

And this really works: to get clean edges, cut the brownies with a PLASTIC KNIFE! And you can cut them while they are still warm. I tried this last week when I made brownies for Greg's going-away party. Worked really well.

Laura's lemon pesto

I've been wanting to try adding lemon to pesto sauce for the last couple weeks--and since our basil plants have grown so big I decided to give it a shot. I didn't measure everything as I was adding it to the blender (sorry) so some of these amounts are approximate.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1-2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon
1/4 - 1/2 cup pine nuts
Salt and pepper

Tear up basil leaves into smaller pieces before putting in the blender or food processor. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic; blend. Add the zest of the lemon to the mixture. Squeeze the juice of one half of the lemon into the mixture (cut side facing up; that way, the seeds won't fall into the pesto). Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more olive oil as needed for consistency (I think I ended up using about 1/4 cup. Mine was a thicker pesto--and did not make as much--but if you wanted to stretch the recipe or get a thinner consistency you could add more olive oil and some water.). Remove from blender and add pine nuts.

When I made this it only amounted to about a cup of pesto; we spread it over chicken. Enjoy! :)

~Laura