We are home and busy!

We arrived home late Monday night, just in time to see the Cubs win their game. We unpacked Tuesday, did laundry,  bought 1-1/2 bushels of apples to put up, and watched the Cubs win. I have lived my life with diehard Cubs fans.

On Wednesday, I finally bought groceries. I've been busy - the apples are almost done - the last crockpot will be done soon. I have these three apples left. I kept them to make Apple Pie Tacos, a recipe I saw online.

I've made lots of crockpot applesauce no additions, just apples, dehydrated sliced apples, dehydrated apple chips with cinnamon, and now I'm dehydrating applesauce. It supposed to turn out a little chewy. I made some plain 'blobs' and some with cinnamon. We should know how they are tomorrow.

I've tried a couple other recipes this week too. This Cheesy Baked Asparagus was good. We aren't big on asparagus but we'd both eat this again.

I also made Butternut Squash Au Gratin. We really liked it but it makes LOTS! We've had it twice. I'm thinking about freezing the rest for later. That's bacon on the top.

Two of the grandkids' quilts need to have the binding sewn down, another is pinned and ready to quilt.

We are leaving on a short trip Monday celebrating my birthday. We are headed to Hamilton, Missouri to the Missouri Star Quilt Company. I'm packing light - I might need room in the van for all of my purchases!

Cookie Baking

Our Annual Pre-Christmas Cookie Baking with son Brent and his family did not happen. There just wasn't time. But whoever said you had to do cutout cookies before Christmas? We did them on New Year's Eve. 

Brent, Mack, and Griffin came to help Grandma and Grandpa make cookies. Emily was busy at home and sent the guys. 

Everyone put on aprons and then had a quick lesson on using the "roller" as Mack named the rolling pin. Mack like rolling out dough - he rolled out his dough after each cookie!

Griffy learned so much that he could used the "roller" while looking the other way!

 They cut out cookies using lots of flour! You never have too much flour!

 They decorated cookies using lots of sprinkles and sugars.

 They frosted some of the cookies and then decorated them.

Dough was tasted. Frosting was tasted. Cookies were sampled. A good time was had by all!

Baked Oatmeal

The other evening, I was at church, making noodles with some other "church basement ladies". It was lots of fun and I learned some things. I've made pasta before but I'll do much better next time! Anyway, we had lots of egg whites left over and were splitting them up amongst us. I mentioned that I'd probably use some to make baked oatmeal and no one had ever heard of it! 

I make it often and I love having it in the freezer ready to go for breakfast. 

I use the Mayo Clinic's recipe. You can see the recipe and the nutritional analysis at this link.

Mayo Clinic's Baked Oatmeal

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
Egg substitute equivalent to 2 eggs, or 4 egg whites
3 cups uncooked rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup skim milk

Directions

In a good-sized bowl, stir together oil, applesauce, sugar and eggs. Add dry ingredients and milk. Mix well. Spray a 9-by-13 baking pan generously with cooking spray. Spoon oatmeal mixture into pan. Bake uncovered at 350 F for 30 minutes.

My notes: Sometimes I use 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg. I freeze individual pieces, wrapped and stored in a ziploc bag. I pop a frozen piece in the microwave for 60 seconds. If the piece isn't frozen, 30 seconds in the microwave is perfect.

Vitamix update

Our Vitamix arrived in late July. Since then we've been home a grand total of 5 days! So we are whipping things up like mad! 


We've had smoothies:

Banana Blueberry Orange Smoothie (above) from Vitamix cookbook (I used milk instead of water and added yellow squash) Good!


Summer Blush Smoothie from Vitamix cookbook (I used milk instead of water and added yellow squash) Good!


Our Own Smoothie (milk, Greek yogurt, banana, strawberries, blueberries, yellow squash, chia seeds) Good!


Watermelon Smoothie (watermelon, Greek yogurt, sugar, ginger, almond extract, and ice) Good!


Banana Mango Smoothie (mango, banana, milk, honey, vanilla, I added Greek yogurt. ) Good but not a lot of taste. Next time I'll add some pineapple.


Carrot All Day Smoothie Recipe - (carrots, cucumber, apple, cashews, OJ, salt, yogurt) looked good but I don't think we are into vegetable smoothies!


We've had soup:

Broccoli Cheese Soup from Vitamix cookbook. (made with cauliflower due to my broccoli allergy) Good! We had steamed cauliflower pieces in the soup also.


Harvest Cheddar Soup (above) from Vitamix cookbook. Good! Next time I'll add some texture - maybe some chunks of potatoes and celery. We didn't have the bread bowls like in the above picture ;(


We've also tried:


Apple Pancakes from Vitamix cookbook - Good!


Donut Muffins from Vitamix cookbook - Good!


Peach Spice Scones from Vitamix cookbook - Good!


Peanut Butter - from a Vitamix video - Good!


Ground whole wheat from wheat berries - we have ground all of our wheat flour for these recipes!


The Vitamix Lady lists five magic vegetables that can be added to fruit and other drinks and the taste magically disappears - you don't know you are drinking vegetables! The five are cabbage, spinach, carrots, yellow squash, and zucchini. Just use 1/3 to 1/2 cup of whichever one(s) you'd like. It really does work!


We've started adding chia seeds to many of the things we blend. There is no taste and if we ever get tired of them, we can grow some chia pets!


We are learning. We are eating healthier - even more whole foods. I am spending more time in the kitchen. And most of the time, we are enjoying whatever I make! 


I do love my new gadget!

Our Vitamix is here!

We've been waiting and waiting for 7 days.  It finally came this morning. 

Our Vitamix.

After watching the instructional DVD, Ray wanted to try Peach Ice Cream. So about 10:30 this morning, we were eating Peach Yogurt Freeze. It was cold, frozen, ready to eat, and good when we finished mixing it!


Then we decided to have Cauliflower Cheese Soup for lunch. It was hot, ready to eat, and good when we finished mixing it!


I think it's about time for afternoon smoothies!


This machine is amazing  and we haven't even tried the dry grains container yet. I can't wait to grind some grains into flour and then make bread. 


We really need to buy some groceries... why didn't we do that while we were waiting???

Boboti

I am constantly looking for new recipes - this wonderful way of eating is causing me to be in the kitchen a lot more! I kind of took a break from cooking this past year and now I need to get away from all of this comfort/convenience food. My most recent find is from the Pots and Pins blog.

Boboti is a South African meat pie. Although it uses a lot of spices, it is not really spicy. We both really enjoyed this!

It is not the most appetizing looking dish!

Boboti

Boboti is cooked in a bread-loaf pan and when it is unmolded it holds it's shape (mine kind of did!), looking just like any meatloaf.  But when sliced it crumbles (we didn't slice, we used a spoon!).  Serve Boboti over mashed potatoes, with roasted potatoes, with rice, or with a salad.

cooking spray

1 1/2 lbs. uncooked lean ground beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 cup raisins - I left these out

2 bay leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon curry

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

zest from half a large lemon

juice from half a large lemon

1/4 cup dry red wine (I used beef bouillon)

3 tablespoons Major Grey's Mango Chutney (I found this at Piggly Wiggly near BBQ sauce)

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat a 9-inch bread loaf pan with cooking spray. 

Cook meat until no longer pink, breaking it up with a wood spoon as it cooks.  Drain meat. Set aside. 

In same skillet, over medium-high heat, combine onion, apple, carrot, raisins and bay leaves and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic and all of the spices, lemon zest and juice, and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Stir meat into vegetable mixture and add bread crumbs.  Pour in wine and scrape the sides and bottom of skillet to loosen up any stuck pieces of food.  Simmer mixture, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes; remove from heat.  Remove bay leaves.  Stir in chutney.  Spoon mixture into prepared pan and press down with back of wooden spoon. 

In a small bowl combine eggs and milk, whisk together.  Pour over the top of the meat mixture, tilting pan to evenly coat top.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until egg mixture on top is set.  Let cool slightly before unmolding and cutting.  Serves 6 to 8.

The Saga of our KitchenAid Mixer

Our mixer broke the week before Thanksgiving. The little silver thing on the front of the mixer fell into the bowl while the mixer was running. Just like that ~ a funny noise and the beaters would not turn!

I began searching and learned about worm gears. I found videos on youtube. When we could not find a repair person, I ordered a worm gear assembly (it was cheaper than a worm gear!) and some grease from MarBeck.com. Of course, everything arrived AFTER Thanksgiving - we had whipped cream from a can on our pie this year ;( 

Ray got tools, we got this video going, and we (he) replaced the worm gear assembly and all of the black grease. We, the unfixit people, fixed it - or so we thought! When we turned it on, there was NO power! Back to the internet. What do we know about brushes? Ray found an article and we tried unsuccessfully to fix them.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I'd better start shopping - I NEEDED a mixer. Before moving our mixer to the basement or the garbage, I decided one more try. I removed those brushes and tried one more time - HOLY COW, the connection was made! We had power and the beaters turned!

I haven't had a chance to use the mixer until today. It is time to make cookies. I wondered if it would actually work with dough - it does! 

Hard to believe but WE FIXED IT!

There is definitely a need for KitchenAid mixer repair people - so if we decide to be un-retired, maybe we'll apply!

Bread and Soup

It was a little cooler today and I decided to cook - something I haven't done much of lately. 

I saw a recipe for soup the other day that looked really good. You can see the original at Cinnamon Girl. 

I could not easily buy sweet potatoes, Cannellini beans, fresh parsley, or fresh thyme. But I figured the soup would still be fine. I did not make the Parmesan dumplings because I didn't think they would freeze well. We will be trying them sometime soon though.

I also made cornbread. The recipe is from Our Best Bites. I have made this before but this time I'll will be freezing some. 


Vegetable Soup (with my changes in red - I'm sure the original way is good too! I'll plan ahead next time and get to a bigger grocery store.)

olive oil

2 yellow onions, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 large carrots, sliced into rounds

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, crushed between fingers

1/3 cup tomato paste

a couple pinches of red pepper flakes

4 large white potatoes, no sweet potatoes

       2 large sweet potatoes, cubed             

       2 large white potatoes, cubed

2 medium zucchini, cubed

1 can butter beans, 1 can great northern beans    

       2 cans (14 ounce) Cannellini beans, rinsed, drained

1½ Tablespoon parsley flakes

       1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped          

1 teaspoon dried thyme

       4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed   

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 cups water

*dumplings: I didn’t make these – we used pasta.

1 cup flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt and fresh black pepper

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, fresh grated

1/2 cup milk + 1 tablespoon

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. In a large soup or stock pot heat enough olive oil to generously cover bottom of pan over medium-low heat; add onion, celery, carrot, garlic and bay leaves. Season well with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is soft, stirring often. Add Italian seasoning, tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Cook additional 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

2. Add potatoes and zucchini, toss with onion mixture and cook 3-4 more minutes, stirring often. Add beans, broth, water, parsley, thyme, 1teaspoon salt, lots of fresh cracked black pepper. Bring to a simmer, cook about 25 minutes, tasting the broth often and seasoning as needed. Remove bay leafs.

3. In a medium bowl whisk sifted flour with baking powder, salt and a couple of cracks of black pepper. Whisk in Parmesan cheese. In a separate small bowl combine milk and oil. Pour over flour mixture and stir until combined. Drop by teaspoonfuls into simmering soup. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes.

*Instead of dumplings, cook half pound of small macaroni like tubettini. Don't mix the macaroni into the soup (will suck up all the broth). Instead spoon cooked macaroni into bowl and pour soup over top for serving.

Cornbread - This is sweet and cake like.

1 yellow cake mix

2 Jiffy cornbread mixes

Oil, milk, and eggs according to package directions

Preheat oven according to directions on cake mix box. Combine cake mix and cornbread mixes in a large bowl. Add eggs, oil, and milk according to package directions (replace all water with milk). Mix together.

This makes a lot of cornbread - 24 muffins and a pie plate or 12 muffins and a 9X13" pan. Or whatever you want.

Just bake according to cake mix directions (15 - 20 minutes for muffins or 30 minutes for a 9x13 pan") until a toothpick comes out clean.

Loving Farmers' Markets

I love Farmers' Markets. I could go everyday! 

We went to the market in Elizabeth on Friday night - our first real market this year.  

My favorite vendors are John and Sara - before I retired, I taught with John. 

We also bought produce from a gardener here in town Saturday.

So last night I cooked! Cooking is something new in my recovery. 

Ray grilled burgers (beef from John and Sara). 

I fixed red potatoes (from John and Sara), green beens (from John and Sara), yellow beens (from market) and sweet corn (from John and Sara). 

Of course, I forgot to take pictures - I was so excited to be fixing an almost whole meal! Anyway, the Illinois Farm Bureau posted a recipe on Facebook yesterday for bacon wrapped green bean bundles . 

This is the recipe photo. You might want to try them - really good!

Tonight I cooked again! Ray grilled pork chops (from John and Sarah) - wonderful!

I fixed green beens (from John and Sara) using a recipe I got from Lori - wonderful!

And sweet corn - yes, already. It was from John and Sara! Wonderful!

Also a little zucchini from John and Sara. Very good!

We had a little bread from some wonderful baker at the market. 

We ate over half of it before tonight!

As if that wasn't enough, we had fresh raspberries for dessert (from a local gardener) - wonderful!

And we just had to add a little cool whip!

I just love going to the Farmers' Market and then eating the bounty!

Pie in a Jar

I've seen these on the Our Best Bites blog and just had to try them. So a while back I ordered the squatty 1/2 pint jars. 

I decided I had to use prepared pie crust if I wanted to make them now. They really were not much work since all the fruit was ready in the freezer.

Here are some apple pies with crumb topping. 

They are unbaked and in the freezer now.

We have a couple of peach pies

and a couple of raspberry peach pies.

I'm ready to eat!