Waffles with yogurt

You wish you had breakfast at my house this morning. This is one of the girls' favorites.


Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Waffles

2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ C. cooking oil
¼ C. applesauce
1 ¼ C. buttermilk
1 C. flour
¾ C. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon


Mix wet ingredients, then and add dry. Bake in hot waffle iron. Makes about six ½-cup waffles.

Spinach Pesto with Chicken

Pesto pasta is a great mixup to your pasta routine, and if you've got the right ingredients and a food processor, it can be prepared in less time than it takes the pasta to boil.  Last night, I started cooking at 6:10 and we were eating by 6:30 - yeah!!  Fresh basil is expensive and requires planning ahead, in my mind, but fresh spinach is cheap and almost always in my drawer so using it with dried basil is a great fake and the only way my kids will consume spinach.  I have seen pesto recipes with all kinds of different nuts, so you can substitute the almonds for walnuts, if you need to.

Audrey isn't a fan of the strong garlic flavor, but Travis says that 1 clove is on the weak side for him!  However, if you reheat the leftovers, then the garlic gets cooked and is much less strong.  But, then it's not as creamy/cheesy, and the spinach gets cooked too, so it's pretty much a different dish.

I apologize in advance if the amounts aren't quite right - I don't ever measure when I make this (handfuls and approximations, especially the olive oil).  But considering that, I probably use a different amount each time and it's always tasty, so the pressure's off, right?  Also, I often leave out the chicken, mostly because I'm forgetful.

Spinach Pesto

1 lb penne or bowtie pasta

¼ C. sliced almonds

1 large clove garlic - peeled

1/3 C. parmesan cheese

½ - ¾ bag fresh spinach (fill the food processor)

½ tsp. dried basil

Salt and pepper

3 T. olive oil

1 chicken breast (cooked, diced)

 
Boil the pasta in salted water.  Add the spinach, almonds, garlic, basil, and cheese to the food processor and grind into a nice mush.  Add in 3 T. olive oil, until it starts looking creamy, then transfer to the bottom of the pasta serving dish and season with pepper and salt (doesn't need much).  Reheat the chicken.  When the pasta is done cooking, drain and add to the sauce, along with the chicken.  Stir thoroughly and serve.

Carrot Cake

I made just a couple of minor adjustments to a carrot cake recipe that I found about a year ago.  I have it saved as "Earthbound Farms Carrot Cake."  My version added whole wheat flour and applesauce, which I find to be pretty standard substitutions when I bake things like this.  As you can see from the picture, I omitted all nuts, for the girls' preference.  I also can get by with 3/4 of the amount of frosting in this recipe, because the cake is just so tasty it doesn't really need the extra amount.  The girls and I get to gobble this one up, because, again, the cream cheese is "awful".  I really do make stuff that Travis likes, honestly! I'll start posting those soon. :)

Carrot Cake

1 1/3 C. flour

2/3 C. whole wheat flour

2 C. sugar

1 T. cinnamon (or a little less)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

4 large eggs

½ C. oil

1 C. applesauce

2 tsp. vanilla

3 packed cups grated carrots (about 1 lb.)

1 C. chopped walnuts or pecans (opt.)

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 T. butter, softened

4 C. powdered sugar

1 T. vanilla

1 T. milk or water

2 C. chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine flour à baking powder.  Combine eggs, oil, vanilla, and add dry ingredients. Add the carrots and nuts, and stir to combine.

Evenly divide the batter between two 9-inch heavily buttered and floured cakepans.  Bake at 325° for 55-65 min, until a toothpick is clean and edges have pulled away from the side of the pans. Let the layers cool completely on wire racks, about 1 hour.

While cooling, make the frosting.  Cream together the butter and cream cheese, then incorporate the powdered sugar slowly and beat until fully incorporated and smooth, about 3 min.  Add vanilla and beat until just combined.  If too stiff, add 1 T. milk or water, and if too runny, add the last of the powdered sugar.

Remove cakes from pans and layer with frosting.  Press the nuts onto the side of the cake.  Cake can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 1 week.

Creamed Eggs on Toast

This is so simple and delicious, but it's definitely a lunch dish at our house because of dear hubby's avoidance of cream sauces.  This recipe makes enough for two adults, or one hungry mom and two kids. My mom used to make it for lunch when we would get home from preschool, so it's fun to make it with my own 4YO now!

Creamed Eggs on Toast

1 T. butter

1 T. flour

¾ to 1 C. milk, depending on how saucy you prefer

Salt and pepper

2 hard boiled eggs

4 pieces of toast

Melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the flour.  Cook until bubbly and roasted-smelling, but not browned. Add the milk, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil.  Slice and chop the eggs, and add to the cream sauce.  Serve over toast.

I used 3/4 C. milk today and it was thick enough that Emily made hers into a very sloppy sandwich, but it's also good with more sauce.  It's also really good with peas, but I have one pea-hater so I just added them to my own plate today for lunch.  Delicious, and pretty too!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I made this for my girls to eat with their aunt and uncle and cousin while I went out to have dinner with some girlfriends.  I think there are only 2 or 3 ingredients in the recipe that Travis will tolerate, so needless to say, we don't have this often.  It's a bit more work than I prefer to do for lunches, but when I do make it, the girls inhale it.  It's pretty rich, so I like to have something like pickles with it, or a bit of red wine vinegar sprinkled over top. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole – Kristin’s twist

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

1 C. milk

Salt & pepper

1 C. grated cheddar

¼ of a medium onion, grated

1 can cream of mushroom soup

¼ C. sour cream

3 C. noodles, partially cooked

1 7-oz. can tuna

2 hard boiled eggs

Potato chips

Melt butter in skillet, and sauté onions; add flour and let cook.  Add milk, and heat until thickened.  Season with salt and pepper; add cheese, soup and sour cream.  Add noodles, tuna, and chopped eggs, (½ C. frozen peas, optional) and mix well.  Add to casserole dish, and top with crushed potato chips.  Bake at 325° for 65 – 70 min. OR: 15 min in microwave w/o potato chips and 5 minutes in oven with.

Egg Nog Bread Pudding

Updated: Adding a picture I had taken of this. Also added some cinnamon and sugar to the eggnog version, as it needed a little more sweet after all.

I'm posting two recipes for the price of one, here.  One is my tried and true bread pudding recipe that I adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis (who didn't have any vanilla or cinnamon in hers - yeesh!) and made up my own sauce for.  But then I adapted it again upon finding a quart of egg nog in my fridge that wasn't going to get consumed before its expiration date, and I decided to make a limited-number-of-ingredients version.  I will confess that the latest version is still in the oven so I'm not exactly sure it's a winner yet, but, I'm feeling pretty clever so I'm posting it now.

I've found that freezer-burned hot dog buns, hamburger buns, or white sandwich bread work really nicely for this.  The buns, in particular, are nice because the crusts look really nice when it's all baked, but it will all be equally tasty for you.  I usually stuff a little more bread than one package, because I have heels and things laying around, and it's enough liquid to accommodate it. 

Enjoy!

Bread Pudding with Apples

Pudding:

1 loaf bread, cubed

1/3 C. raisins

8 eggs

2 ½ C. heavy cream

1 ½ C. milk

1 ¼ C. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. cinnamon

Sauce:

4 large peeled, cored, sliced apples

¼ C. butter

¼ C. brown sugar

¼ C. sugar

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 ½ C. apple juice

2 T. cornstarch

Fill a casserole dish with the cubed bread and raisins. Beat eggs, and add remaining ingredients. Pour over bread, making sure all the bread gets soaked.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Bake at 350°F for 45 – 50 minutes.  For the sauce, brown the apples in the butter. Add sugars and spices.  Stir together the cold apple juice and cornstarch, add to apples and boil to thicken.

Egg Nog Bread Pudding

Pudding:

1 loaf bread, cubed

1/3 C. raisins

6 eggs
½ C. sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon

1 quart of egg nog

Sauce:

1 can of apple pie filling

~½ C. apple juice

Fill a casserole dish with the cubed bread and raisins. Beat eggs, and add egg nog. Pour over bread, making sure all the bread gets soaked.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Bake at 350°F for 45 – 50 minutes.  For the sauce, stir together the pie filling and apple juice to desired sauce consistency, and heat to serve.

Beer Can Chicken

This is a recipe that I came up with when making dinner for Travis's family.  His mom left me with a huge, organic chicken, and told me to get it in the oven somehow so we could eat it for lunch while she and others went out somewhere, I forget where.  So, I went a little nuts and came up with this, thanks to her poultry seasoning and chili powder being stored next to each other in her spice cabinet, and her willingness (or craziness) to let me loose in her kitchen.  Her reaction when she looked in the oven and saw the chicken sitting upright was one I won't forget!

Kristin’s Beer Can Chicken

1 whole chicken

1 can of beer (bud light, etc.)

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp poultry seasoning

Pour out 1/3 of beer. Mix together seasonings and rub on the chicken, and then place on beer can. Bake @ 400 for one hour, then 350 til done.

Welcome!

So, I guess I must think I'm pretty hot stuff, because I am feeling compelled to share some of my own recipes with the world.  While my food might not be as good or as consistently posted as that other Iowa Girl Kristin (as in, http://iowagirleats.com) it's still not too shabby.  Some nights, after dinner, I feel like I've come across something that's just too good to not share.  So, here you go, world!