The Taste of Fall - Cocoa

Cooler weather is here.  I'm sure it's not going to stay.  My grandmother always said, "there's one last cold snap before Easter."  Well, there's one last warm snap before Thanksgiving too.  Honestly, I hate cold weather.  I hate being cold.  I hate grey skies....so dreary and depressing.  I can still vividly remember the gray of winter in Germany and opening the curtains one morning to a blue sky.  It was so shocking to see blue again.

Anyway, this post isn't about the weather, it's about the food.  So far I've only made a pot of chili.  I'll have to find the recipe to share.  It's a Southern Living vegetarian black bean chili that I add ground beef and pinto beans to :).  I'm looking forward to more crockpots filled with soups.

My favorite thing about cool weather is a mug of hot chocolate.  I don't buy the cheap stuff.  For the last few years, I've bought Land-o-lakes specialty hot chocolates.  I haven't bought any this year because it's not good for me...too much sugar.  The other night, I wanted a cup so badly.  I went to my favorite recipe site and found this one.  It is sooo good that I won't go back to store bought hot chocolate.  It takes a few minutes.  I really have to want it to make it.  I'm hoping that'll help me to ration the sugar :).  Here are my tweaks on the all-recipes recipe for 1 mug of hot cocoa. 

Hot Cocoa

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
a pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp half and half

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

Yummm...New Recipes

Have I mentioned I have a new love of the Taste of Home magazine?  I have found some fabulous recipes in it lately.  These two were on the same page as the Huli Huli Chicken I shared a few months ago.

Triple Bean Bake with Bacon

1/2 lb  bacon strips, cut in 1/2 in pieces
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 can great northern beans, undrained
1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp prepared horseradish
1 tbsp yellow mustard

* I substituted pinto beans, yum, for butter beans, yuck and I added a little ketchup just because :)

1.  In a dutch over, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; drain, reserving 1 tbsp drippings.  Add onion to drippings; cook over medium heat until tender.

2.  Stir in the remaining ingredients; return bacon to pan.  Transfer to a greased 2 qt- baking dish.  Cover and bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.  Uncover and bake until desired consistency.

These beans were really good.  I loved the zing the horseradish gave it.  Allie gave this two thumbs up.  Caden and Jaelyn actually manged to swallow five or six beans (yes, I said beans, not bites).

Saucy Grilled Pork Chops

1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
8 bone in pork loin chops

1.  In a microwave-safe dish, microwave butter, covered, until melted; add brown sugar and lemon juice, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Reserve 2/3 cup for drizzling.

2.  Oil grill.  Brush pork chops with remaining sauce.  Grill, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 inches from the heat for 4-5 minutes on each side until done.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

3.  Stir sauce to combine or gently rewarm if necessary; drizzle over the pork chops.  If desired, top with lemon slices.

Dan's not always too keen on new recipes.  At best, I usually get "it's okay."  He liked these pork chops and told me so.  That's big, folks!  Let me know if you make them.

The Big Kid Cooks Scones

I'm not quite sure what prompted the baking flurry that went on this morning, but someone decided to try a new scone recipe and Jaelyn took charge.  She made Cinnamon-Sugar Scones out of the Taste of Home magazine.

Mix 3 cups biscuit baking mix and 1/4 cup sugar.  Whist together 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/3 cup 2% milk, and 1 tbsp vanilla extra; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Stir in 1 cup cinnamon chips or semisweet chocolate chips (we obviously went the chocolate route).  On lightly floured surface, knead dough gently 10 times.  Pat into 9-in. circle.  Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.  Cut into 8 wedges; place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden.  Makes 8 scones. 

They topped them with an icing drizzle, but I have no idea what the recipe was so you'll have to come up with that on your own :).

Little Red Jaelinghood packed up her scones to deliver them to her family (down the hall and through the door to the living room I go).

Apparently pretzels were also made, but salt was dumped into the yeast while it was proofing...let's just say they didn't turn out right and leave it at that.

Huli Huli Chicken

I made Huli Huli Chicken, ripped out of my mom's Taste of Home magazine, for dinner tonight.  Huli means "turn" in Hawaiian apparently, but I think it should mean "darn good teriyaki."  Jaelyn needed to be occupied for a bit this morning; so I put her incharge of dumping and whisking while I measured.  I even got her to try the marinade and give me a thumbs up.  That's a big deal. 

The chicken was great.  Dan and I had seconds and Jaelyn and Caden even ate it.  Caden gave us a thumbs down on the first bite, but by the 5th, he'd slowly raised his thumb level to almost up :).  I paired it with rice, sauted zuccini and grilled pineapple.  We have become major pineapple lovers. I buy 2 or 3 a week.  It tastes like summer and at $2-2.50 a pineapple, it's cheaper and healthier than just about any pre-package, processed snack.

Here's the recipe:


Grilled Huli Huli Chicken

1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth or sherry
2 1/2 tsp minced fresh gingerroot (we just grated a little teeny bit of ginger - I'm not a fan)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
24 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 5 lbs)

1.  In a small bowl, mix the 1st six ingredients.  Reserve 1 1/3 cups for basting; cover and refrigerate.  Divide remaining marinade between two large resealable plastic bags.  Add 12 chicken thighs to each; seal bags and turn to coat.  Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

2.  Drain and discard marinade from chicken.  Lightly coat grill rack with oil.

3.  Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until no longer pink; baste occassionally with reserved marinade during the last 5 minutes.

Alton Brown Knows a Thing or Two

We shouldn't, but we love french fries.  I've only tried to make them from real potatoes once and they were a soggy, greasy mess.  Since then, I've thrown frozen fries in the oven.  I saw an Alton Brown Good Eats episode where he said the secret to crispy fries was to double fry them.   I gave it a try last week and he is right.  I used my handy dandy mandolin to cut the potatoes...oh mandolin, how I love thee.  Then I fried the potatoes at 320 until they were floppy.  I drained them and let them cool while the grease heated up to 375.  I fried them again until golden brown (well, mine were a little darker than that but I was going because my frying pan and the burgers on the grill).  They were crispy and while not healthy, definitely healthier than what comes out of a bag or comes from McDonalds.  They were so good, as a matter of fact, they are again on my menu tonight to go with pulled pork sandwiches.  Normally I fry maybe once every couple of months and now twice in two weeks.  Bad, bad, bad, but good, good, good!

Yeast Rolls

I've been trying new recipes lately.  The first one was her royal highness's yeast roll recipe.  I've made them twice now and they've disappeared practically before I blinked each time.  Add a little whipped honey butter and they almost match the Quincy rolls from my childhood I was trying to recreate.

 

 

 

• 3 1/2-4 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 5 teaspoons yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a large bowl combine 1/2 of the flour with sugar, yeast and salt. Stir until mixed. In microwave heat milk until just under the boiling point. Pour into dry mixture. Melt butter, combine with water and add to flour mixture; stir until combined. Add remaining flour while stirring until dough leaves the sides of bowl and forms a ball. Turn dough out on a lightly floured board and knead in enough remaining flour until dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Wash out bowl and grease inside with oil. Placedough in greased bowl to rise. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Run 2 inches of very warm water in sink. Place bowl in water to speed rising. Allow to rise for 15 minutes.
4. Divide and shape dough as desired. Cover and let rise another 15 minutes. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

The original recipe came from: http://www.food.com/recipe/fluffy-one-hour-yeast-rolls-191733#ixzz1qzicOOmO

Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa

I'm not a big fish eater mainly because I like it fried and that's not good for you.  In the past, I've tried broiling tilapia, but I end up smothering it in tarter sauce to hide the taste of the fish.  I went hunting for a new grilled tilapia recipe and found Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa on allrecipes.com.  Normally I'm a five ingredient kind of cook, but I gave this one a try and it was wonderful.  The fish was amazing and the salsa added so much flavor.

I had to improvise a little with the ingredients.  There were no mangoes to be found at the commissary...no papayas...no peaches.  I did find nectarines, but they were hard as rocks.  I settled for jarred "fresh" mangoes.  It was good, but I think it would have been much better with non-jarred "fresh." 

I've never grilled fish before.  It was so easy and quick.  I will definitely be doing it again.  I did turn it too early so when I turned it back, it started to fall apart. 

I made the salsa and marinated the fish while the kids were at school.  That made it very easy to throw dinner together very quickly at the last minute.  Add rice and a veggie or salad and I think it was a great dinner.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets

Salsa 

• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced                 
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate.
4. Remove the tilapia from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the fillets until the fish is no longer translucent in the center, and flakes easily with a fork, 3 to 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve the tilapia topped with mango salsa.

Beer Bread

I feel the need to say that we are not drinkers.  I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with having a drink as long as you are not drinking to excess, but truthfully, I just don't like the taste of most adult beverages.  Mix in some fruity juice and ice and that's a different story ;). 

Anyway, one of Dan's friends from Maryland is here for a class.  We had him over for dinner last weekend and Dan bought a 6 pack of imported beer.  The left over bottles have been staring me in the face everytime I open the frig.  I made soup yesterday and it needed bread to go with it.  Recently, a friend posted about making beer bread on Facebook and it peaked my intestered.  I hunted on allrecipes yesterday and within thirty minutes, had my first loaf of beer bread in the oven.  It was marvelous and soooo easy.  I planned to take a picture of the left over heal of the loaf, but D-O-G grabbed it off the counter when my back was turned and snarfed it down as fast as she could.  Bad DOG!

Here's the recipe:

Beer Bread

Ingredients

• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
• 3 cups self-rising flour (if you only have regular old flour, add 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for every cup of flour).  I used half wheat and half white flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and flour. Add beer and continue to mix, first using a wooden spoon, then your hands. Batter will be sticky. Pour into a 9 x 5 inch greased loaf pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees ) for 50 for 60 minutes. The top will be crunchy, and the insides will be soft. 

After reading the reviews, I brushed the loaf with melted butter after 30 minutes and then every 10 minutes until it was done.

Chicken Enchiladas

I made Chicken Enchiladas from Southern Living's December issue last night.  They were yummy and so easy.  I left out the green chiles, because I thought it would be too spicy, but the dish was very mild.  I will definitely make them again.

 

• 3 cups chopped, cooked chicken
• 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 8 8" soft taco-sized flour tortillas
• vegetable cooking spray
• 1 (8 oz) bottle green taco sauce
• 1 (8 oz) container sour cream
• Toppings: chopped tomatoes, avocado, sliced green onions, fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Stir together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Spoon about 1/2 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll tortillas up.
2. Place rolled tortillas, seam sides down, in a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish.  Lightly coat tops of tortillas with cooking spray
3. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Stir together taco sauce and 8 oz container sour cream.  Spoon over hot enchiladas, and sprinkle with desired toppings
 

Perfect Pulled Pork

Did I mention I spent a day at my parents house this summer pulling recipes out of magazines? They literally had a cabinet full they were cleaning out.  I have a whole folder of new recipes I want to try.

Last week, the commissary had pork roasts clearance "cook or freeze."  I bought one for under $4 and made the best pulled pork sandwiches using this rub recipe from the Kraft Food and Family magazine.  Jaelyn and Caden weren't too keen on it, but Allie LOVED it.  Dan and I had left-over sandwiches several days.

Perfect Pulled Pork

5 lb boneless pork butt shoulder
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp gralic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
soft sandwich buns

Combine all seasonings in a small bowl and rub evenly over roast.  Place meat in a slow cooker.  Add water.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours or until pork is very tender.

Place pork on large cutting board or platter and let rest for 10-15 minutes.  Pull, slice or chop to serve.  Serve in buns with barbecue sauce.

YUM!

Chipotle-Lime Chicken Skewers

I pulled this recipe out of a magazine ages ago and finally got around to making it.  It was really, really good.  I was worried when I made the marinade that it would be too mayonnaise-y tasting, but the taste mellowed out on the grill and we were left with creamy, citrusy, slightly spicy chicken.  I used the reserved marinade (that we didn't use for dipping - yuck) to make more chicken skewers for chicken nachos tonight.

Chipotle-Lime Chicken Skewers

1 cup mayo
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground chipotle chile pepper
2 lbs chicken breast or thighs, cut into strips

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a medium bowl; reserve 1/2 cup mayo mixture.

Thread chicken on skewers, then brush with the mayo mixture.

Grill or broil chicken, turning once until chicken is thoroughly cooked.  Serve chicken skewers with reserved mayo mixture.

Lemon-Blueberry Crumb Bars

Kraft Magazine had the best looking blueberry recipe last month.  My mother in law has fresh blueberries on her bush.  Put the two together and we were meant to make these.  They are AMAZING.  Everyone who tried them complimented them. 

Lemon-blueberry Crumb Bars

What You Need

1/2 cupbutter

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix

2 eggs, divided

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cupsugar

1 Tbsp. zest and 3 Tbsp. juice from 1 lemon

2-1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Make It

HEAT oven to 350ºF.
LINE 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Microwave butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 to 1-1/2 min. or until melted. Add cake mix and 1 egg; beat with mixer until well blended. Press 2/3 of the mixture onto bottom of prepared pan.
BEAT cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add remaining egg, zest and juice; mix well. Pour over crust; top with berries. Pinch small pieces of the remaining cake mix mixture between your fingers; press lightly into cream cheese layer.
BAKE 55 min. to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift dessert from pan before cutting into bars. Keep refrigerated.

The Queen is Correct

I have a friend who calls herself the Queen of Brussel Sprouts on her blog.  I think she's a little crazy.  She says that brussel sprouts are yummy and that her kids fight over them.  Seriously???  I remember being a kid and I definitely did not fight with my brother over brussel sprouts.  I remember one particular evening sitting at the table until my bedtime because I refused to eat the gross little green balls my mom put on my plate.

I'm not quite sure what happened at the store the other day, but I walked out with a bag of fresh brussel sprouts.  I immediately called her royal highness to tell her the news and to find out what to do with them.  You see, she has three seperate recipes on her blog for the silly things.  I chose the frizzled brussel sprouts.  She told me the key is to use something to offset the bitterness and to add fat like butter or olive oil.  Orange juice is her go to ingredient for the bitterness.

The kids helped me pull the leaves off before washing them. I tossed them with about a tablespoon of melted butter and a tablespoon of orange juice.  I seasoning them with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt (the queen has also shared her view on salts with me).  I baked them on 400 for about 15 minutes turning them every so often just as she instructed.  I follow directions well :).

I was excited, if not a little nervous to try them.  I didn't even let them cool off before I popped the first bite in my mouth.  I now know what my mom did wrong all those years ago and what her royal highness does right.  I am officially a fan of brussel sprouts!  They were yummy.  The bitterness from the brussel sprouts, the sweetness from the OJ, the creaminess of the butter...it was perfect.  Dan agrees!

I made my kids all try one leaf.  We use a thumbs up rating system around here.

Caden said if he were starving on a deserted island and all he could eat were brussel sprouts, he'd starve to death.  Jaelyn would eat them if there was nothing else around, although she wasn't a huge fan.  Allie gave me a thumbs down right away.  Then she tried a second bite and a third bite.  That was her limit, but I think it's an acquired taste and with a few more servings, she'll be a fan too!

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

I get Kraft Foods Magazine and this cake was on the cover of the holiday issue.  I bought all the stuff to make it to take to Dan's Thanksgiving party and then went out of town.  I've been waiting for another occasion to make it and the girls' party was the perfect opportunity.  This cake was awesome.  I got many compliments.  My only word of caution is that it takes a long time to make: an hour and a half to bake, another hour to cool before chilling it in the fridge for two more hours.  It was worth it though!

What You Need

1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
7 eggs, divided
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

1.  SPRAY 12-cup fluted tube pan with cooking spray; pour in chocolate syrup.

2.  BEAT cake mix, water, oil and 3 eggs with mixer 2 min. or until well blended; blend in sour cream. Pour over syrup in pan.

3.  BEAT cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add remaining eggs; mix well. Blend in evaporated milk and melted chocolate; gently spoon over cake batter in pan. Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray, sprayed-side down.

4.  PLACE tube pan in shallow pan. Add enough water to larger pan to come at least 2 inches up side of tube pan. Bake 1 hour 30 min. or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Refrigerate 2 hours. Invert cake onto plate; remove pan. Serve cake topped with COOL WHIP.

*Tips:  Size-Wise Since this layered chocolate cake makes 24 servings, it's the perfect dessert to serve at your next party.

*The cream cheese mixture sinks to the bottom of the cake batter in pan as the cake bakes, forming the mousse layer at the top of the unmolded cake. To unmold cooled cake, use long thin spatula to loosen cake from side of pan. Place plate over cake pan; invert cake onto plate. Gently remove pan. Spoon any chocolate syrup remaining in pan over cake.

*To prevent overflow, check cake pan to confirm it is the required 12-cup size. Just measure 3 qt. (12 cups) water and pour into empty pan to verify the volume before using as directed. If you only have a 10-cup fluted tube pan, reserve 2 cups cake batter before pouring remaining batter into prepared tube pan. Continue as directed. Reserved cake batter will make 9 cupcakes. Bake as directed on cake mix package

Thanksgiving

What's the one word that pops in your head when you think of Thanksgiving?  For me, without question, that word is FOOD.  I LOVE turkey and dressing, sweet potato and green bean casseroles, pumpkin pie.  It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  There's one recipe in particular that tastes like Thanksgiving and that's my Grandma's Cornbread Dressing.  It's super easy and amazing and I'm going to share it with you.  She clipped it out of the Pensacola News Journal years and years ago.  I'll have to ask my mom if there's a time when she remembers a different dressing.  I've had a few mess up making it...one year, the eggs did weird and another year my mom sent me the recipe and substituted tablespoons for teaspoons of pepper.  That was the year my parents made a pit stop at an emergency room on the way home from Atlanta because my dad thought he was having a heart attack.  It was indigestion or maybe acid reflux from all of that pepper.  If you make it, let me know what you think! 

Grandma's Cornbread Dressing

4 cups of corn bread (the real kind, not jiffy)
2 cups dry bread crumbs
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 eggs beaten with 1 cup of milk
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp poultry seasoning

Saute onions and celery.  Mix all ingredients and pour into  a greased 13x9 pan.  Cook at 375 for 1 hour or until done.

Chicken Pot Pie

I have a crock pot chicken recipe that I make every now and then. I normally serve it over egg noodles, but every time I've made it, we comment on how good it would be in a pot pie. So...today, I made it. This morning, I threw 3 chicken breasts, a little thyme, a diced onion and a can of cream of chicken soup in the crock pot. Later in the afternoon, I added mixed veggies and shredded the chicken. I mixed in half a small package of cream cheese and poured it all into a pie shell (Pillsbury, not home-made). It baked till the crust was golden brown.

It was delicious. If I want a compliment from my cooking, I have to specifically ask for one. Dan never volunteers whether he likes dinner or not. Tonight, before I had a chance to ask, he told me it was really good and I should add it to the regular rotation. That means it was really, really good! Allie gave it 2 thumbs up. Jaelyn and Caden had peanut butter sandwiches. I'm so thankful I have 1 child who will eat normal food.

It's Soup Weather...Not Really

But I wish it were! All winter, I long for the days that I can turn on my grill and towards the end of summer, I long for bubbling casseroles in the oven and steaming crock pots filled with soup. I gave in to my desire for soup yesterday and it was so good, I want to share the recipe.

I tried a copycat recipe for Chili's Southwest Vegetable Soup. I've never had Chili's soup; so I have no idea if this was close or not. It was so good. Allie ate 2 bowls and asked to have left overs for dinner tonight. The best thing about this soup is I only had to buy the chilies. Everything else was in my fridge or pantry. I did add chopped up chicken that I'd cooked the night before for a little protein.

Southwest Vegetable Soup

3-4 cups chicken broth (depending on how thick you want the soup)
1 cup water
1 cup canned kidney beans
1 cup frozen yellow corn
1 cup frozen cut green beans
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup tomato sauce
6 corn tortillas, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 dash garlic powder
(and I added a dash of cumin because I think anything that has southwest in the name should have cumin!)

Combine all soup ingredients in a large saucepan (or crock pot) over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, about an hour or until the soup has thickened and tortilla pieces have mostly dissolved. Garnish with grated cheese and crumbled corn tortilla chips.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I've been eating so good this week and I don't know why I would want to ruin it with temptation, but I had zucchini that needed to be cooked so I went hunting for a recipe today.  I found one for Blueberry Zucchini Bread that had really good reviews.  I altered it a little to make it healthier (Kendra, you are rubbing off on me).  I substituted half of the oil with applesauce, cut out a cup of sugar (which Dan says I need to add back) and used half white flour and half wheat flour.  With all of the changes, I think the bread is pretty good.  Caden even ate it and liked it.  He wasn't too thrilled to be eating something with green things in it, but even after I told him it was zucchini, he finished his piece.  Next time, I'll use a finer grater for the zucchini.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.

2.In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.

3.Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

***Mine only needed about 35 minutes of baking time in my mini-loaf pans so keep an eye on it if you make it.

The Day of the Strawberries

Yesterday we only cleaned the strawberries we needed to make a strawberry pie.  This afternoon, we decided it was time to tackle the rest of strawberries. First we cleaned them and then we came up with a game plan.

Strawberry Bread was our first adventure. I printed a recipe off of Allrecipes and I'll use it again. It seems like a lot of oil, but the oil made it super moist. It's not the best thing in the world to eat all the time when you look at the amount of oil and sugar, but every now and then it'll be a real treat.

Strawberry Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups white sugar
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup chopped walnuts

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 9x5 inch loaf pans.

2.Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. Beat together the eggs and oil and pour them into the well. Stir just enough to moisten the ingredients. Fold in the strawberries and nuts. Pour mixture into prepared pans; fill containers no more than half full.

3.Bake in a preheated oven about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 20 to 30 minutes before removing from pans. Move to a rack to cool completely before slicing.

Our next adventure was Strawberry Jam and it truly was an adventure with a slight learning curve. Neither my Mom nor I have ever canned anything. We had a few stops and starts, but it all worked out. We made 11 jars of jam and I can't wait for it to set up to have toast with home-made jam for breakfast.

Mom and I mashing strawberries to mix in with 7 cups of sugar! Oh my!

Stirring the bubbling hot jam mixture.

Pouring Jam into jars - if you attempt this, get a friend to help so that one can pour and one can clean the jars and put the lids on.

Our finished jars of jam - I am super proud of myself (btw - I used the recipe inside the packet of pectin.)

Our left over strawberries after making the jam

There are only so many sweet things we can eat with strawberries so I went back to allrecipes late this afternoon looking for something new. I found several recipes for Spinach Strawberry Salads. I ended up using grilled chicken, spinach, chopped bacon, sliced strawberries, croutons and a Raspberry Pecan Dressing.

It was finger plate licking good!

I think we've had our fill of strawberries.  I froze a huge bag for smoothies and we have just enough left to top cereal for the next few days.  Next time we go to the strawberry patch, we are taking smaller buckets!

Yucatan Marinated Chicken

My friend, Kendra, continues to inspire me to try new things...except brussel sprouts of course.  I copied this from someone at Hannah's Prayer last fall and stuck it in my cookbook.  I pulled it out last night when I was making my menu for the next few weeks.  I grill a lot of chicken and am always looking for a new marinade or flavor to try.  I made it tonight and it was wonderful.  I'll definitely make it again.

Yucatan Marinated Chicken

In a ziploc bag mix:
juice from 1 lime
juice from 1 lemon
juice from 1 orange
(or I guess you could use concentrate that you might have in your fridge if you didn't have the real deals)
1 clove chopped garlic - or 1/2 tsp if you buy it already chopped in a jar like I do :p
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
3 boneless skinless chicken breast (I cut them in half so 6 pieces - the picture is deceiving)

The marinade recipe was actually doubled, but since I was only cooking 3 chicken breast, I halved it.  Increase it accordingly.  Marinate several hours in the fridge and then grill.