Spring Cleaning

I'm starting to settle into my new life; new routines, new patterns.  Money is a little tight now, as always, but I feel the need to be more mindful of saving money.  My cupboards are full, so I decided that a good way to cut back on costs would be to use up everything I have before I buy more food stuff, except for fresh things(milk, eggs, bread, fruit...).  So I went through everything and found that I have tons of potatoes, all still good and ready to be cooked.  I ended up making a big batch of Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes.  Now to get started on the rest of my spring cleaning....

Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
potatoes, amount depends on how big a batch you want to make
1 cup frozen cauliflower
butter
milk
oregano
garlic salt
cheese, whichever kind you like or have on hand

Start Cooking:
1.  Chop potatoes into small pieces(the smaller the pieces, the faster it will cook!)  Put the potatoes and cauliflower in a large pot and boil until tender.  Time varies depending on amount of potatoes.
2.  Drain potatoes and cauliflower, then return to pot.  Add milk and butter and mash with a potato masher.  You can add however much milk and butter you like, depending on how creamy you want your potatoes to be.  Once the potatoes and cauliflower are mashed, add oregano and garlic salt to taste.  Add cheese to taste.  Mix well.
3.  Put potatoes mixture in a greased baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown on top.

Tips and Hints:
1.  Why cauliflower?  This is a trick I picked up from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld.  The cauliflower adds nutrients and you can't even taste it in with the potatoes.
2.  I love cheese.  I added some cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese.  You can really add whatever cheese you like or have on hand.

Enjoy!

comfort food

Still missing momma a so much.  trying to find my way without her, without anyone.  i've been trying to find comfort in the little things.  I've always loved Italian food, and lasagna is one of my favorites.

Ingredients:
lasagna noodles
ricotta cheese
mozzarella cheese
1 egg
pasta sauce
tomato paste
Italian seasoning

Start Cooking:
1.  Cook the lasagna noodles as directed on the box.  Drain and rinse with cold water.
2.  In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, 1 egg and italian seasoning until it is well combined.
3.  In another bowl mix the pasta sauce with a few table spoons of tomato paste.
4.  Spread enough of the tomato sauce mixture on the bottom of a baking dish to thinly cover the bottom.  Then place a layer of cooked noodles.  Spread some of the cheese mixture, then cover with a layer of sauce and noodles.   Continue layering until you reach the top or the baking dish.
5.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, until lightly browned on top.

Tips and Hints:
1. I place my baking dish on a cookie sheet.  It's easier to lift and incase anything spills over, it won't get the oven dirty :)
2.  I normally serve my lasagna with salad or cooked veggies.  If you like, you can put veggies in your lasagna.  I do not eat meat, but you can add meat if you like.  Just brown some ground beef in a fry pan and layer with the cheese in the lasagna.

Enjoy!

update

It has been months since I last posted.  My entire life has changed.  Momma A past away the end on January.  Life just hasn't been the same without her here.  My boyfriend of almost a year and a half and I have broken up.  I've been morning the loss of my momma and my love.  I am finally starting to move along and get one with life.  I have decided to live life for me.  I now have 2 African Claw Frogs in my family, who have yet to me named(I've only had them about a week, and I am still searching for the perfect names).  I have been cooking the food that I love.  I started going to yoga again.  I know life will never be the same without momma a, but I can try and make it the best life it can be.

One of the recipes that I made is my version of Vegetarian Chili


Ingredients: 
1 medium onion, chopped
carrots, chopped
white rice
kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
a few tablespoons tomato paste
frozen corn
chili seasoning, to taste
1/2 cup water

Directions:
1.  This recipe is all about chili the way I like it, so feel free to play around with it.  I like lots of rice in my chili and I don't like it really soupy.  I also don't like it very spicy.  You can adjust the recipe to your own taste.
2. Cook about 1/2 cup(dry) white rice.  Meanwhile, cook the chopped onions and carrots in a small sauce pan over medium heat until they are tender.
3. In a large pot, or your crock pot, combine all ingredients.  Stir so everything is well mixed and cook over medium heat until everything is heated through.
4. Serve warm with shredded cheese on top.

Tips and Hints:
1.  I always make a big batch so I have left overs.  The left overs also freeze very well.

Kitchen Update

Hi all!  So being a consistent blogger is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  But I'm really going to keep trying, really.  I have still been cooking a lot and learning a lot.  The past weekend I took a cooking class with Essen and learned how to do hot water canning.  We made apple sauce and cooked salsa.  I am going to be attempting to make and can more salsa on my own this Friday.  I'll let you know how it goes.
So what else have I been cooking?
Crock Pot Chili 
Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese


Recipes and Pictures coming soon! 

Deception and a little love

Along with all the pears we got from Momma A, we also got a ton of summer squash(or yellow zucchini, I really don't know the difference).  My boyfriend and I don't really like summer squash too much, so I wasn't really sure what to do with it all and I didn't want to let it all go to waste.  So I pulled out my Deceptively Delicious cookbook and my food processor.  Deceptively Delicious uses vegetable purees in everyday cooking.  The idea behind it is that kids(or picky boyfriends) will get their veggies without even knowing it.  Ok, so I'm not really trying to deceive my boyfriend, I just love him and want him to be healthy, right?
Deceptively Delicious recommends making up big batches of purees and then freezing 1/2 a cup in a freezer bag.  Then when you want to make a recipe, just thaw out the puree and start cooking.  I also had some carrots on hand, so I made up a carrot puree as well.

Summer Squash Puree
Ingredients:
summer squash, however much you want to make

Start Cooking:
1.  To prepare the squash, cut off the ends and then cut into 1 inch chunks.
2.  Steam for 6-8 minutes.
3.  Puree in the food processor or blender for about 2 minutes.  You might have to stop and scrape down the sides.

Carrot Puree 

Ingredients: 

Carrots, however many you want to make

a few teaspoons of water

Start Cooking:

1.  If you are using whole carrots, peel them and trim the end, then cut into 3 inch chunks.  I had shredded carrots on hand, so I just used them as is.  You can also use baby carrots as is.  

2.  Steam for 10-12 minutes.

3.  Place in food processor or blender and blend for about 2 minutes.  You will need to add some water here in order to get a smooth creamy texture.  You might also need to stop and scrape down the sides.  

Tips and Hints:

1.  When I made the summer squash puree, not all of the squash fit in the food processor at once.  I needed to make the puree in batches.  

2.  Make sure you label the freezer bags with what is in them!!!  

3.  Freeze in half cup portions; most recipes call for 1/2 cup of whatever puree you are using.  

I ended up with 9 bags of summer squash puree, 1/2 cup each and 3 bags of carrot puree, 1/2 cup each.  So what am I going to make with all this puree?  

Applesauce Muffins with Carrot 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins with Carrot

Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Summer Squash

Burgers with Carrot

Favorite Fruits

Pears are my favorite fruit, always have been.  My wonderful boyfriend's wonderful mother gave us a ton of fresh pears.  

This is only about half of the pears.  I couldn't eat them all before they went bad, so my boyfriend suggested cooking something with them.  I pulled out some cook books and got online and started looking.  I found a few recipes that I liked that went along with what I had on hand.  I sort of put a few recipes together and came up with the one that I will share with you.  

The best part of this recipe:  my boyfriend wanted to cook with me!  We had a great time in the kitchen together.  Fun "date" thing for us to do together.  

Look at him peeling pears!

So here it is:  my pear crumble

Ingredients:

5 pears(or however many you have or wants)

1 tablespoon white sugar

5 tablespoons packed brown sugar

6 tablespoons oats

4 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoons butter, melted

4 tablespoons chopped nuts 

the boyfriend got a picture of me

Start Cooking:

1.  Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees, grease baking pan.  Peel and slice pears and place in greased backing pan.  

2.  In a medium bowl, combine sugars, oats, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and nuts.  Then mix in the melted butter.  

3.  Pour the topping mix over the pears in the baking dish, then mix in a little bit with the pears. 

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.  You will see that it is browning a little.  Serve warm. 

 

Tips and Hints:

1.  Serve warm.  This is also great with vanilla ice cream.

2.  Keep leftovers in the fridge.  

3.  If you are feeding a lot of people, double the entire list of ingredients.  Bake in a large, flat baking pan.  

Enjoy!

Cauliflower and Mashed Potatoes

I hate cauliflower.  My boyfriend hates cauliflower.  So I decided to make cauliflower.  Well, sort of.  My new favorite cookbook is Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.  All of these recipes hide fruits and veggies in yummy food to try and get kids to eat healthier.  I read their recipe for mashed potatoes, using a cauliflower puree, and thought that I'd give it a try.  I love mashed potatoes.  My boyfriend loves  mashed potatoes.  So why not throw in some cauliflower?  I made the mistake of telling my boyfriend, not a big veggie eater, what I was making before I started.  He didn't like the idea very much.  But I went ahead and made it anyway.  Turns out that you can't taste the cauliflower at all; just tastes like normal mashed potatoes.  Final result:  this recipe is boyfriend approved!

In order to make this recipe, you will need to make a cauliflower puree first.
Ingredients:
cauliflower
water


Start Cooking:
1.  Put the cauliflower in a food processor with about 2-3 tablespoons of water.  Puree for about 2 minutes until a creamy paste forms.  You might need to stop the food processor and scrape down the sides.  You also might need to add more water to get the right texture.

Now that you have the cauliflower puree, you can make the mashed potatoes! 

Ingredients:

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cauliflower puree

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon oregano(my addition)

Start Cooking:

1.  Put the potatoes and salt in a large pot, with enough water to cover the potatoes.  Boil over high heat for about 15-20 minutes.  You should be able to easily pierce the potatoes with a fork when done. 

2.  Drain potatoes and return to pot.  Use a potatoes masher to begin to mash the potatoes.  Then add remaining ingredients and continue to mash, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Serve warm.  

Tips and Hints:

1.  I served mine with some cheese on top for a little extra protein.  You can add all of your favorite potato toppings.  

2.  Nutrition info: Deceptively Delicious says that 1 cup of cauliflower has 25 calories and may help fight off some types of cancer.  It can also help resist infection because it is high in vitamin C.  

3.  Make extra!  Mashed potatoes make great left overs!  

Enjoy!