I made this for dinner last night.  Fairly quick and easy (especially since I used canned tomatoes and canned corn).  It came out delicious.   This probably has 4-6 servings.  If you wanted to make more, you could probably add another can of beans and some cooked rice.  Cheap and healthy too.

1 c chopped onions
1 T olive oil
1 c chopped tomatoes  OR 1 can diced tomatoes drained
1 1/2 c fresh or frozen corn  OR 1 can whole kernel corn drained
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 T fresh lime juice
1 t salt (optional)
1/2 t ground black pepper
2 c rinsed, stemmed, and chopped Swiss chard or spinach*
2 c crushed baked tortilla chips
8 oz (or so) grated fat-free sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 c salsa
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Saute onions in oil until translucent.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, corn, black beans, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Saute for 5 – 10 mins. or until heated through.
4. Prepare your casserole dish (I used a 9″ round deep casserole dish) with a coating of cooking spray.
5. Spread half of the chips on the bottom. Spoon sauteed veggies over the chips.  If you used canned vegetables, there will be quite a bit of liquid left in the pan.  Don’t pour it all in or your meal will come out soggy. Sprinkle 2/3 of the cheese over that. Arrange the greens over the cheese and spoon half of the salsa on top of it. Then, sprinkle the rest of the chips, salsa, and cheese.
6. Bake for about 35 – 40 mins, or until it is beginning to brown.

Oh and my confession–I didn’t actually measure anything, I just eyeballed it.  But then I never measure anything when I am cooking–baking is a whole nother story

My ever growing tummy has pushed me to start cooking up a storm. I’ve been baking and freezing and generally hoarding away food so that when this little baby finally arrives I won’t have to think about cooking for a month. Today’s project has brought me to the very best homemade biscuit recipe I have ever had.

These remind me a bit of the biscuits at McDonald’s or Hardees, and I’m sure they are equally (un)healthy. With 5 T of butter and 3 T shortening what’s not to love? All I can say is that I’ve been looking for this biscuit recipe all my life.

Flaky biscuits

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)
• 3 Tablespoons chilled shortening
• 3/4 cup milk (or buttermilk if you prefer)

Preheat oven to 450*F. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

Cut in butter and shortening with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture looks crumbly (resembling coarse cornmeal).

Cut In Butter and shortening until it looks like coarse cornmeal

Slowly stir in milk until ingredients is just moist enough to form a dough ball (I usually pour in 1/2 c. then add the other 1/4 c. one Tablespoon at a time. This keeps the dough from becoming over-moistened).

Slowly add milk until ingredients forms dough ball

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough until 1/2-inch thick. Cut with 2-inch floured biscuit cutter. Place 1 1/2 inches apart on un-greased baking sheet.

Bake in pre-heated oven 10-12 minutes at 450° F or until tops are golden brown. (optional, brush tops with melted butter).  Serve Hot!

bake until golden brown

You can also do these as brown-and-serve biscuits by baking 8-10 minutes (just before the tops start to brown), let cool and then freeze in a plastic bag. To re-heat bake at 450°F until tops are golden (I’m unsure of the amount of time).

**For the sake of full disclosure, the final picture is meat wrapped in the biscuit dough (look for this recipe coming early next week)

I have a horrible time getting my husband to eat breakfast.  If he has to sit down to eat something, he won’t eat anything at all.  This bran muffin recipe came from my mom-in-law’s family, and it is my trick to get Brenton to sit down (yes, you read that right) and eat breakfast.  There are some things I just can’t explain.  He won’t eat breakfast if it is something he would have to sit down to eat, but if he could just grab it and go (like bran muffins) he will sit down and eat breakfast with me.  I love him anyways.

As an aside note, these muffins are very high fiber and great for pregnancy.  They are a kitchen staple right now.

I am not above tricks Breakfast Bran Muffins.
This recipe makes a HUGE batch that will fill a gallon ice cream pail.

2 c. 100% bran
2 c. boiling water
1/3 c. margarine
2 1/3 c sugar
4 eggs, beaten
4 c. buttermilk
5 t soda
1 t salt
5 c flour
4 c all-bran cereal
2 c raisins

Mix bran and boiling water, make sure you stir while you are adding the bran to the water other wise you will get lumps of dry bran.

In a separate bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs. Beat until fluffy. Stir in bran and buttermilk.  I confess that I have substituted regular milk or sourmilk for the buttermilk.

Add dry ingredients, folding in.  Add raisins. My kitchenaid mixing bowl is big enough to stir all the ingredients but the bran cereal and the rasins.  At that point, I transfer the batter into what I refer to as “the world’s biggest tupperware bowl” to stir in the last two ingredients.  I also use this bowl for storing the batter in the fridge

fill greased or lined muffin tins 2/3 full.  Bake 20 mins at 375* F.

Will keep up to 8 weeks in fridge.  The batter will get dryer and turn more brown as the bran cereal absorbs moisture and breaks down–this is normal.  This is a somewhat dough-y batter (because of all the soluble fiber), if the batter gets too dry, sprinkle a bit of water (about 1 T at a time) and stir in.

I wonder how these bran muffins would taste with dried blueberries,craisins, or some other dried fruit instead.

Today I stumbled across Laylitas recipe for Rhubarb and strawberry empanadas.  I wasn’t fortunate enough to grow up with the delights of rhubarb pie or rhubarb cobbler (too hot to grow rhubarb in Georgia), but I am definitely liking the looks of this recipe.  I wonder if it is too late to get rhubarb from the farmer’s market.

Photo credit goes to Laylita from Laylita’s recipes.  Go check out this blog.

Yesterday I promised the recipe for our Valentine’s Day tradition–white Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. This year, we decided not to hoard it all to ourselves, and took the famous cheesecake over to a party. It was the perfect end to a potato-bar supper.

I planned on including a picture, but my memory stick seems to have been corrupted. My written description will have to suffice.

The cheesecake is creamy white with a chocolate cookie crust. Towards the bottom of the slice is a ribbon of deep red–almost purple–raspberry preserves. At the bottom of the slice, just above the crust, there is a hidden layer of white chocolate baked to a slightly crunchy perfection.

My fork slices easily through the filling and crust, I pop a bite into my mouth. The first thing that I taste is the chocolate crust followed by the taste of melt-in-your-mouth raspberries and cream filling. As I start to chew, savoring every flavor, I find a new taste and texture: slightly crunchy, but smooth at the same time like…chocolate! I take another bite and let the flavors mingle. This is what a cheesecake is supposed to taste like.

White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake Recipe:

Crust:

• 1 1/2 c. chocolate cookie crumbs (I use Oreos and leave in the filling).
• 1/3 c. margarine or butter, melted

Cake:

• 1/2 c. raspberry preserves
• 1/4 c. water
• 4 8oz. packages of cream cheese
• 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 2T vanilla
• 5 eggs
• 4 oz white chocolate chips (or bar chopped into chunks)

Preheat oven to 475°F, fill a large pan with about 1/2 inch of water, and place into the oven while it preheats. Ideally this pan will be big enough to fit your springform (cheesecake) pan down inside. I always end up using the largest pan I own and then letting my springform pan rest on top.

Combine raspberry preserves with water in medium bowl. Microwave for 1 1/2 min. on high. Stir until smooth. Strain with cheesecloth to remove seeds. (we used a sieve this year, much faster and cleaner) Let strained preserves cool in the fridge.

Mix cookie crumbs and butter in a bowl. (I have always used oreo cookies, and have tried making the crust by leaving the cookie filling in or scraping it off. The crust seems to turn out better when I leave the filling in). Line the bottom and sides of a 9 in springform pan with parchment (or waxed) paper. Using the bottom of a drinking glass (or a large serving spoon) press the crumb mixture flat into the bottom of pan and about 2/3 of the way up the sides. (This is probably the hardest part). Wrap a large piece of foil around the bottom of the pan to keep the cheesecake in the water bath.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. mix until smooth and creamy. Whisk eggs and add to cream cheese mixture. Mix until just blended.

Sprinkle 4 oz white chocolate into bottom of crust (I usually put enough chips to get a solid layer). Pour 1/2 of cream cheese filling into crust. Drizzle raspberry preserves over entire surface of filling. Use a butter knife to swirl preserves into filling. Be careful not to cut into the crust, and don’t blend too much. You are trying to create ribbons of raspberry. Pour the other 1/2 of the filling into the crust over the raspberry preserves.

Place cheesecake in water bath in preheated oven. Bake 12 min at 457° F then turn oven down to 350°. Bake 50-60 minutes or until the top of the cheesecake turns tan.

When you take the cheesecake out, it will be puffed up high, and then collapse to about 1/2 the height. This is normal, don’t panic.

Chill 4 hours before serving.

In this month’s Inspired Room article from Christian Women Online, Melissa outlines some ideas for creating a Valentine’s Day “get away” in your own home.

Who says a date night has to involve consuming big bucks in a crowded restaurant? Why do we torture ourselves into thinking romance has to include over-priced handpicked chocolates, $100 worth of roses or glittering heart-shaped diamonds? Why not make the best of what we have–a roof over our head and a little ingenuity–to create a memorable evening for any occasion. A home shouldn’t just be a place to store our things. Our homes provide an opportunity to create the life we really want. Everyday life might not seem romantic, but it is all in the perspective. Life doesn’t always hand us our dreams on a silver platter, but with a little creative energy we can imagine life to be just about anything we want it to be. Work with what you have to create your dreams under your own roof.

The thing that I love about celebrating a holiday in my own home is that I can create traditions that will follow us wherever life takes us.

The first Valentine’s day after Brenton and I were married, we were overwhelmed by college and short on both time and money. Fancy gifts or an expensive date night were out of the question. I searched around the internet and found a recipe for a cheesecake that looked pretty good. I think I spend $20 on the ingredients, but the look on Brenton’s face when he took the first bite was well worth the time and money spent.

That cheesecake, White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake (watch for that recipe here tomorrow), is a once a year dessert, and we have made it every year for Valentine’s.

Actually, after that first Valentines, Brenton has taken over the job of making the Valentine’s Cheesecake. I spend my time on creating ambiance–votive candles, hearts cut from coffee filters and dyed with red food coloring, music playing softly in the background.

There are a few tricks to creating a romantic haven in your own home. The most important, in my opinion is to clear away the things that remind you of your “to-do.” The second trick is to work with what you have and don’t over-do it. This is your home, not a restaurant. Create a peaceful setting, but don’t get so caught up in creating the perfect setting that you spend $100 to get that romantic feel. Finally, eat off the good dishes, pull out the crystal goblets, it’s a special occasion.

Enjoy your new traditions, and always love your spouse.

photo by nrbelex CC-BY-SA

They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I’m tempted to believe that the way to a woman’s heart is with chocolate. These peanut butter kiss cookies are easy to make and don’t have any strange, hard, to find ingredients. I was 10 or 12 the first time I made peanut butter kiss cookies. I baked them for my valentine–my dad.

• 2 2/3 c. flour
• 2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 1 c. butter
• 2/3 c. creamy peanut butter (I prefer crunchy)
• 1 c. white sugar
• 1 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. vanilla
• additional sugar (for rolling the dough balls in, I like to use red sugar for Valentine’s day)
• 5 doz. kisses Unwrapped.

Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add butter and peanut butter and mix. Add sugars, beat until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix until smooth.

Using a spoon, make balls out of the dough. Add extra flour if the dough is too sticky. Roll the dough balls in the additional sugar.

place dough about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes in a preheated 375°F oven.

Remove from oven and press 1 kiss into the center of each cookie. Return sheet to oven and bake 2 more minutes.

photo by kellypuff CC-BY-ND

Today’s the day! Last week, I made Potato Flake Sourdough Starter, and I have been watching it bubble for a week. Today I get to make the bread.

When it’s time to make bread, pull the starter out of the fridge, feed it, and let it sit on the counter top overnight. This will bring the yeasts up to room temperature.

Starter Feeder

• 1 c. warm water
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 T. instant potato flakes

add to starter, let stand on counter top 8 hours or overnight before making bread. Follow this feeder recipe every time you want to make more bread.

Basic Sourdough Bread

• 6 c. Flour
• 1 T salt
• 1/2 c. Sugar
• 1/2 c. oil
• 1 1/4 c. warm water
• 1 c. Starter

Mix all ingredients, knead on a floured surface for 5-10 minutes. Grease a large mixing bowl (I use PAM spray), and put dough into bowl, and cover the bowl with a wet dish towel. Let dough rise in a warm place overnight or all day (about 12 hours). Punch down and knead on a floured surface. Divid dough into 3 equal loaves, shape into loaf form, and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise 6-8 hours loosely covered. Bake at 350 ° F 25-30 minutes.

Notes:

• I use 3c. white flour and 3c. Whole Wheat.
• For the first rising, I like to put a layer of greased saran (plastic) wrap between the dough and the wet towel. The plastic wrap will keep your towel from getting all dough-covered. Cover the bowl loosely so that the moisture and air can still get in.
• These are for the larger 5″ X 9″ X 3″ 1.5-Quart Loaf Dish
• After using starter, pour 1c. into container and refrigerate. Discard any extra or feed it and share it with a friend.
• Store starter in refrigerator.
• feed starter when you are ready to make more bread or at least once a week.

The smell of fresh baked bread will bring your family running to your kitchen and invite them to linger and talk for a while. Making a loaf of sourdough bread may seem intimidating, and some recipes make it over-complicated.

Today I’m going to start out with instructions to make the starter. You will have to let the starter ferment for a week before you can make bread. Check back next Monday for the basic sourdough bread recipe.

Sourdough Starter

(first time)

• 1 c warm water
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 package ( 2 1/4 t. dry yeast)
• 3 T instant potato flakes

Instructions:

Mix ingredients and let sit on the counter for two days. You should see bubbles form in the starter. Refrigerate 3-5 days, then feed starter (see directions below) and let sit out overnight before making bread.

Starter Feeder

• 1 c. warm water
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 T. instant potato flakes

add to starter, let stand on counter top 8 hours or overnight before making bread. Follow this feeder recipe every time you want to make more bread.

Other Notes:

Use a glass or plastic container for storing the starter and wooden or plastic spoons to stir with. Some say that if the starter comes in contact with stainless steel it will deactivate the yeasts. I have never experienced this, but I figured I would throw the warning out there.

This is one of my husband’s favorite Christmas snacks. I only make it when we have a large crowd because there is an incredible amount of sugar. This carmel popcorn ring will satisfy the sweet tooth in your family.

• 1/4 c butter
• 1/4 c oil
• 28 caramels
• 2 1/2 c mini marshmallows
• 10 cups popped popcorn
• 1/2 lb M & M’s
• 1/2 lb pecans

Melt butter, oil, carmels, and marshmallows in a double boiler. In a large bowl, mix popcorn, M&M’s and Pecans. Pour melted mixture over popcorn mixture. Stir to coat evenly.

Press mixture into a greased angel food cake pan.

Allow to cool before serving.