Cool, rainy days call for nice warm comfort food!

After a night with gail force winds, and a cold sleet filled day of gloom today, I really needed to nice comfort food!  So early this morning I plopped a roast in the crock pot!  The smell is filling the house and warming me up!  Can't wait for dinner tonight!  I will also be making my favorite mashed potatoes, some chicken corn chowder and a Goat Cheese and Cherry Spinach salad!

I also bought a new cookbook last week, "Sandra Lee's Semi-homemade Complete Cookbook."  After watching her show on a day I stuck on the couch, I had to rush out and buy it!  So this week I am also trying her Cilantro Lime Fajitas, some pizza braid breadsticks, and an Orange Ginger Glazed Salmon.

I will also be making some chicken stir fry later this week!

Can't wait for a good week of cooking! 

Recipes and Pictures to Follow!!!

STAY DRY AND WARM!

Light on the cooking this week!

We are taking a little road trip this weekend to visit family in Green Bay, and also have a family bday to celebrate, so there are only 2 nights for dinner this week.  Tonight have White Chicken Chili in the crockpot, and I already made porcupine meatballs for the daycare kids' lunch, and froze the second batch to have another night.

I do plan to make a new recipe for Mocha Brownies to bring with to Green Bay as a treat!  So there won;t be many recipes this week.  The White Chicken Chili is not mine to give away, but I will post the Porcupine Balls and the Mocha Brownies, and below is the Ham and Cheese Braid from last week that never made it onto the blog!

I hope everyone has a great week, if you cook anything interesting, let me know!


Ham and Cheese Brunch Braid

Ingredients:
8 eggs and one egg white
1/4 cup milk
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
1 cup diced ham
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
2 packages of crescent rolls (one 2 Pillsbury creation sheets)

Directions:
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES
1. Scramble eggs, milk and cream cheese together; cook until set, but not firm
2. Add green onions, ham and red pepper
3. Lay out crescent rolls on a slightly greased baking sheet (press the seams together to make one solid surface let the edges hang over the pan a little bit.   On the Long sides, Cut one inch slits in the dough about 1/3 of the way in on each side.
4. Pile the egg, ham, onion and pepper mixture on top of the dough, in the area that does not have slits in it.
5. Top the eggs with the cheese.
6. Start with one side and bring one of the pieces over the edge mixture.  Then alternate sides, overlapping slightly to form a faux braid until the whole egg mixture is covered.
7. Slightly beat the egg white and brush over the braid.
8. Cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Slice and serve!

I have made this many times and it never fails to be everyone's favorite!  Great for a holiday morning, or family brunch...or just a regular old Sunday!  The braiding sounds complicated when you try to explain it, but once you try it, you will see this is so easy and everything thinks it looks like you put serious work into it.

Just made it up at the cabin this weekend and forgot to take a picture, I will try to track one down, but definitely give this one a try, you will not be disappointed!

Apple DREAM doughnuts!

My favorite part about the apple orchard is the Apple donuts they sell!  I always buy some to eat there and some to bring home.  So this year I got a recipe out of a magazine for Caramel Apple donuts.  It was good, but I didn't care for the caramel topping and the donuts were not perfect.  I tried another recipe.  Same thing, good, not perfect!  So I put a few things I like about each of them together, made a few substitutions and additions and VOILA!  I think I have it, the perfect apple donuts!  I would describe them as a cross between the Apple orchard donuts and the State Fair Mini donuts, they just melt in your mouth with ooey, gooey apple cinnamon sugar goodness!
I do have a donut pan that I use to bake them in the oven so they are not fried, and are perfectly shaped.  It was about $12.00 from Target and I have already used it tons!  If you don't have one and don't want to buy one, you could always use this same recipe to make it into muffins, or use a cake decorating bag to squeeze dough onto a baking sheet in a tubular circle.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter (slightly softened)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup apple juice or apple cider
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup grated apples

FOR CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter melted

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 Degrees.

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, slat, nutmeg and sugar. 
2. Cut in butter using a pastry blender (could also just use 2 knives.)
3. In a separate bowl combine the egg, apple juice, applesauce. and apples. Whisk together.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until they are combined.
5. Fill doughnut pan with dough- I use a cake decorating bag even when using my non-stick donut pan, it just helps create the perfect form.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes
MEANWHILE:
7. Melt 1/2 cup of butter in the microwave in a shallow bowl.
8. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon on a plate.
9. Once the doughnuts are down baking, remove immediately from pan and dip in the melted butter, roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture and allow to cool on a wire rack.

* If you decide to make this in a muffin form, I would just dip the muffin top in the butter and then the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Hearty Minestrone soup with Pepperoni Bread

Another fabulous dinner!  These two were the perfect pair together!  I actually made this for Tuesday night, but got a last minute call to go out to dinner with the family.  I froze one half of the soup like the recipe intended, and put the other half in the fridge for the next night.  I did end up thawing out the other half though as well and having the in-laws over for dinner Wednesday night.  DELICIOUS!  Even though it was still above average temperatures, the warm soup and fresh baked bread were perfect!


Hearty Minestrone Soup (from Taste of Home Fall Freezer Meals)    *photo from Taste of Home

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) beef broth
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1 T. Italian Seasoning
• 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Additional ingredients for each batch

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup uncooked noodles (ziti, or elbow macaroni)

1. In a stock pot, cook pork, celery and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink.  Add Garlic, cook 1 minute longer; drain.

2 Stir in tomatoes, beans, tomato juice, tomato sauce, broth, carrots, zucchini, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until carrots are tender.

3. Transfer 6 cups of the soup to a freezer container; freeze for up to 3 months.  Add water and pasta to remaining soup. bring to a boil, cover and cook until pasta is tender.

TO USE FROZEN SOUP: Thaw in the refrigerator; transfer to a large saucepan. Stir in water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat Add pasta, cover and cook until pasta is tender.

I actually made this in the crockpot.  I did step #1 in a saute pan, drained it and added it to a crockpot.  Then added everything in step #2 and set the crock pot to low and let everything simmer for about 4 hours before the carrots were tender.  Then added up having to refrigerate due to dinner invite.  The following day, I just threw it all back in the crock pot to warm it.  Then added the additional water and pasta.  Add these about 1/2 hour before you are ready to eat it, or the pasta will get mushy.  I did add a few too many noodles to mine and it ended up being more like a chili or ghoulash.  I would recommend only 3/4 cup per batch.

You could very easily make this vegetarian by leaving out the pork, or leave out the noodles (which is how I originally taste tested it...WONDERFUL!) and it would be a little more carb friendly.  You could also use wheat pasta to add some healthy grains.

Both batches together served 4 adults, 2 kids and left one serving left for my husband to take to work for lunch the next day!

Pepperoni Bread

For those you in the New Brighton area, one of my favorite restaurants to go to ever since I was little has always been Giuseppes.  Part of the reason is there delicious bread with the pepperonis rolled into it!  So I had to try to recreate this!  Did pretty good!

I started by making a homemade pizza dough in the bread machine on the dough cycle (it does all the mixing and kneading and some of the rising for you!)  If you do not have a bead machine or just want to skip a step, you could buy pizza dough from the grocery store, or even frozen Italian bread dough.

Here is the recipe for the Homemade pizza dough; Add these ingredients to your bread machine in this order.

• 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar (make a little well in the bread machine to add the remaining ingredients)
• 2-1/4 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup flat beer (you could slightly warm this ina saucepan to add some heat to help the dough to rise faster, but I just dumped it in straight out of the can)
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Set the bread machine to dough cycle and let it do it's thing!!

1. Once the dough cycle is done you can remove the dough from the bread machine and allow to rise a little more or just proceed right away...whatever you think it needs.  If it needs to rise, you can slightly grease a bowl, put the dough in it, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place.  You want the dough to have doubled in size from when it was first mixed in the bread machine.

2. If the dough has risen the desired amount.  Then lightly flour a work surface and your hand and push the dough into a rectangle.  
* This is great pizza dough, so if you wanted to make a pizza, follow these same directions.  The amount of dough makes one large pizza.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Lightly brush the dough with olive oil, sprinkle a little mozzarella cheese on the dough, top wit pepperonis, evenly spread over the dough.  I used about 15-20 turkey pepperoni.

5. Start from the short side and just roll the dough into a cylinder.

6. Lightly grease a cookie sheet, and place the dough seem side down on it.  Make an egg wash (one egg white and about 1/4 cup water, whisk together) and brush the top of the dough.

7. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes.  Let bread cool slightly, then slice!  YUMMMY!

Playgroup granola bars (from allrecipes.com)

These are a wonderful homemade version of granola bars.  There are a ton of variations you can do with these.  I make these a couple times a month and my husband loves them, my children love them and the daycare kids devour them! 
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Playgroup-Granola-Bars/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

I usually double the recipe.  Then add in the oats, brown sugar, oil, honey, eggs, cinnamon and1/2 the wheat germ the recipe calls for then add a 1/2 cup flax seed as well.

Then I divide the dough into 3 bowls to make a "variety pack" of granola bars.

• In one, I add raisins and extra cinnamon/
• In another I add 1/2 cup craisins and 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• In the last I add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup peanut butter

This week's meal plan, October 11-17

I try my best to plan out the meals for the week, taking into account days when I know we will be eating out or god forbid, eating on the road, then write my grocery lists accordingly so that I don't have to run back to the grocery store 3-4 times a week.  Once I have my list made, I look through my coupon drawer to see if there is anything to keep the grocery costs down.  I also always check the Supertarget website.  At Target you are allowed to use one manufacturers coupon and one store coupon, so if you stack things up with in store coupons, you can end up getting some things for almost free! 

Meals for the week:

• Fish Tacos and Avocado/Tomato Salad- one of my favorite weeknight meals.  Very healthy!
• Crockpot Minestrone and homemade pepperoni bread.  Nice light meal on a fall evening.
• Chicken Salad Sandwiches on a criossant with a spinach salad.
• Ham and Cheese Brunch Braid with Cheesy Hashbrowns!  MY FAVORITE BREAKFAST!
• I am going to try a recipe I found for Morning Glory Muffins.  We used to go to Lunds (when it was right in New Brighton) every Sunday Morning and these were one of the best muffins there.  They are healthy and very hardy!  We'll see how those turn out!!
• And of course a couple of desserts, who can go through a whole week without any homemade desserts?!

Hope you look forward to the upcoming recipes!  Thanks for checking in!

Mediteranean Dinner!

The family came over for dinner tonight so I decided to try a few new recipes I found and they all went together perfectly and everyone really seemed to enjoy them!  The theme is Mediteranean.  For a main dish I made Feta and Sun Dried Tomato stuffed chicken, with a side of couscous, and a Greek Salad.  Huge Hit and really VERY easy for how impressive it is!

Feta and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lemon juice
• 1cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 tablespoons Greek seasoning
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 6 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
•  
• 1 package (6 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
• 18 chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 20 pitted and coarsely chopped kalamata olives (optional)
• 3 tablespoon oil from the sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and rinsed
• 12 roasted red pepper strips

Directions

1. Whisk together the lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, Greek seasoning, and lemon zest in a bowl. Pound the chicken breasts between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Marinate the chicken in the lemon marinade at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and 3 tablespoon of oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl; set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. Remove the chicken from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Divide the stuffing mixture onto each piece of chicken. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Place onto a baking dish, seam-side down, top with spinach and place two roasted pepper strips onto each stuffed breast.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is no longer pink, about 35-40 minutes. Remember to remove the toothpicks before serving.

I needed more chicken breasts so went to the grocery store.  I accidently grabbed the chicken tender strip, so I had 3 stufed chicken breasts and the rest was just the chicken tender strips topped with the filling, which was also DELICIOUS!

Mediteranean Salad:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag fresh spinach (rinsed)
• 1 cup mild giardiniera and it's juice (found near the olives...also comes in hot, which is great , but not if you are trying to feed children)
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives (preferably pitted)
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
• 1/2 cup italian dressing
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 T. Balsamic vinegar
• dash of pepper

Mix all ingredients just before serving

FETA CHEESE IS GREAT ON HERE ALSO.


Couscous

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup couscous

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup chicken broth

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

4 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1 pinch salt

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 dash balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Stir couscous into boiling water and return water to a boil. Cover and remove pot from heat. Let stand 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
3. While the couscous is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic, green onions and peppers; saute briefly. Stir in tomatoes, basil, cooked couscous, salt and pepper. Mix together and transfer to a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Splash some balsamic vinegar on top.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese while still warm.

This is great dinner to serve to company if you want like to treat them to something special.  Very tasty, and looks like you slaved away when really it is a very simple dinner to prepare!  The kids ate the couscous and the chicken with some of the "weird looking" stuff scraped off of it!

Homemade Mac and Cheese

This is one of my personal favorites!  Ever since I was little Kraft Macaroni and Cheese has been a staple of mine!  Now I am trying to avoid boxed meals, so I like to make it homemade.  The kids love it.  It is one of the daycare kids favorite lunches...and pleasing a crowd that consists of 12 kids is pretty hard to do!  There are a ton of add-in possibilities for this one, but unfortunately, there is not TOO MANY ways you could make this more low fat or low carb!  But come on, if you are in the mood for Mac and Cheese you are fully aware of the fact that you are taking a little break from your diet!!!

I ALWAYS MAKE A "DOUBLE BATCH"  because I am either feeding 12 kids with it, or a crowd at a party.  So feel free to cut these ingredients in half!

2 lbs. Elbow macaroni noodles
1/2 c. butter
5 T. flour
1 small onion, chopped (feel free to omit for picky kids, but if you chop them small enough, they are pretty well hidden!)
2 t. dry mustard
2 t. Lawry's seasoned salt
4 c. milk-I use skim, but you could use whatever.  You could use up to 5 cups if you want it more liquidy, but I like it "sticky"
4 c. shredded cheese.  I use sharp cheddar, sometimes Monterey Jack

1.  Cook pasta according to directions on package (make sure to keep it al dente or it will end up mushy.)

2. Meanwhile in sauce pan, melt the butter and add the chopped onions.  Saute for a few minutes.  Add flour, ground mustard and Lawrys's.  Whisk to combine all together.  Gradually add milk.  Bring to a low boil, cooking and stirring almost constantly until it begins to thicken and bubble.  Remove from heat and add cheese.  Stir until all melted.

3. Now you can do a few things with it.  I usually just add the cheese mixture to the noodles and serve.  Once it is mixed together, you can even throw it in the crockpot on low (or even just warm) if you are entertaining a crowd, or want something ready as soon as you get home from somewhere.  But you can also put it in a greased baking pan, top with 4 T. bread crumbs and some parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. 


ADD-IN IDEAS:
Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and rinsed (about a cup, or one frozen rectangular package)
Frozen chopped broccoli, thawed.  You can also use fresh just chop it up and steam it a little to soften it up.
Salsa for a more Southwestern taste.  I love to add some hot sauce to this!

Chicken Lasagna Rolls

I made this recipe last night for my family.  It is from taste of home's "Fall Freezer Meals" cookbook.  The meals in this book are double the recipe.  One to eat now and one to freeze and cook later.  Great for busy family nights, or when you just don't feel like cooking or cleaning up the kitchen (Yes, even I feel this way once in a while!)

Quote from the recipe book, " This recipe takes pasta to new heights.  I roll a cheesy mixture of chicken and broccoli into lasagna noodles, making enough for two dinners.  It's nice to have a pan of these roll-ups in the freezer for unexpected company." 

photo courtesy of Taste Of Home


CHICKEN LASAGNA ROLLS:  Yield: 2 casseroles (3 servings each) **
1 small onion, chopped
3 T. butter
3 T. all-purpose flour
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
3 cups diced cooked chicken  *I actually used 1 lb. ground chicken instead, worked great.
6 cups frozen chopped broccolu, thawed and drained.
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cups dry bread crumbs *I used Italian style
1 jar (6 1/2 oz.) diced pimentos, drained
1/4 cup minced fresh italian parsley
1/2 tsp. salt * I subbed garlic salt
12 Lasagna noodles, cooked and drained **

**I ended up with about 15 rolled noodles, my husband and I could only 2, they are very filling.  the kids each ate one roll.  I would say this makes 8 adult servings. (4 for now, and 4 frozen for later.)

1. In a larget Saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.  Stir in flour until blended (onions get coated with the flour.)  Gradually add broth and milk.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in cheese.  Pour 1/3 cup into each greased 8 in. square baking dish; set aside.

2.In a large bowl, combine 1 cup cheese sauce, chicken, broccoli, eggs, bread crumbs, pimientos, parsley and salt.  Spread about 1/2 cup over each cooked noodle. Roll up jelly roll style. beginning with a short side, secure with toothpick.

3. Place six rolls *mine was about 8 or 9 rolls, curly end down in each baking dish.  Top each roll with remaining cheese sauce.

4. Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months.  Cover and bake second casserole at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Uncover; bake 5 minutes longer.  Discard the toothpicks.
TO USE FROZEN CASSEROLE: thaw in the refrigerator for 8 hours.  Bake as directed.

My family really enjoyed this recipe.  My husband doesn't usually like broccoli IN food, but enjoyed this and said I should definetely make this again.  Aidan finished his off, and Logan, who is much pickier, only ate a few bites.

ENJOY!!!

Welcome to Homemade Mama!!!

I love to cook for my family.  I love to entertain friends, and impress them with delicious food and baked goods!  So after many posts on facebook and inquiries into recipes, I have decided this would be a great way to share what I am cooking or baking for the week!

Some of my recipes are original some are given to me from friends and family, and some are from cookbooks or websites.  So I am not claiming to have come up with many of these on my own, but most of them I do put an original twist to.  Either to make it a little healthier, a little more kid friendly, or a little more impressive for company!

So feel free to check back regularly to see what is in store for the tastebuds...and leave me comments, reviews or alterations you made so together we can feed our families culinary delights!!