Fresh Fruit Salad

I was asked to bring a salad to Thanksgiving, so this is what I came up with. It's pink!
I'm more of a dessert kind of girl. (See other posts for verification on that.)

Ingredients:
12 oz Whipped Topping
12 oz Marshmallow Creme (it comes in a jar usually above puffed marshmallows.)
12 oz Fresh Raspberries (frozen will probably be fine too.)
6-7 small Crisp Apples sliced and diced (not too small)
1 pound (or so) sliced Grapes (mine were too big for small kids)
1 Pomegranate (open it and get all the seeds out without the white membrane stuff)
3 cups Colored Marshmallows

Instructions:
Mix whipped topping and marshmallow creme together with raspberries. Toss apples in and coat with whipped topping mix. Toss in grapes and pomegranate. Mix well. Make sure the salad is a good pink color. Add marshmallows to soak up extra juice and fill in corners of salad. Kids love marshmallows (at least most do.) I may add a banana tomorrow when I retaste it. I didn't want it to get brown or too soggy.

My usual salad is fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, marshmallows, and whipped topping with the occasional cut up apple or banana, so this is a really fresh yummy salad and it's pretty healthy too! Try it.

If you aren't sure about the pomegranate (and I wasn't), then add a spoonful or two of the salad in a small bowl and mix a few pomegranate seeds in to see what you think. They do have small seeds in the center, but with crisp apples you can't tell very much and they are supposedly a "super food".
Sorry I haven't posted lately. I've been in a cooking rut. Maybe I'll come up with some new recipes to try out soon.

Red Sauce Chicken Enchiladas

This is NOT from scratch. At least not the sauce. I use the cans of red enchilada sauce. It is very yummy though and it has made it to Andy's top five meals that I make. He likes everything I make (because I know what he doesn't like and don't add those things).
You could make this ahead of time or even the night before. It throws together fairly quickly. I made mine this morning and then put it in the fridge until we got back from after-school activities. Otherwise, dinnertime would be harder and I'd want to break my goal of only going out to eat once a month. Now dinner's in the oven.

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken Breasts
1 large or 2 small cans Red Enchilada Sauce (brand doesn't really matter. We actually tried the more expensive one when I had a coupon and liked the WinCo brand Hytop more.)
13-15 Corn Tortillas (works with regular flour tortillas too in a pinch. Guess why I know?)
2 cups Shredded Cheese (Mexican is good. Cheddar works fine)

Instructions:
I just boiled two chicken breasts (with the spices I like-garlic, parsley, red pepper, and chili pepper, use what you like) and cut them up.
Spray 9x13 pan. If you want to, you could pour half a can of sauce in. Heat up 6 tortillas at a time with a paper towel around them, then put some chicken across tortilla with some cheese and roll it up. Place it in a 9x13 pan and repeat until the pan is full. Dump sauce on top and some cheese. Cover with tin foil and let it soak in all the juices from the sauce. You can cook it right away too. Cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. If your pan is coming straight from the fridge, you can put it in before the oven is heated.
Either way, this is a great filling meal. The kids like it too. It's so good!
You could serve it with sour cream or guacamole if you want to. We like it just the way it comes out. It also works to tear up the tortillas if you don't have time to fill each one and make an enchilada casserole. Make some Spanish rice to go with it or some corn if you want.

Double Oat Breakfast Cookies

I found this recipe the day one of my friends asked if I wanted to go on a morning hike and eat breakfast at the top of a hill around us. I just tried it out and they are so good. Try them and see for yourself. Someone is so smart to combine something we all love with another meal that makes it easy to eat and fast. Now, I don't have to feel so bad about eating cookies in the morning.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Butter, softened
1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1-1/4 cups Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspooon Salt
1/4 cup Water
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1-1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Golden Raisins and/or Milk Chocolate Pieces (I used Mini Chocolate Chips and Crasins)
3 cups Round Toasted Oat Cereal (such as Cherrios)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl. Beat in water, egg, and vanilla until combined. Beat in flour until combined. Beat in as much of the rolled oats as you can with mixer. Stir in any remaining rolled oats. Stir in raisins and oat cereal.
Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls about 3 inches apart onto an ungreased (I greased mine) cookie sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store cookies in tightly covered container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Makes 24 (2-cookie) servings.
Recipe found on Better Homes and Gardens website or in their September 2009 issue.

Pineapple Bundt Cake

I got a silicone pan from a company a while ago and finally thought of a way to use it. I made a pineapple upside-down cake in the microwave. Yes, the microwave. The cool thing about these pans is that you can put them in the microwave to cook cakes quickly.
I actually didn't "buy" the pan. I got a notice from a friend that they give their pans away and you only have to pay shipping (about $8.00, but less than a whole pan would cost, I think). Here's the site to get a free pan from the company. Go to their freebie section, and if you don't want to sign up for anything else, just pay shipping. They have all kinds of other dishes and tools too if you don't want a "fluted cake pan".
AND my cake slid right out too! I know some of these pans say they are easier, but this one seems to be!I found a pineapple upside down cake recipe online, but it only used half a cake mix, so I doubled it and I didn't use Maraschino cherries because I didn't have any, but feel free to do that too and I didn't have rings of pineapple, just chunks, so that's different too, but it will all taste the same.

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted
1 cup Brown Sugar
20 ounce can Sliced Pineapple (Reserve juice)
1 box Cake Mix (I used yellow, but you could use white)
2 Eggs

Instructions:
Spray a microwaveable bundt cake pan with non stick vegetable spray.
Melt butter (in a different dish) and pour into bundt pan.
Spread brown sugar over butter in bottom of pan.
Place pineapple around the pan on top of the sugar and butter. Save the juice!
(If you want to add cherries, you can slice them and spread them around the pineapple here.)
Mix remaining pineapple juice and eggs in with the cake mix.
Pour mix over pineapple in pan.
Bake in microwave on high for 15-18 minutes on a turn table. If you don't have a turn table, rotate every 4-5 minutes. Take out when top looks spongy, and has holes, not dough on top.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes before flipping onto serving dish. (Otherwise, you might do what I did and miss part of the plate and have to slide it back on. Good luck with that.)
I'm taking it to a family BBQ tonight to share. I'm so excited to try it!

Oh, it would probably work fine to cook it in a glass baking dish too. I would probably take less time to cook though, so check on it often.
Update: Everyone liked it. They were all impressed with my cooking skills. It went so fast some people didn't even get to try it and they were bummed.

Homemade Granola Bars

I'm looking for cheap and easy ways to snack (healthy too!) This recipe is great, especially with the substitutions. I just need to buy some mini chocolate chips for next time so they stretch farther. I used chocolate chips and crasins.

Easy Granola Bars
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (or ground whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, softened — or substitute applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips or raisins, crasins, nuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Lightly grease one 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the 2 cups assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc.
3. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.
I think the recipe would be even better with 1/4 cup Karo Syrup too. They are a little dry, but still good.
This recipe came from this site. Food Storage Made Easy.net

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
12-18 Corn Tortillas
1 can Red Enchilada Sauce
2 cups Frozen Corn (a drained can of corn would work fine too), Optional
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese for top

Instructions:
Boil chicken with garlic, red pepper, parsley-or however you like to flavor your chicken. That is the mixture I like. Boil for 20 minutes or until no longer pink. Let soak in the boiled water with lid on for 15 minutes or so. Place chicken breasts on cutting board to cut up into little pieces.
Spray casserole pan or 9X13 pan.
Tear up corn tortillas into dish. Put cut up chicken on top of tortillas. Mix. Add can of enchilada sauce. Mix. Add corn. Mix. Spread cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so.
I made mine at lunchtime and then put it in the fridge until 45 minutes before Andy gets home, so it will have time to cook and time to set up with the lid on while we get ready for dinner. Serve by itself or with Spanish rice.

Microwave Fruit Cake

This ends up kind of like a cobbler, but doesn't take as long.

Ingredients:
Yellow Cake Mix
Peach Pie or Apple Pie Filling or what ever flavor you desire
1 1/2 sticks of butter (or margarine)

Instructions:
Place Cake mix in bottom of baker, layer with Pie Filling, 1 1/2 sticks of butter pats. Put lid on and cook in the microwave for 10 minutes. Then stir up and cook 3 more minutes. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.
Don't use butter recipe. Use Yellow cake mix, or Devils food with Cherries
Butter recipe is too buttery and takes longer to cook in microwave
You can try different cake mixes and pie fillings.

It's always nice to have a fast and easy cake recipe.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My sister, Janessa, made these earlier this week and I just had to try them out! They are SO good! Moist, chewy, and delicious (except for a few that got a little too browned-Elizabeth liked those ones though.)
She got the recipe from this site:
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
6 Tablespoons Butter (softened)
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Regular Oatmeal (not quick oats)
2 cups Chocolate Chips
2 Bananas, cut into 1/4 to 1/3 inch pieces (or mush them up like I do in ziplock baggies and freeze. Defrost in microwave when you need them)

Instructions:
Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside. (I never do this. I just add it in one at a time after the butters and sugars and eggs are mixed-FYI.)
Mix the butter (I bought REAL butter for the first time!) with the sugars until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla until well mixed. Add flour mixture. Add oatmeal, chocolate chips, and bananas. Mix well. I use a KitchenAid, so I added the chocolate chips last. The mixer doesn't like them much, but I do.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes on a GREASED cookie sheet.
The recipe says it makes 60 cookies, but it's more like 36 cookies.

Crepes!

Alright, so I didn't make crepes for a long time because I had a really bad time making them when Andy and I were first married. I checked out a kid book ("Crepes By Suzette" by Monica Wellington) at the library that had a crepe recipe in the back of the book (the girl in the book lived in France and made crepes to different people with different fillings). This recipe is great! I made some on Sunday night and used the rest of the batter on Monday mid-morning as a snack and just made another batch this afternoon. YUM!
Here's the recipe for 8 crepes.

Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Melted Butter (I used margarine, like always-and it worked)
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
and desired toppings

Utensils needed:
Large bowl (not giant bowl though, 2 quart bowl should work)
Whisk
Ladle
Spatula
Large Frying Pan

Instructions:
In the bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Beat in the milk. Then add the flour and mix until very smooth. Add the melted butter, sugar, and salt to the batter and blend well. It should be the consistency of heavy cream. Add slightly more milk if necessary (I had the perfect ratio.) The batter can be used immediately, but even better, cover and chill for one hour or overnight.

Heat the pan and brush lightly with melted butter (I used spray PAM). Pour in a ladleful of batter (about 3 Tablespoons-I'd go with 1/3 cup). Quickly swirl the pan around so the batter spreads out thin. Cook over medium-high heat until the crepe is set and the edges are lightly browned and lift up easily, about 2 minutes. Flip it, spread it with your favorite filling, and cook for another minute. Fold it in half, dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Filling ideas:
Strawberry Jam (or other flavors) with chocolate syrup, if desired
Peanut butter with chocolate chips
Cinnamon/sugar with Carmel Syrup
Any pie filling
Banana
Honey

Blond Microwave Fudge

My mom makes this in her Microwave. The fudge recipe used to be on the back of the Marshmallow creme jar. That is where she got the Microwave part anyway. She adapted it to make the blond fudge. It was well received and she'll be making it again.
FYI-I don't like white chocolate. I do really like her milk chocolate fudge though and just in case YOU like white chocolate, you can try this one out.
Microwave Blond Fantasy Fudge
1 1/2 cubes butter or margarine (3/4 cup)
3 cups granulated Sugar
2/3 cup Evaporated milk
12 oz White chocolate chips
1 jar Marshmallow creme
1 teas vanilla
1 cup chopped Nuts, optional (I like Cashews)

Butter a 9x9" pan. Microwave the butter in a 4 qt microwavable dish until melted. 1 minute depending on your microwave. Add Sugar and Evaporated milk and mix well. Microwave on high 5 minutes, stirring after 3 minutes. Stir well, scrape down sides of bowl and microwave 5 1/2 minutes stirring again at 3 minutes. Add white chocolate chips, stir until melted in, then add the marshmallow creme, vanilla and nuts (if desired). Pour into buttered pan and leave at room temperature 4-6 hours. Cut and enjoy.

To make this chocolate fudge substitute the white chocolate for real chocolate or semi-sweet chips.
I prefer to put in Milk chocolate chips and Cashews for the nuts. YUMMY!

Chocolate PB Oatmeal Cookies

I made up my own recipe today for some cookies to take to a girl who has been keeping Vincent busy during swimming lessons. She takes him out to the grass and follows him around making sure he doesn't eat the rocks and sticks he likes to pick up and doesn't let him go into the pool. She really deserves some cookies! These have just about everything. I decided to use some cooked white beans again as a substitute for butter to see if they worked here. They really do.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Cooked White Beans (boil dry white beans until soft and then add them to recipe instead of butter. You don't have to mash them. The mixer does that. You can measure them out in 1/2 cup increments and freeze them in snack size sandwich bags. Just thaw in fridge or microwave 40-60 seconds and they are good to go.)
1/2 cup Shortening
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 cup Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Oatmeal

Instructions:
Mix beans, shortening, and sugars with peanut butter until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth and a little fluffy. Add in dry ingredients and mix until oatmeal is covered with the chocolate cookie dough.
Place on greased cookie sheet (just in case). These don't spread out much. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Let cool 1 minute on cookie sheet before moving to cooling rack.

Chocolate Chip Melt-A-Ways

These cookies are soft and yummy. I got the recipe from my foods class in high school.
This is still a favorite cookie recipe. They are soft because they have powdered sugar instead of brown sugar.

Chocolate Chip Melt-A-Ways
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Butter (softened)
¾ cup Granulated Sugar
¾ cup Powdered Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups Chocolate Chips or M&M's or anything else you like

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Sift Flour and Baking Soda together (I usually skip this and just add them in at the end.) Set aside. Beat Butter and Sugars together. Beat in Egg and Vanilla. Add Dry Ingredients. Stir in Chocolate Chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes or until light brown. Cool on racks. Makes about 48 small cookies.

Cafe Rio Salad

My friend made this awesome salad (really a main dish) for a baby shower/dinner. It was SO good that I had to request the recipe to share. Most of you have had this before, since I've heard a lot of talk about Cafe Rio, but here is the recipe for the meat, the pico de gallo, and the dressing.


*Total Prep-Time: 18 hours, technically. But most of that is just waiting for the pork to cook. I’d say active cook time for the entire meal was perhaps an hour, maybe 1 hour 15 mins. Lots of this meal (dressing, pico) can be made before-hand and kept in the fridge until it’s time to eat.
* Was the recipe easy to follow: Extremely easy. It’s mostly chop, dump and marinate. Easy-peasy.
* Are the ingredients easy to find: It took me a bit of searching in the Mexican Food section to find Chipotle Chilies in Adobo Sauce, and also a bit of googling to figure out what, exactly, a tomatillo looked like. But I found everything at my grocery store.
* Do you need special equipment: Large-ish crock pot and a blender. A food processor would make quick work of the pico, although I chopped mine by hand.
* Does the end result taste delicious: YES! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This was the best meal I have ever made, hands down, no questions. And there were enough leftovers for my neighbors, and my roommate, and a couple of meals for me. This makes a ton of food, but it will be eaten quickly. Try it, taste it, and you’ll understand why.

Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa



5-6 lb. pork roast

21 oz. Dr. Pepper (or Coke, do NOT use diet soda)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
6-ish oz. red taco sauce (I used hot)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Place roast in crock-pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. (I started my Pork Adventure at midnight and everything worked out perfectly for Sunday dinner at 6:00 pm.) After 12 hours, drain pork (retain liquid if you want sauce for burritos, simply mix with a can of verde enchilada sauce and away you go).

Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. I didn’t keep the actual chilies, I dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Dr. Pepper to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then I tossed them. I also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo goodness. My version had a fairly good kick to it, but if you LOVE hotness, then blend everything + 2 or 3 chilies in the blender. (Also, the adobo sauce tends to stain plastic, using a glass or metal mixing bowl will make your clean-up of adobo sauce considerably less frustrating).

Add Dr. Pepper mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours.

Take out roast and shred, add back into sauce and cook for 2 more hours. At this point the meat was so tender it practically shredded itself.
OR CHICKEN
Café Rio Salad
Chicken:
1 bottle (16. oz) Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs. chicken breasts
Mix ingredients and pour over chicken breasts in a crockpot. Cook on low for 4 hours. Shred
the chicken and cook 1 more hour to soak up the juices. Serve with a slotted spoon.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Easy Pico-de-Gallo


3 tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch of cilantro, minced
1/2 sweet onion, minced
1 section of green pepper, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
about 1/3-1/2 cup vinegar (use your best judgement)
salt and pepper

Mix it up really well and refrigerate. I put my pico in a Tupperware and shook it up really well right before serving to re-mix.



Dressing:


2 tomatillos, peeled and chopped
½ bunch cilantro
1 garlic clove
1 lime, juiced
1 jalepeño , limit seeds to reduce how “spicy” you want it
1 8-oz. pkg buttermilk ranch dressing (regular ranch works too)
Blend in food processor: tomatillos, cilantro, garlic, lime and jalapeno. Make dressing according
to the directions on the package (but use less milk than requested). Then add the blended
ingredients and chill. The longer it sits the better.

Rice:
4 cups water
4 tsp. chicken boullion
4 tsp. garlic, minced
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
1 can green chilis, undrained
¾ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. butter
½ onion, chopped
2 cups rice
While bringing water to a boil, combine in a food processor: cilantro, green chilis & onion. Add
all ingredients to boiling water. Cover and cook for 20 min at a simmer.


Layer:
-tortilla sprinkled with cheese (slightly crisp in a frying pan)
-rice
-shredded chicken
-black beans, rinsed and drained
-romaine lettuce, chopped
-tomatoes, chopped
-avocado, chopped
-dressing
-fresh lime squeezed over top, quartered
-top with Fiesta tortilla strips (optional)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Now, invite some people over and get cooking!

Chocolate Marshmellow Eggs

This is a recipe that my mom makes (nearly) every year. She made them today with my sister.




Chocolate Marshmallow Eggs - makes about 44
2 envelopes Plain gelatin (Knox) mixed with 4Tbls cold water Let set while you prepare the egg shape mold in cookie sheet. see below*
1 cup boiling water
Add- 3 Tbls Flavored Jello (Cherry, Strawberry, Orange)
Put all of the above in Mixing bowl and add
2 cups sugar
Beat 5 Minutes and spoon into egg imprinted flour.
Leave in flour overnight or at least 4-6 hours. You can turn the eggs over so the top side isn't sticky and they stay soft. Before dipping pat the egg to take off the excess flour.
[They feel soft - like a babies bum]
Dip in melty chocolate (find the best kind in bulk at WinCo Foods) and put on waxed paper to set up.
Much cheaper than the stale ones you can buy.

To make the egg imprints in Flour-
Fill baking sheet with flour and smooth with spatula.
Using an Egg- press into flour making the imprint.
Put the imprints about 4-5 across and 5-6 down. Depends on the size of your egg.
Carefully, so you don't break the egg into the flour, YUCKY.

I got this recipe when I was a newly wed in Basin City Ward, many years ago... Enjoy!

On the back of that recipe card is a Egg Basket recipe that is yummy too.

Egg Baskets -Sandy Peterson (Basin City)
3 Egg white
1/4 teas salt
1/2 teas vanilla
1- 1/2 cup sugar
Put in mixing bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
Stir in-
3 cups corn flakes
1/2 cup Chocolate chips
Bake 3-5 minutes on ungreased baking sheet.
Cool 2 minutes and remove from baking sheet.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know, it's not really time for pumpkin time, but these are good anytime of the year. They don't have eggs, and they use 1 can of pumpkin, which is good for you. I also added in 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour this time in place of 1/2 cup of regular flour. They were still SO good.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Ellen Bailey-one of my mom's long-time friends.)

Ingredients:
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Shortening
2 cups Pumpkin (a 15 oz can is fine)
4 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 package Chocolate Chips

Instructions:
Cream sugar and shortening together. Mix in pumpkin. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 11 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before
removing to cooling racks. Makes about 5 dozen.

Whole Wheat-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm going to make these soon!

Fanatic Friday Food Storage Recipe Rewind: Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Posted on January 8th, 2009 by Crystal-Everyday Food Storage

You’ll never guess what this cookie DOESN’T have in it! I’ll give you one guess…if you guessed a fat you are right! There is no butter or shortening in this cookie. Instead you have the protein, fiber and health benefits of….yep…BEANS! To make the deal even sweeter this low calorie cookie only has 1 cup of sugar and is full of even more fiber when you use whole wheat flour. The cookie has a great cake-like consistency and of course no bad flavor or after taste! I served them to my brother, nephew and husband and no one knew there was anything different about the cookie, in fact to quote them: “These are AWESOME!!” I think this may be one of my favorite food storage recipes yet!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

(Made with white beans)
½ cup cooked white beans
1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs (1/4 C. Egg Powder + 1/2 C. Water)
1 tsp. vanilla

2 ¼ cups wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup pecans (or walnuts) chopped

Beat beans and sugar together. Add eggs, vanilla. In separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add flour moisture to bean/sugar mixture. Stir until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips, and nuts. Cover and refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°F. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes depending on size of cookies. Makes 4 dozen.

Upside Down Pizza

I got this at a cooking class in January. I did not make it up.

This is a fast and easy. There is no waiting for dough to rise, rolling out, or slowly placing them all around the pizza pan. Just put it all into the pan and bake.

Ingredients:
Add your favorite pizza toppings. You can add a few or many.
Here are some ideas:
Browned Hamburger
Pepperoni, chopped
Canadian Bacon, chopped
Green Onions
Olives
Sausage
Green Peppers
Pineapple
Sliced Mushrooms (canned or fresh)

1 can Spaghetti Sauce or two cans pizza sauce
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese (or other kind you like)

Topping (Crust):
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Oil
2 Eggs
3/4 teaspoon Salt

Instructions:
Spray a 9x13 pan and add the spaghetti or pizza sauce.
Add the pizza toppings you desire.
Top with Mozzarella cheese.
Mix up the crust in a bowl and then pour over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the crust starts to brown a little.
About 5 minutes before removing from the oven, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Cut and flip over so crust is on the bottom.

Yummy French Bread

Yummy French Bread

Ingredients:
1 package Yeast (1 ½ Tablespoons)
2 ½ cups Hot Water, divided
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Salt
5 Tablespoons Oil
6 cups Flour, divided (1/4 cup more for rolling out)
1 Egg (optional)
Poppy or Sesame Seeds (optional)

Instructions:
Mix together yeast and ½ cup water and set aside for 10 minutes. In a plastic or wooden bowl mix remaining 2 cups water, sugar, salt, and oil until salt and sugar dissolve. Add 3 cups flour. Add yeast mixture.
Add 3 more cups of flour.
Stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Leave spoon in the batter. Set aside 10 minutes. Stir again, leaving spoon in batter. Repeat 2 more times (total of 4 mix, then wait 10 min). Divide dough into 2 parts. On a floured board (or counter), roll out each part dough to a flat rectangle. Then roll up to make a loaf and place on greased cookie sheet. Let loaves rise for 30 min. Brush loaves with egg and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, if desired. Bake @ 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

Don't use metal bowls or spoons--just wooden or plastic.

I have done both ways. I used my metal Kitchen Aid to make it do the work before and it seemed to turn out the same, but if you need to work out your arms or don't have a fabulous Kitchen Aid, you can easily do it by hand. After making this bread, I don’t know that I can spend a dollar or more on the French bread at the store.
Andy made this on Saturday (by hand, I didn't let him use the mixer) and it was delicious. He even won a bread contest!

This recipe came from Andy’s cousin, Sunny. THANKS!