A Yummy, Light Meal for after the Holidays

By the time we finish our holiday parties and polish off all the Christmas treats I feel rather, well, chunky and laden down with fat and sugar. I want meals that are simple and light and my body starts to crave veggies. This recipe is the perfect solution, especially in the cold winter days in Michigan. It also gives us a chance to gather together in the kitchen as my hubby and my daughter chop veggies and I look on with my hot cup of tea. I talked about this a bit on the radio show and, as promised, here is the recipe that they claim they start with.

Fowler Vegetable Soup

• 1 lb uncooked stew meat
• 2 medium carrots (sliced)
• 2 medium potatoes (diced)
• 2/3 cup red and white onion (diced)
• 1/2 medium yellow squash (sliced)
• 1/4 medium cabbage (chopped)
• 1 small quartered tomato
• 2 stalks celery (diced)
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 small red or green sweet pepper
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
• 2 tbsp veggie soup base
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp marjoram

any other veggies (2-4 1/2 cups)

enough water to cover vegetables

Chop, slice and dice vegetables. Toss veggies and spices into crock pot. Pour in water, add meat and set to high for 2 hours. Reduce to low and simmer another 4 hours.

This is my husband and daughter’s creation from an afternoon in the kitchen. We’ve had it many times but it’s never been the same twice. They tweak and add, throwing in whatever suits them in the moment. So I make no claims as to how good this recipe will be, because I can’t even be certain that this is what they did the very first time so many years ago. But it’s what my daughter wrote in her cook book so it is certainly the starting point for a fun afternoon and a yummy meal.

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Making Monster Cookies

Love these adorable Monster Cookie Sticks! I can already see this becoming a little food craft project for the evening. My youngest daughter and I love baking together and this looks like a fun project.

After we get done playing with our food :) we can enjoy munching on a few of the cookies. Then we can look for creative ways to package some up for the neighborhood kids when they come trick-or-treating tomorrow (I always like to do something a little special for the kids who live on our block.

These would also be a great alternative to a goody bag or cake for a monster birthday party. The kids will love ’em and they can even be used as part of your table decorations. Too cute!

P.S. If you don’t want to buy decorating bags for the icing, I’ve used Ziploc bags as an alternative. Just snip off enough of one bottom corner to fit your decorating tip through, spoon in the icing and you’re good to go.

P.P.S. If you are vegan or bake for one, she shared a vegan cut-out sugar cookie recipe you can use for this too.

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A Vegetarian Lunch for the Rest of Us

While I am not a vegetarian, today is World Vegetarian Day so in honor of that I thought I’d share a vegetarian recipe I created recently. It’s rather simple and is inspired by the amazing portabella sandwiches served at The Union in Clarkston, MI (my favorite restaurant ever).

Take a sub bun, roll or flat bread of your choice. Toast the bread for a bit in a 200 degree oven. While your bread is toasting, take 1/2 of a bell pepper in different colors, red, yellow and orange, a medium onion and 3 large portabella mushroom caps and slice into strips. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a skillet and cook the vegetables until tender.

Place your toasted bread on a pizza stone or cookie sheet, cover with the vegetables, lay slices of provolone cheese on top and place under the broiler until cheese is melted. Drizzle with a balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing and serve.

It’s a quick and simple dish to make but which tastes delicious and if you serve it to company it looks like you spent a lot of time slaving over a stove:)

Note: When I made my sandwich (in the photo) I had to melt the cheese directly on the bread since our broiled went on the blink. It works much better if you melt it over the veggies.

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Saved by the Crock Pot

The busy season is here and ramping up; after school activities, homework, committees, and the coming holidays make meal time a considerable challenge. I know crock pot cooking has saved us from a string of dinners hastily grabbed from a drive-thru window. Whether you rely on this life-saver in your kitchen or you’re considering giving it a go you’ll need some inspiration and some recipes so here are some helpful bits to get you started.

• Hear Heather Tallman of the basilmomma blog share ideas and inspiration for cooking for a family on HFH Radio (Click here for the show page with download link and Click here to download off iTunes – look for the 9-10-12 show)
• Trish Novotny of 24/7 Moms has gathered a few websites that offer yummy crock pot recipes. Browse around and when you find one your family loves come on back and share it here.

We’re going to be breaking our crock pot out this weekend and I can’t wait to try something new. What’s your favorite recipe?

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Munchy Meals – One Mom’s Solution to Game Time Munchies

When it comes to watching sports in our house I’ve learned that the best thing to do is to toss some food on the coffee table and let the sports fans go. Whether it’s a Saturday afternoon Red Wing game, the Rose Bowl or the Super Bowl, I know that my family and our guests are happier if there’s some substantial food which is easily accessible and that they can eat without utensils. This realization birthed the notion of Munchy Meals.

Usually when people watch sports they set out snack foods. But I learned long ago that enough snacks would be consumed during the game to preclude any sort of meal later on. So I started putting out filling foods and sneaking in some healthy snacks to make sure that everyone had something resembling a meal.

A couple favorite tricks for getting healthy foods in are to serve a veggie tray and a fruit platter. I’ve even been known to set these out first, then disappear for a little while before putting out the rest of the food. That way they get some fruits and veggies in.

Then I bring out some of the family favorites, including sloppy joes and spinach artichoke dip. Then, of course, we have some chips, pretzels and peanuts too.

This is an embarassingly simple menu and I’ll even share recipes for the only two foods on here that have to be cooked.

Sloppy Joes

This is an old family recipe passed down to me by my mother. It gets rave reviews and my kids love it. Simply brown one pound of lean ground beef. Drain off the grease. Mix in one bottle of Heinz chili sauce. Warm and serve with your favorite hamburger buns. This is great to make up and set out in a crock pot dialed down to the ‘warm’ setting.

Spinach Artichoke Dip (and I have to admit that I’m not even the one who makes this, my hubby does)

One package of frozen, chopped spinach; thaw and drain. 8 oz block of cream cheese. 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese. 1/2 cup parmessan cheese. 1 can artichoke hearts (approx 15 oz.) – drain and dice. 15 oz jar Alfredo sauce. 2 large cloves of garlic minced and sauteed. Mix it all together in a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly (approximately 30 minutes). Give it a stir and serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

Whip those up and you have totally over-the-top Super Bowl Sunday snacks!

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A Lighter Look at Tradition

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and it’s Friday so I thought we could all use a little laugh. After the craziness of yesterday it’s a great time to take a lighter look at some of our Thanksgiving traditions, including the unusual or just plain weird Thanksgiving food that shows up. Since no one can do this better than Mitch Albom I’ll simply send you on over to him. Click here to laugh with Mitch.

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Fast Food ~ Have it Your Way!

My friend Judy Davis posted the fact that it’s National Fast Food Day today and wondered why we would celebrate something that has no nutritional value. And let’s face it, most of us know that and yet we find ourselves succumbing to the temptation to grab something quick and easy, especially when we are busy.

But what if we could have easy, speedy food that’s still good for us? What if we had some fast healthy recipes for fast healthy food? I believe we can. We can take the reins, turn it around and share our own simple healthy recipes for food you can prepare quickly at home. We can eat better and save time cooking.

Let’s bring a whole new meaning to fast food! Simply share some of your favorite recipes or healthy food tips in the comments below.

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Chocolate Covered Raisins

In looking at upcoming holidays, I discovered that tomorrow is National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day. Being a sucker for a fun holiday, and a big fan of raisins dunked in dark chocolate, I decided to try an experiment in honor of this holiday.

My chosen field of experimentation was baking and the specific experiment was to bake cookies with chocolate covered raisins. I simply used the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe and substituted 2 boxes of dark chocolate Raisinets (3.5 oz each) for the chocolate chips. Using baking stones instead of cookie sheets allowed them to puff nicely.

After tasting a cookie I declared them good enough to serve to the company we were having that evening.

After dinner I served the cookies without telling anyone what they were. The only information they were given was that the cookies were not chocolate chip and that they did contain chocolate. Since every last one of the 2 dozen cookies that were served disappeared in a flash, I’d have to say that people liked them.

I’m declaring the experiment a success, although I have to admit that my sweet tooth still has a preference for good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies (w

 

ith a box of dark chocolate Raisinets on the side:)

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Coral Island Cookies

One of the great things about the holidays is traditions. You all know how much I love our cookie tradition. Well, in the blog chatter Kate Sanner told me how much she enjoys her annual tradition of baking all kinds of Christmas cookies. Kate’s tradition has been handed down through the generations along with some great recipes and she has been kind enough to share one of her favorites with us.

So if you love to bake and are looking for a new recipe, or if you are ready to create a great new tradition, give these cookies a try! And remember that cookies make great gifts. Just box them up, arrange on a plate or in a great container (Flee markets and garage sales are perfect for finding great plates and containers for giving baked goods!)

Thanks for sharing Kate:)

 

Here is one of my favorites that I make every year. The recipe came from my great-aunt to my mother in the 1950’s.

Coral Island Cookies

Recipe makes about 30 cookies

2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg yolk, unbeaten
1 1/3 cup sifted flour
Red jam (eg. raspberry or strawberry)
1 egg white, slightly beaten in a small separate bowl
¾ cup finally chopped pecans or walnuts (in a bowl or on a plate)

Let butter soften in mixing bowl of electric mixer. Add brown sugar and almond extract and cream thoroughly. (My aunt always did the entire recipe by hand – feel free to if you have the stamina to do it!)

Add egg yolk and beat well. Add flour and blend. Shape into 1-inch balls. (You can add a little more flour if necessary to make firmer dough.)

Roll the balls in egg white; let excess drain off and then roll in nuts. Place them on a parchment papered or Silpat lined cookie sheet. Allow at least 2 inches between balls. Once all the balls on the cookie sheets, press your thumb into each ball making a wide imprint. Fill imprint with some jam (don’t overfill).

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (until firm and lightly browned). Remove with a spatula from cookie sheets and place on wire rack to cool. When completely cool, pack the cookies into an air tight cookie tin (use wax paper between layers so the jam doesn’t stick). Cookies are good right after baking, but are even better when they have a day to “mellow.

Enjoy!

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The great cookie debate

If you’ve ever heard me speak you probably know how much I love Cookie Day (the day that my girls and I bake our Christmas cookies). What you may not know is what cookies we bake that day. I used to be a little embarrassed to tell people about it because it didn’t seem very festive. But, since you’ve stopped by the blog I’ll confess: the truth is that we usually bake only 2 kinds of cookies; chocolate chip and sugar cookies.

Yes, that’s it. I know it’s not terribly exciting considering all the possibilities in the cookie world, but those are the 2 kinds of cookies we love. 

So there you have it, my dirty little secret, we like chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. What do you think? Are we wrong to stock up on chocolate chip cookies? Should we be expanding our horizons or sticking with tradition?

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