Recipe Tips and Hints

Zucchini Casserole

2012-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

This recipe can very easily be dairy free by using dairy free cheese. I found this recipe and followed it to the letter. We loved it.

1 pound ground turkey
2 large zucchini, halved lengthwise
3 cups Classico Tomato and Basil Sauce
1 - 8.75 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup shredded cheese

Place the sliced zucchini in the casserole dish:

Brown the ground meat and drain. I mixed everything together in a bowl:

Pour the mixture over the zucchini:

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake an additional ten minutes:

The zucchini on the bottom was not "soft" which for us was just fine. We ate this for dinner and then I took it for lunch the next day and finished it off. We really did enjoy it.

Audrey :)

Noodle Kugel/Noodle Pudding #2

2012-02-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

Back in November I shared a Noodle Kugel recipe with you. When it comes to noodle kugel there are as many different recipes as there are for chocolate chip cookies. Each recipe is a bit of a twist from the others.

This is my friend Linda's recipes. It's one of my daughters favorites.

1 pound wide egg noodles
16 ounces sour cream
16 ounces sour cream
1 cup milk
1/4 pound butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Topping:
1 cup corn flake crumbs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Boil noodles according to package directions, drain and place in a bowl.

Melt the butter in the casserole dish and then pour into the noodle bowl.

Add in the cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs and salt.

Mix and pour into the casserole dish.

Mix the topping in a small bowl

Sprinkle on top of casserole:

Bake at 350 degrees about one hour.

This is delicious. We did use low fat cottage cheese and non fat sour cream in ours. I also used vegan margarine, not real butter.

Audrey :)

Spinach Burgers (dairy free)

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Have i mentioned we really like spinach here? This is just a super quick easy meal. I used one pound of ground turkey and about a half bag of spinach. I added in some seasoned salt and mixed it all together. We did add on a slice of rice cheese at the end, which added to the flavor. They came out great.

Have you ever added veggies to your burgers?

Audrey :)

Broccoli Casserole (dairy free)

2012-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

I was so happy when my daughter told me she liked this and hoped we'd make it again.

1 1/2 pounds broccoli florets (the store was out and I did buy the broccoli with stems)
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Boil the broccoli until soft. Drain water and then mash it with a potato masher:

Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well:

Pour into a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.

So, this is a keeper, one of those few recipes we'll make again :)

Audrey

Ranch/Rice Crispy Chicken

2012-01-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

This was so easy to make and was really flavorful. There are only 4 ingredients:

1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing
1 cup Rice Krispies, crushed
Mayonnaise or yogurt or egg white
Chicken

In a Ziplock, crush the Rick Krispies. Add in the ranch dip and mix. Coat your chicken with either mayonnaise, yogurt or egg white and then shake in the mixture.

Bake until done. This formed a nice crispy coating.

This cleaned up really easy. I know it looks dark, but it was clean in under 60 seconds.

Audrey :)

Corn and Olive Spread

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

This recipe came from an old 1996 Betty Crocker cookbook. I looked at it and said "really?" It was really good.

1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 package Hidden Valley Ranch envelope
1 - 4 ounce can of chopped olives
1/2 - 11 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 - 4 ounce can of chopped green chilies, drained

The recipe also called for 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper which I did not use.

With an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese and ranch dressing powder until smooth. Hand mix in remaining ingredients. Chill to mix flavors and serve.

I put mine on a bagel and it was delicious!!

Audrey :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-01-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

I have to say, these are one of the best cookies I've ever made. This is a recipe I'll definitely make again. I hope you'll allow me a shameless plug. I sell Avon and was excited to order their heart shaped baking pan. These cookies can absolutely be made a on a regular cookie sheet, in fact, I used a cookie sheet for the remaining batter. If you want to make these dairy free, use non dairy chocolate chips in place of the mixed chips I used.

1/2 cup shortening (I use Earth Balance shortening)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 - 2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used the Nestle peanut butter and chocolate chips)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream together the sugars and the shortening:

Add in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg and mix well. (I used an electric mixer)

Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix again. Gently fold in the chips:

I filled the heart shaped tin all the way, knowing they'd rise a bit:

Bake at 375 degrees. These took about 10 minutes. The cookie sheet extras took about 8 minutes.

I admit, I tried one and then another and finally a third, they were that good!!

Audrey :)

Oriental Chicken (dairy free)

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

I love sweet and sour anything! This was so easy to make and quite tasty.

2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons dry mustard

Mix it all together and pour on the chicken. Bake at 375 degrees about 45 minutes. I opened the oven twice to baste the chicken.

It came out great, however next time I will probably try real mustard for a stronger flavor.

Audrey :)

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies (non dairy)

2012-01-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

I love chocolate chip cookies. But I also know they run about 125-150 calories per cookie. I decided to try cookies with a bit less sugar, some wheat flour instead of all white flour and a bit less margarine. The result was wonderful!! We will make these again and again in the months to come.

1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup margarine at room temperature
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream together the sugars and margarine. Add in the vanilla and egg white and mix well.

Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees 9-11 minutes.

This recipe makes about 16 cookies. This was just perfect. When portioned out with ingredients, this came to about half the amount of calories as a regular chocolate chip cookie only 60-70 calories each.

Audrey :)

Ground Turkey Enchiladas

2012-01-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

We had quite the discussion as I made these. I called them "beef enchiladas." My daughter told me they couldn't possibly be beef enchiladas as there was no beef in them only ground turkey. She insisted they were "turkey enchiladas." In the end, we settled on "ground turkey enchiladas."

2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small can of corn
4 ounces of sour cream (we used light)
1 small can of diced green chiles
2 cups shredded cheese (we used a 4 cheese mexican blend)
1 can enchilada sauce (we used a red sauce)
flour tortillas

Brown the ground turkey with the onions:

Next, add in the corn and mix together:

Now add in the sour cream and green chiles:

I did this all in the microwave. I heated it through and then mixed in half the cheese:

Line a large casserole dish with enchilada sauce:

Fill your tortillas and place in the dish. Cover with sauce and cheese. I meant to take a photo before I added the cheese and forgot so I stopped after one handful. I used an entire cup of cheese on the top.

Bake, covered at 350 degrees 30-45 minutes.

I love mexican food and so thought these were great. If you like your food spicier, add in diced jalepenos to the meat mixture and use a hot/spicy enchilada sauce.

Audrey :)

Blonde Brownies

2012-01-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter made these. She wanted to take them to a friend. I asked her to please take photos and to leave me some to sample. She used milk chocolate chips making them extra sweet.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar (she used light brown sugar)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter (she did use real butter)
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together the brown sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla. Mix until blended. Mix together the remaining ingredients, except the chocolate chips. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until everything is mixed well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes.

These were so unbelievably good!

Audrey :)

Ground Turkey and Vegetable Casserole

2012-01-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in a cookbook I bought at a garage sale. I wasn't sure how it would come out as it sounded a bit "odd" but I made it anyway and it was actually very good. It's also very simple to make.

1 pound ground turkey
1 can vegetable soup (must be ready to serve style) - I used Pregresso brand. It needs to be a can about that size.
1 package of stuffing mix (we buy these at the 99 cent store)
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Brown the ground turkey. Drain and then add in the can and soup and mix. Set aside. Prepare the stuffing according to the package directions. Allow it to cool just a bit. Evenly spread half the stuffing in a 2 quart casserole dish. Spoon the ground turkey mixture over the stuffing. Next spread the remaining stuffing over the ground turkey. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes.

Audrey :)

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

2012-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

All I can say about this recipe is that my daughter said "mom this tastes like something you'd get in a restaurant" We will definitely make this again. The original recipe came from http://www.alattewithotta.com/2011/12/spinach-cheese-stuffed-chicken.html I didn't quite have all of the ingredients so I made some substitutions.

2 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon italian seasoning ( I did not have the oregano called for in the original recipe)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup parmesan (I did not have fresh and so used powdered)
1/4 cup swiss cheese (I did not have shredded and so I used two slices cut into small pieces)
1/4 cup chopped spinach

In a bowl mix together everything except the chicken and spinach.

Now add in the spinach and coat well.

Now split open the chicken breasts.

Now, stuff each of the chicken breasts:

I had a little bit of mixture left over and so I sprinkled it on top of the chicken.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

This last photo does not do the recipe justice. As I said, it was delicious!!

Audrey :)

Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies (dairy free)

2012-01-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

I want to start by saying these were delicious!! Now that I've said that, I'm often asked "do you ever make things that don't come out?' The answer is yes I do. I just don't post those recipes here to share. These particular cookies did not come out looking like a meringue cookie as I didn't beat the egg whites long enough, however they worked and they were delicious!!

8 egg whites (allow to come to room temperature)
2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
12 ounces chocolate chips

Beat the egg whites until very stiff. Mix together the cream or tartar, salt and sugar. Slowly add in the sugar mixture until absorbed into the egg whites. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful onto a baking sheet. Do not grease the cookie sheet. Use parchment paper or a silicone sheet. As you can see, mine were not stiff enough but I baked them anyway.

Bake at 235 degrees about 90 minutes. They should be a light color. Mine look like regular cookies but they definitely tasted great!!

Audrey :)

Italian Chicken (dairy free)

2012-01-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

This recipe is beyond easy and super flavorful.

2-3 boneless chicken breasts
1envelope Zesty Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce

Place everything in a Ziploc or plastic container in the morning and allow to marinate all day. Cooke at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.

Audrey :)

Happy New Year Giveaway Hop 2012

2011-12-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

Congratulation to Carol, the winner of the Amazon gift certificate!

I am participating in my first book-themed giveaway hop - yay!

This giveaway hop is hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer and Babs Book Bistro. There are currently over 200 blogs participating!!! The giveaway hop goes through January 3rd so you have a few days to enter.

I am giving away a $10 Amazon gift card. After you enter my giveaway, be sure to check out the linky below and enter all of the other giveaways!

Two entries per person are possible. Leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite genre of book. Mine is murder mysteries.
2. Like my page on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/AudreysAvon Please tell me your Facebook name in your comment.

Good luck :)

Spinach and Cheese Frittata

2011-12-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

In order to have a recipe blog, you have to continually try new recipes and tweak old recipes. We very seldom eat the same thing twice. I did say seldom. This frittata recipe is one of the best things I've made in a really long time. I already have plans to make it again this week and take it to work for others to enjoy.

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup margarine
3 eggs
1 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated
4 cups fresh spinach, cut into bit sized pieces

I will make one small change the next time I make this. I will cut down on the margarine. One half cup equals 8 tablespoon. I am going to cut it back to 5 tablespoons next time.

Melt the butter in the casserole dish and set aside.

Beat the 3 eggs:

Add in the remaining ingredients, except the spinach:

We used just over 4 cups of spinach leaves:

Blend everything together:

Pour into the casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.

As I said this was EXCELLENT!!

Audrey :)

Peppermint Cookies (non dairy)

2011-12-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

We made several cookies this past week. My daughter commented how "hard" it is to chop candy canes. We all loved the cookies:

1 cup margarine
1/2 white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup crushed candy canes

Cream together the margarine and sugars:

Add in the eggs, mixing well after each egg. Add in the vanilla and mix again. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add to the sugar mixture in thirds, mixing well after each addition. Fold in the crushed candy canes.

Drop by spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees 12-14 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack.

Audrey :)

Mexican Casserole

2011-12-22T06:04:00.000-08:00

All who know me, know I love mexican food. The verdict on this was 3 of us liked it, one did not care for it. When I asked my daughter why she didn't care for it, she said "I don't like ground meat." Ok, this does not taste like ground meat :)

Brown ground meat - I used two pounds of ground turkey. Mix in one packet of taco seasoning and one quarter cup water. I also added in 3 tablespoons of minced onion and one can of cut up baby corn. (I didn't have corn kernels in the house, so used the next best thing)

Line the bottom of a casserole dish with crushed tortilla chips. We used Trader Joes brand blue chips.

Pour the meat over the tortilla chips.

Cover with a layer of tortilla chips.

Cover with a layer of cheese and then bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

While you can't see it in the photo, I did add a can of diced chilis to half of the casserole. One of my daughters really likes green chilis, the other daughter does not.

Audrey :)

Mayonnaise Biscuits (non dairy)

2011-12-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

These are so easy to make. We all loved them!!

2 cups self-rising flour (you MUST use self-rising)
1 cup soy milk (we used soy so they'd be dairy free)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sugar

Mix this all together and then drop by spoonful onto baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees 13 to 15 minutes.

I made these the first time and they didn't come out right. I hadn't used the self rising flour. We threw them out. Once I got them right, as I said they came out wonderful. We will make these again and again.

Audrey :)

Asparagus Casserole

2011-12-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

As I've posted before, I constantly look for new ways to service vegetables. I tried this recipe with canned asparagus. Next time I'll use fresh as I now know how the recipe will turn out.

2 cans cut asparagus (drain, but reserve 1/4 cup of liquid)

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

1/2 cup corn flake crumbs

1/2 cup cheese (I used Italian blend)

1 can cream of chicken or cream of anything soup

1/4 cup of juice from the asparagus

Mix everything together and pour into a casserole dish. We had Pringles potato chips and so I crushed them and put them on top.

Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes.

Audrey :)

Blueberry Muffins (dairy free)

2011-12-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

My daughter bought a bag of blueberries at Trader Joes. They've been sitting in my freezer for a while and so I decided to make muffins.

In a saucepan, combine:

2 sticks of margarine
1 1/4 cup soy milk
1 egg, beaten

Do not boil, just let it all blend together:

In a large bowl, combine:

3 cups flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir together and then pour in the melted margarine mixture.

Fold in one package of frozen blueberries (about 2 cups)

Pour into a greased muffin tin.

Bake at 400 degrees about 30 minutes.

We were pleased with these. They are not super sweet and because we used margarine, they didn't have that heavy butter taste.

Audrey :)

Baked Meatballs (non dairy)

2011-12-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

I have always loved meatballs. I remember my mom boiling them when I was a little girl and the smell making its way through the entire house. I was absolutely thrilled with these baked meatballs.

First the meat mixture:

2 pounds ground turkey

1 cup crushed Corn Flakes

2 eggs

2 tablespoons onion flakes

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix this all together and then form the balls. Place the balls in a casserole dish.

While you're making the meatballs, you can begin the sauce. In a pan combine:

1 can jellied cranberry sauce

1 jar chili sauce (the jar I found was 12 ounces)

1/3 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Let this simmer and cook until the cranberry sauce melts. Once the sauce is ready spoon the sauce over the meatballs.

Bake about one hour at 350 degrees. As you can see, they came out a little dark on the top. I love them this way. If you prefer your meatballs to not be quite so cooked on the top, cover your casserole dish with foil the last 20 minutes of baking.

I served them over white rice. They were wonderful.

The next day I made a meatball sandwich on egg bread and loved it also.

Audrey :)

Cherry, Chocolate Chip Cookies (dairy free)

2011-12-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

On our last trip to Los Angeles, we stopped at Sprouts. They sell fruits and nuts in bulk containers and so I bought some dried cherries. I wasn't sure what I would do with them, but I love cherries. I have to say I have not made a cookie I liked this much in a long time. I actually ate 4 or 5 of them right out of the oven. There's both wheat flour and fruit in the cookies so they must be healthy, right?

These can easily be made dairy free by using non dairy margarine (we used vegan margarine) and semi sweet chocolate chips.

1/2 cup butter or margarine (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar

Cream these two ingredients together with a mixer. Add in the following:

2 eggs
3/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix well.

Fold in:

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped dried cherries

Drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet. I always use a silicone baking mat. Bake at 350 degrees. My batches went 18 minutes until they were done.

As you know from my blog, we seldom make a recipe a 2nd time. This is a keeper. We'll absolutely make it again.

Audrey

Spinach Kugel/Spinach Casserole (dairy free)

2011-12-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

As I've posted before, we try hard to make recipes that are dairy free when we can. We all love spinach and so we enjoyed this dish.

1 bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
3 eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 envelope onion soup mix
crushed corn flakes

Mix the spinach, eggs, mayonnaise and onion soup mix together and pour into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with corn flake crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes.

Audrey :)

French Salad Dressing (dairy free)

2011-12-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

My idea of making my own salad dressing is a packet of dry ranch and some mayonnaise. I love Catalina salad dressing and so decided to make one myself.

1 cup salad oil
1/2 cup Splenda or a little less or 3/4 to 1 cup of white sugar
1 can of tomato soup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Put everything into a blender and mix. As I said, this was really easy and I think it's delicious.

Audrey :)

Corn Flake Fish Fillets (dairy free)

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

I was very please with how these came out:

3-5 fish fillets
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon lemon zest (I used lemon zest because I didn't have a lemon in the house or on the tree)
2 cups crushed corn flakes

Brush the melted butter on the fish fillets. Sprinkle the lemon zest and corn flake mixture on the fish. Bake at 350 degrees about 20 or 25 minutes, until fish is done.

Audrey :)

Noodle Kugel/Noodle Pudding

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

This recipe is actually a funny story. My friends son went to an international food day and tried a noodle kugel. He came home and said "mom sorry, but that was the best, better than yours" His mom had to know who made it and where the recipe came from. Turns out, this recipe was made by her own friend who she had given the recipe to. The only difference is my friend doesn't use cinnamon, her husband has an allergy. The cook for the food fair used cinnamon.

1 pound egg noodles, boiled (for me this was one and a half packages)
1 quart buttermilk
4 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup white sugar (depending on taste)
4 eggs
3/4 stick of butter ( I used a vegan stick to cut down just a bit on the dairy)

Mix this all together and pour into a casserole dish.

To make the topping:
1 to 1 1/2 cups finely crushed corn flakes
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine (melted)

Mix the 3 ingredients together and sprinkle on top of casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I cooked it about 20 minutes uncovered, then covered for the next 15 minutes, then uncovered again for the last 10 minutes.

Audrey :)

Chocolate Pudding Cookies with Chocolate Chips (dairy free)

2011-11-25T07:38:00.000-08:00

I've had a box of pudding sitting in my pantry for quite a while now. It was sugar free chocolate pudding. I decided to put it to good use and made some wonderful cookies.

1 box chocolate pudding - I had the large box
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine (we used a vegan margarine)
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
chocolate chips (for dairy free cookies use bittersweet chips)

With an electric mixer cream together the butter and the sugar. Add in the pudding mix and mix well. Add in the eggs and again mix well. Add in the flour and baking soda. At this point I had to mix by hand as the batter is on the dry side. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful onto a baking sheet. The cookies do not spread when baking. What you see above are the finished cookies. Bake at 350 10-12 minutes.

I ate about 6 of them they were so good!!

Audrey :)

Peach Quick Bread (dairy free)

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

I decided to buy a multi-pack of peaches while shopping at Costco. I wanted to try a new recipe and so I made a peach quick bread.

This recipe makes two loaves. I used my mini loaf pan to make 8 mini loaves and then a regular loaf pan to make the second loaf.

3/4 jar of Costco brand peaches(18 ounces)
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs, well beaten
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Chop the peaches. I thew them into my chopper and they were done in thirty seconds. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix. Add in the oil and the eggs. Mix again. Add in the remaining ingredients, including the peaches and mix. Bake at 350 degrees. The small loaves baked about 35 minutes. The large loaf baked about one hour.

Audrey :)

Carrot Kugel/Carrot Casserole (dairy free)

2011-11-14T05:39:00.000-08:00

This is a very sweet, delicious side dish. My daughter told a few friends her mom had made this and they were shocked as my daughter does not like or eat carrots.

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
1 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Boil carrot pieces 25-30 minutes. They should be very soft. Drain and mash with a potato masher.

Add in remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.

Pour into a springform pan and bake at 350 degrees and bake 50-60 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.

My daughter already asked when I'm making this again.

Audrey :)

Zucchini Casserole (dairy free)

2011-11-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before, zucchini is a favorite vegetable around here.

3 zucchini, grated
1/2 to 1 full onion grated (depending on your taste)
1 cup Bisquick
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix it all together and pour into a casserole dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour

Audrey :)

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

2011-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

For me there are no two flavors that I love more than chocolate and peanut butter. These cookies came out so good that I know I will make them over and over again!!

There are two pieces to this recipe, the cookie dough and the filling. First the cookie dough:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk only
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Add in peanut butter. Add in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Mix well and then add in dry ingredients. Again, mix well. This is your cookie dough.

Now it's time to make the peanut butter filling:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter

Mix together until well mixed.

To make cookies, grab one teaspoon of dough. Flatten it out a bit in your hand and then grab a small spoon of peanut butter and place in the center.

Now bring the sides of the dough up over the peanut butter so that the peanut butter can not be seen.

Roll the cookie in white sugar and then flatten a bit. Bake at 375 degrees about 9 minutes.

These are just sooo yummy!!!

Audrey :)

Chicken with Artichoke Hearts

2011-10-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

I am not good at making food items look good on the plate. While this photo is not attractive the taste was wonderful !! We were shopping at Costco and I bought the marinated artichoke hearts. I made this delicious yet easy chicken artichoke dinner.

2-4 chicken pieces (I used two chicken breasts)
1 - jar of marinated artichokes
4 tablespoons margarine
3 tablespoons of flour
1 can of chicken broth

Lightly brown the chicken in the melted butter of a low flame. Transfer the chicken to a casserole dish. Add one can of chicken brother and the flour to the melted butter and stir until smooth and thickened. Place artichokes in casserole dish and then pour sauce over the chicken and artichokes. Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes. Chicken should be cooked through.

As I said above, while the photo is not wonderful the taste was great!

Audrey :)

Spinach Meatloaf

2011-10-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

There are two things I really like, spinach and meatloaf. So, I wondered what would happen if I combined them. The result was wonderful :)

1 pound ground turkey
1 pound ground beef
8 ounces spinach
2 eggs
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons onion flakes
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon oil
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee the garlic in the oil so that it's soft. I used onion flakes because I didn't have an onion in the house. If you use a real onion, dice fine and add to the garlic.

Cook the spinach and drain out the water. Allow to cool down. Mix everything together and form into a loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees about an hour.

Audrey :)

Apple Pie Quick Bread

2011-10-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

We had one more can of apple pie filling left and so I used it along with my new loaf pan.

1 can apple pie filling
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine (3/4 cup) at room temperature, so that it's very soft
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mash the apples in a bowl. I used a mashed potato masher:

With an electric mixer, cream together the two sugars and the butter. Once creamy, add in the eggs and vanilla and mix again. Next, add in the apples and beat until mixed. Mix together the dry ingredients and then pour into bowl and mix everything together.

I made eight mini loaves and took them to work the next day. Bake at 350 about 40 minutes for mini loaves.

These are delicious!!

Audrey

Spinach Frittata In a Ramekin

2011-10-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite vegetables is spinach. I made this dish with Egg Beaters.

I started with frozen spinach and cooked it down, draining off the water. I filled the Ramekin half full with spinach and then added chopped onion, one wedge of Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese, salt and pepper. I then filled with Egg Beaters and popped it into the microwave for about one minute and it was done. I sprinkled some shredded parmesan on top.

Audrey :)

Chicken, Zucchini and Pasta

2011-10-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

I love nights when I look in the fridge and make a meal from whatever I have in the fridge.

This is the only pasta we use anymore. It's tastes great and it's gluten free.

I had left over chicken which I cut up and a few zucchini which I put through the chopper. Put it all together with a red sauce. We tend to like Prego and you've got a great dinner loaded with vegetables.

I sprinkled a little bit of grates parmesan on top.

Audrey :)

Left Over Turkey Quiche

2011-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a recipe to use up some leftover turkey and found this turkey quiche. We will so make this again. It was soooo good!!

1 cup Bisquick
1 1/2 tablespoons non dairy margarine
4 eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cups zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup onion flakes (I did not have real onion in the house)
1/2 teaspoon basil
chopped left over turkey or chicken
1/2 cup hard swiss or other flavorful cheese

Mix eggs, oil and Bisquick until blended. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into greased pie pan and bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Test for doneness. I baked another 12 minutes and it was done.

I wasn't sure if my daughter would like this. She said "mom it's like a turkey sandwich, turkey, bread and cheese, yum!!"

As I said, we'll make this again. We really loved it.

Audrey :)

Sour Cream and Salsa Chicken

2011-09-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

This was so easy and so tasty.

I used one cup fat free sour cream and one cup salsa. I mixed them together and spread on the chicken. Then bake for forty five minutes.

I don't have a photo of the end result as I admit it didn't look excellent, but it sure was tasty. Next time I'll use a strong salsa, the mild was just a tad too mild.

Audrey :)

Wheat Egg Bread (bread machine)

2011-09-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

I have been working long long hours, leaving very little time for cooking. I apologize that I haven't put up many recipes lately. I do have a few recipes to share with you. I love egg bread but wanted a healthier version. So I used wheat flour.

2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons active rise yeast
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened and cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons honey

I set on small loaf, medium crust and it came out very moist and soft.

Audrey :)

Breakfast Pizza

2011-09-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

TThis was so much fun to make. Start with Crescent Rolls. Unroll them and using your fingers, stretch them out to form a crust for the pizza. Pinch sides together so you have a solid crust. I love spinach, so first I sprinkled spinach on top:

Then I sprinkled feta cheese on top of that:

In a bowl I mixed 3 eggs with a little bit of milk, salt and pepper, then poured on top:

I baked at 350 for about 15 minutes, then turned it down to 250 for another 10 minutes. The dough was done after those first 15 minutes but I didn't feel like the egg was set so I cooked at the very temperature for 10 more minutes.

It tasted wonderful. Use your imagination on toppings.

Audrey :)

Whole Wheat, English Muffin Bread (bread machine)

2011-09-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

I think what I most love about my bread machine is that I truly throw it all in and four hours later we have a warm loaf of bread. This is the recipe I used as a base. I wanted it more wheat flour than white flour and so I upped the wheat flour by a 1/2 cup.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoon water, room temperature

1 tablespoon honey

2 cups white flour

1 cup wheat flour

3 tablespoon powdered milk (we used non fat)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 package active dry yeast

My bread machine has me add all the dry ingredients first, then the wet ingredients. I set it on wheat bread, medium crust.

Audrey :)

Turkey and Stuffing Roll Ups

2011-09-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

This was so much fun to make. I bought turkey lunch meat at Trader Joe's and had some left over.

sliced lunch meat

stuffing

turkey gravy

That's it, just the 3 ingredients. Put stuffing inside the slice of turkey and roll it up.

Arrange in a casserole dish and then pour the gravy on top

Bake about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I served with cranberry sauce and a salad. It was a fun way to use up the left over lunch meat.

Audrey :)

Mexican Chicken Casserole

2011-09-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start this post by sharing the photos. I wasn't pleased with how the photos came out. This casserole was delicious and I'll absolutely make it again, but it just isn't a dish that I'd serve if I wanted to impress someone with the looks of a dish.

2 chicken breasts cooked and cubed
1 can of Rotel Tomatoes and Chilis
2 cups sour cream (I used fat free)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups of cheese
left over taco shells

Mix everything except the taco shells together. Break the taco shells and places on the bottom of the dish. Pour the mixture on top and then place additional taco shells on top. Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.

My commentary: This was a little too creamy. Next time I'd add a little less sour cream and a little more chicken. It really was delicious so I'll try again with my modifications next time. I took it for lunch the next day and used tortilla chips to scoop it up. Again, very yummy!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter Brownies (dairy free)

2011-09-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you the end result first. My daughter has a new mini brownie pan and so we made brownies last night. They were delicious.

In a bowl, stir together the following ingredients:

3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

In a separate bowl, beat together:

1/2 cup margarine (we use dairy free and soy free Earth Balance)
1 cup white sugar

Use an electric mixture and mix until creamy:

It's hard to see in the photo, but this is very well mixed.

Pour in the dry ingredients and also add:

2 large eggs
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

I used the electric mixer and continued mixing until thoroughly mixed. At the very end, I gently added in:

1/2 cup chocolate chips (semi sweet, so there is no dairy)

Then spoon or pour into brownie pan. If you use a glass dish, grease the dish before putting the batter in.

For my small brownies, I baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I checked them at 12 minutes and they were not done. By 15 minutes they were cooked through.

These came out wonderful. Next time, we'll add chunky peanut butter so that the brownies will have nut in them also.

Audrey :)

Apricot Bread (dairy free)

2011-09-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

I had leftover apricot jam and wanted to make a bread. I found a recipe for Apricot Bread that I used as a base.

1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup apricot jam
1/4 orange juice (I have an orange tree and hand squeezed 2 oranges)
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together the wet ingredients. I beat at low about 1 or 2 minutes until very smooth.

Grease a loaf pan and pour batter into the loaf pan.

The original directions said to bake an hour. I was very glad I checked the bread at the thirty minute mark. It was very dark already on the outside. I tested it and it wasn't done yet. I covered with aluminum foil and baked another fifteen minutes for a total of forty-five minutes at 350 degrees. I immediately transferred to a cooling rack:

The taste is great. I would try this again with other jams. I really like using half white flour and half wheat flour too.

Audrey :)

Honey Glazed Carrots (dairy free)

2011-09-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

I enjoy looking in my pantry and then trying to create a recipe for the ingredient. I saw a container of honey and knew I had baby carrots in the refrigerator and a lemon tree in the backyard.

1 package baby carrots
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons honey
juice from one half lemon, should be about one tablespoon or so.
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the carrots 5-10 minutes until they are starting to soften:

Drain out the water and add in the remaining ingredients. A glaze will form. I stirred for about 5-10 more minutes and then served.

My daughter loved these.

Audrey :)

Peach Jell-O Cake

2011-09-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

I apologize to those who saw the first half of this post on Friday. I had written the post, but forgot to add the photos and so I took the post down. Now I have photos and am happy to share the recipe with you.

I began with a very simple yet really delicious white cake. All recipes say you can use a boxed mix for this, but I made the cake from scratch:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup almond milk (of course you can use regular milk, we just never have real milk in the house)
1/2 cup butter or margarine at room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Put everything in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until very smooth. Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes.

Next, take a box of jell-o. I had a large box of peach jell-o. Mix with one cup boiling and stir until dissolved. Then I added two cups of ice. I just filled a two cup measuring cup with ice and poured in.

The jell-o will just star to gel. With a meat fork, poke many holes in the cake:

Pour the jell-o on top and allow it to seep into the holes of the cake. Refrigerate at least one hour. Then frost. I used a whipped cream frosting.

I loved the cake. My daughter does not like white cake, nor does she like peach, so I ended up eating a good portion of the cake myself. I was really pleased with the results.

Audrey :)

Baked Eggs and Broccoli

2011-09-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

We love omelets here. We had some frozen broccoli and I put broccoli in the bottom of a ramekin dish, put some cheese on top and then poured in egg substitute.

I baked at 350 degrees about 25 minutes and we had a wonderful lunch.

Audrey :)

Taco Cornbread Bake

2011-09-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

The day I found the recipe for Taco Cornbread Bake, I knew I had to try it.

1 pound ground turkey
1 packet taco seasoning
1/3 cup water
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 box Jiffy corn bread mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

I browned the meat in the microwave and then added in the taco seasoning and water, and microwave for two more minutes. Then mix in the tomatoes/chiles, beans and cheese. Pour into the casserole dish. Mix up the cornbread batter and spread on top of the meat mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. This is what it looked like out of the oven.

I added olives to my slice. We loved it. I did make the mistake of adding just a little too much water so next time, we'll add a little less. We did not add the additional cheese at the end.

Audrey :)

Oven Baked Pancake (dairy free)

2011-09-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

I had never made oven baked pancakes before and was excited to try this.

3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dairy free margarine

I made this recipe dairy free by using the almond milk and dairy free margarine.

Melt the butter in an 8x8 casserole dish. Mix the remaining ingredients with an electric mixer on low until most of the lumps are gone. Pour into the casserole dish and bake at 425 degrees between 25 and 30 minutes. Should be golden brown.

I poured maple syrup on and it was delicious. My daughter finished it at breakfast this morning.

In the pan, it looked like such a small amount:

In the oven it puffed up and filled the casserole dish:

Audrey :)

Hash Brown Casserole

2011-09-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of kids favorite recipes. I actually made two of them on Thursday, one to take to work and one for the family BBQ.

I wish this looked a bit "nicer" being mixed, but it's really a throw it all in one bowl and mix it up.

2 pound bag of frozen hash brown potatoes
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 can of cream of something soup
1 pint sour cream
2 cups shredded cheese
1 stick of butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste

I melt the stick of butter in the casserole dish. Then I pour the butter into the mixing bowl. Mix everything together. Pour into a 9x12 baking dish. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until tender and golden brown. For this casserole, I used cream of celery soup. I've also used cream of broccoli, cream of asparagus and cream of chicken.

Audrey :)

Apricot, Teriyaki Chicken (dairy free)

2011-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I saw a crockpot recipe for teriyaki/apricot pork chops, which inspired me to try something very similiar with chicken.

These came out great. We will make this recipe again and I don't often say that. I bought skinless, boneless organic chicken thighs at Trader Joes:

1 package chicken pieces
2/3 cup apricot preserves (I used organic Trader Joe's brand)
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons mustard (I used regular French's mustard)
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used just a bit less than 1/2 teaspoon)

Mix it all together and pour over chicken. I baked at 350 for about 45 minutes. Like I said, we loved them!!

Audrey :)

Spinach/Broccoli Casserole (dairy free)

2011-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tofutti makes some amazing products. I used two of their products in this recipe:

This is their dairy free sour cream and dairy free cream cheese. We've used both products many times and have always been happy with the results:

1 package frozen broccoli
1 package frozen spinach
4 ounces of cream cheese
1 cup of sour cream
Ritz Crackers

Cook the broccoli and spinach and drain out the water. Mix with the sour cream and cream cheese. Put into a casserole dish and sprinkle with crushed Ritz.

Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes:

It was delicious. If you find the sauce is a little too thick for you, try thinning out the cream cheese and sour cream with a bit of almond milk. We loved it so thick and creamy.

Audrey :)

Buttermilk Wheat Bread

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

I hadn't used my bread machine for a while and I had some buttermilk so I decided it was time to make a loaf of bread. I found this recipe for buttermilk wheat bread and it came out great.

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon margarine, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon yeast

I know the recipe said the buttermilk and margarine should be at room temperature. I added them both in cold. This makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf. Set on whole wheat cycle.

We bought pulled chicken from Trader Joe's and made sandwiches which were great. We then made french toast in the morning. This is a great recipe.

Audrey :)

Zucchini Casserole

2011-08-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

We all love zucchini. I continue to try to make new recipes. Three of us ate this one. My older daughter loved the casserole but said she'd prefer it without the onion. My younger daughter liked this and I didn't particularly care for it. So I'll share it here and you decide.

3 zucchini peeled and sliced
3-5 tablespoons of cottage cheese
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon basil
salt and pepper to taste
mozzarella cheese

Place a layer of zucchini on the bottom. Use half the cottage cheese on top, then sprinkle with half the basil. I then sprinkled salt and pepper on top. Repeat layers.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top. I would've preferred parmesan but I only had mozzarella in the house. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes.

Let me know if you try this.

Audrey :)

Spinach and Cheese Frittata (Ramekin)

2011-08-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

There were two things I wanted for diner, I wanted spinach and I wanted to use my ramekin dishes.

This recipe came out great. As many of you know I seldom make a dish twice unless we really love it. I'll make this again :)

10 ounces frozen, thawed spinach
3/4 cup cottage cheese (I used non fat)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 can diced chilis
1/3 to 1/2 diced onion (I used my chopper to dice it up)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste (for me this is about 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper)

Mix all of the above together:

Divide into 4 ramekin dishes:

Bake at 375 degrees 20-30 minutes. I used the top rack and cooked this about 26 minutes.

They were delicious!!

Audrey :)

Six Word Saturday

2011-08-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

Show my Face blog hosts Six Word Saturday each week. I love this meme, because it is so simple yet can tell so much.

This Is My New Favorite Sandwich

I make this at least a few times a week now:

English muffin - 150 calories (Orowheat whole wheat)

Swiss Flavor Laughing Cow Cheese Spread - 35 calories

One slice tomato - 3 calories

Three slices cucumber - 3 calories

The whole sandwich is under 200 calories and I love them!! Happy Saturday

Audrey :)

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2011-08-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't had tuna noodle casserole for a while now. I got a craving and so I tried a new recipe.

We pretty much only eat quinoa pasta these days. We all like the taste and it's much healthier than white flour pasta.

In a bowl mix together:

6-8 ounces of pasta (I believe this box was 8 ounces, we used elbow pasta, but you can use bow ties or shells also)
1 can of tuna (6 ounce can)
1/2 of an onion chopped (I just ran it through my chopper)
1 can cream of chicken soup (I would've used cream of celery if I had it in the house)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese (we used mexican blend)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 box frozen peas (one whole box was a bit too much)

Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain. While the pasta is cooling down and draining, mix together the remaining ingredients, except the peas. Add in the pasta and peas and mix gently so you don't break the pasta or peas.

Place in casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees about 45 minutes.

My daughter loved it. I would've preferred a few changes:

1. I'd use only half the peas
2. I would use a stronger cheese for a stronger flavor
3. I would use either cream of broccoli or cream of celery soup
4. I might mix half sour cream, half mayonnaise for added flavor

Audrey :)

Buttermilk Spice Muffins

2011-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I recently read a blog post over at The Blest Nest. She spoke about Mimi's Restaurant. I told her I loved the buttermilk spice muffins and she told me the recipe was online. You'll find the original recipe at http://www.mimiscafe.com/RecipesSpiceMuffins.aspx. Truly these are one of my all time favorite muffins. I made them at home. They came out wonderfully. I will admit they were a tad dry the next day. Next time I may add a bit more liquid.

Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full:

Put a generous spoon of topping on:

The end result:

From the Mimi's website:

Muffin Batter:
1 cup Sugar
½ cup Butter or margarine

3 Eggs
2-½ cups Flour
2 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp. Cinnamon
¾ cup + 1 tbsp. Buttermilk
Nut Topping:
½ cup Sugar
1 cup Walnuts (finely chopped)
½ tsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Nutmeg
Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer. When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.
Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.
Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.
Make the nut topping: Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine. You can also use paper baking cups. Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin.
Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry. Home ovens heat differently from commercial ovens so you may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time accordingly.
Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins, or six Mimi's-size muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.

Notes: I bought chopped walnuts and then ran them through my chopper. I did use a soy free margarine. I made twelve muffins and had left over batter. I baked them the full 25 minutes.

Cole Slaw (dairy free)

2011-08-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

My daughter wanted a BBQ dinner. We made ribs, corn, cole slaw and baked beans.

When I was growing up, my mom made the best cole slaw. She spoiled me, in that I could not eat anyone elses cole slaw. She never measured, she just made a very sweet dressing.

I can share what I did, but like my mom I did not measure. I poured a bag of slaw into a large bowl. In a small bowl I began with about one cup or mayonnaise. I added in one tablespoon of vinegar and about a half cup of sugar. I tried it and it wasn't quite sweet enough. I added a bit more sugar. I drizzled half of the dressing on the slaw and mixed. I then added the remaining dressing and thoroughly mixed. I like a very sweet, creamy dressing on cole slaw. It wasn't quite as good as moms, but it was close.

Audrey :)

Orange Juice Chicken (dairy free)

2011-08-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'd been wanting to try this for a while. Perhaps my expectations were too high. I thought it was ok. My daughter actually really enjoyed it.

2 chicken breasts
Prepared mustard (enough to coat the top of the chicken breasts)
Onion flakes (I would've preferred real onion but didn't have any in the house)
About 2 cups of orange juice
Brown sugar (enough to sprinkle on the chicken breasts)

Place the chicken in the baking dish. Sprinkle on both the mustard and the brown sugar. Pour in the orange juice and bake until chicken is done, about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Audrey :)

Ranch Dressing Potatoes

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

This particular recipe was made with Hidden Valley Ranch, so it's not dairy free, but we do buy a brand of ranch dressing which is dairy free, meaning this recipe could very easily be turned into a dairy free recipe.

In a mixing bowl combine:

3 large potatoes cut into cubes (we took the skin off, but you can certainly leave it on)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon pepper, depending on taste
1 cup ranch salad dressing
bread crumbs

Toss to coat potatoes, pour into casserole dish and then sprinkle on bread crumbs. Bake about one hour. Cover for the first 30 minutes and then uncover for the last 30 minutes.

Well try this again with an italian salad dressing.

Audrey :)

Six Word Saturday

2011-08-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

Show my Face blog hosts Six Word Saturday each week. I love this meme, because it is so simple yet can tell so much.

Over Sized Burrito For Dinner Tonight

Audrey :)

Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole (dairy free)

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love vegetable casseroles versus plain old steamed veggies. This was super simple to make and quite tasty.

I began with two bags of broccoli and cauliflower from Trader Joe's. It's already cut and ready to use.

I used a chopper and 5 minutes later it looked like this:

Add in mayonnaise, onion soup, eggs and margarine. Mix well. Spray a casserole dish with butter spray and then sprinkle bread crumbs on the bottom.

Pour the broccoli/cauliflower into the casserole dish and sprinkle bread crumbs on top.

Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

We made this last night and loved it. I took a huge piece to work today for lunch.

2 packages broccoli/cauliflower mix, chopped (about 24 ounces)
1/2 envelope onion soup mix
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup margarine
2 eggs
bread crumbs

Mix the broccoli/cauliflower, onion soup, mayonnaise, margarine and eggs. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Cover with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Should be golden on edges on set.

Audrey :)

Apple Pie Muffins (dairy free)

2011-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had a can of apple pie filling in the pantry. It's been there for about a year. I wanted to use it. I found this recipe . I was a bit worried as two of the ingredients are dairy products. I decided to try it with dairy free products. Instead of butter and cream, I used margarine and almond milk.

I also used a beater through the whole mixing, hoping to thicken up the batter:

They came out wonderfully!! We don't often make the same recipe twice, allowing us to continually try new recipes, but this one we will keep and make again.

1/2 cup margarine
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons almond milk
2 eggs ( I used extra large)
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 can apple pie filling

I used the directions on the blog:

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar till fluffy. I used a beater.
Beat in the cream. I beat until it was a little stiff.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Lightly fold in the flour and baking powder.
Add the cinnamon and vanilla and stir till the wet and dry ingredients are just mixed. The batter should be thick. Again, I used a beater the entire process.
Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan, and add the dough into each case by the rounded tablespoonful. Each tin should be about 2/3 full.

Now place one apple on top of each tin then a teaspoon of the dough on top of the filling. Continue until all the cases are filled.

Bake the muffins at 350 degrees for 25-30 mintues testing after 25 minutes to see if they are cooked. The muffins should be golden on top.

Again, we will absolutely make these again. We might even try another pie filling flavor.

Audrey :)

Crockpot Spinach Lasagna

2011-08-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

There are two things we love, lasagna and spinach. When you combine the two, you end up with a meal we all love.

http://www.mulberryspot.com/2009/02/slow-cooker-spinach-lasagna.html This is the recipe we used.

2 containers (16 ounces each) ricotta
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
16 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 jars (24 ounces each) Spaghetti Sauce (we used Prego traditional)
12 large lasagna noodles, uncooked (do not use the no boil noodles)

Mix together the cheeses, eggs and spinach and mix well. I always put sauce on the bottom of the crockpot to begin. Layer the crockpot with noodles, sauce and cheese. You should have two or three layers depending in the size of your crockpot. My intention was for my daughter to turn it on about 11am, put it on low and it would be ready by 5pm. Unfortunately my daughter didn't know to NEVER take the lid off the crockpot and took it off twice to see if lasagna was cooking. We ended up cooking on low from 11am to 3pm and then on high from 3pm to 5pm. It came out great and we had leftovers for two days.

Audrey :)

French Toast Casserole

2011-08-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

I work in a building with a commercial kitchen. For the summer, our local food bank has been using our kitchen to prepare lunches for those students who had been getting assisted lunches during the school year. On the day they made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they had some bread left over and didn't know what to do with it. I told them I'd be happy to make all the volunteers a french toast casserole.

This was easy to make and everyone loved it.

12 slices of bread (I used store brand white bread as that's what was leftover)

1 stick of butter

5 large eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 large teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups milk (I used non fat)

Melt the butter in the casserole dish. You can do this either in the oven or in the microwave. Mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Cover the bottom of the casserole dish with six of the slices of bread. Because I was using white bread, I was able to make it fit very nicely. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture over the bread. Place the remaining six slices of bread on top. In a small bowl mix together the eggs and the milk. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. I went slowly allowing the bread to begin to soak up the egg mixture. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar/cinnamon mixture on top. Cover with foil and refrigerate several hours. I had this in the refrigerator over night.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Keep the casserole covered and cook for thirty minutes. Uncover and cook an additional fifteen minutes. I then kept the casserole in the turned off oven for another fifteen minutes while I got ready for work.

I brought maple syrup with me. I saw a few people pour warm syrup on the french toast. It's very sweet and so I ate it without syrup.

Audrey :)

Butternut Squash Casserole

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I was at Trader Joes and picked up there already cut up summer squash. This came out great.

2 packages butternut squash (2 pounds)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
several dallops of butter or margarine

I just put it all in the dish and then baked for an hour at 350 degrees. It came out tender and delicious. I actually took the leftovers for lunch. It was great.

Audrey :)

Sundays In My City

2011-08-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Unknown Mami hosts a wonderful meme called Sundays In My City.

Each week I look for a way to bring you something in my city that also might relate to my blog, which is a food/recipe blog. We have a little hole in the wall chinese place a few blocks from my house. It's called Wings and they have everything imaginable on their menu.

This is a photo of the front door of Wings. One of my favorite dishes there is egg foo young.

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday.

Audrey :)

Six Word Saturday

2011-08-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

Show my Face blog hosts Six Word Saturday each week. I love this meme, because it is so simple yet can tell so much. I hope to start participating every week again!

Here's what you do: Describe your life (or something) in just six words.

We've Found Many Uses For This

I'd like to offer a few more words than above six. Ever since discovering my daughter is lactose intolerant, we've tried many products and made many recipe substitutions to make our foods dairy free. We've tried a few different margarines and of all of them, this is the one we like the most.

Audrey :)

Peanut Butter Chicken (dairy free)

2011-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I took chicken out this morning. When I went to set it on the counter to defrost, I saw a jar of peanut butter that my daughter had left out. I decided to find a peanut butter chicken recipe and try it.

2-4 pieces of chicken (I made two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2/3 almond milk or other milk substitute
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Mix the peanut butter, almond milk, egg, salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken with flour. Next, coat with the peanut butter mixture and finally, coat with bread crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees about 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

It was delicious. My first bite was a bit "odd" as you don't often have chicken and peanut butter in the same bite. My next bite I decided I loved it!!

Audrey :)

Beer Bread (dairy free)

2011-08-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had some leftover beer from a party two years ago. I have been wanting to get rid of the beer and so today we made a beer bread:

The original recipe can be found here
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/whole-wheat-beer-bread/detail.aspx

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer

Mix it all together and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Audrey :)

Applesauce Pancakes (dairy free)

2011-08-10T08:00:00.001-07:00

We bought almond milk to try:

I'm not sure I had ever had applesauce pancakes before and so was excited to try them.

2 cups pancake mix
1 cup sweetened applesauce
1/2 cup almond milk (or other milk substitute)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs

Mix batter and fry. They were delicious. I put butter on them but not syrup. Because of the applesauce and sugar, they are already very sweet.

Audrey :)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs (dairy free)

2011-08-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I read a recipe that was so simple for sweet and sour meatballs, that I just had to try it. It was brown sugar, pineapple and meatballs. How much simpler could it get? We love Trader Joes and they had all 3 ingredients:

This was just so easy. One cup of brown sugar, two bags of meatballs and one can of pineapple. Mix it all together in a bowl and pour into a casserole dish. Bake anywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on the meatballs. The Trader Joes meatballs are already cooked and so 30 minutes was fine.

I served this over brown rice and we all enjoyed them. I'll admit I do like my homemade meatballs betters, but for a quick home made meal this worked great.

Audrey :)

Chicken Taco Cups (dairy free)

2011-08-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

These chicken taco cups are so cute and were quite fun to eat. We used rice shreds in place of the cheese:

1 container refrigerator biscuits
2 chicken breasts (if you prefer dark meat, use thighs instead)
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/4-1/2 cup water
assorted taco toppings

Boil and shred the chicken. Mix with taco seasoning packet. Add in enough water so that the chicken is evenly coated by the taco seasoning mixture.

I cut each biscuit in half and then stretched the dough to come up as much as possible in each muffin slot.

Add chicken on top of the dough. Then add cheese. Bake about 10-15 minutes. Biscuits should be golden brown and cheese should be melted.

I then topped with chopped tomatoes, diced chilies and chopped onion.

Very yummy and using the rice shreds, this was completely dairy free.

Audrey :)

Sundays In My City

2011-08-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Unknown Mami hosts a wonderful meme called Sundays In My City.

I love fruits and vegetables. Just this past week, my daughter introduced me to small little fruit and veggie stand here in our city. I bought two nectarines and loved them!! I've been back a few times since now and everything I've tried, I've just loved. I actually learned that Lane Farms has two produce stands within a couple of miles of my house. They both actually had different offerings when we visited.

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Audrey :)

Six Word Saturday

2011-08-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

This Is My Favorite Morning Beverage

Audrey :)

Cranberry Chicken (dairy free)

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

I use cranberry sauce both on roasts and also on chicken. This is an easy recipe and I love the cranberry taste:

3-4 pounds of chicken (white or dark meat)
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Mix marinade ingredients together and coat chicken. I sometimes prepare this in the morning and then cook the chicken at night. Place chicken in casserole dish. Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 degrees until cooked through.

Audrey :)

Summer Squash Casserole (dairy free)

2011-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I came home from work last week and found 2 large summer squash on my front porch. My neighbor had left them there for me. I knew I wanted to turn the summer squash into a casserole dish.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/sidedishcasseroles/r/bl30324t.htm This is the recipe I began with but I wanted to make it dairy free. If you've never tried the Tofutti Sour Cream, I highly recommend it. To me, it tastes just like regular sour cream.

I cut two pounds of squash into cubes and then micrwaved them until soft. I added in 8 ounces of the Tofutti Sour Cream and about 1/2 can of chicken broth. I put 1/2 box of stuffing mix on top and baked about 25 minutes.

It came out great. We loved it. It tasted very creamy without any dairy products. We will make this recipe again!!

Audrey :)

Cucumber and Tomato Salad (dairy free)

2011-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

So many salad and vegetable dish recipes ask for some form of dairy. This is one english cucumber, one tomato and one-third of an onion.

Mix with salt, pepper, two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and about one tablespoon red wine vinegar. If you like lemon, add in about one teaspoon lemon juice.

This makes a wonderful side dish, instead of a lettuce and tomato salad.

Audrey :)

BBQ Ground Beef (dairy free)

2011-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

My daughter is loving all of these dairy free recipes we keep making. I try to make one new item and then add last night's leftovers each day.

We buy ground turkey at Costco and so I began with two pounds of ground turkey and one third of an onion:

I browned the onions and ground turkey. Once done, I poured in about a half cup of BBQ sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

You can serve this over rice, on hamburger buns or over noodles.

Audrey :)

Chocolate Chip & Zucchini Cookies (dairy free)

2011-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

My next door neighbor grows several varieties of squash and zucchini. I found a recipe and decided to try the recipe with the zucchini. I used the Smart Balance margarine and the cookies came out great!!

3/4 cup Smart Balance margaine (softened)
1 1/2 cups sugar

Cream these two ingredients together. The mixture was quite fluffy and soft.

Add in:

1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix well. Add in 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

Add the following:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Once mixed, fold in about 8 ounces of non dairy chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

These came out crunchy and while you can see the zucchini, you really don't taste it. Awesome way to sneak vegetables into your kids lives :)

(linked up with Tempt My Tummy, Made From Scratch and Food Rules)

Audrey :)

Sundays In My City

2011-07-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

Unknown Mami hosts a wonderful meme called Sundays In My City.

One of the things I love most about the house I live in now is all the fruit trees. In addition to this lemon tree and orange tree, we also have a fig tree, an apricot tree, a tangerine tree and a pomegranate tree. Apricot season is only two weeks long, but I loved having them just a few short weeks ago.

Hope you enjoy your Sunday!

Audrey :)

Six Word Saturday

2011-07-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

I Love Trying Out New Recipes

Audrey :)

Bake Broccoli (dairy free)

2011-07-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

I found a recipe online and misread it. The end result was actually wonderful :) I ended up eating two helpings.

1 package frozen broccoli florets
1 envelope onion soup mix
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup non dairy margarine
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs

When I went to the store, I tried a new brand of margarine. I was very pleased with the outcome.

I softened the broccoli in the microwave for about 5 minutes. Then I mixed everything together and poured into a casserole dish. I baked about an hour at 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

Audrey :)

Baked Brown Rice Casserole (dairy free)

2011-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

We are rice lovers. To try to stay just a bit healthy we eat more brown rice than white rice. I found this rice casserole recipe and decided to try it with a twist:

1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon non-dairy margarine
3/4 teaspoon table salt

I put the rice in a casserole dish. I then put the broth, margarine and salt in a measuring cup and microwaved for 3 minutes. I poured it over the rice and since I did not have heavy duty aluminum foil, I used two sheets of regular foil and covered. I baked it at 375 degrees just over an hour.

Adding the chicken broth made all the difference in taste. We'll absolutely make this again.

Audrey :)

Apricot Chicken (dairy free)

2011-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

We have an apricot tree in our front yard. For two weeks, apricots fall like crazy.

This was just super simple to make. I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and then cut up the apricots, let the chicken marinate in the apricot juice, then baked with the apricots on top. It came out with a nice, sweet, apricot taste.

Audrey :)

Spinach Casserole (dairy free)

2011-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

One vegetable we all love is spinach. This came out great. We use a non dairy/non soy margarine:

We had a generic store brand chopped spinach.

2 cups cooked spinach
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons onion flakes (I did not have real onion in the house to use)

Mix these three ingredients together in a small casserole dish.

4 tablespoons non dairy margarine
2/3 cup flour (I used regular Gold Medal white flour)
1 cup water, divided in half

Melt the margarine in a skillet over low to medium heat. Add in the flour and mix with the margarine. Now add in 1/2 cup of water. Mixture will be very thick. Add in the other half cup water. See how thick your sauce is. It should be fairly thick. If you need more water, add in 1/4 cup water at a time until you have the desired consistency.

This is how the batter looked before cooking. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Edges should be browned.

It was delicious. I made it for dinner last night. We finished it off tonight and my daughter said "there's no more?" She really liked it. We are having so much fun trying all these new non dairy recipes.

This recipe has been added to:

Audrey :)

Oatmeal Chicken (dairy free)

2011-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, my daughter has become lactose intolerant. So, we've been busy trying out new recipes and many substitutions to make recipes dairy free. This recipe is delicious. My photo of the chicken on the broiler isn't very attractive so I took a photo of my plate:

I had some oatmeal I wanted to use up. I used egg white to coat the chicken and then rolled in a mixture of oatmeal, paprika, salt and pepper. We loved it.

1 1/2 cups Quaker Oatmeal
1/2 envelope onion soup mix
3/4 tablespoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

We use skinless chicken and so I poked holes in the chicken prior to rolling in the oats. I also turned the chicken over half way through baking. Cook at 375 degrees about 45 minutes. Chicken should be cooked through.

Enjoy!!

Audrey :)

Six Word Saturday

2011-05-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Time to get blogging again. Memes are a great way to get started again.

Going to make meatloaf for dinner

Meatloaf Sandwichs

2011-01-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

A two pound meatloaf is a lot of meat. When you cook at home versus bringing in take out food or eating out, you end up saving money as you always have leftovers. As you've seen I'm a huge supporter of turning leftovers into a 2nd but different meal.

Take your left over meatloaf and turn it into a BBQ beef sandwich. Toast the bread and spread BBQ on the bread. Also, heat the meatloaf up with BBQ on top of the meatloaf.

You can also crumble up turkey meatloaf very easily. Heat it in a frying pan with BBQ sauce and serve on hamburger buns.

Both of these sandwiches are a wonderful way to have a different meal using your leftover meatloaf.

Audrey :)

Meatloaf

2011-01-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

When I cook, I always look for new recipes. If we say "wow, that's the best" we'll make it again, but if it's just "good" then usually I'll look for another recipe.

Growing up, my mom made meatloaf once in a while and I never liked it. Then about 3 years ago my dad was in the hospital and meatloaf was being served in the hospital cafeteria. I ordered it. I actually loved it.

I've made this meatloaf several times as it's just that good. I decided to try a different meatloaf recipe and I ended up loving it.

Here is the original recipe I used as my base.

Here is how I made it.

2 pounds ground tukey (I buy ground turkey at Costco and it comes in 2 pound packages)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4-5 tablespoons of onion flakes (I did not have a real onion in the house)
1/4 or 1/3 cup of bread crumbs
egg substitute (the equivalent of one egg)
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

We did not have milk in the house, so I didn't use it and I never use garlic in cooking due to an allergy.

I mixed it all together in a bowl and then placed in a loaf pan. I baked at 350 for one hour.

It was a great tasting meatloaf.

Audrey :)

Lemon Chicken

2011-01-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

This was so easy to make. We have a lemon tree in the backyard.

3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used a little less)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
breadcrumbs
chicken

The original recipe also called for one clove of minced garlic. Melt the butter and add in the lemon juice, salt and pepper. I poked holes in the chicken and the poured on the sauce, leaving some of the sauce for dipping later. Once the chicken was nicely coated with the sauce, I hand spooned on the bread crumbs. I baked for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. I loved the flavor. My daughter used the leftover sauce for dipping and also loved it.

Audrey :)

Macaroni and Chicken

2011-01-18T05:04:00.000-08:00

We had left over chicken and so we shredded some of it and my daughter added it to a box of macaroni and cheese.

This was a great way to use up the left over chicken.

Audrey :)

Salsa and Chicken

2011-01-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

We had left over chicken and so all I did was add some salsa on top and serve. My daughter suggested I take a photo before the plate looked a mess LOL:

Audrey :)

Ramen Noodles

2011-01-16T07:56:00.000-08:00

Last night's dinner was super easy. I cooked a chicken breast, cut it into cubes and mixed it with teriyaki sauce:

Then I made the ramen noodles, boiling for 5 minutes and when done, added it to the chicken.

I served this with steamed broccoli and warm bread and it was a great meal.

Audrey :)

Burgers

2011-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, I used to love the Western Bacon Cheeseburger at Carl's Junior. I decided to create these at home last night:

I had shredded cheese, BBQ sauce, bacon bits and onion flakes. I mixed everything together with the meat. Since I was using ground turkey, I also mixed in some bread crumbs to hold it all together.

They came out great and everything cooked right in. I'm actually taking one for lunch today.

Audrey :)

Left Over Chicken Soup

2011-01-14T01:00:00.000-08:00

Although a bit disappointed in last nights soup, I was determined to salvage the meal. I decided to make quesadillas. I strained the broth out of the soup, threw tortillas in a frying pan and added the chicken and veggies. I then added in some cheese and picante sauce and we had quesadillas. My daughter said I just couldn't take a photo as they were a mess to look at but they tasted wonderful. I was thrilled to use the soup mixture and we had a 2nd, very different meal.

Audrey :)