"tasty lentil tacos" Really!

I tried a new recipe last night, tasty lentil tacos from All Recipes.com.

We eat meat most every night but I get tired of meat and want to try to few more meat-free dinner recipes. We liked these lentil tacos alot.

They are very easy and quick - less than 40 minutes from start to eating ready - and cheap.

The recipe says it will fill 12 taco shells, I think it could easily fill 15 or more.

They "taste" just like beef tacos but the texture is different than beef and may not please everyone though.

So if you are not eating meat for religous, social, economic, health or personal taste, this might be a recipe you will like too. We will be having them again.

new way to make pizza

Did any of you send for the freebie booklet from Fleischmans yeast about a month or so ago? the offer is expired now but the author has cookbook for sale

I got mine last week and tried the pizza crust Saturday.

All the recipes have a long rising time but require no kneading at all. They mix up very quickly, once you read through all the directions.

I scanned the pizza crust recipe, click on each picture to enlarge if you want to read all the recipe details.

I just made half of the recipe and it made 1 thin crust 12 inch pizza. The dough was thin and crispy, and closer to restaurant style pizza than any other homemade dough I've ever tried - and I have made a lot of pizzas.

This recipe would be very nice for working mothers who will be gone all day, they could stir it up in a minute before they leave for work and then have dough waiting on them when they get home.

Here is my shorter version

no knead pizza crust - I mixed mine up right after breakfast on Saturday and then we had it for supper that night

3 Cups all purpose flour - 15 ounces - I did weigh mine but am not sure it is necessary

generous 1 1/4 t salt

1/2 t Fleiscmann's RapidRise Yeast - I think this brand is important

scant 1 1/2 Cup Ice Water

1 T olive oil - plus a little more for brushing dough

In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt and yeast.

Vigorously stir in ice water, scraping down sides, just until blended.

Stir in olive oil, just until blended.

This whole process should just take a minute or so.

Leave the dough in the mixing bowl, but brush it all over with a little olive oil.

Cover with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for about 4 hours.

Then take it out, and let it rise on the counter the rest of the afternoon.

Punch down and pat out onto a lightly greased baking stone.

Top with a little sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.

Bake in a preheated 475 degree oven until done - 15 or so minutes.

Cookies and flowers

All 3 of these recipes are based on cookie recipes from an online healthy eating - weight loss site. They are good, basic ingredient cookie recipes that make small batches.

I put some of the cookies in jars for snacks and desserts for the next week , froze half of the dough of one recipe and bagged up single serving size baggies of cookies to freeze for Jeff's lunch box.



Caramel Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly.
Scrape dough out of bowl and onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Roll dough into a log, about 2 1/2-inches wide; completely wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 20 minutes or up to overnight. (I made mine into 2 rolls, baked one after chilling and froze the other roll for later)
Cut dough into 1/8-inch-thick slices and arrange on several large ungreased cookies sheets about 1- to 1 1/2-inches apart. Bake until lightly browned around edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for about 1 minute and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields about 45 cookies



Chocolate Pecan Spice cookies This is a puffy cookie, it does not spread much while baking
pecan halves - 1 for each cookie, about 24-36
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp apple butter
1 large egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine sugar and butters in a medium bowl. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until soft. Add egg white and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping mixture off sides of bowl as needed.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour and baking powder. Add to butter mixture; beat to combine.
Drop dough by even teaspoonfuls, about 1 inch apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Place 1 pecan half on top of each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes; remove from oven and allow to cool on pan for 5 minutes. Remove cookies with spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Yields about 24-36 cookies




Oatmeal Pecan Lace Cookies These spread a lot, leave room between each one on the baking sheets or you might end up with one giant cookie mess.


1 1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans, finely chopped (or any nut you like)
1/8 tsp table salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 large egg - beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350ºF and cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or just grease them lightly..
Mix oats, sugar, baking powder, pecans and salt together in a medium bowl until mixed.
Add butter, egg and vanilla to oat mixture; mix well.
Drop teaspoonfuls of batter onto prepared cookie sheets and flatten each out, leaving at least 2-inches between each cookie.
Bake cookies until edges turn golden, about 8 to 12 minutes. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing from baking sheet.



Yield - about 2 dozen cookies

visit Gayle at the Grocery Cart Challenge for more low-cost recipes.

Changing the subject, here are pictures of my favorite plants that growing in our yard right now.

first iris to bloom this spring

pansies

dianthus

hosta

Cookies for weekend snacking

I baked 3 small batches of cookies this morning to have for weekend desserts and snacking. Aren't the jars so cute? I got these from Nina's box of randomness.

This first recipe is from my friend Andrea. She is a magazine editor and has the best recipes and decorating ideas, but no, she does not blog.
One Bowl Macaroons - makes 12-15 cookies
1 1/3 C flaked coconut
1/3 C sugar
3 TBSP flour
1/8 t salt
2 egg whites
1/2 t almond or vanilla extract

heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the coconut, sugar, flour and salt (Just use a spoon, no need for a mixer)
Mix the egg whites and extract, just till the egg white is broken up and a little frothy.
Combine both mixtures.
Drop by teaspoon on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
If you want a fancier cookie, you can dip them in chocolate.

Chocolate Meringues - makes about 15
2 egg whites
1/2 C sugar
1 heaping T baking cocoa -sifted (I just sift it over the bowl)
1/4 t vanilla
a scant 1/2 c mini chocolate chips / about 3 ounces
preheat oven to 275 degrees
beat egg whites with mixer on high speed until frothy and soft peaks form.
With mixer running, slowly add the sugar and continue to beat until still and glossy peaks form.
With a rubber spatula, gently fold in vanilla, then cocoa and choc. chips. Some streaks may remain, don't over mix.
Drop batter by tablespoon onto parchment lined sheet.
Bake for 35-45 minutes - until the cookies feel dry all the way through and hard.
Store in an airtight container.

The chocolate chip cookie recipe is a family favorite and you can see it here.

for more frugal recipes, visit Gayle at the grocery cart challenge Friday recipe swap.

Saturday Sandwiches

We like sandwiches and eat them almost every Saturday for lunch. This is our current favorite.
I take 6 slices of light wheat bread and spread them with dijon mustard. Then I put cheese on 3 slices of bread and ham on the other 3. Then I toast them until the cheese melts and the ham warms up. All 6 slices fit in our toaster oven at one time and it works just right for us as Jeff eats 2 sandwiches and I eat 1.
Then I add some thinly sliced tomato and red onion and whatever kind of lettuce we have and just a little black pepper.
Put the 2 sides together and cut each sandwich in half, I like diagonally.

Better than Quiznos!

Light Oat Bread/Rolls

I baked this recipe last night, Light Oat Bread, except I made my batch without a bread machine. I did let the Kitchenaid do the kneading though and formed this batch into rolls instead of a loaf.

They were really good and use a very small amount of sugar and fat.

We had salmon patties and a salad with our rolls for supper. Jeff eats salmon patties but they are for-sure not his favorite meal. So these hot rolls made him pretty happy last night.

cups and cookies

I've been looking for just the right mugs for months and I think we found them yesterday at
Pier 1. We bought 6 white mugs, they are 16 ounces and have a design on the bottom that did not photograph so well.
I also got 4 floral mugs, sort of like Cath Kidston but made by Pier 1.
Yes, I got them all home, washed and put away without breaking this batch too!
I like milk in my hot tea so I had to get this cute cow creamer.
WW mini chocolate chip cookies
2 T butter, softened
2 t canola oil
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1/8 t salt
1 large egg white
3/4 C flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c chocolate chips - I used the mini chips
preheat oven to 375.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter, oil, brown sugar and vanilla. Add egg white and mix thoroughly.
Stir in flour, salt and baking soda.
Stir in chips.
Drop by rounded half teaspoons onto baking sheet (I sprayed it lightly with Pam)
- I used the small Pampered chef scoop and got 24 cookies. WW says it will make 48 if make them 1/2 teaspoons.
Bake until just golden. 4-6 minutes for 1/2 teaspoons. My bigger ones took about 8 1/2 minutes.
Cool on wax paper or a wire rack.
WW says 2 cookies are 2 points - if you get 48 cookies from your batch.

I really like this recipe - they taste just as good as traditional cookies and use all normal ingredients.

Homemade syrup on Oatmeal Pancakes

Our breakfast this morning was oatmeal pancakes with homemade syrup.
I don't like the taste of the last syrups we bought so I have been making this small recipe and we really like it. It is not thick like storebought ones but we think the taste is great.
Homemade Pancake Syrup
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
3/4 C water
1/2 C light corn syrup
1/2 t maple flavoring
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t butter flavoring
Bring the first 4 ingredients to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Let cook for several minutes until all the sugars are well dissolved. If you want it thicker, cook for up to 10 minutes on low.
Remove from heat and stir in flavorings.

Store the leftovers in the fridge. I use a microwave safe pitcher and just reheat it when needed.

The extracts are not cheap, but they will last a long time.

Shaker Spice Cookies with Recipe

Madison, a brand new blogger, requested I post the recipe for Shaker Spice Cookies that Nina and I baked before Christmas.
And since I have not updated my blog in a week, this seemed like the perfect time.
I have been baking this recipe for about 10 years. We used to live in the country and one day I wanted to bake cookies but had no butter or shortening on hand. I did an internet search for cookie recipes that use oil and found this one.
I think it is originally from a Marion Cunningham cookbook.

 Shaker Spice Cookies 

   2/3 c  Vegetable oil
    1 c  Sugar
  1/4 c  Molasses
    1    Egg
    2 c  Flour
    2 ts Baking soda
  1/2 ts Cloves
  1/2 ts Ginger
    1 ts Cinnamon
  1/4 ts Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the vegetable oil, sugar, molasses and egg into a mixing bowl and
using a spoon, beat until well mixed.
(No need to use a mixer unless you just want to)

Combine the flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and salt in
a bowl and stir with a fork until well mixed.

Add to the liquid ingredients and stir until blended.

Make tablespoon size balls from the cookie dough - I use a small Pampered Chef cookie scoop.
Roll each ball into sugar and flatten just a little.

Bake for 10 or 11 minutes.
(Bake just until they start to look done, they will be chewier if not over-baked.

  Yields 48 cookies

PER COOKIE: 65 calories, 1 g protein, 9 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat (0 g
saturated), 4 mg cholesterol, 47 mg sodium, 0 g fiber,

Baking day

Money Saving Mom is hosting a Baking Day linky so I joined in.
I baked a batch of pumpkin muffins similar to her recipe.
I changed the original recipe a little and just made a 1/2 recipe. It think they are delicious! low-fat and high fiber too.

Pumpkin Muffins
2 1/3 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C milled flax seed - (I buy this at Walmart, with the baking things, for about $1.30 a box)/
3/4 C sugar
3/4 t of baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger
3 eggs
15 ounce can of pumpkin
1/2 C applesauce
1/2 C chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin pans, grease or use papers, I sprayed my papers with a little Pam type spray.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, then add the pumpkin and applesauce until smooth.
Add both mixtures together, stir thoroughly and then stir in nuts.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 20-28 minutes until they test done.
(I got 23 muffins from this batch)

Another batch of freezer biscuits

Sausage patties on Grands biscuits for Jeff's workday breakfast.

Porcupines for supper

First, I can't take credit for this picture. I did make porcupine meatballs for supper and I thought I took a picture, but when I downloaded my camera, no meatball picture! Mine did look just about like the above picture except I didn't use a dish like that.
Porcupines are an old recipe and there are lots of variations.
My recipe is adapted from the one in my 1980 Betty Crocker cookbook. My mom gave me this book at one of my bridal showers. Can you tell I have used this book a lot?

My Porcupine Recipe
3/4 pound very lean ground beef
1/2 C uncooked regular rice
1/2 C finely chopped onion and bell pepper
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t garlic powder
a few sprinkles of celery salt
2 small cans tomato sauce (8 ounce cans)
water, 1/2 cup and 1 cup, divided

Mix ground beef, rice, 1/2 C water, onion, bell pepper and spices. Shape into meatballs - I use a scoop to start them.
Place meatballs in a greased baking pan - I use an 8x8 or 11x7.
Top with tomato sauce and 1 Cup water.
Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake 15 minutes more.

This recipe is thrifty and to be even thriftier, don't use aluminum foil to cover them while baking, use a casserole that has a glass lid.

Freezer Biscuits

I've been reading about making freezer biscuits and thought you all would like to see my version of them.
Making biscuits is so messy, so for me, it is really nice to just have the mixing and rolling mess once and then have fresh biscuits any time.
To save electricity, and because I just need to bake a few biscuits when Jeff and I are here, I have been baking them in our little Oster toaster oven. This oven bakes just as nice our full size oven too.

Freezer Biscuits
6 cups all purpose flour
2 T baking powder
2 T sugar
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 1/4 C butter or shortening - I used butter flavor Crisco
2 C buttermilk

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredient. Cut in shortening (I use a pastry blender) until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Stir in buttermilk. It should come together in a ball, you might need a little less or a little more buttermilk.
Turn dough onto a floured counter top, knead just until it all comes together.
Roll out dough to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a floured biscuit cutter.

To freeze, put the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and freeze until firm. Then take the frozen biscuits and store in a freezer bag in the freezer until you are ready to bake them.

To bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

I get about 28-30 biscuits from a recipe.

Butterscotch Brownies from Debbie

Debbie is a good friend of mine, but we have never met and we only know each other through our blogs and occasional emails. We seem to have a huge amount in common though.

She posted this recipe earlier this week and I baked it tonight.
The recipe is from Betty Crocker and is very similar to a Caramel Squares recipe I have baked for years. My Caramel Squares recipe calls for 8 T of butter and Debbie's Butterscotch Brownies calls for just 4 T of shortening. Some grocery prices that have really gone up are all fats - oils, shortenings, butter and even margarine.
So besides using less fat for health reasons, it is also smart to use less fat for thrift.

I also like this recipe because it is just uses one mixing pan and it is just stirred - up. No need to get out the mixer!

The recipe from Debbie at Homemaking Dreams.

Butterscotch Brownies

1/4 cup shortening (I used butter flavor Crisco)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts ( Debbie used peanuts, I used chopped almonds, and I think choc. chips would be yummy too)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

(If using self rising flour, omit the baking powder and salt)

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of square pan, 8 X 8 X 2 inches, with shortening. Melt shortening in 1 1/2 quart saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in pan. Bake 25 minutes. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. Cut into about 2 inch squares while warm.

Thanks, Debbie, for sharing this recipe!

A Year of Savings - homebaked treats

http://www.xanga.com/pennyannpoundwise

It's been awhile since I did a year of savings post. So here goes.

I baked a batch of chocolate chip muffins today to have for dessert after the vegetable beef soup we had for supper.
I put enough of them for tonight and tomorrow in the cake dome that I usually keep on the counter.
I also packed some to put in the freezer for next week's brown bag lunches. I just put them in sandwich bags and they will be fine in the freezer for a short time. If I was going to freeze them longer, I would package them with more protection, either in freezer style bags or sealed in Tupperware.

The cost of flour, eggs, sugar, chocolate chips and butter have all increased but it is almost always still cheaper to bake at home than to buy already prepared treats.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
5 T melted butter
2/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1 C sour cream - I use low-fat sour cream
1 large egg
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C mini chocolate chips (I only had regular chocolate chips so I chopped the regular ones with a hand chopper and I think I like them even better this way)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, sour cream and egg. Stir well.
Stir in baking soda, baking powder and flour until well combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill paper lined or greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until done.
Makes 14-18 muffins.

Frugal Family of Five Recipe

I was wondering what we were going to have for lunch on Saturday while I browsed some blogs. Lucky for me, I found the perfect recipe for a quick, easy, and low cost at Frugal Family of Five
Karen writes this new blog.
I did change up her recipe a bit. I added a sauted onion, cut the chicken into bite size pieces, added some fresh corn and just sprinkled the cheese on top instead of stirring it into the recipe.
We thought the dish was really good, Thanks Karen!

Spicy Chicken and Rice

SERVES 4

• 1 lb chicken tenders, raw
• 1 (16 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (10 ounce) can rotel (Rotel is the brand name for canned tomatoes and chilis)
  
• 1 cup white rice, uncooked
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• Garlic Powder
  
• salt & pepper

1. Using a large, deep skillet with a cover pour can of chicken broth and can of rotel into skillet.
2. Stir in cup of rice.
3. Lay chicken tenders on top of rice and sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Go easy on the pepper if you don't like it too hot because the Rotel has a little kick to it.
4. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 20 minutes or until chicken is opaque.
5. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the cheese. Stir lightly until cheese melts slightly.
6. Serve with whatever green you have on hand.

Tonights supper

I learned how to make chicken tacos from another Marine wife years ago and have made them many times since. A whole chicken works great but I have bags of chicken breasts in my freezer so that is what I used today.
Before I left for work this morning, I put a whole bag of frozen chicken breasts with a few stalks of celery, some dried chopped onions and enough water to half way cover the chicken into the crock pot. They cooked on high until I got home 5 hours later. I drained and shredded the chicken and put it in a pan with 1 chopped onion, 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon garlic, a little red pepper, salt and pepper to taste, 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and 1 can of water. The cumin is really essential to giving it that Tex-Mex taste.
Stir well, cover the pan and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so. This will fill lots of tortillas or taco shells. It is great on taco salad and nachos too.

I like to make a big batch and freeze the extra in meal size portions.

French Puffs

French Puffs - from the Betty Crocker Cookbook my mom gave me when I got married in 1980

1 egg
1 Cup milk
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1/3 Cup sugar
2 Cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 t salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease well 12 regular muffin cups.
Beat egg, stir in oil and milk.
Stir in dry ingredients just until flour is moistened - batter will be a little lumpy.
Fill muffin cups (use an ice cream or cookie dough scoop if you have one)
Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Immediately remove from pan and roll all then muffins generously in
1 Stick melted butter, then in
1/2 Cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

I have been baking these all of my married life. Jeff and all the kids say this is one of their favorite things for breakfast. I like them when I am craving doughnuts but don't want to drive to a doughnut shop.

They are cheap, quick and very easy to make.
Their downside is they not so so healthy and they are best when freshly made. They are not a do-ahead kind of recipe at all.

See more thrifty recipes at the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Tonight's supper

We are having one of my favorite dishes for supper tonight, smoked sausage with green beans and potatoes.

Start by cooking about 2 cups of peeled diced potatoes in water. While the potatoes are cooking, saute a small onion in just enough oil so the onion will brown and not stick.

I like this Healthy Ones smoked sausage. It is just 80 calories a serving. Dice the sausage and brown with the onion after the onion is cooked. Light sausage does not need to be cooked very long , it seems to break down if over-cooked.
Drain the cooked potatoes and green beans. Add to the skillet with the sausage and onions. Cover the skillet and cook on low just until heated through. Add pepper and just enough salt to taste.

This is me doing something I rarely do, cooking without an apron!

My version of Jalapeno Poppers

We are jalapeno fans and we like jalapeno poppers a lot. We have tried wrapping them in bacon but the bacon does not cook crispy like we like it. So after several experiments, this is my favorite way to make and eat jalapeno poppers.

Take fresh jalapenos, cut them in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a grapefruit spoon.

This batch of jalapenos is from my brother, Rex's, garden. He has red and green jalapenos but they pretty much taste the same but the red ones are really pretty.

I also use grated cheddar cheese and bacon that has been chopped, cooked and drained.
Put a few pieces of bacon in each jalapeno. Then top with a big pinch of cheddar. Don't put in too much cheese or it will leak out when it cooks. Just try to put in as much as will melt down and fill each pepper.

I line the baking pan with foil so I don't have a baked-on cheesy mess to scrub afterwards.

Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes.

Then, serve them to your family!

Dutch Baby for breakfast

Doesn't that look good? It was too!

Dutch Baby ( baked puffed pancake)

2 T butter * 2 Eggs * 1/2 cup of flour and milk * pinch of salt

place the butter in an oven proof 8 or 9 inch pan. place pan in a 400 degree oven until the butter melts. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Then whisk in the milk, flour and salt. Carefully pour in to hot butter. (Just pour it in, don't stir) Bake for 20-25 minutes, until it is puffed and well browned. Serve immediately.

I like it with just a little powdered sugar on top. My kids like maple syrup. The recipe book suggests a raisin apple sauce.

This is a very easy, quick and low cost breakfast.