food: Fruit Filled Cookies

Let's be honest, I'm writing this post because I couldn't pin these cookies from their original location to Pinterest (no picture). And yes they are just that good!  A bakery I worked for made raisin filled cookies.  They were perfect.  Crisp flaky cookie crust with yummy spiced raisin insides.  I've been craving these raisin filled cookies.  

Last Sunday I made Million Dollar Cookies (which weren't that good) AND they sent me into a downward carb spiral.  No GOOD!  This week I made this: 

SUGAR Free, Fruit Filled Cookies.  YUM!  

Recipe adapted from here

PASTRY:

1C flour
1/2 C Crisco shortening
1/4 C sour cream
4 oz. cream cheese
1/8 TSP salt

1/4 TSP Agave Syrup (optional)

Zest of 1 lemon

FILLING:

8 oz. dried fruit (we did cherries but apricots and raisins would be really good too!) 
1/3 c. water

Filling: Cook fruit over low heat in water until thick. Let cool. While you prepare the cookie dough.

Blend cream cheese, sour cream, shortening and agave syrup. Add flour and salt; mix well. Blend in lemon zest.  Set in refrigerator until firm (30 minutes). Roll out the dough. Use a circle cookie cuter to cut out 80 circles (I know it's a lot). Line the pan with parchment and lay out 20 cookies.  Place a small dollop of filling in the center of each cookie (like 2 cherries small). Place another cookie on top.  Seal the two cookies together with fork along the outside.  Pierce the center of each cookie to let steam escape during cooking.   Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until top is brown.

Yield: 40 cookies

food: Beans and Rice

I know I haven't posted in a while. As I type my house smells like a Mexican Fiesta and I thought I'd share our penny pinching recipe.

As many of you know we are trying super hard to get out of debt so we can afford to have children sent to our family. We are putting every extra cent I can squeeze out of J's paycheck towards debt and we are soooo close! (In theory foster care should help with this but at the end of the day we spend her reimbursement check plus some of our surplus to have SB in the house.) Our food budget is about $3.00/person/day. This recipes costs about $1.50 for the WHOLE HUGE POT. That's mega nice for our budget.

1 lb of dried beans (we like pinto, black or red beans)
6 cups of water

The night before, usually after dinner while little ones are in the bath, I wash the beans and add them to a BIG pot with 6 cups of water. Soak overnight. Rinse the beans in the morning. While the beans are in the strainer add the following ingredients to the pot.

1 TBS olive oil
1 onion chopped
2-3 garlic cloves minced
2-3 stalks celery

Cook 3 to 4 minutes and add:

1 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
3/4 t paprika
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t onion powder
1 t Cayenne pepper
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t sage
1 t thyme
Red pepper flakes

Toast spices and then add the beans back to the pot with 6 cups of water. Simmer 2 1/2 hours. Drain off some of the liquid. Add finally chopped spinach to the beans and let wilt and become almost invisible (Always trying to bump up the nutrition.)

Night one:
Brown rice and beans with a little hot sauce and vinegar

Night Two:
Rice and bean burritos with lots of cheese and salsa

10 Lunches:
Rice and Bean burritos with lots of cheese, frozen and wrapped individually for quick grab and go.

We make this recipe at least 2x a month YUM!

Secret

My blog has a secret. If you look in past posts you may see a post you have never seen before, like this one. It's a list of projects I would rather do then clean my house. My time is pretty precious these days and when I get a crying, feeding, pooping free moment I: 1st take a shower, 2nd CRAFT. Take a little peak at my list and links, you may want to start keeping secrets yourself.

food: Cheesecake Brownies

This post is mostly for my sisters. Growing up my mom would make Black Bottom Cupcakes and it was a family favorite. I had some left over cream cheese and was craving BBCs. I modified the recipes to create THESE!

( yes that is a whole in the middle of the pan. The inside in the best!)

Cheesecake Brownies!


Recipe:

1 box brownie mix

1/2 c apple sauce

1/4 c water

3 egg whites



Cheesecake filling

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1 egg

1/4 c sugar

1/4 t vanilla

Directions:

Cream, sugar, cream cheese, and egg until smooth.

Mix brownie mix, apple sauce, water, and egg whites until fully combined.

Pour brownies into 9x9 greased pan

Place large spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture over brownies and swirl with knife.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

YUMM!

food: Easy Recipes

So I hear it's been a while since my last post. =) I'm waiting for some pictures so I can post about G's B-day. In the mean time, I've found these quickish and EASY recipes from Allrecipes.com.

Check out this Easy Chicken Alfredo. We used whole wheat pasta and fat free milk products to make this more figure friendly.

Check out this Chicken Florentine Rice Casserole. We used brown rice (not instant) and precooked it before adding it to the casserole.

Both recipes are yummy and lend themselves well to substitution. Oh and did I mention that G and Lil G both ate it!

So FYI: Both these recipes called for cottage cheese. I think fat free cottage cheese is GROSS! But the Kroger brand at Smith's is YUMMMY. If you have a Smith's check out the fat free cottage cheese! Why not cut the calories and the fat if you don't have to cut taste!

Oh and Whitmer Family-Don't even bother looking you won't eat it! =)

food: Cookies!

Today's project was Chocolate Chip Cookies (whole wheat of course!) Check out the fruits of our labors!






Culinary Tip: Cream the fat (butter) with the sugar eggs and vanilla for a significant amount of time (at least 5 but can up to 15 minutes) before adding the dry ingredients. Creaming the fats and sugars together give the sugar time to dissolve and distribute evenly. Allowing the sugar to dissolve adds moisture to your cookies and the cookies will brown evenly in the oven. It makes the prefect balance of softness and crunch! We like SOFT cookies.

Also, add your dry ingredients at the very end of mixing. Being careful not to over mix at this stage will prevent your cookies from developing too much gluten. Too much gluten results in gummy cookies.

food: BBQ Left Overs

Ever wondered what to do with BBQ leftovers? Try this simple and easy recipe I doctored from Allrecipes.com.

Chili Hot Dog Casserole:

8 hot dog buns or hamburger buns or combination of whatever you have left
8 hot dogs (or fewer-If you do less, cut them in half or quarter them then slice them so there is hot dog throughout the casserole)
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 recipe Chili to fallow-or 1-2 cans chili

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Tear up the hot dog and hamburger buns and arrange the pieces in the bottom of the dish evenly. Slice the hot dogs into bite size pieces and layer the pieces over the buns.

Pour the chili over the hot dogs, spread some mustard over the chili . Top off with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Cooked Hamburger Chili:

1 large onion
3, 4 or 5 cooked hamburgers (really however many you have left)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 can tomatoes (tomatoes in green chili's is our favorite)
2 can kidney beans (or black beans or pinto beans or or or) rinsed and drained
1 beef bullion


Directions:

Dice the onion and add to a high sided non stick pot with a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. Caramelize onions over medium heat. Meanwhile cut the hamburgers into 1/2 in pieces (I like to use scissors). Once onions are caramelized add meat and warm through.

Add tomato paste and spices and let brown. Add tomatoes, beans, bullion and water. Simmer 20 minutes (or however long to get your chili to be the consistency you like it). Add thickened chili to Chili Dog Casserole.

Tip: If you had a veggie platter at your BBQ and you still have some carrots, celery, peepers or other combination of good-for-you veggies, chop and add into the chili with the onions. This is my way to sneak veggies into the kid's food!

It is so HOT right now in Utah. I've become obessed with frozen fruit. Grapes, blueberries, watermellon balls...mmmmm. Today I looked for U-Pick farms in Utah county so I could go get some blueberrys that would be cheeper then $5 a pint. We have one in Payson-30 minutes from here.
http://www.pickyourown.org/UT.htm

Just out of curiosity I looked up how many were listed under Lane County at:

http://www.nabcblues.org/upick.htm

Eight U-Pick farms in Lane county-most within 20 minutes of Mom's house. And the site didn't even have all of them-just the ones where they grow blueberries!

Yum Yum

I LOVE to cook and have been on a kick of trying to recreate food that you get at restaurants. It helps us save money and has been really rewarding. I've been able to recreate most aspects of my favorite Mexican chicken salads but could never get the lime rice quite right. I was watching the noon news and they spotlighted this recipe. I haven't tried it yet but I couldn't resist sharing it with the dressing that has also eluded me.

Lime Rice

1 c rice
1 T butter
2 cloves garlic
Zest of 1 lime
2 c chicken broth
Juice of one lime
3T chopped cilantro

Combine Butter garlic lime zest and broth. Boil and add rice. Reduce and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and add lime and Cilantro.

Mexican Ranch

1 C buttermilk
3/4 c mayo
1/4 c cilantro
1 package ranch dressing
4T salsa verde
2 cloves garlic
1/2 t Tabasco
Juice of 1 lime

Blend in blender/food processer

Enjoy!