Kneaders Cranberry Sauce

The best recipe EVER! Just ask this little lady.

You will find the recipe here.

YUMMMMMMMMY!

First of all, thanks so much to Danielle who has been on a creative tear lately! I have enjoyed so much reading about all your creative pursuits. We haven't done much on the creative side lately, but I did want to share a recipe that we really liked and that would be great for fall. It's Butternut Squash-Leek soup. I have to warn you, it looks awful when you serve it, but it is DELISH. Matt even liked it, which really surprised me. Enjoy! Happy fall!!!


INGREDIENTS
• 1 whole garlic, head• 4 tsp olive oil• 6 cup(s) leek(s), thinly sliced• 4 cup(s) butternut squash, cubed and peeled• 2 cup(s) chicken broth, low sodium• 1/2 tsp salt• 1/2 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350. Remove white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or seperate cloves). Wrap head in foil. Bakeat 350 fro 1 hour, cool 10 minutes. Seperate cloves, squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins.2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek, saute 5 minutesor until tender. Stir in garlic, squash, 2 cups water, broth, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil.3. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until squash is tender. Place half of squashmixture in blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over the opening of the blender. Blend and serve in bowls.

By the way, I got this recipe from www.youvegotsupper.com. They send you five dinner recipes with side dish suggestions every week. It's been kind of fun to try some of them out.

Marshmellow Fondant

For instructions on how to make marshmellow fondant (the kind I use on my cakes), go to Marshmellow Fondant 101. You can make them too!

Baby Shower Cakes

This is the cake I made (with a lot of help from Christine) for Emma Walker's baby shower. It's a triple chocolate cake; chocolate buttercream frosting on the bottom layer, vanilla frosting on the top. Marshmellow foundant covering the whole cake and embellishments made out of dyed foundant.
Minutes before taking this picture, Mark (my bro) made the SURPRISE call telling us he was engaged! Wahoo!

Christine (my mentor!) and I made this cake for our friend Katie's baby shower. Christine made the duck family out of gum paste. I frosted it and made the bubbles. Together we made the "barrel" out of wafer cookies. So cute!

After making 2 cakes in 2 consecutive Friday nights, plus crochetting 2 blankets in during those weeks, I told Michael I reached my creative limit!

I really love making cakes though. And crochetting. Just not all at once.

2 Blankets Crochetted

I crochetted (I really can't figure out if that's how you spell it... oh well) 2 blankets in the past couple of weeks. This one was for my sweet new niece, Sukai. The other was for Emma's new baby boy, whenever he arrives. They both looked like this, but Sukai's was yellow, blue and pink. Baby Walker's was white, yellow and blue. It had a lot of fun making them. After finishing them both I felt a little weird without a project, so I've decided to keep making them to donate to a hospital or shelter. They're the perfect size for a small baby and really warm for Boston winters. It's a little way I can continue to give to those around me AND continue my "therapy." Crochetting is good for my soul and mind, like yoga but on the couch.

Michael modeled Sukai's blanket: This is how Sukai feels when using it:
What a wonderful husband!

Baking Day

So I've stolen the idea of a Baking Day from Money Saving Mom, a blog I follow. She shares a lot of excellent recipes, some which are from Tammy's Recipes. I've mainly bookmarked the recipes from MSM and haven't searched Tammy's site on my own, but everything looks delicous, simple and affordable.
Anyways, the idea of a Baking Day is baking lots of goods you'll use throughout the week for meals. Muffins, waffles, bread, pita bread, etc. She freezes some to use at the end of the week or in future weeks. I like the idea. I don't really have a "baking day;" I tend to do it on an as need basis. Right now I bake bread when we're out, make waffles for breakfast one morning and double the batch to freeze the leftovers, make muffins while Lilers is napping, etc. We don't have a lot of leftover freezer space to freeze weekly things. It's currently full of veggies, fruit, homemade chicken stock, and freezer jam, plus meat. Maybe someday we'll get a small extra freezer, but until then, I do mini-bake days all the time. I make muffins and waffles to stretch out our cold cereal or when we don't have any on hand since there haven't been any decent sales. Soooo, in the spirit of baking day:

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
(Not in the least bit healthy, but Michael loves them)

1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking pwdr
1 1/3 c. mashed ripe bananas
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 c. chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine first six ingredients. In a small bowl, combine bananas, oil, and egg. Sit into dry ingredients until just moistened. (Over-stir and they won't rise) Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min. Makes about 1 dozen.

Possible variations: I add 1/2c. whole wheat flour and 1 c. all-purpose to make it a lil healthier, and no one's the wiser. I don't add a 1 c. chocolate chips; more like 1/3- 1/2 c., if I even add them at all. Could possibly substitute applesauce for vegetable oil-- haven't tried it, but next time I have some applesauce on hand, I plan on trying it out.

Recipe is from Hilary Grant in the Frisco 1 ward cookbook.

Blueberries

My friend Sara and I were talking about blueberry recipes the other day and it made me want to find more to add to my collection. I didn't used to like blueberries AT ALL, but we went to a farm to pick some a while ago and the blueberries there were divine. Mom made a blueberry cobbler and I couldn't find the recipe she used, but I found this one that's similar for a blueberry crisp by Martha Stewart. If you're in the mood for a good blueberry desert, I highly recommend this.

Blueberry Crisp

Martha Stewart

This crisp has a loose and juicy filling. If you would prefer a thicker filling, add an extra teaspoon of cornstarch.

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

• 6 cups (3 pints) blueberries

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

For the topping

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (or chopped nuts, such as almonds)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

• ⅓ cup sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°. Make the filling: Mix blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl. Transfer to an 8-inch squarebaking dish.

Make the topping: Stir together flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until pale and fluffy. Stir dry ingredients into butter. Using your hands, squeeze topping pieces together into clumps.

Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake until bubbling in center and brown on top, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Sensible Savings

I've had a lot of people ask me lately about how I coupon and how I score some of the great deals I've found lately. My latest creative adventure has been putting together a blog of some of the great things I've found. It's only a start, but check it out if you have time. http://sensiblesavings.blogspot.com

Deceptively Delicious

My friend introduced me to Deceptively Delicious, a cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife). She developed a lot of recipes that are kid friendly and include purees of healthy food in them. I thought it sounded interesting so we checked it out from the library and tried a few of the recipes. We really liked the ice cream sandwiches, which are basically lemon frozen yogurt in graham crackers, we HATED the hamburgers which had carrot puree in them, and we loved the two recipes below. I thought it was a good cookbook overall. One day I hope to buy it.

Applesauce Muffins

Topping

2/3 c old fashioned oats

1/4 c firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread, melted

Batter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups

To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the margarine

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or ziploc bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix-the batter is supposed to be lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18-20 min. Turn muffins out onto a rack and serve warm or cool.

Macaroni and Cheese 2

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat elbow macaroni

1 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup canned navy beans or chickpeas or white beans rinsed, drained, and pureed

Nonstick cooking spray

1 12/ cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add macaroni, cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander

While macaroni is cooking, combine milk and beans in a food processor and process until pureed

Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set it over medium heat. Add bean mixture to the pan and cook, stirring until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add cheese and cook until melted and creamy, 1-2 minutes longer. Stir in salt, garlic powder, paprika, and pepper. Stir in macaroni and serve warm.

Easy Pizza Crust

2 - 2 1/4 c. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 c. margarine, melted
2 pkgs yeast, dissolved in 3/4 c. water (2 pkgs yeast = 4 1/2 tsp)

Combine dry ingredients. Add margarine, water and yeast mixture & knead until smooth. Roll out onto pan and add toppings. Cook at 350-375 for about 15 minutes. Check pizza at 10 minutes and continue checking until done.
Recipe given to me by Ken Leek.

My favorite pizza dough recipe ever! It always turns out and is delicious. I sometimes do half-wheat flour, half-white flour, but to be honest, all white flour is definitely the tastiest. Usually we are 100% wheat people, but we give in sometimes. Great way to use leftover meat or veggies is to throw them onto a pizza!

Homemade Pesto

Serves 6. Can be found at Allrecipes.com or here.

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup almonds
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil (EVOO)
1 pinch ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place almonds on a cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted.
In a food processor, combine toasted almonds, garlic, basil, olive oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Process until a coarse paste is formed.

(This does form a paste, so it is best when you eat it to add a little more EVOO and mix it well into the pasta. It's not a sauce. We added chicken to ours, it was great!)

Homemade Bread

I've been wanting to learn how to make homemade bread. After many tries, some help from books, I finally can do it! YAY! So much healthier and no high-fructose corn syrup in our whole wheat bread! Did you know it's in bread??? I had no idea.

The best way to do it is in this book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. If you google that, New York Times did do an article on it that gives you the basic recipe; however, I recommend checking out the book from your friendly, neighborhood library. Basic recipe for a French Boule is excellent, but once you get that down, the possibilities are endless, including some great whole wheat sandwich bread. Plus it has pastrie recipes based off the same concept, so really, endless possibilties. Best part-- no kneading in any of these recipes or the next! They also just came out with a new book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Haven't checked it out but looks promising.

This is also a great recipe for One Hour Wheat Bread. Best if you have access to a standing-mixer of some sort. I have a hand mixer with the bread attachments, but it was super annoying. Could've just been mine for some reason, but it kept sticking and getting inside where the attachments click in. I ended up just kneading it, which worked out fine.

Haven't tried this recipe for Homemade Granola Bars yet, but plan on it. They look yum!! I'll post when I do.

My Favorite Food Blog

I love this food blog, Real Mom Kitchen. Check it out!

Black Beans and Black Bean Enchiladas

I found this excellent recipe for black beans. You can have them with rice, or make them into these delicious Black Bean Enchiladas. I made them the other night and they're yummy. Cheap to make, a little complicated the first time, take about an hour and fifteen to put together and bake, but low fat and delicious!

Lemon Bread

This recipe is from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. We've made this recipe twice in the past week and love it! I especially like that it only requires 1 lemon. It's great as dessert or a breakfast bread.

1 3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. cooking oil or melted margarine
2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel (about 1 whole lemon peeled, remember to do this before juicing the lemon!)
1 Tbls. lemon juice
1/2 c. chopped almonds or walnuts
2 Tbls. lemon juice (opt)
1 Tbls. sugar (opt) (I actually used powdered sugar, not granulated, to form more of a glaze)

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of an 8x4x2-inch pan; set aside. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, the 3/4 c. sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Set aside.

2. In another medium bowl combine the egg, milk, oil, lemon peel, and the 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy) Fold in nuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. If desired, stir together the 2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 Tbsp sugar. While bread is still in the pan, brush lemon-sugar mixture over the top of the loaf. Cool in a pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before serving.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Sugar Cookies

1 1/4 c. soft margarine
2 c. sugar
2 eggs

Beat until fluffy. Mix together, slowing beating in an additional
1/2 c. milk

Then add:
5 c. flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking pwdr
1 tsp nutmeg

Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Watch closely. At 4 minutes they will be slightly shiny on top. When they stop being 'shiny' they are done! Let them sit on the sheet for a minute, then move to a cooling rack. They will fall apart if you move them too soon and will seem like they're not done. This is not the case-- this is what makes them so soft and yummy.

I'll make a lemon glaze (couple tbsp lemon juice mixed with some powdered sugar until reaches desired consistency) and put on top. Delicious!

Given to me by Heather Anderson

Cheesy Quesadillas

I made a couple of variations to the recipe I found at Campbell's cooking website.

1 can Campbell's Cheese Soup
1/4 c. milk
1-2 tomatos, chopped
1 lg. jalapeno, chopped
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
mozzerella/colby jack/cheddar cheese to taste, shredded
1 chicken breast
corn or flour tortillas
water

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut chicken into 1/2" slices, sautee in pan until cooked on all sides.
2. Add soup and milk. Stir until smooth. Add tomatos, onion, jalapeno. Cook until onions are slightly tender.
3. Brush water on each side of tortilla. Fill with cheese sauce, a little of the shredded cheese, fold in half, press down and place on cookie sheet. Repeat until filled cookie sheet.
4. Cook for 5 minutes.

Since it is a cheesy soup, the cheese never hardens up like normal cheese does once cooled. It gets a little gooey. This can make a ton of quesadillas, so good for appetizers for lots of people, or meal. We liked them okay. Enough to make them again, especiall since it's super easy!

Rotini Sweet Pepper Primavera

2 1/2 - 3 c. rotini pasta
1 bunch artichoke
1 sweet pepper (red or yellow)
2 summer squash
1 jar alfredo sauce (or your own recipe for alfredo sauce)
1 tsp tarragon, fresh or dried

1. Cook the pasta according to box. While pasta is cooking, chop artichoke tips off before woody base (I cut them about 1/2 down). Chop pepper into 1/2" strips. Finally, chop squash into small slices.
2. Add all vegetables to boiling pasta 3 minutes before pasta is finished boiling to al dente.
3. In separate pan, warm alfredo sauce. Add tarragon. (I added fresh basil instead)
4. After pasta is finished, mix all together and serve immediately.

This dish is SO delicious, fairly healthy, and looks beautiful with all the different colors. We loved it and will definitely be making it over and over.

Green Smoothies

So I came across a recipe for green smoothies the other day on this blog and decided to try it. There are quite a few green smoothie recipes out there, but this one is the one I like so far. It's a great way to get your fruits and veggies!

1 1/2 cups of liquid (I use 1/2 cup water, 3/4 cup skim milk, and 1/4 cup coconut milk. The recipe I found also recommended using Kefir, but I haven't gone there quite yet. Basically any liquid in any amounts added up to 1 1/2 cups is the best.)

3 oz or more greens (You can do as much or as little as you like. I have been using one nice big organic Kale leaf. The recipe I found recommends using Spinach or Kale, but you can use any green veggies your heart desires. I'm planning to increase my greens but wanted to start off small)

2 Tablespoons orange juice concentrate

1 frozen banana

4 frozen strawberries

Okay here's how I do it - I put the water in first then blend the greens with it until it's smooth. Then I add the other liquids. Doing it this way will help make sure that the greens are well blended in and you're not left with lumps. Then I add the rest of the ingredients. I've been using banana and strawberries because I found a great sale on strawberries and because bananas in any smoothie makes it better, but you can add any kinds of fruit. Some others recommended were blueberries, raspberries, and peaches. If you would like to you can also add honey to sweeten it (I liked it without) and you can add any "boosts" you would like such as ground pumpkin or flax seeds.

Is Couponing Creative?

Hi All!

It's been so long since I've posted here. Mainly because lately my creative juices have been going into cutting our family's budget. My friend Renee introduced me to couponing and so far it has been great! I had no idea how many great deals are out there and how many ways there are to save money. For any interested, I've listed a couple of great websites below.

www.moneysavingmom.com
www.dealseekingmom.com
www.savvyshopperdeals.com

Glaze for Cake

She uses any recipe for a Lemon Glaze. Here is one from BettyCrocker.com if you like this one:


Tart Lemon Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice

Mix together until smooth. Poke holes into cake with long fork. Pour on glaze and allow it to cool for 20 min.

Millie's Cream Cheese Pound Cake

My friend brought this to a going-away brunch the other day and it's delicious! The recipe is an old Italian Grandma's (Millie), so you know it automatically good. I asked her for the glaze recipe too, so I'll add that when I get it. Enjoy!

3 sticks butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat together butter and cream cheese. Add rest of ingredients. Butter loaf or bundt pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until it tests done. Remove from pan.

Breakfast Granola

Update: Price out this recipe with all the ingredients. Based upon what you put in, it's $2.25-$2.75 for 2 qts or 64 ounces. A box of cereal is usually 9-12 oz. Even if I pay $1 for a box of cereal, this is still a fourth to a sixth of the cost and much healthier.

My mom would make this all the time growing up and we'd eat it with milk like cereal. It's healthy and pretty inexpensive to make. I'll write the official recipe, then how I make it:

6 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. coconut*
1/4 c. sunflower seeds*
1 c. chopped nuts
1/4 c. wheat germ

Mix all ingredients. Sir in and coat with the following mixture:

1/2 c. oil
1/3 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. raisins or other dried fruit (don't add these quite yet)

Spread on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Pull out, stir around, then add dried fruit. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. Yield: about 2 qts.

In my recipe, I only put the non-* items. I'm sure it's good with the rest and even healthier, but it makes it more expensive and my mom never made it that way. You can add as much/little dried fruit and nuts as you want. I've also added cinnamon, chocolate chips, etc different times I make it to spice it up. Variation is fun!

Enjoy!

Lily's 6mo cake

Lily turned 6mo old yesterday!! Yay! I decided I wanted to make her a cake to celebrate. I thought of a lot of cute ideas, then decided to keep it simple. (Good thing too!) I didn't like the chocolate frosting recipe I had (tastes good, but the color is a little odd looking), so I went online and found a good one. I made it and it wasn't frosting-like at all! It was a glaze and kept running off the cake. It was a mess. I had to keep scooping it up and trying to put it back on. THEN, after I cleaned up that fiasco, I wanted to write on top of her cake in frosting. Make sure when you do this, your frosting is not still cold from the refrigerator! It wouldn't stick to the cake. (Hence why the "H" in happy is so screwed up) I finally figured things out, and it actually turned out pretty good, inspite of me.

So now I pose the question: How the heck did you frost and use foundant on an ICE CREAM CAKE for our wedding Devee?? I was impressed before, but now I'm in awe!!