All This and now what?

Chicago style stuffed crust pizza

2011-08-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

The finished product!! Great dinner.

I am making my late night craving a reality and no I am not pregnant!!! Oh my remove that thought from your head. The big kids are all back in school and my little monkey is lonely. Lets say it has been a rough week being the youngest of 4 kids. He misses his best friends. :(

With this late night craving I really wanted some good pizza with homemade sauce. I had ordered the pink plum tomatoes on a whim and so glad I did.
I started with a quick run to the store this morning for some more yeast. If you do alot of baking I suggest buying it in bulk. I usually have a big bag of this but had not done much baking lately and wanted to make sure mine was fresh. I made a whole wheat crust with an italian sausage, green peppers, sweet peppers, and onions. I wish I had on hand some mushrooms and other veggies but always accommodate when you can :)
I will post a brief overview and come back with my exact recipe. I always start w/ a basic recipe but make my own changes.
I let my dough double on top the stove then punched it down to get ready to put in my lightly greatsed pan. I used my springform pan to spread in 1/2 of my dough. I spread across the bottom and up the sides. I prebaked in oven at 450deg. for about 5 minutes. While this was rising and baking I cooked up my sausage. I also chopped up what veggies I had on hand. If you saw my earlier post you saw that my sauce was already done. :)
I mixed up my filling for the crust- mozzarella cheese, sausage, green peppers, onions, and sm. amt. of sauce. I put this in the center of the prebaked crust and spread it out. I placed the 2nd 1/2 of the unbaked across the top of the filling I sealed the edges and cut slits to allow the steam to escape. I topped w/ my homemeade sauce. It honestly looks amazing and cannot wait to bake for dinner.
I still have more sauce on hand and will premake some dinner for the rest of the weekend. Now if I get real inspired I could do some canning but not sure I have enough on hand. HHmmmm I may need to get some more. My family better love me tonight :)

locally grown pink plum tomatoes!

2011-08-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

I started craving this last night around 11:00 pm and if it was not so late I would have started it then. I had bought a bunch on pink plum tomatoes this past week from the coop and had waiting for the inspiration to get moving on them. I guess it hit late last night. I started googling ideas and what a mistake that was. I went to bed dying for a Chicago style stuffed crust pizza. I honestly debated staying up all night to make one. I would have if I had some yeast on hand and that is actually odd that I would be out- I am glad I am not a zombie today.

I started this morning w/ making a batch of tomato sauce with the plum tomatoes. The big advantage of using the pink plum tomatoes is that they have a thin skin so no need to peel all the tomatoes. I started with putting my tomatoes in the blender then added to my pan. I had some fresh basil and rosemary on hand from my own herb plants. I bought these in the Spring w/ the coop plant order. This has already paid for itself :)
I chopped up some onions, green peppers, sweet peppers,minced garlic , and shredded carrots. A few things you must know is I have picky eaters in my house. My husband will try most things as long ast there are no onions included. Have I mentioned he probably eats them daily with no clue :)
I have another daughter who loves pasta and pizza but would never touch a carrot or any other veggies. Guess what she is getting a small serving this evening!

Once my sauce had simmered down I added a small pinch of sugar. The sauce is really perfect and no additives in there.
I decided to make my little guy and I a little lunch before I started on my big dinner.
My little monkey is eating his "pizza"

Our local Farmers

2011-08-03T09:58:00.001-07:00

*new seedlings for the Fall
The different greenhouses!

*growing our heirloom produce!
I saw this picture of Farmer Mike as a little boy working on his grandpa's farm and thought it shows has far back farming goes in his family
*Farmer Mike working on one of his Missionary trips. I missed taking his picture so had to snap a picture of this on his wall. I promise he had on the exact same hat :)

I had an opportunity recently to meet one of our local farmers. What a neat experience it was to hear all about how our food is grown and the different types of heirlooms that they have in the works. Our heirloom tomatoes, specialty eggplants, sweet peppers, etc are all grown by this amazing couple. Mike our farmer has some great ideas that he has in the works for produce throughout the year. I learned all about the difficulty of growing produce in the heat of the Summer. It definitely gives me a new appreciation for how the food is grown. Some types of tomatoes are delicate to the heat while others soak up the heat. I learned that okra is one of the most difficult plants to harvest while others have to be harvested under specific weather conditions. Wow- so much to know and learn!!
I will most likely break this up into various post because Farmer Mike was a wealth of knowledge!

Here are a few pictures of where the items are grown in Southern Missouri

Eggplant

2011-07-25T07:12:00.001-07:00

Iif you had an assortment of these how would you cook them up???

I did a little cooking on Friday with these as kabobs and they were so good. I also made a little eggplant, tomato, and mozzarella stackers

I marinated my eggplant and other veggies in a red balsamic vinegar, Amish mustard, and rosemary. This gave the veggies a nice touch to them. I was short on time so did not marinate overnight like I usually would. The mustard was my favorite habanero from the coop-spicey but so good!! I also used my rosemary plant that I bought from the coop. I love having this on my deck with my other fresh herbs. I then put on the kabobs and grilled on my pit. This really made a great healthy lunch!! I also decided to use up some of my extra mozzarrella from my tomato sandwiches. I brushed my eggplant with olive oil and stuck on the grill. I used the white satin variety. I also grilled the tomato for a few minutes. I then placed on top of each other with slices of mozzarella on top. I finished with a quick broil in the oven.

Really a great light lunch or dinner!!

Papaya Challenge

2011-07-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

This week most of the groups will be getting papaya in their baskets. I would love to challenge everyone to be creative w/ their papayas. Share your recipes and pics with me. I am already looking for some great ideas on what I am going to do with them. I would love to see everyone try something a little out of the ordinary with their papaya!!

Tomato and mozzarella sandwiches

2011-07-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

My husband who is usually not a straight cut up tomato eater loves these at Panera. I kept telling myself I really need to go and order this so I can make them at home. I never got around to it so I did a little playing around on google to see what was on their sandwiches. I came across some different recipes and decided I could easily make my own version.
I had plenty of tomatoes from the coop and a huge bonus was the basil I bought this past Spring from the coop with the herb mix plants. I picked up fresh mozzarella, focacia bread, and some pine nuts. I made a quick basil pesto sauce with my basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. Really a huge hit!! I then sliced up my tomatoes and topped with some slices of mozzarrella cheese on the focacia bread. I spread some pesto on both pieces of bread. I then put in my panini grill for a few minutes. I served this to my Panera loving man and he said this was very similar to their sandwich. I also served a quick apple salad- chopped apples, lettuce, pecans, cheddar cheese and some apple vin. dressing.

Volunteering with the family

2011-07-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

As a family we are always trying to help the kids gain a better understanding of helping others. It is not always easy w/ 4 kids under 10. Many places do not want kids involved or the kids are far removed from the front lines of volunteering that they do not gain a true sense of who they are helping. After some looking around for a place for us to volunteer on a long term basis I came across Gateway 180. This is pretty much a homeless shelter for families but they are also working with them to get into a home as fast as possible. My family went down and took a tour of the shelter and the rooms. It was a hot day and with no air conditioning I kind of thought to myself BINGO my kids will truly get this. They are used to their air conditioned house and their own space in the house. A room of beds can be pretty shocking to 2 kids that complain about sharing a room. Overall when they do whine I kindly remind them of all the kids that live at the shelter with all the other families in 1 large room. Now there are other rooms w/ smaller spaces but I think the one room was a bit overwhelming to them and spoke volumes to appreciating your own space.
We have decided as a family that we would do the brown bagged lunches once a month. We sit down and prepare 65 lunches with each bag having 2 sandwiches, baggie of chips, baggie of cookies, and bottle of water. It is quite a task with the kids at times losing sight of the reason for doing this but overall it has been a great experience. I do think for them the best part is when we drop off the bagged lunches. Today as we walked in carrying 4 large boxes of lunches they had a sign hanging on the door -Sorry no bag lunches today- please check back later. This was only at 10:20 so my kids had a bit of a view that hunger does not start at noon. They watched the sign come off the door and the families that were in need stop in to pick up their lunches. It was a definite eye opener for them to see kids just like themselves walk in with their mom's picking up their lunch. We walked to the car and saw the families walk to the closest shade spot outside to enjoy their lunch. We also try to bring in fresh produce whenever I am able to do this. I loved seeing the excitement from the workers when I brought in a box of apples or a couple cases of strawberries. They told me this morning how they were enjoyed by all the families.
I am going to try to bring in salad next week since they said these things are hard to get for the families. The link to the place we volunteer at is http://www.gatewayhomeless.org/ I love that my kids are able to actually see how they are helping to make a difference. We are also going to try and do an activity night with some other families down there.

The big 10 Birthday!!

2011-06-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

My baby has now turned 10. He is now into the big 2 digits and as he reminded me he will be driving in 6 years. Its time to start lobbying to raise the driving age to 21 :) My baby cannot be driving in 6 yrs- So scary!! :)

I had to pull together a quick birthday party favors and at the age of 10 they are no longer into the little stuff. I decided at about midnight to make these cute cookies for my little sports fanatic!
I also did sports themed cupcakes. I did one bigger soccer ball with a bunch of cupcakes but no pics.

I am back I am back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-06-14T06:43:00.001-07:00

Over the past month I have been unable to log into my blog. Somehow when gmail merged my community helpings email it has my blog set up as a temp email address. Not sure how this happened since I always used the same email acct but all that matters is I can now log in :)
Be ready for some post catching up!

Carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

2011-05-15T18:39:00.001-07:00

Our weekend ended up being dreary so I figured we needed to all a little zest to it!! I had some carrots on hand and have been dying to make some carrot cake.
carrot cake cupcakes * I followed this recipe but changed the oil to 1 cup of applesauce. This was a pretty basic recipe but made a very moist cupcake.
For the frosting I made up a quick cream cheese frosting.
1- 8 oz cream cheese
-approx 3 -4 c. pwdr. sugar
- 1/4 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
*beat together and frost cupcakes.

I love to do fancy decorating but was not successful in fighting off the troops while I pulled together my cake decorating supplies. I ended up doing a fast frosting and a dusting of cinnamon or sprinkles.

My kids that actually like sweets loved these!!

Favorite breakfast condiment

2011-05-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

The maple butter spread from the Amish- Yum!!! No need to say any thing else beyond the picture.

Yum- Moussaka

2011-05-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

As a mom of 4 kids I rarely get out on a date night that includes a dinner. We do get out a couple times a month but when we are paying for a sitter we hate to go waste more money on an expensive dinner. My husband's philosophy is that I make such great meals at home why should we go waste money on an average meal. A couple weeks ago after having a spread of 3 weeks with very sick kids we decided we needed a night out. We must have been over the edge because we actually threw in a dinner out. We hit a great local Greek restaurant, Spiros, that is owned by a good friend. We have been there a few times for parties and appetizers but never for a sit down meal. I decided since we were going Greek that I really needed to enjoy a good Greek dish. The moussaka was awesome! I actually craved this all week and planned our whole next produce delivery around this dish. If you are questionable on eggplant I would strongly urge you to give it a try. I have to admit I have tried it many different ways but I really only have a few favorites. I love my eggplant parmesan recipe and the moussaka. I have tried a neighbor's version of eggplant parmesan and was not too crazy about it. Her sauce was too heavy. I encourage you to be creative and play around with your recipes. Don't try one recipe and decide right then you do not like eggplant. I rarely follow one recipe but may take an idea and run with it.

Moussaka recipe- *Confession I took very few pictures because I was not sure this was going to turn out with me using ground turkey and the other changes I made. It was a huge hit and now mad that I didn't document the whole recipe.

I started with the eggplant peeling and slicing it. I then salted it and placed in a colander with a plate over it to allow the moisture to drain. Let it sit about an hour this will also remove some of the bitterness. ( I am never bothered by the bitterness)

1 pound of creamer potatoes- boil until tender. I skipped the step of peeling since these are so tender. Don't' cook too long you want them to be able to slice and not be mushy. When done cooking cut in 1/2 then set aside.

Stir in a bowl 6 egg whites and a splash of water. You can add bread crumbs to a plate. I used instead of bread crumbs some crushed up crackers. I had run out of the bread crumbs and love to work with what I have on hand :) Rinse the eggplant and dry. Then start an egg wash - dip in the egg whites then coat in the bread crumbs or crackers. Place on cookie sheet with oven preheated to 400 degrees. I baked for about 20 minutes turning over after 10 min.

Meat filling: 1 pound of grnd beef or lamb- I used instead ground turkey-I am a recent convert and I love how less greasy this feels.
Cook up ground turkey until no longer pink. Add in chopped onion and cook to translucent. (now if you know my husband you know this would cause some major whining. I usually would chop fine and let him deal with it but this time I actually skipped the onions). Add in 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook for about a minute. Pour in about 1 cup of red wine. Let this reduce a bit. Then add in cinnamon, allspice, parsley-minced, 1 T. of tomato paste, about 1 c. of roasted tomatoes and a pinch of sugar. ** This called for crushed tomatoes but I love nothing more than roasting down fresh tomatoes. I stick these in the oven until roasted down then peel off the skin. Then I will crush it down a bit. I love the light sauce this makes. I will do this for most recipes that I make that calls for canned tomatoes.
Cook down the sauce to create more of a chunky meat filling rather than a runny sauce. I follow this base for most of the red sauce recipes I make.

Bechamel sauce- I think people hear making a sauce from scratch but it is really not that hard. I will over the next week try to do a few post on the basic sauces. Start with 1 cup of better and melt in a saucepan. Then add 1 cup of flour to make a roux. This is a base for many sauces. This is really one of my favorites. Cook this down until you create a nice golden yellow color and nutty flavor. Slowly stir in 4 cups of warm milk with a whisk. Simmer over low heat to allow to thicken. Do not let this burn. A small amt of burning will ruin a sauce. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the 6 beaten egg yolks. Place back on low heat and continue stirring until sauce thickens. ** be careful to whisk in egg yolks to avoid scrambled eggs in the bechamel sauce.

Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Place potatoes around the bottom of the pan leaving about 1/4 inch away from the sides. Top with a layer of eggplant slices then add 1/2 of the meat sauce. Sprinkle over 1/4 c of parmesan cheese. Then top with the other 1/2 of the eggplant slices and then the rest of the meat sauce. Sprinkle again w/ the remaining parmesan cheese. Pour the bechamel sauce over the top and allow to go around the edges. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. This will make a nice golden color to the bechamel sauce. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before serving.

*This makes a great leftover dish. Enjoy!!!

crepes for breakfast!

2011-05-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

banana filled crepes for breakfast so good!! The only problem is my kids devour these and I spend time making one right after another. Yum!!! I need to post a recipe a little later. Sorry no pictures today because they ate these faster than I could get the camera out!!

Illinois share with me your pictures of your produce basket cooking!

2011-05-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

I want to see what you are making with your baskets! Email me pics that I can post on the blog. Lets see the amazing things you are making!! I will post a hodge podge of all the Illinois pics I get.

Thanks and looking forward to seeing you great cooks in action.

tracy@communityhelpingscoop.com

The veggies in the basket!!

2011-05-04T20:59:00.001-07:00

What can you do with them?? Make a plan so nothing goes to waste. To be honest if I had to make any cuts in my budget this would be the one thing that I could not do with out. My family could ditch the chips, juices, prepackaged foods, etc. At least with the produce basket I know I am still feeding my family a healthy well balanced diet.
Here are some ideas on what I am making with my veggies.
-eggplant- moussaka, eggplant parmesan, grilled eggplant, red sauce,
-zucchini- grilled in foil on bbq pit, shredded zucchini sauteed, stir fry, zucchini bread, sauteed veggies
-fancy pickling cucumbers- make pickles, salt and cover in vinegar, salad- sliced,
-tomatoes- vine ripe- tomato mozzarella sandwich, roasted for a sauce, sliced for panini sandwiches, chopped on salad, eaten whole- I am not into eating my tomatoes this way but I guess you could
- yellow onions- sliced and grilled, onion rings, on a panini sandwich, chopped in sauces, french onion soup
-baby carrots- in stir fry, eaten raw in lunches, steamed, thrown in foil on grill,
- sweet potatoes- baked, sweet potato pie, sweet potato pancakes w/ maple sauce, sweet potato fries sprinkled with taco seasoning, sweet potato casserole, soup
-romaine hearts- salads, grilled lettuce, braised hearts of romaine,
-baby portabello mushrooms- stuffed mushrooms, kabobs, sauteed- topped on sandwiches, over pasta, mixed w/ red sauce, salad,
-broccoli- pasta con broccoli, steamed plain or with cheese, pasta salad, omelette, stir fry, grill w/ garlic

* I hope this gives you a good start!!

Ideas for this weeks basket- Starting with the fruit!

2011-05-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

I know we can always sit around and snack on our fresh produce but there are always so many other things you can do with your fresh produce. I like to plan out my basket so I use it wisely. I thought it would be fun to post all the great ideas on how to use up the basket :)

-apples- yes- snacking on these at my house are the favorite!! other ideas: apple sauce, apple juice in juicer, fruit chutney sauce, apple pie, apple sauce over crepes, baked apples, the list could go on!!
- pears - snacking!- pear sauce (just like apple sauce), poached pears, juiced, steam, baked pears, pear salad, almond pear pancakes, fruit kabobs, pear coffee cake
-limes- fruit chutney, marinade over chicken or fish, drinks, squeezed in water, lime dressings, ceviche, key lime pie, etc
- strawberries- Eat!! over whip cream strawberry lemonade, chopped in steel cut oats, strawberry smoothies, fruit kabobs, strawberry sauce over pancakes, strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, strawberry salad
-Athena melons- fruit salad, juiced, snacking, fresh mint and cilantro salad, grilled swordfish w/ melon salsa
-oranges- cut up for snack,, juiced, marinade, fruit chutney, orange muffins, orange sorbet, orange chicken
-tangelos- tangelo creme brulee, tangelo marmalade, tangelo pork stir fry, tangerine pudding
of course cut up as snacks are great!!
--bananas- banana foster, snack, banana smoothie w/ strawberries, banana pudding, banana sauce for crepes, chocolate covered bananas, frozen bananas, banana split, the list goes on and on!!!
* The favorites for all the fruit at my house are for the lunch boxes and snacks. My kids love having pieces of fruit for the afternoon snack in their classroom. The fresh fruit is healthy and we don't have to worry about food allergies.

Produce Day!!

2011-05-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Now this is what I call a produce basket!!! I love the great mix of fruit and veggies in our basket this week. This is a great deal for my family of 6.
Fruit-
-7 fuji apples
-4 Di anjou pears
-4 limes
-1 athena melon
-1 pound of strawberries- woohoo!!!
-5 navel oranges- nice sized
-3 tangelo minneolas
-1 bunch of bananas- approx 6-7 ( I think a little monkey might have ate some)

veggies-
-bag of 3 romaine hearts- that is over 1 # 2 oz of good eating!!
-3 jumbo size yellow onions
-7 fancy pickling cucumbers
-3 large vine ripe tomatoes
-1 large bunch broccoli
- 3 eggplant- This is screaming moussaka to me!!!
-1 # baby carrots
-1 pound baby bella mushrooms
-2 zucchini
-2 super extra big jumbo sweet potatoes

**extras I ordered: Creamer potatoes- Yum!!!!!!!! If you have not tried these yet you are missing out big time!! These are so tender.
-jalapenoes- 1 pound- can you say Cinco de mayo???
- I also bought the corn nuts- I don't like corn nuts but these are really good and fresh!! I am won over on them
- The 2# multi pretzel mix- yum!! My crew may have devoured this already :(
-Raspberry key lime jelly- see post below, maple butter- yum!!, and F.R.O.G. jam
- Onion ring batter- Whistle Stop Cafe- dying to make these :)

Check out the pictures of the great haul from today.

Amish jams

2011-05-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

I love to try out some of the different Amish fruit butters and jams. I had to try out the new F.R.O.G and the raspberry key lime jam.
I have to admit I was a little scared of the FROG due to the figs. I was surprised that it was really good. It had a smidge of a ginger taste to it and really good!!!!

The raspberry key lime was mainly a raspberry with a subtle taste of key lime. Another great choice. I am looking forward to biscuits and jam for breakfast tomorrow!!

*the Mrs Millers Maple Butter spread has always been a favorite that you must try!!! Really good and a favorite at my house.

Let me know if I need to give you some other reviews of different jams. I love forcing myself to try new ones out.
*The 3 above were really good and definitely need to try it.

What do kids crave when they are sick?

2011-05-01T06:36:00.001-07:00

I had a house full of sick kids last week. I thought it was so funny that they craved these. I do love how firm these are and not mushy!! They could have eaten 3 jars of these while laying around over the week.

Strawberry Dessert

2011-04-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

I stocked up on fresh strawberries this week with the great strawberry deal!!! A favorite of mine is to make this strawberry cookie cake. It is so easy and always a crowd favorite. I am actually a little embarrassed to tell people how easy this recipe is.

Start with a roll of chocolate chip cookie dough. I didn't have this on hand so I pulled out the tub of cookie dough I had ordered from the neighbor girl. I spread this in the bottom of a pie pan- I usually use my much nicer ceramic pie pan but for some reason I could not find it so adjusted w/ the ugly pie pan :) I baked in the oven at 350. I bake until lightly set in middle. I do like to undercook the dough a bit. Pull out of oven and allow to cool. Keep in mind this will cook a little longer when you remove from the oven.

While this is cooling have your fat free cream cheese ready to mix. I try to get this to room temperature and mix until creamy with a fork. I add 1/3 c. sugar and 1 T. vanilla to the cream cheese. Mix until creamy and smooth. Set aside until the cookie is cool. Once cooled spread across the top of the cookie dough.

Clean strawberries and cut off the top of the strawberries. I try to use strawberries of similar size so this looks nice. I place across the top of the cream cheese in rows. The strawberries I used this time are bigger than usual so I used a few less. I usually do 5-6 across then decrease w/ a nice pattern to fill up the top of the cookie.
Once done I melt 1-2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips. Do this on low in microwave or in double boiler. I cute the corner of a ziplock bag and drizzle across the rows of strawberries.

*I have been a little secluded at home with sick kids so I am limited to working with what I have on hand. In other words I had to steal chocolate from my kids Easter basket! :) I always have a stash of semisweet chocolate chips on hand but last time I cleaned out my pantry I ditched all the 1/2 bags and figured I would pick up some new bags. Lets just say I forgot because I always have these on hand! I found the hershey bars did not work as good as the chocolate chips but it still worked. I love the look the chocolate chips give drizzled across the strawberries.

Cut in pie shapes and serve. We loved this last night after a long day with sick kids. We had some coffee and cake!! A great way to relax after a long day.

breakfast- Steel cut oats

2011-04-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

I threw together a quick pot of steel cut oats to wake up to for breakfast- yum!!
I will throw in the morning some fresh blueberries and strawberries.
If I get really motivated tomorrow I will try to make my favorite strawberry pie out of the chocolate chip cookie dough!! This is so easy for Summer gatherings.

Easter Brunch part 4 -Turkey burger sliders

2011-04-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

This was a bit of a compromise. I was at first told to bring some breakfast meats which then turned into bring some biscuits&Gravy. My brother in law called to say he had no willpower and there was no way that stuff was coming into his house. We went back and forth to settle on trying turkey burger sliders. At my house when it calls for ground beef we have started using ground turkey. We really like how light the ground turkey is and leaves you feeling so much better when you leave the table.
I decided this morning to go w/ a bit of a southwestern kick to my sliders. I chopped up some onions, red peppers, yellow peppers and jalapenos. I also threw in a bit of chopped fresh cilantro along with fajita seasoning. I wanted something else to give a little kick so started to explore my refrigerator- yes when I am on a random search that can get scary w/ what could end up in the food. I am pretty open minded so it does get a little scary. I was bored with the items in the refrigerator so started going through the pantry. I came across my last jar of peach salsa that I had canned last September. This was back when we had all those peaches deals. I have held on to this jar and hated to open it but it seemed like the best reason to use it. I poured in about 1/2 the small jar into the turkey burgers. I mixed it together and started forming my small patties. I brought these along to the brunch uncooked so they could grill them up right at the bar. We topped with some shredded cheese and served on dollar rolls/English muffins. These were really a hit and a surprise favorite. I love when a fun hodge podge of stuff turns out to be a hit.

Easter Brunch part 3 lunch continued!

2011-04-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

The salmon is another favorite on the grill. A couple of the adults were saying oh I am not sure if I like salmon and before the salmon hit the table they were singing the praises. It was so good!!

Easter brunch part 2

2011-04-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Prepping the grill
*Yes, a hibachi grill in the basement- so awesome!!

Cooking up some shrimp and peppers

The final product!!! So good and amazing taste.

My favorite part of the meal!!

Easter Brunch!!

2011-04-24T19:50:00.001-07:00

Fruit salad!! served w/ cantaloupe and kiwi- yum!! The Peaches were a hit with everyone. I wish I had ordered a jar for everyone as a little gift. They would have loved this.*Gasp - yes, we had some donuts. Every Easter as kids my grandparents served donuts from the Donut Stop in Lemay. These were the highlight of our Easter. My grandparents are no longer around and no one took the time to drive and get them. We had to make do w/ grocery store donuts. **My poor grandparents are probably disappointed we let them down.

I have to admit I was a little bummed this Easter because there is nothing I love more than spending time w/ my family. Unfortunately I had 3 kids down with different illnesses and of course the one that was healthy was great at rubbing it in. My healthy little side kick and I headed over to my sister's house to enjoy a wonderful Easter brunch. Wow is it quiet when my whole crew is not there. I missed them but they were so miserable that I don't think they really cared.
We started w/ a great breakfast mix of egg casserole, fruit salad, potato casseroles, donuts, English muffins and I am sure some other stuff. Like a good wife I ran home some of the leftovers to my husband since he was busy holding the fort down.
Then we brought out the spread for lunch!!! My favorite and what my husband missed the most- Salmon, shrimp, turkey burger sliders, ham, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, salad, sauteed spinach, and so much more. I always have to drag my camera out and since I was down to only 1 child for the day my camera was not getting its usual workout. I made up for it w/ food pics.

s

*small portion of the spread. The seafood and burgers need their own posting.

I know I am behind....

2011-04-21T21:03:00.001-07:00

I feel like it's the same old story. Sick kids, sick kids, and did I mention sick kids??
I promise this weekend I will be sharing some good food!!
Think a steak and potato soup - Yum!!!
Spring mix lettuce!!!
Fresh corn on the grill
So many great things and sadly so little time!

BBQ weather!!

2011-04-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to get my veggies all ready for grilling last night. I had my husband picking up some steaks and chicken for the grill. I boiled my creamer potatoes and getting ready to complete my new favorite type of potato (did I mention we are now hooked on creamer potatoes)
I had my zucchini and yellow squash all prepped for the grill. I also had corn ready to go and I was so excited! I started to get the grill ready for a nice relaxing night when my husband showed up w/ the huge steaks. He looked out at the bbq pit and noticed we had a nice fire going on underneath the pit- YIKES!! not good. We put out the fire and tried to light it again to only see the same thing happen again. We turned it off finished some of the veggies and served alongside turkey sandwiches. My husband suggested I fry the steaks???? Yuck!! I ran to Lowes this morning to get us a new BBQ pit. I cannot wait to get it ready to go so I can get the steaks grilled tonight along w/ my squash. Did I mention I love Summer grilling and love nothing more than fresh veggies on the grill. I see shrimp fajitas tomorrow night!!

Frozen fruit!!

2011-04-07T04:58:00.000-07:00

What a great way to kick off a busy morning!! When I get a great deal on fruit I will buy what I can and freeze it or can it. This past week I used my can peaches to make peach crisp. I also pulled out some of my peaches and strawberries out of the freezer to mix up some great smoothies. I have a ton of these frozen and really did not cost me much. These peaches were from last August or September when we were able to take huge advantage of the big peach special. I am on my last jar of peach salsa so a little bummed on that. I am dying for the tomatoes to get in full swing so I can can some salsa. The jalapeno 1# bags are a great deal so I could make a ton for a good deal.

Spring mix!

2011-03-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with salads. I will eat them everyday for a week but then I get burned out and take a couple weeks off of them. I keep reminding myself to switch it up! Last week I split a case of the spring mix and it was really good. I rarely get bored w/ spinach and I kind of lump the spring mix w/ the spinach. They are both good and something a little different.
I also made a salad to go with the potato salad for the luncheon. I decided a good salad can go a long way but did want to do a bit of a twist on it instead of serving up the same ole salad.
I started w/ the spring mix, threw in chopped strawberries, mandarin oranges, toasted pecans, red onions, gargonzola cheese and some croutons. I decided to go w/ 2 dressings- the first one is a favorite at my house the Jake & Amos Bacon dressing- This one cannot be beat! I also decided to do a twist of a raspberry dressing- I started w/ a container of raspberries and put it in the blender. I added in a basic italian dressing. I was at first a little worried about it being too sweet but really I ended up adding additional sugar because the italian was not sweet enough. It actually turned out pretty good once I did a little doctoring up to it. I would probably make my own vinaigrette dressing next time but I was thinking I would save myself a few minutes by going this route. Instead I probably spent the few minutes and more fixing it up to what I really wanted.

I sadly do not have pictures of this but let me say it turned out really pretty and it was very good!!

Potato salad for a whole lot of people!!

2011-03-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

*Notice the pictures stop here :( I got too busy but look at the pics in the link below. It was really good!!

I am a bit out of practice cooking for large groups but I really love doing it. It gives me a bit of my old world back and lets me get a little creative. I was asked to help prep a few side dishes for a Cardinals game cook off for about 95 people.
I have to admit I dragged my feet in figuring out what I wanted to make. I work best under pressure and that means deciding Wednesday what I will make for 90 people to eat the next day. I would not suggest this because things like this drive my husband insane. He is a planner and would have had all the ingredients purchased, the recipe outlined, and everything color coded by Saturday but that is not how I work. I would have served up a basic something and called it quits if I planned too early.

I decided on going w/ a type of potato salad but I do have to say I am really not a potato salad type of girl. I knew this would go best for cooking for a large crowd plus it would not be too expensive. I found a Mexican style potato salad that looked kind of interesting. It had red peppers, avocadoes, jalapenoes, spicy mustard, cilantro, etc. In other words all the good stuff!! Now this is my kind of potato salad! I went with this and let me say it was really good. I was actually craving the potato salad after I dropped it off. I can count on one hand how many times I have eaten potato salad in the past but this was good enough to win me over. I did not create the recipe so will post the link to it. It was really good and definitely worth trying out! I did tweak it and make it my own version since I hate following recipes. I make my husband crazy on this since he is the guy that reads the recipe for making mac n cheese. I am always telling him nobody reads that stuff. Everyone in the world wings it. :)
Mexican potato salad

Gumbo!

2011-03-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

I love to cook but have to admit I have never really made gumbo. I live w/ a pretty basic crew. I do force them out of their mac and cheese world each day but it is work. I decided this week I wanted to try out a shrimp gumbo. I figured if the kids dissected the meal they would find something they liked in it. My husband challenged me a bit on this saying I will eat it but are you kidding what about the kids??? 7 yr old loves shrimp- 9 yr old loves rice - 5 yr old well she is a lost cause but would crab if I made mac n cheese - 2 yr old we are not counting him since he listens too much to his 5 yr old sister. Now I do have to give my 2 yr old credit that he ate parts of the dinner and I was able to stifle the whines of my 5 yr. old long enough to get him to eat. I don't talk much about my kids on here but I have to admit I have the worlds cutest, pickiest, whiniest 5 yr old ever!! Feeding her is always a challenge but I refuse to plan meals around her :)

On to my shrimp gumbo it was really good and I actually loved it. I do think I would like to try something a little more spicy but once again the family would not eat it if it was too crazy.

I guess I have been a little spoiled in that I never buy frozen or canned veggies anymore. I had to resort to buying frozen okra since this was not available in 3 grocery stores. I guess I will have to make sure I order this from the coop the next time around!

I served this w/ the steamed rice and I am honestly hooked. I will have to look for some more cajun recipes to cook. I also had my first run at cooking w/ greens. They were pretty good. My husband was a little nervous but tried it out. I like spicy but once again my family is picky. I'm thinking mustard greens were not the best pick for first timers :)

I highly recommend trying this out!
I need to find the recipe I used but I do think I like the one I was given for the gumbo pack next week better. I will get that one posted when I get a few miutes

Cajun food!! New specialty pack for Gumbo

2011-03-30T00:29:00.001-07:00

I am excited but apologize that I do not have the Cajun-Gumbo pack up yet on the website. We will not have the exact information until tomorrow night. When I post it I want to have all the details. I have someone getting me a favorite recipe on it. I am looking forward to trying some Cajun food!! I may even have to get me a preview of the recipe early so I can make this tomorrow :)

Having a little fun today

2011-03-29T14:27:00.001-07:00

No the cake pop is not supposed to have sprinkles in the cake but some little boy got overly excited about mixing in sprinkles and could not wait.

I had someone ask me about cake pops. I had never made them before but I love to cake decorate and bake so these are right up my alley :) I will get fancier next time!

I feel like If you give a mouse a cookie.... My version goes more like if You make Mac a cake pop he will come back for more and more...... I swear every time I turn my back that boy is stealing another one.

Lazy day!

2011-03-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

We took a bit of a break from cooking and ordered pizza. I did throw together a quick salad- spring mix- (love having this on hand), strawberries, cheese, and bacon dressing.
Great addition to my unhealthy pizza!!

Tonight I have promised the crew cake pops for tomorrow. I guess that means I need to hit the store for a few ingredients. I guess I will accomplish this sometime during my busy evening. Look for pics tomorrow.

Yummy breakfast!

2011-03-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

I love fresh fruit for breakfast but can't get much better on top of pancakes. I skipped putting syrup on our pancakes this morning and opted to make a strawberry fruit syrup. I chopped up some strawberries and cooked down in a small amt. of water. I added in a bit of splenda for some extra sweetness. I thickened it a small amt by taking about 1 T. of flour that I stirred a small amount of the strawberry water into to avoid lumps. I then put this back into the pan and allowed it to cook down a bit. I topped this on top of pancakes.

Dinner!

2011-03-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well this is moments before I broke the plate over my daughter's head :(
I thought about taking a picture of it all over the ground but w/ the screams I thought it was best to check out my poor 5 yr. old.
I put the plate together and took a quick pic. I turned around and the face of my poor daughter happened to be right in the way of the plate Thankfully she was not hurt but ended up with a bruise courtesy of the plate and a cut on the foot. The food ended up all over the floor and was thrown in the trash along w/ the broken plate.

We had plenty of extras and it did turn out to be an awesome dinner in place of our usual fish fry!!
The potatoes were incredible. My husband said they were probably the best potatoes he has ever had. I boiled the creamer potatoes to tender. Then chopped up some parsley and minced some fresh garlic. I sprinkled this over the potatoes in a baking pan. I love the spray butter and sprayed this over the garlic, parsley and potatoes. Then baked in the oven for a short time. Awesome dinner and will definitely try these out again.

Skipping the fish fry!

2011-03-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to a great dinner tonight. We are having lemon parsley baked fish. In our baskets this week we had lemons and parsley. I had a couple people ask what in the world will I do w/ parsley. I could have named off 100 things but kept it simple and stuck with a few quick ones- parsley potatoes, and lemon and parsley over fish. Of course I can't help myself and must use up those cute creamer potatoes. I am going to make parsley potatoes w/ them. If you have not seen this they are so tiny and cute :)

You can't go wrong and really a healthy dinner! I am topping it off with a nice salad. I bought an extra case of baby spring mix that I love having on hand for salads.

The night is going to end with a family game night. Does life really get better than this?

Looking forward to a great end of the week!

Maple Syrup

2011-03-14T15:18:00.001-07:00

maple candy poured onto the snow.
maple syrup cooked down to be molded into a brick. This made it so much easier to carry on the long travels in the early days. This had a touch of brown sugar taste.
maple syrup ready for the bottle- yum!!
How they used to cook down the maple sap.
30-50 gallons of maple sap makes 1 gallon of maple syrup. Maple sap taste like water w/ a touch of sweetness. The sugar content of the sap is 2.5%.
Tapping the maple trees. You can see all the buckets throughout the woods.
The trees are tapped when it is below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.

I started buying pure maple syrup through the coop and never fully appreciated the amt of work that went into creating the syrup.
I had the pleasure of visiting Rockwood Reservation for their maple syrup demonstration. I had thought it was a little crazy to do an outdoor field trip with snow on the ground. This really ended up being an amazing learning experience for all of us. Enjoy the pictures and I will to add in some info that I learned that day.
I hope you get a chance to get a bit of a better understanding of the maple syrup production and enjoy the pics :)

wow- Miss Chatty Patty!

2011-03-13T07:14:00.001-07:00

I am making up for some lost time!!
I was thinking about my kid's love for crepes. If you have looked at my blog in the past you would see that I love to make crepes for breakfast, dinner, and dessert.
I was talking to one of the ladies in my coop group and she was saying her family loves crepes but she hates to take the time to make them. She has started buying the packaged crepes through the coop. They like to bring these camping w/ them for a quick breakfast. I thought that was a good idea. What are your favorite ways to serve up your crepes? If you have not done manicotti in them you need to try them. They are so light and yummy!!!

Now for me when I am camping I am all for cooking up a storm :) There is nothing like being outdoors that makes me want to serve up a pot of chili and other great meals.

Recipe ideas!

2011-03-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I have come to the realization that my love for cooking big meals have really conflicted w/ the life of raising 4 busy kids under the age of 9. I love to get my produce basket and decide what I can make with everything inside the basket. Dinners are my favorite part of the day - Well wait a minute I really do love making a big breakfast, but no one likes to hear no I don't want pancakes with blueberries I want crepes. Another one cries oh no not crepes breakfast must be french toast w/ a fruit syrup on top. Another one cries for waffles and I guess you get the idea my grand ideas have little minds of their own :) AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Now I do love a good breakfast but really have become addicted to waking up to a pot of steel cut oats. Nothing better than sitting there sipping away my cup of k-cup coffee and eating a bowl of steel cut oats. All the time dreaming that the kids will sleep for a couple more hours (it never happens but a girl can dream)

Now back to my produce basket I love to plan out my meals and be creative. A pot of soup is always a favorite! What is better than warming up with an overflowing bowl of fresh soup served along side some fresh bread? Nothing in my mind!!

Now the whole reason for this rambling post is that I need to get back to making some great meals and ignore my little voices behind me. I usually try to serve up something new alongside with another item that I know they will love. I use the theory that if they are presented with it enough times they will eventually start getting used to it. It is no longer something new!

Now as I write this I am thinking I might like to make black bean and sweet potato quesadillas this week. What do you think the crew will think about this one? :)

Haitian Black Beans an Rice

2011-03-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

Trying to catch up!
I tried out the Haitian Black beans and rice a couple weeks ago. I guess life has gotten ahead of me or maybe it is just a few too many kids getting in the way :) I don't see me getting rid of a few kids so we will blame it on life!
I threw together a dinner of marinated chicken breast baked in the oven served with homemade apple sauce and the Haitian black beans and rice.
This was another good side dish. We all enjoyed the rice and liked the combination of the black beans with the rice. I was worried this would be too spicy for my crew but definitely not a problem. The combination of flavorings was another subtle blend.
Another 2 thumbs up!!

couscous with cranberries

2011-03-12T17:40:00.000-08:00

I have to give a big thumbs up to the couscous w/ cranberries from the coop. I had thrown together a quick dinner in the crock pot last week and needed another side dish. I pulled out the bag of couscous that I had ordered through the coop and thought it was a good chance to try it out.
It was extremely easy. Boil the water then pour over the package of couscous to allow it to steam in the bowl. That's it!!

I could not believe it was that easy. It was so easy that I forgot to take pictures :( I did like the combination w/ the cranberries since it was a subtle touch to it.
Definitely worth trying out.

Still here!!

2011-03-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

I have tons of things to post but it seems like never enough time in my days!! It seems life has gotten in the way of my cooking :(

Favorite foods lately:
-steel cut oats!!! We are addicted to these in the crockpot every morning. I throw in some strawberries, bumbleberry jam, local honey, or any other stuff I have on hand. Love them and have now created a monster w/ my husband on this.
- Juice- I still love whipping up a quick glass of fresh juice- carrots, apples, oranges and anything else I have on hand.
-loved the couscous w/ cranberries!!! I had not had this in a long time and I don't know if it was always this easy to make or if it was new but yum!!!!! These are the packs from the coop- really good!!
-Cutting up fresh fruit to have on hand- The great deals on strawberries have been wonderful!! I freeze anything extra.
-buffalo wild wing wrap- shred up cabbage, cook chicken, low fat cheddar cheese, buffalo wing sauce all wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla- Yum!!!

*Oh and have you seen the cost of produce in the stores lately?? Can I say crazy!!! Romaine lettuce was 2.99 a pound. I remember paying 1.99 for 1 head. I weighed one really small head and it was 1 1/2 pounds. To serve up a good salad for the family I would have needed 2 or 1 really big one. Wow!! I have been reading about all the cost of the produce going up and this being passed on to the consumers in the stores. This makes me appreciate the produce coop more than ever!!!
Enjoy your rainy day!

whole wheat calzones

2011-02-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Another great dinner night at our house was making whole wheat calzones. I used a recipe for the crust from the weight watchers cook book. I filled with some ground turkey meatballs and other veggies. I roasted down some tomatoes along w/ peppers, mushrooms, onions, and any other veggies I had on hand. I added fat free mozzarella cheese and skim ricotta cheese.

quick dinner!

2011-02-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

I spent the day laid up with a sick kiddo so I decided for dinner I wanted something quick and easy. Veggie-Spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions egg sandwich. Yum!!! REally good and filling!
I piled on the onions since I was only cooking for myself :)

Here is a quick pic of my egg sandwich and now back to lounging w/ my little guy. Nothing like a good excuse to lounge for a day! I know this is not the prettiest picture but a great meal that I could prepare in seconds. Plus did I mention my egg sandwich was egg whites :) and they were from the co-op!

Check out the Let's Eat Section of the Post

2011-02-02T12:24:00.001-08:00

The co-op sure has grown over the years! I feel so fortunate to be involved with so many great people!!
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/article_51964c92-728d-50eb-976c-9e69aee15bbd.html?mode=comments

Here is the article if you have not seen it :)

It's February!!

2011-02-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

Lets try something new- Post me a favorite recipe for something that starts with F (F-February) :)
ex. Fennel
I would love to learn some new recipes especially if we are stuck inside due to the cold and snow.
This is a great time to cook!!!

Dessert crepes with pears and honey

2011-01-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

The great deal on pears this week has left me well stocked on pears. I decided to fill my crepes with a pear sauce made by steaming down the pealed pears. As they became tender I chopped these up a bit to give a chunky consistency w/ a small amt of smoothness. I added in a bit of splenda instead of sugar to give the pears a subtle sweetness. This helped to create a bit of a pear syrup. Instead of topping with a favorite chocolate sauce I decided to go with a lighter feel of drizzling some of the local honey over the top of the crepes. I would also suggest trying to top w/ a light vanilla cream sauce.

*I did add a little splenda to my crepe batter to give them a little sweetness.

These were really good and I enjoyed a little different filling for the crepes. I usually lean towards a berry flavored filling.
You can also fill with one of the Amish fruit butters if you are limited on time.

spinach manicotti in crepes

2011-01-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

If you have ever had a chance to really get to know me you will most likely realize I love crepes!! My mom used to make these for us as kids and I remember mastering these in middle school to make for my family. My younger brother would always beg me to make up some crepes. My favorite part of being a culinary arts teacher in a high school was making crepes. There was always a bit of an art to them then the joy of filling then w/ anything you can dream of. As kids we loved to slather these up w/ butter and tons of syrup. I am sure my mom had to be overjoyed the day I learned to make these on my own. I cannot even imagine making them for 8 kids as fast as we could eat them.

With us now having crepes available through the coop I had to pull out an old favorite of mine :) I whipped up a batch of crepes and did I mention I rarely follow recipes. For ones that I use for a main dish I use- milk, eggs (I used egg whites), and flour. Mix to a smooth batter and you are ready to roll. I used my spray butter and let me say the most important part of making crepes is having a good seasoned pan. Once you burn or ruin a crepe its hard to get your pan back to the condition you need it to have a successful batch of crepes. For me it's all about the pan!!!
I preheat my pan on low and then pour in a large amt of crepe batter . If pan is heated thoroughly I will then pour back out the batter and this will leave in the pan a thin layer of crepe batter. This will cook lightly and I will then flip. It only cooks less than a minute on the back side then ready for another one. I must have cooked about 25 of these this evening and they devoured them as fast as I left them unattended.

I then started steaming down my spinach in a sauce pan. I remember as a kid being served this by my grandmother and let me say her serving of this yucky smelling stuff left me warped for life. I remember this and trust me it took me years to really learn to love spinach. I now love spinach but still cringe at the smell of steamed spinach. :) I steamed it down then drained off the liquid really good. Too much water in the spinach will make your filling runny! I added in about 1 cup of skim ricotta cheese and also used 1 cup of greek yogurt. This helped to keep it a good light recipe. I stirred in the chopped spinach along w/ fat free mozzarella cheese and about 1/4 c of parmesan cheese. I added some basic seasonings and stirred. I started filling the crepes w/ the spinach mixture by added 2 spoonfuls to the center of the crepe. I rolled the crepe and put the seam side down in the pan. I continued doing this until all the cheese and spinach mixture was gone. I topped with a homemade red sauce. I roasted down 5-6 tomatoes along w/ some onions, mushrooms, garlic, and zucchini. After it roasted down I added this to the blender after it has cooled down a bit. Be careful about blending a hot mixture. I continued cooking my sauce in a sauce pan and continued flavoring w/ seasonings. Once finished I spooned on top of the spinach crepes. I then topped the sauce with more mozzarella cheese. I baked in the oven for about 20 minutes.
This was a great light dinner that really left you full but not with that heavy feeling after eating a huge pasta meal.

You can make your own crepes or skip that step and buy premade crepes. This part really cuts down on the prep time.

Prepped for the week!

2011-01-30T05:43:00.000-08:00

One thing I do like to do after getting my produce basket is cutting up and prepping my produce items. I find if I don't have available for my family to grab as a quick snack then it gets forgotten about. This week I cut up the pineapple, honeydew, pears, navel oranges, and a few apples for the kids after school snacks. I could also pull this out for a quick nutritious breakfast! The main thing is I want my kids to have quick access to healthy snacks. Now I would be lying if I said we did not keep cookies in the house but many times they would prefer this over the sweet treats. This also makes it easy if you like to juice or make smoothies. Your fruit is already cut up and ready to be popped into your blender. You can also freeze some items and add these to water or ice tea as a great flavoring.

Remember the main idea is to eat healthy while saving money!! If you are not using your produce then you end up wasting it- Make a menu once you get your basket and plan out how you will use your items.

**Be looking for spinach manicotti this evening for dinner!!! We received spinach this week along with lots of tomatoes and other great items to help make this an easy meal. I will also make a pot of vegetable soup for tomorrow night that I can reheat with little work!

**I will also try to do some cooking with pears today. I know we have all been trying to take advantage of the great pears deal!!!

local honey!!

2011-01-24T06:05:00.000-08:00

Another snow day so nothing like starting it off with some local honey! Yum, I think I won over the whole house with this honey. I have bought the flavored honey bears and these have been another favorite. Great taste and even better that it's local. Local honey is supposed to help with allergies.
We can definitely use some help in this area with my little guy having problems with seasonal allergies and honey.

Sweet potatoes!

2011-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

***ALERT ALERT ALERT! THIS ISN'T TRACY IT IS JILL, JUST TRYING TO SHARE SOME OF MY GREAT IDEAS! AND... I DON'T KNOW HOW TO START MY OWN BLOG, SO NORMALLY I JUST WAIT UNTIL TRACY IS GONE AND THEN I AM FREE TO HAVE FUN ON HER BLOG!!!****

Anyway... I always try to use everything in my produce basket, and normally I do. That is unless I get something that I don't really like! So, I usually try to google some recipe that sounds good, or I make up my own recipe. Normally, if I don't like something it is because I have never had it before and I have no clue what to do with it. However, the one thing that I have had many times (not my choice, but because as a child my parents would make me try them) YUCK! I never have liked them, as an adult I have tried cooking them a gazillion different ways... still YUCK! Until last night I layed in bed thinking of some way that I might like sweet potatoes. I came up with what I think is a fantrabulous idea (a word that my nephew always uses, I asked him what does that mean so he told me it means that something is better than fantastic). My fantrabulous idea, are you wondering??? well, I thought why don't I try to make a sauce out of the sweet potatoes? almost like a pasta sauce! However, instead of putting it over pasta I am going to put it over spaghetti squash! The reason spaghetti squash is because I am doing this thing called.... WEIGHT WATCHERS! Most fruits and veggies are 0 points! o points, can you believe? so, while I like regular or whole wheat pasta I like spaghetti squash just as much!

STEP 1:

gather all of my ingredients!

1 used 5 medium sweet potatoes

1- large garlic

1/4 cup- white wine

1/4 cup- water

1 T. - sea salt

2 T. - ground curry

2T- Italian seasoning

STEP 2:

peel sweet potatoes & dice them up

STEP 3:

dice up the onion

STEP 4:

roast the garlic, I like things to be easy for me. So, I cut off the top if the bulb of garlic, drizzled oil oil over the top, and put it in the microwave for 1 minute, and then just pushed the garlic outta the peel, and dice up the roasted garlic.

STEP 5:

Oh my, almost forgot to mention this part! Remember I like everything to be easy & not too much work for me. I have recently discovered these handy little things by Reynolds (you know the aluminum foil people) they are slow cooker liners! In my humble little opinion these things are great, saves me alot of time because I don't have to scrub the crock pot for hours afterwards! I put a slow cooker liner in my crock pot.

STEP 6:

I put put all of the ingredients in the crock pot! I set the crock pot on low heat. I will walk away from this for the next 20-24 hours. Of course I will check on this often, because of course I have never made this before! It was a thought that came to me last night as I was trying to fall asleep!

So, that is that! I have no idea how this is going to turn out however I will keep you all posted tomorrow. I do realize that I might have to make a few adjustments along the way. My goal of course is to LOVE sweet potatoes! and to have this sweet potato sauce to be the same consistentcy of good ole tomato based pasta sauce! My thought is to have it cook slowly over the next 20 hours, and when I am done I will take my masher and mash it all up, I may have to add a bit more wine (that will serve a double purpose, to help thin the sauce, and also if I still don't like sweet potatoes after trying this maybe I will be drunk from all the wind and not realize I don't like sweet potatoes after all----- kidding of course). Tomorrow morning shortly before the sweet potatoes sauce is finished I do plan to add some diced yellow and red peppers. I will bake the spaghetti squash about an hour before dinner is served, take my fork and scrap the spaghetti out of the squash and VIOLA! I think it is going to be FANTRABULOUS!

p.s.--- I will take more pics tomorrow and give you my final up date as to if this is a go or no!

Weight Watchers dinner ideas???

2011-01-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

It's freezing out there today so I'm thinking I need a great dinner to warm us up!! Any ideas??? We love soups. I did a version of a turkey chili last night for dinner.

Breakfast

2011-01-18T21:30:00.001-08:00

veggie omelet and blueberry waffles. I promise this was my husband's plate :)

Salmon dinner

2011-01-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

We love fish here but don't make it as often as I would like due to crazy schedules. It really is very easy and quick!! My husband make a couple comments over how he could not believe I found the time to make this great meal :) How little did he know that it was made in less than 30 minutes.
I had bought some packages of salmon and had been waiting for a good time to use these up. I had our produce delivery earlier in the day so I had a great stash of new items to pick from. I marinated the salmon in a citrus blend of lemons and oranges. I also chopped up some yellow peppers and tomatoes. I put the salmon in the casserole dish and used another lemon and orange that I squeezed on to the salmon and then just topped it with the peels. I then added the peppers and tomatoes on top to bake in the oven. While baking I boiled some of the Amish tomato basil noodles. I topped these with the remainder of the veggies that was left with the salmon. I also put together a quick spinach salad and topped with the Amish bacon dressing that we all love. ( The bacon dressing is really only 2 points) :)
Another great meal and really easy to make.

yum- Blood oranges!!

2011-01-17T15:49:00.000-08:00

Do I even need to say more?

Turkey chili

2011-01-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

We love our chili at our house especially on a cold snowy day. With starting weight watchers I have made a few switches on my cooking. I have started using ground turkey and really like how light it taste. I made a great pot of chili using beans I had on hand along with roasting down my tomatoes. I added some different roasted peppers . I also added on top for my bowl some roasted onions (if you know my husband this going into his would mean divorce)
I topped with fat free cheddar cheese and my non weight watchers husband put a couple scoops of fat free sour cream in his. Really a great light meal!!

Apple chicken and roasted tomato chicken

2011-01-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

I admit my house in crazy!! We have 4 kids that do not know the word quiet. As loud as they are they are also very picky. I guess they inherited from *gasp* both parents. I do think in some ways this does help them since we are both reformed picky eaters but then again on the other end we know when gently encouraged you may find things that you did not like before. Notice I say gently encouraged because I find the forceful nature makes it more of a battle between 2 very stubborn people. I try to implement the no thank you bite routine. This does work sometimes but other times its a bit of a battle. I do try to keep in mind that there is always something that the pickiest of all eaters will try at a dinner table so below you will find my attempt at trying to match up 2 adventurous eaters and still keep our little picky ones happy.

I made 2 versions of this chicken for dinner
*Roasted tomato chicken
Start with a boneless skinless chicken breast and flatten with a meat tenderizer ( you can also adapt with whatever else you have in the kitchen) I sauteed some veggies - red pepper, yellow pepper, and onions. I also steamed spinach then tossed in fresh tomatoes and feta cheese. I added the sauteed veggies to this then rolled this in the center of the flattened chicken. I put in the baking pan rolled side down and sprinkled extra fillers on top.

For the apple chicken(kids version)
I sauteed down some peeled and chopped apples with a bit of water. I added a touch of cinnamon to the apples. Once nice and tender I added a bit of the feta cheese.
I added this mixture to the flattened chicken.I put in a casserole dish with the rolled side down.
Follow the same steps as below:

Then decided to add a little liquid to it so drizzled skinny girl margarita across top. Gave a little touch of sweetness to the chicken. I served w/ steamed rice, sauteed broccoli and fresh apple sauce. Everyone was happy!

Random dinners

2011-01-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

I know I have been slacking a bit!! We had a bit of a break on produce which made it hard to make great elaborate meals. I actually had to go buy produce and that kind of takes the fun out of my cooking. I love looking into my refrigerator and cooking with whatever I have on hand. To me that is what makes cooking fun!! I also love to make up my own recipes as I go along so having a basket of produce makes that so much easier
Here is a random lunch from the past couple weeks

Mustard greens wrap- Yes and it was actually really good. The mustard greens gave it a bit of a bite mixed with a spicy mustard. Also great for weight watchers. Very few points on the turkey mustard greens wrap- YUM!!!

I do have to admit this was my first time trying mustard greens and I loved it!

Grilled Eggplant and feta sandwiches

2011-01-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

I made these for dinner last night and they were really good.
I lightly salted my eggplant then brushed w/ olive oil. I then grilled on the bbq pit (yes I did this in the cold)
I then steamed up a little spinach in the microwave. While the spinach was steaming I roasted some tomatoes in the oven at 420 deg.
I added some fresh minced garlic to the roasted tomatoes.
I toasted my bagel thins on the bbq pit and when light browned I topped w/ my first Eggplant round. Then roasted tomatoes and some of the roasted spinach. I sprinkled the fat free feta cheese on top. I then put this on a cookie sheet to melt the cheese on top of the grill.
So yummy and rave reviews from the family.

Tonights dinner Buffalo chicken wrap

2011-01-03T21:29:00.001-08:00

I wanted a quick throw together meal tonight so this definitely fit it. yes, I realize that is a whole lot of onions but love them. I did leave them off my husbands. I topped my whole wheat tortilla w/ baked chicken, fat free cheese, roasted onions, and buffalo wing dip sauce. This added the perfect kick to the wrap. I then grilled it on my panini maker. I served with some clementines! Perfect easy dinner and fit in great with my weight watchers points. Did you know that wing sauce is just 1 point. That is way too easy!!!

Back to eating healthy and my venture into doing weight watchers

2011-01-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

I started doing weight watchers back in mid-December and doing great the first 2 weeks. I really did not plan to do ww real big before Christmas but thought that if I could just maintain it would be a great start. I am now done w/ the holidays and ready to get down to business w/ weight watchers. To be honest this is the first time I have ever done a diet program but w/ the birth of 3 kids and having 4 kids 9 and under its time to get serious.

A few tips that I have found to make the points plus program real easy:
- Most veggies do not count as points so I use these to my max to help fill up.
*I roast onions, red peppers, etc to add to any sandwich. Great fillers and they don't count as points. A quick thing I did today was right before grilling a sandwich I roasted some onions on my panini maker. These were done in less than a minute and added to my sandwich along w/ some of the Planks Jalapeno mustard. These 2 add no points to my wonderful sandwich!!

-Drink- I made a cranberry and orange juice drink in my juicer- Yum and guess what no points!!!

I really do not go hungry and feel great!
I now just need to get some produce :)

yum- red baked potatoes!!

2010-12-29T06:37:00.000-08:00

I have never had a red baked potato but heard these were delicious. Whoever told me this was right!! They had no comparison to my past russet baked potatoes. I topped w/ some butter spray and was really good.

Challenge to get back into shape in the new year!

2010-12-28T16:49:00.001-08:00

I am challenging myself and anyone else that wants to join me to get back in shape in the New Year. I started doing Weight Watchers in Mid December and love the results so far. I did get off track over the holidays but ready to get back in control here this week. I love that I can eat unlimited fruits and most veggies.
I am also excited about my new weight watchers cookbooks that I received for Christmas. I am looking forward to trying out some new recipes.
Anyone want to join me??

Holidays!!!

2010-11-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

I am looking forward to the holiday fun!! It is the time of year to celebrate and enjoy time w/ friends/family. What are your favorite go to holiday treats that you bring to any holiday gathering?

*If I need a quick throw together and I am really short on time I will do the jalapeno jelly over cream cheese. I think I will now do this with the raspberry jalapeno jelly- yum!!!

Share your favorite recipes or quick ideas!

Gift boxes for the holidays!

2010-11-23T23:10:00.001-08:00

Fruit Gift box 17.00

6 navel oranges

4 Gold delicious apples 4 Red delicious apples

4 Red Pears

1/2# ribbon candy/1/2# mixed nuts

Candy Gift Lovers Box 30.00

1/2# cashew brittle

1#yogurt covered cherries

1# peach rings

1 4 cell chocolate tray

Here are a few of the gift boxes. If anyone wants these from the coop they can email me.

Came across this blog thought it had some great info!!

2010-11-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.mommydietitian.com/

kale chips

2010-11-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

A new favorite snack is an easy baked kale recipe. I had seen this recipe on a couple different websites so I decided to be open minded and give them a try.

very easy and really healthy. I would say they are comparable to potato chips.

-rinse kale and spin in salad spinner if you have one or dry really good. Any moisture will cause these to steam instead of bake. Spray pan w/ a nonstick spray. Break kale into smaller pieces (think potato chip size).

sprinkle w/ any seasonings you would like. I sprinkled w/ rice vinegar and seasoning salt. Then put in the oven at 350 degrees. Bake for about 10 minutes or until you can shake the pan and hear them crunch.

Eat as soon as they come out of the oven while they are crisp. Really good!!

First Sampling Party was a huge success!!

2010-11-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

I was amazed at the number of people that showed up to sample all the goodies at the party. I felt like I had been prepping for days on this and it still caught me behind schedule. I still had many more things I wanted to prepare for the party but at some point I had to call it quits. Looking back after the party there were so many things available to sample that I think it was perfect. Everyone enjoyed chili, onion rings, steel cut oats, pizzas, apple dumplings, peach cobbler, Amish jarred foods, Amish fruit butters/jams, snack mixes, salsas, etc. Way too much to list!! Thanks to everyone who made the drive out to Ofallon!! I really enjoyed it and look forward to doing other ones in the future.

What did I make today?

2010-11-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

I made whole wheat bread, gluten free chocolate chip cookies, gluten free chocolate cake, soft pretzels, strawberry/peach cobbler and maybe something else in there. Wow- was I busy!! I am shocked that I actually liked the gluten free. I had tasted it prior to baking and thought yuck!! Once baked it was really good. I did these for the sampling party and now the big job is to keep the 4 kids and husband out of them. More stuff to come tomorrow.

Sweet potato pancakes and pecan syrup

2010-11-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

Last week I decided to give my sweet potatoes another lease on life. I have to admit I'm not a big sweet potato lover. I have always hated the sweet tasting sweet potato casserole type dishes served on Thanksgiving but with the produce coop I really try to open myself up to try new things. I have discovered that I like sweet potato fries- cut then rolled in taco seasoning then baked in the oven.
That has been my biggest attempt w/ them whenever I order for the group. This time around I looked at my huge sweet potato and knew I had to try something new. Someone else mentioned making sweet potato pancakes but theirs had onions and other stuff in it. I wanted to try it more as a breakfast dish. This was really easy I boiled down the potatoes then peeled off the skin. I smashed them up then added the other ingredients. This ended up w/ the consistency of a regular pancake batter. I cooked them up and they were really good. To top these off I roasted some pecans then added my other ingredients to make a nice flavorful syrup to top it off.
My husband loved these!!! He was a little skeptical that I could convince the kids to try but once again they surprised us and loved them!!
**With the pictures keep in mind I roasted my pecans a little too long :)

This is what my life has gone to....

2010-11-10T21:25:00.000-08:00

Trail mix tray- 4 sections of snack mixes!

and of course I love it!!!! I am so excited having all this fun stuff in the house for the sampling party. Check it out!! Let me tell you this is a very tiny portion of what I have at the house.
-What did I learn in all this? We have local honey that I really should have on the website. I love peanut brittle and the banana split delight trail mix- Yum YUM YUM!!!!
I also learned that I am dying to try out the Kutztown soda- I have root beer and creme. I really have to do some cooking tomorrow. Check out the 4 multi trays I have with the choc./yog. items and the trail mix tray. Great for the holidays or gift giving. Much better than fruit cake and it will actually be enjoyed.

favorite recipes for spaghetti squash

2010-11-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

I'm getting spaghetti squash this week for my group and I have to admit that the last time I did not love it. On the other hand I did a half attempt to make a good meal w/ it so this time I want to make it good. Please help me and share your favorite recipes for this :)

Thanks and looking forward to some fresh ideas!

Have you wondered....

2010-11-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

What all the different items taste like on the website. Well here is your chance! I am having a sampling party for everyone at my house. I am getting samples of all the different items on the website plus many of the other special order items. I'm really excited with the holidays that I will be able to sample some of the items that I have thought about ordering. I am looking forward to some Thanksgiving idea items w/ the Amish jar items. I am thinking some of these would make great relish tray items. This makes entertaining so easy!
The party is on November 12th at 7:00 in Ofallon, MO. You can email me at tracy@communityhelpingscoop.com if you need my address. I'm looking forward to a great night!

Had to be rebels!

2010-10-27T17:21:00.001-07:00

We had to break a few rules with some peach cobbler. These were from my batch of canned peaches :) I will have to post a whole thing on my canning this year. I used the cobbler mix from the Whistle Stop Cafe. Awesome!!! I had to keep myself from eating the whole thing.

Way overdue!!!

2010-10-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a sampling of what he have been having around here.
Used my Amish Tomato basil noodles then tossed w/ some sauteed veggies- zucchini, green beans, mushrooms, etc. My family loved them!!

apples!!

2010-10-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

I love homegrown apple season! We get into baking all kinds of things with apples. Yesterday it was apple pie and today its going to be caramel covered apples. I did add some of the caramel dip to the apple pie and it was amazing! My husband said he could not figure out the little extra in there but it was delicious.

We are going to cheat a bit and use the caramel wrap kits from the coop but w/ 4 kids its still work :)

I love Fall!!!

Sample gathering

2010-10-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

A few of us have been talking about getting together and doing a sampling party. This would be a great chance to meet up and try some of the different items we see on the website but have always been afraid to try. I'm thinking in November taking a night to pull this off to see what we would all want for the Holidays. I always look at all the wonderful Amish jar items but am always afraid to try the new things. I'm thinking a veggie platter from some of these would be great for Thanksgiving. Sweet stuffed peppers- yum!!!
This might also be a good time to make up some random veggies that many of you have never tried to see if you may actually like it.

Look for more info on this and a fun night to get out of the house.

Baking, dinners and more

2010-10-06T05:36:00.000-07:00

Yikes!! I have tons of pictures to post of dinners and great things we have been making here. I had to get a new camera about 2 months ago and with that came the need for a new reader to hook up to my laptop. yes, I have a little cord to hook up my camera to it but if you knew my house w/ a crazy new little 2 year old you would see how easy it is for him to knock my camera off the counter. I love my camera and would be very upset if this happened so I am going to head out today to get the knew card reader to avoid the tears on my end :)

Today I am looking to cook up some ribs along w/ some apple pie. This past weekend we headed down to Memphis for a soccer tournament and enjoyed some wonderful bbq. I loved the spicier cole slaw so may also try to make some of that along w/ the ribs.
I am also itching to do some caramel apples with the kids.

I may also looking to put on a pot of butternut squash apple soup tomorrow morning and letting it cook all day. Then serve it up inside the butternut squash. How fun is that!!! I will have to get my card so I can post some great pics.
Looking forward to some Fall baking.

a little baking

2010-08-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

I recently did my daughter's bday party as a baking party. They made homemade pizzas, cupcakes, fruit punch, etc. I used some of the provel cheese along w/ some of the other items from the coop.
I made one of the topsy turvy rolled fondant cakes. It definitely had a learning curve to it and my biggest piece of advice is not to move it around to show it off to your daughter when the heat is around 105 :(
*The picture of the cake is right after I finished the decorating but before I cleaned it up a bit.

school snacks

2010-08-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

Now that the kids are back in school I am always looking for some healthy options that the kids can take for lunches or snack time. My son overall is a pretty good eater but sometimes likes to have a bit of a sweet tooth. I thought this week I would try out the yogurt raisins. I started putting them in my recyclable sandwich bags yesterday and he was eating them as fast as they went in there. He also requested an extra bag for his teacher so she could sample his much healthier treat than candy.
I love how plump they are and almost seem like they are coated in chocolate. They are yogurt but it almost seems like there is something else there. A huge hit at my house and excited to have another option for our lunches and snacks!! I thought I would put this up here for those of you that are like me and struggle for different options.

5 cheese soup

2010-08-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize it is hot and the middle of Summer. I came across this 5 cheese soup recipe last week and had some provel cheese sitting around just begging for me to use it up. This was so good and definitely worth it. I added some portabello mushrooms to it. Looking at the pics has me craving it again :)

another overdue meal!!

2010-08-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have been taking pics but do not have an easy way to upload all my pics w/o setting up the camera next to my computer. I only do this when I don't have little helpers around :)
We had another produce coop night- coleslaw, roasted garlic broccoli, fresh bread and the only item not from the coop was the bbq chicken. Great dinner and loved that it was minimal priced. Honestly this was an easy throw together meal that we all enjoyed. My husband thought I slaved over the stove all day.

busy busy....

2010-08-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

I know I am way over due for some cooking :) I promise I have been really busy w/ a couple of little girl birthday parties. I thought I would include them on here since it did turn out really cute. I did the cake and it was my first time w/ the rolled fondant so lots of mistakes. I have a baking party next weekend so look for pics from that for my 7 yr. olds bday party. I am sure I will be using some produce coop stuff.
Here are a few pics minus any cute little ones. The theme was a Ballerina tea party. We had lots of pink and green stuff!!! Way too much candy but it helped fill in w/ the decor. Lots of smiles and I'm sure tummy aches.

granola!!

2010-08-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

I love granola and I have to say the new Amish granola is amazing!!! I ordered the maple and it was a great snack.
Now I just need to convince the kids to try it. :)

Peach Crisp

2010-07-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

I love being stocked up on some wonderful peaches!! I wanted a quick dessert to finish up the kids first day of school with. I went with a great peach crisp. I pealed about 8 peaches and cut in slices. I then buttered the bottom of my baking pan. I put the sliced peaches in the pan. Then I added flour, sugar, cinnamon and cut in the butter. You continue cutting until it resembles small peas. I then put on top of the peaches and baked for about 45 minutes. This was amazing!! This would only have been better if I topped it with some great homemade ice cream.

A little smorgasbord

2010-07-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

The kids headed back to school this week and I decided to celebrate their 1st day back w/ a little hodge podge of food. I started out the day by throwing a couple chicken breast in the crock pot. Right before dinner time I shredded the chicken up and starting prepping our assortment of food. I had sundried tortilla chicken burritos, chicken nachos, and sun dried tomato chicken quessadillas. We ended the meal w/ a peach crisp. Yum!!!!

This was definitely a break from a usual sit down meal that I usually serve. The kids enjoyed having an assortment of things to pick from. Plus, they had a great time having the option of nachos for dinner. We love the multi-colored tortilla chips from the coop.

I'm back and another idea

2010-07-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lengthy delay between post. I had been on vacation and right before that my camera broke. Its not as much fun to post without the pics. I now have a new camera and back from vacation. I recently received a pic from my brother who just started participating in the coop. He is loving all the produce and being able to be creative w/ his food :)

This is a Porterhouse Steak (Medium
Rare) Topped with fresh Avacado's (peeled and diced, sprinkled with
garlic salt and lemon juice) with fresh Green Beans.

local produce - yeah!!!

2010-06-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is an exciting time of year w/ some of the local produce coming in. Living in the Midwest limits our growing season. This is a good time to try out some new types of veggies!! Here is what we will be seeing this next week or so coming in. If you have any good ideas on Kohlrabi or other veggies throw them out here.

Cabbage green and red

Corn bi color

Tomatoes week to 10 days

Bunch beets

Bunch kohlrabi

Pickles

Zucchini

Yellow squash

cucumbers

2010-06-15T12:33:00.001-07:00

Shout out for the new Amish Peanut Butter- YUM!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not even a peanut butter eater and this is really good. I was told it tasted like it has marshmallow in it and it really does taste like that. Its the honey but its really good.
I will add pics later :)
A definite item I will be adding to my order each time!!

more pizza's on the grill

2010-06-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

I am really loving my bbq pit this Summer. Today I decided after looking through pizza recipes that we must have grilled veggie pizza for lunch. I also came across an awesome looking eggplant pizza recipe. It looks wonderful and definitely on my must do list.

Today I settled on a regular veggie pizza w/ a pesto sauce. I then threw it on the grill between the hail and thunderstorms to give it a nice fired pizza taste. Yum!!!

I started w/ one of the crust from the St. Louis Custom crust and topped it w/ a flavored pesto. I then added fresh tomatoes, zucchini, green onions, and mushrooms. I pretty much put on it anything that I had on hand. I topped w/ provel cheese and put it on low on the grill. These cook up extremely fast so be ready for a quick turnaround!!

I took it off the grill in a couple minutes and enjoyed a light grilled veggie pizza. Once again another great meal w/o having to do a special trip to the store. :)

lazy days....

2010-06-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

e p

We are enjoying our 2nd full day of Summer vacation. It seems like its going to fly right past us. We are enjoying some lazy days at the pool. Due to this we are loving bbqing and some quick light meals.
I pack up lots of fruit to take with us to the pool or to have on hand for the kids to snack on. It makes it nice to keep the kids away from the concession stand.

I have found myself the last couple days in need of some quick meals but didn't want to serve plain sandwiches. I decided to go with some grilled chicken and veggie wraps. They were great topped with some provel cheese and a little of the Amish Bbq sauce- apple flavored. Then I grilled it real quick on the bbq pit. I also threw on the pit some corn wrapped in foil. This makes the easiest side dish!!
I finished the quick meal w/ cut up watermelon and a few of the light triangle chips. All from the coop. I also wanted to add that I love the new tortillas!!! They are made locally and really have a great light taste to them. I am spoiled and don't think I can go back to the store bought ones. :)

Memorial Day Weekend and I am out of produce!!

2010-05-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am already out of produce for this week. I volunteered to bring a fruit salad to a family gathering on Sunday and I had to actually buy produce at the produce stand. All I can say is wow I have been spoiled! I spent 26.00 and did not get much stuff. I had to actually go over my receipt a couple times to see what I actually bought. This definitely made me appreciate my produce baskets that I get for 23.00. Now I have spent a chunk of money on produce for 1 day-:(
Now looking forward to next weeks baskets- blackberries and cherries- yeah!!!
Enjoy your Memorial Weekend

Soft Pretzels

2010-05-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to entertain my kids this week w/ some special treats so I decided I would pull out the soft pretzel mixes. I ordered these last delivery from the "extras" order on the advice of another mom whose kids love these. I have to say I have been putting this off due to time and any other reason I have come up with but wow they were well worth it. They were also very easy!! The individual bags in the case come with the flour mixture, yeast, and salt. All I needed to add was the water. I mixed the ingredients minus the salt together along w/ the water and let it sit for an hour. I then rolled the dough and shaped them. Once shaped you dip in a baking soda and water solution. This aids in the browning process when baking. Then you add on the salt. I also dipped a few in a cinnamon/sugar combination. My daughter had a great time helping me shape them and then I did the dipping. They baked for 8 minutes at 500 degrees. You could mix the dough in a bread machine and then shape them.
My family loved these and we will be making these again this week. They had a nice soft texture and a bit of a sweet dough taste. These really reminded me of the Aunt Annie's pretzels that I have spent a small fortune on in the mall. Great idea Teri on ordering these!!
I am posting pics but remember I had a little helper and to me that is the best part :)

Healthy treats

2010-05-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

My kids love popsicles and I love to use my juicer. I decided to combine our favorites for a nice healthy treat. I mixed up what I had left from last weeks produce and poured this into the little popsicle trays I picked up at the store. The kids were excited to try these and overall they were happy. I have one daughter who insisted that she tasted a strawberry in there but I assured her I was not wasting my good strawberries for the popsicles. I am going to have them help me pick out the fruit that we will use on these next time. I wish I had some watermelon left but will get one for next week. Enjoy some healthy Summer time treats!!

this is not Tracy! I am taking over her blog for a few minutes!!!

2010-05-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well... what a joy for me that Tracy is not home! Kind of like while the cats away (the cat would be Tracy) the mouse shall play (the mouse would be me, Jill)! Anyway, she is always posting these delicious meals that she makes, and I am here to tell you I made such a wonderful dinner tonight that I grabbed my camera to prove to everyone that I can cook also! Today was my produce day, YEAH IMPERIAL GROUP, we had a great basket today. Anyway I will get to my point! I made this wonderful grilled veggie sandwich for dinner, with corn on the cob, grilled pineapple, and fruit kabobs! YUM, is all I can say. I took my peeler and peeled little stripes in the eggplant, then I sliced the eggplant into 1/4" slabs. Oh, let me go back a step, I peeled the eggplant like that cuz of course I wanted it to look pretty : ) I had a green pepper left from last produce day (imagine 2 weeks later and that darn thing was still good), so I cut the greer pepper into some big pieces, I sliced an onion. Put it all on the grill, right when the eggplant was done I put a little tiny bit of provel cheese on the grilled eggplant. Then I made the sandwiches, I put everything on a wheat roll, it was delicious! And... I do have some pictures to prove it, I know the pictures do not look as good as it tasted, but man was it good. Oh, also I put the corn on the grill and the sliced pineapple on the grill too. I didn't want to heat up my kitchen on a hot day like this, so let me go stand in the sun and sweat my butt off grilling outside, now that makes really no sense at all does it??? Oh, I sure hope I didn't misspell any werds, cuz that would really get under her skin if I did, you know I think that is just the school teacher in her!

Grilled fajitas

2010-05-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

Tortilla chips from coop.

Once again I had to turn to the grill for another great dinner. I had ordered the fajita kit this week and I decided to serve it up w/ grilled shrimp and chicken. I stopped in the grocery store to pick up some nice sized shrimp and some boneless,skinless chicken breast. I also picked up some Tex-mex seasoning. I preheated the grill and prepped all my veggies that came in my fajita pack-red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, onion, garlic, jalapenos (seeded) green onions, etc. I cut the larger veggies into chunks and then chopped the smaller ones to be grilled in aluminum foil on the grill. I sprinkled the veggies with some of the Tex Mex seasoning and drizzled w/ olive oil. I threw the foiled veggie pack on the girl while I prepped the meat. I then removed the tail and shell of the shrimp. Then tossed with some of the Tex Mex seasoning. I also sliced the chicken into strips and tossed w/ the same seasoning. This was not too spicey but gave it a little bit of a kick. I started the chicken on the grill first and then as it started to cook I put on the shrimp. The chicken cooked up pretty quick and as you will notice in the pics I added a plain chicken breast for those little picky eaters that don't like lots of seasonings. I cooked the shrimp and after removing the shrimp/chicken i decided the veggies needed a little bit of browning. I went ahead and dumped them out of the foil onto the grill liner. I cooked until tender and had a little browning. I also heated up the tortilla shells on the grill. I then created a little fajita bar on the kitchen counter- shrimp/chicken, veggies, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, tortilla chips,etc. I had everyone create their own fajitas rolled up in the tortillas that came with the pack. This was a great meal to finish off a busy day. I really think there was something for everyone even if there was a little whining. I loved the grilled veggies and shrimp. We will be enjoying a ton of veggies that were left over for tomorrow's lunch.

eggplant

2010-05-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

I love to grill! It seems to add the perfect touch to any meal. It is now time to start getting eggplant and there are so many different ways to make it-grill,fry, fritter, casseroles, sauces, etc. The options are endless. Many people are scared to cook this purplish looking veggie since it is not something that most families serve up on a regular basis. This is also one of the reasons I love the coop. I can honestly say I probably would not have spent the money on eggplant at the store. This forces me to try it out and be creative.
I rarely follow a set recipe and love to create as I go along. I decided to go with another version of eggplant parmesan. I may have posted this in the past but I can bet I will make it different each time.
I started w/ prepping my eggplant by peeling off the outer skin and slicing it. You will find that everyone does this a little different and some will leave the skin on. I knew that I was going to have some negative kids when serving this for dinner so didn't want to give them anything extra to complain about. I then set up an egg wash- a few eggs and a small amt. of milk or water. You also have a flour and seasonings plate ready to go. I dipped the eggplant in the egg and then coated in the flour and seasonings. I continued this process until all the slices were covered. I drizzled lightly w/ a little olive oil and then put on the grill. I cooked the eggplant on both sides until it was nice and tender. While the eggplant was grilling I put about 6-7 roma tomatoes in the oven to roast. Once these break down in the oven I would remove the skins and chop up a bit. I moved the roasted tomatoes to a pan and added fresh chopped basil, garlic, yellow squash, and mushrooms. I also added in about 1/4 c. water ( you have to look at the sauce to get an idea how much is needed). I simmered on low until the veggies and herbs were cooked down a bit. You may add additional seasonings as you taste it. I then lined my grilled eggplant in a casserole dish and then topped with the chunky tomato sauce. I like to keep this nice and chunky so the eggplant can be enjoyed instead of the sauce becoming the main part of the dish. I then sprinkled w/ a little provel cheese and baked in the oven until melted. I served right out of the oven. Now keep in mind there are many different ways to cook eggplant parmesan and this is just my own little version. You may find a way that works better for you and your family. I had tasted my neighbors once that they had topped with a regular spaghetti sauce and it was way too much red sauce for me. I could hardly eat it and I enjoy eggplant parmesan. If you try it one way and don't like it be creative and tweak it to meet your own personal tast.

Fresh herbs

2010-05-14T05:18:00.000-07:00

What are you favorite fresh herbs to keep on hand? I am thinking about getting my group some herbs this week. We usually get cilantro but now I'm thinking about going a little more Italian for this week.
Any suggestions on great recipes or things you love to do w/ herbs????

veggies on the grill

2010-05-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about Summer is cooking on the grill. I have been itching to get started on my first bit of veggies on the grill. I wrap everything up in foil and throw it on the grill. No cleanup and so yummy!!!!
I grilled pork steaks, corn on the cob, zucchini, broccoli, and garlic. Loved it!
I wrapped the corn on the cob w/ some butter and a bit of garlic in there. I also did the broccoli and zucchini w/ a bit of olive oil and fresh garlic. I cooked these right along w/ my steaks. When everything was finished I put it all on the plates and had very little cleanup. I love roasting the garlic and then adding it on the fresh bread that I had picked up at the store. This has an amazing flavor and so light.