Cheater Toffee

One Monday afternoon I realized that though I had a FHE lesson plan I had no Family Home Eating planned. It would have been a major disappointment to Ches to have FHE with no FHE so I quickly scanned my fav site, allrecipes.com and found this recipe, made a few modifications and here we have it! Quick, easy, Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Graham Crackers
1/2-1 c smart balance spread
1/2 c sugar
vanilla
chopped nuts (recipe said pecans, I used walnuts, though I made some w/o any because Ches is anti-nut)

Directions:
Cover baking sheet with graham crackers and sprinkle with nuts
In saucepan melt "butter" and sugar together, til boiling, boil 3 min.
Pour in some vanilla (around a tsp)
Pour mixture over crackers and nuts, coating evenly.
Bake at 350 for 12 min, until golden. Cool completely before cutting and eating.

Baked Spaghetti

This is a recipe that I first tried on spring break '01. Me my cousin and her roommates went to St. George, then Las Vegas for spring break. While we were in St. George we were staying at one of the girl's parents vacation house and so we had a full kitchen. Rachel (don't remember her last name) taught us this recipe, and it was so good that Maria (my cousin) and I were begging for it ever since. It took several years to finally get it from her (slacker) and then a couple more years for me to finally make it (bigger slacker). But yes, it was just as good as I remembered it. CJ said he preferred it over regular spaghetti. It does have cream of mushroom soup in it, and I usually try to avoid using that, but for this recipe I will make an exception. Sorry about the lamo picture. My kitchen really has terrible lighting for good pictures.

note: I halved the recipe when I made it, and you can see it still made a lot. I kind of guessed on the amount of spaghetti since I always just buy the big packs, and she didn't really say how much, and I also used a little more then half of the cream of mushroom soup. Oh and I used almost the whole jar of spaghetti sauce too. Also, depending on how bland your sauce is, you might want to season it up with garlic and onions. Mine was garlic , onion and basil sauce so I felt no need.

Ingredients:
cooked and drained spaghetti noodles
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
2 small cans of sliced olives, drained
1 small package mushrooms, chopped
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c water
1/4 c Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Sautee tomatoes, mushrooms and olives over medium heat for 5-7 min, add sauce while sauteeing if desired. Add rest of sauce when done.
2. Mix mushroom soup with water and set aside.
3. In large dish layer noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese, mushroom soup, and top with Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Mexican Sour Cream Rice

This one was a big hit with my family. The Monterey cheese really brought in an excellent flavor. It makes a lot so I put half in a tupperware and froze it for another meal. The recipe calls for fresh cilantro, but I didn't have any and the stuff in the store looked gross. Also, I added a can of drained diced tomatoes. I was also in a rush to get things done so I just microwaved it til it was hot and bubbly. Still tasted good, but I will probably bake it next time.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1 can rinsed and drained black beans
1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt and ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, bring the rice and chicken broth to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish.
In the pot with the cooked rice, mix the sour cream, green chile peppers, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese, corn, beans, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish, and top with remaining cheese.
Bake uncovered 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil

I made this bruschetta recipe for a dinner party a week ago. Then I read the post for Trina's bruschetta chicken and it sounded good to me. I didn't have the ingredients for her bruschetta chicken but I had leftovers from my party. So,instead of putting the brushetta on toasted bread I put it on grilled chicken and angel hair pasta. It was really good. It's also really good the traditional way on bread. It is a fast make, we were eating within 25 minutes.


Ingredients
6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


Method
Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. (If the tomatoes are too hot, you can protect your finger tips by rubbing them with an ice cube between tomatoes.) Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Why use plum tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes? The skins are much thicker and there are fewer seeds and less juice. Chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I also had some fresh mozzarella I wanted to use up so I chopped that up and added it. It was good but not necessary.

More Pasta

You know the great thing about pasta? It is so quick and easy, and so versatile! Here is a new quick easy thing to do with pasta and veggies.

Just take any of your favorite veggies, like:
red pepper
zucchini
yellow neck squash
carrots
broccoli
snap peas
asparagus
whatever

Then saute your preferred veggies in some olive oil whilst cooking your favorite pasta (linguine, or thin spaghetti go well). Season veggies with a bit of salt and pepper. Then when pasta and veggies are at desired tenderness, toss them all together with your favorite Italian dressing! Bernstein's (I probably spelled it wrong, and I am not talking about the bears) goes really well, but this time I chose some creamy Parmesan. Yummers!

Basic Pizza Dough

This is my most favorite pizza or breadstick recipe because it's fast and tastes great!

2/3 package dry yeast
1/2 c. lukewarm water
1/4 tsp. sugar
1 1/3 c. flour
1/3 tsp. salt
1/3 Tbls. olive oil

1. Dissolve sugar & yeast in water; set aside for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Combine flour, salt, & olive oil in bowl; make a well in the center.
3. When yeast mixture is bubly, pour into center of well. Start kneading, bringing flour toward center of bowl; gradually increasing kneading motion.

If dough feels sticky, add flour, if it feels dry, add water. Knead vigorously until dough is smooth and elastic. Roll into ball; cover with a damp cloth. let rest for about 20 minutes in warm place. Beat dough with your palm to expel gas formed while fermenting. When ready to use, place dough on floured counter top or table and flatten with your hands or rolling pin from center out. Bake in oven at 425-450F. This recipe makes 1 crust, but I usually triple to make two big pizzas or three medium pizzas. Also, the dough can be stored in the fridge or freezer, just baste with a little olive oil and wrap in plastic wrap. Enjoy!

Grandma's Pancakes! Yummy!

This is a recipe I got from my Grandma, Marilyn Witt, when she was visiting me in Hawaii. We were trying to decide what to make for breakfast one morning, and we had decided on pancakes, but I went to my cupboard to pull out my trusty Krusteaz pancake mix but I was all out. So, my Grandma says, what do you need that for, I'll just make them from scratch. So, just about as quick as I could make my Krusteaz mix she whips up this homemade batter and they were phenomenal. My Grandma had twelve kids, so she's made quite a few pancakes from this recipe. The best thing about it is that you can make them with whole wheat or white flour and either way they taste great and are super easy.

Pancakes:

1 1/4 c. flour
1 Tbls. baking powder
1 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 egg
2 Tbls. oil