Veggie Breakfast Burrito's

Filed under , , by Miranda on 11:22 PM

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We love this more for dinner than for breakfast. It's a great meatless meal and easy to prepare without much time. I usually double it and it's really good leftovers too.


2 t olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 small zucchini, finely diced
1/2 c frozen or canned corn kernels
2 T minced kale, spinach or other leafy green (I just chop spinach up really fine)
1 T minced fresh cilantro
6 eggs
1 t water or milk
tortillas
optional toppings:
cheese
avacado
salsa

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Stir onion and saute 5 to 10 minutes or until soft. Stir in zucchini and corn. Cover and steam 5-10 minutes until zucchini is tender. Stir in greens and cilantro. Beat eggs with water or milk. Pour over vegetables. Let mixture sit for a minute or two then gently stir around skillet until firm.
Warm tortillas and scoop egg filling down the tortilla, top with cheese and toppings.

Curried Rice Salad

Filed under , by Miranda on 10:05 PM

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This salad was really yummy and healthy. I threw it together in the morning and my family ate it up for lunch. Great way to use leftover brown rice - we love brown rice around here. If your new to brown rice this a good recipe to start with because the dressing masks some of the nutty taste difference between brown and white.


4 c cooked brown rice
3/4 c golden raisins
1/2 c chopped almonds, toasted
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro

Honey - Curry Dressing
2 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
2 t curry powder
1/4 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground tumeric
1/4 t ground ginger
1 T honey (or agave nectar)
4 T flavorless oil (grapeseed, canola, safflower, etc)
1 T toasted sesame oil.

Place rice, raisins, almonds, and cilantro in large bowl. Whisk dressing ingredients together or place in a jar and shake until combined. Pour over rice mixture. Toss until coated and chill at least an hour before serving.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Filed under , by Miranda on 3:10 PM

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A friend of our family's recently gave Paul this recipe for homemade biscuits to pass along to me - thanks Jen! These things are so good! They are reminiscent of Bojangles and we had them with tomato gravy for dinner last night.

*For my family I double this recipe*

2 c. all purpose flour
3 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. shortening (I used butter)
3/4 to 1 c. milk

Heat oven to 450 (or 230 c). In large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. With pastry blender or fork cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stirring with a fork, add enough milk until mixture leaves sides of the bowl and forms a soft, moist dough.

On floured surface toss dough lightly until no longer sticky. Roll or press dough to 1/2 in thickness. Cut with floured cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheet. *You can also just make drop biscuits instead of rolling out the dough*.

Bake at 450 for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Special Breakfasts... Doughnuts

Filed under , by Miranda on 11:13 PM

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I like to make something special for a breakfast treat sometimes. I made these last weekend for a fall/halloween breakfast. They were so good! They hit the spot. I used buttermilk I made (milk & vinegar) instead of evaporated milk and also used butter instead of shortening.

Homemade Applesauce For Fall

Filed under , by Miranda on 1:39 AM

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Here's a great Fall recipe! We can't buy applesauce here where I live but even if you can, this is simple to make and really good. It's a healthy snack and we use it to sweeten oatmeal instead of sugar. I reduce the sugar a lot and triple it, but here's the original recipe.




6 Apples, peeled, cored and chopped.
1 C. plus 2T. Water
1/4 C. Sugar
3/4 t. Cinnamon

Core, peel and chop apples into small chunks. Add apples, water and cinnamon to medium-large pot and bring to a boil 20-30 minutes until apples are darker in color and soft. Allow to cool and mash with masher or blend finer in a food processor or blender. I use my blender because we like smooth applesauce and not chunky.

Baked Oatmeal

Filed under , by Miranda on 3:13 AM

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I'm about to throw this together before I get my kids ready for bed and stick it in the fridge overnight to bake in the morning. It's so easy, I make this once a week, on the same day. You can top it with milk or yogurt if you want. Maybe someone else is looking for quick, semi- healthy breakfast ideas like I always am?


1/2 c. oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 c. oats
2 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. milk

Mix oil, eggs and sugar until well blended. Add other ingredients and mix well. Place in a greased 8x8 or a 9x13 pan (will be thick or thin depending). Cover and put in fridge overnight, take out 10 minutes before baking - bake uncovered 350 for 35 minutes.


Maple Syrup

Filed under , by Miranda on 8:48 AM

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This is a recipe I found recently to use in place of the REAL maple syrup that I miss so much from back home. It has worked great for our pancakes...


1 C. Brown Sugar
3/4 C. Water
1 t. Maple Flavoring (can use Vanilla if needed)

Mix water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and
simmer for 15 minutes, don't let it burn.
Add Maple flavoring and chill.

Homemade BBQ sauce

Filed under , by Miranda on 8:39 AM

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Here's my recipe for BBQ sauce. I use it in any of my recipes that call for bbq sauce, on bbq chicken pizza or over chicken breasts in my crockpot for pulled sandwiches. It's easy and I can freeze what I don't use in ziplocs so it's at hand for future meals and I'm not making it from scratch every.single.time.


1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 T. olive oil
5 1/3 c. ketchup
1 c. apple cider vinegar(I use any vinegar I have)
2/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. Worcestershire sauce
4 t. chili powder

Saute onion in oil, until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Fruit Cobbler

Filed under , by Miranda on 12:39 AM

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This is so easy! I made this a few nights ago with fresh sliced peaches and a bit of blueberries and it turned out great. I love how simple it was and I didn't need a ton of spices or ingredients. This is not a super sweet cobbler, which made for a good duo with vanilla ice cream.


*1 package any frozen fruit or 2 C sliced fresh fruit. You can use whatever you want/have.
*1/4 C melted Butter
*1 C sugar
*1 C self-rising flour. (If you cannot find self-rising flour - I can't here where I live - then mix 1 t. baking powder and 1/2 t. salt to your all purpose flour)
*1 C milk

Place fruit in the bottom of any bakeware 9x13 style dish. Pour melted butter over the fruit.
In a seperate bowl mix sugar, flour and milk. Stir just until combined. Pour over the fruit.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Serve with ice-cream (optional).

Perfect for last minute company, easy family night dessert or I'd even take it to a brunch...or you could top it with creamy yogurt for a breakfast type cake/cobbler.

Favorite Pancake Recipes.

Filed under , by Miranda on 2:08 AM

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Here's my most oft used pancake recipes. I figured I'd post all three and let you choose which sounds best to you or try all three. I make pancakes once a week on the weekends for us to enjoy a lazy breakfast. One is healthier than the others and really simple to throw together. The others aren't as healthy but are amazing. The gingerbread one is so good around the holidays or on cold mornings with hot coffee. I like mine with REAL maple syrup (can't be found here in Asia!) and a variety of frozen berries.

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

3 cups flour

4 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups buttermilk

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted


In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, vanilla, eggs and melted butter. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.

Heat a lightly greased griddle or frying pan over medium heat.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until just blended together.Do not overmix! Scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/3 cup for each pancake. Cook on both sides until golden brown. Serve with butter, syrup, and powdered sugar or fruit preserves.


Easy Overnight Oatmeal Pancakes

Healthier :)

4 cups Oats

6 cups buttermilk. (I add 1 T. vinegar or lemon juice to every c. of milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before adding rest of ingredients - you can't find buttermilk here.)

6 eggs

1 cup of flour

3 t. baking powder

dash of salt

2t. olive oil

Add oats and milk and let it sit overnight. Mix in rest of ingredients with whisk then cook over skillet until done.

Magnolia Cafe’s Gingerbread Pancakes

4 eggs

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c buttermilk

1/2 c & 3 tbsp water

1/4 c coffee

2.5c white flour

2.5 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp ginger

1 tbsp nutmeg

6 tbsp melted butter

Cream together the first 2 ingredients. Add the next 3 ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift together all but the last ingredient. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix well, and add butter and stir until combined. May need to add water if the batter is too thick. Recipe can easily be halved or doubled.


The 10 minute Peanut Butter Cookie

Filed under , by Miranda on 1:52 AM

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These are the fastest cookies I can make! Three ingredients and so simple. Found from a good friend back in NC.


1 C Peanut Butter
1 C Sugar
1 Egg

Mix up together and roll into balls. Roll in sugar and press down with a fork if you like them pretty. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. A cookie from start to finish in 10 minutes!

I think low-fat Peanut Butter won't work in this recipe because it needs the oil of full fat/natural peanut butter.

Super easy pizza dough.

Filed under , by Miranda on 11:40 PM

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It's killing me but I've not been able to find wheat flour here yet. I think I can get some in the future, we will see. I've been making this simple, great tasting pizza dough each Friday since we have been here. I got it off a friend's blog who is a great cook. It's actually a foccacia bread recipe so it can go either way for pizza or bread.


Naomi's Foccacia Bread
2 c. warm water
2 c. flour
2 tsp. dry yeast

Mix into a slightly lumpy batter.
Add: 2 tsp. salt, 2 c. flour. Mix. Batter should be moist and still slightly lumpy.

Do not knead. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place 1-2 hours. When doubled, transfer to a slightly oiled sheet with fingers dipped in olive oil. Spread on cookie sheet to about 1/2 in. thickness. Prick with a fork. Top with anything (coarse salt, pepper, garlic, fresh rosemary, olives, tomatoes.) Bake at about 375 for 10-15 minutes. (if using as a pizza crust, bake for 8-10 minutes, just until a bit firm, then top with toppings, then bake again.)

**I make my own pizza sauce and after I've sprinkled it with garlic salt and rosemary and baked for 8-10 min. I throw on my sauce and toppings. It's so simple and reminds me of home :)

Sweet Steel Cut Oats

Filed under , by Miranda on 6:33 PM

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Steel cut oats are whole oats that have been thinly sliced into pieces. They have a heartier texture than heated and flat pressed rolled oats. We love this for breakfast at our house.


1 c. steel cut oats
3 c. water
4 pitted dates, cut into small pieces
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. sea salt
1 T. butter

Place all ingredients in a pan and stir briefly; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
For an even quicker version, soak the oats in a bowl with water for 8-12 hours (overnight couldn't be simpler). In the morning, add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, stir constantly for 5 minutes until done.
Serve with your favorite toppings - these are endless but here's what we like:
*whole milk yogurt
*applesauce
*walnuts or pecans
*real maple syrup
* sliced apples, bananas or other fresh fruit
*frozen berries
*dollop of peanut butter and jelly

Marilyn's Best Pizza Dough

Filed under , by Miranda on 2:47 PM

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This is my favorite pizza dough. I found it in one of my best cookbooks Feeding the Whole Family. This is a healthy pizza crust but does not have a heavy wheat taste or feel. You can make stromboli or calzones with it too. It's our staple Friday Pizza Night dough.


Marilyn's Best Pizza Dough
2 t. yeast
2 c. lukewarm water
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t. sea salt
3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
2 3/4 c unbleached white flour

To make the dough: combine yeast in lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl. Let rest for 10 minutes while yeast comes to life. Gently stir in olive oil. Mix salt and whole wheat pastry flour, and whisk in a little at a time. Beat for a minute or two until mixture is stretchy and elastic. Stir in unbleached flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rise 1 to 2 hours.

To make the Pizza: deflate, divide, and shape dough into 5 or 6 balls. Each will make an 8 in pizza crust or a few large pizza's, calzones, etc. At this point the dough can be frozen for later use as well. Cover and let rest 15 minutes to relax dough.

Preheat oven to 500. Shape each ball into a flat round by using your fingertips to make little tapping indentions rather than pulling or stretching the dough. Place on a baking sheet liberally with cornmeal or rice flour. Top each pizza with favorite sauce and toppings. Place on lowest rack in your oven. An 8 inch pizza will cook in about 6 minutes.

*Our favorite pizza sauce to date is THIS ONE. *click*
Or use a pesto base (like my pesto recipe) instead of tomato sauce and make a white pizza using veggies and mozzarella - yum.

Jerri's Spinach Salad with Warm Poppyseed Dressing

Filed under , by Miranda on 11:48 AM

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So this is the second of my two favorite spinach salad's. I attribute this yummy salad to a good friend who is connected through my brother in law's family. Her name is Jerri-Ann. When Job was a baby (under a year) I would go hang out with her all the time. She had three little ones at the time and I loved just soaking up life with kids around. One night I ended up staying for dinner and out came this salad to the table...one bite and I was hooked.

Jerri's Spinach Salad with Warm Poppyseed Dressing

Dressing:
1 c. honey
1 1/4 t salt
1/2 c white vinegar
1 1/4 c oil
1 T onion (can be dried minced)
2 t poppyseed
Blend well in a blender and microwave for 30 seconds. Pour over salad while warm.
*This makes a LOT of dressing so if you don't want leftovers, half it...
Salad:
Torn baby spinach leaves
Cooked crumbled bacon
Quartered purple onion
3-4 hard cooked eggs
Diced, sauteed, salt and peppered chicken breast *optional - but great for a main dish salad*

Combine salad ingredients and pour dressing over salad before serving.

Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette & Glazed nuts

Filed under , by Miranda on 11:34 AM

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There's so many variations with Spinach salad but I have two favorites. This is the first, it's a classic salad that goes with anything. Topped with sweet glazed nuts, this is as good as a restaurant salad (probably better).


Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette & Sweet Glazed Nuts
Dressing:
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 t maple syrup
3/4 t Dijon mustard
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
3-4 T extra-virgin olive oil
Place all dressing ingredients except oil in a large salad bowl and stir to mix. Add oil a little at a time, whisking it into other ingredients so that us incorporates nicely.

Salad:
1 bunch spinach, washed well, dried, stems removed
1/3 c sweet glazed nuts
1/4 small red onion, sliced in this half or quarter moons

Sweet Glazed Nuts:
2 T plus 1/2 t extra-virgin olive oil
2 T maple syrup
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
tiny pinch of cayenne
2/3 c whole pecans or walnuts
Preheat oven to 300. Lightly coat a cake pan or 8x8 pan with 1/2 t of oil. Combine rest of ingredients in a bowl and add nuts, toss to coat. Spread in pan. Bake until nuts are golden and maple syrup bubbles. Remove from oven and cool slightly.

Wash spinach by placing leaves in a sink full of cold water. Drain and repeat. Spin or pat dry. Tear spinach into bite-size pieces. Place in a large salad bowl. Add glazed nuts and red onion to spinach. If you don't like the sharpness of red onion, soak slices in cold, salted water for 5 minutes before adding. Dress salad just before serving.


Brown Rice Casserole

Filed under , by Miranda on 4:37 AM

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This is so easy and is a great way to make a healthy side dish. We love brown rice.


Brown Rice Casserole
1 c uncooked brown rice
2 c water
1/2 t salt
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t black pepper
cheddar cheese
butter

Directions:

Boil rice, then simmer 20 minutes. Drain, put in greased casserole dish. Add some butter and the spices. Cover and bake at 350 about 15 minutes. Then stir, uncover, add more butter if needed, and add cheese. Bake uncovered about 5 more minutes.

Yeast Rolls

Filed under , by Miranda on 6:13 AM

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These are simple to make and taste wonderful. Yeasty and sweet. My next attempt with these is to make a sticky bun from them - let you know how that turns out. You can easily make these without a bread machine but you will have to let them rise once before making rolls and letting them rise again.


In a 2# bread machine:
2 cups lukewarm water
2 T. oil
dash of salt
6 cups flour *I have used a blend of white unbleached and spelt flour and they turned out great*
1 cup sugar
2 T. yeast

Use the dough setting. When dough has finished cycle (or it reaches the top of your machine), pinch of golf ball size balls and place in a greased 9X13 pan. I make 16 rolls (I think that's right). Slather them with melted butter. Cover w/ aluminum foil and place in a warm spot (or warm oven) for 20 min. so dough can rise. Now if you leave these for too long they can really get huge and can crowd eachother out so I would watch them.

Pull of the aluminum foil and turn oven to 350deg. Cook rolls for about 25 minutes. When they are done, slather once again with butter.

Pasta with Pesto

Filed under , by Miranda on 6:59 AM

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This is a delicious pesto recipe sent to me from my friend Larissa. We love it over brown rice penne. This is filling, easy to throw together and beautiful on the table.


¾ pound (about 2-1/2 cups) cherry tomatoes, very ripe and sweet
12 large fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup of whole almonds, lightly toasted
1 plump garlic clove, crushed and peeled
1/4 teaspoon peperoncino or to taste
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste, plus more for the pasta
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound spaghetti (we like wheat or brown rice pasta)
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
Recommended equipment:
· A blender (my preference) or a food processor
· A pot for cooking the spaghetti
Rinse the cherry tomatoes and pat them dry. Rinse the basil leaves and pat dry.
Drop the tomatoes into the blender jar or food processor bowl followed by the garlic clove, the almonds, basil leaves, peperoncino and ½ tsp salt. Blend for a minute or more to a fine purée; scrape down the bowl and blend again if any large bits or pieces have survived.
With the machine still running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream, emulsifying the purée into a thick pesto. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If you’re going dress the pasta within a couple of hours, leave the pesto at room temperature. Refrigerate if for longer storage, up to 2 days, but let it return to room temperature before cooking the pasta.
To cook the spaghetti, heat 6 quarts of water, with 1 tablespoon salt, to the boil in the large pot. Scrape all the pesto into a big warm bowl.
Cook the spaghetti al dente, lift it from the cooking pot, drain briefly, and drop onto the pesto. Toss quickly to coat the spaghetti, sprinkle the cheese all over, and toss again. Serve immediately in warm bowls

Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins

Filed under , by Miranda on 6:53 AM

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healthy banana-blueberry muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas (3/4 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup fozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 375, whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars, add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition; in another bowl mash bananas, stir in milk and vanilla. Combine flour mixture, butter mixture, and banana; stir gently and fold in frozen blueberries. Pour batter into 12 cup muffin pan, bake 18-20 minutes.

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