Happy, Happy!

I have been in the kitchen quite a bit, but I've not been posting because I haven't made anything that hasn't already been posted on some cooking blog. But I am cooking and making new dairy-free meals for my family.


These are the Happy Cookie Bars that I've written of before.





And of course I haven't taken any pictures of my other cooking ventures, which include: Pumpkin Cream Muffins (Peter raved about these and declared them "better than Panera's"), pumpkin bread (moist and yummy - I doubled the recipe and left the nuts out - I also used vegetable oil instead of olive oil), Dirty Rice (I don't know how this tastes because I made it for dinner and ended up heating up some pizza bites for myself instead, but Peter said it was good), and Irish Shepherd's Pie (this is a good comfort dish).

Acorn Squash Quesadillas

Here's a unique way to use a fall vegetable.
I'm linking this directly from Deb at smittenkitchen.com. I made it and used a squash that was probably too large, so i saved 1/3 of it for another meal. I didn't have jalapenos so I just added some crushed red pepper instead. Also I added spinach and used Muenster cheese like she suggests. I put avocado/sour cream and some sliced red onion on it and just smeared it all together. it was quite good. :)

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/10/acorn-squash-quesadillas-tomatillo-salsa/

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the best, no the ULTIMATE, chocolate chip cookie recipe! I made these yesterday so Dan could have an after work treat when he got home. I've been using it for about 4 years now. I do break one rule I have when making these, Crisco. I'm normally a butter girl but that's what the recipe calls for and if it isn't broke, I don't try to fix it.

3/4 c Butter flavored Crisco
1 1/4 c Firmly packed brown sugar
2 tb Milk
1 T Vanilla
1 Egg
1 3/4 c All-purpose flour
1 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Baking soda
1 c Semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use the whole bag and I use milk chocolate chips)
1 c Pecan pieces (I've never put these in)

Heat oven to 375. Cream butter flavor Crisco, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Blend until creamy. Blend in egg. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture, gradually. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop rounded Tablespoonfuls (about 2 measuring tablespoons) of dough 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies (they will look light and moist with bottoms looking done) DO NOT OVERBAKE or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

In Need of Recipe

Does anyone have a good party meatball recipe? I need one for two reasons. First, they sound really good to me so I want to make them. Second, Joy and Jacob are staying with us Saturday night due to a wedding being closer to Lafayette than their home so I thought I could make meatball subs for Sunday afternoon.

Help a pregnant lady out, will ya?

15-Minute Chicken and Rice

1 T oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken
1 1/2 c water
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
2 c minute rice, uncooked
2 c broccoli florets, frzn or fresh

Heat oil in skillet, add chicken and cook until browned. Remove chicken and add soup, water and spices, stir. Heat to a boil. Stir in rice and Broccoli. Top with chicken. Season chicken with more paprika and pepper as desired. Cover and cook on low for 5 minutes or until rice and broccoli is tender.

Tips after cooking: Cut chicken into 1 inch cubs - chicken can come out dry and this will help. The rice will probably take longer than 5 minutes to cook.

Recipe from Campbell's

Repeated

My sister has posted this recipe before, but ladies, it is SO good! The recipe orginally came from the book Saving Dinner, and I passed it on to Laura when I made her a little shower gift of favorite recipes. The best thing about it is how easy it is to make ahead. I served this dish for our guests yesterday. I made the cornbread and rice to go along with it the night before. So all I had to do was heat everything up, and dinner was on the table in less than five minutes!

I just wanted to recommended it again as the perfect company dish. It's so flavorful. Do note the cook time though: basically you just need to cook it long enough for the chicken to be cooked through, which actually only took about 2-3 hours for my slower cooker on low. But I cooked it another hour or so to be sure the flavors blended. This dish doesn't really suffer from cooking longer than is required because there is plenty of liquid. So whether you get everything in the pot early or late, it's going to be a winner.

My guest even asked for the recipe!! :o)

Snack for Birth Class :)

We have a supplemental class presented by our midwife for her "Fall Clients" this Saturday, and EVERYONE is supposed to bring a snack to share. (I'm excited, because I LOVE meeting people who are more or less as far along as we are, PLUS I can't wait to see what all the other mamas are cooking and baking!) We received a reminder flier in the mail last week, repeating the number of people who will be needing a shared snack, and adding, "Please don't everyone bring a veggie plate!" :) So I'm bringing these::


Teresa F.'s Grab-n-Go Breakfast Cookies.

1/2 c. softened butter or margarine
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 14 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained well*
3 c. quick-cook rolled oats
1 c. whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. raisins, or dried blueberries, or cranberries**
1 c. walnuts, or pecans, or almonds, chopped***


Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Beat butter and sugars with mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and beat to combine. Add pineapple to mixture, and beat to combine.

In large bowl whisk together flour, oats, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture, and beat just enough to combine. Mix in dried fruit and nuts by hand.

Drop 1/3 c. of dough on cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. With a damp hand press cookies to 1/2" thickness. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. These freeze well.





*I don't like pineapple, so I substituted some canned peaches that I ran through the blender real quick.

**I, for whatever reason, was out of raisins, so I chopped up some dried apricots, threw in a handful of dried cranberries, and topped it off with some dried coconut.

***Half cup of chopped pecans, half cup chocolate chips. I couldn't help it...but I think this time I might make half without nuts, just in case of allergies...maybe replace with seeds of some kind...

(Also going to add a few tsps of ground up flax seed...) If you want to make the cookies with less cholesterol, 3 tablespoons of water + 1 tbs ground flax seed = one egg. If you want to go completely vegan, replace the butter with "prune puree which will also obviously reduce the amount of fat. To use, puree 1/2 cup of pitted prunes with 1/4 cup of water. You will want to reduce the amount used, or the final product may be too moist. If the recipe calls for a half cup use 1/3 cup instead. You may also want to add a little oil, maybe a tablespoon per cup of fat needed, because a little fat goes a long way in taste and texture". I convert my baked goods to vegan when we'll be sharing with my In Laws, or with older people, just to make the goodies more cholesterol-friendly.

Crock-Pot Breakfast

For crock-pot lovers, go over here to find breakfast recipes. Something I've never seen before.

Pumpkin Cream Muffins

It's our turn to bring snacks to our child birthing class tonight so I thought I'd make a fall treat! They are now one of Dan's favorite.



1-1/3 c. sugar, divided
1-1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 eggs, divided
3/4 c. oil
1 c. canned pumpkin
8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

Topping:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
3 T. all-purpose flour
2 T. butter

Combine one cup sugar and flour, along with cinnamon, baking soda, salt, 2 eggs, oil and pumpkin; mix and set aside. In a separate bowl, blend together cream cheese, remaining sugar and remaining egg. Pour pumpkin mixture into greased muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Place a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese filling in the center of each muffin. Sprinkle each with one teaspoon topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes. Makes 1-1/2 dozen muffins.

This recipe comes from Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbooklet #15.

Staple

I have recently decided that pasta with Prego sauce and ground beef will be a weekly meal at our house. Why? Because it's a relatively easy meal to make, and it's one that we can and do all eat! No dairy or other scary things. Just straight up good food - even to the toddler's tastebuds!

Do you have any other regular old meals like this without dairy that I'm overlooking that a toddler might eat?

Peter and I both struggle with the fact the Charles has this allergy or sensitivity. Despite the many times we've watched him break out in hives from it, it still seems surreal to us. While we were eating pizza the other day, I was sharing my dairy-free crust with him, but I was so tempted to give him a bite of the real stuff. It seems so harmless. It seems so impossible that cheese can actually make someone sick. But I'm naive and new to this world of allergies. I try to keep a real respect for his allergies as we know them. I have a consultation with an allergist set up for next week, so hopefully we'll have a little professional guidance on this journey...

I also just checked out this book from the library. Though I don't intend to do a month's worth of cooking. I do want to get some dairy-free meals in the freezer. The recipes in this book look good. So hopefully I'll be sharing some with you soon.