Grilled Asparagus With Pine Nuts Recipe

Easy Crock Pot Recipes – Black Bean and Corn Soup

March 25, 2013 6 Comments

I was over at Mrs. Hillbilly’s House the other day and she was telling me about a new recipe she had tried from our favorite cookbook Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook: 1400 Best Slow Cooker Recipes. If you don’t have this cookbook you are seriously missing out BIG TIME.

In a nutshell, it’s da’bomb!

I adapted the recipe a wee bit and used what I had on hand and this turned out so good, I actually made myself sick. I ate 3 bowls full of this soup and yes, I was moaning like a fat gnome who had overdosed on mushrooms for a good hour or so. But man, it was totally worth it.

Ingredients

2 {15 oz} cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 {14 oz} can tomatoes, undrained
1 {14 oz} corn, drained
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh chives {onions would be fine}
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teasspoon cumin powder
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

Toss everything in the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

My favorite Crock Pot – Crock-Pot Cook’ N Carry 6-Quart Portable Slow Cooker

My Favorite Slow Cooker Cookbook – Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook: 1400 Best Slow Cooker Recipes!

Filed Under: Crock Pot Recipes, Recipe Tagged With: Easy Crock Pot Meals, recipe

Kitchen Tips – How to Make Buttermilk

March 24, 2013 7 Comments

I always avoided recipes that had buttermilk in them because I thought buttermilk was too expensive. But then I learned a quick way to make my own buttermilk using 2 simple ingredients I always have on hand. Milk and vinegar.

So although this method is not new to me, I want to thank One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Kathy for reminding me of this easy kitchen tip. Everyone should know about this, especially with baking season right around the corner.

How to Make Buttermilk

Ingredients

Milk {just under one cup}
1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice {I always use white vinegar}

Directions

Place a 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup, and add just enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.

Let the mixture stand for five minutes. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for. Store extra buttermilk in the refrigerator for later use.

*Thanks Kathy for the reminder, you rock!

10 cool uses for vinegar
Looking for more cool ways to use vinegar?

Check out our 10 Cool Uses for Vinegar post. You never know, you might learn something new.

Filed Under: Easy Kitchen Tips, Recipe Tagged With: easy kitchen tips, how to make buttermilk, recipe

Rice Cooker Recipes – Chicken and Thyme Rice with Carrots

March 20, 2013 2 Comments

When I made Asian chicken with ginger the other night, I also whipped up an easy batch of chicken and thyme rice with carrots as well.

I’m sure if you have ever looked at the ingredients on the back of one of those premixed boxes of rice, some of the ingredients were pretty hard to pronounce. Well guess what? A four year old will be able to pronounce all the ingredients in this simple {and delicious} recipe.

How cool is that?

Ingredients

2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups chicken stock {or water if you prefer}
1 large carrot, diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Measure 2 cups jasmine rice and rinse in a fine-mesh sieve.

Place the chicken stock, rice, carrots, thyme, parsley, and kosher salt in a rice cooker and cook as you would regular white rice.

Or, if you don’t have a rice cooker, place all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Serve as a side dish or hey, just eat a giant bowl of rice for dinner. That works too!

~Mavis

If you love using your rice cooker as much as I do, you’ll want to check out The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook . The book is filled with 250 awesome possum recipes.

Filed Under: Easy Side Dish Recipes, Recipe, Salads & Sides Tagged With: Chicken and Thyme Rice with Carrots, Easy Side Dish Recipes, recipe, rice

Easy Crock Pot Recipes – Asian Chicken with Ginger

March 19, 2013 6 Comments

Yesterday I made another super delicious crock pot meal for dinner. The weather was really nice and I didn’t want to miss my chance to get some garden chores done with the sun shinning. Not only was this crock pot chicken dinner super easy to make, it was delicious too!

Here is the easy peasy recipe:

Ingredients

chicken breasts
2 large carrots, chopped
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vingar
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons, candied ginger {or 1 tablespoon ground ginger}
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons dried parsley

Directions

Add all ingredients in to the crock pot, and cook on low for 5 hours or high for 3 hours. Serve over a bed of rice. Sweet diggety, I love it when I only have to spend 5 minutes making dinner!

Are you in love with your crock pot too? Then be sure and check out more of my favorite crock pot recipes.

My favorite Crock Pot – Crock-Pot Cook’ N Carry 6-Quart Portable Slow Cooker
My favorite Slow Cooker Cookbook – Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook

Filed Under: Crock Pot Recipes, Main Dish Recipes, Recipe Tagged With: chicken, easy crock pot recipes, Main Dish Recipes, recipe

Peanut Butter & Nutella Cookies

March 18, 2013 9 Comments

Ding Ding Ding… We have a winner! This afternoon I made the monkeys a batch of peanut butter and Nutella cookies and boy were they delicious.

Milk and cookies, does it get any better than that?

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter {I used Jif}
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-pourpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Nutella

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl combine the butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla and blend until smooth. Slowly add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until all the ingredients all combined.

Drop spoonfuls of Nutella on top of the dough and then swirl it through the dough with the back of a spoon.

Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to get the perfect sized dough balls, then roll the ball in coarse or granulated sugar. Place on a lined baking sheet {I use silpats} and press the tops of the cookies down the a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 8- 10 minutes.

Makes 4 dozen

Looking or more cookie recipes? Check out the book Milk & Cookies it’s pretty freakin’ delicious.

Filed Under: cookies, Desserts, Recipe Tagged With: cookies, Nutella, peanut butter, Peanut Butter & Nutella Cookies, recipe

Dye Eggs With Natural Ingredients

March 18, 2013 6 Comments

how to dye easter eggs naturally

Did you know you can dye eggs with natural ingredients?

Since my chickens lay brown & green eggs, last year I decided to splurge and buy 2 dozen white eggs at the store and give it a try. I was worried if I used the brown eggs the dye would not be as vibrant, and in the end, I’m glad I went the white eggs {even if they were not as fresh as home~~grown~~ laid eggs}.

vinegar

The process is surprisingly easy. Here are the simple directions:

Blue Eggs: Combine 2-3 cups chopped red cabbage, 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 4 cups of water and simmer for 3o minutes. Drain colored water in a large bowl and steep the desired number of hard-boiled eggs in the colored water for 3 hours {less time if you don’t want dark blue eggs}.

Yellow Eggs: Combine 2 teaspoons turmeric, 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and steep the desired number of hard-boiled eggs in the colored water for 2 hours {less time if you don’t want dark yellow eggs}.

Red Eggs: Combine 1 cup shredded beets {2-3 beets} , 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 4 cups of water and simmer for 3o minutes. Drain colored water in a large bowl and steep the desired number of hard-boiled eggs in the colored water for 3 hours {less time if you don’t want dark pink eggs}.

blue eggs

*Keep in mind that the longer you keep your eggs in the colored water, the deeper your eggs shells will turn out.

naturally dyed easter eggs

Dry your eggs on a cooling rack. Once the eggs have completely dried, use a paint brush to brush away any extra bits. See, I told you it was easy.

how to dye easter eggs naturally

Have you done this before? What did you think? Pretty easy huh?

Looking for the ceramic egg rack featured in this photo? Amazon has it HERE.

Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Recipe Tagged With: Arts & Crafts, Easter, eggs, recipe

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

March 17, 2013 4 Comments

Remember all those bananas I was able to get for free from the reclaimed food boxes Mr. Produce Guy gave me? Well a few days ago I whipped up a batch of whole wheat banana pancakes and holy cow they were good. The monkeys at my house were jumping on the bed they were so good.

To make sure everything is blended real smooth, I toss all the ingredients in to the blender and give it a whirl.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk {how to make buttermilk}
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 ripe bananas, mashed
Cooking spray

Directions

To make things go faster, I add all the ingredients to a blender starting with the liquids and then give it a whirl until the batter is nice and smooth. Of course you can mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, but that would be to civilized for me.

Heat a nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray or butter {everything is better with butter}. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle. Turn pancakes over when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve with maple syrup, butter and a few sliced bananas on top.

Dig in!

Looking for a new griddle? I’ve had my Presto Cool Touch Electric Griddle for about 7 or 8 years now and I love it!

Filed Under: breakfast, Recipe Tagged With: bananas, pancakes, recipe, Sunday brunch recipe

St. Patrick’s Day Recipe Round Up

March 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

Looking for a good recipes for St. Patrick’s Day? Here are a few of my favorites:

Guinness Beef Stew

Irish Soda Bread

Guinness Black and Tan Brownies

How to Make Rainbow Cupcakes

Rainbow Waffles

Rainbow Jello

Do YOU make anything special for St. Patrick’s Day?

~Mavis

Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: recipe, St. Patrick's Day

DIY Apple Pie Spice Mix + Apple Pie Recipe

March 15, 2013 5 Comments

I made an apple pie this morning with all those yummy granny smith apples I found in the reclaimed food boxes this week. I used my favorite recipe for DIY Apple Pie Spice Mix and I thought I’d share it with you. This recipe makes enough for 2 apple pies and let me tell you Bob, someone should really invent smellavision, because this combination of spices is awesome!

Here is the recipe:

DIY Apple Pie Spice Ingredients

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until well-combined. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.

Here is my favorite recipe for homemade apple pie:

Ingredients for filling

6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 tablespoon apple pie spice mix
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 egg {for egg wash}

Ingredients for the Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup vegetable shorting {I used Crisco}
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold water

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees

Combine pie crust ingredients together, divide in half, roll into a ball, use the palm of your hand to flatten crust to about 1 inch. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Roll out 1 crust and line a pie plate with it.

Combine filling ingredients in a large bowl and toss to coat. Pour filling into crust lined pie plate and add second {flattened} crust. Crimp edges of pie crust together and brush with egg wash.

Pace on a lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until juices are bubbling.

Cool. Serve with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream or whipping cream.

Looking for a cool pie plate? Amazon has these ones in stock and ready to ship.

If you haven’t tried my recipe for Apple Pie Jam, you really need to. It’s freakin’ awesome if I do say so myself.

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Mavis

Filed Under: Recipe, spice mixes Tagged With: apple pie, recipe, spice mixes

Grilled Asparagus With Pine Nuts Recipe

March 14, 2013 5 Comments

I’m sure you’ve noticed all the deals on asparagus in the stores lately, and I’m not sure how you prepare asparagus, but my family likes their little greens trees grilled. If it’s a wee bit chilly at your place to fire up the barbie, you can also grill these bad boys in the oven.

Ingredients

1 pound asparagus, trimmed
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Fire up the bbq to medium heat or the oven to 425 degrees. Place the asparagus on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, give it a shake and cook for 7-10 minutes in the oven or place the asparagus in a grill pan and cook on the bbq until tender {about 5 minutes}.

Place the asparagus on a plate and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

How to YOU like your asparagus? Steamed, grilled, raw?

~Mavis