Snickerdoole Cookies

This post in honor of my hubby for both his 30th birthday this past Monday and our 1st Wedding Anniversary last Sunday. There's a little story that goes with this recipe, so I hope you don't mind if I reminisce for a bit.

Four years ago I began playing bass drum for Prairie Thistle Pipes and Drums. When I started college without a car, I needed rides to and from practice, so I sent out an email to the band, asking if anyone would be willing to pick me up on Tuesday nights. The man that would two years later become my husband was the first to offer. This began a great friendship that was deeply rooted in long, thoughtful conversation. Sometimes these talks would last way past the end of band rehearsal, but neither one wanted to end the night's conversation. So, as the days past, the friendship grew and mutual feelings developed. Although both were very outgoing, both were reluctant to express feelings in a more direct manner.

During one of these conversations in May of 2008, the subject of cookies was brought up. I offered to make cookies for David's birthday, if he would tell me when his birthday was. Although cookies were a strong motivation to divulge this information, he stuck to his guns and would not tell me his birthday. I decided that more covert measures needed to be taken and it just so happened that a conversation one night with a neighborhood cop produced the needed information.

So on Friday, May 30, 2008 I made cookies for the birthday boy and suggested we go to dinner to celebrate. It was later that night on a very, very, very long walk around my small hometown that we finally opened up and the rest is history! Of course, the cookies were snickerdoodles and even though he doesn't have a favorite cookie (he likes them all) snickerdoodles were ones he mentioned he liked. So, in honor of this historic event (for us anyway), here is the snickerdoodle recipe. Hope you didn't mind the rambling.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
  
• 2-3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Mix dry ingredients and add creamed mixture. Form small walnut-size balls. Roll balls in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for about 7 minutes until cracks appear in top.

Enjoy & Happy Birthday to my Hubby! I love you!

Cheesy Spinach Egg Casserole

I fell in love with this recipe at a bridal shower that was given for my hubby and I by his side of the family before we were married. His aunt Joan made this casserole for the brunch and I thought it was fantastic! I finally got the recipe and have tried it out on a few other people. My hubby took some to work a few weeks ago and it was a hit there too. We're having it once again to night for supper, as we both love breakfast for supper. I hope you'll try this recipe out too and love it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 24 oz container cottage cheese, don't drain
  
• 7 eggs
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 6 oz frozen spinach
• 1 Tbsp Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt
• 5 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sauteed chopped onion

Directions:
Thaw and drain spinach well. put cottage cheese in mixing bowl and beat in one egg at a time. cut up butter and put in mixture and add cheese. Add spinach, seasoning and slowly add flour 1 Tbsp at a time to avoid lumps. Add onion. Bake in a well-greased 9x13 pan or in 2 pie pans, uncovered at 325 degrees F for 1 hour.

You can also add any breakfast meat of your choice to the recipe. Also, it works great to mix it up the night before if you're making it for breakfast or brunch the next day!

Enjoy!

Barbecue-glazed Salmon

This recipe came from Real Simple magazine, which I just recently started getting. They have had a lot of fish recipes and I tried out this salmon recipe on my hubby last night. Two thumbs up! And it's so simple too!

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon steaks
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Place oven rack on highest setting and preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Line baking sheet with foil and grease with cooking spray. Season salmon steaks with salt and pepper. Brush tops of salmon liberally with barbecue sauce. Bake for 8-12min until salmon flakes easily with fork.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Enchiladas

Supper got postponed Tuesday do to the threat of a storm and the lawn needing to be mowed before it hit. I put the oven on warm and ran out with the push mower until it ran out of fuel, while my hubby tore through the yard on his grandma's Kubota tractor. Needless to say the lawn got mowed and we got fed. Let the rains come! Now, let's get down to the good stuff:

Black Bean Enchiladas

Filling:

• 1 onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red or green bell pepper
• 2-15 oz. cans black beans
• 3/4 cup salsa
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground chipotle (optional)

Other ingredients you'll need:

• 6-8 flour tortillas (I use multi-grain) or 12 corn tortillas
• 2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• fresh chopped tomatoes (optional)
  
• sour cream (optional)
  
• sliced black olives (optional)

On medium-high heat cook onion, garlic peppers and beans for about 5 minutes. Add salsa, cumin, chili powder and chipotle. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Smash some of the beans with a fork or leave them be if you'd like a different texture. Divide mixture evenly between tortillas and sprinkle some cheese in each enchilada, laying them side by side, rolled up in a 9x13 pan. Pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the top. Cover with foil and back at 350 degrees F for about 20-30 min or until bubbly.

For another variation: layer corn tortillas in the pan and layer the filling, cheese and tortillas like lasagna and add enchilada sauce to the top for a Enchilada casserole.

Enjoy!

Celebration Week(end) Menu

This week is a short week for meals at home. We're having supper with our newly established potluck group tonight and Friday starts a weekend of celebrations! My husband and I are celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary on Sunday and starting the celebrations on Friday with a night up in the Chicago suburbs, a family reunion of sorts on Saturday and a special treat for evening on Sunday. Also, Monday is my hubby's golden birthday and gets the day off because of Memorial Day!

Tuesday: Black-bean enchiladas, salad, chips and salsa (Didn't get to make this last week or post about it)

Wednesday: Barbecue-glazed Salmon with green beans and corn

Thursday: Cheesy Spinach Egg Casserole with hash browns and peaches

There will be a special post this week that celebrate both my hubby's birthday and our anniversary! Stay tuned!

No Cottage Cheese Vegetable Lasagna

This is an original recipe that I created back in high school. I love lasagna, but prefer it without cottage cheese, or ricotta. So I decided I would add a bunch of veggies and mozzarella cheese! I've tweeked it over the years and this is the end result. Of course you could add cottage cheese to the recipe if you'd like. I won't mind... :)

Vegetable Lasagna

• 9-12 whole grain lasagna pasta sheets
• 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce, store-bought or homemade (I like Prego Traditional if not homemade)
• 1-2 cup package of part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2-3 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 onion cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Cook lasagna pasta as directed on the package. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Once onion begins to soften, add zucchini and eggplant. Cook for about 8 min, or until zucchini and eggplant soften, but zucchini is still tender-crisp. Add Italian seasoning and cook for another minute.

Now comes the fun part-layering! In a 9x13 casserole pan, put a thin layer of sauce as a base. Then layer 3-4 lasagna sheets to cover the bottom of the pan. Top with another thin layer of sauce, 1/2 of the vegetable mixture and a 1/3 of the package of cheese. Cover with 3-4 sheets of pasta and follow layering steps again. Cover with the last of the pasta, sauce and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes until cheese on top begins to turn golden brown.

I usually serve this up with the traditional sides of salad and garlic bread. This is not exactly a meal for two, so we always have leftovers.

Enjoy!

Emmy

Easy Crock Pot Italian Beef

Dinner for the family of 11 went wonderfully! I had two Crock Pots going all day (I doubled this recipe) and came home to a house that smelled amazing! This recipe is super simple and tastes great! I remember it from growing up at home, as this recipe came from my mom, who got it from a friend. Sorry no picture, but I'm sure you can already smell the Crock Pot goodness! :)

Crock Pot Italian Beef

• 2-1/2 lbs. beef roast, chuck roast, or chuck steak (fat trimmed)
  
• 1 cup water
• 2 dry Italian salad dressing packets
• 8 hoagie rolls

In a cold Crock Pot, place thawed or fresh roast. Pour dressing packets over meat. Pour water over all. Cover and cook 6 hours on high heat, 8 hours on low, or overnight on low until meat shreds easily with a fork.

That's it! Enjoy!

Garden 2011

I don't think I started this blog soon enough last year to chronicle our garden from last year. This is mostly due to the major event that was taken place in my husband and I's lives last year. We got married! It's crazy to think that our first anniversary is coming up!

Anyway I did get a garden out this year--two for that matter. The garden in the backyard got a make-over with three new raised beds for my veggies. I came up with the idea to try raised beds with mulched paths in between the beds to help with weed control. I'll be getting newspaper and grass clippings out soon took try to keep weeds from springing up in unwanted places. As you can see from the pictures, the beds only take up half of the garden. The other half has potatoes and onions, as well as a few vagabond grape and strawberry plants from out neighbor. As for the contents of the raised beds:


Far left: This is my salad bowl...err, box. Two kinds of lettuce (bib & mixed loose leaf), kale, leeks, green onions, black cherry tomatoes and spinach. A fence will be going up shortly to keep the bunnies out.

Center: Lots of peppers (although the bunnies already clipped a few). Green, yellow, and read bell peppers, Marchoni peppers-longer sweet peppers, and Ichiban eggplant.

Far right: HERBS! Lots-o-Basil, rosemary, mint, thyme, Italian flat-leaf parsley, onion chives and some sage that hasn't been planted yet.

I mentioned that I actually have two gardens this year. My husband's grandmother gave me free-range in her garden this year. Her garden is quite a bit bigger, but it was fun to try to fill with all kinds of veggie goodies.

I planted:

• green beans
• tomatoes
• more eggplant
• zucchini squash
• yellow summer squash
• butternut squash
• acorn squash
• sugar pumpkins

Grandma already had lettuce, spinach, peppers, cabbage, radishes, and beats.

There should be a bounty of produce, Lord willing, this summer and through the fall. Let's hope the rains and weather (and those pesky rabbits) cooperate!

New Menu

Sorry it's late, but who knew that I could stay so busy without papers to write or grade, lessons to plan, or other academics to tie me down. Anyway, here it is:

Monday: Spanish rice; salad
Tuesday: Split Pea soup; homemade foccocia bread
Wednesday: Vegetarian Lasagna; salad
Thursday: Black bean enchiladas; peaches
Friday: Grilled Teriaki Salmon steaks; veggie fried rice

Bonus meal: Crock-pot Italian Beef*

*A family in our church just had their 9th child (yes, you can say it....WOW!) and I'm taking them supper on Friday with help from a friend from church. This is quite the 'quantity" challenge for me, so I'm using my mom's recipe for Italian Beef that can serve a crowd with a bigger roast than normal...definitely not vegetarian! :)

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon Steaks

Way back in February a couple from our church invited us and a few other couples to their home for a Valentine's Day dinner. It was fantastic! She had everything planned just perfect and the food was great! The entree for the night was smoked teriyaki salmon steaks. I hadn't had salmon for a while and it was so good! They got the teriyaki marinade recipe up in Canada and I'm hoping to get that recipe soon. In the mean time, we used store-bought teriyaki and frozen salmon steaks from Sam's. I prefer wild-caught, as opposed to farm-raised, but farm-raised is cheaper and still tasty. The recipe is quick and easy. Perfect for a nice meal any night of the week!

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon Steaks--for two :)

2 salmon steaks
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (our favorite store-bought is Soy Vay brand)

Grill prep:
Medium hot grill (we have charcoal)
Fish grilling basket (if you have one. If you don't aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray works too).

Marinade salmon steaks in teriyaki sauce for 45min-1hour. Grill steaks 7-8 min per side. Salmon should flake off in big chunks. Smaller chunks means it's over cooked. If you can't flake the salmon, it's not done yet.

Our favorite sides with salmon are pictured. Wild rice blend (Uncle Ben's) and green beans (fresh is best!)

Enjoy!

Emmy

I'm back!

With graduation tomorrow I'm hoping to be back to blogging! This has been one crazy and challenging semester. Student teaching took so much of my time that even some necessary things (like cooking) found themselves on the back burner-haha. I've told numerous people that if it wasn't for a husband to feed, I might not have eaten much during student teaching. Lesson plans, grading and class work for my college class kept me from ever feeling ahead of the game. However, I did enjoy my teaching experience. There aren't too many job prospects out there right now, but I am content with where the Lord has me right now. I'll wait on Him for the next step-whatever that may be.

So in the mean time, it's back to cooking! I've been cooking more recently and trying some new recipes. Most of the new ones have involved fish--salmon and tilapia! I've rediscovered a taste for seafood and have been finding new ways to incorporate it into meals. As a vegetarian, I'm constantly looking to spice up my diet with some much needed nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Here's a taste of what I'm planning to feature in the near future (once I get some more photos taken). I would also like to get menus up and running again shortly!

• Panko-Parmesan Crusted Tilapia fillets
• Black Bean Enchiladas
• Grilled Teriaki Salmon Steaks
• Vegetarian Spanish Rice
• Colcannon (Irish mashed potatoes with kale)

Thank you to those who told me they missed my posts! It sure makes a girl feel good! :) Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle soon. I just found I pic of the salmon, so looks like that's first!

God Bless!

Emmy