Blizzard Food

Our little house on White Street covered in white! And Willy our cat!

Well, as most of you reading this may be overly aware, we got hit with a blizzard on Tuesday into Wednesday. I started student teaching on Monday and that has been the only day this week that I've had to go to school! Three snow days in a row has meant for some time to get caught up on working on some lesson materials and cooking! I wish I had a nickel for ever time I've heard someone mention how much they've eaten in the last few days with being snowed in. Well, I tried to keep the baking of calorie laden goodies to a minimum, but I have been able to make some really yummy comfort food that is at least somewhat healthy. Since my husband was snowed in with my Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a lot of time to share together in our kitchen eating and talking. I miss him today! :)

French toast for breakfast!

Here are some of the things I've made:

Breakfast:

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
French Toast w/ Cranapple bread from Great Harvest Bread Company

Soup:

17 Bean and Barley soup (Trader Joe's bean and barley mix)

Supper:

Spanish Rice with Black Beans
Vegetarian Chili with Honey Cornbread

I forgot to take pictures of most of this, but I'll still try to post eventually. Hope everyone is warm and safe!

Eat GOOD food! :)

e

Calzones

Calzones have been a hit in our house, as you can tell from the two thumbs up I got from my hubby! :) Here's the recipe!

Whole Wheat dough

1-1/4 cups all-purpose white flour
~1-1/2 to 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water (120-130 degrees)
2 Tbsp olive oil

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the white flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat of high speed for 3 minutes. using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes). Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 min.
Calzones

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease baking sheets or pizza pans and sprinkle with cornmeal. Roll each dough into about 13in circle. Transfer circles to prepared pans. Spread sauce, cheese, veggies and meat of your choice on one half of the circle. Fold dough in half, enclosing filling and seal edges tightly by pressing done with a fork or rolling tight. Prick tops; brush top with milk. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. I like to mix the parm with Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle or you could use Italian seasoning.

Some filling options we like:
Prego Traditional sauce
Mozzarella and Provolone shredded cheese
Ground turkey burger
broccoli
peppers
onions

or try something a bit more adventurous like BBQ chicken with caramelized onions and shredded cheddar with BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce!

Enjoy!
e

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows

I had so much fun making the marshmallows, I decided to dress them up a bit for Christmas!


Ingredients:

• 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• homemade marshmallows
  

Toppings:

• sweetened flaked coconut
• 2 candy canes or peppermint candies
• walnuts (or any nut you like)

Directions

Double boiler: I used a small saucepan with about 2 inches of water hand got it boiling on the stove. Then I set a medium sized stainless steel bowl on top of the pan, making sure the water wasn't touching the bowl. Add the package of chocolate chips and stir until melted completely. Dip the top of the marshmallows in the chocolate and set upright no a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Top with any topping that sounds good to you. These were a hit and really tasty! Of course you could do the same with store bought marshmallows to dress them up for a party. Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and are looking forward to the new year to come!

Much love!

e

Homemade Marshmallows

I have found my new favorite Christmas treat! Homemade marshmallows! I have had so much fun making them the past few days and trying out different recipes. While most of the recipes I found are pretty much the same, there are a host of different flavors you can make. So far I've made peppermint and vanilla. They have turned out great and it's so fun to do something other than cookies or fudge! Make sure you have a candy thermometer (I'm borrowing one from my grandmother-in-law :)). My poor Kitchen Aid mixer is tuckered out...I'm making more as I type! :)


Ingredients

• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
  
• 1 cup ice cold water, divided
• 12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
• 1 cup light corn syrup (Karo or generic)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (optional-I didn't use it because I didn't have any)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or peppermint)
  
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• Nonstick spray

**red gel food coloring

Directions

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixture on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Lightly spray an 8x8 pan with cooking or baking spray and dust with powdered sugar, tapping out the excess.

With a greased spatula, scoop mixture into pan and flatten out the top the best you can. **For the peppermint marshmallows, drop about 7 drops of red gel food coloring on top and swirl into marshmallows with a knife**. Let marshmallow mixture set and cool for at least 4 hours.

After 4 hours, turn out mixture onto a heavily powdered sugared surface. With a greased knife, cut marshmallows into 1 inch squares (they will be 2 inches tall in the 8x8 pan so you'll have to cut them half), making sure to dust each side with powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking to you, each other and any other surface they can find to stick to!

Stay tuned for chocolate dipped marshmallows coming soon to a foodie blog near you! :)

Enjoy!

e

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

After a cold snowy day and delivering Christmas goodies to the neighbors, French Onion soup sounded good. Most French onion soups are made with beef broth. I just replace it with vegetable broth. The soup is lighter than the traditional, but still yummy. We even got some Jarlsberg cheese to broil on top! Perfect way to end the night!

Ingredients

• 2 quarts vegetable broth
• 2 pounds yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced (about 6-7 medium size, no need to be too precise)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Loaf of French bread, cut in one-inch slices
• ½ pound Gruyere cheese, shredded or sliced

Directions

1. Heat the oil in the pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onions to the hot pot and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The onions should become soft but not yet browned.
3. Add the sugar, salt, and pepper, and continue cooking for about 20 minutes. Stir frequently and lower the heat if necessary to avoid burning the onions. They should be golden brown and soft. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
   
4. Add the garlic and broth and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes. You can keep the soup warm on the stove until ready to broil and serve, or allow it to cool and keep it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
6. When ready to serve, heat the broiler (we used the broil setting on our toaster oven and it worked great!) and ladle the soup into individual oven-safe bowls.
7. Top each bowl with a layer of bread and cover the bread with the cheese.
   
8. Heat under the broiler until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Krinkle Cookies

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2-3/4 tsp baking powder
1-1/8 cups shortening or butter (I use butter flavored shortening)
2-3/4 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar and cocoa for about 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until well blended. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix only until combined. chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop the dough by the tablespoon (I use a small ice cream scoop) into the powdered sugar and roll until well coated. Place on greased cookie sheets (I cover sheets with parchment so I don't have to grease them--easier clean up!) and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Do not over bake. Loosen the cookies from the pan while still warm.I LOVE my stacking cooling racks! So great for a small kitchen!

Enjoy!
e

Homemade Granola

I got this recipe from a lady at our church. She is super frugal and told me this recipe would make a lot. I decided it would be good to make it and give it out this year with my soup jars! It's very honey-y, but delicious! You can add pretty much any kind of dried fruit or nuts you want to it when it's cooled. I used golden raisins, sliced almonds, and chopped dates. I also used local honey!

Ingredients

10 cups cornflakes (or do 1/2 cornflakes, 1/2 rice crispies)
10 cups regular or quick oats (I used regular)
2 cups coconut (optional-I did)
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2 cups wheat germ (optional-I didn't)

Mix the above in a very large bowl (preferably one that can go in the oven-like stainless steel)

In another bowl mix:
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
1-2/3 cup oil

Then add:
1-1/4 cup honey (add honey last or you will have a sugary ball of goo that won't mix well. believe me...) :)

Stir all together. Bake in bowl at 250 degrees F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes (the granola stays moist if you bake it in the bowl instead of a cookies sheet, but if you don't have an oven safe bowl, a cookie sheet works fine...just make sure it's big!)

Once the mixture is cooled you can add a total of 5 cups of fruits, nuts or whatever you like. Here's an example:
2-1/2 cups raisin/ craisins
1-1/4 cup dried apricots, or other dried fruit
1-1/4 cup slivered/chopped almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.

Enjoy!

e