Gluten Free Mushroom and Fennel Quinoa Stuffing

My husband is NOT a quinoa fan. I keep trying, and he keeps HATING it! Makes me so sad because I love it. 

We got a fennel, celery, and pack of mushrooms in our bountiful baskets recently and I didn't know what to do with it. We haven't been SUPER impressed with our fennel when we've got it previously. I found this recipe and I am not kidding you, I BEGGED my husband to just try it. 

I may have just been really hungry that day, I am not sure, but it was GONE in a matter of minutes! We made this for lunch, and we loved it! My husband said, "That's the best quinoa we've had so far" (and I think we've had some pretty great quinoa recipes!) 

I wanted to share this with you all in case you are in a predicament like me...or you just want some good food! I highly recommend this! 

Photo from Skinnytaste.com 

Mushroom and Fennel Quinoa Stuffing

*we added sausage to it, and it really was a complete Thanksgiving stuffing! sooo good! 

Banana Cake

Photo from journeytothepastblog.blogspot.com

Banana Bread is my absolute favorite thing EVER! Seriously, it was what I asked for my birthdays for many years because I love it! A few weeks ago, my husband had a random cooking mood and decided to make banana cake (he didn't even remember I love banana bread) and was so shocked when I was in LOVE with it (no- I will not tell you how much of it I ate).

I was so in love, I asked him if we could make it again but experiment a little. The second time around, we added less sugar, more bananas, and chocolate and butterscotch chips! SO good! We didn't even end up making the frosting, just ate it as is! I even loved this cake so much, I asked him to make it for me for my birthday next year! :)

Here's the scoop on this deliciousness!

1 c. sugar                                              
1/2 c butter or margarine                        
2 eggs                                                    
1 cup buttermilk                                    
2 cups flour                                            
1 tsp baking powder                                
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 ripe/mushed bananas
1/2 c butter/marg.
1 cup brown sugar, not packed
1/4 cup milk
1 1/3 c powdered sugar

Cream together sugar, 1/2 c  butter, buttermilk (can substitute 1 c milk and 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice-just let it sit for 5 minutes). Add flour, baking soda, eggs, and banana. Put in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool. To make the icing combine butter and brown sugar. Stirring constantly, boil on low heat for 2 minutes. Add milk and stir just to boiling. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm (about 15 minutes). Add by whisking in the powdered sugar. Pour over cake.

Cabbage...Oh Cabbage!

Sorry it's been such a long time since I have posted! I have been busy crafting, and doing things, just haven't been really great at documenting them! I'll have to show you what I am up to these days (soon)!

I don't know if you guys are cabbage lovers, but that is one vegetable that we have really hard to learn to like since we get it on occasion from our bountiful baskets. If you are a cabbage loving family, have you tried this recipe?? It has become our favorite "go to" meal with cabbage! I hope you'll try it!

Skillet Ham, Cabbage and Potatoes

Another recipe we love with cabbage is GYOZA. The only problem, is it takes quite a while to make enough for your family.  But if you have helpers it goes by much faster!

GYOZA (from the Clarke Family):

1 lb. raw hamburger                                                      
5 medium sized leaves of Napa Cabbage, Shredded      
1/2 Medium Onion, chopped                                          
2 garlic cloves, finely minced                                            
1 tsp. ginger powder *we've never used this since we don't have it
1 dash black pepper
1/4 c. Soy Sauce
1 pkg round or square Won Ton Wraps
Sesame Oil

In a mixing bowl, sprinkle the cabbage with salt and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Squeeze all the water out, then mix in the raw hamburger, onion, garlic, ginger, pepper and soy sauce. Place about 1 tablespoon of mixture on each won ton wrap, and fold in half, seasling the edges with a small amount of cool water. Put 1 1/2 tablespoon of oil in the bottom of a skilled and crowd gyoza in a single layer. Cook on medium high until the wraps are brown on the bottom. Add 1/4 cup water, cover the skillet with a lid and turn the heat down. Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve with rice and sweet and sour sauce or a sauce made with mustard and soy sauce.

**We have experimented with this to bake in the oven to cook more at a time, and it works great! We place our ready-to-cook won ton wraps on a cookie sheet with high edges, add a little bit of oil to the bottom, and cook at 350 until they are golden brown, and a little crisp, about 15 minutes.

**
We have also tried this recipe without the the won ton wraps, and just put it over rice. It's good, but you have to make you sure you at least double the sweet and sour sauce, if not triple, to get enough to cover the rice.

Thick, Hearty, may I even say Sexy Pancakes?!

So my wee one and I caught bronchitis recently and the thing I have been waiting most anxiously for is enough energy to cook again! I love cooking!

I have a large pile of bananas turning brown, and even more in my freezer, so I needed something to do with my bananas and ALL I could think about was banana oatmeal pancakes...EXTREME style! (haha okay, just really good!)

Here's what I came up with randomly throwing things into my bowl, and I must say, I was pretty darn pleased! I am not kidding you when I say these are thick, hearty, and sexy! (See my beautiful picture with all the goodness on top!)

So, I will admit, I am a texture person, and so I either have to go chunky, or not eat it! If it has any chunks at all, it's gotta be really chunky for me to be able to gobble it down. So you can make this a little less chunky if you so choose.

Blue Berry, Banana Oatmeal Pancakes:                          Yields: 6-8 medium to large pancakes




1 1/2 c. white wheat flour
1/2 c. oat flour (I ground up oatmeal in my mini seed mill)
1/4 c. old fashion oats
1 c. apple sauce
2 bananas (riper the better!)
1/4 c. blue berries (ours were frozen)
1 egg
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
shake or two of salt

Add all the ingredients into a large bowl, use a hand mixer to mix. I left the bananas and blueberries a little chunky (not completely smooth mixture). Cook on a large griddle at 300 degrees for 3-5 minutes each side. *These are THICK so they need time to cook through* These are also not super sweet pancakes, so that is why I added the more sweeter toppings! You may play around as you wish to get the sweetness to your liking!

Top with butter, syrup, chopped up bananas, blueberries, cool whip, nuts, ect. Anything your heart desires! Enjoy!
 

Crock Pot Freezer Meal Series

Crockpot meals are always nice when life is crazy! Sadly, i wish i was better about doing this lately! Our typical conversation at about 4:30pm is, "So, what do you want for dinner?" Because we haven't planned our meals out (I hate that!) Here are a few of our favorite "go to meals"

 Southwestern Chicken: (I got this from a website a long time ago but can't remember where, so sorry I can't give proper credit)

1 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
2 lg boneless, skinless ckicken breast
1-16 oz jar of medium heat salsa

TOPPINGS:
shredded cheese
tortillas or chips
sour cream
cilantro
avacado

Pour bag of frozen corn in bottom of crockpot. Place chicken breasts on top of corn and cover with rinsed and drained black beans, salsa, and cilantro. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Serve with toppings and chips or tortillas.
*can also place all ingredients in freezer zip l8ck bag and cook on a later date.

Garlic & Pineapple Chicken:

1 lb chicken breast
1/4 tsp onion powder & garlic powder *I like a lot so I do 1 tsp.
8 oz pineapple chunk in juice (save 1/4 cup)
1 Tbsp. Brown sugar
5 oz sweet & sour sauce
16 oz frozen mixed veggies (broccoli,  peas, peppers,  whatever you like. We do Mediterranean blend)

In a bowl add wet ingredients, powders, and sugar, mix well. Place in greased crockpot over chicken. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, add chopped veggies last 30 minutes, cook on high. Serve over rice.

Chicken Cassiatoré: *we just had this last week and loved it!

1-10oz can tomato soup
1 28oz can chopped/diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 tsp minced garlic (we like 1 tsp)
1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 c chopped green pepper
1/2 c chopped mushrooms (we uses 1 can)
1/2 c onion, chopped
1 lb chicken breast
Pasta or rice *we did spaghetti noodles

Mix sauces, add to crock pot. Add rest of ingredients, except rice or noodles. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.  Serve with rice or pasta al dente.

Ham & Cheesy Potatoes:

1 bag frozen diced potatoes with onions and peppers (thawed)
8 oz shredded cheddar & monterey jack cheese blend
1 can cream of celery soup
8 oz sour cream
3 lb fully cooked smoked ham *or 3 cups cubed ham

Spray cooker. Add ingredients to crockpot. Cut ham lenth wise in half and place in potatoe mixture. Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours or until potatoes are done. Remove ham and slice for serving.

Steak and noodles (from Families on the go)

2lbs stew meat
2 cans french onion soup (undiluted)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
1 pkg wide egg noodles
*I like to add chopped zucchini
* I also like to add 1 can worth of water

Combine all ingredients into slow cooker except noodles. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over noodles.

Brussels Sprouts (Yeah, I know you're grossed out already!)

I recently volunteered to be a Bountiful Basket Site Coordinator in our area (man, it's a lot more work than you think!) But I have been loving it! It feels great to be involved with our community, and helping to provide families with fruits and vegetables to feed their families!

This week in our baskets we got Brussels sprouts. It was SO funny to hear the "you can have my brussel sprouts, if I can have this..." to those who exclaimed excitedly, "Yes! I love brussel sprouts!"
Believe me, there are a LOT of them who think they're gross...and I am one of them!

I asked some of the people that like Brussels sprouts how they prepare them (I am a firm believer it matters how you "try" it) most of them said they steam, boil, ect...the common ways. But I also had a few who said the best way is to saute them. Who would have thought to saute a Brussels sprout?! NOT ME!

They also gave some suggestions like adding garlic, butter, Parmesan cheese, bacon, onions, ect. I decided I was going to try experimenting with my Brussels sprouts to find a way to like them-not love them-but like them.

I am actually scarfing this down now as we speak (yes I am starving, but it's also really good..for a Brussels sprout!)

Here is what  I came up with! Be brave!! Try it!! It's really not that bad! I am NOT gagging it down, like I have other vegetables!

Brussels Sprout Saute:

Egg noodles-follow package directions (I did about 1 cup uncooked for myself)
onion, diced (I did 1/4 of a medium sized on)
brussels sprouts, washed, and sliced (I did 4 little ones)
ham, diced (ours was an actual ham we cooked a while ago, divided up, and froze)
1 tbs. olive oil
shake or two of salt
1 tsp garlic powder
shake or two of fresh ground pepper

I am not giving you exact amounts, because honestly, I have no idea, and I made it for myself, not for my whole family. So do what looks good to you!

*I learned that if you cook Brussels sprouts too long, they'll be really bitter, so cook your onions, and ham to get the favor going, then add the Brussels sprouts last to they get lightly sauteed.

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup (You'll Actually Eat!)

My husband and I had a really rushed day the other night, and we have been slacking in planning our dinners! The typical, "What do you want for dinner?" conversation totally happened, except this time, it was..."We have 25 minutes to make dinner, what do you want?"

Grilled cheese sandwiches are always our "hurry up we need dinner" meal, and so of course we decided that's what we'd have. However, I knew that wouldn't be enough to fill my big eater husband up, so it needed to be filling. We decided to experiment with the soup portion because it was the easiest to make more filling, and it's our least favorite part. It's great to dip, but honestly SO much of our soup goes right in the garbage afterwards (such a waste!)

Here is what we came up with, and it really was good! My husband wrote the recipe card and titled it:

This is not our soup! Just a picture I found online 

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup (You'll Actually Eat!):

1 can Tomato Soup +1 can water
1 can drained corn (or frozen corn)
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chilis (or use fresh! we get TONS of both in our Bountiful Baskets)
1 can ranch style beans, drained
1-2 oz cream cheese
*we decided a little cilantro would be amazing in this too!

Place all ingredients in a pot, stirring occasionally, until cream cheese is melted & soup is heated.

Awesome Grilled Cheese Fixins:
Pepperoni
Guacamole
Instead of cheddar, try mozzarella cheese *we LOVE mozzarella!

How I do Freezer Meals- Maybe it's the lazy version way??

To all you mama's out there who can sit down and cook for 4+ hours and make a large number of freezer meals all at once, Kudo's to you! I am not one of those moms! Yes, I am only chasing one little monster, rather than some of you who are chasing multiple, but it just never really works out (as much as I wish it did). So I have come up with a real-life-mama-who-doesn't-have-hours-to-spend-in-the-kitchen-solution!

If you knew my husband, you would know he's a big eater-sometimes I feel like I am feeding a house full of teenage boys, and he is my only one! For those of you REALLY feeding a house full of boys-oye! Good luck! I feel like I can barely keep up, so I can't imagine how you REALLY do keep up!

One of my favorite things about cooking is experimenting. I like to try new things, try new ingredients in already perfected recipes, and I love to make my man happy with lunches prepared for him to take to work.

I have found the easiest thing for me to do to get freezer meals/lunches, ect to actually make it to the freezer (instead of being eaten all at once for dinner) is to double, or sometimes triple, or even quadruple the recipe! That may seem like a lot of work to you, but in my mind, I already AM doing the work. I am cooking dinner for THAT night right then and there, so I may as well make dinner or lunches for a few more nights while I am at it!

Here are a few of my favorite things and recipes to freeze, that we really love to have on hand. First of all, I have to preface, we're not big meat eaters! So in almost every recipe that I have adapted for us, it's how WE like it, and how WE cook it. If it's not enough meat for you, or too spicy, or whatever, feel free to experiment and make it work for your family! We're pretty adventurous when it comes to food, and I know some of you are not! Hope these can help you're little family! Happy cooking!

Carley's Favorite Meals to Freeze:

1. Meatloaf (and recently a Southwest Meatloaf): personally I am all about what I like to refer to as "veggie purging"-using as many vegetables in recipes as possible-because I know there are days when we don't have many, or there are days when I have a ton of veggies in my fridge that need to be used ASAP. This is one of my favorite to veggie purge with!

2. Chicken Chili- this is another one of my absolute favorite veggie purging meals! I love it because it's easy, it's filling for my man, and can easily be divided into smaller servings for him to take to lunch. Add a little corn bread muffin or two, (which I freeze those too, they'll be in a later post!) have it thaw in his lunch box, and it's ready to roll!

3. Lasagna- seriously, the easiest lasagna to throw together EVER! I love this recipe. It's even a quick meal, when you don't have it pre-frozen. It works great for lunches too! Just cook it, let it cool, and divide into smaller freezer ziplock bags!

4. Potato Soup

5. Sweet Pork recipe (or for chicken). We almost always use this for chicken instead of pork, mainly because we hardily have pork on hand. But it's a great recipe to have for salads, tostadas, burritos, ect. Or just to serve with rice and black beans. I'll share with you my "black bean concoction."

6. Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole This is a great one when you're feeling for something a little "fancy" but don't want to put the effort into a gourmet meal!

7. Carley's Enchiladas This is my husband's favorite meal I have made him since we have been married! He was so certain his favorite meal was lasagna, until he had this, and every since, he is always requesting these! *cilantro is a good add to this too!

8. Chicken and Dumpling Casserole

 9. Tater Tot Casserole

10. Stromboli LOVE This one for lunches!

11. Tortellini Stew I LOVE this one! My brother actually made it for a family event-he uses marinara sauce (what's the difference?!) I just use spaghetti sauce since I have it on hand, and if I am really craving it, will add a touch of sugar to make it a little sweeter!


Stay tuned for my next post on "sides" I love to have ready in my freezer! Which will include breadsticks, muffins, muffins, muffins, and so much more!

Carley

Homemade Baby Wipes

This is by far one of the GREATEST gifts we ever received as a baby shower present when we were expecting baby #1. It has something that even my husband recommends giving to everyone we get invited to their baby showers. I don't know if any of my friends who I have given this as baby shower gifts have actually tried this recipe and love it as much as I do, but anyone who has babysat my child and used these wipes in her bag, have said, "Can I get this recipe?"

My husband loves the wipes because 1. It's cheap 2. They're big enough to cover his whole hand 3. They're so much stronger and more durable, and they hold a LOT more!

I love them because 1. They're cheap (like SOOO ridiculously cheap! I'll figure out the math for you) 2. They're really easy to make 3. I love saving money 4. They really are so much better than store bought! (My opinion is mine, but it's not changing, I hope you'll give them a try too!)

First you will need:

1 air tight container large enough to hold a paper towel roll cut in half (I have found success at Target and TJ Maxx)
1 bottle of baby lotion, baby oil, and baby wash (I was given a TON for our baby shower, and that's what we're still using, but Dollar Tree has them for $1.00, or if you're an avid couponer, you can score some great deals!)
1 non-serrated knife (we usually use a utility knife, but have found one in our kitchen that works better!)

Click Here for a Girl Recipe

Click Here for a Boy Recipe

*a variation I have seen done with this, is instead of using baby oil, some have used coconut oil. Obviously this will increase the price some, but it'll still be very cheap!*

Alright, I promised the math...So here it is!

• About every 6 months Smith's has their 8 ct. Bounty paper towels on sale somewhere in the $4 range. Last time we bought some for $4.49 plus a P&G $0.25 off coupon= $4.24 for a package of 8 rolls. *Price match at Walmart if you don't have a Smith's near by!
• $3.00 plus tax for all the 10 oz. lotion, oil, and wash from the dollar store ~$3.19
• An one time purchase of an air tight container, the one we use at Target is $17.99
• If you don't have one already- a utility knife, which you can get anywhere from $1.99-$25.99

Since you cut each roll (8) in half, there are 16 rolls with 44 sheets per roll. 16x44=704 wipes
You get 20 Tablespoons out of 10 ounces of the oil, wash, and lotion=20 times of making wipes. Since you use 1 TBSP of EACH mixture (x3) it costs $0.15 in the oil, lotion, and wash per diaper wipe mix.

**To keep math simple, we'll stick to 16 wipe mixes, since we have 16 rolls.**
$2.40 (for oil, wash, lotion-$0.15x16) + $4.24 (704 wipes) =$6.64/704 wipes =$.0094 per wipe!

*Now obviously, this is an approximate, because I don't know what all of your sales tax rates are, so I left that part out of the equation. I also didn't include the cost of the container, because it is a one time purchase, so the longer you make homemade wipes, the more you'll get your money back! With our tax prices, our total comes in at about $.01 per wipe.*

Let me know if you've tried this out, and how you like it!

Potato Wedges

I tried making these last night to go along with our dinner. I was hoping they'd turn out okay, and they turned out way better than I was expecting!! My husband rated them as a 7, and wants to have them more often. Lucky for us, we bought 50 pounds of red potatoes from an Idaho potato farmer, so we have plenty of potatoes!

May not be the best picture, but they tasted great!

What you'll need:

1/8 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Paprika

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp. Dried Parsley

1/4 tsp. Seasoning Salt

1/8. tsp. Black Pepper *I like fresh ground 

Cooking spray

3-4 potatoes (We used red potatoes, but any baking potato will work)

Parmesan Cheese

Here's the scoop:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F

2. Wash and scrub potatoes, NO peeling!

3. Cut potatoes in half, and into wedges.

4. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray

5. Lay potato wedges, skin side down, spray with cooking spray

6. In a small bowl, mix all seasoning ingredients 

EXCEPT Parmesan cheese, then sprinkle over potatoes.

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes uncovered 

(at least until you can poke potato easily with a fork, it took ours 20 minutes)

8. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese while warm.

9. Serve! 

Carpet Cleaner

This morning my little one coughed so much that she ended up throwing up ALL over my floor! It was a not a pretty sight! I frantically thought, how am I going to get THAT color out of my white carpet?! Then I remembered a "carpet cleaner" recipe I found on pinterest and decided to give it a whirl.

Well, I have to say, I wanted to spare you from the before and after pictures of my poor girl's mess, but I did take pictures of another horrifying stain that  has been there for MONTHS and I was afraid I could never get out (we're renters)! But it worked wonders! Here are the results!

I found this magical recipe on Lizzy Writes: Magical Carpet Cleaner

The recipe goes as follows:
1. Scrape up the liquid (if not already done so previously)
2. Sprinkle baking soda or cornstarch on stain to let absorb for 10 minutes and then vacuum.
3. Mix one tablespoon clear dish washing liquid and one tablespoon white vinegar with two cups of warm water.
4. Using a white cloth, sponge the stain with the detergent/vinegar solution and blot until all the liquid is absorbed.
5. Sponge off with cold water and blot dry

P.S. I only had orange dish washing liquid, and it worked just fine!