Carmelitas - Review

These little bad boys are delicious. And dangerous. Yum. I described this to my kids as an oatmeal cookie sandwich. But stuffed with chocolate and caramel. This has safely made it on our family favorite list. I doubled the recipe to make a 9x13 pan so we could give some away. They are fairly rich, so a little goes a long way. I took some to the office ladies at my son's school and told them what they were, then left to go help in the classroom for a bit. When I got back the lady at the front stopped me and said that she needed to write down what they were called because they were so good, and she wanted to remember what they were.

from luluthebaker.blogspot.com

Yeah, they are super delicious. And the side pieces were some of the best because the caramel got a little crispy on the sides - YUM. Here's how ours turned out:

Well, at least how the little piece I was eating turned out. That was a good size for a piece. Yep, they are rich and yummy. I had to get the kids to help me unwrap the caramels because I have little patience for that, and they were more than happy to help. Many hands makes light work. And sometimes gets a caramel as a reward at the end. :)

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (if you do the 9x13 size - once you factor in the caramels, chocolate, and other stuff)
Difficulty: Easy. The hardest part is waiting for the caramels to melt in the pot.

Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili and Sour Cream Sauce - Review

THESE little beauties were excellent. I usually order enchiladas with green sauce of sorts when I go to Mexican restaurants, and these did not disappoint. I actually liked them a lot better than a lot of the restaurant variety because I could use good chicken inside, not the fatty kind that they often will serve.

from sissistersstuff.com

They were fairly straightforward to make - the worst part by far was shredding the cooked chicken, though I did see that some people will cook their chicken, and then while it is warm put it in their Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment, let 'er rip and then the paddle will shred the chicken. When I get such a machine, I'll have to try it. Shredding meat is not my favorite task.

My 7-year old said that he wanted to help make them, and he did great. The directions were very easy to follow. Here is how ours turned out:

We had two requests for this for a birthday dinner, so I think they were a hit! I personally preferred them on day #2, but the boys all liked them better on the first day. We still horked them down, at any rate. This is definitely going into our family favorites. One of my favorite things about these enchiladas is that it doesn't use cream of chicken soup - it has more of a "fresh" flavor.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (closer to the $5 end than the $10 end)
Difficulty: Moderate - you have to make a "roux" and shred the chicken, so it's a little bit more labor-intensive than dumping stuff into a pot. Still not too bad, though.

Lasagna Toss - Review

This recipe is a family favorite. It is SUPER easy, and very yummy. It is definitely much easier than real lasagna. It may actually be easier than real spaghetti too because you don't have to drain off boiling hot water. You literally just dump a bunch of stuff in, let it cook, and VOILA! - dinner. *That is, if you have your beef pre-cooked. If not, it takes a little more time.

from allrecipes.com

 The one thing I would have to say is that the picture from the website is deceptive. DO NOT use a pan that barely will have enough capacity to keep the lasagna juice inside. I made that mistake the first time I made it and it was a MESS. So, I use a bigger pot. It still works the same to cook everything, it just doesn't look as pretty when you take pictures of it.

See? This is after I'd started serving everyone up for dinner. Looks like lasagna!











Four of five happily devour it - good enough for me!

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ****
Cost: $$ (again, depending on price of beef - should be near-ish to $5)
Difficulty: Easy. Hardest thing is cooking up the beef, which is pretty standard.

Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup - Review

This soup was AMAZINGLY good. And vegetarian. Mwa ha ha. I realized that as my husband was asking what was in it - hoping it had some kind of meat in it. When I told him what was in it he said, "So, it's basically like a drink?" I told him to sit down and eat his dinner. And he loved it. And then sneakily fixed himself an egg roll afterward. And a peanut butter sandwich. We're working on the vegetarian night here still, apparently. :)

from 365daysofcrockpot.com

This was not too bad to make, except at the end it calls for making a roux. That is basically mixing a fat with flour to make something to thicken your dish up. For this recipe, you melt 1/2 cup butter, then pour in 1/2 cup flour, and whisk for 5-7 minutes. When you are done, you have an unimpressive runny mixture. Ta da! BUT, when you add in the hot soup, crazy things happen. I have actually never seen something react that quickly, so be prepared. When you dump in the first cup of soup, it will IMMEDIATELY thicken up. It's crazy. Get that all stirred together, then add the other three cups at once, and stir. It will amazingly enough still be thick. Then you dump that all back into the crock pot and stir, then add the remaining ingredients. Not too hard.

This soup smelled SO good when it was cooking, and it had a really good flavor. My kids were a little "eh" about it - the 7-year old ate a serving of it and was done. The 4-year old decided that it looked unappetizing and he didn't want to eat it. We have a family rule (that we learned from a much wiser family) that you have to eat as many bites of a dinner as you are old, so he had to eat four bites of it. He actually liked it, but it was admitting defeat at that point, and he wasn't quite willing to do that.

I would probably eat this daily if it was an option. I almost had some after breakfast today. And I don't typically eat "dinner-y" things early in the day. I thought it was THAT good.

Family Rating: ***1/2
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (all veggies!)
Difficulty: Moderate - due to the veggie chopping and the roux making. Not quite "dump it all in the crockpot and forget about it", but it wasn't too bad to make either.

BEST Bakers - Really. Truly.

You can use this as a side. As a main dish. Be vegetarian. Be meatatarian. Whatever. It is the beloved BAKER.

from whatscookingamerica.net

My 4-year old; however, will not eat potatoes. We have the best potato soup recipe ever, and he will not eat potatoes. He won't eat the potatoes in stew. BUT, he will eat these bakers. Because they are awesome. Skin and all.

We found these because my husband and I were having a debate as to whether you can cook the potatoes straight in the oven without wrapping them in foil, or if they needed to be foil-wrapped in the oven. We were out of foil. Thankfully I lost that debate by finding the recipe linked above.

The process takes a little more work than normal bakers, but not too bad. You scrub and poke the potatoes as usual, BUT instead of just leaving it at that and baking them, you rub them in oil and put coarse salt on them. It does not take much oil - just enough for the salt to stick - and I usually will flake a bunch of the salt off of the skin after baking. The salt and oil make all of the difference in the world. The skin becomes a part of the flavor of the meal instead of something you just discard, or feel guilty for discarding because it is supposed to be so vitamin-packed.

Here is what my oven prep looks like for this:

The potatoes will go on the top rack, but your potatoes are also covered in flaky salt and oil, which will make a mess in your oven. So, before I put my potatoes in I will take a cookie sheet, line it with foil (keeps you from having to clean up the cookie sheet - just throw away the foil when you are all done) and put it on the lower rack. Done. Then you can have easy clean up for your tasty bakers.

Of course, my kids kept telling me that I needed to take a picture of their bakers once they were loaded and ready to be eaten - and I didn't do it. But the bakers were all eaten and enjoyed. We like to put ham, chili (homemade - that's for another post), broccoli, cheese & other veggies.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (Potatoes are CHEAP!)
Difficulty: Easy. Clean, Poke, Dip, Roll & Bake.

Cookie Dough Brownies - Review

These are just wrong. In a good way. My sister called me yesterday and said something to the effect of, "Curses to you and your food blog!" She'd seen the link on the sidebar and tried them too. They are good. SUPER rich (or, as my sister put it, "intense"), but VERY good.

from sissistersstuff.com

Since these are done in layers, and you need to let each layer cool/set up before dumping the next layer on - prepare for these to take some time. Again, I am a very impatient person and tend to underestimate how long something will take me to make. So, warning - it will take time. Not hard, just time.

These are rich enough to enjoy, and to want to share with others. You can seriously eat four of them and feel like you have had a good experience, and then share some with friends. We gave a good-sized plate to each of my boys' teachers. One of them stopped me this morning to say that she is not a brownie person, but LOVED them, and wanted the recipe.

The one change I made from the recipe was that I made it all with margarine instead of butter. After the super-rich experience of the BYU mint brownies (which I still liked slightly better than these), I thought I would try and help a bit. They turned out great. One difference from my brownies and the brownies in the lovely photo above is that my layers were not quite so equal looking. The brownies were more thick and the cookie dough layer was a bit smaller. I thought that was a good thing - more cookie dough flavor would have been overkill, I think.

See? Not a pretty picture, but the brownies turned out a lot thicker.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: ****
Cost: $ (esp. with margarine)
Difficulty: Easy - you just have to mentally prepare for each layer as far as time goes.

BYU Mint Brownies - Review

Holy cow. That is all I can say about these brownies. YUM. And super rich. And yum.

from the-girl-who-ate-everything.com

This author got the recipe from BYU dining, and switched one thing - she changed the margarine from the original recipe to butter. Of course, I didn't actually READ her comments until the end, so I made them with butter. Next time I would just do the margarine. That makes them quite a bit cheaper to make.

The mint frosting is fantastic, and the brownie itself is a nice, thick (but moist), delicious brownie. As I was making these (and grumbling because you have to make THREE layers) I had thought that maybe you could just do a box mix with these frostings and be good to go. No way - you need a brownie that can stand on its own two feet with these super rich frostings.

I made the frosting (both the mint from the recipe and this chocolate frosting) just after I put the brownies in the oven. That is when I had time to do it, so I got it done and just left the frosting out on the counter while the brownies cooked & cooled.

Two notes:
1) When you are making the brownies, DO NOT try the cocoa and butter mixture in the beginning. It is so gross. I knew it would be awful because there is no sugar in the beginning, and yet I still had to try it. Don't do it. Butter and bitter chocolate is not tasty at all.
2) The freezer is your friend. If you don't use your freezer, these will be a gooey mess. I stuck the brownies in the freezer to cool them down faster (yes, I am impatient). Then once they were cooled, I put the mint frosting layer on. THEN YOU FREEZE AGAIN. If you don't, the chocolate layer will be hard to get on. If you do, it is so easy. Then I stuck it in the freezer again once the chocolate frosting was on to make it easier to cut. Two layers of frosting can be a bit gooey.

Other note here too: One brownie is PLENTY. I promise. I eat sugar like it is my job, and my subconscious kept telling me to get at least two brownies because I usually eat two (or the whole pan), but I seriously couldn't do it. These are great to give away because you make a huge pan, and they are impressively delicious, but there is no way you can possibly eat more than a few.

My 7-year old is reading over my shoulder and said that he eats chocolate like it's his job too. Apparently that is hereditary. :)

Family Rating: ***** (emphatically)
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (especially if you use the margarine instead of the butter - and maybe it wouldn't be so rich....)
Difficulty: Medium. Mostly because you have to make three layers, but those three layers are so worth it.

Pumpkin Waffles & Cinnamon Syrup - Review

This recipe is awesome. Of course it is - breakfast for dinner is always a winner. The cinnamon syrup is AMAZING. It is very easy to make too.

from theidearoom.net

***A tip: Make the syrup BEFORE you start the waffles. Then your waffles aren't waiting and getting cold while the syrup finishes.***

As far as the pumpkin in the waffles goes, I get a can of pumpkin, and then measure out as many 1/2 cup sized blobs as I can and freeze them (and label the bag). That is how much we love these. And then the pumpkin left over doesn't go to waste - you can know you are set for the next few rounds of making these, or other pumpkin-y things.

The cinnamon syrup is fantastic. The only change I make is that it is a bit too thick for me, so I cut the flour down to about 1, maybe 1 1/2 T. Yes, that is up to half of the amount, but it's a bit gloppy for me at the full amount. Also, I have not had a good experience with trying to keep the syrup for longer than a couple of days in the fridge.

We top this with whipped cream as well, and eat scrambled eggs w/ ham. Yum. :)

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy.

Greatest Granola - Review

One of my friends posted this recipe for granola, and it is our favorite. It is SO-O-O good. Good enough to get my husband to eat breakfast whenever we make it, which is not a normal thing for him. Usually if he eats breakfast, he eats leftovers instead of breakfast food (gross), so this is huge.

from 320sycamoreblog.com

It's one of those recipes that is good enough to give away, but then you think that maybe you'll try a little.....and then you realize that you CAN'T give it away because you NEED it. So if you plan on giving some away, make sure you have enough of the ingredients for at least a double batch. :)

We don't put nuts in ours because we have a nut-averse child, and it still is fantastic. I add the full 2 tablespoons of cinnamon because I love how full the flavor is. We have also discovered ground flax, which the kids don't notice and handle better than flax seeds. Wheat germ is also a good stealthy add-in, as mentioned in the recipe.

Also, I shared this with my mom and she mentioned that it worked better for her to mix the dry ingredients together first, then add the rest because then you get a more consistent texture. I tried that this last time and it was great. But even the throw-it-all-in-at-once granola is great too. We love it.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy. You put stuff in a bowl, mix, and bake. A'int no thang.

Tofu Stir Fry - Review

One of my good friends passed along some vegetarian recipes that her family loves, and one of them was for a Tofu Stir Fry. I have never in my life felt inclined to try tofu, but since we have been starting this vegetarian thing I have felt strangely liberated to try new and strange things. Like compressed bean curd (which is what tofu is). I bought the tofu last week from Sprouts (only $.99 - crazy!) and it sat in our fridge, with my husband giving me funny looks and asking what "that" was for. I told him we were going to have tofu stir fry. Bless his good-natured heart, he just nodded and said, "Okay" and went about his business. Good husband. :)

This was all that was left when we were done. For days, the kids begged for tofu. I'm telling you - this is a good recipe.

I modified the recipe that my friend gave me because I realized that a lot of the fresh veggies that needed to be chopped up were ones that I typically buy frozen at the store (sugar snap pea stir fry veggies), so I just opted to toss a bag of frozen veggies in, added some extra frozen broccoli, and called the veggies good.

It wasn't too hard to throw together - especially after I "lazy-ified" it. The only trick was with the tofu. It isn't hard to do, you just have to plan to give yourself some extra time (30 minutes) to press out the liquid in the tofu.

As a side note, awesomely enough, there are some packages of tofu with Po in it from Kung Fu Panda. Po eats tofu kids. Just sayin'. And, yes, the "Dragon Warrior" eating tofu was definitely part of my sales pitch to the kids. And it worked really well.

Back to the tofu: Take the tofu out of the packaging and cut it in half. You only need half of a block of tofu. Cut it into pieces to fry up (I tried to imagine what cut up chicken would look like and tried to cut accordingly), BUT before you chuck it in the pan, you have to actually press some of the storage liquid (water? soy liquid?) out of it. My friend said to put it inbetween layers of cookie sheets and paper towels (cookie sheet, paper towels, tofu, paper towels, cookie sheets) and then put heavy stuff on top of the pile to help press the liquid out. I was in the middle of using one of my cookie sheets, so I just made a cutting board, paper towel and tofu sandwich, the same order. I used two layers of very absorbant paper towels on each side, and they were SOAKED by the time it had been pressed for about 30 minutes (the minimum recommended time).

Other than the tofu pressing (which is NOT hard), everything is pretty much just chucking stuff in and smelling all of the good smells.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 bag frozen stir fry veggies
- 3 T. peanut oil
- 1/2 pkg. extra firm tofu
- 2 cloves garlic (or, if you are like me, use 1 tsp. of refrigerated pre-minced garlic)
- 1-2 T. sugar
- 2-3 T. soy sauce

Directions
- Heat the peanut oil in a pan
- Add the garlic and let cook for 10-15 seconds
- Toss in your veggies and tofu (I forgot to put the tofu in until later. Still turned out great)
- Add the sugar (I used 5 tsp. and it was perfect for us)
- Add the soy sauce
- Cook until everything is nicely browned

That is IT. It is really easy with the frozen veggies. My husband commented that it is the best-flavored stir fry that has come out of this house (and we have tried to tweak our flavors on our own stir fry - I would have to agree with him). My boys wanted to eat dinner with chopsticks (no problem!) and commented over and over again about how much they loved the tofu, and actually asked for seconds of the tofu. Weird. And awesome. The texture of the tofu was still softer than meat (Maybe because I didn't have enough layers of paper towels to press out the fluid? Maybe because it is bean curd?), but it still browns to look just like cooked meat. It is strangely cool. And I love that I don't need to be paranoid about making sure it is cooked as thoroughly as chicken and wondering if I'm giving my family food poisoning by not cooking things well enough. Go vegetarian! This is definitely one to repeat.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (under $5 with the tofu and frozen veggies - would probably be more if you cut up fresh veggies)
Difficulty: Easy. The only thing is remembering to allow time to get the tofu ready.

Easy Baked Manicotti - Review

This recipe from Kraft foods is so delicious. And easy. And delicious. And vegetarian too. :)

from kraftfoods.com

All of my kids will eat it (even the picky little one), and it's kind of fun to fill up the ziploc bag with the filling, snip the corner, and fill the cooked manicotti shells. I fill one side as far as I can, then flip it over and fill the rest of it in from the other side. This was my first exposure that I can remember to ricotta cheese, and I love it. It has such a good texture and gives it a good flavor without feeling too "dairy". I also will line the bottom of my baking dish with tin foil to make for easy cleanup afterward.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (due to the cheeses - probably around $7)
Difficulty: Easy. Multiple steps, but they are not time-sensitive, and there is no chopping involved.

Breakfast Potatoes - Review

On my quest for a good breakfast potatoes recipe, I found this one from Our Best Bites. It was genius. I had tried to make them "from scratch" before, and been frustrated when the potatoes took forever to cook, or looked like they just absorbed oil, but were still hard. BUT, this one is a two-step process. A smart one.

from ourbestbites.com

After cutting up the potatoes, you BOIL them for five minutes to get them on the road to softened up. Then you put them in the skillet and finish what I had been trying to do unsuccessfully before. And they are very good.

Two modifications that we make: 1) We use more than four small-ish potatoes. They are good enough that we definitely eat more than that and would love to have some left over. 2) I'm not sure how anyone can endure 10 dashes of Tabasco sauce, unless they meant drops and not "small arm flicks worth". I did about five of what I would call dashes on one side, then flipped over and did two on the other side, and we were definitely feeling the heat. I can't imagine what 10 on one side and "to taste" on the other side could mean. I think about three would be perfect for our family.

We make ours in an electric skillet too. Watch the onions once you put the potatoes in. They can get a little crispy.

Other than the "heat" factor and the fact that the recipe doesn't make nearly enough - it is awesome. We've made it a couple of times and will do it whenever we have our "breakfast" nights, which is every weekish or two. So good!

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy. Especially since it doesn't need much babysitting. Super delicious.

Perfect Roast Chicken - Review

A couple of years ago I checked out a Jamie Oliver cookbook and found this awesome roast chicken recipe. I was slightly intimidated, but thought we could give it a go. It wasn't too bad to make, and it was FANTASTIC. I also found a recipe for Yorkshire Pudding that more than once has singed my arm hair and, actually, started an oven mitt on fire. Didn't know that could happen, but it can. Obviously they were good since I made them more than once, and put my arm hair and oven mitts at risk again.

Back to the chicken - this was FABULOUS. We just made it again last night. The lemon makes it. And the "veg" is amazing. I always forget to add more than what is said, and always regret that I didn't cut more up. The kids weren't the biggest fans of the carrots & onions, but my husband and I LOOOVED them. So good. I could have just eaten those and been a happy person.

from jamieoliver.com

Honestly, this isn't a hard recipe AT ALL....providing you have tackled a whole chicken before. If not, it's not that bad. A little gross (to me), but not bad. And you'll feel proud of yourself for trying, and be surprised when you succeed. Take the chicken from the bag. (Aside: you can get a "roasting" chicken or a "fryer" and they are both fine. At least I assume they are. I usually get a fryer because they are less expensive, and the only difference I can see is that the roasting chicken has a bump that looks like one of those pop-out thermometers. Just be sure to cook it long enough to kill all the yucky stuff.)

Back to the chicken. Once you take it from the bag, look into the cavities and dig out all of the stray organs that they shove into the chicken for whatever reason. I've never consumed "giblets", can't remember a discussion I've had with anyone about their "giblet" consumption, and I hope to not ever have to ever endure either of those situations. The digging out is the gross part. I just can't think about what I am digging out. My husband, however, will usually pull out the organs and try and figure out which ones they are, and then show them to the kids. Yuck.

After that, you just take the chicken, put it over the "veg", and prepare as stated. I put a generous amount of salt and pepper into a separate bowl so I can take my "chicken contaminated" hands and rub the chicken with salt and pepper (even on the inside of the chicken too) without worrying about getting nastiness on the salt or pepper packaging, or without having to wash my hands every time I touch the chicken. My husband and I are germaphobes, so we wash our hands a lot, especially when dealing with raw meat. Blech.

After you season, leave uncovered in the oven. The chicken will get a good, crispy outside and a deliciously moist inside. Don't forget to follow his instruction to let the chicken sit out for a bit before cutting into it. This will keep the meat from drying out prematurely.

Here was one of our attempts. So tasty. Not as pretty as Jamie's, but still amazingly delicious. Enjoy!

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (pretty much just the cost of chicken, which depending on size should be around $5)
Difficulty: Moderate, if you have never done a chicken before. Easy, otherwise. Not much chopping or too much prep work.

Sage Pork Chops - Review

We had some pork chops in the fridge, and luckily I remembered this recipe that we had tried a few months ago. I remembered that we had all liked it, but it had been awhile so I hoped that I had remembered correctly. Oh yes. These are AMAZING. Seriously. And easy. Especially considering how delicious they turn out.

from allrecipes.com

I'm not sure that the picture does it justice. The recipe originally calls for salt, but I think you would probably have a heart attack if you actually put salt on them. Seriously. I had read reviews of people putting in the 1 tsp. garlic powder instead of the salt, and I think that is a good change. They have PLENTY of flavor from the other spices. Also, I subbed chicken bouillon for the beef bouillon since that is what we usually have on hand. And I had three good-sized boneless pork chops on hand instead of the six bone-in chops called for and the recipe worked perfectly.

One reviewer had suggested to make a gravy to go with the pork chops. This sounds scary, but it really isn't. Step 1: mix 2 T. corn starch with 2 T. water in a small cup. Step 2: after you take the pork chops out of your skillet, you just pour the corn starch mixture into the fluid that is left in the skillet, turn the heat on a bit, and stir until it is thickened. Easy, AWESOME gravy.

And thankfully I remembered right - my family loved this one. Everyone kept talking about it all dinner long. Except for the youngest, who is selectively picky. I had written down that SHE actually ate this last time. Not this time, though. The older two were gushing about it, though.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (which is shocking for how good they are)
Difficulty: Easy. Nothing to cut up, and the only tricky thing is making sure you flip the pork chops over when your timer goes off so you don't burn anything, but that's not bad.

Hearty Vegetable Quinoa Chili - Review

Again, on the quest for good vegetarian meals, I found this recipe on Picky Palate. It looks nothing like it tastes, and that is a good thing. At least for my family. It looks like a vegetable soup, but it really has a taco/chili taste and smell to it, courtesy of the cumin and chili powder. Chili is a good word for it. I kept calling it a "stew", and then was wondering why it smelled like southwestern fare. BECAUSE IT IS A CHILI, KAT!

from pickypalate.com

Quinoa is a little tricky to find. It is a South American member of the grass family (thank you, Wikipedia), and each grain kind of looks like one of those beanbag chair pellets, but with a little more hint of brown. I found it at our local Sprouts. I have also heard they sell packages at Costco, but we don't have one here in good ol' West Texas, so I couldn't tell you for sure. If you check your local "whole foods" store, they should have it. That's where I go to find things that I think only strange, healthy people would eat. Generally, I can find them there. Also, I think you could substitute rice and still have a good flavor. By the way, when you cook Quinoa, it almost looks like it sprouts. Don't be alarmed - I think that's normal. It's a little different, but apparently Quinoa is full of protein, calcium and other good stuff.

We actually had one of my son's friends from school over while I was making it, and more than once he said, "That smells great! What is it?"

One trick. I didn't cook the Quinoa separately. I am lazy. I threw it straight into the pot when the "cooked" Quinoa was supposed to go in. I had read one reviewer who said they did this, and I decided it was a good idea. Especially given all of the chopping required.

I will have to admit that I was a VERY happy person cutting up all of the veggies. They filled up a decent-sized glass cooking bowl. I typically don't like cutting up veggies, but for some reason these were actually enjoyable to do. Lots of pretty colors. And I was happy because I had bought a bunch of veggies a couple of weeks previously and forgotten about them, and I had wondered how in the world I could use them all up quickly. Problem solved.

I was a little nervous about how it would be received by the kids because it has SQUASH (7-year old is not a fan) and TOMATOES (4-year old is not a fan), but all THREE of my children ate it happily. Ha HA! I think it is because it smells so deceptively good. You just want to eat it. Even with little strange sprout-y quinoa floating in it.

Family Rating: ***** (YES! My picky almost 2-year old ATE IT!)
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (probably nearer to $5 than to $10 - just depends if you can get your quinoa and veggies on a deal)
Difficulty: Moderate, due to the veggie chopping. No tricky techniques.

Homemade Pancakes & Syrup - Review

Our family has a homemade pancake recipe that we LOVE and is very easy. It has come through the family on my husband's side. Originally the recipe calls for separating the egg whites and yolks, putting the yolks in with the batter, then beating the egg whites until stiff and folding them in. We just skip that step and put the eggs in all at once, then beat the batter for a little extra time and the pancakes still end up fluffy. BUT, my mother-in-law has amazingly fluffy pancakes and she goes through the extra step of separating the eggs. Either way, it's a good recipe. Also, we add a little more milk than the original recipe calls for.

     

PANCAKES (or waffles)

      2 c. flour

      ½ tsp. salt

      2 T. sugar

      1 T. baking powder

      2 eggs

      1 tsp. vanilla

      1/3 c. oil

      2 c. milk

     BEAT together well. Cook on 325 degree skillet.

There ya go! It really isn't much more difficult than pulling out a mix and adding ingredients to it, and it has a great flavor.

Also, in our quest to find a good homemade syrup, I found this recipe and tried it today. It was fantastic. Most of the homemade syrups we've tried have been really watery (like the quick recipe on the side of the mapeline extract). This one is the right thickness for a syrup and has a great flavor.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy.

Valentino's Pizza Crust - Review

On our search for the PERFECT pizza crust, I ran into this recipe. It is fantastic. It is super easy, calls for normal ingredients, and has a really silky easy-to-work-with texture after you mix it all together and leave it alone for a bit. We do family pizza night every friday night, and this is a no-brainer for a recipe.

One of our favorite attempts here: sausage and green pepper. That was amazing. The crust is perfect. Always. This was pre-baking.

Our only modification is that I add some italian seasoning when I'm putting the salt in, unless it is a flavor of pizza that wouldn't work well with italian seasoning. Just a few healthy shakes. Maybe around 2 tsp. worth. We also roll ours out and bake on a cookie sheet before topping and it is the perfect size. It is AWESOME! Be sure to knead it well, and it works better if you use some machine (hand mixer w/ kneading attachments; stand mixer).

Family Rating: ****1/2
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy.

Lentil Tacos - Review

I was looking for a vegetarian meal and asking for some good recipes, and a friend passed this one along and said that she was a vegetarian for 10 years, and she liked it. So we tried it.

from allrecipes.com

These were shockingly good. Shockingly because they are LENTIL TACOS. From lentils. It is the first lentil-y thing I have tried that I have not felt like I was eating, well....lentils. If you have never met a lentil before and are wondering where you can find them, they are with the bags of dry beans. If you don't know where those are, at least in my store they are by the rice. If they are not by the rice, just ask someone where to find the dry beans. Lentils will be lurking there. They almost look like small pebbles, and are about the same color. And firmness until you cook them. Don't let that keep you from going out on a limb here.

It had a perfect texture for this type of meal and the flavor was perfect. They were a little spicier than our typical tacos, which is not a bad thing, but are way healthier, more cost efficient, and could be made with items stored if needed. I will be making my tacos this way from now on. We also ate ours in wheat tortillas (that seemed to be the consensus from the reviews) and they were perfect. And it didn't gross me out to eat the leftovers like leftover meat meals typically do - no meat! Ha!

Family Rating: ***
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy