Tuesday, October 5, 2010

And Be Thankful.

There is an abundance of food in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. I have a wonderful husband and two wonderful little boys. We are healthy, happy, and hopeful. For everything that God has blessed me with, I am so thankful. 

Previously, I talked about possibly making applesauce. Well, someone else from church gave me another bag of apples, so I figured it was a sign. After the peeling (which was annoying because I have misplaced my good peeler, even though it is bright green) it pretty much made itself. I ended up with five jars. Jacob's first "real people" food was applesauce and he loved it. We went through a jar a week. So I am going to do some math and see if it is cheaper for me to make it for Daniel when he gets to that point.

So we had our first thanksgiving already. We were going to have chicken, I found a new recipe I wanted to try out, but we spent enough at Superstore to get a free turkey the other week, so it was decided we would have a typical thanksgiving feast. I've never cooked a turkey before, so I decide to read the instructions. "Reach into the cavity and remove the heart, neck, and giblets." Oh my goodness, I would PAY someone 100$ to do this for me. Thankfully my mother-in-law did it for free. She showed me how she makes stuffing and gravy, and I made simple peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, and cornbread to go with it. It was so good.

In my effort not to waste food, I made stock from the carcass yesterday. My house smelled so delicious! I realized I don't own a stock pot but I do own a giant slow-cooker, so for 10 hours that broth simmered nicely. I ended up with 12 cups, which are all nicely waiting in my freezer to be turned into something delicious.

AND because I had nothing sweet in my house (I only bake one thing at a time now) I tried a new brownie recipe. They are low-fat, I used my own applesauce, and Jacob ate the leftover egg yolks for lunch. I did add some chocolate chips that aren't in the original recipe though. I have had bad luck with brownies. They take too long, never turn out just right, and use way too many ingredients. This recipe cures all that, and more:



Low-Fat Brownies
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Recipe By: Epicure Selections

Ingredients:

1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp soft margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray 8x8 pan.

Mix all ingredients.

Bake 35 minutes.


Now I just have to make a couple of turkey pies with the rest of the leftovers.

(Colossians 3:15b - in case you were wondering)

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I Don't Just Bake Sweets

It seems I mostly blog about desserts... but I did try two new supper recipes in the last few days. Sunday I made home-made corn chowder and yesterday I made honey-garlic chicken legs. I won't post either recipe though, because neither was GREAT. They weren't terrible either though. I am not a huge soup fan so I thought maybe if I made it, I would like it better... I didn't. It wasn't the soup's fault. I even wished for the soup to turn out great because I had a funny title planned for the blog I would write about my delicious soup. The chicken tasted good and smelled fabulous, but it wrecked my black pan. I even lined my pan with tinfoil but the sauce got under somehow and I can't get it clean. I guess I just have a lot better luck experimenting with desserts and snacks than with "real" meal food. Tonight we are having sloppy joes - they will turn out great because I just have to add water and tomato paste.

Monday, September 27, 2010

I Can't Believe He's Two!!!

It was Jacob's second birthday this weekend... and that means CAKE! He is really into trains right now so I made him a "Choo Choo" cake. He ate the gummi bear passengers and the chocolate wheels first and then he ate my gummis and chocolates, and then he didn't want any cake. Oh well, we still had a fun evening!
Blow!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Cake!

So for playgroup this week I thought I would experiment on the kids... I have this recipe for allergen-free cupcakes. No milk. No eggs. No butter. No nuts. Sounds interesting for when you have nothing in your cupboard... and they actually turned out really great! They are very moist and chocolatey and delicious. Though I did make vanilla icing to put on top and used butter in that! Also, I think I have finally figured out how to put my recipes on these posts without them somehow looking completely different everytime. I'm not very good at computers. Anyways.... I took 19 cupcakes to playgroup (the recipe made 21 for some reason, and one needed to be taste-tested before I iced them and one needed to be tested after I iced them) and between 5 adults and 9 kids (though Daniel didn't eat one) only 1 was left. I saved it for Jeff.



Allergen-Free Chocolate Cupcakes
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Recipe By: Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus 1 tbsp
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift dry ingredients together.

Mix liquids together until well blended. Add flour mixture and mix until very smooth.
(Batter will be very thin)

Line muffin pan and fill each 3/4 full.

Bake 20-25 minutes rotating once.

Cool completely.

Dust with cocoa powder and/or icing sugar just before serving.