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9/24/14

Homemade, Moist Banana Nut Bread w/ cereal flakes too!





Banana Bread

2 c flour
1/2 baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4-5 mashed, really ripe bananas
2 1/2 cups cereal with flakes;  I used Grape Nut Flakes
1/4 c hot water
2 eggs
1/2 c butter, soft
1 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t lemon juice
1/2 t cinnamon
1 c pecans, roughly chopped

Mix the bananas, hot water and the cereal together and let them sit for a couple minutes to soften.  Add the eggs, butter and sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and mix.  Add the final dry ingredients; flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nuts.  Stir till blended.  Pour into a greased or parchment lined loaf pan.  Bake approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes until done.  Start testing the center at 1 hour with a knife to see if the center is done yet.  The pan you use and your own oven will determine if you need another 15 minutes.  You can cover the top with foil if it's starting to get too brown.  Let cool complete.  Turn out of the pan.  Wrap in foil and refrigerate overnight.  This improves taste and texture of quick breads!



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9/23/14

Homemade Pizza Sauce







Pizza Sauce

Olive oil
Butter
1/2 c chopped, yellow onion
1/4 c chopped celery
2 t fresh minced garlic
6 oz. can tomato paste
1 c fresh, diced tomatoes or use diced, canned tomatoes
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
1 t fennel
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 t honey or sugar

Cook the celery and onions in a bit of butter and olive oil in a hot pan til tender.  Add the garlic.  Cook about 1 minute so you don't burn the garlic.  Add the tomato paste and diced tomatoes.  Put into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds.  Put back in the saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer slowly for about 20-30 minutes.  Makes about 2 medium to large pizzas.

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9/21/14

TERIYAKI STIR FRY SAUCE - this time for Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry



This last time I made it into Beef and Broccoli instead of chicken.  It was incredible of  course.  You simply can't go wrong.  If I had any shrimp on hand I'd use it on that too (mental note to put shrimp on next week's shopping trip...)

 
Teriyaki Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c sweetener of choice (sugar, natural substitute, honey - although use a bit less for that)
1/2 c water
1 T brown sugar or brown sugar sweetener
1 T ginger
1 T minced, fresh garlic
1 t xanthan gum or corn starch

Beef   (save time & money - but the 'stew beef' already cut at the market)
Broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, snow peas, fresh green beans, cabbage, bean sprouts, etc. etc.    FRESH OR FROZEN (use what you have on hand and make it work!)

Combine and mix your sauce.  Set aside.  If you have time, you can use half the sauce to marinate the beef, but if this is a last second dinner idea, don't worry about it.   Cut up your beef if you haven't bought the 'stew beef' that comes already cut into bite sized pieces.  Cook it in a bit of oil over medium high heat til starting to brown.  Add the vegetables - fresh, frozen, a mixture of both - whatever.  Cook for a bit (I add a splash of water at this point to help steam the veggies).  Then add your teriyaki sauce.  Stir quickly and cook til sauce thickens up and vegetables are as tender as you like them.  I add double the amount of vegetables I want in the end as they cook down.  Also - use as little or much of the sauce as you like.  Taste test it.   Serve over rice if you like - we like it sans rice. 





This particular time I used a fresh bagged stir-fry mix - they were having an awesome sale

LOVE this sauce so much I've taken to doubling the recipe & keeping it on hand ALL the time





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9/20/14

Chicken and Broccoli Teriyaki Stir-Fry (with whatever vegetables you have on hand!)





This has become my 'go to' meal over the past 3 weeks.  I don't even have a real 'recipe' wrote down.  It's a scribbled list of ingredients on a scrap piece of paper so I don't forget something - but that's about it.  Now, if one of my daughter's or my son want to whip this up, they would probably appreciate me typing out the ingredients here on our family website... with some approximate amounts.  So here it is!

Teriyaki Stir Fry

1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c sweetener of choice (sugar, natural substitute, honey - although use a bit less for that)
1/2 c water
1 T brown sugar or brown sugar sweetener
1 T ginger
1 T minced, fresh garlic
1 t (xanthan gum) or corn starch

Chicken
Broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, snow peas, fresh green beans, cabbage, bean sprouts, etc. etc.    FRESH OR FROZEN (use what you have on hand and make it work!)

Combine and mix your sauce.  Set aside.  If you have time, you can use half the sauce to marinate the chicken, but if this is a last second dinner idea, don't worry about it.   Cut up your chicken, cook it in a bit of oil over medium high heat.  Add the vegetables - fresh, frozen, a mixture of both - whatever.  Cook for a bit (I add a splash of water at this point to help steam the veggies).  Then add your teriyaki sauce.  Stir quickly and cook til sauce thickens up and vegetables are as tender as you like them.  I add double the amount of vegetables I want in the end as they cook down.  Also - use as little or much of the sauce as you like.  Taste test it.   Serve over rice if you like - we like it sans rice. 












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9/19/14

Sloppy Joe's




Sometimes my own search engine frustrates me as back in 2006, 2007, 2008...  blogger wasn't quite like it is now and often times back then an entire month would archive together but not the posts separately.  So, needless to say there are a couple recipes I search for - knowing they are here - and have a hard time finding them.   Now, since my site is primarily for me and my kids to use and easy and quickly find the recipes our family loves...  it makes no sense to search so long for some of the same recipes over and over again that for whatever reason, my site likes to hide from me.

And this is one of them!  SO MANY TIMES I have to do digging for my recipe for Sloppy Joe's.  And YES I do have it on a recipe card in one of my recipe books, but sometimes I like to put my laptop up on the counter and simply look at the recipe on my site.  My old eyes aren't what they used to be and it's just easy to do it that way rather than looking down at my little recipe card each time.

So here it is...   again.  Ha ha.  This is cut and pasted from my original entry back in 2008.



Sloppy Joes

1 lb. ground beef
3/4 lb. ground turkey
1/2 large onion, diced
4 T chili powder
6 T bbq sauce (I used 6 T ketchup with 6 t yellow mustard)
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 c ketchup
2 T sugar
1 c milk
4 t vinegar
1 1/2 T flour
salt and pepper


Brown the ground beef and turkey with the diced onion. Add the rest of the spices and simmer 5 minutes. Serve on buns. Print Friendly and PDF

Pinata Cookies - with the Donkey Cookie Cutter (otherwise known as a Democrat Cookie Cutter)

Back in 2012 I was browsing the SheKnows site and saw the awesome Pinata Cookies that were so popular that Spring. 


Although I didn't plan on hosting a Cinco de Mayo party that year, I loved this idea and had a moment of 'why didn't I ever think of this!?'   I saved the idea to my files to make after we knew some people in our new city/state that we had just relocated to, or for a birthday as a "pinata" birthday goodie.

If you by chance haven't seen the M&M stuffed cookies (although they are ALL over the internet so you'd have to try pretty hard not to, LOL)  they are a multi-colored sugar cookie with a second for the back side and sandwiched in between them is a third cookie with the ears and feet cut off and used to hide the goodies inside.


Photo's from the link above at SheKnows

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 5 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • Mini M&M candies
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (frosting)
  • 2 teaspoons milk (frosting)

Cream sugars with butter. Beat in eggs. Add oil. Combine dry ingredients together, and then gradually add them to the mixture. Mix in vanilla and almond extract.


Split dough into five, even-sized balls and one smaller ball (this will be the black one). Add food coloring to each of the dough balls until desired color is achieved. Gel food coloring gives you more intense colors than liquid.





Use a container the same approximate width of your donkey/burro piñata cookie cutter, and line it with plastic food wrap. Split all of your colored dough balls in half (except the black) and begin layering the dough in the container, starting with the black dough on the bottom. Alternate the colors so that you end up with two layers of each color by the time you're done.

Cover the layered dough and freeze for four hours or overnight. This is the perfect time to conserve your creative juices for what lies ahead.




Remove the dough from the container and unwrap from the plastic. Cut slices, approximately 1/4-inch wide. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes.




Immediately after you take them out of the oven, use your burro piñata cookie cutter to cut the cookie shapes. Working in sets of three, be sure to cut two burro piñata cookies in one direction and one burro piñata cookie in the opposite direction. (Just flip your cookie cutter over.) That way, when you go to assemble them, the finished cookie will look "pretty" on both sides -- because the baked, bottom sides will be hidden.





For the middle cookies in each set, cut off the ears and legs, and cut out the center where the M&Ms will go. I used a small square cutter, and made three cuts to get a narrow rectangle. Try to work quickly, because as the cookies cool, they are more likely to crumble or break. Let them cool on the baking sheet before you move them and remove the excess, outer cookie.

I haven't made these yet - the photo's are from the recipe link above

To assemble, take the first piñata cookie and lay it upside down so that the baked bottom is facing up. Outline the center of the piñata body with a "frosting glue" mixture of milk and powdered sugar. (I used 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and two teaspoons of milk. If you put it inside a Ziploc bag and cut off a tiny tip of the bag's corner, you can pipe it onto the cookie easily.)
Put the middle cookie on top of the frosting glue and add the M&Ms to the open center. Put another outline of frosting glue on the middle cookie and place the opposite-cut piñata cookie on top (so that the pretty side is facing out). Let these sit and harden for at least 30 minutes before you stand them upright.



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9/18/14

Autumn Cravings: TWO Homemade Pumpkin Bars! Both regular and sugar free


It's blurry - eh. It's not about the photo... it's about the food!  :)



This is a great three layer pumpkin bar that you could make sugar free if you have a sugar free cake mix on hand and use natural sweeteners instead of the brown sugar and sugar.  I'll link to those options from online retailers below this post in case you can't get them where you live.  I can find sugar free cake mixes at *some* Walmarts (but not all) and I used to find them at my local Publix but they discontinued them within the last 4 months. 

Triple Layer Pumpkin Bars

Bottom:
1 yellow cake mix, divided. Save 1 cup out for top.
1/2 c real butter
1 egg

Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
20 oz. pumpkin
1/2 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla - liquid or powder
2 t pumpkin pie spices

Topping:
1 cup of the dry cake mix reserved from bottom layer
1/4 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c butter

Combine the bottom layer ingredients; dry cake mix, butter and egg.  Press into a 9X13" pan or the equivalent sized pan.  I used 10X10.  Mix together the filling ingredients by hand, whisk or electric.  When blended smooth spread over the bottom layer.  Mix together the reserved 1 cup dry cake mix with the sugar, cinnamon and butter.  When crumbly, sprinkle over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  Cool completely and preferably chill before cutting. 






Sugar Free, Low Carb Pumpkin Bars

3/4 c almond flour
1/4 c coconut flour
2 t oat flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
2/3 c pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/4 c coconut oil
1/4 c Brown Sugar substitute
3/4 c granular sugar free sweetener of your choice
1 1/2 t vanilla

In a bowl mix the almond, coconut and oat flours with the baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.  If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, just use about 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 t ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.  In another bowl mix the pumpkin, eggs and oil.  Add the sugar substitutes and vanilla.  Pour into a greased pan of your choice.  10X10", 12X8", 8X8" - the bigger the pan, the thinner the bar.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-40 minutes depending on how big of a pan you used. 

Cool Completely.  Frost with a basic cream cheese frosting.  You mix one version up by beating together 8 oz. cream cheese with  3 T butter, 2 t vanilla, 1/4 c sugar substitute (I used Just Like Sugar and Ideal Brown Sugar** - mixed together, with about 10 drops liquid sweetener).   Refrigerate. 








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9/11/14

17 Pumpkin Recipes! Pumpkin Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bars, Pumpkin Pasta and more



Autumn is here!  The perfect time to celebrate the awesome pumpkin.  Don't wait for Thanksgiving to make a pumpkin pie and call it 'done' for the season.  Here are over a dozen recipes from my website that I've posted over the years.  From cakes to cinnamon rolls, pasta to griddle cakes.  There is something here for everyone - as I even have an amazing pumpkin bread that can be served to those doing sugar free or low carb way of eating.    Enjoy!!


Pumpkin Cake with Broiled Coconut Topping
Perfect Pumpkin Bread
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Cupcakes
Mexican Pumpkin Dip
Flaxseed Pumpkin Bread (sugar free and low carb too!)
Pumpkin Butter Pie
Pumpkin Pie with an Oatmeal Crust
Homemade Pasta
Pumpkin Bars
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Griddle Cakes
Pickled Pumpkin
Pumpkin Dessert
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Two Ingredient Pumpkin Cupcakes
Pumpkin Pie Print Friendly and PDF

9/8/14

Homemade, Canned Salsa






I didn't have enough for a whole regular batch, but enough for a half batch.




Simmering on the stove.  A half plus a little more batch netted me 3-4 pints



Here is my original recipe post for this recipe - posted a couple times on An American Housewife already.  This particular one in 2012.


Homemade canned salsa - fresh from the garden
Canning your salsa, you will need two things for sure;  a large enough pot to boil the jars in water that covers their lids and, canning jars with lids and bands.   I don't have an official 'canner' - I have a soup pot.  But it works great for me and since I'm not canning low acidic foods like green beans or meat, I don't have to use a pressure canner.  Water baths work just fine.  An item I would suggest you get to save yourself burnt fingers;  a jar lifter.  This is something I didn't use the first couple years, I just tried to hold on to the jars with a towel as my 'hot pad' holder.  Once I invested in a cheap jar lifter I was amazed at how easy things became!  
Homemade Salsa

10 Cups of peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes
5 c chopped onions
3 sweet banana peppers, diced
4 jalapenos, seeded and diced
2 t minced garlic
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 1/4 c vinegar
2 T chili powder
2 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 T sugar

To peel/skin your tomatoes easily just put them in boiling water. Skins will split in 10 seconds - 2 minutes. Remove as soon as the skin splits and lay on a clean towel to cool until you can handle them comfortably - or you can dip them into a bowl of ice water if you wish. Some tomatoes won't split but they are still ready;  if it has been in the water for approximately 1-2 minutes, lift it out and feel it. If it looks tight and ready to burst, yet it feels like a water balloon, then remove it to cool. It's ready.  The second your fingers or a knife touch the skin it will probably split on contact.  Tomatoes can be seeded and the juice canned separately or you can use the whole tomato in your salsa and skip that process.  Up to you.

Mix all the ingredients for your salsa and simmer 1-3 hours.

While simmering, be sure to either run your jars and lids and seals through an extra hot dishwasher cycle or boil them in another pot of water so they are hot and sterilized when you are ready to use them.  Ladle salsa into the jars with about 1/2 inch head space at the top.   Wipe the edges completely clean with a clean cloth and place the lid on it and then the ring.  You don't have to tighten them hard - just a quick twist to hold the seal/lid on during the process.  Now, originally this old time recipe did not call for a water bath.  The heat from the salsa and the jar will seal the lid.  However, I like to boil them in a water bath as an extra precaution for 25 for pints.

Remove from the water, set on a towel on the counter and let them cool at room temperature.  You will hear popping noises.  That is the lids sealing.  When completely cooled, store in your pantry or cupboard.

Tomatoes from the garden, ready to be made into salsa

Immersing in boiling water to easily remove the skins

The skins will split within about 30 seconds and they literally slip right off.

Chop your tomatoes.  No need to be concise. They will cook down. Just chop quickly and toss in.

Ingredients ready to simmer
A water bath of 25 minutes as extra protection





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9/5/14

Another way to save basil from the garden: Drying it in the microwave



The basil in my garden is growing like a weed and it's time to start harvesting it to use this autumn and winter.  I posted earlier this week about simply stringing it up in bunches and hanging in an out of the way place to air dry.   The second way I kept some of it was to dry it in the microwave.  Now, this is not actually something I've done before as I assumed it would burn parts of it and not actually dry it.  I was wrong!  It worked perfectly.


 
Rinsed, fresh picked basil from the garden.  Placed on a layer of paper towel.

I laid another paper towel on top and microwaved for 1 minute. Checked, added another 30 seconds. Then they were dry!

Depending on your microwave it may take more or less time but they were completely dried in 90 seconds.


I opted to chop this batch and put them into my Basil spice container. Fresh and homegrown!
  





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9/3/14

Artisan Bread - when I don't have time to make ciabatta

This is a repost from a couple years ago but I'm making a batch of it right now for dinner tonight and I thought I'd post it again just in case it got 'lost' in the history of An American Housewife.   I really wanted to make Ciabatta bread - which takes a couple days as you start the biga a day or two before and then make your dough, let it set, form it, let it rise, poke it and let it rise again and finally, bake it.

No time for that today!  Instead I love this bread as a close cousin... chewy, hard crust but a soft and yummy inside.  Note:  The last time I made this I got sloppy and lazy.  It's a very sticky, stretchy, wet dough.  I was rushing, decided to add some flour to make it more like a regular dough so I could work with it faster.  Mistake.  It's sticky. It's stretchy. Just use oil or water on your hands (or a tiny bit of flour) but don't try to add flour to make it easier to work with OR like a typical homemade bread dough.  That's not what this one is about.

I LOVE this recipe.  Only 4 main ingredients and you can mix it up with a wooden spoon in a bucket.  No kneading.  No fuss. 

Artisan Bread

1 ½ T yeast
1 ½ T salt
3 c water, lukewarm
6 ½ c flour
1 bucket with lid
cornmeal
flour



Dump yeast, salt and water into a bucket or container.
Add flour.
Mix with a wooden spoon just until the flour is incorporated. No dry flour, no lumps.
Put the loose lid on. Not air tight.  Let set at room temperature about 2 hours.
Sprinkle bit of flour so your fingers don’t stick or use oil. Cut off grapefruit sized piece with serrated knife.
Work in your oiled/wet hands to make somewhat of a ball, pulling top layer to bottom.  Round and smooth.
Place on cornmeal sprinkled board.
Let set 40 minutes.
Sprinkle with flour, slash the loaf with a few slices.
Bake at 375 preheated oven with an empty pan in the bottom.
Slide on middle shelf baking stone.
Pour a cup of water in the hot empty pan and close door quickly to steam the bread.
Baked till top is golden brown.
Hard crust and moist, soft bread!



Mix the yeast, water and salt right in your container

An ooey gooey mess.  Perfect.

Lid on... but not air tight! Make sure your container is big enough to allow for rising.

Formed into rounds. Scoring the tops with a knife.

Fresh from the oven - let it cool.

I couldn't let mine cool. I cut into right away!  Crisp and crunchy crust - moist and chewy inside. PERFECT.






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9/1/14

Time To Put Up Basil


Fresh basil, ready to air dry for use later this Fall and Winter


Returning home after being gone a week, I saw my garden was suffering a bit from lack of care... mostly, lack of rain!  But my basil?  Happy and proud... and full!  Time to gather some and put it up to dry.

I've posted about drying basil before - because I do it many different ways.  The previous post was chopping it and letting it air dry before bottling it.   This is another way you can dry it... whole.

Rinse (to remove any dirt, small bugs or hidden little spiders).  Grab some twine or string, and string it in bunches.  Tie it tight on the stems, and make a loop to hang on a nail or however you plan to hang yours.  Now hang it in a place where it gets plenty of circulating air, but no moisture or heat from appliances or cooking.  It will wilt, and slowly start to dry.  After a couple weeks (up to a month depending on where you live and the time of year) you can either put it into a baggy whole, or pull the leaves off and crunch them up to store in a baggy or bottle.

Simply tie bunches together to hang upside to air dry


Ready to hang in my large, open pantry.




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