Salsa from our kitchen

While buying the ingredients for making homemade salsa is no where near as economical as purchasing the salsa, we wanted to see what we could make. I located a recipe that vaguely sparked my interest, and printed it up for us to try.

We made some modifications to it and proceeded to tackle this exciting tastiness that we enjoy so much.

    * 4 whole Jalapeño, Quartered
    * 4 cloves Garlic, Peeled
    * 1/4 whole Onion, Peeled And Quartered
    * 1 whole Green Pepper
    * 1 bunch(es) Cilantro
    * 1 can Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Large Can (undrained)
    * 1 can Tomato Paste, Small
    * 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
    * 1/2 tablespoon Salt
    * 1 teaspoon Pepper

Combine green pepper, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro in your food processor.

Click for Detail

Click for Detail

Add the rest of the ingredients. Continue to pulse until tomatoes are pureed.
We did pulses in 2 second bursts, because we like it a bit chunkier.


Strawberry Banana Muffins, with a kick.

I made some yummy- tastic muffins tonight. Like the best muffins i thin i have ever made. These blow my blueberry muffins out of the water, hands down.

I have adapted them from Crepes of Wrath’s recipie.

While making these i thought it would be spectacular to add in some blueberries to make these extra kicky.
Again, awesome.

Prep:
Mash your banana and set aside (this will help it soften up, if its not a over ripe banana)
cut up a bunch of strawberries (enough for 1.5 cups. they dont have to be small either, just chunked)

2 1/4 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced (I used frozen)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 stick of butter, melted
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray and/or use muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. After mixing, gently fold in the strawberries, making sure to coat them with flour – this helps prevent the berries from sinking while baking (if you are using frozen strawberries, make sure that you’ve thoroughly drained them/gotten rid of as much juice as you can).
3. In another large bowl, combine the brown sugar, eggs, butter, bananas, and vanilla until mixed thoroughly. Slowly combine the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stir until just combined – do not over mix the batter or you will have tough muffins.
4. Fill the muffin tray with the batter, place in the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.


Orange Cookies… and a variation

So i was in a cookie baking mood after reading A Friend to Knit withs Orange cookie recipe.   It sounded so tasty to me.  So i made them.

Orange Blossom Cookies

  • 2/3 cup unsalted butter ::
  • 3/4 cup sugar ::
  • 1 egg ::
  • 1/2 cup orange juice ::
  • 2 cups flour ::
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda ::
  • 1/2 tsp salt ::
  • 1 TBLS orange zest
  • *VARIATION * 1 TBSP finely chopped dried cranberries

Cream together butter and sugar, add egg and then orange juice.Mix dry ingredients, add to wet.

Frosting

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 TBLS orange zest
  • 1 TBLS orange juice

Drop by teaspoon.  Bake on parchment paper. Bake @ 400˚ for 8-10 minutes.


Welding, Applesauce and winter.

Ill start with the girly stuff and end with the boy-e stuff.

I decided that corn syrup sucks, unless its in my beloved Pepsi. I am trying to eliminate most of it from our diet. Nathan loves a good bowl of applesauce with lunch, and I am apt to buying Musslemans or motts lunch packs. Recently however i switched to just buying th bulk jar and filling up the re-usable throw away Tupperware from Glad.

This is saving us a little bit of money, (i haven’t figured it out, but a jar goes along way ). However, when I started looking at the ingredient list, i realized that they are all using corn syrup. I decided it was high time for me to make my own applesauce.

So i did.. and it was scrumptious

Smashing the apples.

Smashing the apples.

Next we move over the boy stuff.

Nathan has always wanted to weld. He talks about and talks about it, but refused to either pick up a welder and teach himself or take  a class. Well after 4 years of me badgering him to take the class, I just signed him up and said, Ok, your signed up for welding class, you start in three weeks.

That silly grin hasn’t left his face since.  I would love to show you that grin, but he wont let me photograph it, or his first piece he welded.  I was proud of him though, he’s really liking the class. I havent seen him this excited in a very long time.

Super Bowl weekend was a great. My Dad came to stay the night and visit with Nathan and I on sunday and we cooked dinner, had some beers and watched a VERY entertaining football game, where our team, The Steelers, won!! Great game, we enjoyed it, unlike previous years which hvae been major snooze fests.

Lastly, its winter. Do you know how i know this?

Because Mazey rejoins my house on a daily basis covered in snow from doing this.

Getting a snow bath.

Getting a snow bath.

And Lola looks like this.

Eating Yummy Snow!!

Eating Yummy Snow!!


Wilton Cake Decorating.

I have taken cake decorating classes before. In fact i took one from a brilliant teacher, Mary, when i lived in Beavercreek at a pretty well known shop called Cake Craft.  I have bought most of my cake supplies from here, and miss it greatly. The teacher was fantastic. She taught the REAL craft of cake decorating. How to make a real butter cream icing, (NOT WITH SHORTENING, otherwise known as the Wilton method) How to make tasty fluffy cakes, correct ways to make drop flowers, and roses.

I made the mistake of thinking that i could just get a refresher course from taking Wilton Class  at Michaels. Boy was i wrong. I couldn’t believe what a sales whore pitch it was! BUY BUY BUY!! The teacher was nice and did share a few times of things that i didn’t know, but i felt like the only thing i was really learning was all the Wilton products that were out there.

They don’t even teach you how to prep cakes, or anything!

So i made a crappy cake. I am not proud of it, in fact its pretty sad. But the class was awful.

Please dont judge.

My icing was getting very sweaty and i couldn’t make it write properly  at the end of class, and I hated th way this thing look so much that i didn’t  even finish borders and stuff. We also were supposed to try out thier icing “spray paint”. As you can see, it spots, i am not impressed.


Pasta Love

I have two favorite loves..

Cheese, and Pasta.. There for a am in love with Stuffed Pasta Shells.

*not my picture*

*not my picture*

STUFFED JUMBO PASTA SHELLS
CHEESE FILLING:

2 lbs. ricotta or cottage cheese
1/2 lb. Mozzarella cheese, grated
1 lb Italian Zesty Sausage (bob evens works well, as does Jimmy Dean)
1/2 pound of chopped baby leaf spinach
2 eggs
1/2 c. Parmesan, grated
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp oregeno
1 tsp Garlic salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. parsley
1 Jar Mids Spagetti Sauce (I love this brand its as close to what my grandma made as i can find)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bring water to boil and then add pasta, boil pasta approximately 15 minutes.

The cheese filling.
Beat eggs; add ricotta, Mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese; mix in seasonings and chopped spinach
Brown and Crumble your sausage, and then add it to the cheese mix..

Using a large casserole dish, layer sauce, meat, and pasta shells which are stuffed with the cheese filling. Bake 45 minutes.


Thanksgiving

So this year, was my familys year for Thanksgiving. We headed to Dayton around 12 with all my food in tow. I made a few more of PioneerWomans recipies. I made her delectable and rich Carmel Pumpkin Cheesecake, and Easy Green Beans.

Typically i follow her recipies to a T, but i don’t much care for Gingersnaps and made my own crust out of crushed graham Crackers. I also did some reading about baking cheesecakes first and made sure to put a water bath below the spring form, and let the pie cool in the oven as well for 30 mins after cooking. I was left with minimal cracks.  The pumpkin i used, was the pumpkin puree i made a month or so ago with Amber.

The green beans were mostly fresh.. (as fresh as walmart sells.. lol) but did the job. I also didn’t realize that green beans would turn even more green when sauteed. My sister Amber requested this recipe, as she loves green beans. I have had a ton of requests for the recipe. I also didn’t skimp on the garlic.. i love garlic… more garlic please.

Im sorry i have no pictures to share this time, i was too busy cooking to take pictures. Next time, i will, i promise.

In other news, I want to wish Carrie and Ted a wonderful trip to meet thier new little boy, Owen, in Russia. We hope he comes home to us soon!!!


Chicken Fingers with Spicy Avacado Sauce

Thanks to Working Woman Food, i tried this recipie.

Chicken Fingers with Spicy Avocado Sauce
For the Chicken Fingers
2/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs*
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

Preheat the oven to 400F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine the bread crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper in a shallow dish.

Mix well. Dip the chicken strips in to coat evenly, and tap off the excess. Lay the chicken strips on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.

Spray the tops with cooking spray. Cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes.

For the Spicy Avocado Sauce
2 small avocados, pitted and peeled
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons minced pickled jalepeños
Juice from 1/2 small lime
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, or more to taste

In a medium bowl, mash the avocado and sour cream together with a fork.

Fold in the jalepeños, lime juice, cilantro and hot sauce, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken fingers with the avocado sauce on the side for dipping.

*To make whole wheat bread crumbs, take a slice of whole wheat bread and put it into a food processor. Process until it makes fine crumbs. I only needed one slice of bread to make the amount of crumbs needed. Feel free to substitute prepared bread crumbs.


The Pioneer Woman Dairy Contest Finalist Recipe: The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins

 The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins

I made these muffins a few weeks ago.

They were awesome. I sent them in with Nathan to work.

Here are the pics i took of them.


Pioneer Woman

Liz passed on this link to me.

Great recipies, Photoshop Lessons, Giveaways and other worlds of information about the life of a cow-girl.

www.PioneerWoman.com






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