Delicious, Frugal, Easy Egg Dish

I have made this delicious egg dish three times now, and it has met with rave reviews every time! As usual, I really don’t have the recipe for you, more the method. You would need to adjust it for your family. I make four pie plates for our family, which allows for a few pieces leftover. Last time I made only three and my ‘peeps’ were clamoring for more. I have the ‘recipe’ below the tutorial.

First, I shred potatoes, skin and all and toss them with olive oil and salt and pepper. Press them into a pie plate. It is important to get it thin, if you want them to cook through and be as crispy as you can get them. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until beginning to brown, like the picture below.

This one might have been a wee bit thin and a wee bit over done.

In the meantime, chop and sauté onion and red pepper (seasoned with S & P) until tender and beginning to caramelize. This gives it great flavor. Remove from pan.

Sauté chopped spinach until wilted.

Crack enough eggs for your family into a bowl, add a splash of milk and your slightly cooled onions and peppers, and again salt and pepper. ( I snuck in some cayenne here too, shhh) Add shredded cheddar cheese. Or cheese of your choice. Remember to season each layer of your dish, this really helps with overall flavor.

I then sprinkle the spinach in the pans, it seems easier to get even distribution.

Then pour your egg mixture over the spinach and crust.

I like to sprinkle more cheese on top. Some children don’t care for the extra cheese, so I leave it off one of them.

Return to oven and bake until browned and cooked through. When I make four pans I rotate them from top to bottom after about ten minutes to ensure even cooking.

Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to help ‘loosen’ the crust from the pan. When you serve it, make sure you get the crust with it. You might have to run a thin knife around it and use a thin metal spatula to free it from the bottom. This happens because I try to get the crust as crispy as possible, just shy of burnt!

Serve with a small salad, or sliced tomatoes, as I did for myself and enjoy!

Delicious, Easy, Frugal Egg Dish

Crust:

• Shredded potatoes
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Filling:

• chopped and sautéed red pepper and onion
  
• chopped and sautéed spinach
  
• eggs
  
• milk or cream
  
• shredded cheese of your choice
  
• salt and pepper

Press potatoes tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper, thinly, into pie plates. Bake at 425 degrees until beginning to brown.

Mix the eggs, milk, sautéed veggies, cheese and salt and pepper and pour over top of crust. Sprinkle more cheese over the top.

Bake until set and browned.

Let sit for a few minutes, as this seems to make it easier to get the crust loose from the pan. You might need to free it up with a thin knife of thin spatula. Be sure to not leave any of the tasty crust behind. This is Brian’s favorite part.

Let me know if you try it and what you think, or if you have any questions.

Italian Quinoa Garbanzo Salad

I recently cooked up a huge pot of garbanzo beans as well as a pot of quinoa. I have made two large batches of hummus that the children have devoured.

When I make quinoa I soak it overnight after rinsing it. I then sauté onion and garlic in a large pan until tender, adding salt and pepper to taste. I add the drained quinoa and some chicken stock or water. (make sure to season well with salt and pepper) Simmer for 15-20 minutes with the lid on and then let sit for awhile.

I try to make a huge pot of it to eat throughout the week. Here is one recipe that we love, well most of us love it.

Italian Quinoa Garbanzo Salad

• cooked and cooled quinoa
• cooked and cooled garbanzo beans
• diced onion
• diced red bell pepper (any color will work)
• diced cucumber
• diced tomato
• chopped black olives
• feta cheese
• opt. chopped fresh parsley and/or fresh basil

Dressing for Italian Quinoa Garbanzo Salad

• olive oil
• lemon juice
• garlic powder, salt and pepper

Many vinaigrette recipes call for 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar or lemon juice. This is way to oily for my taste. I usually stick with 1/2 oil and 1/2 vinegar or lemon juice in this case. I mix the dressing separately in a jar to get the flavor right and then pour it all over the salad ingredients and mix. You will need a fair amount of dressing, as the quinoa will soak some of it up.

I wish I had taken a picture, it is really pretty. We had to fight some of the children off or they would gobble it all up. I make a delicious Mexican Quinoa Salad too. I’ll post that recipe soon. Might as well make a big pot of quinoa and have Italian one night and Mexican another!

Woo Hoo! Sourdough Success!

I have dabbled into the sourdough world off and on this past year. I have had many failures and few successes.

I let my sourdough starter die months ago and was recently missing it. I really wanted to make the English Muffins that I used to make and just love. Well, God heard the longings of my heart and had my dear friend Cindy call me with some of her extra starter. She remembered that I loved to make the English Muffins and that I had mentioned my starter had died. Isn't she sweet? Thanks, friend!

Do you see how beautiful these loaves are? I don't want to cut into them, I almost don't care how they taste! I think I just want to leave them in a basket and look at them. Don't worry, nobody here will allow such foolishness.

This is the Sourdough Rye recipe that is beyond easy to make.

This link is for the No-Knead Sourdough version. Also so easy. I had to make them both.

Lest you think things always go smoothly around here, just Thursday I made the most perfect sourdough bricks, I mean bread that I used for quite tasty croutons on last night's salad. Never give up, that's my motto ;-)

Lunch Time Blahs, Part Two

In my search to beat the Lunch Time Blahs I have discovered another yummy recipe to share with you. Parts of it happened by accident, but it turned out delicious! I like to call it, Sprouted Lentil Tacos. Here is how it happened.

I was soaking lentils overnight for a lentil taco recipe I was going to try and something happened the next day and they didn't get cooked. Later that night I panicked because the lentils were still soaking and I didn't know if they would turn to mush, so I drained them and left them in the colander overnight. The next morning I had cute little sprouted lentils! As most of you probably know, soaking and/or sprouting grains, legumes, nuts and seeds make them much more nutritious, so I was thrilled when I saw they had sprouted.

You may make the following recipe with non-soaked, soaked or sprouted lentils, it is your choice. This recipe is based on a recipe I found online called, Red Lentil Tacos. Here is my adaptation of it, as you can see, it is really only based loosely on her recipe.

Sprouted Lentil Tacos


1/2 to 1 whole onion, chopped
1/2 chopped bell pepper

chopped garlic
2 cups soaked or sprouted lentils
about 2 cups chicken broth or water

1 cup can tomato product of choice

taco seasoning (homemade) to taste

salt and pepper

Saute the onion, peppers and garlic in a little olive oil until softened and slightly browned. Add the taco seasoning, salt and pepper. Saute for a few seconds to release the flavors. Add sprouted lentils, chicken stock and tomato product. You want the lentils covered with liquid but not drowning in liquid. Let simmer, uncovered for about 15-20 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed and mixture has become thickened. You might need to keep checking to make sure there is enough liquid. I usually don't measure, so the above is my best guess. Proceed with caution! ;-)

We serve this Sprouted Lentil Taco mixture in flour or corn tortilla wraps with lots of shredded cheese. It was very yummy. Healthy and Frugal!

As promised, here is my list of Lunch Ideas from my Meal Planning Notebook

Lunch Ideas


Spaghetti Sauce Pasta (Easy Tomato or Mine)
French Toast
Quinoa Burgers
Grilled Cheese
Lentil Burgers
Refried Beans and Rice
Saucy Black Beans and Rice or Quinoa
Muffins or Bars and Smoothie (yogurt or green)
Sandwiches
Lentil Chili and Cornbread or over rice or quinoa
Broccoli Pasta
Pesto Pasta
Bean Dip and Chips
Pizza Pockets
Taco Pockets
Hard Boiled Eggs and Veggies
Mock Sloppy Joes
Pizza
Fried Rice
Stir Fry w/ rice or quinoa
Taco Salad
Tacos
Taco Soup
Meatless Chili
Chili
Chips and Cheese
Egg Frittata (veggies)
Eggs and Hash browns
Goulash with rice pasta or over rice or spaghetti squash
Wild rice pilaf
Breakfast pizza with rice as the crust??

Beating the Lunch Time Blahs

Do you ever get in a rut with your meals for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner? We are in one of those ruts right now. I am determined to change things up a bit and try some new things now that life is getting back to normal. (LOL, what is normal anyway?)

Today I will share a recipe that was met with rave reviews. Please feel free to share you favorite 'go-to' lunches to give us all of some new ideas.

I have adapted this recipe from Stephanie, who wrote a wonderful Crockpot cookbook called Make it Fast, Cook it Slow.

Crockpot Beans and Rice

In the morning, by 8:00 am I sauteed a half of an onion and some garlic. (this is not necessary, but I really believe taking this step adds needed flavor.)

Into the crockpot:

Sauteed onion/garlic
2 cups brown rice (that I soaked overnight)
2 cups pinto beans (that I soaked, cooked and had in the freezer, you could use canned)
2 cups black beans (that I soaked, cooked and had in the freezer, you could use canned)
1 quart of my canned tomatoes

(that had some garlic, salt and onion, maybe use stewed tomato)
Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper
about 1 cup water to rinse our jar
Shredded cheese (add after done cooking)

Mix it up and put it on high. About 11:00, I checked it and it seemed to need a little water. The rice was not quite done and it was a little dry. I added a splash of boiling water at this time.

By noon we had delicious smelling and tasting beans and rice. We added shredded cheddar, but any flavor cheese would be great. It was different than our usual beans and rice because of the Italian flare. We are bored to tears with our standard beans and rice ;-) It was so great to put in such a small amount of effort and come up from doing school to a hot and tasty meal.

Here is Stephanie's Recipe. I suggest you go check it out and maybe follow her recipe or amounts before you adapt it like my recipe.

Helpful Hints:

• Soak and cook up huge pots of beans and freeze them in 2-4 cup portions. I do this with all my beans. The beans are far superior to canned beans, as they are prepared properly, and it is so cheap. Especially if you buy in bulk.
• Whenever possible, saute your veggies in a little oil to release flavor.
• Season as you go along, layering the flavor.

Next time, another successful lunch idea and my list of Lunch Menu Ideas from my Meal Planning notebook. Don't forget to share you ideas!

Lacto-Fermented Pickles

I wrote this post last summer but never posted! Huh! I thought now would be a perfect time, as those tasty little pickle cucumbers are coming in soon!

This is so easy and so much better for you than store bought pickles! Give this a try! Who knew eating your fill of pickles would actually be good for you? You can find links in my Lacto-Fermented Salsa post to explain the benefits of this old tradition.

Ingredients (for 1 gallon/4 liters):

3 to 4 pounds pickling cucumbers

6 Tablespoons sea salt

3 or 4 heads flowering dill, or 3-4 tablespoons of any form of dill

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 handful fresh grape, cherry, oak, horseradish, or bay leaves

1 pinch black peppercorns

filtered water

Process:

Rinse cucumbers. If using cucumbers not fresh off the vine, soak them for a couple of hours in cold water with ice.

Dissolve sea salt in 1/2 gallon (2 liters) water to create a brine solution. Stir until salt is dissolved.

Put dill, garlic, leaves, and peppercorns in the bottom of a crock or jar.

Place cucumbers in crock/jar.

Pour brine over cucumbers. If using a crock, put a plate on top of the cucumbers and weight it down with a jug of water or a rock. If using a jar, use a clean rock, glass of sand or water, or other creative weight on top of cucumbers, or just put the lid on the jar and don't worry about a weight. Make sure the brine is covering the cucumbers; if not add more brine (just under 1 tablespoon salt to each one cup water). Cover with a cloth or lid.

Check every day, skimming mold from the surface (if there is mold, rinse the plate and the weight).

After 1-4 weeks (depending on the temperature), the pickles will be ready. You will know if they are ready by tasting them. If you like the taste, they are ready! Refrigerate and enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Wild Fermentation .

Lacto-Fermented Salsa

This here is a post I wrote last summer and never posted! I have another one on Lacto-fermented pickles coming up too, so hang on to your shorts!

My friend Cindy recently posted on her lacto-fermented salsa and it reminded me of this post that I forgot to post!

Of all the lacto-fermented foods salsa is by far our favorite!

Pickles and sauerkraut are close seconds, but those are other posts waiting to happen;-)

LACTO-FERMENTED SALSA

Makes one quart, double, or quadruple if you have lots of tomatoes and peppers

4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

2 small onions, finely chopped

3/4 cup chopped chile pepper, hot or mild

6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (optional)

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

juice of 2 lemons

1 TB sea salt

4 TB whey, if not available, use an additional 1 TB salt1/4 cup filtered water.

Peel tomatoes, cut along the "equator" of the tomato, squeeze out the seeds. Dice up tomatoes, and combine with all the other ingredients, and place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. Press down lightly with a wooden pounder or large spoon, adding more water if necessary to cover the vegetables. The top of the salsa mixture should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to cold storage. Make several jars if you have plenty of tomatoes, as this salsa is wonderful. The same Salsa can be made using canned tomatoes in the winter time.
Adapted from Nourishing Traditions.

This is the recipe I sort of follow. I do add lots of red or yellow peppers to my recipe. I don't usually peel my tomatoes and I use tons of lime juice instead of lemon.

If this is all new to you, you might be wondering where in the world do I get whey!? One very simple solution is to buy some organic yogurt, Stonyfield is good, and put it in a tea towel in a strainer over a bowl and strain out the whey. The liquid that comes out is the whey and the yogurt is now like a yogurt cheese that you can use for dips or cream cheese.

Here are some links that explain the benefits of lacto-fermentation.

Benefits of Lacto-fermentation

Fermented foods for beginners.

Here is another recipe for lacto-fermented salsa

Hopefully this inspires you to try your hand at lacto-fermentation. Salsa is one of the easiest ways to incorporate this wonderful practice into your eating.

Emergency Mayo Update

I have had a few people share with me that when they did the stick blender version of my mayo it did not work. I too had several failed batches after a ton of successful batches.

I set out to discover why! Well, I began to lift my blender too soon, before the mixture had a chance to emulsify.

You need to keep the stick blender on the bottom of the jar! Until about 1/3 to 1/2 of the mixture emulsifies. Then you can begin to lift it up and down a little to get all the oil mixed in.

Let me know if you try this and you have problems. I had to throw away $11.00 of good oil, so I know how frustrating it can be. I want you to succeed, so get back to me if you have problems, okay?

I Did It!

I did it! I finally succeeded at making a nice soft sourdough sandwich bread! I mastered the art of soft and fluffy non-soaked whole wheat bread years ago. I make a wonderful ciabatta and some artisan style breads, but, soft sourdough sandwich bread has eluded me. I cannot count the amount of bricks I have made in the last several weeks. Sour tasting bricks! Barely even good enough for French Toast! Now that is bad.

Pictured here are one of the bricks I made today and one of the dreamy loaves I made. I literally jumped up and down with excitement. I don’t like to fail and was determined to keep going. Just this morning, my son questioned why I just don’t give up.

This is why!! Sweet success! He was not questioning anymore after trying a slice slathered with butter!

This is the recipe that finally worked for me, though I am pretty sure it was me, not the recipes ;-) I was trying to make it by hand and continued to fail. I found a recipe that uses a Kitchen-Aid, so I new I could make it in my Bosch.

I did it, Cindy! Yeah!

NO EXCUSES Mayonnaise!

I have put together a series of videos showing you just how easy it is to make your own mayonnaise without all the bad oils and chemicals that are in store bought mayonnaise.

If you can get a decent source of eggs, it really is so easy and tastes delicious. I would NOT recommend using regular, run-of-the mill store bought eggs. Most stores have organic eggs and some even have free-range eggs.

The basic recipe that I used for each of the videos is as follows.

Homemade Mayonnaise

2 egg yolks

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. white wine, rice or champagne vinegar

1. t. Dijon mustard

1 t. sea salt

dash of garlic powder, onion powder and sugar

1 1/2 cup of oil of your choice (I use a combination of sunflower and olive oil)

Just find the 'tool' you have in your home and watch that video. I now exclusively make my mayonnaise with my stick blender. I can have it mixed in as little as 28 seconds. I even make it in the jar I store it in. Super easy clean-up. I have made it several times in the blender and food processor. Both work equally as well. I have only made it by hand once, and it would not be my first choice as it is a little bit of work, but it can be done.

So, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES to not make your own mayonnaise and make this simple healthy change. Okay, you know I am kidding right? I am not putting pressure on you, just trying to make it fun and easy. If you are knee deep in toddlers, pregnant, sick and/or overwhelmed, please, by all means go buy the mayonnaise from the store! I will still love you, and actually, find you very wise ;-)

The first two videos have my sweet two year old in them helping me. So cute. And the last video features my second oldest son doing all the work!

If you choose to make your mayo in a blender, this one is for you.

Blender Mayo

For food processor instructions, watch this one.

Food Processor Mayo



If you are so blessed enough to have a 'stick blender', watch this one.

Stick Blender Mayo (a.k.a. Immersion Blender)
Make sure you keep the stick blender down on the bottom of the jar until you get about 1/3 to 1/2 of the mixture emulsified. If you don't do this, it will not work. Ask me how I know!

If you are crazy or don't have a blender, food processor, stick blender, or live without electricity (which might qualify you for crazy ;-) watch this one.

Mayo Made by Hand

Mama Mia! This Was Favoloso!

I wish I had taken pictures while I was preparing and before serving, but I forgot! And, I didn't know how 'favoloso' it was going to be. Being half Italian I love Italian food!

I made Braciole (pronounced Brajole) It is a pounded piece of beef, filled and then rolled and slow cooked with your favorite tomato sauce. It was so easy. When we ordered our grass-fed beef from a wonderful local farm, Maple Valley Farms, I made sure to have the butcher tenderize my round steak. I knew this would be perfect for this recipe!

Here is what I did. There are a ton of variations out there, but I found this way to be so easy and so delizioso! ( I really don't know Italian, I just used google! ;-)

Braciole

pounded/tenderized round steak

grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (use the good stuff)

chopped parsley

salt and pepper

favorite tomato sauce ( I used my homemade Mama Michello's Sauce)

I simply layed out the beef sprinkled generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Sprinkled, generously again, with the grated cheese and parsley. Roll up and secure with toothpicks. The pieces were not all the same size so I just rolled it anyway I could, it didn't matter, it turned out great.

I then browned the rolls in oil until well browned. (key to great flavor) I used a very large enamel cast iron dutch oven and browned them in batches. You don't want to crowd the pan as you will more steam than brown the meat. I put them all in the pan, poured my sauce over them and covered. I baked it around 350 for several hours. It smelled favoloso!

I made some 5 minute bread and our 'traditional' Italian salad and we had a feast!

Let me know if you try it or have any questions. It was so easy and definitely had that WOW factor. I mean, come on, Braciole, steaming hot crusty bread and a salad?! Ask me if I felt like the MAMA!

Favorite Cabbage Salad (video)

This is our Favorite Cabbage Salad. I had a blast making the video with the children. It is so easy and so yummy. It makes a big batch and will last in the fridge for several days, if you can keep it for that long. I am always on the hunt for easy, go-to raw veggie recipes. This one fits the bill! Below the video you will find the typed recipe. Enjoy!

P.S. I let the video run a few extra seconds so you could see those littles continue to gobble it up. They love it. Also, when I was reviewing the video after shooting it, my little Elijah crawled up and grabbed a fork and began shoveling it in. You would think I didn't feed these children!

Favorite Cabbage Salad

2 heads shredded cabbage, red or green or both

3 apples, shredded

Poppy Seeds

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

(a glug of maple syrup) I did not add this in on the video, but it does help to round out the flavor.

Soaked and dried sunflower seeds for serving.

Super Easy!

I apologize to all you measurers out there. ;-)

Coconut Pineapple Lime Smoothie

Okay, my sweet friend, Elizabeth from Yes, They're All Ours has requested this recipe, twice. Sorry, Elizabeth, I forgot!

Coconut Pineapple Lime Smoothie

In a blender,

1 can whole coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

good hunk of fresh pineapple

2 cups ice

few drops of stevia or splash of maple syrup

Blend well and enjoy!

This is so easy and very good for you. It is a guilt-free dessert. When you make things like this for a treat now and then you really won't miss the really bad for you desserts.

We love making a healthy and delicious coconut milk ice cream with coconut milk too, maybe I'll post that one soon!

Delicious Side Dish

I made one of my favorite side dishes tonight and wanted to share it with you. We had pot roast with all the fixins, beef, carrots and potatoes. I don't like to eat a ton of high carb veggies so I made this side dish for myself to go along with my beef. YUMMY!

I have adapted the recipe to my liking, you can find the original here. It is from Giada De Laurentiis, whom I really like. We have so much in common, we both are Italian, and we love to cook (She's a professional though, and gets paid a ton for it. That is where the similarity ends, I guess!)

Greek Caponata

•1 (28-ounce) can whole (or diced) tomatoes with their juice
•2 zucchini, cut into 1-inch rounds
•2 summer squash, cut into 1-inch rounds
•2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
•1 sweet onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges
•3-5 garlic cloves, minced
•1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
•1 1/2 teaspoons salt
•1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•1 teaspoon dried oregano

Lots of Pecorino Romano Cheese!

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Pour the canned tomatoes into a 9 x 13 baking dish and spread to cover the bottom. Put all the veggies over the tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and oregano. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the edges of the vegetables are golden, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Great Mother's Day Idea!

A couple of years ago the Lord gave me such a great idea for Mother's Day that was so 'out-of-the-box'. I am going to share with you what I remember of it in case you think it is something you might want to do sometime.

The day before Mother's Day the Lord dropped into my heart the idea of serving my family in a huge way instead of being served that day. The idea was to bless them and thank God for the privilege of being a mom instead of being thanked for being a good mom.

Here was my plan.

First I made little cards for each child with something that I loved or appreciated about them. Maybe a character quality or gift they have. I made them out of scrapbook paper.

I secretly planned an easy special breakfast and planned to set the table with linens, candles and flowers. I, of course needed to do this once they were in bed. Brian and I scrambled for an hour after everybody was well asleep.

In the morning when they got up prepared to help Brian make me a wonderful breakfast the table was set, the kitchen smelled yummy and I was waiting to bless them! It was so neat to see the wonderment and confusion on their faces.

I had them find their note cards and sit in their seats. I went to each child and read aloud the card I had made for them, through tears of course. I blessed them and hugged them and told them how very much I loved them. One by one, I did this with each child.

I then went to the living room and called my daughters over. We knelt and I proceed to pray for them as they would one day be mothers, Lord willing. I prayed through Proverbs 31. I prayed that they would be courageous like Esther. That they would be faithful like Ruth. That they would be submissive to their husbands, have a gentle and quiet spirit and be obedient like Sarah.

I blessed their wombs and the Godly seed they would one day bring forth.
It was so beautiful and precious.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast and I rested the rest of the day, as I was up late, and who doesn't like a little pampering on Mother's Day? Isn't God amazing? He took a day that I would usually be pampered and catered to and asked me to serve instead of being served. Isn't that what Jesus did? It was so special. Lest you think I have somehow 'arrived', don't, I have only done that once ;-)

It's sort of funny, because there have been years that I step into self-pity because the day doesn't go like I want it to. Expectation! Ouch! This was certainly the cure for self-pity and self-indulgence!

Oven Apple French Toast

1 pound loaf Italian bread, sliced

1/2 cup melted butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 t. cinnamon

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cup milk

1 t. vanilla

Melt butter and spread in 11x17 jelly roll pan. Sprinkle brown sugar. Cover brown sugar with sliced apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon and set aside.

In bowl beat eggs, then add milk and vanilla. Dip bread slices in egg mixture and place on top of apples. Pour any extra egg mixture over bread.

Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Serve apple side up.

I make this the night before and put in fridge, bake in morning. Might need to add baking time.

7 Layer Brunch

7 large boiled potatoes (boiled with skin on and cooled)

2 cups cheddar cheese

1 lb. cooked bacon, chopped ( I use turkey bacon)

3/4 cup green onion

3 ounce softened cream cheese

1 dozen eggs

salt and pepper to taste

Butter bottom of 9x13 pan. Peel potatoes and shred or dice them. Place in bottom of pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of cheese, bacon, green onions. With an electric mixer, mix eggs with cream cheese. Pour over the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese over top. Cover and put in fridge overnight.

Bake uncovered, in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

These are old recipes that I have added to or changed over the years. I thought to share the original and let you adapt. You probably have your own favorites. They are easy because you can prepare them the night before and just bake in the morning. The whole house smells like yummy cinnamon in the morning.

Let me know what you think? Have you done this type of thing before? What are your ideas for a special Mother's Day?

Easy Brown Rice

Several months ago I came across a method of making brown rice that I just love! I make it in the oven! It is so easy just to pop it in there and it doesn't take up valuable real estate on my stove.

Simple Oven Baked Rice

I don't really follow this recipe anymore. I usually double the amount for each 9 by 13 pan, and I always SOAK the rice first. You are all soaking your grains, right?

I always make at least two pans, sometimes even three, no sense having the oven on for just one meal, right? I try to plan my meals out during the week to use the two pans of rice. I leave the rice right in the second pan and store in the fridge for later in the week. To reheat, I just add a little water, cover and heat in the oven. Or I might use it for my Leftover Rice Casserole. This rice goes great with my Saucy Black Beans.

I don't always use chicken stock, often times I just use water, but, you definitely increase the nutritional value if you use the stock!

By the way, Amy, from Simple Sugar and Gluten Free has an awesome website with fabulous recipes. Her testimony of how changing her diet enabled her to lose weight and regain health is truly inspiring, check her out!

"Saucey" Beans and Rice

We frequently have a 'beans and rice' meal to be able to keep our healthy eating within budget. I have gotten bored with plain old rice and beans, beans and rice, though the children don't mind. We have refried beans and rice and black beans and rice.

This week I tried something different and it was so simple and tasty!

I sauteed some onion, red pepper and garlic in some oil. I added about two cups or so of tomato sauce. (could have been diced tomatoes or whatever kind of tomato product you have on hand) some homemade chicken stock (about a cup) and some of my "Homemade Taco Seasoning" and a lot of soaked, cooked, frozen then thawed black beans! (One reason this is so simple is that I always cook up a ridiculous amount of beans and freeze them in freezer bags to have ready for such a meal as this.)

I then let it simmer for about 20 minutes for the flavors to meld.

I served this over brown rice that had been soaked and made in the oven, ( so easy) and a salad with homemade Ranch dressing! Yummy!! I thought I had made enough for two meals, but the children loved it so much that many of them had three helpings!

Recap:

chopped onion

chopped red pepper (any color will do)

chopped garlic

coconut oil

Saute for a few minutes, until tender.

Add:

soaked, cooked black beans

tomato product of your choice

taco seasoning

chicken stock

Simmer for 2o minutes and you have what we call "Saucy Black Beans"

Serve over rice or with your favorite organic, non-GMO corn chips!

Please, please check out my $75.00 give away!! Come check out how you could win $75.00 of free grass-fed beef! Hurry while you still have a chance!

Yummy and Fresh

I have made this recipe two times now and I love it. This time of year I am so tired of the same old, same old veggies and salads. This is a refreshing change. It is easy to make and keeps for about a week in the fridge, if it lasts that long. The water content of the jicama and cucumber make this a very hydrating raw salad. It is so important to get as many raw veggies as you can, and this is a tasty way to do it.

If you have never used a jicama (pronounced HEE-kah-mah)before, give it a try. They are very crisp, watery and lightly sweet . Nutritionally, 1 cup of sliced jicama has a mere 46 calories, and 11g of carbohydrate (of which 6 huge grams are fiber) and 30% of the daily value for vitamin C.

Here is the link:

Jicama Salad Recipe

I hope you enjoy this. We are loving it!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

I have been trying my hand at my own homemade taco/chili seasoning for some time now. While the family has been happy, my taste buds have told me something was off.

A couple of months ago I came across a homemade taco seasoning called, Best Ever Taco Seasoning. I have used it in several applications and I think it's name is accurate.

I hope you give this a try. Now you won't have to wonder what are those "spices" in your store bought packets or jars. I have read several places that companies can use words like, "spices" or "natural seasonings" which may or may not include MSG without having to label it as such. MSG is a neurotoxin (Neurotoxin: A substance that causes damage to nerves or nerve tissue. For example, lead is a neurotoxin.) and it is in so many processed foods. If you still have processed foods in your pantry ;-) go read some of the labels. Here is a link, and another, that shows you the various words to look for.

I make up several batches of this at a time so I don't have to frequently haul out all the ingredients. I store it in a quart Mason jar and it is always handy!

Best Ever Taco Seasoning

Ingredients
•1 tbs chili powder
•1/4 tsp garlic powder or granulated
•1/4 tsp onion powder
•1/4 tsp cayenne
•1/4 tsp dried oregano
•1/2 tsp paprika
•2 tsp ground cumin
•1 tsp course salt

Directions
1.Mix together and store in airtight container.

Enjoy!

Questions on Nutrition and Recipes

My sweet friend Elizabeth sent me an email asking a few 'nutrition' questions and it occurred to me to put my response in a post to possibly benefit others. So here goes.



I have a couple questions for you. We recently bought a grass-fed cow for healthy beef. I want to learn from you how you use it.


Elizabeth, I am so happy for you! We love our grass-fed beef and can't imagine going back to eating 'slaughter house' beef, especially with all we have learned! We pray the Lord continue to provide this for our family. I won't go into the benefits of eating grass-fed organic beef seeing as how you already have it. It is something that is easy to research.


Tonight we had a chuck roast that I seasoned with Lipton onion mix and a can of cranberry sauce and cooked in my crock pot until it fell off the bone. It was really delicious!

First, let me say that I would try to avoid the Lipton onion mix, it is full of MSG and the cranberry sauce probably has high-fructose corn syrup in it. Let me tell you how I have found ways to make it just as tasty and better for you. I too used to use Lipton onion soup mix as well as Worcestershire sauce and beef bullion too! Yikes!

***Whenever I make a roast, or stew meat or round steak, I always sear it in a frying pan (not Teflon), with some oil (coconut is best for this purpose, but EVOO will do) until it has great color on both sides. Remove from pan. Then I saute sliced or chopped onions, garlic and salt and pepper in a little more oil until beginning to brown. Then I deglaze the pan with some water, about 2 cups, making sure to scrape the yummy-yums off the bottom of the pan. ( you could use wine, or wine/water combo) I then dump the meat and this mixture in the crock pot and cook as usual. You would not believe how tasty this is! The browning really adds flavor. I used to need to use MSG loaded bullion cubes or beef base to make a good roast and gravy, not anymore! ***


Another important point is to season the beef liberally with good salt (sea salt) and pepper before searing. I season the beef and the onion mixture. I have learned to season each layer of my meal, which makes for a well seasoned dish versus a salty or under seasoned dish at the end.(see, watching TV is good, I have learned a lot from Food Network!)

The 'juice' from the roast is so good I usually just have to thicken it up with a little arrowroot powder (better for you than cornstarch) and water slurry. Serve over rice or potatoes or whatever.

The main cuts we use from our cow are chuck roast, stew meat, round steak and ground beef. Of course we enjoy the steaks and speciality cuts, but these four cuts make up our main menu.

We eat a beef meal twice a week, on Monday and Thursday. Oh, we always have burgers on Saturday, so that is three meals, isn't it? ;-) (We have Roast Chicken on Sunday, a Leftover Chicken meal, from Sunday's chicken, on Tuesday, and Beans/Grains/Meatless meal on Wednesday and Friday.)

Stew Meat:

*Prepare as above*** and serve over 'soaked whole-wheat pasta' or rice pasta. I call this 'Sirloin Tips over noodles' ;-) (shhh, don't tell anyone;)


*Marinate in an Asian marinade, for example Tamari, garlic, rice vinegar, fresh ginger and ground pepper. I let this marinate over night, dump in crock pot, cook all day and serve over rice with veggies on the side.

*"Chop Suey" (that's what we call it) Prepare as above***, cook all day in crock pot with chopped carrots and celery. The last few minutes add in a couple of cans of bean sprouts and serve over rice.

Round Steak:

Prepare as above***, but add in a HOMEMADE cream of mushroom soup (please don't use canned which is loaded with MSG!) I use this base recipe for everything I might have used cream of mushroom/chicken soup for! I used to use it a lot. This takes a little more time, but it is far superior and again no MSG! Add mushrooms also. Serve over rice, pasta, or potatoes.

I recently made 'Chicken Fried Steak' with our round steak. Be sure to fry it in a healthy fat, like beef tallow.

I use both the round steak and the stew meat for various soups. The one downfall to this is having to have homemade beef stock which I make way less than the chicken stock I make bi-weekly. I have asked for all the extra bones from our cow and have made batches of stock with them, but no where near as frequently, so we eat less beef soup than we used to.

Besides the obvious roast variations, we make shredded beef barbecue out of our chuck roast. Make sure it is a homemade or healthy sauce, most store brands are loaded with HFCS and chemicals you don't want.

I recently came across this blog and have since bought her book. It has a ton of 'better for you' crock pot recipes, all gluten free. The problem I find with most Fix it and Forget It type cookbooks, is that the recipes might be easy, but are usually very unhealthful. I am happy with this cookbook, though I think you could probably get by with just printing off the recipes you want from her blog. I wanted to support her, so I bought the book. You can search 'chicken' or 'beef' recipes and come up with a lot of 'not your run of the mill' crock pot recipes.


Now, I'm wondering if I can cook that bone in the chuck roast for broth and can i put it back in my crock pot to do so?? Hoping that the answer is YES, I just did it! :) I covered the bones in water, put in some chunks of carrots, celery and onion and thyme, salt and pepper. Does that sound good???


I have not tried this, but think it might work. I have saved all my bones over the months (in the freezer) and when I make stock, I dump them all in. Here is the best link for making stock. I know I have posted it before, but here it is.



Hope this helps! Anymore question?? Anyone??