recipes Archives - Page 7 of 17

Freezer food basket (and other premade foods) – Gifts for those who have everything

christmas, freezer, freezer cooking, holidays, once a month cooking, other sites, recipes | December 15, 2011 | By Jessi

One comment

^ Freeze Beef Stew and Breakfast Burritos (use Omelet Muffin recipe but cook in skillet and fill tortillas)

I’ve been seeing lots of ideas for food gifts, so I’ll just skip straight to sharing some of them. Remember that while cookies, candies, and other sweets are popular, putting together more savory mixes will carry beyond the holiday season….and without being carried there on an increased waistline. :P

Mason jar snack food mixes Jar of candy with gift card certificate hidden inside

Top 8 edible gifts and gifts in a jar (including DIY s’mores kit, popcorn, and grandma’s goop)

The no-bake, no-cook, no-time gifts – Snack mixes in a jar (one that tastes like banana pudding looks awesome)

Gift certificate in a jar (more creative than just handing them one in a card)

Whole bunch of freezer meals (some gluten-free, vegetarian, and whole food ideas, too)

Sausage Spice Mix

Tis the Seasonings spice mixes (ranch, taco seasoning, onion salt)

Drawing on mini pumpkin pies – Bunny, jack-o-lantern, pumpkin pi!

bunny, humor, pie, quirky creations, recipes, smiley face | December 12, 2011 | By Jessi

3 comments

One of the hardest transitions for me has been going from prepping and cooking mass once a month recipes to trying to cook tiny portions just for two.

For the most part, I’m failing miserably and the freezer is full of leftovers, oops.

So after sleeping in on Thanksgiving (hey, that’s the perk of not cooking for everybody, right?), I made too much food and didn’t get to the pie until almost midnight.

Muffin tin of pie crusts for mini pie tarts

It’s not Thanksgiving without pie, so even when I discovered I didn’t have a rolling pin, I plowed through with a can of tomatoes and rolled out each of these pie crusts individually. I thought I’d be able to roll out a full sheet and then cut them out with a cup or bowl, but no go. Each one got handcrafted with love…and a strong desire for pie. :P

See the knife marks in the top ones below? Trying to time it based on tiny pies instead of a full one, it took me three attempts before I was satisfied that they were completely done.

I still had a full pie’s worth of crust left and tons of filling, so I rolled out strips of crust with my tomato can to fill a casserole dish. If you want help with the image of me struggling with a tomato can, picture a 4’11” me, tippy toed above the counter that is way too high for me, putting my whole body into it. I was *exhausted* by the time the pies were in the oven.

^ The first makes me think of an alien. Check out those ears! And the last one? While I was moving it off the stove to try to take a better picture, I um, dipped the oven mitt in it. Yay for a pumpkin pie nose?

Also, see that little metal thing in the upper right hand corner of the picture? That’s the inner workings of the can opener I broke earlier in the day. Cooking utensils aren’t cooperating with me too much. :(

The next morning, I had some fun drawing on the ones ~~I hid in the back of the fridge~~ we didn’t eat. I knew the chocolate would harden quickly, so I worked fast, but what I didn’t take into account was that it’d turn solid as soon as it hit the cold pumpkin surface.

Pumpkin pi. :)

They’re not quite as pretty after separating some in the fridge over night, but still fun. And I actually preferred the little tartlets over pie because every bite had delicious crust to filling ratio. <3

Here’s the recipes I used. I did roast and puree my own fresh pumpkin, so yours will look a different color if you use canned.

Pie Crust Recipe

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

6 to 8 Tbs. ice water

Cut butter into flour, salt, and sugar, using pastry cutter or food processor. Slowly add ice water until well mixed. Form into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2+ hours before using.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned or fresh

3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup instead)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (1.5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice instead of ginger/cinnamon works)

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten (flax seed “eggs” work fine)

1 cup evaporated milk, undiluted (mix powdered milk using half the water as usual as a sub)

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices, and flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add eggs; mix well. Add evaporated milk, water, and vanilla; mix well. Pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350° and bake about 35 minutes longer, or until center is set.

Fried bananas on cinnamon toast

banana, breakfast, cinnamon, kids, picky eaters, recipes, sugar | December 6, 2011 | By Jessi

5 comments

Now that Nablopomo is over, I figure it’s time to get back to posting more of the projects and foods I’ve made myself. I’m constantly talking about things I’ve done before, go to find the link, and realize that I never got around to posting about it. Bleh.

These fried bananas are ones I actually forgot about, which is funny, because my forgetfulness is what led to them in the first place. I kept buying a single plantain with the intent of us getting to try fried plantains, only to then forget it bought it until long after it’d gone soft, black, and ~~furry~~ ~~slimy~~ nasty.

Finally, I gave up and made fried bananas randomly one morning to go with the cinnamon toast I’d already planned.

How’d I make them? I, uh, winged it. I sliced the bananas, tossed them with a combination of flour and cinnamon, and then fried them in a pan, likely with butter.

Wait, no, looks like oil. *Eyes the right-hand side of the photo* Yep, oil.

I don’t remember what I did when I was winging it. Don’t judge. That’s what the pictures are for…to remind me how I did something. :P

Anyyywaaaayyyy….cinnamon toast. Butter, sugar, cinnamon on bread in the broiler. Complicated, I know.

I tried to be all technical and precise by lining a certain number of slices on each piece of bread for a picture. But really, that’s ugly and unappetizing.

Piling it on was much, much better.

Because I was winging it, I accidentally overcompensated for the sweetness of the bananas, thinking the toast and bananas should both be unsweetened. Turns out, they weren’t really sweet enough, so I sprinkled a little sugar on top. Kids loved it.

Fried cinnamon and sugar banana slices on cinnamon toast - mini sandwich

I hear these are also good on vanilla ice cream. Oh, and if you’re wanting an actual recipe, it looks like the common ration is 1 teaspoon cinnamon to 1/4 cup flour for about 4 bananas. I have no idea how accurate that is, though. That would imply I measured.

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