Pizza Pasta

My kiddos were part of a the summer reading club at their local library. In addition to the reading they did at home, there were various shows/presentations that they could attend. One that we went to was put on by The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was a cooking show, where they connected the need for reading and writing with working at the various levels within the restaurant. They also had some of the kids help them make a special secret recipe created just for the event.

Well, not so secret, I guess, when they give the kids the recipe, right?

So, my son came home and wanted to make it. It was called "The Old Spaghetti Factory's Secret Pizza Pasta Salad."

So, he put together the ingredient for the dressing: 1 c. tomato sauce (we did a home made version of the kind we like. OSF obviously used their tomato sauce recipe), 1 c. ketchup, 1/4 c. diced onion, 3/4 c. olive oil, 1/4 c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. red wine vinegar, 1 t. basil, 1 t. oregano, & 1 t. black pepper

Then he added  cooked pasta (3/4 c. to each 1/4 c. dressing), added diced mozza cubes, sliced pepperoni, and even tried to decorate it with fresh basil like the chef did!

This was supposed to be a "cold salad." He wanted to try it warmed up, so we added a bit more dressing and a bit more cheese, and baked it briefly in the oven.

Add a little garlic toast. . .yum!

Thanks to the Old Spaghetti Factory for the recipe and the fun of making it at home!

This post is linked: Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday

Apple-Blackberry Dessert

'Tis the season for Barbecues. . .LOVE that!

So to the most recent one we went to, I brought dessert. My hubby loves Apple Crisp, my daughter loves anything sweet, and my son. . .he's not a huge sugar fan. Weird, huh?

I tried this recipe--Apple-Blackberry Dessert--for the first time. I knew my company was pretty forgiving if it didn't go well. ;)

The recipe came from here

Apple Blackberry Crisp

Ingredients:

Filling
3 Mutsu apples. peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch cubes ~I just used an assortment of apples, and that worked just fine as well.

1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries (or raspberries or strawberries) (250 ml)

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (125 ml - 175 ml)

2 tablespoons cornstarch (30 ml)

Grated zest of 1 orange ~This was a nice touch--had never done that before.

Topping
1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (125 ml)

1/4 cup flour (60 ml)

1/3 cup cold butter, cut into chunks (75 ml)
1/3 cup brown sugar (75 ml)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (2 ml)
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg (1 ml)

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup almonds, chopped (60 ml) ~I didn't add any of these. . .not huge nut fans in the house, but it didn't take away from the topping, in my humble opinion.
Butter, for baking dish

Directions

Filling

1.In a large bowl combine all filling ingredients and toss to blend.

Topping

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.Put the oats, flour, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Work mixture together with fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Add almonds and blend well.

3.Butter an 8 by 8 inch baking dish with butter. Pour apple filling into dish and mound topping over filling, covering it completely. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until bubbly and golden.

Here is the pre-cooked delight. . .

And my son wasn't so big on blackberries--just in case he didn't like them. So I made a regular Apple Crisp as well.

Mmm. . .in the oven. . .

And no picture of it on a plate. . .it was all gone before I even thought about it!

So. . .I think that means it went over pretty good! Little whipped cream or a little ice cream (the french vanilla kind, of course. . . mmm). . .it was delish!

Linked at Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesdays

Apple Loaf

Finally I am going to get this post up! For how incredibly easy this recipe is, you'd think I'd have posted it already!
I got this recipe from my sister--back in "apple-sauce season" I wanted something productive to do with apples instead of applesauce! (Although looking back, and being more than half-way done all the applesauce I made, something productive would have been making EVEN MORE applesauce!)

This was originally a Zucchini Bread recipe with an apple variation.

1.5 c. flour

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

1 c. sugar

1 c. shredded unpeeled zucchini

1/4 c. cooking oil

1/2 c, chopped walnuts or pecans, optional

The apple variation of the recipe says to replace the zucchini with 1.5 c. shredded peeled apple. My sister's great advice is to also substitute the cooking oil for applesauce (Which many people do things like that anyway).

So. . .grating apples. . .

Mix that with applesauce/oil, egg, and sugar. In another bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Add the "wet" stuff to the "dry" stuff. Stir until just moistened. Fold in nuts now if you are going to add any. Pour in a pan. . .Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.

There you go. Yummy bread all the time. I make these into muffins, little loafs or regular sized loafs--whatever works. The other thing I love about this recipe, is that it is so-o-o forgiving and still works out! If you don't have nutmeg, add a little more cinnamon. Use whole-wheat flour instead. Use all chunky applesauce instead of shredded apple. Add a little extra apple if you like it super apple-ish-y.
Some things I have learned. . .let the loaf cool completely before slicing or moving into plastic to freeze or store. Its better to even wait a day. That is why the little muffins or little loafs work better if you want to eat right away--which you will!!! And make two at a time. . .in our house this disappears VERY quickly!

See more recipes at Tempt My Tummy, Tasty Tuesdays What's Cooking Wednesday, Sweets for Saturday.

Squah Soup

It is Fall. . .and that means we get to try some fall cooking!

I made squash soup for the first time last year--only because we decided to try to grow some butternut squash in our garden. My hubby remembered his mom making stuff with squash, so we though it would be good to grow. . .if it grew. The squash did grow great, but when I asked hubby what his mom had done with the squash, he couldn't remember. Off to the Internet I went!

We once had a squash soup as a starter at a fancy-ish restaurant, so I thought I might give it a try. It turned out to be wonderful. So. . .a week ago (or more, don't remember anymore!) I made it again!

I have no idea where I got the recipe from, so here is my go at it. . .

What you need:

1 large butternut squash

1 medium onion

2 apples, peeled and chopped

olive oil

butter

salt and pepper to taste

ground coriander

ground cinnamon

ground nutmeg

6-8 c. chicken stock or broth

The recipe suggests slicing the squash as shown (which isn't butternut squash, but looking at the web, this kind is similar--just a tougher shell. I needed hubby to cut them open for me. I wasn't strong enough!) Slice, take out the seeds and goop, then score it to let olive oil seep in and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. cover with foil and roast in a 350F oven for about 1/2 hour. I used this squash as food for the baby as well, so I just roasted it for now, and added the spices later on to the soup.

Next I put a little butter or olive oil in large pan, added a chopped onion, and added the salt and pepper now.

Once the onions were soft, I scooped out the squash from the shells and added the rest of the ingredients. After the soup came to a boil, I simmered it for about 30 minutes--until everything was soft and the house smelled great!

Then, I scooped it into my magic bullet, and pureed it.

The recipe suggested adding a splash of white wine to give it a refreshing kick. For a more savoury taste, it suggested replacing the cinnamon and nutmeg with sage and bits of chopped bacon. We remembered eating it at the restaurant with a dollop of herbed cream.

We just topped it with sour cream and bacon bits. Oh-so-fancy for us!

And enjoy!

For more ideas, visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, and What's Cooking Wednesdays.

Making Applesauce

It's not too late to be Tuesday still, is it?

This is "harvest" season.

For us--me--that means applesauce season.

I tried something new this year. Applesauce in a crock pot. I figured if there was something easier than the way I usually make applesauce, I was going to figure it out.

I used this recipe, from the "Crock Pot Lady." I love her blog and have used many of her recipes before, so I figured this one was worth a try as well.

So, I cut my apples. . .with an apple cutter because you need to core and peel them.

Then put the slices in the crockpot with the cinnamon, brown sugar, water, lemon juice, and vanilla. This was where I was beginning to get nervous because when I make applesauce the good old fashioned way, I just use apples. . .maybe a little sugar and cinnamon when serving it, but otherwise just apples.

See how beautiful it looks in the crockpot (above), and also when it is done (below)? After about 5 hours or so, I took my potato masher and made the apples into sauce. It was chunkier than when I make it otherwise, but I thought it was good.

The part I didn't like about it was the vanilla. My kiddos did not like that "flavour" in it either. So, I made another batch the next day, using apples and water.

Yep, that is all. No extra flavouring.

Then I mixed the two together.

And then it tasted wonderful.

Was it easier than the way I usually do it?

Hard to say. When I do it otherwise, I have a system going of washing, coring and cutting, boiling, and using the mill. Put the applesauce into jars for canning or into containers for the freezer and there you go.

The crockpot way there is not as much washing, still coring, AND peeling, but then there is no milling, but some easy mashing. But you can't keep doing this for three or four hours straight as I only have one crock pot (which is a blessing and a con, I suppose.)

They rate pretty evenly to me. The best part is the smell. Yum-yum. But the best-est part is being done. And cleaned up afterwards. And sitting on the sofa, enjoying the smell.

This, of course, must be qualified by the fact that I don't own a KitchenAid. No such luxury in this kitchen. When my hubby and I first got married, and it was a joy to spend time with me, he would help and we had one of those old cone shaped funnels with the wooden club-like tool. So a mill is definitely moving up in the world, but it is no KitchenAid. I may have jealousy issues over those who may have one. :)

Here is my little a, enjoying an apple. You should have seen the drool this caused him. It was great! And now that he is actually eating solids, sometimes I just take a pan, boil a cut up apple for a bit, mash it up, and then he has applesauce. This is a small commitment--one apple at a time. I just have to pay attention to what is one the stove for a bit.

My E had to get involved too. He loves using the mill with me. . .for a short time. . .before I put on a show because I just want the kiddos out of the kitchen. He also helped out by writing "2010" on the top and "apple" on some of them. Of course, he snuck his name on a few too. It's amazing the places he sneaks his name onto. (The best is on coupons--so I have to explain what the coupon says to the person at the checkout and explain my child's obsession with writing his name everywhere!) Thanks E!

And that is applesauce season in our home!

For more tempting ideas, visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

And What's Cooking Wednesdays.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays--Salmon

With lots of salmon in season, that's what we decided for a weekend supper with the family! Now to be honest with you, I'm not a big fish kind of person. I like it IF there is some other flavour along with it. I don't like the lemon juice and salt and pepper or oil idea for fish. I NEED flavour!!



After looking through a "fish" cookbook and knowing we wanted to do something on the grill, my hubby and I settled on Keoni's Island Broil by John P. Ko of Woodland, California from The Freshwater Angler America's Favourite Fish Recipes (1992, Creative Publishing Int'l).

But first was the tricky part: how to fillet a salmon. Of course, we had done our best up to this point, but this was going to be a "good" dinner. So we had to at least try to do it right! So. . . found this great tutorial site, titled "How to Fillet a Salmon." And it worked like a charm! Best fillet ever--barely any bones left in at all!



We made a marinade of 1/2 c. soy sauce, 1/4 c. port wine, H2O, brown sugar and sliced green onions (and chives), 4 cloves of garlic, 2 T. sesame oil, and 1 T. toasted sesame seeds. We took some out for a sauce later, and poured the rest over our salmon and covered it. It chilled in the fridge for the afternoon. Here was the tricky part--the marinade didn't smell all that great to me. It was just an odd combination. I thought this was going to be a flop, and there is nothing worse that having yucky fish for dinner. Well, eating liver or brussel sprouts might be worse, but yucky fish is still up there on the list. I was nervous.

Then after oiling the grill, we started the grilling. . .only to find out that our propane was empty. So much for grilling!



So. . .back in the house and in the oven on a low broil. I basted it a few times with the marinade. . .and suddenly the marinade started to smell really good! I was getting less nervous. And then, voila! Here is the end result:

We ate it with mashed potatoes, salad and cut veggies. It was super! And I highly recommend this recipe. The marinade kinda becomes a glaze on the fish. And it smells wonderful! :)

See more at BlessedWithGrace and At the Well this week!

Also see Tasty Tuesdays!

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday-Potato Soup

I figured it was about time I did one of these posts again. . .



Here is a Baked Potato Soup. If you know me at all, I'm not a big soup fan. It just reminds me too much of. . .well, I won't get into it. But one day at Red Robins (of all places) I decided to order the Baked Potato Soup. I loved it. At a local bar and grill I ordered the same thing. . .loved it. So, then I decided I needed to find a recipe that I loved. . .and that was close to these ones that I loved so much!



This is what I came up with. . .it's based on a Best of Bridge recipe, I think. . .but that was so long ago, that it has been changed somewhat by my own tastes!



Here is my recipe:
4-8 large potatoes--depending on how many extras you have. . .what do you do with one potato in the pantry?
1/2 c. celery, diced. Only, we don't like celery, so I add it if I have it. I do always add 1/2 cup of carrots and corn.
1/2 c. onion, diced
1-1/2 or 2 c. water
4 chicken boullion cubes (or left over packets from those noodle soups)
1/2 t. salt
2 c. milk (or more, depending on how thin or thick you like your soup)
1 T. flour
2 c. sour cream
parsley or green onions
other baked potato toppings

*Peel potatoes, dice potatoes and put them in a large pot. Add other vegetables, onion, water, boullion cubes and salt. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender (about 20 minutes).


*Remove from stove and mix with an electric mixer until the mixture is a smooth paste. Or--the way I prefer it--use a potato masher in the pan until it is a bit chunky. Add 1 cup of milk and heat again. In a medium bowl, blend he sour cream with the flour. Stir in 1 cup of milk. Slowly add this too the soup mixture a bit at a time. Heat and stir until thickened. If it is too thick for your liking, add a bit more milk. Also, if you are a spices-kind-of-person, you can add more salt, pepper, parsley--whatever you want or whatever might make you happy at this point.

Serve. . .Top with your typical baked potato toppings. For us, we like cheese, sour cream, green onions, bacon, peppers. . .) Serve with garlic bread or a salad. This serves about 6.

I often double the recipe so I have a meal or two for the freezer. I thaw it in the fridge and then heat it up for a quick supper. Because of the sour cream and milk in it, when you are warming it up, be sure to stir it well and often and have milk handy to thin it and make the texture all good again!

Visit Blessed With Grace for more Tempting Tuesday Treats!

A Little Bit of {Sweet Potato Fries}

We had some sweet potatoes last week. I've often had them in recipes, like soups and Chicken Milani, and anything like that which calls for potatoes--you can generally substitute these in.

But I've also had Yam Fries at restaurants and LOVE them, so I though I would give these sweet potatoes a try at fries.

At first I tried a mixture between these two recipes (Recipe One and Recipe Two). I say mixture because I liked the nutmeg aspect, but didn't use the egg white, but did the oil instead. They were great--a lot like Oven Baked Fries or Jo-Jo's.

Then later on in the week (or was it the weekend?), I was blog-hopping and found a recipe for Cajun Baked Sweet Potato Fries. The idea of sweet and spicy was very intriguing, so I gave this recipe a try too.

I sliced up all my tators to look like fries. . .and topped them with the spices. With this recipe, you could probably make it so much easier by just using Cajun seasoning (like from Epicure or Costco, etc). Or you could make the seasoning topping suggested in this recipe, and just store it in a sealed container until you need to use it. The seasonings would taste good on most kinds of meat as well.

Laid them out on the oil-greased baking tray. . .

One change I made from the recipe is to cook/bake them shorter. . .only a half hour to 45 minutes, flipped them around, and then broiled them on low until they looked crispy.

And then. . .served them! We are them with Pizza Buns one day. . .

And here they are with a more healthy choice of a sandwich/bun. . .

3 out of 4 of us liked them. E thought I should just make the regular potato ones. He likes routines. He likes predictable meals. His opinion really shouldn't count because he ate them anyway! :)

Also, for those of you who do OAMC, this link shows how to freeze them. I did it. . but haven't used them in a meal yet. They are sitting happily in my freezer at the moment, so I can't tell you how it will work out.

Visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at BlessedWithGrace.

Birthday Cupcakes

This is my first time posting over at Tempt My Tummy at Blessed with Grace. . .I've seen a few others do it, so I thought I would give it a try. My little recipe is not my own, I found it at a website, and linked to it, of course! But the "creative" bit was kinda fun, so I thought I would share it with you!

Last weekend was E's birthday. I usually make cakes for my family. My mom did that for us as we were growing up, and now I do it now for all of us.

Well, instead of a full cake, I made cupcakes. I found a wonderful recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes. These recipes were easy (just as easy as a boxed cake) and they turned out beautiful. . .almost like coffee shop ones.

Below are the vanilla ones. Look how {perfect} they look!

A close up. . .do the bubbles mean I may have over-mixed the batter? Oh well, it didn't matter because they tasted GREAT! Light and vanilla-y!

Then, here is a photo of what I did with them. Of course E had wanted a "Cars" themed cake. Then we took a trip to our trusted Wal-Mart, and these little jumping frogs were in the Party favours area. E changed his mind! And they would be a little extra something for the cousins to play with after the cake.

I piled all the cupcakes into a 9x13 lined with blue tissue paper, frosted each of them with vanilla icing, sprinkled them with sparkly blue sprinkles (courtesy of Michael's) to look like the water, and placed the cute little froggies on top. Not bad, I think. And kinda easy.

Here are a few things E needed for his party. (He set up the picture. . .I may have helped him move some things afterwards to make it all fit in the picture) Again the bubble sticks were from Wal-Mart to give to the cousins . . .and the price is right (if you can read the little price tag showing)!

Thank you E for your help in writing this post! Oh the things you get to do with your kids as a SAHM!

And p.s. Happy birthday!