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Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Dried Cherries and Strawberries

I picked up a bunch of strawberries and cherries at the farmer’s market this week and tried my deyhydrator. I never knew drying your own food was so easy! I have a basic dehydrator, so it takes a little longer than some. But really not too bad. The cherries took 20-48 hours. The strawberries took 10-24 hours. Just depends how thick you slice them. Now we have a jar of each dried fruit. They are so yummy!!! A great snack. We will be taking some on our vacation for sure. I’m excited to try drying other fruits…blueberries, apples, pineapple, bananas, peaches,…

I will try drying a few herbs after vacation. And sometime soon I’d like to try making beef jerky with some of our Voogt beef.

Oatmeal Cookies

I made a batch of oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies this morning. I got the recipe from Justin’s mom. Her recipe uses raisins and nuts. I did raisins and chocolate chips. Amazingly Justin said he’s never had those two together! His mom always made them with just raisins or just chocolate chips…but never together. That’s how we always had oatmeal cookies. And the way I love them 🙂 This recipe made quite a few cookies…around 50. Even though we haven’t tasted them yet I’m sure they’re good 🙂 I think I’ve made them once before, but I can’t remember. These will make a handy snack on our vacation.

Famous Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins and Chocolate Chips

3/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 cups quick oats
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Beat shortening, sugars, egg, water and vanilla until creamy. In separate bowl sift flour, salt and soda. Add to creamed mixture and blend well. Stir in oats, nuts, chips and raisins. Drop by teaspoonfuls (I used a small cookie scoop) onto greased (I used silpat and parchment paper) cookie sheets. Flatten with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 min (mine took about 14 min.).

Rhubarb Crunch

Last night I used up our fresh rhubarb and strawberries in a crisp. I got this recipe on All Recipes a long time ago. I’ve made it several times. Always very good!! The only change I made was to use a 1/2 cup butter instead of a full cup in the topping. That just seems like way too much to me. And I added strawberries. They pair so well with rhubarb. And add extra sweetness.Rhubarb Crunch

3 cups diced rhubarb
(chopped strawberries)
1 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl combine rhubarb (and strawberries), white sugar, and 3 tablespoons flour. Stir well and spread evenly into baking dish. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine brown sugar, oats, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Stir well then cut in butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over rhubarb layer. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Maple Pecan Scones

I had some buttermilk to use up, so I made a batch of scones this morning. It’s another recipe from Eggs On Sunday. There are quite a few more scone recipes on that blog that I’m anxious to try. These were super easy and very good! I only had a tiny nibble. But I let Justin have one fresh out of the oven for breakfast (they are meant to go with dinner) 🙂 He said they were great! I baked 4 this morning and froze 4 (froze before baking). I’ll make the frozen ones later in the week so they are fresh for another meal. These smelled amazing in the oven. I can’t wait to have a scone tonight!!**Looking back at the recipe I wonder if you’re supposed to sprinkle the tops with sugar? I just put the 1/3 cup and the 2 Tbsp. in the mix. But I bet the 2 Tbsp. were supposed to be for topping…even though it doesn’t say that. I just wrote down the ingredients last night and made them w/o really looking at the directions this morning. So I didn’t realize it said 1/3 cup in the mix. Oh well. They’re still great. Maybe just a little sweeter 😛Maple Pecan Scones

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar or sucanat
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
7 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup chopped pecans, plus whole pecans for the tops of each scone (preferably soaked and dehydrated)
1/2 cup chilled buttermilk
2 1/2 Tbsp. real maple syrup
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until coarse meal forms. Mix in chopped pecans. Whisk buttermilk, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup in small bowl to blend. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; stir with fork until dough comes together in moist clumps. Gather dough into ball. Press out dough on lightly floured surface to 3/4-inch thick disk. Cut disk like a pie into 8 wedges. Place each wedge on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sugar. Press a whole pecan lightly into the top of each scone. (At this point, you can refrigerate the sheet, covered, overnight and bake the next morning if you’d like. Or you can freeze them and thaw/bake them later.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake until scones are crusty on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 15 minutes (or up to 20 minutes if refrigerated). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Last night I tried a recipe for buckwheat pancakes. I saw the recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod. It is based on an Ellie Creager recipe…which I actually have in my EC cookbook (I need to look through that soon). I bought buckwheat a while ago when I wanted to try new grains. And I never got around to trying it out. So last night was the first time I’ve used buckwheat. It’s a healthy, hearty, nutty grain. And very yummy!!! The pancakes turned out great!!! We all loved them. Especially Rebecca 🙂 She kept saying “bite” because she wanted more. These were mildly sweet. Hearty and yet light. And they paired well with the fruit. It was also nice that this made a big batch (I got about 14 pancakes out of it). So I froze a bunch in packages of 2. Now Justin will have something healthier for Saturday morning breakfast than the junky frozen waffles and toaster strudles he eats right now (I’m working on cutting those out of his diet :P). I didn’t put blueberries in my pancakes this time. We had a fruit topping made with homemade blueberry syrup, strawberries, cherries, blueberries and a little powdered sugar. I also served them with fresh blueberries (well, frozen, thawed…but local blueberries…same thing for all the fruit in the topping), chopped walnuts and readi-whip (Justin likes this, I don’t. In the future I want to make fresh whipped cream for stuff like this. I just didn’t have time yesterday). This is definitely a keeper recipe. And a great way to get a variety of grains into our diet. The batter was a little thinner than the pancakes I usually make. These really spread out when I put them on the griddle. Part way through I added a touch more whole wheat flour to the batter. I think I’ll do a full cup of whole wheat flour next time to make it a little thicker.

Buckwheat Pancakes (or blueberry pancakes)

1 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp. raw honey
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar or sucanat
1 Tbsp. coconut oil or melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup of fresh blueberries
Extra blueberries and fruit for serving (optional)
Maple Syrup

In a large bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together the buttermilk, milk, honey, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine them. Stir in berries.

Preheat a large nonstick griddle. You can use a skillet if you don’t have a griddle. Ladle the batter onto the hot griddle or skillet , use about a 1/4 cup batter (I used about a 1/3 cup). Flip the pancake when it is golden brown on the bottom and there are lots of bubbles. Don’t flip them too soon. Cook the other side until golden brown. Serve hot with syrup and extra fruit, if you wish!

Double Chocolate Cookies

At one of my bridal showers my friend Mandy gave me a cookie cookbook called “The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Cookies.” I browse through it once in a while to find something new to bake. This morning I made a batch of double chocolate cookies from it. They were super easy to make. And I’m pretty sure they taste great…but none of us has actually tasted them yet 😛 No cookies for breakfast here. So I’ll have to update with the true verdict later. As usual the cookies on the bottom rack got pretty dark on the bottom. But Justin actually likes a little burn to his cookies. So he’ll love them 🙂 I eyeballed about 1/3 of a bag of each kind of chocolate chips instead of using chocolate chunks.

 

There are quite a few more recipes that I want to try from this cookbook. I know it’s not baking season now that the weather is getting warmer. But hopefully I can try a few here and there. I’m hoping to make shortcakes next week for strawberry shortcake. I’ve never cared for it, but Justin will love it.

Double Chocolate Cookies

makes 18-20 (I got 24 out of it)

 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cups rolled oats
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped

 

Heat oven to 375. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat well. Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in lightly with a metal spoon. Add the oats and chocolate. Stir until evenly mixed.

 

Place small spoonfulls of the mixture in 18-20 rocky mounds on baking sheets. Leave space for spreading. Bake 15-20 minutes, until beginning to turn pale golden. Cool for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Corn Dog Muffins

I found a fun recipe on Heavenly Homemakers the other day for corn dog muffins. I just used the idea of the muffins and used my own cornbread recipe. It’s basically the exact same thing I use for corn dogs, but in muffin form. I used turkey sausages w/ cheese this time since that’s all I had on hand. I cut them into bite size pieces and put them in the batter. I used 2 sausages and got 9 muffins out of them. I made a small loaf of corn bread with the leftover batter. I made these for Justin. He really liked them! He said he thinks they are better than my actual corn dog attempts. Easier to eat and better meat to bread ratio. This will definitely be something I make again. I’m sure it will be a big hit with kids someday 🙂 And they will be handy because I can make a big batch and freeze them. Now I just need to find a decent hot dog.

 
After a week of misses with meals (Justin was not keen on most of what I made) I was glad to finally get a good review last night 🙂 Our meal plans for tonight have changed again. We are going to try some of our new beef. We’re grilling steak!
 

Corn Dog Muffins

 
favorite corn bread recipe (see link above for mine…I used 3/4 cup all purpose flour and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour this time…a little healthier :P)
hot dogs

 

Prepare corn bread batter. Cut up hot dogs. Fill muffin cups half way with batter. Add a few hot dog pieces (I think I did about 5 each, sliced and halved pieces). Top with a little more batter. Bake according to corn bread directions. I baked mine at 400 degrees for about 20-22 min.

Pesto Pea Salad

I made a Barefoot Contessa recipe last night that I’ve had marked in my cookbook for a while. This salad is meant to be a side dish. But I added a few things to make it a main dish. I’ll post the original recipe (and picture with just those ingredients) and then what I added (and another picture). This was very good!!! And super easy. I never thought of using pesto as a salad dressing. But it works well. I didn’t make her recipe for the pesto. I just used some homemade spinach pesto I had in the freezer.Pesto Pea Salad

2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
2 Tbsp. pignolis (pine nuts), toasted
2 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves (I used a mix of garden spinach and boughten organic baby romaine)
grated parmesan (I used asiago since that’s what I had on hand)
4 Tbsp. pesto, recipe follows

My additional toppings:
cooked chicken chunks
avocado
beans (a mix of garbanzo, pinto and northern)
corn
croutons (gluten free w/o these)
roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower

To assemble, place the spinach leaves in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the peas and pignolis over the spinach. Add the pesto and toss. Top with cheese. (We each assembled our own salad in individual bowls.)

Pesto:
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pignolis
3 Tbsp. diced garlic (9 cloves)
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Serve, or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

White Bean and Sausage Soup

For lunch today I made another Year of Crockpotting recipe. It was very easy to throw together and it tasted great! Even Rebecca gobbled it right up. Definitely a keeper. For veggies I just threw in some frozen veggies. No time to cut veggies this morning (barely had time to get frozen veggies in with a little girl that kept waking up crying :\). I used lean sweet italian turkey sausage. When I tried to slice it the casing came off. So they were more like sausage chunks. Oh well. I wasn’t thrilled about eating pork casing anyway :p And i just threw in a handful of uncooked brown rice…maybe 1/4 cup. This made enough for our lunch today, 2 lunches for Justin this week and a little extra to feed Rebecca. You could easily make a larger or smaller pot of this. My comments are in italics.

Crockpot White Bean and Sausage Soup

1 can white kidney beans
1 can pinto beans (I guess these aren’t really white)
1 can garbanzo beans
1 tsp. thyme (oops forgot this since I had to stop in the middle of prep to deal with Rebecca…didn’t miss it. There was plenty of flavor w/o adding any seasoing besides the better than bouillon)
2-4 spicy chicken or turkey sausage (I used 2 sweet sausages…we aren’t big on spicy food)
1/2 chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup leftover rice pilaf (if you want to use raw rice, you should have enough liquid to add 1/4 to 1/3 cup without losing soupiness)
2 cups chopped fresh vegetables (I had broccoli, carrots, asparagus) (I used organic frozen mixed veggies and some frozen broccoli)
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth (I used organic better than bouillon mixed with water)

Drain your beans and throw them into your crock. Chop up whatever vegetables you are going to use in tiny pieces. I used my Pampered Chef handy dandy chopper. Slice the sausage that you are going to use. I chose to use two spicy turkey sausage—if you would like your soup to have a kick, use more than two. Two just kind of gives flavor without spice. Cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The soup is done when it’s heated through and the vegetables are tender, but it’s not going to hurt anything to cook it longer and give the flavors more time to meld.

Banana Bread

I had some really ripe bananas to use up so I made a batch of banana bread yesterday. I can’t believe I haven’t posted this recipe yet…or made it in so long! This is my mom’s recipe. It’s the only banana bread I’ve ever made. So yummy. And very easy.

Banana Bread

3/4 cup organic cane sugar or sucanat
1/2 cup butter, room temp
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat or all purpose flour
5 Tbsp. sour milk (4 Tbsp. milk + 1 Tbsp. vinegar) or buttermilk
1 cup mashed banana (the riper the better)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
 
Cream sugar, butter and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Put in two 9″ buttered loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degress for 35-45 min.
 
*I used one medium loaf pan and two small pans. The small pans took 25-30 min. The medium pan took about 40 min. Depends how done you like your bread. I like it on the less done side…lighter is better 🙂 Although these did end up fairly done/dark. Justin likes it that way better I think.