Waffle Crepes

New creation!  You could also call these "Wacky Waffles" because of the funny, floppy texture.  My kids love them!

All I did was take regular crepe batter, sweetened it with honey, and baked it in a waffle iron.  The idea came to me after TRYING to make waffles last weekend, and my normal fool-proof waffles flopped.  (Side note: In case you didn't know, cornstarch and baking powder are NOT interchangeable...)  Ah-HEM...

Anyway, I didn't want them browned, because I wanted to still be able to roll up like crepes, but I thought maybe the waffle holes would help hold on to whatever filling I wanted to use.  Today, we ate them plain or just rolled the waffle quarters around a small "stick" of cream cheese - easier than trying to spread it - and they made great finger food.  Plus, this was way easier than the traditional way of making crepes - at least for me in my stainless steel pans.  :)

Here is the recipe I used, in case you don't already have a favorite:

2 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. white whole wheat flour
1 T. oil (or I'm sure melted butter would taste great too!)
2 T. honey
1/4 tsp. salt

Beat it all together, pour into waffle iron, and wait till steam slows.  Mine fell a little after taking them out - I don't know if that's elevation or what, but it didn't bother us anyway.  :)

Hope you enjoy!

Mosquitos, Chiggers, and Ticks - Oh, My!!

Bethany asked for my insect repellant recipe, so I thought I'd post it here. It's adapted from Cindy Lonergan's recipe. :-)

In a one-ounce bottle, combine almost 1 oz olive or almond oil (this is your base - leave room for the essential oils and you can add more base oil later if desired) and 5 to 10 drops of each of the following essential oils: bergamot, citronella, eucalyptus, geranium, lemongrass, patchouli, peppermint, pine needle, rosemary, spearmint, tea tree.

You don't actually need ALL of these - they can be expensive, especially if you are buying them all at once. I've never had geranium oil in my supply, and just recently found pine needle oil, so I had never included it before. The two I definitely use a full ten drops of are citronella and lemongrass, and then fewer drops of whatever others I have on hand.

After combining them and before each use, roll the bottle gently to mix the oils well. Suppsedly you shouldn't shake essential oils - that's what I've been told. Just rub a few drops of this blend on arms, neck, ankles, at waistbands, etc. Obviously don't get it in your eyes, and don't ingest. It's a good healing oil for bites, too.

Also, here is Cindy's chigger-and-tick repellant powder: Put flowers of sulfur, also known as sublimed sulfur, into a sock. Stitch or rubber band close. Pat on arms, legs, underarms, panty lines, bra lines, pants legs, and shoes before heading out. When I got this from Cindy about ten years ago, she said she found the sulfur at Wal-mart. I haven't looked for it recently.

Have a healthy bite-free summer!! :-)
Love, Mom/Mardeana

Buttermilk

Hi Folks, here is my buttermilk recipe. And I must say it's awesome! It's not the really quick version with adding lemon or vinegar to milk, but the texture and taste is better. So depending on what you want/have time for, this may be for you. What you need: * 1 quart jar, sterilized. This is really important, don't skip this step. 4 cups 1% milk or greater. No fat= no buttermilk :-D 1/4 cup of buttermilk Method: Take your quart jar washed and dried and place in oven @ 200 degrees for 15 minutes. You can leave in the over to cool or remove to cool. I have to take it out, other wise I turn it back on and get the jar too hot :-s . Just be sure it's cooled off before you do this next step, I've ruined a few jars with out thinking...! Add 1/4 cup buttermilk to jar, then add just under 4 cups of milk. I just eyeball it to the level of the first ring of the jar where the lid screws on. Place the jar somewhere warm and where it won't be disturbed for 24 hours. It needs to be above 65 degrees. The warmer it is and the less it is jostled the quicker it will set. After it has set (it will be thick and have the consistency of yogurt or really thick buttermilk, either way is fine) place in fridge and you're done! The beauty of this is once you've started the buttermilk, there is never a need to buy more. Just use 1/4 cup of the buttermilk you've started and keep going! I buy a 1 cup container of buttermilk to start with and it makes a gallon! It keeps in the fridge for quite a while, too. If there are any questions, leave them in the comments!

Pumpkin Cookies

These turn out very soft, almost muffin-y. In fact, they make me think of those "muffies" at Panera - the tops-only of muffins... Anyway, with reduced sugar and whole wheat flour, and perhaps with more nuts, and without the icing, I'll serve these for breakfast! :)

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. brown sugar (I use 1 c.)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon rind (I used juice)
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. nuts
3/4 c. raisins

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs. Sift and add dry ingredients and pumpkin. Add nuts and raisins. Bake at 375 for 12-15 min. Cool and spread with icing -

4 T. butter
1/4 c. pumpkin
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. lemon rind
salt

I haven't actually made the frosting...

This recipe works great with banana too - I think banana and pumpkin are almost interchangeable, consistency-wise. Elijah loves them too!

Frosted Peanut Butter Bars

Think "Reeses Peanut Butter cookies!" I just made these last night, and yep, I think I'll make them again. I only made 1/2 recipe, though.

1 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar (I reduced this to 1 c.)
1 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter, divided (reduced fat or generic brands are not recommended...)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. quick oats
2 c. all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugars, add 1 cup peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients. Spread into greased 15x10" baking pan (for 1/2 recipe, I used a 10" springform pan - made it more like a pie, but it works!)

Bake at 350 for 13-17 min, or til golden brown. Cool slightly on wire rack, about 12 minutes. Spread with remaining peanut butter and cool completely.

Chocolate frosting:
6 T butter, softened
4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. baking cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
6-8 T milk

Combine all ingredients, adding only enough milk to make it spreading consistency. Spoon over the peanut butter layer and spread. Cut into bars - makes about 3 dozen.

Hot Pink Hummus!!!

Or Electric Purple... It all depends on how big your beet is! :)

Wrap a beet and an unpeeled clove of garlic loosely in foil. Roast at 400 for about 45 minutes or until beet is tender. Remove skin from beet and garlic.

Process with 15oz can of white beans, rinsed (or garbanzo beans), the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/4 c. olive oil, and 1 tsp. salt. Makes about 2 cups.

Ok, now for my tips - my beet was probably about 2" diameter - didn't think it was THAT big, but we got the electric purple version. Also, use a fork to test the beet for tenderness - I kept waiting to be able to squish it, like a baked potato, and it never got there. My clove of garlic burned up, I left it in so long. If you like the garlic flavor, you probably want to use more than just one clove - it wasn't very strong, and I would have preferred a little more garlic flavor to balance the beetiness of it - but that may have been different had I used a smaller beet!

Cornmeal Crust

Hi Everyone!

Are you ready for a recipe blitz? :) I figure it's about time I get on here and post some new recipes - I only have about a half dozen that I've been wanting to share!

First up I wanted to post this crust I found when I wanted to make a Mexican style pizza - I love the crust, and used it to top a Mexican style pot-pie, too! I may even try making it alone, just pita-bread style - not sure exactly what I'll do with it then... just eat it maybe...

Cornmeal Crust

1 1/2 c. flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 T. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. dry yeast
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
3/4 c. warm water
1 T. olive oil
1/3 c. cornmeal (think you can stretch this to 1/2 c. if you really like the corn-ey flavor!)

Combine 3/4 c. flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add water and oil and beat. Stir in cornmeal and the rest of the flour, and knead til smooth and elastic - about 5 min. Cover and let rest 10 min.

To make pizza, have the oven preheated to 450:
Spray baking sheet with oil and sprinkle with cornmeal. Press the dough into a 14x10" rectangle and prick with a fork. Bake 8-10 min, or til edges just begin to brown. Top with 1 c. Mexican cheese blend, 1 1/2 c. chopped cooked chicken, diced tomatoes, and chopped yellow bell peppers, and another 1 c. Mexican cheese. Bake another 6-8 min.

To make pot pie, only make 1/2 crust recipe and have oven preheated to 375:
Layer in a pie plate - thick layer of chopped meat with a little broth (seasoned as desired), 1/2 can of drained corn, 1/2 can rinsed black beans, and layer cheese. Top with rolled out crust, crimp edges, and bake - about 20 min (I think!) until top is dry and beginning to brown.

This is how I made a pot pie - you can definitely add tomatoes or whatever else sounds good! My broth didn't thicken at all, so you may want to serve it in bowls or dust the bottom with flour maybe, to make a thicker broth.

Enjoy!

Pizza Dough

2 3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 TBS salt
1 1/2 TBS yeast
1 TBS sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
6 1/2 cups flour

Mix this according to the first bread post. No need to rest, top it, slide it right on a hot stone with water in broiler pan. Bake at 450 and be ready for some smoke if you are using cornmeal-turn on your vent :-P Stores for up to 12 days in fridge.

Biscuit Waffles

I think this pinterest thing is getting to me! I saw many recipes for cooking cinnamon rolls in a waffle iron and thought "Hmm, what a cool idea!". I took it a step further and made my biscuit dough and plopped it in my waffle iron and the rest is history! This could make my life a LOT simpler :-)
So have fun trying it for shortcake, biscuit and gravy...yep you get the idea!

blogger

This isn't a recipe, but I think perhaps the best way to ask all involved. I am tightening my privacy settings on my blog (meandmykidlets.blogspot.com)  after Anthony was bored and did a google search for the girls and all of my blog/pictures from blog showed up. I thought I'd set things so that wouldn't happen. :(  Anyway! I am setting it so only you all can read it, and I need e-mail addresses to grant permissions. I have Mardeana and Bethany's. I think blogger sent Jenna a few invites. Sorry about that, Jenna. :)  I didn't realize what it was doing. The screen just going blank. *sigh*  I believe this is a safe place to give me the addresses, but if you'd rather, you can e-mail them to reddentonya@hotmail.com. Thanks so much!!!!

Cinnamon Rolls

Here's a quick, inexpensive way to make cinnamon rolls!!

Take the bread dough recipe that I posted and make sure it's refrigerated.

Mix-
1/4 cup butter at room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Roll out dough 1/4 in thick. Smear with cinnamon mixture. Roll up and cut like you would any cinnamon roll recipe. Let rest 1 hour. Bake in a greased 8 in cake pan for 30 min @ 350. Make your favorite icing and enjoy! I promise you won't be disappointed with these :-)

You won't your baking stone or the pan of water.

100% Whole Wheat Sandwhich Bread

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1 1/2 TBS yeast
1 TBS + 1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup honey
5 TBS mild tasting oil
6 2/3 cups whole wheat flour (Avoid whole wheat pastry flour or "graham" flour)

Use the same method in previous post for mixing, except let rest 1 hour and 40 minutes before baking! This dough last only 5 days in fridge.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 min and bake for 50-60 minutes or until deeply browned and firm with water in broiler tray. You can place this in a greased 9x4x3 in baking loaf pan or on the stone.

Bread

3 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbs yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 Tbs kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 cups of unsifted, unbleached all-purpose flour measured with the scoop and sweep method *

Warm the water slightly-100 degrees about.

Add yeast and salt to the wate in a 5 quart bowl with a lid (not airtight)r-don't worry about fully disloving.

Mix in the flour-KNEADING IS UNNECESSARY. Add all the flour at once using a dry-ingredients measuring cup, by gently *scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top leval with a knife if spatula, don't press down in to flour asyou scoop ro you will throw off the measurement by compression. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment or a heavy duty stand mixer with the dough attachment until the mixture is uniform. If you're mand mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture togther. DON"T KNEAD! It isn't necessary. You're finnished when when everything is uniformally moist with no dry patches. This is done in a matter of minutes.

Allowto rise. Cover with a lid (not air tight). Don't use a screw top, such as a Mason jar-that could explode. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse-or flattens on top-about 2 hours. Refrigerating the dough will make this easier to handle, so you can at this point stick your dough in the fridge until ready to shape and bake, or up to 2 weeks.

This next step is different form any other bread recipe-DON"T KNEAD THE DOUGH! Just shape a loaf in 30-60 seconds. First sprinkle a pizza peel with cornmeal or whatever flour your recipe calls for. (I just used a large plate). Sprinkle flour on the surface of your dough, pull off a grapefruit sized portion of dough and add a little more flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off-it's supossed to. This should take 30-60 seconds.

Rest the loaf on the pizza peel (or plate) for 40 minutes. No need to cover.

20 minutes before baking preheat an oven to 450 with a pizza stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for hoolding water on any other shelve that won't interfere with the rising bread. Dust and slash the bread 3-4 times.
After a 20 minute pre-heat slide the bread onto the stone and quickly pour about 1 cup of warm water onto the broiler tray and quickly close the door. Bake for about 30 minutes till deep brown and firm to the touch.

Now, this is the hardest part for me! Don't slice the bread hot-wait till it's cool-that way you get the Panera effect with the crust. Enjoy!!!

Curry

Here is my curry recipe, per request:)Keep in mind this ALL by taste!

1/4 cup butter
1 onion
3 apples
1/4-1/2 cup rasins
1-2 chicken breast (cooked)
1/2 -1 lb burger(cooked)
2-4 cups water
2 rounded scoops of chicken base (Tones)
1/4-1/3 cup curry powder
2-3 spoonfulls of Apricot Jam
1-2 Tbs of brown sugar

Melt butter in large pot, add onions and cook till tender. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook till apples are tender. If you like it more sweet, add more jam or sugar, if you like is a little more savory, add more bullion and more curry powder. Again, this is ALL to taste. And if you are like Dad and don't like raisins (weirdo :-P)don't add them!!

Warning: this stuff is addicting, Miles and I can't get enough and Elisabeth asks for it all the time! Enjoy :)

Pear Harvest!

Here are a couple of recipes I've tried in the last week or so, since the pears are fresh and ripe right now. Enjoy! :)

Pear Zucchini Bread

2 c. all-purpose flour (I used white-wheat)
1 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. pumpkin spice (I improvised with some cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
3/4 c. oil
3 tsp. vanilla
2 c. finely chopped peeled ripe pears (abt. 3 medium)
1 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

In a large bowl, combine first eight ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add the pears and zucchini. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour into two greased/sprayed 9x5" loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min or until toothpick comes clean. Cool for 10 min., then remove to wire racks.

Note: I reduced the sugar to 1/2 c. of each kind, but I don't think it was necessary - my bread was good, but a little more sugar wouldn't have hurt it. :) I think they'd make good muffins, perhaps with a crumb topping...


Cranberry-Pear Crumble Pie

1 single pie crust
24 vanilla wafers, crushed (abt. 3/4 c.) (I used 6 graham crackers instead, and added some pecans as well)
1/4 c. packed brown sugar (I used 2 T)
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c. chopped cranberries (more won't hurt!)
2 large fresh pears, sliced
1 3.4-oz pkg vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Cool Whip or whipped cream, if desired

Heat oven to 400.
Bake pie crust 5-6 min, or til lightly browned; cool.
Mix wafer crumbs, sugar and butter til will combined.
Reduce oven to 375. Spread cream cheese in bottom of crust; sprinkle with half the crumb mixture.
Combine fruit in a bowl. Add pudding mix and cinnamon and toss to coat. Spoon into crust and top with remaining crumbs.
Bake 35 min or until fruit is tender and crust is golden brown. Cool completely, and serve with whipped cream.

Naomi and I think this one is great!

Poppy Seed Creamed Chicken

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Karen.

2 c. cubed cooked chicken

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted*

1/2 c. sour cream

1 t. poppy seeds

3/4 c. crushed butter-flavored crackers - like ritz (about 18 crackers)

2 T. butter, melted

Hot cooked noodles or rice

In a bowl, combine the chicken, soup, sour cream and poppy seeds. Pour mixture into a greased shallow 3-cup baking dish. In a bowl combine cracker crumbs and butter; sprinkle over top. Bake, uncovered, at 350 fro 30-35 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over noodles.

Yield: 2 servings

* Or you can use this recipe for your own homemade cream soup.

1/2 cup buter

6 T all purpose flour

2 cups milk or whipping cream

2cubes chicken bouillon

ground pepper to taste

Melt butter in sauce pan, add flour and make a paste, add milk/cream and bouillon cubes.Cook over low heat until thickened. Add pepper to taste. You can use this recipe for any cream of (anything) soup. Just add the other ingredients like, mushrooms, chicken, broccoli, bacon etc.....

Banana Pancakes

This recipe comes from my Betty Crocker cookbook, and they are definitely the best pancakes ever!

Banana-Pecan Pancakes (I leave out the pecans...)

2 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)
1/4 cup granulated or packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted, if desired

Beat eggs in medium bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients except pecans just until smooth. Stir in pecans. For thinner pancakes, stir in additional 1 to 2 tablespoons buttermilk.

Heat griddle to 375 or heat skillet over medium heat. Grease griddle if necessary.

For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter from cup or pitcher onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other sides until golden brown.

makes about 27 pancakes

1 pancake: 90 calories, 3g fat, 15mg cholesterol, 150mg sodium, 14g carbs, 2g protein.

Taco Bake

Hello! I tend to make A LOT of taco meat when we have tacos. Mostly because too many times we ran out and the kidlets were still hungry. It's amazing how many tacos they can eat! Anyway...I ended up with a decent amount of taco meat left over in the fridge and decided to experiment. It turned out really good, so I thought I'd share it with you all. :) This is just how I did it. As with all recipes, it can be tweaked to fit your tastes. :)

Spread taco meat on the bottom of a lightly oiled/sprayed baking dish appropriately sized for the amount of meat you have. It doesn't need to be a thick layer. Just cover the bottom of the dish.

Drizzle taco sauce over the taco meat....enough to moisten it. You can mix it in and spread the meat back out, but it's not necessary. I've done it both ways.

Spread shredded cheese (your choice...I like sharp cheddar for tacos) over the meat to cover.

Okay, if you're using a small pan like an 8" round cake pan or a casserole, you'll only need one of the following. If you're using an 8x11 or 9x13, you'll need at least two. According to package directions, make cornbread batter (of course, can be done from scratch but this is supposed to be a quick, easy recipe). I've used regular cornbread and the Mexican Cornbread mix. Both were good. Pour the batter evenly over the cheese and bake according to the mix directions adding about 5-10 minutes to the bake time, or until the bread tests done.

I like mine piled with lettuce and sour cream, but it's good the way it comes out of the dish as well. It also keeps well in the fridge for lunch the next day. :)

Raspberry Tapioca Pudding

Not your typical pudding! Think "raspberry sorbet of puddings" - tons of flavor, a hint of lemon, no dairy or eggs... Just perfect for a warm summer day! I think we'll be making this one again, and maybe trying it with some other berry flavors.

10 oz. frozen raspberries, THAWED (don't forget this part!)
1 c. red grape juice (I actually used white grape/raspberry blend -worked fine)
1/4-1/3 c. sugar
1 lemon peel strip (1 inch)
1/4 c. quick-cooking tapioca
whipped cream

Mash and strain raspberries, reserving juice. Discard seeds. Add enough water to the juice to equal 2 cups. Combine with red grape juice in large saucepan; add sugar and lemon peel. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 min. Remove lemon peel, add tapioca, and cook and stir for another 10 min. Pour into bowls, cover and chill 4 hrs or until set. Serve with whipped cream, and maybe additional fresh berries.

The recipe says it serves 6, but the half-batch I made for Naomi and myself (the boys were on a camp-out!) would have been hard to stretch for another person. It did set up really fast and thick for me though, so maybe elevation and dry climate had something to do with that...

Anyway, Enjoy!

Tilapia and Mango Salsa

So I am not really a fish person - but this was the best fish I have ever had! So delicious.

However many tilapia fillets you need

Grated Parmesan cheese

Bread crumbs

Milk

1-2 Mangos

1-2 Avocados

3-4 roma tomatoes

2 green onions

2 tsp lemon juice

¼ tsp Sea salt

Red pepper flakes to taste

Mix parmesan cheese and bread crumbs in a 3 to 1 ratio (3 cheese 1 bread crumbs) enough to coat all the tilapia fillets. Dip fillets in milk then roll in cheese. Bake at 425 until done (spraying the top of the fish after being rolled in the cheese mixture will help them to cook more evenly…so I have been told). Chop mango, avocado, tomatoes, green onions and mix with salt, lemon juice and however many red pepper flakes you want. Serve the salsa beside or on top of the fish.