Cowboy Caviar

This is the best chip dip ever! I make it like once every other week or so. It's pretty healthy so I don't feel bad eating the majority of it all by myself, although Mark surely eats his share. And it's SUPER simple. I made it for a game night with friends and they downed it in minutes. THey all wanted the recipe and have already made it for themselves a time or two. Yes, this recipe is a winner and its vegan too! I usually half the recipe when I make it for just us at home.

2 avocados, chopped
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
6 green onions, chopped - only green part
half a bunch cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
1 packet dry Italian Dressing
Tortilla chipst

Mix and voila!

Veggie Pancakes

From 100 Days of Real Food

These were yummy! Tyler ate 3 and Mark had just as many and probably would have had more, but they were all gone. I made them as a side when we were having pancakes for dinner. (I needed to add something of nutritional value). It probably made about 8 pancakes. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded veggies (I like to use a mix including things like sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash and/or carrots…whatever you have on hand)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Olive oil for cooking
• I added some salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to give it some flavor.

Directions

1. Combine the shredded veggies with the eggs, flour, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
2. Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. It is important that the heat is the right temperature because you want the pancakes to cook all the way through the middle by the time they are brown on the outside.
3. Once the oil has heated up add pancake size dollops of the veggie mixture into the pan. Cook for several minutes until the bottom starts to brown. Then flip and repeat.
4. Transfer cooked pancakes to a plate lined with paper towels.

Graham Crackers/Bars

I got this recipe from my friend Stacy.

These are more like graham bars and they aren't hard like crackers - they are nice and soft.  Tyler gobbles these suckers down and I don't care because they are whole wheat.  I like them too.  They are a nice snack to have around and easy to boot.

2 c whole wheat flour (I use white whole wheat flour)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c butter, melted
1/2 c honey

Mix together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Separately mix the butter and honey and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix Well and drop onto a greased baking sheet or jelly roll pan. Roll out to the corners or pat into shape. Bake for 10 min at 350 degrees. Cut quickly when they come out of the oven. Place on cooling rack.

Pumpkin Pie Granola

Hey sisters! I'm posting, so you all can get off my butt now. I love granola, but it's so hard to find ANY at the grocery store that's actually good for you, even if it claims that it's "healthy." Even most of the "healthy" granola recipes that I could find had a large amount of butter and oil in them. I was elated when I found this recipe that uses pureed pumpkin and apple sauce in place of any butter or oil. It does have some sugar in it, but I used stevia (like the recipe calls for), and it's not an overwhelming amount so I felt just fine about it. I've stored mine in a ziploc bag and it's still crunchy and delicious. I eat mine with cut up banana slices and some almond milk...Mmmm mmm. Oh yeah, and it's VEGAN too!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old fashioned rolled oats (use gluten free if you're sensitive to gluten)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 cup sugar substitute of choice (or 1-2 tsp stevia or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cups pumpkin
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar free maple syrup, or honey, or agave nectar (I used honey because that's what I had)
• Optional add-ins: 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup honey teddy grahams lightly crushed

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry using a spatula, (or your hands), until everything is well combined and oats are coated with wet ingredients.

2. Place granola on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, then stir granola around. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the granola is golden brown and is crisp. Take the granola out of the oven, and let it cool completely on the baking sheet. Stir in additional white chocolate chips or teddy grahams at this point if desired. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Link to dashingdish blog

Homemade YOGURT anyone?

Way, way back when my children were little, I found a yogurt maker at a garage sale. Always enthused to be a do-it-yourself, back to the basics kinda gal, I thought it was worth the couple of bucks it cost, to give it a shot. Skeptical, but hopeful, I tried the first batch. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles (yes, I did steal that from Fiddler On the Roof, there's more of that where that came from!) it was actually successful! The texture was smooth and creamy, the taste mild with none of that store-bought yogurty sourness, the kids loved it, and it was simple and inexpensive! I commenced making yogurt with a vengeance. This continued until the machine burned out...literally, and I got to busy with other life matters to bother finding a new one. After a while, we all just kind of forgot about the good ole' days of mom's homemade yogurt. Enter new mom...

Well, it's 2010, and I'm all about back to homemade goodness again. About a year ago, I did extensive research online to find the best bang for ones buck in regards to Yogurt Makers. I read many reviews from consumers and narrowed my search down to the:

Euro-Cuisine Automatic Yogurt Maker Model #YM100.


This is not a sales pitch for the company, but why waste your time searching when I've already done it? This machine is everything the company and consumer review touts. It is so simple to operate, I'm pretty sure my 5 year old could do it. It is affordable, compact, easy to clean, and has glass jars as opposed to plastic like many others. You can purchase additional jars (it comes with 7) from the company if you want to make additional batches while the other jars are stored in the fridge full of their yogurty yumminess. So, go online to www.eurocuisine.net, find the stores that offer it online (you can't order directly from Euro-Cuisine, but you can order it online from places like Target online, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc), pull out your plastic and order! Yes, that's an order. You won't be able to make the yogurt without it, and trust me, you want to make this yogurt. After one taste of homemade yogurt, you will never go back to store-bought again.

Alright, let's get to the actual recipe. This part is a little more complicated. Are you ready?

HOMEMADE YOGURT
(ingredients and supplies)

7 cups milk
1 cup starter (plain yogurt w/live cultures)

Phew. Yes, that's it. The milk can be whole, 2 percent, 1 percent or skim. Entirely your preference. I use 1 percent to avoid the fat, and the results are fantastic. After your first batch, you can reserve one jar of the finished product to use as the starter for the subsequent batch. The instructions recommend only doing this one time before using a fresh batch from the store. I am not sure why, as it would seem there would be the same active cultures in the homemade batch. You can always purchase freeze-dried yogurt starter if you wish. Now for the process:

Your machine will come with the instructions obviously, but I will give the few easy highlights w/pics to illustrate just how incredibly simple this is.

Bring the milk to boil in a high-sided sauce pan. Boil for 1 to 2 minutes.


Remove from heat and cool until it reaches 110 degrees. I like to place my pan in a larger bowl filled with ice and water to speed up this process. No guessing for this part, as you will kill the live cultures if it is still too hot! Use a cooking thermometer to make sure you are at the proper temperature.



In a separate bowl, stir in the plain yogurt (starter) with some of the cooled milk until dissolved. Mix well with the cooled milked still in pan.


Pour the mixture into the cups of the yogurt maker.
Place the jars - without the lids - in the yogurt maker.
Cover the yogurt maker with the lid, set the timer (usually around 10 hours) and push start.


Voila! That's it!!! When the yogurt is done, the machine will turn itself off, and you have 7 -6 0z. jars of the most delicious, nutritious, velvety smooth, mild and creamy yogurt. Set jars in fridge to cool and store. We use our yogurt for eating fresh with berries, peaches, granola, or simply flavored with vanilla and sweetener. Try Stevia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia or Agave Syrup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_nectar instead of plain white sugar. Stevia is a natural sweetener used for generations in South America and Japan, finally approved by the FDA for our consumption here. It has ZERO calories and is 300 times sweeter than regular sugar, so you can use much less. Agave syrup is also a natural sweetener made from the (wait for it...) AGAVE PLANT found commonly in Mexico. It has about the same amount of calories as regular sugar, but, like the Stevia, much sweeter than sugar, so you use much less. We also use our yogurt in our morning fruit shakes and anything else in cooking that calls for yogurt or sour cream.


Now get online and order that yogurt maker today! You will be glad you did! Just look at that contented face! He loves his homemade yogurt!