Lunch- Homemade Hummus

I started the new year off,  like I usually do, trying to eat healthier and lose weight. With us having had eight months of unemployment in 2011 and the price of food, (Anybody else get nauseated buying groceries these days? Wow!), I need to find creative ways of  keeping my grocery costs down.

I prefer snack type lunches and hummus is a favorite. Over the Christmas holiday I had the pleasure of eating authentic hummus made by someone originally from Syria. It was delicious and so much tastier than any store bought that I have tried! I knew I had to learn to make it and I knew it would be cheaper too! So, I used my new favorite internet source, Pinterest, to try and locate an authentic recipe, I was not disappointed. Desert Candy had a detailed blog post on hummus and an authentic recipe. The picture of the finished hummus, with the drizzle of olive oil and cumin,  looked like the one I had previously eaten.

The recipe was not difficult at all, the only thing that was difficult, well not really difficult, just time consuming,  was removing all of the skins from the chick peas. Most of them come off pretty easy after soaking overnight and the rest were picked off after the peas were cooked. From what I had read about making hummus, removing the skins is necessary for smooth hummus.

I didn't have tahini on hand, in fact, I have not made hummus before now due to the price of tahini. I was craving that hummus and I seriously  thought about making a special trip to the store and getting tahini, but I am really trying to limit trips to the store and save money on groceries. I had a bag of sesame seeds in the freezer and decided that I would make the tahini myself. After the seeds were lightly toasted I made a paste using  a coffee grinder, (only used to grind flax and sesame seeds for bread baking). I added a little drizzle of sesame seed oil and then just a little of the water the chickpeas were cooked in. Thankfully that worked and now I will save even more by making my own authentic hummus!

It is so good! If you like hummus you should try this recipe!

Delicious and Festive White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

1 cup butter, softened                                 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar                         1 rounded teaspoon baking soda
½ cup white sugar                                      1 ½-2  cups white chocolate chips
2 eggs                                                        1 ½ cup dried cranberries
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring                       1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Combine the flour and baking soda, stir to incorporate baking soda into flour. Spoon small amounts at a time into butter and sugar mixture while mixing. Add white chocolate and cranberries to mixture.

Spoon out dough and roll about a golf ball or walnut sized amount, depending on the size cookie  you want,  (dough is easy to handle and not sticky). You can spoon the dough right onto the cookie sheet, but shaping it into a ball makes a very pretty, evenly shaped cookie.

Bake for 8-10 minutes in preheated oven. For best results, take them out when they are browning but still slightly doughy. Allow cookies to cool for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Suet Recipe

A couple of people asked me for the recipe for homemade suet. I don't measure my ingredients and I add different things depending on what I have on hand at the time. Usually when the corn meal, flour, raisins or oats get close to expiring I save them for suet.

For this batch I used:

One small tub of lard
2 jars of natural peanut butter, (I poured off some of the oil)
corn meal
9 grain bread flour, (you can use any kind of flour)
oatmeal
about 2 tablespoons of sugar
sunflower seeds
raisins
crushed egg shells, ( I save the shells from boiled eggs and put them in the freezer for spring suet)

I melt the lard and peanut butter on the stove on low heat. Once it is blended, I add the dry ingredients mixing and pouring until it is the texture I want. I spread it into a large cookie sheet and let it cool in the refrigerator. Once it has cooled and is firm, I cut it into squares that will fit the suet cages.

Here is the basic recipe that I started with from Julie Zickefoose:


Peanut Butter Suet Dough from Julie Zickefoose

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup lard
Combine and melt these two in the microwave, in the oven, or over very low heat on the stovetop. Remove from heat and stir in:

2 cups plain yellow cornmeal
2 cups quick oats
1 cup flour

Allow to cool and harden, then chop into chunks and store at room temperature in jars. Serve crumbled in a shallow dish.
　
Julie recommends that you only feed the birds this suet during the winter months. I still feed them suet in the spring and include the crushed egg shells for added calcium.

Here is another great resource for suet recipes. As the website shows, you can add all kinds of ingredients to make suet. I have yet to make any that the birds didn't devour.

Yummy Ginger Cookies

I baked these yesterday for the first time. They were so easy to do and made beautiful, uniform and delicious cookies. Perfect for those cookie swaps or gifts. The house smelled so yummy too!

Yummy Soft Ginger Cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• pinch of all-spice
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water or orange juice
  
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup white sugar reserved for rolling dough.
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water, (or juice) and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the reserved sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly. (The dough is easier to handle if it is refrigerated for a while before rolling.)
   
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Happy Thanksgiving

My mom, (in the picture) and dad, who live in Alabama, surprised me with a visit last week. Since we usually plan trips home to Alabama around Christmas we aren't able to share Thanksgiving with extended family. I thought it would be a great opportunity to have Thanksgiving with my parents while they were here, so we had our meal on Saturday. We'll have a smaller version of the meal today.

I always cook the same things for our traditional Thanksgiving meal:
Turkey
Southern cornbread chicken and dressing served with gravy and jellied cranberries
Sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecan topping
Green bean casserole
Rolls
Sweet potato pie

My dad has a strong aversion to any kind of poultry including turkey, so my mom made her pork chop dressing and I made the chicken dressing for us.

Because I get so many hits on my blog for recipes, (like 69 out of 100 hits today were for squash casserole), I thought I'd share my favorite Thanksgiving family recipes. I've used these same recipes for over 20 years, they are so delicious.

Southern Cornbread (for dressing)

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. yellow corn meal
1/4 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/4 c. cooking oil
shortening

Preheat oven to 425. Stir together flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, milk, and oil. Beat just until smooth, (do not over beat). Put a small amount of shortening in an iron skillet and place it on stove top burner, when shortening is hot, pour the cornbread mixture into the hot skillet. Let it cook for just a few seconds until it starts to bubble, (this is the the secret to crispy southern cornbread), then put the skillet into the oven. Cook on 425 for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Chicken and Dressing

Chicken

1 large chicken, (breasts can be used but dark meat makes a richer broth)
1 c. diced celery, (more or less according to taste)
1/2 of small onion
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Pour salt on and inside the chicken to scrub and clean it well, rinse off salt. Place chicken in a large stockpot and cover with water. Add celery, onion, salt and pepper. Add enough water as it cooks so that you end up with at least 1 quart of broth. Cook until chicken falls off of the bone. Cool and pull apart and cut into small pieces.

Dressing

1 pan of cooked cornbread
2 slices of bread, cubed or 1 c. dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 stick of butter
2 raw eggs
chicken broth
1 Tablespoon of sage, (more or less according to taste)
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
cooked and chopped chicken

Cook a pan of cornbread. Cool and crumble bread into a large bowl. Cut sliced bread into small cubes or add bread crumbs. Beat together eggs and milk pour into bread mixture. Pour broth over bread. Add melted butter. Add chopped eggs and sage. Mix well. At this point I usually get a little taste to see if the sage taste is coming through if not I add more. Make the dressing thin and wet so it will be moist when done, (moist dressing taste far better than dry and mine has never been too moist no matter how wet it was because the bread soaks it up). Pour half of the dressing into a greased 10 x 13 pan. Place a layer of chicken over the dressing. Cover chicken with remaining dressing. Bake at 350 until set and golden brown on top. Do not over bake. I usually double this recipe, freeze it and serve the other one at Christmas.

Gravy

1 can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 c. milk or half&half
2 boiled eggs, chopped
a pinch of black pepper
a pinch of salt

Pour ingredients into a small saucepan, cook until hot, stirring often. More milk may be needed to get the desired consistency. Serve over the dressing, along with cranberry sauce if desired.

Sweet Potato Casserole
(my mother-in-law's recipe)

3 c. sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar, (less can be used without affecting the taste of this delicious casserole)
1 t. vanilla flavoring
1/3 c. milk

Add ingredients together and mix well. Pour into a lightly greased 8x8 casserole dish.

Topping:

1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. nuts
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. butter, melted

Mix ingredients for topping and crumble on top of casserole. Bake 25 to 25 minutes at 350. Can be made ahead and frozen.

Recipe for Homemade Pizza

For many years I was too intimidated to make homemade pizza; I'm so glad I learned how. They are so much better than any store bought or delivered pizza and are not hard to make at all. I'm a bread lover and I don't like bland pizza crust, so I created this recipe for a crust that is flavorful and delicious.


Here is my recipe for Turkey Pepperoni Stuffed Crust Pizza with step by step instructions for those who may be a bit intimidated like I was.

I usually use the bread maker for the dough but many times, when I need to make more than one pizza, I make it by hand.

Place the ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed.

• 1 cup warm water (I place mine in the microwave for about 50 seconds to warm it up, if it is too hot it will kill the yeast.)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2-1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 -1 tsp. garlic powder (optional)
• 1/2-1 tsp. Italian seasoning and/or pizza seasoning (optional)
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp. powdered milk or non-dairy creamer
• 1 tablespoon yeast

Set the bread maker on the dough cycle.


When the cycle is complete, sprinkle flour onto your work surface, place the dough onto the surface, knead it a little, and form the dough into a ball, using as much flour as necessary so that it doesn't stick to your hands or the work surface.
Roll or press the dough to flatten it into the desired shape.


I recently started using a pizza pan with holes in it and it makes the very best crust, it's perfect, and also eliminates some of the steps in the recipe. Definitely worth every penny.


If you use a regular pan or cookie sheet, sprinkle the pan lightly with cornmeal to keep it from sticking.


Lift the dough and place it into pizza pan.

Press the dough to the edges of the pan. To stuff the crust with cheese, (optional, but trust me, it's delicious with this crust), cut strips of mozzarella cheese and wrap the edges of the dough around the cheese. Press the edges firmly to completely enclose the cheese.


If you use a pizza pan without the holes, you should use a fork to poke holes in the dough to keep air bubbles from forming. Also, if your pan is small and the dough is thick, at this point you need to precook the dough for 5-7 minutes before any toppings are added to make sure that the dough gets fully cooked. The dough cooks perfect every time with my new pizza pan with holes, but before, with regular pans, I had to precook the dough.


Top with pizza sauce, (Trader Joe's has my favorite sauce).
Top with mozzarella cheese.


Top cheese with pepperoni slices, (I use the turkey pepperoni because it isn't as greasy).

Bake at 400 in a preheated oven until cheese is melted and lightly golden, as in the picture at the top.



Here are a few other pizza "recipes" using this same tasty dough:



Easy BBQ Chicken Pizza (One of our favorites.)

Prepare dough in bread machine as directed.

Boil about 5 chicken breast and season with various seasonings according to taste, (minced onion, garlic, salt, pepper, Cayenne pepper). When it's done shred the chicken and pour on some of your favorite BBQ sauce, (mine is KC Masterpiece Original). Mix well and then place the BBQ chicken on the prepared pizza dough.


Top with mozzarella cheese and bake at 400.





Garlic Cheese Bread



1 recipe of pizza dough

butter (room temperature)

Garlic powder

Parmesan Cheese

Mozzarella Cheese (or favorite cheese)

• Prepare dough in bread machine as directed.
• Roll and press dough into an oblong pan that has been lightly dusted with cornmeal (to keep bread from sticking).
• Spread softened butter onto the dough.
• Sprinkle dough with garlic powder.
• Top with your favorite cheeses (I use mozzarella and Parmesan)
• Bake at 425 until cheese is melted and lightly golden. It is best when it's not overcooked.

You can use this pizza dough to make pizza with any topping you like. A lot of times I divide the dough and we each make our own personal pan pizza, (one dough recipe makes three good size personal pan pizzas). When we do this I usually make myself a vegetarian pizza with roasted red peppers, black olives, onions, jalapenos and mushrooms.

I apologize for the crazy spacing on this post, for some reason Blogger wouldn't allow me to space properly.

Restaurant Style Salsa

I have a delicious recipe for salsa that taste so much like the kind that I get at my favorite Mexican restaurant. Everyone that tastes it loves it. I crave it and can eat it by the spoonful without chips.

Restaurant Style Salsa

2 cans stewed tomatoes (This is the trick to get the right consistency, don't substitute)
1 or 2 limes, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
1 small onion, chopped
cilantro, to taste
salt, to taste
cumin (a few dashes)

Blend above ingredients with a stick blender or in a stand blender, (not too long or it will be foamy) .

After the above ingredients are well blended add 2-3 cans of Rotel tomatoes, (I use the Rotel with lime and cilantro)

Variations:
add a couple cloves fresh garlic
fresh jalapeno
remove seeds and add fresh chopped tomatoes

Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie

While they are in season, I've been stocking up on blueberries and freezing them. Blueberries are considered brain food because they are supposed to help with memory and even have anti-aging effects. I need that! They are very high in antioxidants and are so good for us. In my quest to eat healthier, I've been eating (or drinking) blueberries everyday.
I love smoothies for breakfast and after burning up so many blenders I finally decided to get a Vitamix, hopefully it will last a long time.

Here is my breakfast smoothie "recipe".

1 cup of orange juice (I like to use high pulp in smoothies)
frozen blueberries (a handful)
frozen grapes (a handful)
4-5 frozen strawberries
1 small frozen banana (I peel and freeze my bananas)
flax seed, ( I grind fresh daily)
honey, (according to taste)
3-4 ice cubes

Place ingredients in the blender, minus the flax seed, blend on high. Add ground flax seed and blend on high for a few seconds until it's mixed. (I don't like the texture if the ground flax seed is in the whole time.)

I use a variety of fruit, this morning I added fresh pineapple, a few days ago I used watermelon. Sometimes I buy bags of mixed fruit and use that and I will occasionally add wheat germ. You can also vary this however you choose using different sweeteners or none at all .

Delicious Zucchini Bread Recipe

This zucchini bread recipe came from a lady at the church we attended in Alabama. I love it because it is so versatile and the muffins come out of the oven with a perfectly delicious crispy top. I sometimes make pumpkin butter in the fall and use it in this recipe for pumpkin muffins. When I juice carrots I have leftover pulp and will use that to make carrot muffins. Yum!

Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour 1 c. sugar
1tsp. baking soda 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. salt 1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 3 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. milk
1/8 tsp. ground ginger 2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. nutmeg 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
2 c. of coarsely shredded zucchini, (or carrots or 1 cup of pumpkin butter).
(I usually use 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice instead of using the four listed spices.)

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, spices; stir in nuts. In another bowl combine sugars, oil, eggs, milk, vanilla and zucchini; stir well. Add zucchini mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into 12 greased and floured (or sugared) 1 cup miniature Bundt pans, (or muffin tins). Bake at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes or until cake tester in the center comes out clean.
Let cool in pans for 5 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on wire racks.

Zucchini Bread can be baked in two greased and floured (or sugared) loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done.

Squash Casserole Recipe

I cooked my farmer's market produce today. We had roasted corn on the cob, fresh green beans with new potatoes and onions, sliced tomatoes, grilled chicken and the squash casserole I mentioned in yesterdays post. It was all very yummy!
Now, about that squash casserole...
Several years ago, after having some minor surgery, my friend, Mae, helped provide a meal for my family. She brought a delicious squash casserole and was kind enough to share her recipe with me. It's not particularly healthy, but if your looking for a way to get kids to eat squash, this cheesy dish should do the trick.

Squash Casserole

3 to 4 large yellow summer squash, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
Boil the squash and onion together in a small amount of water until soft. Drain and mash.

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 egg
1 sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers
shredded mild cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients with squash. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle additional cheese on top. Bake at 350 until done, (when cheese is lightly browned on top).

Edited to say:
If you don't have picky eaters who would turn their noses up at squash, you can saute the onions and squash in a little olive oil or butter and leave them unmashed. You can also lighten the recipe some by just adding 1 can of cream of mushroom and chicken soup, rather than the two seperate cans listed in the recipe.