Beautiful first weekend of Spring 2010
It was gorgeous weather yesterday, hitting 70! Today is clear but windy! Good day to bake. I had 2 crockpots. One had the meatballs again. Here’s a picture of what they look like near the end of cooking:
Kind of a globby mess but trust me, they just break apart and are great. I made a double batch so I can freeze some. I always use raisins instead of cranberries. I got the ground turkey on sale for $1.99, regular $4.99!
In the other crockpot I had Zuppa Toscana, another favorite for my lunches. I don’t add the bacon bits and I use Morning Star Farms Italian Sausage. Here’s what it looks like all ready to store in the fridge:
And finally, Cinnamon Chip Scones for breakfasts and snacks this week. These are meant to taste like the ones sold at Starbucks. I can’t find the recipe link anymore but here is a pic:
Well that’s all for today. Have a great week!
Successful Sunday
I was finally in the mood to make a plan and try some new things today! I’ve been dying to make these Black Bean Enchiladas! First I had to make this Homemade Taco Seasoning that I have been using, it is yum and I love the fact that I’m not using a store bought packet with unknown ingredients! So I made the chicken in the crockpot with the seasoning (I used boneless skinless organic chicken thighs because they are cheaper than chicken breasts). The house smelled great while that was cooking. Then I used organic black beans, organic garlic and organic Muir Glen salsa for the bean mixture…I didn’t have any lime juice so I left that out. But I did add the cilantro! Plus, I have been making my own organic flour tortillas for awhile now so I whipped up a batch of those while the chicken was going in the crockpot. I don’t have a link to my tortilla recipe because I don’t know where I got it! But it’s really easy and simple and they are soooo much better than store bought. I assembled the enchiladas and baked for about 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let me tell you, this is good! I am so looking forward to bringing this to work for lunches this week. Here’s a pic of the finished product:
I know, it looks a little weird…most things made with black beans aren’t that appetizing to look at…but trust me, this is worth it! This is a keeper. I seem to like the whole black bean/salsa combo these days!
Next up were these Stuffed Bread Sticks. Very similar to the pizza bites I made previously but these were a huge success. They were perfect. And my son loved them. Definitely will be making these again and again.
I also made one of my staples for lunches, “Healthified” Cheesy Potato Chowder. This is a nice filling soup to bring to work. I made it with mozzarella instead of cheddar and didn’t notice any difference. I’m hoping to finish up the day by making some Nutella Frosted Cupcakes tonight but we’ll see. If I do, I’ll post the link:)
Review of Baked Beans and Meatballs
I forgot to give a review of the baked beans and meatballs from 3 weeks ago! They lasted me the whole week for lunches at work. I had some leftover mashed potatoes to give with them and I loved the meatballs. The baked beans had good flavor but I really wanted more sauce…meaning they were kind of dry. I am not sure what to do to fix that, maybe I will keep looking for another recipe. I want ooey, gooey, amazing baked beans!
And I just finished the tortillas. I think something is wrong with what I did, they just don’t seem right. They are dry, and not the greatest flavor. I made them with melted butter, apple cider vinegar and whole wheat flour. I think I will stick with my regular recipe that I make with organic unbleached flour. Here’s a picture though!
The last couple weeks
A couple weekends ago I made Blackened Chicken with Cajun Alfredo Sauce from Stolen Moments Cooking blog. I really wanted to like it but it was pretty spicy. I think next time I would back off on the Cajun seasoning and maybe that will help. My daughter loved it though. It seems like she wants to beat me in the spiciness she can handle, LOL. I didn’t bake anything last weekend, just didn’t have the motivation. But today I do!
Just made KISSES Chocolate Chip Cookies because my son and I thought they looked good. They are ok, he ate one and didn’t want anymore. I will probably take them to work. I think something is off in the combination of dough and kiss, not sure. Nothing horrible, just not what we expected.
I’m also working on these right now: Soaked Whole Wheat Tortillas. I let them sit overnight and need to roll them out now. They seem pretty dry, not shiny/wet like her photo. We shall see how they turn out! The crock pot has my favorite Salsa Chicken recipe going on. It is so simple, I got it from my friend at work. It’s just a pound of chicken (I usually use boneless, skinless thighs), a can of black beans, a can or bag of corn, and a jar of salsa. Add cream cheese or sour cream for the last 30 minutes and then enjoy. I always bring this for lunch at work for like a week. I just plop some in a tortilla and it is soooo yummy.
Week of January 31st Baking projects
So I had dueling crock pots today, one with Baked Beans, recipe here, and the other with Turkey Meatballs, recipe here. Plus I made these for the kids: Pizza Bites. And all 3 were a success! I plan to eat the meatballs and beans for lunch during the week. My son saved the last 3 pizza bites for later, we both agreed next time to try for more cheese inside (I made my own dough but it was really sticky and hard to get much inside) and more garlic. But they were still really good!
Yesterday I made these amazing Pumpkin Cupcakes! I can’t decide if I should share them at work…I kind of want to keep them for myself! Plus we still have these leftover from last week…my son likes them better than the real thing! What I love is that I can make these completely organic. Fred Meyer has their own line of organic items and it includes peanut butter, powdered sugar and chocolate chips. I have some more recipes to try this week so will update then!
