Easiest Cobbler EVER

I made cobbler tonight. It was so good, and better yet, SO EASY!

4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup milk
2-3 cups of fruit
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 350*

Melt butter and pour into an 9 inch baking dish.
Mix together the flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt.
Stir in milk; mix until it is a smooth batter.
Pour batter into pan, then scatter fruit over batter. (Sprinkle with remaining sugar)
Bake until batter browns and fruit bubbles, about 45 minutes.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Baked Donuts?!

Happy New Year! Well it's still January so I feel like I still get to say that :)

I made baked donuts this morning and thought I'd share the recipe. I found it awhile ago and adapted it like many of my recipes, and it's scrawled on a piece of paper in my binder. I forget about recipes because there's so much in there but I'm glad I pulled this one out today!

This will make 24 mini muffins.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk at room temp
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour

Topping:
2 TBS melted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375*

Grease muffin pan.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in milk. Add flour and baking powder and stir until combined. Fill muffin cups. I use a small ice cream scoop to make sure they are all even.

Bake 10-12 minutes until the tops are golden and a toothpick comes out dry.

While the muffins are baking, melt the 2 TBS butter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

When the muffins are done, dip the muffin tops in the butter and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat the top of the muffin. Let cool on a cooling rack before serving. Enjoy!

Broccoli Quinoa Cakes

Trying to come up with new HEALTHY things for the kids to eat is super easy. HA HA HA!!! I was very happy with these broccoli quinoa cakes, and so were the kids!

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 onion
1 cup broccoli florets
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup shredded cheese
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

Cook quinoa per directions, let cool.
Dice the onion (I used a red onion) and sauté until soft, let cool.
Cook the broccoli (I bring to a boil, and then turn the water off immediately), dice and let cool.

Combine quinoa, onion, broccoli, breadcrumbs, cheese, salt & pepper and mix thoroughly. Add eggs, making sure all ingredients are incorporated.

Heat olive oil (I also add a bit of butter for flavor) in a pan and drop by spoonfuls into the pan. I use an ice cream scoop so they are all the same size :) Then "smush" them down to make a patty. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

This will make about 8 cakes.

Fish Fingers

I made fish sticks for dinner last night. It was so easy and healthy since they are baked. The kids really liked the "Fish Fingers" as they insisted on calling them. It was a little salty, so I would say you can cut down or even cut out the salt in the breading because you'll get probably enough from the sauce/ketchup. My husband and I used a sweet chili sauce and it was quite tasty!

Honey Lime Green Chile Enchiladas

Apparently I started to blog it and I was just waiting for myself to upload a photo. Here's the recipe! : )

Ok, so it took longer than I intended for me to post this, but I am doing it! :) here is a recipe for some yummy enchiladas with a twist. Any kind of meat works, even just boiled chicken breast. I used leftovers from the pork I mentioned in the previous post and it was DELICIOUS! The only thing is, you have to remember that the meat needs to marinate. It really makes a difference.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
6 T honey
5 T lime juice
1 T chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Enchiladas:
1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
1 lb Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
19 oz can green enchilada sauce
1 c heavy cream

Directions:
Whisk the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken in a Zip-Loc bag. Let it marinate in the fridge for at least a 1/2 hour, but preferably a half day or so.

Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill the tortillas with chicken and cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Put rolled tortillas in 9x13 pan as you go. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and any leftover marinade (I usually don't have any left). Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. At this point you can freeze the dish or bake at 350* for 30 minutes, until brown and crispy on top. ENJOY!

Whoa! Has it REALLY been that long??

So I'm looking at my last post and I see that it was nearly 1 1/2 years ago. Whoops! Well, I'm back. We have 3 children now, and we are also dealing with a coast-to-coast relocation which has left me as a single parent for 6 months now. Ok, so I'm done making excuses as to why I haven't blogged. It's just been busy :) I'm proud to say that I am still cooking "real" meals for my children, even though it would be SO easy to get away with chicken nuggets and grilled cheese. This week I only cooked twice and it lasted me 4 dinners. Here's how I started:

On Tuesday, I made shredded pork wraps in the slow cooker. This is by FAR the easiest meal. You need a 2 lb pork tenderloin, 2T corn starch and 1 cup of salsa. Mix the 2T corn starch with 1/4 cup of the salsa. Spread in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the pork on top of that and pour the remaining 3/4 cup of salsa over the pork. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and shred with 2 forks when done. Serve with tortillas and any fixings your family likes. I cut up bell pepper and avocado and also served with shredded cheese and more salsa.

I discovered the beauty of the slow cooker bag this week!!! Omigoodness, where have I been??? I cooked the shredded pork in a slow cooker bag. When it was done, I lifted the bag out of the slow cooker and just shredded the meat while it was still in the bag. The only thing I had to wash was the slow cooker lid! I immediately went out and bought 2 more boxes of the bags so I'm sure to not run out :)

My next blog will be about how I turned the shredded pork into honey lime green chile enchiladas. YUMMY!!

Homemade Mac & Cheese

This is quickly becoming a recipe blog. LOL! But HEY I'm posting something! :)
I always make my kids homemade mac and cheese. They love it, and to me, it's just as easy if not easier than the boxed kind. And it's definitely better for them. Here is a very easy recipe for creamy mac & cheese:

1 box pasta (my kids love shells, but I use whatever we have. Rigatoni, penne and elbows have worked)
2 cups shredded cheese (whatever you have on hand is fine. Mild or sharp cheddar (depending on what your family likes) works the best, but I have also been in a pinch and used mexican blend cheese, or a mix of cheeses to get rid of those pesky bags in the fridge.)
1 can evaporated milk (you can substitute low-fat)
1 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, you can always dish out for the kids first and then add this in for the adults)

Boil pasta per instructions on box. Drain and return pasta to pot.
Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

* Like baked mac & cheese? Cook pasta al dente and follow instructions above. Add 1 egg to the pot. Put pasta into baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. You can even dot with butter if you like. Bake at 350* until golden and bubbly. This is fun to do in individual dishes if you have them.

ENJOY! :)

Homemade Raviolis!

See, I told you I was going to be horrible at this blogging thing :) But I also promised to post things I thought you would enjoy. I made some homemade (ok, well "homemade" since I didn't make the pasta from scratch) raviolis that the family really enjoyed. Hopefully yours will too!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup frozen spinach (thawed and water squeezed out)
1/2 cup white kidney (cannellini) beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
2 T shredded parmesean cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1 garlic clove
1 pkg won ton wrappers (we like the thick ones, but you can use any kind you like)

Combine ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth (1-2 minutes).
Place about 1/2 tsp of filling on the won ton wrapper.
Wet edges and fold in half and press edges to seal.
Boil gently for about 2 minutes. We take them out when they are floating, but it will depend on how you like it cooked.

You can eat as is, with parmesean cheese sprinkled on top, or serve with your favorite sauce. The kids love this and so do mom & dad. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

A couple of weeks ago I made cinnamon roll pancakes. My husband claimed them to be the best pancakes ever. I took a bite and was actually amazed that they tasted exactly like a cinnamon roll! I received many requests for the recipe, so finally, here it is! I found this recipe online, but I can't remember where, but I adapted it a little bit so here is my version:

Pancakes:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

3 T sugar

1 T cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 T maple syrup

1/4 cup melted butter

1 T vanilla

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 T melted butter

2 T milk

Combine all the dry ingredients.

Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Cook on preheated griddle. Pancakes are ready to flip when bubbly.

Whisk together glaze ingredients and pour on pancake stack. Enjoy!

(This recipe makes 3-4 servings)

* You can substitute with your favorite pancake mix. Just mix the pancakes as directed on the package and add sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup and vanilla to the batter.