What's Been Cooking....

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Taco Salad






Broccoli & Eggplant

Raisin Bread French Toast

Butternut Squash and Acini di Pep Soup

Both of my boys woke up not feeling well. So tonight is soup night. I belong to an amazing vegetarian recipe group on yahoo. I got this recipe from their files.


Butternut Squash and Acini di Pepe Soup

8 ounces Acine di Pepe (use orzo pasta if you can't
find)
1 butternut squash squash (about 3 pounds, split,
peeled, seeded and quartered
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup grated carrots
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
6 cups vegetarian broth

Topping (optional)
1 cup non-fat or regular sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar

Cook squash in one inch of water in covered saucepan
for 15 minutes, or
until tender. Drain, cool and put back in pot. Add
margarine,
onion, carrots, sugar, mace, ginger and cinnamon.
Cover and simmer gently
for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until
vegetables are tender.

Add 3 cups of the broth and put all in a blender or
food processor and process.
Return to the pot and add remaining three cups of
broth, bring to a boil
and add pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10
minutes, or until pasta
is done. Before serving, blend sour cream and sugar in
a separate bowl.
Put dollop on top of each bowl of soup. Serve hot.

Serves 4-6

Halloween Recipes

Every year we have a bunch of appetizers for our pre-trick or treating meal. After trick or treating we normally do personal pizzas. This will be the first year that it will be an all vegetarian meal. Here are some great recipes that I have found while looking around online. You can click on the title to go back to the original site.

Simple Pimples for Halloween

1-2 dozen cherry tomatoes
flavored soft cream cheese spread

Serves 6-8

Core tomatoes with a carrot peeler or knife. Drain excess tomato juice. Using a butter knife, fill holes in tomatoes with cream cheese. Give each "pimple" a gentle squeeze and arrange on a platter.

©2005 FabulousFoods.com

Pumpkin Roll-ups

This colorful snack is perfect for nourishing young pumpkin carvers.
Cream cheese or American cheese
Sun-dried-tomato tortillas
Toothpicks
Cilantro or parsley sprigs


Step 1
Spread cream cheese or lay American cheese slices on sun-dried-tomato tortillas.

Step 2
Roll them up, then cut them into 1-inch sections. Secure with a toothpick topped with a cilantro or parsley sprig.


Spider Web Dip with Chips
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 jar (8 oz.) prepared salsa
1/2 C. prepared guacamole
2 T. sour cream

Prepare Spooky Tortilla Chips; set aside.

Place cream cheese and salsa in blender or food processor container; blend until almost smooth.

Spread cream cheese mixture on round serving dish or pie plate; smooth guacamole over top, leaving 1/2-inch border. Place sour cream in small resealable plastic food storage bag; seal bag. Cut off tiny corner of bag; pipe sour cream in spiral shape over guacamole. Run tip of knife through sour cream to make "spider web." Serve with Spooky Tortilla Chips.


Spooky Tortilla Chips
Makes about 90 chips

3 packages (12 oz. each) 8-inch plain or flavored flour tortillas
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray baking sheet with olive oil nonstick cooking spray. Using 3-inch Halloween cookie cutters, cut tortillas, one at a time, into shapes. Discard scraps.

Lightly spray tortilla shapes with cooking spray. Place on prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Vegetable Pan Fried Wontons (Asian)

I got this from a recipe group that I am on. My kids LOVE this recipe. Of course mine don't turn out as nice as yOkO's pictures look. LOL.

NOTE: Organic ingredients are recommended...
INGREDIENTS:
3 c cabbage*, finely shredded
1 c carrots*, finely shredded
4 green onions*, minced
4 tbsp cilantro*, chopped
3 gloves garlic*, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1/2 tbsp soy sauce*
1/2 tbsp sesame oil*
24 wonton wrappers, homemade or store bought
canola oil* for pan frying

Sauce:
1/3 c brown rice vinegar*
1/3 c soy sauce*
1/3 c water
2 tbsp sesame oil*
1 tsp chili oil (or 1/2 tsp red pepper*)
Sauce:
Combine all ingredients and chill over night.
Wontons:
Combine all ingredients.
Heat a wok or flat pan over high heat,
when the wok or flat is hot, add 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil* (or canola oil).
Add all the vegetable ingredients and stir fry until cabbage is slight wilted.
Stir in soy sauce and sesame oil.
Stir in enough cornstarch (or panko) to thicken the sauce
to the consistency of honey.
Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
Place a small spoonful in the center of wonton.
Fold corners to make a triangle, then fold in corners like an envelope.
Coat bottom of nonstick frying pan with canola oil.
Cook over medium high heat until bottoms are golden and crusty.
Pour in 1/8 c water, cover pan and steam for about 2 minutes.
Serve immediately with sauce.
Makes approximately 24
photo link (step by step):
http://picasaweb.google.com/springchildyoko/VegetableWontons

Butternut Squash Ravioli Filling

I made this last week for dinner. It was Oooh soo good. They were a hit.All three of my children loved them. I served this with dinner rolls and green beans.Next time I am going to try and toast them.

I found this recipe at CD Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound butternut squash
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan Cheese, must be fresh(I didn't have fresh)
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, scant; go very easy on nutmeg
****sauce*****
3 tablespoons butter
4 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Cut the squash in pieces and put about 1 inch water in the bottom of the baking pan. Bake squash at about 400ºF for about 45 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork. After it is baked, cool the squash for 5 minutes and then scoop out of the shell and mash thoroughly with other filling ingredients.

Bring an enormous pot of (salted) water to boil. When at a full rolling boil, use a spatula to drop no more than 10 ravioli at a time into the water. They should rise immediately to the surface. Give them enough room so that they don't stick to each other or accidentally get punctured and leak the filling. Cook in batches for 3 minutes only and remove to a warm plate. Meanwhile, melt the butter over very low heat until just bubbly, but do not let it brown. Mince up fresh sage and add with salt. Pour butter sauce over ravioli when you serve.

Serves 6.


*****Chrissy's Notes*****
I didn't use fresh Parmesan cheese because I didn't have any. I used wonton wrappers instead of pasta. I doubled this recipe and I had just enough left that I tried to freeze them. They did great! Next time I make this I will make more of the sauce. It was just too good.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Today for breakfast we had Oatmeal Pancakes. They were ok. I must say that I am not a fan of oatmeal.The recipe we used is from The Wildflower Inn. I found the recipe here at 1st Traveler's Choice Internet Cookbook.

Ingredients
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine oats and buttermilk for about 15minutes. Add eggs and butter. Stir well. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir gently. Cook on a medium hot grill. I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to ladle onto the grill. Serve with maple syrup. Serves 4.

**My notes** I used soymilk and whole wheat flour. My boys and dh had a peanut butter syrup on top. It had a little melted butter, organic smooth peanut butter and a little honey in it. My peanut butter lover loved it.

General Taos Fried Tofu

Tonight dh is making General Taos Fried Tofu for those that aren't sick. I am just going to make some rice for those that are. Here is the recipe(I cannot remember where I found it):


ingredients:

1 box firm tofu
egg substitute or a few whipped eggs
3/4 cup corn starch
veg oil for frying
3 chopped green onions
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2/3 cup vegetable stock
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2-4 Tbsp sugar
red chili pepper flakes to taste
1 Tbsp sherry(optional)
1 Tbsp white vinegar
steamed broccoli

Drain, dry and cut tofu into 1 inch chunks, for best results freeze tofu the night before to get a more chewy consistency, but it isn't necessary. Mix the egg replacer as specified on the box and add additional 3 tbsp of water. Dip tofu in egg replacer/water mixture and coat completely. Sprinkle 3/4 cornstarch over tofu and coat completely. Watch out that the tofu doesn't clump at the bottom of the bowl.

Heat oil in pan and fry tofu pieces until golden. Drain oil.

Heat 3 tbsp veg oil in pan on medium heat. Add green onions, ginger and garlic, cook for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, sherry(if using), sugar, red pepper and vinegar. Mix 2 Tbsp water with 1 Tbsp cornstarch and pour into mixture stirring well. Add fried tofu and coat evenly.

Serve immediately with steamed broccoli over your choice of rice.

Welcome to my kitchen!!

I just started this blog today. Please check back as I get everything organized :)