Quick and Easy Mason Jar Frittata

Happy Monday! Thanks for stumbling across my blog today! :)

Today I'm reviewing this review for Quick and Easy Mason Jar Frittatas from Target.com - who knew they had recipes?!?!

I made these a few months ago for our Bible study; I use that and my turn at hostessing Stampin' Up! parties to try out new recipes, since most of the ones I want to try aren't things we can eat around here. :D But these ARE something I can eat - and they earn a YES, PLEASE!!!

These frittatas are SUPER easy; I made them up the night before, and just cooked them off that morning. They were TASTY!!! Everyone oohed and aahhed over them - and who doesn't like something in a cute mason jar? :D I loved being able to make them ahead. Perfect for entertaining, OR for regular family!

These also reheated well enough that I could make up a batch and keep them in the fridge for a week's worth of breakfasts.

Let me know if you decide to try them! Have a wonderful day - BE BLESSED!!!

Cabbage Roll Soup

Welcome to Wednesday! :)

It's finally feeling a bit fall-ish around Middle Tennessee, so soup is allowed on the menu. :D (Sorry, but I cannot BEAR to eat soup when it's freakishly hot outside...) Kenn loves cabbage, and cabbage rolls, so this is what I made him: Cabbage Roll Soup from Hey! That Tastes Good!

I was surprised at how much I actually liked this soup. I don't tend to enjoy too many tomato-based soups; I think perhaps it's the texture. I used the tomato sauce, NOT the diced tomatoes in here, and that just might have made the difference!

I probably should have made my cabbage ribbons just a tad smaller, but that would have been an aesthetic thing. :D The recipe says it serves FOUR. When I told Kenn that, he looked at me and said, "Four WHAT?!" - it made a HUGE pot of soup. We ate these big bowls, AND I have several jars in the freezer! It's a YES, PLEASE! recipe - easy, healthy, gluten-free, and hearty.

Come back on Friday and see the rolls I made to serve with it. BOY, HOWDY. :D

Have a WONDERFUL day, friend. Be BLESSED!

Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

 Happy Friday! :) Have you had a good week? Is it cold where you are? It's quite chilly today - and it has snowed a tiny bit today! :) The Weather Channel says it's supposed to spit some more this afternoon, so I'll be sure to gaze out my window often... :D

Today's review is for Creamy Cauliflower Sauce, from Pinch of Yum.

OK, so I was a tiny bit skeptical. Sauce? Really? Out of cauliflower. But I decided to try it, because I like mashed cauliflower as a VERY low carb substitute for mashed potatoes - although I never put gravy on them. That grosses me out just thinking about it! :D

So I cut the recipe in half - I was the only one who would ever eat it, anyway - and went to town. The "sauce" is what you see above; I used it this way, as you see on the left, with some leftover angel hair pasta, shredded cheddar cheese, and ham chunks.

I was pleasantly surprised! It was really good! It gets a YES, PLEASE! - and I'm KIND of craving it now, even! I got two meals out of cutting it in half, but I used a LOT of it. :D I don't like dry pasta. (Oh, and in case you were worried, it's not REGULAR pasta, it's Dreamfields. :) )

It does have a LOT of garlic in it. I might cut that back JUST a bit, but there really wasn't any cauliflower taste to the sauce, which was nice. :) Lots and lots of garlic, like a white Italian sauce might have!

OK, I'm outta here! :) Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Try something new! :) Be BLESSED!

Oreo Cookie Pancakes

Good Wednesday Morning! How are you doing today? Have you had a good - oh, MONTH!?!? really?!?! - since I last posted? <sigh> I'm sorry. I DO have a few things from the last month to post, but they're on my laptop, and blogging on it is just - well, I hate it. :)

So! Here I am today, with this recipe for Oreo Cookie Pancakes from Minimalist Baker. And actually, they're VEGAN!

OK, so right off the top: reading the recipe, I KNEW these wouldn't taste like Oreos. I mean, they use coconut in the filling! :D But they still sounded interesting, so I Pinned them. I've been trying to figure out what I was going to blog about this week, so I decided, last night, to make them for my breakfast this morning.

I cut the recipe in half; my parents are doing no-wheat, and I wanted to make life simple for myself and just use unbleached AP flour. So, cutting it in half, I got EXACTLY the number of pancakes you see here. The filling made a little more.

I used Splenda in the pancake batter, and xylitol powdered sugar in the filling - I cut out as many carbs as I could. :) I did use unsweetened coconut flakes, and light coconut milk in both batter and filling.

They were good, especially for being vegan. :D They weren't overly sweet, but they were moist. I think I could have added a little more coconut milk to the filling to make it a bit easier to spread, and I did end up using more coconut milk in the batter to make it easier to work with.

I'm trying to decide about the filling. I processed the coconut flakes for probably 10 minutes, and never DID get a true "butter" from them. It was more of a lumpy paste. But it tasted OK. :D

I think I'll give this a YES, PLEASE!, especially if you're trying to go vegan. If you try them, let me know what you think! :)

Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!!!

Savory Bean & Spinach Soup

You made it! It's FRIDAY again! :)

Today, I've got a Savory Bean & Spinach Soup to share with you, from Fitness.com.

Now, then. I am not a huge soup fan. There's just something about it that will never make soup my favorite thing - and part of that, I'm sure, is how messy and noisy it can be to eat. :D

But I took a week, when my dad was traveling, to cook some soups for Kenn for meals. Dad came home early - it was the week the first big blizzard hit Kansas City, but I went ahead and did that cooking. And this was one of the two soup recipes.

This one got a definite YES, PLEASE! from Kenn. It was OK - and it was vegetarian, easily made vegan if you don't add the cheese. :)

I was a bit disappointed that mine looked so much more tomato-based than the picture on the website. But I loved the fact it had such healthy ingredients! Of course, I used organic vegetable broth. :)

And yes, that's a piece of the Amish bread behind the bowl. Oh, gosh, that bread made the meal. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful weekend!! :)

Homemade "Nutella"

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new???

Today's share is a happy share. :D One of my dear friends in college, who grew up in Germany, introduced me to Nutella about 25 years ago. (Holey mackerel, did I just admit that?!?) :D Lately, I've been trying to eat less processed food; the chemicals can't be good for me, and if I can put better things into my body, then maybe it will start behaving better. :)

So - since my mom and I love Nutella so much! - I decided to try this recipe for Homemade Nutella Spread from Leite's Culinaria.

This is a YES, PLEASE! rating. I didn't run it through a sieve at the end of the process, because I didn't want to make all that mess and lose too much of the chocolate. :D It's not very grainy, so I'm good with that.

If I can figure out a good chocolate to use, that will help; we used Hershey's bars, because I don't want the wax that goes into chips for helping to hold their shape. But that's kind of expensive! The hazelnuts were some our dear friends sent Mom for Christmas a year ago that have been in the freezer, waiting for a reason to be used. :D (We're going back to hazelnutland - Oregon grows something like 90% of the US's hazelnuts!)

Try it! Oh, I also used grapeseed oil for the oil requirement; if you want to make it even better for you, try coconut oil. You could also use xylitol for the sugar - watch for that post later on. :)

Update: After a day of being nice and spreadable, this solidified. My mom is loving it still; I'd prefer it to not tear up whatever I'm trying to spread it on. There are lots of recipes out there right now for homemade Nutella; I may see if they have anything in them that might be added to this to keep it softer. It's still good - I think it would make great truffles. Just sayin'. :D
 
OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!

Crockpot "Refried" Beans

Good Monday afternoon! :) I know it's a bit later than normal, but I wasn't home much this weekend. I'm house managing for Lamplighter's Theater Company, and between church and the show, there wasn't a lot of spare time to be found! :)

That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about what to post. :D I made this recipe last week; it's from Pennies & Pancakes, for Crockpot "Refried" Beans.

Let me just say, from the start, this gets a YES, PLEASE! :) It's a great, inexpensive, adjustable recipe. The only thing I measured was the water, because I didn't want to have it be too soupy or too dry.

The flavor is GREAT on these! I found I didn't need all the cooking time listed; be sure your beans aren't crunchy, for sure, but mine were done about a half-hour after I turned my pot down to LOW. I cut the recipe in half; we don't eat a LOT of refried beans, and I didn't want them going to waste - even though they're so inexpensive to make!

I will recommend this to you, too: keep some of the liquid if you drain off some from your beans. I was worried when I mashed them that I hadn't gotten rid of enough liquid. But they really tightened up, and I now wish I'd left just a bit more. If you keep some of the liquid, you can add it when your beans start to cool. But I don't think I'll be using canned beans if I can do a little planning ahead; these really were tasty!!!!!!

I had these vegetarian beans and melted cheese with organic blue corn tortilla chips for dinner one night; I felt so virtuous! :D And I highly recommend that, if you like cilantro, you sprinkle a little on whatever you serve these beans with. It's one of the top 5 nutrient-dense foods on the PLANET, and it gives a great freshness to the taste. But whatever floats your boat! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL week! Be BLESSED!!! (And be sure to come back Wednesday, for a Valentine's suggestion!)

Tex-Mex Chicken and Tortilla Stack

Good Monday midday! :D I've been busy this weekend, and not in the mood to really blog today, but here I am anyway! :D

Dad was gone last week, but Kenn also had a really bad infection in his tooth. So I wasn't sure I was going to get to make this - but I did. On Tuesday night, I tried this Tex-Mex Chicken and Tortilla Stack from Recipe.com.

First of all, I will admit: I took the METHOD of this recipe more than the recipe itself. Every place I looked for jicama, it was sold out. So we didn't have jicama in ours.

And I don't like precooked chicken, unless it's in a can (and I still don't LOVE it, then!); it almost always gives me heartburn, and I don't care for the chemicals they use. So, I used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and poached them in water with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried minced onion. When they were done, I shredded the chicken and let it cool.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this recipe; it's served cold, and I tend to like COOKED Mexican food. :D You know, HOT and a little spicy. :D But we really did like it! It got a YES, PLEASE! from both of us! And of course, I personalized it. :D

For instance, I made our guacamole. Doing it myself saved at least a dollar - and it's not a CHEAP recipe, although it's not too bad. Part of the cost for US, though, is that I need to use low-carb tortillas. To cut down on the whopping cost of my favorite white flour LC tortillas, I alternated them with whole wheat ones. (I tend to not like those at all because of texture and flavor. It's a personal thing! :D) I would say this, by itself, serves 4 - it makes 8 pieces, if you cut it like a cake. :D but we didn't have anything WITH it.

I also didn't put red peppers in it - again, they don't like me. I also added cilantro to the cheese layers - did you know it's one of the top 5 nutrient-dense foods on the planet?!? - because Kenn LOVES it, and I like it. My mom says its flavor is too "loud" - it overpowers everything else. :D

I used fat free regular refried beans. Kenn doesn't tend to like things too spicy, so no jalapeno, either. And his system is sometimes intolerant of the colors they use in cheeses, so I used Velveeta queso blanco shredded cheese. I also added tomato to the top!

I guess what I'm trying to express is this: don't be afraid to play! :D I wouldn't have tried a "stack" if I hadn't found this recipe. I'd have loved to have had the jicama for the recipe, but oh, well. :D I know what we like, and if I can get things that are good for us into a recipe, I'm gonna! :D

OK, I'm outta here. LOTS to do! :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Roasted Cabbage

It's FRIDAY! How was your Thanksgiving? Are you still stuffed? :D Are your festivities continuing through the weekend? Are you decorating? :D

Anyway. Here's another recipe from our hostess luncheon; it's Roasted (I Wish It Was Grilled) Cabbage from Green Lite Bites.

The original blogger said she liked her cabbage crunchy; I don't so I put the wedges in for about an hour and 15 minutes. And they were still crunchy.

I'm going to give this a NO, THANKS. The Worchestershire sauce was a bit overpowering. I think we're going to try frying up the leftovers, and see if we like it that way better. So watch for an update; I'll need to do that this weekend, more than likely - I need the fridge room! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Working away for the open house! I hope you're coming. :)

Enjoy your weekend!!!! Be BLESSED!!!

Copycat: Cafe Rio's Chicken Tortilla Soup

It's FRIDAY! :) Are you ready for some weekend?!?!? :)

Today's recipe is for a copycat of a place I've never heard of, Cafe Rio. If you have one near you, what do you think of their food? Anyway. :D The website that brings you this recipe is the same as Wednesday's, Favorite Family Recipes - because that pico de gallo I reviewed Wednesday is in this soup!

This is one of the meals I made while my parents were visiting my sister. I don't think they'd like it much, but I may be wrong. Maybe it's just Dad who wouldn't like it. :D Because we did! It gets a YES, PLEASE! - except the leftovers, not so much.

This is an assembled soup, which made it nice because I could do prep work the day before - like making the pico, baking the chicken and freezing what I didn't want to use for another meal. And it's a healthy soup - lots of fresh vegetables, not too high in sodium, chicken.... It's pretty, too! :)

When I reheated the chicken to put into the soup bowls, I ladled in some broth - with all the spices, etc., in the broth, it gave the seasoning to the chicken I wanted. I added a little cumin to the chicken, too, but couldn't find any cayenne pepper in the grocery the day I went. That was the strangest thing...! And I didn't use any taco seasoning; Kenn doesn't like it, and I didn't want to buy a package that we weren't going to use all of it, anyway. :)

The tortilla strips absolutely made this soup. Well, for ME, anyway. :D I've never made them fresh before, and oooooooh, were they good just out of the oil and salted. :D I stored them in a paper bag, so it would absorb the extra oil and they would stay crispy.

This will probably be a soup I make when we have people over on the beach; I can get almost everything ready the day before, and keep the broth and beans in a crock pot while we're doing things on the beach. :) It's Kenn's idea of what food should be: fresh and flavorful.

And I'll make extra tortilla strips next time. ;)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Enjoy your weekend - and let me know if you try anything new!!

Pico de Gallo

Good Wednesday morning! Sorry I wasn't around Monday; between working too hard this weekend, and being sick, I just didn't feel like blogging. :D So!

With that being said, :D, here is Family Favorite Recipes' recipe for pico de gallo.

OK. I have to say this: this recipe is almost EXACTLY what I would use for a bruscetta topping - except the herb is cilantro, not basil, and it's got a jalapeno in it.

But it's GOOD. :) It's just amazing to me how similar Mexican and Italian can be sometimes. :) And it was part of a grander scheme of a recipe, so as an ingredient, it was good. We didn't eat it all, and I think it's because I was trying to squeeze in as much cooking as I could while my parents were gone. :D We ate WELL that week. LOL!

I'd say try it. I'd also say, if you're looking for a bruscetta topping, just change out the herb and don't worry about the jalapeno. :D So, it's going down in the history books as a YES, PLEASE. :D

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED - and try something new!

Gingered Chicken Thighs

It's FRIDAY!!!! Have you had a good week? Got fun plans for this weekend? If you're in the Middle Tennessee area, come see me tomorrow night; I'm working at Lebanon's Cedar Grove Cemetery Walk!

Anyway. :) Today's recipe is another Taste of Home, for Gingered Chicken Thighs.

I have to tell you: it took me a LONG time to decide this one got a NO, THANK YOU from us. It wasn't BAD, but neither of us wanted to eat the leftovers. :)

Now, I will admit that I used lemon juice instead of orange juice, but that's not what did it for us, I don't think. The flavors were super strong, but good - at first. It just didn't sit right, and when smelling the leftovers, it was totally overwhelming. (Of course, I'm not feeling tiptop right now, anyway.... :D)

Do let me know if it intrigues you enough to try it! I'd love to know what you think. :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL weekend! BE BLESSED!!!

Beef Vegetable Soup

Welcome to Wednesday. :D Have you had a good week so far? I've got a doctor's appointment today. booooo, hisssssss. <sigh>

So, anyway. :D Today's recipe is for "steak soup" - aka vegetable beef :D - from Gimme Some Oven! :D I made this soup last Monday, when I opened up the stampin' studio for a free evening. The bread I shared on Monday was a nice accompaniment for this soup.

The soup got a definite YES, PLEASE! from everyone who tasted it. I used 4 cups of beef broth, then about 5 cups of water with a container of Knorr Homestyle Stock (it's condensed) and an envelope of Swanson Flavor Boost. The recipe includes Worchestershire sauce - a touch of brilliance, there. It's got so much "stuff" that I wouldn't think to add to the soup, and a little goes a long way to boosting the flavor and richness of the broth. As a matter of fact, when I made beef stew a couple of days later, I used some Worchestershire sauce in it, too. It was wonderful. :)

This soup was wonderfully hearty, and I have to admit I don't really like soups with tomatoes in them. I cut the amount of tomatoes I added in half from the recipe; I also used fire-roasted tomatoes, which I'd gotten as a freebie to try.  I thought, if you have to have tomatoes in the soup, they were pretty decent. :D And I ate two bowls of this soup. Unheard of for me. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a BLESSED day! And do try this soup! :D

ABM Whole Wheat Bread

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a good weekend? GOODNESS, mine was BUSY. And today's been busy, too! Crazy, man! :D

ANYWAY. Today, I'm bringing you one of those recipes that this time of year just begs for: bread. And my favorite kind: bread that can be made in my bread machine! :D This recipe comes to us from Food.com, for whole wheat bread.

This is a pretty healthy recipe! It doesn't use sugar; it uses honey. So, as far as a healthy bread recipe (as a diabetic, that's a bit of an oxymoron, but still... :D), this is a YES, PLEASE. But I would suggest upping the salt just a tiny bit.

It baked up really nice for being whole wheat; I do add vital wheat gluten to my bread machine recipes, tho, so that always helps. This had a nice crust on it - I did let it bake in the machine, just so I didn't have to mess with the oven. It was substantial enough when you bit into it to have a nice chew to it, too.

So, if you're looking for an easy, healthy bread machine recipe, go for this one. :)

Let me know if you try it, what YOU think!

OK, outta here. So much to do, so little time.... :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed!

Healthy Life English Muffins

Happy Wednesday! :)  Are you having a good week?

I wanted to review these English muffins because, with some of the jams, jellies, conserves, preserves, and curds I'm making, there's just something about a toasted English muffin with those nooks and crannies filled with melted butter and fruit of some type. :) And THESE are great; I can have a whole muffin for a net carb total of only 15 - and still have carbs for the jelly or whatever. :)

So, these get a YES, PLEASE. They're relatively low in calories, if that matters to you. :) I don't like English muffin pizzas - never really have; there's something about the taste that I just don't like - but these would work well, if that's something your family likes.

OK, I'm outta here! :D So many reviews to write, so little time.... :D
Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED! And try something new!

Dreamsicle Pudding

Good Wednesday Morning!
I don't know about you, but I'm loving this fall weather. :) And there's so much to do, not enough time to do it in. :D Less than three months until Christmas, and I can't wait! LOL

Anyway. Today's review is another recipe, from Jo and Sue for Creamsicle Pudding.

Let me tell you a little about this. First of all, it's more like a mousse. Second, I used sugar-free vanilla pudding, to save on more carbs. So this recipe only has the carbs from the Cool Whip and the oranges.

It's a YES, PLEASE! - even though I find it super sweet. I think, the next time I make it, I'll layer the extra Cool Whip and the mousse/pudding, to break up the sweetness a little. It's pretty, and refreshing, and the recipe is super-easy and makes seven FULL or eight big servings.

OK, I'm outta here! We're having our church picnic this evening, and I can't WAIT to hang out with my friends! :D Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!

Pear Butter

Good Monday Morning!

I'm sorry you didn't get a post on Friday, if you came looking for one. I just ran out of OOMPH. I'm weary; last week was a LONG week. But it's Monday, so we get to do it all over again! :D

Today's recipe for pear butter comes to you from About.com.

I'm not quite sure what to tell you about this recipe. :D Yes, it's pear butter. But I don't think I'd go out of my way to make it. Let me put it this way: if you have lots of extra pears, this is a good way to use them. I wouldn't recommend getting extra pears just to do this one.

We had two crockpots almost full of pear slices, and I think I got eight half-pint jars out of it all. The recipe does call for pureeing the pears before putting them into the cooker, but I used an immersion blender on them once they'd cooked down. It was much less messy, and less work.

The flavor is OK. Don't add extra cloves! :D I wish I would remember to get some English muffins; I'd like to try it on those. And I cut the sugar by 1/3; it definitely doesn't need more than that.

So, I guess it's a MEH. :D However, I'll continue to try to find SOME pear recipe that I like. But unless I get more pears this year, I'm out!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Pear Bread

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week?

My friend has lots of pears, and pneumonia. So I was gifted a big pail of pears. :D My sister asked that we bring some quick breads for the kids' breakfasts, so we decided to try pear bread!

This is a Taste of Home recipe. And it gets a MEH from me.

Now, don't get me wrong: as quick breads go, it's easy, makes two loaves, and has pretty common ingredients. But I have yet to find a pear bread recipe that tastes like pears. This one only tastes like pears when you bite into a piece of pear.

My dad liked it - I think its texture is more of a muffin than a bread. It will definitely do the job, and I've added even more fruit to the following batches, to give more pear to bite into. :) I'm sure it will be a hit with the lids! If I get gifted with pears again, I might try pureeing some pears to use in it, too, and see if that helps or changes the texture too much.

Let me know what you think - or if you have a pear quick bread recipe you like!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!!

Lemon Chicken

Good morning! How is your week going? I hope well. I know each day has its own ups and downs - I'm concentrating on the UPS today. :D

So, today's recipe comes from Annie's Eats, for Lemon Chicken.

Now, I have to admit: I love the way some herbs smell, but I haven't discovered a way that I really like eating them very often. For that reason alone, I'm giving this a YES, PLEASE! It allowed me to use some of the beautiful herbs Dad grows, and we all loved the result!

I think the biggest reason is that it doesn't over-do the herbs. And because they're in the marinade, not just on the chicken.

This is a really lemony dish. We love lemon around here; this savory application really was enjoyed by everyone, which is a little unusual. :D

I served this with basmati rice (one of my FAVORITE rices!!), which I cooked with lemon zest. When it was fully cooked, I added more lemon zest and some basil. That right there's worth the price of admission! :D With a tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad, it was a delightful meal.

I hope you'll try this! It didn't take long to put together the marinade at all. The reason my photo looks so different is that we didn't use chicken with skin. We don't do that around here much. ;) But you can see that the legs, which did have skin, did brown beautifully like the original photo. I enjoyed doing the platter presentation! I do love the smell of rosemary. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a BLESSED day, my friend! And let me know when you try something new!!!

Part two: Apple Fritters

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a great weekend? Praying you did.

So, you're back for part two, right? :D

The recipe is brought to you from SeeminglyGreek. I didn't know apple fritters were Greek, but whatever! :D

Now. Fritters are meant to be FRIED. I know that. But I also know that I've been cooking a LOT around here, and that I didn't need anything fried! Nor did my family. So I know I did it more of a cake than a fritter, because I cooked them in what? Yeah, my cupcake baker. :D So they're not the crunch little nuggets that you'll get when you fry them.

And these fritters formed into cupcakes more than the cake batters I've used in the baker in the past! So odd. but anyway. :)

They're not overly sweet. I didn't make the glaze for them, and the confectioner's sugar didn't really stick to them. More like in the little cracks that formed on top. :D

But I'll give this a YES, PLEASE! They were moist, and fit the bill for a healthy snack. There's little sugar IN them. Be careful cutting up your apple! I cut BOTH thumbs, and had to get my dad to finish chopping my apple for me. It was one of THOSE days. AUGH!! :D But he didn't mind, since he was getting a treat from it. :D (He also bandaged my thumbs. Thanks, Dad!)

I did have to thin the batter out. It was too thick for me. And I used the medium-sized cookie scoop from Pampered Chef to scoop into the baker - it was the perfect amount!

OK, I'm outta here. :) Have a WONDERFUL, blessed day. And try something NEW!