Rampicante Squash Muffins Recipe

Remember last year when I grew so many rampicante squash in my garden?  I froze some of it (it's quite similar to zucchini, and you could use zucchini in this recipe if you didn't have rampicante) and decided to make some muffins recently.  I'm happy to say that these are kid approved!

You will need:
3 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. maple flavoring (or use vanilla extract if you don't have this)
2 cups shredded rampicante squash
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup extra ingredient (nuts, chopped apricots, raisins or butterscotch chips)

Preheat oven to 350*.  Spray muffin tin with cooking spray (or lightly grease). Mix eggs, oil, and sugars.  Stir in squash.  Stir in dry ingredients until just mixed.  Fold in your extra ingredient (I used butterscotch chips).

Bake for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  These are fairly healthy, and make a great breakfast-on-the-go muffin (they aren't as crumbly as some muffins).  My boys love when I send them as a school snack.

Yield = 15 medium muffins

Black Walnut Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

We have over ten pounds of black walnuts we harvested on our land, so I've been finding ways to use them up.  I made some black walnut cranberry oatmeal cookies that turned out really well, and thought I'd share the recipe.  It makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup of shortening or softened butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup dried cranberries

Cream shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.  Add dry ingredients and oats.  Stir in cranberries and walnuts.  Form into balls the size of a walnut and press down.  Bake at 375* for ten minutes or until just starting to brown. 

What do you think, readers?  Do black walnut cookies sound tasty?

Turkey Goulash with Mashed Potatoes

I made a turkey goulash recipe recently that turned out pretty well.  Relying on a number of pantry ingredients, it is modified from a Taste of Home recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 package (16 oz.) frozen mixed veggies
2 cans condensed tomato soup
1 cup water
1 chopped onion
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. pepper

Cook turkey in large skillet, drain.  Add veggies, soups, water, onion, Worcestershire sauce, seasonings.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Serve over mashed potatoes.  You could use instant, or you could make yours from scratch.  I always make mine from scratch by boiling and draining a bunch of red potatoes, then mixing them with cream cheese, sour cream, butter, and garlic salt.  I don't measure - I just estimate and taste.  Delicious!

Readers, do you always use recipes, or do you wing it with some things?

Cushaw Squash Bread Recipe

Cushaw squash makes an excellent pumpkin style bread.  My boys adore it.  And since Cort recently came up with an intolerance to pumpkin, it is a good alternative. 

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups pureed cushaw squash
3 cups flour
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350*.  Mix together sugar and oil.  Add eggs and squash and mix well.  Add dry ingredients, mix.  Pour into greased and floured bread pans.  Bake 80 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Cool slightly before turning out.

Don't have a cushaw squash handy?  Try substituting pumpkin.

Sorghum Cookies and Apples Apples Apples

You may remember me blogging about the loss of our apple tree from a storm.  We have lost two now.  It makes me sad, because they were planted many years ago - long before our time.  However, we still have one lone tree left.  And it had a fantastic apple crop this year.

We decided to use every apple we could, while we had them.  Over the weekend, the boys helped Paul pick.  I canned 30+ pints of applesauce and 12 half pints of apple butter (plus earlier in the week I had canned a batch of applesauce and some apple pie filling).  Then the remainder of the apples we put through the dehydrator (the boys just love dehydrated apples as a snack).

Practically free food, but it certainly is a lot of work!  My back was all cramped up after a long day of peeling, mushing, stirring.  I have to say, though, applesauce from the store is all watery and lame.  But the home-canned applesauce is excellent in flavor, and I make mine chunky with lots of cinnamon rather than pureed.

Over the same weekend, in between batches of applesauce, I made some sorghum cookies.  I had read an article in the newspaper about old school Appalachian recipes (like cushaw pie - which I will be making later this season when I harvest my cushaw squash).  Included in the article were sorghum cookies.  I had never had one.

Luckily, my blogging friend Harry Flashman was kind enough to send me a jar of sorghum syrup to try.  I decided I could just modify a recipe I had already tried and enjoyed.  So I modified this recipe for molasses cookies and substituted in sorghum for the molasses.

Let me tell you something - these are so good!  They are really flavorful, and chewy and soft.  I will certainly be making more. 

Readers, have you been canning anything lately?  If not, ever tried sorghum cookies?

Quick Back to School Dinners with Mezzetta - Giveaway

Disclaimer:  I received an assortment of Mezzetta products to help facilitate this review.  The opinions below are my own.

One of the challenging issues of back to school is all of the constant rushing.  With homework and after school activities and the two jobs I work, I do a lot of balancing.  It's always important to me to have a family dinner on the table, but sometimes it is a scramble to find healthy and quick options.

I have been buying Mezzetta's kalamata olives for years.  They are my favorite kalamata olive, and are a staple in my kitchen.  I often toss them in wraps for lunch for a burst of flavor, and they are wonderful in salads and pastas.  The other night I made a quick and tasty pasta using Mezzetta's chopped kalamata olives and roasted red peppers.

I sautéed a few cloves of chopped garlic in 5 tbsp. butter until tender, then added a cup of sunburst tomatoes from my garden and 1/2 cup white wine.  I cooked until the tomatoes were wilted, then tossed in 12 oz. cooked shrimp, the kalamata olives, the roasted red peppers, and some chopped parsley.  Cook through, then toss with angel hair pasta and top with freshly grated parmesan.

 This meal took me about 20 minutes from start to finish.  The family loved it, and two of the boys asked for seconds (I confess, I had seconds too). 

We also loved sampling the Castelvetrano olives (which were new to us, and had amazing flavor), the Peperoncini (we put these on crackers with beer cheese), and the garlic stuffed olives (which Cort immediately confiscated as his own.  They are quite amazing - and I love that Cort enjoys them, as I know the garlic will help boost his immune system). 

You can find more fantastic, simple recipes and ideas to help you make dinner at Mezzetta.  Take pictures of your creation to share on Instagram with the hashtag #4PMFreakOut. 

Want a chance to win your own sampler from Mezzetta?  Click on the Rafflecopter below to enter.
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How to Make Your Own Hardtack

Previously I mostly just thought of hardtack as being something eaten by Civil War soldiers.  It actually goes back to the time of the Egyptians, used by sailors.  The good thing about hardtack (from a sailor or Civil War perspective) is that it can last for years if it stays dry and is kept away from bugs and such.  It is light and easy to transport (think backpacking) but is dense, so it holds a lot of nutrition. 

I have wanted to make some for about a year now.  I finally got around to trying it.  Turns out, it's really easy (and cheap) to make.  In fact, you only need three ingredients.

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups flour
2 cups water
2 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients and then roll out on a floured board into a rectangle of about 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into smaller squares and poke holes in each one with a fork on both sides.

Place on a baking sheet and cook for 30 minutes on each side at 375*.  Don't forget to flip it!

They are rather hard once they are dried, but they taste similar to a very thick saltine cracker.  They had more flavor than I expected.  I think they'd be good in soup or coffee.  We'll take some on our next backpacking trip and try just that!

Readers, would you want to try hardtack?

Wineberry Sorbet Recipe

I have yet another wineberry recipe for you.  This one is a new one for us, and it is by far our new and most favorite wineberry dessert.  It has the most fantastic flavor!  It is a little bit of trouble to make, but it is well worth the effort.

Wineberry Sorbet Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 cups wineberries
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vodka (this is to help with the consistency when frozen)

Bring sugar and water to a boil until it dissolves to create a syrup.  Cool.  Put wineberries, syrup, lemon and vodka in the food processor and blend.  Pour through cheesecloth to get the seeds out.  Line a baking sheet or cake pan with parchment paper and pour ingredients into pan.  Freeze for several hours, until set.  Break into pieces and place in food processor again.  Process until smooth. 

This is wonderful served over brownies, or even in an ice cream cone.  The boys fought over the last bite.  Apparently, I'll be making this one a lot this summer.

Wineberry Pie Recipe

We have oodles of wineberries that grow on our land.  They are like raspberries.  I've made all sorts of things with them, but am always trying to come up with new things.  This year Paul has turned over all the berries to me (usually he reserves some for making wine...imagine that!).  I decided to try a pie.

Wineberry Pie

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup water
1 (3 oz.) package strawberry gelatin
4 cups wineberries
1 graham cracker crust

Combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Cook and stir two minutes until thick.  Remove from heat and stir in gelatin.  Cool for 15 minutes.  Place raspberries in graham crust.  Pour gelatin mixture over berries.  Smush berries down slightly.  Chill for 3 hours or until set.

Readers, have you ever tried wineberries?

Chinese Almond Cookies Recipe

This past spring Pierce's class did a unit on Ancient China.  I bought the ingredients to make some Chinese Almond Cookies to send to his class.  Then I got really busy, and didn't get around to making them until two days after they'd taken their exam.  But I figure late cookies are better than no cookies?

I took a recipe that was Chinese and adapted it to make it more U.S.-friendly in terms of measurements, instructions, and ingredients.  It's fairly simple, and was a hit with the kids, as Pierce came back with requests from his friends for the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 stick butter, softened

1 egg

½ cup sugar

½ tsp. almond extract

1/4 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

30 Whole almonds 

Preheat oven to 325*.  Mix butter and sugar.  Add in almond extract and egg and mix well.  Add flour, baking soda and salt.  Once well mixed, form into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet.  Flatten with your palm.  Place one almond in the center of each and press down slightly.  Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned on edges.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from baking sheets.  Makes approximately 25 – 30 cookies. 

 

Readers, what is your favorite cookie?

Lentil and Apple Salad

I like to use apple cider vinegar a lot in salad dressings, because it has so many health benefits.  Here is a super speedy but flavorful side salad you can whip up to go with things like roast chicken or burgers. 

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 14 oz. can lentils, rinsed and drained
1 crisp apple, cored and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped

Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper.  Toss with lentils, apples, and celery.  Serve immediately.

 
This recipe was from a Woman's Day magazine a few months ago, and I modified it just slightly. 

Readers, have you tried any new recipes lately?

Honey Bun Sheet Cake Recipe

This is one of those recipes that has been in my index card file for about 15 years, and that every once in a while I have to make.  It sort of melts in your mouth.  I got it from a secretary at a college I worked at years ago.  She brought it to a potluck, and I just HAD to have the recipe.  She was kind enough to share.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup oil (okay to substitute applesauce for half the oil, I always do)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup raisins
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
3 tsp. milk

Combine cake mix, oil, buttermilk, sugar and eggs.  Pour into a greased sheet cake pan.  Mix together the brown sugar, pecans, raisins and cinnamon.  "Swirl" into cake.  Bake at 300* for 1 hour. 

Mix confectioners sugar, vanilla, and milk.  Drizzle over cake while still hot. 

This is also a great recipe for a brunch!  Enjoy.

Veggie and Spinach Enchiladas Recipe

I cook a lot of Mexican style foods.  Paul and I lived in Texas for six years, and grew to love Tex-Mex while there.  Enchiladas are a family favorite.  I make them all different ways, and often just toss together ingredients and roll them up.  This version turned out particularly well, and it makes two family-sized servings, so you have dinner for the night, and can freeze the second batch for a future dinner.

Ingredients:
1 12 oz. bag frozen corn, thawed
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
4 oz. fresh spinach
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilis
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12 8 inch flour tortillas
1 cup green enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 400*.  Spray two baking pans with cooking spray.  In a bowl, mix corn, beans, tomato, zucchini, chilis, spinach, 1 cup cheddar, and 1/2 cup Jack. 

 

 

Divide filling among tortillas, roll up and arrange seam side down in baking dishes (I tend to use a 3 quart pyrex for one batch, and an aluminum casserole dish that I can wrap in foil and a big ziploc for my freezer batch.

 

Top each with enchilada sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. 

 

Readers, do you have a favorite Mexican food?

Apple Lime Jello Dessert for St. Patrick's Day

I know I've been showcasing a lot of desserts for St. Patrick's day over the past couple of weeks, but this is the last one.  And it is so simple to toss together, but kicks a lot of flavor.  In my house, it comes highly kid-approved.

Ingredients:
1 cup applesauce
1 small box lime jello
1 can lemon lime soda

Bring applesauce and jello to a simmer over medium heat.  Remove from heat.  Stir in lemon lime soda.  Let cool in fridge 10 minutes until slightly thickened.  Spoon into individual serving dishes, and refrigerate until set.

Enjoy!  Readers, do you have any special plans for St. Patrick's Day?

Irish Cream Cake Recipe for St. Patrick's Day

A few years ago I went to a recipe exchange potluck, and one of the recipes brought was an Irish Cream Cake.  I've wanted to make it since then, but had not because every time I thought about it, I remembered I needed to pick up Irish Cream.  Well, I finally made a trip and got some, and was able to make this wonderful cake.  It's very easy to toss together.

Irish Cream Cake Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup Irish Cream
8 oz. sour cream
4 eggs
1 bag chocolate chips (11 oz.)
1 small box vanilla instant pudding
1 can cream cheese icing (you will only use a portion of this).

Mix cake mix, sour cream, eggs, Irish cream, and vanilla pudding.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into a bundt pan and bake at 350* for one hour.  After cake cools, heat icing in microwave for 30 seconds and spoon drizzle over cake. 

 

 

I was a little leery of the canned frosting, as I don't really care for the taste.  But it was good drizzled over this moist and flavorful cake. 

 

Readers, do you have any special recipes you use for St. Patrick's Day?

Grasshopper Pie Recipe

With St. Patrick's Day on the horizon, it is time to break out some 'green' recipes.  I have a funny story about this one.  It was a favorite dessert that my mom made when I was a kid.  I took the recipe with me to college, and tried to replicate it.  I did not know what crème de menthe was, and thought I could substitute mint extract.  Now, the recipe calls for FOUR tablespoons of crème de menthe.  That's basically an entire bottle of mint extract.  As you might imagine, it was quite inedible!  I called my mom afterwards, and she laughed and explained that crème de menthe was a liquor.  I wasn't 21 yet, so the recipe was set aside for a while. 

Never fear, readers.  This is actually a very easy recipe, assuming you know the difference between crème de menthe and mint extract!

Ingredients:
Crust - 1 1/4 cup chocolate wafer crumbs and 1/3 cup melted butter (or just use a store bought crust if you don't want to mess with this).
24 large marshmallows
1/2 cup milk
1 package of Dream Whip, prepared
4 tbsp. crème de menthe

For the crust, mix and press into a buttered pie plate.
For the filling, dissolve marshmallows in hot milk over a double broiler.  Cool.  Prepare Dream Whip and add crème de menthe.  If desired, add extra green food coloring at this point.  Combine the two mixtures and pour in crust.  Top with crème de menthe chocolate pieces and freeze. 

It was fun to share this with the boys, as they loved it every bit as much as I did as a kid.

Readers, do you have any funny cooking mistakes you'd like to share?

Mocha Latte Cake Recipe

This is one of my favorite cakes I have ever made.  Possibly my favorite.  It starts from a simple cake mix, but it evolves into a masterpiece of chocolate and coffee that will impress the most discerning guests.  The frosting is absolutely heavenly.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 package chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
2 tbsp. instant coffee granules
1 pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powered sugar + 1 cup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*.  Coat 2 (9 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.  Melt 1/2 cup butter; cool slightly.  On medium speed, beat cake mix with 1 cup water, eggs and melted butter until just blended.  On medium high speed, beat until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Divide batter between two pans and bake 25 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes.  Transfer from pans to racks.  Stir coffee granules into 1/3 cup water until dissolved; reserve 2 tbsp. of mixture.  Brush warm cake layers with remaining coffee mixture, cool completely.

On medium high speed, beat remaining butter until fluffy.  On low speed, gradually beat in 16 oz. powdered sugar and reserved 2 tbsp. coffee mixture until blended.  On medium high speed, beat until light and fluffy.

In separate bowl, on medium high speed, beat cream cheese and vanilla with remaining 1 cup sugar until blended and fluffy.  Transfer one cake layer to serving plate and spread with cream cheese mixture to within 1/2 inch of edge.  Top with remaining cake layer.

Spread cake top and sides with coffee frosting. 

It's a little bit of an effort to make this cake, but it is certainly worth it.  I'll be making this again in the near future!

Spinach and Scallop Angel Hair Pasta Recipe

I am always on the lookout for quick and healthy recipes to pull together for dinner.  I tossed this combination together in about 10 minutes, it was a big hit with the boys, and total cost for a family of five came in at under $5!

Ingredients:
16 oz. angel hair pasta
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup chopped garlic
9 oz. package fresh spinach
4 oz. frozen scallops, thawed
1/2 tsp. black pepper
freshly grated parmesan

Cook pasta according to directions, drain.  Heat oil and garlic in large skillet over medium heat.  When garlic starts to sizzle, add 1/2 cup water and spinach and scallops.  Cover and cook 5 minutes or until spinach is tender.  Add pepper and toss with pasta, sprinkle with parmesan to taste.

I found frozen scallops at the dollar store, which is what I used for this recipe (and why it was so cheap).  I think it would be awesome with large scallops, too, albeit not quite as budget-friendly.  If you didn't have spinach on hand, kale would be a good substitution. 

Coconut Almond Bundt Cake Recipe

The boys were complaining recently because we didn't have any homemade desserts in the house.  I daresay they might be a bit spoiled in that regard.  We eat very healthy, and get plenty of exercise, so there is really no reason to ever skip dessert.

I tossed together a new recipe, and it turned out to be so light and fluffy and flavorful.  It starts with a cake mix, but you will never know it when you taste this cake!  I had several requests on Instagram for it, so I knew I was going to have to share it on the blog.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 box (3.4 oz) instant white chocolate pudding mix
1 cup light sour cream
4 eggs
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk (I used skim)
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*.  Mix first 8 ingredients for 2-3 minutes, until well blended.  Stir in coconut.  Pour into greased bundt pan and bake for 55 minutes.  Allow to cool 15 minutes before turning out on plate to cool completely. 

This is wonderful topped with strawberries!  Enjoy.

Teeny Strawberry Jam Teacakes

A good friend of mine sent me the first three seasons of Downton Abbey, and as a result I have become obsessed with all things tea.  Including the little cakes and such that go on the side. 

I modified a recipe from my vintage Virginia Hospitality cookbook to create a little jam teacake.  The original recipe involved pecans instead of jam, and I'm just not a huge fan of pecans.

Ingredients:
4 oz. cream cheese (light versions are fine), softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sifted flour
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
Strawberry jam (I did half strawberry and half apricot - both are wonderful)

Mix cream cheese and butter.  Stir in flour.  Chill 1 hour.  Shape into 2 dozen 1 inch balls; place in tiny ungreased 1 3/4 inch muffin tins.  Press dough on bottom and sides of cups.

Preheat oven to 325*.  Put a teaspoon of preferred flavor of jam in each cup.  Beat together egg, sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle egg mixture over each cup.  Bake 25 minutes or until filling sets.  Cool before removing from pan. 

Readers - these are going to just melt in your mouth!  Do you drink tea?  Do you have a preferred flavor?