Ingredient of The Week - Carrots!

Yes, we have a new ingredient of the week... on our NEW site!!!! Suzie, Jami, & I started a new blog just for recipes, friendships, and fun!!! Come check us out HERE.

As my grandma always said... Try it! You just might like it!!

Ingredient Of The Week - Spaghetti Sauce

Yes, I know, that is a wierd ingredient. How did we get on the subject?

Last week I decided to take three boring store-bought cans of spaghetti sauce, spice them up with my own ingredients, and then freeze them in jars to use later. A great plan, eh? Well, in the process, the spaghetti sauce got used for a variety of different (and unusual) recipes... so I thought I'd share them here!!!! :o)

First of all, how did I renovate the sauce? Well, I added things of course!!!! I added garlic & herb seasoning (I add that to almost everything), fresh chives from my garden, a bit of frozen spinach chopped finely, a bunch of chopped mushrooms, a bit of grated carrots to thicken up the sauce, and... hmm... I think that's all. OH!!!! I also fried some ground turkey and added it. Much healthier than hamburger I think, and not too much different taste-wise by the time all the spices and veggies are added in.

Suddenly, after adding the ingredients, I realized two very important things:

"Whoa... there is WAY too much meat for this sauce!"
"CRAP! I have nothing for James & I to take to work to eat tomorrow!"

Remembering that we had tortillas in the freezer, I decided to try a food experiment:

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Pizza Quesadilla:

Spaghetti sauce
2 Tortillas (I used regular flour tortillas.)
Shredded cheese (I used cheddar & monterey jack)
Fried hamburger or ground turkey
Optional: pepperoni

First, spray a large skillet with Pam and put on low heat. (I use setting #3 on my electric stove). While the pan is heating, lay one tortilla down on the table and spread some spaghetti sauce evenly over it (I didn't use a lot, since James is not a major tomato-flavor lover.) Toss some meat on it, cover with lots of cheese and pepperoni if you choose... put the other tortilla on top, and CAREFULLY carry it to the skillet. (I can't even count how many times the toppings have at least partially fallen out when I wasn't paying attention as I walked.)

Put the quesadilla in the skillet. Brown lightly, and then CAREFULLY turn it over (with a HUGE turner, the biggest one you own. Or, if you are like me and don't mind severe burns on your fingers, or constantly forget where you laid the turner, try and do it with your fingers.) Brown lightly on the other side, and then cut into pieces with a pizza cutter. It should look something like this:

And it tasted SO. AMAZINGLY. YUMMY. I had to force myself to stop eating so there would be some left for work the next day lol!

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Unfortunately, I was so excited about making the spaghetti sauce and blending the flavors, that I simmered it a bit to long, until it was really too thick to use for spaghetti sauce.

So what did I do with it? Well, most of it I put in containers to freeze, and use later as tomato paste for homemade pizzas! And then, an idea struck me:

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Tortilla Pizzas:

Tortillas (I used regular wheat tortillas for this, and they were PERFECT! They turned out crunchier than using the flour, and SO TASTY!)
Shredded cheese (I used cheddar & monterey jack)
Optional: Fried hamburger or ground turkey
Optional: pepperoni
Optional: other pizza toppings you like

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Take the desired number of tortillas and spread spaghetti sauce evenly on them. Add whatever toppings you choose, throw some cheese on top, and bake until the cheese is nice and melted (about 15 minutes, I think?) When you're done, they will look like this:

James gave this one rave reviews, and I'm sure it will be made often in the future!
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These may not be the healthiest of recipes, but they are a great alternative to the WAY UNHEALTHY options for quick meals I would normally go for when I needed a fast meal for our supper or lunches! Also, I had a lot of fun making the spaghetti healthier without changing the taste much!

Ingredient of the Week: Chives

One VERY nice thing about the area where I live, is the chives you can find growing wild in pretty much any yard! These were growing alongside the sidewalk as I walked to work last week. I have several groups of them in my yard, and transplanted some to my garden. :) Tasty. I even used them in TWO yummy recipes!!!

UPDATE: Jami just sent me a link, telling about chives. It says:

"Chives are a perfect flavoring choice for those on diets to restrict calorie, fat or salt intake. They are fat-free and combine well with other herbs and spices as a salt-substitute. Chives are high in Vitamins A and C, potassium and calcium, and its sulfur compounds have antibiotic properties. "

WHO KNEW?????

Herbed Yummy Potatoes

3/4 lb potatoes - peeled or unpeeled

1 tbsp butter or margerine, softened

1 tbsp sour cream

2 tsp minced chives

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Cut potatoes into cubes about 3/4 inch across. Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. (YIPPEE! BUBBLES!!!) Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Mix all the other ingredients in a little bowl. I also added some Garlic & Herb spice, because I LOVE garlic, and minced the green parts of some green onions to add.

Drain potatoes and add the spice mix. Toss gently. (Or not gently, if you've had a bad day and need to get rid of some stress.)

Mini Garlic Toasts of Yumminess

Ingredients:

Mushrooms
Chives
Frozen (or fresh) spinach
Garlic salt
Interesting spices
Shredded cheese
Sliced french bread

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Finely chop the mushrooms, chives, and spinach. They will look like this:



Put these ingredients in a cup or bowl, and stir together with the spices you want to use. (I used small amounts of garlic salt, garlic & herb seasoning, & garlic pepper) It will look like this:
Add lots of cheese to the mixture, and stir. Place slices of bread on a greased (I used PAM) cookie sheet. Spoon mixture onto slices of french bread.

Bake for 8 minutes, take out of oven, and SERVE! Look! Aren't they yummy????

Yes, they were. But now they are not, because they are all GONE!!!! (Jessica gave us her vote of approval on them too!)

So, now I ask you:

What do YOU use chives for??

Ingredient of the Week - Cabbage

When I married my hubby, he was not at ALL sure about cabbage. At least, he wasn't... until we tried a recipe for Unstuffed Cabbage given to us by Mimmsical Tammy! Now that he loves cabbage too, Saturday we decided to celebrate the start of spring by grilling a cabbage on the grill... always so yummy!!! How did we do it?

I took one head of cabbage, and cored it. BUT I didn't throw away the core... I cut the top of the cabbage-core off, so it made a little lid for my cabbage. Then, I took the "lid" off, and put 2 tbsps of margerine and some salt & pepper in the cabbage, as well as 4 strips of bacon. I put the "lid" back on, and sat it on the grill after the other food was done... cooked it until bored. (30 minutes maybe?) It was VERY yummy!

Here are some other recipes I found around the net that look yummy:
Summer Grilled Cabbage
Cabbage Roll Casserole
Cabbage Sausage Soup

So now I want to hear from YOU! How do you feel about cabbage? How do you cook it or include it in other foods! Share your recipes on your blog, and let me know here... I'll put a link on this post to your recipe! :)

The Case of the Quiche

To me, making and eating the perfect quiche is the ultimate victory.

Growing up, quiche was my father's favorite thing to make fun of my mother about. (Not tease, in a fun way... make fun of, in a humiliating way.) It was a symbol of the ultimate domestic failure to him.

I came home one day from 4-H... I was probably about 9, and had gotten a ride home from the meeting with my Sunday School teacher. I came home to the smell of food cooking... and my father ranting because his dinner was late. The ultimate crime.

My mom had been brave enough to try something new that night. When she told me today what she had made it of, I was seriously impressed. The recipe called for her to peel and grate potatos (I would have been out at that point, I hate peeling potatos), chop onions, and then go on with the normal quiche preparations. But I digress. For my mom to make anything new was a major act of courage... and this would be one of her last until her later divorce. My father was not a fan of anything new.

So, eventually the quiche did get done... and like my first quiche, it fell. (I'm not sure why hers fell, but mine fell because I didn't read the directions Suzie so awesomely gave me.) We bit into hers... and my dad spit his out, gagging, in a rage. The onions were not done. OH THE HORROR. My father taunted her about this failure for years... telling all of his friends, so they could laugh with him at her humiliation...

As an adult, I look back on that and it makes me sick. How much time did she spend on that stupid quiche?! HOW COULD HE DO THAT TO HER?? And then to make fun of it to his friends, watching her blush in humiliation and quietly take it? It physically makes me sick.

This Monday, after tasting the awesome goodness of Suzie's quiche, I decided to try another recipe I had found in the Taste of Home magazine, using this weeks IOTW (Ingredient of the Week) - Cottage cheese. I mixed it up, according to the directions...

And put it on to bake. It came out absolutely perfect this time (practice makes perfect), and my husband absolutely loved it.


I can't help feeling sad for my mom.... she was a much better wife than I am... she deserved her husband to praise her cooking and share it with his coworkers. She didn't deserve for it to be his means of humiliation for her.

Tonight my mom and I discussed the quiche... and the symbolism of it. Each time I make a quiche, I feel closer to healing. Each time I make a quiche, I feel like I'm saying a huge "up yours!" to every abusive man on the plannet...

And each time I make a quiche, I tell my father that I will NOT live my life in fear of humiliation and shame. I WILL BE FREE!

Ingredient of the Week: 3/31

I've decided to start buying one interesting ingredient for my cooking (when veggies are in season, this will most likely be a veggie, but for now...) each week. I will find recipes that take that ingredient, fix them, and tell you if they are any good.

This week's ingredient is: Cottage Cheese!

Wierdly enough, after my Awesome Cousin Amy recommended Taste of Home magazine to me, my mom offered me two issues of it today! I clipped an impressive pile of recipes, and along the way I found one way-cool page: "Be Creative with Cottage Cheese." It gave recipes for Crustless Cheese Quiche, (since making a quiche using a recipe from Sacred Suzie last week, I am completely obsessed with quiche! I'll post a deep heart-wreching post about quiche later.), Creamy Spaghetti Casserole, Flavorful Fettucini, and Cottage Cheese Meatloaf. We also may try Aunt Clara's Cavatini with some cottage cheese tossed in for fun.

The second part of my new cooking project is: I'm going to ask YOU to share!!! Do any of you have a fave recipe with cottage cheese in it? If so, post it here or on your blog, and post a comment with your linky! I'll be trying these recipes this week, and if any of them don't suck, I'll post the recipes here.