Egg Salad Sandwiches

Egg Salad Sandwiches
Adapted from allrecipes.com 
Serves 6

12 eggs, boiled, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons barbeque sauce
1 tablespoon mustard
1 dash chipotle pepper
12 slices whole wheat bread
6 oz cheddar cheese
6 pears, sliced

Peel and chop eggs. Mix mayo, barbecue sauce, mustard and chipotle powder in separate bowl. Add eggs and stir to combine. Serve on bread with cheese slices and pears.

Tomato Basil Quiche

I made this recipe for dinner tonight and I can't get enough of it (honestly, that happens every time I make it). It is SO good! It is adapted from a recipe found here.

Tomato Basil Quiche with Whole Wheat Crust
Serves 6

1.5 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup melted butter
1.5 cups milk
5 eggs, beaten
large handful fresh basil, chiffonade (fancy word for chopped in strips)
15 grape tomatoes (I greatly prefer this recipe with sun dried tomatoes, but I don't always have them on hand)
4 oz log chevre, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste
2 bunches asparagus


In a 9-inch pie pan, combine butter and flour and mix with a fork. After mixing well, use your hand to form a ball in the pan and then press into pan. Bring it up on the sides and pinch the top (with your finger or a fork). Evenly spread the cheese, tomatoes, and bail over the crust. Then mix eggs and milk and pour gently over filling. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until filling is set. Serve with steamed asparagus spears.

Granola

I love granola and just about everything I can put granola on. I DON'T love how high in calories it is. I make my own in an effort to limit the calorie intake (and to ease the strain on my wallet from eating so much granola!).

Granola (adapted from 100daysofrealfood.com)

5 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup raw walnuts
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rectangular baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a baking stone).

Mix half of the oats, nuts, coconut, and spices together in a large mixing bowl. Process in the food processor until coarsely ground. Add in the remaining oats. Heat the butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the butter melts stir in the vanilla. Pour the hot liquids over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.

Spread mixture onto prepared pan in one even layer. Bake for 75 minutes, stirring halfway through.

The granola will be soft still, but will become crisp as it cools. Store in air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Makes approx. 10 cups.

Tara's Pancake Mix

Growing up in an LDS ward in Utah, there were a lot of Pancake Breakfasts at the church. I mean a LOT. For many years, I had to choke down the nastiness that is Krusteaz pancakes. (ugh I still shudder). Luckily, one of my parent's friends hated them as much as I did and set out to create a large bulk mix that wound up being used at every church breakfast since (that was over a decade ago). I have since modified his recipe to my own personal taste (the original used just plain white flour and sugar) and scaled the recipe from it's original 5 gallon bucket size, to one that fits perfectly in a Tupperware container in my cupboard.

Tara's Pancake Mix (adapted from Jon Buxton's Pickle Barrel Pancakes)

5 c white wheat flour
2 1/2 c red wheat flour
1 c oat flour
1/2 c flaxseed meal
4 T baking powder

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in an air tight container in a cool, dark place.

To make pancakes:
to 1 c mix, add:

1 egg
1 T oil
1 c milk
2 1/.2 T honey

makes approx. 12 pancakes and serves 3-4

My kids love to top these with unsweetened applesauce. Sometimes I add a scoop of vanilla protein powder and they are good enough to eat plain. We have added chocolate chips, cocoa powder, fruit, and/or nuts. This is an incredibly adaptable mix.

Homemade Peanut Butter

I have a confession to make: I LOVE Alton Brown. I think he is funny and he has so many great food tips. If you don't know who he is, you should definitely watch this (or at least the first 2:22):

I have yet to have a single AB recipe let me down. The best thing about Alton is that he heavily promotes making everything yourself. And I mean everything! In fact, my mayo recipe is based off of his recipe. Now, I am going to share with you my adaptation of his peanut butter recipe.

• 16 ounces shelled and skinned peanuts, raw or roasted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey

Place the peanuts into the bowl of a food processor. Process for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Place the lid back on and continue to processuntil the mixture is smooth, 2-4 minutes. Stir in honey. Place the peanut butter in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. 

The best part about making your own peanut butter, you can flavor it however you'd like. Plus, you can use this same method to make almond butter.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

I came across this blog post one day that really opened my eyes to the ickyness that is microwave popcorn. I have never really cared for microwave popcorn (especially that nasty "butter" crap) and really liked using the air popper I had, until my ex made off with it in the divorce (in his defense, it was a present for him). I considered getting a new one, but didn't want to store yet another appliance. Pinterest to the rescue! Now I know that I can just make my kid's obsessive popcorn dreams come true, in the microwave, without a bunch of artificial crap, in a PAPER BAG! Now, you can too!

Go to the grocery store and locate a package of cheap brown lunch bags and a bag of plain ol' kernels:

I have purchased Jolly Time, Great Value and no-name bulk with great success with all of them. You COULD buy name brand (Orville Redenbacher, etc) if you want, but I find that the cheaper generics work just as well.  You only need 1/2 c per bag, so this bag will last you for a while!

Here comes the magical part:

Put the 1/2 c popcorn inside the paper bag and fold the top over twice. Don't seal it with anything, it will be just fine on it's own. Now set it UPRIGHT in your microwave and run it for 3 minutes on high.

Ta-da!
 
Perfectly naked popcorn. Just the way I like it! If your kids insist on butter, just melt a couple of tablespoons and drizzle over the top. Or, if you like it seasoned, try a few of these ideas:

• Mexican: Add chili powder, hot sauce, and salt.
• Garlic and Onion: Shake in onion powder and garlic powder — hold the kiss.
• Cheesy: Mix in Parmesan cheese with a little salt.
• Sweet Tooth: A dash of cinnamon, a sprinkle of sugar, and a topper of honey. Now that’s money.

10 Grain Cereal with Orange Slices

This recipe is a SUPER easy hot breakfast that everyone (except Riker, but that is a different story) likes. I buy my cereal in bulk at my local WinCo, but you can also find it in the cereal aisle or baking aisle in smaller bags like this:

Thanks to this techno-age we live in, you can even buy it online in a myriad of places in nearly every quantity.

4 1/2 cups water
1 1/3 cups cereal mix
1/2 cup finely powdered milk (this is optional)

If using milk, whisk with dry cereal in a 2 quart bowl before adding water. This helps prevent clumping. Add water and microwave on high for 12 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes. Continue to heat on Medium low another 6 minutes until desired consistency. Top with honey and cinnamon. Serve with orange slices.

Homemade Mayo

 
When I was in college, I had the opportunity to go to Paris for an exchange program. The first time I ordered a turkey sandwich, I was a little weirded out by this light yellow stuff they were slathering on my precious Parisian bread. I was so worried that it was some weird mayo/mustard mixture (I hate mustard!) but I really wanted my sandwich so I decided I would choke it down anyway. Little did I know that it was actually MAYONNAISE! They made it fresh every morning. None of this pre-packaged, white, flavorless nonsense. I should have known better, being in France and all, but I had no idea that making mayo was that easy!

 If you have never made your own mayonnaise, you are seriously missing out. The stuff you get on the shelf just doesn't hold a candle to it. 

1 large egg yolk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard powder

2 tsp lemon juice

1 T white vinegar

1 c olive oil

Place egg and lemon juice into a food processor. Cover,and blend until frothy; keep food processor running. Drizzle in olive oil drop by drop, through the drip hole in the top until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate mayo in a sealed container for up to 1 week.

The best part about making your own mayo (other than the obvious taste difference) is that you can flavor it however you want. My favorite way is to dump some chipotle powder in it and let it sit overnight before using it. It is our favorite stand-by mayo for sandwiches.

Menu Recipes- Homemade Chicken Ranch Snack Wraps

 
1 T ranch spice mixture
1/2 c sour cream
3 c cooked chicken
6 flat bread wraps
1/2 head lettuce
1 c shredded cheese
6 pears
1 1/2 bunches of celery, washed and cut into sticks

Mix spice mixture and sour cream until well blended. Spread on wraps and top with lettuce, cheese and chicken. Serve with celery sticks and pears

Menu Recipes- Chicken Salad Sandwich

Chicken Salad Sandwich With Homemade Mayo

 

1 c mayo

2 1/2 c cooked, chopped chicken

1 c celery, chopped

1 c red seedless grapes, sliced

1/2 c sliced or slivered almonds

1 T dried parsley

12 slices bread

3 apples, halved

9 carrots, peeled and cut into sticks

Combine mayo, chicken, celery, grapes, almonds and parsley in a large bowl. Serve salad on bread with carrot sticks and half an apple on the side.

Based on recipe I found here

Menu Recipes- Homemade Ranch Dressing

My kids cannot get enough Ranch Dressing. (Seriously, they'd eat it on everything if I let them). The problem is that it is not terribly healthy and is PACKED with preservatives, including MSG and a whole bunch of disodium whatsitcalled. See for yourself:

Luckily, I found a couple of recipes to make it myself at $5 Dollar Dinners and another one at One Good Thing. So much better for my kidlets and easier to control what I feed them. Not to mention that 2 Tablespoons of Ranch has 140 calories and 2 Tablespoons of full-fat sour cream only has 60!! Plus, the fat to calorie ratio drops from 93% to 75% just by using sour cream and spices instead of ranch. Switch to light sour cream and you cut your calories down to 40 (100 calories LESS than regular Ranch and still half of the light ranch) and fat percentage to 63%. You could even switch out the sour cream for mayo for relatively the same calorie content (but the fat percentage of mayo is 100% since it is essentially straight oil).

Anyway, on to the amazing recipe!


Ranch Spice Mix
 
2 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon pepper

Mix together the first six ingredients down to the pepper. Store in an airtight container.
When you are ready to make the dip stir 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture with:

3/4 c cup sour cream
1 c mayo 
1 c milk.

You Are What You Eat

(I'm hoping that means I'm healthy :P)

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this on my Facebook page:

I honestly did it just because I was so proud of myself for coming in under budget AND healthy, but apparently there was quite an interest in how I did it. So, I went through the 2 week menu that I had planned, made some tweaks, and made up a master shopping list that wasn't covered in my notes.

My kids like the vast majority of these recipes, although there are some that one or two people don't necessarily care for. Our rule is you eat what you're given, so they eat it anyway. We are a family of 6: 2 adults and 4 kids, with one being a toddler. Nobody is hungry and we occasionally have leftovers.

A few quick disclaimers:
*My menu starts on Thursday because I go shopping after Cub Scouts on Wednesdays. My display menu on my fridge starts on Sunday. Also, I only go to the grocery store twice a month for groceries, so this is a big list
*I already had several things on hand so that reduced my cost. If you are buying everything on the list (including the pantry items), your up front cost is going to be higher
*You will notice a few "processed" items on the list (ie. jar of spaghetti sauce, pkg of fajita seasoning), but I try to find ones that do not have any artificial ingredients in them. I also make several of my ingredients myself so that I can benefit from the convenience without suffering the horrors of preservatives :D
*As of right now, I am not including recipes (I know, what is the point of having a menu with no recipes?). They are next on my (HUGE) list of things to do, but I wanted to get back to everyone's questions quickly.

So, without further ado:

I promise that I will get the recipes typed up as soon as I can. In the meantime, I welcome any feedback.