Last night we watched Ratatouille and ate ratatouille! My sis-in-law sent me this awesome blog which is all recipes cooked from scratch and most are super healthy (including this yummy ratatouille)...which goes along with my 2012 family goals :)! Yay!
Ratatouille Recipe: Ratatouille - Modified from Cooking for Engineers, Finding Joy in My Kitchen
5 large garlic cloves, minced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 medium zucchini, quartered
1 medium eggplant, quartered
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
4-6 tomatoes, diced (depending on the size) - you can also use 1 can of diced tomatoes
3/4 C chicken broth
1 T tomato paste
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. basil
-Heat a little olive oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic and saute until it really smells like garlic!
-Add in the onions, and saute until they are clear -- which is about 5 minutes. Then, add in the tomato paste. Stir well to get it well-mixed. Add the broth, and as you do scrape any of the stuck-on bits off the bottom of the pan.
-Add in the eggplant, zucchini, pepper, and mushrooms.
-Stir and allow to simmer, covered for 10ish minutes.
-The eggplant and zucchini will release yummy juices.
-Then, chop up your tomatoes.
-Add these to the ratatouille.
-Allow the dish to simmer for an addition 5-10 minutes until all veggies are done to your liking.
-Serve over rice, with mozzarella cheese, if desired.
Easy soup recipe
1 can of chicken broth
1 cup of water
2 celery sticks
2 carrots
2 bags of Ramen (I made it with the Ramen soup flavor packets and it turned out a little too salty so you might want to only use one of those or nix them all together)
Fall Recipes
Ok so I kinda have a baking addiction. Both of my grandmothers are amazing in the kitchen and taught me a love for it when I was a little girl. Here are some fall recipes that we are loving right now...
Caramel Apple Cake
Apple Muffins
Pumpkin Biscuts
Italian Chicken Sausage & Artichoke Soup (thanks Kel!)
Applesauce
Banana Smoothie
And this is dessert tonight...pumpkin smoothies!
Strawberry & Peach Smoothies
We love smoothies, especially when there is a whole lot of fruit that needs to be used up in the fridge. Here's a recipe we recently concocted that was oh so yummy!
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup sliced peaches
2 scoops lime sherbert
1/2 cup OJ
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
Blend until smooth and enjoy! This mix makes great popsicles too!
WATERMELON SLUSH OR POPSICLES
3 cups watermelon
1 1/2 cups ice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
My friend Laura actually gave me this idea last year. She told me about a party she went to that had watermelon slushies. I set about to find a simple recipe for them and I would record where it's from but I didn't write it down originally so I have no idea!
Put watermelon in blender and blend til smooth. Add rest of ingredients and add til slushy. Drink in a glass (preferably with an umbrella) or put in popsicle molds. They are awesome summer treats!
MATTY'S FAVORITE GRANOLA
Matt eats this for breakfast almost every morning. The kids and I have it on our yogurt.
8 cups rolled oats
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup water
2 (6-ounce) package dried sweetened cranberries
Stir together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, coconut and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the oil, honey, and water. Toss the mixture until the ingredients are well combined and then spread on a cookie sheet. Bake the granola for 40 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring every 10 minutes to keep the mixture from sticking. Let it cool completely, then stir in the cranberries.
DINNER MY BOYS ARE LOVING RIGHT NOW...
SPAGHETTI PIE
My dear friend Ashleigh brought this meal over for us when we had Moses and the boys (including the tall handsome one) have asked for it every week since! It's easy to double and freeze one too!
1 box of angel hair pasta
1 pound ground beef
1 yellow onion chopped and added to cooked ground beef
1 package of pepperoni
2 jars tomato sauce
1 package Parmesan cheese
1 package mozzarella cheese
8 oz cottage cheese
1 large egg
4 T butter.
Boil pasta and add Parmesan cheese and butter to warm noodles. Cook ground beef with onion then add tomato sauce. Mix mozzarella cheese and cottage cheese with 1 egg. Add garlic salt and pepper to taste. Layer the noodles first then the cheese mixture then pepperoni and sauce over the top. Cover with foil and back at 375 for about 45 min.
MY MAMA'S WHIPPED CREAM
1 pint whipping cream
6 T sugar
1 tsp vanilla
If you have never had homemade whipped cream...you need to! My mama has always made it and I seriously can't have COOL WHIP because of it.
Whip the the cream on low for 2 minutes. Add 3 T of sugar and continue whipping the cream until it begins to stiffen. Add the last 3 T of sugar and vanilla. Beat until it peaks.
MY MAMA'S EASY HOT CHOCOLATE
1/2 inch water
1/2 cup sugar
1 T cocoa
2 drops vanilla
3 cups milk
Put water into saucepan. Add sugar and cocoa and cook until it dissolves. "Then add milk until it is right color".
