Whole Wheat Waffles

One of my son's favorite breakfast foods is waffles. I've been buying the frozen kind, which taste alright, but really wanted to make my own. My mother-in-law gave us their old waffle iron this weekend, and I tried my hand at waffles. I used the recipe from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and they turned out great. Joey and I tested one when it first came out, and can't wait to have them for breakfast tomorrow morning. I froze the waffle quarters and will heat them in the toaster just like the store-bought kind. The only change I made was to sub 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, as reflected below.

Whole Wheat Waffles

• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the eggs, milk and oil in a large bowl or pitcher. Stir in the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix until blended. Heat the waffle iron and pour in enough batter to just fill. Close and bake until the steaming stops and the waffles are crisp, tender and brown.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni

I set out to find a recipe for a homemade version of Rice-A-Roni for my sister. Her boys love the stuff and she wanted a healthier version she could prepare for them. Stephanie Cooks had a recipe on her blog from Recipezaar that seemed pretty simple so I thought I'd give it a try. I haven't had Rice-A-Roni in years, so I can't say how close it comes, but it is a tasty side dish and my ten month old son polished his plate. I followed the recipe pretty closely, using angel hair pasta instead of spaghetti, adding in some parsley, and adding instructions to cover the dish during cooking.

Rice-A-Roni

• 1/2 cup raw angel hair pasta broken into 1/2 inch long pieces
• 3/4 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
• 14 1/2 ounces broth
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• dried parsley

In medium skillet saute broken pasta pieces in butter, stirring constantly, until the pasta begins to brown. Add rice, stirring until the rice is well coated with the butter and the pasta browns a little more. Carefully pour in broth. Cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Stir in some parsley to give it a more authentic look.

Chicken Fried Rice

I have made this recipe a few times now. I originally got it from Joelen's Culinary Adventures. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you should, she is quite the busy foodie. I never thought that I could make a decent fried rice until I followed her instructions. The other night we were stuck on what to prepare for dinner, and we realized we had leftover chicken, rice from the Pork Chops in Tomatoes we'd just made, and veggies in the freezer. So we made up a quick Chicken Fried Rice that hubby says is better than at the restaraunts. I skipped a few ingredients from the original (because of an upset stomach from too much movie popcorn and laziness), which is listed above, and have the recipe we used below. Even with the limited seasonings in my version it is an incredibly flavorful dish. You could easily make this with any variety of meats and veggies.

Chicken Fried Rice

• 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 cups day old rice

Heat oil in a wok or large fry pan. Stir fry chicken until crispy, push to side of pan. Crack the eggs into the pan and scramble until cooked through. Add rice to the pan, crumbling it up as you do so to seperate the grains. Add soy sauce. Add frozen vegetables and heat through.

Frito Soup

This is a quick and easy meal to prepare, and is one that we usually will make on our camping trips (we're RV campers). My husband got the recipe from one of his coworkers, and after a couple of slight modifications this is the way we prepare it. For me, it's essentially an excuse to dump all sorts of Fritos on top of my dinner, and don't let the photo fool you - I added more Fritos after I took the picture.

Frito Soup

• 1 pound ground beef, browned
• 1 can corn
• 1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 jar salsa
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 bag Fritos

Combine all ingredients except Fritos in a saucepan and heat through. Depending on the consistency of the salsa you use and desired thickness, you may want to drain the corn or add water to the soup. Serve topped with Fritos.

Tortilla Black Bean Soup

I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's webpage. We're currently trying to cut down on the meat we eat, so this seemed like a good soup to try. I made very few adjustments, but it would be good with some ground sausage or shredded chicken added in if you wanted a heartier meal.

I made tortilla strips instead of crushing tortilla chips to make it more like a restaurant soup.

Tortilla Black Bean Soup

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup water
• 1 14.5 ounce can chicken broth
• 1 10 ounce package frozen corn
• salt and pepper to taste
• tortilla strips

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic and chili powder until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beans, tomatoes (with juice), broth, corn, and water; season with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Let simmer 10 to 15 minutes or until flavors are well blended. Serve topped with tortilla strips.

Semi-homemade Tortilla Strips

• corn tortillas
• olive oil in a mister or cooking spray
• seasonings of your choice (I use a combination of things like chili powder, cayenne, pepper, garlic powder, salt)

Cut tortillas into strips. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Spray tops of tortillas with olive oil or cooking spray and shake on seasoning. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 8 minutes, chips will crisp some as they cool (if using a dark baking sheet you may need to cook less).

Sausage Bean Casserole

I found this recipe in KMay's blog and since we are big fans of beans and sausage we had to give it a try. I've made quite a few recipes from this blog and haven't been disappointed yet. I made a few adjustments to the recipe to suit our tastes. It's an extremely easy dish to make, only dirties one pot, and tastes great as leftovers.

Sausage Bean Casserole

• 1 cup chopped onion (about one medium onion)
• 1 lb ground sausage
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 14 ounce can chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 16 ounce cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 cups frozen chopped spinach

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown sausage, add onion and saute until soft. Add garlic, saute 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, scraping pan to loosen brown bits. Stir in brown sugar, tomato paste, thyme, pepper, beans and bay leaf. Add red pepper and spinach. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, remove lid and bake for 15 minutes.

Super Simple Cranberry Sauce

I had never eaten cranberry sauce in my life when I found this recipe in Real Simple magazine a few years ago. My family had always served the jellied canned cranberries and they just never appealed to me. But the photo of this sauce looked really good, so I thought I'd give it a try. I've made just a couple of adjustments from the original over the past couple of years, and this recipe is always a hit. We have quite a few people in our families with sugar restrictions and it's easy to make this a diet friendly dish. This is a great dish to make ahead, and actually tastes better if the flavors can combine overnight.

Super Simple Cranberry Sauce

• 1 12 oz bag cranberries
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 cup orange marmalade (I use Smucker's sugar free made with Splenda)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• sugar or Splenda to taste

Combine cranberries, water and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cranberries pop (I prefer more whole cranberries, you can cook it longer if you prefer more to pop). Remove from heat, stir in marmalade and nutmeg, cool. Add sweetener if desired. Cover and refrigerate.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

This is a meal that I put together last minute. I wasn't going to blog it originally, but it turned out really well so I figured I'd go ahead and throw it up here. There's nothing fancy about it, but it was easy to make and tasted really good. Definitely a cold-weather comfort food.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

• 3 medium russet potatoes, mashed
• 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed veggies, brought to room temperature
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
• 1 package Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations
• salt, pepper and thyme to taste

Spread mashed potatoes on the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. Spread mixed veggies and shredded chicken over top. In a small saucepan, combine soup and milk and mix over medium-high heat until smooth and warmed through. Pour over top of chicken. Season with salt, pepper and thyme to taste. Unroll Recipe Creations and lay it over top of pot pie ingredients. Bake according to package directions (I think it was 350, but I don't recall exactly. I'll update this next time I make it) until golden brown, approximately 17-20 minutes.

Could've had a V8

This is another recipe I found online years ago and have no idea where it came from. So again, if it's familiar, let me know so I can credit the source.

This is one of those recipes that's great because we generally have all the ingredients on hand to make a last minute supper. It's quick, easy, tasty, and full of your daily vegetable servings. It can be thrown in the crock pot in the morning or made quickly on the stove after work.

V8 Soup

• 1 46 ounce bottle Spicy Hot V8
• 1/2 to 1 pound ground beef, lightly cooked and drained
• 3 to 4 cups vegetables (can be fresh, frozen or canned)
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for one hour. Reduce heat to low and simmer 6 to 8 hours. -OR- Combine all ingredients in soup pot and simmer on stove top for 30 minutes.