Pizza Dip

(bleh; photos in the early evening darkness of winter; so hard)

I was going to do a post titled, "Three Healthy Soups When You're Feeling the Blahs," and that is still coming. Because sometimes with the cold weather and abundance of cookies, it gets really easy to feel the blahs. But today I wanted to address another December problem that sometimes contributes to eating the junk that contribute to feeling the blahs: Time. When you don't have time to cook, what do you do? You buy crap food. I know, we all do it sometimes. I do it too. I've felt it more keenly as I've been working the Santa Shop at my kids' school this week.

P.S. Teachers, a hundred hats off to you because just doing a fun Christmas shopping activity with kids can be pretty exhausting. Teaching the little lambs for seven hours a day. You all deserve a really long nap. And then this pizza dip.

Yes, pizza dip. Because it's better than going to Little Caesar's and helping yourself to a self-medicating dose of $5 pizza. It just is. It's basically the same sort of thing and it gives you the same self-medication you might need. But it's made with whole foods (well, whole-ish--I mean, that is a picture of pepperoni above) and it's not full of preservatives and chemicals. Seriously, it tastes better. And you'll notice that it feels better in your body too (even though it's still a far cry from the spinach soup I was planning to post). Also, it only takes 30 minutes to prepare, with less than 10 minutes of actual hands-on work. We all know that that's less time that it takes to drive to Little Caesars and place your order. And of course, it's cheap, coming in at a dollar a serving. 

Pizza Dip
serves 4
adapted from An Affair from the Heart
Prep time:
Cook time:
Cost: $4.45 (that's $1.10/serving)
cream cheese: .50, sour cream: .15, mayo: .10, mozzarella: .90, Parmesan: 1.00, pizza sauce: .80, bread: 1.00

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C mayonnaise
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)
1 C shredded Parmesan cheese (divided)
1/2 tsp oregano
1 C pizza sauce (I make my own, but any will do)
pepperoni or other toppings
bread for dipping (French or sour dough work nicely; sour dough is our favorite)

Combine cream cheese with sour cream and mayonnaise, 1/2 C mozzarella, 1/4 C Parmesan, and oregano. Spread into bottom of a deep dish pie plate or that size-ish casserole dish.

Top with pizza sauce, sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Add pepperoni or toppings.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until bubbly and yum.

Serve with slices of bread or breadsticks.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I never knew how many ways there were to prepare meatballs until adulthood. I love these basil meatballs and we've made meatballs wrapped in croissants and wrapped around mozzarella balls. These give meatballs an Asian twist (even though it's probably totally fake Americanized Asian--it's still delicious). You can serve it with brown rice if you want to healthy it up, or quinoa if you want to drop all pretense that this is some variety of Asian food. Also, try to add a vegetable unless you don't care about dying and stuff. But if you do care about dying, then try to eat a vegetable. Because, despite what my son and husband try to tell me, I really don't think barbecue sauce counts as a vegetable.

Also, this is one of those meat meals that cheapskates can really get behind. Most of the other ingredients are dirt cheap (as is white rice if that's how you serve this). Even when you remember to add your broccoli, you're only adding a buck or so to this meal. Six normal, non-teenage people can eat for about $1.00-$1.50 each.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

adapted from Mel's Kitchen

Serves 4-6 (depending on how delicate your eaters are)

Cook time: 20-30 minutes

Cost: $3.90

beef: 3.00, oats: .05, eggs: .20, onion: .05, milk: .05, other stuff: .10, sugar: .20, BBQ sauce: .15, other stuff: .10

For the Meatballs: 

1 lb ground beef

1/2 C quick oats that you pulse in the blender (a course oat flour will also work)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 C grated onion

3 Tbsp milk

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

For the Sauce (you can half this if you're not into sauce and just want enough to glaze the meatballs, but we're into sauce around here): 

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C apple cider vinegar

1 tsp yellow mustard

1/2 C barbecue sauce

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Meatballs: 

Mush together all the ingredients and form into balls that are 1- 1 1/2 inches big. 

Cook on a skillet, browning on all sides. (They don't have to be cooked through because soon we'll be simmering them in the sauce. 

Now whisk all the sauce ingredients together and pour over the meatballs. Let it simmer for 15 minutes or so. It will thicken a bit and be lovely and sweet and amazing. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

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Enchilada Rice Pot

This seems like it won't be much--it's rice, beans, some sauce, some cheese. I mean, really, every time I assemble it I think, "How is this going to taste good? Won't it just be boring?" No. It's actually kind of fabulous. It's got all the flavors and goodness of enchiladas, but the total hands-on time to prepare it is five minutes. And the total cook time is just about 20 minutes. Who knew that riffing on the rice and beans, beans and rice theme could be so luxurious. And so simple. And adaptable. And leftover-friendly. And cheap, of course. (Also, gluten-free and vegetarian if that's something you need.)

In my experimenting with this, I made it a few ways. My favorite was to make it as a one-pot meal--no need to cook the rice beforehand, just throw everything in.  This is a dumb easy meal for under 30 minutes. It's filling and satisfying. 

The other great way to make this is as a leftover meal with rice you've already got cooked. This makes for a 10-minute dinner. However, since your rice is already cooked it won't be able to absorb as much fluid as I've got listed below, so you'll want to scale back the enchilada sauce by half and maybe cut back on the tomato juices some as well. Also you'll be using twice as much rice since yours is already cooked. The instructions below are for the one-pot meal.

Could this be made with quinoa or barley or something? I bet it could. But I just stuck with reliable white rice. Also, I should note that usually black beans aren't my favorite ones, but they just kick it in this recipe. Try them.

Enchilada Rice Skillet
adapted from Damn Delicious
Serves 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Cost: $4.50 (about $1.12/serving)
rice: .50, tomatoes: .60, beans: .60, enchilada sauce: 2.00, cheese: .80

1- 1 1/4 C rice, uncooked
1 can diced tomatoes, not drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans enchilada sauce (red or green or a combination--I do a combination)
1-2 C grated Cheddar or Colby Jack cheese

Add-ons for fabulousness: These aren't necessary, but one or a combination of these make this meal just amazing.
sour cream
squeeze of lime
cilantro
avocado

Add rice to pot. Add all other ingredients, except cheese. [Note: To clarify--You are NOT adding any water to this--the liquid will come from the sauces.]

Cover and cook as you would an every day pot of rice (that means cover it, bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat significantly--to low--and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed). When it's just about done, have a taste. If your rice is just about done, you're good. If it's still a little tough in the center or too chewy, add a bit of water and let it cook a few minutes longer.

When it's about 2 minutes from being done, add the cheese to the top, re-cover the pot, and let the cheese melt.

Serve. You can serve it plain or add any of the add-ons for fabulousness that you choose.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Two-Minute No Knead Pizza Dough

So apparently Gwyneth Paltrow is now on the food stamp budget bandwagon. She's gotten plenty of push back too and, while I admit that in some ways, she seems perfectly oblivious to the plight of some of us commoners, the push back is sometimes annoying to me too. One thing I read recently criticized her because she can go to the store and buy food as opposed to the poor who, apparently, cannot go anywhere at all ever. Except McDonald's. The article pretty much said that poor people can't make it to the store, that's why they have to eat fast food. Because as we all know, grocery stores are millions of miles away from poor people, but Taco Bells just sprout off of their poor people trees.

Listen. I don't think there's anything wrong with a person (poor or otherwise) going out for fast food now and again, but when journalists start talking about the poor as though they're destined to live off of cheeseburgers and Big Gulps, it gets my little britches all in a wad. It's just so unempowering (spell check says this is not a word), and in this unempowerment (also not a word), it's super insulting. If you're poor, then I guess you'll just be stuffing your face with cheap hamburgers.

Well, not today. Today we're making pizza. Beautiful, homemade pizza. We can do it if we're poor because it's inexpensive, delicious, and easy to make. Or we can do it if we're not poor because it's inexpensive, delicious, and easy to make. We can do it if we're anywhere in between because it's inexpensive, delicious, and easy to make. Oh sure, I hear you, Mr. Condescending Journalist--the poor don't have time to make homemade pizza. Well today they/we do. The dough takes two minutes--TWO minutes--of assembly time and can be thrown together (almost literally) the night before, the morning of, or that afternoon depending on your needs. (Note: It will need rise time, so some planning is necessary. Please don't tell me the poor cannot plan.) Add to this some 5-minute marinara sauce (or a can of $.99 Hunts if you will), and some mozzarella and you've got yourself a perfectly respectable poor man's meal that tastes like a rich man's meal. All together, a 15x12 inch cheese pizza with this dough will cost you about $3.50. In fact, you've got yourself a poor man's meal for 6--that's about $.60/serving (teenagers not yet included). Yes, you could go to Little Caesar's. And, again, I'd like to point out that there's nothing inherently wrong about that. But this dough tastes better. And has less sodium and sugar than a fast-food pizza. It's also a little cheaper and a little bigger (it can feed our whole family whereas a Little Caesar's pizza can't). And has been prepared by your very own hands. You can personalize it with any toppings you wish if you've got the cash and inclination for that.

You do have to get your booty to the grocery store at least once a year for these pantry stable ingredients, but I'm pretty sure if Gwyneth can do it, you can too.

Two-Minute No Knead Pizza Dough
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes enough dough for one large pizza
Cost: $.40
flour: .35, yeast: .05

Note: You'll use 1/8 tsp yeast for a 24-ish hour dough,
1/4 tsp yeast if you make your dough the morning of (12-ish hour rise time),
1/2 tsp yeast if you make it around lunch time (5-6-ish hour rise time),
3/4 if you make it a few hours before dinner (3-4-ish hour rise time).
I believe this dough is tastier and chewier the longer you leave it to sit, but I don't always plan ahead enough, which is why you have the higher yeast adaptations (and it's still yummy made that way too).

3 C flour (I used 2 1/2 C all-purpose and 1/2 C of white whole wheat for righteousness' sake)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/8, 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 tsp yeast depending on how long you want to let it sit (see note)
1 1/4 C water

Combine dry ingredients. Add water and stir. It'll look like a lump of craggy dough (different than kneaded dough).

Cover and let sit for up to a day.

Take it out  (it will now be slightly sticky, and less firm than that craggy dough was originally). Fold it a time or two into a ball. Spread it on your pan and top it as you will.

Bake at 400 degrees until your cheese is bubbly. (Note: Pizza pros often cook their pizza at much higher temps. You can. Sometimes I do too, but usually I make a medium-thick crust and keep it at 400 or 425. I'm not a pro, but it comes out pretty tasty nevertheless.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Alphabet Soup with Tomatoes and Baby Chard

Classic kid food with a sophisticated twist. Or maybe I should say classic grown up food with a child-like twist. Because, you know, I've mentioned that my kids are picky. So if I just served brothy soup with carrots, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, and baby greens, I'd pretty much be eating that 1/2 gallon of soup by myself. But, miraculously, adding tiny pastas in the shape of letters had a somewhat magical effect. Everyone ate it (although Emma had to be coaxed a bit). Everyone didn't quite eat every bite (several children pulled out carrots or greens or whatever offending food they could see), but they still ate their bowl of soup and without complaint, commenting all the while how this was just like Martha (as in the dog in "Martha Speaks"). And, in fact, we ended up having a dinner-table conversation about literary terms such as simile, metaphor, alliteration, and onomatopoeia (which, ironically, is the furthest thing from the "vocal imitation of the sound associated with it" that I can think of), but anyway, it appears that Martha was on to something in eating all that alphabet soup.

It was a lovely dinner. Now, if you haven't eaten alphabet soup except out of a can (like, cough, me until recently), then you're in for a very nice surprise. It's not just blah salty soup with hundred year old alphabet noodles. It's a delicious veggie soup with extra fun thrown in. The broth is chickeny, yet also tomato/Italian-y, and a tiny bit sweet. It's light, but still worthy to be called a meal. And the noodles are cooked in and thus flavored by that broth, so they're great too. We ate it vegetarian, but some chicken or sausage would have rocked too. Also, if you've got fresh basil, that would be amazing.

Alphabet Soup with Tomatoes and Baby Chard
adapted from Give Me Some Oven
makes 6-10 servings
Prep and cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $3.75
onion: .15, carrots: .40, zucchini: .30, chicken broth: .50 (more if you buy the canned, but I use homemade or the bullion cubes), tomatoes: 1.00, pasta: 1.50, greens: .40

Note: I found my letter pasta at (weirdly) the Asian food store and bought it on a whim. Then it sat in my pantry for months until this idea for a recipe came along. I assume (hope) it'd be with the pasta in a normal store. If you can't find it, orzo will work too.

Another note: This seems way too brothy at first, but as the pasta cooks it thickens. In fact, it thickens quite a bit--sometimes too much. Today for leftovers, it was very thick. I threw in a few glugs of tomato juice (or V8) to loosen it up and that was yummy. (This was added to the pictures above making the broth a little more red than yours will come out if you don't use V8.) So if you find you need it, use some tomato juice or a bit more broth.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 C diced carrots (I chopped mine quite small so my children would sometimes accidentally eat them instead of picking them all out)
1/2 C grated zucchini (celery would also work)
3 cloves garlic
6 C veggie or chicken broth (I used chicken)
1 can (14-oz) diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted and I think Italian would kick butt, but any will do)
1 1/2 C alphabet pasta (orzo will also work, but you know, then your dogs won't start talking when they eat the leftovers)
few pinches oregano
few pinches rosemary
fresh basil (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (I didn't need any, but it depends on your broth)
3-4 C (loosely packed) baby chard (or spinach or baby beet greens)

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add chopped onion and cook for about five minutes. Add carrots and zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute.

Then add broth and diced tomatoes. Cook for a minute or so. Add alphabet pasta and seasonings.

Cook (simmer) for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until your alphabet pasta is nearly done. Then, 2 minutes before serving, add the chard and cook until wilted.

Serve.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Warm Banana and Coconut Bowl

So Christmas is over and the Pinterest boards and Yahoo articles and advertisements are filling up with exercise routines and weight loss challenges and work out clothes. It kind of makes my head spin--like we're a bunch of schizo lunatics on some trippy joy ride. Hey--Let's eat too much chocolate and ham until our stomachs bloat and our fingers swell and we feel kind of like crap. But we won't stop. Well, not until we decide to do the four-day juice fast and choose (of all body parts?) to focus on the intense exercising of our inner thighs. And then we'll give up whole food groups at a time or adapt recipes made with sugar to recipes made with...wait for it...maple syrup. This lunacy continues on to about February when everyone either has yoyo-ed back to a normal weight or given up. I sound kinda judge-y, don't I? I don't mean to. Honestly, I don't. It's just that I've driven to crazy town and back a time or two in my life. I did not eat any fat in all my high school years except for these occasional "binge days" when I would eat all and everything I wanted. In college I did a couple of sugar free years (better than the no-fat thing, I think, but still a focus on restriction that employed many fake sugars so I could get an occasional sweet fix). And this type of disordered eating--it's just not the place I think we should all be aiming for (and pinning) right now (or ever). So I'm trying to be helpful, not judge-y, and to speak from the voice of experience--of past disordered eating. Please forgive me if I've missed the mark there and come off sounding like a total jerk (at least I could try to sound like a funny jerk, right).

Ironically, the recipe today is Paleo, Vegetarian, Void of refined sugar, and involves plenty of Coconut. People, it's positively righteous. But I'm not posting it for those reasons. I'm posting it because it tastes good. And it's wicked quick (like, 60 seconds) to make. Easy. One bowl. One serving (but can be made for more). And it tastes good. And, yes, it does leave you feeling better after eating than you did before. That, I suppose, is the goal I'm shooting for. Most wholesome food gets us there, and occasionally a really good treat.

The truth is that I actually discovered this little snack/meal in December one super busy Saturday night when I came home from singing at a nativity exhibit, then shopping for presents (in heels--oh the agony; how do women do it) and then hurrying home to rush my son and his friends over to the church to clean up from the nativity exhibit. I was starving, but already running late and I had three tweenage boys waiting for their ride. This meal was like heaven--satisfying, healthy, but light enough to eat at 7:00 pm without regretting it. It can be an instant breakfast as well, or healthy dessert, or a post workout snack. It can be anything you want it to be (maybe it should move to Vegas).

So try it. I hope you like it. Also--don't let the whole "warm banana thing" frighten to you. They're very lightly warmed--just enough to bring out a bit of sweet comfort-food-ness, not warm enough to be, like, you know banana mush.

Warm Banana and Coconut Bowl
adapted from Fast Paleo
serves: 1
prep time: 60 seconds
Cost: $.75
banana: .15, coconut milk: .25, pecans: .25, coconut: .10

1 ripe banana (yes, ripe)--cut into "coins"
1/4 C coconut milk (canned or other)
2 Tbsp pecans
1-2 Tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened works just fine)
a drizzle of maple syrup (optional) (you could also use a sprinkle of any sugar of your choice)

Combine all of this (except maple syrup) in a bowl. Nuke it for 30 seconds. Stir it. Add the maple syrup if it's not sweet enough for you, although taste it first because you might be surprised.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

If you know me, you know I run cold--like, cold (which is not to say that I run in the cold--burr). A house set at 67 will leave me goose-bumped. Anything less and I shiver. I've learned to take sweaters to restaurants even in the summer (granny style). I usually wear two sweaters at my house in the winter. And let's not even talk about how cold grocery stores are because my lips might turn blue. Lucky for me we have a wood-burning stove that keeps at least part of our house deliciously warm. And lucky for me I like soup.

There are a few recipes for tomato soup on this blog. That simple little soup is my favorite. So I've got a roasted tomato soup--perfect for when you've got too many garden tomatoes or when you wind up with some blah tomatoes from the store (roasting brings them back to life). I've got a 7-minute pantry-friendly tomato soup. And I've got my "best" tomato soup--a tomato soup I consider to be of restaurant quality--fresh herbs, a little smoky, delicious. And today I've got another best soup. What?! You can't do that, right. Whatever. It's my blog. I can and I will. The fact is that today's soup is just as good and easier to prepare. It's a little different. It's not as bacon-smoky. Instead, it's creamy from something as basic and whole foody as cream cheese. It's got a nice dose of basil. And mine came out just a bit tangy from some lemon juice that was with my home canned tomatoes. That tanginess really amped it up for me. There's something about hot and tangy that just beats the cold like nothing in this world. Also, let me please emphasize that this soup is super easy to make. I hate to compare the two, or rather I hate to pick favorites on my own blog. They're like two slightly different, but still very attractive sisters. But let me say that today's soup--well, if the cold weather keeps up, I just might start taking baths in it.  

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
adapted from The 36th Avenue (and, yes, I totally un-skinnied this recipe)
serves 6-8
Prep time:
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $4.85
onion: .15, butter: .06, tomatoes: 3.00, cream cheese: 1.00, basil: .50, other stuff: .14

Note: Instead of water and bouillon, you can use chicken broth--homemade or otherwise.

1 small onion, finely chopped (like it's minced almost)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp butter
3 14-oz cans Italian-style diced tomatoes (or some home-canned tomatoes with lemon)
2 c water
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules (or cubes)
8 oz cream cheese
2 Tbsp pesto (or 1/4-1/2 C chopped fresh basil)
squeeze of lemon, optional

Chop up that onion. Chop it good (if you've got a decent knife, this adds about a minute of prep time and saves about 5 minutes of cook time).

Melt butter in a large pan. Add onion and cook for several minutes or until it begins to soften. Add garlic. Cook another minute, stirring.

Add tomatoes (with juices). Add water/bouillon. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

When it's about done, add the basil (or pesto).

Put your cube of cream cheese in a blender and add 1 C of hot soup. Blend (and be careful--you don't want it to burst out of your blender and burn you).

At this point, you can just add that creamy puree to your chunky soup and have a chunky soup. Or you can puree the rest of the soup, which is what I did because my family likes creamy. I had to do it in two batches. And I must warn you when blending hot liquids--be careful. Most blenders have a little plastic thingy at the top that you can remove. Remove that--this allows the steam to escape. If the steam stays bottled up, it sometimes makes your lid pop off and sprays super hot soup all over your face, arms, and kitchen. This is bad. So remove the plastic thing if you can. Then put a dish towel over the top of the blender and blend.

Re-warm if necessary. Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper if necessary. If you'd like this tangy (and, oh, I do) add a couple good strong squeezes of lemon.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Sunday Supper

Different people have different Sunday dinner traditions. There's the classic roast and potatoes with Grandma and company. Or the milder fancy dinner without all the crazy extended family (note: my extended family is not crazy--well, not too much, but they all live far away). And then there are the people who try to keep it simple, so they have a soup night or a breakfast-for-dinner. Kip and I land in a strange and wonderful place in the middle. When we get home from church (at the odd hour of 2:00 pm) we feed our kids a quick lunch and then tuck them away into quiet time while Kip and I eat a nice meal together. People, it's the BEST THING EVER. We started doing this when Mark and Elizabeth were young and picky (now they're older and picky) because I just wanted a meal where I didn't have to listen to people whine about how they didn't like this and didn't like that. But at this point it has evolved into a peaceful, grown-up, even (gasp) slightly romantic thing to do. Kip and I talk. We eat at a clean table. Usually no one spills milk on the floor. (If they do, they clean it up themselves and don't burst into a puddle of tears and whining.)

Then later that night when people get hungry, I usually make popcorn (a tradition I stole from a friend) and smoothies. Sunday dinner (alone and quiet) and then popcorn and smoothies (easy and fun) is one of the few things I enjoy just about every single week. The only slight problem with it is that occasionally by the time I've made a nice meal for me and Kip I'm a little pooped. Oh, I still enjoy it, but it's nice when I have recipes that are easy and awesome. 

So here you go. 

My friend (the same one, incidentally, who has the popcorn tradition) introduced me to this meal. Her friend introduced it to her. He made it every Sunday. And never got bored. Why? Because you can make it with different ingredients and spices every single time and it's still awesome. When I first had it (the pepper, onion, sausage version scooped out with corn chips--oh, man), I had already eaten, but just couldn't stop--it was so good.

Here's what you do:

-You take vegetables and sometimes meat or beans. You cook that up in a skillet and then you throw in a block of cream cheese and a small can of diced tomatoes with juices. You can eat it alone or with chips or rice or probably even on pasta or wrapped into a tortilla. I just can't stress enough how versatile and delicious it is. 

So far I've made three versions: 

1. Chicken, corn, and spinach (plus cream cheese and tomatoes)

2. Onion, red pepper, and sausage (plus cream cheese and tomatoes)

3. Mushroom and spinach (plus cream cheese and tomatoes)

All were incredible. Just incredible (although I did wish for a little meat in my meatless version). The first time I made it I also sauteed some peppers and asparagus for myself (Kip doesn't like those things) and placed them on top of my dish. I'll be darned if I didn't feel like I wasn't sitting down at a fancy restaurant. 

It makes for a perfect leftover meal to use things up you've got. But from scratch it's just as easy. It's a whole food meal that takes 20 minutes. You could mix meats. You could add fresh herbs. You could throw in a handful of beans. You could use Rotel instead of tomatoes to add some heat. It's just really the perfect anything recipe. And if you double it it can feed a crowd.

Here's the template with examples of the real life things I used for my two favorite versions:

Sunday Supper

serves 4

Cook and prep time: 20-30 minutes

Cost: $5.00

cream cheese: 1.00, tomatoes: 1.00, meat: 1.50-2.00, vegetables: 1.00-2.00)

Cheapskate tip: Cream cheese freezes pretty well (if you're going to cook it after you thaw it; it's a little wonky after you thaw it if serving it raw--then you'd probably want to beat it to get the consistency back to normal). I buy a bunch when it's .99 and freeze it. 

olive oil--just a bit

2 C vegetables (1 pepper, 1 onion OR 1 cup corn, 1 C spinach--chopped)

1 C meat (1/4-1/2 pound of sausage OR 1 large chicken breast--diced or shredded)

8 oz cream cheese

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with juice (I like it especially with Italian seasoned tomatoes)

seasonings as needed or wanted

Heat oil. Add meat if it's raw. Cook. (Take meat out and set aside.) Add vegetables to pan. Cook until they've softened. If using a green like spinach, wait until everything is almost cooked and then throw it in. 

Add meat back to veggies. Add a block of cream cheese (it helps if you chop this into cubes). When it's melted, add the can of tomatoes (juice and all). This will loosen up the cream cheese to make it saucier. Heat.

Taste. Add salt and pepper if needed (it'll depend a little on your meat--sausage is saltier for example).

Then serve. I really like it over rice. I also really like it with some good tortilla chips. But seriously, any type of grain will likely work with it.  

PRINTABLE RECIPE

How to Make Really Quick Winter Squash

So maybe I did just write about ice cream cake. But it's getting to be that time of year when you can write about ice cream cake AND winter squash. If you were really cool, you'd probably write about winter squash ice cream cake, but I haven't quite reached that level of awesomeness yet. So I'm just going to tell you how to prepare winter squash really really fast. Why? Because you can. And because I continue to believe that one of the reasons people don't cook cheap, good, healthy food is because they believe it takes too long. It doesn't have to. 

Yes, you can roast squash. It's delicious. But it takes 30-60 minutes. And you can steam or saute it. That's delicious too. And the cooking time is faster (though still a good 20 minutes), but you have to chop the derned thing up, which is not fast. So what do you do? You microwave it.

1. Cut the squash in half. 
2.Take out the seeds. 
3. Put a little water on a plate.
4. Put the squash--flesh side down--on the plate. 

5. Cook it in the microwave for 8-15 minutes. (This little winter squash took 10.) The water on the plate will steam it and the squash itself will keep that steam in. (Note: Be careful when you flip it over because it is very hot and steam may rush out. Don't burn yourself.)

6. Scoop it out and serve it up. 

My two favorite ways to serve squash cooked like this:
1. Butter and brown sugar, baby.
2. Butter and salt and pepper.

Easy. Delicious. Healthy. Quick. 

P.S. The type of squash I used was called Ambercup and it is AMAZING. It is new to me and the best type of winter squash I have ever tasted. It is sweet with a perfect texture (not too watery; not too grainy). I am considering making a pie with it. If you're local I bought it at Bud's Farm Market on the very southern end of Weinbach. This is what it looks like not cut up and microwaved.

Lasagna Roll-ups: Easy, Quick Dinner

So I love lasagna. But I hardly ever make it. Why? In the summer it's hot. In the winter, it still takes a good hour to bake (and that's not including prep time). Heaven forbid you forget the oven-ready noodles and have to actually cook your noodles beforehand. And then, after all this, someone will complain that--stop the presses--your concoction contains cheese. Or meat. Or something else unholy for one of my kids. 

But this...This takes 30 minutes from start to finish. Your kitchen isn't a sauna by the end and if you want you can even do a "lasagna bar" so that everyone can personalize their servings. That way every kid gets what he/she most wants (if that's your lenient parent thing anyway). It's also a butt-kicking idea for leftover Tuesday. Got half a chicken breast, a bit of sauce, and broccoli--perfect--throw it in there. Got some cream cheese, spinach, and Parmesan--can't beat it. But then you could go with traditional fillings too. The trick is to leave your sauce for the top. So you'll want to add your cheeses and meat, roll it up, and then top it with the sauce. 

We made a leftover one with chicken and broccoli and then a spinach one using this basic recipe (minus the artichokes and I microwaved it instead of baking it). Both were good, but that spinach one--wow. It was really good. And, yes, I let the kids wrap them with whatever fillings they wanted. 

How to Make Lasagna Roll Ups:

1. Boil some water. Add your noodles and cook them until they're al dente (or however it is you like your noodles). 

2. While your noodles are cooking, prepare you other fillings. Brown meat, mix ricotta with egg and salt; or make that delicious spinach stuff. 

3. Drain the water and lay your noodles flat. I always think this is the hardest part. Those noodles are just so darned slippery. 

4. Once flat, add whatever fillings you like. 

5. Roll it up.

6. Top with sauce (if you like). You can use a tomato marinara, but you could also make an alfredo or pesto type of sauce. The sky's the limit with these and that's partly what is so fun about them.

5-Minute Meal: Beans, Salsa, Chips (with optional really quick homemade salsa)

You guys know I occasionally rant about the idea of "fast" food, especially if it is considered "cheap" food. So, lucky you, I'm not going to rant today. But I will tell you this: This meal is every every bit as fast as any line or drive through I've ever waited in. And it's way better. And it's way cheaper. And it fills that need for fresh, yummy, quick, cool foods that I have in the summer. Because, let me tell you, in the summer I definitely get all food lazy. I won't say I don't want to cook because I still do sometimes. But I don't want to cook as often or as hot or as long. And when I eat I don't crave heavy foods (well, not too often).

 This meal is not, admittedly, entirely whole--at least not in its 5-minute form. I bought tortilla chips from the grocery store. Certainly if you wanted to you could whip up some homemade tortillas and go from there. But I didn't (see above about quick and cool). You can use salsa and re-fried beans from a can if you wish as well. They're still quite healthy. However. If you want, you can still make beans and homemade salsa very very quickly (well, with the beans--they're quick, but have to be done that morning). The beans are done in the crock pot, the salsa in the blender. Badabing, badabam.

And it gets even better (by which I mean, more adaptable).

The salsa can be made from fresh ingredients if you've got them lying about Or if you fail to think about dinner until 1/2 hour before and have no fresh veggies lying about, you can still make a very respectable (and better than store-bought) salsa using canned tomatoes.

And as one final smiley (personal) note about this meal. You guys know that my kids (mostly my oldest son) are super picky. So for this I got some ranch chips, which he loves, but I got a generic variety. And I made salsa (which he also loves if it's not chunky--smooth tomatoes are on his very short list of edibles). Only when I opened those generic chips, I'll be darned if they didn't taste EXACTLY like plain tortilla chips. And then I accidentally put in Hot Rotel instead of mild, and--oh boy--it was hot. And then I was sad. I thought that dinner was doomed to inconsolable bouts of whining and belly-aching. And then from the miraculous wells of miracle miracle-y-ness, my child absolutely loved that hot salsa, and liked the chips too. His sisters followed suite and soon everyone was porking out on hot salsa with swigs of milk in between. And then for the next week when we had friends over, my son would say, "You just have to try the salsa. It's awesome." Which I'm not sure has ever happened over a non-sweet item that I have made. And then he asked if we could buy a hot pepper plant for the garden. Moral of the story: We should go to the wells of miracle miracle-y-ness more often. And it was nice.

You'll need:
1 bag tortilla chips of some sort ($2.00)
1 can re-fried beans (or some homemade) ($.50--generic)
cheddar cheese ($.50)--we put this on the beans and then warm them
1 jar salsa (or homemade; see below) $2.00
we also had mangoes, which were cooling and delicious, but hardly essential $1.00 each

Which makes this a $6 meal. Except that we had tons of leftovers and ate them for at least 3 more lunches that week. And we still have some salsa left which I plan to use in some crock pot chicken. So it's probably closer to a $3 or 4 meal. To feed 6 people. Not bad. 

Potentially Pantry Salsa
makes about 26 oz.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $2.65
tomatoes: 1.00, Rotel: 1.00, cilantro: .50, lime: .15

Note: We made this again tonight. My son helped me. Which made me realize how versatile this is--his system of measurement is a little, um, free form. So it got extra vinegar and less garlic and coriander instead of cilantro. And it was just awesome. So experiment away. Or feel free to mess it up a little. It'll be fine.

This can be made with fresh ingredients. I usually use what I have fresh and then hit the pantry for what I don't.

Note: I used Rotel, but if you'd like you can use two cans of diced tomatoes and then add 1-4 jalepenos.

1 14- oz can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2- 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt or 1 clove garlic (wide range here; depends on how garlicky you like it)
1/2 tsp cumin
2 handfuls cilantro (yes, this is best fresh, but if you really really don't have it, try a few dashes of dried coriander--I used about 1/4 tsp)
juice of 1 lime (or a few squirts of the non-fresh stuff)
1/2 tsp salt (optional and you probably want to taste before you add)

Throw all in blender except cilantro. Blend. Add cilantro. Blend. (Note: The reason I don't like to blend the cilantro at first is that if it gets too blended, the salsa can get a brownish hue--tastes fine; looks weird.)

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German Pancakes

One of my cheapskate codes of conduct is that if someone offers you a food that you do not hate (and that is healthy), and asks if you can use it, you say, "Yes." Even if using it will require a little bit of effort or creativity. Such a thing happened several weeks ago when a friend who has chickens brought by no less than 4 dozen eggs right after I had just bought 2 dozen eggs and one of our ducks had decided to start laying. "Can you use them?" she asked.

"I'm sure I can," I said.

But as the days went by I wasn't making my way through them very fast. Six dozen eggs plus a few duck ones called for a few drastic measures. I made this egg bake and these waffles (doubled). I made crepes. Also, I remembered this recipe for German pancakes (sometimes called Dutch Babies) that my sisters had introduced me to. It was easy enough to assign to a 7-year-old (minus a certain hot butter step), used half a dozen eggs, tasted good, and could be eaten with savory or sweet toppings. Also, it puffs up in this groovy kind of way. Perfect.

My kids were a little skeptical, but when I told them they could sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar on it, they agreed (oh, how gracious of them) to give it a try.

German Pancakes
makes 1 8x8 inch pan, thick OR 1 9x13 inch pan, thin (we opted, sort of accidentally for the 8x8)
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Cost: $1.35
eggs: .60, flour: .10, milk: .15, butter: .50

1/8-1/4 C butter (you'll use 1/8 in a 8x8 inch and 1/4 in a 9x13 inch)
1 C flour
1 C milk
6 eggs

Heat oven to 450 and set rack in middle. As it heats, put butter in pan and stick that pan int he oven so the butter melts.

In the meantime, mix eggs, milk, and flour until mostly non-lumpy (mine always retains a few lumps and they are never noticeable in the finished product).

Take out your pan of butter, wait for the oven to finish heating, and then dump (careful not to splash the butter) your batter in and put it into the 450 degree oven. (Note: The butter won't all stay on the bottom; some will swish around and even get on the top of your German pancakes. Not a problem.)

Bake for 15 minutes or until eggs are at least 160 degrees and preferably a little hotter (they'll be firm when a fork is inserted and just beginning to brown at the edges).

Remove and top as you like. You can use sweet things (my favorite one is powdered sugar with a sprinkle of lemon juice) or savory ones (roasted tomatoes anyone?).

Note: These stay hot for a while so don't chomp right in and burn your mouth. I think the butter keeps them extra hot for a little longer than you'd expect, especially if you made the thick ones.

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Quick Pickles

You know one thing I love/hate about the garden. Most of the food comes on in kind of a rush. You get hordes of something for a week or two and then it's gone. You can call me crazy (it's happened before), but there's something about this garden rush that I kind of appreciate. It demands your attention. It demands that--if you want to have a bit of bounty later--you take a little notice of it now. In that way, it sort of mirrors life. Especially family life. You can ignore your kids if you want, but they might end up rotting and then reproducing with something from the compost pile. And we all know what that means: a whole lot of unruly squash plants sprouting up everywhere. To avoid this, you have to take a little bit of notice of your, um, vegetables when they're ripe for noticing. And sometimes this can lead to a blessed winter bounty. Although sometimes things still reproduce in the compost, but at least you know you've done all for the vegetables that you can...(Have I digressed yet?)

Anyway, my point is that you often end up with more than you can eat and if you don't want it to go to waste, you have to find a way of preserving it.

This is all well and good if you have just oodles of produce. Then you can pickle or can or ferment. The problem that I, as am imperfect gardener, run into is that I have a little too much of something. Let's take cucumbers, for example. Let's say that, theoretically, you have 7 too many. Seven is not enough to whip up a full-on brine, sterilize everything, and bust out the canning pot. But it sure is sad to watch them go all wrinkly and rubbery in the refrigerator. And so, today, I offer you a lazy woman's solution because if there's something you've come to expect from me, it is this.

My mother used to make quick pickles when I was little. She'd slice the cucumbers into rounds and put them in vinegar and water with salt, pepper, and a little sugar. She'd store it all in an old Cool Whip container, of which we owned approximately 70,000 (Mom, you know it's true--and also, exactly how much Cool Whip did you let us eat?) You can do that too. But the recipe I give you today is just a wee (wee) bit more difficult for which you get a slightly more complexly-flavored pickle (P.S. Has anyone tried the word 'complexly-flavored' on Words with Friends lately? Just asking.)

It is not--I repeat--not exactly the same as a dill pickle you get from the store. I personally like it much better, but my kids were like "These aren't pickles." So, there you go. However, my kids' opinions aside, these taste great alone and make butt-kicking additions to tuna sandwiches or salads or chicken salad or whatever. I also really like to eat a couple at the end of a meal. The punchy acid seems to signal to the taste buds and the stomach that the meal is over and it (supposedly) helps with digestion. 

As a note, you might want to tinker with the amount of vinegar and water. We like ours with some serious vinegary kick. You can also tinker with the flavors you add. You can add hot peppers or regular peppers if you're one of those types. You can add a bunch of garlic. This recipe keeps it pretty classic, but there's plenty of room for experimentation.

And as one final thing: One of the advantages of quick pickles is that you're still eating a raw cucumber with all it's veggie might. However there is a trade-off because, unlike their canned brothers, these things won't last forever. Yes, you are extending their refrigerator life. They totally perked my wrinkling, yellowing cucumbers up and gave them another 2 weeks of life. But they are still far from immortal. You can store these in the fridge for at least 2 weeks and I'm betting 3 or even a little longer. However, don't come back to them in January (or even October) and expect them to be alright. They won't be.

A Tip for the Intensely Lazy Home Gardener/Preserver:
-If you really just don't want to pickle at all or don't have the time, you can get a decent quick pickle by cutting the pickle into rounds and throwing the rounds into your old pickle juice, then letting it sit for several days. That's right. Eat the store-bought pickles and then use their juice for your over-abundance of cucumbers. After several days, they won't taste exactly the same as your store-bought pickles did, but you'll be surprised how pickle-y they've become. And you'll extend the life of your cucumbers by a couple weeks.

Quick Pickles
adapted from The Chicago Tribune
makes approximate 3 pints
Prep and cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: oh, maybe $.25 if you're using garden cucumbers and Sam's Club vinegar

Note: You don't have to use the freshest cucumbers. Mine were yellow and wrinkling. However, you cannot use rotten cucumbers, so have a taste first if yours are getting a little sketchy. I'm not sure if it can transform a bitter cucumber as none of mine were bitter, but I'm guessing that the acid could save even a bitter cucumber from its composted fate.

Note: Feel free to add hot peppers or any other seasoning that sounds groovy to you.

Note: If you have a "pickling spice" you can use that in place of the dill and peppercorns.

3-4 short, fat cucumbers, cut into rounds with any big old icky seeds removed (small seeds are welcome)--these can be peeled or not
2 C vinegar (any kind except balsamic)
1 C water
4 tsp salt
2 tsp dill seeds
2 tsp peppercorns
3 clove garlic per jar, crushed (optional)
2-4 tsp sugar, optional (I didn't use, but ours had serious punch)

Peel, slice, or seed your cukes as necessary. Put the cucumbers in clean mason jars (I used pint sized ones and got three). Add one crushed garlic clove per jar.

Combine vinegar, water, salt, dill seeds, and peppercorns in a pot. Heat to boiling. Remove from heat and pour this hot, nose-stinging mixture onto your cucumbers until jars are full. Let them cool a few minutes, then add lids and refrigerate.

This will keep for 2-3 weeks. Probably. We eat ours before then.

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Salmon with Lime Butter

When you marry the pickiest man on earth (okay, not quite) you don't expect him to like fish. When he does, you take advantage of that as much as you can, or at least a couple times a week. Salmon is a favorite of ours. We're perfectly happy to eat it with lemon and a bit of dill, but occasionally we try to jazz it up a bit.

The other great thing about fish? You can cook up some fillets in ten minutes or less.

This lime butter sauce adds only 2 more minutes to the cooking time and turns a regular old weekday fish into something that feels decadent and fancy. We eat it with rice and broccoli, and dinner's on in 20 minutes or less. (P.S. If you don't like fish, you can use this sauce on chicken to very good effect as well.)

Salmon with Lime Butter
Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Chicken
Serves 4
Prep and cook time: 15 minutes
Cost: $5.75
(salmon: 5.00, butter: .25, lime: .50)

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets
6 Tbsp butter
juice from one lime (about 2 Tbsp)
zest if desired
dill and chives for garnish

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add fillets and cook about 4 minutes on each side. When fish is cooked through and can be easily flaked with a fork.

Remove the salmon to a plate and keep warm (I usually just put another plate over top of it.) Wipe out pan. (This is necessary. If you leave the drippings from the oil, the butter-lime concoction will separate.) Now remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a minute. If you don't do this as soon as you add the lime juice it will bubble up and evaporate.

Return your pan to the burner on low heat. Add the lime juice. When it begins to bubble, stir in the butter (and zest if using). Raise the heat a bit and stir until the butter runs clear (or nearly so). This takes a couple of minutes. Remove it from the heat. If you let it get much hotter, the butter will separate.

Pour it over the salmon. Garnish with chives and dill and serve.

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Granola Balls (Raw, gluten-free, potentially vegan)

You know what the problem is with high-energy snacks? Those for whom they were designed--those with metabolisms approximately equivalent of 150 pound hummingbirds--forget about the snacks you've made and wander about the house wondering what they can possibly eat and then decide to just go to Rural King instead so they can get to work on the yard. You, on the other hand, you who have every bit the metabolism of a very nearly 35-year-old woman, do not forget. You know what's sitting there in your cupboard or refrigerator or freezer. You brush against them as you clean the kitchen. They catch your eye as you gather ingredients for leftover night. They call to you. And then you call to your husband at Rural King and ask why he hasn't eaten the snack you made for him and question whether he really loves you and also whether he thinks your butt looks big in the jeans you're wearing today. And then he says you're butt is just fine and that he forgot about the snacks and that he'll eat them when he gets home and that he has to go because he's carrying 20 pounds of grass seed and the checker is waiting for him. And then you hang up and eat some granola bites and feed some to the kids and by the time he gets home, starving of course because he skipped breakfast and/or lunch, they're all gone.

Note: Although the above story is actually a piece of fiction, there is much truth at its heart. Truth that gets repeated at least once a week in this house. Oh the efforts those of us with lean (albeit strong, tough, and perfectly handsome) husbands go to in order to keep said husbands weighing in a few dozen pounds (or even a good baker's dozen) heavier than us. Tragic, don't you think. The great thing about these being in smallish balls is that you can practically throw them into your husband/teenager/woke-up-too-late-for-breakfast child's mouth as they rush out the door.

So don't give up. Make some healthy, high-energy snacks. Remind your man to take them to work. Eventually it will sink in. Unless the dog/kids/grandmas/neighbor's kids get to them first. Sigh.

Granola Balls
Adapted from Smashed Peas and Carrots
Makes 12-18 1-inch balls(a little sketch on the numbers here; I made a bunch of this stuff last week and it's all smearing together for me)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $1.90
oatmeal: .10, peanut butter: .50, honey: .70, coconut: .60

1 C oatmeal (choose a type that hasn't been processed with gluten-y foods if you're going gluten-free)
1/2 C peanut butter
1/4 C honey (use agave nectar if going vegan)
1 C coconut flakes (I used unsweetened; if using sweetened you may want to cut back the honey by a Tablespoon or two)
1/2 C ground flaxseed (optional; I skipped because we didn't have and threw in some more coconut)
1/2 C chocolate chips (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything until fully incorporated. You can let this chill for easier ball-rolling, but I just go for it and roll them into balls.

These keep very well refrigerated or frozen.

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