Whole Wheat Multi-Grain Bread ~ Recipe

Yummy Whole Wheat Multi-Grain Bread

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

Last week our cupboards resembled Old Mother Hubbard's.

Yet I adamantly resisted going grocery shopping. Because it is not my favorite thing to do. You can read the post here.

Bread was in zero supply, so I looked in the cupboard and we had yeast packets! I decided to make bread. I know, lots of work. But anything to avoid hitting the supermarket aisles.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Multi-Grain Bread

Ingredients:

2 pkgs. active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded and cooled)
1/4 cup honey
3 T. shortening
1 tsp. salt
4-5 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
3/4 cup chopped sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and almond flour (mixed together)
1/2 cup oatmeal (lightly ground in coffee grinder)
softened butter

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, honey, shortening, salt, white flour, and 2 cups whole wheat flour. Mix together.

Add oatmeal and grains plus enough whole wheat flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough out onto floured counter. Knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Roll into a ball. Put in a shortening greased bowl, turning once to cover all sides with shortening. Cover. Set bowl in warm spot and let rise until double (about 1 hour).

Punch down dough. Divide in half. Roll each half out into a rectangle. Tightly (but gently) roll the dough into a loaf and place seam-side down in a greased loaf pan. Repeat with second loaf. Lightly brush tops with butter. Cover and let rise for another hour, or until doubled.

Heat oven to 425 and put oven racks on a lower setting so the bread tops rest in the center of the oven. Bake until loaves are toasty brown and sound hollow when thumped, about 30 minutes.

Remove loaves from pans, place on cooling racks, and spread butter on top. Cool and enjoy!

My well-loved and much used pre-marriage cookbook

The original recipe came from my Betty Crocker's Cookbook (Golden, New and Revised Edition) that I've had since before I was married (pre-1985). The name inscribed on the inside front cover is Angie Hill.

In fact, there is no title page, as it has fallen out during some previous cooking escapade. We now start things off on page 7 and discuss how to care for and prepare meat.

***My recipe for Whole Wheat Multi-Grain Bread has been adjusted and adapted to our tastes - less salt, more grains, and a mix of whole wheat and white flour.

My Favorite Play Dough Recipe

Pumpkin spice black pepper orange play dough - lots of fun!

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

Play dough is one of the absolute best toy/manipulative/sensory activities available to kid-dom!

I kid you not. Snicker, snicker. And not the snicker of the famed chocolate and peanut variety.

This is the best and most versatile recipe I've found. I have used it for over 20 years and have only rarely uncelebrated failure.

Tools make all the difference. Cutting, chopping, manipulating, and making prints are great activities for little hands.

Best Ever Play Dough Recipe

3 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 T. oil (vegetable or baby oil)
1 T. alum
3 cups boiling water
Paste food coloring (add to boiling water to melt and mix it)

1. Put dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir well.

2. Drizzle oil over dry mix.

3. Stir food coloring into boiling water. Pour over ingredients.

4. Stir well with a wooden spoon and spatula.

5. Turn out onto a counter. It will be hot, but you have to knead the dough while it is hot to activate the ingredients. Knead the dough and scrape off sticky bits with a spatula. Don't worry, it will get less sticky as it cools. If it is horribly sticky, add tiny bits of flour as needed.

6. After the mixture is well mixed, cool completely and store in a lidded plastic container.

7. Enjoy!

This is the basic recipe. I often add spices or textures like pumpkin spice, cornmeal, or cocoa. Play with the recipe. It's worth the mess.


Today Donavyn and I made play dough. He wanted orange, so we made orange. I wanted a scent, so I added pumpkin spice. He also wanted to dump pepper, so we added pepper!

Old tires make great tracks.

Together with play dough, tools and toys add to the experience. Be creative and grab things that make patterns, cut, chop, shape, and can be used to interact with the play dough. Avoid using anything you truly love. The salt and necessity of a good wash can potentially destroy special items. Stick to the eventually-disposable toys and you can dump your worries in the trash.

Even the sides of tires are interesting.


Even this 53 years-young kid loves to play with play dough.

What's your favorite sensory toy?



Teriyaki Salmon Salad Recipe

I was in the mood to cook, but not in the mood to shop for groceries. What's that saying? Necessity is the mother of invention? It was necessary that we had dinner, so I had to invent with what was on hand.

We were both very pleasantly surprised.

Teriyaki Salmon Salad

Salad:
thinly sliced green cabbage
thinly sliced green onions
2 lime wedges

Divide cabbage and green onions between 2 plates. Make a little nest in the center. Squeeze lime juice over each cabbage nest.

Quinoa:
about 1 cup of cooked quinoa (I had some frozen in the freezer)
1 cup chicken broth
a handful of chopped sundried tomatoes (I had some dehydrated from summer)
1/2 chopped onion
dash of garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne

Mix all ingredients and warm in saucepan. After the salmon is done, put one scoop of quinoa on each plate beside the cabbage nest.

Green Beans:
frozen full-size green beans (we love the Costco frozen green beans)

Bring pan of water to boil. Add green beans. Cook until done to your liking. Drain. Place a serving on each plate beside the cabbage nest. Originally I was going to chop them into smaller pieces and mix them with the cabbage, but it looked prettier this way.

Salmon:
thawed salmon (we had one piece, so we split it)
thinly sliced onion
teriyaki sauce (we like Yoshida's, though it's a bit salty)
olive oil

Saute salmon in olive oil with onions. Saute until cooked through and crispy on the outside (we like a little crust). Add teriyaki sauce and bring to a bubbling boil. It doesn't take very long at all.

Place 1/2 of the salmon on each plate in the cabbage nest. Spoon onions and teriyaki sauce over salmon, cabbage, and green beans. Serve immediately.

This was so good! I can't wait to make it again.

Walnut Pesto Recipe ~ Rock That Garlic Breath!

Baked chicken, sautéed vegetables, spaghetti squash, and walnut pesto

Pesto is an absolute favorite summer garden treat. Embrace that garlic breath - it's a right of garden passage. And besides, garlic is good for you.


 Walnut Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
5 cloves garlic, minced
sprinkle of salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves, chopped

I have a horrible blender, so I have to do half the work before I can add ingredients to the blender. If you have a food processor, you may not have to do so much chopping and mincing.

Add ingredients to blender. Pulse and stir repeatedly until all is well mixed and chopped. Add extra olive oil if needed to make a lovely paste.

Spaghetti Squash

Poke fork holes all over a spaghetti squash. Place on a plate, cover with wax paper, and microwave on high for two 5-minute cycles, flipping the squash between the two.

Cut in half. Scoop out seeds. Use a fork to scrape spaghetti 'noodles' from squash.

Sauteed Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli cut into flowerets
1 small yellow squash, cut into medallions and then halved
1 onion, cut lengthwise into slices
olive oil
Mrs. Dash
black pepper

Add olive oil, broccoli, onion, and sprinkles of Mrs. Dash and pepper to pan. Saute until nearly fork tender. Add squash last few minutes. Brown.

Baked Chicken

We used leftover chicken leg and thigh pieces. Serve any type of chicken. We rewarmed ours in the over at 350 for about 30 minutes (covered).

Et voila! A delicious and healthy meal, compliments of the last of the garden produce.

Hint: Make sure everyone in the house eats the same meal! Then no one can complain about garlic breath.

Egged Fried Zucchini Recipe

It's THAT time of the garden season.

Zucchini and yellow squash are growing rampant amongst my other poor crowded plants in the garden beds. Beyond rampant. I was gone for one week. ONE. I came back to 16 overlarge zucchini and yellow squash. I've barely made a dent in the amount (though most have been grated and frozen in 3 cup amounts for future zucchini bread).

Today I found 7 more fat specimens. When is that "National Give Your Neighbors Zucchini Day?"

Here is a simple recipe I love to use to help absorb the plethora of squash.

Egged Fried Zucchini

Ingredients:

~ washed and sliced (about 1/4" thick) zucchini or yellow squash
~ eggs, whisked until broken apart; 1-2 depending on how many zucchini you are preparing
~ cayenne pepper, just a good sprinkle
~ olive oil

To prepare:

1. Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

2. Whisk eggs and cayenne in a flat bottomed pan. I love to use my cake layer pan. It's perfect.

3. Coat zucchini slices in egg mixture and put in hot pan. Let cook without turning at least 2 minutes so the egg batter stays on. Carefully flip to the other side and cook until browned.

4. Place cooked zucchini slices on paper towels to absorb extra oil and moisture.

5. Eat while hot. This is the easiest step, as they are so tasty you won't be able to stop yourself. But beware of burned fingers and tongues!

Salmon in Parchment Paper Packets ~ Recipe

Look what delicious-ness came about when I decided to experiment with cooking in parchment paper folded packets! The salmon was super moist and tasty. I think this will stay on our repeat menu list. Enjoy.

Salmon in Parchment Paper Packets

Ingredients:

~ 2 salmon fillets (or however many you need for your household)

~ thinly sliced yellow squash

~ thinly sliced red and yellow peppers

~ diced green peppers

~ thinly sliced onions

~ Mrs. Dash

~ pepper

~ olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut squares of parchment paper, making them large enough so there is extra paper for folding and forming a packet.

3. Place each salmon fillet on a piece of parchment paper.

4. Layer squash, peppers, and onions on each salmon fillet.

5. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over veggies and sprinkle with black pepper and Mrs. Dash. Fold parchment paper closed over the top of the fish and vegetables, making sure no holes are left for steam and juices to escape. (See photo.) Place on a cooking sheet or large casserole dish.

6. Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes.

7. Serve with your choice of sides. Be careful when you open the steaming hot packets!

We just ate the salmon out of the packets, which worked fine. I think I will experiment with other vegetables like cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced potatoes, broccoli, fresh peas - almost anything!

Actually, this is sounding pretty good for dinner. Maybe the chicken will have to wait.

Spicy Pickled Green Beans & Garlic Recipe

Oh, yes! The garden is now in production.

With some surprise, after harvesting raspberries yesterday, I was able to pick a full basket of yellow wax beans and green beans. Time to can some pickled beans! Interestingly enough, I had just been daydreaming about biting into a spicy tangy pickled green bean. And voila' - beans are ready!

This recipe came from Renee, a good college buddy (who happens to be visiting Australia right now, but let's not hold that against her). I, per my usual inability to leave well enough alone, have adapted it to our tastes.

Spicy Pickled Green Beans

You need sanitized and prepared jars, lids, and rings. I used 5 pint jars for this recipe.

Fill jars with:

2 lbs. green beans, washed and cut to fit jars (Khloe and I planted green beans and yellow wax beans this year, so I put a mix of beans in each jar)
2-3 cloves of garlic per jar
1 dried Thai chili per jar
1 dill head per jar (I cut apart several large ones and divided it among the jars)
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper per jar
1/8 tsp. crushed red peppers per jar

Pickling liquid (enough for 5 pint jars):

Mix, boil, and pour over beans.

2-1/2 cup water
2-1/2 cup vinegar
1/8 cup salt
4 tsp. sugar

Wipe jar edges clean. Cover with lids and rings. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and let sit on table undisturbed for 24 hours. Check if jars have sealed. Store in cool, dry place.

Let pickled beans cure for at least 2 weeks before tasting.

Now the hard part - waiting for 2 weeks!

Does anyone know why touching and picking green beans gives me a rash? So itchy! At least it doesn't last, but I am guaranteed some prickles on my hands and arms after perusing the bean bushes.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers - Recipe

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Oven: 440 degrees

3 large poblano peppers, cut in half and cleaned
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
@ 2 cups chicken broth
1 Roma tomato, chopped
olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, diced
3/4 cup small cauliflower florets
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. crushed red peppers
1/2 tsp. each garlic and onion powder
1 tsp. chili powder

shredded parmesan cheese

1. Cover a baking dish with parchment paper or spray with olive oil and preheat oven.

2. Place peppers in dish.

3. Add a small amount of olive oil to a saute pan. Saute onions, garlic, and celery until softened. Add remaining ingredients except parmesan cheese. Stir well and let simmer and cook down until most of broth is absorbed.

4. Remove from heat. Stuff each pepper half with mix.

5. Bake about 45 minutes or until peppers are soft and piping hot.

6. Top with parmesan cheese and let melt. Serve immediately.

Angie Quantrell makes up most of her recipes when she needs to use what is in the refrigerator, which results in some good and other not so good meals. She loves spicy foods, though experts say to avoid spices to curtail hot flashes. Bring on the napkins and pass the spice, please!

Garden Advice Requested - Slugs?

It's almost that time again. Actually, I could and should plant cold weather vegetables ASAP.

Last year I planted a type of French radish. They were 2-3 inches long and oblong in shape. A hot dog of a radish instead of a ball. Those fresh radishes were so delectable, I couldn't keep my hands and my mouth away from them!

Neither could the slugs. That is my guess. The photo shows how something has eaten around the top of the radishes. In the beginning, this only happened on the top of the radish. Later, small nibbles were found below ground. I'm suspecting pill (sow or potato) bugs did that damage.

I would gladly glean from the wisdom of the collective worldwide garden. Please!

Who was eating my radishes?

How should I get rid of them?

Should that work, what is your favorite recipe for radishes?

This gardener can't wait for spring produce.

Angie Quantrell loves growing fresh food for her family. She does not like to share with garden pests and respectfully requests your insights into protecting her future meals from present bugs.

Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers - Tasty Recipe

(We were so excited to eat the stuffed peppers, I forgot to take a picture. I did grab the camera for the leftovers-turned-into-soup.)

Last fall I made up this recipe. As soon as we tasted it and discovered how wonderful it was, I shared it on Sally Cronin's blog at smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com. I decided I should also share it here. We love both forms of this recipe - stuffed peppers and leftovers turned into soup. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. I'm off to buy some green peppers, quinoa, and ground turkey.

Bon Appetit!

Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients:

6-8 green peppers, cored and seeded
1 lb. ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lg. onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
2 c. shredded green cabbage
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. cooked quinoa
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 8-oz. box Neufchatel cheese (or regular cream cheese)
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3 T. olive oil
1 T. dried sage
2 T. Mrs. Dash
1 tsp. nutmeg
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Crushed red peppers (to taste)
Salsa (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Prepare green peppers by washing them, cutting off the top, and removing seeds. Arrange on baking sheet.
3. Add olive oil to a large pot. Add garlic, onions, and carrots. Stir and cook until garlic is browned. Add turkey meat and cook until done, crumbling with a wooden spoon.
4. Add cabbage, tomatoes, broth, and seasonings. Cook until well blended.
5. Add Neufchatel cheese. Stir until melted and blended. Add quinoa and stir.
6. Remove from heat. Stuff each pepper to the top.
7. Cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes or until pepper skins are easily pierced with a fork.
8. Serve while hot. Top with salsa.

Leftover stuffing can easily be turned into a delicious soup by adding additional chicken broth to thin to desired consistency. Top with grated cheese and sliced red onions. Serve hot.

About Angie
My name is Angie Quantrell. I live in the Yakima Valley of Washington state – a veritable fruit and vegetable bowl for the nation. I happily urge my garden to produce and then figure out ways to use what is successful and has not been eaten by the slugs. For instance, the sage I use is from my garden. I prefer to use it dried, so I regularly dig into the jars of dried leaves, grab a handful, roll them until they crumble, and add the fragrant herb to whichever dish I am preparing. Sage and nutmeg go very well together in fall dishes!

I am a writer, a blogger, a teacher, a Nana of three (soon to be four) precious grandbabies, and a wife to Kevin. I love nature, being outdoors, gardening, writing, photography, rubber stamping, and my crazy kitties, who are 11 months old and have yet to learn manners. Actually, I love creating of any kind. My husband is extremely happy that I have retired from teaching, as I have time to create great tasting meals.

I love to experiment and play in the kitchen. I usually make interesting (both good interesting and bad interesting) meals by adding bits of this and that to a collection of leftovers. Kevin, my husband of 29 years, fell in love with this recipe and could not stop expressing his gustatory delight as he ate huge amounts of both stuffed peppers and leftover soup.


You can find me at:

Twitter: @AngieQuantrell
Facebook: Angie Quantrell
LinkedIn: Angie Quantrell
Blogs: www.angiequantrell.blogspot.com; www.bookblabbyabooklover.blogspot.com; www.angiequantrell.wordpress.com
Google+: Angie Quantrell
Pinterest: Angie Quantrell

Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherds Pie - Recipe

Shepherds pie was sounding good, so I checked a few online recipes. After finding none that were exactly what I wanted, I made up my own. Which is my usual method of attacking a meal, but I thought I would at least try to use someone's recipe!

This recipe is delish. Tasty, spicy (as most of my dishes are), and filling. The more veggies, the better. A personal goal is to sneak in - or blatantly add - as many vegetables as possible. It works!

Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherds Pie

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Bake sweet potatoes until soft. I did this early in the day so that they were ready when I was preparing the meal. I like to wrap mine in foil, put them on a parchment paper covered pan, and cook them for at least an hour.

3. Prepare sweet potato topping. Whip following ingredients together. Set aside.

2 sweet potatoes
1/2 block of cream cheese
1 T. butter
black pepper (to taste)

4. Cook following ingredients in a pan until meat is completely done, stirring often and breaking up meat.

1 lb. ground turkey meat
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, chopped in pieces
olive oil

5. To the turkey mix, add:

1 10 3/4 oz. can of cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of water
3 kale leaves, de-ribbed and chopped
1 bunch broccoli, cut into small florets
1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 T. Mrs. Dash
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2-1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 T. home dried crushed sage leaves (or 1 tsp. commercially prepared sage)
4 T. worcestershire sauce

Cook until bubbling.

6. Put turkey mixture in casserole dish. Dollop sweet potato mix on top and spread to cover.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until heated through and bubbling hot.

8. Serve with rustic bread.

Next time, I will add chopped carrots to the turkey mix and garlic cloves to the sweet potato topping and cook the whole thing in a Dutch oven.


Angie Quantrell creates, cooks, and blogs at her home in the Northwest. Her imagination is enhanced by spicy flavors, healthy meals, and oodles of vegetables. A hungry husband tips the scales towards complete satisfaction in new recipes. The lack of leftovers says, "A job well done."

Bacon & Potato Cheesy Soup Recipe

Made this for dinner tonight - very rich and delicious. I will definitely keep these ingredients in mind for the next cold, winter's eve.

Bacon & Potato Cheesy Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. bacon
1 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 carrots, diced
3 red potatoes, washed and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces (skin on)
2 medium brown potatoes, washed and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces (skin on)
2 cups broccoli florets
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup 1/2 & 1/2
Italian parsley
grated cheese
black pepper
cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Cut bacon in half. Cook each half separately in Dutch oven. After first batch is out draining, discard bacon grease. Add remaining bacon and cook. Discard all but 3 T. bacon grease. Chop bacon into small pieces.

2. Add onions, celery, and carrots to bacon grease. Saute until onions are starting to turn translucent.

3. Add potatoes, broth, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, and 2 T. chopped parsley. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn down heat, and simmer until potatoes are fork soft, about 20 minutes.

4. Add broccoli. Cook an additional 5-10 minutes until broccoli is done.

5. Add 1/4 cup chopped bacon and 1/2 & 1/2. Stir well and heat until steaming.

6. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sprinkles of cheese, parsley, and bacon bits.

7. Enjoy!

Bacon & Potato Cheesy Soup before 1/2 & 1/2, cheese, bacon, and fresh parsley

Raspberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Crackers

If you love zesty, sweet, creamy, tasty snacks, you will become addicted to these little mouthfuls! Perfect for snacks, Super Bowl parties, finger food events - any time would be great. My taste buds loves these!

Raspberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Crackers

Ingredients:

wheat crackers

raspberry jam

cream cheese

preserved sliced jalapeno peppers


Directions:

1. Scoop a large amount of raspberry jam into a bowl.

2. Using forks, scoop out several slices of jalapenos. DO NOT USE BARE FINGERS. You will thank me for that advice. Use a fork to hold the slices and a knife to dice them into small pieces. Remember, keep fingers away from jalapenos.

3. Add diced jalapenos to jam. Stir well. You get to decide how spicy you want your spread, so my measurements are vague. We love lots of heat, so I added plenty of green.

4. Spread cream cheese on crackers.

5. Use a teaspoon to put a small amount of raspberry jalapeno sauce on each cracker. Taste one! If it is too hot, add more jam. Too boring, add more jalapenos.

6. Devour.

7. Make more.

Sweet Potato (Yam) & Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes Recipe

Meatloaf is on the menu for dinner. Though ours is always made with ground turkey and a variety of vegetables, it is delicious.

And nothing goes better with meatloaf than mashed potatoes.

As usual, I fail to follow recipes. Instead, I adjust ingredients to reflect our tastes and what is available in the pantry. My most recent adventure in making mashed potatoes resulted in what appeared to be a dessert of orange and vanilla background, but were in fact, creamy, tasty, and much savored. I love when that happens.


Yam & Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 red skinned potatoes (not the baby ones), washed, skin on

1 large garnet yam (red flesh), washed and peeled

4 garlic cloves

1 box reduced fat cream cheese

non-fat milk

butter

fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Chop potatoes into same-size chunks. Add peeled garlic cloves. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer covered until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, about 15-20 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes and garlic.

3. Add 2-3 T. butter and cream cheese. Mash potatoes, adding milk as you go, until you reach desired consistency.

4. Season with black pepper.

5. Serve piping hot! These taste wonderful with many different kinds of meat.

Best Ever Cranberry, Cream Cheese, & Turkey Leftovers Sandwich

Many, many years ago I was introduced to a turkey, cranberry, cream cheese croissant at the European Café in Yakima. Sadly, once I discovered this fantastic restaurant and exquisite sandwich, they closed their doors.

Many years ago, we adopted our own version for Thanksgiving night leftover turkey. True, the main dish at the big meal was delicious. But the leftovers smashed with cream cheese and cranberry sauce on a croissant was what we anticipated. That, and Christmas morning turkey quiche.

This year, welcome to the new version of our favorite sandwich. Healthier? Definitely. But that was really not the motivation. We just did not have croissants. We love the new and improved model. And no worrying about rushing to get the big croissants from Costco.

Already thinking about when I am going to cook the next turkey breast. For leftovers, of course.

Turkey, Cream Cheese, & Cranberry Sauce Sandwich

Ingredients:

~white meat cooked turkey breast

~cranberry sauce (we prefer the jelly type)

~cream cheese (reduced fat is fine)

~really good multi-grain and seed bread

1. Toast the bread.

2. Spread a thick layer of cream cheese on one slice of toast.

3. Add a layer of thinly sliced cranberry sauce.

4. Shred turkey and add as much as you like.

5. Cut in half. Devour.

Plot for the next meal.

Fantastic Kitty Cat Microwave Fudge

You read me correctly. Follow directions exactly.

Fantastic Kitty Cat Microwave Fudge

Ingredients:

2 gray kitties, @ 8 months old
3 c. sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 10-oz. pkg. dark chocolate chips, plus about 2 more oz. to make a total of 12 oz.
1 7-oz. container marshmallow crème
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Make sure kitties are not in kitchen.

2. Melt butter in microwave in a microwave proof bowl. Depending on the wattage of your microwave, adjust time to melt. Mine takes about 45 seconds.

3. Add evaporated milk and sugar. Stir very well with whisk. Scrape sides with spatula.

4. Check for kitties. All clear? Continue.

5. Cover with wax paper. Cook in microwave in 2 minute increments. Take out and whisk completely between each time chunk. Cook for a total of about 5 minutes. Once the mixture starts to boil, then watch very carefully. I usually switch to 30 second intervals so I can stir it down.

6. Remove and place on countertop. Add chocolate chips, marshmallow crème, and vanilla. Stir well until melted and mixed.

7. Pour into butter 9x12 baking dish. Lick the spatula and whisk.

8. Place fudge in cold oven to cool. This prevents kitties from getting in the pan.

9. Warning: Remove fudge from oven before using oven. Place fudge on top of fridge while oven is in use. Most important step: Do not forget fudge on top of fridge.

10. Cut fudge into 1-inch squares. Stop. Notice paw prints in fudge. Many paw prints.

11. Check for kitty hair. Looks good? Whew.

12. Remove pieces with paw prints. Feed to your family. They won't care.

13. Place other pieces on decorative platter.

14. Store covered in fridge until eaten.

15. Tell no one.

Corn/Rice/Wheat Square Cereal Snack Mix - The Spicy Version from Moi

Did you get the code? I could use the four-letter-word that spells the brand name of this breakfast cereal, but there are many manufacturers that make the same thing. So why worry about a specific label? Just use the square cereal with the grid work pattern in the grain of your choice. Add that to my version of the spicy snack mix. Prepare to eat too much.

Square Cereal Spicy Snack Mix

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter
3 T. worcestershire sauce
1 T. parsley
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne
2 tsp. seasoning salt
1 cup peanuts (shelled)
1 cup pretzels
8 cups your choice square cereal with the grid work (wheat, corn, rice)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt the butter. Add all spices and stir well.

3. Put nuts, pretzels, and cereal in a large metal bowl. Mix with hands. Pour half of butter mix on cereal. Mix well (but gently). Add remainder of butter mix and stir well.

4. Pour snack mix on jelly roll pan.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes. Check every 5 minutes. Stir at 10 minutes.

6. Let cool. Store in airtight container. I have no idea how long it lasts. My husband eats it all in about 3 days.

Put a little spice in your holiday! Enjoy.

Dry Toasted Muesli Recipe (Adored in this Home)

Meet our favorite breakfast of champions. It is very good for you. And who doesn't need a healthy breakfast in the midst of our Season of Desserts and Special Treats?

I discovered a version of this recipe years ago in some magazine, but have tweaked and tested it until it rests at the top of our breakfast list. Ages back, when on a mission trip in Germany, I was introduced to eating muesli (similar to this recipe) with a scoop of plain yogurt, a spoon of raspberry jam, and a splotch of milk. So delicious. I just can't make myself go back to boxed cereal. I've tried many of the commercially produced granolas and mueslis, but they all have more sugar than I like. What to do? Make up my own recipe.

Enjoy.

Dry Roasted Muesli Recipe

Ingredients:

8 cups plain oatmeal (I prefer the Costco type, as it has more whole oats and less powdery stuff)
2 cups walnut halves (Costco)
1 cup dried blueberries (Trader Joe's or Costco; add more if you really like dried blueberries)
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (Trader Joe's)
1 T. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Roast ingredients in individual batches due to size.
~ Spread oatmeal on jelly roll pan. Toast about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Once you can smell the toasted oats, they are done. Dump in a big mixing bowl.

~ Spread walnuts on jelly roll pan. Toast about 10-15 minutes, stirring and watching carefully. I go by smell on this as well. Once that yummy smell hits my nose, take them out. Cool and chop into smaller pieces. Add to oats.

~ Spread pumpkin seeds on jelly roll pan. Watch very carefully! Toast about 5-8 minutes. They burn quickly (guess how I know that), so watch and remove at once. I have to go by sight on these. Add to oat mixture.

2. Add blueberries and cinnamon to oat mixture. Mix well. Let cool.

3. Store in airtight container. I love my gallon jars for muesli, as the muesli is so pretty.

4. Serve with yogurt, jam, and milk.

5. Bon appetite!

Angie's (+ Sharing Friends) Sausage Chili

May I wax eloquently for just a moment?

This chili is so hearty, flavorful, and filled with texture that I really wanted to eat more than one bowl. But I restrained myself. Leftovers are always better on the next day.

This chili recipe came about as I combined resources from several venues, including the gift of leftover (not a bad thing, but as in I-have-way-too-many-mushrooms-take-them-please kind of way) chanterelles and oven roasted chilis I put in the freezer last summer. My only disappointment was the low level of heat. This Angie-lotsa-hot (as called by a Chinese food vendor in Spokane after ordering possibly too many stars of spice) loves spicy foods.

How do I know if my food has enough spice? The sweat factor. Back of neck? Hairline? Facial?

Check. Check. Check. Mmmmm.

Angie's (+ Friends that Share) Sausage Chili

Cook the following in a Dutch oven until the sausage is cooked through. Break sausage into small pieces as it cooks.

1 pound spicy sausage
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, diced
2 small carrots, chopped into small pieces
1 small can fire roasted chilis (or a package from the freezer that was roasted last summer; I divided them into portions for individual dishes like chili)

About 1 cup of chanterelle (or similar) mushrooms, sauteed with garlic and butter; chop into smaller pieces (or use the last package of said sauteed chanterelles, garlic, and butter from the freezer; again I divided them into portions for individual dishes)

Add the following ingredients and simmer over low to medium heat for about an hour. Stir often and adjust heat as needed. Between my Dutch oven and the gas stove, I must constantly adjust my heat as I cook.

1/2 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 T. freshly ground black pepper
2 T. Mrs. Dash
2 T. cumin
3 T. chili powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 T. oregano (dried)
1 15-oz can chicken broth
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
1 15-oz can cannelini beans (drained and rinsed)
1 15-oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 15-oz can hominy (drained and rinsed)

Serve with your favorite toppings. We were going to crunch corn chips over the top, but they were stale. So we dipped rustic, nutty buttered bread in the sauce instead. Too delish.

Sour cream
Grated cheese
Corn chips
Chopped green onions

One of the best things about this chili? Leftovers and plenty to share.

Enjoy.

Zucchini Tugboats

Crispy brown cheese atop juicy tender zucchini tugboats. Just add sour cream and salsa.

It's zucchini time! The time when, just this morning there were no fully grown green garden jewels, and this afternoon, well, surprise -

a lurker the size of a small tugboat.

Stuffed zucchini, one of my favorite summer treats, lends itself well to stuffing. Each year I stuff, bake, and devour zucchini boats. And every year I include different ingredients in the stuffing. Tonight I even had stuffing leftovers, which shall be transformed into stuffed peppers tomorrow night.

Or we could just use up the other discovered tug zucchini and have a repeat. Hmmm. Choices, choices.

Zucchini Boats

Preheat oven to 425.

1 large, overgrown zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise and scooped out (leave end caps on to contain stuffing)

Stuffing:

1 tube spicy sausage
olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 grated and blotted red potato (use paper towel to absorb liquids)
broccoli, cut into small pieces, about 1 cup
cauliflower, cut into small pieces, about 1 cup
fresh green beans, broken into one-inch pieces (precooking will make sure they are not chewy like mine!)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup roasted corn
water (about 3/4 cup, just enough to make stuffing a little saucy)
2 T. cumin
2 T. chili
2 T. oregano
1 T. Mrs. Dash
fresh ground black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes

grated cheese (your choice)

Toppings: sour cream and salsa

1. Cook sausage, onion, garlic, and potato in about 2 T. of olive oil. Stir often. Potato tends to stick.

2. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese and toppings. Stir often. Cook until blended and bubbling.

3. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and arrange zucchini boats in the middle. Fill with stuffing mixture. I smash it down and let it overflow. Top with grated cheese.

4. Bake about 40 minutes, or until fork easily pierces skin of zucchini. Keep watch over toppings to avoid burning.

5. Cut in half to serve. Top with sour cream and salsa.

Delish!

Tip: Use leftovers to stuff peppers or a second zucchini tugboat. Sometimes I add brown rice to the stuffing mix.