Here's What's Cooking!

Just thought I'd post some tasty recipes I've encountered and made lately. Such yumminess was meant to be shared!

Gingerbread

Combine:

1/2 cup sour milk or water

1/3-1/2 cup oil

1 egg

Combine separately, add and beat thoroughly:

1 cup brown sugar or molasses (I used molasses)

1 1/2 teaspoons soda

2 teaspoons ginger

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon each of cloves and nutmeg (I used allspice in place of cloves)

Place in a greased and floured 9X13 pan. Bake at 325 F for 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (I served with ice cream).

This was delicious gingerbread! The children loved it!

Healthy Banana Pudding

I found this recipe online and made some modifications to it to make it healthy. I could have eaten the whole pan myself, but I was nice and shared with the children. :) Here's my modified version:

2 eggs beaten

2 1/2 cups milk (I used soy milk)

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

vanilla wafers or a similar type cookie (original recipe calls for 32; depends on the size of your dish)

4 bananas sliced (again, you might have to change this amount as it depends on the size of your dish)

In a saucepan, combine eggs, milk, honey, cornstarch and salt. Cook until thick, stirring constantly; about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Cover the bottom of your glass dish with a layer of cookies. Top with bananas, then top with pudding. Repeat this step. (Or do as I did, and place bananas on top of the pudding, followed by cookies, so cookies are on the very top.) Chill thoroughly before serving.

Quick and Simple Corn Bread

For years, we have used a corn bread recipe my mom came up with that leans on the sweet side (using honey, of course). I love it! However, when making homemade stuffing for Thanksgiving, I needed a corn bread recipe that was not sweet. After quite a bit of searching, I found this one and it was perfect! I have made it several times since as a side to many a meal, and the children gobble it up (not to mention the cook herself)!

1 cup flour (I use whole wheat, but white flour works too!)

1 cup corn meal (or corn flour if you use the finely-milled variety)

1/4 cup sugar (I use brown sugar)

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil or butter

Combine all the wet ingredients; add the dry. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and bread tests done.

Wha-laa! So simple and healthy and yummy!

Rice and Bread Stuffing

Since I had volunteered to make stuffing for our Thanksgiving celebration, I experimented with a couple different recipes beforehand, to see which one was tastiest! (I also whipped up some imported Stovetop stuffing simply because I like it so much! But just serving Stovetop seemed to be cheating, so I was determined to make some actual homemade stuffing as well.)

This recipe has a number of unique ingredients like rice and orange juice, but it really is quite delicious! I made a number of changes to the recipe which I will note at the bottom, but here it is in its original form:

7 slices day old bread, torn (I used wheat bread)

1 cup torn corn bread (I used the above recipe)

2/3 cup hot water

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup sliced, fresh mushrooms (I did not use these as they are hard to find here and very expensive if you do find them!)

1 cup firmly packed sliced, fresh spinach

1 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup cooked wild rice

1/2 cup orange juice

1 egg beaten

2 teaspoons rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon thyme (I used Italian seasoning)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a skillet, saute celery, onions, and mushrooms until tender. (I also added garlic.) In a large bowl, lightly toss bread and water. Stir in sauteed vegetables. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Place in a greased 2-quart baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I chose to double the onion and celery for added flavor. I also increased the amount of corn bread and decreased the regular bread, since I happen to like more corn bread in my stuffing. It was a little on the dry side the first time I made it, so the next time, I increased the water and orange juice to 1 cup each, and added an extra egg. I think the next time, I'll add even more water, simply because I like my stuffing a bit more moist. A very flavorful dish to be sure!

Green Bean Stir Fry

Last night, I wanted to make Fried Rice for a little variety added to our menu. However, I needed a good side dish to go with it that was still Oriental-ish. We have tons of green beans in the freezer right now, so I typed green beans into the search browser on allrecipes.com, and found this delicious recipe!

I really have no idea what 3/4 pound of green beans is, so I started out making one batch of the sauce, but found I needed to double it. I don't know if that is because I had way more than 3/4 pound of green beans, or if I just wanted them more flavorful.

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 garlic cloves minced

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon peanut butter (or in my case, almond butter)

3/4 pound fresh green beans, trimmed (mine were fresh then frozen, so I had to boil them first to soften)

4 1/2 teaspoons oil

Combine the first five ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Stir-fry the green beans in the oil until crisp-tender. Add the sauce and stir to coat. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Chewy Molasses Ginger Cookies

A couple of weeks ago, the tía with whom I work here at House 3 told me she needed to take chewy molasses ginger cookies (as opposed to crisp ginger snaps) to a baby shower. I did an online search for a workable recipe and found this one. It was so tasty, I made these cookies again to give away at to our Thanksgiving guests as a take-home party favor.

3/4 cup butter or margarine melted

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (or all spice)

1/4 cup white sugar for rolling dough

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, butter, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the wet. Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and then roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

This recipe yields between 30-40 cookies on average, depending on how big you make them. I found they were nice and chewy the first day, but on day 2, they do harden and become more crisp. A quick re-heating in oven or microwave returns them to being chewy once more! Definitely a winning recipe!