honey "graham" bars

Once upon a Wednesday, I was looking at Smitten Kitchen's homemade s'mores, then read Emily's graham cracker recipe. I had every ingredient on her list and...wow. That just plain ol' sounded good.

I'd recently had my life changed by Emily's bagel recipe, which I adapted to make cinnamon raisin bagels, which are Michael's favorite, and Michael's my favorite, but that's another story.

(Recipe to be posted soon!)

Anyway, all that to say, I knew I could trust Emily's recipe. As always, I modified the recipe, and this time, I'm not positive I should have for the graham cracker consistency, but my result was something delicious too. The original recipe called for 1 Tbsp honey and then sugar. I decided to adjust the sugar-honey ratio to include more honey. This changed the texture of the dough entirely. Duh.

So, I had to increase my baking time and my result was more granola bar/cookie-ish than graham cracker...but wowsa. They were delicious. And now they are almost gone. Which is a real shame on account of they were delicious.

Also, you can feel sort of fancy making them because, hey, who makes homemade graham crackers?! Or...really, in my case more like graham cookie bars.

These aren't "dyed in the wool, true blue" graham crackers because they aren't made with graham flour, but you still get that great taste and a dose of some whole grains (whole wheat flour, and oat flour). I love the texture and flavor. AND there's no high fructose corn syrup!Delish!

Graham Cracker Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2c whole wheat flour
1/2c white flour
1/2c oat flour (made by blending 1/2c whole rolled oats in a blender/food processor till flour-y)
3 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2tsp baking soda
generous pinch salt
1/4c honey
2 Tbsp water or milk

1/3c oil or melted butter

Directions:
In a liquid measuring cup, combine honey, water/milk, and oil/butter. In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, soda, and salt. Add liquid all at once and stir till dough comes together in a ball (will be quite moist). With your hands, form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30-40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat preferrably. If not, spray your pan with nonstick spray.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until dough is golden and edges are somewhat crisp. Remove from oven, slice with pizza cutter into bars and prick with a fork.

using up summer squash and zucchini

I must preface this post by telling you that I have really, honestly, truly made more recipes than I've posted. I've just had two failures and one that was less than photogenic. So... This is what you get. Forgive me. We all make mistakes.

Yesterday, I came home FAMISHED. Dying. Perishing. Nearly without life. Extinguished. My only thought was that if I didn't get some sort of food in me on the double, I might as well kiss my existence goodbye.

...Perhaps I overreacted... I do that.

So.

I opened the refrigerator, naturally, to find nothing fast to inhale. Figures. So I had a piece of ham and cheese. Once I had my faculties about me, I decided to see what I could make for a tasty lunch. Michael (bless him) settled down with the leftovers of one of the said yucky failures. I turned back to the fridge and saw...ingredients for dinner (not to be touched just yet) some milk...cheese...and a summer squash from my parents' garden. BINGO!

One of the tastiest and sneakiest ways to get zucchini and summer squash into picky eaters' diets is to sneak it into something tasty. If you are afraid of the squash by itself, combine it with some grated baked or boiled potato. No one will notice. But even for a "not-squash" person, these taste great. The flavors of parmesan come through with a hash-brown texture. How is this a bad plan?

Summer Squash (or zucchini) Fritters

Ingredients:

1 squash or zucchini, grated (I leave the peel on. More fiber and vitamins!)

1/4c grated parmesan cheese

4-5 Tbsp flour

salt and pepper

1 egg white

butter or olive oil for the pan

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine zucchini, parmesan, flour, a generous pinch of salt and pepper and the egg white. Heat a skillet over medium to medium-high heat with a little butter or olive oil in the bottom of the pan. With your hands, form a small 2" diameter patties of the squash mixture and place down in skillet (you may need to do this in a few small batches). Cook about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown on bottom side, then flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes or till done.

Depending on the size of your squash, you should get between 8-10 patties.

shepherd's pie

I know. I KNOW! It's August, not September or October/November/December/Any other chilly month. But I've seen delicious-looking recipes for shepherd's pie in about 4 of the 13 cookbooks I've gone through lately, and I just wanted to try it. I remember eating it a few times in my childhood, but I, like my mother, reeeeeally don't like the smell of raw ground beef, so I don't cook with it a lot.

I decided to make an exception. And I bought the "extra-super-especially-lower-fat" kind (90/10) of ground beef, so I was able to endure like a martyr. But, let's be honest here, the "extra-super-especially-lower-fat" kind is more expensive. And, if you're a connoisseur, it's less flavorful than the more fatty kind. A happy compromise is somewhere in the 85/15 region, but you be the judge.

Anyway.

Shepherd's pie is a simple casserole made with a meat and vegetable base, topped with mashed potatoes and sometimes cheese (either as its own layer or mixed in with the potatoes). It is traditionally made with lamb. As in "Mary had a little." Since ground lamb isn't so common here in the states, we American-types tend to make ours with ground beef (which, is sometimes called cottage pie). It can have a combination of basically whatever vegetables you want--some people make it with carrots, corn, and green beans, others choose peas and carrots.--there are endless combinations.

I chose a simple combination that I recommend. Even if you are not a pea person, try throwing the peas in. You can't taste them particularly and they add a lot of great vitamins with a hint of sweetness. You could throw in some green beans too, if you want. It's a tasty way to fit in more veggies. See what you think!


Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1/2 large onion (or 1 small), diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2lb carrots, diced
1-2c frozen peas
mashed potatoes (see recipe below)
salt and pepper
1/2c beef broth
2 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
1-2 Tbsp tomato paste
1-2 Tbsp ketchup
about 1c grated cheese, optional

Mashed potatoes:
4lbs potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 Tbsp butter
about 1/4c milk (I use skim)
3 Tbsp sour cream (I use light)
1/2-1tsp salt, 1/4-1/2tsp pepper

Directions:
In a large pot or your largest saucepan, cover potatoes with water. Bring to a boil and cook until they can be pierced very easily with a knife. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain off any fat and set meat aside. Add onion, celery, and carrots to the skillet and cook about 5 minutes, or till onions become soft. Stir in tomato paste, beef broth, and ground beef. Cook and simmer till beef is cooked through. Liquid should be almost entirely evaporated/absorbed. Stir in 1 tbsp ketchup. If the mixture seems quite dry, add in 1 Tbsp more of either ketchup or tomato paste. Stir in frozen peas.

Meanwhile, drain potatoes and mash with butter, sour cream and enough milk to make a sturdy mashed potato (you don't want them mushy or runny). Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Pour meat and veggie mixure into a 2qt baking dish (round or with an 11" x 7"). If using cheese, sprinkle over veggie mixture. Top with mashed potatoes. Spread evenly over top and rough up surface with fork.




Place baking dish on a baking tray to prevent spills, and bake at 450 for 15 minutes or broil for a few minutes to brown up the top. Serve warm. It's SUCH a cozy meal!

Serves 6-8.

honey butter

I know what you're thinking. And yes, the answer is that this recipe contains honey and butter. And that's pretty much it. Unless you're adventurous, then you can add an egg yolk.

This basic recipe came to us from Michael's grandpa who lives in a beautiful mountain town and gets his honey from a special man who has special bees in a special place. I wish I could remember what all the "specials" were...I know it was a specific kind of honey, but I don't remember...humph.

Michael's grandpa uses the egg yolk and it had a really creamy, great, spreadable consistency. If you feel nervous about a raw egg yolk, just stick with the butter and honey and pull it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you want to use it so it can soften. Or do what we did and serve it on warm rolls. How is this be a bad plan?

Grandpa Dixon's Honey Butter

Ingredients:

1/2c (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1c honey

1 egg yolk, optional

Directions:

With a hand mixer or a whisk, beat butter, honey, and egg yolk until mixture becomes more opaque than liquid.

To store, place in a crock, tupperware container, or other worthy vessel and cover, storing in your refrigerator.

**FOOD SAFETY POLICE***Since this does contain a raw egg yolk, don't leave it at room temperature for longer than 2 hours. If you do, you risk it not being safe to eat, and you should throw it out.

dirty rice with kielbasa

As far as Michael and I are concerned, you just can't go wrong with kielbasa. A while back, we tried jazzing up a boxed mix for Jambalaya. It was fine. Good not great. Palatable.

This, however, was change-your-life-never-ever-ever-go-back-to-a-boxed-mix-again good.

I pieced together several recipes I've found, and oh, Sweet Suzie, it was worth every bit of research. Then again, almost any food research is worth it. It makes you a better cook, a better shopper, a better taster (I'm serious!), you name it. So check out some cookbooks from your local library and expand your horizons!!!

Sorry. I'm officially off the soapbox. Enjoy the recipe!

Dirty Rice with Kielbasa
Ingredients:

1lb kielbasa sausage (I use lite), cut in half lengthwise and sliced

1 tsp oil

1 bell pepper, or a mixture, diced (about 1c)

1 small onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8-1/4tsp cayenne pepper

2c hot cooked rice

4c chicken broth

Directions:

In a large saucepan, brown sausage in 1tsp oil over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, celery, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir, scraping up brown bits. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in cayenne, rice, and chicken broth. Mixture will be fairly soupy. Continue to stir, cooking over medium-high heat, allowing mixture to absorb chicken broth. Some people like this a little soupy, and only allow mixture to absorb about half of the chicken broth. I prefer it more stable, so I continue to cook until almost all liquid is absorbed (about 10 minutes).

Serves 6-8.

p.s. sorry. It was cloudy yesterday.

stuffed quesadillas

Last week, I told Michael that I wanted to make "the ultimate" quesadilla. We decided this would be our meatless meal of the week, so I didn't worry about a chicken element, but these were amazing. I am DEFINITELY going to be making them again.

What makes these "the ultimate" quesadilla is how stuffed they are. Between ooey gooey bites of quesadilla goodness, visions of even better ingredients danced through my head--grilled corn...jalapeno....lime juice...so I decided to just name these "stuffed quesadillas" rather than "the ultimate quesadilla" to be fair to all the other delicious ingredients out there.

Michael and I like to bake our quesadillas quite often (part of this is because quesadillas are "dinner and a movie" food for us, so we can make them and forget about them while they bake)but we made them in a skillet the next day and they were also delicious. As far as I'm concerned, there is no wrong answer.

I recommend serving them with lots of salsa. They would be amazing with sour cream, guacamole, or pico de gallo. Mmmm....

Stuffed Quesadillas

Ingredients:

flour tortillas

grated cheese--cheddar, Monterey Jack, whatever you like

1 small can diced green chilies

1c diced bell pepper (I used a mixture of frozen)

1/2 medium or small onion, diced

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

salsa

cilantro

sour cream

Other optional ingredients: grilled corn, diced tomato, minced jalapeno, additional cilantro, lime juice

Optional go-withs: salsa, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo

Directions:

In a medium skillet, caramelize onion and bell peppers in 1 tsp olive oil or butter over medium-low heat. Stir in green chilies, black beans. (If using grilled corn, jalapeno, etc., stir in now). Based on how "soupy" your mixture is, stir in 1-2 Tbsp salsa and 1-2 Tbsp sour cream. Stir in 1 Tbsp minced cilantro.

For each quesadilla, scoop enough filling to cover bottom tortilla, leaving a 1" border around the edge (even if you use 10" tortillas. Believe me, things do spread). Sprinkle with cheese and top with second tortilla.

Brown on both sides in a buttered or sprayed skillet or bake at 450 about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Slice into wedges and serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

caramel-y apple salad

I've struggled to come up with a good name for this salad, which sort of came together on a whim. After being inspired by Pioneer Woman's berry cream, I made a somewhat lighter version of berry cream that tastes amazing. The creamy sauce, then, was the base idea for this recipe. It has a light, sort of caramel taste that pairs really well with every kind of fruit I've tried it with--bananas, apples of all kinds, pears, grapes, and berries.

You can use as much or as little of the creamy sauce for the salad as you like. It was perfect for a picnic Michael and I took a few weeks ago. If you're making it as a side dish for a crowd, just keep adding fruit. If it's just you or two of you, just slice up 2 apples and use the rest of the sauce with fruit later in the week.

Caramel Apple Salad

Ingredients:

1 (8oz) container lowfat or fat free plain yogurt

about 1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

apples--I recommend a variety (Granny Smith, Gala, Pink Lady, etc.)

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl, stir yogurt until smooth with a whisk. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for a few hours. (You can do this in the morning and then make the salad later in the day or make it before you go to bed and make the salad the next day.) When the yogurt sauce starts looking...well...rather gross and separated, it's ready.

Whisk the brown sugar into the yogurt until very smooth. Whisk in vanilla. Dice apples and toss with some of the yogurt sauce. Serve immediately or keep chilled till ready to serve.