Homespun Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix

I just made this hot chocolate mix and I'm so excited about it! It is every bit as good as Starbucks. (There I said it!) I used another recipe I found online that was all complicated and involved cooking! Yuck. I adapted this for my food processor and even made it so that you can just add hot water instead of heating milk.

2 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 1/2 C good quality Dutch cocoa powder
1 to 3 Tbsp sea salt (I lean towards 3 - heavily!)
5 c dry milk powder (if you are adding to milk - only use 1c)
3/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips

Grind the chocolate chips in the food processor to make them more like chocolate shavings.  Then in an enormous bowl - mix everything else together.  Add the chocolate shavings and mix again.

Add 1/3 c of mix to hot water! Viola!

(If you opt for the version to add to heated milk - 3-4 Tbsp should suffice!)

Crock Pot Spaghetti

This is being shared from my other blog!


This has got to be one of the best finds for the crock pot thus far. I was so surprised that I didn't find it on one of my other favorite crock pot blogs. It was so totally easy. My friend Julie tweaked it, and I liked her tweaks so much I will make it this way again and again!

Crock Pot Spaghetti

1 lb. Italian sausage cut into 1" sections
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (standard size)
1 chopped onion (to taste - I used 1/2)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 regular sized can of diced Italian tomatoes
Approx. 1 cup hot water
8 oz thin spaghetti, broken in half

Put approx. 2 Tbsp. of oil in bottom of crock pot along with sausage pieces and chopped onion. (You could add green pepper, or any other veggies you like at this point.) Cook approx. 1 hour on high - stirring at 1/2 hour. Add spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes. stir well. Cook on low for 2 more hours. (If you prefer you can use tomato sauce, paste, etc. and simmer your own sauce ingredients instead of using jar sauce which I will try next time.) Once sauce has simmered a couple of hours, turn crock pot back on high, and add broken noodles and water so that there is enough liquid to cover noodles and to stir the mixture freely. Cook on high for 1 hour.

I have a picky eater who loved this. She said she preferred the texture of the noodles to the way they are normally. They were a little starchier than usual. While not gourmet Italian food, it was yummy, simple and didn't heat up my kitchen. To feed 5 of us, I doubled this, and we'll eat it for 2 nights! Nobody will complain.

Sauteed Kale

1 huge bag of kale
1 large vidalia/sweet onion, diced
1-2 cloves of minced garlic
olive oil

Heavily drizzle olive oil in the bottom of heated skillet.  Add onions and cook for a few minutes, then add the minced garlic.  Cook stirring so you are careful not to burn the garlic.  Drizzle a little more olive oil if the skillet starts to dry.  Once onions are translucent, add large handfuls of kale until the skillet is full - almost overly full because the kale will cook down significantly.  Salt and pepper and stir frequently until the kale is cooked down. Don't overcook or greens will get slimy.

YUM!  Greens are really good with hot sauce! Try other seasonings. Let me know if you try anything especially yummy.

Homemade Laundry Detergent Concentrate

 I have been seriously neglectful of this fledgling blog.  I'll blame it on busy-ness. Life is crazy.

Today's "recipe" isn't for something you can eat - but an important household recipe for our home - laundry detergent concentrate. This recipe makes about 3 gallons.  I read the math somewhere - that it was about $6 for the batch and it can wash up to 500 loads.  I haven't ever kept track since there have been anywhere from 4-6 people doing laundry in the household at any given time. Let's just suffice to say it is a great savings.

Be sure to start with a large pot that will hold at least 2 gallons of water.

The ingredients:
1. A bar of soap, grated.  I prefer not to use petroleum based products.  A lot of the recipes call for Fels Naptha soap - and while it will get your clothes clean, it is petroleum based.  I have also used Ivory soap - but found I didn't like the smell and found it very difficult to get through the whole batch of detergent.  If you throw it out it is a waste!  I like Dr. Bonner's magic soaps - specifically the lavender scent.  (If you use Fels Naptha - only use 1/3-1/2 of the bar) Grate it right into a large pot.
2. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, 1 cup - not to be confused with baking soda.  This is different.  You should be able to find it in your grocery store's laundry detergent aisle.
4. Mule-Team Borax, 1 cup - The box for this used to be green and square - but they have recently switched to a taller white box.  It can also be found in the grocery store detergent aisle or with cleaning products.

Add 1 gallon of water in a large pot to the bar of grated soap.  Turn the heat up high and stir until the soap has melted.  (It does not need to boil to melt the soap.)  Once soap is melted, add the Washing Soda and the Borax.  Stir until dissolved.  Sometimes I get a little on my fingers to make sure the liquid is smooth and not gritty to know that it is completely dissolved - depending on how hot it is.  Add another gallon of cold water and stir well.

This concentrate is super thick.  Overnight it should turn into a gel so you want to be sure to store it in containers that allow room for you to add more water.  I use a large gallon pitcher for my "in use" detergent (see picture above). I fill the pitcher up halfway and add another half gallon or so of water and stir or whisk together. The rest of the concentrate gets stored in other containers to mix in that gallon jug when we need more.  It is incredible that you almost cannot liquefy it - you add water to it and it returns to a gel.  Even if your gel gets a little clumpy - it will all dissolve in the washing machine.

This detergent is not sudsy and therefore is great for HE machines! Happy Laundry Day!

Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Kendra left me with a sticky note of the four recipes she would like to have, and the first one that I'm going to tackle is Shepherd's Pie.  There are a lot of variations to this recipe. It is something pretty simple and you can't go wrong as long as you have the four layers: meat, vegetable, potato and cheese.

This recipe makes one pie plate of Shepherd's pie - you can double it if you would like to make it in a 13x9 baking dish.  Start by preheating the oven to 400° and lightly greasing a pie plate.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 small can tomato paste

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

4-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed *

1/2 - 1 c milk

1/2 stick (1/4 c) butter

salt

pepper

frozen peas OR peas and carrots OR corn

1-2 c shredded cheddar cheese ** (optional)

*A note about potatoes - choose these depending on size. If they are pretty large you can probably use 4-5, but if they are small you could use as many as 8. You'll need enough mashed potatoes to cover the top of your Shepherd's Pie in a pie plate.  A good potato that has body and doesn't get too mushy is an Idaho russet potatoes. 

**A note about shredded cheese - it is more economical to buy and shred your own cheese. It is also more flavorful. However, for convenience sake, you can buy the pre-shredded cheese. One reason to avoid pre-shredded cheese is that it is covered with cellulose so that it won't clump together. 

Do all the prep work - dice onions, mince garlic, peel and cut potatoes into medium sized cubes.  (Do potatoes last so they won't get brownish gray while they sit - and if you have to pre-peel them, you can put them in cold water with a little salt to keep them nicely.)

Put on a large pot of water to boil for the potatoes. This will require some multi-tasking - but once the water is boiling, add the potatoes and cook until tender. 

In the meantime in a skillet, brown the ground beef with the diced onion and minced garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste. Drain the grease not into your drain, into a jar or can to save for flavoring beans or throw away or into a bowl to scrape out into the trash once it congeals. (Never, never drain grease into your sink drain.) Stir in the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce over low heat until beef is saucy. Leave beef on low or warm while you prepare the vegetables and potatoes.

Cook vegetables in a small amount of water to warm through in another pot - and drain thoroughly.

Drain the potatoes once they are done and return back to the hot pot they were cooked in with 1/2 stick of butter, salt and pepper and 1/4 c milk and use hand mixer to whip the potatoes.  Add more milk if the potatoes are too stiff, but they should be thicker for this recipe. 

In a lightly greased pie pan, layer the meat mixture on the bottom, then the vegetables.  When adding the mashed potatoes, drop by heaping spoonfuls all over the pie and then gently smooth. You want to try and spread the potatoes without disturbing the layers underneath. 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are lightly brown and crusty.  If you are adding shredded cheese, sprinkle on the top and put back into the oven for 5 minutes until melted. 

Yum! Yum! Happy cooking - - and eating!

Kitchen Pantry Staples

I am missing my girl and some of our phone calls go like this:
RING.
Me: Hello.
Kendra: Mom, I forgot to thaw the chicken. What do I do?
Me: You can heat it in a skillet with a little oil on medium-high heat.
Kendra: We don't have any oil and the chicken is frozen.
Me: It's fully cooked, right? You can put it on a baking sheet in the oven.
Kendra: Oh, I found some oil. Bye.
*click*

...... must be nice to have a cooking hotline.

So on to the most recent request which is a list of pantry staples. This list is customizable based on the types of things that you like to cook and that the people you are cooking for like to eat.

Here are the bare minimum, must have basics for general cooking:

1. flour - every day run of the mill, unbleached and all-purpose (we don't want to eat something that has been bleached - blech!) There are fancier flours, and eventually I would suggest adding some whole wheat for healthy cooking, bread baking, etc. and others if you want to get real *fancy* - be sure not to get self-rising flour unless that is what a specific recipe calls for - and you can make all-purpose flour into self rising flour by adding 1 1/4 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt for every cup of flour
2. sugar - we use organic sugar that is unrefined, larger crystals and slightly tan in color - but white table sugar is less expensive and works equally as well - in fact it dissolves in a cold drink much more quickly - however, it has a more dramatic impact on your blood sugar - this might be one financial choice you make for health reasons
3. salt - I prefer Celtic sea-salt which has a slightly gray-ish color and is a little bit coarser than table salt - so it doesn't come out of salt shakers very well - but not all brands have iodine - you can find some brands that do.  Regular table salt has been processed and refined and can have a detrimental impact on your blood pressure over time.  
4. baking powder - be sure to buy a brand that is aluminum free
5. baking soda - is used in various recipes, can be used for cleaning, brushing your teeth, deodorizing your refrigerator (once you use it in this way - don't cook with it because it absorbs the odors into the baking soda - yuck!)
6. butter - not margarine - buy in sticks for ease of measuring for cooking or in 1 lb blocks to put in a crock for spreading on toast, etc. 
7. oil - olive oil is the most heart healthy - extra virgin olive oil, first cold-pressed is the healthiest because it is processed without heat - this one is light green in color, but for a lighter flavor use light olive oil which is light gold in color - a cheaper substitute is canola oil
8. garlic - fresh cloves of garlic are relatively inexpensive - for maximum flavor and freshness, don't overbuy - so go for a clove a week versus buying a big bag - you can also use *sigh* garlic powder - if you must - as a cheaper, more convenient alternative - but the flavor is not the same. I have both in my kitchen and use them for different purposes. 
9. onion - I prefer sweet onions, sometimes Vidalias in season - but there are other types of sweet onions - they are less harsh when you cut them.  You can use dried, minced onions or onion powder as a substitute - but again you will sacrifice flavor. 

More pantry basics: dried pasta, dried beans, chicken stock or broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, canned tuna and chicken, peanut butter, vinegar (red wine and white), hot sauce (you are married to Jacob!), bread, cereal, oatmeal, etc. 

For the fridge: jelly, salad dressing, eggs, mayonnaise (for Jacob!), mustard, yogurt, milk, produce, shredded cheese, sliced cheese, lunch meat, etc. 

Once you have some of the basics, cooking becomes so much easier. You have to remember to stock up and look for coupons for these items when you can because these are things you always need. 

Bird in a Nest with a Twist

One of the quick and easy meals that my mom would make when I was growing up was called a Bird in a Nest. You used a milk glass to cut a hole in the middle of a piece of bread, put the bread in a skillet with melted butter and crack an egg in the middle, salt and pepper, flip and cook on the other side until done. It's yummy.  It's easy and it's good.  A few weeks ago I saw something that reminded me of this, with a twist.

**This isn't something I anticipate Kendra will ever make. I am just posting it because I cooked it this morning and took pictures.

Baked Egg in an Avocado

Preheat oven to 425°


1. Start by cutting the avocado in half by taking the knife in a circular motion around from top to bottom around the pit.

2. Remove the pit.  If necessary, in order to have more egg in the center, scoop out a little bit of the avocado meat from the center.  Place the halves, still in the skin onto a piece of sturdy foil, and bunch the foil around the avocados so that they won't tilt and spill all of your eggs out. 

3. Scramble one egg and season as desired. I chose a pinch of salt, a dash of pepper and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes - or until egg is completely cooked through.

5. Enjoy!