Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
makes 24 cookies

• 1/2 cup butter (no margarine!)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (we make our own, see our brown sugar recipe here)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of each: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
• 1 Tablespoon brandy (we used whiskey; you can also use pure vanilla)
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried cranberries

In one bowl, mash the butter. Add the sugars to make a grainy cream. Add the egg and mix well.

In a second bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and spices. Combine the bowls and add the brandy/whisky/vanilla.

Add the chips and berries and mix lightly.

Scoop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Don’t allow the cookies to overbake.

You may want to stock up on the diet supplements before making these– they are SO good that you may easily eat half a dozen without even realizing it!!! They are not heavy in the stomach. Best served with hot, regular tea. YUMMMMMM!

photo credit: seriouslygood1
Well, anyway, after years of experimenting, the best thing I found to make nice, moist banana bread is to double the amount of bananas the recipe calls for. Here’s my tried-and-true recipe.

Basic Banana Bread
makes one loaf

1/3 cup applesauce*
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

1 3/4 cup white flour**
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups mashed over-ripe banana
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
optional: 1/2 cup broken nuts or 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have a loaf pan prepared by thoroughly greasing the inside with margarine or butter.

In a large bowl, mix together your applesauce. sugar, and eggs.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to your applesauce mixture in portions. In between your dry mix portions, add some of the mashed banana. Beat well after each addition. When everything is combined, add your vanilla extract and optional ingredients and mix quickly.

Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until done. (You can insert a toothpick in the loaf to test for doneness– if the toothpick comes out clean, the loaf is done).

Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so, then remove from loaf pan and allow to cool thoroughly.

Notes: *You can use shortening or butter or margarine in substitute of the applesauce, but I found applesauce a lot healthier and it makes the bread less greasy. And applesauce adds enough moisture to be a suitable substitute for the shortening.

**Be aware that if you use any wheat flour, it will make your loaf heavier and drier. You will need to adjust your liquids, too.

Enjoy!

So today I made Easy Giant Apple Pie. If you have peeled and diced apples and ready-made packaged pie crusts, this recipe takes about 15 minutes to throw together– it’s SO easy! And I call it “Giant” because it is a huge pie, baked in a casserole dish. This is nice if you have a lot of kids to feed (like me) or a big crowd, if you love leftover pie, or if you’re skipping the appetite suppressant and just want to bake a big pie.

Technically, this kind of apple pie is called “French” apple pie, because it has no top crust. Rather, it has a crumbly streusel topping. It’s fabulous with coffee or ice cream.

Regarding the spices– add to your own liking. I rarely use measuring utensils (I’m a hands-on kind of cook) so the measurements here are approximate. Also, make sure your pie crusts are room temperature. This makes them more flexible without tearing– you are going to need to pull at the crusts a little to fit them into a rectangular 13×9 casserole dish.

Easy Giant Apple Pie

2 pie crusts
1 13×9 casserole dish

for the pie mix:
10 cups (or so) of pared and diced apples (thawed)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup molasses (optional)
1/4 cup ground flax seed meal (optional)
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup flour

for the topping:
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend the topping ingredients and mash in the butter until the mix looks gravelly.

Mix up the apples and other ingredients for the pie filling.

Take your pie crusts. Make sure they are room temperature.

Gently unroll one of the crusts and place it into the casserole dish. You want to stretch it a little to make the crust fit up along the sides of the dish.

Unroll the second crust and overlap the first a little. Press the seam together where the two meet. Again, make sure your crust fits up along the inner sides of the dish.

Dump the pie filling in the dish. Sprinkle the topping evenly on top.

Bake in a hot oven at 400 degrees for an hour and twenty minutes. The pie should be bubbling. The baking pie makes the house smell INCREDIBLE.

Doesn’t it look scrumptious?? Yum!

With my recipe, you can adjust your sweetener to your own liking, whether you want light brown sugar, or dark brown sugar.

Homemade Brown Sugar

Molasses
White sugar
A very large, tall container
A wooden spoon

Beware, though– this gets a little messy.

Dump the white sugar in the tall container. I recommend a tall one because it’s easier to mix and keep the molasses in the container while stirring. If you use a low, round bowl, you may wind up with your sugar all over the counter. Unless you are a neat-nik. I am not, so…

Once you have the sugar in the container, dump in some molasses. BE SURE to keep the molasses away from the sides of the container, because it will stick to it and you’ll have to stir like the dickens to get it off and mixed into the sugar. I create a small well in the center of the sugar and dump molasses in, a little at a time.

Mix by hand for 4.67 hours.

KIDDING.

But it will feel like it.

Mix and mix and mix, until it is, well, mixed. I usually recruit a few of the kids to take turns. They are usually reluctant, until I promise them I will make them the Bread Machine Apple Donuts, which at the mention of those, they turn into salivating, slathering slaves ready to build the pyramids if I ask them.

When the enslaved minions have mixed your molasses and sugar, cover the container well and place in storage. I don’t know how long the stuff will keep; ours is always used up within a few months.

So now you can rest easy, knowing that you are feeding your family some REAL sweetener for their goodies. I know I feel like a better mother after doing it.

Basically, she used the same ingredients (massively increasing the measurements to feed 10, of course) . Instead of making boats, she diced the zucchini and made a casserole. Oh my word– it was soooo good!! All of the kids ate it except the Picky One. They kids even had seconds! This is a great recipe. If you have extraneous zucchini, I suggest you give it a go.

Like everything I do, this is completely customizable. If you like spicy chowder, add a dash of Tabasco sauce. Don’t like bacon or sausage? Use ground turkey sausage. Like more greens or yellows? Throw in some freshly chopped spinach or leftover corn. Just keep in mind that the more you add to your chowder, the more dilute the seasoning becomes. Always do a taste test before serving, and add salt or pepper or garlic powder accordingly. This is my tried-and-true chowder recipe.

Crockpot Manhattan Clam Chowder
Serves 6-9

1/2 pound of bacon, cooked, drained, and chopped
1/2 pound ground sausage, cooked and drained
4 cans undrained, minced clams– save that juice!
2 28oz cans of petite, diced tomatoes
4 medium potatoes, diced into small cubes (I leave the skins on the potatoes)
1 large Vidalia onion, chopped well
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 Tablespoon basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
Throw everything in the pot, including the clam juice. Stir a few times. Cover and set on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 8-9 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool off a little before serving.

This chowder is terrific served with garlic bread and a small, light salad.

Photo courtesy of LATimes.

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Wow Chow Chili
serves 10

• 1 large can (28 oz.) petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 4-5 pounds beef or pork, cubed into bite-sized pieces (I used both uncooked beef cubes and some leftover grilled pork steaks, cubed)
• 3 cans black beans, drained
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt

Throw everything into the crockpot and stir well. Turn on HIGH for 6-8 hours (or LOW for 10-12).

Serve with rice and a little cheddar cheese sprinkled over the top.

If you want to add some heat to the recipe, you can add tabasco sauce, or something like hot pickled cherry peppers. I always have a can of these on hand for my Chicken Riggies recipe. My kids don’t like spicy foods, so I don’t make them (not too often, heh heh).

5 pounds beef steak (I slice mine into chunks for quicker cooking)
1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons dried basil

In a large bowl, pour all ingredients over the meat. Allow to stand at room temperature for an hour. Heat up the grill, and lay the meat on the grates. Sear the meat for about 15-20 minutes. Once seared, move the meat over to one side of the grill (pile them up if you have to, they won’t stay there long). Then, lay a sheet of aluminum foil across the grates. Place the seared meat on top of the aluminum foil, and throw a few sliced white onions on top. Allow to cook for 15 minute smore or so (depends on how you like your meat– I like mine medium rare to well done).

Serve with fresh green salad, sliced cantaloupe, and potato salad. DELICIOUS!

All the meatball recipes that I have seen bake the balls in the oven. This pretty much destroys the savory goodness of the meatball. Plus, you may as well hand out the nutcrackers when serving the meatballs, they get so hard. My meatballs are boiled in tomato sauce, and turn out soft and savory.

Just like all of my recipes, this one is customizable. I usually hunt around in my refrigerator, looking for leftovers or other savory things to dump into the meat mixture. This time I had some leftover cubanelle peppers and tomato slices. In the past, I’ve added cooked spinach (make sure its FULLY drained if you add it), shredded cheese, or oatmeal. Keep in mind that the more leftovers you add, the more dilute the meat and the spices are, so be sure to add more meat and/or spices accordingly.

Also, this is a big recipe. I was able to make 135 meatballs with these ingredients. The great thing is that meatballs freeze very well. Even though this recipe has raw eggs, the uncooked meatballs can be frozen for up to 4 months. So, next time you want to have a spaghetti dinner, just pop the meatballs into a can of tomatoes, cook for an hour and there’s your dinner.

OK, on with the show.

Wow Chow Meatballs

4 lbs ground beef
2 lbs ground bulk sausage
1 cup breadcrumbs
4 eggs
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup diced white onion
small saucepan with 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons Caesar or Italian salad dressing
2 28oz cans petite diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1/2 cup to 1 cup leftover veggies or etc (optional)

First thing is get a small saucepan and add a little olive oil. Saute the diced onion until it’s turning tender. I also sauteed my leftover veggies to soften them.

While the veggies are cooking, get some breadcrumbs ready. You can buy the prepared stuff at the store, but it only takes about 4-5 slices of bread and 3-4 minutes to crumble it yourself. Doing this is fresher, has fewer preservatives, and is less expensive.

Your sauteeing veggies are probably done by now; turn off the heat and set the pan aside to cool a little.

Now it’s time to get to the meat. In a very large bowl, dump the meat in it. I usually get the fatty type of ground beef (the 70/30) because I am cheap. You can go with super-lean beef here, but the recipe will alter a little– I’ll be sure to let you know what you do, when we get to it. For now, dump the meat into the bowl, and chop at it with a spatula to loosen the mould.

Next, add the ground sausage, the bread crumbs, the basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix the dry ingredients with your hand. (You didn’t think you’d be able to make an Italian dish without getting your hands dirty, did you?).

Now add the eggs, the salad dressing, the sauteed veggies, and the optional Parmesan cheese. I usually add about 1/4 cup of cheese; do what you will. You get to mix it by hand again! Isn’t this fun?!

Now you make the meatballs. You can make them as big or small as you wish… I like them to fit in the cup of the palm of my hand.

Place the meatballs in a Dutch oven. Don’t fill the Dutch oven, though– place the meatballs no higher than two stacks. Pack them in closely together, but keep the balls from mushing so tightly that they lose their shape. We want meatBALLS not meatOVALS.

Now, if you are using the fatty ground beef like me, add about a half-inch of cold water to the pot. If you are using super-lean beef, you can skip this water part and go right to the step where we add the cans of tomatoes (see below).

So, those using the fatty beef can put their Dutch oven on the burner, set between medium and high. Cover the Dutch oven with a lid. Get the water simmering quickly, and once it starts to simmer, turn the heat down to medium-low. Boil the meatballs for about 10-15 minutes.

Now this is very important– never at any time do you ever stir the pot! Never, never! You will break the meatballs and create a mush. To keep the meatballs from sticking to the bottom of the Dutch oven and from each other, shake the Dutch oven until the meatballs jiggle. They only need to jiggle a little bit to keep from sticking. I shake the Dutch oven probably 5 times while it boils for the 10-15 minutes it’s going.

The meatballs will brown a little. This is good, this helps them to keep their shape. Drain the water out (keep the stove burner on– your pot will be right back). This is what the meatballs should look like. They have a very nice round shape.

Now you are going to add the tomatoes, liquid and all.

And add a little more basil (about a teaspoon) to sweeten the tomato sauce. Add some salt to taste.

Shake your Dutch oven to get the liquid to go to the bottom. Don’t over-shake– your meatballs are tender little things and they make fall apart if you abuse them.

And again cover your Dutch oven, keeping the stove burner on LOW. Allow the tomato meatball mixture to simmer. I let it cook just about all day– it drives the family crazy! But if you have to pin me down as to how long to cook it, I’d say about 2-3 hours. From time to time throughout the day, shake them. Don’t let the tomato sauce burn, it will ruin the entire recipe. Keep the burner at low and shake every half hour or so. The meatballs will absorb the tomato liquid as it simmers. This is so much better than baking the balls into hardened little marbles, don’t you think?

Now, my family likes the store-bought spaghetti sauce. But I like the fresh/canned tomato sauce like I have here. So we reached a compromise where I add a can of store-bought sauce to the simmering mix, about 1/2 hour before I serve the meal. You can always add one less can of tomatoes, and more suace. Like I said, this is a very customizable recipe. It’s sooooo good, believe me!

We rarely have leftovers, but if we do, I set aside 3 meatballs with sauce in a small plastic container, and pack it in my husband’s lunch box. I include a small hoagie roll with a small bag of shredded mozzarella cheese, and he’s got a hot lunch for work. And the leftover meatballs are even better! Manja, manja!

Super Easy Chicken Florentine
serves 6-8

Chicken breasts, boned, skinned, and cubed
2 cans Alfredo sauce
1 28oz. can spinach -or- three handfuls of raw baby leaf spinach
Parmesan cheese
Paprika

optional: shredded mozzarella cheese

The chicken can either be cubed into chunks or left whole in the casserole dish. I vary from week to week, depending on if I am feeling lazy or not. One of the many great things about having teenagers is that you can sit down and just EAT DINNER. You don’t have to go around, plate to plate, cutting everyone’s meat. But sometimes I pre-cube the chicken, sometimes I throw the whole breasts in the dish and let the family hack it out. Whatever floats yer boat.

One tip: cut the chicken while it’s slightly frozen. Completely thawed chicken is jiggly and squirmy. I pull my chicken out of the freezer and thaw it on the countertop for about two hours before slicing. I know “they” say you aren’t supposed to thaw meat on the counter!! I live dangerously, I guess.

So, put your chicken in the dish. Open the can of spinach and drain it thoroughly. I do the canned spinach in the winter, and the raw spinach in the summer (from my garden). If the raw spinach has large leaves, shred them up by hand into smaller pieces. Lay them on top of the chicken.

Open up the Alfredo sauce jars and pour both on top of the spinach.

This is where it gets fun: mix with your hands!

Yum! OK, if you are squeamish, go ahead and use a spoon. Fraidy cat. I grew up in an Italian home, where we loved to dig into the mixture. My kids think I’m weird, but…. it’s kind of fun.

After you’ve mixed it, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese to the top. Not too much! Just enough to give the sauce a little kick. At this point you can add a little mozzarella cheese if you wish. Don’t add too much, because the dish will become too cheesy. Just a small handful of shredded cheese will do. I prefer to make the dish without the cheese, but some of the kids like the cheesy taste. Sprinkle paprika for color.

Place the dish into your oven, 350 degrees for an hour. If you are using whole chicken breasts, make the time about an hour and a half. You’ll know it’s all ready when the sauce is bubbling and the top of the mix is golden brown. I almost always check one of the breasts, to make sure it’s thoroughly done inside.

Like I said, you can serve this with rice, egg noodles, pasta. It’s delicious! You can serve this with a side dish of steamed broccoli florets or small pre-cooked carrot slices. Yummy!