Salad Topper

Browsing through my pantry last night trying to think of something to make I came upon a can of kidney beans with a recipe on the back.  It had all the ingredients my husband and I like and went perfectly with my healthy eating dinner plan. 
This came together very quickly and my husband and I both enjoyed it very much.  I'll make this again for sure.

Open a can of kidney beans (although you can use whatever bean you enjoy most) and rinse, then set aside.

Hard boil two eggs...

Slice up two sticks of celery

Dice up 1/4 cup of onion (or you can use onion powder), dice up your hard boiled eggs, two pickles and add some pepper to taste.

You can either use mayonnaise here or Italian Salad Dressing here to combine all the ingredients.

I let mine sit for a few minutes to develop the flavors.  I also added some tomatoes, sliced meat and some cheese but just add or omit whatever you like/don't like.

Put on top of a nice leafy salad and you've got a meal! This topper can go a million different directions.  It really helps to spice up a boring salad and make it different.  Let me know what you think!

What you'll need:

1 can kidney beans - rinsed
2 stalks of celery - sliced
2 hard boiled eggs - sliced
2 dill pickles - sliced
1/4 cup onion - cut
6 cherry tomatoes - cut in half (optional)
Cheese cubes (optional)
Sliced meat (optional)
Italian dressing or Mayonnaise, enough to coat

Mix all of the ingredients with the Italian dressing (or Mayo).  Once combined, put on top of your favorite lettuce! Easy!

Minestrone Stoup - yes stoup!

Fall!  I love fall,  its my favorite time of the year.  October is my favorite month of the year.  I would have to say however that October only became my favorite time of the year AFTER I moved away from Montana.  October can be brutal in Montana.  I love sweatshirts and fire's and hot cozy meals.  On October 1st I started looking back at my favorite recipes and the one's I have marked to try.  I'm really excited about trying them and I think you'll like them too.  My first recipes of fall is this fantastic "stoup".  Its thicker than a soup and thinner than a stew. I just used whatever I had in my pantry so feel free to mix this up!

 Brown up somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 a pound of hamburger.

 Add some salt...

 Dice up a medium onion and a couple cloves of garlic and add to the burger.

 Cut up a couple of stalks of celery.  I like the heart of the celery with the leafy tops, I think it's purdy.

 Dice up one large carrot or two medium/small carrots.

Open one can of kidney beans, one can of tomatoe sauce, and one can of diced tomatoes.  Measure out 1 cup of small pasta.  Feel free to mix up the tomatoes with sauce, diced, stewed, or crushed. After you empty the cans of tomato, fill them up about half way with water and pour them in.  Use both cans to equal about 1 full can of water.  If you're going for more of a soup consistancy here you'll want to add more water or beef broth.  I ended up adding about 1 cup of broth also.

 Add about a cup of your favorite vegetables.  I used frozen green beans...

 frozen corn and peas.

 Don't forget the spices!  I used the last remaining fresh basil, about a Tablespoon.

 Some dry Oregano, I think about a teaspoon,

 I didn't take a picture of this part, but this is really important!  Vinegar - white vinegar!  I added one teaspoon to start with, then added another teaspoon toward the end. 

Let this simmer for about 30 minutes until the pasta is al dente and the veggies are cooked. Top with some grated from Parmesan.

I love this recipe!  The vinegar sounds like a strange ingrediant but it totally makes it!  Don't leave it out, or bad things will happen.  Really.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 to 3/4 pound ground beef
1 medium onion - chopped
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
2 stalks of celery - chopped
2 medium or 1 large carrot - chopped
1 cup uncooked small pasta, like shells
1 cup frozen green beans
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 can water
1 cup beef broth - more for a soupy consistancy
1 Tbsp fresh basil - or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp white vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded parmesan - optional

Begin by browning the hamburger in a large pot. Add the chopped onion and garlic, then the celery and carrot until they begin to tenderize; about 5 minutes. Stir often.
Pour in both cans of tomatoes, and the beans. Add the water and the broth and bring to a boil.  Next add the frozen vegetables, pasta, seasonings, salt and pepper and vinegar and bring back up to a boil; then reduce the heat to simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.  Keep checking this while it's simmering to ensure the seasonings are to your liking.
Top with parmesan if desired.

Montana Vacation 2010

I just got back from my Montana vacation!  We went there to surprise my grandmother for her 90th birthday.  This view is from her yard.  Isn't it beautiful?

We visited my three friends from high school who all live very different lives from one another.  It was so nice to catch up with everyone.  It was even better to see the look on my grandma's face when she saw all the family members that were there for her!

My dad called these cattle to the fence.  No, they aren't our cattle.  How did he call? I don't think I can even describe how he called them.  It could have been that they were all just standing around that tree to get out of the sun.  But they totally stood up when he called them.  Then they all started mooing.  It was a sight to see.

There they are, mooing.

There's a woodpecker.  This is the closest I've ever seen one!

This is my friends husband; not the dog - the guy driving the tractor.  :)

It was just my daughter and I on this trip and it was very memorable.  We flew to Denver where we met my dad.  Then we drove from Denver to Casper, WY where we spent the night before heading to Livingston the next day.  We had to hide out a little so my grandmother wouldn't see us in town.  I love small towns.  Actually, the entire town knew about the party and nobody told her!!  Can you believe it?

Anyway, my daughter and I got to see a lot of good friends and neighbors I haven't seen in years!  I so miss it there.  We stayed for 6 days and then flew home yesterday.  I think my daughter got some very good quality family time; I know I did!  I hope you enjoyed this small recap.  I'll be back to cooking and baking very soon!

Fancy Potatoes

Cheese/Potato/Casserole - quite possibly three of my favorite words in cooking.  As a side note, I think using half Yukon Gold and half Russet potato's make some of the BEST mashed potatoes.  Do that here if you can.  I only had Russets on hand however...my bad.  The recipe says to cook the potatoes and then let them cool and then chop them up.  I just chopped them up to begin with and saved myself a couple extra steps.

In a mixing bowl put two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese - softened.

To this add some sour cream.

After the potatoes have cooked and are fork tender, drain them and then add them to the cream cheese/sour cream mixture. Add a dash of garlic sale and then mix together on medium speed until smooth.

Place this mixture into a 9x13 inch dish.

Top with cheddar cheese.  My mouth is watering.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and the potato's are starting to brown.  Serve hot!  Wasn't that easy? 

The original recipe can be found here: Fancy Potatoes

What you'll need:

5 large potatoes
2 - 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
1 Cup sour cream
1 pinch of garlic salt
2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cube the potatoes and cook in salted water until tender.  Once cooked, put on a cookie sheet until they've cooled a bit.

In a mixing bowl add the softened cream cheese, sour cream and garlic salt.  Add the cooled potatoes and mix until smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish and top with the cheddar cheese.
Bake for about 20 minutes.

Angel Food Cake

I finally did it!!  I finally made a really good Angel Food Cake!  Some of you out there might be thinking, "I've been making them for years, what's the big deal?"  I've never been successful at making one.  They always turn out too hard, to sticky, not flavorful, etc. etc.  I recently had a lot of eggs I needed to use up and I knew I would need a lot for this cake; so I searched for every other kind of recipe I could think of to use up these eggs in hopes that I wouldn't have to resort to Angel Food Cake; but alas it was meant to be.  Some of the steps seem silly but who cares! It works!

I hope you have a lot of eggs on hand.  This recipe calls for 12 egg whites but then says that it needs to equal 1 1/2 cups - which 11 eggs did for me.

Pour the eggs into your mixing bowl and let sit for about 30 minutes so they can come up to room temperature.

Sift the flour and the confectioner sugar together THREE times.  Why three? I have no idea but that's what the directions said to do and that's what I did!

Add some Cream of Tarter

Then add some vanilla

Now some Almond Extract

A tiny bit of salt

Beat the egg white mixture on high speed and then gradually add the sugar.

Beat this until stiff peaks form. This is so glossy and beautiful. Egg whites and I haven't been very good friends in the past.  I see a future for us now.

Slowly fold the flour/confectioners sugar mixture to the egg whites. Be very gentle.  The eggs whites are sensitive.  

Spoonful by spoonful; put the mixture into a bundt pan.

Take a knife and run it through the mixture to release any air bubbles.

Isn't it purdy.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 - 45 minutes.  Geez, it's a work of art I tell ya.

Straight from the oven, invert the bundt pan on a cooling rack and leave there to cool completely.

This isn't quite as pretty, I needed to use a butter knife to get the cake to release from the pan.

Anything can be beautified with whipped cream and strawberries on top, don't you agree?  I got thumbs up reviews from my husband and my toddler.  I would have to say, this is just like the one's I usually buy from the supermarket.  Very moist inside, flavorful, perfect. 

Here's where you can find the recipe: Heavenly Angel Food Cake