Friday, August 28, 2009

August Meals

5 Bean Soup & Perfect Whole Wheat Bread - Britta

Whole Chicken - Heidi

Salsa Bean Salad - Julianne

Thai Egg Rolls
- Julie

Chicken Enchiladas - Kim Roylance

Chicken Enchiladas
- Kimberly Summers

BLT Sandwiches
- Lisa

Marinated Steak & Monster Cookies - Margaret

Baked Seafood Pasta, Swope Bread - Melanie

Sweet & Sour Meatballs - Naomi

Pizza & Fruit Pizza - Tawnee

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1 cup brown sugar
2 TB cornstarch
1 20-oz can pineapple chunks
2/3 cup vinegar
2 TB soy sauce
1 green pepper, chopped

Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Pour in pineapple with juice, green pepper, vinegar and soy sauce. Stir until combined, then heat until boiling, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to med-low, add pre-cooked and heated meatballs (either homemade or store-bought) to sauce. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Serve over rice.

Chicken Enchiladas

6-8 Flour tortillas
2 can green (mild) Enchilada Sauce
3 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cup cooked and shredded chicken
1 cup cheese
Sour cream (optional)
Salsa (optional)

Combine 1 can enchilada sauce, cooked rice, cooked chicken, and 1/2 cup cheese in large bowl. Warm tortillas in microwave for about 15-20 seconds (this helps to make them more pliable). Spoon the mixture along the center of a tortilla and them roll it up. Place the loose end of the tortilla down in a greased 9x13 dish. Repeat with other tortillas. Pour second can of enchilada sauce over top of tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Top with sour cream and/or salsa if desired.

White Chocolate Chex Mix

6 cups corn chex
6 cups cheerios
3 cups pretzels
1 lb peanut m&m's OR 1 lb plain m&m's and 1 1/2 cup peanuts (or desired nut)
1.5 lb. white chocolate dipping bar (I use the cheap almond bark)

Stir all dry ingredients together in large bowl. Melt chocolate in microwave for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Pour chocolate over mixture, stir until evenly coated. Then spread out onto 2 cookie sheets in thin layers until set. Break up into pieces and store in bag or container, and try not to eat too much at once :)

BLT Sandwiches

Bread, sliced
Mayo
Tomatoes, sliced
Bacon, cooked
Lettuce
Salt and pepper

Toast the bread, then spread mayo on. Layer with tomatoes, bacon, and lettuce. Season to taste.

Monster Cookies

(From Brian Cheney)
Since this makes so many cookies, there is also the equivalent of 1/3 of the recipe given.

12 eggs - 3
1 lb butter - 1 1/3 cubes
2 lb brown sugar (4 2/3 cups) - 1 1/2 c.
3 lbs peanut butter (6 cups) - 2 c.
4 cups white sugar - 1 1/3 c.
18 cups oatmeal - 6 c.
1 Tbsp. vanilla - 1 tsp.
1 lb chocolate chips - 1 c.
8 tsp baking soda - 2 2/3 tsp.
1 lb M&Ms - 1 c.

Mix in large bowl in order given. Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake.

I usually make half of the recipe. It makes a lot of cookies. There is no flour in these cookies.

Steak Marinade

(From Veronica Jones)

1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. dry mustard
2 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp. pepper
1/2 cup vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1/3 cup lemon juice

Perfect Whole Wheat Bread

(From Shellie Hall)

10-12 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. dry yeast (SAF instant yeast works great)
1/2 cup wheat gluten
4 cups warm water (120-130 degrees)
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp. salt

Place 6 cups flour into mixer bowl with kneading arm. Add dry yeast and gluten; mix well. Add water and mix for 1 minute. Cover and let dough sit for 10 minutes. This makes the bread lighter. Add oil, honey, and salt. Turn on mixer and quickly add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough forms a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead 7-10 minutes with mixer or by hand 12-15 minutes. Dough should be smooth and elastic.

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Wet hands with water. Divide dough into four equal portions. Shape and place in nonstick cooking-sprayed pans. Place into warm oven and let rise about 15-20 minutes. When it is almost double in size, turn oven to 350 degrees and bake about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn out of pans onto a wire cooling rack immediately. Spray with water, to make crust soft. When it is cool, store bread in plastic bread bags. Freezes well. Makes 4 1-pound loaves.

5 Bean Soup

(From The Inn at Temple Square)

5 (16 oz.) packages dried beans: lima, great northern, kidney, pinto, and black beans
3 beef bouillon cubes
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup diced medium onion
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 bay leaf
2 quarts water
1 quart stewed tomatoes
(I also add a pound of stew meat, cubed and browned)

Combine lima, great northern, kidney, and pinto beans. Keep black beans separately or they will discolor the broth. Wash 2 1/2 cups of mixed beans and 1/2 cup of black beans. Place in separate kettles. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand one hour.

Drain, rinse, and combine the beans; add spices, diced vegetables, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours, or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and heat through.

One batch makes 14 servings, or 3 1/2 quarts of soup. Serve with Perfect Whole Wheat Bread.

Fruit Pizza

1 pkgs. cream cheese
1 roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. powder sugar (or to taste)
Pizza pan

Assorted fruit suggestions: Kiwi, strawberries, mandarin oranges, bananas, black or blue berries, raspberries.

Spread cookie dough over pizza pan. Cook the crust as directed on wrapper. In a bowl, microwave cream cheese until soft. Add vanilla and sugar. Spread cream cheese mixture on top of cooled cookie. Cut and lay fruit in circles. Serve immediately.

Pizza

Pizza:
Pizza dough
Pizza sauce
Shredded cheese
Pepperoni

We like to do it as a family and let the kids make their own. Just roll out the dough, we like to use a little corn meal while rolling it out. It tastes good cooked on the crust. Then use the sauce, cheese, pepperoni a little more cheese and cook at 375 degrees until the bottom is browned the way you like it. Feel free to add mushrooms, olives, etc.

Swope Bread

(Recipe from Margaret)

4 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups white flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

3 ½ cups milk

½ cup vinegar

2 tsp baking soda

Add flours, sugar and salt in large bowl and mix ingredients together.

In a separate bowl add the vinegar and milk together, then add baking soda. Briskly whisk together until the milk bubbles/foams and doubles in size and then quickly pour over dry ingredients. Fold/mix ingredients together completely.

Pour dough into 2 well greased bread pans. Bake at 350° for 60-70 mins.

Baked Seafood Pasta

1 pkg any shape pasta (ex, spirals, bowtie)

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups mushrooms, chopped

2 cans albacore tuna (drain liquid)

2 cups clams, chopped (drain liquid)

1 can cream of mushroom

8 oz sour cream

½ cup milk

1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

S&P to taste

Cook pasta until al dente, drain and set aside.

In a large pan, sauté onion and mushrooms in olive oil until tender. Add drained tuna (break up tuna in pan) and clams and sauté for a couple minutes. Add mushroom soup, sour cream and milk to pan and blend all ingredients (measurements are approximate; can add more/less of each depending on how creamy you like it). Fold in cooked pasta. Add about ½ the parm cheese and S&P. Blend all ingredients together then transfer to a casserole dish. Top with the rest of parm cheese. Bake at 350° for 15-20 mins until cheese has melted.

Whole Chicken

Bake it as instructed on the package of the bird. Approximately 20 minutes for every 1/2 pound on your bird. I gave the birds to you thawed so you could pull the insides out if you plan to cook it immediately, however if you freeze it make sure you thaw it completely and remove the stuff before cooking. Otherwise your bird won't be cooked all the way. My Mom always cooked the heart and liver. We liked it but if you don't obviously just chuck them. Don't remove the skin before you bake it (or at all in my opinion). It'll make the bird more moist and adds a lot of flavor.

As far as seasoning, salt and pepper the skin and put lemon slices under the skin where you can. You can put the herbs in the cavity of the bird or under the skin as well.

After baking to serve it you can cut the breast like a turkey, but to remove the legs and wings just use a sharp knife and cut through the joints. After you're done you can remove the remaining chicken from the bird and boil the bones with salt, a couple of onions, 2 carrots and 2-3 celery stalks (can be whole, or really big chunks). Strain it all when you're done. It makes a really nice broth for a chicken soup (add the leftover chicken and any vegetables, and some sage).