Healthy and Yummy!

Ok, ok!! I know I've posted like 3 things today! But I just fell across this fabulous website and I thought I'd share it and a few of its recipes with you!!!! I plan on a cooking day here soon where I will pre-make and freeze alot of these foods for quick grabs in the time of need! lol I hope you enjoy this website as much as I did!

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/



The following directions are for Mini Apple Pies:
Crust:
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 t. sea salt
1 cup melted butter
1 cup plain yogurt
Stir ingredients together until thoroughly mixed.  Use the dough right away to create pockets or pies…or let the dough sit overnight to break down the phytates and make the grains more digestable.  This dough is MUCH easier to work with if you work it like playdough in your hands a while before you try to roll it out.
Filling:
3 pounds of apples – about 11-12 smallish apples (any kind you like)
1/4 – 3/4 cup sucanat (your preference)
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2-4 Tablespoons sucanat
3 Tablespoons melted butter
To make Mini Apple Pies:

 

Peel apples and cut them into bite sized chunks.

 

Add sucanat and cinnamon.

 

Stir well and cook over medium heat until apples are
tender and a syrup has formed (about 10 minutes).

 

In the meantime, separate dough into 21-24 pieces.
Roll each piece into a little circle with a rolling pen.
As you can see, I am NOT a perfectionist.  If I was making these for a
ladies’ brunch or something…I might take the time to make them pretty.
But for my family of boys?
Do you think they really care if their pies are pretty?
They eat them in three minutes flat.  Thus my sloppy dough squishing.

Squish (or place nicely) your dough circles into well buttered MUFFIN PANS.  Using a muffin pan for these Mini Apple Pies eliminates the need to go buy 24 little mini pie pans.

 

Fill each (unbaked) crust with apple pie filling.

In a bowl, stir together topping ingredients until the dry ingredients are moistened.
I find that melting the butter and stirring it into the flour, oats and sucanat makes a great crumb topping…much less effort than “cutting in the butter”.

 

Sprinkle topping all over the top of your little pies.
Try if you can to be as messy about this process as I am.  Sheesh.

Freeze your pies in your buttered muffin pans for a couple of hours.

 

Remove your muffin pans from the freezer and allow them to sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes.  Use a fork to gently pry the pies out of the pan.  Place them carefully into freezer bags and put them bag into the freezer.

To bake your Mini Apple Pies:
Take desired number of pies out of the freezer and place them on a baking pan.  Bake in a 375° oven for 35-45 minutes.  You can let them thaw first if you want…but I find that the frozen pies bake just fine!

And now I’d like to point out that (depending on how much you use) there is about 1/2 cup of sucanat divided by 24 little pies…making this a very healthy, very low in sugar breakfast.  Much less even than my Applesauce Bread or something otherwise considered a breakfast food.
Bring on the Breakfast Pie!  Shucks…maybe we should even serve it with Ice Cream!

 Healthy, Homemade Pizza Pockets
These Pizza Pockets are a perfect treat that you can make ahead put in the freezer…then throw in the oven at lunchtime.

Here’s how I made these:
I used my regular pizza recipe…
Crust
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 t. sea salt
1 cup melted butter
1 cup plain yogurt
Stir ingredients together until thoroughly mixed.
Pizza Sauce
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 1/2 t. oregano
1 1/2 t. basil
Stir together and simmer for a few minutes.
Pizza Pocket Fillings
Grated mozzarella or white cheddar cheese, cooked hamburger, pepperoni, olives, peppers, mushrooms
To form a Pizza Pocket
Roll a small ball of dough into a circle.  Place one tablespoon of pizza sauce in the center.  Put in a small amount of your choice of toppings.  Fold the dough in half.  Use a fork to pinch the edges together.
Lay Pizza Pockets on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Freeze for about one hour.  Pop them off the cookie sheet and put them into a freezer bag…and back into the freezer.

Bake your Pizza Pockets
For frozen Pizza Pockets, bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.  If the Pizza Pockets are thawed, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
I love the convenience of this nutritious ”fast food”!  Serve them with fruit and veggies(God’s fast food!)…and you’ve got yourself a quick and easy lunchtime treat!!

A few recipes and do it yourself kitchen ideas!

Article courtesy of http://www.econobusters.com

Bread Crumbs. . . Who Would Have Thought?

You guys are going to laugh at me this morning about this frugal find! Since I have been a wife I have been buying store bought bread crumbs for EVERYTHING! It was only this past weekend that I learned how to make them homemade. Had I know how simple this was from the beginning, I would have never wasted my time or money on those pre-packaged, sometimes tasteless bread crumbs.
Before I share the recipe with you, I want to share with you about the cost comparison. A 15 ounce can of bread crumbs can cost you anywhere from .99-$3.00 depending on the brand that you buy. After a while those bread crumbs will get stale and lose their flavor.
However, if you make your own bread crumbs from leftover slices of bread, you are not out any money, because most of the time those are the pieces that wind up getting thrown away anyway! You are basically just  out your time–which only takes a small amount.
Here is the recipe that I use:
Tear up two or three pieces of bread and place in a blender or food processor. Pulsate until the bread has completely dissolved into tiny crumbs. Place these on a baking sheet, turn the oven on to 200 degrees, and bake them until they are crispy. It took me about an hour to get them to the crunchy consistency that I wanted. During that time, I moved them around about every 15 minutes or so, so that all sides would get crispy.
Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. If you want an even finer consistency, put them back in the food processor or blender. Store them in a bag in the freezer and use them any time you need bread crumbs!
If you do not have a blender or food processor, toast your pieces of bread first, then put them in a bag and using a rolling pin, you can break them up that way.
To make seasoned Italian Bread crumbs for recipes like Parmesean Chicken, you can use the following:
To one cup of bread crumbs add:
2 tablespoon of parsley flakes
1 tablespoon of dried basil
2 teaspoons of dry rosemary
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon of salt
Combine herbs and crush well, or use powdered herbs. Sift the bread crumbs to remove any large pieces. Stir in remaining ingredients. Store in a tightly sealed container. To use, Put 1/4 cup of crumb mixture into a bag or onto a plate. Shake meat one piece at a time, or roll in crumbs. Discard any leftover crumbs. Add more if needed.
No more store bought bread crumbs for us frugalites!


Articles Courtesy of http://www.recipelion.com:

Garlic Cheese Bread

Description

These Bisquick cheddar biscuits are legendary. This basic biscuit recipe is divine. Bisquick recipes shouldn't taste this good. Learn how to make biscuits with this recipe.

Serves: 10

Cooking Time: 10 min

Ingredients

• 2 cups Bisquick
• ²/3 cup milk
• ¹/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 tablespoon chives, dried
• ¹/4 cup butter, melted
• crushed garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
    
2. Melt butter with the garlic. Set aside and keep warm.
    
3. Mix Bisquick, milk, chives and cheese until a soft dough forms and beat vigorously 30 seconds.
    
4. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.
    
5. Brush garlic butter mixture over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Description

This is probably the best tasting cupcake recipe you'll ever find! Naturally, anything with chocolate is good, but these really taste the best. Make a batch for your sweetie for Valentine's Day - or any other occasion - and watch them disappear.

Yields: 18

Cooking Time: 35 min

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 egg
• ¹/3 cup sugar
• ¹/8 teaspoon salt
• ¹/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips (the mini chips are nice)
• 1 ¹/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ¹/4 cup (generous) cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¹/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• ¹/3 cup oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
    
2. Mix cream cheese, egg, sugar, 1/8 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla together in a small bowl until smooth.
    
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
    
4. In a separate bowl, blend the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and the half teaspoon of salt.
    
5. Add the water, oil, vinegar and the tablespoon of vanilla to the dry ingredients; stir until blended.
    
6. Fill 18 paper-lined cupcake cups half-full with cake batter.
    
7. Drop a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into each cup. For the best looking cupcakes, after dropping the cream cheese mixture into the batter, just use a spoon to lightly cover the cream cheese with the cake batter (it makes the tops more rounded).
    
8. Bake at 350°F for about 30-35 minutes.

 Cheesy Spinach Triangles

Description

Creamy, herb-infused cheesy spinach triangles will be a hit at your next gathering! They go fast, so consider a double batch!

Yields: 96

Ingredients

• 8 ounces package softened cream cheese
• 5 ounces frozen spinach
• 2 tablespoons milk
• garlic & onion powder, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

• Italian seasoning, to taste
• bacon bits, optional
• 1 medium egg
• 3 tubes refrigerated crescent rolls

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
    
2. Mix the cream cheese, spinach, milk, Parmesan/Romano and spices (include bacon bits, if desired) in a small, coverable bowl.
    
3. When seasoned to taste, add egg and stir until well mixed. Cover, and refrigerate while working with the dough. 
    
4. Open the first package of dough and unroll. There should be 4 rectangles, each sliced down one diagonal. For each of these 4 rectangles, slice from corner to corner, and across from edge to edge. This will result in 8 triangles of dough (or a total of 32 per package of crescent rolls).
    
5. Place 1/2 tsp. of the spinach mixture onto each of the small triangles, pull one point of the triangle over the mixture, and tuck under the bottom on the opposite side.
    
6. Place triangles onto a non-stick cookie sheet, and bake for 10 min. or until tops are golden.
    
7. Remove from oven, and allow to cool 2-3 min.

If you're anything like me, you know nothing about herbs and spices. I just tend to use pre-spiced cooking ingredients or the tried and true garlic and onion powders. So I did some research and came up with some interesting websites and links for herbs and their uses! So enjoy!!!!....


http://www.bulkherbstore.com/Herbs

http://www.chef-menus.com/herb_and_spice_chart.html
so this website is great because it lists the herbs and spices and exactly what kind of things would taste good with them! Couldn't be easier! Can't wait to try it out! Next step is a herb garden....well maybe!! lol