Spicy Garden Veggie Sloppy Joes

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 cup yellow summer squash, chopped
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 16oz. jar salsa
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
6-8 kaiser rolls or hamburger buns

In a skillet, cook beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat it brown and the onion is tender.  Drain off the fat.  Add zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and green pepper.  Cover and cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes.  Stir in salsa, basil and parsley.  Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Serve on rolls or buns!

(This meal is easily freezable.  You can make a double batch at one time – eat half for dinner and save the other for a busy day!)

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon all-spice
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips

(NOTE: I did not have cloves, ginger or all-spice on hand, so I omitted them all from the recipe and just added a little more cinnamon, maybe a little over 2 teaspoons?  It was still delicious!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Mix together the first nine (dry) ingredients and set aside.
3. Beat eggs in the large bowl of an electric mixer until foamy.  Add pumpkin and oil and mix well.  Add the flour mixture, stirring only until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon evenly in greased muffin tins (or use paper liners).
5. Bake for 22-24 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!

There’s a little bakery in the downtown part of my parent’s town called Eileen’s.  They sell sandwiches and pastries, but my absolute, hands-down favorite are their Chocolate Crinkles.  The not too sweet, powdery goodness….yum.

So needless to say, when I pulled out the good ol’ Betty Crocker cookbook, looking for a recipe for something sweet with the ingredients I had on hand, I was ecstatic to find a Chocolate Crinkles recipe.  And Betty didn’t let me down.  These weren’t Eileen’s, but they were pretty darn close!  Enjoy!

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Chocolate Crinkles (from Betty Crocker)

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
4 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix sugar, oil, vanilla, and chocolate in a large bowl.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.  Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (I only refrigerated for 2 hours and mine turned out fine.)

Heat the oven to 350.  Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray or shortening. 

Drop the dough (teaspoon-size, but you can totally wing this) into a bowl of powdered sugar; roll around to coat.  Shape into balls.  Bake 9-11 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched.  Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the recipes in my “to try” pile have gotten out of control, so I have been going through them in an attempt to weed through and organize!  Recipe #3 was cut from a magazine and since it calls for a boxed cake mix, it has been in my pile for ages.  I rarely buy boxed mixes, but I found an awesome sale at the store last week and knew it was the perfect time to try this recipe!   

Soft & Chewy Chocolate – Peanut Butter Cookies

1 package devil’s food cake mix
4 oz (1/2 of an 8oz. package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place all ingredients in a large bowl.  Beat with a mixer on low speed for 2 minutes.  Beat on medium speed for 2 more minutes.
2. Shape into 1-inch balls.  Place on baking sheets.  Flatten each ball in a criss-cross pattern with a fork dipped in sugar.
3. Bake 6-8 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set.  Cook 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to wire racks.

They are small and bite-sized and the boys loved them.  Mark liked that they were chewy and not too sweet.  So another winner!  After three successful sweet recipes, I think I need to find something savory for my next experiment!  My waistline will thank me!  Stay tuned!

I’m back again with another delicious treat: Blueberry Buckle!  This one was so delicious, it was gone hours after it came out of the oven!  Enjoy!

Blueberry Buckle

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (4 Tablespoons), softened
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Crumbly top: 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) butter, softened

1. Cream the sugar and 1/4 cup butter.  Add the egg. 
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir into the wet ingredients, alternating with the milk.
3.  Fold in the berries and then pour into a greased or parchment lined 8×8″ pan.
4. Mix together the crumbly top ingredients and sprinkle over the top of the buckle.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  (I had to bake mine a litle longer because it was still raw in the middle.  I just put foil on top for the last 5-10 minutes, so the top wouldn’t burn)

I LOVE recipes…maybe too much!  Between my piles of magazine cut-outs, quickly written notes from blogs and websites, and Pinterest!, my collection is just out of control!  So I decided to stop bringing more in until I work through the ones I already have.  Weed out the so-so recipes and just keep the fabulous ones.  And you get to come along for the ride! 

Recipe #1 was one I found on the internet awhile ago and the lazy 4th of July weekend seemed like the perfect time to try it!  I love that I can just pop it in the oven in the morning…those recipes are the best!  My boys’ reactions: LOVED it! 

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups flour (you may need a little more; you want the dough to be soft, but not really sticky and wet)

Filling: 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1-2 Tablespoons cinnamon

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl or mixer, combine yeast mixture with warm buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, egg, egg yolk, salt and baking soda.  Add in flour to make a nice soft dough. 
3. Knead 10 minutes by hand or 8 minutes in a mixer until smooth and elastic.
4. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly battered bowl.  Turn the dough to coat.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume.
5. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface.  Roll, pat and stretch the dough into a 14×10″ rectangle.
6. Brush the dough with 1-2 Tablespoons melted butter.
7. Mix up the filling (you can adjust the amount of brown sugar and cinnamon to your preference) and spread over the dough.
8. Roll into a cyclinder, then pinch the long seam shut.
9. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 16 slices.  Butter a 9×13″ pan and place the rolls in it, swirly side up.
10. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in fridge overnight (8-12 hours).
The next morning…
11. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
12. Let the rolls sit in a warm spot for about 30 minutes.
13. Bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven) or until done.  (I would watch them at around 23-25 minutes, because they start to brown quickly and you don’t want burnt cinnamon rolls!)

I made a little powdered sugar glaze (1 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 Tablespoons water…you can add more or less water to get the consistency you prefer), but I’d love to try it again with a cream cheese frosting!  Yum! 

Oh, how I love strawberry season!  We bought a 2lb. container this weekend for $4!  $4.00!!  That’s a super great price around these parts.

After a quick search on the interwebs, I decided to try this yummy seasonal recipe: Strawberry Cobbler Cake!  It’s got all the makings of a cobbler, but just a tad more cakey.  How’s that for a description?!  It was yummy and the boys gobbled it right up.  In fact, M declared it was the best thing he’d ever eaten, which is HUGE, since he is my straight shooter and frequently likes to tell me when things are “disgusting” or “so gross”. 

STRAWBERRY COBBLER CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 350.  Soften 3/4 cup butter and beat on medium.  Add 3/4 cup sugar and continue to mix well.  Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla, mixing well.  
2.Combine 1 1/4 cups flour with 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add to butter mixture, alternately with 1/2 cup milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.   
3. Pour into greased 8″ pan.  Pour in batter and top with 2-3 cups of strawberries (which have been hulled and sliced in half), cut side down.
4. Make topping: Mix 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.  Cut in 1/4 cup chilled butter.  Sprinkle over cobbler.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes!  Enjoy!

Summer is upon us and it is hot, hot, hot!  I rarely have the desire to be in the kitchen lately, so I’ve been on the lookout for easy, no-fuss dinner recipes!  We recently tried this one (we adapted it from Cooking Light) and it was sooo good!

Southwestern Cobb Salad

• 8oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into pieces (for an even faster meal, you can also use rotisserie chicken.  This is also a great recipe for using up leftover chicken)
• about 3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 8 cups torn romaine lettuce (or one big bag that you find prepared at the store)
• 1/2 cup pico de gallo (fresh salsa is usually found near the bagged salads in the produce section)
• 1/2 cup diced avocado
• 1/2 cup cheese – some in our family prefer just shredded cheddar, while others are more adventurous and like feta or pepperjack
• 1 15oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

Preparing the salad is so easy.  If you haven’t cooked the chicken, just toss in a pan and saute until no longer pink.  Then, toss everything together into salad bowls and enjoy!