Homemade Banana Bread Recipe

It seems with warmer weather, my bananas always seem to ripen a lot faster than I'd anticipated. Without fail, by the end of the week, I find myself with a handful of really brown, practically baby-food-soft bananas that just aren't appetizing to eat.

Unless of course, they're in banana bread.

Which is how I've been making use of these lately. Enjoy!

BANANA BREAD RECIPE

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or regular milk will do, too)
1/4 cup canola oil
3 medium or 2.5 large well-ripened bananas
2 cups whole wheat flour (preferably freshly milled)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl. (As you know, I've been milling my own whole wheat flour for the past couple of months now, thanks to my electric WonderMill Grain Mill.)



Using a hand mixer, blend all the ingredients so that they are smooth. Alternatively you can run the mixture through a food processor, but I find the mixer is sufficient.

Lightly grease a loaf pan (I like to use my Misto). Pour the mixture into the loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour, until golden. I like to turn off heat and let it sit in the warm oven for another 10 or 15 minutes so that it fully sets without worrying about it getting too brown or tough.

Remove from oven, and let cool before slicing. (This is the bread knife I use and recommend.)

Enjoy!



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Pesto, Artichoke & Caramelized Onion Pizza on Homemade, 100% Whole Wheat Dough

As a part of my New Year’s resolution to try cooking with a new food each month, my challenge for the month of May was to use artichokes. In doing so, I discovered one of my new favorite recipes: Pesto, Artichoke & Caramelized Onion Pizza.

While on a trip to Washington, DC, my husband and I ordered a similar pizza, so when we came home, I knew I wanted to try to recreate it for my Adventures in Trying New Foods challenge. So, I went to task and came up with this veggie lover delight, which you can make with or without cheese. (Really it doesn’t need any additional cheese, but I’ll let you be the judge of that!)

I loved it so much that I whipped up two of these pizzas in one week and then have made another almost every week since. This recipe is a keeper.

So without further ado, the recipe for how to make Pesto, Artichoke & Caramelized Onion Pizza, from making a 100% whole-wheat crust to adding the toppings. Enjoy!

100% WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

⅔ cup hard red wheat berries
1⅓ cup hard white wheat berries

Grind the wheat berries in your grain mill of choice (I use the electric WonderMill Grain Mill) to a fine flour, suitable for bread-making.



1 cup water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
Freshly milled flour (alternatively, you can use my recipe here for making pizza dough with store-bought flour)
2 tsp. bread machine yeast

Combine all ingredients in a bread machine (mine is similar to this one) in the order listed above (meaning, add the water first and add the yeast last). For the yeast, make a shallow well in the middle of the flour and add the yeast there.

Select "Dough" setting on bread machine, and press "Start." When the dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep. Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan, and turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. (I like to use my trusty baking stone for this.)



Use rolling pin to flatten dough into a disk. (It should make one 12-inch pizza, or you can divide the dough in half to make two smaller pizzas.)

PESTO, ARTICHOKE & CARAMELIZED PIZZA TOPPINGS

1 cup onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup pesto
1 cup tomatoes, finely diced
½ cup red pepper, finely diced
½ cup marinated artichoke hearts, finely diced

In a saucepan on the stove, combine the onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Let simmer until onions are caramelized.

Meanwhile, spread pesto onto rolled-out pizza dough. Add all the other toppings, including the caramelized onions.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until crust is starting to turn golden. Remove from oven, and let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.



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Homemade Pizza Bites Recipe

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is to learn how to foods that typically aren't very good for you and make them so that they're not only healthier but, oftentimes, even better than the storebought version. (You can check out my homemade corndogs and my homemade vegetarian fish sticks for examples.) ...



One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is to learn how to foods that typically aren't very good for you and make them so that they're not only healthier but, oftentimes, even better than the storebought version. (You can check out my homemade corndogs and my homemade vegetarian fish sticks for other examples.)

So it was when I decided to make my own pizza bites.

I can't remember the last time I had pizza bites—late night during college, likely. But I do remember that they were never really that good.

But one night, when my husband was gone and I couldn't justify whipping up an entire pizza for myself, I got an itch to try to make my own. I'd picked up a package of wonton wrappers at the store, and figured they'd make good candidates for the process. So, with some of my homemade pizza sauce, pizza seasonings and cheese, I got to work.



Admittedly, they're more time consuming to make from scratch than the open-a-box-and-pop-'em-in-the-microwave variety. But I'd say the effort is worth it, with mini pizza bites that you can whip up for dinner tonight and freeze any leftovers to bake for a quick go-to meal in the future.

Here's how I made mine:

Ingredients
- One package of square wonton wrappers
- About 2 cups of pizza sauce (here's my recipe to make your own pizza sauce)
- About 2 cups of cheese
- Olive oil
- Pizza seasonings (here's my recipe to make your own pizza seasoning mix)

It's best to only work on a couple of pizza rolls at a time, as the wonton wrappers can dry out if left out in the open air for too long. So, first, take a couple of wonton wrappers and lay them out on your workspace. You'll want to keep a small dish of water handy, too.

Using a spoon, put about a tablespoon of pizza sauce into the middle of each wonton wrapper. (Use more or less, depending on how much sauce-to-cheese ratio you prefer.) On top of the sauce, add about a tablespoon of cheese.

Dip your finger into the water and wet the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half along the diagonal so that, folded, it looks like a triangle. Press around each of the edges to seal shut. (If a lot of sauce or cheese oozes out, you've used too much and need to readjust your ratio.)

Place wontons on a baking stone (here's the one I use) and cover with a dish towel to keep from drying out. (Alternatively, if you want to put them in the freezer for later use, place directly on a piece of wax paper atop a freezer-ready dish. If you do freeze them, you can take them directly from the freezer when you're ready to bake them and proceed to the next step.)

Then, spritz each wonton with some olive oil. (I like to use my Misto for this step!) Top with about ¼ teaspoon of my pizza seasoning mix on each pizza roll. (Alternatively you can use a dash or two of sea salt, freshly ground pepper and Italian seasoning.)

Bake the wontons at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the edges start to turn a golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes or so; they'll continue to darken a bit once you've removed them so don't let them get too dark in the oven!

Serve them with a side dish of pizza sauce for dipping. I like to serve about 6 pizza rolls per person, but you can adjust that to how hungry you are! Makes an entire package of wonton wrappers, about 48 in a 12 oz. package. (You can also use round wonton wrappers, but they're smaller so you'll have to adjust the amount of sauce and cheese you use on each pizza bite accordingly.)



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A New Years Resolution: Adventures in Trying New Foods, from Artichokes to Okra

I’m not usually one for making your typical kind of new year’s resolutions. I don’t see why you ought to put off until tomorrow, what you could start today.

But, I am one for lists (which we already established here). I am one for setting goals and letting those lists guide you through them.

So I decided that this year, I might attempt a different sort of resolution: Try incorporating new foods into my menu plan, each month. There are so many different foods—fruits, legumes, veggies and grains—that I really want to try, but always chicken out of purchasing because I’m not sure how to use it or I am more comfortable with this or that.

Excuses, excuses.

I plan to rectify that this year, by trying out a new-to-me whole food each month. I figure that will give me enough time to source out a variety of recipes that will put the food to good use and won’t be overwhelming, which is usually what steers me away.

Want to see my month-by-month list of foods to try out during the course of this resolution? Here’s the line-up I have in mind:

January: Kale*
February: Brussels sprouts*
March: Cabbage*
April: Lentils
May: Artichokes
June: Quinoa
July: Okra
August: Figs*
September: Eggplant*
October: Turnips
November: Pomegranates
December: Winter squash*

(Where appropriate, I’ll also try to stick to foods that are in season for my region that month, which I’ve noted in the list with an asterick [*]. If you want to see what produce is in season where you are, you can find out with this interactive map.)

Save for the winter squash, I have never cooked with any of these ingredients, and I’ve only made one dish or two dishes with a butternut squash. It’s time to shake things up around here!

I will try to post updates about how my adventures that month with my new food went, as well as any good recipes I try. (I also started a board on Pinterest specifically for this challenge to keep track of some recipes I want to try. You can see and follow that board here.)

Speaking of which, if you know of any good recipes for using any of those ingredients, I’d love to hear your recommendations! Also, if you want to join me on this new year’s resolution to try new foods, let me know what’s on your list. Let’s get adventurous together!

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Dress Up Dinner: Recipe for Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

I'm not one of those people who inherently loves salads. I think they're alright, but I'd much prefer the sandwich with mayo or a dish with roasted sweet potatoes on the side. However, I know that a good hearty salad is a great way to get some extra veggies into your diet, so I make sure to serve a couple throughout the week.

One thing I've learned is that if you're going to try to go healthy, you need to make it enjoyable. So it is with me and my salads. Which is why I've been on a quest to find salad dressings that make the plateful of lush greens something to savor.



I mentioned before that I started making my own Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing, which my husband loves. And that's one of the things I like best about this recipe: that it makes your salad taste so, so good. (Now of course, that probably has something to do with the fact that there's a good helping of sugar in the recipe, but we'll let that little fact slide, right?)

This recipe is extremely easy to make, with ingredients you likely already have stocked up in your cupboards. Once you've made a batch, keep it in the fridge and shake it up before each use. And then, eat your fruits and veggies to your heart's content!



Recipe for Raspberry Vinaigrette
Ingredients
2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. canola oil
2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. dijon mustard
1/8 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a container. Store in the fridge and let sit for a day before using (otherwise the vinegar will be too strong.) Shake well before using. Makes one half-cup batch.

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Homemade Chewy Granola Bar Recipe

In my pursuit to make more of our food from scratch, granola bars were one of the first foodstuffs on my list to try. I diligently clipped a few recipes, but all turned out hard, crunchy bars that couldn't compete with the store-bought chewy kind.

I had lamented this fact to my mother-in-law, and within a month or two, told me about a recipe that she thought would fit the bill we were looking for. And when we went home to Ohio, she whipped up a batch that convinced me that this was the granola bar recipe I'd been searching for.

It tastes just as good and gooey as your favorite storebought kind. Plus, you can customize the granola filler ingredients to your tastebuds's desires, mixing and matching a variety of nuts, dried fruits, even different kinds of chocolate chips (think butterscotch, white chocolate, etc) for whatever sort of bar you're hankering after.

The filler combination I used that turned out beautifully was 1/2 cup of each: dried cranberries, coconut flakes, wheat germ, walnut pieces, and mini chocolate chips.

Homemade Chewy Granola Bar Recipe

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats, processed until finely ground in a food processor or blender)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (see above for recommended combinations or make up your own!)

1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon water

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with a non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, honey, maple syrup, peanut butter and water.
4. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry until the mixture is evenly crumbly.
5. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan.
6. Bake the bars for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges. (See second photo above for what mine looked like out of the oven, before I cut them.) 
7. Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack.
8. Before slicing, put pan in the fridge for 10 or 20 minutes, which will help them stick together and avoid crumbling when cutting. 
9. Then slice as large or as small as you like, however I'd recommend cutting into 16 equal-sized squares (as shown in the photo above). They're smaller than your store-bought bar, but just as filling. And then maybe you can justify eating two!
10. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. The recipe also notes that they freeze well, although I personally haven't tried freezing them yet.

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Round Two of Getting to Know My Chicken Dinner (or, My First Attempt at Making Chicken Stock)

A week or so ago, I shared my first attempt at de-boning a whole chicken that was more like a wrestling match than a warm-up for dinnertime. Well that was more like Round One, and fortunately, Round Two went much better. Quite a success, really!

Round One: De-Boning the Chicken Meat

Round Two: Making Chicken Stock

Once I'd gotten over the calamity of the de-boning itself, I found myself with a tupperware full of chicken bones and left-over meat that I wouldn't be using to cook with. I shoved the tupperware in the freezer, figuring I'd had enough of a culinary workout for the day.

Part of the whole reason I'd decided to buy a whole chicken in the first place was because people raved about using it to make your own chicken stock. "So Easy!" "So Delicious!" "Much Healthier!" "So Cheap!"

It was about a month later before I got up the courage to try to attempt the chicken stock experiment. I did some research online, and it seemed as though you couldn't really go wrong with what you pitch in the pot. There often weren't any exact measurements for the stock recipes I found, so I figured how hard could this be to mess up?

Armed with a couple stalks of celery, some whole carrots, two cobs from last night's corn-on-the-cob, a potato, onions, garlic, salt and pepper, I threw them all in the pot with the defrosted carcass. Poured in water, until it was just covering the chicken, and let the stove top work its magic.

I let the pot simmer for about an hour, until the juice was a consistent color of light brown and clear of any fat. I took a sip and it tasted pretty good. Another sip, and I started to suspect that maybe this thing actually worked...

I drained out the liquid and decided to freeze it, ladling it by the 1/2 cup into small tupperware and into ice cube trays (1/8 cup per ice-cube section, I determined). For a whole day, I froze batch after batch of my homemade chicken stock, which you can see just a fraction of in the photo above. My one single chicken and few measly veggies produced more than 6 cups worth of homemade stock. (I didn't count, so that's just based on what I have left now!)

It's for this reason alone that I haven't given up on the "whole-chicken" idea. Able to control what I put into the stock (organic veggies and pasture-raised chicken), as well as seeing it simmer in my own kitchen and reap more than enough for my humble cooking needs, make the whole process—even the discouragement of Round One—feel like a win.

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Getting to Know My Chicken Dinner

I was sitting at my kitchen table, my sleeves pushed up to the elbow, fingers covered in chicken juice and a huge knife in hand, trying to press replay on my computer without dripping any of the juice on the keyboard. 

What was I doing?! 

It all started a few months ago when I read the praises of buying a whole chicken at the grocery store instead of the prepackaged pieces. Having always bought the assortment of tenderloin pieces, I read intently as the writer talked about the merits: You can buy a whole chicken cheaper than when it's packaged individually by piece. Less chicken goes to waste, and you can use the carcass to make your own chicken stock. 

I watched a few YouTube videos of how to de-bone a whole chicken, and the chefs made it look easy: Cut. Slash. Snip. Done. They had the whole thing sliced up in minutes. 

So, I figured I'd give it a try. 

I picked up a whole chicken the next time I was at the grocery store, and took it home to discover the pastime of carving your own chicken. I watched a few more videos to make sure I knew what I was doing. With my confidence high, I cleared the kitchen table and decided to dive right in.

I soon realized that, like most things, life is never like how it's portrayed on TV (or YouTube, as the case may be). As I pushed and prodded the poor creature, memories of 9th grade biology class and frog dissection came back. I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to cut and tried to pause and rewind the video to get a better understanding. It felt like the videos were in fast-forward mode, as the chefs sliced and diced with super-human speed. It wasn't nearly as easy as they made it look. Perhaps that's why they're the professionals?

Whereas the videos took less than a minute for the adept cooks and butchers, it took me about 45 minutes of snipping and tugging and sweating (seriously) to finally get my chicken carved up, although one drumstick and both wings got mutilated in the process (not sure how).

I shoved the cuts into the fridge, and washed my hands about 5 times once I was done, slightly grossed out by the hands-on experience I just had with my dinner. (Not to mention the extra parts that rolled out from the inside of my dinner during the operation .) 

I'm all about "getting back to basics" in the kitchen and trying to learn how to do as much myself as possible. But I think with this endeavor, I was a bit over my head. I still think I'll try again in the future (probably with better instructions than a YouTube video), but when I went to the grocery store the other week, I went to the meat section and picked up my trusty old tenderloin package without a second thought.

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No-Fail Brown Rice (Without a Rice Cooker)

I always love the idea of eating rice and feeling healthy about it . But when it came to actually cooking it, there was always one little problem. I could never get it right. We'd sit down to eat and it would be too watery. Or too crunchy. Or too something. Michael kindly suggested we get a rice cooker to solve the cooking qualms.

But I tried one last-ditch effort...which worked! I went to our trusty pal Google (well, actually Swagbucks), and typed in "no-fail rice recipe." And the recipe that popped up really lived up to its name. The secret is that you bake this rice. Word of warning, you bake it for about an hour, so you have to be able to plan sufficiently ahead. But it's worth it. The rice is perfectly fluffy without being sticky or soggy.

See for yourself:

No-Fail Brown Rice
3/4 cups brown rice
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 T unsalted butter
1/2 t kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place rice in an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
In a covered saucepan, bring water, butter and salt just to a boil. Pour over rice and stir to combine. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. (Serves 2.)

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Soft and Chewy Homemade Bagel Recipe

I mentioned awhile ago, that I've been doing some experimenting with my bread machine. Well, I am happy to report that I had an astonishing bit of success making something I would have expected to be a disaster: homemade bagels!

I'm pleased that the first batch turned out just like how you'd expect, golden and crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Perfect, with a little dab of butter.

(You might be interested to know that the trick to making them involves boiling a big pot of water and dropping the dough in there for a minute before baking them in the oven. Who knew?!)

See? I'm learning! And feeling very encouraged, culinarily-speaking. Maybe next time I'll put on a little apron and heels to feel every bit June Cleaver-ish...

Bread Machine Bagel Recipe
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 quarts boiling water
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 egg white

1. Place 1 cup of warm water, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, flour and yeast in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting and press start. (By the way, here's the newest version of the bread machine I use.)
2. When cycle is complete, let dough rest on a lightly floured surface. Meanwhile, in a large stock pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Stir in 3 tablespoons of white sugar.
   Cut dough into 9 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a small ball. Flatten balls. Poke a hole in the middle of each with your thumb. Twirl the dough on your finger to enlarge the hole, and to even the dough around the hole.
3. Cover bagels with a clean cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Sprinkle a baking stone (here's the baking stone I use) or an ungreased baking sheet with cornmeal and set aside.
5. Carefully transfer bagels to pot of boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, turning halfway through. Drain briefly on clean towel. 
6. Once drained, arrange boiled bagels on baking stone with cornmeal. Glaze tops with egg white, and sprinkle with your choice of other toppings.
7. Bake in preheated 375-degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden.

 P.S. If you are new to this blog, thank you so much for stopping by! You can feel free to browse all my other posts about my journey toward a lifestyle of simplicity and DIY, as well as some of the ways my husband and I are learning to save money. I also write about my faith, my marriage and everything in between, which you can explore in the archives.

If you like this recipe, click here to pin it to Pinterest. You can also follow me on Pinterest here. 

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Cookbook Review: The Homesteader's Kitchen

When I was growing up, I loved reading books about life on the frontier and wondering what it must have been like to churn your own butter or go mushroom picking in the woods. There was something that always fascinated me about this do-it-yourself, homegrown spirit. Perhaps it was because all I the hunting and gathering I experienced took place in grocery-store aisles.

Which is why when I first got my hands on The Homesteader's Kitchen by Robin Burnside, I felt that nostalgia from girlhood come back. This is the cookbook for me: A refreshing cookbook filled with more than 100 recipes that get back to the basics of cooking and baking and making foods from scratch. 

And I don't just mean homemade pizzas or pies. That's one of the things I like best about The Homesteader's Kitchen. While those kinds of entrees and recipes are included, Burnside digs deeper and provides recipes for making even the simplest of ingredients and pantry items from scratch, down to the gravy for your turkey, breads for your sandwiches, dressings for your salads or cheese for your pasta dishes. There are recipes for making your own mayonnaise, chai tea, tortillas, vegetable stock, crackers, sushi rolls, teriyaki sauce, as well as complete meals (vegetarian, meat and fish options) and desserts. Many of these simple recipes also offer a tasty twist on a familiar favorite, like a Kiwi Vinaigarette, Thai Cilantro Pesto or Hot Carob Cocoa.

And the recipes themselves are stocked with real and fresh ingredients. I didn't see one recipe that called for canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones, for instance. The cookbook is intended to be used as a resource for making use of your garden-grown fruits and veggies. She even includes guides for edible flowers or growing your own salad sprouts! Even though we aren't able to grow our own food just yet, I love that that's the premise of the cookbook, and one that I hope to make baby steps toward in our future.

The only drawback I do have about The Homesteader's Kitchen is that, more often than not, there aren't photos of the finished recipes, which is usually a priority for me in cookbook buying. But, the whole-food aspect and down-to-earth recipes more than makes up for that. (And, from a publishing point of view, I can only imagine how costly it can get to photograph every recipe.)

I love being able to have this sort of variety of recipes for making everyday foods from scratch compiled into one go-to resource, and I find the idea of cooking from scratch to be freeing. I love being able to turn to my pantry and, in just a couple of hours, make my own daily bread, rather than have to run up to the grocery store. And baked into that little loaf is a labor of love and a sense of satisfaction at what my hands hath wrought. It's like stepping back in time and delivering some of those culinary basics and how-tos from generations past to the dinner table tonight.

Find The Homesteader's Kitchen by Robin Burnside on Amazon.com.


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Homemade Corn Dogs

I had a coworker who, when she learned I was from Ohio, recalled a story about when she was moving from San Francisco back to the Midwest. She was laughing at her friends' perceptions of what characterized the Midwest.

"They wanted to throw me a going away party," she said. "And they themed it a 'Midwest Party.' I had no idea what to expect and then I showed up and..."

"They served things like corn dogs, right?"

"Yes! I don't ever remember having corn dogs growing up, but that's what they thought we ate all the time."

Yes, indeedy. This "midwest is best" girl is fine with that. So much so that I cooked up a batch of homemade corn dogs the other week in celebration of official sum- sum- summertime.

This recipe doesn't involve frying the dogs so it's less messy and more healthy, and takes advantage of my love for bite-sized morsels (à la my brownies-in-a-muffin-tin). That muffin tin sure is getting it's fair share of use lately! Enjoy.

Corndog Muffin Recipe
¾ cup cornmeal
1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
½ to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 hot (or veggie!) dogs, cut into thirds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. In separate bowl, beat eggs and milk. Pour eggs and milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir. Add cheese once well mixed.

Spoon mix into muffin tins, about halfway full. Add one hot dog piece to each section. Cover hot dogs with remaining mixture (so that the hot dog will be in the middle of the muffin).

Bake for 14-18 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins in regular-sized muffin tin. (Once baked, you can freeze the corn dog muffins and defrost/reheat in microwave like you would regular corn dogs.)

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Homemade Hummus Recipe

The other day, as I was routinely going through my stack of recipes in the "to try" category, I came across one for homemade hummus and one for homemade pitas using my bread maker. I decided to give them both a go and see how they'd turn out. As you can see from the photo, they actually turned out quite well!

(By the way...the secret to the pitas? After baking them in the oven at a really high temperature, you take them out and put them into a brown paper bag and let them sit for awhile. I was a little doubtful, but it really worked!)

Michael loved the homemade hummus, which took about 5 minutes total to whip up. Faster than even running up to the grocery store and waiting in line! Plus, I used chickpeas that had been dried that I'd already cooked and frozen, so that sped things up as well!

Homemade Hummus
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed (this is about 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas)
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T lemon juice (I cheated and used the kind from the little squeeze bottle)
1 t ground cumin
3/4 t salt
dash of chili powder

Use a cheese grater (or I'm sure even a vegetable peeler would work) and grate the garlic. Add it to the food processor, along with the chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, salt and a small sprinkling of chili powder. Puree until smooth and creamy. (You can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to make it thinner if you like, but I didn't need to add any at all.)
Scoop into bowl, drizzle with add'l olive oil if desired and dig in! (Makes 1 1/2 cups.)

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Cooking in Real Life: This is what it looks like...

Want a glimpse of what cooking at our house really looks like? This is it, making our beloved black bean burgers: the messiness and imperfection of it all, giggling as I shove my bean-covered hands at Michael. This is food made with love!

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Balsamic Barley Salad Recipe: Our Sunday Afternoon Tradition

Michael and I are slowly building our own set of traditions. Not the every-Christmas-we-buy-each-other-such-and-such sort, though. So far, our traditions revolve mostly around meals: Friday mornings Michael makes us a big, Bob Evans worthy breakfast. Friday evenings we make homemade pizza. And, adding to the rotation, on Sunday afternoons we enjoy this tasty barley salad recipe.

The thing I love about this recipe is that you make it ahead of time, and really the only preparation is boiling the barley (though it does take about 40 minutes for that portion). But other than that, you don't really have to tend to the recipe and then when it's all done, shove it in the fridge until you're ready to dig in. So I usually will fix it either on Saturday or Sunday morning before church, so that buy the time we arrive home (sufficiently famished!) lunch is ready to be served!

Balsamic Barley Salad (adapted from Epicurious)
1 cup pearl barley
1 garlic clove, chopped or minced (I use a cheese grater to get it into tiny pieces)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cups cooked corn
chopped mozzarella cheese (I usually just eyeball this amount)
cherry tomatoes, halved (a handful or two)
chopped onion, small handful
chives (I use dried chives and just sprinkle them on to my heart's content, but if you use fresh it's about 1/4 cup)

Into a pot of salted boiling water, stir the pearled barley and cook at a slow boil for 40 minutes.
When finished boiling, drain well and put into a large mixing bowl. Stir together the rest of the ingredients, and mix well. Refrigerate until cool and serve chilled. Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. (Serves 2 hearty portions.)

Do you have any mealtime traditions?

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A Discovery of Different Tastes

When my friend Holly and I got an apartment together, I remember she wanted to know what foods I liked, which I hated, what my favorites were, what I never tried. Ever the hostess (we once threw a '50s-themed "Playing House" party where we served pancakes and wore aprons!), she was sensitive to my preferences and tastebuds and took the time to discover what I liked (besides club sandwiches, of course).

As it would turn out, I should have taken better notes from my dear friend. Those thoughts never seem to cross my mind--not then, not now.

For instance. Michael and I had been married for about six months before I found out he really likes sushi. He had stopped by the grocery store to pick up some items for us and came back with a little package of pre-made rolls. "You like sushi? I had no idea you liked sushi..."

Then the other day, I came across a simple, mayo-less recipe for tuna salad and decided to try it. I don't know that I've ever been one for tuna salad before. I whipped up a batch for lunch, which Michael discovered later that night. I told him there were crackers in the pantry, which he dug out and dipped in. Then he made a sandwich with it. Then he finished the rest of the batch off the next day for lunch. I had no idea he liked tuna salad, no idea at all!

The thing is, I usually just assume that people like the same things as I do. Well I don't like sushi. Eh, tuna salad is OK. I don't stop to sit down, pick their mind about their palate. At 27, I'm still learning these kinds of lessons, which sometimes seem so fundamental and yet so a-part-of-the-process, better-now-than-never. I think tonight I'll play 20-questions with Michael and see what else I discover about his food favorites.

 { photo by stitch }

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Cooking with Dried Beans

Pretty regularly, Michael and I usually have some sort of Mexican-inspired meal, whether it's quesadillas or tacos or the like. I like to incorporate black beans, but what usually would happen is that I'd open up a can and only use half of it (since there are only two of us), and then try to come up with creative ways to use the rest of the can or overdose on tacos as leftovers.

So a couple months ago, I finally bought a bag of dried beans to experiment with using them instead of the canned variety. (It was about two years ago that I first heard about the joys of cooking with dried beans. Of course, being slow and hesitant to adopt new things, it took me that long to finally try it out.)

The idea is that you take the dried beans, put them in a bowl of water and let them soak for 4 to 8 hours. Then, you let them simmer on the stove for one to two hours. While it is a bit time consuming (and definitely calls for planning your meals out at least a few hours ahead of time), it really is pretty easy and uninvolved, kind of like cooking with a crockpot.

And I have to say, I'm hooked. I love that you can measure out the exact amount you need and not have any wasted or sitting in a tupperware in the fridge. It's also more cost-effective to use dried beans; a small bag costs about a dollar and equals about 3 cans worth of beans. I started off with black beans but recently picked up some dried garbanzo beans as well, because while we don't use them much, I do have some recipes I'd like to try out with them.

I still keep a jar of canned beans in the pantry, for those off-the-cuff, ready-at-a-moment's-notice times when you can't wait for the beans to leisurely soak and cook. And I've also recently started to cook a larger batch of beans and freeze them so that I don't have to go through the whole day-long process if time doesn't allow. So far it's been working quite well and I'd highly recommend it. Try it next time you make our homemade black bean burgers!

Have you tried cooking with dried beans? Do you have any favorite bean recipes you'd like to share?

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Stovetop Décor with Colorful Cookware

The other day, I was embarking on yet another new recipe (a potato / green bean / tomato / egg / pesto salad, if you're curious) and quickly had my go-to pots in use on the stove or in the sink to be washed. I remembered I'd stashed a couple pots in the back of one of our pantries and dug one out to boil the eggs.

Lo and behold came this paisley beauty of a pot. I had completely forgotten about this pot I had picked up at a thrift store a couple years ago. When did they stop making ornate little pieces of art like this?! You may not be partial to olive green and mustard yellow like I am, but you can't deny this beats a plain old silver pot any day.

So ever since then, I've determined to keep it out, bringing a fun little punch to my stove top and future cooking creations!

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A List of the New Recipes I've Tried

For the past couple of months, I've made an effort to try one new recipe a week. It's not something I'm stringent on; some weeks I'll try three or four and other weeks might skid by without a newbie at all. Essentially though, it's a challenge I've set for myself to get more comfortable in the kitchen and try new things.

(Another consequence has been that I've gotten much more acquainted with my grocery store aisles, trying to track down things like wheat germ and balsamic vinegar. Without fail, I always end up in the baking aisle and walk up and down looking for some item. With the balsamic vinegar, I stood in front of the huge Kroger olive- and vegetable-oil section, reading each and every label with no luck. A couple of shopping trips later, I discovered the vinegar tucked away in the condiments aisle!)

So, I've started clipping more and more recipes (from blogs, magazines and copying down recipes from cookbooks found at the library), which then compelled me to overhaul my little recipe basket (pictures in all it's homemade glory above!). Every couple of weeks, I'll finger through my collection and sort out the ones I'd like to try or that I have most of the ingredients for, and pin those to the fridge by my shopping list. This process has been helpful for me to stay acquainted with my recipes and try to plan out menus in advance (although I haven't made a week-long menu spreadsheet in quite awhile!).

I thought I'd go through and share some of the recipes I've checked off my list (linked to recipes, where possible):
Black bean burgers
Blue cheese and dried cherry meatloaf (in the crockpot)
Chicken pot pie
Chicken burgers
Chicken ole foil supper
Cornbread from scratch
Guacamole
Granola (tasty) and granola bars (not so much)
Homemade hamburger buns
Homemade breads, bagels, english muffins
Homemade pizza dough
Honey-glazed carrots
Maple-walnut chicken
Penne with asparagus, spinach and bacon
Polenta (yuck!)
Pumpkin pudding
Southwestern pot pie
Sweet potato and black bean chili
Veggie lasagna
Wheat berry salad (I haven't been able to track down wheat berries at the grocery store, but just using barley has been delish! Anyone care to enlighten me about where I can find them?)
Yogurt in a crockpot

What about you--any new recipes to share? I’m always up for new inspiration, so please leave any suggestions in the comments, or let me know if you have tried any of the recipes I’ve shared on here!

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Misadventures in Cooking: From "Polenta" to "Placenta"

(doesn't it look nice and innocent? our homemade veggie polenta)

I make it a goal to try one new recipe a week. This isn't too hard for me because my recipe repertoire is still pretty small, plus I get quite a few magazines that I rip recipes out of each month (which I like to sign up for for free; subscriptions are paid for by advertisers).

As I'm learning, life in the kitchen is never uneventful!

For instance, I decided to make one of my ripped-out recipes the other night: "Vegetable Polenta Stacks." The picture looked good, the ingredients and directions sounded easy enough. So we embarked. Even at the end, the whole thing looked tasty; I thought for sure this was another point for Carmen-in-the-Kitchen. Michael even remarked that they looked "gourmet."

That was until we bit into them: such a disappointment. They were tasteless and like chewing on rubber, quickly earning the moniker "placenta" instead of "polenta." (Gross, I know.)

Needless to say, another recipe pitched in the garbage. Sometimes I feel a little like Einstein in the kitchen, testing and testing, filtering the good from the bad. But at least we tried it out. I know we're getting closer to culling out our little culinary corner of the world, one (good) recipe at a time!

Speaking of recipes, does anyone have a good recipe for whole-wheat chocolate chip cookies? We've gone through a few different recipes and not found one that we've fallen in love with yet. Let me know if you do. Thanks!

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