Recipe #51: Healthier BLTs

Since I had opened the bacon last night for our breakfast, I decided it would be a great time to make some BLTs! I love going to sandwich places and getting a BLT, it is so classic. Plus BLTs were a treat for us in Japan because bacon is hard to come by, and when we did have it, it was rationed very carefully! Of course when you add up the mayo, white bread, bacon, etc, it is not the healthiest sandwich to eat, but here is a twist that will hopefully cut the calories a little bit.

For one sandwich

You need:

2 pieces whole wheat bread

3 pieces turkey bacon

tomato

lettuce

honey mustard

• Start frying up that bacon first!
• pop your bread into the toaster.
• Cut up some tomato and lettuce. Also, cheese is a nice addition
• Put it all together!

Some fun variations:

instead of regular sandwich bread use sandwich thins, wraps, pita bread

give it a southwestern flavor by adding some guacamole or salsa instead of mayo or mustard

any other ideas?

Recipe #49 & #50: French Toast and Fried Eggs

We love breakfast for dinner. Will actually prefers eating all the variety of breakfast food for dinner because he is a regular cereal eater, anyways...

French toast for two

You need:
6 pieces of bread
2 eggs
1 cup of milk (I think)
1/4 tsp vanilla

• Mix the egg milk and vanilla together. Tupperware containers work great because the bread fits in perfectly!
• dip each piece of bread in the mixture, then add to the fry pan
• cook until brown, then flip and do it again.

Since your pan is warm might as well make an egg to go with it!

• crack an egg onto the hot surface. 
• sprinkle on some paprika for a nice taste.
• after about 3 minutes (maybe?!) turn over....I am not much for yolky eggs, Will dislikes it even more so I actually break the yolk and it kind of become a runny mess...

We also made some turkey bacon for an extra side! 

Top your french toast with butter, cinnamon and sugar, or syrup! I can't decide which I like more!

Recipe #48: The Perfect bowl of cereal

When I make a bowl of cereal, it has almost all of the food groups...

grain

protein

dairy

fruit

Our household LOVES cheerios (grains). I start with that, add some peanut butter (protein) on the side. Top it with some fruit (I like blueberries or bananas) Add the milk (dairy) and there you have it. A bowl of cereal that actually keeps you filled up! :)

Recipe #47: pico de gallo

Ok, I am way behind...I have been on vacation! But now I am home for just three days with a ton of leftovers from the vacation. I don't think I am going to get much cooking in while I am home, so I will probably be even more behind! Oh dear...

anyways, we all took turns with meals this past week and Will and I did hamburgers...of course! but I did add in a new recipe of pico de gallo, that we ate with our chips. of course there was guacamole too!

You need:
5 roma tomatoes
1/2 a red onion
1 lime
1/2 jalapeno pepper
some cilantro
garlic powder, salt, pepper
(We had some left over corn on the cob so I cut off 1/2 an ear and added that too!)

• Dice tomatoes and onion. 
• Seed and destem jalapeno and then dice into small pieces.
• roughly chop up cilantro.
• add corn if you have some.
• mix all together in a bowl.
• Squeeze lime juice in. 
• Add salt, pepper, and a little bit of garlic powder.
• Mix again and enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips!

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo....

Recipe #46: Mini Cakes

Today for our family reunion pot luck I decided to make a fun twist on your average cake!

You need:
one chocolate cake mix (and ingredients for it)
marshmallows
blueberries
walnuts
kisses

• Make the cake according to package directions
• Use a mini muffin pan to make the muffins. 
• Before baking, add a treat to each one.

• Then bake it for about 10-15 minutes. check with a toothpick

Then add a dollup of whipped cream and you have a fun dessert! They were the perfect size, so you could eat one or two and not feel guiltly! 

Recipe #45: The perfect sandwich...

Will and I could live on sandwiches...only with the right bread, cheeses and meats though! We often get rolls at Sams. I stick them in the freezer and when we want a sandwich, I stick it in the oven, turn it on and by the time it has preheated, the roll is defrosted and has nicely warmed.

But I made some cibatta bread so we used that instead.

We filled it with turkey, ham or salami, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes. 

On fabulous sandwiches do not put mayo, mustard, or butter... Olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper are perfect!

Enjoy!

Cibatta bread

Well, this is a variation on the extra dough I had from the peasant bread I made earlier, which I realized later when I was reading more of the book, that I actually made what they called light whole wheat bread because I used just the whole wheat flour and not the rye. Anyways... we wanted to use some of the bread for sandwiches, so I used the dough to make cibatta loaves instead.

For the actual recipe and needs look here.
Then follow these directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 with the stone inside.
• Take out a small ball of the dough. About the size of a baseball maybe.
• Form it into a ball with your hands. 
• Lay it on the flour covered pizza peel and spread the dough into a thin (but more than 3/4th of an inch) rectangle or oval. Let it rest on peel for about 20 minutes.
• Transfer to the stone (you may need to use a spatula to help nudge it off) 
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is dark.

Recipe #44: Taco Pie

Terrible name I know, but I am in "clean out the fridge" mode!
Well, 'taco pie' for lack of a better name started from this recipe found here, which was a cheeseburger pie. But I was using up the leftover meat from sloppy joes (recipe found here), which had salsa, so I decided to give it the taco spin.

You need:
ground beef, probably about a pound
salsa
cheese
pie crust
lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, more cheese for toppings.

• brown meat. Add salsa to it, probably a cup or two...
• while meat is browning, put the pie crust in the dish and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated oven (350)
• take crust out of oven and add meat inside, then cheese.
• let it bake for about 20 more minutes.
• take out, once on your plate, add the toppings of your choice! 

a nice twist on your normal tacos!

Recipe #43: Sloppy Joes

I had some left over hamburger meat from grilling hamburgers, so decided to make some sloppy joes. I wasn't quite sure where to start to went here for a basic recipe and then changed it a bit based on what I had on hand (of course!)!

I used:
2 lbs ground beef
1/2 onion
spoonful of minced garlic
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp yellow mustard (not powder)
cup, at least of salsa...i didn't actually measure that!

also if you are not a big fan of onions, omit the onions at the beginning because with the salsa it was heavy on the onion!

• brown meat and drain oil. 
• if adding onions add those and garlic.
• add ketchup mustard and salsa. stir up.

Recipe #42: Banana Bread

Oh banana bread. I hope for over ripe bananas in each bunch so I can put them in the fridge and save them for a banana bread feast!

I always make multiple loaves...in my recipe book i have all the conversions so I will go ahead and list them here. I have found in general that two bananas equal a cup.

	1 Loaf	2 Loaves	3 Loaves	4 Loaves	8 loaves
Margarine	½ cup	1 cup	1 ½ cups	2 cups	4 cups
Sugar	1 cup	2 cups	3 cups	4 cups	8 cups
Eggs	2	4	6	8	16
Flour	2 cups	4 cups	6 cups	8 cups	16 cups
Mashed bananas	1 cup	2 cups	3 cups	4 cups	8 cups
Boiling water	½ cup	1 cup	1 ½ cups	2 cups	4 cups
Baking soda	1 tsp	2 tsp	3 tsp	4 tsp	8 tsp

Combine margarine, sugar, and eggs
Add soda to water in small bowl.
Add flour, bananas and water alternately. I normally have each ingredient in a different bowl so it is easier to add to the main bowl.
Bake at 350 in a well greased pan.
45 minutes or until done for loaves
20-25 minutes for muffins or mini loaves
12-15 minutes for mini muffins

I used the 4 loaf measurement and made 2 loaves and 36 muffins! More food for the beach next week!

of course we will eat a loaf until then!!

Recipe #41: Peanut Butter Brownies

So last night I made brownies, and forgot to put them out with the ice cream for dessert! :) oops...I think we were  enjoying the ice cream too much! :)
Brownies by themselves taste great, but adding to them makes them even better!

You need:
brownie mix (and ingredients needed for that)
1/4 cup peanut butter
handful of chocolate chips

• Make brownies according to package directions, pour into pan.
• heat peanut butter in microwave for 10 sec. stir and then heat again for 10 sec.
• Pour peanut butter onto brownies. Make three rows.
• With a knife create a marbled effect by "cutting" perpendicular to the rows.
• Bake according to package directions.
• Once you take out the brownies, scatter chocolate chips across top.
• Use a spatula to spread chocolate around top.

Enjoy!

Recipe #40: Guacamole

Well, now I am officially behind, but that was bound to happen. I ate a lot of good food though in the meantime. Sunday night the freezer supplied us with some great gyoza and udon. Since there was no prep on my part i didn't think they should count as recipes. You follow the directions on the package...pretty easy! But I love being able to use my japanese dishes to eat off of! Japanese dishes are great because they are small so you eat less...in theory!

Then Monday, Alex and I spent a great day with some of my college friends. We went to Ru Sans. It as AMAZING! They have a sushi buffet at lunch...All you can eat sushi? YES please.

You should go. Now.

Also amazing...Grilled Teriyaki Onigiri (riceball)

Oh, wait, this post is about guacamole....I wonder how that would taste wrapped up with some rice and nori...

We had some friends over today and grilled. We made hamburgers. I know I said I was going to try new recipes. But hamburgers are so good, they can be made over and over again and not get old. (See why soon!)

Anyways, I love some fresh guacamole and chips with my hamburger. Making your own guacamole with fresh ingredients is one of my favorite things!

You need: (These measurements of course can be adjusted to the quantity you need)

3 avocados

2 roma tomatoes

1/2 red onion

cilantro, to taste

half a lemon

cayenne red pepper, salt

•  Cut up avocados and mash them up, as smooth or chunky as you prefer
• dice tomatoes and onion, add to avocado
• tear off several leaves of cilantro and cut up into smaller pieces, add to mix
• squeeze lemon juice over mix, add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

if you want more hotness you can add more pepper or even hot sauce i guess...the fun part is that depending on your ingredients it has a slightly different taste every time but is always fresh and delicious!

Recipe #39: Poppin' Fresh Cookies

You can try a million cookie recipes, but in the end there will be one that is still the best. And that would be Poppin' Fresh Cookies. Isn't it a great name... "poppin' fresh" makes me laugh! This recipe is from this old cookie book (same place recipe #17 oatmeal raisin cookies came from!) I wrote it down when I was at my parent's house so that I could make it later, and the time finally came!

You need:
2 1/4 cup flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup raisins/dried cranberries, optional

• Combine flour, sugar, soda, salt, butter, vanilla, and eggs 
• Mix until well blended
• Stir in oats, nuts, and chocolate chips
• (Stick in fridge for 20 minutes or more if you have other things to do, it helps firm up the dough and bake better)
• spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet
• bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

I used a small cookie scoop thing and this recipe made about 64 cookies. Half I made for some people and the other half will be frozen to take to the beach! Will and I do NOT need that many cookies lying around! But we both did taste them and it was worth the calories for sure!

Recipe #38: The "If life hands you lemons make lemonade" lemonade

Everyone gets some lemons at one time or another, and we either get soured or we get to make some delicious lemonade... its your choice. I chose lemonade because it is tasty!
This recipe makes 2 quarts.

You need:
5 lemons
1 cup of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet or tart you like it)
water

• Cut the lemons in half. Use a juicer, or if you don't have one, like me, squeeze out the juice by hand into a bowl. Use the knife to scrape some of the pulp.
• Pour juice into a pitcher, add sugar, then fill with with water!
• Cool in fridge or add some ice and enjoy!

Would taste delicious if mixed with some iced tea. you can use the recipe found here!

Recipe #37: Baked Spaghetti

To go with our loaf of bread I had to make something to complement it! Baked Spaghetti was a dish that a missionary friend made quite often and was my brother's favorite. It had been a long while since i had eaten it, but enjoyed it very much and have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow!

You need:

16 oz. Jar of spagetti sauce
A box of spaghetti noodles (Don't overcook because they also cooks in oven).
2 cup cheddar cheese (actually I used mozzarella )
1 can cream soup
¼ cup water
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Italian Seasoning and dried parsley flakes

• Place ½ of cooked spagetti in in greased 9x13 pan.
• Top with ½ of meat sauce. 
• Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat layers. 
• Mix soup & water and pour over casserole. 
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese & a little Italian Seasoning & parsley flakes. 
• Bake uncovered 35 minutes at 350. 
• You can also ½ this recipe. (which is what I will probably do next time)

Recipe #36: Pane Rustica or European Peasant Bread

I decided to finally try another recipe from the amazing Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. My dough tub was empty and it was time to try something new. This one is similar to the boule bread, but it uses some whole wheat flour as well.

You need:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp Kosher salt
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour  (I didn't have any rye flour so used a full cup of whole wheat and it tasted just fine)
5 1/2 cups white flour

• Mix the yeast and salt with the water.
• Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients without kneading. (I use the dough hook on my mixer)
• Cover and all to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses, about two hours.
• The dough can be used right after it is done rising, but it is easier to handle after being refrigerated. So I made it in the morning and then after rising put it in the fridge and then made a loaf before dinner.
• To bake a loaf: cut off about a grapefruit sized piece of dough. 
• Shape it into a ball by stretching the surface around to the bottom on all four sides.
• Let the loaf rest on your pizza peel (covered with cornmeal) for about 40 minutes.
• 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 and put your baking stone and broiler tray in the oven.
• Sprinkle loaf with flour and then use a serrated knife to cut either a tic-tac-toe or cross etc on the top.
• Slide loaf on to stone. Pour 1 cup of hot water into boiler tray. bake for about 35 minutes of until crust is deep brown and very firm. I have realized that I need to bake mine at least 5 minutes more then suggested because my crust hasn't browned enough at that point.

Recipe #35: Spanish Summer Salad

So for the fourth we did do the traditional All-American Burgers...but our sides had a little international flavor to them. One was the caprese salad I made on another occasion. The recipe is found here. I also made a recipe I learned several years ago from some missionaries in Spain when I was doing my internship there. It is actually a great alternative to your normal potato salad because you use a bit of olive oil instead of mayo. anyways.

you need:
Potatoes 1-2 per person
5-6 eggs
1 small onion
2-3 green peppers (i used yellow and red actually because i couldn't find any good green ones at the grocery store.)
2-3 tomatoes
2 cans of tuna
a little salt
lots of olive oil

• Peel and cut the potatoes into big chunks. Boil until soft.
• Boil the eggs (I actually did it with the potatoes) and then let cool and cut them up.
• While the potatoes were boiling I sauteed the onions because I like them better that way. Also cut up the rest of the veggies. 
• Add potatoes, veggies and egg to a bowl.
• Drain water out of tuna and add that. Then add salt and olive oil to taste and mix up. 

I promise! It taste better then it might look!

Recipe #34: TCK trifle...

Well first off, you might wonder what a TCK even is. It is not a food, it's a person, a person like me. TCK stands for Third Culture Kid. Someone who, like me, spent a number of their childhood/developmental years in a country that does not match their passport. If you think about it, teacher friends, many of our ELL students are tcks too. TCKs might be related to business, military, or missionaries, but they are a unique breed. Not knowing quite where they fit in, having trouble sometimes settling, but often able to easily adapt to new situations and willing to try new things, but often the biggest issue, not knowing where they are from. The simple question of "where are you from?" often took me ages to answer because i had to think about it.... "Well, I was born in Illinois, but grew up in Japan but in the states we live in Ohio, but then I lived in Georgia and now South Carolina."
So what does this have to do with July 4th? Good question. I love the United States and the freedoms they provide people, but it took me a long time to feel the need to celebrate the holiday or make a big deal of it because it was a holiday that Americans celebrated, and I didn't feel like I was American.

As I made my dessert for our cook out with family tonight, I felt the need to put my own spin on it. On the outside it is a red, white, and blueberry trifle, but in the inside I got to rebel against myself and show the love of my other country as well. Silly I know, but for some reason, important. American on the outside but Japanese on the inside... You will see how in a bit!

Anyways, for the trifle you need:
(It is a variation on a recipe I found in my Everyday Food  magazine, a similar recipe is found here.)

strawberries, I used three containers
Blueberries
Angel Food cake or pound cake
two containers of cool whip
sugar for the strawberries.

• Make the Angel food cake according to package directions or buy a pound cake at the grocery store. (I have to admit, my angel food cake did not turn out all fluffy, maybe because it is old? anyways, if it had turned out right this would have been a totally different dessert!)
• break the cake apart into pieces.
• slice strawberries up and add some sugar so they get juicy.
• in a springform pan, put some parchment paper around the sides. (or you can use a pretty glass bowl) put down a layer of the cake. kind of pat it down so it is evenly spread out. put a layer of strawberries on top. 
• Next add a tub of cool whip. yes i said tub, because it is delicious! 

Then comes my tribute to Japan!

 See, isn't it nice!

• Then add another layer of cake and top it with rest of strawberries. 
• Put in the fridge to chill for about 3 hours.
• Then add the the other tub (or however much you want) of the cool whip. top with stars* and blueberries.
• If you made it in a springform pan, carefully release it from the pan and tear away parchment paper from the sides. and FYI...we are not martha stewart!! Why do I think it will be as easy as she says? How she gets the cake to cut etc easily I have NO idea. so next time. I am using that pretty glass bowl. 

*stars: before I crumbled up the angel food cake ( actually i had made two in hopes that the second one would turn out better!) i had taken a cookie cutter and cut out some stars. then I took some frozen blueberries, mashed them up and mixed them with the stars to help them turn blueish/purpleish. just a fun addition to the dessert...which you can't even see in the picture. still, it was fun.

Side Dish #3: Classic jumper for your little sweeties!

A couple weeks ago, my sister, Sarah, and I decided that our nieces needed some S&K originals to wear! So when Sarah came to visit we got to work. Many hours, a couple major oops (thank goodness for extra fabric) later, we finished! I had gotten this really fun book-- One-Yard Wonders. It has 101 sewing projects that use a yard or less of fabric. So we decided to make little jumpers for Julia and Lizzie.

Isn't it cute! We had more fun choosing out the buttons too!

 This is Julia's purple jumper and Lizzie has a pink one. The fun thing about it is that even in the fall they can add a little onesie underneath with some cute tights! They even have matching head bands! (Remember those felt flower headbands...found here)
If you love fun, fast projects get that One Yard Wonder book! It is so much fun, there are craft storage ideas,  toys, bags...I need to find time to sit down and make some more stuff!

Recipe #33: Berry Melon Ice Pops

In my Everyday Food magazine they had a recipe for some ice pops using cantaloupe. The other day Walmart was having cantaloupe on sale for a $1! So after cutting it up, I remembered reading about these ice pops and decided it would be a fun recipe to try.

Plus, it is about time I used these cute popsicle molds!

Of course I tweaked it a bit using what I had at the house. I can't seem to find the original recipe online, or I would link it. But it is from the July/August issue of Everyday Food.

I used:

1 cup blueberries

1 cup cut up cantaloupe

4 Tbsp greek vanilla yogurt 

1/4 cup sugar (the recipe called for twice that amount, but since I used vanilla yogurt and not plain I didn't want to make it too sweet)

First in a blender or small food processor blend the blueberries and 1/8 cup sugar. Add 2 Tbsp yogurt and blend until smooth. Divide the blueberry among the 4 molds. Clean out the food processor. Put in the melon and rest of the sugar. blend. Add the yogurt and continue to blend until smooth. Add on top of the blueberry mixture. Close up the molds and put in the freezer for 3 hours.

of course the hardest part was getting the popsicle out of the mold! But I finally succeeded...

It was delicious! (Yes, I did eat one this morning because I wanted to know if they turned out, but it is yogurt and fruit, those are breakfast foods!) 

After eating one, I would make a couple of changes the next time I make them. The recipe said to run the blueberry mixture through a strainer to just get the liquid. I didn't do that, but probably will next time, as the blueberry part was pretty grainy. The melon part was delicious. Melon ice bars would be amazing all by themselves! (with some little melon chunks left in...hmmm. that would be good!)

Recipe #32: Taco Rice

Growing up in Japan we did not have easy access to tortillas or taco shells. So the missionaries in Japan learned to improvise and taco rice was born! (We had a different name for it, but taco rice is a little bit more culturally appropriate! :) ) It is basically tacos on rice, but oh so delicious!

There are two ways you can make the meat up, depending on how many people are eating!
Take your pick of ground meat--beef, turkey whatever.
1. For a small crowd--Will and I, I usually just get a taco seasoning packet and make that up.
2. If there is a crowd, I follow my mom's idea and mix it with spaghetti sauce.

But either way it is really your preference. If you like it saucier use the spaghetti sauce, spicier use the taco seasoning.

Before you start the meat though, make sure you have a pot of rice going.
Once the meat is cooked and simmering in whatever seasoning you chose, work on your toppings.
Tonight we used: Tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. Corn is a great idea too, so is guacamole!
Choose your chips too! In Japan we could only get a hold of doritos but here we use tortilla chips. Tonight I used old taco shells that I wanted to use up!

To serve: First get some rice. Don't get too much, because once you put on the topping you will have a huge pile! Then add the meat. Next put on the rest of your toppings. You can crunch your chips into smaller pieces or leave them on the side to scoop up some of the rice etc.

And there you have it!

Recipe #31: Pizza!

Well, I took a little break because I was ahead, spending my time reorganizing and cleaning my, only to completely mess it up again in the process of making pizza. Which, after today's experience, I think we will do grilled pizza instead!!
If you have not made the boule bread dough yet, I suggest you try it soon because you can use it for so much. Including pizza dough! So go off and make that recipe first, you can find it here. Remember it makes 4 loaves, or 4 crusts.
That was my first mistake. I think i used way too much dough, making it pretty difficult to manipulate.

Anyways, this is another recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

• Preheat oven to 500 with pizza stone inside. be sure to turn on the exhaust fan!!
• Prepare your ingredients so that as soon as the dough is ready you can put them on and get it in the oven
• Take a pound of dough (about the size of a grapefruit) using some flour to keep it from sticking, roll it out with a rolling pin or form it into a circle with your hands. (this is where it would have been great to have my brother-in-law Eric next door because he used to work at a pizza place! :) )
• Transfer dough to a pizza peel that is covered with corn meal (a lot of corn meal, or it won't slide off easily).
• Add the tomato sauce, and other toppings of your choice. On one we used basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella, the other was half ham and pineapple, the other half salami! but we did one pizza at a time of course, there is only one stone...
• once oven is preheated, transfer from pizza peel to the stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes

Because the oven is so hot, the corn meal burns pretty quickly and makes everything pretty smokey! our smoke alarm went off twice, even with the exhaust fan on! Also, did you know that the exhaust fan helps drown out the sound of a screaming child! Alex is not a cooperative sleeper right now, but he didn't sound quite as loud tonight thanks to that fan!

Hawaiian!

Like i said, I think i used too much dough so it was pretty much a huge crust, but still delicious because I love crust anyways! :)