Individual Baked Macaroni and Cheese

This isn't so much a "recipe" as it is an idea of what to do with leftover cheese fondue! LOL!
I had a fondue party not to long ago and had a lot of leftover cheese fondue and bread that we were dipping in it.
So the next day I cooked some macaroni, added the leftover cheese fondue (approx. 1 1/2 cups), one egg, and a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs that I had made from the leftover bread cubes. I simply put the bread cubes under the broiler for about 2 mins or until browned then stuck them in the food processor.
With the leftover bread crumbs (approx. 1 cup) I added some basil, garlic powder, and chipotle seasoning to taste.
I then put my macaroni mixture in my individual mini loaf pan. Sprinkled with the rest of the bread crumbs and baked at 400 degrees for about 15- 20 mins.

Let the baked macaroni set for about 5 minutes if you want it to come out in one piece.

Now this can be a meatless main dish served with a nice salad or you could use it as a side.

Enjoy!

I found this basic recipe if you want to make it from scratch and just incorporate what I did with it!

Pumpkin Scones!

These were so good! I hope you give them a try.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour 1/2 -3/4 cup reserved
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup of canned pumpkin
2 eggs

Glaze:
2 TBS. butter, melted
2 TBS powdered sugar
1 TBS maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 4oo.
Combine the flours, spices, baking powder, baking soda and sugar in a medium size bowl.
Add the yogurt, eggs, and pumpkin and continue to stir with a spatula until well blended. Here is where you may need to add a bit more flour. Continue to add more flour until you can successfully "knead" the dough without it sticking to you. I like to just combine it with my hands a little bit to make it more manageable.
Place your dough onto a baking stone or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Shape into a circle and pat down slightly.

Bake for 25-30 mins. Depending on the consistency of your dough, check the middle at 20 minutes and see if knife comes out clean. If not back an additional 5 minutes and check again. I had to cut mine in half and finish baking in the middle an additional 5 minutes.
But it's so worth it!

Make your glaze and drizzle over the top of the scone!
Enjoy!

If you ever have any questions about a recipe please don't hesitate to ask. Just make sure I have a way to answer you back via email.
BLESSINGS!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie!

With the latest discovery of my 6 cans of pumpkin I decided to use at least one can.
One can made 2 recipes and I'm going to share one of them today and the other in a day or two.
I hope you enjoy!Pumpkin Pie Smoothie!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1 frozen banana
3/4 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp.nutmeg

Whipped Cream for garnish.

Directions:
Put all things in blender in the order given and blend until smooth.
Pour into two glasses and garnish with whipped cream.

It's like pumpkin pie in a cup!

Enjoy!

Blender Molasses Muffins

If you don't know who Sue Gregg is and you want to know how to eat healthier but think it's too hard. You need to visit her website.
I purchased all her books and have recently started perusing them again and I'm ready to challenge myself to eat more healthy.
Starting pretty soon I'm going to do a whole month of nothing but Sue Gregg recipes and see how we feel at the end of that month.

I tried this recipe last night. If you are unfamiliar with the 2-Stage process, it's not hard at all. It just takes planning.

Blender Molasses Muffins

I love the ease of this recipe. It may sound strange to you to leave it sit over night but if you get her cookbooks she explains this in great depth. Her cookbooks aren't just recipes, but they are filled with tons and tons of great information. I can't even begin to tell you how much I recommend these books.
But enough of that. Here's the recipe.
I adapted this to what I had on hand and it came out great!

Ingredients
Stage 1:
3/4 c. warm filtered water
3 TBS. Whole Plain Yogurt
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS Raw Honey
1/2 Blackstrap Molasses (much better for you than plan ol' molasses)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry berries (not flour)
(If you choose to make these by hand in a bowl and not the blender, use 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, kamut or spelt in place of the whole wheat berries)

Place in blender at high speed (I have a Vita-Mix and only have to blend for about 1-2 minutes) 3-5 minutes or until smooth. Cover and let stand 12-24 hours.

Leavenings:
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
Sift leavenings and salt through a small strainer into a small bowl and set aside.

1 egg
1/3-1/2 c. additional flour, optional ( I did do this to make the batter a little thicker)


Stage 2:
Preheat your oven to 325. Grease muffin pan with non stick spray or butter.
Slightly stir egg into blender mixture and blend at high speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Blend in an extra 1/3-1/2 cup flour with a rubber spatula, if desired. Briefly blend in leavenings and salt.
If mixing in a bowl simply add these ingredients to your mixture and blend well with spoon or spatula.

Fill muffin cups evenly and bake for 20 mins.

Enjoy!
If you like molasses you'll love these!

*This recipe was adapted from the Sue Gregg cookbook "More than....Breakfasts...with Blender Batter Baking & Allery Alternatives!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

I made this for 15 people the other day (by doubling the recipe) and it was a hit with everyone. Even the 11 children. So you know it's got to be good. Almost everyone went back for seconds.
There is no picture because, well, it's just not that photogenic once you get it on the plate. LOL!

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut in pieces
1 cup chicken broth
1 onion chopped
2 cups half and half cream
8 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. cumin
1 poblano pepper chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
2 cans Ro-tel petite diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1/4 c. freshly chopped cilantro
1 package corn tortillas
3 cups shredded Colby-Jack Cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Saute onion and peppers in a little oil until just soft
Add the broth
Whisk in the flour and cumin until smooth
Add cream cheese (in pieces) and cream and simmer until the cream sauce thickens, whisking often.
Stir in tomatoes and cilantro
Set cream sauce mixture aside
Oil a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish. Add a layer of tortillas (breaking up as needed), then a layer of cheese, then a layer of chicken. Repeat layers ending with a layer of tortillas on top.
Pour sauce over all and top with layer of shredded cheese.
Bake for 35-40 mins.

Serves 8

Enjoy!

Sundays are made for Crockpots! Potato Soup!

Here is the recipe I tried for Crockpot Sundays!
It was very warm and filling. Perfect for a cold day.

Ingredients:
5lb. bag of organic potatoes
1 very small onion or a 1/4 of a regular one. Trust me on this one.
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 quarts of chicken broth
2 packages of cream cheese, added near the end
1 package of Bacon, I used turkey bacon. (It makes this soup!)
Garnish with green onions, cheddar cheese, chives or all 3!

Directions:
Peel and dice potatoes. Put them in your 6 quart slow cooker.
Add onion and garlic.
Add seasonings and then pour in broth.
Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5.
The potatoes should be fork tender.
At the end of the cooking time you can either use a potato masher or a hand blender to make a smooth soup. I used a hand blender. I highly recommend the hand blender. I love mine.
Blend until it's your desired consistency.
After blending or smashing the potatoes, crumble in cream cheese and put lid back on.
Cook for 30 mins or until cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times within that 30 minutes.
While the cheese is melting cook your bacon and fill your house with that delicious aroma!

Now serve up your soup and enjoy!

Sundays are made for Crockpots! Potato Soup

Sunday's Crockpot recipe is going to be Potato Soup.
I'll let you know how it went on Monday, with the recipe if it is worthy of posting! LOL!

Sundays are made for Crockpots! Chicken Vindaloo!

I'm officially starting my own little Meme and I guess I'll even have a button made at some point but I loved the idea of using my crock pot AT LEAST on Sundays.
And this past Sunday I told you I was going to make Chicken Vindaloo and let you know how it was.
Well first off it's a different taste. If you like Indian food you'll love it. We don't eat a lot of Indian style food but we all enjoyed it very much. My whole family ate it, right down to my 7 and 4 year old boys. So that's saying a lot. My 7 year old actually said, "This is pretty good Mom."
The only thing I did different is if you look at the recipe, I used a whole can of tomato sauce, not just 1 cup, I didn't have mustard seed or cardamom so I left them out. And at the end I cut the chicken up into bite size pieces and let them cook in the juices while I cooked the rice.

I was going to take a picture of it for you but to tell you the truth it doesn't photograph well! LOL!
Let me know if you give this a try. I'd love to hear how you liked it.
Enjoy!

Sundays are made for Crockpots!

I really like my crock pot or slow cooker (whatever you want to call it) but I tend to forget about it.
For one of my goals this year I'm going to try to implement it more in my cooking.
So I'm going to start with Sundays. I'll throw something in there before church and lunch will be ready when we get home. That sounds good to me!
I came across a recipe called Chicken Vindaloo and I am going to make that tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out and the changes I'll probably make to it.
Hugs!