Dan is going to be so proud of me! I'm actually updating with a recipe!

ingredients:
(2) 15 oz cans of red kidney beans, drained
15 oz can of diced tomatoes
green pepper, diced
medium onion, diced
1 c. white rice
teaspoon minced garlic
franks red hot sauce (to taste)
Cajun seasoning (to taste)

prep time: 10 min
cook time: 20 min


directions:
boil 2 cups of water and add rice to cook.
in a large skillet, saute the diced pepper, garlic, and onion until tender and browned. add drained beans and diced tomatoes in juice to the sauteed vegetables. cover and simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 4-5 minutes. add franks red hot and Cajun seasoning to desired taste while simmering. when cooked, add rice and stir mixture together. serve and enjoy!


the directions for this recipe are left somewhat vague intentionally. there is a lot of room for experimentation. i found the combination of franks and the Cajun seasoning in my cupboard to work very well, but you may substitute any hot sauce or other seasoning for a similar outcome. I'm not from Louisiana, so I'm not sure that this recipe would satisfy the traditional southern beans and rice protocol, but i found it to be delicious. the recipe makes a ton so make sure you have plenty of mouths to feed! I'd estimate at least 6-8 servings.

So, normally, we do a lot of cooking and stuff and we either make up recipes, or combine different recipes and pray it works out. But I have to say, we have found a recipe that we love and we want to share it with you. It's from Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis. The recipe is call Mini Italian Pub Burgers and is delicious :). Really, I just want to post it so that way the next time I want to make it, I'll know where it is :).

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 1/4 pounds ground chuck
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) grated Parmesan
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 9 small ciabatta rolls, sliced in 1/2
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 9 slices (4 1/2 ounces) Taleggio cheese
• 9 large basil leaves

Directions

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

Place the garlic and parsley in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Add the ground chuck, Parmesan cheese, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Pulse until ingredients are combined. Form the mixture into 9 patties. Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 4 to 5 minutes each side.

Brush the cut side of each roll with the olive oil and toast on the grill for 1 to 2 minutes until slightly golden.

To serve, place 1 mini burger on the bottom half of each of the rolls. Place 1 slice of Taleggio cheese on top of the burgers. Place the basil leaf on top of the cheese and cover with the top half. Serve.

Peppermint & Spice Sugar Cookies
Makes 24 cookies














2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp milk
24 Peppermint Hersey's Kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix with hand mixer, shortening (make sure it's softened), sugar, egg, vanilla, and milk. Mix for about 1.50 minutes, or until combined well.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in 3 batches, mixing with hand mixer well in after each addition.

Take about 1.5 Tbsp, flatten in hand, add unwrapped peppermint kiss. Fold up rest of dough around, roll in hand to form a ball. Dough should completely cover kiss, adjust dough if necessary. Continue doing so until you have filled up your cookie sheet (about 8-10 on a sheet).

Bake at 375 degrees F, for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool*, then enjoy.

*Note: Remember there is a kiss in the middle, it may need more time to cool than the cookie, don't burn yourself on hot candies!

Cranberry Almond Bread
Makes 2 loafs













3 1/2 C all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp flax seed
1/2 cup almond slices, unsalted
3 Tbsp ground almond
1 1/2 C white sugar
¾ C shortening
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 C milk
1/2 tsp lemon
2 cups chopped Cranberries
zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Grease (with shortening and flour) two 9x5 bread pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Add the flax seeds, almond slices and ground almond* to this bowl as well, mix up.

(To grind almond, take about 1 cup of almond slices, or whole whatever you have, and put into food processor. Process until ground fine.)

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla and shortening. Mix with mixer until all incorporated. Add the 3 eggs and beat for about 1.5 minutes. Add the milk, cranberries, orange zest, and lemon. Mix again with mixer for about 1.5 minutes.

In the flour bowl, create a hollowed out center in the middle of the flour. Pour the wet mixture into the center. Combine using a rubber spatula. DO NOT use a mixer after this point, you will over mix it and cause the flour to become elastic and your bread will be dense. Fold everything together until no dry flour is left, about 15-20 folds. Pour half into one greased pan, and the other half into the other greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F, for 50-60 minutes. Bread is done when a raw spaghetti noddle inserted in middle comes out clean.

So it's been a while. I've been busy and not quite eating healthy. I have been doing some cooking and baking, and I take pictures, but forget to put the recipes up and by the time I remember to do so, the recipe is out of my head (most of my recipes I create) But I do love to bake for the holidays. And so far, I'm loving what I'm baking so I thought I'd go ahead and put the recipes up so that way next year I can remember what I made, and also to share with you
all!

*Note: When one is baking for the holidays, one should always listen to Christmas music, it makes everything taste better and puts one into a better baking mood!

Banana Oat Bread
Makes 2 loafs

3 1/2 C all purpose flour
3 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp flax seed
1 cup quick oats
3/4 C white sugar
3/4 C light brown sugar
¾ C shortening
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 C milk
1/2 tsp lemon
2 1/2 cups very ripe banana, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease (with shortening and flour) two 9x5 bread pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Add the flax seeds and quick oats to this bowl as well, mix up.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugars, vanilla and shortening. Mix with mixer until all incorporated. Add the 3 eggs and beat for about 1.5 minutes. Add the milk, banana (mashed), and lemon. Mix again with mixer for about 1.5 minutes.

In the flour bowl, create a hollowed out center in the middle of the flour. Pour the wet mixture into the center. Combine using a rubber spatula. DO NOT use a mixer after this point, you will over mix it and cause the flour to become elastic and your bread will be dense. Fold everything together until no dry flour is left, about 15-20 folds. Pour half into one greased pan, and the other half into the other greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F, for 50-60 minutes. Bread is done when a raw spaghetti noddle inserted in middle comes out clean.

So I know it's been a while since we posted last, but between work, school, homework, and all of our extra activities it's hard to cook a meal, let alone one worthy of being published on here. So, our goal is to cook on every Tuesday night and sometimes Mondays. So at least look for weekly updates. We will try to remember to get pictures up as well, but usually we forget to take the pictures.

Since it is fall time, get ready for soups, stews, baked goods and all kinds of fun stuff!

So Julie is sick and needed some chicken noodle soup. So instead of buying her some canned crap, I made a big batch of the homemade stuff! Once again, I made a big batch of this stuff, just so I could send some home with everyone and freeze some for later use this fall/winter. I think I'll leave the recipe big, so you can do the same. The only problem we ran into, was we did not have a pot big enough, so we had to do it in two pots. if you have a big stock pot, then use it, if not, just do two big sauce pans (the biggest two you got!) Just remember, if you are using the two sauce pans, cut the recipe in half and do half in each pan!

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 Rotisserie Chickens
2 48 oz Swanson's Chicken Broth (or the equivalent of 94 oz)
1 bag of homestyle noodles, thin ones (I don't remember the size of the bag, but they were in a bag and say homestyle noodles, one size bag, two different sized noodles)
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 pack of the fresh chives in the herb section of the grocery store (these are the smaller, thinner ones with no bulbs, cut about 4 inches in length, in a plastic container)
2 tsp dried chopped tarragon leaves
3 cups water
Salt
Pepper
Garlic

Dumplings
2 Cups All purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp soft butter
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp tarragon leaves

In a pan bring some salt & water to boil to cook the noodles. While the water is heating up and the noodles are cooking, you'll need to de-bone the chicken. If you have never done this, just basically throw away skin, fat, and bones, keep the meat. This takes some time.

In your big (or two smaller) sauce pan, add your broth and water. Turn onto Medium heat. Saute your chopped onion for a few minutes just to help cook it and make it clearer. Dice up some of the chives as well. Add the onion, the chives, and the tarragon to the broth and water.

Add the chicken and the noodles once they are done. Season to taste with Salt, Pepper, and Garlic. I think I put about 2-3 Tablespoons of each into the soup.

While your soup is heating up, mix together all the ingredients for the dumplings. If seems to dry, add 1 Tbsp of milk at a time until moist enough. Try not to over mix.

Now for the tricky part. Turn your burners down to med-low. Scoop the desired size of dumpling batter into the soup. Once all batter is in, cover and don't touch for 15 minutes. Don't take the lid off, don't stir, don't move it. The steam the builds up is what you want to cook the dumplings and if you take the lid off, they don't cook all the way through and will be very dense.

After 15 minutes, your soup should be thoroughly heated. Serve with oyster crackers and grilled cheese. Enjoy!