By Kate, on January 25th, 2013% 
This week I was able to double 2 1 meal for the freezer! I made a huge batch of meatballs and spaghetti and 1/2 went into the freezer for lunches all week and onto our pizza last night and I made chicken cordon bleu casserole which is a recipe that actually doubles. So one for us and one for the freezer.
Sometimes I just don’t have the fortitude to put the meatballs away until they are all gone!!! *sigh*
Here’s some photos of the meatball making process. I do it differently from most folks. I cook mine in the sauce. No browning. And they are moist and YUMMY!
 All the ingredients for Killer Meatballs.  Form them and roll them in flour, shaking off excess.  Drop them into the simmering sauce and gently stir to keep from sticking.  Oh man…are they good! Thanks, Dad! I’ve linked to both recipes in case you are interested in trying them out. Trust me, you’ll want to!
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R
By Kate, on December 13th, 2012% This is a very tasty cookie. Not too sweet and very tender and small. I haven’t made these for many years (I’m the only one in my home who likes the raspberry filling).
(unfortunately, I have no photos…we took photos but the USB cord(s) for the cameras – both of them – are missing so we cannot upload but here’s a photo of the cookbook I used for the recipe)
This is a recipe that is adapted from Betty Crocker Best Recipes for Cookies (1989)
Serves: ~ 2½ dozen cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup raspberry preserves
- Orange Glaze (see Below)
Orange Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
- 2 tablespoons orange juice from the orange
Instructions
- Mix butter, cream cheese, orange peel, flour and salt. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 350. Roll dough ⅛ inch thick on lightly floured, cloth-covered board (it will be very stiff but will soften as you roll); cut into 2½ inch circles. Spoon about ½ teaspoon preserves onto each circle; moisten edge on half of each circle and fold dough over the preserves. Press edges together. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until edges are light brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet; cool. Drizzle cookies with Orange Glaze.
- Orange Glaze – Mix powdered sugar, grated orange peel and orange juice until smooth and of a desired consistency. Drizzled over cooled cookies.
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R
By Kate, on October 19th, 2012%  What is left 30 minutes after they are out of the oven! Back in 1979 I got this recipe from an elderly neighbor in West Virginia (thanks, Effie Holbrook). I have used it for these past 33 years and have found it to be, by far, the BEST brownie recipe I’ve ever tried. I love fudgy brownies rather than cake, and these are wonderfully fudgy.
Ingredients:
- 1 c butter (NOT margarine)
- 2 c sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 t vanilla
- 1 c flour
- 2/3 c baking cocoa
- 1/2 t baking powder
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 c chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
In a pan, melt butter and add sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well, but do NOT beat or overmix (this will cause the brownies to fall).
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture and mix thoroughly. Add nuts, if desired.
Pour into greased 9X13 pan.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Do NOT over bake. Cool (if you can — we never do).
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Raising Mighty Arrows Thursdays, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end
By Kate, on September 20th, 2012% Last night I tried a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and it is AMAZING!! But a word of caution – it is VERY RICH (but soooo worth it).
I made a few adjustments to the original directions and am posting with my changes here.
INGREDIENTS:
(doubles well)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled (but still liquid)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 c walnuts (optional, but I love nuts in cookies)
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Ungreased cookie sheets or line with parchment paper (the parchment paper helps keep them from burning, so is my recommended choice).
- Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
The trick to this (and any) good chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is to take them out of the oven BEFORE they look done. The should be just barely browned around the edges but still puffy and almost wet looking in the middle. They will flatten some as they cool, but this will make them very soft and chewy inside rather than hard and crunchy.
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Raising Mighty Arrows Thursdays, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Home Focused Friday, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end
By Kate, on January 19th, 2012% I’ve been searching the web for new bread recipes. The wheat bread I’ve been making for years was getting boring and I wanted something different. I’ve tried many different recipes, some from the King Arthur Flour Company (one of my favorite places), some from cookbooks I own, some from friends. And I found one that I REALLY LOVED!!! My children enjoy it, it stays moist and soft for a several days and it just tastes great. I’ve modified this recipe from Finding joy In My Kitchen to suit me. I prefer complete whole wheat but I did keep just a bit of white in this, but I added some gluten flour to help the bread rise better. Also, the recipe I found was designed for a bread machine so I changed it to work for hand mixing. Here it is. Try and enjoy!!
Wheat Buttermilk Bread yield: 1 loaf
Adapted from Finding Joy In My Kitchen who adapted it from The Domestic Engineer
1 1/4 C buttermilk
1 T butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 C honey
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1/4 C dry milk
1/2 C bread flour
2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 T gluten flour
Heat the buttermilk and butter to lukewarm (108-115 degrees). Pour into mixer bowl. Add salt, honey and yeast; stir and let yeast proof (when it poofs up a bit).
In another bowl mix dry milk and flours. Add to mixer with buttermilk slowly, mixing as you go. You may need to add more flour to the dough. I use a stand mixer/kneader and knead for 10 minutes. If you are kneading by hand, you’ll need to increase that time to 20 minutes.
Shape into a loaf. Place in a lightly greased loaf pan. Cover, and allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled.
Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes until the bread is nicely browned and it sounds hallow when tapped.
Remove the loaf from the pan and cool on a wire wrack.
Cool completely (or very close to completely) before slicing. The bread is much too soft to slice before then!
You’ll really enjoy this bread, especially toasted or in grilled cheese sandwiches!!
By Kate, on April 19th, 2011%  My dad was a great cook! My mother was absolutely DREADFUL in the kitchen! She got better over time, but she had no flare for discovery, invention and no sense of why baking soda was NOT a good substitute for baking powder in a pancake recipe!
My father taught me to cook. He would come home (he worked just down the street and was the factory manager) when I got out of school and would give instructions on supper for the evening. He’d tell me what things to try in different kinds of soups or sauces, and he loved to feed others! In fact, when he retired and moved away, family, friends and neighbors would ask for his baked beans (they were MARVELOUS) or pea soup or meat pies or meatballs whenever he visited.
Certain foods remind me of my dad – meatballs (my best friend in college dubbed them Killer Meatballs – a major compliment from an Italian girl!) being one of the best. The recipe I use is adapted from my dad’s experiments in making the best meatballs ever. It brings back memories of love and home and laughter. And my husband says it is one of the reasons why he married me! 
As I link up with the Hearth & Soul Blog Hop hosted at Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy, I am once again sharing my recipe for Killer Meatballs. Hope you enjoy it.
Killer Meatballs
2 28 oz cans tomato sauce
1 28 oz can tomato puree
1 5 oz can tomato paste
1 T oregano
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Put all in a large pot, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour (or longer). Stir often and partially cover – it can get messy as it simmers.
Mix:
1 pound ground beef (you can use 1/2 beef & 1/2 pork if you prefer)
1/2 c (or more as need to bind together) Italian bread crumbs
1 egg
1 T oregano
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t crushed red pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Roll into walnut sized balls, roll in flour and drop into bubbling sauce. Partially cover (to help prevent spatters) and cook 3-4 hours, stirring frequently to help prevent burning.
Sauce thickens overnight and is often better the next day as the spices heat it up.
Serve with al dente angel hair pasta.
By Kate, on April 13th, 2011% From my friend Laurie at Laurie’s Kitchen (re-posted with permission). She posted this on her blog the other day and it sounded so good I HAD to try it!! Well, it was a MAJOR hit! Kevin really likes moist food, and this was a moist and tender casserole. And it smelled WONDERFUL in the house!!! Of course, with 15 people here for supper, we didn’t have the second casserole for later, but it was a good amount to feed us all.
You can go to Laurie’s Kitchen for the recipe, but I’ve posted it here for convenience. If you try it, be sure and go to her blog and let her know! Here’s what she said:
This recipe is originally from Taste of Home, but I changed it up a bit, and drastically reduced the amount of cheese (it called for FIVE CUPS!) It is a great meal to make and share since making two creates the same mess as making one.
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
Makes 2 13×9 pans, each about 6 servings.
- 2 packages (6 ounces each) reduced-sodium stuffing mix
- 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 8 cups cubed cooked chicken cut in ½ inch chunks
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dill (Kate’s note: I omitted this, we aren’t dill fans)
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 3/4 pound ham, cut into ½ inch chunks
- 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
- 1-2 cups mixed vegetables (optional – Kate’s note: I omitted this)
Directions
- Prepare stuffing mixes according to package directions.
- Mix all other ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.,
- Divide into two pans.
- Top with prepared stuffing mix.
- Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake the remaining casserole at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer until stuffing is lightly browned.
- To use frozen casserole: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until heated through and stuffing is lightly browned.
By Kate, on April 3rd, 2011% Well, I’ve been looking for new meatless meals to try and this week’s is from Finding Joy In My Kitchen. Zucchini Parmesan is our new meal for the week. I’m really excited to try it. Not everyone in my family like zucchini but many of us like vegetarian lasagna that we’ve had at Circa ’21. So, I’m hoping this one will work well for at least some of us.
Anyway, here is the link to her recipe, but I’ll be copying it directly from her site:
- Zucchini Parmesan – (Modified from Swimming in Jell-o)
- 3 medium/large zucchini
1-2 tsp. Italian seasonings
sea salt, to taste
~2 C spaghetti sauce (we used homemade)
1 C ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 tsp. basil (dried)
1/2 C bread crumbs
1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 C Parmesan cheese, shredded
- Slice up your zucchini lengthwise into layers (think like noodles!). Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with Italian seasonings and sea salt.
- Put these into the oven to roast at about 425/450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Check on them to make sure they are not burning, and flip once while cooking.
- While zucchini roasts, lightly scrambled egg and basil in a medium-sized bowl. Add in the ricotta cheese. Stir to combine.
- Pull the zucchini out when it’s roasted, and allow it to cool before you decide to pick up the pieces Transfer the pieces to the bottom of a lightly greased 8×8 inch glass baking dish. You can put as much zucchini in as you want — this was what I had, so we went with it. I’d easily cover the whole bottom with zucchini next time.
- Top with half of the bread crumbs (about 1/4 C)* Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the zucchini. Top with half of the spaghetti sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers, again adding as much zucchini as you have prepared.
- Finish by making the top cheesy — adding the remaining mozzarella and the Parmesan cheeses to the top. Bake uncovered for ~40 minutes at 350. Move the dish to the top rack about 10 minutes before serving so the cheese browns nicely. Slice and serve.
- This dish has great flavor and we loved all the veggies in it when we made it with our homemade sauce.
- The bread crumbs are not crispy in this recipe, which didn’t bother us. But, I might suggest lightly sauteing the bread crumbs in a tiny dollop of butter and allowing them to crisp up, and then sprinkling them on the top after baking. Or, sprinkle them on the top when you move the dish to the top rack to brown… and let the oven do the crisping for you
 Enjoy!
So, if you have a meatless meal you’d like to link to, please post the link below. If you have don’ t have a blog but have a recipe to share, post it in the comments. I love finding new tried and true recipes!
By Kate, on April 1st, 2011% This is my favorite waffle recipe and I’ve used it for 26 years. They come out light and fluffy in my Belgian waffle iron. The secret is beating the egg whites and folding them in to the batter. Wish I had pictures but we eat them too quickly!
Waffles
1 3/4 c flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
Combine all together in mixing bowl
Beat in another bowl:
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 c milk
1/2 cooking oil
Add to dry ingredients, mix well to remove lumps (I use a whisk).
In separate bowl beat the 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form (but do not overbeat until they are dry). GENTLY FOLD this into the batter, leaving a few fluffs of egg white. Do not overmix.
Pour ~1 – 1/14 c batter into preheated and lightly greased (I use Pam) waffle iron and bake ~ 3 min 15 seconds.
Not sure how many this will make but our family triples this and everyone has 2-3 waffles, so maybe 10-14?
They are also YUMMY with powdered sugar, drizzled chocolate syrup and whipped cream for a youth group dessert!!
Per waffle: 172 cal, 11 g fat, 15 g carb, 4 g protein
By Kate, on November 21st, 2010% Here is a variation of my old crust recipe. The kids liked it. This will make 5 large pizzas or 13 calzones.
In mixer bowl place:
- 4 c tepid (about 100 degrees) water
- 4 T yeast
- 4 t honey
Stir gently with whisk to dissolve yeast and honey. Let proof (bubble up) for about 5 minutes. Add:
- 8 c flour (I mix part whole wheat, part white)
- 4 t salt
Mix well, then knead (either by machine or by hand) 10 min. Put dough into olive oil coated bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap or dry clean towel and put in warm place to double in bulk (about 1 hour).
Punch down dough and knead to get out the air bubbles. Divide into 5 (for pizza crust) sections or 12-14 (for calzones) sections. Gently roll out.
Pizza:
- cover with sauce, cheese and toppings
- bake in 425 oven for 14 minutes until crust is browned and crusty on the bottom
Calzones:
- roll into 8-9 inch circles, making sure the thickness is uniform
- on one 1/2, place handful of mozzarella cheese, 1 T sauce and toppings (we use pepperoni) for pizza calzones; you can use other toppings if you prefer – ham, cheese, broccoli, sausage, spinach, etc.
- fold over and press to seal edges, then roll over the edge to make a nice seal
- make 3 slits on the top to allow steam to escape
- place on either baking stone lightly coated with cornmeal or on baking sheet (with parchment paper)
- (if you are freezing them, par-bake them for 7 minutes, let cool, then place in fridge overnight and freeze in the morning)
- bake in 450 degree oven for 13 minutes until golden brown
- cool for 5 minutes before eating
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