Ham and Cheese Pockets

By Angela on April 28, 2014

There’s something wonderful about having a basic recipe memorized. It gives freedom in cooking and opens up creativity. It allows a woman to go into another home, discover a need, and whip up a delicious supper without running to the internet or a cook book.

My Basic pizza dough is a recipe like that. It makes fabulous pizza, but can also be loaf bread, bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, bagels, English muffins, Stromboli. Anything really.

And like I tell my daughters, Men like food. Want to find a good man? Learn to make good food.

I remember the first time Darren took me to visit his grandfather in the rest home. His grandma introduced me. She said, your grandson J.D. found him a Jewell (his wife’s name) and Darren found an Angel.

I was stunned. I’d been admiring Darren from afar for awhile, but he had never been very clear with me about his feelings. Was I claimed? Was he really serious about our future or was Grandma dreaming? I was thinking such deep thoughts and floating on her words, when Grandpa spoke up. “Can she cook?”

Um, what?

On the resume I was building to be a good wife….cooking wasn’t the top thing in my mind. I loved the Lord, could sing, play piano, clarinet and guitar. Teach children, sew, garden, and had the stamina of a workhorse. Surely those things are more important than cooking…but, NO. Grandpa only wanted to know if I could cook, lol.

If he were still with us, I’d bring him one of these yummy ham pockets. 🙂 He’d want gravy too.

Ham and Cheese Pockets

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup warm water
1 Tbs yeast
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
4 cups fresh ground Hard White Wheat Flour
5 cups, diced ham (sliced ham works too)
10 slices of cheese (or shredded...whatever.)

Instructions

In a stand mixer, combine the first 5 ingredients and mix up into a firm dough.
Oil dough and cover with a cloth while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
After about 30 minutes, divide the dough into 10 balls.
Roll each ball into a circle then top with ham and cheese.
Wrap dough around the filling and place on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Brush with melted butter while they are still warm. (Sprinkle with garlic salt too if you want to.)
They are delicious warm or cold and pack well for lunches.

https://www.groceryshrink.com/ham-and-cheese-pockets/

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Chocolate Eclair Cake

By Angela on April 22, 2014

chocolate eclair cake

It’s time for a little recipe around here. And this one is totally inappropriate, since simultaneously I am waking up my CentsablyFit blog. After 3 months of illness and getting totally out of shape, I’m super excited for Holly’s new challenge that starts on Monday. This recipe doesn’t fit in that plan (unless it’s one of the Planned Indulgences.) But it can be lighter by using skim milk and sugar free pudding mix.

If you want to use almond milk with instant pudding mix, you’ll be disappointed; it just doesn’t get thick. Unless you add a tsp of glucomannan powder with it. Have you ever heard of glucomannan? It’s the dried ground up root of the konjac plant. It’s pure fiber (so calorie free) and is a great instant thickener for cold or hot foods. It adds a bit of slick texture of it’s own that is something to get used to. But I’ve used it to make broth gravy, pudding, jam, and thicker smoothies. When I make fitness food with it, it makes me feel fuller faster and longer. I buy mine in bulk from netrition.com. It also comes in capsules, but why swallow a pill when you can eat food?!

It’s make a weird face….

Lick your spoon, good.

And easy. Embarrassingly easy. If someone asks you for the recipe, change the subject, if you have any pride at all.

I have no shame…so I’m sharing.

This recipe makes a 10×15 pan. You could make a smaller batch, but why?

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Ingredients

1 box honey graham crackers (ooh, or chocolate graham crackers--that would be yummy.)
2 packages chocolate pudding (any flavor is yummy)
4 cups of milk
2-8 oz tubs of whipped topping, thawed

Instructions

Line the bottom of your pan with a single layer of graham crackers. Break the crackers as needed to fit.
Combine milk with pudding mixes in a blender or with a whisk and blend just until it starts to thicken. Fold in one tub of whipped topping.
Pour 1/3 of the pudding mixture over the graham cracker layer and spread it around until it is even.
Repeat the graham cracker/pudding layers 2 more times.
Top the whole thing with the second tub of whipped topping.
Then chill for awhile, like overnight.
You can eat this right away, but the longer it chills, the more the crackers soak up the pudding and taste more like an eclair.

https://www.groceryshrink.com/chocolate-eclair-cake/

If you are curious about Fit Yummy Mummy’s Spring Choose Your Challenge. Pop over to Centsably Fit and find out more.

Turkey and Bean Lunch Taquitos

By Angela on April 4, 2014

Every week I share 5 packable lunch recipes with my subscribers at Grocery Shrink Plus. This is just one of them, and one of our favorites!

I was trying to photograph these for the blog, and look who couldn’t wait!

Homemade Taco Seasoning Here.

Turkey and Bean Lunch Taquitos

Ingredients

20 6" tortillas
8 oz shredded cheese
1 can (15 oz) refried beans
1 pkg (20 oz) 93% lean ground turkey
2 Tbs taco seasoning (I used homemade)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown ground turkey with taco seasoning until cooked through. Stir in refried beans.
Place a small amount of bean mixture on the edge of each tortilla. Top with cheese. Roll up tightly and place seam side down on a baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy.

https://www.groceryshrink.com/turkey-and-bean-lunch-taquitos/

Apple Carrot Muffins

By Angela on March 20, 2014

This looks like a recipe, but it’s really a lesson in substitutions. Apples are $1.50 a lb, carrots are $.33 a lb. Sub part of the carrots for the apples in this recipe and the kids get more vitamins and I get more money for groceries. Win-win. Made with fresh ground whole wheat flour, these muffins are rich in wheat germ oil, B vitamins, fiber, and vitamin A.

Muffins make great grab and go breakfasts (for kids), snacks, and additions to brown bag lunches.

Apple Carrot Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour (I use Montana Gold White Wheat)
1/4 cup brown sugar (or stevia)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium apple, chopped (I left the peelings on, but you can peel if you prefer.)
1 large carrot, grated
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 Tbs oil (coconut or melted butter)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a smaller bowl beat together egg, milk and melted oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and barely mix. Fold in apples and carrot.
Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins. Recipe doubles well.
To make it a little fancier, sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar just before baking.

https://www.groceryshrink.com/apple-carrot-muffins/

For best results, eat or freeze within 3 days.

Homemade Silly Sludge aka GAK

By Angela on February 17, 2014

Happy President’s Day! We love our founding presidents for sure. We celebrate their day by working on the house and trying to keep the kids from watching movies or playing video games ALL day. Day time clothes are optional. Bathrobes and fuzzy pajamas are acceptable for the dress code. (We talk about patriotism nearly every day, so I imagine it will come up today as well.)

Last night I knew I needed a plan if I wanted this to be a happy day. Hubs and I each wrote out a “would be nice to accomplish” list. Knowing that we would probably only get one thing done. Then I did a quick search for an idea to keep the kids occupied so I could work. Schedule for the kids: clean rooms; waffles with mom; special activity; play in the snow; board games; electronics after 3pm.

1/4 cup Elmer’s white glue, 1/4 cup cold water and 2 drops of food coloring.

I found a pin from Sugar Bee Crafts written by guest blogger Love and Laundry on making Silly Sludge or Gak. All the ingredients were on my basement shelf, minimal mess, short time involvement for me. Long time involvement for kids. Perfection.

After they mixed the glue,water and coloring together. We dissolved 1/2 tsp borax into 1/4 cup hot water. And poured that into the glue. It immediately started a chemical reaction creating a smooth polymer.

Aaak! Mom, I cannot touch this!

Not all of the water absorbed into the Gak right away. I used a spoon to lift the polymer out of the remaining water and onto a piece of foil. (Wax paper would have worked too, but we were out.) The kids kneaded it and kneaded it until it was smooth ball. Some of the kids opted to work the remaining water into their sludge. That worked out well.

Their first reactions were mixed. Heather didn’t want to touch it at all, but soon was enjoying herself with the rest.

Dub’s reaction.

Brandon’s reaction

Grant’s reaction.

It’s kind of a rule around here, that we don’t laugh when someone else is crying. (It’s only fun when everyone is having fun.) I broke the rule.

Grant didn’t take it well. The picture is fuzzy, because I’m laughing so hard.

Caleb is our sensitive one. He went after Grant and brought him back to play on his shoulders.

We’re sorry; want to try again?

Eventually they all had fun. 2 hours of it.

The next two pictures show you a sneak peak of how our kitchen project is going :). There’s my lovely craigslist range in the background and a few of our cabinets in place. There’s still a lot left to do, but my heart is pretty happy right now. Darren is working hard today and I may have a kitchen sink in a month or two.

One of the things I loved about this activity was experimenting with colors. We used the cheap liquid food colors that come in red, yellow, green and blue. In order from left to right these are the color combos:

1 drop yellow, 1 drop red (pale orange)

2 drops blue

1 drop blue, 1 drop green (bluegreen)

2 drops green

2 drops red, 1 drop blue (pinky lavender)

1 drop red, 2 drops blue (purple)

For the detailed recipe visit Sugar Bee Crafts.

Valentine Snack Mix

By Angela on February 11, 2014

We made Valentine Snack Mix this week, just because. The kids each have a basket to hold their personal snacks for adding to lunches and for grabbing on the way out the door. I thought these would be a festive and unusual addition to their baskets. Read more…

Homemade Pizza Rolls

By Angela on January 29, 2014

We got the privilege of babysitting our cousins the other night. We used to trade every week but with remodeling/rearranging in both households it’s been awhile. To be honest both families have oldest daughters now who are old enough to babysit their own families. Trading babysitting really isn’t necessary, but we don’t say that out loud. The kids LOVE getting together and I like knowing they will have good memories of growing up with their extended family.

I promised the kids I would make pizza and then promptly forgot. Instead I boiled up two chicken carcasses in the crock pot and made homemade chicken noodle soup. Except I didn’t watch the time and the noodles got waaaay too soft. So not only was there no pizza, but the soup was gross. (I’ll take their word for it–I couldn’t even bring myself to taste it.)

I had Darren’s favorite junk food frozen pizza rolls in the freezer. He said we could use them. But I looked at the number of kids (10) and the number of rolls and knew there would never be enough. My first thought was to run to the store and grab more, but my budget couldn’t take that. Whatever I did was going to have to be from what I already had on hand.

My workspace this day was the top of our giant deep freezer. The freezer has it’s own little closet but it had to move out while we tiled the floor. The extra workspace in the kitchen was a blessing. (The water bottle looks like misplaced junk right here, but it was functioning as my rolling pin.)

Normally I make this crust with fresh ground whole wheat flour, but I’m not sure where I packed my wheat grinder. For now, we just used white. (The kids tolerate my whole wheat stuff but every one of them prefers white, sigh.)

I tried to deep fat fry these babies, but that was a disaster. They unrolled themselves in the hot oil and all the cheese sank to the bottom and melted. So we slapped them on the griddle instead. (Baking them in the oven would have been a lot better way to go. If I had an oven, I would have baked the logs and cut them into bites afterwards to keep all the goodies inside.)

They didn’t last long. Every child called these a win (and when they were the course after soggy noodle soup–how could they lose?)

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup warm water
1 Tbs yeast
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour (unbleached or 100% whole hard white wheat)
1 cup marinara sauce
2 oz pepperoni, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

In a bread machine or electric mixer, combine the first 6 ingredients, making sure the salt doesn't come in direct contact with the yeast (use a little flour as a buffer.) Let rise for 1 hour (skip it if you are in a hurry, but the dough will roll out better if you let it relax for an hour.)
Divide dough into 2 balls. Roll each ball into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3 strips. Stop with marinara, pepperoni and cheese (leaving a border on the edge of the dough plain so you can pinch it closed.) Roll up and pinch closed.
Placed on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then cut into bite sized pieces.
Or cook on a 350 degree griddle for 5-7 minutes on each side until golden brown. (Be careful not to burn them.)

https://www.groceryshrink.com/homemade-pizza-rolls/

The Easiest Eggnog in the World

By Angela on December 4, 2013

And tasty too.

You can also make it dairy free, or sugar free or both.

It costs about half of commercial eggnog.

We’ve voted. And persuaded the neighbor kids to weigh in. It tastes better than the stuff at the store.

The Easiest Eggnog in the World

Ingredients

8 cups milk (whole milk tastes more real, but you can use skim or unsweetened almond milk)
1 pkg 3.5 oz of instant vanilla pudding mix (regular or sugar free)
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract (opt. I have never used this, but I make my vanilla in rum....so it's really good.)
1 tsp nutmeg (We tried 1/2 tsp at first but it didn't have enough nutmeg flavor for us.
1/3 cup sugar (Original recipe calls for 1/2 cup and this was too sweet for us. You might be able to leave it out all together. I used stevia in the raw for my almond milk version and loved it.)

Instructions

Pour 4 cups of milk into the blender and start it whirring on low.
While it's going, pour in the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Then slowly add the other 4 cups of milk.
Serve right away and refrigerate the leftovers.
I made a whole half gallon of almond milk eggnog and then poured it right back into the carton using a funnel. I thought it would last awhile.....but with only about 40 calories a cup, I haven't restrained myself much....

https://www.groceryshrink.com/the-easiest-eggnog-in-the-world/

Caleb Cooks

By Angela on November 20, 2013

He’s all that and dimples too. But he’s mine. I’m not giving him up for a while yet.

It was Sunday after church. Daddy was gone to preach in South Missouri and took a sister and a brother with him. Another brother went home with a friend.

That left only 4 for Sunday lunch. Hardly enough to break a sweat over. “Let’s just have cold cuts,” Heidi offered. “We can save the spiral cut ham for when the whole family is together.”

“Or,” Caleb said, “That bread with the egg in the middle.”

“Huh? You mean Toad in the Hole?”

“Yes, that’s the one.” I love that the kids aren’t discombobulated about our remodel nightmare. They just jumped right in and took charge of fixing the meal. Then stuck with me until all the dishes were washed, dried and put away.

Toad in the Hole

Ingredients

4 slices of bread
4 eggs
4 tsp butter

Instructions

Butter bread, then use a glass or biscuit cutter to cut a hole out of the center.
Preheat griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees.
Place bread buttered side down on the pan, then bread an egg in the center.
Cook for about 3 minutes or until egg is partially set. Flip and cook the other side.
Cook until yolks are thick but still soft. About 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

https://www.groceryshrink.com/caleb-cooks/

Coconut Crepes with Blueberries

By Angela on November 12, 2013

Oh, my. That’s all I could say after one bite of these.

You will never believe they are dairy free, sugar, free, and gluten free, and pack a decent punch of protein. Usually you have to follow up a list like that with “taste free.” Oh, not these. Oh did I say fast? They are fast to make and easy.

If you are a Trim Healthy Mama these are an S. If you are a Fit Yummy Mummy, these are supportive. Very.

I don’t have a stove right now, or much of a kitchen. If you are a new blog reader, click on the “kitchen remodel” tag on the right and catch up with our drama.

It’s hard to make crepes without a little non-stick pan and a stove. But I’ve just proven it can be done…..in the microwave.

Oh don’t throw things. Usually microwaved food is gross and some of you are convinced it’s poison. (I’m aware.) But a girl’s gotta do what she can to survive.

This is survival food? Really?

Coconut Whipped Cream

First you are going to make your coconut whipped cream. Refrigerate a can of full fat coconut milk overnight. (I just store mine in the fridge straight from the store so I’m always ready.) Open the can and carefully pour off the coconut water into a measuring cup, and scoop the thick cream into your electric mixing bowl.

Add a few dashes of nunaturals pure stevia extract or a few drops of liquid stevia sweetener. And a tsp of vanilla extra. Beat for 5-7 minutes or until peaks form. I scooped mine into an old cool whip tub (Shhh–I know, but I don’t buy it anymore--as of today.) Then chill until ready to use. Heat will make the whipped cream deteriorate so keep it cold. Once you taste this stuff you are going to want to eat the entire batch with a spoon right then. Let me just warn you that it has about 500 calories in the whole bowl–so save half for later.

Coconut Crepes

Next mix up your crepe batter: You’ll need 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk (Use the coconut water that you drained off the cream and add enough almond milk to make up the difference.); and 2 Tbs of coconut flour. That’s it! Beat it all together and press out any lumps with your fingers. Make it smooth. A blender works even better.

Place a scant 1/3 cup of batter onto a large well-greased plate and microwave on high for 90 seconds. Boom.

Gently loosen it from the plate with a thin silicone spatula. And flip it over (the ugly side is on the bottom.) Let it cool a bit then top with whipped coconut cream and 1 cup of blueberries. Fresh are awesome, but previously frozen (now thawed) are good too.) Wrap up so the pretty side shows.

Add FULL FAT canned coconut milk to your shopping list right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Dirty Don’s had some last week for $.75 a can. I’m kicking myself. I’m going to go back and see if they still have it, because someone ate all my cream.

Coconut Crepes with Blueberries

Ingredients

1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled
A dash of Nunaturals pure stevia extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb blueberries
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (coconut or almond)
2 Tbs coconut flour

Instructions

Drain off coconut water and place coconut cream in an electric mixing bowl. Beat in stevia and vanilla and then beat for 5-7 minutes or until peaks form. Chill.
Meanwhile, blend together 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk (use reserved coconut water for part of the milk) and 2 Tbs coconut flour until very smooth.
Cook either in a crepe pan, or pour a scant 1/3 cup of batter onto a greased plate. Microwave on high for 90 seconds.
Loosen crepe from plate and flip over so the ugly side is up. Fill with coconut whipped cream and bleuberries. Fold crepe over and enjoy right away.

https://www.groceryshrink.com/coconut-crepes-with-blueberries/

This post was inspired by the blueberry contest. I was not compensated to write the post, I just really hope to win one of the prizes :). For more blueberry inspiration go here.