Power Breakfast Muffins!

I've raved about these muffins to QUITE a few people now, and so the recipe is finally up for all to enjoy! These muffins have really been a lifesaver for our mornings! I love them because they're FULL of protein, fiber, and other great stuff. I bake a few batches every Sunday and then hand them out for breakfast over the course of the week. They're ridiculously convenient on busy mornings (which we have a lot of around here nowadays!) and perfectly portion-sized. My kids never get tired of them since I switch around what I add into the batter to make them different every time! Can you tell I love these muffins?? 😁

Now in the interest of being healthy, I will say that these are not sweet, "dessert" muffins. They are healthy (but still yummy!) POWER muffins, here to give you a nourishing kick start into your day! Obviously this recipe is made to be tinkered with, so if kids have a difficult time adjusting to these, you can make them a little sweeter to begin with, and then make them less and less sweet with each batch and they won't even notice. Whatever works for you and your family! These are here to power YOU!

---Power Breakfast Muffins---

Ingredients:
-3/4 c. flour
-3/4 c. old fashioned oats
-1/4 c. flaxseed
-1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
-6 eggs
-1/4 c. melted butter
-2 Tbsp honey
-optional: an "add-in" such as fruit or nuts (see ideas below!)

Directions:
Mix the flour, oats, flaxseed, baking powder, and spices (spices may be adjusted based on what your add-in is). Beat the eggs and then add them and the butter, honey, and add-in to the dry mix and stir until well blended. Put batter into 12 muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Add-in ideas! You can have lots of fun with these! Let me know if you come up with a new one that your family likes! Just put however much you want into the batter and adjust muffin sizes, spices used, and bake time accordingly. Here's some of our favorites:

• apple: add diced apple chunks and a little applesauce
• banana-nut: add an overripe banana or two and your favorite chopped nut
• "carrot cake": add some grated carrot and a chunk of cream cheese
• berry: stuff in your favorite berries! Frozen works as well as fresh!
• pear-ginger: add some freshly chopped pear and some ginger
• raisins: my kids appreciate just a simple raisin muffin occasionally
• pumpkin: add canned pumpkin and some ginger and cloves
• peach: fresh, frozen, or canned all work great! Chop them up and put them in!
• lemon-poppyseed: add some lemon zest and juice and a generous helping of poppyseeds
• pineapple: get some canned, shredded pineapple in its juice and you can just dump it all in
• coconut: you can put some in alone or combine with the pineapple idea!
• "gingerbread": use molasses instead of honey and add some ginger and cloves
• savory: if your kids enjoy the flavor of eggs (mine do NOT), you can omit the spices and honey and add some ham chunks or bacon bits, maybe some cheese too? TBH I haven't actually tried this, so if you do let me know how it goes 😆
• chocolate: These are special treats for things like the week of Christmas or the first day of school! I add some cocoa powder, a little vanilla, and some mini chocolate chips
• corn: I tried omitting the spices and adding cornmeal and some frozen corn, but it tasted too eggy so it wasn't a big hit here. Maybe someone can improve on that idea?
• orange: I'm going to try adding some orange zest and juice and some mandarin slices. Hope it works out!

Spicy Jerk Chicken

If you make this the way my husband did, "spicy" here means "so crazy hot like kick-you-in-the-face cause-third-degree-burns-on-your-tongue" type of spicy, but it just tastes SOOOO GOOD you just can't help but continue to subject your poor mouth to delicious torture. Oh man, it was so good. So good that the recipe was requested, which is why it is popping up here! We strongly recommend having some type of lassi to drink while you eat this (we had strawberry lassis that Tim made with strawberries brought to us by the wonderful Ratliffs) as it helps to cut the afterburn in your mouth and makes living after eating that much more bearable. I also mixed up a double batch of festival bread and it made a great side to go along with the chicken!

---Spicy Jerk Chicken---

Ingredients:
-1 onion, finely chopped
-1/2 cup scallions, finely chopped
-2 tsp fresh thyme (or substituting dried is fine)
-1 tsp salt
-2 tsp sugar
-1 tsp allspice
-1/2 tsp nutmeg
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp black pepper
-3 Tbsp soy sauce
-1 Tbsp oil
-1 Tbsp vinegar
-2 Scotch bonnet peppers, finely ground

Directions:

Puree all ingredients together. Marinate about 2 pounds of chicken in it overnight, then grill, fry, or bake chicken.

No Bake Cookies

This post is in honor of Chelsea, who requested the recipe for these scrumptious treats. I hope that y'all are finally successful in making these, Chelsea!! When making these, I generally use only half the amount of sugar called for. They're a little healthier and taste a little fudgier that way, and if you like them sweeter you can put a dusting of powdered sugar on top.

---No Bake Cookies---

Ingredients:
-1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
-1/2 cup evaporated milk
-2 cups sugar
-1/2 cup cocoa
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/4 cup peanut butter
-3 cups quick oats

Directions:
Combine the butter, milk, sugar, and cocoa in a pot and bring to a rolling boil. Continue boiling for one minute without stirring. Remove from heat and add in the vanilla, peanut butter, and oats. Quickly drop rounded spoonfuls onto wax paper, or pat them out into a pan to make bar cookies and cut when cool.

Easy "Strawberry Pie Dumplings"

Bored and hungry one day with frozen strawberries to experiment with... Ta da! A easy, yummy (somewhat healthy?) new treat! I think they taste like strawberry pie, hence the name. I've actually gone gluten-free lately (ever since I found out I'm sensitive) so you can make it with gluten-free flour as well, just add more oil and water until the dough is workable.

---"Strawberry Pie Dumplings"---

Ingredients:
-A batch of pie crust dough
-Some frozen strawberries
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 Tbsp sugar

Directions:
Mix the cinnamon and sugar to make cinnamon sugar. Wrap each frozen strawberry (or two, if they're small) in a thin layer of pie crust dough. Sprinkle the top with just a little cinnamon sugar. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Makes about 24 per batch of pie crust if you use large strawberries.

Delicious Recipes You Should've Asked For

This post is in honor of Landon, who complained that I didn't have any new recipes up. The reason that there haven't is that nobody's asked for any of my recipes lately! So here are a list of links to recipes that we've tried and very much enjoyed, and perhaps you will too:


---How to Make Your Own Ice Cream In 5 Minutes---
Review: Quick, delicious, and takes a minimal amount of ingredients readily found in your own house. Tires out your arms, but its totally worth it.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2I7A8y/parentables.howstuffworks.com/chow/make-your-own-ice-cream-five-minutes.html/


---Copycat Girl Scout Cookie Recipes---
Review: We've made the Samoas recipe several times (recipe number 2). VERY time consuming!! They take forevvvver to make (less ingredients if you buy premade caramel, but then you have to unwrap alllll the little caramels). But SO WORTH IT!! Plus they make a billion. And they taste so good. For those of you with not as much time, there's a "no bake Samoas" recipe on the list we haven't tried but need to! And for those of you who don't like Samoas (what's wrong with you??), there are many more types of the cookies on the list.
http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/girl-scout-cookies-year-round-9-copycat-recipes-youll-love-2438912.html


---Copycat Pizza Hut Pizza Sauce---
Review: Simple and incredibly delightful pizza sauce. We tend to add twice as much garlic powder, plus some fresh garlic as well, but its fine as written.
http://www.grouprecipes.com/9822/pizza-hut-pizza-sauce---copy-cat.html


---Homemade Gyoza (Potsticker) Wrappers---
Review: Long time, worth it. I have a tasty recipe for the filling, should anybody ask for it.
http://www.lafujimama.com/2009/08/time-to-wrap-things-up-homemade-gyoza/


---Crock Pot Carnitas---
Review: We made these a rather long time ago, so I don't remember a lot about these, except they were SO GOOD!
http://www.ehow.com/how_5055887_make-pork-carnitas-its-easy.html


---Copycat Lofthouse Cookies---
Review: So we haven't actually made these yet, but the person who originally posted this on some blog claimed that her grandma used to work for Lofthouse waaay back in the day and that this was the original recipe. True or not, this sounds super good anyway!

Here's her post:
"I have never made this recipe but I know it is the original. For some reason the copy that was given to me only has the ingredients listed and no directions. So with that in mind, please don't be mad at me if they don't turn out just right for you.

Lofthouse Cookies:
2 eggs
2 C. sugar
2 C. cream
2/3 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 C. shortening (Lard)
Vanilla to taste
Enough flour to form a soft ball (She told me that the key to making soft, fluffy cookies is to add a lot of flour. But she didn't tell me how much. )

I assume that you just mix all of the ingredients together because there are no special directions listed. Bake at 350º (again no specified time) and the cookies need to stay white.

Icing:
1 pkg. powdered sugar
1 egg
1 can condensed milk (for spreading)
1 tsp shortening
1 tsp butter

I'm sorry that these recipes are so vague as to the directions. I didn't realize that when I posted that I had the recipe. But now you have all of the ingredients, so maybe, just maybe you can make it work."
(found the post here: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2007754)

Bestest French Bread Evar and its No-Knead

The title explains it all! A whole batch of the original recipe is supposed to make 3 loaves, but I always do half a batch of it and make 2 loaves with it, and both turn out fairly large. Apparently this bread freezes well, but it disappears so fast we haven't tried that yet! This recipe came from the textbook we used in my cooking class at Freed, although I halved the ingredients for this post and modified the directions for better yeast rising.

---No-Knead French Bread---

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup WARM water (our water temperature is set to 120 degrees and I wait until the water coming out of the sink is as hot as it gets!)
-1 and 1/4 tsp sugar
-2 and 1/4 tsp yeast
-1 cup WARM water (see above)
-1 Tbsp butter (sometimes we use butter spread instead)
-1 tsp salt
-3 and 1/4 cup to 3 and a 1/2 cup flour
-a little olive oil or other oil or more flour
-optional: 1 large egg and 2 Tbsp milk

Directions:
Rinse a liquid measuring cup in running hot water to get it heated up, then fill it with the 1/4 cup WARM water. Quickly add the yeast and sugar, and let it sit for 5 minutes. While you're waiting for that, melt the butter and put 1 and 1/4 cup flour into your mixing bowl (I use an electric standing mixer). When the 5 minutes is up, pour the yeast mixture into the bowl and stir into the flour until well mixed. Add the 1 cup WARM water, melted butter, and salt and stir until mixed. Gradually mix in the rest of the flour until you have a soft dough. Cover the dough and let it sit for 10 minutes, then stir gently for a couple seconds (I detach the paddle from the mixer and moosh the dough up and down by hand). Repeat this step 4 times. Put dough onto an olive oiled surface (or flour can be used instead) and divide it into 2 equal portions. Roll each into a large rectangle, a little less than 13x8 inches. Roll up the bread starting with the long side of the rectangle and pinch down the ends to seal it. Put the loaves seam side down onto a greased baking sheet with plenty of space in between them. Place the baking sheet on the top rack of a cool oven and place a pan full of boiling water on the bottom rack, close the oven door and let the bread rise for 40 minutes or until doubled. Optional: Make diagonal slits about 1/4 inch deep along the length of the loaves with a very sharp knife. Optional: Beat the egg and add the milk, then brush gently over the top of the loaves. Bake the loaves at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Cornbread

Some people have only ever had "Southern" cornbread, which is dry, dry, DRY, and kind of tasteless. This cornbread is nothing like that! This recipe is for "Northern" cornbread, and is moist, sweet, and delicious. It's wonderful plain, and even better when topped with butter, honey, or jam. Or you can mix it into your bowl of chili, which is what my husband likes to do! This recipe has been passed down from my grandma.

---Cornbread---

Ingredients:
-1 and 1/4 cup and 1 Tbsp flour
-1 and 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
-1 and 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
-1 and 1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp sugar
-1 and 1/2 cup milk
-1/4 cup and 1 and 1/2 tsp honey
-1/4 cup and 1 and 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Directions:
Mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar together, then add the milk, honey, and oil and mix well. Quickly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until there are no lumps. Bake at 400 degrees in a greased 9 x 13 pan for 20 minutes. Or you can make cornbread muffins- bake those at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or less.

Chicken Fajitas

This is a wonderful, low-fuss way to make scrumptious chicken fajitas! Comes from a cookbook from West Huntsville Church of Christ that we received as a wedding present. Feel free to improvise and add your own flavors to the recipe! We generally add more (fresh) garlic, some cumin, and sometimes jalapenos. The original recipe calls for diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (listed as optional) and cooked rice or pasta to put it over. We put ours in tortillas, of course.

---Chicken Fajitas---

Ingredients:
-2 Tbsp lime juice
-1/4 cup oil
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-2 skinless chicken breasts
-1 medium onion, chopped (I usually use half an onion, we get BIG onions)
-1 green pepper, seeded and chopped

Directions:
Mix the lime juice, oil, garlic powder, and chili powder together in a flat glass container. Chop the chicken into small strips and put into the mixture. Add the onion and green pepper to the mixture as well. Marinade for 1 hour at room temperature. Stick it all in a pan and cook it up until the chicken is done!

Poppyseed Chicken

This is pretty much the easiest, fastest, yummiest recipe evar. I don't know why this wasn't up here before! (Especially since I am such a fan of recipes that are easy, fast, and yummy)
Would rave more about this but fussy teething baby isn't taking his nap, gotta make this quick...

---Poppyseed Chicken---

Ingredients:
-Around 3 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces and boiled until done OR 4 cans drained canned chicken
-2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
-8 oz sour cream
-1+ Tbsp poppyseeds (I always +)
-2 sleeves Townhouse crackers (Ritz works well too)
-2 Tbsp melted butter (or more if needed)

Directions:
Mix soup, sour cream, and poppyseeds in a bowl until well mixed. Mix in chicken pieces. Smooth mixture out into a 9 x 13 pan. Crunch up the crackers and spread evenly over the top. Spoon the butter over the crackers. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Festival [Bread]

This goes really well with the Jerk Chicken, and is advertised as going well with any Jamaican dish. The first time I made this, I pretty much immediately had to make a second batch. They go like hotcakes! (Because they are a type of hotcake! Ha!) I think these would be good baked, but I haven't discovered the magic formula of time/heat yet.

---Festival---

Ingredients:
-1 and 1/2 c. flour
-3 Tbsp cornmeal
-1/2 tsp salt
-3 Tbsp sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-3/4 c. water
-3/4 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the water and vanilla, then gradually work the water mixture into the flour mixture until you have a slightly sticky dough (you may not have to use all of the water to achieve this). Let stand for 30 minutes, then knead and separate into 8 sausage shapes. Roll each sausage shape in a mixture of flour and cornmeal, then pan or deep fry until golden. NOM!

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Tim made the Jerk Chicken recipe recently for a group, and it was delectable! Grilled was better than baked, but baked was stll pretty awesome. Because it's a Jamaican recipe, Tim had me make the festival [bread] to go with it, which everyone also enjoyed muchly.
A warning about the chicken though: When it was baked, it infused the oven with its scent, which is now making my cookies taste weird. (Although apparently I'm the only one who can taste anything odd...)

---Jamaican Jerk Chicken---

Ingredients:
-One 3 1/2 lb chicken (3lb of chicken breasts may be used if preferred)
-6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers (jalapenos may be used if scotch bonnet peppers are unavailable)
-2 Tbsp. thyme
-2 Tbsp. ground allspice
-8 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
-3 Medium onions, finely chopped
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-2 Tbsp. salt
-2 Tsp. ground black pepper

1 to 2 Tsp of the following (to taste)
-ground cinnamon
-nutmeg
-ginger

-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup soy sauce
-Juice of one lime
-1 cup orange juice
-1 cup white vinegar

Directions:
Chop onions, garlic, and pepper. Throw them and everything else (except chicken) in the blender. Marinade for about a day. Grill or bake, with frequent intervals to baste with more marinade.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

For some reason I thought that I already had this recipe here (enough people have asked for it, that's for sure!) This is my favorite ever chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I think I've made it a billion or so times. Its a good recipe if you're wanting to substitute butterscotch chips or mint chocolate chips. I imagine nuts or candy sprinkles could be added as well. Its a very workable recipe, and so basic and easy to stuff in a mixer and prepare! They can be made soft and gooey (my favorite) or hard and crispy, or anywhere in between, depending on how long you bake them. I always pull my cookies out of the oven the instant before they're really done, and leave them on the hot pan a minute or two to let them finish baking, which gives them that soft, chewy, melt in your mouth texture. Mmm writing this is making me hungry for them now...

---Chocolate Chip Cookies---

Ingredients:
-3/4 c. butter
-3/4 c. sugar
-3/4 c. packed brown sugar
-2 eggs (large)
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-2 1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 12 oz package semisweet chocolate chips (or whatever type of chips you want)

Directions:
Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, and then gradually add to butter mixture while beating. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 14 minutes. Makes a whole bunch.


Added bonus I just thought of: it doesn't call for any grody shortening/lard!

A tip I just remembered: if you're out of vanilla extract, it doesn't actually taste all that great if you substitute lemon extract. Not that I thought it would, but it was worth a try...

Cranberry Streusel Pie

Big news: my son was born! Which is why I haven't been blogging for the past couple of months. I know how much you missed me :p
Anyway, a friend wanted this recipe, so I'm back!
This really is truly a delicious pie. How delicious you may ask? Well, lets look at the facts: 1) My beloved husband is, let's face it, a bit of a picky eater; 2) He doesn't like to eat the same food over and over again (the exception being, of course, tacos); 3) He's asked me to make this pie 3 times in the past 3 weeks. I'd say this is a winner.
We've variated a few times on the ingredients used, and can confidently say that it is fine to leave out the walnuts if you don't like/have walnuts, also we recommend substituting a cup of the cranberries with a cup of frozen strawberries, as it is just as tasty.

---Cranberry Streusel Pie---

Ingredients:
-One pie crust (Uncooked I think, although the recipe doesn't seem to specify)
-2 c. fresh/frozen cranberries
-1/4 c. sugar
-1/4 c. packed brown sugar
-1/2 c. walnuts
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 egg
-1/3 c. sugar
-1/4 c. butter, melted
-3 Tbsp flour

Directions:
Stir together the cranberries, 1/4 c. sugar, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon together and pour into the (uncooked?) pie crust. Whisk together the egg, 1/3 c. sugar, butter, and flour together and pour over the cranberry mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, and then at 350 degrees for 30 more minutes or until the streusel is golden.

Refrigerator Rolls

I made these yeast rolls with the cheddar chowder last night, and I think they went really well together! These have to be made the night before so that they can refrigerate for long enough, and they take some time to make correctly, but they're worth it. They rise like crazy, and it makes a TON. I got this recipe from my wonderful cooking class at Freed-Hardeman University.

---Refrigerator Rolls---

Ingredients:
-1 and 1/8 tsp yeast
-1 c. warm water (100-110 degrees)
-3 c. bread flour (I use all-purpose flour and they come out fine)
-1/4 c. sugar
-1 tsp salt
-1/4 c. shortening (eww shortening's gross!! I substitute softened butter here)
-1 large egg, lightly beaten
-1/2 c. butter, melted (only needed after the dough has been refrigerated)

Directions:
Stir the yeast and warm water in a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt, then cut the shortening/butter into the flour mixture until crumbly. Add the egg and yeast and stir until just blended (careful not to overmix!). Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours (or all night). Roll dough on a well-floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness, then cut out 2 and 1/2 inch circles. Brush the top of the circles with the melted butter, then fold circles in half over the dull side of a knife, gently pressing the edges to seal them (butter side in). Place rolls on a large greased baking sheet pan with their sides touching. Cover rolls and let them rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until golden.

Cheddar Chowder

We taste-tested this soup on Jonathan and Stephanie last night, and it was described as "scrumptious". It's not too complicated to make, just make sure you have two clean pots available! This is another of my mom's recipes. I like that even though you boil the veggies, you don't lose the nutrients since you use the water in the soup.

---Cheddar Chowder---

Ingredients:
-1 c. water
-1 c. diced potatoes
-1/4 c. carrots
-1/4 c. celery
-1/8 c. onion
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/8 tsp pepper
-2 Tbsp butter
-2 Tbsp flour
-1 c. milk (or water)
-1 c. cheddar, grated

Directions:
Put the water, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt, and pepper in one pot and boil for 10-12 minutes. Do NOT drain the veggies once they are done!! Melt the butter in the other pot, then add flour and milk to the butter and cook just until thickened. Add the cheese to the thickened mixture and stir until the cheese has melted, then combine the two pots in one pot and stir until mixed. Makes about 3 servings.

Quiche

Quiche is an odd dish that can be made many different ways. This recipe is for just plain quiche, but some recipes also have spinach or ham in them. This recipe might also work if you want to make mini-quiches, but I haven't tried that yet. I like to chop up the onions as small as I possibly can so that I can taste them but not feel them. My Grandma (on my Dad's side) is responsible for this recipe.

---Quiche---

Ingredients:
-One pie crust (a half-baked one is best- if you use my pie crust recipe, only bake the crust for 5-6 minutes)
-1 onion, chopped
-1 Tbsp oil
-1 c. swiss or gruyere cheese, grated (I always use swiss)
-1/4 c. parmesan cheese
-4 eggs, lightly beaten
-2 c. milk
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:
Cook the chopped up onion in the oil, then put it and all the cheese in the cooled crust. Combine the eggs, milk, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and then pour over the stuff in the crust. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or longer until a knife poked all the way into the center comes out clean.

Pie Crust

This is the best pie crust recipe I've ever found. It's simple, easy, tasty, and never fails (I don't exactly know how a pie crust can fail, but one recipe I tried in a cooking class had "no-fail" in the title, so apparently they can). This is also my favorite recipe because it has no eggs in it, so you can safely eat any and all of the dough you desire. Yum. The only thing to watch out for is that you don't overcook it- it can become very dry and a little scorched-colored if you do. And just in case you were wondering, this is yet another one of my mom's recipes.

---Pie Crust---

Ingredients:
-1 and 3/4 c. flour
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 c. oil
-1/4 c. milk or water

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together until a dough forms. Roll out and then pat into whatever you're putting it in. Poke the dough all over with a fork so that it doesn't bubble up. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden. This supposedly makes 1 10-inch pie shell or 2 8-inch pie crusts. Also you can make a pretty yummy pie crust cookie if you sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before you bake.

Strawberry Pie

Once again, this delicious recipe comes from my mother. This was one of my favorite pies growing up, but since its best to use fresh strawberries we would only have it in the summer. You can use frozen strawberries instead of fresh (which I tried recently) but you have to add water to the strawberry/sugar/flour mix (correct amount unknown) and it just doesn't taste as good.

---Strawberry Pie---

Ingredients:
-One pie crust (an unbaked one is easiest to use for this recipe)
-8 oz cream cheese
-6 c. strawberries (once again, fresh is best!)
-1 and 1/2 c. sugar
-1/2 c. flour

Directions:
Bake the pie crust, and then spread the cream cheese onto the hot crust (if your pie crust is already baked and cooled you'll probably have to melt the cream cheese a little so that you can spread it easily). Hull and wash the strawberries, then place them in a pot and mash them up until they are strawberry goop. Mix in the flour and sugar, then boil it all for one minute, stirring constantly (very easy to burn at this point!!). Pour the strawberry stuff into the cream cheese-covered pie crust, then cool it for a couple of hours until it sets up.

Jamaican Pot Roast

The credit for this recipe goes to my mom. I don't really ever remember her making it (I was pretty young when she started cooking vegetarian-only), but it turned out to be very tasty!

---Jamaican Pot Roast---

Dry ingredients:
-2 Tbsp flour
-1 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper
-1/8 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp marjoram
-1/2 tsp ginger
-powder Tabasco (I didn't have any, so I used a sprinkle each of cayenne, chili powder, and powdered mustard)

Other ingredients:
-1 and 1/2 Tbsp oil
-1/4 c. chopped up onions (or more if you want)
-8 oz. tomato sauce
-pot roast
-a bouillon cube
-chopped up carrots and potatoes if you want (they weren't in the original recipe, but they go really well)

Directions:
Brown the onions in the oil. Mix up all the dry ingredients and coat the pot roast with the mixture. Put the coated pot roast in the crock pot, then put the onions and other veggies in the crock pot around the pot roast. Mix up the rest of the dry ingredient mixture with the tomato sauce, then pour that on top of everything. Mash up the bouillon cube and stuff that in too. Cook for most of the day (I made it after breakfast and it was ready by dinner).

Requests?

Just in case there's a recipe I've made before that you want that I haven't put on the blog yet, here is the place to ask for it ^_^