Whirlpool of Imagination

Hungry?

I made some cards today but the weather was abysmal, not good for picture taking at all. I figured it was past time for a recipe so that's what I have today. I will have to add the recipe card later, again because of that dark, dreariness of today.

I got this recipe on the back of a book. I like to read cozy mysteries and many times they will have recipes in the back of foods/drinks mentioned in the book. I, as I usually do, changed the recipe to suit us and that is what I'm posting today.

Red Beans and Rice

 

2 tps butter

2 cups onion, chopped

2 cans red beans (15 oz each)

½ lb sausage (already cooked, cut into

                         1/2 inch slices)

1 can tomato sauce (8 pz)

1 tsp Worcester sauce

¼ tsp ground red pepper

¼ tsp hot pepper sauce

cooked rice

 

Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet, then add onion. Sizzle on medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add beans, sausage, tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, red pepper and hot pepper sauce. Stir together, cover, then reduce heat. Simmer for 16 minutes. Serve beans over cooked rice.

Because we like to keep things a bit healthier, we used a spicy cilantro chicken sausage (from Whole Foods) that was really yummy. It has a nice little kick to it. I'll even digress to say that we use that sausage as an appetizer on its own when we have company over. And in a pinch when I don't have any tomato sauce in the pantry, I have used plain spaghetti sauce, and it works well with this recipe.

I'm off to enjoy my Friday night. This week went on and on - never thought it would end! Have a great night.

Chicken Stew

For a while last year, I was sharing a recipe a month that we use on a regular basis. I missed sharing some so I thought I'd start back up again since it's a new year and all.

We found this recipe from the newspaper. I do not believe it was/is found in a cookbook so I have nothing specific to reference. I did change a few things - the original had bacon and for health reasons, we skip bacon and such in recipes.

BUT we have tried this recipe and it came out yummy. It is cooked in the crockpot which I just adore. I am always on the lookout for tasty crockpot recipes as they make my life SO much easier.

Here is the recipe in plain printed form if you'd like to print off and try at home.

Crockpot Chicken Stew

 

6 boneless chicken breasts                    1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. paprika                                       1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. sugar                                           1 tbsp. salt

1 cup med diced onion              2 cups med diced carrot

1 cup med diced potato                        2 cups med diced butternut squash

1 cup brown rice                                  3 cups chicken broth

1 tbsp honey                                        

 

In a bowl, mix chicken with ground cumin, paprika, onion powder, sugar and salt. Put the chicken into the slow cooker. Add the onion, carrot, potato, squash and rice. Pour in the chicken broth and honey. Turn to HIGH and cook for 3-4 hours. Serve with a crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Going Bananas

The other day, this was the sight that greeted me from the banana bowl.....

Brown bananas like this mean only one thing...banana bread! This is a favorite of Mo and Conor so brown bananas are always greeted with excitement in my household.

The recipe I'm sharing with you originally came from a Mr. Food cookbook. I don't know if Mr. Food is still around. I originally saw these cookbooks on QVC years ago and have been making this bread every since.

Most of my recipes are a mess. I have cut out papers and notes in books everywhere. Depending on how organized I was last time I made the recipe dictates how easily I find the recipe the next time.

I recently had to shop for my monthly calendar from Lang and as I was browsing the catalog, I found some cute recipe notebooks that hold 4x6 recipe cards. I've decided to start making my own cute recipe cards for the new cute notebook.

If you'd like the recipe, here it is:

 

Banana Bread

 

     ½ cup vegetable oil                           1 tsp baking soda

     1 cup sugar                                      ½ tsp baking powder     

     2 eggs, lightly beaten                        ½ tsp salt

     3 ripe bananas, mashed                    3 tbsp milk

     2 cups flour                                      ½ tsp vanilla extract

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the oil in a large bowl. Add sugar while beating lightly. Add the eggs and continue beating. Add the mashed bananas and beat just until moistened. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry mixture to the banana mixture and beat until just moistened. Add the milk and vanilla extract and continue beating just until mixed. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Turn out onto the rack and cool completely.

Have a great night!

Wow, August!

As I write this, I cannot believe that it is August 1st. The month of July has gone by in a blur. It was an incredibly busy month so I can see how time would fly. Luckily for the kids, they have one more month of summer to enjoy before its back to the classroom.

I thought I'd start the month off with a recipe. This is my go to recipe when I need to make an appetizer, especially in the summer.

Here's a picture of my Feta Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes. They go over well because they're light and easy to eat, just pop them in your mouth.

Feta Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

1 pt. cherry tomatoes (here, they come in bags - I pick up two bags)

4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion (the finer the better)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cider OR red wine vinegar

1 tbsp dried oregano

Cut a thin slice off the top of each tomato. Scoop out and discard the pulp. Invert the tomatoes onto paper towels to drain.

Combine cheese and onion. Spoon into the tomatoes.

Combine oil, vinegar, oregano and any salt and pepper you may want. Mix well. Spoon over the tomatoes. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.

**NOTES: I've made these many hours in advance and they are fine. Prepare them in the morning for an afternoon event.

To easily scoop out the tomato pulp, use a 1/4 teaspoon. It's just the right size to get into the tomato and scoop easily.

And save any leftover feta mix. It makes for a mean huevos rancheros the next morning!

Sweet Butterflies

Good morning and happy July! Summer birthdays are great for celebrating but always cause a dilemma during the school year. Meg's birthday is August and so she has never had the school celebration where you get to be the center of attention for the day. This year, the second to the last day of school became Meg's celebrate at school birthday and we sent in cupcakes. I wanted to do something fun and searched the web for ideas. If you google cupcake decorations for kids, you'll come up with all sorts of great sites with ideas. I finally decided on a butterfly.

Here's a close up of the butterfly. These were really easy to make and Meg was able to help with the decorating which made it a fun project.

After you frost your cupcakes, lay out the M&M body. Meg did this entire job herself. She had a lot of fun making different patterns for all the cupcakes. So it's a great math activity too!

For the antenna, I pulled the strands off of Twizzlers licorce and cut them down to size. Meg was then able to put those above the body.

For the wings, I took some soft fruit wedges, cut them into triangles and them cut them in half so they weren't so bulky. I put the wings on but Meg probably could have done that too. She was kind of peetering out on the activity by then so I finished it up for her.

And there you go, butterfly cupcakes.

Here is a picture of the whole set of butterflies together. There were too many of them to do anything but put them in this big container. My biggest worry at that point was getting them to school without dropping or squashing them!

And now I need to get ready for the day. I'm off to shop for some cool summer dresses for myself. Have a great day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's and grandmom's! My day started out so sweet. The kids gave me the projects they made for me and then they made me breakfast in bed. Starting the day with a healthy egg white omelet and fruit was just perfect!

Today, I have a recipe for you. We've eaten this hot or cold and I have to say, I prefer it hot myself.

Spicy Black Beans

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (29 oz) can black beans with liquid

1 chipotle chili in adobo from a can, minced  (*Note, these chili's are HOT, use them sparingly)

Juice of one fresh lime

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Spray a saucepan with olive oil cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute one minute. Add the beans with liquid, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Add the chili, lime juice and cilantro and heat through.

This can be served over rice, pasta or couscous or used as just a side dish to the rest of your meal. When we make this, we either double or triple it because it is very popular. It's great as a leftover and reheats well if you want to eat it hot.

Have a great day!

Cookies Anyone?

I meant to give this to you last night but I never got back on so let's start our Saturday morning with a good cookie recipe. The original recipe is a bake-off winning recipe from the 2000 Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. If you haven't figured out yet, I like to change recipes so this is different from the original, which I'm sure was really tasty.

This is our official tailgating cookie recipe. I always make it for tailgating days.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

1 pkg Pillsbury Fudge Supreme Brownie Mix (in a pinch, I use whatever is in the cupboard)

1/2 cup margarine, melted (I now cook with Smart Balance and it comes out fine)

1 egg

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1.Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the brownie mix, butter and egg. Stir until well blended. Add chocolate chips and oats and mix well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

2. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes or until edges are set. (Centers will be a little soft). Cool 1 minute and remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Couple of notes: The do continue to cook a bit after you take them out which is why the centers look soft when you first take them out. Let them cool completely because when they are hot, they are pretty crumbly (which is not always a bad thing if you need the chocolate fix!)

Enjoy!

How about some sweet potatoes?

Happy Valentine's Day! I finally finished all the Valentine's cards that I needed to get done - such a relief. I forgot to take pictures before I sent it all in so today I have a recipe for you instead. I'm big on trying to find good side dishes. Last month, it was rice, today I have spicy sweet potatoes for you. This is a family recipe. Whenever I have people over for dinners, I usually make this.

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

2-3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp Splenda (the original recipe used brown sugar but we adapted it, tastes the same with the Splenda)

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (sometimes I just shake away depending on how spicy I feel like making it)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the sweet potatoes with the oil. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until potatoes are covered. Transfer to a greased baking pan and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes until potatoes are tender. It's a good idea to stir once in a while.

Enjoy!