Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category
April 1st, 2011 | 
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I am a very busy wahm and one of my favorite things to make for dinner are soups and stews because I can slow cook them while I complete business work or do house work.
Today my good friend and business partner Chris is sharing with all of us one of her favorite recipes.
This is a wonderful light yet filling soup that I use as a filler before dinner or with a salad. It has extremely little fat and burns calories fast!
Tomato & Veggie Soup Recipe
2 cans 15 oz Veggie (or chicken) stock or 1-32 oz box
2 cans 15 oz Tomato Sauce or Chopped Tomatoes
1 Box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
1/2 bunch Bok Choi or Napa Cabbage, sliced thin
2 tsp good olive oil
salt to taste
Italian Seasoning or a pinch of thyme, basil, and marjoram, or whatever is in the cabinet
garlic powder or fresh garlic
In a large sauce pan combine all of the ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!
Chris is a work at home mom that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing information and tips with others. You can find her at her business site http://directsalestalk.com/ . She has also partnered with a friend on a product review site for small business owners at http://twoclassychics.blogspot.com/
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I work at home and even though I work from home…my days are packed full with work and family related stuff so when it comes to dinner…I love making and serving a variety of hearty soups and stews to my family.
Today…my good friend and business partner Chris is sharing one of her favorite recipes with all of us. I don’t know about all of you…but I am looking forward to making her recipe very soon!
Classic Chicken Soup Recipe
2-3 Large pieces of Chicken, raw on the bone
Water
Chicken Soup Base, 2 bouillon cubes or your favorite chicken stock
½ -1 Carrot sliced
1-2 stalks celery with tops, diced
Salt & pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Maggi Seasoning to taste, at least 10 shots or more, depending on amount of liquid
Egg noodles or elbows, your choice
In a large soup pot, fill with water to the desired level. Bring to a boil. Add enough soup base/stock to get a good chicken flavor. Add Chicken, carrot and celery and all spices. Allow to cook 30-45 min until chicken is cooked through. Pull chicken out and let cool, shredding it after cooling. Return chicken to pot. Simmer.
In a separate pot, cook noodles to just al dente. Drain and rinse in cold water. Add to soup and simmer for an additional 5-10 min. Adjust seasonings as needed.
Serve with crusty French bread, sandwiches or crackers.
Chris is a work at home mom that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing information and tips with others. You can find her at her business site http://directsalestalk.com/ . She has also partnered with a friend on a product review site for small business owners at http://twoclassychics.blogspot.com/
When it comes to being a busy mom…we often struggle with finding the time to cook healthy home cooked meals for our family. We spend our days getting the kids to school, working in or outside of the home, running the kids to after school activities, running errands and then once we arrive home again, it’s dinner time.
In our busy lives it is easy to fall into the trap of purchasing take out or hitting a fast food joint and buying unhealthy food to feed to our families. As a mother you can solve this problem by investing in two very helpful must-have kitchen appliances.
If you want to prepare healthy meals at home and do so lickety split then I suggest that you invest in two quality kitchen appliances. Let’s take a look at those two appliances more in depth.
1. You should invest in a good quality crock pot. I suggest a 3 or 5 quart crock pot depending on the size of your family. The one that I own is 5 quart and made of stoneware which is super easy to clean because it can be placed into a dishwasher.
Slow Cooked Meal Suggestions: pork roast and sauerkraut, barbequed pulled-pork for sandwiches, beef stew, beef vegetable soup, chicken pot-pie, chicken corn soup, chili, short style spare ribs, chicken and pasta dishes, chicken and rice soup, chicken and dumplings and Salisbury steak and gravy are just a few delicious meals you can make in your crock pot.
2. You should invest in a high quality pressure cooker. In the old days I felt they were unsafe so I refused to use one. However…the past few years manufacturers have gotten with the program and now you can find very safe pressure cookers out in the marketplace. You can pressure cook your foods in half the time it takes to bake them and not only that…you will find that your meats will be more moist and taste delicious when pressure cooked.
You can do roasts, chicken, turkey, pork, venison and lamb in a pressure cooker in half the time of conventional baking.
If you are looking to get into crock pot and pressure cooking I suggest that you invest in a few good cookbooks that are geared towards each of those cooking methods.
Getting dinner onto your family’s table every night doesn’t mean that you have to spend hours in the kitchen making it. Invest in a crock pot and a pressure cooker and you will find that you can feed your family quickly and easily the healthy meals that they deserve.
Shelly Hill is a mother and grandmother living in Pennsylvania who enjoys cooking, baking and canning. You can visit Shelly’s online foodie and recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free cooking tips, cooking articles and recipes
Today I wanted to share a delicious recipe with all of our blog readers that makes for a great family dinner. Children and Adults love this dish and it’s easy to throw together.
Baked Spaghetti Casserole Recipe
8 oz. box spaghetti noodles
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrainded
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed tomato soup
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spaghetti noodles, drain & set aside.
Fry the ground beef in a large frying pan with the chopped onion until the ground beef is fully cooked. Drain off the grease. Stir in the diced tomatoes and canned tomato soup. Sprinkle in the ground black pepper. Bring the ingredients to a boil and then turn down to low. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until cheese melts. Remove from heat and pour into a 3 quart casserole dish. Stir in the cooked pasta and toss until all ingredients are mixed together. Cover and bake for 20-30 minutes or until done.
If desired, you can sprinkle additional cheddar cheese on top of the casserole during the last 5 minutes of baking time.
When it comes to making Mexican-style dinners for my family’s dinner we love to use easy to prepare recipes that use readily available ingredients that are found in our normal grocery store. As a busy mother and wife…I just don’t have time to look for speciality ingredients.
The following two recipes will take 15-20 minutes to prepare and then while they bake you can do your other activities. The Tex-Mex Lasagna should be prepared 6-8 hours ahead of time so I like to prepare it early in the morning and refrigerate it for when I get home from work. I then just pop it into the oven. Each of these recipes will easily feed a family of 4-5 people.
Tex-Mex Lasagna Dinner Recipe
12 pieces lasagna noodles, uncooked
3 cups spaghetti sauce (with meat or mushrooms works great)
1 cup water
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (10 ounce) package frozen yellow or white corn, thawed
1 packet chili seasoning mix
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups low fat Monterey Jack cheese, grated
In a large mixing bowl combine together the spaghetti sauce, water, red kidney beans, yellow corn and the packet of chili seasoning mix. In a 9″ x 13″ baking pan, spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture across the bottom. Arrange 4 pieces of the uncooked lasagna noodles on top of the spaghetti sauce layer. Pour 1 cup of the sauce mixture on top of the noodles. Pour half of the ricotta cheese on top and then another cup of the spaghetti sauce…working in layers as you go along. Gently spread the remaining ricotta cheese on top and then arrange the final 4 lasagna noodles on top. Finish up by pouring the remaining spaghetti sauce on top. Cover the baking dish and place into the refrigerator for 6-8 hours. Cover your baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes. Remove aluminum foil from the pan and sprinkle the grated Monterey Jack cheese on top. Place baking dish back into the oven and bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.
Fiesta Bake Casserole Recipe
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 (28 oz.) can baked beans
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup picante sauce
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
In a large frying pan, brown your lean ground beef with the chopped onions and peppers. Drain off fat. Stir in the can of baked beans and the picante sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Spoon the meat mixture into a 2 or 3 quart casserole dish. Crush the tortilla chips and place on top of the meat mixture. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese on top. Place back into the oven and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until all of the cheese has melted. Remove from oven and let casserole sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Shelly Hill is a mother and wife living in Pennsylvania who enjoys cooking, baking and canning. Shelly is the owner of the popular online foodie blog called Shakin ‘N Bakin in the Kitchen at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com where you can find menu ideas, cooking articles, cooking tips and free recipes.
If you love the taste of homemade peanut butter cups but don’t want the fuss or mess of making them then I think you should try this easy bar recipe to make homemade peanut butter bars from my step grandmother. They are delicious but I will warn you…very sweet!
Homemade Peanut Butter Bars Recipe
1 3/4 cups crushed graham crackers (you want fine crumbs)
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup melted margarine or butter (I use butter)
2 cups confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
1 1/2 cups melted chocolate chips
Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a 13×9″ glass baking dish with margarine or butter. Press your graham cracker crumbs onto the bottom and about 1/4″ up the sides of the baking dish.
Mix together the smooth peanut butter, melted margarine and confectioners sugar and pour on top of the crumbs. Melt your chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove top and pour melted chocolate on top.
Cover baking dish and chill until firm. Cut into 2″ square sized mini bars or 4″ square full-sized bars. Store bars in an air tight container.
