Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

OK, I call this spaghetti because of the sauce, but I rarely use spaghetti noodles. They are just so messy for kids! One of our favorites is called Wacky Mac. It's at Walmart for about $1.50.

Spaghetti sauce is one of my favorite things to make because you can experiment with it so much, and it really doesn't matter what you throw in, the kids will still eat it! That's a win-win. LOL

Tonight's sauce was a real winner so I for sure have to write it down. I think it was one of the best I've made. I'll list how I made it. If you don't have everything I put in, several items can be omitted and it would still taste great.

Spaghetti Sauce
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/3 onion, chopped
1 carrot, pureed
3 cloves garlic
1 qt. home canned tomatoes
3 Tbsp. ground bean flour
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
spinach
salt
pepper

Put olive oil, onion, pressed garlic, and pureed carrots in a saucepan and turn to medium. Cook together until onions start to soften. Then add pureed tomatoes and bean flour. Finely mince the oregano, thyme, and spinach. Add to sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sauce simmer for about 20 minutes while you prepare the pasta.

What I do:

• I use my magic bullet blender to puree the carrots and tomatoes. The carrots help to thicken the sauce. If you don't have bottled tomatoes, use 1 8oz can of tomato sauce and 1 1/2 cans of water.
• If you don't have bean flour, just omit it. It adds protein and helps to thicken the sauce if you use it. To prevent lumps, I put the bean flour in a separate bowl and add a little sauce at a time to the flour and mix it together. When I get it to pouring consistency, I pour it back into the saucepan and mix it all together with my spaghetti sauce.
• If you don't have fresh herbs, use dried ones out of your cupboard. :) Spinach can be omitted if you don't have it on hand as well.
• I use my wheat grinder to grind navy beans into flour. Then I add it into recipes as a thickening agent.

The best way (in my opinion) to serve spaghetti is like this:

Put noodles on the plate and sprinkle cheddar cheese on top, so it melts a little.

Then add the warm sauce. It melts the cheese a lot.

Last, top with parmesan cheese.

Banana Bread

What to do with those last few bananas sitting on the counter that no one will touch because there are too many dark spots? Banana bread!!! This is for sure a favorite at our house. The last batch I made lasted just 2 days and the first loaf was gone within about 20 minutes - hot out of the oven.

I love to make banana bread because it's a great after-school snack, breakfast, or anytime snack. It never goes to waste at our house. I usually have to ward off the kids from the time I take it out of the oven until it is cool enough to go into their mouths. This recipe is the only one I use for banana bread. No other is worthy. :)

Banana Bread
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
4 mashed bananas
3 eggs
2 3/4 - 3 c. flour
3/4 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1/2 c. coarsely chopped nuts
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix sugar, oil, bananas (mashed with fork), and eggs together with fork in large mixing bowl. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix well with fork. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Pour batter into buttered 3x6 inch loaf pans (two pans). Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Check bread before removing from oven by inserting knife in center of bread. If it comes out clean, bread is done. Remove bread from pans and cool for 3 minutes on wire rack. Put in bags while bread is still warm to preserve moistness.

What I do different: I use about 1 3/4 cups of my home ground wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour. I usually don't add the nuts because I rarely have them on hand, and I throw in a little extra chocolate chips.

We love it!

First Time Bountiful Basket

I tried out the Bountiful Baskets program for the first time last Saturday. It's a food co-op where you pay, they buy a bunch of produce (as much locally as they can) and then split all the produce with all the people who payed into the co-op for that week. It's really a brilliant program. I paid in $27.00 total ($3.00 of that was because it was my first time, I won't pay that again) and got everything shown above. I love the variety and I love that it will force me to find new recipes to use all my tasty new items!

This is what I got out of my first basket:

• 5 green peppers
• 1 watermelon
• 6 corn on the cob
• 1 head of green leaf lettuce
• 2 big bunches of spinach
• 1 bunch of fresh parsley
• 6 mangos
• 1 broccoflower
• 1 bunch of bananas (6)
• 3 tomatoes
• 10 tangerines
• 1 bag of apples (10)
• 1 bunch of fresh rosemary
• 1 bunch of fresh thyme
• 1 pk mushrooms
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 white onion
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 eggplant
• 1 bunch of fresh oregano

Isn't that great? I love having all this fresh stuff on hand! The eggplant is the only thing I haven't tried before. I think I'm going to make eggplant parmesan because a lot of people seem to really like it and we might too. The kids have loved having all these new fruits at their disposal. I'm definitely going to have to do this program again. Probably in a couple of weeks. :)

Taco Lasagna

This was our dinner last night. I served it with lettuce and sour cream. :) Tasty mix!

This is a casserole, and to be quite honest, the kids didn't like the look of it on their plates, but once they started eating it they really enjoyed it. Thank goodness, because I made enough so we could have it again tonight as leftovers. I love to have enough of a good thing for leftovers because it makes for a super quick dinner the next day and I don't have to worry about what to make.

Taco Lasagna
1 lb ground beef
1/2 c. green pepper, chopped
1/2 c. onion
2/3 c. water
1 env. taco seasoning
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (14 1/2 oz) can tomatoes
6 (8 inch) tortillas
1 can refried beans
3 c. cheese

Cook beef, green pepper and onion in large skillet over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add water and taco seasoning; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 2 minutes. Stir in black beans and tomatoes. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Place 2 tortillas in greased 9x13 pan. Spread with half of refried beans and beef mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining tortillas and cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Here are a few pictures of the layering process. This is going on the second layer. I put on the tortillas covered with refried beans.

Then I added the simmered meat mixture. Also, make sure when you start cooking the ground beef mixture that you use a large enough skillet to hold everything you are going to add. Mine almost overflowed!

Top this layer with cheese.

Then add your last layer of tortillas and top with cheese. (This is before I added the top cheese.)

Wheat Pancakes

This pancake recipe is really basic and is the one I use whenever it's a pancake day. I really like them. They take just a few minutes to whip together (before cooking) and are SO MUCH better than using a mix. I use my wheat grinder to make my own wheat flour and then I freeze the flour and make sure I always have some on hand. Notice Nathan peeking in? He thinks it is so cool to watch the wheat slowly disappear into the grinder. :)

Here are the pancakes. I had a little leftover bacon in the fridge from another meal, so I heated it up in the microwave, broke it into small pieces, and added the bacon into the pancake mix. Everyone LOVED it. By the way, if you don't have wheat flour, this recipe originally calls for just white flour. I add the wheat because I like it and it seems to give the pancakes more substance and flavor. I also double this recipe for my family so there is enough.

Wheat Pancakes

1/2 c. wheat flour

1/2 c. white flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 c. milk

2 Tbsp. cooking oil

In a mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add egg, milk, and oil to flour mixture all at once. Mix well.

Pour about 1/4 c. batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Cook till pancakes are golden brown, turning to cook second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and slightly dry edges. Makes about 8-10 standard sized pancakes.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Every day when Athena and Samantha come home from school, they immediately start searching the house for food and asking for their "after school snack". To me it's important that my kids enjoy the kitchen and the things we are able to create in the kitchen, including snacks. I want them to learn that it is possible for you to make your own stuff using ingredients instead of depending on the store for everything. Consequently, I don't purchase a lot of pre-made snack food. I try to have things on hand for the kids to eat that I have made. This week's treat - Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. :) This is one that Nathan takes a lot of pleasure in helping me with. It is his job to stir and to tell me when there are bubbles (when it's starting to bubble). So, I just told him, "I'm making chocolate cookies and I need your help!" and he came running.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. shortening

2 T. cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. oatmeal

Put sugar, milk, salt, shortening, and cocoa into a saucepan and cook on medium heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 8 - 10 minutes on medium heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla and oatmeal. STIR FAST. Drop onto a sheet of wax paper (or foil if you run out of wax).

My first several times making these I had problems with the cookies not setting up as they cooled or setting up too quickly for me to get out of the pan. Make sure you have your wax paper set out before you start cooking the cookies. Then, once the vanilla and oatmeal is mixed in, spoon them quickly onto the wax paper and let them cool. You might have to play around with the cooking time depending on your stove.

Jeremy wishes like everything I would put peanut butter in these, but I prefer them without. In fact, I think he wishes I would put peanut butter in pretty much EVERYTHING! No go. His fix? Swipe his cookie with a big knife full of peanut butter and eat. I like the way the cookie dissolves in my mouth when I bite into it. I find these cookies very addicting.

Spanish Rice and Beans

I wasn't feeling well yesterday so Jeremy kicked it into high gear and was nice enough to make dinner for the family! :)  He decided to go with a "Mexican" theme and it turned out really good. Probably much better than it looks in the picture!

I wanted something with rice, so he decided to make Spanish rice and then find things to go with it. Everyone enjoyed the meal except Alexandra (she is 2). It was so cute to see the kids all trying "mixed" bites and getting excited. Nathan tried some of the quesadilla with rice on it and said, "Mmmmmm! Try this together - it's SO GOOD!" So Samantha put rice, beans, olives, sour cream and quesadilla in her mouth at the same time and did the same thing. So then the 3 older kids mixed and matched their bites and had quite an evening of discovery! I love seeing them be willing to try new things and actually get excited about the mix of flavors. I'll share how we made it all.

Spanish Tomato Rice
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/4 c. green pepper, chopped
1 qt. whole tomatoes
3/4 c. rice
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. pepper

Add all ingredients together in skillet. Stir and bring to boil. Simmer 45 minutes or until rice is tender. Note: For the tomatoes, I used home canned tomatoes and blended them to get rid of the big tomato pieces.

Refried Beans with Cheese
Put 1 can of refried beans into a glass dish and mix with a little water for a scooping consistency. Sprinkle the top with cumin and onion powder. Mix it all together. Add cheese on top and cook in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted.

Quesadillas
Place tortilla on a cookie sheet. Cover the tortilla with cheese and put on the top rack in the oven on broil. When cheese is melted, pull out the cookie sheet and place the 2nd tortilla on top of the melted cheese. Return the covered quesadilla back to the oven until the top tortilla is browned. Then take it out, cut it into pizza-like slices and serve. Sometimes I add green chilis to the cheese when I'm heating it up, but not this time.