I feel a little silly posting this. I’ve been going through my 2014 pictures and I took this picture 1 year ago. My little boys eat this at least once a week… cause it’s super easy for me. Lately, I’ve been minimizing the time I spend cooking so I can maximize the time I get to do my hobbies and teach my boys new things.
At our church we like to do activities to bring the neighborhood together. Last week our ward had had a Chili and Soup Cook-off. This is the High Counselor Choice Award winning Broccoli and Cheese Soup with Bacon from the cook-off! I won a gift certificate for frozen yogurt. Good times! I almost didn’t add the bacon in the soup but my husband said I should. I’m glad I did because the bacon is the only reason why this soup won. HAHA! 🙂
Sorry my picture doesn’t actually have bacon in it… that soup got all eaten before I took a picture of it.
I modified a Broccoli and Cheese Soup Recipe off allrecipes.com.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 onion diced
1 pound fresh broccoli head, no stems
4 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 pound velveeta cheese (original) cubed
2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
2/3 cup corn startch
1 cup cold water
1 package of raw bacon
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
In a stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion in butter until softened. Stir in broccoli, and cover with chicken broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
In a frying pan cook the bacon on medium-low heat until crispy. Drain excess oil when finish and pat bacon with paper towel. Chop the bacon strips into small pieces. Set aside.
Reduce heat, and stir in cheese cubes until melted. Mix in milk and garlic powder.
In a small bowl, stir cornstarch into cold water until dissolved. Stir into soup; cook, stirring frequently, until thick.
Add the bacon bits and shredded cheese on top at the end.
To get to the point of the story… Dallin’s friend took us to a Greek restaurant in SLC a month ago. It was good but we ended up spending like $40 on very little food! I got to admit though… it was good food because the taste was something different than what we always eat. I couldn’t help it…. I had to make Greek food and I finally found time to do it! These are some of the best recipes… and it worked the first time! You REALLY have to try them.
It took me about 1.5 hours of prep time but you should start prepping 3-4 hours before dinner. The recipes are really easy though. Trust me it’s worth a try! Greek Yogurt Cucumber Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 small cucumber – peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 green onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Stir together the yogurt, sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, cucumber, green onion, garlic, feta cheese, oregano, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a bowl; cover and chill 3 hours or overnight before serving.
1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Directions
Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured counter top. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed (see picture) and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.
Not all of mine puffed but it was super exciting when they did!
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Greek Seasoned Meat Feed 4 People
Ingredients
1 lb of any kind of meet (Chicken, Pork, Lamb, Steak..) sliced in strips
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Small Onion Chopped
Combined everything. Cook the meet any way you want: grilled, pan fried with oil, baked covered with foil so the meat won’t dry out.
This picture is of a tomato basil cracker recipe. I cooked tomatoes in the oven for about an hour in 200 degrees F. Then I put the tomatoes in a liquid measure and filled it to 1 cup of water. I put it in the cracker recipe and sprinkled onion salt and basil on top. You have to play with this recipe and make some fun flavored crackers like garlic and parsley or taco seasoning. It’s a really good cracker recipe.
Ingredients
1 and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 and 1/2 cup white flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Pour in the vegetable oil and water; mix until just blended.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough as thin as possible – no thicker than 1/8 inch. Place dough on an ungreased baking sheet, and mark squares out with a knife. Prick each cracker with a fork a few times, and sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and light brown. Baking time may be different depending on how thin your crackers are. When cool, remove from baking sheet, and separate into individual crackers.
We had the best dinner today… I’m stuffed. We had beans, rice, and steamed eggs. It was so yummy! It sounds like a weird combination but it was our Brazilian mixed with Chinese dinner. It was great. Steamed eggs was something I ate all the time growing up.
Serving Size
3 people
Ingredients
10 – 12 small chunks of chicken (Size of a quarter)
4 Eggs
3/4 cup Water
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 Chicken Bullion Cube
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Green Onion Chopped
Other Optionals: corn, green peas, frozen carrots
Instructions
In a heat safe bowl (glass, stoneware, or porcelain), whisk eggs, water, salt, green onion, and soy sauce together.
Add chicken chunks.
Steam bowl in steamer for 40-45 minutes over medium high heat or until egg is cooked in the middle.
1/8 teaspoon straight chicken base or bullion (may substitute 1/2 teaspoon salt)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh or dry chives, for garnish
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
Set a stockpot of water to boil over high heat.
Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in boiling water for about 6 minutes, or until well done. Drain well; do not let cool and pat cooked cauliflower very dry between several layers of paper towels.
In a bowl with an immersion blender, or in a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, chicken base, and pepper until almost smooth.
Garnish with chives, and serve hot with pats of butter.
This is what we made with all those left over sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
1 (1 pound) sweet potato = 3 Cups
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
Intructions
1.
Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
2.
Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
3.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.
Ok so I went to a bridal shower today and I was just truly inspired to cook again. Dallin and I have been trying recipes with low sugar. This is a great one!
Preheat Oven
350 degrees F
Ingrediants
The dough:
2 tbsp sugar (only so the dough would rise, substitute what you like… ie. Molasses)
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup wheat flour (if you freshly grind up the wheat it’s even better!)
1/2 cup flax mill (take flax seed and put it through a wheat grinder or you can buy the flax mill)
3/4 cup white flour (+ a little extra to knead, use more wheat if you like!)
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup water
1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
7/8 cup milk
1/4 olive oil
The filling:
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter to spread (I used Country Crock spread)
1 apple chopped into tiny pieces (I used a hand chopper to do that)
3/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
Make the dough, mix well water, milk, eggs, and olive oil.
Then add sugar, salt, cinnamon, wheat flour, flax, and yeast.
Knead and add extra flour until dough consistency.
Let it rise for 1 .5 Hours, then knead again.
Roll out dough as if you were making cinnamon rolls.
Spread butter on dough.
Mix the apple pieces, apple sauce, raisins, and cinnamon in a small bowl
Spread apple mixture on the dough.
Roll the dough as if you were making cinnamon rolls.
Slice the dough and put in 9×12 casserole dish (Makes about 12 rolls)
Bake @ 350 degree F for 40-45 minutes or until dough is set
YUM… eat it while it’s warm! Add some honey if you want it sweeter but the taste is already great!
Have you ever been to Edo at the mall? You know that place that makes Japanese food. This is kinda like their stir fry. Yummy! You can serve this with brown or white rice on the side. If you want this to have more terriyaki taste… Just add another tablespoon of sugar.
Serving Size
2 people
Ingrediants
1/2 pound of chicken thighs, remove bone, chopped into small pieces
2 sticks of celery chopped in little slices
1/4 of an onion chopped in strips
1/2 green pepper chopped in strips
1/4 of a cabbage chopped in about 2 inch strips
1 cup of brocoli
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
Garlic Salt
Lemon Pepper
Instructions
Cook the chicken on medium heat on the stove in a frying pan add garlic.
Sprinkle chicken with lemon pepper and a little bit of garlic salt.
Once the chicken is almost done turn the heat down 1-2 notches add the onions, celery, and green peppers. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes.
Then add the broccoli and cook for another 2 minutes.
Then add the cabbage strips.
Now let the cabbage cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
Sprinkle lemon pepper and garlic salt.
Then add the soy sauce and sprinkle on the sugar.
Stir and make sure everything is mixed in well.
Serve stir fry with a side of white or brown rice.
Hubbard's Cupboard 