2-For-1

I had a party this weekend and the food turned out so yummy, I just had to share the recipes. Neither one is a Pampered Chef recipe. :)
The first is the best spinach-artichoke dip I have ever had! It uses fresh spinach, which makes a huge difference. It's the hostess' recipe but she was kind enough to share it.
The second is a molten chocolate lava cake I found online. The texture was perfect and the flavor was not overly-rich (which I liked). I'm still working on getting it to not stick in the prep bowls.
Enjoy!

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts drained and chopped

1/2 cup fresh spinach washed and chopped

3 slices of onion (thin but not razor thin) chopped

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tablespoon of garlic (crushed or chopped)

hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste

Set the oven to 350 degrees

Mix the 1st 5 ingredients together. Then add each 1/2 half mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and garlic. Add salt and pepper then hot sauce - as much or little as you like. cook mixture for 30 minutes. Once the mixture comes out of the oven - add remaining Mozzarella and parmesan and serve with your favorite bread or crackers for dipping.

Molten Chocolate Lava Mini Cakes
* 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
* 1/2 stick butter
* 2 cups powdered sugar
* 4 eggs
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* Nonstick spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray 8 1-cup prep bowls, small custard cups or souffle dishes with nonstick spray. Place on baking sheet.
Heat chocolate and butter in a glass bowl (the classic batter bowl works perfectly) in microwave for about 1 minute. Stir and then put back in the microwave on 20-30 second intervals (stirring between) until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. It will be really thick, but when you add the eggs it will smooth out. Blend in eggs 1 at a time, so that the eggs do not cook. Stir in flour.
Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute.
Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. You may need to run a knife around the edges to loosen before inverting onto the plates. Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping

Freezing the Love

If you've spoken to me in the last 4 months, I'm sure I've complained to you how TIRED I am. This pregnancy is wearing on my old body. I've been too tired to even want to cook which, for me, is a big thing. I can tell you my food budgets in November and December were pretty ridiculous because when I didn't feel like cooking, I'd make Jason stop on his way home from work for something to feed the hungry masses. But with the new year came a kick from reality that our finances just can't really handle restaurant food 3-4 times a week. And everyone was getting sick of PB& J or microwave "quesadillas" on the other nights.
So, I turned to my good friend, Elizabeth, and she pointed me back onto the straight and narrow path of healthy, inexpensive, meal prep. I call her the "Freezer Meal Queen" because one day every month she does this massive prep day and has enough meals in her freezer for the whole month. It's amazing. And it TASTES good!
Elizabeth has inspired me to greater heights and I've turned over a new leaf.
I call it my "Freezing the Love" day.
One big day (about 3 hours, plus travel time) of grocery planning and shopping for the stuff I don't already have in my pantry, 6 hours the next day (including clean up) to cook what needs to be pre-cooked and put everything into freezer bags. And I still have $$ left over for the rest of the month to get the fresh stuff (salads, veggies, fruit).
I planned my shopping trip around a sale on meat because that is the most expensive item on any of the recipes. I got the cheeses from Costco and froze the portions I didn't use into smaller bags.
It is almost a month since my first Freezing the Love day, and I still have some meals in my freezer. Even on days I didn't feel well, I could help a sick friend with dinner for her family. What a great feeling to not be totally useless! I was so excited about this, I did another day of Freezing the Breakfast Love. I made a super huge batch of muffins and sweet breads and froze them. Now, my 9 year-old can make a healthy (non cereal) breakfast for the whole family while I drag my old bones out of bed.
So, I am on my soapbox now to encourage you all to try it. Even if you don't want to have a whole month's worth of meals in your freezer, even making 4 or 5 will take you maybe an hour and save you, oh, so much time on those truly hectic nights.

Pros:
-Save money. Price per serving is less than $2 for most of the recipes. Ain't no way you can get a filling, healthy, $2 meal "eating out". (And no more $20 here and $15 there at the grocery store all week. That really adds up.)
- Save time (I used to spend at least 1 hour every night making dinner plus another 30 minutes for washing pots and pans afterwards. That makes about 45 hours a month spent on meals. Now, it takes about 15 minutes for the meal prep and usually only one pan to wash afterwards).
- Meal planning is done
- My husband will even make a nutritious dinner, now.
- Leftovers. Jason always has a wide array of choices for his lunch all week so we are saving money on his "allowance", too.

Cons:
-Can't really think of any except that now I have no excuse to get Papa Murphy's pizza.

If you'd like some starter recipes, email me and I'm happy to send my tried and true list (I've narrowed out the ones that just don't reheat well). I would even be happy to come to your house and prepare you three freezer meals, when you host a Pampered Chef party. :)

I'm Back

Wow, where have I been?! I can't believe I've been such a slacker the past couple of months. But I'm back from vacation, holidays, and morning sickness (mostly) so to make up for my MIA status, here are THREE recipes I picked up on my trip. I fell in love with gyros in Greece so I had to find a recipe that could duplicate that experience. These come pretty close. The sauce is the only thing that can be made in under 20 minutes but trust me, the time it takes to put this meal together is worth it!

Tzatziki sauce
This is literally the icing on the cake of a gyro. Slather this on a fresh pita, add gyro meat, diced cucumber, diced tomato, lettuce, kalamata olives, and feta cheese. HEAVENLY! This also makes a great dip for vegetables or pita chips.

Ingredients:
1 lb Greek yoghurt
1 cucumber
4 garlic cloves
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1-2 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 -1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Mince (use the garlic press) the garlic and mix it with the salt and vinegar. Peel the cucumber and grate it. Place it in a piece of cheese cloth or just a clean kitchen towel and squeeze it until all the water is removed. Mix the yoghurt and the cucumber and then add the garlic/salt/vinegar mixture. Chop the dill and add. Mix well, add oil to desired consistency. Can be served immediately but is better when it is allowed to sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors combine. The garlic flavor gets more pronounced the second day.
Number Of Servings:a lot
Preparation Time:20 minutes

Gyro Meat
This is really just a very flavorful meat loaf, but it uses spices I never would have thought of. I substituted pork and turkey for the lamb and beef and it still tasted very much like what I had in Greece.

Ingredients:
* 1/2 onion, cut into chunks
* 1 pound ground lamb
* 1 pound ground beef
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
* 1 teaspoon ground dried rosemary
* 1 teaspoon ground dried thyme
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
1. Chop the onion. Scoop the onions onto the center of a towel, gather up the ends of the towel, and squeeze out the liquid from the onions. Place the onions into a mixing bowl along with the meat. Season with the garlic, oregano, cumin, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and salt. Mix well with your hands until well combined. Cover, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Place the meat mixture into the food processor, and pulse for about a minute until finely chopped and the mixture feels tacky. Pack the meat mixture into a 7x4 inch loaf pan, making sure there are no air pockets. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the loaf pan on the towel, inside the roasting pan, and place into the preheated oven. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
4. Bake until the gyro meat is no longer pink in the center, and the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) on a meat thermometer, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Pour off any accumulated fat, and allow to cool slightly before slicing thinly and serving.
Note: This took about 1.5 hours to cook in CO.
Number Of Servings:8

Pitas
This pita would also be good with falafel (my next adventure). They are awesome cut up and served with hummus dip!

Ingredients:
Pita Bread
3 cups flour (1 cup wheat, 2 cups white is recommended)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil


Directions:
Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water

Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. Place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
Punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
Spray a light mist of water onto your baking surface and close the oven for 30 seconds.
Place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. Experiment with the time a bit. In CO, I think it would be better to let them go for 4-5 minutes, but at sea level, the 3 minutes might be enough.
Number Of Servings: Makes 8 pitas

Pumpkin Dip

Pumpkin Dip:
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup Cool Whip, thawed
Chopped pecans - optional
Wedged apples & pears - optional
Combine pumpkin, sour cream, brown sugar & cinnamon in large bowl with Whisk. Fold in Cool whip. Pour mixture into serving bowl and sprinkle with pecans, if desired. Serve with cinnamon chips, and apple or pear wedges.

Autumn Food and Decorating Tips

Here are some fun ideas for your October festivities:

• Mix dry roasted peanuts and candy corn together for a great treat that tastes like salted nut rolls.

• Core out the top of an apple for a candle holder.
  

• Wedge an apple with the Apple Wedger. Spread some peanut butter on 1 side of 2 pieces. Put candy corn on the peanut butter and put pieces together and you have monster teeth.
  

• Using V Shaped Cutter, cut out a Jack O'Lantern face on an orange bell pepper. Sprinkle with cinnamon and add a tea light. It is so cute and tiny---great on a veggie tray or just on the table for a family dinner.
  

• Sprinkle cinnamon inside of the pumpkin after carving... when you light the candle, you will also get a wonderful aroma of warmed pumpkin and cinnamon.
  

• Make a simple potpourri with left over apple peels. Place the peels from 2-3 apples, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 tablespoons cloves, the zest from 1 orange, and 2 cups water in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. This will fill your house with a delightful fragrance.

• Cut the bottom out of your pumpkin instead of the lid when carving Halloween pumpkins!! Safer and easier to put a votive type candle w/metal container down on steps/walk, etc. and set the cleaned, carved pumpkin over the top of it!

Manicotti Mania

My friend Jenni just made my family the most delicious manicotti and I had to share the tip she gave me. If you are like me, any entree that requires hours of stuffing cheese into slippery, fragile pasta is more than a bit intimidating. But Jenni's process makes it so easy:

1) Undercook the manicotti noodles to a pre-al dante state.

2) Add a little extra grated cheese to the mixture to stiffen it up a bit and then form the cheese mixture into cylinders that can be shoved into the pasta.

She says these two steps cut the prep time a lot and, like I said, it was the best tasting manicotti I've ever eaten!

Pop-tops - Revisited

I have owned the smooth edge can opener for several years and I never could figure out what that flat edged thing on the end of it was for. Thanks to my genius friend Kaylene, I am now enlightened. She sent me this great tip:

"The pop-top cans can be opened with the top edge of our fabulous PC can opener. The flat edge that's on the top goes right under them and pops it up easy as pie. Give it a try. I love my new can opener for many reasons, and that's one of them! :) "

I guess now I can't dislike pop-top cans so much.