Stir Fry Sauce

This sauce is really unique with the addition of peanut butter.  It's such a small amount that nobody can really tell what's in there but it just adds another facet of flavor that gives this sauce some personality.

1 T. cornstarch

¼ cup water (or pineapple juice)

½ c. brown sugar

½ c. soy sauce

¼ c. apple cider vinegar

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. fresh grated ginger or dry ginger

 2 T. creamy peanut butter

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Cook over medium-high heat stirring with  whisk until the mixture thickens.

Caramelized Onions

Okay, so this is definitely adult food, not a kid-pleaser by any means.  I have one daughter who like these onions but the others cringe at the sight of them.  The funny thing is that whenever I'm cooking these fabulous onions, several of my children will come into the kitchen asking what I'm cooking that smells so good.  These onions are great on burritos, salads, baked potatoes or as a side dish to just about anything!

2 cups sliced sweet onions (about 2 small onions)

2 tsp. olive oil

½ chicken broth

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

In a frying pan over medium-high heat cook onions and oil for 5-7 minutes until light brown.  Add broth, sugar and vinegar, cook for 10-15 minutes until the liquid evaporates. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

In a mixing bowl cream together:

1 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

In a separate bowl combine:

2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

               

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Add chocolate chips (I use about ½ cup).  Drop by spoon fulls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.  

Good Morning Oatmeal Muffins

In a mixing bowl combine:

1 cup oats (any kind)

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup wheat flour

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

In another mixing bowl combine:

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt or ¾ cup buttermilk (3/4 cup milk and 1 Tablespoon vinegar)

½ cup applesauce (preferably no sugar added)

1 egg

¾ cup brown sugar

Mix each bowl separately, then add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix until combines.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes for muffins.  Topping ideas: sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top before baking.

Mud Soup

This is the last official day of summer!  I love this day, not because I don’t love summer but because I love autumn.  It’s now officially okay to make soup.  In our family, soup is strictly a fall/winter food.   I especially love tortilla soup.  The problem with tortilla soup is that it really needs tomatoes and I only have one child who will eat tomatoes.  I don’t cater to picky eaters very often but I’ve given up this battle and I now make foods without tomatoes or “add-your-own tomatoes”.  I came up with this soup we like to call “Mud Soup” where each person can add whatever ingredients they like to a basic black bean soup.

2 cups dry black beans

1 envelope taco seasoning

5-6 cups chicken broth or bullion

salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

Soak the black beans overnite.  The next day, drain off the water and put the beans in a crock pot.  Add the other seasonings and 5 cups of the chicken broth.  Cook on high for about 6-7 hours or until the beans are soft.  With a potato masher, mash the beans until most of them are mashed.  Add more chicken broth until you get whatever soupy consistency you like, then taste it and make sure the salt and seasonings are right.  Turn the crock pot down to “low” and cook for 2 more hours.  Now here comes the fun part, you start with the basic black bean soup and add toppings like: salsa, sour cream, grilled chicken, avocados, cilantro, tomatoes, chips, cheese, grilled corn etc…  It’s nice because everyone can customize their own bowl.  A definite win-win situation!

Roasted Veggie Salsa

I love my garden!  It’s pretty small and I kind of cram stuff in there but this year it really came through for me.  I planted a lot of tomatoes even though I only have one child who will willingly eat them and Mike isn’t crazy about them either.  There’s just nothing as good as a tomato grown right out of the dirt of your own backyard!  I love having a lot of tomatoes and this salsa is one of the reasons why.  It goes great with my lowfat Doritos, Black Bean (Mud) Soup or any other Mexican food.

6 tomatoes halved and seeded

½ clove garlic (add more if you like)

1 onion cut into slices

1 jalapeño, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and stem removed (optional)

2-3 anaheim chili peppers cut lengthwise, seeds and stem removed

1 tsp. cumin

¼ tsp. salt

 Juice from ½ fresh lime

¼ c. chopped cilantro

Place all the vegetables on a greased baking sheet.  Broil for about 5-10 minutes until the skins are charred.  Turn the vegetables over to char both sides.  Let them cool for a few minutes and then blend in a blender.  Don’t liquefy this, you still want it chunky.  Add your seasonings, lime juice and fresh cilantro.  Adjust the salt and garlic to your taste.  This salsa has a warm, smoky flavor, a nice change from fresh salsa.

Low Fat Doritos

Okay, I admit I’m really excited about this one.  It’s kind of an epiphany I had today.  I was just driving home with my two youngest daughters in the car.  My two-year old had just spilled a take-out container of tomato soup onto a stack of library books.  The soup ran down onto the seat and into the crevice where the seat belts originate.  (Yeah, I know you are wondering why the two-year-old had the soup to begin with, so am I)  Anyway, this thought just came to me:  “why can’t I make lowfat Doritos?”  Now, I’m really not a chip kind of person but I live with seven other people who are.  My girls can clean out a bag of chips in a matter of seconds.  In fact, I potty-trained my third daughter in one day using a bag of Cheetos as incentive.  So when I got home, and after I cleaned tomato-basil soup out of every crack and crevice of the back seat, and cleaned up the stack of library books,   I went to work on this Dorito idea.  I think they turned out great!  In fact, six out of six of my children begged me to make a lot more.  I told them I would teach them how to do it and they could make their own! 

These pictures are of the original nacho-cheese flavor but I’ve included the recipe for Cool Ranch as well.  I used nonstick cooking spray, (aka PAM) to be honest, I use a lot of this stuff and I’m not really sure what it is.  I brushed a few test chips with olive oil to see if it would make a difference.  I couldn’t tell any difference between the nonfat cooking spray and the oil-brushed chips!  I hope your family enjoys these as much as mine did.  I actually felt good about giving my girls chips for an after-school snack!

Nacho-cheese seasoning:

4 T cheese powder (I have a huge can of this stuff, it’s the same cheese powder you get in boxes of mac-n-cheese)

2 T taco seasoning

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

about 10 corn tortillas (I used white corn) cut into sixths

Spray BOTH sides of the triangles with cooking spray then dip into the seasoning so that  both sides are covered.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 8-10 minutes (don’t let them burn).  Cool for a few minutes and dig into some salsa.  Enjoy!

Cool Ranch Seasoning:

1 envelope dry ranch dressing mix

1 T. Season-All

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. paprika   

As far as fat content goes, one corn tortilla has one gram of fat, the cheese powder has a very minimal amount.  I calculate that it takes about 6 chips to get one gram of fat!
My girls however, were disappointed that their fingers weren’t covered with that glow-in-the-dark, neon orange powder, but I personally think that’s a good thing!