Hello! Sorry it’s been so long again…I’ve had some behind-the-scenes blog issues to resolve, and being short on time, I’ve had to let the blog sit till I could do some tweaking! Thankfully all issues were resolved today when I upgraded my Firefox browser to the latest edition…whew, simple fix! So here’s that picture I tried to post a while back…of my youngest juggling a full load of cucumbers! We’ve sure had a bumper crop this summer!

And nope, this post is NOT about cucumber muffins…

Okay…about muffins…

One of my adjustments to this back-to-school routine of ours, is in trying not to rely on cold cereals so much for breakfasts. I used to be pretty good at keeping fresh fruit on hand, and occasionally making pancakes or muffins or scrambled eggs for breakfast…but recently got into the cereal habit. It’s easy, the kids can fix their own breakfasts…but it’s expensive and not-so-cozy when it comes to “family mealtime”! And we’ve got *good reason to try to save money these days…so I’m getting back to doing a lot more “from scratch” breakfasts.

So far the muffin plan has been working well for us. It takes a few minutes each evening after supper to throw together the dry ingredients for the morning’s batch…for instance, last night I decided we’d have Jumbo Banana-Carrot Muffins for breakfast…so I mixed up the dry ingredients, and also the wet ingredients (honey, carrots, applesauce), kept the dry mixture on the counter in a sealed bowl, and stuck the wet ingredients in the fridge for morning. Mixing up breakfast took less than three minutes, and most of that was waiting for the egg whites to stiffen in the mixer.

Several of my muffin recipes call for a streusel topping–a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans. At the beginning of this “breakfast” planning adventure, I mixed up a quart sized freezer bag full of this topping and stashed it in the freezer to speed up the muffin making process. Pretty handy!

Here’s this morning’s muffin recipe for you…notice that it has no oil or butter, and we enjoyed these just fine WITHOUT the streusel topping!

Jumbo Banana-Carrot Muffins –from the 2008 Taste of Home Annual Recipes, page 284

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (whole wheat works dandy on these)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Note from Mary…mix the above dry ingredients together night before…

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 TB honey
• 1/4 tsp grated orange peel
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

I also mixed the above wet ingredients together the night before, excepting the eggs (since they need separated and mixed in different orders) and excepting also the bananas, since they tend to brown. I chop my carrots with my Pampered Chef food chopper, so much faster than grating/shredding them, as I don’t own a food processor. Technically the orange peel isn’t considered a wet ingredient, but it worked just fine doing it this way.

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until light and lemon-colored (I just beat them with a fork). Beat in honey and orange peel. Fold in the bananas, carrots and applesauce. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. (You’ll notice I did things slightly out of order by preparing things the night before, but it didn’t alter the outcome any)

In another small mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into batter a third at a time.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350*F for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth-oick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Yield: 9 jumbo muffins or 17 normal sized muffins

You’ll notice that this recipe is a pretty affordable one to make…no milk, oil or butter…and the only expensive ingredient is the grated orange peel, which, if you keep oranges on hand…you have in abundance if you grate before tossing the peel! I happen to have a spice jar full of orange peel leftover from the days when I made my own orange cappuccino drinks…so it’s good to find a use for it.

Remember, nothin’ says lovin’ like breakfast with a muffin! Ever try breakfast by candlelight?

Here are some more I’m wanting to try:

Tasty Muffin Recipes Suitable for Diabetics and Just In Time for Back-to-School…

Sugar-free Molasses Bran Muffins

Muffin recipes GALORE

Have you ever posted favorite muffin recipes at your site? I’d love a link to them in comments! Thanks!

*trying to save money back for orthodontic expenses, primarily, didn’t want you to think I was expecting or anything! ;O)

I promised Leticia I’d share this recipe here SOON, and figured I better get it done tonight, b/c my days have been FULL up getting in a school routine!

This enchilada recipe couldn’t be simpler…my only gripe is that it’s expensive to make. But believe me, it’s worth the splurge every so often! It came to me via a great homeschool mom-friend after tasting hers at one of our monthly potlucks about two years ago. Here you go, Leticia!

Chicken Enchiladas

• 2 cans (13 oz) chicken breast in water (you could cook your own chicken and save a little)
• 1 cup salsa, your favorite brand
• 1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies (this is a great addition, but I usually leave it out)
• 1 quart heavy whipping cream (most expensive item in this here recipe!!!)
• 2-4 cups shredded Colby-Monterrey Jack cheese
• 10 or more 8 inch flour tortillas

Combine chicken, salsa and chilies. Place mixture in tortillas and roll. Place seam side down in 9×13″ baking dish or larger. Pour whipping cream over top. Bake for 45 minutes at 350*F. Sprinkle cheese on top with ten minutes remaining in cooking schedule. Be sure to completely cover the tortillas with cream or the edges will burn. Once you serve the tortillas on a plate, use the remainder of the sauce to spoon on top.

I’ve taken this to potlucks, and I just leave it in the baking dish for serving. Mmm…I wish I had the ingredients on hand, now I’m craving this stuff!

It’s fun to tour other people’s homes, and just as fun to me is talking foods…as in, what are some of your family’s favorite main dish dinners?

Here are the “basic run-downs” for two of ours…fried chicken quesadillas and smothered steaks! I apologize that there aren’t exact ingredients…but that’s what these kind of dinners are all about! No brainers–no recipe required! Got any? Share them or links to them, please! I’d love some new main dish meals…

Fried Chicken Quesadillas

My mom fixed these one night a few years ago when dh and I happened to be visiting over the dinner hour…I think it was a spur of the moment creation for her, one I took special note of, thankfully!

For a family of five, you’ll need:

• 3-4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 7-9 chicken tenders (raw, uncooked)
• a large plastic Ziplok bag or bowl filled with 1.5 cups flour seasoned with your favorite seasonings (I use powdered garlic, minced onion, Lawry’s Seasoning salt…)
• large skillet w/vegetable oil covering bottom evenly
• around 1.5 cups of your favorite shredded cheeses
• 7-8 large flour tortillas
• Salsa, if desired

Slice your raw chicken into strips (about 1 in x 3 in) and dredge them in flour mixture, covering completely. Place floured chicken into hot oil in skillet. Cook around 7 minutes, flip chicken to other side and cover with lid. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes or till done. Remove from skillet and drain chicken pieces on a plate covered with a paper towel.

The skillet should still have some oil left in it, leave the stove top on about medium heat and begin filling your tortillas. I use one tortilla per person, laying chicken pieces on one half of the tortilla and then sprinkling cheeses over the chicken. Then I fold the tortilla (in half) over the top of the chicken and put it in the hot skillet. You can brown two tortillas at the same time in this manner. My husband likes me to add salsa to the filling in his, everyone else likes theirs just plain chicken and cheese. We love these…the tortillas crisp up so crunchy and golden, and it’s just a fun treat to have fried chicken embellished in this easy way!

Smothered Steaks

This delicious recipe has been a stand by ever since the birth of my second daughter…a friend from church brought it over and I had to get the recipe! Of course, she claims there is no recipe, but she told me how she fixed it and I’ve been fixing it ever since! It’s yummo!

For a 9×13 pan full (our family of five always overeats on this and still has leftovers)  you’ll need the following:

• 2-3 lbs cubed steaks (these may be called minute steaks or club steaks or round steaks–however, round steaks are pretty tough, you’ll need to tenderize them prior to using)
• a large plastic Ziplok bag or bowl full of flour with your favorite seasonings
• large skillet w/vegetable oil covering bottom evenly
• 1 regular sized can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2-3 cups milk

Dredge your cubed steaks in the flour mixture and brown them lightly in hot oil. Drain the browned meat pieces on a paper towel covered plate and place into a 9×13 pan. In medium sized mixing bowl, combine mushroom soup, sour cream and milk until mixed thoroughly. Pour this mixture over your browned steaks and cover 9×13 pan tightly with foil. Place in a 350*F oven for 2-2.5 hours. This is delicious with mashed potatoes, there’s usually enough sauce to use for gravy, though not enough for leftovers. We love how this cooks up, so tender and saucy. I’ve never tasted better smothered steaks!

So there you have two of our favorite main dish meals! Hope you give them a try sometime, and in the meanwhile, whatcha got for me?

I just realized that I forgot to share this recipe with you all! It’s one of the scrumptious dishes my friend Jana spoiled us with during our June visit to her family’s home…shd doubled the recipe, of course, to feed all 13 of us!

Danish Meatballs

• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 TB grated onion
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup soft breadcrumbs

Dill Sauce (this is SOOOOO good! especially spooned over a side of mashed red potatoes w/garlic!)

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dried dill
• 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, bombine beef or turkey, salt, pepper, egg, onion, milk, and breadcrumbs. Shape into 1 inch balls and arrange on a rack in a broiler pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until browned. Transfer to casserole or chafing dish.

To prepare dill sauce, melt butter in a medium saucepan and stir in flour. stir in broth, salt and dill. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream or yogurt. Pour sauce over meatballs. Serves 6 as a main dish.

If you say this sounds gross, I’m with you…but can it for a minute, will ya?

These are SO delicious! And beautiful…they really resemble red cinnamon apple rings, and taste much better! Soaking the cucumber rings in pickling lime is the secret to their apple-like crunchy texture…and a ton of sugar and red hot candies transforms them from cukes to candied temptations that will NOT last long if your family is at all like ours! I’m on day three of my batch right now…

This recipe comes from my sister-in-law, and she got it from Recipezaar…if you know someone with cucumbers galore, or who loves to can, pass this recipe along. It’s a SUREFIRE hit!

Cinnamon Cucumber Pickles

• 7 lbs cucumbers
• 1 cup pickling lime (in the canning section at Walmart, don’t confuse it with pickling salt!)
• 1 gallon water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 (1 ounce) bottle red food coloring
• 1 tablespoon alum
• 2 cups vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 12 cups sugar
• 8 cinnamon sticks
• 1 (12 ounce) red hot candies (I found these in 7 oz. boxes in the candy aisle at Walmart)
  

1. Select large overripe cucumbers.
2. Peel, core, slice 1/3 inch thick and core out all seeds, leaving the cucumber in a ring.
3. Soak in lime and 1 gallon water for 24 hours.
4. Wash.
5. Soak, covered with ice water for 3 hours.
6. Mix 2 cup vinegar, food coloring, 1 tablespoon alum and enough water to cover.
7. Pour over cucumbers and simmer for 2 hours.
8. Pour off liquid.
9. Bring to a boil 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, 12 cups sugar, cinnamon sticks and red hots.
10. Pour over cucumbers and let stand for 24 hours.
11. Pour syrup back into a large pot and bring to a boil.
12. Put cucumbers in jars and pour hot syrup over cucumbers.
13. Place 1 of the cinnamon sticks from the mixture in each jar.
14. Process for 10 minutes in water bath for pints and 15 minutes for quarts.

Two tips for you:

1. 7 lbs of cucumbers is roughly equivalent to a plastic grocery bag full of long, over-ripe cucumbers. My bagful weighed 14 lbs, and after I’d peeled and cored them, they’d lost half their weight. (The chickens were ecstatic about all those scraps!)
2. If you have a biscuit/donut cutter with a removable center, take it out and use it to core your cukes. I peeled my cucumbers with a vegetable peeler, sliced them and then used the donut hole cutter for removing the seeds. It left my cucumber slices in pretty rings! If your cucumbers are too small in diameter, you still might need to core them with a knife.

Well, it’s a rainy and cool day here in the mid-west. I’ve been busy this week…processing bing cherries and cukes, for one thing, and organizing junk drawers and closets–one last fling at housekeeping before school starts! Speaking of school starting…we’ll be kicking off our homeschooling year next Thursday the 14th with our annual treasure hunt and craft day. I’ve been getting familiar with our new geography and science curriculums and trying to get six weeks worth of lesson plans written up for each girl.

We’re sad to see summer go, but I think we’re all getting a little excited about school and fall activities starting up again!

How about you? Are you gardening or canning this year? Are you ready for school to start? How about your kids? Don’t forget to build up their immunities before sending them out in the big bad world…

My 8 year old browsed the colorful cake picture pages in my Cake Mix Doctor cookbook (by Anne Byrn) and picked this winner for her birthday party cake on Saturday. It’s a first for our family but definitely won’t be the last time we feast on this particular recipe! Since I had two requests for it, I thought I’d post it here as well.

By the way, my 8 year old decorated the cake all by herself! (Except for the writing!) It went along well with her cowboy/cowgirl birthday theme…don’t tell her, but I think the “cowboy hats” look like something Curious George’s friend would have worn on his African safari… (smile)

Snickerdoodle Cake

Preheat oven to 350*F, and generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.

• 1 package (18.25 oz) plain white cake mix
• 1 cup whole milk (I used skim and it turned out fine!)
• 8 TB (1 stick) butter, melted (use REAL butter!)
• 3 large eggs (whites and yolks, don’t separate!)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)

Place cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for one minute. Stop machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

Bake the cakes until they are golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 27-29 minutes. Remove from oven and place pans on wire racks to cool for ten minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert them again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow them to cool completely, 30 minutes more. Meanwhile, prepare the Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting. Place one cake layer, right side up, on a serving platter. Spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer, right side up, on top of the first layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with clean, smooth strokes.

Place this cake, uncovered, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. Cover the cake with waxed paper and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze it, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

–Makes 3.5 cups, enough to frost a 2 or 3 layer cake

• 8 TB (1 stick) butter, at room temperature (use REAL butter!)
• 3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted (I never sift anything and it turns out fine…)
• 3-4 TB milk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners’ sugar, 3 TB milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Blend in up to 1 TB milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

Use to frost the top and sides of the cake of your choice.

So hop on over for my musings about summer’s end…Scheduling Interruptions–Luncheon Style.

Want a good recipe for all that zucchini your garden is producing? Zucchini Quiche is the best way to go…it’s easy to prepare, looks quite impressive and most children even like it!

Happy Thursday!

This favorite recipe is a ladies luncheon pleaser! I can’t believe I haven’t thought to share it here before now. I made a batch tonight to accompany my mother’s 73rd birthday lunch here at my house tomorrow! It’s a famous lunch item at our local 1850’s restaurant and one that I make each June for our homeschool mom’s luncheon. Someone always requests the recipe.

Crunchy Chicken Salad

• 5 cups cooked chicken pieces
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 8 ounces sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1 cup pineapple tidbits
• 1 cup seedless grapes, halved

DRESSING:

• 1 cup Miracle Whip
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1 tsp. Lawry’s seasoned salt

GARNISH: optional

• tomato or fresh fruit, such as cantaloupe

1. Combine first 5 ingredients.
2. In separate bowl combine dressing ingredients.
3. Stir dressing into chicken mixture.
4. Garnish and serve.

I cook a whole chicken in about two cups worth of broth in my crockpot for five hours on high…the meat is so tender and tasty that way. This salad is also delicious accompanied by my mom’s croissant recipe!

Hope you try it–it’s practically too easy to make considering how fantastic it looks and tastes!

ETA: I added pictures! The three lovelies in the photo here are my 4 year old, my mother–the birthday girl!, and my sister!

The best kept secret on milk must be shared here! Okay, maybe I’m the only one in the dark on this.

Hubby had a Braum’s ice cream craving last night…so while in the restaurant, we moseyed over to check out the price of their milk. Only $3.15 a gallon compared to the over $4 that our local grocery store is charging! Wow.

But even better, they advertise on their dairy cabinets that their dairy cows are not given antibiotics or growth hormones, etc…basically this is organic milk! (I’m not claiming that it is, can’t remember the exact details…but still very impressive!)

A while back I chatted with our nutritionist, aka, applied kinesiologist, about wanting to find a local dairy from which to buy raw milk…one with a more natural approach to production. Dr. T said that they are really hard to find because they, for the most part, already have a full clientèle and no one is talking/sharing! She’s been sworn to secrecy as to their source of organic milk, b/c the dairy farmer doesn’t need the headache of more rules and regs and more customers than he can keep happy.

But now I’ve got Braum’s!

Do you have a Braum’s in your area? Psst, a dozen eggs there was $1.43! (Cheep!)

Hat tip to Bethanie for letting me know about this post! We’re a do-it-yourself breakfast family during the summer months, so having flavored homemade oatmeal packets handy for my girls really sounds good! If you want full instructions, a ton of how-to pictures, and a detailed cost analysis, then follow this link to The Simple Dollar, an enjoyable visit is in store!

Do you like oatmeal for breakfast?