Red Lentil Soup

1T olive oil

1 celery stalk

1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped (1/2c)

1-2 medium sweet potatos, peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

3/4 c dried red lentils

1qt broth of choice (I prefer chicken to veggie, but they are both good)

1t oregano 

1t parsley

1/2t thyme, 

2t cider vinegar

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium high heat. Add vegetables, saute 6-8 minutes, stirring often, until onion is translucent. Add garlic and lentils. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth. Bring to boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until lentils are tender (can puree here for babies). Add herbs and vinegar; cook for approx 10 minutes more. Serve with dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream if desired. I usually double the recipe for leftovers. 

Homespun Tomato Soup (Grandma Benson's tomato soup)

2 C water

5 lbs fresh tomatoes

3 large onions

1 bunch parsley (optional)

1 stalk celery

1 C sugar

2 T salt

1 T pickling spices

Quarter the tomatoes and onions. Tie the spices in a cheese cloth (so they are easy to remove—otherwise the soup is a bit gritty, even after blending). Simmer all of the above for 1.5 – 2 hours. Remove spices and puree in blender.

5 strips of bacon

2 T flour

Dice the bacon and brown it. Stir in the flour. Add bacon/flour mixture to soup and bring to a boil. (You can also puree pre-cooked bacon and flour in the blender too for a totally smooth soup).

Serve with a splash of cream in each bowl. Freezes well.

Hides zucchini and eggplant just great too, just cook it in with the other veggies.

Rice Pancakes

I learned this from my brother-in-law. These are so easy and tasty that every time I cook rice, I add an extra cup or two so I can be sure to have leftovers for these. They taste kind of like indian fry bread, but with a different texture.

Rice Pancakes
cooked rice (white or brown)
eggs
lots of butter
salt
toppings (honey, cinnamon-sugar, maple syrup, etc.)

Pre-heat a pan over medium-high heat. Stir eggs into the rice, making sure to smush out all the lumps in the rice.  The rice should be coated with eggs and be kind of like a thick batter.

Melt a generous quantity of butter in your pan. Put a spoonful of the rice/egg mixture into the pan and flatten it out with the back of the spoon. Get it as thin as you can without making holes. These are sturdy pancakes, so you can make them plate sized if you want. When the pancake is bubbly throughout *and* golden brown on the bottom, flip it over to cook the other side. Add more butter to the pan for each batch.

To serve, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with syrup.

Freezer Crockpot Meals

After Shalane had her baby, we got together and made some freezer meals to stick in the crockpot on those days that don't go as planned with a new baby.  These are some of my favorites.  These were all put in 1 gallon size ziploc bags.  The recipes are taken from sixsistersstuff.com and whoneedsacape.com.

Buffalo Chicken

Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts
1 12 ounce bottle of hot sauce (like Franks Red Hot)
1/2 package of dry ranch dressing (1 ounce)

Place the chicken in a ziploc freezer bag.  Mix the hot sauce and ranch and pour over chicken.  Thaw before cooking in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred chicken and serve on rolls, tortillas or rice.

Mongolian Beef

Ingredients:
1lb. stew meat
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, thickly sliced
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp fresh minced ginger
1/2 cup hoisin sauce

Dump all ingredients into a labeled freezer bag, seal, mix up, freeze flat.  When ready to cook, thaw the package overnight. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve with fresh sliced green onion and rice.

BBQ Cranberry Chicken or Pork

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup diced onion
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 cup BBQ sauce

Place all ingredients in ziploc freezer bag.  Thaw before cooking on low for 6 hours.  We liked this over rice.

Bourbon Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cornstarch

Place chicken in ziploc freezer bag.  In a medium sized bowl, mix garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, apple juice, brown sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, water and soy sauce.  Pour sauce on top of chicken. Thaw before cooking on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred the chicken.   Mix together the soy sauce and cornstarch and pour into the crockpot to thicken the sauce.  Serve over rice and garnish with additional red pepper flakes.

Wheat Tortillas

These things are sooooo good. Soft and tender and delicious. Less finicky to make than wheat bread. They are best right off the stove, but they last a day or two on the counter (maybe longer, they always get eaten around here) and they freeze well. They also make great "crust" for pizza.

Wheat Tortillas
Measurements in () are for a triple batch. A single batch only makes 8 tortillas.

1C (3C) white flour
1C (3C) wheat flour
1t (1T) salt
1t (1T) baking powder
1/4C (3/4C) canola oil
2/3C (2C) water

Combine the flours, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Pour in the oil and water all at once and toss with a fork. Once you can gather the dough into a ball, put it on a floured surface and knead a few times. Divide the dough into 8 (24) equal parts and keep covered with a towel to prevent them from drying out.

Preheat an ungreased frying pan* over medium to medium high heat. Flatten the first ball of dough into a disk, and roll it out until it's 7+ inches across. Sometimes it helps to flip the tortilla over when you roll it out so you make sure it doesn't stick to the counter. Cook ~30 seconds on the first side, then flip it over with a spatula and cook ~30 seconds on the other side. The first side should have small dark speckles and the other side will be blotched where the bubbles touch the pan.

Repeat with the other balls of dough. I can get into a rhythm where I put one tortilla on the pan, get another tortilla half-way rolled out, flip the first tortilla over, then finish rolling out the second tortilla before the first one is finished cooking.

*I'd recommend using an old pan. I can't get the burned flour off of the one I've been using. Although my friend who also makes tortillas has never had problems, so your mileage may vary.

Coconut Chicken

Coconut Chicken

2 T butter
1 T olive oil
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 onion, diced
1 bunch baby bok choy, chopped (or 6-10 oz baby spinach would probably work too)
crushed red pepper
salt
black pepper
1/2 can of coconut milk
~6 large leaves of fresh basil, diced

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the diced chicken and stir occasionally, allowing the outside to get golden brown. Add the onion and cook for a minute or two. Add bok choy and cook, stirring occasionally. Season to desired heat level with crushed red pepper, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Add coconut milk and boil until liquid is reduced by about half. Stir in basil and cook just until wilted. Serve over rice. It's delicious with Thai Papaya Salad.

Banany Hootenanny

This is just German Pancakes with banana put in (and some milk taken out), but it is very tasty!  You could probably put 2 bananas in and skip the milk altogether, I just haven't tried that yet. 

3-4 T butter
6 eggs
1/2 C milk
1 overly ripe banana
1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt

Melt the butter in a 11x13 pan at 350 degrees in the oven.  Blend everything else in the blender.  Pour batter over the melted butter and increase oven temp to 400F.  Bake ~10 min.  Serve with brown sugar sprinkled on top.