Eid Recipes + Vote

‘Eid al-Adha will be here on Sunday. I already have my menu planned. But I just might have to make some changes. A sis I know has a wonderful food blog. You can see all her wonderful kitchen creations at Fatisrecipes.

And vote for Fatisrecipes in the “Top Ten Halal Food Blogs for 2012″ contest at this jump http://www.crescentrating.com/the-top-halal-food-blogs-in-2012.

Free eCookbook: 42 gluten free recipes

More and more people are removing wheat and other gluten-containing grains from their diets. Here is a cookbook to help you serve up some wonderful gluten-free dishes.

Click here to download the Free eCookbook [pdf]

Thanks to A Thrifty Mom

Crock Pot Hot Apple Cider

Here are 2 wonderful hot apple cider recipes. Both seem like great recipes. The cinnamon and cloves warm the body and help circulate the blood. All I need now is the apple cider!

In recipes that call for spices you rarely use, buy only the amount of spices needed from bulk bins at places like Winco or Whole Foods. Whole Foods can be steep. But when you need say like 3 cinnamon sticks, it is much cheaper to pay pennies for it at Whole Foods than to buy a a whole jar-full from some other store and never use it.

Crock Pot Apple Cider
From About.com [my additions in brackets]
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• 12 cups apple cider [I will sometimes use apple juice if I don't have cider]
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves [6 whole cloves = 1/2 tsp ground]
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• 1 orange, studded with whole cloves
• 3 (3") cinnamon sticks [Don't have cinnamon sticks? Ground cinnamon should
  not be added to
  boiling liquids; the liquid may become
  stringy and the cinnamon will lose flavor. Instead add a little ground cinnamon at the end of cooking and taste it.]

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a 4-5 quart slow cooker. Set to low. Cover. Cook for 2 to 3 hours.

Servings:
8-10 servings

Crock Pot Apple Cider
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse (adapted by me)
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 2 teaspoons whole cloves
• 1 orange, thinly sliced
• 2 quarts apple cider
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• Cinnamon sticks, garnish

Directions:

Stud the apple with the cloves. In a medium pot, combine the studded apple and remaining ingredients. Slowly bring to a simmer over low heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Discard the apple. Ladle into mugs and garnish each with a cinnamon stick. Serve immediately.

Servings:
about 8

Why Healthy Saute is a Money-Saver

Healthy saute uses a small amount of broth instead of heated oils to cook vegetables. Broth is way cheaper than oil. Cha-ching. You save!

How To Healthy Saute

Ingredients

1. Broth (chicken, beef, etc)
2. Onions (sliced, diced, etc)
3. Spices
4. Vegetables, diced
5. Meat (sliced or diced chicken, etc. optional)

Method

1. Stainless steel pan (or cast iron); non-stick cookware is toxic.
2. Heat 1 – 2 tablespoons of broth in a skillet over med-high heat.
3. Once broth bubbles, add onions. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add fresh spices (garlic, fresh ginger, etc.) and cook for a minute or two, stirring often.
5. Add vegetables. Cook til done, stirring frequently. Or add meat. Cook til done. Then add vegetables.
6. Remove from heat, toss in a little extra virgin olive oil

Onions have oil that gets released when cooked. If they stick, keep stirring. They will let go. Lower the heat if onions burn.

Cooking onions kills the smell that bother people and angels [Healing with the Medicine of the Prophet 257-8].

Get printable version of this here Print Healthy Saute

See more healthy saute recipes here Healthy saute.

Super easy way to decaf your tea

Here is an easy way to naturally decaf teas. Great for the budget. And from what i read, decaf tea from the store is unhealthy and poor quality. That’s prob why it tastes different.

• Pour boiling water over loose tea or tea bag
• Let sit for 45 seconds
• Pour water off

Then use the tea as you normally would.

Free recipe: Chai Tea Mix

The name of this recipe is redundant because chai and tea are the same word just in different languages.
But the recipe is super easy and yummy. So, stay warm and enjoy my gift to you!

Chai Tea Mix

1 c. non fat dry milk powder
1 c. powdered non-dairy creamer
1 c. French vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer ***can skip this and use additional cup of non-flavored dry creamer
2.5 c. sugar ***optional, sweeten with whatever is best for you (honey, stevia, etc) in appropriate amounts
1.5 c. unsweetened instant tea  ***optional, see changes below
Powdered Spices:
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cardamom

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine milk powder, non-dairy creamer, vanilla flavored creamer, sugar and instant tea.
2. Stir in spices.
3. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup mixture at a time until mixture is the consistency of find powder.

To Serve:
Stir 2 heaping Tablespoons Chai into a mug of hot water.

*** My changes
*mixed spices together and put in a container
*made hot tea (hot water +tea bag)
*put tea into cups
*added pinch of chai powder into each cup enough to taste
*mixed dry milk w/cold water
*added milk
*sweetened
You can also add the chai powder to coffee too –just don’t add the instant tea! But, some people mix coffee and tea together. It actually tastes good.

Whole Foods and stores like them should have the necessary spices.

A year of slow cooking

I heard about this lady who keeps a blog of nothing but crock pot recipes — A Year of Slow Cooking.

I cant wait to try some of the recipes out!

Back in the summer, it was too hot to cook inside the house; daytime temps were 105!  I cooked in my crock pot. At night! Outside!

It was hard to sleep because the smell of the food kept waking me up. Of course the heat wouldn’t let me sleep good either.

But at least when I woke up in the morning, dinner was ready!

Frugal Food: 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten free)

These cookies are super easy and very yummy! Not to mention frugal. This recipe gets the frugal all-star stamp! I liked them! I threw in a (big) pinch of cinnamon!

Makes a nice gift! Bake. Wrap. Label. Give!

• Land O’Lakes Kitchen Gift Labels: Eight different labels to give food gifts, some blank others have “Baked With Love By” and “From The Kitchen Of”, nice stuff!
• Free Hangtags Pattern: Two different designs to choose!
• Free Printable Recipe Cards – A Nice Collection — just in case you want to give the recipe also!

Ingredients:

• 1 c. creamy peanut butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white (optional)
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips (optional)

Steps:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, sugar, and eggs. Stir until the eggs are thoroughly combined with the other ingredients.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips. (I’m not sure why we do this in a separate step, but we do.)
3. Refrigerate the cookie dough for 15 minutes. Turn the oven to 350 degrees F to preheat.
4. Scoop the chilled cookie dough into small balls using a normal eating-sized spoon. Place the cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet about 2 inches apart from each other.
5. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for around 15 minutes. You want to take them out once the tops are getting brown (see picture above). The cookies may still seem a bit soft at this point, but they will harden as they cool.
6. Let the cookies cool for 10 – 15 minutes and then serve!

See Pics: http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/johns-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Economical Pesto + Rice Pasta Coupon

Pesto sauce can be pricey if using pine nuts and even basil.  To save even more money (health dollars), skip the wheat-based pasta and go for the rice ones instead. Trader Joe’s sells a 16-ounce bag of organic rice pasta for $1.99 — very affordable and extremely healthy. I’ve eaten the Trader Joe rice pasta and love it!

Another company (DeBoles) produces many different varieties of rice pastas (DeBoles Gluten Free) and offers a  $1 off any product coupon too. I believe you can print up to 20 coupons from one computer.

Here is a simple, easy, and inexpensive pesto recipe.

Spinach Walnut Pesto

• 1 C chicken broth
• 10-oz baby spinach
• 2/3 C Parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt, pepper to taste

Directions:

• Heat 1 C chicken broth to a boil. Remove from heat.
• Using food processor, work in batches to grind spinach, nuts, chicken stock and garlic.
• Transfer to a bowl. Stir in cheese and olive oil. Taste. Then season with salt and pepper if needed.
• 4-oz walnuts, chopped

Pesto is usually made with cheese, but you can leave it out.

Freezing Pesto: Don’t add the Parmesan cheese in the final mix. It freezes better. Add the cheese after frozen pesto is thawed out.

Other uses for pesto: • spread on a roasted-vegetable sandwich • stir into vegetable soup • thin with water and vinegar for a salad dressing • mix with mayonnaise to make a dip for vegetables • stir into mashed potato • use as pizza sauce

I believe I got this recipe from Rachael Ray’s site.

Decaf Your Own Tea

Have you priced decaffinated tea lately? Ever? Besides the price, most tea makers use chemicals to remove caffiene from tea.

It’s easy to get rid of most of the caffiene in teas. The process is very easy.

Step 1: Pour a small amount of  water that has come to a rolling boil over a tea bag or loose tea.

Step 2: Let sit for 45-60 seconds. Then gently pour off water or if using a tea bag, remove the bag.

Step 3: Bring fresh water to just under a boil. Pour over the same loose tea or tea bag.

Step 4: Steep the recommended amount of time according to tea directions.

Recommended brewing times:

• 5 minutes for Black tea, Oolong tea and Herbal tea
• 3 minutes for Darjeeling tea for three minutes
• 2 – 3 minutes for Green tea and white tea (let the water cool to about 165 to 175 F first)

Free Slow Cooker Recipe eBook

For those of us who are busy — or just plain lazy — slow cookers are the best invention since sliced bread! If you’re like me, you can’t ever have too many crock pot recipes.

Slow cookers give you that break you need in your cooking schedule. So, plan a few crock meals on your next menu planning day! In the meantime, you can be picking out some recipes to try out.

If you want more recipes, Bounce Here

Thanks to ChaChing on a Shoestring for passing this one along!

p.s.  I am sure not all the recipes are fit for us. Skip the recipes you don’t'/won’t make and keep the ones you will. The book has soups, desserts, meat and veggies recipes.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

When my mother was growing, her father kept a field full of corn that was only for popping! Can you imagine that! I missed out on a lot!

But here is something you will not want to miss out on. A recipe for making your own microwave popcorn! It’s super easy.

All you need is:

1/4 Cup popcorn

1 Tablespoon liquid oil

Salt to taste

Brown paper bag (cheap at dollar stores)

Butter (or as Paula Dean pronounces it “buuudder” as if it rhymes with udder)

Directions:

Melt butter. Set aside.

Put the popcorn in the bag. Sprinkle in the salt. Pour in the oil. Fold down the top of the bag. Put in the microwave for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes! When done popping, pour into bowl, and drizzle with melted butter! Hmmm…..

I think the kids are really gonna love this one!