Lettuce and Asparagus Stew

Tweet Something I have always wanted to do is to take a cooking class. Over the last month on Thursday evenings I have been able to mark that one off my bucket list. I am taking a French cooking class and am LOVING it. Tonight we made lots of goodies and I wanted to share the tastiest and most unusual dish with you. It is lettuce and asparagus stew. Please try it before you turn your nose up. I swear it is nom nom tasty and super easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of scallions
1 bunch of asparagus
2-3 handfuls of lettuce
1 tablespoon of fine herbs (we used tarragon)
toasted English muffins

Directions:

Trim and slice the scallions. Cut the asparagus into small pieces. Rinse the lettuce, dry and cut into strips. Melt the butter and gently stew the scallions. Add the asparagus and scatter the lettuce over. Season, cover the pan and turn heat up to medium high. Shake the pan from time to time and cook for 4-5 minutes until the lettuce melts down forming a "stew." Stir in the herbs and serve alone or on a buttered English muffin. 

Low Calorie Cake

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What? What! Low calorie cake? Yep. You heard it here. How do you make such a thing? It's super simple.

 Combine a box of cake mix, a cup of water, and a container of Greek yogurt.

Bake your cake for the time indicated on the box.

What do you get? Cake that is about 180 calories per serving! 

<3 Your welcome <3

Cinnamon Banana Oatmeal Muffins

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I am always looking for things that Little Bit will eat. Another thing I try to do is to get him to eat things that are at least partially good for him. Last week he was feeling icky with a stomach bug. Needless to say he needs the binding power of bananas. Little Bit will not eat bananas. Momma got to work making him some tricky yummy muffins. Here is the recipe for Little Bit approved cinnamon banana oatmeal muffins.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of flour
1 cup of rolled oats
.5 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons cinnamon (we love cinnamon, if you don't use less)
dash of salt
1 egg
.75 cup of milk
.25 cup of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
5-10 ripe bananas (I used nine because that is how many I had ripe. I just throw in as much as I have around.)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine all of your ingredients. I use my stand mixer but I'm sure a hand mixer will work just fine. Try adding the dry ingredients slowly if you don't have a momba jamba mixer. Fill muffin cups 1/2 to 3/4 full depending on how tall you like your muffins. Bake for 18-20 minutes and enjoy!

Leftover Macaroni

Tweet On Monday I was making TONS of a ham concoction with no set recipe for the meal ministry. A little of this, a lot of that until I had three large pans of this ham casserole. Even after making the three giant pans I had some leftover macaroni. Waste not want not is what I say. I love throwing things together and so I came up with this yummy little concoction for leftover lunch.

I warmed up my leftover noodles which consisted of a little bit of milk, pepper, and butter. Basically, the base for macaroni and cheese. I added a little more milk and butter so that they wouldn't be gooey when I reheated them.

Next I stir fried a tiny bit of sausage, a zucchini, and about six mushrooms.

 I combined the reheated macaroni with the stir fry for a super yummy lunch. Ah, it's nice not to eat chicken nuggets ;D

Mashed Cauliflower and Potatoes Recipe

Tweet In an attempt to coerce my family to eat more veggies I made a 1/2 healthy version of mashed potatoes tonight.

Ingredients:

Head of cauliflower
3 red potatoes
a little butter
1/4 cup of milk

Directions:

Boil the cauliflower and potatoes until tender. I find this takes about 20-30 minutes. I combine the potatoes and cauliflower in the same pot to boil them. Less dishes is always good in my book! Drain the cauliflower and potatoes. Put the cauliflower, potatoes, butter, and milk together. Mix it up. I use my Kitchen Aid but a hand mixer or potato smasher would work just fine! Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm and enjoy. 

German Potato Salad Recipe

Tweet I hate salads made with mayonnaise and miracle whip. A few summers ago I was introduced to the pure goodness of German potato salad. I made some today for lunch and I thought I would share the recipe with you.

Cut up four or five red potatoes and boil them until tender.

Cook four or so slices of bacon.

Combine 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup of apple juice, and 1 tablespoon of flour. Cook over medium heat for five minutes whisking the whole time.

Combine all ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Easy Crock Pot Chicken

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One of the things I am trying to do to be healthier this year is to eat out less. The time that I am most likely to break down and order out is dinner. By the end of a long day of running after an almost two year old boy I am pretty much pooped. When I feel like that I am most likely to throw in the towel and order in some dinner.

One way that I have found to help myself is to rely on my crock pot. Sometimes I make a whole meal in the crock pot but normally I only make part of the meal as I've found that many of the crock pot meals that I know how to make are not very good for you. Today I am putting some chicken tenderloins in the crock pot with a box of low sodium chicken stock. I will let that cook for 8 hours on low. Then this evening I have the most time consuming part of dinner finished.

I love making chicken this way because there is so much you can do with it. You can make soup, pot pie, chicken sandwiches, or just serve up that super tender chicken with some rice and veggies. I also love that I have leftovers to make lunch out of for tomorrow.

What are your favorite things to make in the crock pot? Do you find yourself ordering food because your tired at the end of the day? What tricks do you have for making a quick and yummy dinner for your family?

Wordless Wednesday (Sort Of) - Oreo Truffles

Tweet Step 1: Mash up a bag of Oreo's

Step 2: Mix a package of cream cheese with your mashed up Oreo's

Step 3: Melt two small bags of semi sweet chocolate chips

  

Step 4: Form the cookie mixture into balls and dip in the melted chocolate

Step 5: Cool in the fridge for one hour and enjoy! Make sure to keep your leftovers (if there are any ;D) in an airtight container in the fridge.

Linking up at: Moms Book Shelf, Barefoot Mahala,  By Word Of Mouth, Mommy Moment, Naptime Momtog, Wordless Wednesday, MomVantage, Babas Farm Life, Laugh Quotes, Marvelous Mommy, and Cookin' For My Captain.

Sausage Balls Recipe

Tweet Thanksgiving is next week! Oh my goodness can you believe it? My Mom always throws a big bash. To help her out I always bring a dish. One of the dishes that is requested time and again is sausage balls. The recipe is super simple and so yummy.

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork sausage, I recommend using the best sausage you can find
2 cups of Bisquick
1 pound shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix all the ingredients together and form into small balls
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes

Homemade Applesauce Recipe

Tweet A couple of you wonderful ladies have requested my recipe for homemade applesauce. Since Little Bit and I have been under the weather I am a little delayed in getting this to you. None the less here it is!

Ingredients:

4 cooking apples (I use anything pretty firm)
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of packed brown sugar. You can use white sugar but I have found that the brown tastes so much better. If you decide to go with the white us 4 tablespoons.
1/4 of a teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. This is purely your preference. We LOVE cinnamon here so we go for the larger amount.
1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg. I generally use a tad more than that but not by much as nutmeg can easily overpower the cinnamon.

Directions:

Heat apples and water to a boil. Stir it off and on. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or longer if your apples are super firm. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and heat to a boil. I use my potato masher to smoosh the apples. Of course the consistency is not like what you get from a jar. If you use a food processor I bet it would be closer. Mine is unfortunately broken so I can't tell you for sure. Either way it's really tasty applesauce. If your recipe calls for unsweetened applesauce just leave out the sugar. Wallah! Fresh applesauce in a jiffy.

Hillshire Farm #GourmetCreations

Tweet If you have been reading Social Studies Momma for a little while you know that Hubs and I are in the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia. This is a stressful process. A process where it is easy to get wrapped up in the busyness of paperwork, research, and worry. When you get so involved in something like this it can overtake your life. Engulf your whole being and alienate you from the people right there next to you.

On Monday and Tuesday Hubs was able to take a few days of vacation time. We have both been kind of absent from each other lately. He has been busy with duties as the chairman of our pastor search committee at Church and I have been little miss paperwork. Although both are worthy tasks we have been neglecting our time of being "present" with one another. Time to enjoy each others company and reconnect.

On Monday we had a big talk about this lack of commitment to nurturing our time as a couple. Today we were able to have a wonderful day together. Hubs did something for me that made me feel so loved. He started to clean his things out of our office. The office is getting turned into Little Bitty Bits nursery. I have already cleaned out 95% of my things in this room. I have been waiting for some time for Hubs to clean up his half of the room. I felt so loved and blessed that he would take his vacation day to bless me in this way.

When lunch time came around we headed out. Little Bit had left that morning with Pap Pap and Nana so Hubs and I had a wonderful time talking and enjoying our lunch. We needed some things at Walmart but I decided it would be nice to honor my wonderful husband with a fancy meal.

We got some Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations Sausage, salad fixings, fresh bread, pasta, and pesto. It's amazing how you can turn the everyday into a special occasion just by a few little touches.

Little Bit came home and was happily playing with the new tractor that Nana and Pap Pap had gotten him. Hubs and I hit the kitchen to make our gourmet meal. I cut up the Chicken Apple Sausages while Hubs cleaned the skillet.

Then I sauteed the sausages.

Hubs got out a pot, filled it with water, and turned the burner on. I added the pasta when the water got to a boil.

While I was at the stove Hubs was making the salads.

Little Bit started to get grumpy that no one was paying attention to him so Hubs left our little dance and entertained him. I put the Hillshire Farm sausage into my prettiest pyrex bowl along with the pasta and pesto.

I sat the table with matching plates and an assortment of vintage pyrex bowls. I put the flowers I arranged onto the table along with a little candle far from Little Bit's long fingers. My collection of milk glass sitting daintily on top of the piano was a wonderful backdrop. Our special meal was all about rejoicing in the every day, being present, and having fun in even the most routine things. Such and ordinary day. Such a special day.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. This is a snippet of my real life. I only write about what really happens in my little corner of the world.

Apple Pie with Buttermilk Crust

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I live in apple country and I love to bake. Those two things mean that I can make a mean apple pie. It has taken me years to perfect my crust. As Hubs will tell you apple pie is all about the crust and the proper amount of cinnamon.

First you need some really fresh apples. I like to use crisp and sweet apples. Some of my favorites are fuji and pink ladies. To be honest I just cant remember what kind of apples these are but they were crisp, sweet, and green. Peel your apples and then you need to cut the core out. After than slice your apples into thin pieces so that they will bake well.

After I finish prepping the apples I start on the dough and turn on the oven to 425. For the crust mix together two cups of all purpose flour and a teaspoon of salt. After that cut in 2/3 cup of shortening and three tablespoons of butter. I do this with a fork. Be careful not to over work your dough. This is the real trick to making awesome dough. Next put in two teaspoons of vegetable oil and 1/3 cup of buttermilk (I make buttermilk with a teaspoon of white vinegar and whole milk). I mix in the last two ingredients with my hands. I find it the best way not to overwork my dough. This will make the dough for one normal sized pie pan or two crusts for tin foil pans. I normally wouldn't suggest using the tin foil pans but I was taking these pies to the meal ministry and I didn't want to bother with having to retrieve my pans. Roll out your dough on a floured surface. Fold the dough in half and then in half again to easily place it in your pan.

Next go back to your apples. Add 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, as much cinnamon as you enjoy (I normally use 3 tablespoons because Hubs LOVES cinnamon), 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, a dash of salt, and a couple of tablespoons of butter to your apples. Stir it all together and spoon it into your pie crust. Put the second half of the dough on top of your apples. Make some slits in the dough for venting.

Put some tin foil on just the edges of your pie crust but be sure to take it off 15 minutes before the pie is done. Bake your pie for 40-50 minutes and enjoy some super fresh homemade apple pie!