Simple Whole Wheat Bread

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

I am attempting to teach my kids to pick-up after themselves. Yesterday I had the unfortunate luck of stepping on a Lego my kids had left out. This led to me jumping up and down on one foot and waking up my oldest. Those little Legos are pretty much evil. They get right into the middle of your foot and stick there so you keep stepping on them while screaming that you stepped on it in the first place. What I really don't understand is how my kids have an entire bedroom, but all of their stuff ends up in the living room. Even if they dump the toys out on their bedroom floor they somehow migrate into my space and then I step on something. I wish it was just my boys, except my husband seems to have the same problem with his shoes. I find 2-3 pairs of shoes everyday that my husband has something left in the living room, oftentimes with his socks stuck inside. So this week my boys are learning about personal responsibility. I refuse to keep stepping on toys everywhere I step.

Simple Whole Wheat Rolls

Since I am the only one in my family that eats gluten free my kids go through periods where they really want bread, and pancakes and muffins. Pretty much anything with wheat flour. So today I let them have a day of gluten. I made pancakes and bread. My oldest came home from school very happy and told me it was the best day ever. Normally I follow the same bread recipe, but today I decided to try something new. I tried a recipe for Simple Whole Wheat Bread from Allrecipes.com.

Simple Whole Wheat Rolls

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 3 hours of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 36 servings. I made a number of changes to the original recipe. First instead of making the recipe for 3 loaves, I reduced the amount to 24 servings and made half the dough as rolls and the other half as a loaf of bread. I found that my bread and rolls took longer to brown than the recipe stated, I left them in for an additional 10 minutes, so 40 minutes total. I like the tops of my bread to be nicely browned, especially for whole wheat. My rising time was an hour for the first rise and two hours for the second. Since it's winter my second rise always takes longer than in the summer when the house is much warmer. Just make sure that the dough rises about an inch over the top of the pan and it's ready to go in the oven.

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

My kids ate almost the whole batch of rolls within a couple of hours. They really loved the rolls. My husband ate the bread and thought that it was nice bread to have with a slather of butter. The bread is a little sweet since it has honey, which is perfect for rolls. I might make these rolls again for Easter, they are a nice way to use whole wheat flour in rolls while still being kid friendly. Definitely a recipe I will use again.

For the recipe go to Simple Whole Wheat Bread.

Peanut Butter, Dried Cranberry and Chocolate Chip Cookies

When dark chocolate first started becoming popular I hated it. There was something about the taste that I thought was bitter and I just could never eat more than one bite. I did love milk chocolate and I had a sweet spot for 5th Avenue candy bars. To this day there is something about that candy bar that makes me happy. After getting married and having kids I decided that I should give dark chocolate another try. I fell in love. Now I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and the darker the chocolate the better. I have even been known to eat parts of the bittersweet baking bars that I buy to make cakes and cookies. I think a large part of it has to do with getting older. The older I get the more I notice that my tastes for certain foods has changed as well. Foods that I used to cringe at in my 20's I now love in my 30's and the foods that I thought I would never stop loving I barely touch. What hasn't changed is my sweet tooth. I still love to bake and do so at least once a week. This weekend I tried a new recipe for Peanutty Fruit and Chocolate Chip Cookies from the February 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour 41 minutes, 35 minutes of which is active and makes 45 cookies. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First instead of all-purpose flour I used brown rice flour. Second I substituted honey for the granulated sugar and sorghum syrup for the light brown sugar. Finally, I had just bought powdered peanut butter at the store so I used it instead of the 1/2 cup of regular peanut butter. The first time I made these cookies they came out of the oven and would not set. This can happen with gluten free baking, it is a lot of trail and error. So I crumbled the cookies, added an egg and rolled them into cookies again. I put them back into the oven for approximately 10 minutes per batch.

Even after all the changes these cookies turned out very well. The combination of the chopped chocolate and the dried cranberries was delicious and the cookies only lasted a matter of hours. These cookies could also be modified to use other dried fruit such as cherries or a darker chocolate such as bittersweet. I think an even darker chocolate and dried cherries would make this recipe even better.

For the recipe go to Peanutty Fruit and Chocolate Chip Cookies. (registration required)

Moist Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake Made Using Yogurt

I have been eating spicy foods all day today. They seem to be the only things that I can taste due to the unfortunate luck of catching a cold yesterday. I am such a baby that I would almost rather go through another c-section recovery than have a bad cold. Part of it has to do with having pneumonia and being hospitalized last winter. Now every time I get a cold it feels as if someone is sitting literally on my chest. Before having pneumonia this never happened. I was warned that this would happen, but it still doesn't make the experience any more pleasant. So I have been taking zinc lozenges, drinking tea with honey and trying not to be too pathetic. My husband was super sweet and brought me home a bag of spicy chips, spicy peanuts and chocolate. I knew there was a reason I married that man, sometimes he is just plain awesome. Since I have been feeling under the weather I am glad that I baked a number of snacks earlier in the week. One of my favorite ingredients to bake with is blueberries, whether fresh or frozen they are delicious. This week I tried a new recipe from the February/March 2013 issue of Taste of Home Magazine for Lemon-Blueberry Pound Cake.

This recipe has 13 ingredients in the cake and 2 in the glaze. It takes an hour and 20 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I used brown rice flour to replace the all-purpose flour. I have also been trying to cut down on the amount of granulated sugar that my family consumes so I substituted honey for the two cups of sugar. Since less honey is needed in recipes I reduced the total amount to 1 1/2 cups and used 6 ounces instead of 8 ounces of lemon yogurt. Finally, instead of butter I used canola oil and low-fat cream cheese instead of regular. I found that my baking time was slightly longer due to the changes, approximately 5 minutes total. While the frosting looked yummy, I left it off to reduce the amount of sugar. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved this pound cake. Even with all the substitutions the cake came out very well. It wasn't as sweet as the original recipe would have been, which I liked. Using two cups of sugar would make for a very sweet cake and I prefer a cake that is a little less sweet to serve to my kids, plus it was great with a cup of tea as a snack in the afternoon.

For the recipe go to Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken

Today was organization day for my cupboards. I try to keep my kitchen as clean as I can and bleach multiples times a day. However, my pantry cupboards go through phases. I will be great about keeping them clean during the summer in order that I have room for fruits and veggies that I have canned. By winter they have turned into chaos. One of the reasons always seems to be that when I come home from the grocery store I am so tired of dealing with lines, coupons you name it that I just don't have the effort to organize everything before putting it away. So everything gets stuffed into the cupboard and I have to search to find what I need when I'm cooking. Today I spent three hours cleaning and organizing everything in my pantry. I discovered that I had a number of ingredients that I had forgotten that I purchased which will be great to go into next weeks menu plan. This week I have been making a number of dishes using items from the freezer which I cleaned out last week. Earlier in the week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken from the October 2012 issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 5 minutes of prep, 6 hours of cooking on high and makes 12 servings. Since I eat gluten free I did make a number of changes. First instead of serving the pulled chicken in buns as a sandwich I served it over brown rice. I have tried a number of gluten free bun brands and they have failed to impress me, I would rather just eat my meals over rice or quinoa. Instead of using brown sugar I used local grown honey. For sweetening I prefer using honey since it is natural and using local honey is supposed to help with allergies (whether it actually does I don't know, but it is worth a shot). Instead of using boneless skinless thighs, I used bone-in thighs which I took the skin off of and removed the bones before pulling the chicken. I prefer keeping the bone in thighs since it gives the finished meat a better flavor. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two kids ate their servings on hamburger buns and loved it. I liked that it worked well over brown rice, which turned out to be a nice gluten free option. My husband thought that the meat became a little dry after sitting in the fridge, so it is best enjoyed the same night or make sure to add additional liquid when re-heating. The dryness could also be avoided by using all thighs instead of breasts and thighs since breast meat is much lower in fat and doesn't have as much moisture.

For the recipe go to BBQ Pulled Chicken. (registration required)

Quinoa-Pumpkin Seed Granola

My normally good eating habits haven't been so great since Thanksgiving. The holidays seem to have gotten to me this year and my food choices have gone down hill. Don't get me wrong I still have cooked from scratch and enjoyed healthy dinners, but I have snacked more than usual and eaten more sugar. Luckily I haven't gained any weight, but I feel less than my normal self so I know that it's time to get back on track. One of the major things that I haven't been doing well with the last couple of months is breakfast. I have been good about eating breakfast since I had low potassium last winter. However, since Thanksgiving I have been skipping breakfast or not eating enough protein in the morning. This weekend I decided to get back on track and made some healthy snacks for the week. One of the new recipes I tried was for Quinoa-Pumpkin Seed Granola from the January issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 13 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I chose to use dried cherries for the dried fruit called for in the recipe. The recipe states to stir the mixture twice, but I forgot one of the stirs, so I only did a total of one stir half-way through the baking time. I kept my granola in larger pieces since I was going to eat it as a snack instead of with milk. I think I prefer the large chunks like I made. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband and I really enjoyed this granola. The quinoa was great, I loved how it was crunchy and the whole almonds were delicious. The cranberries provided a nice sweet contrast to the crunchiness of the nuts. My husband thought that it would be even better for adults with a small amount of cayenne pepper to have a sweet/spicy combination.

For the recipe go to Quinoa-Pumpkin Seed Granola. (registration required)

Lentil Sliders with Sesame Sauce

 I took the Christmas tree down yesterday and put away all the decorations. As soon as the holiday is over I like to box up all the decorations and get back to normal. I have always been like this. Growing-up my mother would keep our tree up until well into January and it would drive me nuts. I like to get things over with and move on, Christmas is one of those things. Don't get me wrong I like Christmas, but all the dust from the decorations and the lack of space from the Christmas tree drives me nuts. So as soon as Christmas is over I get up the next day and put everything away. My living room is now back to the state that it the rest of the year and I am happy and content. I have survived another Christmas and things can start settling into the cold winter months ahead. Winter to me always means beans. I cook with beans a lot in the winter, I find them filling and comforting when the weather is cold and depressing. Last week I tried a new recipe for Lentil Sliders with Sesame Sauce from the January issue of Parents magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 8 sliders. I did have to go to multiple stores to find all the ingredients, but that is normal when I am looking for tahini. Be very careful when cooking these sliders, they have a tendency to burn if you follow the amount of oil in the recipe. Watch the sliders very carefully and add more oil if necessary. I served my husband and kids portions with pita, but I ate mine with just the sauce since I can't eat gluten. For the lemon juice I used fresh squeezed, the taste is better and lemons are inexpensive. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sauce in this recipe was too sweet. I think it would be better if the honey was eliminated or there was a touch of crushed red pepper. As the recipe is written the sauce is just too mild and sweet. The sliders on the other hand were delicious and everyone in my family enjoyed them. My husband thought that they were actually better the way that I ate them without the pita.

This recipe is currently not available online, but can be found in the January 2013 issue of Parents magazine.

Roasted Chicken with Tangerines and Olives

My two sons are really into the holidays this year. Last year my youngest was just too little to really understand what was going on around him and my oldest just wasn't interested. This year is a total 180. They had great fun picking out a little tree that they could place on a table and decorate all by themselves. Granted mommy did have to steer them away from the horribly tacky ornaments and towards a color scheme that would match the rest of my decorations. Then I had the task of explaining that since I was hosting Thanksgiving that the tree would have to wait to be put up until Friday morning. Needless to say that didn't go over too well. I think this might also be the last year for Santa with my oldest. He has made more than one hint that his friends have been talking about who the 'real Santa' is. I am very proud of him though for still keeping up appearances for his younger brother. It's the small gestures like these that make me happy that my kids have each other for brothers. So as Thanksgiving week begins I am very thankful for the fact that my family has each other and that my kids are turning into great little men. However, the one exception to their normally great behavior is food. When they were younger they ate anything. Then about 6 months ago everything began to change. Now they eat more than I would think would be possible for their size, but have also become very, very picky. Luckily they love chicken and it has become my fall back protein choice. Recently I tried a new recipe for Roasted Chicken with Tangerines and Olives from Everyday Food magazine which looked very simple and full of protein.

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes a total time of 50 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. The one big modification that I made to this recipe is to use chicken thighs and drumsticks instead of a whole chicken. I absolutely hate butchering chickens. Any other type of meat I have no problems with, but chicken drives me crazy. Granted it would help if I had more disposable income and could afford the awesome knives that they have on all the cooking shows. As it is I have the knives that I can afford and even when I sharpen them before every use they are still not great for butchering chicken. So I took the easy way out and bought pre-packaged thighs and drumsticks. For the olives I used stuffed green olives. My two kids love pimentos and they are the easiest type of olive to find in my area, so I used them. Honey is a food that I am particular about. I always buy as local of a honey as I can find. My husband and two boys both have nasty allergies and the closer the honey the better. Luckily there are multiple local honey producers in the immediate area that I live, which is great. Finally, I allowed my chicken to cook slightly longer than the final 10 minutes suggested by the recipe. I prefer my skin to be crispy and well browned so I allowed an additional 5 minutes of baking time. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys were big fans of this recipe. They loved the olives and ate the majority of the roasted tangerine slices. I liked that the recipe was very simple and had 53 grams of protein per serving. I try to make most of my family's dinners high in protein so this recipe was a perfect fit. If you aren't a fan of chicken skin this recipe would also work with skinned chicken. I would suggest keeping on the skin until the last ten minutes, then remove it and baste the meat with the honey and tangerine mixture. Overall a simple and sweet roasted chicken recipe.

For the recipe go to Roasted Chicken with Tangerines and Olives.

Honey Cashew Chicken

Living far away from your family can be hard. When I first moved to West Virginia from Washington I was in graduate school and I was able to fly home every break. However, the summer after I moved I got married and the number of times I was able to fly home diminished. Then I graduated and my mom got sick with cancer. I flew home when I found out she was sick and then I got pregnant with my son. Regrettably I wasn't able to fly home before she passed away. Another kid later my father and the majority of my closest friends still live in Seattle. Most days everything is fine, until home sickness hits me. This has been one of those weeks where it seems home is very far away. It probably has something to do with the fact that the holidays are coming up and that was always my mom's favorite time of the year. She came from a large family and the holidays were something she reveled in. The parties, the gifts, the wrapping, she loved it all. While I love the holidays, I have never been as good at all the prep as my mother was. However, I carry on all the traditions from my mom for my two boys. I am a big believer of carrying on family traditions and work hard to maintain these connections. As I've stated before one of the main ways that I remember my mother is through cooking and baking with my two kids. Last month we tried a new recipe for Honey Cashew Chicken from All You magazine which 38 grams of protein looked like a great high-protein option for my family.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking time and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Since I don't eat gluten I used gluten-free soy sauce. A lot of brands of cheap soy sauce use wheat as a main ingredient, so I always check labels. I used homemade chicken broth so I had to add more salt for this recipe than if I had used store bought. Make sure to take the strings out of the snow peas. The one time I forgot to string my snow peas I quickly learned that they must be completely trimmed or they are almost uneatable. My family likes our food on the spicy side so I added more crushed red pepper than the recipe suggested. I would estimate around 1 teaspoon. Finally, I allowed the dish to cook for approximately 3 minutes after adding the sauce to ensure all ingredients were fully cooked. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved this recipe. Snow peas are always a hit in my house and this recipe was no exception. They literally picked all the snow peas out and ate them first. The chicken had a great flavor and the dish was perfect over brown rice. Definitely a recipe I would make again.

For the recipe go to Honey Cashew Chicken.

Honey-Glazed Pork Chops with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

So you may have noticed that my family loves pork. My husband would be happy eating pork products with every meal and thinks that adding bacon to any dish makes it 10 times better. I love bacon as much as the next person, but my husband takes it to a whole new level. My dad had the same trait. Every Sunday morning growing-up my dad would make breakfast. It was the same every week, fried potatoes and bacon. He was very exact about the correct way that potatoes should be prepared and the bacon had to be just right. While I love bacon, my favorite type of pork is pork chops. I love pork chops. Not the thin cut variety, but thick bone-in pork chops. When the fat gets nice and crispy on the bone, I love it. Last week I tried a new recipe for Honey-Glazed Pork Chops with Mashed Sweet Potatoes from the October issue of the Food Network Magazine, which looked like the perfect meal for my pork loving family.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients and made no ingredient modifications. Make sure to chose thick center-cut pork chops or they will dry out during baking. The pork chops that I bought where much larger than the 1 3/4 pound total for 4 chops, I like very thick pork chops. Due to the increased size of my pork chops my total cooking time was slightly longer. For the cajun seasoning I used Tony's. This is the same Cajun seasoning I always use in recipes, it tastes delicious and provides a great amount of flavor. My sweet potatoes took longer than the 20 minutes suggested by the recipe. The sweet potatoes that I bought were on the large side and took closer to 30 minutes total to cook. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I made these for my in-laws when they came to visit. The pork chops came out perfectly cooked and the mashed sweet potatoes were very popular with my two boys. I love center-cut pork chops and this recipe was perfect. I would definitely make this recipe again.

For the recipe go to Honey-Glazed Pork Chops with Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter

I have a soft spot for honey. As far back as I can remember I have loved honey. Not the store bought generic variety, but local delicious pure honey. It is great in so many ways, on biscuits, in baking or in tea. In the last six months I have been using less white granulated sugar and trying to use more natural sweeteners like honey. One of my favorite foods growing up was honey and peanut butter sandwiches. The combination is delicious and my two kids love it almost as much as I do. As I have written about previously, biscuits are a big deal around here and they are made frequently for breakfast. Before giving up gluten I made them at least a couple of times a month. Biscuits are very versatile and can be great with breakfast or dinner. Last month I made a recipe for Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter from the December issue of Everyday Food magazine, which looked quick and very simple.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 10 servings. All of the ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding any of them at my local grocery store, so I made no modifications. I did use organic butter and buttermilk. I try to buy organic for chicken and dairy. The dough will be very sticky, do not overwork it or the biscuits will end up tough and will not rise properly. Make sure to use parchment paper to bake the biscuits. It really does work better for baking, I highly recommend it. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I made these biscuits before I gave up gluten. One of the things that I miss the most about not eating wheat is easy biscuits. This recipe is very easy to make and the honey butter is delicious. The honey butter could easily be used on other things such as sweet potatoes, bread or other baked goods. I could see the butter being absolutely yummy on cornbread. I made a great gluten free cornbread recipe last week that would work with the honey butter. Overall, this is a very easy biscuit recipe that takes little time to make and was very popular in my household.

For the recipe go to Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter.

Peanut Butter Cup Protein Smoothie

My oldest has been back in school for two weeks and my family has been doing great with changing our breakfast habits. I have been the one the most in need of reform and I am glad to say that I have completely changed my bad habits. No longer do I reach for the cookies and sweets in the morning, but instead consistently eat protein and fruit. This has been a major change for me and I feel a lot better. I have also changed by kids diets pretty dramatically. We have always eaten well and I started cooking from scratch years ago. However, I have always baked a little too much and can be hit or miss with using whole grains instead of white flour. In the last couple of months I have changed these habits and my family has discovered that they love quinoa, whole wheat couscous and brown rice flour. My two boys have also been much calmer and stopped all the snacking they used to do all day without eating meals. One breakfast food that I have found that my whole family loves is smoothies. They are quick and easy and can be full of protein. Last week I tried a new recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Protein Smoothies from the July issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes to prep and makes 4 servings. I'm not really sure why the recipe states that it takes 15 minutes to prep. I was able to put together this smoothie in literally a couple of minutes. I chose to leave out the salt. I tasted the smoothie before adding the salt and I liked it the way it was. I try to avoid unnecessary sodium, so I chose to leave the salt out completely. I actually used vanilla flavored almond milk instead of soy milk. My family prefers almond milk and the remaining soy milk left in the carton wouldn't be consumed and therefore it would be wasteful. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Everyone in my house thought that this smoothie tasted like something from a juice bar. It is absolutely delicious and I love that it has 15 grams of protein. It does have 14 grams of fat, but since it's mostly from peanut butter which is a good fat I think that it is perfectly acceptable. Plus I don't believe in eliminating all fats from your diet, especially since my family is very physically active. One of the best parts about this smoothie is that it keeps you very full. I wasn't hungry until well after lunch so it was a great way to control my mid-morning sugar cravings. I have already made this smoothie two more times and it is sure to stay in my breakfast repertoire.

For the recipe go to Peanut Butter Cup Protein Smoothie.

Alpine Muesli

As I've stated in a few of my previous posts I am determined to be better about eating breakfast. My son starts school in two weeks and with the start of school my eating habits go quickly down-hill. I am great about making my two sons eat a healthy breakfast, I just don't follow my own advice. Honestly, I have never been great about eating breakfast. Growing up my dad worked nights and my mom left for work before I went to school. So when it was time for me to eat breakfast my dad was getting ready to bed for the day and I would literally eat peanut butter out of the jar. My mom tried really hard to get me to eat, she even left pre-made breakfasts for me. It never worked. I preferred the peanut butter on a spoon. If given the choice now and if my metabolism was the same as when I was younger I would still be eating jars of peanut butter a week. I love peanut butter. I know better now, but it is still a daily struggle with myself. Last week I tried a new recipe for Alpine Muesli from Martha Stewart Living magazine, which I was hoping would help to encourage me to eat breakfast.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 3 hours and 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients for this recipe at my local grocery store and I made no modifications to the ingredients. For the chopped fruit I used plums and for the sliced fruit topping I used strawberries. I had planned on also using raspberries, however, my two children ate almost all of the fruit out of the fridge before I had the change to make this recipe. Luckily I had just enough fruit. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

As written this recipe needs some work. First, I was not a fan of the fresh orange juice. My two boys refused to eat their servings due to the overly citrus taste. If I was to make this again I would make the following changes. I am not a huge fan of citrus, but if you like the taste of fresh oranges, then I would use vanilla almond milk instead of cows milk. The low-fat cows milk and the orange juice did not work well together. Almond milk would solve this problem. Personally, I think the recipe would be better without the orange juice entirely. I liked the whole recipe, except the citrus taste. So leave out the citrus and add a little more honey and this recipe will be a great way to start the day.

For the recipe go to Alpine Muesli.

Family Circle Chinese Hacked Pork

You may have noticed a theme lately, crock-pot recipes. My schedule the last couple of months has been crazy. My youngest son is giving new meaning to being a hard to deal with three-year-old. I love him, but he is a handful to say the least. Plus, the fighting between my two boys has risen to new levels. Needless to say mommy has had a lot less time for meal prep and my crock-pot has made my life much easier. It is normally calmer in the morning, some days I even get a little time to myself to enjoy my coffee before the chaos of the day begins. Since my mornings are easier, I love being able to prep dinner and throw it in the slow-cooker until it's time to eat. So I hope everyone loves crock-pot recipes, since I have been making a lot of them in the last couple of months and there will more than likely be many more to come. The April issue of Family Circle magazine had a delicious looking recipe for Chinese Hacked Pork combining Chinese five spice and pork.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 10 minutes of prep and 6 hours of cooking time and makes 6 servings. I had to make a few modifications to the ingredients due to availability and taste preferences. I was unable to find wide lo mein noodles, so I substituted the chow mein noodles which I was able to find at my local grocery store. Additionally, I chose to leave out the steamed snow peas, I found them unnecessary, and I used homemade chicken broth and regular, instead of low-sodium soy sauce. Since I don't salt my chicken stock I thought the salt from the regular soy sauce was necessary. Finally, I forgot to add the scallions at dinner time, so we ate the dish without. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really liked this recipe. The flavor was great and the leftovers heated up well both with the noodles and on a bun as a sandwich. My husband especially enjoyed this recipe and ate the majority of the leftovers. The Chinese five spice creates a nice flavor to the dish without being overpowering. Best of all the recipe has 39 grams of protein and only 8 grams of fat, so great for someone on a high-protein diet. This will be a crock-pot recipe that I will use again.

For the recipe go to Chinese Hacked Pork.

Taste of Home Satay-Style Pork Stew

With all my posts on slowcooker recipes one would think that I grew up with a mother that constantly used her crock-pot. However, I wasn't. My mom could never get the hang of her slowcooker, but loved her pressure cooker. I'm sorry to admit that I have a pressure cooker/canner which I use to can every year, but the thought of preparing meat or other foods in it scares me! I know that I should learn, my mother-in-law makes the best pasta sauce using her pressure cooker and she assures me that the pressure valve won't actually fly off and kill me. However, all that I can remember is the very old pressure cooker that my mom owned and how I was told to never go in the kitchen when it was on. Doesn't make for a high level of comfort when using one as an adult. Needless to say, while my pressure cooker is rarely used, I love my slowcooker. If you've read my blog for any amount of time you already know that I normally make a slowcooker recipe approximately once a week. One of my favorite things to cook in the crock-pot is pork and I was excited when I saw a new recipe for Satay-Style Pork Stew in the April/May issue of Taste of Home magazine.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of prep and 8 hours of cooking time and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. I did change a few things in regard to the specific type of ingredient. For the teriyaki sauce there were only two types at my local grocery store, neither of which was low-sodium so I used regular. Since I make my own chicken broth and don't add salt I wasn't worried about the dish being overly salty. For the peanut butter I used natural organic peanut butter, I prefer the taste and texture. Finally, I left out the green onions and peanuts for the topping. Honestly, I forget to add them at dinner time and the dish was fine without them added. Make sure to take off most of the fat from the butt roast or you will be left with a lot of fat to skim off the finished dish. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was skeptical about the use of parsnips in this recipe. I bought and added them worried that the taste would be less than appetizing. The finished dish was delicious. I had nothing to worry about with the parsnips, they blended perfectly with the pork and peanut taste. This is one of the better slowcooker recipes I have tried in the last couple of months and the taste was good enough that my two kids didn't notice that I served the dish with brown rice. Overall, a delicious peanut taste that was well received by everyone in my house.

For the recipe go to Satay-Style Pork Stew. (registration required)

Womans Day Seared Tilapia with Pineapple and Cucumber Relish

My oldest son loves fish. Any time that I prepare a fish dish he eagerly eats his serving and then goes around begging for more. I love how easy fish is to prepare and it's a great solution for a busy weeknight meal. Growing up my mom only prepared salmon, which I love, but after moving out on my own I taught myself to appreciate a larger variety of fish. Currently I try to prepare at least one fish dish every week or two. I would prepare fish even more if it was less expensive and I could get my meat eating husband to be convinced that bacon isn't its own food group. As I was looking through the January issue of Woman's Day Magazine I came across a recipe for Seared Tilapia with Pineapple and Cucumber Relish, which looked easy and full of protein.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I actually had to go to multiple stores in order to find non-farm raised tilapia, but I was finally able to find some. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients and made no modifications. I chose to seed the jalapeno since my five and three-year-old were eating it and they are hit or miss with eating spicy foods. In order for the fish to not stick I used slightly more oil than suggested by the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Fish recipes are great weeknight meals. They save time and are always popular with my children. This recipe has 40 grams of protein and 9 grams of fat per serving and took less than a half an hour to prepare. The relish was delicious, my husband added rice wine vinegar to his dish and thought that it enhanced the flavor even more. Overall, a healthy and easy fish recipe.

For the recipe go to Seared Tilapia with Pineapple and Cucumber Relish.

Everyday Food Roasted Beets with Orange and Thyme

Growing up I hated beets. My mother would try over and over again to make me eat them and I stubbornly refused. It wasn't until I got married that I discovered that beets weren't just from a can or jar and could actually be delicious. In the last 8 years I have fallen in love with roasted beets and make them frequently. My two boys are hit or miss on whether they will eat them, but luckily my husband loves roasted beets and will eat them as many times as they are prepared. One of my favorite ingredients to pair with roasted beets are fresh herbs, so I was intrigued when the January/February issue of Everyday Food Magazine had a recipe for Roasted Beets with Orange and Thyme.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes approximately 50 minutes to prepare and roast and makes 4 servings. I actually had a hard time finding fresh beets locally. For whatever reason all my local stores were out of beets for over two weeks. Luckily, I was finally able to find them and prepared the dish. All the remaining ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding them and made no substitutions. I used local honey, I always try to use local honey when available. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Fresh herbs and roasted beets when paired together are delicious. This recipe is very easy to put together and has a nicely balanced flavor. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed these beets, I particularly liked the flavor from the grated orange peel and fresh thyme. Overall, a very simple roasted beet recipe.

For the recipe go to Roasted Beets with Orange and Thyme.

Taste of Home Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad

My family isn't a salad family. For whatever reason I rarely remember to buy or make salad. Growing up my mom made salad with almost every dinner and I always ran to the salad bar at restaurants. Somewhere between moving out of the house and having kids I stopped eating salads. I will still occasionally order a cobb salad at restaurants, but for the most part my love of salad has diminished. The main culprit seems to be the lack of taste of most homemade salads. I find salads to be either overly sweet or just ho-hum. Recently, the October issue of Taste of Home magazine had a recipe for Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad, which looked delicious and different from ordinary salad recipes.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of prep and makes 9 servings. I had to make a few modifications to the ingredients due to their lack of availability at my local grocery store. I was unable to find bibb or Boston lettuce, so I substituted baby greens. I had no problems finding any of the remaining ingredients. For the vinegar I used white whine vinegar and golden delicious for the apples. I toasted the mustard seeds on a pan on the stove, watch out they burn easily. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The taste of this recipe was delicious. My husband really loved this salad, he even ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. I served the salad alongside a chicken dish and the combination worked well. The salad would also work well with beef. The combination of apples and blue cheese was perfect and very popular with everyone in my household. The one change I would make to the recipe is to cut down on the amount of olive oil, maybe to 1/3 cup instead of a 1/2. Overall, a great salad recipe, that even this normally non-salad eating blogger enjoyed.

For the recipe go to Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad.

Saveur Honey and Herb Biscuits

Growing up my mom's idea of making homemade biscuits were the ones that we bought to go along with the fried chicken from the grocery store. I remember my mom baking and cooking many things, but biscuits were never on the list. When I moved to West Virginia I remember the first time I went home with my husband to meet his parents, and we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. That was to be the beginning of my love/hate relationship with biscuits. It has taken me approximately 8 years to come to the point that my biscuits are up to my husband's standards. People in West Virginia take their biscuits very seriously and I am always excited to try new recipes. Recently, I was looking through the November issue of Saveur magazine and ran across a recipe for Honey and Herb Biscuits, which looked delicious and perfect as a dinner side.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes approximately 45 minutes of prep and cooking time and makes 2 dozen biscuits. My mother-in-law was in town when I made these and cut out the biscuits. Instead of rolling out her biscuits she pats them out by hand on a plate and then cuts them out with the top of a cup. Her biscuits always turn out fluffy and delicious, so I would highly recommend preparing them this way. When biscuit dough is rolled out flat it causes the biscuits to stay flatter during baking, treat your dough nicely! I had no problems finding any of the ingredients, they were all very basic and I either had them already in my pantry or I was easily able to find at my local grocery store. One major difference that I made to the recipe is the baking time. My mother-in-law and I had a large discussion about this and neither of us could fathom baking biscuits for anywhere near 35 minutes. I normally bake my biscuits approximately 15 minutes, 20 at the most. If I had kept the biscuits in the oven for the full time suggested by the recipe my biscuits would have turned into burnt hockey pucks. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

I served these biscuits with a sea bass pasta dish and they complimented each other nicely. My in-laws were very impressed with these biscuits and they are big biscuit eaters, so I take that as a high compliment. These biscuits were very easy to prepare and I was able to throw them together at eight o'clock at night with a house full of hungry tummies. I loved the combination of fresh herbs and honey, it gave the biscuits a nice well rounded flavor. The best part about these biscuits is that they would go well as either a side dish or a breakfast food, a very versatile recipe.

For the recipe go to Honey and Herb Biscuits.