Waffles

*Thanks, Em!  I've been looking for a waffle recipe made with egg whites.  These were tasty--the kids ate the first half dozen without butter or syrup (I did add blueberries and raspberries to the batter).  If only I had a larger waffle iron that wasn't so hard to clean, I'd saw goodbye to Eggo's and make this more of a regular at my home.

3 ½ cup of flour
6 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs yolks beaten
3 ½ cup milk
1 cup oil
4 stiffly beaten egg whites

Mix together everything except egg whites.  Mix well.  Fold in egg whites and bake.

Crock Pot Lime Chicken and Rice

Pour a can of chicken broth in the crock-pot. Finely cop 2 cloves of garlic. Squeeze 2 small limes or 1 large lime (appx 1/4 cup) of juice into broth. Add 2 to 4 tbsp of butter and about 1/4 tsp ground thyme. Put in 3 to 4 pieces of chicken. I turn the temp to high for the first hour, then low the rest of the time. Let cook for 8 to 10 hours. The last 15 minutes add 1 cup instant white rice. ( I usually wind up adding appx another half cup).
I always make some corn and mix it together when I serve it. Something about the corn really brings out and compliments the lime.

*Instead of adding instant rice, I just added some leftover rice I had cooked already.  Black beans just seemed to go with this meal as well as a little cilantro.  Jeff and the kids mixed the chicken, rice, beans, and corn together and ate it over chips with a little sour cream.  The next day I had leftovers on a tortilla.

As a side note, I got to use one of my favorite kitchen gadgets for this recipe: the garlic press.  If you love cooking with garlic, this is a must!  I use it weekly!  Though I still get some garlic smell on my fingers (from peeling the garlic), the press saves me from having to finely chop it.  Let me know what gadgets you can't live without--or if you have a secret for getting onion/garlic smell off your fingers!

(Old) Cragio’s Breadsticks

Jacob says, "This makes the picture look better!"

These were huge!  The kids and I had them for lunch (the spaghetti sauce has to count as a veggie, right?)  2 1/2 breadsticks fed us all (1 mom, a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 17 month old).  The breadsticks made me reminisce about the good 'ol college days with my sister Amber--you know the days when I spent about $25/week on groceries and then considered it really splurging to spend $5 to get a box of breadsticks from Craigo's to share.  Yum!

3 cups of flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ Tbsp yeast
2 ½ cups HOT water

Mix dry ingredients, then add water. Kneed with 1 ½ to 2 ¼ cups of flour. Let rise.

Roll out into a rectangle. Put butter, garlic salt, all season salt, and cheese. Twist and bake at 400* for 20 minutes.

*I may have needed to clarified this recipe with Emily, but here's how I made this delicious find.  I put all the dry ingredients in my Kitchen Aid then added the water.  After kneading with my dough hook, it was very wet so instead of adding 1 1/2 to 2 1/4 cups of flour; I think I ended up adding just over 3 cups of flour.  I kneaded it with the dough hook for approximately 10 minutes in all and let rise until it doubled (1 1/2 hours).  Then I punched down the down and rolled it out (using more flour).  I divided the dough into 9 sections and with my hands rolled them out to about 18 inches.  I then braided each piece on top of itself and let them rise in the pan for 45 min.  Looking back, I probably didn't need to add as much flour.  Next, I spread about 1/4 cup of butter on the bread sticks and sprinkled lightly with garlic salt.  Baked them for 12 minutes, removed, added about 1 1/2 cups pizza/mozzarella shredded cheese and sprinkled parmesan cheese, and cooked 8 minutes more. 

**A late note:  After making these a couple of times, I have a few pointers.  Made as directed above, the breadsticks look just like Crago's, but I've had trouble with them being a little on the doughy side in the middle.  I suggested using a large cookie sheet (they will still raise and touch each other) and divide into at least 12 breadsticks.  We love these!

Amber's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream:
  2 c shortning  (I use 1 c butter-flavored shortning/shortning sticks and 1 c margarine)
  1 1/2 c brown sugar
  1 1/2 c white sugar

Add:
  4 eggs
  2 t vanilla

Then add:
  2 t baking soda
  2 t salt
  5 1/2 c flour (I usually only need 5 c)
  1 bag chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-11 minutes.

Makes 6 dozen.

*This time around I didn't have a full bag of chocolate chips, so I put the 3/4s bag I had in the mix and added some Hersey Symphony bar.  Yum!  Also, to keep the cookies from going flat, I recommend that you keep the dough cold before cooking.  I usually put it in the freezer between batches--and this recipe makes a lot of batches!

As a side note, I am a huge believer in parchment paper.  I use it whenever I cook cookies, cake, or bread and skip the spray.

Breakfast Cassorole Crock Pot

16 oz frozen hashbrowns
1/2lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 medium bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Place a layer of frozen hash browns on the bottom of the crock pot, followed by a layer of bacon, then onions, bell pepper and cheese.
2. Repeat the layering process two more times, ending with a layer of cheese.
3. Beat the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together.
4. Pour over the crock pot mixture.
5. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.

*Before layering, I sprayed the bottom of the crock pot with cooking spray.  For the bacon, I used precooked crumbled bacon from Cosco (what a find--it comes in bags that last for months--I don't know what the means for perservatives, but it sure makes cooking with bacon easier and my house didn't smell like bacon!).  I'm going to check my crock pot, but I thought this was done after 3 1/2 hours on low.  I really liked this meal (it was so easy) and Ivan gobbled it up.  Jeff gave it a 3 1/2 stars, but he perfers breakfast casserole without onions and green peppers.  Even though it wasn't the huge hit I was hoping for, it was good and very easy to make.

*Here are 2 sites that will help you check your crock pot:
www.fcs.msue.msu.edu/mediapacket/Jan-Mar06/CrockPotCooking.doc
and
http://familycrockpotrecipes.com/DoesYourCrockPotWork.html

Oven Baked Potato Wedges

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 45 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour
Yields: 5 servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 teaspoons olive oil
5 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet with the olive oil.
2. Brush potato wedges with butter, and roll in bread crumbs. Place wedges on prepared baking sheet.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn wedges; cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender.

*I didn't have any seasoned bread crumbs, so I used plain and added a bit of oregano, basil, garlic salt and pepper to the mix.  Also, 1/4 c of butter would have been plenty.  Jeff, Ivan and I liked these, but Jacob and Ellen didn't really eat them.

Here's another way to make potato wedges:

Alternative seasoning:
2 T olive oil
2 T Dijon-style mustard
1 t dried rosemary (be sure to rub the dried seasoning in your hand before adding to release its flavor!)
1/2 t garlic salt
1/2 t black pepper

Directions:
Place olive oil in large bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Add potato wedges to mix and toss gently to coat.  Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees, turning occasionally.

*Both versions were good.  This was the first time I peeled the pototes and I like them with or without peels.  I think the second alternative would be even better with red potatoes.

Caesar Chicken Wraps

*Pictured with Oven Baked Potato Wedges

1 Pkg (7.5oz) complete Caesar salad mix
1 c chopped cooked chicken
4 garden vegetable or plain flour tortillas
2 T shredded fresh Parmesan cheese

1. Crush croutons from salad mix, set aside. In large bowl combine remaining Caesar salad mix ingredients and chicken; mix well.

2. Spoon salad mixture evenly onto tortillas; spread to within 1 inch of edges. Sprinkle each with shredded cheese and crushed croutons. Roll up each tortilla.

*This was better than I thought it would be, but I deviated from the recipe a bit.  Instead of a salad mix, I used about 6 cups torn up romaine lettuce, about 1/3 cup Ceasar dressing, and some seasoned croutons.  I cooked 3-4 breasts of frozen chicken in the crock pot on high for a couple of hours (with nothing added--this makes a great, easy way to cook chicken for lots of recipes).  When the chicken was done, I lightly shredded it, mixed it with the dressing and let lit cool in the fridge.  Then I added the lettuce to the chicken mixture and followed the rest of the steps.  As a side note, the croutons were good, but they could be optional.  A great idea for a girls lunch, but my whole family enjoyed them.