What's for Breakfast

Our standard Green Smoothie Recipe:
1 orange
1 banana
a couple of handfuls of spinach
ice
1/2 cup water

Eliza loves them - I'm still trying to convince the other kids!

A Weekend Full of Cherries!

How long does it take to pit 25 lbs of cherries?
Way longer than I thought it would!

Luckily I had some great helpers!

Making cherry juice.

The winning recipe from this past weekend, Jason says this is the best one since the PS (post-sugar) era began:

Pear and Cherry Cobbler

2 lbs pears, peeled and sliced

2 cups pitted cherries

3 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 cup honey

2 TBSP cornstarch mixed with 2 TBSP water

2 TBSP butter

1 recipe whole wheat and honey topping (see below)

Preheat oven to 400 place the pears in a shallow 3 qt baking dish. Stir in the lemon juice, honey, and cornstarch mixture. Dot with pieces of the butter. Prepare topping and drop by spoonfuls onto fruit mixture, leaving space in between– it will spread a bit and some gaps are desirable to see the fruit peeking through. Bake for 30 to 35 minues or until topping is well browned. Serve warm or cool, with vanilla ice cream or milk, morning or night.

Topping:

1 1/4 cups oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup honey

In a bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. With a pastry blender, cut in cold butter or margarine until well blended. Stir together milk and honey; add to bowl, stirring until combined. Recipe adapted from here.

A Morning in the Kitchen

I have spent almost the entire morning in the kitchen - I guess I just felt like baking today.

We began the morning with blender pancakes, you can get an idea of how to do those here. I have started adding more grains to the mix and have found that it doesn't effect the flavor. I have been using about 1/2 whole wheat, and then a mixture of brown rice, oats, corn, and some flax seed. If your blender isn't that strong you might want to put the milk and dry ingredients in your blender the night before and let them soak and then it should blend up nicely.

Then I made some cinnamon graham crackers which are really tasty. I haven't found any graham crackers in the store without corn syrup in them except at Trader Joe's (I have bought them there once and they were delicious, but I think they cost around $4 for a container). I have made graham crackers a couple of times before, but I was disappointed with the other recipes I tried. I think this one will become my standard.

Cinnamon Graham Crackers

4 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons honey
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat oil and sweetener together. Add egg and beat until smooth. In separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Use low speed on mixer to beat flour mixture into wet mixture. The dough will be crumbly but should hold together when pressed in your hand. If it's too dry, add a little water.

Press dough into 9 x 13-inch baking sheet. Score into squares a little over 2-inches. Prick each square several times with a fork. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges are golden. Cool and then break into squares.

Yield: 24, recipe found here.

I thought that since the kitchen was already a mess, I might as well make some granola. My mom was making fun of me the other day because my kids like raw rolled oats for breakfast with milk and honey - she said something to the effect that it was similar to prison food, so I thought I better have some more cereal options for them!

Grand Slam Granola

• 6 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup almonds, chopped
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup agave
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 F. In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, seeds, almonds, flour, cinnamon, and salt; mix well. In a separate bowl, combine butter, syrup, and extracts. Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients, using a spatula to fold and evenly coat the dry mixture with the wet. Spread on 2 cookie sheets or shallow pans and bake. Turn granola every 15-20 minutes so it toasts evenly. Bake until granola is dry and golden (45-60 minutes). Store in airtight jar.

- I adapted this recipe from one by Cynthia Lair found here. I doubled the ingredients except for the butter and agave and found that it was enough liquid to coat. If you don't have agave you can use maple or honey in its place. This is the first time I have made granola with butter (instead of oil) and I love the flavor!

I have also got some bread in the oven - that recipe I will share soon! Hopefully I can get the dishes done some time before Jason gets home.

Oatmeal Cookies

I made these cookies today, and they were so good that I thought I would share! I love to bake and have been looking for recipes that I feel better about sharing with my kids. I think this recipe is great for a special treat.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
from Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair

1 & 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup cold-pressed vegetable oil or melted, unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup malt-sweetened chocolate chips
(I just cut up some Trader Joe's dark chocolate I had on hand)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine oats, flour, and salt together in a bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl mix together sweetener, oil and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts and chips. With moist hands form dough into 3" cookies and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden on edges.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Makes 1 dozen big 3" cookies

Make Your Own Bagels

Recipe found here.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Stevia

I have been avoiding buying white sugar because if I have it in the house I bake with it. And in our quest for healthier eating I'd rather just do without. Jason's trying to get in shape for the triple by-pass this Summer (the race, not the surgery) and I think he appreciates me cutting out the baking! I have been satisfying my cravings for sweetness with about a square of chocolate a day from Trader Joe's Pound Plus Bars (thanks for introducing us to those, Becca!)

But I figured I better bake for my son's birthday and I thought I would try using stevia. Joshua's request was vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I thought they turned out yummy - they do have a cup of butter in them, I'm not pretending they're healthy! But I felt good about replacing the two cups of sugar the recipe called for with stevia.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Stevia (original recipe found here.)

Makes about 18 cupcakes
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 t pure stevia extract (I found mine at Trader Joe's)
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, stevia, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

I tried three different chocolate frostings before I settled on this one.

You have to try these

Jason made these for our Valentine's dinner at home. Seriously, they were the best thing I've eaten in a long time.

Also, a request for help. I've been asked to teach a class on keeping the romance alive in your marriage - Jason's first thought "why did they ask you? we don't even go on dates." So, I'm thinking that I was asked because it's something that I need to be better at and hopefully I can learn something! But I thought I would solicit ideas from you. How do you keep the romance alive? What are some of your most memorable/most fun dates? Anything else you think might help me?

homemade snack foods

I try to avoid buying processed foods, and sometimes I struggle with what to serve for snacks. Taking my friend, Kati's example, I decided to make my own wheat thins. The only problem is that they're so good they don't last long! Definitely easier to buy a box of crackers - but where's the fun in that?


hummus
(Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen)
(Jason got me this cookbook for Christmas and I love it!)

• 1 ¹/₂ cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled until very soft or 1 15-oz. can of chickpeas
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ¹/₂ teaspoons salt
• dash of tamari
• juice of 2 medium lemons
• ³/₄ cup tahini
• ¹/₄ packed cup finely minced fresh parsley
• lots of freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
• ¹/₄ cup minced scallions

Throw everything into a food processor and blend until it has a smooth consistency, adjust flavors to taste.

wheat thins
recipe from Recipeland.com.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (at room temperature)
2/3 cup milk
salt (or other dried herbs and seasoning) for sprinkling

1. in a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar and salt. cut in the butter and mix until you have a coarse meal.

2. slowly blend in the milk just until you have a dough that will hold together. divide the dough into 2 pieces for rolling.

3. roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thickness. sprinkle with salt and roll over lightly with the rolling pin again. cut the dough into 2×2 inch squares. poke each square several times with a fork.

4. transfer squares to an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes, until crackers are golden brown.

Grilled Cheese for grown-ups

Nisa gave us a cookbook for Christmas (she also sewed aprons for all of the kids for their new kitchen- a very thoughtful gift). The cookbook is A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop. We have been loving this cookbook. It's divided up into seasons, so right now I have just been looking at recipes in the Winter section, which rely heavily on squashes and beans.

I love the writing. Bishop says things like " . . . when snow is piled a foot high in the back yard, cooking seems more like alchemy. To transform a bag of kidney beans and a few dried chiles into a comforting stew is magic."

When Jason and I were dating he was playing lacrosse for BYU. He had practice every week-day evening for 3 hours and after practice he was always hungry. So I fed him. And that's how I won his heart. It was simple really - I made grilled cheese and canned tomato soup most nights! So when I saw the recipe in my new cookbook for grilled cheese sandwiches with garlicky mushrooms I had to try it. So yummy! Jason loved it and said I totally out-did myself - luckily I love to cook, so I can keep winning his heart on a daily basis!

And the soup no longer comes from a can.

Creamy Tomato Soup
(also Jack Bishop)

2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise, washed, and sliced crosswise into thin strips
Salt
1 tablespoon double-strength tomato paste (the kind in the tube)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups vegetable broth
Cayenne pepper

1. Move an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil.

2. Drain the tomatoes in a strainer set in a bowl to collect the juices. With your fingers, carefully open the tomatoes, one at a time, letting the juices and seeds drop into the strainer. Place the seeded tomatoes on the foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and roast until the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes are just beginning to color, about 20 minutes. Discard the seeds in the strainer and reserve the juice in the bowl. You should have about 2.5 cups strained tomato juice.

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the leeks and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring often, until the leeks have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and nutmeg and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Whisking constantly, add the vegetable broth until the mixture is smooth (without lumps of flour). Add the reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer to blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.

4. Puree the soup in batches (I used a stick blender!) until perfectly smooth. Return the soup to a clean saucepan and adjust the seasonings, adding salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Warm and serve, or refrigerate in an airtight container for several days and then warm over low heat before serving.

Serves 4.

The Best Carrot Cake Ever!

Happy Birthday Mom Hunt!

We were so glad that we could celebrate Mom's birthday on Sunday. I made her this cake and she requested the recipe. I'm not a huge fan of carrot cake, but I think this is the best I've ever had - I'm actually eating the piece pictured above for breakfast!

Carrot Cake Supreme
(from the Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)
Cake:
2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 C. sugar
3/4 C. vegetable oil
3/4 C. buttermilk
2 t. vanilla extract
2 C. grated carrots
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 C. flaked coconut
1 small package of chopped pecans
Buttermilk Glaze (see recipe at bottom)
Deluxe Cream Cheese Frosting (see recipe at bottom)

Grease three 9 inch round cakepans.

Cut circles of wax paper or parchment paper to line on bottom of cake pans.

Grease and flour wax paper. Set aside.

Stir together first four ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and next 4 ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture to batter, beating at low speed until blended.

Stir in carrots, pineapple, and coconut. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Drizzle warm Buttermilk Glaze (see below) over cake layers and allow to cool on wire racks for 15 minutes.

Place first layer on your cake plate. Spread a layer of Deluxe Cream Cheese Frosting (see below) on top of bottom layer. Place second layer on top of bottom layer (repeat previous steps if making a triple layer cake). Frost sides and top of cake.

Buttermilk Glaze:

1 C. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 C. buttermilk
1/2 C. (one stick) unsalted butter

1 t. vanilla extract

Bring first five ingredients to a boil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Boil four minutes stirring constantly until glaze is golden. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool slightly.

Deluxe Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/2 (12 ounces) blocks of cream cheese, softened
3/4 C. butter (a stick and a half), softened
1 (16 ounce) package of powdered sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
  
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Grease and flour three 7 x 3 inch pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Measure flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and spice into a large bowl. Stir to blend. Add pumpkin, water, salad oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for approximately 1 hour.

We made this on Saturday and it turned out really well, so I thought I would share it. Sorry for the lack of picture, but it's all gone! This recipe would also be good with walnuts or raisins in place of the chocolate chips. Enjoy!

Amelia Bedelia's Cream Puffs

We picked up a collection of Amelia Bedelia stories the other day and we have read through them at least two dozen times! I think they're funny, but I'm quickly growing tired of them!

In the story Come Back, Amelia Bedelia, Amelia Bedelia makes some cream puffs and after having read the story so many times we decided to make our own.

I had never made cream puffs before, so I was a little intimidated. But they weren't hard. I used the recipes for the pâte à choux and the vanilla and chocolate creams (I just added 2T chocolate chips to half of the vanilla cream) from the Joy of Cooking.

The kids helped with making the pastry cream, until it reached the point where it needs to be cooked - then you really need five minutes of uninterrupted time to whisk constantly!

Delia and Joshua enjoying their cream puffs.

Here are the recipes from the Joy of Cooking:

pâte à choux
makes 24 profiteroles, 8 t0 10 large puffs, or 48 miniature eclairs

Position a rack in the lower third of the ovem. Preheat the oven to 400º.
Measure:
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
Combine in a large saucepan:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk (I used 1% with success)
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt (I reduced this to 1/4 tsp and added 2 tsp. sugar)

Bring the mixture to a full boil over medium heat. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook and stir the mixture for about 1 minute, to eliminate excess moisture. The butter may ooze out, which is fine; it simply means that the moisture is evaporating. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Beat in 1 at a time by hand, with a wooden spoon, or on low speed with a mixer:
4 large eggs

Make sure the paste dough is smooth before adding the next egg. Beat the dough until it is smooth and shiny. Choux paste can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours. When it is cold, you do not need to bring it to room temperature before shaping.

Scoop the paste into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1 inch tip for large eclairs/puffs or 1/2 inch tip for smaller ones. For best results bake small puffs on ungreased baking sheets, larger puffs on greased and floured baking sheets. Pipe the desired shapes onto your baking sheets, using a finger dipped in cold water to smooth the tops (I just used my medium-sized ice cream scoop for the puffs). If desired, brush with an egg wash, taking care to keep the egg from touching the baking sheet.

Bake in a 400º oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350º and bake for another 15 minutes for small puffs, and 25 to 30 minutes for larger puffs. Bake until golden brown and very firm to the touch. To allow more room for filling, you will want to dry the puffs further. For smaller puffs pop them off the sheets and poke a small hole in the bottom of the puffs, using a skewer or paring knife. Place upside down on the baking sheets and return to the oven(while it is off) for another 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to finish the cooling. To fill, use the hole that you already poked in, or split in half.

Once baked and filled, choux pastries should be served immediatley, or refrigerated and served within several hours. However, unfilled baked shells can be frozen for up to 1 week in an airtight container.

Vanilla Pastry Cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
2 TBSP cornstarch
4 large egg yolk

Beat in a medium bowl on high speed until thick and pale yellow (about two minutes). Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan:

1 1/3 cups milk

Bring to a simmer.

Gradually pour about one-third of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine. Scrape the egg mixture back into the pan and cook over low to medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the custard is thickened and beginning to bubble. Then continue to cook, whisking, for 45 to 60 seconds. Using a clean spatula, scrape the custard into a clean bowl.

Stir in:

3/4 tsp vanilla

Cover the surface of the custard with a piece of wax or parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool, then refrigerate before using. This keeps, refrigerated, for up to two days.

Making Donuts

It seems like if I ask the kids if they want to make a treat on a Sunday afternoon, it always ends up being donuts - we probably make them once every few months. Yesterday we tried a new recipe and they turned out great - I thought I would share it, since donuts might have more universal appeal than Nut Burgers.

These are a few that I made with a donut cutter that I inherited from my grandmother.

Delia enjoying a donut of her own design.

Jason entering a state of bliss after eating his tenth donut.
Yes, you can find nirvana by eating these donuts.
Jason says "if it doesn't work after the first few, keep trying!"

A recipe I can't share with my sister

Nut Burgers
(I don't think the title does them justice!)
A recipe from Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair

3/4 c sunflower seeds
3/4 walnuts
1 t cumin
1 t oregano
1/8 t cayenne
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cooked brown rice
1 small carrot, grated
2 T tomato sauce

The recipe says to grind the nuts and seeds to a fine meal in a food processor (but I used my blender and liked the crunch that came from the nuts and seeds not being ground too fine). Mix the ground nuts and seeds and rest of ingredients in a bowl and shape into four patties. Coat skillet with oil and brown patties on both sides. I served mine with cooked spinach, cheese, and tomatoes on top. They are really filling and are a favorite at our house! They come together easily and use ingredients that we keep on hand - so it's a quick solution when I don't know what to make for dinner.

If you are wondering why I can't share with Sarah - one of her sons has a nut allergy.

Eating a little better this week

As I was reading CJane last week for updates about Stephanie and Christian she shared a link to Food Week (a week in Nie Nie's vegetarian life). I hadn't see the pictures before and I told a friend yesterday that my meals felt a little inadequate after seeing what Stephanie feeds her children. But I think it was the motivation I needed to try and eat a little healthier. Last night we started with this - yum!

While you're visiting the Feed Your Family site check out his newest recipe - did you know you can put whole wheat berries in your regular blender to make pancakes?

Celebrating Monday

We love having Jason home for an extra day this week! Last year at this time, we had Jason home every day (which we enjoyed, but I am enjoying the steady paycheck of this year!)

We began our Labor Day celebrations with waffles (I used 100% whole wheat today and I thought they turned out great), blueberries, maple syrup, and gelato (what's the difference between ice cream and gelato because this recipe seemed just like recipes for ice cream that I've seen?). We also enjoyed watermelon smoothies. Yum!

Happy Labor Day!

Recipes for Gratitude

We have recently gotten in the habit of going around the table at dinnertime and sharing what we are grateful for. Last week when I made raspberry lemonade one night and a Brazilian Limeade another night - Joshua said that he was grateful for how good they were!

I am indebted to my lovely sister for the recipes, they will definitely become Summer favorites in our house!

Raspberry Lemonade

2 c. Lemon juice (approx. 12 lemons)
2 c. Sugar
9 c. Water
1 c. Raspberries

Puree raspberries and then add remaining ingredients to blender.

I decided that I was too lazy to juice the lemons, so I just peeled them with a knife and threw them in the blender and strained out the pulp and seeds when I was done!

Brazilian Limeade

2 limes
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
3 cups water
ice

Wash limes thoroughly. Cut off the ends and slice into eight wedges. Place limes in a blender with the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, water, and ice. Blend in an electric blender, pulsing 5 times. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove rinds. Serve over ice.

As a side note: I didn't have sweetened condensed milk in the house and found a recipe for making my own here. It worked great in this recipe.

Freezer Meal Ideas (for Honey)

My sister-in-law, Honey is due three weeks before me and asked for some freezer meal suggestions. I've been thinking about it all week and here it is:

I thought I'd share my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe. She would always make a big batch of spaghetti sauce and we would always have some in the freezer. I made some a month or so ago and it's always great for the nights when you don't feel like cooking. My dad also likes to make huge batches of spaghetti sauce and share with family and friends (he continually restocked our supply - so I didn't make spaghetti sauce once the whole time we lived in Nova Scotia - thanks, Dad!)

Sylvia's Spaghetti Sauce

4 lb ground meat (beef, veal, pork, italian sausage - any combination)
4 onions
2 green peppers
5 stalks of celery

Cook the meat and vegetables. Drain off the fat.

Add:

4 cans of 28 oz tomatoes (blended)
4 cans of 15 oz tomato paste
1/4 cup of vinegar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
a few dashes of tabasco
1/2 t chili powder
2 t garlic
4 bay leaves
1 T Italian spice
1 T salt
4 cups of water

Mix everything together in the biggest pot you have. Let cook on low for 4-5 hours with the lid off, stirring occasionally.

Usually I will freeze the sauce in small batches so I can pull out what I need to make a meal. I will also make lasagna at the same time and stick that in the freezer - super easy once the sauce is all done.

We don't have any room in our freezer right now or I would be making freezer meals right along with Honey! There are lots of dinners that will freeze well - most casseroles (here are a ton of casserole recipes), homemade pizzas, soups, and chili recipes do well. You can cook up Taylor's chicken and have it in the freezer ready for Mexican dishes or have ground beef cooked up and divided into 1 lb bags so you can throw it into your recipes, as needed.

I've also been a huge fan of the crock-pot when I've had new babies. You can just throw all the ingredients in at some point in the day when all the kids are happy and hopefully have dinner ready when your husband gets home! I have the Fix it and Forget it Cookbook, which I have used quite a bit.

Best of luck to Honey with her preparations - hope this helps!

Sharing

Let us ask ourselves the questions: “Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?” What a formula for happiness! What a prescription for contentment, for inner peace—to have inspired gratitude in another human being. - President Thomas S. Monson

Motivated by President Monson's Ensign article this month, we went for a family walk on Sunday evening and delivered cupcakes. I thought they were delicious, you can find the recipe here and here or you can go here and buy one for yourself!

My Favorite Cookbooks (for Nisa)

Joy of Cooking

Feeding the Whole Family

Anything by Nigella Lawson (Feast being my favorite)

The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

I also love the Moosewood Cookbooks, I don't own any but have checked them out at the library with Moosewood Restaurant New Classics being favorite that I've seen. And The Best of Bridge is a great series of cookbooks, too - they're a Canadian series and my mom loves them so we ate a lot of their recipes growing up and have quite a few favorites from their cookbooks (I modified a recipe from Grand Slam last night for dinner).

I also get a lot of recipes from the internet. I love allrecipes.com, the pioneer woman cooks, and Taylor's, Feeding Your Family (which seems to be lacking the posts since he started his full-time job - but has a lovely archive of recipes!)

What are your favorite cookbooks?