Cream of Mushroom Soup

Cream of Mushroom Soup

4 Tbsp butter                                               ½ tsp kosher salt

4 cloves of garlic, minced                             ½ tsp parsley

½ cup minced mushrooms                             ½ tsp oregano

1/3 cup flour                                                 ½ tsp basil

1 cup chicken broth                                     ½ tsp rosemary

½ cup whole milk

Directions:

1.   Sauté garlic and mushrooms: Melt butter in a small skillet. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes.

2.   Make a roux: Sprinkle flour and let cook for a minute or two (it will be pretty thick). Then whisk in the whole milk, chicken broth, salt, parsley, oregano, basil and rosemary until smooth.

3.   Thicken soup: Bring to a simmer and cook until it has thickened (about 5-8 minutes).

Notes: For cream of chicken, just omit the mushrooms. For cream of celery, substitute 2 celery stalks for the mushrooms.

Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

2 recipes pie crust (whole wheat)                                   ½ cup flour

4 cups chicken stock                                                     1/3 cup oil

2 lbs chicken                                                                 1 tsp salt

4 medium carrots, sliced                                                1 tsp parsley

8 white mushrooms, minced                                           ½ tsp thyme

2 medium red potatoes, cubed                                       ½ tsp sage

2 stalks celery, sliced                                                     1 egg

4 cloves garlic, minced                                                   2 Tbsp water

Directions:

1.   Prepare the crusts: If you haven’t already, make out two full recipes of whole wheat pie crusts (or use your favorite recipe). This recipe makes two pies, so you will want enough for two pies worth (2 tops, 2 bottoms). Roll out the pie crusts to fit two pies.

2.   Make the filling: In a large soup pot, bring the stock to a boil. Add the chicken to the broth, and bring back to a boil. Then simmer for 5 minutes. Add vegetables and bring back to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are fork tender.

3.   Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

4.   Thicken the filling: Combine flour and oil in a small skillet and cook for about 3 minutes (until they form smooth paste). Next, ladle a cup of broth into the skillet of flour mixture. Stir until the mixture is thick and smooth.

5.   Combine the filling and thickened sauce: Pour the thickened flour mixture into the large pot with the chicken and vegetable mixture. Add spices. Mix well.

6.   Finish the pie and bake: Pour the mixture into the pies. Roll out the remainder of the pie crusts and fit the top of the pies and seal the pies. Mix the egg and water together in a small bowl and brush the pies with this mixture (this will make it more flaky). Poke a few holes in the top for ventilation. Bake, uncovered for about 30 minutes.

Notes: This recipe makes two pies. So you can easily make them both up, and bake the first, and cover the second, freeze it, and then later thaw and bake it. Hello easy dinner idea!

Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies

For the cookies:                                                  For the icing:

¾ cup butter, softened                                          1 cup powdered sugar

1 ½ cups white sugar                                              4 tsp milk

2 eggs                                                                     1 tsp light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract                                               1 tsp almond extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour                                      food coloring

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Directions:

Cookies:

1.   Make the dough: In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar (using a hand mixer on a low setting) until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

2.   Chill the dough: Cover the bowl with saran wrap and chill in the fridge for at least one hour, or overnight.

3.   Roll them out and bake: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and roll the dough out onto the parchment paper. Sprinkle the paper with powdered sugar and use powdered sugar instead of flour to keep the dough from sticking as you roll it out. Make it about ¼ inch thick. Cut out the shapes and pull the excess dough off. These will still spread a little, so don’t put them too close together. Bake for about 6-8 minutes and let them cool completely. Makes about 30 cookies.

Icing:

1.   Make the icing: In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and the milk together (using a hand mixer) until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thin, add more corn syrup. If it is too thick, add more milk.

2.   Add the color: Add whatever color you want to the bowl and mix.  

3.   Frost: You will want to frost the cookies with a base layer and let them completely dry. Then you can make up a batch of frosting and separate them into small bowls with different colors for cute designs.

Trail Mix

Trail Mix

2 cups granola

2 cups dried banana slices

1 cup dried blueberries

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup caramel bits

Directions:

1.   Mix ingredients: In a large bowl, add all the items and mix.

2.   Store: I like to store this in a one quart Pyrex bowl with a lid and just grab out a bunch to eat. You could also store it in a large Ziploc baggie, or in several small baggies.

3.   Enjoy J

Notes: 

You can experiment by adding pumpkin seeds or dried coconut, though we didn’t like them as much, so we changed the ingredients after the above picture was taken. You can also do nuts instead of seeds, our family is allergic to nuts though.

Taco Seasoning

Taco Seasoning

2 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp paprika

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp kosher salt

2 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

1.   Mix it up: Mix all ingredients in a small Tupperware container and shake.

2.   To Use: Add one to two tablespoons to one pound of cooked ground meat. Use less if you are worried about it affecting your bladder badly.

Notes: 

You could use this to make up tacos, and then use the extra meat to make taco salad or even in quesadillas. 

Of course tacos are not IC friendly in the least bit! But after months of eating just plain tacos when our family had tacos, I decided I needed to come up with a recipe that was a try it recipe! I took some popular recipes online and adjusted them so that the not so safe ingredients are in much smaller quantities. The beauty of this recipe is that you can make up a big batch of the mix and use as little or as much as you want, depending on how your bladder is doing. And if you have no bladder issues at all, just live on the edge and make it spicier! 

Pizza Dough for the Breadmaker

Pizza Dough for the Breadmaker

1 1/3 cup chicken broth or water

3 ¾ cups wheat flour

3 Tbs. sugar

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 ½ Tbs. butter

1 ½ tsp yeast

Directions:

1.    Place ingredients in bread maker in order listed, except yeast.

2.    When you come to the yeast, dig a well in the dry ingredients and place yeast in it.

3.    Place bread pan in maker and select the dough cycle. Push start.

4.    When cycle is complete roll out and place on a greased baking sheet.

5.    Add sauce, cheese and toppings.

6.    Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes.

Notes: I can't really take credit for this recipe. My friend Lessa gave me this recipe from one of her cook books. All I did was change out water or chicken broth for the beef broth. This recipe is so yummy and has helped our family enjoy pizza again. So I had to share it with all of you!

Pot Roast

Pot Roast

For the crock pot:                                        For the dry rub:

2 cream of mushroom soup recipe               2 tsp Parsley, 2 tsp Oregano               

2 bay leaves                                                   ¼ tsp Thyme, ¼ tsp Rosemary

½ cup water                                                  ½ tsp Dill Weed, ½ tsp Basil, ½ tsp salt

3 large potatoes, chopped                             1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 stalks celery, chopped                                 ¼ cup flour

6 carrots, chopped                                      

1 large beef chuck roast                               

Directions:

1.   Prepare your ingredients: If you haven’t already, make up 2 recipes of the cream of mushroom soup. (If preservatives don't bother you, you can also just use 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup from the store). This is also a good time to chop all your veggies, as it is simmering.

2.   Make a dry rub: Mix the parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, dill, basil, garlic powder, salt and flour together in a small bowl.

3.   Sear the meat: Rub as much of the mix as you can onto the meat, and then sear it in a skillet over medium heat.

4.   Mix up the sauce and veggies: Mix up the cream of mushroom soups, bay leaves, water, and any of the left over dry rub together in a large bowl. Add the veggies to the bowl and mix well.

5.   Prepare crock pot: Spray crock pot with non-stick spray. Pour veggie/soup mixture into the crock pot. Put roast in crock pot. Spoon any leftover soup from large bowl on top of roast. Cook on low for 8-9 hours. Enjoy J 

Notes: I am still perfecting my cream of mushroom soup recipe. So for now, you could just use the cream of chicken soup recipe. Just saute 1/2 cup of mushrooms and add them to the cream of chicken soup recipe and you should be good to go! I would omit some of the extra spices in that recipe though, because there is plenty of flavor with all the spices I added. I would also love to try just putting all the stuff for the cream of mushroom soup into the crock pot and see if it would still work. I just wasn't brave enough to try it my firs time. Does anyone know if that would work?