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?

Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins

½ cup white flour                               3 large bananas, mashed

1 cup wheat flour                               1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder                  ¼  cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda                      ½ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt                                  1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup flax seed                                  ½ cup applesauce

Directions

1.   Prep Work: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners.

2.   Prepare dry ingredients: Place all purpose flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and flax seed into a sifter.

3.   Mix wet ingredients: Mash bananas in a large bowl. Whisk in an egg. Add white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and applesauce. Whisk until smooth.

4.   Sift dry ingredients and mix: Sift the dry ingredients directly into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Stir together until moistened.

5.    Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 12 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped. (Makes 18 large muffins or 48 mini muffins).

Notes: I use a crank sifter and milled flax seed. If you use a regular sifter with flax seed that isn't super fine, you may want to sift the ingredients (excluding flax seed) in a separate bowl, then add the flax once sifted, and mix all together. Otherwise your flax seed could get trapped in the sifter.

Re-purposing Bottles

Hey guys! I just wanted to do a quick post about re-purposing old bottles and containers. I find that when I make homemade syrup, or ranch or such, I needed bottles to put them in. So lately, my go to bottle is old honey containers. I just run them through the dishwasher and they work great! In the picture above, you can see that I have used an old honey bottle (on the right) to store our extra syrup in the fridge. We just microwave it and viola, yummy warm syrup! On the left is an old glass blueberry juice jar I got from a health food store when I was trying to find juice I could tolerate. Well, I canned some pears in the summer. So I just pour the pear juice from the cans into the old jar and I have wanna-be juice. It is great. The container in the middle is actually a squirt bottle I got from Walmart. I think it cost me about $2. I use it for storing my homemade ranch. And I love that it has a cute little lid too. It can also be thrown in the dishwasher. 

I also use that same ranch 
container for pancake batter. I have two boys and our oldest is only two. So I try to do what I can to get him to eat. So with the small spout, I pour the pancake batter in and I can make fun shapes like the ones to the left of this picture. My oldest is really into dragons right now, so I had to make  him a cute one this morning. And of course, being a mom, I think I have the cutest boys ever, so I put a fun picture of them eating pancakes for you too. Oh, and just a shout out for my recipes, this is the "Healthy and Delicious Pancake" recipe.





Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you guys to think about reusing old containers. It makes life a whole bunch easier when it comes to making everything from scratch. So the next time you want to throw out an old condiment container, hopefully you will give it a second thought :)

Pesto Sauce

Pesto Sauce  

                                                    

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves                   ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

3 cloves garlic, peeled                                   ½ cup olive oil

¼ tsp kosher salt                                          ¼ cup sunflower seeds (optional)

Directions:

In a food processor, blend together basil leaves, garlic, sunflower seeds (if using) and cheese. Pour in oil slowly while still mixing. Stir in salt.

Ideas for dinners using Pesto Sauce:

Pesto Pizza: Use pita bread or homemade pizza crust. Top with pesto sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken, broccoli, olives, etc. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Pesto Pasta: Add chicken, mushrooms, etc. Put on a bed of noodles.

Notes: Most pesto sauces use pine nuts. You can use those in place of the sunflower seeds. We don't use them because my little boy has a nut allergy. Also, parmesan is a "try it" food. So you may or may not be able to tolerate this. You may be able to try subbing mozzarella, though I haven't yet tried that.

Garlic Cheese Fries

Garlic Cheese Fries

3 potatoes cut into fries

1 small garlic clove, minced

¼ cup grated parmesan

½ tsp oregano

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup butter, melted

Directions:

1.   Prep work: Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line two cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper.

2.   Cut up fries: Cut the potatoes up into fry-like pieces. We like them skinnier.

3.   Mix up dry stuff: Mix up parmesan, oregano, salt and minced garlic in a medium sized bowl.

4.   Turn it into a sauce: Add the melted butter, and mix until smooth.

5.   Coat the fries: Add the fries to the bowl and mix until all the fries are coated with yumminess.

6.   Place them on the pan: Place the fries on the cookie sheets.

7.   Bake: Bake them at 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. They will seem soft.

8.   Enjoy!

Notes: The Parmesan cheese is a "try it" food for IC patients. So if it doesn't work for you, leave it out. You could just make simple fries, bake them and sprinkle them with a little salt and they would still be yummy :)