Pumpkin Muffins

Serving dinner rolls to help stretch your food budget is smart, but putting muffins on your table is even better.  I know many people who will pass up a regular dinner roll but will help themselves to a couple flavorful muffins when they are passed around the table.  These are easy and inexpensive to make and will stretch your food budget without anyone noticing – or caring! It’s beginning to feel like fall here in Knoxville, in the mornings when it’s cool at least. Personally I will buy a pumpkin and roast it but it’s not quite the season yet and I purged the freezer so I’m using canned pumpkin here this time.

So here’s one to try-

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 4 3/4 cups (all-purpose) whole wheat or white wheat flour
• 4 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 6 eggs
• 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 12 cup muffin pans, or line with paper muffin liners. Soak raisins in hot water for ten minutes to plump, then drain.

2.    In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground cloves. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin, and applesauce, until smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to make a smooth batter. Stir the raisins and walnuts into the batter. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

3.    Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Veggie "chicken" broth

We're not red meat eaters at my house. I was raised by a vegan but married a man that probably would have eaten the family pet if hungry enough. So we do eat dairy, chicken, fish etc. But these days we're trying to reduce out the amount of meat we eat for a lot of reasons, moral and carbon foot print being two of them.

Let me share my final secret ingredient here for a successful vegetable broth that looks like chicken broth and tastes rich and wonderful.  Olive oil! Yes, with olive oil in your vegetable broth and you won’t miss the chicken!

Roasted vegetable broth

Ingredients

• 1 pound celery
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet onions
• 1 pound carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 pound tomatoes, cored
• 1 pound green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 whole black peppercorns
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 gallon water

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2.    Remove leaves and tender inner parts of celery and set aside.

3.    Toss onions, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers with olive oil. Place vegetables in a roasting pan and place them in the hot oven. Stir the vegetables every 15-20 minutes. Cook until all of the vegetables have browned and the onions start to caramelize, this will take about one hour.

4.    Put the browned vegetables, celery, garlic, cloves, bay leaf, pepper corns, Italian parsley and water into a large stock pot. Bring to a full boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook uncovered until liquid is reduced by half.

5.    Pour the broth through a colander, catching the broth in a large bowl or pot. The liquid caught in the bowl or pot is your vegetable broth it can be used immediately or stored for later use.

An awful experience at Aldi's

I had heard from friends that an Aldi grocery store was a little different from the typical grocery store. I knew ahead of time that I would need my own grocery bags or would have to purchase Aldi grocery bags. One negative to shopping at ALDI is that they do not provide bags for the customers. This is one way that they keep their costs down. There are bags for sale at the cash register if you must use them. You are welcome to bring your own bags, boxes, baskets or crates to put your groceries in. This is no big deal we’ve been using cloth shopping bags for years and even spoke with the Save A Lot manager when we stared since the staff had no idea what I was doing when we started. Once your groceries have been scanned by the cashier and paid for, simply go to the bagging area and put your groceries in the proper holding spaces.

I also knew they kept the grocery shopping carts locked together outside. A quarter would be needed to unlock the shopping carts. Okay, I was ready for my first Aldi grocery shopping experience. Sadly however I didn’t find the store to offer anything Save A Lot didn’t and then they lost 100 points in my eyes, the staff were rude to me. There was no bagging area at the store I went to and when I tried to move my cart aside for the next person to check out the cashier put her foot out to stop the cart. So there I was attempting to put my change in my purse, bag up my groceries and the lady behind me nudging me with her cart. When I questioned why I was being held back. The cashier was downright nasty. I doubt the store telephone numbers are unlisted ONLY to avoid needing an employee to answer the phone.

So in honor of the sweet friendly staff at the 2 Save A Lots’ I shop at frequently I give you:

Fruit Cobbler

21 ounce can of fruit pie filling

1 ¼ cups Ginger Evans baking mix

1 Tbsp. sugar

¼ cup sAVE a Lot milk

¼ cup sour cream

With oven at 425 F, grease 1 ½ quart casserole. Heat pie filling to boiling in saucepan. Pour into casserole.  Mix remaining ingredients until moistened, stir vigorously for 30 seconds. Drop spoonfuls to cover over most of the fruit. Bake for 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Makes six servings.

Josiah’s Five-Cheese Bake

By my God have I leaped over a wall.  II Samuel 22: 30

Our son Josiah, at the age of twenty months, was willing to try any new word. He pointed at what he wanted to know and said, "This is? This is?" I’d answer, "Pickup truck ... flag pole ... garbage can, mail box." He dutifully repeated what I said-leaving out a consonant or vowel and then went on to the next item that has captured his fancy. I started to wonder if this game was worthwhile when I had to name things like "incinerator," "storm drain" and "fire hydrant." Undaunted, Josiah tried them out (something like erter, stumdane or "irdrent"). It didn’t quite matter that he didn’t know exactly what they were. The point is he wasn’t afraid to try something new- even if it was beyond his grasp. 

It's this fearless attitude I think of when I'm faced with a new challenge such as a new assignment where I work or volunteer, an unfamiliar situation such as serving as the new head of a parents' association in our children’s schools. Part of me wants to retreat, going back to what’s comfortable. "The challenge is beyond me," I say to myself. "I talk too fast and am not a public speaker," I rationalize, or ''I'm a better Indian than chief. I’ll never have anything worth while to share at devotion time during staff meetings.” But then I think of Josiah picking up a new word, and trying out a new phrase. "Act boldly," I tell myself. "Just try it. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. You'll learn. Be like Josiah." I take a deep breath; ask for God's help, and then leap.

This attitude came into play more recently helping serve communion. My senior pastor asked if I would help with Sunday’s communion service and I said “no!” immediately. I was sure I’d drop something, trip over someone or spill the blood of Christ all over the floor. Somehow I let myself get talked into helping serve.  I stressed about it until I was a nervous wreck, but at the 2nd round at the rail I saw a lady SMILING at me. So I smiled back and LOVED it. Pretty soon the butterflies were replaced by a warm feeling and I saw others smiling at me. On my way to Sunday school 4 people stopped me to tell me they were glad to see me helping serve. I hope they get shorthanded enough to ask me again soon!

Let us pray-

Lord, bring all Your mighty forces to aid when I take a leap of faith. Amen

Josiah’s favorite cheese is gouda, which I’ve always thought odd yet sophisticated for an 8 year old boy. It’s also one of the more expensive cheeses out there so this helps get more mileage out of the block!

Josiah’s Five-Cheese Bake

• 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded gouda cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded provolone cheese
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup skim milk (if you’re counting calories,  heavy cream if not)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

In a large bowl, toss together the mozzarella cheese, Gouda cheese, Parmesan cheese and Provolone cheese. Remove about 1/2 cup for topping and set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, sour cream and milk. Season with parsley, Italian seasoning and garlic salt.

Pour the ricotta cheese mixture and drained macaroni into the bowl with the cheeses and toss lightly. Do not mix too thoroughly, it's better left muddled. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes, and then turn the oven to broil. Broil for about 5 minutes to brown the top.

Summer sanity and my Baked Spaghetti Recipe

While most people were out celebrating summer, I was having a mini-meltdown. We’d had a wonderful spring break and then… something about the coming summer just filled me with dread. After having a box of wine and discussing it with my husband, I narrowed the reason down to the fact that the first few months of every spring and summer year are Very Hard for me. That’s because my husband’s a business administrator for a major retreat center and it doesn’t take long for those long Busy Season hours to kick in. Starting early spring I’m virtually a single mom, responsible for getting kids ready and to school /summer programs, every day, doing my own work, picking them up from school, cooking dinner, supervising homework, music lessons, church, choir etc., and then getting them to bed. My husband leaves before dawn and comes home usually about midnight- mostly to add a daily collection of sweaty shirts to the laundry, so the majority of parenting responsibilities fall to me.

During those weeks Cooper’s Café is inactive. I mean we do eat but I found out that a delightful varied menu with 5 choices is wasted on 2 picky eaters who don’t ever CARE if the meatloaf is from scratch. So in order to keep myself sane I have found a few easy stand-bys that they will eat and I won’t cry into the bowl of homemade garlic mashed potatoes. Here’s one that makes great leftovers!

Baked Spaghetti Recipe

Ingredients:

·         1 lb.  ground turkey

·         16 oz. whole wheat spaghetti

·         2 26 oz. jars spaghetti sauce

·         1 cup pureed butternut squash (optional)

·         2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan.

2.    Brown ground turkey in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain.

3.    Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain.

4.    Stir spaghetti sauce and butternut squash into the ground turkey.

5.    Spoon one-third of the spaghetti sauce mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

6.    Mix the remaining spaghetti sauce mixture with the cooked spaghetti. Pour into the prepared pan.

7.    Top with the shredded cheese. Bake 20-30 minutes until browned and bubbly. Let baked spaghetti sit 10 minutes before serving.

Love Boat Lobster Bisque

With the summer coming along I felt the need to borrow a DVD of The Love Boat to watch at home while I scrapbook. The Husband is rolling his eyes and my teen daughter won’t come out of her room. I may have to sing the theme song again. Clearly I am the only Love Boat fan here at home. The boat is sinking. Excuse me! In 1997, the segments "Hidden Treasure", "Picture from the Past" and "Ace's Salary" were ranked #82 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. A little respect here family. Day 2 of the Love Boat a thon. Josiah's bought into it but will only allow me to sing the theme song once.  Even though the program was a bit "hokey" it did take place on a cruise ship. If you've ever been on a cruise, then you know they always serve an elegant menu. In honor of Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange, Lauren Tewes, Jill Whelan and Ted McGinley please enjoy my tribute.

Easy Lobster Bisque

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 cups half-and-half
• 1 1/2 cups clear veggie stock stock
• 3 cups cooked lobster meat, shredded
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons minced onion
• 3 tablespoons minced celery
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning
• 1 cup light cream

Directions

1.    Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir flour, sea salt, celery salt, and black pepper into the butter. Gradually stir half-and-half into the mixture, gently- taking care that no lumps form. Add lobster stock; stir. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the soup begins to thicken, about 15 minutes.

Stir lobster, tomato paste, onion, and celery into the soup; season with paprika, thyme, and seafood seasoning. Continue cooking the soup to heat the onion and celery, about 10 minutes. Add cream; stir. Cook until hot, about 5 minutes

Do moms get a sick day?

My sinus infection was followed by and upper respiratory infection and a raging fever/chills and some vomiting that lead me back to the doctor for a Z-pack, which in turn lead to even more vomiting. Ken was naturally a super trooper and very thoughtful. When he came back from shuttling kids to and from choir practice, he found me lying on the laundry room floor desperately trying to cool my fevered body down. What did he say? Oh do you need help getting back into bed? Do you want some ice chips? No. He said “oh you found a cool place to lie down.” And left me there. The kids came into the bed room 100 times asking me to settle disputes and ask where their socks were. At dinner I heard the kids both wail “Momma doesn’t make quesadillas with the WHITE cheese, that’s for pizza!”  Let’s face it, moms aren’t allowed to be sick.  We don’t have time for it and typically aren’t given the opportunity for recovery.  I’ve been battling a really bad cough now for about a week.  I know in time it will work itself out, but it’s exhausting.  Yesterday I was coughing so much I gave myself a headache.  All I really wanted to do was take some Advil and lay down in bed.

At a time like this you need chicken soup!

"Easy I'm sick Chicken soup"

Ingredients

• 1 (3 pound) whole chicken  or pieces

( I put mine in the crock pot the day before, using the broth as well)

• 4 carrots, halved
• 4 stalks celery, halved
• 1 large onion, halved
• water to cover
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (optional) if no broth from precooking your chicken

Directions

1.    If not already cooked put the chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a large soup pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bones (skim off foam every so often).

2.    Take everything out of the (crock) pot. Strain the broth. Pick the meat off of the bones and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon to taste, if desired. Return the chicken, carrots, celery and onion to the pot, stir together, and serve when you're well enough to hold up your spoon!