Cooking With Applesauce

When I think of applesauce I think of a childhood memory. My mom used to buy the applesauce with cinnamon in it. Until I was a teen, I thought all applesauce was dark in color and had a cinnamon flavor. I still smile when I see the small servings of cinnamon flavored applesauce in the market, knowing that other moms are also giving their kids this yummy treat.

I love to use applesauce when cooking. I’ll share a few recipes that I enjoy using applesauce:

Cookies Made with Applesauce

2 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 -3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 small package chocolate chips (I always prefer milk chocolate)
2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Drop dough by level tablespoonfuls two inches apart on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until done.

And what about Applesauce Chicken?

1 fryer, cut up into 8 pieces
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook about 5 minutes. Onion should be soft. Add applesauce, ketchup, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened.

Arrange chicken in casserole dish. Pour most of the sauce over the chicken leaving enough to baste once during cooking. Bake in 350 degree oven until chicken is done.

I love quick breads. These are loafs made in a loaf pan, without yeast. They are quick and easy to make and require no rising time.

Applesauce Bread

2 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 cup applesauce

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Mix all ingredients together. Beat well, medium speed about 2 minutes. Pour into loaf pan and cook about 55 minutes at 350 degrees. Insert toothpick into center of cake. Toothpick should come out clean.

Audrey :)

http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

More on Planning

I found another blog today http://menumakermom.blogspot.com/ with lots and lots of ideas on planning.

If I'm going to use the crockpot, then I need to plan ahead as I need to turn it on by 9 a.m. or so. But if I'm just baking or broiling something, I often don't decide until that morning what I'm going to make for dinner that night.

Leave me a comment. Let me know if you plan ahead or if you decide in the early afternoon what's for dinner that night.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Menu Planning

Meal Planning and Dinnertime Preparation
by Jennifer Tankersley

I once read somewhere that home cooks have on average 21 meals that make up our repertoire of common family meals. I thought this was very interesting and set about to writing down what my 21 meals are. I actually came up with 23 meals that my family enjoys on a regular basis. By creating this list, I now know what I need to keep stocked in the pantry. You won't have to stress over what's for dinner tonight if all you need to do is to just take a look at your list! Feel free to add more than 21 meals to your list. The more you list, the easier it will be to come up with dinner tonight. This list is for your staple meals. It is not the place to add the meals you want to try out someday. Go ahead and do that if you want, but put your experimental recipes on a different list. Don't worry if all you seem to come up with is just many different versions of Mac & Cheese!

Now that you have your 21 meals, this challenge will be a snap (or maybe just less painful)! One of the best strategies I know when it comes to meal planning is simply to plan ahead. I use a list that I call my Menu Planner to plan a pay period's worth of meals (for me, that is every 1st and 15th of the month). My Menu Planner page is a list that shows the numbers 1 through 31 for every day of the month in the left-hand column. Next there is a Breakfast column, a column for Lunch, and the largest column for Dinner. Dinner is our family's major meal so I am more specific for that column. Breakfast and lunch are more casual so I just list a few suggestions for me to refer to throughout the month. Feel free to refer often to your 21 meals list in order to help you fill in you Menu Planner.

My next step is to print out a grocery list and then I write every ingredient that I need from my Menu Planner into my Grocery List. Now when I go to the store, I get only what I need instead of what I MIGHT need at some point. That saves me money and it saves my refrigerator/freezer/pantry from having all kinds of odd and unnecessary items.

Mealtime with your family will be much more enjoyable when you take just a few steps to prepare. Challenge your family to help you create your Menu Planner list by asking them which meals they would like to enjoy in the next planning period (one week, two weeks, maybe even 1 month). When you get them involved, you are more likely to have greater success throughout the dinner experience.

Jennifer Tankersley is the creator of www.listplanit.com where you can find a Menu Planner and several grocery lists and over 300 other lists, checklists, and planning pages to help you put your world in order.

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Would love to hear your comments. Do you plan ahead? Do you stick to your plan?

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Chinese Casserole

Chinese food is definately one of my favorites. This is a fun casserole to make:

Chinese Casserole

1 - 5 ounce package noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 pound hamburger meat
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound cubed cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup chow mein noodles
1/2 cup cashews

Brown meat and onions in butter. Add all other ingredients, except the chow mein noodles and cashews. Mix well and pour into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Add chow mein noodles and cashews and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Cooking Tips

A huge thanks to Tammy for providing today's tips:

When boiling milk, first stir in a pinch of baking soda. This will help keep the milk from curdling.

Add one teaspoon of lemon juice to each quart of water when cooking rice, this will keep rice fluffy.

First rinse raisins, dates and figs in very cold water before putting them through the food chopper. They will not form such a gummy mass.

For crisper salads: Place a saucer upside down in the bottom of the salad bowl before filling with salad. Excess moisture will run underneath the saucer and this will help keep the salad crisp and fresh.

Tasty flavored whipped cream: First whip cream then add 2 tablespoons of flavored jello and continue beating on slow until the whipped cream is right consistency.

Leftover ham: Lay ham slices in a baking dish then cover with maple syrup. Refrigerate overnight then fry the ham in butter the next morning.

You can substitute crumbled cornflakes for bread crumbs when making meatloaf.

Cookie & Cake Decoration: Keep a small amount of sugar in small glass jars, add a few drops of food coloring and shake jar. Keep several colors on hand.

Pickle Juice uses: Use sweet pickle juice to thin salad dressing or make French dressing with instead of vinegar, more delicious.

Salt added to flour used for thickening gravies, etc., will help to prevent lumping.

Chilled evaporated milk, whipped until fluffy, may be used as the base for several frozen desserts by the addition of different flavors, fruits, nuts, instant coffee, cocoa, jello, and other flavorings. Then add coconut, drained fruits, etc., as desired. Use easy crusts such as crushed cereal or crackers such as graham.

After crimping the edge of the pie crust, lift the edge of the crust gently all around with your fingers. This keeps the dough from sticking to the dish while baking and makes it easier to take out the pieces of pie.

Place crackers, dried bread, cookies or sugar which has lumps in a sturdy plastic bag (make sure it has no holes). Roll with a rolling pin or fruit jar as coarse or as fine as you like then pour into a measuring container. If you have more than you need at the time, just tie the bag and place in a pantry or freezer for later use.

A teaspoon of sugar mixed with your yeast and water makes it raise better. Even if you are making bread you can use some sugar. Never mix salt directly with the yeast and water mixture as the salt kills the raising action.

Cook vegetables with one or more bouillon cubes instead of salt–improves flavor.

Keep brown sugar in a closed container with an apple in it, the brown sugar will stay soft and moist

Grate orange and lemon peel before peeling. Dry and add to spice cake or any cookies or puddings. The dried grated peel will keep well in a covered jar.

Wrap parsley in foil first, then freeze. Shave off as much as needed, rewrap and return to the freezer. It will retain its flavor and freshness.

For fried foods that require flouring, try pancake flour for a change, it’s quite nice.

To keep peeled potatoes from turning dark without putting them in water, wrap in paper towel and wet under the faucet.

Baking bread? Do not preheat. When you light your oven, pop in the bread pans immediately and you’ll be amazed at the resulting lightness of the bread

Toast oatmeal in the oven before adding to other ingredients when making oatmeal cookies-–delicious!

Add two teaspoons of vinegar to jello and it will keep the jello from melting when you serve it.

If you scorch milk by accident, put the pan in cold water and add a pinch of salt. Takes away the burned taste.

Add a few sprigs of fresh peppermint to leftover tea while it is still warm, then refrigerate. Serve over ice.

Tammy
Real Work At Home Jobs
Work At Home Opportunities--Work At Home Jobs
Cookin At Home

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Again...thanks Tammy!!

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Monkey Bread

This recipe begins with refrigerated biscuits, so you are not making the dough from scratch. While there are many steps involved in making this bread, it’s actually a recipe that even young children can help with.

The bread is very sweet. You can substitute Splenda for some or even all of the sugar. The nuts are optional.

Ingredients:

2 cans (7.5 oz each) refrigerated biscuits
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¾ cut butter or margarine
½ cup chopped walnuts
additional sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut each biscuit into quarters
3. In a large disposable bag, combine ¾ cup sugar and one teaspoon of the cinnamon.
4. Drop in biscuit pieces a few at a time, shake and coat.
5. Layer pieces without crowding in a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
6. In a small sauce pan combine butter or margarine and one teaspoon of the cinnamon.
7. Measure your dry ingredients and add enough sugar so that you have one cup total.
8. Add dry ingredients to sauce pan and boil, stirring constantly.
9. Remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes.
10. Stir in nuts and then spoon mixture over biscuits in pan.
11. Bake 45 minutes.
12. Let cool in pan 5 minutes.
13. Remove from pan.
14. Pull off portions as desired.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

A Weekend Find

I love garage sales. One of the things I most love is finding cookbooks. Here's a look at what I found this past weekend:

I look forward to trying and sharing lots and lots of new recipes with you.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Meals For Pennies and Vintage Recipes

I found a delightful blog this morning. http://mealsforpennies.blogspot.com/ The blog owner lists the ingredients, the cost of the ingredients, the recipe and the amount per serving. She has some wonderful recipes on her blog.

One other blog I'd like to share http://rochellesvintagerecipes.blogspot.com/ What a blast from the past. The blog owner has saved clippings from old newspapers and magazines and shares those recipes in her blog.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Salads

With summer almost here, many people enjoy salads for either lunch or dinner. Here are a few salad recipes that I enjoy:

Corn Salad

3 - 15 ounce cans whole kernel corn, drained
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 - 8 ounce bottle Italian salad dressing

Mix together the corn, bell pepper, walnuts and celery. Pour dressing over salad and mix. Chill overnight.

Apple-Cranberry Salad

1 - 10 ounce package of mixed salad greens
1 red apple - diced
1 green apple - diced
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds bottled poppy seed dressing

Mix everything together, drizzle dressing over salad and toss.

Spinach-Apple Salad

1 - 10 ounce package fresh spinach
1/3 cup frozen orange juice conentrate, thawed
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 red apple diced (do not peel)
5 slices bacon, fried and crumbled

Tear spinach into bite sized pieces. Add apple. Make the dressing from the mayonnaise and orange juice. Pour dressing over salad. Top with bacon bits.

(you can use low fat mayo and omit the bacon to reduce the calories)

Avocado-Green Bean Salad

2 - 15 ounce cans French-cup green beans, drained
8 green onions, with tops, chopped
3/4 cup Italian salad dressing
2 avocados, chopped
1 - 8 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

Place green beans and onions in a bowl. Pour dressing over mixture and chill overnight. When ready to serve, add in the avocado and artichoke hearts.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

Creating Your Own Pizza

My kids have both always loved pizza. We discovered some great easy pizza recipes over the years. It can get very costly to keep ordering pizza from the local take out places. So, we began making our own pizzas and today, 20 years later, my kids still love the homemade pizza over the take out pizza.

There are several ideas for crusts. We have used bagels as the crust. We’ve used large bagels, small bagels, onion bagels, jalapeno bagels, cheese bagels and even egg bagels. We cut them in half, add sauce, add cheese and then add any toppings we want.

We have also used english muffins for the crust of the pizza. We like the pizza crunchy, so we always toast the english muffins before adding the sauce. As above, we add sauce, and then we add cheese and any other toppings we want. We buy pineapple chunks, black chopped olives and even use leftover cubed chicken pieces.

We have also used refrigerated biscuits as our crust. Just unroll them and flatten them out on a cookie sheet. I bake them so the dough is not raw then add your sauce and toppings and then put them under the boiler. These make wonderful mini pizzas with a very light tasting crust.

We also have used different sauces on our pizzas. We use pizza sauce, alfredo sauce and barbeque sauce. A restaurant chain here in California is famous for their barbeque chicken pizza. We can make that also. Instead of pizza sauce, we put barbeque sauce on the english muffin or the bagel, then add the cheese and chicken cubes.

If you love vegetables, you can add cut up onions, cut up bell peppers, sliced zucchini or any other vegetable your family enjoys.

You can also add meats. Sliced pepperoni is often a kids’ favorite. You can also brown hamburger meat to add to your pizza. If I use hamburger meat, I let it marinate for a little while in the pizza sauce so that the meat has flavor.

We’ve had a lot of fun trying different cheeses and different toppings on our pizzas. Ask the kids what they want and let them help with the creation.

Add a salad and you have a great inexpensive meal.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka