Our Fabulous Bites

The girls and I just made these this morning, and I think this is the biscuit recipe we will stick with. Light, buttery, and flaky, plus extremely easy to make. I love that I can make them with the girls without much hassle. On thing with biscuits is you do NOT want to use a rolling pin, and work the dough much. Just gently pat, and create those many layers by folding and patting, repeat. Buttermilk Biscuits 2 cups flour, plus more for dusting 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 6 tbsp butter, very cold 1 c buttermilk Preheat your oven to 450....why haven't they made a degrees symbol on a keyboard yet??? Combine dry ingredients in a food processor. Cut butter into cubes and cut into flour mixture. Pulse it a few times until it resembles course meal. Basically you want to feel little pea sized chunks of butter in the mixture. Add buttermilk and mix until just combined. If it appears dry, add some more buttermilk, you want it to be w...

I adapted this recipe from a cupcake recipe I found.  The strawberry flavor and color is faint, even so, these were pleasant.  Sometime in the future I want to experiment and try to enhance the strawberry flavor.  I think using strawberry yogurt might help up the strawberry power.  We used frozen strawberries for the puree which I love, because then you can make this any time of year, not just during the short fresh strawberry season. Update 9/10/15 -  I made these again adding a small container of strawberry activia yogurt.  It did increase the strawberry flavor nicely, but my muffins ended up a bit dense and too moist so I need to keep working on the proportions. Vanilla Strawberry Muffins INGREDIENTS 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed  1 cup white flour 1/2 cup wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt 1/4 cup milk, (I actually used coconut milk but the flavor didn't come through) 1 teaspoon pur...

Abigail and I just made these and they truly did taste like Wheat Thins! Probably better, though it's been a long time since I've had a boxed Wheat Thin. I only wish I made them thinner, because a few came out softer from being too think. Next time! They are really quick, and super easy. Fun to make with the little ones. Oh, and none of the extra added junk! All real ingredients! Wheat Thins 1 1/4 c whole wheat flour 1 1/2 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp paprika 4 tbsp butter, softened 1/4 c water 1/4 tsp vanilla additional salt for topping (optional) Combine flour, sugar, salt and paprika in a medium bowl, or food processor. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix it in thoroughly, you could use your hands as well. Combine water and vanilla, then add to flour mixture, mixing until smooth. It's really an easy dough to work with! Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Roll dough out on a floured sur...

(note: lyndsay posted this previously, and allison just made it and got a photo of it, so i moved it to the top of the blog, because the picture is so flippen adorable!)                                I found this recipe for Sand Pudding from Ma Nouvelle Mode  and couldn't wait to try it, knowing the kids would love it! The perfect opportunity came when Mom and Dad surprised us by coming to town and planned a family dinner last Sunday. My kids are already asking me to make it again! I did buy a sand bucket ($1 at Michael's) and served it out of that - using the shovel as a utensil, too. Really adds to the presentation! I made just a few changes from the original recipe, I will post the recipe as I made it... Sand Pudding 1 pkg Vanilla Wafers 8 Oreos 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened 1/4 C Butter, softened 2/3 C powdered sugar 1 small package cheesecake pudding 1 small package white choc...

I've seen recipes for these and most made them called for chocolate milk or hazelnut milk....I tried it with regular fat-free milk and thought it tasted great.  I'm sure a fattier milk would have provided a more creamy texture, but I didn't have any and they turned out plenty yummy. Makes approx 5 Ingredients : 1 Cup milk 1/3 - 1/2 cup nutella Directions : Mix in blender.  Pour in popsicle molds and freeze for at least 2 hours. Enjoy.

Some of you ask me what we eat if we aren't eating meat.  This is something I make if I failed to plan ahead, running short on time or lack desire to cook.  We all seem to enjoy last minute taco nights.  This isn't so much a recipe but more a list of ingredients, decide on quantity based on how much you think your family will want.  There isn't cooking involved which is great on hot days.  Vegetarian Tacos Corn tortillas (plan for around 3 per person, you judge) Chopped or shredded lettuce Sliced olives Shredded cheese Chopped green onions Chopped fresh tomatoes Salsa Hot Sauce Beans  - I prefer black beans, and I heat mine up tad. Chopped avocados I heat up the tortillas and then put everything else in bowls on the table.  Everyone gets to assemble their own tacos, which means the kids usually opt out on beans. I always serve rice on the side but admit we all chow down on tacos and barely touch the rice.  If we have left overs I make a green sala...

Here is a popsicle recipe.  You could easily exchange the fruit for others you have on hand, or use a different juice.  Ingredients 1 1/2 cup strawberries 1 cup blueberries 1 can light coconut milk 1 cup apple juice 1/4 cup honey Instructions Place all ingredients into a blender.  Blend until everything is blended and your berries have been well pulverized. Pour into popsicle molds  and remember to leave a little room at the top for expansions.  Freeze for 6 hours or so.  If you ever have too much filling for the amount of molds, I find the children are always willing to drink up the extra as a yummy drink. *Note, you can make these using Dixie cups and popsicle sticks as well.  I haven't tried that myself but what I read was you fill your dixie cups and freeze for about 30 minutes then insert your popsicle sticks and freeze for another 6 hours or so.

We read a book about spaghetti and meatballs that the kids enjoyed.  They then wanted their own spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  Considering I don't have any meat in the house for a traditional meatball, we tried these vegan ones and enjoyed them.   They weren't awesome , but good.  They were very filling and easy to make.  Rees enjoyed rolling them out and said they were the best meatballs he has ever had.  And yeah, they are the first "meatballs" he has ever had. We thought these paired well with a spicy tomato sauce. WARNING :  These are not trying to be meatballs.  They don't taste anything thing like a meatball.  They might look like them, but the flavor isn't at all trying to imitate one and my guess is the texture is very different.  Don't make these wanting a healthier but tasty meatball.  Make these if you are curious as to what they taste like, if you are trying to have a meatless meal and spaghetti on it's on ...

Oh how much I love homemade pasta. One day I'll have a Kitchen Aid with all of the awesome pasta attachments and I'll be able to make pastas like penne, macaroni, etc. Until then I will stick with what I can make with my $10 pasta machine from Ross :) So here is a recipe for Egg Noodles that turned out great for us. Making pasta is a great way to let Abigail help out in the kitchen. She is always wanting to help, but some things can be dangerous, where as this can be fun times. She loves working the pasta machine :) Egg Noodles 3 egg yolks 1 whole egg 3 tbsp cold water 1 tsp salt 2 c all purpose flour Place flour in bowl, make a well, and add eggs, water, and salt. Mix together until you've formed a stiff but workable dough. If too stiff, add a little water, but not too much or it can become too soft. I'm sure you've all made pasta, so you know what to do here :) Let sit for 5 minutes. You can make it as thin or thick as you like. I went up to setting 5 on my machin...

On Master Chef this guy made mac and cheese with a crust on top, which I've never had but thought it sounded good. It just so happened that one of my books had a recipe for this so I had to try it! I wasn't paying attention and bought regular cheddar instead of white cheddar, so I'd like to try it again with white. As well as I found a recipe that used potato chips instead of crackers for the crust, so that sounds good for the next time around. Josh really liked this, and I thought it tasted like a grilled cheese sandwich, and turned out really creamy:) Creamy White Mac & Cheese For the topping- 1/2 stick butter (4 T) 1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed For the macaroni & cheese- 1/2 lb dry elbow macaroni 1 cup pasta water 2 T butter 2 T all-purpose flour 3/4 c whole milk 3/4 c heavy cream Pinch of nutmeg 2 c white cheddar, shredded 4 oz. cream cheese Preheat oven to 400 degrees; rub inside of four 8 oz baking dishes (or one 2 qt. baking dish) with softened b...

Our little guy has become quite a picky eater recently. So we are getting creative. He loves pasta, so I found a cauliflower pasta sauce on the foodnetwork and made adjustments. It turned out good and the picky eater ate his veggies. We had leftover sauce and I used it over brown rice, with some grated swiss cheese and thought that was even better. Time: about 35 minutes, Serves about 4 people Ingredients 1 pound pasta Salt 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 cloves garlic, cracked from skin and sliced 1 onion, chopped 1 head cauliflower, stem removed and chopped 1 cup chicken stock 1 teaspoon of rosemary (maybe more, I'm not positive, I didn't measure) 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (maybe more or less, adjust to your taste) 1/4 - 1/2 cream or milk 1 -2 tablespoons of lemon juice 3/4 cup Parmesan or other cheese (as I said, I used swiss the next day and liked it) Salt and black pepper Optional: You could add in cooked mushrooms, red peppers and that was good as well Directions B...

This is a new drink Rees & I are quite enjoying right now. Jeff would give it 7.5 out of 10, I would give it an 8.3 and Rees would give it a 10. I let Rees help by putting the berries in the blender. I like that it is easy, quick, pretty and healthy. Ingredients: 1-2 cups milk (start with one and add more if you want) 1 pint of strawberries, rinsed and stems removed (site that I used for this recipe only calls for an handful of berries, which was also good) 1 - 3 Tbsp honey Method : Put milk, berries and 1 T of honey into blender. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more honey if you wish.

Servings: 1, Prep time: 5 minutes Calories: 270 Ingredients: 1 cup fat-free (or not) chocolate milk 1/2 cup frozen banana slices 1 tablespoon peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon Preparation: Combine all ingredients in blender; blend until smooth and creamy. Serve in tall glass. The image is from this site but not the recipe.