Rachel's Pasta

After Alex was born, Grandma Newson came to stay with us and help us out for a while. While she was here, she introduced us to Rachel's Pasta. Apparently, Jesse's sister Rachel invented this one all on her own. And while it's a fairly simple recipe, it's also delicious, and we've included it on our regular rotation now. Sometimes we have it as often as once a week! I've been meaning to put it on my blog for a looooong time now, but I keep forgetting. But since I'm sitting down to include it on today's shopping list, I thought I'd take a minute to do it now!

Rachel's Pasta

1lb of italian sausage
1 can of olives, sliced
1 bottle sphagetti sauce (I like to use Bertolli's marinara)
1 can italian stewed tomatoes (I like to use diced tomatoes, cuts out a step)
1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach (I use an entire bag of fresh baby spinach, usually)
1/2 chopped onion
3/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
Pasta (Grandma Newson and Rachel suggest Penne, but we love to use large shell pasta)

Cook pasta according to directions.

Meanwhile, cook carrots and onion in a frying pan with a little water to steam them. Add sausage and crumble fry till cooked. Add tomatoes (cutting stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces), sphagetti sauce, olives, and spinach; simmer on low.

Serve sauce mixture over pasta, or combine and serve. (We always combine it!) Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

I Don't Know Why it Took Me 9 Years

When Jesse and I were still unofficially engaged, we were both in college in Rexburg, Idaho, attending what was, at that time, Rick's College, and is now BYU-Idaho. We had the opportunity to visit his Grandma Lewis a couple times, as she lives in Idaho Falls, only about 20-30 minutes away. Grandma Lewis cooks, a lot. (Remind me to tell you someday about Thanksgiving of '99!) And she cooks everything very well.

I still remember the first time I tasted it....

Neighbor Cake.

I instantly fell in love. It was so moist and filled with delicious spices, with crumbly brown sugar and wheat germ on top, and just the right amount of chocolate chips sprinkled all over it. Melt-in-your-mouth goodness. It's nearly impossible to keep yourself going back for more!

I had Neighbor Cake a couple other times over the past 9 years, but only when my mother-in-law Nedra made it for a special occasion. Each time, however, I kept going back for more until the last of it was finally gone and my face fell in disappointment.

I've had the recipe hand-written and stashed away in my highly unorganized stack of recipes for years. I've flipped past it many times in my meal planning process, each time remembering how much I absolutely loved eating Neighbor Cake. But I never actually made it.

Until yesterday. I finally got around to it. And I honestly don't know why it took me 9 years to get to that point. WHY?!!? I could have been enjoying neighbor cake on a weekly basis for all those years!!!!!

Jesse tells me the reason it's called neighbor cake is because it makes two 9x13 pans: One for yourself, and one to take to your neighbor. (I don't think anyone ever explained that to me, before. I think I always wondered why it had such a name....)

But it's super easy to make, and super delicious. The spices are just right for the holiday season, too! Try it for yourself, I think you'll love it!!

(Note: the only cooking directions I have are for mini muffins. I successfully made a bread-pan full, too, but I didn't make note of the cooking time. I just kept going back until it was firm and not jiggly. I think it would be hard to overcook it in whatever sort of pan you make it in... it was pretty thick in the bread pan.)

Neighbor Cake

Main ingredients:
1 quart (4 cups) applesauce
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
½ teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
4 ½ cups flour

Topping:
brown sugar
wheat germ
semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine all main ingredients and blend well. Butter mini muffin tins well, then spoon 1½ teaspoons of the batter into each tin. Sprinkle the tops generously with brown sugar and wheat germ. Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate chip (or three, if you love chocolate!) into the center top of each mufin. Let cool in pan about 2 minutes and remove carefully to cooling rack.

The Day After Thanksgiving

Today is a nice day, isn't it? Jesse gets to stay home from work. We get to eat leftovers (and pie!) all day long. The sun is out. And as much as we hate Black Friday madness, we needed a new TV and did our shopping around online, and only had to spend about half an hour in a single store this morning to get what we wanted at a great price. (Happy early Christmas, Becky and Jesse!) And seriously, Black Friday is so insane, isn't it? I just saw a headline and read the story of a Wal-Mart employee being trampled to death by frenzied shoppers. It's such a sad world, sometimes. :(

Then again, Alex just fell asleep, laying on the floor, in the middle of playing, which he hasn't done since he became mobile. So again, today is a nice day, for me at least.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy! We're very much enjoying the leftovers. I wish they could last forever. And thanks to Brightonwoman, who reminded me to not just throw away my carcass. It's currently sitting on the stove, simmering happily and turning itself into delicious broth. Our turkey turned out great. Emily and my sister Melissa expressed curiosity about the brining method, and yes, it's a fantastic!! We used it last year, too, and I'll be surprised if we ever try anything different. It turns out so incredibly moist, and it's so easy to pull off! All you need is a bucket and a meat thermometer to do it right. You don't have to worry about basting, or wrapping in foil, or anything like that. Even with the prep you need to do before hand, it's the easiest system I've tried, and virtually fool-proof.

There were only a couple rough points in my day:
1) During the last 10-minute crunch-time before food, where I have to cook about 4 different things all at the same time (without ruining any of them), Alex decided that was the time to go completely haywire and frenzied with tears and screaming. I shooed Jesse out of the kitchen to take care of Alex, but sitting down and holding him wasn't helping. Alex was frantic. And you mothers out there probably know what it feels like when your baby is screaming like they need you desperately. Only, I had four things to do at once and couldn't stop to switch with Jesse. I was already stressed out from self-imposed pressure of not ruining the food. So the stress of my baby screaming made me snap. "JESSE! Stand UP with him!!" I practically growled right along with the yelling. (And for the record, yeah, he did calm down almost completely just by Jesse standing instead of sitting. I hate that baby trick.) But as soon as I could step away from the kitchen I took Alex, and he nursed happily and just about fell asleep, while Jesse cut the turkey. Thankfully, it was easy to calm back down with the frantic cooknig and the screaming baby taken care of, and I think Jesse understood my stress, and he accepted my apology easily. Dinner was happy after all. ;)

2) I didn't get my turkey nap. :( It looked like everyone was poised to take a nap all at the same time. It would have been so lovely and perfect. But Jacob started bouncing off the walls. Jesse went out of the front room and laid on the couch while Jacob entertained himself. But then Melinda got up to use the bathroom and then decided she wasn't tired anymore. And when Alex wouldn't settle down long enough to close his eyes, I stuck him in the crib to play until he was more tired, and I was just about to doze off when he got upset. And still wouldn't fall asleep, even when I tried nursing him more and snuggling. So, off to the front room we all went. And Jesse stayed asleep. Until the kids started making too much noise, then he retreated back to the bedroom. I sure envied him, right about then. But I slept plenty well last night, at least.

A few of you practically demanded to have my pumpkin pie recipes. I'm happy to oblige!! I can't remember where I got these, anymore, so I can't credit their sources, unfortunately.

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

1 can (15oz) solid-pack pumpkin

1 ¼ cups eggnog

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp salt

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggnog, sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice and salt.

Pour into pastry shell.

Bake at 375º for 60-65 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate until serving.

Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp sugar

1 ½ cups whipped topping, thawed

1 Keebler "Ready Crust"® Graham Cracker pie crust

¾ cup cold milk

2 packages (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding & pie filling

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

Directions:

1. Whisk together cream cheese, 1 Tbsp milk and sugar. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spread on bottom of crust.

2. Beat ¾ cup milk, pudding mix and spice in mixing bowl with wire whisk for 1 minute. Whisk in pumpkin. Mixture will be thick. Carefully spread over cream cheese alyer.

3. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or until set.

4. Garnish as desired. Store in refrigerator.

*May substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves in place of pumpkin pie spice.

Now, the only thing left to do is decide where on earth to put up our Christmas tree, and hopefully get around to it sometime this weekend. I'm afraid Alex is going to pull it down if we put it anywhere remotely within his reach. I was dead-set on putting it outside on our porch.... but I think I've changed my mind, and I'm hoping maybe he'll just play with the branches instead of pulling it over. We're going to have to do some furniture rearranging to find a spot for it, though. But I can't wait for the Christmas decorations!! I've already been listening to my Christmas music this whole week. :)

Oh, and P.S., Mom: Yes, the punch we made is just a variation on the Wilcox punch. :) Jesse's family does something very similar and calls it "flu juice". We just kind of combine what we like of each of the two variations!

Simply in Season

Recently, while visiting with a friend, I was introduced to the Simply In Season recipe book, by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert. I was able to flip through it, and right away I could tell that this was a cookbook I wanted to have.

The format is broken up by season: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each section is divided into the following subsections: Breads and Breakfast, Soups, Salads, Sides, Main Dishes, Desserts and Extras. This is such a fantastic difference for me - usually, cookbooks are divide into sections like Poultry, Beef, Pasta, Eggs, Cookies... But I don't plan my meals based on main ingredients, usually. I tend to look for simply a main dish, or a dessert, etc. So the Simply In Season cookbook has a HUGE positive going for it, right there.

But the even better thing about this book is that by dividing recipes into seasons, you can use it accordingly and buy food when it's at it's cheapest and freshest. As the back of the book says, "Eating in season is a great way to improve your health, support local farmers and help the environment." Health wise alone, I definitely agree with that - I believe that our Heavenly Father provided the foods that would be most appropriate for our physical needs to be harvested in the correct season. But I've always had a problem accessing ideas for eating in such a way, simply because of the cookbooks I have access to.

So I got my copy of Simply In Season in the mail just before our move. I took the opportunity to flip to the Summer section of the cookbook and plan several meals (and desserts!) for the upcoming week, exclusively from the selection provided. Tonight I tried the first one, and it was great! We ate a main dish with a huge portion of vegetables, some dairy, some grains, and a very small amount of meat. It was satisfying, tasty, fresh, easy to prepare, and easy on the pocketbook. I'm very very eager to try more of the recipes!!

There's also so much potential to make this a very whole-foods type of meal. I took some shortcuts today, since I knew I'd be coming home from the grocery store very close to dinner time, and wanted this to be as fast to prepare as possible. But I could have used plain yogurt instead of sour cream. I could have used the recipe for a Cream Soup Substitute instead of buying a can of processed cream of chicken soup. There was even a recipe for herbed croutons instead of buying them processed, or using the other option of a stuffing mix. Bottom line, it was a delicious, healthy meal, and it could be even healthier without being at all difficult. All the ingredients were easy to find and already familiar to me.

Simply In Season also comes spiral-bound... perfect for laying open to read while you're cooking! And there are enough recipes in each section that you may find that you rarely to never have to repeat them, if you're willing to try them all!

I strongly recommend checking out this recipe book, I'm very excited about it! I can't wait to see how cooking with foods in season affects our lives for the better.

Here's the recipe we enjoyed tonight (taken from page 136 of Simply In Season). As we ate it, Jesse said, "Becky, this is really good. Where did you get this idea?" I told him I got it from the Simply In Season cookbook that my friend had introduced me to, and he said, "You have that??" and went on to describe how he heard about it on NPR as he was driving to work recently, and how awesome it sounded, and came highly recommended by a local chef. I'm glad he was so impressed by my purchase. ;)

Summer Squash Bake

• 6-7 cups zucchini or yellow squash (shredded or chopped)
• 1 small onion (minced)

Combine with enough water to cook or microwave until tender, 3-4 minutes (shredded zucchini may be used without cooking). Drain, reserving the water to make Cream Soup Substitute below. Set aside.

• 1 recipe Cream Soup Substitute or 1 can condensed cream soup
• 1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1 cup carrot (shredded)

Mix together in a separate bow.

• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano (chopped; or 2 teaspoons dried)
• 1 cup cooked chicken (diced; optional)
• 1 cup cheese (shredded; optional)

Add and mix thoroughly. Stir into squash mixture.

• 1/4 cup butter (melted)
• 2-3 cups Herbed Croutons or herb stuffing mix

Mix together in a separate bow. Put half into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan or deep casserole dish. Add the squash mixture and top with the reserved croutons. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.


Cream Soup Substitute

• 2 cups dry milk powder
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup chicken or beef bouillon granules
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried minced onion (optional)

Mix together and store in a covered container in the refrigerator. To use combine 1 1/4 cups cold water with 1/3 cup of the mix in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Substitute this sauce for a 10-ounce can of condensed creamed soup. Add herbs such as thyme or dill or 1/4 cup minced fresh onion when preparing (optional).


Herbed Croutons

• 4 cups whole wheat bread cubes

Spread on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until crisp and dry, 10-15 minutes. Lightly spray dried bread cubes with oil.

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (grated)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley

Mix together and toss with the bread cubes. Return the cubes to the oven and bake until crisp, about 5 minute.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Ever since Grandma Newson came to help us out after Alex was born, the kids have been pestering me to make cinnamon rolls. Nedra is great at making lots of different kinds of food, and we all ate wonderfully while she was here, but obviously the cinnamon rolls left the biggest impression on my kids. Still, I never did get her recipe for the dough, and it had been long enough since the last time I had made dough that I wasn't feeling too keen on attempting it, anyway.

So when I ran across a recipe for Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls at the Heavenly Homemaker's blog, it sounded too good to resist. And so I caved. I bought all the ingredients. I felt determined to make them the very next day. And yet I managed, in my reluctant laziness, to put it off for another full week. When our friend Johanna invited us over for dinner, I decided it was finally time to get down to it. And I'm so glad I did! They were delicious. :) And... I was reminded how much I love the smell of yeasty dough. The bonus of making them for a dinner party, though, is being able to share them and feel less tempted to eat them all up myself. And let me tell you, I probably could!

The recipe uses dehydrated cane sugar juice instead of refined white sugar for the filling. And YUM! The texture it creates is just perfect.

After the dough had doubled in size and it was time to punch it down, the kids got so excited. "PUNCH?? We get to PUNCH the dough?!?!?" Yessiree. As soon as I saw Jacob "Ha! Ha-ha!"ing at the kitchen pantry's door, I advised them that they'd better go wash their hands so they could help me with the punching. Boy did they like that idea!

And seeing as how our apartment was a lovely 81 degrees today, the dough had no trouble rising at all. Isn't that a nice bonus for not using your air conditioning? ;)

Here it is, the Cinnamon Roll recipe courtesy of Heavenly Homemakers. But you might want to just go right over to the original post to see all the nifty pictures to make you even more eager to make them yourself!!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

1 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 t. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
4 t. sea salt
8 cups whole wheat flour
butter
salt

Ingredients for the “innerds” of your cinnamon rolls:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice) (you can use white sugar if you want)
1/2 T. ground cinnamon

Melt your butter and set it aside. Mix together the rapadura and cinnamon in a bowl.

Ooey-Gooey Frosting

1/4 cup butter
3 T milk
1/2 t. vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar to make the consistency you like

Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Whisk together until smooth.

Okay, here’s how to make the dough…

In a large bowl, mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey. Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around. Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.

Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk. Heat this to 120 degrees.

Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir. Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it)

Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.

After dough is nice and fat, punch it down and knead out all it’s bubbles. Cut the dough in half, setting one half aside.

On a well floured surface, roll dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.

Use a pastry brush to spread 1/2 of the melted butter all over the rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 of the rapadura/cinnamon mixture all over the butter.

Roll up the dough.

Cut into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick.

Place rolls side by side on baking pan.

Repeat process with other 1/2 of dough.

Allow dough to rise about 30 minutes.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees.

Allow rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle lots and lots of ooey-gooey frosting all over them.

What's for Dinner

Well, Jesse and I had this for dinner, at least. Both Melinda and Jacob decided they wouldn't eat tonight, unfortunately. They're in bed and not begging for food, so maybe the heat is curbing their appetite. We haven't had this in almost a year, but used to eat it fairly regularly. It's lightly sweet, easy to make, and both kids enjoyed it in the past.

Curried Chicken with Couscous

Prep time: 8 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

1 c. water
1 (14 oz.) can light coconut milk, divided
1 t. salt, divided
1 c. uncooked couscous
1 T. flour
1 T. curry powder
1 lb. skinned, boned chicken breast, cut into ½ inch strips
2 t. vegetable oil
1 c. julienne cut carrots
1/3 c. dry cranberries (craisins)
¼ c. chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine water, ¾ c. coconut milk, and ½ t. salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. Combine ½ t. salt, flour and curry powder. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Heat the oil in a large, nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the remaining coconut milk, carrot, and cranberries. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 7 minutes or until carrots are tender and chicken is done, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve over couscous and sprinkle with cilantro.

Note: I use “matchstick” carrots from the produce section to save time, use olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and usually omit the cilantro because of personal preference.

Strawberries (or: Summer Has Officially Begun)

This morning we had a nice large playgroup activity, and met at a farm for strawberry picking. I drove an HOUR each way for this activity. O.o (that's my "holy smokes" face... one big eye, one little eye, a nose in between....)

It was worth it, really. The strawberries are absolutely delicious. Way better than you get at the store. But somehow they still don't quite hold a candle to Marysville, Washington strawberries (Ahh, the yearly Strawberry Festival!). I grew up with a strawberry farm 5 minutes from my house, and didn't pick-my-own until I visited 2 years ago. (And I'm pretty sure my parents have still never gone... hint, hint....) And here I am driving an hour to pick strawberries that are delicious and great, but so not the same. The things you take for granted!

We all got ourselves out of bed bright and early to make it to the farm by 9:30am. We gathered with a few of our friends, and drove on the tractor-pulled wagon/bus thing. Melinda and Jacob thought that was great. I was a nervous wreck, with no bars to keep them in, and only one of me, so I couldn't block them in with my body. I was afraid Melinda was going to topple off with every bump, and wind up under a tractor wheel. Yep, that was some fun visual images, huh? But we made it (both ways) without any incidents. Thankfully. :)

Melinda really enjoyed picking the strawberries. She did a really good job, too! She missed a lot, but everything she picked was nice and ripe. Jacob, on the other hand, only picked a couple strawberries, and otherwise just stood around waiting for me to hand him some to put into his bucket.

Here are the kids with our yummy red crop!! It was so hard to resist the temptation to taste-test the strawberries, as I'm sure you can imagine!We headed back earlier than most who were with us - Our containers were full, and Jacob was a little too grumpy to just hang around to visit. (That's what happens when you go to bed at 10:45pm and wake up at 8:00am, and you're still 2.5 years old.) We bought our strawberries, and enjoyed the nearby playground while the others in our group finished up. Jacob and Melinda shared the see-saw swing:


And both of them really loved the wooden "choo-choo" train. Jacob really got into it!

After a while of making Melinda wait and wait and wait and wait, we finally walked down to the petting zoo area (this is a really kid-friendly farm, huh?). We saw - and petted! - two big ol' spotted pigs, a small cow (about my shoulder height), a few energetic goats, a couple donkeys, a llama, two very cute bunnies, and even a peacock! Isn't he beautiful? Jesse asked the kids what their favorites were when they were telling him about our day, and Jacob answered "Peacock!!" with no hesitation at all.
We did buy a small bag of food to feed the animals, too. This picture is before we went inside the fence. After? The goats were all over us, and the cow wasn't far behind. I'm surprised we didn't get any injuries from their horns, in all seriousness.

At Alex's vocal prompting, I finally had to drag Melinda and Jacob back to the car. Neither were especially happy about that, but it was lunchtime (for *everyone*!), so back to the car we went. On the way, they both stopped to blow some dandelions. I couldn't resist taking a picture.And what did she wish for? A teddy bear. "Don't you already have a teddy bear, Melinda?" "Yeah, but I want more!"

And of course, with two large bowlfuls of strawberries here at home, and me not planning ahead, I searched around for some recipe ideas. I quickly saw a pattern evolve: 1 serving equaling nearly 400 calories in each dessert recipe I found. Ugh. Definitely not what me and my 20+ extra pounds need. And strawberries are supposed to be healthy for you, aren't they?? So I was very happy to run into a dinner recipe, and eagerly tried it out. It was very, very yummy!! So I'm sharing it with you. Aren't you lucky? Especially if you're my mom and I know you're going to have access to a million strawberries any day now?? :) I should say that we didn't include the walnuts the recipe calls for. None of us in this house like nuts in our food.

Strawberry Chicken Salad

Servings: 4
Prep: 20 min.
Cook: 10 min.
Total: 30 min.

INGREDIENTS

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup honey
  
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• Dash pepper

Salad:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  
• 1 teaspoon butter
  
• 8 cups torn mixed salad greens
  
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
  
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  
• Additional whole strawberries, optional
  
  

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, combine the dressing ingredients. In a large skillet, cook and stir chicken in oil and butter until no longer pink; drain. Add 1/2 cup salad dressing; cook 1 minute longer.
Place the salad greens in a serving bowl. Top with chicken, sliced strawberries and walnuts. Garnish with whole strawberries if desired. Serving with remaining dressing. Yield: 4 servings.

What's for dinner... and a snack

Here's a quick and tasty dinner, made with ingredients you may already have on hand!

Quick Lemon and Pasta with Chicken

8oz linguini
3T butter
1T lemon juice
1½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
1 lb chicken, cooked
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a separate saucepan, combine next 5 ingredients and simmer till butter is melted. Add cooked chicken and stir till coated. Add drained pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, serve immediately.

And here's a fun (and good for you!) snack you can make. This recipe is from Jesse's aunt Sandy. I had never tried it before, but Jesse's mom Nedra made a whole bunch for us while she stayed after Alex was born. This recipe makes a LOT, so either half it, refrigerate the dough and cook over a few days per the directions, or cook it all and freeze the muffins. They counter-thaw quickly.

Bran Muffins

2 cubes butter (or margarine, if you must)
3 cups sugar
4 cups All-Bran cereal (pellets)
2 cups Nabisco Bran cereal (bran flakes)
2½ tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp salt
5 cups flour
4 eggs
1 quart buttermilk

Mix butter, sugar and Bran cereals with 2 cups boiling water, and let cool. Add buttermilk, eggs, and dry ingredients. Add raisins, nuts, or spices if desired. Store in the refrigerator and bake as needed at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Keeps for 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator.

We've been making these muffins with raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg (I eyeball the measurements, sprinkling them right into the dough), and they turn out surprisingly tasty. They're not a very sweet snack at all, but enough to keep you going back for more. We use a mini muffin pan (the kind that makes 24 mini muffins at a time), and half the recipe, and usually get around 50-60 muffins. The kids *love* snacking on these, and so do I. And I promise that if you eat more than a couple, everyone will be plenty regular... hehe. Nedra also says it would be great to use half a cup less sugar, and substitute half a cup of molasses. Mmmm.

Melinda wants me to make them with chocolate next. We'll see....

What's for dinner

Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Manicotti

• 14 pieces (8 oz.) manicotti, uncooked
• 1 ¼ cups (10 oz. pkg.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
• 2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 ¾ cups (15 oz.) ricotta or low fat cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• 3 cups (about 26 oz. jar) spaghetti sauce, divided

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Cool in single layer on foil. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together spinach, 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, garlic powder and pepper. Spoon about 3 T. filling into each pasta tube. Heat oven to 375º. In a 13x9 in. baking dish, spread ½ cup spaghetti sauce. Arrange filled past tubes in single layer in pan. Pour remaining sauce over top; cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is hot and bubbly.

Becky's notes:
I love the flavor of this recipe, but I have found the time it takes to spoon-fill each manicotti tube to be unreasonably long (as much as I love serving the individual tubes!), and also difficult to not break the tubes in the process. So I have adapted the recipe somewhat, and turned it into lasagna. I buy lasagna noodles instead of manicotti, and make a layered dish. I usually end up using 9 lasagna noodles: 1 layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom, 3 noodles, a thin layer of cheesy spinach filling; 3 noodles, more filling, 3 more noodles, more sauce on top. I also use more spaghetti sauce than the 26 oz. jar this way, but Jesse, at least, likes it better with more sauce. One thing we haven't tried yet, but probably will soon, is some browned/crumbled italian sausage in with the filling.

What's for dinner

Tonight we had ...

Tuscan Bean & Sausage Soup

• 3/4 lbs Italian sausage links, removed from casing and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 yellow squash or zucchini, sliced
• 3 cans navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can Italian tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 2 cups fresh spinach, shredded
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

In a soup pot over medium heat, brown sausage and fully cook. Drain grease. Add onion and garlic and cook till translucent. Add squash and sauté about one minute. Add remaining ingredients and simmer till heated through, about 10 minutes.

Freezes and reheats wonderfully.

Becky's notes:
This soup makes about twice as much as what our family of four will typically eat for a single meal. That's great if you want to freeze some for leftovers, but if you don't want to worry about it, think about halving the ingredients for a single meal.

We like to use the mild/sweet variety of Italian sausage, so that the kids will actually eat it. They don't like spicy things.

The recipe, as is, calls for 1 squash. It should be one large squash, or two smaller, if you're going to make the full recipe. If you're going to half it, the smaller kind are fine.

Navy beans? They're small white beans. I've ended up substituting Great Northern Beans, which are also white - I can't taste a difference, and they're cheaper.

Bottom line, this is a quick soup to throw together, and the cooking time is minimal. It comes out very tasty when you're done, and freezes well for future meals, too! Woohoo!

Mmmm, Potato soup

I think I might have given this recipe to at least a couple people...but this is one of my favorite comfort foods, lately.

Potato and Leek Soup

3 tablespoons butter
3 cups leeks, washed and chopped
4 cups peeled, diced potatoes (make sure you use a non-mealy potato, like red or white/yellow)
salt & pepper to taste
6-8 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream

Melt butter and cook leeks over medium heat. Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add broth, bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender.
Remove and puree a portion of the soup, return to pot, and stir in cream.

That's it! Easy, huh? Now, here's some modifications I like to do: Either add more potatoes or use less broth for a thicker, chunkier soup. Keep in mind that you're pureeing a portion of the soup, which will take out a bit of the chunkiness. 4 cups potatoes to 8 cups broth just doesn't cut it for me. Also, since I'm going for absolute "YUM!!" factor here, I like to add a bunch of shredded cheddar along with the cream. I usually end up adding a good cup or more of shredded cheese. I've also added chunks of ham before, which is good, but I like it just as much, sometimes more, without the ham. You can also play around with adding a green vegetable - like chunks of green beans, or maybe asparagus. (I haven't actually tried the asparagus yet, but I had some cream of asparagus soup just a day before I had this soup, and I think the two flavors might mix very nicely!)

If you're unfamiliar with leeks, like I was before this recipe, it's not too bad. This is what a leek looks like. In my grocery store, I find them near other vegetables like celery, carrots, etc. - the section that is refrigerated and gets sprinkled with water. What I was told is to use the white part, and the lighter green parts, not the "leaves", which are pretty tough. They grow in the ground, so you may need to be extra careful between the layers as you wash them, making sure they look clean. When I chop them for this recipe, I basically slice the leek into disks, and then lay the disc flat and cut it into quarters or more, based on the size of that particular leek.

And if you just want to skip the leeks, you can substitute onions. They have very similar flavors. But leeks have some good nutritional value, too:

• Low in Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Cholesterol
• High in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Manganese, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Iron and Magnesium

Compared to onions, which are:

• Low in Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Cholesterol
• High in Vitamin C, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Folate and Manganese

Anyway, I hope you get a chance to try this soup. I really love it! :)