Spinach Quiche

Since we started getting our produce from a local farm, the menu at the Mobleys has changed a bit.  I'm starting to branch out a little more.  Last night, I tried a new spinach quiche recipe that is a keeper!  Everyone liked at least part of the quiche--my picky eater favored the crust and cheese, but I think a bite or two of spinach may have found its way into her belly, too!  I found the original recipe at www.epicurious.com, but of course, I had to vary it!




Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (either homemade or store-bought)
2 T butter
1 large onion (Costco size)
1 T bottled minced garlic
1 big bunch of fresh spinach (CSA box size)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
12 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper

1. Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute. Add spinach and cook until tender.
2. Grate cheddar cheese and divide among pie crusts.
3. Top with spinach mixture.
4. Beat eggs, cottage cheese, salt, and pepper and pour over spinach mixture.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until done.

This is delicious without any additional condiments, but I added Tony's to mine.  After all, some people say that spicy food is for helpful for kicking labor into gear!

P.S.  Sorry about the lack of picture, but I really didn't know it was going to be so good!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I'll just go ahead and apologize for the missing photo.  Let me just say I am having issues with Blogger right now.  Some of you have been asking me for my pizza dough recipe.  Finally, I am getting around to posting it.  I make this so much that I don't even need to look at the recipe anymore.

Ingredients:
1 t yeast
3 cups flour (I use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and 1 1/2 cups white)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 T milk powder
2 T sugar
1 t salt
1 T oil
1 1/4 cups water

Directions:

1. Pour dry ingredients into bread machine.  Then, add liquids.  Pour yeast into yeast dispenser.  Use the pizza setting if you have one.  On my bread machine, this setting takes 45 minutes.  (Adjust the directions in this step to suit your bread machine, if you have one.  I have never tried it without the bread machine, but I think you would just mix everything together until you have a nice dough and let it rise for 45 minutes.)
2. Knead dough on lightly floured surface until it becomes elastic.
3. Divide into two balls and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Roll each ball into desired pizza shape on a greased pan.  Prick with a fork.
5. Let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Bake at 340 degrees for 10 minutes.
7. Add toppings and bake for 10 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.  

We usually have our pizza vegetarian style, but the girls pick the veges off if they are visible, so I just add them to the sauce and blend everything together.  Oddly enough, the girls know what goes into the sauce and they recognize that they like the veges in the sauce but not as individual toppings.  Strange, but I'll go with what works! 

This is my method:
Saute an onion, some garlic, a chopped green pepper, up to 8 oz. sliced mushrooms and carrot and/or celery if you wish.  Add 14-16 oz. tomato sauce, a little sugar and a little salt.  Simmer this mixture for as long as you want.  Then, puree it all.  Brush this on the baked dough and top with ~three cups grated mozzarella cheese (total for both pizzas.)  Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles

Grams brought me some pumpkin all the way from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, so today I branched out from our normal chocolate chip waffles and made these pumpkin chocolate chip waffles.  My choosy eater chose not to even try them, but everyone else loved them!  I made them the busy mom method, which is to not separate the eggs.  Grams liked them so much, she had some for lunch, too!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c flour (I used 1 c white and 1/2 c whole wheat)
1 T corn starch
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
3/4 c pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/4 c honey
3 T oil
1 t vanilla
1/3 c chocolate chips

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add liquid ingredients and mix well.
3. Add chocolate chips and mix.
3. Cook in a waffle maker according to your waffle maker instructions.
4. To keep warm, place waffles on a cookie sheet in an oven set at 200 degrees.
5. Serve as is and enjoy counting chocolate chips:)

Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Years ago when we still lived in California, our church put together a book of crockpot recipes.  One of the recipes included was Enchilada Bake.  Of course, I can't seem to leave a recipe alone, so I have modified it over the years.  While I like my food spicy, my kids don't, so this recipe is very mild to suit their palates.  David and I like to add some spice to ours with hot sauce, salsa, or Tony's, whatever we have on hand.  If you like your food spicy (and don't have kids who prefer theirs mild), then you'll want to add more spice.  I make this often because everyone loves it!  Just posting this recipe is reminding me of all the yummy Mexican food we enjoyed in California.  I so wish we had a  Dos Coyotes here!!!

Ingredients:
1 lb. dry pinto beans, cooked
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 t. bottled minced garlic
1 lb. frozen corn
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cumin powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
corn tortillas

1. Saute onion, green pepper and garlic.
2. Add corn, tomatoes, spices and cooked beans and heat.
3. Place 2-3 tortillas in bottom of crockpot (depending on size and shape of your crockpot).
4. Cover with a portion of bean mixture and a portion of cheese.
5. Repeat layers as many times as you like and add remaining cheese on top.
6.  Cook on low for 6 hours.

Breakfast Oatmeal

When we set out to reduce our grocery budget, one big change we made was to start having oatmeal for breakfast.  Not only is oatmeal less expensive than ready-to-eat cereals, but it's more filling and better for you, too.  Admittedly, it took a while to find a recipe that was palatable for my family.  Once I landed on this version, I haven't looked elsewhere!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c water
2 c quick oats
2 T sugar (preferably brown)
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 c milk
honey

1. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. 
2. Add oats.  Stir and reduce heat to low.
3. Add sugar and cinnamon.  Cook on low for one minute.
4. Add milk and simmer 2 minutes longer.
5. Serve with honey drizzled on top, preferably in the form of a smiley face or an M.

Of course, you can jazz up this recipe with dried fruits or nuts or whatever else you fancy.  We're kind of plain Janes and Joes, so we like it best just the way it is.  Okay, I confess, one time I did add chocolate chips!

Cheesy Cornbread

Recently, I created a bit of a stir when I commented on Facebook about my culinary failure when I forgot to put the sugar in the cornbread.  Apparently, the thought of sugar in cornbread is borderline offensive to the southern cook!  A friend of mine, who has lived in the South all her life, told me that in these parts such a dish is considered CAKE not BREAD!  The time I forgot the sugar, my five year old, who loves cornbread, looked at me and said, "Mama, this cornbread kind of doesn't taste so good."  There you have it, you can call it what you like, but don't forget the sugar!!

Ingredients:
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c white flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1/2 c sugar
1 c grated cheese (or more if you prefer up to 2 c)
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 c milk
1/2 c oil

Stir together dry ingredients (whole wheat flour through salt).
Beat together liquid ingredients (eggs through oil).
Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until everything is moist.
Bake in a greased 8x8 pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Split Pea Soup Recipe

I love making soups.  I know I have said that before, but I really love making soups.  This is another Mobley favorite, a revised version from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook that my husband brought to our marriage!


Ingredients:
4 cups broth
4 cups water
1 lb. dry split peas
1/2 t marjoram
1 bay leaf
1/2 c chopped onion
2 c chopped vegetables (carrots, celery, green pepper)
14 oz. turkey sausage, cut however you want.

1. Combine all ingredients except sausage in a big pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
2. Stir in sausage and heat through.
3. Serve with brown rice and Tony's!

Sweet Potato and Vegetable Stew

This is a really yummy stew perfect for a breezy day like today.  My husband brought this recipe to our marriage, but, of course, I revised it slightly:)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
4 cups turkey/chicken broth
4 cups water
14 oz. can diced tomatoes
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 t dried parsley
1 1/2 t salt
dash of cayenne pepper
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach

1.  Saute onion, garlic, and green pepper in a large stockpot over medium heat.
2.  Add all remaining ingredients, except spinach.
3.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
4.  Puree it all. 
5.  Add spinach and cook through.
6.  Serve with Tony's!

Apple Cranberry Crumble

My mom has been begging me to post the recipe for apple cranberry crumble that I made for Thanksgiving.  I doubled the recipe and used a 9x13 pan. I used quick oats and did not use the pecans.  I am definitely making this again:)

Ultra Quick Yeast Buns

Have I mentioned that I love making bread?  I found this recipe in the David Food Co-Op newsletter nearly ten years ago and have been making these buns for special occasions ever since.  I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to make these rather than the bread machine. 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk scalded
6 T butter
1 t salt
1 T honey
1 T sugar
1/4 c warm water
2 t yeast
1 t sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 c wheat flour
2 T gluten flour (I didn't have this, so I just substituted whole wheat flour)

1. Scald milk and add butter, salt, honey, and sugar.  Set aside to cool.
2. Mix warm water, yeast, and sugar in a bowl and set aside to proof.
3. When milk mixture is lukewarm, add to yeast mixture along with egg.
4. Beat in gluten flour (if using) and 1 cup white flour.  Stir in whole wheat flour and remaining white flour.
5. Knead, adding more flour as needed to make a firm but moist dough.  Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
6. Divide into 12 pieces and shape into buns.  Place on lightly greased cookie sheets.  Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 25 minutes.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes.

Tomato Corn Soup

This is one of our favorite soup recipes, adapted from one I found in my favorite vegetarian cookbook, well, actually my only vegetarian cookbook: The New Laurel's Kitchen.  (I'm a minimalist at heart!)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

1 lb. frozen corn
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes
14 oz. water
1 t salt

1.  Saute onion, celery and garlic in a heavy pot.
2.  Add corn, tomatoes, water and salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered about 1/2 hour.
3.  Puree it all!  (I tried using the food processor this time, but the blender works a lot better for this step.)
4.  Season to taste with Tony's and serve with cornbread.  YUM!

This also makes for a great pizza sauce!

Super Easy Chicken

I recently signed up to take someone dinner on a Saturday.  Super brilliant given that Saturdays are already jam-packed with soccer and grocery shopping and yard work and Sunday School prep and lesson plans.  I decided to try out a new crock pot recipe that I found in Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly.  This has got to be the easiest recipe on the planet and filled our house with a wonderfully delicious aroma.

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 cup chicken broth (I used 1 bullion cube dissolved in 1 cup boiling water)

1. Put chicken breasts in crock pot.
2. Sprinkle Italian dressing mix on top.
3. Pour chicken broth over top.
4. Cook on low for 8 hours.  

Sorry there's no picture, but trust me, this recipe is a winner!

Golden Sweet Cornbread

Truly, every southern cook should be able to whip up a tasty cornbread for the family.  I have not been happy with the cornbread recipes in any of my cookbooks.  Maybe that has to do with the collection of cookbooks I own: Better Homes and Gardens, Laurel's Kitchen, and Whole Foods for the Whole Family.  An Internet search a few years ago led me to this tasty recipe.  I am used to serving cornbread in squares rather than triangles, so I make it in a square 9x9 pan rather than the round pan called for in the recipe. 

This is especially good served with tomato corn soup, which I hope to post in the future. 

My Favorite Biscuit Recipe

When we moved to the South, my quest for a homemade biscuit recipe began.  This recipe is sort of a variation from one found in La Leche League's Whole Foods for the Whole Family Cookbook. We serve these often with lentil soup or any other soup really.  My family loves them! 

1 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
2 T sugar
1/2 c butter
2/3 c milk

1. Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl. (I use my KitchenAid with the wire whisk attachment for steps 1 - 3.)
2. Cut in butter.
3. Add milk and stir until dough forms a ball.  Knead.
4. Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness on a floured surface.
5. Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheets.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

These are delicious and everyone enjoys eating them, but they are also really fun to make!  The girls love cutting the dough into shapes using cookie cutters.  Usually, we end up with hearts and stars.  Once you try them, you'll never want a whomp 'em again!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Chocolate is really supposed to be good for you, right?  We love to eat these yummy pancakes on Saturdays.  No syrup necessary!  This recipe makes quite a lot, enough for us to have leftovers for breakfasts during the week.  (I do realize that before long leftovers in the Mobley home will be a thing of the past.)

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c white flour
1 T baking powder
2 T sugar
1 t salt
1/3 c chocolate chips (regular is fine but mini is even better)

2 eggs
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c milk
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c water
2 T oil

Stir together dry ingredients (whole wheat flour through chocolate chips).
Stir together liquid ingredients (eggs through oil).
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.
Cook on griddle or in pan coated with cooking spray.

Hearty Lentil Soup

Are you sitting down?  This is a recipe loved by the Mobleys that does not have even a trace of chocolate!  We eat a lot of soup year-round, even when the heat index is 110.  We counterbalance this by eating ice cream year-round, too, even when the temperature drops below freezing.

Three reasons I like to make soup:

1. I can make it when it's convenient for me and reheat just before my husband gets home.  Yesterday, I made this soup at 7:00 am.  These days I take advantage of every opportunity whenever it happens to present itself.  When you have twins, you really learn to think outside the box!
2. For some reason, my kids do not object to vegetables in soup as much as vegetables served other ways.
3. Soups are healthy and economical because meat, if used at all, is more of a garnish than the main course.  Most of the soups that I make have beans or legumes at center stage.
4. Soups freeze well.  I always make extra to put in the freezer.  Whenever I'm having a rough day, I rely on my freezer stash rather than take-out!

Hearty Lentil Soup

2 c lentils
1 c chopped green pepper
1 c chopped carrots
1 c chopped onion
1 c chopped celery
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 t dried sage
1/2 t crushed red pepper
2 t minced garlic (or 4 garlic cloves)
10 c water
14 oz. smoked turkey sausage, sliced
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes
8-10 oz. frozen spinach
1 cup brown rice, cooked according to instructions

Bring lentils through water to boil.  Cover and simmer about 30 minutes.   Meanwhile, cook 1 cup brown rice according to instructions on package.  Add sausage, tomatoes, and spinach and heat through.  Stir in cooked rice.

We like to sprinkle Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning on top to jazz it up.  I am so thankful for my friend Katie who taught me that Tony's makes everything taste better!  ENJOY!

An Extra Special Celebration

Yay for Mary!  She lost her first tooth this morning!  Ever since we read One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey, she has been eager for this moment to come.  I offered to pull the loose tooth out with pliers.  She said no.  I offered to do the string tied to a doorknob trick.  She said no to that, too.  She did what every reasonable and sensible five-year old would do.  She just waited for the tooth to be ready to come out.  (Where did she come from, really?)    So, it actually was pretty uneventful.  No pain.  No blood.  No swallowed tooth.

We are not doing the whole tooth fairy bit, but we do want to celebrate the first lost tooth for each of our children.  I asked Mary how we ought to celebrate and she asked for Xtra-Special Celebration Cake.  What a MOBLEY!  I am glad that she understands at such an early age the integral link between chocolate and celebrations!

The recipe comes from the Alpha Bakery Children's Cookbook, which was my husband's when he was a boy.  I ordered one for a birthday gift for a friend a few year's ago, but it doesn't appear that this book is in print any longer.  Wow, we have a collector's item!  The book has a recipe for every letter of the alphabet.  The recipes in this book are actually quite tasty and my kids really enjoy making them.

Xtra-Special Celebration Cake
3 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2/3 c oil
2 t vinegar
1 t vanilla
2 c cold water

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare pans (either two round or one 9x13).
Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Stir oil mixture and water into flour mixture real hard until well blended.  Immediately pour batter into pans.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes.
Remove from pans.  Let cake cool completely.  Fill, frost and decorate cake as desired.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

One of my absolute favorite pastimes is baking, especially bread.  My first experience with bread happened when I was in college.  I followed the recipe in the cookbook, except that I figured a longer rising time would be ok.  I mixed and kneaded the dough and set it on top of the refrigerator to rise and headed off to my 8-5 job.  My poor mom came home from work to find dough all over the refrigerator.  I did not try to make bread again for years!  Once I recovered from that traumatic event, I reentered the world of bread making.  I started out doing it the old fashioned way, with two or three rises and loaf pans and the like until I was gifted this bread machine a few years ago.  I tell you, if we ever have to evacuate for a hurricane again, this puppy is coming with us!  This is the recipe I use for our sandwich bread, just a slightly modified version of the one that came in the booklet with my bread machine.  I know that all bread machines work somewhat differently, so you may need to modify my recipe to suit your machine.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 T dry milk powder
1 T white sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 T oil
1 1/4 c water
1 t yeast

Pour dry ingredients into bread machine pan.
Add liquid ingredients.
Pour yeast into yeast dispenser.
Settings: Whole Wheat, Bake Sandwich

Bon appetit!

We Made It and We're Celebrating Mobley Style

YAY!  By God's grace, I survived a week flying solo while David was away at a conference in Colorado. Before he left, I have to say I had several breakdowns internally.  Secretly, I hoped David would decide not to go after all or that he would (gulp) pay the enormous price to bring us all there with him.  He didn't.  I can now say, in Pollyanna fashion, I am glad, GLAD, glad about that!  It was an experience that took me out of my comfort zone and caused me to rely upon God more.  The verse going through my head all week was: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8). 

We were so happy that God brought David back to us safely that we decided to celebrate Mobley style--with chocolate.  These chocolate waffles are super yum!  I modified the recipe from one I found at eatingwell.com, so that means they're good for you, right?  Well, these are definitely a special occasion breakfast for us, not standard fare.  Also, I made them the busy mom style, so I didn't take the time to beat the egg whites and fold them into the batter, but you can do that if you want:)

3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c white flour
2/3 c cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
1 t instant coffee granules
2 eggs
2 c milk
1 T oil
2 t vanilla

Mix together dry ingredients (flour through coffee granules).

Mix together liquid ingredients (eggs through vanilla).

Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.

Spray waffle iron with cooking spray and cook according to instructions.

Make Your Own Peanut Butter

What does lunch look like at your house?  Here, lunch and peanut butter sandwiches are synonymous. Instead of buying peanut butter at the store, we make our own from raw peanuts.  It's very, very simple!

• Pour 16 oz. unsalted peanuts into food processor.  A friend of mine even uses her Vitamix, but I don't think most blenders are powerful enough for peanut butter.

• Turn the machine on.  It will be very, very loud.

• Let it go till desired creaminess/crunchiness has been achieved.  For really creamy peanut butter, you probably need to let it run at least 5-10 minutes.  (I like to let mine go until is sounds right, till I hear it sloshing around a bit!)  

• Store in refrigerator.

I find this to be an economical way to have natural peanut butter.  I watch for sales on peanuts at the grocery and drug stores.  The most I pay for a pound of peanuts is $1.99 versus grinding your own at Whole Foods for over $3 a pound.  I have even found them for $1.50 a pound--that was when I went to 3 different Walgreen's stores and bought as many as they would let me at each store.  I came home with 27 containers of peanuts!