India-Style Lentil Stew Recipe

It's Monday again. We try to practice "Meatless Monday" around here. We don't do it perfectly. For lunch we usually have leftovers so if there's meat in it - oh well. For dinner I try to make a meatless dish. (Not that we eat a lot of meat around here anyway so it's not that much of a change from the norm. It would probably be more of a wow-er for my crew if we had a "Meat-filled Monday" but I digress.)

For years I've looked for a lentil recipe. I almost always have lentils around here. I'm not sure why I buy them. Probably because they are a cheap source of protein and I always hoped that, someday, I would find a recipe that we'd like. I've tried lentil burgers and various other lentil recipes none of which ended with rage reviews from the eaters in my home until...

Recently when I was going through paperwork in my cupboard I came across a recipe I had gotten from when I borrowed Family Feasts for $75 a Week from the library. I had never tried it before but I saw the word "lentil" in the title and thought, "Maybe this is the one!" We tried it and it is a winner. Finally.

Problem is... I keep losing the paper that it is on and that is why I am adding it to my blog today. I really like this recipe. It tastes good, doesn't take much time or effort and I almost always have all of the ingredients on hand = winner. So without further ado...

Leftovers from tonight's dinner (I snuck some winter squash in it tonight - yum!)

Indian-Style Lentil Stew
serves 6 prep time: 45 minutes
1/4C (1/2 stick) butter
2 medium sized onions, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced 
One, 1-pound package of dried lentils, rinsed and picked over (about 2 1/4C)
2C pureed canned or fresh tomatoes
6C chicken broth [If you are truly vegetarian you can use a vegetarian option here. I am not that hard core. So I guess we aren't really doing purist "Meatless Monday."]
1T ground cumin
1T curry powder
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
1T minced fresh cilantro (optional)
Salt to taste

1. Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat; add onions and cook, stirring a few times, until softened. Add garlic and lentils, stirring for a couple of minutes to thoroughly coat lentils with butter. Add remaining ingredients, except salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until lentils are soft, about 40 minutes, stirring occassionally. Season with salt and serve.

We've eaten this on rice and as a filling in tortillas. Both options are very tasty. Supposedly you can also eat it on biscuits but we've never tried that.

What's Working Wednesday: Soft Pretzel Dough isn't Just for Pretzels

What's Working Wednesday is my weekly post to showcase something that is working for me or my family at the moment. It may not work for us forever and it may or may not work for you.

One recipe that has been a life saver lately has been my soft pretzel dough recipe. In the past I have often used this recipe when the kids have had friends over as a fun activity/ craft/ snack for them. It is a super quick, super easy recipe.

Lately I have been making "pretzel rolls" using the pretzel dough. I haven't taken the time to make bread lately and when we have needed bread quick for a meal, rather than making a run to the store which costs in both the arena of time and money, I have quickly made up a batch of the pretzel dough recipe and instead of forming the dough into pretzels I've formed them into rolls. (OK, as you can see from the picture below, I often make both rolls and pretzels. BONUS - fun snack!) I've used the recipe to make hot dog and hamburger style buns lately.

Soft Pretzel Dough

Mix together:
1 1/2C warm water
1T (or pkg) yeast
1t salt
1T sugar
Add:
4C flour (I usually use a mix of white and wheat. I've never tried it with a gluten free type of flour, let me know if you try it and it works with that.)

I often knead it for a minute or so by hand or let my Kitchen Aid mix it for a while then let it sit for about 5 minutes. Break the dough into the number of pretzels or rolls that you want to make then roll them into whatever shape you like.

 Bake them at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

Yummy pretzels and pretzel rolls, ready for a quick meal.

 It's fun shaping the pretzels. I don't think I am quite ready for a job at Auntie Anne's but my pretzel shaping skills have improved and my family likes these rolls better than the ones we would buy at the store.

31 Days of Flashbacks: 24 Cans of Pumpkin

 I started this post before we left Syracuse. Flashback month seemed an appropriate month to finally post it with a few edits and and my favorite pumpkin recipe at the end.

On Monday, January 16 I went to Price Chopper and bought 24 cans of pumpkin. They were the big cans and they were on clearance for only 50 cents. I couldn't resist. I realized that there could be a problem. That is a lot of pumpkin and we were moving in only 2.5 months. It is possible to move cans though (which we did). They are shelf stable. I put a plea out on facebook to ask for recipe suggestions. Today (I am not sure which day "today" was) I am using the first can I decided to start a blog post to record what we do with the pumpkin.

Can #1. Pumpkin Soup. My friend Shannon emailed me a pumpkin soup recipe. I used it with some tweaks that I got from a couple of other recipes I found online. We had it with grilled cheese tonight (1/18) for Wednesday Soup Night. The kids tell me it's not their favorite. I've always wanted to try Pumpkin Soup though so... I guess Glenn & I'll be eating the last 3 servings of left overs for the next couple of days ;)

Can #2. Pumpkin Biscotti and Pumpkin Pancakes. I made Pumpkin Biscotti Friday night (1/20). The biscotti was good. I love biscotti and it is so much cheaper to make it than to buy it! The biscotti recipe only called for 1/4 C of pumpkin so I had a lot of pumpkin left over and I used it to make Pumpkin Pancakes on Saturday morning. They were pretty good. I like normal pancakes and these were different. They weren't very sweet. (I don't know that my normal recipe is very sweet either but I think that with the addition of pumpkin I thought the pancakes should have been sweeter.)

Can #3. Pumpkin Crap. I know that I was given several copies of a recipe for the pumpkin dessert that you used cake mix on top that we affectionately refer to as Pumpkin Crap but I couldn't find any of them so I looked around online (I couldn't find a recipe for what I was looking for titled "pumpkin crap" but there was a recipe for Pumpkin Crap Cookies that I may just have to try!) There were various recipes called Pumpkin Crunch Cake or something like that so I made some today to take to a friend's house for dessert. There were two complicating factors: 1. Most recipes called for some type of nut on the top and I had none so I omitted that part. 2. The cake mix I had was one that I bought off the Halloween clearance at Aldi. Most of the time in funfetti cake mix boxes the sprinkles are in a separate little plastic bag. Unfortunately, this time, they were not hence the orange and black sprinkles :)

Can #4. Pumpkin Crap Cookies. Yumminess.Who would have thought that butterscotch chips would taste good with pumpkin. Not me but they sure do :)

That is where the blog post ended... I got busy. We moved. I never actually tried the Pumpkin Chili recipe that someone recommended that sounded so good or many of the other fabulous recommended recipes. It is "pumpkin time of the year" again so... there is hope that I will use them the rest of my cans of pumpkin before we move our of this house in a few months.  I saw a pumpkin scone recipe this morning that sounded good and I've book marked a few recipes... maybe I'll add to this pumpkin post after all.

You see, I must report that there are still 11 cans of pumpkin in my cupboard. (Please disregard the big #10 can of pumpkin that I still have in my cupboard that I had before I purchased the aforementioned 24 cans of pumpkin. No, I don't have a food hording problem. Why do you ask?)

Most of cans #5 to #13 were used, I am sure, for my favorite pumpkin recipe....

 Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
This is another recipe I got from my dear mother-in-love. They are a family favorite so I am including the recipe as well.
Combine:
1C pumpkin
1/2C oil
1 egg
Add and mix just until moist:
1 1/2C flour
1 1/2C oatmeal
3/4C sugar
1/4C powdered milk (this is a substitute for 1/4C of the sugar. If you don't have powdered milk on hand feel free to use sugar here)
1t baking powder
1t baking soda
1t cinnamon
1/4t salt

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 375.
I often make mini muffins and back them for about 12 minutes instead.
You can also use this recipe to make mini or full sized breads instead adjust the time accordingly.

Yum. I love pumpkin!

What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?

What's Working Wednesday: Taco Seasoning Mix

What's Working Wednesday is my weekly post to showcase something that is working for me or my family at the moment. It may not work for us forever and it may or may not work for you.

Tuesday night is usually Taco Night around here. We love tacos! Years ago my mother-in-love gave me a recipe for taco seasoning mix and I always keep a batch of it on hand. I'm not sure where she got it from and I know this recipe isn't original with me but we use it all the time!


Taco Seasoning Mix
(makes about 2T, equivalent of 1 packet of store bought seasoning)
2t minced onion
1t salt
1t chili powder
1/2t cornstarch
1/2t crushed red pepper
1/2t minced garlic
1/4t oregano
1/2t ground cumin

This seasoning mix tastes great and I use it in tacos, fajitas, and other Mexican inspired foods that we eat. This recipe is enough for a single batch, which I never make. I always make extra and store it in a container in with my spices. My batches usually look more like: 4T minced onion, 2T salt... I usually put in a generous 2T of seasoning mix when making tacos. Use more or less depending on your taste.


Have a Taco Fiesta seasoned just right (with no scary ingredients you can't pronounce)!

What's Working Wednesday: Homemade Kettle Korn

Do you love Kettle Korn? Yummy, sweet, salty goodness that you can only get once a year at a fair or festival after paying an arm and a leg. Or, maybe you can have it more often than that and without all that cost...

We love popcorn. Glenn and I both grew up in families in which popcorn was Sunday night's supper so that is a tradition that we've continued in our own family. In the early years of our marriage we had an air popper then a Stir Crazy popcorn popper until it broke and we went back to the air popper. When we were living with Brian and Kristina back in those crazy months in the summer of 2008 Kristina taught me the best way to make popcorn - in a regular pot. I remember Linda Zona making it that way for us when we would stop in for a visit but I really didn't know how she did it.

It's super easy but it does take some trial and error based on your pot of choice and your stove. All you do it throw some oil in a pot along with 3 popcorn kernels. Put the lid on the pot, put the pot on the burner and listen for the popping. When the three kernels have popped pour the rest of the unpopped popcorn in the pot (I'd start with about a 1/2 cup, you can adjust after you see how that does) and put it back on the heat shaking occasionally until the popping stops. Pour it into a bowl and put whatever toppings you want on it - yummy!

We usually eat a few bowls of regular popcorn and when everyone has almost had enough I go into the kitchen and make a batch of Kettle Korn "for dessert." I often bring Kettle Korn with me to parties or serve it when people come over and I am always asked for the recipe so... here it is:

Homemade Kettle Korn!

Kettle Korn
Ingredients:
oil
1/2C popcorn kernels (or more or less depending on your pot size)
1/4C sugar (or more or less depending on how sweet you like it - I usually don't fill my 1/4C all the way)
salt to taste

Method:
1. Put 3 un-popped kernels and some oil in your pot (I don't measure this. Maybe 2T ??)
2. Cover and heat it at med-high shaking a few times until the kernels pop
3. Put the rest of the popcorn kernels in the pot and pour the sugar over them and put the lid back on.
4. Shake regularly until it stops popping. (The shaking in making Kettle Korn is more critical than the shaking when making regular popcorn because you don't want the sugar to burn!)
5. Pour out into a bowl, sprinkle with salt then wait a little bit before digging in because that sugar on the popcorn is HOT!
6. Enjoy your Kettle Korn for WAY CHEAPER than at the fair.

1/2 C popcorn and the "secret ingredient" - 1/4C sugar!

I popped a pot of kettle korn shortly before posting so I could have a picture. My kids were super excited. (Insert cute picture of kids eating it that I totally forgot to take!) Kettle Korn doesn't happen everyday but popcorn does happen quite regularly around here. It is a semi-healthy, pretty cheap snack to feed the starving masses of kids that hang out around my house on a regular basis.

WARNING: Once you start making this you won't be able to stop. I've heard this from many people I've given this recipe too!

Got Tomatoes?? A Recipe for You - West African Peanut Chicken

Today after school I went out and looked at our "garden." Our garden consists of 2 Topsy-Turvies and a bunch of random containers with tomatoes, bell peppers, and cayenne peppers as well as a window box that used to have lettuce in it (it all went to seed), a couple of containers with basil, and a container that used to have cilantro in it but it all died. Oh, and our citrus tree that looks a bit different from when we first got it. (This all reminds me... I really need to take pictures of our garden before it all dies since it looks a lot different than when we first planted it.)

Today's garden pickings - yum!

That was not what I was intending to write about.... what I was intending to write about is: if you have extra tomatoes you're looking to use up do I have a recipe for you - West African Peanut Chicken! We had it tonight (for probably the 2nd time ever - it needs to happen more often - it is SO delicious!!) and this is all that we had left:

It's delicious, even if it doesn't look that great!

I found the recipe when reading Family Feasts for $75 a Week that I checked out from the library. It has some great thrifty recipes many of which can be found at the author's website.

West African Peanut Chicken


Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut oil (or any cooking oil)
2# chicken in bite sized pieces (I actually only used 1 chicken breast but then again we treat meat like a condiment around here.)
3-4 onions, minced or pureed in food processor
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups pureed tomatoes (or 3 c. tomato sauce and 1 c. water) (I pureed tomatoes just picked from my garden in my blender = delicious!!)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup water
1t cayenne pepper or red pepper
1/2t black pepper
1/2t salt
Directions
Heat oil in a deep pot or very large heavy skillet. Add the chicken and fry on both sides until it is nicely browned. If your pan isn’t quite as wide as mine, you might do better frying half the chicken at a time, to keep the pieces separate and to let them get nicely brown. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Fry the onions and garlic in the same pot. When onion is soft and starting to brown, stir in tomatoes and water. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Return chicken to pot. Stir in peanut butter. it will look clumpy for a minute but will mix in nicely once it heats up. Add red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
Serve with rice.

The last time we made this recipe we used canned tomatoes from the grocery store which worked but fresh tomatoes make this delicious! Enjoy!

Hot/ Sweet Mustard Dip

When I lived in Houghton I used to go to a Tuesday morning prayer group at Fillmore Wesleyan Church. One week a friend of mine brought a delicious mustard pretzel dip (I don't even like mustard!) and I got the recipe from her. Last week I made some and the kids told me that it is a recipe that they want me to give them when they grow up so I decided to post it here to my blog. Sorry, I didn't get a picture. It's already gone. Maybe next time I make some I'll take a picture.

Hot/ Sweet Mustard
Ingredients:
2 3oz containers of dry mustard (.375 pounds, I measured it to be about 1 1/2C once)
2 C white vinegar
1C sugar
2 well beaten eggs
1t salt
1C miracle whip or mayo
Instructions:
Mix the dry mustard in a bowl with vinegar. Cover the bowl and let it sit out overnight. Next day dump the mixture in a saucepan and add the salt, eggs, and sugar. Stir constantly as you boil the mixture. When it coats the spoon it is ready to remove from heat. Add the miracle whip or may. You may have to beat it in if there are chunks. Will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. [mine never does - it gets eaten too quickly!]

Enjoy with pretzels - yummy!

Sugar Cookies

My favorite cookies to make are sugar cookies. We bought one of those 101 cookie cutters from Winton that has cookie cutters for every season and all the letters and I love making cookies with them for holidays.

I wanted to write the recipe down here so I always know where to look for it (and because my friend Terri had mentioned on facebook that she had lost hers and I would be so sad if I lost mine!)

Rolled Sugar Cookies (from Great Value Sugar years ago)
Combine and mix well:
1C sugar
1C butter or margerine
3T milk
1t vanilla
1 egg
Add and mix well:
3C flour
1 1/2t baking powder
1/2t salt
Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
Heat oven to 400F
Roll out 1/8" thick and place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 5-9 minutes.

We usually decorate them with this frosting recipe from my Better Crocker Cookbook:
Buttercream Frosting
4 1/2C powdered sugar
1/2 C butter or margerine
2 1/4t vanilla
1 1/2-3T milk

NOTE: I always at least double this recipe so we have plenty to give away to neighbors :)

Oh dear. We haven't made these yet this year. I think I know what I am doing this afternoon ;)

Cream Can Dinner

Last night we had some friends over for Cream Can Dinner. We were planning on having friends over for Labor Day but, looking at the forecast, we decided that it was definitely not cook out weather so we decided to cream can. Cream Can, from what I understand is what they do in Wyoming (maybe other places out West too, I just know people from Wyoming) do when they want to feed a bunch of people. Glenn's grandpa owns a bunch of cream cans that he has tinned and he caters meals at various places and lends the cans out for others to use. They are doing a cream can for 80 people this weekend!

I first had Cream Can Dinner back in 1999 when Glenn's grandparents cooked it for our rehearsal dinner. Glenn had told me about the meal of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, sausage and corn on the cob all cooked together in a cream can and I thought it sounded good but everyone in my family thought it was weird, especially the fact they they were serving it from a wheel barrow that they had brought with them that Grandpa had had tinned. There were some looks of shock ("What is Sonja marrying into??") when they poured the food from the cream cans into the wheel barrow but after the first bite everyone was convinced that it was delicious despite it's strange presentation!

Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds serving at our rehearsal dinner 8/13/99

The kids and I had a Cream Can dinner catered by Glenn's grandparents at the Fine Family Reunion in Iowa this summer but Glenn was not able to be there so this was his first cream can of the year.

Grandpa Earl supervising the dumping of Cream Can #1

Some Fine relatives serving out the 2nd cream can at the reunion as Aunt Billie looks on

Back in 2005 (I think) Grandpa Earl gave us one of his small cream cans (I think it is a 5 gallon one). It is usually a decoration in our living room and we have only used it for dinner a handful of time but after last night I think that we'll use it more often.

Glenn & David serving up cream can last night

 If you'd like a cream can dinner of your own you can probably make it in a big stock pot (if you don't have a spare cream can kicking around). Here's what we did for last night (we made enough for 15 people but only 10 actually ate with us so we have leftovers - yay!).

Scrub and place in the bottom of the cream can in order:
15 potatoes
2 pounds of carrots
1 head of cabbage cut into quarters (we probably could have used 2, the cabbage tastes so good in cream can!)
4 onions cut into quarters (we probably could have used more onion too. You can never have too much onion!)
4 kielbasas cut into chunks

Add 1/2 gallon of water mixed with 1/4 C salt and put the lid on it and let it steam 40 minutes.

Add 15 ears of corn, put the lid back on and let it steam another 15 -20 minutes.

Carefully dump it into bowls to serve from (we don't have a wheel barrow for this purpose so we just used 2 8qt stainless bowls.)

This all fit well in our 5 gallon cream can. To serve more people we'd need a bigger one or there is always the option of cooking the corn in a separate container.

It's corn on the cob season here in New York. I hope we can do this a couple more times before the season is over!

EDITED TO NOTE: After reading my blog Grandpa had a few suggestions:

re: onions:  he has found that if he slices the onions as if you were making onion rings, they "hold together" a little better. I had told him it is difficult to discern what is an onion and what is cabbage leaves. The "rings" still don't hold completely together, but perhaps makes it a little easier to serve

 

re: cabbage: he cuts cabbage heads into eighths -- and tries to have enough eighths to serve # of people to be served. Sometimes we adjust the cabbage servings depending on who we are serving.  ie., most adults, and especially seniors, want lots of cabbage, where most young people want none!

 

Thanks for the advice, the cream can and introducing us to this great meal Grandpa Earl!

Mississippi Mud

Every year around this time I start to scramble. "Oh no! Where is that recipe??" I cry. I always like to make Mississippi Mud for Glenn's birthday (which is today!) but I don't know what happened to the recipe card that his mom gave me when we first got married. Years ago I typed it up and put it in a cookbook that I compiled with some other young wives back when we were at Houghton but I have the hardest time finding the thing because it is just a stack of 8.5x11 pieces of paper folded together. Well today after a bit of a scramble again I found the recipe and I am recording it here so I don't have to scramble again next year :)

Mississippi Mud
1C butter
2C sugar
1/4 C dry cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
1t vanilla
1/2t salt
2t baking powder
1 1/2C flour
13 oz jar marshmallow fluff or 2-3C mini marshmallows
Mud:
Cream sugar, butter and cocoa. Add eggs. Stir. Mix in dry ingredients and vanilla. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until toothpick comes out almost clean. Sprinkle marshmallows or spread marshmallow cream over the top of hot cake. Return to oven for 2 minutes.
Frosting:
Combine ingredients and stir well. Pour over mud while still hot.
1/4C dry cocoa
1/2C melted butter
4C powdered sugar
1/2C evaporated milk
1t vanilla

This is super yummy. It is great hot but it is also great the next day after it has spent the night in the fridge. Yum! The kids look forward to Glenn's birthday for this treat :)

Happy birthday my love!

Wacky Cake

Today is Hannah's birthday and we had a fun day. As almost always we had wacky cake with peanut butter frosting for dessert. I love that stuff. I could (but know I shouldn't) eat it everyday.

Anyway, I am often asked for the recipe so I thought I would put it here just so I always know where to look when I need it :)

Wacky Cake
in 8x8 or 9x9 pan sift (double for 9x13):
1 1/2 C flour
1C sugar
3T baking cocoa
1/2t salt
1t soda
Add:
6T oil
1t vanilla
1T vinegar
1C cold water
Stir well. Don't forget the corners.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Peanut Butter Frosting (enough for 9x13)
3C powdered sugar
1/4C peanut butter
1-2T milk
1 1/2t vanilla

Hawaiian Haystacks

Last night we had Hawaiian Haystacks for supper. It is one of our favorite meals and I am often asked for the recipe so... here it is!

The sauce can be made two ways, I usually use the 2nd way b/c it has less salt but the first way is easier so I will give you both:

Sauce option #1:
2 (10 oz) cans cream of chicken soup
1C chicken broth
2C diced cooked chicken
Stir together in a pan and simmer until heated through

Sauce option #2:
Saute 1 onion chopped (and optional 1/2 green pepper) in 1/4C margarine or chicken fat skimmed from broth until soft.
Add: 1/4C flour. Stir and cook until bubbly.
Add: 2C chicken broth, 1C milk, and salt & pepper to taste.
Cook stirring constantly until smooth and thickened.
Add: 2-3C diced cooked chicken (and optional 1T chopped parsley)
Heat through.

At the table have bowls of:
chow mein noodles
diced tomatos
chopped celery
chopped green peppers
chopped green onions
pineapple chunks
shredded cheddar cheese
slivered almonds
coconut

Let everyone stack their own toppings on the base of rice and chicken gravy - yum! Everyone gets to eat only what they like! Enjoy!