Wild Rice and Lentil Soup

Very yummy and healthy. We picked up some wild rice and lentil mix at winco and used that instead. It had a little more rice and less lentils than recipe calls for, but I liked it that way. Can be frozen after cooled.

Ingredients:
1 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup wild rice
16 ounces uncooked lentils, rinsed
1 cup tomatoes
8 cups chicken broth
1 cup spinach
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
non-stick cooking spray
Directions:
Heat heavy pot on medium. Once hot spray with non-stick cooking spray, add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic and sweat until the onions are translucent. Add the rice lentils, tomatoes, broth, spinach and spices. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the lentils and rice are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes.
Option: add chicken or sausage

Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes

Recipe from www.onceamonthmom.com.

Our family loves wheat pancakes and as much as we love blender pancakes, sometimes blending whole wheat kernels is too loud in the morning.
Oh, and they freeze great! Double or triple the batch, flash freeze them flat, them stack in freezer bag. Some for now, some for later! Kids can pop one in microwave anytime for a quick snack.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
0.75 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1.5 cups milk
3 Tablespoons oil or melted butter

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients. Beat in eggs, milk, and oil with a whisk or mixer. Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet to medium heat. Spray with cooking spray or coat with a little butter. Pour on pancake batter, about 0.25 cup per pancake. When bubbles form and edges are set, flip. Serve warm, or freeze.

Quick blender salsa

Good. Easy. Convenient. Fairly cheap.

Recipe from: http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/2012/01/quick-and-easy-blender-salsa/

INGREDIENTS

1- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1- 10 oz can orginal Rotel (I used off brand with no problem)
1/2 small onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1/2-1 jalapeno, seeded or not (depends on how spicy you like it) (I used Serrano, less than half)
1 teaspoon honey (sounds weird, I know, but it works)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (no cumin, no problem)
small to medium size handful of cilantro, washed
juice of 1 lime
INSTRUCTIONS

Put all the ingredients in the base of a food processor or good blender and pulse to combine for 30 seconds or so until all the ingredients are finely chopped and salsa is desired consistency. Taste for seasoning and adjust to taste. Serve with chips or over tacos

Quick no bake granola bars

I only had large chocolate chips, but still turned out pretty good. Kids and hubby liked them. I cut and wrapped them in plastic wrap.

Recipe from Laurens latest blog:

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats {not rolled oats!}
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Pour into lightly greased pan. (fit perfectly in square glass pan)

Chalupas!

I LOVE tacos. And I love fry bread. How can you go wrong putting the two together? You can't. These were so good, I just ate three and only stopped because I literally couldn't fit any more in my stomach.

(recipe from stolenmomentscooking.com)
Ingredients:
4 c. Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk (original recipe uses evaporated milk. I didn't have any but whole milk worked just great)
1 cup water
3 tablespoons oil
Additional oil for frying

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients until ball forms. Knead until well combined. Let rest at least 15 minutes. Pour about an inch of oil into a frying pot and heat up oil. Separate a small section of dough and roll into a thin circle.  Fry for a couple minutes on each side. Bend in half immediately when placing on plate. Stuff with your favorite taco fillers and enjoy!

I used taco meat (mixed with kidney beans before seasoning), cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet peppers (my favorite addition), sour cream and salsa. Yummmmmm....

Oh! A side note....unless you have a big family, this will make more dough than you need. I only fried up about half of it for chalupas then later for dessert we used the rest for fry bread! Roll and fry the same as before, then top with butter and powdered sugar or honey.

Simple Chicken Curry sauce

Here is a recipe for when you need chicken curry but don't have any coconut milk or a lot of time! (like me tonight) Serve with Jasmine rice.

Ingredients:
-A few Chicken tenderloins
- about 1 tablespoon curry paste, more or less to taste (or powder will do, amount will be different I believe...)
-onion, chopped
-garlic
- chicken broth/bullion, start with 1 cup, add more later if needed.
-milk, opt.
-corn starch (opt.)
-any variety of seasonings that you fancy. I Used: spoonful of sugar, splash of lime juice and soy sauce, a touch of ginger, cilantro and red pepper flakes.
-would be great with potato chunks and garnished with peanuts!

Directions:
Saute onion in oil and cook the curry paste for a few minutes. Add a little garlic at the end.

Salt and pepper your chicken then add to pan. Add chicken broth. Let chicken cook, flipping halfway.
Remove chicken as soon as it is no longer pink. Chop when cool.

Season the sauce to taste. Add milk if you want it creamy. I also added about a tablespoon or two of corn starch (mixed with a little cold water) because I like my sauce a little bit thick. Personal preference.

Return chicken to sauce and serve over hot rice. Mmmm.

Chicken Soup/ Dumplings

This recipe is pretty versatile. Can be made with noodles, dumplings or even rice I suppose. In this picture, I used a little noodles and dumplings. I will add the dumplings recipe at end.

Ingredients:
-1 or 2 chicken breasts (depending on size and how much meat you want. I sometimes cook extra to use in a casserole another night.)
-couple cups of vegetables (carrots, potatoes, celery, onions..)
-chicken base/stock (I use "better than bouillon")
-garlic, parsley, thyme (go easy), 1 bay leaf, salt, pepper, onion powder (if not using fresh onion) all to taste
- about 1 or 2 cups medium egg noodles (depends on how much broth you have...) or dumplings

Directions:
1. Boil your chicken and vegetables together in pot of water. (start chicken first) Season while cooking. Check chicken and vegetables often to avoid over cooking. When chicken is done, remove from pot to cool on plate.
2. Add chicken base a little at a time and play with seasoning, tasting the liquid until it's just right!
3. When vegetables are almost done (but not quite!) add noodles or dumplings.
4. While that is cooking, chop the chicken, cutting out gristle and fat.
5. When noodles are tender, stir in the chicken and serve!

Dumplings
Ingredients:
-1 cup flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 Tablespoon butter, melted
-1/2 cup milk

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients, gently stir in milk and butter, just until moistened.
Drop by spoonful into boiling soup. Cover pot and cook for about 15 minutes without lifting lid.

If you like a lot of dumplings, you can double recipe. I found that making 1 and 1/2 this recipe was just right for my average pot of soup.