My Dear Auntie bought a peanut butter pie the other day. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed. I really hate to waste fat grams on a disappointment, but that is what we did. Yesterday was the kind of day that called for a really good dessert, so I pulled together MY recipe for a peanut butter pie. This is where I started for my recipe, but of course, changed it!! Not a lot, but where it counts:
My Peanut Butter Pie Recipe* 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Powdered Sugar 1 cup creamy peanut butter(very important, note the bold)
16 ounces Cool Whip
1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust (you make it or the store does...)
Spray whipped topping
Chocolate or fudge syrup
Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and cool whip. Pour into a graham cracker crust and spread it out evenly. Top with spray whipped topping and drizzled syrup. You can eat it immediately, but it is MUCH better after sitting in the fridge for about 1 hour.
*Disclaimer: I never said this is full of only whole foods (so some of you need to pull your jaws off the floor). Eat at your own risk and enjoy it. If you focus most of your eating on whole foods, you can throw in contraband once in a while...
My Dear Auntie remembered a wonderful spread her mother used to make when she was a child. It included leftover roast beef. I just happened to have some leftover roast beef a few weeks ago and thought I would try my hand at Roast Beef Spread. We loved it so much that I decided to utilize a whole roast just to make it (you can imagine that we do not have very many "leftovers" with nine people in the house). I used the recipe found at this link to get me started. Of course, the recipe following is what I changed it to to make it mine!
Roast Beef Spread
1 cooked chuck steak (see below for directions)
2 cups of sweet pickle relish
1 to 1 1/2 cups mayo
1 teaspoon RealSalt Organic Seasoning Salt (to taste)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
Pull any fat off off the roast and place it in your food processor (or finely chop it). Add relish, mayo, seasoning, celery and onion. Continue to process it until well mixed (you may need to add a little more mayo and relish depending on the size of your roast). You want the spread to be "spreadable". Spread it onto bread for a lovely sandwich lunch!!
How to cook a roast in the crock pot:
1 roast (I cook all cuts this way. For the spread, I use chuck steak.)
1 onion
1 tablespoon fresh garlic
1 cup water
Salt and pepper
Put all these ingredients into your crock pot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Roast should fall apart when you you try to take it out. You can use any seasonings you would like. I even add 5 pounds of new potatoes and maybe 3 pounds of cut up carrots during the last 4 hours. Makes a wonderful meal! (The amount you add depends on the size of your crock pot!!)
I have a friend who is looking for holiday cooking and baking using whole grains. I have several on this blog, but they are not easy to get to . I figured a post including all the wonderful sites I have learned from would be the best way to help her!
I love The Family Homestead. I have learned so much from her. She is where I "jump started" my grain education!
MommaofMany has a wonderful blog full of every day cooking and baking with a little holiday cheer thrown in!
The Nourishing Kitchen follows right along with the Weston Price "group think". I have not used her a lot, but she is very educational.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop is just great. She does not pull any punches. Not a lot of recipes, but quite a bit of education!
This is by no means an exhaustive list. I just cannot think of all the others around. This is certainly enough to overwhelm you!! Happy cooking!!
This may not be exciting to everyone, but I have to say that I was "over the moon" for this! Now, do not be jealous...I cannot believe I found them at a store right by my house! The last time I was able to buy these at a grocery store was five years ago. I think they must be a regional item or something like that. Needless to say, I was not taking any chances on the fact that they were "seasonal" and bought six packages. That might last through Thanksgiving!!! If you are lucky enough to have cinnamon chips, find your favorite muffin recipe and add it. You will not regret it!!
I finally bought some pomegranates! My Aunt, Darling Daughter Number One and I cut them up. I thought it would make a wonderful tutorial! My skills were reserved in simply photography and eating.
First, a look at beginning and end of the pomegranate adventure:
Most Beautiful, Favorite Aunt wields a knife and chops the top of the pomegranate off.
That is beautiful, is it not?
Now we score the pomegranate into the six sections.
See how nicely the sections come apart?
We begin the removal of the seeds or arils over a bowl of water. The seeds fall to the bottom and the membrane floats.
Be careful, these little seeds will stain! We had a few of them fly.
Here is my new granola recipe. I love it because it has more coconut and cinnamon and the addition of flax and sunflower seeds make it really yummy. Enjoy!
Granola
6 cups rolled oats
2 cups 5 or 7 rolled grains
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1 cup of flax seed
3 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup coconut oil
1 ½ cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla (or almond extract)
2 cups chopped nuts (any nuts)
2 cups any dried fruit
In a large bowl, combine oats, grains, coconut, nuts, seeds, and cinnamon.
In a saucepan, heat oil, honey and vanilla until warm.This helps the mixture pour easily.Pour over the oat mixture and stir well.You may want to mix with your hands to insure everything is mixed.
Pour into large roasting pan or two cookie sheets and bake in oven at 275 degrees, stirring every 20 minutes for 2 hours.
After completely cooled, stir in dried fruit.Store in an air tight container.
I love being a wife and mother. There is no better job in the world! I have been blessed with so many wonderful opportunities and I want to share them!
My Family
You Are an Iced Coffee
At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic
Finished! Enjoy!
