I made this a few nights ago for dinner ... it's so good!  Chop up 3 medium-sized yellow summer squash and sautee the chunks in about 3 T. of organic olive oil for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a glass bowl and toss with a big handful of chopped fresh parsley and about 1 tsp.  minced garlic.  Add sea salt and pepper to taste.  Yum!

What do you make for Easter dinner when your natural foods market stops selling hams?  Shrimp patties! 

This is a dish we've been making in our home for years.  The natural foods market we shop is in the transition stages of becoming a Whole Foods store.  Well, I guess technically it is already a Whole Foods but there are still new products arrving all the time and still much to be done as far as remodeling the store and such.  To our dismay, this has also meant the disappearance of some products as well because they were items WF does not carry.  Sadly, some of those items were Beeler's products which means no more hams (and on a side note, no more ground sausage either). 

But on to the shrimp patties.......

12oz. to 1lb. of boiled shrimp that has been peeled, deveined, and chopped (I use wild-shrimp instead of farm-raised)

1 organic egg

1 1/2 cups** Italian breadcrumbs (I use fresh organic breadcrumbs and season them with organic dried herbs)

Combine the shrimp, egg, and 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (remainder will be used for dredging); mix well and set aside.

3 T. organic butter

1/3 cup organic white whole wheat flour

1/2 organic milk

1 tsp. organic lemon juice

1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. organic pepper

1/4 tsp. organic paprika

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir in the flour until smooth.  Slowly add the milk and cook until mixture thickens (stir constantly).  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Add to the shrimp mixture and blend well.  Shape into patties and dredge in the remaining 1 cup breadcrumbs.  Fry in oil until golden on both sides (we use organic olive oil).  Remove to paper towels to drain.

Join in the Friday Show n Tell fun with Canadagirl!

One of the best kitchen adventures we've taken is grinding grains.  We were fortunate enough to purchase a Vitamix a few years ago along with the canister needed for grinding grains.  We were finally able to find a source for purchasing organic hard white wheat berries for a reasonable price and have been grinding them for several months now.  Until then it was just too costly (shipping wise) for us to do and all we could buy locally was hard red wheat berries (which we do not like the taste of). 

16oz. bag organic chiocciole (or pasta of your choice) cooked according to package directions and drained well

2 T. organic unsalted butter

Organic white whole wheat flour

1 cup organic milk (plus extra if desired)

4oz. organic raw sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat; stir in enough flour to form a thick paste.  Keep heat on medium and slowly add 1 cup milk; stir constantly until mixture thickens.  Add the cheese and stir until smooth; add more milk if desired to thin the sauce.  Pour sauce over cooked pasta and mix well to coat evenly.  This is a quick and easy favorite at my house.

This would make a great Valentine's Day dessert.  I last made it on New Year's Day, but forgot to take any pictures.

It's Show and Tell Friday!  Visit Canadagirl for details and links to other participating blogs.

Guess what is a family favorite at my house and great for letting little hands help?

PIZZA!

1 T. yeast

2 1/2 cups organic white whole wheat flour (or a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat)

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. Rapadura

2 T. organic extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup warm water

Mix all together into a dough and let sit for 30 minutes.  Punch down dough and roll out on a pizza stone.  Top with organic tomato sauce, seasonings (we like genovese basil or Italian seasoning), organic mozzarella cheese and anything else you wish.  Bake at 425* for 20 to 22 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly golden.

This is another of my ds1's favorites.......

Cornbread Muffins

1 cup organic white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup Rapadura

3 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup organic yellow cornmeal

1 T. organic flaxseed meal + 3 T. water (or you can use 1 egg instead)

1 cup organic milk

5 T. organic unsalted butter, melted

Combine all and mix just until smooth.  Divide batter evenly between 12 muffin cups (use baking cups like those made by If You Care if using an aluminum muffin pan).  Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

This is one of my ds1's favorite meals and we generally have it once a week.  He's always gets excited when it's pizza night and dances around in conga line fashion chanting "Mama's making pizza!  Mama's making pizza!"  It's the little things like that that just make my heart overflow.

1 T. yeast

2 1/2 cups organic white whole wheat flour (or a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat)

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. Rapadura

2 T. organic extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup warm water

Mix all together into a dough and let sit for 30 minutes.  Punch down dough and roll out on a pizza stone.  Top with organic tomato sauce, seasonings (we like genovese basil or Italian seasoning), organic mozzarella cheese and anything else you wish.  Bake at 425* for 20 to 22 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly golden.

One of our favorite muffins is banana.  These freeze very well so I usually make 2 or 3 batches at a time and freeze the extras.

1 3/4 cups organic white whole wheat flour (or a combo of all-purpose and whole wheat flours)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3/4 cup Rapadura

2 T. organic flaxseed meal +  6 T. water (or you can use 2 eggs instead)

1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil (I use just shy of 1/2 cup)

2 ripe organic bananas, mashed

Combine all ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.  Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups (use baking cups like those from If You Care if using an aluminum muffin pan).  Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. 

I also make this recipe using organic raw blue agave nectar.  Replace the sugar (Rapadura) with the agave (at 2/3 the amount of sugar called for) and decrease all other liquids by 25%.

In an effort to get some breakfasts made up and in the freezer before we start school next week, I whipped up 3 batches of waffles last night.  Five meals worth made it into the freezer and the rest were either devoured immediately (by ds1) or set aside for this morning's breakfast.  The recipe I use is a really easy one that I got from a long-ago friend.

2 cups organic white whole wheat flour (or you can use a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat)

2 T. Rapadura

1 T. aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3 T. organic flaxseed meal + 9 T. water (or you can just use 3 eggs)

1 1/2 cups organic milk

1/4 cup organic butter, melted

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.  Cook in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.  (For banana nut waffles, add 1/2 cup mashed bananas and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the batter.)

Of course now that I'm adding things to my freezer, we have Tropical Depression Four out in the Atlantic.  Didn't I just say the other day that this very thing was why I was leary to be adding more to the freezer???  Oh well, such is life here (or at least since 2004 when we got hit twice in three weeks).

I've read this tip so many times over the years - to cut down on grocery expenses, have more meatless meals.  It sounds good in theory, but is it really true?  No, not always. 

Last night we had a meatless meal.  Just a combo of what sounded good to everyone ... mashed potatoes, cornbread, navy beans, and fried okra.  While frying the okra, it dawned on me that it was a pretty expensive dish to make.  I'm not talking about the okra itself or the breading, but the oil in which it was fried.  We use organic olive oil for everything.  I stock up on it when it's on sale so I'm getting the best/cheapest price possible.  Still, I figured it took about $4 worth of oil to fry the okra.  When I considered that we were blessed with getting a deal on organic ground beef a few months ago for $2.99/lb. (reg. price $8.99/lb.), the okra alone was more expensive than if I would have had some sort of dish using the ground beef for dinner.  

Will this 'new revelation' change the way we eat or the meals we make?  No.  I buy heavily when the things we use are on sale.  That ensures I'm getting the cheapest price possible.  We'll continue to do as we've always done - plan our meals based on what we already have in the pantry and freezers rather than buying groceries based on a meal plan.  I won't stop buying organics either.  I feel the Lord spoke to me very strongly about this years ago and I've done my best to be obedient ever since.  I do hope ds1 and I have success with some container gardening in late fall, winter, and next spring.  Gardening here is difficult at best due to the climate, but I have had some minor success in the past that has me inspired to give it a go again. 

I'll readily admit this ... dh does most of our cooking.  I'm not helpless in the kitchen, cooking is just not something I enjoy.  Dh on the other hand enjoys cooking immensely.   He has definitely been gifted in this area and is one of those people that can just toss a bunch of ingredients together and a wonderful meal results.  He does not enjoy baking though so we make a good pair as a result ... he does the majority of the cooking and I do all the baking (I love to bake!).

Dh was on call yesterday and got called to a job site a two hour drive away.  I had a feeling he would be really late getting home.  The time rolled around to make dinner and I was not at all comfortable.  We didn't have a complicated meal planned - sloppy joe's, tater tots, and corn - but I do not like handling raw meat.  It grosses me out to be quite frank.  I had written down dh's recipe for sloppy joe's at the time dh 'created' it, so I pulled that out and got started.  I made it through handling the meat (barely) and was on my way.  Dh arrived home just as I was getting ready to add the remaining ingredients to the browned ground beef and I found that he makes them a bit differently than what I had written down.  Dinner turned out great and we were all so glad dh was home to sit down and share the meal with us.

Here's dh's recipe for sloppy joe's...

1lb. ground beef 

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup bbq sauce

1 T. ketchup

1/2 T. mustard

Brown the ground beef and drain.  Combine ground beef with the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 10 minutes.  (I noticed last night that dh added more ketchup and mustard than this written recipe calls for.)