Category Archives: Cooking

Hot Dog Hash

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 7 March, 2014 None comments

Hot Dog Hash is delightful to any age and any mouth that is a picky eater. This is great for breakfast/brunch or dinner. It also makes for a great camping meal, simply wrap in foil and cook over the fire.

Ingredients:

8 hot dogs
4 large potatoes
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 apple, diced
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Dijon mustard

Cook hot dogs to your preference. Once cooked, slice hot dogs open and place in a glass dish. Broil for 3 minutes or until crispy.

Meanwhile, add diced potatoes to a skillet and sauté for 4 minutes and add mushrooms, apple and onions along with seasoning and continue cooking until done, reaching desired crispness for the potatoes.

Once cooked, top with mozzarella cheese.

Spoon into a serving bowl and top with open faced hot dog and Dijon mustard.

As you have seen by previous hot dog dishes, I attempt to do something extraordinary for my hot dogs rather then always eating them with a bun. So delicious and puts the right spin on a hot dog meal.

Check out my other recipes here:

Bacon-Wrapped-Hot-Dogs

Tasty-Dogs

Buttermilk

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 6 March, 2014 None comments

Making your own buttermilk is entirely too easy to not share. I honestly don’t see a point in purchasing buttermilk when you can easily make your own.

Here’s how:

Buttermilk is something I never have on hand. An easy trick to make your own buttermilk is to place the milk in the proper measuring cup leaving a tiny bit of room at the top. Add 1 tbsp. of white vinegar and let sit for 2-3 minutes. (If making more than 2 cups add 1 tbsp. per cup of vinegar) A layer will separate on the top of the milk beginning the process of turning the milk into buttermilk.

So easy!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 5 March, 2014 None comments

I made these muffins this past weekend and was very fond of how quickly they went through the mouths in our house. We all loved them. They have the proper amount of flavor mixed with crunch from the nuts and seeds. They are healthy and without all the added preservatives from boxed or store bought muffins. They make for a great breakfast or snack throughout the day and you don’t have to feel guilty if your son eats three in one sitting as mine did. :)

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup rolled oats
½ cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup flax seed flour
¾ cup honey
¼ cup chia seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups blueberries
2 tbsp flour
½ cup pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl combine first ten ingredients: oats, flour, honey, seeds, cinnamon, powder, soda and salt. Mix well.

First 10 ingredients

I grease the measuring cup with oil before adding the honey. This will help the honey come out 100% leaving the measuring cup 100% clean from the stickiness.

Slowly stir in buttermilk*, oil, vanilla and eggs. Mix really well.

In a small bowl toss blueberries with flour and coat well. (This helps the juices not soak into the muffins and dye them all blue-black)

Add blueberries and pecans.

In a greased muffin tin or with muffin cups use a ¼ cup measuring cup to easily pour into the muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*Buttermilk is something I never have on hand. An easy trick to make your own buttermilk is to place the milk in the proper measuring cup leaving a tiny bit of room at the top. Add 1 tbsp. of white vinegar and let sit for 2-3 minutes. (If making more than 2 cups add more vinegar) A layer will separate on the top of the milk beginning the process of turning the milk into buttermilk.

Enjoy!

(adapted from Cooking Light first foods)

Coffee Creamer

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 March, 2014 None comments

I love coffee! I am a HUGE coffee fanatic. Many of you probably already know this about me, but I LOVE coffee!

I do like a lot of the fancy flavor coffee creamers but when I try and read the ingredients it simply isn’t in my vocabulary. When you have a number next to an ingredient than I get kind of scared. Red 50. Yellow 102. Blue 24. You get the picture? It’s not good.

I’ve made my own creamer for quite some time but I must humbly admit when Fall and Christmas approached I get very excited for the holiday creamers; pumpkin spice, eggnog, peppermint mocha, and York peppermint paddy. I had succumb to the yellow color 60 for three months and my body is probably filling itself with cancer as we speak. HA okay probably not but my homemade creamer is by far better than these coffee creamers.

I have made peppermint mocha, brown sugar cream, and French vanilla. These are just a couple of the ones I enjoy. But the basis of the creamer is pretty standard and can be used with any flavor you like.

Ingredients:

Brown Sugar Sweet Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp vanilla extract
4 cups milk

In a saucepan over medium heat, add condensed milk and brown sugar. Heat until sugar is completely dissolved, stirring constantly.

Add vanilla and milk and heat until it begins to steam, do not boil.

Store in a glass container in the fridge!

You can simply use sweetened condensed milk and regular milk as a staple base for any other flavor you desire. Here are a couple more options:

Peppermint Mocha

1 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp peppermint extract

Peppermint Patty

2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp peppermint extract

Raspberry Almond

2 tsp raspberry
2 tsp almond

Egg Casserole Comfort Food

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 27 February, 2014 None comments

This recipe is the ultimate comfort food recipe out there. It makes a very full 9×13 pan leaving you with plenty of leftovers and trust me, you will want the leftovers. I made this the other night for dinner although it is a breakfast treat. My husband was questioning the “casserole” look as I was plopping it into the oven. Once serving this hot dish he came back for seconds leaving him in a food coma as well as a food baby. :)

This is the best breakfast brunch casserole for guests and works fabulously for dinner as well.

Ingredients:

1 lb bag of hash browns, uncooked
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
12 eggs, scrambled
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can green chilies (optional)
1 ½ cups sour cream
1-2 cups cheese, shredded

In a greased 9×13 casserole pan, spread hash browns evenly throughout.

Scramble eggs and cream cheese together to add a creamy texture to the eggs. Mmmm good! :) Layer on top of hash browns.

Meanwhile, cook the meat and onions until done. (Season to your liking)

Once the meat is cooked, spread on top of the hash browns.

In a small bowl combine the cream of mushroom soup and sour cream, mix well. Spread on top of the sausage layer. (If using green chilies, add now)

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle cheese on top and broil for 1-2 minutes.

May serve with fruit or eat alone! :)

This meal is great to serve guests or take to a brunch. This dish can be made in advance or placed in the freezer for a later date. If freezing, compile all ingredients together as listed above and freeze before baking. When ready to bake, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw completely before cooking.

Chicken Quesadilla

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 25 February, 2014 None comments

Okay so this is NOT your ordinary quesadilla. It’s down right delicious and we couldn’t stop eating them. They are SO delightful and filled our hungry tummies last night when we got home from “shopping.” I use that word lightly as when shopping with a toddler and a husband who hates malls is never an enjoyable experience. Shopping to me is beyond enjoyable and I could shop most everyday. But lets be honest, I rarely shop these days as Cooper becomes quite the terror running all around, pulling hangers from the rack, and hiding below so I get that panicked feeling that those 2 seconds I blinked, he disappeared. He is quite the runner now-a-days that I can’t even blink while out and about with him.

Last night we were at Nordstrom shopping for some new clothing for my husband and definitely new shoes as his are letting water in and getting his little tootsies soaked to the bone. I couldn’t figure out if this statement was actually true as we waded through puddles to get indoors or if it was an excuse for new kicks. :) (If you live in Portland, you know we are far from a drought!)

We scored fabulous deals and he got lots of goodies for a reasonable price. He hates shopping and decided to get anything and everything at once so he could be done. He didn’t try on anything as for the most part, we are good at guess-timating his size. We returned home around 7:30 and had to feed Coop real quick and get the sick boy off to bed.

I premade the vegetable mix knowing we were going to be out later. This helped the dinner progress a lot faster. I pulled out our griddle and was able to make 5-6 halves at a time in the midst of all the chaos.

We ate quickly as by 8pm our tummies were grumbling beyond belief.

Ingredients:

6 tortillas
1 ½ cup cooked chicken, diced
½ can diced chilies
1 can black beans
1 cup shredded cheese
½ cup chicken broth
1 tbsp flour, cornstarch (for thickening)
1 red pepper, chopped (I use the mini peppers and do a combination of red, yellow and orange)
1 small onion, chopped

Cook chicken until no longer pink. Season as desired. Set aside.

Chop peppers and onions and begin to sauté over medium-low heat. Once tender, add in cooked chicken and chilies.

Add 1 tbsp flour and mix well to coat all the vegetables and chicken.

Add in chicken broth and let simmer until it thickens. Roughly 3 minutes.

Add in black beans and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Remove from heat.

On a griddle fill each tortilla with mixture and hold over. Let cook until light brown and crispy. Rotate sides and crisp up both sides.

Serve with salsa, sour cream and avocados.

Enjoy! Probably the best quesadillas I’ve ever made!

Amish white bread

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 24 February, 2014 None comments

My sister gave me this recipe for burger buns.

Amish White Bread:

2 cups warm water (110 degrees) separated
1/3 cup granulated sugar, separated
1 ½ T active dry yeast
1 ½ t salt
¼ cup canola or veggie oil
5-6 cups white flour, separated

Microwave water for about 2 minutes until it reaches 110 degrees. Put yeast into a separate small bowl; add about 1 t of the sugar to the yeast and about 1/4 cup of the warm water. Stir well and let sit for about 10 minutes or until yeast foams up and doubles.

Attach the dough hook to your mixer and add 4 cups of the flour to the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on speed 1. Add the salt and the remaining sugar and mix together. Add the remaining warm water, the yeast mixture and the oil, mix.

Scrape the sides of the bowl, turn to speed 2 and begin to add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough cleans the sides of the mixer bowl and clings to the hook. It is possible that you may not use all of the flour. Continue kneading on speed 2 for about 2 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic but still slightly sticky.

Spray top of dough and sides of mixing bowl with a light coat of non stick spray, turn the dough over and spray the top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place into a warm, draft free spot for an hour, or until doubled.

Spray two loaf pans (or baking sheets if you want to do buns) and place the loaves into the pans (or shape into flattened circles and lay on baking sheet. I usually get 12-15 buns out of a batch of dough. They won’t rise a lot but they do kind of spread out so they will get bigger as you wait.) Cover loaf pans (or buns), put in a warm spot and allow to rise for 30 minutes or until dough has reached desired size at 350 for 30-40 minutes (20-23 minutes for the buns.)

Recipe for Veggie Burgers click here

Does your child hate veggies?

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 22 February, 2014 None comments

Are you having trouble getting your kids eat their veggies? I know I do. Cooper refuses to eat vegetables unless it’s corn. Now and again he will eat cooked vegetables mixed into his dinner, but I have found the older he gets he judges the ‘look’ of his food before he tastes it. That is a sore subject for me. :)

I have mentioned my spinach shake previously and will go back to that again. The last couple days my husband has been talking about doing a juice detox. He and I have been watching a lot of food documentaries and he really has had stomach issues for quite sometime. He wants to detox and see if he begins to feel better. Due to this, I made a spinach shake last night for all of us pre dinner. This helps you eat less for dinner but also is packed full of the nutrients our body is lacking.

Note to ALL of you who say spinach in a shake sounds absolutely terrible: It isn’t bad, if you make it right, you honestly can’t taste the spinach. You could leave the spinach out but why if you can’t taste it? It has so many vitamins we need!

Cooper drinking the green monster! :)

Please try it before you judge it! I wont steer you wrong.

Ingredients:

2 cups packed spinach
2 bananas
1 orange
¾ cup blueberries (frozen fruit works great)
1 pear
1 large apple or 2 small apples
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup orange juice

If you get brave once you decide you like the shake add in more vegetables such as:

Snap peas
Carrots
Celery
Kale
peanut butter/almond butter
ginger

Yes, I have add all of these vegetables and I do this on a regular basis. Ginger helps with the stomach and very helpful for digestion. If you use protein powder add one scoop to the entire shake.

This serving size serves my husband, me and cooper.

Veggie Burgers

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 February, 2014 None comments

What’s for dinner tonight? “woot woot” Homemade, decadent veggie burgers. These suckers are so easy and so full of flavor. I’ve made many different types of veggie burgers and some of them are time consuming and lacking flavor. These however, or quite tasty, super easy and you can make ahead of time AND even freeze them for later use. They make 12 large burgers, great for making a double batch to freeze for quick last minute meals.

As you know I enjoy a bit of a spice to my food. Easily omit the spice if you are one who prefers otherwise. :)

Ingredients:

2 cups spinach
2 large carrots
1 red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt & pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you prefer no spice)
2 oz (½ can chopped chilies)
½ cup fresh parsley
½ cup fresh cilantro
3 green onions, chopped
1 can hominy, drained
1 can diced Italian tomatoes
2 cups Oats
1/3 cup flour
Whole wheat buns
Toppings/condiments for burger

In a food processor toss spinach, carrots, red pepper, minced garlic, onion powder, garlic salt, cayenne pepper and chilies.

Puree until pretty chunky. (Depending on the size of your food processor you may be able to fit everything in at once. Mine it 8 cups and I still have to puree a bit to add the remainder of ingredients)

Add in parsley, cilantro, onions, hominy, and diced tomatoes. Puree until well blended.

In a large bowl, fold in rolled oats and flour. Mix well.

In a greased 9×13 pan form your patties and place 6 large burgers in the pan.

Bake at 450 for 25 minutes.

Broil for an additional 2-3 minutes to crisp them up a bit.

I made a chipotle mayo sauce:

¼ cup mayo
2 tbsp blue cheese dressing
½ tsp sriacha

*If freezing, allow to cool 100% before placing them into a Ziploc, airtight bag.

Served with onions, pickles, spinach, pepper jack cheese and chipotle mayo sauce (ingredients above)

Serve on homemade hamburger buns.

Spaghetti Pie

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 February, 2014 None comments

Oh the greatest combination of lasagna and spaghetti all in one yummy dish. My sisters birthday is a week prior to my husbands. We did a joint dinner combing their favorite meals. My sister is a huge lasagna fan but my husbands lasagna recipe is by no means cheap; roughly $50. So, because we did dinner smack dab in the middle of valentines day and Michael’s birthday we decided to go for the more reasonable meal, spaghetti pie. :)

This recipe is quite easy and always a dinner favorite with company.

Ingredients: