Category Archives: Vegetarian

November 8, 2012 · 7:36 pm

Apple Jack Cheese Spread

We had this as a sample at our grocery store. It was SO good…a little bit sweet/sour from the apples and savory from the cheese/mustard/chives…a great combo! This would be a great dip to take to any holiday party you might be attending in the upcoming months.

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 large Granny Smith apple, shredded
2 T chives, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions:
In a food processor or by hand, combine cheeses and mustard, blending until smooth. Place in a medium bowl and add apples and chives. Stir to combine.

Sprinkle with pecans and chill.

Serve with crackers.

What did the family think? This was a sample at the grocery store. I don’t remember who tried it and who didn’t, but I had some and it was GOOD.

Where did this recipe come from? the grocery store

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Six Ingredients or Less, Vegetarian

October 31, 2012 · 11:11 am

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dip

This is the season of family get togethers and parties. I know that we are always taking a dish to share to these types of events. This would be a great treat to bring for munching with pretzels, apple slices, celery sticks or mini-bagels.

Ingredients:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pretzels, apples slices, bagels

Put peanut butter, pumpkin, honey and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Serve with pretzels, apples slices, celery sticks or mini-bagels.

What did the family think? This was a sample at our grocery store last week. I am not sure if everyone tried it, but I know at least a couple of us did and we liked it. Yum!

Where did this recipe come from? our grocery store

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

· 10:45 am

Sweet Pumpkin Dip

This is a great dip for fall parties. It’s delicious served with toasted pita, toasted bagel bites, vanilla wafers, graham crackers, apple slices and ginger snaps.

1 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
2 cans (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Dippers: pita, ginger snaps, graham crackers, toasted mini-bagels, vanilla wafers, apple slices

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together until well blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

What did the family think? We had this as a sample at the grocery store and luckily they had the recipes available to go with it because we all loved it.

Where did this recipe come from? our grocery store

Photo from Land o’ Lakes

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less, Vegetarian

September 30, 2012 · 10:13 pm

Wheat-Free Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I have a kid who likes banana anything and everything…banana cream pie, banana flavored candy, banana bread and of course, bananas. I knew he would love these. I also knew he would probably be the only person in our house who would eat them, but sometimes you just have to bake something for someone because you know they will love it, not because everyone will love it.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 single serving cup (or 1 cup) of plain low-fat Greek yogurt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar, applesauce, agave, honey…whatever you want to use
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 bananas

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray.

Place all of the ingredients, including bananas in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth. PUT THE YOGURT IN THE BLENDER FIRST AND PUT THE OATS IN THE BLENDER LAST. (Very important to keep things from getting stuck.)

Pout batter into cupcake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

What did the family think? He loved them just as I knew he would. He had them for snack and for breakfast for several days. The rest of us didn’t have any.

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Keeping Up with the Joneses and they got it from Dashing Dish.

photo from Babycenter

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Filed under After School Snacks, Bread, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

September 29, 2012 · 3:17 pm

Baked Blueberry Pancakes

We love to have breakfast for dinner and we also love pancakes, but pancakes seem to take forever to make. I also must admit that I was WELL into adulthood before I figured out the finesse of making a pancake that wasn’t burnt on the outside or runny on the inside. This recipe gives you the taste of pancakes without all of the standing around and flipping them. Put these in to bake and get the rest of your dinner or breakfast made while these are doing their thing in the oven.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbsp melted butter, slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp sugar
2 cup flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Add sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Carefully stir in blueberries. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean minutes.

Cute into squares and serve with butter and maple syrup just like you would serve pancakes.

What did the family think? Our youngest who absolutely loves blueberries by themselves doesn’t like them in pancakes, so these didn’t go over well with them. That said, you could probably just make this dish without blueberries.

Where did this recipe come from? adapted from Plain Chicken

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Lent, Vegetarian

September 10, 2012 · 8:53 am

Chocolatey Chip Cookies

My husband had a rough week at work last week and the kids had survived their first week at school so Friday afternoon seemed like a great time to bake some cookies to kick off our weekend. A friend of mine had told me about this recipe which take the traditional Nestle recipe and tweaks it a little. The results were scrumptious.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup oatmeal

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and oatmeal. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

What did the family think? They have chocolate in them..no complaining here.

Did I change anything? The original recipe has less chocolate chips, more brown and white sugar and no oatmeal. The changes I made are reflected in the recipe above.

Where did this recipe come from? adapted from the original Nestle chocolate chip cookie recipe

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Everybody Ate It, Vegetarian

September 6, 2012 · 8:55 am

Peanut Butter Granola

I found a new granola recipe that I have fallen in love with. I can’t believe I was ever afraid of making homemade granola. I guess I thought it would be too hard or too time consuming. I’m not sure, but obviously it can’t be too hard since I make granola all the time now.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (I didn’t add this, but I think I will next time.)

Instructions:
Melt the butter and peanut butter together in a 3-quart saucepan.

Add the honey, vanilla and salt. Stir the mixture until it is smooth.

Add the oats and cinnamon. Stir until the oats are completely coated with the peanut butter mixture.

Turn the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet, or a large 9 by 13-inch pan. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10-12 minutes. It will be brown and crispy.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan. Break up into pieces after it has cooled.

Transfer the granola to a sealed container. Add the raisins, if you are using them, when the granola is cool.

What did the family think? The kids don’t like granola and hubby won’t touch peanut butter granola. You know what I have to say to that? Good. More for me. 🙂

Where did this recipe come from? Hillbilly Housewife


Where’s the butter? I used the last of it in this recipe and the box made it into the trash before it made it into this picture.

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

July 23, 2012 · 5:09 pm

Grain-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

These have been all over Pinterest so I had to try them. They were met with approval by 1/2 of our family. My husband would have liked them if he hadn’t seen the garbanzo beans going into them. Seriously. He would have never known… all you can taste is the yummy goodness of chocolate and peanut butter and there is absolutely nothing yucky about that.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/4 cup honey or agave
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined.

Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky. With wet hands, form into 1 1/2″ balls. Place onto a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don’t do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes. Yields about fourteen 1 1/2″ cookie dough balls.

What did the family think? They were good, but I thought they were best about two days after I’d made them and they were less doughy and more like a cookie.

Where did this recipe come from? Texan Erin Baking

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Filed under After School Snacks, Desserts, Easy, Vegetarian

July 19, 2012 · 2:37 pm

Hummus, Avocado and Tomato Sandwich

Last summer, this heirloom tomato sandwich was my go to lunch. This week I discovered this sandwich. Since we don’t have any tomatoes from our garden yet, I had to buy one. (Which absolutely kills me, by the way. I have five tomato plants with green tomatoes on them. I need it to get warmer around here so the tomatoes will actually ripen!) Anyways, this is a tasty sandwich and great if it’s too hot to turn on the oven.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread {toasted or not, whichever you’d like}
Hummus [store bought or homemade]
1 small avocado – halved, pitted, peeled and smashed
1 tomato, sliced
salt + pepper to taste

Instructions:
Spread hummus on a slice of bread. Add smashed avocado and sliced tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

What did the family think? I am the only one eating this yummy creation. It’s been my go to lunch this week.

Where did this recipe come from? Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Sandwich, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

July 17, 2012 · 2:22 pm

No Bake Berry Cream Cheese Tarts

My mother-in-law sent me this recipe before the 4th of July. Yes, this would have been a perfect dessert for the 4th, but we were out of town. I meant to make it last week, but the berries kept getting eaten before I could make the dessert. So, I finally got around to making this last night…we had all of the ingredients AND the family LOVED this! It only made four and there are four of us. The kids wanted to eat mine. Sorry…I am not handing over anything that involves cream cheese and berries.

Ingredients:
4 whole graham crackers (8 squares)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 cups mixed berries: raspberries, strawberries and/or blueberries

Instructions:
Finely crush graham crackers and divide crumbs among four small bowls. I used ramekins.

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar with a whisk.

Put mixture on top of graham cracker crumbs. Top with berries.

Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

What did the family think? We all loved it! Hubby actually hasn’t eaten his yet and he better hurry up or it’s going to be GONE.

Where did this recipe come from? KU Med Center

photo from KU Med Center

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less, Vegetarian