Garlic Butter Dips

These breadsticks are very easy to make and very yummy with a light garlic flavor. They go with pretty much anything too! The original recipe is from The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook and has been slightly altered by me. I made them for the first time when I was 16! They didn't turn out great that first time because I'd never made bread or biscuits before and I overworked the dough, but once you get the method down, they couldn't be better or simpler. We actually have them much more frequently than garlic bread because French bread only stays good for a day or so and I don't want to make a trip to the store just to get a loaf of bread, plus they reheat quite well and last in the fridge for a few days. I should also mention that they aren't like your average breadstick because they're like biscuits rather than a yeast bread, but they sure are good :) I will share my recipe for yeast breadsticks another time.

Quick Note:  I tried these with whole wheat flour once and they turned out great!  The texture and whole wheat flavor were very good.

Here's a picture of the breadsticks from the top and bottom. The bottoms get a little crunchy.


Garlic Butter Dips

1/3 C butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2 C flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t salt
3 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 C milk

Put the butter in the center of a 9 by 13 baking dish and place the garlic on top. Set the dish in the oven and set to 350 degrees so the butter can melt while you make the dough. Be sure to remove the dish from the oven if you aren't finished with the dough by the time the butter melts! In a medium mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients, then stir in just enough milk to form a dough. Start with 3/4 cup and add more a tablespoon at a time if necessary. You can use your hands to finish mixing up the dough, but be careful not to overwork it and don't knead it at all. Flour a large piece of waxed paper, place the dough in the center, and sprinkle with a little more flour. Roll out into a 1/2 inch thick approximately 8 by 10 inch rectangle. Cut dough down the center lengthwise and then into 1 inch strips to make 20 breadsticks. When butter is melted in the dish, remove from the oven and spread the garlic around with a spoon. Carefully press each bread stick into the melted butter on both sides and arrange in the dish. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Yield: 20 breadsticks

Easy Baked Shells

16 posts so far and none of them have used cheese and noodles! The wait is finally over. It isn't mac and cheese but is almost as good: stuffed shells! My husband loves lasagna almost as much as he loves me and I knew something lasagna-y would help make him feel better since he still has that darned cold. This is a recipe I whipped up and we both think it turned out incredibly well. The dude said it was as good as his beloved lasagna and ate two servings. The great thing is that it's easier to make than lasagna and easier to serve since there aren't any layers to reckon with. I promise the noodles will cook through in the oven! Two important notes: The shells are only going to be as good as your spaghetti sauce. I used this recipe because I had a bunch in my freezer and it's really good. Your results will be best if you use a sauce that you love! I also used my own garlic bread seasoning in the recipe, it may be too salty if you use seasoning that you purchased.


Easy Baked Shells

5 C spaghetti sauce
1 C water
1/2 t salt
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
15 oz container ricotta cheese (I used part skim)
2 C grated mozzarella, divided
1 egg
2 T garlic bread seasoning, plus more to sprinkle
1/2 t pepper
1/8 t ground nutmeg
30 jumbo pasta shells, uncooked (about 2/3 of a 12 oz package)
dried parsley to sprinkle

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish. Stir together the spaghetti sauce, water and salt. Spread about 1 cup in the bottom of the baking dish and set the rest aside. Squeeze the thawed spinach to get out as much moisture as possible and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, the egg, garlic bread seasoning, pepper and nutmeg and stir well to combine. Spoon about 1 tablespoon into each shell and place them as close together as possible in the baking dish. Top with the remaining spaghetti sauce, making sure that each shell is covered. Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until the shells are tender when poked with a fork. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella, a little extra garlic bread seasoning, and a bit of dried parsley. Return to oven to allow cheese to melt.

Yield: about 8 servings

Garlic Bread Seasoning

This recipe is my version of the recipe from Our Best Bites, one of my favorite cooking blogs. As usual, I tweaked it a bit to suit our preferences. The dude thought it had too much oregano and I noticed it was missing rosemary, which to my rosemary loving tastebuds was a grievous flaw that could not go uncorrected. Every couple of months I make up a new batch and store it in a little shaker jar in the fridge. The name is kind of misleading because I sprinkle it on pizza, pasta, breadsticks, and anything else that seems like it could use a boost. Only rarely is it actually used for garlic bread! It does make great garlic bread though :o) Even if you usually turn your nose up at Kraft parmesan in a can- the first time I bought it was for this recipe- please give it a shot! Also I could see this being a great little gift to give around Christmas if you put it in a cute jar.


Garlic Bread Seasoning

4 T powdered parmesan cheese (the kind in the can)
1 T garlic powder
1 t salt
1 t dried basil
1 t dried parsley
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 t dried rosemary
1/2 t black pepper

Place everything in an 8 oz jar and shake to mix. Store in the fridge. Sprinkle on pizza, pasta, breadsticks, or make garlic bread with it.

To make garlic bread, buy a long loaf of French bred and mix 1 1/2 T of the seasoning with 1/3 C softened butter. Use a serrated knife to make a cut from above almost all the way through the bread every 3/4 inch down the length of the loaf. Spread the garlic butter on one side of each slice, press the slices together, then wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until bread is heated through and lightly crisp on the outside. Sorry, no picture, but I'll add one next time I make it!

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

Looking over the recipes I've posted so far, I sure do use my slow cooker a lot, don't I?! I can't help it, it's so convenient. This is the one I have. One of the reasons I love it is that it has 3 size crocks: 2 quart, 4 quart and 6 quart. You need to use the right sized crock for what you're making or it won't cook right, so this is extremely convenient. You can even pair together the big crock and the smallest one to make a water bath for cooking oatmeal overnight. I first saw it at Wal Mart a couple years ago but couldn't justify buying it because the one I had still worked. When that one bit the dust I practically squealed with joy :oD

I pretty much only use the big 6 quart crock for three things: chili, apple butter, and this spaghetti sauce. Every once in a while I make huge vats of chili and spaghetti sauce and then freeze it for later. We haven't purchased a jar of spaghetti sauce since I started doing it this way! I do like Prego, but I'm pretty sure that's only because it's what my dad always used when I was growing up. The other brands don't do it for me. Regardless, my homemade spaghetti sauce is definitely better. It is the thick, hearty, delicious result of much experimentation with cooking spaghetti sauce and I'm happy to say I created the recipe. It happens to be vegetarian and can be easily made vegan if you leave out the butter. Even if you're a meat lover I don't think you'll be disappointed. And don't fear the carrots! They get chopped up pretty small in the food processor and add texture and a bit of sweetness, but you can't even really see them when the sauce is done cooking.

Quick note: I buy store brand of most things, but to me there's a huge difference between store brand canned tomatoes and good quality ones. I use DeLallo canned tomatoes for this, which are very flavorful and don't need any added salt. You can use whatever brand you want but you may need to add salt to the sauce if you use another brand.


Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 bunch fresh parsley, stems removed (can use the whole bunch)
1/2 lb carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
1 large onion, peeled and chopped roughly
6 cloves garlic, peeled

3 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can tomato sauce
2 12 oz cans tomato paste
1 1/2 C red wine
2 T brown sugar
3 1/2 t dried basil
2 1/2 t dried oregano
1 1/2 t dried thyme
1 1/2 t dried rosemary
1 t pepper
salt to taste (optional)
1 stick butter (optional)

Mince the parsley in a food processor, then the carrots, then the onion and garlic. Add to the crock of a 6 quart slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients except the butter and salt and stir well to combine. Cover and turn heat to high until the sauce comes to a boil, about 1 hour. Remove lid and cover with a splatter screen. This step is important if you don't want little orange dots on everything in a 6 foot radius! Cook the sauce for 5 more hours, stirring occasionally. Veggies should be tender and sauce should be rich and thick. Stir in butter and salt if desired.

Yield: 24 servings. Freeze some!

Chicken Noodle Soup

My poor husband is miserable with a cold so he requested chicken noodle soup for dinner. Normally I would do this completely from scratch with a whole chicken, but there are two problems with that. First of all, if I make broth from a chicken, I always do it the day before I need it because I like to refrigerate the broth and remove the thick layer of fat that rises to the surface. He wanted soup NOW! I could try to just skim the fat off, but that leads us to the second problem. He hates the smell of whole chickens being boiled because he says it's like being punched in the face by a chicken. Usually you can't smell when you have a cold but his sniffing abilities are intact. He also loves dark meat so I decided to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the meat portion since they cook fast and Knorr chicken bouillon cubes for the broth part. I know, I know. Most bouillon is gross, but I do like Knorr. At my grocery store it's in the Hispanic food section for some reason. This is what it looks like:


You could use concentrated chicken soup base or cartons if chicken broth if you prefer. I don't like the cartons because I think it's overpriced, bland and a waste of packaging.

I would also normally put veggies in it like onions and carrots- yum!- but he didn't want those either. I guess when you're sick your preferences revert to what you liked (or didn't like) when you were a little kid! So I just added a halved onion and whole garlic cloves to season the soup as the chicken cooked since they can be easily strained out. This Joseph Joseph scoop colander was a gift from my mom and it's perfect for the job:


Here's the result, mostly homemade chicken noodle soup that's sure to please picky people! Sorry the picture is unappetizing, I promise it's good though :)


Chicken Noodle Soup

For soup:

1 large onion

4 whole cloves peeled garlic

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts

1/2 gallon chicken broth

1/2 t dried sage

1/4 t dried rosemary

1/4 t dried marjoram

1/4 t pepper

salt to taste

For noodles:

2 1/2 C flour plus more for dusting

1/2 t salt

2 eggs

1 T softened butter

at least 1/3 C water

Cut the ends off the onion, chop in half, and remove skin. Place in 5 quart pot along with the garlic, chicken and broth (note: if you use bouillon, just add 1/2 gallon water and the bouillon cubes). Crush herbs with a mortar and pestle and add to the pot along with the pepper. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Make the noodles while the chicken is simmering.

To make noodles:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together flour and salt. Add eggs, butter and 1/3 cup water. Stir by hand until the ingredients are mostly combined, then attach the dough hook and let the mixer do the work. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, if dough is too dry. You don't want it to be sticky though. Let mixer knead dough for 5 minutes until smooth (or do this by hand if you don't have a stand mixer), then form the dough into a ball and cover the mixing bowl. Let rest 10 minutes. After dough has rested, generously flour a clean surface. Place the dough on the surface, sprinkle with additional flour, and roll dough out until it's 1/4 inch thick if you like fat noodles (we do!) or 1/8 inch thick if you want thinner noodles. Use a pizza cutter to slice dough into 1/2 inch by 1 inch pieces.

By this time the chicken should be done cooking. Remove the chicken, onions and garlic with a large slotted spoon. Discard the veggies and dice the chicken. Taste the broth and add salt if necessary. When you're ready to cook the noodles, bring the broth back to a light boil and add them along with the chicken. Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Spiced Orange Tea Mix

There are many versions of this drink mix. Sometimes it's called Friendship Tea or Russian Tea but I'm more to the point and prefer Spiced Orange Tea. I first saw a version of it on the back of a Tang canister but I've also seen it in cook books and online. Whatever you want to call it, it's wonderful! I was hooked the first time I made it a few years ago and I've made it every winter since because it's so good and always puts me in a good mood. Mostly it tastes citrusy but you can taste the spices and tea too. It's pretty unique and definitely worth trying if you've never had it before. If ya don't like it, you can always give it to a friend or bring it to work to share with your coworkers. And if you DO like it, you can make a double batch, package it in cute little canning jars, and give it away as little gifts at Christmas!

Usually I wait to mix it up until we have snow on the ground (which will probably be about 2 weeks from now!), but my husband has a bad sore throat today and this tea is soothing. And anyway, we've been having gorgeous fall weather here in Fairbanks the past few days. Brilliant blue skies, not too chilly, lovely turning leaves. Usually we seem to rush from summer to winter over the period of a couple days so I'm enjoying the beautiful autumn. Everyone seems to be enjoying the weather. We were at the very last day of the farmer's market this past Saturday and little kids were running around having a ton of fun playing in the leaves. We watched one little girl dumping leaves on her mom's head over and over. She was so cute and it was hilarious :D Then today a young boy in our neighborhood stopped me and asked if he wanted me to rake the leaves in our yard. He said he made $25 so far and was just so pleased with himself! Love it! And Spiced Orange Tea is perfect for this kind of weather :)

Okay, enough yammering. Here's the recipe:


Spiced Orange Tea Mix

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C Tang

1/2 C instant tea powder

1 .23 oz packet lemonade Kool-Aid mix

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t allspice

Place all ingredients into a jar, put on the lid, and shake to mix. To serve, mix desired amount (about .5-1 T) with hot water in a mug and stir to dissolve. Store in an airtight jar or else the mix will clump up and be sure to shake up the jar each time you want some tea because it tends to settle.

Yield: 3 cups, about 50-100 mugs depending on how strong you like it.

Here's a mug of the tea that I mixed up for my husband. The mug features a panel from an Alaskan comic strip called Tundra. The artist is named Chad Carpenter and he sells books, calendars, shirts, and obviously mugs. We see him at the Tanana Valley State Fair every year and usually buy a calendar or another book and my parents (who do not live in Alaska) have received Tundra gifts on more than one occasion. Here's the Tundra website if you would like to have a couple laughs.

Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

We eat a lot of beans, probably more than most people. Refried beans, red and white chili with beans (and often no meat), beans added to other recipes, and these slow cooked pinto beans. Pinto beans are one of the most basic (and inexpensive) things I cook but I really love them. The flavor is not very exciting really but very satisfying and I'm always happy when we're having them! If you haven't made them before, you really should. You can always jazz them up with hot sauce or whatever you want at the end if you think they're boring. At Sam's Club this weekend we bought a 10 pound bag of dried pinto beans and I put up a bunch of cut up ham in the freezer so I'll get to enjoy them pretty frequently :D

When you cook pinto beans like this, the most important thing is to include some kind of meat like ham, ham hocks or a ham bone. I've never bought ham hocks (don't think our store even has them) and never have big ham bones so that leaves me with using just ham. For each pound of dry beans I use half a pound of ham and cut it into big hunks. I feel that meat is optional in a lot of recipes, but not in these beans because most of the flavor comes from it. If you left out the ham, all you'd have is oniony salty beans which would be even plainer! The ham gets really tender and the flavor changes a bit as it cooks. I know it looks weird and dark in the picture but I promise the ham is good :)  If you cook a ham, just stick some in the freezer to use for beans.

This is also the basic method for cooking any kind of dried beans, but only use the beans and water. Sometimes I cook garbanzos in the slow cooker for hummus or other beans to go in other recipes. In my opinion, using a slow cooker is really the only way to cook beans. No standing around stirring, no beans cooking to the bottom of the pot, nothing! It's so easy!

Without further ado...


Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

1 lb dried pinto beans
4 C water
4 to 8 oz ham, cut into chunks, or a ham hock
1 C diced onions (I had to use 2 T dried onions because it's all I had)
1/2 T salt
1/2 t pepper

Pour beans into 4 quart slow cooker. As you pour, look them over and pick out any weird looking ones or small rocks. Fill crock with a couple quarts of water, cover, and leave them to sit 8 hours or over night. In the morning, drain off the excess liquid and then rinse and drain them a couple of times. I don't bother using a strainer for this, just use the slow cooker's lid to keep the beans in the crock as you pour out the water.

Add the 4 C water to the beans along with the ham, diced onions, salt and pepper. Cover and let them cook on low for about 8 hours or on high about 4 hours, until beans are tender. The time will depend on your slow cooker. Great served with cornbread and salad.

Yield: 6 servings