Saving dinner the homemade way

I found two boxes of taco shells in my cabinet and I could not remember exactly when I purchased them. The boxes did not have expiration or best used by dates anywhere on them, but did say the taco shells were in seal fresh packs, so I figured they were probably still good. There was a recipe on the back of the box for Taco Casserole that looked delicious, so I decided it would be dinner. The recipe called for taco sauce, which I did not have on hand, so I found a recipe for homemade taco sauce. It was extremely easy to make and tasted better than taco sauces I've purchased from the store!

The recipe also called for a packet of taco seasoning - another ingredient I did not have. Okay, so I should have gone shopping before deciding on dinner! Once again, I found a recipe for homemade taco seasoning. Very simple to make and tasted just like the premade seasoning packets I've bought in the past. I don't think I'll ever purchase taco sauce or taco seasoning again!

Okay, here is the best part of the story. After I prepared seasoned the cooked ground turkey and got ready to fill the casserole dish with the broken taco shells as directed, I noticed a funny smell. A smell coming from the just opened seal fresh taco pack. I thought I'd better taste a piece of taco shell and it was so NOT fresh! For a moment, I considered calling the poison hotline because I could not get the horrible taste out of my mouth! What's even worse, is that after searching and searching I finally found a production date of...

... 2005!

I threw the shells away, but then had to figure out what to do about dinner. I couldn't just serve a dish full of taco meat. I mixed up a cornbread batter and spread it over the taco seasoned ground turkey (to which I added corn kernels... just because I love corn). I baked everything at 400 for about 20 minutes, sprinkled cheddar cheese on top and had a tasty cornbread taco dinner!

Here are the recipes I used for the homemade sauce and seasoning mix.

Homemade Taco Sauce
1 can (8 ounces) unseasoned tomato sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
hot sauce to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Let set for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

Results Are In

I'm so proud of myself! I actually made the teething biscuits. I decided not to go with the recipe I posted earlier - I realized that it contains a whole egg and milk, two items which I am not ready to introduce to Lil' Cherub yet. At 9 months old, she has only had egg yolk - and though I know some say it's okay for babies to have whole egg cooked in a recipe, I'd rather just play it safe.

So I found another recipe which contained just four items!

1 cup of flour

1 cup of rice cereal

3 tablespoons of cooking oil

ice water.

I combined the flour and rice cereal, then gradually mixed in the cooking oil. I stirred in the ice water a bit at a time until the dough came away from the sides of the bowl. I rolled it out on a floured surface to the thickness of a cracker and cut it into strips. I baked them on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes - or until slightly browned. The recipe made several "crackers."

They are not very pretty, but Lil' Cherub seems to like them okay. If I had to change anything, maybe I would roll them out a bit thicker. They are hard - perfect teething biscuit quality - but also break very easily. That seems somewhat of a contradiction. Well, they snap right into pieces, but the pieces do not disolve very well. So I had to fish several chunks out of her mouth. I think if I made them thicker, they may not break so easily? She might be able to just hold onto them and gum them. I'm still pretty excited to have made them and motivated to try some other recipes!

Something to Sink Her Teeth Into

Lil Cherub has grown the cutest two little teeth. I'm sure she doesn't know what to do with them yet...though she has bitten me a few times already... Anyway, they are a reminder to me that she is growing so quickly! Babbling, crawling, cruising, eating lots of food to keep up with all of the energy she is spending. I made my own babyfood for all three of my little blessings. However, this time around I'm taking on a new challenge! She loves to eat toasted o's and graham crackers, so Ive decided to make my own teething biscuits and crackers . I found several recipes at a website that was a great resource to me with my first two blessings, wholesomebabyfood.com. I hope to try this one out this weekend and post pictures soon!

Baby Teething Crackers

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup milk



Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

In food processor or in large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar. Add the egg and mix well. Blend in enough of the milk to form a dough that will hold together in a cohesive ball.

On a floured surface or pastry cloth, roll into a rectangle about 3/8 inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2 x 3-inch rectangles. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Stick each cracker 2 or 3 times with the tines of a fork. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the crackers are thoroughly dry. Cool on a rack. These crackers should be hard. If necessary, put them back in the oven for a few minutes.

Yields 10 to 15 crackers.

Born Again Apple Pie!

I come from a long line of pie makers. Everyone in the family makes pies and I love making pies. I make them so often without following a recipe that it always catches me off guard when someone asks me to teach them how to make a pie. How to make a pie? What do you mean? I don't understand the question... That's the translation of the look that is usually on my face!

Yesterday we had a special guest visiting for dinner and at the last minute I decided to bake an apple pie. I quickly made and rolled out some dough, sliced up some apples, seasoned everything, put it together and threw it in the oven just before our guest arrived. After a lovely dinner I brought out a beautiful sparkling pie (I sprinkle sugar on the crust before baking - hence the sparkles). Imagine my shock, disbelief and horror, when I, the mistress of pies, cut into her perfect pie only to reveal apples floating in brown water! In my haste, I had forgotten to put in a thickener -which is almost always needed for a fruit pie. I usually use cornstarch, but sometimes use tapioca or even flour. Well this pie had none of the above! I was beyond embarrassed - though our guest and my family happily ate the apple soup. The apples were quite tasty and the crust was delicious. I was still very upset.

Sooo... after our guest left and the kids were in bed, I tried a little experiment. The pie was about half gone, but the pie plate was still filled with brown cinnamon flavored water. I stirred some cornstarch into the liquid I could see and just kind of hoped it would work it's way into the part under the crust. I put the pie back into the oven at 350 for 20 minutes or so.

IT WORKED!

When I took the pie out it had thickened beautifully. It was smooth as can be and oh so tasty! While I saved this pie - or at least half of it, I have definitely learned my lesson - no rushing while making pies anymore.

Chicken in Creamy Tomatillo Sauce

Here is a recipe I created! I was searching online for a recipe using tomatillos, but did not have the complete list of ingredients called for in any of the recipes. So....I made up my own! It turned out fabulous and I will be definitely using it again. Hope you enjoy it!



4 Tomatillos - quartered

1/2 yellow onion - chopped

3 cloves garlic - chopped

1 banana pepper - chopped

1 t fresh basil - chopped

1 t fresh scallion - chopped

1 10.75 oz can cream of mushroom soup

1 T olive oil

1/2 onion sliced

2 chicken breasts

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano

cooked brown rice



1. Blend first six ingredients in food processor.

2. Put mixture in small saucepan and simmer 10 minutes.

3. Add can cream of mushroom soup. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently

4. Cut bone from chicken breast, slice into thin fillets.

5. Brown chicken with onion slices in olive oil on both sides.

6. Add can diced tomatoes to chicken and onions. Simmer 3 minutes.

7. Pour chicken, onions and tomatoes into 9 X 13 casserole dish.

8. Pour tomatillo sauce on top.

9. Bake in oven for 45 minutes.

10. Serve over brown rice.

The Daily Challenge

I get a fun task each day - trying to come up with something for dinner that my children will eat and that hubby and I will enjoy. My daughter is a terribly picky eater. She didn't start out that way - being a healthy breastfed baby and moving on to lovingly homemade babyfood, she ate everything we put in front of her. Then she turned two and apparently decided she had a mind of her own when it came to mealtime. Now my son is a great eater, but also a loyal follower of his big sister. So if Lil' Miss says something is yucky, you can rest assured that the Little Guy will follow suit. If my kids could have their way, they would eat mac-n-cheese (out of the box), grilled cheese sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches every night.

I spend a great deal of time scouring the internet and and my many cookbooks for recipes I think everyone will enjoy. However, the online recipes that claim, "Your children WILL eat this," are not things I would put on a plate in front of my husband. They are dishes such as tater tots covered with cheese or weiner wraps or slices of bread baked under shredded cheese and milk. And I am most certainly NOT going to cook two separate meals for the kids and the adults.

So almost every evening, I say a little prayer, and proceed to prepare dinner. Each night is hit or miss. Some nights the kids are happy and hubby politely thanks me for dinner (we all know what that means). Some nights hubby raves about the meal and the kids refuse to touch it. And then there is the rare night that everyone actually cleans their plate. Tonight was one such night. I had taken the kids for a walk in the afternoon and was quite exhausted upon our return. I was convinced that there was no way I could cook dinner tonight and called hubby to see if he wanted to pick up some already prepared food from the deli at the grocery store. When I found out that he was no where near ready to leave work, I sat dejected on the couch while the children played. Then common sense kicked in and I realized that we'd spend way more money piecing a prepared meal together than if I just got my butt up and made something - especially knowing that I had plenty of time since hubby was still at his desk.

I pulled some chicken breast tenders out of the freezer and thawed them. I sauted a couple cloves of minced garlic, sliced up the chicken and added that to the pan, cooked it all for 10 minutes then added some soy sauce, brown sugar, ground ginger and chopped veggies. I let that cook for 5 more minutes and then added cornstarch to thicken. I boiled a pot of low mein noodles and served the chicken dish on top of the noodles, topping with crunchy chow mein noodles. It was a tad salty (too much soy sauce) but everyone's plate was clean by the end of dinner, save a stray noodle or mushroom.

There are only a few dishes that turn up successful results (defined by how much food is left on the plate) and I realize that I need to begin keeping track of them. A while ago I started a log of everything I make for dinner, so that I can eventually make a monthly dinner menu. However, the majority of things on the list are meals the kids (or the kid and her devoted apprentice) won't eat. Maybe if I just write down the things that everyone likes, I can ensure that all plates are clean every single night! What a miracle that would be. It would probably take me a year to build a month's worth of dishes liked by all! Oh well, I can dream can't I?