Baking Made Easier

I am not sure if you all know, but I have been baking the hard way for practically my entire baking career. I have never quite been able to justify spending $200+ on a stand mixer...maybe I'm just cheap. And yes, I know that Kitchen Aide mixers are WELL worth the money, especially for someone who wants to be in the business of baking, but I just cannot seem to shell out (or let my hubby) money for a mixer. 

Well Christmas is approaching and my hubby keeps threatening me with a $200+ stand mixer...so I had to take matters into my own hands and outsmart him, because I cannot accept such an expensive kitchen appliance that won't get used everyday, and also, I have NO idea where I would store something like that. So, I was out doing my weekly thrift store shopping excursion this weekend and stumbled across not one, but three different mixers at my local Goodwill. One of the mixers was just the mixer with no bowls or attachments, so that was immediately out of the running. The other two were definitely vintage, one of which is the exact one that my mom currently owns that she received as a wedding gift when she married my dad. Although I am familiar with that one, it is a horrible orange color and it didn't look well-cared for by its previous owner. The third choice was a Sunbean Mixmaster and came with two glass bowls and a set of beaters. The only issue is that it needs a little tape on the spin plate, but for $15 I just couldn't turn it down. I brought it home, cleaned it up and cannot wait to start using it...now if only I had it a week ago my pumpkin whoopie pies, and chocolate mousse pie would have been much easier to make :)  

Tasty Turkey Burgers

Honestly, not many people can get excited over a turkey burger. Typically, they lack much taste and are fairly bland, even if you add salt and pepper. However, I have spiced these turkey burgers up with pizza type ingredients so that they will be loved by people of all ages! Items like, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, etc. would be amazing in this recipe.

I am going to give you the basic formula, and then you could eat it just like this, or make it a bit more personal by adding your own favorite pizza ingredients. There is one key trick to the best burgers (of any type of meat): don’t over handle the meat! Over-handling of the meat causes it to bind up and get tough, and if your like me, there is nothing worse than a tough burger.

Ingredients:

 1 lb ground turkey (I usually use anywhere from 85-95% lean)

¼ cup tomato sauce

1 egg, beaten

¼ - ½ cup bread crumbs (I like Italian style)

A hefty sprinkle of your choice of cheese (mozzarella, parmesan etc. )

1 clove garlic

Any other ingredient for pizza (pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, onions)

Place all ingredients in a bowl. Using your hands, work the meat until just combined. The technique that I use is one hand in the bowl, grab the meat and twist.

Once the meat is just combined, make patties the size that you would like by grabbing the amount of meat that you prefer, roll it for a second into a bowl and then press flat.

You are then ready to either freeze these in freezer bags, or place them right in a skillet or grill. Cook until the center is cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side on a grill. 

Sensational Stew

Stew....it's so wonderful for so many reasons. First, you can make it with pretty much any type of meat and/or veggie that you like. Second, it's healthy! And third, you can throw it all in a slow cooker and it takes no effort, you definitely can't beat having dinner ready after a long (possibly cold) day at work! 

The stew recipe that I use is a family recipe that my dad created. Now, I know that a lot of our family recipes are either incomplete, because as I have said many times before, Italians leave ingredients out, or I am not at liberty to share the recipes because I have been sworn to secrecy. With that said, I have made this recipe many, many times, so I know that nothing is left out....and my family hasn't said anything about not sharing the recipe, so I am going to do it before they realize and stop me :) 

As I have said, you can change up this recipe any way you want to, by adding different meat, omitting the meat, or adding your favorite recipes. There are only 3 things that NEED to be done to get this recipe to turn out right, and they are pretty simply. The key to a good stew is adding a little bit of flour to thicken the sauce, Italian style stewed tomatoes, and Balsamic Vinegar. Don't try to add anymore liquid, because it is completely unnecessary, and in my 'professional' opinion, you may ruin my family recipe. :)

Ingredients:

Stew meat.... I have used both beef or deer. You can buy stew meat from your butcher so that its already in good size chunks, or you can buy a steak and do it yourself.

1/4 cup flour

About 3 oz Balsamic Vinegar

1 14 oz can of Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes

Mixed frozen Veggies 

1 Celery rib, finely chopped

1/2 of a small yellow onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 potato, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Vegetable spray for coating the slow cooker  

Spray slow cooker with vegetable spray to coat and then add your meat. Sprinkle flour over meat and toss to coat. Then add in the rest of your ingredients. Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours. You can then serve this over egg noodles, rice or some nice crusty bread.

Pasta with Shrimp and Peas

 I am not sure if I have said it or not, but you may have noticed the lack of seafood recipes here. Not only am I allergic to seafood, but I am also not a fan of it for many, many reasons! However, sometimes I do cook it (careful not to actually touch it) because my husband enjoys it, and so does his family. I don't think I have made anything seafood since probably last Christmas, so when the hubby asked if I would make a pasta dish with shrimp and peas, I just had to say yes.

This was a fairly easy recipe, and I bought frozen, pre cooked, devained and shelled shrimp (just had the tails on), so that I wouldn't actually need to touch them. I am super paranoid that I will touch the fish and then forget and touch my face, or worse yet, touch food that I then eat....ugh, the thought of it gives me the willies!

I had to make some alterations to this recipe because I am pretty sure that it was meant to have fresh shrimp. I started off with some butter in the pan and sauteed the shrimp...but because the shrimp then defrosted, I was left with tons of water in the pan...not to worry, I just drained most of the water, through in 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of flour and created a little rue! This recipe is so simple...just adding cream, a little wine, angel hair pasta, after its cooked, salt, pepper, dried basil, and its good to go!

Ingredients

8 ozs Uncooked angel hair pasta, broken into pieces

2 tbs Butter, plus 2 tbs for rue if using frozen shrimp

2 tbsp flour, if using frozen shrimp

1 lb. Peeled and deveined shrimp

2 Garlic clove crushed

1/2 cup Fat free half-and-half

1/4 cup white wine

1/3 cup Chopped fresh basil, divided or you can use 1tbsp dried basil

3/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Fresh ground black pepper

1/3 cup Preshredded fresh Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups Frozen green peas

Cook pasta according to the package instructions. In the mean time, melt butter into a large skillet and sautee shrimp...about 4 minutes. If you used frozen shrimp, drain excess water and then create a rue with extra butter and flour. Add half and half, wine, basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes, uncovered. Add cheese and peas. Cook about 2 mins. Then add the angel hair and toss to coat!

Appetizers For Dinner

I have to admit, these aren't the healthiest choices for dinner that I could have eaten...but they were delicious, and they are semi healthified versions, so they could have been worse! We couldn't really decide what we wanted for dinner, so I decided to make some homemade mozzarella sticks, and mini 'healthy' pizzas. 

Who knew that mozzarella sticks could be so easy to make from home? Or that I always have all of the ingredients to make them? And also, why is it that I always have all of the ingredients on hand for things that I shouldn't be eating often?

Homemade mozzarella sticks are super easy to make and take a minimal effort.  

Ingredients:

• String cheese, unwrapped and cut in half
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil

Make 3 stations, 1 with flour on a plate, 1 with bread crumbs on a plate, and one bowl with the eggs and milk whisked together. Take the string cheese and roll it into the flour, then the egg mixture and then the bread crumbs. After the whole piece of string cheese if fully breaded, place onto a clean plate. When this process has been completed for all of your pieces of string cheese, place the plate with the breaded cheeses into the freezer for at least, AT LEAST, 30 mins. This will do a quick freeze so that when you cook them, the cheese won't melt before the coating is golden.

After they are chilled, remove from freezer and place into a frying pan with enough oil to coat the bottom. The heat should be medium high, and the oil should be preheated before the mozzarella sticks are placed in it. Turn the mozzarella sticks until all sides are golden. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. Serve with tomato sauce. 

The other recipe that I made was for mini, healthier pizzas. I took a Whole Wheat English Muffin, and forked it open. I then put about 1 tbsp of my canned tomato sauce on eat slice and topped it with Mozzarella Cheese, salt, pepper, and a pizza seasoning. My hubby likes a little meat on his pizza's, so I took some pulled chicken (that had been cooking in the slow cooker) and placed it on top. I then put the pizzas into a 375 degree toaster oven and cooked for about 5 mins, or until the cheese was melted!