Three Bean Salad

This recipe came from my mom, and it is one of Camille's favorites. If I double it, people complain that there's not enough. So I have already doubled the recipe so when you double it, there will actually be enough.

Drain:

2 cans wax beans

2 cans green beans

1 can kidney beans

Chop 1 Cup of each:

onion

celery

green bell pepper

Mix it all up and marinate at least a few hours (or better yet overnight) in:

1 1/2 C Sugar 

1 C oil

1 C white distilled vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Tip: my mom taught me when you are doubling recipes you should never double the salt. True? I don't know, but I definitely follow this rule and have never been dissatisfied.

Lasagna

I thought I lost this recipe and nearly proceeded to have a heart attack. I can NEVER lose this recipe, and it's getting hard to read so it's definitely time to post it. It's just sooo easy and sooo delicious. I think I found it in a Kraft magazine. You know, those things we used to get recipes from before Pinterest and blogging were a thing. Without further ado, the best lasagna in the world.

16 oz. cottage cheese (2 cups)
2 1/2 C shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 T plus 1 tsp dried parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
1/2 C water
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained (optional)
11 lasagna noodles, uncooked

1. Mix 1 1/4 C mozzarella cheese, 1/4 C Parmesan cheese, cottage cheese, parsley, and egg until well blended. Set aside.
2. Pour spaghetti sauce into meat skillet. Swish water in jar to get all spaghetti sauce and add.
3. Put one layer of the meat sauce on bottom of 8 x 11 in. baking dish.
4. Layer four lasagna noodles, 1/2 cheese mixture, and a layer of meat sauce. Repeat layer and top with remaining 4 noodles and sauce.
5. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/4 C mozzarella cheese and 1/4 C Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes at 350.
6. Remove foil and bake 15 minutes or until bubbling. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Aunt Margie's Potato Salad

My dad used to hate potato salad. At a family gathering my mom noticed him take a token portion of potato salad. And then he went back for more. And more. So naturally she had to get the recipe. Thank you Aunt Margie.

10 small new potatoes (red potatoes) boiled with skins on; peel and dice while hot
10 hard boiled eggs
4 green onions
2 C real mayonnaise (original recipe calls for 3, but I find that to be too much)
2 T white vinegar
2 T sugar
1 tsp salt

"Mommy can I have another" Muffins

Tate told me this morning that he can eat five of these in one sitting, but I cut him off at four and handed him a yogurt. My kids absolutely LOVE these muffins. The recipe makes about three dozen, and they're usually gone within 24 hours. The nice thing, is that if your family knows how to pace themselves {unlike mine} the batter can be refrigerated for up to two weeks so you can pop them in the oven and have fresh, warm muffins anytime you like. This is especially handy on busy work or school mornings. I haven't tried freezing the batter yet, perhaps I'll give it a shot next time. Without further ado, here are the best bran muffins ever {at least, they're the only ones I've ever enjoyed}.

Bran Muffins
2 C All-Bran
1 C Bran Buds
1 C boiling water

Combine above ingredients and let sit until not hot anymore.
Then add the following ingredients:

2 beaten eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil*
1 1/2 C Sugar
2 1/2 C Flour
2 1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 C Buttermilk**

Mix ingredients well, pour into greased muffin tins, and bake at 400 F for 18-20 minutes. Leftover batter can be stored in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

*You can substitute applesauce for vegetable oil in most bread type recipes {including store bought cake mixes}. I've don it in this recipe and can't taste the difference.
**No buttermilk? No problem! In a glass measuring bowl, put 2 Tbs. lemon juice and fill with milk until you have 2 cups. Let sit for five minutes before using it in recipe.

Asian Salad

Camille absolutely loves this salad! She requested it this year for her birthday dinner and asked me to put it in her "cookbook." We also had sesame chicken wings and white rice.

Asian Salad
2 packages Ramen noodles, crushed (discard seasoning packet)
1 tsp. sesame seeds
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 head cabbage, shredded or finely chopped (or a bag of coleslaw blend if you don't want to do any chopping)
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
3/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 C distilled white vinegar
1/2 C white sugar
2 Tbs. soy sauce

1. In a small sauce pan bring vegetable oil, sugar, and vinegar to boil for 1 minute. Cool. Add soy sauce.
2. In a medium skillet over low heat, melt butter and brown ramen noodles and sesame seeds. Once browned, remove from heat and cool.
3. In a large bowl combine shredded cabbage and chopped green onions. Add the noodle and soy sauce mixtures.  Toss to coat, and serve immediately so noodles stay crunchy.

Cheesy Potato Casserole

I made this recipe the other night for the first time, though we were pretty sure we'd love it because it is one of Todd's favorite family recipes (also known as funeral potatoes). It was super hot when it came out of the oven, so Todd began dishing it out on the kids' plates so it could cool. Tate was very alarmed by such action and exclaimed, "What are you doing?! What if I don't like that?" To which we replied he could pass it on over! Tate's eyes got big as he tasted it and continued to shovel it in. He then had seconds.

Cheesy Potatoes

1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

1 (32 oz..) package frozen hashbrowns

8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups cornflakes

1. Mix soup, sour cream, melted butter, hashbrowns, onion, and cheese and spread in a 9 x 13 pan.

2. Crush cornflakes and sprinkle over top.

3. Bake at 350 for 45 min. or until hot.

Feelin' Saucy

Have you ever opened up your cupboard to realize you only have tomato paste when you really need tomato sauce? Well I have. And more than once. In fact, it just happened the last time I made Sloppy Joes.

Enter my good friend Google. Solves many a quandary, especially in the kitchen. Here's how I made sauce from paste. I had a small 6 oz. can of tomato paste and added 1 ½ cups water to it. Yep, that's it! Some people suggest adding a little brown sugar to sweeten it, but I didn't find that necessary in my recipe. I was so happy with the results, I will never buy tomato sauce again!

Apparently the mom in me focused on the cute kitchen help instead of the ingredients. However, if you look closely you can see our homemade tomato sauce in the background on the stove.

Psst. If you only have tomato sauce and need tomato paste, I hear you can cook it in a pan until it is reduced by half. I've never tried it though, so let me know if you do and it works {or doesn't}! And while you're thinking about sharing, do you have any substitution tricks up your sleeve?

Sloppy Joes

The other day we were eating something when Camille turned to me and asked if I could give her the recipe when she grows up. For the life of me, I can't remember what we were eating {and neither can she!} Seriously, it's been about two days. So the idea was born to post all of her and Tate's favorite recipes on my blog along with a family story or memory. Hopefully along the way you'll find something you like, too.

Our sloppy Joe {baby Joseph} loves Sloppy Joes! We took this meal with us the other night when we met Todd for a picnic at the Tacoma Nature Center. They have a super fun play area with slides that look like logs, bridges over water and even some telescopes. There are also some wonderful trails for hiking, which we enjoyed after dinner. If you go before 5 pm, the indoor nature center is open with some fun exhibits for the kids. You can also pick up a list of all the animals living in the area and see how many you can find on your walk. Great fun, and all free! {for more free summertime activities check out this post}

SLOPPY JOES
1 lb. ground beef

¼ C brown sugar

1 ½ tsp. steak seasoning blend {we use McCormick Montreal seasoning}

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1 Tbs. red wine vinegar

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

2 C tomato sauce

• Break up meat in pan and add brown sugar and steak seasoning.
• When meat has browned, add onion, red bell peppers, red wine vinegar and worcestershire sauce. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 min.
• Add tomato sauce; stir to combine. Reduce heat and cook 5 minutes.

I like to double this recipe and freeze half for a quick meal on a busy day.
I also prefer to make my own tomato sauce from tomato paste so I only have to stock one tomato product.
This recipe was adapted from Rachael Ray...for the original recipe, click here.

By the time we set out on our little hike the sun was getting low in the sky. Tate forged ahead with the walking stick he found.

Couldn't catch a picture of any fish jumping in the air - they're quick little buggers {truly teensy - truth be told, we couldn't even tell if they were fish}. But here you can see the water rings where they were jumping. They were all over the place!

 Feeding time for the ducks {it should be noted this was a natural meal time at the nature center - we didn't feed any animals}

The bridge behind Camille is where we saw the no-see-em' fish and the dining duck.

 

Camille found some flowers that she photographed.

  

I occasionally enjoy lagging behind my family {just for a moment} 

and quietly take in the sight of my greatest blessings.

Fresh Bread

Back in December I started baking my own bread, and now we enjoy fresh delicious bread for just pennies compared to store bought bread. Several of my friends have asked for my bread recipe so I decided to post it instead of writing it a million times.
I found an amazing recipe that only takes 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. Don't stop reading because of the time commitment! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find the time to do this, but if I start the bread going before breakfast it's usually done by the time we are all showered and ready to go somewhere. If I have early morning activities scheduled I do it in the evening right after dinner. So far this year I've made about 60 loaves of bread!

This recipe is so stinkin easy and actually faster than using a bread machine. What could possibly be better than easy and fast? Well, let me tell you: DELICIOUS! I read a comment that helped me modify the recipe for use with my Kitchen Aid Mixer. Of course one could easily modify it back to traditional kneading if they want to, but I have great results with much less mess! Here is my version, which also includes less sugar so it's perfect for daily bread use. If you want the original version, click here.

White Bread
2 C warm water {recipe says 110º F, but I don't use a thermometer to check - I just run my tap water until it's borderline hot}
¼ C white sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons active dry yeast
¼ C vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons salt
6 C flour

1. In a large Kitchen Aid bowl dissolve the sugar in warm water, then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam {this is when I sift my 6 cups of flour, and it's usually proofed by the time I'm done measuring and sifting}.

2. Mix salt & oil into yeast. Using dough hook, mix in one cup of flour at a time. Let dough hook knead for 5 minutes. Take out and put a little oil in bowl; turn dough to coat. Cover with plastic saran wrap and a towel. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk; about 1 hour.

3. Punch dough down. Knead for a couple minutes til it's not oily anymore and cut in half. Use a rolling pin to squish out all the air bubbles and roll it into a rectangle shape about as wide as your bread pan, maybe a touch wider. Roll up, tuck in the edges to shape into loaves, and place in two well greased bread pans seam-side down. Cover with same saran wrap from above, cover with a towel, and let rise 30 minutes or until dough reaches top of pans or 1 inch above. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool 10 minutes before slicing {otherwise bread will cave...believe me, I've tried to eat it immediately and it didn't work. Even after knowing it would cave if I sliced it right away I've done it, but boy was it delicious!}

If you're interested in doing a little learning yourself, check out this post with the links I found to be the most helpful in my quest for bread knowledge. You'll find info on shaping, freezing, and more!

Update: After making this bread recipe once or twice weekly for a year and a half, I realized somewhere over time I omitted a couple steps. I haven't noticed a difference in the quality of my bread, so I updated my recipe accordingly. Raise your hand if you like fewer steps and less time to make homemade bread!