From My Kitchen

Cheesy Hashbrown Potatoes

by Crystal on April 12, 2013

Guest post from Brigette Shevy

While I love scalloped potatoes, classic hashbrown casseroles, and basically anything with potatoes and cheese, I don’t like the fact that most recipes call for cream soups and/or sour cream – ingredients that I don’t regularly buy and almost never have on hand.

Either that, or they require making a stove-top sauce with butter and flour and milk… which would be fine if I could actually make a sauce without lumps (my Vita-Mix has saved the day for me on more than one occasion!)

So I was thrilled when my mother-in-law introduced me to a family recipe that would solve all my potato recipe issues… for good!

Not only does this recipe rely on basic ingredients that we all keep around (no can opener needed), there is no tedious (or in my case, frantic!) stirring and whisking involved. And did I mention it’s cheap? And flexible! You can add a couple of more potatoes to it stretch a little further, and the amount and kind of cheese can be adjusted according to your personal taste.

This is a perfect side dish to accompany all your upcoming summer cookouts as it pairs well with hamburgers or grilled meats. Kids and adults love it! I like to make it up early in the day and pull it out of the refrigerator shortly before baking it.

I never use frozen hash browns, but I’m weird like that. If you want to save yourself some time, I would definitely recommend starting with frozen hash browns.

The best part about this gluten-free recipe – if I haven’t convinced you to try it yet – is that it tastes great!

Cheesy Hashbrown Potatoes

Makes a 9×13 pan (8-10 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 8-9 medium large potatoes OR 2 lbs. frozen shredded hashbrowns
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or any kind of cheese or mix of cheeses you prefer)
  • 2 cups milk
  • 4 Tablespoons butter (I only use 2!)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • Shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

If using whole potatoes scrub potatoes: Place whole unpeeled potatoes in a large pot of boiling water. Boil for about 15 minutes, or just until starting to get tender. (NOTE: I’ve tried skipping the boiling part and just using shredded raw potatoes and it doesn’t taste the same. So don’t skip this step!)

Rinse in cold water and peel (the skins will fall off with just a little bit of pressure – it’s not necessary to get every little piece of skin off). Let cool and then dry the potatoes (I use a paper towel to do this) Once potatoes are dry, grate them to resemble hash browns.

Place shredded potatoes or frozen (unthawed) hashbrowns in a 9×13 pan. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and stir lightly to combine.

Heat milk, butter, and salt in a separate pan until butter is melted (I do this in the microwave). Pour over potato/cheese mixture. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, or until cheese is browned (I usually turn the broiler on high for the last 1-2 minutes). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

What is your favorite go-to potato recipe? 

Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy (ages 6, 4, and 2). She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.

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Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

by Crystal on April 10, 2013


I found this recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. A healthier version of the traditional chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies? Bring it on.

I tweaked it slightly, since I thought it needed a bit more mix-ins. I think you could add even more coconut, quinoa, or oats if you wanted an even heartier cookie. My cookies were a still rather flat!

You could also replace the coconut oil with butter and I think that the cookies might harden up a little more. Mine were still pretty soft. But they are perfect straight from the freezer!

Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup oatmeal

Bring honey, coconut oil, and cocoa to a boil. Turn down heat and summer for three minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, vanilla, coconut, quinoa, and oatmeal. Dollop cookie-sized portions onto a cookie sheet that is covered with waxed paper.

Refrigerate or freeze until set. Store in a ziptop bag or airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Makes 15-18 cookies. Recipe adapted from Finding My Niche.

See two variations on this recipe here– including a GAPS-friendly one!

Be sure to check out my Good-For-You Peanut Butter Fudge recipe, too.
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A Quick & Easy Method for Freezing Fresh Herbs

by Crystal on April 09, 2013


Ever buy a bunch of cilantro when you only need a small bit for a recipe? Or do you plant an herb garden that always overproduces?

Here’s a very quick & easy way to freeze those fresh herbs for later use:

Wash, remove stems, and chop the herbs.

Put roughly 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of the chopped herbs into ice cube trays (I didn’t measure; I just plopped some into each cube). Fill the ice cube tray with water and freeze.

Remove cubes and place in an airtight freezer bag for up to two months. To use in recipes, just pull out the necessary amount of cubes and add to your soup, stew, sauce, etc. If need be, thaw first and then add to your recipe.

How simple is that? It’s a great way to preserve fresh herbs — and to not let any go to waste before you have a chance to use them!

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This week’s menu plan {It’s the perfect week for some chocolate-themed baking!}

by Crystal on April 08, 2013

I think I’m on a chocolate baking kick this week (what’s new?!) Can’t wait to get to baking — and eating. ;)

Here’s our plan for this week:

Breakfasts

Oatmeal, Cereal, Eggs, and/or Fruit

Lunches

Mac & cheese, fruit
Snack-y lunch
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples
Cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks
Leftovers x 3

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Popcorn
Whole Food No Bake Cookies

Pinterest Experiment {I’ll share how this goes later this week!}

The Easiest Loaf of Bread You’ll Ever Bake

Freezer Cooking {I’ll share how this goes later this week!}

Whole Food No Bake Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Bars
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Quick Bread
Freezer-Friendly Pizza Dough

Dinners

Dinner with extended family
Mexican Chicken Lime Soup, fruit, tossed salad
Bean & Cheese Burritos, fruit, veggies
Build Your Own Haystacks, fruit, rice
Black Bean & Corn-Topped Potatoes,
Homemade Pizza, fruit, veggies
Dinner out

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

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This Week’s Menu

by Crystal on April 01, 2013

Whole-Wheat Blender Pancakes

We’re headed to the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention for half of this week, so meals are going to be super simple around here and I’m only planning four days of meals since we’ll be traveling or at the conference the rest of the week. In addition, I’m going to skip freezer cooking this week.

Breakfasts

Oatmeal, Whole-Wheat Blender Pancakes, Cereal, Eggs, and/or Fruit

Lunches

Mac & cheese, fruit
Snack-y lunch
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples
Cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Popcorn

Dinners

Dinner with extended family
Black Bean & Corn-Topped Potatoes, fruit, tossed salad
Bean & Cheese Burritos, fruit, veggies
Ritzy Chicken, fruit, veggies

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

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Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Crystal on March 29, 2013

I’ve made a lot of chocolate chip cookies over the years.

I remember being 9 or 10 and feeling so excited the first time I made them all by myself. I quickly discovered that if you know how to bake a good cookie, you will always have friends!

When we lived overseas for two years, I was able to build many relationships with the local children as a result of chocolate chip cookies — after introducing them to this American staple, they were quickly hooked, so they obviously had to keep coming back to my house since it was the only way to get more!

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes. I’ve adapted it slightly from a recipe from one of my all-time best girlfriends (Thanks, Elsie!). It’s traveled the world with me, and has consistently turned out in many different ovens.

These buttery gems are crispy on the edges and soft and gooey in the center. Not too puffy, and not too flat. Perfect.

It’s a pretty basic recipe with a couple of interesting additions. I don’t recommend making any substitutions or leaving anything out!

Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 4-5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup quick cooking oats*
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 ½-2 cups chocolate chips

*You can use regular rolled oats if you prefer – just process them for several seconds in a blender first.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, lemon juice and eggs. Beat well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flours, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

These cookies are so delicious. If you’re on the lookout for a better chocolate chip cookie recipe, you must give this one a try!

What are your favorite cookies?

Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy (ages 6, 4, and 2). She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.

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Freezer Cooking in an Hour: Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes, Crusty Baguettes, and Quinoa Cookies

by Crystal on March 29, 2013

I had another successful Freezer Cooking in an Hour session yesterday.  The Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes were fun to make (and that photo above? I shot it in manual mode… yes, I’m getting brave! ;) )

I love how the Vitamix makes the pancake batter so smooth.

While the pancakes were baking, I mixed up the yeast mixture for the Crusty Baguettes and let that sit for 10 minutes. Then, I whipped up the Quinoa Cookies.

I love how yellow the batter is when I use farm-fresh eggs!

The Quinoa Cookies were a definite success. They are a soft cookie — more along the lines of a breakfast cookie — and they pack a nutritional punch.

The Crusty Baguettes were so easy to make.

The dough was stickier than I expected so I ended up adding a little more flour than it called for.

I didn’t get a picture of the final Crusty Baguettes, but they were beautiful and I was very impressed with the recipe.

And the Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes turned out well, too. They weren’t sweet — since they didn’t have any sweetener in them — but they were wholesome and yummy.

All in all, it was another very successful Freezer Cooking in an Hour session — yay!

Recipe Links:

Did you do any freezer cooking this week?

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52 Different Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Become Best Friends With Your Freezer {Week 12}

by Crystal on March 27, 2013

At the beginning of every week in 2013, I’ll be sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you’re already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.

I have saved a tremendous amount of money over the years by using just about every nook and cranny of my freezer space. I use my freezer to store extras of great marked-down deals I find at the grocery store. I use my freezer to freeze almost-expiring groceries (such as milk) so that I’m able to save it to use later. And, as you all well know, I use my freezer to bake and cook food to have on hand for busy days.

There’s no telling how much money I save thanks to my freezer, but it is well, well over $100 each year. For those of you who want to maximize the mileage of your freezer, here are some suggestions to get you started:

1. When In Doubt, Don’t Throw It Out

If you have almost-expiring milk or bread, instead of dumping or tossing it, freeze it. You can use the milk in pancakes or waffles and you can save the bread and when you have a bag of it, make homemade croutons.

Save the bits of meat and veggies and stick them in the freezer to make soup or homemade vegetable broth in the crockpot.

2. Check Your Freezer When Planning Your Menu

It’s important that you don’t just freeze stuff, but that you also regularly use the stuff in your freezer. Otherwise, it’s kind of pointless to mess with freezing things!

I consult my freezer when planning my menu as there are often things in there that I’ve forgotten I had. You can use the ingredient search feature on AllRecipes.com to help you find menu inspiration for what you already have on hand.

Brown Bag Burritos

3. Take An Hour Each Week to Prep Food For Your Freezer

Having food at-the-ready in my freezer has been such a huge help — and it’s saved us countless trips through the drive-thru lane, too. It’s not hard to make eating at home a priority when you already have food prepped in the freezer

If this idea sounds appealing but you can’t imagine finding a few hours in your schedule to actually pull off freezer cooking, consider just devoting 30 minutes to an hour on the weekends to baking and cooking ahead. Every little bit helps. (See some of my one-hour freezer cooking sessions here.)

You can also double meals you’re already making and serve one for dinner and stick the other in the freezer. It doesn’t take much more time now and will save you a lot of time later — plus, you won’t have to do dishes!

Do I Need to Get a Deep Freeze In Order to Save Money?

A deep freeze is wonderful, but I don’t recommend investing in one until you are absolutely sure you will use it. Use every single inch of your over-the-fridge first before looking to invest in a deep freeze.

And by the way, you can fit a lot into your over-the-fridge freezer. Here’s picture proof. Also, if you freeze things flat in freezer bags, you can turn them sideways and store them like file folders to save space

Does the Cost of Running a Freezer Outweigh the Savings?

Trent from The Simple Dollar did extensive analysis and he concluded that it costs about $11 per month to run a deep freeze. So in order to actually save money with a deep freeze and make it worth it, be sure you’re saving at least $25 per month by running your deep freeze. If it’s primarily empty, move what’s in it to your over-the-fridge freezer and unplug it!

Simple Things You Can Prep Ahead and Stick in the Freezer

Bananas

We peel, chop, and freeze bananas that are too ripe to use in smoothies. You can also peel them and freeze them whole to use in banana bread or muffins.

Frozen Carrots

Shredded Carrots

If you make carrot muffins on a regular basis, it’s much more efficient to shred a big batch of shredded carrots all at once. Just divide into one-cup baggies and store in a freezer bag to use as needed.

Chicken

Cooking up chicken and then chopping and freezing it can save you a lot of time in meal preparation later. I like to bake my chicken breasts, as they seem to be a lot more moist that way. You can see how I do it here.

You can use the chopped chicken in homemade pizza, chicken casseroles, to sprinkle on salads, to throw into soups, or to just eat plain–as my children love to do!

Ground Beef

Having pre-browned ground beef in the freezer to stick in soups, on pizza, or put in casseroles is a big time-saver. Or, you can do what I often do and go ahead and just add onions, beans, and taco seasoning to the meat to make taco meat. You can always use the taco meat in soups or chili, if need be.

Baking Mixes

Do you make pancakes, waffles, or muffins on a regular basis? Save yourself some of the prep time by mixing up a quadruple batch of the dry ingredients and then portioning them into freezer bags.

Freezer-Friendly Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookie Dough

Most cookie doughs can be made ahead and then frozen for later use. You can rolls the dough into balls to freeze, freeze it in logs, or freeze the dough in a tub and scoop it out to use. The only issue is that you might want to hide it at the bottom of the freezer–especially if you actually want to be able to make any Chocolate Chip Cookies with the dough! :)

Recommended Freezer Cooking Links:

Crockpot Freezer Cooking Recipes

9 Tips to Simplify Freezer Cooking

A Beginner’s Guide to Freezer Cooking

Freezer Cooking in an Hour Recipes & Pictures

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer

Some of My Favorite Freezer Cooking Recipes

Do you have a deep freeze? How do you save money by using your freezer?

photo credit

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Homemade French Bread Success {Yay — finally!}

by Crystal on March 27, 2013


Armed with your wise advice on my French Bread Flop post, I set out again to attempt Homemade French Bread.

This time I used The Frugal Girl’s French Bread recipe.

I figured that if many, many of you recommended it, I should give that one a shot.

It probably took me 15 minutes tops to mix, knead, and shape the dough.

Most of the time this recipe requires is just waiting for it to rise.

I actually did an egg wash this time… aren’t you all so proud of me?! ;)

I was a wee bit excited with how it turned out. It was so good!

It’s amazing what happens when you find a good recipe and actually follow it. Ahem.

Find the recipe I used here: The Frugal Girl’s Homemade French Bread.

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Pinterest Experiment: Baked Oven Fries (oh-so-time-consuming and oh-so-good!)

by Crystal on March 26, 2013

I find a lot of great ideas on Pinterest… but pinning something doesn’t do anything unless I actually, you know, try the idea. So I thought it’d be fun to challenge myself to do at least one Pinterest experiment every week — and blog my results.

I can’t promise that I’ll always have a Pinterest Experiment post up each week, because you know how I sometimes get distracted or on blog tangents. :) But I’m at least going to try. By the way, you can follow my Pinterest account here, if you’re interested.

I found this recipe for Baked Oven Fries on Pinterest. And since I’d gotten a great deal on potatoes recently, I had to try it.

The actual recipe was a little bit more time-consuming than I was envisioning. {I don’t know why I always picture whipping up things like this in less than 10 minutes.}

Truthfully, when I was making these, I was thinking to myself, “Why did I want to try this recipe??”

And without even finishing the recipe or tasting these fries, I decided I was not going to be making this recipe again. It’s just way too many steps for a cook like me who prefers 5-minute recipes whenever possible.

But I persevered and I’m so glad I did. Because we loved the finished product. Jesse was thoroughly impressed that I’d made French Fries from scratch (sadly, yes, I think this was a first for me!) and he proclaimed them very, very good.

So now, I’m kind of torn on my verdict. I mean, I really was hoping that they weren’t very good. But now that I know that they are, I’m not so sure that I’m going to say I’ll never made them again.

However, if any of you have an easier homemade French Fries recipe that is equally amazing that you want to send my way, I will love you for it.

Want to see what ideas I’m thinking of trying next? Check out my Recipes I Want to Try board and my Do It Yourself board for things I’m considering trying next.

Have you tried any ideas or recipes you’ve found on Pinterest this week? If so, how did they turn out for you?

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