Lunches

Homemade Carrot Fries

by Crystal on March 28, 2012

My friend, Angie, and I split a 25-pound bag of organic carrots from Azure Standard last week. It was only $10 for my share, so a pretty good deal for quality organic carrots.

Now the fun has just been figuring out how to use them up!

I came across this Carrot Fries recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it.

It was so simple to make. You just wash the carrots.

Peel and chop off the ends.

And then slice them into “fries”.

Coat with olive oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for around 30-45 minutes, until a little browned and crispy.

Enjoy!

Homemade Carrot Fries

10 large carrots
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and peel carrots. Chop off the ends and slice into “fries”.

Put in a bowl and stir in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Stir until well coated.

Spread onto a baking sheet and stick in the oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until a little browned and crispy. Enjoy!

Makes 2-3 servings.

Source: https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/03/homemade-carrot-fries.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

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Whole-Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Recipe

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by Crystal on June 2, 2011

I’m sure you’ve probably figured out by now that we’re chocoholics around here. It seems almost every other recipe I post has chocolate as one of the main ingredients in it.

So it only was natural for me to modify our family’s favorite banana bread recipe to add chocolate. Because everything’s better with chocolate.

The result was scrumptious! This recipe is great for a quick and easy breakfast, snack or to stick in a brown bag lunch.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1 cup raw sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons milk
1/2 cup to 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks (I used chunks, since that’s what I had on hand.)

Stir together dry ingredients. Beat together remaining ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend until just combined. Sprinkle chocolate chips in and stir.

Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for one hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

To Freeze:

Fully cool, slice (if you like) and wrap the cut loaf in plastic wrap and then in foil (or stick in a ziptop bag) and freeze for up to six weeks.

To serve: Pull out desired amount of bread and thaw at room temperature.

Source: https://moneysavingmom.com/2011/06/whole-wheat-banana-chocolate-chip-bread-recipe.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

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Hamburger Vegetable Soup Recipe

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by Crystal on January 13, 2011

This is the very best Hamburger Vegetable Soup I’ve ever eaten. Growing up, it was a staple recipe at our house and now it’s become one of my husband’s favorites, too.

Our children also love this soup — especially when topped with shredded cheese! It’s delicious paired with Bread Machine Buttery Rolls and the perfect way to warm up a chilly Winter evening.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

2 lbs. ground beef
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups shredded cabbage
4 (14.5-oz) cans diced tomatoes
1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked
6 to 10 cups water
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 Tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves

Brown ground beef and onion together until meat is lightly browned. Drain off excess fat. Add all remaining ingredients and bring mixture to a boil.

Cover and simmer for two to four hours. Check periodically and add more water, if needed. Remove bay leaves and serve.

Makes 18 to 20 cups of soup. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days.

A pot will usually make enough for at least three meals for our family. We like it enough that we’ll eat it two or three days in a row!

Source: https://moneysavingmom.com/2011/01/hamburger-vegetable-soup-recipe.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

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Celebrating a Simple Christmas: Snowflake Tortillas

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by Crystal on December 23, 2010

Okay, so Snowflake Tortillas aren’t exactly a Christmas activity, but we included it with our planned fun family activities for this week anyway.

The girls had so much fun cutting the tortillas into different snowflake shapes.

Kaitlynn pretended hers was a mask (nevermind the un-matching clothes, she’s still learning that just because a top and bottom have pink in them doesn’t mean that they match!)

They thought the sprinkling with cinnamon/sugar mixture was the coolest thing ever.

Ready to go into the oven.

Fresh-from-the-oven Snowflake Tortillas. Yum!

Snowflake Tortillas

Recipe adapted from Mob Mom

6 tortillas
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Fold tortillas in half and then in half again (like you would make a paper snowflake). Use clean scissors to cut out shapes. Open up and brush with melted butter. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over the tortillas.

Bake at 375 degrees for around five minutes. Let cool slightly and then enjoy eating your creation!

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Southwest Roll-ups

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by Crystal on April 2, 2010

My sister-in-law brought all the chicken pre-cooked and chopped for the Freezer Cooking Day, which saved us lots of time and effort. We used it to make a few of the recipes–including one of our favorites, Southwest Roll-ups.

This recipe is so simple, uses inexpensive ingredients, and freezes really well.

Southwest Roll-ups (makes 16 roll-ups)

2 cans refried beans (you can make your own Refried Beans with this recipe)
1/2 cup salsa
2-4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
16 tortillas (you can make your own Homemade Tortillas with this recipe)

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Mix together beans, salsa, and chicken. Spread 1/8 of mixture onto one tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Roll up and turn ends under. Stick in a freezer bag or in a 9×13 baking pan and freeze.

When ready to bake, thaw and bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 20-30 minutes until heated through. Sprinkle with more shredded Cheddar cheese, if desired. Serve with salsa.

Southwest Roll-ups

(makes 16 roll-ups)

2 cans refried beans (you can make your own Refried Beans with this recipe)
1/2 cup salsa
2-4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
16 tortillas (you can make your own Homemade Tortillas with this recipe)

Mix together beans, salsa, and chicken. Spread 1/8 of mixture onto one tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Roll up and turn ends under. Stick in a freezer bag or in a 9×13 baking pan and freeze.

When ready to bake, thaw and bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 20-30 minutes until heated through. Sprinkle with more shredded Cheddar cheese, if desired. Serve with salsa.

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Homemade Pizza (in Less Than 30 Minutes)

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by crystal on February 24, 2009

We love homemade pizza at our house. It’s filling, inexpensive, and easy-to-make! Best of all, though, in our opinion, it’s so much better than carryout or frozen pizzas!

I’ve tried many different pizza crust recipes and this one is not only our favorite, it’s also one of the quickest to make. The pizza, from start to finish, can be ready to pop in the oven in less than 30 minutes.

Homemade Pizza

Pizza Crust:
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix.

Dump onto a floured surface.

Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so).

Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.

Add toppings. (Have fun and be creative with this! Our favorite variety is salsa or barbecue sauce, diced cooked chicken, and cheese.)

Bake at 450 degrees F. for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

By the way, you can make up a double or triple batch of the pizza crust dough and freeze the extras if you don’t need it. This speeds up the preparation even more as all you have to do is pull out a bag of dough and a bag of chopped cooked chicken in the morning and then put the pizza together right before you’re ready to eat. You can also freeze the pizzas already cooked but I doubt it would ever stay uneaten long enough to make it to the freezer around here.

Speaking of freezing pizza, many of you asked what things I’m planning to make ahead and freeze for after the baby is born. I posted my current list-in-the-making here.

Do you make homemade pizza at your home? If so, what are some of your favorite toppings?