Asian Egg Drop Soup

I actually feel embarrassed at how simple this is to make and that I've paid a few dollars for a bowl here and there. Stupid American! Now I'll just make it at home! The girls even love "eggie soup" and I've decided now to only make double-batches. (Wonder if I could can this...?)

Egg Drop Soup

4 cups chicken broth

1/8 tsp ground ginger (I left this out cuz I don't love it)

2 TBS sesame oil

2 TBS chives or green onions

1 1/2 TBS cornstarch

3 eggs (more or less to your liking)

Throw in everything except the cornstarch and eggs to a large soup pot.

Take out about 1 cup of broth. Stir in the cornstarch to the cool broth. Set aside.

Heat up the broth to boiling.

Crack the eggs in a soup or cereal bowl and mix them around - or you could just slowly dump them in while stirring the broth. The eggs will fully cook since the broth is boiling.

Last, add in the cornstarch thickened cup of broth.

Shazam. Now, pay me $3.95 and I'll give you a fortune cookie!

Easy Lemon Bars

I've never been a fan of lemon bars, but I had some extra lemon juice and decided to whip up a batch. Pretty simple. Pretty delicious. Empty pan. Bummer!

Easy Lemon Bars For the crust:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour Mix it up and smoosh it in a 9x13 pan. (Can use 9x9, but bars will need to bake longer!) Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until it's starting to brown. To make the filling:

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups white sugar 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 2/3 cup lemon juice Mix this up and pour it over the partially baked crust. Bake an additional 20 minutes or so. Let cool completely before trying to dig in or it gets messy (but still delicious!)

Zucchini Brownies

Zucchini Brownies

I know it sounds weird, but I've made these several times and no one guesses that there is zucchini in these... If you're skeptical, it's worth a shot for all the extra zucchini at this time of year!

2 cups shredded zucchini (frozen from last year works too!)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg (eggs make these more cake-ish, so if you want fudge brownies, leave out the eggs - they still turn out fine)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups flour (wheat flour works great)

1/2 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips - optional

Combine all ingredients. Grease a 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins.

Frosting

6 TBS cocoa powder

1/4 cup melted margarine

2 cups powdered sugar

1 TBS milk (use more or less for desired consistency)

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine and spread over cooled brownies. SUPER YUM!

Waffles

Found a great "food storage" recipe for waffles online. Thought I'd share.

In large bowl, mix:
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS baking powder
3 TBS brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour




Mix until well combined. Pour batter into waffle maker (or on griddle for pancakes) and cook until well browned.

Blueberry Oat Scones

Misty the little tree hugger, found this cool site weelicious.com and it's got some pretty fun recipes for kids. I tried this one and it was pretty good. I'd even make it again.

Blueberry Oat Scones (Makes 10 ice cream scooper sized scones)‬

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Quick Oats (I used regular oats)
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Butter (I used margarine)
3/4 Cup Buttermilk (3/4 cup milk plus 1 tsp vinegar, microwave for 1 min=buttermilk)
1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Blueberries (I used freeze dried blueberries and just put them in the buttermilk to hydrate)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients until combined.
3. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, rub the butter into the flour/oat mixture until is resembles coarse meal.
4. Whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla in a separate bowl.
5. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the flour/oat mixture and using a fork, stir until combined.
6. Stir in the blueberries until just combined.
7. Scoop out about 2 tbsp of the batter per scone onto a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet (I like using an ice cream scooper for this.)
8. Bake for 20 minutes.
9. Serve.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I got this recipe from my mom's 1970's Betty Crocker book. I've used it so often because it's easy and YUMMY!

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter flavored shortening
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


1. Mix sugars, peanut butter, shortening, butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.

2. Heat oven to 375ºF.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dipped into sugar.

4. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Homemade Brownies

2 sticks margarine

2 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients, mix well.

Oven to 350. Spray the pan. 9x13 is minimum size.

35-40 minutes.

I've been looking for a good recipe and these turned out great. You could even omit the brown sugar and just use 3 cups regular white sugar.

Zucchini Bread

If you have a garden in summer - you'll need an idea for all that dang squash!

1 Cup oil
2 Cups sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 Cups shredded raw zucchini
3 Cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon


Combine oil, sugar and eggs in large bowl.
Add in vanilla and zucchini.
Sift in dry ingredients. Mix well.
Pour batter in greased loaf pan.

Bake 350 for 1 hour. (Less time for several smaller loaves.)

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1 Cup shortening
1 Cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/2tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt


Mix sugars, shortening, peanut butter and eggs.
Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls.
Place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
(Fork the tops if you must)
Bake until set, but not hard.

375 for 10 mins

PS- you can add chocolate kisses on top towards the end of baking.

Banana Bread

1/2 Cup margarine
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 Cup bananas (more= moister bread)
1/4 Cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/2 Cup chopped nuts (optional)


Mix all ingredients together. Batter will be lumpy.
Put in greased 8x4x3 loaf pan.

Bake 1 hr @350.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake

So freaking good - My Grandma made this one year for my birthday and we ate it all, so she made another one a few days later. YUM!

1 package devils food cake mix
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure almond extract (optional)



Mix all ingredients in large mixing bowl until thick and well blended. Pour the batter in greased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Frost with chocolate frosting when cool.

PS- I usually reserve a little of the cherry pie filling to mix in with the chocolate frosting just for an extra cherry kick!

EZ Breakfast Casserole

I read a title of "Breakfast Casserole" and thought, I could put one of those together in a flash!


Heat oven to 400.

4 frozen hashbrown patties
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup ready to eat bacon crumbles or frozen sausage patties cut into pieces or cubed ham
salt & pepper to taste
some cheese for on top


Grease a 9x9 baking pan.
Put hashbrown patties in bottom of pan.
In small bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper.
Pour over hashbrowns.
Add ready to eat bacon if desired.
Top with cheese.
Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes until center is set.

(For bigger families, use a 9x13 pan, 6 frozen hashbrown patties, 6 eggs, etc)

Egg Pancakes

A super easy breakfast!

Heat oven to 400.
Melt 1 cube butter in 9x13 pan while preheating.

In bowl, whisk together:
6 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk'

Pour batter over melted butter. Return to oven for 20 minutes.
Serve immediately with syrup, powdered sugar, or fresh fruit.