Wednesday, February 26, 2014

An apology... in transition!

To all of my followers (if I have any left after my hiatus?!)... I am so very sorry I have been away for so long, the holidays were a ruckus all their own, but the new year brought some new challenges. I am happy, no, I am ELATED that those challenges have since become history, as they were heartwrenching and draining for my family. Many of my followers are probably already aware, due to Facebook and the message boards I frequent, but in the short of things, we had a scare with Tiny Tornado's health, but he has now been checked head to toe by the University of Michigan Motts Children's hospital specialists and has been given an "all clear".

So, all is well in the Tuttle household at the present.

Personally, all is far better than it has been for me in a very long time!

Towards the end of last year, I mentioned some changes coming to my blog... Well, as life would have it, I began on a new journey of mostly "clean" eating, and so the changes I planned on for this blog have been replaced with a change in the type of food I will be posting. This is actually really exciting, y'all!

I began eating clean about 5 weeks ago now, and it's been full steam ahead for this train. My family, unfortunately is not all on board the same train I am, so I am still cooking many of the hearty meals I have in the past for them, making an alternative meal for myself. Hey, it's their bodies, their choices when it comes to food (I don't feel this way about all things... but food yes). The two youngest ones are eating mostly clean and they are too little to even realize it unless the older siblings enlighten them. My husband has so far been happy with the foods (at least I think so anyway), but most dinners are meat, veggie, and I make a potato for the fam.

I can't even begin to tell you how much better I feel, Friends! It is amazing. I used to look at the clean and whole foods on my various social media outlets and think "grosssss...." BUT, I didn't realize just how delicious things can be, even without refined sugars and flours. I am loving it! Not only that, but I have lost 13 pounds in 5 weeks! SCORE! I'm telling you, you should at least check it out, research it a bit, if it's not for you, so be it, but if you choose to take on this lifestyle, I think you will love it as much as I do. :)

I'm not going to post a novel, but there is one recipe I MUST share... it can not wait another minute. It just can't... it's too good not to share. Double bonus, it's a completely clean recipe, but you would never know it... you will be drooling over it. Okay, OKAY! I'll stop teasing... here it is. Try it. NOW. If you don't have the ingredients on hand, buy them. Make these cookies, you won't regret them...
Clean-Eating Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies -- these skinny cookies don't taste healthy at all! They're so soft & incredibly chewy. You'll never need another oatmeal cookie recipe again!

This is not my picture, I can't take credit for it, I borrowed it from the recipe site...

Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

1 c instant (quick-cook) oats (measured correctly)
¾ c whole wheat flour (measured correctly)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ c honey
¼ c dried blueberries
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey until thoroughly incorporated. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the blueberries. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. (If chilling longer, cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the entire surface of the cookie dough.)
  2. Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
  3. Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops on the baking sheet. (If chilled longer than 1.5 hours, flatten each slightly.) Bake at 325°F for 13-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Notes: It's really important to measure the oats with the spoon-and-level method (like with flour; see link in ingredients). If you scoop the oats into the measuring cup, you end up with 1.5 times as many oats, which will result in very dry cookies. 


Melted unsalted butter or melted margarine may be substituted for the coconut oil. Regardless of which is used, be sure that the egg is at room temperature before whisking it in. A cold egg added straight from the fridge would rapidly cool the fat source, resulting in small blobs of semi-solid coconut oil or butter.
You can thank me later ;)

FYI, I tripled the cinnamon in my second batch, and it was Ah-MAZING! Used unsalted butter rather than coconut oil. Also, I used fresh blueberries, where the recipe called for dried. I'm glad I did, biting into a fresh blueberry, tasting the juice squeeze out as you delve into this magnificant cookie... Yeah. These are Heaven.

I will be back at some point, with a few of my new favorite recipes and some easy snack or lunch ideas I have played with over the last month or so. :)

ENJOY YOUR COOKIES!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

I'm Back... with Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Tater Tot Casserole (and the easiest banana bread you'll ever make!)

Hello, Friends! It's been so long since I've posted, and for that I am sorry! My personal laptop crashed on me, taking with it all of my preferred settings and my computer comfort zone. Ha ha! My inlaws have been kind enough to allow me to borrow an extra laptop they have, and I am getting a bit more comfortable with it. The holidays of course were full of hustle and bustle, as they always are. I hope all of my readers have had a wonderful and blessed holiday season!

So, as of right now, we are on day three of being snowed in by winter storm "Ion"... am I the only one who finds this naming of storms things to be a little odd? But anyway, I've had quite a bit of downtime over the last few days, and I have finally found some time to sit down and post a couple of recent recipes I used. :)

I'll start off with my cinnamon roll monkey bread...

I'm certain I've posted this recipe before, it's so simple, but I have modified it from the original. I found the original to be far too sticky and gooey.

Preheat to 350, grease a bundt pan...

First, start off with a two cans of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. I buy the ones with cream cheese frosting. In a large Ziploc bag, mix together some cinnamon and sugar. I use about 1/2c sugar and tablespoon of cinnamon. Toss the rolls four at a time in the bag until coated, place them in two layers in bundt pan. Melt brown sugar and butter together in microwave (about 1 minute)... now here's the thing. The original recipe calls for 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 c. butter.... That was just too much for me. I couldn't eat it, believe it or not, it was too sweet (for *me* to say that.. it must have been crazy sweet!). This time, I used a little over 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/4 c butter, and that was just right for my tastes! Pour the brown sugar mixture over the rolls. Now for the frosting, I just use the cream cheese frosting that comes with the cinnamon rolls, mix it with a little vanilla and maple syrup until I get the desired consistency ( I pour it over bread after I invert it onto plate). You can make your own frosting, but the maple syrup is a great touch! It's super easy, but it looks gorgeous!

 Here is the "naked" version, with no icing...




And the prettied up version... with maple cream cheese icing. 



I've posted these before too, but I have to post again, because these are so incredibly delicious...

I just buy the Pillsbury crescent rolls, roll them out with a rolling pin to seal the seams, spread a thin coat of butter over dough (could use jam or apple butter too), then mix brown sugar and cinnamon and spread over top of butter. Roll the dough up, use a sharp knife and cut rolls about 1" thick. Place on greased baking sheet (parchment paper would work the best), and bake for 10 minutes at 350 or until *lightly* brown on top. I prefer these to be on the softer side, so I try to take them out of the oven before they get crunchy on the outsides! Soften a cube of cream cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds, add vanilla and my favorite again, maple syrup until you have a thinner "dipping" consistency. I call these cinnamon dunkers, because they are so easy to just dunk into the frosting and pop into your mouth! One of my kids' favorites! :)












Last night's dinner... Cheesy Chicken Hasselback. Easiest thing. EVER.
I used 4 boneless skinless breasts, colby jack and jalepeno jack cheeses, and black forest ham. Along with some peppered seasonings I had on hand.

Easy Peasy You can throw this together, start to finish in 30 minutes. Make cuts in the breasts about 3/4 of the way through, I did 4-5 cuts in each breast. Stuff with cheese and meat of your choice. The jalepeno jack was awesome! Place stuffed breasts on lined cookie sheet (silicone mat, foil, parchment paper), and bake for 20 minutes at 350. I would suggest baking 25 minutes, actually. I did 20 and it was a tad underdone, still good, but needed a few more minutes. This chicken is so moist when it is done baking, it was just delicious.




And I don't have a fancy picture of it, but I have to share this super-de-duper easy banana bread recipe! Found it on Pinterest tonight, and figured since I had a bunch or quite ripe bananas left from buying them out before snowmageddon, I had to put them to good use!

Cream together:
8 Tbs butter
1c Sugar

Stir in:
Two beaten eggs
3 mashed bananas

Mix in:
1/2tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1 1/4c flour (I used wheat flour but recipe calls for all purpose)

Bake for 40 to 50 min (about 45 for my oven) at 350

Very good, so easy!

And for my friend, Ally... ;) Here's the recipe I promised you:

Broccoli Cheddar, Chicken and Tater Tot Casserole
2 small cans cream of chicken soup
2 small cans cheddar cheese soup
1 1/2 Cups milk
8-10 Cups broccoli florets
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (bake or I throw mine in the pressure cooker)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Tabasco or Chalula)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Lawry’s Garlic Salt with Parsley
1/2 bag Ore Ida Seasoned Tater Tots, frozen
1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place soup and milk into a large pot over medium heat.  Whisk until smooth and heated through, about 5 minutes.  Stir in broccoli and cook for 5 additional minutes to soften slightly.  Stir in chicken, hot sauce, salt, pepper and garlic seasoning.  Pour mixture into 11×7 inch baking dish that’s been sprayed with cooking spray.  Top evenly with tater tots and cheese; bake for 20 minutes then cover with foil. Bake for an additional 15 minutes with dish covered with foil.  Remove from oven and serve.

Tessie's Note: I changed up the recipe a bit... I omitted the cheddar cheese soup, and added another cup of milk (making it 2 1/2c total) and two cups of shredded cheddar cheese to the cream of chicken mixture. I did not have kosher salt, used table salt, used ground black pepper, added some garlic pepper seasoning (about a teaspoon), and used regular, not seasoned, tater tots. Still a totally yummy (and super FILLING) dish! 







Like I promised some of my IG and FB followers, I will slowly get things rolling again here in this new year of 2014. I am hoping to make at least one new post a week with a meal plan and two or three of my favorite meals/recipes from the week before.

I'll be back soon! Until then, stay warm, Friends!