Say this with me..."keen-wah". That is how "quinoa" is pronounced. Now that that's out of the way, may I present to you another healthy dish. It can be served warm or cold. I liked it with grilled chicken for a main dish. It is healthy and packed with protein. My kids looked at it and didn't want to touch it but with a little gentle coaxing *wink* they tasted it and decided just because it is healthy it doesn't have to be gross. If you feel like it's time to eat something a little healthy, try this recipe.

Black Bean and Sweet Corn Quinoa Salad
*Melskitchencafe.com

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (less if you have picky kids)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen sweet white corn
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When shimmering and hot, add the onions and saute for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and stir for a minute or two until the garlic is fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic.

Add the quinoa and cover with broth. Stir in cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes (or until all the liquid is absorbed).

Stir in the frozen corn and black beans. Cover and let the pot sit off the heat until the corn and beans are heated through, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Serve warm or cold. Printable recipe.


Calorie Count gave this recipe a grade A! (8 servings)
497 calories
5.2 g fat
1 g saturated fat
18.1 g fiber
33.6 g protien

Posted in healthy , main dish , salad , 0 Comments

I love making food with my family. Every Monday night we like to spend time together as a family. Last Monday I wanted to do a little activity with my peeps. I have been wanting to make this recipe for a long time so I thought it would be a perfect night to attempt. Let me start by saying that I didn't know doughnuts had yeast in them. I didn't know they had to rise for a few hours. Perhaps I've been relying on Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Doughnuts way too much. We thought we'd give it a try anyway. My family all participated. I cooked the doughnuts, my man glazed the doughnuts and my kids ate the doughnuts. A job for everyone! I'm thinking it would be great to serve these at a Halloween party or after a cold day of tubing...anytime a group of people congregate in your home. Start this recipe early because it needs to rise for a while. Enjoy! *Please don't be discouraged with the long recipe. These doughnuts are really easy to make.


Homemade Glazed Doughnuts
*Pioneer Woman

Ingredients for Doughnuts
1-⅛ cup Whole Milk, Warm
¼ cups Sugar
2-¼ teaspoons (one Package) Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
2 whole Large Eggs, Beaten
1-¼ stick Unsalted Butter, melted
4 cups All-purpose Flour
¼ teaspoons Salt
Canola Oil

Glaze
3 cups Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Vanilla
½ cups Cold Water Or Milk

Preparation Instructions:

To Make the Dough:

1. Make sure milk is nice and warm, but not overly hot.
2. Add sugar to milk. Stir to dissolve.
3. Add yeast into a small bowl.
4. Pour milk/sugar mixture over yeast. Stir gently, then let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Melt butter in separate bowl until butter is almost melted. Stir to finish melting so butter won’t be overly hot.
6. Add beaten eggs to melted butter, stirring constantly to make sure the butter’s not too hot for the eggs.
7. Add the egg/butter mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook.
8. With the mixer on 3 or medium-low speed, pour in the yeast mixture.
9. Allow the dough hook to stir this mixture for a couple of minutes, making sure it’s thoroughly combined.
10. With the mixer still going, add helpings of the flour mixture in 1/4 to 1/2 cup increments until all the flour is gone.
11. Stop the mixer, scrape the bowl, then turn the mixer on the same speed for five whole minutes.
12. After five minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl.
13. Turn on the mixer for 30 seconds.
14. Turn off the mixer and allow the dough to sit in the bowl undisturbed for 10 minutes.
15. After 10 minutes, transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Toss the dough to coat, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place straight in the fridge.
16. Refrigerate dough for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

To Make the Doughnuts:

1. Remove bowl from fridge and turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface.
2. Roll out to 1/4 to 1/3-inch thickness.
3. Using a 3-inch cutter, cut as many rounds as you can, then roll out remaining dough and cut as much as you can, etc.
4. Cut holes out of each round using a 1 1/2-inch cutter.
5. Place both doughnuts and holes on a floured baking sheet.
6. Cover with large tea towel and place in a warm place in your kitchen; my kitchen is very drafty, so I have to briefly warm the griddle, then turn it off and set the sheets on top to keep warm.
7. Allow doughnuts to rise undisturbed for at least 1 hour; 1 hour 15 minutes if necessary. Doughuts should be visibly puffier and appear to be airy.

To Fry the Dougnuts

1. Heat plenty of canola oil in a large pot until the temperature reaches 375 to 380 degrees—do not let it get hotter than 380 degrees! 375 is ideal; keep the thermometer in the pan to continually monitor.
2. One to two at a time, gently grab doughnuts and ease them into the hot oil. Allow them to cook 1 minute on each side; they will brown very quickly.
3. Remove doughnuts from the oil with a slotted spoon, allowing all oil to drip off.
4. Place doughnut immediately on several layers of paper towels. Count to five, then flip it over onto a clean part of the paper towels. Count to five, then flip it over again; the purpose, obviously, is to drain as much grease as possible before it soaks into the doughnut.
5. Repeat with remaining doughnuts and holes. The holes will cook more quickly than the doughnuts; about 30 seconds per side.
6. Allow doughnuts to slightly cool.

To Glaze:

1. Mix all glaze ingredients in a bowl until completely smooth.
2. One by one, dip doughnuts into the glaze until halfway submerged. (Note: completely submerge doughnut holes, then remove with slotted spoon.)
4. Remove from glaze, then turn right side up on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet (to catch dripping glaze.)
5. Serve warm if possible, or room temperature. Printable recipe.

Cut dough set out to rise. Cover with a kitchen towel so they don't dry out.

I didn't have a doughnut cutter so I used a 3 inch biscuit cutter and a 1 1/2 inch flower cookie cutter.

Ready to fry.
Keep thermometer temperature at 375.

So good and worth the wait. My kids loved these doughnuts. They are light and fluffy.

Posted in activity , dessert , Doughnuts , 0 Comments

I love Valentines Day. It is such a fun day to show everyone how much you love them. I love to give little gifts to my kids, siblings, friends, neighbors, co-workers, teachers you name it. As I was doing a little research I came across this blog and thought I'd died. The treat bags were so cute I thought I'd make some. The Farm Chicks has all of the cute bag templates available to download FREE. Make them this Valentines Day and impress the ones you love.


All you need are the downloaded templates printed and cut, glue, or double-sided tape, candy and Pinking shears (optional).
Download and print the template here.



After printing the template, cut around the edges of the bag leaving the top uncut.


Fold the sides in using the bottom of the bag as a guide. Glue. Actually I used the double-sided scrapbook tabs (glue didn't work out for me).


Then following the guide, cut the top of the bag. Pinking shears makes it a little more fancy.


Fill the bags with candies, cookies, rice crispy squares, brownies etc. Using the FarmChicks bags makes your Valentines gift extra special.

Posted in gift , non-food , Valentines , 0 Comments

Wow that was a tongue twister! I made these little pot pies when I realized I didn't have frozen pie crusts in the freezer for this recipe. I used the same recipe but poured the chicken mixture into six ramekins instead of a pie shell.

I pulled out my Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (any puff pastry will do), waited the required 10 minutes for it to thaw, rolled it out and cut it into squares with my pizza cutter. After I scooped the chicken mixture into individual ramekins, I placed a puff pastry square on top. Then I adorned them with little designs I cut with little cookie cutters.

Finally, I bushed them with a beaten egg, and cooked at 350 for about 20 minutes (or until the pastry looked golden brown. De-lish.

Posted in chicken , comfort food , dinner , 0 Comments