Random thoughts...Ace in Alaska

So, my husband Ace, the one man on earth just insane enough to commit his life to being pleasantly annoyed by me, is in Alaska on a frozen lake doing driver training. Why? Because that just seems like a perfectly logical place to park a car...or spin a car at 100mph. Which is freaky amazing to me that he does this for a living. Even more unusual is that for how "hot-rod" his work is, that he isn't more of a total MACHO freak. In fact, I call him a "sleeper". Looking at him walking down the street, he looks more like an accountant than a high speed driving Ace. No offense sweet love. You know I think you're gorgeous snookie. Yeah, it's sappy. That being said, I don't usually like it when he goes anywhere without me. We're a little codependent in that area. I'm glad I cried on the way home from the airport even knowing that he would be home in a week. I'm glad I'm a sap. Sniff. Sniff. Sigh... I'm making the most of the vegetarian being gone though. Case in point...we had ribs for dinner yesterday. Yes, I know...

That's all I have to say about that.

Homemade No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars

Granola bars are a staple. Let's face it. Who doesn't like to wing a few of these bad boys to the back seat of the mini-van as it whizzes down the street trailing clouds of pixie dust behind it. We certainly have had our share of those mornings. Not for lack of planning, but complete lack of participation on the part of my children when it comes to getting out of bed. I should plan for those 2 hour mornings right? Geesh. If however I am good enough to share my chewy granola bar tutorial with you, does that help? I know we sure love them around here. These are loaded with flax seed and homemade organic goodness so I don't even feel guilty passing them to the back seat. Mind you, they do have some sugar, but...don't get me started on the store bought bars. Most of them are way loaded.
Kicker price too. I spent 4$ on the ingredients (some of which I had on hand) and I was still able to get almost 45 granola bars out of this recipe. Yes. You read it right. 45.

You will need:

4 cups granola, preferably in smaller pieces or my granola: Home-Spun Breakfast Cereal
4 cups rolled oats

4 cups crispy rice cereal

1 cup flax seed (optional)

1T cinnamon

2 cups brown sugar

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup butter

2 tsp double strength vanilla

2/3 cup honey or molasses

Combine the dry ingredients in a large 2 gallon bowl. Lightly oil 2 9 by 13 inch casserole pans and set them aside. In a 2 quart heavy pot, combine the sugar, butter, water, vanilla and honey or molasses.

It will be a nice rolling boil the full 5 minutes starting the timer when it comes to a boil. I have found if I just use honey and no sugar, it does help the bars to hold together if I add one cup of soy or whey protein powder to the dry ingredients. This also works using one cup of dry milk powder. Boil the syrup over medium heat stirring well, until a drop placed in cold water holds it's shape, about 5 minutes (soft ball stage). It helps to have one piece of ice in the water so it is a true test of when it is ready.

Not ready yet...

Getting closer...

Ready! Pour immediately over the dry ingredients and combine well.

It will not be too gooey. Just right.

Scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

Divide the mixture between the two pans. Lightly spray the top of the bars with non-stick spray or oil. Press down firmly, being careful not to burn your hands. Transfer pans to the fridge and chill 10-15 minutes. Cut with a sharp knife into bars of desired size. Standard granola bar size yielded about 45 bars.

Place in snack size bags or keep in an airtight container. Ours rarely last more than a few days, so I can't really say how long they will keep fresh.

There you go. Granola bars. You can do it!

Homemade rice-y-roni

Once there was a dishwasher I had to work with who was a bit cranky. Nobody else really got along with her. That's how ornery she was. One morning she was in the middle of a tirade about having to wash egg pans. I walked over to talk to her and noticed a piece of rice up her nose. Giggles started to ensue on my part, which made her even madder, as she didn't think I was taking her drama serious enough. When I stopped giggling, I told her my discovery. I don't know what that has to do with this blog post, except that every time I make rice I think of the dishwasher and wonder if she still has that single grain of rice in her nose. Not that I want anyone else to think of that when they go out to eat. Yikes.Mixes on Monday starts today. I have so many mix ideas that sometimes I forget how much I really do rely on these homemade convenience foods. I may not always have one up every Monday, but I will try my best to keep things interesting around here. Why do I make my own mixes? For one thing, they are way cheap. I'm kind of famous in my family for my um...frugality. I guess that's a good way of saying I'm cheap. Not that I don't know how to spend money or that we are totally broke but for all the times we were having problems it became a habit. Now I'd much rather spend the money other places besides my food budget. Plus, and this is a big plus, I know exactly what goes into my mixes. If I make them from all natural ingredients, then there is no question what I'm feeding my family. So today I thought I'd share my rice-y-roni. My mix makes 8 cups cooked rice, which is about right for the 6 people in my family. Ace is a big eater. A value size box of commercially made stuff makes 3 cups of cooked rice. For about 20 cents a mix, I make a bag that makes the 8 cups. Yes, like I say, I'm cheap. I'd rather buy new shoes than boxes of rice.


I'll usually make 8-10 mixes at a time, this takes about 20 minutes but is well worth it. It takes us about a month to go through them since we don't eat it every night. In each quart size bag I put 2 cups of converted rice:

and 1 cup of broken spaghetti noodles or fideo noodles.

Then I put the flavoring ingredients in snack bags (one seasoning packet per mix)

2T bullion (I use msg free low sodium) Optional, you can prepare the mix with stock instead of water.

2T dry onion, 1T dry carrots (optional) 1/8th tsp celery seed 1T Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning, 2tsp dry parsley, 1 tsp garlic powder.

Other flavor ideas:

Mexican: Use onion and carrot but for seasoning, use 1T taco seasoning, Or 1 tsp each: garlic, cumin, oregano and chile powder.
Oriental: Use onion carrot and celery seed, but also 1 tsp curry and 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1T garlic powder.

Curry Chicken: Use chicken bullion, all the original seasoning plus 1tsp saffron 2tsp curry powder.

I write the name of the flavoring mix on the bag along with how much liquid to add to the mix to prepare it.
Simple right?

To prepare you will need:

2 T butter or oil

4 cups water (or stock if you omit the bullion in your seasoning)

Directions: In a 2 quart pan with a tight fitting lid, brown the rice and noodles in the oil until noodles are a nice deep brown, but not burned. Add the water and the contents of the seasoning mix. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to low for 20-25 minutes, until tender.

Last night we grabbed a bag of the curry chicken homemade stuff and cooked it up with one of my favorite freezer meals. Grilled herb chicken with blackberry sage sauce. It was awesome.

There you go.

Serving Size: 2.5 oz
Amount 1 cup cooked rice Per Serving
Calories 250
Calories from Fat 60
Total Fat 6g
Cholesterol 0mg
Total Carbohydrate 50g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Protein 7g

Freezer Friday Meatloaf Muffins with BBQ Sauce

Today is the first Friday of a new series I will be doing called "Freezer Friday". I am hoping that it will make every one's life a little easier adding some convenient freezer meals to their family. By the end of the year, we should have about 50. I have a three ring binder with over 300 that I rotate for my family, but it has taken about 7 years of going through recipes to find ones I really adore. So, hopefully it has been for a good cause and you can benefit from it. Let's begin shall we? This recipe is one that my sister Auntie Em first introduced me to. In the world of freezer meals, she is the queen. Really. She has them labeled with computer printed labels and a monthly schedule of meals on her fridge. I adore her dedication. Smoooches Em! Okay so today we're making Meatloaf muffins.

Mmm. Muffins. The first time I ever made these for my mother in law I told Cussing Granny we where having meatloaf muffins for dinner she turned a little green. I had some explaining to do. Don't panic. They are still regular meatloaf, just portion sized in muffin cups. It seems like a gimmick, but for some reason my kids love them this way...so we do it. Yes, for the same reason I call brussel sprouts "monkey brains" and rice-a-roni "maggot pilaf". I have boys. If you have girls, I don't think they would appreciate the name changes. We are serving the muffins with stuffed potato shells. I used the recipe here:freezer meal ideas potatoes with a few modifications.

MEATLOAF MUFFINS W/BARBECUE SAUCE

1 3/4 pounds ground beef or lean turkey sausage

1 medium onion, cut into chunks

1 green pepper

1 large egg

1 c plain bread crumbs (whole wheat OR rolled oats)

2 T grill seasoning (I use D-Dog BBQ original rub)

1 c smoky barbecue sauce

1/2 c tomato salsa ( I use great grandma's chile sauce)

1 T Worcestershire sauce

Put ground beef into a big bowl. Put onion and green pepper in blender. Pulse the blender to finely chop the vegetables into very small pieces then add them to the meat bowl. Add egg, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl. Next, mix together the smoky barbecue sauce, the salsa and the Worcestershire sauce. Pour half the sauce mixture into the bowl with the meatloaf mix. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Wash up. Brush a 12-muffin tin (1/2 c each) with nonstick spray. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into each tin. Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce.

At this point you can do one of two things. You can bake them now and then put the pre-cooked meatloaf minis in the freezer after being cooled and labeled, or you can freeze the whole pan as is. When they are frozen solid, you can remove them from the pan and freeze the individual minis. I prefer to bake them first, just so I can grab one for lunch for my kids to take to school or as a meal for Mr. Putt Putt and Cussing Granny.


When I put them in the muffin tin, I clear a little whole in the middle of the loaf so the sauce doesn't go all over the place.

Bake 400 degrees for 30 minutes if making them from un-frozen. If you choose to freeze them, bake 400 degrees 40-45 minutes. Individual meat loaves take 2 minutes in the microwave.
Now here's something crazy. We had this for dinner with the stuffed potatoes. Half went in the freezer for later use. I will do a larger meal and freeze half rather than have a ton of left overs in the fridge that go to waste. Believe it or not, even my family gets sick of left overs. It's so sad.

Frozen Taters was a good introduction to my favorite use of potatoes as a freezer meal.

This variation of the stuffed cottage potatoes I still used

12 baking potatoes, scrubbed and baked 1 hour. Cooled and then cut in half. I scooped out the pulp (the picture instructions in the Frozen Taters blog entry is quite helpful)
8 oz tub low fat small curd cottage cheese

5.2 oz Boursin garlic and Fine herbs Gournay cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions

2T Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning

Combine potato pulp with this cheese blend of glory.

Heap the filling back into shells and place on parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze. When frozen, transfer individual potatoes into gallon size freezer bags.

To use: Bake in oven 400 degrees 15-20 minutes or microwave individual potatoes 2 minutes per servings. One meatloaf muffin frozen and one potato frozen popped on a plate will take 3-4 minutes in the microwave. Now that beats any frozen dinner from the store I have ever had.

There you go.

Homemade Quake and Bake with "Chick-un" nuggets

Ace is perhaps the most confusing vegetarian in the history of history. Yes. I'm at a complete loss. I made the fabulous "chick-un" nuggets. He at the whole batch and begged for more. Last night I put the meatless sausage in a succulent herb kissed saucy marinara...and he said "it tastes too much like meat". So, I'm confused. Though I shouldn't be. For all the times my husband has been blankly opposed to meat, I should just never make it...or anything similar is shape or texture. However, I love meat. I love the flavor. I don't love the thought of eating a dead animal so I don't usually think about it. Ace on the other hand, always brings up the "poor cow" or "humiliated yard bird" on the dinner table. So...here it is. I am posting the meatless "chick'un" nuggets. Ace ate them. He loved them. He drank D Dog BBQ rubs and sauce cranberry chipotle sauce right from the dipping cup...so you know it was good.

If you missed how to make the seitan, take a moment to review: Meatless Wonders 101 (Wheat Meat or Seitan) or make the sausage from:Veggie Dogs (Seitan). I think it would be wonderful to have the sausage in breaded form for Salisbury steaks. However, today we are going to lightly hit on making home made mock"Shake and bake"...we call it Quake and Bake.
You will need:
3 1/2 cups wheat flour (whole grain baby!)
1 cup crushed corn flakes (or bran flakes) measured after crushing as 1 cup.
1/2 cup cornmeal
2T parsley flakes
2 tsp garlic powder
2T onion powder
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground basil
1 tsp ground oregano

Mix together very well. Makes enough to coat 3-4 lbs chicken (Divide in half if you just want to coat 1-2 lbs of chicken).


Today we used one batch of the seitan using concentrated vegetable stock instead of water or bullion (you can also use concentrated chicken stock if you aren't vegetarian), well seasoned with poultry seasoning and omitted all the herbs and stuff from the Quake and bake. Do what you want, it works both ways. Divide the seitan between 3 logs. Simmer 2-3 hours in a covered crock pot as directed. Allow to cool slightly before slicing into 1/4 inch medallions.
I whisk 2 egg whites and toss the seitan in the egg white to coat well.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degree. Put egg coated "chick-un" nuggets in a bag with 1/2 of the Quake and bake mixture (enough to do 1-2 lbs of chicken). Melt 1/4 cup butter (or use 1/4 cup olive oil...I love garlic infused oil here).

Brush butter or oil over the nuggets, or mist with oil lightly.

Bake at 400 degrees uncovered for 20-25 minutes.
I experimented using some Panko in the Quake and Bake instead of the cornflake crumbs. It was very nice.

I loved it with the corn flakes though. Loved it.

If you use real meat for the Quake and bake:

Dredge 1 chicken (I use skinless) in the above mix (3-4 lb bird). Put the chicken in a bag with the mixture and shake it up until well coated. Put 1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil in the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Place the chicken skin side down and baste the top with melted butter or oil. Bake uncovered 25 minutes. Turn skin side up and reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake until tender and juices run clear when chicken is pricked with a fork, about 30-35 minutes. This also works for pork chops. Enjoy.

There you go.

Veggie Dogs (Seitan)

Is it possible to make homemade veggie dogs with great flavor and less sodium than the commercially prepared pre-frozen counterparts at the grocery store? We covered the basic steps for making seitan, but if you missed that post, please look here: Meatless Wonders 101 (Wheat Meat or Seitan) We are using the same basic ratio of 1 1/2 cup gluten powder to 1 cup liquid (concentrated vegetable stock if you're vegetarian). For added color I often use 1T paprika and 1T Pero® Caffeine Free All Natural Beverage. I've found the caramel color to be fantastic by adding just a few teaspoons of the powder. I add 1 tsp liquid smoke to the stock as well as 2 tsp cracked black pepper, 1T minced garlic, 2T minced onion and a 1/2 tsp sage. Combine with the liquid.

See how dark it gets? Normally light colored gluten will look grey when cooked. I've never seen a grey meat that really appealed to me. Ever.

Cut the gluten ball into 4-6 pieces, depending on the size of the veggie dogs you prefer.

Lightly oil a foot long piece of foil. Squeeze the gluten into a thin log, then roll tightly in the foil, twisting the ends.

This recipe makes 4 "bratwurst" size sausages or 6 hot dogs. Simmer on high in a crock pot 2-3 hours. I make 20 at a time in my gallon size crock pot.

When finished cooking, allow to cool. You can brown the sausages in a little barbecue sauce on the stove, or place the unwrapped sausages in freezer bags and freeze for later use.

Slice thin for pizzas or for breakfast burritos.

Other Sausage flavors

(If you are vegetarian, feel free to use vegetarian stock as the liquid and omit the bullion) All the dry ingredients are added to the dry gluten before mixing. I use the low sodium MSG free bullion if I use it instead of fresh stock:

Pepperoni: Use 2 tsp beef or vegetable bullion, 1 tsp liquid smoke or sesame oil, 2 tsp cracked black pepper, 2 tsp dry oregano, 1 T minced fresh garlic, 1T paprika (for the color...or you can use dark coffee or pero.)
Mild Summer sausage:

Use 2 tsp ham or beef bullion, 1T mustard seed, 1 tsp cracked black pepper, 1 tsp liquid smoke, 2 tsp powdered sage, and 2 tsp minced rosemary.
Breakfast sausage:

Use 2 tsp beef or pork bullion 1T minced fresh rosemary, 2T maple syrup(mixed with the liquid), 1/4 cup dry onion, 1 clove fresh pressed garlic and 1 tsp pero or instant coffee for color.
Shrimp sausage for seafood chowders:

4 tsp shrimp bullion, clam juice for the liquid, 1T dry minced parsley, 1 T dry chives, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp lemon zest and a dash of Tabasco.
Southwest Roasted Chile Sausage:

4 tsp chicken bullion and 2 tsp each:ground cumin, new Mexico Chile powder, cilantro, lime zest 1 tsp liquid smoke.
Italian Fennel Sausage:

2 tsp pork or beef bullion, 1/4 cup minced onion, 1 1/2 tsp fennel seed, 1 T mustard seed, 1 tsp all purpose Italian Seasoning, 2T minced garlic, 1 tsp ground pepper.

Greek Sausage for gyros:

2 tsp beef bullion 2 T garlic, 1T fennel seed, 1 1/2 tsp dill seed, 1T dry mint, 1T fresh minced rosemary, 1 tsp liquid smoke, 4 tsp pero or postum granules, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.

There you go.

Meatless Wonders 101 (Wheat Meat or Seitan)

Homemade "chick-un" nuggets...no meat.

Homemade veggie dogs...no meat. Homemade "chick-un" cutlets...no meat.

Have you ever wondered how meatless meat substitutes are made? You know, the ones that come in a package priced per ounce like gold? Veggie dogs, chick'n nuggets, chick'n patties, veggie sausage, veggie pepperoni...all made from one handy ingredient: Vital Wheat Gluten. In the old days my mom would take fresh ground whole wheat flour, add water and knead it for 15 minutes, and then rinse the starch out of the dough under running water. That would leave this gummy mass of protein that she would use to stretch our food budget by making fake gluten meat. "Seitan" being the technical vegetarian name for it. Seitan...not Satan. If you are on a gluten free diet, this stuff is not for you. I'm good with it. My vegetarian husband's only complaint about Seitan is that it tastes too much like meat! So...let's begin shall we?

I know how to make it that old fashioned way in a pinch, but have found great joy in just buying the gluten protein flour in a can. Honeyville Grain has it for around 11$ for a #10 can. This makes the equivalent of 10 lbs of meat. So, it's cost effective for me to have vegetarian food stuff. If I bought 10 lbs worth of pre-packaged meatless products, it would cost me right around 50$.

One thing, if you aren't vegetarian and want to use flavoring, I highly recommend using a low sodium broth. If you cook it on the stove until half of the liquid evaporates, it makes wonderfully flavored meat-less meat. Vegetarians can use vegetable stock with great success in this way. If you have a good quality MSG free, low sodium stock powder, you will not need the liquid stock. I make my own stock or purchase already made stock. This box was at our local "dollar" store. So, still very inexpensive. If you don't want to buy the big can of gluten, there are boxes on the baking aisle at most grocery stores (see picture) that sell for a dollar and a half and make 1lb of meatless meat.

Here's my secret recipe. Don't freak out.

1 package (6 1/2 ounces) or 1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

1 cup highly seasoned stock (or 1T MSG free, low sodium bullion plus 1 cup stock)

You will also need:

1-2 feet heavy aluminum foil (don't use the cheap stuff...it won't work as well)

oil or pan spray to keep Seitan from sticking to the foil (easy release foil works wonders!)
4 quart crock pot ( or solar oven) and a quart of water

Combine the stock with the gluten powder.

Mix about 2 minutes until a gummy mass is made and there isn't any dryness left.

Take one cup of the mixture and place on 1 1/2 feet of aluminum foil that has been sprayed with a non-stick coating or oil. I use oil.

Roll into a tight log...

Twist the ends of the foil tightly.

It will look like a hamburger chub. This is called a force meat. It is wonderfully effective in producing a very firm texture similar to meat. I've seen gluten cooked other ways, but have never had a great love for the textures in other cooking methods.

You can bake the chubs in the oven on a sheet pan 250 degrees for 3 hours. I prefer to immerse in a 4 quart crock pot full of water or take out to Solar Oven in a water filled 4 quart dark pot. Turn crock pot to high setting and cook 2-3 hours. Solar oven 3-4 hours. The lower cooking time I use for thin sausages and hot dogs.

What do I do with the chub once it is cooked? Well, it's like a roll of cooked meat. I cube it up and use it anywhere a recipe calls for chicken pieces (casseroles, stews, over rice etc.) Sliced it can be eaten like meat medallions with any sauce or gravy or breaded and turned into chicken nuggets. If you make smaller chubs you can add sausage seasonings and make anything you would use sausage with like pizza, Italian dinners, breakfast burritos. For a more ground burger texture, I would go with TVP or run the gluten through a meat grinder after making it into the chub. This would give you a meatier texture. There is no cholesterol at all in this "meat" so it's heart healthy. Very little fat (half a gram in 1/3 cup)and it adds that texture of meat at a fraction of the cost. Plus, it's easier to store a can of gluten than 10lbs of meat in your food storage. It isn't meat, so the texture won't be exactly like meat, but it's very very close.

There you go.

Seitan Nutritional information

1/3 cup (30g)

Calories: 160

Protein: 23g

Carbohydrate: 11g
Total Fat: 0.5g

Fiber: 2g