Pear & Pineapple Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 c   Fresh, cubed Pineapple
1      Medium Bartlett Pear, quartered and cored
1 c   Spinach
1 c   Kale
1      Small ripe banana
1/2c Orange or apple juice
1 c   Ice cubes

Blend together and enjoy!

Hot Mama Notes: I used orange juice.  I detest bananas in smoothies, so I added 1/2 c of honeydew instead.  Still, my kids were not impressed with this smoothie.  I think it's because we don't like kale no matter what we do with it.  :(  It was not too sweet, but it just wasn't especially good.  We probably won't make it again.

Hot Mama Grade: B

Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup (1 small jar) strained carrot baby food
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup walnut

Directions

Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Combine butter, oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, scraping down sides if necessary, until sugars have dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, carrot puree and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, raisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using between 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hot Mama Grade: A-

Hot Mama Notes: These cookies are fantastic for healthy cookies.  They are very tasty and great for breakfast.  That being said, don't expect them to replace your favorite dessert cookie.  They are not sweet like that.  Nonetheless, my family loves them, and we continue to make them again and again.  I substitute grated carrot for the carrot baby food.  My sister in law uses apple sauce.  I might try that next time; maybe that will make them more moist.  I use regular whole wheat flour and light brown sugar (unless I happen to have dark brown).  I substitute milk chocolate chips for raisins and omit the nuts.

Tater Tot Casserole

Original Recipe:

1 lb Ground Beef
1 can Peas, drained and rinsed
1 can Corn, drained and rinsed
1 can Cream of Celery (or Mushroom or whatever) soup
1/2 c Milk
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg Frozen Tater Tots

Preheat oven to 350F.  Brown and drain ground beef.  Add corn, peas, soup and milk.  Mix together and add most of the cheese (set aside a handful).  Put in a casserole dish (you can use a 13x9x2 pan or a couple of casserole dishes, anything will work!).  Scatter the remaining cheese on top.  Cover with frozen tator tots.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour.  Enjoy!

Modified Recipe:

1 to 2 lbs Ground Turkey

2c+ Frozen Peas

2c+ Frozen Corn

1c Broccoli (frozen or fresh)

1 can Cream of Asparagus (or whatever) soup

1/2c Milk

1c shredded cheddar cheese

1c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 pkg Frozen Tater Tots

Sue's Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
4      Eggs
1 can Pumpkin
1c    Milk
1c    Oil
2/3c Water
4c    Sugar
3.5c Flour
2t     Baking Soda
1t     Salt
1T   Nutmeg
1T   Cinnamon
1t    Allspice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all wet ingredients.  Combine all dry ingredients together and add to wet ingredients.  Grease loaf pans (2 or 3 standard loaf pans, or many small/mini loaf pans).  Bake 45-50 minutes for a standard loaf pan, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.  30 to 35 minutes for small loaf pans.

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: I make this with 3 cups sugar, and that is PLENTY.  This is our favorite pumpkin bread.  So moist.  The family *loves* it.  :)   With the recipe above, I fill 3 standard loaf pans, and it works quite well.  If you use the same amount of batter in two pans, they are overly full and may spill over.  And I hate oven messes! :P  I also like to use freshly grated whole nutmeg.  YUM.

Banana Bread, Kona-Island Style

Kona Inn Banana Bread Recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/kona-inn-banana-bread-recipe/index.html

One substituion: instead of using one full cup shortening, substitute 1/2 c shortening plus 1/2c unsweetened apple sauce.

Also, we usually omit the nuts.

In a pinch, I've also used half butter/half applesauce, and that turned out great, too!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups ripe mashed bananas (about 6 bananas)
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease and flour 2 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.

Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. In another larger bowl, mix together the shortening, sugar, mashed bananas, eggs and walnuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir only until the batter is thoroughly blended.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a rack and let cool completely.

Turkey Enchiladas

Original Recipe: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysSourCreamTurkeyEnchiladas.html

Ingredients:

• 3.5 Cups chicken or turkey broth
• 1 tsp. MINCED GARLIC
• 3 TB. butter 
• 3/4 Cup chopped onion (1 smallish onion)
• 5 TB. flour 
• 1 tsp. GROUND CORIANDER 
• 1/2 tsp. GROUND CUMIN
• 1/4 tsp. FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER
• 1 12-oz. can chopped green chilies, drained (3 of the small 4 oz. cans)
• 2 Cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided 
• 11/2 Cups reduced fat sour cream
• 6 Cups leftover turkey, cubed 
• 16 corn tortillas
  

Optional:

• chopped green onion
• fresh cilantro
• black olives
• hot sauce or CRUSHED RED PEPPER

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 11x7 ceramic or 9x13 glass baking dish and set aside. Measure out the chicken or turkey broth and add the PENZEYS MINCED GARLIC to rehydrate. In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the flour, CORIANDER, CUMIN and PEPPER and stir continuously until the flour is incorporated into the butter and the mixture is thick. Slowly add the broth, a bit at a time, stirring until thick and smooth before adding more. Once the broth is all in, add the green chilies; cook, stirring regularly, until thickened and bubbly; 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of cheese and the sour cream. In a bowl, mix the leftover turkey and 3/4 cup of the sauce. Stir. Place about 1/4 cup of turkey mixture down the center of a corn tortilla, roll up and place, seam down, in the pan. Repeat until the filling is used. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bake for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve sprinkled with chopped green onion, fresh cilantro, black olives and CRUSHED RED PEPPERS if desired, with hot sauce on the side. Prep. time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves: 8 Nutritional Information: Servings 8; Serving Size 2 enchiladas (414g); Calories 540; Calories from fat 190; Total fat 21g; Cholesterol 145mg; Sodium 1010mg; Carbohydrate 34g; Dietary Fiber 3g; Sugars 1g; Protein 50g. Hot Mama Notes: I cut this recipe in half, and it still filled a whole 13x9x2 pan!!!  I used a glass pan.  I used chicken broth, one can (15 oz?).  I used flour tortillas, which I prefer to corn.  I used fresh garlic - 1 large clove.  I would normally use the canned green chiles, but I did have any, so I used fresh green pepper and hot peppers from my garden.  In 20/20 hindsight, I would have only used the green peppers, since my kids thought it was too spicy.  For this same reason, I would use cheddar cheese instead of pepper jack to cut the kick and placate my picky children!!  This being said, this was a rather tasty recipe, and I would make it again.  Probably with chicken instead of turkey!  Just because I prefer chicken to turkey when it comes to enchiladas.  But, since I was using up turkey from the freezer, I figured it would have to do.  I used a mixture of light and dark meat, about 1:2 in ratio.  The hot peppers were green unripe serranos, I think.  If I leave them on the plant, they turn red and I can dry them into crushed red pepper.  I ground the coriander myself using a mortar and pestle.  I probably ended up using more butter than called for by halving this recipe. Same with the garlic and spices.  I love flavor!! Hot Mama Grade: A-

Lasagna!

Meat Lasagna

Ingredients

• 9 pieces oven ready lasagna noodles (6 oz) 

• 20 oz lean ground beef or turkey 

• 1/2 cup chopped onion 

• 8 ounces mushrooms, optional

• 1 jar (about 16 ounces) spaghetti sauce, your favorite 

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 

• 1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled 

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled 

• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese 

• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese 

• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet, brown beef, onion, and mushrooms; drain well. 

2. Stir in spaghetti sauce, garlic powder, salt, oregano, and basil. 

3. Mix the ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. 

4. In a 2-quart buttered baking dish (about 11x7x2-inches), layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles, 1/3

of the sauce and 1/3 of the ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and Parmesan cheeses. 

5. Repeat layers twice. 

6. Bake lasagna at 375°F for 30 minutes, or until thoroughly heated and bubbly. 

7. Let stand for 8 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Serves 6 to 8.