Yogurt Cream & Berries

Originally from:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/yogurt-cream-and-berries/

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup Plain, Unflavored Yogurt
1-1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup (to 3/4 Cup) Brown Sugar
Blueberries (or Other Fruit Of Your Choice)

Directions:

First, pour the yogurt into a bowl. Then add the cream. With a whisk carefully stir until combined. It should be nice and thick.

Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the top of the yogurt mixture. Do not stir the mixture. Cover the bowl with foil or plastic wrap and tightly seal the edges. Place in the refrigerator for at least three or four hours.

When you are ready to serve, place a small handful of berries (or other fruit) into a bowl or cup. Now, you can either not stir the mixture and have small visible bits of brown sugar in the finished product or you can whisk the mixture until smooth. This is how I like it. Stirred or not, spoon the yogurt mixture over the berries or fruit. Repeat the layers once, ending with berries on top.

Hot Mama Grade:

Hot Mama Notes:

Mom's Pork Chops

I buy the thin cut.  

Whip eggs

Put in pork chops

Then coat both sides in Italian bread crumbs.

Fry both sides until browned then bake on 325 for about an hour

Lasagna with Oven-Ready Noodles (Back of the Box)

Hot Mama Notes: This is a simple and easy recipe that I found on the back of the Fry's brand (Kroger) oven-bake Lasagna noodle box.  I like it because it doesn't require much, and yet the result is fantastic.  Everyone loves it, and it doesn't require a ton of chopping or many different cans of tomatoes, paste, sauce, etc.

Hot Mama Grade: A

Double Chocolate Mini Muffins

Originally from:

https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/05/flourless-double-chocolate-peanut-butter-mini-blender-muffins.html

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium/large ripe banana, peeled
1 large egg
heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I recommend using classic storebought peanut butter, and not natural or homemade because it can be oily or separate)
1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3 tablespoons honey (agave, brown rice syrup, or maple syrup may be substituted)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
heaping 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips + more for sprinkling muffin tops

Flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Blender Muffins

updated on OCTOBER 1, 2014 by Averie Sunshine.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare mini muffin pans by spraying very well with cooking spray or grease the pans; set aside.To the canister of a blender, add first 8 ingredients, through optional salt, and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.

Add heaping 1/2 cup chocolate chips and stir in by hand; don’t use the blender because it will pulverize them.

Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, drop rounded 1 tablespoon mounds into prepared pans. Each cavity should be filled to a solid 3/4 full.

Sprinkle each muffin with a generous pinch of chocolate chips.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the tops are set, domed, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. That’s a large range with baking time and I find with medium bananas, there’s less batter, the cavities are less full, and 8-9 minutes is about right. With a larger banana or slightly more batter in each muffin cavity, 11-12 minutes is right. For these, I used a large banana and baked 11:30. Due to the mini size and oven variance, watch your muffins closely, and bake until done.

Allow muffins to cool in pans for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they’ve firmed up and are cool enough to handle. It’s normal for muffin tops to be quite domed in oven but flatten as they cool. Muffins will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. I find the muffins get softer over time and taste better on days 2-3 after the flavors have married.

Hot Mama Grade: A-

Hot Mama Notes: I used 2 small ripe bananas. 1 seemed too small. I used 1T agave syrup and 2T honey. These mini muffins turned out great, and I don't even like bananas much. They are definitely super moist. You can that they are flourless, but not in a bad way. A great recipe to take to a potluck, especially where people are gluten free. I used baking cups. I needed to bake the muffins the full 12 minutes. The cups were at least 75% fun, if not a little more.

Granola Bars

Originally from: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homemade-chewy-granola-bars-without-corn-syrup

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars (without corn syrup!)

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanut butter or sunbutter
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil (or another oil of your choice)
1 cup oats
1 cup total of any combination of: sesame seeds, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, mini chocolate chips

Instructions

In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter, honey and coconut oil.Remove from heat and add one cup of oats.Choose your favorite combination of coconut flakes, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit and mini chocolate chips, to equal a total of ONE CUP. (I just got out my one cup measuring cup and poured in the ingredients until the cup was full.)Pour in and stir well.Spread mixture into a 8×8 or 9×4 pan.Chill for two hours, then cut into bars.

Hot Mama Notes - Mine are currently chilling in the frig, so I don't know cohesiveness yet, but they taste delicious. For my 1 cup of add-ins, I used approximately 1/2 c milk chocolate chips, and 1/2 c slivered Almonds. There are also a few heath bits thrown in. YUM! No wonder my taste test was so good!! All the chocolate chips melted, though.  Update: These could never be used in hot weather (which we live in!!) as a bar.  They are too melty, even just our of the Frig.  But they do taste good, we just need to eat them with a spoon!

Hot Mama Grade: B+

Lisa's Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

3 c shredded potatoes, drained & pressed
0.25 c butter, melted
12 oz cheddar cheese, shredded 
0.5 c onion, finely chopped
1 - 16 oz carton of small curd cottage cheese
6 jumbo eggs


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.  In the prepared baking dish, stir together the shredded potatoes and butter.  Line the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the mixture.  In a bowl, mix the sausage or bacon (or nothing!), cheddar cheese, onion, cottage cheese, and eggs.  Pour over the potato mixture.  Bake for 50 minutes in preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the casserole comes out clean.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.  You can prepare this dish the night before. 


Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: Again, I didn't make this recipe, but my friend Lisa brought it to my potluck brunch.  It was fabulous.  I would totally make this!  I loved it!!!  :)  My picky middle kid did not like the shredded potatoes in the casserole, but I thought it was AMAZING!!  Also, this original recipe calls for sausage, but when Lisa brought it to my potluck, it had no meat.  It was excellent with no meat.  Or, as ever, I am preferential to BACON, so I bet this casserole would be great with bacon.  I am not a fan of sausage, so I probably wouldn't put that in. :)  I really liked the cheesy taste of the casserole.  The cottage cheese really makes it creamy and tasty.

 

Veggie Mac

Ingredients:

3 c Rotini Pasta
1 T Olive Oil
3 t Salt
2-14 oz Broccoli Florets
1/3 c Butter
3 c Milk
2.25 c Shredded Cheddar Cheese
0.75 c Shredded Swiss Cheese
0.5 t Ground Garlic
1/2 red pepper, chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat Oven to 350F.
2. Boil water with olive oil.  Add 2t salt and the pasta. Wait for reboil. Cook until al dente.
3. Cook broccoli in microwave.  Drain any water.
4. In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in the flour and milk.  Whisk until mixture boils and thickens.  Add 1.5 c cheddar cheese, 0.75c swiss cheese, salt, and garlic.  Stir until blended.
5. Add cooked broccoli, red pepper, and drained pasta to the cheese sauce.  Mix well.  Spoon into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Cover with 0.75c shredded cheddar.
6. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Hot Mama Grade: A-

Hot Mama Notes: I thought this mac and cheese was delicious!  It was very rich and creamy.  Not super easy to make, but certainly not hard.  I thought the kids would love it, but really only the eldest liked it.  I added a bunch of other things, too.  I added diced ham.  I added cauliflower as well as broccoli, because that is what I had.  I did have red pepper.  All my veggies were fresh and steamed.  I don't like swiss cheese at all, so I believe I used mozarella instead.  Anyway, I really liked this recipe, but I am not sure I will make it again for my family (note that my husband is lactose intolerant, so it's not a really good food choice for the family! :O), but I think I would make it for a potluck.  Maybe just mac and cheese, and not veggie mac, since I wouldn't want the same mutiny I got from my middle kid (WHY ARE THERE VEGGIES IN MY MAC AND CHEESE, MOM?  I AM NOT EATING THIS!!).