Life with the Family O

Tag: Recipes

  • Fun with Lunch – Muffin Tin Inspiration

    Lunch.  Lunch can become boring for kids and they become uninterested and picky.  At least that is what has happened to my kiddies.  While browsing blogs I came across 2 really cute blogs FULL of ideas on making fun lunches.  They are:

    Muffin Tin Mom and Lunch in a Box; Building a Better Bento

    Inspired by other blog moms once again, I set out.  I had cutters so I didn’t need to get any.   I did pick up the muffin tins at the Dollar Tree and then some cupcake liners at my local grocery store.  I picked up 10 packs of fruit leather (.50/each), pretzels, crackers, cheese, almonds, turkey and cookies.

    Our Muffin Tin Lunch:

    Cut Fruit Leather into Rectangles
    Cut Fruit Leather into Rectangles
    use small cutters to punch out shape
    use small cutters to punch out shape
    cookie cutter lunch
    Oliver helping out
    fun muffin tin lunch
    fun muffin tin lunch

    3-Cheese Cheese Slice, cut out with extras chopped up… Fruit Leather cutouts…  Almonds, Turkey Rolls on fancy toothpicks…  Goldfish and Mini Oreos

    lunchtime
    lunchtime

    **In this last picture I show my 2-year old with fruit leather – MISTAKE!  Do not give to toddlers, trust me**

    It was fun and the kids were so excited when they came to the table, that is a first!  Thanks for the inspiration ladies!

  • Family Recipe – Green Chili

    green chili

    The best green chili is here in print, something that has been hard to obtain even though the recipe has been in the family for generations. In fact, I was flipping through our family recipe book and this one is not in there!
    Being 5th generation Coloradoans we have a rich tradition of food and family.  Try this recipe and enjoy the flavors of Colorado and New Mexico cuisines.

    1 lb. of cubed pork

    1 tsp of garlic powder/ 1 crushed clove

    3 tbsp. of flour

    1 can of Rotel with green chilis

    1 1/2 cups of diced green chilis

    1 1/2 tsp. salt

    2 tsp.  garlic salt

    1/2 cup onion

    6 cups of chicken broth

    In a sauce pan, heat 1 TBSP of oil then add pork (I prefer tenderloin, some prefer fattier pieces) add garlic.  After pork is cooked add flour, stir and cook until the flour is brown, I remember my Grandma always saying the browning is the most important part.  Blend Rotel (a new twist to the family recipes, saves time!), water, onions and green chilis in a blender.  Add to pan of browned flour, add salt, garlic salt and simmer for at least an hour, add water to desired thickness.  Also, delicious the next day too!  Serve with tortillas, beans, cheese or over a tostada or burrito.

  • Seriously, This May be the Best Dessert Snack Ever, Really!

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    Who doesn’t love a good Heath bar or Skor? Yummy toffee-nutty-ness, covered with delicious chocolate and a hint of salt. I love chocolate and salt, ever since my mom introduced me to popcorn and M&M’s – wow!

    Homemade Heath Bar
    You are only 4 simple ingredients away from amazing scrumptious-ness.

    I found this recipe on a MOPS forum one time and let me just tell you – It is easy, cheap to make and sooooo, sooooo very good!

    Homemade Heath Bar
    40 soda crackers (saltine)
    1 c. brown sugar
    1 c. butter
    12 oz. chocolate chips

    Line cake pan with aluminum foil. Place crackers over entire bottom of pan. Boil brown sugar and butter for 3 minutes. Pour over the crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the pan, wait 3 minutes and then spread the melted chips.  Cut when cool.

    You will LOVE IT! Enjoy!

  • Aunt Sophies Outdoor Oven Spanish Bread


    Every couple of years I end up pulling out the old family recipe cookbook. It was put together for a family reunion in 1984. I learned how to drive a stick shift there, that summer, I was 12 – the good ole days right? It was a small town after all.

    Every time I pull out the book I usually have a purpose, on a mission looking for an old familiar. Until today. It has turned into quite the snowstorm outside so I decided I want to bake today, fill the house with the smell of bread. I initially went to allrecipes.com, then the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, but then I came across the cookbook. Simply titled The Benavidez Family Cookbook. I flipped to the bread section, past the tortillas, the sopapillas and bunuelos that are so familiar to me to a recipe with a curious title.

    I read through the recipe titled Spanish Outdoor Oven Bread… hmmm. I decided to read through, I saw that I had all the ingredients I would need, still not completely convinced though. I skimmed down the page to see that my Grandma’s Aunt Josie submitted it, I made her sisters tortillas recently. So what got me? The last line of her recipe read “You have never eaten a better bread in your life”. OK – Fully convinced, I went to work.





    Ok, so I put the bread in the oven and left for the store. I told my husband to watch them and to pull them out when the oven beeped. Let me just tell you that when I came back all 3 boys and Daddy has mouths and fistfuls of bread… they were eating it plain, no butter even. I was like “it’s that good”? I seriously love bread but it always needs butter. However I tore of a chunk and WOW – it really didn’t need butter or anything, it was delicious! Nice hard crust too, not to crumbly. It really was the best bread I have eaten, and yes I did end up putting butter – almost heaven! So good, HIGHLY RECOMMEND – Go make it right now – go!

    The Recipe – notes on bottom indicate amounts halfed
    (Click to Enlarge)

  • RETAKE – Lemon Spiral Cookies


    After making Lemon Swirl cookies, they didn’t quite turn out quite as swirly as I expected. So going thru the fridge the next day I remembered that I wrapped up some of the dough to bake later. I pulled it out, sliced it with a sharp knife and baked. I have to say these ones turned out way more swirly than the original batch. Not sure why… to me, it was worthy of a revisit. Thanks for looking!

  • Yummy Peanut Butter Goodness

    Besides a good old fashioned chocolate chip cookie, nothing beats a classic peanut butter cookie, just like Mom used to make. You know what I am talking about it… perfect buttery tan color, criss-cross shapes pushed into the tops, rolled in sugar, yum right? This weekend my husband was wanting me to make these cookies. However, I did not have all the ingredients needed on hand, not wanting to run to the store, I grabbed my Better Homes and Garden Home Cookbook. Flipped through until I found the page, page 194. Interestingly enough pages 195-196 are missing, can’t wait to see what recipe it was, must have been a past favorite. So I was all set to bake but WAIT! This recipe is missing a very important ingredient than the one my husband wanted… CHOCOLATE. So I decided to sprinkle a few chips on the tops. They were a hit!

    Cookie ingredients
    Peanut Butter
    Cookie Dough Balls
    Dip Cookies
    Cookies
    Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter

    Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Ingredients:

    1/2 cup butter or margarine
    1/2 cup peanut butter
    1/2 cup granulated sugar
    1/2 cup packed brown sugar
    1/2 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp baking powder
    1 egg
    1/2 tsp vanilla
    1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
    granulated sugar

    In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer* on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla till combined. Beat in as much as the flour as you can with mixer*. Stir in remaining flour. If necessary, cover and chill dough until easy to handle. Shape doll into 1 inch balls*, roll in the additional suagr to coat. Place balls 2 inched apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten by making crisscross marks with the tines of a fork. Bake at 275 for 7-9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 36 cookies.

    *My modifications: I did not use an electric mixer I mixed it all by hand. I rolled into 2″ balls, sprinkled each cookie with 4-5 semi-sweet chocolate chips. I came up with about 18 cookies due to size modification.

  • Braided Egg Bread


    Again being inspired by so many awesome foodie blogs I decided it was time I learned how to make homemade bread. We are a bread loving family. My husband was running to the store and I told him to get flour for some cookies I was going to bake (Lemon Spiral), on a whim I told him to grab some yeast. I thought that at least if I have it in the house I would be able to make it when inspiration struck. He brought home Fleishmanns Rapid Rise yeast. I went straight to the internet to find some recipes that specifically called for it. All of those called for cream, which is something I am finding out most chef and bakers always have on hand. I on the other do not keep cream on hand. So off the allrecipes.com to find the perfect loaf. I searched Bread, Non-Machine, Loaf, Top 20. A recipe came up that looked and sounded delicious… and it was!
    Ingredients:

    3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    2 tablespoons sugar
    1 package Fleishmanns Rapid Rise dry yeast
    3/4 teaspoon salt
    3/4 cup water
    3 tablespoons vegetable oil
    3 eggs + 1 egg yolks
    TOPPING:
    1 egg
    1 teaspoon water
    Directions:
    1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a saucepan, heat water and oil to 120 degrees F-130 degrees F. Add to dry ingredients along with eggs. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
    2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place rest about 10 minutes.
    3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Set a third of the dough aside. Divide remaining dough into three pieces. Shape each into a 13-in. rope. Place ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid; pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Divide reserved dough into three equal pieces; shape each into a 14-in. rope. Braid ropes. Center 14-in. braid on top of the shorter braid. Pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
    4. Beat egg and water; brush over dough. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cover with foil during the last 15 minutes of baking. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.

    This recipe was adapted from Marlene Jeffreys recipe on Allrecipes.com

  • Lemon Spiral Cookie

    Lemon Spiral Cookie Recipe
    Made with real lemons

    One of my favorite stores is Mardel, I love to shop their bargain books section as well as the clearance shelf in the kids section. Recently I was browsing around and stumbled upon a box of recipes cards for kids. They are from Usborne and looked really cute. The idea is that one side has pretty pictures of all the treats, so the kids look at everything and decide what to make. Then you turn the card over for the recipe. Sounded fun and they were 50% off, who could resist? When we got home I let Oliver spread them out and look at them, he chose Lemon Swirl Cookies, which looked really fun. Oliver said he wanted to bring them to school for his class, so I let him know that we would need a lemon. For two days that is all he talked about, sweet lil guy, something to be said for perseverance. Daddy went and got a lemon, pronto. (I was sick so I was not willing to go walk around the grocery store, that is why I didn’t go the 1st day.)

    On Saturday we baked them. I learned a few lessons on this first “go around”. I would have double the recipe, followed the directions and only refrigerate for 30 minutes. I couldn’t roll the dough out as much as I would have liked, as a result when I rolled the two colors only the ends stayed “spirally” the rest looked as though the were happy faces with no eyes, lol. Also, I should have used a sharper knife when cutting, and finally I DIDN’T TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT (duh)! They turned out yummy, the boys ate them all up on Sunday. All in all, I enjoyed doing this recipe, I will make it again, just make some adjustments, stay tuned…

    LemonOliver and his lemon
    Lemon Butterbutter and lemon yuminess
    Cookie Batterthe recipe card underneath shows a picture of what they are supposed to look like
    Colored Cookie Dough2 separate dough balls
    Cut Cookie DoughSlicing after chilling


    Oliver Lemon

    RETAKE – Lemon Spiral Cookies

  • Grandma Sadie’s Family Recipe Tortillas

    Aunt Josie’s Tortillas

    My Grandma Sadie never wrote down her recipes… Her tortillas were a family staple, I miss them. This recipe is from her Aunt Josie.
    3 cups flour
    3 tsp. baking powder
    2 tsp. salt
    2 tbsp. shortening
    1/2 cup milk
    1/2 cup water
    Put flour in a bowl, add baking powder, salt and mix well. Add shortening and into flour until well mixed. Make a hole in the middle. Add milk and hot water and mix and knead until smooth. More water may be added if necessary. Dough should not stick to hands. Roll dough into balls just larger than golf balls, roll flat with rolling pin and cook on hot griddle. Flip and pick how well you want them done. Smooth on butter and enjoy!

    mix 

    knead 

    form into ball, roll into circle (not like this weird shape I am just now noticing!) 

    the first couple were too puffy and oily more like bunelos –
    we ate these with homemade 3-berry syrup 

    Finally, no oil on griddle, rolled thinner – these were good!