Approximations for my later reference. Feel free to give it a whirl though.

In a saucepan, melt a couple tablespoons of butter, margarine or a combination. I think I did half and half or so. Add about a cup of diced onion and cook until browned, golden or, as we did, until you're done prepping the potatoes (which ended up being at the golden stage I think.

Scrub a couple of big potatoes and with skins on, cut them into 2-3 inch pieces. Add them to the pan with enough water to cover them and the appropriate number of veggie boullion cubes. We used two and probably the equivalent of another with the addition of a little blob of chicken base that I have. I also shook in some salt, pepper, a little Garli Garni seasoning that I got at the renaissance festival and some dried minced onion.

Then cook it until the potatoes are tender enough to your liking. Mash a few times with a potato masher right in the soup or remove a few pieces of potato, mash them and return them to the soup.

You could also probably add a little milk or soy milk at the end to cream it up a bit but we didn't have any so we didn't. It still worked.

Tags: recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with liquid
8 cups vegetable broth or stock
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2/3 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice


Directions:

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly
browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes, vegetable stock, rice, pepper, and chili powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Cover, and simmer another fifteen minutes or until rice is tender (it always takes longer than 15 minutes for me). Stir in peanut butter until well blended, and serve.

Tags: recipe

This is what I made for dinner tonight. I was winging it and so the measurements are approximate.

1 boneless skinless chicken breast (it was kinda big) - whomp it until it's flat. I put it between two pieces of waxed paper and smashed it with a cast iron pan putting my weight on top of it and smushing.

For the filling:

Heat frying pan and a little oil and add more than 1/2 cup of chopped onion but less than a full cup. Go with what looks good.
Brown the onion and season with salt, pepper and a dash of Garli Garni. Add to the pan 3 cloves of Garlic Festival jalapeño pickled garlic smushed in a garlic press and about 1/3 of a bag of baby spinach torn up into smaller pieces. When spinach is wilted put the mixture on paper towels and cool a little and blot.

In a bowl have ready about 1/2 - 3/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese. Add the spinach mixture, a small glop of light mayo and a little salt and pepper to this and mix.

Season the pounded chicken with salt and pepper, stuff with the cheese mixture and fold over. hold closed with toothpicks.

Make packet of mushroom gravy and put in small baking dish. Add chicken breast on top of the gravy. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with buttered cracker crumbs. (I used town house crackers and added them to the butter bowl after brushing the chicken).

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Tags: notes, recipe

Darn Good Chocolate Cake
Cooking oil spray
flour for dusting
1 (18.25 oz.) pkg. plain devil's food or dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 (3.9 oz.) pkg. chocolate instant pudding mix
4 lg. eggs
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 & 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips



Place oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly mist a 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set aside. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, warm water and oil in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer at low speed for 1 minute. Stop blending and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat an additional 2-3 minutes, scraping the sides as needed. The batter should look thick and well-combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, stirring to make sure they are distributed evenly. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, smoothing it out with the spatula. Bake approximately 45-50 minutes. Cake should spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, and it should start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Place cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 20-30 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and then invert it onto a rack and cool completely. Serves 16.

Tags: recipe