Kid Friendly

Gravy 101

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Easy Gravy

Make Your Own Gravy

Making gravy for any occasion is easy once you know the not-so-secret formula.

Basic gravy is made by adding equal parts of a fat to a thickener then adding a warm liquid.

This recipe makes 2 cups of gravy.
Tools
  • Whisk
  • Liquid Measuring cup
  • Knife
  • Small pot
  • Strainer (optional)
 
Ingredients
  • FAT– butter, oil, bacon, turkey, chicken, beef, etc EQUAL PARTS TO Your Thickener
  • Thickener-Flour or cornstarch (if you use cornstarch your gravy will be light)
  • Warm Liquid – 2 cups of hot, low sodium stock (beef, turkey, chicken, etc)
Recipe
  • 3 tablespoons of beef, chicken, turkey, drippings OR butter —Melted
  • 3 tablespoons of flour stirred into the fat
  • Cook 1-2 minutes to cook the flour
  • Heat the stock
  • Whisk in hot stock gradually and bring to a boil. Whisk the whole time to prevent lumps.
  • The gravy will thicken once it comes to a boil keep stirring.
  • Turn heat to low until ready to serve.
DELISHTIPS
  • If your gravy is lumpy then pour the liquid through the strainer to remove the lumps

 

  • If your gravy isn’t as thick as you’d like, then make a paste out of a tablespoon of butter and flour in a bowl, add some gravy and whisk the butter-flour mixture until you have a really thick liquid, and then poured that into your gravy and bring to a boil again and it should thicken.

Oreo Truffles

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Oreo Truffles

Fun Oreo Truffles for Halloween

Oreo Truffles – some people call them oreo balls, but “truffles” just sounds soooo much better than balls  don’t you think?

Oreo Truffles are super simple to make, are a kid-friendly dessert, and can be decorated to match the season.  This batch was for a pre-Halloween girls trip up to my friend’s cabin.

Ingredients

  • One 1 1/3lb Oreos
  • 8oz cream cheese
  • One 11 oz bag of white chocolate chips or colored candy melts
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Directions
  • Crush Oreos in a food processor until crumbly
  • Mix room temperature cream cheese with Oreo crumbs until a well combined dough forms
  • Roll into one-inch balls
  • Refrigerate for 30 minutes on a parchment-lined tray
  • Melt white chocolate in the microwave for one minute and stir; then continue in the microwave  for  30 seconds or until melted
  • Using a fork, dip the chilled Oreo truffles into your chocolate, tap off the excess, and then place the truffle on your parchment lined tray
  • Leave plain or decorate with sprinkles and refrigerate until set
  • Store in airtight container in refrigerator until ready to serve
oreo truffles

oreo truffle

S’mores Toast

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Yummy S'mores Toast

Yummy S’mores Toast

 

A tasty snack is that is so sweet and satisfying. It’s also super quick to make AND Kid and Adult friendly.

Tools

• Toaster
• Kitchen blow torch**
• Knife

Ingredients

• Bread
• Hazelnut Spread
• Marshmallow Fluff

RecipeToast your bread.

Spread your hazelnut spread on the toast.

Top the hazelnut spread with a layer of Fluff.

Try not to mix the two together as you only want to toast the Marshmallow fluff.

Torch your marshmallow to the desired doneness and then let cool for one minute.

 

**Delishtip 1- if you don’t have a mini kitchen torch you can put these in a toaster oven or under the broiler for a minute. Just watch it carefully!

Yummy S'mores Toast

Delish Tip’s Yummy S’mores Toast

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

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Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

This is not your grandma’s tomato sauce recipe. And Bonus -There is no need for boiling, peeling, or seeding the tomatoes for this sauce!

I make this slow cooker tomato sauce every year because we love homegrown tomatoes and I always plant too many tomato plants.

This recipe makes about four (4) quarts of sauce. I freeze it and give it to my friends and family and then we have a taste of summer even in the middle of our Michigan winter. We use this as a pasta sauce, add some Parmesan cheese after you warm it, or add a little cream and eat it as a soup with grilled cheese. So delish!

 

Tomatos

Cut Fresh Tomatoes

Tools

•       Slow cooker / Crock Pot
•       Cutting board
•       Large knife
•       12” sauté pan
•       High powered Blender
•       Butchers twine (optional)
•       Ladle
•       Kitchen towel
•       Saucepan
•       Quart sized zip-top freezer bags
•       Cookie sheet (optional)

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce-Ingredients

◦       One large onion chopped ( about 2 cups)
◦       One large carrot or two small carrots cut into chunks
◦       Tablespoon of minced garlic

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

MMM Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

◦        a cup or so of fresh herbs like basil thyme and oregano I make a BOUQUET GARNI*
◦       2 teaspoons of salt
◦       1 teaspoon of pepper
◦       2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
◦       half teaspoon of garlic powder
◦       half a teaspoon turmeric
◦       1/4 cup of water or wine
◦       12 cups of chopped tomatoes-about 12 tomatoes

 

RECIPE Directions

1.      Sauté the chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. On medium-high heat. You want a hard sear on them to get some brown color. It will take about 10 minutes.
2.      just add all the other ingredients into your slow cooker. Remove any bad spots on your tomatoes and remove the stem/core of your tomato and roughly chop them.
3.      Set your slow cooker to buy for four hours or low for 6 to 8 until all the vegetables are broken down and soft.
4.      Fill your blender halfway full of your tomato mixture. Cover the top of your blender with a kitchen towel and your hand.  When you put hot liquid into a blender it expands and may take the top

Onions

Onions Cooking

off DO NOT OVERFILL YOUR BLENDER WITH HOT LIQUID.  If you are worried then let your mixture cool overnight and blend it the next day.
5.      Blend sauce until smooth. Pour your sauce into your saucepot and stir to combine. Refrigerate for up to one week**

**DELISHTIPS

  • I like to freeze the sauce in zip-top freezer bags. I fill them full and push the air out and freeze them flat on cookie sheets. That way they stack easily in my freezer and I have tomato sauce all winter long.

 

  • A BOUQUET GARNI is simply a bunch of herbs tied with butcher twine so that you can just lift the herbs out easily when they are done. You do not have to use this for the recipe you can just pick out the herbs after the sauce is done.
slow cooker tomato sauce

Freeze up the slow cooker tomato sauce

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

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What to with all the fresh zucchini in your garden or at the farmers market? This easy kid-friendly meal will chase away the what’s for dinner summer blues.., and is a healthy use for your abundance of squash.

Here’s what you’ll need for these delish Stuffed Zucchini Boats

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Tools

9×13 Baking Pan

Melon Baller- or small spoon to scoop out zucchini

Delish Tip: I like to chop up some of the insides and add it to the ground turkey

 

 

Filling Ingredients

  • One pound of ground turkey (85% lean, or lean beef or shredded cooked chicken)
  • One cup of diced onion
  • One tablespoon of garlic
  • One teaspoon smoked paprika
  • One teaspoon of cumin seed
  • One teaspoon of salt and pepper
  • One teaspoon of chili powder
  • 8 oz of shredded cheese like Colby jack
  • 6-7 small zucchini cut in half
  • Chopped Green onions and fresh cilantro for garnishZucchini for boats

 

Directions

Turkey

Brown the turkey in a tablespoon of oil. Drain if oily. If it’s just juice/broth don’t bother.

Add spices and onion, cook for a few more minutes, and then set aside

ENCHILADA SAUCE

  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons flour1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder – or fresh
  • 1 teaspoon dried herbs- like oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
  • Pinch of cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth – low sodium
  • 1 teaspoon of vinegar – any kind

Heat the oil, sauté, or “bloom” the flour and spices. Cook for about a minute.

Stir it in the tomato paste and then pour in the broth and whisk it all together

Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until mixture thickens

Adjust seasoning if you think you need to 😊

STUFF THE BOATS
Place a scoop full of sauce on the bottom of the pan and spread around.

Line up your zucchinis -Delish Tip: I sometimes find it easier to alternate them stem to tail to fit easier.

Stuff the boats with meat mixture.

Spoon a bit of sauce over each boat and top with cheese

Bake

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minute

Take off the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes until bubbly and cheese is a little brown.

Stick a knife through zucchini and make sure it pierces easily

Garnish with green onions and cilantro

Enjoy!