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Cabin Fever Cookies and Evergreens

February 26, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 10 Comments

As I was driving the kids to school this morning, I noticed a beautiful evergreen tree. It was standing, majestic, among a bunch of trees whose leaves had long since fallen. The deep, velvety green color caught my eye. I have driven this stretch of road thousands of times, but have never noticed the beauty of this particular tree. The rich, emerald green stood out against a backdrop of bleakness–white snow, brown branches of deciduous trees, and a gray-pink winter dawn sky. This month has been so unusually cold and at times, difficult. I have done my fair share of complaining about the weather. But to see that evergreen radiating green beauty amidst the stark whites, grays, and browns of a cold winter morning, I was reminded that acts of kindness and moments of beauty stand out more against a backdrop of bleakness. This is not a new revelation. I am not the first person to notice this. But the fact that I was so struck by this evergreen tells me I needed to be reminded of this. It made me think of the shiny, tiny dime we found sparkling on the backseat of the car. Lilac-scented soap and colorful flowers from caring souls. Clean, warm blankets. A friend checking to make sure my mom had made it home safely from our kids’ band concert when the roads were covered with ice. A smile from a stranger at the grocery store. These are some of my evergreens from this winter. I made these cookies for my family to brighten their day too. I’m sharing the recipe below, because they really are wonderful. I based the cookies on my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, and then added a mashed banana to the dough. I finished by spreading a dollop of creamy Nutella on the cooled cookies. The cookies are moist, delicious, and even somewhat nutritious (with the peanuts and bananas).

Cabin Fever Cookies

Servings: about 36 cookies
Time: about 15 minutes preparation, plus about 25 minutes for baking
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Ingredients:

1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 and 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 ripe banana
Nutella for the tops of the cookies

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl, vigorously stir the softened butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of the flour, and then add the sugars, egg, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour. In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Add that to the dough, and stir again to thoroughly combine. Shape the dough into approximately one-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between. Bake in your 375 degree oven for 7-9 minutes, or until the cookies are golden and lightly brown on the bottom. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. When they are cool, gently spread a bit of Nutella on the tops, if desired. Enjoy!

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches and Colorful Slaw

February 20, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 21 Comments

There is great value in meals that can be made ahead of time. Sometimes the hour before dinner can be the most busy and full time of the day. In our house, there are often multiple things going on at that time, including kids doing homework, unpacking lunchboxes, frantically searching for clean soccer and/or basketball clothes, shin guards and the appropriate shoes for the practice immediately following dinner, and lots of other things not even worth mentioning! Some evenings, it is a huge relief to know that the main part of the dinner is already simmering away in the crockpot while we tend to all the other issues at hand. And some meals taste better the longer they simmer, allowing the flavors to blend and strengthen. That is the case with these pulled chicken sandwiches. With just a few simple ingredients and a crockpot, the chicken becomes tender and mouth-wateringly flavorful. The recipe below is formed from a conglomeration of a few different recipes for pulled chicken and sloppy joes, based on the combination I feel tastes best while maintaining simplicity. Because there is a fair amount of ketchup in this recipe, I like to get the highest-quality of ketchup I can find, and as always, that goes for the chicken as well. This recipe is really easy to throw together a few hours ahead of time, and is perfect for when you have a little pocket of time in the afternoon and know it will be a busy evening. I like to make a delicious, colorful coleslaw to serve with these sandwiches. This coleslaw can be made with either red or green cabbage, but I chose red cabbage yesterday. Cabbage is really good for us–it has lots of fiber and vitamins K, C, and A. Plus, red cabbage (which can actually also be purple, but is still called red cabbage) contains an extra concentration of anthocyanin polyphenols, giving it extra antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is easy to like the health benefits of cabbage! Red (also colored purple) cabbage is so beautiful. I really enjoyed taking photos of this salad. The dressing is mildly tangy, bringing out the flavors of the vegetables without overpowering. I often think of coleslaw as a summer salad, but it works well in the winter too. Cabbage, carrots, and apples keep well over the winter, and goodness knows we all need a burst of color and crunch in the midst of winter. This evening, my husband and I had leftover slaw on a bed of dark, leafy greens, topped with shelled, roasted pumpkin seeds. That was so tasty! I could feel the vitamins and minerals flowing into my body. I cannot write this post without mentioning how utterly cold it is here in Michigan! Today (and probably tomorrow too) my kids are home because their schools are closed due to dangerously cold wind chill temperatures. While we normally enjoy skiing or just being out in the snow, it is even too cold for that. I feel like we need healthy food now more than ever! Whether we are cozied up at home or facing a busy evening driving to and from obligations, a good, nourishing dinner helps us meet whatever life has in store for us. I will be taking this dinner over to Angie’s at The Novice Gardener, for Fiesta Friday. This week’s fiesta is hosted by Tina at Mademoiselle Gourmande and Juju at Cooking with Aunt Juju. With the cabin fever going on here, I especially look forward to checking out what everyone else has posted and look forward to communicating with all of you! Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Servings: about 4
Time: about 15 minutes preparation, about 4-5 hours in the crockpot
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Ingredients:

1 cup of onion (red or yellow), finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 to 2 pounds of skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon paprika
8 hamburger buns

Directions:

Place the onion in your crockpot. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil to the pan and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and chicken to the pan and cook, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. (Chicken does not need to be completely cooked–it will finish cooking in the crockpot). Transfer the chicken and little pieces of garlic to the crockpot and place on top of onions. In a small bowl, combine the next 5 ingredients and pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for about 4-5 hours, or until the chicken is tender and sauce thickens a bit. Remove the chicken from the crockpot and shred it with two forks. Then put it back in the crockpot. Ladle the chicken and sauce mixture onto each bun and cover with bun tops. Enjoy!

Colorful Slaw

Servings: about 4
Time: about 15-20 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and sliced into thin strips
1 apple, cored and finely chopped
2 cups of finely chopped red, green, or napa cabbage
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of apricot preserves
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
a pinch (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) of salt

Directions:

Wash and prepare the carrot and apple, and put the chopped pieces in a large bowl. Wash the cabbage and peel off the outer layers of skin. Cut the cabbage in half, and then finely chop. Add the cabbage to the bowl with the carrot and apple. In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, apricot preserves, lemon juice, and salt. Adjust the amount of salt and lemon juice to your taste. Pour this mixture over the salad and stir well to coat evenly. Enjoy!

Lasagna

February 13, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 27 Comments

Many souls have been cared for with lasagna and its many layers of warm, comforting goodness. Lasagna allows the maker to be creative, with all the variations that are available. I enjoy vegetarian lasagna as much as I enjoy the version with meat sauce that I am posting today. This version of lasagna has served me so well over the years that I wanted to share it with all of you. I started making it when I was first married, and over the years I have made additions and subtractions and adjustments, all the while creating bonds with family and friends through this meal. When a friend or relative has a baby, has surgery, or loses a loved one, this is the dish I like to take over to help out. It can be assembled ahead of time and refrigerated or even frozen until it is needed, and then all it needs is baking time. And while it is baking, it fills the house with the most divine smell. I also like to make this lasagna when I am having guests for dinner, because I can do a lot of the work before they arrive, allowing me to be more relaxed while the meal is baking away in the oven. Though this lasagna cannot be considered a quick meal to prepare, it is a wonderful treat on that afternoon/evening when you have the time and it is cold and blustery outside. For some reason, I love to give this meal away. One of the first times I made this lasagna was when my then-new husband was in the army and he invited a new friend over to our apartment for dinner. He and his friend finished the whole tray in one sitting (I ate some too of course, but not nearly as much as they did). His friend, far from home, was so happy to have a home-cooked meal, and I felt like we had made a friend for life after that dinner. I remember another time when my husband and I were renting an apartment on the main floor of an old house and our neighbor (who became a good friend) lived upstairs. I had just pulled a tray of lasagna out of the oven and it was cooling when she walked by our door and started up the stairs to her place. She looked like she had had a long day at work, so I quickly cut a piece of lasagna and handed her a plate of it to take up. She smiled. Layers of warm, comforting food make people smile, and that feels good. This meal tastes great with a green salad. I like to use lean ground beef in the sauce, though Italian sausage tastes good and ground turkey is even more lean. The quality of the tomatoes makes a difference to me, so I get the highest quality of tomatoes I can find. That goes for the meat too. The recipe is based on a lasagna recipe I found in my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, though I have made several changes to it over the years. I am pretty sure there is a crowd gathering at Angie’s blog The Novice Gardener for Fiesta Friday, hosted this week by the talented bloggers Suzanne at apuginthekitchen and Sue at birgerbird, so I am going to take this dish over there to share.

Lasagna

Servings: about 8
Time: about 40 minutes of preparation time, plus 45 minutes to an hour of baking time
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Ingredients:

3/4 pound ground beef, Italian sausage, or ground turkey
1/2 to 1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
about 12 ounces of tomatoes with their juices (a little less if you prefer)
8 ounces of tomato sauce
6 ounces of tomato paste
1-2 teaspoons of dried basil
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 lasagna noodles
1 egg, beaten
2 cups of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of fresh flat-leaf parsley, washed, finely chopped, and patted dry
8 ounces of mozzarella cheese

Directions:

For the sauce, cook the meat, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium to medium-high heat until the meat is browned and the onion is tender. Drain the fat. Add the undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and salt. Stir well and bring to a boil, breaking the tomatoes into small pieces with your spoon; then cover and gently simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then. Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water as the package directs. Drain and rinse the noodles and let them cool, spread out on a paper-towel lined tray or plate. For the filling, in a medium-sized bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, beaten egg, parsley, and 1/4 cup of the grated Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

When the meat sauce is done, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Layer half of the cooked noodles in a 12 by 7 1/2 by 2 inch baking dish (a traditional lasagna dish). Then spread with half of the ricotta filling. Top with half of the meat sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or till heated through and cheese is melted. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a green salad.

To make ahead of time, prepare as above, except after assembling the layers, let cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake it, remove the covering and cover freshly with foil, and bake in a 375 degree oven for 35 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for about 20 minutes more, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Enjoy!

This recipe is based on a lasagna recipe found in The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Tenth Ring Bound edition.