Clean Soups by Aunt Kathy!

I am thrilled to introduce a guest to The Beehive! I used to go visit this person almost every summer in my youth.  She taught me how to embellish... well, just about any textile, how to make real pulled taffy, and how to throw a mean New Year's Eve party (and quite possibly her affinity for exclamation marks!!!)! 

Introducing my Aunt Kathy! She has perfected the Clean the Refrigerator Soup.  It not only cleaned her produce drawers but it is pretty clean eating as well.  Cheers to her, her soups, and a clean fridge!  Thanks for the post, Auntie! Soup's on!

Today I made "clean the refrigerator soup!!!!!!!!" 

I sautéed fresh ginger and fresh garlic and some wilty green onions in some good olive oil ( not much!! Just enough!!!) maybe a tablespoon or two !!!

I found snow peas, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots and little Dutch potatoes in the produce drawer!!! Oh wait.... There was a big turnip in there too!!!! Wow what a find!!!! 

Lastly... We had made a trip to trader joes yesterday and Kait had bought some kale and made kale chips last night !!! So I will add fresh kale just before we eat!!!  

THE BIG PLUS!!!!!! For breakfast I will drain the juice off and put a big spoonful of the cooked veggies in our scrambled eggs for breakfast!!! Yummy!!!! That is , of course if we have any soup left!!!!!  

If you want meat, add it!!! I cut up 2 turkey burgers I found in the frig and added those too !!!! All this I simmered in a can of 99%fat free chicken broth and since I only had 1 can, I added 1 can of beef broth!!!! 

EEEAAAASY PEEAASY and cheap, no waste and a clean refrigerator!!! And now I know what I need at the grocery store!!!! We made cabbage steaks last night!!! Awesome!!!!!!! We will talk about those on another day!!!! Love you sweet niece!!!!!! NO POPTARTS!!!!!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins: Gluten Free, of course!

You would be so proud of me! I followed a recipe. And it came out delicious!

Trader Joe's has a new simple baking mix.  It is my new go-to and keep it on hand at all times.

I followed the directions on the bag for Apple Cinnamon Muffins and they are delish.

Here is the final product:
(Note: The Bird was dying to help but her molars crashing through her gums got the best of her.  Hers, bottom right, still look better than mine. Wink, wink.)

 
Note:  They are best warmed up and consumed within the first day or two!

Hippie Goulash: AKA Easiest Damn Dinner

So, this may be the only recipe post where I don't actually add a picture of the food.  Don't fret, I will show you a picture of my husband and generally what he looks like when he loves an easy and delicious dinner.

Back to the dinner. It is just not as pretty as it is delicious!  And, it is delicious.  I googled the meaning of goulash since my husband named the dish "hippie goulash" after something that he and his college roommates used to make. The definition states that it is a Hungarian stew with meat and vegetables and paprika.

My recipe has meat and vegetables... and that is where the similarities end!  It also includes curried rice and, our family favorite, butter. Oh, did I mention it is crazy-easy?!!

Here is the recipe {gluten-free, of course}:

Hippie Goulash

1 package Biryani curried rice (Trader Joe's... they are not paying me, I swear...maybe they should!)
1 pound ground meat (we have used beef mostly lately as a carry-over from needing more iron during pregnancy)
1 package frozen vegetables or 10-16 ounces fresh vegetables (we add a lot since it is a good way to keep introducing vegetables to the kids!)
2 tablespoons butter

In a large frying pan, cook your meat.  When the meat is about three-quarters of the way done, drain the fat and add 2 tablespoons butter (it's all about the flavor!).  Add the whole bag of curried rice and vegetables.  Turn the heat up as if you were quickly stir-frying and keep it moving with a spoon.  In about 5-7 minutes your dinner is ready to serve. 

Even The Bird loves it as long as all the food is small enough to eat when you just have 6 teeth!

As promised: he loves it!

For the record, I believe my husband's college goulash was any and all leftovers thrown in a bowl and heated up.  I never had the pleasure of trying the delicacy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Cookies

While meandering through the Trader Joe's website looking for new and exciting dinner ideas I discovered that Trader Joe's has gluten-free recipes!

I have been making flourless cookies as of late and find them to be super fulfilling for an evening snack.  I got all the ingredients for these today but have to wait for my baking buddy, The Bear, to wake up from his nap! The Bear loves cookies especially ones with chocolate in them. Pictures and taste-testing results to come!

http://traderjoes.com/recipes/recipe.asp?rid=199

• 2 very ripe TJ's Bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup TJ’s Creamy Unsalted Almond Butter
• 1 tsp TJ’s Pure Vanilla Flavor
• 1 tsp TJ’s Organic Blue Agave Sweetener
• 1 cup TJ’s Gluten Free Rolled Oats
• 1 TJ’s Belgian Dark Chocolate with Almond Bar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine mashed banana, almond butter, vanilla and agave. Slowly add oats to the mixture. Break chocolate bar into small pieces and add to mixture. For each cookie drop a tablespoon of mixture onto a cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 14 minutes.

Serves: 12
Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Kid tested and APPROVED!

Notes from the recipe:

• I substituted peanut butter instead of almond butter
• I substituted brown sugar for their sweetener
• We used semi-sweet chocolate chips... and LOTS of them
• Recipe does not require eggs so we were free to sample our product right up until it was cooked!

*Parchment Paper is where it's at... just discovered it in the last year. It cooks everything evenly and makes for easy clean-up. Woot woot!

One last thing: I rarely ever follow a recipe exactly as it was intended.  In the last year, I started cooking and baking from instinct and experience and my food has gotten exponentially better.  I generally use a recipe as a jumping off point and have fun from there.  I'm pretty certain my mom has never used a recipe in her life. J/K... maybe once or twice.

Enjoy!