Swiss Miss or is it better?

I used up all of my hot chocolate mix from my can this morning and I was so sad because I hate buying because I mean really I have all of the basic ingredients in my cupboard! So I looked up a recipe to make it myself, it says it is Swiss Miss but really it tastes more like the stuff Mom makes on the stovetop.

Mom Style Swiss Miss

1 cup powdered milk

1/2 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Mix them altogether and then sift it together 3 times. This does matter I tried to avoid it but it wasn't mixed as well so just do it and it will be better in the end. Also make sure to put it in a tight-lidded container because the powdered milk can pick up the moisture from the wonderful humidity from this time of year.

I found this recipe on copykat.com, the original was doubled from this but this fits in my old can better than having it doubled.

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups heavy cream-I use what I have but I have also made it with 1% milk and it is fine

1/4 teaspoon of pepper-fancy use white, cheap use black

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese-I use the stuff in the green bottle, the kind that used on pizza

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Add the garlic, cream/milk, pepper and simmer, stirring often. Add the Parmesan cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until thickened and smooth (I always have to do it longer because of the milk). When thickened add the Mozzarella cheese and stir until smooth. STIR FREQUENTLY. Now is the time to cook the noodles and get everything ready.

I found this recipe while searching a few weeks ago for what I wanted in the sauce. This comes from Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe from the user Parkers Mom on RecipeZaar. Oh and scary thing about this website is that it gives you a nutritional analysis of the recipe-I wouldn't suggest looking...

Last Night's Dinner

To celebrate being home and having a refrigerator of food I decided it was time to make some pasta with Alfredo sauce with zucchini and mushrooms! I used the homemade fettuccini that was in the freezer from the first time making it and not knowing how much one batch made (p.s. it makes a lot!). I made some yummy homemade alfredo from the leftover cream from mousse I made for dessert last week and sautéed some mushrooms and zucchini with garlic in olive oil. Pretty much a wonderful dinner home with my hubby!

garden lasagna

Ingredients

2 cups sliced zucchini
2 cups sliced yellow squash
1 cup sliced carrot
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup sliced fresh basil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cups small cottage cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
8 oven-ready, "no cook," lasagna noodles or somewhat boiled homemade lasagna noodles
12 slices mozzarella
some Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Directions

Combine zucchini, squash, carrot, mushrooms, onion and peppers with water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes or until soft.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, cottage cheese, and eggs. Stir together. I used a spatula.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce evenly over bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Place 4 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Do not overlap noodles. Spread 1/2 of cream cheese mixture over noodles. Cover cheese mixture with 1/2 the vegetable mixture, more sauce, and top evenly with 6 slices provolone cheese and 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers with 4 noodles, rest of the cream cheese mixture, vegetables, sauce, and remaining cheeses. Place in oven for 35 minutes or until lasagna is hot and bubbling

Let lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving-yeah right who can wait that long for this?

I swiped this recipe from Paula Deen from the Foodnetwork website. I really loved this recipe. I think that it will be great even when I don't have all of those thing because I can use what is in season or what I froze from the previous season and leave out things like mushrooms if I don't have them.

zucchini pineapple bread

I decided on Friday to make some zucchini bread while I was in the middle of my 9 loads of laundry.  Heaven forbid I just use a regular recipe so here is what I found.

Zucchini pineapple bread

3 eggs 

1 cup oil (olive or canola)

2 cups sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (I used fresh but frozen would work too)

1 cup pineapple (fresh) or 1 can crushed pineapple

3 cups flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda 

1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional-because I didn't have any)

1 cup raisins 

In bowl beat eggs and add oil, sugar, and vanilla; keep beating until thick and foamy. Stir in the zucchini and pineapple. 

 In a another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A third at a time, add this mixture into the pineapple egg mixture and stir after each third. Add the walnuts and raisins, blend. 

Divide the batter into 2 greased and flour-dusted loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto 

wire racks to cool thoroughly. Be Careful when removing from the pans, the center of one of mine fell out and made a mess everywhere!

I took this to a class I had on Sunday night and everyone loved it.  I know Phil enjoyed it.  Personally I don't think I am a fan of cooked pineapple right now.  I just seems too sweet to me.  I got this recipe from simply recipes and they got it from a Sunset magazine from 1974.

popped wheat

So I went to a Relief Society thing about wheat the other day they lured me in with promise of learning how to make popped wheat.  Well it didn't happen and I was quite sad because I had made the other items before but the popped wheat sounded intriguing.  So I did it today!

Popped Wheat

Boil wheat berries for 45 minutes,  (1 hour is what one recipe said but I got tired of waiting after 45 mins)

scoop out a ladle of berries dry on paper towel to dry some

Heat oil in a frying pan

pour berries in and watch them go

I let them go until it 

a) got scary with the berries bursting open or 

b) the amount of berries looked like hardly anything and stopped going crazy with bubbles

(Normally b was the case)

It doesn't look or taste like popcorn it makes me think of corn nuts so I consider the popped wheat a misnomer and should be renamed wheat nuts-but it doesn't sound quite as yummy.

This is combined from a couple different recipes, I didn't totally like any of the so I made up my own version from about 2 google pages worth of results.  I did find one that said to just put regular berries in a hot pan with the lid on, but I had already started cooking the wheat by then so I haven't tried it yet, maybe next time.

cherry pineapple pie

I decided to make Phil one of his favorites foods last week and made pie.  We have a pie cherry tree in the backyard so I got up there and picked just enough cherries for a pie.  I also had pineapple so I put them together to make a pie.  Phil really enjoyed it but I didn't eat any of it.  I am just not a big pie fan.  I got this recipe from allrecipes.com from Carolyn Bartley.

Cherry Pineapple Pie

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

 1/8 teaspoon salt

2  (14.5 oz) cans pitted cherries 

2 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple drained

3 drops almond extract

1 pastry for double crust pie

2 TBS butter

1 TBS milk

additional sugar for crust

Combine the sugar, flour and salt.  Stir in cherries, pineapple, and extract.  Line a 9 inch pie pan with the crust.  Fill with fruit mixture top with the butter.  Top with lattice crust.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and golden.