Taste of Home Magazine

Here's an offer for Taste of Home magazine. Tanga offers a Taste Of Home Magazine one-year subscription (six issues) for $4 when you enter code ccdf at checkout. I'm not sure how long this offer will last, but I wanted to pass it on to you. You may purchase up to four years for this price per year. Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade Pizza Dough

The boys and I have made this Homemade Pizza Dough recipe twice now in the past few weeks. They have had a blast making their own pizzas. One day, they even got their Daddy to show them his expertise. He worked at Little Caesar's for a few years when we were in high school.

The second time we made it, I substituted some whole wheat flour for the regular flour. I wanted to make it just a bit healthier. It turned out great both times, and it is super easy! Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Italian Stew

Our family has officially taken the foray into organized sports with our oldest son. He's in kindergarten this year, and we have registered him to play soccer with a local youth league. We had our first practice one evening last week. We all went as a family just to watch him at his first practice. He did great! They split their team up and played a little scrimmage against each other, and he scored a goal! Yay! I am anxious for our first game in a few weeks.

I tell you all this, because once you start having practices and things in the evenings, it's hard to plan good meals for your family. I pulled out this Easy Italian Stew recipe when I was making up my menu for the week, because we had gotten some Italian sausage on sale. I wanted to use it, and this seemed like a good recipe for these cooler end-of-summer, preview-to-fall days we've been having. It was quick and easy to make once we got home from our first soccer practice. My husband raved over it, and he doesn't rave very often! Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Fantastic Holiday Weekend!

Here's hoping you make the best of your three-day weekend this Labor Day. Relax and enjoy some time with your family before summer is gone! Thanks for stopping by!

Black Bean Pinwheels

I got this recipe from a Pampered Chef consultant about two years ago at a holiday shopping open house. She had made these as little snacks for all the customers going through the place. She shared with everyone that she had snagged the recipe for Black Bean Pinwheels from Kraft Foods, and even had a printout of the recipe that people could take with them.

I was craving something different for lunch the other day, so I made some of these for myself. Yum! Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate-Sour-Cream Frosting

Yesterday I told you about some brownies I made from scratch. Here's the recipe for the Chocolate-Sour-Cream Frosting that I added to them to make them even more decadent than they were on their own! Can you tell I was really craving chocolate last week? This recipe is another oldie but goodie from that red and white plaid binder Better Homes & Garden Cookbook that almost everyone owns.

Chocolate-Sour-Cream Frosting

1 c. semisweet chocoate pieces
1/4 c. margarine or butter
1/2 c. dairy sour cream
2 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar

In a saucepan melt chocolate and margarine over low heat, stirring frequently. Cool about 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating till smooth and of spreading consistency. Frosts top and sides of two 8- or 9-inch cake layers. Store cake in refrigerator.

Thanks for stopping by!

Brownies from scratch

One day last week, my 5-year old wanted to make brownies. I have never found a good recipe for brownies from scratch that I really like, so every time we make them, we try a new recipe. I found this one in the church cookbook that a friend of mine submitted. They were great! Thanks, Amanda, for this great brownie recipe!

Brownies

4 eggs
2 c. sugar
6 T. cocoa
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
12 T. melted butter
1 t. vanilla

Mix together eggs, sugar and cocoa. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in butter and vanilla. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 for 20 minutes, or until they are set in the center.

I made these even more decadent by adding Chocolate-Sour-Cream Frosting. I'll share that recipe with you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Chinese Cole Slaw

I was at a picnic a few weeks ago where someone brought Chinese Cole Slaw. I sort of forgot that I even had a recipe to make this dish that I really enjoy. So I pulled out my recipe and made some over the weekend. I can't remember who gave me this recipe, but I haven't had it very long. I think there are many recipes out there for different versions of this dish. Mine is a little heavy on the soy sauce, so if you have a similar recipe you'd like to share with me, I'd love to try a different version to see if we like it better! Thanks for stopping by!

Chinese Cole Slaw

1-16 oz. pkg. shredded cabbage (cole slaw mix)
2 pkg. chicken flavor ramen noodles, crushed
1/2 c. slivered almonds
4 T. butter

Melt butter in skillet. Brown noodles and almonds in butter then set aside to cool.

Dressing:

2 T. soy sauce
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 T. rice vinegar
4 T. sugar
1 tsp. pepper
6 green onions, chopped (tops and bottoms)
Seasoning packets from ramen noodles

Combine ingredients of dressing and then toss with cabbage and cooled noodles. Cool and serve.

Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers

I don't know why I was on a Greek kick last week when I made up my menu for this week, but it sounded so appetizing to me. Greek food is usually so light, and it just sounded tasty to me.

After having Pitas on Saturday, we had these Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers for lunch on Sunday. They were great--especially with some of the Tzatziki I told you about yesterday on them! (I skipped the sauce in this recipe since I had already made the Tzatziki.) Thanks for stopping by!

Tzatziki

The recipe I shared with you on Monday for Greek Steak Pitas was great, but I added a sauce that wasn't called for which made them even better. The August issue of Cooking Light has a recipe for Tzatziki, which is a Greek condiment. I made a batch of this for us to have with our pitas. Then, we used it again on some Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers that I'll tell you about tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Greek Seasoning

Yesterday I told you about a recipe I tried over the weekend for Greek Steak Pitas. One of the ingredients in the steak marinade was Greek seasoning. I didn't have that on hand, but I found a recipe to make your own online. Fortunately, I had everything on hand to make up my own batch. I even got to use some of my fresh spearmint growing out back! I dried it in my microwave before adding it to the mix. Thanks for stopping by!

Greek Steak Pitas

Now that school has started, we're getting back into a normal routine. I pulled out some summer issues of Cooking Light that I hadn't had a chance to really look through over the summer. So this weekend while we were home without a lot on our schedule, I tried some new recipes.

This Greek Steak Pita recipe was a nice light meal on a warm summer evening. Well, it wasn't exactly warm here this weekend, but it was a nice light meal for the summertime! Instead of pitas, I tried a new product I found at the grocery store, Aunt Millie's Slimwiches. They were really good, and we all really enjoyed them. I also omitted the onion, because none of us are big fans of raw onion.

The recipe also calls for Greek seasoning, which I didn't have, but I found a recipe online for making your own. I'll share that with you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!