 Many years ago I made this mix in a jar during the holidays to give as gifts to friends and family. I think that I actually saw the idea of the jar gift on-line. Today, I will give you the actual mix to keep in your pantry and bake it. TOMORROW, I'LL GIVE YOU the jar gift idea, smile. Category: Dessert-Hack Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 35 to 40 Minutes (Watch it. Better if you don’t overcook it) Approximate Cost: $4.75 or .48 cents per serving Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: For Gluten Free please use 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour) Servings: 10 to 12 Dry Ingredients 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour (or 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour) (.50) 1 tsp. baking powder (.10) 1 tsp. salt (.10) 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (.60) 1 ½ c. sugar (.25) ½ c. Tall House chocolate chips (.50) 2 cups organic sugar ½ cup chocolate chips or chunks (you can also add walnuts, tart cherries or pecans) Wet Ingredients 1 ½ c. butter melted, + 1/3 c. vegetable oil, I used EVOO ($1.20) 3 small eggs or 2 Jumbo (whisked) (.60) 1 ½ tsp. Vanilla (.90) Directions to Bake your Brownies: Start the oven at 350 degrees, oil spray or butter an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan and cover with parchment paper. Set aside. Sift all-purpose flour (or 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour), baking powder and salt, add the sugar, mix. Melt the butter, add the vegetable oil and the eggs one at a time, vanilla and beat to combine. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well but do not overbeat. Add the chocolate chips. Add batter to your oil sprayed pan and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes depending on your oven. Allow to cool down before slicing. Serve as is or with fruit, ice cream or whipped cream. Boom!
1 Comment
 We all need to eat our veggies to maintain a healthy diet. I prefer to oven roast instead of boiling these veggies, to keep the goodness in and not washed out. Then before I roast them, I use a generous dose of my dry seasoning and basting olive oil. That’s all needed for these babies. Category: SIDES Approx. Prep and Cook Time: under 40 Minutes Approximate Cost: $6.50) Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free __X__ Vegetarian __X__ Servings: 4 Ingredients 3 large beet roots, rinsed, peeled and cubed into 1” size bites ($2.50) 1 bag of Brussels Sprouts, bottoms cut, outer leaves detached and discard, slice in half ($3.00) 4 tbsp. Angie’s basting olive oil (.80) 2 tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning (.40) Directions 2 oven safe baking pans. Follow the prep instructions given under ingredients. Place the beets in a separate pan, season with 2 tbsp. Angie’s basting olive oil and 1 tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning, stir to combine. Cover. Place the Brussels Sprouts in another pan, season with 2 tbsp. Angie’s basting olive oil and 1 tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning stir to combine. Cover. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes depending on your oven. Uncover, and stir in about 30 minutes to get the golden brown look on the Brussels. Done, enjoy with whichever protein you are making today, smile. Angie’s Dry Seasonings: http://www.angieslifehacks.com/family-life/oven-roasted-bacon-chicken-and-angies-seasonings Angie’s Basting Olive Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  Yes, I cook pork tenderloin in different ways once or twice a week, therefore, I must be creative with my recipes to keep the family from becoming bore to death with me, smile. Yesterday, I gave you the smashed potatoes recipe and today, you can make the whole meal and only need to add one good old avocado slice. Category: Entrée Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 30 Minutes Approximate Cost: $5.25 or $2.63 per serving Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free Servings: 2 Ingredients Ingredients ½ to 1 pork tenderloin filet (ea. pack @ Costco contains 4 filet) $3.00 3 tbsp. Angie’s basting olive oil (.60) 1 tbsp. Angie’s Dry seasoning (.20) 1 tbsp. granulated garlic (.20) 1 avocado ($1.25) Directions
Angie’s Dry Seasonings: http://www.angieslifehacks.com/family-life/oven-roasted-bacon-chicken-and-angies-seasonings Angie’s Basting Olive Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  Who doesn’t love potatoes? Baked, deep fry, loaded with veggies and cheeses, well you know, smile. I prefer the healthier prep; I boil them with a pinch of salt, drain them when done, smash them either with the palm of my hand or a cutting board, and sauté them in a pan with extra virgin olive oil. When done, I sprinkle a pinch of my dry or Italian seasoning and Boom, done. Category: SIDE Approx. Prep and Cook Time: Under 20 Minutes Approximate Cost: $4.40 or $1.47 per serving Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free __X__ Vegetarian __X__ Servings: 3 Ingredients 10 to 12 baby potatoes ($3.80) 2 tbsp. Angie’s basting olive oil (.40) 1 tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning (.20) Directions Rinse and boil the potatoes in salted water for 10 to 15 minutes until tender but undercooked. Drain and allow them to cool down a bit before smash them. When ready, smash them with the palm of your hand or a cutting board. Sear them in a pan with extra virgin olive oil until golden brown and crispy. Serve immediately. Angie’s Dry Seasonings: http://www.angieslifehacks.com/family-life/oven-roasted-bacon-chicken-and-angies-seasonings Angie’s Basting Olive Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  Definitely, if you don’t work virtual or even if you do, you want to wake up every morning, go to the kitchen and make a quick breakfast. That is fine, however, if you are in a healthy eating stage, you will never go wrong with fruits and hard boiled eggs in the morning. Just follow my hack, get the fruits, boil the eggs for the week (for 7 min.) and you are ready to roll! Category: Breakfast Approx. Prep and Cook Time: Prep approx. under 30 Minutes once/week! Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free __X__ Vegetarian __X__ Servings: 6 to 7 days for 1 person Ingredients (Prices will fluctuate based on where you purchase the fruits) 1 of each strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries from Costco or Sam’s 1 pineapple 1 papaya Directions Go shopping for your favorite fruits and grab 7 med size containers for the berries and 2 larger enough to hold a peeled slice pineapple and a papaya. (See the slide photos to get an idea, I actually recycle those containers but you can purchase the ones you prefer.) The way I do it, I place strawberries and blueberries in each of the 7 containers and then blackberries and raspberries in the 7 containers left. Then, I prep the pineapple and place inside one of the larger containers. Just like that, I peel and seeded the papaya, cut in larger pieces to fit the other larger container. Finally, I immediately refrigerate all the containers in my garage refrigerator. I Hard Boil 12 to 14 eggs, peel, allow to cool down, place in a container in the fridge, eat 2/day. Daily, I select one of each fruit container plus the 2 large pineapple and papaya and eggs. I rinse all the berries for that day, drain and line them up in a cutting board. Cut in smaller pieces the pineapple and papaya and finally, eat them all. Boom!  I can’t stop saying that people waste a lot of money in purchased groceries going bad. That goes for fruits, vegetables, milk, etc. There is always a simple way to preserve groceries that you have too much of. Case in point, herbs. I use Italian flat leave parsley a lot, so I make it last longer in my kitchen, therefore, I don’t have to go and purchase it weekly. I freeze it. Smile Category: HACK Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 20 Minutes Approximate Cost: $1.98 CENTS or about .8 cents per disk. Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free __X__ Vegetarian __X__ Servings: 24 discs to add to your stews, soups, garnish dishes, etc. Ingredients 1 fresh bunch of Italian Parsley (.98) ¼ c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($1.00) ¼ c. water Directions Rinse the bunch well, pat dry, detach leaves from stem. Get a muffin pan, add few leaves inside each cup, about ½ way to the top. Then add about 1 tbsp. of EVOO into each to cover the leaves on 12 of the cups. Then fill the other 12 cups with water to cover the leaves. Freeze them and when frozen, remove from cups and place in plastic bags. Use them in soups, stews, garnishing, stir fry, well, you know what I mean. Angie’s Basting Olive Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oi  Proud mama flew to Florida to celebrate her son’s 18th Birthday and came up with these super yummy cheesecake cupcakes she found online, that all we wanted was more, more, and more of it, smile! Category: Dessert Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 1 hour 10 Minutes Approximate Cost: $12.90 or .54 cents per 24 cheesecakes or ($1.07 for 12) Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free ONLY if you use GF Graham Crackers Servings: 24 Ingredients for the Cheesecake Batter 2 (8 oz.) cream cheese packs at room temperature. ($8.00) 1 c. sugar (.50) ½ c. sour cream (or yogurt) (.50) 2 eggs (.40) 1 tsp. vanilla ($1.00) 2 tsp. lemon juice (.80) 24 liners for the muffin pan (.50) Ingredients for the Crust ¼ c. melted butter (.50) 1 ½ c. graham cracker crumbs (.70) Directions Preheat oven at 325 degrees and place liners in your cupcake pan. Combine the graham crackers and melted butter in a med size bowl, divide it between all the liners and press into the bottom firmly. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes until dry in the center. Then reduce temp. to 300 degrees. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, eggs, sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla and beat for about 3 minutes until nicely smooth. Divide the mix evenly between the muffin cups filling up almost to the top. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes until the centers are set. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 30 minutes in a rack. Then refrigerate before serving for at least 3 hours.  A Mexican staple that is so popular everywhere simply because it is so healthy and delicious. You can pair my guacamole with tortilla chips, Tostitos or use it in quesadillas, tacos, burritos, fajitas, raw veggies, just about anything, smile. Category: Dips/Salsas/Sauces/Spread Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 15 Minutes Approximate Cost: $5.45 Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free __X__ Vegetarian __X__ Servings: Approximately 5 to 6 Ingredients 3 ripe avocados ($3.75) 1 large jalapeno, chopped small (.15) 1 tomato chopped small (.40) ½ onion or to-taste, chopped small (.15) 1 handful of chopped cilantro and some to garnish (.30) Salt, pepper to-taste .10) 1 ½ tbsp. lemon juice (.10) 1 tbsp. basting olive oil (.30) 1 lemon to garnish (.20) Directions Peel and mash the avocados. Chop all the ingredients as indicated under ingredients. Add them to the mashed avocados. Add Salt, pepper, lemon juice and basting olive oi. Mix well and then garnish to serve. Enjoy! Angie’s Basting Olive Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  This beautiful 1 lb. cod filet cost me $18.18 and I couldn’t be happier with that price. However, it got better when I went home and divided the large piece(s) into 5 bags for 2 meals each. Meaning, if my math doesn’t fail me, (My son Steve Fuerst is my math genius, love him, ha, ha, ha) 10 meals divided by $18.18 equals $1.82 per meal, BOOM! Category: HACK: SEAFOOD Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 15 Minutes Approximate Cost: $18.18 or $1.82 per serving Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: Gluten Free Servings: 10 Ingredients 1 lb. Cod Filet (usually there are 2 filets per pk.) ($18.18) Directions Pat dry the filet(s), cut the projected filet size that you prefer. Mine are about 2 to 2 1/2“wide. Then, cut the narrow end parts of the filet in chunks about ½ inch to use them in stir fry with salmon bites as well, adding mushrooms, onion, peppers, all the stuff you want, then place over white rice. Finally, place 2 filets ea. in Ziploc bags (totaling 4 bags) and freeze until time to cook them.  This is not the kind of breakfast that you eat daily or weekly; well, perhaps over the weekend, smile. It is simple with few ingredients, however there is a catch. Hollandaise sauce is somewhat tricky to make at home. (I’ll give you my simple homemade recipe under notes.) Meantime, get a bag of the Hollandaise sauce at the grocery store and boom, breakfast is ready in a few. Category: Breakfast Approx. Prep and Cook Time: Under 20 Minutes Approximate Cost: $4.17 Difficulty Level: Easy Allergens, Other: NOT Gluten Free Servings: 1 Ingredients 1 light multigrain English muffin (you’ll use a full open face/serving) (.60) 2 large eggs (.40) 2 slices of Canadian bacon (.72) 1 envelope of Hollandaise Sauce (or make my homemade one) ($1.80) 1 c. milk (.25) ¼ c. unsalted butter (.40) Directions First, prepare the Hollandaise sauce according with the directions in the back. Set aside. Next, cook your Canadian bacon in a tsp. of olive oil until golden, set aside. Now, cook the eggs to your desired doneness (over easy are best). While the eggs cook, toast the split English muffin until light brown, add butter if you like. To assemble, place both pieces of English muffin on a plate, top with the Canadian bacon, then the eggs, the Hollandaise Sauce all over and garnish with chopped dill or parsley or chives. Serve with smoked salmon or prosciutto or blanched asparagus or even fruits, your choice! NOTES: My Simple Homemade Hollandaise Sauce recipe: 1 stick of unsalted butter, 2 egg yolks and 3 tsps. lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. DIRECTIONS for my Homemade Hollandaise Sauce: 1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium. 2. Separate the yolks from the egg whites, place the yolks in a medium size bowl, add lemon juice and whisk until combined. (Reserve the whites for scramble eggs) 3. Very slowly, add the melted butter into the egg yolks mix and do not stop whisking, (otherwise you may end up with scrambled eggs.) Finally, season with salt and pepper or any other seasoning you prefer. Then allow it to cool a bit to get thicker. |
ABOUT THE AuthorI am a blogger, a photographer, a jewelry designer, a gourmet cook, and a recipe book writer. I am also a flea market flipper, an avid gardener, an interior/ outdoors designer, an avid golfer and traveler. Categories |
RSS Feed