Fresh Salsa

Our garden is being good to us this year, and we're enjoying all kinds of produce.  I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, but I love this recipe!  It's pretty easy.

5 Roma tomatoes, peeled (other types of tomatoes work too)

5 green onions

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Juice of 1/2 lime
4 small garlic cloves

1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (optional)

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. salt

You can vary the amounts of the ingredients according to your tastes.  I used more tomatoes this time because mine were really small.

If you cut the tops off of the tomatoes and put them in boiling water for a minute or two, the skins will split and you can peel them right off after they cool a bit.

Cut the veggies up and put everything in your food processor and turn it on.  If you like a chunkier salsa, you can chop them up yourself instead of using a food processor.

Get yourself a bag of tortilla chips, and you're all set!

It doesn't make too much, but it doesn't keep too long either, so I don't make a lot at one time.  I've doubled it before, though, and that works fine too.  Yummy!

Muffins

Muffins are kind of like popsicles.  You can go in many different directions with them.

I have one, mostly-healthy basic muffin recipe that I use for most of my muffins:

1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix these together.  (Sometimes I will make up several batches of this at a time and put them in zip-lock bags and have my own muffin mix.)

Mix together separately:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Add this to the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.

Now it's time to get creative.  You can add any number of things to this: blueberries, strawberries, cherries, chopped apples, nuts, raisins or other dried fruit, cranberries, chocolate chips, flax seeds, orange or lemon zest, etc.  Combinations are also good, like chocolate chip-cherry.

You can also add a little cocoa to the dry ingredients to make them chocolate, or some flavor extract.  A little cinnamon or nutmeg spices them up, or I replace half of the milk with orange juice to make cranberry-orange-nut muffins.

Fill greased or lined muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.  This makes 10-12, depending on how much you add to it.

Yummy!

Enchiladas

One good way to use up leftover chicken or other ingredients is to make enchiladas. 

This is a recipe I have made several times, both with chicken and also with leftover pot roast that I shredded.

I used to hate making enchiladas because it seemed cumbersome to fill them all one by one, and I never knew how much "stuff" to put in each one to make it come out right.

But then I discovered a new system:

I put them out on my table and make my own little assembly line.

Just be careful if you have one of these:

unless of course yours is a perfect angel who wouldn't think of helping himself when you're looking the other way.  Let's just say it's good that more than 12 tortillas came in the package.  And I had to re-distribute my chicken.  And Nash got put in another room until I finished my project.

So, I distributed all the fillings evenly, rolled them up and Voilà!  I had one pan ready to go in the oven for dinner tonight and one to put in the freezer for another night.  Of course, if you have more people to feed, you can put them all into one big pan.

I'm sort of a systematic person, so this works well for me.  And now I don't hate making enchiladas anymore!

Chicken

One way I have found to stretch my grocery budget is to buy a whole chicken, cook it and shred the leftovers for use in something else: soups, casseroles, chicken salad, enchiladas, etc.

I have 2 different methods I use to cook chickens: in the crock pot and in the oven.  I use the crock pot on hot days because it doesn’t heat up the house, or if I won’t have time to cook it before meal time.  I actually prefer it cooked in the oven: the skin is crispier and I think it tastes better overall, so I use this method when I can.

For either method, start by washing it and removing the “innards,” if they are included.  Rub the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with some seasonings (salt, thyme, paprika, garlic powder, etc.) and a little lemon juice if desired.  You can stuff some chopped onion inside too, if you want to.

I use a 6-quart crock pot, but you can use a 3-quart one for a smaller chicken, standing it on the end.  Just be sure the lid goes on securely.   Cook it on Low for 8-10 hours.

To cook it in the oven, for a 3-1/2 pound chicken, cook it breast side up at 350° for 1 to 1-1/2 hours.  You’ll need to cook it a little longer if it’s bigger. I usually baste it a time or two toward the end.   If you have a meat thermometer, it should be 180° in the thigh when it’s ready.  This one came with a thermometer that pops out when it is ready.

After we eat what we want for one meal, I can usually pull off between two and six cups of meat, depending on the size of the chicken.   I then put 1 or 2 cup portions in bags or plastic containers and freeze them, unless I’m planning to use it in the next day or two.  It usually takes me 20 minutes or so, so be sure you don’t plan this on a night when you will be in a hurry after dinner.

Here’s one recipe I use it for.  Cooper calls this “Foodles.”

1-2 cups shredded cooked chicken

2-1/2 cups water

¼ tsp. chicken bouillon granules

1 envelope Ranch salad dressing or dip mix

¼ tsp. freshly-ground black pepper

4 cups egg noodles (uncooked)

1/3 cup Ranch salad dressing

Put water, bouillon, Ranch mix and pepper in a skillet and stir with a whisk.   Bring to a boil and then add egg noodles.  Allow to cook about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.  Add Ranch dressing and chicken and heat thoroughly.

Teaching Children about Christ's Resurrection

Besides reading books about Easter (or "Resurrection Day," as it is known to many Christians), I have used two other fun methods to teach Cooper about it this year.

The first is Resurrection Eggs (which I picked up at a garage sale last year for $1).  It is a set of twelve plastic eggs, each containing some sort of token which tells a part of the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  The last one is empty, representing the empty tomb.  There is also a book to go along with them that explains what each token is for.  We did one each day for twelve days, and he could hardly wait from day to day to open the next one.

This morning we made Resurrection Rolls, which give you a chance to tell the gospel story while you are making them, and then you have a delicious treat to eat!

I have never done this, but I saw a recipe recently that I may do next year, Empty Tomb Cookies. 

Easter is my favorite holiday, and while I enjoy egg hunts and other frivolity, it is truly the holiest day in the Christian calendar, the day Christ was raised from the dead after dying on the cross for our sins.  While young children may not understand the full implication of this, it can't hurt to begin building a foundation of these wonderful truths.