Bites and Bytes - Cooking Made Simple

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Rainy day Oatmeal Cookies - Oh My! YUM

I have been thinking about oatmeal cookies for weeks. Today seemed to be the best day to test out a new recipe - rain all day with a freeze warning for tonight and snow predicted for Saturday! It's baking season! So I found a recipe and modified it to my liking.

The Cole kids gave it a "3 THUMBS UP" (there's 3 of them). K says, "Mom, they are crunchy and chewy at the same time!" A says, "These are so good, can I have more??"

They are easy to make and pretty healthy with over 2 cups of oatmeal in them with both ground oatmeal and quick oats combined.

If you try them, let me know what you think!

Oh My… Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 c. softened butter, salted (add 1/2 tsp. salt if you have unsalted)
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. ground oatmeal flour (quick oats in a food processor till consistency of flour)

1/3 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. quick-cooking rolled oats

½ c. mini chocolate chips or raisins

1 cup demerara natural sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until soft and fluffy. (use electric hand mixer)

3. Blend in egg until smooth.

4. Add oat flour, regular flour, baking soda, and oats. Mix until well-blended.

5. Add and stir in mini chocolate chips (or raisins)

Roll into balls and then roll cookie dough ball individually in the demerera sugar.
Bake 10-12 minutes, or until browned around the outside.
Cookies will be soft, let them stand on the cookie sheets for a minute before removing.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Spicy Chicken Marinade for Cinco de Mayo

I made some really delicious quesadillas today in honor of Cinco de Mayo.

I came up with a homemade spicy marinade that pleased everyone in the family and make the chicken moist, flavorful and tasty for this quick mexican meal.

Spicy Chicken quesadillas marinade

2 to 3 lbs boneless chicken breast
1 1/2 cups cut up habanero and jalepeno peppers
1/2 cup canola oil
4 or 5 tablespoons of garlic chili sauce (for Indian food)

Put all three ingredients in blender and puree. Flattened out/hammer chicken breast to an even consistency. Spooned equal amounts of sauce over each chicken breast, salt each piece of chicken and stack in a bowl. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes on the counter.

Grill over medium heat on grill.

After chicken is cooked, cut chicken at an angle into small think pieces and place on tortilla with mexican cheese or grated cheddar. Put back on the grill to toast the tortilla and melt the cheese.

Serve with quacamole, corn or Mexican rice and beans!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

View more presentations from Chad Norman.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Hormel Chili Recipe

This recipe is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser and always gets a double thumbs up from the men!
Enjoy! My kids even eat this for lunch sometimes.

In our house, we call this CHILI Dip

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) can hormel chili without beans
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (16 ounce) package shredded mild cheddar cheese or sharp cheddar cheese
nacho chips or Frito Scoops, to serve

Directions

Microwave cream cheese for 1 minute in 12" x 12" pyrex dish or glass pie dish.
Remove and spread cream cheese to cover bottom of dish.
Next pour the hormel chili on top of the cream cheese.
Lastly, layer with the shredded cheddar cheese. I prefer to use Monteray Jack with Jalapenos.
Microwave for 3 minutes or until cheese has melted.
Serve with nacho chips or scoop frito's

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Amish Baked Oatmeal - Terri style

Here is my recipe for Amish Baked Oatmeal I had purchased it at an Amish Market in Lancaster last summer and was hooked so I researched recipes, found one on TasteofHome.com and it has since been modified by me to meet my family of 5's tastes. Everyone who visits and tastes it LOVES it!!! My teenagers now choose eating this for breakfast over having a bowl of cereal before school in the morning. It reheats nicely in the microwave so you can make it and have it for a few days in a row.

It is now my families first choice as a morning meal (if there's any left) for breakfast every day! I hope you like it too!

If you never have had it: Think - oatmeal cookie but more moist and thick and warm - of course!

AMISH BAKED OATMEAL

3 cups of quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup of sugar (or less if you add chocolate chips)

1 cup of Milk (skim is fine)

*1/4 cup of butter, melted

1/4 cup of canola oil

3 eggs

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Optional: 1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (HERSHEY's, of course) or any dried fruit you might have home or would enjoy in your regular oatmeal - dried cherries, cranberries, blueberries, etc.

Cooking instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients, mix well. Spread evenly into a buttered or greased 8X8 baking pan. Can use a 9x13 but check the baking time and bake it on the low end of the time. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Spoon into bowls, top with milk (if you like it that way!) or fresh fruit or brown sugar, if desired.

ENJOY!

YIELD: about 10 servings

* As long as there is 1/2 cup of oil or melted butter (combined) in this recipe it works. I try to cut back on butter usage and add canola since it has better health benefits but you can use all butter - which would mean 1/2 cup melted and omit the oil. It does taste great with all butter. I've made it both ways. I have NOT made it with all oil in the recipe

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Order seasonal and retiring Homemade Gourmet products

Call or email me your order ASAP if you are interested in any of the products below

The following Fall/Winter seasonal products will be available while supplies last only beginning Feb. 1, 2010 (they are scheduled to be back in the fall/winter line in August barring unforeseen circumstances, unless they have chocolate chips, in which case, they are scheduled to be back in October):

The following products are expected to retire and will be available while supplies last beginning Feb. 1, 2010 (meaning, these are going away permanently!):

By popular demand, these products will also be included in our spring/summer product line and will continue to be available after Feb. 1, 2010, some with updated packaging:

Monday, January 18, 2010

A new Addiction

OK. So we all have our vices, crutches, call it what you want.

I have a confession. I am now addicted to Stacy's Simply Naked pita chips.

Oh yes, they go well with spinach dip, jalapeno bacon cheddar dip or just plain sour cream. But the are called Simply Naked for a reason. They are simply addictive alone without any topping! I am sitting here eating them right NOW.

I just can't stop buying them OR eating them. Buy them next time you go grocery shopping. My Naked Chips live in the Organic Food isle at Giant Food. You won't be sorry!

COOL website too!

Stacy's Simply Naked Chips

Sunday, January 17, 2010

A different kind of Side Dish

Here is a great recipe if you are needing a different kind of side dish.
I made all of the dressing but didn't use all of it to dress my SLAW. We are watching our fat and calorie intake.... It makes a great side dish for hamburgers or grilled chicken or even oven roasted chicken. It's easy to make, you just have to remember to buy the bag of broccoli slaw in the supermarket. It can be found where the bag salads live.

Thanks "aunt" Lori for turning me onto this recipe! It's always a huge hit at family reunion.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Cole Slaw
1 bag (16 oz) of broccoli cole slaw
1 bag (3 oz.) ramen oriental flavor noodle soup (Oriental flavoring packet is needed)
1 cup cooking oil - use canola much healthier
6 tablespoons sugar (or start out by adding less to save calories and adjust for taste)
6 tablespoons vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped green onions (I substituted red onion and it was YUMMY)

Place shredded broccoli in bowl with onions and blend. Crush oriental noodles and add to salad. Mix oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper and oriental flavor packet from the ramen noodles flavor packet.

Right before serving pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.

If you LIKE this recipe and think you might use it some time - I'd LOVE to hear your comments.

Friday, January 15, 2010

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/TMCole

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I'm back --- here's a recipe for Italian Wedding Soup

I made this today for friends who came for lunch - it's "souper" easy and really good!
The whole recipe can be put together in 30 minutes or less.

EZ Italian Wedding Soup
1 Cup chopped Sweet or Spanish Onion
1 teaspoon of Homemade Gourmet Garlic Basil Seasoning
2 shakes of dried oregano
24 frozen mini meatballs
2 cans light chicken broth or 1 box gourmet chicken stock
1 cup small pasta shells
1 cup baby spinach sliced thin (cut off the stems)
2 Cups water
fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
Olive Oil

Cooking directions:

In pot heat 1 Tbs. olive oil over med. heat. Add onion and garlic basil and oregano, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes or until the onions are clear and tender. Add some water to the onions if they start to cook too fast. Cook the water down until the onions are the correct consistency. Add the meatballs; stir and continue stirring until browned about 5 minutes. Add broth and 2 cups of water; bring to a boil.

Add the uncooked pasta and cook until tender - 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the baby spinach and cook until heated through.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve with biscuits! ENJOY.
Serves 4

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

My Spring Open House Favorite(s)!

Well, I just hosted my 2nd Annual Spring Open House to taste and share ALL the new Spring 2009 products with my friends and customers. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and everything turned out great. If you couldn't make it sorry you missed it, will have another one in the Fall!

Here's what we sampled: Season and Steam BBQ; Steason and Steam Sloppy Joes; Tropical Chicken Salad; Baked Beans; cool Cucumber Dip; Smoking BBQ Dip and Lemon Sandwich Cookies. Everything was fantastic!!

I also shared my favorite dip: Jalepeno Bacon and Cheddar (never a drop left of it!!)

Made an extra dessert - I used the Key Lime Cheesecake mix to make key lime icing for plain vanilla mini cupcakes - what a huge hit with everyone. I can't believe what a yummy refreshing icing it made.

Lasty, I tried and shared a 4 Meals in 4 Minutes Recipe for: Asian Pork Tenderloin
It was OUTSTANDING Too! So tasty and you can't even tell that it has Garlic Lemon seasoning with it. Found on Keys to the Kitchen - Homemade Gourmet recipe database. Check it out!

Here's the recipe (can be made ahead and frozen as a 4M/4M meal)

Asian Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
3 pounds pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons Homemade Gourmet® Garlic Lemon Seasoning Mix*
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup water

Directions
1. Lightly spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place tenderloin in slow cooker. 2. In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over tenderloin. 3. Cook 6 hours on low.4. Slice tenderloin into ½-inch thick pieces; drizzle with juices.This is another great 4 meals in 4 minutes™ meal. Place all ingredients in a gallon sized zip top bag, SMOOSH and seal. After labeling, place in freezer until ready to use.

Friday, February 27, 2009

HG featured on NBC affiliate

This past Wednesday (Feb. 25th) Homemade Gourmet, National Director, Jennifer Kinnear, was featured on NBC's morning show....it began on NBC's local affiliate in Dallas but was picked up by Today with Matt Lauer when speaking of home businesses/direct sales, he commented that "Homemade Gourmet was a reputable company".

Even during these tough economic times HG has experienced an increase in sales by about 10%. That says - people ARE eating at home more often with their families to save bucks on fast food that's taking a bite out of their budget. To view the Broadcast that ran in at the NBC Dallas affiliate click the link below. Homemade Gourmet is based in Texas.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/Make_an_Honest_Living_Out_of_Your_House_Dallas-Fort_Worth.html

If becoming a part of the Homemade Gourmet family interests you, please contact me and I can share my experience. I'd love to work with you!
Blessings, Terri

Chicken Enchiladas - my way

Long before my Homemade Gourmet days, I tried and tried to invent my own version of my favorite local Mexican restaurant's enchiladas. Not so much the chicken, shredding chicken is easy -- as Ragu says "it's all in the sauce". Once I started my Homemade Gourmet business and began familiarizing myself with the recipe cards that came with our Pantry Staple Seasonings (think large quantity - great value) - I found a crock pot recipe for Chicken Enchiladas. Boy, was I ever excited!!

Well, I have to say that there will never, ever be another purchase of canned enchiladas sauce here in my home. Keep following and I am gong to share my secret... It's easy and so delicious and the whole Cole family give it 2 thumbs up! Here's how you make it:

Chicken Enchiladas - EASY!

4 to 6 boneless chicken breast
1 can - 29 oz. plain tomato sauce (no seasonings)
6 or 7 Tablespoons of HG Enchilada Soup mix
Flour Tortillas
Mild or Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Options: Sour Cream, fried onion, can of refried beans

Combine the HG Enchilada Soup seasoning with the plain tomato sauce right in your crock pot.
Add the chicken. I kind of roll the chicken around in the sauce so that it's coated and will stay real moist. Here's the fun part - Cover your crock pot, put on high for 3 or 4 hours, walk away, don't look back, go read a book, give yourself a pedi - whatever! In 2 hours everyone will be asking - wow, what's for dinner?

Final steps and Serving suggestions:

Remove chicken from the crockpot and place on a large plate or platter. Shred the chicken with 2 forks, it should just fall apart.
[Create your Enchiladas] Take a Tortilla and in the middle section, add a good quantity of shredded chicken, top with some enchilada sauce from the crock pot add grated cheddar cheese (and fried onion or refried beans, optional).
Roll it up, place filled tortilla seam side down in a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Continue until all the tortillas are used up and your enchiladas are lined up nicely and snugly next to each other. Top your row of Enchiladas with as much remaining sauce as you like - add more cheese and in about 10 minutes when the cheese is bubbly - Dinner is served!

For the kids (mine!) - they get the "make your own" wrap variety where they add the flavored shredded chicken, cheese lettuce and sour cream. They don't like their Enchiladas too saucy.

SAVE any leftover sauce. It freezes well. Next time you need a quick meal and have left over ground beef or chicken combine with the sauce and make a quick wrap.

Cole family rating: 5 stars ***** (5 out of 5)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Hummus -Easy!

My son's preschool teacher Miss Bonnie recently shared that she tried making Hummus using Homemade Gourmet Garlic Lemon Seasoning. She commented that it was sooo easy and very yummy. She also created a delicious marinade for her boneless chicken with EVOO and Garlic Lemon Seasoning - it baked to perfection!

Thanks Miss Bonnie for sharing!
====================================

Here's the recipe for Heart Healthy Hummus

2 15 oz. cans chickpese, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 Lemon
1/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons HG Garlic Lemon Seasoning

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend on low speed until smooth, stopping often to scrape down the sides. If the mixture is too dry and not blending well, add a little more EVOO.
Serve with pita bread, pita chips or veggies.

Try using Hummus as a sandwich spread instead of high calorie/fat mayo. Complete the sandwich or wrap with grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato or deli meats.

This and other recipes are available on homemadegourmet.com click on EASY RECIPES

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Creamy Tortilla Chicken with White Rice

This is so easy, it seems silly to even consider it a part of the recipe ... but here goes. I figured this out after making the freezer entrée the first time and had a bunch of sauce leftover in the baking dish. My version of Rice-A-Roni. I never said I was a gourmet chef!

My family enjoys the Creamy Tortilla Chicken baked in the oven. While the chicken is cooking, I make regular white rice. When the chicken is done, I remove the chicken from the baking dish and set it aside. I mix the rice into the remaining sauce in the baking dish and have an instantly coordinating side dish, flavored with the tortilla sauce. ENJOY!

SUBMITTED BY: L. Sweet and family

Creamy Tortilla Chicken

2 lbs skinless boneless chicken strips
1 10 oz. can cream of chicken
1 10 ounce can water
7 tablespoons Homemade Gourmet® Tortilla Soup Seasoning

Directions
1. In a bowl, mix together all ingredients but chicken, spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. 2. Add chicken to mix and pour into slow cooker. 3. Cook on low approximately 4 hours.
(If you use chicken breasts for this recipe, increase cooking time to 6-8 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high.Make this a 4 meals in 4 minutes™ meal! Combine all ingredients into a gallon sized ziptop freezer bag, SMOOSH and label. Store in freezer until you are ready to cook.

BAKE: If you choose to bake this meal, pour combined ingredients into a large baking dish; cover and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (longer if you use breasts) or until meat juices run clear.

** This recipe is also available on Homemade Gourmet's website under the Recipe Database: Key to the Kitchen. There you can find complete nutritional information for this recipe AND you can resize the recipe for more or Less servings depending on how many happy faces you need to feed! **

Monday, January 26, 2009

Tuscan Chicken and White Beans (CROCKPOT)

Here's a great CrockPot recipe that uses HG's Garlic Basil Seasoning. It's easy to prepare and very healthy too! See NOTE at the bottom for Freezer Meal tips. Serves 4-6.

Tuscan Chicken and Beans

1 vidalia onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 large carrot, sliced

1 celery stalk, large slices

4-6 bonless chicken breast (whole or cut into chunks)

one 6 oz. jar roasted red peppers, diced

1 can Canellini beans, drained

2 Tablespoons Homemade Gourmet Garlic Basil Seasoning

salt/pepper

1 cup water

12 oz. can of tomato sauce (unseasoned)

In crock, layer all chopped items, then add chicken, red peppers, beans. Mix GB seasoning into the tomato sauce add 1/2 cup water. Add the combined mixture to the crockpot. Add salt and pepper as needed. Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours.

SERVE over your favorite pasta with a side of french bread or toast.

NOTE: If you are starting this in the morning for a dinner time meal, leave the celery and carrots in large slices. They will be cooked and firm when you are ready to eat. Also, leave the bonless chicken whole if you plan to leave it in the crock all day. For a quicker version, chop the veggies smaller and cube the chicken and cook on crock pott high setting for less time.

FREEZER MEAL idea: This recipe could easily be a freezer meal. Mix the sauce, HG Garlic Basil seasoning and water, pour into gallon size freezer bag over 4-6 whole chicken breast, remove air from the bag, zipit and freeze flat.

On cooking day, add the layers of veggies on the bottom of the crockpot, add the frozen prepared/preped chicken in frozen state, add the beans and red peppers add a bit of water (1/4 cup) and cook all day! Dinner will smell delic when you walk in the door.

Cole family rating: 3 stars ***

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Diabetic Cooking Options

Cooking collection for Diabetics

The Diabetic Meal Collection, like all collections from Homemade Gourmet®, includes ideas for well-balanced meals -- these designed for diabetics -- plus recipes and grocery lists.

These recipes have earned a diabetic-friendly rating from the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center of the University of Oklahoma. And, there’s a sheet of eight freezer labels and the Great-Tasting Meals in Minutes DVD to show how to make 4 meals in 4 minutes™! These healthy food choices are tasty, too – not just for diabetics! Recipes include Kansas City BBQ Chicken, Garlic Basil Chicken and more!

The Diabetic Meal Collection is $123 retail and includes the following mixes:
Plus, for every collection purchased, Homemade Gourmet® will donate a percentage of the profits to further diabetes research. In addition to the collection, additional diabetic-friendly recipes are available on Key to the Kitchen database.

Contact me if you are interested in learning more about this Collection.

Savory Slow Cooker Collection

January and February are great months to get your crockpot out and take advantage of HG's delicous comfort food recipes. What could be easier then Beef Stew or Minestrone Soup in the crockpot? This photos highlights our delicious Gumbo Mix. MMM, mmm! What's your favorite comfort food?

Keep warm!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Cole Family top 3 favorites are:
#10 Jalepeno Bacon Cheddar Dip, #2 Chicken Enchilada Soup Mix, and #4 Pecan Pie Muffins. What are YOUR favorites? Do tell!!
Top Sellers in Sept. 2008:
1 ~ Taco Soup Mix
2 ~ Chicken Enchilada Soup Mix
3 ~ Cinnamon Sopapilla Dessert Mix
4 ~ Mini Pecan Pie Muffin Mix
5 ~ Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Mix
6 ~ Three Cheese Garlic Biscuit Mix
7 ~ Baked Potato Soup Mix
8 ~ Tortilla Soup Mix
9 ~ Grandmother’s Sunday Roast Mix
10 ~ Jalapeno Bacon Cheddar Dip Mix
11 ~ Old Fashioned Apple Crisp Mix
12 ~ Texas Cornbread Mix
13 ~ Basic Sweet Bread Mix
14 ~ Season ‘n’ Steam Fajita Mix
15 ~ Skillet Lasagna Mix
16 ~ Texas Cobbler Mix
17 ~ Cranberry Almond Pasta Salad Mix
18 ~ Butterscotch Blondie Mix
19 ~ BLT Dip Mix
20 ~ Bonnie’s Blue Ribbon Chili Mix

Guacamole - EZ

Today, at lunch I experimented with a little avocado that I was craving - used some Homemade Gourmet to whip up a quick tasty Guacamole.

Here's what I did:

Peeled 1 Avocado, removed meat of the fruit and mashed it; added 1 Tablespoons of Mayo and 1 Tablespoon of Homemade Gourmet Enchilada Soup seasoning. Mixed and mashed some more!

Delicious served with a quick toasted cheese tortilla sandwich.....YUM

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