Dehydrated Potatoes

I had my doubts about these potatoes.  Especially when I opened the bag and saw that one of them was starting to sprout. Since I wasn't in the mood to eat 6 potatoes by myself, I knew they would just go bad without preserving them. The only experience I've had with dehydrated potatoes is with Betty-Crocker-type scalloped potatoes which always leaves you wishing you would have just used real potatoes.

Dehydrated Bell Peppers

I thought I would spice up this post with some funny facts about bell peppers. However out of the 1.4 million results they were all nutritional or historical in nature. So basically bell peppers: not funny.

Dehydrated Mushrooms

I used to hate mushrooms. They taste like dirt and have the consistency of dead snails. The only way I would eat them before was on pizza, but that's just because everything is good on pizza. Although I will probably never be the girl that eats a portabella mushroom as an entree, I am warming up to them....in small doses.

Dehydrated Onions

Do you like the smell of onions? Do you want it to permeate everything in your house? Do you like your eyes stinging throughout the day? Then dehydrating onions is right for you! I'm telling you this to save you from onion-scented curtains: move the dehydrator outside. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

Crockpot Day 6 - Vegetable Fajitas

It has been raining for days. I say it like it's a huge inconvenience except that we've had two months of sunny, spring-like weather in the dead of winter. It's rough living in California.

Crockpot Day 5 - Black-Eyed Pea Stew

Isn't there some kind of superstition about eating black-eyed peas on New Year's and it brings you money? Does it still count if I eat them in February? Let's hope I'm not a month too late. I consider it lucky when 1) I can just toss everything into a slow cooker and dinner is ready when my husband comes home and 2) my baby likes what I make. So in a sense these black-eyed peas were very lucky.

Crockpot Day 4 - Super Yummy Potatoes

This should really be called the never-gonna-have-leftover Crockpot potatoes. I should know because potatoes are my weakness. For Thanksgiving, I have a second helping of mashed potatoes for dessert. I can make a main dish out cheese and potatoes. And for Christmas, my mother-in-law doesn't even have to ask what I will eat at her house, she knows it's scalloped potatoes.

Crockpot Day 2 - Lentil Soup

Is there anything better than staying home on a gray, cloudy day with the smell of soup cooking in the Crockpot? I think this is the best. Paired with some homemade bread and this meal was fantastic. Even the baby loved it.

Crockpot Day 1 - Veggie Broth

I use a lot of veggie broth. In soup bases, in rice dishes, sometimes I dump a little in when cooking vegetables. Since I hate to pay for it, I've gotten into a habit of freezing the ends and discards from vegetables I'm cooking or the ones at the end of the week that are unused. Apparently my husband has never watched me make stock because this was our conversation:

Taco Seasoning

Spices (Including Paprika And Chili Peppers), Onion, Salt, Lactose (Milk), Sugar, Garlic, Enriched WheatFlour (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Cocoa Powder Processed With Alkali, Citric Acid, And Natural Flavor.

This is a list of the ingredients in a packet of taco seasoning (I'm always suspicious of "Natural Flavor" what is that??) and seriously milk? Weird. But I've always used these packets because, um hello, TACOS are delicious, even for us vegetarians. 

New Year's, Shmoo Year's

I have a serious problem with kitchen do-dads. No really, I'm the proverbial Little Mermaid of kitchenware.

I've got gadgets and gizmos a plenty

I've got whose-its and whats-it galore

You want thing-a-ma-bobs?

I've got 20!

It's a trait inherited directly from my Nana (along with clipping and saving recipes).  She was a real kitchen gadget kinda gal. I remember looking through the kitchen drawers and playing with all these little plastic tools. I'm convinced it's encoded in my DNA. At least that's my excuse.

So as my many small appliances are gathering dust in the corners of my cabinets, I've decided to embark on a New Year's Resolution: I'm going to use them all. I mean, not all at once. It would look like the PeeWee's Big Adventure kitchen if I did that. I mean I'm going to select one appliance and use it. Not only will it force me to use what I have (and not eat out!) but perhaps at the end I may find there are some things I should purge.

Use it or lose it should be my 2014 motto.

Chocolate Sauce

Pregnancy is over but I have a residual sweet tooth that I can't get rid of and it hits every night. At any given time you can find ingredients to make cookies, cake or other tasty treats hidden in my cupboard. Last night I was all about the ice cream in the freezer but the plain old vanilla needed something a little extra. Then I realized I had the ingredients for chocolate sauce.

Apple Carrot Baby Food Puree

I never know what to do with extra vegetables. Really, I want to eat carrots with a meal one night but I don't want to eat 20 of them. This happens every week and inevitably I feel bad throwing away perfectly good veggies. Ya, ya, I know I can freeze them, make a soup or vegetable stock but I....don't.

Since my baby is over 6 months now, I've been trying out different fruits and veggies. He does not like carrots, but I have some that need to be used and carrots are a good source of nutrients like beta carotene and calcium.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with buying baby food. In fact, I really like the Plum Organic brand, but making baby food is really easy plus you get to used leftovers from your fridge.  And you don't need any special equipment, a standard food processor works great.

Peach Cobbler

We moved into a house last year with a peach tree in the yard. I was so excited to taste my first fresh peach and EW they were dry and tasteless. It could be because I didn't water the tree (disclaimer: you will never see a post about what a great gardener I am). This year is different, mostly because my husband took over watering, but the peaches are great! With more fruit then one family can eat, I decided to make peach cobbler.

Festive White Chocolate Tart

I was at Ikea and came across a tart pan. Picking it up in my hands I immediately had Martha Stewart-like visions of fresh tomato tarts. I had to have that dish since the tomatoes in my mom's garden were coming in. It has sat in my kitchen cabinet collecting dust ever since.

Fast forward 5 years and I decided to use it for a Forth of July BBQ at my house. I loved the flag cakes on Pintrest but couldn't quite find the exact recipe to use. I finally settled on a modified white chocolate pie from Pillsbury. It was AMAZING!

White Chocolate Berry Tart