Apple Cheesecake Quesadillas

A friend of mine regularly posts delicious-looking recipes on his social media.  One day this spring he posted this recipe for apple cheesecake breakfast quesadillas.  I swapped out some of the sugar, added more cinnamon, nixed using a hand mixer, and decided it didn't have to be for breakfast!  Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 2 flour tortillas
• 2 large spoonfuls of whipped cream cheese 
• 1 packet splenda
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2+ small apple, thinly sliced
• cinnamon sugar

Instructions:

1. Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until smooth and creamy.
2. Spread half on one tortilla and half on the other. 
   
3. Top one tortilla with apple slices and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. 
   
4. Place other tortilla on apples (cream cheese side down, obviously)
5. Heat skillet and spray with non-stick spray.
6. Cook quesadilla until golden brown on one side
   
7. Flip and cook other side. 
8. Slice and serve warm

Rhubarb-Strawberry Sauce, plus (bonus!) Frozen Dessert

Rhubarb is one of the midwest's great fruit flavors, even if it is technically a vegetable. When I lived in North Carolina, it was incredibly hard to find in the stores and most of my friends weren't really familiar with it.  But my mom and grandma both grew rhubarb in their yards (in Missouri and Minnesota) and I have bags of frozen rhubarb in my freezer that I sort of hoard.   

This recipe combines rhubarb with its best friend in the whole world: strawberry.  The two complimentary flavors meld into a sauce that can be eaten cold or warm, and  used on ice cream, pudding, yogurt, oatmeal, on pancakes, etc.  Or you can eat it by the spoonful.  It is pretty dang good that way, too.  And feel free to mess with the amounts of each ingredient, depending on if you want one flavor or the other to come forward...and on how tart you like your desserts!

I also just tried a new experiment to make the sauce into a frozen-sherbet-y dessert.  I don't quite have the texture I was looking for, but it was super tasty so I'll work on it some more.  

The original is actually a WW recipe.  

Sauce Ingredients:

3 to 4 cups uncooked rhubarb, sliced (have used fresh or frozen after it is thawed and drained in a collander)

quart of strawberries, sliced (this is about 1.5 pounds and probably around 3 cups, I suppose?)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Sauce Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan, stir until sugar melts. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Cover pan and set over medium to medium-high heat until mixture begins to boil, about 5 to 10 minutes. 
3. Uncover, reduce heat to low, and simmer.  Stir a few times, cooking until fruit breaks down into a sauce.  (This'll take about 45 minutes.) Serve warm or chilled.

Serving size: 1/3 cup per serving, makes about 10 to 12 servings (depending on how much original fruit used and how much you cook it down)

BONUS!  Frozen Goodness Directions:

1. Freeze rhubarb-strawberry sauce in ice cube tray (makes about 10 cubes)
   
   
   
2. Blend two cubes with about 1/3 cup of the milk of your choice (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
   
   
   
3. Then blend in two regular ice cubes.  
   
   
   

(I think I need more ice cubes or something, as it was way too liquid to be scoopable.  But it was tasty!)

Vegetarian Mushroom "Meatballs"

As a kid I ate mushrooms in only three forms: on pizza, in pasta sauce, or in cream of mushroom soup.  I've significantly expanded my appreciation of the cute little fungi as an adult, but I really only love them when they are cooked.  (I'm not gonna lie, I can only eat a few raw mushrooms at a time...and then it is usually in a salad or with dip.  The texture isn't my favorite when they are uncooked.)

This mushroom-heavy, vegetarian recipe is one that is good on pasta or as the filling of a meatball sandwich, and the original recipe claims it makes good burger patties, too. (The original is in a book called "The Clueless Vegetarian."  I posted my version of the Spicy Peanut Pasta from this book earlier).   

The choice of mushrooms is yours.  I used white button once and a mix of button and portbellos once.  This most recent time was just the button ones, and I even used the pre-sliced 'shrooms.  I just chopped them up more--it was a timesaver and they were cheaper than the whole ones when I was at the store. 

I've done the meatball version twice now, each time slightly differently because of what ingredients I had in the house at the time.  But, hey, I liked it both times!  The secret is to get to a consistency that sticks together.  I also highly recommend letting the mix sit in the fridge overnight.  The ingredients meld together and the oats are less obviously oat-y that way.  

Also, it looks like a lot of instructions, but this takes only one skillet, one bowl, and one cookie sheet.  It could be summed up as: cook veggies, cool, mix into a mush, let it sit, roll into balls, bake. 

Makes: about 23 to 24 meatballs 

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1.5 pounds mushrooms* 
• 0.5 to 1 medium onion
• 2+ cloves garlic
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs**
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup oats (I used old fashioned--also called rolled--oats)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. salt
• black pepper, to taste (1/4 to 1/2 tsp.)
• other herbs/spices, if you want them. 

* When I had 1.5 pounds of mushrooms I used half an onion, but when I had only 1 pound of mushrooms I used the whole onion.  It still worked. 

**For oats and breadcrumbs, use 2/3 cup of one and 3/4 cup of the other.  The original calls for more of the breadcrumbs, but I ran out of breadcrumbs making the most recent version and only had 2/3 cup.  So I just used more oats.  It was completely fine.  Seriously.  This isn't rocket science.  

Directions:

1. Chop mushrooms fairly small, but doesn't have to be minced or anything
2. Chop onion smaller than mushrooms, in the diced/minced range. 
3. Mince garlic (or use it out of a jar, if you are me!)
4. Heat a large skillet, on medium-high heat and spray with non-stick spray (or use oil, whichever you prefer)
5. Add the mushrooms, onion, and garlic. 
   
   
   
6. Cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes.  The key is to cook everything until all the liquid is released from the mushrooms AND that liquid has evaporated.  
   
   
   
   
   
7. Transfer veggies to a medium bowl and let cool.  (This is important...otherwise you will cook your eggs and they won't hold your meatballs together!)
8. Add bread crumbs, oats, cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper. 
9. Mix until everything is combined and all mushy
10. Cover and put in fridge (The original says "at least 15 minutes or as long as overnight."  I'd say several hours or overnight is best--see above in description)
11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
12. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray
13. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet
14. Lightly spray tops with non-stick spray
    
    
    
15. Bake for 15 minutes,then turn over and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until browned and sizzling. 
    
    
     
16. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated the oven.  You can also reheat them in sauce or the microwave, but they lose the oven-cooked texture  

Triple Chocolate-Double Espresso Oatmeal Cookies

Needless to say, the Covid-19 world combined with the local and national unrest of the past 10 days has been pretty stressful.  Baking helps me when I'm stressed--probably something about exerting control on a small part of the world around me--so I made cookies tonight.  Now my house smells super good: rich chocolate and coffee.  Oh, and I have cookies.   

The first time I tried the Quaker Oats double-chocolate oatmeal cookie recipe I made only two changes:

1. I used the new Nestle Espresso chips (they're more like mocha, actually) for the 1 cup that is stirred in at the end.
2. I made them using the recipe's official "Bar Cookies" variation instead of individual cookies.
   
   Note: I used old fashioned oats,  margarine, and dark brown sugar.   

The bars were good, but kind of flaky/crumbly.  I was a fan and the folk's seemed to like them, too.  So obviously when I made them a second time I did a bunch of different things!

What did I do?  Well, I...

• Made them as cookies, not bars
• Swapped some flour out for cocoa powder
• Added coffee extract
• Added extra mini chocolate chips stirred in
• Used Scottish oatmeal 

Recipe Makes: 44-48 cookies (Depending on how much dough you sneak and how generous your hand is with the heaping-Tablespoon-fulls.  I got 46. )

Ingredients:

• 1 cup regular semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/4 cups minus 3 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• scant 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 2 sticks margarine (or butter), softened (I used margarine this time)
• 3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar, 'cause that was what was open)
• 1 egg 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used my baker's vanilla on this one, rather than the pure vanilla or double-strength.  There are other forward flavors in there, the vanilla is just to add that warm mellow to it.)
• 1/2 tsp. coffee extract (I used Watkins, because I live in Minnesota and we love our Watkins spices and extracts up here!)
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips 
• 1 cup Nestle Toll-house Espresso Morsels*
• 2 cups oats uncooked (I used Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal, but the original called for either quick-cook or old-fashioned)

*If you don't have these, just swap in regular sized chips that you would like (milk, semi-sweet, dark, white...they'd probably all be pretty good)

Directions: 

1. Heat oven to 350°F. 
2. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips.  I did this in the microwave in 45 second intervals on 3 power, but you could definitely do it on the stove.  Set aside to cool while doing the rest of the steps.   
3. In medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.   
4. In large bowl, cream together margarine and brown sugar with electric mixer. 
5. Blend in melted chocolate, egg, coffee extract, and vanilla. 
6. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until well combined. 
7. Stir in oats, mini chocolate chips, and espresso chips. 
8. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 
9. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set. 
10. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet and then remove to cool. 
11. Store tightly covered.

Slow Cooker Chicken with Baby Portobello Mushrooms

I made this recipe back at the beginning of April and it is pretty tasty and SUPER easy.  A bit bland without extra seasonings, so I added probably more pepper than the average person would add.  Garlic would be good in there, too.  And whatever else you like!

Could you use other veggies? Probably  Could you do it with another kind of meat? Probably.  Go for it!  And then tell me what how it turns out!

Serve it over rice or...pasta?  or, like, polenta rounds?  Or maybe just in a bowl? 

I found the original recipe online and definitely doubled the amount of mushrooms.  Because mushrooms are tasty and I had extra in the house. 

Also, I added a slow cooker tag/label to this recipe and will probably not go back and add it to past recipes.  Because that would screw up the dates, resetting them all to today.  Booo! (But I clearly needed a slow cooker tag before.)  And I added a "Life During Covid-19" tag, which I should have had before, too!

Ingredients:

• 8 to 16 oz. of baby portobello mushrooms (that's one to two small packages)
• 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. of skinless, boneless chicken breast or tenderloins 
• 1 can of cream-of-whatever soup (I used mushroom, because I had that and I'm a Midwesterner.  But celery, chicken, golden mushroom...all probably perfectly good choices.  Also, I used the low-sodium, healthy kind.)
• Salt, Pepper, and other spices, to taste

Directions:

1. Place chicken at the bottom of a slow cooker
2. Clean and slice mushroom and put those on top of chicken
3. Pour soup over the top
4. Stir soup and mushrooms just a bit (Don't stir down to the chicken, though.  Leave that at the bottom)
   
5. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours, checking chicken to be sure it is done. 
   

Slow Cooker Beef with Broccoli

I'm pretty enthralled with my slow cooker. Even if I never figure out how to cook with it during regular work-days, it's great for weekends.  And it is perfect for right now, when I'm working from home.  If I remember, I can put ingredients in at lunch time and have dinner ready later, all while my house/workplace smells delicious. 

Speaking of which, this recipe is one that made the whole house smell amazing!  I love takeout--or buffet--beef and broccoli, and this version was super easy, tasty, and healthy, too.  I found the original online and loved that it mostly uses ingredients that I always have on hand.  I just had to buy the meat and the sesame oil...and now I have the bottle of sesame oil for later!  Also, no cleaning and chopping broccoli.  I like broccoli, but dealing with fresh is annoying sometimes.   

Also, leftovers froze and reheated well.  Since I only used about 1 pound of meat, this made 3 good sized servings.  I might add more broccoli next time, but I liked the more-sauce-version that happened by making it with less meat (also, it was a lot cheaper!). 

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 lbs. sirloin steak or boneless beef chuck roast, sliced thin (I used 1 lbs. of sirloin steak this time)
  
• 1 cups beef broth (I made some beef bouillon from a cube for this and it worked totally fine)
• ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
• ¼ cup brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar because that is what was open in my pantry)
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1+ Tbsp. minced garlic (or like 3 cloves?)
• 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 Tablespoons water
• 1 (12 oz.) bag frozen broccoli florets

Directions: 

1. Whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic, in the insert to the slow cooker.
2. Place slices of beef in the liquid and stir.  
3. Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 5 hours.
4. After 5 hours, whisk together cornstarch and water in small bowl. (I suspect I could have added less, maybe 3 Tablespoons cornstarch to 3 Tablespoons water?)
5. Pour into crock pot and add the frozen broccoli over the beef and sauce some (I won't be super-thick, which is a good thing) 
6. Stir to combine. 
7. Cover with lid and cook 30 to 45 minutes to cook broccoli and thicken sauce.

Oatmeal Scotchies

Because I'm trying very hard to eat healthily--especially while working from home--I haven't been baking much.  After all, I normally taste the things I make, but bring the rest to work for others to enjoy.  And if the workforce in my house totals just me...there's no reason to make lots of treats.  However, I've been missing baking, and since baking is a nice stress reliever, I've also been missing the good vibes I get from making things.  (Baking as a creative outlet, y'all.  It's a real thing, I promise you!)

So I decided to make some cookies.  And then see if I could freeze the dough to bake up later.  I wanted to go with something that wouldn't use a ton of flour or sugar and that was a tried and true sort of thing.  So, I went with Oatmeal Scotchies--the classic oatmeal cookie with butterscotch chips baked in.  And I used the the recipe from the back of the bag of Nestle butterscotch morsels.  I added more cinnamon and dark brown sugar, but other than that it is straight-up the classic. 

Side note: I trust the Nestle morsels folks.  When I was a kid, my mom's chocolate chip cookies were always from the recipe on the bag, and so are mine.  That is a DANG GOOD recipe!

The experiment with freezing the dough worked pretty great, actually.  Just need to either let it come to room temp, or bake straight from the freezer and just give them a few extra minutes in the oven. And, actually, the frozen-to-oven cookies have come out...fluffier, I guess.  I'm not gonna lie, I actually like the freezer ones better than the ones that were baked on the first day, and I can bake just 1 or 2...or 3 if the day has been particularly bad.  (The photos on this post are all from the first batch, btw.  I baked them a bit on the longer side, so they were flatter and a bit crispier than they might have otherwise have been.)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (the original recipe called for 1/2 tsp.)
• 2 sticks butter or margarine, softened (I used Blue Bonnet Margarine)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar, because I had some that was already open)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups oats (I used old fashioned Quaker oats, but you could use quick oats instead)
• 1 package butterscotch chips (1 2/3 cups or 11 oz.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl
3. Cream together butter and sugars
4. Beat in eggs and vanilla
5. Beat in flour mixture, gradually
6. Add oats and chips and stir together
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon-fulls onto ungreased cookie sheet
8. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes (less for chewy cookies, more for crispier cookies. 
9. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then remove to cool completely

To freeze for baking later:

1. Scoop dough out into balls onto a cookie sheet and freeze until fairly solid
2. Pack in a large freezer bag
3. To bake, bring desired number of dough-balls to room temp and bake for regular time/temp or bake straight from the freezer for a few extra minutes.  

Makes about 4 dozen cookies