Easy As Pie

My mom belongs to the generation where baked goods must be supplied to visitors. Actually, maybe it’s not a generational thing; just a niceness factor and good hospitality trait.

My Grandma Freda on my father’s side was the same way. In fact, Grandma had a rule. All new brides must receive a good rolling pin. A rolling pin is essential for making great pies and for using on your husband if he gets out of line.

To keep with tradition, my brother gave me a rolling pin as a wedding gift. I’ve used it to roll out a few things; never a pie though. I mainly just keep it handy in case I need to use it on my husband.

The reason I’ve never made a homemade pie crust is because dough scares me and also there’s no need because we have a pie recipe in our family that does not require it.

This has long been my mom’s go to recipe for when someone calls and says they are on their way over for a visit. It’s called No-Roll Pie and is extremely easy. My mom doesn’t remember where she got the recipe but I’m willing to bet she tore a page out of a Good Housekeeping magazine in the dentist office in 1978. She does this sort of thing quite a bit and then feels guilty and makes her confessional to me to ease her conscience. She should feel guilty about this one because plenty of people missed out on a good recipe while flipping through that magazine.

The best thing about this recipe is that it takes 5 minutes to prepare, needs very few ingredients and is absolutely delicious.

If someone calls you this holiday season and says they are on their way over for a visit, put this pie to the test. I guarantee you will get oohs and aahs.

This pie is so easy even a 2 year old can make it!

No Roll Pie

Crust

• 1 stick of butter (melted)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 C. flour

Stir until ball forms. Press into pie pan.

Pour in 15 oz. pie filling of choice

Topping

• 1 egg
• ½ C. sugar
• ¼ C. flour
• ¼ C. milk

Beat together and pour over pie filling

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

Blueberry No-Roll Pie

Packing the Lunches With Carrot Cake

A common task this time of year for many mothers is packing lunches for their school age children.

For me, this is one of those jobs that take constant creativity.

I’m not a fan of hot lunch for my kids due to that fact my kids aren’t HUGE eaters and the cost isn’t justifiable due to the amount they eat. Also, even though our school lunch system serves a variety of fruit and vegetables there are still plenty of non-healthy food items being served. When my kid’s small appetites are given the choice they will go for the non-healthy foods first and leave no room for the vegetables.

Therefore I pack my kid’s lunch every day and let them take hot lunch once a month on the day of their choice as a treat!

I really love my son…he LOVES peanut butter! My daughter HATES it! She has caused me to continuously scratch my head to come up with different meals for her that travel and keep well.

I will share some of the things I put in my kid’s lunches that they eat, love and travel well plus a recipe for a healthy treat!

• Cheese Quesadillas (We have a quesadilla maker. The kids love these even at room temperature.)
• Leftovers of chili, spaghetti and soup (I put these in their thermos and the kids say they are still warm by lunch time)
• Oatmeal (I make this in the morning just using quick oats and microwaving for 1 minute. I then add a little brown sugar and craisins. This is a favorite!)
• Crackers with cream cheese
• Peanut butter  and Nutella (for my daughter) sandwiches. To switch this up a bit I put it on tortillas, buns and English muffins.
• Plain yogurt mixed with the strawberry jam I made this spring (I only used apple juice for sweetener in making this jam)
• Homemade granola…click here for my recipe
• Fresh fruits and vegetables whenever on hand but I also keep frozen fruit and vegetables that are easily defrosted.
• This last one might come as a surprise but…. my kid’s LOVE PRUNES so these are usually their dessert!

Last week, my mom brought me a recipe for a HEALTHY CARROT CAKE. The funny thing about this recipe is that it is on a recipe card in MY HANDWRITING! I’m guessing I was about 15 years old and went on a crusade to organize my mom’s recipes. She kept magazine cut-outs and slips of paper with recipes stuck in cookbooks so I went through and wrote them all on cards for her. Today, I still love organizing recipes and on the first day the kids went back to school this year I gathered all of my magazine cut-outs and slips of paper and wrote them all up in my recipe binder!

The great thing about this particular carrot cake is that it is so moist that it is actually like a bar so does not crumble and make a big mess plus it is so good that it does NOT need frosting! My kids will be getting this in their lunch this week as a special treat! Actually, I should say, I hope to put this in their lunch this week as my husband keeps getting little helpings! This is a true testament to this cake because I usually screw up homemade cakes and we end up serving them to the birds (who refuse to eat them as well!)

Healthy Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Ingredients:

• ¾ C. sugar
• 1 C. grated carrot (I think we actually used closer to 2 cups because the kids got a little carried away…I think it might be better with the 2 cups!)
• 1 C. raisins
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. cardamom (optional)
• 1 ½ C. water
• 3 Tbsp. butter

In small saucepan, combine the above to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into mixing bowl and cool to lukewarm.

Next ingredients:

• 2 C. flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 C. nuts (optional)
• 2 Tbsp flax seed (optional)

Add the above ingredients to lukewarm mixture. Mix well.

Add mixture to 13×9 greased pan.

Bake for 25 minutes.

The kids busy peeling the carrots for their carrot cake

Bency busy grating the carrots!

Iris taking her turn at grating (I don’t own a food processor….we do everything the old-fashioned way…the kids love it!!!)

Carrot cake fresh out of the oven!

Worm in the Dirt Cookies

My mother-in-law came this week for her yearly visit. Every time she comes I screw something up in the kitchen (my favorite was when I served raw rice. I forgot to turn on the stove but did remember to turn on the timer). This time was no exception. The other night I made dinner rolls for supper. They were not from scratch….merely Rhodes frozen dough balls that you put on a pan, cover in Saran Wrap, let rise for a few hours and then bake. I forgot to take the Saran Wrap off when I baked them so when I pulled them out of the oven they were all covered in a shiny, thick glaze of melted plastic. My mother-in-law was nice enough to help me pick off all the plastic and we served them alongside my homemade fried chicken… laughing! They actually weren’t too bad…just a few crunchy spots!

Needless to say, I require really easy to prepare foods. Nothing fancy for this girl!

The recipe I’m going to share with you today is so simple that my 7 year old daughter can now make them by herself. It’s an old recipe with one easy, cute twist. My mom always used to make these when I was little and they were one of my favorites. At Christmas time she would don them with a maraschino cherry.

Iris recently graduated to stove cooking and can make these cookies all by herself! Here she is making her own cookies for her 1st grade class birthday treat!

When I was trying to come up with a treat for my daughter to take for her Kindergarten class on her birthday I instantly thought of these cookies because they are easy to make, travel well and are yummy. The only problem is that they kind of look like a mound of dirt.

No problem!!! I simply put a gummy worm on top of the cookies and called them “Worm in the Dirt Cookies!” My daughter loved them and has requested them for everything since then!!

Iris selling Lemon Zucchini cupcakes and Worm in the Dirt Cookies at her yard bake sale last year! The neighbor kids kept coming back for more and more cookies! The cupcakes were bought out by our elderly neighbor ladies!

Worm in the Dirt Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 C. quick-cooking rolled oats
• 2/3 C. peanut butter
• 2 C. sugar
• ½ C. (1 stick) butter
• ½ C. milk
• 1/3 C. cocoa
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Directions

• Combine sugar, butter, milk and cocoa in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a rolling boil.
• Remove from heat. Add oats, peanut butter and vanilla; stir quickly, mixing well.
• Immediately drop mixture by heaping teaspoons onto wax paper or tin foil.
• Add gummy worm to the top
• Let cool

Worm in the Dirt Cookies

Tortilla Touchdown

Yesterday we were invited to our friends’ house for a cookout. More than likely I would have brought tuna pasta salad to pass but “fortunately” I was out of mayonnaise, peas, cheese, and onions! Our cupboards were more than little on the “unsatisfactorily” stocked side.

I’ve been on a huge kick of making homemade tortillas ever since I found out how easy they were to make and completely worthwhile! Plus, as an added bonus, my husband is Hispanic, originally from Albuquerque New Mexico, so I think I have endeared myself to him just a tad bit more. He did say I couldn’t roll my tortillas as round as his Mom’s but thanks to my brother’s recent gift of a tortilla press I can get mine round now too!

Unfortunately, tortillas don’t go with a Wisconsin brat fry so I needed to figure out a way to use these new loves of my life that would be conducive for a cookout.

I think I have come up with an original idea! I’ve never heard of them! If you have, go ahead and burst my bubble and tell me what they’re called!!! I’ve called mine…….

Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll-Ups

First you need to make your homemade tortillas (I’m sure store bought would be fine too, but trust me the homemade are SO good). I used this site to learn how to make tortillas: http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2012/03/homemade-tortillas/

Next, while the tortillas are cooling, make a filling to spread on the tortilla

Filling:

1 (8 oz) pkg. of cream cheese

1/4 C. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Mix this together and spread on tortillas

Next, roll the tortillas up and secure with a toothpick.

Mix up a small bowl of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle this on the rolled up tortillas after you use a basting brush to wipe a little water on the tortillas to help adhere the sugar mixture.

Finally, stick in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes

Once they come out of the oven you can remove toothpick and serve this way or cut up into snack size bites like I did! They appeared to be a big hit at the cookout with both the adults and kids! Next time I need to double the batch!

Bite Sized Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll-Ups