By reading this post…you’ll be rewarded not only with a great tomato soup recipe…but also with some fabulous pictures of me and my family!  And when I say fabulous, I mean fabulous.
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It’s almost that time of year again…  The time when we can warm up at lunch with a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup! 

I LOVE this recipe that was given to me by my friend Anne…who got it from her friend Anne.  (Yeah, like that’s not ever confusing.)  Along with canning lots of tomato sauce and tomato juice and salsa, I love canning several jars of Anne’s tomato soup for the winter!  (Wait, which Anne is that?)

Most of the tomato soup you’ll find at the store will have high fructose corn syrup or sugar in it…

This recipe has no sugar…which is amazing because it tastes so yummy and sweet!  Once when Matt was eating some, he asked at least three times, “This really doesn’t have any sugar in it?”  :) 

Homemade Tomato Soup 

5 pounds chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
3 T. butter
1 1/2 t. sea salt

Put everything in a big pot and cook it for about 3 hours.  Then, put it into your blender and blend until smooth.  Freeze it, or can it following these canning methods.

I love having recipes like this that are so simple to make and healthy for my family!  Be sure to visit Tammy’s Recipes for more great kitchen tips!

And now…since my camera is having some issues that I am trying to figure out, and I wasn’t able to take any pictures of my great tomato soup to show you and inspire you to make some yourself…I’ll show you these fabulous (and absolutely not at all fictitious)pictures to inspire you instead…

Here is a picture of my wonderful tomato soup with a lovely wedge of homemade honey whole wheat bread.  What a tasty lunch that was.

And here we have a picture of me cooking the tomato soup (while proudly raising a shaker of salt into the air).  Pay no attention to the fact that this is actually a picture of a wok with green vegetables.  I thought my bangs looked especially cute this day.

Lastly, I show you a picture of our one last use for our tomato soup…  Because I’m such a patient and loving mother, the mess that this tomato soup volcano made only gave me cause to chuckle and pat my little boys on the head and say, “Oh boys, wasn’t that a wonderful time of learning this morning?  I should say I’ve never seen such a lovely volcano as the one you created today in our kitchen.”  

And now, if you didn’t already think I was a nerd…now you know it for sure.  Here’s hoping I get that camera fixed, huh?:)

Here’s the promised graham cracker recipe!  These crackers are crunchy-crispy…and taste SO GOOD!  Oh, I hope you love them like we do!

Okay, and if you love the Honey Graham Cracker recipe, you’ll LOVE the fact that you can also make CHOCOLATE Graham Crackers!!!  Just add 1/3 cup cocoa to the recipe.  YUM!!!!

Whole Wheat Honey Graham Crackers 

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice)
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ t. cinnamon
4 T. honey
¼ c. water
1 t. vanilla
1 stick butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Melt stick of butter in a pan on the stove.  Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
4. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla and melted butter.
5. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed. 
6. Cut two pieces of Parchment paper the size of the cookie sheet.
7. Lay one piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
8. Place the ball of dough on the parchment paper.
9. Lay the other piece of parchment paper on top of the ball of dough.  Squish dough down a little with your fist.
10. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough between the pieces of parchment paper.  Roll until the dough covers the whole cookie sheet.

Malachi is finishing up the rolling for Mama!

11. Remove the top piece of parchment paper.  Cut rolled dough into 2 inch squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters, being sure to separate the shapes from the surrounding dough a little.

Here’s a shot of the chocolate graham crackers
cut into squares and ready to bake.

Malachi is using little cookie cutters to make “animal crackers”!

12. Bake in oven for 18 minutes.
13. Turn oven off, but leave crackers in the oven to get crisp.
14. Remove from oven after 30 minutes to one hour.  Break graham crackers apart.
15. Store in a air tight container.

Here’s a plate of the Chocolate Graham Crackers. 
(Got milk?)

My kids get SO EXCITED when I make these!  They are a GREAT snack to have on hand!  Try them and see what you think! 
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Visit Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday tips.

When you’re trying to eat a healthy diet…figuring out exciting lunches can be a challenge.  And…if you are trying to pack a healthy lunch to take to school or work…it can be even more of a challenge.

You’ll find quite a few great lunch ideas over at Nourishing Gourmet today…and here’s the idea I’d like to share. 

This yummy Black Bean Salsa is delicious, good for you, and super easy to put together.  Pack it up “to go” with some blue corn chips, some fruit and a Peanut Butter Honey Bar, and you’ve got a great lunch that’s easy to take anywhere.

Black Bean Salsa

1 cup dried black beans
5 tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 cup frozen corn, steamed and cooled
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Soak beans in water overnight.  Drain and cover with fresh water in saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes.  Drain.

In large bowl, mix together beans, tomatoes, onion, corn and cilantro.  Stir together.  Store in refrigerator.  Serve with corn chips or baked tortilla chips.

Make this salsa even easier by using canned black beans and canned corn…then all you have to do is quickly throw all the ingredients into a bowl and stir!

Mmmmm…I LOVE this stuff!
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More Works for me Wednesday here!

Here’s a quick and yummy Swiss Steak recipe for you…perfect to make with the great fresh vegetables you can find in your garden or farmers market!

It’s not like I have oodles of spare time on my hands…but I just had to take the time to wonder…

Why is Swiss Steak called Swiss Steak? 

Did it originate in Switzerland?  Do I need to dress like I’m from Switzerland when I’m preparing this dish?  Must I learn to speak a new language in order to serve Swiss Steak? 

These very important questions came to mind as I stood cooking our most recent Swiss Steak…so I googled it.  Because I knew that as soon as I posted this recipe, I’d be swarmed with emails from all of you, full of questions such as these.  I just couldn’t leave you hanging with so many unanswered questions.  Hey, I’m here for you.

Get this!  According to Wikipedia…Swiss Steak does not come from Switzerland at all.  (Which is a huge relief because I am not a good student of foreign language.)

Swiss Steak is named Swiss Steak because the meat has undergone a process called “Swissing” in order to make it tender. 

I’ve never “swissed” my meat before…nor do I remember learning to “swiss” my meat in Home Economics in high school.  Imagine that…I’ve gone all these years without ever “swissing”. 

Apparently I purchase my meat already “swissed” in the form of “Cube Steak”.  How about that?  I never knew that the cube steak in my freezer had been “swissed”.  I’m willing to bet that some of you have some steak in your freezer that has been “swissed”.  Eh?  Am I right?!

Now that you have all the background information you could possibly ever need (and oh so much more) about Swiss Steak…here is my recipe.  (Take heart…the recipe is VERY SIMPLE compared to all of the swissing detail you just received.)

Swiss Steak

1 1/2 lb. cube steaks or minute steaks
4 T.  whole wheat flour or unbleached white flour
2 T. palm kernel oil
2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 T. water
1 small onion, cut up into rings
½ cup chopped carrot
½ t. thyme

Coat meat in flour and cook in hot oil until lightly browned on both sides.  Add tomatoes, water, onion, carrots and thyme.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Enjoy the Swiss Steak…and all of the information about “swissing” that you can now use during important moments such as awkward silences or while completing crossword puzzles (five letter word for the process of tenderizing meat).

You’ll thank me later for this.

Visit Tammy’s Recipes for other great kitchen tips!

I have never liked coleslaw.  Ever.

And believe it or not…neither has Matt, my easy to please husband who eats everything.

But for some reason a few months ago, I had a cabbage that I needed to do something with…so I experimented making coleslaw.

And I REALLY liked it.  A LOT!!

When Matt got home for lunch that day, I was telling him that I had made coleslaw and that I was so excited about it!  He kinda gave me a lopsided smile and looked at me like, “Seriously?  You made coleslaw?  And you want me to eat it?!” 

But of course since he’s so nice, he did eat it.  And guess what?  He liked it too. 

So it seems that I have come up with a coleslaw recipe that we both like and will eat.  We find it refreshing and great to eat with sloppy joes, hamburgers or BBQ chicken. 

Creamy Coleslaw

½ medium sized cabbage
2 carrots
1 cup mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower mayo)
2 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. honey
1 T. minced onion
sea salt, to taste

Place cabbage and carrots into food processor.  Shred together.  Pour cabbage and carrots into a mixing bowl.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, minced onion and salt.  Add mayonnaise mixture to cabbage and carrots.  Stir until well combined and creamy.

I hope that even if you don’t like coleslaw…you’ll give this recipe a try!  It’s a really yummy way to eat more raw veggies!  (And if Matt and I like it and eat it…that’s really saying something!)

Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more great kitchen tips!

If I ask my husband what special meal he wants for his birthday or for Father’s Day…he usually grins and says, “Can you make me a Stromboli?”

It is SO YUMMY…it’s no wonder he always requests it! 

Cheesy Turkey Sausage Stromboli

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 T. honey
1 t. sea salt
1 package yeast
3/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup warm milk
1 T. melted butter
1 pound turkey sausage
2 cups white cheddar cheese, shredded
2 eggs
1 t. basil
grated Parmesan cheese

Combine flour, salt and yeast.  Add water, milk, honey and butter.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Place in a bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Meanwhile, in a skillet cook sausage.  Stir shredded cheese, one egg and basil into the sausage.  Set aside.

Punch dough down and roll into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle.  Spoon sausage mixture down one side of the rectangle to within one inch of the edges.  Fold dough over filling and pinch to seal.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Cut four diagonal slits on top of the stromboli.  Beat remaining egg and brush it over the stromboli.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Slice and serve warm.

This is definitely a family favorite!  Hope you try it and enjoy it!

Find more kitchen tips at Tammy’s Recipes!

Whatever you do…don’t look through the ingredients in this slushy and get all freaked out because there’s spinach in it.  Don’t do it.  Just relax.

There’s nothing to freak out about.  I PROMISE you can’t taste the spinach….and this slushy is so refreshing and delicious you won’t even know what hit you. 

The first time I made these, I was just messing around trying to come up with a yummy way to get more raw greens into our diet.  I figured they’d turn out some ugly brown color, since I was mixing red, yellow and green together.  I just hoped I’d be able to make my family look past it and enjoy the fruity taste.

But alas, they turned out to be a beautiful deep red color…and tasted like fruity heaven.  So even though you KNOW there’s spinach in them because you made them and put it there yourself, you will forget all about it while you sit down with a spoon and eat this slushy that tastes better than anything I’ve eaten this entire summer. 

Try these!!!

Strawberry Peach Slushies

2 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen peaches
1 cup raw mixed greens or spinach
5-8 drops stevia (more if you like)
1 cup water

Put all ingredients into blender.  Process until everything is mixed and becomes slushy. 

And see what my blender did?  It made that pretty swirl thingy.  My boys beg for me now to show them the pretty swirl thingy everytime I make these.

These have become one of our favorite side dishes….or sometimes they are our breakfast.  WE LOVE THESE SLUSHIES! 

Please, oh please, try them.  

Also, check out Rocks in my Dryer, because everyone’s posting recipes with five ingredients or less for summertime!!

One day a few weeks ago, I was getting ready to make my Giant Breakfast Cookie recipe…but decided to play with it a bit and create some kind of breakfast bar instead.  (I LOVE playing with recipes!)

I came up with these yummy apricot bars and knew I’d have to share it with you. 

And then I forgot.  (So sorry.)

Then, last week, Marie emailed and asked if I’d try to come up with a good breakfast bar recipe (I think she said something about ”since you’re so brilliant in the kitchen”…yeah, that was it.).   And I was reminded that indeed…I had already come up with one.   So Marie (and everyone else)…here you go!  (I hope you like them…but if you don’t, can we still be friends?) 

Apricot Breakfast Bars

2 sticks butter
3/4 cup honey
1 t. baking soda
1 t. sea salt
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup dried apricots

Melt butter and honey together.  Remove from heat.  Pour mixture into a mixing bowl and add baking soda, salt, vanilla and buttermilk and eggs.  Stir in flour, oats, coconut and sesame seeds until well combined.  Cut dried apricots into small bites (I usually cut mine into fourths).  Fold apricot pieces into dough.

Bake in a 9 x 13 baking pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

*Make these bars even healthier by soaking the wheat and oats first to make them easier to digest:
Mix melted (and cooled) butter, buttermilk (with live cultures), flour and oats thoroughly in a glass bowl.  Cover and leave on the countertop overnight.  In the morning, stir in remaining ingredients.  Bake as above.

You can play with these yourself and add any combination of fruit and nuts…I know I’ll continue to mix and match different ingredients!  Enjoy!

You’ll find more kitchen tips at Tammy’s Recipes!

Technorati Tags: breakfast bars, healthy recipes, whole wheat

We LOVE ham and sausage at our house…but from what I read, pork is not the best for you.  This Turkey Sausage is a delicious alternative…it’s easy and it tastes great!

See…it looks like sausage and everything?!  My kids devour this sausage!

Homemade Turkey Sausage 

1 lb ground turkey
3 T. minced onion
¼ t. cumin
¼ t. marjoram
¼ t. ground pepper
¼ t. oregano
¼ t. ground nutmeg
1/8 t.  cayenne pepper
¼ t. ground ginger
½ t. dried basil
½ t. thyme
½ t. sage
2 t. sea salt
1 egg
2 T. butter

Mix all ingredients.  Chill for about an hour.  (If you forget to chill this ahead of time…it cooks up okay anyway!)  Form into patties.  Saute in butter.

***You’ll find more recipes like this in my new ebook:  Think Breakfast…Outside of the Box!  Come sign up to win in my new e-book giveaway!***

Be sure to visit Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays!

We have two pretty solid Mother’s Day traditions at our house.  (Neither of them involves spending much money!)  ( More Frugal Fridays ideas at Biblical Womanhood!)

One tradition is that we take the pictures of our boys beside the peach tree that we planted a few years ago.  Each year, it is super fun to see how much the tree has grown and how much the boys have grown.  We then email these pictures to all of the special women in our lives for Mother’s Day.  I LOVE looking back at these pictures! 

The second tradition is that I get the day off from cooking. 

And I get to choose what we’re eating!  (okay…I do that EVERY day…)

I absolutely NEVER want to eat out on Mother’s Day.  I find the restaurants overflowing and stressful…and that is not a treat for me. 

So Daddy and the boys put on their aprons (not really) and cook for mama.  I LOVE it!!

You can read about the Mother’s Day Muffins they’ll be making here.  And for lunch…they’ll be making steak on the grill, baked potatoes, veggies and cheesecake.

Here’s the cheesecake they’ll be making for me  (and YES, we’re compromising a bit and by eating processed sugar and graham crackers from a box.  I know…you must be absolutely shocked!) 

Simple Cheesecake

2 pkgs graham crackers
2 sticks butter
¼ cup sugar
2 – 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 t. vanilla

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, crush graham crackers with a rolling pin. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Pour crushed graham crackers, melted butter and sugar into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Stir ingredients together and pat it down to create crust. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. In a large bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add cream cheese mixture to whipped cream and fold in gently. Smooth mixture over the crust. Chill for at least two hours.

This cheesecake is super simple to make…which means the boys can do it entirely by themselves!

The boys LOVE crushing up the graham crackers in the baggie.  It IS permission to BREAK something after all!  (Oh, and don’t you just LOVE Malachi’s outfit in this picture?  He chose it himself…) 

Okay, and I always do pour the vanilla myself for them.  It’s organic, and it’s pricey, and I’m afraid they’d accidentally pour in the entire bottle.  Just the control freak in me coming out while they make MY cheesecake…

I love this Mother’s Day tradition…and so do Daddy and the boys!  They look forward to it as much as I do! 

I’d love to hear about any Mother’s Day traditions you have!!  What special things are YOU looking forward to this weekend?!

Technorati Tags: Mother’s Day, Kids in the Kitchen, Cheesecake