Chickpea Cannelloni ~ Recipe

When daddy is away the rest of us go vegetarian *grin*.

Hubby is completely meat crazy and wants it pretty much for breakfast, lunch and dinner and by the time he leaves to go back to work the kids and I are totally ready for a meat moratorium :)

We love chickpeas so I thought it would be fun to make cannelloni with a vegetable and chickpea filling and for a first try I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

I started with:

2 large carrots
1 stalk of celery
5 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 a sweet onion (approx. 1/2 cup)

I grated the celery and carrot and then pureed all of it in my blender until it was completely smooth.

Next I added:

1 egg
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 cup cooked spinach
2 cups of chickpeas
2 big bunches of fresh basil & parsley (approx. 3/4 cup each)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all of the above ingredients into your blender or food processor and blend until smooth. I like to puree it like this so that the kids don't know exactly what vegetables I've put in because each of them has specific likes and dislikes and if they see something they don't like they want to pick it out. This way it just tastes good *grin*. If you like more texture then you can definitely blend it less and personally if it was just for me I wouldn't blend in the spinach. It all depends on who your food critics are! LOL

Note: I used dried chickpeas. If you want to try making your own place your 1 1/4 cups of dried chickpeas in a large glass bowl with 4 cups of water and let sit overnight until morning. When you wake up transfer your beans and water to a cooking pot and make sure you have at least twice to three times as much water as your beans. Bring to a raging boil and boil uncovered on high for 10 minutes. After that reduce the heat and simmer for 1-2 hours until tender. I find it usually takes closer to the 2 hours for mine to be fully cooked. You can also do a double or triple batch of beans all at one time and through the rest of it in the freezer portioned out for future meals to save on some cooking time next time!

With your chickpeas and vegetables all mixed together add 1 cup of shredded Pecorino Romano cheese or another one of your favorite cheeses and 1/2 a cup of brown bread crumbs, stir together and you're ready to start filling your cannelloni noodles :)

Oven ready cannelloni noodles have to be the easiest type to work with because you can fill them in their rigid uncooked form but you have to have enough liquid in the pot when you cook them for them to soften properly.

So to create my tomato cooking sauce I used two tins of regular tomato sauce plus two tinfuls of water to double the volume and then added the following herbs to create an italian flavor :)

1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon onion powder

In a large 10 x 13 greased baking dish pour in enough of your tomato sauce to thoroughly cover the base of the pan.

I have to tell you I came across the EASIEST way to fill your cannelloni noodle!! Put all of your filling into a large freezer bag, snip off one of the bottom corners and you have created the perfect piping bag for filling your noodles :)

If you place the tip of the bag right inside the noodle while you're filling it, the pressure as it gets nearer the top will actually push all of the filling down towards the bottom creating an even fill. Just keep the base of the noodle against the palm of your hand to prevent it from blowing out the bottom. Don't ask me how I know that *grin*.

Place each filled noodle into your tomato sauce leaving a little bit of space in between each for expansion...

and once all of your noodles are filled and in the pan, top with the remaining tomato sauce and a sprinkle more of cheese :)

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and serve up with some garlic bread and salad :) So yummy and the kids had second helpings so I'm calling this a smashing good success! LOL

Hugs,
Rosina

PS. Looking for more yummy recipes?? Check out this week's Hearth and Soul blog hop :)

Cleaning Out The Freezers

I've been trying to clean out my freezer a bit before we butcher our cow this winter so I've been boiling up ribs for beef soup stock today to make room :)

I always seem to end up with a ton of ribs and soup bones at the very end and not a lick of hamburger, sausage or roasts and since I never know exactly when it will be cold enough for the cow to hang and age before we cut and wrap it I thought it would be best to get a jump on it before it was to late *grin*.

One thing I always find though is that the ribs Hubby cuts are always so fatty and after they simmer all day there is quite an oil slick on top of the stock. A fantastic way to get rid of it is to put your pot of stock after you have strained out all of the meat, bones and veggies into the fridge for a couple of hours and all of the fat will firm up nice and solid right on top so you scoop it out without loosing any of your delicious stock!

Now that I have lunch taken care of for the next couple of days I can focus on tweaking the new bread recipe I've been trying. I found one that I can use the canned pumpkin I made in the fall along with my freshly milled flour but it needs a wee little adjustment. I can't wait to share the recipe with you :)

Happy weekend!
Rosina

Whole Wheat Pie Crust ~ Recipe

A couple of days ago I had mentioned that I had a new recipe that I wanted to try for a whole wheat and oatmeal pie crust and I don't know why I hadn't tried it sooner!! It's fantastic.

I was worried how we would like it being so used to the traditional flaky pie crusts that we're all so accustomed to eating but this has a deliciously crunchy crust and sort of reminds me of the crumb topping on an apple crumble. YUM!

You will need:

• 2 cups of soft wheat berries ground as fine as possible or 1 3/4 cups of store bought whole wheat flour
  
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water

Set your grain mill to the finest setting and grind your soft wheat berries. You are going to want to use 1 3/4 cups of the freshly milled flour or if you don't have a mill you can use 1 3/4 cups of regular whole wheat flour :)

Mix your flour, oats, and sugar together and add in your oil mixing well. Next you just want to add enough water to make the dough stick together so that you can form a nice ball with it. I used approximately 1/4 cup of water but you may need a little more. To be on the safe side just add your water in very small increments so you don't make it to wet.

With your hands knead your dough two or three times to stick it all together and then divide it into two equal pieces for the top and bottom crust on your pie. Using your whole wheat flour give your counter a liberal dusting and pat one ball into a circular disk and then roll out with a floured rolling pin checking as you go to make sure it isn't sticking to your counter. If it starts to stick add a little more flour underneath or on top if needed. The first disk will be your pie bottom and then repeat with the other half of your dough to make your pie top :)

Because of the oats in the dough it tends to want to crumble a bit when you lift it into your pie plate so a good trick to help move it in one piece is to roll it up on your rolling pin so that it is wrapped around your pin and then lift it over your pie plate and unroll it again over your pie plate so that it falls into place :)

Let me know how you like it if you try it out! I'm a total convert now and I don't think that I will ever make a white flour pastry dough again *grin*.

Enjoy!
~ Rosina

Easy Sweet Pepper Pasta Sauce Recipe

I haven't posted a recipe in quite some time so I thought that I would share one of our favorite quick and easy pasta sauces that just takes minutes to make and is super yummy :)

You will need one large sweet onion such as a walla walla and one red or orange sweet bell pepper. Chop them up into large chunks and toss them into a sauté pan and cook for about 5-8 minutes until the onions start to get slightly translucent and soft.

Next toss your onions & peppers into your blender along with half a tomato and pureé. We like some spice to our sauce so for a little zip you can add 1/2 a tablespoon of chili spice and a few dashes of garlic tabasco sauce and give it a quick whiz in the blender. Don't worry though if you don't like it hot, this sauce is delicious just on its own to. I actually never add any salt to it as I think the natural flavors of the vegetables are so sweet on their own that it doesn't need it but feel free to salt it to your liking if needed :)

It's great on pasta topped with a little bit of cheese and it also doubles as a great sauce for homemade burritos to!

Enjoy :)
~ Rosina

Cheesy Onion Bread ~ Recipe

You just have to try this bread!! It is so delicious and they are fantastic for open faced sandwiches, dipping in soup or toasting with garlic butter on top :) They never last long around here so that is definitely a good sign that they are well loved *grin*.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup warm water
• 1 Tbsp yeast
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 4 cups freshly ground 'spring red' hard wheat berries or you can substitute whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp wheat gluten (not needed if you use store bought whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese, seperated
  

Start by combining your warm water, yeast and honey and let sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast. While your yeast is sitting you can finely chop and fry the onion in the oil until the onion is soft and transparent. Once your onion is cooked add the onions to your yeast mixture and add the flour, mustard, spices and ½ a cup of the cheddar cheese. You need to reserve the extra ¼ cup for the top of your loaves :)

If you are using an electric mixer you will want to let it knead your dough for about 5 minutes. If you are strong arming it *grin* and kneading by hand then you will want to work your dough for about 8 minutes as you're going to need a little more muscle power to get the same effect as the mixer :) When finished place your dough in a greased bowl, cover it and let it rise in a nice warm spot until the dough has doubled.

When your dough has risen enough you can turn it out onto a lightly greased counter top. I like to spray mine with a touch of Pam and then you can easily work with your dough, it won't stick to the counter and you won't have to add any extra flour which will toughen your dough if you accidentally add to much :)

Punch your dough down and divide it into two equal halves. You will then want to take each half and roll it out out into a long snake shape and place each roll into your greased french bread pans or a regular cookie sheet will work to if you don't have a french bread pan :) No worries!

Using a sharp knife slice some diagonal lines on the top of each loaf and and then sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of cheese on top.Now for the final rise. Cover your loaves once more and set them in a warm spot to double in size again. As soon as they are finished rising bake them at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 25 minutes until they are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap on them.

Enjoy!

~ Rosina

Recipe ~ Raspberry Strawberry Scones

These scones are a huge hit around our house and they're entirely whole wheat which is an added bonus :) This batch will make 18 large scones so there is plenty to warm up for the following day.



Ingredients:

• 6 cups freshly ground soft wheat berry flour milled on your finest setting or 6 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sucanat or white sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking power, preferably aluminum free
• 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 cups milk or buttermilk
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 cup raspberries
  

Cut the cold butter into your flour until it resembles a course texture similar to corn meal. I actually like to use my food processor to do this as it only takes a couple of pulses to cut the butter in nice and fine :)

Next add your sugar and baking powder and use a fork to sift it through your flour/butter mixture. Once you've done that you can add your raspberries and strawberries and gently coat them with your flour mixture. I had the berries frozen in the freezer from last summer but you can substitute any sort of berry in their place. Blueberries are lovely also :)

The final step is to add your milk and blend it all together just until your flour is moistened. Don't over mix it! Using an ice cream scooper or spoon similar in size scoop nice plump balls of your scone batter onto parchment covered cookie sheets and bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 15-20 minutes or until nice and golden brown. You can test them by inserting a knife into the center of a baked scone and if it comes out clean then it is done. Another way to test if they are finished baking is to gently press down on the top of the scones and if they spring back up after you release your finger then they are finished :)

Enjoy devouring these delicious goodies!

~ Rosina

Pumpkin Pancakes

I couldn't bare to see our Halloween pumpkins go to waste especially since we grew them ourselves. So I've been chopping away at them all day, skinning and cubing them up for the freezer. Of course though instead of just packing it all away like I had planned to I ended up making 2 pumpkin pies and a batch of pumpkin pancakes *grin*.

I thought I'd share my recipe for my pumpkin pancakes which are both delicious & nutritious. Just don't tell my children I put a vegetable (or is it a fruit) in their pancakes! LOL.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw pumpkin pureed in the blender
2 cups of milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups of flour
dash of cinnamon

Mix all of the ingredients together with a whisk until smooth and use one ladle of batter per pancake. This recipe is for a crepe type pancake so you will want to spread your batter out all around your pan to get a nice thin pancake :)

If you like the fat & fluffy type of pancakes I use the exact same recipe except I add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to it when I mix the batter and of course you don't need to spread the batter with these ones as you want them puffy!

These get rave reviews from my kids every time and I'm sure you will like them to :)

~ Rosina