d's delights- cooking and crafts

Irvington Halloween Festival Two Bean Minestrone  This minestrone doesn’t have anything to do with the festival, except that I decided to make it on this great Fall day in which we are going to go to the festival in Irvington!   Will is ready to dress up as Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc, and I have my camera ready for lots of fun shots!   I put on this soup in the slow cooker so that it will be nice and ready when we come home.   (Even though I’ll be the only one who cares!)   I chopped up the vegetables last night while chopping other vegetables for dinner, so that I all had to do today was dump them in. (Store the onion/garlic separate from the carrots/celery!)    Ingredients: 1 Medium Onion (Recipe suggests to halve crosswise and cut in big chunks.   I used three small ones.) 1 Garlic clove, chopped   (Oh, I think I used 3…)  1 Stalk Celery, chopped (I used two) 2 Medium Carrots, sliced ¼ inch-ish 2 (14 oz) Cans Chicken Broth (I

Smoked Sausage, Potatoes and Green Beans This is not a new, innovative combination by any means, but I thought for my blog’s sake… and for posterity, I guess, that I should write down how I make my version of it. First, I used to make this in the crock pot.   That’s how I originally got the recipe.   That method basically consisted of layering potatoes, sliced smoked sausage, and green beans in the crock pot with some garlic powder for seasoning each layer.   I started making this skillet version when I wasn’t very good at thinking far enough ahead to put everything in the pot in the morning!   I found I liked it better this way because of the flavors that the skillet brought out, and the time it took to make it.   I also made some additions: Paprika and (real) Garlic.   Ingredients: Cooking Oil (once or twice around the pan) 1-2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped or minced. 4-5 Small- Medium Potatoes, skinned and sliced. 1 package of smoked sausage, sliced 1 package of frozen

  Beef with Broccoli and Mushrooms I don’t often get to make “one-dish” meals because the hubby doesn’t always like them.   Every once in a while, I can find one that he will like.   This one wasn’t too difficult, and my “sous chef” hubby helped by chopping, mixing and making rice.   Maybe you, too,   can have the less capable cook in the house to help, or maybe you have an older child able to help…? I found this recipe in book called “One-Dish Meals” and thought it would be something my husband (and Sous Chef) would actually like! 2 Cups Uncooked Instant Rice   (Cook as directed) 1 (1 oz) Package of Beef and Broccoli-Flavored Authentic Oriental Seasoning Mix (Find it in the “Asian” aisle.) 1 Cup Beef Broth 2 Tbs Soy Sauce 1 Tbs Oil 1-2 Garlic Cloves, chopped ½-1 lb Beef Top Sirloin Steak, cut into thin strips ½ lb Fresh Broccoli (Make it easy on yourself-   get the pre-packaged kind in the produce section!) 1 C Celery, chopped diagonally (about 2 sta

Fall APPLES!! This weekend, we went to an apple orchard, and Will got to pick apples for the first time ever.   He thought that was pretty neat.   Of course, I now have a lot of apples…   Here is one of my favorite easy apple recipes.   I’m not a great baker, but this iseasier than making an apple pie.   The hardest part is peeling and cutting the apples. Here’s the original recipe, with my additions/adjustments in parenthesis. ½ C Flour ½ C Oats (I used almost a whole cup) ¾ C Brown Sugar (I used almost a whole cup) ¾ C Sugar 1 tsp Cinnamon (I always use more-  plus I add a dash of ground nutmeg and cloves and allspice, if available) 1 stick room temperature butter (when using more oats and flour, it help to use more butter.  I put another half of a stick sliced on the top to melt down in.) 4 or 5 Big Apples.  (I think I had 7 smaller ones.  It doesn’t matter what kind, and you can mix the kinds up for different flavors) Mix the flour, oats, sugars and spice