Good Fast Eats

Food that’s fast, but not Fast Food! These recipes are healthier, delicious, and easy to make. Featuring Beef and Potato Picadillo, Sweet and Spicy Chicken Black Bean Enchiladas, Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Skillet, and Baked Breakfast Taquitos. You won’t have to spend a fortune or a lot of time cooking or cleaning up. Your family will love these fresh and perfectly balanced meals with amazing ingredients and spices. Cooking has never been simpler or more satisfying!

My thoughts: I love that this recipe book is all about healthy, quick options for meal time! It has a wonderful, wide variety of different dishes, set up in different categories like meatless, seafood, various meats, soup, and sweets. As the weather gets cooler, I am the most excited about the new soup recipes to try out.;) The Cauliflower Cheddar soup looks amazing! This book has such a fun variety, it makes the perfect addition to most kitchens, since we all have busy days where it is hard to plan a nice, healthy meal. This is the perfect cookbook to have on standby for those days!
I received this book from Cedar Fort in exchange for my honest review.

About the Author:
Amy Flanigan is the founder of the popular cooking blog, Belly Full. Her recipes have appeared on Parade.com, in HERLIFE Magazine, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and all around the Internet.

Sourdough English Muffins

So, I came across a couple of good recipes for making one's own sourdough English muffins. I love a good English muffin (or bagel) for breakfast, but a lot of the store bought ones have so much junk in them, to give them a longer shelf life. So, I was thrilled to find how easy it is to make my own!
I actually have a Levain starter, which has been going for a while now. If you don't wish to start one, then you could buy a sourdough starter.

Once you have your starter, make your sponge with
1 cup sourdough
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup milk

After mixing your sponge, allow it to sit overnight. When you get up the next morning, it will have expanded.

Then add:

3/4 cup white flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 T. honey

Fold the ingredients into the sponge, then turn onto a floured surface and need until everything is mixed in nicely. Once it is mixed together, roll until 1/2 inch and cut with a biscuit cutter or the opening of a cup. I will add that these are better if they are thinner, since they are easier to cook. I had to leave the thicker ones on there for longer, which resulted in the outside being more crunchy.
Once they are cut out, place on a pan and allow to rise for about ten minutes.
While they are rising, heat your skillet/griddle to 350 F (this is where the electric ones are nice!). Be sure to butter the pan before starting the heat!
Once your muffins have risen a bit, place them on your skillet/griddle and cook for about 8 minutes, turning them every minute or two, so they cook evenly.
I think these are best hot out of the pan! I just put some butter on them, but my daughter and husband loved them with apple butter. The batch made about 15 (2 1/2 inch).
Original recipe

Pickled okra recipe

My mom makes the best pickled okra. When we first started going to farmer's markets in the area, there were a couple of farmers who figured out just how good her's is, so they were more than happy to give her okra at the end of the day in exchange for a few jars of it pickled in return. It was a good trade for all of us (even if I was one of the ones who had to peel all that garlic!).
Now that I am married and have a home of my own, I want to be sure to always know where to find mom's recipe for pickled okra. So, I am putting it on here.;) And this way, others can enjoy this treat! (seriously, it is the only way to eat okra!)

Pickled Okra
3 1/2 pounds small okra pods

1 pint white vinegar

1/3 cup canning salt (non iodized)

3 small Thai peppers per jar (even if you don't usually care for hot food, be sure to include these. I didn't the first year I canned these on my own and the okra was almost bland in comparison. The peppers don't really add heat so much as flavor)

1 quart water

6 cloves of garlic per jar (pickled garlic is every bit as tasty as the okra! And, it is so good for you)

3 Tablespoons pickling spices

Wash okra and pack firmly in hot, sterilized jars. In each jar, be sure to place your garlic and peppers in! Make a brine with the vinegar, water, salt and spices. Boil the brine for a minute, then reduce heat. Pour the boiling brine over the okra, leaving a half inch headspace at the top. Seal.
Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath. (be sure to make sure it doesn't need to be longer, depending where you live and where you are in regards to altitude) Pull them out of the hot water. After 20-30 minutes, be sure to check that all of your lids have sealed down. If you filled them to full, then they may not. Either put the unsealed jars in a water bath again (after removing some of the okra) or place it in your fridge. The only bad thing about placing it in your fridge is that you have to leave it alone for several weeks, so the okra can soak up the pickle taste.;)
This recipe also works well if you want to just do refrigerator pickled okra. Just omit the water bath and place the unsealed jar or jars in the back of your fridge. A gallon jar works well for refrigerator pickles.
Another side note: I seem to always have more brine than okra, so I just get more okra out of the garden and pack more jars.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this family favorite!

Cajun bean soup

16 ounces Great Northern beans. I use dry, so I put them in a crock pot over night. Canned works well too.

Half a red onion, chopped

1 cup swiss chard or kale, chopped

1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning*

16 ounces oven roasted tomatoes

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

12 ounces kielbasa sausage, cooked and chopped

Once your beans are cooked, add the rest of your ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. This is a delicious Autumn soup!
*I like making my own
Cajun seasoning, using this recipe: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/149221/cajun-spice-mix

Pumpkin muffins

Fall is in the air! This time of year makes me want to don an apron and whip up some pumpkin goodies, so I recently did just that and made these delicious pumpkin muffins. The nice thing about this recipe is that I have also used it to make a pumpkin cake (really just bread in a cake like pan), since it turns out so tasty! The texture is amazing, and they are loaded with a lovely pumpkin/spice taste. I think we have a new favorite at our house!

Pumpkin muffins
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/8 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/8 cup flour (I used unbleached, but I can imagine that using half wheat and half white would be good too!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Put your melted butter in a bowl and cream with the sugar. Add the egg, vanilla, milk, and pumpkin to creamed ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Add the rest of the ingredients, scrapping the sides with a spatula as you go, so everything is mixed nicely.
Grease your muffin tins (this makes 14-16 large muffins or 24 small) or loaf pan. Add the mixture, smoothing it out if you are making a loaf.
Bake for 8-12 minutes for the small muffins, 12-15 for large, and 30 minutes for your loaf. If you are making a loaf, be sure to insert a toothpick into your bread to make sure it is done, since it will depend on your pan. If the dough it pretty deep, then it might take longer to bake.
Enjoy with a glass of milk!

Chicken tomatillo soup

This year, we decided to grow some different things in our garden, like tomatillos. It was a fun experiment, especially since they did well. Though, the only problem with the fact that they gave us a nice harvest meant that we now had to find some recipes to use them up.;)
I came across a couple of different ideas on and wound up coming up with a chicken soup recipe that we all enjoy.

Chicken tomatillo soup
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
2 cups tomatillo puree
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 T Italian seasoning
4 cups chicken broth
2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin

Put the chicken broth and water in a saucepan. Once it it hot, add your onion, garlic, carrots, and potatoes. Cook until soft, then add the chicken, tomatillo puree, and seasoning. Cook on medium heat for approximately ten minutes.
When we make it, the recipe makes enough for four adults.
Bon appetit!

Cheddar biscuits

Cheddar biscuits
Preheat your oven to 400 F
2 1/2 cups flour
4 t. baking powder
1/2 cup butter
3/4 t salt
Mix the dry ingredients together and then cut the butter into the mixture.
Add
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
and stir until combined. Be sure not to over stir.
Cook for 10 minutes, then pull out and brush with
4 T butter
1 t oregano
3/4 t garlic salt
then return to oven for 8 more minutes.

This recipe is suppose to be based off Red Lobster's biscuits. Andrew and I agree that they are even better, since they aren't near as salty.:D The only trouble with this recipe is that you can eat half a batch when they are fresh out of the oven!

Mint cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup 2% milk
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. dark chocolate or coating chocolate, melted

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and extracts. Combine flour, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
2. Shape dough into a tube, put in plastic wrap, and place in freezer for two hours, or until firm.
3. Unwrap and cut, placing 1 inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.
4. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove cookies from sheet and place on a wire wrack to cool completely.
5. Dip cookies in chocolate and place on parchment paper. These cookies look cute with sprinkles on them, but are good without also.:)