Category Archives: pantry staples

Kids in the Kitchen: Easy Guacamole

Posted in pantry staples, sides, snacks, vegan, vegetarian by

For Christmas, my cousin gave Jake his own set of cooking tools – a mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a whisk, an apron… the works. He’s absolutely enthralled with it. We rearranged a cabinet so all of his stuff could be kept where he could reach it and – you guessed it – he’s been begging to help with dinner nearly every night since.

I love cooking with the kids. I really do. But on a Thursday evening when I’m just trying to get something on the table before everyone start melting down, the last thing I want to do is slow down enough for toddler hands – so I’ve been working on giving him his own, supplemental project to help with.

JakeGuac

Like guacamole as I work on the burritos.

This, by far, isn’t the fanciest guac recipe out there, but it’s perfect for a kid to help with (or do mostly themselves – Jake did!)

Kids can:

  • Scoop out and mash the avocado
  • Stir everything together
  • Older kids can measure the lime juice and salt, younger kids can add in pre-measured ingredients

Adults will need to:

  • Cut the avocado and remove the pit
  • Chop the tomato
  • Measure ingredients, if working with a younger child

 
Guacamole

Easy Guacamole
 (from Jake’s Amazing Chef set!)
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

2-3 ripe avocados
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
Tortilla chips, for serving

Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash.

Stir in the lime juice, tomato, and salt.

Serve with chips.

www.KateRecipeBox.com

745698

Garden Fresh Salsa

Posted in condiments, pantry staples, snacks by

So, rolling with the tomato theme – the other way my husband will eat fresh tomatoes! You knew this was coming, didn’t you?

I’m loving this version because we have tomatoes, onions and hot peppers in the garden currently  – so I can walk out the back door and grab the ingredients whenever I want and mix this up in about ten minutes.

I’m going to miss the garden when the season is over!

GardenFreshSalsa

Garden Fresh Salsa
(slightly adapted from About.com)
Makes about 2 cups

4 Roma tomatoes
1/2 small onion
1 hot pepper (I used a Serrano pepper)
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a food processor, pulse one of the tomatoes, onion, hot pepper and garlic until finely chopped but still chunky. Transfer to a bowl.

Dice remaining tomatoes. Stir into the processed mixture. Stir in lime juice and sugar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Make it Yourself Monday: Ranch Veggie Dip

Posted in pantry staples by

Raw veggies are a dinner staple around here. On nights I’m too busy (or, too lazy) to make a real side, we’ll just toss whatever veggies are in the fridge on the table for munching. Occasionally, we’ll buy a veggie dip to go with it – but when I realized how unhealthy our favorite one is, it started making the grocery list less and less often.

When we volunteered to bring a veggie tray for Easter, I knew I wanted to make my own dip to go with it. When I asked around, Branny offered up this version. It looked a lot healthier than our store-bought go-to, so it won out – and it was delightful. After making this, I can honestly say we won’t be buying it again!
RanchVeggieDip
 

Ranch Veggie Dip
(from Branny Boils Over)
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
2 tsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. snipped fresh chives
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dried dill
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Posted in make it yourself monday, pantry staples by

Originally posted September 2013; Updated February 2021

My early attempts at cooking from scratch were often born out of necessity – I’d often forget something at the store and then have to make my own homemade version at home. This happened with taco seasoning more times than I care to admit to.

At first, I found it daunting to make my own seasonings, but the more I did it, the more I relied on it instead of store-bought versions. I found it easier to adjust the seasonings to our personal taste (more spice before kids, less so now) and easier to adjust the amount in recipes. I always found it annoying that if I had a little more ground beef than called for, everything would be less flavorful – or if I didn’t want to make as much I’d end up wasting. Making my own was the perfect solution.

Continue reading →

Make It Yourself Monday: Pumpkin Pie Spice

Posted in make it yourself monday, pantry staples by

Hello, September. Hello, pumpkin season! I’ve seen so much excitement over pumpkin-flavored everything that I thought it was appropriate to kick off September with this recipe.

Pumpkin pie spice is essentially in lots of pumpkin recipes and it’s super easy to whip up at home. Chances are, you already have everything you need in your pantry!

PumpkinPieSpice

Pumpkin Pie Spice
(from Annie’s Eats)
Makes about 4 Tablespoons

2 T. ground cinnamon
1 T. ground ginger
1 1/2 t. ground allspice
1 1/2 t. ground cloves
3/4 t. ground nutmeg

Whisk together in a small bowl. Store in an airtight container.

Make It Yourself Monday: Fuddruckers-Style Hamburger Seasoning

Posted in make it yourself monday, pantry staples by

Fuddruckers is our go-to place for burgers. Admittedly, we’re drawn in by the condiments bar – why wouldn’t want all that fun stuff on your burger or fries?! – but the burgers themselves are really tasty too.

Now that it’s grill season, we’ve been doing burgers at home a lot more often – and I’ve been dressing them up with this Fuddruckers-style seasoning. It’s pretty close to what you get at the restaurant!

I’ve mixed it into homemade burgers, and also rubbed it into the outside of store-bought burgers – both methods work well.

FuddruckersSeasoning

Fuddruckers-Style Hamburger Seasoning
(from Top Secret Recipes)
Makes about 8 Tablespoons

2 T. + 2 t. paprika
2 T. black pepper
1 T + 3/4 t. salt
2 t. brown sugar
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. cayenne powder

Whisk together until well combined and store in an airtight container.

Make It Yourself Monday: Classic Hummus

Posted in make it yourself monday, pantry staples, snacks by

When I introduced the Make It Yourself Monday series back in the beginning of January, I envisioned it to be a regular feature of the blog. I wanted it to be the push for me to make more “basics” myself. Since then, I’ve put up a whopping two posts. What happened? Well, I’m just really not doing as well with the cooking-from-scratch things as I hoped.

But, the beauty of a June birthday is that it’s like another reset button mid-year. I’ll be celebrating my birthday on Wednesday and this year there will be more cooking from scratch!

Hummus is something I’ve wanted to make for a while. I’d planned on trying it a few years ago and then couldn’t find tahini. I just happened to turn around in the grocery store a few weeks ago and noticed tahini on the shelf! It went into the cart immediately and I made this as soon as I got home.

The most tedious part of this recipe is peeling the chick peas, but it’s so worth it! The end result is the smoothest hummus I’ve ever had.

ClassicHummus

Classic Hummus
(from Branny Boils Over)
Makes about 3 cups

2 (15 oz.) cans chick peas, peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. tahini
2-4 T. water, as needed to reach desired consistency
1/2-1 t. fine grain sea salt
1/4 t. ground coriander seeds

To peel the chick peas: drain them from the cans and rinse thoroughly. If you squeeze the chick peas lightly, they should pop out of their skins.

Add the peeled chick peas to a food processor and pulse until well chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until very smooth.

 

Introducing Make It Yourself Mondays and DIY Vanilla Extract

Posted in chatter, pantry staples by

For the last few years, one of my New Year’s resolutions has been to make more from scratch. While we’re not perfect, we’ve made huge improvements. It’s incredibly gratifying to make things yourself – and I’m often surprised at just how easy and doable it is. I’m starting a new series today, Make It Yourself Mondays, to highlight kitchen projects you can tackle yourself.

The first one I’m sharing is for something I use all the time – vanilla extract. Even when I started cooking more from scratch, vanilla extract is not something I thought I’d ever consider making myself. And then I learned how easy it was. There’s no cooking, and minimal prep and measuring – all you really need is some patience.

I purchased these vanilla beans from Amazon, because they were the best price I found (vanilla beans are expensive!). I got my bottles from Specialty Bottle (also the best price I found). Not only is this a great pantry staple, but it makes a really cute gift. If you want to dress up your bottles, lots of bloggers offer free, printable labels (like here, here, here and here).

VanillaExtract

Vanilla Extract
(inspired by Beantown Baker)

2 vanilla beans
1 c. vodka
Glass jar with lid

Split vanilla beans lengthwise (no need to scrape!) and place into jar. Pour vodka over the beans and cover. Place in a cool, dark place for approximately two months, shaking occasionally, before using.

Store in a cool, dark place.

DIY Hot Chocolate Mix

Posted in drinks, pantry staples by

I’m not a coffee drinker. Or a tea drinker. Hot chocolate, though, I could drink by the gallon. I keep some in my desk at work and always have some in the house – even in the summer months. We could seriously go broke on cocoa mix.

Last year for Christmas, I made this mix for family members, and fell in love with it. It’s a great gift, or just great to have in your pantry.

DIYHotChocolate

DIY Hot Chocolate Mix
(from Brown Eyed Baker)
Makes approx. 20 servings

3 c. nonfat dry milk powder
2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2  c. cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1/4 t. salt

Whisk all ingredients together and then, working in batches, pulse in a food processor until everything in finely ground and well combined. Store in an air-tight container for up to three months.

To prepare: Mix 1/3 c. hot chocolate mix with 1 c. hot milk.

Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas and Green Enchilada Sauce

Posted in chicken, condiments, main dishes, pantry staples, recipe swap by

For the latest Blogger’s Choice recipe swap, I was assigned Prevention RD. Her blog is awesome and it’s not just me that thinks so – Nicole recently announced that she’s writing a cookbook based on her blog. How cool is that!

The hardest part of this swap was settling on just one recipe. I decided on these because, as much as I love enchiladas, I’d never made them with a green sauce.  Nicole used canned enchilada sauce but mentioned in her post that next time she would try making it herself. My garden is currently over-flowing with tomatillos so I decided to make these a totally-from-scratch endeavor. The recipe I used for green enchilada sauce is below. You can see the recipe I used for the tortillas here.

These are probably my favorite enchiladas to date. The honey lime works so well and gives it a really light, summery feel. Hubby and I totally fought over the leftovers!

Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas
(from Prevention RD)
Serves 5 (2 enchiladas each)

5 T. honey
5 T. lime juice, from 2-3 limes
1 T. chili powder
1/2 T. cumin
1/2 t. garlic powder
12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
10 flour tortillas
1 1/2 c.  Colby/Monterrey Jack blend, shredded, divided
2 c. green enchilada sauce (recipe below)
1 c. fat-free half & half

In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and garlic powder. Add cooked, shredded chicken and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or several hours) to marinade.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Add 1/2 c. green enchilada sauce to the bottom of a 9″x11″ baking dish and spread out to coat the whole bottom.

Stir half of the cheese into the marinated chicken. Divide chicken mixture between 12 tortillas. Roll up and place seam-side down in baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Whisk together half and half and remaining enchilada sauce. Pour evenly over the enchiladas.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Green Enchilada Sauce
(from Our Best Bites)
Makes about 3 cups

1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and membranes removed
3/4 lb. tomatillos, husked and quartered or halved
1/4 c. cilantro, coarsely chopped
3/4 t. Kosher salt
Pinch of black pepper
3/4 t. cumin
2 c. chicken broth

In a large saucepan, heat oil until shimmering and then add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.

Meanwhile, in a blender, combine tomatillos, green pepper, jalapeno and cilantro. Blend until smooth. (If it’s not blending well, add some of the chicken broth to help smooth things out.)

Add tomatillo mixture to cooked onions and stir in cumin, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until sauce is reduced to about 3 cups.