There has been some interest in sharing recipes with one another. I think it's a great idea, especially if we share recipes that are easy and healthy. But we're not kidding ourselves - we'd love great dessert recipes with lots of chocolate, too!
I began writing down recipes for my daughter years ago when she realized that so many family recipes, many of them her favorites, would be lost some day.
I'll share a favorite Irish soda bread recipe. I can't say that it's healthy, but it will be St. Patrick's Day soon.
IRISH SODA BREAD I’ve always wished that my Irish great-grandmother had written down her recipes, but having a warm slice of this bread helps me pretend that I’m making an old-fashioned recipe that our great grandmother from County Cork would have been proud to serve. Of course, I must assume that she was a great cook! 4 c flour ½ c butter, softened 4 TBS sugar 1 c buttermilk 1-1/4 tsp baking soda 1 egg 1 TBS baking powder 2 TBS butter, melted ½ tsp salt 2 TBS buttermilk In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ½ cup butter. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and the egg. Form the dough into a round, about 10 inches* and place on a greased baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the melted 2 TBS butter with 2 TBS buttermilk; brush the loaf with the buttermilk mixture. With a sharp knife, slash an “X” about ½-inch deep into the top of the loaf. Bake at 375° for about 30-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Brush the loaf at intervals with remaining buttermilk-butter mixture as desired. Serve warm or cold. *Baking time will depend upon how large the round is. A smaller round will create a very high loaf, which will require longer cooking time. A larger round will create a shorter loaf and will cook a little more quickly. You’ll create a nice size by patting the dough to about 7-8 inches round and roughly an inch thick. That sized loaf baked in my oven in about 35 minutes.
By the way, I'm too lazy to write out every word, so "c" means cup.
I hope others will share some of their favorite recipes! To find them in the future, we could use the "Search My MSAA Community" button. We don't really have a way of creating a file just for recipes, but maybe someday!
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greaterexp
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Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It sounds delicious. I actually have those ingredients on hand - even the buttermilk - so I think I may try this for St. Patty's Day! I will look for a recipe or two to share!
Okay, here's one from me. This is the spaghetti & meatballs that I grew up on – one of my favorite meals. My Mom said she got this recipe from her Italian friend in the Bronx where she (and I) grew up.
MOM’S SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS
(can also be made as vegetarian sauce)
Sauce:
2 (28 oz) cans tomato puree;
1 can tomato paste;
1 small onion (chopped);
2 cloves minced garlic;
½ tsp sugar;
1 tsp basil;
couple dashes oregano;
pinch thyme
; pinch parsley
; pinch salt
; pinch pepper;
1 small can tomato paste (6 oz) note: if you are making vegetarian sauce, the paste goes into the sauce now, if not, it goes in when you are making meatballs.
Melt a little butter in a big pot. Sautee 1 small onion until soft then add 2 cloves minced garlic and cook until garlic browns.
If you are making sauce w/meatballs, follow directions below to make meatballs and add to sauce. If you want to just make vegetarian sauce, at this point add 1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste into sauce and cook sauce for at least one hour.
Meatballs:
1 lb. (I usually double the am’t of beef) lean ground beef – 1 lb beef makes approximately 15 meatballs
; 1 egg;
1 slice bread (remove crusts and wet the bread so it will “mush” w/the beef);
1 clove minced garlic (you can use more if you used more beef, or like garlic!)
; parsley
; 1 small can tomato paste (6 oz)
. With clean hands, mix all ingredients together. Form meatballs using wet hands (dip hands into water for each meatball), placing on plate as you form meatballs. Brown meatballs in pan w/butter on both sides. Add to sauce. Put small can (6 oz) tomato paste into leftover stuff in pan. Mix and cook just a bit, deglazing the pan with the paste, then add to sauce. Cook sauce w/meatballs for at least an hour.
Cook one lb. spaghetti and serve w/sauce & meatballs.
Sorry, all, I had cut and pasted the spaghetti and meatballs recipe into the "reply" box and it went in as a paragraph - I thought, great it will conserve space. And I went ahead and added semi-colons so the ingredients list would be legible. When I posted it, it put itself back into a list form, putting all those semi-colons in weird places, so sorry about that!
It looks delicious. I'm doing a copy/paste of all recipes and putting into a "Word Document" Between word and I, we'll be organizing and editing all the recipes.
Thank you, that sound delicious!. I'm going to copy/Paste all recipes into a word document and later we can figure a way to share it. No recipe from me yet. But soon! Thank you again for getting this started greaterexp
Here is a very easy, no cook recipe for chocolate oats! I'm not sure if it's better for breakfast or as a dessert! But who cares? It's chocolate! I made a similar version, which we enjoyed very much, but it was a bit much for breakfast.
Great start to compiling our favorite Recipes, greaterexp ! As discussed, here are a few quick links that might be good to check out, so we have them as part of this "Recipes" thread:
Search all My MSAA Community posts with the word "recipes"
greaterexp Thank you so much for the recipe! I used to have an Irish soda bread recipe years ago and lost it. When my kids were little I baked 2-4 loaves of homemade bread everyday. They didn’t taste store bought bread until the oldest was about ten and was at a friend’s house! He came home and said it tasted like cardboard. 🤣 I will be making your recipe, thanks again. Love, Kelly xx
Kelly, I'm posting a soup recipe that we all really enjoy. It comes together quickly and freezes beautifully. I'm so glad you can use the soda bread recipe!
Here's one of our favorite soups. I like to make a big batch and freeze it in portions to use when I don't feel like cooking.
TACO SOUP This is such a versatile soup, so add in whatever you like. This happens to be my version, which my family really enjoyed. Add salt and pepper or hot sauce if it needs a bit more pep.
1 rotisserie chicken* 1-1/2 TBS taco seasoning 1-2 quarts of water** ¼ c fresh cilantro, chopped 1 onion, chopped shredded cheddar cheese 1 can (15 oz.) corn sour cream 1 can (15 oz.) black beans tortilla strips or chips 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped*** salt and pepper to taste 1 can diced tomatoes hot sauce, optional 1-3 tsp chicken bouillon granules to taste
In a stock pot, add the chicken and enough water to cover; simmer until the meat pulls easily off the bone. Strain the broth and reserve. Remove skin and bones from the chicken and dice the meat. In the stock pot, cook the onion in about 1-2 tablespoons of oil until the onion is translucent and soft. Add the reserved broth, black beans, corn, tomatoes, jalapenos, and taco seasoning. Allow the soup to cook over low-medium heat for at least ½ hour. Serve bowls of soup topped with the fresh cilantro, cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips or crushed chips as desired. *You may use any chicken you have on hand, but I like the flavor of the rotisserie chickens. **Use however much water you like; just know you may have to add a little more corn, beans, chicken bouillon, etc. to round it out. ***I used home-canned jalapenos which I seeded to make it less spicy.
Roadside Potatoes - one of my favorite side dishes - can be made ahead of time and leftovers frozen (yahoo!):
30 oz frozen hash browns (I use the square ones)
2 cups half & half
1/4 lb butter or margarine
1 jar (4 oz) Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
Heat cream, add salt & butter. Thaw potatoes in this mixture. Put in greased 9x13 pan, sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 (uncovered) for 1 hour.
Growing up our family get togethers were centered around food/menus. We even have a family cookbook! If you make this recipe - let me know your thoughts! -Kris
Here's a recipe we've been enjoying for Cuban sliders It doesn't take much work, and the leftovers heat beautifully in the microwave for about 20 seconds. I made some substitutions, using Havarti cheese in place of the Swiss, and I used stone-ground mustard instead of the Dijon. I also only made half the recipe, since it makes a lot!
This is a pie I like to make for spring and summer, and which we enjoyed again for Easter. I lighten it up by using lower fat cream cheese and omitting the whipped topping in the cream cheese layer. I also cut the sugar down some, but use fresh lemon juice and zest.
KALE SALAD Kale? Yuck! That’s what I thought about kale until I tasted this salad. A local market with a fabulous deli sells a salad similar to this, but for about $1000 per pound. That may be hyperbole, but we can make this much more economically at home, and the flavor is so good, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I used a purple-leafed kale, removing any bitter stems, and was shocked that this leafy green could actually be edible, let alone magnificent. You’ll find that the salad gets better with a few hours of refrigeration, but don’t let that stop you from serving it right after preparing it. ½-3/4 c sugar* ¼ of a red onion, chopped ½ c vinegar** ½ c dried cranberries or dried cherries ½ tsp salt ½ c cashews ½ tsp black pepper ½ c sunflower seeds ¼ c olive oil 2/3 c fresh blueberries 1 bunch kale ¼ c pepitas, optional 1 c shredded carrot Whisk together the sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil, using the lesser amount of sugar and adding more to taste. De-stem and chop the kale. In a large bowl, toss together the kale, carrot, onion, cranberries, cashews, sunflower seeds, blueberries, and pepitas if using. Pour the dressing over the vegetable mixture and gently toss until vegetables are coated. Refrigerate for 1-4 hours before serving. This keeps well for up to 4-6 days. NOTE: I found that the amount of dressing will easily season 2 bunches of kale, but “bunches” appear to come in many sizes, depending on the store from which you buy it. *I found that the ½ cup of sugar was just about right. **I’ve used either white balsamic or red wine vinegar, but nearly any type of vinegar should be fine.
Wow, this recipe looks great! I needed a new salad recipe and this is perfect. We are having friends over next week for dinner and I’m making a new recipe “ Morrocan Beef”. This salad would pair nicely with it. If the beef comes out tasty I will share the recipe.
Protein balls. These are healthy snacks (I sub raisins for the dates and store in fridge for an after meal sweet)
blend/chop/crush 1 cup of almonds. Do the same with 1 cup of dates. 2 tblspoons cocoa, 1/4 cup shredded coconut (but I add more- I love coconut), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix it all up into you have a big blob of mush (I run it in my blender, but you can do it by hand). You can either roll it into balls, or spread it in a pan to cut into bars. Stick it in the fridge, and it will firm up.
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