In my last post, I talked about making dinner for our associate pastor, and then creating a new version of the meal using cauliflower. The previous weekend, we had harvested many quarts of rhubarb from our rhubarb patch, and we had strawberries. For dessert, we intended to make strawberry-rhubarb pie for them, but errands taking longer than they ought to, and life and its curve balls…well…it turned into strawberry-rhubarb crisp instead.  Here is how we created this little gem of a dessert!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

• 2 heaping cups of rhubarb that are cut into one inch pieces
• 2 pounds of strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved
• 3/4 cup brown sucanat (or brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Gently stir together and dump into an 8×8 baking dish.

• 1/2 cup whole oats
• 1/2 cup of soft wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sucanat/brown sugar
•  1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons butter

Blend with a pastry blender til it looks like pea sized crumbles, and top the fruit. Bake at 350* until all brown and bubbly. Top with vanilla ice cream, or leave plain!

YUM! Guess what I want right now?

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Deb

PS. I love my little garden patch!

July Customer Special With Lilla Rose

Online offer only: Spend $40-$49.99 retail, select any single decorated NEW hair stick* FREE, OR spend $50+ retail, select any two decorated NEW hair sticks* FREE. Begins Friday, July 1st, 2016 at 7:00 am PDT through Sunday, July 31st at 11:59 pm PDT *Plain and Soon-to-Retire Hair Sticks not included. $50+ selection may be 2 different singles, where applicable. While supplies last. #‎LRStyle #‎customer special

Don’t you just love the video’s music piece, Toccata, by Johann Sebastian Bach?

A few nights ago, our family had the privilege of bringing a meal to the associate pastor and his wife at our new church. They just had a beautiful new baby boy. I figured they might be getting a lot of lasagna. We always did after each of our six children were born. Lasagna is nice, but it’s also fabulous when there is variety in the menu! We also know that our associate pastor enjoys bacon. Our girls and I prepared and brought this Cheddar, Bacon, Chicken, Ranch, Pasta recipe.

For our meal, though, we created this adaptation to the original recipe. We’re working toward making healthier choices with more clean eating and more vegetables.

LoveLeavingLegacy Cauliflower, Chicken, Bacon, Cheddar Ranch Casserole

2 large heads of cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces and steam

16 oz turkey bacon, diced
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil (we used bacon flavored Wildtree grapeseed oil!)
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 small bunches of green onions, chopped

4+ Tbsp soft wheat flour
4+ Tbsp Wildtree ranch dressing mix (or a homemade mix-this one’s my favorite-would work too)
4 cups homemade chicken broth
2+ cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

While cauliflower is steaming, saute green onions, turkey bacon, and chicken. When fully cooked, add broth, flour to thicken, and dressing mix. After this is fully incorporated, thickened, and bubbly, add cheese and stir til melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange steamed cauliflower to a large baking dish (I needed a large lasagna dish as well as an 8×8 pyrex dish) and pour chicken, bacon, and cheese mix over all. Stir all together, and bake at 350 degrees until brown and bubbly on top, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy making this with your children! It’s a lot of fun to cook with ours!

Blessings,

Deb

July Customer Special With Lilla Rose

Online offer only: Spend $40-$49.99 retail, select any single decorated NEW hair stick* FREE, OR spend $50+ retail, select any two decorated NEW hair sticks* FREE. Begins Friday, July 1st, 2016 at 7:00 am PDT through Sunday, July 31st at 11:59 pm PDT *Plain and Soon-to-Retire Hair Sticks not included. $50+ selection may be 2 different singles, where applicable. While supplies last. #‎LRStyle #‎customer special

Don’t you just love the video’s music piece, Toccata, by Johann Sebastian Bach?

For Christmas we gave each of our six children a recipe book or recipe card file box along with recipe cards to fill with their favorite recipes to take to their future families. The idea stemmed from recipes that I have, written in my grandmothers’ handwriting, or that have a special family member’s name assigned as to where it came from. We have similar recipes from Dr. P’s family as he was growing up. These legacy items mean a lot to us, especially the ones in original handwriting. We hope that these gifts mean a lot to them, especially as time goes by.

Dr. P had a favorite recipe his family called “Hungry Boy Casserole.” I grew up with “Boston Baked Beans” handed down to my mother from my aunt. We have both recipes. Fourteen years ago, we began grinding our own wheat and making our own whole wheat bread. Really, nothing we’ve tried compares to the recipe we use. It’s also a fairly frugal recipe for a larger than average family.

On Friday night, my friend Heather posted a baked bean recipe she makes in the crock pot for her family of twelve! It involves dried navy or great northern beans soaked and cooked until softened, a chopped onion, ketchup, brown sugar, water, dry mustard, and molasses all stirred together in the crock pot, and then more water is added to cover the whole mixture. Set the crock pot on low for about 8 hours, and stir occasionally. Interestingly, it’s very similar to the Boston Baked Beans recipe I have.

Inspired by Heather, I was suddenly craving Boston baked beans or Hungry Boy, and our fresh ground, fresh out of the oven whole wheat bread!

On Saturday I tasked Lady L with soaking and cooking the beans while I did organizing projects, and Sunday we prepared the rest of the ingredients for our Monday night bean and bread feast.

After eating dinner tonight, I have one word.

YUM!

Boston baked beans turned Hungry Family crockpot meal with a side of sliced, hot, whole wheat bread.

Equally fun is that tonight’s dinner turned into requests for the new version Hungry Family recipe, and the bread recipe be added to the address books and files.

I love baking bread 5 loaves at a time! And I love the Urban Homemaker recipe found here!

Blessings,

Deb

Hungry Family Casserole Crock Pot Style

4 cups of navy beans soaked and cooked 3 hours to soften

While beans are cooking, in crock pot add:

1 lb of (thawed if frozen) turkey burger

1 lb of turkey bacon diced up

1 large onion diced

1 large green pepper diced

Minced garlic to taste (we like a lot!)

1 tsp salt

Cook and stir until cooked through. Put cooked beans into mixture.

Add 2 cups of tomato sauce, 1 ½ c brown sugar, 3 teaspoons dry mustard, and 2 tablespoons of Blackstrap molasses. Add water to the top of the 7 quart crock pot. Cook on low for 8+ hours, and stir often. Check that the lid being left on doesn’t make the beans too soupy, or that water doesn’t need to be added.

Thank you to Heather M. for the suggestion and inspiration!