Pumpkin Roll

Finished Pumpkin Roll

 

Easy Pumpkin Roll

3/4 C. flour

1/2 tsp. EACH baking soda and baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

1 C. sugar

2/3 C. canned pumpkin

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in small bowl.  In a mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar and pumpkin.  Add in dry ingredients.  Pour mixture into well greased jelly roll pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until cake springs bake when touched.

Turn cake out onto a tea towel that has been liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Starting at short end, roll cake up in towel.  Cool on wire rack.

Filling

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese

4 Tbsp. soft butter or margarine

1 C. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Unroll cooled cake and spread with filling, re-roll cake.  Place cake seam side down on serving platter.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Notes:

*This cake freezes beautifully, just wrap in plastic wrap and store in freezer.   Slice off how much you need and return to freezer, or pre-slice and then freeze.

*This is a great company dessert, it looks fancy, tastes great and is easy to prepare ahead of time!

*I found the easiest way to turn the cake out onto the towel is to set the pan on it’s side (long side) and then tilt it all the way over (VERY QUICKLY) until it is on the tea towel.  The cake should just fall right out of the pan.  (If you don’t flip it fast enough, you end up with a pile of cake on your towel–yup, ask me how I know!)

Batter in pan, ready for baking

 

Prepared tea towel

 

Cake on prepared towel

 

Rolling up cake with towel

 

Rolled up pumpkin roll--ready for cooling

 

Pumpkin roll: sliced and freezer ready

 

Menu Planning 101

Several people have asked me lately about menu planning and how I make it work with three busy teenagers and a constantly changing schedule.  We all know that planning our menus in advance can save us time and money in the kitchen, but how do we make it work with our lifestyle?

There are many ways to plan your menu.  Some people plan a whole month at a time, some only a week at a time.  Some plan every meal, some only one meal (usually dinner). You have to look at your lifestyle and schedule and decide what works for you.  If you have read my book Shortcut Cooking, then you know that I am a big advocate of freezer cooking.  Freezer cooking allows us to take advantage of sales and put healthy meals in our freezers that are quick and easy to prepare.  Having a stockpile of freezer meals can make menu planning  quicker and easier, but even if you don’t freezer cook you can still save yourself time and stress by planning your meals ahead of time.

One of my favorite ways of planning my menus is to write on 3 x 5 cards some of my family’s favorite meals.  You can make them complete meals with all the sides or just the main dishes.  I make each person choose 4-5 of their favorite meals, that way when I am planning I know that everyone is getting something that they like to eat at least once in a while.  I fill out more with cards with any freezer meals that we may have on hand, crockpot recipes for busy nights and even recipes I want to try out. Also on  separate color cards I write down meals that are used more for special occasions, either because they are more costly or time-consuming to prepare or not as healthy and need to be a treat. You can put cooking directions and preparation times right on the card.  You could also use different colored cards for different protein types (yellow-chicken, blue-meatless, etc….) or preparations (yellow-crockpot, blue-oven, etc…). 

 Next, I grab my calendar and I look for any days where I know we might not be eating at home or will need something fast to get us out the door in a timely manner.  I plan those meals first! 

Then, keeping in mind what ingredients I have on hand and what is on sale, I fill in the gaps of my menu, trying to alternate by protein type and preferences. I usually do this by using my 3×5 cards on the table, but you could also just fill in a blank calendar or special menu planning page.

Finally, I organize the cards in a 3×5 file box in order, and make a grocery list.  Everyday I just open the box, pull out the card for the day and place it on the fridge.  No one has to ask, “What’s for dinner?”.  When we are done with the card, I file it in the back of the box to be re-used.  If something comes up and we don’t eat the meal or change what we eat, I can just put the card back in the box to use the next day or file it for later use.  The nice thing about this system is that when you make changes, you are not trying to cross out or write over something already written on a page. 

Other Menu Planning Ideas:

*Use a dry erase calendar for your menu planning

*Make up 2-3 weekly menu plans with a grocery list and then rotate them.  (By re-using a menu plan you can keep a printed grocery list of everything needed and then just cross out what you may already have on hand)

*Buy a calendar just for menu planning and write your menus in it. (It is nice to go back and look at previous menus, especially if you feel like you are eating the same meals over and over again).

*Try one new meal a month, it is nice to have variety.

*If you are feeling overwhelmed or busy, look online for prepared weekly menu plans.  They can be a great source of inspiration.  There are also several subscription sites that will send you weekly or monthly menu plans with grocery lists for a small fee.  These can be real time savers for people who are super busy.  The down-side to having other people making your menu plan is it does not take into account your preferences or dietary restrictions, so you may still have to make adjustments to the menu.

 

Easy Caramel Corn

Easy Caramel Corn

8 C. popped popcorn (unsalted and unbuttered)

3/4 C. packed brown sugar

6 Tbsp. butter or margarine

3 Tbsp. corn syrup

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

 

Place popped popcorn in large bowl.  Set aside. 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 

Place brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in small saucepan. 

Cook over med.-low heat until butter melts and mixture combine-stirring constantly. 

 Bring mixture to a boil., when mixture boils, stop stirring and boil for 5 min. 

 Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla. 

caramel mixture over popcorn and stir to combine. 

Spread popcorn in large roasting pan or cookie sheet. 

 Bake 10 minutes, stir and bake another 5 min. 

Cool for 10 min.  Stir to break up caramel corn.

*This is one of my kids favorite fall recipes.

Pumpkin Muffins

I know I haven’t posted in a while, we have been trying to get back into the swing of school and stuff.  Homeschooling takes up a big part of our day and I now have 2 in High School, so our days are pretty busy.  Here is a yummy and healthy fall recipe!

Pumpkin Muffins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Muffins

1 3/4 C. whole wheat pastry flour (or unbleached)

1/2 C. regular whole wheat flour

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 C. skim milk

1/2 C. water

2/3 C. pumpkin puree (or mashed bananas or applesauce)

2 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:

1 1/2 Tbsp. finely chopped pecans

1 Tbsp. sugar (or brown sugar)

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in large measuring cup and then add to dry ingredients.  Mix just until moistened.  Combine topping ingredients.  Place muffin batter in muffin tins about 3/4 full and sprinkle lightly with topping.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Serve warm with butter or cream cheese.  YUM!

I usually make these with fresh ground pastry flour.  I love the different flavors of the pumpkin or applesauce.  These are completely fat free (unless you slather them in butter), have a nice dose of fiber and are relatively low in calories (about 120 calories). You can freeze these muffins and pull them out, microwave for a minute and have a quick and healthy on the go snack.

1, 2, 3 Sugar Cookies

I have been out of town all week, so I haven’t been posting.  I am back and working on a couple of things I will be posting later in the week.  For now, here is a favorite cookie recipe from  my Shortcut Cooking ebook.  Enjoy!

 

 This is my favorite recipe for sugar cookies. It is simple, virtually foolproof and doesn’t require refrigeration which means when the baking bug bites, you can have cookies fast! You can cut out your cookies and freeze the shapes for baking later, or freeze the baked cookies to decorate later. Vary the extracts for your favorite flavor. I love almond extract in these! You can also tint the dough with a little food coloring. Try peppermint extract and a little red food coloring for candy cane shaped cookies-YUM!

1,2,3 Sugar Cookies 

1 C. butter or margarine

 1 C. sugar

1 Large egg

1 tsp. extract (vanilla, almond, peppermint)

 2 tsp. baking powder

 3 C. flour

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugar with mixer. Add in egg and extract. Add dry ingredients one cup at a time. The dough will be very stiff. DO NOT REFRIGERATE! Divide dough in half. (you can work in a little food coloring for colored dough). Roll out dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out with cookie cutters. Bake approx. 12 minutes or until LIGHTLY browned.

Refrigerator Pickles

Refrigerator Pickles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are getting ready to leave town for a week and I had some cucumbers and onions lying around that needed to be used up, but I didn’t want to put a lot of effort into making something with them.  Refrigerator pickles are the perfect solution, they only take a few minutes to make and by the time we get home, they will be ready to eat!

Easy Refrigerator Pickles*

4 C. sugar

4 C. white vinegar

½ C. salt

¼ C. pickling spice

3 onions, thinly sliced

cucumbers, thinly sliced

Combine sugar, vinegar, salt and pickling spice in medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar and salt is dissolved. Layer cucumbers and onions in gallon jar, pour syrup over cucumbers. Refrigerate at least 5 days. Keep refrigerated.

-A great way to use up extra cucumbers from your garden.

-You can add more cucumbers and onions to the syrup as you use up what is in the jar.

*Recipe from Shortcut Cooking Saving Time and Money in the Kitchen

Homemade Ketchup

It’s that time of year when tomatoes seem to be everywhere. Finding ways to preserve them after you have eaten your fill can often overwhelm us. Here is one use for some of those extra tomatoes that will save you money throughout the year.

Homemade Ketchup

8 C. peeled, seeded tomatoes
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. pickling spice
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. vinegar
1 tsp. salt

Peel tomatoes by placing in boiling water, when skin splits place in hot water to cool. When tomatoes are cool enough to handle, use knife or tomato corer to remove top and slip off skin. Cut tomato in half and squeeze seeds out.

Place prepared tomatoes, onions and pickling spice(tie pickling spice in a piece of cheesecloth if you don’t want chunks in your ketchup) into saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer stirring occassionally over med-low for about 20 minutes, until onions are tender. Remove from heat.

Puree cooked tomatoes in blender until fine and no onion pieces remain. Place puree in fine mesh strainer over a bowl and drain off tomatoes, leaving a thick pulp in strainer. Set juice aside.

Place puree back into saucepan and add sugar, vinegar and salt. Cook over med. heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, or until desired consistency is reached. Remove from heat.

Store ketchup in a jar in the refrigerator.

*You could also water bath can the ketchup by placing hot ketchup into sterilized jars and boiling for 15 minutes.

*Save the tomato juice that drained off. You can drink it or use it in spaghetti sauce or wherever else you would use tomato juice.

*Freeze or water bath can the leftover juice.

Tomatoes in boiling water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato with split skin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using tomato corer to remove stem

 

Slipping of tomato skin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

onions and pickling spice

Finished Ketchup--bring on the fries!

Welcome to Shortcut Cooking

I’ve finished my ebook and it is now available.  See the Shortcut Cooking info on the about page.

I will be posting tips, tricks, recipes and ideas to help you save time and money in the kitchen.

Questions and Feedback are always welcome, just be polite!  I reserve the right to delete comments that are rude or inflammatory.  You are free to state a difference of opinion, as long as you do it kindly.