Bucket List - New Recipes

I've fallen behind in updating the recipes, but not in trying them.  So I have 3 for you today:

#1: Macaroni & Cheese

Brooke, who used to love veggies, has stopped eating them pretty much altogether.  Every once in a while, I can trick her by hiding the veggies, but that's it.  This recipe is from a cookbook called "Deceptively Delicious":

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups elbo macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 tablesppon olive oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup nonfat milk (I used reduced fat because that is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 and 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat Cheddar Cheese
4 oz reduced fat or nonfat cream cheese
Salt & Pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika

Instructions:
Cook macaroni according to package directions & drain.  while macaroni is cooking, coat large saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.  Add oil and then flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture resembles a thick paste but has not browned, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the milk and cook, stirring every now and then, until the mixture begins to thicken, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the vegetable puree, cheeses, and seasonings, and stir until cheese is melted and`sauce smooth.  Stir in macaroni.

Results:
Brooke LOVED this!!!!  She ate 2 platefuls and was still asking for more!  I wasn't thrilled about the consistency, although the taste was good.  I think next time I'll add less cream cheese and more cheddar cheese for a more traditional cheese-y taste.  I'll be trying again though, for sure.


#2: Banana Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Growing up, I loved, loved, loved the Amish sweet treat known as Whoopie Pies (I've always known them as Gobs).  My favorite were the chocolate cakes with peanut butter filling.  When I saw this recipe for banana cakes with peanut butter filling, I knew I had to try them.

Ingredients:
CAKE:
1/2 Cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

ICING:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
1. In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine banana and buttermilk.  Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture alternating with banana mixture.
2. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  bake at 350 for 12-15 mins or until set. Cool for 2 mins before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
3. For filling, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and butter until fluffy.  Beat in sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread filling on the bottom half of cookies, about 1 tbsp on each; top with remaining cookies.  Dust with additional sugar.  Store in fridge.

Result:
The cake was super good.  Brooke loved them.  I might make the banana cookies with chocolate filling for our anniversary (part of our wedding cake was banana with chocolate filling!).  The peanut butter icing was OK, although I prefer a more traditional peanut butter icing - which I will be making next time.  This is a really good Whoopie Pie, though.

As a side note, do you know why they're called "whoopie pies"?  After working all morning in the fields, the Amish men would open their lunch pails, see these sweets, and yell "Whoopie!!!" 

#3: Beef Barley Soup

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions chopped
10 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
2 lb lean beef stew meat
6 cups canned low-sodium beef broth
2 carrots chopped
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2/3 cup pearl barley
salt and pepper

Instructions:
1. Saute onions and mushrooms in 1 tbsp veggie oil, about 7 mins. Scrape them into slow cooker.  Warm remaining 1 tbsp veggie oil and brown meat.  Scrape into slow cooker.  Put 1 cup beef broth into skillet & scrape with wooden spoon to release brown bits.  Add to slow cooker.  ( I skipped this because everything cooks so long while I'm at work - 10 hours - so I just put everything in the slow cooker raw)

2. Add remaining broth & all other ingredients to slow cooker.  Stir, cover, and cook on low until meat is tender, 6-7 hours.

Result:
This was FANTASTIC!!  I put everything in raw, because it cooks on low 10 hours while I"m at work - everything was perfectly tender.  Jim loved this, and Brooke loved it pureed (she wouldn't eat the veggies otherwise).  This is definitely one of our new favorites!


Enjoy!