Trust me.  This easy to make cabbage dinner tastes a WHOLE lot better than I could make it look in this photo.  This wonderful-I ate 3 servings-cabbage recipe comes out of a brand new cookbook called Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman. The book is loaded with 270 fresh ways to enjoy Winter vegetables.  I'm totally diggin' it.

Never having made any form of cabbage rolls, I turned to two cooking friends for tips.  They told me stories of their mothers sitting around the table with other family members rolling and rolling away.   Neither one of them actually rolled their own cabbage rolls recipes.    My busy-mom friends took the fast and easy route, so I did too.  Instead of blanching the head of cabbage to soften the leaves for making rolls, I just sliced it up like I was making a chunky slaw and moved on.

I had to plan when I would cook the rice ahead of time, but the rest of the dish can be prepared in less than 15 minutes.  It takes 1-hour to bake it off.  If you have an oven that allows you to set a timer to stop cooking, use it.  Then, you can go off swimming with the kids or take a nap while the oven does all the work.  That's what I did.   I can't tell you just how nice it was to come in from being at the pool and smell dinner waiting for us in the stove.  I need more recipes like this one in my life.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 medium head green cabbage, roughly cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 pound lean grass-fed ground beef
• 1 cup cooked white or brown rice
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

for the sauce

• 2 cups unseasoned tomato sauce or tomato puree
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup mild apple cider vinegar (artisanal cider vinegar is recommended)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoons ground ginger
• salt & fresh ground pepper

HEAT the oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, cooked rice, onion, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper.  Mix it up using your hands to get it thoroughly blended.  Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the tomato sauce, onion, apple cider, brown sugar, and ginger.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add more cider vinegar as needed for a sweet-sour sauce (artisanal cider vinegar is less sharp-tasting than supermarket cider vinegar and works better in this sauce).

In a 9- by 13-inch baking dish, lay down a layer of half the cabbage.  Then, divide the meat mixture in half and lay down a layer of meat over the cabbage.  Again, use your hands; it's easier.  Pour half the tomato sauce all over the first layer.  Add another layer with the other half of the cabbage, again the meat.  Finish with pouring the remaining sauce all over the top.

Cover the casserole with foil, poke a few holes to allow steam to escape. BAKE 1-HOUR. Serve hot with mashed potatoes or warmed wheat rolls.

Cook's Notes: For the cider vinegar, I had Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar on hand and used it.

Russian style cabbage dinner before it goes in the oven.

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Taco pie recipes come in all shapes and flavors.  This one in particular was a big hit with my family and our neighbors.  Full of tasty ingredients already found in the refrigerator and pantry.  Common goodies brought together to make a very satisfying meal when your so hungry you hardly speak during dinner.  This recipe was inspired by a very handy cookbook, Make-Ahead Meals For Busy Moms by Jane Doiron.  (Great book full of family friendly meals.  Read my full book review I wrote a while back.)

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

serves 4 hungry adults and 3 growing kids

• 2 pounds extra lean ground beef
• 1 cup or 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 6 whole garlic cloves

• 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (15-ounce) can or 2 cups pinto beans, partially drained
• 1 cup fresh corn off the cob, or canned or frozen
• 1 (4-ounce) can mild green chilies
• salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Cornbread topping

You can either use two (6.5-ounce) ready mix packages of cornbread and follow the directions, or make it from scratch as I did.

• 1 1/2 cups fresh cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk

Condiments and toppings (optional)

• sour cream
• favorite salsa
• Tabasco sauce
• jalapenos

Over medium high heat in a large skillet, start by browning the beef with the onions, bell pepper and garlic until no pink remains in the color of the meat.

Stir in the chili powder, oregano, cumin, garlic powder and cook for one minute.

Add in water, pinto bean with a little liquid, corn and green chilies.  Season with salt and fresh pepper to taste. Cook until heated through. Transfer meat and vegetables to a 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish greased on its sides.

HEAT OVEN TO 400ºF.

In a medium bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients of the  cornbread topping.  Make a well and pour in all the wet ingredients.  Stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour the cornbread batter over the middle of the meat filling in the dish and spread evenly.  The batter will spread to the edge of the dish during baking.  Trust me.

BAKE 20 to 30-minutes, depending on the heat of your oven.  Bake until cornbread is light golden on top and a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Cook's Notes:  If you find the cornbread in this dinner to be a little dry, add your favorite salsa over the top and/or sour cream.  I purposely left out the 1/4 cup shortening called for in the original cornbread recipe.  I didn't miss it and it didn't hurt the cornbread.

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Max has been at it, AGAIN.  Making more mouth watering foods for his family.  The week he made this peanut butter treats recipe, we blew through two batches.  He made the first batch and Maggie (7 yrs. old) had the chance to make the second batch.  She preferred hers without the dark chocolate topping and we enjoyed them, too.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

peanut butter filling

• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
• 2 scant cups powdered sugar

chocolate topping

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon butter

In a medium bowl, mix the melted butter with the brown sugar, peanut butter and powdered sugar.

Spoon the mixture into a 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan.  Spread it out evenly as you can.  Press it down firmly on top with a spatula.  It doesn't have to be pretty, you're going to cover it with chocolate.

In another small bowl, add the chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon butter.  Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 70% power for 1 minute.  Remove bowl from microwave and stir gently until all the chips have melted and chocolate is smooth.  If you still have a few unmelted chips, put the bowl back in the microwave.  Set to 70% again, for 10 to 20 seconds.  That should do it for you.

Spread the chocolate over the peanut butter mixture.  Let it chill until it has set but is still soft enough to cut.

Cut the mixture into squares and remove them fro the baking pan, then put them back in the refrigerator to finish setting.

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Clone Brews, Recipes for 200 Commercial Beers by Tess and Mark Szamatulski.

Alright beer lovers and closet brewers, here's a book for you that will have you making all your favorite commercial brews.  There's more recipes and variety in this book that I could possibly drink up.  So many brew names I don't know, it's just amazing.

This books covers all types:

• Light Lager
• Pilsner
• Amber & Dark Lager
• Bock
• Light & Amber Hybrids
• English Ale
• Scottish Ale
• American Ale
• Brown Ale
• Porter
• Stout
• IPA
• Wheat
• Belgian & French Ale
• Strong Ale
• Esoteric

Clone Brews is a very well thought out book.  I can't say it's for a beginner just starting out brewing at home.  This book is for the brewer who understands the language, the ingredients and the steps to brewing at home.  The person that benefits from this book has their equipment in place and bottles waiting to be filled.

I wish I knew more about home brewing, but I don't.  I do have my favorite brews like Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Well's Banana Bread Beer, Fireman's #4 Blonde Ale on draft, Shiner Hefeweizen, and good ol' Shiner Bock.  That's as far as the road takes me.

With great thanks for the generosity of Storey Publishing for this free book, SimpleDailyRecipes.com can pass this book along to one fortunate reader.

The winner of this giveaway is Amy L.

Congratulations!!!

I just want to say THANK YOU for all those who participated and shared their favorite drinks with all of us. I KNEW WE HAD A COOL CROWD OF READERS HERE ON SDR. ;D

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

Make a kid dinner, he can eat for the day.  Buy a kid a cookbook, he can cook dinner for his family a couple nights a week.  LOOK AT THAT FACE.  That's one proud kid.  His first time at the grill was a success!

Max worked diligently on planning this barbecue spare ribs dinner; reading and rereading the recipe, trying to figure out what else he would serve.  OH! And you should have seen him bouncing around.  The excitement of working Mom's big, gas grill turned him into a spaz.  He was nervous and excited about working around the hot flames.  He worried that he would burn the ribs and ruin dinner.  He even dug out the kitchen timer to keep track of his cooking times.  Finally, when he pulled those beautiful smoky ribs off the grill, he couldn't get over how great they looked.  And let me tell you straight up, no mother's bias included, THOSE RIBS were GOOD.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

to serve 4

• 12 pork spare ribs
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
• fresh ground pepper

In a small bowl, mix together the crushed garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, tomato paste, honey, mustard and pepper.

Lay the ribs in a shallow dish.  Pour the sauce over the ribs, then let them marinate for at least 20 minutes.  It's alright to leave them out on the counter.  If you plan to marinate the ribs longer, store them covered in the refrigerator.

Heat the gas grill to about 400ºF or use a broiler.  Grill the ribs for about 15 minutes or each side.  Brush with sauce if needed when it's time to flip the ribs.

Heat any remaining sauce in a saucepan, let it simmer for 5 minutes and serve it with the spare ribs.

For another terrific barbecue sauce to slather on these ribs in the last 5 minutes of grilling, read
A MANLY BARBECUE SAUCE - IT'LL PUT HAIR ON YOUR CHEST.  It's a perfect dunking sauce, too.

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I can't get enough tomatoes to eat when they're in the peak of their season.  Tomato salad recipes are just about my favorite way to enjoy this Summer fruit.  Yes, that's right, I said fruit.

HERE'S ALL I DO

• 2 cups grape tomatoes, washed and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup purple onion, finely chopped
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and fresh ground pepper

Toss the chopped tomatoes and onion in a medium bowl.  Add equal parts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, enough coat the mix very well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Allow to marry for 30 minutes or so, before serving.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

What's your favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes?

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You don't have to be an expert baker to create these creamy wonders.  Being about the size of regular muffins, these miniature cheesecakes are excellent for a party.  My favorite part is that they freeze so well, you don't have to share them if you don't want to.
Oh! And they are sinful to eat frozen, like eating a cheesecake popsicle.  I KNOW you want one now!

The idea to build these miniature cheesecakes came from my friend, Kelly of Sass & Veracity.  The decadent cheesecake filling recipe comes out of a very trusted book, Cookwise by Shirley O. Corriher.  If you ever watched Good Eats with Alton Brown, Shirley was the guest food scientist on the show.  Let's get down to business.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

This recipe will make A BUNCH of muffin size cheesecakes, about 36 to 45.

CRUST

• 14 ginger snap cookies
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• nonstick cooking spray

FILLING

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 cups sour cream

TOPPING

• fresh strawberry jam
• fresh whipped cream

Crush the ginger snap cookies in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or in the food processor with a steel knife.  Stir together the cookies and melted butter in a medium mixing bowl.  Line the bottom of each muffin cup with foil baking liners. Spritz each liner with nonstick spray and press 1-heaping tablespoon into each cup.

Paper liners work, too, but look oily after baking.  If you're making these for a special occasion, then use foil liners.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350ºF

Blend the cream cheese and sugar well in a large mixing bowl with a beater.  Be sure to get out all the lumps at this stage.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend well after each addition.  Add the vanilla, salt, and lemon juice.  Blend well.  Blend in the sour cream.  Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.  Store extra batter in fridge while cheesecakes bake.

Put the muffin pan on the middle rack and bake for 10 minutes. The cheesecakes may not look done and may have a wiggle in the center.  Have faith.  Remove pan from oven and allow to set and cool for 5 minutes.

Warm strawberry jam in the microwave until it's loose enough to spread, but not runny.  Carefully spread a teaspoonful of jam over each cheesecake.

Lift each cheesecake out of the pan and onto a sheet pan.  Put the sheet pan of cheesecakes in the freezer until frozen solid.

Set out 15 minutes before serving, top each miniature cheesecake with fresh whipped cream.

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After studying through several fried rice recipes, I ended up taking a little bit from each one and creating my own with what I had on hand.  And the meal turned out to be a hit; my husband filled his bowl 3 times, my son had 2 bowls, I had 1 1/2 bowls.  Uh, no leftovers whatsoever.  Even after eating his fill, my husband asked if we could have THIS fried rice on a regular basis.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

to make about 6 servings

Cook the rice, first

• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 2 cups hot water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add uncooked rice.  Toast rice in oil until lightly golden, careful not to burn it.  Stir in hot water, cover and REDUCE heat to Low.  Set the timer for 12 minutes and let rice simmer until all the water is absorbed.  Remove from heat.  Fluff rice, check for tenderness.  Keep covered until ready to use.

While the rice is cooking, prep the following ingredients.

• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 bunch broccoli crowns, cut into 1-inch bites
• 1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks or julienned
• 2 green onions, chopped

• 2 cups cooked ham steak, cut into bite size strips

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten

Set aside in a bowl.

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• juice from 1/2 lemon

Mixed together and set aside in a bowl.  Taste to make sure there's a nice balance of soy sauce to lemon.  One should not overpower the other.

• neutral tasting oil for stir frying

Is everything cut up? Rice is tender?  Good, let's stir fry!

Heat a large skillet with 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat.  Add chopped yellow onion and minced garlic and cook for about 2 minutes until softened.

Add the broccoli and carrots, stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add cooked pork and stir fry until pork is heated through, another 2 minutes.

Push the mixture to the outer edge of the pan, making the center of the pan clear.  Add 1 tablespoon oil, allow to heat up a few seconds, then add beaten eggs.  Cook until scrambled into small lumps.

Add 3/4 of the cooked rice to the skillet, along with the chopped green onions.  Continue to stir and toss, to coat with oil and prevent from sticking.

Add the soy sauce-lemon mixture and mix well.  Continue to fry until rice is thoroughly heated.  Serve it up in individual bowls or one big family size bowl.  Garnish with extra chopped green onions.

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A city-dwelling locavore walks into a country store to buy fresh produce and starts eyeing a small box of peaches.  The wise farm matron behind the counter says to the city slicker, "I could make you a REAL good deal on some #2 peaches, half a bushel for $18.00."  The small box of peaches was going for $10/box and maybe had 10 to 12 peaches inside.

Well, thinking that was a GREAT DEAL, the city slicker asked the farmer, "What are #2 peaches?"

The farmer explained that those are peaches that are ripe and ready to put up, but too ripe to make it to the  grocery store shelf.  Or, the peach has a soft spot or brown spot and the grocery store won't take them.  They're all good to eat; washed and ready, perfect for freezing or baking, but can't go to the chain stores.

To which the eager city dweller replied, "I'll take a whole box!"

Then the wise woman surprised the locavore.  She said, "You know you can freeze those peaches WHOLE?"

"Really?"

"Oh yea, Honey, all you have to do is lay'em on a sheet pan and let'em get rock hard in the freezer.  Then you bag'em up and keep'em frozen 'til you're ready to use them.  Now to peel the skins off, all you have to do is run'em under cold water and the skin pulls right off the peach.  Don't let them thaw!  Work with them frozen; it's easier to peel and cut them up that way."

"Will do, ma'am.  Thank you!" said the city slicker.

______________________________________________________

So let me tell ya, a half bushel of peaches is A LOT, A LOT, A LOT of peaches.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  The box was very deceiving.  It didn't look that big, but the number of peaches it could hold was surprising.  I quickly ran out of sheet pans and had to rearrange my freezers' shelves to get the peaches all in the freezer just so.

What am going to do with all those peaches?  Well, I've been dreaming about that since the ride home from the farm.  I'll definitely make peach cobbler; it's our absolute favorite way to eat peaches.  I'll make peach bellini drinks, and smoothies for breakfast. And I'll have to try my hand at peach ice cream, most certainly.  But first, I couldn't wait to test out the farmer's technique of peeling frozen peaches.

I got out enough peaches to make a batch of peach breakfast smoothies.  Ran one peach at a time under cold water, broke the skin and it just came off.  EASIER THAN A BANDAID!  Whole sides of skin came off in one piece.  NO KNIFE NEEDED.  Well, except when I needed to cut them up into chunks.

If I hadn't been so fascinated with trying to take off the entire peel at once, I know the process of removing the skins would have been much faster.  Like a kid, I was having fun.  I went on to cut up the peaches into chunks and hit them with my handy dandy hand blender.

The results left me with a the smoothest frozen delight I didn't expect.  The consistency was that of sherbet and it was great eating it all natural.

When I made the breakfast smoothies, I used a 1 to 1 ratio of organic vanilla yogurt and frozen peach puree. Then, added enough milk to make the mix drinkable through a straw.  The kiddos slurped them up faster than it took to make them.

Have you ever heard of freezing peaches whole before now?

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I am a big supporter of eating locally grown foods.  For my area, that means access to fruits and vegetables, grass-fed meats, and dairy.  I've been trying and trying to buy from my local farmers first before I ever go to the grocery store.  And I'll admit, it's not been all that convenient and I don't always make it out to the farm.  Sometimes it seems expensive, but only because I'm buying in bulk most of the time. 

Ask me if it's worth it.

YES. Food tastes better.  Our health is better.  We have friendships with the folks that grow the food we eat.  We have SEEN with our own eyes how our food is grown or raised.  My kids have tasted the experiences of farming responsibilities and have memories to share with their kids.  And my kids eat more fresh foods, because they know where it came from, or they got to pick it themselves.

Now, we don't have a farm.  We live in the city limits.  Life is busy for us, just like everyone else.  We have the good fortune of living where we can keep a few chickens in the backyard and there's enough room for a raised garden bed and container pots.  We're no where near the economic standing of "financially set for life".  HA!  Truth be told, my husband was laid off from his job a year ago.  We've been living on trust in the LORD and His blessings this whole time.  Being financially challenged hasn't changed our minds about eating locally grown foods.  Having no insurance stresses the importance of eating better, I'll tell ya.  Doctors visits can eat up a two week's worth of groceries.

I've learned to cook smarter, extend the freshness of foods by putting them up in the freezer, and water-bath canning.  I can REALLY make a whole chicken stretch into several meals. I've gotten good at that.  I enjoy using my slow cooker more, knowing I'm going to turn a delicious hunk of grass-fed meat into 2 or 3 meals, 4 if I really plan it out right.

Do I have anymore time in my week for putting up foods?  Heck no!  I have to make time to do it. I have to say to myself, "No TV tonight!"  or "No laptop time until I knock this out."  I get my kids involved in the process.  Oh let me tell you, if you have a booger picker in your family, use their skills for shelling peas and pecans.  Booger pickers are the best helpers; they naturally love going after those hard to reach pieces.   Just make sure they wash their hands first.

Do I buy organic only?

NO. The farmers I know use smart, sustainable agriculture methods to make the best of their farms that goes beyond organic.  I've learned from them, the price of the permit of being certified "organic" costs more for the consumer.  It's better to find on our food labels, "pasture raised", "grass-fed", "no hormones", "low pasteurized", "not homogenized".  That's good enough for me.

When I go into the grocery store, not everything I need is available to me organically.  I tend to reach for the better product and vote for it to stay on the shelf with my dollar.  Processed foods, no matter if they're made with organic ingredients, are still processed foods.  I limit how many of them make it into my cart.  I've always enjoyed reading the backs of food packaging.  I don't have so much interest in the FDA label, as I have the list of ingredients and where the food was made and distributed.  You'd be surprised how something that is "whole grain healthy" and costs 70 cents more, came out of the same plant as the generic food.  And maybe there's only one ingredient that sets them apart.

Enough of my rambling on, what about you? How do you feel?  Where are you coming from?