Family Fun PART 2: Remaking the Cooking Show "CHOPPED" with the kids.

Chopped, Always Style:  part 2 ~ Lunch!

So, if you saw this post, you know what you're about to watch:)  This one was even funnier... but not quite the level of the FINAL episode that's coming soon!!

Watch here, and please click "like" if you enjoy it and comment on youtube.  I'm really trying to get our youtube channel going strong!



Let me know what you think... and what other shows might be fun to remake? Or should we do a new version of this (and actually plan AHEAD to video?:)

Clean Eating #19: Chicken Kitchen Sink Soup (veggies, couscous, lentils, healthy stuff)

Chicken Kitchen Sink Soup

I gave up trying to name my soups. I'm a lover of many textures, colors and flavors in my food, especially my soups. My chicken soup has evolved over the years to the point that I just about throw everything except the kitchen sink into it.

This time I actually ran out of room in my pan before I got very many different veggies in it.  I usually have everything from green beans to zucchini and whatever I have on hand.  In the winter I like to use frozen veggies because they're quick.  This is deinitely a 'quick fix' meal (Which is probably why I made it on a Thursday, when we are often gone from 8:30am to 9:30pm).

PREP:  If you have a prep day, go ahead and dice/cut up your chicken and store in a freezer bag/container in the freezer.  Dice onions and either roast garlic or dice and store in a bag along with any other veggies you like in your soups (bell peppers, fresh veggies, etc).  Anytime I do cook a full chicken, I keep the broth in freezer bags as well as boiling the last of the chicken to make stock for soup later on.  This time I had to buy new broth because we're out.

Ingredients:
Cooked Chicken breast, cut into bit sized or smaller pieces
Natural Chicken broth
Lentils
Whole Wheat Coucous
2-3 bags of a variety of diced frozen veggies.  We had corn, peas and carrots this time.
1 onion, diced
1-2 heads of garlic, diced or roasted garlic
Stalk of celery
Mrs Dash Tomato, Basil Garlic seasoning
Fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Since I didn't follow my own rule and have a prep day this time, I had to start from scratch. 
On the stove
1 pan with cubed chicken, diced onions and garlic being sauteed
1 large pot with water, chicken broth & lentils brought to a boil, then simmered on low-med for about 15 -20 minutes until the lentils are mostly soft. (I like my veggies kind of firm in my meals, so I tend to make sure that everything is nearly all the way done before I add frozen veggies, fresh veggies need to cook a little longer, especially carrots)
Add box of couscous to the broth & bring to a boil again, then simmer
Add frozen veggies
Add chicken mixture
Add more water/broth as desired.  I like soup without too much broth, unless I'm treating myself with bread, which is why my "soup" tends to look more like a plate of veggies sometimes:)

Verdict:  YUMMY!  I love all the different textures in this soup.  I loved the couscous and lentils both together.  It was almost as good as wild rice! 

Variations:
Sometimes I use wild rice instead of couscous, which I actually prefer, but we're out.  Again.  I don't want to get stuck in a rut, so I try to get different things.
Seasoning Suggestions??  Experiment with different seasonings.  I'm curious what other people use.  Some day I want to try a spicy version with some of my spicier seasonsing.  I've never been very knowledgable about spices, so any info is good!  No MSG and No Salt added is good for us.

Clean Eating #10: Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

Apparently taking photos of your cooking is a habit that we need to learn! 

OMG.  What an idiot I am.  Here I am saying how scattered Jaedin is, and I post without a recipe.  Uhhhhh.... Well, now you all know where he got it.  The recipe is at the bottom along with what we'll change next time.

Jaedin is really the least focused of my children.  He forgot to take photos of the ingredients, most of the process, the end result.  Pretty much anything.  So instead, you get a photo of the 'stuffing' being sauteed... and my dinner plate:)

The plate:  Stuffed Mushrooms, Sweet & Spicy oven fries, corn on the cob & salad w/egg white, bean sprouts,grape tomatoes & lemon juice.

Our first family dinner in a long time!

 Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms. 
Adapted from the Clean Eating Magazine Jan 2011 Issue, page 22
(forgive me, but I write out recipes the way I cook... somewhat oddly.  The magazine has 'normal' recipes, I promise!  I made several replacements because of things I couldn't find or forgot.  I don't know that I ever make recipes exactly how you're 'supposed to', which is good, I suppose for the purpose of this blog.
4 Portabello Mushrooms, stemmed and cleaned (save the stems)
Chop & sautee in Coconut Oil
1 zucchini
1/2 green pepper
1 red onion
1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
1 large tomato
fresh Basil leaves
Add in:
Roasted Garlic
Roasted red peppers
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
The meat eaters in our family added some cooked, lean free range sausage or the more 'clean' version of some finely chopped chicken breast.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or so... (We had to reheat them since Patrick was home a little late and they were still fine)

What we'd do differently next time:

First off, this was a lot of prep work for a teenaged boy who has yet to learn the faster ways of doing things.  Especially Jaedin, for whom the highest functioning speed is "moderate".  Next time I'll make sure we prep the stuffing part on a prep day when I can help him see the faster ways of doing things.  And remind him that we generally have pre chopped veggies in the freezer!:)

Other than that, they were DELICIOUS.  A big hit for everyone except the girls.  They had leftover bean dip and Tuscan Bean spread.



Clean Eating #9: Whole Grain Healthy Apple Cinnamon Groat "Porridge" Pancakes

Clean Eating Apple Cinnamon Porridge Pancakes
*For the leftover oatmeal/porridge/cooked oats
If at First You Dont' Succeed, Try, Try Again... until your kids like the food enough to eat it!
*My final recipe is at the bottom
You can do this with any flavors.  We especially like chocolate banana or apple cinnamon.

Today my hubby was home for the morning and we were both up for breakfast before the kids, so we had our coffee (I have mine with flavored liquid Stevia) together with our omelettes and fruit.

I decided to use the leftover apple cinnamon groats from a couple of days ago to make some pancakes.  I do this often with wonderful results... usually.   However, I normally don't measure anything.  Apparently measuring throws off my natural 'how to' because the first ones...

FAILED.

Badly.  The texture was awful and they were just... slimy or something.  I could barely get them to flip.  So, the first two went in the trash.

I made the kids "syrup" by sauteeing some apples with a little coconut oil, cinnamon and then adding dark agave nectar.  This was a HUGE hit once I got the pancakes right.  They LOVED them.  I try not to have too much in the way of sweet tasting stuff because it triggers sugar cravings badly, even if I have it along with protein... but yeah, they were a pretty good topping on the pancakes!

**I realize that there are some questions about Agave Nectar... and I probably won't buy it again until I can find a raw/unprocessed kind.  HOWEVER, feeding a family of 7 on one income is already a challenge, so I can't afford to not use what I've already bought in bulk.  I will continue to look into the issue, but for now, for us, its something we'll be using.

The kids don't care for the 'chunky' texture of the groats in their pancakes, so I used the blender to puree them a little.

After a few tweaks, I got them pretty much right.  I think my issue may have just been that the last time I made groats, I used my leftover applesauce and the 'porridge' ended up being of a different consistency than what I normally use.

Apple Cinnamon "syrup" and the extra pancakes that we'll stick in the fridge for quick eats.

The first "correct" batch of pancakes that Jaedin gobbled up.  The rest of the kids loved them... even healthy food critic Kainan.

Paris and Abyni tried theirs with some vanilla yogurt (not a clean food as it had added sugar, but if you're a yogurt fan, you could certainly make some natural flavored/sweetened yogurt to top them with)

Final Recipe (I make a LOT generally because they freeze/hold up well and make for great quick breakfasts/snacks later on.)
3 cups of cooked or leftover porridge/oatmeal (We used apple walnut cinnamon for ours)
3 1/2  cups of milk
1 - 3 eggs or 3 tbsp of Greek yogurt (This is what I did, because I was out of eggs and was probably the cause of my initial failure... oh well, alls well that ends well!)
4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
3 Tbsp of wheat germ
3 Tbsp of ground nuts
2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients first, then add liquids & mix well (puree in a blender if you want smoother textures)

Cook at low-medium until the edges are dry and the bubbles are 'popping' through the tops of the pancake.

Any other ideas for flavors?  I know now that I should have researched egg replacements before just using yogurt.  I've used yogurt as an egg replacement many times for muffins and they were fine... but I didn't think about the difference between pancakes and muffins. 

Clean Eating #8: Prep Day, Omelettes & Notes on CE

A BIG Difference.  I'm not Hungry.

Since I'm truly eating clean... I'm not hungry.  Hardly ever.  When I eat a meal, even though it seems so... SMALL... I am full.  And I STAY full.  My protein shakes fill me up until its time to eat again.  Eating all whole grains, raw fruits and veggies and always pairing my fiber with protein has made a big difference in how much I eat.  I am purposely NOT trying to lose weight at the moment, because I want to focus more on developing good habits first.  I'm assuming that just focusing on having good habits will at the very least help me maintain the nearly 30 pounds I already lost, but will make it easier when I am ready to lose those last stubborn pounds.  I have a feeling if I try to force more weight loss right now that it will just creep right back on if I haven't developed better habits first.

Another Bonus?  My sugar craving have disappeared.  It is even "that" time of the month and I'm not craving anything sweet.  THAT is a big change for me.

I think Wednesdays will always be food prep days.  Sundays probably as well, but Wednesdays are pretty free days and Thursdays are crazy busy ALL day long.  We're often out of the house from 8:30 am until 8-9:30 pm on Thursdays... as I said, its crazy.

Kainan sliced the pork tenderloin and the flank steak for our future recipes Flank Steak & Oven Fries and Pork Stir Fry.

 
 

Abyni made meatballs (We cook them on cooling racks on top of a pan so the fat drips off)

I chopped a bunch of veggies for omelettes.  I only eat egg white (and a half a yolk because I broke one when filling my bowl:) but the rest of the family eats whole eggs.  Kainan and Patrick like mushrooms and green peppers, so I end up sauteeing a bunch of different things in small pans.  I'm much more strict witht he clean eating for myself than I am for the kids.  As long as they're eating healthy, I'm good.

"Boy" veggies for omelettes

"Mom" veggies for egg white only omelettes

Finished Mini Omelettes.  Read to wrap and refrigerate so they're ready for a quick breakfast or snack.

I make my omelettes in my mini single serving size pans and try to make a few ahead of time. 

But I want a FASTER way!!!

Bake them in individual serving dishes.  I bought some individual serving crockery once at a sale and they work great for cooking crustless quiches that I can freeze.  You can also use mini muffin pans the same way.  We did that for prom a few years back and we loved having the mini quiches in our freezer.

Clean Eating #7: Quick and easy personal Pizzas

We love love love pizza.  Frozen pizzas, restaurant pizzas, cheap or expensive.  We love it.

I mean it.  Really.

Can you tell we love our food here?  If you watch this from 0:17 to 1:35, you will see what I mean when I say that my husband especially enjoys his food!

I saw this "Pizza Per Uno" idea in my Clean Eating Magazine and it looked super quick and easy, which are always on my mind:) 

I bought whole wheat pita breads with no HFC (something I'm trying to avoid completely and am hoping that I'm not missing it in the ingredients list of anything!!)

We set out some "clean" cheeses
Feta
Skim Mozzerella
Parmesan
Swiss
Asiago (I'm not sure this is on CE, so I didn't use any.  I'm not as strict with the kids, though)

Then
Grape Tomatoes
Baby Leaf Spinach
Marinara Sauce (that we made on Sunday)
Pizza seasonings:  sea salt, pepper, garlic, basil, red bell peppers, parsley & oregano

We would normally have some meats with it, but I forgot to thaw any, and we were starving.  Kainan thawed out some free range sausage for his, since he doesn't really need to watch his fat intake like I do and it was really good (yep, I took a bite).

The pizzas were WONDERFUL.  The girls raved that it was the best pizza ever and even better than eating out.  My thick crust loving 15 year old son is a bit pickier about having to eat "healthy" food, so he didn't rave.  I'm sure my husband will like it, but he'd enjoy a thicker crust too.  When I find a good clean bread recipe, I'll go ahead and make some pizza crusts with it for them.

Paris made hers a stuffed pizza by splitting the pita first.  Then, she was too full half way through, so Jaedin ate the rest with his salad.

Food Critic aka Kainan aka Sasquatch

The Bean aka The Monkey aka Abyni enjoying her boring cheese pizza (she's not as adventurous as the rest of us when it comes to weird things on her pizza.)

Clean Eating #6: AWESOME O.M.G. Banana Crunch Muffins.

Clean Banana Crunch Muffins

Slightly modified from The Gracious Pantry recipe

*Wonderful, highly recommended site!!!  She is amazing and her site is so well organized, I loved it.

I wanted to add some "crunch" to the recipe, so I ground up Kashi cereal, walnuts & almonds in my mini blender.  I also added some organic flaked coconut for something different.  I also didn't have pastry flour  or canola oil and with 5 kids, I wanted to double it... so my recipe looked more like this:

 Ingredients


3 cups whole wheat flour
1 Cup whole grain unbleached white flour
4 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon *plus some in the applesauce... we really like cinnamon:)
4 egg whites
1 cup agave nectar.  We used the amber and it seemed to give it a richer flavor, almost but not quite as strong as molasses.  I would use less next time just because it seemed almost too sweet. 
4 tbsp. coconut oil (an oil I buy in 55# and use for nearly everything oil)
1/2 cup milk (non-fat) or almond milk, or coconut milk (we avoid most soy products)
2 small apples shredded, boiled in a tiny bit of water until soft
5 ripe bananas (I always use an extra banana, its a quirk)
Crunchy Topping:  *Grind in a blender or food processor
Kashi cereal
walnuts
Almonds
When the muffin batter was in the mini muffin tin, I sprinkled the 'crunchy' stuff and they turned out wonderfully!

I bakeed them at 400, since that's what the oven was already on for the pizzas and the mini muffins turned out perfectly.

The finished product (and they were a HUGE hit!)

Coconut Oil ~ we prefer coconut oil to EVOO because we don't care for the strong taste... we use it in place of most recipes calling for oil as well as for sauteeing veggies & meats.  I melted it before measuring, since it is solid at room temperature, I tend to mess up my recipes when I don't melt it first.



My mini blender (I've had several brands and styles of these, and I love them all!  I highly recommend it.  I also LOVE the Hamilton Beach blender that we have that has the option of one HUGE blender *using two separate blender bases or you can use the mini blenders separately... LOVE IT~



Boiling apples & cinnamon right quick.  My new handheld shredder has come in very handy several times already!

Holy COW. 

Seriously, that is all that could come out of my mouth when I tried these.  HOLY COW.  These are AWESOME!!  The kids love them, too (BONUS... oh wait, now I'll have to make more)

Clean Eating #5: Chocolate Walnut Banana Groats

About a month ago I made a wholesale food order through Country Life Natural Foods. I saw 'groats' and thought, 'Hey, that sounds healthy... I'm going to order some.'

I should know better than to make orders when I'm feeling extra scattered, but honestly, when is that not a fact of life for me? As it turns out, I put the wrong item number and ended up with a FIFTY POUND BAG. Yep. I got to the pickup place and saw it and thought, "Wow. Who on EARTH will use that many groats? Lol."

Then realized it was mine.  So, we've found a couple of things to use it for. First and foremost, it makes the most awesome hot cereal. I don't care for the mushiness of oatmeal, so groats are perfect. They retain just a bit of crunchiness

This morning's "Porridge" I ground up walnuts, sliced some bananas and added some cocoa to my oats.  I forgot to soak them last night, so it took 20 minutes to cook.  We've apparently gotten out of the 'RIGHT NOW' habit a little bit, though... or we're all just so tired that we don't have enough energy to be in a hurry!:)

We buy our bananas in the 'overripe bags' and peel & freeze for later.  It makes them MUCH cheaper.

This bag had nearly 6 pounds of bananas for $1.39!!  We usually buy the bags of organic bananas for the same price.  We bring them home and use a bag or two for bread and then freeze the rest.  Actually, even though they're sold as 'overripe' we've found that they are still good to eat for a few days.

Here is our finished product.  Paris didn't like it as much as the apple cinnamon kind, but the kids all liked it.  Especially Abyni, our banana loving monkey.

We'll use the leftovers to make clean cocoa-banana pancakes, probably tomorrow.  I puree the leftover oatmeal and make some pancake/waffle "mix" to blend it together.  The kids LOVE pancakes w/agave nectar.

Clean Eating #4: Potluck Dish Spaghetti & Meatball Casserole w/Basil Cream...

This recipe comes from the January 2011 Clean Eating Magazine.  It looks divine.  We love pasta, especially lasagna.  I think my husband could literally eat lasagna every day for the rest of his life.  Since he's being so supportive of us making this change in our lives as a family, I was thrilled to see this recipe that would still give him a touch of 'lasagna' with the creamy basil spread in amongst the spaghetti and meatballs.  Now, knowing him, he'll still take an extra handful of parmesan or mozzerella and toss it on top, but hey, we're still progressing:)

I'm just happy to have him on board because it is so hard to stick to a healthy eating plan when you're eating by yourself as the rest of your family eats the forbidden foods!



We changed things just slightly because I always make a ton of pasta sauce at once.  I don't want to take the time to always cook things separately.  So we used the sauce from yesterday.  We also used ground turkey instead of lean ground beef.  I always make as many meatballs at one time as I can too.  They freeze well and are great for grabbing for a quick meal addition that makes it seem like you took more time than you did!

 

The bean putting her first layer of sauce in the casserole pan.  We doubled the recipe and used a 9 x 13 pan with several layers.  I'm not sure that is how the recipe did it, but that's what we did.  There will be several pockets of the basil creaminess in the middle now, too:)

Layers:  Spaghetti Sauce, then mostly cooked spaghetti noodles, then spots of basil creamy cheese sauce (We pureed parmesan, asiago, cottage cheese, basil, roasted garlic, coconut oil & a little EVOO... we didn't follow the recipe excatly because... well, I hate to measure.  The Bean likes to measure everything, though, so it was probably pretty close)  This was difficult to blend since we don't have a food processor, even our little individual blender didn't like trying to chop through a little bit of somewhat dry stuff. 

**New Idea** Thanks to the magazine... we used Wheat Germ in the meatballs instead of bread/crackers.  Awesome idea, and they taste fantastic!

Then we added another layer of everything, topped with sauce, more spots of creamy cheese sauce and the rest of the meatballs.  Yummy!!  We have it in the oven right now...

Doesn't that look just divine?  Yummy!!

Notes for future reference:  
I'd make that Sunday/Big Baking Day include making and freezing meatballs, making sauce, roasted garlic and maybe even the basil cream part. In the end, it really wasn't all that time consuming, just more steps than I want to do in one day. It helped that I HAD made the pasta sauce and roasted garlic yesterday.

I really need to make sure that I always check ALL of the weeks recipes and do as much before prep that I can on the weekend with Patrick and the kids to make the week day meals easier. I am LOVING having new things to try, so I really want to keep up with trying at least 5 new recipes a week.
 
Its not a big deal this week because we're still on Winter break, but soon we'll be back to full out homeschool co-op classes, basketball practices for Kainan, Swim Team for The Bean, Dance for Paris and The Bean and Safari Joe for Jaedin. 
 

Yeah, as much weekend prep as possible will be the key to success in this new endeavor!

Clean Eating #3: Divine Tuscan Bean Spread

I've got a confession.  I've never tried hummus.  Personally, I always found the appearance, color and texture to just be... well... ick.  As I said yesterday, I think I'm one of the pickiest eaters in the house!

Until the last time I made refried beans into dip and realized that refried beans (which I ADORE) tend to look just as unappetizing when they're being made.  So, I figured if something that looks like that can be so good, maybe white beans would be just as good.

So, today I made Divine Tuscan Bean Spread from Clean Eating Magazine

Soaking Chickpeas (I made way too many, so after cooking them til soft, I froze 2/3rd in freezer bags to save this step next time!)

Navy Beans soaking (again, I made too much... but my freezer had a bit more room, so there you have it.  I'll just pretend like I did it on purpose to save the cooking time!)

After soaking all night, I put the beans in separate pans on the stove and cooked them on medium to med high heat until they were soft.

Then we added all the other ingredients to the blender and pureed it.  The Roasted Garlic that I made yesterday came in handy.  I think I will ALWAYS do my garlic that way and keep extra in the fridge.  We use it so much, I can't see why not! 

My ingredients, lemon, garlic, EVOO, coconut oil (Paris and I prefer the taste of coconut oil to EVOO)  beans and seasonings.

I used these spices to flavor mine, in addition to fresh cilantro.  We tried it without the Rotisserie Chicken (spicy... pepper type of seasonings) and didn't like it half as much...

Paris and I REALLY liked the dip.  I think Kainan and Patrick will really like it if I can get the right balance of "hot", since they seem to like everything spicy.  I can't wait to see if my hubby likes this.  It was super easy to make and I think it would taste great with raw veggies, too!

Recipes Coming up This Week!

Looking forward to a week of healthy, awesome, NEW recipes!!



The Bean wants extra mention today, since its her chosen day to bake:)

• Spaghetti Casserole with a creamy basil-cheese addition that looks delicious!
• Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
• White Fish with Orange Black Cherry glaze
• Flank Steak stips with Oven Fries
• Pita Pizzas (I am saving these for a day when we need a QUICK meal!)
• Groats & Apple Cinnamon Pancakes (my own conglomeration of pancake recipes that I make with leftover oats when we have them)
• Tuscan Divine Bean Spread with veggies
• *Video* Home Made Clean Bread (I can't wait to find good homemade bread recipes!:)

On top of that, we have all sorts of nut butters, cheese sticks, fruits and veggies.  I made the kids a list of all the snack options we have with a list of Protein Snacks in one column and Fiber Snacks in the other.  That way that can choose one from each colum for their snack, breakfast or lunch.  One of them is going to help/make the dinner recipe for one day a week.  There you have it!  I love having kids that enjoy cooking.  I'm curious to see which of these "new" foods are going to become our new "old" favorites!

Clean Eating #2: AWESOME easy Tomato Sauce(s)

We love tomato sauces so much.  I can make a huge pot of sauce and it will be gone in under two days.  Even when I make the kids eat it with "healthy" whole gran pasta and bread.  Today I made two different types.  One more marinara-ish, one with heavy veggies. 

I have a couple of kids who are vegetarian, and we all like our sauces fairly... chunky, so the added veggies were a bonus.  I'll make some turkey meatballs for those of us who are still carnivores. 

Paris is weird in many ways, but some are very useful.  For instance, she loves grating vegetables.  Strange, right?  I know!  As a matter of fact, the Bean is weird, too, because they were fighting over who got to do it. 

They also like grinding up seasonings... strange little beasts, they are.  It saved me scads of work, though, so its all good.

Although I try to avoid buying ANYTHING in cans (since I can't seem to find BPA free anything), I actually buy the 'bulk' sized canned crushed tomato and diced tomatoes ("Es"?  no "E"??  I can never figure it out.  I apologize for my grammatical uselessness) mainly because I can't find any substitute that works for me.  We buy fresh tomatoes in the summer at farmer's markets, but the ones at the store are just... eh...

I tend to throw a little bit of everything in my sauce.  The above spices, sauteed onions, roasted garlic, shredded carrots & zucchini, beef broth and I just keep adding stuff until it tastes good.  Which is a wonderful way to cook and be free... until your husband reminds you yet again that 14 years ago you cooked the best sauce ever and have never managed to replicate it once.  You'd think at some point this would cause me to measure and write down a recipe.  Yeah, not happening.  But now I have pictures!

Now we have sauce to have with our spaghetti & meatballs casserole from my Clean Eating Magazine AND sauce for our whole wheat pita pizzas this week.  And, of course, dipping sauce for our whole grain French Herbed Bread that I'll be making tomorrow.  Yay!:)

I usually make a small pot with green peppers & mushrooms for my Hubby and Kainan just so that I don't have to eat them.  Yep, I am probably the pickiest eater in the family after Abyni!

Clean Eating #1: Roasted Garlic

The roasted garlic just pops right out!

Our family loves garlic.  No, we ADORE garlic.  We obsess about it and love it on or in nearly everything.  Especially if we're feeling under the weather, garlic is always our main cure all. 

The part we don't care for is all the chopping and peeling.  And the stuff already prepped doesn't even come close to the real taste of fresh garlic.  Not even close. 

I found this recipe in Tosca Reno's Clean Eating Cookbook and it looked SO much easier than all the chopping and peeling we normally do!  We use it both as a spread for clean crusty breads (which I will be making tomorrow) and to add to our marinara/pasta sauces, etc.



SUPER simple.  Just chop the tops of the garlic off, exposing the clove inside.  You can remove some of the excess peel, but leave most of it intact.  Drizzle with EVOO and stick it in the oven (I didn't use much oil, next time I will use a LOT more)

Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until the garlic is toasted brown and soft.  When its done, flip the garlic upside down and it will absorb the oil.

My husband, Patrick, made a dipping oil with some of it by adding some extra EVOO, fresh shredded parmesan, Oregano, Basil & pepper.