Day 11 - Favorite recipe(s)

One of my favorite recipes currently is this hummus.  It's a pantry-only item, so it's food storage friendly, and it's so delicious and healthy.  I just love hummus and Abby loves it too!  We eat this hummus on sandwiches, or just as a dip with carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, pita bread, celery, cherry tomatoes... lots of possibilities.  Abby usually just eats it plain (she just licks it off her carrots and dips them back in again).


Another family favorite is this Szechuan Shrimp from Allrecipes.com.  It's healthy and filling.  I usually have to cut the amount of red pepper flakes in half, though, for Garrett's sake.  I just add extra on my serving!


And I can't forget to include the recipes for Margherita Pizza.  I ADORE homemade pizza, especially Margherita Pizza.  It's my absolute favorite kind (that and mushroom pizza).  Even though this recipe I linked has 4 cheeses, it's just as good with only mozzarella, so even if that's all you have on hand it's still delicious!


My go-to favorite for desserts is this Apple Pie from Allrecipes.  In fact I made it last week for a Church activity and it won first place in the pie category.  It's yummy.  Not as good as Linda Chaston's blueberry pie with cream cheese, but it's still good. :)


Another incredible recipe is one for Clam Chowder that I found (and tweaked) a few years ago from Allrecipes.com.  It's too hot outside to even think about making soup right now, but I'm so excited for winter so I can make this again.  It really is SO good if you love Clam Chowder like I do!


The Best Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

6 strips bacon

4 cans (6.5 oz) minced clams

1 cup minced onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cups cubed potatoes

1 cup diced carrots

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 quart half-and-half cream (I actually used 1 pint (2c) half-and-half and 1 pint (2c) milk)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (crucial!!)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

ground black pepper to taste

 

In a large pot, brown the bacon until crisp.  Remove bacon and set aside.  Add the veggies (onions, celery, potatoes, carrots) to the bacon grease and saute 1-2 minutes to get the bacon flavor into the veggies.  Next, drain the clams and add the clam juice to the veggies.  Add a little bit of water so that the veggies are completely covered.  Simmer until soft.

 

While the veggies are simmering, melt butter in a separate saucepan.  Add the flour and wisk together until you have a thick sauce.  Add the half-and-half and continue stirring until the sauce is warm and thick (don't let it boil).

 

Once the cream sauce is ready, pour it into your veggies/clam sauce.  Stir together and make sure it's hot (but NOT boiling).  Once it's hot, add the clams (you don't want to add them any earlier because cooking too long will make them chewy and tough).  You can also crumble up the bacon and add it now, too, if you want (you mostly used the bacon for the fat, but I added the crumbled bacon to ours and it was very good).  Next, add the red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Enjoy!!

What are YOUR favorite recipes?

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Up tomorrow: Self portrait