What to do with Melons...

Every summer we buy melons- watermelons, honeydews, cantaloupes, and so forth.  However, as a family of four, we often have trouble finishing the whole melon.  Last summer I made a muffin with a cake mix and watermelon.  This summer I decided to work on that recipe.  These muffins turned out delicious!  They were light, fluffy and very healthy.   They are also dairy free and egg free.  If you would like to use eggs instead of the flax seed, replace the water and flax seed with 2 eggs.  Enjoy the recipe!

Melon Muffins with Lime Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
1 Cup Blended Melon
1  Cake Mix (White, Yellow, or French Vanilla)
1/2 Cup Multi Grain Hot Cereal (I used Hodgkins Mills)
1/2 Cup Applesauce
1/4 Cup Juice (I used mango/tangerine, but any juice would work)
1/8 Cup Flax Seed
3/8 Cup Water

Lime Caramel Sauce (Optional)
1/4 Cup Honey
Juice of 1 Lime
Lime zest

Melon Muffins
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Microwave water for 45 seconds.  Mix flax seed into water and stir.  Set aside to cool.

2. In your magic bullet or blender, blend about 2 cups fresh melon (I used cantaloupe and watermelon).  Your goal is 1 cup of blended melon.  You want a thick juice.  Small chunks of melon are okay, they actually taste delicious in the muffin!

3. In a large bowl, mix together melon, muffin, multi-grain cereal, applesauce, and juice.  After mixing, mix in flax seed.  Thoroughly spray muffin tins with non-stick spray.  Fill each muffin tin almost to the top.  It will make 12 muffins.  Bake for 23 to 25 minutes.  Muffins will start to crack and pop up when gently pushed.  They will also start to brown around the edges.  Let cool before adding sauce. (I let ours sit covered overnight)

Lime Caramel Sauce
 Poor honey in a small pan.  Juice 1 lime into pan (make sure to remove seeds).  Mix together.  Cook on high, stirring constantly.  It will take 2 to 3 minutes to make the caramel.  I let mine boil for almost 5 minutes and that was too long.  The caramel and lime will start to boil and then froth up.  Keep stirring, it burns easily.  After it has reached a rapid boil, let boil for a minute.  Pull off the heat and let continue boiling for a minute, stirring while it cools.  Drizzle over muffins.  Grate lime zest over top of the muffins.

What to do with cabbage...

I am on the countdown- 6 more days of students and 1 teacher workday!!!  I LOVE summer!  I especially love all of the fresh fruits and vegetables!  Here is a great slaw recipe if you are tired of traditional slaw.  It is sweet and crunchy, a favorite combination of mine!  Enjoy :)

Strawberry Apple Slaw
Ingredients:
3 Cups Cabbage, shredded
1 Red Bell Pepper, thinly chopped
1 Apple, thinly chopped
8 to 10 Large Strawberries, chopped
1/4 Cup Red Onion, finely diced
3/8 Cup Vinegar & Oil Fruit Based Salad Dressing (E.g. raspberry vinaigrette, strawberry balsamic, etc.)
1/8 Cup Honey
Juice of 1/2 a Lime
1/2 Cup LaChoy Rice Noodles (the crunchy, salad topping kind)

In a large bowl, mix together cabbage, pepper, apple, strawberries, and onion.  In a separate bowl, mix together salad dressing, honey and juice of 1/2 a lime.  Pour over salad and mix gently.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.  Immediately before serving mix in the LaChoy rice noodles.  Serves 6 to 8.

What to do with cucumbers and tomatoes?

With Spring here and fruit and vegetable stands popping up all over the place, I'm in the mood for some salad.  For the first time ever, I've planted some plants.  Hopefully this summer, we'll have a ton of peppers, lettuce, onions, and raspberries.  Celia and Charlie had a great time helping me plant the seeds.  Now I just have to keep them out of the dirt long enough to let my little plants grow!  Here's a deliciously fresh tasting Balsamic Cucumber Tomato Salad.  I used dried basil, but if you have fresh basil, it will taste even better!

Balsamic Cucumber Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
3 and 1/2 Cups Chopped Tomatoes (I used Roma and Cherry tomatoes)
1 Large Cucumber
1/3 Cup Diced Onion
4 oz Diced Mozzerella Cheese
3/4 TBSP Dried Basil
1 TBSP Minced, Refrigerated Garlic
1 TBSP Honey
2/3 Cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
Salt (optional)
Pepper (optional)

1. Chop tomatoes and cucumber.  Put them into a medium-sized bowl.  Dice onion and cut mozzerella cheese into cubes.  Add to bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together basil, garlc, honey and salad dressing.  Pour over salad and stir.
3. Salt and pepper to taste.

What to do with instant oatmeal?

What's for Leftovers has a Facebook page!  Make sure you check it out and become a fan to get recipe updates!

What's cooking What's for Leftovers readers?  This has been a great spring break week, but since we've been so busy, I haven't actually been doing a lot of cooking.  The other day I did make peanut butter cookies for our Community Group.  We did not bring a single one home, so I think everybody liked them.  For breakfast that morning, I had fed Celia and Charlie instant oatmeal.  This was my first time preparing it, but it is like a gold mine.  It is so easy to make and they loved it!  Well, I made Celia's great, but I think I got distracted with Charlie's and did something wrong (I know you're asking yourself, who messes up instant oatmeal!?).  To thicken it up, I had to open another packet.  Instead of making a huge amount of instant oatmeal, I saved the rest of it and added it to the peanut butter cookies.  According to Belinda, it made the cookies look healthy :)

Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1 Cup Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Pecan Meal (Finely chop pecans in your food processor if you don't have pecan meal)
3/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Instant Oatmeal (You can add a whole packet if you don't have one open already)
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Flour
M&M's (Optional)
Powdered Sugar (Optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together peanut butter, eggs, pecan meal, honey, instant oatmeal, baking powder and flour until dough forms into a large lump.
3. Place dough in freezer for fifteen minutes.
4. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Take cookie dough out and roll into small balls.  Place several M&Ms on top of balls (optional).  Put remaining dough back in freezer.
5.  Bake in oven for 11 to 13 minutes.  Cookies are finished when they puff up and start to turn light brown.  Take out of oven, sprinkle with powder sugar (optional) and let cool.  Repeat until dough is finished.

**Makes 2 and 1/2 dozen cookies** 

What to do with pancake mix? Part 2

It's funny how weekends are supposed to be filled with relaxing downtime, but they often end up being busier, but more fun, than the work week!  We've had an exciting weekend hanging out with friends and family!  In fact, some of them are still hanging out in our kitchen.  We also got to eat out at some really great restaurants.  But don't worry What's for Leftovers readers, I still managed to squeeze in a couple of new recipes.  This one is a variation of a recipe I read in a Guideposts a while back.  It's called a Finnish Pancake.  I told Celia and Charlie it was a 'GIANT' pancake.  No matter what you call it, it's delicious.  After you finish baking it, make sure you let it completely cool.  This gives the inside time to settle.  Top with fried apples and powdered sugar for a breakfast treat or a great dessert!

Fried Apples
Ingredients:
8 Medium Apples
1/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Butter
1/2 Cup Water
Pinch of Salt

1. Spray a large frying pan.
2. Peel Apples.  Cut into large slices and put into frying pan.
3. Add honey, butter, water and salt.
4. Cook on high heat until water has evaporated.  While cooking, stir frequently so apples don't burn.  Lower heat and continue cooking until apples are soft and smell like apple pie filling.


Finnish Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 Cup Pancake Mix
2 1/2 Cups Milk
4 Eggs
1/4 Cup Honey
4 TBSP Butter
Powdered Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray a 10"-11" round baking pan or skillet with PAM. 
3. Pour pancake mix, milk, eggs, honey and butter into a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into baking pan.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Top should be golden brown when 'Finnished'.
5. Let cool completely.  After slicing, top with powdered sugar and fried apples.
 

What to do with ham and green peppers?

Who would have thought?  This is what I asked myself when our ham and chicken kabobs turned out absolutely delicious tonight!  I love ham, but I've never bar-b-qued it.  However, we have a lot of ham.  A couple of weeks ago, hams were on sale at our local grocery store and I bought a huge one!  It was so big that I cut it in half and froze half of it.  Earlier today, I took out some chicken to cook tonight, but my thighs didn't thaw out, only the two boneless breasts did.  Needless to say, when I went to make these Asian Kabobs for dinner tonight, I had to improvise.  Lucky for us and all our What's for Leftovers' readers, they turned out to be some of the best kabobs I have ever made!  Feel free to use whatever veggies you have on hand.  I used our last turnip, which actually turned out to be really good as a kabob veggie.  I hope you can get out and enjoy the nice Spring weather and bbq these kabobs some time soon!

Asian Kabobs
Ingredients for the Kabobs:
1/2 Large Red Onion
1 Medium Yellow Onion
2 Green Peppers
2 Colored Peppers (I used red and yellow)
1 Turnip
2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut into Chunks

15 Large Chunks of Ham

1. Soak your kabob sticks in water so they won't catch on fire on the bbq pit.
2. Cut up vegetables and meat into large chunks.
3. Load up six kabobs sticks with the vegetables.  Load up four more with the meat, rotating ham and chicken. 

Ingredients for the Sauce:
1 Cup Red Sweet n' Sour Sauce
1 Cup BBQ Sauce
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1 TBSP Minced, Refrigerated Garlic

1. Mix all ingredients together and divide into two bowls.
2. Baste both sides of veggies kabobs with sauce in one bowl.  If there is sauce left, pour over veggies.  Then baste both sides of meat kabobs with sauce in the other bowl.  If there is sauce left, pour over meat.
3. Cook kabobs on bbq grill over medium-low heat.  Make sure chicken is finished cooking before removing from heat.

What to do with tortillas? Part 2

I had five tortillas left after last night's dinner to do something with tonight.  My friend Kim said that tortillas freeze nicely, but since we only had five left, I thought I would do something desserty with them.  If you are going to freeze your tortillas, Kim said to double-bag them for freshness.  This is a great tip to have for the future!  For tonight's dessert, I fried the tortillas just like last night.  Then I sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon and topped them with chocolate, honey and whip cream.  Mmmmm!  It was excellent.  A light, easy dessert for our families to enjoy.

Dessert Nachos
Ingredients:
5 Tortillas (or more if you have more)
Cinnamon and Sugar
Honey
Whip Cream
Chocolate Sauce

1. Cut up each tortilla into 4 triangles.
2. Heat a thin layer of oil in your frying pan.  Put tortilla triangles into pan, frying one side, then flipping and frying the other side.  Fry until they are a light brown.
3. When removing from pan, immediately sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on both sides of tortilla triangle. 
4. When finished frying all triangles, arrange on plates.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar again.
5. Heat 1/3 to 1/2 cup of honey in the microwave for 10 seconds.  Drizzle honey and chocolate on top of triangles.  Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

What to do with leftover Pork Loin? Part 2

Aaahhh, for the first time in a very long time, we have a calm, uneventful weekend planned.  I am so excited!  I can't wait for Andy, Celia, Charlie and I to hang out and do laundry.  You know you're getting older when doing laundry excites you more than going out on a weekend!  We started our weekend off with a family dinner of pork loin leftovers.  I am happy to say that after making my Pecan Pork Cakes and adding some pork to our baked beans, we are finished with the leftover pork and will be on to new leftover recipes.  But first, the recipe for Pecan Pork Cakes.  They are delicious!  These are very similar to Crab Cakes, but with a sweeter taste and a smoother texture.  I topped them with a tangy sauce; the recipe for it will follow the Pecan Pork Cakes' recipe.  Hopefully your weekend will be as relaxing and productive as I'm planning on ours being!

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Pecan Pork Cakes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Chopped Pork
1/4 Cup Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Pecan Meal*
1/8 Cup Bread Crumbs
2 Eggs
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tsp Ground Mustard
1/4 Tsp Pepper
1 Pinch of Sugar

Grind chopped pork loin and cream cheese in food processor until smooth.  Pour into a separate bowl.  Add pecan meal, bread crumbs, and eggs.  Mix thoroughly.  Add spices and mix again.  Heat oil in a frying pan.  Form pork into 2" to 2 1/2" patties.  Drop patties into oil and fry until golden brown.  Flip and fry the other side until both sides are golden brown.  Place on a plate with a paper towel, so the oil can drain off.  This recipe makes roughly 7 cakes.

*If you do not have pecan meal, simply grind pecans up in your food processor until finely chopped.

Dipping Sauce
Ingedients:
1/8 Cup BBQ Sauce
1/8 Cups Sweet n' Sour Sauce
2 Packs of Soy Sauce (the kind you get with Chinese take-out)
1/2 TBSP Honey

Whisk all ingredients together.  Serve with your Pecan Pork Cakes.

What to do with extra bananas?

This morning, Celia, Charlie and I sat down to a nice breakfast of bananas and yogurt. They promptly peeled (or took the tape off, as Charlie says) their bananas and said they were done. They didn't want to eat them. I did not want to eat three bananas, so I had to figure out something to do with them. I made a caramel sauce and cut them up into it. I put the sauce on top of their pancakes. You could also put it on top of ice cream or waffles. I thought it was great. Celia and Charlie still wouldn't eat their breakfast. I guess it wasn't a breakfast kind of day for my two and three year old. Oh well. Here's the recipe. It was just enough to top the pancakes for two little ones. You'll probably want to double or triple the recipe if you're going to serve more people.

Banana Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
2 Bananas
3/8 Cup of Honey
1/4 Cup Olive Oil or Butter
3/4 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon

Heat butter or olive oil up in skillet. Slice bananas into the hot oil. Add honey, vanilla, and cinnamon to the skillet. Stir constantly because the mixture will burn easily. You want the liquid to boil and become sticky. After boiling, turn stove off and mixture will continue to thicken. Serve warm.