Treats from the Tipsy Turtle

Energy bars are a family favorite. They're convenient, easily modifiable and as my daughter stated, "easy to eat with one hand." When you have a toddler and newborn, that's a definite plus. Chris likes to take them to work but he had to stop taking the commercial ones; when you work in an elementary school, nut allergies are always a potential issue. So I have been on the lookout for bars that are fiber-rich, easy to eat and nut-free.  Here's today's cast. The recipe is basically an "add everything to the bowl and mix" thing but after I added a lump of raspberry applesauce, I decided to whisk the dry ingredients together first. Then I continued with the rest of the wet ingredients. I lined the dish with parchment paper. I almost forgot the chocolate chips! While I was at it, I threw in a handful of dried cranberries. To keep the parchment in place, I put a large dollop in each corner, then filled the rest of the dish. I used a spatula to press the mi...

 Nadiya Hussain is one of the few Great British Bake-Off winners/contestants that I actively follow. I enjoyed her Netflix special "Time to Eat" and I like the way she uses shortcuts to create satisfying meals for her young family. My family's not young, but I like shortcuts and they like satisfying meals, so here we go. Here's tonight's cast. The eggs were beaten with a bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder. I added a glug of heavy cream. I was looking for a sun-dried tomato paste to spread on the tortillas but found this instead. A bit chunky for my purposes but it was quite tasty. I could have thrown it in the blender for a quick puree, but I didn't feel like it. So there. The sun-dried tomatoes were spread onto the tortillas and put aside for a bit. I heated avocado oil in a small pan. Just enough egg mixture is added to cover the bottom of the pan. Then the toppings were added. I used baby bellos, cheddar cheese and chopped parsley. The tortilla was place...

I am not sure what attracted me to this recipe. Maybe it's because I had a bunch of tortillas to use up. Maybe it's my continued desire to see if I can get things out of a Bundt pan. Hmmm. I don't even remember what I was originally looking for when I came across this, but, here we go. Here's tonight's cast. The recipe didn't call for cilantro but I had some and thought I'd use it. I ended up putting it into a bean dip instead. Chopped onion was added to a hot skillet with a tablespoon of avocado oil. When the onions were nice and brown, the chopped red bell pepper and half a jalapeño pepper were added. When the peppers were softened, the ground beef was added. And when the ground beef was nearly cooked through, the packet of taco seasoning and the juice of one lime were stirred in. Once the ingredients were nicely incorporated, I removed the skillet from the stove and let it sit for a little bit to thicken up and cool.  The tortillas were sliced like so. Th...

 Chris and I had a rather protracted conversation on the subject of pancakes and waffles a few nights ago. The discussion was quite far-ranging and included topics such as sweet vs. savory, toppings (type, amounts and combinations), size. We had a lot of leftover ham from last night's dinner so I decided to use it tonight alongside scrambled eggs and pancakes. I don't have a set in stone pancake recipe so here's the cast for yet another version I tried. Many of my recipes call for small amounts of sugar and salt. Rather than drag out the large containers, I keep these little containers on the counter for easy accessibility. Different lids and with labels on them, of course. Mixing them up would not be fun. The dry ingredients are whisked together in one bowl. The butter was melted. Then the wet and dry were mixed together. Whisk away! The batter will still have smallish lumps in it. I let it rest for a few minutes. I love this skillet--not only is it heavy-duty and heats ev...

Pasta is a huge favorite in our house. It's also one of those things I have a hard time resisting and once I start eating it, I usually eat more than I should. I have read about spaghetti squash for years but never ventured to make it on my own. I got one from a local farm last week and decided to give it a whirl. Here's the cast for roasting the squash. To keep the cutting board from slipping on the quartz countertop, I use a wet paper towel between the board and the counter. You don't want a cutting board to slip in general but when cutting a heavy squash, even more so! I considered a couple of different knives before settling on a large carving knife. In order to cut off the ends, I had to press the blade against the surface and rock it back and forth. Once a small incision was made, I had to keep shifting the blade around the circumference, rocking back and forth a bit more as I went. It was not easy to do! I did the same process with the blossom end so the squash would...