Recipes to Declutter Your Kitchen By

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Recipes to Declutter Your Kitchen By

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Started 1 year ago by needtocleanhouse
Latest reply from bandicoot
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needtocleanhouse
Member

Post your recipes to declutter your kitchen by on this thread. Any winner recipes you want to share with fellow declutterers, maybe? I collect cookbooks from all over the world and am always interested in how food is cooked around the world! Feel free to share your favorite recipes to declutter your kitchen by here. Any national dish? Any only where you live famous foodstuffs?

@Katha from over in the "A Thing A Day: uncluttering your home one thing at a time" thread - here's the recipe for "Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Mayonnaise Cake"

Chocolate Sour Cream Mayonnaise Cake

1 block (.5 cup) butter (can substitute Imperial (only) margarine)
1/2 C sugar
4 eggs
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 C mayonnaise (regular)
1 box (must be this brand) Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix OR DARK FUDGE CHOCOLATE (if you want dark chocolate) OR Butter cake mix with 6 or so T Hershey's unsweetened dark chocolate powder
1 t baking soda (I use 2 - 3 t for extra lightness sometimes)

Mix ingredients in order they appear above. Pour in 9x13 pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 35-50 minutes (time varies for me "depending" on size of pan and the daily whim of the oven god). Test for doneness with fork, barbecue stick, chopstick - whatever is used in your corner of the world. Cake is ready when tester comes out clean.

Optional - for extra gooey chocolate and sweet:

layer with caramel topping (as in for ice cream)
then top with a layer of Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge frosting

Posted 1 year ago #
Katha
Member

Hi needtocleanhouse,

wow, thanks!
Though I will need to pick a day I feel especially daring to try this. The thought of mayonnaise in a chocolate cake is just ...unfamiliar to me. Though rationally, yes, the stuff is oil and egg and a little vinegar, so why not?

Posted 1 year ago #
susique
Member

found the recipe for this mayo cake in mom's old cookbook. had heard dad talk about it before as being a favorite heavy, moist cake. never had it, but know it older family spoke of it often.

Posted 1 year ago #
susique
Member

my favorite uncluttering recipe is to saute chicken in olive oil with seasoning (usually greek seasoning) and frozen veggies (love asparagus blend) and throw in pasta (usually frozen from previous dinners) or brown rice (also previous dinner contributions). add a chili paste , balsamic reduction, or hot thai sweet chili sauce. one pan, just add salad. easy cleanup and if any leftovers, makes a great lunch. even the kids like it.

Posted 1 year ago #
SunshineR
Member

Hi Katha, I have seen and used recipes for chocolate cake which include your choice of either: mayonnaise/sour cream/applesauce for moisture. Go ahead...it will be a very moist, heavy, delicious cake. Enjoy!

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

During 8th grade a classmate was learning to bake at home and she brought a chocolate cake in one day that was WOW - much better than any other chocolate cake I'd ever had. I've been baking recently and I remembered her chocolate cake and wanted to make it since it was the best chocolate cake I'd ever had. I remembered it was moist and heavy. And I thought I remembered that she said it had mayonnaise in it. So I searched on line for recipes (there are lots of versions if you want to search and look) and got a general idea that during the war when eggs were hard to come by that people made this cake with mayonnaise instead. So I modified a good recipe I had by substituting the mayo for the oil (you can use oil in place of the mayo if you like) and it came out really good. I also was apprehensive about adding mayo to a cake (yikes), but tried it. It helped reading good things about mayo choc cake on line. My girlfriend and I both are not choc cake people; but this cake we ate up, yum! (Used the Devil's Food flavor, Duncan Hines cake mix for that first one.) She and her daughter said it was the best choc cake they ever had. I think maybe my classmate's cake was even better, at least in the memory of my young impressionable taste buds, so I may keep experimenting with the recipe. But this version comes out darn yummy.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

start your day with one of these and you'll have the energy to declutter for hours and hours and hours:

kitchen sink smoothie for two
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

you need a heavy duty blender for this, to make it really smooth and creamy.

1 ripe banana
a few frozen berries
half an orange
1/4 tsp cinnamon (good for your blood sugar)
1/4 tsp turmeric (antioxidant supreme)
1/4 tsp ginger (good for your circulation)
1 tsp flax seeds
2 tsp sunflower seeds
2 tsp pepitas
a few almonds/brazil nuts/macadamias
3 tsp oatmeal
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 cup of water
a dash of honey if you like
some ice

blend the whole lot until smooth....adjust water/ice/yoghurt until it is as thick/creamy/runny/icy as you prefer.
drink it slowly.

you can make this with any fruit/nuts/sweetener combo you like.
fresh dates are lovely.
fresh passionfruit are awesome, but only if the blender can handle the seeds.

Posted 1 year ago #
Beth213
Member

This recipe is perfect for cleaning out your cupboard of all those cans of beans and diced tomatoes you kept buying because you forgot you already had them. (My record is 8 cans of chick peas and 5 cans of black beans and to numerous to mention red kidneys)

Pasta Fagioli

2 Large (20 oz or more) cans of diced tomatoes
3 14-16 oz cans of beans, you can use chick peas, cannelini (northern), black eyed peas, black beans, kidneys.. whatever floats your boat. I like the chick peas, cannelini and black eyed peas.
1 can chicken or veggie stock (or water if you prefer)
1 large onion chopped
2-3 large garlic cloves minced
1 large zucchini chopped
3/4 cup of small pasta - (shells, dilitini,or elbows)
palmful of oregano
palmful of basil
1/2 palmful of parsley

In a LARGE (the biggest one you have - the beans and tomatoes take up ALOT of space) cook the garlic and onion in some oil for a few minutes. Add the zucchini. Cook for about 4 minutes more. Add the spices and let cook another minute or two. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, stir. Reduce heat to low/med and simmer for about 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

Great decluttering recipe ideas folks!

I have a vitamix too, bandicoot, and your recipes sounds yummy. Never thought of adding cinnamon and tumeric - what a great idea! Already use fresh ginger. I love my vitamix. Do you make any soups in yours? Haven't gone there yet, but I'm thinking that would be a great way to declutter the refrig of those little odds and ends.

I used to make and soon will start again to make a green smoothie in my vitamix with:

[Green Smoothie]

1 organic kale leaf (take out stem)
2 or 3 INCHES of frozen banana
teaspoon of revital-x powder (can use any powder drink base or juice)
stalk or less organic cilantro (optional, but I love the taste it gave the drink)
maca powder
small piece of fresh ginger
small slice of lemon (w/ skin on)
small piece of fresh organic beet
ice
water or juice or milk or almond/rice milk

The first 3 ingredients plus ice and water/liquid = base
Then if you want you can add other things that you like.

It's green and makes you wonder at first; but it's yummy!

Caution: cruciferous vegetables = "goitrogens" which can interfere with thyroid function (see http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=47 )

For more information on and recipes from Vitamix:

http://www.vitamix.com/index.asp
http://www.vitamix.com/recipes/

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

Uncluttering rest of Bisquick (biscuit mix) from refrig to make

Corn Cake (Cake rather than a bread, softer, fluffier & sweeter)

2 C Bisquick (Bisquick = best, but can use other biscuit mix)
1 C sugar
1/4 t baking soda
2 blocks butter or margarine (softened or melted)
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 C milk
2 T yellow corn meal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat all together for 3 mins with electric beater. Put in a 13 x 9 inch pan, greased is better but I don't do that and it comes out fine. The mixture is thin and runny; but it is supposed to be that way and bakes up yummy.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

NTCH, i haven't made soup from scratch in my vitamix, but i've certainly blended many a soup in it.
omg, it makes such velvety-smooth creamy soup!

you know, i keep reading about green smoothies, but i skeered.
i want my smoothies sweet and creamy. not vegetable-ish!
i mean, i love gazpacho, but not in my smoothie!
maybe i could start slowly with just a few spinach leaves? i'll have fresh baby spinach in another couple weeks.

cinnamon and turmeric....my jamu standby!
jamu is the traditional herbal medicine of indonesia.....27 million indonesians can't be wrong!
try it....you'll like it!

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

@bandicoot - spinach is sweet in a smoothie - just green! No veggie taste. I can't get my husband to even taste one when it's green. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

ok pkilmain, you've talked me into it.
spinach smoothies as soon as i can pick a few leaves!

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

When I first started making green smoothies a person emailed me with her experience as follows:

She said: [start quote] ". . .bananas and avocados...I like to put ground flaxseed and hummus in my smoothies ,someimes zucchini, and carrots, also spirulina-I tried spinach in there once since I love it but that is strictly a juicer item-even though I trimmed the stems the texture caused the smoothie to separate and provided a bitter taste that even the sweetness of the grapes could not counteract. On the days that I am using mostly vegetables, I will add a dash of cayenne pepper or some sunflower seeds." [end quote]

But it probably depends on the spinach you use and blender (she didn't use a vitamix).

An herbalist from a famous line of Chinese medicine doctors once told me re arthritis, to stay away from protein and spinach, broccoli and I forget what other vegetables. She said these vegetables had a type of "protein" in them. I think she said the following are good for arthritis: taro, watercress, water chestnuts. Interesting.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i've been decluttering clothes again this morning....all powered up on a smoothie!

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

Powered up on a green smoothie this AM - kale, cilantro, fruitein powder mix (veg type), cranberry juice, frozen banana (part of), maca and ice. Was a little too sweet for me. It's the first time I used this powder base and I used 2/3 of a banana rather than 1/3 and it came out too sweet. If I use this base again I'll use 1/3 banana and less juice and more ice. It was pretty good tho. Next time I'll also put a slice of lemon and a sliver of fresh ginger in it.

Posted 1 year ago #
terriok
Member

You had to go and mention chocolate!!! ;o)

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

hey terriok, where ya been?
i've missed your posts!

Posted 1 year ago #
Jacquie
Member

Yesterday I posted on the "Can you justify your most recent purchase" thread that we have just got an EasiYo yogurt maker. I have been lookin at these since I saw them mentioned several times on the forum. I love it!!!! DH bought it (in Lakeland), along with the assorted fruit flavours, the unsweetened Greek style and the low-fat Greek style packs of mix.

I have now had it 5 days and so far have nearly finished the strawberry, started on the lemon, and made a batch of cheese with the unsweetened Greek style. I am wondering if anyone has made cheese with the low-fat Greek style, or any of the other plain mixes, and which they have found best to use? Sometimes I find with bought cream cheeses that the low-fat ones are a bit 'dry', which is why I avoided that one to start with. Also, what do you mix in if you want a flavoured cheese?

Has anyone tried freezing the cheese? I think I need to experiment with this as I didn't think ahead to realise what a big tub of cheese a whole litre of yogurt would make! They say it keeps a week in the fridge; is this about right? The yogurt they say a fortnight, so shouldn't the cheese keep that long as well?

Also, has anyone good recipes to recommend for yogurt? I looked on the EasiYo website and there are lots there, but lots of them also need butter and/or cream as well as the yogurt, which rather defeats the purpose! If you have tried any of their recipes and found them good, please tell me which ones, or if you have any other yogurt recipes to share, yes please.

btw, DH doesn't like yogurt, so any recipes where he wouldn't know it's in there would be extra good.

Posted 1 year ago #
WendyTheWindbag
Member

Jacquie,
I have a yogurt maker and only have made plain skim. I would love your recipe/ directions for Greek style!

Posted 1 year ago #

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