Have you heard of Wheatena? I hadn't either until last year during one of my Weight Watcher meetings when a fellow member was talking about a different option for breakfast. The following week I looked for it and now I'd like to recommend it to you as a different option for breakfast. I love the nutty flavor, and just like oatmeal, you can mix in whatever you'd like; dried fruit, diced fresh fruit, nuts...

Or you could make muffins, these muffins. While I may have erased some of the benefits of eating this cereal, I still feel better eating these for breakfast rather than these Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (this doesn't mean I still won't eat one for breakfast every now and then!).

This recipe originally called for orange flavors, but I have a lot of grapefruit that I'm looking to use up and I thought the tartness of grapefruit would balance the honey and brown sugar. It sure did. While the grapefruit flavor is just barely present, I wasn't disappointed because the nuttiness released from baking won me over!

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 cup Wheatena
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp grated grapefruit peel (from ~1 grapefruit)
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 dark honey
• 1/2 cup grapefruit juice (from ~1/2 grapefruit)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 400F. Place cupcake papers in a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.

Evenly divide batter into muffin pan using a 1/4 cup measuring cup (it's actually just a little less than 1/4 cup each muffin).

Bake 15 minutes or until browned on top. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove and serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Source: Adapted from Wheatena

I began reading off the ingredients and JR began putting them into a mixing bowl. Right after he dumped the wings in we realized something wasn't right. I referred back to the recipe and sure enough we were doing it wrong. But no worries, these turned out great! And I will be sure to give you the correct instructions here so you don't end up with the congealed mess that we had

What I liked about these wings was that they had flavor, not just heat, but a nice balance of spices. JR appreciated that as well, because Buffalo Wings are not on his radar. We had these for our meal while we watched the Super Bowl, but these would be great as an appetizer at your next party.

Here is what you'll need:

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup hot sauce (I used 1 1/2 Tbsp Sriracha)
• 3 Tbsp vinegar
• 2 1/2 lbs chicken wings
• 1 envelope ranch dressing mix (I used Green Onion Dressing mix)
• 1/2 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl mix butter, hot sauce and vinegar. Dip each wing in mixture and place on baking sheet.

Sprinkle ranch dressing and paprika over wings. Bake 30-40 minutes or until browned.

Serves ~5 (4 wings each serving).

Source: Weekend Cook

Inadvertently, this week ended up being a soup/stew week. I'm really excited to end this week with this stew which part of a recipe swap I participated in. I was lucky enough to get this unique Mahogany Beef Stew submitted by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations. After reading the ingredient list I was intrigued by one ingredient, hoisin sauce.  This is a staple in our house, generally used for a grilled steak marinade, but I never thought about using it in beef stew.

As I started cooking I realized the directions said simmer on low 2-3 hours (when will I learn to read all the way through before starting!).  After saying something explicit under my breath, I went back to the original recipe on Epicurious. The instructions didn't appear to take as long to cook, so I opted to follow their method. I didn't end up needing cornstarch for thickening, but you may depending on how thick you want the gravy.

Mary Ellen mentioned serving with mashed potatoes, so I went ahead and served it that way, a first for me. I'm so glad I followed her lead, because the stew gravy was amazing over the potatoes. Even JR said to make sure Mary Ellen knows how much we liked it, so a big shout out goes to Mary Ellen for submitting this recipe!

For more soup and stews from the recipe swap, be sure to check out A Taste of Home Cooking for an upcoming Recipe Swap Round-up of Soups.

Here is what you'll need:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, sliced
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lb stew meat
• 2 tsp flour
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup red wine, divided (I used Malbec)
• 17 oz chopped tomatoes
• 3 oz hoisin sauce
• 3 carrots, cut into rounds
• 1/2 cup beef stock

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add 1 Tbsp olive oil, onions, mushrooms and bay leaf. Season with pepper, and saute 8-10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Season stew meat with flour, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Heat a medium skillet over high heat, add 1 Tbsp olive oil and meat. Sear meat on all sides until browned.

Add meat to Dutch oven. Pour 1/4 cup red wine to skillet, simmer and stir to remove brown bits from pan. Pour wine into Dutch oven.

Add 1/4 cup wine, tomatoes and hoisin sauce to Dutch oven. Stir well, cover and turn heat to low. Simmer on low heat 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Add carrots, remaining wine and stock to Dutch oven. Turn to medium and bring to boil. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes until carrots are tender. Simmer uncovered another 15 minutes to thicken. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

Source: Epicurious as seen on Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I haven't always been so good about keeping waste to a minimum, and the truth is I still sometimes struggle with it, but more recently I've challenged myself to use the ingredients I have on hand.  I'm pretty proud of the fact that I very rarely throw away food these days!

Remember my Chicken Noodle Soup post? This is one example of where it starts. All the vegetable scraps (ends and peels from the onions and carrots, and root of the celery bunch) go into quart size Ziploc bags in the freezer. When I have about 4 full frozen bags, I get to making stock.

I hope you aren't rolling your eyes thinking I'm a weirdo! This can truly be life changing. I can't remember the last time I bought stock, since I make it now and it's basically free. Think about how often you buy stock. If you follow this method you will never have to buy it again, and you will save yourself and your family from a bunch of sodium and additives.


I don't have a precise recipe, but here is the basic method I use for a 7-quart crockpot:

• Vegetable and Herb Scraps (4 quart size Ziplock bags): carrots, celery, onions, scallions, garlic, leeks, fennel, parsley, thyme
• Other: 2 dried bay leaves, 1 tsp peppercorns 
• For Chicken Stock: chicken carcass
• For Beef Stock: ~2 lbs beef bones (the butcher will give these to you for free)

Place frozen vegetable and herb scraps in crockpot. If making Chicken or Beef Stock, add the bones now too. Add 2 dried bay leaves and 1 tsp black peppercorns. Fill crockpot with water. Cook on low 10 hours.

When crockpot turns off, strain stock through fine mesh colander. Allow to cook for 20-30 minutes.  Divide stock into 1 or 1 1/2 cup portions and freeze.

Makes about ~12-14 cups of stock.

I'll be honest here and tell you that my go-to soup for years came from a can. That's not the case anymore. If only I had realized that I could have a more flavorful homemade version within 30 minutes I may have cut back eating the canned stuff years ago. If this soup is on my weekly menu, I'll chop the vegetables on the weekend or in the morning before work. This helps keep the prep time to a minimum.

I've played around with the broth ratios and 1/2 stock with 1/2 bullion is my preference, but you could certainly use a ratio of more stock or more bullion based on your preference. I've also tried adding the vegetables to the broth raw vs. sauteing, and sauteing wins hands down. It gives the soup an incredible amount of flavor. I should mention that I like a chunkier soup with less broth, so if you want it soupier just increase the total amount of broth by a few cups.

Why should you believe this soup is a winner? Well, my non-vegetable eating brother-in-law eats it, the whole thing, including the vegetables (although I do omit the celery if I'm making it for this picky-eating family). So if you have a picky eater, maybe you should give this a try.

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 small onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 large outer celery stalks, chopped
• 2 small inner celery stalks with leaves, chopped
• 1 dried bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb chicken breast, chopped
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups homemade chicken stock
• 3 chicken bullion cubes
• 3 cups water
• 4 oz egg noodles (or 4-8 oz pasta of your choice, including tortellini)

In a medium size pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery and bay.  Salt and pepper to taste and saute until vegetables start to brown and onions become translucent. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.

Add potatoes, stock, bullion, and water. Bring to a gentle boil for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.

Meanwhile, in another medium pot, boil egg noodles in salted water for 8 minutes or longer to your preferred texture.

Add noodles to soup or serve soup over noodles if you want to keep the noodles separate for leftovers. Serves 4.

Source: An Adventures in My Kitchen Original