Southwestern Pasta Salad

First a little update on my son:
  It's been a long journey, but my son is now in remission from leukemia and we are verrrrrrry slowly getting back into a routine again. 

Spencer is recovering well and is looking forward to a little normalcy this summer and for his upcoming senior year of high school.  Thank you for all of the prayers and kind wishes in his (and our) behalf.   We have truly felt God's comfort and presence through this entire journey. 

And now onto the recipe: 
While sitting in the hospital with my son over the last nearly 6 months, I would find myself daydreaming about new recipes I wanted to try when life was back to normal.   Unfortunately after only rarely cooking for months on end, I feel out of practice and it's actually been a challenge for me to get back into menu planning/ daily meal making.  Thank goodness for tasty and easy meals like this one to make the adjustment a little easier!    Pasta salad with a Mexican zing may sound a little strange, but it came together well and I loved how the fresh flavors combined.   It also makes for a great make-ahead meal, since the flavor seems to get better and better as it sits in the fridge. 


Adapted slightly from The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh

                        Click here for printable recipe. 

Posted by Lara.

The ingredients:


1 pound box bow tie pasta (farfalle)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups diced cooked chicken (a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken is perfect)
8 green onions, chopped
6 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 can (15-oz.) hominy, drained (found with other canned beans)
1 can (15-oz.) black beans, drained
1 bottle (12-oz.) mild green taco sauce (salsa verde)
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions: 
In a large pot, cook pasta in boiling water, stirring occasionally.

Drain and rinse pasta and transfer to a large bowl.  Add oil and toss to coat.  Add remaining ingredients, except cheese, gently stir together. 

Add shredded cheese just before serving.

Makes 8 servings.  Serve room temperature or cold.   (it's even better the second day)

Enjoy!


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Chewy Brownie Double Chocolate Cookies

 I have a hard time deciding which I like more-- a fresh, hot cookie straight from the oven or little snitches of the dough before they're done.  With these chocolatey cookies it won't matter, since both the dough and  finished product were amazing!   They have a soft yet chewy texture that is reminiscent of a brownie and with double chocolate, they're sure to satisfy any chocolate hankerings as well! 

For those of you wondering about my son with leukemia, I thought I'd give a little update here as well.  We had been worried that he was going to spend his 17th birthday in the hospital, but the timing between his rounds turned out just perfectly and he got to be home for his birthday.  Although that was birthday gift enough for him, he also was showered with cards from all over the country (and world), which turned out to be a fun gift for him as well.  He is back in the hospital now for his fourth and hopefully last round of chemo. 

Click here for printable recipe. 

Posted by Lara.

The ingredients:


2/3 cup shortening (Crisco)
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
1 Tbs. water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 package (12-ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream shortening, brown sugar, water, and vanilla together.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda; mix just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips. 

Bake 7-9 minutes on parchment paper lined cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. 

The tops of the cookies should still look slightly moist when done. 

Cool 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. 

Make 24-30 medium size cookies perfect for dipping into a big glass of milk. 

Enjoy! 

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Welcome, News, and Links

Welcome to Recipe Shoebox!  My name is Lara and I started the Recipe Shoebox in 2008 after getting sick of trying to keep track of my recipes in a mess of binders, bookmarks, and a shoebox.  When I first got started I envisioned this blog being a family forum for me and my sisters to share recipes amongst each other.  It didn't take long to realize though, that I was a bit more excited about blogging than my sisters, so you'll find that the majority of the over 600 recipes here are mine. 

In 2011 I started to get a little overwhelmed with trying to keep up the blog and my five kids, so I took on a blogging partner, Jen, to help me.  She is a passionate cook who loves to create fun food for her three boys.  I've enjoyed her creative contributions to the blog  and  loved the fresh influx of recipes to the blog at a time when I was feeling a bit distracted from it.  Little did I know back when I invited her to join me in our cooking adventures that it wouldn't be long before I would appreciate her efforts more than ever. 

You see, in January my sixteen-year-old son was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and as a result this blog immediately took a back burner in my life.  My son is responding well to treatment so far, but has spent almost the entirety of the last two months in the hospital undergoing intensive chemo to treat the aggressive nature of his type of leukemia.  He is scheduled to undergo a bone marrow transplant about 6 weeks.  

With very little in the way of cooking happening in our house, Jen, my sisters, an aunt, a cousin, and my sisters-in-law have sacrificed their time and kept this blog flowing with new recipes.  It may sound like a little thing, but with how much time and effort I've put into the Recipe Shoebox over the years, it's meant a lot to me knowing that the recipe sharing is continuing onward in my absence. 

I hope you'll enjoy your stay here at the Recipe Shoebox.  Check out the menu bar on top for easy navigation.  The search bar on the right is helpful if you're looking for a specific recipe or a recipe that calls for a specific ingredient.   You can subscribe by following it via "Google Friend Connect",  by email with a form on the right, or you can add the blog address to your feed readers.  You can also check out the new social media (Facebook and Pinterest) buttons I've added to make it easier than ever to share your favorite recipes with friends!  

NEWS

Radio Show:  I'm going to be interviewed on a radio show on Monday morning!  Listen to it live at 10:00am EST  here:  http://www.wbcl.org/default.aspx.  If you already missed it, I will post an archived link when I receive it. 

Five Star Rating System:    The company that provided the five star rating system at the bottom of each blog post has discontinued offering that service and thus far I have been unable to find a replacement.  :(  I am sad that all the ratings have disappeared, but I will continue looking to find a replacement service.  If any of you bloggers know of any, please let me know. 

Indexes:  While I've done my best to keep the indexes up-to-date, current events in my life being what they are, I am a few months behind on them.    Use the search bar on the right to search for recipes by  name or specific ingredients. 

Pinterest:  I've added new "Pin It" buttons on the bottom of each post to make it easier than ever to pin your favorite recipes to Pinterest!  My user name is wawadehut....if you want to check out the recipes I've got bookmarked to try when life is normal again. 

Facebook:  Check out the new Facebook "Like" buttons on the bottom of each post and on the right to go along with Recipe Shoebox's revamped page on Facebook!     Check us out! 

LINKS

My Very Favorite Recipe: 

                                                           Chicken Pasta Salad

this healthy recipe is in the top-5 favorites for each one of my kids

Reader Favorites: 

                                                       Crockpot Chicken Parmesan

easy, cheesy and oh so good!

                                                 Garlic Chicken Pasta with Spinach

flavorful and healthy

                                                            Thai Chicken Pasta

this one is quick and easy and always a hit at our house

    Honey Lime Enchiladas
when I asked my Facebook friends which of my recipes was their favorite, this one got the most votes!

   Blueberry Spinach Smoothie
I'm always looking for a tasty way to sneak some superfoods into our diet and this one is my kids' favorite way to eat their spinach

                                                  Easy Chocolate Pretzel Bites

with only 3 ingredients, this is literally one of the easiest treats you can make and they taste as great as they look.  I just let my kids do the unwrapping and setting it up and it's done in no time!

Family Favorites:

                                                           Chicken Tortilla Soup

using leftover chicken and dried onions, this flavorful soup can be done in less than 10 minutes.  It's been on our menu for well over a decade and is still a staple in our menu.

                                                          French Peasant Bread

Back in the day when I was cooking regularly, we made this super easy homemade bread a couple times a week.  It's so easy I even trained my 11-year-old to make it. 

                                                        Makeover Chicken Crescents

This is one of my family's favorite meals ever!  I'll make it for dinner one night, then  freeze the leftovers and then I add them frozen to the kids' lunches.  They are thawed out perfectly by lunchtime and they love getting something other than PB&J's!

                                             Flourless Chocolate Cake

No one in our family needs to eat a gluten-free diet, but this totally flourless cake recipe (no strange flour concoctions to buy at a health food store) is still our favorite chocolate cake recipe ever.  They have a really normal cake texture (not dense like some gluten-free baked goods) and no one will ever guess in a million years that a can of garbanzo beans is the flour replacer.

Most Requested Recipes: 

                                                                  Perfect Pie Crust

This is my #1 requested recipe by a long-shot!

                                                               No-Fail Apple Pie

This recipe has won or placed in several bake-offs and there are certain people who know me as "apple pie lady".

                                               Mom's Streusel-Topped Breakfast Cake
Classic and easy, this recipe has been in our family for a couple of generations and is as well-loved now as it was then.   I've brought it to many brunches and breakfasts over the years and almost invariably I get asked for the recipe.  I usually make it with at least part whole -wheat flour and it still gets gobbled up!

                                                           Secret Buttermilk Syrup
This syrup was a culinary life-changing discovery for us and we simply don't buy regular maple syrup anymore, because this quick to make syrup is so darn good!  My 11-year-old usually whips it up whenever we have pancakes or waffles!  Try it and you won't go back! 

Blogposts about my son:

How We Found Out About Spencer's Leukemia
How We Told Spencer
Trusting in the Lord


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Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Two months ago today my life was consumed with busy mom stuff.  What should I make for dinner tonight?  How many  places do I have to go tonight?   Then on the evening of January 10th we got the phone call that turned our world upside down and in a single instant our priorities shifted in a big way.     After 51 nights in the hospital with my son (and many more to go), I certainly haven't done much in the way of cooking or experimenting with recipes lately, but then I remembered that I do have a bunch of recipes I'd made and hadn't blogged about yet.  I'm taking advantage of a quiet moment tonight and posting about one of those stand-out recipes from BL (Before Leukemia).    

It's been a while since I made this slow cooker meal, but I remember it being super easy--a dump it and forget it type of meal!   I also remember us all enjoying it and thinking that I would definitely make it again.   
Thank you to friends and family who've been taking care of the blog in my absence!    Hopefully you'll see me pop in from time-to-time with some more of these forgotten recipes. :)
Enjoy! 

Adapted from:  All Recipes

Click here for printable recipe. 

Posted by Lara. 

The ingredients: 

(oops!  The black beans didn't make it into the picture) 

1 pound raw chicken breasts, cubed
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14.5 ounce each) cans chicken broth
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 can (15-ounce) black beans, drained
1 Tbs. chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

Directions: 
For soup:  Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in chicken broth,  cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn, black beans, and cilantro.

Cover, and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.  Serve hot with sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, and tortilla strips. 

For tortilla strips:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly brush both sides of corn tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

Enjoy!

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Update on Spencer

I know you're mostly just here for the recipes and I promise I won't do this very often, but for those of you who are interested, here is a quick update on my son:

• After four weeks in the hospital, then one glorious week at home, he just returned to the hospital yesterday to start his second round of chemo.  Each round takes about 4 weeks of in-hospital treatment. 

• His fourteen-year-old sister and nine-year-old brother (2 out of his 4 siblings) were were found to be exact bone marrow matches, so his treatment now will include a bone marrow transplant which will be performed in a couple of months. Which sibling will be the actual donor will be decided later by a transplant team from the hospital.

• Once he lost his hair, a whole host of friends and relatives shaved their heads in support (girls got hair cuts and donated it to Locks of Love, an organization which makes wigs for young cancer patients).

• With the help of family and friends, we are doing our best to keep life at home as routine as possible and thankfully it seems that the rest of my kids are doing okay.  My little one is quite a bit snugglier than usual when I'm around, but I'm not minding that one bit. 

• I haven't had much time to do much cooking lately, but thanks to the kindness of many friends who have been bringing our family dinners,  we are still enjoying delicious, home-cooked meals.   

• I am so very thankful to Jen and my sisters who have kept the blog updated over the last few weeks!  I'm happy to know that the recipe sharing goes on while I am away!

Here are some of my favorite photos from over the last month: 

My husband and son, just after shaving off Spencer's hair which had begun falling out in patches.  My husband only kept the mohawk for a few minutes, but it still cracks me up whenever I see this picture!

 

I love this picture of Spencer and his youngest sister, taking a stroll around the pediatric oncology unit. 

This is what I've been doing instead of cooking...learning how to take care of Spencer's central line (an IV line surgically implanted in his chest). 

His hospital room sports several homemade signs and banners, but this is my favorite....a sign made by his little sister!  I especially love all the staples.

It's been a mild winter here in the DC area, so the nurses let him go out and play in the courtyard on a few of the nicest days when he was feeling good.  It was his first breaths of fresh air in weeks and he enjoyed playing basketball with his Dad and keep away with this cute little fellow cancer patient. 

Truly our needs are met and we do not need anything other than your continued prayers, but if you'd like to donate to help find a cure for leukemia, go here to my cousin's fundraising page. My cousin is a lymphoma survivor of almost 10 years and now devotes herself whole-heartedly to finding a cure for blood cancers--like leukemia and lymphoma.   She is participating in a 100-mile bike ride in honor of Spencer and you will find updates and blips from our family blog there. 

Funds raised from her bike ride go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which is committed to curing blood cancers and helping patients and their families. 



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