Colens Recipes

  Buddy, our 5 year old Chiweenie, absolutely LOVES these treats. They are super easy to make (only 4 ingredients) and cost a fraction of most commercial treats. 4 cups oats (processed in food processor to smaller texture) 2/3 cup applesauce (I used unsweetened) 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I use Skippy) 2 eggs (lightly beaten) Put the oats into a food processor and chop until you have a smaller texture. It will take (about) 6 cups of oats to make 4 cups of chopped oats. (I hope that makes sense). Click on this photo see the texture In a stand mixer, mix the chopped oats, applesauce, peanut butter and eggs until you get a very stiff dough that holds together. Scatter a little of the chopped oats onto your work surface and then roll out the dough to 1/4" thick. Cut into squares. Place squares onto a parchment lined baking sheet. The treats don't spread, so you can place them fairly close together. Bake at 350F  25-30 minutes (my electric oven takes 30 minutes). They will be ni...

My picky-picky husband is a "meat and potatoes" man through and through. If a meal doesn't  center  around meat.....well, he doesn't call it a real meal.  That's why I came up with this "Meat-less Spaghetti" (for myself) to counter hubby's "steak night". It is total COMFORT FOOD !!! 1/4 cup olive oil 1 medium sweet onion (chopped) (2) 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes (Italian style) 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder ( not  garlic  salt ) pinch of cayenne pepper  (see note below) 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (see note below) 2 teaspoons dry basil leaves 1 teaspoon dry oregano 1 teaspoon fennel seed (grind in mortar & pestle) 2 teaspoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 8 ounces button mushrooms Any other veggies you like (small dice) 12 ounces spaghetti noodles Saute chopped onion in the olive oil until they look sort of transparent and smell "sweet-ish". Put cooked onions (don't drain) in a large Crockpot (I think mine is a 6 quart siz...

I use a lot of dry herbs and spices; they are convenient. However, there are some spices that I don't use all that often. For example, that little $3.99 jar of rubbed sage gets used for a single holiday and then languishes on my spice rack, only to be thrown away. Well, I've discovered the (bulk) dry herb and spice section of the health food isle. The spices are sold by the pound, so the big hand full of sweet basil I bought the other day was a whopping 45 cents. I am buying all of my dry herb and spices this way from now on. They are not only economical, but they are super fresh and are an excellent quality !! . This recipe for Italian Seasoning is a far better blend than any ready-made Italian Seasoning that I've found so far. I hope you will try it. 3 tablespoons dry basil 3 tablespoons dry oregano 3 tablespoons dry parsley 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon fennel seed 1 teaspoon dry thyme 1 teaspoon dry rosemary 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 t...

Today's post came about when I had some BONELESS beef short ribs thawed out and I had no clue what to do with them.  I decided to make short rib tacos and they were SO GOOD, I will definitely be making these again!! Start with 2½ pounds of BONELESS beef short ribs. I'm sure every butcher shop has their version, but the ones I use look like this and they are about 1/2" thick: In a small cup, mix 3 teaspoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin (don't leave that out), 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of oregano and 1 tablespoon of dry onion flakes. Mix well and sprinkle both sides of the meat evenly as possible ( no need to brown the meat!!)    Note: Hubby does not like spicy food, so the spice measurements above are very conservative.  Add more if you like a little "heat". Put the seasoned meat in the crockpot in single layer and top with a 4 ounce can of undrained mild green chile's (I use Ortega). Do not add any liqu...