Budget Cooking Sourdough Baking

The write-ups are short and so are the recipes! Thenfeedthem.com focuses on providing tasty, easy, simple recipes for time-crunched, hungry, frugal, cash-poor people. Or just about everyone at some point or another.

No, there's not a lot about me here. I'm a writer, cook, and normal person, most of the time. I'll tell you a little about my life in my posts but not much (I'm kind of boring).

The filler is the food, not my life story! And, after all, "food is love." I hope you are filled to capacity. And cook to fill others, too!

Nov 7, 2020
3 min

Hot Cocoa Bombs or Hot Chocolate Spoons: Which is Better?

Hot cocoa bombs have suddenly become an "in" thing, and they're incredibly expensive, even at Costco. Yes, you can make your own hot cocoa bombs if you order molds from Amazon (or find a store that's open that sells the molds). The molds are a bit pricey, particularly if the jag for hot cocoa bombs fades. So why not try hot chocolate on a spoon, instead? Really. You can make the Hot Chocolate Spoons in just a few minutes, and they are perfect for sharing and giving as g

May 28, 2020
4 min

Tired of Cooking Dinner: Bacon and Cheese Quiche

I'm tired of cooking. Are you? We've probably been making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for weeks now, many of us, with no meals out, no takeout, no respite. We may be tired of cooking, but we, and the people who live with us, do want to eat. So what to do? Well, we eat a lot of leftovers at my house. After a point, though, I have to actually make something, so that something will be left over. Yes, there are shortages of items at the store--flour, sugar, yeast, and now

Nov 21, 2019
2 min

Make Ahead Thanksgiving Dessert: Chocolate Rum Pie

Want to add something different to your Thanksgiving table? How about a pie that's deep, dark, and delicious? Chocolate Rum Pie, which is really more of a European-style torte, is loaded with rich chocolate taste and has a smooth, buttery hint of rum. The pie has a creamy center, but the addition of a little cornmeal causes the filling to form a firm, sugary topping as the pie bakes. I use left over brownies, which I whir in the food processor, to make the crumbs for an e

Sep 16, 2019
1 min

Quicky Chocolate Muffins--Low Fat!

The internet has loads of recipes for chocolate muffins made with a cake mix, but this is one of my favorite versions, mostly because it's low fat, quick, and delicious. You can mix these muffins up in a few minutes and pop them into the oven to bake while you eat dinner. When you're done, so are they. The muffins are great with fruit and after-dinner coffee or tea. Because they're low-fat, I also have convinced myself that the muffins are just fine for breakfast and snac

Jun 24, 2019
2 min

Gluten Free Air Fryer Fudge Cookies

Okay, I don't have to watch the gluten, but I know many people do. These cookies are for you, as well as for anyone who likes moist, fudgy, dark, and delicious little cookies. The cookies require almond meal, but, other than that, no expensive or hard to find ingredients. The dough mixes up quickly, and the cookies bake in about 8 minutes in the air fryer. You can bake the cookies in a single session, or bake a few cookies and save the rest of the dough for baking later.

May 21, 2019
3 min

Air Fryer Mini Fudge, Not Lava Cakes

While on a recent vacation, I had a chocolate lava cake that wasn't anything like what I was expecting. The dessert I received was actually a little cupcake with a slightly fudgy center but no lava. No problem. The mini cake was just the right size, and it was moist and really good. So good, that, having returned home from my vacation, I still had that cupcake on my mind. Nonetheless, with the temperature warming to 90 degrees, no need for a dozen (or more) cupcakes sitt

May 17, 2019
2 min

Air Fryer Cookies: Chocolate-Oat Chewies

I love the air fryer for making small batches of cookies quickly. I don't need to haul out and wash a large cookie sheet, heat up the big oven, or spend hours making a batch of fresh cookies. Plus, I have plenty of cookies for dinner and snacks but not so many that the cookies will go stale or cause me to over indulge. The cookie recipe I'm offering here is quick to mix up. I add the ingredients to a two-cup measure and stir them into a dough with a wooden spoon. The coo

Jan 16, 2019
2 min

Quick, Cheap, and Low Cleanup Fajitas Dinner

I posted this recipe months ago (okay, more than a year ago), but I decided to update it and repost it. The recipe is a favorite because it's an easy way to make fajitas, doesn’t require a lot of cleanup, and will help you get a great dinner on the table faster and for far less money than ordering takeout food. After you put the chicken and vegetable mixture in to the oven, slice some zucchini in half lengthwise—like snakes—sprinkle on some lemon pepper and mist the zucchin

Dec 22, 2018
11 min

Early View: In the Christmas Kitchen

This menu is for December 25th--Christmas Day. I'm publishing it early in case you would like to consider it, or some of the items listed, as part of your Christmas menu. Christmas Salad Cranberry Salad Honey Wheat Rolls Ham Cinnamon Apples Coconut-Pecan Sweet Potato Bake Peas with Onions Green Bean Casserole Christmas Date Cake with Eggnog or Vanilla Ice Cream This menu is for a traditional Christmas dinner—nothing too “froufrou,” expensive, or complicated, and something si

Dec 22, 2018
2 min

Christmas Platter Cookies: Chocolate Biscotti

Chocolate Biscotti make wonderful Christmas gifts as well as additions to cookie platters. This recipe is one of my favorites, and I've posted it before. It was the result of my efforts to create biscotti that are low in fat, crunchy but not tooth shattering, include some whole-grain flour, are just a little sweet, and that, of course, deliver dark, delicious, even slightly decadent chocolate taste. In this version, I've included pecans--chopped and toasted until they rele

Dec 4, 2018
5 min

In the Advent Kitchen -- December 4

Carrots and Broccoli Pieces with Pesto Bean Dip Turkey Herder’s Pie Fresh Fruit Chocolate-Hazelnut Stars How about a comfort meal tonight? Start with something easy. Serve some fresh carrots and broccoli pieces with pesto bean dip to ward off the hungries. Then move on to Turkey Herder’s Pie, which uses ground turkey to speed the weeknight dinner process. The vegetables for the evening are incorporated into the pie for taste and simplicity. And for dessert? Fresh fruit

Oct 22, 2018
3 min

Air Fryer Lost and Found Breakfast Bread Pudding

The French call an egg, milk, and bread mixture that gets a quick fry "pain perdu," lost bread, but we typically call it "French toast." A fancier, more elegant dessert version that includes the same basic ingredients--eggs, milk, and bread--plus fat, sugar, fruits, and spices, appears in many cultures as bread pudding. Different cultures use their own favorite breads, sweeteners, and fats, but the common theme seems to use up what's available. The recipe I'm offering toda

Jul 23, 2018
2 min

What To Do With Sour Milk? Make Chocolate Rocky Road Cake

I hate throwing food out. So I kept that cup of sour milk thinking I'd do something with it later. Later turned into a week (or more). The milk had definitely clabbered. I could have just dumped it into the garbage disposal, but, nope, I didn't. Instead, I decided I needed to make a chocolate cake--one rich and sweet enough to incorporate that cup of very thick, curdled milk. The milk, which might have gone down the drain, turned my cake into a moist, beguiling dessert.

Jul 5, 2018
2 min

Too Hot to Bake Cookies

I wanted to make something for my husband's students who were working late on July 3rd, but it was too hot to bake. The "feels like" temperature outside was 110 degrees. So, no, I wasn't going to turn on the oven. Instead, I opted for the old standby, "Cow Pie" cookies. These cookies have been around for decades and have been known by many names. I used to eat them in elementary school. The lunch ladies who made them called them "chocolate fudgies." The kids, of course

Jun 25, 2018
3 min

Sourdough Discard German Chocolate Cake and Cupcakes

My husband wanted chocolate cupcakes but I had sourdough discard to use up, so I decided to improvise and use the discard to make him cupcakes. I mixed up the batter, and that was fine. It looked pretty normal. The problem was, though, that I had enough batter for a couple dozen cupcakes, not the one dozen I had planned. Rather than just baking the lot and freezing part, I opted to make a one-layer German Chocolate cake with half of the batter. The German Chocolate Cake

May 31, 2018
2 min

Gotta Have Peanut Butter and Chocolate? Bake Some Swirl Bars

The internet has gazillions of recipes for peanut butter-chocolate swirl bars, but this is one recipe that I've used to good effect--meaning I've scarfed down plenty of these things. The original recipe came from an old "Mr. Food" cookbook, but, like many other recipes, I've modified it (okay, kind of a lot). You make a peanut butter batter and sprinkle it with chocolate chips before baking it. After 5 minutes in the oven, you remove the pan from the oven, cut through the

May 9, 2018
3 min

Have Too Many Bunnies? Bake Some Bunny Bars

Yes, I have bunnies--lots of bunnies--in my garden. They eat almost everything and are particularly fond of tulips and hostas. Daffodils contain substances that are toxic, so, although the bunny chomped on some of them, Bun Bun subsequently spit the blossoms out. I would have preferred that Bun Bun leave the daffodils completely alone, but, alas, no luck. Because I have significant areas of vegetation in my back garden--that is, lots of trees, wood hyacinths, vinca vines,

May 8, 2018
2 min

Lots of Discard Day? Make No-Knead Sourdough Chocolate-Walnut Bread

If you have a lot of starter/discard to use, how about making a couple of loaves of very easy, nutritious, and tasty No-Knead Sourdough Chocolate-Walnut Bread? One for you and one to share? If you mix up the bread in the morning, it should be ready to bake in the late afternoon/evening. The bread isn't sweet and is perfect for dinner or breakfast. If you want a sweeter bread for dessert or to munch alongside your coffee or tea, you can certainly add more sugar to the batt

Mar 29, 2018
2 min

Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I sent these cupcakes into the office with my husband, and they were a big hit. Think of a Reese's cup in cake format but with tang and depth. The cupcakes are sweet, but not cloyingly so. The frosting gives them a big sugar hit, but you can certainly omit it if you like. If you decide to add the frosting, keep in mind that it tastes like peanut butter fudge. Ummm. Nonetheless, if nuts aren't your thing, a simple vanilla or chocolate icing would work just fine. Sourdoug

Feb 14, 2018
3 min

Quick Valentine's Day Treat: Hot Chocolate Spoons

Hot chocolate on a spoon. Really. You make these in a few minutes and share them for a fast, festive, and tasty Valentine's Day treat. I first encountered these hot chocolate spoons in a cafe in Amsterdam's Centraal Station. The hot chocolate spoons made the long wait for our train--we had already checked out of our hotel and trekked with our luggage to the station in the dark and pouring rain--more than worthwhile. The hot chocolate spoons are simple. They consist of b

Welcome to thenfeedthem.com!

The write-ups are short and so are the recipes! Thenfeedthem.com focuses on providing tasty, easy, simple recipes for time-crunched, hungry, frugal, cash-poor people. Or just about everyone at some point or another.

​

No, there's not a lot about me here. I'm a writer, cook, and normal person, most of the time. I'll tell you a little about my life in my posts but not much (I'm kind of boring).

The filler is the food, not my life story! And, after all, "food is love." I hope you are filled to capacity. And cook to fill others, too!