Try It Tuesday

Turtle Pie

2012-01-01T13:45:00.001-06:00

The other day we went to dinner at the Hays House. This is a local restaurant in our small town and one of the oldest continually operating taverns in the US. Great atmosphere and even better food. If you ever travel along the Santa Fe Trail, stop in here for lunch. And always, always, save room for dessert. They have the most amazing pies. This is actually what got me hooked on real whipped cream. I will never be the same.

The Girl wanted dessert. She always wants dessert. So do I, but I try not to give in that much. Anyway, my only requirement was that she share.

She picked the Turtle Pie.

All I can tell you is that it was so amazing that we came home and immediately set about creating our own recipe.

Cream a package of cream cheese with 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 cup powdered cocoa.

Fold in 2 cups of whipped cream.

Add a layer of toasted pecan to the bottom of a baked pie crust.

Cover those pecans with caramel sauce. I used homemade, but you could use ice cream topping, too.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the caramel. Chill for about an hour until it all sets up.

I had quite a bit of filling left over, so I made popsicles.

The pie was amazing. The popsicles were amazing. Everything just melts in your mouth. This could possibly be my favorite dessert ever. And I like a LOT of desserts.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Turtle Pie

1 Baked Pie Crust

8 ounces Cream Cheese

3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 Tablespoons Milk

2 Cups Heavy Cream, whipped with a little sugar to sweeten

1/4 Cup Roasted Pecans

1 Cup Caramel Sauce

Beat the cream cheese, cocoa powder and powdered sugar until smooth. Add the milk. Beat the mixture until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Set aside the remaining whipped cream in the refrigerator. Add pecans in a layer at the bottom of the baked pie crust. Pour caramel sauce over pecans. Pour cheese mixture over the caramel. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until the pie is set.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken

2011-12-29T16:30:00.000-06:00

I don't remember where this one came from. I've had it for quite awhile and have made it several times. I keep thinking I am going to post it, but obviously didn't get around to it. For that, I apologize. It has been so unfair of me to keep this away from you. If you like sweet and sour chicken because of the fried chicken, you may not like this version. If you like sweet and sour chicken because of the sweet and sour, then you will love this.

Slice up an onion and green pepper. Add this to the bottom of your slow cooker and sprinkle with a quarter cup of quick cooking tapioca.

Layer your chicken on top. The recipe calls for cut up chicken breasts. I had thighs. And did not cut them up.

Mix together a can of pineapple chunks with the juice, a quarter cup of soy sauce, a half a cup of brown sugar, two minced garlic cloves and a half a teaspoon of ginger.

Pour this mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve over rice.

The whole family loved this. The Kids even ate the peppers and onions. I like it better than what you get at the restaurant, and it has the added benefit of being done when I get home from work.

Click Here for Printable Recipe

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken
Found at Try-It-Tuesday
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup quick cooking tapioca
4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
8 oz pineapple chunks
½ cup brown sugar
2/3 cup pineapple juice
¼ cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Put vegetables in bottom of slow cooker and sprinkle with tapioca. Layer chicken on top. Combine all other ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice.

Spicy Chocolate Cake

2011-12-14T11:05:00.002-06:00

Pinterest seems to have taken over any semblance of free time that I may have had. It's like StumbleUpon for people with ADHD.

But that does not make it a bad thing. If you actually go back to your board and find something that you truly want to create, then I think it is totally worth it.

Take this recipe. I found this pinned on Tuesday and had, had, had to make it. It originally came from this site and I can't seem to find a name to attribute it to. What you may notice if you click on that link is that the blog is in another language. According to Google Translator, it is Polish. Thank goodness Google has a translator.

You must make this cake.

If for no other reason than to smell it baking.

It is that divine.

Mix the yogurt, oil, vanilla and eggs and orange zest together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Add the sugar and salt, spice gingerbread spices.

Don't know what gingerbread spices are? I didn't either. It is apparently a European thing because I went to two different grocery stores and no one had ever heard of them. Even the three little old ladies in the baking aisle. They were intrigued, though. So a quick Google search turned up a mix that sounded pretty good from food.com. I just added that mixture to the recipe below, but the site suggests adding it to pretty much everything so I might have to experiment with that.

Add the flour mixture slowly to the liquid mixture and then add in 1 cup of Coca Cola. The original recipe called for freshly brewed coffee. I didn't have any and I wasn't about to make any. I did have some Coke, so I substituted that in.

Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 35 minutes.

Layer and frost with the greatest cream cheese frosting ever created.

Now you may have noticed something a little bit different in the very first picture.

A few years ago, my kids received a giant pad of Christmas themed hidden picture pages. Every night for the past month, before going to bed, we complete a page. Hidden things are huge in my house. So this hidden Christmas tree cake fit in perfectly with our nightly routine.

Even better, this was super easy to achieve.While your layers are cooling, mix up any white or yellow cake. I used the Eggnog Cupcakes. You are going to use the same procedure that you would to make cake balls. If you have missed out on this craze, don't worry. I made them once and to be honest, I do not believe for one second that they are worth the trouble. Anyway, crumble up about a dozen cupcakes. If I were to plan ahead on this, I wouldn't use cupcakes. There are too many edges and they do not crumble well.

Mix in about a half a cup of green tinted mascarpone cheese. I used about 40 drops of food coloring. I also did not use actual mascarpone. Our little grocery store does not carry it, but you can make your own or just substitute in cream cheese or even frosting. Mix this well to form a nice dough. About the consistency of play-doh.

Turn one of your layers over so the bottom is facing up. To make a Christmas tree, you need to cut out a cone. This is a triangular circle, and I am pretty sure there is no more difficult shape to try to cut out of a cake layer. It helps to have some kind of pattern. You probably have a cup that will fit just right. Mine ended up being about 8 cm (3 inches) in diameter.

Slice in at an angle.

It is better to go too shallow at first. You can always go in and make it steeper later.

Remove the cone and smooth out the edges so you have a nice neat depression in the bottom of your cake.

Take a little piece of the green dough and form a cone that fits into your cut part.

Then form a pancake from the green dough that is a little bit bigger than your first one and press it down on top.

Repeat this step.

Once more until the dough becomes even with the bottom of your cake layer. Flip this over onto your serving plate so the dough is on the bottom.

Now you are going to make a cut out in the second layer that is a little smaller than the first. Mine ended up being about 6 cm (2 inches) in diameter.

Repeat with the green dough.

You will have quite a bit of dough left over. Make some cute little Christmas trees. Just form a tree from the dough. Take a pair of scissors and snip around to make it look like leaves.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar because, you know, it is snowing.

Layer and frost with the greatest cream cheese frosting ever created.

When you cut into the cake, your little cones look just like a Christmas tree.

This was such a hit at supper time. I told The Kids that we had to find four Christmas trees. They found the first three on top immediately (my kids are so smart, you know) and were completely delighted when we cut into the cake to find the last one. I realize my tree isn't as pretty as it could have been, but to tell the truth, it came out so much better than I thought it would.

This really is a pretty simple cake to put together. I actually did it on a Tuesday night in a couple hours that included bake time. You could use any cake recipe, but I highly recommend you try this one at least once. It is super moist and the spices are to die for.

So go ahead, make a "fancy" cake for the holidays. Just try not to puff up too much with all the oohs and ahhs.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Spicy Chocolate Cake
1 and 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa dark
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coca cola
Zest of 1 orange
2-3 teaspoons of the gingerbread spices
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Add the sugar and salt, spice gingerbread spices. In a separate bowl mix the yogurt, oil, vanilla and eggs and orange zest. For the wet ingredients gradually add the flour mixture. Blend, adding in coca cola. Mix only just combined. Pour into two prepared round cake pans. Bake about 35-40 minutes, until a knife comes out clean. After baking, wait 15-20 minutes before removing. Baked layers allowed to stand until completely cool.

Eggnog Cupcakes

2011-12-13T20:04:00.002-06:00

Sometimes amazing things happen.

Like when you really don't feel like a glass of eggnog, but you know the little bit left in the container might go bad before the next time you do want some.

Couple that with a really drizzly day and the urge to do some Christmas themed baking and you get these.

You know on the back of a cake mix where is says add water? Forget the water.

Add in eggnog.

You will not be disappointed. There is a fluffiness that cannot be achieved using anything less substantial than eggnog. Even if you don't care for eggnog itself, the flavor is so subtle you might not even recognize it. The Girl didn't and she swears up and down she doesn't like it, but she ate three cupcakes.

Eggnog Cupcakes
1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 1/4 cup eggnog

Mix according to package directions except substitute eggnog in for the water. Bake as directed.

Eggnog Cookie Cups

2011-12-08T07:21:00.000-06:00

I didn't use to like eggnog. For some reason, now, I can't get enough of it. I've already gone through about a gallon of it this season, so maybe it's just a grown-up thing. Or maybe it's the rum.

Either way, I found this Taste of Home recipe hiding in my email folder and figured I would channel my new eggnog obsession elsewhere.

Mix together the pudding, milk and eggnog in a small saucepan. Cook and stir until it begins to boil. Add half of the extract to the mixture.

Transfer the hot mixture to a small bowl...

...and cover the top with waxed paper. This will let the pudding set up without forming a skin on the top. Refrigerate overnight.

To make the cookie dough, cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Beat in the egg yolks and the rest of the extract.

Gradually add in the flour and salt.

Okay, this is where I stopped reading the instructions. I added in the sugar, allspice and nutmeg into the cookie dough. It did occur to me that maybe that was a heck of a lot of sugar, but, did not question my non-reading of the actual procedure. You are actually supposed to mix the sugar and spices together and roll cookies in that. Do what you want. Either way, you will come out a winner here.

Roll the dough into small (1 inch) balls and place in a greased mini muffin pan.

Use the end of a wooden spoon to made a small indentation in the middle of the ball of dough. Spread the dough out so it moves up the side of the cup.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. While the cookie cups are still warm, use your wooden spoon again to make a small bowl.

The next day, get your eggnog pudding mixture out of the fridge. I have an electric cookie press my brother gave me that I use to fill these cookies. I have yet to press any cookies, but it is a wonderful tool to add filling to cookies and deviled eggs.

Aren't they pretty?

Not only are they pretty, but they are divinely delicious. The dough by itself could make an incredible cookie all by itself. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I ate these for breakfast one Saturday morning. Although, I dare you to avoid that temptation when you make them.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Eggnog Cookie Cups

1 package (3 ounces) cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix

1-1/2 cups eggnog

1/3 cup milk

2 teaspoons rum extract, divided

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 egg yolks

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a small saucepan, combine the pudding mix, eggnog and milk. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat; stir in 1 teaspoon extract. Transfer to a small bowl. Cover surface of pudding with waxed paper; refrigerate until chilled.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and remaining extract. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and allspice. Shape dough into 1-in. balls; roll in sugar mixture. With floured fingers, press onto the bottom and up the sides of well-greased miniature muffin cups.

Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Just before serving, pipe or spoon pudding into cups. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Neapolitan Cheesecake

2011-11-22T15:00:00.000-06:00

I had a conversation with a student the other day about cheesecake. The poor soul could not believe that in order to make real cheesecake, you had to turn on an oven. So sad. To be honest, I'm not sure when I discovered that cheesecake didn't really come in a box, but that was one of the greatest days of my life.

Add 1 cup of crushed chocolate cookies (Oreos in this house) to 3 tablespoons of melted butter.

Mix this all up and form a crust in the bottom of a pie pan. I know, I know, I need a springform pan. Maybe for Christmas. Bake this at 350 for about 10 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 325.

While that is cooling, whip together 3 blocks of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. Then gently mix in 3 eggs that have been slightly beaten.

Divide this batter into thirds. This works out to about 1 1/4 cups in each bowl. Yes, I measured. My bowls weren't even close to the same size, so I wanted to at least come close to even amounts.

To the first third, add 1/3 cups melted white chocolate. To the second third add 1/3 cups melted semi-sweet chocolate and to the last third add 1/3 crushed frozen strawberries.

Mix each well.

Add a layer of chocolate mixture on top of the cooled crust. Gently spoon the white chocolate mixture on top of the chocolate. Finally, spoon on the strawberry layer. If you are careful here, you will get nice pretty layers.

Bake at 325 in a shallow pan of water for about an hour.

This is amazing. I love that you can taste all three layers in one bite. The Girl has requested it for The Boy's birthday cake. I'm all for this given that the last two years have involved a lot in the way of decorating. We'll see if we can convince him.

For some unknown reason (possibly the speed at which it disappeared), I do not have a picture of the inside of this pie. This is truly depressing since not only is this cheesecake amazingly delicious, it is also very pretty to look at. I guess, difficult as this may be, I will have to make it again.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Neapolitan Cheesecake
CRUST:
1 Cup Chocolate Cookies, crushed
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted

FILLING:
3 Packages (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 ounces Semisweet Chocolate, melted and cooled
2 ounces White Baking Chocolate, melted and cooled
1/3 Cup Mashed Frozen Sweetened Sliced Strawberries, well-drained
Red Liquid Food Coloring, optional

TOPPING:
3 ounces Semisweet Chocolate, chopped
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 teaspoons Shortening, divided
1 ounce White Baking Chocolate

In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce heat to 325°.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar, vanilla and cream. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Divide batter into thirds. Add melted semisweet chocolate to a third. Spread over crust. Add melted white chocolate to another third. Spread over semisweet layer. Stir strawberries and a few drops of food coloring if desired into remaining portion. Spread over white chocolate layer. Place pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan.
Place springform pan in a large baking pan. Fill larger pan with hot water to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 325° for 70-75 minutes or until center is just set. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove foil. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool for 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.
For topping, melt semisweet chocolate, butter and 1 teaspoon shortening in a heavy saucepan or microwave; stir until smooth. Cool 5 minutes. Remove sides of pan. Pour melted chocolate mixture over cheesecake. Melt white chocolate and remaining shortening. Drizzle over cheesecake. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Banana Whoopie Pies

2011-11-12T18:50:00.000-06:00

There are a lot of really amazing things about coaching cross country. The kids. The camaraderie. The competition. The bananas.

Oh, you didn't know about the bananas?

Hang around any runner long enough and bananas will become a staple in your diet. Every week, our parents supply snacks and it is a good bet that there will be bananas somewhere in that cooler. They are great for kids to eat before a race, but when they are done every one wants something a little more substantial. This means there are going to be leftover bananas. As coach, I often end up with what is left over at the end of the day.

This year, I was on the ball and mashed up the leftovers and stuck them in the freezer. After I made banana bread. And banana pancakes.

And these.

The Boy loves, and I mean LOVES, whoopie pies. We make them quite a bit, so we have had to try all different kinds.

These turned out to be one of my favorites yet. We had them for a snack. We had them for dessert. We had them for breakfast. They are that good.

Cream together 1/2 cup each of butter, sugar and brown sugar.

Beat in an egg.

In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup mashed banana. Does ANY one else ever start singing the crazy monkey's mashed banana song from the Lion King? Just me? Really?

Add half the sour cream mixture to the sugar mixture.

Add in half of a mixture of 2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, baking soda and baking powder. Alternate with the banana mixture.

I use a large cookie dough scoop to make scoops all roughly the same size. I have seen whoopie pie cookie sheets. I must have one.

For the filling, mix together two packages of cream cheese with a cup of powdered sugar. Spoon about a tablespoon onto one cookie and sandwich with another.

So I was going along, happy as can be, making delicious cookie sandwiches, when I realized that I was going to run out of filling. Instead of making another batch, I added in a half a cup of peanut butter. This turned out to be a stroke of genius.

Banana. Cream cheese. Peanut butter. Oh my.

These didn't last long. So I made more. Make a double batch right out of the gate. You will thank me.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Banana Whoopie Pies
2 Cups Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Mashed Ripe Banana
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
16 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Combine banana and sour cream in another bowl. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed, until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, beating until incorporated. Add banana mixture in 2 additions, alternating with flour mixture. Use a large cookie scoop to spoon batter into 1 1/4-inch rounds on baking sheets, spacing rounds 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. Let cool.
Beat cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Spoon 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture onto the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies. Dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve immediately.

Dracula's Dentures

2011-10-30T19:11:00.004-05:00

For years now, The Girl has been wanting me to let her take treats to her class Halloween party. I love Halloween, but this is never a good time of the year for me to try to add in anything, no matter how small.

This year, somehow, she talked me into it. We then hem-hawed around, putting it off until finally, this morning, we sat down to figure out what to make.

I get a newsletter from Nestle and these adorable treats were apart of last weeks update. The Kids fell in love and we ended up making these.

You need some cookies. Of course, Nestle wants you to use chocolate chip, so we did. Next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time with these) I think I will use sugar cookies. The chocolate chips just add in a whole new dimension of mess to this project.

You also need cookies that are more or less round so they match up. You could even (gasp!) use store bought cookies. Either way, they need to be pretty big. About three inches across is good.

Cut a cookie in half.

Spread a nice layer of red tinted frosting onto both halves.

Add mini marshmallows in a semicircle along the front edge to create the teeth. Another one in the middle helps to stabilize the whole thing.

Put the two cookie halves together to form a mouth.

Slivered almonds on either side of the two front teeth make the fangs.

These are the cutest scary cookies ever. They are really simple to make. Kind of messy and not really quick, but not difficult, either. So far, everyone who has seen them have laughed out loud.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Dracula’s Dentures
24 - 3 inch round cookies
1/2 cup prepared vanilla frosting, tinted red or pink
1 3/4 cups miniature marshmallows
48 (about 1 tablespoon) blanched slivered almonds

Cut each cookie in half for a total of 48 halves.
Frost bottoms of all cookie halves with frosting. Place 6 marshmallow teeth around curved perimeter of 24 halves. Top with remaining 24 halves. For additional support, an additional marshmallow can be placed behind the teeth. Insert two almond slivers in between teeth for fangs. If fangs do not adhere, dip tips into frosting.

Yang Chow Fried Rice

2011-08-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

This comes from the same site as the Pork Abodo that Arthur turned me on to. And guess what? This is the perfect side dish for the pork and probably any dish that requires rice.

I have tried fried rice before, but never fell in love with one recipe. I think that may have changed. The original recipe calls for barbecue pork and shrimp. I did not add those in since I was already making the pork abode, but you can make this a meal in itself if you add those in.

Saute a teaspoon of ginger and a teaspoon of garlic in a couple tablespoons of oil.

Scramble in two beaten eggs.

When the egg is cooked, add in three cups of rice. The original recipe calls for SIX cups of rice. Do you have any idea what an incredible amount of food six cups of rice is? A lot. Three cups of rice is a lot. You have been warned.

Mix in the soy sauce, sugar and salt. Then add in the peas and green onions and cook for ten minutes.

Serve!

This is so good and so very, very filling. Did I mention this makes a lot? We had this for dinner three times. The good news is that not one person complained. I am definitely making this with the pork and shrimp added in next time.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Yang Chow Fried Rice

3 Cups Cooked White Rice, refrigerated overnight

1/2 Cup Barbecued Pork, chopped

1 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 teaspoons Salt

8 to 10 pieces Shrimp, shelled and deveined

3/4 Cup Green Peas

1/4 Cup Green Onion, chopped

2 Eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Ginger, minced

1 teaspoon Garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons Cooking Oil

Heat cooking oil and sauté ginger and garlic. Add shrimps and cook for one minute. Remove the shrimps and set aside. Pour in the beaten eggs and cook. When the egg is cooked, divide into small pieces. Add the rice and mix well. Add in soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Mix with the other ingredients. Add barbecued pork. Cook for 3 minutes. Add green peas and shrimp. Cook for another 3 minutes. Add in the green onions. Cook for 2 minutes while mixing with the other ingredients. Turn the heat off and then transfer to a serving plate.

Pork Abodo

2011-08-02T06:27:00.007-05:00

I may have mentioned that I took a physics class last month. While I really increased my understanding of the laws of kinematics, one of the greatest things to come out of the class ended up being lunchtime. Now, lunch itself wasn't that spectacular (I had a turkey sandwich most every day), but the company was incredible. Not only did several of the teachers take over the conference room, but any professor who happened to be in the department joined us as well. You want to blow your mind, have a discussion about how those guys are trying to get cancer radiation treatments to only burn the bad cells. Wow. Just wow.

We had a two guys from the Philippines, one from Iran and a couple who had lived pretty much everywhere. Food was a pretty common topic. I learned that Iran has "real" olives, most of the world is not freaked out by squid on their plates and balut is a delicacy best tried in the dark (so you don't see what you are eating, seriously, do NOT Google that).

Arthur is from the Philippines and one day, he mentioned what many consider to be the Philippine's national dish: Pork Abodo. I was one of two people who didn't immediately swoon and discussion ensued as to the proper way to cook this dish. Of course, I was intrigued and so Arthur sent me a website that had what he considered to be a pretty good recipe for Pork Abodo. After getting lost for a couple hours on that site and making a list of all the dishes I want to try, I got around to trying this for our anniversary.

Marinate a 2 pound pork belly in 1 cup of soy sauce and 5 cloves of minced garlic. Now, you probably cannot find pork belly in your grocery store. There is probably some kind of regulation about purchasing that much fat in one checkout line. Arthur insisted that I MUST use pork belly. I'm sorry Arthur, I used pork butt instead.

At the end of marination, brown the pork just a little bit on each side for a few minutes.

Add to a slow cooker along with a cup of water, 5 dried bay leaves and a tablespoon of peppercorns. Cook on low for six hours. The last 15 minutes add in 1/4 cup of vinegar.

This doesn't even need to be sliced. I couldn't get it out of the cooker it was so tender.

Delicious. So, so tender. I was expecting a much stronger flavor than what I got. I am not complaining. The flavor of this was just enough to distinguish it from just plain pork. Perfect.

And did I mention it was tender?

I have been wanting to venture into Asian cooking and this was the perfect way to start. Easy to make and didn't completely take my family by surprise. And I can't wait to make a sandwich out of it for lunch tomorrow.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Pork Adobo
2 Pounds Pork Belly or Pork Butt
2 Cloves Garlic, minced or crushed
5 Dried Bay Leaves
4 Tablespoon Vinegar
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Whole Peppercorn
1 Cup Water
Salt to taste
Combine the pork belly, soy sauce, and garlic and marinade for at least 1 hour. Heat a saucepan and sear the marinated pork belly until browned. Transfer the pork to a large crockpot. Add water, whole pepper corn, and dried bay leaves. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add in the vinegar and simmer for the last 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

Dill Dip

2011-07-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

I got a Kindle for Jeff for Christmas this year. He spends a disproportionate amount of his time in motel rooms waiting to get called back to work. And he reads like nothing you have ever seen. We have books all over the house and they were starting to plot their takeover. He loved it and hasn't put it down yet.

So he got me one for Mother's Day.

I can't honestly say I love it as much as Jeff does, but I don't have any complaints about it, either. What I have become obsessed with is the free books that Amazon offers. Every few days I go a little crazy and download about ten books simply because they don't cost me anything. I have 153 books on my Kindle right now, some of which I am looking at right now and more than a little perplexed as to why I have it, even if it WAS free.

One day, it was cookbooks. Free cookbooks? Yes, please.

In one of those cookbooks (I think it was the Circle of Friends, but I can't seem to locate the recipe) was a recipe for Dill Dip. When we visited my very pregnant sister last month, we spent a lot of time eating, and this was one of the snacks we decided to try.

Add lemon juice, dried parsley, dill, dried sage and dried garlic to two cups of sour cream.

Mix it all up and serve with vegetables and crackers. This can be served immediately, but it gets better if you let all the flavors blend together for a few hours.

This was terrific. It is so muggy in Tennessee that you seriously can't even breathe. This dip is the perfect counteraction to that. It is light and tangy and goes with anything you have on hand. My brother-in-law went nuts over it. It worked really well as a sandwich spread, too.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Dill Dip

2 Cups Sour Cream

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley

1 1/2 Tablespoon Dill Weed, minced

2 teaspoons Dried Sage

1 teaspoon Dried, Minced Garlic

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well, cover and chill.

August 2011 Menu

2011-07-29T09:05:00.003-05:00

I was doing so good there for awhile posting an entire month of menus. And then track started. And then summer started. I was pretty lucky to get in a day ahead, let alone thirty of them.

I have had some down time being out of town the last few weeks and so I got on the ball and made out a plan for August. School's going to start before I know it and I have so much to do before then. And I'm also back on my once-a-month-trip to Wal-Mart goal. This helped so much I can't even tell you.

August Suppers

Enchilada Casserole

Pork Abodo

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken

Fish Tacos

Pizza

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Drunken Mushrooms

2011-07-25T19:24:00.001-05:00

The biggest thing that happens in my hometown is the Rodeo. Three nights of great fun and catching up with friends I only seem to see at this event. Well, or Wal-Mart, but that doesn't really count.

On Saturday afternoon is the parade. It starts in Cottonwood Falls, circles by the nursing home, down by the courthouse and down the highway, before finally ending at the rodeo grounds in Strong City. All in all, it's somewhere around 5 miles of horses, floats, ATVs and antique tractors.

My family has mostly moved on from riding horses in the parade to riding on contraptions rolling on 2 to 4 wheels. For several years now, those of us who don't ride in the parade have ended up over in the park where it all starts waiting for the riders to return. This usually took on the form of everyone sitting around in the hot sun getting really hungry. It took us awhile, but this year, we finally decided to do a picnic kind of thing in the shade. Jeff brought the smoker and everyone else brought other stuff.

I brought Ree's mushrooms. She actually makes hers on the stove. I haven't tried that, because I made mine in the crockpot the first time and never looked back.

For every pound of mushrooms, mix together 1/2 cup butter, a chicken bouillon cube, a beef bullion cube, a minced clove of garlic, a dash of ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce and 1/4 teaspoon dill seed. Heat until the butter is melted.

Add a cup of hot water. Bring this to a boil over medium heat.

Pour in 2 cups of alcohol. This is Burgundy wine. I have also used a stout beer and whiskey to great effect.

Let that simmer a bit while you wash the mushrooms. Just add these to your slow cooker. My large pot holds four pounds comfortably.

Pour the boiling mixture over the mushrooms. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. I have also cooked these on high for a couple hours less, but slow is better.

I cannot describe these to you. There are no words. You can eat these on steak. On baked potatoes. On bread. On the side. You can eat these right out of the steaming hot pan if you want.

Like I said, you can use pretty much anything as flavoring. Every version I have tried have been devoured. If I were to pick, though, I would probably choose the wine. It gives them a little sweeter flavor that I really liked. The beer was more of a salty flavor that was really good as well. Hmmm...maybe I don't have a favorite.

Try these. I hearby declare tomorrow steak and mushroom night. You will not be sorry.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Drunken Mushrooms

4 pounds White Button Mushrooms

2 sticks Butter

1-1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 liter Alcohol of Your Choice (I have had great success with Burgundy Wine, Dark Beer and Whiskey)

1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 cups Boiling Water

4 whole Chicken Bouillon Cubes

4 whole Beef Bouillon Cubes

1 teaspoon Dill Seed

5 cloves Garlic, Peeled

Thoroughly wash the mushrooms and add to a large crockpot.

Add all the remaining ingredients to a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour over mushrooms. Stir to combine. Simmer on low, covered, for six to nine hours. Add salt to taste at the end if desired. The mushrooms will be very dark in color. Simmer until needed.

Margarita Floats

2011-07-22T19:17:00.001-05:00

The last two weeks, I have been out of town learning how to teach physics. The big problem I seem to be having with this is that I don't really seem to KNOW physics.

When I graduated from college, I had changed my major enough and taken some magical combination of classes that allowed me to add physics to my license. Oddly, only one of those classes covered what is traditionally taught in a high school physics course, and that class appears on my transcript next to the lowest grade I received in any class. Ever.

So I have been spending 8 hours a day with a bunch of other teachers trying to keep up with the vectors, vaguely familiar trigonometry and the ever popular Isaac Newton.

My brain hurts.

One night we went to supper at Whiskey Creek. On their drink menu they had what they called a margarita float. Since I hadn't done my homework at that point, I figured I had better not chance it. But that picture just kept coming back to me. It sounded so good. Why hadn't I ever heard of this?

And do I even need to mention the weather????

So I set out to discover my own. The only thing I could remember from the description was Tequila and Triple Sec. Not much to go on. Now, I love margaritas, I just have never given much thought to how I would make them at home.

So I guessed. Well, I Googled it. Do you know how many recipes there are out there for margaritas? Hmmm...now that I think about it, I didn't check to see if there were any for margarita floats. Did I mention my brain hurts?

For each serving, mix together 1 tablespoon Triple Sec, 2 tablespoons Tequila and 1/4 Cup Lime Juice. Add 1 cup of Tonic Water.

Add in a nice big scoop of sherbet. I was going to use lime or raspberry, but all my grocery store had today was the rainbow. I wasn't terribly disappointed because all flavors of sherbet taste pretty much the same to me.

That tonic water makes a beautifully fizzy foam on the top.

Aren't these gorgeous?

Incredibly tasty, too. Maybe a tad strong. I think I would not add full tablespoons next time. But that sherbet swirls in and gives a nice refreshing sweetness to the limes.

Oh, here's another tip. If you happen to be experimenting with drinks made from multiple variations of alcohol, it is probably a good idea to invite a friend over. Just sayin'

Click here for Printable Recipe

Margarita Floats
1 oz Triple Sec
2 oz Tequila
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
1 Cup Tonic Water
Scoop of Sherbet
Mix it up and enjoy.

Note: It is a good idea to have all the liquids chilled before mixing since there is no ice added.

Orange Creamsicle Fruit Dip

2011-07-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

The Boy was playing a computer game today and at the end, the little cartoon girl made fruit kabobs with apples. He was excited. We had to go to the grocery store and get red and green apples RIGHT NOW.

Luckily, I apples (and strawberries, a pineapple and two colors of grapes) on hand.

My kids eat a LOT of fruit.

So fruit kabobs it was.

But I wanted dip to go with it. It's just been that kind of a summer.

There are a lot of different mixtures into which you can dip fruit. I found this one over at Madigan's kitchen. The orange part of it intrigued me. The Boy has been downing orange juice like nothing else, so I figured he would go for this.

And it was easy.

And I had all the ingredients on hand. So there was nothing holding me back.

Mix the pudding and whipped topping together. And next time, for goodness sake, help The Poor Girl get all of her fingernails painted.

Stir in the orange juice.

Spend the rest of your day cutting up fruit and pound cake and skewering them onto kabobs. Unless your Boy insists, just skip this part and put all the fruit a bowl. My Boy insisted. That was the whole point of this snack, after all.

This was yummy. The orange went really well with every fruit we dipped it in. We had some left over and took it camping the next day. We didn't bring any back.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Orange Creamsicle Fruit Dip

1 8 oz Container Whipped Topping

1 Small Package Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

6 oz Orange Juice

Fruit for dipping (strawberries, mango, grapes, pineapple, etc)

Mix the first three ingredients together. Add a little more orange juice to thin out to desired consistency, if needed. Wash, cut and prep the fruit. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken

2011-07-10T08:24:00.001-05:00

I have had the cutout of this recipe for a really long time, but I am reasonably sure it came from the Kraft Foods magazine. If you have children, if you work, or if you simply don't get much good mail, I highly suggest you hop on over to their site and subscribe.

NOTE: I opened the Kraft site in order to link above and spent nearly half an hour surfing. I hadn't been there in awhile, but am now aware that it has tons of great stuff. Recipes (duh), videos, coupons...seriously, check it out.

Anyway, add one chopped up garlic clove and about 3/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper to 1 cup of mayonnaise.

NOT "Miracle" Whip. MW is from the devil. Real mayonnaise is from heaven. Funny, when I was growing up, we always had MW and called it mayo. I can remember my grandma calling it salad dressing. I never really understood that until I grew up and discovered that MW and mayo were not one and the same.

Add the chicken and let it marinate about 30 minutes. I have tried freezing this mixture in a plastic freezer bag (if you don't do this with marinades, you must try it - saves sooooo much time on weeknights), but with the mayo, it really didn't work well.

Put the chicken under the broiler for about 10 minutes. If you use full size chicken breasts, maybe a bit more. I use the chicken breast strips, so it doesn't take too long.

I love these. My kids love these.

I just found out my husband does not. I don't know how many times I have made these, but he has never mentioned it. Apparently it's the mayo. Something about cooked mayo does not sit well with him. Of course, food-borne illness are a big thing with him. If leftovers have been in the refrigerator for more than 18 hours, it "is no good." This isn't a big deal in my house, since he is gone so much. We just work this dinner in on a night when he is not here.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken
1 Pound Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 medium Roasted Red Pepper, finely chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
Place chicken in shallow dish Mix mayonnaise, red pepper and garlic until well blended. Pour over chicken. Marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Place chicken on rack of broiler pan. Broil 4-6 inches from heat for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning once.

No Bake Cookies

2011-07-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

This year we had three incredible exchange students. They were here for less than a year, but they were so involved and easy to get along with that it felt like they have been a part of our school forever. Roxy (Poland) and Alona (Russia) became members of our track team this spring. It took quite a bit of convincing to keep them out. That first week, none of them could even make it completely around the track. By the end of the season, we had them running competitively in the 1600m and 800m. With smiles! I am so proud of those girls and am going to miss them now that they are back home.

At one of our track meets, we had a series of unfortunate events that left us missing one leg of our 4x400 relay. Roxy was our last hope. It took a little bit, but somewhere in the convincing, the idea of no bake cookies came up. So I promised Roxy that I would make a batch if she would run the relay.

There are a lot of ways you can make no bake cookies, but this is always what I think of when I hear the name. This version comes out of a 4-H cookbook that my home county printed in 2000. These always seem to be the best recipes, don't they?

Combine 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup cocoa, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup peanut butter and a pinch of salt in a large saucepan.

Cook and stir until the mixture melts together and starts to boil.

Boil hard for 1 minute. This is important! If you don't boil for at least one minute, the cookies won't set up and you will be left with soup. Not bad, but not a cookie, either.

Stir in 3 cups quick oats and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Stir this all together.

Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper.

I have tried several versions of this cookie, but this is by far my favorite. I think it's the peanut butter. I probably make these once a month and never seem to get tired of them.

Click here for Printable Recipe

No Bake Cookies
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Cocoa
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Milk
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 Cups Quick Cooking Oats
Combine butter, cocoa, sugar, milk, peanut butter and salt. Cook until the mixture reaches a full boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Take off stove and add oats and vanilla. Stir together and then drop by spoonful on waxed paper. Cool.

Firecracker Floats

2011-07-02T12:08:00.001-05:00

In the same issue of Taste of Home that revealed the layer cake, The Girl found a page covered in different variations of sundaes, floats and other ice cream delights. While they all look delicious and will eventually all be tried in due course, the Firecracker Float just pulled us in. We were going to serve these with the cake when my nephew was here for his birthday. That was the plan, anyway.

The big obstacle was finding Pop Rocks. I went to every store and gas station in town that might possibly have supplied them to no avail. Not a single Pop Rock to be found. We were so excited to try this one and were going to have to give up the dream until we could get to a metropolis large enough to carry such a delicacy.

So, so sad.

I happened to be in the dollar store yesterday and at the end of the aisle was a great big display of Pop Rocks. I KNOW that those were not there when I looked earlier this week, and sure enough, when questioned, the lady said she had put it up the day after I came looking.

So I stocked up and rushed home to try these out.

Add a scoop of ice cream (any flavor) into a tall glass. Sprinkle with Pop Rocks. The instructions called for a third a package, but I think it needs a little bit more. Be careful. They are called Pop Rocks for a reason. They pop. Everywhere. They are even activated by ice cream. The Boy is forever scarred.

Repeat these layers until the glass is most of the way full.

Fill in the spaces with lemon lime soda. The first thing Jeff said was "won't my stomach explode and kill me?" No. It won't. What it will do is cause the Rocks to start Popping. This is good.

Add a straw and mix it up.

You cannot enjoy this float with out giggling at least once. I'm not sure how these little tiny candies can cause so much joy. And they are tasty.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Firecracker Float
3-4 Scoops Ice Cream
1 Package Pop Rocks
1-2 Cups Lemon Lime Soda
Scoop ice cream into a tall glass. Top with Pop Rocks. Repeat to you heart's content. Top with soda.

20 Layer Cake

2011-06-29T10:01:00.000-05:00

I cleaned my room yesterday. Woohoo! It was getting a bit ridiculous, if I do say so myself. I will, however, mention that a lot of the problem was kid stuff. Now that we finally have The Girl's room painted and put back together, she might be able to move out of mine :)

I found my latest issue of Taste of Home under my bed. Amazingly, I didn't sit down to read it until I had finished my room. I must have a fever or something.

I found a recipe for a Red Velvet Crepe Cake that just looked amazing. Jeff was off golfing with my nephew for his birthday, so I figured that was a good an excuse as any to bake a cake. That and I have been looking for a reason to make this frosting again. Yes, it's that good.

If I would have read the instructions before starting this, I might never have tried it. I was thinking I would bake a cake and slice the cake into layers.

I was wrong.

Gonna warn you here. This is not a relaxing cake to make. It's not difficult, it's just not something you walk away from. All in all it took me probably about an hour and a half to get it all put together. Make sure your counter tops are cleared of any clutter as you will need every inch of space available! You are going to make a lot of little cakes here.

Add 2 3/4 cups milk, 1 cup flour, 3 eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1/4 melted butter and 3 teaspoons vanilla to a red velvet cake mix and beat well. Isn't that gorgeous? I am officially in love with red velvet cake.

Pour 1/3 cup of the batter into a hot, lightly greased 8 inch skillet. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup, but I couldn't get it to spread out enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Also, if you have a pan with short sides, use that. I only had my regular skillet and it made it difficult to get the cooked cake out. Turns out they also make crepe pans. I may have to investigate that further.

It also says to tilt the pan until the batter all spreads out. That didn't work for me. I used the measuring cup to spread it around.

The batter is a little bit thicker than pancake batter, so it takes a little convincing to get it to coat the entire pan and even then I couldn't get it to spread out evenly.

Cook this until it starts to bubble and appear dry on the top, just like pancakes do. I cooked mine for a little over a minute. Flip it over and cook for about 20 seconds.

Now, if you have never made a crepe before (like me), your first few will not be pretty (unless you have a crepe pan, then you might luck out). It is not easy to flip those suckers. That's okay. The one on the left got eaten by The Kids because it was deemed too ugly to be a part of a cake. The one on the right isn't too pretty, but it was never noticed once it became covered in frosting and other borderline cakes.

Once you have all your batter converted into crepe cakes, start assembling the cake. Put one layer down and frost. Here's a warning. Your layers are not thick. You only want a tiny bit of frosting, maybe a heaping tablespoon, to cover the layer. If you go overboard on the frosting, you won't even notice that there is cake in there when you take a bite. That would be tragic. You might as well save yourself some trouble and just east the frosting out of the bowl.

Add a layer on top and frost again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Just keep going until you run out of layers. The original recipe called for two cakes to be assembled, but I just made one big one. I contemplated trimming up the edges of the cake to make it easier to frost evenly, but ended up just leaving it like this.

This is a messy endeavor and I didn't even show you the counter by the stove. Just be warned.

Finish frosting the cake with a generous layer on the outside.

The Girl insisted on sprinkles.

How incredible does that look? As with the Carrot Cake, this is a LAYER cake. Be careful on the slice sizes!

This cake makes me happy. And it's tasty. I think you could use a white cake mix and tint it any color that you wanted. The Girl wants to make a blue and red one for Independence Day. If I can get my kitchen cleaned back up in time, we might attempt that.

Click here for Printable Recipe.

20 Layer Cake
adapted from Taste of Home
1 package (18-1/4 ounces) red velvet cake mix
2-3/4 cups whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, milk, flour, eggs, egg yolks, butter and vanilla; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
Heat a lightly greased 8-in. nonstick skillet over medium heat; pour 1/3 cup batter into center of skillet. Lift and tilt pan to coat bottom evenly. Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer. Remove to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet as needed. When cool, stack crepes with waxed paper or paper towels in between.
To assemble the cake, place one crepe on a cake plate. Spread the cake with one rounded tablespoon frosting to within 1/2 in. of edges. Repeat layers until all crepes are used. Spread remaining frosting over tops and sides of crepe cake.

Candied Bacon

2011-06-21T08:32:00.000-05:00

I've been going through something of a breakfast crisis for quite awhile now. Typically, at this time of day, I can eat the same thing over and over and never get tired of it.

My big issue during the school year is that breakfast has to last me ALL morning long. Once that first bell rings, I don't have a break until lunch. Somewhere around third hour, my tummy is letting me know that I might want to consider some nourishment.

So I am trying to find something that is easy, fast and filling. Not too tall of an order, is it?

Well, I haven't found my perfect breakfast yet, but, I have stumbled across something that might just tide me over.

There are dozens of people out there recommending Candied Bacon (or Pig Candy as some like to call it) as an addition to your table. It has taken me forever to try it, but now that I have discovered this monster, there is no turning back.

Coat a slice of bacon with a thin layer of brown sugar. You don't want to over do the sugar layer; the best results seem to occur when you can just see the bacon beneath the sugar.

Place those strips onto a broiler rack. Be sure to put a layer of aluminum foil underneath this or you will never use this pan again.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

This is amazing. For me. The Girl liked it all right for someone who doesn't like bacon in the first place. Jeff said it was okay. Really? I thought he would devour it. Hmm. That was just fine with me as there was more for me to snack on later.

And again later. Seriously, I dreamed about this stuff.

I think I could make this at the beginning of the week and have it for breakfast every day, as long as I didn't eat it all on Monday.

Definitely give this a try, even if you first reaction is questionable.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Candied Bacon
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 pound thinly sliced bacon
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a broiler pan with aluminum foil, and position broiler rack on top of pan. Lightly coat the rack with the vegetable oil. Add the brown sugar to a shallow dish. Press 1 side of each slice of bacon firmly into the sugar to coat well. Arrange the slices of bacon on top of the broiler rack in a single layer, sugared-side up. If there is any sugar remaining in the dish, sprinkle it on top of the bacon slices evenly. Bake until the bacon is crisp and the sugar is bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain briefly, then to a plate or serving dish to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

What I'm Watching

2011-06-17T12:43:00.000-05:00

I have been overloaded.

With everything.

I don't really get that. I'm a teacher. I'm laid-off for the summer. How can it be that I have no time to get anything done?

Oh, right. I have kids. I'm not sure how it happened, but suddenly I have taken on a new job as a chauffeur. Oh well, it could be worse.

So until I get a chance to sit down and tell you about the mushrooms, cookies and the chicken, I'll let you peak at some of the dishes I have bookmarked for the next week or so.

Tacos de Barbacoa

Crepes of Wrath

Buttermilk Pie

Buns in My Oven

Cheesy Puff Pull Apart Bread

How Sweet It

Smoked Sausage Kabobs

Mommy's Kitchen

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sugar Plum

Slow Cooked Italian Chicken

2011-05-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

Before our house burned, I had a wonderful cookbook. Actually, I had many, but this one was one of the best slow cooker books I had ever used. To be honest, I am not sure if it was Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens. Maybe it was neither.

Anyway, there was a recipe in there that changed my life forever. It used Italian diced tomatoes. I have never been a fan of cooked tomatoes. They are too mushy for me, so even trying these was a big step. But the picture looked sooooo good. Did you hear that cookbook people? Put pictures next to your recipes!

I have been trying to recreate that recipe for awhile now, with no success. I don't remember the exact name (it was long) or all the ingredients. I miss that supper.

This is not it.

But, it is pretty good.

Add 4 chicken breasts, 1 can of Italian diced tomatoes and 1 can whole kernal corn to your slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Mine took about 6 1/2 hours. That's it. Don't you LOVE your slow cooker?
Actually, I added in another step. I added about a tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it up. Cook on low...
...for about the time it takes you to boil some of your favorite pasta. I didn't measure how much, but probably about 2 cups.
Spoon over the pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
While not quite what I was going for, it was really good. The kids both had seconds. Jeff was not home, so I don't have a manly opinion available. I think you could substitute beef or pork in there and it would be just as delicious.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Slow Cooked Italian Chicken
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 cups cooked pasta

Add chicken, tomatoes and corn to slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in cornstarch and cook additional 20 minutes. Serve over pasta.

Two Day Carrot Cake

2011-05-15T20:18:00.012-05:00

I can never remember liking carrot cake when I was younger. It just never seemed to sound appealing. I mean, really, why make a cake with VEGETABLES in it when you can just as easily make one with chocolate.

Curt posted this carrot cake recipe well over a year ago and it just looked so, so good. So I printed it off and just keep setting it aside, because I had a bunch of recipes with chocolate to make.

Last weekend we went to dinner with my Nana and she had carrot cake for dessert. It looked delicious, so I too had carrot cake for dessert. She said it was good carrot cake, but not the best she ever had, which made me think about this recipe.

Never having made carrot cake, I don't really know how this stacks up against any others, or even if it is in any way similar to others. But this is the recipe I have, so I'm going with this.

In a bowl, heat up 3 cups of water. Add in 3 tablespoons of rum. We are not big rum drinkers here, so I just sent Jeff to the liquor store to get a small bottle. Apparently our liquor store has an entire wall dedicated to the different flavors of rum. Dark rum. Light rum. Spiced rum. Strawberry rum. Our rural town has a larger selection of rum than wine. Interesting.

Anyway, add a cup of golden raisins to the diluted rum, cover and let sit.

In another bowl, add 6 (yes, six) cups of shredded carrots. I had no clue how many carrots it would take to make six cups. Turns out if you shred a large carrot, it makes up just about one cup. I ended up using a total of seven carrots.

Add one cup of brown sugar to the shredded carrots. Cover and let this sit for anywhere from 1 to 6 hours.

Now, the scientific among you might assume that this is to let the sugar absorb the juice from the carrots to form a delicious mush that will soon become cake. I now know that it is because after you shred seven carrots, you can't really lift your arm. No problem, just go finish off your bottle of rum to ease the pain.

After you wake up from the rum induced coma, in a large bowl, mix together 3 cups of cake flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves. Set this aside for a moment.

In a large mixing bowl, whip together 4 eggs and 1 1/2 cup sugar until it's nice and frothy.

Then add in 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil, 1/2 Cup Applesauce, 2 tsp Vanilla and 1 Cup Crushed Pineapple and mix well.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture.

Mix until it is just combined.

Drain the raisins. The Boy didn't really believe me when I said these were raisins. They really plump up.

Add the raisins, carrots and walnuts and gently mix in to the batter.

Divide the batter between three round cake pans and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. The recipe I had said 40-50, but my oven runs a little hot. Stick a toothpick in and test for doneness if you aren't sure.

When they are done, let them cool for 15 minutes, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate them overnight.

The next day, mix up some cream cheese frosting. Now, I'm not really a frosting kind of person, and even though cream cheese frosting is my favorite, I didn't have a recipe for it. So I used the recipe supplied.

Whip 2 blocks of cream cheese with a stick of softened butter, 2 cups of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla until nice and fluffy.

Spread in a nice thick layer onto your first cake.

Don't scrimp. I thought I had a good layer on, but it wasn't near thick enough. If you need to, mix up another batch of frosting.

Add the second cake on top and repeat with the frosting.

I am really loving layer cakes right now.

Even if it means I have to eat more frosting.

Add that third cake on top. And here is where it gets good. To the remaining frosting, carefully fold in a cup or two of whipped cream. You could use Cool-Whip, but really, go for the real stuff here if you can.

Use this to frost the top and outside.

Cut the cake.

Here's a tip. When you cut a piece of three layer cake, do not cut it the same size as you would a one layer cake. I totally misjudged the amount of cake in one piece and accidentally ate it all.

I would hate for that to happen to you.

I now love carrot cake.

And cream cheese frosting.

This took a super long time to make, and it was completely worth it. I want to make it again next weekend and invite you over. I want you to make it this weekend and invite me over. Doesn't matter, just find a way to get this on your table.

Click here for Printable Recipe

The Two Day Carrot Cake
by Try It Tuesday
6 Cups Shredded Carrots
1 Cup Brown Sugar
Combine carrots and brown sugar and let stand for 1 to 6 hours.

1 Cup White Raisins
3 Cups Hot Water
3 Tbsp Rum

Combine these three and let them stand with the carrots.

1 Cup Toasted Walnut Halves, Chopped

Spread the walnuts out onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 8 mintues. Watch these carefully.

3 Cups Cake Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves

Mix in a bowl with a wire whisk and set aside.

4 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cup White Sugar

Mix until frothy and add in:
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Applesauce
2 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Crushed Pineapple, drained not pressed

Preheat the oven to 350.

Prior to combining the wet and dry ingredients grease and flour three 9 inch baking pans.

Combine The Wet and The Dry till just blended.

Drain the raisins. Add the Raisins, Carrots and Walnuts to the Batter. Don’t over mix…

Add the batter to your prepared pans making sure to make a divot in the center of each cake. This will prevent crowning and minimize the need for any trimming.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes.

Place the cakes on a cooling rack and let them set for about 15 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the pans, wrap them in plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator. Leave them there over night.

Cream Cheese Frosting
3 Packages Cream Cheese
3 Cups of Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 Sticks Butter. softened

Whip cream cheese and butter till light add vanilla and whip again till well mixed. Scrape down bowl and mix again.

Add sugar and mix well. Use this mixture to frost between the layers of the cake.

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 Cup Sugar

Whip till stiff.

Fold whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture by hand. Do this gradually or you will break the whipped cream.

Arrollado con Dulce de Leche

2011-05-07T12:41:00.001-05:00

Have you ever tried dulce de leche? It is a miracle of a caramel spread found in the ethnic section of most grocery stores. It is delicious on chocolate graham crackers or just on a spoon.

When I came across this recipe, I was excited to try it, if for no other reason than it takes about a half an hour from start to finish.

Beat 1 cup of sugar and 6 egg whites together.

After a few minutes, you will get some nice peaks form.

Add in the yolks, flour and vanilla; stir until it's all combined.
Pour into a parchment lined (this is important!) jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes. The cake will be springy when touched.
While the cake is still warm, remove it from the pan and spread on the dulce de leche.
The heat from the cake will melt this just enough for you to be able to spread it out to the edges.
Roll up longways, using the parchment paper to help lift the edges.
Slice into one inch rolls.
I'm still on the fence with this one. It was good, but kind of bland. I think the cake was the problem. It didn't complement the caramel filling so much as compete with it. I think if I were to make this again, I would maybe use a tad less sugar.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Arrollado con Dulce de Leche
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup sugar
6 eggs (separated)
1 t. Vanilla
One can dulce de leche, 13.4 ounces
Beat egg whites until fluffy add sugar until soft peaks form, then add egg yolks, flour, and vanilla. Line an 11x15x1 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper, be sure a little over laps to assist with rolling later. Spray lightly with Pam. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until golden and cake springs back when touched. Remove from oven and while still hot, drop spoonfuls of dulce de leche over top of cake. Wait a minute then spread evenly. Grabbing the long end of the paper, start rolling the cake toward you while pulling the paper free. Once rolled tight, wrap with the parchment paper and let cool. Once cooled slice and place on pretty platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serves 10-12.

Bunny Buns

2011-04-23T08:36:00.001-05:00

We have been so busy lately. The last time I sat down in my own house was last Sunday. Today I slept in until 6:45 (that's AM) and I'm thinking I already need a nap.

When I opened my Reader, I had 387 unread messages. You cannot believe the temptation so just hit the Mark as Read button and be done with it. But I can't do that. I just can't. What if I miss something awesome? Unique? Delicious? Perfect?

Fortunately, I decided to hit a few posts just to see what was out there. I discovered the Recipe Shoe Box a few weeks ago. It just happened that the first post I saw was the one for these adorable rolls. The Kids were sitting next to (on top of) me barely awake when I opened her site. They both were instantly awake, rummaging through the kitchen looking for ingredients.

Add a package of yeast to 1/4 cup of warm water and set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, a teaspoon of salt and a cup of hot milk. Heat the milk in the microwave for a little over a minute so it is hot but not boiling.

Mix in 2 tablespoons of orange zest, 1/4 cup orange juice and the yeast mixture.
Gradually add in the flour. I didn't quite use 5 1/2 cups. You want an elastic dough that isn't terribly sticky. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.Add a little olive oil to a large bowl.
Coat the dough with the oil (I had a little too much in there and just poured the excess off), cover and let rise for 1-2 hours.
It should double in size and look more like this.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 14 inches wide. I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1/2 inch strips.

Fold one strip in half and twist it to make a loop.

Cross the ends again.

My strips ended up being a little bit too long, so I sliced off the tops of the super long ears. I used these scraps to roll into a ball. Place the ball into the loop to form the bunny tail.

Should your strips turn out to be the perfect length, take one of your strips and cut it into half inch chunks to form your tail.

Brush the tops of the rolls with an egg wash made by mixing a tablespoon of water with an egg white.
Put The Girl to work making those cute little bunny faces. Lara used round sprinkles for the eyes and noses, which I did not have. I had mini chocolate chips.
This is some pretty tedious work that does not hold a nine year old's attention very well. I think she made it through about half of them before she was ready to give up on the faces.
The Boy wanted a fat bunny, so I let him make one. This reminds me of a teddy bear bread I made a looooonnnggg time ago as a 4-H project.
Let these rise again in a warm place for another hour or so and then bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
Pretend there is a picture of me mixing up a glaze of powdered sugar, water and orange juice. If you don't like the orange (we surprisingly LOVED it) you can substitute water. Brush this on as soon as the rolls are out of the oven.

NOTE: If you used chocolate chips for the decoration, do NOT brush over them. Brush around. Otherwise, your poor bunny's face will look like The Boy's when he comes home from playing at my Dad's farm.
These may well be the cutest things ever made. And delicious. I couldn't really detect the orange in the dough, but the orange in the glaze was perfect. These are very sneaky since they are not as sweet as cinnamon rolls, you can eat about four of them before you start thinking maybe you are overdoing it.

It has been declared at our house that these are only to be made at each and every Easter from now until the end of time. There is also a restriction stating that they may ONLY be made at Easter time, unless we get actual rabbits and they have babies, then we can make these to celebrate.

Now if that's not a strong hint, I don't know what is.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Bunny Buns

1 Tbs. active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tbs. grated orange peel

5-1/2 cups flour

Ice cream sprinkles (optional for making faces)

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbs. hot water

2 Tbs. orange juice

1 tsp. butter

In a medium sized bowl, combine the yeast and the warm water. Set aside. In another bowl, heat milk in microwave so it is hot, but not boiling. Blend hot milk with sugar, oil, and salt. Add eggs, yeast with water, orange juice, and orange peel. Add flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and allow the dough to rise for 1-2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a long rectangle 1/2-inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2-inch wide and 14-inches long.

Roll the dough to make rounded snake shapes. Reserve 1-2 of the strips to cut into pieces about 1/2-inch long and roll into small balls (for the tails).

Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop (to be the tail).

To make faces, make an egg wash with one egg white and one tablespoon of warm water. Brush over the tops of the bunnies. Using a combination of sprinkles, raisins, chocolate chips, etc, make a little face at the base of the "ears".

Cover bunnies and allow to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, orange juice, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while still warm. Makes about 20 bunny buns.

Nutella Pizza

2011-04-17T12:07:00.001-05:00

Since we have been making every version of pizza known to man and Cici's (macaroni and cheese topping anyone?), we figured we might as well double that dough recipe and make dessert to go along with it.

Robin Sue posted this ages ago and I am just now getting around to making it. If you listen carefully, you will hear crying in the background.

Mix up your dough. Go with the No Rise Dough recipe. It will never fail you.

Have The Girl spread it out into an approximate circle.
Bake this until it's nice and crispy. Mine took about 8 minutes.

Spread on the Nutella. I used about half a cup. I heated the Nutella for about 30 seconds in the microwave so it would spread a little easier.
Sprinkle on a chopped up apple. Granny Smith is my favorite and really gives this a nice bite. I luckily had some leftover toffee bits from the Toffee Rolls so I sprinkled those on, along with a few chopped walnuts on one half. The Kids don't really care for nuts, so I left some nut free.
Allow the 'ooohs' and 'aaahhs'
Slice it up and have it for dessert. And a snack. And breakfast if it lasts that long.

Nutella is one of those hidden gems that people in my part of the country just now seem to be discovering. One of my kids had a jar at a track meet the other day and was dipping peanut butter crackers in it. Yum! The Boy likes it on his toast with banana slices. You can make a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich.

But this is by far my favorite way to use it.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Nutella Pizza

Nutella

one apple finely diced

2/3 cup toasted walnut pieces

2/3 cup toffee bits

Spread on as much slightly heated Nutella as you want onto your baked pizza crust. Add apple, toffee and walnut pieces. Slice and enjoy.

No Rise Pizza Dough

2011-04-16T09:46:00.004-05:00

We have been on a pizza kick lately. Anything you can possibly imagine, we have made into a pizza topping. It started out as a way to clean out the refrigerator and grew into a monster.

The problem I ran into was time. Most dough recipes require at least some sort of rising time for them to turn out edible. So I was on a search to find one that didn't require rising. I have a crazy crust dough recipe, but I never really liked the texture of it. It's good in a pinch and maybe for a change of pace, but it didn't quite fit what I wanted. So off to the blogosphere it was to find my perfect recipe.

Now, there are a LOT of really good pizza dough recipes out there, but several months ago, I came across My Bizzy Kitchen's recipe for a no rise pizza dough. This is it. This is what I have been searching for.

This may be the best pizza dough I have ever had.

AND it does not have to rise. Hence the title, No Rise Pizza Dough.

Biz makes hers in a food processor, but I just put mine in my Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook. (Do you have one of these? No???? Get one. Get one now. They are worth every penny you have to shell out.)

And try this dough. We have made Friday our Pizza Night because of this recipe.

Click here for Printable Recipehttps://sites.google.com/site/tryittuesday/no-rise-pizza-dough

No Rise Pizza Dough

2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 package active yeast

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat water to 110 degrees. Add yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes until its all nice and bubbly. Mix 2 cups flour and salt together. Add olive oil to yeast/water mixture and stir. Slowly pour in yeast mixture. Mix well. Add enough extra flour so that it stops sticking to the sides. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.

For a crispy cruncy crust: prebake dough at 425 for 7 minutes, remove from oven, add toppings and then slide pizza directly onto the oven on the lowest rack until the toppings all melt together.

For a chewy crust: put the pizza in the oven with all the toppings, leave it on the cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees.

This recipe makes two 12 inch pizzas.

Broiled Pizza Burgers

2011-03-30T07:18:00.001-05:00

Spring Break is here. It's amazing how easily we slip into vacation mode, especially when the weather has finally started warming up. We haven't gotten to bed at a decent time since last Thursday. Ice cream cones for supper, any one???

I felt pretty guilty about not feeding my children the other day, so I went looking for something simple. This one came from Allrecipes. They have a new set of recipes on their home page every day, so I went through a period where I checked that site every day.

Brown a pound of hamburger. Add in half a chopped onion and cook until the onions are translucent.

Add in a can of diced tomatoes. You can use plain or they also have Italian style which has a little more kick to it.
Spoon a heaping 1/4 cup of the meat mixture onto an open bun.
Add a slice of cheese and broil for a few minutes until the cheese melts.

Serve open faced.

I think next time I will only use half a piece of cheese. A whole slice kind of detracted from the rest of the filling. While I didn't really get the taste of pizza, these are really good.

And easy. Good supper for spring.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Broiled Pizza Burgers

1 pound ground beef

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon onion salt

8 slices American processed cheese

4 hamburger buns, split

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat; drain. Sprinkle with cornstarch. Stir in the tomatoes, salt and onion salt. Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Place hamburger buns cut side up on a baking sheet; spoon about 1/4 cup meat mixture onto each bun half. Place cheese slices over meat mixture. Broil for 4 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Five Minute Mousse

2011-03-27T04:47:00.002-05:00

The Girl is enrolled in Cooking as a 4-H project, so it has become her job to help with the menu planning. She decides on our Saturday lunches and any snacks we have are entirely her choice. Well, okay, The Boy has helped. Depending on what she chooses, it is her responsibility to make the snacks and clean up afterwards. The first part is going well, not so much the second.

She recently started a blog and wanted to post this recipe. I jokingly suggested she could make it into a cooking show. She loved the idea. So we set about figuring out how to do that.

So I have my first guest blogger and a video blogger at that :)

Go here to see her page: http://secretsofawizard.blogspot.com/2011/03/five-minute-mousse.html

Click here for Printable Recipe

Five Minute Mousse

3 3/4 ounces instant pudding mix, any flavor

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups Cool Whip - thawed

Beat the pudding mix with a wire whisk into milk for 2 minutes. Fold in Cool Whip. Spoon into 4 dessert dishes.

Hot Fudge Cake

2011-03-25T17:09:00.002-05:00

When my computer crashed (again) a couple months ago, my dear brother recovered all my files (again) for me. He probably keeps that equipment just for me.

Hidden away in my Documents was a file dated somewhere in 2009, simply named "recipes." Not sure what to expect there, I opened it up to find thirty-two pages of recipes.

Yes.

Thirty-two pages.

Holy Cow!

Apparently one day a few summers ago, I had gone on some type of recipe copying rampage.

This Hot Fudge Cake was one of them. Like nearly all of the recipes in the file, it did not come with the source. A quick Google turned up several amazing new desserts that I simply must try, but I couldn't find anything that looked like this one.

Bake a yellow cake in a 9 x 13 pan. It can be your favorite from-scratch recipe or from a mix. Who am I to judge?

This is a spin on the poke cake, so use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes into the cake about every inch or so.

In a saucepan, melt a can of sweetened condensed milk with a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Pour this over the yellow cake. Spread it out and let it cool down a bit.
Spread a container of Cool-Whip over the top.
Doesn't that look incredible?

It is.

I'm going to go make it again.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Hot Fudge Cake

1 Yellow Cake Mix, baked

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 Carton Cool-Whip

Poke holes in the cooled cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Melt the chocolate chips and milk in a saucepan and spread over the cake. Let cool. Spread Cool-Whip over chocolate.

Dragon Cookies

2011-03-17T18:43:00.008-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

While we can't really claim to be Irish, we can certainly appreciate all things green today. The Girl, especially seemed pretty obsessed getting into the proper Irish spirit.

I received a similar recipe in email the other day I think from Betty Crocker, but apparently deleted it. The Kids loved the idea of green cookies, so I adapted my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe as best I could.

Of course since they are green, The Boy immediately thought them to be "Dragon Cookies" and that just sounded better than "Green Chocolate Chip Cookies." He didn't quite get the whole "Kiss me, I'm Irish" thing.

Cream together 1 cup of shortening, 1/2 cup of butter and 2 cups of brown sugar.

Beat in 2 eggs.
And a teaspoon each of vanilla and peppermint extract.
Add in 30 drops of green food coloring. Yes, 30 drops.
Gradually mix in 2 teaspoons baking soda and 3 cups of flour.
Stir in 2 cups Andes mint chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoon on to a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Careful when you open the oven door. Peppermint extract can really clear out the sinuses (and burn the eyes) after it has been baked.

These are yummy. As I was mixing them up, I started second guessing myself on the peppermint extract, thinking it would be too overwhelming. Turns out I didn't have to worry. However, I'm not convinced that you need the peppermint extract AND the Andes mint chips. I think you could get away with just vanilla and the chips or peppermint extract and regular chocolate chips. The way I made them, I'm not sure you can tell that they are Andes chips as opposed to regular chocolate chips. Next time I will probably pick an alternate version just to see.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Dragon Cookies

1 Cup Shortening

1/2 Cup Butter

2 Cups Packed Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract

3 Cups Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

2 Cups Andes Mint Baking Chips

Cream shortening, butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Beat in extracts. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chips. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool for two minutes and remove to cool on a wire rack.

Easy Homemade Donuts

2011-03-13T09:43:00.011-05:00

It's Daylight Savings Time. Seriously. WHY?? I really do not adjust well to these days. I am on a schedule and I do not like to change it. And anyway, does it really serve any purpose at all? There is an old Indian saying that may or may not have been made up by my dad: "Only a White Man would cut the end off a blanket, sew it back on to the top and believe that it was longer." Kinda makes sense, don't you think?

The Boy wanted donuts for breakfast this morning and I really didn't feel like going out and getting any. Lucky for me, Carrie posted this a few days ago. I had some extra biscuits in the fridge and that just seemed like a good omen.

I had never made donuts before, so I had zero background knowledge to fall back on, which made for some interesting issues, as you will see shortly.

Get your oil heating up. If you have a fryer, you can use that. I have a specific old frying pan that I use when I require hot oil. You need a good couple inches deep, otherwise you won't be able to turn the donuts.

While you are waiting, mix up your glaze. The Boy wanted chocolate, so I added a handful of chocolate chips to 1/4 cup melted butter and 3 tablespoons of milk.

Whisk that together and mix in a cup of powdered sugar.

Open a can of refrigerated biscuits and lay out each individual biscuit. There are several directions you could go here. You could not worry about taking any dough out of the middle. I'm not positive, however, that you would technically be making donuts anymore. According to Ty Webb (you know, Caddyshack), "A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish." Since we are wanting donuts, we are going to cut out the middle. You can use anything round, like the lid from a pop bottle. The problem I had with this is that I didn't have anything circular small enough for my biscuits. I dug around and found my mini cookie cutters. Star centers it shall be.

Now, Carrie said she put her stove on "5" and it took 20 minutes to heat up. You can check this by tossing a VERY SMALL DROP of water into the oil. If the water sizzles, the oil is ready. I set my stove to medium and when I checked it after about 10 minutes, it nearly caught my kitchen on fire. If you have a kitchen thermometer (I apparently do not), you want the oil to be heated to 375. Anything over that and you are going to end up something like this:

These four unfortunate donuts were added to the oil and by the time I got the last one in (approximately 2 seconds), this had happened. A kitchen thermometer is now on my shopping list.

Even if you donuts do not actually become charcoal, if your oil is too hot, you will get them nice and brown on the outside, but not quite cooked on the inside. I'm not sure which is worse.

Cook for a few seconds on one side until you see a very light brown start to creep around the edges of the donut. Then flip it over and cook for a few more seconds.

After a few tries, I ended up with some nicely browned samples.

Dip these in your glaze.

Aren't the stars cute??
Let the glaze dribble off. Ideally, I would have had waxed paper under the cooling rack, but I seem to have run out.
These were devoured. Definitely keeping this recipe. Someday I might try "real" donuts, but these are so easy I don't know if it would be worth the trouble.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Easy Biscuit Donuts

2 tubes Refrigerated Biscuits

3-5 Cups Oil for Frying

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

3 Tablespoons Milk

1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

Heat the oil to 375.

Whisk butter, milk and chocolate chips until smooth. Add powdered sugar. Whisk until mixture is again smooth. Set aside.

Cut centers out of biscuits. Place in the hot oil. Brown on both sides. Place on a cooling rack or paper towel.

Cool slightly and dip in glaze.

March Menu

2011-03-06T10:57:00.004-06:00

Did you know it was March? I mean March 6th? I'm not sure how it happened, but I completely missed that. Whew.

Any who, better late than never I suppose.

Beef Noodle Bowl

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Upside Down Pizza

CP Chicken Cordon Bleu

Creamy Chicken Penne

Swiss Mushroom Chicken

Chicken Strips

Bacon Wrapped Corn Dogs

CP All Day Crock Pot Delight

CP Beef Stroganoff

Fish Stick Supper

Three Cheese Stuffed Shells

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

Marinated Baked Chicken

CP Ham and Beans

Busy Day Baked Fish

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken

Chicken Pizza Packets

Homemade Shepard's Pie

Pizza Pasta Casserole

Snacks and Desserts

Rice Krispy Treats

Strawberry Mousse Parfaits

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hmmm...this list doesn't have much in the way to link, does it? These are dinners I fall back on over and over, so I will try to get more of them posted this month.

Happy Spring!

Chicken Valentino

2011-03-04T19:49:00.002-06:00

I don't know where I got this recipe. I have had it for awhile, but can't seem to find the original source. There are a lot of recipes out there that claim to be Chicken Valentino, but don't seem to look anything like another one. This could be Chicken Valentino and it could possibly NOT be Chicken Valentino. From here on out, this is what I mean when I say I am making Chicken Valentino.

I'm not usually big on stuffed anything recipes mainly because they seem to take forever to put together and they never seem to some out like they are supposed to. I made this one because it reminded me of a song. Yes. I am THAT close to actually going insane. Anyway, remember the Bangles song Manic Monday?

I love that song and had forgotten all about it until this recipe came to me. "I was kissin' Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream..." I sang that song the whole time I was making this. Jeff thinks I need a nap.

Pound your chicken breasts flat and sprinkle with Italian seasoning, cheddar cheese.
Add a little bit of mozzarella cheese and thinly sliced roasted red peppers.
Roll 'em up and stick in a toothpick or two so they stay rolled.
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Chicken Valentino

4 Chicken Breasts

1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning

1/4 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1/4 Cup Roasted Red Peppers, sliced

Pound the chicken breasts flat. Sprinkle with seasoning, cheeses and red peppers. Roll up the chicken breast and secure with a toothpick. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear.

Cream Cheese Clouds

2011-02-25T19:55:00.002-06:00

One of the desserts on the menu this month was cheesecake. As you may or may not know, cheesecake is kind of an involved recipe. It takes time. It takes energy. I had neither this week. So instead of actual cheesecake, I found a recipe from Robin Sue that I had saved back before Christmas. She added cherry pie filling to hers, but I didn't have any, so I substituted chocolate pudding.

Beat a block of cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla until it is super creamy.
Slowly add in a cup of cream. Cream. Not milk. Not half and half.
Because we are going for fluffy here, and truly, the only way to get there is by using real cream.
Beat this mixture until you get soft peaks form. Just like you would in whipped cream.
Spoon about a third of a cup of the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. I was out of waxed paper, too, so I used aluminum foil.
Take a spoon and carve out a little space for the filling.

Freeze this for a couple hours and then fill with pudding. Or pie filling. Or fruit.
You know, I think anything with "cloud" in the name just has to be good, doesn't it? These are wonderful. I left them in the freezer overnight, and that made them really difficult to cut into at first, but they didn't take long to thaw out.

I really want to try these with lemon pudding. The Boy is upset we didn't have cherries, so that will be up the next round.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Cream Cheese Clouds

1- 8 ounce brick of cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

In a large mixing bowl using a hand held or stand mixer, mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Slowly add cream and whip until mixture is whipped to a light and fluffy cloud. Line cookie trays with waxed paper and spoon about 1/3 cup sized mounds of the cream mixture on trays and makes a well in each mound using the back of a spoon. Freeze up to 2 hours on trays then remove to an airtight container to store in the freezer.

Three Cheese-Stuffed Shells with Meaty Tomato Sauce

2011-02-14T15:42:00.004-06:00

Sorry about the long name, all I can say is it wasn't me who named it, it is another one of Ree's. I was accused of getting all fancy when I made this. I have been kind of bored with my canned spaghetti sauce and was looking for a new one that didn't sound to difficult. I think I may have found it.

Start your water boiling for the pasta shells.

Brown a half a pound of Italian sausage with a half a chopped onion and a few cloves of minced garlic. Then add in a half a cup of red wine. You can use cooking wine or any red you may have sitting around. Should you be required to open a new bottle, all the better.

Add in your crushed (or diced) tomatoes, a little sugar and a bit of salt. Cover this and simmer for about half an hour.
About now, your water should be boiling, so add in your pasta shells. It is important that you only cook them for half the time. You want them firm enough that you can get them stuffed.

Mix a large container of ricotta, half your parmesan and some romano (or in my case, the Italian blend) cheeses with an egg, salt, pepper and basil.
By this time, your sauce has simmered to perfection, so add about half of it to the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

Once your shells have cooled a little bit, stuff them with a heaping tablespoon of the cheese mixture.
Place each shell open side down on top of the sauce. I easily fit 20 shells into my pan.
Cover those with the remaining sauce.
And sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for about half an hour.

This sauce is insanely delicious. I am so using more wine in my cooking from now on.

I ended up with a few extra shells and a little bit of extra filling. I think this would freeze well, so I am trying that and I will try to remember to let you know how it all worked out.

While this is not really something you can throw together on a weeknight, it is perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon (or in my case, yet another Snow Day).

Everyone loved this. I barely had any leftovers to take for lunch the next day.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Three Cheese-Stuffed Shells with Meaty Tomato Sauce

20 Jumbo Pasta Shells

30 ounces, Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese

8 ounces, Parmesan Cheese, Grated, Divided

½ cups Grated Romano Cheese

1 whole Egg

1 teaspoon chopped Basil

Salt And Pepper, to taste

½ whole Medium Onion, Chopped

2 cloves Garlic, Minced

½ pounds Italian Sausage

½ cups Red Wine

2 cans Diced Tomatoes

2 Tablespoons Sugar

½ teaspoons Salt

Cook pasta shells for half the cooking time; make sure not to overcook. Drain and rinse in cool water. Set aside.

Brown Italian sausage with onions and garlic. Break the sausage into small pieces as it cooks. Pour in red wine and let it cook for a minute or two.

Add in cans of crushed tomatoes and stir. Add sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a separate bowl, mix ricotta, half the Parmesan, Romano, egg, salt and pepper and basil. Stir until combined.

Coat the bottom of a baking dish with about half the sauce. Fill each half-cooked shell with the cheese mixture. Place face down on the sauce. Top shells with remaining sauce. Sprinkle on remaining Parmesan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Apple Cream Brunch Biscuits

2011-02-11T17:28:00.001-06:00

These snow days are going to kill me.

Well, they are at least going to make me heavier. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I've gained about 20 pounds this month. I can't help it. When I am stuck inside and it's cold, all I want to do is cook.

I decided to clean out my inbox. I have a folder dedicated to recipes that I want to try and I hadn't really looked through them in awhile. I didn't get very far. The first one I looked at was from Pillsbury. Not only did it feature some incredible looking chocolate recipes for Valentine's Day, it had links to other recipes it thought I might enjoy. It was one of these links that led me toApple Ricotta Brunch Biscuits. This is not really what I made. I didn't have ricotta cheese. I really wanted to try these, but really did not want to get out in the snow. So I substituted cream cheese for the ricotta. I also did not have almonds (I have been making a LOT of granola), so I substituted walnuts.

Mix the cream cheese, sugar and egg until it is nice and creamy.

Have The Girl mix up the walnuts and cinnamon so she doesn't eat all the cream cheese mixture.

Press a refrigerated biscuit in the bottom and up the sides of a greased muffin tin. Cut an apple into 8 wedges and peel each section. The recipe said to put an entire wedge in the muffin tin, but it also told me to use a jumbo muffin tin. I cut my wedges in half since I was using a regular sized muffin tin.

Top each apple with a generous spoonful of the cream cheese mixture.

Sprinkle with walnuts and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Let them sit in the pan for a few minutes before using a butter knife to loosen them out.

Oh my.

I did not need to know these existed.

Everyone ate one right out of the oven (be careful, those apples get HOT!) and immediately wanted another. It says to store in the refrigerator, but mine didn't make it that far.

I would also say that while I do not have a comparison here, I don't think I would like these as a jumbo muffin as well. I think next time I will keep them the regular muffin size. I can also see substituting blueberries or peaches for the apple. Oh, or a Hershey's kiss would be divine.

Boy, I really need to go back to school.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Apple Cream Biscuits

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Cream Cheese

1 Egg

1/4 Cup sliced Walnuts

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Refrigerated Biscuits

1 small Apple, peeled, cut into 8 wedges (1/2 inch thick)

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 10 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. In small bowl, combine sugar, cream cheese and egg; beat at high speed for 1 minute.

In small bowl, combine walnuts and cinnamon; mix well. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Press each biscuit evenly in bottom and up sides of spray-coated muffin cups. Place 1 wedge of apple in each cup. Spoon 2 rounded tablespoonfuls cheese mixture over each apple wedge; sprinkle with walnut mixture.

Bake at 375°F. for 20 to 25 minutes or until biscuits are deep golden brown and apples are crisp-tender. Remove biscuits from muffin cups; cool 15 minutes. Serve warm. Store in refrigerator.

Warm Butterbeer

2011-02-09T19:05:00.001-06:00

So we are on our sixth snow day of the year. And while being a teacher definitely has it's perks on days like this, I am really sick of snow and cold, not to mention being couped up in the house for days at a time. I went out and shoveled the driveway this morning just so I could escape. It was 7 degrees.

When I came back in, I briefly thought about hot chocolate. We have been drinking so much lately that the suggestion received very little enthusiasm. I went on a kick awhile back (you may remember) in the hot drinks category. I had one more recipe that we hadn't tried yet.

Butterbeer.

For those unfortunate enough to not know anything about the Harry Potter world, go now to your local library and check out the series. I firmly believe that you will want to read them all if you start on the first, so just get them all.

I'll wait.

Back? Okay. Butterbeer is a favorite drink in the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling made it up, but she has said that she imagines it tasting "a little less sickly than butterscotch." There are a lot of recipes out there, especially since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has opened at Universal Studios in Orlando, so it took awhile to sort through them all and find one that sounded right. We had 10 inches of snow last night, what am I supposed to do?

This one sounded most like what I think Butterbeer should be, plus it is super simple to make.

Add a heaping tablespoon of butterscotch sauce and a tablespoon of cream to a can of Cream Soda. If you are lucky, press the "on" button on your Cocomotion. If not, you can also heat this on the stove or in the microwave.

Enjoy.

This went over really well. We ended up making two more batches before the day was over. This is really sweet, so I added a bit more cream on the second batch and prefer that version. The Kids I don't think even noticed there was a difference.

In the books, too much Butterbeer can make one a little tipsy, especially if you are a house elf. To make this more of adult drink, a shot of butterscotch schnapps is recommended.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Warm Butterbeer

2 Tablespoons Butterscotch Sauce
1 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
1 Can Cream Soda

Mix it all together and heat.

Spaghetti Tacos

2011-02-08T18:09:00.001-06:00

Why, yes, we do have a tween girl who watches Nickelodeon. However did you know?

For those of you who do NOT have a tween girl, these are from iCarly. There are lots of unusual, creative foods on that show, but The Girl has been wanting to try Spaghetti Tacos for a long time.

The Boy wasn't so sure.

So one day, when we had left over spaghetti, I gave in.

Before you shudder in disbelief, just let me tell you...

...these weren't bad.

They were actually pretty good.

White Castle Sliders

2011-02-07T13:04:00.002-06:00

I've never been to White Castle. I had never actually heard about it until that movie came out, and even then I didn't realize it was a real place. I have apparently been deprived in this department.

There are lots of places on the internet with recipes for these adorable little hamburgers. Want to know the really funny thing? I was hard pressed to find any variation at all. Everyone pretty much sticks to the same version. So this must be the right one, right?

Sprinkle a half a cup of dried onions onto the bottom of an 8x8 square pan.

Press a pound of ground beef into a layer on top of the onions.
Sprinkle with seasoning of your choice.
Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. Then you will need a paper towel to blot some of the extra grease.
Top with American cheese. Pop this back in the oven for a couple minutes so the cheese gets nice and melted.
Cut into tiny little burgers. I made nine.
You can buy mini buns at the grocery store, I think they are called party buns and they come in a couple varieties. I ended up with Hawaiian, which was just a bit sweeter than a regular bun.
These were really good. We eat a lot of hamburgers in this house and it's nice to have a way to change it up. The Boy was delighted to have "hamburger made just for me" and ate several of them (I'm pretty sure he's going through another growth spurt!). The Girl picked off her onions, but still gave a thumbs up. This will go in my book as a great Saturday lunch for when Jeff is gone.

Click here for Printable Recipe

White Castle Sliders

1/2 cup dried onion flakes

2 pounds ground beef

1/2 t. seasoned salt

6 slices cheese

12- small party rolls

dill pickle slices

Evenly spread the onions on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Gently press the ground beef on top of the onion flakes. Press evenly making one giant pattie. Sprinkle with seasoned salt. At this point you can use a drinking straw and poke holes throughout the meat. That is what they do with the original white castle sliders. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Using a paper towel, pat the excess grease from the top of the pattie. Top with cheese, return to oven for 2 more minutes. Remove from oven, let set 5 minutes then cut into patties. Slice open and separate each party roll. Place bottom of rolls on a large platter. Using a spatula lift pattie with onion layer onto each bun bottom. Top each slider with a pickle slice then the bun lid. Serve immediately.

Crock Pot Chicken Lickin

2011-02-04T16:36:00.001-06:00

So the last week or so, I haven't even put my slow cooker away. This kind of weather makes me want to hibernate. Since my children will not allow me to do that, the closest I seem to be able to get is snuggling in a blanket with my caramel milk.

There is nothing quite as satisfying as walking in from the cold after a long day at school and breathing in the smells of supper already cooking.

I believe this recipe came through my Google group, so I'm not sure of it's exact origin. Whoever you are, thank you for coming up with this one!

In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients - tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, garlic, salt, paprika, ginger and chili powder - everything except the cream.

Mix them all up good.
In a large slow cooker, add 6-8 chicken legs. The recipe says to brown these before adding them in. You will notice that I didn't even get them defrosted, so I skipped that step. I also realize this practice is frowned upon and usually thaw my meat before slow cooking it. Actually, I put this in the microwave and thawed them before moving on. I will do better in the future.
Add your tomato mixture on top of the chicken legs. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. I cooked mine for 6 hours, but my slow cooker seems to run pretty hot.
Just before serving add in 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
Stir it all up and serve over hot noodles.
The sauce didn't really thicken up like I would have liked it to, so we kind of made it into more of a soup than a pasta dish. Either way, it's delicious.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Crock Pot Chicken Lickin

8 chicken legs, thighs and/or breasts

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

3 tablespoons butter

1 (16 ounce) can whole tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained and sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons paprika

Rinse the chicken parts and pat dry. Melt the butter in a skillet. Brown the chicken on all sides in the butter. Place the chicken in a crock pot.

Combine all the other ingredients except the cream together. Mix well. Pour over the chicken. Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.

Stir in the heavy cream just before serving.

Serve over hot spaghetti.

Toffee Rolls

2011-02-02T08:58:00.001-06:00

I made these awhile back at a time where I didn't know whether I was coming or going. I apparently threw the recipe back in the pile and forgot about them. I am stunned by this because these are heavenly. Also not so stunned because I think I ate half the batch before I told anyone else they were done.

Yeah, these are really good.

And really easy.

Have The Boy mix the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and toffee bits together while you lay out a package of refrigerated crescent rolls.

After you seal all the perforations, spread that butter mixture evenly across the top.
Roll them up and cut them into 1 inch slices.
Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.
Mix up some icing using powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and drizzle over the rolls.
Did I mention these were good?

Click here for Printable Recipe

Toffee Rolls

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup Toffee Bits or almond brickle chips

2 tubes (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls

1 cup confectioners' sugar

4-1/2 teaspoons whole milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Stir in toffee bits.

Separate each tube of crescent dough into four rectangles; seal perforations. Spread evenly with butter mixture. Roll up each rectangle jelly-roll style, starting with a long side.

Cut each into six 1-in. slices; place cut side down into two greased 8-in. square baking dishes. Bake at 375° for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.

In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over warm rolls. Yield: 4 dozen.

February 2011 Menu Plan

2011-02-01T16:47:00.003-06:00

Last month, I did a monthly menu plan instead of a weekly one. And I loved it. I bought all my groceries except some of the perishables all at once and kept to my goal of only going to Wal-Mart once. Boy, do I feel good about that!

The monthly plan is a bit harder to do at first, but it also allows me a bit more flexibility. If I look at the calendar and don't really feel like having that for supper, I can substitute something else for it and know I have all the necessary ingredients.

February Suppers

Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu

Beef Noodle Bowl

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken

Busy Day Baked Fish

French Style Chicken

Tuna Salad & Chips

Cheesy Sausage Potatoes

Three Cheese Stuffed Shells

Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Spinach Pasta Toss

Four Cheese Chicken Fettuccine

Hamburgers

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

CP Beef Stroganoff

Sweet and Sticky Wings

CP Meatball Stone Soup

Spaghetti with Meatballs

Spaghetti Tacos

Grandma's Goulash

CP Chicken Lickin

CP Corn and Sausage Chowder

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Broiled Pizza Burgers

Baked Ham

Ham and Beans

Baked Chicken

CP Chicken and Dumplings

Snacks and Desserts

Chocolate Cheesecake

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Yummy Chocolate Dip

Note: SC stands for Slow Cooker. I don't have nearly enough of those.

Quick & Easy Mulligatawny

2011-01-31T18:13:00.002-06:00

I know what you are thinking, "Quick and Easy What?" I thought the same thing with Ree posted this awhile back. I have had Indian food once in my life. I really liked it, it just isn't something I really have access to on a regular basis. And truth be told, even if I did, I'm not sure I could convince many members of my immediate family to join me if we did.

This seemed like a simple way to sneak this in on my family and get them to try it. Even with the longer than normal ingredient list, it goes together quickly and the only ingredient I didn't have on hand was the curry powder.

Cook up a diced chicken breast in a couple tablespoons of melted butter until the chicken is just cooked through.

Take the chicken out and set it aside. Add in the onion and garlic and saute in the drippings.
When the onions just start to brown, stir in the flour and curry powder. Cook for one minute.
And add in the chicken broth. Cook for about 5 minutes until it gets good and hot.
Stir in the half and half, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook another 5 minutes, again until it gets back to hot.
Meanwhile dice up a nice tart apple. I forgot to take the skin off. It wasn't distracting, so I guess you can peel or not, which ever you choose.

Add the apple and chicken into the pot and cook for another 5 or 10 minutes.
Let all those flavors meld for a few minutes before serving.

I loved this. The Boy was a little leery of the unpeeled apples, so I will definitely rectify that next time, but once he tried it, he ate two bowls. The Girl said she had to think about it, but ultimately decided it was good. Jeff ended up leaving for work before dinner was ready, so he didn't get to try it. This is probably one of those things that he would eat, but not ever request.

I'm thinking that this is opening up a whole new cooking realm for me. I am really into the spices right now and that seems to be what Indian cooking is all about. I have to be careful, though. For my kids, there is a very fine line between just spicy enough and waaaayyyy too spicy.

I'll keep you posted. In the mean time, try this. It really is a good place to start.

I will also admit that I have yet to figure out how to pronounce this without having to stop and sound it out :P

Click here for Printable Recipe

Quick & Easy Mulligatawny

1 whole Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Cut Into Bite-Sized Pieces

Salt And Black Pepper To Taste

4 Tablespoons Butter

1 whole Medium Onion

3 cloves Garlic, Minced Finely

¼ cups All-purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

32 ounces, fluid Chicken Broth

2 cups Half-and-half

1 whole Granny Smith Apple, Peeled And Diced

1 Tablespoon Sugar

2 teaspoons Salt, More To Taste

Season diced chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden. Remove chicken to a plate. Set aside. In the same pot, add butter and reduce heat to medium. Add diced onion and garlic and stir to cook. Onions should be starting to brown. Sprinkle flour over onions. Stir to combine, then stir in curry powder. Cook mixture over medium heat for one minute, stirring constantly. Pour in chicken broth. Stir to combine, then cook for five minutes. Add half and half, salt, pepper, and sugar, then cook for another five minutes. Add chicken and diced apple and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off and allow to stand 5 or 10 minutes before serving. Taste for seasonings before serving.

Caramel Apple Sips

2011-01-22T08:41:00.001-06:00

Know what else you can add that caramel sauce to? Apple cider.

Just add a tablespoon of the caramel to each cup of apple cider. Heat. Stir. Enjoy.

I love this. The Girl isn't a big fan of apple juice, so she was pretty unimpressed. I had to bribe The Boy to taste it and then he wanted more. And more.

This is definitely a keeper. It's a nice change from the creamy drinks I usually make and less involved than regular apple cider. I seem to be the only one who likes the spices, anyway.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Apple Sips

4 cups apple cider

1/4 cup caramel sauce

Bring the cider to a simmer in a medium pan over medium high heat. Add the caramel sauce and whisk until melted.

Remove from heat, pour into mugs.

My Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

2011-01-21T21:23:00.004-06:00

My Grandma makes good food. No, strike that. My Grandma makes legendary food. She has a knack for tweaking just one little ingredient and making the whole thing better.

Take her cinnamon rolls.

A good number of people will tell you that in order to make good cinnamon rolls, you must take those rolls and slather them in frosting.

This is wrong.

Just plain wrong.

Cinnamon rolls are delicious because they are rolls that have cinnamon in them. In order to really appreciate this combination, you must be able to taste the roll and the cinnamon, and not just sugar.

This is where Grandma has surpassed all expectations and obtained perfection.

You will need some dough. In her words, "any old sweet dough recipe will work." You can also use frozen bread dough.

Lightly flour a flat surface.

Then roll out your dough. I love Grandma's hands. I think you can read the story of her life without even knowing anything about her.
Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
Let everyone have a turn.
Here is Part I of Grandma's secret. Shortening. Okay all you out there cringing. She also said lard would work.

Spread this out over the dough in a semi-thin layer.
Then sprinkle with your favorite cinnamon-sugar ratio.
Start on the long end and roll up the dough.
And now Part II. If you made it past the first round of shortening, there's more. Take a little bit and melt it into the bottom of your baking pan.
You should have a thin (1/4 inch) layer on the bottom of the pan.
Now cut that roll of dough into about 1 inch slices.
And place in the melted shortening. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon-sugar mixture, because that's what Grandma does.
She also adds a little bit more shortening. Don't skip this step. This is how the magic really happens.
Let those rolls rise in a nice warm place until they are doubled in size (about an hour). Just before baking, pour a can of evaporated milk over the rolls and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

EDIT: I do not have a picture of the evaporated milk! Grandma did this while I went to help Dad move round bales! This is a crucial step that cannot be avoided and I managed to hide it well enough for some people to miss it! (Sorry about that, Neal)

Invert those baked rolls onto a plate and let them cool, leaving the pan on top of the rolls. This is important! All that shortening deliciousness is going to fall out of the pan down into the rolls.

And you get this...

Scoop any extra gooey back onto the rolls.

Gooey, yummy, oh my...

Just looking at this picture makes me hungry.

And it makes me think of my Grandma.

And, yes, this picture of her and The Girl makes me want to cry.

Mulled Dr. Pepper

2011-01-20T22:04:00.001-06:00

I mentioned my recent obsession with hot drinks the other day. This was actually the first recipe I tried. I found it long ago in a Taste of Home cookbook and thought it sounded good. I surprisingly had all the ingredients on hand, so I set it to mulling on one of our snow day afternoons.

Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, nutmeg, allspice, salt and brown sugar all go into a slow cooker.

Add in your Dr. Pepper and a bit of lemon juice and cook for a couple hours.
Dr. Pepper seems to be a flavor that you either really like or you really don't. I can remember my great-grandma called it "grasshopper juice." I have a vivid memory of looking at a captured grasshopper spitting on my finger while I was thinking, "she's right, it does look like Dr. Pepper." Just a little side note to remind you how impressionable young children can be...

The Girl liked this okay. I liked it. Jeff, however, wasn't even going to try it after getting his first whiff. He also threatened to cancel his life insurance policy if I continued to try to poison him. It wasn't THAT bad, but I don't think I will ever make it again unless The Girl specifically requests it.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Mulled Dr. Pepper

8 cups Dr. Pepper

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)

In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours or until heated through.

Discard cloves and cinnamon sticks. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Sticky Asian Chicken

2011-01-19T17:57:00.001-06:00

My family (except Jeff) loves Chinese food. From the time she could talk, The Girl's favorite place to eat has been "The Broccoli Place." For a long time, she would only eat broccoli and lo mein noodles. Luckily, as she has gotten older, she has started branching out.

This is from Robin Sue and it looked so good I couldn't wait to try it.

Dip a chicken thigh in egg.

And then coat it in self-rising flour.
Brown on each side for just a minute in melted butter.

Dip in a mixture of teriyaki sauce and red pepper flakes.
Place in a foil-lined 9 x 13 pan. Foil is sooooo important here. You will never get the baked sauce out of the pan alone. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Slice it up and serve over rice and veggies.

This was okay. The Kids thought it was "too hot" for their tastes, but they also shy away from anything that even looks like it might contain black pepper. I don't know if it was the breading I didn't like or just the over all taste. I don't think I will make this again. If this were on a buffet at a restaurant, I wouldn't go back for it. I have a recipe for Teriyaki Chicken that I like quite a bit better and if given the choice, I would pick that over this one.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Sticky Asian Chicken

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

3 eggs, whisked

3.5-4 pounds boneless/skinless chicken thighs, excess fat removed

12 ounces plus 1 cup teriyaki marinade and finishing sauce

1/2- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes, optional

1 bunch green onions, sliced, green only

3 cups of basmati rice, cooked according to package directions

Dip thighs in eggs then flour, shaking off excess flour. Fry in butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Fry each side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Pour 12 ounces of teriyaki sauce in a bowl and stir in pepper flakes then dip each fried piece of chicken in the sauce coating each side well. Shake off excess sauce. Place each piece of chicken on a well greased foil-lined large jelly-roll pan. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and slice each piece and plate over a bed of rice. Heat one cup teriyaki sauce and pour over chicken, sprinkle with green onion slices and serve immediately. Serves 12.

Caramel Steamed Milk

2011-01-17T08:00:00.002-06:00

It's cold here. I mean really cold. And snowy and icy. Our weatherman keeps saying the words "arctic air." That can never be good.

As a result, I am moving through on a hot chocolate drinking marathon. I love hot chocolate, but I was starting to crave something else. Anything else.

And so it began.

I hit Google up for as many hot drinks I as it could find. Turns out, there are a lot of hot drinks, many of which contain an amazing amount of alcohol. That wasn't really what I was going for, but maybe later, that will come in handy. Anyhow, I found several that sounded good and am in the process of trying them all.

This caramel steamed milk was the first one I tried. It sounds weird, I know, but don't discount it yet.

It is so simple. Add a tablespoon of caramel syrup to a cup of milk and heat it up. You can use store bought syrup of make your own.

You can heat it on the stove, in the microwave or if you are lucky, your brother gave you a Cocomotion for Christmas one year. The first batch I cooked on the stove. Slowly. Painfully slowly. The second time, I mixed it up in my machine. That was by far my favorite since you get a nice layer of foamy milk on the top.
I could have stopped here. This is the perfect just-before-bed-get-the-kids-calmed-down treat. I have a cup right now as I watch the "wintry mix" fall outside my window.

Give it a try. It is so amazingly good.

UPDATE: I have also used the Butterscotch Sauce in place of the Caramel...yummm...

UPDATE: When I posted this, I hadn't really spent any time away from it. Now that I have, I realize that I don't think I conveyed my love for this drink. Seriously, I think about it all day long. Try it. It will make you happy.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Steamed Milk

1 Cup Milk

1 Tablespoon Caramel Sauce

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan placed over medium heat. Bring to just a boil and remove from heat. Alternatively, you can steam or heat a cup of milk using your preferred method and stir in the tablespoon of caramel once the milk is hot. The sauce will easily melt and mix with the milk. Serve immediately.

Caramel Sauce

2011-01-16T15:31:00.002-06:00

I came across this sauce recipe the other day when I was looking for hot drinks. (I found it, word for word, in several places, so I'm not sure where the credit goes.) I really like caramel on my ice cream, but for some reason never seem to buy the topping. This looked simple to make, although I have never had good luck making caramel candy at Christmas time. I have come close to catching my kitchen on fire, but not getting edible results.

We are going into our second snow storm system for this week, so I figured there was no better time to risk it.

Add 1/4 cup water to a cup of sugar. Stir this well and cook until the sugar dissolves. I know. This ratio doesn't seem to have a prayer, but heat it over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Once it starts to boil, stop stirring. Start to boil time for me was about 10 minutes.
And just let it boil. Do not stir. You can swirl the pan a little bit if you get antsy, but DO NOT STIR!

About five minutes later, you will see the mixture start to turn a little bit brown. This is good. Remember, caramel is brown. See all that sugar crystallizing at the top? Leave it there. This is such a strain on my OCD tendencies, but if you bring all that back in, your caramel will have more of a grainy texture. This is actually true for any soft candy you make at home.
Watch this very carefully and swirl some more if you get nervous. You will probably start to get kind of a chemical smell here. That's okay as long as it's not burning. When you get a nice caramel brown color, remove the pan from the heat.
Pour in a half a cup of heavy cream and a little bit of vanilla to your burnt sugar.

Whisk. And whisk. And whisk some more. You will get a big clump of caramel forming on your whisk. Just ignore it and keep whisking. Move your pan back to low heat to help that solid chunk melt back in. Whisk until you get a nice smooth mixture.

This will make about 1 cup.
Pour it into a nice pretty container.
If you have one. Otherwise, just pour it into a clear one. Clear is a must. You HAVE to be able to see this. Isn't it gorgeous?
Then drink it. Just kidding. Sort of. But at least let it cool. Bad things happen when you try to drink hot caramel. Just trust me on this one.
The recipe as it is written, although not horribly so, is a little bit sweet for me. I think next time I will add in a pinch of salt.

It is still really, really yummy. I had some on yogurt for breakfast (weird, I know, but we are out of ice cream). And I had some on a spoon.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Sauce

1/4 c water

1 c sugar

1/2 c heavy cream

dash of vanilla extract

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until sugar dissolves. Once dissolved, do not stir! Allow the mixture to boil until the sugar turns a caramel brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer). This should take about 5 minutes, swirling the pan periodically to keep the mixture from burning, especially at the end of the 5 minutes.

ake the sugar mixture off of the heat. Carefully whisk in the cream and vanilla.

Place the pot over low heat and continue whisking until the sauce returns to a smooth texture. Allow the caramel to cool at room temperature before refrigerating.

Hot Corn Dip

2011-01-15T11:29:00.001-06:00

I checked out Trisha Yearwood's cookbook from the library this summer. It is beautiful with lots of really good looking food. For some reason, I never actually got around to making anything from it. When I returned it, I told myself that I was going to buy it, but for some reason, I can't ever remember to order it. And, it turns out she has two cookbooks and I don't know which one I had. Might just have to buy them both.

I did, however, jot down this one recipe. Why I picked this one, I don't know.

On our last snow day, my plan was to have leftovers for lunch. I had everything to make this dip, so I thought it would make a nice addition. I ended up just having this for lunch. The leftovers went untouched. Good thing I only made a half recipe!

I used a can of Mexican corn, a can of green chilies, half a cup of mayonnaise, 2/3 cup shredded Parmesan and a cup of shredded Colby-Jack cheese.

Mix it all together and spread out into a greased pan.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until it gets all nice and bubbly.
Dip with chips. Tortilla, corn, whatever you have.
Jeff actually came in and not realizing it was a dip, started eating it with a spoon. The Girl proclaimed it "awesome!" I think The Boy just ate chips.

This is really, really good. It's best warm, but not bad cold, either. I'm thinking it's going to be on the menu for the Super Bowl. I think it would also cook well in the crock pot. I'll try that next time and let you know.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Hot Corn Dip

2 (11 ounce) cans mexicorn, drained

2 (4 1/2 ounce) cans chopped green chilies, drained

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese (about 8 ounces)

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup mayonnaise (not miracle whip)

corn chips, tortilla chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F Grease a 9 × 13 × 2-inch casserole dish. In a medium bowl, mix the corn, chile's, cheeses, and mayonnaise until fully combined. Spread the mixture in the prepared casserole dish and bake, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges. Serve the dip warm from the oven with corn chips.

My Grandma's Goulash

2011-01-13T12:50:00.001-06:00

If you are one of the hundreds of people who have ever stopped by my Grandma's house at noon, you know that she will feed you. It doesn't matter how many people walk through that door, they will not go hungry.

We ate dinner at Grandma's house a LOT, especially in the summer. This dish is one of my favorites. And my brother's favorites. And my sister's.

Ask pretty much anyone and they will say, "oh, yeah, your grandma's goulash is incredible." Yes, that is a direct quote.

When I called her and asked her for the recipe, she was incredibly flattered. She always is when I ask her how to make something. I told her I needed to know what her secret ingredient was. She just laughed and said it wasn't really a secret. That's how it is with a lot of things she makes. There's really no secret to it, it's just that she will use one ingredient different than anyone else, and that makes all the difference.

Add a can of tomatoes (diced, whole, chopped, it doesn't matter) and a can of tomato sauce to a pound of browned ground beef. Then add in "a little bit of brown sugar." This is what makes it special. I used about 2 tablespoons.

Mix all that together and add in cooked macaroni. Grandma always uses the large macaroni, and she said I could use any kind I wanted. Really, though, if you are going to make your grandma's recipe, go with what she uses. I used a half a package of the large macaroni.
Stir it all up.
That's it.
So comforting. So wonderful.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Grandma's Goulash

1 pound ground beef, browned

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can tomato sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 cups large macaroni, cooked

Mix it all together. Enjoy.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

2011-01-11T11:55:00.001-06:00

It's Sunday. The Girl isn't feeling well. Jeff is at a friend's Chief's Playoff Party. (If you are unfortunate enough to be a Chief's fan, you know how incredible that is this year!) It's cold outside and I'm hungry. I have a roast slow-cooking for supper, so I don't want anything too big for lunch. I have had Ree's recipe sitting in my Reader for quite awhile and this just seemed like the perfect time to try it.

Get your noodles cooking. One package of fettuccine in boiling water. While that is going, saute a finely diced onion and a few cloves of garlic in a couple tablespoons of butter and olive oil. Just for a minute or so where the pieces just start to turn golden.

Add in two cans of tomato sauce.

Stir this up and do a taste test. Add in some salt, pepper and/or sugar to suit your taste.

Cover and simmer this for about 20 minutes on low heat. Then add in a cup of cream.
And a little bit of Parmesan cheese.
Pour this over your cooked noodles.
Sprinkle with a little bit more Parmesan.
This is incredible. Each of the kids had seconds. You could add in chicken or mushrooms, but it is delicious as it is. And so, so simple to make.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced

4 cloves Garlic, Minced

2 cans (15 Ounce Each) Tomato Sauce Or Marinara Sauce

Salt And Pepper, to taste

Dash Of Sugar (more To Taste)

1 cup Heavy Cream

Grated Parmesan Or Romano Cheese, To Taste

Fresh Basil, Chopped

1-½ pound Fettuccine

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for a minute or so. Pour in tomato sauce and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in cream. Add cheese to taste, then check seasonings. Stir in pasta and chopped basil and serve immediately. (Thin with pasta water before adding basil if needed.)

Snow Ice Cream

2011-01-10T13:27:00.001-06:00

Snow days are awesome.

Take a day that was originally full of places to go, things to do.

Then Mother Nature comes in and says, "you know, I think you all need to slow down."

And so you are given the perfect excuse to NOT do anything.

Of course, your children will insist on going outside to play in the snow, but you can easily lure them back inside with the promise of Snow Ice Cream. I've had this recipe for a long time and I can't seem to remember where it came from. It is the same one that Paula Deen has on here site, so that could be the original source.

You will need snow. Clean snow. Around 8 cups.

Pour in a can of sweetened condensed milk and a little bit of vanilla.
Get all of the milk.
Every last drop.
For Heaven's sake, someone get her a spoon.
Maybe The Boy can help.

Then stir. Be sure to have this in a really big bowl!
It takes awhile.
But mix it up good and it will start to resemble homemade ice cream.

Of course, we need to taste test to be sure it is up to standard...

Click here for Printable Recipe

Snow Ice Cream

8 Cups Clean Snow

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Stir.

Caramel Chip Bars

2011-01-07T17:53:00.002-06:00

A friend recently brought these to a dinner. I knew I had made them before, but had forgotten how wonderful they were. Before I left, I made sure I asked her for the recipe. She gave me kind of a funny look and asked me if I was sure. I asked her what she meant and she said, "Tracie, I am one hundred percent certain that you gave me this recipe!"

Thank goodness for community dinners :)

Melt 32 caramels, a stick of butter and a can of sweetened condensed milk on low heat. Stir this quite often and do not be tempted to up the heat. You have time. Be patient.

In between stirs, mix together a yellow cake mix with two eggs and a half cup applesauce. The recipe says half a cup of oil. You can use that or substitute any portion of the oil with applesauce. I went for 100% here and it worked great. Don't forget to stir your caramel.
Mix in every kind of chip you can find. Almost. Two cups of mini chocolate chips and one cup of vanilla chips. Also a chopped up Heath bar. I didn't have one, but I did have some left over toffee chips from when I made the incredible Toffee Rolls. (Hmmm...in my desire to reacquaint you these, I have discovered that I never posted them. I am SO SORRY. You will see why when I get them up.) Anyway, stir these all into your cake mix.

Go stir!
Spread about 3/4 of the dough into the bottom of a well greased pan and bake for about 15 minutes.
By now your caramel should be getting pretty close to completely melted. Remove it from the heat and let it cool a little bit. DO NOT taste test this. You will just keep coming back and "tasting" more. Before you know it, you will have to start over and make a new batch.
After the 15 minute cook time, let the almost cookies cool for at least 10 minutes. This is important or the soft, not quite done dough will scrunch up. Once it is not so squishy, spread the caramel mixture over the top of the dough.
Use a regular spoon to drop the remaining dough onto the top of the caramel. You want the drops pretty close together. Your goal is to have a fairly solid top with a bit of caramel peeking out at random spots.
Return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

Don't make these.

They are evil.

You have been warned.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Chip Bars

1/2 c butter

32 caramels

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 pkg (18 1/4 oz) yellow cake mix

1/2 c vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 c miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup vanilla or white chips

1 Heath candy bar (1.4 oz) chopped

In a large saucepan, combine the butter, caramels, and milk; cook and stir over medium low heat until smooth. Cool. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, oil, and eggs; mix well. Stir in chips and chopped candy bar (dough will be stiff). Press 3/4 into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 min. Place on a wire rack for 10 min.

Pour caramel mixture over the crust. Crumble remaining mixture onto caramel layer. Bake for 25-30 min or until edges are golden brown. Cool for 10 min; run a knife around edges of pan. Cool 40 minutes longer; cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Butterscotch Sauce

2011-01-02T19:55:00.001-06:00

I don't know about you, but I am fairly certain I gained some weight during our two Snow Days last week. I don't know what it is, but I always want to cook, cook, cook on those days. So that's what I did. I went on the hot drinks kick, and this is kind of an extension of that.

I made the caramel sauce. It was so easy that I also made butterscotch sauce (you will see why in a few) to go along with it.

The process is essentially the same, just with a slight change in ingredients.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add in brown sugar. This is essentially the only different step :)

Mix this all well and heat on medium heat.
Until it starts to boil. Heat this for about 5 minutes.
Add in your cream.
Notice how the cream does not really go down into the sauce mixture.
At all.
Start whisking. Heat and whisk until you can't whisk any more. It takes awhile.
I never did get all the sugar to mix smoothly in with the cream.
But I'm okay with that.

While I prefer caramel, this is really good. When I ran out of the caramel, I started using it in Caramel Steamed Milk with great success.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Butterscotch Sauce

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar

¾ cup heavy whipping cream (not ultra-pasteurized)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go.

In a heavy bottomed stainless steel 2 quart saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat. Just before butter is melted, add all dark brown sugar at once and stir with wooden spoon until sugar is uniformly wet.

Stir infrequently until mixture goes from looking grainy to molten lava. Make sure to get into the corners of your pot, and watch closely to notice how the mixture changes. It will take about 3 to 5 minutes before it starts to look like a liquid.

Add all the cream at once and lower heat a little and whisk cream into mixture. When liquid is uniform, turn heat back to medium and whisk every few minutes for a total of 10 minutes.

After liquid has been boiling on the stove for its 10 minutes, turn heat off and let rest for a minute or two before transferring into a heatproof storage vessel. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk in half the salt and vanilla extract. Taste again. Add more salt and vanilla extract until the marvelous taste of real butterscotch is achieved.

Butterscotch makes a fantastic topping for ice cream.

Chill butterscotch sauce in a non-reactive container with a tightly fitting lid only after sauce has chilled completely. It will keep for one month refrigerated, that is if you can keep from eating it all the moment it has cooled down and been seasoned to your liking.

Crock Pot Chicken and Sausage Stew...Revisited

2011-01-02T18:13:00.001-06:00

There are three recipes that are consistently visited here: the Wonder Pets cake, the Gronkle cake and Crock Pot Chicken and Sausage Stew. The cakes I understand and am rather proud of them. The other one? Ugh. That was one of the worst disasters ever to come out of my kitchen.

Now part of the problem was I had accidentally substituted Pork and Beans for the Baked Beans. Yes, Virginia, there is a difference. Whatever my excuse, I never had much of a desire to try it again.

But so many people were arriving here looking for that recipe, I finally decided to give it a second try.

I mean chicken and sausage stew? In a crock pot? How could you possible go wrong?

Cut up a pound of chicken breast and kielbasa sausage and put them in the bottom of your crock pot.

Add a half a bag of baby carrots. You can slice them up if you want, but I didn't want.
Half of a sliced onion goes on top of that.
Some ketchup, mustard and brown sugar, along with a bit of white vinegar.
Topped with a can on Baked Beans. I almost said Pork and Beans. That would have been tragic.
With about 15 minutes left until dinner, add in 2 cups of THAWED green beans. If you haven't gotten them out to thaw, pop them in the microwave for a few minutes.
Stir it up and serve.
This was better. Much, much better. The chicken was still a little chewy. I'm not sure if it was cooked too long of if something was working against it. I would almost leave out the baked beans all together next time as neither child was thrilled about them.

It has been saved. This will probably not be the first recipe I pull out when I am wanting soup, but definitely be an option.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Crockpot Chicken and Sausage Stew

1/2 lb. kielbasa sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin bite-sized strips

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot

1 small onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings

1 (16-oz.) can baked beans, undrained

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 cups Frozen Cut Green Beans, thawed

1. In 3 1/2 to 4-quart crockpot, combine all ingredients except green

beans; mix well.

2. Cover; cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or until chicken is no

longer pink in center.

3. Ten minutes before serving, stir in green beans. Increase heat to

high setting; cover

and cook an additional 10 minutes or until green beans are crisp-tender.

4 (1 1/2-cup) servings (9 Weight Watchers points)

Cinnamon Butter

2011-01-01T14:45:00.001-06:00

Can you believe it's 2011? Have you decided on your resolutions? I have two. I had three, but didn't want to go overboard, you know. My abandoned resolution was to eat healthier. A couple things stood in my way.

First, we eat pretty good here anyway. I have been so lucky to have kids who aren't afraid of vegetables. So I really wasn't too worried about our diet to begin with. It just seemed like the type of resolution you should make.

Second, I discovered how to make my own cinnamon butter. There is no way I could in good conscious pledge to eat healthy when I know this exists.

Half a stick of butter, two tablespoons powdered sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Whip this together.
Spread on homemade bread.
Oh my. Or, if you are really feeling indulgent...

Spread this onto pancakes...

I will never be without this again.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Cinnamon Butter

1/2 Cup Butter

2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Whip all ingredients until light and fluffy. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

January 2010 Menu Plan

2010-12-31T18:22:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it's a new year already? Christmas has come and gone so quickly, I'm not even sure it happened. If I didn't have a tiny helicopter buzzing around my head shooting actual missiles at me, I would be inclined to think it hadn't.

I've started thinking about New Year's resolutions. I have never really made any in the past, so this is a new thing this year. I have a couple goals in mind, and while they seem at first glance to be simple, I know it's going to be an uphill battle.

#1 - Get a handle on my housekeeping. Or lack thereof. I am TERRIBLE at it. My house ALWAYS looks like a tornado ripped through it. It has probably been months since I vacuumed the stairs. I have the Fly Lady on tap and I think I am truly ready to let her help me this time.

#2 - Stay the hockey sticks out of Wal-Mart. I can't leave that place without spending two hundred dollars. My goal is one trip per month. Get all household supplies and non-perishable groceries in one trip.

So instead of planning my suppers weekly, I need to plan for the month. Tina does it this way, and I ended up using hers as a template. This turned out to be a little harder than I thought it would, mostly because I kept getting side-tracked. I have a program on my computer that organizes recipes. The problem is that I have recipes scattered over three different computers and/or email accounts.

I will never go paperless. It is beyond my ability. I have to have a hard copy of whatever I am studying in front of me. I simply detest scrolling through computer files. So I bought a photo album (from Wal-Mart) to put a print out of all my favorite recipes. Today, I made sure I had all my recipes in the program and then I printed them on 4 x 6 cards to put in my new cookbook. Even though I have yet to decide on my perfect organizing system, this is so much better. There are recipes I loved that I forgot I had.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I spent about three hours this afternoon making out my January menu plan.

But it is done!

Now I need to make out a grocery list...

January Suppers

Grandma's Goulash & Salad & Fruit

Beef Noodle Bowl

Upside Down Pizza & Salad

PW's Chicken Strips & Potato Salad

Hamburger Cups & Salad

Roast Beef & Carrots & Potatoes (SC)

Tuna Salad & Chips

PW's Tomato Cream Pasta & Salad