Hawaiin Pork

I am proud to say I made this recipe up and it is GOOD! I love it and could eat it 3 times a week. I don't have a picture yet, but it's in my crock pot as we speak, so I'll get one soon.

Hawaiian Pulled Pork (crock pot style)

1 boneless pork roast

1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth

1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce

1 Cup Brown sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)

1 can crushed pineapple, drained (or put the juice in with the chicken broth)

put the chicken broth and teriyaki sauce in the bottom of the crock pot. Season the pork roast with salt, pepper and chili powder. rub/cake the brown sugar on the top of the roast, place in crockpot and top with crushed pineapple. Depending on your crock pot settings and the size of the roast it takes anywhere from 6-9 hours. Once finished, shred the pork with a fork and serve over rice. It's SO yummy!! I love it!

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

STOP RIGHT THERE!! I know what you are thinking.... "Salisbury Steak?? ew. no. not for me. It's for LUNCH LADIES and TV DINNERS!!" Well just hang on a second!!! Have you ever eaten home made salisbury steak?? If you have and it was gross, thats unfortunate. The thought of salsibury steak didn't really excite me either. You hear horror stories of lunch ladies force feeding it to young traumatized kids. Kind of a red flag..but it's so popular with tv dinners and cafeteria's for one good reason. IT USED TO BE GOOD. A lot of people love salisbury steak! So just humor me on this for a minute.

My sister in law's birthday was fast approaching and we were going to visit her and make her dinner. I tried to think of something to make for her (she's not a picky eater, she doesn't care what she eats, and that is a lot harder than making something for a picky eater!) Greg came across this recipe from Food Network (ala Sandra Lee) It looked really good so we decided to try it. We LOVED it! (well at least Greg and I did, the jury is still out on whether or not my sister in law and her husband did....they ate it, and seemed to enjoy it and did not run screaming from the table) It's super easy and very tasty. The Gravy was SOOOO good, and one of the best parts is that it is a pretty cheap meal! If you don't like mushrooms, don't add them, or pick them out. That is what I did :) Here is the recipe to try for yourself. If you taste it and like it let me know! If not, let me know. I like to hear what people think!

p.s. sorry the picture is so small.


Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (10-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, divided
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup frozen chopped onions
1 teaspoon steak seasoning (recommended: Montreal)
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup cognac
1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 (1.2-ounce) packet brown gravy mix
Cooked rice, for serving

Directions
In a large bowl, combine beef, 1/4 can mushroom soup, bread crumbs, egg, onions, and steak seasoning. Mix thoroughly and shape into 4 oval patties.
Heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown patties on both sides and transfer to a plate.
Add remaining butter and cognac (remove pan from heat when adding cognac.) Saute mushrooms for 7 to 8 minutes. Add beef stock and whisk in gravy mix until smooth. Stir in remaining mushroom soup.
Return patties to skillet and spoon gravy over top. Cover pan and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve Salisbury Steaks and Mushroom Gravy over hot cooked rice

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

Oh how I wish it wasn't Sunday. I could go and buy heavy cream and sour cream and make these brownies!!

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

They sound HEAVENLY. You can bet I'll be making these soon. I got them off of Cuisinenie!!

Ranger Cookies

These cookies are soooooo good. I know I post treats a lot.... but that is because I love treats!! This recipe is my father in laws...he makes the best ranger cookies and so I wanted to try them out myself so I could eat them more often!!! Don't let the picture fool you, they are crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the middle!! yum!!

Ranger Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cups oats

2 cups wheaties cereal

1 cup shredded coconut

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift in dry ingredients. Roll into balls and bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

YUMMY!!!

Buttercream Icing

I am in love. yes, it's true.

{Random fact #1: I would love to be a wedding cake maker. I seem to have a lot of the tools, but not the know how. I know it takes practice and the right recipes.}

Buttercream icing is probably THE best thing I have come across in a while (in regards to frosting that is) I always got SOOOO frustrated about the messy, goopy, gloppy, thick canned frosting I buy with cake mixes. But it's so convienient!! (not so)

Gross, Goopy Mess.

Smooth, dreamy buttercream frosting!

Buttercream Icing is awesome. It's smooth, light and spreads like a DREAM!!! I don't know why I haven't been using it the whole time. My dad wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday with Vanilla Buttercream Icing. OK.... I thought.... should I attempt my own?? I did my usual google-ing of recipes and came across one from the food network...its gotta be good.. Right??? Well it seemed easy enough so I decided to try it. It worked. and it tasted delicious. And it spread on the cake SO GREAT!! It was smooth and didn't make the cake crumble into a million crumbs when I was spreading it! It was awesome!!! I will be saving this recipe for the rest of my life. I will use it forever! Here is the recipe:

Vanilla Buttercream Icing:

Ingredients

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I made these super cute cupcakes this weekend! My family has 3 birthday's this week, so we had a big party and I brought these!

Here is the recipe :)

Rainbow Cupcakes

1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil

divide batter into 5 or 6 bowls. (depends on if you want to add purple) Color batter with gel food coloring. (PLEASE use gel food coloring, its SO much easier and makes the colors more vibrant!) scoop a spoonful of each color into lined cupcake pans and bake according to box directions (i underbake them a little to make them more moist/dense and yummy)

Homemade Oreo's

Today I am venturing off into unknown territory! I made these home made oreo's. I know they wont be as good as the originals...they will probably be better, BUT there is a big difference in store bought and home made. They are both good in their own way. Home made ones are soft, store bought are crunchy and I love them both! Here goes Nothin!

Homemade Oreo's

For Cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa (i used reg cocoa powder)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (see recipe note)

1/2 cup plus 2 TBS room temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For Creme Filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups SIFTED confectioners sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Set 2 racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

2. In a food processor, bowl, or electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt and sugar. While pulsing or on low speed, add the butter. Then add the egg. Continue mixing/processing until dough comes together in a mass.

3. Take rounded teaspons of batter and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating tray's from upper to lower to ensure even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

4. To make Creme filling, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

5. To assemble cookies, either put a small glob in the middle of the cookie (like my wording?) and put the cookies together smooshing slightly to get the creme to the edges. You can also use a piping bag if you want to add another step to the process ;)

NOTE: The sugar in the cookie recipe says 1 to 1 1/2 cups. The original recipe says you can alter it to taste depending on how sweet you like your cookie. Since it was my first time, I used about 1 and 1/4 a cup and they tasted fine to me.

I highlighted SIFTED because I didn't sift my powdered sugar and my cream was VERY thick. I actually had to add milk to it to thin it out. I think if since sifting adds air, its not as much sugar so you can either do it that way if you don't have a sifter and just add some milk, or sift it.

I have to say these cookies turned out pretty good!! They were easy to make!

Cake Mix Cookies

1 Box Cake Mix (any flavor)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 Eggs

Mix ins of your liking

This recipe is awesome! You can use any combination of mix/mix ins. Here are some examples of ones I have used:

Coconut Cake Mix with Chocolate Chips

Devils Food Cake Mix with Peanut butter chips

White cake mix with white choc chips and dried cranberries

Chocolate cake mix with choc chips and walnuts

Yellow Cake mix with chocolate chips

White cake mix with andes mint chips

The possibilites are endless! They always turn out perfect. I usually bake mine for about 9 minutes because if you cook them too long, they get dry. :) Enjoy!

Bake cookies at 350 for 9-13 minutes!

Thanks to my friend Monica for this recipe!!

Paprika Chicken with sour cream gravy

Paprika Chicken with Sour Cream Gravy by way of a campbells cookbook

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. Paprika

1 tsp. each of the following: salt, ground pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper

4 boneless chicken breasts

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1 8oz carton sour cream

Mix flour and seasonings. Coat chicken

Melt Butter in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned.

Add soup and onions. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in sour cream. Serve with mashed potatos or rice.

*I left out the cayenne pepper cause I have small children and wussy tastebuds!*

Hamburger/Tortilla Casserole

There are many names for this dish in our family, hamburger casserole, tortilla casserole, beef and green chili casserole, what ever you call it, its good!! My kids will eat it all. I usually double the recipe for a 9x13 pan because leftovers are even better! I got it from my sister in law, Kelli :)

Hamburger Casserole
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
1 small can diced green chilies
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3-5 tortillas
shredded cheese

Brown ground beef and onions together, drain. Mix in green chilies and soup. Layer tortillas in an 8x8 pan (like lasagne) with filling and a little cheese in between each layer. Cover with more cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Voila! Easy and tasty!! Enjoy!

Lemon Garlic Chicken

This is another great recipe from the P90X nutrition guide! My kids loved it!!

Lemon Garlic Chicken

1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbs molasses
2 tsp. worchestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breast)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
lemon wedges
parsley sprigs

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a nonreactive dish (or large plastic zip bag) and add chicken. Cover and marinate in refridgerator 1 hour, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
3. Remove chicken from dish and reserve marinade. arrange chicken in a shallow baking dish or roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Pour reserved marinade over chicken; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, basting occasionally with marinade. Bake without basting for 20 minutes more or until chicken is done. Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with parsley sprigs.

It's important to baste! It makes the chicken very juicy!!

Island Pork Tenderloin

This recipe is actually from the P90X nutrition plan. It's delicious and healthy!!!

Island Pork Tenderloin

16 oz pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat (lean)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. chile powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. olive oil

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 TBS garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. tabasco sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with the spice rub.
3. Heat 1 tbs oil in a 12 inch skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes.
4. Stir together brown sugar, garlic and tabasco and pat onto top of tenderloin. Place pork in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

I didn't use the tabasco because we have kids, but this is a really tasty recipe! We serve it with rice that has teriyaki sauce on it. Hope you like it!

Spinich Artichoke Dip part 2!

If you read my earlier post- Spinich Artichoke dip part 1 you saw that I love applebees spinich dip and that I had tried the earlier recipe and had moderate love towards it. Well I googled applebees spinich dip and came across this new recipe! I tried it and I actually liked it a little better PLUS it's a bit cheaper to make, which is awesome!! I think I'm going to have to have a side by side taste test someday but I really did like this new recipe. The only downfall I thought it had was that it calls for jarred alfredo sauce. (yuck!) I was worried, but in the end it turned out pretty good! I couldn't taste the yicky sauce. Now of course you can buy nice sauce or even make your own (which I will try someday) but for this test purpose I went with the bertolli alfredo sauce.

Almost Applebees Spinich Artichoke Dip

1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1 10 oz box frozen chopped spinich, thawed and drained

10 oz prepared alfredo sauce

1 cup shredded parmesan-romano cheese blend

1 cup shredded motzarella cheese

4 oz (1/2 pkg) cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. minced garlic

Combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup motzarella cheese in a bowl. Mix them until well blended. spread into baking dish and sprinkle with remaining motzarella cheese and place in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

I put my artichoke hearts in a food processer to make it really small because I usually eat around the big chunks at applebees, but that made it a bit thicker. If you want it more soupy, I wouldn't do that. I really liked it though and replaced it as my go to spinich dip recipe :) I really hope that you try it and let me know what you think!!!!

Butternut Squash Lasagne

My Mother in law gave us this cookbook for Christmas and we are SO excited because it has A TON of amazing recipes! We are so excited to try them all, pretty much EVERYTHING (minus the seafood stuff) sounds so good. We decided to try the Butternut Squash Lasagna first. I'm not a huge fan of Butternut Squash, but my husband Greg is. He could eat it every day :)

Butternut Squash Lasagna

3 lbs Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices

3 Tbs Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup butter or margarine

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

4 c. milk

1 Tbs. Snipped fresh rosemary

9 no boil lasagna noodles

1 1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1. Lightly grease a large baking pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place squash, oil and 1/2 tsp salt on the pan. Toss lightly to coat, and spread in an even layer. Roast uncovered 25-30 min or until squash is tender, stirring once. Reduce oven temp. to 375.

2. Meanwhile (while squash is roasting) for sauce, in a large saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic, cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in flour and 1/2 tsp. salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the roasted squash and rosemary.

3. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan or baking dish. Spread about 1 cup of sauce evenly in the prepared pan or dish. Layer three of the uncooked noodles in pan or dish. Spread with one third of the remaining sauce. Sprinkel with 1/3 of the parmesan cheese. Repeat layers 2 more times starting with noodles and ending with cheese. Sprinkle the remaining cheese, cover tightly with foil.

4. Bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more or until edges are bubbly and top is lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 8-10 servings.

Ok so that's the recipe. I wasn't in love with it, but it tasted good. Greg liked it but thinks it needed more salt. You really do need to start the sauce as soon as you put the squash in to roast. It took me a good 25 minutes until that sauce started thickening up. I must have had my heat too low or something. also, the recipe doesn't tell you what to do with the squash slices, I just layered them over the noodles that had sauce on them already. It smelled REALLY good while I was cooking it. the combo of garlic and rosemary was heavenly which caught me by suprise because I have never really been a fan of it. The kids gobbled it up too, so its a good way for them to get their veggies!! Hope you try it! If you do, leave me a comment so I know you tried it!

I can't wait to try more recipes from this cookbook. It really is amazing!!

hmmm

I googled applebees spinich dip and came up with a recipe..I will be trying it soon and letting you know how it goes....

Chicken Stuffed Dumplings

My friend Monica made these for us one night and I fell in love. They are SO easy and SO tasty. I have seen them on other blogs too so I'm sure there are about a million variations of them out there. Here is hers:

2 cans cresent roll dough
1 can chicken breast, drained
2 green onions, sliced
1 8oz package cream cheese

mix green onions, cream cheese and chicken in a bowl. Unroll cresent dough into triange. Place a large tablespoon of mixture onto top of dough, roll like you would a regular cresent pinching sides and folding sides over as you go. Bake for 15 min at 375 degrees. I serve these with rice and cream of chicken soup as the gravy. yum yum!! Monica is a great cook and I steal lots of idea's from her! You'll see more :)

spinich artichoke dip take 1

while I have found my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, I am still on the lookout for the perfect spinich artichoke dip recipe. If anyone out there in blog world has it, please share it with me. I am looking for one that is just like the dip you can get at applebees. If they can make it then gosh darnit so can I.

This was the dip we tried for new years eve. It was REALLY good, but a little too chunky for my taste. I like a more smooth, cheesy version (like applebees) It makes enough for a crowd. Greg, my grandpa and my 3 kids and I ate it all gone. I served it with a sliced french baguette and tortilla chips. Here is the recipe, courtesy of allrecipes.com

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a blender or food processor, place artichoke hearts, Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese and garlic . Pulse until chopped, but not ground. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together spinach, heavy cream, sour cream and mozzarella cheese. Stir in artichoke mixture. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

NOW, walmart does not sell romano cheese so I used asiago. It tasted really good in my opinion. I also added more cream to attempt to make it thinner. I also sprinkled more motzerella and parmesan on the top and turned the broiler on hi for the last 5 min to get a nice top. I also read on the recipe reviews that people added cream cheese. I think if I ever make this again, I'll only use half the spinich. It was a good dip and I don't really think you can mess it up!!