Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Valentine's Day Helpings
Sorry I haven't posted in forever! I really haven't be able to spend time in the kitchen as I've been busy dealing with sick kids :( Also, I've been trying to think of what else I could talk about on here besides food. While cooking is my passion, I also wanted to talk about different topics, but I can't seem to think of any. So, for now I guess I'll just stick to food! So, today while my little boy was sleeping, my daughter and I had our first one on one baking experience :) We made Greg some Valentine's cheesecakes! I saw this recipe idea on Pinterest but of coarse I had to change it up. My husband loves peanut butter so I found a way to incorporate it! So first of all you will need heart-shaped muffin pans. I found these silicon ones at Walmart for like $3 a piece! Making a cheesecake can seem pretty hard, but this recipe is fairly simple. You need to get a roasting pan or if you don't have one (like me), I used two 9x13 glass dishes. Sit them on the middle rack of your oven and fill with about 4-5 cups of water or halfway up the sides of your muffin pan. Then preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your muffin cups. Then in a medium bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers, 4 Tbsp sugar and half a stick of melted butter. Distribute the crust evenly among the muffin cups and press down firmly. Then take a Mini Reese's Cup and place in the middle of each cup. To make the filling,, using a stand mixer (you can use a handheld mixer as well), mix two 8oz blocks of cream cheese until fluffy, making sure you scrape the sides as you go. Then add 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour and 1 tsp of almond extract. You can use vanilla extract if you prefer, I just like the taste of almond better. Mix that until fully incorporated, then add 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Then divide the cheesecake into four bowls and add your food coloring. I bought neon food coloring because I thought that was closer to the colors of conversation hearts. After you mix your color in, fill each cup evenly to the rim. Then carefully place them in your water filled pans in the oven and bake for 20 mins. or until set. Remove them and let cool completely before this next step. Once cooled, take red food coloring and put in a little dish, and then with a small, fine paint brush, paint on your messages. That's it! Now, you can wrap them up however you like and give as gifts. Just make sure to refrigerate them! I hope you enjoy these! Till next time ;)
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Super Bowl Sunday Helping
In our house on Sundays, we usually plan something pretty easy for dinner. After all, it is the day of rest ;). So, most of the time this means we break out the crockpot. The crockpot has to be one of the best kitchen appliances ever invented!! You really can cook just about anything in it. One of our favorite things to cook is pulled pork BBQ. We have tried this recipe many different ways and we still turn to the crockpot!
First, I'll buy 1lb Pork Sirloin Roast and 1lb Pork Ribeye Roast. Now I let Greg do the rest cause he's just better at it than I am. Besides I'm usually busy getting other things together! He places both roasts in the pot and coats them with Kitchen Bouquet's Browning and Seasoning Sauce. Then he douses the pork with Hickory Liquid Smoke. Liquid Smoke is such an awesome ingredient, it gives you that flavor that you smoked that meat for hours and hours! And that's it, just those two ingredients!! Put on the lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours. After its finished, remove the roasts from the crockpot and shred in a separate bowl. Greg usually uses two large grilling forks to do this, then he dumps the juices out of the crockpot and puts the shredded pork back in. Then just pour in your favorite BBQ sauce, we always use Sweet Baby Ray's Original and Honey BBQ. The two mixed are the perfect sauce but you can use what ever you prefer! Mix it up and leave the crockpot on warm. Now, you can buy any buns you like but my favorite are Hawaiian Rolls!! I just throw them in the oven to toast them a bit. I always like to have coleslaw with my Pulled Pork, both on my sandwich and on the side! You will see the pic of the slaw dressing I buy. My favorite is the Southern Recipe, but sometimes I like to make my own as well! I also made fried pickles as an accompaniment! I mixed about a cup of flour, 1 1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper, 1 Tbsp Paprika, 2 tsp Garlic Salt and about 1/2 tsp of cayenne (more or less depending on how spicy you like it). Pour in about enough beer to make a thick batter. Dip your pickles in the batter and deep fry in 375 degree oil until browned and float to the top! You can use any kind of pickle you want, we usually just use hamburger chip pickles. Oh, and don't forget Ranch to dip them in ;).
Well, I hope you try these recipes out and like them as much as we do! Feel free to ask questions and leave any feedback! Also, send your friends my way ;)
First, I'll buy 1lb Pork Sirloin Roast and 1lb Pork Ribeye Roast. Now I let Greg do the rest cause he's just better at it than I am. Besides I'm usually busy getting other things together! He places both roasts in the pot and coats them with Kitchen Bouquet's Browning and Seasoning Sauce. Then he douses the pork with Hickory Liquid Smoke. Liquid Smoke is such an awesome ingredient, it gives you that flavor that you smoked that meat for hours and hours! And that's it, just those two ingredients!! Put on the lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours. After its finished, remove the roasts from the crockpot and shred in a separate bowl. Greg usually uses two large grilling forks to do this, then he dumps the juices out of the crockpot and puts the shredded pork back in. Then just pour in your favorite BBQ sauce, we always use Sweet Baby Ray's Original and Honey BBQ. The two mixed are the perfect sauce but you can use what ever you prefer! Mix it up and leave the crockpot on warm. Now, you can buy any buns you like but my favorite are Hawaiian Rolls!! I just throw them in the oven to toast them a bit. I always like to have coleslaw with my Pulled Pork, both on my sandwich and on the side! You will see the pic of the slaw dressing I buy. My favorite is the Southern Recipe, but sometimes I like to make my own as well! I also made fried pickles as an accompaniment! I mixed about a cup of flour, 1 1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper, 1 Tbsp Paprika, 2 tsp Garlic Salt and about 1/2 tsp of cayenne (more or less depending on how spicy you like it). Pour in about enough beer to make a thick batter. Dip your pickles in the batter and deep fry in 375 degree oil until browned and float to the top! You can use any kind of pickle you want, we usually just use hamburger chip pickles. Oh, and don't forget Ranch to dip them in ;).
Well, I hope you try these recipes out and like them as much as we do! Feel free to ask questions and leave any feedback! Also, send your friends my way ;)
Monday, February 4, 2013
Saturday Night Country Helping
Sorry I'm behind on posts, so I'm gonna try to catch up tonight and tomorrow! One of my favorite things about the weekend is that my husband and I usually plan on meals we can cook together! And I wanted to tell y'all about these amazing patty melts we made Saturday night! I love a good patty melt and normally, I would go to Steak N Shake to satisfy my craving but due to some "unfortunate events", my husband refuses to eat there anymore. So, I had to come up with a way to make my own. Now, normally when I cook something, I'll look up numerous recipes and then just make up my own! You can never do enough research on food ;).
Now before you freak out, I ended up using frozen beef patties (yes, i know, that is just plain CRAZY!). But for a couple of reasons. One, we had some left over from a party and two, they are surprisingly pretty good! Obviously if these had not been in my freezer, I would have used ground venison seasoned with hamburger seasoning ;). Now to go with these amazing burgers we made homemade potato skins! These are quickly becoming a weekend tradition! You just can't beat making your own skins! So, first up you want to wash and dry your potatoes, put them on a baking sheet an coat all over with oil (you can use veggie, olive, or whichever you prefer!). Throw them in a preheated oven of 400 degrees an bake for 40-45 mins. With about 30 mins. left, slice a whole onion and throw into a skillet and cook on low- medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. You want to cook these until they are nice and soft and brown, set aside and keep warm (see pic!). After the potatoes are done, remove them and let them cool for about 10 mins or until you feel you can withstand the heat enough to slice them in half lengthwise. While those are cooling, grill your hamburgers. We just used a cast iron skillet inside, well, because we ran out of propane for our grill ;). But you can grill your hamburgers however you please! Now, back to those potatoes. You want to scoop out the middle leaving about a 1/8 in rim in the potato half. Rub olive with your fingers on the inside and put back in the oven for about 10 mins more. Then fill with shredded cheese and bacon pieces. Stick back in the oven for another 10 mins or until the cheese is melted!
Now, to assemble your patties: Melt about 2 Tbsp of butter in a skillet. Take one piece of bread and place into the pan. I bought Texas Toast, I was looking for sourdough but couldn't find any at the store I was at. You can also use rye or whatever you prefer. I found that I was pretty happy with the Texas Toast! So, after you lay the bread down, put one slice Swiss cheese, then a patty. Pour on some Thousand Island dressing and then top with another patty. Top with your caramelized onions, another slice of Swiss and your top piece of bread. Now grill like you would a grilled cheese until your bread is nice and toasty and your cheese is melted! Also, don't forget about your potato skins! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!! Also, tomorrow I will have two more posts up about our Super Bowl food lineup we had as well as the pizza and breadsticks I made tonight!!
Now before you freak out, I ended up using frozen beef patties (yes, i know, that is just plain CRAZY!). But for a couple of reasons. One, we had some left over from a party and two, they are surprisingly pretty good! Obviously if these had not been in my freezer, I would have used ground venison seasoned with hamburger seasoning ;). Now to go with these amazing burgers we made homemade potato skins! These are quickly becoming a weekend tradition! You just can't beat making your own skins! So, first up you want to wash and dry your potatoes, put them on a baking sheet an coat all over with oil (you can use veggie, olive, or whichever you prefer!). Throw them in a preheated oven of 400 degrees an bake for 40-45 mins. With about 30 mins. left, slice a whole onion and throw into a skillet and cook on low- medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. You want to cook these until they are nice and soft and brown, set aside and keep warm (see pic!). After the potatoes are done, remove them and let them cool for about 10 mins or until you feel you can withstand the heat enough to slice them in half lengthwise. While those are cooling, grill your hamburgers. We just used a cast iron skillet inside, well, because we ran out of propane for our grill ;). But you can grill your hamburgers however you please! Now, back to those potatoes. You want to scoop out the middle leaving about a 1/8 in rim in the potato half. Rub olive with your fingers on the inside and put back in the oven for about 10 mins more. Then fill with shredded cheese and bacon pieces. Stick back in the oven for another 10 mins or until the cheese is melted!
Now, to assemble your patties: Melt about 2 Tbsp of butter in a skillet. Take one piece of bread and place into the pan. I bought Texas Toast, I was looking for sourdough but couldn't find any at the store I was at. You can also use rye or whatever you prefer. I found that I was pretty happy with the Texas Toast! So, after you lay the bread down, put one slice Swiss cheese, then a patty. Pour on some Thousand Island dressing and then top with another patty. Top with your caramelized onions, another slice of Swiss and your top piece of bread. Now grill like you would a grilled cheese until your bread is nice and toasty and your cheese is melted! Also, don't forget about your potato skins! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!! Also, tomorrow I will have two more posts up about our Super Bowl food lineup we had as well as the pizza and breadsticks I made tonight!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Venison vs. Beef
Hey y'all!! How's it going? Did anyone have as bad a night as I did? Man, those storms really kept me up late as I am not very fond of storms! But it did give me time to do some research on tonight's blog. Sooo...you know how I said my freezer was packed full of venison? Well, I just wanted to put my two cents out there as to why I prefer venison over beef. Also, I have another great recipe for you!
Now before y'all freak out about eating Bambi, hear me out. If any of you have avid hunters like my husband, then you may have been introduced to deer meat already. Also, my dad, grandpa, and uncles all hunted when I was younger, so I grew up around it. But, I never really thought about cooking it all the time until my husband brought home a nice buck this year. Once I thought about it, a light bulb went off. I was going to be saving so much money as well as having a healthier option. We got all our venison butchered for about $250. (We had a doe given to us that a friend didn't want, too). So here is what we got: 10- 2-4lb roasts, about 10lbs stew meat, about 20 steaks, about 15lbs tenderloin plus one 2-3lb whole tenderloin, almost 40lbs ground meat, 4lbs breakfast sausage and 2- 2ft rolls of summer sausage. Now, I don't know about you but I think that's a heck of a deal!!
Now for the nutrition part. I did some research on this and found a nice website that broke it down. Feel free to check it out on you own (www.livestrong.com). I love this website!! I go there all the time for nutrition facts! If you have never checked it out, you should! Okay, back to my venison ;) So I pretty much knew that venison was leaner than beef (it has about a fifth of the fat and a sixth of saturated fat than beef!) But it has so much more to it then that. One thing that I really like is that you know deer have all natural diets, so you aren't going to be getting any hormones or chemicals and you will be getting all natural minerals and vitamins! Also, it has fewer calories and more protein!
So, now that I've given you a little health lesson, lets get to the yummy stuff ;) Tonight I made Teriyaki Steak Stir Fry (mmmm, I could eat more right now just thinking about it!) So, I thawed out 2 venison steaks. Now, you are more than welcome to use any steak you like, as I know not everybody has venison laying around ;) Then, I trimmed them and sliced them in about 1/4 in. think strips. Put them in a Ziplock Baggie and poured in my teriyaki marinade. Now this is one of those items that I buy off brand. It's Kroger Brand (see pic) and it tastes just the same! I love these marinades! They have like 20 different flavors and are about half the price! Anyways, I let that marinate over night or you can just let it marinate all day. It's a 30 min. marinade so that that will do just fine. Oh and save a little marinade for later. Then I cut and slice an onion, green pepper and red pepper about 1/4 in. thick. Now, I use a cast iron skillet but you can use whatever you have. Put 2 tbsp veg. oil and heat on med-high heat. Throw in your veggies, season with salt and pepper and if you want (and have this ingredient), sprinkle in some Chinese Five Spice (love this spice in Asian cooking!) Sauté for about 15-20 mins or until veggies are tender. Remove and set aside then add your meat and cook for about 10-15 mins. Now while my meat is cooking, I prepare my rice. Yes, it only takes ten minutes to make my rice cause I like to cut corners ;). And yes I buy the boil-in-a-bag rice AND I buy the off brand. It's cheap and easy AND I use the microwave method. If you have younger kids, you understand ;). So, back to the meal...after you rice is done and your meat is cooked, throw the veggies and rice back in your skillet with the meat and pour in a little extra marinade, stir to coat and whala! Dinner is done! So, I hope you've enjoyed this chat tonight and learned a little something! Don't be afraid to try new things and give some cows some love by steering away every once in awhile (you see what i did there...hehe). Well have a good night/day and I hope to see you back!
Now before y'all freak out about eating Bambi, hear me out. If any of you have avid hunters like my husband, then you may have been introduced to deer meat already. Also, my dad, grandpa, and uncles all hunted when I was younger, so I grew up around it. But, I never really thought about cooking it all the time until my husband brought home a nice buck this year. Once I thought about it, a light bulb went off. I was going to be saving so much money as well as having a healthier option. We got all our venison butchered for about $250. (We had a doe given to us that a friend didn't want, too). So here is what we got: 10- 2-4lb roasts, about 10lbs stew meat, about 20 steaks, about 15lbs tenderloin plus one 2-3lb whole tenderloin, almost 40lbs ground meat, 4lbs breakfast sausage and 2- 2ft rolls of summer sausage. Now, I don't know about you but I think that's a heck of a deal!!
Now for the nutrition part. I did some research on this and found a nice website that broke it down. Feel free to check it out on you own (www.livestrong.com). I love this website!! I go there all the time for nutrition facts! If you have never checked it out, you should! Okay, back to my venison ;) So I pretty much knew that venison was leaner than beef (it has about a fifth of the fat and a sixth of saturated fat than beef!) But it has so much more to it then that. One thing that I really like is that you know deer have all natural diets, so you aren't going to be getting any hormones or chemicals and you will be getting all natural minerals and vitamins! Also, it has fewer calories and more protein!
So, now that I've given you a little health lesson, lets get to the yummy stuff ;) Tonight I made Teriyaki Steak Stir Fry (mmmm, I could eat more right now just thinking about it!) So, I thawed out 2 venison steaks. Now, you are more than welcome to use any steak you like, as I know not everybody has venison laying around ;) Then, I trimmed them and sliced them in about 1/4 in. think strips. Put them in a Ziplock Baggie and poured in my teriyaki marinade. Now this is one of those items that I buy off brand. It's Kroger Brand (see pic) and it tastes just the same! I love these marinades! They have like 20 different flavors and are about half the price! Anyways, I let that marinate over night or you can just let it marinate all day. It's a 30 min. marinade so that that will do just fine. Oh and save a little marinade for later. Then I cut and slice an onion, green pepper and red pepper about 1/4 in. thick. Now, I use a cast iron skillet but you can use whatever you have. Put 2 tbsp veg. oil and heat on med-high heat. Throw in your veggies, season with salt and pepper and if you want (and have this ingredient), sprinkle in some Chinese Five Spice (love this spice in Asian cooking!) Sauté for about 15-20 mins or until veggies are tender. Remove and set aside then add your meat and cook for about 10-15 mins. Now while my meat is cooking, I prepare my rice. Yes, it only takes ten minutes to make my rice cause I like to cut corners ;). And yes I buy the boil-in-a-bag rice AND I buy the off brand. It's cheap and easy AND I use the microwave method. If you have younger kids, you understand ;). So, back to the meal...after you rice is done and your meat is cooked, throw the veggies and rice back in your skillet with the meat and pour in a little extra marinade, stir to coat and whala! Dinner is done! So, I hope you've enjoyed this chat tonight and learned a little something! Don't be afraid to try new things and give some cows some love by steering away every once in awhile (you see what i did there...hehe). Well have a good night/day and I hope to see you back!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Quick Helping #1
I'll tell you right now, most of my food is not going to be super healthy or anything. Now I do try to cut some fat out and try to have well-balanced meals, but I'm not opposed to buying processed, fatty foods either. I use real butter and real cheese, but ill buy low-fat sour cream and low-fat yogurt as well. I try to buy organic eggs and meats. I'm all for free-range, grass fed animals and don't like my meats pumped full of hormones (unless it's on sale). I'm a huge fan of venison and our freezer is packed full of it! I also try to buy whole wheat products, low sugar products, and as much fresh fruits and veggies as well.
But every now and then, you want something easy, quick and inexpensive. And that's what I went for tonight. This product is becoming one of my new faves: Kraft Fresh Take. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a cheese and breadcrumb mixture to coat chicken, pork or whatever. (See pics) You will find it by the shredded cheese and cream cheese section. We bought these cause they were B1G1 at Kroger (yes, I am a moderate couponer, but that's for another blog).
So, I bought some butterflied, boneless pork chops (only $4-$5 per pound). We are a family of four but my twins are barely 3 so, they don't eat much quite yet and are still a little picky. The Fresh Take will coat up to six pieces but I only buy enough for four. I cut the pork chops in half and pound them out, bread them and put on greased pan. Bake @ 375 degrees for 25 mins. While those are baking away, I boil water for my shells and cheese (I buy Kroger brand, it tastes exactly the same and is about $2 cheaper!). Then I put a bagged salad (on sale for $1.50) in a bowl. When the pork gets to 11 mins. throw in your shells, they take about 9 mins. to cook, so you will have 2 mins. to drain and stir in cheese. Then it all comes together at the same time! Dinner in about 30 minutes, now that's what I'm talking about!!
So, I hope I've gave you some good ideas and I had fun sharing it with you guys! Come back for more helpings!!
But every now and then, you want something easy, quick and inexpensive. And that's what I went for tonight. This product is becoming one of my new faves: Kraft Fresh Take. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a cheese and breadcrumb mixture to coat chicken, pork or whatever. (See pics) You will find it by the shredded cheese and cream cheese section. We bought these cause they were B1G1 at Kroger (yes, I am a moderate couponer, but that's for another blog).
So, I bought some butterflied, boneless pork chops (only $4-$5 per pound). We are a family of four but my twins are barely 3 so, they don't eat much quite yet and are still a little picky. The Fresh Take will coat up to six pieces but I only buy enough for four. I cut the pork chops in half and pound them out, bread them and put on greased pan. Bake @ 375 degrees for 25 mins. While those are baking away, I boil water for my shells and cheese (I buy Kroger brand, it tastes exactly the same and is about $2 cheaper!). Then I put a bagged salad (on sale for $1.50) in a bowl. When the pork gets to 11 mins. throw in your shells, they take about 9 mins. to cook, so you will have 2 mins. to drain and stir in cheese. Then it all comes together at the same time! Dinner in about 30 minutes, now that's what I'm talking about!!
So, I hope I've gave you some good ideas and I had fun sharing it with you guys! Come back for more helpings!!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Hey Y'all!
Hey everyone! So, I'm gonna try to do the blog thing again. Except this time, I'm gonna be blogging about the everyday happenings of being a stay at home mom! I will have posts about parenting, kids, relationships and of course my random dinner meals! I may have random posts about anything that strikes my interest and I feel like expressing myself about it! So, I hope you guys enjoy and look forward to my first full blog tomorrow ;)
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