Pork en Croute with Apple and Onion Stuffing

My sister and I do a "stocking" exchange every year, trading a medium-sized bag of gifts with each other. It is great fun. We have a price limit, which I can't remember, but may have gone over. And we just fill it with little things. She is good about remembering things all year that I talked about and wanted. I am not as good as she is =o( But anyway when I went to Portland to see Barenaked Ladies with her (a band of middle-aged men, by the way), we had some time to window shop in the Old Port before the concert, and we into Stonewall Kitchen. They had these silicone Hot Cooking Bands (http://www.architecproducts.com/) that made me laugh because one time when I had to tie chicken legs together with string, I had none, and used an elastic pony tail holder. I told her about it, and how these would be useful. They are even reusable. However, they come with a warning, "This product NOT intended for consumption." No worries there. They come in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, so not the color of your food at all, so it would be hard to eat them. So I found them in my gift bag, yay. I certainly didn't think I would be using them this soon, less than a week after getting them, but it just so happens I used them today. In my total Julie/Julia moment (have you seen that movie?), I made this recipe, which came from a cookbook Becky gave me for my birthday (see previous post for how I got them). It is from the same book as the previous post, The New Family Cookbook. No picture with this recipe. Maybe they don't want you to be discouraged and therefore not try it. This recipe has a LOT of steps, and took almost all afternoon to prepare, but wasn't technically difficult. And sometimes stuff like this can be fun, if you have the time.

Pork en Croute with Apple and Onion Stuffing

2 1 lb pork tenderloins

16 oz puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

Stuffing:

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped (I didn't do this like Julia did on the movie, although that would have been awesome)

2 medium eating apples, peeled and finely chopped

1 thick slice of bread

pinch dried sage

salt and pepper

Garnish:

watercress sprigs (huh? I left these out...I think the pastry covering the meat should be garnish enough, but you might feel differently)

To prepare the stuffing: Cook the onion in a little water for about 10 minutes. Add the apple and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove the crusts from the bread and coarsley grate into crumbs (you could just use prepared bread crumbs, too...about 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs). Mix the crumbs into the apple and onion mixture, add the sage, salt and pepper, and stir.

To stuff the pork: Slice the tenderloins halfway through lengthwise, open the meat out and flatten it. Arrange the stuffing along one tenderloin and cover with the other. Tie up the stuffed tenderloin with string (or awesome Hot Cooking Bands) into a good shape (a swan??? ha ha) and lay on a baking tray. Roast for 40 minutes in @ 400, then allow the meat to cool (I let mine cool for about 30 minutes, it cooled off way faster than I expected it to).

Meanwhile, roll out the pastry to a rectangle sufficient to wrap the meat (here's where it gets fun)(about 12x10 inches). Lay the cooled meat, with string (bands) removed on the pastry and paint the edges with the beaten egg. Fold the pastry over and seal the edges. Trim surplus pastry from edges and reserve for making pastry leaves (hmm...). Dampen each end of the parcel (ha ha sounds like you are going to mail it) and seal firmly. Roll out the reserved trimmings and cut into leaf shapes (or whatever shape you want). Paint one side of the leaves with egg and use to decorate the top of the parcel in a herringbone pattern (like this /\/\/\/\). Paint the whole surface of the pastry with egg and pierce 2 or 3 times with a knife.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes until the pastry is a delicious golden brown (mine only took 17 minutes until it was so brown I didn't dare leave it longer). Turn off the oven and allow another 10-15 minutes cooking time. Serve garnished with watercress sprigs (or don't).

These crazy cookbook people estimate this at prep time 30 minutes and cooking time 1 hour. Maybe they can't add? 40 minutes for the pork, then 25 once it's wrapped up like a UPS package, is 1 hour and 5 minutes, then 10-15 more is at least 1 hour and 15 minutes. Also, how in the world would you only take 30 minutes total doing all these steps? Crazy. I started making the stuffing part at 1:00 pm and took the finished roll out of the oven at 4:50. There was some down time in there, of course, when the meat was in the oven both times and when it was cooling, but still way longer than their estimate. Also I couldn't make leaf shapes or any other shapes with the trimmings; they just wouldn't roll out. So we had an undecorated loaf. I hope Julia Child wouldn't be disappointed with me, ha ha.

This looked fabulous. Smelled good too. I felt very proud of myself, but not in that bad way. This is definitely not the kind of thing you could make very often, but once in a while stuff like this can be so fun. I wasn't sure what the kids would think of it. Steve is hilarious. He told the kids it was like chicken wrapped in a donut. HA! I thought it was more like a fancy pot pie. I have included some pictures so you guys can see how cool I am. Hahaha just kidding. But I did want to show you.

Chicken Corn Soup

My dear friend Becky Hinchliffe gave me 2 cookbooks for my birthday. She knows that I love them. She is very sneaky, i.e. she asked me at home fellowship if I liked so-called "used" cookbooks, such as ones from yard sales. I told her that I did, but that I didn't very often see cookbooks at yard sales (because I really don't, unless it's 101 Ways to use Mayonaisse and such like, and who would want that? That's why it's in a yard sale). At this point she had already gotten me these two cookbooks at a yard sale, with the intent of giving them to me for my birthday. She is a sneaky frugal planner like that. After she had given them to me, I asked her if she already had them when she asked me that question, and she said yes. I asked her what she would have done if I said I didn't like used cookbooks. She said she would have torn out the pages and wall-papered my van with them. So she is a sneaky, somewhat vengeful planner. Haha just kidding she's not vengeful, just funny. So these 2 cookbooks were both published in the early 80s, when I was like 3 to 5 years old. They have a picture for almost every recipe, which Becky says made her like them. You wouldn't think that American cooking has changed much in 20+ years, but it really has. That is one thing I like about cookbooks, is that even if you aren't going to make many recipes in them, they are so fun to read. Sometimes you read a recipe and just say "I about imagine" and things like that. Some things are timeless. I did find a few recipes to try out of these cookbooks (including a very "Julie/Julia" one--stay tuned). But also there were SO many that I was like WHAT??? There is a whole chapter on game--rabbits, pheasants, etc. How long you should hang the meat upside-down in a tree to let it rest before you butcher it, etc. So glad for pictures of dead animals in there too. Especially some of the seafood. Blech. It does remind me how far removed we are from our own food prep in America, but that's a whole different topic for another day. So anyway this is what I made today, for tonight's supper. We had this with homemade bread. It's from The New Family Cookbook, by Carole Edwards, copyright 1985. Not so new now, though. I had this recipe marked, and conveniently, have heavy cream left over from last week's Penne Gorgonzola Chicken, so the timing was perfect. I didn't have to buy anything to make this one, which I like very much. Also this recipe is right next to one for Oxtail Soup, and they are not kidding. They really mean the tails of oxes. It calls for "one whole oxtail (about 1 1/2 lbs)" and you are supposed to "trim as much fat as possible from the oxtail and brown it in 1 spoon of oil." Oh my. I won't tell you the rest. Strangely, no picture of that one. Anyway back to the matter at hand...

Chicken Corn Soup
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/3 cup flour
2 1/2 cups well-flavored chicken stock (since I make my own, I don't know how "well-flavored" a professional would call it, but we like it...)
1 1/4 pints milk (how much is that in today's language? I had to look it up...2 1/2 cups...)
1 1/4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
3/4 cup frozen corn
salt and pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
3 tbsp heavy cream

Melt the butter in large pan and saute the onion until it is soft but not brown. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the stock and milk. Add the chicken and corn, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Just before serving, season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley and cream.

So obviously with the milk and cream, this was more like a chowder than a soup. It was good, everybody ate it without duress, which is always a plus. It seemed weird that it didn't have any other spices in it, just the onion and parsley for flavoring. But it was still good.

Penne Gorgonzola with Chicken

The main problem with this recipe is that I couldn't find any gorgonzola cheese, either at Walmart or Hannaford. It may be that I was looking in the wrong place. I was looking in the cheese section, but not in the deli section. So maybe they have it, for a lot of money, at the deli. I don't know. I ended up replacing the gorgonzola with shredded Italian cheese (a delightful 5-cheese blend, according to the Kraft people). Also, this recipe uses penne pasta, which most of you probably know is pronounced PEN-NAY. The heading of this recipe, which was a contest winner, is "Worth Every Penne." Every time I think of it I laugh. I love puns and stuff. So this is from the Oct/Nov 2010 Taste of Home.

Penne Gorgonzola with Chicken
1 pkg (16 oz) penne pasta
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breats, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup white wine (I used chicken broth)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 cups crumbled gorgonzola cheese
6-8 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced (I just used 1 tsp dried sage)
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated parmesan cheese and minced fresh parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in oil on all sides. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add wine, stirring to loosen browned bits from the pan. Add cream and broth; cook until sauce is slightly thickened and chicken is no longer pink. Stir in cheese, sage, salt, and pepper; cook just until cheese is melted.

Drain pasta; toss with sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and parsley.

So this was pretty good. I told the kids it was like fancy macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately I didn't think very far ahead, and for lunch we had...macaroni and cheese. Oh well. This made a lot. We didn't even eat half of it. So there will be definitely enough for another meal, or it would be good for company with a salad or something. We had it with shredded carrots and dressing. So, pretty good meal overall.

Chocolate Toffee Delights

I made these for home fellowship a few nights ago. It's from the Taste of Home magazine issue I mentioned before, with the section that should be called something like Complicated Cookies. But, these are bars, and not that complicated. The person who submitted the recipe said they remind her of her favorite Girl Scout cookies. She means Samoas. These were pretty good, but no samoa.

Chocolate Toffee Delights
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, divided
3/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted and cooled
1 jar (12 1/4 oz) caramel ice cream topping
3/4 cup chocolate chips

In a small bowl, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extracts. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Press into greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Prick crust with fork; sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake 15 minutes longer or until set.

Meanwhile, place coconut and almonds in a food processor (I used my Tupperware chopping thing); cover and process until finely chopped. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in caramel. Spread over crust. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until edges are bubbly. Cool on wire rack.

In microwave, melt chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Drizzle over caramel mixture. Let stand until chocolate is set. Cut into bars. Store in airtight container.

So. This was potluck (or, potprovidence, as Becky said ha ha) night at home fellowship. There were a lot of desserts. Barely any of these got eaten. So, I don't know if that's because people didn't like the looks of them, or if there was just so many things to eat. I know that my kids did not like them, because of the coconut. I thought they were pretty good. But now we are faced with finishing off all the rest of them...I guess not a keeper. There are other things that require less ingredients to buy and have more mass appeal. And I don't mean to my Catholic friends. Ha ha.

Orange-Cashew Chicken & Rice

This is what we had for dinner tonight. Again with a chicken and rice type thing. These just always look so good to me, and we need to get used to rice anyway...this is from Oct/Nov '09 Tase of Home. My sister gave it to me.

Orange-Cashew Chicken & Rice
1 cup instant brown rice
1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges
1/4 cup chopped cashews (I couldn't find these already chopped; I had to buy them whole and chop them myself, with my new Tupperware Quick Chop thingy...I'm sure that's not the real name of it...)
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I doubled the amount of chicken so 5 people could eat this)
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup chopped bok choy or celery (ummmm...I totally used celery...but bok choy is chinese cabbage, I think...try it if you want)
1/4 cup minced chives

Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, drain the oranges, reserving 2 tbsp juice. In a small bowl, combine the cashews, broth, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and reserved juice; set aside.

In a large wok (again with the wok) or skillet, stir-fry chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add cashew mixture; cook 1 minute longer. Add the bok choy, chives and reserved oranges; cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Fluff rice with fork; serve with chicken mixture.

So I decided at the last minute to not force Nathan to eat this. I knew by looking at it that he wasn't going to like it. So he had dinosaur chicken nuggets. Everyone else had this. Steve and I thought it was very very good. It really was. Sam and Emma both ate it. So this is definitely a keeper. It tasted very Chinese-y, which is a plus or minus depending on what you feel about that type of food.

Peanut Chicken Stir Fry

This is the last recipe I have marked to try from the October/November 2010 Simple & Delicious. There were a lot in this one to try. I think we've had something like this before, but I still wanted to try it because I think the other one you had to marinate for a while, so while "delicious," it wasn't exactly "simple." We'll see if I think this one is.

Peanut Chicken Stir Fry
8 oz uncooked thick rice noodles (I had every intention of using these, but they didn't have them at Walmart and I didn't make it over to the NLC to see if they had them there...so I used spaghetti, ha ha)
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
4 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 tbsp canola oil, divided
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets (most of us don't like broccoli. If poor Steve wants it, he has to order it at a restaurant. I used sugar snap peas instead of the broccoli)
1/2 cup shredded carrot

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the water, soy sauce, peanut butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper flakes; set aside.

In a large skillet or wok (like I have a wok), stir-fry chicken in 1 tbsp oil until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. Stir fry broccoli and carrot in remaining oil for 4-6 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir sauce mixture; add sauce and chicken to the skillet. Drain noodles; toss with chicken mixture.

If you have a wok (please raise your hand if you have one; I bet not many do) this would be a good excuse to use it, because I bet you don't get many chances. Unless you use it ALL the time and knew you would and so that's why you got one. Anyway Steve and I really liked this. For the younger kids I just put everything separated out, and they ate it fine. For Sam I did it just like ours, just everything together. Sam said he didn't like the "consistency" of the sauce. He's turning into such a food critic, which is good. It always bugs me when a kid says "I don't like it" and then I say "what don't you like about it?" and they say "I don't know, I just don't." So if they have an actual reason it bugs me less. Especially Sam, who likes almost everything anyway. So I want to keep this recipe, because it was really good, but not sure how often I'll be making it, since only Steve and I really liked it...

Granola-To-Go Bars

I have been making my own granola bars for quite a while. Maybe a year. I got frustrated with buying them for a few different reasons. First, my kids loved them and went through them so fast, that a box that cost $2.50 would be gone in like 2 days. Also, we started trying to eliminate certain things from our family's diet, like artificial preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. Of course we are far from doing this perfectly, but are definitely making progress. I had a recipe for homemade granola bars that I've been using all along, using butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup, along with graham cracker crumbs. Well, one day (why this took me so long I don't know) I read the label of the graham cracker crumbs and saw that it has both of the things we are trying to avoid. I looked at the Natural Living Center for something akin to graham cracker crumbs, like organic ones or something, but didn't find anything. My sister-in-law did have success replacing the crumbs with dry baby cereal that she had leftover (she is very resourceful) but I don't want to start adding that to our grocery list. So in last month's Taste of Home that my sister gave me, they had this recipe for granola bars which have different ingredients (it's from a section they called Daybreak Delights, which has a few easy healthy breakfast recipes). At first I wasn't going to even try them, because you have to buy almonds and coconut, 2 things I definitely don't always have on hand. But there is a LOT of coconut in one of those bags, and so it could make several batches. The almonds, not so much. But I thought it was worth a try. And, for my other recipe I have to buy wheat germ and graham cracker crumbs, so it probably evens out.

Granola-To-Go Bars
3 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup chopped almonds (I only could find sliced at Walmart but it worked fine)
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped dried apples
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I subsituted both the apples and cranberries with 1 cup of raisins instead)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine oats and almonds in a 15x10x1 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, butter, honey and vanilla. Stir in the sunflower kernels, coconut, apples, cranberries, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir in oat mixture.

Press into 15x10x1 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 13-18 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

So these were a bit more effort to make than the other ones I was making, but I like that you don't have to store them in the fridge. Sam and I each had one of these for breakfast this morning, and they were quite good. More crunchy than the other ones, but kind of chewy too. So I will keep this recipe for a while. Probably I will make it again. Also I don't know where to categorize this one. I guess cookies. It's not really a dessert. Although it is meatless, ha ha.

Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies

What these should have been called, or, at least, what should have been a byline or subtitle, is "or, Snickerdoodles that are 10 times harder to make." These are from a Taste of Home magazine my sister passed along to me, their October/November 2010 issue. They have a whole section in this issue that is called Cookie Jar Stars, but which should be called Complicated Cookies that Your Time Spent Making Would Be Better Used Elsewhere. Almost all of them in this section you have to roll out, and some of you may remember how I hate to roll dough. A few of them are drop cookies, which I prefer. This recipe fell somewhere in the middle.

Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar, divided
3 egg yolks (first indication this would be time consuming--separating eggs...)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp honey, divided
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
8 oz white baking choclate, chopped

In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, 1 tbsp honey, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape a heaping tablespoonful of dough into a 6 inch log. In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; roll log in cinnamon-sugar. Loosely coil log into a spiral shape; place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat, placing cookies 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. In a small bowl, melt baking chocolate with remaining honey; stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies. Let stand until set. Store in airtight container.

Okay. Many of you might be reading this, thinking "why on earth would she try that?" I don't really have a good answer. I guess the picture had me fooled, they looked so innocent and yummy. Rolling the logs was an ordeal because they didn't roll out evenly, of course. Parts of them would fall off, or it would break in the middle, etc. So, I got 24 cookies out of this. 13 I made in the spiral shapes, and the other 11 I plopped on the cookie sheet and squished them down to the same size and thickness. Once they were baked, one fell on the floor. I brushed it off and ate it (that's how I found out these were basically extremely time-consuming snicker doodles). So I brough 23 cookies to home fellowship. Also, when I tried to melt the white chocolate and the honey, the chocolate seized and would. not. melt. So frustrating. It started burning, even, and it was still in one big hunk at the bottom of the bowl. So, I ended up making a glaze with confectioners' sugar, milk, and the remaining honey. This was my smart sister's idea, with whom I was speaking on the phone at the same time that the white chocolate was seizing and I was lamenting that I would have to stop at Hannaford on the way to home fellowship. The cookies all got eaten, so that's a point in their favor. But I'm definitely not making these again...

Smothered Home-Style Chicken

This sounds good. This one had a picture with it that looked good too. Well, all the recipes in Simple & Delicious have pictures, but they do not always look good. This one is from the Oct/Nov 2010 issue. Sounded very yummy.

Smothered Home-Style Chicken
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp pepper
5 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 3 1/2 lbs)
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth (guess which one?)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth
Hot cooked rice

In a large ziploc bag, combine the flour, salt, garlic powder, cajun seasoning, and pepper. Add chicken thighs, one at a time, and shake to coat. In a large skillet, brown chicken in 2 tbsp oil in batches. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute the carrots, onion, and green pepper in remaining oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add wine or broth, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan. Stir in soup and broth. Return chicken to skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Serve with rice.

Okay, so this was pretty good. Steve really liked it. For the younger kids, I didn't serve it over rice, or with any of the sauce. But for Sam and Steve and I, I did, and it was very good. Steve said he liked how the vegetables were in it. Sam even ate the peppers, which previously he has said he likes everything except broccoli and green peppers. So this is progress. Steve doesn't usually like chicken thighs, either, usually he only likes white meat, but he said it was good because they were boneless and he didn't have to take them apart to eat them, so it was good. Another keeper. I bet I have more chicken recipes in my keeper book than in any other category...but I'm not going to count them.

Herb Bubble Bread

Making a meal for a family tonight, and made these rolls to go with it. The soup I made was this yummy chicken soup that Terri gave me the recipe for years ago, that I call "Yummy Chicken Soup." Tricky. The rolls are from the Oct/Nov 2010 magazine of Simple & Delicious. I wanted to try it because it seems easy. But, it starts with frozen bread dough, which some people have issues with. Sometimes I do too, depending on what mood I'm in. But, for the sake of easiness, and for once in a while, I think nothing bad will happen if we start with frozen bread dough.

Herb Bubble Bread
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp dill weed (sounds like something I call my sister when I'm mad, not an herb...)
1/8 tsp each dried thyme, basil, and rosemary, crushed
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tsp minced garlic
1 loaf (1 lb) frozen bread dough, thawed

In a small bowl, combine cheese and seasonings. In another bowl, combine butter and garlic; set aside. Divide dough into 16 pieces. Roll into balls. Coat balls in butter mixture, then dip in cheese mixture. Place in a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 22-26 minutes or until golden brown. Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack. Serve warm.

So at the Walmart I couldn't find whole loaves of frozen bread dough. So I bought the same idea, frozen dinner rolls. Not the Pillsbury ones. The ones in the orange bag. So I thawed those, and then progressed to the next step, and got to skip rolling balls, which made me like this recipe even more. I made a double batch of this, so we could have one and the other family could have one (I'm not saying who it is in case they are sensitive re: privacy issues. But I will say she's a loyal blog reader and if she wants to identify herself and give feedback, she is welcome to). But, I didn't have quite enough parmesan cheese to double it. After about 2 rolls, I realized I would not have enough of the herb mixture to do this to all the rolls, so for the second pan I just dipped them in the butter. I figured the kids (hers and mine) would like them better plain anyway.

So, everyone liked these. Emma and Sam each had 2 plain ones, Nathan had 1 plain one. That's pretty good right there. The herb ones were good too. We dipped them in the soup, and yum. Totally a keeper, especially since I have 12 more frozen rolls.

Maple Pretzel Chicken

The kids MUST like this. I cannot see why they wouldn't like it. That's why I wanted to make this one, because what can go wrong with maple syrup and pretzels? It's from the Oct/Nov 2010 Simple and Delicious.

Maple Pretzel Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 egg
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels (make sure they are crushed finely)
1/4 cup canola oil

Flatten chicken breasts to 1/2 inch thickness. In a shallow bowl, whisk egg and syrup. Place pretzels in a separate shallow bowl. Dip chicken in egg mixture and coat with pretzels. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. 4 servings.

Made a double batch of this to give to a dear co-worker for a meal. Also, they are not kidding when they say the pretzels need to be finely crushed. I had mine pretty well crushed, or so I thought. Perhaps a better word to describe how their texture should be is "pulverized." Anyway this smelled great, tasted great, and was very easy. If you also need to double this, for whatever reason, you don't need to double the syrup and egg mixture, I had very much of this left over after coating 9 chicken pieces with it. Steve wondered if we could do some kind of weird french toast adaptation with it, but I felt weird about it since it had had raw chicken in it. Anyway, another keeper. Just have to remember the pulverize the pretzels next time. I will write that on the recipe...weirdly, Sam was the one who didn't care for this. He reminded me that he doesn't really like pretzels. But Nathan and Emma both liked it. I have discovered that it IM-possible to please everyone in this house in a single meal. It's probably like that at your house, too, I bet, so I'm not feeling bad about it. But it would be nice if all 3 of them could agree on something besides Pop Tarts and chicken nuggets...oh well...

Bacon & Rosemary Chicken

Sounds weird. But let me tell you, this was one of the best things we have had lately. It was so good. I'll tell you all about it as we go through it here. It's from the latest Simple & Delicious.

Bacon & Rosemary Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flour
5 bacon strips, chopped
1 tbsp butter
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I minced mine with my PC garlic press...why slice garlic when you can crush it to smithereens?)
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp lemon juice

Flatten chicken breasts to an even thickness; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place flour in large ziploc bag. Add chicken breasts, one at a time, and shake to coat. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; drain, reserving 2 tbsp drippings. Cook chicken in butter and reserved drippings (here I really cut down the amount of fat...you could use olive oil instead of butter too, or just use the bacon fat...for that reason I put this in the "dairy-free" category as well) for 4-6 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170. Remove and keep warm. Add the garlic, rosemary and pepper flakes to the skillet; cook for 1 minute. Add broth and lemon juice; bring to a boil (let me tell you, this was the best, most different-smelling food smell we've had in a while...it smelled FABULOUS!). Cook until liquid is reduced by half. Return chicken and bacon to skillet; heat through. 4 servings.

We had this with mashed potatoes. This was, like I said, so good. For Nathan and Emma, I just left their chicken out after that step where you "remove and keep warm." For ours and Sam's, I returned it to the skillet and heated through...you should definitely make this. I'm tagging Becky H in this post once it goes to facebook (become a fan if you're not already! Do a search for New Recipe Night and click Like) because she has fresh rosemary from her garden in her kitchen...most definitely a keeper!!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yesterday morning we had almost nothing for breakfast. It was very sad. I had to eat Tiffany's cookies. Boo hoo. The kids had yogurt. We had no bread made, no granola bars, etc. So yesterday I thought I would make muffins so we could have some for breakfast this week. Nathan does not like blueberry muffins, so I asked him what kind he would like, and he said "chocolate chip!" So I found this recipe for chocolate chip muffins on Tasteofhome.com. I did look at allrecipes.com first, but I don't like that anybody can post anything they want on there. The first few recipes I made had very mixed reviews, so then I thought I would go to trust Taste of Home, since those recipes are all tested first before they're published. So, here is the link to the recipe. Blogspot won't let you copy and paste, and I don't want to click back and forth 100 times to copy the recipe, so here is the link:

www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Chocolate-Chip-Muffins

What do you think happened when I made this, especially for my little boy? He didn't like them. I thought they were great. Easy. Sam & Emma liked them. Nathan did not. He took one little tiny nibble, and said "I don't like them." I said, in frustration, "you don't like ANYTHING!" He said, "yes I do, I like chicken nuggets." I told him I couldn't make muffins with chicken nuggets. About 3 hours later, he did eat half of one of the muffins, then said, "Mommy, this was da-lish-ish but I don't want to finish it." Fine Nathan, throw it away. So I guess next time I will make whatever kind of muffins I want without regard to our pickiest eater, if he's not going to eat them anyway. That being said, this was a good recipe, and I will keep it. Steve probably will like them too, he just hasn't had any yet.

Pumpkin Chip Cream Pie

I made this for home fellowship on Friday. The dessert part of home fellowship is always filled with mayhem, as children yell, not necessarily at their own mothers, for "some of that." The thought of slicing and serving a pie in this setting, and on very little sleep as I had worked the night before, did not appeal, so I made this in those little graham cracker tart shells that the Keebler Elves make, and just let people grab them and eat them. MUCH better. Also, this and work are the only venues that I can bring a pumpkin dessert to, since Steve doesn't like pumpkin. I am afraid, if I keep making pumpkin desserts, he will begin divorce proceedings, so this has to be the last one for a while, but it was very very good (say those who like pumpkin...).

Pumpkin Chip Cream Pie
3/4 cup cold milk
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
8 oz carton Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust
Slivered almonds and chocolate curls, optional

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft set. Stir in the chocolate chips, pumpkin, and pie spice. Fold in 2 cups Cool Whip. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set (you can do this for way less time and it's still fine). Spread with remaining Cool Whip; garnish with almonds and chocolate curls, if desired.

This was very yummy. Another mommy at the home fellowship said she thought it tasted like pumpkin chip cookie dough batter. Yum. I have never made those (and clearly I cannot this season) but I bet she is right. I had a lot of the filling left over, because I made a double batch of this, thinking that it might take more filling to fill the tart shells than a pie crust, but I was very wrong. So at our friend's Thanksgiving potluck last night, I put some of the filling in a dish and served it with graham crackers as an appetizer, and it was great like that, too. I still have like 2 cups of the filling left! Not sure what I will do with it. Since nobody here will eat it, and by the time I go back to work, it will be too long...I don't think I could freeze it...anyway another keeper!!

Southwest Beef and Rice Skillet

We had this on Friday night, but I haven't had time to post it yet...the last time I made Spanish-type rice, it was kind of bland...this I wanted to try because it sounded more flavorful, at least it had more spices and such...it's from Simple & Delicious Oct/Nov 2010. This made a LOT; I brought half of it to a family I was making a meal for and we ate the other half. This would have been perfect with cornbread. Or crackers. We just had it with itself.

Southwest Beef and Rice Skillet
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (15 oz) Ranch-style beans (pinto beans in seasoned tomato sauce)(they didn't have these at Walmart...I just used a can of black beans, because everybody likes those)
1 cup beef broth
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese (we used used shredded Colby/Jack because I knew pepper jack would not be okay with the little ones. Or, honestly, with me either. I don't like spice!)

Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook the beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the rice, beans, broth, tomato sauce, chili powder, salt, cumin, and pepper; heat through. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Most of us thought this was great. You can guess who didn't. But, he did eat it, under duress. They need to get used to rice, and over the past several weeks I have prepared it in a variety of yummy ways, but he doesn't seem to love it yet. Sigh. Keep trying, I guess. I am definitely keeping this one.

Cranberry Maple Pork Chops

'Tis the season for cranberry recipes! This one is from the Oct/Nov Simple & Delicious.

Cranberry Maple Pork Chops
6 boneless pork chops
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp butter
1 can (14 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 cup grape jelly
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup

Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown chops in butter. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, combine the cranberry sauce, jelly, ketchup, and soy sauce; cook and stir until blended. Return chops to the pan; drizzle with syrup. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until meat is tender.

(If you initially fry the pork chops in oil instead of butter, this would be dairy free, so I'm marking it as such even though it calls for butter)

So this was good, but nothing exciting. Once it was done and I took the pork chops out of the pan, the sauce didn't even stay on them. It was quite watery sauce. But even without sauce Emma could tell that it had syrup on it. My budding chef. We had this with rice and corn. The sauce was good on the rice. So good, but not fabulous. I already have a couple of other recipes like this one.

Sweet & Sour Sausage

Many of you might remember of my love affair with smoked sausage, aka kielbasa. I know that it is not good for me. But why does it taste so good then? Anyway I had to try this recipe when the "perfect storm" occurred. #1, I saw this recipe in the Oct/Nov 2010 Simple & Delicious. #2, I had just clipped a coupon for "save $1 on 2 Hillshire Farms products." So there you go. I am making a meal for someone tonight who just had a baby. So I am spreading my love of smoked sausage all around. I bet they will be thrilled to get this; it's not pasta and it's not chicken. I was SO thankful for all the meals I got with all my kids and after my hip surgery, but no one ever brought me smoked sausage. So I think this will be a refreshing change. =o) I doubled the recipe to have enough for us and them, but this is in the original form, which they say makes 4 servings.

Sweet & Sour Sausage
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks
1/2 cup apricot preserves
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 large onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp canola oil (I left this out...seemed like the sausage would have enough fat in it already)
Hot cooked rice (we have had a LOT of rice this week...3rd meal so far...oh well, we'll have it like 7 times per week in Haiti, right?)

Drain pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup juice; set pineapple aside. In a small bowl, combine the preserves, cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and reserved juice. In a large skillet, saute the sausage, onion, and green pepper in oil until vegetables are tender. Add sauce mixture and pineapple to skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with rice.

Well I don't know about that family, but we certainly liked this. It came together really quickly, which is always a plus for us. I'm not against things taking a long time, but I also like when they do not. Of course I have to keep this one because of how much I love smoked sausage.

Caramel Crunch Snickerdoodles

Have you guys ever seen that "Fresh" magazine that they have at Hannaford? You get it for free if you spend something like $25 in a visit. I don't do all my grocery shopping there, but I do my in-between stuff there. So if I get to that amount, and if they ask me if I want it, I take it. And then I look at it. But then I don't usually make anything out of it. It's not really my kind of eating. Plus the whole magazine exists to make you buy their Hannaford Inspirations line of things. But I did see this cookie recipe in there. I have never made snickerdoodles before. So I thought I would try them. It is from the Sept/Oct 2010 issue.

Caramel Crunch Snickerdoodles
3 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I never buy unsalted butter, so I just use the butter I have, and omit the 1/4 tsp salt)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Prepare the caramel crunch. In a large heavy skillet, heat 1 cup of the sugar over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to help it melt evenly. When the sugar is melted, lower heat to medium-low and cook to a golden color, about 3 to 6 minutes (I was very skeptical about this working, but come to find out, it actually will melt). Immediately pour the caramelized sugar carefully onto the prepared baking sheet. Tilt the sheet so that sugar spreads to a thickness of no more than 1/8 inch. Allow to cool until hard and cool to the touch, about 30 minutes.

Break the caramel into several pieces, then place on a cutting board and use a knife to chop into 1/4-to 1/2-inch pieces (this was messier and took longer than I thought it would).

Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or spray with cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir 1/2 cup of the sugar together with the cinnamon. Set aside.

Make the cookies. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Mix in eggs and vanilla until blended. On low speed, mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped caramel pieces. The dough will be stiff.

Scoop out a well-rounded tablespoon of dough and roll between your palms into a smooth ball. Roll ball in cinnamon-sugar mix. Repeat with remaining dough and place balls 3 inches apart on baking sheets (you will not use all the cinnamon-sugar, but a large quantity is easier to work with).

Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, just until the edges are golden but the centers are pale and feel soft if lightly touched, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Yield: 3 dozen

So. These were sooooo good. The caramel got all melty. Very very good. Highly recommend. You should totally make them.

Pork & Vegetable Stir Fry

This is the leftover recipe that goes with the pork roast we had on Sunday, from the Oct/Nov Simple & Delicious.

Pork & Vegetable Stir Fry
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
2 tbsp sherry or additional apple juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen stir fry vegetable blend, thawed (we used sugar-snap peas. None of us like the broccoli that comes in your typical stir fry blend)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp canola oil
2 cups cooked cubed pork
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Hot cooked rice

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, apple juice, and soy sauce until smooth; set aside. Stir fry the vegetables and garlic in oil for 1-2 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Add pork; heat through. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve with rice.

This was great! Besides making the rice, this whole thing came together in under 10 minutes. Highly recommend this one, especially if you have leftovers from the other pork recipe. I am keeping these two recipes together in my keeper book, so I remember to make them together. So so good.

Pork Roast with Plum Sauce

This is from this month's Simple & Delicious. I liked it because it has this recipe, then another one that you can use for the leftovers. I like that, because then I don't feel as shocked at the price of the meat, because I know I'll be getting 2 meals out of it. However, the meat in this one is supposed to be a 4 pound boneless whole pork loin roast. It cost $20. I couldn't do it. Instead I bought 4 pounds worth of boneless pork shoulder, in 3 different packages, and it ended up being just over $10. It's going in the crock pot anyway, and they always say you can use cheaper cuts of meat in the crock pot and they turn out good. So we tried it. We had friends over for lunch, who incidentally have never been here before, so normally I would try to make something I've made before and really like, but I already had these ingredients so they were unknowingly co-guinea pigs. The magazine serves this roast with brussel sprouts. I think you know, without me having to say, that we did not have those. We had rice and green beans.

Pork Roast with Plum Sauce
1 boneless whole pork loin roast (4 lbs)
2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup sherry (or chicken broth, that's what I used)
2 tbsp dried thyme (this seemed like a LOT when I added it...)
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp ground mustard
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup plum jam (or apricot...the note after this recipe says "apricot preserves also work well" and I already had some of those, so that's what we used)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Cut roast in half (if you bought pieces of roast, like me, you will be ahead of the game here). In a large skillet, brown roast in oil on all sides; drain. Transfer to a 4-qt slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the sherry or broth, thyme, soy sauce, garlic, mustard, ginger, garlic salt, salt, and pepper; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160. Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. In a small cup or bowl, combine cornstarch and water and stir until smooth; set aside. Add jam to cooking juices. Bring to a boil. Add cornstarch; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast and serve with gravy.

Okay did you know this crock pot trick? You can put everything in there the night before (brown the roast and everything) and then stick it in the fridge (just the inside stoneware, if yours separates). In the morning when you wake up, tell your husband to take it out of the fridge and put it on the counter. Then when he finally drags you out of bed, about 30 minutes later, put it in the crock pot pluggy thing. Then you don't have to get up extra early to brown the roast, etc. I can't remember who told me this trick but I am glad they did...it might have been Terri or Lisa. Okay now on to recipe results...

Everyone liked it! Yay! Nathan even had seconds (mmmmm, good chicken, Mom). Our guests also had seconds. I always pay attention to that, because that's how you can tell if they really like something or they're just being polite. Nobody takes seconds if they don't like it. So this is definitely one to keep. I thought the sauce turned out a tad bit salty, and I was thinking that maybe I should have only used the garlic salt and not the regular salt. But, I don't know. It was still really good.

Brownie Trifle

Yesterday was home fellowship, which means yummy dessert making day for me. I had worked the last two nights, so I was in zombie mode, and I probably should have made something easier, but I already had the ingredients. Plus a reputation to live up to, ha ha. Our AWESOME babysitter kept the kids a bit extra yesterday so I could sleep more. That helped a lot. So this dessert is from the Oct/Nov 2010 Simple & Delicious that I just got. There are a lot of recipes I have marked in this one. This one is actually called "Spiderweb Brownie Trifle" because it is part of their Halloween section, but the only thing you do different is make a spiderweb on top with chocolate syrup. So I just didn't do that, and voila, a normal dessert.

Brownie Trifle
1 pkg caramel swirl brownie mix (8-in square pan size)(I totally did not buy brownie mix. I just made brownies. Saved myself like $2.99 right there)
2 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
16 oz carton Cool Whip
3 cups milk
1 pkg (5.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) intstant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (did I mention that I gave away my [dull anyway] Pampered Chef chopper? I did order a new one, a Tupperware one with a pull-cord like a lawn mower that I can't wait to try...but consequently I could not finely chop these pecans. I bought them chopped, and that is the size they stayed)
3 Butterfinger candy bars, finely chopped, divided (these crushed quite easily in a big ziploc bag with my Pampered Chef meat tenderizer...not the spiky side, the smooth side)

Prepare and bake brownie mix according to package directions. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 1-inch cubes.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add confectioners' sugar; beat until smooth. Fold in 2 cups cool whip. Place half the brownie cubes in a 4-quart trifle dish or glass serving dish; layer with half of the cream cheese mixture.

In another bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Set aside half of the pudding mixture. Stir pecans and 1 cup chopped Butterfinger into remaining pudding mixture; spread over cream cheese layer. Layer with remaining brownies and cream cheese mixture.

Fold 2 cups cool whip into the reserved pudding mixture; spread over cream cheese layer. Spread remaining cool whip over top. Sprinkle remaining Butterfinger pieces on top. Refrigerate until set.

The thing at the top of the recipe says prep time is 35 minutes, which is probably a bit low. And it said 21 servings. That I know is not true. We had 10 adults and a couple of kids that ate it. It was all eaten, which I will take as a good sign, and Becky said it was possibly the best dessert ever. So it's a keeper, definitely.

Busy Day Chicken 'n Gravy

Aren't they all busy days? But that's what this one is called. It's from The Everything Cookbook. It's the last one I have marked in here to try. Turns out when you use this cookbook in your 6th year of doing new recipe nights, you already know how to make a lot of what's in there.

Busy Day Chicken 'n Gravy
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
4 bone-in chicken breast halves, or any 4 chicken pieces of your choice (I used 2 breasts, 2 thighs, and 2 drumsticks...I used the wings and neck [gross] that came with the chicken to make broth)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 oz frozen pearl onions (I used fresh peeled because I had a bunch left over from something a few weeks ago)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of onion soup (using these soups kind of goes the opposite from the direction I have been trying to head lately, but this one sounded so good, so, so what? It's okay once in a while, pretty sure)
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together the flour, paprika, and pepper in large ziploc bag. Rinse the chicken and pat dry, then shake in the flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 10 minutes total (you might have to do this in batches, depending on how much chicken you have and how big your skillet is).


Place the chicken pieces in a deep-sided baking dish; they should fit snugly but without stacking (?? I think they mean overlapping). Sprinkle with the onions. Combine the soups and poultry seasoning and add to skillet, scraping to remove all bits. Pour over the chicken. Cover and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until the larger pieces are no longer pink in the center (use a meat thermometer to 170 for breast meat and 180 for dark meat). The chicken makes a gravy-type sauce as it bakes. Serve with mashed potatoes if desired (we did).

This was quite good. It smelled great, everybody ate it, and there was some leftover for Steve's lunch. Overall, pretty good and easy. But not healthy. At all. But sometimes you don't want that anyway, right??

Steak and Cheese Wraps

This is another recipe from that old cookbook from my mom, The Everything Cookbook. This actually worked out perfect, because my mom has the kids today because I had to go to the dentist to get the rest of my root canal done. This is something my kids wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, so it worked out well to have this tonight when they are eating pancakes with Oma. I knew Steve would love this, that's why I picked this one.

Steak and Cheese Wraps
4 tortillas
8 oz Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese (I used shredded Mexican. Cheese. Not a real shredded Mexican, that would be mean and gross)
2 large onions, sliced thickly
2 green peppers, sliced thickly
1 pound sirloin steak, sliced into 1/4" strips
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. On a baking sheet, layer tortillas with thinly sliced cheese to within 1 inch from edge. Set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, green peppers, and black pepper. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes. Push vegetables to sides of pan and add the steak strips in the middle. Cook to desired doneness, stirring occasionally. When about 4 minutes are left in cooking time, put the tortillas in the oven. Mix together the steak and onion/pepper mixture in the pan. Remove tortillas from the oven when the cheese is close to melted, and layer each tortilla with the steak mixture. Roll the tortilla halfway from bottom to top, fold one side in about an inch so no ingredient can slip out that side, and continue to roll the rest of the way. Continue with remaining tortillas. Serve hot.

So my rolling didn't work exactly that way, I think maybe because my tortillas were too small. They were 8 inch ones, but they were very hard to roll. I just folded them and we ended up eating them like soft tacos. Also I only ended up using 1 onion and 1 green pepper. It just sounded like too much to have 2 of each. It ended up being perfect. I think you could use a red pepper too with yummy results, plus you would look way more authentic. These were very yummy and definitely a keeper!!

Beef Stew Calzones

This is a Rachael Ray recipe. Last month my mom got the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine and she gave it to me when she was done. Usually that's not my style of cooking. At all. But this looked like something I could tackle. I should have known. Dough and I do not mix. No pun intended. But seriously, I have tried so many things that have to be rolled out, and almost always fails. This one--no exception. But I will still post it, for those of you who are not dough-impaired.

Beef Stew Calzones
1 pound thin boneless sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
16 baby carrots, cut into thirds
1 rib celery, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup red wine (I used more beef broth)
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pound refrigerated pizza dough

In a large bowl, toss the steak with flour, salt, and pepper. In medium Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the steak and cook, turning, until browned, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate. Add the carrots, celery, and onion to the pot and cook for 3 minutes. Return the steak to the pot, add the wine and cook, stirring up the browned bits, until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes (I did mine for a bit longer since broth takes longer to evaporate than wine). Stir in the beef broth, tomatoes, italian seasoning, and 1 tsp each salt and pepper. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in the potato and cook until tender, 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool, about 15 minutes; coarsley shred the meat.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 475. Divide the pizza dough into 4 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll out the dough to a 7-inch round. Arrange 1/4 of the beef stew on one side of the dough round. Lightly brush the edges of the dough with water and fold to enclose, crimping the edges to seal. Repeat with remaining dough and stew. Transfer the calzones to a flour dusted rimmed baking sheet and bake until puffed and browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

I bet someone somewhere is laughing about this. The RR people probably giggle at night thinking about hapless wives cooking these complicated things. This time, I did get the dough rolled out, the beef stew on it, the edges sealed, etc, but when I tried to transfer it to the baking sheet, it fell apart. Arrgh. So, we just had beef stew. Because after the first failed attempt, I just threw away the rest of the dough. I didn't want to try again and potentially waste that much more stew. Luckily I had made a fresh loaf of bread earlier today, so we had soup and bread. So it wasn't a total disaster. And we've had worse meals.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

I made this today. Perhaps my family is getting sick of the homemade things. The other day (if you are my friend on facebook, you saw this as my status) I was making homemade mac & cheese, and Emma almost started crying and said "why are you making everything homemade now?" I told her it was because it was healthier. She said "I think the stuff in the blue box is healthier." That's why I was so surprised that she liked last night's supper, because it was a homemade substitute for something she really likes. Anyway in our quest to be healthier, I know we have a LONG way to go. We are just doing baby steps. Maybe even slower. But one thing we have tried to eliminate is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is in soooo many things. Have you seen King Corn? It will make you not want to consume it either. They have it on Netflix, Watch Instantly. Watch it, along with Food Inc, and you will be horrified, disheartened, and disgusted. Anyway. All the barbecue sauce I have seen in the stores has HFCS. Probably now that there is this campaign against it, there will be some without it, that blaze on their labels NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. But there will still be other bad things in it. Oh and did you hear that food manufacturers want to change the name of HFCS to corn sugar? That is a trick to make you think it's from a thing that grows in the ground so it's probably okay. This is a trick I am familiar with. I use it to convince myself that potatoes are healthy and that pickles are a vegetable. I tried to tell my mom this when I was growing up. She never believed it, but I still kind of do. So anyway. This recipe for homemade barbecue sauce is the last recipe I have marked to try from the Farmhouse Cookbook. Even though I wasn't crazy about the recipes in this one, it was a good read, because it was all about her field trips to farms and such. So in a few years it will be fun to read again. This sauce is from a farmer in Arkansas, one who is a barbecue expert. According to who, I don't know. The American BBQ Panel, perhaps. It still starts with store-bought ketchup. I don't have a food processor. And I hate peeling tomatoes, that's really hard. So I bought "Simply Heinz" which has only natural ingredients, according to them. So I think it's a pretty good base, then we are keeping the texture that the fam is familiar with. Can't change too many things at once or the natives rebel. You may have experienced this in your own family.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce
2 cups good-quality ketchup
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp molasses
Several drops Tabasco sauce, or to taste (I did like 3 drops)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp dry mustard, mixed to a paste with 2 tsp cold water
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, trimmed and minced (optional)(I left it out)
3/4 cup minced fresh pineapple, or rinsed and drained canned pineapple (I left this out too...don't want chunks in my barbecue sauce)

Mix all ingredients except pineapple in medium sized bowl, making sure they are thoroughly combined. Then stir in the pineapple and adjust the seasoning to taste (they helpfully suggest that you just keep licking your fingers until you like it...). Use immediately or ladel into hot sterilized canning jars and seal according to lid manufacturer's instructions. Or do what I did, and put it in Tupperware and put it in your fridge. I don't think it will go bad any sooner than ketchup, but I don't know, we'll see.

I haven't actually tried this yet, but it does smell good. It seems more watery than store-bought sauce, maybe because of the vinegar and worcestershire sauce. I think the tomato paste was meant to thicken it up, but it didn't for me. Maybe if you add more...Also I was on the phone with my mom at the time I was making this and she suggested that I heat it up, to steam off some of the liquid and make it thicker. She is so smart. So I did that. It did help some. Stay tuned, I will try to remember to post if we liked this or not after we eat it.

Chicken Parmesan

Don't judge me. This is one of my favorite things to buy, make and eat. We had this a lot when I was growing up, because my dad worked crazy hours and it was easy. If my mom served it with a vegetable, I would be mad, because I thought that was ruining it. As a grown-up I have tried several other On-Cor greatest hits, such as Sliced Turkey and Gravy, Salisbury Steak, and Lasagna. I haven't liked any of those. But this one I can't give up. I KNOW it's so so so bad. It's probably not even real chicken. The whole thing only costs $2.08. But it tastes so delicious. Well. I tried this recipe to try to duplicate one of my favorite things. This version does contain actual chicken, so already I'm skeptical...however you fry the chicken in oil, so maybe it has potential. This recipe is from a cookbook my mom gave me years and years ago, called The Everything Cookbook, The Basics of Good Cooking. We had this last night, with Buttered Cheese Noodles (which you can find somewhere on this blog), which we also have whenever we have the above-pictured chicken. Incidentally, Emma has dubbed this chicken "Yummiest Chicken in the World." She can cook it all by herself. Add in her killer garlic bread (also in another post) and I basically don't have to do anything. Another point in On-Cor's favor.

Chicken Parmesan
Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, lightly drained
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Chicken:
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
vegetable oil for frying

In small skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning. Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally until thickened, about 10-12 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, combine bread crumbs, cheese, and pepper in wide-rimmed bowl. Dip both sides of chicken breasts first in the egg, then in the bread crumb mixture. Cover a large skillet with oil 1/4 inch deep, and heat to high. Fry chicken breasts for 12-14 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

At this point, you can put the chicken in sandwich rolls, top with sliced mozzarella and the sauce, and have Chicken Parm Hoagies. Or, you can make pasta and serve the chicken on top of the pasta and top with the sauce and shredded mozzarella.

Amazingly, Emma thought this was an acceptable stand-in. I told her it was Homemade Yummiest Chicken in the World. She liked it. Sam and Steve did too. So did I. Nathan.....DIDN'T!! He didn't like the "crust" on the chicken. What a crazy kid I have. So, although we cannot say this is a healthy meal, I do think it's probably better than my old standby. Because of the real chicken, real tomatoes, real cheese, and lack of preservatives. Again I say, do not judge me. Hee hee.

Spicy Halloween Ginger Cake

Even though this has Halloween in the name, it is not scary. It is just fall-ish. If I save this recipe, I'm not going to write down the Halloween part, just the Spicy Ginger Cake part. This is from the Farmhouse Cookbook that I've been working through. The lady got the recipe from farmers in Oregon. She said this cake is wonderful the first day, and is even better the second. We'll see about that. Well, tonight I am bringing this to home fellowship, so maybe we won't see if it's better the second day, because there might not be any left. But maybe...

Spicy Halloween Ginger Cake
2 cups molasses
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
4 3/4 cups cake flour (if you don't have cake flour, here's a link to subsitute with regular flour and cornstarch--it's what I did...www.food.com/recipe/cake-flour-subsitute-87689)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
4 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground mace
2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tart apples, such as Granny Smith
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or baking chocolate cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 (don't really do this until I say...it will be on for like 2 hours if you make this your first step). Lightly oil a 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Combine the molasses, butter, and coffee in a medium-sized saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of your electric mixer, and let cool to lukewarm (which takes a long time).

Sift the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside.

Core, peel, and halve the apples, then slice them into 1/4" thick slices. Line the prepared pan with the apple slices, slightly overlapping them. Sprinkle with the brown sugar.

(Turn on the oven now.) Whisk the eggs into the molasses mixture (this is why you have to let it cool, otherwise the eggs will start cooking when you add them in, and you will have scrambled eggs in there, ha ha). Add the dry ingredients and mix quickly but thoroughly. Then add sour cream, mixing just until it's incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips, and then pour the cake batter over the apple slices.

Bake in the center of the oven about 55 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes back clean. Place pan on wire rack to cool. To serve, cut the cake in pieces and turn them out of the pan upside down, so the apple slices are on top. Or turn the whole cake out onto a large serving platter, and serve.

So this cake was quite good. Some people didn't flip it over, because I didn't stand right by the cake and tell everyone. I did tell a few people. In fact, I told Steve in advance. Brooke and I had the same pan (she brought apple crisp) and Steve flipped her dessert over, thinking it was mine. Hee hee. Steve's feedback was that it was good, but could have used some whipped cream. Nobody else said anything, so I'm not sure if that means it wasn't that good or not. I thought it was a bit dry, compared to some other cakes I have made. But I think I will keep it anyway. It took a long time to make but wasn't really hard. And now I have all that mace.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

I saw this recipe yesterday on the Solution FM website. I thought I would try it because I happened to have some left-over pumpkin puree from another recipe, so I had all the ingredients on hand. I thought if it turned out yummy, I could bring it to home fellowship tonight. It has how to make it sugar-free, which obviously I'm not down with. Ha ha. But here is their recipe, and then I'll tell you my substitutions.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1 cup milk
3 tbsp sugar free pumpkin spice syrup (store bought or recipe below)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients. Makes 2.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup
1 can pumpkin puree (I happen to know this is about 2 cups)
2 cups Splenda (I used plain old good old granulated sugar)
2 cups water
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don't have that, you can google it and get a good way to make it, out of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, etc)

Bring water to a boil on stove in medium saucepan. Turn down to medium and add Splenda or sugar until dissolved. Add pumpkin and simmer 5 minutes. Add pie spice and simmer 5 more minutes. Stir out all the lumps (I used a whisk). Remove from heat and cool. Makes 3.5 cups.

Nope. Not good. My syrup didn't really get syrup-y, it was pretty thick. When I added it to the coffee and milk, it all settled to the bottom. I stirred it, and tasted it, but I could feel the grit, so to speak. Maybe I did it wrong. You can still try it if you want. It did smell good, anyway.

Crisp Oat Cookies

I love oatmeal raisin cookies. They are in my top 3, the other 2 being Becky's mom's molasses cookies and white chocolate macadamia nut. I don't even like white chocolate, or nuts in general, but for some reason, in that cookie, it really works. Mmmmm. I don't make them, I always get them at the hospital. For a hospital they bake a pretty good cookie. Anyway these are in that Farmhouse Cookbook I'm working through, and I thought I would try them. The cookbook author says these are the most satisfying cookies she's ever eaten. So of course with feedback like that, I had to try them.

Crisp Oat Cookies
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar (I didn't want to buy a whole bag of dark brown when I don't know what else I would use it for, so I just used regular)
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (yes, I did buy parchment paper for this. It was my first time buying it. There happened to be a coupon at the same time for $1.00 off. My favorite thing about using the parchment paper was that I didn't have to wash the pans after. I just let them cool and put them away. Not sure how much of a difference it makes in the actual cookie). Soak the raisins in hot water to cover for at least 30 minutes. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add the rolled oats and set aside. Cream the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar and mix until thoroughly blended and light. Then add the cream and vanilla. Drain the raisins, discarding the soaking liquid, and add the to the sugar mixture. Mix until they are distributed throughout. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Divide the dough in half, and roll out one half so it is 1/4" thick. Using 2-inch cookie cutters, cut out as many cookies as you can. Place the cookies 1/4" apart on one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Reserve any scraps, roll them out a second time, and cut out the remaining cookies. Try to use up all the dough, as it will toughen if it is rolled out again. Bake the cookies until they are golden, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. 55 cookies.

Okay. I hate rolling out dough. That's why I don't like to make biscuits, or my own pie crust, or sugar cookies. I don't have a good reason, I just really don't like it. But I thought, if this makes the best cookies (as the claim is by this lady) then it will be worth a shot. But it didn't work, I still hated it. I rolled out and cut enough to fit on one of the cookie sheets. Then I was like, this is for the birds. So for the rest of them I used my Pampered Chef scoop and then flattened them down. They all tasted the same. Also, how weird to have a cookie dough without eggs. But I could at least let the kids eat it without feeling guilty or worrying about salmonella. Additonally, no cinnamon or nutmeg? Oh well. So long story short, these were okay. They aren't even going to replace the other recipe I have for oatmeal raisin cookies. But they weren't bad.

Roast Ginger Chicken with Potatoes and Onions

This is tonight's supper. It's from the Farmhouse Cookbook. This one came from a Pennsylvania Dutch farm. This cookbook suggests wines that you can have with each meal. The name of this one is so funny that I'm going to tell you what it is, even though I do not necessarily suggest it to you. "Try a full-bodied Alsatian Gewurztraminer, such as Zind-Humbrecht 1987, with this chicken." Just for fun, I googled that wine, and found out that to have 1 bottle of it, made in France, shipped to Miami, and then to me, would be about $40 for one bottle, or $352 for a case of 12. Not as expensive as I thought, but still waaaaay more expensive than water or chocolate milk. Plus I would rather have Diet Pepsi ha ha. But anyway back to the matter at hand. This recipe sounded easy enough, and I liked that it had the potatoes right in the pan with it, so here we go.

Roast Ginger Chicken with Potatoes and Onions
1 chicken (3 to 4 pounds) with giblets (I don't believe in giblets...I buy chickens without them on purpose)
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, each potato cut into 8 wedges
6 large pearl onions, peeled
3 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse the chicken well inside and out until the water runs clear (put gloves on first, yuck). Pat it thoroughly dry. Sprinkle with cavity with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together the butter, ginger, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Carefully separate the skin from the breast meat and legs of the chicken by running your [gloved] fingers between the skin and the meat. Using a paper towel, gently pat the meat dry. Spread the butter mixture under the skin of the breast and the legs. Place the chicken in a roasting pan, and roast for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken on its side, basting it if there are any juices, and roast for 10 minutes. Turn it on its other side, baste it, and roast for an additional 10 minutes.

Arrange the potatoes and the onions around the chicken, turning them as best you can so they are covered with cooking juices. Roast the chicken, breast side up, for an additional 20 minutes, until it is golden, the legs move freely in their sockets [gross], and the juices run clear when you hold the chicken up to drain (how will I do that?? It is hot. If I pick it up with a potholder, the potholder will get gross. If I pick it up with gloved hands, the plastic gloves may melt. Just use a meat thermometer. You want it to be at that safe minimum temperature anyway; let's not fool around with food safety. Especially if you've seen Food Inc, you really want to make sure you are killing all that potentially bad stuff...)(If you haven't seen Food Inc, they have it on Netflix Watch Instantly. Very enlightening and I recommend it. Plan to not eat while you watch it, and possibly for several hours/days after, ha ha).

Transfer chicken to a warmed platter and let it sit for 15 minutes, propped up slightly at the neck end to allow the juices to retreat back into the meat. Add the giblets to the pan [or don't] and stir so they are coated with cooking juices. Continue roasting the vegetables, basting and turning them frequently, until the potatoes are golden and crisp and the giblets are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Transfer vegetables to the platter holding the chicken. Drain all but about 3 tbsp of the fat from the roasting pan. Add the water, and place it over medium-high heat. Stir the liquid, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced and thickened somewhat, 1-2 minutes. Season to taste, and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Serve immediately. 4 to 6 servings.

This came out very very good. The only issue I had was that there was no juice left at the end to make "gravy," maybe because I didn't use the giblets. But even without it, the chicken was moist, the potatoes were fabulous. I wish I had added carrots in with it, next time I think I will. Definitely a yummy keeper!!

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins

This is probably one of the simplest recipes that is in this Farmhouse Cookbook that I'm going through. We do like blueberry muffins here. This recipe is from an Arkansas vegetable farmer. Apparently the lady really likes this one, the cookbook author said she had a bunch of exclamation points by this one. So I decided to try it. We had this for supper tonight with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. Breakfast for supper once again, oh yeah.

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 heaping cup blueberries (fresh or frozen. If frozen, do not thaw)

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly oil 12 muffin cups. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together. Mix in the oats. In a large bowl, stir together the milk, vanilla, egg, and melted butter. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until they are thoroughly moistened. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter, and bake in center of the oven until the muffins are golden and spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the tins from the oven, turn the muffins out on a wire rack, and let them cool for 5 minutes before serving. 12 muffins.

First of all I want to say that I almost forgot to add the blueberries. ???? How could that be? I mixed everything else and was about to put the batter into the muffin cups, when I felt like I was forgetting something. Oh yeah. The blueberries...So anyway once these were baked, they were not a hit. There was a lot of oatmeal there. Almost like there was no batter, just oatmeal and blueberries. Nathan wouldn't even try one, and Emma had one bite. Sam ate his, but he is getting better at just eating whatever it is. Steve and I weren't crazy about them either. Now I'm not sure what to do with the rest. It's not like I can freeze them and give them away to a family I'm making a meal for..."We didn't like these, so we froze them and saved them for you." Especially if that family is a reader of New Recipe Night. So I don't know what to do with them. Right now they are in a ziploc bag on my counter. I probably will eat at least one or two more for breakfast in the morning, but I don't know about the others. Probably grow some penicillin on them, maybe. With the rising health care costs, and me trying to make so many things homemade, it might be time to branch off into antibiotics, anyway.

Pumpkin White Chip Macadamia Bars

Originally I was going to make these for women's Bible study on Tuesday, but I ended up feeling too sick and too exhausted to go. I had worked the night before, slept until 12, went and got my sweet children from our awesome babysitter, then came home. Too nauseated to drink coffee, I spent the afternoon in a fog. Once Steve got home, I laid down and my wonderful husband fed the children and let me sleep until 7:30, when it was time to put the kids to bed. I know it was because I was coming down with something, because then I got a bad cold. So. Now I am making these for home fellowship. Steve doesn't really like pumpkin-y desserts, but I didn't want to waste the ingredients since I already had them. I am hoping there will be other things there that he will like. Sometimes he eats what I make even if it's not his favorite, because he knows how much my identity is tied up in the food I make. Ha ha. So this recipe is from a cookbook a friend of mine passed to me. She was all "I have these two cookbooks that I can give to Goodwill or give to you." Of course I wanted them. The first one was like authentic Italian cooking. Half of the ingredients I had never heard of. And a lot of the recipes were for seafood (I guess because Italy is like an archipelago or something and sticks way out into the sea) with a very descriptive picture for each recipe. Yuck. So that one I decided to pass on to the good folks at Goodwill. The other one is Nestle Make-It-Simple Entertaining. There are a couple of recipes in here I will try, then I'll probably pass that one along as well. Okay so here's the recipe for the yummy fall dessert:

Pumpkin White Chip Macadamia Bars
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups (12 oz pkg) white morsels, divided
2/3 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (I gave away my dull PC chopper, so I just pounded them with my PC mallet...some of them were pulverized, while others were in big chunks...oh well)

Combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda in small bowl. Beat butter and sugars in large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until blended; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the morsels and the nuts. Spread into greased 15 1/2 inch by 10 inch jelly-roll pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 18 to 22 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Place remaining morsels in heavy duty plastic bag. Microwave on medium-high (70%) power for 45 seconds; knead. Microwave at additional 10-second intervals, kneading until smooth. Cut tiny corner from bag; squeeze to drizzle over bars. Makes 4 dozen bars.

So these were very moist and tasty. I told my kids they were brownies, because I knew they wouldn't want pumpkin anything. Becky couldn't even tell they were pumpkin, she thought they were ginger. So I would say this is definitely a keeper. Yumm-o.

Emma's Garlic Bread

For Emma's creative writing assignment today, she had to write directions about how to do something, step by step. Daddy had the idea that she should write about making her "specialty," garlic bread. Then once she was done with it, she had the idea that she could keep this recipe for when she's a grown-up. Then I had the idea to put it on the blog, so you guys could see how cute she is. So here are Emma's directions for making garlic bread, exactly as she dictated them to me.

How To Make Garlic Bread
First, you have to get two pieces of french bread. Then you have to get butter. Then spread it on the bread. Then you have to get garlic powder and sprinkle it all on. Then you have to get stinky cheese (shredded Parmesan). Then you put stinky cheese on the french bread. Then, you put it in the toaster oven. Then you set it for four minutes, or five. When the bread gets brown and fizzily, and yummy, then you take it out and eat it with your supper.

There's my cute smart girl. Next time we make it I'll try taking some pictures and adding them to this post.

Sausage, Onions, and Potatoes with Apple Dumplings

This was quite more complicated than my usual fare. Thankfully Nathan fell asleep so there were minimal distractions. This is from the Farmhouse Cookbook that I talked about in my last post. The author says this recipe is from a farm wife in North Dakota, who is of Russian-German descent, and that she cooks like this every day, 3 meals a day. I just can't imagine what that would be like. Would it be nice, or extremely stressful? I don't know. This recipe was a LOT of work, but Steve loved it. It's made with bratwurst, which is a different kind of sausage than what we usually have. Consequently, Nathan and Emma didn't really like it. But, it was quite good. Anyway here is the recipe.

Sausage, Onions, and Potatoes with Apple Dumplings
1 lb bratwurst, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 small onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound Russet potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/8" slices
1 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)
2 cups water
1 tsp crumbled dried sage leaves
1/4 tsp dried thyme, or several sprigs of fresh
1 bay leaf
6 fresh parsley sprigs, coarsley chopped (I left these out)
3 allspice berries (I had to buy these, not too expensive, but there are like 427 berries in there...they look like peppercorns...it will probably be years and years before I use them all up, but oh well)
Salt and pepper
2 tsp lemon juice
2 small tart crisp apples, or 1 large Granny Smith apple
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cake flour (I don't have this, I used bread flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup buttermilk (you don't have to buy this, you can mix 1/3 cup of milk with 1/3 tsp lemon juice)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, for garnish (I left this out too...part of my parsley boycott)

Brown the bratwurst in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat, turning them frequently, about 5 minutes. When they are quite brown, remove them from the pan and add the onions. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the onions just begin to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the potatoes, chicken broth, and 1 cup of the water, the herbs, and allspice berries. Bring the mixture to a slow boil, increasing the heat slightly if necessary, and stir, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Return the sausages to the skillet, and season generously with salt and pepper (I will say at this point that I wouldn't add any salt...it was a bit too salty. Just let people add it if they want once it's on their plates). Cover and cook at a slow boil, reducing heat if necessary, until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 25 minutes. Gradually add remaining water, if necessary, to keep the mixture just submerged in liquid (I didn't have to add any more water...maybe that's for high altitude or something).

While the potato mixture is cooking, fill two small bowls with water and add 1 tsp lemon juice to each. Peel and core the apples. Slice half the apples into 1/4" thick slices, and place them in one bowl of acidulated (oooh big word) water. Dice the remaining half, and place them in the other bowl. Set aside.

Make the dumplings (are you getting tired yet??): sift both flours, the baking powder, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt in a medium-sized bowl. Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter, and buttermilk. Working quickly, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, using a fork to make a fairly soft dough. Drain the diced apple, and fold it into the batter so the pieces are well distributed.

When the potatoes are nearly cooked, drain the apple slices and add them to the skillet, stirring them in gently. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired (?? if I was comfortable doing that, I wouldn't be using your recipe, lady...just tell me what to do and I'll do it ha ha). Drop the dumpling batter in 6 equal spoonsful on top of the mixture. Cover and cook until the dumplings have risen to twice their size and are firm when you touch them, no longer than 12 minutes. Serve immediately, garnished with the minced parsley. 6 servings.

PHEW!! I like needed to lay down after that one. So much work. But like I said, it was very very good. I think if you are making this you should get everything sliced and diced before you even start step one. I was frantically chopping etc trying to get everything ready before the next step and it was very stressful. Also don't add the extra salt while it's cooking the potatoes. I'm not sure how this would be with other sausage besides brats. This was my first time using them, and I thought it tasted a bit like spicy breakfast sausage. But the seasonings complemented it nicely, so I don't know about changing it. I guess I will keep this one, even though I'll have to wait a while to have it again, whilst I recover from this time. Oh, also, Emma reminded me that she doesn't like COOKED apples! But it was a good fall dish.

Barbecued Pork Sandwich

This recipe is from a cookbook I got at a yard sale last summer. It has a few good recipes in it. I can see though why someone would put it in a yard sale. But it was only $2, and I love love love getting a new cookbook and looking through it with a pen and dog earing pages I want to try and stuff like that. So I only have a few marked in this one, because it is a different style of cooking than what I am accustomed to. Oh, maybe you would like the name of the cookbook, ha ha. It is Farmhouse Cookbook, by Susan Hermann Loomis. This was actually an interesting book to read too, because this lady spent 2 years traveling around America and staying at various farms and learning how each cook made her/his signature dish. So it was fun to read and I found a few things to try as well. This recipe is from a farmer's wife in Iowa. The author suggests having this with a good amber beer, like Anchor Stream. I guess I won't though. We'll have chocolate milk (or strawberry milk) like we do every night. Actually Sam likes white milk, because he reads labels now and knows it's healthier without flavor. So smart. Anyway here's the recipe.

Barbecued Pork Sandwich
6 pounds pork shoulder or butt, bone-in, trimmed of fat and skin
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1 can (28 oz) plum tomatoes, undrained (I didn't see plum tomatoes at the Wal-mart, I just bought diced...you end up breaking them up later anyway so it's probably the same thing)
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
2 tbsp brown sugar
6 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 heaping tsp ground cinnamon (why don't they just say 3/4 tsp?)

Rub the pork all over with minced garlic. Place in large heavy stockpot, and add tomato juice, tomatoes and their liquid, bay leaf, and 1/4 cup of the vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Cover and cook, turning the meat occasionally, until it is very tender and beginning to fall apart, about 3 hours. Add remaining 1/4 cup vinegar and all remaining ingredients to pork, stirring them into the juices. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the pork shreds easily and has absorbed most of the liquid, another 3 hours. Stir and turn pork every hour so it cooks evenly in the juices and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove and discard bone when the meat easily falls off it. Stir frequently during the last 30 minutes to break up any large pieces and to prevent sticking (also you should remove the bay leaf even though it doesn't say to here). Serve immediately with sandwich rolls or thick bread; or refrigerate overnight, remove any excess fat, reheat, and serve.

This made the kitchen smell so good! Of course it's not every day that I could be home for the 7 hours that this takes to make, but it just happened to work out today. We all really liked this (oops except not Nathan). It was very yummy and moist. It also made a TON. We ate a bunch of it for supper, put a whole lot of it into Tupperware for a meal I'm giving to someone, and then still have enough left for what I estimate would be about 5-6 servings. So very prolific recipe. Good for a potluck or something, or good if you are making a meal for a family too. And, pork shoulder was twice as expensive as pork butt. 6 lb roast cost $6.60, whereas the shoulder cost something like $11. We had this with french fries and it was a very good meal.