Mini Toffee Rolls

So on Tuesday Steve was home all morning since we had a plumber coming, so I made these for lunch. We had them with scrambled eggs, since we still have dozens of eggs in our fridge...Emma helped a little bit and they were quite tasty. From Simple & Delicious

Mini Toffee Rolls
6 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup english toffee bits or almond brickle chips
2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 1/2 tsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a small mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Stir in toffee bits. Separate each tube of crescent dough into 4 rectangles; seal perforations. Spread evenly with the butter mixture. Roll up each rectangle jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Cut each into six 1 inch slices; place cut side down into two greased 8x8 inch square baking dishes. Bake @ 375 for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over warm rolls. 4 dozen

Okay so these are dinky. We ate like 3.1 dozen with our meal and then left a few out for mom & the kids to have in the afternoon. And, I cooked them all in one 8x8 pan because they were so dinky, so they were touching in the pan, so they took longer to cook then were all stuck together once it was time to eat them. So if I make them again it will be in 2 pans like it says...I should've listened to the person who made them before, oh well. Also, I am on the fence about this recipe...it costs about the same as buying cinnamon roll dough and baking it, but is considerably more effort...I asked Steve if he thought these were that much better than cinnamon rolls, and he was too busy chewing to answer me. I think I will save it because they would be cute for a brunch or something, but I most likely won't make them again for the fam.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

We had this for supper last night, it was quite good. I couldn't find boneless skinless chicken thighs, only bony and skin-y ones, and I hate to de-skin chicken, so I just used boneless skinless chicken breasts. I buy the frozen ones, so I defrosted 3 and cut them into the size of chicken thighs, and just did the rest as usual. This is the last one from Kraft Food & Family spring 2008.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 french bread baguette, 16 to 20 inches long (about 10 oz)(I just used hamburger buns and it was fine. They were whole wheat ones, though)
4 slices of cheese

Cook chicken and onions in skillet on medium-high heat for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add barbecue sauce, water, and brown sugar, stir. Reduce heat to medium; cover. Cook an additional 7 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from skillet. Shred chicken with 2 forks or chop into small pieces (I used my PC food chopper. I love that thing). Return to skillet, stir until evenly coated with sauce. Cut baguette crosswise into 4 pieces. Cut each piece lengthwise in half. Fill with chicken mixture and slice of cheese. 4 sandwiches.

So this was quite yummy. We have had BBQ chicken sandwiches before, but I liked the addition of onions to it. I think Mom would, too. Hee hee. Emma didn't really like hers, but the rest of us thought it was really good. I'm taking the leftovers tonight. Not Steve.

Cranberry Appetizer Meatballs

Hello! After a 2 week hiatus I am back in full swing. I have long been in search of a meatball recipe that makes meatballs that taste like the ones you can buy in the freezer at the grocery store. I thought this one might have been it, because it has lots of seasonings for flavor, and there are a couple of different sauces listed with it, so it seemed like it would be versatile, but alas, this is not my meatball recipe. It still ended up tasting like hunks of hamburger with just a bit of flavor. They did smell good while they were cooking, but that's all. Anyway this is from the cookbook Mom got me & Jess both for Christmas, the Taste of Home cookbook (pg 31 for interested parties). It wasn't like a waste of time or food or anything, just not exactly what I was looking for.

Cranberry Appetizer Meatballs
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced (see how handy my garlic press is?)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 pounds ground beef

Cranberry Sauce:
1 can (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce
1 bottle (12 oz) chili sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp prepared mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced (see again?)

In a large bowl, combine first nine ingredients (through hamburger) and mix well. Crumble ground beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place meatballs on a rack in a shallow baking pan (they don't tell you to cover the pan with foil, but you definitely should. I didn't, and my pan is still soaking at this minute because I couldn't scrub it off). Bake, uncovered, at 400 for 15 minutes or until no longer pink (my meatballs were bigger than theirs, so mine took closer to half an hour). Transfer to a slow cooker or chafing dish (or plop them in the sauce, which you should make while they're baking...that's what I did). Combine sauce ingredients in sauce pan; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour over meatballs. Serve warm.

So, the kids actually really liked these. Emma said they were the best meatballs ever. Sam liked them too. And Steve lapped them up. I thought they were pretty good, too, but just not what I am looking for. Maybe it's my fault...maybe I can't mix the ingredients as thoroughly as a factory can...maybe I should use my big super cool mixer next time...Hmmmmm

Whole Oven-Barbecued Chicken

This is what we had for supper tonight. It's another one from the Kraft Spring '08 magazine. I had a chicken in the bottom of our freezer in the basement, and I pulled it out yesterday to defrost it, then I looked at the "use by" date and it was Apr 13 '07! Ha. So I called my mom and was all, can I still use this, and she was like, well it might taste freezer burnt but it's safe to eat. So I used it. It didn't really taste any different than other chickens I've had, so apparently greater than 1 year in the deep freeze is no problem...

Whole Oven-Barbecued Chicken
2 lemons
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 tsp italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 whole chicken (3 lbs)(mine was 4 lbs)
1 pkg stove top stuffing mix for chicken

Preheat oven to 350. Grate 1/2 tsp lemon peel (I skipped this part because I have lemon peel in a jar). Cut lemons in half; squeeze juice into small bowl. Set aside lemon halves. Add barbecue sauce and italian seasoning to lemon juice; mix well. Place chicken in baking pan. Place 2 of the lemon halves and garlic cloves inside the cavity of the chicken (so gross). Rub skin of chicken with remaining lemon halves and discard. Tie legs together with kitchen twine (the chicken's legs, not yours. That would make the rest of your day difficult)(I don't have any kitchen twine, so I just kept the legs untied, and nothing happened. Like, the bird didn't explode or anything). Bake 1 hour and 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (165 degrees), brushing with the barbecue sauce mixture every 5 minutes during the last 20 minutes of cooking time. Sprinkle with reserved lemon peel during the last 5 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare stuffing mix as directed on package. Place in a 1 1/2 quart baking dish sprayed with cooking spray and cover. Place stuffing in oven during last 30 minutes of chicken baking time.Remove and discard lemon halves and garlic cloves from chicken cavity. Skim fat from drippings in chicken baking pan; serve drippings with chicken and stuffing. 6 servings.

So, after all that, we don't eat chicken skin, because it's just gross to eat the skin of something. So just the meat didn't really taste all that barbecue-y or lemon-y. But it was still good chicken, just the scenic route to get there. On another note, I bought the whole wheat stove top stuffing, since it was healthier fiber wise, but it wasn't quite as good. It was much more soggy, and it just looked like brown glop instead of how in regular stove top you can see the spices and stuff. Sam said (and I'm sure he was trying to be sweet) "I'm sure this tastes much better than it looks, Mom!" And it didn't taste bad, just not the usual appearance of stuffing. So I'm not keeping this recipe because it was a lot of work, and not great when it was done.

Simple Layered Fiesta Salad

So this one I got from Kraft Food & Family spring 2008...when I saw the recipe I thought it would be good to bring to scrapbooking, because it seems like something that our family wouldn't like for a meal but would be good for a potluck or something like it. So I brought it on Saturday to Autumn's house for scrapbooking...

Simple Layered Fiesta Salad
6 cups torn romaine lettuce (those bags of lettuce that are prewashed and cut are 6 cups...how convenient)
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained (I only used half of a can because it seemed like so much...it was still too much for Jessica)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup Kraft natural 3 cheese crumbles
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1 oz tortilla chips

Place lettuce in the bottom of glass serving bowl or or serving platter. Layer evenly with beans, corn, chicken, salsa, and cheese. Drizzle with dressing; top with chips.

So, this was pretty good. I made it in the morning, like at 8:00, then we ate it around 12:00. The chips got pretty soggy, and by the time I had the leftovers the next day at work, they were practically dissolved. So I guess this isn't really a make ahead thing, or a leftover thing. But besides that it was pretty good. I'm saving this one for other get-together-y things. But I'm sure I won't make it for home, since my offspring do not like weird things like this. =)

Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon & Cheese

This is what we had with our ribs yesterday. It's from the Spring 2008 of Kraft Food & Family.

Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon & Cheese
1/2 cup light ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup real bacon bits
2 lb small red potatoes, quartered (mine weren't small, so I like sixteenthed them)
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I skipped that. I don't have to put on airs for J&J)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dressing, cheese, and bacon bits in a large bowl. Add potatoes; toss lightly. Spoon into lightly greased 13x9 baking dish; cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Remove foil; bake an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Sprinke with parsley.

So, I used more than 2 lbs of potatoes, so I used a little bit more dressing and cheese. I think this may have made the potatoes a touch too soupy. But they were still good. Even picky Jon ate them (being picky is not a bad thing. After all, he picked Jessi). I thought by the picture they would look like something everyone would eat. But when they were a little too soupy, I was like, uh-oh, Jon won't like these. But, he did! And he had seconds so he wasn't just being polite. And, Jess said she was going to print the recipe and make it. Which would mark the first time she has made something from my blog. We'll see if she actually follows through.

Oven-Barbecued Ribs

So, this is my last recipe from this cookbook! How exciting. We had this yesterday for lunch, and invited Jon & Jess at the last minute. It just seems like ribs are like a "company" meal, there's always so much left over if you don't have people to share it with. So these smelled awesome while they were baking, and then tasted so good. And then all afternoon whenever I walked back into the kitchen I could smell the barbecue sauce still and I was like, man those ribs were good.

Oven-Barbecued Ribs
4 pounds pork loin back ribs or meaty spareribs, cut into serving size pieces (I'm not sure really what kind I ended up with. Walmart had two types of ribs, neither of them said that, so I got the more expensive cut. They were already cut into like 6 inch lengths...unless that's just how long a pig's ribs are anyway...)
1 clove garlic, minced (I got to use my PC garlic press for the first time...that thing is pretty cool. A big phooey to Steve-o who didn't think I would use it)
1 tbsp margarine or butter
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup chili sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp salt
dash bottled hot pepper sauce (I used one drop)

Place ribs in a kettle; add enough water to cover ribs. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a small saucepan cook the garlic in hot butter for 1 minute. Stir in all other ingredients. Bring to boiling, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat; set aside. Drain ribs and place in a shallow baking pan. Pour sauce over ribs. Bake, covered, @ 350 about 20 minutes or until heated through. 4 servings.

So of course, Emma, Nathan, and JoJo were not at all interested in ribs. They had chicken nuggets. But, all the grownups and Samuel ate these, and I thought they were deeeelish. If you like ribs, and I think you do, you'll like these (that was my Reading Rainbow-style quote). Da dum dum!