Buttered Rosemary Rolls

Let me introduce you to a great blog,The Pioneer Woman. I found the blog through another blog that I subscribe to (right now I can’t remember which one!) anyway, the blog had a link to the Buttered Rosemary Rolls the PW made and my mouth watered just looking at the pictures -- I just HAD to make them.

Do you know that I’m a fake baker? I am, sigh.   But this was right up my alley, frozen dinner rolls. Even I can do these.

The recipe calls for sea salt and fresh rosemary, of course I had neither, but that did not deter me from tackling the recipe, I used crushed rosemary that I had on hand and just omitted the sea salt, I may try to remember to pick some up later on.

 

At first I had planned to make a large tray of these, but thought about my thighs and quickly decided it was best to just go ahead and make them in a cast iron skilled like The Pioneer Woman! I made eight, so that everyone could have two, and there would be no leftovers, and pretty much followed PW and the package instructions:

Grease the iron skillet with olive oil.

Put the frozen dough balls in the greased skillet.

Cover with clear plastic wrap, next time I will use a dish towel and see which method I prefer.  I placed my covered skilled in a draft free place for 3.5 hours.

Look how plump they are after the rising period.  Big as a cat head biscuit (that’s what my Granddaddy called my Grandmother big biscuits; homemade of course she was not a fake baker!)

Melted 2 tablespoons butter and brushed on top of the rolls after they rose.

Sprinkled some crushed rosemary on top, and baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

I’m now inspired to start a little herb garden and so the next time I make the rolls I will have the fresh rosemary, but for now its McCormick.

Yum!  Give them a try and let me know how many thumbs up you received from the family.

Thanks Pioneer Woman, I’m now a huge fan of yours and enjoyed perusing your blog.

Try This Slow Cooker Recipe

I wanted to share a new recipe of sorts with you. One day I was in Wal-Mart, trying to decide on what to prepare the dinner that night. I found myself in the spice aisle and ran across Slow Cookers Italian Herb Chicken envelope by McCormick’s.



Here is a picture of the seasoning packet:

The recipe calls for chicken (of course), fresh mushrooms, stewed tomatoes and tomato paste. Well I had a bell pepper, celery, onion and garlic on hand so I added those as well as diced jalapeno peppers and some other spices and it turned out GREAT.


Here are the directions:
 1. Place chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs, family pack) and vegetables (sliced mushrooms, bell pepper, celery, onion and garlic) in the slow cooker.

2. Mix seasoning packet, tomatoes, tomato paste and diced jalapeno peppers (I used 2 tablespoons) until blended. I also added black pepper and about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to this, we like spicy. Pour mixture over chicken and vegetables. Cover.


3. Cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. The packet recommends not to remove the lid during cooking, but I like to stir once or twice so that everything blends together.


4. Dish up and enjoy! I served mine over fettuccine and had steamed broccoli – so good, it got rave reviews by my gang, Eric even asked me to make it again!



You can use any chicken parts or vegetables you like to give it your signature. Give it a try and let me know if your family gives it a thumb up or down.


p.s.


I’ve tried to remember to take a picture of the dish all pretty on a plate but can never seem to remember until AFTER I finish, but trust me it is delish!


ReBecca

Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This has to be THE best cookie I've ever tasted! Our friend Chris baked these delicious cookies and was kind enough to send over a batch. Did I mention Chris is my new BFF! Here is the recipe, do try them and let me know what you think. Thanks Chris!

Absolutely Amazing Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This wonderful, soft chocolate chip cookie recipe is a variant of the urban legend about a person who supposedly asked Mrs. Fields or Neiman Marcus for their secret chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients and Instructions:

1. Cream:
2 cups butter or margarine (1 pound)

2 cups white sugar

2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

2. Then mix in one by one
4 eggs

3. Next mix in
4 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

4. And then add
5 cups "blended" oatmeal (process 5 cups of oatmeal, regular or quick cooking, in your food processor or blender until the consistency of course flour)

5. Next, add
1 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or use another bag of chips)

1 12 ounce bag milk chocolate chips

3 cups chopped pecans or walnuts

6. Roll the chocolate chip cookie dough into golf-ball-sized balls (or use ice cream scoop) and bake for around 10 minutes at 375°. They will be browned but still soft inside.

Note: You can also substitute brickle chips or peanut butter chips for the nuts or some of the other chips.

The recipe comes from Extreme Chocolate

Another Excellent Crock Pot Recipe

Need another good chicken crock pot recipe? Here is one that I got from A Year of CrockPotting. I've made this twice now - it is simple, tasty and not a lot of ingredients.

I used skinless chicken thighs each time, and today because I didn't have any fresh garlic I used Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic. Give it a try and let me know what you think!


Crock Pot 20 to 40 Clove Garlic Chicken

3-4 pounds chicken

1 large onion, sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon pepper

20-40 garlic cloves, peeled, but intact


Directions:

Place onion slices on the bottom of the stoneware insert. In a large mixing bowl, toss chicken parts with olive oil, salt, paprika, pepper, and all of the garlic cloves. Pour into crock pot, on top of the onion.


Do not add water.


Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6. The longer you cook chicken-on-the-bone, the more tender it will be.

Cakes Galore

I wanted to share some pictures of a couple of cakes that our God-daughter Alexis (age 14) made. She is selling some of her cakes, but some are make and eat for the family. She is also preparing dinner for the family. Oh how I wished we lived closer (smile)!

Here is a Dora the Explorer cake...

A wedding cake...



Cheeseburger cake, the bun is cake and the rest is fondant icing...



Way to go Lex! I love them all. Yummy! Wouldn't you like to take a big ole bite from the cheeseburger cake?

Crock pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken

Have you discovered the blog A Year of Crockpotting? I found it by visiting one of the blogs on the Tapestry of Grace blog roll (I can't remember which one right now). I'm always looking for a good chicken recipe, and found one for Crock pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken on the site and thought I would give it a try.

I did tweak the ingredients a bit - adding more cayenne pepper, thyme, black pepper and chili powder (I recipe calls for chili peppers I used powder), also I used a oven stuffer roaster. I had never used a whole chicken in the crock pot before, but this will be one recipe that I will make again and again. Very tasty, my crew really enjoyed it, I served roasted potatoes and green beans to go with our meal.

You can do all the prep work the night before by cleaning the chicken, and peeling the garlic and onion and measuring and putting all the dry ingredients in a glass container. The next day you would only need to do the rub process, stuff with the onion and garlic, turn on the crock pot and go do your thing. Give it a try and let me know how you enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to checking out more on the blog and spicing up my cooking skills.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Crock Pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken

1 whole chicken (I used a oven stuffer roaster)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder (I used Hot-Mexican Style)

4 whole garlic cloves
1 yellow onion, quartered

Directions:
In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out.

Put the 4 whole garlic cloves and a quartered onion inside the bird.

Tuck the wings behind, put the chicken breast-side down into the crock pot.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8 hours. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Home Baked and Yummy!

I got a new recipe from a friend and wanted to try them out for Thanksgiving for my family, I was just about to start getting out all the ingredients when Nicole asked if she could help. This is a FIRST, so I told her "Sure, go wash you hands!".

I wanted to double the recipe, but if Nicole had known in advance that math, and more specific FRACTIONS would be involved, I don't think she would have volunteered. This was a great lesson! For some reason I don't think my kids realize that math is math - whether a lesson for school or life.

I could only find my Pampered Chef muffin stone (I've still not unpacked everything from when we moved!) Eric and Gene went to the store to buy us another tin, and arrived just in time for the last filling. Here is Nicole eating the leftover sweet potato...

Look how pretty! Of course everyone had to try one or two after they cooled!

I got the recipe from my friend, Devildogwife , they are easy and extremely good, they were a huge hit at our house. Here is the recipe in case you would like to try it, be sure to let me know if you make them!

Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe


Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cup flour

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 Cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 Cup vegetable oil (or preferred oil)

2 Tbsp evaporated milk

1 Cup mashed yams

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in sugar, eggs, oil, and milk. Stir in mashed yams. Grease muffin tins and fill 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 minutes. Cool in pan.

Note: These freeze well, so go ahead and make a double or triple batch.

Enjoy!

Good Cooking!

A few weeks ago my friend Michelle invited us to dinner, Michelle reminds me of my dear friend Tracey over at In Word Adoring, who can serve you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it will taste like a fancy gourmet meal! They both have the knack to make you feel right at home and give you a terrific meal. Friends are a real treasure.

Michelle made this wonderful sauce for the spaghetti that was so good, I don't think I will be buying jar sauce again. I made the sauce last night, and it was a hit, Michelle was kind enough to share the recipe, try it - you will love it! It really is the perfect sauce. The second recipe is the appetizer she served, even Eric, my "I don't eat cheese" man enjoyed it.

The Perfect Tomato Sauce
From The Pampered Chef - Food, Family and Friends Cookbook, 1995

1 medium onion, chopped
5 -6 garlic cloves, mashed
2 – 3 teaspoons olive oil

1 can (28 oz.) Diced Italian tomatoes, with juice
1 can (28oz.) Crushed Italian tomatoes

1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste*

1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano

Salt to taste

Finely chop onion and mash garlic cloves. Combine onion, garlic and olive oil in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, 6 to 8 minutes or until onions are translucent.

Add both cans of tomatoes, stirring to mix all together. Add tomato paste. (* Michelle uses a whisk to get the paste to mix in with the rest of the sauce, and usually does not use the entire 6 oz. – about half is all you really need to thicken the sauce – you can freeze the other half.)

Add basil and oregano. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and cook 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt to taste. Serve with pasta.

This make a larger about of sauce so you can freeze half for later.


Mr. Walsh's Favorite Appetizer Dip

The appetizer recipe was easy - it's just 3 ingredients:

Jimmy Dean sausage (in the round plastic, I used regular, but they do have spicy)

8 oz. cream cheese

1 jar salsa (I used Tostidos mild chunky salsa)

Brown the sausage. When it is fully cooked, add the cream cheese and stir until it's all melted. Add the salsa and stir to mix. Serve warm with Tostidos Gold chips - they are sturdy enough to hold the dip.

Michelle's served grilled chicken breast, with the spaghetti and sauce. Last night I had broiled chicken breast with mine. You have got to try these! Thanks again Michelle!

Move Over Mrs. Smith!

I can not tell you the last time I baked a apple pie (or any other kind for that matter), I should be ashamed because apple pie is my hubby's favorite, but he will eat store bought pie just fine. Well tonight I made my man a pie! Okay, pick yourself up off the floor, you read correctly, I made Eric a pie!

My mother-in-law gave us a bag of apples from a friend's apple tree, plus two pies she made; one of which is already gone, so I thought I would try my hand at baking. Here is my pie before I put the top crust on - no I didn't make the dough. Baby steps, remember!




And here is the final results! She might not be the prettiest but I know she will not be thrown away. So, move over Mrs. Smith, there is a new pie maker in town! Maybe tomorrow I will make apple sauce, I have lots of apples left.

What's Cooking?

I struggle in many areas but one in particular is planning meals/cooking for the week. Cooking is really not my favorite thing to do and it is not true when people who CAN cook say "If you can read, you can cook". Well, I have mastered reading, cooking I have not! At times, I do well and it seems to be easier than other times, but usually it is a mystery to me what to prepare for dinner.

Well I am so proud to announce that this week I planned out our menu on Monday, went to the store and picked up the items needed to make the meals and did NOT buy any chips (one of many weakness for me). Here are the entrees for this week:

Monday:
Spaghetti

Tuesday:
Lemon-Lime Pork Chops
6 (1-inch thick) pork chops (I used the boneless ones)
1 (12-ounce) bottle lemon-lime soda
1 envelope onion soup mix

Arrange the pork chops in a shallow baking dish. Pour the lemon-lime soda oven the pork chops. Sprinkle with the onion soup mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Serves 6

Note: You can substitute with chicken

Thursday:
Oven Stuffer Roaster

Friday:
Slow-Cooker Southwestern Chicken
2 (15-ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16-ounce) jar chunky salsa
6 skinless chicken breasts
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Combine the corn, black beans and 1/2 cup of the salsa in a slow cooker. Add the chicken and the remaining salsa. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or until the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with the cheese. Cook for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts. Stirring to combine.
Serves 6

The two recipes are from a Home and Garden Party cookbook Bless This Food. I ended up not making the chicken dish today because we had plenty of leftovers, so I will prepare that one Saturday.

Can I plan out two weeks in a row? I hope so, tomorrow I hope to start the process. My goal is to have several weeks of menus, put those in a notebook so that when I "forget" I have a backup plan.