March 9, 2012

Nearing the middle of March, already! Quick question for you...have you filed your taxes yet? Don't wait until the last minute!

Okay...now, on to the cooking! This week we tried a few different meals, but only one was voted a keeper. On Sunday I made a beer braised pot roast, and it was enjoyed by everyone. For fun I decided to set the dining room table with the good china and we enjoyed our dinner out there. Memories of Sunday evening dinners in the dining room...though growing up we usually had more than just the immediate family on Sunday night. Friends, neighbors, relatives...the more the merrier! It was just the five of us on Sunday night, but we had a great meal with even better conversation. For the first time Liam sat on a regular chair and ate off my Bunnykins china from when I was a child. We were celebrating us...nothing fancy or special, just being together and thanking God for the gift of each other. It was an added bonus that everyone enjoyed the meal enough to include it here as a keeper!

For our Sunday dinner I tried out a new dessert recipe as well...Snickers Cream Pie. With a name like that, it was bound to be good. And it didn't disappoint! Very easy to throw together, and you could even dress it up a bit with some extra snickers crushed and placed on top, or pipe some whipped cream around the edge. We just made it as directed, though I added some caramel topping drizzled over the top after we made it. The hardest part of this dessert was a toss up - chopping up the Snickers or waiting for the Cool Whip to thaw!

We did try a few other new things this week, but nothing easy enough or delicious enough (or both) to be shared. I already have a new dish in mind for tomorrow, and I am sure I will try a few other dishes in the week ahead!

New Recipes
Beer Braised Pot Roast
Snickers Cream Pie

Snickers Cream Pie

Ingredients
* 1 chocolate cookie crust
* 4 oz cream cheese, softened
* ¾ cup powdered sugar
* ½ cup creamy peanut butter
* 2 regular sized Snickers candy bars, chopped
* 8 oz Cool Whip , thawed
* caramel topping to drizzle on top

Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter until creamy.
2. Stir in chopped candy bars.
3. Gently fold in the Cool Whip just until mixed.
4. Pour into crust and drizzle with caramel sauce.
5. Put into the freezer for 3-4 hours, or refrigerate overnight.

Notes
I used an Oreo cookie pre-made crust, though you could make your own. We did put it in the freezer, and we just left it in there while we worked on it for a few days.

Beer Braised Pot Roast

Ingredients
* 2 medium onions, sliced thin
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 3 tbs vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into large cubes
* 5 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
* 1 tbs flour
* 12 ounces beer (dark or light, depending on your preference)
* 1 tbs dried thyme
* 1 cup beef stock

Directions
1. In a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat heat 1-2 tbs of vegetable oil. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and cook over low heat until they are deep in color and caramelized, about 25-30 minutes.
2. Remove the onions to a plate. Add another tbs of vegetable oil if needed. Raise the heat to high. Season the beef liberally with salt and pepper and sear, in batches, until nicely browned on both sides.
3. Once the meat is browned, add the first batch of meat (and any juices) back to the pan along with the onions and carrots. Sprinkle in the flour and stir. Cook for 1 minute before deglazing the pan with the beer. Add the remaining ingredients and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pot and put it in the oven to braise until the beef is tender, about 2 hours. Remove the pot from the oven and transfer the pot roast to a serving dish.

Notes:
We served this from the Dutch oven, rather then putting it on a serving platter. This was a delicious dinner! We served roasted cauliflower and potatoes on the side, using the recipe from the back of the onion soup box. To make the potatoes we mixed 1 envelope of onion soup mix with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (you can also use olive oil). We mixed this with 2 lbs of quartered red potatoes. Throw it all in a 9 x 13 pan, roast in a 425 degree oven for 35-45 minutes. The potatoes went nicely with the pot roast.

March 2, 2012

Happy March, all! This week was successful on the recipe front. One dessert, one side dish, and two entrees. Not bad for one week!

My kids love dessert. We don't always have something sweet, sometimes it is just a yogurt, or fruit salad, but they do love it when I offer them ice cream, or cake, or cookies. This week, I took out the Tupperware popsicle molds that I usually use in the summer and made some fudgesicles! (Why do I reserve these to use only in the summer?) The kids loved them, and they were easy. Now I am going to be making popsicles more often! Yogurt pops, juice pops, let your mind wander! When Ryan tried them he imitated Bill Cosby...remember when he was the spokesperson for Jello, including Jello Pudding Pops?

I came across a site called The Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com). She has a show on the Food Network now, so I checked out her site. This week, we tried 2 dishes from her recipe collection, and both were voted keepers! I made Chicken with Mustard Cream sauce (I had some mustard and some half and half in the fridge to use up), and served French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms with the chicken. Both were delicious!

And finally, the last keeper of the week is a pork roast with a light citrus sauce. The sauce was pretty light tasting, and went well with the pork. It called for one jalapeno, but next time I might try using two. After cooking it for a few hours it probably could have used two. But everyone loved it, and the leftovers will be great re-purposed into another dish tomorrow or for a few lunch sandwiches.

Here's hoping for another successful week coming up!

New Recipes
Fudgesicles
Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce
French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms
Roast Pork with Citrus Sauce

Fudgesicles

Ingredients
* 1 4 oz. pkg. instant chocolate pudding
* 2 cups milk (we used skim)
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 cup canned evaporated milk (we used 2%)

Directions
1. Combine the pudding and 2 cups milk. Beat for 2 minutes.
2. Stir in sugar and canned milk.
3. Pour in to popsicle molds, freeze for 3-4 hours and enjoy!

Notes
To make un-molding easier, run the popsicle under water for a minute then they should pop out easily. We also made these with vanilla pudding, and they tasted great as well!

Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce

Ingredients
* 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* 1 tbs olive oil
* 1 tbs butter
* 3 whole garlic cloves, Minced
* 1 cup white wine
* 1 heaping tbs Dijon Mustard
* 1 heaping tbs stone ground Mustard
* ¼ cups half and half, or heavy cream
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so that you have six to eight smaller, thinner chicken cutlets. Salt and pepper both sides.
2. Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook cutlets on both sides until nice and golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from the skillet and keep on a plate.
3. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic to the pan and saute it for a minute, stirring to make sure it won’t burn. Pour in the wine, and cook until it’s reduced by half.
4. Add both the mustards and stir to combine, then pour in the cream or half and half. Stir in chicken broth, adding more if the sauce seems too thick. Taste sauce and add salt and pepper if desired.
5. Add chicken breasts back to the pan, nestling them into the sauce. Allow sauce to cook for another few minutes, shaking the pan if needed to move things around.
6. Serve and enjoy!

French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients
* 2 tbs butter
* 2 whole large onions, halved and sliced thin
* ¼ cups beef broth
* 7 dashes worcestershire sauce
* splash of white wine
* ½ cup shredded Swiss cheese
* kosher salt
* 24 whole white Or crimini Mushrooms, washed and stems removed

Directions
1. In a medium skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very soft. Splash in wine, broth, and Worcestershire. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until liquid is cooked down. Set aside.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Throw in mushrooms and toss around for 2 minutes, just to start the cooking process. Sprinkle mushrooms with salt.
3. Place mushroom in a baking dish. Heap cavity with sauteed mushrooms, then sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake at 10 minutes on 325 degrees. If desired, turn on broiler and broil for a couple of minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble and slightly turn brown.