Christmas Goodies

 As with most people, our home has been filled with the aromas of Christmas goodness! I put together goodie plates for neighbors and my visiting teaching ladies featuring the following:

  Christmas Hay

aka Triscuit snacks

  This is a fun no bake treat that combines all kinds of yummy things; peanut butter, Triscuits, honey, raisins and more!

Her are the raisins and powdered milk.

Putting the crackers in a zippy bag makes for an efficient and clean crunching process.

See how nifty?! :)

 Lots of mixing.

Then roll into balls (very sticky) and roll the balls in more crushed Triscuits. A strong honey flavor. Really yummy!

Here's my Applesauce bread. I added brown sugar and chopped almonds on the top.

And here's my Chex mix. Super easy and super yummy!

And finally, Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake cookies!
This was a fun project.  I am excited for the goodies that I will attempt next year!

Lately...

With Thanksgiving we were able to try our hands at a couple of yummy new things, plus we've tried a few things for just regular dinners.

 Browning some hamburger.

 I was looking for a fun way to dress up Hamburger Helper.

 I found a recipe for a lovely soup online.

 Lots of mushrooms and broccoli.

 Next time I will pre-cook the broccoli. The taste was great but the noodles were a bit overdone, in order to get the broccoli where it needed to be.

On lazy nights, James and I love to make nachos. Yum.... I never get tired of them!

 For Thanksgiving, I made these Parslied Wheat rolls. I really liked the way they turned out. I also made my usual Green Bean Casserole and James and I together made a lovely Strawberry Cream Cheese pie. I didn't take pics of that though, other than this one of James grating the butter. :)

We'd never done that before. Kinda cool.

 We had planned to make an Apple Pie as well, but ended up saving it for ourselves and made it Saturday night. We used my freezer filling that I made this fall. James found a really yummy pie crust recipe online.

 The top was brushed with an egg wash.

 I have to say... best apple pie I've ever had! :) We're learning.

Last night's dinner was Herb Fried Potatoes. We have lots of potatoes to use so I'll be doing lots of potato meals this week! We had leftover ham and some celery that needed to be used. I added cheese and then topped it with ketchup on my plate. I only wish I had made more. Will double the recipe next time. It turns out to be a really small amount and we didn't have any left for James' lunch.
 I feel like we are really getting a grasp on cooking/baking basics. We still have lots to learn, but this year has been good for us, myself especially, in the kitchen. On to more educational experiences!

First time with Fennel!

My wonderful neighbor and friend, Angee, gave me some Fennel the other day from her Bountiful Basket. It has been on my list of things to try but I had just never gotten around to it. Finally, tonight, I was able to work with it and I am very pleased with the results. I found a recipe online and modified it just a bit. Now that I know this new ingredient and how the recipe tastes, I will add more seasoning next time, as the recipe called for none and we ended up adding salt and pepper at the table.

 So you did chicken in flour, then saute it in butter.

 Slice up a couple of fennel bulbs.

 Remove the chicken. Throw in the fennel and some sliced onion. Cook till tender. Half way through, add sliced mushrooms.

 Stir in broccoli soup and milk. Bring to a boil, then simmer 5 minutes.

 Add the chicken back in. Cover and cook 10 more minutes or till chicken is cooked through.
Served over whole wheat linguine.

So like I said, we added salt and pepper at the table. I will add another couple of spices next time I make it, which I definitely will! I enjoyed having a unique flavor, completely different from anything I have had before. :)

BBQ Pork Pizza

Another pork adventure!

BBQ Pork Pizza

Crust:
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp white sugar
1 C warm water
1 1/2 C wheat flour
1 C white flour
2 T olive oil
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. let stand 10 minutes.

Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat till smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal.

Toppings

Leftover slow cooked pork
Sliced red onions
Diced pineapple
Mozzarella cheese

Warm up left over pork on stove in bbq sauce. I used honey bbq.

Top pizza with pork and sauce.
Add sliced red onions and diced pineapple.
Cover with mozzarella or other Italian blend cheese.

Bake 20-25 minutes.
YUM!

James' Creation!

A few nights ago, James decided he was making dinner. I was happy to have a break. :) He had been thinking on a food experiment for some time, combining elements and ideas he had seen on our cooking shows. The result was a unique and delicious meal that we both thoroughly enjoyed!

 He marinated the chicken breasts in a combination of Basil, Cinnamon and Apple juice.

 And did a lot of chopping; onions, potatoes, carrots, apples.

 He baked it all together. The chicken was so moist and tender. The veggies were the perfect firmness. The only thing we'll do differently next time is to add the apples half way through. They got too mushy.

I sprinkled an Italian blend of white cheeses on the meal and wow! Yum! My boy did good. :)

Pork Sandwiches

 There have been several great deals on Pork Butt Roast lately. There is yet another one this week at Buy Low; $1.59/lb for boneless. Last night was the 3rd day of pork creativity. The remaining cooked pork I have frozen and will use next week. I just don't want us getting bored of it. Really though, it hasn't even felt like we were eating the same meat every night with the different ways we have used it.
The first night we used it to make Pork Tacos with black beans, lettuce, cheese and our homemade taco sauce.
The second night we enjoyed the pork in Chinese Sundaes with lots of great toppings and a cream of chicken soup sauce.
Then last night I made the third installment. There's a great deal at buy Low on french bread; 2/$1. So I cut it in half and toasted it, then topped the bread with the shredded pork, diced onions and some roma tomatoes which I seeded to avoid too much moisture. No one likes a soggy sandwich. I also added sliced olives and an Italian blend of shredded cheese, then toasted the sandwiches for 10 minutes.
I made a salad to go on the side and then heated up the cream of chicken from the night before to use as a dipping sauce.

 James and I were really pleased with the yum yum factor of this dish. :)

James' Apples!

More apples!! My mama gave us a huge bag of golden delicious from her tree. James took it upon himself to attempt a recipe we had seen on The Test Kitchen for baked apples.

They turned out super yummy! I only wish we had some vanilla ice cream to go with them. :(
A funny thing: James borrowed my creative idea of siphoning raisins out of the Raisin Bran. Poor guy didn't see the three boxes of raisins I bought last week. :) 

Desserts

 Another of my preserving adventures: Apple Pie Filling! I had bought a bunch of apples on a good deal without realizing they were meant for baking. They didn't make for yummy fresh snacks. So I searched online and found a fairly simple recipe for freezer pie filling.

 Did I ever say how much I don't love peeling?

 My mix of spices. LOTS of sugar!

 Cooking the mix.

 Bringing to a boil.

 Adding apples.

 They cooked for awhile. And then into the freezer bags!

I ended up with 5 of them.
I went ahead and used some to make quick Apple Turnovers.

 This recipe used store bought refrigerator biscuits. Talk about easy! Just rolled them out..

 Filled them and sealed them.

And baked them. They were yummy but would have been yummier if I had remembered to add powdered sugar. :)

 Another dessert I just made that you simply MUST try!!!
I had some pears that we had forgotten about that were running out of time. You would be amazed at how much can be done with pears!! The only desert with pears that I had ever heard of were Poached Pears. But oh the possibilities that are out there!
 I ended up going with a lovely Pear Streusal Cake.

 More peeling and chopping. Peeling a slippery pear can be tricky..

 You mix them with lemon juice to keep them from browning.

 The dry goods.

 Eggs, milk and such.

The yummy crumbly streusal topping!

 It is much for fun when you get your hands in there!

 So you layer the cake batter..

 then the pears and streusal mix..

 Then more cake batter...

 and finally, more pears and streusal.

The finished product! It is especially good when its fresh as the top is nice and crunchy. It will soften after being stored a day or two. Still yummy though. Reminds me of apple pie.
 Because this was such a treat and a personal success, I have included the recipe and encourage you to give it a whirl! You'll be glad you did!!

Pear Streusal Cake

2 med pears, peeled and cored, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice

Streusel
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
4 oz cold butter, cut in small pieces
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 C chopped pecans (optional)
Cake
2 C all purpose flour
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 C milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 oz butter, melted

Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350.


Toss chopped pears with lemon juice in a bowl; set aside.

In another bowl, combine streusel ingredients, except pecans, with a fork until crumbly, or pulse with food processor. (I used a fork and then my hands) Stir in pecans, if using.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; stir to blend.

Whisk eggs in a mixing bowl until blended; stir in milk, vanilla, and butter. Add to flour mixture and fold with a wooden spoon or spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon half of the batter into prepared loaf pan; spread out to cover the bottom. Sprinkle batter with half of the pears and half of the streusel. Spoon remaining batter evenly over streusel, spreading carefully to cover. Sprinkle with half of the remaining streusel, the remaining chopped pears and then the remaining streusel.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife carefully around sides; invert the cake onto a plate. Turn the cake, streusel side up, onto a rack and let cool on a rack completely.
*A little dollop of cool whip adds to the goodness.*