Beef Pot Pie

James baked up the most delicious Beef Pot Pie to enjoy during the Super Bowl. He used canned beef, canned potatoes, beef broth, corn, green beans, and frozen broccoli. He made the crust from scratch. Super duper yummy!

Beef Roast

 I made a roast in the slow cooker the other day. I thought it turned out nice but then my husband told me that night that it was the best roast I have ever made. Now I wish I had taken a picture to show you, but at least I can tell you what I did.
I used a boneless beef butt roast I had pulled from my freezer. With it in the slow cooker, I added:
1 can Beef Broth
2 T refrigerated Minced Garlic
2 T Ketchup
After cooking it on high for about 4 hours, I flipped the chunk of meat, topped it with another 2 T of ketchup, and then cooked it on low for about 4 more hours. It was quite yummy. We ate it in tacos. I have some leftover that I think I will either use for tostadas or burritos. I love when things just come together. :)

Quick Wheat Pizza Crust

 I have used this pizza dough recipe before and we like it at my house. It's easy and it's quick and I have adapted it to use half wheat flour to make it a bit healthier.

 Here it is ready to go in the oven. I had left over chicken from the slow cooker so we used bbq sauce because it just goes so nicely with chicken. Other toppings: Olives, pineapple, Tillamook cheese.

Quick Wheat Pizza Crust

1 (.25 oz) package Pizza Yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 C warm water

1 1/2 C White flour

1 C Wheat flour

2 T olive oil

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. (10 minutes if you aren't using Pizza specific yeast)

2. In mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and oil. Add yeast mixture, beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.

3. Roll dough into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. Bake 5 minutes.

4. Add sauce and toppings. Bake 8 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

 I also used the same recipe to make bread sticks. 

I brushed it with butter and added garlic salt, parmesan cheese and a cheddar monterray jack mix.

They turned out okay but I want to figure out how to make them lighter and fluffier like the stuff you get at the pizza place. I will have to experiment a bit with this.

Cookie land!

I'

 I've been baking cookies lately. These are Lemon Cream Cheese cookies. The left are waiting to be dusted with powdered sugar.
I didn't love them and will probably not make them again, but James and the kids ate them all, so I guess they were okay.

I haven't made Jam Thumbprints in years! My little brother is leaving this week to serve a mission for our church. He asked me a couple of weeks ago to bring back some pleasant memories from his childhood. He is 11 years younger than me, by baby brother.
I can't be with him for the next two years to protect him or comfort him when he is lonely, but I could do this for him. A lovely batch of Jam Thumbprints with assorted flavors of jam. Peach, raspberry and strawberry. He was delighted! I am a happy sister. :)



Should you like to try your hand at these delights, here's the recipe:
Jam Thumbprints

1 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c butter
1/3 c sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1/3 c strawberry jam (or any flavor you enjoy)

Stir together flour and salt. Beat butter for 30 seconds; add sugar and beat till fluffy. Add eggs yolks and vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture, beating till well blended. Cover and chill 1 hour. (I didn't bother with this part and they turned out fine.)
Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in egg whites. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 1 inch apart. Press down centers with thumb. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Just before serving, fill centers with jam. Makes 36 cookies. I had to work with the bake time. Starting a new oven fund!

 Tonight for family night, my daughter and I decided to make Peanut Blossoms for our special treat. I got a fabulous deal on Hershey's Kisses at Walmart's after Christmas sale, just $.90 per bag after coupons. I haven't had these cookies in a long time and we were excited to make them together.
My RA has been affecting my hands pretty badly lately and the thought of unwrapping 48 kisses was daunting. Send in able bodied, enthusiastic daughter!

 While she unwrapped chocolate candies, I made the peanut butter dough, rolled it into 1 inch balls and rolled them in sugar.

 Turns out this activity was a good opportunity to work on our counting skills. A sweet way to combine baking with homework. :)

Ready to go in the oven!

As soon as they were out of the oven, we started pressing the candies into the cookies. My poor girl brushed her finger against the hot pan. :( We've been icing all night. Luckily the yummy cookies helped make up for the accident.

This one was a hit so I am including the recipe:

Peanut Blossoms

48 Hershey's Kisses (I used special dark)
3/4 c Peanut Butter (I was out of crunchy unfortunately and had to use creamy. Still good though)
1/2 c butter (the original recipe called for shortening but I am anti-hydrogenated products and butter just tastes so yummy!)
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/3 c packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Granulated Sugar

1: Heat oven to 375. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat peanut butter and butter with electric mixer on medium speed in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 c granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in additional granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookies will crack around edges. Remove to wire rack and cool completely.  Makes about 48 cookies.   

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. :)