Chocolate Cookies with Mint Chips

Tonight for dinner is grilled cheese and bacon with tomato soup. When we went to the store to gather our ingredients, I stumbled upon some mint chips and got the itch to make cookies. Since the dinner is simple and we aren't making anything from scratch I figure why the hell not.

Chocolate Cookies with Mint Chips:

Things you'll need:

1cup (2 sticks) butter, cold and cubed

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 lg eggs

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 cups mint chips

• Preheat the oven to 350
• Line your baking sheets with parchment paper
• Using an electric mixer cream your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
• Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the sides each time
• Mix in the cocoa powder until well blended
• Add flour, salt and baking powder and mix on a low speed until incorporated
• Fold in chips
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and briefly knead the dough until combined
• Divide the dough into equal portions, the number depends on how big you like your cookies
• Roll each portion into a ball and slightly flatten on the baking sheet a few inches apart
• Bake for 16 - 20 minutes
• Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 - 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack

The Rare Breakfast: Simple Fruit Danish

I found this recipe and decided I'd save it for a weekend because it looked so good, and I'm a big fan of danishes. I can say it is really very simple and you can definitely make this half asleep while you drink your coffee. I think I may try and revisit it later and do it from scratch but I'm not entirely sure just yet.

Simple Fruit Danish:

Things you'll need:
2 packages (8oz) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 21oz can pie filling


Glaze (optional):
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 - 3 tbsp milk

• Preheat oven to 350
• Unroll the crescent rolls and separate, set aside 4 for decoration
• On a baking sheet arrange the triangles into a circle, leave about a 3 in hole in the center, using a rolling pin connect the triangles so you now have a doughnut shaped pastry
• For the cream cheese filling combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg and extract in a medium bowl until smooth
• Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the dough, leaving about a 1/2 inch uncovered on both edges
• Cover the cream cheese with your pie filling
• Using a pizza cutter, cut the 4 crescent rolls you set aside earlier into thirds (it's easier if you start at the wider end)
• Arrange the strips evenly over the filling and press the ends to seal at the center and outer edges
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown
• For the glaze just whisk the ingredients together and drizzle on top

When I did this I opted for a pizza pan instead of a baking sheet because of it's shape, and also the grating in the pan makes for a crispier crust on the bottom. I also chose not to do the glaze; we prefer a not so sweet breakfast.

Chipotle-Lime Corn

Tonight we are having a tortilla crusted lime tilapia, to accompany this we are having jasmine rice and chipotle-lime corn. The corn will be a little spicy but is should pair wonderfully with the meal. Since we live in AZ and cannot get fresh fish will bought it from Costco prepared and frozen nevertheless it is still very good and a favorite of the household.

Chipotle-Lime Corn:


Things you'll need:

2 tsp olive oil
1 bunch scallions (thinly sliced)
1 small can of chipotle chile in adobo
3 1/2 cups corn (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper

• In a large nonstick pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
• Add the scallions and cook until softened about 3 minutes.
• Add corn and water, cover and cook until corn is warm through, about 4 minutes.
• Uncover and cook until liquid is evaporated, 2 minutes.
• Stir in lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Ours turned out really spicy, so we actually had to add more corn to tone down the heat. Make sure that, when finished, the color on your corn is not as red as the corn in the picture. Also, you may want to consider not adding the entire can of chipotles. Just a little tip for anyone that may not be crazy about overly spicy foods. 

Chicken Nuggets

Honestly, who doesn't LOVE chicken nuggets?! Anyone?! Maybe it's just me... Oh, no, Greg's inner child loves them more than anyone I have ever met, yes this includes children too. Well, that's what we are having tonight. Classic kid's meal side; the favorite french fries.

Chicken Nuggets


Things you'll need:

3 cups corn flakes
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese 
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pinch of pepper
1 lb. boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
2 large eggs, beaten

• Cut the chicken in to nugget size pieces, set aside.
• Preheat oven to 425 and grease a cookie sheet.
• Put the flakes into a bag and crush into a fine texture, move them into a medium size bowl.
• Add Parmesan cheese, salt, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper.
• Place the eggs in a separate bowl.
• Place the flour in a separate bowl.
• To bread your chicken, first place the pieces in the flour and shake off the access, dip them in the egg, and then coat them with the corn flake mixture.
• Arrange chicken on your cookie sheet and cook until a nice golden brown, about 12 - 15 minutes

You can put these nuggets in a wrap, on a salad or simply leave them the way they are.  They were fantastic! Not a single one was left over! It amazes me how unprocessed food tastes so much better.


And how do we feel about this new layout?... I dig it!

Caramel Apple Cake

Tonight we had an event to go to in support of Mike, so instead of dinner tonight I will give you a fabulous dessert! I stumbled upon this recipe from Pinterest and from another blogger called Lulu the Baker.

Caramel Apple Cake:

Things you'll need:


  For the Cake:

4 cups of flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
4 cups of applesauce (32oz)


Preheat the oven to 325. Grease up 3 (yes 3) 8 or 9 in round pans. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt cinnamon, allspice, and clove and set aside. Using your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 min. Add the eggs one at a time, combining thoroughly each time. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the apple sauce, beginning and ending with the dry. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. Divide the batter as evenly as you can (it doesn't have to be perfect) between the baking pans, smooth out the tops and bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. When they are done, let cool for 20 minutes, then turn out of pan and let cool completely before frosting, otherwise your frosting will melt.

  For the Caramel Sauce:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a tall saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves.  Turn heat up, stop stirring, and bring mixture to a boil; cook until it reaches a "rich caramel color".  Remove from heat, add butter and cream, and stir until combined.  If the mixture siezes up and gets clumpy, keep stirring and, if necessary, heat it on low until everything smoothes out.

  For the Caramel Buttercream:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup caramel sauce

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together sugar and flour.  Add milk and cream and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally (be patient), until mixture comes to a boil and thickens.  Transfer to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until completely cool (this is really fun to watch, by the way).  Reduce mixer speed to low (this is very important; if you don't do this on low you will "over beat" your butter cream and it will not be fluffy), add butter and vanilla, and mix thoroughly.  Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.  If it looks curdled, just keep beating it.  I'm told it will come together eventually, although I got impatient and quit!!  Add 1/2 cup of caramel sauce and mix until combined.


To put the cake together, put down the first cake layer and cover the top with a thin layer of frosting.  Repeat for the second and third layers, then cover the sides with a thin layer of frosting as well.  Refrigerate until frosting is firm.  Then frost the whole cake--top and sides--with the remaining frosting.  Drizzle extra caramel sauce on top!

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp

Hey Everybody!

Tonight we made sweet and spicy shrimp. This meal is super easy and tastes great! It only takes 20 min to make! We got this huge bag of shrimp from Costco (we really love that place) and I couldn't figure out what to do with it until the other day when I stumbled across this recipe from Everyday Food Magazine. If you don't have a subscription I highly recommend it. You get an array of recipes for the month and they usually shop on a budget, and you get nutritional values for each meal.

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp:

Things you'll need:

vegetable or olive oil for the grill

2 tbsp spicy chili sauce, such as Sriracha

1/3 cup honey

2 lbs extra jumbo shrimp (about 32 total), peeled and deveined (tails left on)

salt and pepper

Heat a grill or grill pan to high heat. Clean and lightly oil hot grill. Stir together chili sauce and honey. Assemble kebabs (using two skewers for each threading, one through the head and the other through the tail end); season with salt and pepper. Grill shrimp until they begin to turn opaque (no longer see through), about 2 - 3 min. Flip, brush liberally with glaze, and cook until opaque throughout, 3 - 4 more minutes. Brush with more glaze and serve.

These turned out really good, with just the right balance of spicy and sweet (as the name would suggest). We served it with stir fry veggies and pasta (we couldn't find lo mein noodles). These would have also been excellent jasmine rice and vegetables, so try whatever you think you would like.

Pork Medallions with Raspberry Chutney

Oh Mondays,
Everyone gets a case of The Mondays. That would be one of the reasons we made this today, it's simple and amazing! You don't even need a knife to cut this meat.

Pork Medallions
                                                                Things you'll need:


1 Pork Loin (enough to feed your family)
olive oil
water
salt and pepper
1 cup of sauce (we used a Raspberry chipotle from Costco)

Cut your loin into 1 - 1 1/2 in slices. Put olive oil in the bottom of your pan and set it to a med - high heat. Sear your cuts of pork for about 3 min on each side until slightly brown. Add the sauce to the bottom of a baking dish (we used a 9 x 13) put the pork on top of the sauce. Add just enough water so it covers the bottom of the dish. Cover with tin foil and bake at 280 for 1 hour.



Raspberry Chutney

Things you'll need:

1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sweet onion
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups raspberries
salt and pepper

Melt butter in small sauce pan over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent about 8 min. Add remaining ingredients and cook until mixture is syrupy and and some of the berries have collapsed, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

We had clean plates after dinner tonight and little leftovers.

Burgers

Tonight we have decided to make burgers and fries. Since I have already talked about seasoning your french fries in a previous entry, I won't bore you with doing it again. I will, however, tell you how we season our burgers and give you a tip or two.

Burgers:


What we used:
2 lbs ground beef
1 cup italian bread crumbs
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dried onion and garlic
salt and pepper
and whatever else we may be "feeling" at the time (tonight it was a pinch of cajun seasoning)

Combine your ingredients and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least a 1/2 hour. After that, lets make some patties, shall we? I would start by separating your beef into equal parts. I prefer 1/4 lbs so we'll split ours up into 8 patties. When flattening your patties out press down the middle more so you create a "crust," like on a pizza (another way to describe it is to make it look like a red blood cell, or a "biconcave disc"). This is because, when you cook burgers, the fat cooks out and they shrink. By forming your patties like this, they will no longer shrink up into little tennis ball like patties, but more like the near perfect flat patties you're always hoping for. Grill or skillet fry your burgers, dress and enjoy!

Spaghetti and Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

Hello Hello,
Tonight we are doing something simple seeing as it will be only 4 of us for dinner tonight. Since we made pizza earlier this week we are using that left over sauce and adding some steak to it which is also a left over. You, on the other hand, may use whatever you please, ground beef, chicken, sausage or nothing, it is your choice. Along with the spaghetti we are having this amazing pull apart bread I found on Pinterest.

Parmesan Pull Apart Bread:


Things you'll need:


1 can of biscuits
1/2 stick of butter
3 cloves of garlic. minced or pressed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp Tuscan Inspired herbs

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut your biscuits into quarters and put them in a medium to large bowl. Toss with cheese, garlic and herbs. Melt your butter, either in the bunt pan in the oven while it is preheating or in a mug in the microwave then pour straight into the bunt pan ( I do it the second way). Add your biscuit mixture into the bunt pan evenly spread apart and add anything that is left behind in the bowl on top. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes, turn out and enjoy!

Generally we make a double batch of this because it is such a hit, and we never have leftovers. Then it needs to bake for  about 10 - 12 more minutes. Also I like to add cheese to the bunt pan in three layers one on bottom, middle and top, it makes for an extra crispy crust. Please feel free to use whatever herbs you would like to this. We have come to enjoy the Tuscan herbs the most but try using Italian or none at all. The choice is yours.

Broiled Marinated Poratoes

Hello, Interweb!
Yup that's right, I said Poratoes, it's an inside joke with the family. On day Carol Emailed a friend for a recipe and she responded with it replacing potatoes with poratoes (twice in fact), so from now on it has been know as poratoes. The chicken we are having with it was butterflied (cut in half) and marinated for roughly 8 hours (since this morning) in a roasted pineapple and habanero sauce we found at the beloved Costco and HAD to try it! It smells fantastic. We will be grilling the chicken and pairing it with broiled marinated poratoes.

Broiled Marinated Poratoes

Things you'll need:
4 lg poratoes
vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 tbsp diced onion
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp oregano
salt and pepper

Wash and dry the poratoes. Rub skins with vegetable oil. Bake at 450 for 45 min, they will not be cooked thoroughly. Let cool. Cut poratoes in half, then cut the halves into quarters once length wise and once width wise into wedges. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine the rest of the ingredients; pour over the poratoes, let set for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from marinade and place on a lightly oiled rack place rack on broiler pan (I used a cookie sheet). Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 7 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

I'm super sorry, I completely forgot to take a picture! I can assure you that they were delicious and enjoyed by everyone.

UPDATE: I have added the picture!! You can all breath easy, now.

Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes

 Tonight is really simple for us, so what do I do?... I make dessert. From scratch. Just to give myself a challenge (and Greg a headache hehe. Side note: he hates baking).

Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes:

Things you'll need:
(Sorry for the Christmas colored cupcake liners)
   For the cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 lg eggs
1 cup butter milk (I will teach you how to make this if you do not have it on hand)
1 1/2 cups or 1 can of Coke (don't use diet)
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling




   For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp Coke

   For the icing:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries for garnish


For the Cake: 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy aka creaming the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down the sides if needed. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, Coke and vanilla extract, making sure to let the foam calm down after you mix it in. Foam will do us no good here.

If you do not have buttermilk, do not fret. All you need is 1 cup of milk, whole if you have it, but any kind will do, and 1 tbsp white vinegar. Mix together and voila! buttermilk!

Beginning with the your flour mixture, add to the butter mixture, alternating with the Coke mixture in 4 parts. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 of the way full. If you have an ice cream scoop with the release trigger in it, this works best. All of your cupcakes will be similar in size and with little mess. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when touched lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, use a paring knife to cut out a cone shape in the middle of each cupcake. Add a spoonful of cherry pie filling to each cupcake. You may want to try to chop the cherries up a bit. The whole cherries were a bit hard to fit in each cupcake. Strain and reserve the liquid, give the cherries a quick chop, and then toss them back in the liquid before filling each cupcake. Greg just chopped them with a spoon in a bowl with the juice.

For the Glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar and coke with a whisk in a small bowl until no lumps remain, adding more or less sugar if needed. You want a thicker constancy, one that will glaze the cupcake but not disappear down the sides or into the cupcake. I suggest adding the coke one tbsp at a time or, like me, you will be adding almost twice the amount of powdered sugar. This, by the way, is REALLY frustrating, and the glaze turns out super sweet and tastes mostly of powdered sugar. Trying to save the mix we decided to add more coke to make it thinner and do a really light layer of the glaze. The trick to doing this is using a small amount and a small spoon. The glaze wasn't "Cokey" enough for me or Greg, so in a last ditch effort to have a glaze for the cupcakes we took a can of Coke and concentrated it to about an 1/8 of it's original volume. Simply put the Coke in a sauce pan on a medium heat and let it reduce. You want the liquid to lightly bubble, not boil, or you will burn it (I can't imagine that smelling very good). Once reduced, add a tbsp at a time to your powdered sugar whisking in a small bowl and be sure to smash those lumps out!

For the Icing:
Chill your mixing bowl for 10 to 15 minutes before you are ready to make your icing. Beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar with the whisk attachment or hand mixer on low speed and slowly crank it up to high. Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Using your favorite tip, pipe the whipped cream onto cupcakes and top with maraschino cherries.
If you don't have a piping bag, use a gallon ziplock bag. Put the cream into one corner of the bag and cut off about a 1/2 in. I tried using a spoon to apply the cream like I do with icing, but since the cream is lighter it didn't work, as you can see in the picture.

After it's all said and donem the cupcakes were a hit and had most of us having two (or 3 if you're Jane, and more before bed, I'm certain). Even with the frustration from the damn glaze it was still worth it to listen to  the silence as they ate them and the smiles afterward. I think this will be one I have to make again and again.

Homemade Pizza

Ciao!
Tonight on the menu is pizza. Now, Greg and I do this the hard way where we make our own sauce and dough. You don't have to do this, too, but the outcome is worth it for us. I will provide you with a dough recipe, but it's not the one we are using because Greg made this one himself and is keeping it a secret from the world. However, I will give you my sauce recipe, because I'm nice like that.
Funny story; on one of the first dates Greg and I had, I made him dinner as a thank you for a present he had given me. I made him spaghetti with a sauce similar to this one and he loved it. He said "you have to make this for when I made pizza next." It has been a hit in the house ever since.

Dough from Mario Batali on the Food Network:

Things you'll need:

1/4 cup light red or white wine
3/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 oz yeast
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 cups flour

Place wine, water and yeast in a large bowl until dissolved. Add the honey salt and olive oil and mix well to combine. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it becomes a loose batter. Add 2 more cups of the flour and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, incorporating as much flour as you can with the wooden spoon.
Bring the dough together by hand and turn out onto a floured board of marble surface. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until dough is smooth and firm. place in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, using another tbsp of oil and cover with a towel. Let rise in the warmest part of the kitchen for 45 minutes. Knead again and let sit for 15 minutes.
Since it's summer and the house is kept cool what we've done is put the dough in a metal bowl, lightly oiled and covered with a damp towel. Turn the broiler in the oven on high for about 5 minutes, turn off, make sure the fire is no longer lit if you have a gas stove before putting the dough in the oven. This helps to ensure that the dough will rise properly by giving it a warmer place to rest. The oven should be warm, not hot.

Sauce:

Things you'll need:
1 green bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1/2 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 serrano peppers
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 cup red wine
1 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp basil
1 tsp sage
salt and pepper

Finely chop the green bell, orange bell, onion, garlic and serranos, saute with olive oil until onions are semi translucent. Add the can of crushed tomatoes, wine and spices to taste. Let simmer for about an hour turn off and allow time to cool. You do this so the sauce doesn't cook the dough when you start to make your pizzas.

Now you get to make your pizzas! First, preheat your oven to 450, and lightly oil a couple of pizza pans. Roll out your dough add your sauce, you'll want a light layer of sauce or you will have a soggy pizza. Add a light layer of mozzarella, your toppings, and a little more cheese. The extra cheese ensures that the toppings won't burn (and did I mention it just tastes good, too?). Experiment with your toppings. Some of our favorites are pepperoni and bacon, BBQ chicken with onions, margherita (basil and tomato) and 6 cheese. Since I've never made this dough before I'm not sure how long it need to cook for but the master of the dough aka Greg cooks his for about 12-14 minutes. Be sure to save your leftover sauce for a spaghetti night! Buon Apetito!

The Rare Breakfast: French Toast Souffle

Good morning,
Yes, occasionally there is a rare occurrence when I make breakfast. Today's is a french toast souffle that I found on Pinterest. Now, essentially this is made like a bread pudding, but that is for dessert, so to make people feel better it is simply easier to call it a souffle. This is a recipe that is made the night before, and I think it's safe to say that it's this way because it has to cook for 50 min. This is nice for people like me who enjoy sleeping in on the weekend and, lets face it, every other day as well. If you are a "rise at the crack of dawn kind of person" I would dare say it is safe to make this the morning of.

French Toast Souffle:

Things you'll need:
1 loaf of bread (crusty preferably) cut into 1in cubes
8oz of cream cheese (softened)
8 lg eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2/3 cup half and half
1/2 cup maple syrup, plus more for garnish
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Place the bread cubes in a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking pan.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, and incorporate well after each addition. Add the milk, half and half, syrup and vanilla extract beat until mixture is smooth. Pour this onto the bread cubes, cover and refrigerate overnight.
When you wake up remove the souffle from the refrigerator and let sit for 30 min. Preheat the oven to 350.
Bake uncovered for 50 min or until knife is inserted in the middle and comes out clean. Pour syrup on top and dust with powdered sugar, serve and enjoy!

Since I don't follow the rules:
I used 4 oz of strawberry cream cheese (because we had it), added 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, and I'll let everyone pour their own syrup. Experiment with things that you think you would like; I think next time, I'll try putting some jam in it. Enjoy!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Hey Foodies!
Tonight for dinner we are having BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, french fries and an apple coleslaw.
Earlier this week Greg and I slow roasted a pork loin in a bourbon and brown sugar rub Carol had bought over the weekend. We are using the left overs from that to make the pulled pork sandwiches. We started by putting all of the left overs in the beloved crock pot with some other ingredients I will list below.

Pulled Pork:
                                           

Things you'll need:
2lbs pork loin
1 packet bourbon and brown sugar rub
1/2 white onion
4tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
water to cover half of the loin
salt and pepper

Put all of the ingredients expect for the BBQ sauce in the crock pot on the high heat setting until it starts to fall apart (about 3-4 hours) then turn to low. Or you could do this in the oven at 350 for 2 hours just make sure it is covered. After the time flies by take the top off to let the water evaporate to about half. Now add your favorite BBQ sauce. Our favorite is Sweet Baby Rays Honey Chipotle, but use whatever you like. Now you should be ready to eat, so put the pork on a hamburger bun and enjoy!

French Fries:

Things you'll need:
1 bag of frozen spuds

Make sure you get a bag large enough to feed the whole fam, since we are of the larger variety of families we got a 5lb bag. Follow the cooking instructions and voila you're done! We always spice our fries with some salt, of course, and either a cajun spice mix or a ranch mix.

Apple Cole Slaw (courtesy of Sandra Lee via The Food Network):

Things you'll need:
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup of sugar
3tbsp apple cider vinegar
2tbsp ranch seasoning
1 (8oz) package shredded cabbage and carrots
3 green apples (cored and diced)
3 green onions (thinly sliced)
3 stalks of celery (thinly sliced)
salt and pepper


Whisk sour cream, sugar, vinegar and ranch together in a large bowl. Add cabbage mixture, apples, green onions and celery. Toss to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 min.
Now since you know I am not one to follow a recipe, so we changed it up a bit. Instead of the cabbage mixture we bought a small head of cabbage and used half of it, and then sliced up 7 baby carrots. We also thought the ranch was a touch overpowering, so we added about 2tbsp of honey to cut it.

Dessert tonight is nothing super special, just a carrot cake from a box with cream cheese frosting from the store. One thing I will tell you is that if you are looking to spruce up your box cake add some cake spice, about 2-3tbsp. We get a lot of our spices from a spice shop called Penzey's. They are an amazing store with over 250 spices! They are in 29 states, check and see if there is one in your area at http://www.penzeys.com/. I highly recommend them. Cake spice includes; cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and clove. Feel free to simply play around with these to find what you like.

Hello World

I guess my first post should explain what the hell I'm going for here, so here it is;

   About 3 months ago the bf and I started cooking dinner Mon-Fri for his family. We've used many different sources to find dinner recipes, and I simply would like to share with the world that you can eat delicious food that isn't terrible for you (most of the time) without breaking the bank. 

   We have a family of 7 1/2; the Parents, Carol and Mike, both 46; his daughter from another marriage, Marcia, 25, her husband Peter, 24; Carol's oldest son (the bf), Greg, 24, daughter Jan, 14, and the youngest, Cindy, 5; and, of course, Me (so I guess that makes me Alice...or Bobby).

   I am a young woman of 24 living in Phoenix, AZ, and I have always enjoyed food. One of my favorite stories is one my mother told me about from when I was little; one day she was cooking, and I wanted to help. Not being able to see over the counter, I went into the cabinet and grabbed the can of Crisco, put it down right by my mom, and stood up on it. She said that one minute I was tall, and the next I was short again; I had fallen into the Crisco. Fortunately, though, she said I had the softest feet for weeks. Then, there was the summer when I was 13, where I spent all day, every day, glued to the Food Network. It is safe to say cooking has been a part of my life for a long time. One thing that you will learn quickly about me is that I don't believe in recipes; a recipe is a guideline, not a rulebook. I like to make recipes my own, so I enjoy substituting one thing for another.
   All in all, what you can expect from this, is photos and recipes of what we have had for dinner and some stories.