Broccoli Cheese Soup and Croutons

Tonight I attempted to use my small harvest of broccoli I picked yesterday from the garden. So I browsed a few recipes online and this is what I came up with.


1/2 Onion chopped
2 Cups of cheese (I mixed mine, some cheddar, swiss, american)Its what I had in the fridge
2 Cups of Fat Free Milk
4 Cups of Chicken Stock
4 Cups of Broccoli
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg

In the crockpot on high I added the onion, milk, stock, spices and broccoli. I cooked for about 2.5 hours I then added the cheese. Now the cheese I used was not a smooth melting cheese so my soup didnt look appetizing but was. I let cook on low for 20 minutes added a small cornstarch water mixture and cooked a bit longer. In my Bullet I blended about 1 cup of the soup mixture and added it back in.

Now lets top this soup with some fresh croutons

1 Flute or Baguette sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil spread evenly onto cookie sheet
Arrange bread ontop of oil
Melt 3/4 stick of butter with 2 cloves of crushed or minced garlic, coat bread with butter and garlic mixture
Using Kosher salt spinkle a little on each bread
Sprinkle with pepper, paprika and dried parsley to your liking

Bake in oven at 250 degrees till desired crispiness. About half way through I flip my croutons. Enjoy!

Oven Baked Fries

What goes best with Sloppy Joes? French Fries!! Ugh Im out of oil lets bake them!!!

5 Medium Potatoes sliced into french fries
1/2 a stick of butter, cut into cubes
4 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1/4 Cup Parmesean

Presoak the fries in a large bowl of cold salted water for about 1 hour. Drain and pat dry

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Put two Tablespoons of the Olive Oil on the bottom of the Baking sheet

Lay fries, overlapping is ok

Top with Seasoning and Cheese, then drizzle with remaining oil, and scatter the cubed butter on top.

After baking for about 20 minutes check on your fries toss them turn them, drool over them and continue to bake till preferred doneness. I like my fries crispy so mine took about 50 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

Muffin CornDogs

Yesterday my son had his first corndog! First the amazement on his face that he got to hold his food with a stick was priceless, but after he took that first bite to find A HOTDOG in there was even more priceless. He gobbled it up and was so well behaived during lunch I thought to myself he MUST eat these more often. I then remembered I had just bought a Jiffy Box of Corn Meal Muffins for $.68 and a large pack of Turkey Dogs at Walmart for a little over $3 which included 24 turkey dogs! Lets make our own version of corn dogs and try this at home. To the kitchen I went!

Prepare the Jiffy as directed on the box
this includes 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk I also followed the suggestion of letting it set for 3-4 mins before stiring a second time.

I then divided half of the batter into 6 greased muffin tins

I cut one dog into 6 equal parts and ditributed

divide remaining batter ontop of the dogs

In a preheated 400 degree oven bake until golden brown. My oven runs hot so mine only took 10 minutes to bake. Let cool and remove from muffin pan.

Now here is my opinion on these little goodies.
Pros:
Easy to make
They are darn good!
CHEAP!!!! $.13 for the dog and $.68 for the box of Jiffy. Approx $.07 for the milk $.20 for the egg = $1.08 = $.18 per muffin!!!!
Even at $1.08 for all six muffins that is cheaper than buying one from the hot table at Safeway

Cons:
Not much to complain about except for the fact that if your two year old is eating them keep the dust buster at reach.

Crockpot Sesame Chicken

So I found this recipe through Pinterest, as many recipes are now a days, and immediately wanted to try it. I love sesame chicken, and there is a place in my hometown of Cameron park, CA that has the BEST Sesame Chicken! (Shout outs to Shanghai) But can this recipe even compare to my all time favorite? At Shanghai I do beleive the chicken is fried before its covered in the amazing mouth watering sauce, this recipe is not fried but cooked in the crockpot, healthier? Yes, but good? We will see. So its off to the crockpot I go....

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts This is enough to feed my family of four
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons diced onion
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
3 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 4 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds
Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken.
Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through.
Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 3 teaspoons of cornstarch in 4 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce.
Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.
Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

My Rice:

2 Cups of Rice to 2.5 Cups of water put into rice cooker
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons Dried Onion
Paprika to taste

Well, the chicken was good, ok not good, it was wonderful. It wasnt Shanghai but is definately going to be made in my house again!It was a little too sweet for my daughter, my 2 year old son liked it, but my husband and I Loved it. OH and I had my Mother in Law try it and she gave me the "mmmmmmm look". Winner Winner its a chicken dinner!

Recipe taken from Chef in Training

Salmon Chowder

 1 jar of Salmon (16 oz)

3/4 cup butter $

• 1 cup chopped onion $
• 1/2 cup chopped celery $
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour + 2tsp cornstarch
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Dill weed to liking
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules 
• 4 medium potatoes diced
• 2.5 cups milk
• 6 thick-cut bacon slices, cooked and crumbled ( I was out of bacon so I subbed with a splash of smoke)

1. If using fresh salmon:
2. Sprinkle salmon with kosher salt and pepper; place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Flake fish into 1/2-inch pieces; set aside.
3. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add flour; stir until mixture is smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in chicken broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, dill and garlic.
4. Add potato, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Stir in milk. Cook 6 minutes or until heated. Add cooked salmon, stirring gently to combine. Spoon into individual bowls; top with crumbled bacon.

BlueBerry Pie

So yesterday was Father's day and in my household, my father in law and my husband LOVE blueberry Pie. This year due to finances and just wanted to try something new I made it ALL from scratch.

After many weeks of searching the internet I found a recipe from Pinterest which I will give my shout out to down at the bottom.

However I did use the Pie Crust recipe from the Crisco container

Crisco®'s
DOUBLE CRUST PIE

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening, or Butter Flavored Shortening, chilled in freezer

5 to 10 tablespoons ice cold water or milk

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS: 

1. COMBINE flour and salt in large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.


2. SPRINKLE one tablespoon ice-cold water or milk over part of mixture. Toss gently with a fork; push to side of bowl. Repeat just until mixture is moistened and can be formed into a ball. (The dough shoud hold together when picked up and pressed, and should not crack).


3. FLATTEN ball of dough into disks (one for one crust, two for double-crust). Wrap tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight.


4. REMOVE one disk of dough from refrigerator. Turn onto very lightly floured surface. (If the dough is too hard, allow it to sit for 5 minutes to soften.) Roll dough gently, use a back and forth motion from center. Do not roll over the edge or it will be thin. Turn dough 45 degrees between each roll to keep it round. If dough sticks to surface, dust lightly with flour. Roll to 12 inches in diameter for a 9 inch pie.


5. TRANSFER dough to 9-inch, 4 cup capacity pie plate, being careful to avoid stretching pastry. Trim edge of pastry 1/2 to 3/4 inch beyond edge of the pie plate.
   
    BlueBerry Pie Filling adapted from simplyrecipes.com
   
   Filling ingredients:
   

   • 6 cups (about 2 1/4 pounds or 1 kilo) of fresh (or frozen) blueberries, rinsed and stems removed (if using frozen, defrost and drain first)
   • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest ( I did not have a lemon so I omitted the zest from the recipe)
   • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
   • 1/4 cup (about 30g) all-purpose flour (for thickening)
   • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar (100g)
   • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
   • 2 Tbsp butter (unsalted), cut into small pieces

   Egg wash ingredients:
   

   • 1 egg
   • 1 tablespoon milk

   Method

   1 Prepare the crust.  Fit the dough over a 9-inch pie pan, and trim the edges to a 1/2 inch over the edge all around the pan. Heat oven to 425°F.
   
   2 Gently mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Transfer them to the chilled bottom crust of the pie pan. Dot with butter pieces. Roll out remaining dough to the same size and thickness as the first. Place on top of the berry filling. Tuck the top dough over and under the edge of the bottom dough, and crimp the edges with your fingers. 
   
   3 Whisk egg and milk together to make an egg wash.
   
   4  Brush the top with egg wash. Score the pie on the top with 4 cuts (so steam can escape while cooking). Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven with a parchment paper or baking pan positioned on the lower rack to catch any filling that may bubble over. Bake for 20 minutes at 425°. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 30 to 40 minutes more or until juices are bubbling and have thickened. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before serving.
   
   Serve with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream or a Dollop of Cool Whip and enjoy!
   
   

   

   

   
    

 

Simple and delicious Peanut Butter Cookies!

While flipping through a foodie magazine I found one of those 5 ingredient or less recipes and it was for a cookie. 2 things crossed my mind:

Are they good?
How many points can these be?

So I was off for the challenge.

What ya need

1 cup of Peanut Butter (creamy or chunky)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large Egg
3/4 tsp baking soda



What to do

Heat oven to 350 degrees

spray or line your cookie sheets

beat all ingredients until fully mixed

drop level teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheets and bake 8 - 10 minutes until they start to brown around the edges. transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

YUMMMMMMMMY!!!!!

Smothered Pork Chops

Wow Last week got away from me and I just realized I didnt post much of anything. I am so sorry. However I did make my yummy Smothered Pork Chops this week but forgot to take pictures. I will post the recipe and will post pics the next time I make it.

This is a Weight Watchers recipe: 6pts without the rice 9 pts with

What ya need

2 clove(s) (large) garlic clove(s), smashed  

1 pound(s) lean boneless pork chop, four 4 oz chops,

washed, patted dry  

1 tsp table salt, divided  

1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, divided  

4 spray(s) cooking spray, divided  

1 Tbsp olive oil, divided  

1 large onion(s), Spanish-variety, cut in half and thinly sliced  

3 medium sweet red pepper(s), or a variety of bell peppers, thinly sliced  

1/2 cup(s) uncooked white rice, long-grain, rinsed and drained  

28 oz canned crushed tomatoes   

Instructions

    * Rub garlic all over pork; reserve garlic. Next, rub 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper all over pork.

    * Coat a large heavy pan with cooking spray; set over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, sear pork chops until nicely browned, about 2 minutes per side; remove pork and set aside.

    * Off heat, coat pan again with cooking spray; add 1/2 tablespoon oil. Reduce heat to medium; add garlic and cook until garlic starts to turn golden and caramelize, about 1 to 2 minutes (do not allow garlic to burn). Add onions and sauté until onions turn translucent and become golden, scraping bottom of pan occasionally to incorporate drippings, about 10 minutes; remove onions and set aside.

    * Off heat, coat pan again with cooking spray; add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil and set over medium heat. When hot, add peppers and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes; remove and set aside.

(Please read below for my alterations)

    * Add pork back to pan; top each pork chop with 2 tablespoons uncooked rice. Spoon tomatoes over pork; season with remaining 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Tightly cover pan, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes. Spoon peppers and onions over top and cover again; cook until rice is tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Yields 1 pork chop and about 1 cup rice with vegetables per serving.

Notes

I prefer to not cook the rice in with my pork chops. I feel they never seem to cook fully while still leaving the pork chops moist. 

Dont forget to make a sweet for you sweets Nothing says love like Cupcakes

Orange Chinese 5 Spice Salmon

This is a recipe I found online and wanted to give it a try. I thought it has some good flavor. While cooking the sauce however I didnt find the glaze sweet enough so I did throw in about 2 tablespoons of sugar.

1 ½  cups orange juice

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp five spice powder

Few drops sesame oil

Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes before thickening with a slurry of 1 tsp corn starch dissolved in a little water.

Four 6 ounce salmon fillet portions, about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place the salmon fillets on a parchment lined baking sheet, season with salt and pepper and bake for about 15 minutes. 

At this point begin brushing the glaze on the salmon and returning it to the oven for a couple of minutes between coatings. about 3 times. You can always add more of the sauce to the fish when serving.

Planning this week

The sun is shining today in Alaska and we are off for a day to Homer. 

I have a few items Ill be making this week, I will post pics and recipes as i cook them. Here are a few things I have planned more to come:

Smothered Pork Chops

Orange Five Spice Salmon

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

    1 cup butter, at room temperature

    2 cups sugar

    4 eggs

    1 tsp. vanilla

    3 cups all-purpose flour

    2 tsp. baking powder

    1/4 cup Lemonade Mix (such as Country Time)

    1/2 tsp. salt

    grated zest and juice of a lemon

    1 cup milk, divided

    Preheat oven to 375 F and line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

    In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

    In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, lemonade mix and salt. Add to the butter mixture a third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined.

    Fill the prepared tins and bake for 20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Tip the cupcakes in their tins to help them cool. Let cool completely before frosting. Makes 2 dozen.

    Fresh Raspberry Frosting

    1 cup fresh raspberries (or thawed from frozen)

    1 cup butter, at room temperature

    3 cups confectioners’ sugar

    In the bowl of a food processor, puree the raspberries until smooth. If you like, press the mixture through a sieve to get rid of the seeds.

    In a medium bowl, beat the butter and half the sugar until smooth. Add the raspberry puree, then more sugar until you have a fluffy, spreadable consistency. Add a splash of water, too (a tablespoon or two) if it needs it.

Chili Con Carne

No real measurements for this recipe but will try my hardest:

1 Lb Ground Beef
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 bell pepper chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 can diced tomatoes undrained
3 cans Kidney Beans undrained
Chili Powder to taste
2 Bay Leaves
Pepper to Taste

In a Dutch Oven or Pot lightly coat with olive oil and saute your onion and bell pepper

Once it begins to become translucent add the ground beef, pepper and brown.

Once browned add remaining ingredients, stir together, cover and cook on low for 2 -4  hours.

 

Serve with Chopped Onion, Fritos, cheese and of course Corn Bread Muffins. 

 

Diet Brownies???

I know it sounds crazy or even gross....but they are GOOD!!! and EASY!!! All you need is two ingredients, one can of Diet Coke or Pepsi and a box of Brownie mix.

 Preheat Oven to 350 degrees, I sprayed a 13 x 9 dish with Pam
In a large bowl i mixed the brownie mix and the can of soda till thoroughly combined, the mixture will be runny, DONT WORRY :) cook in oven for 30 -35 minutes, may need more time, but check with a toothpick

Cool and Serve

You could top these with some fat free coolwhip or even some slow churned vanilla ice cream and dessert is served!

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes

To go with my BBQ'd chicken tonight Im making Roasted Red potatoes. I found this online and thought it sounded good. Will post pictures later

What you need

• 1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
• 2 pounds red potatoes, halved
• 1/3 cup olive oil

 How to cook them

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. In a large plastic bag, combine the soup mix, red potatoes and olive oil. Close bag, and shake until potatoes are fully covered.
3. Pour potatoes into a medium baking dish; bake 40 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally. 

Shredded Beef Tacos

This is one of my all time faves! I hope it can become one of yours too

1 London Broil

1 small can El Pato

1 Can Beef Broth

2 Beef Bouillon Cubes

In a crock-pot lay the London Broil; top with remaining ingredients Turn Crock-pot onto High or Low which ever bets suits your day.

Check on your meat thorough out the day (or leave it while you are at work) once your meat begins to shred help it along with two forks. Prep for tacos and enjoy!

Next time I make this I will post finished product pictures, I normally get so excited when its done I forget to take a  picture :-)