Saturday, September 27, 2008

It's a cooking kind of weekend

I'm house bound this weekend since it is raining, which means the kids are house bound too. We've read books, watched cartoons, played Star Wars Monopoly, Dora Memory, played the new playstation games we got yesterday with Dad, and still managed to have stromboli and ice cream. During my down times (giggles) I am researching new recipes for this month's cooking day.

In my cyberspace travels I came upon the Baking Delights blog. They are givig away 5 autographed copies of Secret Suppers, a book about chef's, their restaurants, and some of their recipes. All you have to do to enter is leave a post on the blog. (You get 2 entries for blogging about their blog which is why I'm writing this.)

So read my pumpkin pie post, visit Baking Delights and Today's Housewife for lots of fun food recipes. Tomorrow our food of choice is popcorn since #2 is selling it in front of WalMart for Cub Scouts. If you'd like to buy some send me an email and I'll send you the info!

Dan's Pumpkin Pie with Molasses

I am so excited that Thanksgiving is almost here. I don't care about the turkey, in fact I usually eat one little piece then hit everything else. I love stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and lots of biscuits.

But my absolute most favorite part of the meal is the pumpkin pie. I'm not talking bland, store bought, plain pumpkin pie. No, I'm talking about a spiced-molasses pie. MMMMMMM!!!

My grandpop came up with this recipe and now I can't go a Thanksgiving or Christmas without it. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Today's Housewife is doing recipes from Mom (or other family members) this weekend and I thought this would be great.

Dan's Pumpkin Pie with Molasses
1 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 Lg. Can Pumpkin
3 Beaten Eggs
1 2/3 Cup Evaporated Milk
1/2 Cup Molasses
2- 9" pie shells

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Combine brown sugar, salt and spices. Add remaining ingredients, mix until smooth. Pour into 2 unbaked 9 inch pastry shells and sprinkle with a little cinnamon (or cloves or nutmeg) right in the middle of each pie. (It makes a cool looking effect when finished baking.) Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 35 minutes. Let stand uncovered until set. Serve with whipped cream.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Crock Pot Peppercorn Steak

Over at Today's Housewife the theme for the weekend is Crock Pot Meals. I've got this one in my freezer from cooking day just waiting for me to cook it. Maybe this is what I'll have for dinner tomorrow.

Tonight I had some yummy cheese stuffed sausage balls. That was after I helped my hubby remove our broken front step... Which turned into removing all of our front steps because they are all rotted out. So right now we have no front steps and a bunch of wood in our living room. Hopefully we will have front steps by tomorrow night otherwise we're using the back door for the next 2 weeks. My hubby won't be home next weekend because it is his reserves weekend so if he's not finished then it will have to wait another weekend. Which means he will be working on the steps on my birthday. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

Anyways, here's my recipe. Enjoy!

Crock-Pot Peppercorn Steak

4 to 6 steaks (use whatever is on sale, it's going to tenderize nicely in the crock; don't buy expensive meat.)
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup of water
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 chopped yellow onion
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 T Italian seasoning
1/4 t black pepper

PRIOR TO COOKING DAY: Chop Peppers and Onions

CORPORATE COOKING DAY INSTRUCTIONS: Mix tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, water, steaks and seasonings in 1 Ziploc bag. In another smaller bag mix peppers, onion, and mushrooms. Place smaller bag in larger bag. Label and freeze.

SERVING DAY INSTRUCTIONS: Thaw and pour directly into crock pot. Mix vegetables into meat mixture. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

What a wonderful day!

Today was cooking day. By 2:00 my freezer was once again filled and by 3:00 I had everything cleaned up, put away and the dishes finished. I just finished eating a yummy Crustless Spinach Quiche for dinner and I'm now waitng for my husband to come home. Seth's been gone for a little over a month and this was his final class. So when I say he's coming home, I really mean it!

This weekend over at Today's Housewife the recipe theme is freezer cooking. Hmmm... do you think I might have a recipe to fit that? =D

I'm posting 2 recipes here today. I couldn't decide which one I wanted more, one that is yummy but small, or one that is yummy and large. I'll post the yummy and large one first.

One of the owners of Today's Housewife is expecting a bundle of joy this month -- hence the freezer meals. To help her along I'll be sending her a file with all the recipes I have used so far. If anyone else wants a copy just send me a note!

Note: When freezing meals I highly recommend using Ziploc bags and Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil. I had a bag explode in my freezer (wasn't Ziploc) and the non-heavy duty tend to rip easy.

Chicken Manicotti
3 chicken breasts
¼ tsp Garlic powder – provided
1 box manicotti shells – uncooked
48 oz jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
9x13 baking pan

Cook chicken in oil, cool and slice lengthwise. Pour 1/3 of sauce into bottom of 9 x 13 baker. Season chicken with garlic powder. Stuff seasoned chicken into uncooked manicotti shells. Line shells into baker. Top with remaining sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and freeze. Attach bag of mozzarella cheese to baker. Label with recipe name and instructions.

SERVING DAY INSTRUCTIONS: Thaw completely. Bake at 350 uncovered for 45 minutes. Top with cheese. Cook an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve with garden salad and crusty bread.

Ham and Swiss Pastry Bake
2 cups cooked, cubed ham
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
¼ cup finely chopped celery
¼ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 TBSP minced onion
1 tsp dry mustard
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/3 cup light mayonnaise or salad dressing (for serving day)
1 - 9” deep-dish frozen pie shell

Chop ham, grate Swiss, chop celery and bell pepper. Combine ham, cheese, celery, bell pepper, onion, mustard, and lemon juice in a 1-gallon Ziploc bag. Label with name & instructions and lay in unopened pie shell. Put both into a gallon Ziploc bag to keep everything together.

SERVING DAY INSTRUCTIONS: Thaw ham mixture. Add 1/3 cup mayonnaise and put into the 9” pie shell. Preheat oven to 375, bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Comfort Food

Today's Housewife is asking for your favorite comfort food recipes. There really isn't too much other than chocolate that I consider to be comfort food. But I've got simple recipes for chicken pot pie and snickerdoodles that always hit the spot. In fact they are so easy, I think I'll make some snickerdoodles right now for my mom to take home to dad since she is here visiting and he isn't.

Chicken Pot Pie:
2 rolled pie crusts
3 cups frozen veggies
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups cooked & shredded chicken

Roll out one pie crust in the bottom of a pie plate. In a bowl, mix the veggies, soup and chicken. Pour into the pie crust and top with the remaining pie crust. Bake at 375 for 55 minutes. If you'd like to freeze this recipe just cove with foil and freeze before you bake it. Just be sure to defrost completely before you bake it.

Snickerdoodles:
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Topping:
2 TBSP sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Combine butter, sugar and eggs. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients and stir into dry mix. Chill dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400. Roll dough into 1-2" balls and roll into topping mix. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 2" apart for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

September Meal List

I'm moving my once-a-month meal list over to this blog so I can keep the family blog for family stuff. :-) So here is what we will be cooking this month. If you would like the recipe to any of these meals please send me a note and I'll send you the recipe. Happy Cooking!

1. Grilled Orange Chicken Fingers
2. Ham & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
3. Chicken Noodle Casserole
4. Chicken & Tomato Rice Bake
5. Chicken Pie
6. Oven BBQ Chicken & Cheesy Biscuits
7. Glazed Pork Tenderloin
8. Texas Chili
9. Crock Pot Peppercorn Steak
10. Crustless Spinach Quiche
11. Cranberry Pork
12. Peking Pork Chops
13. Crock Pot Cowboy Stew
14. Chicken Broccoli Rotini
15. Heavenly Chicken
16. Stromboli
17. Chicken Caesar Casserole
18. Hearty Beef Chili
19. Meaty Biscuit Cups
20. Sausage and Rice
21. Italian Stuffed Meatloaf
22. Lasagna
23. Upside-down Pizza Casserole
24. Black Bean Soup
25. Marinated Flank Steak
26. Chicken Nuggets
27. Meal-In-One Potatoes
28. Cheesy Ham and Potatoes
29. Steak Fajitas
30. Stuffed Sausage Balls