Crock Pot Stew

Well, it's feeling like "Stew Weather" more and more these days. As I sat down to plan out this weeks meals, I had a hankering for stew AND didn't want to have to cook it when I got home from work at 6:30. I also had an overwhelming desire for Kettle Corn, but that's another story completely!

I ended up finding this great recipe for beef stew and tweaked it to my liking. I ALWAYS use those wonderful crock pot liners you find at the store too. They are a life saver! Hope you enjoy!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

3 potatoes, peeled and diced

2 carrots, cut into chunks

2 onions, cut into chunks

3 ribs of celery, sliced

2 lbs stew meat

2 c tomato juice

1 c water

1/3 c quick cooking tapioca, the small ones

1 T sugar

1 T salt

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp black pepper

Grease the crock pot and place the potatoes in the bottom. Top with raw meat chunks. Place the remaining vegetables on top of the meat. In a small bowl, mix together juice, water, tapioca and all the seasonings. Pour over the vegetables and meat mixture.

Cook on Low for 8-10 hours. Stir and enjoy!

Blueberry Cinnamon Biscotti

Well, for back to school night I thought it would be nice to take a little something to the kids' teachers. No, it was NOT a kissing up thing either! LOL I was in a baking mood and didn't want to take cookies, so I decided to make biscotti. I found this basic recipe, tweaked it a little bit and came out with a great result. Biscotti means twice baked, which is the secret to getting crunchy little cookies! Hope you enjoy!

Blueberry Cinnamon Biscotti

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c sugar

4 eggs

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon extract

3 c flour

1 T baking powder

3/4 c dried blueberries

3/4 c cinnamon chips

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and cinnamon extracts. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in cranberries and vanilla chips. This is a sticky dough.

On an ungreased baking sheet, divide into 3 portions. With lightly wet hands, shape each into a 10x2 rectangle. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes.

transfer to a cutting board and cut diagonally with a serrated knife into 1/2-inch slices. Place cut side down back on the ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, flip to the other side and bake for 5 to 8 more minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

For an easy glaze, take the remaining cinnamon chips and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each, to melt the chips. Pour into a zip top bag and snip a little bit of one corner off. Drizzle over the cooled biscotti. If you don't want to drizzle, simply dip the ends in the melted chips. Happy baking!

Barley, Lentil and Sun-dried Tomato Soup

I have this wonderful cookbook called "Wandering and Feasting", and it goes through Washington state area by area and gives a recipe specific to each. From Oroville to Yelm and Dayton, there are recipes from all over the state. It's a great book! Well, that's where I got this recipe. All I had to do was turn to the most wrinkled, crispy page and there's one of my favorite soup recipes! I made this when I was 19 for our valentines dinner at church and it was a big hit!

Sometimes I use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth to make a great vegan soup! Let me know what you think! This one's for you, Janet. :)

Barley, Lentil and Sun-dried Tomato Soup

2 T vegetable oil

1/2 c chopped red bell pepper

1/2 c chopped onion

1 c chopped celery

1/4 c chopped carrots

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

5-14oz cans of chicken broth or 8 1/2 c homemade stock

1-28oz can of crushed tomatoes with juice

1 c pearled or whole grain barley

1 c dry lentils, any color, rinsed and drained

1 c tomato juice

2 c water

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried thyme

8 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

In a large kettle or stock pot, add oil and over medium heat saute red pepper, onion, celery, carrots and garlic until tender.

Add salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute longer. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. (If using whole grain barley, cook for 2 hours or until barley is tender.) Check and stir occasionally. May be thinned with broth or water. Ladle into soup bowls and ENJOY!

Herbed Parmesan Chicken Breasts

This one's for you, Carrie. Like the terrible blogger I am, I didn't see your request you made WAY BACK WHEN. Whoops. This is the chicken I made for the Valentine's dinner at our church last year. It's easy and very tasty! It's a good "go to" recipe for those days where you don't want something really difficult, but also want something that tastes like it took forever to make! You can also make them and freeze to cook later. Here you go!

Herbed Parmesan Chicken Breast

1/2 c Parmesan cheese, shredded

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 c butter, melted

4, 4 oz chicken breasts

Heat oven to 400. Combine cheese, basil, garlic and oregano in a pie pan or shallow bowl. Place the melted butter in another shallow bowl or pan. Dip chicken in butter and coat with cheese mixture

Place chicken into ungreased 8 or 9-inch square baking dish and bake for 17-22 minutes, or until the chicken juices run clear when pierced with a fork. They say to temp it out at 165.

If you want to freeze and bake later, simply place your chicken in the square dish as directed but don't bake it. Cover it tightly with aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw it, just place the pan in the fridge for 24 hours. Then, heat oven to 400 and bake as directed.

Back to School Monster Cookies

HOLY COW! It's been since JANUARY? You've GOT to be kidding! Well, will you guys, you few followers, keep me on my toes about posting? Please and thank you.

Well, school starts tomorrow, and that's got me thinking about things. This is going to be the year, like I say EVERY year, that I have fresh cookies for the kids after school. This is the year where they get fantastic lunches and they eat everything without complaining (not that I'd hear the complaint at school anyway). This is the year I really complete my transformation to SUPERMOM!

Now that the twins are starting all-day kindergarten, I can maybe keep my house clean? MAYBE?! If nothing else, I'll be able to get back to all the baking I used to do and enjoy my kitchen a little more frequently.

As for this post, my friend Leslie gave me a wonderful Monster Cookie recipe. We're starting a moms of preschoolers group at our church, and THIS is the go home treat for the first one. It's called m&m - for "mommy and me". If you can't make it this Friday, the 10th of Sept, then make these yummy big batch cookies for yourself! By the way, that IS lb's and there is no flour in this recipe. :)

Happy Monstering!

Les's Monster Cookies

1 c butter

2 c sugar

1 lb brown sugar

6 eggs

1 1/2 lb crunchy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 T maple syrup (real maple syrup please)

9 c quick oats

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

14 oz plain m&m's

Preheat your oven to 350. In a VERY large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars. Mix in the eggs, peanut butter, vanilla, baking soda and maple syrup. Stir in the quick oats, mixing well. Stir int he chocolate chips and m&m's, making sure it's well combined.

Drop large cookies onto a baking sheet and bake for approximately 12 minutes. Remove from sheet to rack to cool. This recipe makes 6 dozen cookies! Great to make ahead and freeze!

Beir-Ox's...Beerox...or however you say them!

So my cousins wife Gena makes these fantastic little bundles of cheap yumminess called "Beer Ox's". I don't know how that's really spelled, and neither does she, so for the sake of simplicity, we're going to spell it like it sounds. Everybody good on that one?

Gena's Beer Ox's are basically bread rolls filled with ground beef, cabbage and onion. They are really inexpensive and fast to make. The kids love to dip them in ketchup and call them Hamburger rolls. Here's my version with ground turkey.

Beer Ox's (would that be Beer Oxen for a whole pan?)

1 lb ground turkey (or beef)

1/2 head cabbage, shredded and diced

1 medium to large onion, diced

1/2 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste

12 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls

Place dinner rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 pan and allow to thaw to room temperature, but not rise - about 2 hours. In a saute pan, cook the turkey until no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan, saute the onion until translucent, adding a little oil if necessary. Add diced cabbage and continue to cook until cabbage is cooked through. Add the turkey, thyme and salt and pepper and stir together. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350. Take a defrosted rolland press flat until it's about a 5" circle. Add 2 tablespoons (more or less) to the center of the roll and pull the sides up, pinching to seal. Place filled roll back in the pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining 11 rolls.

Place full pan of filled rolls in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until rolls are lightly browned on the top. Remove from the oven and enjoy! Great dipped in ketchup or hot mustard.

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Chocolate Sauce

So this is a couple days late, but when our friends were over, I'd made this "cake" with peanut butter chocolate sauce. I have to say it's sinfully delicious! You don't have to make the sauce, and it would be great with any kind of sauce - white chocolate, caramel, MORE chocolate. : ) Ice cream is a must. It's a little bit of a wait for it, but worth the time and effort. Make and enjoy!

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake

1 C butter

8 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate

4 (1 oz) squares bittersweet chocolate

1 1/4 C sugar

6 large eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper, allowing edges of paper to extend over sides of pan. There will be folds in the paper - that's okay. spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine butter and chocolate. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring after each until chocolate is melted and smooth. Add sugar, whisking to combine. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Spoon into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour. Let cool for 1 hour. Cake will fall during cooling. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Remove side of springform pan. Gently peel back parchment paper. Cut into wedges and serve with ice cream and Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce

3/4 C heavy whipping cream

1/2 C light corn syrup

4 oz semisweet chocolate

1/4 C creamy peanut butter

In medium saucepan, combine cream and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat. reduce heat to medium low and add chocolate and peanut butter, stirring until mixture is smooth. Serve warm.