Burnt Peanuts

Every year at Christmas time, my daddy loves burnt peanuts. It's a treat I never quite liked...I'd eat them, but it wasn't a favorite of mine. So, this year Tim found a recipe to make them. They are SUPER easy to make, too! YAY! Pack them in a pint jar with a pretty lid and you are good to go for gift giving, too! They'd make great teacher/bus driver/postal worker/etc gifts! Enjoy!

Burnt Peanuts

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
red food coloring (I use coloring paste so I only used a couple drops, but if you use the regular food coloring from the spice aisle, then you'll probably need about a tsp)

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in:

2 cups RAW spanish peanuts WITH THE SKINS ON!

Cook until coated and no syrup remains. (About 12 minutes) Spread in an UNgreased 15x10x1 pan. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool before packing in jars.
(Sorry the picture is so dark!)

Ethan's BBQ Chicken

My BIL Ethan made chicken drummies for Tim when he was in Indiana visiting. Tim fell in love with them and made them again for us when he got home. We've had them once a week since his return. THEY ARE THAT GOOD! So, trust me on the brand names specified, they do make a difference....we've tried.

BBQ Chicken

Chicken Drummies or thighs (we make a family pack for the 6 of us) placed on A FOIL LINED BAKING SHEET with an edge. (I use my jelly roll pan and a cake pan)

Sprinkle generously with:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Paprika
FRANK'S RED HOT SAUCE

Dot around the pan with butter like this:

Bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours. Then, drizzle with SWEET BABY RAY'S BBQ SAUCE. Turn heat up to 425 and bake another 10-15 or so. Enjoy!

OH MY Chai!

I made some of this today as a test batch. Really yummy, and I think I'll use it as a teachers gift.


Chai Tea Mix

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup instant tea (unsweetened instant iced tea works)
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup dry milk
* 1 cup dry creamer

* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger

* ½ teaspoon salt
* ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Put in a food processor for 2 minutes to mix and make the dry milk chunks go away. It makes it a really nice, fine powder. To serve, add a heaping tablespoon of mix to 6 oz hot water. Stir and enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie

This weekend, Tim asked me to make Shepherd's Pie...like his sister Steph makes it. Many of you know that Shepherd's Pie is on Tim's all-time favorite list. So, I did like any good wife would. I called his sister, got the recipe and then modified it. lol! I told you that I can not make a recipe as written! And after all that, it needs more tweaking, but it did taste good. I just didn't go for the pureed carrots. So, here's the recipe for anyone who's interested. I've written it as I would tweak it for the next time I make it. Enjoy!

8-10 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 a large onion, diced fine
1/4-1/2 cup butter
milk or half and half

Bring potatoes and onion to a boil and cook until tender. Drain and mash with butter and milk or half and half to taste. Set aside until ready to spread over the meat.

While you are waiting for the potatoes to boil.........cook the meat....

2 lbs meat....ground beef, chicken, turkey, venison (I used half beef and half venison)
10+ carrots, chopped and lightly steamed (still want them a little crunchy, but not like they'd be fresh)
salt and pepper, to taste
3+ cloves minced garlic
2 cans tomato soup
1/2 a large onion, chopped (I chop mine pretty fine so the kids don't complain too loudly)

Preheat oven to 375. Then, fry meat with a little butter and some onion and the garlic. Stir in the cooked carrots and tomato soup. Spread in a 3 qt casserole dish.

Spread potatoes over the meat. Top with cheese if desired. Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through and bubbly.

This makes a pretty big pan, but it's enough for all of us (Tucker had seconds!!) and for Tim and me to have lunch the next day.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

1 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 t. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
4 t. sea salt
8 cups whole wheat flour
butter
salt

Filling:

1/2 cup butter
white or brown sugar
Ground cinnamon

Melt your butter and set it aside. Have the cinnamon and sugar ready.

Frosting

1/4 cup butter
3 T milk
1/2 t. vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar to make the consistency you like

Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Whisk together until smooth.

Okay, here’s how to make the dough…

In a large bowl, mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey. Stir this together. Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.

Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk. Heat this to 120 degrees. (A candy thermometer comes in very handy....otherwise, get it warm but not too hot)

Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir. Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it)

Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.

After dough rises, punch it down and knead out all it’s bubbles. Cut the dough in half, setting one half aside.

On a well floured surface, roll dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.

Use a pastry brush to spread 1/2 of the melted butter all over the rectangle. Sprinkle this with sugar and cinnamon.

Roll up the dough.

Cut into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick.

Place rolls side by side on baking pan.

Repeat process with other 1/2 of dough.

Allow dough to rise about 30 minutes.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees.

Allow rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle lots and lots of ooey-gooey frosting all over them.

Happy cinnamon roll baking!! I got this recipe from Heavenly Homemakers and they are baking right now. I can't wait to taste them!! The kids tested the "scraps" of dough and they were really good!

Thanksgiving 2008

This is the second year we are hosting our "misfit/orphan" Thanksgiving. Everyone we know that has no family or anywhere else to go is invited here. I LOVE to cook, so this is awesome for me to have everyone over. I thought I'd post our menu and recipes to share. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey-Herb Glazed Turkey from 2008 TOH Thanksgiving book. I skip the thyme and use fresh rosemary from my garden.

Mashed potatoes-The boys recently discovered that if mom uses Heavy Cream instead of milk, potatoes taste better. So, we'll have to do that. Idaho potatoes make nice fluffy mashed taters.

Stuffing-I don't like stuffing. But, I know that most people look forward to it at the holiday's, so I found Slow Cooker Stuffing a few years ago when I hosted my first Thanksgiving and it was a hit so we do that every year now.

Buns-My mother in law makes the best dinner rolls, so I'm going to attempt to make them this year.

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 1/2 C warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 can (12oz) evaporated milk

1/3 C sugar

1/4 C butter or margarine, melted

2 tsp salt

8-8 1/2 C all-purpose flour

Additional melted butter or margarine, optional

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, eggs, sugar, butter, salt, and 4 cups flour and mix until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch dough down; divide into four portions. Shape each into eight rolls; place 20 rolls in a greased baking pan. (Might need more than one!) Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 20-30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with butter if desired. Best if served warm! Yields about 32 rolls.

Salad #1-Pomegranate and Almond Salad. An actual lettuce salad will be hitting the table this year. It sounded so good and I love pomegranates and almonds so I had to try it. This comes from the 2008 Pillsbury Thanksgiving book you find in the checkout aisle of the grocery store. (pg. 57)

1 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup EVOO or vegetable oil
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
10 oz sweet baby lettuces (about 12 cups)
1 pomegranate, seeded (3/4 cup of seeds)

Sprinkle almonds in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat 5-7 minutes until almonds begin to brown. Stir frequently. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small bowl, beat oil, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic with a wire whisk until smooth.

In a large bowl, toss together lettuce and pomegranate seeds. Before serving, toss with dressing and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Salad #2-Tim wants baked beans. I made some last year that turned out awesome! So, we'll attempt to recreate them. Here's the starter recipe: Pat's Baked Beans.

Here's how I tweaked them:
Add half to one pound cooked hamburger
Use 4 cloves of garlic instead of just one.
Use navy beans instead of pinto
Add 1/4 cup maple syrup
Use black beans instead of garbanzo
Use only 1/4 cup ketchup
Add 1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce
Add 4 oz can diced jalapenos

So, you can see that they really aren't exactly as they started out, but have a "Margie twist" to them. I rarely use a recipe as it was written. We got RAVE reviews on these last year...it's why I HAVE to make them again!

Salad #3-For the kids. Most of the kids won't eat the Pomegranate Almond Salad, so I'm planning to make Orange Jello Salad for them.

I'm also planning to have pickles, green olives and black olives as well as a veggie tray with dip (Marzetti's Ranch veggie dip)

Now, on to dessert! This year, I'm tweaking dessert. I plan to make my famous peanut butter cheesecake (skip the peanuts, use chocolate graham crackers or animal crackers and use a full cup of peanut butter.) with Chocolate Ganache, (skip the brandy) but I'm also planning to make Pumpkin Cheesecake and make some of them TURTLE pumpkin cheesecakes. All of the cheesecakes will be made in muffin cups so that they are individual serving size and I can freeze them later if I need to.

Pumpkin Cheesecake
I use a 9 inch spring form pan lined with parchment paper. I have the paper extend over the edge of the pan when in the tightest position. This makes for easier transporting onto a cake stand for better presentation. This way you are not cutting onto the bottom of the spring form.

The following recipe will give the appearance of a color all the way through. You can also make individual cheesecakes (like muffins).

Crust: I just pat onto the bottom of the pan for a thicker crust and nicer presentation, but you can press it 2 inches up the sides if you like.

2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (chocolate graham crackers work well)
1/2 c finely chopped pecans (optional, adds a little flavor and texture)
1/2 c butter, melted
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
2 teaspoons brown sugar (optional)

Mix crumbs, pecans and butter. Press onto bottom (and 2-inches up sides of 9-inch spring form pan. Bake 10 minutes on 325 degrees. I put the spring form on a cookie sheet just incase the melted butter leaks through.

Filling:

3- 8 oz packages of Philadelphia Brand cream cheese (I use 1 regular and 2 neufchatel to lower the fat. You can use all low fat or fat-free with great results.)
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs (room temp is best, but not required)
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash ground cloves

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing at low speed after each addition, just until blended. Add pumpkin and spices to batter and mix well.

Pour batter over crust

Bake 55-60 minutes or until center is ALMOST set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake from rim of pan. Cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Can serve with whipped topping.

I'm going to drizzle with chocolate and caramel and sprinkle with toasted pecans to have turtle pumpkin cheesecakes.

The other dessert that I'm planning to make is Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. If any of you know Timmy, you know he loves Rhubarb, so I'll make one of those for the day, too.

Wow, ok, so that's going to be our Thanksgiving. I also plan to make stuffed mushrooms for dinner that night if there's anyone still here. We'll have turkey sandwiches and whatever else is still leftover.

Stuffed Mushrooms

1 8oz package cream cheese
1 pound pork sausage (I like Farmland breakfast sausage)
2-3 pounds whole mushrooms

Pull all the stems off the mushrooms and throw the stems away.

Fry the sausage and melt in the cream cheese. Use this to stuff the mushroom caps. Bake at 350 about 20 minutes. Enjoy while still hot.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Strawberry and Spinach Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

Riley and I found this recipe online while we were looking for some healthy recipes. We found it on cleaneatingmag.com and made it over the weekend. IT WAS AWESOME!! You really only need a little of the dressing. Enjoy!

Strawberry and Spinach Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

Dressing:
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt (I used lowfat vanilla)
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 tbsp poppy seeds (1 tbsp would really be enough)
1 tbsp honey, optional (I used it)

Whisk together and chill. Serving size is 2 tbsp.


Salad:
3 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
4 large strawberries, quartered

For each salad, I just put however much spinach we wanted in a bowl and added 1-2 quartered strawberries to that and used the dressing sparingly. SO GOOD!

Monkey Shakes

About a year ago, Tim was looking for a fun smoothie to make for the kids breakfast. He LOVES to go all out for breakfast. (I TOTALLY miss that while he's on the road, that's the one meal I don't like making!!) He found the recipe for monkey shakes. Here it is:

2 cups cold milk
1 banana (we use 2)
1 box instant chocolate pudding
2 cups ice

Blend together in your blender and VOILA! Yummy shake.

So, Wednesday last week Works For Me Wednesday returned to Rocks In My Dryer. I was thrilled, even though I didn't have a WFMW post. I did go reading though them and Amy at MomsToolbox had an awesome idea....make smoothie popsicles using the last little bit of smoothie that's ALWAYS in the blender and NOBODY wants to drink because they've had too much! Tim's sister, Sue, got the boys popsicle molds at this funky smoothie shop in Colorado when she lived there, so I pulled them out for the first time in 3 years and make smoothies! Friday we made Strawberry ones with just milk, frozen strawberries, some honey, vanilla and some vanilla yogurt. Very yummy and good for you, too. Popped the last of it in the freezer and they were AWESOME!

So today, I used up some starting to rot bananas and made monkey shakes. This time I added 2/3 cup Carnation Instant Breakfast. I thought the extra protein would be a good addition and it was chocolate flavored, so it would hide well. AND IT DID! Rugby and TJ loved them! (Riley slept through all this). HOW COOL IS THAT! Now, the kids will think I totally ROCK when I let them have a popsicle for breakfast and it'll be good for them (especially if I switch over to sugar free pudding)! YAY MOM!

Double Berry Pie and Gelato

Last week, we made Lemon Gelato. It was so yummy and totally worth the effort it took to cook, then the time to freeze in the ice cream freezer and more time freezing in the freezer. Then last night Tim came home with black raspberries and red raspberries from the Farmer's Market. He asked me to make "something" with them, so I made pie! I found a recipe that didn't call for jello or gelatin....really, why hide the flavor of the fresh berries behind artificial flavorings? So, here's the recipes, they were BOTH SO GOOD!

Double Berry Pie

4-6 cups fresh berries (I used 1/2 red and 1/2 black raspberries)
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 white and 1/2 turbinado)
7 1/2 tsp cornstarch
dash of salt
1-9" pastry shell, baked (To bake, put your crust in the pie plate, flute the edges pretty, then line the bottom with a double thickness of tin foil and bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes until edges are light brown and pretty)

In a saucepan, crush 1 cup of the berries. Add the water and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain, reserving the juice; discard pulp and seeds. Add enough water to the reserved juice to make 1 cup of liquid. Return to saucepan. In a seperate bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly stir into raspberry juice and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Place remaining berries in cooled pie shell; pour glaze over top and spread lightly to coat the top of the berries. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until set.


Lemon Gelato

1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks, beaten
3 tbsp grated lemon peel
3/4 cup lemon juice (fresh if you can)
2 cups heavy cream

In a small, heavy saucepan, heat milk to175*, stir in sugar until dissolved. Whisk a small amount of the hot milk/sugar mixture into the eggs. Slowly whisk egg into hot milk/sugar mixture. Whisk in lemon peel. Cook and stir constantly over low heat until mixture reaches at least 160* and coats the back of a metal spoon.

Remove from heat; strain. Stir in lemon juice. Cool quickly by placing pan in a bowl f ice water; stir for 2 minutes. Stir in cream. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer 2/3's full; freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a freezer container (we use our old ice cream pails); freeze 2-4 hours before serving.

Chocolate Chip RHUBARB Cake

My dear hubby is a rhubarb addict. And I get bored with the same old thing all the time. So, poor guy has to try new things as often as I make the "old" things. Today was one of those days where I didn't want to make another crunch, so we made cake instead. Riley and I made Chocolate Chip Rhubarb Cake from The Joy of Rhubarb cookbook that Tim got me at Christmas. It's beautiful going into the oven and the batter tastes good, so when it gets out I'll update you on the taste. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Rhubarb Cake

cake:
1 1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 c a/p flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
1 3/4 c fresh rhubarb, chopped (I used 2 cups)
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans because that's what I had)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Cake: Beat brown sugar and shortening in a mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, mix flour, soda, and salt; beat into creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in rhubarb and chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

Topping: Mix all topping ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold. Refrigerate leftovers.

Before baking:

Rolled Out Brownie Cookies

As if the name isn't enough! Riley and I were cruising the blog-o-sphere this morning and ran into this picture. So he thought we should make them. To get the recipe we had to go here. Totally worth it! I think I rolled them too thin, but once I got the timing right they were pretty good, even if we did accidentally O.D. on the cocoa. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe copy and pasted here for you:

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies*
Recipe from Deb’s mom

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup lightly salted butter, softened (Deb note: I don’t really see “lightly salted” much these days, so I used one stick salted, one stick unsalted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used the “good” stuff–Droste or Galler–but I can assure you that my mother only used Hershey’s growing up, so your choice)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don’t overly fret if they go into the oven looking white.) Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. (Note from me: 4 minutes was long enough)

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

* According to my mother’s recipe, they’re called chocolate sugar cookies but I do not feel that it does them justice.

**I've been playing with my camera the past few days, so that kind of explains the picture being taken outdoors....

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Non-Kabobs

Well, they were supposed to be kabobs, but I figure why skewer them to just have to pull them off to cut up for the boys anyway? So, here it is:



They were yummy. Riley LOVED them, Rugby LOVED them, and TJ even ate it. Woo Hoo! Those are my 3 hardest to please, so I'm doing good!

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, but read the reviews (most of which were good) and tweaked a few things. Here's the recipe as I made it:

1/4 cup EVOO
1/2 cup ranch dressing (I used HVR)
3 Tbsp Worcestershire
1 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary (I used dried and wish that I had a mortar and pestel to grind it up instead of having the hard leaves in there....anyway)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (you could use white)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper (I used about 1/2-1 tsp)
Chicken breasts cut into strips (I made about 1 1/2 pounds)

In a bowl, mix together and let stand 5 minutes before adding the chicken. Stir in chicken, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Grill on medium-high heat until cooked through, turning once. Should take 8-12 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

**If you boil the marinade, you can use it as sauce. I made Basmati rice and stirred it right into it and it was AWESOME!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie

Also by request from It's A Boys Life For Me:

Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie

CRUST:
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. milk
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat together the oil and milk. Pour into the flour, sugar, and salt. Blend together and pat into 9 inch pie shell, with fingers, push up the sides. Pierce bottom and sides with fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool.

FILLING:

1/2 pkg. (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
6 c. raspberries (about 1 1/2 quarts) (DO NOT use frozen, it doesn't turn out well!)
2/3 c. sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. water

Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spread on bottom of cooled pie shell.

Mash enough berries to measure 2/3 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2 quart saucepan. Gradually stir in water and mashed berries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Cool in refrigerator about 15 to 20 minutes. Fill pie shell with remaining berries. Reserve about 1/2 cup berries for garnish. Pour cooked berry mixture over top. Garnish with few more berries. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

***I thought this could have used more cream cheese mixture. It tasted good, but that and the runny-ness because of using frozen berries brought it down a bit. Enjoy!

Margie's Modified Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

By request from It's A Boys Life For Me, I bring you:

Margie's Modified Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

1-9" pie crust, baked (I made a graham cracker one since I had the stuff handy, but an oreo crust would be awesome!!)
3 beaten egg yolks
1 pinch salt
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4-1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4-1/3 cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, salt, and milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly just until warm.

In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, and cocoa. Mix well. Gradually whisk into milk mixture. Continue to stir, over low heat, until thickened (took me about 1/2 hour). Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla and peanut butter and stir until smooth. Pour into your baked shell and chill before serving. I topped with cool whip and some chocolate curls. YUM!