This week for dinner- Crock Pot Jambalaya

My husband has been out of work for almost a year now.  We were hoping to go back to school and my husband getting his PHD, but that isn't working out well either.  We haven't gotten accepted anywhere yet.  Either way though it's pretty tight around here, and isn't getting any better anytime soon.  So it looks like I might either go back to school myself or get a "real" job in the evenings.  I'm searching for good Crock Pot meals I can make before taking off in the evenings.  So here is my first try.  We love spicy food, and I've liked Jambalaya.  But this wasn't perfect.  I have some ideas for the next time.  Fresh herbs, instead of dried, and I'm thinking about trying it in the rice cooker, since the main problem was the overdone rice on the bottom and underdone rice on the top.

Crockpot Jambalaya
1 pound chicken breast sautéed and cut into pieces
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
28 oz can stewed tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 C uncooked rice
3 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
In a slow cooker, mix the sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, rice and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the chicken during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

This week's treat- Frozen Hot Chocolate

I went to NYC last year (before the whole job loss, moving in with the in law's thing!). Anyway while I was there, with a wonderful girlfriend, we decided to check out Serendipity! We just HAD to try the frozen hot chocolate! It was good, HUGE and nice. Even better? Totally able to make at home! I just made a batch of my homemade Hot Chocolate and then put it in the fridge. Once it was cool I threw it into my ice cream maker. Since it doesn't have cream in the hot Chocolate it doesn't cream up, instead it crystallizes a bit. Anyway, I made a batch tonight! It totally hit the spot. This way I can enjoy my favorite beverage even in the middle of winter! Whatever you don't finish just put it back in the refrigerator (it get's too hard in the freezer) and you can either reheat it for hot chocolate, or refreeze another time.

Hot Cocoa
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. Over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla; blend well. Serve immediately.

This week for dinner- Spinach salad

Technically this isn't a dinner, but it's a family favorite at our house and we eat it so much I figured it deserves it's own post.  PLUS it's a great way to use up your leftover hard boiled easter eggs!  It's actually one of the only salad's I'll eat!  My husband (the veggie eater in this relationship) loves it, of course.  But the surprise is my oldest!  She LOVES it.  In fact we've been known to BRIBE her with it.  "If you eat your ...(insert something not nearly as good for her here)...  you can have more salad".  True!  But we're trying to teach the kids to try a bit of everything so they won't totally insult someone if we go over for dinner.  So I use what they like to east, like this salad!  The salad itself is easy, the home made dressing really makes it!

Spinach Salad
9-10 oz baby spinach
6 hard boiled eggs sliced
Jar bacon bits
½ bag slivered almonds
Grated mozzarella cheese
Layer eggs, bacon bits, almonds and cheese between spinach

Dressing
1 Tbsp red onion (about a ¼ of an onion)
¾ C white vinegar (I've also used rice vinegar and it works well)
1 C olive oil (you can use vegetable oil if you'd rather)
¾ C sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
¾ tsp Dried mustard
1 ½ tsp poppy seeds
puree all ingredients, except the poppy seeds, in blender until it's well blended and you don't see any flecks of red onion.  Then just before serving add the poppy seeds, give it a short mix and serve!

Easter Egg Pancake Breakfast

They look a MESS huh?  Well they were SUPPOSED to look like easter eggs!  Well at least they tasted great and the kids thought it was really fun.  So that a good thing, right?

These are my favorite pancakes, and they are so easy to make they are my go too recipe for a quick breakfast.  In fact I triple this recipe because my family eats so many of them!
Coconut Pancakes
1 1/2 C flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C coconut
Wisk together
1 1/2 C milk
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 Lrg eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
Wisk together
Pour the wet over the dry, mix just until combined, should be lumpy. Add any extras ex. Coconut, chocolate chips, etc… Cook over med- med/high heat

First I dyed some of the batter, then cooked squiggles and dots and put them over to the side.  Then I tried to make some egg shapes in the normal batter and put the pink squiggles on top while they were still gooey.

Flip and cook on the other side!  They got a bit dark, and the pictures turned out REALLY bad, but the kids liked them.

Just be careful when your dying the batter to keep track of the dye...

This week for dinner- Pork Tenderloin

I learned this one from my Aunt Karen a few years ago when we were visiting her house in Dallas.  I was nursing a new baby at the time (only a few weeks old) and I ate a ton, and later that same night ate all the leftovers as well!  The pork tenderloin is great, but what REALLY makes it is the Roasted Raspberry Chipotle sauce!  Go out and buy some now!  The recipe for the tenderloin is sometimes right on the tag for the sauce!  My two youngest (AKA the meat lovers, they take after me!) LOVE this dinner.  My older two used to love it, but they're going through a weird food thing right now.  I like to serve it with baked potatoes or a risotto of some kind.  My new favorite toy in the kitchen is my mother in law's electric meat thermometer.  I think it's the secret behind the best turkey EVER this year, and has made my tenderloins PERFECT!  When we move out my husband is going to HAVE to buy me one!

Pork tenderloin
2 (1 lbs) pork tenderloins
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
Raspberry chipotle sauce
Wash pork in cool water and pat dry. Cut off excess fat and silverback. Combine rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub over pork and let stand 10 mins. Heat oil in ovenproof skillet. Sear both sides of each tenderloin, place in oven (preheated to 350) and cook 35 mins (until thermometer reads 160). Serve with Raspberry Chipotle sauce.

This week for dinner- Gunpowder chicken!

I got this recipe a few years ago from my Aunt Andrea at one of our Houghtaling World Summit's (our family reunion).  I think it comes from her side of the family.  I changed it a bit, made it larger and serve the rice on the side because we eat a lot more apparently!  Anyway, it's one of my kids favorites and I hope you all enjoy it too!

Gun Powder Chicken
2-3 C cut-up sauteed chicken (optional- I like to cook some chopped onion and crushed garlic with my chicken and throw it in too)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup (Lrg)
2 C + Plain Yogurt
1 sleeve of Ritz or similar cracker-crushed
1/2 C of melted butter
Poppy seeds
Cooked Rice
Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix soup, yogurt and chicken. Mix butter and crackers crumble on top of soup mixture. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Heat covered with foil for 30 minutes. Serve over rice. (can be doubled)

This week for dinner- St. Patrick's day Pizza's

We made Green Shamrock shaped chicken alfredo pizza's!  We actually made three, but only 2 fit at the table at a time.  The right is the kids pizza, with chicken, green onions, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan.  On the left is a more grown up version adding mushrooms and spinach to the mix.

I have to say I love my bread machine.  I don't use it as often and I should or even want too!  I forget about bread until it's too late WAY too often.  Which is sad because I love bread!  Anyway, I have a great machine with a dough setting.  We're actually big enough now that I really need a larger machine, but we're making due without leftovers these days.  I actually do 1 1/2 of this recipe and with the 6 cups of bread flour that's pushing it!  Last time my sweet hubby started the dough for me while I was out doing errands and didn't know where I kept the bread flour.  It was WAY less dough that way, and just not nearly as wonderful, so stick with the bread flour.  To get the color I dyed the water before I put all the dry ingredients in.

Bread machine pizza dough
1 ¼ C water
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 C bread flour
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp bread machine yeast
Place in bread machine in order of manufacturer’s directions- liquid first or dry first. Start dough setting. Knock back dough, roll out two 12 inch rounds.

So with the 1 1/2 recipe I get 3 pizza's out of this dough.  So knock down the dough and separate it into three balls.  To create the shamrock shape this is what I tried.  I thought they worked out really well!  I rolled it out a bit to create a circle.

I cut two short notches to create a stem and two longer notches to create the third leaf.

I tried to squish the corners back into the dough a bit so it wouldn't just turn into a circle with notches...

and rolled it out.  This dough is amazing, especially if you like your pizza dough thick.  It's wonderful.  But it doesn't create the best thin crust in my opinion, a bit tough for that.  Maybe if I cooked it longer...

Anyway, cook the pizza dough at 425 for 5-6 mins (and on a pizza stone, try it, there is no turning back it's terrific!), they won't be all the way done, but that's how we want it, since we'll be cooking it with the toppings more latter.  While that's cooking make the alfredo!  You can use store bought if you'd rather, but I have a great homemade recipe that's easy, foolproof and tastes great!  I added the dye to the milk and cream before I started cooking them.  In this picture the colors off.  I need better lighting for the kitchen pictures.

When the pizza crust came out half done I added the alfredo right too it.  When I first started making this pizza I added WAYYY to much sauce.  I know what your thinking, how can there be such a  thing as too much alfredo???  But it just doesn't work on a pizza.  It's surprising how little sauce you really need actually.  Luckily I learned from a pro (thanks Robert) who used to make pizza for a paycheck.

And finally add your toppings.  I like to sauté my chicken and at the end add the garlic and onions to cook just a bit.  I spread that mixture around and top with mozzarella and parmesan.  Really you can add anything, my hubby likes the mushrooms and spinach and I bet some of you out there have great suggestions too!  Through it back in the oven at 425 for another 5 mins to let the cheese melt and the crust finish and your ready to go!

We at ours with a green table cloth, with spinach salad, green cups and of course green milk!  I hope you all had great St. Patrick's day and even better meals!

This week for dinner- Gyoza's

So I decided to start a new weekly post. "This week for dinner", what do you think?  I think I'll also start a weekly treat/dessert of some kind.  We'll see if I can keep it up with my new goals, 4 kids, etc...  We live with my in laws this year and my sweet mother in law cooks on Monday and Wednesdays and then there is always at least one left over night so I only get to make dinner 3 or 4 nights a week.  So that cut's down the recipes I can post.  There are repeats often simply because I have some picky children.  Anyway...  Tonight!

Gyoza.  I fell in LOVE with these when we were living in Japan.  They are a bit time consuming simply because of the filling and folding and stuff.  But they are SO worth it.  I'd like to actually get a couple of other filling recipes, anyone have anything other than pork?  These are classic and a great recipe!

So above is uncooked, I use premade gyoza wrappers.  There is probably a way to make them, but I don't know what it is.  But they are cheap and easy to use so I'm at the "why bother" stage with that.

Gyoza
4 leaves of cabbage
½ bunch Chinese chives (or green onions)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp potato starch
5 ½ oz ground pork
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp water
20 round Gyoza wrappers
Oil
Boil cabbage and let cool, then chop fine. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Cut chives and garlic, combine with cabbage, mix in potato starch. Combine pork, soy sauce, sesame oil and water. Add cabbage mixture. Place a tsp of filling in the center of each wrapper. Moisten half way around the edge of wrapper, fold over edge to make half moon shape.

Heat pan, add oil and lower temp. Add Gyoza, cook until bottom golden brown

Add hot water to pan to half submerge the Gyoza, cover the pan. Turn heat to high and steam until most water evaporates.

Remove lid, lower heat and cook until the pan is dry.



Dipping sauce
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
a few drops hot chili oil

To make the presentation pretty flip them over when you serve them so the pretty cooked bottom shows!  I like to use chopsticks of course, but feel free to do your best with anything else!

My dad's Chocolate Chip cookies!

My parents aren't really into cooking and baking like I am (Don't get me wrong, I grew up with great food, they just don't love it the way I do.).  But there was this one really special thing I grew up with.  My dad's Chocolate chip cookies.  My mom loves good cookies, and so my dad set out to make a great cookie.  I was very young when the final cookie made it's debut so I don't remember the trial and errors, but I remember the final recipe!  My mom doesn't even eat the cookies anymore, just straight dough.  Since my folks are empty nesters my dad doesn't make the cookies anymore (what's the point of having a whole batch for just 1 person (he doesn't eat them!).  So when my mom comes to visit I always make a batch special just for her.

Today my mom flew into town for the afternoon on her way to visit my sister (who just had a baby a few months ago).  SO I had to make a batch of cookie dough for her.  I also baked some of it for my kiddo's.  So here is the recipe for my favorite Cookie EVER!

G'pa Dave's Chocolate chip cookies
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 cubes butter (1 C)
2 eggs
2-3 tsp vanilla
2 C+ ground oatmeal (NOT quick oats)
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz Chocolate chips (my mom likes Milk and I like semi sweet)
macadamia nuts (optional)
Mix the sugars together, beat in the butter, until smooth and then the eggs one at a time then add the vanilla.  In a separate bowl mix the oats, flour, soda, powder and salt. Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture.  Then add the chocolate chips and nuts.  Bake at 360 for 8-12 mins (depending on how raw or cooked you like your cookies, my mom likes her dough warm, but not cooked!  I like mine when the top JUST starts to turn golden).

It takes about 3 cups of oats to make 2 cups ground oats.  I like to make a double batch of dough but only half of the chocolate.  I like my cookies warm and fresh, so I only cook what I want to eat.  The rest I make into dough balls and freeze.  Then when I want fresh cookies I pull out a pan, put the frozen ball's in the oven while it preheats and add 2 minutes to the normal cooking time.

For variety sometimes I add cocoa and use peanut butter chips, or add coconut, but while these are sometimes nice changes my favorite will always be the original.

Sugar Cookies

These are actually from my Grandma Houghtaling. My mom talks about how she always had some of this dough in the freezer ready for a batch. But since my mom and her siblings would sneak some every so often that by the time Grandma pulled out some dough there wasn't much left. I have about 120+ different cookie cutters and my kids and I make these cookies for EVERY holiday. My husband complains that the peppermint icing should only be for Christmas so I do experiment with other flavors, but my favorite is still the peppermint I grew up with. I use these 13x20 pans for my kids to decorate on, it catches the extra sprinkles which I pore into a misc sprinkle bag that they love to use up, you can see the misc sprinkles on the trees above.

Sugar Cookies
3 ¼ C flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
½ C Butter and margarine
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ C thick sour cream
Sift flour, soda, salt, nutmeg and powder. In separate bowl cream butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Chill in fridge for 3-4 hours roll out to 1/4 inch cut into shapes. Cook at 350 for 15 mins

Frosting
4 ½ C powder sugar
¼ C milk
1/3 C butter
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
Food coloring (optional)
Mix butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and peppermint add more milk if needed

The secret is in the thickness of the cookie's, don't be stingy when you roll them out. The dough can actually stay good in the freezer for months (if it last's that long without being eaten!). For icing flavors I've tried almond and been happy with it, and even substituted some of the milk for a flavored creamer and had success. So ENJOY! The decorating possibilities are endless.

Caramel Brownies

My ABSOLUTE favorite. I made a second pan of these just so I could eat one myself! My mom always made these, and my sister's and I love them. I can't imagine Christmas without at least one batch of these. I've made them during the year at times, but something about them just feels like Christmas too me. I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe, but it's the only thing I use a box mix for anymore. This year I couldn't find caramel squares ANYWHERE. So I used the new caramel dot things. They actually are a few ounces smaller than the old caramel square bags were but my husband liked it better with less of the caramel. I also use less chips. I just like the balance better myself, but to each his own!

Caramel Brownies
½ C evaporated milk
50 unwrapped caramels squares (about 14 oz)
½ C evaporated Milk
1 package German chocolate cake mix
¾ C butter melted
1 C walnuts chopped (I prefer pecans but I think my mom and sisters would have a heart attack if I actually changed the recipe to SAY pecans)
12 oz Chocolate chips
Mix ½ C milk, cake mix, butter, and walnuts. Press 2/3 dough in bottom of glass pan (9x13) cook at 350 for 6 mins. In sauce pan melt ½ C milk and caramels pour over cooked crust. Sprinkle chocolate and rest of dough on top cook 15-20 min at 350

Peanut Butter Cup Squares

I actually got this recipe from my Aunt Lynne years ago. I'm not really into peanut butter, but these are my husbands favorites. In fact I made a batch last week for a cookies exchange and it only lasted one day. So I made another batch and it's actually already gone too! Lucky it's so easy to make, I think I'll make him another one tomorrow. My chocolate actually tempered very well, and was cooling perfectly right up until the very end. I made these too late in the evening and the FREEZING temp's here in UT ruined my nice looking finish, but hey, they still taste great, right?

Peanut butter cup squares
1 ½ pkg graham crackers crushed
1 lbs powdered sugar
1 C melted Butter
½ C peanut butter
Mix all together and press into buttered 9x13 pan. Top with 12 oz milk chocolate chips melted. Refrigerate.

Almond Brittle

This is a family favorite. My mom always made two batches. The first never seemed to work, but the second always did. We always thought that it was weird, but couldn't figure it out. Then I moved to AZ! Dry, DRY desert, and it worked EVERY TIME. Perfectly. It also worked in UT. Then I moved to TX and it NEVER worked. Turns out candy making is affected a lot by the barometer range. SO if it's going to rain DON'T bother! In the house we're in now we actually bought and installed a whole house humidifier. While it's nice for our nose/throats/etc... It doesn't help with candy making much. This batch started to separate right before I was about to pour it out! FRUSTRATING. But I caught it JUST in time and after soaking up the separated butter it turned out almost perfect! Not at all grainy, very crunchy, really quite nice! One of the FEW nice things about dry places (I still prefer humidity, but it is nice to get to make this treat this year).

Almond Brittle
1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C chopped almonds
King size Hershey bar chopped
Mix butter and sugar in sauce pan heat till at “Cracked Stage” on candy thermometer or when caramel colored and smoking. Mix in Almonds. Pour onto cookie sheet spread chocolate on top and finely chopped almonds

Sandies

You might also know these as Mexican Wedding Cookies. I've heard a few other names for them too. Everywhere I move I have to learn new names for recipes and ingredients I use often. But these are also from my Grandmother. She grew up in Mexico and has a lot of wonderful recipes. These are very delicate when they come out of the oven so be careful when you cover them with the powdered sugar. Of course if some break feel free to eat them!

Sandies
1 C butter
¼ powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs water
2 C sifted flour
1 C chopped pecans
Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and water, mix. Add flour, mix. Add pecans, mix. Form balls bake at 300 for 20 min, while hot roll in powdered sugar

Cream of Mushroom soup

This week we decided to try to find a good cream of mushroom soup recipe. Not because we're into mushroom soup, actually neither of us are into mushrooms, but because we want a substitute for the canned stuff, for gravy's and casseroles.

We made two different recipes, but they both called for a while lot of button mushrooms. My recipe called for chopped, while she was able to use food processor on her mushrooms.

Mine started with a creamy sauce with leeks and other veggies. Simmered for 45 mins and FINALLY add the mushrooms.

The mushrooms were barely cooked and while the soup had a great flavor it wasn't mushroom. Certainly not a substitute for the canned stuff. It was too chunky for me, so we ground it up in the blender, and it helped get it closer to what we were looking for but not perfect.

This recipe was completely opposite. It started with the mushrooms, dry, simmering until it created it's own juice. It was amazing how much juice it created..

See? Once it got to this point THEN the cream and stuff was added. It was a great substitute, JUST the right flavor, but the chunks were too much, so we ran it through the blender and voila! PERFECT! It could have been a bit thicker, either simmering longer, or maybe draining some of the juice before adding the cream and stuff. I'm not sure, add some other thickener maybe. But it was great, and I'm looking forward to using it next time I make my pork chops!

Cream of Mushroom Soup
serves 4
1 lbs white mushrooms
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp minced shallots
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 C cream
1 1/2 C chicken stock
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbsp water
In a food processor coarsely chop mushrooms and lemon juice. Melt butter in sauce pan and lightly saute shallots on med heat. Add mushrooms, thyme and bay leaf. Saute over low/med heat for 10-15 mins, until the liquid that is released from the mushrooms disappears. Add salt, pepper, cream and chicken stock, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins. Add cornstarch and simmer another 10 mins, stirring constantly, add more seasonings and lemon juice to taste.