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Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Salted Nut Squares

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on October 27, 2012| 2 Comments »

Here again is another sweet treat that I found on Pinterest.  The recipe comes from Taste of Home and was posted on the blog, Break Or Bake. It tastes just like a popular candy bar that is chocked full of peanuts and salty sweet goodness, but shall go nameless. 

The flavor is great and the only little problem I had was that the candy was a little gooey and didn’t set up quite as well as I would have liked.  That didn’t hurt the taste at all though!

peanutbars

3 cups salted peanuts, divided

2 1/2 tbsp. butter

2 cups peanut butter chips

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups mini marshmallows

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Place half of the peanuts in a 13×9” baking dish and set aside.  In a large saucepan, melt butter and peanut butter chips over low heat.  Stir until smooth then remove from the heat. Add milk and marshmallows; stir until melted.

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Pour this over the peanuts and then top with the remaining peanuts.  Cover and refrigerate until chilled and firm.  Slice and enjoy!

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged , , on October 22, 2012|

Good morning to everyone!  Please join me over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.  Today is my first day back to work after my vacation last week and it is always hard to get back to the grind.  Last week was wonderful though and I got several things done at home.  Then C & I enjoyed a two day getaway to Indianapolis at the end of the week.  I will have a Thoughtful Thursday post about that really soon.  We had a great time and Indy is a really nice city.

I plan on keeping things nice and simple this week to get back into my routine and to give us time to enjoy this beautiful fall weather.  Happy fall, y’all!

Bubble up enchiladas

Country ham biscuits with oven fries

Grilled pork chops with oven fries

Breakfast for supper (probably pancakes & bacon)

Chili (I still haven’t made my first pot of chili this fall so I must remedy that.)

Tuscan pot roast (new)

Pizza night if necessary

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Sliders

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , on October 20, 2012| 8 Comments »

I love party food.  Mini versions of bigger dishes are fun to make and fun to eat.  This recipe from Martha Stewart’s website is no exception.  I made these for a Sunday afternoon meal at my Nanny’s house along with curly fries and everyone enjoyed them.  There was also enough left over for a couple of days’ worth of lunches for C & I.  You can’t beat that deal.

sliders

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 cup finely diced sweet white onion

2 tbsp. water

salt and pepper to taste

2 pounds ground beef

20 dill pickle slices

20 slices cheese (I used provolone and American.)

20 mini burger buns

Burger toppings of your choice.

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Melt 4 tbsp. butter in a small pan over medium heat.  Add the diced onion and cook until softened.  Stir in the water and season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

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Form 20 patties using about 2 tbsp. of ground beef for each.  Place on a rimmed baking sheet and coat patties with remaining 2 tbsp. butter, melted.  Press a pickle slice into each patty.

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Preheat your broiler.  Season patties with salt and pepper.  Broil for 6-7 minutes.  Top with cheese for the last 30 seconds. 

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Lightly toast the buns then spread the onion butter on the bottom half of each.  Top with 1 burger and any other toppings you like.

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged , , on October 15, 2012|

Hello and good morning to all my wonderful readers!  Please join me and so many other bloggers over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.  I am hopeful that this week’s plan goes a little better than last week’s.  Whew, last week was a blur for me.  Between multiple court days and over 600 new juror questionnaires being sent out at work to doing some home improvement planning, I am just about worn out.  It all works out in the end though because I am officially on vacation this week. Woo hoo!

It will mostly be a home-based vacation with a very short getaway sometime during the week and I am so ready for the time off.  Last week’s plan went pretty well considering how wild it was, but a couple of things had to be dropped off the list, namely the pork loin and brownie recipes.  I probably need to drop the sweets way back because I have had way too much of a sweet tooth lately and I am starting to feel it.  Here is this week’s list and it is a little short since I am not sure how much we will be home.  I hope everyone has an awesome and blessed week!

Famous pork chops with oven fries & scalloped pineapple

Tacos & fresh fruit

Chili

Honey butter pork loin (I am going to try this one more time.) with butter roasted potatoes

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White Out Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , on October 13, 2012| 4 Comments »

I am a huge chocoholic, but sometimes a simple white cake is a wonderful thing.  I spotted this not long after I started my Pinterest addiction, but hadn’t taken the time to make it until recently.  The photo of this cake is what first caught my eye.  The delicate white frosting with the creamy custard center were just too good to pass up thanks to Life’s Simple Measures.

Well, mine turned out really good except for that gorgeous custardy layer.  No matter how long I cooked and stirred and stirred and cooked, that stuff would not thicken.  Ugh, how frustrating!  All was not lost though…I just used some of the frosting to fill the cake and it was really tasty.

cake

For The Cake:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1-1/2 c. sugar

2 cups self-rising flour

1 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 egg whites

For The Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, very soft

8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9” round cake pans.  Cream butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat until fluffy which will take about 3 minutes.

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Combine the milk and vanilla extract.  Add the flour to the butter/sugar mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk/vanilla mixture.

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In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks form.  Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter, stirring slowly until no white streaks show.

Divide the batter evenly in the cake pans.  Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes and then turn out to cool completely.

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For the frosting: combine the butter, 4 cups of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  Beat until smooth and creamy.  Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the frosting is thick enough to spread easily.

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Frost the cake, slice and enjoy!

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 2 Comments »

Welcome to Fall, Y’all!  The temperatures sure have cooled off here in Central Kentucky and we had our first real frost possibility last night.  Cooler temperatures always make me want to cook more if that’s possible.  Before we get to what went on around here over the weekend and this week’s menu plan, I have a little weather predicting to do for you.

A co-worker of C’s uses Edmodo which is an online community for educators.  C uses this, too, and follows this particular co-worker on there.  He found this link to a Louisville television station and its report on the Old Farmer’s Almanac folklore of predicting winter weather using a persimmon seed on her feed.  Since we have an abundances of persimmons behind our house, C & I decided to give it a try.  Here is the premise:  slice a persimmon seed in half (not an easy thing to do…watch those fingers) and look at the membrane inside.  If it is shaped like a spoon there will be a lot of snow this winter.  If it is shaped like a knife, the winter will be very cold and windy.  A fork is what you want because it means a nice and mild winter.  Guess which one we got on all 3 seeds we checked?

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Yep, they are all spoons!  The one on the top right MIGHT be a fork, but I think it is a spoon.  I am not the biggest fan of winter weather so this really was not what I wanted to see.  In a few months, we will see how accurate those seeds are.

Now back to our regular programming.  Not much cooking went on around here this weekend.  Saturday I spent most of the day with my co-workers shopping on the Roller Coaster Yard Sale.  I found a few bargains like a wooden china cabinet/hutch that is in really good shape and only needs sanding and either staining or painting.  It was a steal at only $60 and will look great in our upstairs hallway.  I also found some random 8×10” photo frames that I am going to paint to use upstairs as well.  I bought 8 frames for a total of $7.50.   The design of the frame was not all that important since I will make them cohesive by painting them the same color, white for the green bedroom and black or silver for the purple one. 

The one thing I did not accomplish last week was grocery shopping.  Oh, well.  We are still in good shape so I think I will postpone that until next week.  One more thing, the honey butter pork loin did not get made in favor of shredded pork bbq made with cherry barbecue sauce I got at Huber’s Orchard & Winery.  That story will be coming soon.

Leftover shredded bbq with oven fries

Grilled hamburgers with oven fries

Sausage bake with fresh fruit

Honey Butter Pork Loin Meatloaf (had a change of taste) with fries

Pizza night

Oreo truffle brownies (ran out of time) (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Lemonade Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on October 6, 2012| 10 Comments »

Back in the summer, C’s family held a reunion and it was a potluck meal.  Since it was so so hot, I wanted to fix a cake that was moist and refreshing, but not heavy.  When I found this lemonade cake recipe at Feeding My Temple on one of the link parties I participate in, I knew it was the one I wanted to try.

This is a scratch made, super-moist cake infused with lemonade concentrate with the most delicious lemonade butter cream frosting.  I could have eaten the frosting by itself!  In fact, I may have eaten just a little on the side, but you won’t tell, will you?  If you have a potluck to attend, give this recipe a try.  I think it will be a great success.

Lemonade Cake

For the cake:

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cup sugar

3  eggs

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup frozen concentrated lemonade, thawed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup buttermilk (I used the dehydrated buttermilk mixed with the dry ingredients and added water where the recipe called for buttermilk.)

For the frosting:

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup frozen concentrated lemonade, thawed

1 teaspoon vanilla

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13” baking pan with non-stick spray.  Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.

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Beat the softened butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each.  Then add the lemonade concentrate and vanilla.

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Add the flour mixture and buttermilk (or water) in portions, starting and ending with the flour mix. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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When the cake has cooled, prepared the frosting by beating the butter and one cup of the powdered sugar together.  Then add the lemonade concentrate and vanilla.  Finish with the final cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.  Spread it on the cooled cake and enjoy!
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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged , , on October 1, 2012|

Happy October, everyone! It is Monday again, so please join me and other menu planners over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.  I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is looking forward to another one.  C & I attended my dad’s family reunion yesterday and a good time was had by all.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I am very thankful for that since it was an outdoor reunion. 

This Thursday I am planning on taking my Nanny and Aunt Mona to Huber’s Orchard and Joe Huber’s Family Farm and Restaurant in Starlight, Indiana.  It will be the first trip for us there and it was all Nanny’s idea when she saw a commercial on television.  It should be a lot of fun!  Then Saturday, I am planning to go treasure hunting with my co-workers on the Roller Coaster Yard Sale.  There are a few pieces of furniture such as occasional tables and maybe a wooden chair or two that I would like for our house, but I am too cheap to pay retail. I would also LOVE to find an old trunk to use as an end table.  Hopefully there will be a few diamonds in the rough out there that I can refinish on the cheap.

This week is also grocery shopping week.  Yay…not.  Because of that, this week’s menu may be a little short.

Deep Dish Pizza

Grilled pork chops with oven fries

Chili

Honey butter pork tenderloin (new)

Grocery shopping-eat out night

Pizza night

Apple dumplings (if I have time)

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Citrus Cole Slaw

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , on September 29, 2012| 4 Comments »

During the hot weather this summer, I craved some cool crunchy salad recipes.  I found this on Pinterest and the original recipe is from Family Fun Magazine.  I didn’t have any Granny Smith apples so I used carrots in place of them.  This slaw is really good, but the dressing needs a little something.  I think I will add a little kosher salt and more Greek yogurt next time and see if that will amp up the flavor.  

cole slaw

 

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

8 ounces coleslaw mix (I had a head of fresh cabbage from my co-worker’s garden so I used that.)

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup red seedless grapes, halved

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Combine the first 6 ingredients to make the dressing.

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Shred your cabbage or use pre-shredded mix and combine that with the carrots, celery and grapes.  Pour the dressing over the veggie/fruit mixture and toss to completely cover.  The color of this slaw is really vibrant and pretty.  It just needs a little more flavor.

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged , , on September 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

Welcome to this week’s edition of Menu Plan Monday!  Please join me and many other planners over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday where you can see what other people are cooking this week, too.

C & I have enjoyed this beautiful weekend which heralded in the first days of Autumn.  The sun shone and the sky was so very blue.  We celebrated this glorious weather by pressure washing the house.  Yay! (Sarcasm, there.)  At least it is pretty much done for the year and I am so thankful for that.  There are a few little outside cleanup projects that we want to do this fall, but the washing was the big one.

This week’s plan includes a couple of dinners that I had planned for earlier in the month, but they didn’t get made for one reason or another.  Also, my dad’s side of the family is having their annual reunion next Sunday and we are planning to attend.  It is potluck with the meat provided so I will probably take homemade cookies and chips of some kind. 

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven fries (2 nights)

Bubble-up enchilada bake (2 nights)

Shredded pork bbq with curly fries

Pizza night

Mississippi mud cookies (reunion)

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