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Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Pepsi (or Coca Cola) Pork Chops

Posted in Cooking, tagged , on January 14, 2012| 4 Comments »

I have found so many new great recipes on Pinterest!  It is addicting to scroll through ideas from so many different people.  Here is the link to my Recipes To Try board. 

One of my favorite meats to cook with is pork chops and it really doesn’t matter how they are fixed.  Baked, grilled, broiled, fried, any old way is fine with me.  When I find a new recipe for chops, I usually try it out on my family at our weekly Sunday dinner.  This one was a winner!  I wish I had bone-in chops to use instead of boneless because I think they have a much better flavor and are usually more tender.  These were still pretty darn good even with the boneless.

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 cups ketchup

2 cups Pepsi (I only had Coca-cola in the house so I used that.)

2 tbsp. onion flakes

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

8 pork chops

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 13×9” baking dish.  Mix together all ingredients except the chops.  Place the chops in the dish and pour the sauce over them.

Bake for 1 hour.  Enjoy!

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Menu Plan Monday Week 2

Posted in Cooking, Menu Planning, tagged , on January 9, 2012|

Good morning, my wonderful readers!  Here it is…Monday again and time for this year’s Menu Plan Monday Week Two.  I hope you all had a great start to the new year, because mine has been really good so far.  C & I made it to church two Sundays in a row.  Woo hoo!  Now we just have to keep it up.  We also managed to move two pieces of furniture from my great-grandmother’s house to our on Saturday.

What furniture?  Well, as my regular readers know, I have been slowly finishing our upstairs in the last few months and I am now down to just needing a few pieces of furniture to fill in the rooms.  I mentioned to my Nanny and Aunt M that I was on the look-out for a couple of inexpensive wooden dressers and I didn’t care what shape they were in because I wanted to refinish them.  Unbeknownst to me, they started discussing some old family pieces that were being stored in what was my great-grandparents house.  Talk about serendipity!  I am now in possession of a three drawer dresser with the cutest scalloped top and shelves and also a chiffarobe with three drawers and a door that are just screaming for a little TLC. They both belonged to my great-great grandmother which makes them very special to me! I can’t wait to start on them, which I hope to do this coming long holiday weekend. 

Before I can get to the weekend, I have to decide what to fix this week.  Here goes:

Chili with Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pull Apart Bread (new)

Taco Ring with fruit (2 nights)

Grilled pork chops with oven baked fries

Basic meatloaf with oven baked fries

Pizza night

Dessert chosen by my father-in-law for his birthday.  Happy birthday, FIL!

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Snickerdoodle Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on January 7, 2012| 10 Comments »

Do you wish that your kitchen could have that perfect cinnamon fragrance floating in the air?  You do?  Then make this cake right now!  I found this on Pinterest and this link to the blog Giving Up On Perfect will take you to the original recipe.  This writer may be giving up on perfect, but this cake is close to perfection to me.  The only teeny tiny thing I changed was that I made it as a sheet cake in two pans so I could take it to two different dinners.  Other than that, I left well enough alone because this cake doesn’t need any tweaking at all!

1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup milk + 3 tbsp. milk, divided
1/4 cup butter, melted + 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup applesauce
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon + 1 tsp. cinnamon
4 oz. cream cheese
3 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

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Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two 8” square baking pans. Mix the cake mix, 1 cup milk, melted 1/4 cup butter, applesauce, eggs, vanilla, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon together and pour into the pans. Bake for 25 minutes (or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean). Let cool.

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After the cake is cool, beat the cream cheese with 1/2 cup room temperature butter until smooth.  Add the milk, powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Beat until smooth again.  Pour the frosting on the cake and spread to cover.  Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour to let the frosting set. 

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Please join me over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage where I linked up this recipe for Full Plate Thursday.

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Cooking, Menu Planning, tagged , on January 2, 2012|

I’m BACK!  Did you miss me?  Well, I guess I wasn’t really gone exactly, just not posting my weekly menus, but I am back today with a vengeance.  Woo hoo!  C & I both took off from our jobs the week between Christmas and New Year’s and it was so needed for both of us.  C did do quite a bit of work from home, but the main thing was that he actually got to stay home.  A full week with no alarm clock blaring in the morning, just the sound of our four-legged, fuzzy alarm clock to “gently” wake us up.  Believe me, Ellie made sure that we weren’t too lazy in the mornings. 

Last Monday, I started cleaning house and I don’t think I actually finished until Saturday.  It was nice to be able to do a few jobs each day and not have to cram it all in to one or two days.  We had a wonderful Christmas with our families, but when that last dinner was over, I went to work.  The decorations came down and this house was scrubbed top to bottom.  Whew, I was tired but so satisfied with what I accomplished. 

Wow, this post is getting a little wordy, isn’t it?  Let’s save the rest of these thoughts for Thoughtful Thursday.  Here’s the food scoop for this week:

Grilled hamburgers and oven baked fries

Cheesy Steak Sandwiches with oven fries (Hopefully this will cover 2 nights.)

Pizza Pancakes with Dipping Sauce (new)

Baked Ziti with garlic bread (new)

Pizza night

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Chunky Vegetable Soup

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , on December 31, 2011| 5 Comments »

When I was little, you could not have paid me enough to eat a bunch of vegetables.  It is amazing what a little age will do for you.  Now, I actually crave a good hot vegetable soup and am always on the lookout for a new one to try.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and used it as my starting point.  The only reason I changed a few things was because I didn’t have the ingredients on hand, so I improvised and it turned out really good if I do say so myself.  I ended up making it twice in the same week that I tried it because I wanted to share it with both sides of our families.  Everyone seemed to really like it so it will definitely go in my cold weather rotation.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. minced garlic

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 Bay leaf

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

2 x cans of chopped tomatoes (14oz)

1 1/2 litres vegetable broth

1 cup of pasta (your choice)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the oil, onion, carrots, celery, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.  Cook just until the vegetables are soft.  Add the tomatoes, broth and bay leaf. Simmer for 15 minutes then add the pasta.  Cook for another 8-10 minutes and enjoy!  This is great with cornbread, by the way.  Serves 4 to 6.

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Classic Cornbread Dressing

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on December 24, 2011| 12 Comments »

One of my favorite holiday side dishes is dressing.  Now, I am not talking about stuffing because since I am incredibly allergic to poultry, I never touch a turkey and, really, there is just something about the thought of stuffing these ingredients inside the bird’s…well, you get the picture. It’s just not appetizing to me!  This is classic Southern style DRESSING which I found on the awesome website allrecipes.com.  I don’t know how many times I have been looking for a certain recipe and found it there.  It is a great resource.

1 batch of homemade cornbread, prepared and crumbled

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 small onion

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups beef stock

2 tablespoons dried sage

salt and pepper to taste

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9×13 inch baking dish. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the celery and onion until soft.

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In a large bowl, combine the celery, onions, 3 cups crumbled corn bread, eggs, chicken stock, sage and salt and pepper to taste; mix well.

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Place into prepared dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

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Here is a photo of the Thanksgiving table at my nanny’s house. Everything was so good!
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Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for today’s edition of Full Plate Thursday.

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Slow Cooker Maple Ham

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , on December 17, 2011| 11 Comments »

For the last couple of years, I have made the ham for C’s family’s big holiday meals.  I usually go with my citrus crock pot ham because it is quick and easy, but I tried something a little different this time and it was so good.  As usual here lately, I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was posted from the blog, Beyer Beware.  It, too, is a quick and easy recipe and the maple syrup gives it a little extra kick.  This is definitely a keeper.

1 spiral sliced ham (Mine was a little too big for my slow cooker so I had to slice it off the bone to fit.)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup real maple syrup

8oz can crushed pineapple

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Real maple syrup is usually expensive, but I have a supplier.  C’s cousin began making maple syrup last year on his farm here in good ol’ South Central Kentucky and it is so good!! I had just enough left over for this ham.

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Since I sliced the ham off the bone, I cooked this in layers.  Put half of the ham in the slow cooker then sprinkle with 1/2 of the brown sugar.  Pour half of the syrup and pineapple over that and repeat.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until heated through.

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Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday where there is sure to be some delicious food just for you!

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Monday Greetings

Posted in Menu Planning on December 12, 2011|

Good Monday morning!  I just wanted to let you know that I am taking a short break from menu posting, but I will be back with gusto after the holidays!

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Pumpkin Cookies w/Brown Sugar Glaze-International Food Blogger Cookie Exchange

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on December 10, 2011| 13 Comments »

Today I am joining up with other food bloggers to participate in the International Food Blogger Cookie Exchange hosted by Lori over Fake Food Free who happens to be a fellow Kentucky food blogger.  Everyone that is taking part had to email a favorite holiday cookie or candy recipe to another blogger.  Then that blogger has to make the treat and post about it on their site.  I received a recipe from Joanne at Eats Well With Others and this is the link for the original recipe.

Now, I am going to be totally honest with all of you…I am not a big pumpkin fan so when I received this recipe, I was a little hesitant.  I had no reason to be though.  These little cookies don’t scream “pumpkin” when you take a bite; they are just soft sweet little cookie pillows.  The texture was amazing and the brown sugar glaze finished them off perfectly.  Delicious!!!

Note: The only change that I made from the original was the kind of nuts I used.  Joanne used hazelnuts, but I didn’t have any so I used toasted pecans instead.  Other than that, I followed her original recipe.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. milk

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, cream butter and combine with sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Add egg, pumpkins, and vanilla.  Beat well.

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Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Combine flour mixture with the butter/sugar/pumpkin mixture until just combined.  Stir in nuts. 

Drop batter in heaping tbsps. onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. (I used a small cookie scoop.) Bake for 10-15 minutes (mine took about 14) or until just starting to get a bit brown around the edges.

Before:

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After:

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Cool on a wire rack.  While the cookies are cooling, make the frosting.  In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk, and butter over low heat, stirring, until the butter is melted and the brown sugar is dissolved.

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Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and confectioner’s sugar, whisking until no lumps are present.  Ice the cookies with the frosting.

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged on December 5, 2011|

It’s another rainy Monday here in South Central Kentucky with another one to three inches expected in just a couple of days.  This kind of weather makes me want comfort food so bad, but I am trying to behave a little better diet wise before the holiday dinners crank up.   C & I stopped by the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and I stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies for healthy snacks so I will stay away from extra sugar, but it is so hard when there are so many delicious goodies around.  Oh, well, I must pace myself.

Sloppy Joe Squares (new)

Grilled hamburgers with oven baked fries

Cheesy Steak Sandwiches with oven baked fries (2 nights)

Pizza night

Famous pork chops with butter roasted potatoes

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