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Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

C & I really like pancakes, but we rarely have them for breakfast.  I use them for suppers 90% of the time.  Fix a few pieces of bacon or sausage to go with them and you are ready to eat! 

I have several flavored pancake recipes that I use, but I did not have a good basic one until I found this one.  The original recipe was published at the blog “The Way The Cookie Crumbles”, and there is always good food to be seen over there.

1 cup (5 ounces) flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 cup buttermilk (I use powdered buttermilk.  For 1 cup of buttermilk, use 4 tbsp. of the dried.  Add it with the flour mixture.  Then add 1 cup of water when the recipe calls for the buttermilk.)
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In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the egg until thoroughly combined, then add the butter and buttermilk (see note above). Pour the liquid
ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk gently until batter is mostly mixed but still contains small lumps.

Let the batter rest while the pan heats, at least 5 minutes.  Heat a non-stick skillet or a griddle over medium heat. Spray with non-stick spray.  Using a ¼ cup measure, pour the pancake batter onto the hot griddle.

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When the pancakes are golden brown, after about 2-3 minutes, flip to cook the other side another 2-3 minutes. Keep warm in oven heated to 200 degrees.

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Join me over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

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Menu Plan Monday

Good morning, everyone!  This has been a wonderful weekend for us and I hope for you all as well.  C & I travelled to Nashville on Saturday to attend a showing of “Wicked-The Musical” at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.  I had wanted to see it for a while and missed it when it was in Louisville, KY so I jumped at the chance to see it at TPAC.  If you ever get the chance to go to TPAC, I highly recommend it.  It is a wonderful facility.

We had a great weekend trip and I will have lots of photos and details in an upcoming Thoughtful Thursday post.  Check back!

I have a couple of new recipes on the menu list this week and I hope they are a success.  The recipes look so good!

Cheesy Steak Sandwiches with Oven Fries

Cheesy Corn Chip Skillet

Sausage Bake (2 nights)

Hamburger Stew with Buttermilk Corn Cakes (new)

Pizza night

Basic Meatloaf with Butter Roasted Potatoes

Snickerdoodle Cake (new)

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How could you possibly go wrong with a recipe that includes brownies, peanut butter, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips?  You can’t!!!  These bite size delights are scrumptious and hard to resist or at least they were for me.  I will definitely have to share the love with these so I don’t eat them all.

This little goodie was found on Pinterest, but it originates from Baked Perfection which is an very appropriate name.  If you are a chocolate and peanut butter fan, give these a whirl.

1 box brownie mix

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place paper liners in a mini-muffin pan and set aside.  I got 2 batches of minis out of this recipe.  Prepare the boxed brownie mix according to package directions.  Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon).  I used a small scoop and that worked great.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and the center is still slightly wet.

After brownies are out of the oven, wait for centers to fall.  This will happen upon cooling.  If not then tap the centers with the back of a spoon to make a hole for the peanut butter.

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Place the peanut butter in a small microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 45 seconds then stir.  While the brownies are still warm, spoon about half a teaspoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie.  Top with chocolate and peanut butter chips.  Cool completely and enjoy!

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Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday!

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Menu Plan Monday

Since I usually write the menu plan posts over the weekend, Mondays seem to roll around awfully fast and here we are again.  I hope all of you had a great week and weekend.  The weather here has been wonderful with that beautiful autumn sunshine that is so different from the hot, scorching summer sun.  Get out and enjoy it if you can!

This week’s list is still a meal or two short because we have some fun plans out next weekend.  I will give you all the low-down afterward, but it should be fun!

Hamburger Stew

Chili

Calzones with Italian Tomato Sauce (new) 2 nights

Tacos with fruit salad

Vegetable Beef Soup with cornbread muffins

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I first read this recipe on The Pioneer Woman’s spin-off website Tasty Kitchen, of which I am a member.  Don’t look for my recipes though because I haven’t had time to put any on there.  I know, shame on me. There are just too many things that I want to do and not enough time to do them.  Forgive me!

Murphy’s is a joint in Pioneer Woman’s hometown and the Hot Hamburger was their specialty.  I had read this recipe many times and always thought, “Hey, I need to make that.”  I finally did and it was a big hit!

This is definitely comfort food and not diet food, but it is really really good!  I served this just like the recipe with a piece of white bread on the bottom with the burger and fries on top of that and the gravy covering everything.  Yum-o!!!

1 pound Ground Beef

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

1 Tablespoon Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Seasoned Salt

5 Tablespoons Flour

28 oz. Beef Broth

5 whole Large Potatoes

1 Tablespoon Oil, Or As Needed (I used olive oil.)

Salt And Pepper, to taste

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Slice potatoes into fries. Place on a large baking sheet. Pour about 1 tablespoon of oil over the fries and toss with fingers to coat evenly. Sprinkle fries with seasoning of choice. I use seasoned salt. Place in the oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden and crispy. (I covered my baking sheet with foil and then sprayed it with non-stick spray.)

I used my handy-dandy fry cutter and I noticed on Tasty Kitchen that The Pioneer Woman has one just like it.  Great minds think alike!! Ha, ha!

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In a mixing bowl, mix hamburger, garlic, seasoned salt, onion powder and salt and pepper. Mix well with hands. Form 4 large patties. I like to make really rustic, greasy diner-style patties with no uniform shape. Place in a large preheated skillet over medium heat, preferably one with deep sides. Brown burgers on each side until done.

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Remove burgers from the skillet and place on a plate covered in paper towels. Do not drain the grease. Add the flour a tablespoon at a time, stirring with a whisk. You have enough when the grease is all absorbed and the flour mixture gets thick and bubbly. Slowly add the broth a little at a time, whisking constantly. Bring to a simmer and allow to thicken. (Note: These are the original instructions.  I used very lean beef and had next to no grease so I poured in just a tiny bit of vegetable oil to help with that, probably no more than a teaspoon.  I also had to scrape up a little of the black stuff left in the pan.  There was a little too much of that and not enough grease.) Season the gravy with a little salt and pepper.

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To serve, place an ample amount of fries on the plate. Place a hamburger on top of the fries and cover it all amply in gravy.

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Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

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Menu Plan Monday

Good morning!  Hasn’t this just been a beautiful weekend?  I know it has here in Kentucky and I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy.  I finally started refinishing a metal bed that belonged to my mother-in-law to use in the upstairs purple bedroom.  Yes, I know I started these projects over a year ago and they are not finished yet.  Life sometimes has a way of getting in the way of the fun projects, but at least I am able to work on them now.  I can’t wait to show you the result.  Can anyone else see a Thoughtless Thursday: How To post in there somewhere?

This week is a meal or two short.  We have court at work on Friday (of all days) this week, so that will probably be a take-out night.  Also, C & I have a wedding to attend next weekend in a near-by town so I think that will be an O’Charley’s night for us.  Woo hoo!  In case you can’t tell, O’Charley’s is my all-time favorite place to eat out.  Can’t wait!

Deep Dish Pizza Casserole

Basic Buttermilk Pancakes with Bacon (This didn’t get made last week because I had leftovers.)
Grilled Pork Chops with Oven Fries

Pizza Night

Hamburger Steaks (new) with Butter Roasted Potatoes

Cinnamon Roll Cake (new)

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This will probably be my last ice cream post for a while since cold weather is just right around the corner.  I have so enjoyed trying all of these recipes for the first time.  My little ice cream maker has gotten quite a work out since July and I have figured out how to make most ice cream recipes dairy free.  A few of the treats I have posted about came from a vegan cookbook that are dairy free to begin with.  This recipe was not.  I found it on the blog That Skinny Chick Can Bake and make it dairy free myself.  Go here for the original recipe.

I was afraid that the marshmallow flavor would not be strong enough to mask the coconut milk, but it was. Also, this was the first ice cream recipe that used a cooked custard base and the texture was amazing.  So creamy! I served this with a hot fudge pie.  The pie did not turn out quite like I wanted, but at least the ice cream made up for it!

2 cups dairy free milk (I used soy.)

10 oz. marshmallows

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

2 tbsp. vanilla

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In a large pot, melt the marshmallows with the soy milk over medium heat, stirring frequently until smooth.  Cool at room temperature.

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Heat the coconut milk in a sauce pan over low-medium heat until almost boiling.  In a bowl, preferably one with a pour spout if possible, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together.  Slowly drizzle a little hot coconut milk into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly so the egg yolks don’t scramble.  Repeat the process until all of the coconut milk is added.  Add the vanilla.

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When the marshmallow mixture has cooled, add to the egg mixture.  Whisk to combine.  Refrigerate over night then process in your ice cream maker according to instructions.  Enjoy!!!

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Please join me over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

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Menu Plan Monday

Whew, what a weekend!  It has been a busy at-home weekend, but C & I can now say that the pressure washing is done for the year!  Can I hear an amen?!?  C got to try out a piece of equipment that he has never used-a powered lift.  Our house has one side that is really tall because of the walk-out basement so we can’t get to the very top with just a ladder.  Of course, this is also the north side so mildew and mold grow like crazy there.  The powered lift solved this problem perfectly.  Here are a few shots of the process:

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This is as high as I would go.  I hate heights.

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It worked like a charm and now we have a clean house all the way around.  While C & his dad were working with this, I spray-painted our metal outdoor furniture.  There were a few rust spots starting to show and I wanted to cover them before they got worse.  Wouldn’t you know, I was down to two chairs and I ran out of spray paint.  Ughh!  Oh, well, I will get some more this week and finish that little job.  We also managed to mow and trim our yard, C’s parent’s yard, finish the laundry, cook a little food and blog some, too.  All in all, it was a very productive weekend.

Here is this week’s menu:

Taco Biscuit Bake (new)

Country ham/Biscuits with oven baked fries

Cheesy Corn Chip Skillet

Buttermilk Pancakes with bacon

Pizza night

Pepsi Pork Chops (new) with butter roasted potatoes

Cookies & Cream Cake (new)

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This recipe was made specially for my dad.  This is his favorite all-time ice cream from a certain chain store and he asked me to try to duplicate it at home.  I think it turned out to be a huge success!  The praline pecans are wonderful by themselves and I had to mentally smack my hand to keep from eating too many.  The recipe for them (which is a Paula Deen recipe) makes enough for two batches of ice cream.

I started with my basic dairy-free vanilla ice cream recipe and added in the praline pecans while it was processing.  After that, it is so easy to layer the ice cream with caramel ice cream topping to make the final product.  Yes, it would probably be even better with homemade caramel sauce, but I went the easier route and it was still yummy.

For the praline pecans:

2 cups whole pecans

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

4 tablespoons heavy cream

For the dairy free vanilla ice cream:

1 14oz. can full-fat coconut milk

1 1/4 cups soymilk or other nondairy milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar (or agave syrup-I just bought some and will try this, too.  The agave syrup lowers the glycemic index which makes it better for diabetics.)

2 tbsp. real vanilla extract

1 jar of caramel ice cream topping

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For the praline pecans:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl combine pecans, brown sugar and heavy cream. Spread into a square baking pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes, or until coating is dry, and slightly crystallized, stirring every 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven to cool and stir once more.

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For the ice cream:

Place all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until well combined.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. 

Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the vanilla base into it.  Process for 20 minutes and add the praline pecans in the last 5 minutes. In a lidded freezer safe container, spread a layer of the ice cream.  Next, pour a thin layer of the caramel topping over the ice cream and repeat, starting and ending with the ice cream.  Freeze until hard, 2-3 hours.  Enjoy!!!

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Please join over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday to see this and other delicious recipes.

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Menu Plan Monday

Another week has gone by and it is time for another meal list.  This week’s menu is a little short because we have a couple of “errand” evenings this week so we will probably eat out then.  I have to go to the grocery one night and it is going to be a doozy of a trip.  We are out of just about everything household AND food-wise!

One other evening we have to go pick up a tow-behind lift that C is going to use to pressure wash the end of our house.  The north side of our house is also the side with a walk-out basement so we have two and a half stories of vinyl siding that faces north and gets covered in mildew since it doesn’t get enough sun to kill it.  I would not even want to see a ladder tall enough to reach the top so we are renting a powered lift to get up there.  C is excited since he loves to try new gadgets.  I will make sure and get pics for everyone to see.  Hee hee!

Please forgive me for a short list this week.  Next week should be back to normal.  Have a great end of September everyone!!!

Chili (making a double batch for leftovers and other recipes to come)

Grilled hamburgers and oven fries

Pizza night

Basic Meatloaf

Coca-Cola Cake

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