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Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Dairy Free Rocky Road Ice Cream

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , on August 20, 2011| 15 Comments »

Here is the first of what I am sure is to be many dairy free ice cream recipes.  If you read my Thoughtful Thursday post a couple of days ago (And if you didn’t, go back and read it right now.  I can wait.  Hmm, hmm.  Done? Good.), you will know that I have found a new passion…dairy free ice creams.  Ooohh!  They are so good!

One of my and C’s favorite ice cream treats is rocky road at a certain national ice cream chain, so that is one flavor that I wanted to try to duplicate. This recipe is in the “lick it!” vegan ice cream cookbook.  In my humble opinion, this is just as good if not better since the nuts and marshmallows taste fresher in this homemade version.  Try this now!!! (If you want this recipe to be truly vegan, you will need vegan chocolate and marshmallows.)

1 1/4 cups soymilk or other non-dairy milk

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

6 oz. milk chocolate chips

1 14 oz. can full-fat coconut milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

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Combine the soymilk, sugar and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth.  Warm on medium heat until the soymilk begins to simmer.  Remove from heat. 

Put the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl.  Pour the hot soymilk mixture over the chocolate and stir until smooth.  Whisk in the coconut milk and vanilla extract.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. 

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Then freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  (The instructions for mine say: Turn on the machine.  Pour the ice cream base into the machine and process for 20 minutes.  Add the almonds and marshmallows for the last 5 minutes.)

At this point you will have soft-serve ice cream which is awesome in itself.  If you want hard ice cream, pour the soft-serve into a lidded freezer-safe container and freeze for 2-3 hours if you can wait that long!

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

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Thoughtful Thursday

Posted in Books, Cooking, My Thoughts, tagged , , , , , on August 18, 2011|

Up until now, you would not have found many, if any, ice cream recipes on this little blog o’ mine.  Why?  Well, I am extremely lactose-intolerant.  So bad that one little bite of regular ice cream will send my stomach into fits for hours, and that is so NOT FUN!  I can take the medicine that helps, and it does just that, helps, but it does not go away completely. 

All of that is about to change.  You may see a dozen ice cream or frozen treat recipes on here all in a row because of a birthday gift that I received.  My in-laws (God bless ‘em, they are wonderful!) gave me a tabletop ice cream maker along with a recipe book titled “lick it!”, which is full of vegan ice cream recipes.  Now, I am not a vegan, and probably will never be a vegan, but one thing that vegans and I share is a need for food without dairy in them.  This book rocks!

The ice cream maker is a Cuisinart model ICE-21 and it is awesome!  Check it out here for all of the info.  It makes 1.5 gallons at a time in about 20 minutes.  At that point the ice cream is like soft serve which is the way I like it.  If you want it firmer, just put the deliciousness into a freezer-safe lidded container and let it harden for a couple of hours.  That is if you can wait that long!!

So far I have made the chocolate rocky road, vanilla, and orange sherbet recipes from the “lick it!” book, and they are great!  I couldn’t tell that they weren’t the real thing.

If you are lactose-intolerant or vegan or just want to try something a little different, get yourself an ice cream maker and this book.   A little word to the wise, you might want to invest in coconut milk and soymilk stocks.  Just wait, you will understand!

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged on August 15, 2011|

Well, well, well…here we are at the start of another week.  Where does time go? I know where some of my time has gone, to my new online addiction of pinterest.com.  I am sure many of you have already become hooked to this website, and if you haven’t tried it, check it out!  Pinterest is an online virtual bulletin board where you can “pin” pages from the web to your own board for safekeeping until you are ready to use these ideas, but the best thing is that you can look at other people’s boards as well to see what interests them. Then, if you really like their stuff, you can follow them and see what they add everyday.  Let me tell you, this can be a huge time-suck.  I can easily kill and hour or two just browsing!

Back to our menu…this week will be a little short.  One night I HAVE to go to the grocery.  I have cleaned out the freezer and pantry so much that there is very little left, which is good so all of the food can be refreshed but that means a big grocery bill this week and that is not good. We also are attending a baseball game with my dad one night so we will probably nosh on ballpark food then.  It’s free t-shirt night so we can’t miss it!!  I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful week!

Famous Pork Chops and butter roasted potatoes

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven baked fries (2 nights)

Basic Meatloaf

Grocery Night

Ballgame Night

Dairy Free Marshmallow Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce (2 new recipes)

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Southern Plate’s Deep Dish Pizza

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on August 13, 2011| 22 Comments »

For this month’s version of the Southern Plates-Picture Perfect Cooking project, I have changed sources just a little. This recipe is from her website instead of her book, but I had to show you all this one.  It is so so good!  I made it one Monday night and took it to my in-laws and they said that I could make it again any time I wanted to! 

To save a little time that night, I cooked the meat, onion & pepper mixture the day before and stored it in the fridge until I needed it.  This is a great weeknight meal with a salad on the side.  Enjoy!!

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. Italian sausage

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, diced

15 oz. jar pizza sauce of your choice

2 tbsp. Italian seasoning

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tbsp. olive oil

8 oz. shredded mozzarella (Italian cheese blend is good, too)

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In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the peppers and onions in the vegetable oil until they just start to soften.  Add the ground beef and sausage; cook until there is no pink left in the meat.  Drain off the fat if necessary and then pour in the pizza sauce and Italian seasoning.  Stir to make sure the sauce and seasoning are completely combined and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13×9” baking dish with non-stick spray.  Spread the shredded cheese over the bottom of the pan.  Then layer the meat/pepper mixture over the cheese.

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In a separate bowl (one with a pour spout if you have it), combine the flour, salt, pepper, milk, eggs, and olive oil.  Stir until just combined.  Pour over the meat and cheese as evenly as possible

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Bake for 30-35 minutes and enjoy!

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Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.  I linked up this recipe and there are many other wonderful dishes from other bloggers, too!

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged on August 8, 2011|

Well, August is in full swing and school is back in session in our small town so it feels like summer is winding down.  It would be great if the hot weather would wind down a little too.  Hopefully we are nearing the end of the scorching heat and we will be able to enjoy being outside again.  I know my garden and strawberry beds really need some TLC because of this heat.  The weeds are bigger than the plants, but I have been afraid to pull them in case the good plants come up with the bad.  I have appreciated the rain barrels a lot this summer since the rain has been sporadic.  The collected rain water has kept everything alive and producing.

This week’s list seems to be a “clean out the freezer” list, but hopefully everything will still be yummy.  I am still making dairy-free ice cream like crazy and most of the recipes I have tried have turned out really well.  I will be sharing with you all very shortly.  Have a great & blessed week!

Pioneer Woman’s Murphy’s Hot Hamburger  (new)

Grilled hot dogs with oven fries

Cheesy beef corn chip skillet

Grilled steaks & roasted potatoes

Pizza night

BBQ Ribs with oven baked fries

Homemade Fudge Rounds (new)

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Caramel Pecan Brownies

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2011| 23 Comments »

I love chocolate as many of you who read this blog should be able to tell, but I also love caramel and pecans, too.  Well, guess what?  This brownie recipe combines all of those into one ooey-gooey piece of heaven.  I found this in the Fall 2010 edition of Kraft Food and Family magazine, but it got pushed back in my recipe drawer and I had not made it. 

Let me tell you, it was worth the wait!  If you have a chocolate lover in your household, please make these for them.  You will be their new favorite person!

I did make a couple of little changes to the original, one because I had to and one because I wanted to.  I was almost out of white sugar (oops), so I had to substitute light brown sugar for most of the white.  I don’t think it made any difference at all.  I also chopped my pecans instead of using the whole pecan halves.  I think you get more crunch and flavor that way.  I am listing the original recipe below.

4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate

3/4 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 pkg. (14 oz.) caramels

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 cups pecans, divided

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 13×9” baking pan with aluminum foil and allow the ends of the foil to hang over the pan.  Spray the foil with non-stick spray.  Microwave the chocolate and butter on high for 2 minutes or until butter is melted.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

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Add sugar and eggs.  Mix well.  Stir in flour until well blended.  Spread half of the batter in the pan and bake for 25 minutes.

About 20 minutes into the baking process, microwave the caramels and whipping cream on high for 2 minutes or until caramels begin to melt.  Stir until completely melted.  (I had to put mine back in the microwave for about another minute to get the caramels melted.)  Stir in 1 cup of nuts.

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Spread the caramel mixture over the brownie layer and cover with the remaining brownie batter.  Some caramel will show through.  Sprinkle with remaining nuts and bake for 30 more minutes.  Let cool completely and cut into small pieces.  A little bit of this brownie goes a long way!

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Please join me over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for this recipe and many yummy others!  She even spotlighted little old me for my BBQ ribs last week.  Thanks, Miz Helen!

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.

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Highlight

Posted in Cooking, tagged , on August 3, 2011|

Guess what?  I was chosen over at At Home With Haley to be the savory recipe that she can’t wait to try!  Isn’t that awesome?  Go here to check it out!

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Meal Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged on August 1, 2011|

Good Monday morning to all of you!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to a great week!  We are still fighting hot weather here in the Land of the Bluegrass and it looks like there is at least one more week of it.  We were blessed to receive a little rain on Saturday and the plants just soaked it up.  My second generation of cucumber plants are actually doing pretty well since I have tried to be diligent about watering, so hopefully we will have fresh cucumbers well into fall if everything goes well.

The green peppers have LOVED this weather!  There are only 3 plants in my raised bed but they have produced like crazy and are still hanging full.  I have frozen almost a gallon of diced pepper to use this winter and we have also enjoyed a lot of carrots, too.  There is just something so fulfilling to me to be able to go out in my backyard and come back with a bowlful of fresh food to feed my family.  It just tastes better!  If you have a little plot of ground or even room for a few pots, I highly recommend growing a few fresh things.  You will be amazed at the flavor.

I stuck to last week’s menu pretty well except for the dessert.  It is just too hot to bake and I received an awesome birthday present from my in-laws…a countertop ice cream maker with a dairy-free recipe book since I am extremely lactose intolerant. I will have more details with several recipes in just a few days so please check back.

Cheesy Steak Sandwiches & oven fries

Taco Ring (2 nights)

Grilled Hamburgers & oven fries

Pizza Night

Honey Pork Chops (new) with roasted potatoes

Southern Plate’s Yellow Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting (new-I know I have teased you with this one before, but I hope to actually get it made this time.)

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BBQ Ribs

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , on July 30, 2011| 16 Comments »

If someone asked me to pick my favorite meat dish, more than likely I would choose BBQ pork ribs.  I almost always order that when C & I eat at “steak house” type restaurants and I usually enjoy them.  I have wanted to try to duplicate that taste at home, but it is hard to find baby-back ribs at my local groceries.  I guess that most of them end up at restaurants instead.

Right before Memorial Day weekend, our local Kroger advertised baby-backs on sale no less.  I made a quick trip to the next town on my lunch break to purchase some and, wouldn’t you know, I managed the get the very last package that was in the meat case.  Whew, that was close!

The basis of this recipe was on Kraft’s website and I altered it to suit my taste.  I ended up overcooking them just a little because I wanted to make sure they were done.  Next time, I will cut the cooking time down by about 5 or 10 minutes and just go by the instant-read thermometer.  The recipe below will show the altered cooking time, not the time I used for this recipe.  Just remember to check them with a meat thermometer and you will be fine.

1 rack baby-back ribs

BBQ rub & sauce of your choice

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Preheat your grill to medium heat, about 425 degrees.  Slice off the silver skin (the white membrane) from the back of the ribs.  This is just connective tissue and will get tough when it is cooked.

Liberally rub the ribs with the seasoning.

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Place the ribs on a large sheet of aluminum foil and then cover with another sheet of aluminum foil.  Fold up the ends of the foil so the ribs are encased in a foil bag leaving one short end open.  Pour one cup of water into the foil bag and close up the last side leaving just a small hole for steam to escape.

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Place the ribs on the preheated grill and cook with the lid down for 40 minutes.

Remove the ribs from the foil, but be careful of the remaining water because it will be really hot!  Spread the sauce over the ribs and cook for 10 more minutes or until the internal temperature of the ribs is at least 160 degrees.  Take them off the grill and let rest for 15 minutes, slice, and enjoy!  Don’t forget your napkin!

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Spotlight

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on July 27, 2011|

Join me over at Eat At Home Cooks for her spotlight on powdered sugar.  It is sure to be a sweet treat!

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