This was another one of the Freezer Crock Pot that I prepared from my first post "Happy New Year". I added the broccoli to the recipe and served it over Jasmine Rice. I added the broccoli and started my rice cooker 25-30 minutes before the time was up on the Crock Pot. I ended up cooking my beef & broccoli a little longer though because we like the broccoli pretty tender. If you still like a little crunch in your broccoli I thing 25-30 minutes will be perfect. I prepared the beef and put it in a zipper bag and laid it flat in the freezer. The night before preparing put the zipper bag into the refrigerator to thaw. In the morning just dump the contents into the Crock Pot and set it on Low for 6-8 hours. My Crock Pot has a time setting so when it has cooked for the set amount of time it switches to Warm so that the food stays warm, but isn't cooking more. Click on the button below for the Main Recipe.
Creamy, cheesy, yummmy! I used a basic recipe for Creamed Spinach I found online and made it my own. Its always good to have a vegetable side dish with every meal. Not to mention that Spinach is good for you and full of vitamins. The kids might even try this one with all the cheese, garlic, and cream it it. Besides who can think of Spinach and not sing the Popeye theme song???
Creamed Spinach (2-4 Servings)
5 oz (1/2 10 oz bag) frozen spinach
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup half & half
1/4 onion, minced
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese
In a microwave safe bowl heat the spinach, garlic and half & half for 5 minutes. That will thaw the spinach and soften the garlic. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onion. Saute the onion until soft. Add the flour and cook a minute. Pour in the spinach, garlic and half & half mixture. Stir to combine. Add a little more half & half if the mixture is too dry. Add Salt and Pepper to taste and a pinch of Nutmeg. Stir in cheeses.
While I like ordering ACP or Arroz con Pollo at any Mexican Restaurant this recipe is not quite the same. It is more like a Chicken and Rice soup. Although the longer it sets the less broth there is because the rice soaks it up. I am the one person in my family who likes the broth so I tend to make my bowl and eat it right after cooking. Almost everyone else would rather have the rice soak up all the broth. I made some creamed spinach on the side. I used the Knorr Vegetable and Chicken concentrated Homestyle Stock that I wrote about in a previous blog. It gave the Chicken and Rice lots of body and flavor. I am not a person who likes chunks of vegetables in my Chicken and Rice dish, but carrots and celery would be good in this dish.
Arroz con Pollo (Rice and Chicken)
7 cups water
1 tub Knorr Homestyle Chicken Stock
1 tub Knorr Homestyle Vegetable Stock
1 clove garlic, chopped
chunk of onion, in big pieces to be removed later
2 bay leaves, to be removed later
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp. Butter, optional
1 Chicken Breast. Chopped
1 cup white rice
Put the water, concentrated stock, garlic, onion, bay leaves, and italian seasoning in a sauce pot over High Heat. Keep an eye on the pot. When it comes to a boil stir to mix in the stock. Add the chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken, onion and bay leaves from the stock. Pour in Rice and add butter. Cover the pot and reduce heat to Medium. Cook 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Chop the chicken into smaller bite sized pieces if desired and add back to the rice. Let sit a few minutes to heat the chicken.
I am not a cake decorator, but I am getting better. LOL! My son just had a birthday on January 10th. He turned 12 and asked me to make his birthday cake. He absolutely loves Maraschino Cherries but not chocolate. I have an awesome Chocolate Cherry Cola Cake that I make (I'll post that recipe later), but that wouldn't work though because he is not a fan of chocolate. I found the following recipe online and made a basic vanilla buttercream frosting. I used Vanilla extract in cake instead of almond extract because that is what I had on hand. Make sure you are very careful separating the egg whites. If you have a dirty bowl or any egg yolk in the whites, they will not come to stiff peaks. I had some red gel food coloring that I added. I added quite a bit so that the cake was as close to red as I could get it. I didn't make a layer cake. I poured the batter into a 9 x 13 baking pan and served the cake out of the baking pan.
My son was happy with the results. He said "It was a good birthday cake". The cake was nice and moist. It was not difficult to make and everyone enjoyed it.
Happy 12th Birthday Caleb!
Cherry-Vanilla Layer CakeServes 8-10 [click for printable recipe]Maraschino Cake:1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 tablespoons flour for sprinkling over diced cherries
10 oz bottle maraschino cherries, finely chopped
Drop or two of red food coloring, or Americolor Deep Pink food coloring gel *optional
4 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks
- Preheat oven to 340 degrees. Grease two 7” spring-form pans (or one 9”) and line with parchment paper.
- Beat the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder . Combine milk,cherry juice and almond extract, and add alternately to the butter and sugar with the flour mixture.
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of flour over the diced cherries and stir until the flour has been completely absorbed. Note: It’s okay if the cherries still have a little juice on them after this.
- Stir cherries into the batter. Stir in food coloring if desired
- Fold stiffly beaten egg whites into the batter. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Vanilla Cherry Cake batter before it was baked.
The baked Vanilla Cherry Cake.
Basic Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 box powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk
Instructions
Cream butter with an electric mixture until the butter is lighter in color and fluffy. Pour in powdered sugar and mix on the lowest setting on the mixer (to prevent a powdered sugar dust storm). The mixture will take a little bit to come together & may look a little dry. Add milk until you get the right consistency for spreading.
If you want a colored frosting just add a few drops of food coloring and mix well.
Looking for a healthier Chili for Game Day? Here is a Great one made with Ground Chicken, White Beans and Salsa Verde. I like to garnish mine with sour cream, Mexican Blend Cheese and Guacamole. This is also a quick cooking chili. You don't need to use the crock pot for this dish. This recipe was featured on the Cooking Channel's Drop 5 Lbs with Good Housekeeping. Click on the button below for the whole recipe. I only use 1 Lb ground chicken and 2 cups of Chicken Stock (or broth).
I like Herdez Salsa Verde for this recipe. It is found in the authenic Mexican isle in my grocery store. It is not in the section of other salsa's.
One day I decided to search for some lower fat versions of our favorite dishes. This recipe is from Bobby Deen's show Not My Mama's Meals. It has been one of the easiest biscuit recipes I have ever made. It is even lower in fat by using garlic oil and not butter, low fat milk and lower fat cheeses. I love the garlic flavor, but if you are not a garlic fan you can just skip the garlic oil. I usually only use Cheddar Cheese when I make them.
The Son's Cheese Biscuits
Recipe courtesy of Bobby Deen
SHOW:
Not My Mama's Meals
EPISODE:
Comfort Food
The Son's Cheese Biscuits
Total Time: 25 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 15 min
Yield:16 servings
Level:Easy
CATEGORIES
Cheese Side Dish Biscuit
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray, for greasing
Garlic Oil:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Biscuits:
5 cups biscuit mix
2 cups low-fat 1-percent milk
1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded Cheddar
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray .
For the garlic oil: Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and saute until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool
For the biscuits: Pour the biscuit mix into a large bowl and gradually mix in the milk. Stir together until desired consistency is reached, add then stir in the cheeses. Scoop the batter with an ice-cream scoop and drop onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush each biscuit with 1 teaspoon of the garlic oil. Bake for 10 minutes, and then brush with the garlic oil again before serving.
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-deen/the-sons-cheese-biscuits-recipe.html?oc=linkback
This recipe was one of those I had to share on Facebook when I saw it a few days ago. It was created by one of my fellow bloggers, Don't Forget Delicious. I have always wanted to make my own Cinnamon Rolls, but didn't want the hassle of making a yeast dough. The ones out of the can at the grocery store are pretty good, but can't beat homemade. I try to avoid going by Cinnabon in the mall. That is one of my weaknesses along with Starbucks.
This Recipe is made with Ricotta cheese and buttermilk to cause the dough to rise in the oven in place of the yeast. The icing is made with Mascarpone Cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and a little milk. Click on the link below for the entire recipe.
Well last night was not one of my healthiest meals, but it was good. I made dinner when I got home so I made A-1 Meat Loaf Burgers, Homemade stove top mac & cheese & Lima beans and corn. I do not like a lot of ketchup so when I came across this this recipe at my Mom's house as a teenager this is how I started making meat loaf. My husband does like ketchup so I divide the meat loaf in half. I top half with ketchup and the other half I top with the A-1 sauce. I had small shell pasta so I used it to make homemade stove top mac & cheese. For our vegetable side dish I made lima beans & corn.
This recipe is one of the best I have tried lately. It was good all together, but you could also have it as two different dishes. I really liked the pasta in the tomato cream sauce. This is one of the crock pot meals I made in my first blog "Happy New Year".
Take the Garlic Pesto Chicken out of the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator over night, Pour into the crock pot in the morning and cook on Low 6-8 hours.
Ingredients for the Pasta in Tomato Cream Sauce.
My version of the Tomato Cream Sauce is made with Chicken Stock, but you could use Vegetable Stock and keep it meatless. This pasta was good enough to eat as a meal. If serving with the Garlic Pesto Chicken just top with Chicken out of the Crock Pot. Serve with a salad and garlic bread.
I used the left over garlic and herb marinade from the Garlic Pesto Chicken Recipe from my first Blog "Happy New Year" and marinated the pork chops. I do not have a grill outside nor would I want to be outside in the cold grilling. I do have a Griddler inside grill. I grilled my pork chops on my griddler. I put the broccoli in a microwave safe dish with a little water, butter and salt. The baked potato I also cooked in the microwave. If you have time I think potatoes baked in the oven are better, but the microwave works in a pinch. I like to have my potatoes with butter, sour cream, salt, pepper and cheddar cheese.
RSS Feed