Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Whipped Cream

Martha Stewart and Pinterest get all of the credit for this recipe! I really wanted homemade chocolate pudding (the stuff from the box just isn't the same). That's when I decided to look at Pinterest for recipes. I came across this recipe for peanut butter chocolate parfaits. I was sold when I read the recipe and saw that the whipped cream had 1/4 cup of peanut butter added to it! The original recipe was written to make mini-desserts. I don't eat dessert very often, so a mini-dessert wasn't happening! I got out my big Irish coffee mugs and filled them with the homemade pudding and peanut butter whipped cream. I didn't have the peanut butter sandwich cookies the recipe called for, so I used a few pieces from a bar of chocolate instead. I stand behind that decision. This is a great recipe. The whole family loved it. This would be easy to double or triple and put in a trifle dish and take to a pot luck. You could even add a layer of brownies or chocolate cake if you needed to. This is definitely on my "must make again soon" list.


Recipe for parfaits: http://www.marthastewart.com/356794/peanut-butter-chocolate-parfaits

Recipe for chocolate pudding: http://www.marthastewart.com/314077/vanilla-or-chocolate-pudding

Pork Shoulder (Double-Duty Dinners, Part 3)

BBQ pork sliders

One of my best friends in the kitchen is a nice, big Boston butt (pork shoulder) roast. Cooking one large roast in the crock pot for 8 hours leaves me with enough food for 4-6 meals. You can't beat that! The hardest part of this recipe is cutting all the big pieces of fat off of the roast before you put it in the crock pot. Just make sure you have a big cutting board if you buy a big roast. I've been  buying 8 pound roasts lately and using my large, oval crock pot.

Pork tacos

My family's two favorite ways to enjoy pork are BBQ pulled pork and pulled pork tacos. Both of these freeze really well. A quart-sized freezer bag doesn't take up much space in the freezer and it holds enough pork to feed all 4 of us. I usually make one big roast, then shred it. I put half of the pork back into a crock pot for 3 hours with bbq sauce to make pulled pork sandwiches. I freeze any leftover bbq pork that night. Then, the next night, I put the remaining shredded pork into a crock pot with taco seasoning and water and cook on low for 3 hours. Taco pork is great for tacos, burritos. taco salads, etc. Tonight I'm turning some  into nachos! I also freeze the leftover taco pork the same night. If you have more than 1 crock pot, go ahead and make both on the same day and stock your freezer with easy meals.

Taco pork lettuce wraps

Pulled Pork

1 Boston butt roast (any size that fits your crock pot), visible fat trimmed
2 cups water
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves

1) Place half of the onions in the bottom of a crock pot. Place pork and water on top. Add remaining onions. Cook on low for 8-12 hours, or until pork easily shreds.
2) Shred the pork, discarding any excess fat.

For BBQ pork: Add your favorite BBQ sauce and cook on low for 3 hours. I love my Grandma Louie's recipe.  Use as little or as much sauce as your family likes. We like a ton of sauce on ours.

For taco pork: Add 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning per pound of shredded pork. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and stir well.  I used about 3/4 cups of taco seasoning on half of an 8 pound roast. If you want to make your own taco seasoning, I recommend making a huge batch of my favorite recipe. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

Caramelized Onion and Bacon Pizza

I had just enough pizza dough the other night to make a pizza for two, so I decided to make something a little less kid-friendly than my normal pizza. My husband and I enjoyed this after the kids went to bed. Ah, a peaceful, fancy meal...the kind of things dreams are made of! This pizza was wonderful. The flavors worked together really well. The roasted garlic I used as the "sauce" and the caramelized onions added a nice sweet flavor to balance out the saltiness of the Gruyere and bacon. One warning: this is a more time consuming recipe than a basic cheese or pepperoni pizza. If you are short on time, use some alfredo sauce instead of roasted garlic for the sauce, and take care of making the onions and bacon the day before, or earlier in the day. That way you just have to assemble and bake. This is definitely worth the time and effort to make the pizza. If Gruyere cheese is not in the budget (I found a good price at a local produce market), feel free to use provolone, swiss, or even white cheddar cheese instead.

Caramelized Onion and Bacon Pizza
Adapted from How Sweet it Is

8 oz ball of pizza dough
4 slices thick bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
2 onions, sliced
1 head of garlic, roasted (if you are short on time, feel free to use alfredo sauce or olive oil as your "sauce")
2 tablespoon olive oil, divided, or 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon bacon fat
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese

1) Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil or bacon fat in a heavy skillet over medium low-heat. Add onions and butter. Saute over medium low heat for 30-40 minutes, until onions are light brown, stirring occasionally.
2) If making roasted garlic sauce: Squeeze roasted garlic into a bowl. Add remaining olive oil and mash together.
3) Preheat oven to 400. Roll out pizza dough into a 9-inch circle.
4) Spread roasted garlic and olive oil on the crust of the pizza and top with grated parmesan/romano cheese. Add 1/2 of the mozzarella and Gruyere cheese.  Add the bacon and caramelized onions. Top with remaining cheese.
5) Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is done and cheese is bubbly and brown.

Roast Beef (Double-Duty Dinners, Part 2)

As promised, I'm posting a second double-duty dinner idea. I apologize for the really quick post today...This was the first week back to school for us, so finding time to cook was pretty hard...finding time to blog was even harder. I made this roast on Tuesday afternoon, using the oven. I like to use the crock pot for roasts, too,but I wanted to be able to slice leftovers for sandwiches, and crock pot roasts usually are so tender, they fall apart when you slice them. Sirloin tip roast was on sale this week, so that's what I ended up using. The first night, the roast was served with mashed potatoes and carrots that were roasted in beef broth and the drippings from the roast. Two nights later, we enjoyed roast beef sandwiches for dinner. Another good use for leftover roast beef is shepherd's pie, which my family loves. To make the shepherd's pie even easier, you could double the mashed potatoes from the first night and use them to top the pie the second night.
I highly recommend a meat thermometer for making oven roasts. I've found that cooking times vary widely from roast to roast. This one cooked much faster than anticipated. Other times, they seem to take twice as long!

Roast Beef

1 3-5 pound oven roast
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 cup beef broth

1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Place beef broth in the bottom of a roasting pan. If your pan has a rack, place the rack on top of the broth, then place the roast on top of the rack. If you are just using a baking pan, put the roast on top of the broth.
3) Rub down all parts of the roast with the seasoned salt and Italian seasoning.
4) Set a meat thermometer in the fattest part of the roast. Cook until the center reaches medium. It took my 4 pound roast, about 1 hour and 45 minutes...but the label on the meat said to allow up to 2 1/2 hours.
5 Allow roast to rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Ideas for leftovers:
*Roast beef sandwiches
*Cheesesteak sandwiches: Heat up roast beef, saute onions and peppers in a skillet. Put peppers, onions, and beef on a steak roll and top with cheese.
*Shepherd's pie: Pour 1/2 cup of beef broth to the bottom of a pie plate. Add about 2 cups of chopped roast beef. Add 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetables. Spread mashed potatoes on top of the veggies. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Top with cheese for the last 5 minutes, if desired.
*Roast beef hash. Cook frozen hash browns according to package directions. Add leftover sliced roast beef, and heat until warm. Top with a fried egg.

Turkey Breast (Double-Duty Dinners, Part 1)

Roasted turkey with veggies

We all have those weeks where life is just crazy! There is something that either begins or ends close to dinner time, 3 or 4 days of the week. I really don't like those weeks. But, they happen. And this month seems to be full of those weeks for my family. There are nights where it's pretty much impossible to avoid eating out (example: a swimming lesson that ends at 6:00 and a meeting at church that begins at 7:00), but I've been working hard on feeding us at home whenever possible. The easiest way to do that has been through double-duty (or even triple-duty) meals. These are wonderful meals where you cook one thing, usually in the crock pot, then use the leftovers for different, quick, easy meals.I know that side dishes on busy evening can be hard, so I'll try to include easy side dishes, even if the ones pictured aren't so easy.

Turkey dip with sweet potato fries

The first double-duty meal is actually a triple, or even quadruple-duty dinner. Turkey breast, turkey dips, turkey soup, and even easy lunches of turkey sandwiches, depending on the size of your family. I've been making turkey breast in the slow cooker since I got married. My mom made it for us year-round when I was growing up. I know there are people who see turkey as a Thanksgiving-only food, but I'm not one of them.  A friend of mine came across the recipe for turkey dips and posted it on her blog about a year ago. I quickly made it a few weeks later when I found turkey breasts on sale. The big change I made to this recipe was to have the sandwiches the second day. I did this for two reasons: the first being that I really love turkey as a meal by itself. The second was that I wanted to dip the sandwich in just the broth, and skim some of the fat off the drippings, and that's just easier if you let it sit in the fridge over night. I also changed the cheese on the sandwich to something more kid and budget-friendly.

For the turkey soup, I threw all the turkey bones into the slow cooker with carrots, celery, onions, and 12 cups of water, and cooked on low for 12 hours to get nice broth. The recipe is an old post , and is a favorite at our house. We eat it year-round, even in the summer. The soup can even be thrown together in the slow cooker in the morning and it's ready by dinner time.

As promised, I'll share some easy side dish ideas. If you have an hour to work on sides- including prep-time: roasted potatoes, rainbow veggies, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, or roasted cauliflower. If you have less than 30 minutes: frozen vegetables, fruit salad, frozen french fries, green salad, or even chips with the sandwich (my favorite are BBQ chips).

Hopefully these turkey recipes will help if you have a busy week where just thinking about cooking stresses you out.

Roasted Turkey and Turkey Dips
Adapted from Cooking Channel 

4 tablespoons softened butter (or if you forget to set out the butter, like me, just melt it)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
note: substitute 1 tablespoon of dried Italian seasoning if you don't have the fresh herbs on hand
Kosher salt
Black pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 bone-in turkey breast

1) Spread the onions in the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the chicken chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce over the onions.
2) Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper and place in the slow cooker.
3) Mix the herbs and butter together in a small glass bowl.
4) Spread the butter over the turkey breast, trying to get some of it under the skin.
5) Cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8 hours.
6) Slice and serve with sides of your choice. Save the broth and drippings from the slow cooker in a glass jar in the fridge. Use for dips with leftovers.

***If you figure out an easy way to get a turkey breast out of a crockpot without making a total mess, please let me know.

Turkey Dips
Serves 4

2-4 ounces of sliced turkey per person
4 ciabatta rolls, slices of french bread, sandwich rolls, or crusty bread of your choice.
4 slices of your favorite melting cheese- we like Gouda, double Gloucester, and Munster.
softened butter
Turkey broth/drippings from the previous night. Optional: scoop the fat off the top before heating.

1) Heat the leftover broth and drippings in a saucepan over medium heat.
2) Preheat the broiler to high.
3) Split each roll or slice of bread in half. Spread butter on cut side and broil for about 1 minute. Top with turkey and cheese, and broil another 1-2 minutes, until bread is browned, turkey is warm, and cheese is melted.
4) Place the buttery top of the bun on the side with the cheese and turkey. Serve with broth for dipping.

Pinterest Shrimp

Real creative title, right? I didn't know what else to call it, and this is what I write on my menu board when I'm planning on making it. This is one of those recipes that pops up on Pinterest all the time! But it's also one of those really annoying pins that has all the directions under it, but when you click on the picture, it's just a picture. I know how to do the fancy reverse image search on Google, but decided to just play with this recipe on my own. It called for one package of "dried Italian seasoning." I assumed that meant one package of Good Seasons. This is one recipe where I'm confident using the copycat version of Good Seasons, so I'll post the recipe with both the package and homemade mix.
This is a favorite recipe for the grown-ups at my house. My kids really aren't big shrimp eaters (more for Mommy and Daddy, so I won't complain). At some point, Saturday nights turned into a night where my husband and I wait and eat after the kids go to bed. Those are the nights when I make more grown-up foods or just things my kids aren't wild about. I've made this recipe and variations on it a few times because it's easy and both my husband and I love it! When I make this, I pay the extra dollar per pound for the peeled and deveined shrimp. Peeling and cleaning shrimp is not one of my favorite jobs, so unless I'm doing cajun shrimp that really needs the shell to keep the dish from being too spicy, I use peeled shrimp. Experiment with this recipe as you see fit. If you like spicier shrimp, add a tablespoon of cajun seasoning. Add fresh garlic if you like a more scampi style shrimp.


The most important part of this recipe is bread! Either make or buy a nice, crusty loaf of french bread and warm it up right before you eat the shrimp. It does a great job of mopping up the garlicky, buttery sauce that goes with the shrimp.





Pinterest Shrimp
Serves 4

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (if your pan holds more, you can do 2 pounds)
1 stick salted butter
1 lemon, cut in half and sliced
1 package of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix or 2 tablespoons homemade mix (recipe below)
Crusty bread

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Once the oven is preheated, place a large baking sheet  and stick of butter in the oven. Allow the butter to melt. Check after 2 minutes, then continue checking every minute.

3) Place the lemon slices on top of the butter. Top with shrimp, then sprinkle the shrimp with the Good Seasons.

4) Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and curl.

5) Serve in bowls with warm bread on the side.


Good Seasons Copycat
Makes 1/2 cup

1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon coarse salt

Combine in a jar and shake to mix. Store in an airtight jar.

Greek Chicken with Tzatziki

I've been making this dish quite a bit lately. Some variation of it has appeared on our table at least twice a month since March.  I've served it with rice pilaf and salad. We've had it on pita bread and made chicken gyros. It makes a great lettuce wrap with some sauteed peppers and onions on the side. My favorite way to enjoy this is with some roasted potatoes that have just a little bit of Greek seasoning on them and some crisp-tender red bell peppers. And lots of tzatziki. The tzatziki recipe I use with this is amazing. When I first started making it, I only made a half recipe. Those days are long gone. A full recipe doesn't last long in my house. We love to dip chicken, veggies, pita chips, and tortilla chips in the tzatziki.
For many years, chicken marinated in Italian dressing was a staple in my cooking (starting in college). But at some point I just got tired of it. Then I found this recipe...and it's turned into our new go-to chicken dish at the house. If you are looking for something different to do with chicken breasts, I highly recommend this recipe.


Greek Chicken
Serves 4
Adapted from One Perfect Bite

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons for pan
zest of one lemon (I use 1/2 teaspoon of lemon pepper)
1 tablespoons (6 cloves) minced garlic, or more to taste
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika

1) Mix the olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, salt, black pepper, and paprika in a shallow dish.
2) Place the chicken in a large glass bowl or baking dish. Cover in marinade.
3) Allow chicken to marinate in refrigerator for at least two hours.
4) Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
5) Add chicken and saute for 5 minute, turn, and saute 5 minutes longer. Depending on how thick your chicken is, it may be done at this point, or you may need to continue cooking an additional 5 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink inside.
6) Serve with tzatziki.

Note: For some reason, I almost never have fresh lemons on hand. I buy a bag, never use them, and they go bad. So, I've started using lemon pepper instead of lemon zest in this recipe.

This is great with rice, on a salad, in a pita, with potatoes, any way you want to enjoy it! My next experiment will be combining it with orzo, feta, red peppers, and olives.



Tzatziki
serves 8-12
Adapted from Food Network

2 cups Greek yogurt
2 cucumbers, unpeeled and seeded (if using a large, hothouse cucumber, just use one)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or any white vinegar)
1 teaspoon dried dill
3 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2-2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1) Grate the cucumber on a box grater and squeeze the water out of the cucumber shreds using a paper towel.
2) Place the yogurt in a bowl and stir in the cucumber. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3) Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

Dill Dip

I never intended to take this much of a break from blogging, but my kids started getting older and I started spending more time in the car and less time in the house. I'm still doing quite a bit of cooking and gardening. Most nights, I still take a picture of what I've made in the hopes of finding 15 free minutes to write up the recipe. While we were on vacation a few weeks ago, I realized that I really do miss my blog, so I'm making a point to try and keep up with it. Hopefully this will be the first of many posts!

This is a favorite at our house around football season! It goes great with potato chips or veggies. I hadn't made it for a while, but we were recently in California, visiting my friend Cheryl (who gave me this recipe in college).  She made it for a cookout on the 4th of July. My 7 year old son gobbled it up and loved it. The original recipe calls for sour cream, but to make it healthier, Cheryl started making it with Greek yogurt. There is a ton of protein in the dip and I don't notice any difference in flavor. I would eventually like to use a homemade Good Seasons copycat in his recipe, but I'm still tweaking the recipe I use. Since the recipe is so good with the packaged Good Seasons mix, I didn't see a reason to experiment too much for our afternoon snack today.


Dill Dip
Serves 8-12

2 cups sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
1 package Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1 1/2 tablespoons dried dill weed (or 3 tablespoons fresh)

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve with vegetables or potato chips.

This is also really good as a dip for french fries or oven roasted potatoes.

Vanilla Extract

I first made my own vanilla extract as Christmas gifts for friends and family 2 years ago...and I gave every jar of it away, so I never had a chance to test it out.  A few months ago, I decided to make myself a jar of extract. I don't think I can ever go back to the store bought stuff again! If you are looking for nice, homemade Christmas gifts, I highly recommend this one. You can make it as cheap or expensive as your budget allows. I've seen recipes where it is one vanilla bean in a half pint jar with one cup of very inexpensive vodka (probably the cheapest route) and I've seen versions that call for 25 beans in a pint jar with high-quality bourbon (definitely more expensive). Christmas is still about 3 months away, but if you want to give extract as a gift, I recommend starting now. It needs a few months (usually 3 or more) for the vanilla flavor and smell to really come through the alcohol.  I posted the recipe I used for this jar (which I've been using for about 4 months). In my experience, extract that uses vodka is ready to use sooner than extract that uses bourbon, since bourbon has a stronger flavor and scent.  The bourbon, however, gives the extract a much more rich and complex flavor than the vodka, so it really is up to you.  I also plan on adding more bourbon to the jar when it starts getting low.  I used quite a few beans and they still have a strong vanilla scent to them. When I have a recipe that calls for a split vanilla bean, or I make a glaze for a coffee cake, I like to scrape a few beans out of a pod from the extract, just to add a little something extra.  I order my vanilla beans online. People have strong opinions about vanilla beans...I don't. I ordered what was on sale the day I needed beans.  This is easy and worth the time and money. If you give it as a gift, make sure you save a jar for yourself!


Vanilla Extract
makes about 1 pint

8-12 large vanilla beans, split, with some of the little tiny beans scraped into the jar (I used 12)
14 ounces bourbon or vodka (I used bourbon)

Place the vanilla beans and alcohol in a pint-sized mason jar. Add the lid and place in the pantry for at least 2 months (3 if you are using bourbon).  Give as gifts or keep for yourself. Use in any recipe that calls for vanilla extract.

Easy Fajitas

I learned how to make fajitas in a cooking class I took in high school (Nutrition and Wellness I). To this day, I still think it was one of the most useful classes I took in high school. I love fajitas, but I've never really settled on one recipe. I've used bottled marinades, envelopes of seasoning mix, liquid smoke with lime juice and garlic, and a few other recipes. Last month, I was going through my Betty Crocker Bridal Edition cookbook, looking for something new to try. I came across a recipe for fajitas and decided to give it a try. My kids have never been huge fans of fajitas, and I think it was because of the liquid smoke flavor. When I made this recipe, the kids ate a ton of the chicken. My son made his own fajitas with chicken, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese...and he ate 3 of them! This is a great chicken marinade recipe. It would be great with yellow rice and chicken, chicken tacos, or even a grilled chicken breast with a baked potato.  I've shared this recipe with a few friends and they all loved it (and so did their children). If you love to go out for fajitas, but don't make them at home because you think they are too much work, I highly recommend trying this recipe. It is easy and very kid-friendly!


Fajitas
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Makes 12 fajitas

Fajita marinade (recipe follows)
1 pound chicken breast or thighs, pounded to uniform thickness
2 tablespoons oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 medium green or red bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips
Optional Toppings:
Sour cream
1 cup shredded Monterey jack or cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomato
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole

1) Place chicken in a glass dish or bag. Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate 4 - 24 hours.
2) Heat oven to 325. Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil. Heat in oven about 15 minutes, or until warm. Remove tortillas from oven; keep wrapped.
3) Set oven to broil. Remove chicken from marinade. Broil chicken 4 minutes, turn and broil 3-4 minutes longer, or until chicken is no longer pink. Discard any leftover marinade.
4) While chicken is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions and peppers until tender, but not too soft, about 6-8 minutes.
5) Cut chicken into strips before serving.
6) Assemble fajitas with chicken, onions, peppers, and your choice of toppings.

Marinade
1/4 cup oil (I used grapeseed)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients in a shallow glass dish.

Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I love biscuits. I do not love rolling out, cutting, reshaping, and re-rolling dough. That's why I love drop biscuits. I also lack the patience to use a pastry cutter to cut butter into the dough. I have a food processor, but I feel bad getting it down for biscuits when I have 2 pastry cutters (one of which belonged to my great-grandmother) in my kitchen.  I was a Bisquick drop biscuit girl for many years, but the price kept going up, so I really wanted to learn to make my own biscuits from scratch.  One day I was researching buttermilk drop biscuit recipes and came across this gem.  In this recipe, you melt the butter, then let it cool for a few minutes before mixing it with the buttermilk. The buttermilk helps the melted butter solidify just a enough before mixing it with the dry ingredients. There is no need for a pastry cutter, two knives, or a food processor. While I enjoy the ease of the recipe, taste is even more important. I am happy to report that these taste wonderful! They really aren't that much more work than Bisquick biscuits, and in my opinion, they taste so much better and are more moist. I've been making these for over a year and am convinced that I've found the perfect recipe! I've added cheddar cheese and garlic powder to these a few times for easy garlic cheese biscuits and my family loved them. A few weekends ago, I chopped up a few pieces of crispy bacon and added some cheddar and chives for a wonderful treat at breakfast (those are the biscuits in the picture). But my favorite way to eat them, is just he basic biscuit recipe with butter. OK, I also really like them with homemade sausage gravy. If you are looking for an easy biscuit recipe, I highly recommend this one!


Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
from Pink Parsley

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 tablespoons butter, melted, and cooled for about 5 minutes at room temperature

1) Preheat oven to 475.
2) In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and kosher salt.
3) In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and buttermilk, stirring until small clumps are formed.
4) Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until the dough begins to pull away from the sides.
5) Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough into 12 biscuits. Optional- you can roll the dough into balls to make them look pretty and uniform.
6) Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, or until the tops are golden-brown. Optional: brush the tops with melted butter before serving.

For garlic-cheese biscuits: Add 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese with dry ingredients.

For bacon-cheese-chive biscuits: Add 4 strips of cooked, crumbled bacon, 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, and 2 tablespoons fresh chives with the dry ingredients.

School Lunches and Snacks

My son started first grade yesterday (we start school really early in our county). After a summer of having the time to make fun/more involved lunches at home, it was time to start packing a lunch box again. Last year, I packed the lunches for the first part of the school year, then I decided I really wanted a few extra minutes of sleep, so my husband took over packing the lunch box. I know that my whole day is easier if I get up before the kids, so this year, I'm back on lunch duty. For the last few years, my son has had a snack schedule for his class. This year he needs to bring his own snack every day. My daughter goes to school twice a week and also needs to pack a snack, so I'll post some snacks with my list of lunch ideas. I try to do a mix of store bought and homemade things in lunches. It is exhausting to do everything homemade, even though I'd really like to. Baking the bread, roasting the chicken, making the dips, baking the cookies, making the crackers, and cutting all of the fruit take time. I try to find a balance because time in the kitchen (cooking and cleaning dishes) is time I'm not spending playing with the kids or doing other housework (have I mentioned that I have a messy house?).  My kids are fine with Publix whole wheat bread, so I tend to use that for sandwiches...but they love my homemade cheese-its and energy bites, so I'll take the time to make those. When my son started losing his baby teeth, sending whole apples and plums in his lunch was harder. If grapes, blueberries, or oranges aren't in season and he's tired of carrots, I'll send in applesauce (store bought).  I've checked Pinterest for lunch ideas and have even pinned a few things...but honestly, most of them are too much work at 6:15 in the morning. The bento boxes are cute, but really expensive (my son sometimes throws away his lunch containers). I still use ziploc sandwich bags for most things. I did find some really inexpensive ziploc divided lunch containers at Target and they fit in my son's lunch box.  OK, here's my list of lunch ideas. I hope this helps some of you that are looking for new ideas!

Lunch in the picture- carrot chips, no-bake energy bites, ham and cheese roll-ups, and 2 wedges of laughing cow cheese.

Lunch Ideas:
Homemade lunchables- stacks of crackers, lunch meat, and cheese cut to match the size of the crackers
Soup in a thermos- we tried this yesterday and it didn't leak!! Use canned or homemade (our favorites are chicken noodle and turkey soup)
Rollups- lunch meat and cheese of your choice. I packed 6 roll-ups today
Tuna salad and crackers (if your school doesn't allow plastic knives, just send a spoon)
Crackers with peanut butter
Peanut butter and apple wrap- I haven't made this one yet, but my son enjoyed it in a Publix Deli kid's meal
Hard-boiled egg, peeled (my son likes these with ranch dressing)
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich- it's easy and often overlooked when packing lunches
Sandwiches made with leftover roasted chicken, turkey, or roast beef
Note about sandwiches- Sometimes I take my son to the store to pick out the deli meat, cheese, and bread. It gives him some freedom, and ownership in his lunch, and it shows me that he's willing to eat things I'd never thought of.

Snack/Side Ideas:
Homemade crackers- I have quite a few variations on homemade-cheeze-its (King Arthur Flour Cheese Pennies (my favorite), my variation on cheese pennies (different cheese and flours), cheddar cheese crackers (mixed grains), and homemade cheeze-its (similar to cheese pennies, but with less butter).
Chocolate peanut butter energy bars (similar to KIND bars)
Fruit and nut bars (similar to LARA bars)
No-Bake energy bites- I have my kids convinced that these are dessert
Carrots and ranch or carrots and peanut butter
Applesauce- I recommend this one if you are making homemade
Carrots or pretzels with laughing cow cheese- my son's favorite snack
String cheese
Chex Mix-I love the recipe on the back of the box, but double the amount of sauce

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dip with Greek Yogurt

My apologies for the shadow in the picture. The lens on my camera isn't working at all right now. Until I get to a local camera shop to have it fixed, my blog photos will come from the iphone 4. I promise not to make them too artsy with Instagram.

I am NOT anti-ranch dressing/dip at all.  If it gets my son to eat broccoli, it's fine with me. He's still eating broccoli. How many of us grown-ups regularly eat steamed or raw veggies with no oil, butter, dip, or salt? That's what I thought :) OK, that's not my point. We are a family that loves to dip our veggies. The kids even like to dip everything, not just veggies.  I decided that my job as a mom was not to protect them from the delicious flavor of veggies dipped in ranch. Instead, it is to make sure that they get some quality ingredients from their dips. I do have bottles of thousand island and bbq sauce in my fridge because I'm sometimes missing an ingredient or two for a homemade dip. And some nights I either forget or run out of time to mix up something, but I really do try to make most of their dips. It helps that most commercial ranch dressing gives my son a rash around his mouth, so I have to make the real stuff.

I kept seeing ideas on Pinterest for ranch dip using Greek yogurt. We love greek yogurt and it tastes like sour cream, so I figured it was worth a shot. Ranch dressing packets are pretty expensive, so I decided to use some spices I had around the house to make a dip.  I ended up adding a little bit of buttermilk. I keep it on hand because I cook and bake with it quite a bit. If you leave it out, the dip should be fine.  When I tasted the dip, something was missing...lemon juice. I was out of lemons and didn't feel like thawing the one of the cubes of Meyer lemon juice from the freezer, so I grabbed my Penzeys lemon pepper seasoning. It was perfect! I think this will become a permanent addition to my ranch recipes. This ended up being very kid and adult friendly. We had some for snack and with dinner. Now I need to make more!

As you can see from the picture, my son couldn't keep his fingers out of the dip, even while I was taking pictures.

Just in case you are looking for more dips and dressings to make from scratch, here is a list of some of the recipes I've posted:

Thousand Island Dressing
Parmesan Peppercorn Ranch 
Peanut Sauce (really good with chicken)
Blue Cheese (my favorite)
Honey Mustard

Ranch Dip
Makes 1 cup

1 cup Greek yogurt
1 - 2 tablespoons buttermilk (I used 2)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt (start with 1/4 and add more if you need it)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon lemon pepper (or 1 teaspoon lemon juice + 1/8 teaspoon pepper)

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

I know that "favorite" is a strong word. But I mean it when I say that this is my favorite chocolate cake.  Last fall, I was on a very low carb diet. It worked, but at the end of 8 weeks, I really, really wanted chocolate cake. When my chocolate cake craving was at it's peak, friends invited us over for dinner. That's when I discovered this cake. I've made it at least 4 times since November- which is a lot for a cake this rich.  It is a simple recipe- it's the one off the back of the Hershey's Cocoa can. I had the "Special Dark" cocoa the first time I made this, and loved it, so that's the type of cocoa I've been using. The cake is almost black inside because there is so much cocoa.  The recipe calls for vegetable oil. I decided to use coconut oil because it makes more moist baked goods. Just make sure you melt the coconut oil first....otherwise you will be mixing forever. I also use the frosting recipe on the back of the can. You don't even need a mixer for it since the butter is melted.  Once this frosting is cooled in the fridge, it is really hard to work with. I like to bake the cakes in the evening and wrap them in plastic wrap overnight. Then I mix up the frosting in the morning and frost the cake as soon as I've made the chocolate frosting. To add a little something extra, you can be creative with toppings. The one pictured has shaved white chocolate on top. I've considered trying a peanut butter frosting recipe for the middle of the cake. I think my next experiment will be toasted coconut on top. My husband doesn't like coconut, so I guess that means more cake for me!

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake
from Hersheys.com 

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
3/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (whole milk)
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Frosting (recipe follows)

1) Heat oven to 325 (cakes cook more evenly at 325 than 350). Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2) Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer, on medium speed 2 minutes (start on low, otherwise you'll have cocoa powder all over your kitchen...true story). Stir in boiling water. The batter will be very thin. Pour into cake pans.
3) Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting
makes 2 cups of frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
2/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add a small amount of milk, if the frosting is too thick. Stir in vanilla.

Rainbow Veggies

My friend Kayla sent me this recipe a few months ago.  Once I made it, I was kicking myself for not making it sooner! It was really easy and tasted amazing.  I served it with a sweet pork tenderloin (recipe coming soon, I hope). The leftover veggies were really good with eggs and sausage the next morning. This wasn't the most kid-friendly side dish for my kids. My daughter loved the purple potatoes and my son ate enough bell peppers to get a second serving of pork. My kids tend to me more into broccoli, carrots, spinach (my son), corn, peas, sweet potato, winter squash, and green beans. This was the perfect side dish for my husband and  I- especially since everything except for the purple potatoes is in season in Florida right now, so it was cheap and really fresh. The original recipe called for vidallia onions. I accidentally left them out and thought it turned out great without them.  I may add cauliflower next time since I've recently discovered how amazing roasted cauliflower is! The biggest change I made from the original recipe was the cooking time. It called for cooking everything together for 40 - 45 minutes. I knew that in my oven the peppers would burn and the squash would be "mushy." Since we prefer crisp peppers and squash, I changed the cooking time a little bit.  I will definitely make this again while these veggies are cheap and in season!

Rainbow Veggies

Serves 3 adults

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

4 – 6 small purple potatoes (I used what was in a bag of mixed potatoes)

Olive oil

Seasoned Salt

1) Heat oven to 400.

2) Quarter the small potatoes and cut other veggies to roughly the same size.  

3) Toss the potatoes in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season generously with seasoned salt. Bake for 15 minutes. 

4) Add remaining vegetables, 1 more tablespoon of olive oil, and season with more seasoned salt. Bake for 15 minutes. 

Hawaiian Chicken Tacos

I made up this recipe when we ended up with 2/3 can of leftover pineapple after making Hawaiian pizza last week.  I love teriyaki chicken with pineapple, but wanted to find something more creative (and a little more kid-friendly) than stir-fry. Somewhere along the line, Hawaiian chicken tacos were born.  They were a hit at my house with all 4 of us. Even my 3 year-old who is normally very anti-burrito or taco, gobbled up a chicken, cheese, and pineapple burrito. I think this is going to make it into our normal meal rotation! I decided to save a few calories for ice cream after the gym, so I skipped the tortilla on mine and made lettuce wraps.  My husband, son, and I topped our tacos with a little bit of sweet chili sauce, it added the perfect amount to spice and sweetness to the recipe.

Hawaiian Chicken Tacos
Serves 4

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (I used one from food.com)
1 can pineapple chunks, in juice
12 fajita-sized flour tortillas
shredded lettuce
4 oz shredded colby jack cheese
Sweet chili sauce (optional)

1) Heat the olive and sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside (about 10-12 minutes).
2) Add teriyaki sauce, and simmer for 5 minutes over medium-low heat.
3) To assemble taco: place chicken in the bottom of a tortilla, top with pineapple, lettuce, cheese, and sweet chili sauce.

Grain-Free Granola

I am NOT on a paleo, gluten-free, grain-free, or super low carb diet, and I don't have plans to follow one of those. I do however, have several friends who for health reasons limit or have completely cut grains or gluten out of their diets, so I enjoy reading recipes on different paleo and traditional food websites. I've been following a lower carb diet since September, but for me, it's mostly meant eating less sugar and not having seconds (or thirds) on bread. Because of this, I've experimented with a few grain free recipes, some have been successful and others not so much.
Growing up and throughout college, breakfast was never much of a priority for me. I'm not a morning person, so I tend to sleep as late as I can, which meant a quick breakfast. Over the last few years, I've discovered how much I love breakfast...except for cereal.  I am the queen of buying a box of cereal, eating 2 bowls, then never touching it again. I get bored with them. I also really dislike cereal that gets soggy in milk. But my #1 problem with cereal: it never keeps me full for more than an hour, so I end up having a much larger snack than I usually would in the morning. One day, while avoiding laundry, I did a search for grain-free cereals, just to see what was out there.  I came across a recipe that used nuts, coconut, coconut oil, dried fruit, and honey (this is NOT a low fat recipe).  I had all of the ingredients except for some of the nuts and the flaked coconut.  The original recipe called for almonds, walnuts, and macadamia nuts.  I had almonds and walnuts, but found the macadamia nuts to be way too expensive, so I used hazelnuts. I would also rather use pecans than walnuts (personal preference), but since I already had the walnuts, I decided to use them since they were already in my freezer and therefore, free food.  I used my food processor to grind the hazelnuts and walnuts, so the recipe took very little time to prepare. While the cereal was baking, I even managed to unload and reload the dishwasher, and throw dinner into the crock pot!
My husband and I both loved this cereal. I was very surprised when I came home and found my husband snacking on it- he doesn't like coconut, so I assumed I'd be eating the whole batch by myself.  We both had a 1/2 cup for breakfast the next morning with milk and bananas. I usually have a snack around 10:00, but didn't feel hungry until 11:00 (we have breakfast at 6:30). My husband said it kept him full until lunch time. This recipe is a keeper. I look forward to experimenting with different nuts and dried fruits for variety.


Grain Free Granola
Adapted from Paleo Parents
Makes about 13 servings, 1/2 cup each

1 1/2 cups sliced or slivered almonds
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup walnuts (or pecans) finely chopped or ground into a meal
1 cup hazelnuts finely chopped or ground into a meal
1/2 cup fresh dates, diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons, cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 275.  Combine nuts, coconut flakes, dates, and cranberries in a large bowl.
2) Whisk together oil, cinnamon, and honey in a small bowl.
3) Pour oil-honey mixture over the nuts, coconut, dates, and cranberries. Mix well.
4) Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
5) Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent burning.
6) Allow to cool on paper towels or coffee filters. Store in an air tight container.

Simple Salmon

We love salmon. I've been wanting to find a recipe that is a little lighter than my usual salmon recipe. This is about as light and simple as it gets.  It's also easy- no marinating and no sauce to make.  The first time I made this, I used 1 pound of salmon for the 4 of us.  My son almost cried when we told him that he couldn't have seconds because there wasn't enough salmon.  I finally understand why cookbooks tell you to plan on 6 ounces of fish per person. I buy a little extra salmon for 2 reasons: 1) I remove the skin, and I'm not good at that, so we lose a little bit of salmon, and 2) we have a dog who loves table scraps.  When I made this last week, I had 1.9 pounds of salmon. All 4 of us ate as much as we wanted and Lucy (our dog) ate less dog food that night because she got a nice piece of salmon.  Next time I will shoot for 1.5 pounds. I use wild salmon, but that is just what my husband and I prefer. The market where I bought my fish charged $1 more per pound for the wild salmon than it did for the farm raised. Our side dishes were corn on the cob and roasted potatoes cut to look like thick potato chips. I don't have exact amounts for the seasoned salt or lemon pepper, use the amount that looks right to you. You can always add more if you need to.

Simple Salmon

serves 4

24 ounces of salmon, skin removed

2 tablespoons oil (I used grapeseed)

2 teaspoons seasoned salt

1 teaspoon lemon pepper 

1) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 4 minutes. Sprinkle half of the seasoned salt and lemon pepper evenly over one side the salmon. 

2) Cook the salmon, seasoned side down for 5 minutes. Season the other side with the remaining seasoned salt and lemon pepper. Turn and cook for 5 more minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

3) Add additional salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with lemon wedge, if desired. 

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza

Right now my son is pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. He also really likes, pizza, cheeseburgers, bacon, and barbecue sauce.  I decided that I could easily combine those things and make a bacon cheeseburger pizza.  I made one pizza for the 4 of us.  It was just enough, no leftovers.  We were planning on going out for dessert that night, so we all saved room.  If dessert hadn't been part of the plan, I would have needed more pizza.  We only had spicy barbecue sauce in the house, so I decided to make a small batch of my own for the pizza. I'm so glad I did!  The sweet taste from the barbecue sauce went really well with the saltiness of the bacon, cheese, and ground beef. This is definitely being added to the list of things I will make again soon!

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza

3/4 cup barbecue sauce (recipe follows)
1 1-pound ball pizza dough
4 bacon strips, cooked, drained, and crumbled
1/2 pound ground beef
seasoned salt
Worcestershire sauce
Shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese (as much as you want)

1) Preheat oven to 375. Roll out pizza dough to desired thickness.  Bake at 375 for 5 minutes (for thin crusts) or 10 minutes (for thicker crusts).
2) While dough is baking, brown ground beef. Add seasoned salt and worcestershire sauce, to taste. Drain ground beef.
3) After the dough bakes for a few minutes, remove from oven.  Top with pizza sauce, 1/2 of the cheese, all of the ground beef, and remainder of the cheese. Sprinkle bacon on top.
4) Bake at 375 for 10 more minutes.

Barbecue Sauce
Makes 3/4 cup

2/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard (I used dijon)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a small pan.  Heat over medium-low heat until sauce is warm.

Apple Cake

After posting about my cast iron, I realized that I should probably post a recipe or two that uses cast iron. We had friends over one night for "Pioneer Woman Appreciation Night." It could have easily been called "Butter Appreciation Night." I made some yummy sandwiches and apple cake in an iron skillet. I've made the sandwiches a few times, and even blogged about them. I used my 10 inch skillet to make the sandwiches.  I should have used it for the apple cake.  I ended up with a baking sheet under the 8 inch skillet in the oven because I was afraid of the mess that would happen if the cake started to boil over. Thankfully there was no spill-over.  The cake was delicious! 4 adults and 3 children managed to eat the whole thing.  Since the Pioneer Woman has great step-by-step instructions for this recipe, I'll send you over to her website instead of retyping everything. If you are looking for something non-chocolate that is easy to make, I recommend you make this as soon as possible!