Sunday, February 17, 2013

Homemade Peanut Butter

I read this post and it said that all you have to do is blend. Blend, blend, blend. No adding anything. Just blend.

I highly doubted that.

I was SOOOOOO awesomely surprised when all I did was blend and BAM! HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER!!!

I went above and beyond here and tried to make it more of something I would like so I took the 16 oz. of honey roasted peanuts, blended them and when it was a consistency I liked, I added about 1 tbsp. of cinnamon and blended some more.

Yummmmmmmmmmmy!


Here is the link to the original pin...
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/07/homemade-peanut-butter.html

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Crockpot Honey Mustard Chicken and Potatoes


You might ask how it’s possible to ruin a crock pot meal because the crock pot does the cooking for you. It must be known that crock-potting is an art! 

You have to make sound judgments about which of the 4 temperature buttons will be right for the size meat you have, the temperature of the meat when entering the pan of doom, and texture of meat you want when all is said and done. I think you at least need to have taken statistics, calculus and physics to get the perfect crock pot meal. For this meal, I'm assuming some higher level education science course was needed that I didn't take.

I guess I was thrown by the "if you are looking for something simple, easy and scrumptious to make for dinner, this is it". It sounded like all I needed was a kindergarten graduation diploma.

I followed the directions verbatim but ended up with charcoal. 

After staring at it for a few minutes, Husband and I looked at each other and I said "Well, there's always Taco Bell".

But being the trooper that he is, he poked it a bit and said that he would eat it. What's a little burnt chicken gonna do? So he chewed on it. As did I. No need to waste food. 

We did not eat the leftovers.


Oops.

Creamy Garlic Pasta

This is probably in the top 5 of my favorite Pinterest recipes I've tried. If you have read any of my previous posts, then you know I love carbs. Pasta being my favorite carb.

Well baby is getting crunk so I'm going to finish this up...


http://thecheesepusher.tumblr.com/post/2719857351/creamy-garlic-pasta


Chili Powder Cucumber Slices

I did this one a long time ago and was so under impressed that it's taken me this long to mention it.

I figured it would be super tasty but it was just bleh. Husband and I just threw them away.

I love cucumbers but I believe I will just stick with dipping them in ranch.


Lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder

Abueolo's Papas con Chile

If you love Abuelo's, then you more than likely love their "papas".

If you love their papas, then you will love me.

If you love me, thank you :)

Apparently, Abuelo's posted their recipe on their Facebook page and someone tried it and put it on THEIR blog. Lucky for you, it made its way to Pinterest and then into my kitchen.

It tastes exactly like the real deal. I was impressed. SO good!! As with all leftovers, it didn't taste as yummy the next day but when it was fresh it was delicioso.


Enjoy!!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Maple Pecan Sticky Buns


Oh wow. Don't THOSE look tasty. If you have arrived here via Pinterest, I have to tell you that your buns will look nothing like those buns because my buns looked horrible....but...they tasted delicious and that is why I'm going to share this Southern Living recipe.

The good news: I got to use my new rolling pin instead of my son's little tykes baseball bat to roll the dough out. I also got to use my pink KitchenAid mixer!!<--------tail wagging

The bad news: everything else. 

These were so stinking hard to roll and cut!! I had to use half a bag of flour just to keep the dough from sticking to me, the pin, and the surface. So they were basically flour buns by the time all was said and done.
But before I even got to this stage, I was digging the brown sugar out of the bag with a measuring cup and it flung up in the air and brown sugar went everywhere. And I mean everywhere. So I had to start over.

While I was cutting them, the dough flattened out and I had paper thin rolls that I had to try and stretch out to put in the pan. I could go on for days about how this was hard to make. It took an hour and a half total but it was worth it. 

The only thing I would change is doubling the amount of cinnamon sugar you put in the roll itself. I can never get enough.

Ingredients:
Maple syrup
1 16 oz. package hot roll mix
3 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Maple glaze (you will make yourself)
1.2 c. chopped pecans

Sticky Bun Syrup:
whisk together 2/3 c. powdered sugar, 1/4 c. melted butter, 2 tbsp. maple syrup and 1 egg white until smooth.

Maple glaze:
melt  tbsp. butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in 1/4 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar, 2 tbsp. maple syrup and a pinch of salt until blended. Whisk in  tbsp. milk, bring mixture to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low;simmer, whisking constantly 3-4 minutes or until glaze is golden brown and glossy. Use immediately.

1. Lightly grease 2 8-inch round or square cake pans or skillets. Spoon Sticky Bun Syrup into pans.
2. Prepare hot roll dough as directed on back of package; let dough stand 5 minutes.
3. Roll dough into an 18x10 inch rectangle (good luck).Spread with melted butter. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon;sprinkle over butter.
4. Roll dough up tightly, starting at 1 long end;cut into 16 sliced using a serrated knife. (again, good luck)Place 1 slice in center of each prepared pan. Place 7 slices around center roll in each pan.
5. Cover pans loosely with plastic wrap;let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 30-45 minutes.
6. Preheat over to 350. Uncover rolls, and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Prepare maple glaze and brush over rolls. Top with roasted pecans.

I tried.


Portobello Mushroom Pizza

Go ahead and scroll down to the original picture.

You can't tell me that that doesn't look delicious!! It looks good and sounds good.

So let me tell you how it really went down.

First off, they must live in a place where portobello mushrooms grow to the size of basketballs. But in Texas, these anomalies don't exist. The biggest they had were about the size of a small apple so I was hoping that stuffing wasn't going to be impossible.

Let me begin with the cheese. I needed parmigiano reggiano cheese. It is shredded in the picture so I assumed it came shredded. As you might assume, it was in the "fancy" cheese section and this girl doesn't shop fancy cheeses. If it's not Kraft or Sargento, I've never heard of it. Yet there it was!! Shredded! I was thrilled this exotic cheese actually existed in Texas. Then I turned it over to look at the price of this small tub of cheese. $10. I blurted out "OH HEEEEEELL NO!" and dug for a cheaper tub but none existed. Then I found a tub of chunks of this cheese for $3.84. About the same ounce amount. What the heck? I'll shred it myself and save $6.

I got all the other ingredients cut up, ready to mix, gutted the mushroom and then I got my trusty, handy dandy  saladmaster to shred the cheese. Y'all, this cheese was like plastic. It would NOT shred. I was terrified that I was going to cut my fingers off with that turny blade thing I was pushing and turning so hard. So I tried a hand grater and about took my knuckles off and at the rate the cheese was shredding, Baby would be off to college. So I employed Husband's muscles and after a few minutes, he got the job done.

After all was said and done, I realized that I would have paid $10 to have this crap already shredded for me.

AAAAnyway, I got the mushrooms stuffed, the cheese sprinkled on top and it was smelling good and I was munching on leftover cheese while the mushrooms cooked.

In the end, we gave this dish a 5 and it was NOT worth all the trouble of shredding that stupid cheese. If anything, it would be a good appetizer but not for a meal. So does it look good? Yes. Does it taste good? Eh.


Just in case you don't believe me...
http://archive.bodyrock.tv/2011/06/25/delicious-healthy-pizza-recipe/