Labels

To my fellow sisters and anyone else who may be posting on this blog:
Please use labels. You know, at the bottom of the post put words in to describe your recipe, such as chicken, pork, easy, quick, cookies, you get the picture. If you don't do this, then I can't find them easily. I'll still have to go back and look through many posts to find what I want. If you are confused, look at my post and you will see it is labeled with a few words. Then you can look on the side of our blog and see a "labels" section and you can find what you want easy and efficiently. Kapish? Also, will you go back to your posts and add labels so that someday when I want to make carrot cake or tangy piggy pork yumminess, then I can just look at the labels and hit pork, or cake, instead of searching through all the blog. And thank you. And love you.

You will notice that this post has no labels--that is because it is not a recipe. Except maybe a recipe for no disaster. Bwa ha ha!

Tangy Piggy

We have a bunch of Pork Roasts in the fridge so tonight for our "Welcome Home Daddy" dinner I made Tangy Slow Cooker Pork Roast off of Allrecipes (I linked to it in case you want to read the comments). Here is the recipe:



Ingredients

1 large onion, sliced
2 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin roast
1 cup hot water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Directions

Arrange onion slices evenly over the bottom of the slow cooker, and then place the roast on top of the onion. In a bowl, mix together water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, and hot sauce; pour over roast.
Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours, or on High for 3 to 4 hours.


The only thing I changed was I put a teaspoon of minced garlic (equivalent of 2 cloves) instead of the garlic powder and I didn't do any hot sauce. I also added a half bag of baby carrots to cook with the roast.

The result?

We liked it. At first something seemed off and after a while I figured out the problem. We fixed the sides like we would a regular roast: mashed potatoes and gravy made from the juices from the roast. Because the gravy was a little sweet, I think it would have been much better if we would have done it with rice instead. It feels a little Asian. We are eating the leftovers with rice tomorrow so I'll let you know if it is better. But even with the mashed potatoes and gravy it was really good. Just not a typical roast.

Was that good for my first post? I feel all nervous about it. Do you like it? Do you still like me?

Carrot Cake

I asked Matt what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. His favorite is carrot cake so I attempted to make it for the first time. I did my research to make sure I got a good recipe and found this one off of allrecipes. It turned out amazing! And we found that it only got better each day.

Carrot Cake (adapted from Sam's Famous Carrot Cake on allrecipes.com)

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 cups shredded carrots
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x12 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
4. In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.
5. Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.
6. Pour into prepared 8x12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick. (If you use 2 round cake pans, decrease cook time by 15-20 minutes.)
7. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting II

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 3-4 cups confectioners' sugar (to your desired level of sweetness)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Beat softened butter and cream cheese until well blended.
2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until creamy.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Chicken Tikka Masala

This is a great Indian dish to try! It took me about an hour to make but it was worth it. I halved this entire recipe and there was a lot left over with two of us. I made substitutions for almost everything in here because I didn't have the exact seasonings; for example, dry mustard or crushed mustard seed instead of turmeric (although you don't get the fun yellow-colored rice), but it tasted great. Because it calls for salt in each piece of the recipe, be careful to not overdo it (mine was just a little salty). Maybe wait until the end to season to taste with the salt.

Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts
1/2 c plain yogurt (or fat free sour cream)
6 Tb butter (divided)
cumin
coriander
kosher salt

1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 in. chunk fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 T. salt
3 T. Garam Masala
1 T. sugar
28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 c heavy cream

2 c Basmati rice, uncooked
1 T ground turmeric
4 c. water

optional:
fresh cilantro
chili peppers or ground red peppers
frozen peas

Directions:
Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with Kosher salt (don't use too much or it tastes very salty). Next sprinkle them on both sides with coriander and cumin. Then coat the chicken with the plain yogurt. Set the chicken on a metal cooling rack over a foil-lined cookie sheet and place it about 10-12 inches below a broiler for 5-7 minutes on each side. It should have slightly blackened edges. Remove from oven.

To a rice cooker add 2 cups Basmati rice, 4 Tb butter, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tb ground turmeric and 4 c water. Cover, turn on your rice cooker and walk away.

Next dice the onion and saute with 2 Tb butter over med-high heat until slightly browned. As the onions cook, mince your garlic and ginger. Add to onions with 1 Tb salt.
At this point add 3 Tb Garam Masala spice. If you like it hot, add a chili pepper or two. (I just used some ground red pepper) Add the tomatoes and continue cooking and stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Add about 1 Tb sugar and allow this mixture to simmer on medium for 5 minutes.

After the Tikka Masala sauce has had a chance to simmer for a bit, add in the 1 1/2 c heavy cream. Now chop up your chicken breasts into chunks and add them into the sauce.
A handful of chopped cilantro is a nice addition if you like cilantro (I do not). You can also throw some frozen peas into the cooked rice, give them a stir and allow the heat of the rice to cook the peas. (We had peas on the side. I like something green with my meals:)

Also, if you're cheap like me and don't want to spend $4 on a seasoning you're going to use once, substitute for the Garam Masala (I halved this as well):

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp crumbled bay leaves
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Adapted from whatsonmymenu.blogspot.com

Creamy Chicken Casserole

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz package of cream cheese (or 1 c. sour cream)
1/2 c. mozzarella or Parmesan cheese
20 Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cut chicken in bottom of casserole dish. Mix cream of chicken soup with softened cream cheese or sour cream (add milk to thin if needed). Stir in cheese. Pour mixture over chicken and top with crushed crackers. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Serve over rice or mixed veggies.

I got this off of my friend's food blog, but, as usual, I made some adjustments. I followed her recipe, using sour cream instead of cream cheese, and 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese. Then, because I worried it would be too bland and cream of chicken soupy, I added about 10-12 shakes of garlic powder. Instead of Ritz crackers, I topped it with crushed up Honey Bunches of Oats. Yes, you heard me correct, Honey Bunches of Oats. Once I ran out of corn flakes for homemade chicken fingers and used Honey Bunches of Oats instead, and I liked the sweet crunchiness and golden flakiness. So, I thought I'd try it. I'll let you know how it tastes.

Adapted from www.ldsbaker.blogspot.com

Super easy and Super Awesome Side-dessert

Tonight is one of my dishes that I'm most proud of. I know most of you reading this are big fans of my many desserts and confections, but as far as I'm concerned, Stove Top is a dessert. To make Stove Top stuffing, you'll need:

1 box Stove Top Stuffing (chicken, pork, or cornbread flavor is ok)

1 1/2 cup water

4 Tbs margarine or other butter substitute (if you're watching the cals and you hate happiness, you can cut it back 3 1/2 Tbs.

To start you need to put the water in a pot on the stove. Place the water in the pot. Turn the stove on as high as it will go and then wait until the water boils. (If you're unfamiliar with water boiling or are boiling at high altitudes, I'd recommend clicking here.) Make sure there are no floaties such as pieces of cornflakes, oatmeal, or other things left over from being right-side up in the dishwasher. If you do see something, try to get it out with your fingers before the water gets hot.

HOT TIP: All though the recipe doesn't mention it, the pros know to boil their water extra long. I like to let my pot of boiling water simmer until the steam just starts t0 turn opaque to really let the flavor soak in.

Next, stir in the margarine until melted. Make sure you use fresh margarine. If your margarine is even slightly rancid or has been sitting on the dashboard of your car while parked in the sun for more an hour, I would recommend trying to substitute it with something else...butter is ok if there are no other alternatives, but don't complain to me about lack of flavor.

After that, open the bag of stuffing. Make sure you don't eat all the dry bread crumbs before you put them in the pot...I know how good they are.

Now take your pan off the heat and cover with a snug fitting lid. Now comes the hard part...waiting! I like to go sit with a blow dryer set on medium-high while I wait being careful not to let it get too hot.

After about 5 min, you can remove the lid from the pan and fluff the stuffing with a fork. Then enjoy! Just make sure you have someone to share it with or you'll eat the whole thing by yourself!