What's Cooking?

Hello....is anyone still out there?  I'm becoming a very lazy blogger these days!  I've still been cooking up a storm and experimenting with new recipes, I just haven't taken the time to sit down at the computer and create a post!  Life keeps me busy sometimes all the time!  Even though I'm not bringing you a beautiful post with lots of pictures and new ideas, I thought I would share a few of the recipes I've been cooking up over the past few weeks.  I try to plan our weekly meal plan on Mondays.  That usually means I'm scouring the internet trying to find that one post I saw with the crispy stuffed eggrolls from a few months ago.  I should really start bookmarking these things! :)  Anyway, here's a few classics that we have tried.  I know you will love them!
Sour Cream Noodle Bake from Pioneer Woman
{Um...delicious!  It sounds quite weird and when you see the ingredients list, you may be a little skeptical.  Don't be, take my word for it...it's great!  (I sound a little like Tony the Tiger there)  It's even better the second and third day!}
Chicken and Black Bean Grean Enchilada Bake from Picky Palate
{Yum!  This has everything you need for a great southwestern dish.  I was a little hesitant to make an "enchilada bake" that did not include tortillas, but you won't even notice. The flavors have just enough kick and the rice adds a nice, appetite pleasing touch.  You will definitley have plenty for leftovers when you make this!}
Salsa Chicken and Ranch Florentine Tostadas from Picky Palate
{Another great winner from the Picky Palate (can you tell I love her style of cooking).  I should just pick 5 or 6 of her recipes every week and make them, but then that wouldn't be fair to the other wonderful blogs out there!  Gotta mix it up a little!  Thanks Jenny for creating such awesome recipes - she's coming out with a cookbook soon.  I can't wait to get my hands on that!  These are so simple, yet pack a lot of punch!  I love the spinach and chicken combo mixed with a little salsa.  I also love crisping up my corn tortillas until they have a nice crunch to them!  Declared a keeper in our house!  I've probably made this 4 or 5 times since I stumbled on the recipe a couple of months ago!}
Chicken Tostada Upside Down Bake from Picky Palate (Who Else?)
{Are you sensing a southwestern theme in my baking lately?  I am.  C liked this, I wasn't as much a fan of the cresent rolls on top.  Maybe I didn't cook it quite long enough to make it not soggy, but it wasn't my favorite.  Don't get my wrong, I loved the filling underneath, just not the top layer.  And that's probably my fault for being impatient and taking it out of the oven too soon.  Sometimes that happens when you are trying to get dinner on the table by 6:30 to feed the masses!}
Cheeseburger Macaroni from Kevin and Amanda
{This little number is amazing!  Don't be worried that it looks suspiciously like Hamburger Helper - it most definitely is not!  I would never serve Hamburger Helper to my family (no offense to it or anyone who like it, it's just not my style) and I told C when he took the leftovers to work that he had to inform people that it was not Hamburger Helper!  I think my favorite part of this dish is the cheesy sauce that you drizzle over the top of the meat and tomatoes.  It's so creamy and thick, I kind of wanted to just dip my finger in it and eat it (I didn't though, I was good).  And the addition of Rotel to the ground beef is fantastic.  I {heart} Rotel, it has to be one of the best inventions out there.  Mix it into anything and it livens it up!}
I have also been making Meatloaf Muffins and Mushroom Chicken a lot!  Those are my go to meals when I can't seem to fill a week up with delicious, nutricious, new recipes.  Mainly because I don't take the time to search through my cookbooks and bookmarked recipes! :)
So that's what's been cooking in my kitchen!  Up on the docket for this week, we have:
~Creamy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole from PW
~Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole from Picky Palate
~Southwestern Eggrolls inspired by Kevin and Amanda's Crispy Southwestern Wontons (I couldn't find the smaller wonton wrappers at the grocery, so I'm resorting to egg roll size, I know they are still going to be fantastic)  I'm also thinking of whipping up some creamy guacamole to go with it, and maybe this creamy salsa too!
~Taco Soup that I have in the freezer
~Mushroom Chicken - I told you it's a staple here!
And just for fun, I might even make some of these treats {Salt River Bars}! Layers of crackers, caramel, and chocolate...yes please!

I'll let you know how the new recipes turn out!  We have loved everything we have every tried from all three of these bloggers, so I know we will not be disappointed.  Now that you know what we've been eating, what's on your menu planner this week?  I'm always looking for new recipes, if you have one you just love, let me know!  Happy Cooking!

Fresh Picked Strawberries!

 There's nothing like fresh picked strawberries!  Look at those beautiful berries!  We came home from the local farm with almost five pounds of strawberries...fresh picked by Little Man, C and I.  Strawberry picking is so much fun.  It's all about picking out the perfect berry...and we picked out a ton of them.  With all these strawberries laying around, I had to get a little creative in how to use them before they spoiled.  Besides just eating them straight from the bucket (which we have done our fair share of), I've also whipped up a few new strawberry creations for us to try.  I'm a HUGE fan of the strawberry, it might be my favorite fruit!  Any time I can scoop up fresh strawberries, I do...then I start the experiments!  So far this week, I have made Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream, Balsamic Strawberries and Strawberry Cupcakes!  And I'm here to share all of the recipes with you today!  It is most definitely your Lucky Day! :)

 Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
2 cups fresh strawberries
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup half and half
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 drop red food coloring

Place strawberries in food processor and blend until smooth.  In your ice cream canister, mix strawberries with remaining ingredients.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Freeze according to your ice cream mixer directions.  **Obviously all ice cream makers are a little different.  We have a Sunbeam Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt Maker that works just fine for us.  Nothing fancy, makes just enough for a few days!  It usually takes it about 18-25 minutes to mix and then you store it in the freezer for a few hours to harden.  Oh, and this recipe came from the "users guide" for the machine!**

Fresh strawberry ice cream is my signal that summer is on the way.  I can honestly say that I've had the ice cream mixer since before C and I got married (5 1/2 years ago) and didn't use it once until last summer.  I found it stashed away in our kitchen cabinets and it has since become my new summer friend!  This recipe is so fluffy and creamy, and just the right sweetness!  Yum, whip some up the next time you see some really great strawberries!

Experiment #2:  I will have to say that I was a little leery of this next recipe.  I only sliced up about a cup of the strawberries just in case we didn't like the recipe.  Well guess what, we did like them and wished I had made a few more.  This recipe is so unconventional and not something I would ever think to make, but I'm in a creative mood and couldn't resist.  Trust me, the ingredient list sounds very weird but you need to try these!

 Balsamic Strawberries
Adapted from: Ina Garten
1 cup strawberries
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of fresh black pepper

Combine all ingredients and let set at room temperature for 30 minutes to one hour!  That's it, so simple.  So irresistibly delicious!

And for my GRAND FINALE!

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
 Sprinkles Recipe from Martha Stewart
For the Cupcakes:

2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

2 large egg whites, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.  With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.  Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold

Pinch of coarse salt

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree; mix until just blended. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

Yields: 12 delightful cupcakes

Oh me, oh my!  I've made some really good cupcakes lately, but these take the cake!  Seriously, pardon my terrible pun, but it's true!  The fresh strawberries in this recipe are so light and fresh!  They really make these cupcakes outstanding!  I've never been a huge fan of fruit flavored cupcakes, but these little babies convinced me that fruit and cake can coexist peacefully.  Can you see the strawberry flecks in the frosting?  Pureeing these before mixing them in is the right thing to do.  You get all the great flavor and the pretty color, but you don't have massive chunky frosting!  These are quite possibly my new favorite cupcakes...at least until I find my next experiment!  I have a feeling I'll be making a lot more of these.  Especially if we keep picking strawberries five pounds at a time! :)

Saucy Drumsticks and Thighs

I'm back with a new recipe!  I won't go into the details of why I haven't posted lately, let's just say that life can get a little hectic!  I think I'm trying to balance quite a few things in my life right now and something had to give!  I will have to say though, that during this time I have made a lot of progress on our 2010 family digital scrapbook...it's one of my goals to finish it before the summer!  Between that, chasing Little Man every where, being sick, doing two Beth Moore Bible Studies at one time, my Thirty-One business, and basically keeping up with the house...I've been one busy momma!  I have still taken the time to make nutritious, delicious food for my family so I thought I would spend a little time today sharing one with all of you!  This one is from one of my favorite slow cooker cookbooks, it's called "Southern Living Slow Cooker Cookbook."  I highly recommend it if you love your crock pot.  I received it as a Christmas present while I was in college and use it so much that the pages are falling out of it! :)  So let's get right to it!

Saucy Drumsticks and Thighs
6 chicken drumsticks (about 1 1/2 lbs.), skinned
6 chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs.), skinned
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes with roasted garlic, undrained
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons chicken-flavored bouillon granules
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper *add this at the very end, if at all!  Red Pepper Flakes have a tendency to get extra "flavorful" when stewing in a crockpot all day.  Trust me on this one!

Place chicken in slow cooker.  Combine tomatoes and remaining ingredients; stir well.  Pour over chicken.  Cover; cook on high-heat setting 1 hour.  Reduce to low-heat and cook 4-5 hours until chicken is tender.   Serve over cooked egg noodles or rice!
So, I didn't realize until I started to post this how much I deviate from the recommended cooking times.  Typically when I am using my crock pot, it's because I have a lot going on that day and don't have time to babysit dinner!  So I rarely put something in for one hour and then change the temperature after that!  For this recipe, I typically throw it all together and leave it on low for about 6-7 hours until it just falls apart!  Also, I prefer to use all boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  It seems a little healthier to me and I don't have to sift through dinner trying to make sure I remove all of the bones.  Oh, and sometimes you can't find just the right can of tomatoes (the ones with just garlic), so if I can't I usually get anything that sounds Italian...basil, oregano, garlic..you get the idea!
This is a family favorite and depending on how many pounds of chicken you use, you can usually get a good couple of days worth of meals out of it.  We usually pile it on top of some egg noodles and eat it with a big salad!  Voila...dinner is done.  Hope you enjoy it!

Sausage and Rice Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Hallelujah, I'm feeling well enough to start experimenting in the kitchen again!  The first one out of the gate is a winner, winner!  We found some really great poblano peppers at a local farm and I couldn't wait to get them cooking.  I knew I wanted stuffed peppers, but I wasn't sure what to do.  And then, as if someone was reading my mind, I was walking through the meat department at HEB and stumbled upon "Poblano, Cheddar, Chicken Sausage."  What?  That's exactly what I needed!  How fitting.  I have to be honest and say that I've never stuffed a pepper (except my bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, but that's a little different).  I always saw photos in cookbooks with the bell pepper stuffed with rice and tomatoes and other various foods.  To me they just weren't appetizing, but these bad boys changed my mind!  So let's get started.  You'll need the following:

Poblano Peppers, Your Favorite Rice, Chicken Sausage (I used the Poblano, Cheddar that I gushed about above, but you could do just about anything here), some cheddar cheese and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Chipotle Southwest Seasoning.  And that's it, nothing fancy here...just good, simple ingredients.
Start by cooking your rice according to the package directions.  C and I bought a rice cooker over the holidays to speed up his sushi making process.  I must say I always thought they were a useless, waste of counter/cabinet space appliance, but this little guy has changed my mind.  I love being able to throw the rice in there and let it work it's magic.  The one we have knows when the rice is done.  Can you believe that, I can't!  We've made many different types and they all come out perfect, how does it do that?  Anyway, I made two servings of rice and I added a sprinkle (maybe a teaspoon full) of the Mrs. Dash Chipotle Seasoning to the rice as it was cooking.  While that was cooking, I removed the chicken sausage from it's casing and started cooking it in a skillet over medium-high heat.  I find it easiest to break the sausage apart by using a potato masher, unconventional yes, but it works like a charm.  Thanks for the tip Rachael Ray!  Anyway, brown the sausage and then toss in the rice and about a cup full of cheddar!  That's it, really it sounds so simple and it is.  When you have a really great flavored sausage, you don't have to add much else to the mix.  Here's the stuffing in all it's cheesy, gooey glory!  Oh my...perfection!

While your stuffing is melting together, wash the peppers and slice a great big "T" in them.   Scoop out the innards *why does that word make me laugh?*, leave a few seeds if you like it spicy!  Oh, and don't touch your eyes after you touch the pepper insides, these little dudes are worse than jalapenos!  Next, take a giant spoon and start stuffing the peppers.  Don't worry if you make a mess, it adds to the dish!  Here's what you'll have:

Make sure you stuff them to the top, you wouldn't want any of that stuffing to go to waste!  If you have some rice and sausage mixture that won't stuff into the peppers, then by all means go at it with a spoon.  I wish I had taken a picture of C and I with our faces over the pan, shoveling the leftover stuffing into our mouths as if we hadn't eaten all day!  Yes, it was that good!

I tossed them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Long enough for the peppers to soften up, the stuffing to get a little crunchy on top and the skin of the pepper to char a little.  After a little time in the oven, you're going to end up with this:

Look at it, it's so...what's the work I'm looking for?  It's so amazing, fantastic, wonderful, superb, splendid...yes that's it!  Can you see the charred skin and the crunchy stuffing top?  Just looking at these pictures again makes me want to get in the kitchen and cook them up right now!  I know I'm going on and on about these peppers, but I have to say it was a pretty brilliant creation!  It's a Rachael Raves original, I can't say that about too many of my posts, YET!  Serve it up with some corn on the side, if you must!  We did that so that Little Man would eat more (we mixed the stuffing and the corn together for him, tricky, tricky)! 

I'm already scheming other pepper/stuffing combos.  After all, this is just a method and you can do just about whatever floats your boat, within reason of course.  Be sure to check out the pre-flavored sausages at your local store, they really are great.  You could even do a beef mixture, or a pork, or...anyway you get the idea.  Or you could make it just like I did and stick with perfection!  I kid...I'm not perfect, nor or my experiments, but I am very proud of this one if you couldn't tell!