Give the Belly What it Wants!

Here’s another ground beef recipe. Don’t worry we use the super lean stuff. Being pregnant has really taken a toll on my appetite. Only few things really appeal to me. Unfortunately, they are usually really bad for me. So, I try to find better alternatives to fast food burgers and pizza, like making my own, so I can control the ingredients. This is another really simple dinner with few ingredients, which I love. It cooks pretty quickly, and has lots of flavor from the soup.



Simple Salisbury Steak
From A Taste Of Home Cookbook

1 egg
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 pound lean ground beef
½ cup fat free milk
¼ tsp browning sauce, optional (I omitted)
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sliced fresh mushrooms (I omitted)

In a bowl, combine the egg, bread crumbs, ¼ cup soup, onion, and beef. Mix well and shape into six patties. In a large nonstick skillet, brown the patties on both sides. In another bowl, combine the milk, browning sauce, salt, and remaining soup. Stir in mushrooms and pour over patties. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until meat is cooked through.

Philly Cheese Steaks

Philly Cheese Steaks
From Crockpot Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes

2 pounds round steak, sliced
2 T butter, melted
4 onions, sliced (I used only 1)
2 green bell peppers, sliced (again, only 1)
1 T garlic-pepper blend
Salt to taste
½ cup water
2 tsp beef bouillon granules (I omitted this and the water and used beef broth)
Rolls
Cheddar cheese slices (I used provolone)

Combine steak, butter, onions, peppers, garlic-pepper blend, and salt in crockpot. Stir to mix.
Whisk together water and bouillon; pour into crockpot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.
Remove meat, onions, and peppers and pile on rolls. Top with cheese and place under broiler until cheese melts.

Just like Granny...Kinda

This is one of those meals that remind me of my granny. It’s not her recipe, but it’s just something that she cooked often when I was younger. I love this meal. It is really easy to throw together and put in the crockpot. It doesn’t take all day to cook though. It makes a really big meatloaf, so I halved the recipe for us, and we still had leftovers for lunch.



Crockpot Meatloaf
Familycrockpotrecipes.com

2 ½ lbs. ground beef
¼ cup ketchup
1 T brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, diced
¼ cup water (I omitted in the halved recipe)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, and form into a loaf shape. Take a piece of aluminum foil to fit the bottom and sides of the crock pot. This makes clean up a breeze. Place the meatloaf in the crockpot and cover with an additional 2 T ketchup. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Get Well Soon

Here’s another Tyler Florence recipe. It sounded good, but when it came time to eat it, the thought of soup was far from good. Such is my appetite these days. I did taste it, and it was fantastic. Ben loved it. It is basically a twist on chicken noodle soup with meatballs for chicken. It was pretty quick for a soup. It didn’t take all day to make and the meatballs were very easy and quick. They would be great for other meals also. I ended up using ground turkey, since I couldn’t find any chicken. I did find that after simmering, it reduced way down, and there was not enough broth. I added a good bit of water at the end, and it did not change the taste any. It also makes quite a bit, so I suggest freezing the leftovers. That’s something I’m loving these days, since cooking has gotten to be very tiring. Well, anything is now!


Dr. Tyler’s Chicken Meatball and Tortellini Soup
From Tyler Florence’s Dinner at My Place

Chicken meatballs:
4 links organic chicken-apple sausage or equivalent ground chicken (I used ground turkey)
½ cup fresh bread crumbs (2 slices fresh white bread ground up)
½ cup whole milk
1 egg
2T chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup parmesan
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Soup:
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 fresh thyme sprigs (I omitted)
2 large carrots, cut into circles
1 medium onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
Salt
2 quarts reduced sodium chicken broth
4 black peppercorns
2T chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1 pound fresh refrigerated or frozen cheese tortellini, thawed (I couldn’t find these, I used 8 oz. garden rotini)
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare meatballs by combining loose ground chicken, bread crumbs, milk, egg, parsley, and the ¼ cup parmesan in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then mix until fully combined. Using a small ice cream scoop, make balls and set on a roasting tray. Drizzle lightly with oil and sprinkle with the 2T parmesan. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown, and caramelized.

While the meatballs are roasting, prepare the soup. Set a large stockpot over medium heat. Add a 2-count of oil, the garlic, and thyme. Gently sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add carrot, onion, and celery. Season with salt and cook for 5-7 minutes. Pour in chicken broth and add peppercorns, the 2T parsley and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

Once meatballs are cooked, scrape them into the pot of chicken soup and add tortellini. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the flavors to come together. Remove peppercorns and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and serve in shallow bowls. Sprinkle with parsley and grated parmesan.

Chicken Piccata

This is such a nice change for a chicken dish. I get tired of making the same chicken recipes over and over, so last week I gave this a try. I had made it before, but this was a different recipe. It is so easy, and it’s actually quick. The chicken breasts I used were super thick, so I cut them I half to make cooking quicker. You could also pound it thin. I will definitely be making this more often.



Chicken Piccata
From Sandra Lee

4 chicken breasts
Salt
Lemon pepper (I used black pepper)
Flour for dredging
4T oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 cup white wine (I used more broth)
¼ cup lemon juice
2T capers
2T butter
¼ cup fresh parsley

Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Heat oil over medium high heat. Brown chicken on each side until cooked through. Remove chicken from pan. Add garlic and sauté. Add wine, lemon juice, and capers. Bring to a boil and cook till reduced by ½ . Simmer and add butter and parsley. Return chicken to pan and heat through.

Yay For New Cookbooks!

For Christmas this year, my mother in law gave me the entire set of Tyler Florence cookbooks. That should keep me busy for quite sometime! After being on vacation and being out of the kitchen for over a week, I was itching to start cooking again. I like Tyler Florence because he is simple. All his dishes use simple ingredients, but they are the best quality, and that make the dishes great. I was in the mood for a good pasta dish the other night, and I chose his pappardelle Bolognese, or simply spaghetti with meat sauce. This was a fun meal to make. It is really easy. It takes a good bit of time, but that is all in the simmering. It is great for a weekend when you have the afternoon to spend in the kitchen. The sauce was a little thinner that I expected, but that may be because I can’t read directions, and I simmered the sauce half the time with the lid on the pot. This also makes a lot of sauce, so you can freeze it for a quick meal later.

Pappardelle Bolognese
From Tyler Florence Eat This Book

Olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground veal (I used ground pork)
1 pound ground beef
1 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)
2-28oz. cans whole tomatoes, drained and crushed by hand
4 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper
1 cup milk

In a large pot, heat a 2-count of oil over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring, until the vegetables are very tender but not browned.

Raise the heat a bit. Break the meat into chunks and add them to the pan. Brown, breaking it up with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink. Add the wine and simmer until evaporated. Add the tomatoes and stock and season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer very slowly for 1.5-2 hours, stirring now and then, until the sauce is very thick. Now add the milk and simmer again until thickened, another 20-30 minutes. Taste again for salt and pepper.

Cranberry Upside Downer

When I saw this cake I thought it was just the prettiest thing. I love cranberries, and I have been waiting for the holidays to make it. You just don‘t see that many desserts with cranberries. I know I could make it anytime, but I would be the only one eating it, and I didn’t want that. I’m glad I waited. I was very disappointed in this cake. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but this just wasn’t it. Now my grandpa on the other liked it. He said it reminded him of a molasses cake he ate years ago when sugar was in short supply, and they used molasses. The cake itself was good. It was very thin, and the cranberries took center stage. They were sour. Plain and simple. I know cranberries are sour, but I thought all the butter and sugar would help it out a little. But anyway, it was easy to make, and I’m glad I tried it. Otherwise I would have kept staring at the picture and wondering…..



Cranberry Upside Downer
From Dorie Greenspan

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 ¾ sticks (14T) butter
1 cup minus 2T sugar
¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted)
2 cups cranberries
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla or ½ tsp almond
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup red currant jelly, for glazing (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 350. Put an 8 inch round pan on a baking sheet. I used a springform and the baking sheet was a necessity. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

Melt 6T of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6T of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this into the bottom of the pan then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries. If frozen berries cause the butter to congeal, don’t worry, everything will melt in the oven.

Using a stand mixer, beat the remaining stick of butter until smooth. Add the remaining ½ cup sugar and beat until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating one minute between each. Pour in the vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear. Mix in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the cranberries, and smooth the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Carefully turn out onto a serving platter. Warm the jelly and brush over the cake.

Christmas Cookies

I absolutely love baking for people. Every year that I give away goodies for Christmas, they are always a huge hit. I love homemade gifts for Christmas. It’s an incredibly thoughtful gift, and it’s an easy way to include more people without spending a fortune on individual gifts. I had such a hard time choosing cookies this year. There were so many wonderful recipes, I was dying to try, but I forced myself to stick to recipes that I knew everyone would like. I also like to go overboard a little, so I only made 4 different treats. I chose my No Fail Sugar Cookies, red velvet cake balls, snowballs, and sugar topped molasses spice cookies. All included, I made over 500 cookies for Christmas. Not to mention 200 that I made for Thanksgiving. So, I’ve been pretty busy lately!



Cake Balls
1 package cake mix any flavor
1 container frosting any flavor
White or chocolate almond bark
Decorative sprinkles

I wanted to include cake balls in my gifts, because I have heard so many great reviews about them. I love how they are so versatile, and they can be so festive when decorated. I chose to use red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting. I covered them with white chocolate bark and red and green sprinkles. I doubled the recipe and had about 140 cake balls.

Southern Red Velvet Cake
From Food Network

2 ½ cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder (you really need about 2T for any flavor)
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1 oz. red food coloring
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil and flour three 9” round cake pans. If you are making this for the cake balls, you can use one 9x13 pan to make things easier. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed. Divide the cake batter evenly among the pans. Place the pans in the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until it pulls away from the sides and a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cakes out onto a rack to cool completely.

To make the cake balls, crumble the cake into a very large bowl. Be sure to remove any hard edges. Mix in the container of frosting, and mix till all one color and mixed well. Roll into balls (I used a cookie scoop for ease) and freeze. Melt the almond bark and dip balls into melted bark. Immediately decorate with sprinkles before bark sets up.

Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies
From Dorie Greenspan

These are wonderful holiday cookies. They are crunchy, and they are nice and spicy. They made a nice contrast to the sweet treats in my cookie boxes. These are also easy to make but a little time consuming. The recipe says it makes 24 cookies, but I got 48 nice sized cookies. I made four batches of these for 144 cookies.

2 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
Pinch of black pepper
1 ½ sticks butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup molasses, not blackstrap
1 egg
Sugar for rolling

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and spices. In a mixer, beat the butter on medium until smooth. Add brown sugar and molasses and beat 2 minutes or so to blend. Scrape the bowl as necessary. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. If flour remains on the bottom of the bow, mix it in by hand. You’ll have a very soft dough. Wrap the dough in plastic. Freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate for at least 1 hour. It can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

To bake, preheat oven to 350. Divide dough into 48 pieces. Roll into a ball and roll around in sugar. Place them on the baking sheets and flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Bake one sheet at a time for 12-14 minutes. Mine took only 11. Remove from sheets, and cool on a rack.

A Quick Update....

Just a quick update as to my absence. We went on a little vacation to Gatlinburg for Ben's birthday. It was nice and relaxing. We just wanted to get away a little before the holidays. It was also to be our last vacation for awhile because......WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!! We are so excited, and we've known for a while, but we chose to keep it a secret until Christmas. It was the hardest secret we've ever had to keep. There will definitely be many changes in the kitchen as my appetite changes, but it should be fun. Stay tuned for the latest recipes.

100 Posts!

I've hit 100 posts! I wanted something great for my 100th post, but with Christmas and vacation right around the corner, that just ain't happenin. So here's what you get.



This is another crockpot dish that’s good for cooking a long time. It’s also vegetarian, so it’s a great option for those of you who like to eat meatless dinners. This is a very sweet meal like it is. I added another can of green chiles, and you could not even tell. I recommend tasting for yourself and adding lots of salt and pepper. This is also a thick soup, which we love, but if you like it thinner, you could easily add more broth. This was not our favorite, I've made it before, but I tasted better the first time.

White Chili Soup
From A Year of Crockpotting

16 oz. frozen white corn (I could only find yellow)
2 cans white beans, rinsed
1 can green chiles with juice
½ onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup vegetable broth (I used chicken)
1 lemon, juiced
1 ½ tsp cumin
½ tsp Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper to taste

Add everything into the crockpot. Cook on low 8-9 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is the one year anniversary of my blog! This is the big surprise I've been working on for a while now. I'd like you all to meet The Bread of Life.

When I started this blog, I wasn’t sure where it would go. After starting and stopping many times, my faithful followers encouraged me to continue. I’ve always wanted to be involved in ministry, but I was unsure of where. I love food, and I always thought that a food based ministry would be a great idea. So it hit me one day recently, that I could turn my blog into a food based ministry. So that’s my plan. Of course it is in God’s hands where this blog will go. I am starting small with the only intention of giving glory to God, and sharing great recipes, or course. The idea for this blog came from the scripture Matthew 4:4 which states “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” This illustrates how important reading the Bible is. I hope to include scripture as often as I can, and show what they mean to me and what God is showing me at the time. Stay tuned to see where this adventure takes me!

Snow Day!

Here in south Louisiana snow is rare. Like I've seen it snow here three times in my life, including today. There was a chance it would snow today, but who would have thought 8 inches! It was fun at first, but after having no electricity once again, I'm ready for it to be gone. Here are just a few pictures from our snow day!

Our first family picture, and Leo wasn't even looking!

This was our neighbor's giant snowman.

Trees in our backyard. There were trees snapping like crazy.

Leo wasn't so sure about the snow. He took a few steps outside then turned back around!

Then he decided he loved it!

Here's a shot to show how much we got.

Alton's Banana Bread

I love banana bread for breakfast, or anytime for that matter. I had some overripe bananas, so I decided to try Alton Brown’s recipe for banana bread. If you have never read his baking cookbook, stop now and get it. It is great. I love the science behind baking, and this book gives you so much detail about why things happen, and what ingredients do to a baked good. He really stressed the importance of weighing ingredients, but since I don’t have a scale, I am including only the volume measurements. This bread was great. It had a nice crunchy outside with soft insides. It had a subtle almond flavor, which was a nice change from the usual pecan. There was just enough chocolate to give it something extra, but it was not overpowering. I like that it keeps as long as 5 days, but I doubt it makes it that long at our house! I would definitely make this again.



Banana Bread
From Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here For More Food

Wet works 1:
3 to 4 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar (I used a mix of white and brown)

Dry goods:
1 2/3 c flour (I used 2 cups)
1/3 cup oat flour (omitted)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Wet works 2:
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract (it’s not too much, I promise)

The options:
1 cups nuts, chopped (I used almonds)
½ cup mini m&m’s baking bits (not in the recipe, but I added anyway!)

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan.

Mash the bananas in a large bowl until smooth. The more ripe the banana, the easier and smoother this will be. Mix in the sugar.

Combine the wet works 2 in a separate bowl, and combine with the banana mixture. In another large bowl, whisk together the dry goods. Add the wet works to the dry goods, whisking until just combined. This means stopping before you think you need to.

Fold in the nuts, if you are using them. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out more or less clean. Banana bread should be a little moister than most.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then place on a rack to cool completely. Tightly wrapped, it will keep for 5 days.

High Hopes

This is yet another crockpot recipe. I had high hopes for this dish. The picture just looked so yummy. How could you go wrong with potatoes, cheese, and ham? It was pretty easy to throw together. I left the skins on the potatoes as per the picture and for nutritional value and time. There just wasn’t much going on with the flavor. I think it could probably be doctored up and become much tastier, but I wasn’t feeling too creative with final exams this week. I recommend using a good bit of the grill seasoning, because that was where much of the flavor came from.



Scalloped Potatoes & Ham
From Crock Pot Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes

6 large russet potatoes, sliced into ¼ inch rounds
1 ham steak (about 1.5 lbs.), diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Grill seasoning to taste

1. Layer potatoes and ham in crockpot.

2. Combine soup, water, cheese, and seasoning in a mixing bowl. Pour mixture over potatoes and ham. Cover; cook on high 3 ½ hours or until potatoes are fork tender. Turn crockpot to low and continue cooking 1 hour.