Popcorn treats

For the 4th of July festivities, we went to my parent's house for a bbq and some fireworks. We were going to do all of the cooking for the family because my parents had some plans during the day. I tore through my pantry (did I forget to mention it was a last minute party) and decided that I would try to make things with stuff I need to get rid of. I came across a box of popcorn and decided to throw it in the cooler. Next I found a half used jar of marshmallow fluff, a half bag of marshmallows, so I threw them in too. Then I found 1 bag of 100 calorie pack cookies and an almost empty bag of pretzels. When I got to my mom's she had a bag of chocolate chips and a half jar of peanut butter, I decided to put all these together and viola! Popcorn treats.

Popcorn treats

1 normal sized bag of popcorn (I used light butter)
1 bag of marshmallows (I used a half bag and half jar of fluff)
1 Tbsp of butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup pretzels
Whatever other creative yummy toppings you like (peanuts, more chocolate, M&Ms, cookie crumbs, etc)

1. Pop bag of popcorn according to directions on bag
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in saucepan over medium high heat. When melted, add in marshmallows and stir frequently while they all melt into a sauce.
3. Put popcorn in large bowl (REMEMBER to remove unpopped kernels), pour marshmallow sauce over. Add in desire toppings and stir all together.
4. Lay out mixture on greased baking sheet.
5. Melt peanut butter over medium heat. When melted, drizzle over popcorn mixture.
6. Melt chocolate (I melt mine in the microwave), and drizzle over popcorn mixture.
7. Break into pieces, enjoy!

Skillet Ravioli "Pizza" courtesy of Publix

My husband and I are huge fans of pasta and pizza. He is a very picky eater (as I may have mentioned in numerous other posts), so when he asked me to make this, I was surprised. He has tasted it at Publix when they do their Aprons recipe samples. I made it at home and it was delicious!

Skillet Ravioli Pizza

1 1/2 cups water
2 (7-ounce) packages refrigerated cheese mini-ravioli
1 tablespoon butter
1 3/4 cups refrigerated marinara sauce (15 ounces)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
20 pepperoni slices

1. Combine water, ravioli, and butter in large saucepan. Cover and bring to boil on high.
2. Remove lid when boiling; reduce to medium-high. Cook 5–6 minutes, stirring often (to avoid pasta sticking), or until most of liquid is absorbed.
3. Stir marinara sauce into ravioli; reduce to low. Cook 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly, or until pasta is hot and tender.
4. Spread ravioli evenly into single layer. Sprinkle with cheese and arrange pepperoni slices over top. Cover and cook 3–4 minutes or until cheese melts.

CALORIES (per 1/6 recipe) 368kcal; FAT 16g; CHOL 50mg; SODIUM 888mg; CARB 38g; FIBER 3g; PROTEIN 19g; VIT A 17%; VIT C 0%; CALC 30%; IRON 8%

My husband loved it. He even went back for a third helping! Thanks Publix!

Chicken Pot Pie....from scratch

I bought a whole raw chicken last week. Well they also had the Publix Mediterranean rotiserrie chickens on sale which we decided to try. YUM! Well after that meal, I was not in the mood to eat another roasted chicken. I talked to my mom who suggested I use the chicken to make broth, then shred the chicken up for a recipe. So I made chicken pot pie. Here is the recipe.



Chicken Pot Pie



Broth

1 whole raw chicken
3-4 carrots
3-4 stalks of celery
1 onion
3 whole cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Water



1. Place all ingredients into large pot. Use enough water to cover chicken. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cover and cook for 45 min to 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.
2. Remove chicken and shred.
3. Strain broth to remove veggies. At this point, I try to skim off some of the fat that will float to the top.

Crust

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp butter
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup milk



1. Cut cold butter into small cubes
2. Put all ingredients into bowl and mix until forms into dough
3. Refrigerate dough

Pie filling

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
Canned/frozen/fresh veggies of your choice
Shredded cooked chicken

1. Melt butter over medium high heat
2. Add flour to butter and cook for 1 min
3. Add milk and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Mine was very runny and didn't thicken well, so at this point, I had to add some cornstarch. You could also possibly add a can of cream of chicken to make it more creamy
4. Add in veggies and cook through
5. Add in chicken and remove from heat

Putting it all together
Preheat oven to 400 F
1. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out. I chose to only use a top crust and to make it into a lattice pattern.
2. Put pie filling into oven safe baking dish. I used individual sized bowls, but you could make one large one.
3. Cover pie filling with dough.
4. Bake at 400 F until dough is brown and filling is warmed through

This recipe was very time consuming, but it turned out very delicious. I would recommed anothe method to make the sauce creamy, because mine was more soupy.

Swedish Meatballs

A few weeks ago, we went to the new IKEA to check it out. While we were there we had to try the Swedish meatballs that everyone raves about. They were so tasty (and a steal at 4.99 per plate with a large serving!). So I decided to try to make them at home. They came out quite good. I will post the way I made it, but I would definitley advise making more gravy!

Swedish Meatballs

Meatballs
1 lb ground sirloin (you could use ground chuck...if you do, don't add the butter below)
1 egg
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Prehead oven to 350F
2. Combine above ingredients until well mixed
3. Make into any sized meatballs you prefer
4. Heat pan, add meatballs and brown on all sides
5. When meatballs have browned, remove from pan and transfer to oven safe baking sheet (reserve grease)
6. Bake meatballs to finish cooking (cooking time varies depending on size of meatballs)

Gravy
Pan drippings
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup milk

1. If you used ground chuck skip this step. Melt butter in pan with grease.
2. Add flour and cook for 1 minute
3. Add broth and simmer for at least 1 min (to allow thickening)
4. Add milk to desired consistency
5. Add cooked meatballs to gravy and serve

As I said, I would make more gravy next time. I served mine over egg noodles, but they would be great with mashed potatoes or even rice.

BBQ ribs and grilled veggie couscous salad

For Memorial Day we decided to do the typical grilling. We wanted something more than just burgers and hot dogs. So we settled on ribs. I wanted a side that was something not typical, and since the grill was going to be fired up, I decided to grill up some veggies and add them to couscous. So good!

BBQ Ribs

Slab of ribs
Seasonings of choice
BBQ sauce of choice

1. Put ribs in pot and cover with water. Add desired seasonings to water. Bring water to a boil, reduce to medium heat, and boil ribs for 20 minutes with lid on.

2. Meanwhile, preheat grill (not too hot though). When ribs are finished boiling, baste them with desired BBQ sauce and place on bottom rack of grill. Turn every 5 min and baste with more sauce. Cook until sauce has thickened to and you start to see char marks (about 10-15 minutes).


Grilled veggie couscous salad

1 green pepper
1 red onion
1 zuchinni
1 yellow squash
1 tomato
(any other veggies you might like- I tried eggplant and I didn't like it at all)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of couscous (any flavor you like- I used whole wheat olive oil and garlic)

1. Prepare couscous according to directions on box and set aside in a serving dish.

2. Dice tomato and set aside- tomato will not be grilled

3. Cut veggies in big enough pieces so they will not fall through grates of grill (I sliced squash and zuchinni long ways and the onions into big rings)

4. Brush grilling veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper and any other desired seasonings.

5. Grill veggies until char marks and to desired tenderness

6. After veggies are cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized pieces and add to couscous.

7. Add tomatoes, stir to combine and enjoy!

So tasty!

Smoky Mac and Cheese

I had so many tasty recipes over the weekend, so I am going to be posting more than one blog today.
Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion which was held at a park. We were having a bbq and asked to bring a side dish. I mulled over it for a while trying to decide what to make that others wouldn't also be making. I ended up choosing to make a mac and cheese, but wanted it to be different. Instead of using typical cheeses (cheddar, american, etc) I used smoked gouda. It was SO good! The entire tray was eaten. Even my picky eater husband enjoyed it.

Smoky Mac and Cheese

1 lb dry pasta
8-10 oz of smoked gouda cheese shredded
4 oz cheddar shredded
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
Bacon cooked and chopped

1. Salt water and bring to a boil and cook pasta according to directions on box (salt is important here because the gouda is not a very salty cheese)

2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cheeses, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly to avoid scalding milk. Continue to heat until all cheese has melted.

3. My cheese sauce was very thin at this point so I made a slurry of cornstarch and the hot cheese sauce. If yours is not thin, you can skip this step. If you add the cornstarch right into the sauce it is very lumpy. Take a small amount (1 Tbsp) of the cheese sauce and put into a small bowl. Add the cornstarch and mix until combined, then add all of the mixture into the pot of the cheese sauce and continue to heat until thickened.

4. Put pasta in serving dish, pour cheese sauce over and sprinkle with chopped bacon to garnish.

Mac and cheese is very versatile and you could make this with pretty much any cheese you would like.

Yum....I will have to try this....

In my search of recipe blogs, I came across this fabulous looking recipe for Perogi Lasagna on the blog entitled Omnomicon! Here is the link and instructions
http://www.omnomicon.com/pierogi-lasagna
Pierogi Lasagna
1 lb lasagna noodles4 lbs red or white potatoes1/4 c sour cream (optional)1/2 c milk2 c shredded cheddar cheese3/4 c butter (1.5 sticks)1 onion, sliced in rings
Cook the noodles. Chop potatoes into 1″ cubes, place in pot of cold water (enough to cover), and allow to come to a boil. Continue boil until potatoes are soft enough to yield to a fork stab. Drain, mash, blend with a mixer. Toss in the optional sour cream and milk, mix some more. Add salt to taste. Stir in cheddar.
Melt all the butter over medium-high heat, then sautee onion until the rings no longer hold their shape.
Preheat oven to 375. Grease the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with some of the onion-butter. Lay noodles on the bottom of the dish, then spread the potatoes, a dollop at a time, along the length of each noodle. Once done, smooth the potatoes, then spread about a quarter of the onion on top, and drizzle a small amount of butter as well. Repeat this twice (or more if your dish can accommodate), then top with noodles and the remainder of the onions and butter.
Pop in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Yum...I might just have to try this for Fathers Day because my dad is a huge fan of perogis!