Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients:

•  2 C rhubarb, diced
• 2 C strawberries, diced

Part I:

• 1 C flour
• 3/4 C uncooked oatmeal
• 1 C brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 C melted butter (1 stick)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Part II:

• 1 C sugar
• 1 C water
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Start by dicing the rhubarb.

First thing?  You want to lob off the ends:

This part goes straight to the trash.  Or into the garden for compost like we did!

You want to keep this part:

As tempted as you might be to take a big bite of the stalk, DON’T!!!  Rhubarb is very bitter when it’s uncooked.

Don’t worry.  We will add plenty of sugar to make up for it!

Now, dice that rhubarb up!

(Pardon my SOOC pictures.  I figured that you guys would forgive me once you tried this recipe out and died of happiness!)

Dice enough rhubarb up until you have roughly 2 cups.  Each stalk of rhubarb made about 1 cup but it depends how long and/or fat the stalks are.

 

 

See those green bits there in the middle?  Feel free to leave those out.  I got a little close to the ends but, again, enough sugar makes even the most bitter food delicious!  Vivá la sugar!!

Now, onto the strawberries.

Hello, gorgeous.

Again, just lob off the stems and roughly dice ’em up until you get 2 cups!

I absolutely love my Pampered Chef measuring cups.

So easy!

So pretty!

Dishwasher safe!

What more could you ask for??

Chocolate flavoring?

Mmmmmm . . . chocolate.

Alright, back to work.

Mix Part I ingredients until crumbly.

Oh yeah, baby.  Nice & crumbly.

Go ahead and get a pan (I used a 8×11 casserole dish) and butter it.

Don’t be afraid of the butter!  You want the food to end up in your mouth, not stuck to the side of your pan, amiright?!

Once your pan is a cardiologists nightmare, press half of the crumbly goodness into it.  I used a fork to make sure it got all over the corners.

No corners left behind!!

Now, make a layer with your diced strawberries:

Gorgeous!

Add a layer of rhubarb:

Now, set that beautiful creation aside for a bit while you make a glaze.

Combine all of the ingredients listed in Part II:

It doesn’t look like much yet but remember the Ugly Duckling??

Cook that mixture on medium heat until it turns clear.

Pour the glaze over the crumble-strawberry-rhubarb layers and . . .

. . . . the Ugly Duckling has morphed into a beautiful swan!

Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch for now, but trust me, the swan is just around the corner!

Remember the other half of the crumble mix that we made earlier?

Sprinkle it over the top of the glaze:

Let me just take a moment to talk about the wonders of science.  You throw a bunch of uncooked ingredients that, individually are “meh” at best, into a warm oven (specifically 350 degrees for an hour) and you end up with??

Pure deliciousness.

Feel free to serve warm with a side of ice cream.

{Recipe slightly modified from The Basics and More cookbook that was given to me as a wee lass by my grandmother and this cookbook has rarely failed me.}

Stuffed Pork Chops

This recipe is one that I only recently tried.  It started because we got pork chops in an Angel Food shipment and I had no idea how to make them.  I turned to good ol’ Betty Crocker and she did not disappoint.

Obviously.

Here’s what you’re going to need to make this little slice of heaven:

• 6 pork ribs or loin chops, 1 to 1.25 inches thick (about 4 pounds)
• 4 slices of bacon (um, I usually double this because I lurve bacon.)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 small green bell pepper, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup corn bread stuffing crumbs
• 1/2 C water
• 1/2 C shredded Cheddar cheese (again, I usually double this)
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram leaves
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350
• Make a pocket in each pork chop by cutting into the side of the chop toward the bone (Ed note: I usually get the boneless variety of pork chops and when I made these last night, they were a little too thin to make a pocket so I just folded them in half.  Do whatever feels right.)
• Cut the bacon into 1/2 inch-ish chunks and fry it up over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp.
• Add the onion & bell pepper.  Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies are crisp-tender (the onions should just start to turn from white to clear but definitely not brown.  We don’t want them to caramelize).
• Remove veggie/bacon mix from heat & drain off the extra grease.
• Take a small bite.  Take a bigger bite.  Control yourself or you won’t have enough to put in the pork chops.
• Stir in stuffing crumbs & water until well mixed.  Add the cheese.
• This is roughly what it should look like.  Yuuuuuuuummmmmm.

• Sprinkle both sides of pork with seasoned salt, marjoram & pepper. 
• Fill the pockets with as much stuffing as they can handle.
• In the same pan as you cooked the bacon/veggies, pan-sear the stuffed pork chops for 1-2 minutes on each side.  You want the outside of the chops to be a little bit brown.
• Place pork chops in an ungreased baking dish & cover with aluminum foil.

Just prior to going in the oven.  See how the outside is white/brown but the inside is still very pink/purple?  That’s what you want.  The stuffing mixture will keep the pork chop from getting too dry.

• Bake 45 minutes.
• Uncover and bake another 15 minutes (or a little longer if necessary) until pork is done, but NOT overcooked! 
• Enjoy!

Grandma Liz’s cranberry salad

This is a recipe I stole from my dad’s mom several years back and it’s a fantastic twist on traditional cranberry sauce.  And?  It’s super easy, which is basically a necessary trait for me to cook it!

Ingredients:

• 2 C raw cranberries
• 1.5 C water
• 1 C sugar
• small can of crushed pineapples (slightly drained)
• pinch of salt
• 1 apple (tart) diced fine
• 1/2 C chopped pecans
• 1-3oz box cherry jello

*small note: One time I was out of cherry jello & substituted with strawberry instead and it turned out just fine.  I think the cherry is a little sweeter so it makes the overall flavor slightly less tart.

Directions:

• Simmer the cranberries & water for 11 minutes.  No more.  No less.  Grandma’s rules.

Pre-pop

 

• The cranberries will begin to pop open as they cook.  This is good!

Mid-pop

 

At the end of 11 minutes.  Nice and mushy.  Just like Grandma said they would be.

• Add the sugar & jello.
• Mix well.
• Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly.  Just a few minutes should be sufficient.
• Add the rest of the ingredients & stir well.

I didn’t dice my apples as fine (or use one that was as tart as instructed) but it still tastes yummy!

• Serve cold.

That’s really all there is to it!  Super easy & it’s a great dish to make the night before because the longer it chills, the yummier it gets!

Mac ‘n cheese with corn

I got this recipe from a lady that I used to work with.  I feel like a broken record sometimes telling you guys where I got these recipes, but I’m a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due.  And since I’m not nearly creative enough to come up with this stuff on my own, you guys would totally call me out anyway!

Ingredients:

• 2 cans cream-style corn
• 2 cans whole kernel corn (undrained)
• 1 bag macaroni noodles
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 1-lb box of Velveeta cheese

Directions:

• Add corn (both types) & macaroni together.

You want to be sure and leave the whole corn undrained.  The water will absorb into the noodles and allow them to cook in the oven!

• Cube box of Velveeta cheese.
• In a 9 x 13 pan, add corn & noodles.

• Put cubed cheese evenly over the top of the corn/macaroni.
• Slice up the butter & add to mixture.

Mmmmmmm . . .  butter, cheese & noodles.  Be still, my beating heart.

• Cover with tin foil & bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
• Stir, re-cover & bake until golden bubbly (usually another 30 minutes)

Obviously I forgot to take a “final product” picture (because that’s who I am & what I do), but trust me when I say that this will become a dish that you will want to bring to church dinners, potlucks at work, Thanksgiving, comfort food when a friend is feeling down, etc.

Meatloaf

Here is, yet another recipe I stole from Pioneer Woman’s website.  It would be significantly easier if she would accept my pleas for her to come and live with me so she could cook my dinner every night.  I would even do her dishes.

Maybe.

Eh, probably not.

It’s probably best if she stays in Oklahoma where she is safe from me.

Ingredients for meatloaf:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 6 slices of white bread
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 heaping cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp seasoned salt
• 3/4 tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup minced flat-leaf parsley (I just used several good dashes of dried parsley)
• 4 whole eggs, beaten
• 10 slices thin/regular bacon

Ingredients for sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• Tabasco to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Pour milk over bread slices.  Allow it to soak for several minutes.
• Place ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper & parsley in a large mixing bowl.
• Pour in beaten eggs,
• With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well-combined.
• Form the mixture into a loaf on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain.  (I lined a cookie sheet with tin foil and placed under the broiler to reduce the mess.  But, broiler pan?!  That never occurred to me!  This is why I love Pioneer Woman.  She saves me from myself.)
• Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Mmmm . . . meat wrapped in meat. Does life get any better?

• Mix the sauce & pour 1/3 of it over the top of the bacon.  Spread with a spoon.
• Bake for 45 minutes.  Pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top.
• Bake for another 15-20 minutes.
• Slice & serve with remaining sauce.
• 

P-Dub’s bread

This “recipe” I shamelessly stole from my best friend my secret celebrity crush an amazing blogger/writer/mom/cook, Ree aka The Pioneer Woman.  If you haven’t heard of her, then you have either been living under a rock or not following my blog for very long because I try to mention her name AT LEAST every week. 

I have an illness.

Anyway, I came across this super-simple “recipe” (you will understand the need for quotes momentarily) and thought that, for the first time since becoming obsessed with PW (or P-Dub), I would be disappointed.

I was wrong.  Trust me.

Ingredients:

(Are you ready for this?!)

• 1 loaf of french bread, cut length-wise
• 2 sticks of butter, softened (yes.  Two.  Do it.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread one stick of softened butter on each half of the loaf.
• Place the bread on a cookie sheet & bake for 10 minutes or until the butter is melted and starting to soak into the bread.
• Turn on the broiler (it’s on the dial–all the way past the highest temperature setting.  I had to ask Greg if we had a broiler.  Shaddup.)
• Broil the bread for 3-5 minutes, keeping a close watch on the bread the entire time.
• Remove the bread when the butter has started to brown/blacken.  Do not, I repeat, do not under broil!  You will be sorry!  Pioneer Woman says so!
• Remove, slice into thin strips & serve immediately!
• Die of happiness.

Heaven in bread form

Stuffed Green Peppers

This recipe came straight from my homie, Betty Crocker.  I’ve tried to make these in the Crock-Pot before and Greg said that they were a little “mushy”.  I tried this oven-version and they are a little more crispy.  Just like he likes them!

Ingredients:

• 6 large bell peppers
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 2 tbsp chopped onion (I used dried minced onion because I had it in my spice cabinet)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce (I used slightly more but I like my food extra “saucy”)
• 3/4 C shredded cheese (I used finely shredded cheddar because, again, it was what I had on hand!)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cook beef & onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown.
• While the beef is browning, go ahead and start cooking the rice so it’s done in time.
• While I was waiting for the beef to brown and the rice to boil, I went ahead and cut out the stems, membranes & seeds from the peppers.  I’m super-efficient like that.
• When the hamburger is brown; drain.
• Stir in rice, salt, garlic & 1 cup of the tomato sauce.  Cook until hot.
• Stuff peppers with beef mixture.
• Stand peppers upright in ungreased square 8x8x2 baking dish.
• Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers.
• Cover & bake 45 minutes.
• Uncover & bake about 15 minutes longer or until peppers are tender (again, Greg likes them just a little on the crisp-side so I only baked them another 5 minutes)
• Sprinkle with cheese

Greg snagged a couple of these suckers before I got the picture so it looks a little sloppy, but you get the idea.

As always, I would love your feedback!  If you make any of these recipes, let me know what you think.

Love ’em?  Hate ’em?  Have ideas to improve ’em?  I’m all ears!

Pumpkin Dump Cake

This recipe I originally found when I put a call for help on facebook.  Since this is the first year that we had a garden, we didn’t know to wait until July-ish to plant pumpkins.  Now we are nearing the end of August and I’ve got about 10 pumpkins that I need to work up.  My friend Sara sent me this recipe but I later found it in my The Basics and More cookbook.  It’s super-easy & a fun one for the kids to help with!  No special techniques involved.  That’s why it’s a “dump” cake!

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 lb pumpkin (either canned or homemade–I pureed mine so it would easily translate into these types of recipes)
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1/2 C butter
• whipped cream or ice cream (optional.  But you should do it.)

Directions:

• Mix the first 8 ingredients (from cinnamon-duh!-to evaporated milk).
• Pour mixture into a 9×13 cake pan or casserole dish
• Sprinkle top with dry yellow cake mix.
• Melt the stick of butter in the microwave.  It needs to be completely melted.
• Drizzle the butter over the cake mix.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
• Top with whip cream or ice cream.
• Die from bliss.

 

Greg was a little leery of this at first because he is a firm believer that pumpkins belong in pies and on front porches during Halloween.  Turns out, he loved it!  My number 1 taste tester (Adrianna) obviously loved it but one of her favorite baby foods was pumpkin!  Brock is sorta hit or miss with any foods but he actually ate a little bit of this and requested that I make it for him to take to the babysitter’s house for his birthday cake!  I will consider that to be a win!

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Goes great with the lasagna roll-ups!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium loaf French bread, unsliced
• 1/2 C butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cloves (not entire bulbs!) garlic
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/3 C grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375
• Cut slices down the length of the bread loaf at 1-inch intervals, without cutting all the way through
• Rub slices and top of bread with cut sides of garlic halves.
• Mince garlic
• Combine butter, garlic, parsley & parmesan in a bowl
• Spread butter mixture between bread slices and on top of loaf
• Wrap bread in foil, leaving top partially uncovered
• Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes

Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 1-7oz. package caramels
• 1/4 C evaporated milk
• 3/4 C chopped pecans, divided
• 1 (9-inch) chocolate pie crust
• 2 (3-0z each) pkgs cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 C sour cream
• 1 1/4 C milk
• 1 (3.9oz) pkg chocolate instant pudding mix
• 1/2 C fudge topping

Directions:

• Place caramels & evaporated milk in a heavy saucepan.  Heat over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until smooth. (About 5 minutes)
• Stir in 1/2 C chopped pecans
• Pour mixture into pie crust
• Combine cream cheese, sour cream & milk in a blender.  Process until smooth. *
• Add pudding & process for another 30 seconds or so
• Pour pudding mixture over caramel layer; cover evenly
• Chill, loosely covered for about 15 minutes.
• Just before serving, drizzle fudge topping over pudding layer.
• Sprinkle top with remaining pecans.

Serve immediately & enjoy!

*note: I used my mixer instead of my blender and it worked just fine.  However, I would recommend setting the milk out about 20 minutes before you need it.  If you don’t, it will re-cool the cream cheese and the mixture will be slightly lumpy.*