Saturday, April 21, 2012

I made Whoopie...pies!!

Let's keep this entry simple like this recipe!

Pioneer Woman never let's me down! I've been wanting to make these little nuggets of goodness for awhile now.

If you have not heard of PW then you need to check her out! Shes pretty freaking awesome!!

Now if only my blog was a smidge as amazing as her. IF ONLY!!

Oatmeal Whoopie Pie
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/04/oatmeal-whoopie-pies/

Ingredients

Cookies:
2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter, Softened
1/4 cup Shortening (Crisco)
2 whole Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Tablespoons Boiling Water
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2-1/2 cups Flour
2 cups Quick Oats
FILLING OPTION #1
Marshmallow Creme
FILLING OPTION #2
5 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar
Preparation Instructions

*Cookie recipe adapted from The Best of Amish Cooking, by Phyllis Pellman Good.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream brown sugar, butter, and shortening. Add eggs and mix. Add salt, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix. Mix baking soda and boiling water, then add to the bowl and mix. Add flour and oatmeal and mix well.

Scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets so that you have rounded heaping teaspoons. Bake for 10 minutes, being careful not to burn. Remove from oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool completely.

FILLING #1

Scoop small amounts of marshmallow fluff onto cookies, then press a second cookie on top. Freeze immediately if not serving right away, or serve right after filling (fluff will ooze.)

FILLING #2

(That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it's very thick. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Scoop a small amount onto cookies, pressing a second cookie on top.



Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!

Barbie

Friday, April 13, 2012

Beans and Rice and Everything Nice

Everyone has certain foods that could eat very often. For me it's homemade chicken noodle soup, chips and salsa, and this salad.

Originally this salad did not have rice, and without rice it's just as awesome but I have grown to prefer it with.

For me the ingredients are things I ALWAYS have in my cupboard.

This little concoction can be used in so many ways. I also like to put some on a tortilla with some chicken and make a sort of burrito. I like it with a little avocado on top too but I'm pretty sure avocado on top of just about anything is going to be good.

So you know beans and rice are a great combo. Lots of protein and amino acids. There is nothing in this salad that's bad for you. If you are like me and like to make sure most of what you eat is not only delicious but fuel for your body this salad is right up your alley.

There is no real name for this most of the time I just call it the beans and rice salad.

Beans and Rice Salad

Ingredients:
1 - can of black beans
1 - can of corn
1 - can of diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted)
2 - cups of white rice
1 - cup of vinegar
1/2 - cup of olive oil
1/3 - cup lemon or lime juice
2 - Tbsp of minced garlic
1 - Tbsp of garlic powder
1 - Tsp of sea salt
1 - Tsp of pepper

Directions:
Cook the rice and set aside. I just use instant white rice. I tried it with brown and didn't care for it with this.

Drain your cans and put everything in a large bowl.
Now add everything but the rice to the bowl and give it a stir. Once you have everything mixed add the rice.

I always add more garlic etc after its all mixed until it's to my liking. I'm the kind of cook that doesn't really use exact measurements in things. I like to just toss in a little of this and a little of that.

Once it's done you can eat it right away or I like to chill mine in the fridge for about a hour. This also gives the rice time to absorb more of the "juices".

There are so many things you can do with this versatile salad. Let me know if you make it and what modifications you have done!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Salad Salad I Love Salad

Thank goodness this isn't a video blog because all you guys would be seeing is me sitting here shoveling salad in my mouth like it's my last meal!

For Easter I decided to keep the salad very basic not knowing what everyone liked.

I looked for a copy cat recipe of the Olive Garden salad dressing because it's the only thing great about that place. I found about 100 versions. I took what sounded like it would be tasty and mixed it up in my trusty bullet.

Now I know this salad and dressing was a hit because it was 100% gone at the end of the night.

For the salad I used the following:

1 - small head of iceberg
4 - small bunches of "artisan" lettuce of choice.
1 - medium red onion
3 - small peppers I used red yellow and orange ( 1 of each)
1 - pint of black olives from the olive bar at the grocery store. ( I rinsed mine and let them dry off to take away the brininess)
1 - bag of Italian style croutons.
1 - cup of fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 - cup of fresh grated Romano cheese
1 - handful of cherry tomatoes

Clean chop mix and chill in the fridge while you make the best dressing ever!

Before I give you the dressing recipe I didn't really measure I like to just toss stuff in so these measurements are approximate. Just make and adjust according to your taste and consistency preferences

Sorta Kinda Olive Garden Copy Cat Dressing:
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 TBSP Minced Garlic
2 Tbsp Parsley (I used flakes)
1 Cup light mayo (I used Hellmann's light I don't suggest using miracle whip because its sweet and runny)
2 Tbsp of olive oil
1/3 - 1/2 Cup White vinegar (add a little at a time and watch your consistency)
2 Tbsp of grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp of grated Romano cheese
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

I put everything in my bullet blender and gave it a few pulses and just added things as I saw fit after I taste tested of course. The recipe this is based off of called for corn syrup and I had some but I didn't feel it needed it so I left it out. I can't imagine the flavor would change much with this added.

Adapted from this dressing recipe: http://www.mommysavers.com/2012/01/olive-garden-salad-dressing-copycat-recipe/

So make this dressing and put it on every salad you make. My handsome fiancé said " it's so good we don't need to buy dressing ever again. " There you have it! We got a winner!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Lasagna Soup should be a food group!

So let me first start by saying I am horrible New Years Resolutioner! I said I would update my blog more often and lookie here it's April 5th. Seriously Barbie could you be a bigger slacker. My answer is YES!

I love soup! It's no shocker considering I have an entire binder of just soup recipes and a folder in my favorites dedicated to soup.

In my random internet blog search I found not only an amazing soup recipe I found a SUPER amazing blog. I always admire these folks who have entry after entry and all these great features. How do they do that? Between work, the gym and being my fabulous self I don't have enough time in the day! Please I need to know your secret!

So check out A Farm Girls Dabbles (http://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/) and you will probably print and or save a million of her entries like I did and run out of paper and ink!

I only changed 2 things about this recipe... I used 1 lb mild Italian sausage and 1/2 lb hot and I just used lasagna noodles. I put them in a big zip lock and gave them a lil smash with the bottom of a small sauce pan aahaha. Hey it seemed like the right thing to do and it worked.

By suggestion I cooked the noodles separately and added them to the soup after so they would not absorb the broth.

I know soup is mainly a fall winter thing but it couldn't hurt to make a pot of this and keep it in the freezer for the chili rainy summer days. You know the ones where you sit around and watch horrible made for TV movies and documentaries all day thinking about all the things you SHOULD be doing!

With all that rambling....

ENJOY and Keep on Making Stuff!

Lasagna Soup
Click here for the blog entry I got this from (http://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/2011/03/24/lasagna-soup/)

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage
3 c. chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 c. chicken stock
8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not overcook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. You may even want to consider cooking the noodles separately, and then adding some to individual bowls before ladling the soup over them. This would be an especially smart move if you are anticipating any leftovers. Right before serving, stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.