Tea Party

I didn’t come up with the menu. Remember that.

Warm sweet tea.

Pimento Cheese sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes. (The real reason for this post)

This peanut butter icing is fantastic.

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Mix confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl (with a paddle attachment if you have one, I don’t so the egg beaters worked just fine) Mix until creamy and smooth. Add in the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

It’s that quick and simple. This goes great on any type of chocolate cupcake or the tip of your finger. Yum.

Paper Bag Turkey!

Yes you really are going to bake a turkey in a paper bag without setting your house, (or the turkey) on fire.

You’ll need a 15-18lb turkey, completely thawed and de-gibleted….no it’s not a word but it would be so cool if it were!

1 celery stalk

1 large carrot (cleaned and rough cut)

1 large onion, quartered

4-5 clovers of garlic, smashed under a knife.

Stuff all of the veggies and garlic into the turkey.

Now rub your turkey down with olive oil. I didn’t snap a picture of this step because honestly, my hands were covered in oil!!!

Take a large paper bag, open it up wide. Yell at Boy Toy to come help you if you need an extra pair of hands.  Place the stuffed, oiled turkey into the brown paper bag and set it down into your basting pan.

Fold the ends over and staple together. If your bag isn’t big enough use two bags and staple them together.

Sprinkle water over the bag until it’s wet but not soaking.

Slip this bird into a 375 degree preheated oven and set it to cook 15 min for each pound.

You can check to see if the turkey is done by inserting a meat thermometer and making sure it reads between 163-170 before you call it done. Or if yours was like mine you wait for the little red button thing to pop out.

Now you tell me, isn’t that a beautiful turkey? All roasted up instead of steamed and ohhhh so juicy!

If you’re wondering why the bag doesn’t catch fire, paper burns at 415 degrees and since we’re baking well enough below that the oven should never get hot enough to catch the paper bag on fire.

Throw away all the veggies you stuffed in the bird and get carving!

 

Happy Holiday!

~Jess

Lasagna Rollups.

I made this awhile back and it quickly became one of our family’s favorite recipes.

Start by cooking your lasagna noodles al dente (rinse in cold water once they are finished cooking) and browning 1 lb of hamburger, drain.

While those are cooking mix together the following in a medium sized bowl:

2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 egg

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided

3/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cracked pepper

1 tsp parsley, dried

3/4 tsp oregano, dried

1 t lemon juice

1 lb browned hamburger (if you don’t want to use meat you can sub in 5 cups of finely chopped spinach.

Take one noodle at a time and lay it flat on a plate.

Spoon a good amount of meat and cheese filling onto the noodle.

Start at one end and roll the noodle into a tight bundle.

Once all your noodles are all rolled up, take a 9 x 13’’ pan and pour 1 cup of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of it. Place all your lasagna rolls in the sauce, seam side down.

Top the rolls with the rest of your spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of mozzarella. Cover with foil and back 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

These helped eliminate the mess of cutting and serving up unrolled lasagna and the ingredients you can roll into the noodle are endless!

~Jess

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Sweet & Sour Sauce.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy go to meal that everyone in the house will eat…keep clicking. This is not the recipe for you. It is however a fantastically great recipe and easy, it just takes a little longer than other meals.

Cut  3-4 chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix together:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt.
Then whisk in 1 1/2 cup cold water and stir until all lumps are gone.

Dump in your chicken and stir until all the pieces are coated well.
In a deep skillet or fry daddy whichever you have heat enough oil to fry the nuggets in to about 375 degrees.

The amount of pieces you can fry at one time is totally dependent upon the size of your skillet. If it’s large you should be able to cook 8-10 pieces without them sticking together or cooling down the oil too much. If it’s smaller then maybe 5-6.  Just make sure you get a nice golden brown all over the breading.

While you’re frying those up in a small saucepan bring the following ingredients to a boil:
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBS soy sauce or Teriyaki sauce (we like it better with Teriyaki)
3 TBS ketchup
1/2 tsp garlic powder.


Simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from heat. The sauce will thicken up as it stands and cools a bit.

I liked mine pilled on top of rice (since I rarely eat rice) but the kids were popping these things as soon as they were coming out of the fryer.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Sweet & Sour Sauce….done!!!!

~Jess

Pie Plate Cheesecake.

1 graham cracker crust about 9'' round. You can make it yourself or just buy one like I did to say a little time.

2 - 8oz of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla.

Mix cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Then add eggs, one at a time then the vanilla. Spread into a the pie crust.
Bake 30 minutes at 350 or until the edges are set and there's a little jiggly left in the middle.

While that's cooking mix together:
1 cup of sour cream
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla.

Once the cheesecake is out of the oven let it cool for a few minutes before spreading on the sour cream mixture.

I sliced up some strawberries, dump them in a bowl with some sugar over them, mixed well and then added them on top. Truly the best cheesecake I have ever made and I have to give all credit to Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. If you haven't checked out their recipes you should everyone I have ever made is simply amazing!!!!

Best Cheesecake Ever.....done!

White goodness!

If you live in Virginia long enough you'll have to be eventually eat (and possibly fall in love with) white gravy. I grew up on the stuff and decided to make it from scratch awhile. It was a piece of cake.

Melt 4TBS of butter in a sauce pan.
Then add 4TBS flour to the melted butter and stir. Heat over medium heat until smooth and bubbly. (If it clumps up instead of staying a bit runny don't worry, just let it heat up a bit)
Whisk in 2 1/2 cups of milk and as much salt & pepper as you like then stir over medium heat until it boils. Let it boil for 1 minute or a little longer if you like it thicker then serve over anything you like. My kids like it over biscuits.

This was so easy I regret not finding this recipe sooner. No more powder mixes from the market for me. :)

S’more Cups.

Here’s a neat recipe on a different way to do s’mores without the campfire and sticky, gooey mess.

For this recipe you will need the following:
7 whole graham crackers, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 6 TBS butter, melted. 4 Hershey bars, divided and 12 large marshmallows. Have you seen the new stacker marshmallows like the ones I have in the picture below? How neat are they? You have to give them a try if you make s’mores over a campfire they work so much better than the original!!!

Start by placing 7 whole graham crackers into a ziploc bag and sealing it tightly.

Now crush them up by rolling a rolling pin, hard water bottle, drinking glass, really whatever you have that will get the crushing done, all over the bag. You need 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs total.

Turn your oven on to 350. Mix your graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and powdered sugar in a bowl.

Once that’s all mixed up use a Tablespoon to place a very small amount of the mixture into each cup of a mini cupcake pan. Press the mixture with your fingers so that it packs in tightly.

Bake this for 4-5 minutes, or until edges are a little bubbly. Meanwhile, break 2 Hershey bars into individual rectangles and cut ALL the marshmallows in half.‘

If you’re having trouble with cutting sticky marshmallows you can dip your scissors or knife in cool water between each cut and that should deter the sticky.
Take the Hershey bars that you broke into rectangles and place one rectangle on each of the still warm graham cracker cups.

Place a cut marshmallow on top of each chocolate rectangle and pop back into the over for a minute or two so the marshmallow gets soft.

Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.  Take the other 2 Hershey bars and break them up into a microwavable bowl. Cook for 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes, make sure you stir ever 30 seconds or so.
Now take a s’more cup and dip the marshmallow top into the melted chocolate then set aside. Let these set up for about 40 minutes or you can stick them in the fridge if you want them done faster.

We took these to Raven’s Cliff and it was a pretty prefect snack for a picnic.

~Jess

A Night of Miracles.

Isaac is a picky eater, always has been, hopefully will not always be. Evan Grace will eat almost anything and Mackenzie is old enough to get over it..

I’ve been having a lot of migraine’s lately, I’m not sure why and I’m keeping my fingers crossed I don’t have to go to the doctor to figure it out either. But last week, while suffering from a doozey of a migraine I wasn’t in the mood to do much for dinner so it was going to be taco’s for Mackenzie and Isaac and Broccoli and Cheese soup for Evan Grace and myself.  I had never made it before and I had a super easy and quick recipe.

Start with 4 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of milk
and one can of condensed cheese soup.
Wisk them all together in a large pot over medium heat, until the soup lumps are no longer lumps.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can use a fresh head of broccoli or frozen. I had a bad of frozen florets on hand so I steamed them, along with 1/4 cup of chopped onion, while the soup was heating up in the pot.

Give the broccoli a rough chop and add this and the onions to the soup mixture and stir until heated thru.
Then add in 2 cups of cheddar cheese. Yummm.

I like a thicker soup, so I added 2 tablespoons of corn starch to the mixture as well. Heat until the cheese is melted and the corn starch starts to thicken everything.

Then if you want to be really fancy, serve in a bread bowl. This soup/recipe is going in the ‘make monthly’ stack, it was fantastic and quick, and made enough for leftovers the next day, which is always a plus in my book. 

Here comes the miracles: Isaac asked for a taste of the soup. I dished him up a small bowl, then the kid proceeded to eat 4 bowls of the stuff. I’m serious, he was eating like it was his last meal. He even went for the bread so he could dip and enjoy it a different way.

Then if that wasn’t enough, Evan Grace actually asked for and ate an entire taco!!! something she’s never been really fond of.

Will wonders never cease?

Deep Fried Cupcakes.

That's the correct title. I promise. I was a little surprised myself when I came across this recipe. It's a wonderful recipe. Really, if you love cupcakes then this recipe will take your love to the next level.

Make some cupcakes, any flavor, any size. I knew these were going to be rich so I went with mini-cupcakes so I didn't send my kids into a sugar coma. Put some icing on them too or maybe a ganache. I forgot to take a picture of them all iced and ready to go. I went with chocolate on chocolate.

Now you're going to make a funnel cake batter. In one bowl mix together: 2 eggs and 1 1/3 cup milk.
In another bowl mix together: 4 tbs sugar, 2 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the milk and egg mixture and mix until smooth.

Bring a few cups of oil to a high temperature OR if you're lucky enough to own a fryer do whatever you need to do to use that instead.

Now pick a cupcake, any of them, and dunk it in the funnel cake batter. (Sorry no picture, it's much to messy to dunk and take a picture of it at the same time.)

Fry for a few minutes, making sure to turn it over, until golden brown.

Remove from the oil and set to drain on some paper towels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately.

Yum, look at the inside of that. Isaac fell in love with these and kept asking me how I got a piece of cake inside of a doughnut. :) It's magic, or maybe that's just how they taste.