Beef Barley Soup

So, I was getting tired of pasta. I bought about 6 pounds of pasta at Costco and have been trying to use it all up, but I finally had enough, but still wanted to make a soup/stew because it’s what the weather here is inspiring on my meal plan. Using barley is a great way to mix it up and this recipe comes together in a snap. I was hoping my kids would be inspired too – but they pretty much only ate the carrots, which is good with me because I really only like raw carrots, so I gave them mine!

Ingredients:

1 tsp oil
1-1/2 pounds stew meat
1 cup baby carrots
1 cup diced onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 cups water
1 – 2 tsp kosher salt, to taste
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup dry barley
fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat a large heavy pot on medium heat. Add oil and beef, season with a little salt and brown the meat a few minutes.

When meat is browned, add carrots, onion, celery and garlic to the pot and give it a good stir. Add water, salt and bay leaves and bring to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer covered over low heat until the meat is soft, about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

Add the barley, adjust the salt if needed and add fresh ground pepper. Simmer an additional 30-35, remove bay leaves and serve.

Black Bean Tart

Been a while since I posted! Life has been busy. Winter has been cold. I have found myself in a rut recently, on many levels, but particularly with ‘what’s for dinner’. The last month I’ve really fallen back on soups and crock pot meals, which are yummy and easy, but I was in the mood to make something that didn’t look like winter – Black Bean Tart fit the bill! The first time I had it, a coworker made it for a holiday potluck, and I had to have the recipe. All I have is a photo copy of the page from her book (at the bottom it reads “Festive Weekend Dinner”). It’s meatless, but filling and full of flavor (a good go-to for Lent) AND my little guys liked it (before adding the jalapeños, I pulled some of the mixture for my youngest, but my 2.5 year old ate it jalapeño and all). Here we go…

Ingredients
For crust
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into bits (I used salted butter and omitted the ½ tsp)
2 tablespoons ice water
raw rice for weighting shell

For filling
3 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained (about 2 cans)
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
a 10-ounce package frozen corn, thawed
1 red bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup) (I used ½ red, ½ orange)
½ cup fresh coriander sprigs, chopped (I used ½ cilantro, ½ parsley, as, my family likes cilantro in small doses)
1 ½ cups coarsely grated Monterey Jack (or make it an even 2 cups)
2 fresh jalapeño chiles, seeded and chopped fine (wear rubber gloves)
½ cup chopped scallions (about 2)

Make crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together flour, spices, and salt until combined well. Add butter and blend or pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water and blend or pulse until incorporated and mixture forms a dough.

Press dough evenly onto bottom and up side of a 10-inch tart pan (I used a spring form pan) with a removable fluted rim and chill 15 minutes, or until firm. Line crust with foil and fill with rice. Bake crust in middle of oven 8 to 10 minutes, or until edge is set. Carefully remove foil and rice and bake crust 10 minutes more, or until golden. Cool crust in pan on a rack. Crust may be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered loosely with plastic wrap, at room temperature. I’ve skipped the rice deal and had the crust turn out the same.

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a food processor purée 1 cup canned beans with sour cream until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

In a skillet heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté corn with salt and pepper to taste, stirring, about 2 minutes. Cool corn.

In a large bowl stir together corn, whole beans, bell pepper, coriander, Monterey Jack, jalapeños, and scallions and season with salt and pepper.

Spread bean purée evenly onto crust and mound with corn mixture, pressing gently. Bake tart in middle of oven about 20 minutes, or until hot and cheese is melted. Cool tart in pan on a rack 15 minutes.

Remove rim of pan and serve tart warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6.

See – its pretty!

Allergen-Free Ginger Snaps

Looking for cookies with no dairy or peanuts that a child might actually eat is hard! There are lots of vegan recipes, but many of those don’t really look like cookies that the other kids eat. I found one that I was able to make a small modification too – and it has been kid tested and approved, and as a matter of fact, I prefer the allergen-free version, I think they “crisp up” better.

cookies
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1/3 cup molasses
2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I used ground all spice)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

coating
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2) Beat together the shortening, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
3) Beat in the oil, then the molasses.
4) Add the flour and spices, beating to make a smooth, fairly stiff dough.
5) To make the coating, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and place in a shallow pan or dish.
6) Drop the dough in 1″ balls into the cinnamon-sugar mixture; a teaspoon cookie scoop is perfect here.
7) Roll the balls in the sugar to coat, then transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 1/2″ between them; using the bottom of a glass, press lightly down on each cookie.
8) Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, for cookies that are crisp around the edges, and “bendy” in the center. Bake for 13 minutes, for cookies that are crisp/crunchy all the way through. Watch them carefully – I found 11 minutes gave me crispy cookies but 13 minutes burnt the sugar on the bottom.
9) Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool on a rack. Cool completely, then store tightly wrapped, at room temperature.

I also made a version where I didn’t roll it in cinnamon and sugar, but instead frosted them with icing (mixing powdered sugar and a bit of milk). I like both versions.

Yield: about 5 dozen cookies.

Crock Pot Harvest Pork Tenderloin

Before Pinterest existed, I found this recipe on Crock Pot’s website. I like it because it has fruit, vegetable, starch, and meat all in one pot. The only thing I make to go with it are biscuits. I find this recipe on the sweet side, I’d prefer it to be a little more savory, but its a work in progress, too easy to write off. My littles wanted absolutely nothing to do with this – not even the raisins, sigh.

Ingredients:
2 pounds pork tenderloin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (I used light)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup golden raisins (I used regular)
1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped (I used an Empire)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped

 
Directions:
Season the tenderloins with salt and pepper and place in your slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, mixing well. Spoon over the tenderloins.
Cover; cook on Low 6 to 8 hours (or on High 3 to 4 hours).
Remove the tenderloins to serving platter and slice on the bias against the grain of the meat. Spoon the sauce over the slices before serving.

-Becky

Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken with Artichokes

Modified from my trusty old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The garlic really isn’t overpowering, and I love recipes with artichokes.

Ingredients:
12 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
8-9 ounces frozen artichoke hearts
1 red sweet pepper, cut into strips
2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
½ tsp black pepper
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
4 cups hot cooked wild rice

Directions:
In a small skillet cook garlic and onion in hot oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes or until tender. Combine the garlic mixture, frozen artichoke hearts, sweet pepper, rosemary, lemon peel, and black pepper. Add chicken; spoon some of the garlic mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Serve with rice.

-Becky

Crockpot Peking Pork

I got this recipe from a coworker. It’s a regular in our house. I have made it with pork chops and pork loin cut into pieces (whichever cut happens to be on sale).

 

Ingredients:
1-2 pounds pork chops or pork loin cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 clove garlic, mashed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Trim any excess fat and place pork into the crock pot (if you use crock pot liners, you’ll want one for this recipe – it can get stuck pretty good). In a small bowl mix remaining ingredients, then pour over the pork. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. I add 2 cups of frozen stir-fry vegetables about 1 hour before serving, while I cook my rice.

-Becky

Baked Chicken Fajitas

So easy and quick – make this ahead of time and keep it wrapped in the fridge until you are ready to pop them in the oven for dinner. Aside from substituting fresh jalapenos from my husband’s garden for canned green chilies, I pretty much followed this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies (or 2 ounces of fresh jalapenos, diced or cut into coins)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large bell pepper, seeded and sliced
2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted)
12 flour tortillas, warmed to serve

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 13×9 baking dish. Mix together chicken, tomatoes, chilies, peppers, and onions in the dish.  In a small bowl combine the oil and spices. Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and toss to coat.  Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.  Serve with warmed tortillas and enjoy!

-Becky

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Pretty much exactly the same as this recipe. Super easy and relatively quick as far as slow cooker recipes go (i.e. if you forgot to get things going before lunch time, you can still get dinner done).

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 to 1 cup of your favorite Caesar dressing (I used Kraft Creamy Caesar Lite)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley or 2 teaspoons of dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
12 slider buns or 4-6 regular sized hamburger buns

Place chicken in a 3-4 quart slow cooker (add 1-2 cups of water or chicken broth if you’d like, but I never add extra liquid to my crock pot), cover and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.

Remove chicken from cooker using a slotted spoon and drain any excess liquid from the slow cooker. Shred the chicken.

Place chicken back in the cooker and pour dressing, Parmesan cheese, parsley, and pepper over the top. Stir until mixed evenly. Cover and cook on high heat for 30 minutes or until mixture is hot.

Spoon chicken mixture onto each slider bun. Top with extra shredded Parmesan cheese and lettuce to serve.

-Becky

Italian Beef Hoagies – how to make your man happy!

My one-year-old has yet to consistently sleep through the night. If you haven’t been there before, there is no way to describe what it is like to have your sleep interrupted for a year straight. It unfortunately sometimes results in me (I pretty much exclusively wake with the baby since my husband works his butt off so I can stay home with the kids) muttering choice words to anyone who crosses my path at 1am – the dog, the cat, my husband. I don’t remember exactly what I said last night, but I did feel the need to make a “sorry I’m a crabby b****” dinner. Here is what I made. Husband loved it, forgot that I was even grumpy last night before he even got home from work. He is a keeper, so is this recipe.

Ingredients:
2-lb beef boneless arm roast, trimmed
1 onion sliced
1 green pepper sliced
1 can (14.5 oz) Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes (or no salt added diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning added to reduce sodium)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 packet of Italian dressing mix
6-8 hoagie buns
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Add sliced onion and green pepper to your slow cooker. Place your beef on top of the vegetables. Mix tomatoes, tomato paste, and dressing packet in a small bowl, then pour over beef. Cook low for 8-10 hours.
Remove beef from slow cooker, shred, and return to cooker. Spoon beef mixture onto buns. Top with cheese as desired (I actually prefer provolone, I think it stands up better to the tomatoes – if I have cheese, I want to taste it!). Pop the loaded hoagies on a cookie sheet and broil in your oven to melt the cheese (we did sans cheese this time, since I am trying to lose weight – it was still delicious).

My little guy taking picture for mama’s blog.

3D Cakes

Since I haven’t mastered Halloween costumes yet, I decided I wanted to attempt some fun cakes for the boys’ birthdays this year, especially for Nolan’s first birthday cake. This requires mastering 3D cakes. After 3 failed attempts at a Mickey Mouse cake, I finally found a yummy cake recipe that holds up well in 3D form. Once I had awkwardly shaped cakes to frost I decided to give pouring frosting onto the shapes a try. I was pleased with the results since the cake was frosted and I wasn’t tearing it up frosting with a knife/spatula.

Ingredients

• 1 Duncan Hines Yellow (or White) cake mix
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 small package of instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream

(Or use Devil’s Food cake mix and chocolate pudding for a chocolate version)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Incorporate all ingredients together one by one on low speed.
3. Make sure to mix thoroughly between each ingredient.
4. Once all ingredients are mixed turn mixer to medium and mix for approximately 2 minutes.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 – 35 minutes (my “sphere” pan required almost double the amount of baking time, but it still turned out moist and delicious).

 

Non-stick spray the heck out of your 3D pan!

See – it works!

Let the cakes cool on a baking rack, then slide a flexible sheet underneath the rack to catch any frosting that drips down.

Microwave your frosting in 10 second increments. Check for it to be just melted, but not hot. Pour the first layer over your cake (about 1/4 – 1/2 the can) and let it set for 10 minutes. Re-microwave and ice again. Repeat a third time if needed. Make sure to scrape any icing collected on your flexible cutting board and eat it before your toddler sees reuse if needed.

I swear it comes out smoother than this usually – I had to start and stop many times to tend to the babes. If you take the time to pour it correctly, it will be smoother.

Here is a sneak peek at Nolan’s cake. This was just the practice one, I’m going to have to figure out another way to do the “stitching”.

Here was Dominick’s Mickey Cake for his 2nd Birthday:

Mickey Cake! I used the tops of 4 giant cupcakes to make the ears.

Note to self – get cake holder before Nolan’s party.

Now…what am I going to do next year???

-Becky