Recipe #9: Baked S'Mores

Source:  Baked Perfection via Pinterest

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla 
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 or 3 super-sized (5 oz.) chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of **8 by 8 or 11 by 7. 

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt.

Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. 

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Two 5 oz. Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly [for 8 by 8] side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer. [use 3 Hershey's for 11 by 7 pan]

Spread marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.

Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the creme. This is most easily done by putting the second half of the dough in a gallon size freezer bag. Use your palms or rolling pin to flatten it out, and then use scissors to cut down both long sides of the bag, so it will open up book-style. Open it up carefully, and the dough will stick on one side of the bag. Then place the bag, dough side down, on the other three layers. From there peel the bag up and carefully spread the dough where it is uneven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely or almost completely for the melty factor before cutting into bars.

 

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It was a little difficult to press the graham cracker dough into the pan for the bottom layer.  I think if I had used an 8x8 pan, it might have been easier.  I put some milk chocolate chips around the edges of the Hershey bars to fill in the empty spaces.  I don't think it was necessary. 

 

 

 

I used the gallon bag technique for the top layer, but it still wasn't large enough.  I didn't quite have enough dough to cover the entire thing, but once it baked and puffed up, it didn't matter.

 

 

Don't mind the missing piece, my son couldn't wait to try it.

 

I'm wondering if I should have used more marshmallow fluff.  Next time I will use 2 full jars.  It would be easier to spread it then too.  I microwaved the jar of fluff for a few seconds just to make it easier to get out of the jar and spread.   

 

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None.
Ease of Preparation:  Average.  The crust was the most frustrating part.  Maybe making it in the recommended 8x8 pan would eliminate that. 
Taste:    Very good. 

Overall:  8 out of 10

Recipe #8: Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork

Source:  Pinterest

1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

 

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

 

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

 

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Variations:  None

 

 

I've seen this floating around Pinterest for a while now and decided to give it a shot.  Am I glad I did.

 

This was amazing.   The pork was perfect.  The glaze was sweet but with enough of the balsamic vinegar taste to give it a little kick.  I brushed more glaze on top of the meat when I served it too.  This was definitely a make again.  You could shred it and serve it as a sandwich if you wanted, but I preferred it like this.

 

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None.
Ease of Preparation:  Easy.  Crockpot.  But brushing with the glaze the last hour means you won't come home and eat right away. 
Taste:   Fantastic. 

Overall:  9.5 out of 10

Recipe #7: Chicken With Wine

Source:  Weekly Crockpot Recipe, by Diana Rattray

4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves
lemon juice
salt and pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 tablespoons dry white wine
grated Parmesan cheese
hot cooked rice

Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry.  Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Place in a lightly sprayed crockpot.  In a bowl, combine soup with wine; pour over chicken breasts.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover and cook on LOW setting for 6 to 8 hours.  Serve with hot cooked rice.  Serves 4 to 6.

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Variations:  None

No picture tonight; my family was eating by the time I got home from work.
This was unimpressive.  My husband said he liked it, but he also said before that that "If I liked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, this would be a 10!" in a very sarcastic voice so I'm not sure his rating really counts tonight.  My daughter thought it was dry.  This was very like every chicken/cream of mushroom soup/crockpot recipe you've had before.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Easy. 
Taste:   Bland.
Overall:  5 out of 10

Recipe #6: Easy Meatball Soup

Source:  Weekly Crockpot Recipe, Diana Rattray

1 pound frozen meatballs, Italian seasoned
3 cups beef broth
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
1 cup diced potato, about 1 medium potato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
16 ounces (about 3 cups) frozen mixed vegetables

In crockpot, combine meatballs, broth, tomatoes, potato, onion, garlic powder and pepper.  Cover and cook on LOW for 9 to 11 hours, until potatoes and onion are tender.  Stir in frozen vegetables and cook on HIGH for 1 hour longer.  Serves 6.  If desired, serve with a tossed salad and pass the Parmesan cheese.

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Variations:  I used dried onions instead of chopped.  I just didn't feel like chopping an onion this morning.  :)

My husband is skiing tonight, so it was just the kids and I.  This was very good.  We grated Parmesan cheese on top and served with crescent rolls.  A great meal, and even better because it's darn chilly here today.  We'll be having this again, I'm sure.  (And not just because I have half a bag of frozen meatballs left in my freezer, either.)

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Easy.  Crockpot!
Taste:   My 10-year-old daughter proclaimed this to be the BEST EVER!  The best recipe we've tried so far!  She loves this!  She liked it, I think.

Overall:  9 out of 10

Recipe #5: Rice With Mushrooms

Source:  Sparkpeople

2 tsp minced garlic
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1-1/2 tbsp dried tarragon
1-1/2 tbsp dried sweet basil
1 cup brown rice
1-1/2 cup chicken broth

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms, and saute until just soft. add rice and stir until rice is coated with oil and shiny.  Add tomato paste and stir.  Sprinkle basil and tarragon over rice and stir.  Slowly add chicken broth while stirring rice mixture until all broth is incorporated.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium-low.  Cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed by rice and rice is tender and ready to eat.

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Well, it was bound to happen.  This recipe was a major flop.  It started out promising and I was really excited about this dish, because I love rice and I love mushrooms, so what could go wrong? 

First, I was concerned about the about of tarragon and basil.  One and half tablespoons is a lot of seasoning.  But I added it.

After 30 minutes of simmering, all the liquid was gone and the rice was still hard and crunchy. 

Before I realized the rice was still uncooked:  It sure looked nice.

I added about another cup of chicken broth and cooked for another 15 minutes and still hard.  By this time, my main dish was ready so I scraped this dish altogether. 

I don't know if it was something I did wrong or the recipe itself, but this just did not work out AT ALL. 

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Easy. 
Taste:   We never got to taste this unfortunately. 
Overall:  0 out of 10

Edited to add:  My husband said later that he did finish this (I'd had to leave to take my daughter to Girl Scouts) and said it wasn't too bad.  But for all the effort and time we put into getting it to that point, I'd just as soon make a boxed rice side dish.

Recipe #4: Two-Cheese Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken

Source:  ???

2 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 6 oz. bag baby spinach
1 cup part-skim, shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless medium chicken breast halves
2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
1/2 cup chicken broth

Heat oil over medium heat in a nonstick skillet.  Add onion and cook, stirring until onion are tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes and garlic.  add spinach, cover and cook for about 3 minutes until spinach is soft.  Remove from heat.  Let cool slightly; stir in cheeses.

Heat over to 375 degrees.  Beginning in the center of the thicker end of the breast, insert a small knife horizontally, stopping about 1 inch from opposite end.  Open incision to create a 1 inch wide pocket and pack 1/4 of the filling mixture into each breast.

Filling after adding cheese:  Yummy!

Season chicken with Italian seasoning blend and place in 13 x 9 x2-inch baking dish.  Pour broth over chicken. 

Cover loosely with foil and bake for 40 minutes; keep warm until served.

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Variations:  I used canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Average.
Taste:   My husband and I both liked this.  The kids were leery of the filling.  I think they tried to scrape it out but were stopped by my husband.
Overall:  8 out of 10

Recipe #3: Baked Mushroom Chicken

Source:  Taste of Home online

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 pound)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup sliced green onions

Flatten each chicken breast half to 1/4-in. thickness. Place flour in a resealable plastic bag; add chicken, a few pieces at a time. Seal and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, brown chicken in 2 tablespoons butter on both sides. Transfer to a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish. In the same skillet, saute mushrooms in the remaining butter until tender. Add the broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; cook for 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup. Spoon over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle with cheeses and green onions. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 4 servings.

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This recipe was fairly straight-forward.  My chicken breasts were rather large, so it took about 25 minutes for them to cook through.

I heeded the comments on the recipe and used 1/4 cup chicken broth and 1/4 cup white wine.  It added some much needed flavor.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Easy. 
Taste:   My husband did not like this.  The kids did.  I thought it was just okay.   Even with the wine, it was still a little lacking in flavor.
Overall:  6 out of 10

Recipe #2: Cola Chicken

Source:  Daily Crockpot Recipe:  Diana Rattray

4 to 6 chicken breast halves
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cola, regular or diet, or Dr. Pepper  (I used Diet Pepsi)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.  Arrange chicken breast halves in crockpot.  Combine ketchup, cola, onion, and green pepper; pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours.  Serve chicken with sauce.  Serves 4 to 6.

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I worked today, so on working days, the crockpot is my best friend.  If we want to eat before midnight, anyway.

DEVIATIONS:  I used 1/3 cup of both cola and ketchup.  I also used a red bell pepper, since I didn't have green.  I used the whole thing.  I also used about half of a large onion.  You'll find that when it comes to things like onions, I don't measure. 

It cooked in my crockpot on low for 8 hours.  So it was a little dry.  The sauce was thin and watery, but still tasty.  The chicken was tender, but we were still able to pull each breast out of the crockpot in one piece.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Easy.  Throw it in the crockpot and leave.
Taste:   My husband enjoyed this.  He said he would eat it again.  My daughter (10) also liked it.  I found it a little dry for my taste.  I would probably not make it again, unless I made sure to only cook it for the 5 hours recommended.
Overall:  6.5 out of 10

Recipe #1: Steak & Spinach Pinwheels with Mock Hollandaise Sauce

Source:  Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook

Steak & Spinach Pinwheels

8 slices of bacon
1 1- to 1-1/2 pound beef flank steak
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet cook bacon till just done but not crisp.  Drain on paper towels.  Score steak by making shallows cuts at 1-inch intervals diagonally across steak in a diamond pattern.  Repeat on second side.  With a meat mallet, pound steak into a 12x8-inch rectangle, working from center to edges.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Arrange bacon lengthwise on steak.

Spread spinach over bacon.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Roll up from short side.  Secure with wooden picks at 1-inch intervals, starting 1/2 inch from one end.  Cut between picks into either 1-inch slices. 

Place, cut side down, on the unheated rack of a broiler pan.  Broil 3 inches from the heat for 6 minutes.  Turn; broil for 6 to 8 minutes more for medium doneness.  Remove picks. 

If desired, serve with Mock Hollandaise Sauce.  Serves 4.

Mock Hollandaise Sauce

In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup dairy sour cream, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard.  Cook and stir over low heat till hot.
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For my first recipe, this looked fairly straight-forward.  I had wanted to prepare up to the broiling ahead of time, since my son had a late afternoon orthodontist appointment, but I was a little busy today and found myself with only 30 minutes to prepare this.  It was plenty of time.

I thought they looked pretty good.  I covered with plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator.

When I got home, it took just a few minutes to broil and prepare the rest of the meal. 

I thought they were more rare than medium.  I would have broiled them for a minute or two longer, but that's a personal preference. 

The Hollandaise Sauce was indeed easy and was excellent with the pinwheels.
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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None, other than we usually don't have frozen spinach at our house. 
Ease of Preparation:  Average.  I cooked the bacon a little long, which made it a little difficult to roll, but overall, I was impressed by how easy this was.
Taste:   My husband and I really enjoyed this.  The kids scraped the spinach out, but I suspected they might.  My son liked the bacon.  Everyone enjoyed the Hollandaise Sauce.
Overall:  9 out of 10

Introductions Are In Order

Hi!  Thanks for finding your way over here.  My name is Nancy and I'm a wife, mother and part-time administrative assistant.  For years, I worked full-time and sadly, a lot of our dinners came from various places with menu boards.  But we moved last year, and our new place is in a smaller town, where not only are our restaurant choices fairly limited, but it's also a lot farther to go to eat out.  No problem, right?  I mean, I can cook, right?

Well...about that...

As it turns out, the majority of the meals I made were of the "what do we have and what can I make out of this?" variety.  Meaning we ate a lot of burritos and spaghetti and those boxed "helping" meals, if you get my drift.  Add that to the fact that my kids are in sports and scouts and music so we always seemed to be facing a time crunch in the evenings. 

So yeah, burritos and spaghetti and hamburger.  With some frozen pizza thrown in there for variety.

A few weeks ago, I found myself tearing a recipe out of the local newspaper when I thought "Why do I do this?  I never make any of this stuff.  It'll just sit with all the other recipes I've collected from newspapers and magazines and the Internet over the years,"  Right then, I decided.  I was going to start using those recipes.  If I put a little planning into it, and when you consider that I only work 3 days a week, I could do it.  I tossed around a few different ideas. 

Should I set a specific number of recipes to try?  The thought of 212 in 2012 came to mind.  But the vision of me whipping up 200 recipes on December 31, 2012 was not at all appealing.  (Because sometimes I don't follow through with things.) 

Should I find a cookbook and try all the recipes in it?  That's kind of been done.

So what I settled on was this:  I'm going to try new recipes.  Period.  No set number, no set meals.  I'm going to find my way out of the spaghetti, burrito and hamburger rut by taking this mess of cookbooks:

(and all those recipes available on the Internet) and start using them as something other than decoration for the top shelf of my pantry.

Yikes!  I should have at least straightened those up before posting a picture, huh?  At least now you can see what I'm up against.