Roast Beef - Crockpot

Wow - it has been ages since either Sannie or I last posted.  The Thanksgiving holiday and work/school has kept us busy.  Last night I decided I was making a roast for this evening.  What kind to make...... The kind with Pepsi?  Or Italian Dressing, Ranch Dressing and Beef Gravy.  I have saved a pepsi just for the roast but I also had the ingredients for the other.  So I let Paul pick!  He decided on the dressings and gravy.  I mixed up the ingredients, poured on a frozen roast in the crockpot and put it in the fridge until this morning!  woke up, put the crockpot on low and let it cook all day.  Paul made smashed potatoes and Kiefer heated up the cream style corn.  Supper was delicious!  this was the best crockpot roast I have ever made!  Yum!

1 roast 3-4 pounds
1 packet italian dressing
1 packet ranch dressing
1 packet beef gravy
1/2 cup water
Mix all the ingredients together and pour over roast.  Cook on low 7-8 hours (if frozen).   

**The top picture is from Pinterest but no link to a site. 

Beef with Red Wine Sauce

Sam's had a special on round steak Saturday so I bought a package, cubed it up, browned it and decided to whip up the recipe for Beef with Red Wine Sauce!  Well the recipe sounded great .... except the mushrooms.... and except the onions!  I poured a glass of wine into the sauce and poured myself a glass.  (Paul also had a glass!).  The saying on my wall is "I love to cook with wine, sometimes I put it in the food". 

Here is the recipe and just so you know - it tastes great without the onions and mushrooms (and the tomato paste - because I forgot to put it in there!). 

3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1 inch pices (I used round steak)
1 medium onion, sliced (feel free to forget!)

1 pound fresh mushrooms, halved (again - forget these!)
1 (1.61 ounce) package brown gravy mix
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can beef broth
1 cup red wine (don't forget to pour yourself a glass!)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leave
Hot cooked egg noodles or rice

Place first 3 ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker.
Whisk together gravy mix and next 3 ingredients; pour evenly over beef and vegetables. Add bay leaf.
Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish, if desired.

I did take the broth out of the crockpot and thickened it with Wonder Flour to make a gravy.  It was very tasty and tender even without the tomato paste.!

Blueberry Scones

After the coffee cake was made, I still had a cup and a half of blueberries left and had heavy cream in the fridge.  So why not try out the scone recipe I have had in my cookbook!  Well - I don't think you are supposed to used thawed frozen blueberries!  My dough became very mushy.  So I added flour a tried to knead, but it never became not mushy so I cut it up, put it on the pan and baked it. They turned out pretty good.  But I did add white chocolate chips to them so that could have helped!  haha.

2          cups                  all-purpose flour
3              tbsp.                        sugar, plus more for sprinkling tops
1              tbsp.                        baking powder
3/4          tsp.                          salt
6              tbsp.                        (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2       cups                         fresh blueberries, picked over and rinsed
1              tsp.                          grated lemon zest
1/3          cup                          heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops
2                                              large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

1    Adjust rack to center of oven, and heat to 400°. Place a Silpat on a baking sheet, and set aside.
2    In a large bowl, sift together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, or two knives, cut in butter until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. Stir in blueberries and zest.
3    Using a fork, whisk together the cream and the eggs in a liquid measuring cup. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients, and pour in cream mixture. Stir lightly with fork just until dough comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead a few times to mix well.
4    Pat dough into a 6-inch square about 1 1/4 inches thick. Using a floured knife, cut into four 3-inch squares. Cut squares in half on the diagonal to form eight triangles. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Brush tops with cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer scones from baking sheet to wire racks to cool.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I was moving things around in the freezer and came across a package of blueberries!  Okay, I was cleaning out the freezer!  What to make with the blueberries!  I opened up my cookbook and looked for old recipes!  Can you believe it - No Pinterest!  I decided to make Blueberry Coffee Cake and Blueberry scones.  Here is the recipe for the coffee cake.

1/2       cup                   butter or margarine

1              8 oz. package        cream cheese (softened)
1              cup                          sugar
2                                              eggs
1              teaspoon               vanilla
1/3          cup                          milk
2              cup                          flour
1              teaspoon                baking powder
1/2          teaspoon                baking soda
1/4          teaspoon                salt
1              cup                          fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping                  

1/2          cup                          brown sugar
1/2          cup                          flour
1/2          teaspoon               cinnamon
3              tablespoon            butter
 

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry.  Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar, eggs & vanilla.  Alternately add milk with dry.  Mix in blueberries.  Batter will be thick.  Place into a greased and floured 9X13 inch pan.  Mix toppings so it is crumbly and place on top of batter.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

No Knead Bread!

No knead bread is so tasty but it does take 2 days to make so if you want this - plan ahead!  I started this bread mid-afternoon on Saturday and it was ready by 7:00 pm for supper on Sunday.  You do need a heavy duty cast iron pot for this bread.  It is great toasted!

3           cups                  bread flour

1/4          teaspoon                 instant yeast
2              teaspoon                 kosher salt
1 1/2       cups plus 2 tbls.     tepid water

Directions: 12 to 18 hours before serving:  In large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.  Add water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and very sticky.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18 hours, at room temp (about 70 degrees).  Dough is ready when surface is dotted with bubbles.  Turn out on a lightly floured surface; sprinkle with a little more flour, and fold it over on itself once or twice.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

2-3 hours before baking:  Using enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball.  Generously dust a cotton (not terry cloth) kitchen towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal.  Cover with another kitchen towel and let raise 2-3 hours.  When dough is ready, dough will not readily spring back when poked with finger. 

30 minutes before baking:  At least 30 minutes before dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put a heavy cover pot (cast iron, enamel, pyrex or ceramic - 3 1/2 quart) in oven as it heats.  When dough is ready carefully remove pot from oven.  Slide your hand under the towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up.  It may look a mess, but that's OK.  Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.  Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15-30 minutes until loaf is nicely browned.  Cool on rack.

 

 

Cheese Muffins with Garlic Butter Glaze

Oh do I like my Bread.  Today we planned to have soup - Wild Rice Soup and Pizza Soup!  Both were frozen in a seal a meal bag and were in the freezer just waiting for a cold, rainy, windy day!  Someday when I make new batches of the soup - I will post them.  But you can't have soup with out Bread.  So I went to my pinterest board (Recipes to Try - Bread).  Cheese Garlic Muffins looked like they would go well with soup!  :)
 

Cheese Muffins with Garlic Butter Glaze

Ingredients:
Muffins:
1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese (I used Cheddar Cheese)

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

 

Butter Glaze:
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley

Instructions:
For the muffins:
Whisk together dry ingredients, then stir in cheese.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and butter together. Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.

Bake in greased muffin tins at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Make sure they are cooked all the way and not doughy. Best when eaten warm!

For the Butter Glaze:  Combine ingredients and brush it over the warm rolls with a pastry brush.

I cut the recipe in half (hard to cut a egg in half but I did it).  The Glaze recipe I cut into a quarter)

Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cookie Candy Brownie Bars

The last dessert I made for the party was the Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cookie Candy Brownie Bars.  Holy cow were these rich!  Cut them into smaller bars if you make them!  Thanks to pinterest - I found another good recipe!  

Ingredients 

• 2 ½ cups crushed butter pretzels
• 1 cup melted butter
• 5 tbsp sugar
• Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix and all the ingredients the mix calls for
• Brownie Mix (13×9 family size box + all the ingredients the mix calls for)
• Snack Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (2 – 10.5oz bags)

 

Instructions

1. Crush the pretzels in a food processor or however you like to crush pretzels. Any kind of pretzels will do but it is recommend  to use crushed butter pretzels for the recipe. Mix the melted butter (melt in microwave), sugar and pretzel crumbs. Press into lightly greased 13×9 pan. Set aside pretzel crust and make the cookie dough.
2. Make the cookie dough according to the package. Lightly press the cookie dough evenly on top of the pretzel crust.
3. Unwrap 24 snack-size Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and cover the cookie dough with the candy.
4. Whip up your brownie mix and pour evenly over the Peanut Butter Cups.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
6. Cool for 10 minutes and then enjoy!

When I make these again I would probably put the cookie dough down first and then the preztels next! 

Rumchata Cupcakes

The second recipe is the RumChata Cupcakes. I only made half the batch because I wanted to make sure they were good before I used 1 cup of RumChata!  (Oh and if you haven't drank some Rumchata - you should try some)!
 
These were delicious! The Frosting was the best and would be good on anything (Pumpkin bars, cookies, etc)!
 

RumChata Cupcakes (a half a batch made 12 cup cakes, batter is thick and probably could have made 10 or 11).  This is the full recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, at room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup RumChata
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 egg whites

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350*
• Combine sugar & butter and beat until fluffy
• Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, & cinnamon, set aside
• Mix the RumChata & vanilla together, set aside
• Alternating, add in the flour mixture and RumChata mixture in to the butter and sugar. Start and end with the flour mixture.
• In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form (this will be easiest in an electric mixer)
• Fold egg whites in to the batter – do not do this in an electric mixer, use a spatula
• Fill cupcake liners
• Bake for 20 minutes or until cake “bounces back” when touched.

RumChata Cream Cheese Frosting

NOTE: This makes A LOT of frosting. The half batch could have been used for a full batch of cupcakes.  I did make a half batch and froze half of it. 

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces of cream cheese (1 1/2 packages, at room temperature)
• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick, at room temperature)
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• 5 tbsp of RumChata
• 1 package of confectioners’ sugar (2 lb. bag)

Directions: 

• Combine butter and cream cheese until smooth
• Add vanilla
• Slowly add confectioners’ sugar
• Mix in RumChata (use more or less based on the thickness of the frosting. I often find that some days I would use 5 tbsp, some I would use 4)
• Frost the cupcakes

World's Best Cake

With Kiefer turning 21 this weekend it was another chance to try out some new recipes and make Kiefer's favorite..... World's Best Cake!  In addition to the desserts we made the buffalo chicken dip that Sannie made a week ago and Taco dip! 

It was my first time make the World's Best cake.... It is Sannie's specialty (Kiefer has also made it and had to help me!).  This recipe came from our relatives in Norway.  It took us a while to convert the measurements but after a few translations and trials it was successful and delicious!  YUM!  (Okay - I don't like Almonds but still will eat a bit!)

Here is recipe #1 of the birthday weekend! 

100 gram Sugar = 1/2 cup
100 gram Margarine = 7 Tablespoons
4 Egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
3 "soupspoons" Milk = 3 tablespoons
100 gram plain flour = 7/8 cup flour (we use 1 cup)
4 Egg whites
200 gram Sugar = 7/8 cup (we use 1 cup)
150 gram chopped almonds = 3/4 cups

• Blend sugar and margarine, add the egg yolks one at the time and add the milk, flour and baking powder. Use a cake pan round or rectangular. 
• Spread the dough in the tin using baking paper. It’s a very thin layer so don’t worry it’s supposed to be like that.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff, and add the sugar a few spoons at the time and whisk until you have a meringue.  
• Cover the cake layer and drizzle over finely chopped almonds.
• Bake the cake 40 minutes at 350 degrees F (170 degrees C). 
• When cool, slice cake into 2 equal layers. Fill it with vanilla cream/custard that is mixed with whipped cream.  The filling needs to be thick.