Pot roast

Most of us love Ree!  Here is the best roast I've had.  Mom and Dad gave good reviews too!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/2008_the_year_of_the_pot_roast/

Spinach Salad

My latest favorite salad.  It's sweet and yummy!  It won the salad war, but that's another story...

3 bunches spinach or 1 10-12 oz. bag of spinach rinsed, dried & torn

½ head of lettuce, cut or torn

1 c. grated cheese (Mozzarella or Swiss)

Add any or all of the following:

2 11-oz. cans mandarin oranges

1 c. nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts, or pecans)

strawberries, sliced

1 c. cottage cheese

2 c. diced chicken breast (sauteed in olive oil & garlic), optional

1 pkg. Won ton skins, cut in strips and fried (delicious, but more work)

Dressing

In blender combine:

1 c. Canola oil

¼ c. white vinegar

¼ c. sugar

1 ½ T. red onion

1 ½ t. salt

¼ t. dry mustard powder

1 ½ t. poppy seeds

Make the salad & top with dressing the right before serving.  (Use as much dressing as desired for the salad.  Refrigerate any dressing that is not used.)  Optional:  for individual servings,  place salad on a salad plate and top with pink dressing and poppy seeds.

Serves 10-14

Candied almonds

1 egg white
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 t. cinnamon

Heat oven to 250 degrees.  Place parchment paper on a jelly roll pan.

Beat egg white and vanilla until frothy, not stiff.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Stir in almonds.  (My recipe doesn’t say how many almonds to use. I halved the recipe and used about 1 ½ cups of almond slices and it seemed like a pretty good amount.)  Pour on parchment paper which is on the jelly roll pan.  Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

Ranch Dip

This one again is not really a recipe, it's just something we like to eat at our house and so I figured it could be shared on this blog.  This is just the old classic, buy a tub of sour cream and add a packet of Ranch powder to it.  I wish I had pics of my kids snarfing it with carrots or other veggies but no, I happened to picture them with the yummiest choice of potato chips.  Well, that's us, what can I say.

Rolo Pretzel Bites

This recipe is so easy I don't know if I can even call it a recipe.  I recently saw it on, I think it was HowDoesShe, but as you can see by the colors, we did this back at Christmas time. 

Here's what you need:

• Pretzels- I use the square kind
• Rolos- I unwrap as I go
• M&M's- Whatever colors or flavors you want, I haven't explored with flavors, but my next try is going to be those yummy peanut butter ones.  

Pretty much put oven on low, like 250, put Rolos on each pretzel and pop in oven for a couple of minutes.  It goes fast so be careful, they just need to be a little melty.  Take them out and put and M&M on each one.  I like to squish them down into the Rolo so they all get melty together.  That's it, you're done.  I like to eat them when they are warm! These are great for taking to parties.  Enjoy!

Whole-Wheat Apple Pancakes

These pancakes are great for a lazy Saturday morning.  They are so tasty that your kids won't know they are healthy and made with whole-wheat flour!  I modified the recipe from the internet as I was looking for an apple pancakes recipe to make for Jason.  He loves apple-flavored anything, and I knew he'd like these.  I just wasn't sure about the kids--but they ended up eating the whole batch and asking for more, so I think they were a hit.

Ingredients:

1 C. whole wheat flour
½ C. all-purpose flour
1 T. sugar
1 t. baking soda
½ t. baking powder
¾ t. cinnamon
1 ¼ C. milk
1 egg, beaten
1 small apple (about ¾ C.), peeled, cored, and chopped finely

Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl; mix well.  Combine milk, egg, and apple; add to flour mixture.  Combine.  Let rest for 2-3 minutes, then cook on a hot griddle or skillet over medium-high heat, flipping just once. 

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Carrot Cake

A new friend I have made in France named Anne Baird gave me this recipe.  I made it for Jason's birthday, and it was really delicious.  It would be a pretty healthy cake as far as cakes go if it weren't for the best part--the delicious cream cheese frosting.  I ate it by the spoonful--it was so good!

Ingredients for cake:

2 C. flour
2 C. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
2 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
½ C. oil
3 eggs, beaten
2 C. shredded carrots
½ C. crushed pineapple (without any juice)
1 C. chopped walnuts or pecans

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting:

11 oz. cream cheese, softened
12 T. (1-1/2 cube) butter, softened
¼ t. salt
1- 1/2 t. vanilla
3 C. powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350⁰ F.  Prepare cake by mixing dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix oil, eggs, vanilla, carrots, and pineapple.  Add wet ingredients to dry and blend thoroughly.  Finally, add in chopped nuts.  Butter and flour desired baking dish (a 9 x 13 pan was recommended, but I used two round cake pans).  Pour batter evenly into baking dish and bake for 50-55 minutes for a 9 x 13 pan, and about 45-50 minutes for two round cake pans.  While cake is baking, prepare frosting by blending the cream cheese and softened butter.  Add salt and vanilla and blend.  Add powdered sugar gradually and mix until smooth and creamy.   Once cake is completely cool, ice with the cream cheese frosting.

Biscuit Beignets with Praline Sauce

For family night one night, I decided to make one of Doug's favorite treats from New Orleans (which I've been taught by him to pronounce Nor-lins).  He's been there many times since Houston is not that far of a drive.  Anyway... I made beignet's which are similar to Grandma's dippy donuts with a few changes.  I can't think of New Orleans food without thinking of the above video clip.  The kids called it Princess and the Frog food.

The thing I'll take from this recipe and use for many, many more occasions though is the praline sauce.  Just linking about it makes my mouth water.  It was that good.  I want to try it on cheesecake, waffles, ice cream or french toast and Doug thinks it would be good drizzled on pumpkin pie.  I got the idea from the blog found HERE.  I didn't use shortening since I hate the stuff, but just canola oil.  I also used pecans instead of walnuts since I like the flavor when chopped up very finely.  It got good results.  I was putting the kids to bed and Doug took his first bite, came into the boys room and gave me a big, fat, smoocheroo.  Now that's a good critique!

Biscuit Beignets with Praline Sauce

1 tube flaky biscuits
1 cup butter-flavored shortening, for frying
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Melt butter in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and whisk until sugar melts and mixture begins to boil, about 5 minutes. Stir in milk, vanilla, and pecans until smooth. Set aside.

Separate biscuits and cut into fourths. In heavy-bottomed skillet, melt the shortening over medium heat until it reaches 325 degrees F. Fry biscuit quarters in batches until golden on each side. Biscuits will cook very quickly. Dust generously with powdered sugar and serve immediately with praline sauce.

Here'e the pics for how they turned out.  I was putting the kids to bed when Doug took his first bites.  His reaction was memorable.  He took one single bite, came in to the boys room and planted a big, long smoocheroo on me.  Now that's the kind of food critique I like!