Thursday, September 25, 2014

Crescent Peach Danish

 Sometimes, as a blogger, we need to focus on our inspiration.
Today I want to focus on The Country Cook.
She has been an inspiration to me since I've started blogging (2008).
Brandie has been my go-to person when I am looking
for comfort foods, 
simple meals,
and simple ingredients.
Everything I have made from her blog has been excellent.
And when I was feeding three kids.....
Brandie's recipes were a God-send.
Take some time to look over her blog.
I guarantee you will love it. 

I served these Crescent Peach Danishes as a mid-morning brunch treat.
I didn't make any changes other than the pie filling choice
and I used French vanilla coffee creamer in my glaze.
I'm not going to type the recipe here,
I'm going to send you directly to Brandie.
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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Pay Day Fudge

Daily Dish Magazine Foodie Friends Friday
Excellent party! Come join the fun.
 I am loving the cooler temperatures.
But sometimes when my feet get cold I lose my motivation.
Yesterday was NOT one of those days.
I get up early in the morning to start my days,
but yesterday I was sucked into my "pages feed" on Facebook.
As I was scrolling, scrolling, scrolling
I came to a complete stop when a beautiful picture of  
came into view.
I had to go and check it out......
Lil' Luna inspired me to make Pay Day Fudge.
 You've all heard of the Pay Day creation with 
dry roasted peanuts and candy corn, right?
Well, with Lil' Luna's inspiration I threw the pay day
creation into white chocolate fudge.

Every Fall at this time my brother has a bowl of
the pay day mixture at arms reach.
When I go and visit he will grab that bowl,
stick it in my face and say,
"Want some Pay Day?" (with a little chuckle)
I guess you gotta be there to get the gist of this story.....
So, this Pay Day Fudge is kind of dedicated to my
chuckling brother.

"Hey Brent, want some Pay Day Fudge?" (chuckle)
Pay Day Fudge

1 c. candy corn
1 overflowing c. dry roasted peanuts
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt (I just used a couple shakes)
1/2 c. butter
2 1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1 tub (7 oz.) marshmallow fluff

Mix the candy corn and peanuts in a bowl, set aside.
Line a 9X9 baking pan with waxed paper. Let the waxed paper hang over the sides. That way you can lift it out of the pan to cut the fudge.
In your stand mixer place the white chocolate chips and marshmallow fluff.
Mix sugar, heavy cream, salt, and butter in a medium sized saucepan. Over medium heat melt ingredients and bring to a low boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
Add the hot mixture to the the chocolate and fluff. Using the paddle attachment mix on low/medium until everything is melted and smooth.
Pour into lined baking pan. Smooth out top and press a few extra candy corn and peanuts on the top, pressing lightly. Place in fridge for 4-5 hours. I left mine in overnight.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Sweet Baby Ray BBQ Chicken Nuggets

I am sharing this recipe at Foodie Friends Friday.
Head over and see all the foodie goodies they have.
 We all love chicken nuggets, right?
Especially the kiddos......
These are so easy to make and I'm sure they will please any kid.
Even the over-grown kids.
 I had about a half a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray Sweet and Spicy 
in my fridge. 
I thought I would put it to good use and create these chicken nuggets.
I had two barbecue marinated chicken breast that I bought from the grocery.
All I did was cut them into chunks,
smear on the Sweet Baby Ray,
roll them in crushed salt and vinegar chips,
and baked them in a 375 degree F. oven for about 30-35 minutes. 
They were perfect!
Very satisfying for a quick meal.
And it's always fun to dip chicken nuggets in ranch dressing.
These will be made time and time again.
And it's a real good way to use up the last crumbs in the chip bag.
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Friday, August 22, 2014

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

I am sharing this recipe a the Foodie Friends Friday Link Party.
Hop over and find some great recipes......
 Is there anything that screams FALL any more louder than Pumpkin?
I have a very large collection of food fan pages in my Facebook feed.
And when this pumpkin sheet cake came through my feed
I switched on my scratch-n-sniff mode on my lap top.
What?
You don't have a scratch-n-sniff mode?
Don't tell anyone,
but I also have flash drive that will turn things into 
a taste-test mode.
These flash drives are very hard to find and I had to
travel many, many, many miles to find mine.
(I have a pet elephant too)
 One thing that I love about blog recipes is,
usually the recipes have been tested and are true.
I use the word "usually" very lightly.
There are some food blogs out there that will just post a recipe 
without trying it first.
My form of food blogging.....
I will NOT present you something that I have not tried myself first.
And if I get the recipe/inspiration from another source 
I will let you in on that too.
Blogging is all about creating, sharing, and of course honest opinions.
That is why I am not going to post the recipe here.
I did not create this cake.
I made it, photographed it, and voiced my opinion.
Wait!
I haven't voiced my opinion yet.
This is the BEST pumpkin sheet cake I have ever had in my life.
Sheet cakes are very easy to throw together,
and they are perfect for crowd feeding.
So keep in mind your Fall parties this year.
This pumpkin sheet cake would be the perfect treat.

Now for the source:
I found this recipe at Skip to my Lou.
The only thing I did differently is, I added 1 tsp. of vanilla to the pumpkin mixture.

The butter-cream maple frosting.....
I am one that just dumps when making frosting.
So I can't really put a recipe to the frosting.
You can easily do an internet search for butter-cream frosting.
I flavored mine with maple extract. 

I strongly recommend that you make this cake.
It is fantastic!

A huge Thank You goes out to Skip to my Lou.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Garlic Bread Bruschetta

 Have you ever gone to a fine restaurant and they offer bruschetta 
as one of their appetizers?
You order it, it comes to the table, you dig in, 
and......
it's tasteless!
This garlic bread bruschetta is far from being tasteless.
As my base I used Schwan's garlic texas toast.
 I thawed it completely before assembling the rest of the ingredients.
 The rest of the ingredients are items you should already have on hand.
So when you want a quick side for any meal this is perfect.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
I used pesto smeared on each garlic bread piece.
I used about 1 - 1 1/2 tsp. per slice.
 I then topped the pesto with mozzarella cheese.
Use as much or as little as you like. 
 Then on top of the cheese I placed a slice of yellow tomato.
You can use red if you like.
Sprinkle with parm cheese.
And bake for about 18 - 20 minutes.
Keep an eye on them.
They are done when the cheese is brown and tomato is roasted.
The feedback on these:
"They taste like a mini pizza."
They were very well liked in this little country kitchen.

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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Pork Loin Sliders on Mini Pretzel Buns

 I have got to get this recipe down before it leaves my memory.
Have you been seeing those cute little mini pretzel buns in the grocery stores?
I have been wanting to try and make a slider.
You know, the ones you get at the sports bars, or really great pubs?
The ones that drip to your elbows when you eat them?
I have managed to create those exact descriptions.
And one of my favorite sloppy sandwich is the Philly Cheese Steak.
So that is where this recipe is heading.
But I ran into a dilemma.
I love dilemmas though.
Dilemmas mean CHALLENGES.
I have been hooked on the Aldi supermarket.
I have been doing a good job at trying to purchase all of my groceries from there.
Now there are some things that I just can't bring myself to replace with off brand.
Things like toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, laundry soap, trash bags, etc...
But food items are being used and tested.
And I love to test products.
I made these sliders with a pork loin. 
Yes, I know, a Philly Cheese Steak is made of beef.....
I will just go ahead and tell you what I did.
If you try this recipe, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
I found a pork loin at Aldi's.
I cut it in half.
I placed the unused half in a freezer bag and froze it for later use.
The other half:
I used a very sharp knife and sliced it as thin as I could get it.
As you can see from the pictures I managed to slice it pretty thin.
 I used French's Flavor infuser (Classic Steakhouse) as a marinade.
I mixed in a tablespoon of dry ranch dressing mix.
 I put this together around lunchtime. 
I let the flavors mix together and soak until it was time to prepare dinner.
 I used 1 TBS of butter and 1 TBS of pesto to soften my onion and green pepper.
I used 1 small green pepper, sliced thin.
And 1 small sweet onion sliced thin.
Cook them in the butter/pesto until they are tender and slightly brown.
The meat: I cooked that in a skillet with 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce.
Cook the meat until it is done.
You can even let it simmer for a while if you want.
It makes a really nice sauce when cooking.
Here is where my dilemma comes in.
I wanted to get some cream cheese to mix with the meat. 
What do you think I forgot at Aldi's?
Yup, the cream cheese.
So I did what any chef would do.....
I tore apart my kitchen looking for something to use in place of the cream cheese.
Guess what I found?
Velveeta Mac & Cheese.
The cheese sauce will work wonderful.
But what will I do with the pasta?
When my meat was done I squeezed in half of the cheese sauce
from the mac & cheese kit.
Stirred it up.....and talk about creamy.
The pasta.....I boiled it up, used the remaining cheese sauce and 
added about three tablespoons of pesto.
Perfect side to serve with the sliders.
But anyway, I buttered cut sides of my pretzel rolls. 
I topped the bottom halves with onion mixture, meat,
and topped them with provolone cheese.
The top buns I placed buttered side up on the pan.
 I stuck them under the broiler until the cheese was melted and buns were toasted.
Keep and eye on things. 
You don't want your buns to burn.
Mine took about 5-7 minutes.
 This is what my dinner looked like.
See, I told you dilemmas create challenge.
And challenge creates results.
 Do you see the drippings and goopiness from these sliders?
The perfect club/pub/sports bar sandwich.
You can't get any sloppier than that.
Don't wear white!! Just say'n.....
I shared this recipe at Foodie Friends Friday Link Party.
Always a great party.
Make sure you give them a visit.
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