Beef and Chicken

I have been sick, but I still managed to pull off dinners. Just got a little foggy and forgot the pictures. Sorry no photos of yummy goodness this time around. I had taken a whole chicken and split it in half. I put some butter under the skin then I coated the top of the skin and the under side with a rub and glaze.
Rub:
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
Glaze:
6 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
I put the glaze on after it had been in the over for about 25 minutes. and I just kept basting it til the chicken was the right temp.
It came out really good.

The beef. It was a new recipe I had found some where. Its really simple and it comes out great
Rub( its wet and messy)
2 table spoons creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup hoisen sauce
1 teaspoon sweet curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

That's it. It came out good. I had added 1/4 cup white wine vinegar just to help it mix better.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

This is a really easy recipe. Its melted chocolate, peanuts and little tin cups. I usually melt semi sweet chocolate, dark chocolate and milk chocolate for this. I add about a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter in the hot mix for extra flavor and then I chop roasted peanuts  and add them. I pour them into little cups and let them sit. They come out looking like Reeces Peanut Cups except that there are chopped nuts and not creamy peanut butter in the center. If you don't have peanut butter at home you can always cheat and use Watkins Peanut butter Flavoring too, but only use a teaspoon of it.

Cake Balls

Sorry for not posting its been a little crazy lately. Bright side is, I have a new treat to share with you. Cake balls. I first saw them in a Food Network Magazine and thought I would like to try them eventually. Well the day came. The first one I tried was Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting. Dipped in Semi sweet and milk chocolate. The next one is Chocolate Cake with Carmel Frosting  dipped in Dark chocolate. Both are really most and good tasting. I was suprised at how easy it was to make these. It is just a lot of time put into the cake balls.

I couldn't believe the article that I originally found these in. They listed off a few places that make them in Texas and they go for anywhere between $27 and $30 a dozen. I can see its a lot of time. But that to me is still a lot of money to charge for something unless they put edible gold into it.

Sage Apple Pork Chops

This is a favorite in our house. It takes about 30 min to make. Sage Apple Pork Chops. I like using Golden Delicious Apples. I find they have a sweeter taste with the pork chops. I make a spice rub coat the pork chops then I brown them til they have a crust on both sides. I remove them from the pan then I put the apples and onions in the pan with apple juice and brown sugar and the left over spice rub. I let the sauce reduce then add the pork chops back into the pan to simmer for 5 min. They come out nice and tender. Its a nice quick meal.

Fajita pizza

So catching up on posting. Here is Fajita Pizza I made a couple nights ago. I marinade the chicken in sesame seed oil, cinnamon, fajita mix, and a little paprika, then I cook it. In another pan I cut up bell peppers and sweet onions. I saute them for 4 min then I add 1/3 cup of chunky salsa. If I want it hotter I use Frank's Hot Sauce. Usually I am too tired to make pizza crust so I buy mine. I put a blend of jack and cheddar down then the pizza stuffing then more cheese. Great the next day too.

New Treat

Tonight I decided to start my Millionaires. I changed the recipe I found. I added milk where it called for water and changed the nuts it called for. Because of one in diapers, I have to wait til tomorrow night to coat it in chocolate. I found its similar to the turtles, but different in that there is rice crispy cereal in it. So here is part 1 of 2 of the pictures for it.

A new way to eat

My so loves hot dogs. So much so he ate 4 of them today. He will only eat them with a fork. To try and get him to use his hands for some foods, I tried something different. He also loves Cheetos. I took the Cheetos and put them in the hot dogs. So they act like tooth picks coming out of the round little piece of meat. He love the idea and thought it was fun to eat.

Fried Chicken

So tonight's dinner was fried chicken. I used canola oil in a pan and fried it that way instead of dragging out the deep fryer I have. I did a double coat of flour in spices. I did flour, egg wash flour. It turned out pretty good. The recipe only called for 1 teaspoon of paprika, but I added 2. One was smoked and one was the original bright red that everyone buys in the stores. I also added some ranch dressing powder mix to the flour mixture. It gave the chicken more of the taste of chicken you would find at a chain restaurant. I like it. My son seemed to like it. So over all it was a success I think .

Butter scotch Candy

So I attempted my first hard candy today. I was worried while it was cooking that it wasn't getting dark enough. As soon as I let it sit to reach the hard candy stage it got darker. It tastes great. Although the scoring while it still warm was a challenge. So my pieces are not all even, but its candy. My daughter liked it so much she didn't want to give up the spoon.

Classic Dinner

So tonight I made Chicken Parmesan. I ran out of bread crumbs so I processed pretzels, crackers and potato chips. I added some spices and pan fried it to a golden brown. I used the home made spaghetti sauce I made weeks before with sweet Italian sausage. Put the chicken over regular spaghetti noodles and then I added Provolone cheese on top of the chicken before adding the hot sauce. It came out pretty good. I wasn't too disappointed with it.

Tomorrow I am hoping to attempt butterscotch candy. I will have to see what the day brings for me.

Timmothy O Tools

So having lunch at a new favorite restraunt in Gurnee. I had the Buffalo Chicken Wrap. A little  too spicy for me. Over all good food. If you like Irish Pub food, its reasonably priced and the atmosphere is good. I am curious to see what it is they call Adult Game Night and Jumbo Jenga.

The Begining

This all started from being a Military spouse. I was plunked down in the middle of no where. The town had no bakery and no real desserts other than the manufactured items Walmart puts out. I began to experiment with old family recipes and found I love to bake and cook. After reading my dear friend's blog, she started I  decided to make an attempt to do this. So everyone wish me luck and I will try to remember to take pictures of everything I cook and post them up here.