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An Ending to 2018

1/2/2019

1 Comment

 
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Mexican Hot Chocolate
​-by Erica

​This Mexican Hot Chocolate was so good I ended up making it twice in one week! It got rave reviews from my friends and family, it was even good enough for my 4-year-old niece! I highly recommend having extra cinnamon, candy canes or even a little cayenne to sprinkle on top of your whip cream! 

Whether you choose to follow the directions and make it on the stove top or throw all the ingredients in a crockpot this recipe will taste amazing. I do recommend at least doubling the recipe or you will have tiny serving sizes. 
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Breakfast Mess

It's always been tradition to make a big breakfast on Christmas morning in my family. I always found this special growing up because we never sat down as a family to eat breakfast, a lot of times just grabbing a granola bar and running out the door. So I always looked forward to having a big breakfast with family on Christmas morning after the joys of opening presents from Santa. This year, newly married, I chose to make something out of the infamous cookbook - well technically my husband chose it, but I gave him all the breakfast options and this was the winner... Breakfast Mess... and it was delicious let me tell you!
The recipe was super easy to make. I bought frozen hashbrowns and cooked them per the package rather than per the recipe. Mixed in all the other ingredients, but kept the eggs separate. When both the "mess" was fully cooked and the eggs were fully cooked, I combined them on the same plate and sprinkled the cheese on top. I did think so that I could have leftovers. For me, I don't think eggs make good leftovers, but the hashbrowns and veggies were perfect and I was able to make more eggs the next day for double the deliciousness. 

Easy and yummy, thumbs up!
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Elegant Scalloped Potatoes

My mom asked me to bring some potatoes over for Christmas Eve dinner, I immediately went to my recipes list to see if there was anything potato related left and found this recipe. 

I'm not 100% sure I made it correctly, but it still tasted alright. The potatoes I purchased were probably too big for the recipe and I should have cooked them in the microwave a bit longer than it called for. I'd say 2/3 of the potatoes weren't cooked all the way and they required a knife and fork for eating.
Other than that though, it was pretty good dish. The potatoes didn't exactly fit in my pyrex dish and there was barely enough cheese sauce to cover all of them, but still it was good to eat and cheesy enough for my tastes. If I make this again I will probably half the number of potatoes but keep the other ingredients at the same level. Not sure how the writers of this recipe were able to put all these sliced potatoes in the pan (I used the same size that was suggested). The green onions on top really made the taste all that better too. Thumbs up, but cook the potatoes to where they are soft (even though it makes them harder to cut!).
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For those interested, I currently have 506 more recipes to make. Cheers to the future.
1 Comment

X-Mas Togetherness

12/18/2018

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Lebkuchen

With all the get togethers we have planned for Christmas, I decided to bring a dessert to one of them and fell on this recipe. One that is considered a "Christmas" recipe, to me it seems like a mix between a fruit cake and a spice cake. From the German language "kuchen" means cake, but it's unknown what the "leb" portion of it means (according to Google anyway). I will say this wasn't my favorite recipe to make. The molasses made it extremely difficult to stir - I don't even know if I got it completely all together due to the massive amounts of flour the recipe calls for. I should have asked for help, my arms were not strong enough for this recipe I'll say!
As for the taste - it also was not my favorite. To me, there was too much 'spiceness' to the taste and the candied fruit with raisins didn't do much to the taste. Perhaps I didn't put enough of the fruit in there. I don't think I even measured it. I don't think I would make this again, but I'm glad to have been able to try something that is popular in another country, particularly one that I'm sure my ancestors are all from. Thumbs down from me, but everyone at the party liked it.
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Caramelized Onion Pork - By Joey

I ​ made the caramelized onion pork and absolutely LOVED it. I made a few deviations (which I seem to always do). With the onions I used a combination of butter and oil because I feel like better adds a depth of flavor/nuttiness that just oil doesn't provide. For the pork seasoned I it with salt/pepper and browned it on all sides before placing it in the oven, I used the same pan that I caramelized the onions in to maximize the flavor for the pork.

In addition to the pork, I made a spiced maple glaze that I served with it
I feel like it definitely added another layer of flavor and gave the pork a little something extra since it was made for our holiday party.
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Spiced Maple Glaze:
1/2 cup maple syrup, preferably grade B
2 tbs chicken broth                 

⅛teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
pinch cayenne pepper

Add ingredients to the pan where you browned the pork and scrape up the browned bits, simmer the glaze until fragrant and keep off to the side or brush on the pork in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy!
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Cheddar Rice Casserole

To go with Joey's pork recipe, I brought a side of rice casserole. I thought it paired well with the pork along with the other sides brought. 

Because I couldn't find just long grain rice, I used a long grain-wild rice combination for the dish. I cooked the rice according to the package (I used Uncle Bens) and then mixed it together with all the other ingredients per the recipe. Instead of fresh parsley, I just sprinkled some dried parsley on top before baking in the oven. The casserole itself was absolutely delicious. If I didn't have so much leftover I probably would have eaten it all up.
I didn't time myself very well with this recipe, I ended up being late to the party because I started to late!! Part of that is because I didn't think the Uncle Bens rice would take like a half hour to simmer, I'm used to buying instant rice, not sure what I was thinking there. Overall though I liked this recipe and think its a good side casserole for any party or potluck. Will definitely make this again one day. Thumbs up.
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Mexican at Night

12/12/2018

1 Comment

 
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Homemade Tortillas

When I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner one night, he said Tacos. I thought that was a brilliant idea so I immediately looked through my cookbook recipe list to see if there were any taco recipes we hadn't made yet. There was one, but it included the use of a crockpot on low for 8 hours. So that wasn't going to help. Then I came across this recipe, Homemade Tortillas. I thought why not try to make these? I'll make sure I have some store bought ones on the side just in case they are terrible. 

The recipe itself was extremely easy. If you follow this blog close enough, you'll know that I HATE kneading bread.
Luckily, this recipe only calls for 6-8 kneads before sitting for only 10 minutes. Perfect for a weeknight meal. I would never make actual bread on a weeknight with the 3+ hours of rising and 10-15 minutes of kneading. The thing I don't like about kneading, I will share with you, is the fact that it's completely necessary to use flour. Now, I do not like touching things that are super super soft (i.e. fresh fleece, cotton balls, flour) so needing to add flour just isn't the greatest. I also don't like touching the dough when it's super wet still, but I can get over that aspect of it. 

I was a little worried when I went to "fry" these tortillas. First - they were completely ugly and not round. Second - all the recipe called for was Pam so it didn't fry as I would have expected. Last - they were brown rather than white (like you would find in store bought tortillas), but I think that just had something to do with the Pam being use. Even though they were ugly, they still tasted just as good as I would have gotten at the store. I halved the recipe so it only made 4 tortilla shells (some big some small) but they were perfect in every way. 

I can't say I would make these again unless I was asked too. It's almost not worth the trouble. Our tacos were DE-A-LICIOUS though!! (It could have been because I put feta cheese on mine!) Thumbs up!
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Chili n Cheese Grits

To go with the above tacos, I found this recipe to compliment it and keep the Mexican theme going for the night. These are completely the same as the grits I made with my Chorizo Stuffed Turkey on Thanksgiving (see blog post here). I wish I would have known that, I could have killed two recipes with one pot. These grits were still good though. 

It made a bit too much for just the two of us. The leftovers are actually still in the fridge - I should probably get rid of that. I don't think either of us will eat the leftovers even though it didn't taste bad at all. I really should try harder to half/quarter/eighth a recipe to fit a 2 family need.
As for the recipe itself, super easy. Thankfully I still had the grits and some milk at home so all I really needed to spend money on was the green chiles... which was less than a dollar for a small 4 oz can. I probably wouldn't make it again, but I'm glad I was able to try something new. Thumbs to the side.
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    Shannon does it Julie & Julia style as she cooks through a cookbook and shares thoughts and recipes along the way.
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