St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Rolls

Many of you know by now that I make bread from scratch and I love to utilize my bread maker in a pinch. Well, today was that day I used the bread maker in a pinch. I had to be at the boys school today for several hours, and So when I got home it was too late to start my bread so I started dough in the bread maker. I have a recipe for my bread maker rolls here. I used that recipe to make my shamrock rolls. All I did was add about 6-7 drops of green food coloring to the dough as it mixed together. Then when the bread maker was done, I rolled the dough into small balls and placed them in a muffin pan. Let them rise til about double in size.

Bake in the oven 350F for 12-15 minutes. Browned on top.

I think that next time I will add it to the water in the beginning instead of in the dough stage. But I think they look pretty :)

Texas BBQ Pulled Pork

I have made the same pulled pork for a while and my husband had mentioned last time that he was tired of it. So today I decided to try to find another recipe. Ok, so I know I'm not the only one who uses the same recipe too often,... right... or am a I? It's rhetorical so no need to answer to me. :) I went searching the web for the best pulled pork recipe... that and I needed to have all the ingredients on hand here at home. I looked for ratings by reviewers. I like to go to allrecipes.com they have a lot of great recipes and I like seeing pictures, and printing it in 4X6 cards so I can add them to my recipe box. I was a little worried so I didn't pass it along until after my family tried it for their stamp of approval. The funny thing is that my husband when he heard I made bbq pork he asked if I went easy on the A-1 steak sauce... HA HA Ha... I know right.. well, this recipe doesn't have any A-1 Steak sauce. So he was happy and was even happier that it wasn't a vinegary flavor. Even though there is some vinegar in it. I also made my homemade bread maker rolls to eat them on. You can find that recipe here. So here it is....

Ingredients

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 (4-5 lb) pork shoulder roast bone in or bone out

1 cup bbq sauce

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp Chili powder

1 Extra large onion

2 large cloves of garlic, crushed or minced

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

8 hamburger buns, split

2 Tbsp butter or as needed

Directions

Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker, pour in the bbq sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic and thyme. Cover and cook on high until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 5-6 hours.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices.

**Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter, toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns. **

** I didn't do this part, I made homemade buns and didn't toast them, they were fresh out of the oven. Oh so yummy!

Everything else on this recipe I followed to a "T". I asked my kids what they thought of the pork and they said it was the best EVER. I have a TON left, so this is great for a pot luck or even when you have lots of company over for dinner. I think I have enough for at least 2 or 3 other full meals. Now my problem will be how to use this BBQ pork in another dish that will be just as delicious. If you have any suggestions of how to you'd use this leftover BBQ pork please share with me. I love new ideas. Thanks and Enjoy! I know we did!

Crock pot Chicken

Tonight is an easy dinner. I love, Love, LOVE crock pot meals. I really enjoy letting them do most of the work. Is that bad? I don't think so. Isn't it better to work smarter not harder? Well, tonight luckily for me is another easy crock pot dinner. Crock pot chicken... can I just say it's heavenly! We never have any leftovers. I am going out on a limb here to say I have never had a yummier crock pot chicken dish then this. I know i'm crazy but it's the truth. Try it and you'll agree... I think so anyways.

Ingredients:

10 chicken tenders or 5 chicken breasts - boneless, skinless

2 cans of cream of whatever soup (I used cream of mushroom with roasted garlic and cream of chicken.

1 pkg dry italian dressing mix

1 stick of butter

1 room temperature 8oz brick of cream cheese

Directions

Mix the cream soups and italian dressing mix together in the crock pot. then add the butter and chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4. Before serving blend in the cream cheese. (remove the chicken from the sauce, add the cream cheese and blend either with a immersible mixer or with a wisk, then replace the chicken.) Should be a nice smooth cream sauce. You can either leave the chicken tenders/chicken breasts whole or shred them.

Serve with orzo, rice, or egg noodles. I like to serve a green veggie with this dish. The sauce is heavenly. The chicken is tender, fall apart. My children and hubby eat it till it's gone. No leftovers. If you want leftovers, I suggest you make a double batch. So delicious! Enjoy!

Veggie Supreme Pizza

I made homemade bread last night. I have the recipe on my blog here. Now this recipe is very versetile but is an all day process. So be warned... It is so worth it. You can make this dough and freeze it, pre-bake some of the crusts and freeze them for another day.. What ever. So here is what I made.

Ingredients:

6-7 baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 fresh roma tomato, sliced and then cut in half

2 cups fresh spinach

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozorlla cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1-2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 cup to 1 cup of garden combination Ragu spaghetti sauce. (to create a light sauce layer)

1 pre-baked crust using my bread recipe

sprinkle parmesan cheese and italian seasoning

2 dashes of cooking white wine

salt and pepper

1/4 stick of butter

Directions:

After you slice all of your vegetables, set aside. In a small skillet melt 1/4 stick of butter, when nice and bubbly then add the mushrooms and onions. saute... while saute'ing them sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then add a dash or two of cooking white wine, continue to saute' until all the liquid has been absorbed or evaporated. Mushrooms will be a nice flavor and onions will have a translucent sheen. Set aside.

1. Spread lightly the spaghetti sauce, then sprinkle with minced garlic.

2. Add the mushroom/onion mixture, spreading evenly on top of the crust.

3. Next add the diced bell pepper and then layer the spinach.

4. On top of the spinach add the tomato sliced in a layer on top of the spinach. Next sprinkle with cheese on top.

5. spoon pieces of ricotta cheese on top of the cheese layer and sprinkle the chopped basil.

6. sprinkle with italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.

Bake in a Preheated 425F degree oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown crust and melted cheese on top.

I only have three pieces of this pizza left that I'm going to have for lunch today. My husband ate some too... This was very tasty and beautiful. The bread recipe is very versatile and can be substituted for just about any kind of bread type item you want. I was cooking so much that my rolls went flat. So I baked them anyways and they will be turned into croutons with some olive oil and seasoning. Get creative and have fun. Let me know how you liked this pizza recipe :)

Enchirito's

Tonight I am making Enchirito's. Your probably thinking to yourself, "what the heck is an enchirito?". Well, I'll tell you. Back when I lived in West Virginia I used to buy this box mix that was from Taco Bell that was enchirito's. It came with refried beans, taco seasoning, flour tortillas and sauce. All I had to do was add beef or chicken. Then you would assemble and bake in the oven. I loved them, and then they stopped selling them. :( very sad! So now I have made my own. I am adding a few other ingredients to make it mine.

Ingredients:

10 flour tortillas (you may use less)

1 lb ground beef

1 can refried beans

1 can red or green enchilada sauce

1 can green chili's (optional)

1 medium onion

1-2 veggie pucks(optional - recipe for veggie puck can be found here)

1 package taco seasoning

2-3 cups shredded cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven 350F.

Brown the ground beef, and onion. Then add the taco seasoning (like you were making taco's). Then add the veggie puck and green chili's. Set mixture aside.

On the flour tortillas spread 1-2 tbsp refried beans on the tortilla (enough to cover surface).

Then add 2-3 spoons of beef mixture. (enough to fill the middle of the tortilla,

then add a couple sprinkles of cheese.

Roll and set in a 13X9 pan. Repeat until full, may take 8-10 tortilla's depending on how full you make the tortillas.

Next, pour enchilada sauce on top. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 350F oven for 25-30 minutes. Till bubbly and cheese has melted.

Serve Warm. with sour cream and other toppings such as lettuce, tomato, onion, olives, even guacamole. This is a yummy dish. Adding the veggie puck adds a nice added veggie and vitamin punch to the dish, they won't be able to tell.

I was able to make enough for two families=2 pans. I could have put them all in one pan, but realized I would have way too many leftovers. So I'm going to share the love. Give one pan away.

Broccoli Cheeseburger Mac

Tonight, my kids asked if they could have cheeseburger mac. I tried to think of some way to sneak in veggies into dinner that were not corn. Since that was the side dish they requested. I had some broccoli that I needed to use up from Bountiful Baskets. I had some bulk breakfast sausage and half an onion that I thought would be good and add flavor to the mac instead of just plain hamburger meat.

This was a delicious dinner, that had all the basic food groups in one dish. So yummy! I'm heading back for bowl number 2... Mind you, I didn't have lunch... So I'm a little hungry. This makes enough for company if your kids have friends over for dinner, and it's also good if you want leftovers for your spouses lunch the next day. This would be good re-heated and the next day. :)

Ingredients:

2 boxes Mac N Cheese

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup milk

4 oz velvetta cheese, cubed

3-4 cups fresh or one frozen bag of broccoli

1/2 onion

1 lb bulk sausage or ground beef

Directions:

Boil water in a large pot on the stove. As the water is boiling, dice the onion and cut up the broccoli... in a medium skillet add the bulk sausage and onions and cook until meat is browned and the onions are slightly transparent. Then set aside. In the water pot once it's boiling add the noodles from the mac n cheese box, holding out the powdered cheese to add later. Cook the pasta, about 2 minutes after you add the pasta, add the fresh or frozen broccoli to the same pot. Once the pasta is al dente or til desired tenderness drain the broccoli and pasta together. Then add the milk, velvetta cheese, powdered cheese, and all other ingredients including the sausage onion mixture and pasta broccoli. Stir until all incorporated and the velvetta is melted. Then serve.

This is SO DELICIOUS full of yummy vitamins from the broccoli and onions. Great flavor! no added salt, or pepper needed. Except to cook the noodles which adds flavor to the pasta.

* Make sure you salt the noodles when cooking them.

Vegetable Beef Stew

I'm using my slow cooker once again, I'm going to be using it more and more, since my school work is getting more intense and I'm volunteering more at the boys school. Tonight I am making something similar to my beef stew, but a little different. It is smelling delicious. I hope the kids are going to eat it since it's in my 6 qt slow cooker and that's a lot of stew. I maybe donating some beef stew to a family tonight.... hmmm, we'll see.

Ingredients:

-family pack beef stew meat

-1 prepackaged veggie medley (found with the salads - mine had cut celery, baby carrots, red onions and a bout 3 red potatoes) - I found this on sale for $.99 so I bought it and it saved me some cutting and time.

-1 pkg dry au ju seasoning mix

-1 pkg dry beefy onion soup mix

-5-6 red skinned potatoes , diced in to bite size pieces

-salt and pepper

-enough water to cover ingredients

Directions:

First open the pkg of beef stew meat, salt and pepper generously (while still in the package from the store). Next, In a large slow cooker preferably 6 qt, add the beef. Then add in the other ingredients. (with the veggie mix from the store, I just cut the onions a little smaller and didn't use the potatoes - they didn't look too good). Give the mixture a good stir and set it and forget it. If desired... Once it's been cooking 8-10 hours, you can thicken with potato flakes. ( add a little then stir, keep adding to desired consistency).

That's it, done... I'm going to serve this with some pillsbury rolls I bought on sale. This was an easy quick dinner, not a lot of prep or ingredients. Great for a cold day or even a long day. Enjoy :)