40 Rocks and Rolls

Today my handsome fella turned 40.  Yesterday I asked him “What would you like for breakfast on your birthday?”  His reply: “40 cinnamon rolls”….not just cinnamon rolls but 40 of them!!!   Have no fear, I was up for the challenge!  Look what I made:

Then there was the gift.  I wanted something that was “40-ish” but not mean.  So I came up with “40 Rocks!”.  The girls and I each wrote, on a total of 40 rocks, things that we love about him and put them in a jar that he can keep on his bookshelf.  The girls loved my idea and we had fun sitting down while Brad was at work Tuesday evening to finish up our gift for him.

    

We had a great morning!

Of course dinner wasn’t too shabby either…pulled pork and fruit salad topped off with the birthday boy’s favorite cake (compliments of some awesome friends).

 

Now….how did I make those mini-cinnamon rolls?  Well I googled “easy homemade cinnamon rolls” and found this recipe:

To get enough to do both numbers, the 4 and the 0, I did two batches

Mini-Cinnamon Rolls

In a small bowl mix together:

• 1 Tablespoon of slightly melted butter
• 4 Tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon of flour

Open:

• 1 can of crescent rolls

Take half of the dough and separate at the vertical seams.  (I pulled the dough into the four rectangles to create the rolls)

Press the diagonal seams of the dough together so that the dough is smooth.

Spoon the cinnamon mixture onto the dough.

Roll the short side up and continue with the remainder of the dough.

Cut into 2 inch slices…I got four out of each rolled section, but if I had thought ahead and cut 5 in each then I really would have had 40 cinnamon rolls!

Place all the rolls on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes

 

When the rolls have cooled, mix together the icing.  I forgot about the icing until after I took the pictures and we were all ready to eat- I threw it together but it needs work….here is what the “googled” recipe said to do:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk….and by typing that I realized my problem….I put in 2 Tablespoons of milk.  No wonder my icing was a bit runny!  So make sure to use two TEAspoons and your icing should turn out better than mine!

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A Great and Easy combination: Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers and Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

A few months ago, at the Moms4Moms group I attend at Faith Community Church one of the specials was on kids helping in the kitchen.  A recipe on the handout was Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers, it is a great one to have in your menu plan and my girls have each helped make it.  I’ve even taken the recipe on the road and shared it with my Mom and one of my Aunts and Uncles when I was in Texas recently–they loved it too.  The only catch to the recipe is that it takes an hour in the oven.  So you have to plan a little in advance.

Then a friend posted a recipe for what looked like a delicious, easy bread from The Virtuous Wife on his facebook page and I thought….hmmm….that might be good with the Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers.

So this weekend, I tried them together and Y-U-M.  I served some fruit and it was an easy meal that pleased everyone at the table.

Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers

In a skillet brown and then drain:

• 1 lb ground beef

Add to the browned and drained ground beef:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 can chopped stewed tomatoes (or diced if that is all you have…but stewed is a better flavor.  I chop them right in the can using kitchen shears.)
• 1 large green pepper chopped
• 1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice (I prefer Uncle Ben’s)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Transfer to a greased 2 quart casserole dish

Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour or until the rice is tender

Uncover and sprinkle with

• 1 c shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever kind of cheese you have on hand…mozzarella would be good, Italian blend or even colby-jack)

Return to the oven until cheese melts.

(This is a recipe you could prep the night before or even earlier in the day and then pop into the oven when you get home.  It could take a bit longer to warm but not too much.)

 

Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (but if you are cooking the Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers your oven is already at 350°!)

Place in a bundt pan:

• 1/2 stick of butter

Put bundt pan in oven and let it melt.

While the butter melts, cut into quarters:

• 1 can of refrigerated Grands biscuits (each biscuit will be cut into 4ths)

Toss the biscuit quarters in a bowl mixed with:

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Once the butter is melted, add the biscuit mixture, sprinkling with any cheese and garlic that gets left behind in the bowl.

Bake at 350° for 20-22 minutes until golden brown.

Turn out on a dish (you may need to run a knife down the sides a bit) and enjoy!

It was light and fluffy and even warmed up well when we had leftovers.

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Kids in the Kitchen: Pepperoni Pizza Pinwheels

I had a very cute assistant tonight help me prepare our dinner.  She donned her new apron from her Mimi and got right to work preparing our fun pepperoni pizza pinwheels.  It is yet another recipe from the Southern Living Ultimate Quick and Easy Cookbook (I gave a HUGE hint at dinner tonight that the cookbook would make a great Mother’s Day gift….I said something like, “It would make a great Mother’s Day gift.”…subtle ehh???)  It is quick to prepare and yummy to eat!

My very cute assistant.

Pepperoni Pizza Pinwheels

Unroll on a cutting board into a rectangle that is about 12 x 9:

• 1 (10 oz) can refrigerated pizza crust —I used the Pillsbury thin crust pizza crust you find in the refrigerated biscuit section.

Sprinkle the crust with:

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
• Pepperoni slices

Roll up the crust, starting with the long side.  (This was a bit tricky as the crust had warmed up some.  I got it started and rolled it several times before my assistant took over.)

Once it is rolled up, moisten the edge with water and pinch the seam to seal.  (We wet our pointer finger and thumbs and pinched it shut—my assistant liked that!)

Cut into 1 inch wide slices and place about 1 inch apart on a large jellyroll pan (15 x 10 inches or so) that has been lined with foil and then lightly greased.

Bake at 400° for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden.

While those bake, whip up some sauce.  I didn’t want to waste opening a jar of spaghetti sauce like the recipe suggested so I made my own.  I opened an 8 oz can of tomato sauce then doctored it up with some Italian seasoning blends I have in our pantry.  There was more than enough.

Serve immediately with warmed sauce.

I made this on a night that Brad was not home so I just sliced apples and served the pinwheels….done.  BUT we ate all but one pinwheel.  So if we were all home, I would serve this with a salad and some fruit; even then it is a quick and easy meal.

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Grilling Goodness: Chicken-and-Fruit Salad

The absolute best thing about our house is the ability to have dinners on the deck on a gorgeous evening.  Tonight was one of those evenings.  The trees still aren’t green in our view but the evening was perfect nonetheless.  We fired up the grill too in order to make another new recipe from the “Southern Living Ultimate Quick and Easy Cookbook” that I checked out from our library (I’m going to have to purchase one of these as I’ve rechecked it now three times and I want to copy way too many of the recipes.)

Not the best picture of our deck but this gives you a glimpse at why it is so wonderful. This was from the end of April last year. Our deck is up in the trees.

 

Chicken-and-Fruit Salad

Plan Ahead- Chicken and Pineapple need to marinade for 6-8 hours.

Place in a ziploc bag:

• 4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I like to prick my chicken with a fork to help the marinade ooze into the chicken a bit more)
• 3/4 cup of Lawry’s Santa Fe Chili Marinade with Lime and Garlic (the recipe calls for a lime and garlic marinade….this was the closest I could find!)

Seal the chicken in the ziploc bag and chill for 6 to 8 hours, turning occasionally.

Cut into fourths:

• one cored fresh pineapple

Place the pineapple into a ziploc bag and pour 1/4 cup of the marinade over the pineapple. Seal and chill for 6 to 8 hours.

Ready to Grill:

Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade.

Drain the pineapple.

Grill chicken 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until done.

Grill pineapple 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile:

Wash and prepare:

• 1 head of romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 2 cups of strawberries, halved
• 1 cup of raspberries

Once the grilled items are cooked as needed, cut chicken into strips and the pineapple into bite-sized pieces.

Arrange the lettuce, chicken, and fruit into bowls.

You could toss the fruit with some of the marinade before adding to to the salad or just let each person add extra marinade as desired.  We just added as desired as my girls don’t really care for dressing on their salad.

This was a great dinner and easy to prepare.  Everyone left the table happy….even the extra child that joined us for dinner!

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Enchilada Casserole- Slow Cooker

Here is another “near” magic pot recipe that we tried tonight.  It is a vegetarian dish that also earned 4 smiley faces from our family of four.  It is intended to be prepared in a smaller slow cooker ( 3 1/2 quart) but it worked fine in my big slow cooker.  If I have more than four mouths at my table it would be easy to double this one.  I made this exactly like the recipe out of the Southern Living Ultimate Quick and Easy Cookbook except that I used a 15 oz can of corn rather than an 11 oz can of mexi-corn.  I just hate to pay more for that!

Enchilada Casserole

Stir together in your slow cooker:

• 2 Tablespoons chopped green chiles
• 3/4 cup chunky salsa (I used Pace’s mild version)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can yellow corn
• 1 10 oz can of enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso’s Green Enchilada sauce)

Cover and cook on Low for 4 hours

Stir together in a bowl:

• 1 Tablespoon green chiles
• 1 package corn muffin mix (8.5 oz box version)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 Tablespoons chopped roasted red bell peppers

Spoon the batter evenly over the bean mixture in the slow cooker (well, mine was more like glop it on top of the enchilada mix)

Cover and cook on Low for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until cornbread is done.

Sprinkle over the cornbread:

• 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or mexican blend as I did….hmmmm….maybe I didn’t follow the recipe exactly)

Cover and allow the cheese to melt

Serve with sour cream if desired.

Obviously the spicier your salsa the spicier the dish.  I was cooking for mild-mouths so we made it more tame.  I served it with Ranch Style Beans, a green salad and apple slices.

Enjoy!

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Chicken Lasagna Florentine- Slow Cooker

Magic Pot Alert!  Yep, this one is a dump and go kind of recipe….my kind of slow cooker meal.  It gets four smiley faces from my family of four.  The only thing you have to plan for is to be home for the first hour of cooking as you cook on high for one hour and then reduce it to low for the next 5 hours. *  I found the base for this recipe in a Southern Living Ultimate Quick and Easy Cookbook that I checked out from a local library.

Chicken Lasagna Florentine

Combine in a large bowl and stir well:

• 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
• 10 ounces of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry (I used frozen from Trader Joe’s and didn’t need to drain and squeeze)
• 2-3 cups of diced, cooked chicken (I used some shredded chicken that I had in the freezer, you could also use the Tyson’s diced cooked chicken)
• 8 ounces of sour cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon of Penzey’s Mural of Flavor (a mix of spices, dried shallots, onion, garlic, lemon peel, citric acid, chives, orange peel)  If you don’t have this, one variation I found online has 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.
• salt and pepper to taste

Place in a larger slow cooker, coated with cooking spray (or maybe one of those liners would be good)

• 3 uncooked lasagna noodles, breaking the noodles in half, to fit in the slow cooker. (will need 9 noodles in all for the layers)

Spread one third of the spinach mixture over the noodles.

Sprinkle over the mixture

• 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese

Layer

• 3 more noodles (breaking as needed)
• half of the remaining spinach mixture
• 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese

Top with the remaining noodles, mixture, and cheese.

Cover and cook on High for 1 hour

Reduce to Low and cook for 5 hours or until the pasta is done (mine was fine after 5 hours)

* Note: I did search around before posting this and see that someone did this same base recipe on Low for 8 hours and said it was fine—that way you don’t have to worry about the High/Low switch.

 

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Mediterranean Salmon

No, you aren’t on the wrong blog….I’m actually posting a fish recipe!  It is true that I don’t really care to prepare fish but I know it is healthy and should incorporate it more often.  Almost a month ago, my older brother had a heart attack.  In honor of his recovery, I thought I would dig out some of my heart healthy recipes and post a few.  This is one that has been around our house for over three years and it gets four smiley faces each time I make it.

Preheat oven to 425°

Place in a single layer in an 11 x 7 baking dish, coated with cooking spray

• 4 (6 oz) skinless salmon fillets  (OK, reality check here….I don’t take the skin off as the salmon I buy comes with skin on one side.  AND I just fill the pan so often I have 6 fillets)

Sprinkle over both sides of the fish:

• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper  (confession….I didn’t measure either salt or pepper)

Combine in a bowl and then spoon over fish:

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup finely chopped zucchini
• 2 Tablespoons capers (I used these the first time I made the recipe and haven’t since as capers are not on my regular shopping list!)
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil

Bake for 22 minutes.

We usually serve this with a big salad and some bread; and then, because it is fish, I plan on popping popcorn later when I am starving before bed!

My handsome fella found this recipe for me back in 2010 after I had my own little heart incident (not near as life-threatening as my big brother last month though!).    The recipe sheet I have says it was from a cnn.com health link.  So big brother, try out this recipe.  It is easy AND good for your heart.  Love you!

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Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I found this recipe in anticipation of March 1 which is National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, but we did not get them made.  We had some time this afternoon so I got things started and then my first born came in to help me finish the baking process.  We didn’t follow the recipe I found online exactly so I will just post what we did as I know it worked.  I would imagine that you have these ingredients already so don’t wait….get up and get baking, you will be glad you did.

PB & C Cupcakes (Peanut Butter and Chocolate)

Preheat oven to 375º

Line Muffin tin with paper cups (we did 12 large and then 21 small)

In a large bowl combine and then mix on high speed until creamy

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Gradually add, mixing until light and fluffy:

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

Add to the peanut butter mixture with the mixer running

• 2 eggs (add one at a time)

In a separate bowl combine:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Keeping the mixer running, add the dry mixture to the batter a little at a time alternating with the milk until incorporated

• 3/4 cup milk

Now distribute the mixture amongst the paper muffin cups.  For large cupcakes, fill 1/4 of the cup, place an unwrapped, upside down Hershey Kiss in the cup then fill to the 1/2 way point to allow for expansion while baking.  For small cupcakes fill 1/2 full using chocolate sprinkles rather than a Hershey Kiss.  (I used a Pampered Chef Rotary Grater that I’ve had for years).

We baked the large cupcakes for 18 minutes (bake until firm or a toothpick comes out clean….but don’t hit the melted chocolate when you check!)

The small cupcakes took about 9 minutes in our oven.

We removed them from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack.  Then we frosted with a bit of marshmallow creme and sprinkled more chocolate shavings on top.  YUM.

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Stuffing Cups- Easy one for Kids in the Kitchen

Want to help your kids learn to cook?  (AKA….do you hope in the near future to be able to say “child of mine, I’m running late today.  Will you please make dinner and have it ready when I get home.”?)  Then, like other parenting tasks we need to train them so they can know what is expected of them.  This recipe was an easy one for my 7 year old to help me with this week.  We ate it as our main dish but you could use it as a side to a roasted chicken too or rip up some of that roasted chicken and mix some into the stuffing prior to baking the stuffing cups in the oven.

If you are training your child to cook, remember to stay close by and offer assistance and guide them….nothing ruins dinner more than a trip to the ER.

Stuffing Cups

Heat oven to 350º

Melt in a large skillet on medium heat:

• 1/4 cup butter

Add to melted butter and saute until crisp-tender (about 5 minutes):

• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• pepper and salt to taste

Stir in and bring to boil:

• 1 1/2 cups water

Remove from heat and stir in

• 1 6 oz package of stuffing mix for chicken (like Stove Top)
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg, beaten

Mix lightly

Spoon into 8 greased muffin cups.  (I was able to get 9 good sized muffins out of it actually)

Bake 10 minutes or until the stuffing cups are heated through.

Note: We did not have any leftovers and there are just four of us.  So you may want to double the recipe if you have any boys over the age of 9 in your family or more than 4 people.  You could also put in some shredded, cooked chicken in the stuffing mix prior to spooning into the muffin cups.  This would make it go further and be a more hearty meal in itself.  These are also easy to wrap up and send to school in lunches—good portion control.

 

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Yummy Breakfast Bread

We have to capture breakfast on many days as our time for a family meal.  So I am often looking for recipes that meet my requirements of easy and yummy for which we can use at breakfast time.  I found this recipe in the Women’s Day March 2013 issue while waiting at the dance studio for one of my girls earlier this week.  I had to actually hand write the recipe down as I don’t have a smart phone to take a picture of it!  I think I got everything written down correctly as it came out fabulously this morning.  We give it 3 1/2 smiley faces.  My 7 1/2 year old said that she didn’t care for the strawberry chunks yet she ate half of her serving so she did kind of like it.  The only drawback is that it takes 45 minutes in the oven and then you have prep time on top of that.  For a Saturday that isn’t a problem but on a weekday I would probably make this the night before as I am NOT a morning person.

Strawberry-Banana Bread

Heat oven to 350º

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.  (I like to use shortening and then dust over it with flour)

In a large bowl whisk together (I actually did this the night before so I had less to do on Saturday morning)

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

In a medium bowl lightly beat:

• 4 eggs

Add to the eggs:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest (I’m sure this would be yummy, yet I didn’t have a lemon to zest.  Rather I put in almost a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice instead)

Whisk to combine the egg mixture.

Mash and stir into egg mixture:

• 2 large, ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated

Fold into the mixture:

• 1 pound of chopped strawberries
• (if you like walnuts in your house you can put in 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts….but my family doesn’t care for nuts)

Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake for about 45-50 minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  It took our bread 45 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 5 minutes

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together until smooth:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Spread the icing over the warm cake, then let cool completely.

Enjoy!

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