Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Homemade Slime/Gak



Two, 4 oz. bottles of Elmer’s Glue
1 tsp. Borax (found in the laundry detergent section of the store)
Water
Food Coloring

Empty the glue into a bowl. Refill bottles with hot water and shake. Empty that into your bowl. Add your desired color choice. Stir until you have your desired color. Into a cup, add one cup of hot water and 1 teaspoon of borax. Stir until the borax is dissolved then add this to your colored glue mix slowly while stirring. Your "slime" will start right away. You may have some extra water, but pull the slime out of your bowl and keep working it until you're happy with the consistency.

Sure to be lots of fun for your little ones. :)

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

White Bean Soup

White Bean Soup
*Just toss a 1 lb bag of dry white beans in the crock pot and cover with enough water to rise 2 inches above the beans. 
*Add in 2 C cooked shredded chicken, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp Cajun spice. Cook on medium for 6-8 hours. 
*1 hour before eating add in 1 can of Rotel and 4 C chicken broth.
*It is delicious... especially if you add a sprinkle of cheese to it:)

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Autumn Apple Cake

AUTUMN APPLE CAKE 

Ingredients:
5-7 apples
1 (9 ounce) package yellow cake mix
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 stick real butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Fill your 9x12 pan 1/2 full with apples which you've peeled, cored and sliced thin
(peeling is optional).
Sprinkle the apples with dry cake mix.
Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the cake mix.
Melt butter and drizzle over.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Oxtail Stew

 
 
So this recipe came about because I had a few random leftovers from a cow that we had butchered last fall. I saw "OXTAIL" on the wrapper and was like, what?! What am I supposed to do with that? I was determined to cook it, somehow, someway. So, I scoured various recipe sites and saw that Oxtail is used in a lot of Asian cooking, Caribbean cooking and Italian cooking. Well, Italian cooking speaks my love language, so I started looking at the Italian recipes. I decided I wanted to cook it slow and didn't really want to have to mess with it, and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did, because it turned out simply amazing.

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs of oxtail chunks (If it doesn't come already chunked or segmented, ask your butcher to do it for you. You really want the marrow to be visible)

1 lb baby carrots (I get these because I really don't like chopping carrots)

6-8 golden potatoes

2 cans of diced tomatoes (regular size)

Italian seasoning

Kosher Salt

Ground Black Pepper

Red Wine

My kiddos don't like onions, but I think pearl onions would be fantastic in this.



I did this in my crock pot; which is 5.5 quarts. First put down a layer with your carrots covering the bottom. Then chop your potatoes into good size chunks and place those on top of your carrots. Then a layer of the diced tomatoes with the juices. Place the oxtail on top of this. Do a healthy sprinkling of salt and pepper and the Italian seasoning. I think people are afraid of seasoning and beef really responds best to a good sprinkling. Around your beef, pour enough of your red wine to not quite cover your carrot layer. I saw people suggesting a burgundy wine with this, but I really just think any good table red would work. I put mine in the crockpot on low for 3 hours and then thought it might take too long on low, so I bumped it up to high and cooked it for five hours like that and it was perfect. I think if you cooked it on high for 6 hours that would be a good place to start. Maybe start it on low if you're going to put it on early in the morning.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Swiss Steak



Ingredients
  • 2 pounds round steak or cube steak
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 1/2 cups beef broth
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper.

Place the flour into a pie plate or shallow dish. Dust the pieces of meat on both sides in the flour mixture.  Cover the meat with plastic wrap and pound out the steaks until they are thinner pieces.  Then dredge the pounded slices through the flour on both sides once more and set aside.

Add enough of the oil to just cover the bottom of a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven(If you don't have a Dutch over, just use your largest skillet) set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the steaks to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd. Cook until golden brown on both sides, approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove the steaks to a plate and repeat until all of the steaks have been browned.

Remove the last steaks from the pot and add the onions and garlic. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Next add the tomatoes, paprika, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth and stir to combine.

Return the meat to the pot, submerging it in the liquid. Cover the pot and place it in the oven on the middle rack. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the meat is tender and falling apart.

We served this over mashed potatoes and it was super yummy. Recipe altered from an Alton Brown recipe.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Zucchini Chips

 
Zucchini Chips:

All you do is cut the zucchini in 1/4 inch slices. Dip it in some sort of oil and then in a mix of breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Place on a foil or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 400°. On one sheet I sprinkled Colby jack cheese on top... but I can't tell you which one was my favorite. They were both good!!! now you know what to do with all that zucchini that you keep pulling out of the garden;)

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Strawberry Pie

This is a fantastic fresh strawberry pie recipe that was given to me by my dear friend Joanna Lowe summer 2011. I've been thinking about making it again this summer.
 
4 oz of cream cheese
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tub cool whip (plus more for topping)
4 oz box strawberry jello
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1.5 cups water
2+ cups strawberries
graham cracker pie shell
 
 Mix cheese powdered sugar together. Fold in cool whip and put in pie shell. Mix Jello and pudding together, add water and cook. Cool Jello and pudding mixture for about 5-10 minutes and add strawberries Pour into pie shell when cool. Top with more cool whip if desired. Chill.