Jaci's Burrito Bowls

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite sized pieces
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of diced yellow onion
1 cup of uncooked extra-long grain rice
1 14.5 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
1 15 oz can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of cumin
2 1/4 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups of reduced fat colby jack monterey jack or cheddar cheese
kosher salt and pepper
freshly diced tomatoes
diced green onions
sour cream
guacamole

 Method:
1. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to Instant Pot and hit Saute button, then hit adjust button to set to More.
2. Season diced chicken with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.
3. Once oil is hot, add chicken to pot in two batches to encourage browning.
4. Once chicken is browned, add onions and cook until they start to soften.
5. Add additional tablespoon of olive oil and uncooked rice and toast uncooked rice for about 2 minutes or just until some grains start to turn golden brown. Don't skip this step. Rice needs to be toasted.
6. Stir in black beans, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and cumin. Once the liquid is added, use wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up browned bits from bottom of pot to prevent burn notice. 
7. Lock Instant Pot lid in place and set to Manual, High Pressure for 7 minutes.
8. Use Quick Pressure Release, and once pressure pin drops, open Instant Pot and fluff Chicken Burrito Bowl with fork.
9. Sprinkle with cheese, recover and let set for 2-3 minutes to melt cheese.
10. Garnish with fresh tomatoes, green onions, sour cream and guacamole.

Momma Roe's Lasagna

 

Ingredients:

1 lbs Ground Beef browned

15 oz HUNTS Tomato Sauce (this is the only kind mom likes)

1/2 Can Water

1 Box Lasagna Noodles (cooked and drained)

Grated Mild Cheddar Cheese

Grated Mozzerella Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

carrot (optional)

Method:

Brown and drain hamburger. Add tomato sauce to hamburger, if you are going to boil, add half of a can of water, and one carrot (Nonna Renna believed that the carrot took off some of the acidity of the tomato sauce). Boil for 2-6 hours, or put into IP for 15 minutes (sans water). In a 9x13 baking dish add enough sauce mixture to just barely cover the bottom of the dish, then layer lasagna noodles, sauce, then each cheese for three to four layers. Remove carrot when you come to it. Cover with tinfoil, Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, then remove tinfoil and bake again for 15 or so minutes, until cheese is brown and bubbly! Mom's is the best! 

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Koen's Super Secret Smoothie Recipe

 Sweet Koen loves smoothies! He came up with this 'super secret' recipe and told me I should write it down. I told him he should write it down and I would put it on the blog, he feels pretty sweet that I would put it up. I am not a huge banana fan, but the rest of the kids and Todd love this

Ingredients:

1 C Milk

1 Banana 

1 Scoop Cinnamon Protein

1 Scoop Chocolate Protein

2 TBsp Peanut Butter

Ice (about a cup or two)

Method:

Place ingredients in order listed into the blender. Blend for approximately 1-2 minutes. Pour and enjoy quickly before running out to the bus! 

Cara's Aunt Pat's White Chocolate Almost Raspberry Bars

 Let's be real, anything Cara makes is amazing! These are the absolute best bars/cookies ever! They seem labor intensive, but they really aren't, and all the steps are sooooo worth it! Especially if you like the taste of almond. 

Ingredients:

1/2 C Butter

12 oz White Chocolate Chips (2 Cups)

2 Eggs

1 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Almond Extract

1/2 C Raspberry Jam

1/4 C Almonds roasted*

Method:

1. Heat oven 325. Grease and flour an 8x8 or a 9x9 baking pan. 
2. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of white chocolate chips. Let stand, and do not stir.
3. In a large bowl beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at a high speed until lemon colored.
4. Stir butter/chocolate chip mixture, into egg mixture. Add flour, salt, and almond extract. Mix at low speed until just combined. 
5. Spread 1/2 of the batter (about 1 cup) into the greased and floured pan. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. 
6. Mix the remaining white chocolate chips into the remaining 1/2 of batter, set aside
7. In a small sauce pan, over low heat melt raspberry jam.
8. Spread melted jam over warm partially baked crust
9. Gently spoon the rest of the batter mixture over crust/jam
10. Sprinkle with almonds
11. Bake at 325 for an additional 25/30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut

*to toast almonds, bake at 325 for 6-10 minutes or until toasted brown. Stir once or twice.

*make 16-24 bars... if you cut them tiny

No Knead Artisan Bread aka Easiest Bread EVER!!

 

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt (for saltier, do 1 1/2 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (100-110°F)

Method:

1. In a glass measuring cup, combine to dissolve warm water (100-110°F) and sprinkle instant dry yeast over the top. Let it sit 2-3 minutes.

2. Into a large mixing bowl, sift all-purpose flour and add salt. Whisk to combine.

3. Pour in the water mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until all of the flour is incorporated (do not knead). The dough will be very sticky, but do not add additional flour.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest on your counter or inside your unheated oven for 18 hours to 24 hours.

5. Place an empty dutch oven and lid inside the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, remove dutch oven and place on the stove. Be careful not to touch the dutch oven or lid without oven mitts because it will be extremely hot.

6. Meanwhile, generously dust a cutting board or work surface with flour. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out (which will be very thin and sticky) onto the floured surface. With help of pastry scraper or well-floured hands, shape the dough by folding the dough in half and then fold in half again, pulling the dough together into a loose ball.

7. Sprinkle the bottom of the dutch oven with flour or cornmeal and carefully place (or drop) the dough in the center of your hot dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes at 450°F. Carefully remove hot lid and bake for another 15 minutes to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Substitute for active yeast – instant dry yeast can be replaced for active dry yeast. Use 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast in this recipe.

Measure correctly – spoon flour into a measuring cup and level off the top with the back of a knife.

Rising the dough – draft-free room temperature, unheated oven or turned off microwave. Avoid placing dough into hot oven to rise. Hot temperature will deactivate and ruin the yeast.

For round, less flat bread – use a 4qt or 5 qt dutch oven so that the bread rises upwards, rather than spreading out over the entire surface of bigger pot.

Preheat the oven and dutch oven – placing the bread into hot dutch will help form a beautiful crust.

Flour the dutch oven – to make sure your bread doesn’t stick to the pot, sprinkle flour or cornmeal on the bottom of the preheated pot.

Cool before slicing – always wait for hot bread to cool to room temperature before slicing. Cutting it while hot, will release too much steam and the bread will become gummy. 

Grandma's Box: Apple Crisp

 Imperial Apple Crisp

This recipe was for margarine, but it isn’t as big as it was in the 80’s and I only use butter, so I just used butter instead of the margarine called for.

5 Chopped Apples - I just covered the bottom of a 9x9 greased pan

1/2 C Brown Sugar (packed and divided)

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 C Flour

1/4 C Butter (softened)

1/2 C Quick Cooking Oats

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Grease a 9x9 baking dish.

In a large bowl combine apples, 1/4 C brown sugar, and cinnamon. Turn Apple concoction into your 9x9 baking dish.

In a medium bowl combine flour, remaining sugar, butter, and quick cooking oats. Mix until crumbly. With large spoonfuls or using your hands, dump flour mixture over apple mixture.

Bake uncovered, for 45-50 minutes until topping is browned and apples are bubbly. Serve warm, and preferably with ice cream! Enjoy!

Notes-

I just mixed the apple mixture in the baking dish

This was actually really good, I didn’t cook it the full time as I’m not a huge cooked apples fan and having them be a bit crunchy was delicious!

Carmelitas and Caramel

 Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups Salted Caramel Sauce, recipe follows

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan.

Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and softened butter in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on low until crumbly. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions.

Press half the crumb mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips, and chopped pecans over the cooled crust. Mix the salted caramel sauce, and flour together, and drizzle over the chocolate chips, and nuts. Top with the remaining crumb mixture.

Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust starts to brown. Allow the pan to cool, and refrigerate it until the caramel filling is set.

Cut into bars and serve.

Notes: I have mixed the caramel with flour and not, and I did not see much of a differnce in consistency, but I didn’t like the taste of the caramel with flour, so I wont do that in the futer.

For The Caramel

I tried a few recipes and I royally suck at making caramel, this one was the 'best' out of all of the ones I tried, I know it was user error. I got it from Preppy Kitchen, he has a great video on how to make it.

Ingredients

For the Caramel

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1 cup cream room temp

5 tbsp butter unsalted, room temp

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Add the sugar and water into a medium saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Place over medium-high heat and brush the inside of the pot with a wet pastry brush so crystals do not form.

Cook until sugar mixture becomes a golden amber color, then remove from heat and whisk in the cream vigorously. Add butter and bring back to a medium low heat. Continue whisking and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Mix in salt, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature. Caramel can be made in advance and refrigerated.

Annie's Macho Nachos

 INGREDIENTS:

Tortilla chips

Refried black beans (refried stick to the chips better than regular beans)

Shredded chicken or pork (cooked carnita style is soooo good)

1 jalapeno (or canned, to taste)

Corn kernels

Shredded cheese

¼ c sour cream

1 Tbs fresh lime juice (1 lime)

Diced avocados 

Diced tomatoes

Cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 500.

2. Spray jelly roll pan so cheese comes off easier during cleanup.

3. Arrange chips on pan.  Cover with beans, meat, jalapeno, corn, and cheese.

4. Bake until cheese is melted, and chips are lightly browned, about 5-10 min.

5. Meanwhile, stir together sour cream and lime juice in small bowl.

6. Remove nachos from oven; sprinkle with avocado, tomato, and cilantro.  Drizzle with sour cream mixture.

Cake Mix Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 – ounce) box cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• mix ins- chocolate chips, m&ms etc

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil until smooth. Alternately you can do this step in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mixing ingredients on low until combined.
3. Mix in add-ins, if wanted, until evenly incorporated.
4. Using a medium (2- tablespoon) cookie scoop portion the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet 2- inches apart. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until lightly golden at the edges.
5. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Notes:

My favorite are devil's food, with chocolate chips... and they are best on day 2