Annie's Birthday Dinner

So this meal was certainly not catered to fit the likes of children. There were only two and at their age their main interest is not eating, so why fuss! And as far as difficulty, the whole menu was pretty fuss free...mostly dump, stir, and set it and forget it :)

Here's what we had...

1. Salad
2. Baked Brie en Brioche served with crackers
3. BBQ Cocktail Weiners
4. Taco Soup
5. Flower Cupcake Cake (and just realized as I was typing we forgot to serve some ice cream!!)
6. And to drink...hot apple cider

Baked Brie en Croute

What a yummie appetizer! A crowd-pleaser any day.

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1 wheel of brie
1 egg, lightly beaten
Any kind of fruit preserves (I used strawberry)

Roll out puff pastry to about 12x12 inches. Place wheel in center of puff pastry. Trim corners to make somewhat a circle, leaving about 4 inches or so around the wheel. Brush edges of puff pastry with egg. Fold puff pastry over top of wheel pulling back a little the puff pastry near the top (the excess pastry should make a little cup at the top to place filling in later). Brush exterior of pastry with the egg. Freeze for ~20 minutes (I didn't do this b/c I didn't have time...not sure if this step makes the pastry more flaky). Bake in a pre-heated 425 deg oven for about 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Remove from oven and place in center of pastry opening. Let cool a little bit before serving.

From the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

BBQ Cocktail Weiners

This is an easy side/appetizer and I figured Annie would eat this if she didn't want the main course.

1 package of cocktail weiners
~1/2 c. BBQ Sauce
~1/2 c. grape jelly
~1/4 t. garlic powder, optional

Combine all ingredients in a small crock pot (we have a 3 qt.). Give a little stir. Cook on low for about 2 hours. Yum!

Taco Soup

And for the main course of the evening...

Taco Soup (from the kitchen of Paula Deen)

Here are the few changes we made (and it's a good thing we did, because all the ingredients probably wouldn't fit in our 4 qt. crockpot).

1. We went with less beef (probably about a 1.5 lbs.)
2. 1/2 the amount of onions
3. Only 1 can of pinto beans
4. Replaced kidney beans with black beans
5. Used Italian tomatoes instead of Mexican (couldn't find them in Target)
6. No olives

I'm sure this would pare down nicely for less people.

One more note: Close all your bedroom doors! This soup can have a pretty meaty smell...yummy...but meaty.

Pumpkin Bread Recipes

YUM! We LOVE pumpkin bread in this house. Just can't seem to get enough of it, especially during the holidays. Here are some of our favorites:

Crane House Pumpkin Bread (minus the nuts and ESPECIALLY minus the raisins - ICK for cooked raisins)

Spiced Pumpkin Bread (made this for all the neighbors this year - mini-loaf style - SOOO CUTE!!)

Wholesale Food Picks

We love having the opportunity to buy wholesale. I think buying household paper products and cleaning supplies alone pay for our membership. I like to stick to my must-haves when we go there, but sometimes there’s just stuff there we can’t resist. And for this reason, I get scared when Alex goes there on his own because he never brings a list and it’s inevitable that he’ll bring home a huge tray of croissants, or muffins, or a HUGE slab of salmon, a four-pack of bacon…anything we can’t finish before it goes bad. Thanks to the dry Colorado climate we're able to buy many things in bulk without worrying about a lot of things like bugs, humidity, and freshness. Here is a list of staples we stick try to stick to.

1. Pasta (Whole wheat spaghetti or pasta variety)
2. Spaghetti Sauce
3. Sandwich bread
4. Butter
5. Cheddar cheese
6. Eggs
7. Chicken Breasts – I love these b/c they’re already in their vaccuum packed packages and I just pop them in and out of the freezer as needed.
8. Ground beef (the package that’s separted into patties b/c they’re ½ lb. each and we separate them and freeze them until we’re ready to cook it). The key to storing these is to take each patty, place it in a quart-sized ziploc bag, flatten out the patty, zip and freeze. You must flatten it out for ease of thawing when ready to do so.
9. Chicken Broth
10. Tomato Sauce
11. Canned Green Beans
12. Canned Corn

Chicken Alfredo

WARNING! By no means is this dish healthy for you! It's got heavy cream and butter. But what this dish is is YUMMY. Alex loves alfredo sauce and it's just as easy to make the sauce than it is to buy it in a jar.

1 lb. any type of pasta
1/2 c. butter (that's one stick - yikes!)
1 c. heavy cream (double yikes!!)
1 c. grated parmesan (~4 oz.)
Salt & Pepper
Chicken (optional)
Peas or broccoli (optional)

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt butter. Stir cooked pasta into butter. Add cream & parmesan. Toss over low heat until pasta is well coated and cheese is melted. Toss in chicken and peas and heat through.

Toaster Oven Chicken

This is my new hassle-free way of cooking chicken. I got the idea from this online recipe, but most of the time I just put salt and pepper.

Preheat toaster oven to 350 deg. Slice two chicken breasts to make thinner. Pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides of each piece with salt & pepper. In a rimmed baking dish, drizzle some olive oil to coat. Place chicken breasts in a single layer on dish. Drizzle more olive oil on top of each piece. Bake in toaster oven for 35 minutes until thickest piece is done. Remove from oven and let rest a few minutes before serving or putting into another dish.

Sweet Potato Crisp

I went to a potluck the other night and thought about what to bring. With my recent craving for sweet potatoes I happened to have about half a dozen sweet potatoes sitting in the fridge. Perfect! What a great way to get rid of them...but how? Pioneer Woman had the answer....Sweet Potatoes!! After making this I realized she had poorly named the recipe. Sweet Potatoes just wasn't enough. I'm adding Crisp to the end because that's pretty much what it is. And just an FYI: This is a very sweet sweet potato recipe. I think next time I may add less sugar.

Sweet Potato Crisp

4 whole Medium Sweet Potatoes
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Milk
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Pecans
½ cups Flour
¾ sticks Butter

Wash 4 medium sweet potatoes and bake them in a 375-degree oven until fork tender, about 30-35 minutes. When they are finished cooking slice them open and scrape out the flesh into a large bowl.

Add 1 cup of (regular grandulated) sugar, 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of salt. With a potato masher, mash them up just enough—you don’t want to be perfectly smooth.

Now, in a separate bowl, add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup pecans, chopped (that means measure a cup of pecans, then chop them), ½ cup flour, and ¾ stick of butter. With a pastry cutter or fork, mash together until thoroughly combined.

Spread the sweet potato mixture into a regular baking dish and sprinkle the crumb mixture all over the top.

Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Monkey Bread

I LOVE Monkey Bread!! Who could resist the ooey-gooey goodness of it?! This is the first time I've made it on my own and it was fantastic!! And the best part was that Annie helped me make it.

I'm sure most Monkey Bread recipes are all alike. I got this one from Pioneer Woman - love her blog!!

3 cans of Buttermilk Biscuits (the non-flaky ones)
1 c. sugar
2-3 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 sticks of butter (1 c.)

Preheat that oven to 350.

Open each can of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters.

In a gallon-sized seal-able bag, mix 1 c. sugar with cinnamon. Toss biscuit bites into the bag, seal, and shake until all bites are coated with sugar mixture. Place coated biscuit bites into 12-cup bundt pan and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add the 1/2 c. brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and pour over biscuit bites.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until top has a nice dark brown color to it. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15-30 minutes. Place a serving plate on top of the bundt cake pan and invert to remove the monkey bread from the pan. Enjoy!!

Peel this...

My current toddler distractions in the kitchen:

1. Peel this orange please
2. Peel the garlic cloves please
3. Peel this banand (although I rarely do this b/c I don't like bananas)
4. Don't peel anything, but wipe down the kitchen table with clean washcloth or wipey.

So I think I need a few more distraction techniques in the kitchen because peeling things is going to get pretty boring for her later. Please let me know if you have any ideas!

Potato Chip Clusters

Just made these today and they're just another addition to my sweet and salty collection. It's a recipe from my Taste of Home: Fun Food Magazine.

9 squares (1 oz. each) white baking chocolate

2 c. crushed potato chips

1/2 c. chopped pecans

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate. Sitr in potato chips and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until set. Makes about 3 dozen.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

I don't know if it's because it's the holidays, or if it's because the little person inside of me is making me crave them, but lately I've had a thing for sweet potatoes. Mmmmm...I get excited just thinking about them...I know...sad. But it's true. So what's my solution for this strange addiction I've been having? It's SIMPLE...Baked Sweet Potatoes.

Wash and scrub some sweet potatoes and dry them. Poke them with a fork all over. Pop them in a oven at 425 deg for about an hour until soft. Cut a slit in them and pinch in the sides to fluff. It's that easy!

But a plain baked sweet potato may leave much to be desired. My desire...a little bit of butter and cinnamon sugar to taste. YUM!