Potato & Ham Soup...and other odds and ends

Here is the huckleberry jam I made, when we picked huckleberries with Katie, Jared and Garrett. They are sooooooo yummy!!

And some ham, potato soup. The recipe is in the Rawson family cookbook it's so good on those cold, yucky days.

Potato and Ham Soup

1 large onion

2 1/2 Tbsp. butter

1 1/2 Tbsp. Ham Soup Base (or 2 extra "glugs" Worcestershire sauce)

1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

4-5 c. Ham, cubed

1 c. grated carrots

7 c. water

6 medium potatoes

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. onion powder

2 c. cold water

1 c. cornstarch

2-2 1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 tsp. pepper (add last)

Cook potatoes and dice. Finely chop onion. In a large pot, add butter, onion, soup base, worcestershire sauce, carrots and ham and saute until onion is translucent. Add 7 c. water, potatoes, garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, mix the 2 c. cold water and cornstarch. Turn heat down. Stir in cornstarch mixture and stir for 3-4 min. until thick. Add sour cream and stir until creamy white. Add pepper.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2 lbs. boneless pork loin roast (could probably use whatever, this was on sale)
1 (12 fluid oz.) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

Place the pork in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Drain well before shredding. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve on hamburger buns.

I'd never made this before but I tried it for a Relief Society Enrichment and everyone really liked it. I guess, from what I've heard from others, that the root beer really does make a difference!

Stuffed Green Peppers

Stuffed Green Peppers ~Emeril 4 medium green bell peppers 8 ounces ground pork sausage 1 1/2 cups chopped onions 1/2 cup chopped celery 2 tsp minced garlic 1 1/2 cups cooked rice 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp Essence, recipe follows 1/4 cup chopped green onions 2 Tbsp fine dry bread crumbs 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 4 tsp unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off the top quarter of each bell pepper and reserve. Scoop the seeds and veins out from the inside of each pepper and discard. Set bell pepper shells aside. Remove and discard the stems from each bell pepper top. Dice enough of the bell pepper tops to make 1/2 cup. Set aside.

In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, crumble and brown the sausage until cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add the onions, 1/2 cup diced bell pepper, and the celery. Saute for 4 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the rice and mix well. Season with salt, pepper and Essence. Cook for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the green onions and parsley. Season the insides of the bell pepper shells with salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon the rice mixture into the bell peppers.

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and cheese. Season with a pinch of Essence and mix well. Sprinkle the crust over each pepper. Top each crust with 1 teaspoon of butter and place the peppers into an 8-inch baking dish or pan. Add just enough water to cover the bottom, about 1/3 cup. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are crusty and brown and warmed through. Serve hot.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

I made half the recipe and didn't really make the Essence stuff. I just put a little bit of each spice listed in the Essence recipe straight into my stuffing. It came out great and yummy.

Week of March 16

Monday - Indian Tacos

Here's the pint sized version and the adult version. Yum!

For dessert we had the Coldstone Cupcakes. Limited time only. They are pretty darn good. I still don't think they are worth all the money but I bought them for our anniversary so we splurged a little.

Tuesday - Cranberry Pork Tenderloin and mashed potatoes


1 pound pork tenderloin
1 can (16 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground mustard
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp cold water

Place the tenderloin in a 3-qt slow cooker. Combine the cranberry sauce, orange juice, sugars, and mustard; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove pork and keep warm. In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; stir in cranberry mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with the pork.

It was good. The pictures show us eating a ton of sauce on our potatoes, well, that was before we decided the sauce was to sweet to eat that much of. I also made my own cranberry sauce because I have frozen cranberries and wasn't going to pay $1.69 for a can of cranberry sauce. So here's the recipe for that.

Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 of a 12 ounce package fresh cranberries

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries, and cook until they start to pop (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, and transfer to a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Wednesday - Leftover Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

Thursday - Mushroom Cheese Bread

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped green onion
1 loaf unsliced French bread
We also added sausage

In a bowl, combine the mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, onion and sausage. Cut bread in half lengthwise; spread cheese mixture over cut sides. Broil 4 inches from the head for 5-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

This is really fast and easy to prepare. We use sausage in ours and of course add more cheese! If you do add the extra cheese don't adjust the mayo amount. I think the recipe calls for a little too much mayo. I wouldn't use as much mayo if I only had the called for 1 cup of cheese. We dip our cheese bread in pizza sauce.

Friday - Spaghetti

I have to have my spaghetti with fettuccine noodles. It's just a lot better that way!! The sauce is a recipe I just put together that night. It turned out really yummy! I liked it a lot! Jared even commented that he thought the sauce was really good that night.

1/3-1/2 pound ground meat
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can mushrooms, drained
2 cans tomato sauce
2 ounces cream cheese
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning

Cook ground meat and onion. Drain the grease. Add the tomato sauce, cream cheese, mushrooms and seasonings to taste. Cook until heated through and cream cheese has been blended in.

I would say the sauce recipe makes about 4 good sized servings.

Saturday - Stake Enrichment and then a birthday party so NO COOKING!! Yippee!

Sunday - Sweet Orange Chicken

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2" cubes
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/3 cup seasoned "Red Pepper" rice vinegar (can also use regular white vinegar to not make it spicy)
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons yellow onion
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a shallow bowl combine the cornstarch, garlic powder and black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in cornstarch mixture and coat evenly.

Melt butter and pour in a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine water, fresh orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, orange zest and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and onion or green onion and let it come to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water and let it dissolve and add it to the sauce until thickened.

After chicken has baked the 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour 1/2 sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 3o to 40 minutes basting (glazing the sauce over the chicken) frequently.

Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce on the side.

Be warned, this chicken takes some time to cook. I tried to hurry up the process by cooking the chicken the first time in a frying pan. It worked just fine but it still takes some time. Then I just placed all our chicken in a 9x9 pan (the chicken was still in a single layer) and poured enough glaze over the chicken to completely cover the chicken. This way I didn't have to be basting it frequently for 30 minutes! It turned out perfect. We thought it had enough sauce on the chicken already and so we didn't use the extra sauce. So if you aren't sauce people I would just make half the sauce recipe, that way you don't end up throwing half of it away like we did.

Then I have a cookie recipe that I made awhile back.

Praline Cookies

Makes 3 dozen

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups light-brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more if necessary
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl, using a electric mixer, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until fully combined. Add dry ingredients, and beat on low speed until combined.

Drop batter in rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until firm and barely golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies from pan to wire rack.

In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1 cup light-brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add confectioners' sugar, and whisk until smooth. (If frosting thickens, thin with cream.) Place cookies on a cooling rack over a lined baking pan. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon praline mixture onto each cookie, decorate with pecans.

These cookies were good. The frosting/praline mixture is really really sweet. I'm sure I added more than a 1/2 tsp of the frosting to my cookies and it was way too much. Stick to the 1/2 tsp. Even though it doesn't seem like a lot, the frosting is really sweet and 1/2 tsp will be plenty. I had extra frosting and I even used more frosting than recommended. So you might only need 1/2 of the frosting recipe. You can try it and decide I guess.

Week of Feb 9th

Monday-Taco Soup1 can pinto beans, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 can corn

1 can Italian-diced tomatoes

1 lb. hamburger

1 pkt. taco seasoning

1 tsp. dry minced onions

1/3 c. noodles

1 c. water

sour cream, optional

Brown hamburger and drain. Add all other ingredients and simmer until noodles are tender. Serve with grated cheese and sour cream.

The original recipe doesn't have the onions, noodles or water so if you prefer, make it without them. We like noodles in our soup. We also eat this by scooping it up with tortillas chips. We all love it!

Tuesday- Buffalo Wings

2 parts packed brown sugar

1 part Franks Red Hot sauce

chicken wings

Bake chicken wings on a rack with a pan underneath at 400 degrees for around 1 hour. (Longer is better because they just get more crunchy.) Combine sugar and sauce and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Once wings are crunchy, dip each wing in the sauce and return to oven for just a few minutes until the sauce is carmelized. Repeat the dip and carmelize process again and enjoy!

Just a note, if the sauce is too hot for you, just add some more brown sugar. We usually use about 1 c. brown sugar and 1/2 c. hot sauce for wings but we also use this sauce on hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, breaded chicken strips (they end up like sticky fingers) and for dipping french fries.

Wednesday- Riblets

Dry Rub:

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

2 Tbsp. paprika

2 Tbsp. black pepper

1/4 c. kosher salt

1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. white sugar

Spray foil with Pam. Cut ribs into portions. Rub both sides generously with rub. Baste favorite BBQ sauce over rub, leaving fatty side up (if using real ribs). Wrap each piece loosely and put on pan. refridgerate and marinate overnight. Cook at 275 degrees for 3 hrs. Preheat your grill and oil. Carefully take ribs out of foil packet with tongs and place fatty side down on grill. (For only a few minutes.) Baste meat side with sauce from foil then flip over. Remove and let set 5 min.

The first time we made these it was with baby back ribs and we grilled them just like the recipe said, but only marinated them for a few hours. They were falling apart as I tried to put them on the grill but that was the only problem! They were wonderful! This time we used riblets and didn't grill them but marinated them as directed. They were tender but seemed pretty peppery to me this time, but I'm not a pepper person. I'm wondering if marinating time had to do with the pepper coming out so much this time. So next time I'll probably reduce the amount of pepper AND the marinating time. Let me know how it goes for you all!

Thursday- Taquitos

These are from the box. =) Just thought I'd show you how we do them up. We spread refried beans on them, then add salsa, lettuce and cheese. Then we just pick them up and eat!

Friday- Pizza

What can I say, it was date night. =)

Saturday- Lasagna

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 lb. hot breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's)

2 cloves minced garlic

Two 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes

Two 6-oz. cans tomato paste

2 Tbsp. parsley flakes

2 Tbsp. dried basil

Salt

1/4 c. water

One 10-oz. pkg. lasagna noodles

3 c. lowfat cottage cheese

2 beaten eggs

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. parsley flakes

1 lb. sliced mozzarella cheese

In a skillet, combine ground beef, sausage and minced garlic. Cook until brown, draining off half the fat. Pour in cans of tomatoes and tomato paste, dried parsly flakes, dried basil, 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 c. water. Mix together thoroughly and heat through.

Meanwhile, mix lowfat cottage cheese in a bowl with 2 beaten eggs. Add 1/2 c. parmesan cheese, 2 Tbsp. parsley flakes and 1 tsp. salt.

Set up your "assembly line": meat mixture, sliced mozzarella, cottage cheese and lasagna noodles. Lay four dry noodles in bottom of 9X13 pan, overlapping as you go. (This fills mine to brimming, so if you have a lasagna pan...use it!) Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Then lay 1/2 lb. of mozzarella cheese slices on top of the cottage cheese mixture. With a spoon, make a line through the middle of the meat mixture so you'll distribute it evenly. Spread a little less than half of the meat mixture over the mozzarella cheese slices. Spread it around until evenly distributed atop mozzarella.

Repeat the layering process. Four noodles, remaining cottage cheese mixture, mozzarella, and finish with the rest of the meat mixture. Top generously with parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Check to make sure noodles are done. If not, bake another 15 min.

I got this recipe from thepioneerwoman.com and it is great! I've changed it slightly by not cooking my noodles but it is soooo easy to make this way that even my honey was able to make it for us this week!

Sunday- Leftovers

Stuffed Pork Loin

I have wanted to make a stuffed loin for about a month now. We had a little demonstration at our cooking group and it just looked so good and easy that I had to try. And pork loin is super cheap!
It comes in a huge amount but that just means I get to cut it up and make it more than once.

Here's the recipe I tried this time. I'll probably try a different recipe for each piece I have. The recipe calls for the whole pork loin (about 4 pounds) but since I cut mine I only had a piece of loin (about 1-2 pounds). I've posted the altered recipe I used below the full recipe in blue.

1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stuffing Mix for Chicken

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

3 Tbsp. dried fruit, such as cranberries, raisins or apricots

1 cup chopped toasted Pecans

1 Tbsp. dried sage leaves

1 center-cut pork loin (4 lb.), butterflied

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper


1/2 pkg of stuffing
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped - though my little boy ate about a 1/3 of that - so technically is used 2/3 of an apple
1 Tbsp. dried cranberries
1/4 cup pecans
1 Tbsp fresh sage leaves chopped
1 center-cut pork loin - 1 lb
Salt and pepper

I followed the rest of the recipe just as it was written.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare Stuffing as directed on package. Remove from heat; gently stir in apples, dried fruit, pecans and sage.

Unroll meat; place stuffing mixture evenly over meat. Roll up meat, starting at one of the long sides, to enclose filling. Tie pork loin about every 2 inches or so. Place, seam side down, on foil-covered baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake 45 minutes or until meat thermometer reaches 155°F when inserted into the thickest part of the meat. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

It was really yummy. I don't think I've ever had sage before so that took a little getting use to but it was still really good. We had it with cranberry sauce....cause we like that stuff. I can't wait to try another stuffed pork loin.