Pork Roast with Root Vegetables, Cheddar-Garlic Biscuits, and Apple Tartlets

I am getting ready for our first ever "Girls Night In" tomorrow night:) (first ever, like it's reeeal dramatic). I just decided to ask a bunch of friends if they wanted to plan a monthly night of cards, TV, whatever, kinda like a bunco thing, but not. I volunteered to play hostess first, so tomorrow night it is! We are going to play Nerts. The "rule" is that the hostess provides drinks, dessert, and house, and everyone else brings appetizer finger food things.

So...tonight I wanted to make Norris good dinner because I feel a little badly for kicking him out tomorrow night. Well, he's not kicked out, but he probably won't want to hang around in the basement or anything.

The whole meal was really great. It smelled so good in our house with the rosemary and the chicken broth going. The potatoes and carrots tasted great cooked in the broth.

The apple pockets-- OH my! They are so good. And you can eat just one and get your taste of apple pie! I am excited to serve them tomorrow night!

Tonight's menu:

Pork Roast with vegetables

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

Salad

Apple Tartlets (getting them ready for tomorrow night; baked a couple of them tonight for us to sample!)

Pork Roast with veggies:

Preheat oven to 350. Preheat a large skillet to hot.

Rub a 2-lb. pork roast with some onion salt, fresh ground black pepper, and rosemary. Sear the roast in the hot skillet for about 1 minute on each side. (this sears in the juices and flavor)

Place roast in baking dish with one cut up potato (skin on). Put 1 T of bay leaves rubbed on top of pork roast, or one bay leaf in with the potatoes. Boil two chicken bouillion cubes in 1/2 c water, and pour this in with the potatoes. Also add 1/2 chopped onion. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and rosemary over the top of the whole dish.

Bake this for 1 hr at 350.

After one hour, add 4 chopped carrots. Stir veggies around.

Continue baking for another 1/2 hour.

Take out to let rest before cutting. During this time, make your biscuits.

Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits
Dough:
1 1/4 lbs. Bisquik
3 Oz. freshly shredded cheddar cheese
11 Oz. cold water
Garlic Spread:
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teas. garlic powder
1/4 teas. salt
1/8 teas. onion powder
1/8 teas. dried parsley
To cold water, add Bisquik and cheese, blending in a mixing bowl.
Mix until dough is firm.
Using a small scoop, place the dough on a baking pan lined with
baking paper. Bake in 375 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until
golden brown. While biscuits bake, combine spread ingredients.
Brush baked biscuits with the garlic topping.

Salad

Your call:)

Apple Pockets

SERVINGS: 16
CATEGORY: Low Fat
METHOD: Baked
TIME: Prep: 25 min. + rising Bake: 15 min.
Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 package (1/4 ounce) quick-rise yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
FILLING:
4 cups thinly sliced peeled Rome Beauty or other baking apples (2 to 3 medium)
1/3 cup Splenda
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
TOPPING:
1/4 cup skim milk
4 teaspoons sugar or Splenda

Directions: In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. In a saucepan, heat the water and butter to 120°-130°. Add to the dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four portions. Roll each portion into an 8-in. square. Cut into four 4-in. squares. Cut apple slices into thirds; toss with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Place 1/4 cup filling on each square; bring up the corners up over the filling and pinch to seal. Secure with a toothpick if needed. Place 3 in. apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Brush with milk; sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Discard toothpicks before serving. Yield: 16 servings.

Easy dinner...made while at spin class!

My friend and I spin on Tuesdays, so I had to find a meal that could be ready when I got home.
I made some Braised Round Steak with Gravy, peas with mushrooms and garlic sauce, and biscuits. It was really pretty great! I have a few more packages of round steak in the deep freeze (they were on good sale!) so I am trying to find something different to do with each package...they need to be braised, so this was the perfect recipe for tonight.


Braised Round Steak with Gravy

2 large round steaks, fat trimmed (about 1.5 lbs worth, up to 2 lbs)
1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
3 beef bouillion cubes dissolved in 1 cup of boiling water


Heat a large skillet to medium high. Pan sear the steaks (about 1 minute on each side). Whisk together the mushroom soup with beef broth. Pour this mixture over the steaks in the pan to deglaze it and create a pan gravy. Put all of this in a casserole dish/roasting pan and put it on about 275 F for 2.5 hours. If you need it ready quicker, this is one of those recipes you could crank up to about 375 for 1.5-1.75 hours instead, or you could cook it slower if necessary. I think you could also do it in the crock pot. Yummy!!!

Oh, and spin was great tonight...always get a good sweat going with that!

Updates; Proud of my kiddos

Updates to the bathroom; found this picture on the clearance and loved it!
And what I'm so proud of...my kids did demonstrations using small utensils in class over the last few days. The girls today did such a great job and turned out with such a great product. They were so proud of themselves, and they had such a great presentation! They chatted and told stories and what they were doing just like the Food Network Pros!!

Comfort Foods

I had some potatoes to do something with, and was really craving some corn on the cob, so it was a comfort food big dinner yesterday! It was kind of fun to make, since I don't normally make things like this.
Menu:
Chicken Noodles
Mashed Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
One Dish Chicken Noodles1 lb skinless, boneless, chicken breast meat OR 2 cans of chicken breasts
12 oz egg noodles
3 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 pkg chicken gravy, or homemade, or can of gravy (prepare the pkg if that's what you're using)
2 chicken boullion cubes

Heat a tiny bit of oil in skillet. Dissolve boullion cubes in 1/2 c hot water. Cube chicken and brown in oil. Meanwhile, in large saucepan, boil noodles in water until soft, then drain. Add hot cooked noodles to chicken in skillet and pour in gravy, bouillion/water, and peas. Stir together until ingredients are coated in sauce. Cover skillet, reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for 10 minutes or until gravy and peas are hot.

Mashed Potatoes:
2 Russet potatoes (or Yukon golds--those make some good mashers!)
3 T skim milk
3 T margarine spread
3 T fat free sour cream

Peel potatoes (I normally like them with peels on, but not for this recipe), cut into chunks, and boil. After they are tender, beat with electric mixer, milk, margarine, and sour cream.

Corn on the cob:
Shuck corn. Boil!!:) Put a little Splenda/Sugar in the water to make it have a bit of a sweet bite.

To get it all done at the same time: Put three pots on to boil (one for corn, one for noodles, and one for potatoes). Then, get started on browning chicken while you thaw frozen peas in the microwave. Prepare gravy, then mix that stuff together while you mash the potatoes. Corn is ready right at the end of this--perfect timing!

Serve chicken noodles over mashed potatoes with corn on the side.


And for a fall-ish dessert:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 c canned pumpkin
1 c white sugar (or 1/2 c white sugar, 1/2 c Splenda)
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
2 c AP flour
2 t baking powder
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t skim milk
1 T vanilla extract
2 t pumpkin pie spice (optional)
2 c semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Combine pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts.
Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. It may take a little longer than 10 minutes--make sure they are firm on top.

These are good right after you make them, and really awesome cold from the fridge! They might even make a good breakfast cookie....:) if you can stomach chocolate for breakfast that is..

There IS such a thing as too decadent...

In class today, I let the kids who passed their test yesterday make something from the insider's cookbook while the rest corrected their tests. They picked Snicker's bars.
Well, they made it, but didn't have much time to let it cool and (of course) wanted to eat it TODAY, RIGHT NOW!!! (their drama, not mine:), so they didn't let it cool and turned it more into a bar type dessert. Wow, it was really rich! It did have great flavor though, but I'm not so into the really rich desserts. It would be a perfect dessert for a large group because one "batch" would feed a lot of people--I could only handle a few bites. Give it a try if you have a sweet craving and a lot of other people to feed it to! If we would have had time, it would have been much better and easier to work with to actually follow the refrigeration instructions.

On a much sweeter note, (if possible...) my sister and Zac are coming tonight! I'm makin' some fancy tacos:)


Snickers Candy Bar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
35 individual Kraft caramels
1 cup dry−roasted unsalted peanuts
1 − 12 oz. bag milk−chocolate chips
With the mixer on high speed, combine the corn syrup, butter, vanilla,
peanut butter, and salt until creamy. Slowly add the powdered sugar.
When the mixture has the consistency of dough, remove it from the bowl
with your hands and press it into a lightly greased 9x9−inch pan. Put in
the refrigerator.
Melt the caramels in a small pan over low heat. When the caramel is
soft, mix in the peanuts. Pour the mixture over the refrigerated nougat
in the pan. Let this cool in the refrigerator.
When the refrigerated mixture is firm, melt the chocolate over low heat
in a double boiler or in a microwave oven set on high for 2 minutes.
Stir halfway through cooking time. When the mixture in the pan has
hardened, cut it into 2x1−inch sections. Set each chunk onto a fork
and dip into the melted chocolate. Tap the fork against the side of the
bowl or pan to knock off any excess chocolate. Then place the chunks on
waxed paper to cool at room temperature, or refrigerate for quicker cooling.

"Stolen"/Borrowed recipes!

I have been checking out a couple of blogs-- BakingBlonde and Ellen's Edibles-- for good stuff. I got the apple jacks recipe from BakingBlonde. I just had an apple in my fridge here at work during my lunch hour and thought I didn't want the one I had left to go to waste. I log on to BakingBlonde and voila--she has an apple cookie recipe up!
I thought I had all the ingredients, but I didn't have any cinnamon. I used a touch of cinnamon oil instead and it had great flavor.
One change I would recommend would be to stir some cinnamon and sugar into the diced apple before folding them into the dough. That would have given them just the right amount of cinnamon.
Just in time for fall, the Apple Jack cookie!
(There is another recipe below, also)


Apple Jacks
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup apple chopped (I would small dice 1 small-medium apple)
1/2 to 3/4 cup Kraft Carmel bits or Heath Baking bits (optional)
Preheat oven to 350.
Line baking sheet with Parchment or lightly spray with PAM.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
Beat the butter with a mixer and add the sugar, vanilla and egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Fold in the apple pieces (and any other add-ins).
Drop the dough onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart (these spread a bit).
Bake for 9-12 minutes or until light brown and edges are set. Allow to cool slightly on baking sheet and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
NOTE: *DO NOT store completely covered or they will be very very soft and not hold up well due to the moisture in the apples. I find storing loosely covered in the fridge helps them keep their texture, however then the Caramel Bits get hard. I am thinking Toffee Chips might be a better addition next time. These really are best the day you bake, especially after they have cooled a bit but are still warm!




And this morning, I wanted to whip up something for my 2nd hour, since I made something for my 1st hour a couple of weeks ago. I needed something I already had all of the ingredients for. I did a quick check of Ellen's Edibles and magically, she had recently posted something that would work! (my luck today!!)
She actually got her recipe from BakingBlonde. You can add whatever mix-ins you want. They both recommended peanut butter cups, which would be great. I also think chopped peanuts would be good in them. They were excellent as they were though, and my students really liked them. Many of them had never tried them before.
In the spirit of cooking today, we also made a bacon potato soup in 5th hour, to go with the Apple Jacks. In 6th hour, we made the steak and potato chimichurri salad I posted a while ago, and they really liked it. They enjoyed the "different" flavor and many wanted more to take home. I caught one kid licking his plate. He didn't need a takeout box:)

Here is the Blondie Recipe

Blondies
Basic Blondies
Source: Baking BlondeYield: 16 bars
6-7 Tbsp butter, melted (I used 6)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (optional, creates lighter blondie texture)
Ellen's additions:
1 1/2 ripe bananas, smashed3/4 cup mini peanut butter cups (I used Trader Joe's)
Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM.In a large microwave safe mixing bowl melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 mintues. Mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour and baking powder (if using). Mix in any additions (some ideas below). Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. (I baked for 22 minutes) Cool on rack before cutting.



And the last recipe for today (it was a crazy day in the kitchen for me! So fun!)

Zippy Potato Soup (from allrecipes.com)
my kids practed knife skills yesterday so I was able to throw all the veggies they practiced on into a pot and create this AWESOME potato soup!

Prep Time: 10 MinutesCook Time: 35 Minutes
Ready In: 45 MinutesYields: 14 servings

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 pound sliced bacon, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
8 potatoes, peeled and cut into
chunks
1 medium carrot, grated
5 cups water
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated
milk
2 tablespoons butter or
margarine
4 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh
parsley
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1.In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion; drain and set aside. In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, cook the potatoes and carrot in water for 20 minutes or until tender (do not drain). Stir in the remaining ingredients and the bacon mixture. Cook for 10 minutes or until heated through.



We are headed to KC this weekend to see our newest family member, baby Jack!! Then we are going to see my family and our possible new exchange student!
Have a great weekend, and enjoy the recipes:)

Restaurant Recipes

I just got a great recipe book emailed to me (it's a giant PDF file, so I can't post it on here) that is chock full of all sorts of recipes, from how to make a butterfinger bar to Olive Garden salad dressing and all sorts of other things (both healthy and unhealthy!) in between. It's amazing and I can't wait to try things from it!
I will post the recipes I do try, but if you would like me to email you the file, I will certainly be willing to share that with you!
Just leave a comment with the email address you want me to send it to!
(some of you are getting it whether you asked for it or not:)
Enjoy!