An AWESOME Pot Roast

When it's really hot outside my Crock Pot is a life saver. 

Carrots, garlic, sliced onion, sliced green pepper, balsamic vinegar, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Place your roast in the crock pot, add 1/2 cup of beef stock, vinegar and all herbs and veggies.  Cook on low for 6 hours.
 ENJOY!!

A Quick and Easy summer pasta dish.

Sliced cherry tomatoes, garlic, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary and parmessan cheese.

Cook mini rotini pasta and drain reserving 1 or 2 tablespoons of liquid. 
Sautee garlic and tomatoes in olive oil.  Add herbs and toss with pasta.

Sprinkle with parmessan cheese and Enjoy, I did.

And I have lunch for tomorrow at work.



Another great use for won ton wrappers...

I mixed Ricotta Cheese, Mozzarella, diced garlic, fresh basil and salt and pepper.

Then I used a cookie scoop to put a ball of the mixture in the middle of won ton wrapper. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Moisten the edges with water and place a second won ton on top.  Press edges together with fingers or a fork.

Lightly brush with olive oil and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle a little Parmesan on top when done and ENJOY!!

These are DELICIOUS and the possibiities are endless.

Happy Birthday to The Big Guy and his Lemon Poppy Seed Birthday Cake recipe.

Today's my husbands Birthday and he had no preference for what type of cake I made him this year so I wanted to try something new.  Something light and fresh since it's been so hot here lately.

I took the basic white cake recipe that I normally use and added lemon juice, lemon zest and poppy seeds.  For the icing I used a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. 

Now my cake decorating skills need a LOT of work but the cake turned out delicious.

 Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

1 Cup of Sugar
1/2 Cup of Butter
2 Egg
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups of Cake Flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 teaspoons Lemon Zest

Cream together the sugar and butter.  Add one egg and a time and then the vanilla and continue mixing until creamy.
Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt and slowly add to above mixture.
Slowly add in milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.

Grease and flour a 9x9 cake pan or muffin tins.

For the cake pan bake at 350 degrees for approx. 30 minutes.  The cake will be a golden color and when inserted a toothpick will come out clean when the cake is done.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz Cream Cheese softened
1/4 Cup Butter
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 teaspoons Lemon Zest
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 Cups of Confectioners Sugar

Combine all ingredients.  Add more lemon or sugar depending on desired consistency.

Garnish with more Lemon Zest and or fresh Lemon Mint.

ENJOY!!

All time favorite...been eating it since I was a kid food.

THE CHICKEN CAR!

My FAVORITE hometown food joint.

A double Krekel cheese burger with the works. 




http://krekels.weebly.com/

If you are ever in the area of one of Krekels 7 locations you MUST and I do mean MUST try a burger and some of their custard. 

I was fortunate to grow up with Krekels in our town.  WAY BACK when I was a kid Krekels only had 2 locations and they were only open for the summer. The whole town would be buzzing when they opened up for the summer.  I remember at least once a week my Dad taking us to the 'lake location' to get an ice cream cone.  Dad and I usually almost always got their fantastic chocolate custard cone and my mom would get lemon.  It was a great summer tradition.

When I was in my teens Krekels did something VERY cool.  They opened another location within walking distance of my  house and they kept it open all year long!  I was such a happy girl.  I had babysitting money, I was old enough to go their myself.  I was in heaven.

Then, I moved away and  that has always remained number one of my what I miss list from my hometown.
I haven't lived that close to a Krekels in almost 27 years but any time I'm visiting my Mom, Krekels is a MUST.  Everyone knows that.  There is no sense in even asking me, 'Where would you like to eat?'  I will always say Krekels.

When we ate there yesterday and I was ooohhhhhing and awwwing with my eyes rolling back in my head my husband commented that in all the years he's been eating there, no matter which location you choose, they are exactly as delish as the first time.    I thought of that when I checked out their website to link it here.  The picture of the burger on their site is almost identical to the picture I took yesterday. 
I think sometimes we all need to remember that 'If it ain't broke, don't change it.'


What is your all time favorite, been eating it since I was a kid food?  I really would love to know.

Au Gratin Potatoes Recipe

 This recipe is great to use and experiment with different cheeses.  This time I substituted Colby cheese for the Cheddar and it was REALLY good. 

Ingredients

• 4 russet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 onion, sliced into rings
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 1 quart casserole dish.
2. Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with the onion slices, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Pour cheese over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.
4. Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven. Or can be done on the grill in a well seasoned caste iron pan.



Enjoy!!



Hope your 4th of July holiday weekend ends sweetly!!



Graham crackers with strawberry ice cream



Graham crackers with chocolate, cherry, truffle nut icecream.

An AWESOME homemade brownie with peppermint icecream.

The same AWESOME homemade brownie as above but with french vanilla icecream, caramel sauce and pecans.

Always have a back up plan.

Day two of our three day weekend and I got up to make Blueberry Waffles.   mmmmmm

I love pancakes, who doesn't?  But I have a confession to make... I have still not mastered the art of pancake making.  (hanging head in shame)  It has been on my list of things to do but why worry about it when I can make Waffles!! Right??  I equally LOVE waffles and they always turn out great.

Well, after today, learning to make pancakes moved up to the top 5.

I got all of the ingredients together and plugged in the waffle iron to pre heat it.  It wouldn't work!!  It was dead!!  I was devastated!! I broke the news to my husband who is the only other one up until now that knew I always mess up pancakes and he was devastated also.  His juice was poured, he had his coffee and he thought he was going to get Blueberry Waffles.

When I said 'I'll just make pancakes' a hush fell over the room.  My husbands smile disappeared.   I so  desperately wanted to save the day.  I wanted to turn that delicious blueberry waffle batter into fantastic pancakes.

I preheated the cast iron skillet, poured in batter and watched.  My husband watched.  They looked good.  They smelled good.  But deep inside I was worried.  The few times I had attempted pancakes they looked good and smelled good but ended up either burnt on the outside or was filled with raw batter on the inside.
Would we have a repeat??

We did!!  :-(  The middle was a little raw.  Not much.  Just one mere minute on the griddle probably would have been perfect.  But they were not edible.

So I picked up my ego, held my head high and cooked up some Bacon and eggs. 

I WILL learn to make wonderful light and fluffy pancakes.
I WILL get a new waffle iron.
And I WILL always have bacon and eggs on hand for a back up plan .

WooHoo!

I submitted this photo of my Blackbottom Cupcakes to Food Corner for her photo contest and out of 118 it came in #7.  Not too bad for my first contest. 

Be sure and check out her blog or facebook page for all the photo's.  There were a lot of really great pics that will make you drooooool.

http://www.foodsshrilanka.blogspot.com/