Homemade Raspberry "Pop Tarts"

Okay, so I'm a little behind on blogging. Life, and my gallbladder-which I recently had removed, have been getting in the way! But after a slow recovery, I am getting back into the swing of things and have been cooking again!
This past weekend I was feeling a bit ambitious, and decided to try this recipe I found in Bon Appetit magazine for "Pop Tarts".  I thought it sounded like it would be a pain, but it was much easier than I anticipated, and they turned out so great that they are worth the work! They also seemed time consuming, but most of the time spent is the dough chilling in the fridge, and then the freezing before baking. Recipe called for strawberry preserves (preferably homemade organic...I didn't have that much time...) but I had raspberry (Smuckers), and they are just heavenly. Any fruit preserves would work. These are so much better than the crap you buy......!!!

Homemade "Pop Tarts"

2 cups plus 2 Tbs. all purpose flour, plus additional for shaping and rolling
1 tsp. coarse kosher salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 Tbs. ice water
12 Tbs strawberry (or any fruit) preserves

Whisk 2 cups plus 2 Tbs. flour, coarse salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips or back of fork, blend in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. add ice water by the tablespoonfuls, tossing until moist clumps form. gather dough into ball. Divide in half; shape each half into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour.

Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on floured surface to about 13x11 inches. Trim to 12x10-inch rectangle, then cut into eight 5x3-inch rectangles.

Arrange 4 rectangles, spaced apart, on each sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons preserves in row down center of each rectangle. Top preserves with second dough rectangle. Using fingertips, gently press all edges of each tart to seal; press all edges with tines of fork to double-seal. Using toothpick, poke a few holes in center of top dough rectangle. Cover; freeze tarts on sheets at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375. Bake frozen tarts uncovered until golden, reversing sheets after 15 minutes, 25 to 30 minutes total (some preserves may leak out). Immediately transfer tarts to rack. Sift powdered sugar light over. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

I almost always use the recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies that is provided on the oatmeal box, but I found this recipe and stuck it in my recipe binder. My mom is out here visiting since I recently had surgery and we decided to make these. In the middle of making these, we realized we did not have enough brown sugar, so we improvised, and they turned out awesome!  So I am posting our version of this recipe since they turned out so good!

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup craisins (or you can use 1/2 craisins, 1/2 raisins)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, shortening, and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs, molasses, and vanilla, and blend well. Blend flour, baking soda, and cinnamon, and add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Add the oats and craisins. Stir until meed well. Drop rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Confetti Pancakes

As many of you may already know, my husband recently found out that he passed his test to become a Staff Sgt! We found out first thing in the morning, and had to celebrate! So I made pancakes that I jazzed up with some jimmies, and they were a huge hit with everyone!

Homemade Confetti Pancakes:
1 egg
2 Tbs. vegetable oil or melted butter
3/4-1 cup milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
2 Tbs. sugar

1/4-1/2 cup sprinkles aka "jimmies"

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together milk, oil or butter, and egg. Mix both combinations together and stir just until mixed. Stir in sprinkles aka "jimmies"
Preheat your griddle, it is hot enough when you drip a few drops of water on and the quickly "dance" and bubble away. For medium sized pancakes, drop about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle.  (For small pancakes, pour about 2 Tbs onto griddle) Cook until cakes are full of bubbles on the top and the undersides are lightly browned. Turn with a spatula and brown the other side. Place on a warm plate in an oven at 200 to keep warm until all are done and ready to serve.
*You can make these with some whole wheat flour.
*For blueberry pancakes, add 1/2 cup blueberries. *For any other fresh fruit, sprinkle a pancake with diced fresh fruit before you flip it.

Slow Cooker "Slop" with Red Potatoes

I know the name doesn't sound too appealing, but this is actually really good! We called it slop since it's not the most visually appealing and it's just a bunch of stuff thrown into the crock pot. This is a little something I came up with this weekend. I had surgery on Monday, so I wanted to prepare things ahead of time that my hubby could just throw into the oven or in the slow cooker and call it done. This recipe can include anything else you like.

1 ring of smoked sausage (I used chicken, since it's less fat) - chopped
1 onion - diced
4 medium carrots - diced into "coins"
1 5 lbs. bag red potatoes - scrubbed well
1/2 box of stock, chicken or veggie
paprika to taste

Saute onion and carrot until it has a nice brown, add sausage and paprika. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Get a good brown on the sausage. Put mixture into slow cooker, put whole potatoes on top, pour half of the box of stock in. Set on low and let go for 8 hours.

Next time I would add a can of drained and rinsed beans, probably cannellini. Celery would be a good "filler" to add as well. Next time I would use "baby" potatoes so it's all bite size, but still not a lot of chopping involved. This is so simple, but smoked sausage is such a big flavor it can't be bad. This recipe could also be cut down if you have a smaller crock pot.
We will be having this a lot this winter!!

Quick Enchiladas

Something you can put together quickly, or prepare the filling a day in advance.

1/2 onion
1 28oz can diced tomatoes (or 1/2 regular and 1/2 fire roasted would be great!), drained
1 10 oz can red enchilada sauce
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 lbs. veggie crumbles, or ground beef
1/2 lbs. shredded cheddar cheese.
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. corriander
1/2 tsp chili powder
flour tortillas-about  8

Saute onion until almost tender, and veggie crumbles or ground beef. Cook thoroughly through. Drain off fat if you used real meat. Add beans and tomatoes, and all spices.

Distribute filling evenly between tortillas. Roll and place in a greased 9x13. Pour sauce over top, and top with cheese. Bake at 375 covered with foil, until sauce is bubbly, about 20 mins. Remove foil, and bake 5 more minutes.

Cheater Lasagna Pasta

One of my husbands favorite meals is lasagna, but I don't always have the time to make during the week. I made this pasta in hopes of getting our lasagna fix, without so much preparation time...and it was a great success!

1 lbs. pasta-I used rotini
jarred pasta sauce-I used Newman's Own Marinara
3 Tbs. white wine
red pepper flakes to taste
1 cup ricotta
1 1/2 cup mozzarella
parmesan for topping

-Cook pasta in boiling, salted water. Drain. Put pasta back in pot, over medium heat toss with white wine and red pepper flakes, cook until wine is cooked off. Add enough sauce to coat all pasta, heat through. Stir in ricotta quickly, does not need to be smooth in sauce, some "lumps" are good. Put in an oven safe pot or 9x13, top with mozzarella and parmesan, and put under broiler until cheese is slightly brown and bubbly. Take out, and serve!

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Using the leftovers from the previous recipe, "Baked BBQ Chicken", I made these sandwiches. As soon as we were done with dinner, I took the time to pull all the leftover meat from the bones and shred it. I then mixed it with a little extra bbq sauce. The next day I put it on a good sub roll, wrapped in in foil, and stuck it in the oven for 15 mins at 375. When it was heated through, I pulled it out, and topped with thinly sliced red onions and tomato. It was very tasty, and a great way to use leftovers!!