Ok, tell me I'm bad.....and a crockpot recipes

Hello Crafty Friends!

Sorry I've been MIA, been trying to get some scrapbooking done, it's been hot, we've been inside mostly during the day (41 days of over 100 degrees and yesterday was 113) and trying to keep the kids from seriously hurting each other LOL Do you know that feeling? LOL
I've been using the crockpot a lot since it's too hot for the oven.

Ok, I've decided to get an Imagine (rather to have dh get me one for my bday in Sept)
Is it bad I've gotten a couple of carts cheap on ebay before I even have the machine? LOL
I got Best Friends for $16.10 and Kate's for $20.50. UPDATE: I guess I'm the proud owner of an Imagine for $134.88 Shhhhh...don't tell hubster I bought my own bday present for him to give to me.

Here is a crockpot rib recipe I made yesterday. It is a regular for us and everyone loves it!!

Crockpot Pork Country Style Ribs

**However many packages of Pork Country Style Ribs you need (I use 1 or 2 depending on how many in the package) Can use bone in or deboned. I must say that beef country style ribs don't come out as good in the crockpot.

**McCormick Grill Mates Sweet and Smoky rub
** 1 cup of BBQ sauce, I water it down with 1/2 cup of water
**(optional) sliced onion

I rub the ribs all over lightly with the rub
Place sliced onions and bbq sauce in the bottom of the crockpot
Put ribs on top and cook for 6 hours.


Here is another recipe I used on Sunday and there is usually enough left over the next day for either BBQ sandwiches or I use it for beef stroganoff or even stew or chili.

Roast

1 chuck roast
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
**Optional vegetables

I brown the roast in a skillet on top of the stove with a little cooking oil (to seal in the juices)
and sprinkle with a little garlic powder and black pepper.

Mix water and Lipton Onion Soup Mix together.
Pour into crockpot, place roast on top with bay leaf and optional veggies. I cook on low for 8 hrs. However, I find in my crockpot it's usually done in 6.

Craft Junkie Too's T.G.I.F. Link Party

Here are a couple of things I'm linking up for the party

Oreo Cupcake Recipe:

I had a friend who made these for her little girl's birthday last week and they were YUMMO!!
This is her recipe. I have seen other recipes where the icing is cream cheese but I don't like cream cheese frosting.

The cupcakes:

24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached 2¼ cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 2/3 cup sugar 3 large egg whites, at room temperature 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup milk 20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:
1 stick salted butter-room temp
1 stick unsalted butter-room temp
1 cup shortening
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 pds of powdered sugar
5 TBSP of cold milk
8 crushed oreos (no cream in the middle, just cookies)

Cream the butter & shortening in the bowl with mixer. Add vanilla & and sugar a little at a time. After all sugar is mixed in then add COLD milk, ONE tbsp at a time & mix well. Fold in the oreo cookie crumbs. Make sure cupcakes are cool and top with the frosting (either with frosting knife or pastry bag)and garnish with an oreo half.

Happy Father's Day and a Fruit Recipe

Hope everyone will have a fun and relaxing Father's Day with their favorite guy.
We will hang out, do breakfast in bed (remember the Breakfast casserole recipe I posted last week) and then my in-laws will come over to grill some steaks and corn on the cob and this yummy fruit salad I make with strawberries, blueberries, rasberries and blackberries and mint, ginger, vanilla and your favorite all fruit preserves. It's my FIL's favorite thing I make.

Here is a quick lowdown on the fruit salad I make. Measurements are approx because I tend to cook without recipes and by taste, smell. LOL

Summer fruits of your choice ( I do i package of fresh strawberries and slice, 1 small pack of fresh blueberries(leave whole), 1 small pack of fresh rasberries(leave whole) and 1 pack of blackberries(leave whole)

1 small jar of Smucker's blackberry preserves (or can use strawberry, I've even used peach)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp dried mint (or can finely mince some fresh) If ya like more then use it.
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
**I use honey in this too if I want it sweeter** maybe a tsp or so. And, I've even grated a little orange peel in this too for extra zest.**

Warm the spices, vinegar, preserves either in a microwave bowl or on top of stove just to disolve the preserves. DON'T boil.

Slice strawberries, mix in other fruit in a bowl. When the sauce mixture is cool, pour over fruit and gently toss with a big spoon. Chill and serve.

Food Recipes for Father's Day

Happy Wednesday Crafters! I said in one of my posts yesterday that I would share a recipe I was making tonight for my belated anniversary. It is really YUMMO with EVOO! Any clues where I got the recipe?? LOL

This is Rachael Rae's Vodka Cream Pasta:

Vodka Cream Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, once around the pan in a slow stream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (32 ounces)
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 16 ounces pasta, such as penne rigate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn
• 
  
• Crusty bread, for passing

Directions

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add oil, butter, garlic, and shallots. Gently saute shallots for 3 to 5 minutes to develop their sweetness. Add vodka to the pan, 3 turns around the pan in a steady stream will equal about 1 cup. Reduce vodka by half, this will take 2 or 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente (with a bite to it). While pasta cooks, prepare your salad or other side dishes.

Stir cream into sauce. When sauce returns to a bubble, remove it from heat. Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves.

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Recipe #2 is awesome and great if you do breakfast in bed for Dad on Father's Day.

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound of bacon
1/4 cup of diced onion
1/4 cup of diced green bell pepper
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 eggs
2 cups of milk
1 (16 oz) package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed

1)Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 7x11 casserole dish
Cook the bacon. Drain/blot and crumble

2)In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. Mix in the cheese,
bacon, onion and green pepper. Stir in the thawed hash browns.
Pour mixture into the casserole dish.

3)Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake another 30
minutes until eggs have set.


So....what are your plans for a special meal for Father's Day?

Recipe-Cake Pops

Happy Friday Everyone! Wowsers! Thank you thank you everyone…I’m to 98 followers. Did all of you sign up for the $15 gift card I will probably be drawing for next week?

So, what was I doing on Thursday? Not crafting LOL I had a busy day of buying flowers, starting to do the flower beds. Yeaaaah!!

If I get my yard work done on Friday early, I’ll post a project. If not, it will be Saturday.

OK, so my new bad vice is getting the occasional “Tiramisu” cake pop at Starbucks. It has like 180 calories but I get my little fix. LOL I found this recipe and tried it today and……they are AWESOME!! Thought I’d share with you all.

Cake Pops (similar to Starbucks)

Make a cake prepared from a box mix (per directions) or from your own favorite recipe. When the cake is cool, break it into small pieces, toss it into the food processor to make crumbs of it. If you do not have a food processor, break the cake up by hand into a large bowl. Make the pieces as small as you can.

Add about 1/2 cup of homemade frosting or about half of a standard size can of prepared frosting to the crumbled cake. Mix the cake and frosting by hand, as you would meatloaf. When the mixture is well combined, use it to make small balls of the "dough," similar to meatballs. Place them on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.

Melt a small amount (just to coat lollipop sticks), of candy melts almond bark or flavored chips. Dip each lollipop stick into the melted coating so that about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of the end of the stick is coated. Then, insert a stick into each cake ball. This will help secure the stick to the ball, making it easier to coat them later.

Place the cake pops in the freezer for about 15 minutes, allowing the coating on the stick to harden and the cake balls to become firm. Melt more of the candy coating and dip each cake pop into it, twisting and moving the pop so that the melted candy coats as much of the cake as possible, stand the sticks in a sheet of Styrofoam so that the cake balls retain their round shape. Otherwise, you can set them back onto the waxed paper.

To make tiramisu cake pops

like those at Starbucks, make a white cake per the box directions BUT...replace 1/4 cup of the liquid (water) called for per the box directions with strong brewed coffee PLUS add a teaspoon of instant coffee granules. Bake the cake, cool, crumble and mix frosting in as mentioned above. Continue with all the steps mentioned above.

BUT...to the melted chocolate mixture do this...

Combine a few drops of vanilla and coffee flavored liqueur to the melted chocolate candy dipping mixture. After dipping the cake pops into the coating, top each one with a chocolate covered coffee bean.

My favorite cake recipe

It is a tradition for my Mama to make the below cake every year for my birthday. Thought I'd share the recipe with you. It's moist, oo-ey, goo-ey and chocolaty.

Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake

1 package Milk Chocolate Cake Mix
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (We've used milk chocolate and dark too)
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 small box chocolate fudge instant oudding
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup warm water

**Dump everything but chocolate chips in a bowl and mix till smooth, approx 2 minutes. Fold in the chocolate chips. Grease bundt pan and pour in. Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes.

Let cool and remove onto plate. Make chocolate ganache' icing and pour over the top.

Have you heard of cake balls? Well, here is a yummy recipe for cookie balls. A friend gave me this recipe and I made different versions of it. They are sooooo good!

COOKIE BALL TRUFFLES

1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1--14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips, OR chopped Andes mints OR toffee pieces. (You might even try the mini M & M's)
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips (heated in double boiler) and add 1 tsp of cooking oil for smoothness.

Cream together margarine and sugar. Add remaining ingredients, blending well. I use a small cookie scooper and then roll into balls and chill for an 1 hour on a cookie sheet. Melt the chocolate chips with oil. The best way to coat the balls is to just get chocolaty and put on a pair of cooking gloves and roll the balls into the chocolate by hand. Drop onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours.
**NOTE** depending on the flavor of cookie dough you have, you could instead roll in Dutch Proccess cocoa powder or finely crushed pepermint sticks. I may even try to add peanut butter but will probably need to add a bit more flour. Then dip in chocolate....yummy!

RECIPE

Ok, I had to share this because I made it a few weeks ago and it is YUMMY!
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BERRY FREEZE

Makes 18 servings, prep time 5 minutes, Freeze 4 hrs or overnight

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 can (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 container(8 oz) cool whip, thawed

In large bowl, whisk together condensed milk and lemon juice. Stir in marshmallows, cranberry sauce, pineapple,and chopped pecans. Fold in coolwhip. Spread into a 13x9x2 pan. Freeze and cut into squares. Enjoy! Also, I haven't tried this but I guess you could do a graham cracker crust for it if you wanted. It would still be good I'm sure.

Cheeseburger Calzone

So our 2 yr old has cheesburger thoughts monrning, noon and night. I decided to do something different for "cheeseburga."

1 Pillsbury Refrigerated French Bread
1/2 pd ground hamburger meat, cooked
8 oz any type shredded cheddar cheese
*optional, minced onion, crumbled bacon
1 small can hunts Italian flavored tomato paste

Open can of French Bread and unroll at the slit on a cookie sheet. Spread just
a bit and fix any tears. Spread about 1/2 the can of past onto the middle (only) lengthwise
of the bread. You want about 1/3 of the dough on each side not sauced. Pile the toppings on top of the sauce (not to high), cheese last.
Then fold over one side of dough to middle, then other side. Pinch dough together at seams on top and ends to seal up. Cut a small knife slit on top.
Bake per package directions 350 for maybe 20 min. Check it periodically.
Slice and eat. I take the other part of the tomato paste and water it down a bit and heat because hubbie likes to use it on top of the calzone.

Great thing is, you can use any combo of toppings. You could do ham and cheese etc. Make a nice salad and it is a quick and easy meal!

Thought I'd post what we had for dinner tonight. With it being so hot, wanted to fix something nice and cool.

Oriental Chicken Wrap

Flour Tortillas (your choice)
Julienned Fresh red peppers, cucumbers and carrots
Thinly sliced green onion
Shredded bagged cabbage Mix
Can of mandarine oranges, drained and keep juice for dressing
Optional--can of chow mein noodles for crunch, or if you like bean sprouts can use that too

Chicken. I grill it or cook breast in skillet and then slice thinly. You can either soak cooked chicken in Oriental sauce or drizzle sauce on the wrap.

Sauce You can make your own (below) or Kraft makes a good Oriental Dressing

Use the juice from the mandarine oranges (about 1/2 cup)
1 tsp dark sesame oil
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 tsp honey or to taste
1 TBSP cornstarch

Combine orange juice and cornstarch in small saucepan; mix until well blended. Bring to boiling over medium heat and cook, stirring 2 to 3 minutes until thickened. Add rest of ingredients and stir. Cool a bit if using as drizzle over the top of the veggies.

Layer all ingredients in the wrap, roll up and slice. Enjoy.