Sunday, October 25, 2009

EASY Pot Roast *Lauren Perry*


This is the perfect time of year for a yummy pot roast!


Ingredients

1 chuck roast

kitchen bouquet (its over by the condiments at the store)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of water (i just used the diced tomato can when empty)

1 packet of lipton onion soup

1 white onion sliced

5-10 small baby red potatoes (depending on amount of people serving) cut into quarters

2 carrots diced

salt, pepper

OPTIONAL- splash of red cooking wine


Directions

-dust chuck roast with flour, salt, pepper on each side

-sear in non-stick pan with kitchen bouquet on each side (about 1 tbs on each side) for a few minutes

-add to crock pot or baking dish (if baking dish- bake 350 for at least 3 hours)

-add diced tomatoes, water, lipton soup powder, a pinch more kitchen bouquet, and splash of red wine (if desired)

-with an hour left of cooking, add onions, red potatoes, and carrots. You can also turn the meat over to make sure that 1 side isn't cooking more tender than the other
-taste and add salt and pepper if desired (I love garlic salt)
**PS- I love to serve my pot roast over white rice with rolls on the side!**

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Death By Chocolate *Lauren Perry*

If you love chocolate...this WILL kill you!

Ingredients

1 brownie mix (make in 9 x 13 baking dish)
2 pks chocolate mousse (make in sep bowl)
7 heath bars chopped up, or 1-2 packages of crunched health bar bits
1 tub of cool whip

Directions

mash up and crumble brownies- in a 9 x 9 dish or a somewhat deep dish for layering....

layers
crumbled brownie
heath pieces
mousse
cool whip
crumbled brownie
heath pieces
mousse
cool whip
top off with rest of heath bar pieces

put in fridge for an hour or so to cool! ENJOY

Pork and Pea Pasta *Lauren Perry*

This is Brian's ALL.TIME.FAVORITE Pasta :)

Ingredients

3/4 lb of hot italian sausage (if in casings, please remove)
3/4 lb of mild italian sausage ('')
1 cup chopped white onion
1 1/4 cups of whipping cream (you could do 1 whole pint if you want)
3/4 cup of chicken broth
frozen peas (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
1 brick of cream cheese (softened)
1 cup of parmesan cheese
2 cloves of garlic chopped
garlic salt, pepper to taste

pasta- bow tie or penne (boil in sep. pot)


Directions-

Saute Sausage and remove
with oils and juice from sausage, saute onions and garlic- then drain majority of oils....
add cream and boil about 5 minutes
and broth and cream cheese- cook on high about 5 minutes
add sausage and simmer for about 5 minutes
add parmesan, spices, and peas

enjoy!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Another frosting idea for the Pumpkin CC Cake *Lauren Perry*

Just to update, I made this again and it was soooo yummy!

The only other change I made to the frosting is I added 1 stick of butter and only used 1/2 a jar of marshmallow cream instead of a full jar. This made the frosting a lot thicker if you would rather more of a cream cheese butter cream as opposed to a gooey type glaze :) Both are wonderful, you really cant go wrong....

Spinach Pasta Salad *Lauren Perry*


This is my mom's new favorite salad, and its super yummy! Its so pretty for the fall :)

Ingredients

1 bag of spinach

2 chicken breasts, broil, cool and slice (sprinkle with a pinch of lemon pepper)

3 oz of blue cheese crumbled

1/2 cup of craisins

1/4 cup of sliced almonds, toasted

1 can of drained mandarin oranges

1/4-1/3 of a red onion, thinly sliced

2 roma tomatoes chopped

1/4 box of orzo pasta- cooked (you could also use a mini bow-tie pasta)


** Toss above ingredients and serve with Litehouse Ginger and Sesame Dressing- this salad dressing is THE BEST with it- a little goes a long way**


Saturday, October 3, 2009

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps- Lori Hansen

Filling:
3 Tbsp. Oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cp. water chesnuts
2/3 cps. mushrooms
3 tbsp. chopped onions
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 head lettuce

Stir Fry Sauce:
4 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar

Special Sauce:
1/4 cp. sugar
1/2 cp. water
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. hot water
1-2 tsp. garlic and red chili paste (we have never used this.)

Make the special sauce by combining the sugar and water in a small bowl, add the next 5 ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate this sauce until you are ready to serve. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well. Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over wraps.

Mince water chesnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas ( a chopper works well for this.) Prepare the stir-fry sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Bring oil to med-high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 5-6 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from pan and cool. When chicken is cool, mince in to small pieces just like mushrooms and waterchesnuts. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. When oil is hot, add garlic, onions, and mushrooms into the pan. Once mushroom mixture is done, add chicken, water chesnuts and the stir-fry sauce to the pan. Saute for a couple of minutes until completely warmed. Serve mixture in lettuce cups and top with special sauce.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

One of my friends gave me this recipe after making it for our family a few weeks ago. It is divine and such a perfect fall soup! (especially if you have a pile of tomatoes from your garden that you need to use up) It's become an instant favorite for all my family...including nieces and nephews!

Ingredients:

10 c. chicken broth/stock
28 oz. diced tomatoes with juice
8 oz. can tomato paste
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. butter
1 1/2 tsp. basil
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1 pt. whipping cream (unwhipped)
1 1/2 lbs. cooked tortellini (fresh or frozen -- I actually just boiled it in the soup before I added the whipping cream)

Directions:
Pour chicken stock into large pot and heat. Add basil and oregano. Then add can of diced tomatoes with juice and can of tomato paste, and puree all together with a hand blender, regular blender, or food processor (I liked the hand blender a lot). In a separate pan, make a roux by melting butter and then adding flour. Mix the two and cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Whip the roux into the broth and simmer until thickened, stirring often. Next, add pre-cooked tortellini and make sure it is heated through. Last, add whipping cream. Serve and enjoy!