Korean Beef

I found this recipe, so we gave it a try this evening. It was pretty easy and good too.

Korean Beef
1 pound ground beef
1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar (use more if you want it sweet)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ginger (powdered or fresh and minced)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (to desired spiciness)
salt and pepper
1 bunch green onions, diced (optional)

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper, and red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Growing up, my mom always made chocolate chip cookies during the holidays. I'm not sure where she got the recipe, but I haven't seen it elsewhere. This recipe makes a good, chewy, not too thick cookie that stays fresh for a long time. Plus, both the dough and the baked cookies freeze well.

To carry on the tradition, Lori and I (along with a little help from Mara and Lani) made the cookies today to leave out for Santa this weekend. Yum!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 stick softened oleo (margarine)
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4.5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
Chocolate chips (at least 2 cups)

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Cream oleo, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda. Add slowly to creamed mixture.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.

This is a double batch.

Cornbread Casserole

Cornbread casserole is another traditional dish in my family ever since I learned the recipe back in 1999 while still at OSU. It's a favorite for everyone in the family except for Mara. I still don't understand how I can have a daughter that doesn't like corn. :)

Cornbread Casserole

• 1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained, or frozen corn
• 1 (14.75 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 (12 ounce) package corn muffin mix

Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine the whole-kernel corn, cream-style corn, sour cream, melted butter or margarine, beaten eggs and corn muffin mix. Mix well and pour into one 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until nicely browned.

Pumpkin Crisp (or Crumble)

A couple of years ago, I found a recipe for a Pumpkin Crisp that has since become a tradition for us to make around Thanksgiving. So, of course I had to make it for our Girl Scout Thanksgiving celebration last night where we were supposed to bring a dish that is a tradition in our family.

Pumpkin Crisp/Crumble
1 can (30 oz.) of pumpkin pie mix
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 package (18.25 oz) yellow or spice cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Whipped topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Combine pumpkin pie mix, evaporated milk, and eggs in large bowl. Pour into prepared pan. 
Combine cake mix, melted butter and nuts in large bowl until crumbly (clean hands may be used). Sprinkle over filling. 
 
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Top each serving with whipped topping, if desired.

Before baking:

And after tasting:

Parmesan-crusted Chicken

It's been a long time since we've made Parmesan-crusted chicken, and I don't know why. It's pretty easy to make, and Mara loved it. I don't know how much she would have liked it if I didn't accidentally dumped twice the amount of Parmesan cheese than the recipe called for. :) However, we'll definitely be making this more in the future because Mara even asked for us to put the leftovers in her lunch.

Here's the recipe from Hellman's with my changes:

1/2 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip (I used Miracle Whip)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used at least half a cup, but I'm thinking it was closer to a whole cup)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves or 8 tenders (about 1-1/4 lbs.)

4 tsp. Italian-seasoned dry bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine mayonnaise/Miracle Whip with cheese in a bowl.

Arrange chicken on baking sheet. Evenly top with mayonnaise mixture, then sprinkle with bread crumbs. (I used both Italian and Panko bread crumbs to make them a little crunchier. I also added some extra Italian seasoning to make up for the lack of seasoning in the Panko bread crumbs.)

Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. (I kept them in an extra 10, maybe 15, minutes until they were nice and crispy on top.)

Shortcakes (the strawberry kind)

Every spring during strawberry season, I break out the Bisquick box and make shortcakes.

If we have them on hand, before I even start making the shortcakes, I'll slice up some strawberries, top them with sugar, and let them sit and juice up. You can then top the shortcakes with the strawberries and juice, and add milk or whip cream. However, most of the time, we just grab a half gallon of Blue Bell Strawberries and Homemade Vanilla. Put that on top of warm shortcake, and mmm...heaven.

Just in case Bisquick ever stops putting out their shortcake recipe, I thought it would be good to document it here. So, without further ado, here is the recipe straight from the side of the Bisquick box.

Shortcakes
2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 425°F. In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and the butter until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls (sometimes we do more and just make smaller shortcakes). Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Split warm shortcakes; fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream, milk, and/or ice cream.

And these are the shortcakes that John and I make. They're kind of like a drop biscuit.

However, growing up my mom made more of a cake. The recipe was also on the Bisquick box for years, but they eventually removed it. I think I finally found her recipe.

Loaf Cake and Cupcakes

2 cups Bisquick
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup top milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp. vanilla


Combine Bisquick and sugar. Add top milk, well beaten eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat to smooth up batter. Pour quickly into greased and floured 8 inch square pan (my mom used a round pan), or muffin cups. Bake cake 30 minutes, or cupcakes 20 minutes in a moderately hot oven 400°F.

Pasta Bake

Remember the Pasta Bake sauce that Prego had about 5-10 years ago? We loved that stuff. It was a quick and easy meal. Mix one can of sauce, a box of pasta, and a jar of water, cover, and bake for an hour or so. Uncover, top with cheese and put back in the oven until the cheese is melted. We made that all of the time, and then Prego pulled the sauce from the shelves. It made sense really. How was that sauce any different from the spaghetti sauce they already produced? However, it led us to forgetting this quick and easy meal. Until tonight...

Tonight, John went ahead and precooked the pasta and browned some ground beef. He combined those with a jar of spaghetti sauce (no extra water since the pasta was cooked) and topped with mozzarella cheese. He stuck it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, and we had a dinner that all of us loved. Jack couldn't get enough, and even Mara kept talking about how much she liked it. And this is the girl who usually doesn't do casseroles.

I told Mara that I'll let her make this dish one of these weekends. Her first response was, "I can't cook!" But I think she warmed up to the idea when I said I'd help her. I told her that I would brown the meat and put it in the oven, but she can add the pasta, sauce, and water (just like we used to do).

Salsa Chicken and Potato Pockets

We sometimes make foil packets for dinner. With these, we're able to make individual servings of complete meals. They're fairly quick and easy, and I have no idea why we don't fix them more. One of our favorites is a salsa chicken and potatoes packet, which we made for dinner tonight.

4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 teaspoons taco seasoning mix

1/2 pound potatoes, thinly sliced (can peel or leave peels on)

1 cup shredded cheese

1/2 cup salsa (we used our homemade salsa here)

1/4 cup sour cream (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle chicken with seasoning mix. Place 1/2 cup potatoes on center of each of 4 large sheets of heavy-duty foil; top with chicken, cheese and salsa. 

Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Place in 15x10x3/4-inch baking pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (170 degrees F). Cool 5 minutes. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening. Top with sour cream and additional cheese.

Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes

I know that meatloaf isn't at the top of everyone's list, but we found a recipe that we really like. Pair it with mashed potatoes, and you have another one of our favorite meals, which we had last night. :)

This is the Easy Pleasing Meatloaf from Kraftfoods.com.

2 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stuffing Mix

1 cup water

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce, divided

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water, eggs and 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce.

SHAPE meat mixture into four oval loaves. (Note: We usually divide it into 8-9 loaves.) Place, side-by-side, in foil-lined shallow baking pan. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup barbecue sauce.

BAKE 30 min. or until cooked through (160°F).

You can also put them into muffin tins. When almost done, top with mashed potatoes and cheese, and put back in the oven until cheese is melted.

When I initially found this recipe, they also listed several variations. I can't find it on Kraft's site now, so here's what I had copied. We haven't really tried any of the variations since we like the one above so much, but here are some alternatives they suggest adding to the 2 lb. lean ground beef, 1 cup water and 2 beaten eggs. Follow the above cooking directions.

Stove Top Stuffing Mix options	sauce choices (divided use)	seasoning possibilities
Chicken	1/2 cup Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce	1/2 cup chopped onion
Cornbread	3/4 cup Taco Bell Home Originals Salsa	1/2 cup chopped green pepper
Savory Herbs	1 jar (14 oz.) spaghetti sauce	2 cloves garlic, minced
Mushroom & Onion	1 jar (12 oz.) mushroom gravy	1 cup chopped mushrooms

And here is one more variation (cooking directions underneath).

seasoning options	add-in choices	cheese possibilities
1 tsp. Italian seasoning	3/4 cup spaghetti sauce	3/4 cup KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 tsp. chili powder	3/4 cup TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Thick 'N Chunky Salsa	3/4 cup KRAFT Shredded Mexican Style Cheese
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves	3/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers	3/4 cup ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder	3/4 cup KRAFT or BULL'S-EYE Original Barbecue Sauce	3/4 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and the seasoning until well blended. Press evenly into 12 medium muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray; make an indentation in center of each with back of spoon.

SPOON add-ins evenly into indentations in meatloaves.

BAKE 30 min. or until meatloaves are cooked through (160°F). Top evenly with cheese; continue baking 5 min. or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 min. before serving.

Mashed Potatoes

I learned how to make mashed potatoes from my parents, and they are definitely a family tradition that is often requested.

Peel and boil potatoes until tender. Drain and place potatoes in mixing bowl with butter and some salt (to taste). You could try real butter, but we tend to use Imperial or Country Crock.

Start mixing the potatoes using either a stand or hand mixer. Add milk until creamy. Add additional margarine and salt to taste. The key is to not hold back on the margarine. A large bowl of potatoes can easily take two or three sticks of margarine (if not more). 

Pot Roast

I took the instructions my mom gave me for roast beef and adapted it for a slow cooker. Depending on how much water you add, it can end up more like a beef soup/stew.

2-3 pounds roast (any kind)
4-6 medium potatoes (washed with skins on or peeled)
1/2 pound baby carrots
2 Tbsp onion flakes or 1 small onion
2 Tbsp beef bullion
2 cups warm water

Cut up potatoes. Place potatoes and carrots in bottom of slow cooker. Place roast on top of carrots and potatoes. Combine bullion and water. If using onion, place on top of roast; otherwise, add onion flakes to bullion mixture. Pour bullion mixture over roast and cover.

Cook on Low 6-8 hours. When done, sample juice and add additional bullion, onion, and/or water to taste.

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings is one of the favorite meals in our house—especially on cool, dreary days like today. Sometimes we call it "nugget soup" since that's what we called it to get Mara to start eating it. I got the base recipe from one of my former co-workers (Thanks, Kristy!), but we adapted it and added more seasonings to fit our tastes.

6 cups water
3 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp onion flakes
1 Tbsp parsley
1 Tbsp Greek seasoning
2.5 Tbsp chicken bullion
1 can cream of chicken soup (optional)
1-2 cups milk
1 can Grands biscuits

Add salt to water and boil chicken (can be frozen) on med-high heat for about 20 minutes. Add butter, onion flakes, parsley, Greek seasoning, and bullion to taste. Add cream of chicken soup and milk, and bring back to a boil. Pinch small pieces of biscuits, add to broth, and stir. Boil for 10-15 additional minutes or until biscuits are fluffy in the center (you can choose to stir occasionally).

For thicker broth, use less milk.
For thinner broth, use more milk.

Baked Potato Soup

I know I've posted a couple of pictures of our baked potato soup over the last year or so, but I never shared the recipe. We've adapted our recipe from the Betty Crocker one here.

1 bag (32 ounces) frozen, southern-style diced hash brown potatoes (can be frozen or thawed)
1.5 Tbsp onion flakes
1 tsp of celery seeds
4 tsp chicken bullion

5 cups water

3 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk
1 bag (8 oz) shredded cheese (we prefer Colby jack)
Bacon pieces (we buy the big Hormel bag from Sam's)

In a slow cooker, mix potatoes, onion flakes, and celery seeds. Mix bullion and water and pour over potatoes and mix. Cover and cook on Low heat setting for 6-8 hours.

In a small bowl, mix flour into milk. Stir in potato mixture and increase heat to High. Cover and cook 20-30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Stir in cheese and until melted. Add additional seasonings to taste and some bacon to mixture if desired.

Spoon into bowls. (Bread bowls work great with this soup!) Top with additional cheese and bacon pieces.

Brisket

When anyone in my family says "brisket," everyone automatically thinks of my mom's recipe. The recipe has been used so many times at my parents' house that it was printed out on form-fed paper and laminated with contact paper for safe keeping. The bottom of the recipe even says, "Jan's (my mom's) favorite recipe."

Marinated Brisket
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 tsp pepper
2.5 tsp ginger
1 Tbsp worchestshire
1 tsp powdered garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2.5 Tbsp powdered mustard
3/4 cup water
1 large sliced onion
8 pounds trimmed brisket

Place brisket in cooking bag. Slice onion on brisket. Mix first 11 ingredients (sugar through water) in a bowl. Pour over brisket and marinate in refrigerator over night.

Bake 350 degrees for 3 hours or until done. My family likes to get it nice and crispy on the outside, but it's tender and juicy on the inside.

Here's a picture when we made it shortly after my mom died in 2007.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Wraps

When I was pregnant with Mara, I found a recipe online that sounded sort of good but needed some help because it didn't look like it would have much flavor. After some experimenting, we came up with our cheesy chicken and rice wraps that has become one of our go-to recipes when we can't think of anything else to make. The best part? It makes a lot of leftovers that taste just as good the next day, so I get several lunches out of it too. Plus, it freezes really well and even works as a dip/topping for chips.

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Wraps
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed
2 c. water
1 can of Rotel or 1 c. salsa
1 pkg. taco seasoning
2 c. instant rice, uncooked
8 oz. Velveeta (1/4 brick)
Corn (optional)
20 flour tortillas (fajita size)
Lettuce
Sour cream
Shredded cheese

In a skillet or saucepan, combine chicken, water, Rotel/salsa, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Add rice and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add Velveeta and corn, and stir occasionally until melted.

Place mixture in a tortilla and top with lettuce, sour cream, and extra cheese (if desired). John and Mara also like to add some taco sauce to theirs. Wrap the tortilla and enjoy!

To freeze, simply wrap each folded tortilla individually in tin foil and place in gallon-size freezer bag.

Hashbrown Casserole

We did breakfast for dinner tonight just because we wanted to have hashbrown casserole. We only make it a few times a year, but it has become tradition to have it Christmas morning. It is known by several different names since it's one that you see at various potlucks because it's fairly easy to make and most everyone likes it.

Hashbrown Casserole
1 (30 ounce) package frozen hash brown potatoes (shredded)
1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

16 ounces sour cream

Onion flakes (can use one onion chopped)
Pinch of salt
1-2 sticks of butter or margarine
Corn flakes

Preheat oven 425 degrees.

Coat 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and pour half of the hash browns into it.

In a large bowl, combine soup, sour cream, cheese, salt, and remaining hash browns. If using onion flakes*, add those to the mixture. You can also melt some of the butter and add also, but it's just as good without the extra butter. Spread on top of hash browns in dish.

Spread corn flakes all over the soup mixture until well covered. Crush flakes if desired. Melt a stick of butter and pour evenly over corn flakes.

Cover dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let set a few minutes before serving.

*If you are using a real onion, melt a stick of butter in the skillet over medium heat and sauté onion for 5 minutes. Add this to the soup mixture.

Here is the one we made tonight.

And here's the insides from one of our past casseroles. (Notice the steam coming off the top.)

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Last month, I saw an idea for cupcakes that I thought John would like. They're fairly simple. Just mix up some yellow cake batter (I used Duncan Hines), pour it into cupcake paper, stick a Reese's peanut butter cup in the middle, and bake. When they're cooled, cover with peanut butter buttercream icing (see recipe below).

After I made the batter and poured it into the cupcake wrappers, I stuck a peanut butter cup on top of each cupcake.

And it surprised me that the cupcake baked up and around it. (I expected the peanut butter cup to rise with the cupcake.)

Come to find out, the peanut butter cup actually sunk to the bottom of cupcake, but it still tasted very good.

Here's the finished product.

We'll definitely make these again. We think they were even better the second day. Next time, I think I'm going to try some different things with the peanut butter cup to see if I can keep it from sinking to the bottom. When I made them this time, I put the smallest part of the peanut butter cup on bottom, so I think I'll try a few inverted next time. I also thought I would see how it would work if I don't push the peanut butter cup into the batter (I think it will just melt, though), and I'll also try some with two peanut butter cups inside.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing
I started out following a recipe for the icing, but that didn't last too long. I threw a stick of softened, unsalted butter into the mixing bowl and then added six tablespoons of milk, two tablespoons of vanilla, about a cup of peanut butter (roughly half of an 18-ounce jar), and a pinch of salt. That's when I discovered I didn't have the 5-6 cups of powdered sugar that I needed to double the recipe I was loosely following. I think I had about three cups that I just dumped in, but that seemed to work out just fine. The icing was just the right thickness, and it spread easily. Plus, it tasted really good.

One note is that it's best to refrigerate these cupcakes. The icing gets all mushy since it contains real butter, and the peanut butter cups get a little melty too.

Salsa!

Mmmm...

We got some jalapeños when we were visiting John's family last weekend, and John picked up the rest of the ingredients to make our own salsa. We both really like Chili's salsa, and I found some recipes similar to it online a couple of weeks ago. John tried the Pioneer Woman's recipe. It was good, but it confirmed that I don't really like cilantro. (It's a dark green, so big surprise there.) While I still like the salsa, I think we're going to try this recipe next time. The main differences are equal amounts of canned tomatoes and Rotel, and no cilantro. :)

I'm excited that we can now make our own salsa. Plus, we've discovered that Mission tortilla chips are really good and cheap too. They even have an extra thin version, which I prefer.

And since John likes to cook and I like to bake, I'm going to try posting more of our recipes here – especially since the holidays are quickly approaching. I don't know why I haven't done it sooner. I might even bring out some family favorites that we've made the last few years. For my next baking adventure, I'm going to try making peanut butter cup cupcakes for John's birthday in a couple of weeks, so we'll see how that goes.

Trick or Treat!

I know I'm a couple days late, but I wanted to go ahead and post some pictures of our Halloween.

This year, Mara dressed up as a whale trainer riding a whale. She loved her costume, and so did everyone else. We got so many comments on it at school and as we were trick or treating that night. My sister Diane sewed her shirt so it looks like what the whale trainers at SeaWorld wear. She's also wearing the whale tale necklace from the Believe! show at SeaWorld.




Here's Mara with her cousins Lani (Tinkerbell), Lori (a witch) & Mikey (Batman) on our way out the door for trick or treating.


And here's Mara and Lani at the end of trick or treating. I think Mara was more than done. We had hit a ton of houses in Mike & Myra's neighborhood by this point and were headed back home.


I also made a kitty litter cake for our Halloween celebration. I followed the recipe here, but I used a regular chocolate and a yellow cake as the base since you don't even see the cakes. It turned out pretty neat and actually tastes pretty good if you can get past the looks.