Ice-Cream Maker!

Adam got me a Cuisinart ice-cream maker for Christmas.



I tried it out for the first time last night. Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, using the recipe in the book that came with the machine.



Ingredients:
creamy peanut butter
sugar
whole milk
heavy cream
vanilla
peanut butter cups

Comments:
This ice-cream maker is cool. Just turn it on, add the ingredients, and come back 20-25 minutes later to ice cream. This recipe makes almost too much for the machine to handle, but it plugged through. It's very rich and you can't eat too much at one sitting. See that bowl up there? Only ate half of it... That's a good thing I suppose. It was very good and I put the leftovers in the freezer. We'll see how much it hardens when I go back for more later.

Tilapia Club Stacks

From Rachael Ray's cookbook, Just in Time



Ingredients:
bacon
tilapia
salt & pepper
flour
cornmeal
chili powder
coriander
dill
EVOO
lettuce
tomatoes
lemon

Comments:
I altered this recipe a bit, elminating the "salad" component and just stacking the lettuce and tomato separately. Adam doesn't like tomatoes so you can see there was a stack with the B and one without. I ended up not eating my stack. Tilapia is just too fishy for me. Luckily the fist turned out great so Adam had no problem eating the leftovers for lunch.

Roast Beef Tortilla Wraps

From Taste of Home Annual Recipes, 2006 (I can't find the recipe in their index...)



Ingredients:
cream cheese
mayo
cumin
salt
chili powder
cayenne pepper
tortillas
lettuce
red onion
roast beef
tomato

Comments:
Very simple, no cooking required recipe. The cream cheese mayo combo is pretty spicy if you follow the recipe amounts so be careful! I managed to be able to eat it all though.

Manicotti with Spicy Sausage

From Taste of Home Annual Recipes, 2006



Ingredients:
bulk sausage (I used plain old ground beef)
crushed tomatoes
marinara sauce
eggs
ricotta cheese
parmesan cheese
parsley
Italian seasoning
salt
garlic powder
pepper
manicotti shells
mozzarella cheese

Comments:
There are tons of these beef & cheese manicotti recipes out there. This is the first that I've tried in which you stuff the pasta uncooked. I'm not sure which I prefer. I always seem to get messy no matter what. This version also used ricotta cheese. I'm not too big of a fan of that. It's very good, but there's a lot of cheese in this recipe so be careful if you have lactose intolerance tendencies.

Random Cooking Pictures

The first "Adam's choice" dinner - steak and potatoes.


And my half-assed attempt at making bread. Totally cheated. Used frozen dough.

Mini Meatloaf

From "30 Minute Meals"



Ingredients:
ground beef
bread crumbs
milk
egg
grill seasoning blend
allspice
tomato paste
onion

Comments:
I just made the meatloaf part of her whole meal. Well, ok I added some potatoes and corn, but I didn't follow her recipe for those. Overall, an ok meatloaf recipe. Kind of bland though. I had to add ketchup...

BBQ Bacon Burgers

From Rachael Ray's newest cookbook, Just in Time



Ingredients:
EVOO
bacon
red onion
Worcestershire sauce
brown sugar
lime juice
tomato sauce
salt & pepper
ground beef
cumin
chili powder
steak seasoning
coriander
garlic

Comments:
This new cookbook has 15-, 30- and 60-minute meals and this is one of the 30-minute ones. It's pretty simple with the first part of the ingredients making a not altogether gross BBQ sauce and the second part making the burgers. I (stupidly) decided to use the indoor grill pan rather than letting Adam go to it with his man grll on the deck. The result? Grease everywhere, lots of smoke, and open windows for a while after the meal. Brrr. Anywho, they taste good and what more can you ask for than that?

M&M Sugar Cookies

From The M&Ms Website



Ingredients:
butter
sugar
eggs
vanilla
flour
baking soda
M&Ms

Comments:
I was very disappointed in how these turned out. They spread out a lot and became very dry and crumbly after they cooled. I've been using them in ice cream to kind of soften them up and make them less messy to eat. Next time I attempt M&M cookies I'm going to have to find a different recipe.

Meat Loaf Gyros

From Taste of Home Annual Recipes, 2007 (this is a subscriber only recipe again)



Ingredients:
egg
garlic
oregano
salt
pepper
ground lamb
ground beef
plain yogurt
cucumber
lemon juice
pitas
olive oil
tomato
onion

Comments:
Adam loves gyros but doesn't always get to the place downtown very often. I saw this recipe while browsing through the annual cookbook and thought it might be perfect. I was afraid it might be hard to get the lamb though. I managed to snag the last package at the grocery store but I would have been willing to go to a butcher shop for it if necessary I guess. The recipe itself is pretty easy - make a meatloaf, make the sauce, put it together on a pita with a tomato and onion slice. They were wonderful. I got perhaps the most enthusiastic response to a dish yet. He said it was almost dead on to the real thing. So, good job Sharon Rawlings of Tampa, Florida. You made Adam very happy.

Supper-Sized Egg Rolls

From "The Rachael Ray Show", November 9th, 2007



Ingredients:
canola oil
ground pork (I used turkey)
celery
mushroom caps (left 'em out)
cabbage
bean sprouts (I got alphalfa sprouts by mistake)
water chestnuts (also left out)
garlic
ginger
tamari (used plain old soy)
egg
phyllo dough (pfft, I used egg roll wrappers)
butter

Comments:
So obviously I changed the recipe a teensy bit from the original. I ended up with more normal sized eggrolls with a little less stuff in the middle. But they still tasted great. The recipe itself isn't difficult. It's a bit of prep before kind of throwing everything together though. And the phyllo dough is probably what makes the eggrolls "supper sized" since each sheet is about twice the size of your average eggroll wrapper. But maybe it's that baklava incident back when I did my Greek International Meal that summer but I just can't do the phyllo dough. So my eggrolls are smaller and less brown and crispy than Rachael's, but we still managed to eat them all so I'm not too worried about it.

Thanksgiving Part 2

This is what I ended up using as our gravy boat.



It's actually meant for creamer and is part of a cow-themed tea set. I have a lot of cow-themed stuff. Anywho, it worked well although the "cow is drooling" jokes were plentiful.

And here's dessert. I noticed I forgot to take a picture of that before.

Chicken & Broccoli Calzones

From Taste of Home Annual Recipes, 2007



Ingredients:
broccoli
sage
onion
garlic
EVOO
chicken breast
mozzarella cheese
basil
golden raisins
bread dough
egg
water

Comments:
Just for the fun of it I've been thumbing through all the cookbooks I've got on the bookshelf in the living room. I've marked the recipes I've found interesting and I'm working them into the menu. This was a little more challenging than some other recipes in that it required me to roll out bread dough. With a rolling pin. I do own a rolling pin, but I do all I can to avoid using it. And I just happened to be wearing all black today so I got into a floury mess while flouring and rolling out dough. They turned out ok though. Just a note: I did leave the sage and raisins out. A thumbs up from Adam.

Easy Cheesy Enchiladas

From "The Rachael Ray Show", November 9th, 2007



Ingredients:
EVOO
onion
garlic
salt & pepper
Chili powder
cumin
crushed tomatoes
chicken stock
canola oil
tortillas
scallions
cilantro
monteray jack cheese

Comments:
We caught an epsiode of "Rachael Ray" together somehow and Adam thought these might be good. So I made them. And they were. I even went out and got chili powder and used it. It did leave the cilantro out thought. Blech. Pretty simple to make although that's a lot of cheese. Not so good for the lactose intolerant stomach...

Thanksgiving 2007

This was the first Thanksgiving in our new house and the first time I attempted a turkey. In previous years I pawned that off on someone else or I did cornish hens instead.

Our Thanksgiving Day menu:

* Roasted Turkey – pretty basic, not stuffed. I’m of the Alton Brown camp – “Stuffing is evil.”
* Smashed Potatoes & Gravy – pretty basic here too. Red potatoes with sour cream, milk, butter, smooshed with the masher. I cheated and using a gravy mix packet.
* Roasted Butternut Squash – as requested by Adam.
* Roasted Squash Medley – yellow squash and zucchini in this one. I kept them separate since Adam wasn’t too interested in this one.
* Stuffing – Totally cheated here and used Stove Top. It’s just so yummy…and easy.
* Rolls – Yay for Pillsbury oven rolls. And yay for carbs!
* Chocolate Angel Food Cake – I’m not a fan of pies and while I could have picked one up free from Festival thanks to my employer, I didn't. And I didn't make one either. We all know what happened last time. Angel Food Cake I could do. And I figured it'd be even better if I tossed some cocoa powder into the mix. I served it with ice cream and caramel/chocolate sauce.

Everything went well and tasted good. And as far as I know no one got food poisoning. Yet.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

From Taste of Home.com



Ingredients:
butter
peanut butter
sugar
brown sugar
eggs
vanilla
flour
baking soda
salt
chocolate chips
chopped peanut butter cups

Comments:
One word: YUM. These are as easy as any other drop cookie to make. I used my new cookie scoop on this one and I think I should maybe have gotten the smaller size one. My first batch turned out a little large and the middles didn't bake through so I went with about half a scoop after that and they turned out wonderfully. Even Adam likes them. Definitely a keeper. Up next on my cookie list: M&M Sugar Cookies.

Scallop Burgers

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #181



Ingredients:
sea scallops
shallot
parsley
salt & pepper
EVOO
rolls
orange
chives
Old Bay Seasoning
red onion
lemon juice
romaine lettuce leaves

Comments:
Obviously an Adam geared recipe here. It's a basic burger recipe except you swap out some scallops that you grind in the food processor for your usual suspects of ground beef, turkey, pork, etc. Adam tells me they tasted great. That all I can say about this one.

Oven-Baked Corn Dogs

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #222



Ingredients:
corn muffin mix
eggs
milk
butter
chili powder
cumin
hot sauce
scallions
hotdogs

Comments:
These are pretty simple as well although I'm pretty sure I added too much milk and they were kind of runny. Case in point: all the batter fell off during baking and we kind of ended up with a hotdog and some bread stuff on the side. Oh well. It still tasted just fine. The scallions in the breading is an interesting idea and a great blend of flavors.

Pork Loin Chops with Apples and Onions

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #324



Ingredients:
EVOO
pork chops
salt & Pepper
apples
onion
butter
lemon juice
thyme
brandy

Comments:
Pretty easy dish to prepare but you might want to leave the brandy out. I didn't mind it but Adam didn't care for it and I only put in half of what the recipe called for. The mixture of sweet and salty is a classic one and this recipe does it justice.

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

From allrecipes.com



Ingredients:
butter
sugar
peanut butter
brown sugar
egg
light corn syrup
water
vanilla
flour
baking soda
salt
chocolate chips/chunks

Comments:
Adam wanted peanut butter cookies that stayed chewy after they cooled. So I figured with a name like "Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies" I couldn't go wrong. And the fact that I could throw in some white chocolate chips couldn't hurt either. They turned out quite well and I was diligent in my portion control after my Snickerdoodle fiasco the weekend before. They turned out kind of weird shaped because I put a whole bag of chocolate chips into the batter. I went out and got a cookie scoop now so next time I should have picture perfect cookies. Next on my list - chocolate peanut butter cup cookies. Yum...

Treat-or-Treat (or not...) Turnovers

From Taste of Home October/November 2007 (Yet another Subscriber Only recipe! Sorry!)



Ingredients:
ground beef
onion
mozzarella cheese
mustard
refrigerated biscuits
egg

Comments:
These are eerily similar to the beef cups I made a few weeks ago. Instead of putting the dough in muffin cups you just put it on a baking sheet and form a pod for the beef filling. They were originally supposed to have Jack O' Lantern faces cut out of the top part but since this meal got pushed back to a week after Halloween I decided to scrap that. They still tasted good. Just not as cutesy.

Frosted Chocolate Chip Brownies

From Taste of Home October/November 2007 (Yet another Subscriber Only recipe! Sorry!)



Ingredients:
butter
sugar
eggs
chocolate syrup
vanilla
flour
chocolate chips
chopped nuts
sour cream
powdered sugar

Comments:
These were made in the same weekend baking frenzy as the pies and some Snickerdoodles (which I accidentally made super huge.) It's an easy recipe but I'd suggest letting it sit in the fridge for a little bit after frosting them before trying to cut or eat them. The frosting sets up really nice when it gets cold. Before then it's kind of goopy(as you can probably tell in the picture.)

Caramel-Pecan Apple Pie

From Taste of Home October/November 2007 (All these Subscriber Only recipes! Sorry!)



Ingredients:
apples
lemon juice
vanilla
pecans
brown sugar
white sugar
cinnamon
cornstarch
caramel ice cream topping
pastry shell
butter
flour

Comments:
I was in a Suzy Homemaker baking kind of mood a few weekends ago so I decided to bake a pie. Now, I don't do the pastry, fussy kind of cooking. Drop cookies, totally do-able. No-bake chocolate mousse pie, sure thing. Real pie with a crust and all? No thanks. So I cheated and used a frozen pie crust and still managed to mess things up. It came out looking kind of, well, not like the picture, but it must have still tasted ok because Adam ate both of them all up.

Seafood Au Gratin

From Taste of Home October/November 2007 (All these Subscriber Only recipes! Sorry!)



Ingredients:
butter
flour
pepper
chicken broth
milk
parmesan cheese
sea scallops
haddock/cod (I used pollock)
mushrooms (left these out)
mozzarella cheese
cheddar cheese

Comments:
Don't be thrown off by its cat puke appearance. It was actually very tasty. Adam flagged this one in the new magazine so I tried it out. Not too difficult to make although if I do this one again I'd use bigger scallops and bake it at a higher temp. 350 just didn't seem to get it bubbly enough and the sauce didn't thicken.

Lemon Chicken

From Rival Crock Pot's Slow Cooker Favorites



Ingredients:
Cream of Chicken soup
water
lemon juice
mustard
garlic powder
carrots
boneless, skinless chx breasts
egg noodles

Comments:
Another easy crockpot recipe from a set of books I ordered online. Adam came home, wrinkled his nose, and said it smelled gross. So he didn't even eat it. But that's ok. More for me. It tasted just fine. He has this thing against noodles though. I don't know what's up with that...

Meaty Rigatoni Bake

From Cooking for 2 Fall 2007 (another subscriber only recipe so I can't link to it... sorry!)



Ingredients:
rigatoni (which I thought I had, but didn't, so I used mostacholi)
italian sausage (I used plain old ground beef)
spaghetti sauce
mushroom stems (yuck, totally left these out)
shredded italian cheese
pepperoni

Comments:
I make something similar to this using chicken from time to time. It's pretty simple - cook the pasta and meat, throw them in a baking dish with the sauce, and then bake to heat through and let the flavors combine. Adam's verdict - more meat, less pasta. He ended up pretty much just eating the top layer of cheese, pepperoni, and sauce. *sigh* Oh well. I thought it was good. :)

Barbecue Beef Cups

From Everyday with Rachael Ray November 2007 (it's a "Take 5 (or fewer)" recipe so there's no direct link)



Ingredients:
ground beef
barbecue sauce
brown sugar
refridgerator biscuits
cheddar cheese

Comments:
These are super simple and super yummy. Adam liked them so much he already requested a re-do at some point. They also would work really well in mini versions for a party. We're already considering them for a Christmastime open house menu item. I actually made half of them without the barbecue sauce for me and they tasted just fine that way too.

Slow-Cooked Chili

From Taste of Home



Ingredients:
ground beef
onion
garlic
dark & light kidney beans
stewed tomatoes
pasta sauce
green chiles (left out)
chili powder (ditto)
dried basil
salt & pepper

Comments:
I was in the fall mood, craving some chili. This is a different recipe from the one I made last time (I couldn't find the other one) but it's almost as good. I put it all together before going to work and when I came home it was bubbling away. Yay for crockpots!

Spicy Bean and Cheese Burritos

From Everyday with Rachael Ray October 2007



Ingredients:
EVOO
garlic
black beans
jalapeno chiles (left 'em out. I'm a wuss.)
Corona
canned corn
diced tomatoes
lime juice
tortillas
monteray jack cheese

Comments:
I don't think a Rachael Ray recipe exists that's in any way hard to make. Cook stuff, stir, put together, heat through. You can't mess it up. Unless you don't read the recipe and put the whole bottle of beer into the pot instead of just a 1/2 cup of it. Not that I did that, (noooo...) but I'm just saying... I think I salvaged it well and although I made this for dinner the night before we went outside to rake leaves (in hind-sight, perhaps not the best planning) it still made for a tasty dinner.

Flavorful Chicken

From Cooking for 2 Fall 2007 (it's a subscriber only recipe so I can't link to it... sorry!)



Ingredients:
butter
soy sauce
boneless, skinless chx
parmesan cheese
italian seasoning
garlic salt
paprika

Comments:
And the word of the day is "Paprika!" Aaaaah!

Wow, Pee Wee Herman flashback. I loved the chair...

Anywho... This was dinner before the game tonight. I figured since I already had the oven on for 45 minutes while it's 80 degrees and 86% humidity out I might as well double-task it. This is from a magazine with recipes that make two servings (very well named "Cooking for 2" then, don't you think?) so it makes no leftovers. Kind of shame since it was so tasty and takes a bit of time to make. I'll know to make a double batch next time.

It looks kind of chopped up because I had another "Martha should have just ordered Pizza Hut instead of attempting to cook" days. I dropped the chicken while trying to take it out of the oven. Luckily it missed me, but it fell on the potatoes (see entry below) and all over the bottom of the oven. Mmmm, burning chicken fat... Guess who's using the self-cleaning function tomorrow? Anyway, the recipe says to bake until it reaches 170 degrees. My thermometer only read 120 but it looked done to me. So I hacked it a bit while trying to determine if my thermometer was busted. I knew I should have gotten a new battery for my digital one rather than trying to use the old needley one. Grrr.

Sinfully Stuffed Potato Skins

From Everyday with Rachael Ray October 2007



Ingredients:
new potatoes
EVOO
cheddar cheese
sour cream
salt & pepper
paprika

Comments:
Another Packer game food item for tonight (Yay! They're winning right now!) It's a pretty basic twice-baked potato kind of recipe. I threw some bacon on top of ours since Adam requested it and, hey, everything tastes better with bacon, right? They look kind of pathetic because I was having trouble while scooping out the insides and they kept falling over when I was stuffing them. Oh well. They still tasted good.

Alaskan Smoked Salmon Dip

From The Alaska Seafood Company (third recipe from the top.)



Ingredients:
sour cream
cream cheese
grated onion
smoked salmon

Comments:
A throwback to our Honeymoon, this is similar to salmon dip enjoyed while on the Lighthouse, Eagles, and Totem Poles tour in Ketchikan. This is obviously not for me and Adam already declared it "not fishy enough." He dumped an extra 4oz fillet into the mix so we'll see how he finds it later tonight during the Packer game.

Broccoli Mac 'n' Cheddar

From Everyday with Rachael Ray October 2007



Ingredients:
Pasta (they say whole wheat, I say meh, it's all pasta)
broccoli florets
butter
flour
milk
white cheddar cheese
nutmeg

Comments:
I was originally going to make the whole pork/pasta meal the magazine has (click the link) but Adam stayed late at work on the day it was on the menu and I didn't feel like doing the whole thing just for me. We grilled the pork outside the next day instead. But the pasta by itself is a pretty good meal! It's a basic macaroni and cheese recipe and it was really fun tossing the broccoli in the pasta water at the end. I'm amused by the small things I guess...

Cheddar Studded Burgers and Scallion Mashed Potatoes

From Everyday with Rachael Ray ?? 2007



Ingredients:
I can't remember them all, definitely beef, cheese, potatoes and scallions though! :)

Comments:
I swear this was from a Rachael Ray magazine but I can't find it anywhere. Oh well. They were easy to make and nothing's better than gooey cheese inside your hamburger. Adam didn't dig the potatoes, but that's ok. Can't win 'em all.

Baked Shrimp & Feta

From Everyday with Rachael Ray October 2007



Ingredients:
shrimp
lemon
olive oil
onion
garlic
tomato puree
oregano
bay leaf
salt & pepper
feta

Comments:
This was totally for Adam since I don't like shrimp or feta. It's pretty easy and although I used diced tomatoes rather than a puree it still turned out fine. I almost burned it in the broiler but I caught it before it became flame-engulfed. Whew!

Pot Sticker Pork Pick-Ups

From Rachael Ray's Open House Cookbook



Ingredients:
ground pork
water chestnuts
scallions
soy sauce
ginger
garlic
red pepper flakes
orange zest
honey
white vinegar
cucumber
carrot
lettuce
tortillas

Comments:
Ok, so I kind of did a bad job of following this recipe. A lot of creative substitutions and omissions occured. Among them: I used ground turkey and I left out the water chestnuts and orange. It was a pretty simple recipe and although it tasted good, it was really nothing like a pot sticker. Maybe if I hadn't tampered so much with it...

Crispy Chicken Wings

Courtesy of Martha Stewart via Yahoo! Food



Ingredients:
olive oil
tortilla chips
eggs
paprika
salt & pepper
chicken wings

Comments:
When I reminded Adam that there was a bag of party wings still lurking in the freezer he handed me this recipe and suggested that I use them to make it. So, during the Packer game a few weekends ago I made these and the ever famous spinach artichoke dip and we whooped it up snack style. I didn't eat these since I'm of more the boneless chicken type but Adam seemed to like them. They don't re-heat well so make sure you eat them all in one sitting. Or share them. Whatever you want to do.

Beef(alo) and Bean Burritos

From Adam's Childhood



Ingredients:
ground meat (we used beefalo!)
taco seasoning
refried beans
lettuce
tomato
sour cream
onion
cheese
salsa
etc.

Comments:
This was Adam's idea and when he didn't like the recipe I found online for them I told him it was his job to make dinner his way. So he did. And this is what we had. Very delicious. :)

Potato-Crab Chowder

From Slow Cooker Magic in Minutes



Ingredients:
frozen corn
hash browns
carrots
thyme
garlic-pepper seasoning
chicken broth
water
evaporated milk
cornstarch
crabmeat
scallions

Comments:
This is a totally simple recipe. It's only a four hour one so I made it while I was home for lunch. Veggies and broth go in the slow cooker with the seasonings and it cooks for four hours. When I got home I added the cornstarch and evaporated milk to make it into a chowder rather than a soup. At the very end you add the meat and scallions. Easy Peasy. Except that Adam wasn't feeling good because of a bad nacho experience so he hasn't even eaten any of it yet so it might suck. We'll see. And I forgot I had no frozen corn so I just put in mixed veggies and left out the additional carrots.

Saucy Pork Chops

From Taste of Home



Ingredients:
boneless pork chops
vegetable oil
salt
pepper
cream of chicken soup
onion
ketchup
worcestershire sauce

Comments:
We had some pork that had been in the freezer for a while and this recipe came up when I searched for pork and crockpot. It was pretty good. I'm not a fan of pork so I was glad that the chops were pretty small. I concentrated more on the gravy/sauce on some mashed potatoes.

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Turnovers

From Everyday with Rachael Ray August 2007



Ingredients:
butter
onion
sausage
salt
pepper
eggs
cream cheese
puff pastry

Comments:
There's a very similar recipe out there for these turnovers in a strudel form. I kind of changed this recipe to be closer to the other one by subbing bacon for the sausage (because that's what I had around.) I was also going to add some additional cheese (cheddar) but I forgot to put it in. Whoops. Oh well, they're still good. Good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.