Pot Roast

I love my crock pot. I'm not the best cook so I really think there's nothing better than an appliance doing all the cooking work for you.  I pretty much find all of my recipes on Pinterest nowadays so please bear with me as every single one of my posts mentions Pinterest.

I am not a huge fan of regular pot roast.  I like flavor in my food and regular pot roast with potatoes and carrots is just so bland to me.  I found a recipe for 3-envelope pot roast and I've made it about 3 times in the last month and a half...it's that good. On top of the recipe being delicious, it's super simple too.

You will need:
-1 envelope Italian salad dressing seasoning.  I HIGHLY suggest using zesty Italian.  I've used both regular and zesty and zesty is by far superior.
-1 envelope brown gravy mix
-1 envelope ranch dressing mix.  DO NOT USE ranch dip mix.  It is not the same. You've been warned.
- 1/2 cup of water
- 2(ish) pound pork or beef roast.  I've used a pork butt roast (what I call rump roast) and a beef roast that I think was actually meant for roast beef. I do have to admit, I like using a beef roast for this recipe better than a pork roast, but that's just my opinion/taste.

I start by dumping all three envelopes in a bowl and stirring until they are all mixed together.  Then I add the water and whisk it all together until well-blended.  I cut slits in the pot roast, put it in the crock pot, pour the seasoning-water mix over it and cook it on high for about 4-5 hours.  That's it.  Simple, simple, simple and yummy.  Andy is your typical meat and potatoes kind of guy and he loves when I make pot roast.  I'll serve it with a baked potato and  some kind of vegetable side, and you have yourself a nice, filling meal that is good for leftovers too.  If you save the leftover meat, be sure to save the leftover sauce too.  You could even thicken the sauce and make it more of a gravy and serve it with mashed potatoes.  I usually just pour a little extra sauce over my meat for more flavor.

As you can see, the closer the roast gets to being done, the wider the slits get that I cut. I think this really helps get the flavor inside the meat instead of just on the outside.  As you can also see, I do not have a picture of the roast when it's completely done. A) we were starving and just wanted to eat and B) I just plain forgot.

Until next time...Fire Away!

Nutella Hot Chocolate

The other night I was craving chocolate and we had NONE in the apartment.  None. Zip. Zero. Zilch.  Except for Nutella.  I love Nutella and was considering eating a spoonful of it just because I wanted something chocolaty that badly.  I  realized that was kind of disgusting and then I remembered seeing something on Pinterest (surprised?) about nutella hot chocolate.  It was cold out and I wanted chocolate.  It seemed perfect.  I then searched on Pinterest for the pin I saw previously and found a recipe that called for stuff like melting chocolate chunks, measuring out the nutella (measure? do you not know how sticky Nutella is?), sacrificing the blood of a virgin, etc, and I thought it was too much work for freaking hot chocolate.  Then I saw a recipe that called for Nutella and milk. That's my kind of recipe, let me tell you....2 ingredients.  I don't always have ingredients in my arsenal, but I did have Nutella in the cupboard and milk in the fridge.

This is what you'll need for my version of Nutella hot chocolate. Nutella (duh), unsweetened cocoa powder, milk, and a saucepan.

First, I measured out 10 ounces of skim milk, AKA one cup and 2 ounces of milk, and poured it in the sauce pan.  Then I scooped about three and a half spoonfuls of Nutella and put it in the milk.

 I knew that much Nutella would make the hot chocolate SUPER chocolatey so I decided to add 1 tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to attempt to dial back the sweetness on the Nutella but not take away from the chocolatey taste.

Taa Daa!!!!

Turn the burner on to about medium heat and just whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and hot.  It will probably take a few minutes for the Nutella to melt but all the ingredients do blend together beautifully. The hot chocolate was REALLY good, really chocolatey and definitely satisfied my chocolate craving. I highly suggest making Nutella hot chocolate whether you follow my "recipe" or make up one of your own.

Now, the most exciting thing to me about hot chocolate is the mug it's going in.  I have a weird love of mugs and I like buying mugs as souvenirs because they are a useful AND remind me of places I've been.  I've been re-obsessed with Harry Potter lately and decided to use my Harry Potter mug.  

You might ask where I got my fantastic mug and I will tell you to watch the minute-long video to find out.  Please don't mind the spilling...I always spill.

  Until next time...Fire Away!

P.S.  If you didn't watch the video, I got my magical mug at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, Orlando.  Any Potterhead NEEDS to go there and I plan on going back again sometime in my life.

Update

So.  I realize this blog is supposed to be a baking blog.  As much as I love baking and creating yummy treats for people, I don't bake as much as I want to.  I've been trying to cook a lot more and trying to eat a little more healthy and I love finding new recipes on Pinterest. I'm really thinking about turning this blog into a cooking / baking blog.  I just enjoy sharing delicious recipes with people who care to read this blog and believe me, some of the recipes I've found are sooooo yummylicious. :)   Until next time...

Fire away!

Strawberry Pie

July 1st is Andy's birthday and seeing how I'm close to broke, I figured making him his favorite pie would be a good birthday present. He LOVES strawberries and loves strawberry pie so of course I went to Pinterest and looked for Strawberry Pie recipes. I found a really simple one that turned out amazing. Because I didn't want to screw up Andy's birthday present I went with frozen pie crust but I made the strawberry filling from scratch. Of course I did almost screw up the pie crust but Andy saved the day. I put the pie crust in the oven to bake and instantly forgot about it. When I tell myself I don't need to set a timer because I'll remember to check...I should really set a timer. I went about starting to chop the strawberries and after a bit of time and I hear a "It smells like pie crust" comment from the living room. An expletive left my mouth faster than a bullet from a gun and I threw the knife down on the counter, grabbed the potholder, and took the crust out of the oven. Thankfully it wasn't burned but it ended up being a little overdone. Friends, this is exactly why I went with a frozen pie crust. It came in a package of two so if I burned the first one (which I almost did) I'd have a back-up.

Anywhos. Back to the pie recipe. It consists of 5 ingredients with one of the ingredients being strawberries. It really can't be any more simple.

Ingredients:
One frozen pie crust (or you can make it homemade...obviously. I don't think I needed to tell you that).
Two pounds of strawberries
3 tbsp Cornstarch
1 cup of Sugar (or less depending on how ripe the strawberries are)
Lemon juice - half of a lemon

I baked the pie crust first. I baked the crust according to package directions, forgot about it and over-baked it a little bit, but it seemed to turn out okay.

While the crust was baking I started with the strawberries. First, you'll want to cut off the green tops to the strawberries. This is what my hulled strawberries looked like. Delicious.

Second, chop one pound of strawberries into tiny pieces. A food processor or a blender would make this part of the pie process easier but I did it with a steak knife. It worked just fine. See? It was during the chopping phase that I was reminded of the pie crust. Sheesh.

After I chopped one pound of strawberries, I put them in a sauce pan with one cup of sugar and three tablespoons of corn starch. A saute pan would work fine too.

I really didn't want to screw up the strawberry filling so I waited until I hulled and halved the second pound of strawberries to heat the strawberries. There were some massive strawberries in the second package so I had to cut some strawberries three times. It still worked.

After I finished cutting the strawberries, I boiled the strawberry/sugar/cornstarch on medium heat for 5-10 minutes. It looked and smelled delicious. I wish there was a way to bottle up the smell and add smell-o-vision to the blog because it was heavenly.

After about 10 minutes on medium heat, and after the strawberry juices start to flow, I put the heat to low and used a whisk to crush the strawberries a little bit and it'll start to make a thicker, gooey, yummy looking sauce. This is where I added in the lemon juice. I did not have a lemon but I did have lemon juice so I had to use that. I added enough juice as I thought half a lemon might have. Not sure if it made a difference or not. Maybe next time I'll leave out the lemon juice and see if there's a difference.

After adding in the lemon juice take the pan off the heat. The sauce should be a little thicker and should stick to the whisk before falling off. I'm not sure I had the sauce thick enough just because the pie didn't set as nice as I hoped it would. It stayed on the whisk for about 10-15 seconds before falling off. This seemed thick enough but I'd make sure it sticks to the whisk a little longer (30-60 seconds) before falling off.

Once the pan has been removed from the heat, add the halved strawberries to the sauce and mix it together. The strawberries in the yummy sauce looked amazing and it tasted amazing.

Because I baked the pie crust first it was all ready for my filling when my filling was done. I waited for it to cool a little bit and I added it to my crust and it looked like a strawberry pie! Believe me, every time I bake or cook something there's always the possibility it will not turn out.

The recipe said that the pie should set in the fridge for 2 hours and I took Andy to a birthday lunch so my pie actually set for about 4 hours. Unfortunately the sauce wasn't thick enough so it didn't set as well as I had hoped but the pie tasted soooo good. I don't like pie crust...at all. I could've eaten the filling right out of the pie crust. I whole-heartedly believe that pie crust is unnecessary for pie.

Look what the birthday boy got just for being the birthday boy!  Jealous?

All in all this is a really good pie recipe. The blog I found the recipe on said the sauce is great as a waffle, pancake, or ice cream topping and I truly believe it. I think this is a recipe that I'll make again. It's not fire-box proof worthy but pretty dang close. Until next time...

Fire Away!

No-Bake Oreo Layer Cake

Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with Pinterest. I found this recipe on Pinterest and now have made it twice in a 1-month time span. It is sooo simple and it doesn't have to be baked, which means I didn't have to turn on my oven in 80 degree weather. It's also amazingly delicious. I've made it twice and because it's so easy I'm going to write the ingredients and instructions without looking at my recipe! (Hopefully).

Ingredients:
1 package of Oreos. I use regular oreos but for a more oreo taste I would use double-stuf. Also, the recipe works with one package minus 3 oreos. :)
1 - 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
2 - 8 oz tubs of cool whip, thawed
1 large box of instant chocolate pudding The pudding requires milk so be sure to have that on hand too!
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Instructions:
First, crush the oreos any way you like. Food chopper, blender, rolling pin. I do not have any of those three items in my kitchen so I put the oreos in a large baggie, took a ladle, and used the back of the ladle to really go at the oreos. Once the cookies are crushed, measure out 1/2 cup and set that aside. Put the rest of the oreos in the bottom of a 9x13 in pan. Melt the one stick of butter and pour onto the cookie crumbs in the pan, stir well, and then press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan for the crust.

Next, make the pudding according to package directions. Stir in the bag of pudding into 3 cups of milk and whisk, whisk, whisk! The more you whisk, the smoother and better-tasting the pudding will be. Put the pudding in the fridge and let set for about 5-10 minutes.

While the pudding is setting, beat the cream cheese to a pulp in a mixing bowl. Well, not to a pulp. Just until smooth. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer if you're lucky enough to have one. Add the powdered sugar and mix until blended together and the mixture is smooth. Fold in one tub of cool whip until everything has been stirred together. Pour this mixture onto the oreo crust and spread over the crust. Next, take the pudding out of the fridge and pour the pudding over the cream cheese mixture and spread. THEN take the second tub of cool whip and spread over the top of the pudding being careful unless you don't mind the pudding and cool whip coming together a little bit on the top layer. Last but not least, remember that 1/2 cup of oreo crumbs sitting nearby? Sprinkle those on top of the cool whip and TAA DAA! No-Bake Oreo Layer Cake. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours so the layers can set and then dig in!

Seriously...dig in whatever way you would like.

Now, the nice thing about this recipe is that it can be modified any way you want it. Use mint oreos and pistachio pudding for a nice St. Patty's Day dessert and top with Andes Mints. Add a tiny bit of food coloring to the cream cheese mixture for any holiday or occasion. Use whatever flavor pudding you want. Heck, you could probably use any kind of cookie you want too.  I'm not the kind of person who likes to make desserts healthy. If I'm trying to be healthy, I don't eat dessert. Period, end of story. HOWEVER, I know there are people out there who like to be healthy so just used reduced fat cream cheese, reduced fat or sugar free cool whip, or margarine instead of butter.

I feel like I didn't hit this point hard enough in the post. This recipe is DELICIOUS!

Have I mentioned I am obsessed with Pinterest. I found this joke yesterday and would like to share it with all of you:
Where do you drown a hipster?

In the mainsteam.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Until next time...

Fire Away!

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

I first found this recipe from an AMAZING baking blog, Sprinklebakes. I highly suggest you check it out and feel inferior that you will never be able to do half of those recipes. I know I do but it's okay because there are some fantastic recipes on there.

I was curious about blue velvet as opposed to red velvet and decided to attempt them for a Christmas treat because we had a pathetic lack-of-winter here in Minnesota. We were on track to have a brown Christmas and I decided to make the blue velvet cupcakes in hopes that it would magically snow. It did not snow but the cupcakes turned out great.

Cake recipe:  

2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, softened. (I would highly suggest using real butter. Margarine does make the cupcakes taste a little different and, in my opinion, not as delicious)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Wilton royal blue gel food coloring
1 small dab Wilton violet gel food coloring
2 1/2 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose flour and it worked great)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used skim milk and again, it worked great)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake pan(s) with paper liners.

Cake:
In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time (I always put both in at the same...I'm all about making things as easy as possible!) and mix well. In a small bowl, mix cocoa and food colorings together to form a paste. It might take a little bit of stirring to get the food coloring and cocoa powder to mix but don't give up hope. They do love each other and will mix together, even if it takes a few minutes.  Add the cocoa powder/food coloring paste to sugar mixture; mix well. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternating with the milk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture and blend well.

Pour batter into cupcake papers. Batter will be a little thick and that's okay! Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened (16 ounces)
2 sticks butter, softened (again, I suggest using real butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (I used un-sifted powdered sugar... and it was delicious)

In a large, and I do mean LARGE, mixing bowl beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until incorporated into the mixture. Once the powdered sugar is mixed in well enough not to go flying all over the kitchen, beat the mixture on high until frosting is light and fluffy.

Frost and decorate the cooled cupcakes as you wish. I would suggest using some kind of tip and piping the frosting on. The frosting recipe makes about double what you need in order to adequately frost the cupcakes. Or you could always double the cupcake recipe and then the frosting recipe will be just about right.

These cupcakes were amazing. Normally something goes wrong when I bake but nothing went wrong with these except for too much frosting and I don't really consider that bad. It was very good and wanted to eat it by the spoonful. I may have had one or two spoonfuls but shhhhh. Nobody needs to know.

I did learn a couple things from this baking experience:
1. I'm never going to use canned cream cheese frosting again.
2. I want to make different-colored velvet cupcakes for all kinds of occasions. Green velvet for St. Patty's Day, pink velvet for a girl's baby shower, black and orange velvet for Halloween, purple velvet for the heck of it, and the list goes on and on. Like the song that never ends.

I do believe, my dear Watson, that this is the first recipe to go into the fire-proof box. Until next time...

Fire away!

I'm (Maybe) Back

Hello, all you reader(s). I think it is time to return to the blogging sphere. I have one recipe I can actually blog about later and yes, it is one of the treats I made for Christmas...over two months ago. A lot has happened since then. I moved out of my parents house into an apartment with my boyfriend, I got a kitty, gave back said kitty because she got really, really, really, sick (she was sick before we adopted her...we just didn't know it). We then adopted another kitty who is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She's so loving and friendly with humans but she loves attacking our other cat. Her tail gets really fluffy when she's scared, upset, etc. It's awesome.

Our kitchen is very small but I'm hoping to bake more often than not. Well, more often than I did at my parent's house. We don't even have a kitchen table or anything so counter-space is a little bit of an issue. I miss the stand mixer too. When I get a house I'm so getting a stand mixer. I have a tiny little hand mixer which does the job but a stand mixer is definitely better and I think a stand mixer mixes everything better.

Anywhos, here's my uneventful return to the blogging world. Can you handle it?