Short Ribs

Last week I had the opportunity to cook something that I had never cooked before.  It was my husband's birthday, and I wanted to make something special, and I knew that we had some short ribs in the freezer, even though I had no idea how to cook them.  To top it off, my husband prides himself on knowing about ribs and BBQ and such (something about him being from the Kansas City area, I don't know.)  Anyway, I set out to find a recipe and see what I could do.

The best recipe that I found was to cook the ribs for 7-8 hours in the slow cooker with some spices, so that's what I did.

I put the thawed ribs into the slow cooker with a couple of cups of water.  Then I added BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I let them cook on low for the 7-8 hours, while flipping them every hour or so.

The end result was a tender meat that "had a great flavor" as my husband said.

 

Bread Bowl

A delicious addition to any soup is a bread bowl.  One of my favorite eateries is Panera, and the sourdough bread bowl with broccoli cheddar soup is my "usual".

While I can't reach the greatness of a bread from Panera, I do have my own bread bowl recipe, that is pretty good.

The first thing that you have to do is mix the bread dough together.  Mix 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1 package of yeast, 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tsp of salt together.  Next heat 1/2 cup of water, 1/3 cup of milk and 1 tbs of butter, until the butter is melted.  Stir this into the dry mixture, and then add 1 egg.  Mix well and add more flour as needed to make the dough easy to handle. Sprinkle a surface with flour, and knead the dough until it is smooth.  Cover and let the dough raise for 10-15 minutes.

This is enough dough for one bread bowl. Double the recipe for two bowls, triple for three, etc...

The hard part of the bread bowls is the dough maintaining it's bowl shape while cooking.  Putting the dough into a bowl into the freezer, and allowing it to partially freeze to maintain it's shape, helps in the cooking.

After the dough is shaped, place it on a cookie sheet and into the oven at 400 degrees and cook until the dough is cooked through.

 Cut out the top, like you would when you're cutting into a pumpkin.  Take out extra dough if needed, then add your favorite soup.  Enjoy!

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Even though Spring is arriving, there are still a few chilly, rainy days to come, as I can see here today.  Those days are still good for soup, and that's just what we had a few days ago.  Without any meat in the kitchen, and few groceries, this cheddar broccoli soup caught my eye.  It's super quick and easy, and even extra special when served in a bread bowl!  (Watch for that recipe on Friday.)

First melt 2 tbs of butter, and add some onion powder to the bottom of a soup pot.  Next add two cans of cream of chicken soup and 2-3 cups of milk.  A package of frozen broccoli (thawed) needs to be added next.  As the soup continues to cook on a low heat,  lastly, you add 1-2 cups of cubed velveeta.  Continue to stir the soup occasionally, so the cheese doesn't stick.  Add salt, pepper, or other spices to taste.

When it's warm, you have a delicious cheddar broccoli soup.

Corn Rice Stirfry

When there aren't many groceries in the house, it makes cooking so much more...well...interesting.  Last week, when I needed to run to the grocery store, some of the meals here were a little more creative.  One of those was a corn and rice stirfry.

First I took some frozen corn, chopped red, green, and yellow peppers, as well as some chopped onions.

After heating up some oil in a skillet, I tossed in the mixture, and let the vegetables cook.  If the mixture becomes too oily, you can drain the dish.  When the vegetables were cooked through, I added half a can of diced tomatoes and a partial can of chicken broth.

I continued to cook and stir everything so it wouldn't stick.  I added different seasonings for flavor, like garlic power, southwest seasoning, crushed red peppers, cilantro and parsley.  Lastly, I added some cooked rice to the skillet.

I served spoonfuls of the meal on plates and sprinkled shredded cheese on top. 

My husband especially enjoyed the dish.  It would also be good wrapped in a flour tortilla.

Monkey Bread

It had been ages since I had eaten monkey bread, and one night I found myself thinking how good it sounded.  However, I had never made it before, so I didn't know how hard it would be.  It's a breeze!

First you cut biscuits (from a can) into quarters.  Roll the pieces into ball shapes. 

Next roll the dough into a mixture of 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon.  Place them in a greased pan.  (I put foil on the bottom of my pan to help with clean up.  Also, the a round cake pan is the best to use. )

To make the topping, boil together 1/2 stick of oleo, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and one tbs of white syrup.  (I didn't have the syrup so it's ok to not use.  It's helpful in keeping the topping sticking to the dough.)

 

When the topping is all melted and mixed together, pour over the balls of dough.

Lastly, cook the monkey bread at 400 degrees F, until the dough is cooked through.  Enjoy!

Skillet Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite foods, and my favorite way to make it is the same way that my mom always did.  However, a new recipe caught my eye and I just had to try it.  Lasagna?  From a skillet?  What?

First you put about 3/4 of a can of spaghetti sauce in a skillet, along with 3 cups of water, turn the burner on high, allowing the mixture to come to a boil.

As that begins to cook, break half a box of lasagna noodles into quarters.

 

When the sauce has begun to boil, turn down the heat to about medium and put the noodles into the skillet.  Stir occasionally as the noodles begin to cook.

 

While the noodles cook, brown some ground beef (either 1/2 lb to 1 lb) and drain.  When the lasagna noodles are cooked, add the ground beef.  Continue to stir as the sauce thickens.  Add 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese into the dish, and mix it all together.  The cheese will probably melt so much that it dissolves, but don't worry, you can still taste it!  The longer you wait to add the cheese, the less likely it will be to dissolve.

 

When everything is cooked through, sprinkle more cheese on top, and add a little parsley if you would like.

 

We topped off our meal with some delicious garlic bread.  There was leftover homemade bread that my husband had made.  We buttered it, and added, garlic, salt, and parsley, cooking it in the oven at 325 for about 10-15 minutes.  It was scrumptious!

Skillet Enchilada

My friend, Ally, sent me some new recipes to try awhile back.  I was very excited to see how they would turn out.  I didn't have all of the ingredients, so I had to substitute some things, but the meal turned out tasty and very filling. You can make the skillet enchiladas yourself.

First brown some ground beef in a skillet.  You can also use ground turkey.  Since I only had 1/2 lb of beef, instead of 1 lb, I added some corn and later spanish rice.

 

After the beef is cooked and drained, add a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of salsa, 1 and a 1/4 cup of milk, and a can of tomato soup.  (I didn't have tomato soup, so I used tomato juice which turned out well also.)  I added rice which was not in the recipe, but I was trying to make the meat go farther.  Add the cooked rice to the skillet.  (You can add uncooked rice to the skillet, but it takes longer to cook.)  

  

With all of these ingredients in the skillet, add about 5-6 tortilla shells, cut into squares.

 

An easy way to do this is to lay the tortilla shells down, and use a pizza or pasta cutter to cut the squares.  Add the squares to the skillet, and continue to cook on medium/high heat.

 

Continue to cook until the shells are limp and a little mushy, stirring occasionally.  When everything is hot, add some shredded cheddar cheese and mix until the cheese is starting to melt. 
 

When everything is done you can garnish with lettuce, sour cream, more cheese, tomato, or whatever else you would enjoy.  We ate it plain and it tasted great.  Enjoy!