Beef Stroganoff {Crock Pot}

Boy do we love classic comfort food recipes, especially in the winter. And white, powdered sugar snow winter is precisely what I see out my window. I think that stroganoff lends itself very well to a crock pot meal and you know by now that we love those too. The meat is tender, fall apart goodness and the sauce is little bit tangy and a lot creamy. Serve this over mashed potatoes, rice, or egg noodles and try not to lick your plate.

Beef Stroganoff {Crock Pot}

{Recipe source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, where else?!}

2-3 lbs stew meat

1 t salt

1/4 t black pepper

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 t garlic salt

1 T worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 cups beef broth

1 T ketchup

1/3 cup flour

6 T apple juice (or water)

4-8 ozs mushrooms, sauteed until mostly soft in butter

1/2 cup sour cream

Place stew meat, salt, pepper, and onion in slow cooker. Stir to distribute seasonings. In another bowl mix garlic salt, worcestershire sauce, beef broth and ketchup and pour over meat. Cook 7-9 hours on low or 4-5 on high. About 30 minutes before serving, whisk apple juice and flour together really well and pour into the slow cooker, whisking quickly to prevent lumps. Add sauteed mushrooms too. Cook on high for 30 minutes and then stir in 1/2 cup sour cream right before serving. Serve over rice, noodles, or potatoes.

Can freeze and reheat on the stove or crock pot.

Rocky Road Cake

All-time favorite ice cream? Definitely Rocky Road. It's chocolate-based and there are things to chew on, 2 musts in my book. So naturally a rocky road cake is going to peak my interest. And while the cake portion seemed a bit dry and crumbly the first day, it softened right up the next day and I could not stop eating the stuff. The thick layer of chewy marshmallows and milk chocolate fudge drizzle were too much for my will-power to control. I'm thinking a sturdy brownie base is a must-try too.

Rocky Road Cake

{Recipe source: Baking Bites}

Cake:

1/2 cup butter

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

2 T cocoa powder

1 t vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup coarse-chopped walnuts

optional: chocolate chips

Marshmallow topping and Fudge Glaze:

10 1/2 oz package mini-marshmallows, divided

1/2 cup sugar

2 T milk

2 T butter

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9x13 pan. In microwave safe bowl, melt 1/2 cup butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir until smooth. Add cocoa powder and vanilla, stir. Set aside. In bowl of mixer, beat sugar and eggs. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. Add chocolate mixture and sour cream to egg/sugar mixture. Slowly add dry ingredients until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in chopped walnuts and chocolate chips, if using. Spread batter into greased pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle all but about 2/3 cup marshmallows evenly over the top. (Approx. 4 cups) Return cake to oven for 2 minutes, until marshmallows are puffy but not browned. Allow cake to cool several minutes while glaze is prepared.

For the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine sugar, milk, and butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and remaining 2/3 cup marshmallows until smooth. While hot, drizzle over still-warm cake. If it starts to cool and get to thick to drizzle just let it re-warm a bit on the stove.

Allow cake to cool completely before slicing.

TIP: While slicing, run blade of sharp knife under hot water to help cut through sticky marshmallows cleanly.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Nothing says love, warmth, and welcome home quite like a bowl of delicious soup. And this version says all that and more. It's made delightfully creamy with a not so common soup ingredient: cream cheese. And the other great thing about it is that you can personalize to your tastes or to your on-hand ingredients. Got some spinach that needs using up? Pop it on in! Mushrooms? Why not! Bacon, ham, corn? You get the picture! And it's a great non-meat candidate. But that chicken makes it a legit meal to my husband, so in it stays. If you're looking for a no-fail people pleasing bowl of goodness, this is your best bet. Plus the left-overs rock. Gotta love it!

Creamy Chicken & Vegetable Soup

{Recipe source: The Sisters Cafe}

2 T butter

1 onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

2-3 carrots, peeled and diced

3 cups chicken broth

1 lb red potatoes, cut in quarters

1 cup milk

4 T flour

1 8oz package cream cheese (1/3 less fat), very soft

1 lb chicken, cubed and cooked

salt

pepper

dried (or fresh) parsley

Optional: mushrooms, spinach, corn, ham or bacon (in place of chicken)

In large pot melt butter and saute onions, celery, carrots, potatoes and garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk milk and flour vigorously until well blended and non-clumpy. While stirring, pour milk/flour into soup pot and cook about 4 minutes until soup begins to thicken. Add very soft cream cheese into pot a little at time, stirringly thoroughly to remove clumps. Add cooked chicken and heat through. Season with plenty of salt, pepper, and some dried parsley too. Serve hot!

30-Minute French Baguettes

If you're looking for the quickest way to get fresh from the oven french bread onto your dinner table look no further. This is the perfect recipe for not-planning ahead or no extra time homemade bread. I have a great regular method french bread recipe I shall share sometime, but for now if you just want it in a hurry give this a try.

Because it isn't allowed much rising time, it's a much more dense bread. I happen to love that characteristic in a bread and it holds up extremely well to being dipped in thick delicious soup. Which is precisely what we did and you're gonna love that recipe when it's shared in the next post. My mouth waters!

30-Minute French Baguettes

{Recipe from Barefoot and Baking}

2 cups very warm but not boiling hot water

2 1/4 t yeast

2 T honey

1 1/2 t salt

4 cups+ flour

Preheat oven to 425. In bowl of mixer combine very warm water, yeast, and honey. Give it a quick stir and then let sit for 10 minutes until yeast it bubbly. Turn mixer on, add salt, and 2 cups of flour. Mix for 2 minutes. Add 1 more cup flour and mix. Switch to dough hook and add approximately one more cup of flour. Dough should be soft and tacky, but not sticky. Knead in mixture about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Remove dough ball from bowl, knead by hand a few times, adding a light bit more flour if you think it needs it.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each piece into a rope, about 10-12 inches long. Twist 2 pieces together, pinching ends to secure. Place 2 twists side by side on cookie sheet and you can either pop straight into the oven or if you have some more time allow to raise briefly until ready to bake (15-30 minutes is good). Bake at 425 for 15-18 until light golden. Brush with butter straight out of oven and serve.

TIP: Place a cookie sheet on the very bottom rack of oven and after placing bread dough cookie sheet on middle rack, toss about 4 cups of ice cubes onto the bottom rack cookie sheet and immediately close door. This is supposed to help create the crust that french bread is famous for!

Creamy Lemon Blueberry Bars

Praise be, I think I may have found the absolute best lemon bar method around! These bars are great if you like the more traditional route, but if you find yourself wanting more creaminess and zero eggy-ness I've got you covered. They have the most phenomenal texture thanks to the sweetened and condensed milk, it's almost custard like and boy do I love all things custard. The addition of blueberries, although not needed, was delightful. It really helped to "sweeten" things up just enough while still leaving that great fresh, tart lemon-y tang. The original recipe called for a graham cracker crust, but I'm not a fan so opted for the sweetened shortbread base and really think it made a great recipe truly fabulous. Although these seem like a perfect summer dessert, we'll be eating them year round. A little shot of sunshine-y goodness in my mouth is always a good thing, especially in the throes of winter. Lemon bars for Thanksgiving AND Christmas ;0)

P.S. I have a real problem with "-y ing" everything don't I?!

Creamy Lemon Blueberry Bars

{Filling adapted from Cook Like a Champion via Two Peas and Their Pod with crust recipe from King Arthur Flour. may half recipe for both crust and filling and bake in 8x8 pan if desired}

Crust:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Filling:

4 large egg yolks

2 (14 ounce cans) sweetened and condensed milk

1 cup fresh lemon juice

2 t lemon zest

1 1/2-2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Cut butter into flour and powdered sugar (I recommend doing this in a food processor, comes together in a jiffy and it's nice and combined, no crumby mess hassle) and press into bottom of 9x13 pan lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes, until just barely starting to color. Set aside to cool a bit while moving onto filling.

For filling:

Whisk together all filling ingredients except blueberries until smooth and well combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour filling onto crust and bake at 350 for 15-20, until just set.

Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least and hour before cutting. Serve chilled or at almost room temp (my preference). Keep leftovers refrigerated, 3-4 days in airtight container.

Chile-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Glaze

Another hit from Mels Kitchen Cafe. Super tender pork loin with a sweet, spiced glaze. This was full of flavor and made our Sunday dinner most enjoyable! The pork was almost too tender (is that even possible?!) for my tastes and I wondered how this would work with pork chops. The answer I'm pretty sure is: wonderfully. If you try that route just rub the spice mixture onto both sides of the chop, let marinate, then give them a quick sear in olive oil on the stove and pop them in the oven to finish cooking. Be sure to both baste them with the glaze and serve remaining sauce along side them just as you would the tenderloin. Delish!

Chile-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Glaze

{Recipe Source: Mels Kitchen Cafe}

2 1 lb pork tenderloins (or chops, see above)

Spice Rub:

1 T chili powder

1 T garlic powder

1/2 T sugar

1 t salt

1/2 t black pepper

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups apricot jam

1/2 cup barbeque sauce

1 t grated fresh ginger

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

2 small limes, juiced

optional: chopped fresh cilantro, about 2 T

Rinse and trim excess fat from tenderloins. Combine spice rub ingredients in a small bowl. Generously rub all sides of tenderloins with spices and then cover and refrigerate for 2-24 hours.

Prior to roasting, combine the glaze ingredients minus lime juice and optional cilantro in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and warm just till the mixture starts to bubble. Remove from heat, add lime juice and cilantro and reserve half for basting and half for serving.

Roasting method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the tenderloins in a 9x13 dish lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes. Brush generously with glaze. Bake 15 more minutes and again brush with glaze. Bake an additional 10 minutes* or until the pork reaches 160 degrees internally. Remove from oven, tent with foil and let rest 3 minutes before slicing on a slight diagonal. Serve hot with reserved glaze alongside.

*I used a meat thermometer and the time noted and found it to be pretty much spot on, maybe just a few minutes longer needed. So if you don't have an internal thermometer never fear it will be cooked perfectly, plus it continues to cook during the resting period.

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Ahhh Ranch, America's dressing of choice. We buy enough of this stuff I thought it high time I tested the homemade version and was delighted to find that homemade is definitely all it's cracked up to be! It has found a permanent home in my arsenal. It was surprisingly tasty and easy to make with ingredients that aren't so secret after all and we loved it. That's not to say I won't still have a bottle of store-bought in my fridge door for pure convenience. But it's nice to know if I want to take things up a notch that it doesn't take long to whip up a batch, plus it keeps in the fridge for a week or so. However, ours won't last that long I'm sure.

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch

{I found the spice amounts a bit lacking when following this recipe to a T. I don't think I would be amiss in saying that you can double the amount of spices but still leave the wet ingredients amounts as called for, with some possible tempering as needed, and find great success. I'll leave it up to you and your tastes, but just know that's my game plan from here on out! Original non-doubled spice amounts recipe follows...source: Our Best Bites}

1 cup+ mayo

2/3 cup buttermilk

~If you find the flavor level lacking, I recommend doubling the following spice list~

1/4 tsp white vinegar

1 t parsley

1/8 t dill

1/4 t garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp chives

1/8 t black pepper

1/4 t seasoned salt

1/8 t dry mustard

optional-fresh lemon juice

Combine mayo and buttermilk and whisk till smooth. Add vinegar and spices and stir to combine. Taste and adjust as needed. Recommend that this be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge so flavors have a chance to meld. Keeps for a week or more in airtight container in fridge.