Herb Crusted Roast Beef with Horseradish Cream

Well hello there old blog! Summer has been crazy and not my cooking has gone on in our kitchen. More dust lines the shelves than food! I found this recipe on Food Network, and made a few tweaks to it. It was GREAT! The original recipe calls for all fresh herb, and much more of them (2 cups fresh parsley...) but I didn't have any fresh herbs on hand, so just used dried!

1 3 lb boneless roast
salt and pepper
1/2 c plus 2 T oil
3 T powdered garlic, plus 3 cloves pressed
4 T dried parsley
2 T dried thyme
2 T dried oregano
2 T dried rosemary
2 T mustard powder

Horseradish Sauce
1/2 c sour cream (I used top the tater... it was really tasty!)
2 T horseradish
1 T lemon juice
(mix all together and serve)

For the roast...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Salt and pepper roast, brown with 2 T oil on all sides until caramelized. Remove from pan, place on rack on cookie sheet. Mix all dried ingredients with enough of the 1/2 c oil to make a paste. Spread over all sides of roast. Insert meat thermometer and cook medium rare to 125 degrees (if you have an electric one it's really easy... I just set it so the timer went off when it hit 125). I was waiting for Adam to get up, so let mine go to 15o degrees and it was done and still moist. It took a little less than 2 hours... much quicker than I thought it would!

Slice and serve with horseradish sauce!

Sunday roast any night of the week!

Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter-Chocolate Brownies

I made these last weekend as a treat for our stay at a friend's lake cabin. These were DELICIOUS! Seriously, make them today. Believe it or not... this recipe is from Cooking Light magazine! I was making them in a hurry and accidentally added 1/2 cup butter instead of 1/4 cup, but they were still good. :) I was also very generous with the PB chips.

Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter-Chocolate Brownies

3/4 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk, divided
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 (18.25-ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup peanut butter morsels

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine 1/4 cup condensed milk, butter, milk, cake mix, and egg white in a bowl (batter will be very stiff). Coat bottom of a 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Press two-thirds of batter into prepared pan using floured hands; pat evenly (layer will be thin).

Bake at 350* for 10 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup condensed milk and marshmallow creme in a bowl; stir in morsels. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly over brownie layer. Carefully drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over marshmallow mixture. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Beer Can Chicken

Directions:

1. Preheat the grill.
2. Take out your handy beer can holder (gift from my parents 3 years ago, ha!) I think you can buy them in almost any store though. I put mine in a cake pan to catch any chicken juice.
3. Grab a cold one from the fridge. If you're not pregnant drink half the can.  If you're like me or just can't handle the taste of beer pour your husband a glass of beer to enjoy when he comes in from working out in the garden. Place the half can of beer in the holder.
4. Take the chicken out of the bag and place over the can of beer. We buy Golden Plump Mesquite flavored chicken because we don't have to make our own spice rub then.
5. Place chicken in the middle of the grill.  Turn off the burner directly below the chicken and turn the other burners down to medium to medium/low.  Close the lid and wait.
6. I checked the chicken half way through and turned it a bit for more even cooking. Our grill cooks extremely hot so I ended up turning my burners down more towards low.
7. After an 1hr 15 min check to see if the "done" marker has popped out. (The golden plump chickens come with a little popper to let you know when it's thoroughly cooked.)  If not done keep checking every 5-10 minutes.  It may take as long as 1hr 30min.
8. Remove from grill. Caution the chicken, stand, and beer will be very hot.  I placed it in a clean cake pan and let stand in the house for 10 minutes before carving.
9. Enjoy! You will be so surprised with how the chicken just falls off the bone. It is so DELICIOUS!!!

Pork Chops in Sour Cream

Originally from Kelly Mortenson

Adam's aunt Kelly gave me this recipe at my wedding shower as part of a recipe collection from the family. I didn't think it looked that great so didn't try it for over 2 years. I finally made it because I didn't know what to do with some pork chops one night. This has now become mine and Adam's favorite way to eat pork chops... it is SO good!!!!

4-6 pork chops
1/2 c water
2 T brown sugar
2 T finely chopped onion
2 T catsup
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1 beef bullion cube or 1 t bullion granules
2 T flour
1/2 c sour cream

In large skillet, brown pork chops in small amount of oil. Add 1/2 water, brown sugar, onion, catsup, garlic, and bullion. Cover; simmer 30-40 minutes or until tender. Remove chops to serving platter, keep warm.

In small bowl combine flour with 1/4 c water; slowly add to cooking liquid left in pan, stirring constantly until thickened. Stir in sour cream, heat through-DO NOT BOIL!

Return chops to keep warm or serve immediately. Serve sauce over chops.

Kelly's note on the recipe says, "It's really good!" and I wish I would have listened sooner!!

Toffee Apple French Toast

This recipe really does need to sit overnight... I tried to do it all in one morning and the texture wasn't right, but the flavor was awesome. It's like dessert for breakfast! It also halves really well. a half recipe feeds 4 pretty easily.

8 c cubed french bread (1 large or 2 small loaves)
2 med tart apples, peeled and chopped
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk, divided
2 tsp vanilla, divided
1/2 c English toffee bits
5 eggs

Place half bread crumbs in greased 9 x 13 baking dish; top with all the apples. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugars, 1/4 c milk, and 1 tsp vanilla until smooth; stir in toffee bits. Spread mixture over the apples. Top with remaining bread. Beat the eggs and remaining milk and vanilla until blended; pour over bread.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35 to 45 min or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean.

I have this sitting in the fridge now... I am going to try and freeze it for this weekend and see if it still turns out... I'll report back!

Fudge Pudding Cake

No pudding involved :)

1.) Sift Together:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbls cocoa powder (the plain, non sweetened stuff)

2.) In a separate bowl combine:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbls melted butter

3.) Add wet ingredients to dry, mix well, pour in to buttered 9x9 pan.
4.) Mix 1 cup brown sugar w 1/4 cup cocoa and sprinkle over cake
5.) Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over the entire cake
6.) Bake at 350 for 50 minutes

When the cake is done the water falls to the bottom and mixes with the brown sugar and cocoa on top, making a fudge like topping. When serving, flip each of the pieces upside down on the plate.

This is Adam's favorite dessert recipe :) Photos to follow when it's done baking tonight :)

Ethel's Poppy Seed Sandwiches

This is a super easy and delicious recipe we got from Jeremy's grandma.  A great hands-off recipe since it is made the night before.

Ethel's Poppy Seed Sandwiches

24 cocktail buns of 12 small buns
1 1/2 lb sliced deli meat
3/4 lb sliced cheese
3/4 cup butter
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp mustard
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Layer bottom of buns in a pan, top with meat, cheese, then top layer of buns. Boil remaining ingredients in sauce pan, cool, and baste over sandwiches (may not use all of sauce). Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325* for 25 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered.

Tip: We made these last weekend in disposable aluminum pans, then baked the disposable pans on top of a cookie sheet to help prevent the bun bottoms from getting too brown. Makes clean-up easy too.