Tangy Pork Roast

I made a pork roast a week or two ago and it was delicious! The sauce was so good that I was just drinking it. Mmmmm..... I based my recipe off of one I found online but I read the comments and saw that something just wasn't right with it and I also didn't have the red wine vinegar it asked for so I sort of made it my own. I also doubled everything because we like lots of extra sauce in this house.

Tangy Pork Roast

2 onions (Sliced, chopped, minced... Whatever you like. I chopped it because I wanted to pick the onions out of mine and that's the easiest way..)

pork roast (2 lbs)

½ cup sugar

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp ketchup

2 cups hot water

4 cloves garlic (chopped)

2 tsp hot sauce

Arrange the onions evenly over the bottom of the crock pot then place the roast on top of the onions. In a bowl, mix together all of the other ingredients. Pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

After the roast is cooked I take it out of the sauce and slice it. I then put the slices back into the sauce for about 10-15 minutes so each slice absorbs some of that delicious sauce. Enjoy!

Bacon, Cheddar and Ranch Pinwheels

I made this awhile ago and it was very good so I decided I'd share the recipe. The hardest part was making the bacon! (As much as I like bacon, I hate cooking it! That's why I hardly ever do. lol)

Bacon, Cheddar and Ranch Pinwheels

1 can (8oz) refrigerated crescent rolls (or 1 can of the seamless dough sheets.)

2 tbsp ranch dressing

4 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled (or ¼ cup cooked real bacon pieces.)

½ cup finely shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. If using the crescent rolls: Unroll the dough, separate into 2 long rectangles and press each into a 12x4 rectangle, making sure to press the perforations so it seals. If using the dough sheet: Unroll dough, cut lengthwise into 2 long rectangles, then press each into a 12x4 rectangle.

Spread the ranch dressing over each of the rectangles, all the way to the edges. Sprinkle with bacon and cheese. Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle and press the edge to seal. With a serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 slices. Place cut side down on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 12-17 minutes or until the edges are deep golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet right away. Serve warm.

1-2-3 Cookies

These are some very easy, but VERY tasty cookies using cake mix! I've made it a few times now (twice for a party) and each time I ended up only getting 4 cookies. haha. (Mostly because I put 2 aside for myself and even hid them in my house!) I've made them with banana cake mix and lemon cake mix. They are both deliciousssss but personally I liked the banana better. Try it with your favorite cake mix! (And let me know how it tastes? =))

1-2-3 Cookies

1 box cake mix (any flavor)

about 80% of a container of Cool Whip

1 egg

powdered sugar

Mix the first three ingredients. Make balls out of the dough and plop into a bowl of powdered sugar.  Roll the dough in the sugar to coat, then place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. After they are done baking, let rest on baking sheet for a couple minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

The sizes of cake mixes has been reduced in size so I had to edit the recipe some. (Trial and error style.) About 80-85% of the Cool Whip was perfect for me, but it doesn't matter if you have "too much" Cool Whip. It will just be harder and messier to make into the balls! It tastes delicious either way.

(Recipe adapted from GOODEnessgracious.)

Edible Cookie Dough

Admit it. One of your favorite parts about making cookies is sneaking a few bites of the dough. Don't lie, we've all done it! So what do you do when its 10:30 at night and you are hungry for some cookies (read: cookie dough.) but don't want to make a whole batch? Just make a single serving of edible cookie dough!

Edible Cookie Dough

1½ tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

<1 tbsp water

chocolate chips (as many or as few as you want!)

Mix together all of the ingredients except the water and chocolate chips. You can either use 2 tbsp of white sugar or use 1 tbsp brown and 1 tbsp white sugar. I've always made it with just white sugar but tried it with some brown sugar tonight and I think I like it more that way. The dough will become a dry, crummy mixture. Slowly add water until you get the consistency that you like. (I used about a half a tbsp tonight and it came out perfect for me!) Then mix in however many chocolate chips that you like and enjoy!

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Sooo.... There's these potatoes...Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes. I made them twice now and they are delicious! (The second time I messed up a little.. Make sure you use a liquid measuring cup for the milk! I don't know what I was thinking... Brennen got home at the same time that I was on that step so I'm blaming him for distracting me!)

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

¼ cup butter

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk (I used evaporated milk.)

4 cloves garlic, minced (The recipe I used called for 2 cloves but we like garlic.)

2¼ cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar and mozzarella.)

4 large potatoes, skins on, thinly sliced (Any kind.. I used large restaurant potatoes this time and yukon gold potatoes the first time... This yukon gold was definitely better!)

1½ cups onion, diced*

Preheat your oven to 375F. Take a medium saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion and let it cook until soft. (I didn't want onions in mine so I skipped the onion part until later. I still melted the butter though.) Stir in the flour then add the milk and garlic. Stir the sauce over medium/high heat until it begins to bubble and thicken. Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups of the grated cheese. I did 1 cup sharp cheddar and 1 cup mozzarella but you can use what you like. Set the sauce aside.

Since I was making mine without onions and another with onions, I used an 8x8 dish and an 8x4 dish. I layered the potatoes in the dishes, staggering them a bit so the cheese sauce could pour down between the slices. Then I poured the sauce over the potatoes and shook them a bit to help the sauce leak down into the potatoes.

Now for the onions. I melted a little butter in a saucepan, added the onions and let them cook until they were soft. Then I poured the onions over the dish that I wanted to have onions in it, trying to evenly distribute the onions. I used a fork and pushed the onions down into the sauce a little and gave the whole thing a couple shakes.

After that I sprinkled the top of both dishes with more mozzarella and cheddar cheese so the top was covered, but not thickly. (A thin layer of cheese is good!)

Bake at 375F for about an hour. Keep an eye on it near the end to make sure the top doesn't get too well done. (Although, admittedly, I like the top cheese to be a little burnt.) When its brown and bubbly, it's done!

Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring

 This is what I had for dinner tonight!

 Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring! Mmmm mm!

Ranch isn't shown. It was being shy and didn't want its
picture taken. (Okay, I forgot to get it out of the fridge.)

Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

½ cup ranch dressing

½ cup Frank's RedHot Original Sauce

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cans crescent rolls (I didn't use the kind I took a picture of.)

2 (12.5 oz) cans chicken breast, shredded

Preheat the oven to 375F. Combine all the ingredient, minus the crescent rolls, in a big bowl. Make sure to mix well and that everything is incorporated nicely!

Open the tubes of crescent rolls and separate each into four rectangles. Lay them on a non-stick cookie sheet to form a large circle.

Spoon the chicken mixture onto the crescent rolls near the center of the dough ring.

Fold the top of each crescent rectangle over the chicken filling. Press the dough together to make a seal so the filling doesn't leak out.

 

Bake in the preheated 375F oven for about 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown and the dough is cooked all the way. (The middle bottom was the last to get done for me... I had to keep it in a little longer for that to finish cooking.) Allow to cool slightly before serving. (I was hungry... I couldn't wait. =P)

Oh yeah... I had a bunch of extra filling. I probably could have stuffed the ring more but instead I just threw it in a casserole dish and heated it up in the oven.

The extra filling.

Enjoy!

Homemade Seasoned Salt

When I went to make the Baked Parmesan Chicken I realized I didn't have seasoned salt! So, of course, I just made my own!

Seasoned Salt

2 tbsp salt

2 tsp sugar
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp curry
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp cornstarch

Mix all together in a small bowl. =)

Baked Parmesan Chicken

I've seen this recipe floating around both Pinterest and Facebook for awhile now so I thought I would finally give it a shot. It doesn't have many ingredients and is very easy to make. I did make it harder for myself since I don't have seasoned salt so I made that myself. (I'll post the recipe!)

It was amazing! It tasted a lot of Alfredo sauce but so much easier to make! I'm thinking of just making the sauce some time and pouring it over noodles... Yummm!

Baked Parmesan Chicken

½ cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 tsp garlic powder

1½ tsp seasoned salt

½ pepper

chicken breasts

Mix all the ingredients except the chicken together. Coat the chicken in the mixture and then bake at 375F for 45 minutes.

That's it! Can't get much easier than that!

Here's the link to make your own seasoned salt! Homemade Seasoned Salt

Peanut Butter Dog Cookies

Wellllll... I had planned on posting a recipe for a four ingredient peanut butter cookie but I tried it and it didn't turn out as good as I thought they would. They were having a hard time sticking together when I rolled them into balls and they felt very oily. They aren't BAD, but they aren't that good, either. So! Instead I will post a recipe for peanut butter dog cookies.

I made these for my dog, Meaty, on his one year anniversary of being with us. He LOVED them! You can make them like a cookie or you can take the time and roll the dough out thinly and cut them into shapes so they are more like biscuits. I opted for the easy cookie way... He's a dog. He won't care if they are just round blobs instead of in the shape of bones or whatever. (Although I did make a single ninja-cookie.)

Peanut Butter Dog Cookies

2 cups whole wheat flour (Or another type of flour if your dog is sensitive to wheat.)

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup peanut butter (You can use chunky or creamy... I used creamy.)

1¼ cups hot water

additional flour for rolling (If making biscuits)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix in the peanut butter and hot water. You may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead the dough well.

Here's where we split for cookies and biscuits. To make cookies, roll into whatever sized balls you want and place on a lightly greased (or non-stick) cookie sheet. Press down on them to flatten them, or you can do what you do for human peanut butter cookies and use a fork to make crosshatch marks on them.

If making biscuits, roll the dough out until its about 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for about 40 minutes. The cookies/biscuits will get kind of hard, but that's the way they like em! (Well, I assume that's how they like them. I never really was able to talk to a dog to find out.) The longer they sit out, the harder they get. The recipe I followed suggested letting them cool overnight before eating, but ain't nobody got time for that! I just let the cookies cool completely before serving to Meaty.

Parmesan Pork Roast

Okay. Ready for my favorite recipe? One that has been requested, and gladly made, numerous times just in the past year? I'm telling you, you'll never want another kind of pork roast again. (Okay, maybe you will. But I doubt it... ;))

Parmesan Pork Roast

1 boneless pork roast (2 pounds)
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup corn syrup
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place roast in crock pot. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, corn syrup, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt. Pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, or until thermometer reads 160°. I normally slice the roast and place it back in the crock pot for another 15 minutes to soak up the sauce.

You could thicken the sauce up before you serve it but I only did it that way once and we didn't like it as much. It seemed to take a lot of the flavoring away. In case you want to try it, here's how:


2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Remove roast from crock pot and keep warm. Skim the fat from the cooking juices and then pour into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Coming Soon!

Later today I plan on posting a recipe for Parmesan Pork Roast! This is one of my favorite things to make and I'm pretty sure is my boyfriends favorite recipe as well... He wants me to keep making this when I buy pork roast when I want to try new things! But its oh-so-good, how could I say no when he asks for it?? I can't wait to share it with everyone and I hope everyone likes it as much as we do!

Cube Steak

How about a recipe for meat this time, instead of dessert? This cube steak recipe is great and you can season it any way that your family prefers.. Just use this as a base. =] It's also a crock pot recipe so you can have it cooking all day while you are at work, doing housework, at the park, whatever you do!

This picture does not do this meal justice. It looks gross because the picture was taken with my cell phone... Not even a SMARTphone... Just a plain ol' dumb phone. But I'm telling you.. It was delicious!

This is a meal that my dad used to make. I got my love for cooking from him so of course I have to make things that I grew up eating! This one isn't hard to make, either.

Cube Steak

cube steak

1 (12oz) can tomato paste (You can use a smaller can; I had a lot of extra sauce. Depends on how many you're feeding!)

1 can water (use the tomato paste can)

garlic powder

oregano

dried thyme leaves

salt

Place cube steak in crock pot. Pour tomato paste and can of water on top. Season with garlic powder, oregano, thyme and a little bit of salt. I'm sorry, I don't really measure my spices. Make it how you would like it to taste! If you like garlic (like me!) add a lot of garlic powder. As its cooking you can add more seasoning to make it how you like. Add chopped onions if you like onions. I cooked mine on low for 8 hours. It does NOT need that long, but I love it when it just falls apart. I paired mine with homemade creamy mashed potatoes.

Banana Cream Icebox Cake

This. This right here is amazing. It is extremely easy to make and it only requires three ingredients. Just three!

Use your favorite kind of pudding!

You'll need graham crackers, a box of instant pudding and milk. I used evaporated milk because it was all I had on hand. I only made this using banana cream pudding but I'm positive it will taste great with whichever pudding is your favorite! Let me know if you tried something different and how it tasted!

First, you make the pudding according to the directions on the box. Mine says to beat pudding mix and 2 cups milk with a whisk for about two minutes. Set aside and allow to thicken.

Next, take an 8x8 pan and line the bottom with graham crackers. Break them in half to make them fit and cover the bottom.

Add a layer of your pudding. You should use about half of your pudding.

Then another layer of graham crackers...

Then the rest of the pudding for the next layer...

Then, finally, add a layer of crushed up graham crackers to the top. If you want, you can add a layer of whipped cream below the layer of crushed up graham crackers.

And now the hard part!  Cover and put in your refrigerator for about three hours, or until cold and set.

Okay, I lied. The hardest part is trying to not eat all of this in one sitting!

Icebox Cake

Graham crackers (I think I used 1, 1½ sleeves)
1 box instant pudding

2 cups milk

whipped cream (optional)

Prepare the instant pudding according to the directions on the package. (Beat pudding mix and 2 cups milk with a whisk for about two minutes.) Set aside and allow to thicken.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 pan with graham crackers. Break in half if needed in order to fit and cover the entire bottom. Cover the graham crackers with half the pudding and spread around to make sure its even. Add another layer of graham crackers, then add the rest of the pudding. (If you want, cover the top pudding layer with whipped cream.) Crush graham crackers and sprinkle evenly on top. Cover and place in refrigerator until cold and set, about 3 hours.

Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze

Recently a good friend of mine lost a family member. As always during that time, her family received a ton of food from friends. I wanted to make them something but I wanted it to be cookies or a cake or something yummy like that instead of giving them more pasta that they will probably never be able to finish. I asked her what kind of cookies her family liked and got two answers... Chocolate chip and orange. Hmmm... I never made orange cookies before! Let's go with that one.

First thing first, I searched Pinterest. I checked out a few cookies that looked good but I settled on a recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. (I will add a link directly to the cookie later.) They looked amazingly good and I couldn't wait to start baking! Sadly, I had to... Can't make orange cookies if you don't have any oranges!

The wait was well worth it. Since I was making them for a friend and her family I could not eat too many of them and that was the hardest part. I managed to get away with only eating four and my boyfriend, who claimed he didn't like orange cookies, managed to eat only two. (Although he really wanted to eat more!) They were soft and puffy and orange-y and delicious!

I only had one orange because the recipe I used didn't
say how many I needed. Get two if you want it to have a
stronger orange taste. (Although its not needed!)

Cookies
2½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
  1½ tablespoons orange zest
1 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350F. Get out your cookie sheets and set aside. (If you do not have non-stick cookie sheets, line them with parchment paper.) In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest. Rub them together with your fingers until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar.

Cream together the butter and the orange-zest sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and orange juice and mix until combined. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl to get everything. Reduce the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients until combined. If the dough seems soft, put it in the fridge for up to 30 minutes.

Roll dough into balls. Mine were a little on the smaller side, about a tablespoon full. Place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges but still pale in the middle. Let cool on sheet for about 8 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. (The cookies will cook a little more while cooling on the cookie sheet.)

Orange Glaze
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
  ¼ tablespoon orange zest
fresh orange juice

 For the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, orange zest and enough orange juice to match the consistency you want together. The more juice you add, the thinner the glaze will be. Glaze your cookies and let set until the glaze dries, about 30 minutes. I picked up my unglazed cookies and dipped the top of them in the glaze and then spread it around a little. Store at room temperature in an airtight container, using layers of wax paper so the cookies don't stick to each other.

Try not to eat them all in one sitting!

(Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.)

Ranch and Panko&Parmesan Breaded Pork Chops and Garlicky Parmesan Noodles

Let me start by saying that this was amazing! I stopped making breaded pork chops probably two years ago because I was always disappointed in the results and I'm not a huge pork chop fan to begin with. This definitely changed my mind about it and I know I am going to be making this many more times! The noodles were also delicious and they are very easy to make. It is a nice side dish to add when you don't have too much time to cook but need something else for your meal.

Most times when I cook I do not measure everything exactly. (Although with baking I always do!) This is one of those cases.

Ranch and panko&parmesan breaded pork chops
and garlicky parmesan noodles.

Pork Chops
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup ranch dressing
6 boneless porkchops

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine the bread crumbs and parmesan in a shallow bowl. I used Panko bread crumbs and it was amazing! (I have been disappointed in bread crumbs lately... As odd as that sounds.) Put the ranch dressing in another shallow bowl. Dip the pork chops in the ranch to cover them, then the bread crumb/parmesan mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the inside temperature reaches 160F. I turned the oven on broil at the end to make the bread crumbs crispy.

Noodles
3 cups (uncooked) egg noodles*
2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
couple dashes salt
dash black pepper
1/2 teaspoon parsley
about 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Make noodles according to directions on box. While the noodles are cooking mix the garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley together in a small bowl. Drain noodles and place back in pot, off of heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Stir in the spice mixture until evenly coated on noodles. Stir in parmesan. Enjoy!
*If you don't have or like egg noodles, any type of noodle will do. You might have to change the amount of uncooked noodles used due to different noodles expanding different amounts when they get cooked. I used farfalle noodles once and wagon wheels the second time.

A Look Into The Past...

To start, I thought I would show some pictures of food that I have made in the past. The photo quality isn't that great but for various reasons I would always have to use my cell phone to take the pictures and it doesn't take very good ones.

Let's start out with some dinners.

Pasta bake!

Breaded and fried chicken, mashed sweet
potatoes & malt vinegar and garlic green beans.

Corn casserole.

Cream chicken on biscuits & peas.

Fried zucchini.

Steak, rice and green beans.

Tuna noodle casserole.

And you always have to end with desserts!

White cake with cherries and whipped cream.

Gingerbread cookies and powdered sugar icing.

Coffee cake.

Hello!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Nicole and I love cooking and baking, trying new recipes and tweaking them to how my boyfriend and I would like best. I don't buy all those expensive or rare ingredients like I often see in recipes so you might already have most of the ingredients needed on hand! That's important for people like me who can't get to the store very often and have a hard time making and sticking to a meal plan.

I got the idea to start a blog because I would often post a picture of my dinner on facebook and I would get all kinds of likes, comments and messages about it. People would randomly message me and ask me a cooking question or ask for ideas on what they should make for dinner and it made me feel great! It kept me motivated to make more delicious dinners instead of just the same stuff over and over. Over the years many people asked me "When are you going to start a cooking blog?" and honestly I never thought I would... Who would really read it? I'm going to give it a shot though and see what happens. If nothing else, it will help me remember recipes and be able to look back on things I have made!