White Trash Cookies

This month we are having to say good-bye to one of our co-workers.  He has decided to go back home to his roots and start a new career.  We are very sad to see him leave, but completely understand.

I tried these cookies out a couple months ago to see what they would be like.  I divided the completed batch into three.  1 bag for the house, 1 bag for my husband's office and 1 bag for my office.  It had unanimous results across the board...all three bags were gone by the end of the day.   Yes, they are that amazing!

A few days after I delivered the first batch to my office, I was having a conversation with another co-worker.  She was sharing with me all the planning that was going into her daughter's upcoming Quinceanera later on this summer.  I thought last year's high school graduation event was big...nothing compared to the months and months of preparation that goes into these.  It's really quite remarkable all the details that go into the planning.

As she was telling me about the various dessert tables, before I knew it I had just volunteered to make 1,000 of these cookies for her guests table favors.  Yes, you read that correctly and it was not a typo...1,000 cookies.

I think I'm going to need to brush up on my math skills to figure out how much of everything to buy!

White Trash Cookies

Adapted from www.plainchicken.com

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 eggs

2-3/4 cup Bisquick

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup toffee bits

1/2 cup chopped pretzels

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together brown sugar, white sugar and butter until fluffy.

Mix in egg, one at a time.  Add Bisquick and vanilla.

Stir in white chocolate chips, toffee bits and pretzels.

Using a 1" cookie scoop, scoop dough onto baking sheets.

Bake 9-1/2 to 10 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.

Our co-worker loved these so much, I thought they would make the perfect care package.

All wrapped up in a little bow.  Safe journeys and Godspeed.

One Year Ago:  Bobotie

Two Years Ago: Mastering The Art of Desserts

Three Years Ago: BBQ Chicken Fiesta Salad

Four Years Ago: Mushroom Soup

Eating My Words...Part 2...Cheese & Crack

Once again, I opened my mouth one too many times...

You know the whole click list shopping and they bring it directly to your car.  Well, I was never on board nor understood it.  I am so old school to a fault.  Saturday mornings I figure out meals for the week, make my shopping list and off I go.  Who would actually shop for groceries on your computer and then drive to the store, which you have do to anyway just to have some person deliver to your car.

Recently one weekend, we were snowed in.  More snow than I wanted to deal with.  I was much more interested in having a movie marathon in my pajamas than go out in the blizzard for groceries.  Well, Monday came around and I realized that we were not in good shape for dinner.  I had a Bunco game scheduled for that night and I wouldn't arrive back home on my bus until 15 minutes before game time.  That in addition, I still needed to wrap my Bunco gift and get dinner started.

So, there I found myself on my lunch break at work...thinking.  I needed to get groceries fast and before I got home.  I caved.  I ate my words once again and caved!  I got online and ordered my groceries.  Husband picked me up at my bus stop, we drove to the store, groceries were in our vehicle within 10 minutes. 

I recently saw a story about a place in Portland, OR called "Cheese & Crack Snack Shop".  They are taking the food world by storm in Portland and known for their small plates...and they do a Brie Brulee!!!  I decided to recreate their "Our Favorites Sampler Plate".

Our little platter included olives, pepperoni, salame, fig jam, dijon mustard, Cambozola cheese,  green olive tapenade, Porter cheese, honey, Feta cheese, fresh baked baguette, and yes, I even bruleed my brie!!

One Year Ago: 20-Minute Skillet Tuscan Tortellini
Two Years Ago:  Baked Shrimp Scampi
Three Years Ago: Blarney Bark
Four Years Ago: Green Eggs and Ham

Eating My Words...Part 1 and Cheesy Country Ham Dip

There are many things that I love to eat...my words, however, are not one of them.

As you recall, I was recently not very sympathetic to my husband's aches, pains and ailments.  I may have even been a little mean.  Okay, let's be honest, I sent my compassion out on vacation for a few weeks.

Well, there's one thing that I always tell my daughters, be careful what you do and say because karma will come back and get you.

For a few months my shoulder and upper chest area was hurting.  I thought I just slept on it wrong or one of the dogs gave it too hard of a tug during one of our walks.  It was sore for a few days, then for a few weeks.  It got to the point if I sneezed, I had to grab my upper shoulder because it hurt so bad...bad to the point I had to break down and go see my doctor.

The first thing they did was hook me up to an EKG to check my heart (didn't see that coming)...breast exam was fine.  She finally said to lift my arm and I thought I was going to pass out.  She said, "I think you may have a torn rotator cuff."  A what??...definitely did not see that one coming.  "You need to see an orthopedic specialist".

Well, to make a long story short, after x-rays, MRI, yes...I do have a torn rotator cuff, with a side order of tendinitis and some degeneration.  After all that, we are starting with cortisone shots and physical therapy.  Stay tuned...I guess I should be a little nicer to my family from now on.

When I'm not eating my words, I did really enjoy eating this dip.  We had a lot of leftover Easter ham, some pecans in the freezer and plenty of the other ingredients on hand.  Warning though, once you start eating this, you can't stop!

Cheesy Country Ham Dip
Courtesy of Trisha Yearwood

One 10-ounce package sliced country ham
two 8-ounce blocks cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1 large shallot, grated (about 1/3 cup)
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 Tbl unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
butter crackers, corn tortilla chips or sliced celery, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the ham slices on a microwave safe dish lined with paper towels.  Cover the ham with a damp paper towel and microwave on low heat until the ham is slightly crisp on the edges, 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the ham from the microwave and discard the paper towels.  Using two forks, shred the ham into small bite size pieces.  Place the ham in a large mixing bowl.

Add the cream cheese, cheddar, sour cream, garlic powder, shallot and t teaspoon black pepper to the mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Spread the ham and cheese mixture in a 9-inch pie plate.  Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the pecans, butter and Worcestershire sauce.  Sprinkle the seasoned pecans over the ham and cheese dip.

Bake the dip until hot and bubbly around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes.  Serve warm with butter crackers, corn tortilla chips and celery.

One Year Ago: Nicoise Salad
Two Years Ago: Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken
Three Years Ago: Spicy Asian Beef
Four Years Ago: Priceless

Creamy Penne Pesto Chicken and Personal Genetic Service

As I have another birthday waiting for me around the corner, I am realizing in my ripe old age that there is only one thing that you really need...family.  

You can have everything that money can buy...but what happens when those things are no longer there, or you have lost them, then what do you really have?  Nothing.   Family is the only thing that you cannot purchase, but it will always be there for you.

Quite a few years ago, our nieces were working on a family tree project for school.  As my husband is the youngest of 9 children, with now 19 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren...if I am remembering correctly...and within all of those family members, there are three sets of twins.  So you can imagine, we're not talking a family tree the size of a bonsai...more like the size of a cypress tree.

At any rate, the nieces hit a road block when it came to their Nana (my mother-in-law) and her family.  It wasn't long after Nana passed away that we all learned she had been adopted...and she never knew it.

It breaks my heart that she went her entire life and never knew who her real family was.  My sense is that's why she was blessed her whole life with such a large family, because she really didn't know her true family growing up.  

We can only speculate, but here is my theory...  She was born around the time of the Great Depression.  My feeling is that she was born a twin (as there is no other family history of twins anywhere in the family or extended family...yet we have three sets of twins).  Given the difficult economical times back then, I think that the twins were separated and given up for adoption.  I guess now, only she and God know the truth.  In an case, whatever the truth is...I think my version would make for a wonderful Hallmark Channel movie, don't you?

For my husband's monumental birthday, this past December I really struggled what to get him....as this was before I purchased Alexa.  We kept seeing ads for the 23 and me DNA service.  Every time he saw the ad, he would say "I really want to do that".  So, it's not a sexy gift, but definitely an interesting one.  Given what he learned about his adopted mom, he is really curious about his family ancestry.  Stay tuned.....

Like my husband's gift, this dish is not sexy, but really, really good and comforting.  During one of our family dinner nights, we made homemade wood fired naan pizzas and had a good amount of leftover ingredients...so, I re-purposed and made a round 2 dinner with everything.

Creamy Penne Pesto Chicken

cooked, penne pasta
sauteed mushrooms
cooked chicken breast
1/2 container, Barilla pesto sauce
1/2 container, Barilla alfredo sauce
fresh mozzarella ball, cut in slices

In a saucepan, combine the pesto and alfredo sauces until warm and well blended. Toss with the cooked penne pasta.

Plate the pasta and add the chicken breast, a slice of mozzarella cheese and sauteed mushrooms.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago: Champagne Margaritas
Two Years Ago: The Birthday Flirtini
Three Years Ago: Raspberry-Lemon Dump Cake
Four Years Ago: Chocolate Layered Pudding

Our beautiful wood fired pizzas before they got re-purposed.

Apple-Cinnamon Monkey Bread and The Bionic Man

As you know from reading my blog, I grew up in the 70's.  One of my brother's and mine favorite shows growing up was The Six Million Dollar Man (aka Bionic Man), and The Bionic Woman.

We would pretend and do our slow motion running with complete sound effects of course. 

I once saw Lindsey Wagner (aka The Bionic Woman) at a country market in Big Bear, California.  I was standing right next to her as we were both perusing the shelves.  I didn't even know it was her until I heard gawkers whispering...and I was quite certain they weren't gawking at me.   She was so nice, and I was so proud of myself not going "girl fan geek" on her.

Well fast forward, I am now married to the bionic man.  My poor husband has been in the hospital now three times in the past 18 months.

It started a year ago in December when he had to get a hernia fixed.  He had a tear in is abdomen that made his belly button stick out and was quite painful.  We called it getting his turkey popper fixed.  Now everything is tucked back in nicely.

Then on midnight of Mother's Day, he wakes up in the middle of the night with a kidney stone and gallstone episode.  So, five hours later in the ER, he was on his way.

Two weeks ago, after six months of knee pain, x-rays, MRI, icing, knee brace and acupuncture, he had his knee operated on from what he finally learned was a torn meniscus. 

Then, last week, he needed to get new eye glasses for computer and reading.

So, with his new turkey button, cleaned out kidney, fixed knee and new eyes....he is officially the new Six Million Dollar Man now.

Meanwhile, I am trying to food prep as much as I can in preparation for the next surprise ER/hospital visit.

Apple-Cinnamon Monkey Bread
Courtesy of Pillsbury.com

2 cans (17.5 oz each) Pillsbury Grands! Flaky refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
1 medium tart apple, peeled, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening or cooking spray.

Set aside icing tubs from cinnamon rolls.  Separate each can of dough into 5 rolls;  cut into quarters.

Place chopped apples in small bowl.  In another small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.  Add 1/4 cup sugar mixture to apples; toss to coat.  Sprinkle half of apple pieces in pan.  Roll half of dough pieces in sugar mixture; place on apples in pan.

Sprinkle with remaining apple pieces.  Roll remaining dough pieces in sugar mixture; place on apples.

Pour melted butter over top.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes or  until golden brown across top.  Cool 10 minutes; run knife around edge of pan to loosen.  Place heat proof serving plate over pan and turn over; remove pan.  Cool 10 minutes longer.

Drizzle reserved icing over top of bread, allowing some to drizzle down sides.  Pull apart or cut in slices to serve; serve warm.

One Year Ago: One Year Older
Two Years Ago: Mexican Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad
Three Years Ago: Sweet Dreams Cake
Four Years Ago: Ham and Cheese Biscuit Bake

Crock Pot Breakfast and The Poppy Plate

When we lived in Alaska, our friend Toni one night invited us over for dinner.  She served one of her amazing meals on the most beautiful plates...my husband even commented how neat looking they were.  I casually asked where she got them...and then I ran out the next morning to copy compliment her...and I have a terrible addiction to dishes, as we all know.

I bought out all the plates and bowls they had.  Toni had already scored both of the beautiful platters that were also in the dish line.  I was disappointed, but you know how it goes, first girl that scouts the store wins the platters.  I think I even had a toddler's temper tantrum moment that my husband had to talk me down from.

Later that year, we traveled 3,000 miles in a U-Haul to our new home.  The Poppy dishes made it perfectly.  Then two years later one night, husband hand washes dishes (because they are too fancy for the dishwasher) and breaks plate...he was devastated, beyond explanation...I mean to tell you, devastated!

I looked high and low and everywhere in between on Google to find another plate.  His birthday was approaching last month and I remembered my mom finding one of her china pieces at Replacements, Ltd..  I went to their website and put the pattern description in their search bar.  It brought up all the pieces immediately in photos.

I couldn't believe it, I was so excited....then I see the small print "out of stock".  Then, I see you can be put on a waiting list.  I have never been so obsessed trying to find a $6.99 plate.  A couple weeks later I get an email..."In Stock".  I ordered it and it arrived in time for his birthday.  I think he even shed a little tear when he opened the box.

I was so excited when I took Felicia to Dabble Pain & Sip during her visit.  I wandered into a room off the back corner (because I am curiously nosy like that) and found dozens and dozens of paintings.  They explained that they take the paintings from the instructors during each class and sell them.  I saw a painting of my poppies!  Score! It looks beautiful in our dining room with our plates.

We love using our Poppy dishes for breakfast, they are just so cheerful, happy and colorful in the morning.

Crock Pot Breakfast

Courtesy of tomatohero.com

1 bag 26 oz. frozen hash browns

12 eggs

1 cup milk

1 Tbl ground mustard

1 (16 oz) roll breakfast sausage

salt

pepper 

1 (16 oz) bag shredded cheddar cheese

Spray crock pot and evenly spread hash browns at the bottom.

Crack 12 eggs in a large bowl.  Mix well using a whisk. Add the milk.

Sprinkle in the ground mustard, salt and pepper.  Mix and set aside.

Cook the sausage on medium-high heat in a skillet, drain and set aside.

Add the cooked sausage to the crock pot on top of the hash browns.  Add the bag of cheese.  Mix all three well.

Pour the egg mixture over everything in the crock pot.  

Using a wood spoon, even everything out.

Turn crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.  

Enjoy with a side of fruit (for your vitamins), and of course, a little sweet pastry!

One Year Ago: One Year Older

Two Years Ago: Mexican Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad

Three Years Ago: "Sweet" 16

Four Years Ago: Hungarian Goulash

Slow Cooker Pork Loin and...Another Woman

If you have been following this blog for any amount of time, you know that we have had four women in our house...me, two daughters and Princess Brinkley, our 18 month old Labrador....and now...Alexa!

This year for Christmas I got my girls and husband all their own Alexa.  I knew the girls could use theirs as a speaker in their rooms.  I got one for my husband because quite honestly I could not think of one more golf item that he "needed".  If you asked him though, there are plenty of golf items that he "needed", that I could have gotten him.  I thought he could use a friend to talk to in the house...and get to play his music...and ask a million questions...about everything!

I am actually starting to feel sorry for my husband.  It hasn't been bad enough that four women in the house (including Brinkley) don't listen to him, but now even Alexa doesn't listen to him.  He will ask her a question....silence.  He asks again....silence.  He then gets me to ask...and of course she answers me.  I keep telling him he doesn't know how to talk to her (or any of the other women in our house).

The one time though that she does actually listen to him, I just about fell off my chair.  Here's how it went down....

(Husband) "Alexa, do you know how to fart?"

(Alexa) Proceeds to make the loudest, longest farting noise I have ever heard.

(Husband) "Alexa, what does a fart sound like?"

(Alexa) Again proceeds with a newer, louder, different tone of a farting noise.

(Daughter) "Oh my gosh dad, how did you get her to do that?"

(Wife) "Because he is a five year old, that's how"

Next Christmas...golf gear!

This dish comes from Trisha Yearwood.  I was trying to watch her show one morning (while my husband was getting Alexa to make noises)! Trisha would be welcomed to come over and cook with me and dine at our table any day...of course, I would have to unplug Alexa (and my husband) before she came over!  I give this meal five stars...it was beyond awesome!

Slow Cooker Pork Loin
Courtesy of Trisha Yearwood

(1) 3-1/2 to 4 pound pork loin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp dried thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbl cooking oil
2 cust chicken broth
2 Tbl fresh lemon juice
1 Tbl soy cause
3 Tbl cornstarch

In a small bowl, combine the garlic powder, ginger, thyme and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Rub the spice mixture over the entire surface of the loin.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat and brown the loin slowly on all sides.  Drain off the fat.  Transfer the loin to the slow cooker.  Combine the chicken broth, lemon juice and soy sauce in a small bowl;  pour over the loin.  Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.  When the roast is done, transfer the meat to a serving platter and cover to keep warm.

To make the gravy, pour the juices from the slow cooker into a glass measuring cup.  Skim off the fat.  Measure 2 cups of liquid, adding water to the juices if necessary to make 2 cups.  Transfer the juices to a saucepan, reserving 1/2 cup.  Stir the cornstarch in the reserved 1/2 cup of juices until dissolved, then stir into the juices in the saucepan.  Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the gravy is thickened and bubbly, 2 to 3 minutes.  Cook and stir 2 minutes more.  Season the gravy to taste with salt and pepper.  Slice the roast and serve it with gravy.

Serve with Trisha's Mushroom, Asparagus and Pea Risotto ...amazing!

One Year Ago: One Year Older
Two Years Ago: Mexican Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad
Three Years Ago: Lemon Drop Martini
Four Years Ago: Marinara Meatball Sliders

Princess Brinkley

Yes, (because I know you are asking yourself this)...my husband also asks Alexa to bark like a dog, because it drives Brinkley nuts.