I scream you scream!

This is my trial run of making ice cream! I must admit that I have started reading the Pioneer Womans blog and I have fallen in love- so here is my disclaimer I am posting in hopes of one day being as cool as her! I have a long way to go for sure! So I will try to start posting pictures with my recipes, here goes! Shane got me the ice cream attachement for my Kitchen Aid mixer for my 30th birthday so this is my first go at making it, it is quite the process let me tell you! You must put the "bowl" in the freezer for at least 15 hours, I put mine in at about noon today and will be using it at half time during the Super Bowl (Go Colts!). The following pictures documents my journey of blowing Ben and Jerry out of the water. Enjoy. I will let you know how the final product turns out tomorrow!

Lots of half and half, 2 1/2 cups to be exact

8 egg yolks, I learned why The Pampered Chef actually sells an egg separator- when I was a consultant I did not see the point in this gadget and never bought it- note to the wise they sell it because it speeds up the process of separating 8 egg yolks!! It is a very handy tool for custard/ice cream/creme brulee makers indeed!

COmbine egg yolks with one cup sugar and whirl it up in your mixer. My mind knows how to spell yolk but my fingers want to type youlk?

You then pour the cooled half and half mix in the blender and transfer it back to the saucepan, heat until small bubbles form at sides of pan. This was tricky, this was what the mixture looked like as soon as I poured it in the pan, ahhhh small bubbles everywhere, so I just heated it until I thought it might start to boil and removed it from the heat!

Then 2 1/2 cups whipping cream. If you have never whipped your own cream you need to, oh that sounds bad, I mean if you have never made fresh whipped cream you need to, oh dang it that sounds bad too, you know what I mean!

For this recipe we will just add it to the half and half mixture, unwhipped please.

Stir in 4 teaspoons vanilla.

Please for goodness sakes use pure vanilla extract not the artificial stuff. Yes I will call you a cheapskate if you try to pull out that fake stuff. Seriously it was like 2 bucks cheaper than the real stuff, just splurge! Now you will note that I have store brand in the pic, only because it was cheaper than McCormicks and I can't tell a diference- however I would have much rather used Pampered Chefs or something from Penzey's but we southsiders to do not have that down here!

Don't forget the salt, I love the flavor that salt gives to sweet things so don't forget the salt!

This needs to chill for a while, you know relax in the fridge for a while.

All set, now I just need to find a home for a little bit....

I can't believe I am showing you the inside of my fridge- that is like one of the most private things a person could do- and it's a hot mess right now!

Ah, this will do right by Abbey's juice and Mommy's juice. Perfect. See you in a few hours my friend.

Copy Cat- Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Shortening
OR 3/4 stick Crisco® Butter Shortening Sticks
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 (6 oz.) package white chocolate chips (1 cup)
1/2 cup cranberries

Topping
1 can cream cheese icing
handful or so of chopped dried cranberries
melted white chocolate

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:
1.
HEAT oven to 375ºF.
2.
COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into shortening mixture until just blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and cranberries.
3.
Spray pan (I used the large Pampered Chef bar pan so it is a little bigger than a 13 x 9 and I think it worked quite well)
4.
Bake 11-17 minutes until top is golden brown
5.
Let cool then frost with cream cheese icing, sprinkle on cranberries and drizzle with melted white chocolate. Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This was a Pampered Chef recipe

Refrigerated Pizza crust
1/2 red onion
4 slices bacon
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup shredded chicken (cooked)
BBQ seasoning
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
2 Roma Tomatoes
Cheese (depends on how much you want, I probably used 1 1/2 cups colby/mont jack blend)

Heat oven to 425

Slice red onion very thin, mince garlic, and dice bacon and saute in skillet over medium heat until onions start to carmalize and bacon gets crisp

Spread out pizza dough

To the skillet add BBQ seasoning (I did not have any prepared on hand so I used a few shakes of each of these- paprika, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, onion powder and a generous dash of Montreal Steak seasoning)
Add BBQ sauce and chicken to skillet just long enough to make warm

Add mixture to the pizza crust and top with thinly sliced tomatoes and top with cheese

Bake 18-22 min

This was SO good, we had salad and that rounded off the meal, it was one of the best BBQ pizzas I have had. I think next time I will also add some fresh pineapple, yummy!

New Present!

Our little Colts cheerleader!

"Helping" Daddy and Pappy put together her new rocking horse
Mimmy helping Abbey ride her horse!

She absolutley LOVES her horse.

Pappy helping her bounce!

This is Abbey's "mean" face

In the process of trying to get her to make her "mean" face

This one is just silly!

Evil eye!

She is totally a "mini-me"

Cooking up a storm!

The last few days I have really been cooking some great meals! I don't know what has happened to me I was so lazy that I did not even want to step foot into the kitchen, nesting is kicking in I suppose!

I made fish tacos- I seasoned some tilapia fillets with chili pepper, cayenne pepper, grill seasoning, and paprika and cooked them in a little bit of olive oil and then shredded them and put them in a tortilla shell with a broccoli slaw mixture (the slaw, lime juice, all of the seasoning that was on the fish, sliced green onion) then top the tortilla with sliced avocado and shredded radish- sooo good.

I also made egg foo young, which I had never made before. I sauteed celery, green onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts and bok choy in a tsp or so of sesame oil then added shrimp for a few minutes and then poured in about 10 or so scrambled eggs and stirred every so often to break up the eggs I served with a little soy sauce and fried rice and an egg roll. Really good.

Another Rachel Ray Fav

Chicken Salsa Verde Bake


2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Two 16-ounce jars salsa verde
One 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup sour cream
3 cups crushed tortilla chips
One 8-ounce bag shredded Mexican-style cheese


1. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand until cool, then shred the meat into a large bowl. Stir in the salsa, kidney beans, onion and sour cream.2. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, scatter 1 cup tortilla chips on the bottom and top with half of the chicken mixture and half of the cheese. Repeat the layers and cover with the remaining 1 cup tortilla chips. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Darn I tried posting this once already...but anyways I just said it was fantastic love the new flavor the salsa verde had and I love anything with beans- gotta love Rach!

Pig Eatin' Cake

Pig Eatin' Cake

One boxed cake mix (white or yellow, but this time I used coconut and it was tasty)
4 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 can mandarin oranges

Mix together and bake at 350 for about 30 min or until cake is done

Topping
1 tub cool whip
1 large can of crushed pineapple
1 box instant vanilla pudding

Mix and spread on top of cooled cake

Sooooo yummy!