That Betty Crocker really knows her stuff.

I decided to try my hand at truffles because I had a carton of heavy whipping cream in my fridge that needed to be used (before I somehow consumed it all myself, like in my morning coffee or something) and I have a family function to go to this weekend where I can take them and share the love (again, assuring that I will not consume them all myself... this is important).

Since I've never made them before, I relied on ol' reliable herself, Betty Crocker. She never lets me down.

I did put my own spin on them, of course, by the way of flavoring and such. My first concoction were these...

I like to call them 'Rum Fried Ice Cream Truffles' because I put a little rum extract in the filling, and I put cinnamon in the white chocolate coating and also sprinkled them with more cinnamon and drizzled with honey. They are tast-eeeee. Yum.

Next, I went a more traditional route and made these 'Hot Chocolate Truffles'...

I didn't add anything to the filling and coating recipes; I simply sprinkled these with the powder and marshmallows from a hot chocolate packet. (My packets came with the powder and marshmallows separate, just in case you were wondering. It's the Swiss Miss Marshmallow Lovers.)

I'll give you a link to the recipe here in just a sec, but before I do I wanted to give you a couple words of advice: 1) Melt your chocolate over gentle heat (low to medium, depending on your range), stir constantly and remove it from heat as soon as it is melted. If you keep it over the heat too long, it will get unruly and hard to work with, especially the dipping chocolate. 2) Add your sprinkles (whichever kind you choose... be creative!) right after you dip the filling balls into the coating. They start to set up pretty quickly, so the sooner you add your sprinkles, the better they will stick.

That's it! As you will see from the recipe, they're pretty easy! Too easy, in fact.

Another recommendation: If you have any melted chocolate left over, heat up some milk and make yourself a hot chocolate with it. This is what I did and I think my hot chocolate expectations are going to be revolutionized forever more.

Recipe: Betty Crocker's Chocolate Truffles

Uffda. It's been such a long, long, long time since I posted a recipe here. It's shameful, is what it is. How have any of you gotten along without my culinary expertise? It's a wonder, is what it is.

Anywho, the magic of the internet has returned to my humble home and I am entranced under the spell. So much to read. So much to write. So much to share.

In the interest of finally putting something here on my cooking page, I bring you... (Trumpet Sounds)... My 'New Favorite' Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Why 'New Favorite'?

Because they're a new recipe I concocted.

And they're now my favorite chocolate chip cookie.

And when I eat them I hear Alison Krauss singing, "I know youuuuuu've got a new favorite."

The inner workings of my mind are not complicated, people.

And neither is making these cookies. I know, I know... We're always supposed to cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time, alternate dry ingredients into the batter with the liquid, blah, blah, blah, blah...

Just throw it all in the mixer and let the mixer do it's thang. Trust me. They'll turn out lovely. Chewy. Chocolatey. Hinting of cinnamon and offering a mysterious (but good) crunch. Trust me.

'New Favorite' Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3/4 Cup Butter, softened.
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Turbinado Sugar
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
• 2 tsp. Flax Seed Meal
• 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Wheat Flour
• 2 Cups Quick-Cooking Oats
• 1 1/2 Cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chocolate Chips

O.k., I know I said just throw it all in the mixer, but the one caveat is that maybe you should wait until the end to mix in the chocolate chips. And those chocolate chips obviously don't have to be the Ghirardelli ones I listed. You can use whatever you want.

But if you're serious about chocolate and/or you're of the female variety and it happens to be a certain time in your life when you happen to be craving some good, dark chocolate, go with the Ghirardelli 60% Cacao. Trust me. I have experience with these things.

Shape into balls and bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Do not overbake. In fact, I like to underbake mine just ever so slightly if I can manage it.

As you enjoy these lovely cookies, imagine Alison Kraus singing to you in your kitchen and congratulate yourself on how healthy you're being (dark chocolate = antioxidants; flax seed meal = something else that's good for you that I can't remember; oatmeal = heart healthy; partial use of wheat flour = better than using all AP flour; butter = calcium). I mean, they're practically a health food.

Or not.

But they're darned good.

I'm just saying, prepare yourself. You've been warned.

In all seriousness (yeah right) or even partial seriousness (that's probably more accurate) I will tell you the real story behind Lovebird Pie. My niece, Lovebird, daughter of Ladybird, is having her wedding shower this weekend. Ladybird has given a bunch of us recipe cards to fill out to make a special book for her with our recipes, and this pie is going to be one of my contributions.

(FYI: My niece's nickname was actually Lovebird when she was little. Sometimes you just can't plan how well this stuff works out.)

While picking strawberries the other day, I was inspired to try my hand at creating a strawberry meringue pie. In the heat and humidity of the strawberry patch I deliriously daydreamed of a pie that was sweet and red and delicious and topped with a fluffy cloud of meringue.

It also had to stand on its own. That's important to me... That a pie stand alone and not slop all over the plate. What's the point of going to all the trouble of making a pie if it's not going to look pretty?

Not that I haven't eaten and thoroughly enjoyed my share of enormously delicious, sloppy pies.

Because I have.

And they were good.

And I would eat them again. And again, and again.

However, if possible, I like to achieve a structurally sound pie. It's just one of my anal retentive tendencies.

Sorry... One should never use the word 'anal' when doling out a recipe. It's just not appetizing. I promise I'll never do it again.

Back to the pie.

This pie and the crust that goes with it are not hard to make. However, the process is a bit time consuming, and I figured out that if you jump around a little bit -- from filling to crust, crust to filling, filling to meringue, and so forth -- you can save yourself some time. With that in mind, I'm going to present this recipe to you in the order of events that keeps things most efficient, so I'm going to jump around a little bit.

Just trust me. I know what I'm doing.

Ingredient List - Filling...

• 2 Cups Cooked Strawberries
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Cornstarch
• 4 Egg Yolks
• 3 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

Ingredient List - All Butter Pie Crust...

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Butter (1 1/2 Sticks)
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 2 tsp. Sugar
• 5-7 Tbsp. Ice Water

Ingredient List - Meringue...

• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 4 tsp. Corn Starch
• 1/2 Cup Cold Water
• 4 Egg Whites
• 1/8 tsp. Salt

Before we do anything... ANYTHING at all, we need to do this: Cut up the butter for the pie crust (1 1/2 sticks) into 1-in. x 1-in. cubes, put it in a bowl, and let the cubes sit in the freezer for about an hour or so.

Now that the butter is where it needs to be, we can deal with the strawberries...

Thoroughly wash strawberries and remove stems. To end up with two cups of cooked strawberries, you'll want to start with about four cups (or more) of fresh ones. Place strawberries in a pot, cook and stir over medium heat until strawberries have broken down into a sauce. Set aside and allow to cool.

While the strawberries are cooling, we can begin to make the crust. However, there's one step we want to do before that...

Once we get to making the meringue, we will want the egg whites at room temperature. That's why it's a good idea now to go ahead and separate the four eggs, reserving both the whites (for the meringue) and the yolks (for the filling). Go on and do that and set them aside.

Go on.

Do it.

Done? Way to go.

I like to pretend you're actually listening to me. Just indulge me, o.k.?

Now we can make the crust. Get out your handy dandy food processor.

Go on.

Do it.

Just kidding.

Into the food processor, put the frozen butter cubes, 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons sugar.

Pulse in the food processor until butter is broken apart and mixture is crumbly and fine.

Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing the food processor in between, until mixture just forms a dough. (Add enough water that it holds the dough together, but not so much that it makes it sticky.)

Sound familiar? If you've read or made my pumpkin pie recipe, you've seen it before. I love this crust. I love that it is made only with butter. I love that it rolls out really well and goes into the pie plate easily. I love how it tastes. It may be the only pie crust recipe I'll ever use for the rest of my life.

Separate the dough into two equal-sized balls. For this recipe we will only need one ball. This means you will have one extra ball. This means you will have to make another pie. This means you will have two pies. I know... Life is rough.

Put the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface (I like to use a pastry cloth, but I didn't have one so I just did it on the countertop and it worked fine) and dust the top with flour as well.

Roll out into a nice flat circle, flipping once between if needed, until just large enough for a 9-inch pie plate.

Grease your 9-inch pie plate with butter. To get the crust into the pie plate, first fold it in half, then fold it in half again, then pick it up and place it in the pie plate and unfold. Press the crust down into the plate and all around the edges.

Use a paring knife to trim the edges, then crimp or shape the edge into whatever style you would like (or none at all).

Now comes the baking of the pie shell and the method that I have come up with to keep the crust from slumping down in the pie plate. (I like well structured pies, remember?)

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees. Poke holes in the pie shell with a fork.

Next, give the pie shell a very light dusting of cooking spray.

That's right. You heard me.

Now, if you have one, place another (preferably metal) pie plate on top of the crust, like this...

This will help hold the crust in place as it bakes. I don't think I would do this with a glass pie plate, as it would be too heavy and I'm not sure it would be safe to put it in the oven without something in it. I had a glass pie plate shatter in the oven on me once, so I'm a little gun shy in that regard. However, in place of this method you could always use ceramic pie weights (available here) or dried beans to hold the crust down.

Do this however you choose, but whatever you do, choose one of these methods, or the crust will very likely slide down into the pie plate as it bakes and become all unsightly.

Not inedible, but unsightly.

Bake the crust for about 8-10 minutes. Remove upper pie tin (it will be steamy... wear oven mits). Place crust back in oven for another 2-3 minutes, until it is just starting to become crispy and golden.

While the crust is cooking, you can get the filling ready. Remember the cooked strawberries and egg yolks from before? Go ahead and grab those. You'll also need the sugar, cornstarch, butter and lemon juice.

Combine the 2 cups cooked strawberries, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/3 cup cornstarch in a medium sized sauce pot. Cook over medium/high heat until mixture boils and thickens. Whisk the egg yolks. Add about 1/3 of the hot strawberry-sugar-cornstarch mixture to the egg yolks, whisk to combine, then add this back to the remaining strawberry-sugar-cornstarch mixture in the sauce pot, stirring all the while. Continue stirring as you cook the mixture over medium heat for an additional two minutes. Add the butter and lemon juice. Stir until butter is melted, then remove from heat. Pour filling into pie crust.

We're getting closer!

Only one more thing left to make... The meringue. This isn't my own meringue recipe, it belongs to Betty Crocker. I just think I should give credit where credit is due. Pie filling and crusts and such I can come up with on my own, but meringue is different. It's delicate. Meringue is one of the areas I need professional help.

I need professional help in other areas too, but we won't get into that right now.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. We need those egg whites that we cracked open and separated earlier. We also need sugar, water, cornstarch and salt.

We first want to make the 'meringue jelly', as I like to call it. Place the sugar, water and cornstarch into a small sauce pot, whisk together and bring to a boil until thickened, stirring as needed. Allow this mixture to cool. You can put it in a bowl and place it in the freezer to help it along a bit if you would like.

It's gelatinous and strange, this meringue jelly.

Once the meringue jelly has cooled, beat the egg whites and salt with a mixer until they just begin to form soft peaks. Then mix in the meringue jelly in three additions.

Continue to mix on high speed until meringue forms stiff peaks.

I'll be honest... My meringue didn't get very stiff this time. I think it's because I didn't allow my meringue jelly to cool down enough. It looked like this...

It was smooth, shiny and silky and formed peaks a little bit, but not like I know it's supposed to be.

See? I need professional help when it comes to meringue. I shall continue the quest. It still tasted good, so I was happy.

Next, spread Betty's meringue onto the pie...

One thing that I learned from Betty (Crocker) is that you want to spread the meringue to the edges of the pie so that it seals against the crust. This keeps the meringue from shrinking as it bakes.

Place the pie in the oven and bake until the meringue begins to brown on top, about 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (but longer, if you can resist) before serving.

So pretty.

Lovebird pie... I loved it then, I love it now, and I will love it forever.

Now go getcha' some!

(Pie, that is.)

"I love strawberries," said the male to his mate.

"I love strawberries too," said the female. The two began pecking at the sweet berries.

"And I love you," said the male.

"How long will you love me?" the female asked.

"I loved you then," said the male as he pecked a strawberry. "I love you now," he continued, pecking more strawberries. "And I'll love you forever. How long will you love me?"

"I loved you then," she said as she pecked a strawberry. "I love you now..... And I'll love you forever. That's how much I love you," she said, pecking strawberries all the while.

When they had their fill of strawberries, they fluttered over to one another, shared a kiss, and took flight into the sky.

Shortly thereafter, the owner of the garden came by to pick his strawberry patch. Because the spots where the lovebirds had pecked the strawberries were so small, he didn't even notice them and picked those strawberries along with the others. He brought them to the house, where his wife promptly made a pie out of them.

That night, following supper, the man and wife sat quietly on their porch swing and enjoyed a piece of the pie. Although they had always been generally fond of one another, they rarely expressed feelings of deep and abiding love. However, upon finishing the piece of pie, they were suddenly struck with a feeling that was deeper and sweeter than they had ever felt. The man asked his wife to a dance.

As they swayed under the stars and among the evening fireflies, they gazed into one another's eyes. "How long will you love me?" asked the wife.

"I loved you then," said the man. "I love you now," he continued. As he twirled her under his arm, he finished, "And I'll love you forever."

The wife swooned. "And I..." she said. "I loved you then, and I love you now." She moved closer to her husband, and just before she placed her strawberry red lips on his, she whispered, "And I will love you forever."

The husband and wife never knew what it was that captured their hearts that night and deepened their love for one another, but from that day forth, they shared a dance every evening and repeated those words to one another.

As long as the strawberry patch lasted each summer, the wife would make the pie over and over and share it with her friends and neighbors. Over time, the love around them grew and grew. Eventually, the man noticed how they lived in a community filled with love.

One day while picking his strawberry patch, a pair of lovebirds landed at the far end and began to peck at his berries. The man watched them eat and sing songs to one another and flutter their wings. It reminded him of his wife and the dance they shared the night they first shared a piece of the strawberry pie.

He went to the house, where the wife was making a pie to take to the local church auction. After giving her a peck on the cheek he sat down at the table. "You know," he said, "I think that since you make this pie so often for our friends and family, it should have a name."

"What a good idea," said the wife.

"I think we should call it 'Lovebird' pie," said the man.

"That sounds lovely," said the wife. That's how 'Lovebird Pie' came to be.

The moral of the story is this: Life is sweet. Eat it up when you can. Love is contagious. Spread it around.

Up next... The recipe!

What I really want to say is: "Let's rock 'n' roll!" but given the subject of today's home cooking post, you'll surely see why I had to incorporate 'jam' into the title.

Even though I haven't been posting on this part of my site for awhile, I have been enjoying some serious (non-documented) cooking in my sister's kitchen (where we are staying at the moment... in her house... not the kitchen specifically) as of late. Her kitchen is huge! The amount of counter space makes me giddy.

In honor of my giddyness over her kitchen and since she is so kind as to let us stay here, the first recipe I wanted to post now that the home cooking hiatus is over is one of my sister's.

Ladybird's.

That's what I've decided to call her.

I'll go into detail about why over on the Ramblings page, because the reasons have nothing to do with cooking, and more to do with... well... birds.

Anyhow, moving on...

Today I bring forth to you, from the depths of Ladybird's kitchen...... (drum roll)....... (drum roll some more)......... (music from Jaws)............... (disregard that; I'm going for happy suspense here, not dread)...........(imagine birds singing instead)........... (and some more drum rolling).................... (are you ready yet?)

Rhubarb Strawberry Jam!!!

I love how easy this jam was to make, and I love how delicious it was, and I love how it was made from things from the garden, and I love that it will keep for awhile and I won't have to spend $ on it at the store.

But you know what I love about it the most?

It takes really perdy pictures.

It's so easy to make that I have to tell you from the outset, the remaining portion of this post may contain more pictures than words, because I took a lot of pictures. Because it's just so perdy.

Let's rock 'n' roll! Let's jam!

Here we have a photo of rhubarb. I am learning that some people are 120% familiar with it, how to pick it and it's many uses; and some people really have absolutely no experience with it at all. For those of you who know all about rhubarb, skip the following two three paragraphs. For those of you who are not so familiar, read on...

Rhubarb was first discovered back in the 18th century by Spanish settlers on the coast of Lake Superior. No, wait... WHAT? I'm just messing with you. I don't know who discovered it and consequently realized it was edible. But I'll tell you this: Whoever did so had a lot of..... gumption... to nibble off a piece of this stuff and still blaze forward and use it for cooking. Raw rhubarb is SOUR! Sour like a crisp stalk of celery infused with strawberry flavor and then soaked in lemon and lime juice. It will make you pucker up, big time.

The good news, for you and me, is that someone did go to the trouble of cooking with it, and when cooked down and mixed with sugar and other fruits in sauces, pies, desserts, and jams, it lends its very own special kind of delicious tartness that only rhubarb can. That's what makes it so special. It's also special that it's only around for a few months out of the year (but you can freeze it if you want to) so it's kind of an early summer treat.

It grows in stalks with huge leaves...

To harvest it, all you do is grab onto the stalk, close to the ground, and pull it out. It comes out pretty easily. Then you snap off the big leaf on the end. The leaf is actually poisonous, so you want to keep it away from children, pets, livestock, etc... In all honesty, it kind of freaks me out that part of them is poisonous, but then I remember that people have been eating the stalks long before I came into the world, and I remember how delicious it is, and I get over it.

The recipe for Ladybird's Rhubarb Strawberry Jam is as follows:

• 12 Cups Finely Chopped Rhubarb
• 3 Cups Sliced Strawberries
• 4 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 9 oz. Gelatin (whatever flavor you like... I used 6 oz. peach and 3 oz. strawberry... experiment!)

Before you start making the jam, wash your jars and lids in hot soapy water and dry thoroughly.

Dice rhubarb and strawberries into small/medium pieces.

Try a piece. I double dog dare ya'.

Combine the first three ingredients (rhubarb, strawberries and sugar) in a large stock pot and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Bring the mixture to a boil and allow to simmer, uncovered, on the stovetop, for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately add gelatin. Stir well.

Using a ladle and funnel (I would use a metal one because the mixture is hot) fill jelly jars (size of your choice).

Allow to cool, uncovered, until jam is barely warm or cool to the touch. Stir from time to time to help release heat. Place in refrigerator for four hours to continue cooling, then cover with lids. Keep refrigerated.

Optional: Neglect laundry. Neglect dishes. Take pretty pictures of it.

In case you haven't heard, we've got some big things in the works at the moment, like the process of moving our little ranchette from CO to MN.

SO... I apologize to any of you who like to check in here for some tasty recipes, because I am just not going to have time to keep up with this part of the site for a little while. As much as I love cooking and sharing the recipes I come up with, it does take me quite awhile to post them, and that sort of time is a luxury that I'm not going to have for awhile.

And let's just be honest... My cooking doesn't really lend itself to bikini season anyway, so the timing really couldn't be better.

Once we get settled in our new digs, I promise to get back on the horse and whip up something good for ya'. And when I make a promise, I keep a promise.

In the meantime, please feel free to peruse the recipes that I've posted thus far and give them a try! My personal favorites are the hearty beef stew, the pecan caramel rolls and the merlot carrots.

Oh, and the mushroom and garlic stuffed chicken breast with white wine cream sauce.

And the blackberry cobbler. Oh, Martha, that's good.

And the guacamole. Mmmmmm.

And the... No. O.k., I'm done. But it's really hard for me to narrow it down because I love them all and I hope you do too, so go try them!

Until then, I'll just keep dreaming of the day when I can settle in once again and serve up some more good ol' home cooking for you.

p.s. Just, like maybe, try the stuffed meatballs too, you know, like, if you want to.

I whipped up a batch of cupcakes today using Paula Deen's 'Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake' recipe. I thought I'd share the recipe with y'all (as Paula would say) since it's just so darned good. I got it out of her magazine, so I thought I'd check online to see if I could just link it up for you. I didn't find it on her actual site, but I did find it on another bloggers site, Celeste over at Sugar & Spice, so I figured, why not just let her give you the details?

I did manage to take a bunch of pictures of them, however, to make sure I adequately entice you to give them a try. They're SO easy and SO good. Paula's recipe calls for a strawberry cream cheese frosting, but I had some chocolate frosting leftover so I used that instead. I've had the cream cheese frosting too... Both are good.

Come on... You know you want to eat these.

These are my 'show muffins'... The ones I set aside to photograph, the ones I thought were the prettiest. Well, these were not the original three. I left the kitchen for a minute, and since Mr. Blue Eyes was not aware of the 'show muffin' situation, when I returned there was a muffin missing. Thankfully there was an understudy waiting in the wings and the photo shoot went on as planned, until this happened...

Run, show muffin, run! Apparently show muffins hold some sort of higher appeal than all the other muffins. It's the curse of being beautiful.

 

St. Patrick's Day must have inspired me to whip up this hearty beef stew. That, and the fact that I had a massive package of stew meat in my freezer that I needed to use. Yes, both of those reasons, and I had to make some sort of soup for a potluck at our church, and I needed to work with what I had on hand.

"Necessity is the mother of invention."

I don't know who said that, but I firmly believe it.

And sometimes, as in the case of this beef stew, it results in a beautiful thing.

I ate this for -- literally -- four meals in a row after I made it. Well, I guess technically not for breakfast (me and Multigrain Cheerios continue our morning love affair) but I had it for lunch and dinner.

Just thought I'd clear that up. I'll never lie to you.

I actually made two batches in two crock pots -- one for us and one for church -- and it was quite the extravaganza. Combine me being immersed elbow deep in beef stew preparation, limited counter space, Mr. Blue Eyes at work and Little Blue Eyes emptying the cupboards in the background... When it was all said and done, it looked like a hurricane had hit our house.

Who knew that beef stew came with collateral damage?

If you make this, I pray it goes a little more smoothly at your house.

Soup's on!

Hearty Beef Stew 4x6 Recipe Card - Coming Soon!

Ingredient List...

• 1/4 Medium Sized Onion
• 3 Ribs Celery
• 4 Carrots, upeeled
• 1/2 Shallot
• 3 Potatoes, peeled
• 1 Cup Flour
• 2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Seasoned Salt
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 2 # Beef Stew Meat
• 4 Cups Beef Stock
• 1 Cup Chicken Stock
• 1 Cup Milk
• 2 tsp. Beef Bouillon Granules
• 1 tsp. Dried Chives
• 1 tsp. Dried Parsley
• 2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Salt

Wash vegetables thoroughly, peel the potatoes, then coarsely chop all and set aside...

Sorry, I forgot to photograph the potatoes, but you'll see those a bit later on anyway.

We want to dredge the stew meat in a seasoned flour mixture, and then brown in butter before we put it in the crock pot. Both of these steps give it MUCH added flavor, and the flour also helps thicken the stew as it cooks. You'll probably want to divide the meat up into two batches to dredge and brown.

Combine 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a 8x8 baking dish. Put stew meat into the mixture and toss to coat (again, you'll probably want to do this in two batches)...

Next, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and just starting to brown, place the stew meat in the pan and brown on each side...

Again, two batches, but the butter should carry you through for both. If not, just melt a little more butter in your pan for the second batch. 

Make sure that you pick the stew meat out of the flour mixture before you put it in the pan... We don't need all that excess flour, just what sticks to the meat. We don't need to worry about cooking the meat completely here, just enough to brown the outside. The crock pot will finish the cooking process.

Once your meat is browned, put it in the crock pot. Cover meat with the chopped veggies...

I apologize for the lack of focus in that first photo. Also, like I said above, I used two different crock pots, which is why one photo is in a black pot and the other is in a white pot. You don't need to use two crock pots (unless you double the recipe).

Just in case you thought there was somethin' fishy going on, I thought you needed to know. We're all about full disclosure here.

All that's left to do it put together our broth, and the crock pot will do the rest!

For the broth, combine 4 cups beef stock, 1 cup chicken stock, 1 cup milk, 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules, 1 teaspoon dried chives, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1 teaspoon salt in a pot over high heat. Bring mixture just to a boil, then pour over your beef and vegetables...

I suppose you could just pour this into the crock pot without bringing to a boil first, but I like to do this step so that I can taste the broth first and make any little tweaks in flavor here if desired.

Turn your crock pot on high and allow the stew to do it's magic there in the pot for about 6-8 hours, depending on your individual crock. You'll know it's done when the stew meat is tender and falling apart and the vegetables are tender.

Serve with a toasty piece of garlic bread and be sure to take a picture of it outside on your deck, like I did, because the light is better out there and all food photographs beautifully when there's a pine tree in the background. ;)

I butter in bulk at Sam's Club. What does this say about me?

Shortly thereafter I took both of the babies on a little walk in their stroller... A little preemptive calorie burning on my part. I knew it would make me feel better about what I was about to do: Make these...

Hello, lover.

These are Mr. Blue Eyes Favorite. He ate too many one time and colicked. I kid you not.

(If you don't know what colic is, click here. It has to do with intestinal...... blockage........ discomfort. I won't say anymore. You get the picture. I'm pretty sure he'd rather not have me tell you that, but it's for your own good. Control yourself. You've been warned.)

I wouldn't necessarily say these are difficult to make, but they do take a little time (mostly because you have to wait for the dough to rise twice) and explanation, so I'd better quit rambling and get cooking...

Pecan Caramel Rolls 4x6 Recipe Card - Coming Soon!

Ingredient List...

• 1 Package Active Dry Yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp.)
• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 2 Tbsp. Melted Butter
• 1 Egg
• 3 1/4 Cups to 3 1/2 Cups Flour

• 1/2 Cup Melted Butter
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Corn Syrup
• 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1 Cup Pecan Halves and Pieces

• 3 Tbsp. Room Temperature Butter
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Turbinado Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Pecans

First off, let me say that I use this:

I suppose you could do all your mixing and kneading by hand, but just to be clear, I do not. I attach my handy dandy (out of focus) dough hook to my mixer and off we go. Well, it 'goes'. I watch.

In your mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water...

Once dissolved (this takes about 3-5 minutes or so), add in 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 egg and 3 cups flour. Turn your mixer on low and let it begin to combine the ingredients.

Once the flour is starting to mix in, turn your mixer on to medium and mix until ingredients are well combined and forming a ball of dough around the dough hook. This should only take a couple minutes.

At this point, if your dough looks like this (sticky)...

...add more flour. It's most likely that it will look like this and you will need to add more flour. If so, add another 1/4 cup or so. Again, let your mixer incorporate the ingredients together.

I like my dough to look like this...

It's still a bit sticky; this is intentional. I like to leave my dough a bit sticky at this point so that it doesn't get too stiff later when we roll it out on a floured surface.

Next, spray a large bowl with cooking spray, put the dough in your bowl, and lightly spray the top of the dough with cooking spray as well. Then, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise for about an hour.

I like to put it in the sunshine, preferably on top of my dog kennel. The dog kennel placement has nothing to do with the flavor or outcome of the rolls. It just happens to be in a good spot in my kitchen where the sun is shining in. We've gotta work with what we've got, right?

While your dough is rising, you can make the pecan caramel sauce. All that needs to be done is to stir together 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons corn syrup, 1/2 cup milk and 1 cup pecan halves and pieces. Once you have combined all of these ingredients, pour them into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan..

Set this aside for now.

Once the dough has doubled in size...

...we are ready to move on to the next step, which is to roll it out.

I like to use a pastry cloth and an industrial size rolling pin for this process.

Why?

Well, because I love my rolling pin and it's the one I have. You can get away with using a regular rolling pin, but you'll have to use a bit more elbow grease.

That's a metaphor... Not a recipe ingredient. ;)

As for the pastry cloth... I think you can also get away without using this. Just roll it out on your (cleaned and floured) kitchen counter instead. However, I do think the pastry cloth makes the rolling out process quite a bit easier. It sort of grips the flour and the dough, keeping things in place better. They're really cheap and a good investment. But that's all up to you.

Flour your pastry cloth (or countertop) well. I used about 1/3 cup of flour, and spread it out evenly all over the cloth, then place your dough on the cloth and sprinkle the top with a bit more flour...

Punch down the dough and knead with your hands to incorporate the flour...

Make sure the surface of your dough has a nice, light, even layer of flour on it, then begin to roll it out...

If the dough starts to stick to your rolling pin, add a little flour and spread it around on the surface of the dough. I like to roll it out in a large rectangle, as shown above, because this is what works best for rolling it up and cutting it apart. Read on and you will see what I mean.

Once your dough is rolled out, it's time to top it with all the ingredients that make it what it is: sweet, nutty and delicious.

I start with (what else?) butter. Spread 3 tablespoons butter all over your dough...

Next, sprinkle 1 teaspoon cinnamon all over your dough...

Then, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar all over your dough...

At this point I like to smear it all around together a bit with my hands or a knife, to get a little more even distribution of the cinnamon and sugar...

After smearing, sprinkle dough with 1 tablespoon of turbinado sugar...

If you don't have this, go ahead and just use granulated sugar instead.

Finally, top the dough with a 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans...

I don't skimp on the nuts, as you can tell.

Next, roll it up, lengthwise, like this...

... and find yourself a good, sharp knife. We want to cut into twelve rolls, so first, cut it in half...

Then cut each half in half...

Then cut each quarter into thirds...

This is how I do it, so that I get twelve relatively equal pieces. I won't be offended if you have your own method for divvying it up.

Hello, darlin'. Oh, so perdy.

Place each roll into your 9x13 pan (the one with the caramel sauce in the bottom) with the swirls facing up, like this...

Cover the rolls with a damp towel and place in a warm place (again, I like to use my dog kennel in the sun) and allow rolls to rise for about an hour.

Have they risen? Let's take a peak.

Oh, yes. Lookin' good.

Once rolls have risen, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I like to put my dish on a baking sheet and wrap it with aluminum foil to prevent the carmel from burning on the edges and/or bottom of the pan. You may not need to do this with your oven... All I know is that I need to do it with mine.

Place rolls in the oven and back for about 25 minutes, taking them out when they look like this...

Let them rest for ten minutes or so, then invert them onto the baking sheet, and voila!

Hello, beautiful.

Remember, self control, people! Learn from Mr. Blue Eyes' mistake. Since then he is now, of course, the epitomy of self control, as you can plainly see...

I can't believe I'm showing you this. Remember yesterday how sappy I was about him and how I probably made you roll your eyes at all my gushing? This should negate that whole thing for ya'.

It's disturbing on so many levels.

Yet, it also made me laugh myself silly.

We have a multi-faceted relationship, Mr. Blue Eyes and I.

Whew... That was a lot of pictures to edit! But I love you, and I love Mr. Blue Eyes, and I love pecan caramel rolls, so it was all worth it.

Here's one more pecan caramel roll shot to leave in your memory, to replace the baking-dish-licking shot above. I hope this redeems me...

.

It's funny where we draw our inspiration from...

The other day I was talking to my Mom and she said that she had just recently tried cous cous and liked it, which reminded me that I had some in my cupboard that I should use.

Next, I was talking to my sister about a spinach and mushroom pasta dish that she made and it reminded me that I had mushrooms on my fridge that I really needed to use soon.

Then, I randomly picked up a package of chicken breasts at the store the other day, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with them.

And today, I was doing my taxes this morning and thinking about how I could really use a glass of wine.

(I said I thought about it... No, I did not begin drinking this morning, just to confirm.)

Somehow this all came together into something wonderful, at first in my psyche, and then in my kitchen... Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Chicken Breast with White Wine Cream Sauce.

If my grandmother were still alive and tasted this, she would say, "Uffda." That's Norwegian for, "My, this is amazingly delicious," or, "This is so good that there are no other words to describe it," or, "Giving birth to this baby right here on my kitchen table sure was a lot of work and I'm glad it's over."

As you can see, 'Uffda' can be used with many different connotations. It's sort of like wow -- that was really good, or my goodness, or whew -- that was difficult. It's really quite versatile.

Alright, enough with the Norwegian dialect lesson that I am obviously completely inept and unqualified to provide.

Back to cooking... Let's just get started, shall we?

Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Chicken Breast with White Wine Cream Sauce 4x6 Recipe Card - Coming Soon!

Ingredient List, Stuffed Chicken Breast...

• 5 Chicken Breasts
• 8 Cups Chopped Button Mushrooms
• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 Cup Crushed Toll House Butter Crackers
• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 Egg
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive Oil

Ingredient List, White Wine Cream Sauce...

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1/4 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Cup Half & Half
• 1 Cup Chicken Stock
• 1 Cup White Wine (I used Chardonnay)
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 tsp. Dried Thyme
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Reserved Mushroom Mixture

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

The first order of business is to make the mushroom stuffing... I started with about 20 oz. of whole button mushrooms to end up with 8 cups of chopped mushrooms. I know, this seems like a lot, but the mushrooms cook down a lot before being stuffed into the chicken, so it all works out just fine.

Can I tell you a little secret? I'm a mushroom washer. I know, I know... On the Food Network they're always telling us not to wash our mushrooms, just to rub them clean with a towel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wash them. I let them soak in water, I clean them off, and then I dry them off with a paper towel. And it works just fine for me. Feel free to go about this in whatever way you choose, but in the interest of full disclosure, I just wanted to tell you that I wash mine. Anything that rests in the dirt and is sniffed out by a pig before being harvested gets washed. That's just how I roll.

Oh wait, that's truffles. Anyhow, they still have dirt on them. I wash 'em.

So, chop them up as shown above. Next, melt 4 tablespoons of butter on medium heat in a skillet until just starting to become bubbly and brown...

Add mushrooms and 1/2 tsp. of salt and stir. Let mushrooms cook down, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and starting to brown, looking like this...

Do you see the golden brown goodness? Do you? Look closer...

Seriously, look closer... 

Now that's good stuff, I don't care who y'are.

Unless you don't like mushrooms... Then I apologize because this recipe really isn't for you.

But if you do like mushrooms, let's continue on...

Once the mushrooms look like the pictures above, add one clove of pressed garlic...

Saute the garlic with the mushrooms, still on medium heat, for just 30 seconds or so, then remove from heat. Do not, I repeat: do not put the garlic in with the mushrooms before this point, or you will end up with burnt garlic, which is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. You just want to let the garlic cook with the mushrooms for a quick half a minute.

At this point, scoop out a 1/2 cup of the mushroom garlic mixture and reserve for later use in the sauce.

Next, crush enough crackers in your food processor (I happened to need 34 crackers, to be exact) to give you 1 cup, and melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add both to the mushroom mixture and stir. Add in one beaten egg and stir again to combine.

I think it's best to add in the egg only after you have stirred together the mushrooms with the crackers and butter, because it gives the mushrooms a chance to cool a bit, thus not cooking the egg when you pour it in.

At this juncture in the whole process, I forgot to take a picture of what it looks like all mixed up, and I apologize for that. Luckily, you'll see what it looks like in just a few seconds once we get down to stuffing the chicken, but we're not quite there yet.

Gather your chicken breasts onto a cutting board, and cut them in half and fold open, like this...

Yum.

Just kidding.

Have I ever told you how much I hate raw meat? It's that darned microbiology degree... All it left me with was a healthy fear of germs. I hate it so much that I almost want to become a vegetarian. But then I smell bacon and come back to my senses.

Now it's time to stuff the chicken. Scoop out 1/3 cup of the mushroom/garlic/cracker crumb mixture and place inside the chicken breast, then fold the breast back over, like this...

See? That's what the stuffing looks like. Next, season both sides of the chicken breast with salt and pepper to taste...

Next, drizzle about 2 tablepoons of olive oil into a skillet over medium heat. Allow the skillet to get hot enough that the olive oil just begins to smoke a little bit. Place your chicken breasts in the hot pan and sear the outsides, turning to sear both the top and bottom sides, about two minutes on each side. You do not want to cook the chicken through, just sear the outsides to give you that tasty browned flavor and lock in some of the juices, until they look like this...

This is becoming one of my favorite cooking techniques... Searing the meat, then placing it in the oven to finish cooking. I think that searing it helps lock in the juices and gives you that extra bit of flavor, but finishing it off in the oven keeps it from drying out, like it tends to do when you cook it completely in the frying pan. I do it with chicken, roasts, and I did it with spare ribs the other night and they turned out just yummy.

Once you've seared the breasts, place them into a casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray...

...and place in the oven, uncovered, and bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until your meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. (Be sure to take the temperature with the tip of the thermometer in the meat, not in the stuffing.)

While the chicken is cooking, go ahead and make your sauce. First off, we'll start with sort of a roux. What I have learned about making a roux is this: Have all of your initial ingredients ready to go before you begin, because once you get things going, you don't have a lot of time to run around the kitchen and grab things or your butter and flour may burn, and you'll have to start all over. That said, go ahead and grab 4 tablespoons of butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup half & half, 1 cup chicken stock and 1 cup white wine (I used chardonnay) and have them next to your stove and ready for action.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat until just melted and starting to bubble, then add flour and whisk to combine...

As soon as butter and flour are incorporated and just a bit bubbly, pour in your half & half, chicken stock and white wine, continually whisking to combine. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1 teaspoon sugar and the 1/2 cup sauteed mushroom and garlic mixture reserved from earlier. Continue stirring over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble, then turn heat down to LOW (very, very low) and continue to cook and stir for about ten minutes, allowing sauce to thicken.

If you'd prefer to have a bit less of a white wine flavor, go ahead and use a 1/2 cup instead. Or, if you really don't like white wine flavor at all, or you don't have any on hand, I think that substituting more chicken stock for the white wine would work out just fine.

Since I also had cous cous in mind, I thought it would make a lovely side dish, and it really did. I spooned the sauce over both the chicken and cous cous, and it was de-lic-ious! I just used plain cous cous, which worked out well because the flavor of the sauce and chicken really carried over and the cous cous didn't need anything extra in my opinion.

I know this dish is going to grace my table again and again in the future. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!