Cranberry Chuck Roast

Three recipes in one day...man the blogging world is getting a treat from the Wood Family Household!! This recipe is another on of my very spectacular crock pot concoctions.  It's a cranberry chuck roast...it's super good served over mashed potatoes!! And honestly the prep time could be less than five minutes!!

Cranberry Chuck Roast

- one package of dried onion soup

- two cans of cranberry sauce (pick your favorite)

- one chuck roast

Pour the dried onion soup on the bottom of the crock pot, place the chuck roast on top, then place the cranberry sauce on top of that.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Yup that is it people!! And an added bonus is that your house smells like Thanksgiving when you come home!! Enjoy!!

Thank you Pinterest

As my technology knowledge grows, so does the distraction time I can spend doing pretty much nothing.  Pinterest is one of those things! For those of you who do not know what it is, it's a place where people can share ideas, recipes, and "How To's."  Well I have been looking for easy, yet yummy, recipes for when Jacob arrives.  You know something besides my crock pot specialties ;0) Anyways, Mike and I discovered two amazing recipes, so far! Since not everyone has Pinterest, I thought I would share them on here.... The first one we tried was a calzone (but as Debbi informed me it's actually called a Stromboli (yup just like Pinocchio)).

(First I wanna say I took this photo from Pinterest cause I forgot to take a photo when we actually made it twice)

It was super easy to make and actually really cheap, about seven dollars total! We put bell peppers, onions, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni in ours.  It was so good!!! Also the braiding may look complicated, but it isn't at all.  Let's face it, if I can do it anyone can! Here is the link for the full directions http://www.squidoo.com/homemade-calzone

The Second recipe was for Frozen Hot Chocolate!! Yup, you read that right! Ever since Mike and I visited Gabby and Jason in New York we have wanted to replicate our tasting of frozen hot chocolate. And low and behold Pinterest came through!! The above picture is us enjoying our first tasting of frozen hot chocolate in New York.

Anyways, we made this last night... a couple of things you should know before hand is that you will need a double boiler and you will most likely have to make a trip to the grocery store because it calls for some random ingredients. Here is the link to that recipe...

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/drinks/frozen-hot-chocolate-2/

This is what our final product looked like.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

No Knife required...

With the much anticipated arrival of Baby Jacob and my weeks of time off from work, I have decided to get into the kitchen a little more! (really at all). I have re-found my love for my crock pot!! I love that things come out yummy without even really trying.  For example this recipe... Prep time was about 10 minutes (but it all varies on how fast you can open a can)

South Western Style Chicken in a Crock Pot Recipe (I think I need better names)

2 cans sweet corn (drained)

1 can black beans

1 can hot chopped peppers (or whatever spice level you like)

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

16 oz of salsa

Cheddar cheese

This is super easy... put the sweet corn, black beans, and some salsa into the crock pot and mix together.  Set the four chicken breasts on top.  Put more salsa and the peppers on top of the chicken and cook on low for 7.5 hours.  Honestly I didn't measure the salsa and just went by what I felt.  When you are about to serve it just throw some cheese on top and let it sit for about 5 minutes and the cheese will melt.

You can pretty much eat this with whatever... make it into a burrito. As for Mike and I, we forgot to buy tortilla's so we made some noodles and mixed everything together so it was like a casserole.  Turned out fantastic!! The chicken is so tender it just falls apart with a fork, no knife required!!

Back to my Roots...

Mike got sick last night (big surprise...lol), nothing major, just a sore throat and a stuffy nose.  So he requested to have me make him adobo for dinner tonight becuase it always makes him feel better.  Oh, I love when my Italian husband turns a little Filipino :0).  Anyways I thought it would be a great recipe to share with everyone.  I will say this... there are exact measurements but I don't follow them.  Just season how you like it.

Pork or Chicken Adobo

3- 4 lbs Pork or Chicken, cut into bite size pieces (the more fat the more authentic, but obvioulsy not everyone enjoys fat as much as my Dad)

1/2 Cup Vinegar (doesn't matter what kind, just use what you got in the cupboard)

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

1 Cup Water

2-3 Bay Leaves (whole or crushed, whichever you prefer)

2 Teaspoons Peppercorns (whole)

4 Garlic Cloves (crushed or chopped)

1 Medium Onion (color doesn't matter, whichever you prefer)

3/4 teaspoon Ground Pepper

Secret Ingrediant is sugar.  I add about 6 spoonfuls of sugar, but I also use more vinegar, soy sauce, and water.  The thing about Filipino food, which I learned from Grandma Shadd, is that nothing is exact.  Just put in stuff to you liking.

The easiest part of this recipe is the cooking.  Throw all the ingredients together into a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.  Serve over rice.  If you want to be really authentic (which for us is the only way to eat it), chop up a banana to serve with it. The banana may sound weird but its AMAZING!! 

Anyways your house will smell amazing all day too... whenever Mike comes home he always says, "I love when our house smells like Little Manila!"

Pin It

Spicy Fever!!!

Last night Mike and I decided to skip out on Granada Homecoming Football game and stay at home and cook a fabulous dinner!! Now that I write it out... we chose cooking over watching sports?!?! I guess we are becoming parents...lol. Since I haven't posted a recipe in a while I thought I would indulge you with these new things we tried. All of these recipes came out of Better Homes and Garden. And laugh if you will, but yes we have a subscription other than Eastbay and Sports Illustrated.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

1 rotisserie chicken

2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies. (Two 14.5 oz. cans)

2  cans condensed cream of chicken soup (2 10.75 oz. cans)

1 can cheddar cheese soup (1 10.75 oz cans.)

1/4 cup 2% milk

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 Tbsp. chili powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 pkg (8oz.) cream cheese

20 flour tortillas warmed

4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Shred chicken and set aside. In a large bowl combine tomatoes, soups, milk, and seasonings. Transfer 3.5 cups to another bowl and add the chicken and cream cheese to that bowl.

Spread 1/4 cup just soup mixture into two greased 13x9 inch baking pans. Place 1/3 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Roll up and place seam side down in baking dishes. Pour remaining soup mixture over tops and sprinkle with cheese.

 Bake on pan at a time uncovered at 350* for 30-35 minutes.

It makes a lot so you may want to freeze the other one- it can last for 3 months in freezer.

 Thaw in fridge overnight. Cover and bake at 350* for 45 minutes. Bake longer until cheese is melted to desire.

Tropical Guacamole

3 medium ripe avocados

2 cups finely chopped pineapple

1 medium tomato seeded and chopped

2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped

1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp. lime juice

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Basically all you do is chop all the fruit and veggies and mash the avocados, then mix together and enjoy!! This was super good... but if you like a little more spice then leave the jalapeno seeds in...YUM!!

 Spicy Watermelon Salad

This was our experiment... we just got a seedless watermelon and chopped it into cubes.  Then added lime juice, lemon juice, cayan pepper, and fresh cilantro.  Everything was added to our liking and it actually turned out really good.

Well I hope you try at least one of these recipes cause it was all really good.  And it did not take very long at all.  Once we started we ate within 45 minutes to an hour. Here we are chopping and mashing with the best of them!! Obviously very focused!!

Salsa Competition

A couple of weeks ago at Alden Lane Nursery, we entered a home-grown tomatoe salsa contest.  Since we basically have a salsa garden we used all our veggies... hoping it would garuntee us a win.  So we did a major harvest, chopped all day, Sam cried over our onions, and we didn't even get in the top three!! We were the only ones that did a pico de gilo (not sure how to spell that) , so we think thats what hurt us.  However, when Mike went to pick up the container the women working there said they liked ours the best because it was a pico style! So I guess we learned for next year that we will magic bullet all our veggies!! Or just enter in two styles, so we can please everybody. 

We obviously had tons of veggies... these pictures don't even show all the onions we picked!! Our sink is about a foot deep and it was almost filled to the top!!

The ingredients were:

white onions, green peppers, jalapeno, red peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, lime, lemon, and garlic!! AMAZING!!!

Here is the final product!! We had to make a quart of salsa... so we made twice the amount because we knew we would eat a lot of it before the contest started.  We thought it was really good!!

A Dinner Full of Stuffed Stuff...

For dinner last night it was just us girls (Mike was at back to school night)... so we decided to get creative with what we wanted to make for dinner.  We decided on having a stuffed stuff for dinner... Stuffed Bell Peppers, Tortellini (not homemade but still stuffed), and for dessert Chocolate Stuffed Pears.  Mmmm Mmmm delicious!!!
So here are the recipes for both....
STUFFED BELL PEPPERS...

These are bell peppers from our garden, Papa's garden, and the store. (Yes the bigger ones are store bought).

1. Chop one whole yellow onion and three cloves of garlic (we used five cause we really like garlic).  Saute on stove with olive oil.
2. Cook 1 Cup of rice or quinoa (we like this alternative, less carbs more protein and gluten free!!)
3. Cut the tops off the bell peppers (so the tops can be used as lids) and  clean out the seeds and white membrane. Set aside.
4. After garlic and onions are sauteed, add ground turkey or ground beef. Cook until no longer pink.
5. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of Cumin,  1 teaspoon of Cinnamon, and the rice/quinoa to the meat mixture. Take off burner. (You can add fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes at this point if you would like).
6. Stuff the bell peppers (we added cheese in the middle and on top) put the bell pepper lids back on.  Drizzle with olive oil and cover with foil. Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes.

We really enjoyed this recipe...so hopefully you will like it too!!

**If the explanation on cutting was not clear above, this is how you do it ------>

The picture of the final product before it goes into the oven (and without their hats on).

RICOTTA CHOCOLATE STUFFED PEARS

This is a nice alternative to a heavy dessert... it does have a different texture, but it is actually pretty good. Definitely worth trying...

1.  Beat together 1 Cup Ricotta cheese, 1/3 Cup powder sugar, 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.

2. After mixed stir in 2 tablespoons of miniature semisweet chocolate pieces (you can use more...lol) and 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel.                 3. Set aside and start dealing with the pears. Cut the pears hot dog style (that's long ways for those of you who did not grow up in the Pleasanton school district). Remove any seeds or unattractive looking things inside the pear and make a small divot in the pear to put the chocolate mixture.                                4. Brush the pears with orange juice and spoon in the ricotta mixture.

This is an interesting dessert, we will probably make it again, but it is a perfect way to get you chocolate in for the day, in a healthier fashion. ;0)

50 After School Snacks...

Seeing as I live with two teachers now (Sam is now officially student teaching at Granada), the after school snack has become a staple in our household.  Sam got a book called "50 After School Snacks" which should keep us busy for a while. The first one we made was called Artichoke-Pesto Bites... they were super yummy!!! Here is the recipe...

1. Mix 1/2 cup each of ricotta, chopped artichoke hearts and pesto.

2. Mix in 1/4 cup grated Parmesan.

3. Add some salt and pepper.

4. Spread mixture on top of focaccia bread (we used the one with jalapenos in it)

5. Add some mozzarella on top of the mixture

6. Bake for 10 minutes at 400*

Its really easy to make and its really, really yummy!!!

For dinner that night we made miniature hamburger inside of pita bread with a Greek yogurt sauce.  It was really good and pretty easy to make (we used turkey meat instead of beef).

I will call this recipe "Mini Burgers in a Pita" (Its really from Bobby Flay, but he didn't name it on the video)

This recipe is not an exact science, so keep adding spices until you achieve the flavor you desire.

1. Mix together 1 small can tomato paste, 1 grated (like on a cheese grater) red onion, chopped garlic, cinnamon, ground cumin, all spice, and Cayenne pepper.  (When you taste this it should be a really strong flavor).

2. Mix this mixture with your ground meat (turkey or beef) and let sit in refrigerator for one hour.    

3. After one hour of sitting BBQ the meat, but make sure the patties are a little on the small side, so you can fit 2 patties per pita.

Second part of recipe... Greek yogurt sauce. Its going to sound a little unusual, but I promise its good!!

1. Chop one green apple into bite size pieces  

2. Mix together apple pieces, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and honey.

3. After mixing let this stand for one hour in the refrigerator.

This is Mike making the patties, they are small enough that 15 patties fit on one baking sheet.  Hopefully that helps with the size factor.

And here is a picture of the final product!!

      

It looks a little weird, but it is super flavorful and good!! Hope you guys like it as much as we did!!

A Fiery Combination

Here is another recipe that we just tried last night...  it was a combination of mango, cayanne pepper, jalapeno, and mexican crema.  I will call it a Spicyza Mangoza!!
              1. Put olive oil on the magos
              2. Put cayanne pepper on the mangos
              3. Grill the mangos about 2 minutes each side
              4. (Pick the jalapenos from your garden) Cut the jalapenos and sprinkle them on top
              5. Drizzle the Mexican crema on top
And wahhhhllllaaaaahhhh you have a very yummy (yet spicy) side dish!! It was really good...but extrememly spicy, so keep milk by you!!

This recipe is super duper easy...we had it with the mago side dish above and some brussel sprouts dowsed in cheese (the only way Mike will eat them).

I will call this recipe Pork a'la BBQ Sauce

1. Buy a Pork Roast and stick it in a crock pot.
2. Put one bottle of you favorite bbq sauce in the crock pot.
3. Add some cayanne pepper, jalapenos (home grown), onions (home grown), and garlic cloves.
4. Cover it and turn it on high for three hours, then turn it on low for two hours.

Its a super easy dinner to make and its really, really good!!!

Home Grown Pizza

So with our new garden I wanted to start posting recipes that we have used with our garden fresh veggies.  I could be slightly inspired by my roommate's addiction to top chef, but things have actually turned out pretty good.  So here is the first one...

So we took red onions, tomatoes, and banana peppers from the garden and sliced them all up!
Then we got a Boboli pizza and mozzarella cheese and made a wonderful vegetarian pizza (so good that Mike even liked it).

We ate half of it before realizing that we hadn't taken a picture yet.  Anyways I realize this is not a complicated recipe, but I promise they will be getting tricky... wait till you see what I made tonight.  I don't want to say yet because we haven't tried it and if it turns out bad then no one will know about it ;0)