Foodie Fridays: From the Crock-Pot

Today we're having a couple friends over for dinner, which will be roast, Crock-Pot style. This recipe is actually one from Nick, he's made it several times with delicious results. The best part is, you can prep it in the morning and leave it cooking through the afternoon. No watching, no stirring, no burning, just yummy Crock-Pot perfection.

Nick's Crock-Pot Roast
Ingredients:
One 2-4 lb. roast
1-2 cups beef broth, depending on the amount of liquid you desire
3-4 large carrots, cut into rounds or one bag of baby carrots
3-5 potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths 
3-4 onions, peeled and cut into thick slices
3-5 garlic cloves, depending on the size of your roast
Dry rub ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1 tblsp. garlic powder
1 tblsp. onion powder
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper 
Directions:
1. Prepare the dry rub by mixing all the ingredients except the flour. Start small and add more to taste, then whisk into flour.
2. Coat the roast in the dry rub.
3. Place all vegetables in the bottom of the Crock-Pot. Add the roast on top, then place garlic cloves on top of the meat and vegetables.
4. Cover the roast and vegetables with beef broth. Through the cooking process, the amount of liquid will increase as the meat and vegetables sweat.
5. Cover the roast and vegetables and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. We recommend serving with bread and apple sauce. :)

Got a recipe to share? Pass along your recipes, I'll try them and share the ones we like on the blog!

Foodie Fridays: Valentine Edition

Confession: I didn't make this recipe this week (well, yet). I made these last week, but held off on sharing them until today. Gotta get a little closer to V-Day, right? (This week we made burgers on the stove, which really didn't involve too much of a recipe, just know that Italian dressing makes a yummy wet rub when topped with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper! The burgers were juicy and delicious!)

These cookies are the wonderful confection, and my husband's favorite cookie, Spritz. If you've never heard of or made Spritz, the main thing that makes these treats different is that they are made with a cookie press. So after you make the dough, you don't have to cool it, you just put it in the press and get clicking! Also, when you buy a cookie press, you get a variety of disks that help you make lots of cute shapes, sans cookie cutters. This past week, I made hearts and a circular, wreath-like shape.

If you have or buy a cookie press, it will come with recipes, but this one I'm sharing is my favorite, and I think the best. The trick is substituting in some almond extract. Spritz are sweet enough that you really don't have to frost them (you can add food coloring to the dough to tint them, or top them with sprinkles before baking), but everyone in my family loves the frosted kind the best. So I'm including a simple frosting recipe that can be used for any sugar cookie.

Classic Spritz Cookies
Makes 6-7 dozen
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract (if you don't have almond extract, use 1 tsp. of vanilla extract)
3 1/2 cups (14 oz.) whisked, not packed, flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions:
1. Beat butter on medium speed until creamy.
2. Add sugar, egg, almond and/or vanilla extract, beat well.
3. Add flour, one cup at a time, mix well. Dough will be soft, do not refrigerate.
4. Follow directions on cookie press for use. If you're not frosting your cookies, remember to add colored sprinkles prior to baking, if you want them.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes or until firm but not brown. (I have dark cookie sheets so I top them with a piece of parchment paper before pressing the dough onto it. Then in my oven, I only need to bake the cookies for about 7-8 minutes.)
6. Cool for 2 minutes, then remove to cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup softened butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
About 2 tblsp. milk
Directions:
1. Mix powdered sugar and butter.
2. Stir in vanilla and milk.
3. Beat/stir until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency. If frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, slowly add a small amount of milk.
4. Add a little food coloring to tint your frosting if you want.

To decorate the cookies shown above, I put the frosting into a piping bag and used several different tips to create the designs. I used several dots of red food coloring to create the pink color and added red sugar sprinkles to some of the cookies for variety.

Making your own version of Spritz cookies? I'd love to see what you create! Email a photo to me at eliseloyola[at]gmail[.com] and I'll include it in an upcoming blog post!

Foodie Fridays: A Dang Good Dinner

This week we whipped up a delicious dinner of bacon-wrapped filets, broccoli with garlic, oven fries, and corn bread muffins. It was so yummy, I knew I had to share! And everything was pretty easy to prepare, though I made the cornbread earlier in the day. This saved time and oven space.

Broccoli with garlic is not a new recipe to this blog, so you can find it at the bottom of this post (along with a tasty almond-crusted salmon recipe). It is so easy to make and only takes about 10 minutes once you get the water boiling. And, it's safe for Whole30 dieters, another plus! :)

For the filets, we topped both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, then seared them with butter for about two to three minutes on each side. We then transferred the filets to a baking sheet lined with tin foil and baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Oven Fries
Makes 3-4 servings
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Ingredients (As for the herbs/spices, these are some options, you  can use whatever you like.)
4 small baking potatoes
1 tblsp. olive oil (you can also use 1 tblsp. of butter or vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp. garlic salt (or part garlic powder, part salt to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1/8 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Scrub potatoes thoroughly, then cut each lengthwise into eight slices, or cut into small pieces.
2. In a bowl combine oil (or butter) and herbs/spices. You can vary the amounts according to your taste. I added extra garlic powder to ours and withheld the Parmesan.
3. Stir potatoes in the mixture, or use your hands like I did. ;)
4. Spray an 11x7x1 1/2 inch baking pan with a non-stick coating (or just use whatever size baking sheet you have).
5. Arrange potatoes in baking pan and bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Potatoes are best served hot.

Corn Bread
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup corn meal (yellow or white)
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
Directions:
1. If you decide to cook your corn bread in an 8- or 9-inch square or round cake pan, grease it with Crisco before using. If you use a muffin pan, insert the liners.
2. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients.
3. In a second bowl combine the wet ingredients.
4. Stir wet ingredients into the medium bowl of dry ingredients, beating by hand until smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, or ladle into muffin cups.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes (less time for muffins) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Got a recipe to share? Pass along your recipes, I'll try them and share the ones we like on the blog!

Foodie Fridays: Coffee Cake

Lately I've been getting more into cooking and baking, thanks to the Food Network. Once you watch enough cooking shows, you want to get into the kitchen and get cracking. So I decided to start a new series on the blog: Foodie Fridays. I'll be sharing a recipe or two that I've made in the past week. Because I also enjoy baking, I can't guarantee that everything I'll be sharing is entirely healthy, but I'll try to strike a balance. :)

For the first Foodie Friday, I'm sharing my Grandma's recipe for delicious Coffee Cake. It's best served sliced and spread with a little soft butter.

Grandma's Quick Coffee Cake
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cake ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup oil
Topping ingredients:
- 3 tblsp. flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tblsp. butter
Directions:
1. Sift/stir together four, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. Add and mix egg, milk, and oil.
3. Pour into an 8x8 pan.
4. Sprinkle topping on batter.
5. Bake at 375 for 25 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool. (I like my coffee cake completely cooled to room temperature. For some reason it tastes better than warm coffee cake.)
7. Cover when completely cool.

Got a recipe to share? Pass along your recipes, I'll try them and share the ones we like on the blog!