Poutine with Shredded Beef Roast

I have GOT to cook another pot roast, just so I can hide a bit of it in the refrigerator and make this again for lunch one day soon!  Yes...I hide small amounts of stuff sometimes.  Survial of the fittest smartest, right? Poutine is a dish from Canada and traditionally is made with french fries, cheese curds (which I don't care for), and brown gravy.  I decided to add leftover roast beef and pepper jack cheese (which I love) to mine along with the brown gravy.  I just used a simple packet for the brown gravy (lazy, I know, but I didn't save any of the roast liquid when I cooked it, what was I thinking?!)  See?...  Just the picture of this is turning me crazy!!  It is that good!

Poutine
French fries, I bake mine according to the package directions with just a tiny pinch of dried rosemary sprinkled on top.  You can fry them if you choose.
1 packet of brown gravy, cook according to packet directions
leftover pot roast
Pepper jack cheese, either grated or sliced thin
        On your plate place a nice pile of hot french fries.  Add a thick later of pot roast, which has been reheated in the microwave until hot.  Pour on some gravy, add some cheese and microwave again until the cheese is melted, about a minute or two.  The grab a fork and dig in!

15 Bean and Ham Soup

I'm not gonna lie...my kids are not giddy when I tell them we are having beans for dinner.  Luckily most of them trust me enough that it will not be a super regular occurence and will at least give them a try because they love my cooking.  I made some Disneyland cornbread with strawberry whipped butter (might as well be a cake!) to go with this soup and they were mollified somewhat.  I loved this soup!  Beans are so good for you and my ham rocks!!  Click on the link here to see how I cook my ham.  What made this soup so good was the liquid I cooked it in.  The last time I cooked a ham I reserved the liquid from the crockpot and froze it with 3 cups of the shredded ham meat.  Then I used some of it to cook the beans in.  Yum!

15 Bean and Ham Soup
1 bag bean mix (I discard the flavoring packet that comes in it)
4 cups of cooked ham liquid, divided
1/2 container of grape tomatoes, halved
1 small white onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. oregano
           Rinse the beans in a colander under cold water and remove and small debris.  (One time I found a small pebble in my bag of beans!)  Pour the beans into a 3-5 quart stock pot and add water to cover the beans.  Add 2 cups of the cooked ham liquid.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 1-2 hours, checking every 1/2 hour to make sure they do not boil all of the water and liquid away.  If this starts to happen add a cup of water. (This is the fast cook method for the beans, not the overnight soaking method.)

I love how pretty and colorful the uncooked beans are!
After the beans have cooked until they are beginning to become tender (1-2 hours).  Add the ham, onions, celery, salt, pepper, oregano and 2 more cups of ham liquid. 

Cover again and simmer until beans and onions and celery are tender, about 1/2 hour or so.  The last thing to add is tomatoes.  They only need about 5-10 minutes to cook.  Taste for additional seasoning (salt and pepper.) 

Italian Pasta Salad

Quick and easy!  We make this a lot at my house!  The kids love to take it to school for lunch or have it is an after school snack.

Italian Pasta Salad
16 oz. tri color rotini
1/2 bag of mini pepperoni slices
1 can olices, halved
1 small can mushroom slices (or 7 fresh mushrooms, sliced.  The fresh fall apart easily so I use canned)
1/2 container grape tomatoes, halved (or a can of diced tomatoes)
1/2 bottle Italian dressing (I prefer the Kraft brand for this.  It is the only time I use bottled dressing)
      Cook the rotini according to the package directions for al dente, minus one minute.  The cooked pasta will absorb some of the dressing and soften so if you don't want soggy pasta (yuck) it's better to undercook it just a teeny tiny bit!  Add the pepperoni, olices, mushrooms and tomatoes and stir together.  Pour the dressing over the salad and gently stir to combine.  Garnish with chopped green onions if desired.  Or you can chop 6-7 and stir them right in!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Frosting  (recipe adapted from here)

For the Chocolate Cupcakes: 
NOTE:  I live at high altitude so my package directions say to add 1/3 cup flour to the mix and decrease the oil to 1/3 cup while increase the buttermilk by 2 Tbsp. so that is what I did.  If you live at sea level, the following will work for you.
• 1 (18.25 oz.) box Devil’s Food (or other chocolate variety) cake mix
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 4 eggs
For the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough "Frosting": 
NOTE:  I decreased the original amount of flour from 2 1/2 cups to 2 cups and increased the chocolate chips from 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups.
• 12 Tbsp. (1.5 sticks) butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Mix the cups cake batter and pour into lined muffin tins, 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.  At high altitude bake at 375 for 16-18 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.
For the frosting:
In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugars.  Add the milk and vanilla and mix well.  In another bowl combine the flour and salt and stir together.  Pour the flour and salt mix into the creamed mix and fold together with a spatula, do not over mix.  Add the chocolate chips and fold them in.  Spoon the mixture onto the cooled cupcakes.

Shrimp Tacos with Easy Purple Coleslaw and Honey Crema

My fish tacos several weeks ago were such a hit with my family that I decided to try another one, this time using shrimp.  The Purple Coleslaw was easy to make as I just reserved half of the marinade I used on the shrimp and mixed it in with the cabbage.  Honey Crema is just sour cream mixed with honey to sweeten it up a tad and thin it down a smidge.  I also added the Mango Strawberry coleslaw, from yesterday, on top.

Shrimp Taco Marinade (adapted from here)

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (approx. 2 limes)
• zest of 2 limes
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons finely diced jalapeño pepper
• 3 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper                                                                                                                         

Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil.  Slowly pour the olive oil in while wisking vigorously to emulsify it into the marinade.  Clean, devein and remove the shells of one large bag raw shrimp, 41-60 count size.  Add the shrimp to a large mixing bowl.  Pour 1/2 of the marinade over the shrimp, toss to coat, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to three hours max.  Too long will make ceviche.

Remove the shrimp from the marinade and thread them onto metal skewers or wooden skewers which have been soaked in water to avoid burning.  Cook them on the grill until just barely pink.  Do not overcook your shrimp or they will be tough, not tender!

Thinly slice one small head of purple cabbage.  Pour the reserved marinade, (NOT the marinade you used on the raw shrimp, but the part you didn't use) over the shredded cabbage and gently stir to combine. If you stir it too vigorously you will break down the cabbage and end up with a dark purple mess.

Don't forget to add the Strawberry Mango Salsa from yesterday!

Mix together 1/2 cup sour cream and 2 Tbsp. honey and you have the last component, the Honey Crema.
Now build yourself a yummy shrimp taco!

Strawberry Mango Salsa

Regular tomato salsa will always be my favorite, but sometimes it's fun to experiment!  I wanted a fruit salsa to go with some shrimp tacos I was making and I had a whole counter full of mangos sooo....  here it is!

Strawberry Mango Salsa
1 pint strawberries, diced
1 ripe mango, diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
2 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
juice of 1/2 lime
       Combine the ingredients in a small bowl and serve immediately.

Check back tomorrow for the marinated shrimp tacos and easy red coleslaw recipes!  :)

Mango Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I love mangos!  I bought a whole box at Costco last week and with a 50 cent price matching ad bought 8 more at Wal-Mart.  This is one of the new recipes I put together with the mangos.  It is pretty simple.  You can use store bought croissants or what I did was to make this easy buttermilk-dinner-rolls recipe from a past post.  Either way would be delicious!  I love my homemade rolls, so that is my preference.  The lettuce is a Bibb butter lettuce.  It is the perfect taste and texture for this sandwich.

Mango Chicken Salad
2 ripe mangos, diced
2 large chicken breasts, grilled, seasoned and diced
4 green onions, chopped
3 large basil leaves, chopped 
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup honey flavored greek yogurt
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
         Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and gently fold together.

Lava Flow

This was my favorite drink in Hawaii!  It is a non-alcoholic Lava Flow.  The weekend after I got home I set out to recreate it.  It is fairly simple, but not low calorie at all!  Sometimes you have to splurge, right?  :)

Lava Flow (makes 2 tall drinks)
1 pint strawberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1/2 cup cream of coconut (this is NOT coconut milk, it is CREAM of coconut, try Coco Lopez brand can)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup pineapple juice
3-4 cups ice
pineapple wedges for garnish
      Wash the strawberries and remove the stem and hull.  In a small food processor chop up the strawberries until they are a thick and chunky puree.  In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave the water for one minute.  Stir in the sugar to make a simple syrup.  Add the pureed strawberries to the syrup and stir to combine.  Pour half the strawberry blend into each glass.  In a blender combine the cream of coconut, heavy cream, pineapple juice and ice to fill the blender to 2/3 full.  Blend until smooth.  Pour slowly into the glasses with strawberry puree.  The puree will climb the sides of the glass as you pour in the coconut mix.  Add the pineapple garnish to the glass.  Kick off your shoes, relax on a chaise lounge and imagine yourself on the beach, while sipping this deliciously smooth drink!  Then get up and run a couple of miles to help absorb some of the 500+ calories!  :)

General Conference ideas

Just a few ideas for General Conference weekend.  At our house GC weekend is a big deal!  Lots of good food, fun activities, family bonding and learning from the living Prophet, Apostles and General Authorities and Auxiliaries.

Everyone gets a "goodie bag" with treats, one for each of the four sessions.  There is also a pencil box with colored pens, pencils and/or crayons.  I save the bags and store the pencil containers and writing utensils with them to be used each April and October.  I just add new treats and they are ready to go again! 

Everyone also gets a note taking or activity packet.  The girls get the adult version of note taking with a ideas and things to ponder, while the boys still like the Primary packets with smaller note taking pages and more activities like word searches, crossword puzzles, hidden pictures, etc.  There are several versions of these packets online, I printed the 2 kinds above from sugardoodle.net

This is a listening game that we have used for a few years now.  I have printed off several word strips with words that you often hear during conference talks.  Each child is given a stick, 2 rolls of pennies and a jar.  They then choose 4 wordstrips to tape onto their sticks.  (They can change them with each session if they want to.)  During the talks they listen for the words on their sticks and when they hear one, they put a penny into their jar.  At the end of the last session of conference they count up their pennies and use them to purchase fun items from the "General Conference Store" (basket below.)

Each item in the basket has a round sticker with a number on it.  The number is the amount of pennies that item costs.  We usually start with either the youngest, or the oldest and then work our way down the line taking turns "buying" items.  This game really helps the kids to listen and pay attention during the talks so they hear their chosen words and add pennies to their jar.  There are things for all ages, both boys and girls so everyone loves to "shop" at the General Conference Store.  :)