Lemon Bars

This is my Grandma Harriet's recipe. I don't have a lot to say about it other that these bars are unbelievable!

What you will need:

Crust:

1 cup butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

What to do:

Mix ingredients together, the mixture will be a little in the dry side. Put into a 9x13 pan and press down evenly. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Filling:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup lemon juice and zest (this is about 2 or 3 lemons-juice and zest)

While the crust in baking, mix all the filling ingredients together. When the crust is done, pour filling on top and place back into the 350 degree oven and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Frosting:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter

2 tbsp milk

While the bars are baking mix frosting together. This is a thin frosting but sets up very nicely when the bars are completely cooled.

 After the bars have cooled, pour frosting over top evenly and place in the fridge. These bars are best served chilled. ENJOY!

Beef Stew

This recipe is a perfect go to meal. The veggies and meat can be put into a large freezer bag and put into the freezer for an easy week night supper in the crockpot or you can put everything right into a large dutch oven and put it in the oven for a lazy weekend meal. However you do it, it is slow cooked perfection!

What you will need.

2 lbs of beef stew meat (you can buy the already cubed kind or you could get a roast and cut it yourself)

8-medium carrots

1/2 stock celery

1-medium onion

2-cloves garlic

6-medium red potatoes

3 cups beef stock (I used the boxed stock this time because I had it in the pantry)

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

salt and pepper

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn

What to do:

Chop carrots, onion, celery, garlic, potatoes and put into a large crock-pot and season with salt and pepper.

 Season the meat and combine it with the veggies in the crockpot. 

Take 2 of the cups of beef stock and pour over everything in the crock-pot. Turn on low and cook between 6 and 8 hours (until meat and veggie are very tender). You could also have it on high and it would take about 4 hours. When everything is finished cooking turn the crock-pot down to low.

In a large pan melt the butter and mix in the flour to make a rue (the thickener) cook the butter and flour mixture for a minute or two to cook out the flour taste.

Take all the liquid out the crock-pot and stir into the rue in the pan. Whisk everything together and add the remaining cup of beef stock until it becomes the consistency of gravy.

Add gravy back into the crock-pot with the meat and veggies and add the peas and corn.

It only needs to cook for a few more minutes, just until the corn and peas are thawed and cooked through. Serve with a nice hearty bread and ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone has a recipe for chocolate chip cookies whether it was passed down from their Grandma or they got it from the church cookbook. I have to say this recipe is the best I have ever had, I'm not just saying this because it came from my Dad...it really is true. You will have to try them yourself. This makes a huge batch of cookies, 5 dozen huge. Bake half and put the rest of the dough in the freezer, bake them all and share, or just bake them and eat them all!

What you will need:

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 cups butter (that is correct 2 CUPS of butter....this is why they are so good)!

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

2 packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer, add eggs one at a time and blend until smooth, then add the vanilla.

 In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients together; the flour, baking soda, and salt. I always add the chocolate chips into the dry ingredients because it keeps the chips from settling to the bottom of the cookie.

Now that you have both dry and wet ingredients, mix the dry, add 1/3 of the dry mixture into the wet and combine them, continue to do so until everything is mixed well. 

I drop spoon fulls of the batter on a cookie sheet  and bake them in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

 ENJOY

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This recipe I am very happy with. After searching on Pinterest for dinner ideas, I came upon many different broccoli cheese soup recipes. I wasn't particularly happy with any one of them, but they all had some good elements. Some used too much milk/cream which I thought would be too rich, some used only stock which I thought wouldn't be rich enough. I think I came up with a pretty good combination and a great soup. Being a cheese based soup I also though that it wouldn't work as well being reheated. I was wrong, the last time I made it I kept it in the fridge and it lasted a good couple days (it would have lasted longer but it was so good we just ate it). Thursday was the perfect day to make a big batch.

What you will need:

2-broccoli crowns

3-celery stocks

3-carrots

1-small onion

1-clove garlic

32 oz chicken stock (this time I didn't use my homemade stock, I used a boxed stock that I had in my pantry. 32 oz is an entire box) 

3 cups sharp Cheddar cheese (you could use any kind you like)

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup flour

1-can evaporated milk 

salt/pepper

What you do:

 Chop up all veggies, set aside the broccoli. In a large stock pot melt butter and cook celery, carrots, onion, and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook veggies until tender.

 Add the flour and coat the veggies, (this is what will make the soup thick) cook for just a couple minutes. 

 

Add the stock and evaporated milk, cook until it becomes thick and season again with salt and pepper. (If you salt and pepper every layer of what you are making it will taste very well seasoned) At this point I took an immersion blender to smooth everything together. This step is not required but it just makes a smooth soup.

 

 After I blended everything I added the cheese and broccoli and let everything simmer together on the stove top for a few hours. 

 

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits

This recipe is actually inspired by a Paula Deen recipe. It is close to the Paula recipe but I have made it so much that it has become my own, I have added to it, taken things out, and swapped ingredients if I didn't have something on hand. It is a very popular item in our house for breakfast/brunch!

What you will need:

1-package Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup blueberries

Topping:

2 tbsp flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup slivered almonds (sometimes I use oatmeal if I don't have almonds)

4 tbsp cold butter

What to do:

In a food processor put the topping ingredients and pulse until they come together and set aside.

 In a cast iron skillet (it does not have to be a cast iron, any oven safe pan or dish will do) melt the butter and brown sugar together and take off the heat as soon as the two come together.

 Place the biscuits on top of the butter/b.sugar mixture. Next evenly top the biscuits with the blueberries, finally the topping. 

 Place in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. ENJOY

Chicken, Spinach, and Cheese Taquitos

My kids love anything in a tortilla shell. I thought I would get sneaky and hide some nutritious things inside the tortilla and see how they do. It worked pretty well for the first time around and I will definitely be doing it again. The nice thing about something like this is you can change out ingredients with whatever you have on hand.

What you will need:

1-10 count package of tortillas (I used flour, you could use whatever you like)

1 lb cooked chicken (I used the chicken that I portioned up from the whole chickens I bought and froze)

4oz cream cheese (1/2 of a regular package)

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup Mexican blend cheese

1/2 small onion

1 clove of garlic

2 cups of fresh spinach 

salt and pepper

5 tbsp of butter or cooking oil

What you do:

Put 1 tbsp of the oil or butter in a pan with the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes until onions are translucent. Add the spinach and salt and pepper and cook until the spinach has wilted down. In a large bowl mix room temperature cream cheese, sour cream, the spinach mixture, chicken, and the Mexican cheese. Spread a thin layer evenly on all tortillas and roll them up tight.

 I put them into a pan and let them sit in the fridge for a few hours so they were able to set, you would not have to do this step.

In a large pan melt the remaining butter or oil and begin browning all the tortillas. Make sure to brown them evenly on all sides, this just takes a few minutes.

 

 Place browned tortillas in a 9x13 casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes on 375 degrees. 

 Serve with your favorite Mexican side dish (rice, beans, chips etc.) I made Spanish rice with green chilies and cheese! ENJOY

Carrie Carrie quite contrary...How does your garden grow!?

We have been blessed with amazing weather this spring and it really has my green thumb itching to dig in the dirt. I have been plotting and thinking about what to do this year and I already have some seeds going. This is what I'm planning....

Herbs:                         Vegetables/Fruit:

Rosemary                    Zucchini

Oregano                      Cucumbers

Thyme                         Peas

Parsley                        Beans

Lavender                      Peppers

Mint                             Tomatoes

Basil                            Blueberries

                                   Spinach, green leaf lettuce, arugula