This Week's Concoctions Ending 7/29

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

This week was my recipe exchange program and the theme was summer foods. I made tuna macaroni salad. There was a little too much relish...

At work, it was also "summer foods" week so I made a healthier version of pulled pork. It went in the slow cooker and was very tasty. The main difference was it wasn't drenched in sauce.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 2/25

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

I used the beanpot again and tried this Tastefully Simple recipe for chicken stroganoff. I did cheat and bought biscuits instead of making them out of Bisquick. I don't think I have ever made successful biscuits from scratch.

For dessert, I used another Tastefully Simple mix for this caramel strudel cake. I had some extra cranberries so I threw those in the batter.

It was my co-worker's birthday over the weekend and she wanted a chocolate cake. So I used a standard cake mix with a can of sprite and lots of eggs. It was very moist.

It was also "salad" week at work this week so people were bringing in all different kinds of salads (taco, fruit, etc). I made this cold farfalle salad with pesto, olives, peppers, onions, scallions and peas.

In addition to the birthday and the food themed week, it was also the week of my recipe exchange program with the comfort food theme. I made creamy slow cooker macaroni and cheese. It was a little heavy and chunky for a Saturday morning at 11am, but it ended up coming out really nice.

December 1: Apple Butter Bars

Apple Butter Bars (Recipe Follows after Apple Butter Prep)

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Ingredients:
5 pounds Gala apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Put the apples, both sugars, all the spices, and the salt in a slow cooker and cover. Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce the heat and cook for 6-8 hours, or until the mixture is dark and thick. Cook uncovered for about 1 hour. Remove from the heat and, with an immersion (stick) blender, beat the mixture until smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can puree the mixture in a blender.

Apple Butter Bars

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (6.8 oz) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups Slow Cooker Apple Butter
1/3 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Line a 9x13 inch metal pan with nonstick foil or spray with flour-added baking spray.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl and stir well. Add the oats and both sugars. Make a well in the center and add the butter and vanilla, then mix well with a wooden spoon until well blended. The mixture should be moist but still kind of crumbly.
3. Press half of the mixture into your prepared baking pan, pressing down tightly. Spread the apple butter over the top. Sprinkle with with the remaining crumb mixture, pressing down slightly. Sprinkle the pecans over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely in the pan and cut into 36 bars.

Thoughts: I never realized that apple butter wasn't actually butter. I guess its called apple butter because of its consistency rather than the ingredients. Apple butter is more like applesauce, but sweeter. It was just a little annoying to manage the time to cook the stuff. The actual bars were easy to make. They were very good and when they are warm, they are even better.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/28

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

Cream filled cookie cups

This year, we participated in a dairy share where we get a 1/2 gallon of cream top whole milk every week. We thought it would be cool thing to do plus Patrick likes whole milk. He didn't like this milk (and I don't drink milk) so every week I am constantly on the search for recipes that require a lot of milk. I found this recipe that combines the large quantity of milk and one of my favorite things, the slow cooker. It uses 4 cups of milk, 2 cups sugar, baking powder, and vanilla. It was gross and runny so I threw it out.

Tres Leches I (in a slow cooker)

Tres Leches II (after cooking for 10 hours)

Rocky Road Brownies

This Week's Concoctions Ending 4/23

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie".

Graham Cracker Cookies

 I made these for the kids book club featuring the book, Wonder by RJ Palacio. I guess the only food reference was for graham crackers. These came out very thin and a couple burned. They tasted ok...but I was worried that I wouldn't have enough so I also made these...

Orangesicle Cookies (Pillsbury mix)

Pastry Chicken a la King (thanks to Taste of Home)

Slow Cooker Meatloaf I

Slow Cooker Meatloaf II after under the broiler for 5 minutes

Slow Cooker Meatloaf III (made from equal parts beef and pork)

This Week's Concoctions Ending 3/12

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie". This week was a little busy because I had two co-worker's birthdays. My first co-worker picked "Pineapple Angel Lush" (http://www.food.com/recipe/pineapple-angel-lush-114445). It is a three tier, Weight Watcher friendly angel food cake. Even though I hate making and eating angel food cake, I bought an angel food cake tube pan last year because I make about 2/year for the same two co-workers. She had asked me if I thought it was too much for the three tiers and suggested that I could make them into cupcakes instead, but I told her I was up for the challenge! After eating it, she said she was proud!

When it came out, it already had a huge indentation where I could make the first cut

2 Tiers

3rd Tier

"Frosting" - Crushed pineapple, cool whip and dry vanilla pudding mix

Voila! It actually was very good despite my dislike of angel food cake. It tastes much better after being in the fridge.

Avocado Dill Dip (green stuff) and green bean fries (from Schwann's)

My second co-worker requested her birthday treat be anything chocolate or cheesecake related. Because I had just made the cream cheese brownies a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a super chocolate cake. I found this when I googled "chocolate sheet cake" (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/). It was pretty easy although it is very important that the frosting is thick because the cake comes right up to the edge of the jelly roll pan and if it is too thin, it will overflow!

Chocolate Sheet Cake (if the frosting had been any thinner, it would've been a disaster for my kitchen floor)

The duck looks like chicken, doesn't it? Except it costs more ($4.29/lb) and smells funkier. It was very good and everyone (my mom, mother in-law and us) liked it although my father, who eats expired food, wouldn't try it.

Duck Breast from the slow cooker

This Week's Concoctions Ending 2/26

Things have been kind of crazy this week because my mother-in-law was moving so here is the one highlight that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

Ham with Apples

This is one of my favorite recipes (and meat). For years, I thought that I had a pork allergy so it wasn't until I was an adult that I had ham...and I loved it.  I probably could have ham every day (not deli ham).  This recipe is very simple.  It requires 1 can of apple pie filling, cinnamon and a ham (dinner, 1/2 ham, whole ham).  Put the ham in the slow cooker, a pinch of cinnamon and the can of apple pie filling on top and 7-8 hours later....its done!