Brick-Bread French Toast

So the bread didn't turn out as I hoped. Skinny, dense loaves.

Bread (ours was a homemade whole wheat - loaves about 1 1/2 inches thick)
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pint canned pears
2 cups whey (could use milk if you don't have whey)
6 eggs
1 cup milk
cinnamon
cloves
vanilla


Sliced the thin loaves in half, spread cream cheese frosting on top and put them back together. Then slice them about 1/2 slices. Drain and dice the pears and spread them over the bottom of a 8x11 pan. Lay sliced bread at an angle in the pan. Pour over whey. Whisk seasoning and eggs together, add milk and whisk thoroughly. Pour over the top. Let it sit over night. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Crock Pot Cranberry Apple Butter

All content and images are from Mommie Cooks


This is SO yummy - I'm making my second batch today - and I think it'll be lovingly given away whenever possible.

I have to link it here, so I can always find it again.

Ingredients

10-12 Apples, Chopped
3 Cups of Whole Cranberries
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup of White Sugar
1 tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 tsp of Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cloves
4 Shakes of Salt

Instructions

Throw it all in your slow cooker and cook it on low for 12 hours. Because I added cranberries, I decided to go ahead and emulsify it smooth.

Servings: 5

Harvest Cranberry Pork

I made this tonight - a little of this, a little of that... and WOW - it was DELISH!

It was accompanied by roasted butternut squash (a little butter, brown sugar and garlic salt), biscuits and mix greens with pear, feta and candied pecans. Yum yum yum

5 lbs of Country Style Pork ribs (few bones and lots of meat)
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 leek- sliced and diced
1 bell pepper- diced
2 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups of orange juice
1 tbs rosemary
1 packet of lipton onion soup mix
Oil

Heat oil in fry pan. sprinkle 1/2 packet of soup mix in baking dish. Sear sides of the meat till browned. Move to baking dish. sprinkle with remaining soup mix and rosemary. cook onion, leek, garlic and pepper in the same pan/oil, scraping up bits left from the meat. Once veggies are tender, add cranberries, sugar and OJ. Bring to a boil, simmer until most of the cranberries have popped. Pour over baking dish. 400 degrees for an hour or until internal temp reaches 170.

The butternut squash is a definite must have for a side.

"Spice of Life" Chili

3 lbs stew beef or top round cut into cubes or thick strips (1" x 2")
3 bottles of Widmer Hefeweizen
2 tbs chopped jalapenos (canned)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tbs cinnamon powder
2 tbs ground cocoa powder
2 tbs ground cumin
2 tbs Mexican Chili Powder
1 stick butter
2 medium white onions diced
2 yellow bell peppers diced
1 large can of ro*tel tomatoes and chillies (2 quarts, I think)
3 -14 oz cans tomato sauce
1 cup white sugar
3 - 14 oz cans red kidney beans - drained

Marinate meat in beer, jalapenos, garlic, cinnamon, cocoa, cumin and chili powder in fridge for 6-8 hours in the refrigerator. Sear beef on grill (or in fry pan). Reserve marinade.
Melt butter in stock pot. Sautee onions and bell peppers until tender. Add meat and marinade. Bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Add Rotel, tomato sauce. Simmer for 1 hour or more. Add sugar and beans and return to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Serve or freeze!

Nuts and Bolts

One of my favorite snacks and especially great around the holidays.

NUTS and BOLTS
(family recipe)

3 cups rice chex
3 cups corn chex
2 cups wheat chex
4 cups apple-cinnamon cheerios
6 cups stick pretzels
2 cups cashew pieces

3/4 cup melted butter
8 drops Tabasco sauce
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins - generics just aren't good enough)
3 tsp celery salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt
4 tsp lemon juice

Mix cereals, nuts and pretzels in a large stock pot or roasting pan. In separate bowl, mix all other seasonings. Pour liberally over cereal and stir to coat thoroughly. Depending on the width of your roasting pan, you may want to spread the mix over several 1-2 inch deep dishes or cookie sheets / broiler pans. Bake at 250 degrees for 60-90 minutes, checking every 20 minutes and stirring until it starts to appear dry.

Zucchinis abound!

Tis the season. Do you have a ton of produce to deal with?

I came home from my in-laws this week with over 60 pounds of zucchini. It might even be significantly more, I just know that the two bags that I lifted into the car weighed more than my 3 year old - and he's about 30 pounds. There are quite a few "baseball bats".

Many will automatically assume its all about bread. I like zucchini bread. But there are lots of other options... here are some of the things that I'll do with all these veggies!

I will freeze some. This process, I observed my parent conduct every summer of my entire life. Slice the zucchini into 1/2 inch rounds. Blanch - lightly boil for about 2-3 minutes. Drain immediately. Spread across cookie sheets, prop cookie sheets at an angle in front of a fan for 10-15 minutes. Move zucchini into freezer bags or vacuum seal bags and seal, removing as much air as possible. Freeze.

Some of this freezing will be in different formats, depending on how I intend to use the veggies.
Some will be cut into quarters and then sliced into 1/2 inch pieces to be used in soups and stews. I will slice some into 3 inch pieces and julienne into strips. This makes a great low carb pasta replacement for spaghetti - really - even my kids like it!

This recipe is getting quite the raves, even from my husband on Facebook! :-)

Stuffed Cheesy Zucchini

1 large Zucchini - 18 inches long would be ideal
slice in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds.
4 cups tomato sauce (add meat if you'd like)
1 pint ricotta cheese
2 cups Italian blend cheese
2 eggs
Fresh basil
2 tbs Parmesan

Place Zucchini flesh side down in pan with 1/2 inch of water in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes to soften. Drain water and flip zuch flesh-side up. Pour 2 cups of sauce around the zuch in the pan. In separate bowl, whisk eggs. Combine eggs with cheese and ricotta. Scoop into the hull of the zucchini. Drizzle remaining sauce over the top. Garnish tops with basil and remaining parmesean. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

I grew up eating zucchini casserole and it's still one of my favorites!

Zucchini Casserole / aka - Cheeseburger Casserole
3-4 zucchini, depending on pan size - about 2-3 cups raw
1 small package stuffing
1/2 cup of butter
1 large onion
1 lb hamburger or mild sausage
Sliced tomatoes
1 cup grated cheese (or 2 oz of velveeta sliced)

Cook zucchini in salted water until tender - about 5 minutes. Drain and layer in the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer dry stuffing ontop. Dot top of stuffing with butter. Fry onion in butter, add meat, cook till brown and crumbled. Layer on top of stuffing. Layer tomatoes on top of meat. Top with cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I also had a friend recommend this blog for some great ideas for zucchini use, including a zucchini-feta fritter recipe and some chocolate muffins and a zucchini cake with broiled frosting!

Let us know if you try any of these ideas and what you thought or feel free to share other recipes and ideas in the comments.

Grilled Mango Pork

I take no credit for this recipe. It can be found at the original site Recipetips.com

I am re-posting it here for my own convenience, so that I can find it again. It was YUMMY!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Serving Description: 1 chop, about 1/2 cup slices and sauce

Servings: 4

Ingredients

- 4 pork chops - 1 large mango, divided - 1 small onion - 1/2 cup raisins, preferably golden raisins - 2 cloves garlic, or more to taste - 1 teaspoon ginger - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste - 1/2 cup water salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Peel the mango and then slice half and dice the other half. Set the slices aside. Chop onion and garlic.
• Mix diced mango, onion, raisins, ginger, cayenne pepper, garlic, salt, pepper and water in a saucepan. Simmer until onions are soft and mixture is thick, but not dry, about 10 minutes. Add a little more water, if necessary. Set aside (this can be prepared ahead, if desired).
• Preheat the grill. Trim excess fat from the chops. Lightly salt and pepper each side and grill to desired doneness. Briefly grill the mango slices, if desired. (They are good either grilled or not).
• Serve chops with sauce spooned over and around them with slices on top.

I would recommend using a mango that is a little bit green, as the tart comes out and blends nicely with the pork and it is also easier to grill when it is less mushy. I think any cut of pork would work fine. I quickly dipped the meat in a rinse of vegetable oil and soy sauce before putting on the bbq. We served it over a wild rice mixture with green beans on the side. Delish!