A crafty post

I haven't been cooking and new meals lately due to the fact that I have been working nothing but nights :(  But since I have the days to myself since the hubs works days, I have been doing some crafty stuff with my time. I went to Goodwill and some rummage sales and its only small projects lately but I have some great ideas  soon to come!

So first I found these small mirrors at the Goodwill and decided to paint them

Before

After

Then I found this small shelf and painted it also, the bottle I got at Bealls a while ago.

 Ta da!

I then found a spice rack and just painted it also.

 Which means my cabinet that was stuffed and unorganized is now ORGANIZED!! YAY!

Slow Cooker 3 ingredient Pot Roast

I don't even normally like pot roast but this is so good and so easy to make. I love easy dishes. You just throw the 3 ingredients in the slow cooker and leave it be. The hubs loved it.

My grandmother and mama make this with egg noodles, which is weird to me. How can you have pot roast without mashed potato's?

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

1 (2-2 1/2 lb) boneless beef chuck roast

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Place roast in a slow cooker. Add dry onion soup mix and undiluted mushroom soup. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or until meat is tender.

7 Up Biscuits

I'm making pot roast tonight and decided to make my easy 7 Up biscuits I found at Plain Chicken. It is so easy to make and they taste so good! This is a the 3rd time making these and they get better and better every time!

The dough is very wet and sticky so don't panic and add more Bisquick, its suppose to be that way. 4 ingredients makes this super fast and easy to whip up.

7up Biscuits

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup 7-up

1/4 cup melted butter

Cut sour cream into biscuit mix, add 7-Up. Makes a very soft dough.

Sprinkle additional biscuit mix on board or table and pat dough out. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 9 inch square pan.  Place cut biscuits in pan and bake at 450 degrees until golden brown.

Mama's Chicken Pot Pie

When I got back from my visit in Jacksonville I knew the first thing I wanted to make was this chicken pot pie. My mom actually made it with turkey left over and it was amazing so I cannot wait to make it a lot during the holiday season. So easy to make and so easy to add what you want.

I just boiled the chicken with a little salt, onions, and I added some red pepper flakes. I didn't peel the onions just chopped them and tossed them in.

Cube the chicken and add to a greased casserole dish.

Mix the 3 soups together then pour over cubed chicken. I added frozen peas to mine this time.

Mix the dough. Its a runny dough but comes out nice and crispy on top and soft and chewy in the middle.

Yummy!!!

Chicken Pot Pie

2 1/2 to 3 lbs. chicken ( I used boneless breast)

1 tsp. salt

1 minced onion ( I don't mince I just cut and toss in chicken)

1 cup chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can of celery soup

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup milk

2 tsp baking powder

Cover chicken with water, add salt and onions. Boil until tender. Remove from bone (if not using boneless chicken) and cut into bite size pieces. Place in a greased casserole dish. In a bowl, combine soups and broth, pour over chicken.

In bowl mix flour and butter with a fork, add salt, baking powder and milk. Spoon over top and bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

What's for dinner this week?

I just started my new job so I will be working some night shifts so I wont be cooking every night like I usually do but I'm really excited to share some new recipes I have gotten from my grandmother and Mama when I was visiting Florida last week. Stay tuned for these recipes.

3 Ingredient pot roast

Chicken Ponte Vedra

Sloppy Joe cornbread casserole

Chicken pot pie

My grandmothers meatballs and sauce
Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

Sunshine

I have 3 more days left here in sunny Florida and I figured I am having a lazy night after driving back from Palm Harbor FL that I would update a little bit. it hasn't been to long since the last time I was in Florida but I sure did miss my friends and family. I missed all the good seafood too! You don't exactly get fresh seafood living in Wisconsin, and after growing up eating it since birth, you tend to miss it a great deal!

Friday night was a great date night with my best friend Teresa. Of course we had Bonefish! If you haven't eaten there, I HIGHLY recommend it.

The Bang bang shrimp appetizer is the best thing to happen to shrimp ever! Its a must have every single time! Look at the saucy goodness!!

I got so into the food I forgot to take a picture of my fish :(

I'm staying with my parents of course, which is amazing because I spend my days at the beach or here....

Ahhhh, so peaceful! I need to get my tan back before the long dreaded winter comes in Wisconsin. For all those who live in Florida you can pretty much keep your tan all year long. Lucky!

One place I had to stop and probably wont only be once, is Mochi! Oh man, they have NOTHING like this in La Crosse :(

Yes, I'm sure you are thinking, "what the hell is that?" Well, its raspberry and mango frozen yogurt with gummy bears, rice crispy treats,chocolate turtles and mini m&m's. I loaded up this time. Usually I get fruit but not this time! I'm sure I will be here numerous times before I leave!

Yesterday my best friend Holly got MARRIED! <3 I went to Palm Harbor to see her get married at Honeymoon Island. I stayed with my friend Becca who I haven't seen in a while and just moved back there. So of course I HAD to stop at a Chic Fil A. We don't have those in the mid west and I LOVE my Chic Fil A!

 She also went to the wedding with me. I had RSVP for Matt and I to go and he unfortunately couldn't make it due to us taking a vacation a couple weeks back and if you have ever planned a wedding you know how much money goes into each and every single person who comes. So I brought her :) Unfortunately there are some people who just have no idea how much money is spent on you to eat and drink at a wedding. How rude of you to just leave after you rsvp to a wedding and that person pays big bucks for you to eat!! I swear some people are so damn rude. Such class these people have nowadays. But the wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast! The food was even better! Chicken and steak and fish! The best was this sweet potato cake. it was crusted in coconut and it just was heaven! I'm on a mission to make my own and it be as good as theirs was! I was also excited to finally get to meet baby Emma Grace! She melted my heart!

Yummy!

And of course I will show you some pictures of the wedding!

The cake was delish!

Seth and his Mama <3

Emma Grace

The beach was beautiful!

I did not want to give that little girl back!

 

MIA

I am going to Florida for my best friends wedding till the middle of next week so I will not be posting on here for a little while. I might pop in every once in a while, but I don't want to make any promises. Hope everyone has a great week :)

Fried Zucchini with Aioli dipping sauce

Try this recipe soon! So yummy and so easy to make!

I made the aioli sauce first. It needs to sit for awhile so the flavors can merry together. I also added fresh garlic to my dip. It doesn't call for it but I LOVE lemon and garlic together so I could resist. I used two cloves.

I used my mandolin and made little chips, but next time I will cut lengh wise.

My husband couldn't stop eating these.

• 3 medium zucchini – washed, stems removed, sliced lengthwise into thin pieces.

• Panko Bread crumbs for breading – poured into a shallow 9×9 dish.

Batter:
• 1 ½ cups club soda
• ¾ cups plain flour
• ½ cups corn starch
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon course ground pepper

Mix soda, flour, starch, salt, onion powder, and pepper together and pour into a shallow 9×9 dish. Dip zucchini strips into batter. Then dip the strips into the Panko bread crumbs, coating each side. Place battered strips onto paper towels.

In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil 1” deep. Heat oil over medium high flame. Add battered zucchini and fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown on bottom side, turn zucchini and repeat. Drain on layers of paper towels. Shake Parmesan Cheese over fired zucchini right before serving.  Serve hot with Lemon Aioli dipping sauce.

LEMON AIOLI DIPPING SAUCE:

• ½ Cup Mayo
• ½ Cup Sour Cream
• Zest of one lemon
• Juice of one lemon
Whisk all together in small bowl. (I used my food processor)  Serve with Fried Zucchini. Yum!

Bleu Cheese Sauce with homemade potato chips

There is a restaurant back home that has bleu cheese chips on their menu and I love them! I love bleu cheese a lot so this is an amazing combination. I haven't been able to find anything like it here :( So I tried to make my own. Its not the same but they came out pretty darn good.

I sliced my potato's on my mandolin. If you don't have one just slice as thin as possible. I heated my oil on med high heat and did small batches so the temperature of the oil didn't drop.

Crispy! I salted them as soon as they came out of the oil.

For the sauce I melted some butter and added some onions. Cook the onions for about 5 minutes.

Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the mild and reduce the sauce until thick. Take off the heat and add bleu cheese, salt, and cayenne pepper to your liking.

Yum!

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

1/2 pound blue cheese such as Maytag Blue, crumbled (2 cups)

Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring, about 7 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook over moderate heat, whisking, until thickened, 5 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the blue cheese and season with salt and cayenne.

Blackberry Pound Cake

I had a bunch of blackberry puree left over, I mean ALOT, so I decided to make a pound cake. I just made a typical pound cake and swirled in the blackberry puree. You can leave the seeds in if you want but since I already removed them, I just used what I had.

A little more ingredients in this one but so worth it.

Add the flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, add eggs and vanilla.

Slowly add the sour cream and flour mixture until well incorporated.

Pour half the mix in the bread pan and swirl the puree and add the rest of the mix and do the same to the top. Bake for about an hour depending on how hot your oven gets.

I cant wait to cut into it and see the inside!

Blackberry Mousse

I found this recipe last night on a random website and I LOVE mousse and this looked so easy so I decided to try it. Oh man, I'm glad I did. Of course mousse needs to chill for a couple hours but I couldn't resist a taste and it is AMAZING! It was so easy to make too!

Only 5 simple ingredients

Puree the blackberries with the sugar and lemon juice then sieve the puree through a mesh sieve to get the seeds out

Till you end up with this

I reserved some of the puree to top the mousse in the end

Whip the cream and vanilla till stiff peaks form

Fold in the blackberry puree to the whip cream, gently. You want to keep the air in the cream.

I topped it with leftover blackberries and the puree and refrigerate for an hour or longer.

• Prep Time 15 minutes
• Total Time 15 minutes, plus chilling
• Yield Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups blackberries (8 ounces total), plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a blender, combine berries, sugar, and lemon juice; blend until smooth. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a rubber spatula to push through. Discard seeds; transfer 1/2 cup berry puree to a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate; reserve for topping.
2. In a large bowl, combine cream and vanilla; whip until stiff peaks form. Gently fold remaining berry puree into cream. Spoon mixture into custard cups. Cover loosely and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to overnight). To serve, drizzle blackberry fools with reserved berry puree, and garnish with blackberries.

Blackberries!!

I just picked blackberries from the yard and I have never in my life baked or cooked with them. I got some research to do tonight. Im excited to try something new tomorrow with these yummy looking berries!

I also picked some beautiful lillies from my yard :)