Shredded BBQ beef

I've been a bad recipe blogger because I have been forgetting to take pictures! I guess I could post without photos, but it just seems so plain and boring. Don't we all love a picture to go with the recipe? Anyway, thanks to google for providing this one. Its pretty darn exact, in my opinion. This recipe hails from Gooseberry Patch Christmas Book 7, and I love that its a crock pot recipe. I simply adore them. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of just plain roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, that whole spread. But . . . I do like to do something else with all those roasts in my freezers every once in a while. Enter BBQ beef sandwiches! Its a family favorite round these parts. Just the right mix of sweet and spicy.

2 -3 lbs beef chuck roast ( I buy whatever beef roast is on sale. I figure its gonna get cooked to bits so who cares who fancy it is?)
1 small yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp brown sugar, packed and divided
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
7 oz bottle ketchup (basically one cup)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dried mustard powder
pepper to taste

1. Place roast in your crock pot, add enough water to cover. Top with sliced onion, heat on high for one hour. Reduce to low and continue cooking for 7 hours.

2.When its all done in the crock pot, remove and with 2 forks, shred the meat.

3.Place in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil. Stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar; heat until liquid evaporates.

4.Combine remaining ingredients with remaining brown sugar in a mixing bowl, pour over beef in skillet. Heat until warmed through. Serve with buns or eat by itself, serves 6.

Rice Pudding

Firstly, I totally ripped this picture off the net, thank you google! And that is because we snarfed it all, no leftovers, didn't even have time to get the ol' camera out. Secondly, if you are not a rice pudding fan, I ask you, why not? It has everything a homey, old fashioned dessert should have; milk, cinnamon and sugar. Well, and the rice too, of course. But seriously, its so cinnamony-sugary fantastic. Perhaps a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side for those not counting calories. MMMMMmmmm, it truly is comfort food at its best.

3/4 cup rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (could use nutmeg instead, I'm much more a cinnamon kinda gal)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
5 cups milk (my guilty secret? I use whole milk)

Mix all ingredients together. Bake 1-1/2 hours in a 2 qrt baking dish at 375. Let cool slightly and serve.

Creme Brulee

This is the very best creme brulee I've ever had. Ever. Beats any restaurant. And that includes the one I had in Paris. As in Paris, France, the home of amazing confections. The creme brulee in Paris was served cold, and that really is not the very best way to serve it. According to Chef Peon, (the fantastic pastry chef who's notes on this recipe from AllRecipes.com made ALL the difference in the world) part of the tastiness of creme brulee comes from the contrast of the cold creme and the hot, crunchy sugar crust. If you re-chill it after you torch the top, the top will soften again as it chills. So the very best way to serve it is immediately after caramelizing the sugar on top, to contrast the hot and the cold, the smooth and the crunchy. There's my discourse on dessert. Thanks to Cookalot who submitted this recipe on AllRecipes.com, its never failed me yet.

• 6 egg yolks
• 6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.
3. Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately
4. After pouring a little of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture and whisking briskly, pour the cream/yolk mixture into the rest of the cream and whisk. There will be a lot of foam on the top. Skim this off with a strainer and throw away.
5. Pour the hot mixture into individual serving dishes or ramekins and place in a baking dish. Set the dish with the ramekins in it on your oven shelf, then pour hot water in the dish so the water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
6. Bake at 375 anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. They are done when you shake the dish gently and the brulees jiggle just slightly in the middle. The jiggle shouldn't be a liquid jiggle, but more of a gelatin-like jiggle.
7. Remove from oven and let the brulees cool in the water bath for about 15 minutes, then remove and put the brulees in the refrigerator to chill completely.
8. Just before serving, sprinkle the tops with white granulated sugar and shake off the excess. Place under broiler til caramelized or use a propane torch to burn the tops. Serve immediately.
   

*a note. This serves 5. If you want to adjust it for different amounts, say you want to make 8, you can go to AllRecipes.com, find the original recipe and there is a feature that allows you to change servings. It will adjust the amount of ingredients, but not the directions. And I've incorporated Chef Peon's comments into my directions here so they are not identical to the directions you will read there. So be careful of that. Also, I have made this a day ahead, I stick them in the freezer, I pull them out about 10 minutes before I want to broil the top and I've never had a problem.

Banana Muffins

I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes, I get sick of banana bread. So, I needed something to do with those bananas that have the lovely brown spots and voila! A banana muffin is the answer! Thanks to my trusty Better Homes and Gardens versatile muffin recipe, see notes about variations.

1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup mashed bananas

1. Line a 12 cup muffin tin. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture, set aside.
2. In another bowl, combine egg, milk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Add the mashed banana and any nuts (optional) to the dry mixture with the egg mixture.
3. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack for 5 minutes.

*a note. Variations include:

blueberry: prepare muffins except fold 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries and increase milk to 3/4 cup.

oatmeal: reduce flour to 1 1/3 cups, increase milk to 3/4 cups and add 3/4 cup rolled oats to dry mixture.

poppy seed: increase sugar to 1/2 cup, increase milk to 3/4 cup, add 1 tbsp poppy seed to dry mixture.

cranberry muffins: combine 1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries, increase milk to 3/4 cup, and 2 tbsp additional sugar, fold into batter.

cheese muffins: stir 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese into dry mixture, increase milk to 3/4 cup.

Ranch-style Beans

My family loves beans, its something all of us enjoy eating. So I love recipes that add a little spice and pizazz, like this one, instead of boring from the can beans. I hope you like it too! Thanks to my Essential Mormon Celebrations cookbook for another winner. Fix these at your next BBQ!

1 lb bacon, cut in 2 inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1 red or green pepper, chopped (I used red)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
2 tbsp mustard
2 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp molasses
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 (16oz) can white or pinto beans, drained (I used pinto)
1 (16oz) can lima or butter beans, drained (I used butter beans)
1 (16oz) can red kidney beans, drained
2 (16 oz) cans pork and beans, UNdrained

Fry bacon in a large skillet until cooked but not crisp. Add onion and chopped pepper and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain off bacon grease and discard or save for another use. In a large baking dish, combine all other ingredients. Stir in bacon, onion, and pepper mixture. Bake at 325 for about 1 hour. Makes 12 servings.

*notes. In an effort to use my oven less and my crock-pot more, I put these in my crock-pot on low for about 3 hours and they were gggggreat!

Fresh Wheat Bread

Thanks to Brittany at Sisters' Cafe for sharing this recipe! I ground my own wheat and thought this bread was fantastic. The recipe is designed for a kitchen aide so don't worry if you're not all cool and fancy with your bosch (cough, cough, Staci). I loved her tips at the bottom, very helpful. Happy bread making!

2 cups whole wheat flour, sifted
4 to 5 cups bread flour, sifted
2 Tbs granulated sugar
1½ tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast (a rounded Tablespoon)
2 ounces honey (1/4 cup)
1 2/3 cups water
2/3 cup milk
½ stick butter (1/4 cup)

1. In a large mixer bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, salt and yeast.
2. In a medium bowl, combine honey, milk, water and butter, and heat to 105 degrees in the microwave. (About 60 seconds - I used a candy thermometer. It worked great.)
3. Stir liquids to melt the butter and add, all at once, to the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl.
4. With the dough hook installed on your stand mixer, mix dough. Add more flour by the Tablespoon, as needed, until the dough comes together and clears the bowl. Mix for 8-10 minutes with the dough hook until no longer sticky, adding flour as necessary.
6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Remove from bowl and divide dough in half. Make each half into a 10 x 12 rectangle and roll each up from short end. Pinch the seams. Roll on the countertop to make a uniform log and place in an oiled breadpan seam-side up. Shake the roll to oil the bottom, turn the pan over, catch the dough and reinsert it into the pan, seam-side-down. (or just spray your plastic wrap with oil before covering so it doesn't stick. I don't like to use a towel to cover because it can dry out the dough.)
7. Return to warm place and let rise an additional 30 minutes or until at least 1 inch above the pan top. Bake in a preheated 400°F. oven for 25 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on rack.

Yield: 2 loaves

Cooking Tips
*To create a nice, warm place for your loaves to rise, turn on oven for 60 seconds and then turn it off. Turn the oven light on too. The temperature should be just about right for your loaves to rise nicely. (don't forget to turn off the oven!)
*If you do not plan to eat both loaves right away, they freeze beautifully. Wrap loaf with foil as soon as it comes out of the oven- just foil, nothing else- the wrapping-while-hot trick retains the moisture so when thawed it's very fresh tasting.

Baked Oatmeal

From Melanie's Kitchen Cafe, this recipe was oh so oaty delish! I love loved it! A great way to have oatmeal and yet its also a treat. Thanks for sharing!

PS- I halved it in an 8x8, perfect for me and Travis, and it heated up well the next day.

6 cups oatmeal (you can use quick or rolled, I used quick, per Melanie's suggestion)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups milk
4 beaten eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 9X13-inch baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I enjoyed mine with some milk poured in the bowl and some cut-up fruit on top.