Slow Cooker Rolls

16 Thursday May 2013

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Summer’s heating up and the last thing we want to do is heat up the oven, too. That’s why we love our slow cooker. It’s such a great way to cook things in the summer when the weather is hot but you want to keep your kitchen cool. When we realized you could cook dinner rolls or a loaf of bread in the slow cooker, we thought we’d give it a try.

Slow Cooker Rolls | Pinterest
Sometimes we get that carb craving, where we just want a nice, warm roll with our dinner. It’s the perfect treat with a summer salad, and an even more perfect treat when you don’t have to heat up your oven to get one!

rhodes

We tried and succeeded with these Rhodes Texas rolls, which you can find in the freezer section. We tried this method twice. The first time we thawed the rolls completely (below). The second time, we put the frozen dough in with no thaw and they turned out great with a little extra time in the crock pot.

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We started by laying a piece of parchment paper in the slow cooker. No cooking spray needed, just place the paper in there and place the dough on it. Keep a little space between the dough knowing it’s going to rise and grow together. Turn the cooker on high and let it work its magic.

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This is how the rolls looked after about 40 minutes. The smell was just starting to waft through the kitchen like fresh bread baking. Mmmm!

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After about an hour and 10 minutes, this is what we found. Beautiful golden edges and the smell of heavenly goodness. Our mouths are watering just thinking about these rolls!

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Look how the bottom cooked up nicely. Very easy to pull apart.

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Perfect and ready for the butter table. Such a great way to serve fresh rolls in the hot summer!

Keep in mind that slow cookers can vary in their cooking. Some may have “hot spots” resulting in uneven cooking. We used a Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker (not expensive at all!) and it turned out great both times. Keep an eye on the rolls after approx 50 minutes.

Here’s the recipe
Ingredients:
Parchment Paper
Dough – fresh homemade, frozen, or frozen rolls.  If using thawed or fresh, the cooking time will be reduced from using the frozen

Directions:
Place parchment paper in slow cooker to cover the bottom and sides of the slow cooker.

Put the dough (fresh or frozen) into the slow cooker and turn the cooker on high.

Let the rolls cook for 50 min, and then check on them. If you used frozen dough, the rolls may take up to 1 hr and 10 min to cook through.

Pull the rolls out of the slower cooker and get the butter out – these rolls are ready to eat!

Nom. nom. nom.

Margarita Cupcakes

02 Thursday May 2013

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Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today is the day we are celebrating our inner Mexican heritage, or maybe just our love for Arizona – which is by Mexico. That counts, right? Or maybe our love for Margaritas – which is what we drink in Arizona. Or maybe our love for cupcakes – which is what we eat after drinking Margaritas. How about Margarita Cupcakes? This is a great way to celebrate ANYTHING.

Margarita Cupcakes | Recipe Girl
When we stumbled (not because of the tequila) upon these cupcakes, we knew we had to try these for Cinco de Mayo. Not only did the picture look so pretty, but what a great combination (Cupcakes and margs? HELLO! Those are two of our favorite things!) We shared these with the family after making them and it was fun to watch the faces of the people eating them. Was it salty? Sweet? What is this? I’ve never had anything like this! The icing is great! Oooh it’s so limey (is that a word?). It really does taste like a margarita. Pick up the ingredients and try it yourself. You won’t be sorry – but it’s probably best to keep them away from the kids.

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Get out the tequila and lime, it’s Margarita Cupcake time!

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These festive ingredients will get the party started.

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Whisk together margarita mix and tequila in a small bowl. Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the recipe. Pour the rest on some ice and drink it while making the cupcakes.

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In a large bowl, blend the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, lime zest and 1 1/4 cups of the margarita mix.

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Blend on low for about 30 seconds and then increase the speed to medium and blend 2 additional minutes. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Look at the gorgeous green lime zest coming through.

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Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake 20 – 15 minutes or until cooked through. Cool completely.

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Look how beautiful and festive they are! So festive that we were so excited we forgot to take pictures of the icing and piping it on.  We think you will forgive us when you taste these. ¡Olé!

Here’s the recipe
Cake Ingredients:
9 ounces Margarita Mixer, bottled liquid
3 ounces tequila
1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix
3 large egg whites
2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoon lime zest

Lime Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 to 6 cups powdered sugar
3 – 4 Tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lime zest
green food coloring, if desired
small lime slices for garnish, if desired

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two dozen cupcake tins with paper liners.

Prepare cupcakes: Whisk together margarita mix and tequila in a small bowl. Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the recipe; pour the rest on some ice and drink it while making the cupcakes :)

In a large bowl, blend cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, lime zest and 1 1/4 cups of the margarita mix from step 1. Blend on low for about 30 seconds and then increase speed to medium and blend for two additional minutes. Batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into cupcake liners (about 3/4 full). Bake for 20-25 min, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pans, then remove them to a rack to cool completely.

Prepare icing: Once cupcakes are completely cooled, prepare the icing. Place butter in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until butter is fluffy. Add 5 cups of powdered sugar, salt, lime juice, and lime zest. Mix until thick and creamy. Add more powdered sugar until the frosting is of a good spreading (or piping) consistency. Mix in a tiny amount of green food coloring or gel paste if you’d like the frosting to have a green tint. Ice cupcakes in whatever manner you prefer… spreading or piping the frosting. Use small lime slices as garnish.

Nom. nom. nom. 

Pete’s Parmesan Chicken

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

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Here we go again! Another one of Pete’s favorite things to write about. This gets requested all the time. All. The. Time. So we figured we’d share the love with this delish and kid-friendly recipe. If you know a hard-to-please picky eater, you may just want to try this family favorite chicken dish.

Pete’s Parmesan Chicken | Blended Kitchen adapted from Cooking Light
Who doesn’t love chicken parm? There’s something so perfect about the combination of breaded chicken, gooey mozzarella and marinara sauce. And there’s something even more perfect about turning traditional chicken parm into chicken parm strips, am I right?

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The list is more than our usual four ingredients, but’s it’s super easy to whip together.

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Putting these ingredients in their own plates/bowls to create an “assembly line” will help in the preparation.

Click on the pictures above to see larger photos of the assembly line steps. We’re trying something new with the blog format – do you like it? IMG_7815

Start to brown the chicken pieces by placing them in the oil in the heated pan

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Turn pieces over after a few minutes. You do not want the chicken cooked through, just a beautiful golden brown.

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When all the pieces are browned on both sides, transfer the chicken to an oven proof dish. You can use a casserole dish or any oven proof dish.

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Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the cheese is melted and gooey.

Here’s the recipe
Ingredients:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips
2 – 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
approx. 1/2 cup  of your favorite pasta sauce
approx. 1/2 cup  grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
approx. 3/4 cup  shredded mozzarella, provel or provolone cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°.

Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish; place egg whites in a bowl. Place panko in a shallow dish. Dredge 1 chicken piece in flour mixture. Dip in egg whites; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour mixture, egg whites, and panko.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Turn chicken over; cook 2 minutes, place pan in oven. Bake at 450° for 5 minutes. Turn chicken over; top each piece with sauce,  Parmigiano-Reggiano, and mozzarella. Bake 6 minutes or until chicken is done.

Nom. nom. nom.

10-Minute Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

14 Sunday Apr 2013

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Spring is here and our herb garden is almost planted! That got us thinking about recipes that use fresh, delicious summery basil. And THAT got us to this recipe – 10-Minute Creamy Tomato Basil Soup.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup | Picky Palate
We found this recipe from one of our favorite bloggers and the author of one of Cindy’s cookbooks from Christmas – The Picky Palate. We think you’ll enjoy the fresh flavors this soup delivers without a lot of fuss in the kitchen.

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We love anything with five or fewer ingredients! 

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Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt and pepper to a food procesor or blender. Pulse and blend until smooth.  We used an immersion blender which made it easy to put everything in a pot and blend together.

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Check out the immersion blender doing work! It’s seriously easy – it blended in about 90 seconds.

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Turn on the stove to a medium-low heat.  Add the heavy cream, stir to combine, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring until hot.

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And then you’re done. That didn’t even take 10 minutes, right? The fresh basil smell is unbelievable. So clean and summery. I do believe a certain taster said “this is restaurant quality.” That certain taster might have been Cindy. Or Lindsey. Or Peter. Everyone loved it!

Here’s the recipe
Ingredients:
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper to a food processor or blender. Pulse or blend until smooth.

Pour the soup into a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat. Add the heavy cream, stir to combine, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until hot. Serve warm.

Nom. nom. nom.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Eggs

29 Friday Mar 2013

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It’s pretty safe to say that one of our favorite times of the “food year” is just after Christmas. That’s when you walk into the store and all of a sudden you see it…..those little yellow packages that say the 4 words we’ve been waiting 9 months for – REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER EGGS.  Well, we have a tried and true recipe that will satisfy our craving for this little goody any time of the year.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Eggs | Pinterest
These peanut butter eggs are about as close as you can get to Reese’s Eggs without actually going to the store. Beware – these are absolutely delish. You might have to set up your own Easter Egg Hunt just so you don’t scarf down the whole plate!

IMG_8436No, we didn’t unwrap these…..we swear!

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Remember our motto??? KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid.

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Mix the powdered sugar, peanut butter and butter together in a bowl.

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Add 3 tablespoons of milk. If it seems too thick and hard to handle, you may need to add 1 more tablespoon of milk – we did!

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Mix well. It will have the consistency of Playdoh.

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Scoop out a spoonful or two of peanut butter mixture. Form it into the shape of an egg – or as close to it as you can get. The shape will NOT affect the flavor.

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Once all of the eggs are created and placed on wax paper, stuff one or two of them in your mouth. Then place them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. This will help the chocolate harden after dipping

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For the chocolate coating, mix one tablespoon of shortening with the chocolate chips in a glass bowl.

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Create a double boiler with the bowl of chocolate chips

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Look at that glorious melted chocolate.

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We did the dunking part two ways. First, we put a stick in the frozen egg and dunked it. This works best if the egg is small.

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Second, if the egg is a little larger, you can just place the egg in the chocolate, scoop chocolate over it and spoon it out.

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We tended to go with a larger egg so we did it this way.

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Place the chocolate covered eggs on wax paper again. We placed these back in the freezer to harden quicker.

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Try and eat just one. We bet you can’t.

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Gimme that.

Here’s the recipe
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups Creamy Peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2-3 tablespoons milk
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon Shortening

Directions:
Mix together the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until it becomes a nice workable dough.  It will be just like  Playdoh, it will be really easy to work with.  Form the dough into egg shapes, and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Place the chocolate chips and shortening in a glass bowl.  Create a double boiler and heat until melted and creamy.

Dip each egg in the melted chocolate and place on waxed paper until set. You can use a skewer and then slide the dipped egg off and cover the hole or place the egg in the chocolate and scoop out with a spoon.

Once they are set, you can trim any excess chocolate off that may pool at the base with a pairing knife to make them look pretty.

Nom. nom. nom.

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