As a mom I'm always sure to have something cold and sweet on hand during the summer for my kids. I'm sure all the other moms that read this blog would agree with this statement. Whether you make your own fruit smoothies or frozen fruit bars or buy them at the store it's easy to find lots of cool sweet treats for kids, but what about mom and dad?
My answer: Chocolate Baileys Milkshakes!!!
yes it's been a while since we had a sweet dessert recipe on here and with the heat I felt it was time to address this issue. Below you will find a generic recipe for Baileys Milkshakes. You can mix and match all kinds of ingredients with this recipe and make it your own.
this serving is for one person so to make more simply double the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream
1/4 cup Hersheys chocolate syrup
1/4 cup Milk or
1/4 cup eggnog
1 banana (if you choose to include the banana I reccomend using the milk)
Baileys Irish Creme. (Please note that I did not list a suggested measurement for the Baileys. The reason for this is that I've found that everyone has thier one desired taste they are going for. So the suggest measurement is to your own taste).
DIRECTIONS
1: Add in a blender the ice cream, baileys, chocolate syrup, banana (if you choose this option) and milk (or eggnog whichever you prefer)
2: Blend lightly to desired consistency
3: Pour or spoon into tall frosted glasses and garnish with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, or a sprig of mint.
There are many variations of this milkshake that you can make. You can use strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, just about any kind of fruit will make this milkshake good.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mexican Pasta Bake
I like mexican food but the prep work for it soooo messy and I hate the clean up! Still when I came across this recipe I just had, HAD to try it. Little did I realize when I decided to make it that it would make SOOOOO much. My suggestion to you all is to freeze half of it or else cut the recipe down by half.
MEXICAN PASTA BAKE
2lbs of ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 large white onion
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Olive oil (substitution is 2 tablespoons butter)
4 tspns cumin
4 tspns chili powder
4 tspns dried oregano
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in oregano, basil, and olive oil (like it actually says that on the label)
2 14 oz cans of black beans
2 14 oz cans of corn
Mexican cheese blend (I used regular old cheddar cheese)
2 box Penne Pasta
Step one:
Dice and mince the peppers, garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil, or butter if you use that instead, next you're going to sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic until the aroma permeates your kitchen. Basically your going to saute until all the flavors come together yumm.
Step two:
Once you've sweat the veggies put your ground beef in the same pot and add all your spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano) and the cans of diced tomatoes. Start brown the meat and veggies and spices all together. Now while that is cooking start your water for your noodles.
Step three:
Once the meat is browned and the noodles are cooked you'll need a LARGE bowl. Mix in that bowl the browned meat concoction along with the noodles and the cans of black beans and corn. and mix it all up. Divide your mexican pasta into two 9x13 casserole dishes and cover with the mexican cheese and bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. Viola you are done :)
Side Note:
As I said at the beginning of this post this makes a LOT of food and I divided mine up to make more meals than just this one. The awesome thing about this meat mixture is it's a great mexican filling for tacos, taco salad, and nachos. In order to use the meat mixture for other mexican dishes I suggest only mixing your noodles in with the first 9x13 pan and leaving the noodles out of the second one. This way you can use the meat mixture for many and more recipes throughout the month. The meat mixture freezes extremely well and anytime you want to throw together a quick mexican meal you have the filling already made :-) I do suggest leaving the cheese out of the portions you plan to freeze though. So far out of this one recipe I've made:
the original pasta bake
Taco salads
Quesadillas
Soft Tacos
Loaded nachos
Since the meat mixture is a basic mexican blend of spices, veggies, and ground beef it translates well into many different meals so left overs don't have to be boring :)
Kid reviews:
Gavin 5 yrs old: Liked the pasta bake and the soft tacos was not crazy about the Quesadillas. (he never likes Quesadillas no matter what's in them lol)
Magnus 2yrs old: Magnus felt the need to eat this with his hands and at one point abandoned even that method and just stuck his face in the bowl. I'm taking that as two thumbs up :)
Andrea 14 yrs old: Andrea really liked this she even ate with black beans in it and she HATES black beans. I think it helps that you really can't taste them because they are just mixed in with everything else. It was her idea to make loaded nachos, leave it to a teenager with the metabolism of a greek god to come up with that LOL, she also added sour cream and salsa to her mexican pasta bake as a topping. That was surprisingly good and made my foodie heart proud to see her experiment.
MEXICAN PASTA BAKE
2lbs of ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 large white onion
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Olive oil (substitution is 2 tablespoons butter)
4 tspns cumin
4 tspns chili powder
4 tspns dried oregano
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in oregano, basil, and olive oil (like it actually says that on the label)
2 14 oz cans of black beans
2 14 oz cans of corn
Mexican cheese blend (I used regular old cheddar cheese)
2 box Penne Pasta
Step one:
Dice and mince the peppers, garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil, or butter if you use that instead, next you're going to sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic until the aroma permeates your kitchen. Basically your going to saute until all the flavors come together yumm.
Step two:
Once you've sweat the veggies put your ground beef in the same pot and add all your spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano) and the cans of diced tomatoes. Start brown the meat and veggies and spices all together. Now while that is cooking start your water for your noodles.
Step three:
Once the meat is browned and the noodles are cooked you'll need a LARGE bowl. Mix in that bowl the browned meat concoction along with the noodles and the cans of black beans and corn. and mix it all up. Divide your mexican pasta into two 9x13 casserole dishes and cover with the mexican cheese and bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. Viola you are done :)
Side Note:
As I said at the beginning of this post this makes a LOT of food and I divided mine up to make more meals than just this one. The awesome thing about this meat mixture is it's a great mexican filling for tacos, taco salad, and nachos. In order to use the meat mixture for other mexican dishes I suggest only mixing your noodles in with the first 9x13 pan and leaving the noodles out of the second one. This way you can use the meat mixture for many and more recipes throughout the month. The meat mixture freezes extremely well and anytime you want to throw together a quick mexican meal you have the filling already made :-) I do suggest leaving the cheese out of the portions you plan to freeze though. So far out of this one recipe I've made:
the original pasta bake
Taco salads
Quesadillas
Soft Tacos
Loaded nachos
Since the meat mixture is a basic mexican blend of spices, veggies, and ground beef it translates well into many different meals so left overs don't have to be boring :)
Kid reviews:
Gavin 5 yrs old: Liked the pasta bake and the soft tacos was not crazy about the Quesadillas. (he never likes Quesadillas no matter what's in them lol)
Magnus 2yrs old: Magnus felt the need to eat this with his hands and at one point abandoned even that method and just stuck his face in the bowl. I'm taking that as two thumbs up :)
Andrea 14 yrs old: Andrea really liked this she even ate with black beans in it and she HATES black beans. I think it helps that you really can't taste them because they are just mixed in with everything else. It was her idea to make loaded nachos, leave it to a teenager with the metabolism of a greek god to come up with that LOL, she also added sour cream and salsa to her mexican pasta bake as a topping. That was surprisingly good and made my foodie heart proud to see her experiment.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Slow cooked Sunday
Most nights I'm rushing to get a meal on the table. Many of the meals I frequent are quick, versatile, and translate into other meals with their left overs. This is why I feel Sunday Dinner, or Saturday whichever is your slow day, is sacred family dinner time. Sunday Dinner is the only meal I will spend hours lovingly prepping and preparing even plating our Sunday Dinner. It's a chance for us to slow down and recap our full week and our weekend. Sunday may be my favorite day of the week just for this tradition.
Usually I try to post recipes that fit my busy schedule but I thought it important to post Slow cooked Sunday for any of you that also cherish that extra time on Sunday before the madness of the week descends. This particular recipe is not hard but it is a slow cooked meal which does not make for an easy weekday dinner. I have have to share this one with you all especially my non-cooking friends because the ease of this recipe will change your mind about cooking. I originally stumbled across this recipe at Nigella Lawson's online blog. Once you make this you may never make Chicken and Ribs the same way again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 Aluminum roasting pans (regular roasting pans if you have them sadly my kitchen is lacking one :( ).
2 Large Freezer bags.
Maple Glazed Chicken N'Ribs
Ingredients:
12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
8.5 Oz's. apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
(you will notice that Nigella's measurements are in ml. and I've converted them to tablespoons and ounces for those of us who don't use the metric system)
Prep and Cook
Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown. (I don't know what conker-Brown is but as long as it's glossy and brown you're good)
In America we call this dump chicken and no matter what name you give it it's good every single time!!!!
This Sunday I'll be serving this with steamed broccoli and cauliflower along with some ears of corn.
Usually I try to post recipes that fit my busy schedule but I thought it important to post Slow cooked Sunday for any of you that also cherish that extra time on Sunday before the madness of the week descends. This particular recipe is not hard but it is a slow cooked meal which does not make for an easy weekday dinner. I have have to share this one with you all especially my non-cooking friends because the ease of this recipe will change your mind about cooking. I originally stumbled across this recipe at Nigella Lawson's online blog. Once you make this you may never make Chicken and Ribs the same way again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 Aluminum roasting pans (regular roasting pans if you have them sadly my kitchen is lacking one :( ).
2 Large Freezer bags.
Maple Glazed Chicken N'Ribs
Ingredients:
12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
8.5 Oz's. apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
(you will notice that Nigella's measurements are in ml. and I've converted them to tablespoons and ounces for those of us who don't use the metric system)
Prep and Cook
Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown. (I don't know what conker-Brown is but as long as it's glossy and brown you're good)
In America we call this dump chicken and no matter what name you give it it's good every single time!!!!
This Sunday I'll be serving this with steamed broccoli and cauliflower along with some ears of corn.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Everything but the Kitchen sink Spaghetti Sauce
I like pasta but I'm not usually a huge fan of spaghetti sauce. That's why I had to figure out how to make my own. Maybe if I made it from scratch I'd like it better so I opened my fridge and took stock of all the veggitables I had in there and started collecting ones that I thought would be good together. What I came up with was so yummy that even I used the last of the bread to scrape the bowl! The best part about this recipe is you can use whatever veggies you have on hand and it should still be good..you know unless you're trying to mix things like corn and mushrooms that might not be so good.
I'm calling this 'Almost home made' because I do use a can of tomatoe sauce.
What you will need:
A pot big enough to hold all your chopped veggies.
A blender
Ingredients:
One large portabella mushroom diced
One yellow onion (I used vidalia but you can use any kind of onion)
One yellow bell pepper diced
One red bell pepper diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
Italian seasoning
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
This is so easy it will blow your mind!!! Chop everything up and put it in a pot. Now if you want to get creative and try some other things you can put a tablespoon of olive oil in there and a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar I've tried both combos and they are really good. Pour in the can of tomato sauce and let everything come to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer until the veggies are tender and then pour it all into your blender. Now If you like your sauce chuncky then you don't have to blend it but if you like your sauce smooth (and I do) just blend away until it's the consistency you like. Viola you have made your own spaghetti sauce!! You can use it on ANYTHING my kids like to pour it over bread and eat it that way. I prefer using it on traditional pasta but either way it's totally worth making.
I'm calling this 'Almost home made' because I do use a can of tomatoe sauce.
What you will need:
A pot big enough to hold all your chopped veggies.
A blender
Ingredients:
One large portabella mushroom diced
One yellow onion (I used vidalia but you can use any kind of onion)
One yellow bell pepper diced
One red bell pepper diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
Italian seasoning
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
This is so easy it will blow your mind!!! Chop everything up and put it in a pot. Now if you want to get creative and try some other things you can put a tablespoon of olive oil in there and a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar I've tried both combos and they are really good. Pour in the can of tomato sauce and let everything come to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer until the veggies are tender and then pour it all into your blender. Now If you like your sauce chuncky then you don't have to blend it but if you like your sauce smooth (and I do) just blend away until it's the consistency you like. Viola you have made your own spaghetti sauce!! You can use it on ANYTHING my kids like to pour it over bread and eat it that way. I prefer using it on traditional pasta but either way it's totally worth making.
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