Eat your heart out Starbucks!

I found a secret to making your own flavored coffee's at home! I'm a HUGE java junkie. I'll drink and eat anything coffee related. Chocolate, Ice cream, and of course coffee. If there were a coffee flavored body scrub I'd own that shit! So imagine my maniacal glee when I literally stumbled over this recipe for pumpkin spice latte at home!

I couldn't wait to try it! I was so unbelievably excited that I forgot rule number one of any seasoned at home cook. I forgot to check the ingredients before starting.

Yeah it was like that!
I had to improvise and all I could remember was that she put the spices on top of the coffee grounds before starting the coffee. I rummaged around in my spice cabinet and came up with my little McCormicks Apple Pie Spice. I figured what the hell if it's bad I'll just throw it out. But it wasn't bad oh no it was sinfully delicious! It was, in my not so humble opinion, better than Starbucks. My Java Junkie heart rejoiced and my inner broke mama was just about passed out with the revelation at how much money I was going to save this fall.

Without further delay and for all you flavored coffee junkies out there I give you the worlds easiest recipe for flavored coffee. Your Welcome!

Apple Pie Spice Coffee:
Your favorite French Roast coffee
McCormicks Apple Pie Spice
Water
Coffee maker (obviously)
Coffee mate Creme Brulee creamer
Sugar to taste

Measure your coffee like you would for any normal day. In my household this equates to an entire 10 cup pot of coffee.
Take your Apple Pie Spice and shake it on top of the coffee grounds until the top of the coffee grounds are coated and you can not see any more black coffee. I measured it this morning it's 2 table spoons of Apple Pie Spice.
Prep your coffee to your desired sweetness and color. True coffee drinkers know what I mean by color but I'll break it down for you peeps that don't know. Color means the desired shade of tan you want your coffee or another way of putting however much milk or creamer you like.

That's it! It's that simple. I've tried Pumpkin Pie Spice with a stick of cinnamon on top of the coffee grounds and that tastes just like the Starbucks Pumpkin Pie Spice Latte. Now you have your own flavored coffee's anytime you want. Yes I am an evil coffee genius!!!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I was going to post this really awesome picture of the oatmeal I made in my crockpot last night. Then I realized that the "insert image" icon only uploads from i-phones and androids neither of which I have so boo on that!

You'll just have to take my word for it that not only looks amazing it tastes amazing too and it's sooo super easy to make.

The first thing you'll need are steel cut oats. Do not use "quick cook oats" as these cook entirely too fast and will burn. You need steel cut oats. You can get them through the community helpings coop really cheap or you can buy them at the store in the cereal aisle.

The next step is to either line your crockpot with a crockpot liner or you can spray the beejebus out of your crockpot with Pam to keep the oatmeal from sticking.

Next add one cup of steel cut oats to four cups of liquid. I used three cups of water and one cup of milk.

Do you have any dried fruit? Put them in now. I used craisins, and fresh apple's diced.

Now it's the fun part: You'll need one small can of Pumpkin just open and spoon in about two tablespoons. Feel free to use more if you like the taste of pumpkin a lot. Mix that in till it's blended with everything else.

Now get your cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the oatmeal.

Set your crock pot to low and let it cook overnight. When you get up in the morning your house will smell like pie and you'll have the best tasting yummylicioius oatmeal all ready to go. Just spoon and serve. Perfect for a chilly fall morning!

Unhealthy Brussel Sprouts

My sister in law introduced me to these over the holidays. Normally I'm not the brussel sprout kind of person. I don't like their bitter flavor. What I discovered though is that what I really don't like is brussel sprouts that are good for me! 'Cause if you cook those bad boys in some bacon grease and cover them with Parm. cheese you're totally good to go! Those little bad boys are rockin good!

For your culinary pleasure I give you Lizzy's Unhealthy Brussel Sprouts!

Ingredients:
Fatty bacon
Parmesan cheese
Brussel Sprouts

Directions:
Pan fry the bacon about five to six strips of bacon per pound of brussel sprouts.
Remove the bacon but leave the grease.
Take the brussel sprouts and place in microwave safe container with 1/4 cup of water and cover tightly with saran wrap. Poke a few small holes in the top for venting and microwave for like 2 to 4 minutes to steam the brussel sprouts.
Place in bacon grease and saute for about 5 to 10 minutes. transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese and add crunched up bacon.
EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH BACON AND CHEESE!!!!

Thanksgiving Left over Pot Pie

This one comes to me from my co-worker and it's too good not to pass on! There's no real prep time since it's all leftover from the meal before :-)

Ingredients:

1 pre-made deep dish pie crust
1 frozen pie crust thawed (rolled up one)
left over Turkey shredded
left over stuffing
Turkey gravy
whatever veggies you want to throw in there

Directions:

Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Simplest directions you'll ever see on my blog. Mix it all together in a big bowl and spoon evenly into your deep dish pie crust then unroll your flat pie crust and mold to the top of your deep dish pie and cut venting slits in the top.

Put in the oven and bake till pie crust is done! Viola easy peasy.

Easy Shepherds Pie

I actually made this one up as I went along and it came it out really good. Even my no left-overs family ate the left-overs :) This has two steps but don't let it frighten you it's easier than it looks ;)

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

5 potatoes peeled, and diced
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 lb green beans chopped. (fresh if you can get them frozen if you can't)
1 lb ground beef
1 dry packet of beef gravy mix
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of water put the potatoes on and leave to boil till soft enough to cut with a fork.

In a large skillet brown the ground beef with the minced garlic. Once the ground beef is mostly done you'll drain off most of the grease but not all. you want a bit of grease left in the skillet because your going to use the dry packet of gravy mix directly in the skillet and mix with the browned hamburger. Once that complete you'll set that aside.

In a large bowl combine all of the chopped, and sliced veggies then mix the ground beef and veggies together. Set aside.

Once the potatoes are done you'll mash them up with whatever you like in your mashed potatoes. I usually use a bit of butter and some milk to give it that creamy texture.

In a casserole dish you'll pour your beef and veggie mixture and smooth down. On top of the beef mixture you'll spoon the mashed potato's out evenly till it covers the top. Pop it in the oven and let bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.

If you have a large family like mine you'll need to use 2lbs of ground beef instead of one.

Happy eating and enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Cake

Cranberries are in season and if you're like me you're probably wondering what all the big deal is. I mean it's a cranberry so what the only use for those things is Ocean Spray or to make a popcorn garland for your house right? Nooo apparently people actually EAT these things!! You know this blog is dedicated to trying all those yummy recipes online and in cookbooks and then reporting the finding, so imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this Cranberry Apple Cake recipe! You know my adventurous palate had to try this and it said it was easy. I'm happy to report that it is an amazingly easy recipe to follow and it's the first time I made a cake from scratch that didn't make me want to cuss and scream. Always a bonus in my kitchen since I'm not much of a baker.

So from my kitchen to yours and without further ado here's the recipe for Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake. I'd like to thank the Barefoot Contessa from Food Network for sharing this with the world :-)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 57 Minutes
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tbsp grated orange zest (2 oranges)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine Cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.

Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10 inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted int the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Wrainbeau's Note:
If you don't have a fancy mixer with a paddle attachment (and I don't) I find that a regular hand mixer will do the trick just as well. The deep dish glass pie plates work best for this recipe as the "cake" batter will rise slightly while cooking. Cool whip or whipped cream work best as a topper for this cake.

School Lunch Specials

In keeping with the time theme for the next few weeks here is this weeks weekly installment for Quick Easy Meals.

I call this School Lunch Specials because they were inspired by some of my favorite school lunches as a kid. Yes I had favorite school lunches as a kid. Not all School lunches are bad and one of my favorites and now my families favorites was Bagel Pizzas with carrots and broccoli and ranch dip. I like to vary this particular recipe because let's face it there are a TON of varieties of bagels. For instance you can use Everything Bagels with pizza sauce and pizza toppings, you can use plain bagels with HUNTS oregano and basil tomato sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like. What I'm saying is the combinations are endless and you can let your imagination fly. To alleviate the "guilt" of serving your kids bagel pizzas you create a side dish of fun veggies for dipping.

Prep time: varies depending on ingredients used for pizza

Hands on time: approximately 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

Bagels (big or small bagels it doesn't matter)
Pizza sauce or tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Sliced pepperoni
Browned Italian sausage.
Browned Hamburger (I like to brown my hamburger ahead of time and freeze it)
Sliced bell peppers
Black or green olives
Really whatever you like on your pizza that's what you put on top of your bagel.

Favorite raw veggies sliced for little hands
Ranch Salad dressing for dipping.

Set the oven to 350 degrees and assemble your bagel pizzas. Cook in pre-heated oven until cheese melts and is slightly bubbly. Cup up your veggies and assemble on the side of the plate. When the bagel pizzas have cooled slide onto the plate with veggies and ranch dressing for dipping.

My families other favorite "School Lunch Special" is tuna melts with Homemade Fries. For this recipe you'll need Lender's Everything Bagels. I've tried other brands and they are sadly just not the same. For easy clean up I suggest lining the cookie sheet with some tin foil.

Ingredients

Favorite brand of tuna fish
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
sweet pickle relish
Mayonnaise
Dijon or some kind of spicy mustard.
5 large potato's (roughly one large potato per family member)
Thick sliced Cheddar Cheese
3 sliced tomatoes
Vegetable oil
Large pot for frying

In a large mixing bowl your going to put in two of your favorite cans of tuna fish (be sure to drain the liquid first). Finely chop the onion and celery and add to the tuna fish. From there you're going to mix in your mayonnaise. Notice I'm not giving you measurements for this, that's because EVERYONE has their own idea of what is enough for their perfect tuna fish to mayonnaise ratio. After you mixed your desired consistency up you're going to add 1 tablespoon of the spicy mustard and mix well then add the relish to taste. Set that aside and line your cookie sheet with tin foil and place the Everything bagels split and open on it. Spoon the tuna fish onto the bagels and and place one slice of tomato and one slice of cheddar cheese on top. In case you haven't yet it's time to pre-heat the oven.
Now rinse off those potatoes and peel those bad boys! here's the secret to REALLY amazing home made fries. Whether your bake them or fry them ALWAYS rinse them in with clean water and then pat them dry. This gets rid of the excess start from the potatoes. Put the vegetable oil in the pot and once the oil is hot and popping you're going to slide the potatoes into the oil. Watch them carefully when they float to the top take them out and put them in a brown paper bag. OK now mostly likely your kids are going to want to do this part. In the brown paper bag place whatever seasonings you want on your fries, salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's, whatever it is that you love seasoned on your fries close the bag up and give it a shake! Shake it, shake it, and do the french fry dance! I like to peel, wash, and fry each individual potato and place them in separate paper bags for each of the kids to shake. This way each one gets their "own" special home made fries ;-).
Once your oven is pre-heated place the cookie sheet of tuna melt bagels inside and let bake till the cheese melts about 5 to 8 minutes.
Remember those paper bags you shook your fries in? Tear those bags open along one side and spread out at the table then place one bagel tuna melt next to those "special" homemade fries.

Hands on time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes.