Something New on Sweet Potatoes!

Last night I tried a couple of new recipes. Wow!!! They turned out sooo good that I have to share with you. I found it on pintrest and if you don't know about that yet go to pintrest.com and find out. The coolest thing out there. Anyway I love sweet potatoes and when I found this new way on making it I couldn't wait to try it out. Of course I changed just a couple of things but nevertheless it was wonderful!!!!

Healthy Sweet Potato Skins

Author: Pinch of Yum

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 1 hour 20 mins

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 2 medium or large sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1 shallot, minced (Did not have this so used leeks instead.)
• 1 bag fresh baby spinach (I used frozen since I did not have fresh on hand.)
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 2 ounces light cream cheese (I did not add this.)
• 1 cup chickpeas
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bake sweet potatoes at 350 for 45-60 minutes, or until fork tender.
2. Cut sweet potatoes in half and let cool for 5-10 minutes. While sweet potatoes are cooling, saute the shallots with the butter over medium heat until translucent. Add fresh spinach and heat for 2-3 minutes, until spinach has cooked down. Set aside.
3. Scrape the sweet potato out of the peel, leaving a thin layer inside with the peel so that it can stand up on its own. Mash the sweet potato with the cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in chickpeas, spinach, and salt and pepper.
4. Coat potato skins with a drizzle of oil and bake for about 5 minutes to get a crispier outside. Remove from oven and fill each skin with the sweet potato mixture and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake again for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and filling is heated through.

The second thing I made was buttermilk biscuits. Super yummy and easy! I was in a hurry so didn't take time to pat out and cut so just did drop biscuits. Here is the link for them.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Love being in the kitchen with my husband and the both of us cooking together. Tonight he is making venison meatballs and BBQ chicken nachos while I am making crab stuffed mushrooms. I so love having nights like this at home. While cooking we have a nice fire burning in the fireplace and our two beautiful girls with us and of course the TV on and turned to the food network channel. Food is not only about cooking and eating but its about family time together and memories being made.

Bragging on my husband!!!

Just a quick note! I need to brag on my husband. Thursday night was our date night for Valentine's Day and he wanted to cook me dinner. He wanted to surprise me with what he was making so he told me to leave the house and go shopping by myself. That in it self was an awesome gift to be able to shop without children! But when I came home he had the most wonderful meal prepared for me, a fire roaring in the fireplace, candle lit, and a bottle of our favorite wine chilled! I have the most amazing husband ever!!! The food was out of this world too. He made tuna with a yummy sauce, asparagus, pasta with fresh tomatoes, fried avocado with crab stuffing, and caesar salad. Then he also surprised me with dessert a chocolate cheesecake mouse topped with whip cream strawberries and mint. All was arranged beautifully like a chef in a high end restaurant! Love you hunny!!!!

A sauce for pretty much whatever you want it on!

Last night we made some chicken wings for dinner. I didn't get home till late so my wonderful husband starting cooking them for me but asked if I make the sauce for them. So below is something I just threw together and then poured over the wings and wow was it good! My daughter informed these are just the bomb mom! Seriously I think the sauce was so good you could pretty much put it on anything to make it good. I said grilled chicken thighs and my husband said shrimp would be good with it. So I guess shrimp and chicken thighs will be served soon : )

In a sauce pan melt:

3 TBS butter
3 TBS brown sugar
Agave (I just squeezed about 2 tsp over the pan)
1/2  lime juiced
3 dashes of Tabasco hot sauce (you can use more if you want more heat)
Garlic salt to taste

Simply cook this all in a saute pan till it forms a syrup but it only takes a couple of minutes. Then pour over whatever meat you have I just happened to have made chicken wings or I should say my husband baked them for me.

A side note. My family loves our sauces and we are constantly trying to come up with new ones. Some turn out some don't but we never stop trying to come up with something new and yummy.

Shrimp & Crab Cornbread Balls

I came up with a new appetizer that was loved by all! Super yummy and easy! I made these for the Superbowl and it was awesome!

Shrimp & Crab Cornbread Balls
1 pound shrimp, peeled & deveined
12 oz crab meat
2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 cup leeks, chopped
2 cups cornbread ( I made this from scratch for dinner the previous night and just used the leftovers)
Old Bay seasoning
6 TBS butter
1 egg
3/4 cup mayo


Melt butter in saute pan and add celery, leeks, and seasoning cook this for a few minutes then add shrimp. Cook till shrimp turn pink then remove. In a large bowl layer the bottom with the crab meat, cornbread, and shrimp mixture. Mix egg and mayo in bowl then pour over top of everything and mix all together. If the mixture is to dry add some more mayo or if to wet add a little more cornbread. You don't want the mixture to wet or dry just moist enough to where when your form the balls they stay together but don't stick to your hands. Then make your balls. I use a pampered chef cookie scoop to make mine and turned out great. I placed them on a large cookie sheet pan then covered and set in refrigerator for an hour. Heat your fryer and fry till golden brown.

I also made a honey lime cilantro butter sauce to dip in. I don't really have a recipe for it because I didn't really measure anything.

Deer Meat Two Ways!

Tonight I was feeling a little creative. I made some deer backstrap two different ways along with a sauce. I thought it all turned out good but I want it to be awesome. So some tweaking is needed before I post a recipe. But will let you in on what I did make. I would also like to note if you don't have deer meat available I think you could use beef instead. Just remember deer meat are very lean  and when using a certain cut of beef you will find it more fatty so watch how much oil or butter or whatever you are using.

Backstrap sliced thin then lightly breaded and pan fried
Backstrap butterfly then stuffed with crab cheese stuffing & wrapped in bacon
White balsamic fig sauce - This was good and my husband loved it but I think I need to change and add a couple things to where I can get it where its perfect for sharing!


I hope to try and recreate this soon and will try and remember to measure things out as I do so I can pass it along. I am such a little of this a little of that and wow that's good.  : )

Yummy breakfast with family!

I wanted to make something new and use what I already had in my house for breakfast with ladies. I am trying to be a better budget girl by using what I already have in my freezer, fridge and pantry. So the menu was fruit filled crepes, blueberry streusel, and cherry coffee cake. Of course I didn't follow the recipes exactly and put my own little spin on it. I will say as good as it all was I look forward to making it again and tweeking a few things. I got the recipes from one of my many favorite cookbooks Creme de Colorado. My wonderful sister Michele gave this book to me for my birthday a long time ago and have used many recipes from it. There are also a few other Colorado cookbooks that are out and I have two of them. All have wonderful recipes in!

Crepe batter:
1 cup cold water
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
4 TBS butter, melted

Put ingredients into blender in order listed. Whirl 1 minute. Scrape down sides adn blend another minute. Refrigerate batter at least 2 hours. I mixed it up night before and put in fridge then just took it out and blended for just a few seconds and then used.

Heat a 7-inch non stick pan at medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter in pan. Tilt pan in all directions so batter runs over bottom and once it stops moving place back on stove. Cook for 1 minute then flip and cook for about another 30 seconds or lightly browned. Slide out and place on waxed paper and repeat until all batter is gone.

You can use immediately, refrigerate overnight, or freeze. This will make 16 crepes. You can then fill them with whatever you like. These are great for savory dishes too.

Fruit filling: (this is just something I came up with on my own so no real recipe)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup vanila yogurt
cinnamon to tast
honey to taste
whatever fruits you like but we used fresh strawberries and bananas

Another way I have made them that is really good is take raspberry jam and mix a little orange liquor in it. Spread on inside of crepe then top with just the mixture and not fruit unless you want fresh reaspberries in it. Fold then drizzle more of the jam mixture over top. Its very pretty and yummy! Just use your imaginiation on what to fill it with : )

Blueberry Streusel
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (I used frozen since they were in my freezer)

Topping:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 TBS flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 TBS butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans (my girls don't like nuts so I didn't put this in)

Cream together butter, sugar and egg. Add flour, salt, baking powder and milk, stirring until well blended. Carefully fold in berries. Spoon into greased 10 inch springform pan. Mix together topping ingredients with pastry cutter or fork to blend. Sprinkle on top of batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

My addition that I did was make a little glaze for top after it was baked. I mixed together 1/4 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup powdered sugar and add milk to thin out frosting like you like it. If you get to much milk then just a little more sugar until you get the right consistency. Drizzle this over top of cake. You can do it while warm or wait till it is cooled enough and you can take off the form so it drizzles over the sides. Yummy!!

Cherry Nut Coffee Cake (I made without nuts)
1 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used fage greek yogurt for a healthier taste)

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar (I mixed brown with it too)

1/2 cup chopped pcans

1 16oz jar maraschino cherries, drained and cut into small pieces (once again did not use not only because I didn't have them but I don't like them because they are unhealthy for you. So I had some bing cherries that were in my freezer that I got out and chopped up)

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 TBS butter (recipe didn't call for this but I added anyway)

Grease and flour a flat-bottomed tube pan. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter and eggs. Fold in sour cream. Pour 1/2 batter into pan. Mix topping  except cherries and sprinkle half of it on batter. Sprinkle cherries on top of that. Then pour remaining batter on top of cherries and add the rest of the topping. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until a wooden pick insterted in center comes out clean.

Another alteration I did was at the end just before serving I made a cherry sauce and poured over the cake. This is what I would like to keep tweeking a bit but here is what I did do. I still had great compliments on it all but I think it could get better. But then again I am always critiquing my food.

Sauce:

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
dash of salt
3 TBS cornstarch or a little more depending on how thick you want it but I didn't want it to much
Bing cherries (I had these in freezer and just used how ever many I wanted.

Bring to boil sugar, water, cornstarch and salt. Once it starts to boil add cherries and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour over cake and enjoy!

Oops didn't mean that BUT....

This morning I thought I would be an awesome mom and make the girls pancakes. Well I know how much my oldest likes mixing it all up so I just got all the ingredients out and the recipe and decided to let her do it. The recipe that I always use calls for buttermilk but I didn't have any. So the alternative was just to use milk and put a little apple cider vinegar in it. I also doubled the recipe so I knew it needed double the vinegar. Well as usual I didn't measure because as you will learn along the way with me I have a bad habit of throwing things together and not measuring stuff out. But I will tell you I am trying to do better so I can pass along more detail recipes for you! Anyway, after my daughter had everything mixed up I as always like to taste test the batter and realized I put just a little to much vinegar in the milk. So I added probably another 1/4 cup sugar then also added about 1/4 cup more flour too. It tasted a little better but still a little vinegary for me. I almost decided to dump it and try again but I hate waste so I went ahead and used it and would see what the girls say. Well the girls loved it!!! They said these were the best pancakes ever. So I decided to try a bite and they were delicious! We use real maple syrup here and with that on it I was like boy did I just stumble across something good. Using the apple cider vinegar gave it just a slight apple flavor to it but not really. The girls didn't say that and if I didn't know what was all in it I probably wouldn't have thought about it but the fact they were so good! So that all said I am posting the original recipe I used but you may want to try the apple cider vinegar. Oh and another thing I changed was it calls for whole wheat flour but I just used all purpose and instead of 3/4 cup I add 1 cup.

Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 TBS vegetable oil (I use canola)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 TBS packed light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In large bowl, beat egg; add buttermilk, oil, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat until smooth. I like to let my batter rest for a few minutes before I pour onto a lightly greased pan. Turn as soon as they are puffed and you notice the little bubbles pop and leave a few dents. Cook on other side till golden brown.

We also like adding blueberries to our pancakes. Just pour the batter in and then plop a few berries on top. I sometimes will arrange them into a face and the girls love it!

Enjoy!

Food! A topic that seems to always be on my mind. I feel like as a wife and mom of two girls someone around here is in need of food. So that puts me in the kitchen abut 80% of my day of either cooking or cleaning. Not that I totally mind because food just so happens to be one of my passions. I love looking through cookbooks, watching all cooking channels, and surfing the web for new ideas. What I love most is experimenting with food that I have on hand and see what kind of yummy creations I can come up with.

I am a wife of a hunter and each year he fills up our large chest freezer with deer meat. So most of what I experiment on is venison because honestly there is not a lot of recipes out there. Let me just say too that many of you who say they don't like venison is probably because you haven't had it cooked correctly. I also think it depends on where the deer come from. I happen to live in the south so I eat whitetail deer, which to me is a much milder taste then if you have mule deer from out west.

 I look forward to sharing with you all my wonderful food finds!