Hawaiian Meatball Kabobs

We love to use our BBQ, and these are a super nummy way to use ground beef on the BBQ. Grilled pineapple, enough said.

Hawaiian Meatball Kabobs

1/3 c. your favorite BBQ sauce
5 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. grated gingerroot
2 tsp. liquid honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
32 precooked meatballs
32 1-inch chunks fresh pineapple
16 1-inch chunks red pepper
16 1-inch chunks green pepper
8 skewers

Sauce: whisk BBQ sauce, soy sauce, gingerroot, honey and sesame oil in a small bowl, set aside.

Preheat grill or BBQ to medium-high heat. For each skewer thread meatball, pineapple, red pepper, meatball, pineapple, green pepper, repeat. Grill for 12 minutes, turning and basting generously with sauce every 2 minutes, serve hot.

Vink Family Potatoes

These are a family favorite, and requested for every big family meal! They are make ahead and once you start bringing these to gatherings you can be sure they'll be requested again.

Vink Family Potatoes

5 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cubed
250g. cream cheese
1/4 c. margarine
2 tsp. onion salt
1-2 c. sour cream
salt
pepper
paprika

Boil potatoes till tender, drain and mash. Add cream cheese in cubes, also add margarine and onion salt and mash well. Add sour cream to desired consistency, add pepper and salt to taste and beat on low until smooth. Put into buttered 9 x 13 dish, sprinkle with paprika. Cover and put in fridge at least 6 hours or overnight. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Last week was Hubby's Birthday, and he LOVES chocolate! I've had this recipe for a few years and finally remembered to make it on his Birthday.  I wish I started making it earlier, it's nummy, chocolaty and rich but not overly so, it also takes a bit of extra work, but since I like to make Birthdays special, it is worth it once a year. Hope you enjoy;)

 

Chocolate Truffle Cake

2 1/2 c. milk
1 c. butter, cubed
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 2/3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Filling:
6 Tbsp. butter, cubed
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 c. icing sugar
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

Ganache:
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (once again, choc. chips)
2/3 c. heavy whipping cream

In large saucepan, cook milk, butter and chocolate over low heat until melted. Remove from heat; let stand for 10 minutes.
In large bowl, beat eggs and vanilla, stir in chocolate mixture until smooth. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into mixture. Transfer to 3 greased 9-inch round baking pans. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans, let cool completely on wire racks before icing.
For filling, in a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate. Stir in icing sugar and cream until smooth.
For ganache, place chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk till smooth. Cool, stirring occasionally, until ganache is spreading consistency. (This took a really long time for me so next time I think I will make this step when I make the cakes and let it sit on the counter).
Set aside 1/2 cup filling for garnish. Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with half of the remaining filling. Repeat layers. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread ganache over top and sides of cake. Decorate with reserved filling. Store in fridge.

Oven-Roasted Carrots

We have TONS of carrots this year, which is ok because we like carrots around here. But with so many I have to find new ways to shake-up how I serve them (nobody wants to get bored :() These might not look super fancy, but they're super nummy, this is one of our favorites (maybe I can explore and find an even better one, I'll share it with you when I do).

Oven-Roasted Carrots

2 lbs. baby carrots (I just chop up my own, to make this dish fancier I serve the small carrots whole, sometimes with 1/2 inch of stem still
4 small onions, quartered or in chunks
6 cloves garlic, peeled (I use crushed from the jar)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1-2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Place carrots, onions and garlic in 2 greased 15 x 10 baking pans (I use parchment paper, way easier to clean-up). Drizzle with oil and vinegar, sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper, gently toss. Cover and bake at 450 for 20 minutes, stir and then bake uncovered for 10 more minutes, stir again and bake another 10 minutes. Serve.

Piggies in a Blanket



Sunday nights are my 'no cook night'. We usually enjoy things like nachos, pizza, chicken nuggets or leftovers. But last Sunday the boys helped me whip up a batch of these, we had so much fun and they loved them! Fun way to dress-up hot dogs when you don't have any buns.

 



Here's my little baker (hence the blog name), Mr. T

 



 

Piggies-in-a-Blanket

1 1/3c. hot water

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3 1/4- 3 1/2 c. flour

 

Combine water and yeast, allow to dissolve and stir well. Add sugar and salt, mix well. Stir in flour and knead well.

[Now if your lazy like me you just skip the above steps, throw all ingredients into your bread maker, put on dough cycle and come back in an hour :)]

Allow to rise 1/2 to 1 hour. Roll dough into large rectangle ~1/4 inch thick, cut into 1 1/2-2 inch strips, wrap (spiral-type) around hot dog (I used 12 hot dogs). Place on greased baking sheet.

 

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. garlic powder

parmesan cheese, to sprinkle

 

Melt butter, stir in garlic powder and brush/drizzle over rolled hot dogs. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Serve with favorite condiments (mustard, ketchup, etc.)

Honey Garlic Ribs

We butcher our own beef, so we always had extra ribs that nobody in our family was super crazy about, until ... we tried this sauce, mmm, so good! Now the ribs disappear from the freezer faster than anything else (except maybe the tenderloin).

 

Honey Garlic Ribs

~4 lbs. pork side ribs (I just use beef short ribs, cause that's what I have)
1/2 c. honey
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt

Place ribs in large roasting pan with 1/2 inch of water. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Drain water from roaster. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs, bake for another 1/2 to 1 hour. If you want you can baste every so often, I just leave them.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

This tastes just like something you would get in a restaurant, it is soo good! Just a few ingredients and 12 minutes later you're ready for dinner. To make it more economical, I've bought whipping cream on clearance and froze it, just defrost in fridge, and it tastes just as good.

 

Cajun Chicken Pasta

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
2 Tbsp. butter
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 c. heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. basil
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
4 oz. linguini (or spaghetti), cook according to pkg.

Season chicken with Cajun seasoning and sauté in butter for about 7 minutes. Add next 7 ingredients, heat through. Toss with pasta and serve with parmesan cheese. Easy peezy ;)