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 ;)

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I'm loving all the delicious tastes of fall: apples, spices, pumpkin and hearty crockpot meals :) And yesterday I just couldn't wait any longer to try some pumpkin so I tried this Coffee Cake recipe I found online (a long time ago), and it is so good! Not too dry (like some coffee cakes), and the streusel has a nice crunch to it.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. canned pumpkin (or homemade)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pinch cloves

Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixtures. Spoon into greased 10-inch springform pan.

Streusel:
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. rolled oats
3 Tbsp. slivered almonds
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. butter

Combine dry ingredients, cut in butter until crumbly. Top cake with streusel, bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and drizzle with glaze.

Glaze:
1/2 c. icing sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 Tbsp. hot water
Combine and glaze cake.

Family Pasta Salad

I like the fact that this salad has 'make ahead' in the directions, and the longer the better makes it easy to throw together while making supper the night before. And by family pasta salad I mean it 'technically' has all the food groups in it, so on busy nights could substitute as a complete meal (maybe with a hot dog on the side??).

 

Family Pasta Salad

1 3/4 c. bowtie pasta
1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. sour cream
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. dill weed
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. red grapes, halved
2 c. diced ham
1/2 c. green onions, chopped
1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, cubed

Cook pasta according to package directions. Combine mayo, sour cream, mustard, sugar, dill weed, salt and pepper in small bowl. Drain pasta and put into large salad bowl. Add all ingredients including dressing, mix. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. (I have done 4 hours and it turned out good too)

Steak Marinades

I often get requests for a good steak marinade, here are a few we use often (the first one is my personal favorite). I didn't post any pictures because I figured a steak is a steak is a steak, and I'm not the best griller in the world so mine don't always look perfect (but they taste good:))

Firehall Steak Marinade (~4 steaks)

1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 tsp. Montreal Steak Spice
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 c. Teriyaki sauce

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


Whiskey Marinade (~6 steaks)

1/4 c. whiskey
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. Dijon mustard
1/4 c. finely chopped green onions
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
dash Worchestershire sauce
pepper, to taste (I use ~1/4 tsp.)

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


Teriyaki Marinade (makes 1 cup)

1/2 c. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 c. water

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


We use others but these are definitely our most used. If you are in a hurry Club House makes an awesome packaged Mesquite Marinade.