Strawberry Sauce

The ladies and I went strawberry picking today along with my mother-in-law and we came home with a big ol' bucket of strawberries that were just screaming to be made into something delicious. I adore strawberry sauce on pancakes and ice cream so I just knew I had to whip up a batch. I've never had homemade sauce before and I couldn't believe how delicious this was. Addison helped me make this and we both had giant smiles on our faces after we gave it a taste test. If you love strawberry sauce as much as I do, you must make this as soon as possible.

Katie's Homemade Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients: 
1/2 Cup white granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 cups of sliced strawberries

Directions:
1.) In a medium saucepan over medium high heat add sugar, vanilla, and strawberries.

2.) Bring to a boil and allow to boil for about ten minutes. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for another five to ten minutes.

3.) Allow mixture to slightly cool and then blend about 2/3 of the mixture. Add blended mixture back to saucepan and allow to completely cool. Store in an air tight jar and keep refrigerated.

Grilled Chicken and Veggie Quinoa

Daniel is on a wellness committee at work and for each meeting they all bring in healthy dishes to share with each other. He requested a quinoa salad of some sort so I found him a good one for his meeting which left me with an extra cup of quinoa that needed to be cooked. I came up with this dish tonight trying to use it up and come up with something different. All four of us really enjoyed this dish and surprisingly, it is very filling. I can't wait to experiment more with quinoa.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa

Ingredients:
1 Cup uncooked quinoa
1 TBSP. chicken flavored broth and base seasoning
2 Cups of water
2 zuchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, peeled and sliced
2-4 red tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
1 TBSP. minced garlic
2-3 medium chicken breasts
1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.) Slice zuchini and squash and coat evenly with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic. Grill until tender. Cut tomatoes in half and place on the grill until the skin starts to peel off.

2.) Salt and pepper chicken breasts and grill until cooked through.

3.) Bring two cups of water with chicken broth and base seasoning and quinoa to a boil. Then cover and reduce heat to medium low and cook 10 to 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.

4.) Allow vegetables to cool and then dice them up along with the cooked chicken breasts. Gently fold quinoa into the chicken and veggie mixture and sprinkle with 1/3 of grated Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cherry Chocolate Cookies

I was searching for a good cookie recipe yesterday that didn't involve chocolate chips since I had none and I came across this one over at Cassie Craves. I always seems to go to her page first. Even though hers called for chocolate chips I decided to walk on the creative side and use what I did have on hand...cherry chip morsels.

I swapped out the vanilla pudding for chocolate, and the chocolate chips for cherry chips. We all thought these were pretty delicious and what you see in this picture is all that is left. I gave some to my aunt and uncle and we kept the rest to have something sweet in the house. 

Cherry Chocolate Cookies

~ Adapted from Cassie Craves

Ingredients:
 

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
small package of chocolate pudding
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups of cherry chip morsels










Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Using a mixer, beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add in pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the cherry chips.

3. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

*Make sure you follow the step about leaving the cookies on the cookie sheet for an additional two minutes. They are very soft when they first come out and will fall apart if you try to take them off immediately.  Also, I suggest using the larger box of pudding like she did in her recipe. The smaller box is all that I had on hand and I felt the cookies could have had more of a chocolate kick to them.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Our fridge and pantry are almost bare here in our house so I was on a mission to find a sweet treat to make that included ingredients that I still had on hand.

I recently discovered Stephanie over on her blog Macaroni and Cheesecake and it's become another favorite of mine. As soon as I saw this cake I just knew I had to give it a shot.

We ate ours still slightly warm out of the oven and it literally melted in my mouth. It's like a cross between regular ol' cake and a good coffee cake and it will definitely be made again. This would be awesome served for a brunch on a holiday such as Easter and/or Christmas.

Cinnamon Roll Cake
Source: Six Sister’s Stuff

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 tbsp. butter, melted
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon

Glaze:
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
5 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2.) In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 3 cups flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, & vanilla.  Mix until fully incorporated.  Reduce speed to low and slowly pour in the 4 tbsp. melted butter.

3.)Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly.

4.) Clean your stand mixer bowl and once clean, add in the 2 sticks softened butter, brown sugar, 2 tbsp. flour, and cinnamon.  Beat until fully incorporated.  Mixture will be thick.

5.) Spoon dollops of the cinnamon butter mixture on top of the cake batter.  Use a knife to swirl the cinnamon butter mixture into the cake.

6.) Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and place in pan on a cooling rack.

Meanwhile mix together your glaze.  In medium sized bowl, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, milk and vanilla. Pour over cake while it is still warm and carefully swirl the pan around or spread the glaze around so that it is evenly distributed over the cake.  Serve cake warm or at room temperature.  Store leftovers in airtight container.

Katie's 3 Bean Whole Hog Chili

I'm going to ignore the simple fact that I haven't posted a new recipe here on the ol' blog since October and get straight to the point! I just hope someone is still out there willing to follow along with me...lol.

The point is my three bean whole hog chili. Daniel had a sales guy from work give him probably three pounds of whole hog sausage. The sausage was extremely fresh, as in the pig had been slaughtered, butchered, and processed the day before Daniel got a hold of it. It's a very bland sausage that is very smokey in flavor. You could smell the smoke with the sausage still in the bag.

I decided to try to whip him up a chili to take for his lunches and this is the masterpiece that I came up with. It's smokey and delicious with a kick of heat in the back of your throat. It's not for the faint of heart and perfect for this dreary, cold weather that just doesn't seem to want to leave Ohio! I'm ready for spring for crying out loud!!

Katie's Three Bean Whole Hog Chili
Source: Katie's Korner

Ingredients:
1 lb. whole hog sausage, browned
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 md. onion, diced
1 tsp. garlic, finely chopped
1 7oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 29 oz. can tomato sauce
29 oz. water
1 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15.5 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 15.5 oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:
1.) In a large stock pot brown whole hog sausage with diced red peppers, diced onions, and garlic. Brown until no more red meat is showing.
2.) Add in chipotle peppers with the adobo sauce and mash in with the meat mixture.
3.) Add tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, black beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans. Stir until everything is evenly mixed.
4.) Add black pepper, chili powder, cumin, and kosher salt. Allow chili to boil for about ten minutes and then reduce heat to low and allow it to simmer for one to two hours to allow flavors to combine.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and onion.

Potato Leek and Carrot Casserole

I don't even know how to properly describe this casserole. I made it tonight to use up some leeks that Daniel had requested for the new diet that he is attempting. I've never eaten, nor have I ever cooked with them so I honestly made this dish praying the entire time that what I had concocted in my head, would actually produce an edible dish that we would all enjoy. I was already pushing it by adding potatoes and we all know, Daniel doesn't eat potatoes.

Well, two helpings later he proclaimed that they were really good and I'll admit to have 2 1/2 helpings. They are awesome and both girls loved them. We've got plans on buying a concession trailer here within the next year or so so cook and sell lunch and dinner items out of and he said tonight that this will be going on the menu with our pulled pork dinner.

These were creamy and cheesy which were right up my alley. I highly suggest trying them out at your Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Potato, Leek, and Carrot Casserole

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 large potatoes, washed and cubed
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp. salt
2 leeks, clean, halved, and sliced
1/2 cup sour cream
4 oz. whipped cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese
Black pepper, salt, and garlic powder

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a colander add sliced leeks and submerge in a large bowl of cold water. Toss lightly with your hands to allow the dirt to fall to the bottom of the bowl. Remove colander from bowl of water and allow it to drain.

2.) In a large saute pan add olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter. Add carrots and garlic cloves to saute pan and cook for two to three minutes. Add cubed potatoes and season with black pepper and salt. Add an additional 1 tbsp. of butter and cook for roughly ten minutes or until potatoes have a golden brown texture and have started to soften in the middle. Lastly add leeks and toss gently with the rest of the vegetable mixture. Turn off heat.

3.) In a microwave safe dish, melt cream cheese for 20 seconds. Add sour cream to cream cheese and milk then generously season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add to potato mixture and evenly coat. Add to oven safe dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray and top with shredded cheese.

4.) Bake uncovered for twenty to twenty-five minutes until top is golden and sides are bubbly.

Creamy Roasted Garlic Pork Loin

Creamy roasted garlic pork loin, sounds fancy doesn't it? Guess what! It's as simple as throwing a few ingredients into a baking dish. This meal consisted of only four ingredients, salt and pepper being two of them, and I only have one item to thank. Progresso recipe starters. Have you tried these magical things yet? I received one free in the mail about two weeks ago and while I was hesitant at first to give it a shot, I finally gave in and gave it a try in my kitchen.

I lightly dusted the pork loin with salt and pepper and then poured the cooking sauce over top of it in a covered baking dish. I was excited at how moist the pork came out and the big kick was that Daniel liked it. The man's funny about his meats so when he says something is good, then I know it's good. If you're looking for another easy dinner then give this stuff a try. Next time I'm going to throw it all in my crockpot and see how magical it is that way.

Creamy Roasted Garlic Pork Loin
Source: Me

Ingredients:
3-4 lb. pork loin
1 can PROGRESSO creamy roasted garlic cooking sauce
salt
pepper

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) In a 2 1/2 quart baking dish place pork loin and season lightly with salt and pepper. Pour cooking sauce over pork loin, cover and bake for two hours or until cooked through

3.) Serve over rice or with a side of mashed potatoes.

* I wasn't paid or given the free sample in order to blog about the cooking sauce. I'm blogging about it because it was that good!!