Sweet as Pie: And roasted Chicken with Cheesy Herbed Potatoes

When I first read this recipe, I thought it was going to be harder than it actually was.  

I diced the red potatoes and put them in a microwave safe bowl with some chicken broth, set for 13 minutes and was good to go!

When the potatoes were done, I added the cheese and chives. The recipe called for fresh chives.  However, I don't cook with fresh herbs a lot, so often, they end up going bad. Therefore, I just went with dried chives.

Well the potatoes were cooking, I heated up the oil until it was just starting to smoke.

I browned the chicken for five minutes.  I then covered the pan and let the chicken cook for the next 18 minutes.

When the chicken was done, I drained the fat, cooked onions instead of shallots, and thickened up the sauce.  Once the sauce was done thickening, I added cheese and chives to it as well. Then, drizzled the sauce over both the potatoes and the chicken.  The only complaint out of this dish was from my husband who doesn't like any chunks in his mashed potatoes. I like a little bit of chunk in my mashed potatoes, so he had to adjust :-). The next time, I may try to get the mashed potatoes a little creamier. Loved the cheese sauce on top of everything!

Sweet as Pie: Hot Fudge Pie

I love a hot fudge sundae. So, I was really looking forward to this recipe for Hot Fudge Pie. I made it for myself, my mom, my aunt (mom's twin sister), and my cousin When we had a girls weekend at the cabin. I think I must have done something wrong, because the recipe looked nothing like the pictures that I saw and the taste was not that great. I was highly disappointed, and didn't even have a second piece. I believe my mistake was that I used self rising flour instead of all-purpose flour. The chocolate and the other ingredients seem to separate while cooking. We did have one piece each, but through the rest away. I was disappointed, but might be willing to try this recipe again at home.

I made this the same night I made the Broccoli with Walnuts and it was all I could do to take any pictures.  Clearly the hot fudge pie suffered, not only in photo opportunities, but in creation as well. 

Sweet as Pie: Roasted Broccoli with Buttered Walnuts

This is also a recipe that I made during girls weekend, with mom, my aunt, and my cousin, when we were all up at the cabin. I opted not to make this recipe at home because none of my family eats broccoli, so I thought it would be a big waste on them :-) This recipe was ridiculously easy and unbelievably delicious. It was a great way to enjoy broccoli and everyone who ate it loved it, but the broccoli and the walnuts. I will definitely make this again, more likely to do so as the price of walnuts go down :-).

 

Delightful!!!  Hope if I continue to make this, then my family will get on board with eating it :) 

Sweet as Pie: Chocolate Raspberry Cobbler

As all of you who read my blog know, I love dessert. However, I do not typically like a dessert that is made up of boxed ingredients. That might make me a bit of a dessert snob, but as I grew up, my mom never had any pre-bought desserts. My sister and I used to think that Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookie where treat. Now that I'm older, I know homemade desserts are much more of a treat!

I made this dessert for my three boys, my husband, and my mother-in-law. We served it warm, with ice cream, and there was very little left over :-)The one thing I loved about this dessert was how easy it was to make.  I couldn't find Raspberry pie filling, so I used Strawberry pie filling.  In addition, my  husband has a new found love of strawberries, so I thought he would like it better.  Three steps, place the pie filling on the bottom of the pan. 

Sprinkle the cookie mix over top of it, and bake.  Easy !!

Serve warm with ice cream and enjoy.  I know we all did!

Sweet as Pie: Crockpot Cheese Tortellini

As I have mentioned a hundred times, I love pasta.  One of our recipes for the Sweet as Pie Cooking Club this month was Crock pot Cheese Tortellini.  I have also mentioned my love of a crock pot recipe.  I made two adjustments on this recipe.   First of all, I only used half the amount of cream cheese.  I make the same adjustment with my favorite mashed potatoes recipe, and the taste doesn't suffer at all (and my waistband suffers less :) ).  In addition, my boys will eat any pasta, but they struggle with any green product.  However, as a mom, I am a firm believer that green is good, so I often use the food processor to chop either spinach or kale into very small, less noticeable pieces and then I can get it mixed into almost every one of our pasta dishes.  So, rather than leave the spinach in big leaves, I chopped it into tiny pieces and they boys never complained.  That equals one happy mommy. This was very delicious and very easy- both of which are requirements for me to add meals to the meal rotation in my house.  Also, everyone liked it... one more requirement.  This means I will make this again.

Browning the Sausage

The Food Processor FILLED with spinach, that was about to be chopped into tiny pieces!

These are the sausages that I used

Add everything to the crock pot and let it cook... have I mentioned how much I love a crock pot recipe?

 

 

One dish of Cheese Tortellini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet as Pie: Easy Pasta Carbonara

When I first saw the list of recipes, I was dying to try this because I love any pasta dish. However, I put it off because we are trying to cut carbs out of our diet for awhile.  My mom, aunt, and my cousin and her kids were in town, so I thought it was the perfect time to try this.  This was DELICIOUS and I think it was the peas that made the dish so great.  I will DEFINITELY make this again. 

 Line up the bacon, cut it and then sauteed the bacon and onions.

 Added the chicken broth and evaporated milk.  This is my fairly new dutch oven that I got for Christmas from ME :)  I love it. 

 Peas added (and a perfect fit if I do say so myself)!

Served up- there was not enough left over for seconds :(  That is a good thing and a bad thing I guess!  I will be making this again. 

Sweet as Pie: Delicious Healthy Pizza

We have made a conscious effort to move toward clean eating this year in our house so I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would try it out for my pick for this month.  I shredded the fresh mozzarella cheese.

 And, I had this very handsome assistant chef. 

 Sauteed the fresh veggies.  I love how fresh and colorful they look in the pan.

 

 Put it all on top of the mushroom and bake it. 

 Wait until it is warmed through and the cheese melts. 

I would make these again and maybe tweak things just a bit.  David was not sold and the boys would NOT eat the mushroom at all. 

Sweet as Pie: Skinny Chicken Enchiladas

Wow! These skinny chicken enchiladas are a lot spicier than we typically like. We typically do not like spicy food. In fact, we always use mild salsa. This was an easy recipe to make, although when I initially tasted this sauce, I decided to add extra tomato sauce and chicken broth to make the sauce not quite as spicy. In addition, to the chicken mixture, I only added half the Cumin and half the chili powder so it wouldn't be quite as spicy. I did like the flavor of this dish, although I probably would've made the sauce a little bit differently. The other thing that I did not particularly care for, was the number of pans that got dirty while I was making this dish. I do prefer a dish that uses a minimal number of pans so that there is less cleanup. Although, that can be overlooked and I will probably make this recipe again.

Sweet as Pie: Herb Goat Cheese Spread

I was very nervous about this recipe when I first saw it. I love cheese, but had never tried goat cheese before. This recipe was very easy to assemble. I didn't have any fresh chives, so I used dried chives. Other than that, I followed the recipe to a tee. First thing you did was throw everything in the food processor, although I believe the blender would work just as well. Blended altogether until it's smooth. Put it in the serving bowl and serve with crackers. This was wonderful and I will definitely be making that again. I imagine it would have even more flavor with fresh chives.

Swwet as Pie: Pan Roasted Chicken Lemon Garlic Green Beans

I was very pleased to see this recipe, Pan Roasted Chicken Lemon Garlic Green Beans, pop up because it aligns so nicely with our clean eating plan for the month.  In addition, my husband is a non vegetable eater (most of the time), so I am continually looking for vegetable recipes that he will like.  He does like green beans, although not freshly picked green beans, so I knew this would be a stretch for him.  This recipe was very easy with good flavors.  The most difficult part was thinly slicing the lemons.  Mix some oil, the garlic, lemon juice, salt, and fresh ground pepper in a bowl and the coat the green beans, then the potatoes, and then the chicken.  Layer them in the dish and cook them for 50 minutes and then eat.  The green beans were very "lemony", but I liked them.  David, the non-veggie eater, did not like them at all, but he did like the chicken. 

If I made this again, I may reduce the amount of lemon juice... maybe that would help my husband out :)

Sweet as Pie: Garlic and Onion Biscuit Ring

We have changed the rules at Sweet as Pie Cooking Club for this year.  Last year, we only used Pioneer Woman's Recipes, which were delicious and we only found a few of them that we didn't like.  This year, the recipe can come from anywhere and our first pick was Garlic and Onion Biscuit Ring, picked by a dear friend of mine, who unfortunately just relocated to Maine.  This was very easy to make and we had it as a side item with taco soup (another favorite of mine). 

It's hard to screw up melting butter in the microwave, but that is the first step.  Add the garlic, onions, and poppy seeds.

 Mix it all together, and then dip the biscuits into the mix and layer them into the pan.

Pop it in the oven and bake it.  This was crazy easy and I was very pleased with the results.  

We are currently trying to get away from processed foods like the refrigerated biscuit dough in this, but this was delicious.  When trying this again, I may make my own biscuits from scratch and try that.  After all, I have all of those poppy seeds left over from making this :)  It is good and you need to try it now!!

So Kool or Not Kool? Roasted Cauliflower

So Kool or Not Kool?  Not Kool
Picky Eater's Opinion?  I can't believe you let me put that in my mouth.

I am always looking for ways to fix vegetables differently, so I was excited to add this as a side item to our Thanksgiving menu.  I thought the flavor of the cauliflower itself was good, but I thought the ratio of bread crumbs to cauliflower was overwhelming.  The bread crumbs totally took over the dish.  If I was going to make this again, I would cook the cauliflower longer and had only half of the bread crumbs to the recipe. 

So Kool or Not Kool? Pumpkin Cream Pie

So Kool or Not Kool?  Better than Regular Pumpkin Pie
Picky Eater's Opinion?  Very Kool

I do not typically like pumpkin pie.  As I have said in previous posts, I have a huge sweet tooth, so if it is the only thing available then I will eat it, but it is ALWAYS my last choice of pies.  And, I grew up a pie girl because every year for the holidays, my grandmother would always make everyone their favorite pie.  She made such good pies that she sold them to a local restaurant and they used her pies.  I NEVER picked pumpkin. 

This recipe was my pick because my husband eats pumpkin pie, but doesn't love it either, so I thought this might be a nice change.  I love a graham cracker crust, so this pie was off to a good start.  It was easy to make and very light and fluffy.  I would make this again for special holidays, but it is easy enough to make whenever you want it. 

So Kool or Not Kool? Peach Whiskey Chicken

So Kool or Not Kool?  Kooooooooooooool
Picky Eater's Opinion?  It was awesome

I was hesitant about this recipe, but it was unbelievably delicious.   We used homemade apricot jam instead because that is what we had, but this was to die for.  The chicken was so tender that it melted in your mouth.  A knife is not needed to cut the chicken at all, you can just use a fork.  We will definitely be making this recipe again and I cannot wait to eat it again. 

So Kool or Not Cool? Angel Sugar Cookies

So Kool or Not Kool?  Ehhhhhhh....
Picky Eater's Opinion?  He isn't picky about cookies :)

In the defense of this recipe, it probably didn't stand much of a chance in my opinion.  I have a sugar cookie recipe that I am in love with that I have used for years.  It always turns out perfect (except for the time when I was 9 years old and decided to surprise my mom and make them for her when she was at the neighbors and I read 1 tsp of salt as 1 TBS of salt... let's just say that is not a mistake that leads to a pleasant flavor change in cookies).  So, right out of the gun this recipe had a lot to live up to for me, because other than my perfect sugar cookie recipe, I think the sugar cookie is boring.

Having said that, these cookies were just as easy as any cookie to make and they tasted fine enough, but I would not make them again.  They are very light and fluffy, but to me, they didn't have that much flavor.  However, none of them went to waste in the house, because it doesn't take much to convince a 3 year old and a 4 year old to eat the cookies.  However, I probably only ate 2 or 3 of them.  

So Kool or Not Kool? Crash Hot Potatoes

So Kool or Not Kool?  So Kool
Picky Eater's Opinion?  It's a potato... that works for me

I. LOVE. POTATOES.  I wish they had more nutritional value than they actually do.  That would make me even happier.  When David and I started dating, he would laugh at me because I had a huge potato for dinner frequently.  A baked potato with the works is something that can always make me happy.  That being said, I am continually looking for new ways to make potatoes, so I was thrilled when this recipe came up and couldn't wait to try it (although obviously, I could wait to blog about it :) ) 

These are very easy to make and delightfully delicious.  I love the taste of the olive oil on top and bottom of the potatoes as well as the kosher salt.  This will definitely be yet another alternative recipe for potatoes in our house.  LOVE. IT.

So Kool or Not Kool? Pineapple Upside Cake

So Kool or Not Kool?  SO KOOL!!!!!!!!!
Picky Eater's Opinion?  I'll eat more of that
Future Chef's Menu?  DEFINITELY

I love sweets, but I generally gravitate towards those made with chocolate and not those made with fruit.  However, I do love pineapple and pineapple upside down cake.  I don't have a cast iron skillet at my house, so I had to wait to make this at the cabin.  It was ridiculously easy to make and unbelievably delicious.  I may have to get a cast iron skillet just to leave at my house so I can make this again.  The one thing that I think I did wrong was that I put too much brown sugar (if that is even possible) on the bottom/top of the cake.  This is something I would also love to try to make over a campfire when we were cooking with the boys.  We do have cast iron cookware in the camper, so we may have to give this recipe a try next spring/summer.  I'll let you know how that goes.

So Kool or Not Kool? Corn Casserole with Peppers

So Kool or Not Kool?  Either Way...
Picky Eater's Opinion?  Didn't have one

As we entered the second half of the year, I did not do near as great of a job entering my blog posts on the cooking club, even though I was making the recipes.  As I sit here tonight, with one day remaining in the year, I think of how much confidence I have gained as a cook and how much willingness I have to try new foods.  I am also super proud of my Picky Eater as he has found at least 15-20 new foods this year that he will eat.

We made this back in August, and it was good, but in my opinion, it was nothing great.  However, fresh corn on the cob is my favorite way to eat corn and it brings back so many memories of shucking fresh corn right out of the pasture with my grandmother back when I was a little girl.  She is no longer living, but the memories I feel when eating fresh corn on the cob still remain very strong.  Having said this, this particular recipe really did nothing for us.  We would eat it if it was one of the only things being served, but we would not make it again or really prefer to have it. 

So Kool or Not Kool? Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce

So Kool or Not Kool? Kool
Picky eaters opinion: Ehhhhh, either way
Will it make the future chef's menu? Absolutely!

I love pasta! I have had pesto sauce before, but I have never made it on my own. Therefore, I was super excited to try this recipe. So excited that in fact, I forgot to take any pictures. I did have to make a few adjustments to the recipe based on the ingredients that I had at home. We do not eat pine nuts so I excluded that from the recipe and I did not have Parmesan cheese, so I used mozzarella cheese and goat cheese instead. I had already been to the store once, or I probably would have returned to get the Parmesan cheese. I do like to try her recipes as original as possible the first time around. Then, if necessary, I will make any adjustments to the recipe for our family. This recipe did go together with absolute and total ease. First, throw the basil in the food processor (which if you don't know by now, I absolutely adore my new food processor), add garlic, pine nuts (which we didn't use), olive oil, and cheese. Blend until creamy. My food processor did not get this as creamy as I would like, so I did have to transfer it to the blender and repeat as needed. In the meantime, cook the noodles on the stove top. I did that at the same time I was mixing the butter and heavy cream on the stove top also. Once that Mixture got hot, add the pesto sauce and lightly simmer until smooth. That is when I added my goat cheese. Then, drain the noodles and toss them together and throw in some tomatoes… Pretty good :-). We will definitely try this again, and may even try to use the recipe a little more the way she originally wrote it!

So Kool or Not Kool? Bananas Foster

So Kool or Not Kool?  So Kool... especially with ice cream
Picky Eater's Opinion?  Kool
Will it make the Future Chef's Menu?  Definitely!

This was one of my picks.  I love the months when I get to pick the recipe.  I love her recipes so much that I often pick them when I am at home by myself and not choosing for the cooking club.  I also love desserts, so this month I picked two recipes (in case someone didn't choose one, then we had an extra).  Both of mine were chosen:  the steakhouse pizza was a bust in our house, but the bananas foster was fabulous.

 Melting butter is pretty easy and then adding the wonderful flavor of brown sugar... YUM!!!

 Heavy cream is added...

 Now, add the bananas and cover them with the sweet syrup of cream and brown sugar. 

This was one of the main things I was looking forward to trying.  I have never done it before and seeing it in the picture may be difficult.  Add the dark rum to the mixture and then light it on fire to burn it off.  This went off much easier than I thought, and I had the time to get a picture.  Clearly, I need to work on my photography skills, but the cooking skill went just fine!

We put the bananas foster over the ice cream and it was QUITE delightful.  I will definitely make this again.  It was not near as difficult as I thought it might be when I chose the recipe.

Eat it fast, because the hot bananas cause the ice cream to melt very quickly.