I shouldn't be allowed to cook!

I have made a pretty good beef stew in the past......baked or baked in a cute lil pumpkin it's been a favorite for years! Today I made a new recipe and BAM!! Let me tell you I thought I had made good beef stew before but this is absolutely the BEST thing I have ever made!!
We have this little game we play...the yummier things are the more the girls say "this is terrible Mom, you really shouldn't be allowed to cook" and things along that line!
Arielle was so stunned by the depth of flavor in this that she couldn't even muster up an "ewww...this is gross"! We've talked about how yummy it was all night and neither of us can wait until lunch tomorrow so we can have some more!

Beef Stew over Mashed Potatoes
1 lb trimmed beef chunks
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 onion diced
3 stalks of celery cut into 1" chunks
2 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper
2 cups beef stock
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
2 small bay leaves
1/2 cup sweet baby peas
2 Tbsp soft (not melted) butter
2 Tbs flour
Brown the beef in the olive oil until the beef is browned on all sides. Add the vegetables and continue cooking 3-5 minutes until the vegetable start to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add the beef stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add the thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. Cover and simmer over low heat 2 hours.
When ready to serve add the peas. Blend the soft butter and flour together and add to simmering stew. Turn heat up and bring stew to a boil to thicken stew. Serve hot over mashed potatoes.

Mashed Potatoes
2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peel and but into small chunks
Put potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Sprinkle with salt. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes until they are very tender. Remove from heat and drain. Return potatoes to pot and put back over the burner with the heat off to dry the potatoes out.
Mash the potatoes with a masher.
Add:
3 Tbsp soft butter
3 Tbsp cream cheese softened
1/2 cup milk
Mix in the butter, cream cheese and milk mashing them around with the masher until they are creamy to your liking. Season with salt and pepper.

Totally off the subject!

I LOVE my ceramic cooktop.......those icky pans under the coils of a standard range always look dirty no matter how often you clean them!
I upgraded to a ceramic cooktop a few years ago and I've never regretted it! The only thing I dislike about it is the top can be hard to keep clean. I discovered a pretty good cooktop cleaner shortly after buying it and I like how it works but it is EXPENSIVE!!!
I've been on this natural cleaning kick lately, we've been making homemade cleaner with vinegar and citrus rinds and I really like how it cleans and feel good about reducing my use of chemicals. So I decided that if baking soda is a great exfoliator for my dull dry skin why wouldn't it work on my stove top??
I wiped off the surface then I sprinkled some dry baking soda on my damp sponge and rubbed in small circle.....holy fast cleaning Batman! DONE!
Here's the proof my friends!
Before

 See the grimy brownish ring around the circle.....that's boiled over something or other.
It only took about 2 minutes to get this result!!!

Nice and shiny and baking soda is CHEAP!!!

I tried the same thing on my sink and it helped a little but maybe the sink was just too icky for something simple.....bring on the bleach! lol

Got a minute?

OK.....it's more like 10 minutes but start to finish you are eating dinner like BAM!!!!
Super quick, super tasty and happy tummies! This is one of those ingredient only recipes because you know how much you need for your family, right?

Chicken Tacos
Flour tortillas
Thawed Mexican chicken  recipe here
Thawed Cilantro Lime Rice recipe below
Black beans
Shredded Colby Jack cheese
Shredded lettuce
Chopped tomatoes
Sour cream
Salsa
These are good served tostada style too!

Cilantro Lime Rice
2 cups rice (not that instant crap though......throw that away)!
1 Tbsp butter
2 tsp minced garlic
4 chicken bullion cubes
1 tsp lime zest
4 cups water
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Bring rice, butter, garlic, bullion cubes, zest and water in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook stirring occasionally 20-30 minutes. When rice is done remove from heat. Stir in lime juice, sugar and cilantro.
This freezes great!

Little cups of heaven!

I found this amazing recipe for cupcakes on pintrest....when I went back to make them the 2nd time the website was :::GONE:::
Ugh!
Mercifully I had saved the recipe on facebook as a note! Took me about a day to remember though!
Thank goodness, literally because these cupcakes are splendid!!
The original recipe makes a Chocolate Ganache Buttercream and I'll post that as well as the Nutella Buttercream I actually made and is pictured!
Enjoy!

Vanilla Chiffon Cupcakes
2 eggs separated
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour (don't try to use all purpose flour here)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
Heat oven to 350. Line cupcake pans with papers and set aside.
In a small deep bowl whip egg whites until thick and foamy. Beat in 1/2 cup of the sugar (1 Tbsp at a time) beating until they are glossy and stiff. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl combine the remaining sugar, flour, salt and baking powder. Add milk, oil, vanilla and the egg yolks. Beat until well combined. With a rubber spatula fold in the egg whites GENTLY (add them in 3 installments) do NOT over mix this! I use a large scoop to portion them out...you should get 24 cupcakes. Bake them 15-20 minutes until they are very lightly brown and test done with a toothpick. Cool completely before frosting. Store in air tight containers. These freeze great with or without frosting!

Chocolate Nutella Buttercream
1 cup butter at room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup Nutella
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp heavy cream
Nothing fancy just beat it all together until it's fluffy (about 5 minutes) then spread on cupcakes.

Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream
Melt chocolate chips in heavy cream over low heat then let it cool to room temp.
4 cups powdered sugar
dash salt
1 cup butter at room temp
2 tsp vanilla
Beat the butter and powdered sugar until mixed well. Add the cooled ganache, vanilla and salt (if you used salted butter you can leave the salt out or at least cut it by 1/2). Beat until very light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Spread on cooled cupcakes. Leftover frosting freezes quite well. Bring to room temp then beat it until fluffy!

It's like wrapped up pizza!

Kids love this pizza braid.....we call it "Stromboli" they call it "YUMMY"!!
It's super easy to make you can fill it with whatever you like! I don't like to put the sauce inside of mine cause it gets a little soggy so I just serve it on the side to dunk!!
Take the bread dough out of the freezer when you leave for work and put it together when you get home. It can raise while you relax and watch some TV or do the dreaded laundry......homework, nap it's all gotta be done, right? :)

Stromboli
2 loaves frozen bread dough, thawed
Roll each loaf out into a rectangle about 8x12 or whenever you get sick of trying to make it even.
Down the center of the dough sprinkle on
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
After that you can add whatever kind of pizza toppings you like such as cubed ham, pepperoni, sausage, black olives, peppers, onions.....yeah just pile it on about 1 cup of meats and about 1/2 cup veggies.
Then cut the outer edges with a pizza cutter at 1 inch intervals leaving the very end uncut even with the topping. Pull the strips across the filling at a slight angle leaving the uncut ends out. Then fold the ends down over and fold the edges underneath the whole thing. Spray a large cookie sheet with olive oil spray and put the strombolis down. Spray them with olive oil spray and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. At this point you can cover and let them rise however long you can hold out! Let them raise at least 1/2 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 375. Bake Stromboli for about 20 minutes until deep golden brown. Let rest 10 minutes before cutting into thick slices. Serve with warmed up pizza sauce.

I shelled out for some dinner!

Normally I do this filling in manicotti but shells were all I had and you know what I think I'll skip the manicotti from now on....the shells were much easier to fill so we were eating even faster!! You know how I'm a fan of instant gratification and all! :)

Super Easy Stuffed Shells
1 box large shells, cooked and drained (I rinse mine too so they are cool enough to fill)
1 lb part skim ricotta cheese
1 lb part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (keep about 1/3 of the cheese out for the top)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper
1 jar/can of your favorite spaghetti sauce
Mix cheeses, parsley and garlic in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Lightly spray a 9X13 pan and spread a little of the sauce over the bottom. Fill each shell with a heaping Tbsp of the cheese filling and placing in prepared pan.

Pour remaining sauce over shells and top with the rest of the cheese.


Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is nice and browned. Wait 5 minutes before eating so the cheese sets.

Leftovers are awesome reheated but I don't recommend freezing the entire dish. You can freeze just the stuffed shells......when ready to bake put them into the pan and cover with sauce/cheese. Bake covered for about 40 minutes then 10-15 uncovered.