Crack Bread

I am guessing this bread can be called "Crack Bread" for two reasons.

One, because you slice the crusty bread in an "X" pattern and stuff the cracks with yummy cheese goodness.

Two, because once you eat it, it's like crack, and you can't stop.
Well, it's not as bad as crack...but it's hard to leave alone!!
:)

I had run across many versions of this bread on Pinterest and couldn't choose just one.

There were elements from different ones that I liked and so I sort of combined what I thought looked and sounded good!

The two that gave me the most inspiration were from two bloggers, 

Joan's Food Wanderings and Working Mommy is Redundant.

Here's what I did:

Crack Bread

1 loaf of crusty french bread

1 stick of salted butter, melted

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/4 cup tops of green onions, sliced

3 cloves of minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 teaspoon dried mustard

8 ounce block of each: Monterrey Jack and White Cheddar Cheese, sliced

1 package of real bacon bits

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

With a sharp bread knife, diagonally cut the bread, NOT ALL THE WAY THROUGH,  leaving about 1-2 inch spaces, then do the same going the other way to gt an "X" pattern.

Place bread on a large sheet of foil.

Slide the slices of cheese in between the cracks.

Sprinkle with bacon pieces and using your fingers make sure that some of them get pushed down in the cracks.

In a glass bowl or measuring cup, melt butter.

Add to it the oil, spices, onion and parsley.

Give it a good stir and drizzle it over the bread, taking care to get it down inside the cracks.

Here it is ready for the oven!

Wrap the foil around the bread and bake it for 10 minutes.

Unwrap the top and bake for another 10 minutes for cheese to get bubbly.

Serve warm.

It's a great pull apart bread, easy, and our company loved it!

I totally think you could make this on the grill with no problem.

I wrapped up the leftovers (what was left that is...) and popped it back in the oven for about 15 minutes and re-heated it.  We ate it with chili!!

Crock Pot AppleSauce

A week or so ago, I had a crock pot party on my facebook page to celebrate 6,000 facebook fans.

What wonderful recipes were shared!! 

I pinned a bunch of them away on my Pinterest Boards for later, but this one, I couldn't get out of my mind.

I love the ease of throwing everything in the crock pot in the morning, and it being ready after the hustle and bustle of a crazy day!

I have to admit, though, I was really looking forward to my fellow bloggers sharing things you don't usually associate the crock pot with, things like desserts, or APPLE SAUCE!!

 Real Food Outlaws shared this recipe for crock pot applesauce.

I made it the next weekend in one crock pot while a batch of my Beef and Barley Stew Cooked in the other.

It was so good, they gobbled it up and I made it again that following week, while ribs slow cooked away, the apple sauce did the same.

If you click here: Real Food Outlaws

You can see how she cans it, too!!

Crock Pot AppleSauce

adapted from Real Food Outlaws

10-12 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

4 cinnamon sticks

1/4 of a lemon's peel

1 teaspoon lemon juice

The apples I used were pretty big, I used 10 of them, and used 4 cinnamon sticks.  My kids are crazy about cinnamon apples!  If you are using the really small apples that you pick off most home grown trees, you may need to up it some.

Place apples, cinnamon sticks and lemon peel in the crock pot.  Drizzle with the lemon juice.

Set pot to low and cook 5-7 hours.

Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peel.

With your hand blender and  blend apples, or you could do this in a regular blender, too.

I thought it was pretty good warm, my kids preferred it cold.

Very sweet and tasty and No Sugar!! :)

Chocolate Orange Banana Bread

I love banana bread.  

I have a great recipe for regular banana bread that I use whenever I get 3 ripe bananas.

(Recipe HERE)

Sometimes, I don't have time to whip any up, so guess what?

I just throw the bananas in the freezer, skins and all!

When you take them out to use them, set them on your counter to thaw, 

and you can squeeze the ripe banana out one end into your bowl, just like soft serve! ;)

That's what I did yesterday.  But when I saw this recipe on Pinterest from ROCK Recipes, I wanted to switch it up.

I LOVE chocolate orange, and with that I was sold.

I had just bought some fresh mandarin oranges at the store this weekend, and they are so flavorful, I had to use one!

I used (most) of the recipe but where the original called for chopped white chocolate, I used white chocolate chips and semi-sweet ones, too.

You can call this a bread to make yourself feel better, but you will feel like you are eating moist chocolate cake.

Chocolate Orange Banana Bread

Rock Recipes

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas, mashed

juice and zest of 1 orange

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of each white chocolate chips and semi-sweet chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, prepare large loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine sugar and oil in your mixer, add in eggs, bananas and orange zest, mix.

Sift together all of your dry ingredients.

Alternate dry ingredients and orange juice into sugar/banana mixture.

Mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl.

Fold in chips.

Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Grab a glass of milk...or your favorite cuppa...and partake in the goodness!!

Crock Pot Roast and Rice

I love roast beef in the crock pot!

I love how it cooks all day and just falls apart.

Love how it makes your kitchen smell!!

Not to mention walking in after a crazy day and dinner is virtually done!

Sometimes, I tire of potatoes with roast.

My family is a HUGE fan of rice.  

Even better if you mix it with frozen peas.

So, one time I had a roast in the crock pot and instead of making plain old boring minute rice, I made it with the juice the roast and carrots cooked in all day.

They LOVED it.

So, now, more often than not, we have rice with our roast instead of potatoes!

Crock Pot Roast and Rice

Beef Chuck Roast (Mine are always about 3-4 lbs.  Just make whatever suites your family size)

Mushrooms, canned or sliced fresh (optional)

water

1-2 Tablespoons beef bouillon

1/2 cup minced onion

sliced Carrots

Salt and Pepper

Minute Rice (I use brown, you can use white if you wish)

Frozen Peas

Honestly, I cannot give you "measurements" for this recipe to be exact.  It's really based on how big your roast and the family you are feeding is.  Make adjustments accordingly.

Place roast, carrots and onion in your crock pot.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle with bouillon.

Pour water into crock pot, fill so there is about 2-3 inches in the bottom of the crock pot.

Cook all day on low until roast is falling apart.

(6-8 hours, depending on roast size)

Remove roast, mushrooms and carrots, shred or slice your roast.

Remove juice from crock pot and drain off fat.

LOVE my Pampered Chef gravy separator!!

Measure out equal amounts of juice and rice.

I usually make like 3 or 4 cups.

Place juice in microwave and bring to a boil.

Add rice to juice, give it a stir, and cover and let sit until rice is cooked. 

(5 minutes or so)

Microwave your frozen peas, and toss with rice.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Stuffed Peppers

are one of my most favorite dinners.  We eat them quite a bit actually.

They are not only yummy and filling, they are really quite good for you when you make them using brown rice and lean ground beef.

Here is my recipe for STUFFED PEPPERS.

The night I had ingredients out for stuffed peppers a couple of weeks ago, I decided I really wanted soup.

(it was 100+ degrees outside, 

yea... I'm nuts like that)

I have seen tons of recipes for stuffed pepper soup around, and I didn't know which to choose, so like normal, I just started throwing stuff in the pot until it tasted good!! :)

I made a big batch of this, and have some in the freezer.

Yay for me!!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

3 cups brown rice, prepared

2 pounds lean ground beef, browned and drained

1 onion chopped

2 green bell peppers, cut into smaller pieces

6 sweet vine peppers, tri colored, sliced

6 cloves of garlic

4 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce

4 cups low sodium beef broth

1 teaspoon marjoram

salt and pepper

Brown ground beef with a little salt and pepper in your skillet.  Drain.

Add to it the peppers, onion and garlic, and saute for about 5-10 minutes.

In your soup kettle or crock pot, add tomatoes, sauce, marjoram and broth.

Add beef/pepper mixture.

Prepare your rice, and set aside.

Simmer on the stove for about 45 minutes to marry the flavors.

Or cook on low in crock pot all day.

Before serving add rice.

Can be topped with cheese if you like.

Cucumber Ranch Salad

Growing up my Mom made cucumber salad, but made it with vinegar sugar dressing, which I still love, but this is how my Mother-in-law does it, and if you love ranch, you will love it!

Well...of course it helps to like cucumbers, too.

But chances are you wouldn't be reading a recipe for cucumber salad if you didn't.

Sometimes when I blog a recipe like this I wonder if ya'll think I am nuts to blog something that is so easy.

Then I remind myself, I had never had it until I was the ripe 'ol age of 22, so maybe you haven't?

Sometimes, I just blog these recipes, knowing that someday my daughter (the oldest one who doesn't like to cook) may want this salad she loves, and she can go to the internet and figure out how to make it!

So the whole thing is pretty darn easy, but better to make them in the morning, or the night before so they can soak, after you read the recipe you'll know what I mean.

So without further adieu....

Cucumber Ranch Salad

3 large cucumbers, washed, sliced in half then sliced in pieces.

(I leave the skin on, but you can peel it off if you prefer)

1 small onion, I like the sweet onions, chopped

1 cup Ranch dressing (more or less to taste)

Salt and cold water

Pepper

Slice cucumbers and place in a bowl.

Cover with cold water and give a good sprinkling of salt.

Place in refrigerator for a couple of hours to soak. This will keep the cucumbers firm.

Add onions, and toss with ranch dressing. (You can use any ranch you want, I make it with fat free, and it makes this salad nice and light!)

Give it a sprinkle of pepper and you're all done!!

Homemade "Frosty Paws" - 'Ice Cream' for your dog

My dogs LOVE ice cream

Like, our boxer... he won't mooch when you're eating a steak, but he hears the CRACK of the lid coming off of the ice cream bucket and he's drooling on your foot.

Whenever I take him to the vet, we stop at Mickey D's for a cone.

Yes, he is spoiled.

When my friend, Candi, over at The Devilish Dish, made these for her pooch a month ago, I knew I would be making them for Sully, for his birthday!

Devilish Dish Blog

Devilish Dish Facebook Page

Gabby is Sully's sister, and don't let her size fool you, she rules the roost.

She attended the "party" and loved the frosty paws as much as Sully Did.

This is the direct link to The Devilish Dish Recipe, I changed mine up a bit for what I had on hand, as she states, you can make them how she did or switch it up.

I didn't have banana, but had baby food carrots in my pantry... even though my youngest are almost 11, yea, don't ask.

Homemade Frosty Paws - Ice Cream for your dog

32 ounces of plain yogurt

1 jar of baby food carrots (or baby food meat or one mashed banana)

2-3 Tablespoons of Honey

2-3 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter

Combine the ingredients until smooth. I made mine a little sweeter, because he's a "sweets dog"-- I used 3 T of peanut butter and honey.

Pour into muffin tins, or cupcake liners.  I used the silicone ones, per Candi's suggestion, and they were AWESOME!

Freeze and let the doggies enjoy!

Makes about 12.