Still Here

I've been sewing, cooking, gallivanting and photographing it all.  Just need to upload and get typing some text.  Promise to do them soon :)  In the meantime... I'm drinking this

pardon the stinky pic taken with my phone!

a homemade shamrock shake and while I am enjoying very much and drinking the whole thing in under 5 seconds.  It pains me to tell you that it is truly not as good as McD's version.  Boo hoo... I suspect it's the peppermint extract - don't use as much as that recipe suggests.  A little goes a LONG way with this stuff.  xo, Brie

Tomorrow I am posting a favorite meatless meal recipe for Lent!

What a Week

I am happy this week was short with Monday's holiday, I am ready to bid it a fond farewell.   My youngest was SICK with a crazy high fever and no other symptoms that lasted for 3 days.  Apparently it is really going around and not just in New Jersey which I was able to gather from handy dandy facebook.  I hope this nasty virus doesn't come to visit your house, it's no fun at all.    She missed the whole week of school and probably could have returned today but I decided it was just best to stick a fork in this week and we'll start fresh on Monday. 

In other news... I'm told from some very reliable sources that the totally delicious Shamrock Shake from McDonalds is back.  I went out in search of one only to be told that our local NJ franchise "does not have them yet"  - what are you waiting for folks, I need to get my shamrock on!!!  This news was delivered yesterday around noon and here we are a full day later at 3pm and I am still not over it.   I now have the recipe in my hot little hands - so take that McDonalds!  If you would like to join me and have one too, here is the recipe

I'm still cleaning out the dreading sewing room.   It is taking forever and is long overdue.   I am really trying to weed out and get organized this year.   One great side effect of cleaning is that you find items you COMPLETELY forgot you even had!    Look at this cute little flower I made today out of felt scraps - I love working with felt!  I am working some felt flowers into our hair accessory line and will probably debut them in the etsy shop, so I'll keep you posted on that!  I think it came out pretty cute....

I'm making a delicious chicken and broccoli stir fry tonight that I am told is excellent and I'm charging my camera up so stay tuned - hopefully will get this up over the weekend. 

Last but not least - while I should be cleaning my house in all my spare time, I have been making some etsy treasuries of some of my amazing finds ;) This is the one I made today - it's one of my faves! Check it Out Here! There sure is a lot of talent over there on Etsy!

Cheers to a fabulous weekend for all!! xo, Brie

Barbeque Beef Short Ribs in the Crock Pot

This one is a keeper!! 5 out of 6 in this house loved dinner last week and 1 out of 6 nibbled on snacks all afternoon whenever I had my back turned so she "wasn't hungry".


I picked up some boneless short ribs at costco and the pack contained 6 BIG short ribs and the cost was around 25 dollars.  I ended up cooking all 6 because I have never made them before and I was afraid they were really going to shrink up after cooking all day but they didn't.  Next time, I think I will try to make this stretch to 2 meals (cook 3/freeze 3)

Here is the incredibly complicated recipe -

I took the short ribs and put them in the crock pot raw

Mix up these ingredients in a bowl.  I liked it because they were all  common items that I already had in the house.

I'll post the link at the bottom again with all the measurements of everything

Pour the mix over the short ribs and cook in the crock pot all day!   It just doesn't get easier than that....
The recipe calls for crock pot low setting for 8 hours.  I put mine in around 9am and checked them at 3pm - they were definitely cooking, but not hitting that "fall apart" stage so around 3, I bumped up the temp to the high setting. 

By 6pm they were perfectly done.  I served them with mashed potatoes.  I highly recommend this easy recipe :)  I'll definitely make these again!

View the complete recipe HERE
xo, Brie

Garlic Knots

No, your eyes do not deceive you - I cannot tell a lie, I ate the missing knot before this photo was taken.  I had to try it to make sure they were good before I blogged it.  I did it for you :)

or not.... not everyone likes garlic bread in this house we have a few purists on site!

This was an experiment that went WAY right tonight - I got lots of accolades and since I get very few around here when it comes to dinner (several picky children eaters) I'll take what I can get!

First up, I made the pizza dough (linked) I've posted a few days ago. When it was nice and properly risen, I rolled it out onto a large cutting board in a rectangular shape and cut them into 3/4 inch strips and then cut those strips in half horizontally with a pizza cutter - yielding around 12 strips approximately 6-8 inches long.

I tied the strips very literally into a knot and tucked around the edges to make a little bun.  Spray a cookie sheet with Pam and place your cute little knot on the sheet.  Repeat this process 11 or so times.  Cover with a clean dish towel and set out of the way for one more rise for about 30 minutes ought to do it. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brush the knots with a little egg wash if you are feeling fancy, it will make them a lovely and golden.  I also cracked a little sea salt over the top of them.   Bake in the oven uncovered for 12-15 minutes.

In a separate pan I melted 2 tbsp of butter, 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2-3 minced cloves of garlic  and cooked on the stove stop careful not to brown it up. 

The pizza place we like to go to puts the knots in a bowl and pours the garlic butter all over them.  They are messy and so delicious you can't believe it.   I served my garlic butter on the side for both calorie control and also because 3 out of 4 kids hate garlic bread.  Go figure!  The rolls were perfect - nice and crusty on the outside and soft and yummy on the inside. 

Will  DEFINITELY make these again!  xo, Brie

Pizza Dough Recipe

As promised here is the pizza dough recipe - I really hope you'll try it out sometime because it is SO easy, SO inexpensive, and SO good! 

For ingredients all you need is

2 and 3/4 cup flour
1 cup warm water
1 packet of active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp of kosher salt
2 tbsp of olive oil 

First up fill up your measuring cup with very warm (but not hot) water and dissolve your yeast in it - give it a gentle stir to immerse the yeast and walk away.

Come back 5 minutes or so and you'll see the yeast is starting to foam up (you want this)

Combine all 5 ingredients in a bowl and work into a ball with a fork.  I'm sure a kitchen aid mixer would be fabulous for this type of mixing but since I've broken not one... but TWO of these so I've learned to live without one.   For this recipe, you really and truly don't need one.   Just kind of mix it into a ball with your fork, remove from the bowl and kneed it with your hands on a lightly floured counter for about 10 minutes.   I never quite make it to the full 10 minutes and usually throw in the towel around the 6 minute mark.  It's always worked out fine.

You will now have a very soft pliable non sticky ball of dough.  Spray a new clean bowl with some Pam and cover with some plastic wrap or a dish towel and set it somewhere out of the way to rise. 

It can sit there all day and will be just fine!




she's at again with the faces....



When you are ready to make pizza take your dough out - I don't bother with the rekneeding process or anything.... spray a cookie sheet and you can either 1.) spread the dough right out over the cookie sheet to make one big pizza or 2.) score it equal parts for a make your own individual pizza kind of party.   This dough can stretch to make 1 full pan pizza or 5 good sized individual pizzas but tonight we're are meeting out some friends for dinner so I am scoring this in 4 parts for the kids. 

really, she can't seem to help herself

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spread out to make your individual pizzas.  This dough is so easy to work with, not sticky at all.  I usually bake them like this for about 7 minutes to get them going. 

Pull them out and let them cool a smidge b/c the pans will be hot.   Top with whichever toppings you like and have on hand.  Lower oven temp to 375 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes or so (eyeball it)

Delicious homemade pizza for everyone!!  Mangia ;)  xo, Brie

PS  Final Season of Big Love premiers tonight!!!  Can't wait....

Stromboli

As promised... here is the recipe for our incredibly complicated stromboli!

First up - the ingredients.  Pillsbury french loaf, pizza sauce ( I wish I had the pizza quick sauce b/c I love singing that old commercial) mozzarella cheese, and whatever you normally like for toppings.

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a cookie sheet with some cooking spray.  Your might want to throw some tin foil over the cookie sheet to make clean up a little easier.  I forgot to do this!    Open up your french loaf and find the seam and carefully unroll the dough - this can occasionally go horribly wrong, so take your time and do it right.

Next up is the sauce - this is the perfect recipe to recruit a child worker if you have one who loves to help with dinner!

Add your cheese and toppings

Fold over each of the sides a little

Start rolling it up from top to bottom until you have something resembling a loaf - it doesn't have to look beautiful but I feel certain you can do a better job than this ;)

Make up another one depending on how many hungry people you are feeding - we have 6 in our house and there was not a piece left.   Some turkey chili simmering over there on the right for my lunches this week - nothing to do with this recipe :)

Bake in the over for 25 - 30 minutes.  Slice into 1 inch slices and serve with a salad and voila you are a hero with the kids. 

These also make great appetizer snacks if you are having a Super Bowl party or something! 

Here you can sing this old 80's commercial while you make it - Mangia!  xo, Brie

Happy New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year - this year goes to eleven! 

I totally stole that from my friend on facebook but I love all things Spinal Tap so the fact that our next year goes to 11 leaves me quite excited and filled with great hope for all things wonderful.  My sister also keeps insisting that Snookie is jumping out of the ball that drops down in Times Square?! What a wonderful sight to begin a fresh new year with.... might have to stay up to see that one.  I guess it will take our minds off of poor Dick Clark. 

Someone was saying on twitter that they are setting goals for the new year verses resolutions as goals are more attainable.  Oh yes sir-ee there will be a list of goals made up in here and plenty of them. 

First up getting this house in gear b/c I am hosting a little dinner soiree tomorrow for 10 adults and 17 kids - (yes I said 17) - good heavens, I should have counted out that number ahead of time..   I sure hope they like to play Just Dance 2 and my house is still standing by the end of the night!   

I am planning of serving Barefoot Contessa Paella which I have had before and it's VERY good and my sister tells me I can make it ahead and keep on the warm setting of the crock pot so I just don't see how this can go wrong.  Except for the fact that saffron threads are 17.99 for a teeny jar at Stop and Shop - an essential ingredient I understand for paella but holy shnikes!  I am told this tiny jar will last me a long time - it had better!  I want to make paella with this very bottle for my 95th birthday.  Stay tuned :) 

I am ordering pizza for the 17 kids - I don't have enough saffron threads....

Cheers to a Happy New Year to all.  One of my goals is to be a MUCH better blogger in '11 xo, Brie

French Quarter Cheese

Wow is Christmas really in 3 days?  This month has been a whirlwind - I have a lot of great pics and shopping scores to share but since many of these are gifts and the recipients of these gifts check in here from time to time... it may be best to wait until the new year.   I think they'll be worth the wait :) 

I am oddly feeling calm as the holidays approach.  We are hosting again which I love.  House is decorated, cards are mailed, presents are wrapped, menu is planned, groceries and beverages are purchased.   It's a great feeling and if I'm being totally honest, very unlike me!!Maybe I am going to become a super organized Fly Lady now that I am officially 40!! We can only hope.

Today I am going to start cooking a few things ahead in the hopes of sparing my kitchen from being a complete overloaded mess for my company to feast their eyes on. 

On the to do list today are Crab Puffs and this French Quarter Cheese Ball (just the cheese part, the topping will have to wait until the day of b/c it's yummier if the topping is warm). I got the recipe from a friend I am in a fundraising group with and it is a crowd pleaser. So yummy! In addition to serving it with crackers, I also put some Anna's Ginger Thin cookies and it is really really good!

Here is the recipe - I highly recommend it :)  Picture and Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home

Ingredients


1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon grated onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

Assorted crackers

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, onion and garlic. Transfer to a serving plate; shape into a 6-in. disk. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Cook and stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in pecans.

Cool slightly. Spoon over cheese mixture. Serve with crackers. Yield: 8 servings.

 
They also include all the calorie info etc over there but I I'm not needing that right now.  Let's look at the bright side and know there are 4 g of protein per serving ;) 

Wishing you a glorious holiday!!!!!  Hope Santa is good to you!  xo, Brie

An Easy Fall/Winter Dinner

Making a dinner that everyone likes in this house is no easy task.  One young man in particular (who shall remain nameless but he knows who he is) hates EVERYTHING!!!
Believe it or not, this is one dinner in my house that everyone likes and looks forward to.  I've created some easy shortcuts too so with a little planning in the morning, it is very possible to get this on the table even on a busy sports night.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie (this recipes serves 6)

4 chicken breasts
box of chicken broth
1/2 cup flour
4 tbsp butter
splash of heavy cream
bag of frozen peas/carrots
pepperidge farm puff pastry shells (or sheets)

The morning of, I put 4 pretty much frozen solid chicken breasts in the crockpot and go on my merry way for the day. 

4 hours later they are fully cooked and falling apart

I transfer them to a bowl or something b/c some weird juices accumulate in the bottom of the crockpot and want those out :)  I clean the crock pot and put the chicken back into it (crockpot is off now or you can put to warm if you want to assemble the rest later)  and shred it all up with 2 forks. 

Start preheating your oven to 400 to cook the puff pastry

In a pot on the stove melt 4 tbsp of butter and then add flour - stir it around a bit to "cook" the flour

Add the whole box of chicken broth and whisk until thick, add that splash of cream for color and richness now

You can pop in your puff pastry now if the oven is preheated (please don't focus on my gnarly cookie sheet)

Add your chicken and about half a medium bag of the frozen peas/carrots and stir until everything is cooked through and no longer frozen.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Beep, Beep, Beep - puff pastry is done in about 20 min (again no looking at the gnarly cookie sheet)

Scoop and serve over the puff pastry shell and put the puff pastry hat on top if you are feeling fancy :)

Bon Appetit!  xo, Brie

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I made these cookies yesterday and took pictures along the way and the whole deal - only to discover this am that the memory card was NOT in the camera (the camera I have been using doesn't bother to tell you the card isn't in - it just lets you snap away obliviously)

Oh well, I'll give you a stock photo (courtesy of christmascookieswithpictures.com) along with the recipe to make these super easy 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies! My apologies to those with peanut allergies - these are definitely not for you :( Recipe from Gourmet magazine awhile ago

Preheat oven to 350

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together, roll in small 1 inch round balls and place on greased cookie sheet. These don't spread out too much so you can fit around 12 cookies on one sheet. Use a fork to make the criss cross tine markings (a MUST for pb cookies!) sprinkle the tops with a tiny bit more of granulated sugar. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for another 3 minutes or so before transferring to cooling rack.

This recipe makes about 18 cookies. Enjoy and again, sorry for no pics :( xo, Brie

My Go To Hors D'oeuvres

Whether I am going to a party or hosting it myself, these are my 2 go tos for snacks. Everyone seems to like them and they always get a nice reception upon arrival - either that or people are thinking, oh God here she comes with those 2 dumb hors d'oeuvres again and they are being kind. I'm hoping it's option A :) These are so easy you can make the both at the same time. I have these ingredients on hand almost all the time.

So here we go.... 2 easy slam dunk snacks with directions and pictures

Hot Spinach Dip

1 package frozen no sauce chopped spinach
1 medium onion chopped

2 tbsp butter

3/4 - 1 cup heavy cream

6 or 7 slices of swiss cheese

salt and pepper

Defrost spinach in the colander in the sink. Melt butter in a skillet and saute chopped onions until soft and slight caramelized.

Squeeze out defrosted spinach and add to the onion in the skillet, heat through and generously salt and pepper. I don't know why but the spinach needs lots of salt (more than I usually use to season).




Add cream and mix in and heat through

Add cheese and stir over med low heat to incorporate. You may need to add more cream just to get the right dipping consistency. I serve these with tostitos corn chips and you want it to be dippable. If it's too thick, the chips start breaking in there and that is just no fun for anyone.

Sweet Sausages

Easiest recipe ever. Take 2 turkey polska kielbasa and slice them up. Heat them in a dry skillet over medium high heat until they start to caramelize. Add 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/3 cup of water. Let it continue to cook at a low boil for 3-4 minutes.

Serve with toothpicks. Could this be any easier? I don't think so :) Try these crowd pleasers at your next soiree :) xo, Brie