Focaccia with roasted tomatoes

1 cup water warm
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbs Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place all of the ingredients into the pan of your bread machine. Program for Dough or Manual, and press Start.

At the end of the cycle, remove the dough from the machine and punch it down. Roll it out to form a rectangle, and transfer it to a cookie sheet, 10 x 15-inch to 12 x 18-inch. Pat the dough into the pan.

With your fingertips make indents all over the dough.

Sprinkle with kosher salt, black pepper, Italian Herbs and roasted tomatoes. Drizzle a little more olive oil on the dough.

Preheat your oven to 450.

Allow focaccia to rise 30 minutes to 45 minutes in a warm location.

Bake focaccia for 15 to 20 minutes until nicely browned.

Roasted Tomatoes

I wanted a different "topping" for my focaccia, so I roasted up some Roma Tomatoes.

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
Fresh Black Pepper
3 large garlic cloves chopped


Preheat oven to 400.

Slice tomatoes and place in a small bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

Spread on a foil lined baking sheet and pour the extra oil over each tomato slice.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Let them cool on the baking sheet.

Make Ahead Egg Sandwiches

Another great idea thanks to Pinterest.  It is called Make Ahead Egg McMuffins.

6 large eggs (may substitute Egg Beaters or use all egg whites, if desired)
6 English muffins (I used 3 Bagel Thins and 3 English Muffins
6 slices Ham
6 slices of cheese (Miss V loves colby jack)
Pepper (optional, but I skipped it)

Preheat oven to 350.

Toast your English Muffins or Bagels.

Spray jumbo muffin tins with cooking spray. Place one egg in each muffin cup and break the yolk with a for. Bake eggs for 25 to 30 minutes.  When done, cool completely.

Assemble sandwiches, one egg, one slice of cheese, one slice of ham.

Wrap in Press n' Seal and place them in a ziploc bag and put in your freezer.

To reheat frozen sandwiches in the microwave, cook for 3 minutes at 50% power, turning over after 90 seconds.

S'Mores Pie

Yes another wonderful recipe from Pinterest.  This one is called S'Mores Pie.  I did make a couple changes.  First I used semi-sweet chocolate and second, I used a 9 inch tart pan.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
7 ounces milk chocolate, broken into chunks
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg
Pinch of salt
Bag of mini marshmallows

For the crust - Pour melted butter into crumbs and mix until it looks like wet sand. Then firmly press the graham cracker crumbs against the bottom and sides of the pan. Chill for 30 minutes.

While the crust is chilling, preheat oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with foil in case of spill over.

Time to make the chocolate filling.  Put the chocolate in a mixing bowl.  Heat the cream in a sauce pan until very warm.  But do not boil!  Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute or two.  Then whisk until well mixed.  Add a pinch of salt and the egg.  Whisk until smooth and glossy.

Place the pan on the baking pan and carefully pour in the filling.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Let cool completely.

When ready to serve place marshmallows on top and put it under the broiler until the marshmallows are golden brown and puffy.

Pork Chops with Onion Gravy

This is what we had for dinner.

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
6 pork chops, 3/4" thick
1 can Campbell's French onion soup
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

Lightly brown the pork chops in a buttered skillet.
Place them in the bottom of your crock pot.
Mix the corn starch and water until no lumps are left. Add the onion soup and brown sugar and mix well.
Pour over pork chops and cook on low for 5 1/2 hours. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes and a green salad.

Cinnamon Churro Chex Mix

When I saw the pin for Cinnamon Churro Chex Mix, I knew I had to make it.  I have been on the hunt for weeks for Cinnamon Chips.  Well after about 12 pages on Google, I found a link on the Hershey's website on wher to find Hard to Locate Products.  Looks like walmart does not carry them but my local Winn Dixie does.  I happen to be out and about earlier and bought SIX bags!!

9 Cups Corn Chex
3 cups Cinnamon Chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Pour Chex cereal into a 2 gallon ziplock bag and set aside.

Combine sugars and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

In a microwavable bowl, melt the cinnamon chips. Heat for 1 minute then stir. Heat for an additional 30 seconds. Stir. The chips were not melting very smoothly, so I added a bit of vegetable oil and then heated it a few more times until it was smooth.

Pour the melted chips in the bag with that contains the Corn Chex.  Toss to combine.

Pour the sugars/cinnamon mix into the bag and again toss to coat.

Spread the mix onto parchment or wax paper to cool.

Store in the fridge.

Of course I had to sample, and oh my!!!  This is good stuff!!

July 4th 2012

I just realized that I didn't take a single picture from the Desserts and Fireworks that were of people!  ACK!  I guess my head is elsewhere right now.

So here are a few pictures I did take.

A Desserts and Fireworks staple....Chocolate Trifle!

 Miss V's famous Blueberry Tartlets

We ended up bringing another table since our neighbors all brought a couple of desserts too!

Hope everyone had a safe and importantly a YUMMY holiday!

Lowcountry Lemonade

For our "adult beverage" I found this pretty blue beverage on Pinterest.  It comes from Wedding Color.   I didn't measure just poured into my very nice beverage dispenser.

A couple of quarts of lemonade, good stuff please
Peach Schnapps
Blue Curacao

It was refreshing and not overly sweet or sour.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Can you guess where this recipe came from?  If you guess Pinterest you would be right!!  It is from Pixelated Crumb.  I pinned it months ago and knew that I really had to try this!!

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter, not the natural stuff
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter not the natural stuff
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray 10-cup bundt pan generously with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together peanut butter and butter. Add sugar and beat an additional 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add dry ingredients a little at a time, beating just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared bundt pan. Tap it a couple of times on the counter to shake out any hidden air pockets.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a skewer, sharp knife, or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check on the cake at 1 hour to make sure it's not browning too quickly on top. If it is, just place a piece of foil loosely over the top of the pan. Let the cake cool for 20 minutes, then flip it onto a rack or platter and let it cool completely.

For the glaze:

In a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, milk, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle glaze over the top of the cooled cake, letting it drizzle down the sides. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top.

I had really high expectations.  First I don't know why but the outside of the cake was very hard to cut through.  It is a really dense cake which is fine.  I did slice it before our guests arrived and the sliced did dry out a bit.  For the leftover pieces I microwaved for about 15 seconds to warm it a little and it tasted really yummy.

Oreo Poke Cake

Yes...here is another Pinterest Recipe.  The recipe comes from The Country Cook.

1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
Ingredients needed to make cake (eggs, oil and water)
2 (4 oz.)packages of Instant Oreo pudding
4 cups milk
Crushed Oreo Cookies

Make cake mix according to directions and bake in a greased 9x13 pan.

About 2 minutes before cake is done, make the pudding.  Let pudding mixture sit for about 2 minutes. You want it to thicken a little so it isn't to runny but not fully thickened yet.

When cake is finished, while still warm, poke holes all over cake using a wooden spoon handle.

Pour and spread the pudding over the cake and tap it on the counter so that the pudding fills in the holes.

Let it rest for a few minutes on the counter and the put in the refrigerator to chill for a few hours. 
Right before serving sprinkle on the crushed Oreo cookies.

Chicken Tortilla Bake

I love love love Pinterest!  I found the recipe for Chicken Tortilla Bake on there and had high expectations.

2 10 3/4oz cans of cream of chicken

1 can of diced tomatoes and green chilies

12 6 inch corn tortillas

3 cups of cooked chicken (I like to roast mine in the oven then chop up)

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the 3 cans and mix them up, then set aside.  When I did, I gave it a quick taste and it was bland!  So I tossed in some taco seasoning.  I am thinking salsa would have been a better match than the diced tomatoes.

Chop up the tortillas into bite sized pieces.
Layer 1/3 of the tortillas onto the bottom of a 13x9 pan.
Place half of the chicken on top of the tortillas
Then spoon 1/2 the soup mixture on top of the chicken
Repeat layers and top with the rest of the tortilla strips.
Cover and bake for 40 minutes
Top with cheese and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts and the top layer of corn tortillas get a bit crispy.

It was ok...it certainly didn't wow me.  It really needs some sort of texture...

Strawberry Lemon White Sangria

Sorry my blog has been so neglegted this summer.  Between VBS pre, set up and running it, it has taken 3 weeks and I didn't do much in the kitchen.

I originally spotted this sangria weeks ago on Pinterest.  It came from the blog Kitchen Tready.  We finally made it on Saturday and it was great!!

2 lemons, thinly sliced

1 apple, cored and sliced

1 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced lengthwise

1 750 ml bottle white wine (we used Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc)

1/2 cup white rum

4 cups 7 up or Sprite (not diet)

Add the fruit to a large pitcher.

Pour the wine and rum.  Stir well.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours.

Remove from refrigerator and add the lemon lime soda. Add a few fresh pieces of the fruit and ice to your glass.  Strain and pour sangria into your glass.

Enjoy!