Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Butter

Fall is here! It’s officially pumpkin season! I’m officially addicted to Pumpkin Spice Lattes…not just from fancy coffee places, but pretty much from anywhere. lol. John found this recipe on Facebook and showed me. I was itching to try it!! 🙂 So, we did. And it’s sooo delicious! 🙂 I wanted to share it with you! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 15 oz cans canned pumpkin
• 1/2 c. apple cider
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

1. Pour all ingredients into the slow cooker and stir until smooth.
2. Cover and cook on high for two to three hours, stirring every hour.
3. When desired consistency is reached, store refrigerated in mason jars.

Diner-Style Hot Dog Chili

I love hot dogs with Chili…but specifically…those hot dogs from a gas station or an awesome restaurant from where I grew up called Pal’s. I’ve looked and looked for a recipe like that…and I finally found one! I couldn’t wait to share!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder

Directions:

1. Crumble ground beef into a Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in water, and mash ground beef thoroughly with a potato masher.
2. Stir in tomato sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder; bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low; simmer, 60 to 90 minutes, until the sauce reaches a medium consistency that is not too soupy.

 

Pongu Lumpia (Pineapple Cream Cheese Spring Rolls)

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, Pandora – The World of Avatar just opened and at Pongu Pongu (a snack shop), they serve a dessert called Pongu Lumpia.

Lumpia is a spring roll of Chinese origin, commonly found as a popular street food snack in Indonesia and the Philippines. It is traditionally a mixture of savory vegetables and chopped meat filling rolled in a spring roll wrapper. However, the Disney Culinary Team developed the version sold at Pandora – The World of Avatar with a sweet spin – cream cheese and diced pineapple.

Makes 10 Lumpia

Ingredients:

• 10 spring roll wrappers
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cups diced fresh pineapple
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• Oil for frying

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Carefully separate spring roll wrappers. Cover wrappers with moist paper towel to prevent drying.
3. Cut softened cream cheese into 10 equal pieces.
4. Place one spring roll wrapper on a cutting board. Place one piece of cream cheese in the center of the spring roll and spread evenly on wrapper, leaving a 3/4-inch border around the edges. Add 3 tablespoons of diced pineapple and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.
5. Roll one edge of the wrapper towards the center. Fold in both sides and continue rolling. Moisten the edge with water to seal the lumpia.
6. Repeat with remaining spring roll wrappers.
7. Place lumpia on prepared baking sheet and freeze for 4 hours or overnight.
8. Preheat 1 inch of oil in a frying pan to 350°F. Fry lumpia for 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
9. Roll in remaining sugar before serving.

Cilantro-Lime Corn

My husband and I have officially become vegetarian! This recipe has been one of our favorites. We made it up together and wanted to share it with you!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag Frozen Corn
• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients.
2. Cook until a nice simmer.
3. Remove from heat, let stand for 3 minutes.

Joie’s Honey Butter

I have seriously neglected my recipe blog. I hate that. I love cooking, and I love working on the blog. But, I guess I’ll just have to forgive myself and move on. There…that’s done.

So…in my first recipe back…I’ll share my recipe for honey butter. Who doesn’t like honey butter? There’s absolutely nothing like sweetened butter on a great piece of warm bread. Well, it’s easy to make, and I think you’ll love it.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick, Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 1/4 cup honey
• dash of salt

Instructions:

1. Combine the butter and the honey in a bowl and mix together. When combined, sprinkle the salt and mix.
2. Spread into a container and store in the fridge.

There…that’s it. Easy enough! 😉

Tres Leches Cake

A wonderful friend got The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier for John and I as a wedding present, and we christened it tonight and made Ree Drummond’s Tres Leche Cake. If there is anything for sure…it’s that John and I really like desserts. 🙂 This cake was absolutely amazing. I wanted to share this recipe with you guys…and you can find Ree’s recipe here…as well as step-by-step pictures. Ree is awesome…and so is Cheryl for the awesome gift!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 5 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar, Divided
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 1 can Evaporated Milk
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
• FOR THE ICING:
  • 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
  • 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
3. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
4. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
5. Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
6. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
7. Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
8. Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
9. Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Oh, Julius!

Who has ever been walking around the mall and seen the wonder that is an Orange Julius? Here’s my recipe for one…and it’s delicious! It’s perfect for these hot summer nights!

Ingredients:

• 6 oz frozen orange concentrate (half of the can)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 8 ice cubes

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth and frothy.

Slow-Cooker Stein Beef Sandwiches

This is a favorite in our household! Any type of beer should work in this recipe, even nonalchoholic, in this French Dip type sandwich.

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1 1/2 pounds extra-lean boneless beef roast, trimmed of fat
• 1 tablespoon salt-free steak grilling blend
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium beef bouillon granules (3 packets)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 cups chopped onions (2 large)
• 1 12 ounce bottle beer
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons steak sauce
• 8 hoagie rolls or sub rolls, warmed

Directions:

1. Lightly coat a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.
2. In a large nonstick skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add meat; cook about 6 minutes or until brown on both sides, turning once.
3. Meanwhile, stir together steak grilling blend, bouillon granules, sugar, coffee granules, and crushed red pepper.
4. Place the onions in prepared slow cooker; top with meat. Pour beer and vinegar over meat and onions. Sprinkle with the steak grilling blend mixture.
5. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 hours or on high-setting for 4 hours or until easily shredded.
6. Transfer meat to a cutting board, reserving cooking liquid in cooker. Using two forks pull meat apart into shreds. Stir steak sauce into cooking liquid.
7. To serve, divide meat mixture among rolls; spoon some of the cooking liquid over shredded meat. Serve the remaining cooking liquid in small dishes.

Pardon Our Dust!

We are going through a redesign…rest assured, we will work out all the kinks!

Mamaw Shoemaker’s Chicken and Dumplin’s

My great-grandmother made some of the most delicious chicken and dumplings. My dad would also make them and I still remember smelling them when he would cook them. I taught myself to make them and it brings back so many memories! I added my own spin on them, of course. This recipe doesn’t take a lot of time, and it will be sure to please!

Ingredients:

• 32 oz. Chicken Broth
• 1 pint Heavy Cream
• 2 cans canned biscuits, or you can use Joie’s Biscuits
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• Salt and Pepper
• 2-3 cups cooked chicken*

Directions:

1. Combine chicken broth, heavy cream, pinch of salt, and pinch of pepper in a dutch oven on medium heat and bring to slight boil. While the broth and cream are cooking, open the cans of biscuits. Flatten each biscuit and cut into quarters.
2. When the broth and cream have reached a slight boil, add cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, and biscuit peices. Cover with a layer of black pepper, and stir. Continue to cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently.

Notes:

*I use bagged, frozen pre-cooked shredded chicken usually because of time constraints. Just heat per instructions on bag.