Pumpkin Bread

I made bread for the first time!  I know it's only a quick bread and eventually I'll get to making a loaf of sourdough or something yummy like that, but it's bread nonetheless and it's delicious!

From the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Prep: 20 minutes

Bake: 55 minutes

Oven: 350 degrees F

Makes: 2 loaves (32 servings)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin

Directions:

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans; set aside.  In a very large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed.  Add eggs and beat well; set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Alternately add flour mixture and water to sugar mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.  Beat in pumpkin.  Spoon batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans.  Cool completely on wire racks.  Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Apparently I only have one bread loaf pan (and I discovered this when I went to roll out the scone dough--no rolling pin!) so I cut this recipe in half which actually worked out since there's just Rocky and me to eat it and I still had to test the recipe to make sure it was edible.

***ASK FOR SECONDS***

It made the kitchen smell so mouthwatering good!  And although I was super antsy to eat it as soon as it cooled on the racks, I resisted and waiting to slice some of it up this morning to try and for Rocky to take to work.

Brisket and Sweet & Sticky Chicken

My favorite stars of The Office shared some of their "signature" recipes both of which I can't wait to try!

Here's Pam/Jenna's recipe ... Angela's was a little too difficult to understand to write in recipe form so you'll just have to watch the video if you're interested in making it!

Sweet & Sticky Chicken
Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 bottle Russian salad dressing
• 1 jar apricot preserves
• 1 dry package onion soup mix

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Season chicken with salt, pepper, or whatever.
3. Mix in a bowl 3/4 of dressing, 3/4 jar of preserves and onion soup mix.
4. Pour over chicken in dish and cook in oven for 25 minutes.
5. Serve over rice.

So I tried Jenna/Pam's recipe last night (10/21) and not only was it quick and easy, but it was pretty tasty, too. Although now that I look at it, I noticed that I forgot to season the chicken--oops!

F-in' Casserole

I apologize for the crass recipe title, but there's a story to go with that.  I used to just call this casserole, "Macaroni Casserole," but when I told the story that I'm about to share with you to my sister in law, Lucille, she re-named it "F-in' Casserole."

Rocky and I closed escrow in May of this year.  Rocky's dad and his wife came out to help us put down our laminate and with some other things that we couldn't do by ourselves.  Well, to put it nicely, my MIL is a little "off."  Seriously and literally special.  I've made this casserole many times before and have gotten compliments and requests for it.  Before the two of them arrived from Texas, I pre-made a double batch of the casserole to save time because I figured that with working and the house, we'd be pretty busy and I wouldn't have a whole lot of time to prepare dinners.  The first night, she refused to eat any.  She clamped her mouth shut and dodged the spoon like a freakin' two year old just because she felt like being difficult.  The second night she actually ate some--about 3 bites before asking to be excused.

This brings us to the 3rd night.  I got off work in Murrieta and hadn't decided what to make for dinner.  Rocky, my sister (who was being a lifesaver by helping to start tape-off for painting), Rocky's dad and Rhonda (my MIL) were at our house working on stuff.  I called Rocky to talk to him about dinner.  It was a short conversation and I knew what I was going to make.  As soon as I got off the phone with Rocky, my sister called me.  "Erin.  Don't make casserole tonight!"  "I wasn't going to make casserole!"  "Oh, okay.  Yeah, Rhonda overheard Rocky talking to you about dinner and yelled down, 'I don't want no more F@#$in' casserole!  I can't stand no more casserole!'"  And there you have it ... F-in' Casserole was born.  So without any further ado, the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 (7.25 oz) package macaroni and cheese
• 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of celery or broccoli soup, undiluted
• 2 (6 oz) cans chicken, drained and flaked
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2-3/4 cup each frozen peas, carrots, corn (however much you want, really)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare macaroni and cheese according to package directions.
3. Stir in 1/4 cup cheese, soup, chicken, milk and vegetables.
4. Pour into greased 2-qt. baking dish.
5. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese if desired.
6. Bake, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20

Ready In: 30 minutes

Yields: 4 servings

Scones

I've always wanted to make scones and have just never gotten around to trying to make them. From what I hear, they're fairly easy to make. So my mission today is to go out and buy a pastry blender so I can try this recipe out ...

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture until moistened.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Makes 8

I've got some dried cranberries that I want to mix into the dough and one woman posted this helpful tidbit ... To avoid dough being too wet, crack the egg in the measuring cup first, then measure to one cup milk over the egg.

Oh! And don't forget the egg wash for the tops and to sprinkle them with sugar!

***ASK FOR SECONDS***

So I tried the recipe tonight and they turned out so yummy! I just wish that I had put more of the cranberries in the mix.

Pork Chops for the Slow Cooker

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless pork chops
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place pork chops in slow cooker.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over pork chops.
3. Cook on low setting for 6 hours, until internal temperature of pork has reached 160 degrees F.

For good measure I threw in some baby carrots and some chunks of celery. I've never tried to slow cook pork chops but I was watching Food Network yesterday which got me going on my own search for an easy recipe for slow cooked pork chops.

Also, I'm terrible and don't have any cloves of garlic (mental note to get some!) and had to Google what the equivalent is of garlic powder. For those of you wondering, 1 clove of garlic = 1/8 tsp of garlic powder.

***SEND IT BACK***

I tried this one tonight, too. It was so gross. I'm not a fan of ginger and Rocky's not a fan of soy sauce. There was too much of both in this recipe and will not be gracing our table ever again.