Hootenannies

This recipe for hootenannies or German Pancakes is from my friend Cami and her way of cooking them in a mini-loaves stoneware pan is fantastic. They come out so fluffy and scrumptious. My husband said these were the best German Pancakes he's ever had and that is saying something since German Pancakes are one of his favorites.

Hootenannies

6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (optional)
1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 350. Place 2 tablespoons of butter into each mini-loaf pan (I have the Pampered Chef 4 mini-loaves stoneware pan) and melt int he oven. Mix eggs, milk, flour, and cinnamon sugar. Divide mixture evenly into the 4 mini-loaf pans on top of the butter. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with syrup or jam and powdered sugar or pie filling and whipped cream.

* You could also cook this in a regular 9x13 baking dish and cut into slices to serve.

Bolognese Sauce (Freezer Meal)

This is a great meat sauce for spaghetti or fettuccine, but it's also great on pizza. I got the recipe from Clouse Cousins Cooking and love it! It makes a great freezer meal too so yay!

Bolognese Sauce (Freezer Meal)

12 strips of bacon, chopped into small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 lb ground beef
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1, 24 oz jar Classico traditional sweet basil pasta sauce (or other favorite brand)
1 1/4 cups half and half (can also use milk)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (+ more for topping individual servings)
1 1/2 tablespoon Carnet Foods Ultra Gel (optional)

Cook bacon pieces in a large dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat until browned and crisped. With a slotted spoon remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Set aside. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Saute onion in the reserved 2 tablespoons of bacon fat for about 5 minutes or until soft. Add beef, salt, and pepper and cook until beef is crumbled and browned, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in cooked bacon pieces. Reduce heat to low and stir in pasta sauce, half and half, and Parmesan. Stir to combine adding Ultra Gel at this point if desired, cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes or up to an hour. Boil 1 lb of pasta of choice. When pasta is cooked drain and add it to the bolognese sauce stirring well to combine, let it heat through for about 5 minutes. Serve with Parmesan topping individual servings.

Freezer Meal Instructions:
Cook as directed above, simmering the sauce for 20 minutes. Let sauce cool until just warm. Pour sauce into a gallon size bag, get as much air out as possible and seal. Label with cooking instructions and freeze flat.

Cooking Instructions:
Thaw sauce in fridge. Bring thawed sauce to a boil. Meanwhile cook about 3/4 lb pasta of choice and drain. Add cooked pasta to bolognese sauce stirring well to combine. Top individual servings with Parmesan cheese.

Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

I LOVE this recipe. It's from Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame. I make it lots, but for some reason it's never made it onto my blog. Weird. These potatoes are fabulous with pork or meatloaf or well anything.

Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

3 pounds red potatoes
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1 cup half and half
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Cut up the potatoes with skins on and place in a pot add enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer covered for 30-45 minutes - until completely tender. Drain.

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment mix the potatoes for a few seconds to break them up. In a small saucepan, heat the half and half and butter until butter melts. Add slowly about 1/2 of the half and half/butter mixture, mixing on lowest speed. Add another 1/4 of the half and half mixture. Fold in by hand: sour cream, Parmesan, and pepper. Add the remaining 1/4 of half and half mixture if necessary.

Wallaby's-like Pulled Pork

We used to live in Utah and one of our favorite eateries was Wallaby's. They have fantastic pulled pork and smashers (mashed red potatoes). I decided to try to recreate a Wallaby's dinner for my family and it worked. I used my friend Corinne's crockpot pork roast recipe and it gave the pork just the right amout of sweet and savory-ness. I served the pork with applesauce and smashed parmesan potatoes. It was yummmmmmy.

Wallaby's-like Pulled Pork

pork shoulder butt roast (I used about a 5 lb roast)
1 1/2 cups salsa
1/3 cup brown sugar
barbecue sauce (for serving)

Place pork in crockpot. Mix together salsa and brown sugar and pour over pork roast. Cook all day on low, turn on high the last hour (makes it easier to shred). Take pork out of crockpot and shred it. Pour the juices from the crockpot through a strainer into a bowl. Put the shredded pork back into the crockpot and add enough strained juices to make it moist. Turn crockpot to low until you are ready to serve. Serve with warmed barbecue sauce.

Chicken Cordon Blue Stuffing Bake (Freezer Meal)

This yummy casserole is from The Sister's Cafe. My family loved it.

Chicken Cordon Blue Stuffing Bake (Freezer Meal)

2 packages reduced sodium chicken stuffing mix
1 can cream of chicken
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 lb. sliced deli ham, cut into 1 inch strips
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 - 3 cups cooked and cubed chicken

Prepare stuffing according to package directions. Meanwhile in a bowl combine soup and milk. Put chicken into a greased 9x13 baking dish (a deep one like for lasagnas would probably work best - I used a regular 9x13 pyrex and has some spillage). Sprinkle with pepper. Layer over the the chicken: ham strips, Swiss cheese, 1 cup of Cheddar cheese, soup/milk mixture, and the stuffing. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of Cheddar. (*At this point you can freeze this casserole.) Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

Freezer Meal Assembly:
Layer the casserole as instructed above into a foil 9x13 deep dish pan. Cover with plastic wrap then foil and label with cooking instructions. Freeze.

Cooking Instructions:
Thaw in fridge for at least 24 hours. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Remove plastic wrap and foil, recover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes.

BBQ Chicken Pizza (Freezer Meal)

We actually had this a couple weeks ago, but I finally put all the pictures from my camera onto my computer so now I can do the post for it! This was a great pizza and freezer meal from L. Thanks so much! Everyone loved it and since we have pizza almost every Friday I know we'll have this again and again.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 pizza crust (store bought or homemade - you can use 1 loaf frozen bread dough)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 red onion, sliced
2 chicken breast, cooked and cubed (about 2 cups)
2-3 cups BBQ sauce
cilantro leaves

Roll pizza dough and press onto a foil pizza pan. Spread with BBQ sauce, top with chicken, onion, cheese and cilantro. Freeze solid in freezer. Wrap in plastic wrap, then foil and label with cooking instructions.

Cooking Instructions:
Take pizza our of disposable foil pan and bake on a pizza stone or in a pizza pan at 400 for about 20 minutes (until hot and cheese is melted all over pizza).

Monthly Menu Plan

You know what? I'm a month or 6 week planner when it comes to dinners. So instead of writing what we are going to have each week I think I'll do a monthly menu plan instead. So here's the dinners I'm going to make over the next 6 weeks. I always plan pizza on Fridays and "Fend for Yourself" on Saturdays which means leftovers, breakfast for dinner, grilled cheese sandwiches... something easy, so I didn't include those dinners in these.

1. Ikea dinner - Swedish meatballs, boiled red potatoes with butter and salt, lingon berry preserves
2. Chicken cordon blue sandwiches and a green salad
3. Macaroni and cheese (freezer meal), applesauce, and green beans
4. Taco soup and Fritos
5. Sweet and sour chicken, rice, and mixed Asian vegetables
6. Creamy chicken and wild rice soup and wheat rolls
7. Light chicken basil pasta (freezer meal) and asparagus
8. Pulled pork, parmesan smashed potatoes, and broccoli
9. Chicken cordon blue stuffing bake and carrots
10. Spaghetti bolognese and salad
11. Crockpot pork chops and green beans, rice/egg noodles, and peaches
12. Parmesan chicken (freezer meal), spaghetti and sauce, broccoli and cauliflower
13. BBQ beef (freezer meal), au gratin potatoes, and corn
14. Stuffed shells (freezer meal) and salad
15. Tacos and salad
16. Crockpot navy bean and ham soup and cornbread
17. BBQ pulled pork, wheat rolls, chips, and applesauce
18. Pistachio chicken pasta (freezer meal), pumpkin bread and mixed vegetables
19. freezer meal (from my freezer meal group)
20. Asian pork chops (freezer meal), sesame noodles, and salad
21. Chicken enchiladas and corn
22. freezer meal (from my freezer meal group)
23. Sweet and sour meatballs, rice and carrots
24. freezer meal (from my freezer meal group)
25. Broccoli cheese soup and bread sticks or crescent rolls
26. Spaghetti and meatballs and olive cheese bread
27. BBQ pork loin, noodles or baked potatoes, and veg
28. Chicken pot pie and peaches
    

I Feel Complete Now

I met the PIONEER WOMAN!!! How awesome is that! I went to a book signing for her new cookbook which is amazing, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. It was so weird and to meet and talk to her and tell her how much I love her BBQ meatballs!! I am such a fan! And she signed my cookbook. Yay!