Georgina's '32 Hour' Spare Ribs

12 pork spareribs

Sauce*: 

1 cup sharp apple juice

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tbs veg oil (I used sunflower)

2 tbs coconut aminos (or soy sauce)

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

6 peeled garlic cloves

1) Put ribs in a large freezer bag or bowl

2) Add all the remaining ingredients, squelching or tossing everything together and then seal or cover.

3) Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days - we prefer 32 hours ;)

4) Take dish out of fridge and preheat the oven to 400F

5) Pour all the contents of bag/bowl into large roasting pans. Make sure chicken is skin side up if doing chicken.   I prefer a large pan that gives ribs plenty of room.    

6)Cook for about 1 hour (sometimes it takes 1.5 hours)   Turn if finishing in oven.    Pull from oven without turning if finishing off on grill.

Everything should be sticky and glossed chestnut brown when done. 

* The recipe I usually do also has 12 chicken thighs skin and bone still on.   When I do the chicken I double the sauce ingredients above.   

Lindy's Hobbit Eggs

I recently reconnected with my BFF from middle school, Lindy, via facebook. She claims she isn't a chef, but I suspect she actually is. I made four of these the same day she posted it, intending to eat one and save the others for Zoey's breakfasts. I ate two and had to restrain myself from eating a third. SO GOOD. I didn't add the cream because we didn't have any and it still was amazing. 

To make, spray a muffin tin or a 1 cup ramekin with cooking spray, line with a slice of your favorite kind of ham, crack an egg or two into it, top with a bit o cream, some cheese and maybe some veggies if you have room. S/P and bake at 350 for 20 min (muffin tin) or 30 min (ramekin). Finish with a bit of freshly grated nutmeg and serve with brioche or buttered toast.

(I can't believe I made) Sweet & Sour Chicken

I made this after finding the recipe on a site that rhymes with "binterest".  I was skeptical, because I do not have much skill with making Chinese food.  I'm sure anyone actually from China would laugh their butts off an me for calling this "Chinese food", but it sure tasted like it to me and Corey.  (I wonder what passes as "American food" in other countries?  Probably something I would hardly recognize if it's anything like what we do here in the U.S.)  I didn't take a picture of the final product because I had no confidence that it was going to turn out to be blogworthy.

In fact, I think it would go reeeeeeally well with Alicia's delicious fried rice that she makes but can't really tell me the recipe for because it's all kind of done by feel (you know, like how real chefs cook).  I think that means we need to get her up to Michigan for a Chinese food night.  I'm not sure if I can handle visiting Tennessee just yet, because if the kids and I caught sight of the old house right now I think we would all burst into tears and Peter might just barge right in and insist on staying there.  Whenever he sees a picture of our Tennessee house, he stares at it for a long time and keeps exclaiming "dat's MY house!"

Until we figure out the logistics of the Marshall/Stringer Chinese food extravaganza, here is my version of the sweet and sour chicken recipe.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

1 lb. chicken breasts or thighs
Salt
Pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cups sugar
4 tbsp. ketchup*
1/2 cup white distilled vinegar**
1 tbsp. soy sauce***
1 tsp. garlic salt

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes and season with the salt and pepper.  Dip each cube into the cornstarch and then into the eggs.  Seems kind of backward, huh?  Trust me -- this works.

3.  Heat the oil in a big skillet on medium-high and brown those lumpy little cubes until brown on all sides.  Dump them into a baking dish (a 9 x 9 or 9 x 13 depending on how close you stick to the 1 pound of chicken guideline).

4.  Whisk together the sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic salt until smooth.  Dump it on the chicken in the baking dish and stir it all around until the chicken is well-coated.

5.  Pop the dish (uncovered) into the oven for 15 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and then bake for 15 minutes more.

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I served the chicken over brown rice and it was gooooooooood!  Even Corey, who is usually brutally honest with me when I try new recipes, raved about this one.  As usual, the shorties in the house turned their noses up at it and refused to even try a bite.  Oh well, more for us!  Might need to try this with pork the next time around.  I bet it would be fabulous.

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*  It's amazing how much I loathe ketchup but how much I love many recipes that use it as an ingredient (like BBQ sauce, my mom's meatloaf, etc.).  Any ketchup haters should not be scared off by the inclusion of this ingredient.

**  It's kind of funny to use the vinegar out of the huge bottle I keep around for mopping my floors.  Perhaps I should buy a small bottle dedicated to cooking so I don't feel like I'm serving my family cleaning products.

***  Make sure you have soy sauce in the fridge BEFORE you get to Step #4.  Otherwise, you have to make an emergency call to your husband on his commute home from work.  There really is no good substitute for it (especially if you also don't have teriyaki sauce on hand -- I'm still restocking my staples since moving a few months ago!).

Asian Ham Salad

Just the title alone should not turn you off of this recipe!  Yes, it sounds a little weird.  Looking at the list of ingredients may also make you question my sanity (and the sanity of my sister and mother, who made me this recipe last week when we were all together in Texas).  It's delicious though, and I bet you could try this with either cooked chicken or beef to give it a different twist.  It was still good the next day straight out of the refrigerator.

For the life of me I can't remember what my mom served as a side dish, so when I made it for Corey last night I just told him to hush when he asked what else we were having.  He quieted down when he tasted the salad, and the two of us devoured this entire recipe in one sitting.  We figured that the ice cream cones we had for dessert got us the dairy food group to make it a complete meal.  Yes, there are a lot of asterisks after the ingredients, but the recipe was pretty vague and I wanted to let you know how I interpreted each instruction.  The original recipe called for only one cup of rice, but my mom and I thought that was too skimpy.  It was also my idea to add the cilantro to the recipe because I'm pretty sure just about every recipe could be improved with cilantro.  Okay, maybe not brownies, but you get the idea.

Here is a photo of the salad as we made it at my mom's house.  Those are her gorgeous granite countertops -- not mine!

Asian Ham Salad

Salad:
2 cups brown rice, cooked*
1 cup shelled and cooked edamame**
1 cup chopped ham steak***
6 sliced radishes****
2 thinly sliced green onions
handful of cilantro leaves*****
crushed peanuts******

Dressing:
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes*******
salt and pepper to taste

Cool the rice and edamame to room temperature.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together.  Just before serving, toss the salad ingredients with the dressing.

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* This means to have about 2 cups AFTER cooking.  If you cooked 2 cups of uncooked rice, you would have 4 cups of cooked rice and that would just craziness.

** I steamed my edamame in the shells and then shelled them, but my mom boiled already shelled edamame, I think.  Both tasted great.  Yes, I hate beans but like edamame.  I have to pretend they are not beans.  Please don't tell me I'm wrong.  DON'T SPOIL THE ONLY FORM OF LEGUME I WILL VOLUNTARILY EAT, OKAY?

*** I got this near the cold cuts, but I bet it would be even better if you got it from the butcher and chopped it yourself.  I also want to try this with chicken or beef, because I bet it would be awesome.

**** I chopped up about 4 radishes because they're not my favorite veggie.  I really couldn't taste them in the salad, but Corey said he could.  They add a nice crunch if they're sliced instead of chopped, which is how my mom made it.  Next time I make this, I want to add sliced celery, because I bet it would be terrific.

***** I chopped my leaves, but I bet they would be good whole, too.

****** The recipe didn't specify how much of these, so I crushed about a half cup of dry roasted peanuts (I probably should have used regular old peanuts, but I wanted to have better-tasting ones left over for snacks!).

******* I used red cayenne pepper because that's all I had and I wasn't sure how it was different.  I also probably used more like 1/8 of a teaspoon because I'm a huge wimp when it comes to spicy things, but I don't think the salad was spicy when my mom made it with the properly-measured amount.

A little gimmick to make taco night a little more exciting

I have Corey to thank for this one -- he made these for us last night for dinner and they were terrific. Because you bake them in the oven, they're not quite as tasty as their deep-fried counterparts. They are super cute though. I'm not including a recipe for the taco beef because if you don't know how to buy a packet of seasoning and follow the directions on it, then you have no business being in a kitchen. (I think I have been watching too much "Top Chef".)

Homemade Taco Salad Bowls

4 medium-size flour tortillas

Olive oil or vegetable oil (just a few teaspoons)

4 oven-safe cups or jelly canning jars

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, place the cups or jars upside down, evenly spacing them to make room for the tortillas that will be draped over them.

2. Microwave the tortillas for about 30 seconds, until they are soft and pliable. Rub a teaspoon or so of oil on the front and back of the tortilla. Use a basting brush or your fingers and make sure to very lightly coat the entire surface of the tortilla.

3. Drape each tortilla over a cup or jar and softly press the sides of each tortilla down a bit to help them form more of a bowl shape.

4. Bake the tortilla bowls for about 8-10 minutes, checking often so they don’t burn, until the tortillas are lightly browned and crisp. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the tortillas cool for a few minutes before gently removing them from the cups or jars.

5. Fill them with yummy things like lettuce, broccoli slaw, taco seasoned-meat, shredded cheese, chopped olives, chopped cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, and salsa.

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NOTES:

-- I like to mix the sour cream and salsa together (about two parts sour cream to one part salsa) first and it makes a chunky pink sauce of deliciousness.

-- You can also use larger-sized tortillas but would probably need to use some sort of oven-safe bowl or bigger-sized canning jars to form the bowls. We liked the little size and ate two each.

-- Corey can probably commit all sorts of crimes with impunity now because he burned his fingerprints off by underestimating just how hot the glasses would remain (long after the tortillas were taken out of the oven). Word to the wise -- let the glasses cool off for a LONG TIME before you try to put them in the dishwasher.

Kate's MIL's Chili

Kate also makes amazing chili. Easy. Freezes well. And (bonus!) there's a part where you can put your little minions to work. You know, make them earn their keep. Little slackers!

2 lbs ground beef/turkey
1 large onion
2 cups of tomato juice
2 cans of kidney beans, drained
2 cans of chili beans, UNdrained
2T of chili powder or more depending on the heat you want
1 cup of water (I add less water for the initial cooking and then add more when I reheat or defrost it)
3/4 cup of ketschup (or more depending on taste)
2 cans of diced tomatoes

Brown the ground beef and drain
Smash 1 cans of kidney beans and 1 can of chili beans (NOTE: Preschoolers can help with this part. Put 'em to work!)
Dump everything else in and let simmer
Serve with cheese and sour cream.

Kate's Taco Soup

This stuff is awesome. It freezes well. And it's easy to make. SCORE!

• 1 # lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 2 cans beans, undrained (I used black beans but you can also use kidney, caneloni, etc.)
• 1 can whole kernel corn
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 small can green chili peppers, chopped (I used only about 1/3 of the can to cut back on spice)
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 pkg taco seasoning
• 1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (use dry)
• 1 1/2 cups water

Brown meat and drain well. Combine all other ingredients and add water to desired consistency, about 1 1/2 cups. Simmer for 20 minutes. Top with cheese and sour cream. Yummy!

Mom's Italian Corn Salad

This salad is so good and pretty that you won't ever bring anything else along to a potluck. I brought this to my friend, Kym's house last weekend and got rave reviews. I got the recipe from my mom, and goodness knows where she got it. The original recipe called for balsamic vinegar. I used that when I made it last weekend, but this weekend I wanted to try it with white wine vinegar instead (I'm not a huge fan of balsamic vinegar, and it stained the mozzarella in an unappealing way). It turned out great. I also added a touch of lime juice because I think everything tastes better with lime juice. Except for cereal, I guess. Here is the recipe with all of my alterations.

MOM'S ITALIAN CORN SALAD

2 ears of corn, cut from the cob*

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

4 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed

1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

5 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbs. white wine vinegar

sea salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

lime juice (to taste -- maybe about a teaspoon or two)

1. Combine corn, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil in a bowl.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently.

3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then add more salt and pepper if necessary before serving.

* I used this super hilarious OXO Good Grips Corn Stripper. My mom bought it for my husband because she knows he loves his corn cut OFF the cob.

Avocado and tomato salad

Maybe this isn't a great recipe to post this late in the summer. I know good tomatoes and avocados are harder to find, but file this one away for next summer if you're not willing to use hothouse or out of season produce. I made this for my mom, aunt, and cousins a couple of weeks ago and everyone loved it. I modified a recipe I found in a book whose title rhymes with "Looking for Mummies". I bought that book a few years back but never have used it to its full potential. After finding this salad in it, I think I need to sacrifice a bit of my precious evening sit-like-a-zombie-in-front-of-the-television time and make plans to try a few more recipes.

Avocado and Tomato Salad

2 ripe avocados (not too squishy though!)

4 ripe plum tomatoes

2 hard-boiled eggs (whites only), peeled and quartered

1/2 very small red onion, very thinly sliced and then roughly chopped

1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1. Halve and pit the avocados. Peel away the skin and cut each half into 4 lengthwise slices and then across into large cubes.

2. Core the tomatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes.

3. Toss all ingredients EXCEPT the avocados together and keep chilled until time to serve. Add the avocados at the last minute and very gently stir them in.

Grilled Romaine Salad

It sounds downright bizarre -- grilling lettuce? Putting half a heart of romaine directly on the grill? Really? When my sister-in-law told me about it, I thought she was nuts. I searched online and found bunches of recipes with rave reviews. There are many many different variations on this, and a quick search of "grilled romaine salad" will get you all sorts of ideas on how to dress it up. Here's a basic recipe that makes enough for two people.

GRILLED ROMAINE SALAD

1 heart of romaine lettuce

Extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and/or lemon juice

1. Preheat a grill to medium high.

2. Rinse and pat dry the lettuce. Cut it in half lengthwise. Brush the entire surface (the cut side and the uncut side) of the lettuce lightly with the olive oil.

3. Place the lettuce on the grill and turn it over every minute or so for about 4-5 minutes total. The lettuce should be a little charred, but not burnt. Some of the leaves at the end will be a little wilted.

4. Slice across the width of the lettuce and put it on a plate. Sprinkle with just a tiny bit of sea salt (and/or drizzle a little lemon juice over the leaves) and serve warm.

We grilled up some chicken breasts that were only sprinkled with a little bit of seasoned salt and put slices of that on top of the salad along with some shaved parmesan-romano cheese curls. It was EXCELLENT. The salad didn't need any sort of dressing at all. The original recipe we followed had instructions for a citrus vinaigrette to put on top, but I think that would have hidden the yummy smoky flavor. This would also be excellent with grilled steak, shrimp, or pork, I bet. Some recipes called for grilled vegetables to be added as well. Ooh -- I bet grilled corn on the cob would be delicious to cut off and sprinkle on top! I'm all pumped to try this again with all sorts of different variations.

Here is the salad before I devoured it in about 20 seconds flat:

Here is the lovely man who did the vast majority of the cooking of this meal:

Aaaaand here are my knucklehead children who wouldn't even try a bite of the salad. I think Petey ate a bit of the chicken, but I can't be entirely sure. I was too busy exclaiming over our culinary brilliance and stuffing my face to notice what he was doing.

No-bake Nap Cookies

I made these while my kids napped this afternoon, hence the name. I saw a recipe on the back of pomegranate-flavored Craisins (my 16-month-old, Peter, is addicted to them) and modified the recipe a little to match my (1) laziness, (2) supplies, and (3) older child's picky eating habits. You see, while Peter is addicted to pomegranate-flavored Craisins, my three-year-old, Charlotte, will only eat the cherry-flavored kind. We should probably buy stock in Ocean Spray at this point. Anyway, here is the recipe with my modifications:

NO-BAKE NAP COOKIES

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 12-ounce package of white chocolate baking chips (I could only find 11-ounce packages!)
3 cups chow mein noodles (FYI - a 6 oz. package is about 3 cups)
1 cup cherry-flavored Craisins
1 cup granola cereal (nothing this plain existed at Publix, so I bought vanilla)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted (though I didn't toast them)

1. Line 2 large baking sheets with waxed paper. (I only had cling wrap, and that worked just fine.)

2. Combine honey and cream in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until bubbly.

3. Add chips; cook, stirring until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.

4. Combine noodles, Craisins, granola, and almonds in a large bowl. Believe me when I say a LARGE bowl.

5. Pour cream mixture over noodle mixture. Stir until mixed and coated. I dove right in with my hands when the silicone spatula proved worthless. It was kind of a calamity, so don't make this with your toddler unless you have a really high tolerance for messes.

6. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets. Let stand until completely set. Store loosely covered. Makes 30 clusters. (Well, I only got 27, but my tablespoonfuls were heaped awfully high and there had to have been at least one or two cookies worth of mixture stuck to me after I finished hand-mixing them.)

I threw them into the fridge to make sure they cooled and set in time to take them to dinner at our friends' house tonight. Based on the portions I sampled during their creation, they are AWESOME. I bet the kids will love them, but then again nothing is ever certain with those goofballs. Cross your fingers. At the very least, Charlotte can pick out the Craisins and eat them. Here is a shot of the cookies before I stuck them in the fridge. Note the baby monitor next to the baking sheets!

Marinated London Broil

So easy, and SO good!

Marinade-

1/2 C each of:

red wine vinegar

vegetable oil

soy sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

4 cloves garlic, crushed

Combine all ingredients and pour into freezer bag. Score a London Broil (shallow cuts in a crisscross pattern on both sides.) Add meat to bag and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Grill on barbecue or under broiler until done. We like it medium rare, so about 3-4 minutes on each side. Will vary according to size. Slice thinly against the grain and devour.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Grahams

These are homemade Reese's. They're bars, so they're super fast to make. They also travel VERY well, and everyone seems to love them.

22 graham cracker squares, crushed.

(Do yourself a favor- buy the box of crumbs and use 1 1/2 cups.)

3 C powdered sugar

8 oz butter, melted (Yes, it's 2 sticks of butter. Get over it. It's CANDY)

1C creamy peanut butter

1 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine crumbs and powdered sugar. Stir in butter and peanut butter. Mix well and spread evenly in an ungreased 12x13 pan. Press firmly into an even layer. You can cover with plastic wrap if it's too sticky.

Place in fridge for 45 minutes.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave on defrost, stirring frequently, until completely melted. Spread over peanut butter mixture and let firm up for at least 15 minutes before cutting into squares. They're rich, but delicious. Enjoy!

Bow Down Before Me For I Have Made Pulled Pork Sandwiches!!

All I can say is this was pretty easy and it was damn good! Demetri ate 3 sandwiches and Zoey ate 1.5!!!!! Plus, it uses the CROCK POT!!!!!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast
1 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 extra large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
8 hamburger buns, split
2 tablespoons butter, or as needed


1. Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of crock pot. Place the pork roast into pot; pour in the BBQ* sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork, about 6 hours.
2. Remove the roast from the crock pot, and shred the meat using two forks. **
3. Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns. Add BBQ sauce* to taste.

* I put Kraft honey BBQ sauce in the crock pot but then topped the sandwiches with KC Masterpiece - Original. The guy at the meat counter suggested I do this to sweeten the meat.
** The original recipe suggests putting the pulled port back into the juices in the crock pot. We did this with some of the meat and found that the juices were too oily and also made the buns soggy. And no one wants to eat wet bread (Hi Corey!!!)

Italian Bow Tie Bake

This is such a freakishly easy recipe that I feel kind of silly even putting it on the blog. It's the first new recipe I have tried in a long time that my husband, Corey, actually liked, so I thought it necessary to celebrate a little. I got this out of a magazine that specializes in super easy cooking, but then I modified it to cater to my own tastes. The original recipe doesn't call for any meat, so it would work well meatless too. I want to try it with Italian sausage next time. The key ingredient here is the Italian salad dressing mix -- it adds that certain je ne sais quoi that most of my dishes are usually missing.

ITALIAN BOW TIE BAKE

8 ounces uncooked bow tie pasta
1 pound ground beef
1 jar (16 ounces) spaghetti sauce
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease the a shallow 2-quart baking dish.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

3. Brown ground beef and drain.

4. In a bowl, combine the spaghetti sauce and salad dressing mix; add pasta and meat, then toss to coat.

5. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 4 servings.

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Yeah, it's not such a beautiful dish, but it was super yummy.



And here is my 11-month-old (wearing his "Chicks Dig Me" bib, which I swear I only bought because it's hard to find bibs that don't velcro in the back and the only alternative was "Princess") wolfing it down:



Aaaaaand here is my 2-year-old eating a PBJ sandwich because she refused to eat the Italian Bow Tie Bake and I am still too chicken to just let her starve if she doesn't eat what she is served.

Chicken Stroganoff in a Crock Pot!

I love my crock pot!!!! And this recipe is soooo easy. And soooo yummy. Plus, there was enough left over to freeze for another meal.

3 - 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts - cubed

1/8 cup margarine or butter

1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian salad dressing mix

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 
  
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 
  

1. Put chicken, margarine and dressing mix in crock pot; mix together and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
2. Add cream cheese and soup, mix together and cook on high for another 1/2 hour or until hot.
3. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Easy pizza

This isn't as easy as warming up a frozen pizza, but it's not as hard as making the dough from scratch. The lovely Alicia introduced me to the concept of buying pre-made fresh pizza dough in the refrigerated case at the grocery store. Originally, we used it to make pizza on the grill. Because I can't remember exactly how we did it (do you remember, Alicia?) and because we ran out of gas for our grill, I baked mine in the oven last night.

The best thing about buying this dough is that the baking instructions are on the bag. The second best thing is that you can break off a small chunk for your toddler to play with while you make the pizza. The third best thing is that you can put on any topping you want. All I had to do is roll out the dough flat, stick it on a baking sheet, and pile on the toppings. Here is what I put on the pizza:

- spaghetti sauce (because I was out of "pizza sauce")
- shredded mozzarella
- shredded parmesan
- minced broccoli coleslaw (we gotta get Charlie Jo to eat veggies SOMEHOW)
- minced ham (ditto on the proteins)
- quartered artichoke hearts (on one half only, because that would have been a deal-breaker for CJ)

Then, I brushed the edges of the crust with olive oil and shook on a light dusting of seasoned salt and grated parmesan. That turned out great! Corey, Charlie Jo, and Peter all loved the pizza. It was healthier than delivery pizza, but much tastier than frozen. We're definitely doing this again!

Here are my sous chefs:



And here is our creation, pre-baking:



I forgot to take a picture once it was all done because we ate it too fast. I made sure to get it out of the oven when the crust was still light brown. I simply cannot abide overdone crust.

Dump Cake

SO easy. Does this even count as a recipe?

1 box white or vanilla cake mix

2 cans canned fruit or fruit filling

(We use light cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple. Do not drain!)

2 sticks butter

Layer in a 9x13 in this order-

Fruit, dry cake mix, then butter slices.

Bake at 350 for an hour.

As you can see, this is the perfect recipe to try with little people. Charlotte and I split it, so we each used a square pan (8x8 or 9x9). She then took hers home to bake for her daddy. Peter was very impressed with her skills.