Biscuits and Gravy

So I have to be honest. I have always kind of been grossed out by biscuits and gravy, but Cole loves it! So I decided to try the Pioneer Woman's recipe for biscuits and gravy for Father's Day. It was actually pretty simple! She uses canned biscuits, so it's much simpler, and it was actually pretty good... horrible for you... but good!

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 lb. breakfast sausage

1 can (16oz.) canned biscuits

2 Tbsp. flour

1 cup milk

salt

pepper

Slice the sausage and cook until cooked through and drain on a paper towel. Then cook the biscuits according to directions on can.

Use the grease left in the sausage pan to make the gravy. Add flour to the grease until it thickens, whisking constantly. The pioneer woman took the grease out of the pan and added a little and then added flour until she got a good balance between flour and grease, adding one or the other until you're happy with the consistency. Let the gravy brown a little in the pan.

Then add your milk. This is another step you have to kind of feel out. It looks like mine is a little too thick, but I was scared of losing the sausage flavor. I probably could have added more milk though. She has step by step photos that you can look at to know how it should turn out. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now you're ready to pour it over your biscuits! And that's it!

So here's the finished breakfast tray. Even though I know it's one of the worst things you could eat, I'd probably make it again- very rarely- as a special treat for my husband. He loved it!!

Product Review: Beaba Babycook

So I know this isnt really what Cooking with Cuties is for, but this is what I spend a lot of time doing.. so I thought I would share it with you mamas. For Christmas my mother-in-law got me a Beaba Babycook to make my own baby food.

I cannot RAVE enough about this product. You can steam and puree the fruits or veggies in the same compartment. Below is a tutorial on how to use the Babycook. Hope you enjoy.

First you add water to the Babycook. The product comes with directions on how much water to add, depending on what fruit or vegetable you are using.

You then cut up the fruit (I used Nectarines) and add it to the Babycook. You turn the switch on to the "steam" icon and wait until the light turns off.
Once the light is off... you take out the fruit in the "basket" it is steamed in. You then choose how much of the water produced from the steam you would like to mix in your fruit. I use all the water because that is where the nutrients go after steaming. Add it back to the fruit.
You then hold the knob on the puree icon until fruit is pureed to desired amount.
Lastly, pour baby food into desired containers. I have been using leftover Gerber Organics containers, along with ice trays. I freeze the baby food in an ice tray and then pop them out of the tray and store in freezer friendly Ziplock bags.

Its as easy as that!! I love love love making Henry baby food.. and its probably because I have this amazing baby food maker.

**I did this review on my own and did not receive anything from Beaba for conducting it.

Some good ones

I have a few recipes that I've tried that have turned out really good and although I didn't photograph my prep (since they weren't supposed to be CWC recipes), I wanted to share them anyway.   I guess I'm learning that I should just go ahead and photograph every time I try something new.... just in case.  I'm sure thats what The Pioneer Woman does!! 

Barbecue Chicken -- I threw this together because I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand.  I made it exactly as directed and it was wonderful.  The meat was tender and my mini taste testers loved it.  Thats always a good thing!

Linguine with Creamy Zucchini Sauce -- Again, made this just as directed.  I have a plethora of zucchini and summer squash on hand because we've been visiting the farmer's market so often and have been looking for new ways to use it.  We tried this and it was a big hit!  I served it with some garlic bread and didn't even realize we didn't have any meat, but I bet this would be fabulous with some grilled chicken!  Once again, the mini taste testers loved it!

Southern Peach Cobbler -- This was one of our earlier challenges but I never posted the recipe I tried!  This wasn't it, I didn't like the recipe I tried, but I really liked this one!  It was super simple and it turned out great.  I doubled the recipe, made 2 cobblers and brought one to David's grandparents.  Everyone who ate it loved it.

That's all for now!  I'm going to try to photograph everything I cook from now on... just in case.

Honey Grilled Shrimp

After our wonderful cruise, David and I are trying to make spending alone time together a priority.  Of course, we have always known its important, but life happened fast.  3 babies in 20 months can really turn the life you're used to upside down!  Thats what happened for us.  We have started taking Friday/Saturday night to turn things off and talk.  On one of the blogs I enjoy reading she mentioned having cocktails and appetizers on Friday nights.  I thought that was a great idea!  So this past Saturday we grilled shrimp and opened a bottle of Prosecco after the kids went to bed.  It was so nice.

I didn't plan on sharing this shrimp recipe on CWC.  It wasn't really a big deal, I just pulled something up on allrecipes.com (big surprise, thats one of my favorite sites!).  But, this was too good not to share.  The shrimp were out of this world!  David and I gobbled them up and he has suggested we make them again several times already.  I've got to buy more shrimp!

Honey Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients

* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
* 2 tablespoons dry white wine
* 2 tablespoons Italian-style salad dressing
* 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails attached
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1/4 cup butter, melted
* 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
* skewers

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together garlic powder, black pepper, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, wine, and salad dressing; add shrimp, and toss to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Preheat grill for high heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head. Discard marinade.
3. In a small bowl, stir together honey, melted butter, and remaining 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. Set aside for basting.
4. Lightly oil grill grate. Grill shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque. Baste occasionally with the honey-butter sauce while grilling.

Baked Chicken & Apple Sausage Penne

I saw these chicken & apple sausages on sale at the grocery store the other day and picked up a package. This is pretty huge for me! I've hated sausage all my life (the fennel seeds found in most sausage reminds me of the spider teeth in the old Ewok movie). I'm married to a sausage lover! So, I knew it would be a good idea to deal with my hatred and find a way to like sausage.

After my baby boy, Kru, was born a fried of mine brought me a baked casserole, just like the one I made the other night, with chicken & apple sausage, it may have even been the same sausage. And, I liked it! So, when I saw this, I knew I could do it!! I could cook sausage.

Here is the sausage I bought:

And these are all of the ingredients (except I decided at the last minute to throw in a can of diced tomatoes, I'm glad I did, they were a good addition):

It was super simple. I cooked the pasta (1/2 the box. Oh, and next time I'll buy whole wheat pasta! Thats what I normally buy but the kids were fussing when I was in the pasta isle, this was on sale and somehow it ended up in the cart. I didn't think about it until I got home. Switching to whole wheat pasta is an easy switch, we can't even tell the difference). Cut up the sausage. Drained the pasta, put the noodles back into my big pot and added the sausage, spaghetti sauce and tomatoes. I dumped all of that into my baking dish, sprinkled some cheese on top and baked it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

It was SO GOOD! I was actually surprised how much I liked it. My girls liked it, too. Sometimes they had a hard time chewing up the sausage and spit it back out. But they did like it. I think the thick outer stuff is what they had a hard time with (I know thats called "casing" but that word kinda grosses me out and I didn't even want to type it but I also didn't want to sound like I didn't know what I was talking bout, Ha!).

David was out of town. Can you believe it?!? I finally make a sausage meal -- FOR MY HUSBAND!! -- and prepare it when he's out of town. Oh, well. I have more sausage in the freezer and will make it for him soon (he did get some of the leftovers and loved it!). My dad came over for dinner one night and ate 2 full bowls of leftovers, so I guess he liked it. Yea!!

This is a keeper, I'll make this again and again. Especially considering how easy it was. Since the sausage is precooked, it couldn't have been easier.

Fudge-Strawberry Cream Torte

Last night I made this Fudge-Strawberry Cream Torte for our small group. It was definitely a hit! Everyone was raving and saying it must have taken me all day to make. But it really wasn't too hard. It's a good one to keep in mind after all you Moms go strawberry picking!

The recipe:

Fudge-Strawberry Cream Torte

Brownie Layers
1 box (19.5 oz) Pillsbury® Brownie Classics Traditional fudge brownie mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3 eggs

(This depends on the brownie mix you use. I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate brownies and it only called for one egg, so that's what I did.)

Strawberry Cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 container (6 oz) Yoplait® Thick & Creamy strawberry yogurt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries

Chocolate Fudge
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 oz)

Garnish
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
6 small to medium fresh whole strawberries, halved

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottoms of 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Put down wax paper lining and spray that with cooking spray too. Make brownie mix as directed on box for cake-like brownies using oil, water and eggs. Spread half of batter evenly in each pan. Bake 18 to 23 minutes. (I'm not sure how long mine actually baked. I set it for 15 and just kept checking.) Cool on wire racks 10 minutes. Run knife around brownie layers to loosen. Place wire racks upside down over pans; turn racks and pans over. Remove pans. Cool completely, about 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat granulated sugar and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in strawberry yogurt until smooth and creamy. Fold in chopped strawberries. Refrigerate while brownie layers cool.

3. In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until cream begins to boil. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips; press into cream. Cover; let stand 3 minutes. Vigorously beat with wire whisk until smooth. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

4. To assemble torte, place 1 brownie layer on serving plate. Spread half of strawberry cream evenly over brownie to within 1 inch of edge. Carefully spoon and spread half of chocolate fudge almost to edge of strawberry cream. Repeat layers, ending with chocolate fudge. Arrange halved strawberries in spoke fashion on top of torte. (I decided not to do this. Instead I spread the ganache down the sides too, and put a strawberry next to it at the end.) Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. If refrigerated for more than 3 hours, let sit at least 10 minutes before serving.

5. To serve, sprinkle powdered sugar over top of torte and around plate. Carefully cut torte with hot knife into wedges to avoid “cracking” of chocolate fudge on top. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

Here's the cream filling with chopped strawberries:


Making the "fudge" - which is really like ganache


Two brownies layers - I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate brownies, which really added to the richness


Layering process (Please note that for the last picture I switched to a different cake stand. It was a very risky thing to do, but I thought the glass one had too many fingerprints. I definitely do not recommend this - I practically gave myself a heart attack).


The end product - yum yum!


Brent displayed these so wonderfully. He's the best.



One thing I really appreciated about this recipe was the final presentation. It seems like my desserts always taste good but look a mess! The cream filling was really creamy and unique - I think it was the yogurt, which I haven't seen in a cake recipe before.

Brent gave this an A- (he said he would rather have a dessert that has ice cream on the side), but that I should definitely make it again. He had a second piece after everyone left, which is a good sign! I thought it was very yummy, and a crowd hit for sure!

Breakfast Broccoli Frittata

This recipe is from the book Superfoods Rx by Steven Pratt. I just finished reading the book last week. If you haven't read it, I really recommend it. It's so interesting learning about the health benefits of these 14 "SuperFoods." It has changed the way I think about eating, and you'd be surprised how many you already eat. It's fun to try to squeeze even more into my meal planning. I think Brent is probably sick of hearing me talk about it! Anyway, this recipe features broccoli, which is one of the SuperFoods. Here it is:

Breakfast Broccoli Frittata

2 medium potatoes, sliced into 1/8 inch rounds (I only needed one)
1-1/2 cups broccoli florets (I used frozen)
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed, and chopped (I used orange - another SuperFoods sidekick!)
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed, and chopped4 large omega-3 eggs
1 cup 1% cottage cheese or fat free ricotta (I used ricotta)1/2 tablespoon fresh dill or 3/4 teaspoon dried dill (I used parsley)
3 tablespoons Asiago or Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray pie plate with olive oil spray (I used canola oil spray).
2. Lay the potato slices in a single layer in the bottom on the pie plate. Cut the remaining slices in half and arrange them around the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. In a large saute pan sprayed with olive oil spray, saute the broccoli, onion, and bell peppers for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Add a tablespoon of water if needed to prevent sticking.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and cottage cheese. Stir in the sauteed veggies, dill, and half the grated cheese. Add the egg mixture to the pie plate and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the egg is set. Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and return the frittata to the oven for a minute or two to allow the cheese to melt. Cut into wedges to serve.

Here are the potatoes on the pie plate. I cut them into even smaller wedges to fit in the empty gaps.


Sauteed Veggies


My helper Cuties: Brent is beating together the eggs and cottage cheese and Walter is just looking cute (and licking everything in the dishwasher).


The egg and veggie mixture:


Browned potatoes


Ready to go in the oven. I didn't have dill so I just sprinkled dried parsley on top. I don't think this added enough flavor...more later. I also put the cheese on top for the whole bake time instead of just at the end...oops.


The end product:


The review: This recipe was just ok, I didn't love it for two recipes. First, I just don't think I'm that crazy about making egg dishes with potatoes. I would rather eat just quiche. Second, I don't think I got the flavoring right. It tasted a little bland, which I think was my fault since I didn't have the main seasoning. I meant to pick up some dill, but I forgot. And I just sprinkled a tiny bit of dried parsley on top instead. So there wasn't much seasoning at all. It would definitely be better with some salt and pepper, or the dill or some other seasoning. Brent liked it more than I did, but then he has to say that, right? :)

That same night I made another recipe from the book - Golden Door Blueberry Bread. I thought this was very tasty. Super dense, and healthy - blueberries, bananas, whole wheat flour, orange zest, no white sugar. I definitely recommend this one!