Tasty Treasures

Time to show off the most clicked from 20 Sept's Tasty Thursday :)
Check out these delicious treats!

#1: Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Pasta// Hezzi D's Books & Cooks

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#2:  Fresh Mango Ice Cream {Egg-Free & No Machine}//Chocolate & Chillies

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#3: Crockpot Tortellini Lasagna//Semi Homemade Mom

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Just highlight, copy/paste in rich text or compose mode.

This week's Tasty Thursday is still open (and will be until Tuesday), so feel free to stop by and add a few recipes! :) Make sure to check out the other recipes linked up too!

Atomic Hashbrowns

Excited to share another Jeff Mauro (Sandwich King!) recipe - this one is perfect for spicy food lovers! It was kind of fun to make too - I'm glad I watched the episode beforehand though :)

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What you need:

• 2 lb. Russet potatoes, peeled, grated, and dried
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

Toss potatoes with seasonings.

Add half the butter and half the oil to a pan and heat over medium heat.

Add potatoes and pack them down tightly.
Fry for 5 to 7 minutes.

Flip onto a baking sheet and add remaining butter and oil to empty pan. 

Add potatoes back to pan, cooked side up, and fry for another 4 to 5 minutes.
Serve cut in wedges.

Recipe from Jeff Mauro

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These were recreated by Fried Ice & Donut Holes for October 2012 SRC {here}

Sweet & Savory Pork Chops

Loved these pork chops - I used some thin ones this time, but will try it with thicker chops next time. I am an onion lover - you cannot go wrong adding tons of onions!

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What you need:

• 4 pork chops
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large onion, sliced
• Salt and pepper
• Steak seasoning

Directions:

Season pork chops with salt and pepper and steak seasoning.
Melt butter over high heat and brown pork chops. Remove to a casserole dish.

 Add sugar, Worcestershire, and onion to leftover butter and cook for 7 minutes.

Pour over the top of the pork chops.

Bake, covered, at 350* for 20 minutes.

Recipe from Mrs. Happy Homemaker

{Click here to see what blog hops I participate in}

Tasty Thursday #79: Texas Roadhouse Buns {Copycat}

Welcome back to Tasty Thursday!!

We rarely eat out as a family - so when we went school shopping for my oldest (he just started Kindergarten!), I thought it would be great to treat the family to some Texas Roadhouse. The kids have never been because of my oldest's suspected peanut allergy. Of course, now we know he isn't allergic to peanuts and we were happy to bring them. I think the Roadhouse is the only good restaurant up here where we live - and it's pretty awesome that they have steak on the kids' menu. Matthew LOVED that. We came home wanting more rolls. I knew I had a copycat somewhere...so a week later, I made this recipe. It is dead on - the butter is awesome too! I actually froze half the dough to make more rolls later :)

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What you need:

• 4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 cups milk, scalded and cooled to room temp
• 3 tbsp. melted butter, cooled to room temp
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 7 to 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water and 1 tsp. sugar.
2. Add yeast mixture with milk, sugar, and a few cups of flour until batter resemebles the consistency of pancake batter. Let stand until foamy.
3. Add butter, eggs, and salt. Beat well.
4. Add flour until dough is no longer wet and sticky, but still pliable and soft.
5. Knead for around 5 minutes.
6. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour to an hour and a half.
7. Punch down and divide into rolls on a lightly floured surface. Rest for 10 minutes.
8. Shape and place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
9. Bake at 350* for 10 to 15 minute or until golden brown.
10. Brush with butter and serve with honey butter (recipe follows)

Honey Cinnamon Butter {Copycat}
What you need:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar*
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Whip butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Add honey, sugar, and cinnamon. Whip until combined.

*I may reduce this amount next time. Perhaps up the cinnamon slightly too. Trust your tastebuds!

Recipe from Eat Cake For Dinner

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Broccoli Bites

This will definitely be a must-have instead of French fries or chips - they in a way, almost taste like a French fry. I had to swat my husband away from them while I finished dinner because he couldn't keep away (:

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What you need:

• 16 oz. broccoli, chopped
• 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 3 eggs
• Bread crumbs, to your liking

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together.

Form small patties and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes at 375*.
Flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

Recipe from Stacey Snacks

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One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two

I got the hankering for sweets one night and I didn't really have anything in the house. I figured I would just have to suck it up and get over my craving. I had been working on cooking through my Pinterest boards and I saw these cupcakes. I immediately ran into my kitchen to see if I had the ingredients on hand.

Clearly, I did! I used leftover rum frosting from my pumpkin cinnamon rolls for the topping and some pretty diamond-like sparkly sprinkles. My mom just sent me some decorating stuff and I wanted to use them. I finally made pretty looking cupcakes! I was starting to think that I didn't inherit my mom's talent for decorating cakes!

Secret Recipe Club: Brazilian Pao de Queijo

I'm so excited this month to share with you all a recipe from Sally's blog: Bewitching Kitchen. Sally is a sweet, sweet (and didn't I mention sweet?!) lady who was born and raised in Brazil and after living in California and even Paris, is settled in Oklahoma! Since taking on the task of Group D's hostess, I've been waiting to get Sally's blog. She always emails me back and always has the kindest words. Not to mention she is funny too :) I really love that on her about me page, she has the same Julia Child quote that I do on my sidebar intro over there on the left! I'm always incredibly impressed by all you career gals who food blog on the side - seriously - Sally is a biochemist and molecular biologist. That is just unbelievably awesome - go science!

Last month I stepped out of my comfort zone a little with preparing a Thai dish. Since Sally has a great number of Brazilian recipes on her blog, I decided I definitely wanted to step out of my comfort zone again and pay a little homage to my assigned blog's heritage. Although I have to mention, I really really wanted to make the Hoegaarden Beer Bread. It's one of my husband's favorite beers. But I didn't have any sourdough starter :( I also almost made the Brigadeiros in addition to the recipe I finally chose: Brazilian Pao de Queijo or little cheese bread.

These are little cheesy popovers. We paired it with Italian food (soup to be exact) for dinner one night. I'm not sure about you all, but popovers scare the living daylights out of me! I know not to open the oven or they will deflate and all kinds of other difficult obstacles/things that can go wrong, but my popovers really didn't turn out as popovers. HOWEVER (big however!), they still were super tasty. They were crunchy but smooth. They tasted like a vegetable roasted Ritz cracker - and I mean, think of how perfect that is with a tomato-y Italian soup?! My husband ate 1 or 4 more after he said he was so stuffed that he couldn't eat anymore. The kids ate them before they even touched their soup. I have to admit I ate them throughout the night until they were just gone :) I did a little research and will be trying these again really soon. I will be ready and a little more confident because even if these popovers "fail" - they are still incredible!

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What you need:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1/4 cup farmer's cheese (Sally used Mexican, I used Colby Jack)
• 1 tbsp. Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Rosemary and kosher salt, for topping

Directions:

Place all ingredients except for topping into a blender.
Blend until well incorporated and smooth.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400*
Pour batter into mini muffin tins, no more than 3/4 tin full.

{I thought I'd be smart and use a squeeze bottle - except that there is cheese 

in there, so that wasn't the best idea. LOL}

Top with rosemary and salt.

Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool and serve!

Recipe from Bewitching Kitchen

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A peek at my past SRC recipes: Brisket & Veggies, Banana Custard Cream Pie, Chicken Egg Rolls, Hamantaschen, Lemon Fettuccine, Crispy Buttermilk Baked Chicken, Coffee Toffee, Spicy Jack Bacon Jalapeno Cheeseburgers, Grilled Chicken & Pasta with Basil-Cream Sauce, and Thai Banana Pudding.

Tasty Treasures

Time to show off the most clicked from 13 Sept's Tasty Thursday :)

#1:  Buttermilk Banana Bread//Semi Homemade Mom

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#2:  Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream (Eggless)//Chocolate & Chillies

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#3: Roasted Tomato Basil Soup with Cheddar & Greek Yogurt//Amy's Cooking Adventures

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You can also grab this nifty button if I featured your recipe!

Just highlight, copy/paste in rich text or compose mode.

This week's Tasty Thursday is still open (and will be until Tuesday), so feel free to stop by and add a few recipes! :) Make sure to check out the other recipes linked up too!

Banana Walnut Muffins

Bananas are like a super fruit. Unfortunately, I hate the texture of raw bananas and cannot just sit around and eat a regular ole banana all by itself. Don't get me wrong, I love the flavor...but I'm more a banana bread girl. One of my favorite kinds of muffins is a banana nut - I've never made banana nut homemade, so I was a bit nervous about it. These were the perfect muffin to start out. I filled my cups a little full, but it turns out these don't necessarily puff up as much as others do. It was also my first time using cardamom!

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What you need:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 10 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 3 cups chopped bananas
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla.

Beat in 1/3 of the yogurt. Then half the dry ingredients. Then 1/3 more of the yogurt. Then half of WHAT IS LEFT of the dry (not the other half, half of what is left). Then the last of the yogurt. Then finally the last of the dry.

Fold in bananas and walnuts.

Scoop into muffin tins. I added a walnut on top for good measure!

Bake at 350* for 25 to 30 minutes.

Recipe from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

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Fantastical Feature: Weeknights with Giada

In July, I requested the galley of Weeknights with Giada on NetGalley. I am a Food Network junkie and I also love Italian food, so it seemed like the perfect cookbook for me. In August, I got really acquainted with Giada through watching the whole season of Next Food Network Star. I immediately started to DVR her show (reruns and new episodes alike). She even tweeted me!! Yes, sadly I have gone completely geeky and fangirl-ed! I bought a copy when I did my 2 year Blog-Birthday Bash and I love this cookbook.

Weeknights with Giada is a cookbook meant for under-an-hour main course cooking. It's perfect for making a great dinner after a long day. There is also a section for "Brinner" or breakfast for dinner. I absolutely adore this because it is one of my very favorite things to do. There are a lot of hearty meal recipes with fresh ingredients. The pictures are large, absolutely breathtaking, and droolworthy. The print is larger than most cookbooks which makes this one a keeper for easier reading - especially when you are taking quick peeks while cooking. I loved Giada's introduction as well. She talks about how important it is for her family to sit down together and enjoy the same meal. 

We made...

Mini Meatball Sandwiches on p.56

These were incredibly simple and full of flavor. We enjoyed our sandwiches for lunch in our front yard for a little picnic. Everyone gobbled them up!

Crispy Chicken with Rosemary-Lemon Salt on p.127

The salt alone made this dish. We saved our extra and I have been throwing it on everything from brusselsprouts to leftover pasta! The cornmeal made a nice light coating that stayed crispy, instead of getting soggy and heavy. I employed my husband to help me that night :)

Fried Smashed Potatoes with Lemon on p.191

Despite not cooking my potatoes as long as I should have, these were a tasty side dish to serve with the crispy chicken above. We also topped these with extra rosemary-lemon salt :)

Chocolate-Hazelnut Drop Cookies on p.224

This is actually my very first Nutella recipe. I have never made anything with Nutella. My oldest started school and so my daughter and I have been having girl time. We enjoyed making these cookies together - and enjoyed eating them, plus surprising my oldest when he came home from school with a tasty, melt-in-your-mouth cookie!

Weeknights gets a 4-utensil rating from me. It's such a great cookbook and there are lots of different, fast options for a delicious dinner, plus sides and desserts to go with it!

It can be purchased on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.

Thank you to NetGalley & Crown Publishing Group!