Carrot Fries

I was making a Roast, Potatoes & Carrots for dinner tonight & as I was peeling the carrots.  Hubby says "hey those would be great fried" pointing at the top peels I was going to throw away.  So I threw the top layer away & peeled most of 2 carrots for him to experiment with in our deep fryer.  They were pretty thin, he just slightly salted them & they were so super yummy!  There were only a few but I devoured them to fast to think about a picture.  They came out looking like curly fries.  I will post a Good Picture when Darin makes a nice batch of them.

 These are ways you can cut them before frying.  Also make sure you blot them dry before putting them in the oil.

 

Cabbage Rolls

Check out my notes at the bottom.

Ingredients:
12 leaves cabbage
1 cup cooked white rice
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup minced onion
1 lb ground beef
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground black pepper

Sauce:
1- 8oz can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. I like to put a little Salt & Pepper in the water.  Boil cabbage leaves for approx 2 minutes; drain.

In large bowl, combine Ground beef & Eggs.  Add S&P and mix well.  Add Rice and mix.  Add onion & mix.  Add Milk and mix well.  I like to mix with my hands so everything is combined well. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before & after you handle the meat!

Place one Cabbage leaf in front of you on a cutting board with the Core side facing away from you, (Step 1 picture).  

Place a large tablespoon of meat mixture at the end of each cabbage leaf (Step 2).

Roll the flap closest to you forward. (Step3)

Fold both sides inward and roll away from you towards the core of the cabbage. (Step 4)

Place each Roll in slow cooker side by side but not overlapping. (Step 5)

In a small bowl, mix together Tomato Sauce, Brown Sugar, Lemon Juice and Worcester Sauce. 
Pour Sauce over cabbage roll.

Cover and cook on Low 8-9hours.

*I have a 6qt Crock pot, I am able to get 12 Cabbage Rolls in the bottom & I also double the sauce to make sure all rolls are covered nicely & because we love things saucy.  My Crock-pot cooks really well on Low, this recipe calls for 8-9 hours but I was able to cook for 4hours on Low and they turned out great!

Chicken Fried Chicken

Wow !  I haven't posted anything here for a very long time.  I guess that's what happens when you have 6 children & run 2 businesses.  It's been crazy at our house.  

However, last week we started a new way to organize our dinners.  Our girls are getting old enough to make a lot of meals themselves now, which has been very helpful for me since I have been increasingly getting busier with my photography & sewing businesses.

I decided that Kent & I will do dinner one night (which usually is a harder dish to make) & then each of the kids choose a night of the week & they also get to choose what are going to eat.   Of course, this means they get to make the meal (usually with help from mom ;).  This is not only helpful because I don't have to make every meal, but also we are eating better meals & our children are learning to make more meals.  I am not good with teaching my children in the kitchen, because of my OCD it drives me crazy (we've tried that & it didn't work-all it did was drive me crazy).   With this new plan the younger children get to choose simpler dishes & the older ones have to choose something a little more difficult (our girls are ages 18, 16, 14, & 12 & our boys are 10 & 8).

So on to the fun stuff, for dinner tonight our Miss C (our 16 yo.) with a little help from mom, made Chicken Fried Chicken, garlic bread (from scratch) & corn on the cob.  The chicken turned out amazing.   The chicken was a recipe we have never tried before.  We used this recipe from My Name is Snickerdoodle!  I also made the gravy from that recipe.  It was very clumpy, but I strained the clumps out & then added flour at the end to thicken it up and it worked great.  The only thing I would change is adding more seasoning.  I added salt & pepper, but it needed more.  Otherwise, it was a great meal!

I forgot to take a picture of the gravy, but it was yummy!

Enjoy!

Crab Puffs

I love Crab Puffs & they are super easy
 
2- 8 oz. pgs cream cheese, softened
3-4 pieces imitation crab
2-4 green onions, diced 
1 package wonton wrappers 
Oil for Frying

Directions:
Combine first 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir or beat until well-blended.
Heat oil to 350-375 degrees.

It is easier to make all the puffs before frying them.  Lay wax paper out on a cookie sheet to place puffs on after assembling them.  Don't stack on top each other they will stick & make a mess.

Take a wrapper and place a small amount of filling into the center. Fold over into a triangle, and seal the edges with a little dab of water on a fingertip.

After all puffs are made, Drop approx 5-6 into the heated oil.

When they float, use a fork to flip them, and then take them out after another 30 secs. or so, when they look light brown.  They will brown more as the cool.

Drain on paper towels. They will brown more as they drain.
Serve immediately!

Mindi's German Pancakes

Not quite sure if they are German, dont think they taste like pancakes!  LoL...but they are Awesome!
Ingredients:  (Optional Add-Ins listed at bottom)
6 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 Stick Butter

Directions:
Melt butter in 9x13 glass pan in oven. While butter melts... In blender add Eggs, blend on Medium.  While blender is going & after eggs are whipped, Add Milk.  Add salt, then add Flour little by little so that it mixes well with the eggs & milk.  Once it is well blended, pour blender mixer over butter in glass pan.  Bake at 400' for 15-20 min.

Can be served many ways, here are just a few ideas!

Top with:

Powdered Sugar
Whip Cream
Lemon Juice
Lemon Curd or
Preserves
Yogurt
Syrup
Salsa
Diced Green Chilies
Diced Tomatoes

Optional Add-Ins 2 Blender:
Vanilla
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Oregano

Potato Bacon Soup

Ingredients:
8 lb bag of potatoes
4 cups Broth
1 cup Water
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 cups Milk (add later)
Salt & Pepper

Garnish:
 1 pkg Bacon cooked & crumbled
1/4 cup chopped green onions
4oz Grated Cheese

Directions:
Peel all potatoes, rinse & chop into bite size chunks & add to the crock pot with the broth & water.  Add onion, celery & green-onions to the pot. Add Salt & Pepper then cook on low heat for about 6 hours.  About 1/2 hour before serving add the Milk to the potatoes & stir.  After serving into bowls, sprinkle with the crumbled bacon, green onions & grated cheese.

Creamy Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1- 16oz can traditional refried beans
1- 14.5oz can Petite Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
(not cream of coconut)
1- 4.5oz can chopped green chiles
1- 1oz pkg taco seasoning mix
4 medium green onions, sliced

Directions:
In Slow Cooker, stir refried beans, tomatoes, broth, coconut milk, green chiles and taco seasoning mix. Cook on low approx 2-3 hours.  Pour soup into serving bowls; garnish with onions.  Great served with Taquito Dippers.

Taquito Dippers

Ingredients:
6 sticks of Sharp Cheddar
or Chipotle Cheddar cheese
1- 10.5oz pkg Soft Taco Flour Tortillas
2 TBs CRISCO® Pure Vegetable Oil

Directions:
Cut each cheese stick in half lengthwise to make 2 thin sticks. Place 1 cheese stick on one edge of each tortilla; roll tortilla tightly around cheese. Brush edges of tortillas with water to seal. Place taquitos, seam sides down, on cookie sheet. Brush each lightly with oil.  Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until edges of tortillas are golden brown and cheese is melted.  Serve as an Appetizer or with Creamy Bean Soup.

Pumpkin Cookies

This makes approximately 9 dozen.  So you may need to adjust for smaller batches.

Ingredients:
3 boxes of Spice Cake Mix
3 cups of Canned Pumpkin Pie Mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 cup chopped Walnuts
1 small bag Chocolate Chips

Mix pumpkin & brown sugar in large bowl.  Add pumpkin spice and mix together.  Add Eggs and mix together.  Add Vanilla and mix together.  Gradually add all  cake mixes, mixing very well as you add them.  When mixed well, spoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake in 350' Preheated oven for 10minutes.

This recipe is acquired from several people.  My good friend Mindi just throws her cookies together and has never gone by a recipe. So we found a recipe online and did a trial run.  So when we decided to make them for a church activity.  Two of the ladies who are on the committee with me, Dawnella and Janice, came over to bake with me and we decided they were a little too soft.  So we tweaked the recipe a bit and we think they are great!  Are great alone or with a frosting of your choice!  I love them with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1- 28oz jar spaghetti sauce
2 green or red bell pepper, seeded and Cubed
8oz fresh sliced mushrooms
1 onion, finely diced
2 TBs minced garlic

Directions:
Put the chicken in the slow cooker.
Top with the spaghetti sauce, bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, and garlic.  Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.  Use fork to shred chicken & Serve over your favorite Pasta or Rice.  Goes well with Angel Hair.  I've even done this several times with just the Chicken & sauce, because we didn't have the other ingredients & it still came out pretty good!