Thursday, May 26, 2011

BBQ'd Country Ribs

2/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 lbs country style ribs cut into 2 inch chunks

2 TB vegetable oil

Combine in a separate bowl:
2 cups hot water
1 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

1 large onion, halved and sliced

In large ziploc bag, mix first 5 ingredients; shake to coat meat.

In pressure cooker, brown meat on all sides in oil; drain.

Add ketchup mixture. Add onions.

Secure lid. Bring to full pressure over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 20 minutes. Allow pressure to drop on it's own. Skim fat from sauce if necessary. Serve sauce over ribs.

recipe can be halved (cook for 15 minutes), this makes a LOT

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Sock it to Me Cake


1 (18.25 oz) package butter cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
4 eggs

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
 2 TB brown sugar
2 TB cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar
2 TB milk

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour desired pan (usually a regular bundt/10 inch tube pan).

In a large bowl, mix cake mix, sour cream, oil, white sugar, water and eggs. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes.

Pour 2/3 of the batter into prepared pan.

Combine pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture over batter in pan. Spread remaining batter evenly over filling mixture.

Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes. (cake should spring back when touched lightly)

Mix together powdered sugar and milk. Drizzle cake with glaze. (Drizzle while warm if you like your glaze soaked into the cake, drizzle after it's cooled if you like the white-looking glaze)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Oreo Pudding Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (4.2 ounce) package instant Oreo Pudding mix
2 1/4 cups flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Hershey's Cookies N Cream Candy Bars broken into small pieces (I used 3 normal size bars)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in pudding mix until blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix to combine. Stir in cookies n' cream pieces and chocolate chips.


Place golf ball sized dough balls on a cookie sheet (I use a baking stone). Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Do not over-bake! Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to a cooking rack. Store in air-tight container (I suggest doing this while they're still a little warm if you like your cookies on the chewy side)

adapted from here

Pear Pineapple Jam

4 pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1" pieces
1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut up
4 cups sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

grind up pineapple in food processor (this is where it's obvious that if you have canned crushed pineapple in the cupboard, you could cheat, but I recommend fresh pineapple)

strain juice into a saucepan. reserve pineapple. add pears to juice and bring to simmer over medium-low heat. simmer about 10 minutes, until pears are soft.

add pineapple, sugar and lemon juice. bring to a simmer. reduce to low heat and simmer for about an hour. (you want the jam to fall chunky-like) from the spoon.

ladle into hot jars and process 10 minutes in water bath or steamer.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Chicken Enchilda Casserole

12 corn tortillas, homemade or purchased
4 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat (reserve stock)
8 to 16 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
flour
3 cups chicken stock (bouillon or broth)
Sour cream

PREPARATION:

1. Make green chile sauce - recipe below.
2. Put about 1/2" of oil in small skillet. Dip tortillas in hot oil for just a couple of seconds until softened. Place on paper towels in layers until cool enough to handle.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a large baking dish with Pam. Place one layer of tortillas in the dish which has a thin layer of sauce spread in it. Top with /3 of chicken meat and 1/3 of cheese. Spread 1/3 of sauce over it. Repeat to make 2nd and third layers. Sprinkle some cheese on top of sauce, if desired.
4. Bake for 25-35 minutes until heated through and bubbly.

Green Chile Sauce: Sauté chopped onion and garlic in 1/3 cup of oil until transparent. Add 1/3 cup of flour and stir until heated through. Add 3 cups chicken stock and stir until thickened. Stir in 1 cup regular or lowfat sour cream and 2 (4 oz.) cans of chopped green chiles. Add salt to taste, a little more than you like, as it dissipates into the tortillas.

Makes 12 servings

7 WW points

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cupcakes

oh yes, i came up with  this one on my own ;)

1 devils food cake mix, bake according to package directions for 24 cupcakes

fill with peanut butter cookie dough filling:

1 stick butter (softened)
2 tsp water
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
cream together everything but chocolate chips. then stir in chips. fill cupcakes (i put it in a ziploc bag and cut the corner and just shove it into the top of the cupcake and squeeze)

frosting:

1 cup peanut butter
1 stick butter (room temp)

cream together well, then add:

2 cups powdered sugar

whip it good!

add 2-3 TB cream (or milk)

beat until fluffy and creamy.

frost cupcakes, and top with additional chocolate chips.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup HERSHEY®'S Cocoa Powder
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.