Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches

I hate to admit it too often because then she gloats about it forever...but....

Sue is super genius.

*sigh*

I said it now, it's too late to take it back.

Yes, Sue is pretty darn awesome at creating delicious...nay....SUPER delicious dinners.

This dish is one of our nephew, Jordan's, favorites. Sue has to invite him for dinner whenever she makes it.

It is so amazing that I bet you will add it to your family favorites after you try it.

Go ahead.

 I dare you to try this and not love it.

Just promise me you won't tell Sue how extraordinary this is....she'll never let me forget it.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches



Ingredients

3 lb beef roast

3 cups water

1 tsp of each - salt, pepper, oregano, onion powder, and garlic powder

2 pkgs Italian dry salad dressing mix

1 bay leaf

2 cups button mushrooms, sliced

1/2 medium onion, sliced

6 crusty buns

4 - 5 Tbsp garlic butter

1 cup Kraft Italiano cheese blend

Directions

Mix together water, seasonings, dry salad mix, and bay leaf. Heat in microwave for 1 - 2 minutes, just to warm up. Pour over roast and marinate overnight.

Put in slow cooker on low for 6 - 8 hours, until roast is cooked.

Slice roast thinly, or shred with 2 forks if you prefer. Place back in slow cooker in the juices for about another hour.

In a frying pan, fry mushrooms and onions in 1 Tbsp of the garlic butter.

Slice buns in half and butter with garlic butter. (Here is how we make our garlic butter.) Place on a cookie sheet, buttered side up. Stick under the broiler for 1 - 2 minutes. Just long enough to melt the butter and slightly crisp the bread.

Cheese is pretty sparse on these ones as Sue almost ran out of cheese! Feel free to put more on as you like!

Sprinkle with cheese.

Place the beef on top of the cheese. Top with the onions and mushrooms.

Enjoy!

Served with salad, french fries, and broiled cocktail weiners.

Depending on the size of your roast, how much you pile on your sandwiches, how big the buns are, etc... you may have some leftover beef. Simply heat it up in the microwave the next day and you can enjoy another yummy sandwich.

Trust me when I say, this is a really, really, really, REALLY tasty sandwich.

I would never admit it to Sue but, I could never come close to making something as mouthwatering as this bad boy.

Don't tell her I said that.

Be sure to stop by Carole's Chatter for tons of great links!



Sex In A Pan

It was the name that got your attention, right? 

"Sex, in a pan? What the heck is that?" you ask.

I've actually  heard this dessert called a few different names.....

Robert Redford Dessert

Better Than Anything Dessert

Chocolate Dream Dessert

etc...etc...

In our house it only goes by one name...the TRUE name of this dessert....

Sex In A Pan.

I know...I know...not exactly a kid-friendly dessert title.

I first tasted this many, many moons ago and since then have made it a million times. Well, maybe not quite a million but pretty close I'm sure. It is one of those desserts that is great for any occasion. And, if you truly can't bring yourself to call it "Sex In A Pan" when people are asking you "What is this deliciousness called?", then you call it whatever you like.

Heaven On A Plate might be a good back up name.

Sex In A Pan

Ingredients

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1 cup icing sugar

8 oz cream cheese

large tub of Cool Whip

2 cups milk

1 6 oz pkg instant chocolate pudding

1 6 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray.

In medium bowl, mix together flour, pecans, and butter to form coarse crumbs. Press firmly in to the 9 X 13 pan. Bake in 350 oven for 10 - 15 minutes, until just showing brown.

Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes or more. (I usually place mine in the freezer while I do the next step)

In the same bowl you used for the crust, beat together icing sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in 1/2 the tub of Cool Whip until well combined.

Spread carefully over the pecan crust. Place in fridge to continue cooling while you proceed with the next step.

Using the same bowl again, dump in both pudding powders and whisk with 2 cups of milk until smooth. Spread over cream cheese layer.

Take the remaining 1/2 tub of Cool Whip and spread over pudding layer.

Sprinkle with a few extra chopped pecans or chocolate slivers. Chill until ready to serve.

I try not to make this too often anymore as I think I could get a spoon and just sit and eat the entire pan. If you are so inclined, you can use reduced fat cream cheese and Cool Whip and the no sugar pudding, and skim milk and it won't really change the taste or texture TOO much. It's still delicious.

Oh! I get this question all the time...

"Do I use 2 cups of milk PLUS the milk that the pudding box calls for, or is it just 2 cups of milk, period?"

You only use 2 cups of milk. That's it. The puddings blend together and are quite thick. That's what you want to happen. You don't want it to be "pudding-y".

You can also make this with different pudding flavors if you want to, as long as you use 2 - 6 oz boxes of instant pudding. You could try butterscotch, only chocolate, only vanilla, banana, etc..

I have made it with pistachio pudding for St. Patrick's Day and it was really tasty.

See...it's pretty and St. Patrick's Day-y

Just remember...it's called Sex In A Pan.

I love telling people the name of this dessert. It has started some really interesting and sometimes hilarious conversations.

Carrot Fries

If you are like me, you saw "carrot fries" and got all excited thinking - Oh, my goodness! Carrots that are as good as fries? Really? Yaaaaaaaaaaay! - and then you did a happy dance.

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble.

They aren't really "fries" in the crispy, greasy, fat laddened sense.

Sorry.

*sigh*

BUT...they are still delicious in their own right.

They are tasty, far less calories, and much healthier.

Now...wait.....I know what you are thinking - Mmmm boy, healthy carrot snacks. Yum.

First of all, don't be like that.

Carrots don't judge you so don't judge our poor carrot friends.

Second, these are really good.

I wouldn't lie about that.

They are basically a roasted carrot without the roast drippings sogging them up. Plus, you can change the seasoning to suit your taste.

Carrot Fries

Ingredients

3 medium carrots

1/4 tsp sea salt

sprinkle pepper

sprinkle garlic salt

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.

Peel and slice carrots into sticks. Place in a medium bowl, sprinkle with spices and drizzle with oil.

Toss to evenly coat. Spread out on cookie sheet so carrot sticks are not touching.

Bake at 425 for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, until the carrots are starting to brown. Stir halfway through cooking time.

Remove from oven and serve hot.

So, I KNOW they aren't fries, okay? Let's move past that.

But, they do kinda look like fries...if that counts....

They are super-de-duper tasty and, if you are like me and trying to eat more vegetables, this is a great side dish. From what I can figure, using Fitday, I got to eat the whole recipe and it was only (about) 150 calories. Not too shabby :)

Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas

Sue here :) I figured I better give Jo a break as she has been doing so many of the blogs lately.

I found this recipe on Happy Healthy Mama and decided to give it a try.

I have been looking for healthy snacks for my daughter, Kenzie. She is trying to eat healthy, which is great, but she also wants to try and eat more vegetarian meals - not my forte, and she is extremely picky.

She can't have meat and cheese in her lunch because the cheese gets "sweaty".

She doesn't like sandwiches.

**sigh**

The list of stuff she doesn't like goes on forever. The list of stuff she does like? Not as long.

This recipe turned out to be really interesting. In a good way! It's great as a snack and stays nice and crispy in a container in the lunch box.

Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

2 15 oz cans chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 Tbsp olive oil

juice from 1/2 a lemon (about 1 1/2 Tbsp)

1 Tbsp died oregano

1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Rinse and drain chickpeas, spread out on a towel to dry for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix together all ingredients, except chickpeas, until well combined.

Add chickpeas and stir gently. You will probably loosen a few skins; pick them out and throw them away as they will burn.

Spread out on a cookie sheet, no overlapping, and roast for about 50 - 60 minutes.

Keep a close eye on them as you near the 50 minute mark as they start to burn quickly. Make sure to gently stir a few times during baking.

I found I liked them better warm - the flavor seemed to be a little stronger. They do crisp up somewhat as they cool off so don't worry if they aren't as crispy as you'd like straight out of the oven.

So, this recipe was a success! Kenzie now has another lunch snack that she will eat. Thank goodness. I figure if I can feed her at least until she turns 16 then she can get her driver's license and figure out how to forage for her own healthy food.

Who I am kidding...I'll be trying to find healthy snacks for my picky eater until I win the lottery and can pay my chef to do that for me. 



Our First Giveaway Winner

Just a quick blog today to announce our first ever giveaway winner.

Sue and I would like to thank all of those who entered. All in all we are very pleased with the response. We definitely gained a few more followers and for that we are grateful. We hope you continue to read us and Twitter about us and Pin us and Facebook us and all of those fun things.

For now though...the winner is....

*trumpets blaring*

The Self Taught Cook

Unfortunately The Self Taught Cook did not respond within 48 hours so we had to choose a new winner. The new winner is......

Susan Powell

We will be getting a hold of The Self-Taught Cook Susan to let her know she won a copy of Hershey's Classic Recipes cookbook, a copy of frame>by>frame baking: a visual step-by-step cookbook, and a jar of Oh! So Garlic seasoning. She will have 48 hours to respond otherwise we will be drawing another winner.

Please continue to check back with us as we plan on having many more giveaways in the future. Our goal was 1 per month but whether that happens or not remains to be seen. I am pretty sure we will be hosting a giveaway near the middle/end of February as we have a FANTASTIC Irish cookbook to giveaway in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Thanks again to those who support Sue and I and our blog. We enjoy posting about the dishes we create and sharing stories and recipes with you.
:)

Apple Pie In An Apple

Here is one of those creative recipes that seems so simple yet never, in a million years, would I have thought of.

Seriously.

Apple pie IN an apple.

The person who thought of this is clearly a genius. A super genius even.

I first saw the photo on Pinterest and it lead me to Testado, Provado e Aprovado! 

I'm beginning to love, love, love Pinterest for all these great ideas. Plus, it's making Sue and I look like we are super geniuses.

Apple Pie In An Apple

Ingredients

1 recipe Pie Crust

apples

lemon juice

cinnamon

brown sugar

flour

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.

Okay, the first thing you might notice is that I have not included measurements with the ingredients. That is because this recipe can be whatever size you want it to be. You can make 1 apple if you want, or you can make 2 dozen apples.

Cut the apples roughly in half, leaving a little more on the bottom half than the top. Using a melon baller, carefully scoop out the bottom half of the apple, being careful not to leave the outside edge too thin. (If it is too thin the skin can burst during cooking leading to deflated apples - of course they still taste delicious they just don't look as pretty) Place the scooped out apple bits into a bowl and sprinkle with a bit of lemon juice to prevent browning.

Sprinkle empty apple shell with cinnamon.  Take the apple tops, peel and core them, and cut the apple into the bowl with the other apple bits.

Drain the apple pieces to get rid of excess liquid.

Toss apple pieces with cinnamon, brown sugar, and a little flour. (I made 4 apples and used about 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 tsp flour. Depending on your tastes you can use more or less cinnamon and brown sugar. Don't use too much flour.)

Fill the apple shells with the apple pieces. Mound them up a little so they rise above the edge of the apple as they will cook down.

Roll out your pie dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a cookie cutter or drinking glass, cut a circle of dough that is a little larger than the top of the apple so it will cover the top and hang over the sides a little. Place on top of the apple and cut a slit to vent it. 

Place on cookie tray and bake in 400 oven for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue cooking until pastry is brown and apples are tender.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on cookie tray placed on wire rack.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream OR remove to wire rack and let cool completely.

I drizzled them with a little maple syrup and served them warm. So tasty!

If you only make a few apples then you will not need the entire recipe of pie dough listed above. No problem - just wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and freeze it. When you need more dough simply let it come back up to room temp and you are good to go!

I made this twice and the second time I used Granny Smith apples. I can't remember which kind I used initially but they were not tart at all. The Granny Smith's tasted much better but they did seem to have weaker skins. By this I mean the skins split and the apples collapsed more than they did the first time I made it. This was not a big deal though - they were delicious and still looked pretty darn cute.

Apple Pie In An Apple - all the deliciousness of apple pie with way less calories. Plus, it's cuter. :)

Only 1 more day to enter our first giveaway!
Don't forget - you can enter our first blog giveaway until January 22nd. (Only 1 more day!) Winner will be announced on January 22nd! Go HERE for more details.
You might win 2 fabulous cookbooks and a bottle of Oh!So Garlic seasoning!

Draw is now over. Thank you for your support!