Cowboy Bundles

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Mom of 4

My best friend is an AMAZING bread baker! So, when she passed on this Cowboy Bundles recipe, and I saw the first ingredient said: 2 packets of yeast, I just sighed and tucked it away on the To Try pile. She has totally conquered her fear of Yeast and left me in the dust, still battling it alone.

{Sigh}

I hate yeast. Yeast hates me, too. Except when I make butter crescents, but even they are ugly sometimes.

I can scarcely believe I am writing this, but I DID get these Cowboy Bundles to turn out: YAY!!!! Soft, lofty and all the right kinds of chewy! YUMMMMMMM!

Introducing COWBOY BUNDLES…….

Think Meatloaf in an amazingly soft bread bundle. Did I already say, YUM?

Yes?

Ok, moving on. Oh, but did I mention the bread was soft and nice?

Yes?

Ok, just checking, cause it really was! Not flat and disgusting at all! Yipee!

Cowboy Bundles

(click title for easy printable)

Ingredients

Dough

2 packages (1/4 Ounce Each) Active Dry Yeast
⅔ cups Warm Water (110-115*)
⅔ cups Warm Milk (110-115*)
¼ cups Sugar
¼ cups Shortening
2 whole Eggs
2 teaspoons Salt
4-½ cups (up To 5 Cups) Of Flour (I Did A Mixture Of Whole Wheat And White)

Filling

2 pounds Ground Beef
3 ounces, weight Package Of Real Bacon Pieces
1 whole Small Onion Chopped
1-½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoons Pepper
1 pound Velveeta Cheese, Cubed (next time I want to try a few cups of shredded colby jack instead)
¾ cups Ketchup And BBQ Mixed
3 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
Ketchup Or BBQ Sauce For Dipping

In your Kitchen Aide bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt and 3-1/2 cups flour; knead using your dough hook. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough, kneading until smooth and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn dough on to a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the beef, onion, salt and pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add bacon and cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in BBQ/Ketchup mixture.(I added a bit more than directed, until I liked the consistency)
Punch dough down. Turn on to a lightly floured surface; divide into fourths. Roll each portion into an 12-in. x 8-in. rectangle; cut each into six squares. Place 1/4 cup meat mixture in the center of each square. Bring corners together in the center and pinch to seal.
Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with butter.

Serve warm with ketchup and BBQ sauce if desired.

We ABSOLUTELY LOVED these and they have officially make “The Rotation” at our house, a select few recipes that EVER get repeated! Cause I loooove new recipes! Be brave, try these Cowboy Bundles even though they call for Yeast, YOU CAN DO IT!

Pinterested: Coconut Cream Pie Bars

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Mom of 4

I don’t know why, but Coconut always reminds me of Easter. Maybe because people dye it green for edible Easter Grass, or maybe its cause I am crazy!

I say Easter Grass all the way. {Shhh, just go with it!}

Anyhow, I found these Coconut Cream Pie Bars on Pinterest, and I had everything on hand to make them, YAY! I love it when a foodie plan comes together. They were delicious and I like the idea of a bar rather than a pie, you can feed a crowd, and its easier too!

Coconut Cream Pie Bars

by Dough Puncher

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening
5-7 Tbs. cold water

1) Cut shortening into flour, until shortening is in pea-sized pieces. Stir in water as needed, until just combined.
2) Roll out on a floured surface, and press into a 9 x 13 glass pan. Prick all over with a fork.
3) Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool.

For the Vanilla Coconut Pudding:
2 2/3 cups whole milk (1/2 evaporated milk and half water is a great substitute for whole milk!)
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch (don’t do the flour substitute, just use cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups sweetened, flake coconut

Topping:
Toasted Coconut
8 oz Cool Whip

1) In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk and egg well. Add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Cook over medium heat, whisking often, until thickened.
2)Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in coconut. Pour into cooled crust.
3) Place in refrigerator for a few hours, or until chilled.
4) Spread an 8 0z container of Cool Whip on the top.
5) Toast 1 cup coconut in a 350 degree oven for 2-4 minutes, until lightly golden. Sprinkle evenly over pie.
6) Store in fridge until serving time.

Enjoy!

4 little Fergusons Photography: Class of 2012, Heather

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Mom of 4

This is post 2 for today, be sure to check out Deep South Gooey Butter Bars.

I recently had the privilege of photographing a Senior from our church. Her personality shines through these photos, and we had quite the adventure trying to get some of these shots!

I love all of these, but here are my top picks:

Thanks again, Heather! I had so much fun with you!

Deep South Gooey Butter Bars

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Mom of 4

Every household needs a couple “Go To” recipes. You know for those, “Come and bring a Dessert” kind of events. The Deep South Gooey Butter Bars that I am sharing today, are my #1 pick, pictured down by the recipe, followed VERY closely by these…….

Can’t Leave ‘Em Alone Bars.

Deep South Gooey Butter Bars

{click for easy printable}

Ingredients

1 box Yellow Cake Mix (dry)
½ cups Melted Butter
2 whole Eggs Beaten
8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
3-½ cups Powdered Sugar
2 whole Eggs Beaten

Mix dry yellow cake mix, melted butter and 2 eggs well. {It will be thick and sticky.} Pat into the bottom of a sprayed 9×13 pan.
Mix softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and 2 beaten eggs together. Spread over cake mix layer.
Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. Eat warm or room temperature.

AMAZING!

Gooey S’Mores Cake

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Mom of 4

If you haven’t figured it out yet, S’Mores are one {of many!} of my food weaknesses.

I have made I Want S’More Bars:

Fluffy S’mores Cake

And just plain ol’ S’mores over the open fire.

I guess I just can’t resist a good S’Mores Recipe, because now I have another one to share with you. It’s got this great sticky, shiny marshmallow-esque frosting that you smear all over it!

Gooey S’Mores Cake

{click title for easy printable}

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

½ cups Shortening
¼ cups Softened Butter
1 cup Sugar
3 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 tsp. baking powder
2-¾ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
12 ounces, fluid Evaporated Milk

FOR THE FROSTING:

4 whole Egg Whites
1 cup Sugar
½ teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ cups Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows, Graham Cracker Crumbs & Hershey Bars For Garnish

Spray and flour 2 – 9 inch pans, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
Add cracker crumbs and baking powder, alternating with the entire can of milk, continually beating mixture.
Divide between 2 pans and bake at 350* for 18-22 minutes or until done. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool.
For the frosting:
In a large saucepan, combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. Heat over low heat. Using an immersion or hand blender, beat on low until frosting reaches 160* or is steaming but not boiling yet. (about 8-10 minutes) Pour into a large bowl, add vanilla and beat on high until stiff peaks form. (5-7 minutes)
Place 1st cake on cake plate and smear 2/3 cup frosting over the top of it. Sprinkle with chocolate chips before topping with 2nd cake. Use the remaining frosting to cover top and sides of both cakes.
Garnish as you desire with marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs and Hershey bars.

Dig in!

Spring Break! & Dreamy Orange Cheesecake Dip

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Mom of 4

The kids are outta school for the WHOLE WEEK for Spring Break! I am so so excited and have plans to………..are you ready for it?

DO NOTHING!

I want to keep our week free and let them play outside ALL day long! I want them to run and imagine until their hearts are content, coming in filthy and exhausted for supper and baths. I want to read with the kids out on a quilt every afternoon, I want to grill Hamburgers and eat out on the picnic table, I have an Easter craft I’ve been wanting to do from Pinterest, and I want to start planting our garden. But mostly, I don’t want to be busy, I just want to be a stay at home family and enjoy our time together. 🙂

Now on to the foodie part of all this, fruit dip! A yummy one!

This recipe comes from Brandy’s Baking, and it just screams SPRING IS HERE!!!!!!!!! Which makes me very VERY happy!

Dreamy Orange Cheesecake Dip

from Brandy’s Baking

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup powdered sugar (or less, if you don’t like it as sweet)

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients together and stir until mixture is well blended and smooth.

Serve with fruit or spread on graham crackers.

Enjoy!

Gotta go play with my 4 favorite little Ferguson’s now!

Happy Monday!

~ T

Cocktail Reubens

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Mom of 4

Every Sunday night at our house is Snack Supper! This is a great opportunity for me to try out some of the Appetizer recipes I have set aside, it’s fast and easy and the kids love it! Plus, when you are playing a card game, you can easily snack and play at the same time! 🙂

This recipe for Cocktail Reubens was a hit! I was able to make the “goo” early in the afternoon and then at supper time, quickly slice and slather whole wheat French Bread!

Cocktail Reubens

(click link for easy printable)

Ingredients

2-½ ounces, weight Sliced Corned Beef
1 cup Drained Sauerkraut
½ cups Shredded Swiss Cheese
½ cups 1000 Island Dressing
1 loaf French Bread, Thinly Sliced

Preheat oven to 375F.

Chop corned beef and combine with kraut, cheese and dressing.

Arrange slices of bread on a baking stone or cookie sheet.

Top each slice with the reuben mixture.

Bake 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve warm.

Bean & Cheese Enchiladas

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Mom of 4

We are trying to stretch our meat supply here a bit, until we know we can buy another side of beef and a pig for the freezer. Soooo, that means for taco night, instead of 2 pounds of beef for taco meat, I am doing 1 pound of taco meat, and stirring in 1 can of drained and rinsed kidney beans. Makes it go twice as far! Also, I am serving everything with Baked Mexican Rice (recipe below) and chips & guacamole on the side, to help fill those little tummy’s up!

I have never “gone meatless” but when I saw this recipe on my friend Sarah’s blog, I knew I wanted to give it a shot. My family didn’t miss it! Well, that’s not entirely true, Dale did. He wished for some shredded chicken in his bean and cheese enchiladas, but totally understood what I was trying to accomplish and said it was still really good. Score!

Bean & Cheese Enchiladas

adapted from a recipe by Sarah Seachris

(Click title for easy printable)

Ingredients

FOR THE ENCHILADA FILLING:
* * * * * *
16 ounces, weight Container Of Cottage Cheese
15 ounces, weight Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper To Taste
6 whole Green Onions, Sliced Or 1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
1-½ cup Shredded Cheese, Divided Use
10 whole Wheat Tortillas
FOR THE SAUCE:
* * * * * *
2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder, Less If You Don’t Like It HOT
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
15 ounces, fluid Tomato Sauce
2 cups Chicken Broth

Preheat oven to 350*. Whisk cottage cheese until semi-smooth. (you can use a food processor if you have one) Stir in black beans, onions, 1/2 cup cheese, salt and pepper.
Prepare sauce by whisking together all ingredients in a large flat bowl. Dip each tortilla, one at a time into sauce, then fill with 2-4 Tablespoons of your bean mixture. Roll tightly and place seam side down in a sprayed 9×13 pan until finished. Pour remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.
Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15 minutes longer.

Serve over a bed of Mexican Rice with Guacamole and chips on the side.

We use brown rice for everything around here, so I am always looking for good recipes using it. This is a great side for your favorite Mexican dishes.

I love that it’s baked, which means no over cooked sticky rice!

Baked Brown Spanish Rice

{click recipe title for easy printable}

Ingredients

2-¼ cups Brown Basamati Rice
2 cans (14 Oz Each) Chicken Broth
1 can (10 Oz) Rotel Tomatoes With Chilies, Drained (you Decide How Hot You Want, We Did Original)
1 teaspoon Chili Powder (less If You Don’t Like Heat)
1 teaspoon Cumin

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients in a 2 quart oven safe baking dish. Stir well. Cover with foil and bake for 80 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Let sit for 10 minutes out of the oven. Salt and pepper to taste. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Serve Enchiladas over a bed of this delicious rice!

Ole!

Shared with The Ultimate Beans & Rice Linky Party

Overnight Chicken Supreme Casserole

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Mom of 4

My little brother & his best friend used to BEG my mom to make this Chicken Casserole when we were kids, but honestly? I don’t recall it one way or another. For me, the biggest appeal in making this casserole now that I am a momma, is that I was able to make it the night before, for an easy no-prep supper the next night. By letting it sit overnight, you eliminate the need to cook your macaroni noodles! Cool, right?!

Overnight Chicken Supreme Casserole

(click title for easy printable)

Ingredients

2 cups Cooked, Seasoned Chicken, Cut In Small Cubes
2 cups Raw Macaroni (do Not Cook!)
2 cans (14 Oz Each) Cream Of Mushroom Soup
2 cups Whole Milk
1 whole Onion, Chopped Finely
½ teaspoons Celery Salt
3 Tablespoons Butter, Cut Into Small Pieces
1 cup Shredded Cheese
Salt And Pepper, to taste

Combine all above ingredients, except cheese in a large bowl with lid. Refrigerate overnight. When you are ready, scrape macaroni mixture into a sprayed 9×13 casserole dish and bake for almost an hour at 350*. The last 5 minutes, add shredded cheese to the top and return to the oven until melted.

We served ours with Creamed Peas, which we all ADORE! {Cooked peas ususally make me gag, not these!}

Simple and delicious! My kids said “Mmmm” with every bite!

Tree Houses & Treasures

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Mom of 4

Due to a scheduling mix up (read that: Tonya was too tired to remember to check her blog calendar Sunday night) you are getting Monday’s post, today. Just go with me here….. and thanks for understanding! 🙂

We had such a fun and busy weekend! It’s been a while since I’ve had a “blog-worthy” Weekend to share, but I think this one fits the bill. 🙂 This blog is to be a book of Memories one day for our children, so I want to be sure to continue to do these sorts of posts between recipes and other thoughts.

First of all, the children’s adopted Grandparents, offered to build them a tree house. WOO-HOO! We had a spot already picked out and had actually planned to do one once some extra money came in for lumber. {Well, you know how that goes! Especially with 4 little people to care for, there’s never extra money!}

We are sooo thankful for this awesome gift that will bring hours upon hours of fun. It’s not done yet, but here are the pictures so far. A big thanks to Glen, Papa Don and Dale for their hard work!

“Mommy, PLEEEEEASE can we do a silly picture?”

Walls are going up….

A Snack bucket with rope is a must! 🙂

Pax wakes up from nap time and joins the fun…..

This tree house is WAY bigger than it looked when we first staked it out! I see future slumber parties out here! 🙂

Daddy and Papa finish the ladder just in time for everyone to come down for a much-needed bath!

EWWWWWW

So far, everything has been done with scrap lumber other than the floor, PTL! This week the guys will work on the roof and then we’ll paint everything. I told the kiddos we’ll paint the inside with their handprints, names and anything they want to draw. Fun stuff! I will be sure to post pictures when it is all done.

Also this weekend, we headed over to where Dale’s Dad {aka Papa} recently bought the land adjoining ours, and went on a Treasure Hunt. There were all kinds of neat things hidden amongst the old outbuildings. The kids got some new play horses and a steel truck. And this Momma got her hearts desire…..

Ball Jars, Mason Jars and Kerr Jars; a whole wooden crate of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {SQUEEEE!} 🙂 I just may have done a happy dance, but who knows for sure.

Jars like these are hard to find now that they are so “cool”. Have you looked on Pinterest lately? Everyone is using them for their weddings, household décor, chandeliers etc.

Destiny helped me clean them up. I can’t wait to use them to decorate tables at a party or something!

Look what else we found:

An old amber glass Clorox jug and the kind of iron that you heat up on a stove. I used them to decorate my laundry room! Fun, right!?

“The Lady Dover” clothing iron. What a fancy name! lol 🙂

We also went to the school carnival, but I only took 4 pictures. This is very unusual for me! 🙂 I gotta tell you, sometimes, I just want to be Mom, not Mamarazzi, you know?

I DID get out my camera for these shots, I know they are dark, the evening was drawing to a close, but Paxton’s face was too precious not to show you these!

Clearly, he is underwhelmed by this horse ride!