Christmas Cookies

Let's face it, Christmas time is a very busy time of year (especially for us poor souls who work in retail). I know that I didn't have any time to experiment with fun christmas cookie decorations! Which is why these cookies were so fantastic. They took 15 minutes to bake, 10 minutes to prep, and I just chilled them in the fridge for a couple hours.

You will need:

1 excellent sugar cookie recipe
cinnamon
red and green food coloring

Make your sugar cookies according to the recipe. Like I said earlier, I was in a hurry, so I just used Betty Crocker's cookie mix. Stir in the cinnamon then divide the dough between two bowls. Color one bowl red, one bowl green. GENTLY fold the two into each other, so as not to mix the colors and get an ugly orange-ish color. Refridgerate for a couple hours then scoop the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and bake according to the recipe. These came out so bright and colorful that everyone was impressed.

Inside Out Stuffed Green Peppers

I love stuffed green peppers. It combines three of my favorite food ingredients, tomato sauce, peppers, and rice. The only thing I don't like about stuffed peppers is the preperation. I'm lazy, and I don't like to bake my food, especially when I'm just going to tear the food apart anyway. So, one day I decided to just make the stuffing and throw some green pepper strips on top. They taste just as good, if not better because the green pepper strips are sauteed rather than steamed.

To make this delicious meal you will need:

2 Links Morningstar Farms Italian Sausage (optional)
1 Green Pepper
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup cooked rice
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 tsp sugar

Steam the Italian Sausage (or soysage, as it's known in my house) in a pan for about 9 minutes, turning occasionally. Add the green peppers and sautee until heated through. Add the tomatoes, sugar, and Italian seasonings and simmer about 7 minutes. Throw everything on top of the rice and enjoy.

Cauldron Cakes

For those of you who are not potterheads, allow me to explain. Cauldron cakes are a common treat in the wizarding world, as are Chocolate Frogs, Acid Pops, and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. I made these tonight after rewatching GoF for the trillionth time, along with some Hot Butterbeer.

Mmm, yummy. To make these magical treats, you will need:

1 box of your favorite chocolate cake mix (or your own special recipe)
1 package licorice
1 container of your favorite white frosting
1/2 tsp vanilla butter and nut flavoring
Green food coloring

Cook the cake according to package directions into 24 cupcakes. While those are baking, mix together the frosting, flavoring, and food coloring. Spread the frosting on the cupcakes as soon as they come out for the drippy look that mine have, or wait until they've cooled for creamier consistency. Stick the licorice into the tops of the cupcakes and serve.

You could also jazz these up any number of ways. Try adding gummy worms to the tops or pushing mini reese cups into the cups before baking.

Sweet Potato Chili

As the cold weather creeps upon us, I find myself seeking warmth in anyway possible. This includes thick, fuzzy coats, heating blankets, steamy showers, and, of course, soups and chilis. This chili is one of my favorites, and was found in a vegetarian slow cooker cookbook that my grandma gave me for Chrtistmas one year (Ironically, she put the book in a crockpot box and made me think I was getting a brand new crockpot. Funny, grams).

Mmm, look how bright it is!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs sweet potato (about 2 potatos)
1 yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
1 tsp minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Peel and cut your potatoes into smallish cubes (about 1 inch). Set these aside. Drizzle a pan with the oil, and sautee the onion and pepper until the onion is translucent. Add in the garlic and chili powder, stir until the garlic is browned. Add the sweet potato, and stir to coat with spices. Pour the mixture into a slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients except for the chipotle peppers. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Now, a note on the chipotle peppers; these can be found in the mexican foods section of most grocery stores. They usually come whole in a small can with adobo sauce. A little goes a long way with these things, they are HOT. What I do is buy a can, mince all the peppers up, put them back in the can (preserving as much of the sauce as you can), use what I need, and freeze them. These things freeze great and they're excellent for spicing up any dish. If you don't really want to freeze them, make some chipotle mayo with the leftovers.

When you're ready to eat your chili, stir in the peppers and serve with cheese, sour cream, or just crackers.

Bocaballs!

Meatballs - Meat + Boca Ground Crumbles= Bocaballs, which is what I made for dinner tonight! I found this recipe on boca.com and tweaked it to my liking after getting a rare craving for a meatball sub. I made Brian a meaty meatball sub, and just a bocaball sub for myself.

And yes, that is the beautiful sub I made for myself. To make this gorgeous bocaball sub, you will need:

2 cups frozen Boca Ground Crumbles
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 cup spaghetti sauce, divided
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp dried diced onion
Italian herbs and spices (I used parsley, sage, and oregano)
Mozzarella cheese
Hoagie buns
Butter

Microwave the crumbles for about 45 seconds, then add the breadcrumbs, egg, 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce, garlic, onion, and whatever Italian herbs you could come up with. Stir well, then roll the "meat" into balls. This recipe makes about 12, depending on the size of your balls (Ha ha! I'm so immature!).

Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat and add the meat balls. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, turning the balls once halfway through. Remove the cover and lower the heat to medium-low. Let simmer another 4-5 minutes.

While those cook, butter up a few hoagie buns liberally on the inside of the bun. Get a griddle (or a skillet) nice and hot and toast the buns, inside down. Mine took about 5 minutes to get nice and brown on the bottom. Flip the buns, the topside should only take a couple minutes to get nice and crispy.

Fill your hoagie buns with the balls and sprinkle with cheese. I sauteed some peppers and onions, but mushrooms or whatever fresh veggies you have on stock would be just as good. Top with the remaining sauce and revel in the amazingness that is bocaballs.

Hot Butterbeer!

It's time for me to confess, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. Huge. Ginormous. Colossal. I've read every book (the day it came out), seen every movie (the day it came out), and have quite a large Harry Potter collection of various trinkets and treasures. So, it's no surprise that I have midnight tickets to Harry Potter 7 Part One.

I thought that this year, in order to prep myself in the best way possible I would re-watch every movie and try my hand at a few recipes. Starting with this one, Hot Butterbeer!

You will need:

1 cup milk

1 tsp honey

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla butter and nut flavoring

whipped cream

butterscotch ice cream topping

Start by getting your self a small saucepan and heating the first four ingredients on medium heat until it starts to boil, making sure to stir it constantly.

Remove the pan from heat and set aside for about a minute. Add the vanilla butter and nut flavoring to your mug. Add the milk mixture and stir well. Top with whipped cream and drizzle the top with the butterscotch topping.

It may not look like a lot, but butterbeer is incredibly rich (and incredibly delicious!). Expect a cold butterbeer recipe later this week, as well as plenty more Potter-themed recipes.

Nox!

EDIT: Cold Butterbeer can easily be made by adding a couple teaspoons of the vanilla butter nut flavoring to a glass of cream soda  and topping with whipped cream and butterscotch. It's good, but not nearly as good as this hot version.

Coffee Steak

Yes, I know. It sounds strange. Which is exactly why I didn't tell Brian that I was making it. As far as he was concerned, it was just a regular steak.

So, what made me want to cook coffee steak? Well, apparently there's an excellent recipe in Seattle that specializes in this dish. So, after browsing some recipes, this is what I came up with.

You will need:

1 Steak
Coffee Grounds (I used Folgers Breakfast Blend)
Brown Sugar
Salt + Pepper
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Tbsp Butter

First, season your steak with salt and pepper. Then you'll want to lightly rub on some brown sugar, a good sprinkle is all you need. Next, rub on about twice as much coffee. Make sure you really rub it, or it won't stick to the steak.

While that sits, heat up the oil and butter in a pan until the butter is completely melted. Throw in the steak and cook till done. My steak was pretty thin, so it was only a few minutes on each side.

Brian said it was good, and he would definitely eat it again. Which means I will definitely be cooking again.