Ellie's BBQ Pork Chops

My 2 years old daughter and I recently went to "Farm Days" at our local university. She LOVED it. She got to hold a baby chick, pet a lamb, rabbit, and goat; and see all sorts of animals she loves. As I was trying to convince her that yes it really was time to go home we found a table with this on it:

She went crazy over it. "This is my recipe! I'm a make it for dinner." She said this over and over on the way home and was sooo excited to make dinner for us. When she got home and told her daddy about the recipe she told him the baby chick gave it to her. Weeeellll....that wasn't exactly true but close enough in a 2 year old's mind.

So what's a mother to do? We made them! I should mention that Ellie poured all of the ingredients into the bag to marinate them and we told her she made them but, no, I did not let a 2 year old cook them on a hot stove, give me some credit! :)

 They turned out to be pretty yummy. We used Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce which made them slightly sweet. The flavor bbq sauce you use will effect the flavor of your pork chops so make sure it's one you like! They turned out great and they were easy so I am sure we will make them again!

Ellie's BBQ Pork Chops
1/4 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tsp chili powder
4 boneless pork chops

Combine first 3 ingredients in a plastic ziploc bag and squish around to mix (a great job for small hands helping in the kitchen). Add pork chops and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Remove pork chops and place on the skillet. Save the remaining sauce for cooking later.

Brown pork chops on each side for about 4 minutes. Pour the saved sauce over pork chops, cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Make SURE not to skip the simmering step, as the sauce will not be safe to eat unless it's simmered!


I would love to say that she ate them up but she didn't. She would not touch them at dinner time. Talk about the weird mind of a toddler, because we can always get her to try a new thing and she usually ends up liking it. Hopefully she hadn't misconstrued it in her mind and she thought we were eating baby chicks...because I wouldn't have eaten them either if I thought that!

Whole Wheat Bagels

In our house we love bagels, but we're too cheap to buy them often. So one day I set out to learn how to make them. I have made them several times since and we LOVE them! I usually just leave them plain because we prefer them that way, but this time I dipped some in an "Everything" mixture, and some in poppy seeds. They were all good, but we are plain jane here and will probably just stick to plain in the future. I am a big fan of Allrecipes, and this is another recipe I adapted from that site; orignal can be found here.

In this picture I coated my "Everything" and my Poppy Seed bagels with a tad too much topping, so this picture is a good example of over-coating your bagels ;).

Plain, Everything, Poppy Seed

Whole Wheat Bagels

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cups bread flour OR all purpose flour if you add the gluten below
2 Tbs Wheat Gluten (if you used AP flour, leave off if you used bread flour)
2 Tbs white sugar
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs white sugar
Boiling water


In large bowl, dissolve yeast and 2 Tbs sugar in warm water to soften and let proof for about 10 minutes. Add oil, wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups white flour, and salt. Mix thoroughly, adding more white flour as needed until the dough forms a ball and leaves the sides of the bowl.

Turn dough out on floured board and knead, adding small amounts of flour as necessary. Bagel dough should be pretty stiff. Work in as much extra flour as you can comfortably knead. Knead until smooth and elastic, 12-15 minutes.

Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a large oiled bowl, and turn to coat. Cover and let fully rise until an impression made with your finger remains and does not sink into the dough (about an hour).

Punch down and separate into three equal sized balls of dough. Divide each ball into 4 equal pieces. With each small ball of dough make a perfect ball and poke a hole in the center with your finger. Use both hands to gently stretch the hole in the middle of the bagel until it's about 2 inches across. The bagels will puff, making the hole shrink a lot so make the hole bigger than you would think.

Evenly place the bagels on 2 nonstick baking pans or lightly oiled baking sheets. Cover and let stand until puffy, about 20 minutes.

While bagels are rising, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Now fill a large saucepan 2/3 full with water, and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling add 1 Tbs sugar. When ready to cook, drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water. Boil for about 20-30 seconds on each side.

Carefully lift each bagel out with a slotted spoon or skimmer. Drain momentarily on a dish towel. Turn into a dish with topping, if desired (see my topping recipe below). Evenly space bagels on 2 nonstick baking pans or lightly oiled baking sheets.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven until well-browned, about 20 minutes. If desired, turn bagels once after about 10 minutes to evenly brown both sides, though I only did this the first time and found it to really be unnecessary.

Eat immediately or store in a ziploc bag on your counter for up to a week. You can slice and freeze them to have an easy, quick snack to pop into the toaster at anytime!

Here is what I had on hand to make my "Everything" Bagel topping, you can add and substitute ingredients according to taste and what you have in your cupboard!

"Everything" Bagel Topping
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp dried minced onion
2 tsp poppy seeds
2 tsp flax seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt (or any large granule salt)

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

We tried these for the first time the other night and loved them! I doubled the recipe and froze half of them. See directions below for how to freeze enchiladas without ending up with mushy tortillas. I learned this method from my amazing friend Kim. Thanks Kim! :)

I forgot to take a picture after they were done, but this is right before being popped in the oven

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas from Food.com

1 lb chicken breast, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 flour tortillas, softened (8 inches each)
1 1/2 cups grated monterey jack cheese or 1 1/2 cups Mexican blend cheese, divided
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 (15 ounce) can chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies

1. In a frying pan, cook chicken and onion together in oil over medium-high heat until chicken is just done. Divide cooked chicken evenly between 8 tortillas; add 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese to each tortilla (I don't measure this, just eyeball it).

2. Roll enchiladas and place seam-side down in 9x13" baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with no-stick cooking spray.

3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan; stir in flour to make a roux; stir and cook until bubbly; gradually whisk in chicken broth then bring to boiling, stirring frequently.

4. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and green chiles; pour sauce evenly over enchiladas.

5. Top with remaining 3/4 cup cheese and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce near edges of baking dish is bubbly.

Enchiladas, sauce, and cheese

Freezer Meal Prep

Line your baking dish with aluminum foil. Follow steps 1-3. Now wrap your chicken-filled tortillas up in the foil. I split mine into two groups of four so they could be stacked into one big ziploc bag.

Pour your sauce into a saved glass jar- old pasta jars work great. If you don't have a jar then let your sauce cool and pour it into a ziploc bag.

Put your remaining cheese into a ziploc bag.

Now take your foil wrapped tortillas, sauce, and cheese and squeeze them into a gallon sized freezer bag. If they don't all fit in one bag then separate them into two bags, just try to keep those bags close to each other in the freezer :).

Make sure to write baking directions on a slip of paper and stick it in the bag, or write the directions right on the bag with a sharpie.

**When you are ready to eat them let the sauce thaw overnight, or thaw in microwave (carefully). Place rolled up tortillas in 9 x 13 baking dish, pour sauce over, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes, though if your rolled up tortillas are still frozen you may need to increase the time!

Texas Sheet Cake

Are you SO jealous of my Texas platter? I got it for my wedding -best present ever!

I am from Texas, it's true. Well, I grew up mostly in Texas and some in Colorado, so I can technically claim BOTH states. Oh yes, I do. And I love them both, but Colorado pride is just not as fun as good ole' Texas Pride. I love to sing  Texas pride songs to my husband and he LOVES it!

So I was feeling in a chocolaty-Texas mood so what better than Texas Sheet Cake?!

This was my first time making THIS recipe and it was delicious! If you're a small family like mine you can freeze the leftovers in individual slices wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in freezer bags. This cake is almost as good straight from the freezer (it's chocolate so, yeah). I particularly like the frosting in this recipe, it has just the right "Texas Sheet Cake" flavor if that makes sense at all.

Texas Sheet Cake from Our Best Bites 

½ c. real butter

½ c. shortening

2 1-oz. squares baking chocolate

½ c. buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

2 c. sugar

1 c. water

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

FROSTING:

6 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

½ c. butter (I used salted butter, gives it the flavor I like for this frosting-LB)

2 1-oz. squares baking chocolate

1 lb. powdered sugar

½ c. chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 11 x 17 jelly roll pan (you can also use a 9×13 pan, but you may die of sugar shock–there’s something to be said for spreading the love in this recipe).

2. Combine ½ c. butter, ½ c. shortening, 2 oz. chocolate, and water in a small saucepan. Heat until chocolate is melted.

3. In a separate small bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, buttermilk, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla. Combine with chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture and mix very well. Pour into pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until a pick comes out clean. Five minutes before cake is done, make frosting.

FROSTING:

Combine milk, chocolate, and butter in a large (or medium-large) saucepan. Heat until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. If desired, add 1 c. nuts (optional, preferably chopped walnuts or pecans). While icing is still warm, pour over cake.

Mmm! Does it make you hungry?!

Soft Pretzels

These beauties were made by my friend Jenny (my batch burned!)

A couple of friends and I love to get together and try new and old recipes and while our kids run around screaming together about once a month. It is a lot of fun and I have learned a lot of things from them over the past year since we started. This month it was my turn to host and I decided to try soft pretzels. I was too scared to shape them by myself because I am a baby so it was perfect to get some friends involved to try it together. After reading waaaay too many recipes, reviews, etc here is what we came up with. The recipe is based on Allrecipes but got changed and tweaked a lot with help from a lot of other recipes and reviews I read, including Alton Brown's recipe.

Soft Pretzels

3 tsp active dry yeast
3 Tbs white sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
3 1/2-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs vegetable oil

Boil bath:
1/4 cup baking soda
8 cups water

Egg wash (optional):
1 egg yolk
1 Tbs water

Toppings:
Butter
Sea Salt for sprinkling
Cinnamon/Sugar for sprinkling

Dip in:
Cheese sauce
Pizza sauce
Roasted Garlic dip (try this link)

In a small bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let proof for about 5-10 minutes.

In a large bowl mix 3 cups of flour, salt, and vital wheat gluten. Make a well, add the oil and yeast mixture. Gradually add more flour a 1/2 cup at a time until the mix is soft and not too sticky. I ended up just adding about 3 3/4 cups.

Knead dough until smooth, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a damp towel. Let the dough rise in a draft-free place for 1- 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or oil well with cooking spray. The best is to use a silicon baking sheet. In a large saucepan put 8 cups of water and 1/4 cup baking soda on the burner to start boiling.

Take your dough ball and lightly pat it into a small circle- just about a foot in diameter or so. With a pizza cutter divide dough into eight even slices (like a pizza!). Or, if you want smaller pretzels, you can divide into 10, 12, or even 16 balls of dough. Next time I will probably roll mine out thinner and do 10 or 12 instead of 8 fat ones.

Keep your dough covered with a damp towel as you work with each ball of dough, to keep it from drying out. Roll each dough ball into about a two foot long "rope".

One pretzel rolled out to about 2 feet long

Now shape your pretzels. If you are like me you have no idea how to shape a pretzel, so I searched around a lot and came up with this method:

Cross your rope at top

Twist one more time

Pull the top ends of your rope down and push gently into the circular part of your pretzel and fix it as needed.

One at a time boil your pretzels in the baking soda water for about 20-30 seconds, and place on your oiled or parchment lined baking sheet. I found it hard to flip them so I just put them in the water and scooped boiling water of the top instead of flipping them halfway through the time.

If you want the tops of your pretzels to be shiny then use the egg wash. In a small bowl beat egg yolk and water together with a fork until well combined and frothy to make egg wash. Brush each pretzel lightly with the egg wash solution, and if desired sprinkle with sea salt or any large granule salt.

Let your pretzels rise/rest for about 10 minutes.

Bake until golden brown for about 10-14 minutes. This will largely depend on your oven, check as early as 8 minutes to see how things are progressing. My oven cooks hot and fast so I had burned my pretzels at 10 minutes! Ouch!

Enjoy with just salt, or dip in butter when it gets out of the oven and dip in cinnamon sugar, or dip in cheese dip!

Whole Wheat Bread

Fresh from the oven (the white dots are the millet)

My mom gave me a wheat grinder for Christmas 2010. At first I looked at it and thought..never gonna use that. Then I decided to give homemade whole wheat bread a try...and I was HOOKED! We have bought maybe 4 loaves of bread since, and those were just for back up when I ran out of frozen loaves and didn't have the time to make more. I scoured the internet for the best recipe and I have to say I found it. It stays moist on our counter in a plastic bag for as long as it takes us to eat it (probably 5 days), it is SO easy to make (especially with my Bosch that my mom also gave me, thanks Mom!), and it freezes well. My husband always loves to be the first to cut into a newly thawed loaf from the freezer because he thinks it tastes the best that way. I am giving you the way that I make this recipe. I realize that it varies depending on person, humidity, altitude, and your horoscope :) so check out the original recipe and make it your own like I did!

Tips: Make sure your yeast is fresh or is fresh from the freezer. It really does make a difference in how your bread turns out. If your yeast has been sitting in the fridge awhile it will need a little longer to rise, and will give you a denser bread.

Lightly adapted from "The Urban Homemaker"  Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread 
Yields 5-6 loaves

2/3 C honey
2/3 C canola oil
6 C warm water
3 TB instant yeast (make sure it's fresh or fresh from the freezer)
2 TB salt
15-18 C fresh whole wheat flour
3 TB dough conditioner or enhancer
1/2 C vital wheat gluten
1/3 C whole millet (optional but we love the crunch!)

 Combine the warm water, yeast, and 2 Cups of fresh whole wheat flour in your Bosch. Allow to sponge for 15 minutes. Add the honey, oil, dough enhancer, salt and 13-16 C additional flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of the mixing bowl. My dough is usually sticky to the touch still, do NOT add too much flour!

Knead the bread 6-10 minutes in your Bosch. I watch it and add more flour if needed, again be sure not to add too much.

Oil your hands up and drop dough into your greased loaf pans. Baker's Joy spray with flour in it works best. The dough is still pretty sticky at this point so what I do is distribute it among the pans and then go wash my hands and put some more oil on them to form the dough. My favorite way to form a loaf is to make a ball and then pull both sides of the ball and fold them under to form a loaf shape with a beautiful top.  Allow to rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes. Do not allow to over-rise, this can happen quickly so check it at 25 minutes! I actually don't let mine rise more than 30 minutes because we like the bread to be dense enough to cut easily. I have let my bread over rise a couple of times and while it doesn't ruin the taste it makes it hard to cut and eat because it has lots of bubbles at the top.

Bake loaves for 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cover the tops with foil for the last 10-15 minutes if you want a lighter brown color on top. Take one loaf out of the pan and tap the bottom to listen for a hollow sound. OR just stick an instant read meat thermometer into the bottom of the loaf and make sure it's at least 180 degrees in the middle (because what does "hollow sound" even mean?!). Eat a slice with honey butter right away and let the rest of the loaves cool. Once cool place in freezer bags and freeze. Or double bag in the cheap cheap twist tie plastic bags from Walmart or the dollar store (what I do because I'm....cheap).

 To thaw: place on counter for at least 4 hours, leaving your freezer bag sealed. If you need to quickly thaw you can (and I often do, though it's not quite as good as letting it thaw naturally) by placing the open bag in the microwave and zapping it on low heat for 15 seconds at a time until you're satisfied.

So good and so good for you!

Note:  I have 3 small and 3 large loaf pans and so that is what I normally use. Or I will use 2 large and 3 small loaf pans and make 12 rolls in a muffin tin. Freeze the rolls and pull out as needed for supper, they really are tasty with meals!

With Love,

Lindsey