Carolina BBQ Sauce

So I'm really mad at myself. I was so frazzled by my crying 14 month old, that I forgot to take pictures of my finished products tonight.  Although the BBQ was so freaking good I still want to share the recipe. 

I made it with dijon mustard and it was on the spicy side.  You could do honey mustard, or even regular French's yellow mustard.  It totally depends on your spice tolerance.  The key to a good Carolina BBQ sauce is vinegar.  It doesn't matter much what mustard you use as long as you use a good amount of vinegar.  It should singe your nose hair when you sniff it. That's how you know it's Carolina BBQ.

So I still had some sauce left in the sauce pan, so I ran downstairs and took a quick picture.  I'm bummed that I don't have any pictures of Brax or I's sandwiches.  They were purdy.  I don't claim to be a talented photographer.  Maybe if my kitchen was clean I would be more adventurous in my picture taking. 

Anyways, that's what the sauce looks like finished.  It was tangy and sweet and spicy.  It was seriously delicious and will be my go to for BBQ now. 

Brax loves the Carolina BBQ Whoppers from Burger King.  That was the inspiration for tonight's dinner.  They don't have them on the menu anymore so I thought I would make a copycat version for him.  He said that the burger was good and he seemed satisfied.  

I am not a meat lover, especially beef, specifically burgers, so I made me some shredded chicken.  I have a basic shredded chicken recipe that is good for anything.  You can make a ton and freeze it, then add whatever sauce and seasonings you want.  I made that tonight and then just added in the bbq sauce before I served it.  It was bomb.  It's just 4 chicken breasts, season salt and 2 cups of chicken broth.  Put it all in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.  I'm going to make chicken bacon ranch pizza on Friday and that's the chicken I'm going to use for it.   

I also made my ranch cole slaw, but I changed it up a bit and I think that's how I'm going to make it from now on.  My recipe is a bag of cole slaw mix, and then half a cup of mayo, a half a cup of ranch and two tablespoons white vinegar.  Tonight I did everything the same, but I did a 1/3 cup of mayo, 1/3 of hidden valley ranch, and 1/3 cup of sour cream.  It's a trick I saw on Cooking For Real on Food Network and it's seriously the only way I will make cole slaw from now on.  She of course did 1/2 cup of mayo and 1/2 cup of sour cream, but I like mine to be slightly ranchy. 

I served his burger on a kaiser roll from Smith's.  I put about a tablespoon of mayo on the bottom bun, lettuce, dill pickle and red onion.  I cooked the patty with season salt on each side, then ripped a slice of bacon in half and put it on top of the patty, then swiss cheese, then ripped another slice of bacon in half and put it on top of that.  Then I smothered the top bun with the BBQ sauce.  He says it was good, I'll take his word for it. 

I put my shredded chicken mixed with the BBQ sauce on the bottom bun of a kaiser roll, put a slice of provolone cheese on it and then broiled it until the cheesy was bubbly, but before it turned brown.  I then topped it with my ranch cole slaw.  I am taking some leftovers for lunch tomorrow at work. 

I also cooked some fried potatoes with season salt in the bacon drippings.  My daughter thought those were pretty great and so did I.  My son spit them out without even attempting to chew it up. 

This sauce would be good on anything BBQ.  Ribs, chicken, beans, whatever.  It's seriously good. 

Carolina BBQ Sauce

1 jar of Grey Poupon dijon mustard

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup of white vinegar

1/4 cup apple juice

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp bacon fat 

• Mix all of the ingredients but the soy sauce, butter and bacon fat; simmer for 30 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Crepes

This recipe is good for both sweet and savory crepes.  Crepes have become a Sunday favorite at our house.  My husband prefers my banana cream crepes.  I like them, but I also like the bacon, egg and cheese crepes. 

These are really easy to make, but the key is having a good pan.  You can't have these sticking at all, or they will rip.  Crepes are extremely delicate.  The thinner the crepe the better the crepe.  

This is what the batter looks like once it's all mixed.  You first beat the eggs together and then whisk them in to the flour.  You then mix the water and milk together and slowly whisk it in to the flour and egg mixture.  You add the salt, and then the melted butter.  Then add the sugar for the sweet crepes. 

This is what the cream for the banana cream crepes looks like.  It's not too sweet and it's really creamy. 

Like I said the key to a great crepe is the pan.  I went out and bought a  12 inch non stick Teflon pan.  You want to preheat the pan over medium heat.  Pour a 1/4 cup of the batter in to the pan and spread the batter across the bottom of the pan so it looks like the picture above.  You cook it a lot like a pancake, until you see bubbles on the top. 

Using a rubber spatula, loosen the sides and very carefully flip the crepe and cook the other side for 2-3 minutes. 

For a sweet crepe spread some of the cream across all of the crepe.  Fill with sliced banana.  Fold in half and cook for about 1-2 minutes more on each side. 

I sliced fresh strawberries and caramel on top of my banana cream crepe.  It was delicious. 

For a savory crepe you can put whatever you want.  I did scrambled eggs, bacon and shredded cheese, then cooked it on each side for 1-2 minutes, until the cheese was melted. 

Crepes
2 cups of flour
1 cup of milk
1 cup of water
4 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
4 teaspoons sugar (for sweet crepes only)

• Beat eggs
• Whisk eggs in to flour 
• Mix water and milk together
• Whisk in to flour mixture
• Whisk in butter and salt until smooth
• Preheat pan
• Pour 1/4 cup of batter in to bottom of pan.  
• Spread mixture to cover the entire pan
• Cook for about 3 minutes, then flip, cook 3 minutes more on that side
• Fill with filling, fold over and cook 1-2 minutes on each side
• Serve and enjoy 

Cream for Banana Crepes

8 ounces of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

• Mix it all together 

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Dip

I don't know why this picture is colored all weird, but this is the best way to eat this dip.  It's good with any kind of chip, but Jalapeno is the best.  This is one of my husband's favorite snacks.  My family also loves it.  Everyone always says "can you bring your dip".  It's cheesy, bacony, ranchy and creamy.  

I make this dip and then I make shredded chicken and mix it in, then spread it over a pizza crust and top with cheddar cheese and bake it.  It makes bomb chicken bacon ranch pizza. 

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Dip

16 ounces of sour cream (I prefer Daisy)

1 package of Oscar Meyer real bacon bits (it is not good with the fake stuff)

1 package of Hidden Valley powder ranch dressing

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (I do Tillamook medium cheddar)

• Mix it all together and refrigerate for at least an hour. 
• Serve with your favorite chips. 

Pizza Rolls

I'm pretty sure that these might be my husband's favorite thing that I make.  He'll eat an entire dozen just to himself.  They are really, really good.  I love to eat them with ranch dressing.  

We went to a New Year's Eve party one year at my in-law's and this lady had made a pizza loaf.  It was really really good and that's where I got the idea for these rolls.  I've made them both with Rhode's Rolls and with my grandmother's dinner roll recipe; both are great.  The Rhode's are less time consuming, that's for sure. 

The trick is to let the rolls thaw completely, but not rise at all.  This is the only tricky part.  If you let them start to rise then they won't continue to rise once you've stuffed them.  It takes about 1-2 hours to thaw completey; it just depends on how hot your house is.  You will want to spray the cookie  sheet, and also spray the saran wrap.  If you don't spray the saran wrap with oil, the rolls will dry out and they will be tough when you bake them. 

This is what they look like once they are thawed.  They are about double the size they were when the were frozen.  

The next step is to flatten them out and then stuff them with your favorite pizza toppings.  We do pepperoni and cheddar cheese in our house. Then you tuck it in to a ball.  I roll them around in the cheese that doesn't make it inside the roll.  It makes the outside crunchy and delicious.  You will want to spray the saran wrap again and place it back over the rolls.  Let them rise for another 3-4 hours. 

This is what they look like when you are done stuffing them.  You want them to double in size.  You then bake them for about 15-20 minutes.  They come out delicious and cheesy. 

Pizza Rolls

12 frozen Rhodes dinner rolls

36 pepperonis

2 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

• Place the rolls evenly on a greased cookie sheet
• Spray saran wrap and cover the rolls
• Let thaw about 1-2 hours
• Once thaw, flatten the rolls and then stuff with 3 pepperonis and a couple tablespoons of cheese
• Roll them up in to a ball and place back on the cookie sheet
• Spray saran wrap and place over the rolls
• Let continue to rise until about double in size
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Remove the saran wrap and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. 

Eggs in a Basket

These are a staple in my house, everyone loves them.  My husband says that the centers are the best things ever.  He thinks they are better than butter toast.  I make these for breakfast and lunch a lot on the weekends.  They're super easy and not expensive.  My secret is that I use Tillamook butter.  I swear it's the best butter there is out there.

Eggs in a Basket

Slice of bread

An egg

A tablespoon of butter

• Melt butter in a pan
• Cut a circle out of the center of the bread
• Soak each side of the bread and the center piece in the melted butter
• Crack an egg in to the center of the toast
• Cook until slightly brown on that side
• Flip both the piece of toast and the center piece
• Cook until brown on that side
• Salt and pepper to your taste

Asher's Green Beans

My little boy was born 5 weeks early and over a year later he is still a tiny guy.  He's almost 14 months old and he still wears 6/9 month clothes and only weights 15 1/2 lbs.  His doctor told me to feed him lots of vegetables smothered in tons of REAL butter.  '

My little guy has always loved green bean baby food and canned green beans.  He's not much of a fan of fresh green beans and I think that's because they're usually still pretty crunchy and he's really big on texture.  He likes his veggies mushy.  I decided to cook him some green beans similar to the way I cook my corn on the cob.  He ate so many I'm betting he'll be pooping green all day today. 

Asher's Green Beans

3 cups of fresh green beans

2 tablespoons of salted butter

3 cups of water

• Cover beans with water in a sauce pan
• Stir in butter
• Steam for 45 minutes, until beans are really tender
• Salt and pepper to your taste 

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

I've made these potatoes a couple dozen times and they are always delicious.  I've tweaked them enough that I feel like I finally have them perfect.  My husband who isn't a potato guy likes them, my daughter likes them and my son ate about 3 pieces of potato before throwing them on the floor; that's a win. 

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

6 small potatoes(4 medium potatoes) diced in to even pieces

Half of a stick of salted butter sliced 

2 tablespoons of seasoning salt 

1/2 cup of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup of Daisy sour cream

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (I use Tillamook medium shredded cheese)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
• Put potatoes in a casserole dish, sprinkle with seasoning salt, place sliced butter evenly over the potatoes, cover and cook for about an hour
• Mix together ranch dressing and sour cream
• Remove potatoes from the oven and fold in sour cream/ranch mixture
• Fold in 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese
• Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of cheese
• Bake another 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted 
• Devour the creamy, cheesy, ranch goodness 

Greek Lemon Chicken

This is one dish I can make that I know everyone will eat.  It's very lemony and fresh and perfect for a warm day.  You can do chicken breasts or tenders, I personally like to do tenders.  I sometimes put them on a kabob with some onion and grill it.  My daughter usually asks for seconds, and that is how I know something I made is actually good.  She is so picky. 

Greek Lemon Chicken

1 pound of chicken breast tenders

1/3 cup of good extra virgin olive oil

1/4 lemon juice

1 tablespoon of Grill Mates lemon pepper

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

1 tablespoon of fresh dill

salt and pepper

• Whisk together oil, lemon juice, lemon pepper, garlic and dill
• Salt and pepper the chicken and put in a ziploc bag
• Pour oil and lemon juice mixture over the chicken and seal the bag, refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably 24 hours. 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Remove chicken from the bag and place in a casserole dish, cover and bake for one hour
• Let rest 10 minutes and then enjoy 

Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches With Ranch Cole Slaw

Yesterday my friend Irene came over to let her dog Sandy play with our two dogs.  I decided to make a nice Sunday dinner for all of us.  I made shredded buffalo chicken sandwiches with cole slaw, potato salad (that recipe won't be shared, it's a family secret), and virgin mojitos.  Irene made fruit salad that was really good.  

We had fun just being lazy while the dogs played.  It made for a fun Sunday.  

My friend loved it, she was surprised that it wasn't spicy at all. My oldest loved it.  She actually ate her entire sandwich, which is a huge deal for her.  She is super picky and pretty stuck in her ways.  She wouldn't eat it with the cole slaw on it though, so she just had cheddar cheese and ranch dressing.  My husband loved it and ate two sandwiches last night, and took the leftovers for lunch today.  My son spit the chicken out and threw it on the floor... Apparently it was too much for his little tastebuds.  I enjoyed it.  I'm not a big buffalo fan, but the mild sauce wasn't spicy and with the cole slaw on it, it tasted really good. 

Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches 

6 hard dinner rolls 

2 chicken breasts

1 12oz jar of Kroger brand mild wing sauce

6 slices of cheddar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Put chicken breast in a casserole dish, pour wing sauce over top, cover and bake for 90 minutes
• Transfer chicken to another dish and shred, add in a few tablespoons of wing sauce 
• Spoon about 1/4 cup on to a dinner roll, top with cheese and broil for about 3 minutes until cheese is bubbly. 
• Top with ranch cole slaw

Ranch Cole Slaw

1 package of cole slaw mix

1/2 cup of mayo

1/2 cup of ranch dressing

2 tablespoons of white vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

• Whisk together mayo, ranch dressing and vinegar. 
• Stir in cole slaw
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is best. 

Cheesy Spanish Rice

I am not a fan of most Spanish rice serve in Mexican restaurants.  To me it's very bland and very, very dry.  The base for this recipe is my best friend Rachel's mom's recipe.  She's from Mexico.  The rice so was moist and so fluffy when Rachel made it for me, so I've take her recipe and gone from there.  Cheese makes everything taste better.  I used chick broth instead of water, because I think it adds a lot more flavor to it.  This rice is seriously good, even if you left the cheese off of it. 

Spanish Rice

1 cup of long grain white rice 

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 cup of chicken broth

1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons of butter 

• Melt two tablespoons of butter 
• Stir rice in to the melted butter and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Don't let it get too brown. 
• Stir in the tomato sauce 
• Stir in the chicken brother
• Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. 
• Sprinkle with shredded cheese, cover until cheese is melted 

Parmesan Broccoli

I think I will parboil this next time.  I'm not a fan of crunchy broccoli and I don't think my daughter really cared for it either.  Other than that it was fine.  My son who is 1 loved it. 

Parmesan Broccoli

4 cups of broccoli florets 

1/4 cup of good parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Toss broccoli, oil, cheese and salt and pepper
• Spread on a cookie sheet
• Roast for 15 minutes 

Corn on the Cob

Corn on the cob is my favorite summer time treat.  I prefer grilled corn on the cob, but I won't turn it away if it's not.  My next favorite is this recipe.  It makes for yummy, buttery corn that you don't have to butter and salt individually. 

Corn on the Cob

Four ears of corn 

One stick of salted butter

One cup of milk

Large stock pot full of water

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil
• Stir in butter and milk
• Add the corn
• Boil for 10 minutes 

Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos

Last night's dinner was pretty yummy. I made Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos, corn on the cob, Parmesan Broccoli, Spanish Rice and heated up a can of pinto beans for my oldest.  Everything turned out pretty good.  The taquitos were definitely the star of the show.  

My daughter loved them.  She ate two which is a big deal for her.  If she takes seconds, you know it was good.  My son ate a few bites of the chicken and he didn't spit it out, so that's good.  My husband didn't eat any and I thought they were freaking fantastic.  

I have a standard shredded chicken recipe that I use for anything that calls from shredded chicken.  You just put 4 chicken breasts in a crockpot and a jar of salsa and cook on low for 8 hours.  It goes good in anything.  I use it for tacos, or enchiladas, or even shredded chicken sandwiches.  It's moist and the chicken just falls apart. 

Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos 

2 chicken breasts

Half of a jar of Pace Picante Salsa

8 ounces of cream cheese

12 small flour tortillas 

•  Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Put chicken in a baking dish and cover with salsa.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. 
• Shredded chicken with two forks.  It should fall apart easily and soak up all of the juices.  Mix with the cream cheese. 
• Adjust oven to 425 degrees
• Put two tablespoons of chicken across a tortilla and roll it up.  Do this until all of the tortillas are filled.  I had chicken leftover (I made tortilla soup with it) 
• Bake for another 15-20 minutes. 

This taquitos were so creamy and crunchy.  I will definitely make them again and again. 

Here's what our dinner looked like.  

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

I will eventually get better at taking better pictures of my food.  I'll remember to take a picture BEFORE I slice in to it and I'll get a good picture of it on the plate.  This is as good as it gets for now. 

My friend Irene and I made a bet over the weekend.  I won't say what the best was, but we wagered food on it.  I lost that bet.  Irene wanted me to make her breakfast.  She wanted something with potatoes and sausage, so I decided on a sausage breakfast casserole.  

Irene was supposed to come over and eat it, but Utah decided that April 15, 2015 needed to be the first day of winter and dumped like 8 inches of snow in a 24 hour period (I might be exaggerating, but it seems like it's snowed non stop for over 24 hours now) so she didn't make her way down Weber Canyon.  That didn't stop us from enjoying her dinner. 

I was pleased with the way it turned out and decided that the sausage drippings couldn't go to waste, so I made sausage gravy.  I wish I would've made biscuits to go with that gravy.  I may have eaten a lot of it with a spoon.

My recipe is good for about 4 people, but you can easily make it for more.  My husband enjoyed it, my daughter loved it and I enjoyed it despite the large amount of sausage in it. 

I only had smallish potatoes so don't be thrown off by the amount of potatoes.  I also recommend seasoning with salt and pepper each step of the way if you don't want a bland dish. 

You could use shredded hashbrowns. You just wouldn't need to bake them before adding the sausage and eggs.  I've made many a breakfast casserole with them.  I just prefer fresh cubed potatoes to the frozen shredded hashbrowns.  You could also use the egg beaters substitute if you wanted.  Whatever works for your family. 

 Sausage Breakfast Casserole

6 smallish potatoes

1 lb of breakfast sausage

5 jumbo eggs

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese 

1/4 cup of butter 

2 tablespoons of whole milk

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Peel and dice potatoes in even cubes, put in a casserole dish
• Dice butter in to small even cubes and sprinkle over potatoes
• Season with salt and pepper
• Cover with tinfoil and bake for 20 minutes
• While potatoes are cooking, brown sausage.  Reserve drippings. 
• Drain sausage on a paper towel
• Beat together 5 eggs with 2 tablespoons of whole milk 
• Mix potatoes, sausage and eggs in casserole dish.  
• Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes
• Remove and sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake for 10 more minutes
• Let cool before serving 

Sausage Gravy

Sausage drippings

2 tablespoons flour

2 1/2 cups of whole milk

• Whisk flour in to sausage drippings and cook for 1-2 minutes
• SLOWLY whisk in milk (If you don't do it slowly you will get lumpy gravy)
• Bring to a boil and simmer until you reach your desired thickness.  If you get it too thick you can add more milk. If it is too thin you can make a slurry of water and cornstarch and whisk it in
• Season with salt and pepper
• Serve over top of the breakfast casserole,or yummy biscuits. 

Fruit Pizza

Last night we had fruit pizza.  My husband wasn't too thrilled about it, but he seemed to like it.  It's really hard to find something that me, the hubbs, and my two oldest will eat.  I'm basically a vegetarian, my oldest is just picky, and my husband is a carnivore.  My middle child is only 1 and he will eat something one day and not eat it the next. My youngest is only 3 months, but I'm sure when the babies get bigger it'll make things that much more interesting.  My husband won't eat noodles, soup, rice, Mexican food, Chinese food, or basically anything that I will like.  We eat A LOT of pizza in this house because it is one of the few things everyone likes.  

Yesterday was a beautiful day and something fresh and fruity sounded good to me.  My mom used to make fruit pizza in the summer time on weekends for breakfast.  It was one of my favorite things she'd make.  She would put bananas, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi on it.  It sounded amazing to me, so I decided to make it. 

You could make the sugar cookie dough from scratch, but working full time I just didn't have time to do that on a Monday  night.  My husband plays soccer almost every night of the week and my oldest has her own extra curricular's, so anything that saves me time makes me happy.  I used Pillsbury sugar cookie dough.  It's inexpensive and it tastes just as good as homemade(in my opinion).  My family is picky so I did the two fruits I know we all like; bananas and strawberries(my oldest who is 8 is on a "I hate strawberry kick, even though strawberry smoothies are her favorite).  I made her eat one bite with strawberry and then let her pick off the rest.  I still maintain that she's being silly, but what do I know?

I think it turned out great and will definitely make it again.  I cooked some thick cut peppered bacon for my carnivore husband.  He just might kill over if he ate a meal that didn't include meat.

When my younger two get a little older I think I will make individual ones so that they can put the fruit they like on their pizza. 

Fruit Pizza

One package Pillsbury sugar cookie dough

One 8 ounce package of cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup of white sugar

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Two bananas sliced thinly

6-7 strawberries sliced thinly

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Grease a pizza sheet.
• Smash dough in to a circle, keep it about as thick as you would a normal cookie.
• Bake for about 10 minutes, watch it to make sure it doesn't burn.  You want the cookie slightly crispy, but not crunchy all the way through.
• Let cool completely.
• In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. 
• Spread on cooled cookie.
• Decorate with whatever fruit floats your boat.
• Enjoy!!