Cabbage Rolls

We love cabbage rolls around here. We use the hottest sausage we can find for these, but any type will do or you could just use some ground pork.

This recipe is a combination of a couple recipes, but mostly it comes from a Barefoot Contessa recipe on Food Network. That Lady knows how to cook and bake. I still need to make her brownie recipe that has like a dozen sticks of butter in it. I bet they are good!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls  From: Food Network Barefoot Contessa

Sauce:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped white or yellow onions
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 (28) ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (or I sometimes use  2 (14) ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes with one 6 ounce can of tomato paste and 1 cup water)
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar (I use honey or agave sometimes instead)
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
3/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I got this idea from a Martha Stewart recipe for stuffed cabbage)

1 Large head of cabbage. My neighbor just told me about a cool trick for the cabbage. Instead of coring the cabbage and soaking it in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes-take the whole head and freeze it for a day or 2 until completely frozen through. Then thaw out on the counter starting the morning you are going to make these. She said almost every leaf is usable and doesn't tear. That would eliminate the frustration I have when making these. I am definitely trying this trick next time. Takes a little planning ahead though.

Filling:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of sausage(as spicy as you want it) or ground pork
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon or more of smoked paprika (if you want more spice-idea also from the Martha Stewart recipe)
You can add about a 1/2 cup of the sauce to this filling if it seems like it needs a little more moisture.

Start you water boiling in a large pan for the head of cabbage. In another pan, saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer about 30 minutes. I just start with the sauce and by the time I make everything else, the sauce is ready.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Core the cabbage and immerse into boiling water for a few minutes or try the freezing trick up above. Separate the cabbage leaves once cool enough to handle.

Mix all of the filling ingredients together and divide among the cabbage leaves. Roll the cabbage around the filling and put in a greased or sprayed 9x13 pan. Spread the sauce over the top and bake cover with foil for an hour. Take the foil off and make sure the sausage is fully cooked by slicing into the middle of a cabbage roll with a sharp knife. You may have to cook them for another 15 to 20 minutes. You can leave the foil off.

This recipe feeds the four of us-3 adults and a 16 year old that eats more than the rest of us. Ha!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I have been eyeing this recipe for a while and it did not disappoint me, but I am a bit of a lemon freak!  I took it to work and the ladies in my department liked it. My boss, who usually eats anything, said he doesn't do lemon. I have one word for that: Weirdo!

It was simple to make and is so moist. The simple sugar poured over the warm cake has a lot to do with that I am sure. The recipe comes from Big Mama's Home Kitchen and she got it from the Barefoot Contessa at Home Cookbook.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

Lemon simple sugar: 
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Lemon glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour a loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the next 5 ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients, then the oil. Bake 45-48 minutes. While the cake cools for 10 minutes, make the simple sugar by boiling the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves. You can take the cake out of the pan and pour the sugar over or I just left it in the pan after loosening it. Cool the cake and then mix the glaze ingredients together and pour over the cake. Just a note:  I used 3 lemons to make this recipe.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have made these once before but I think the recipe I used was a Paula Deen recipe. This time I used the one off the McCormick website. They make great extracts! They turned out great and made plenty. I was able to send everyone home from a party with some.

Red Velvet Cupcakes from: McCormick Website
Cupcakes:
2 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of butter, softened (I used unsalted)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle of red food coloring (I just used a big dollop of gel coloring)
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Frosting:
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons of sour cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla
16 ounces of powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour through the salt together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add sour cream, milk, food coloring and vanilla. Slowly add in dry ingredients just until blended. I used my 1/4 cup ice cream scoop to fill 30 lined muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean). Cool in pan for a few minutes, then remove and cool completely.
Make the frosting by mixing the cream cheese and butter until blended, then add the sour cream and vanilla. (the website says to mix the 1st 4 ingredients together, but this didn't work as well for me and I was mixing like crazy to get a few lumps out) Add the powdered sugar slowly. Frost your cupcakes. I used a Wilton's 1M frosting tip in a ziplock to get the swirls. I love the swirls! I was a little leery of the sour cream in the frosting. I have never heard of adding this, but the frosting was really good. I kind of wonder if it cuts the sweetness down a bit. Refrigerate the leftovers. I thought refrigerating these made them more dense and I liked that.

Halloween pillow and popcorn

I wish I would have gotten more into Halloween this year. It's just been so cold and dreary! I did make this  pillow though.

Sad that this was the only decoration I actually had out. I didn't even ask anyone to help me get the decorations from the attic.

I started with this shirt my husband decided he couldn't stand to wear anymore. When I first thought about making a pillow out this shirt, I was thinking of sewing a pumpkin on. A black cat would be cute also.

I got this template off the Country Living website. I think I enlarged their template 144% to get the size I wanted. I pinned it like crazy and sewed it with my sewing machine. Hand sewing would also work. The back of the pillow has the button front of the shirt so it is easy to cover a pillow I already have.

I also made this popcorn and forgot to take it to the adult dress up party we went to. I was too busy worrying about our costumes.

It is a cross of 2 recipes I saw on a couple of blogs. One for Candy "corn" popcorn at I Heart Nap Time and another for Payday caramel corn at Shugary Sweets. Both of these sites always have great ideas and I visit them often.

Tonight we have trick or treating in our town. Halloween was delayed because of Sandy. Luckily our area did not see much more then some rain and wind. My son did get a day off of school for it. I went to Kmart last night and bought all of my candy. I ended up not paying anything for the almost $22 bill. I was able to use my points and I still have a few dollars left over. Love that!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I have seen a lot of recipes for this on other blogs. I used the recipe from Baking Blonde. My guys love cookie dough anything so this went over well.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars from: Baking Blonde

Crust:

1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons of melted butter

1 tablespoon of sugar

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Cookie Dough:

5 tablespoons of melted butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons of sugar

dash of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla

¾ cup flour

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Cheesecake:

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

¼ cup sugar
1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Extra mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8x8 inch pan and then line with parchment paper extending over the sides. Butter the parchment paper. Mix the crust ingredients and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake 6 minutes and let cool. Mix the cookie dough ingredients together. Mix the cheesecake ingredients together with a mixer and pour over the crust. Drop the cookie dough by spoonful over the filling. Sprinkle with some extra mini chips and press them and the dough down into the filling a little. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. Cool and then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pizza

My youngest son loves this!

Thank goodness it is easy to make. I have to confess that the first time I made this, I somehow dropped the pan of hot pizza on the floor and had to remake almost the whole recipe. Major fail, but I am glad I had enough ingredients to make another batch. I am sure anyone that knows me at all would not be surprised as I am a major klutz. Now I need to learn how to drizzle melted chocolate artistically!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pizza from Taste of Home- Fancheon Resler

1 tube refrigerated cookie dough or 2 cups of my recipe for sugar cookies

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

½ cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 cup chopped, unsalted peanuts

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 teaspoon of shortening

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Press the cookie dough onto an ungreased 14 inch pizza pan or a jelly roll pan works. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden. Beat the cream cheese and then add the eggs and sugar. Spread over the crust. Sprinkle with the peanuts and peanut chips. Bake another 15-18 minutes until the center is set. Cool 15 minutes. Melt the chocolate chips and the shortening together in the microwave. Drizzle over the pizza. I sometimes buy the chocolate and peanut butter bag of chips and either separate them by flavor or sprinkle half on the pizza and use half for the drizzle. Either way, you get the peanut/chocolate flavor and half opened bags of any flavor of chips are dangerous for me to have sitting around the house. Remember to refrigerate your leftovers.

Best Yet Sugar Cookies

I usually prefer frosted sugar cookies, but these ones are pretty tasty. My Mom got this recipe from someone in the PTA group at my grade school. That means I have been eating and/or making them a good 25 to 30 years! My Mom would alternate red and green sugar to roll them in for Christmas. Don't let the butter and oil in the recipe turn you off. It did freak me out at first and using 3/4 cup of oil works out also.  I think the combination is key to the texture of these cookies. I am sure the cream of tarter has something to do with it to. I have often used this recipe for the sugar cookie dough used for cookie pizzas. I think store bought dough tastes like baking soda.

Best Yet Sugar Cookies
2 sticks of butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of oil ( I use canola, but vegetable is okay)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of vanilla
5 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
2 teaspoons of cream of tarter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs, oil, salt and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients together separately and then add to the wet mixture. Roll into balls and then into sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and flatten each cookie with a glass dipped in sugar. Bake until barely golden around the edges. 8-10 minutes. Makes about 10 dozen, depending on how large you make the cookies.