Tales from the Belly

So I have been MIA from my blog but work has been crazy!  We have also been updating everything around the house!  5 rooms have been painted, updated landscaping, tree’s planted…etc…did I mention we also have a 20 month old!  So I am having the entire family over for Easter, let the fun party planning begin!  So for a little preview, here is the snack for the wonderful ladies at Daycare!

The valentines day popcorn was a hit with the almond bark, but I think we need a new twist.  I recently tried Turkey Hill Salted Caramel Icecream…yummy!  So inspiration!

Ingredients:

I don’t know about you but I am ready for my Easter Basket projects!  These little lovely’s are going into my Daycare goody bags!  So easy, and bonus I love white chocolate pretzels so the cook gets the rejects!  These are supper simple!

All you need is white baker’s chocolate, pretzel rods and twists, fun candy sprinkles and peeps! 

All you have to do is dip the pretzels into the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the the candies, then take a little more of the choclate and spread on the back of the peep and press to pretzel.  How easy is that, a nd how cute are they!

This is one of my favorite Crockpot Recipes.  I remember my  mom making it and finally got the recipe from her.  I showed it here on the serving dish, but I always serve it over rice.  I love that I can just throw it in the crockpot and be done!

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb Pork Steak cut into 1/2 inch strips

2 tbs Oil

1 Large Onion sliced

1 Small Green Pepper sliced

1 4 ounce Can of Mushrooms

1 8 oz can Tom Sauce

3 tbs Brown Sugar

1 1/2 tbs Vinegar

1 1/2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Woozy

Directions

Brown pork in oil-drain on paper towl

Try and keep up with this one….throw everything in the crockpot, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or 3 on high

Serve over white or brown rice…yummy!

These were a hit last night!  My 20 month old ate them like fries!  So good and easy.  It always makes you feel better when you get them to eat their veggies, not to mention half my steak! Enjoy!

Ingredients

Fresh Asparagus

Freshly Grated Parm

Olive Oil

Fresh Ground Pepper

Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place the asparagus on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in oven for 8 minutes, remove and top with cheese, return to the oven for about 2-3 minutes until cheese is melty.  You can also use canned parm, I had fresh so I went with that.

Reason number 876 I love my crockpot!   Love when there are meat sales at Kroger!  So I am staring at an English Roast thinking what I am going to do with you.  I wanted something different the standard rotation.  My husband loves his sandwiches so I thought I would get creative.  My son also will now eat anything as long as he can dip it (gotta love 20 month olds). 

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion
• 3/4 cup beef broth/stock
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp creole or spicy mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• ~3lb chuck roast-English Roast-whatever you have
• salt
• pepper
• Provolone or Swiss Cheese
• Yummy fresh rolls-normally I use fresh Hoggie rolls

Directions

1)  Slice onion into rings and place on the bottom of the crockpot

2)  Add beef broth, water, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and garlic to the crockpot

3)  Salt and Pepper the roast and put on top of the onions, cook for 6-7 hours until in falls apart.  I was home so I also basted it periodically

4)  Remove the roast and shred

5)  Remove the onions and set in a bowl

6)  Option 1-use a defatter strainer to remove the fat.  Option 2-eat as is and when the juice cools for the next night skim the fat….that is what I do.  I like to put the meat back into some of the juice to keep in nice and juicy for when you put it on the roll.  I take the other half and use it for dipping

7)  Toast your buns(hahah) , place meat on the roll, top with onions and cheese.  I like to put mine back in the oven to melt the cheese if it does  not melt quick enough.  Serve with juice to dip.

This is my goto weeknight Mexican dish other then Tacos and Fajitas.  So easy, so good….I had some chives so I threw them on top, don’t let that fool you this is easy.  Plus I alwasy seem to have these ingredients on hand.  I think the sour cream and enchilada sauce  mixed in with the chicken just gives it an extra punch.

Ingredients

2 cans red enchiladas sauce

sour cream

mexican cheese

2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded(I baked mine with olive oil and jerk seasoning)

green pepper-cut in stripes

large onion-cut in stripes

Tortillas-whatever you have on hand

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

Place shredded chicken in large bowl, mix in some sour cream, some enchilada sauce and a handful of cheese.  Heat olive oil in skillet add onion and peppers cook onions are translucent.  Spray your pan or put a little bit of the sauce on the bottom to keep the tortillas from sticking.  Place chicken mixture and some onions and peppers in the tortillas and roll.  Place the roll seam side down.  Top the enchiladas with sauce and extra cheese to liking.  Bake until warm and bubbly!  Serve with extra sour cream.

I have made this 2 times in 2 weeks by request.  Sooo good!

Directions

Season the chicken with 3 tsp with Emeril Essence for  a few hours before you want to cook.

Cook the pasta al dente, reserve 1 cup of pasta water

Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan and cook chicken until no longer pink and have a good sear, about 5 minutes, remove from pan.  Add 1 tbsp of oil to the pan and cook sausage, onion and pepper until onion is carmalized, about 3 minutes, add the garlic and saute for 1 minute.  Add the stock to the pan and scrape the brown bits off the pan(the goodness).  Add thyme, 1 tbsp of essence, 1/2 tsp salt and tomato’s to pan, cook for a few minutes.  Add the heavy cream to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.  Add chicken, pasta water and pasta to the pan and cook until chicken is done and sauce is evaporated 5 minutes plus.  Remove from heat and add the parm and stir.

Emeril Essence

Mix all ingredients up to salt in large bowl.  I put 1 large scoop of salsa in the  mix and some cheese as well.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  Top with cheese and salsa and bake for another 20 minutes.

This was our Valentines Day present for the wonderful ladies at Daycare!  So easy! 

1 cup of popcorn Kernals popped

1lb of Almond Bark

Valentines Peanut and Plain M&M’s

Pour melted almond bark over popcorn and mix with a spatula.  Mix in the M&M’s.  Pour onto baking dish’s and let cool and harden.