Pumpkin Bars

In honor of Thanksgiving -

2 cups pumpkin
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups flour

Mix together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, oil. Combine dry ingredients and then add to pumpkin mixture. Pour into well greased 1/2 sheet cake pan. Bake 350º for 30 minutes. Cool and frost with -
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cube butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar ( equals 4 cups)
Mix and spread over cooled pumpkin bars.

Easy Orange Rolls

2 cans of refrigerator biscuits
zest of 2 oranges
1/2 c. butter - softened only
1 c. sugar

Mix the softened butter, zest and sugar. Dip biscuits and lay in pan. Bake according to the biscuit wrapper. Add a couple of minutes if necessary.

Egg Nog Pound Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 (4 serving) instant vanilla pudding mix

3/4 c. Egg Nog

3/4c. Oil

4 Eggs

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

Pwd Sugar for Garnish

Preheat 350. In large mixer bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, egg nog and oil. Beat on low until moistened. Agg eggs and nutmeg; beat on high for 4 min. Pour into greased and floured 10 inch bunt pan. Bake 40-45 min, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 min, remove from pan. Cool completely Sprinkle with pwd sugar. 

Chinese Pepper Steak

this is a new one for me, tried a judy and made something new for company last night. we loved it (and it's healthy):

1/2 lb steak trimmed and sliced thin
2 Tbl soy sauce
1/2 c beef broth
little minced giner root or sprinkle of powdered giner
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash cayenne pepper

olive oil
1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced

1/4 c cold water
1 1/2 Tbl cornstarch
salt/pepper

marinade the meat in the first group of ingredients, at least 1 hour (i did more like 3 hours, it was easier at the time, and it tasted great).
heat oil til hot, stir fry meat (reserve marinade) til no longer pink. add a little marinade and cover to cook meat all the way through til tender (5 minutes or so). add green peppers and onions, cook 5 minutes, add tomatoes. combine cornstarch and water to slurry, add to marinade, add that to the food and stir constantly till it thickens (1-2 minutes at most). salt and pepper to taste.

serve over rice. (makes 2 big servings, 308 cal each, according to my handy cookbook)

Chicken Soup

I'm not a huge fan of boring chicken noodle soup but I thought I'd give it a go anyways. This is what I did and it was pretty good I must admit.

In a med large pot dump in some milk and some water about equal amounts.

If you want lots of soup add more of everything. If less. Opposite that.

Slice lots of carrots celery and a bunch of green onions

Get all that stuff on a low boil

Add a fat clove of minced garlic

A chunk of butter. Mmmmm. Or margarine. What ever was in the wrapper.

Then I just started grabbing the seasonings like an idiot.

A shake of garlic powder

A shake of basil

Couple shakes of minced dry onion. We like onion.

A shake of oregano but Mom said that was a bad idea

Lots of Salt and Pepper but mine came out a little too peppery

Pack of chicken broth seasoning. Or bull-ee-on.

Cook it all down. Long style.

Chunk up some defrosted uncooked chicken and toss that all in. 

Then I made some homemade noodles. They were fun. 

One egg

Cup flour

And I doused it with water a couple times cause mine was too crumbly

Work it till it barely starts to stick together and get your hands in there and make a ball

Roll the stuff out on a dry surface

Make it thin till it almost tears apart

Let it dry a minute and slice it up to small noodle width. They'll expand in the water. Thin is good.

Then Mom said that they need to be dry so they don't break up in the water so I took a magazine and started fanning them. I considered a blow dryer. 

With the soup on a low roll I started dropping noodles in. 

Let the noodles cook at least 15 min. It doesn't seem that long I promise.

And thats it. Best chicken noodle soup I've ever made. And the first.

ErockN Out!

Cheesy Delicious French Dip by ErockN

Bag of hogi rolls

Lots of sliced roast beef

Provolone cheese

Ah Jews sauce for dipping

A little butter on the bread never hurt a dang soul

Pile the roast beef on

A slice of cheese

Prepare Ah Jews! according to instructions. That means read the pack. I know. Lame.

Broil in the oven open face

Don't let 'em burn

DIP Chomp DIP Chomp Slurp Repeat

Danni and I eat these by the pound with the fam.

Peace,

ERIC

Easy chili

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion ( I use 1/2 of course)
1 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes (ground up in processor)
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can chili beans in sauce (or great northern if mild desired)
1 1/2 c. tomato juice or water
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 garlic clove minced
Salt and pepper to taste.

In a large saucepan brown meat, onions and garlic together. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and juice.

Season with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

8 slices bacon, chopped

3 LBS potatoes, scrubbed

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 TBS flour

4 c. chicken broth

1 c heavy cream

1 sprig thyme or 1/4 t dried thyme

4 c shredded cheese plus additional for garnish

1 c sour cream plus additional for garnish

pepper

3 scallions, sliced thin

cook bacon until crisp. While the bacon is cooking, use a vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of peel from the potatoes; reserve the peels. cut the peeled potatoes into 3/4 inch pieces. transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towel. Add the reserved potato skins to the bacon fat in the pot and cook until crisp. transfer the skins to the plate with the bacon. 

add the onion to the fat remaining in the pot and cook over med heat until golden brown. stir in the garlic and flour and cook until fragrant, about 1 min. Gradually whisk in the broth and cream, stir in the thyme and potatoes, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to med-low, cover the pot, and cook until the potatoes are tender. 

transfer 2 cups of the cooked potatoes to a bowl. Puree the remaining soup in batches in a blender until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and warm over medium heat. 

Off the heat stir in the cheese until melted, then whisk in the sour cream. Return the reserved potatoes to the pot and season with pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with bacon, fried potato skins, scallions, cheese and sour cream.