TIP: Don't have any BUTTERMILK?
Try this!  Take 1 cup of regular milk and add a Tbl. of either lemon juice or vinegar and stir.  Let it sit for approximately 5-10 min. Then it's ready to use for your recipe.

Lime Sherbet Punch

This punch I made for my daughter's 9th birthday.  She loves sherbet and it matched her green and pink colors.  It was the hit of the party.  It looked pretty and tasted fruity and delicious.  To make two punch bowls worth of yummy goodness. You will need: 2 quarts of lime sherbet, 2 liters of ginger ale, 1 (46 oz) can of pineapple juice, 2 lemons-sliced, 2 limes-sliced and maraschino cherries, 1 fresh pineapple-cubed and frozen! 

The cherries make this punch pop with some color.  The lemon and lime slices give it that extra textured look also.  I really like the look and the flavor of this punch.  By adding the frozen pineapple it keeps it colder longer.  If wanted you could also freeze the cherries.  I have kiddo's who like to eat them, so I left them unfrozen. 











I also added small cups to match her colors.  They were better for the younger ones to use.   The adults used the glass cups hanging on the bowl. 

Because Haley's party was a Hawaiian theme I also added some different colored umbrellas. 

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

This is my most favorite cheesecake of all the cheesecakes I make.  With the sweet, tangy and rich flavor of the raspberries and the chocolate ganache topping.  If you eat a bite with a fresh raspberry it gives it a whole new level of fresh flavor.  Very yummy!





Crust Ingredients: 

1 pkg of graham crackers,  crushed (1 1/4 cup)

2 Tbs of butter

1 Tbs. sugar

1/4 cup raspberry preserves, melted                       

Cheesecake Ingredients:        

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen raspberries, thawed.

3 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese,

softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

crush the graham crackers using a big Ziploc bag and a rolling pin

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp. lemon juice

2 eggs

Topping ingredients:
6 oz. semisweet chocolate chopped
1 Tb. light corn syrup
1 Tb. unsalted butter

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 1/3 cups fresh raspberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap outside of 9-in spring form pan with heavy-duty foil.  Combine crushed cookies and melted butter in small bow.  press into the bottom of the pan.  Bake 8-10 min. or until slightly darker in color.  Cool slightly, gently spread preserves over crust.

Puree thawed raspberries in a food processor or you can use a blender, until smooth.  Strain through medium strainer, pressing with spatula to remove seeds.  Reserve 1/2 cup puree. (Save remaining puree for another use.) 

Beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup of butter at medium-low speed until smooth.  Beat in sugar and flour just until blended.  Beat in sour cream, reserved raspberry puree and lemon juice.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Pour over crust.

Place spring form pan in large shallow pan.  Add enough hot tap water to come halfway up sides of spring form pan.  Bake 40-45 minutes or until the edges are puffed and the top is dry to the touch. 

Remove cake from water bath; remove foil.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Refrigerate overnight.

Place chocolate, corn syrup and 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium bowl.  Bring whipping cream to a boil in a small saucepan.  Pour over chocolate mixture, stir until melted and smooth.  Let stand stirring occasionally, until chocolate is cool but still pourable.

Pour over cheesecake, refrigerate until set.

Once refrigerated you can take the spring form pan off.

Optional: White chocolate drizzle

Add your fresh raspberries on top and around the cheesecake.

Cut yourself out a taste tester piece! lol

And Devour!!



Beer Braised Chuck Roast with Bacon

This one-pot meal will definitely make whoever eats it think you've been cooking all day.  It makes your house smell so good.  And the bold flavors will definitely make you go back for seconds.  You can use pork or beef in this recipe and there both delicious.  Ingredients: Beef Chuck Roast, 8 oz. of applewood smoked bacon, 6 garlic cloves, 1 large vidalia/sweet onion,  red potatoes, broccoli and carrots, beef bouillon cubes, can of Coors beer, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder and  dried sage

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees. Then start off by frying the bacon till crisp.  Take the bacon out and drain on a paper towel.  Season the meat with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Then add the meat to the pan with the bacon

grease in it. 

Brown meat on high heat on both sides.  Then take the roast out and  put into a large roasting pan.  Sprinkle the dried sage on the roast. I use my roaster that has a lid. If you don't have a lid then put tin foil tightly over the top of the pan you use.  (Picture of the roasting pan below.)

Add the onions and garlic to the

skillet and saute about 4 min. or

 until almost tender. Then take the
onion and garlic out and add to the roasting pan on top and around your roast.

Once everything is out of the pan then add once can of beer.  I like Coors.  But you can use any flavor beer you prefer.  Usually Dark beer is used in this recipe.  But I've found Coors is good.  Reduce the beer to about half stirring occasionally.  Make sure your scrape all the goodies off the bottom of the pan.  Then add 2-3 beef bouillon cubes and stir until dissolved.  Poor the liquid over the roast and onions.  Then add enough water to come about midway up the roast.  (if you have a 2 in roast then you should have 1 in of water.)  Bake for 1hr and 20 min.

 Then once the roast has cooked for the 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Add your potatoes and veggies. Add potatoes first putting them around the outside of the roast down in the juicy deliciousness. (make sure there all close to the same size to ensure even cooking. I usually add carrots because it adds a slight sweet taste to everything.  And I had a broccoli stalk that needed to be used so I added those also.  You could add any veggie you wanted really. Green beans, corn, asparagus, celery...etc. I think the carrots are best!  My mom always made hers with carrots.  Yumm!

Sprinkle salt and Pepper over your potatoes and veggie. Crumble your bacon you cooked early and sprinkle on top of everything.  Bake for 1 hour or until potatoes are fork tender. 

Then Ooh La La!  You can just dig into this or you can split everything up in separate dishes.  (potatoes, veggies and meat.)  Try it this way using a pork shoulder roast.  It's just as delicious!

Add a salad and some butter bread and you have a cozy comforting meal!

Tip

To tendorize tough meat; put it in a crock pot with some water on high for about an hour to an hour and a half. Then cook as needed.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

These are my creamy mashed potatoes!  The cream cheese added to these make it so delicious and gives them that extra layer of flavor.  "For that something different when you feel like a change"  Ingredients: Red potatoes peeled and cubed, 1 stick of butter, 1-8 oz cream cheese block, heavy-whipping cream, seasoned salt, black pepper, salt. 

Start off by pealing your potatoes and cubing into large chunks.  Then add the potatoes to a large pot and add water to cover.  Boil for about 25-30 min.  or until fork tender.  Once done, drain in a colander and let sit for a bit to get as much water off as you can.  Then add to a blender and let them sit for a bit longer to let some of the steam steam off the moisture. 

Then one by one add while mixing these ingredients.  Cream cheese, butter, seasoned salt, salt and pepper to your taste, 1/2 cup of heavy cream.  Mix on medium high until creamy and smooth.  For thicker potatoes lesson the amount of cream.

If you wanted you can substitute 1/2 cup - 1 cup of sour cream for the cream cheese, and use milk instead of the cream to your desired consistancy

Country Fried Steak

This is my version of country fried streak and gravy.  The crispy crust on the steaks make for a great texture when you add the thick gravy.  Add the creamy mashed potatoes and the bacon green beans and you have yourself a meal that will stick to your bones. The ingredients: cube steak, buttermilk or egg and milk mixture, whole milk, flour, oil, butter, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder




Get your battering and frying stations ready first.  It makes the process go more smoothly.  Add oil and some butter to your pan and heat up to medium high .   Salt and pepper your steaks.  I add salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder to my flour.  The egg mixture is just eggs and milk. I prefer buttermilk though.


Dip meat in flour first.... Tip: When seasoning your flour, the trick is to make sure you can see the seasoning.  If you can't see your seasoning then you need to add more.  This helps flavor the gravy in the

....dip meat into egg/buttermilk mixture....The egg mixture here is just eggs and milk. I prefer to use buttermilk actually.  I think it tastes better. But, I almost always have eggs on hand.  

.....dip back into flour

Add the meat to the skillet.  I like to use my electric skillet.  I love this thing!  I use it almost everyday.  Don't over crowd the skillet.  Fry in batches.  It took two batches for me.  While your first batch is frying you can get the second coated.  Your looking for a golden brown on both sides.  Don't be afraid if your browning comes out a little dark in spots.  It's from the eggs.  They can sometimes get darker than the rest.

 Done! Here is the finished country fried steaks.  Now to the gravy!

First of all take out some of your grease till you have about 4-5 Tbs. of grease still in your pan.  I use the seasoned flour I used to batter in.  That way it's less waste.  It's hard to tell a measurement of how much grease to flour ratio because it's more of an eye for it.  What it should look like is a thick paste.  Like my mom always says " Angie make sure you brown your flour....It gives it flavor." She is of coarse right.  So I then (mothers orders)  let my flour get some browning to it before I add my milk.  WHOLE MILK that is.  You can't be on a diet while eating this meal.  "No skim milk!"

Taa Daa!  Now add your gravy to your steak and if you prefer your mashed potatoes too.  Yummy! This was my neighbor Kyleigh's plate.  She got the first plate!  She helped me do my taste testing while I was cooking.  Thank you Ky!!!  And bread of choice would definitely be biscuits.  I have made homemade biscuits in the past.  Tho they are delish.  With three kids it's much easier for me to pop open a can of buttermilk biscuits and pop them in the oven. ENJOY!

Tip!

Freeze lemonade in icecube trays and use them in iced tea or even lemonade!