BBQ and Slaw Sandwiches

Thank you God for such beautiful warm fall days. For the unexpected sunshine. For recharging my batteries with the rays you send down from heaven. The crisp air that fills my lungs and makes any bad feelings I had wash away.

Thank You for cousins that know how to drive the John Deere, for one last romp around the yard to burn off excess energy the kids have already stored throughout the last few rainy days. For feeling youthful and for my families continued health. Thank You for that sunshine shining in my windows today to heat the house...since the furnace motor is still on back order.

...and thank you for bbq beef and coleslaw sandwiches...

3 pound chuck roast
about 2 cups water
1 1/2 cups to 2 cups bbq sauce
Garlic powder, Lawry's and freshly cracked pepper

Place roast in a glass 9x13" pan and add water to bottom of pan, about 1 1/2" deep. Season roast liberally. Cover pan tightly with tinfoil and place in a 250 degree oven for 5 - 7 hours depending on the thickness of your roast. When roast is done, you should easily be able to shred roast with two forks.

When your roast is done, shred with two forks and place meat back into pan with about 1 cup of juice. Add bbq sauce to pan with beef and juice and stir to combine. Turn oven down to 250 degrees and return pan to oven for 20 minutes to heat bbq sauce through. I like to have my bbq beef on the runny side because I end up with a lot of left overs and it ensures you have enough juice to keep your beef moist throughout the time it is in the refrigerator.

Coleslaw

1/3 head green cabbage, shredded
1/3 head purple cabbage, shredded
3/4 cup shredded carrots, shredded
1/2 red onion, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup powder sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

In a large bowl add green cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, and onion. Toss with hands to combine. In a small bowl, mix together mayo, powder sugar, celery seed, celery salt, and salt. Pour over cabbage and toss to thoroughly combine.

To assemble sandwich, start with the bun (for a great, soft homemade whole wheat bun click here). Put a big scoop of bbq beef on top of bun and follow with a big scoop of coleslaw! Dig In!!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

mmm...pumpkin. Double mmm...pumpkin cheesecake! Everything at my house lately has been about pumpkin. We've had pumpkin waffles, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread and now pumpkin cheesecake which is by far the family favorite of all the pumpkin recipes thus far. I have not make a classic pumpkin pie yet though, I usually save that for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

3 cups crushed gingersnap cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted

3 packages cream cheese
1 15 ounce can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a rolling pin and ziploc baggy if you need to get out some aggression or a food processor if you want to go the easy route, crush ginger snaps into a fine crumb until you get 3 cups. Make sure to buy a hard, dry cookie. Add melted butter into food processor and pulse to combine crumbs and butter. Press cookie crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of a 10" spring form pan, using a flat measuring cup. Be sure to firmly press crumbs so they are compact enough to hold shape in the pan.

Add cream cheese to your mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Add pumpkin, eggs, sour cream, sugar and spices. Mix again until combined, then add flour and vanilla. Beat on medium high until the batter is smooth and silky. Pour mixture into crust.

Bake for 60 minutes until center or cream cheese is set. Remove from oven and let rest on counter for 20 minutes, then cover with plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours before enjoying!!

Chicken Wild Rice Soup with Portebella Mushrooms

Soup has become a thing at my house. Every Sunday I make atleast 2 large pots of soup and put them in the refrigerator so that I have fresh healthy lunches during the week or if I have a late night getting home from yoga or grocery shopping its nice to have something to warm up and eat without a lot of effort. Its amazing how fast an evening can disappear!

Chicken Wild Rice Soup with Portebella Mushrooms

3 cups celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups portabella mushrooms, cubed
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry wine
1/4 cup flour
2 cups cooked wild rice
6 cups chicken stock
3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt, to taste
cracked black pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Add celery, onion, and carrots and saute for 10 minutes until onions are translucent, stirring in the mushrooms with 5 minutes cooking time remaining. Add garlic and stir into the other vegetables. Stir in white wine. If you don't want to add wine to your soup, simply replace with additional chicken stock. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook for 3 minutes. Then stir in wild rice and chicken stock. Cover pot and simmer over medium low heat until vegetables are tender. Then stir in chicken, milk and cream and season with salt and pepper to taste, continuing to simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with fresh baked bread and Enjoy!!

Whole Wheat Honey Buns

Our furnace motor went out...its cold in our house...and a new motor is on back order! That means my oven has been working overtime the last few nights, trying to keep the upstairs warm for the kids. We've made buns, pot roasts, casseroles, cheesecakes, and cinnamon rolls. Being cold isn't fun, but the food we've been enjoying since the furnace went out has been!

Whole Wheat Honey Buns

4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oatmeal

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and set aside.

In your mixer bowl, mix honey, melted butter, salt and 2 1/2 cups warm water until combined. Beat in 3 cups of whole wheat flour with your electric mixer (speed 2 on your KitchenAid with the dough hook attachment), about 3 minutes, being sure to scrape the sides of your bowl often. Mix in remaining 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and dissolved yeast until combined, about an additional 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of all-purpose flour and the oats and continue to mix until dough cleans away from side of bowl. If needed, add an additional 1/2 cup of flour.

Grease a large bowl and put dough into bowl, turning so that the top side of dough is greased to prevent drying. Over bowl with plastic wrap and a dish towl and place bowl in a dry, draft free and warm place for 45 to 60 minutes until size has doubled.

Lightly grease a large cookie sheet, and working with slightly floured hands, pull off a clump of dough a bit larger then a golf ball. Form a circle with your index finger and thumb and while using your opposite thumb, push dough through the circle. In essence pushing the dough into itself to form a solid ball. Place all buns on the greased cookie sheet about 1 1/2" apart. Again, cover buns with a dish towel and place in a warm place and allow to double in size, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water and lightly brush the top of buns. Bake approximately 20 minutes until tops are browned and buns should sound slightly hollow when tapped.

Allow to cool and Enjoy!!

Chili and Corn Bread Casserole

This is one of the very few recipes I have that contain a lot of cans...but it is good and warm on a cold fall day and leaves you with very minimal clean up, which is my favorite kind of cooking! I've substituted some of the canned diced tomatoes with a freshly diced tomato just to make myself feel better about all the cans. Opt for low-sodium variations of beans to watch the sodium content.

Chili

1 pound ground turkey breast or lean beef
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 large tomato, diced
1 16 ounce jar salsa
1 15 ounce can reduced sodium black beans
1 15 ounce can reduced sodium kidney beans
1 15 ounce can reduced sodium pinto beans
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using a 12 inch old beat up cast iron skillet or other skillet that can go straight from stove to oven, brown ground turkey or hamburger. Make sure not to chop your hamburger too finely, the men folk seem to like big chunks of meat, especially on deer hunting opener weekend! Once meat is browned, add canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced large tomato, salsa, beans (make sure to rinse them first) chili powder and cumin. Stir together to combine and simmer over low heat. Then prepare your corn bread topping.

Corn Bread Topping
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup shredded cheese
1 4 ounce can green chilies, diced

In a large bowl combine your dry ingredients and whisk together. Then stir in milk, oil, beaten egg, cheese and chilies and stir until just combined. There will still be clumps and that is ok! Evenly spread corn bread over top of chili in the cast iron skillet, being careful not to mix the corn bread and the chili.

Bake for 30 minutes until your corn bread is firm to the touch and golden brown.

Enjoy!!

Maple Pecan Scones

In need of a quick pastry to impress some last minute drop-in visitors? These scones are delicious, elegant and easy to make. They come together in minutes but look like you've planned something special!

Maple Pecan Scones
(slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Scones
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, chilled and cut into 1 tbls chunks
1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped, plus more for sprinkling
1 large egg
3/4 cup heavy cream

Icing
1 pound powder sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoon hot water
1 single serving packet of instant coffee granules
dash of salt
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk together. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mix resembles small crumbs. You still want chunks of butter visible to don't go overboard with the cutting! Add finely chopped pecans. I buy the whole pecans because they are cheaper and pulse them in the food processor just for a few seconds. In a separate small bowl, mix the cream and egg together and add to the flour/butter mixture. Stir together until just combined. The batter will still be quite crumbly. Dump mixture onto a cutting board and split into two. With your hands, press the mixture into two circles about 5 to 6 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch think then cut into 8 wedges. Move your wedges onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 to 23 minutes. You don't want your scones to brown on the edges.

For the icing, stir instant coffee into the hot water and then combine all ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until smooth.

When scones are done baking, remove from cookie sheet and place on a wire rack with a cookie sheet underneath. After they have completely cooled, drizzle plenty of icing over the top and sprinkle with chopped pecans!

Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter and M&M Granola Bars

I have picky eaters at home. If I try to set something infront of them they have not seen before I swear they look ready to break into tears because there is a foreign object on their plate that they have no intentions of putting into their mouths. Parmesan Baked Artichokes? Forget about it. Spaghetti Squash? No way Jose. Asparagus? This one I made the mistake of mentioning it to Walnut that it turns your pee green. He's been terrified of aspargus ever since.

Peanut Butter and M&M Granola Bars

3 cups oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup M&Ms

Add oats to a large skillet and toast until they start to brown. Set aside in a large bowl and add M&Ms to the oats. In the same skillet, add brown sugar, honey, peanut butter and butter. Stir together with a whisk and cook mover medium high heat until the mixuture starts to bubble. Pour mixture over the top of oats and stir together until all oats are coated. Being careful not to burn yourself (the wet mixture is very hot) press granola into a 9x13 pan, being careful not to smush the M&Ms. Let set for about 2 hours until granola hardens and cut into bars.



Enjoy!