Slow-Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

March 12, 2012 by · 9 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Week!

I’m not Irish, but I went to a Catholic university which is where my love for St. Patrick’s Day started. People would head out to start celebrating bright and early in the AM (or right after their classes ended) and it was a truly fun day. Now that I’m a “few years out of school,” the holiday is more about the food and of course my kids (who do have some Irish in them.)

I’m pretty sure my mom often made corned beef and cabbage in March, but I’m not sure if I appreciated it as much as I do now (like many foods.) This is her recipe and the slow cooker is a great way to make it. The corned beef gets fall-apart tender and it makes a wonderful broth which you can make into gravy.

She also makes a horseradish sauce and I’m not completely sure how traditional it is, but I can’t have my corned beef without it. The sauce is great with roast beef, too. It’s a simple recipe, but I will post it for you all tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
 
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Serves: 2

Ingredients
  • 3 carrots – 3 inch pieces
  • 3-4 lb. corned beef brisket with spice packet
  • 2-3 onions, quartered
  • 1-2 cups of water
  • 1 small head of cabbage

Instructions
  1. Place carrots and onion in the slow-cooker with the corned beef and spices on top. Pour water over corned beef and cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low 10-12 hours (I do mine on low.) After 6 hours on low or 3 on high, cut the cabbage into quarters and place in the slow cooker (you don’t need to use the entire head.) Push cabbage down into the broth a little bit.
  2. When corned beef is done remove about 1½ to 2 cups of broth. Add a chicken or beef bouillon cube and heat over medium high heat in a small saucepan. Add some cornstarch that has been diluted with a little water to the simmering broth. Turn up the eat and bring to a gentle boil whisking constantly adding more diluted cornstarch if you want to make the gravy thicker.
  3. I serve this with boiled red potatoes and pour the gravy over top. Also, I sprinkle my cabbage with malt vinegar.

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This post has been linked up to Cuisine Kathleen’s St. Patty’s Day Blog Crawl

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BBQ Hamburgers and an award!

February 6, 2012 by · 10 Comments

This is another one of my mom’s recipes.  I kind of forgot how good they were until I tried one the other day.

These wonderful hamburgers are in the same realm as Sloppy Joe’s.  I would say they aren’t as sloppy, but they kind of are.  They are quickly browned with onions and then simmered in a wonderful barbecue sauce that soaks into the burgers.  They are yummy…and sloppy.

I won an award today!  The wonderful Pam @ Pam’s Midwest Kitchen Korner gave me a Liebster Award!  Liebster is German (which is very fitting because I am German) for “Favorite” or “Dearest” and it is meant to highlight up and coming blogs.  It is a peer recognition award given from one blogger to another – I love it.  Thank you Pam!

Please check out her blog…if you like my food, you will love hers:-).  The first recipe on her site that got my attention was her beef tenderloin tips.  She also has a lot of fish recipes (which I love) like this crunchy parmesan encrusted tilapia.  On the sweet side she has a fresh peach cake that I am making for Jim (his favorite) as soon as summer starts to roll around.  Thanks again Pam, and I will pass this along in the next few days!

 

BBQ Hamburgers
 
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Recipe type: Main

Ingredients
  • 1 lb.ground beef
  • ½ cup.diced onion
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar (I used just a bit less)
  • ¾ c. cold water

Instructions
  1. Form ground beef into patties and brown with onions. Mix together remaining ingredients and add to browned patties.
  2. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

January 14, 2012 by · 6 Comments

I know I said I was trying to lighten things up this month, but in true Becki style I need some balance. I actually made these last month.

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite sweet confections. My mom made these, typically at Christmas, every year and now I usually make them as well. This year I decided to shake things up a bit (because we are crazy like that at my house) and make some with white chocolate. They turned out really well….I love the white chocolate candy Reese Cups, don’t you?

When I was young I was diagnosed with a slight peanut and milk allergy. I liked both so much though that I kept eating them. I had never been really all that bothered by them so I guess we didn’t think it necessary to totally avoid them. Seriously, milk and peanut butter were two of my favorite things. To give them up would have been tragic. Of course, if it was a life threatening allergy I’m sure my parents would have had me stop eating them altogether.

I started getting allergy shots for my “hay fever” and dust allergies and I guess we never really thought much more about it after that. Is hay fever really an allergy by the way? I will say that now when I eat nuts that haven’t been roasted my throat gets a bit itchy. If they are roasted they don’t seem to bother me…..it’s weird, I know. The same thing happens when I eat uncooked banana…yes, again, weird. I told my doctor about my banana problem and he told me to stop eating them…ok.

Anyways…

These bars are great – they are a bit sweet so we usually cut them into small little squares. They are also a breeze to make and pretty close to the real thing if I do say so myself!

These would make great treats for someone special on Valentine’s Day.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
 
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Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients
  • 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1⅓ cup peanut butter (creamy)
  • 1½ sticks butter
  • 1 lb powdered sugar
  • ⅓ stick butter
  • 6 oz. chocolate chips (semi-sweet or white)

Instructions
  1. Melt butter and peanut butter together in a small pan over low heat (you can do this in the microwave, too.) Add cracker crumbs and powdered sugar. Mix well.
  2. Press into a buttered 9X13 pan.
  3. Melt ⅓ stick butter and chocolate chips together. Pour over peanut butter mixture and spread quickly.

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Not your lunch lady’s Sloppy Joes

November 23, 2011 by · 17 Comments

Sloppy Joes are hard to photograph……

What do Sloppy Joes remind you of?

But these are definitely not your lunch lady’s Sloppy Joes…..

This might seem like a strange post for the night before Thanksgiving, but trust me it’s not.

Whenever our family would come home over the holidays my mom would always make lots and lots of good food beyond just the traditional holiday fare. I’m sure she did this week, but my family isn’t there. When we would walk in the door there would usually be something simmering on the stovetop that we could eat.

Sloppy Joes and BBQ Hamburgers(recipe coming soon) were two dishes that my mom would always make a big batch of. There would also be several containers of Bison chip dip and possibly some of her dill potato salad with black olives.  Mmmmm…now that is what I call comfort food.  I am sure that these foods have been my choice for my birthday dinner once or twice. Jim always tells me I’m a cheap date:-)

This is my mom’s recipe and they are my favorite.  I’m not sure where this recipe came from and it’s not necessarily the recipe that she has always used, but  they are the recipe I make these days and they are soo good.  They have some sweet spice to them which is really unique. The allspice gives them a really different almost addicting flavor. If you don’t have allspice you can substitute half cinnamon and half ground cloves.

These are so easy to whip up, too. I’m not sure what is in the canned version of the Sloppy Joe, but I can’t imagine any reason not to make them from scratch.  I used lean ground beef and you could also use ground turkey if you wanted to.  Although, I have to be honest, I like to stick to the ground beef.

So when you are tired of the turkey and stuffing, have some Sloppy Joes ready for lunch or dinner on Saturday. The whole family will be happy you did!  Jim and the girls love these and I actually wished that I had made a full batch(I only made half) because I only ended up eating one sandwich (which was very sad.)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Remember what you have to be thankful for and enjoy the long weekend!

Family Pleasing Sloppy Joes
 
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Recipe type: Main

Ingredients
  • 2 lb. ground beef
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1¼ cup ketchup
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground mustard
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
  • 8 sandwich buns

Instructions
  1. Cook beef and onion. Drain well.
  2. Add ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard, chili powder & allspice.
  3. Bring to boil.
  4. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes.

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Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Gravy

September 9, 2011 by · 4 Comments

This is a dish that my mom made several times before I snagged the recipe.  That way I didn’t have to wait for her to come down to North Carolina to make it for me:-).  It’s funny how my mom will pick out a recipe to make that I would have passed over- however, when I try it, the dish quickly becomes one of my favorites. That happens a lot  This is definitely one of those recipes.

I mentioned a few weeks ago how much I love pork tenderloin and this is without question my favorite way to serve it.  It’s a simple recipe, but it does take a little while to  cook, so I usually reserve this for a Sunday night dinner.    The mushrooms, onions and celery in the gravy create some wonderful flavor so there is really no need to add any extra cream or butter to make this any more flavorful.

I usually serve this with some mashed potatoes (to pour the gravy over of course) and a simple veggie side like peas or green beans.  You really don’t need anything else because the pork is the star here.  Pork tenderloin very often comes in packages of two (which is what this recipe calls for) so you will definitely have leftovers if you are serving 4 or 5 people.  You can easily freeze half of this dish and have another whole meal for another busy weeknight.

This is my oldest daughters’ favorite dish.  She loves the mushrooms and they both love the meat.  The girls always refer to any pork dish as chicken (which I think is funny.) Sometimes fish is even chicken (I guess because it’s white.) A few weeks ago when I made tofu, I told them it was chicken and it was gone in about two seconds flat – no questions asked.  Any meat that is red is automatically steak. Anyways, I always think its funny when they do that:-).

So, I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do.  This is another one that is great to make with cooler weather coming our way.  And yes, 80 degrees qualifies as cooler weather:-)  Enjoy!

Recipe from Taste of Home

Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Gravy
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each)
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 1-1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
  • ½ cup thinly sliced celery (make sure you get some of the leaves in here as they add so much flavor)
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup chicken broth

Instructions
  1. In a skillet, brown pork on all sides in melted butter, Remove meat and place in an ungreased 9X13 baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
  2. In the pan drippings, saute the onion, mushrooms and celery until tender (about 10 minutes.) Combine flour and broth until smooth and add to skillet with the vegetables. Cook and stir for 2 minutes over medium heat. The mixture will get thick and bubble. Pour over meat. Cover and bake at 325° for 1 hour or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Let sit for about 5 minutes before slicing.

Notes
**I sometimes double the broth and flour mixture as I like a lot of gravy**

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