Simple Sides

Here are a couple of sides I like to make that are Super Simple.

Baked Carrots and Apples

2 cups of baby carrots
1 green apple, peeled and sliced (I used yellow apples because that is what I like.  Red aren't as great for something like this because they tend to fall apart.
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup margarine

Boil (10 minutes) and drain carrots
Combine carrots and apples in sprayed 8x8 pan.  Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the apples and carrots.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

To be so simple this is really yummy!!




Brown Sugar Apple Halves

Use 1 apple for each family member or 1/2 apple for each family member depending on how hungry your family is.

Cut the apples in half so that you cut from the top to the bottom of the apple through the middle of the core.  Remove all seeds and core.  This should leave you a little dip in the center.  I use a melon baller to make this easier.  Again I use yellow apples because they are my favorite. 

Place the apples with the meat of the apple facing up in a baking dish.  Place a pat of butter on each apple half.  Then top each half with a tablespoon of brown sugar.  Add a dash of cinnamon.

Bake for 25-28 minutes at 350 degrees. 

These apples are quick and easy and scrumptious. My family was begging for the recipe. 

No pics of either of these but I will add them the next time I bake them.  These are just a couple of good recipes from my archive that made it to "THE RECIPE BOOK"

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

I got this recipe from a website and I just couldn't resist the picture.  It looked so great I had to try them.

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Filling

4 oz cream cheese, softened (from 8 oz package)
1 egg
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Brownies

1 Box Betty Crocker Original Supreme Premium brownie mix.  (this is the one with the hershey's syrap in the box that gets added to the mix)
Make brownie mix as called for on the box
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Grease the bottom of  9" square pan

In a small bowl beat filling ingredients and set aside

Make brownie batter in seperate bowl as directed.  Put 3/4 batter in the pan

Spoon filling over the top of the brownie mix evenly

Spoon remaining brownie over top of the filling.

Cut through with knife to make marbled design

Sprinkle with chocolate chips

Bake 40-44 minutes

Cool completely (1-1 1/2 hours)

Store covered in refrigerator.

OK...results are in.  First I will let you know I forgot to add the chocolate chips.  I'm sure they would have been a bonus but these brownies were awesome without them anyway.  They were so great this recipe is definately going in my favorites book!!

Sloppy Joe Squares

Today I decided to organize the recipes I collected over the last year since we moved.  Then I decided to make a something for myself for dinner even though no one else was here to eat with me.  So here is the recipe that won out over all the rest.  Mostly because I had the ingredients and could have leftovers tomorrow for dinner and share some with my husband for lunch.  So here it is....

Sloppy Joe Squares

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 can (16oz) sloppy joe sauce
2 cans big and buttery crescent rolls
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbs sesame seed

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium heat until thoroughly cooked; drain.  Stir in sauce.  Heat to boiling.

Unroll 1 can of the dough; place in ungreased 13x9 inch (3 inches up sides of dish) Spread beef mixture over dough; sprinkle cheese over beef mixture; place rest of crescent rolls over cheese.  Sprinkle with sesame seed.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until mixture is bubble and dough is golden

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft) Bake 35-40 minutes

I would say I took the picture after we cut some because I wanted you to see the center but the truth is I completely forgot.  

OK.....Here is the scoop.

I did a couple of things different.  There is no way 1 lb of meat is sufficient for a 13x9 pan.  I used a 9x9 dish and it worked great.  This cut out the 2nd package of crescent rolls.  If you have a bigger family (4 or more) you should use 2 lbs of meat and use the 13x9 pan.  I also added some garlic salt to the beef when i was browning it.  It is just something my husband and I almost always do.  It added a little flavor.  I used the Manwich brand sloppy joe sauce.  I used the regular but I bet if you like the bold it would be great too.

In the 9x9 pan it cooked a little quicker than 30 minutes.  Probably 28 minutes.  It was very golden brown.

I absolutely loved this recipe!!!!  I am actually sitting here about 5 hours later wishing I had more right now.  It is a quick easy meal which makes it even better!

Let me know what you think if you try it.

Coconut Caramel Pie

This Pie has 2 versions....Both of which we will be voting on.  Since the recipe makes 2 pies and half of my family likes coconut while the other won't touch it I did 2 slightly different versions.

1 PIE has Coconut

1 PIE has None

Recipe is exactly the same (as it is for 2 pies) until the very end.

Crust
1 1/2 Cups Flour ( I used All-Purpose)
1 Stick Butter (melted)
1 Cup Finely Chopped Pecans ( I put them in my Cuisinart Chopper and Ground them to very small pieces)

Mix and Press into 2 pie pans
Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees

Filling
1 can eagle brand milk
8 oz Cream Cheese
16 oz Cool Whip

Mix together and pour into crust - half in each pie pan

Topping

7 oz coconut (I used about half of this since I only put it on 1 pie)
1 cup chopped nuts (again I ground them up in the Cuisinart)
1/2 stick melted butter

The first pie got the coconut, nuts, butter mixture
Pie # 2 got nuts and butter

So mix the ingredients together as you wish.  Make sure if you are making 2 different pies like I did not to cross contaminate mixing bowls or spoons.

After mixing, put on a cookie sheet and toast at 350 degrees.  Very important to stir often while toasting.  The coconut will burn quickly with all that butter.  You basically toast until it turns a lovely brown color...not burnt looking

Spread over the pies.

Take a 12 oz jar of caramel sauce and pour over the top (half a jar on each pie) 

Freeze for a bit before serving.

Results are as follows:

Everyone LOVES the pie.  It is definately a keeper recipe.  It taste just like Pecan Pie.  So Yummy.  Most people can't talk about how good it is because they are shoving in the next bite before they have swallowed the first.

Try it and let me know how your friends and family react. 

This is the pie with coconut.  It turned out much prettier than the pie without coconut.  The coconut, nuts, and butter make up a thicker topping and don't soak through the cool whip mixture.

This is the pie without the coconut.  It pie taste great, but the nuts soak into the cool whip and make it look a little crazy. 

The Kraze Begins

I have been thinking about doing this blog for a while and today when I decided to cook something new I decided I would take the plunge and begin so here it is the first of what I hope to be many entries.

Mexican Meatloaf

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 1/2 cup mexican cheese
1 cup salsa
1 egg
12 saltine crackers

Mix all in a large mixing bowl.  Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.  I used a muffin tin that held 6 large muffins and it made 5.  This made a nice portion size...for me.  My husband ate 3.  Obviously if you have a large family you need to double the recipe.  Press the mixture into the muffin tins with a spoon and press down in the middle to make an indention.  Place the muffin tin on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.  After removing from the oven add some salsa and cheese atop the mini meatloafs in the indention you made before cooking. 

Obviously your recipe will vary depending on the flavor and brand of salsa you use.  Keep that in mind as you select your salsa.  If only 1 person in your family likes HOT salsa, you better use mild or medium for the recipe and let that person add their own heat. 

This meal would have been great with some chips and mexican cheese and rice.  

We voted this recipe  A KEEPER!!!!



OK, I had 2 friends that I know of try this and both of their families really liked it.  So even though they didn't put comments on here I thought you should know there were 2 brave souls. 

Cooking with a Cause

I have always had a love of recipes and recipe books. If I see a recipe book I almost always have to have it.  I get it from my mother.  Then I married a chef and expanded my love of food and recipes even more.  Am I a chef?  NO, not by any means.  Just your average mother and housewife making dinner for the family.  But I do love to experiment in the kitchen.  My great love is baking but all recipes hold an interest for me.  I even find myself wanting to make things I don't like because they sound interesting.  So I use my family and co-workers as guinea pigs for my recipes.  Some turn out...some don't.  That is the point of this blog.  You will travel with me through my Kitchen Kraze Experiements. 

Here is how it works.  I find a recipe I want to try - I make it - My family rates it - And I tell you about it.  The rating system is extremely simple.

We don't like it...recipe goes in the trash never to be seen again.

It's OK...We may keep it and change it next time or we just throw it out.

We LOVE it....It goes in the family cookbook (my cookbook which is pretty much a binder with recipe slots) 

The idea is to build a book of recipes we LOVE as a family and pass it down one day to my daughter.

You may wonder where I get all these recipes.  As I mentioned before I have tons of recipe books but I also get recipe emails which I read and print interesting recipes from.  I then take the printed recipes and file them in catagorized folders.  When I need a casserole, or a dessert, or a side dish I just start searching through my folders and presto...I almost always have a recipe to try.  I have hundreds of recipes and there is no way I will ever make all of them in my lifetime.  Well, maybe if I stopped collecting recipes today but the fact is, I will continue to collect recipes forever.  So I will just have to do the best I can. 

I won't be adding a new recipe everyday because I don't cook everyday.  However, I may add some I have tried in the past as I go. 

So Enjoy my Kitchen Kraze and leave your comments.  I'd love to know if you try a recipe, love it, hate it, change it, etc.