Surprise Dessert

Okay, so I haven't been the best at blogging. I've been re-creating a lot of the same recipes I blogged previously, so I ran out of ideas. Then it hit me, why not do a different dessert, "Pinterest style?"

Bring on the GIANT COOKIE BROWNIE!

Okay, I'm pretty sure Betty Crocker has a box mix for the "cookie-brownie" but I wanted to re-create it and make it GIANT. Yup, "Go Big or Go Home" ;)

Here it is:

Brownie Mix

Cookie Mix

Pie Pan

Butter

1. Butter the bottom of your pie pan so the brownie doesn't stick.

2. Mix the brownie mix and pour it on the bottom of the pan as your base.

3. Mix the Cookie mix and add it to the top.

 Please Note:   I have to blog about both successes and failures. This wasn't a total success. I added more water to the brownie mix than I should have and the cookie mix fell a bit short (you can see below). Basically the idea is that the cookie covers the brownie mix, making the top layer of the pie a cookie and the bottom a brownie. Mine looked like a calico version of that.

4. With every failure comes some success. I don't know what that even means but it sounded good in my head. Basically I mean it still tasted really good! That's all that really matters..right?

Enjoy!

Grilling Out

Here's an easy one!

Grilling a steak...

Heat up the grill..

Throw the steaks on, butter them up, and add a seasoning. You can see we used McCormick. Yum!

We decided to eat outside, but the bugs weren't being nice. Even with the candle-of-death (citronella).

Hope you get out and grill too! That's what the summers all about after all :).

I figured the picture below is an interesting way of explaining how long to leave the steak on the grill:

Touch your palm, basically the last one (darker on the inside-well done) its tougher than if it's rare (red-not tough). Common sense right?

Or you can go by time, we basically just cooked it for 4-5 minutes each side. However, you can always cut into it and put it back on the grill if it's not cooked the way you like it.

Stayed tuned for our ribs blog. I wish there was an option for tasting and not just reading. Do you ever watch cooking shows where they taste the food and say, "I really wish you were here to try this but mmmmmmm trust me its good" What a tease!

 Please share your grilling recipes with me (either here on blogger or right on facebook!).

Melt in your Mouth Chicken

This is an old one, but I forgot to post (yes I realize no one cares). Since I have extra time today I figured I'd finish it.

This is called "Melt in your Mouth Chicken" and it was amazing!

* UPDATE * Make sure to use Real MAYO and NOT Miracle Whip. It does NOT taste the same! 

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breast halves

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

 Mix all ingredients in a large bowl (not including the chicken):

It doesn't look yummy but it will be!

Then coat the chicken and bake in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes:

Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken in Beer

Roasted Chicken in Beer with a dry rub. It's amazing, moist and flavorful.

Recipe:

1 Whole Chicken (leftovers are great for salads)

Vegetable Oil

1 Beer (Can or Bottle)

Dry Rub

Step 1: Poor beer in the pan.

Step 2: Wash the chicken (clean out the guts etc.) - Eweeee.....It's got to be done...

Stick in the pan over the beer and pour remaining beer all over the chicken...Beer bath!

Step 3: Pour vegetable oil over the chicken. Add the dry rub.

Cook on 400 degrees for about 45 min (depending on the size of the chicken and your oven). We use a thermometer just in case.

Enjoy!

Dessert Time!!! Yes, we did cheat tonight and eat brownies and nutella filled strawberries. It's simple...Take the "core" out of the strawberry and remove the leafy top. Take a small dollop of nutella and spread it inside the strawberry. Trust me its worth any/all calories...Enjoy!

Pot Roast - Crock Pot Style

Dinner for tomorrow night...done!

Don't you just love crock pots? Who invented that anyways? Brillant.

.....This recipe is a Pot Roast and it's very easy to prepare. I saw the recipe and thought I would try it; however, I must note I've never actually eaten anything like this. I hope it tastes good but I can't blog that portion until tomorrow night. Until then.......

{Update  - I forgot to add ... cook on low for 8 hours}

Recipe:

1 Pot Roast (sorry for the graphic picture - meat is not good looking "naked")

2. Gravy Powder

3. Ranch Powder

4. Butter

5... That's it! Really. The original recipe called for peppers but I opted out.

Step 1: Place the Roast in the Pot.

Step 2: Add the Ranch.

Step 3: Add the gravy and then place the butter on top. Do not add any liquid. Your done :) How easy?

Hope you like it? Thoughts?!

Cooking All-in-One

When you lack time (or would rather use it going to bed early out of pure exhaustion) you learn how to cook multiple meals at a time. The theme this month is Fish, Chicken and more fish. Most of my recipes this month are low-carb, low-calorie conscious.

Here we have grilled zucchini; cod; BBQ chicken.

The chicken was marinaded with BBQ sauce (a little won't kill you right?) This was used for our salads this week.

Next up Zucchini and Squash (*my inner child yells yuck and hides under the covers). I will note that I did eat them and they are not that bad grilled. The trick to the zucchini on the grill is cut it thin and add seasonings (salt, pepper, olive oil, and Parmesan before serving). We didn't do all of that but I know it would be delicious.

How does one cut a Zucchini you ask? We asked ourselves the same question and yes we did "you-tube it". You can cut it the hard way if you'd like, but the easiest way is:

1. Cut it in half first

2. Then cut it the long way in strips making sure you don't accidentally end up with missing fingers (please don't do that as everyone might lose their appetite).

I also have to mention that when buying fish try to ask if it has bones. It's rare that we buy "bony" fish but this time we ended up with one. It's difficult to eat when your concentrating on if you swallowed a bone or not. It was still delicious non-the-less.

This concludes my blog for today. More healthy recipes to come.

Seasoning the Zucchini and squash:

Grilled Zucchini and squash:

Cod in the oven:

Grilled Chicken for the salads:

Enjoy!

Salmon on the Grill

It's been a while since I've blogged on cooking. That's because we've simply been too busy to cook. This month is a healthy eating month (were cracking down before summer). Wish me luck ;)

Salmon on the Grill is simple. You marinade the Salmon and throw it on the grill (about 6-8 minutes on either side). We used lemon pepper seasoning along with garlic powder but you can be creative (the original recipe even called for brown sugar).

I'll be honest I'm not a big fan of Salmon. Having it grilled made a difference in the flavor and I'm learning to like it. :)

Enjoy!