What's Cooking Wednesday: Joanie's Heavenly Corned Beef & Cabbage

Today's recipe comes right in time for St. Patty's Day, which is also my birthday! Growing up I didn't like corned beef and cabbage, but I think it is mostly because it was tradition to eat it for that Green Day and I probably was wanting Red Robin or Mac n Cheese for my birthday dinner instead! With this recipe, I am begging for corned beef and cabbage for my birthday!


Corned Beef (I like Bailey's from Costco the best)
Yellow MustardBrown SugarPotatoesCarrotsCabbage

Trim some of the excess fat but not all. (it adds flavor)
Put in crock pot and cover with water. Sprinkle with some Pickling Spice. Cook on low for about 8 hours or until fork tender. When done take it out of the water, but don't throw the water out. Now remove any extra fat. Then place the meat on foil lined cookie sheet and spread yellow mustard all over the meat. Then cover it with brown sugar. Bake at 325 for 20 min or so. The brown sugar/mustard will make a bubbly crust on the meat. Put the water in a separate pot to boil vegetables. Cook cut up potatoes and carrots in the reserved water (you will need to add more water to it) in the last 8 min of boiling time add cut up cabbage.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Pasta

Who doesn't love a good pasta dish? Pasta is comfort food. Pasta with bacon and a creamy sauce is naughty and divine. I found this recipe off of Cooking Classy with a Sprinkle of Fancy and knew it would be a favorite. We had this for dinner last night and I am counting down the hours until 11:00 when I can have leftovers. 11:00 is a perfectly acceptable lunch time when it is something you cannot wait to eat. Here is the recipe.

Read on for a few little hints that made this easy. Super easy. I cooked this with a sick toddler at my feet. Heating already cooked bacon would be the easiest, but next easiest is cooking your bacon in the oven. Follow this link to find out how to do that. Or maybe that is a known way to cook bacon? It's fairly new to me and it cooked the bacon to perfection while the pasta boiled and asparagus steamed. I bet the homemade alfredo is tasty, but my store bought jar of alfredo did the trick and saved me time and thinking. I always bake my chicken in the oven ahead of time and then chop and sauté it with garlic when I'm ready to use it. Warning: this recipe does use lots of pans- one for the asparagus, pasta, chicken and then the cookie sheet for the bacon, but it is so worth it. Cook it on a night your not on dish duty! Or maybe you have a husband like mine who has declared the dishes his job since the day we were married. I'll save that mushy stuff for Marriage Monday. Anyways, I simply drained my pasta, added my jar of alfredo and some fresh shredded parmesan cheese and gently mixed in my bacon, chicken and asparagus.

Delish! Hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did. Comment on this post and let me know what you think of it. I promise I'm not exaggerating how good it is! Is it 11:00 yet?!

Picture courtesy of Cooking Classy. 

What's cookin' Wednesday: Buttermilk Syrup

We went to a pajama & pancake birthday party the other day and they had the most delicious syrup. I just had to get the recipe and have made it a couple times since. It would selfish not to share, so here it is! It is from Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoon corn syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla.

* As a side not be careful not to let it boil over... 

What's cookin' Wednesday: Tried & True Skinny Taste Recipes

In an effort to eat more healthy around here we are trying to eat less meat and more veggies. I have seen several recipes from the website Skinny Taste pinned on Pinterest, so I decided to give some of them a try. Let me just say I was a little skeptical on some of these, but we were not disappointed. They were all delicious. Every single one we would make again. So, here you are! A few tried and true recipes from Skinny Taste! 

loaded sweet potato

taco stuffed zucchini boats

cheesy baked spaghetti squash boats with grilled chicken

butternut squash and black bean enchiladas

turkey taco lettuce wraps

What's Cookin Wednesday: Sausage Flowers

Okay, this has got to be the most delicious appetizer! A friend of mine made these for a little get together and they were the hit of the party. They are so tasty and she says they are super easy to make. So, with that said these are on the top of my to do list! 

Sausage Flowers

1 lb ground sausage (I like the Italian flavor)

Won Ton wrappers 1 Cup salsa 1 cup cheese
Sour cream Green onions (optional) Place won ton wrapper in mini muffin tin. Don't forget to spray so they don't stick. You want the corners to be sticking out of the tin. Place a spoonful of the sausage mixture in each won ton. Bake at 350 for 10 min. Top with some sour cream and green onions if you want.

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Clean Eating Pasta

There isn't really a recipe to this... it is more of just an idea. A healthy alternative to the carb loaded pasta. Simply boil water and cook the broccoli slaw to the desired texture. Add some pasta sauce and a little bit of parmesan cheese and your done! I was a little skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised. It will filling and I didn't even think twice that I wasn't eating the "real deal." It would also be an easy way to sneak a little extra veggies in for you kids. Give it a chance. It really is good and has become my new favorite pasta! 

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Spiced Pumpkin Donut Holes

I love anything pumpkin flavored. It is part of the reason Fall is my favorite seasons. I have made a lot of Spiced Pumpkin Muffins, but today I tried Spiced Pumpkin Donut Holes and let me tell you... they are absolutely delicious. They are simple to make too. They would make a yummy Halloween Breakfast or just a fun Fall treat. A couple things to note: You may eat them all right out of the oven. If you somehow manage not to, they do not hold up well being stored  – the outside has a tendency to get soggy from the extra butter. (Which is why there are no pictures! I will be making these again and adding pictures later!) The good news is that this doesn’t effect the taste or inside texture. If you want them to last longer you could always hold off on dipping all of them in butter and cinnamon sugar and just wait to do this step whenever you are ready to enjoy a bite of fall!

Donut Ingredients

1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour

1. 2 tsp of baking powder
2. 1/2 tsp of salt
3. 3/4 tsp of cinnamon
4. 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
5. 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
6. 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
7. 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
8. 1 egg
9. 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
10. 1/2 a can of pumpkin puree (about 6 oz.)
11. 1/2 cup milk

Donut coating

1/2 cup sugar

1. 2 tbsp cinnamon
2. 1/2 a stick of unsalted butter

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice . In a separate large bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, about 1 tablespoon in each cup. (You will have batter left over for about another dozen.) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until passes the toothpick test.

Let cool enough to handle. If you would like to have the donuts look more like holes than muffins you can remold them as they are still warm

For the coating: Roll each donut hole into the melted butter and then put  butter-coated donut holes into a gallon sized ziplock bag with the cinnamon/sugar,  shake to coat (working with 1 dozen donuts at a time).

Adapted from A Step in the Journey with my own tips & tricks added.

What's cookin' Wednesday: English Muffin Pizzas

This is nothing complicated nor nothing fancy, but it is something that is a hit with my toddler. English Muffin Pizza. She loves pizza and she loves being able to make it all by herself. I let her spoon out and spread the sauce on her muffin and sprinkle the cheese. It's as easy as that! Stick it in the oven for a few minutes and bon appetit! Something about doing this little task makes it taste all the better!  Her sassy, independent self thrives on being about able to make it all by her big girl self and gives her a little confidence boost! 

Chicken Fajitas

Freezer/Crockpot Chicken Fajitas 

3-4 chicken breasts
2 bell peppers. (I use 1 red and 1 yellow)
1 onion sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon minced or powdered garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice

*If you do not have all the spices or if you prefer, a packet taco seasoning works as well.

Add all ingredients to the freezer bag.   Seal, label and freeze!

It's delicious wrapped in a tortilla with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and sour cream or plain greek yogurt.

What's Cookin' Wednesday: World's Best Cooked Playdough

I got this recipe from an instructor of mine in one of my child development classes many years ago and it really is the best. I have tried several other recipes and always regret doing so.  

2 cups flour

2 tbs cream of tarter

2 cups water

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs oil

optional: food coloring/Kool-Aid

Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients. Stir and cook over medium heat until dough sticks together in a call. Store in an airtight container. 

We make a batch of playdough just about every week. Next week we will be adding some pumpkin pie spice to it! Last month we made it red and added cinnamon and nutmeg; it smelt just like apple pie. 

Sometimes we even add some glitter. The possibilities are almost endless.

Enjoy!