Croatian Nut Roll - year 3

This is Rebecca's first time making Croatian nut roll. She loved rolling out the dough. I love sharing this tradition with her!

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Sauce recipe

Monday night we had a bunch of family at our house for dinner and I fixed chicken kabobs with this sauce. Everyone loved the sauce, so I thought I would post it here for them to have and so I won't lose it. I got it from here.

• 1 cup of ketchup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 tbs yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 lemon juiced
• 1/2 fresh pineapple, chopped

Add the ketchup, soy sauce, honey, mustard, brown sugar, garlic, and lemon juice together in a small pan. Cook for 20 minutes over low heat, stirring often. Thread the chicken and pineapple pieces onto the skewers, alternating the chicken and pineapple. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Pour half of the sauce into a small bowl then brush the skewers with the sauce and grill.

Update

So I haven't updated much lately. Things have been kind of busy. I've been birthday party planning, decoration making, apron sewing, card making, crochet learning, added to the usual everyday happenings.

Rebecca and I made peanut butter cookies for Stephen for Father's Day. Rebecca kept trying to eat the dough. She liked helping. I used this recipe. They're yummy.

You can tell which cookies were hers. :)

She loves "fwimmin" in her little pool.

Cupcake Bites

I kind of had a cupcake thing going for Rebecca's birthday party. So when I saw these Cupcake Bites on Bakerella's blog, I knew I wanted to make them. They turned out pretty good, I think. They really weren't hard to make. I used Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix, since that's what I had on hand, and Pillsbury cream cheese frosting. Bakerella likes cream cheese frosting. I decided not to put mine on sticks and just used paper cups. Bakerella uses a candy mold. I don't have one, but I had little paper cups and used those instead. The most time consuming part was putting the sprinkles on. They took some time, but I think it was worth it. They were really yummy, and soooo cute! And really yummy. They were a big hit at the birthday party. Bakerella makes a lot of different kinds of cake bites and cake pops. Maybe I'll give another variety a try one day.

They're so adorable, I almost can't stand it. :)


I'm still loading and editing birthday pictures to be posted in the next few days. We're all pretty tired from the events of the last week. But it's just us in our house now, getting things back to normal. It's so quiet. I miss everyone already.

Squash casserole

Someone from church gave us some squash and zucchini Sunday, so last night I cooked the squash up in a casserole. I used this recipe from allrecipes.com. I've made squash casserole before, but this one was so much better! I followed the recipe exactly, except that I added a little garlic salt to mine. Yummo! Today I'm trying this zucchini bread recipe. Our tomatoes are looking good, and I'm really looking forward to having some fried green tomatoes!

Ingredients

• 4 cups sliced yellow squash
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 35 buttery round crackers (or one stack), crushed
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place squash and onion in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in a small amount of water. Cover, and cook until squash is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, and place in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese. Stir half of the cracker mixture into the cooked squash and onions. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. Spread into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Croatian Nut Roll

Steve's great grandparents were from Croatia, and nut roll is a family tradition every Christmas. Steve has it every year. This past Christmas was my first time making it, and it turned out pretty good. Not quite as good as my mother in-law's, but almost. :) It makes 3 nut rolls. Steve said it was good, his only complaint was that I didn't add more sugar to the top before I baked them. I used about 1 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts.

Croatian Nut Roll

4 Cups Flour

1 cake yeast or pkg

2 sticks butter (softened)

5 egg yolks

1/2 tsp baking soda

8 oz of sour cream

Mix dry ingredients. Separate yolks and egg whites. Set egg whites aside. Add egg yolks and sour cream. Mix well, I use my hands at the last. Divide the dough into 3 parts (balls). Put in container one at a time. Like a plastic bowl. Place waxed paper between each one to keep from sticking to each other. Refrigerator overnight or until well chilled.

Filling

1 c. brown sugar

2 lbs grated walnuts or pecan

5 egg whites

Mix all together with mixer.

Roll out dough on granulated sugar. Like a jelly roll. Add 1/3 of filling to each roll spread out except on the edges. Roll dough like jelly roll.

Bake for around 1 hour or until golden brown at 325 to 350.

Enjoy

ETA: This year I used about 2 cups of chopped walnuts. I'm not sure how much 2 lbs of nuts is, so I'm still learning. :)

Christmas cooking

I'm doing lots of cooking today. Tonight we'll be at Joy and John's for dinner, tomorrow at my parents during the day, then tomorrow night dinner with Steve's family. LOTS of cooking! So I started the nut roll yesterday (I'll post that recipe later), and finish that today. I'm making tortilla rollups, a turkey sandwich ring modified from this recipe, the beef ring I made last year, baked potatoes, corn, and a dessert. For breakfast tomorrow I'm going to make Pioneer Woman's pancakes. And then in January we're starting Weight Watchers!

Chew Bread

. . . .not to be confused with shewbread. I have this baking in the oven as I type for a church potluck tonight. I haven't made it in a while, but it was really yummy the last time that I did.

Chew Bread

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour, sifted
1 stick butter, melted
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 16 oz. box of light brown sugar
1 cup of nuts, chopped

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 325 for 35 minutes. Cut into squares while warm. They won't look done, but they are. Remove from pan after cooled.

24 servings

Beef Taco Skillet

I made this for dinner tonight. It was good, and really easy. Six torillas seemed like a lot to me, but I used all that the recipe called for. It worked out fine, and I did add sour cream to mine. I just found out that Campbell's has a bunch of recipes here too. So here's the one for Beef Taco Skillet.

1 pound ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup (Regular or Healthy Request®)
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup water
6 flour tortillas (6-inch), cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.

Stir the soup, salsa, water and tortillas in the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir the beef mixture. Top with the cheese.

Creamy Mexican Fiesta: Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream with the soup.

Ranchero Style: Use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas and shredded Mexican cheese blend instead of Cheddar.

Grilled Potato Salad

I made this for our Labor Day bbq at Joy and John's house Monday. I found it in a Southern Living magazine a couple of months ago while I was at the doctor's office. It turned out pretty good. I didn't use as much mustard as the recipe calls for because I don't like mustard. It still tasted a little too mustardy for me. I didn't use bacon either because I didn't have any, and I forgot to get it the last time I was at the store. I didn't use red potatoes because I had a huge bag of white potatoes to use up. I promise I'm not one of those people that gives a recipe a bad rating on allrecipes.com and then say I changed a bunch of stuff in it. :)

Potato Salad
Ingredients (Makes 4 to 5 servings)

• 8 bacon slices
• 4 medium-size red potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 5 cups cubed)
• 1 large white onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• Potato Salad Dry Rub
• Potato Salad Dressing
• Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Cook bacon, in batches, in a large skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon.

2. Add potatoes, onion, and Potato Salad Dry Rub to hot drippings in skillet, tossing to coat. Remove potato mixture with a slotted spoon.

3. Grill potato mixture, covered with grill lid, over 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat in a grill wok or metal basket 30 minutes or until tender, stirring every 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add Potato Salad Dressing, and toss to coat. Stir in bacon. Garnish, if desired. Serve warm.

Dry Rub

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
• 1/8 teaspoon celery seeds

Stir together all ingredients. Store in an airtight container up to 1 month.

Dressing

• 5 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Stir together all ingredients. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Festive Breakfast Casserole

This is sort of a Christmas tradition. I like to fix a breakfast casserole for us on Christmas Day, but I've only done it once. I don't remember what happened last year, but I know I didn't make it. On Christmas morning, I always get up early, and Steve sleeps in. It gives me something to do until we can open our presents. I'll still usually wake him up earlier than he'd like. I haven't tried this recipe before, but I think it sounds good. I'll half this recipe, since there's just two of us. I'm not sure what makes it "festive", but that's what it was called. I found it here. They have a ton more breakfast casserole recipes here.

8 oz. bulk pork sausage
4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
6 cups pepperidge farm (works best) dist. original white bread - cut in cubes (I'll just use regular bread. I don't have Pepperidge Farm, and I'm not going to go to the store today!)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup Pace picante sauce or chunky salsa

Cook sausage until browned, pour off fat. Arrange: sausage in 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with bread cubes and cheese. Mix picante sauce, eggs and milk and pour over all. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Uncover. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. Serves 6 to 8. Serve with sour cream and salsa or picante sauce.

ETA: I didn't think it was enough eggs, so I used more. We really liked it. :)

Christmas Fudge

I'm making fudge for Christmas dinner with Steve's family this year. Here's the recipe I'm going to use. Looks pretty simple, hopefully it turns out good! I will double the recipe and use a bigger sheet to cool the fudge. We like chocolate. I'll make this Christmas morning, since the smell of any kind of food, yes even *gasp* chocolate, makes me nauseous at night. My "morning" sickness has been worse at night, but I usually feel great in the morning. Happy baking!

Christmas Fudge

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Over low heat, melt choc., sweetened milk, and salt. Remove from heat, stir in walnuts and vanilla. Pour into and 8 or 9 inch foil-lined square pan, cool for about 2 hrs. Turn onto a cutting board, peel off the foil, and cut into little squares.

For Milk Chococolate Fudge

Omit one cup of the choc. chips, replace with 1 cup milk chocolate chips and 2 cups mini marshmallows. Proceed as above.

For Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Fudge

Omit one cup of the choc. chips and the walnuts; Stir in 1 cup peanut butter chips just before spreading in pan.

Beef and Cheese Sandwich Ring

This is a Pampered Chef recipe that I found on this site. I made this for our Christmas party this past weekend. I used less onion, and I don’t really know how much green peppers I used. I just added a bunch I had frozen. I thought it was a little too much green peppers for me though.

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves, divided
2 pkg. refrigerated pizza crust
8 oz. thinly sliced deli roast beef
8 oz. thinly sliced Cheddar cheese
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Saute green peppers, onion, garlic, and about half of oregano and set aside. Roll out pizza dough onto flour. Layer roast beef, cheese, and veggie mixture. Keep all the ingredients about an inch away from the one of the long sides, the one that will be on the outside of the ring. Does that make sense? When you roll up the dough, everything tends to get pushed out. Roll up the dough like a jelly roll, starting on the long side. Put it seam side down on a greased sheet. I used my Pampered Chef cooking stone. Do the same thing with the other can of dough. Join the two rolls in a circle and push the seams together to make a complete ring. Add the rest of the oregano to the top of the ring. Cook for about 20 minutes on 350, or until the dough is golden brown. I might have cooked mine longer, I don’t remember.

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

I made these sugar cookies last night for a potluck at work. I don't know if they're the best sugar cookies since I've never tried any other sugar cookie recipes. But that's what the recipe called them, and they are very good. In fact if we don't have any more left after the potluck, I might make more. This recipe is from Allrecipes and at the suggestion of a lot of people that reviewed it, I added more sugar to my cookies. I halfed the recipe since I didn't want 60 cookies, and used about 1 1/2 cups of sugar. And I rolled mine out with confectioner's sugar instead of flour. They're really soft and sweet.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. Makes 5 dozen.

I didn't make the frosting since I didn't have time to. Just used store bought. I was going to frost all of my cookies this morning. But it seems every time I bake something for work, and plan to finish it up in the morning, we lose our electricity. So I put the frosting on after I got to work. I've wanted to try this frosting recipe, and it's gotten good reviews on Allrecipes. Here it is:

Sugar Cookie Frosting

INGREDIENTS 48 sevings
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

I made this earlier this week. Instead of chili & kidney beans, I used a can of black beans and a can of northern beans because that's what I already had. I didn't use the liquid from the veggies or as much water as the recipe calls for. I like thick, chunky soup. It's a little spicy, so adjust the amount of peppers if you don't like that sort of thing. Add some tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese. Yum-yum!

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans, with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, with liquid
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

DIRECTIONS
In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef until browned over medium heat. Drain, and set aside. Place the ground beef, onion, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, green chile peppers and taco seasoning mix in a slow cooker. Mix to blend, and cook on low setting for 8 hours.

The Best Chocolate Cake

I made this cake last night for a birthday at work, and made the frosting this morning. Y. U. M. I cut the tops off of the two layers to make them flatter, and had some frosting leftover. I couldn't let all that yummy cake go to waste, I had no choice but to eat it. :) The frosting is really sweet, but I've never been one of those people that said anything was too sweet for me. If you are one of those people, first, what's wrong with you? Second, you might want to use a little less confectioners sugar. I used 2 9 inch cake pans, but you could use 9x13 pan. I don't add recipes to my blog unless it's something I really like, and this cake is yumm-o!

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
2/3 cup shortening (I used butter)
2 cups boiling water (I used milk instead)
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
Melt the shortening in the boiling water, then stir into the flour mixture until blended. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

The Frosting
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (I used between 3 and 3 1/2)

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, beat margarine and cocoa together until combined. Add milk and vanilla; beat until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Adjust with more milk or confectioners' sugar if necessary.

Reindeer poop

I made this for a dirty Santa gift last week. It's basically a no bake cookie recipe. I used a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop the cookies, and sprayed it with Pam so they popped right out.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups oatmeal -- not instant
1/2 cup chopped nuts -- optional

Directions:
Mix butter, sugar, milk and cocoa together in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoon full (larger or smaller as desired) onto wax paper and let harden. They will set up in about 30-60 minutes. These will keep for several days without refrigerating, up to 2 weeks refrigerated and 2-3 months frozen.

Attach the following poem. I printed the graphic along with the poem on cardstock and tied it to the canister.

I woke up with such scare when I heard Santa call...
"Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
I ran to the lawn and in the snowy white drifts,
Those nasty reindeer had left "little gifts".

I got an old shovel and started to scoop,
Neat little piles of "Reindeer Poop!"
But to throw them away, seemed such a waste,
So I saved them, thinking-you might like a taste!

As I finished my task, which took quite awhile,
Old Santa, passed by and he sheepishly smiled.
And I heard him exclaim as he was in the sky...
"Well they're not potty trained, but at least they can fly!"

Tortilla rollups

I made these for our work Christmas party last week, and they were really good. :)

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 (1 ounce) package dry fiesta-style ranch dressing mix
1 cup chunky salsa
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, sour cream, fiesta-style ranch dressing mix, chunky salsa and Cheddar cheese. Spread even amounts of the mixture onto the tortillas. Roll tortillas and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
To serve, slice the chilled, rolled tortillas into 3/4 inch slices and arrange on a large serving platter.

Pretzel hugs

I made these this week for a Christmas potluck at work. They were super easy and really yummy! I used waffle pretzels, and those worked well. And I put mine in the refrigerator to cool.

1 bag pretzels
1 pkg. M&Ms
1 pkg. Hershey "Hugs"

Place pretzels on baking stone or sheet. Place a Hug on each pretzel and bake at 200 degrees for about 8 minutes (just watch for the Hugs to melt). Remove from oven and promptly place a couple of M&Ms on each pretzel, pressing into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool before serving. At room temperature, this takes SEVERAL hours. You could make them the day before you plan on eating/delivering. Or you can put them in the refrigerator to speed up the process.

I got this from here:
http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2007/10/pretzel-hugs.html

Italian Biscotti

I made this last week for my good friend, Joy, for her birthday. It turned out really good. I didn't use anise extract because I couldn't find it at the store. I used a hand mixer. Once you add the flour, it gets pretty thick. I cut the recipe in half, and it was plenty. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
12 ounces butter
1 3/4 cups white sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon anise extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 ounces chopped almonds

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 165 degrees C ).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time; beat until fluffy. Stir in the anise and vanilla extracts. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; Add them to the egg mixture along with the chopped almonds. Stir with a spoon and as the dough comes together, Knead by hand.
Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each piece into a log about 15 inches long. Place logs onto cookie sheets, 2 to a sheet, the long way. Flatten the logs out until they are about 3 inches wide with a slight hump going down the middle. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, loaves should be firm. Cut the loaves into diagonal slices 1/2 inch wide, place the slices onto the cookie sheets and return to the oven. Toast on one side, then turn them over to do the other side. This will take about 7 to 10 minutes.