Mom's Frosting

2 egg whites till peaks
1/2 cups crisco
2 cups confectionery sugar
teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt

Shipyard Beef Stew

2lbs stew beef
medium bag frozen sliced carrots
medium bag frozen peas
2 small onions
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
good amount of freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoon of olive oil
1 bottle of Shipyard's Pumpkinhead beer
6 cups water
2 tablespoons of better than boulin beef base

Preheat cast iron dutch oven with oil
Combine flour and spices into a bowl or plastic bag and dredge beef.
Add beef to dutch oven when en hot and brown the beef approximately 10-15 minutes
Roughly chop onion and add to the pot and cook until translucent
Deglaze bottom of pot with full bottle of Pumpkinhead for a minute or two
Add the rest of the ingredients including the remaining flour mixture
Cover and simmer for an hour or so, then uncover and continue to cook for another hour until the liquid reduces and makes more of a gravy.

Serve with biscuits

Chicken Mole, Refried Beans, and Mexican Rice

So the husband requested Mexican tonight for dinner. I just made an enchilada bake last week and made chili and cornbread two nights ago. So I did some searching and found some recipes to try on allrecipes.com

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mexican-rice-ii/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-mole-2/detail.aspx

The first two are Mexican Rice II and Chicken Mole 2 and they are made exactly as the directions are called and I did use homemade chicken stock.

The refried beans I got from this:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/refried-beans-without-the-refry/detail.aspx

But I did not follow the directions on this at all. This is what I did instead:

2 15oz cans pinto beans
1 small onion
2-3 tablespoons of diced green chilis
2 tablespoons garlic
1 teas salt
1/2 teas fresh ground pepper
1/4 teas roasted cumin
oliveoil
wee bit of chicken stock.

So I cut the onion up very fine and sauteed in the oliveoil until translucent and soft. Drained and rinsed the beans then added them to the pot. Then I added all the seasonings, green pepper, and garlic. I cooked it at low heat for about 15 minutes or so until everything was soft. Then I smashed it all up with a little bit of chicken stock to get the right consistency and wellah :).
This was SOOO much better than any re-fried beans that I have ever had. It's definitely a recipe I will make again and again. The rice was fabulous as well. The chicken mole had an interesting flavor but I really enjoyed it. Time will tell if the hubby likes it too!

Simple Coleslaw

I like my coleslaw simple so I usually grab one of the bags of cabbage mix that has been pre-chopped.

1 bag coleslaw mix
1/2 cup mayonaise
2 tbls sugar
2 tbls apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teas dijon mustard
A good amount of freshly ground pepper

Mix it all together and let it sit covered, in the fridge for all the ingredients to blend. Re-mix and serve.

Sweet and Smokey BBQ Sauce and ribs

The husband asked for ribs tonight, so I came up with a recipe after looking at a few different ones to come up with the flavors I like. Here goes:

1/2 cup ketchup
tiny can of tomato paste
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tbls molasses
1 teas hickory liquid smoke
1 teas Worcestershire sauce
2 tblsp melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/4 chili powder
1/4 smoked paprika
1/4 celery seed
1/4 cinnamon
cayenne pepper for heat
a decent amount of freshly ground black pepper

I mix it all up with an immersion blender and it is good to go.

For the ribs I boiled them in water with some soy sauce and garlic powder for 45 minutes. Then I put them in the oven at 325 with 1/2 the sauce for an hour covered in tinfoil. After the hour I take the tinfoil off and add 1/2 of the remaining sauce and cook for a half hour. When done I let them sit for a few minutes to settle then you have extra sauce left over for dipping.
I usually get a full rack of ribs cut in half (so ~12 per half) so they fit in the pot and in the oven better. You can grill these on a low heat after the parboil as well.

Pound Cake

This pound cake is very light and fluffy, with just the right amount of flavor.

1 stick of butter
80z cream cheese
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 cup flavored creamer

cream butter and cream cheese, then cream in sugar.
add eggs one by one and fully blend them in between
add half the flour
then the creamer
then the rest of the flour

bake in a NON-preheated oven at 325 until done

I like to use bread pans (I know not the traditional pound cake pan) and this recipe will make 2 cakes, and it takes ~70min for them to cook through.
Done when a toothpick comes out with crumbles attached.

Chicken Pot Pie

This isn't your typical pot pie with a pie crust and such. I wanted the pot pie flavor, but without all the preparation and fuss. So I made it as easily as I could manage. Which included buying one of those pre-roasted chickens, frozen stew vegetable mix with potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery in it, and one of those Pillsbury crescent dough containers. I got the chicken for 1/2 off because I picked up one that was cooked the day before and so it was chilled, which made it much easier to take apart. My husband said it was the best pot pie he had ever had, and promptly had seconds....and later that night thirds!

Chicken Pot Pie

1 roasted chicken
2- 10 oz bags of stew vegetable mix
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon of italian seasoning (more or less for taste)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 container of Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven per crescent roll directions
2. In a stock pot bring to boil stew vegetable mix, chicken stock, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
3. When vegetables are tender pull out a cup of the hot stock
4. Mix the flour with the cup of stock till smooth and pour back into pot.
5. Add chicken
6. Cook until the liquid starts to thicken (5 or 10 minutes or so)
7. Mix in heavy cream
8. Pour mixture into a casserole dish
9. Roll out crescent rolls and place on top
10. Bake in the oven per the crescent roll directions
11. Let stand for 5-10 minutes after you take it out of the oven.