Strawberry cream muffins (or raspberry)

 Strawberry Cream Muffins (or Raspberry)-

Taste of Home cupcakes and Muffin magazine

submitted by Stephanie Moon-Nampa ID.

This recipe is awesome, just a slight change that we did, but they were so tasty.  The best from scratch muffin I've ever had.  So delicious that they almost could pass for a cupcake!!

1c. fresh raspberries (we used strawberries diced small)

¾ c sugar (we used 1 c.)

¼ c. butter softened

1 egg

½ tsp almond extract

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 ¼ c flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 c. half and half

1 c. finely chopped vanilla or white choc chips

Streusel

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp sugar

In a small bowl toss raspberries/ diced strawberries with ¼ c. (we did a ½c. from looking at other fruit muffin recipes) sugar; set aside. 

In large mixing bowl cream butter and other ½ c sugar. Beat in egg and extracts.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt: or just add to cream mixture alternately with cream.  Stir in chips (we put them in my little chopper so they were very small) and reserved fruit.

This is after I had 12 muffin in tins.

Fill greased or paper filled muffin tins ¾ full-full.  Combine the brown sugar and remaining sugar and sprinkle on top for the streusel.  

Bake 375 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes and then remove to wire rack.  Make 12-16 muffins. 

Can't wait to make these again!

Drip Beef Sandwiches

We did a family recipe book for Christmas... so now I've got quite a few recipes typed up... which makes them very easy to share :-)

This is one of the easiest things to make, and so tasty!

1 chuck / pot roast (4-5 ish lbs.)

1 can beef consume (or beef broth)*

1/2 Jar of Pepperoncinis, including juice

4 t. Italian Seasoning Dressing

Throw it all together in the oven at 275 degrees for 5-6 hours. Or cook everything in a crock pot for 5-6 hours on low. Shred meat and remove Pepperoncinis (unless you want to eat them). Serve on rolls/hoagies with melted swiss cheese.

* I never add the beef broth, since cooking my roast in the crock pot always seems to produce enough liquid.

Apple Pork Loin

My husband and I went to this holiday cooking class and learned how to make this. It is really good, and low in calories.

Ingredients:
3  lb. pork tenderloin
Salt to taste
2 Cups apple juice
1/2 cup apple butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Directions:
Poke holes in roast with fork. Season pork with salt. Marinate the pork in apple juice overnight. Put in crock pot on low all day or high for 4-5 hours. Mix the remaining ingredients together to make a paste and spread over pork the last 45 minutes.

Cherry Chip Cheesecake

I have the same cake for my birthday every year -- it's been Cherry Chip since I can remember, possibly since my first birthday. I love that stuff. It's so good.

But I hate frosting cake. For one, I always accidentally buy the vanilla frosting (ick!) instead of the cream cheese. And I never remember to make the cake the night before so it's cooled in time to frost, meaning I frost it too early and it gets all crumbly and gross looking. Plus, smearing a bunch of frosting on top always makes me feel inadequate 'cause I know everyone else is doing the whole fondant thing and making Cake Boss-worthy creations. Blech.

Well, this year was a milestone birthday so I decided to take advantage of the occasion and switch things up. I stole this recipe from the Betty Crocker Web site and made DELICIOUS Cherry Chip Cheesecake Bars. (That's not what the site calls 'em, but I'm too lazy to look up the real name.)


I couldn't believe how easy it was.

You need:

1 box Cherry Chip cake mix
1/2 cup butter softened (not melted)
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 container cherry frosting
3 eggs

Heat oven to 325 degrees. In large bowl, beat the cake mix and butter with an electric mixer on low until crumbly. (I thought for sure this part wasn't going to work, because it was still basically all cake mix powder when I was done. Trust me, though, it turns out. It's amazing.) Reserve 1 cup, and press the rest in an ungreased 13x9 pan.

In the SAME BOWL (so efficient!) beat cream cheese and frosting with the SAME ELECTRIC MIXER on medium until smooth. Add eggs and beat until blended. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with reserve crumbly mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes or until set. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

The end result was delicious. My husband has never raved so much. My 3-year-old helped make the whole thing, it was that easy. And in the end I just had to clean one bowl, one spoon and two beater thingies.

We're planning to experiment later with different kinds of cake and frosting, but this one will now be my official birthday celebration cake.

Cilantro Lime Rice

This is yummy all by itself, but I serve it with the Cafe Rio Pork. It's a tasty addition.

1 cup white rice

2 cups chicken stock

2 T. butter

1 T. lime juice

3 T. cilantro

1 T. sugar

Cook rice in chicken stock, according to package directions. When rice is done, add butter, lime juice, cilantro and sugar.

Cilantro Lime Ranch

Serve this on Cafe Rio Pork ... or as a different dressing to spice up a salad. It's good.

1 package Hidden Valley Dips Seasoning (NOT the dressing mix, you have to use the Dips mix)

16 oz. sour cream

1 cup buttermilk*

Salsa Verde (how much depends on your preference)

(looks like this)

Combine all ingredients and shake until throughly mixed.

K, this is what I do. I make the ranch dressing in a shaker, without the salsa verde. Then I pour some of it into my Magic Bullet, and add some salsa verde, and blend it together. It's good, promise. I only use it for Cafe Rio Pork and then I still have the regular ranch to use. That's just my personal preference, obviously.

*I never have buttermilk, so I make my own. Use 1 T. lemon juice, and add enough milk to make a cup. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Cafe Rio Pork

All I can say is YUMMY. This is just like the sweet pork at Cafe Rio. I've had a few other versions of this pork (made with Coke or Dr. Pepper or some sort of pop) and I think this one is the best.

1 pork roast (3-3.5 lbs)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup worcestershire sauce

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. ground ginger

1 t. salt

1 t. chili powder

1 t. garlic powder

2 T. dehydrated minced onions

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, then place roast on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (depends on how hot your crockpot cooks-- mine is fast). Flip the roast once, about halfway through cooking. One hour before serving, shred the pork, remove any bones (if there are any) and stir in 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup red enchilada sauce (I always throw in the whole can). Allow to cook for remaining time and serve warm. Serve with black beans, cilantro lime rice, cilantro lime ranch, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, olives... pretty much whatever you want on there. Can be served on a salad, or in a burrito.

YUM!