Pepper Roast Sandwiches

This is an easy-peasy dinner.  I first had it in Powell, Wyoming when I was on my mission.  I got the recipe from Sister Ramona George and have been in love with it ever since.

You need:

A boneless roast.  Any roast will do, you'll be putting this one in the crock-pot so if it's a tougher cut of meat, it will be perfect!

1/2 jar yellow pepper rings with juice

1 packet onion soup mix

garlic

pepper

salt

Put your roast in your crock, add the rest of the ingredients.  Cover your roast with water (if you want to get fancy, you can use beef broth) and cook it on high for at least 5 hours.  You want the meat to just fall apart.  If you like an extra spicy sandwich, use the whole jar of the pepper rings.  Occasionally I will also slice an onion and put that in the crock as well.  I am careful how much salt I add because the soup mix will have a lot of salt in it too.

When you put this on your rolls, you want to "drain" the meat so your bread isn't too soggy.

I serve this on hogie rolls lined with swiss or provolone cheese.  Sometimes I'll get a small cup of the juice from the crock and dip my sandwich like a french dip.  

YUMMO!

Bread...

This is my mom's super easy bread dough recipe. We use it for scones, bread, cinnamon rolls, regular rolls, home-made hot pockets...basically anything you need bread for!

My grandmother gave us her Kitchen-Aid mixer for a wedding present, and I LOVE it. It makes making bread, cookies, frosting, pretty much anything you need to mix, so much easier!! If you don't have a mixer, then kneading the bread by hand will work, and you get a great muscle work out as well! :)

In a bowl combine:

2 C. warm/hotish water
scant 1/4 C. sugar
scant 1/8 C. yeast

I usually stir my sugar in the water to dissolve it before adding the yeast. Give the yeast a bit to work. I usually give it about 15 minutes. It will look all foamy as it works.

Then add

1 tsp salt
about 1/4 C. oil
3 C. flour

As that flour kneads in, add more flour as necessary to have a nice smooth dough, not too sticky. In all, you'll need about 4 to 4 1/2 C of flour.

I always put my dough in a lightly oiled bowl to let it rise. Let your dough double in size then punch it down. After it has risen at least once, you can use it for whatever you need.

I bake everything that I use this bread dough for at 350. It takes about 30 minutes. When baking bread or rolls, one test my mom used for checking if it was done was lightly shake the bread pan, and if the bread is loose in the pan, it's done!

Beef Barley Soup

I made this a few weeks ago and I ended up making too much for just Matt and I, so I froze the stuff we didn't eat. Last night was extra chilly, and we were watching our nieces and nephew, so I pulled it out for dinner. Combined with homemade rolls, it was a hit!!

Beef Barley Soup

Approximately 3 cups of beef broth
1 small can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
stew meat
carrots
peas
green beans
sliced celery
cubed potatoes
salt
pepper
garlic
rosemary
basil

**My cheater tip...I buy frozen green beans and the frozen bag of peas & carrots. That way I don't have to dice the carrots! They are all even sized cubes and it works SO nice! For the potatoes, you could probably even use the cubed hashbrowns if you wanted...especially if you are in a hurry!

This soup is really one that you cook to taste. Put in as much of any ingredient that you want.

Brown your stew meat in a pan with just a touch of oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Combine all of your ingredients in a pot and cook until the everything (meat, veggies and barley) is tender. You may want to add more seasonings. I didn't use a ton of rosemary or basil, but a touch adds a great flavor!

I used about 1/3 cup of barley, and it was perfect. Barley, like rice, will swell in the liquid, so remember that when putting it in your soup!

This soup freezes well, and is fantastic on a cold day!

Pumpkin Bread

I LOVE fall and winter. It's gotten colder here, and I am excited. For some reason, fall = comfort food! So wrong, yet so good!! Here's a recipe I tried this weekend!

Pumpkin Bread

1 15oz can of pumpkin
1 1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cube (1/2 cup) of butter
3 eggs
3 - 4 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 cups of nuts or chocolate chips

Cream together the first 4 ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine 3 cups of flour and the next 4 ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. You want the dough to be thick...a spoon should be able to stand up in it. If you need to, add as much of the 4th cup of flour to make it thick. Then add in your nuts and/or chocolate chips.

Grease and flour your pans, bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. I doubled the recipe and it made 3 loaves...2 large and 1 medium. I ended up overbaking mine a bit...62 minutes would be perfect. You can also make this into muffins.

It was DELISH. I think it will be even more tasty if you top with some cream cheese, or even eat it like a cake and add some whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Slacker...

I am sorry I have been neglecting this blog...but I've quit working, so hopefully I can post more yummy recipes.

I have a few to share!!

Look for:

Pizza crust
Calzones
Pizza Rolls
Cheesecake
Cinnamon Rolls
Bread

And any others I find!

Tomato Butter Sauce...

I have found my new favorite sauce.

It has BUTTER in it. Sweet, golden, delicious butter. And it tastes FANTASTIC with tortellini or ravioli. It is also good with just regular spaghetti, but I think I like it better with a "filled" pasta.

Put about 1/4 cup of butter (1/2 of a cube) in a sauce pan, and melt on low heat. While that melts, crush 2-3 cloves of garlic. Saute the fresh garlic in the butter.

Take 1 can of diced tomatoes, and kind of mush them up a bit more. If you are a "non-chunky" type of person, just use plain sauce. Add the tomatoes to the butter & garlic. I also add about 1/3 of a small can of tomato paste to "thicken" it up, if I can't let it simmer very long.

Add about 1/8 of a tsp of italian seasoning, and if you want, cut up some large chunks of onion to simmer in this sauce.

I let is simmer for about 20 minutes, and it is SO delicious! Before you serve it, fish out the chunks of onion, pour over pasta and serve.

I seriously could drink this sauce, I love it. It has SUCH a different taste than other tomato sauces.

Like I said, I love it with tortellini or ravioli, with a nice chunk of garlic bread to the side.

ENJOY!!! (I know I do!)

I haven't forgotten...

I really do have some good recipes & tips to post...but I think I've been having blogger's block....

So to hold you over, here's a snack tip...

Instead of using regular vegetable oil when you pop popcorn on the stove, use coconut oil. It makes the popcorn taste very yummy, and it's more healthy than olive oil!

My parents have started using this oil for most everything, and they love it. Apparently there is a lot of health benefits to it too...and it's cheaper than Olive Oil. Check it out for yourself and see what you think!

Now I'm going to enjoy popcorn and a movie with Matt, and I'll be back soon with some new recipes/menu ideas. I have some DELICIOUS ones to share!