Something different today. If you have a pet, you know you want the very best for them and you want to feed them the best and it's scary with food recalls in the news almost every day. I made these treats for my cat and he was actually waiting in the kitchen for them to cool.
Cheezy Cat Treats
3/4 cup Cheddar Jack cheese, shredded
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp Romano cheese, grated
1/4 cup plain yogurt, use plain, not any flavored not even vanilla
1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup water
Combine all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Roll into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface.
Roll out dough until 1/4" thick. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Score the dough in 1/4" pieces.
Bake for 20 minutes at 325°. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut apart and store in an air-tight container.
Besides having an easy meat dish that cooked itself in the crock pot yesterday, I made this very incredibly tasty and simple to make pasta to accompany it.
Cacio e Pepe
6 oz angel hair pasta
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp pepper, freshly ground
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/4 cup Romano cheese, freshly grated
1 cup pasta water
Cook the angel hair pasta for 3-4 minutes in salted, boiling water. As it is cooking, melt 2 tbsp butter in a large frying pan. Add in pepper and cook for a minute. Remove 1/2 cup of the pasta water and stir in. Take out another 1/2 cup pasta water before draining. Add angel hair to the frying pan along with the remainder of the butter. Mix together with tongs and reduce the heat. Add in grated cheeses and toss the pasta until completely coated. Add in additional pasta water if needed.
It's not often that I'm mincing onions and garlic before 7 a.m. but in this case it was worth it. This cut of beef needs a long, slow cooking time so it was perfect to put in the crock pot and forget about it for 10 hours.
Apple Butter Beef Brisket
1 beef brisket, mine was 2.3 pounds
1/4 cup onions, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup apple butter
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp Ancho chili pepper
Place the beef brisket in the bottom of your crock pot. In a small bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients. Pour over the brisket so it's covered. Place the lid on your crock pot and set to medium heat and cook for 10 hours.
The days are getting shorter but the weeks are seeming to get longer, at least the work week. Weekends go by too fast. I was busy with household chores when I put together these pork chops and sauce and it was so easy and came out fantastic.
Dr Pepper Pork Chops
4 pork chops, mine were boneless and about 1/2" thick
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Dr Pepper
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup bbq sauce
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
Heat oil in a large frying pan. When heated, add in pork chops and lightly brown on both sides. In a large measuring cup or small bowl, mix together Dr Pepper, ketchup, bbq sauce and red pepper flakes. Place browned pork chops in a greased baking pan. Pour sauce over the chops. Using tongs, flip the chops over so both sides are in the sauce. Bake for 30 minutes at 350° or until internal temperature of the chops is 150°. Serve with the sauce on the side.
There's a lot of flavor packed in this meatloaf and it's all good. It's also moist thanks to the addition of ricotta cheese. I used to drown my meatloaf in ketchup but not this one. The herbs give this the lift it needs to be a meal that I want to make more often.
Italian Meatloaf
1 # extra lean ground beef
1/2 # ground pork
1 large egg
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup onions, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp Italian Seasonings
1 tsp oregano
3/4 bread crumbs
In a small pan, heat the olive oil. Add in onions and cook until translucent. Add in garlic and cook for another minute. Let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, add in all of the ingredients. My method for combining is getting both hands in and mixing until it's all combined evenly. Bake at 325° until the internal temperature of the meatloaf is 155°. Remove from oven and pan. Cover and let sit 10 minutes before serving.
Sometimes you have a craving for chocolate. At least I do. I wanted just one ooey gooey brownie with 1/2" thick chocolate frosting on top of it. I could have made that but I opted to make this sauce that is silky and slightly decadent. I calmed my guilty conscience by using it to dip apples in but am thinking about making some closer to Christmas as a gift to friends to use as ice cream topping.
Caramel Chocolate Sauce
2/3 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 oz Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/2 tsp vanilla
In a heavy saucepan, combine whipping cream, butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 2 minutes and add in chocolate. Keep on the heat and continue stirring for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve either warm or all to cool.
I decided to get a jump on my holiday baking and what better way then to make some ginger snap cookies which makes the entire house smell heavenly. The candied ginger gives a burst of flavor but I didn't want to add too much in because it can be overpowering.
Candied Ginger Snaps
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup candied ginger, minced
1/2 cup sugar for rolling
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add in egg and molasses. Sift together dry ingredients and spices and mix in to butter mixture. Fold in candied ginger pieces. Roll dough into 1" balls and roll in sugar. Place balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 325°.
Makes 34 cookies.
