Prime Rib Rub

Ingredients

* 1 bone in prime rib beef roast, 3 ribs, about 6 pounds
* 5 garlic cloves, smashed
* 1/4 cup grated fresh or prepared horseradish
* Leaves from 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
* Leaves from 4 fresh thyme sprigs
* 1/2 cup kosher salt
* 1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil


Directions

Preheat the oven to 275-350 degrees F. (depends on how much time you have the lower the temperture the better the roast.)

Lay the beef in a large roasting pan with the bone side down. (The ribs act as a natural roasting rack.) In a small bowl mash together the garlic, horseradish, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a paste. Massage the paste generously over the entire roast. Put the pan in the oven and roast the beef until the internal temperature of the meat registers 135 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer (medium-rare), 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove the beef to a carving board cover with tin foil and let it rest for 20-30 minutes before carving. Throw back into oven on broil to crisp up the crust if wanted.

Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake

1 cup Coca Cola (real thing, not diet)
1/2 cup oil
1 stick butter
3 Tablespoon cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

1 stick butter
3 Tablespoon cocoa
6 Tablespoon of cream or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar

In a saucepan, mix Coca Cola, oil, butter and cocoa and bring to a boil. In another bowl, combine the sugar, flour and salt. Pour the boiling Cola mixture over the flour mixture and beat well. Add the eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla and beat well. Pour mixture into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees or 20 to 25 minutes. Remove pan. Cool for about 10 minutes before frosting.

Frosting: In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk. Heat until the butter melts. Beat in the remaining ingredients and spread on the cake while it's still warm. Enjoy!

Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce

Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions

This dish is actually quite easy to prepare, surprisingly low in carbs and utterly delicious.  I got it from this web-site
It seriously is better than eating out. Love it!
Ingredients
1 1/2 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 of a Large Onion - Thinly sliced
1 Package of Whole Mushrooms - Halved (I used baby bellas... So Yummy!)
1/2 Cup of Chicken Broth
1 Cup Heavy Cream
5 Tbs. Butter - Divided
1/2 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
(2 Tbs. Peace and Love)

Directions
Sauté onions over medium heat in 2 Tbs of butter until they are nice and caramelized - About 15 Minutes.  When they are a nice golden brown, remove from the heat and set aside

In a separate pan, heat the remaining 3 Tbs. of butter over medium-high heat.  Place the chicken breasts in the pan.  Brown on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside (Note - they will not be all the way cooked at this stage)

De-glaze the pan with the chicken stock.  Use a rubber spatula to make sure you get all the chicken bits and butter off the pan. This helps to flavor your sauce

Add the heavy cream and the balsamic vinegar and stir

Add mushrooms and a little S&P, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes

Add the chicken back to the pan, turn heat back up to medium and sauté until the chicken is cooked all the way through.  About 10-15 minutes

Remove chicken breasts from the pan and plate.  Add the Parmesan and caramelized onions to the sauce and keep stirring until the cheese is completely melted in.

Cover the chicken breasts with the sauce, SERVE AND ENJOY!!!

I garnish a lot of my dishes with freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley.  It does not change the flavor, I just think it makes for a prettier plate presentation.

Exploding Volcanoes

First let me start by saying I love zucchini in all forms. My boys however don't share that some love. In fact the only way they eat it willingly is in zucchini bread and only if the recipe has lots of sugar so it is more like cake than bread. But a few weeks back we had been given a big hearty zucchini and I decided to try a little something new. My boys are also willing to try foods more often if they have crazy names... like pterodactyl eggs (little red potatoes) or stegosaurus meat (chicken) usually it is their dad that comes up with the names. But after I made these little creations and Luke asked what they were I decided to call them "Exploding Volcanoes" and you know what...they ate them. And Luke liked his so much he told me to take a picture of the extra one, now I'm glad he did!
I wish I had written down exact measurements, but I didn't and I'm quite certain this is one of those recipes that you could just kind of throw whatever in. Here is what I remember.

1 large zucchini,

1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced and drained or 1 can diced tomatoes drained

1/2-1 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup shredded cheese, I used Monterrey jack

1/2 cup diced zucchini (use the stuff you hollow out)

Garlic Salt to taste ( I actually used Johnny's garlic spread & seasoning which I bought at Costco)

1. Cut the zucchini into 2-3 inch sections. Making sure it is a flat cut so they will sit on a cookie sheet nicely. So it is like a cup

2. Scoop out the inside of each "cup" leaving at least 1/4 inch of flesh on the bottom and around the sides, so things don't leak out. The sides you can get a little closer but not too much or it will cave in.

3. Dice the scooped zucchini up to add to the rest of the ingredients. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl until well blended.

4. Put the mixture into each cup.

5. Spray a cookie Sheet with cooking spray

6. Put stuffed zucchini cups on tray

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes @350°

I checked mine at 20 minutes and they needed just a bit longer. You could also add more cheese to the top at this point and then cook a few minutes longer if you like a lot of cheese. Something I hope to try in the future would be to add sauteed onions and garlic to the mixture.

Curried Chicken Kati Rolls

This is a perfect hot summer day meal. If you have a grill there is no need to use your oven! I adapted it from a Family Fun recipe. It does require a little planning a head because you marinate the chicken over night, but it is well worth it!

1/2 cup greek yogurt
3 large cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala (can be found in the spice isle at most grocery stores)
1/2 tsp curry
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 1/4" rounds
2 tsp canola oil
2 Tbsp Mango salsa
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
6 whole wheat tortillas
Cilantro

1. For the marinade whisk together the yogurt, garlic, ginger, garam masala, curry, turmeric, cumin, 1 Tbsp of lime juice and 1 1/2 tsp of salt in large ziploc bag. Make 2-3 cuts into the top of each chicken thigh and add the thighs to the marinade. Turn them to coat well and gently massage the marinade into the cuts. Seal the bag and refrigerate the chicken overnight.

2. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before cooking. Heat your grill to medium high. Brush the onion slices with the canola oil and liberally oil the grates. Grill the chicken and the onions, turning them once, until the onions are tender and charred, about 3 minutes, and the meat is just cooked through about 6 minutes.

3. While the chicken and the onions are cooking, combine the mango salsa, mayonnaise, and remaining tsp of lime juice in a small dish.

4. Transfer the chicken and onions to a cutting board and sprinkle the onions with the remaining salt. Tent with foil and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Slice the chicken across the grain into 1/2" strips Warm the tortillas under a damp paper towel in the microwave for 30 seconds. Spoon 2 tsp of the salsa sauce down the center of each tortilla, then top them with the chicken and onions, adding a few sprigs of cilantro. Roll the tortillas burrito style and enjoy!

We don't currently have a grill so I broiled the chicken and sauteed the onions on the stove and it still worked well. The FF recipe did a few things differently, but the 2 main things were it called for 1 tsp coriander, but I didn't have any so I substituted the 1/2 tsp curry. The FF recipe also called for mango chutney but I couldn't that anywhere and couldn't find a good mango to make my own so I tried mango salsa and it was just fine. Pretty easy and very tasty!

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Saute and brown; set aside
      1 Onion
      1/2 Pound of Sausage

Noodles
     Boil and rinse 1/2 bag of macaroni noodles

White Sauce
      2 TBS margarine
      3 TBS Flour
      3 tsp reduced-sodium chicken bouillon granules (optional)
      1 1/2 cups boiling water
      1 C milk
      Pepper to taste

      In a saucepan, melt margarine. Stir in flour, and bouillon until blended. Gradually add water and milk. Brink to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Season with pepper.

Combine
      All ingredients in a 9x13 pan that has been oiled and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until bubbling on the top. Then add grated cheese to the top to cover. Let sit for 10 minutes and serve.

Chicken Enchiladas

3 chicken breasts or 9 chicken tenderloins
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 C Sour Cream
1 can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 C Salsa
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp peppers
1 tsp cumin
Velveeta Cheese
Shredded Cheese
10-12 Tortillas

Cook chicken in oven until tender and shred. Brown onion and garlic in oil. Mix all ingredients minus cheeses with chicken and browned onion and garlic.Spoon into tortillas. Sprinkle shredded cheese and Velveeta cheese on top. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.