Baked Scallops

Preheat the oven to 400.  Thaw 12 oz of frozen bay scallops.  Melt 4 tbsp butter in a glass pie plate.  Spread the scallops out in the pie plate in a single layer.  Pour a few tbsp of stout beer over them.  (I usually use white wine, but I didn't have any...so I used beer instead).  Sprinkle bread crumbs and garlic powder over the scallops.  Bake for 20 minutes.  

scallops with angel hair, brussels sprouts, and bacon

Pita Bread

A few weeks ago, The Beeroness posted a recipe for pita bread.  It had never occurred to me before to make a pita bread, but I loved the idea.  I have made bread and rolls that work for sandwiches, but I haven't loved any of them for sandwiches.  Pita bread is great for sandwiches though, so I was excited to try it out.  Also, I got to try using the dough hook attachment on my mixer for the first time.  Wow was that so much easier and less messy than kneading bread by hand...

Ingredients

1 c whole wheat flour

1 1/2 c white flour

1 envelope rapid rise yeast

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp salt

1 c Killian's Irish Stout

Directions

Combine the dry ingredients in the mixer.  Heat the beer in the microwave until it reaches 120 degrees.  Add it to the mixer and mix it until smooth.  It only took a few minutes in my mixer.  Cover the dough and let it rise for an hour (mine ended up rising for more like 2 hours because I was busy).  Knead the risen dough with a little bit of flour, then divide it into 8 chunks.  Flatten each chunk as thin as possible.  Heat a non-stick skillet, and cook the pitas one at a time.  Cook for a few minutes on each side.  

Rip a pita in half, and carefully slice each half open.  

Fill it with some yummy chicken salad.  

I'll be having pita sandwiches for lunch this week!

Diabolical Bacon Cookies

Somebody come save me from myself! I was left unsupervised on a rainy Sunday, and 45 of these appeared in my kitchen.  There are still 42 left...

Ingredients

1/2 stick butter

1/4 c vegetable oil

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c white sugar

1/4 c stout beer

4 slices of bacon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 c white flour

mini chocolate chips

My new favorite stout (after Guinness of course)

Magic Hat's Heart of Darkness Stout

Directions

Chop the bacon into little pieces.  Throw it in a skillet on medium heat.  When the bacon starts to look crispy, drain the excess grease.  Add the beer, cook until the liquid has evaporated off.  When done, put the bacon on a paper towel to soak up any remaining grease.

In a mixing bowl, combine the other ingredients, in the order listed.  Add the bacon and chocolate chips last.

Put tiny spoonfuls of batter onto a baking sheet.  I got 3 sheets of 15 cookies each.   

Cook at 375 for 6 minutes.  

(Longer if you make bigger cookies)

Enjoy responsibly with some beer.

Pot Roast Sandwich

For the Pot Roast:

Sprinkle whole wheat flour and brown sugar across the bottom of a crockpot.  Roll a 2.5 lb roast around in the flour and sugar.  Mix together 1/2 c pumpkin, 1/2 c orange juice, and 1 c cranberry juice, then pour the mixture over the roast.  Cook on high for 6 hours, then shred the roast.  

For the Sandwich:

Toast a whole wheat bun.  Put a handful of arugula on the bottom half of the bun.  Cover with pot roast.  Add some tomato slices and avocado. Add the top bun.  

Eat. Devour.

Cucumber-Ranch Dressing

1/2 large cucumber, chopped

1/4 c ranch dressing

garlic powder

ginger powder

basil

throw it all in a food processor and blend it up

I didn't have any salad greens left, so I used this as a dip for my carrots.

Fruity Chicken Salad II

Ingredients

3 b/s chicken breasts

rice vinegar

cranberry juice

veggie stock

large handful of red grapes

1/4 c craisins

1 large granny smith apple

1 tbsp mustard

3 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Directions

Clean the chicken breasts and place them in the bottom of a pot.  Sprinkle with rice vinegar.  Add enough water to come about halfway up the sides of the chicken.  Add veggie stock until just below covering the chicken.  Add cranberry juice until well covered.  Cook on the stove on medium heat until it begins to boil.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 20 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the pot and shred with a fork.  Mix with the ginger, mustard, and turmeric.

Chop the grapes and apple, then add them to the seasoned chicken.  Mix in the craisins.  Mix together the mustard and mayo, then stir the mixture into the chicken/fruit.  

Artichoke-Avocado Dip

This could also be called "Leftovers Dip."  I basically through a bunch of things together in a bowl.  I put half an avocado on my burger and wanted to make some sort of chip-dip with the other half.  I also had a little bit of tomato left, so I chopped it up and added it to the avocado.  Then I chopped up an artichoke heart and added that.  And then, I squirted some ranch on top.  And mixed it all up.  It was awesomely delicious with multi-grain tortilla chips.

Loaded Burger

Cook up a batch of purist burgers.

Toast a bun.  

Cover the bottom bun with guacamole.

Add a slice of tomato.

Add a burger.

Add some bacon.

Add some onions & mushrooms.

Add the top bun.  

EAT.

PB & Butterscotch Chip Cookies

1/2 stick butter

1/4 c vegetable oil

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c white sugar

1 egg

3/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

4-5 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

1/2 c wheat flour

1 c white flour

1/3 c butterscotch chips

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Cranberry-Beef Stew

2 lb pot roast

(coat with wheat flour, cinnamon, and cocoa powder)

5 carrots

(chopped)

1/2 onion, 4 cloves garlic, big chunk of ginger

(chopped and sauteed)

1/2 c cranberries

1/2 c pumpkin, 1/2 c beef broth, 1 c cranberry juice

(blended)

5 large mushrooms, chopped

Place the coated pot roast in the bottom of a crockpot.  Put the sauteed stuff on top.  Dump the carrots on top, then the cranberries.  Pour the liquids over the contents of the pot, then scatter the mushrooms on top.  If you have a bunch of extra flour/cinnamon/cocoa coating like I did, sprinkle some on top.

 Cook on low for 7.5 hours. 

(My pot roast was pretty thin.  If yours is thicker it may take more time.)

When the meat is cooked through, remove it from the pot.  Shred the meat, discard the fat.

Return the shredded meat to the pot and stir well.

I ate mine with some barley.  Delicious.

Lemon-Oatmeal Cookies

Lemon-Oatmeal Cookies

(sorry...I was in a hurry and didn't take any exciting pictures)

1/2 stick butter

1/4 c vegetable oil

1 egg

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c white sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp lemon extract

1/4 c quick oats
1/2 c wheat flour
3/4 c white flour

1 tsp crushed rosemary

Bake at 375 for 8-10 min

Cookie Give-away winner!

And the winner is...Keveney Bair!

Let me know which kind of cookies you would like from the blog, or if you would like me to surprise you.

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