Roasted Green Beans

When I was growing up my Southern grandmother did a lot of the cooking in our house. She lived with us and made biscuits so perfect they could bring tears to your eyes. She used to sit on the front porch every day, smoking, and sometimes, snapping beans for supper. Using a spoon she would snap off the ends of green beans, sometimes 6 or more at a time, snap the bean in half and toss it in her bean bowl. My brother and I and a bunch of the neighborhood kids would be playing baseball in our front yard (making a mess of the lawn my dad took such meticulous care of--he never could keep grass at the "bases") and she would watch us while snapping her beans. So, I thought about her this afternoon while I was snapping beans for dinner and watching "my program," as she would call our afternoon soap opera. I miss her terribly, but it's nice to know that little moments can bring me right back to my childhood--listening to the crack of the baseball on the bat while she snapped beans on the front porch.

You will need:

1 pound fresh green beans, rinsed
olive (or canola) oil
kosher salt (or sea salt)
pepper (optional)
foil-lined cookie sheet with sides



Aren't those beautiful green beans? They deserve another look...



Preheat your oven to 425.

I use a two-bowl system. One bowl for the cast-off ends and one bowl for the beans. Use a spoon to snap off the ends.



If you have long beans, snap them in half so they are all about the same size and will cook evenly.



My grandmother always boiled her green beans with bacon, Southern style. But I think she would love them prepared this way, too. Put the beans on the cookie sheet and drizzle them with oil. Use your hands to toss them around until they are completely coated.



Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if you like. I use Kosher salt, but if you are concerned about your sodium intake switch to sea salt. They will be perfectly seasoned with a lot less sodium.



Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Then remove from oven and toss.



Bake for another 8 minutes and they are done. Easy as that. They will be slightly browned. If you want to fancy them up, toss in some toasted almonds or even some bacon bits. But I like them plain.



They are so good! I eat them like candy and we never, never have leftovers.



Emjoy!

Trick or Treat Cookies

October kicks off my favorite time of year. From now until xmas I bake, bake, and bake some more. There are endless recipes to make and endless excuses to make them. Today's excuse: it's Tuesday! :) These chocolate cookies are egg-free, easy on the sugar, and have a hidden treat inside.

You will need:

3/4 cup butter (I used Smart Balance)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour (I used King Arthur white whole wheat)
1 square unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
24 mini Reese's peanut butter cups
icing (your choice of flavor and color)



I used my stand mixer and beat the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat again.



Now add the flour...



and beat until well blended.



I melted the chocolate in the microwave on power 4 for 45 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds.



Add the chocolate to the cookie batter...



and mix until combined.



Wrap the cookie dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for one hour. This step makes it easier to form the dough around the peanut butter cups.



For each cookie you will need two tablespoons of dough. Form one tablespoon into a little cup.



Place the peanut butter cup inside and form the dough around the sides of it.



Use the second tablespoon to form a top and form around the candy.



Place the cookies two inches apart and a parchment-lined or lightly greased cookie sheet.



Bake at 325 for 17 minutes.



I topped the cookies with orange icing from my new decorating pens from Williams Sonoma. I found them difficult to use and think I'll stick to my decorating bags from now on. But the icing tasted great! These cookies are light on the sugar because of the peanut butter cups. They are great with no icing at all, but the kids like them with the added pop of the sugary icing.



Enjoy!

Dulce de Leche Brownies

It did not take me long after writing my last post to figure out what I wanted to do with the dulce de leche. I have a recipe bookmarked that I have wanted to make for a long time. So, adapted from Baking Bites Dulce de Leche Brownies.

You will need:

1/2 cup butter (Smart Balance)
2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup flour (I used King Arthur white whole wheat)
3 T cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (+) dulce de leche



I melted the chocolate and Smart Balance in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat, set aside, and cool. (I took a picture, but it turned out blurry and unusable.)

Whisk together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. You don't really need to use your stand mixer for this recipe. Very simple process.



While whisking, pour in the cooled chocolate mixture.



Then whisk in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.





Pour the batter into a parchment-lined, lightly greased 8-inch baking dish. Baking Bites used tin foil instead of parchment. So, whatever you have on hand. :) Then drop the 1/2 cup (or a little more) of dulce de leche by spoonfuls onto the batter. Use a knife to carefully swirl it around.



Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes. Or do like I did...shut the door to the bedroom and totally forget that you have brownies in the oven. I think they cooked for about 33 minutes. Could be more...or less. Was at least 30 because that's what I set the timer for and it was blaring away when I finally remembered the brownies. But they didn't burn!



I picked up the parchment sides to remove the brownies from the pan. You could let them cool before slicing as Baking Bites suggests. OR you can cut into them right away and feast. Like we did. Be careful biting into them if you don't let them cool. The dulce de leche is super hot.



And gooey. And sweet. And awesome.



With some of the leftover dulce you can spread a little more on top of the brownies. I have discovered that there is no such thing as too much dulce de leche. Ooooooo, baby!



Enjoy!

Williams Sonoma

Yesterday I took the monkeys to the mall. We had not been in two years and before that, only went when I needed a new watch battery at Sears. We aren't mall people...but I used to be. When I was 12 and up (all the way through middle and high school) I hung out at the mall with my friends all the time. Every weekend. Senior year, we even went there every day for lunch. (I even met my hubby there!) But kids don't really do that anymore, or maybe parents are too scared to drop off their kids for the day. I know I am. I'm starting to feel a "back in the day" vibe come over me. :) Anyway, I thought it would be fun to hang out with the girls for a day of walking the mall. At first, they weren't really into it, then they had a short lived window shopping frenzy, and then they got tired and wanted to leave. But we shopped, had slices of Sbarro pizza, icees, reluctantly passed by Starbucks and didn't get a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and spent so long in the Williams Sonoma that the girls got bored and wandered off to Forever 21.
I have a love affair with Williams Sonoma. I dream of shopping there and buying one of everything. It will never happen. Talk about sticker shock! I like to go in and drool over the Lime Kitchen Aids and fondle the Lemongrass Dutch Ovens. So while the kids sampled all of the lotions and fresh baked cookies, I hit the clearance (soon-to-expire) rack. Then I splurged and bought a ridiculous pocket pie mold. No, I didn't need it and no, I probably won't use it very often. But so cute!!!



On the soon-to-expire rack was some Black Jewell popcorn kernels. I had never heard of it and hubby did ask me to pick up some popcorn for the Gators game that night. Good enough excuse for me! We would watch football while eating Premium Williams Sonoma popcorn. Take that Orville!



I popped it on the stove in a little oil and it was really, really good. Bubba said he prefers Orville, but the girls and I have more sophisticated tastes (yeah, right) and liked the Black Jewell better. But if I'm going to be perfectly honest...there wasn't that much difference. Also, the popcorn came out looking burnt since it was black inside. It did not taste burnt, though. Yum! (The Gators won, of course, but it was a close game. LSU is a good team. Not Gator good, but good in their own right.)



I also got some Dulce de Leche. It was less than $2, otherwise I would not have bothered. I would have just bought a can of condensed milk and boiled it to make my own. I was curious to see how store bought tasted though.



It was yummy!! Not really very different from homemade, though. Certainly not better. It will be fun thinking up a recipe to use it...if the kids don't eat it all plain first. :)



I got two soon-to-expire decorating pens. In orange so we are sure to use them immediately. On sale from $2.49 to $.62--the price they should be normally, I think. I am anxious to try them out! I already have a plan...



I debated about whether to get the pumpkin pie mold or apple pie mold and finally decided on apple. After I bought it I immediately wished I had gotten the pumpkin. Maybe I'll just cut off the apple pie stem and call it pumpkin. :) The sales lady said I could have both for $16, but I felt like I was being sufficiently ridiculous by purchasing one. I did hesitate for a moment, though...



I am really excited to try out my pocket pie mold! I even have some apples leftover from my trip to NY. I'll post the pictures! Now I have to go figure out which kid isn't getting any xmas presents so Mama can have a green Dutch Oven....

Shredded Beef Tacos

Tacos are big in our house. We have them at least twice a month, sometimes once a week. They are the perfect dinner when you are in a rush and need something quick, but (unlike the kids) I get tired of them and feel the need to switch things up. I like this recipe soooo much more than just browning boring ground beef. To say (write) that these tacos are more flavorful would be an understatement. The best part of this recipe is you can throw everything into the slow cooker, leave for work, and come home to a delicious, hot dinner with very little prep left to do. No leftovers with this recipe!

You will need:

a rump roast, cut into thirds (size dependent on how many you are serving)
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 onion
1 envelope taco seasoning (my fav is Taco Bell)
1/2 cup picante sauce
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
slow cooker





Chop the onion and add it and the garlic to the bottom of your slow cooker.



Place your roast on top.



Sprinkle with seasoning packet.



Pour your picante sauce on top...



then the chicken broth and you are done!



Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. We eat at 4:30 every day, so I put everything in at noon and it was ready at 4. Then I just switched the slow cooker over to warm and let it sit for a half hour.



After the meat is done, remove from the slow cooker. I used two forks to pull it apart since it was so hot. You want it shredded, like pulled pork.



Then add the meat back to the slow cooker and stir.



Now for the hard decision...do I want a taco salad?



Or a soft taco? (in a whole wheat tortilla, of course)



I go for the salad every time and like to drizzle it with Catalina dressing. With a ton of sour cream. Yum!!!



Enjoy!