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Fresh Rosemary-Parmesan Rolls

On Friday I did some major spring cleaning in the house.  Moving things around, organizing and washed and dried a ton of laundry.  No really, I’m pretty sure it was an actual ton.  My older boys being the size of men makes for some massive laundry piles.  Not to mention the mud and the cow manure and more grosser things that get on our clothes during calving.  But who wants to hear about that?

So on Saturday, I was a little tired of cleaning.  I was ready to do some cooking.  I had a fresh bunch of rosemary that my Mom sent from her massive rosemary plant or maybe it’s considered a bush.  I added a little to the bread dough and let me tell you, it made the best bread ever!

I don’t want to tell you how many of these rolls I ate fresh out of the oven.  I can’t even fathom the carbs but it was worth every one! Making homemade bread is like therapy, kneading seems to make stress melt away.  With 2 teenage boys and a ornery seven-year old, stress is a definite issue for me.  Not to complain, they are good, hard-working kids.  But it’s like the old saying about paying for your raising, and all I can say is, “Sorry Mom & Dad!”

I told the boys that they shouldn’t even try the rolls because they were awful.  They didn’t buy it, they had already tried them and I had to share!

I  believe I will be making these again soon and begging Mom for more rosemary!  I may have to actually get on the treadmill, heaven forbid, right?

Fresh Rosemary-Parmesan Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (95 to 100 degrees F)
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 egg
• 4 1/2 to 5 cups all purpose flour (King Arthur is best)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced or grated

Cooking Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, add warm water, yeast, sugar and olive oil.  Stir together and set aside about 5 minutes or until yeast starts to bubble.

Mix in egg and stir in 1 cup of flour.  Add salt and an additional 2 cups of flour, Parmesan cheese and rosemary, stirring until well combined. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.

Pour onto a well floured surface.  Knead for 5 minutes, adding flour about 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time as needed.  Dough should be flexible but not sticky.

Shape into rolls and place in a well-greased baking pan.  I used 2 small pans.

Cover with a flour sack towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake rolls for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

While rolls are baking, add butter and minced garlic clove to a small saucepan.  Cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

When you remove rolls from oven, immediately brush them with garlic butter and devour!

Yield: 20 rolls.

Enjoy!

Miss

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Loaded Tater Tots

A while back I saw Heather Christo’s Homemade Tater Tots.  I immediately made them and couldn’t believe how easy and uber delicious they were.  You must visit Heather’s blog, totally gorgeous and delicious food!

I was then inspired to jazz them up a little with cheese, sour cream, bacon and green onions.  Let me tell you there is no better way to eat leftover mashed potatoes!!  These are out of this world, I promise you will love them.  It’s all of the wonderful flavors of a loaded baked potato wrapped up in a crunchy fried crust.  Bacon really makes everything better!

During the time when our cows are calving sometimes our schedules get a little off of normal.  We sleep when we can, usually taking late night or early morning shifts.  The two older boys are tremendous help!  So with the slightly off schedules, our eating habits are sometimes different too.  I still cook normal meals but everyone may or may not eat at the same time.  On occasion I end up with a bunch of leftovers, which I usually try to turn into something different.  These tater tots were ideal for the leftover mashed potatoes.

My cow watching is usually mornings and sometimes during the day if my husband has to be away for awhile.  The other day it was a sunny day and I went out to the 4 wheeler to go make a check.  My weanie dog Coco was begging to go.  So there we went through the meadow checking cows me driving and the weanie dog perched up in between the handle bars with the wind blowing her ears back.  I’m sure we were quite a sight.  Coco thinks she’s a cow dog but the cows do not take her too serious, well I guess most of the time they don’t take me too serious either!

Loaded Tater Tots

adapted from Heather Christo Cooks

Ingredients:

• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Colby-Jack, use what you have on hand)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 cups Panko bread crumbs
• vegetable oil for frying (about 3 cups)

Cooking Directions:

In a large bowl, combine mashed potatoes with remaining ingredients, except Panko and vegetable oil.  Mix thoroughly.

Add Panko to a shallow dish like a pie plate.

Heat vegetable oil in a dutch oven or heavy sauce pan  to about 350 degrees F.

Using a small cookie scoop or spoon to form potatoes, dropping each scoop into Panko.  Coat all sides of potato ball and form into a tater tot shape.

Fry a four or five at a time, turning to brown on all sides about one to two minutes.  Remove to a paper towel lined baking sheet to drain.

Serve with ketchup or ranch dressing.

Enjoy!

Miss

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Tex-Mex Pizza

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 How do you feed five or more on one pound of ground beef or one pound of leftover taco meat?  Tex-Mex Pizza of course!  Homemade pizza is so delicious and your family will love it.  You know we don’t have take-out so I have learned to make homemade pizza and I have to say it’s pretty darn delicious!

You can find the recipe at Sheridan Wyoming dot com.  Click on over and get it so you can make it this weekend. You will be glad you did!

Enjoy!

Miss

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Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake is my favorite dessert, well my favorite food for that matter.  I made this for my son’s birthday (my middle son turned 15!)  a few weeks ago and it was so good I had to make another one last week.  I would like to eat cheesecake every week but I don’t like the treadmill that much.

I also wanted to share this recipe with you as a celebration of this little blog turning two this week!  I have learned so much and met so many great friends, not to mention the many opportunities that I have had.

I read and appreciate every email and comment and I love the interacting with you on facebook, twitter, and pinterest.  I hope you continue to stop in and see what’s been going on in my kitchen!

Also if you somehow missed the avocado giveaway, head on over and enter!

Thanks so much and I hope you get a chance to celebrate with this cheesecake, it is fantastic!

Strawberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

crust:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

filling:

• 3  8 oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream

topping:

• 16 oz strawberries (I used frozen, sliced)
• 1/2 cup strawberry preserves

Cooking Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter into a small bowl and combine.  Press into a 9 or 10 inch springform pan.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Place cream cheese into mixer bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy.

Combine sugar and flour in a small bowl,add to cream cheese mixture and continue to beat until combined.  With mixer running, add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated.

Add vanilla and sour cream, beat 2 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom if necessary.

Pour over prepared crust.  Bake for 50-55 minutes or until center is set.  Remove from oven to wire rack to cool 1 hour.  Run a knife around edge of cheesecake pan and remove sides.  Refrigerated at least 4 hours before serving.

Meanwhile, prepare strawberry sauce.  Add strawberries and preserves to a blender or food processor and pulse about 10-12 times.  Pour into serving dish, cover and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

To serve, slice cheesecake and top with strawberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Miss

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Avocado Mania 

With Virtual Potluck & SoCal Avocados.  You may remember me mentioning SoCal Avocados last spring.  I can’t really put into words how great these avocados are.  My Virtual Potluck friends have created a great assortment of delectable recipes that you are going to want to try as soon as possible!  Be sure to see my round up post for all of the links!

Why order avocados online from SoCal Avocados?

1.  You will be supporting a small farm from California, which I personally find great satisfaction in.  Being a small rancher I can appreciate what it takes to keep a small place going and I love knowing where my food comes from.  It is of great importance to me to support the farms, ranches and small businesses of the United States.
2. SoCal Avocados offers the greatest customer service with amazing attention to detail.  Avocados ripen after they are picked from the tree.  So each order is hand-picked and carefully packed for each order.  You will not find a fresher avocado, unless you have your own tree! (Sadly I do not!)
3. Free shipping! And their prices are extremely affordable.
4. SoCal Avocados offers many varieties of avocados.  I am pretty sure the only variety I have ever seen at a grocery store was Haas.  Some of the different varieties are:

•  Bacon: Large smooth green skin avocados, slightly sweet flavor.
• Fuerte: Looks much like a Bacon except smaller,smooth, creamy and rich flavor. (My favorite)
• Pinkerton: Large body rough skin avocado with a thin neck. Good for Guacamole.
• Hass: Thick rough skin. Blackens when ripe but not the only indicator of ripeness, buttery taste, creamy and smooth.

SoCal Avocados offers a Avocado of the Month program!  How cool would that be?  What a great gift for those who are so hard to buy for!

Now wouldn’t you like a chance at winning a whole dozen avocados delivered fresh to your door?

AND THE WINNER IS: “Libby February 23, 2012 at 10:12 pm I would LOVE to try the bacon avocados!”

• To enter, head on over to SoCal Avocados and leave a comment here, telling me which variety you would most like to try.

For extra entries:

• Sign up for SoCal Avocados emails (found on left column of page).
• Follow SoCal Avocados on twitter.
• Sign up for Miss in the Kitchen emails or in your Rss feed.
• Leave a comment for each.

Open to US addresses.  Entries will be accepted through Saturday, February 25, 2012.

Shrimp & Avocado Salad Cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked shrimp, chopped small
• 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, diced and tossed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons jalapeno, minced
• 2 tablespoons green onion, diced

for dressing:

• 1 avocado, peeled and seeded
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoons cilantro
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 6 tablespoons milk

1 bag Tostito Cups or tortilla chips for serving.

Cooking Directions:

In a large bowl, combine, shrimp, tomato, cilantro, avocado, jalapeno and green onion.  Set aside.

In a food processor or blender combine all dressing ingredients and pulse 15 to 20 times, scraping down sides and continue to process until smooth.

Pour dressing over shrimp and avocado mixture, stirring tom combine.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve with Tostito Cups or tortilla chips.

*Would also be great rolled up into a flour tortilla!

Enjoy!

Miss

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Welcome to Avocado Mania with Virtual Potluck & SoCal Avocados!  We have prepared some amazing dishes featuring these rich and buttery, fresh from the tree avocados.  Be sure to visit each of the links below to get these great recipes along with a chance to win a wonderful assortment of avocados, picked fresh just for you and delivered to your door!

Heather from Farm Girl Gourmet has Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Alice’s Famous French Dressing.  My day might not be complete without one of these salads!

Matt from Thyme in Our Kitchen has Avocado Egg Rolls with Cilantro Dipping Sauce.  I have a thing for egg rolls and can’t wait to try these!

Avocado-Tuna Salad Over Jasmine Rice from Marnely at Cooking With Books.  She says it is her go to comfort food when cooking for herself.  Sounds so good!

Next we have Avocado Toasties with Kiwifruit Salsa and Bacon from Shelby at Diabetic Foodie.  I am drooling, just thinking about it.

Avocado, Fennel, & Beet Salad from Theresa at Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine.  Truly a beautiful salad with amazing flavor.

Avocado Ice Cream, you weren’t expecting that were you?  Well here we have it from Donna at Cookistry. I can’t wait to try it!

 Tara from Foodie has brought us some fabulous SoCal Guacamole.  I don’t know about you but I love guacamole so much I could eat it for breakfast!

Vanessa from the Groovy Foody has Dark Chocolate, Coconut Butter and Avocado Pudding.  I can imagine how silky smooth and rich this must be!

Shrimp and Avocado Salad Cups from yours truly!

 And Susan From 30A Eats has brought us Avocado Stuffed with Crab Meat Maison.  Delicious for sure!

I know you will want to check out all of these fine recipes! Thanks for stopping by and be sure to follow Virtual Potluck on twitter and facebook to stay up to speed on all of our great activities!

Enjoy!

Miss

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Best Ever Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

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Best cookies ever! I know I’ve probably said that a time or two but these were the best oatmeal cookies!  The toffee bits melt into gooey sweet goodness and then when they cool they are kind of chewy and crisp at the same time.

Notice there are only 2 cookies on the plate in the picture, because that’s all that was left! I haven’t had a batch of cookies disappear so fast in a while.  That tells me how much the guys the loved them and that I need to make them again soon!

I am getting  a major case of spring-itis, I want to be out in the sunshine when I am watching the heifers, not this overcast maybe it’s going to snow kind of weather.  I do realize there is at least 60 days left of it could snow at any minute weather.  So, I will tough it out by baking cookies!  How about you?

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 8 oz toffee bits

Cooking Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixer bowl, cream butter and brown sugar together until smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated.  Add flour, baking soda, and oats mixing until thoroughly combined.  Add toffee bits and mix until evenly distributed. Scoop onto a greased or lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Cool on the cookie sheet 3 to 5 minutes, and then carefully move to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store cooled cookies in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Miss

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My family loves cereal so much that  I usually buy the huge double pack boxes from Sam’s Club.  When Kashi offered a few of their new cereals for review as part of the Virtual Potluck Build a Better Me Healthy Blogging Challenge , I gladly joined the promotion.

Kashi is passionate about good, all natural foods.  Their cereals feature whole grains, which are all trying to fit into our diets more and more.

The family favorite of the three we are reviewing was the Cinnamon Harvest.  It provides 20% of your daily fiber and over 2/3 of your daily recommended whole grain intake.  Low in fat and sodium free, this just sounds better and better!  The flavors were great and it was a healthy and filling breakfast.

The Honey Sunshine reminded me of Cap’n Crunch just not so sugary sweet.   Made from Kashi’s heritage Seven Whole Grains and corn into a hearty flour and baked for the crunchy goodness we all crave. It is then tossed with the perfect touch of naturally sweet wildflower honey.  It is all natural with no artificial sweeteners and 5 grams of fiber and 1/3 of the whole grains recommended daily.

The third cereal is Berry Blossoms, which reminds me of the berry flavored Cap’n Crunch.  It is also made from the same whole grains and an excellent source of fiber and whole grains.  I am a strong believer in eating breakfast, if only I could convince my children!  We do enjoy cereal for breakfast or often times a late night snack.  It is great to have such tasty choices in cereal that you can feel good about eating and feeding your family.

Enjoy!

Miss

Disclosure: Kashi provided the cereals for review, opinions are my own.  Photos from Kashi.com

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Phyllo Cups with Chocolate No Bake Cheesecake Filling

Happy Valentine’s Day! I have been busy writing for the local blog Sheridan Wyoming dot com, developing recipes for the Wisconsin Cheese Blog and The Pig of the Month blog, and all for Valentine’s Day!  If you aren’t on facebook or twitter you may have missed these so I wanted to share them with you here as well.  Any of these special treats would make a perfect Valentine treat!

Check out the Phyllo Cups with Chocolate No Bake Cheesecake Filing on the Sheridan, Wyoming blog.  Easy cheesecake filling in a delicious phyllo cup.  A pretty dessert that tastes as good as it looks!  There’s also a great restaurant review for you local folks.  Click here to get this fabulous recipe.

Next up I have the Wisconsin White Cheddar Apple Pot Pies for the Wisconsin Cheese Blog.  These are dandy little treats featuring white cheddar cheese in the crust and the apple filling.  Simply delicious, what says I love you better than apple pie?  Click here for the recipe.

And last but certainly not least are the Reese’s Peanut Butter Valentine Cookies for Pig of the Month blog.  Classic peanut butter cookies with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Heart pressed into the warm centers.  Completely irresistible I tell you!  These disappear in a hurry and if you love chocolate and peanut butter like I do, they will do the trick.  Click here for the recipe.

Wishing you all a very special day with your loved ones, don’t forget to hug them a little tighter and tell them how you feel!

Enjoy!

Miss

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Easy Broccoli-Cheese Soup

I was at home one afternoon catching up on my dvr shows, Top-Chef- which is down to the final four and I will be so sad when it’s over; and the other show was The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network.  Of course those shows make me so hungry!

Well PW was making broccoli cheese soup with ham and I had to have a bowl soon.  I took a couple of her tips, like using the immersion blender and whipped some right up.  No ham in mine and I used a blend of different cheeses plus a secret ingredient. Well it’s not really secret, but it has become my go to ingredient to make an okay dish into to something that is fan-freaking-tastic!

My secret ingredient is More Than Gourmet Roasted Chicken Demi-Glace.  You didn’t think I would leave you hanging did you?  I had to postpone my cooking class over the weekend, featuring the More Than Gourmet products.  Dang the snow and icy roads!  So we have rescheduled for Saturday, February 18.  I hope everyone can still come!

Wyoming weather is so unpredictable and I’m overly cautious when it comes to icy roads.  The problem isn’t usually the snow, it’s the wind that blows the snow across the road to make ice.  Sometimes you can’t even see it, but it will be slick as glass!  I will say no thank you to driving on that!

With all of that snowy-icy weather this is the perfect soup to warm you right up!  It is ideal for those times you are in a hurry.  There are nights where we have soup, salad and bread just like The Olive Garden, except there’s no hour and a half wait for a table!  Just kidding, there really isn’t anything more satisfying than a bowl of homemade soup when it is cold outside!

Easy Broccoli-Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup onion
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 More Than Gourmet Roasted Chicken Demi-Glace
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups frozen broccoli florets
• 2 cups cheese ( I used a mixture of Dubliner, Colby-Jack, and Pepper-Jack, use what you have on hand)

Cooking Directions:
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, add butter and onions.  Cook over medium-high heat until onions start to brown.

Stir in flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Whisk in milk and half and half.  Lower heat to low.  Add demi-glace and salt, whisking until well combined and demi-glace is dissolved into milk.

Add broccoli and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
*Using an immersion blender, blend to desired consistency, as smooth or chunky as you like.

Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in cheese and serve immediately.

Yield: 4  small servings

Enjoy!
Miss

*Optional, if you do not have an immersion blender a traditional blender or food processor will work also to create a smooth soup.

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