Thursday, July 7, 2011

Crock Pot Cobbler


A few weeks ago, I had purchased a bunch of frozen raspberries for a dessert I was making for a family party. Unfortunately, the turnout at the party was not nearly what I had planned, and I was left with two bags of thawed raspberries that I could not re-freeze. In an effort to avoid wastefulness, I began scouring the internet for an easy recipe that I could use these raspberries in. Lucky for me, I came across this AMAZING crock pot berry cobbler recipe!

Ingredients

Filling:

  • 1 (10-ounce) bag frozen strawberries
  • 1 (10-ounce) bag frozen blackberries
  • 1 (10-ounce) bag frozen raspberries
  • 1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar, depending on your level of preferred sweetness
  • 1/2 cup baking mix

Topping:

  • 2 1/4 cups baking mix
  • 1/4 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Spray the insert of a slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray

In a large mixing bowl, toss together all the frozen fruit, sugar and 1/2 cup baking mix. Transfer the fruit to the slow cooker. In another large mixing bowl, stir together 2 1/4 cups baking mix, 1/4 cup sugar, melted butter and milk with a wooden spoon. With your hands, drop bits of dough on top of the fruit in the slow cooker. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and ground cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the dough and place the lid on the slow cooker. Turn the power onto high and slow cook for 3 to 4 hours until the topping has puffed and the fruit is bubbling.

Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.


My assumption is that you can use any type of berry in this recipe, but I just included my favorites. I love this recipe because it's fast and amazingly delicious! The prep only took me about ten minutes, and then I just left it for 4 hours. With 4 kids at home, my time is precious, so I really love the simplicity. It's a perfect dessert recipe!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Chimijitas - A Taste of Pure Happiness



Seriously, pure happiness! Today I was craving Mexican. Okay, I actually ALWAYS crave Mexican (or technically, tex-mex) but today was my breaking point so I decided to do something about it. Depressed by the lack luster offerings of the surrounding El Gross-o restaurants, I sent myself to the kitchen to see if the fridge had anything useful in it. Luckily for us, it did.

I set to work with no recipe, just a vague idea of what I wanted the end result to taste like. I took all my favorite parts of tex-mex cuisine and combined them. The filling was based on fajita filling, with green & red peppers, onions and chicken. I added a special and unique blend of spices to get it just right. Once I had rolled the filling up in tortillas, I fried them up a few seconds on each side in a little bit of oil.

After they were plated, I spooned on some of the special sauce I had made. The sauce is a green chili sauce, made with a mixture of cream of chicken soup, green enchilada sauce, diced green chilis and an assortment of spices. The idea was to make the inside hot and spicy and the outside cool and refreshing, mixing the two in perfect harmony. Because they are a mixture of fajitas and chimichangas, I named them Chimijitas. :)

I served the chimijitas with mexican rice/black beans, corn, and romaine lettuce, creating a fairly balanced plate of flavors. The end result was shockingly good. They needed no salsa or cheese, they were simply perfect displaying all the flavors I had been craving. Success is rarely so tasty!