Annddddd we're back! :)

So! After a long hiatus from posting, we are back! :) My photo lights broke, my son decided to turn into monster overnight, and things have been go go go ! But starting tomorrow things will be back to normal, so be sure to check back! Coming up I have some recipes for hummus, chicken pot pie, EASY lasagna and more. I am going to be focusing more on quick, easy, and cheap recipes to make at home because as all the moms out there know, we don't have time to cook 5 course meals with 5 million ingredients- easy recipes with little ingredients that are actually GOOD are the best kind there is! So keep checking back because there is more to come :D

-Smirks :)

Slow Cooked Herb Rubbed Ribs

There are two types of ribs.

The first kind, is the kind you don't want. You know what I'm talking about.

The kind that's dry, stiff, flavorless.

Then you have the other kind.

The moist, delicious, flavorful, fall of the bone type ribs.

The kind that makes you purposely over-stuff yourself because you just don't want it to end.

These ribs are those kinds of ribs.

First you need a rack of ribs.

A casserole dish or anything that holds all of it works fine.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees (or 275 if you have some extra time...and extra patience).

Add some Olive Oil to the top of the ribs. You want to cover that baby up real good ;)

Next add some onion powder

And some garlic pepper

Just sprinkle it all over the top of the ribs.

Next, I added some fresh herbs I picked the other day. I have some Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, and Oregano. If you don't have all these, don't sweat it- your ribs will still be nice and juicy ;)

If you have them, sprinkle your herbs on top of the ribs.

Mm. Doesn't it just look delicious?

Ohh yeah.

Pop it in the oven and wait a few hours. Mine cooked for 3 hours. The slower you cook it, the juicier it will be. If you have another hour or so to spare, turn the oven down lower and cook longer. You won't regret it.

The end result will look something like this:

YUM.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

I have this sort of obsession with Iron Chef.

But it's a healthy obsession, I swear.

Besides completely ignoring everyone and everything around to when it's on, its completely healthy.

So, I decided to have an Iron Chef inspired meal and dessert.

The secret ingredient? Lemons!

Something so simple, so fresh. Perfect for this time of the year.

So, let's start with dessert. Because we can.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

When it comes to dessert, I am a chocolate lover. Chocolate on top of chocolate dipped in chocolate.

Not a lemon lover. Lemons remind me of pine sol and my mothers sparkling water.

But these cookies bring a whole new light to lemon.

Trust me.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Whip in vanilla, then be so proud of yourself for capturing yourself pouring the vanilla in the bowl with one hand on a camera on manual focus.

Or just pour it in like a normal person.

Add the zest of one lemon and the juice of half a lemon, and an egg.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add all the dry ingredients (except the powdered sugar) slowly until combined.

When it looks as amazing as this, you are done.

Take a quick taste of the batter when no one is looking, then move on to the next step.

This is the fun part. You could always let your kids do this, or if you are big kid like me kick them out and do it yourself.

Pour a small amount of powdered sugar on a plate (trust me...small amount. Or you will end up with a room full of powdered sugar) and roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll it in the powdered sugar. Place on greased baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 10-12 minutes till they look something like this.

The middles will still look under cooked, but trust me they are done.

Cool for 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Enjoy.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies Official List of Ingredients

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 whole egg

Zest of 1 lemon, juice of half a lemon

1-1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms

Raise your hand if you love mushrooms as much as I do.

Now, put your hand down.

Because NO ONE loves muchrooms as much as I do.

You may think you do...

But, you are wrong.

Sorry

Forgive Sarah, she just got a macro lens...and can not be trusted with it.

But, you must admit, the pictures are pretty amazing.

Even though she sent me 500 that look just like this one.

I made this recipe before Sarah, and tweaked it around a bit and then she made it, and tweaked it around a bit more. And now I think we have it down perfect.

Perfect I tell you!

The flavor and texture of the cream cheese with the garlic and mushroom stems work so well with the paprika and Parmesan cheese. For a bit of crunch I switched out half an onion for the onion powder in the recipe and Sarah ended up adding breadcrumbs to the top. Also, the Recipe called for cayenne pepper but we used paprika and coriander, a match made in heaven

You'll need a lot of mushrooms.

Just when you think you have washed, de-stemmed, and taken pictures of enough...make more.

and then more.

and more.

Okay, not that much,

But alot.

Precisely, about 24. Or maybe 30 if youre like me and end up eating a whole bowl of these and decide that sharing is NOT acceptable.

Chop half of the stems extremely fine...(yes, extremely or you will end up with a lumpy filling. Good in theory, but not so good in reality), discard of the rest.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn the garlic (If you do burn the garlic, feel free to comment here and tell me, it will make me feel better about burning my garlic.

Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot (or, if you are impatient like me, still pretty hot, just no longer piping hot), stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, Onion, paprika, and coriander. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing...by generous I mean fill till it is overflowing....

...then add even more on top of that.

Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet, top with breadcrumbs.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350, or until the tops are browned.

Attempt to wait till they are no longer hot, then pop one into your mouth and enjoy...

...then spend the rest of the day with a tingly tongue, wishing you had waited till they were no longer hot to eat.

Enjoy.

Official Ingredients List and Directions

24 whole fresh mushrooms

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 onion,diced

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp coriander

breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in rest of ingredients. Mixture should be very thick.

Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

Fried German Dumplings

Not everybody likes German dumplings, I usually hear it's the texture that throws them off. But for the ones of us that do like them, we looove them. We grew up on german dumplings, being as our mother is german. Every year when we visit Germany we make sure to bring back 10+ boxes of the dumpling mix. Which is why I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this recipe up to begin with, why put up a recipe with an ingredient most people might not be able to find? But Sarah said that she did see the mix in a store here in the states so I decided to put it up. If you can't find it in your local store, look for a European store near you, they will most likely have it.

It was sarah's idea to make these stuffed and fried. We have made fried dumpling before, but usually it the next day you take leftover dumplings and you slice them up and fry them for breakfast. But this time we added chives and cheese (a good combo in any meal) and then fried them, and they were so delicous!

Fried German Dumplings

1 Box Knodel (Pre-made German dumpling mix)

3 cups water

2-3 tbsp chives
1 tbsp garlic pepper
Parmesan cheese
Oil, for frying

In a large bowl, stir together dry Knodel mix, chives, and garlic pepper. Next, stir in 3 cups of water. Wait for dough to thicken- about 5-10 minutes. Roll into 3 inch balls. Cook according to directions (usually, boil about 20 minutes).

Strain water from dumplings, and push parm. cheese through to the center of each dumpling (easier with wet hands).

Roll dumplings with bread crumbs.

Fry in a medium frying pan, until golden brown. Let cool, and eat!