Homemade Pasta Sauce

My family loves Italian food, honestly, what's not to love. There are so many good flavors and combinations, and it's such a great way to get families together.

I was lucky enough to live in Italy for a time, and was able to learn a few tricks to make a more authentic-tasting tomato pasta sauce. The main key to making a good tomato sauce is cutting the acidity of the tomatoes, without compromising the taste. There are a couple different ways to do this, the first is to just use plain granulated sugar, which I had done my whole life. This way is best if you want a lighter sauce. The other way to cut the acidity is to add a packet of hot chocolate mix, YUMMY, this trick is best if you want a little heavier sauce, like you would use in lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs.

You'll be completely surprised at how easy this is, we don't have Prego or Ragu in our home, because this tastes so much better, and is so easy to make! Trust me, once you start making your own sauce, you'll never go back!

Homemade Pasta Sauce:
1-28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1-2 T. dried Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. granulated sugar OR 1 packet hot chocolate
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan, and let simmer for at least 20 minutes, or up to 11/2 hours, stirring occasionally. The longer the sauce simmers, the better incorporated the flavors will be. Combine into your favorite pasta dish. DELICIOUS!!

Mint Chocolate Brownies

I LOVE MINTY THINGS! I don't know what it is, but I love the taste of mint. Maybe it reminds me of growing up, maybe it's the freshness of the smell. Whatever the case may be, I love it. The problem is, I crave it at times, and I can only push off those cravings for so long before I need to make a tasty treat. Then I feel guilty having the treats around the house, so my neighbors get to enjoy some of them. Lucky for me I had a good excuse to give them to some neighbors after they had helped me out just a few days prior to making these!

I am all about shortcuts in baking. I love to make things homemade, but I have never had success making brownies from scratch. I don't know what it is, but my homemade brownies ALWAYS turn out SUPER DRY! Hence the need for brownie mixes, and the shortcut for this recipe!

This recipe does take a little time to come together, but it is SO DELICIOUS AND WORTH THE WAIT!

Mint Chocolate Brownies:
1-13x9 brownie mix, made according to package directions
MINT FROSTING:
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 lb. powdered sugar
1-3 T. milk
1/2 tsp. mint extract
3-5 drops green food coloring
CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. butter
Make and bake the brownie mix, according to package directions. Allow to cool completely
Make the mint frosting by first creaming the butter and then add powdered sugar, slowly, to avoid getting covered in white. :) Add only enough milk to make a smooth consistency. Add mint extract and food coloring. Frosting will be thick. Spread over the brownie layer, and refrigerate to help set.
For the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl for 1-3 minutes, do not overheat the mixture! Stir well to combine. Pour over frosted brownies , covering the mint layer completely. Refrigerate again until the chocolate layer is set. Let brownies sit at room temperature for a few minutes before cutting and serving. Cut into squares and serve!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I don't know about your home, but we have SPRING FEVER!! There is nothing more frustrating than having a few amazing days of weather, and then winter showing his ugly head again. There are times that I love winter, like when it is SUPPOSED to be cold, but come February, I'm ready for the warmer weather, to get outside, and to not be cooped up inside anymore!

It has been gorgeous these past few weeks, only a few rainstorms here and there, so we have switched over to a lot of our summer favorites. It is amazing how much better you feel when you can eat the "summer foods" again. These pulled pork sandwiches are easier than I care to admit, but when you'd rather be in the sunshine then in the hot kitchen cooking, these are PERFECT!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches:
1 3-5 lb. pork roast
1 can Coke (not diet!!)
1 pinch red pepper flakes, optional
salt and pepper to taste
Ciabatta rolls, slice in half (or any other favorite kind of roll or bun)
That's all!! Throw it all into the crock pot and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. When the pork is cooked, shred it in the juices, removing the excess fat in the pot. Leave the meat in the juices on low or warm setting until ready to serve.

Homemade Donuts

So, what do you get when you get guilt-tripped by your children for not buying donuts at the grocery store? You get in even bigger trouble, because you might never buy donuts from the grocery store again. :)

These donuts were not any harder than a regular bread dough, other than the fact that you fry them instead of baking in the oven. The texture of the dough is just like a true bakery donut, except for the fact that you KNOW how fresh these things are! I have never even attempted to make donuts before, but when I saw this recipe on the show Worst Cooks in America I knew that I could make them. For heavens sake, people who CAN NOT COOK made yummy and great looking donuts, so why couldn't I do it? I did do it, and I would make these again. They definitely are not a treat to make all the time, but a good change once in a while.

To say these were yummy would be an understatement! Enjoy them as a treat anytime you want, because you don't have to spend INSANE AMOUNTS OF MONEY on bakery donuts!

Homemade Donuts:

1 cup whole milk (I used skim milk and it turned out great!)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
One 1/4-ounce package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for oiling and frying
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling and flouring

Bring the milk to a simmer in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, then remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt. Pour into a large bowl and let cool slightly.

While the milk is cooling, dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl, stirring. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Stir the yeast mixture into the milk mixture along with the oil, lemon zest and eggs. Stir in 2 1/2 cups of the flour with a wooden spoon to make a very soft dough. Spread 1 cup of the flour on a work surface and put the dough on top, scraping it from the bowl with a rubber spatula. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, incorporating all of the flour from the work surface and adding just enough additional flour (if necessary); the dough should be slightly sticky. Transfer the dough to an oiled large bowl and sprinkle lightly with additional flour. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise in a warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin until 1 inch thick. Cut out rounds with a 2-inch cutter. To make ring shapes, cut out doughnut holes with a 1-inch cutter. Place on a baking sheet, cover the doughnuts with another kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

While the doughnuts rise, heat about 10 cups vegetable oil in a deep 4-quart pot until it registers 365 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. (I used a deep skillet with about 3-4 cups vegetable oil to fry up the donuts and it worked GREAT!) Fry the doughnuts, turning once or twice, until puffed and golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain. (I used a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet to let the donuts cool. It made it easy because all the excess grease just feel under the cooling rack, and the donuts didn't stick to the paper towel).

*For the frosting, I just used a container of Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge frosting, because I didn't have the energy to make a frosting this time.

Homemade Salsa

Admittedly, I had never made salsa, EVER, before my husband and I got married. It seemed SO intimidating!! You always see those delicious salsas in the grocery store that make your mouth water, but then you look at the price. It happens to all of us. We then settle with the processed stuff in the jar and it ends up sitting in the fridge until it expires.

I must say, the first time I made this 5 years ago, it was total trial and error, but now I have it pretty close to exactly how we like it EVERY TIME!! Did I mention it literally takes me only 5 minutes from start to finish? Awesome, right?

Go ahead and give this gem a try, I don't think you will regret it!!

Homemade Salsa:
7 roma tomatoes, cut in half and seeded
1-2 jalapeno peppers, with or without seeds, depending on the desired heat
¼ of medium onion
1 tsp. Lemon juice
1 tsp. Dried cilantro, or 1 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt, begin with 1/2 T. but add as much as needed to create desired taste
Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Turn on and let the machine do its job. Add salt rather slowly so the salsa does not become too salty, taste as you go. When the desired taste is reached, transfer salsa to a tupperware. Makes anywhere from 1 ½ to 3 cups salsa. Serve with tortilla chips, or with Mexican food.

Cinnamon Chip Bread-Great Harvest Copycat

SO SORRY ABOUT THE ABSENCE!!

I'd like to give you every excuse in the book, but probably the most relevant was having had a baby a few weeks ago. We are completely in love with #3, and I'm now ready to really start cooking again.

I can't tell you how grateful my husband is for me to not be pregnant anymore! It always means I start cooking those things I couldn't stand the smell of for how many months now. It also means I have a little more energy to cook those things. :)

This recipe is a GREAT copycat, thanks to the blog Eat Cake for Dinner. The down-side is you really do HAVE to follow the recipe exactly! Not always so easy when you have kid #1 and #2 trying their best to make the bread by themselves. It still turned out better than I was hoping.

I ended up serving this bread when we had breakfast for dinner a few nights back; paired with some fruit, eggs and bacon made for a super easy dinner. Not going to lie though, this bread would be AWESOME to use for French Toast.

No matter what you decide to have with it, this bread will make your home smell like Cinnamon Rolls and making you wish it didn't take "so long" to bake. :)

Copycat Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip Bread:
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast                1 large egg
1/3 c. sugar                                      1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water                               4 1/2-5 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. warm milk                                1 c. cinnamon chips, no more
1/3 c. vegetable oil
In a bowl of a stand mixer combine yeast, sugar and warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. It should be bubbly and frothy. If it does not get frothy, start over. Add the warm milk, oil and egg. Mix to combine. Slowly add 2 cups of flour, mix and then add the salt. Begin adding the remaining flour, 1/2 c. at a time, until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough will be very sticky, but the softer the dough, the lighter the bread will be. So, use the least amount of flour you can handle.
Add the cinnamon chips and mix just until incorporated. Since the dough is warm, the chips will melt everywhere if you mix it too long. Transfer the dough to a greased mixing bowl and allow to rise until doubled in size. Punch down dough and divide in half. Form each half into a loaf and place into two greased loaf pans. Allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Makes 2 loaves.