Ham

This is something I rarely think to make, but my kids absolutely love ham.  It is super easy and delicious.  It is loosey goosey on the ingredient list - just make how much you want.

Ham

sliced precooked ham
brown sugar
1 can pineapple

Place sliced ham in a baking dish and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Cover with pineapple juice and pieces.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until heated through.

Ham, Cheese, and Potato Bake

This is another new recipe from The Modern Dutch Oven Cookbook.  It was a nice breakfast dish, maybe slightly bland, make sure you add enough salt & pepper.  We served it with tortillas, but it suggested serving it on English muffins in the cookbook, and it is fine just plain too.

Ham, Cheese, and Potato Bake

4 cup hash browns - diced
8 oz ham - diced
1 cup cheddar - shredded
1 bell pepper - diced
1 onion - diced
6 eggs - beaten
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
dash salt & pepper

Combine hash browns, ham, cheese, pepper, and onion in a Dutch oven.  In a medium bowl mix eggs, soup, and milk.  Season with salt & pepper and pour into the Dutch oven.  Cover and bake at 325° for 1.5-2 hours.

Red Sauce Chicken

This was called Aromatic Chicken Pot in the cookbook I got it from, but I am going to call it Red Sauce Chicken because that is a horrible name.  I got the cookbook from the library and I found a lot of recipes in it I want to try - it is called The Modern Dutch Oven Cookbook from Rockridge Press.  It is allergy free for Henry when paired with rice instead of pasta.  I made a few changes to the recipe - reducing the onion and switching to spaghetti sauce from tomato sauce, omitting a few items too.  You can also add diced bell pepper to the sauce.  It tasted great, and I didn't have to listen to the children whine about having to eat chicken - the girls just had pasta with sauce.

Red Sauce Chicken

1 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce
1 T onion - diced
3 cloves garlic - minced
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
1 T red wine vinegar
dash salt & pepper
1 bag chicken breasts

In your dutch oven, mix spaghetti sauce, onion, garlic, oregano, chili powder, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Trim chicken and add to pot, stirring until the chicken is coated with sauce.  Cover and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours.  Serve over pasta or rice.

Dirt Dessert

I got this recipe from my sister Lindsey at least two years ago, and am finally making it now for the girls' birthdays.  Neither of them particularly likes cake, so I went with something I am sure they will love.

Dirt Dessert


2 box chocolate pudding
4 cup milk
8 oz cream cheese – softened
1/2 stick butter – softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub cool whip
1 package oreos - crushed
gummy worms (optional)

Whisk together pudding and milk – let sit 5 minutes.  Beat together cream cheese and butter about 3 minutes until it is fluffy.  Mix in powdered sugar.  Whisk cream cheese mixture into pudding.  Fold in the cool whip.   Layer oreo crumbs and pudding mixture in a pretty glass bowl.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours.  Top with gummy worms.

Breadmaker Gluten Free Bread

Jeremy was advised to go gluten free for a trial period to see if he might have celiac disease.  I have a GF bread recipe for Henry, but since Jer can have egg and milk, I thought I would try something different.  My sister in law Kerri gave me this recipe (along with some ingredients :) and I tried it right away.  I made it the first time as written, and I am really surprised how similar it is to Henry's allergy free bread.  I think that next time I will play around with the rice flour and switch out some for garbanzo bean flour, that made Henry's loaf much less spongy.

Breadmaker Gluten Free Bread

Dry ingredients:
2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2/3 cup powdered milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer (Ener-G - optional)
3 T sugar
1 1/2 T yeast

Wet ingredients:
1 2/3 cup lukewarm water
1/2 stick butter - melted
1 tsp vinegar
3 eggs - room temperature

Set out eggs so that they can get to room temperature.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.  Stir the wet into the dry, then put into the bread maker and use the 3-4 hour standard loaf setting.

Brown Bread Variation: use brown rice flour for half or all of the rice flour.
Buttermilk Variation: use buttermilk powder instead of powdered milk, omit the vinegar.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Henry begs me almost every day to make him some banana bread.  The problem is that he doesn't like banana bread.  He just thinks that he does.  Any time I make it he takes one bite and says he likes it, but doesn't eat any more of the loaf.  I thought that adding peanut butter to the Banana Bites recipe and forming it into a loaf might be a winning combination (and it is) but he still doesn't like it.  That doesn't mean he won't ask me again tomorrow. :)  If I made this again, I would do it in the bite form, the bread was not as fun to eat.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

2 bananas
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup oat flour (process oats until they are the consistency of flour)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mash bananas with a fork.  Add oatmeal, oat flour, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and peanut butter and stir until dough forms.  Pour batter into a lightly greased loaf pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.  Alternately, you could scoop out cookie bites and bake for 12 minutes.

Everyday Meatballs

I asked my sister Lindsey for more Dutch oven recipe suggestions.  She sent me an email with a few, and this was one she sent me from Smitten Kitchen.  There was a link to her Perfect Garlic Bread to pair with it for a meatball sandwich.  It was awesome.  The sauce needed some work, so I changed it.  I got the idea for a jar of spaghetti sauce from the Pioneer Woman, so if it is good enough for her, it is good enough for me.  The first time I made it I wished that I had more sauce (and more flavor).

Everyday Meatballs

Meatballs:
1 LB hamburger
2/3 cup homemade italian breadcrumbs (recipe below)
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
2 T Parmesan Romano cheese
1 tsp salt
dash red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 eggs
1 garlic clove - minced

Sauce:
2 T olive oil
1 garlic clove - minced
dash red pepper flakes
28 oz crushed tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1 jar spaghetti sauce

In a large bowl, use a fork to mix meat, crumbs, milk, parsley, cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, eggs, and garlic in a large bowl.  Form into 1.5-2" meatballs and arrange on a plate.  Place in fridge for 30 minutes to let them set.  In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and pepper flakes and let sizzle until garlic is golden, 30-60 seconds.  Add remaining sauce ingredients and let mixture simmer over low heat for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn heat to lowest setting and add meatballs to sauce one by one, then cover with the lid.  Do not stir for at least 20 minutes or the meatballs will fall apart.  Cook meatballs for at least 25 minutes or until done.

Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs (Alton Brown)

4 slices Italian bread
1 T Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt

Use stale bread or dry out by baking at 300° for 10 minutes and tear into 1" pieces.  Place bread, italian seasoning, garlic powder, and salt in a food processor in batches and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Spread the crumbs evenly on 2 half sheet pans and bake at 300° for 5 minutes or until the crumbs just begin to brown and are crisp. Cool the crumbs on the pans for 15 minutes.  Makes about 3 cups.

Perfect Garlic Bread

This recipe was linked on Smitten Kitchen from the Everyday Meatballs, and I had to try them together.  Yum.

Perfect Garlic Bread

12 oz baguette
1 stick butter
4 cloves garlic - minced
dash red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Heat your oven’s broiler. Line a large baking sheet with foil. Cut baguette lengthwise and arrange pieces cut side up in pan. Melt butter in a saucepan.  Add garlic and pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute.  Remove from heat and stir in oregano. Spoon evenly over bread. Sprinkle with parmesan and broil for 2-3 minutes.  Watch it closely so it does not burn.