Saw's BBQ and dreamcakes

From top (clockwise):  Strawberry, Peanut Butter Cup, Over the Moon, Bananas Foster)

For Father's day we celebrated The Dish Washer with a trip to Homewood for some bbq at Saw's.  Then we walked a few doors down for dessert at dreamcakes.  Can I please say that this was my first trip to both and I've been dying to try Saw's after hearing they had a smoked chicken sandwich with white bbq sauce.  It did not disappoint.  In fact, it was absolutely delicious!  The Dish Washer had been before and stuck with the traditional bbq sauce that he says is the best in town.

I also wanted to try dreamcakes and when I saw it was just a few doors down, I knew we had to go.  We got four flavors to bring home for later because we were stuffed.  They were all very delicious and moist, but we both agreed that strawberry was our favorite!  (Which says a lot because I normally stick with chocolate as my favorite everything.)

If you are ever in Birmingham, definitely try these two places!

Semi-Homemade Salsa

We had another Sunday school supper club last night.  It was Nacho Night, so I signed up to bring the chips, salsa and sour cream.  I've wanted to try making my own salsa for a while now.  This recipe was really good.  Let me first say, though, that I can't stand the taste of cilantro.  If I never tasted it again, I would not be disappointed.  Even in the smallest amount, it still has such a strong flavor to me.  But I know most people associate cilantro with Mexican food, so I felt I had to put it in.  If I was making this just for myself, I wouldn't have added it.  Ignoring the cilantro, this was delicious.  Very similar to restaurants.  Be warned, it makes a huge batch!  Even after feeding 15 or so, there was leftover.  I'm going to try to freeze it and see how that works.

Semi-Homemade Salsa

1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes with juice
2 cans Rotel
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 c. cilantro (more to taste)
1/2 lime, juice only

If using a smaller food processor than 12 cups, pulse in batches and then mix it all together.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice and cilantro in a blender or food processor.  Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you like.  I don't like mine too chunky, so I did probably 20 pulses.  Test seasoning with tortilla chip and adjust seasoning as needed.  Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. 

Nutella Cookies

I just had to make something sweet for my company and I have had my eye on a particular recipe for a cookie using Nutella.  I don't know about y'all, but I eat the stuff straight from the jar it is so good!  I can't buy it very often.  When I got started on my cookies, I realized I didn't have everything I would need so a quick search turned up these little cookies still using Nutella.  I hope to make the original recipe I had on my mind sometime, but for now these turned out delicious.  My Buddy always gives the best compliments and said they were the best cookies he has ever had and could he please take them home today?  I wouldn't say they are the best cookies I have ever had, but they were good.  (And they did go home with him!)  The perfect amount of chewiness.  They will look under baked when you first take them out, but turn out great.  They spread and become very thin, so be sure to give yourself enough room on the cookie sheet.

Nutella Cookies

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. Nutella

Preheat oven to 375.  Cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar until creamy.  Beat 1 egg at a time into batter.  Mix in vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add the flour and mix until well combined.  Mix in Nutella.  Use cookie scoop or rounded teaspoon to drop cookies.  Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese

This is what it looks like after we have dipped out of the crock pot.  Tastes much better than this picture shows.

The Bun and I have some company this week.  Sister and the boys are here to visit and so I decided to make this recipe thinking that the boys would be glad to eat mac and cheese.  This is my mother in law's recipe and it is really easy.

Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese

1 (8 oz.) pkg. elbow macaroni
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
3 eggs, beaten
1 stick butter
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Cook and drain macaroni according to package directions.  Combine milk, eggs, butter and 2 c. shredded cheese in a bowl and mix well.  Add macaroni and stir to combine.  Pour into slow cooker.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.  Do not stir or remove lid until time is up.

**My mother in law's trick is she adds 8 oz. of sour cream to the milk/egg mixture to make it creamier.  I decided to try 8 oz. of cream cheese.  It wasn't creamy, but the chunks of cream cheese inside sure were good.

Fudge Pie

Recently, I posted a recipe for Crustless Brownie Pie.  It was delicious, but if you are looking for something a little more gooey, try either Hot Fudge Brownie Cake or this yumminess known as Fudge Pie.

Fudge Pie

1 stick butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. cocoa

1/4 c. self-rising flour

1 c. sugar

1 freezer pie shell (not deep dish)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Mix ingredients together in bowl with fork until well combined.  Don't overbeat.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Let sit for at least 15 minutes.  (This is very important to give it time to set.) 

Chicken and Dried Beef

Not the best picture of how good this tastes!

Chicken and Dried Beef

1 jar dried beef

1 can cream of chicken soup

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or what your family needs)

1 (8 oz.) sour cream

1 pkg. bacon

Line baking dish with dried beef.  Wrap chicken in bacon and place on beef.  Combine sour cream and soup.  Pour over chicken breasts.  Bake at 250 for 3 hours.  You can bake at 300 for 2 hours, but dish should be covered and after 2 hours, uncover and bake additional 30 minutes.

Delicious served over rice.

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

I really enjoyed PW's Crash Hot Potatoes that I linked up to before.  I was on her Tasty Kitchen site and found this recipe for Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes.  The original called for using brown sugar, which I didn't want to use, so I adapted it to what we would like.  To be honest, they weren't as easy as the originals to "crash" so I probably won't make them again the same way, but will definitely use the seasonings in Mashed Sweet Potatoes soon.  I'll post the "somewhat" original recipe for you, though, so you can decide what to add or leave out.  It is going to seem like a lot, but really just standing at your spice rack will make it easy.

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

2 whole medium to large sweet potatoes

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 quarts water

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. melted butter

1-1/2 Tbsp. light brown sugar

1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice about 1-1/4 inches thick.  Add 1/2 tsp. salt to water and bring to a boil.  Add potato slices and simmer for about 12 minutes or until somewhat softened.  Remove carefully to a wire rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Line a large, heavy sheet pan with parchment paper.  Using a flat-bottom bowl, slightly mash each potato slice, taking care that they stay intact.  Drizzle each slice with mixture of butter and olive oil, using half of the mixture.

Blend the topping ingredients (sugar and all spices) together really well, making sure to completely incorporate the brown sugar.

Sprinkle the slices evenly with half of the mixture.  Make sure to avoid getting the top on the sheet between the slices to avoid the sugar burning.  Gently turn over each slice and drizzle remaining butter/oil mixture and coat with remaining spice mixture.

Roast at 375 for 20 minutes, carefully flip each slice and return to oven for about 10 minutes more.  Serve hot.