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Berta

4th of July Pretzel Sticks! (A Pin a Day #7)

Huzzah! I did it! 7 days of trying pins and making ish work! Woot!

So anyway, this last one is kind of a cheater one... but technically is was a pin I saw...there just isn't a tutorial, because 1. it's kind of self explanatory, and 2. someone needs to learn how to Pin things *cough cough*.

Anyway, I saw the picture and I decided to make this another fun thing to do with Audrey while she was visiting us for a few days. The kid is 6, so she's got the attention span of a commercial break, so the projects we do have to be quick and easy, or she will just rush through them to get back to the Disney Channel and drive me insane with the amount of work I put into it verses the amount of care she put into it. But like I said, she's 6...

We don't have her this year for 4th of July, so I figured we should do a fun holiday project for the BBQ we're going to on Wednesday, and since it involves licking the spoon and sprinkles, plus a trip to Micheal's she was totally into it.

Auntie Anne's Pretzel Copy Cat recipe! (A Pin a Day #6)

You know what I love about going to the mall? Hint: It's not the parking lot situation.

It's the food court. And even more so, it's the soft hot, freshly baked pretzels, with butter and salt and even though they run you like freaking $4 each, I don't think I can turn one down if I tried.

I figured there had to be a recipe on Pinterest of a tired and true Mall style pretzel shop pretzel, and after sorting through a page or 2 of results, I decided on the Copy Cat version of an Auntie Anne's Pretzel, because good old Auntie Anne is who I was trying to be today.

I had promised Audrey that we would make cinnamon pretzels when I picked her up from day care on Friday, I figured we could make them together and then blog about them. We had a fun day of learning about yeast, and how dough rises and what makes the dough feel so soft and spongy when we roll it out. I think the recipe below is pretty spot on in taste to a mall style pretzel, but we obviously do not have the skill that goes into rolling out and twisting the dough into the famous Auntie Anne's shape. Instead of being big, and thin, ours were more thick and chubby, but they tasted delicious just the same.



 

Meatballs! (A Pin a Day #5)

My family loves meat. We are 100% total meat eaters and you would be hard pressed to find another family who loves meat as much as we do. Half of us also love fruits and veggies, so I think it evens it out. In fact! Charlie can not even fathom a meal without meat, he even puts bacon on his grilled cheese (which is really good BTW). I am always on the look out for different ways to prepare the same old chub'o'burger that I buy at the store and always have on hand in the freezer at a moments notice (that reminds me, add chub'o'burger to my shopping list...)

I came across this meal while trying to figure out what I would make for dinner for the #5 blog post. These meatballs looked too delicious to pass up, and trust me, I looked through A LOT of meatball pins...

The Best Potatoes You Will Ever Eat, Ever (A Pin a Day #4)

So I'm sitting here blogging, and Charlie asks me what I'm going to write about. It goes a little something like this...

Charlie: What are you going to blog about?
Me: Remember those delicious potatoes?
Charlie: The really delicious ones?
Me: Yes.
Charlie: Those were delicious.

We're very articulate around here with our food.

So here's the deal. You read the blog, you know how my family has a love/hate relationship with food. They hate the healthy stuff, and love to drive me crazy reminding me of that. So when I saw this pin on the feed, I knew they would love it because it's enveloped with bacon, garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano, the undisputed king of cheese. I don't think I've ever found a roasted potato recipe that's ever been this delicious. It's a keeper for sure.

Now I'm not exactly sure if you believe me when I say that these are seriously the best potatoes ever. Because they are. The best. Really. Yes THAT good! 

You will need;

• Small to medium tender fleshed potatoes such as Yukon Gold (maybe 5 per person to be safe, cuz you don't want to run out of these!)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 thick cut bacon (the good stuff, do splurge here)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (more if you really like garlic)
• fresh rosemary
• fresh flat leaf parsley
• course salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup FRESH grated Parmigiano Reggiano (go ahead and buy the chunk of it and grate it fresh with a micro plane, you'll use the rest of it for a ton of other recipes you didn't even know you were missing out on)

Start by boiling the potatoes in a large pot of salty water. Cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes, drain and let cool.


Cut bacon into chunks and cook until about halfway done. If you over cook the bacon now it will really crisp in the oven, so just cook them until they render out most of their fat. Remove from pan and drain. Do not discard the drippings.

Preheat the oven to 450* and mince the garlic, rosemary and parsley. Set aside.

Prepare your baking sheet by brushing the olive oil on it and drizzling half of the bacon grease as well. Put into the oven to get hot.



Quarter cooled potatoes, pull out hot baking sheet and place potatoes, cut side down, on the hot pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Toss potatoes halfway through.

 Reduce temperature to 375*. Sprinkle with garlic, rosemary, bacon and cheese. Return to oven for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Serve.

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade Cocktails! (A Pin a Day #3)

Welcome to the third installment of my A Pin A Day project! Today's pin is actually a mash up of 3 different pins I've seen floating around, so I thought I'd test them out for you and see how well they actually work!

I bring to you...

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade (Cocktails)! Or for a kid friendly version, just omit the booze people. Family friendly recipes from me to you!

Strawberry Lemonade Caipirinha!

So here's a great thing to do with all those strawberries and lemons before they go bad. And on that note, here's the first tried and true pin of the day... How to keep Strawberries Fresh! and it really does work! It's just a simple rinse with 1 part white vinegar to 10 parts clean water, soak for a few minutes, drain and let dry! Simple and easy tip that I will actually use, and I did, and it worked like a charm. I bought these strawberries last week and here they are, still fresh and not even kinda moldy!

So! Back to the drink I know you're dying to try in this heat...

You will need;

• 2 lemons (plus one more for garnish)
• 10-15 strawberries (plus another handful for garnish)
• sweetener of your choice (I used agave nectar)
• water

That's it!

Quarter the lemons, and throw them into the blender, half the strawberries and put them in there too. Add your sweetener, and 2 cups water and blend until pretty smooth.

Next you need to strain out the pulp, trust me you're going to want to do this, unless you like drinking bitter bits of rind and zest. Every time I have to strain something I always curse myself for not having a fine mesh strainer. DAMN IT! SO I had to do it the old fashioned way and sit there with my wire skimmer and strain it slowly.

After you've removed the bulk of the pulp, you will want to add more water, taste and adjust the sweetness. We like things pretty sweet around here, so I added quite a bit more agave to it. Now comes the fancy part. If you plan on just sitting in your undies on the couch drinking this alone, I'm sure you could forgo the fancy part, unless you like feeling fancy, then by all means...

I wanted a bit of pulpiness to my lemonade, so I added some macerated strawberries to it. Easy peasy... check it out.

Take those extra strawberries you set aside for garnish, and roughly chop them. Add about a tablespoon of sugar - the granules help break down the fruit because of the abrasiveness of them - and mash with a fork until syrupy. Then add to the pitcher! And if you wanna get even MORE fancy...

You can make these adorable lemon slice flowers! Our next tried and true pin! Simply take the big part of your fruit zester, the scorer I think it's called, and peel away strips of the zest to create petals. I made 8 by first doing it into quarters, then eighths. Then simply thinly slice slices and you've got pretty little flowers to garnish your beverages!

Add ice, taste, adjust, stir, serve. We added cachaca, a Brazilian rum, but feel free to experiment with other boozes. I think this is a nice refreshing drink, with or without alcohol, Charlie was expecting a more "strawberry flavor" because I think he thinks artificial flavors are what fruit really taste like... I like it.

Fancy!

Crock Pot BBQ Ribs (A Pin a Day #2)

Let me start this off by saying that I LOVE BBQ, and Charlie just thinks it's OK. I could eat ribs all day and never get enough, but my biggest complaint is how expensive they can get when you order them out. I never really attempted to make them, probably because I didn't know where to start, so every time I saw ribs on a menu, I was all over them. Then I found a pin for ribs cooked in a slow cooker, and I thought, "YES! I can do this!".

I love using my crock pot, I don't care what season it is. I love putting the food in and 8 hours later, pulling my dinner out with little to no work involved. It's great for a busy mom like myself. So ribs in a crock pot was like 2 of my favorite things ever having a delicious smutty relationship and dinner was going to be the bastard son result of the tryst. I bought a rack of ribs when they were on sale, figuring 1 rack was enough for 2 people, but these ribs were so tasty I totally regretted not getting 2 racks and will in the future (maybe even 3, nom nom nom). Heed this warning, 1 rack just barely satisfies 2 people, so do your math people.

It's so easy! Plus it's the week before 4th of July, so you KNOW your local grocery store has ribs on sale right now. Albertson's has them for 2.99/lb.




I adapted this recipe from MMM is for Mommy, and she adapted it from America's Test Kitchen, so feel free to add and subtract at will.

You will need;

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika (the smoky flavor really helps here!)
• salt  & pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 racks of Baby Back Pork Ribs
• Favorite BBQ sauce of your choice, homemade or store bought

Combine the dry ingredients and run all along the outside of the ribs, coating them well. Place them into your slow cooker on LOW heat and cover with BBQ sauce. Cook for 6-8 hours.

Here is where my recipe differs, only because my broiler hates me and I really love utilizing cooking on the BBQ outside in the summer.

Carefully remove your ribs from the crock pot and put onto a plate to rest. Transfer the juices and BBQ sauce in the crock pot into a sauce pot and simmer until reduced and thickened.

If you want to use the broiler, follow her directions for broiling the ribs, if you want a smokier flavor, keep reading.

Preheat your BBQ on HIGH for a few minutes and clean the grates with a wire brush. Reduce heat to MEDIUM and place the ribs bone side down on the grill. Baste the ribs with reduced BBQ sauce mixture every couple minutes until sauce becomes thick and sticky, about 10 minutes. Remove from grill, pour extra sauce on top if you wish and serve.

Charlie said they were THE BEST ribs he's ever eaten, which is saying a lot because as I said before, he doesn't really care for ribs. The meat LITERALLY fell off the bone, and by that I mean, when I picked up a bone to bite into it, all that I pulled up, was a bone. The meat was tender, smoky and delicious, like I had paid $20 for the plate at a BBQ joint. I did it!! Abbey loved them too.

We served ours with some Bush's Grillin' Beans in Bourbon and Brown Sugar and some mustard potato salad from the deli. Delish!