Crock-Pot Baked Beans

1 lb. dry great northern beans
5 1/2 c. boiling water
1/3 c. molasses
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 onion, chopped
10 strips of bacon
1 T. mustard
1 t. salt

Spray crock with nonstick spray or use a liner. Rinse beans in a strainer. Fry up bacon, reserve 1/2 grease and saute chopped onion until translucent. Chop up bacon strips and put all ingredients into crock-pot. Pour boiling water in last and stir. Cook for 13-14 hours, on low for 10 hours and on high for the last 3. That is what worked best in my Crock-Pot, stir occasionally throughout cooking time and once an hour at the end. Adjust cooking temperature and time to suit.

This recipe is great for making baked beans from scratch! You can get it ready a head of time, it doesn't take up oven space and you don't have to worry about the beans when you are preparing the rest of the meal!

Cherry Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour
(I used 1 c. whole wheat flour , 1/2 c. corn flour and 1 c. all-purpose flour; this got a little wild, I think they would have been better with just the whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 - 21 oz can of cherry pie filling

Mix dry ingredients together, add remaining ingredients and stir. I did not use a mixer, since this would break up the cherries. Fill muffin tins and top dough with coarse sugar.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm, with butter. Makes about 18 muffins.

Hot Cocoa

This is a great simple recipe for powdered hot cocoa I found and thought I would share it with you all on this cold and blizzardy night. Most recipes I found called for nondairy creamers or Nesquick, this recipe has only REAL ingredients!

Hot Cocoa
1 c. cocoa
2 c. powdered sugar
3 c. powdered milk
1 t. salt
1 T. cornstarch

Blend ingredients together, I put them all in a ziplock plastic bag, it makes mixing them up a lot easier and a lot less dusty.

To serve at 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of mixture to a cup of hot water. Add marshmallows on top. Enjoy!

Rice Pudding

I love rice pudding, and this is the real thing, real pudding with rice!

3 c. cooked rice
1/2 c. sugar - you can add more if you like it more sweet
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
5 c. milk - 2%
2 egg yokes
1 T. vanilla

We had stir-fry for supper so this is the leftover rice, about 3 cups

put the sugar, salt and cornstarch in a small bowl and mix it together

add 5 cups milk to rice, then add the sugar mix slowly while stirring

stir continuously over medium heat until the mixture thickens and boils,
boil for one minute

Separate two eggs, keeping the yokes

You could save the whites for a supper healthy omelet for tomorrow's breakfast

Slightly blend the yokes with a fork

Now add hot milk/rice mixture to egg yokes,
a little bit at a time, constantly stirring, I did about 2 cups worth

Then pour the egg yoke mixture back into the pot, stirring constantly

Bring the pudding back to a boil and boil for 1 minute,
Stirring constantly

Remove from heat and add vanilla

Stir in vanilla

And Voila, you have amazingly creamy rice pudding

Great served warm with cinnamon and sugar,
also great served cold with strawberries (it is a Craven Family tradition)

Cranberry Apricot Turkey Roast

Butterball Turkey Breast Roast, 3 lb
1/2 c. apricot jam
2 c. hot water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 c. craisins
1/4 c. chopped dried apricots

Spray Crock-Pot with non-stick cooking spray

1/2 c. apricot jam, hot water and bouillon cubes, mix together

Dried apricots and craisins

place turkey breast roast in Crock-Pot and pour apricot jam/bouillon mixture over it

Cook in Crock-Pot on low for 4-5 hours, basting several times

then remove string mesh and slice into 4 large slices

put back in Crock-Pot and sprinkle with dried fruit, cook for another 3 hours

Slice turkey and garnish with apricots and craisins from the broth

I am sure you could cut down on the cooking time, this is just how long I cooked it

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust

Ok, this is the cheesecake Jami made for Aaron's birthday cake. I helped a little with the raspberry puree and I helped eat it too! It is a super complicated recipe and it also mixes fruit and chocolate, two things that you will not find that I do very often. I like simple, easy recipes, most days and I do not like chocolate and fruit together. Apart they are wonderful, but you mix the flavors together and uggghhhh. But, I already told you I helped eat the cheesecake, I ate the top and bottom sections separately, nicely segregating the fruit from the chocolate :). Anyways, on to the goodness.

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust
Preheat oven to 350, find a big pan that accommodates your cheesecake pan (usually a spring-form pan, but you can use something else too) with room to spare and put the kettle on the stove to boil water, we are baking this cheesecake in a water bath! Make sure the bottom of your cheesecake pan is airtight, if not cover the bottom of the pan securely with foil before submerging it into the water bath, you don't do this until the end, but I am just getting you ready ahead of time. I told you this was complicated.
Crust:
2 cups Oreo crumbs, NO premade crust, it is too small for this recipe and it is not as good!
1 stick butter, melted
2 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla
Combine ingredients and press into a greased spring-form pan, set aside.
Cheesecake:
24 oz. cream cheese, the real stuff, no 1/3 less fat or fat free, it is not as good!
1 c. sugar
3 whole eggs
1 c. heavy cream
1 T. vanilla
Combine cream cheese and sugar until smooth, add one egg at a time and fully incorporate each egg before adding the next, scrape the bowl in between each egg addition as well. Add cream and vanilla and blend until smooth and creamy, it should be very smooooth and creammmy! Pour batter over prepared crust and gently tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles.
Raspberry Sauce:
8 oz. frozen raspberries, thawed, or you can use fresh
3 T. sugar
Blend raspberries in food processor until smooth. Press pureed berries through a fine mesh strainer and discard seeds. Mix sugar with berry puree. Use about 2/3 of sauce to swirl into the top of the cheesecake. Save the last 1/3 for topping the cheesecake when it is served.

Place cheesecake pan into larger pan, add boiling water until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. Carefully place pan in oven, bake for 45-55 minutes until the cheesecake is almost done. It should giggle in the middle but still hold together. Close oven door, turn off heat and let it rest and cool down in the oven for an hour. This lets the cheesecake finish baking and cool down nice and slow so you don't get that big ugly crack across the top of your cake. After an hour put the cheesecake in the fridge. When fully chilled, serve with raspberry sauce.

Cheesey Crock-Pot Mashed Potatoes

It has been a while since my last update, but here are the mashed potatoes I made for Aaron's surprise birthday party. I made these ahead of time so all I had to do the morning of was put the crock in the cooker and turn it on. You could just make these right before the meal and skip the whole Crock-Pot part if you want.

7 lbs. red or russet potatoes, washed and quartered
8 oz. light cream cheese
16 oz. sour cream
12 oz. shredded cheese (medium or sharp cheddar or Colby Jack)
salt
pepper

Boil potatoes until soft when speared with fork. Drain and mash by hand or with a hand mixer, add cream cheese, sour cream and 8 oz of cheese, stir. Spray stoneware crock with nonstick spray or use a liner, pour in mashed potatoes and put in the fridge overnight. Next day cook the potatoes on high for 3 hours, stirring every hour or so to keep from getting browned on the edges. 10 minutes before you are ready to serve, add the remaining 4 oz. of shredded cheese to the top of the potatoes to melt.

Nutrition Bonus: leave the peels on the potatoes, they are soft so you won't notice them when the potatoes are all mashed up and they have lots of good nutrients!