Stephanie's Slice Of Life

Tag: food blog

• 

  Cauliflower Salad

  Posted at 4:32 pm by StephMo

  Aug 12th

  If you are looking for a healthier alternative to potato salad, try using cauliflower. I have made mashed cauliflower numerous times but never thought to use cauliflower in place of potatoes for potato salad until last night. It went perfectly with my homemade pulled pork and was delicious! The added bonus was my son that won’t eat potatoes ate the cauliflower, Mom for the win!

  I mixed together all the same ingredients I would for my potato salad except used cauliflower in place of potatoes. If you feel like using potatoes, these measurements were for one head of cauliflower so you may need to increase them depending on how many potatoes you use.

  Ingredients:

  1 head of cauliflower

  1/2 cup mayonnaise

  1 tbsp. spicy brown mustard

  1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

  Celery – shopped

  1 hard boiled egg

  Red onion – chopped

  Salt and pepper to taste

  Whisk the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a mixing bowl and set aside.

  

  

  Cut up the cauliflower florets into small bite size pieces. Chop the celery, onion, and egg and put aside.

  

  Bring water to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Add the cauliflower and keep boiling for about 4-5 minutes or until it is slightly soft. Drain the cauliflower and run under cold water in a colander to cool.

  Add the cauliflower, celery, red onion, and egg to the mayonnaise mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour or so for best flavor.

  

  Yum!!

  Posted in Recipes, Salads | Tagged cauliflower, cauliflower recipe, cauliflower recipes, cauliflower salad, cauliflower salad recipe, cookout food, cookout recipes, food blog, food blogger, potato salad recipe, side dish
• 

  Chicken Fried Rice

  Posted at 8:22 pm by StephMo

  Aug 4th

  Chicken Fried Rice is a quick, healthy, delicious meal that you don’t have to get at a restaurant. Even though it is not even remotely like Southern Fried Chicken, every time I make this meal I have the song “Chicken Fried” by the Zach Brown Band on repeat in my head. Maybe they could sing a different version “You know I like my chicken fried… rice”. Yeah, maybe not.

  Anyway, you can use brown rice or white rice, or even leftover rice. What is great is you can cook the rice ahead of time and then just whip up the rest when you are ready. Super easy.

  Ingredients:

  4 cups of cooked rice

  1 lb. boneless chicken breast

  1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil, divided

  1 tbsp. canola oil, divided

  1 1/3 cups frozen peas

  1 1/2 tsp. of minced garlic

  2 large eggs lightly beaten

  4 – 5 tbsp. soy sauce

  salt and pepper

  Cook rice as directed on package. Set aside.

  Clean chicken and cut into small pieces.

  In a large frying pan heat 1 1/2 tsp. of sesame oil along with 1 1/2 tsp. of canola oil over medium heat. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook about 5 minutes or until no longer pink.

  

  Once the chicken is cooked transfer to a plate and set aside.

  Add remaining 1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil and 1 1/2 tsp. canola oil to the pan and keep at medium heat. Add peas and cook for 1 minute, then add garlic and cook for an additional minute.

  Push the peas to the edge of the pan and add eggs in the center. Cook to a scramble.

  

  Return the chicken to the pan and add the cooked rice. Add soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

  

  Serve and enjoy! You know I like my chicken fried…..

  

  Posted in Dinners, Recipes | Tagged chicken fried rice, chicken fried rice recipe, chicken recipe, easy chicken recipe, easy dinner, easy dinner ideas, easy dinner recipe, food blog, food blogger, fried rice, fried rice recipe, healthy meal, healthy meals, healthy recipe
• 

  Popovers For Piglet

  Posted at 1:31 pm by StephMo

  Jul 1st

  I have had this Pooh Cookbook since I was a child in the 70’s and the only recipe I ever remember making from it were the Popovers For Piglet. Despite the fact that I can no longer get the popovers to actually pop, I refuse to make any other recipe because every time I make these the memories make me smile. Not to mention it’s Pooh and how can you not smile with Pooh?

  

  I feel like they used to pop, maybe? I have tried them in two different ovens and they don’t pop. They are delicious regardless, but not going to win any awards for tallest popover lol. One thing that seems to be a little different than other Popover recipes I have seen is that these contain honey. Of course they do, because Pooh loves honey!

  Ingredients:

  1 cup flour

  1/2 tsp. salt

  3/4 cup milk

  2 tbsp. honey

  1 tbsp. melted butter

  2 large eggs

  

  Sift together the flour and salt.

  

  Stir in the milk, honey, and melted butter.

  Beat in the eggs.

  Fill greased muffin tins just under half full.

  

  Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes until the sides are rigid and tops are brown. Do not open the oven before they cook for 25 minutes or they will fall. However, mine never really popped. Hmmm.

  While they may not be the most perfectly popped popovers, they are delicious!

  Posted in Breads, Recipes | Tagged food blog, food blogger, pooh bear cookbook, popover recipe, popovers, popovers for piglet, popovers for piglet recipe, Recipes, stephanies slice of life, the pooh cook book
• 

  Baked Rice Pudding

  Posted at 1:02 pm by StephMo

  Jul 1st

  Rice pudding is a dessert I have loved since I was a child and I always got so excited every time my mother would get ready to make it and take out her Betty Crocker cookbook. This is one of those childhood desserts that regardless of whether another recipe make look or taste better, I am sticking to this recipe because I want my rice pudding just the way it was. It may not look as creamy or appetizing as some others I have seen, but it is delicious and to me there is no better. My mother and I loved rice pudding, and now my daughter and I are the pudding fans in my family. My husband and son do not like it which just means more for us girls!

  I needed a little pick me up with this gloomy weather and rice pudding was just the thing to do it!

  There have been a number of different variations of this recipe over the years, but this is the Betty Crocker recipe my mother made when I was a child.

  Ingredients:

  2/3 cup uncooked white rice

  1 1/3 cup water

  2 eggs

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/4 tsp. salt

  2 cups milk

  1/2 tsp. vanilla

  1/2 cup raisins

  Cinnamon (or Nutmeg)

  Combine the rice and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered until all the water is absorbed. Around 20 minutes.

  While the rice is cooking start preparing the rest of the pudding.

  Whisk two eggs in an ungreased small casserole.

  

  Add the sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla and whisk together until combined.

  

  Add the rice and the raisins and stir well. Sadly I can never put in the full 1/2 cup raisins because I am the only one in my family that likes them.

  Sprinkle the top with cinnamon (the original recipe calls for Nutmeg, but I like Cinnamon better).

  

  Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally until a knife comes out clean.

  I prefer the pudding cold so I chill before eating. I also prefer it with whipped cream on top. Yum!

  I hope my childhood memories bring back some of yours as well 😊

  Posted in Comfort Food, Recipes | Tagged baked rice pudding, betty crocker rice pudding, food blog, food blogger, old fashioned rice pudding, rice pudding, rice pudding recipe, stephanies slice of life
• 

  Chocolate Chip Cookies

  Posted at 2:48 pm by StephMo

  Apr 30th

  Years ago I veered away from the classic Nestle Toll House cookie recipe and started trying to find a better chocolate chip cookie recipe. Although I love a good Toll House cookie, I just kept finding they were a little too crispy for my personal liking. This recipe is quite different but they are soft, delicious and have become my new favorite!

  When I realized I was out of the regular size chocolate chips and only had minis, I was initially very disappointed. Well, that turned into such a good thing because I loved them even more with the small chips! Give it a try if you never have and see what you think.

  Ingredients:

  1 cup butter, softened

  1 cup sugar

  1 cup brown sugar

  2 eggs

  2 tsp. vanilla

  1 tsp. baking soda

  2 tsp. hot water

  1/2 tsp. salt

  3 cups flour

  2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

  Cream together the butter and sugars until smooth.

  

  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

  Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. This is the only recipe I have ever had to do this with.

  Add baking soda water to the batter with the salt and combine well.

  Stir in the flour and chocolate chips ( I used mini chips).

  

  Drop onto ungreased pans. I decided to use the large cookie scoop this time, go big or go home!

  

  Then bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges start to brown.

  Cool on a wire rack. Then eat, and repeat!

  

  Posted in cookies, Recipes | Tagged chocolate chip cookie recipe, chocolate chip cookies, cookie recipe, cookies, cookies and milk, food blog, food blogger, foodie, mini chocolate chip cookies, mini chocolate chip recipes, soft cookies
• 

  Pesto Cream Sauce

  Posted at 11:22 am by StephMo

  Apr 24th

  Last night I had intended on just making pasta with pesto for dinner, but then had a craving for something a little more creamy. I decided to add a little cream sauce spin to my homemade pesto and it was absolutely delicious! If you are like me and love cream sauce, you will love this creamy pesto. The addition of the cream is subtle and not as heavy as an alfredo sauce, but satisfies that craving for creaminess you may be having.

  First I will give you the recipe for my pesto, then further down the blog you will see how to make it into a cream sauce.

  Here are the ingredients for my regular pesto:

  4 oz. of fresh basil

  1/2 cup olive oil

  1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

  2 tsp. minced garlic

  Pepper to taste

  Add basil, cheese, garlic, and pepper to a food processor.

  

  Turn on the processor and add the olive oil slowly.

  

  Let it run until the basil is finely chopped and all the ingredients are combined.

  

  Oh that smell, wow!

  Since nothing goes better with basil than tomatoes, I decided to cut up some grape tomatoes to add to the pasta and pesto.

  

  This is where I would usually stop and be so happy with this meal. I love fresh pesto on pasta.

  But I didn’t stop, and this is where things started getting crazy and I decided to bust out the heavy cream.

  Heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 2 tbsp. of butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted and the cream is starting to boil while being careful not to let the cream burn. Whisk in a 1/2 cup of grated cheese and simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken slightly.

  

  Whisk the pesto into the cream sauce mixture and cook for a few minutes.

  

  Doesn’t that look pretty?

  Pour the sauce over your pasta of choice, add the tomatoes, stir, and serve.

  

  If your family is anything like mine, you will be listening to happy eating sounds and praises through the entire dinner. Yum!

  Posted in Dinners, Recipes, Sauces | Tagged alfredo sauce, basil recipes, cream sauce, food blog, food blogger, nut free pesto, nut free pesto recipe, pasta with pesto, pasta with pesto cream sauce, pesto, pesto cream sauce, pesto cream sauce recipe, pesto recipe, pesto recipe no nuts
• 

  Coconut Raspberry Layer Cake

  Posted at 5:21 pm by StephMo

  Apr 19th

  My daughter and I put our flavor cravings together and came up with this AMAZING cake. We knew we wanted to incorporate coconut and raspberry, and were first thinking of a chocolate cake to go with them which I think will be the next cake we bake. Ultimately we decided on a yellow cake and cream cheese frosting to compliment the two flavors, and were we happy that we did. Wow!

  Most yellow cakes have so much butter and eggs in them that you can feel your arteries clogging from just reading the recipe. Since I didn’t really want to use 100 eggs for one cake, I went to the Betty Crocker yellow cake recipe I have been using for years. Simple, moist, delicious, and it only uses one bowl. You really can’t get better than that.

  We only had about a half of a bag of coconut so we decided not to put any in the cake batter, only in the middle and on top. I’m sure a little extra in the batter would have been delicious. Here is how to make this yummy cake.

  Cake Ingredients:

  2 1/4 cups flour

  1 1/2 cups sugar

  1/2 cup shortening

  1 1/4 cups milk

  3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

  1 tsp. salt

  1 tsp. vanilla

  3 large eggs

  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9″ round cake pans.

  Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on low speed, and 3 minutes on high speed.

  

  Pour into prepared pans.

  

  Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

  Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

  

  Once the cakes are cool you can make the cream cheese frosting. If you have read some of my other blogs you know that this frosting is my absolute favorite. It will be yours too, trust me.

  Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

  1/2 cup butter, softened

  8 oz. block cream cheese, softened

  3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

  1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

  Combine the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.

  

  Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Then add the powdered sugar and continue beating until smooth and completely mixed.

  

  If it doesn’t taste sweet enough for your liking, add a little more powdered sugar.

  To frost the cakes, place one of the cakes upside down onto a plate or platter.

  

  Spread some of the frosting on the top of the layer.

  

  Spread a thick layer of Raspberry Preserves, try not to get too close to the edge so it doesn’t ooze out when you place the next layer on top.

  

  Sprinkle some coconut on top of the raspberry layer, we used Baker’s Sweetened Coconut.

  

  Top with the next layer with the round side facing up. Then start to frost the top and sides of the cake. When finished frosting sprinkle some coconut on the top.

  

  Refrigerate for a little while before eating, it tastes better slightly cold. Then dig in! So good!!!!

  

  Posted in cake, Recipes | Tagged coconut cake, coconut cake recipe, coconut raspberry cake recipe, cream cheese frosting, cream cheese frosting recipe, food blog, food blogger, yellow cake, yellow cake recipe
• 

  Baked French Toast

  Posted at 11:31 am by StephMo

  Apr 13th

  This baked french toast will be your “go to” brunch recipe from the moment you taste it. I started making this years ago for Easter brunch, and it has become a dish that my family looks forward to all year. It has become such an awaited favorite that I am pretty sure I would be disowned if I ever were to decide to make something else. No joke, it’s that good.

  This recipe makes enough for a large and a small glass baking dish of french toast. Since this year it was only the four of us, I started to just prepare one dish and the evil stares I received from my children made me quickly realize that was a bad idea. I guess if you wait 365 days for something, you want as much as you can get. A few days extra of this yummy treat for breakfast was a small price to pay for my children’s happiness.

  To make your new brunch favorite you need:

  2 large French breads

  8 eggs

  2 cups of milk

  1 1/2 cups half and half

  2 tsp. vanilla

  1/4 tsp. cinnamon

  3/4 cup butter

  1 1/3 cups brown sugar

  3 tbsp. light corn syrup

  Butter a large and a small glass baking dish. Cut the french bread into 1″ – 1/2 ” pieces and arrange in the baking dishes.

  

  

  Whisk together eggs, milk, half and half, cinnamon and vanilla in a mixing bowl.

  

  Ladle over the bread ensuring that every piece is covered.

  

  

  Cover and refrigerate overnight so the egg mixture can absorb into the bread.

  The next day combine the brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a saucepan over low/medium heat until everything is melted.

  

  

  Spread the mixture on the french toast until evenly coated. I never use it all, but that is up to you.

  

  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, sometimes longer, until the egg is fully cooked. You may need to cover with aluminum foil near the end to prevent excessive browining.

  

  Absolutely delicious! You will see why my family counts down the days until I make this french toast again.

  Posted in brunch, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged baked french toast, baked french toast recipe, brunch, brunch recipes, food blog, food blogger, french toast, french toast recipe, make ahead french toast, make ahead meals
• 

  Homemade Flour Tortillas

  Posted at 4:44 pm by StephMo

  Apr 9th

  Now that running to the store for every little thing isn’t an option, I have been making my own tortillas instead of buying them. These are easy to make and you will look very impressive on your next Taco Tuesday. This recipe makes eight good size tortillas, but you can double the recipe if you would like more than that.

  I could say that I intended to make them the shape that they are in, but I will admit I was going for a circle. They tasted just as good regardless of whatever shape that actually is lol.

  You only need four ingredients to make your own tortillas and they are:

  2 cups of flour

  1/2 tsp. salt

  3/4 cup water

  3 tbsp. olive oil

  Combine flour and salt in a medium size mixing bowl. Add the water and oil and mix well.

  

  Put the dough on a floured cutting board and knead for a minute or so.

  

  Cut your dough into eight even portions.

  

  Roll each portion into a very thin circle. Yes, circle. That is the goal anyway. Actually, the one shown below is kind of a circle.

  You will need to keep flouring the board and rolling pin because they tend to get sticky.

  

  Heat your skillet a little higher than medium heat. Make sure your skillet is hot before putting in the tortilla. Cook for only about 1 minute or so, the tortilla should bubble as seen.

  

  What shape is that actually? It’s not even close to a circle lol. I think i need to practice my rolling skills.

  Flip the tortilla and cook the other side.

  

  Keep them warm until serving and fill them with fish, chicken, pork, or whatever. You’ll love them!

  

  Posted in Dinners, Recipes | Tagged flour tortilla, flour tortilla recipe, food blog, food blogger, taco recipe, taco tuesday, tacos, tortilla, tortilla recipe
• 

  Chocolate Chip Cheesecake With Strawberries

  Posted at 1:17 pm by StephMo

  Apr 9th

  This cheesecake was one of those desserts that the entire time my family was eating it there were happy little “mmmm” sounds and constant “this is so good” being said. Is there really any better compliment than that? I might even go so far as saying this is one of the best cheesecakes that I have ever tasted. This cheesecake has just gone to the top of my list of desserts to make for Holidays and the like. If you prefer a plain cheesecake, just eliminate the chocolate chips and the cocoa from the recipe.

  It is quite time consuming in that it takes about five hours from start to finish, but not difficult to make. The only difficult part about it was actually having the restraint to not eat it until it was cool. We were somewhat successful in that regard.

  Ingredients:

  1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

  1/3 cup melted butter

  1/3 cup cocoa powder

  1/3 cup sugar

  3 – 8oz. packages of cream cheese

  1 – 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk

  2 tsp. vanilla

  3 eggs

  1 cup mini chocolate chips

  1 tsp. flour

  1- 16oz. package of strawberries

  2 tbsp. sugar

  Crush graham crackers to make them into crumbs. You can do this in a food processor, or in a zip lock bag with a rolling pin. I use my little chopper.

  

  Combine the graham cracker crumbs, butter, cocoa, and sugar in a small mixing bowl.

  

  Push the mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Make sure it is well packed down.

  

  With an electric mixture, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. While beating add the sweetened condensed milk and continue beating until well mixed.

  

  Beat in the eggs and vanilla at medium speed until smooth.

  Toss 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips with the teaspoon of flour. This helps the chips not sink to the bottom of the cheesecake while baking.

  

  Fold those chips into the cheesecake mixture, and pour into the springform pan.

  

  Sprinkle the additional 2/3 cup of chocolate chips on top.

  

  I put a baking sheet under the pan just in case there was any leakage.

  Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Do not open the oven. Leave in the oven for an additional hour with the oven turned off.

  Once the cheesecake is out of the oven, place in the refrigerator to cool. Do not remove springform portion of pan until completely cool.

  

  Ta da! Oh my goodness, look at that!

  

  You can serve it as is, or if you would like you can make an easy strawberry topping.

  For the topping, I just macerated strawberries by slicing the strawberries and tossing them with 2 tbsp. of sugar.

  

  After the strawberries sit for a little while, the sugar draws out their juices and makes a syrup.

  

  Now I challenge you to eat a piece of this cheesecake and not make any “mmmm” sounds 😛

  

  Posted in cake, Recipes | Tagged cheesecake, cheesecake recipe, chocolate chip cheesecake, chocolate chip cheesecake recipe, food blog, food blogger, graham cracker crust, macerated strawberries, strawberry cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake recipe

• Search for:

• Recent Posts

  • Cauliflower Salad
  • Chicken Fried Rice
  • Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
  • Popovers For Piglet
  • Baked Rice Pudding

• Categories

  • Recipes (66)
    • Dinners (23)
    • cookies (11)
    • Comfort Food (7)
    • holiday treats (6)
    • cake (6)
    • brunch (5)
    • Sweet Treats (5)
    • Breads (5)
  • Blog Posts (11)