Cookin With Brooke

Will there be any tailgating around your place this weekend? Try this easy tasty recipe!

Ingredients

• 1lb Jimmy Dean bulk hot sausage
• 2 (10-oz.) cans Rotel tomatoes & chilies, undrained
• 2 (8-oz.) bricks cream cheese (not light…it doesn’t melt as well)
• Scooping-style tortilla chips, for dipping

Instructions

1. Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces
2. Drain off any excess oil
3. Transfer the browned sausage to your CrockPot
4. Dump in 2 cans of Rotel
5. Cube cream cheese and add
6. Cover and heat about an hour on low heat, stirring occasionally
7. Turn heat down to warm for serving
8. Serve warm with chips

Fall in a bite. Here you go. I love making pumpkin-y things this time of year, but I don’t like when a recipe only uses part of the can of pumpkin! This uses the whole can AND it makes two loaves! One to eat and one to give away! Yay!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1½ sticks butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 15-oz can 100% pure pumpkin
• ½ bag English toffee bits (like Heath)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325°
2. Generously grease two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans with butter and dust with flour or line with parchment paper (which is a better idea so the bread for sure comes out!)
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Whisk to combine; set aside.
4. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until just blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the pumpkin.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
6. Stir in the brickle
7. Turn the batter into the prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for 65 – 75 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then turn on to a wire rack to cool completely.

For some reason, I was craving this the other day, so I looked up a recipe. There were several. So I took my favorite parts of all of them and created this.

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 TBS sugar
• 2 TBS red wine vinegar
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• 7 cups broccoli florets, chopped
• ¼ cup chopped roasted almonds
• 8 slices bacon cooked and crumbled

Directions

• Mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar together in a small bowl for the dressing
• Stir the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl
• Fold in the dressing and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours
• Serve cold

Ultra Crispy Smashed Potatoes

I’ve been hearing and seeing that everyone is making these lately, so I had to give them a try! And I’m glad I did! These are SO delicious. They’re extra crispy on the outside but nice and fluffy on the inside. These might be my new favorite way to make potatoes! (and being Irish, you know I LOVE me some potatoes!)

Ingredients

• 12-14 small potatoes
• 1 tbsp sea salt (for boiling)
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp salt (for sprinkling)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• Finely chopped parsley, optional garnish

Instructions

• Bring a pot of water to a boil, add 1 tbsp salt. Cook potatoes until soft – about 20 to 25 minutes. (It’s ok if the skin splits.)
• Preheat oven to 400°
• Drain the potatoes and let them set in the colander for 5 minutes
• Place on the pan and use a large fork or potato masher to smash them, trying to keep them in one piece. The thinner they are the crispier they will be!
• Leave on the pan for another 5 minutes
• Drizzle with melted butter, then olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until deep golden and crispy. Don’t flip!
• Sprinkled with parsley if desired. (we dipped in sour cream!)

This is one of my favorite fruit salads! It’s so yummy and easy and very kid-friendly. It’s tart and sweet and you can really customize it depending on what fruits you want to use! Perfect side dish for Easter!

INGREDIENTS

• 3oz box instant vanilla pudding
• 20oz can pineapple tidbits in juice
• 2 cups seedless grapes
• 2 bananas (sliced and added just before serving)
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 cup blueberries

Mix everything together (including the juice from the can of pineapple) and chill at least 3 hours before serving. Make sure to add the bananas right before putting it on the table so they don’t get brown.

One of my favorite comfort foods is soup. And when it’s creamy and cheesy, even better! I like to get sourdough bread bowls to put this in…you can find them at some local bakeries! Top with a little shredded cheese and even your kiddos will gobble it up!

Ingredients

•  ½ cup butter
•  ½ cup flour
•  6 cups chicken stock
•  6 cups milk
•  1 tsp salt
•  1 tsp white pepper
•  3-4 cups fresh broccoli florets
•  1 pound processed cheese, shredded
•  2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat, and mix in the flour. Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Mix in the chicken stock and milk, and season with salt and white pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer about 10 minutes.
• Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the broccoli in the boiling water, and cook 2 minutes, or until just tender. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.
• Gradually mix the processed cheese and Cheddar cheese into the large pot until melted. Mix in the broccoli. Continue cooking about 5 minutes.

So I had this crazy thought, what if we took the Grinch Cookie recipe and left out the green food coloring? This is how those turned out. Perfect for Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients

• 1 Box Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 Stick Butter, softened
• 1 TBLS Oil
• 2 Eggs, Room Temperature
• ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
• ½ Cup Corn Starch
• Red Heart Sprinkles

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
3. Combine powdered sugar and corn starch in a small bowl
4. Mix the butter, cake mix, oil and eggs together into a thick batter
5. Using a small spoon or scoop, grab a glob of dough and roll it into the powdered
   sugar mixture
6. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart
7. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until they get puffy
8. Cool on the cookie sheet for several minutes
9. Press the heart onto the dough before it gets cold
10. Move to wire rack to finish cooling

As we continue our month of JOY-uary, we found another way to spread a JAR of JOY! This is easy to make and can be a sweet gift for someone. Make a dozen of them to have on hand for someone recovering from surgery or just to brighten someone’s day! I added half a cup of corkscrew pasta because the jar wasn’t full. You could add more barley to fill it instead.

Italian Barley Soup Mix in a Jar

In a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouthed pint jar:

• 1 cup pearled barley
• ½ cup sundried tomatoes
• 1 TBS dried chopped onions
• 1 TBS dried minced garlic
• 2 TBS dried basil
• 1 TBS dried oregano
• 1 TBS dried parsley flakes
• ½ cup pasta to fill (optional)
• 1 bouillon cube (I used beef, but you can use veggie)

Instructions for cooking the Italian Barley Soup from mix: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the barley is tender, about 20 minutes. Serve topped with grated Parmesan. Season to taste. If you want to take it up a notch, add a pound of fried crumbled ground beef.

Here’s a downloadable tag to attach to the jars.

Click to access italian-barley-soup-tags.pdf