Creamed

Heavy cream is a staple in our home. As a Wisconsinite, I love all things dairy (and my hips don’t deny it).

For the longest time I never truly appreciated the real value of heavy cream besides whipping it for fresh whipped cream, which I absolutely love!! But then one day I found myself in a conundrum: I was out of milk but was already half way through the process of making mashed potatoes. What was a girl to do? That’s right, I used that heavy cream, and by god, they were the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had.

With that said, here are 10 other uses for heavy cream:

1. Bacon Gravy: Melt 2 tablespoons refrigerated bacon grease (you do have that, right? because every good cook has a container in her fridge) and top with 2-3 tablespoons flour (should look mildly pasty). Whisk over medium heat for 1 minute. Microwave 2 cups heavy cream and add to flour/grease mixture. Season with a lot of pepper and a bit of salt. Heat until thickened. Serve with chicken or steak strips and mashed potatoes.
2. Creamy Dreamy Mashed Potatoes: Besides substituting milk for mashing, try cooking your finely chopped potatoes in heavy cream instead of water (learned this trick from Tyler Florence). Cook as you would regular potatoes. Don’t drain all the cream! Instead reserve 1 cup of the hot cream to use instead of milk when mashing. Use only what you need. Season as usual.
3. Mashed Potato Soup: Follow the directions above for Creamy Dreamy Mashed Potatoes, only don’t drain at all! Instead, use an immersion blender to puree the potatoes. Season to your preference and top with cheese and homemade bacon bits (don’t forget to reserve that grease!).
4. Drowning Brownie: Make your favorite brownie mix. While still warm, slice up squares and place in a bowl. Drizzle (or drown) with heavy cream. Enjoy your newest addiction.
5. Strawberries and Cream: Or any fruit, including a fresh fruit salad, for that matter. Slice up fresh fruit—including bananas—and cover with heavy cream. Lightly sprinkle with sugar.
6. Creamy Mac & Cheese: Dazzle up any box or homemade macaroni and cheese recipe by substituting the milk with heavy cream.
7. Hot Chocolate: Heat heavy cream over low heat, stirring constantly. Add 1/2 cup (or more to your liking) of your favorite chocolate chips and melt. Try using Mexican Chocolate for a Mexican Hot Chocolate.
8. Chocolate Almond Coffee Creamer: Bring 2 cups water, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 cup sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. For simply chocolate, don’t add almond.Once the syrup is completely cooled, mix with 2 cups heavy cream.
9. Garlicky Cream Sauce: Follow the directions for Bacon Gravy, but instead use 1 stick butter. While cooking the flour mixture, add minced garlic according to your preference, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Pour in the 2 cups of warm cream and simmer for 20 minutes. stirring frequently. Use this in lasagna instead of ricotta cheese!! Trust me…I’m from Wisconsin, and if I insist on replacing real cheese in lasagna for this sauce, you know it’s gotta be good!
10. Gorgonzola Cream Sauce: Simply bring 2 cups of heavy cream to a soft boil. Add crumbled gorgonzola cheese, let simmer for just a minute while stirring and then serve immediately over steak or any pasta dish!

Now go get creamed!

Sweet Crust Honey Biscuit Pizza

Where I live (Kenosha, Wisconsin), there are hundreds of great pizza joints. Our small town is mostly made up by the Italian community, who have graciously shared their love for food with us.

As a lover of pizza, I enjoy ordering from many different places in town, but we haven’t had the money to pay $20 for a pizza, $2 for delivery, and $3 for a tip. So I’ve had to be creative in my approach with pizza lately, as I’m also incredibly unhappy with frozen cardboard cutouts claiming to be pizza at $6 a pop.

I posted a while back about using pie crust as a base for pizza, but the other day I discovered something even BETTER! Biscuits.

A few nights ago, my husband wanted to make Chicken Fried Chicken with homemade gravy, and bought a tube of Honey Butter Biscuits but forgot to make them. I was craving pizza and figured I’d give those biscuits their 17 minutes of fame.

I had a jar of Pizza Sauce in the cabinet that someone gave us, a refrigerator drawer full of different shredded cheeses (it’s the equivalent of a normal person’s staples of flour and sugar), and GFS bulk pork sausage. I was all set!

I smooshed the individual biscuits into thin, flat rounds and placed them on an oiled baking sheet. I also put a little olive oil on the biscuits, then topped them with sauce, cheese and raw sausage (I had mixed Italian seasonings and fennel seeds in the sausage beforehand to make Italian Sausage). I popped those puppies in a 400 degree oven for about 15-17 minutes (watching to see the sausage was cooked through and the cheese was melted and golden).

Voila! Sweet Crusted Honey Biscuit Pizza:

Be prepared. You will be hugged and kissed for these tasty, delightful, heavenly, cheesy rounds of joy!

Ingredients:

Tube of Honey Butter Biscuits

Pizza Sauce, or homemade marinara (heated can of crushed tomatoes, olive oil and 2 cloves garlic)

Shredded cheese(s) of choice

Any topping of choice (we also made bacon, red onion and pineapple)

Directions:

Oil two baking sheets. Flatten individual biscuits to your preference in thickness and size, and place on baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and then top with pizza sauce. Cover with cheese (come on, be generous!) and toppings. Bake in a 400 degree oven for approximately 17 minutes.

Eat. Enjoy. Express your love…

Pinterest

I Heart Pizza (http://pinterest.com/godsreminders/i-heart-pizza/)

Mmm looks good

Mmm….. looks good.

Pizza Pie (Crust)

I did a lot of cooking for Thanksgiving! I spent three whole days in the kitchen prepping for the big day. Then on Friday I spent more time in the kitchen and then reheated leftovers for our second Thanksgiving which was more casual and relaxed. By Saturday I was craving something very specific: Pizza!!

 

As you know, we’re on a very tight—excruciatingly tight—budget, so delivery was out of the question. But that craving wouldn’t subside. We didn’t even have money for a lousy frozen cardboard substitute at the grocery store. What was a girl to do?

DING!

The bells went off. I still had a refrigerated pie crust.

So I rolled out the pie crust, lightly oiled a pizza pan and placed the pie crust on it with some more olive oil on top. I poked a few fork holes in it and placed it in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes to crisp it up.

Meanwhile, I took a can of diced tomatoes and threw some garlic in it and simmer it on the stovetop while the crust was in the oven.

After taking the crust out, I topped it with my homemade sauce and generously sprinkled Sargento Italian shredded cheese blend on top.

Now I LOVE pepperoni, but of course this isn’t a staple in my house. But bacon is!

So I chopped up some raw bacon and, again, generously topped the pizza with it.

I then popped that baby in the hot oven and let it cook until it was golden and the bacon was fully cooked.

This dazzling, delightful dish truly comforted the weary cook in me. And fed that craving perfectly!

 

Apple Avocado Salad

I just made this up off the top of my head in hopes of having a refreshing Mexican salad with our Chorizo Potato Tacos the other night.

 

 

Combine: 1 chopped apple, 2 roma tomatoes, 1 avocado cut into small pieces, a handful of roughly chopped cilantro, 1/4 of a red onion chopped. Add 1 capful of lime concentrate, salt and pepper to your liking. Mix all together and chill for 20-30 minutes.

Corndog Muffins

As a kid, one of my favorite carnival foods was corndogs with tons of mustard and just a touch of ketchup. When I landed on this recipe, I couldn’t WAIT to try it. Fortunately, we had 2 boxes of corn muffin mixes in the pantry, and a friend had given us two packages of turkey hot dogs! This recipe is so simple!!

 

 

Okay, so it’s not St. Patty’s day, but it was the only muffin liners I had.

Here’s the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corn-Dog-Muffins/detail.aspx

Prepared our next 31 Budget Meals

Prepared our next 31 Budget Meals…

I MAY attempt making homemade pie crust ~…

I MAY attempt making homemade pie crust. :~) Never tried before. Scary!!

Iced Coffee

I cannot start my morning without an iced coffee. I’m not one for hot coffee, I actually can’t stand it! For some reason, though, I don’t mind it cold, but it also needs to have flavor. As you know, we are on a TIGHT budget (thus the 31 Budget Meals), so even buying creamer is a struggle.

I used to steep my coffee for 24 hours, but I truly hated all the work of straining. My husband drinks a LOT of coffee, so whatever is leftover from the day I’ll put in the fridge to use the next morning. I also loved Wal-Mart’s brand creamer, Chocolate Raspberry, but since it’s the only place on the planet that sells that flavor and we live clear across town from the store, I haven’t been able to get any lately. So instead, I found a recipe for Homemade Vanilla and Chocolate Syrups that I can now add to my iced coffee.

Vanilla Syrup:

Bring 2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 3/4 teaspoons vanilla. Let it cool and store in fridge.

 

Chocolate Almond Syrup:

Bring 2 cups water, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 cup sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. For simply chocolate, don’t add almond. I use it for chocolate milk, too! My two-year old went NUTS for it!

 

Iced Coffee:

1 cup cold coffee

1/4 cup syrup of choice (or mix vanilla with choco/almond–YUM!)

1/4 cup Half & Half or milk

 

Wake up and say: Mmmmm!