Slow Cooker Korean Short Ribs

Chris went out and got us a Moose.  Such a provider!  I am new to moose meat, but am excited to learn how to cook with it and I hope that I like it!  Only problem, we still have an entire deep freeze full of beef.  Now, this may not seem like a problem to anyone "Oh you poor thing, you have two deep freezes full of meat.  Life must be hard" you may say.  I mean problem in the sense of "How the hell are we going to eat all this meat?!" Well, in organizing said deep freezes, I came across a pack of beef short ribs.  I had no idea we even had those!  Off to the internet to look for recipe ideas.  What I decided on was Korean style.  Delicious and super easy!

I'll take 6 please!

I knew I wanted to do a slow cooker recipe so I could have them ready after work and super flavorful from cooking all day.  One thing about slow cookers is that there is generally quite a bit of prep before you can toss it all in the crock.  I wake up with about an hour before I have to be at work, and that includes walking my dog, packing my lunch, and usually leaving the house late. I dont have time to brown meat or mix up sauces and chop vegetables in the morning!  In this case, no veg were needed, just a sauce that I decided to make the night before.  This sauce calls for soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and fresh garlic and ginger.  I had most of those things... but I had to replace the fresh garlic and ginger with dry stuff and the red pepper flakes with Siracha (I know it is not the same thing, but some times you have to improvise)!  I think it would have been a lot more flavorful if fresh ingredients were used though, so buy your ingredients BEFORE you start cooking.  Mix all the goodies up and that's the sauce!

Check out my whisk! Thanks Chris!

Start with a package of thawed short ribs.  Mine were in ribs of three and I decided I wanted each done individually.  More sauce that way!  I ended up with 8 ribs, and the sauce seemed like just the right amount to cover them half way.  Place them in the slow cooker so that you have one layer of them.  I knew Chris would be home at lunch to flip them over so I started bone side down.

Pour your sauce! Make sure you coat all sides of the ribs.  No one wants to be left out of a good saucing.

Mmm

Cook on low for 8 hours!  My slow cooker has this great warm feature.  After the cooking time is done it switches itself to warm to keep the food at a safe temperature for 2 hours.  Always ready to eat after work, but I don't have to worry about rushing home to turn it off.

Look at the meat fall off the bone!

Once the cooking is done you want to thicken the sauce.  It is pretty much flavored water and fat at this point, doesn't coat very nicely.  Take the ribs out, put them in a dish, and cover with foil to keep warm.  I transferred my liquid to a saucepan and then put the container of ribs back in the hot slow cooker.

Has anyone seen my sauce?

I was not at all thinking at this point and I made a roue to thicken... I ended up with Korean gravy.  Don't do what I did.  If you need a thickening agent use corn starch which will be less gravy like, or you can just reduce the sauce without adding anything.  Once you have the sauce consistency you like, pour it back over those naked ribs!  To dress them up even more, top with sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds if you have them.  Serve over a bed of rice and enjoy! I know we did!

Ah, the sauce, it sticks!

The Rules!

Ingredients

- 1 package beef short ribs (about 8-10 ribs)

- 1-2 green onions (garnish)

- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (garnish)

Sauce

- 1 cup soy sauce 

- 1 cup light brown sugar (I didn't have enough so I mixed half light with half dark)

- 4 tablespoons sesame oil

- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar

- 4 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

- 8 cloves minced fresh garlic

- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or a decent amount of Siracha... I didn't measure)

Directions

In a medium bowl combine all of your sauce ingredients.  Feel free to refrigerate if you are not cooking until the following day.  

Cut ribs into individual pieces and set in slow cooker in a single layer. If you have more ribs you will need more sauce! You want your cooking liquid (sauce) to come up the side of the ribs about half way.  Pour sauce over ribs and stir to coat.  If your ribs are thawed the night before, feel free to pour your sauce over the ribs and marinate in the fridge overnight!  Set slow cooker to cook for 8 hours on low and if possible, rotate in the middle of the cooking process.

When ribs are done, remove from cooking liquid and set aside in a covered dish.  Transfer liquid to a small saucepan and reduce to thicken.  Add cornstarch if necessary.  Pour sauce back over ribs and serve over a bed of rice.  Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.

Make sure to have plenty of napkins for these yummy, sticky ribs!

Love,

Jen

Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins

Well hello again my friends. Lately I have been skipping on breakfast. The most important meal of the day (they say). I have not been doing it on purpose, but sleep has been calling me. That and I don't want to buy breakfast before work every morning. So this weekend I made a huge batch of muffins that I can grab on the way out the door and skip the drive-thru line up. 

They turned out wonderful and hopefully filling. 

Now these babies can be made more healthy by skipping some of the sugar and replacing it with applesauce (would also make them more moist, double bonus) but I went traditional. If you are anything like me, you buy bananas and never eat them. At any given time I have 10 bananas in the freezer that never got eaten. That's why I went with a banana recipe. And I doubled that recipe and got rid of ALL my frozen bananas! Eight made it in to the muffins, two into the garbage. The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups so I doubled it to 3 cups mashed up. 

In a seperate bowl mix all your dry ingredients up. Like I said, double it up! Flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, salt (not quite doubled), cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set this big bowl aside. 

In your mixer, get your mushy bananas, melted butter, vanilla, eggs, and I added some smooth peanut butter all combined. 

Now, you are supposed to add wet into dry, but I already had my wet in the mixer so I just went and added my dry and mixed it on low until it was just combined.  I sprayed my muffin tins with cooking oil and then just dropped some mix about 2/3 of the way up the tin. My recipe made just under three dozen muffins, so have three tins prepared if you have them available. 

Pretty stiff batter, could probably use some applesauce to sweeten and moisten. I baked at 375F for 8 minutes, rotated my trays for even cooking (did two trays at a time), another 8-9 and then  they were all done. Poke with a toothpick or wood skewer to make sure it comes out dry and you are all done. I could see a bit of browning on the sides of the muffins so I knew I didn't want them in any longer. 

I like my muffins to have big muffin tops. They are clearly the best part. Dump these puppies out (with the cooking spray they should slip out nice and easy) and set on a cooling tray to rest. Make sure to eat at least one warm. 

Delicious. 

Here's the rules!

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup Quick Cooking Oats

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

2 cups Flour

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cups Mashed Bananas

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1/3 cup Butter, melted

1/2 cup Peanut butter (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F and grease muffin tins. 

Mash your bananas (three to four depending on size). 

In a seperate bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients. Set aside

In mixer, mix all other ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop mixture in to muffin tins and bake for 15-18 minutes, until toothpick comes out dry from centre of muffin. 

Remove from muffin tin and cool on cooling rack. 

Gma's Super Sticky Cinnamon Buns

Yesterday was a very wasted day off.  I didn't get out of bed until 11; it was pretty alright.  I did however decide that I would be making cinnamon buns today.  I went out with a flat tire last night and bought all the secret ingredients to make my Grandma's famous sticky cinnamon buns.  Okay maybe they are just famous to me.  They are my favorite.  Sticky, soft, sweet. *Drool* I even surprised her with a phone call to get her "recipe".  I say "recipe" because she doesn't measure anything.  Her baking still turns out perfect every time. I was determined that mine would be as well.  I did not disappoint myself.  Usually I like to bake and then bring treats to my coworkers. Not with these puppies! These are all mine! Well, and maybe Chris can have some too.  Maybe.

So this is what food porn looks like

You ready?  Let's do this.

I think the only thing that my Grandma does different than most recipes that I looked at online is that she uses a generous helping of corn syrup.  Then of course I added my own twist. A twist called Skor bits.  You honestly can't ever go wrong with Skor bits.

For Gma's recipe she said to start with her regular bread dough recipe.  Her bread and buns are always so fluffy so bread dough I made.  I will let you know now, if you only have an hour to kill then you CANNOT make these. Bread takes time and love.  So give it both.  I use my Kitchenaid stand mixer with the bread hook to mix my dry ingredients (flour, yeast, sugar, and salt) and then a separate small bowl to mix up the wet (egg, milk, butter).  Mix the wet into the dry in the mixer for about a minute and then get your hands dirty! Isn't my mixer beautiful? Thanks to my Dad, it is very beautiful.

Knead on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes or until the dough feels elastic.  After this, you will realize that there is a muscle in your forearm that is used specifically for kneading and it will let you know that it exists.

Not ready to eat yet.

Put some oil in a large bowl and return your round, elastic, dough ball to that bowl and cover with a tea towel.  You need it to about double in size before you can move on to the next step so find a warm spot in the kitchen, place your covered bowl there, and find something to do for the next hour or so.  In my case, it was taking the tire off my vehicle and patching it up (with the help of Chris).

Ready for the secret step?  Its the corn syrup.  After the dough has risen enough start dressing up a non stick 9x13" pan.  Generously cover it in butter, including the sides.  Give it a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon.  And now the magic.  Drizzle the bottom of the pan with corn syrup.  You don't need to cover the bottom or anything, but if you want sticky this is the trick.

That's the ticket.

Time to cover another counter with flour. Dust some flour out, pop your fluffy dough out of the greasy bowl and roll it out to a roughly 10x18" rectangle. Now, mine was not a perfect rectangle.  The two end pieces looked a little derpy, but I tasted one of them first and they were just right.

Rectangle Enough

In a bowl, mix together your brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and cut in some more butter for good measure.  Melt more butter (because no one ever said cinnamon buns were good for you) and brush it all over your almost rectangle.  Take your sugar and spice bowl and dump that shit out on your butter covered polygon. Make sure to distribute it evenly so no crevice of your bun is missing out on the party.  You can add extras at this step as well.  Like I mentioned before, I chose Skor bits as my surprise.  Some people like raisins.  It's up to you, my friend.

Cinnamon, sugar, butter, Skor party!

Now we roll.  Start on one of the long sides and roll it as tight as you can, pinching the edge together to it stays closed.

Almost ready to eat

Cut from the end about 1 1/2" with a super sharp knife.  You should get twelve buns.  Mine weren't all the same size, but I did manage to get twelve out of it.  Another success! Have the corn syrup concoction close by and place your cut buns in its gooey mess as you are slicing.  Should go without saying, but they go face up. They will not be touching on all sides yet, but that is okay! Place them out 3x4 evenly spaced.  Once they are in the pan, find that warm place and cover them with the tea towel again.  More waiting.  This time Chris and I went to Canadian Tire and spent too much money. When I returned, about an hour later, they were lovely, fluffy little swirls.

Before: boring

After: Amazing

Ready to bake!  Preheat your oven to 325 Fahrenheit.  Corn syrup is the magic, but it burns very easily.  Bake this on one of the upper racks.  It should take you about 20-25 minutes, but I flipped my pan half way through so I had even cooking.  Once the dough feels cooked and has a little colour to the top you are done.  Get a cookie sheet and flip your buns upside down onto it.  That way all the ooey gooey sugar butter can soak all the way back up to the top. Just for a couple of minutes.

The "re-goo"

And now for the big reveal!

Ready to eat!

I also may have scraped all the gooey stuff from the pan back on top of the buns.  No wasting here!  Want another picture? Yeah I thought so too.

A perfect morsel

Now for the rules!

Ingredients

Dough
- 4 cups of flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons melted butter

Filling
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons of butter (plus 2 to melt)
- Skor bits
- Corn syrup

Directions
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix together melted butter, milk, and egg.  Pour wet ingredients into the dry and beat with an electric mixer on low until just incorporated.

Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes, until dough is elastic.  Place dough in to a well oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise for 1-2 hours.

To make filling, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter and set aside.

Prepare the 9x13" pan by covering with butter and then sprinkling with brown sugar and cinnamon before drizzling with corn syrup.  Set aside.

Once the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured surface to a 10x18" rectangle.  Brush the melted butter out on the surface and cover with filling mix.  Roll tightly width-wise, sealing the ends.  Use a sharp knife to cut the dough roll in about 1 1/2" pieces and place in the prepared pan.  Should get 12 buns.

Cover buns with a tea towel and allow to rise again.  About one hour.

Once dough has risen again, preheat oven to 325 F and bake on upper rack for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and flip upside down on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes.  Remove pan and let cool.

I hope you enjoy my Gma's recipe!

Love,

Jen

Happy Birthday Cake Batter Rice Krispie Cupcakes!

Ahh birthdays.  I love birthdays.  I love the idea of getting older.  It means that I am closer to not having to work every damn day.  I know, I know, I am only 26.  I have a lot of years to go before I get to retire on the farm or wherever they put me.  I still do love birthdays though; they give me a chance to feed people!

This week it was my lovely friend Pam's birthday, so I whipped up some quick and delicious Rice Krispy cupcakes!

Isn't she wonderful? Yes. Yes she is.  Now let's make these cupcakes together.  

As with most things, I found the recipe for these on Pinterest and then put my own spin on them.  They turned out almost as wonderful as Pammy.

The most important part of baking or creating is taking good pictures.  At least when you plan on posting them to the internet for other people to see.  I am a point and shoot girl though, I am not using a very fancy camera so I will try to woo you with my words instead!

First, gather all your ingredients!  Now, since this is not just regular Rice Krispie cake you will need a few extra items.  Namely, dry cake mix, icing sugar, food coloring, sprinkles, and if you are like me, candy!

I also spiced it up with Vanilla Rice Krispies!

Alright, melt that butter or margarine in a large bowl in the microwave. and then toss in your baby marshmallows and mix! I used two cups but turned out having to make two batches, so do with that what you will (double it up, bitches).

Healthy!

Pop that heart attack waiting to happen in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are all gooey and smooth.  For me that was twice and then a lot of stirring.

You might want to eat this.. but it's basically just butter.

Okay, now here is where we vary from the same old boring Rice Krispie cake! Add in the vanilla and the dry cake mix.  I looked for confetti mix but the damn grocery store didn't have it.  I was forced to  buy plain old white cake.  I think chocolate or lemon would be a delicious twist!  Mix that all up until the cake mix is incorporated and it is smooth again.

Boring picture right? I know.

Now two cups of the Rice Krispies and some sprinkles!  Who doesn't love sprinkles?! I should start using them more often.  Add color to your life with sprinkles! New mantra.

SPRINKLES!

Once that is mixed up well, add the rest of the Rice Krispies and then mix it again.  Instead of pressing it all in to a boring square pan this is where we get crazy.  Like really crazy.  Muffin tins! Okay so maybe not that crazy.  Now, I have a lot of kitchenware.  Chris would say way too much.  One thing I do not have, is mini muffin tins.  Wild right? Who wants tiny cupcakes anyway? I made these bad boys full-sized.  Just make sure you butter the muffin tin well so they pop out easy once they are set.  I wanted to set them quickly so I popped them in the freezer while I mixed up my icing.  It worked like a charm.

Perfectly alright to eat at this stage!

Let me tell you a little secret about myself.  It's a juicy one.  I am terrible at making icing. Something always goes wrong.  It is either too thick, too runny, too sweet, or it melts.  Actually, I don't know if this is the case for all icing, but definitely buttercream.  I actually don't even like buttercream; it just seems to be the one I make ALL the time.  Next time I promise to check out a different kind.  Maybe cream cheese.  I love cream cheese icing.  Anyway, this time was different.  I mean it was still much too sweet for me, as buttercream always is, but this time the consistency was lovely.  I was actually rather proud of myself.  Turns out that the important step is to not be lazy and actually use room temperature butter.  Butter just doesn't whip up as nice when it is still cool.  Take your time and I am sure you can do it too.  I used the paste-y Wilton food coloring.  I like it best, but I used a little too much as I was going for a light peach.  Still beautiful, but it is strong stuff let me tell you!

So buttercreamy!

I also have a wonderful Wilton piping bag that is canvas on the outside and plastic coated on the inside so super easy to clean up, but it did not come with nice tips.  Don't worry, I ordered some new ones off eBay today.  Anyway, pipe away! I need to practice up on my icing skills as they are pretty mediocre right now, but Perfect Enough amiright?! I topped these beauties off with a Maynards Fuzzy Peach and hauled them off to the restaurant for dinner (we asked permission first)!

Pretty as a peach.

Sure, maybe they didn't photograph as nice as the ones in the recipe I semi-followed, but I whipped these up and photographed in about 30 minutes between coming home from work, getting ready to go out in public, and leaving the house for dinner at 6:30.  They tasted wonderful and the ones that were left over after the singing was done were eaten up the next day at work.  That my friends, is a success in my books.

Here is the recipe you can feel free to follow:

Ingredients

Rice Krispie Cupcakes

- 6 tablespoons of butter or margarine

- 2 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows

- 3 cups of Rice Krispie cereal (I used vanilla flavoured)

- 3/4 cup of dry cake mix

- 1 tablespoon (or so, color you life with sprinkles, baby!) of sprinkles

- 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Buttercream Icing

- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

- 2 cups icing sugar

- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

- 2 tablespoons of milk

- extract and food coloring of choice (if desired)

- Fuzzy Peaches (or other topper if they are not your thing)

Directions

Grease a muffin tin and set aside.

Melt margarine in a large microwave safe bowl (about 45 seconds in microwave). Mix in marshmallows and return to microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Add in the dry cake mix and vanilla and stir until incorporated fully.  Add in sprinkles and two cups of Rice Krispies and mix.  Add in final cup of Rice Krispies and mix again.

Press mixture into well-greased muffin tin and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For icing, cream room temperature butter in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.  Slowly add in icing sugar until well combined.  Mix in extract, milk, and food coloring if desired. Remove cupcakes from muffin tin with a butter knife.  Pipe icing onto chilled cupcakes and top with sprinkles or, as I did, Fuzzy Peaches.

*Makes 12 full-sized cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes (as long as you don't taste test too much, but who is checking?)

Thanks for joining me and I hope yours turn out just as Perfect Enough!

Love, 

Jen

Treasures in the Mail

What a wonderful day to start a new hobby!

Today I have taken the plunge and purchased my Young Living starter kit!  I registered to be a distributor months ago, but couldn't bring myself to drop the $200 on the kit.  I love essential oils.  Not in a way that I am a crazy person and believe that they will cure cancer or anything, but in a way that if something natural can help in any way, than why not?



Look at all the lovely stuff coming my way!  I am going to be such a better healthier human!  Well that is what I am telling myself anyway.  Girl's gotta justify her purchases, you know?  A while back I even purchased this huge essential oil encyclopedia and read a bunch of neat things, only to think... wouldn't it be nice if I could apply this with all the oils I am supposed to have!?

When my new oils DO come I will be making all sorts of goodies for my friends and family.  DIY gifts are my favorite.  When I initially signed up to be a distributor (with purchasing my oils in mind) I bought a big carton of plain Epsom salt and a jar of coconut oil.  Picture yummy smelling bath salts and creamy coconut oil skin products.  I also purchased a whole pile of used Mason jars from Varagesale! Chris asked me if I was buying stuff for our (nonexistent) wedding when I told him I needed to pick them up... I said no. I secretly am.  You can't be too prepared!

Stay tuned for when my treasures arrive and the crafting begins!

Welcome!

I am glad you found me!  This is my first kick at the blogging world so some patience may be needed (from both of us).  I don't call myself a "creative" person, but I love to think of myself as crafty!  Ask me to come up with something brand new or never done before and my brain decides to stop working.  Give me a project with sort of plans and some free time and I am all over it!  Like this wreath I crafted for the cold Christmas season!

My favorite thing to do is host parties, get togethers, ladies wine nights, Bachelor viewings, really anything where people other than just my boyfriend Chris, my dog Mooks, and I are at our house!  No, not because I am a social butterfly and love being around people (that is true only of certain people), but because I love to feed my friends!  I am more of an appies and finger food fan and find cooking supper tedious after a long day at the grind, baking can be my nightmare, but at the same time I love cookies and sweets!  Here is a preview of  some of what I made for my own 25th birthday.  It was a blast!

So let's go on this journey together!  I promise to try to have some fun along the way and not bore you half to death!  Thank you so much for being here!

With love,

Me and my little family.