Mustard Seeds

Hot Dogs with the Works

I was inspired by the hot dog bar (all the fixings) when we went to a recent Rockies baseball game.  I couldn't seem to get enough of all the different combination possibilities. Just as ask Kristen...I had more toppings than dog. She said it was quite entertaining to watch me eat it...

But I digress. On our recent camping trip, I decided to make my own "works" hot dog bar.

First, start with GOOD hot dogs. All Kosher beef grilled over the campfire.

Lots of pickled products.

Condiments.

These are a couple you may not think of, but once you try it, you won't forget: cucumber and avocado.

Cheese, fresh-cut onions, sauteed onions.

And don't forget the chili.

Got any other hot dog ideas? I'd love to hear em. Leave em in the comments section.

Food for the Classes

 The week before my SEW LOVELY class. I did food for Kristen's Click Class. To keep things simple, I repeated most of the recipes again for my class. Here they are...

These were amazing show-stopping sandwies. It's probably all the butter and cheese.  I got the recipe from the Taste of Home mag, but couldn't find it online and I did alter the recipe...so I just typed it out below. The thing I love the most is that it needs to be prepared the night before, so you just pop it in the oven in the morning.

Sweet Melty Ham Sandwies

• 12 Hawaiian Sweet rolls, sliced
• 1/2 lb. Black Forest Ham, deli sliced
• 8 oz. Gruyere cheese, sliced
• 1 tub chive and onion cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbls. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp. dry minced onion

Arrange the bottoms of the rolls in a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Layer with ham and Gruyere cheese. Spread each roll top with cream cheese; place over Gruyere. In a small bowl, combine the butter, Parm cheese, Worcestershire and minced onion. Pour over sandwies. Let stand for at least 20 mins or overnight in the fridge. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 mins or until heated through.

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Now this might be my favorite thing I made: warm, soft pretzels. They take a little work, but man, are they to die for. Totally a comfort snack food. Get the recipe here. Be sure to read her blog post, too, which gives tips on how to make-ahead and freeze them.

I used Ken's Steak House honey mustard dip. Delish!

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Ham-stuffed chicken with asparagus: This is a great way to use leftover ham from Easter. If your chicken breasts are large, you will need to half them (otherwise there will be too much chicken in the "roll" and it won't cook). Also, I pan fried it first and then put it in the oven to finish cooking on 350 degrees.

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This picture was the inspiration for my mushroom. But there was no recipe, so I came up with my own.

Tomato Toadstools

• cocktail-sized tomatoes (I got mine at Costco. They are bigger than cherry or grape tomatoes.)
• white string cheese
• herb cream cheese (make your own by adding fresh garlic, chives, salt, pepper, etc. or buy a tub at the store)
• Fresh cilantro leaves

Hollow out tomatoes and try to get most the seeds out. Place them upside down on a paper towel to drain out some of the liquid. Using a butter knife, smear in some herb cream cheese. Cut a stick of cream cheese in half. Then, insert the stick into the center of the tomato top. Right before serving, I insert the stem of a cilantro leaf into the cream cheese center to hold it in place. To make the specks on top, put plain cream cheese into a small zip lock bag and snip the corner off. Then, squirt little specks on the top.

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These strawberries are so divine. Oh....my....stars! Mini cheesecakes. I love them way more than chocolate covered strawberries, which always seem too "strong" to me.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries
from Nutmeg Nanny

• 1 lb large strawberries
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened (can use 1/3 less fat)
• 3-4 tbsp powdered sugar (4 tbsp for a sweeter filling)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• graham cracker crumbs

Rinse strawberries and cut around the top of the strawberry. Remove the top and clean out with a paring knife, if necessary (some may already be hollow inside). Prep all strawberries and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add cream cheese mix to a piping bag or ziploc with the corner snipped off. Fill strawberries with cheesecake mixture. Once strawberries are filled, dip the top in graham cracker crumbs. If not serving immediately, refrigerate until serving.

Janna's Suggestions:

• Instead of plain graham crackers, I made and baked this crust from Pioneer Woman. It comes out way crispier. I love it! I keep it in a Tupperware in the pantry to have on hand.
• I've also made this cream cheese filling with splenda when I am watching my sugar intake. It's not quite as good, but a still a nice substitute.

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Mason Jar Banana Pudding

• Banana pudding ( I used pudding mix)
• Whip Cream (You can use cool whip, but I like the old fashioned homemade kind)
• Box of Nilla Wafers (reserve a few wafers for garnish; put the rest in a lg. zip lock and crush them with a rolling pin)
• Bananas, thinly sliced

Right before serving, simply layer the ingredients in this order:

1. Nilla crumbs
2. pudding
3. bananas
4. Nilla crumbs
5. pudding
6. bananas
7. whip cream
8. whole wafer or slice of banana for garnish (optional)

The Story of the Easter Robin

We love this wonderful book. Oh my! I love robins, but now I love them even more!

The book tells the legend of why the robin's breast is red...

 

I love this part... "I know this man, thought the robin. All earth's creatures, except humans, recognized Jesus--the Creator-God come to earth."

"The thorn gave way. And as it came out a drop of Jesus' blood fell onto the robin's breast, staining it red from that day to this."

Then, of course we need to make some robin nests. See the full tutorial here (shredded wheat, coconut and chocoate).

These would be very cute at each place setting on your Easter table.

Sew Lovely Recipes

I almost forgot to post about the SEW LOVELY food! We can't forget the food because it's a VERY important part of the day. Here are the recipes.

French Toast Casserole

1 loaf French bread, cut or torn into 1-inch chunks

1 pkg. frozen berries, do not thaw

1 pkg. cream cheese

12 eggs

2 cups milk

1/3 cup syrup

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Grease 9 x 11 inch casserole dish. Layer half of the bread chunks on the bottom. Disperse the cream cheese evenly for the next layer. (I use my hands and break up the cream cheese into little pieces.) Layer on frozen berries. Top with the rest of the bread. In a bowl, beat, eggs, milk, syrup and cinnamon. Pour evenly over dish. Refrigerate overnight. Bake covered on 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes uncovered. Serve with whip cream, syrup, powdered sugar, etc.

Cucumber Sandwiches

1 cocktail-style pumpernickel bread loaf, from the deli section of the store

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced

1 block cream cheese

2 tsp. fresh diced chives or 2 green onions finely diced

1 tsp. summer savory

1/2 tsp. fresh garlic

salt/pepper to taste

Mix all the seasonings with the cream cheese and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Spread cream cheese on slice of bread and top with a cucumber slice.

Taco Soup

1 small onion, diced

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

3 small cans diced green chillies

3 - 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 pkg. ranch dressing

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 can ranch beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 can yellow hominy, drained

 1 1/2 cup water

Brown meat and onions. Throw all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low all day (at least 4-5 hours). Serve with chips, grated cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro, sour cream, etc.

Mexican Caesar Salad

Romaine lettuce, thinly sliced

Cool Ranch Doritos

Mexican-style cotija cheese, I can only find this at Super Walmart

Cilantro Lime Dressing

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 4 tsp. minced cilantro
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. white wine vinegar
• 1tsp.sugar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. minced fresh onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne
• 1/8 tsp. cumin
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Whisk together all dressing ingredients. I used my immersion blender. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Right before serving: toss greens, cheese, dressing and crushed Doritos together.

Grape Salsa

2 cups coarsely chopped red seedless grapes

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup diced fresh or canned Anaheim chilies

2 Tbls. chopped cilantro

2 Tbls. balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. bottled hot pepper seasoning

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl, mix well. Let stand at least 1 hour before serving. Drain off excess liquid before serving. Makes about 2 cups.

The Best-Ever Homemade Pecan Pie

More favorite holiday recipes...

I'll be making the following recipes for Christmas. It may be a little late if you've already made your last trip to the grocery store, but they'd be great for New Year's as well.

Grandma Doerman's Mystery Cheese Ball

I think the mystery part is due to the sharp taste of the bleu cheese. As a little girl, I remember being shocked by the flavor and at the same time, I had to keep going back for me. Mysterious, indeed!

1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese

1-8 oz. package of cream cheese

1/8 lb. blue cheese

3 Tbl. mayo

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. minced onion

chopped nuts and dry parsley for coating

Mix all ingredients in a bowl (except parsley and nuts). Form into one ball or two small balls. Roll them on a plate of the chopped nuts and parsley. Wrap in saran warp and refrigerate overnight.

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Dill Dip

1 cup of mayo OR plain yogurt

1 cup sour cream

1 Tbls. dry minced onion

1 Tbls. dry parsley

1 Tbls. dry dill weed

1 Tbls. Beau Monde (Spice Island makes it)

Mix all the ingredients and chill overnight. Serve with fresh veggies and crackers.

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Paula's Cranberry Fluff Salad (a new favorite for the Widdifields this year)

1 package of whole fresh cranberries (12 oz bag) chopped VERY fine in a food processor)

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple (with liquid)

1 1/2 c sugar

1 lg tub cool whip (16 oz)

Mix cranberries, pineapple (with liquid) and sugar in a Tupperware container and chill overnight. The longer it "marinates," the better. Several hours or the night before serving, you will need to "drain" the cranberry mixture. Simply set a colander in the sink and pour the mixture in. Do NOT rinse. You just need to drain a bit of the juice off of it. Remove from colander and mix with tub of Cool Whip. Transfer to a your serving dish (glass shows off the pretty color).

Christmas Morning Recipe #2

Bacon-wrapped breadsticks

This recipe is from my friend, Lauren R. If you like bacon, you are gonna LOVE these. They are super fast and easy to make and will take just 5 minutes of prep Christmas morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Italian breadsticks (the skinny, hard kind that usually come in a box)
  These are in the grocery aisle with the Italian food/pasta.
• 1 package of bacon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbls. chili powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimed cookie sheet or a casserole dish with foil. Wrap uncooked bacon around each breadstick and place on foil. Sprinkle brown sugar over the breadsticks. Sprinkle chili powder on top. Place in the oven. In about 10 minutes, flip the breadsticks over. You don't want the brown sugar to get too done or dark on one side. Then, finish cooking for another 10-15 minutes. Cut them in half if you are serving a large group.

Christmas Morning Recipe #1

Sausage rolls on Christmas morning are a Widdifield tradition. Well, I guess they are technically a Fisher tradition since the recipe belongs to Matt's Grandma Fisher (my mom-in-law's mom). Grandma Fisher was actually well known in her community in Tulsa, OK, for her specialty. To make extra money, she would sell the rolls to local businessmen.

The recipe only requires two ingredients, but it is somewhat time consuming, so I suggest making them up the night before, covering them well and refrigerating them. That way you can just pull them out in the morning and pop them in the oven. Okay, here we go...

GRANDMA FISHER'S SAUSAGE ROLLS:

• 4 cans of Pillsbury biscuits
• 1 tube of Jimmy Dean sausage
• Rolling pin
• Wax paper
• Fork

Cut off two pieces of wax paper. Lay one piece on a flat surface and place three rolls on top. (Note: You may have to replace wax paper once it gets too wet and the biscuits begin to stick too much.)

Place the second sheet of wax paper on top and roll out biscuits to a thin, oval shape.

Remove top layer of wax paper and smear a thin layer of uncooked sausage on each biscuit.

Roll up each biscuit.

Use a fork to seal edges by firmly pressing each end. Pierce the top of the rolls at least 4 times with the fork.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with ketchup for dipping.

SEW LOVELY--the food

Okay, the ladies came to sew, but they also came to eat. Good food is as much a part of SEW LOVELY as a needle and thread. Here's what we ate.

Recipes:

• Autumn Sausages
• Pumpkin Bread

 

Recipes:

• Fall Field Greens

Butternut Squash Soup:

1 large or 2 small butternut squash (3-4 lbs)

1 Tbl. vegetable or olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

1 tsp. fresh ginger chopped

1 fresh jalapeno chopped and seeded (put in half if you don't like things too spicy)

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp.  pepper

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped

6 cups broth - chicken or vegetable

1 Tbl. honey

1/4  cup heavy cream

1 tsp. thyme

 

Preheat oven to 400. Cut and seed squash into quarters. Place face down in baking sheet with 1/2" water in pan. Bake 45 minutes. Let cool, then peel skins off (paring knife is easiest to use for this). This step can be done 1-2 days ahead.

 

In a LARGE saucepan on medium heat, heat oil, add onion, ginger, jalapeno salt and pepper until onion starts to brown (about 10 mins) .Add pears, cook for 5 minutes.Add all squash and broth, stir in honey and thyme. Bring to a boil, then simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool slightly.

  

Liquefy/puree in blender in batches (careful blending hot soup!) I use emulsion hand blender. Return to saucepan, stir in cream and re-heat. Do not boil. Serve warm.

Afternoon snack was chocolate chips cookies straight out of the oven. I'll link to the recipe as soon as Kristen posts her secret recipe!

While I made much of the food in advance....it could not have been completed, served and made lovely without the help of Teresa and Kristen. Thank you so much ladies for being there for me!

And thank you, Kristen, for documenting the day with all your amazing photos.

Click Class Breakfast Recipes

So, here are the fall-ish breakfast recipes I made for Kristen's Click Class.

Egg Casserole

The best thing about this recipe is you make it up the day before and pop it in the oven first thing. This recipe can be amended to suit your tastes. But here's the version I made for the class:

In a 9 x 13 casserole dish, layer the following:

• 1 box of seasoned croutons
• 1 cup of grated Parmesan-romano cheese OR 2 cups of the cheese of your choice
• 1 lb. cooked ground sausage
• 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 3 oz. package of sun dried tomatoes (I cut them up into smaller pieces)

Then, beat the following together in a bowl:

• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 tsp. dried mustard
• salt and pepper
• 2 tsp. fresh rosemary finely diced

Pour this mixture over the items already layered in the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, mix:

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can of milk

And pour over the egg mixture in the pan.

In another bowl, mix:

• 1/2 stick melted butter
• 1 loaf of asiago cheese french bread that has been cut/torn into pieces

Put the bread coating on the top of the casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour. If you want to put it in the oven before you leave for church, you can bake it at 300 degrees for 2 hours and it will be done when you get home.

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Skiers' Sausages

This one comes from the Colorado Cashe Cookbook by the Junior League of Denver.

• 1 lb. link sausages
• 5 mediums baking apples, pared and sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tbls. fresh lemon juice
• 3 Tbls. brown sugar

Brown sausage and cut each link in half. Drain thoroughly. Butter a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Combine apples and sausage and put in casserole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, lemon juice and brown sugar. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

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I also made this pumpkin, chocolate-chip bread.

Click Class Lunch Recipes

This last weekend, I got to do the food for Kristen's Click Class. For lunch, we had baked potato soup, mini cornbread muffins with honey butter, and fall greens with balsamic vinegar dressing. Here are the recipes...

Potato Soup

I got this one from Kate at stolenmomentscooking.com. I've always been picky about good potato soup...I don't want it to be like mashed potatoes or too runny. Kate did all the work to figure out the "best" recipe and all the ladies at Saturday's class agreed.

Get the recipe here. The only change I made was that I used chives, instead of green onion.

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Fall Salad

Okay, I admit it...I don't really have a recipe for this one. It varies every time I make it. But here is the gist of it:

• Mixed field greens
• Feta cheese
• Artichoke hearts
• Craisins
• Candied pecans (Caramelize plain sugar over med. heat in a skillet. Once it's in a liquid state, add the pecans. As soon as the pecans are coated, remove them from the pan and let them cool on foil. Careful! You don't want the sugar to burn.)
• Toss with your favorite balsamic vinaigrette dressing. (Or make your own: veggie oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, celery seed, sugar, dry parsley)

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Mini Cornbread Muffins

I made mini cornbread muffins in three flavors: regular, orange and cheddar-chives.

1. Make up your favorite cornbread mix. I love Jiffy cornbread mix.

2. Divide the batter and mix in your desired flavorings. I did 1. orange zest, 2. diced chives and grated cheddar. Consider, rosemary or bacon-cheddar....

3. Spray the muffin tin really well with cooking spray.

4. Spoon in the muffin batter into the spaces. Do not fill more than 1/2 way.

5. Bake according to your cornbread recipe.

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Honey Butter

I used Darby's recipe found here.