Black Bean & Yam Chili

3-4 C Cooked Black Beans, with water (or use 3-4 cans undrained)
1 can (29 oz) Yams, drained and cut into smaller chunks
1 - 14.4 oz beef chunk in water, drained (can use stewing beef if browned first)
1 jar salsa
1-15 oz canned corn
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp Tony Chachere's creole seasoning (or other spicy favorite)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp hot cocoa mix
1 tbsp molasses (or 2 tbsp honey)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
water, to desired consistency

Place all ingredients in pot and cook, stirring frequently, just until boiling.  Or place in Crockpot on LOW 4-6 hours.  Makes approximately 11 C.

Pudgy Pies

I grew up making these at various campouts or bonfires where I grew up in the Michiana (around Michigan-Indiana border) area. When I moved out West 15 years ago, it seemed people here in Utah had never heard of Pudgy Pies. Well, they have now, thanks to me! hehehe.

I should have taken some pics of the pudgy pies I made while camping down at Bryce Canyon a few weeks ago, but I forgot. So, instead I will share some other successful Pudgy Pie Pics from around the blogosphere.

1- First of all you need some of these -- they are called Pie Irons and they retail anywhere from about $10-$12 each. (Some people call these sandwich makers or hobo makers.)
 

2 - Decide on your fixings.  This will vary depending on the filling you desire, but you will at least need some cooking spray or butter (OR BOTH!), a loaf of bread (or two, or three...) and some filling.  Filling can be anything from pie filling to preserves, etc.  Here are a few of MY favorite combinations:

Mini Marshmallows & Rolos
Whipped Cream Cheese & Blueberry Pie Filling
Apple Pie Filling
Lemon Pie filling + 1 large marshmallow (tastes like lemon meringue pie!)
Black Forest Pie = Cherry Pie Filling + Crushed Oreo Cookie
Cookies & Cream = 1 Large Marshmallow + 1 Crushed Oreo Cookie
Bananas Chocolate Foster = fresh banana slices + 1 Ghirardeli Dark Chocolate-Caramel Square

In addition to your filling selections, I recommend having a plate of powdered sugar as well as one of cinnamon-sugar, to sprinkle over the pies as soon as they come out of the fire.

3 - Set up your Pudgy Pie Fixing's bar:
  Cooking Spray
  Bread
  Butter
  Stuff for fixings
  Dipping Plates for sugar-coating

Ready?  Ok, you're set!  Let's go!

4- Make your pie!
Spray both halves of the pie iron with cooking spray.  Butter one slice of bread (I leave my crusts on).  Place that bread, buttered side down onto the pie iron.  Top that slice of bread with your filling(s) of choice.  Butter second slice of bread, and place over top of filling, leaving the buttered side up.  Carefully hook the other half of the pie iron, close & latch, and place in hot coals.  I like to cook mine about 3-5 minutes each side.  *This will depend on how hot the coals are.  You may want to check it after a few minutes.  Don't feel bad if you get a scorching black one -- I usually end up with at least one!

Photo from endofthesidewalk.blogspot.com 

5 - Remove pie iron from coals and CAREFULLY set on heat-tolerant surface.  (As this is usually a picnic table when camping, be sure to designate a specific area for Hot Pie irons.)  Open your pie irons, and use a metal fork to take out your pie.  Coat in the sugar if desired & EAT!!!

Photo from Tasteofhome.com

FYI -- Other things you can make with pie irons:

 - Grilled Cheese

 - Cheesy Tots (add frozen tater tots, a little olive oil, & seasonings)

 - Pizza Pockets

 - Grilled PB & J's -- YUMM!

 - Pesto Pockets

Cream Puff Cake

This is a favorite of ours and I often get asked to make it for special occasions.  It's way easier than it looks too.

Cream Puff Base:
1 C water
1 stick (1/2 C) butter, cubed
1 C flour
4 eggs

Filling:
1 - 8oz cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 C cold milk
3 small pkgs instant French Vanilla pudding mix

Topping:
Cool Whip, thawed
Chocolate Syrup


Preheat oven to 400.  Lightly grease 9x13 pan; set aside. Over stove, melt butter in water and bring to boil.  Add flour all at once and stir until dough pulls away from sides and soft dough ball forms.  Remove from heat and let sit about 5 minutes.  In mixer, add one egg at a time to dough, beating well in between.  Spread puff batter evenly into prepared pan.  Bake 20-22 minutes or until puffed up and light golden brown.  Let cool for about 10 minutes. (Great time to let the cream cheese soften if you forgot to take it out of the fridge earlier!)  In mixing bowl beat cream cheese, milk and pudding mixes until smooth.  Spread over cooled cake-puff.  Top with cool whip, then drizzle with chocolate syrup.  Chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Tips:
1) I prefer French Vanilla pudding mix in this recipe, although regular vanilla or even chocolate works just fine.
2) For the chocolate syrup you can use either melted Chocolate or Hershey's Chocolate syrup, although I prefer melted chocolate frosting -- sooooo yummy.
3) To make fancy swirl design, drizzle chocolate in "rows" the entire width of the cake.  Then lightly pull knife through in the length-wise direction.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

I heard it before-- that one could make his or her own microwave popcorn.   I wondered if it was true.  Well, it is. Today I had a craving for popcorn, but no microwave popcorn on hand.  Then I remembered that my dad left some popcorn kernels here from the weekend.  But I don't have an air-popper or a StirCrazy and I've never made it over the stove before so I didn't trust myself to do that.  However, my kids do pack their lunches and I have a plethora of large paper lunch bags.

1 large paper lunch sack
1/4 C un-popped popcorn
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
* Add 1 Tbsp Sugar to the oil first if you want a hint of sweetness

Place popcorn, oil, and salt into paper lunch sack.  Roll sack closed two times and shake well.  Leaving sack closed, place onto a paper towel in microwave.  Microwave popcorn 1-5 minutes until 5 seconds in between pops.  Add more salt or melted butter if desired.

NOTE:  I used my microwave "popcorn" setting and it worked perfectly. 

One nice thing is that there weren't nearly as many "blunts" (seeds) left in the batch than with certain brands of microwave popcorn.  I love that this doesn't have all of the preservatives as the store-bought microwave popcorn and also, it's way cheaper than buying the store-bought microwave popcorn!  I may never buy that again.

Lazy Lasagna

I remember the first time I had lasagna.  It was down in Southern Indiana, visiting my Aunt Glenda. It was the most scrumptious comfort food I could ever imagine.  When I first became and adult and discovered a "Lazy" version, it was PERFECT!  I've tweaked it over the years to suit my kids' taste, and while it's certainly not gourmet, we rarely have leftovers.

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp oregano
1 large (32 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
16 oz cottage cheese, or ricotta cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/2 C grated Parmesan
1 box lasagna noodles, uncooked
2 C shredded cheese
3/4 C water

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly spray pan and saute garlic and onion until tender.  Add ground beef and oregano and cook until browned.  (Can also use garlic and onion powder if preferred.)  Drain fat and add spaghetti sauce, stirring to heat through.  In small mixing bowl combine cottage cheese, sour cream and Parmesan; set aside.  Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Spoon 1 1/2 C meat sauce into bottom of pan, spreading evenly.  Layer with uncooked lasagna noodles, adding broken pieces to ends if needed.  Spread half the cottage cheese mixture over noodles, followed by half the remaining meat sauce and 1 C shredded cheese.  Repeat with 2nd layer.  Using spatula, create space between lasagna noodles and edges of pan.  Pour the water around the edges of pan.  Cover tightly with foil and bake 50-60 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 15=20 minutes.  Let stand 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

For Sunday dinner, I assemble this the night before, cover with foil and refrigerate.  Then I stick it in the oven as soon as I am home from church.

Cinnamon Spiced Nuts

I love these fresh out of the oven... It's almost worth burning my tongue over!  They are sooo good and make your kitchen smell sooo sweet and they are sooo easy to make!  I found this same basic recipe on a couple of different Internet sites each with a variation here or there.

These make pretty simple gifts with a big bang when added to small mason jars and tied off with holiday ribbon.  I love giving these as hostess gifts.  The only problem I have is one batch is never enough.  :)

1/3 C brown sugar
2/3 C granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt (I used my sea salt grinders and it worked great)
pinch cayenne pepper (some used 1/4 tsp smoked paprika instead)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 lb nuts (whole almonds, walnut or pecan halves, etc)
1 large egg white, room temperature
1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In mixing bowl combine sugars. salt, cayenne, and cinnamon, working out any lumps with a fork if needed; set aside.  In small mixing bowl, beat egg white with water until frothy (not stiff).  With rubber spatula, fold in nuts and turn to coat evenly.  Add coated nuts to bowl of dry mixture and continue turning with rubber spatula until candy-coating is evenly disbursed.  Spread evenly onto prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool, breaking apart pieces as necessary.  Store in airtight container.

Monkey Bread

This gooey delicious version of cinnamon sticky buns are sooooo sinfully sweet I don't even care about the calories!  (Good thing I only make this once a year!)   It's called Monkey Bread because you pull it apart with your fingers - like a monkey would!  :)

Tip:  I put my bag of frozen dinner rolls in the refrigerator the night before to thaw.  Around here, Rhodes Rolls are the best, but there are a number of good store brands that work just as well.  To find Rhodes Rolls in your area click {{HERE}}.

1 C chopped pecans
24 frozen dinner rolls, thawed
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 C) butter
1 C brown sugar

Spray inside of bundt pan with cooking spray and cover the bottom with nuts.  In bowl mix together cinnamon and sugar.  Cut rolls in half, and re-shape into balls if necessary.  Roll each dough ball into cinnamon-sugar mixture coating well and then layering in bundt pan.  Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise until about double in size or at least until even with the top of the bundt pan.  In saucepan over medium heat, mix together butter and brown sugar and cook until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Pour over rolls in pan.  Bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown.  Invert onto serving plate.  Let cool sightly.

Quick-Method Variation:  No time to let dough rise?  You can substitute the dinner rolls with 3 cans of refrigerated biscuits.  Cut each biscuit in half and form into ball and proceed with recipe above, omitting the "let rise".

Butterscotch Bubbleloaf Variation:  Omit the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Instead, roll each dough ball into Butterscotch or Vanilla Cook&Serve (not Instant!) dry pudding mix (small box).  Sprinkle remaining mix over rolls, cover and let rise and continue as above.