Tangy Tomato Beef Brisket

 

I’m so excited! I made something new again! I am loving my new love of cooking and trying out new things. Cooking is so much fun and even more fun to taste. Thanks again to the Pioneer Woman for making me curious about cooking a beef brisket. Again, I was browsing through my new cookbook and happened upon her Tangy Tomato Beef Brisket. It looked so yummy and sounded super easy. Two things that get my attention right away. I’ve eaten beef brisket, but never made one. I’m so happy I ventured out into the land of beef brisket. It’s a happy place....full of tender beef and a tangy tomato sauce. Yummy, what could be wrong with that?? I’ll tell you, nothing, absolutely nothing! Are you interested in learning how to make the easiest and most tasty beef brisket ever?? I’m happy to share my secrets with you. Let’s get started:

 

Ingredients:

 

• 1 whole Beef Brisket, trimmed Of all fat (5 to 8 pounds). Since there’s just two of us, I used a 4 pound brisket.
• 1 bottle (24 Ounce) Ketchup Or Chili Sauce. Again, cut this in half for the smaller brisket 
• 1 package Onion Soup Mix

 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Place the brisket in an oven-safe pan. Combine the ketchup and soup mix in a bowl, and then stir it around to mix. Pour in 1 cup water and stir to combine. (You can add more water if needed!). If you are using a smaller brisket, only use half the water. Also, use a little hot sauce with the ketchup mixture to give it a little extra kick.

Pour the sauce all over the brisket, and then flip the brisket over to coat the other side. Now just cover the pan with foil and roast in the oven for 6 to 7 hours (for a 5 to 8 pound brisket). For a 4 pound brisket, I cooked it 3 hours.

Remove the pan from the oven and test the brisket to make sure it's fork-tender.  Slice the brisket into thin strips, then return the beef to the sauce and keep it warm until you're ready to serve. This is looking so delicious. I wish I had a slice to eat now.

Doesn't that look delicious?? I'll tell you....it was delicious. So easy, so tasty, no reason not to try this recipe out. Thanks to my friend, Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. She knows how to cook up some beef! And now I know how to cook up some beef brisket. It's a great day at the Stewart house.....says my husband. Maybe we should move to a ranch. Okay, I'll step back for a moment and just enjoy my brisket cooking skills. I hope you enjoy them too.

Cinnamon Muffins w/ Crumb Topping

One thing I love is cinnamon! It makes everything better. Toast, muffins, apple pie, or any apple, ok really anything! I could go on an on, but I think you get it. Yes, I love cinnamon. Luckily the hubby loves it almost as much as I do. If he didn't, I might be telling stories about the ex-husband. Just kidding. Love you bunches honey!

We are snowed in today so I needed something to do. Don't make fun of us. We live in the south and don't drive in the snow, even if it's just an inch or two. It's our reality and I'm fine with it. I bought a few bags of cinnamon chips over the holidays and have been dying to make something with them. I couldn't find a good recipe online, so I just thought I should try to alter my blueberry muffin recipe since it was so yummy. Well, I created another masterpiece! That's right, I'm bragging. These are some mighty fine muffins, especially hot out of the oven. Let's get to baking....

Ingredients for muffins:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash salt
2 cups cinnamon chips

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons cold butter

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the milk. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; add to creamed mixture just until moistened. Fold in cinnamon chips.

The batter looks and tates yummy!

For topping, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. I like to grate the cold butter, it's easier to incorporate.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full or just grease your muffin tins with cooking spray. I went without cups this time and they were perfect. Sprinkle a rounded teaspoonful of the topping over each muffin.



After I spooned the topping on I sprinkled a little cinnamon on each. More couldn't hurt, right??



Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean. I cooked mine for about 22 minutes so start checking after 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.  If you can wait 5 minutes. I couldn't and burned the roof of my mouth a little....but it was worth it!

Apple Dumplings

Don't let my poor photography skills deter you, this is the perfect treat!

I was feeling like I needed to try a new dessert today so I got out my new cookbook that the hubby gave me for Christmas, The Pioneer Woman. Love it! Ree and I are such good friends, so I thought I should make something that she recommends. Well many things caught my eye, but I love me some apple pie and this apple dumpling recipe sounded de-licious! I love, love, love apple pie and all things baked with apples. If you are a reader of my blog, you know this about me. I was a little skeptical about one of her ingredients, but she said to use it, so I did. If I can cook with Mountain Dew, then you can too. Yes, you read that right, this apple dumpling recipe has Mountain Dew in it! Sounds crazy I know, but trust me, try this and you will thank me later. I can’t wait for you to try these little heavenly morsels and tell me how much you love them too. They are so delicious! David and I almost finished the whole pan in one night.....just the two of us. Don't judge us! You'll do the same. Okay, I’ll share mine and Ree’s recipe with you:
 

Ingredients:

• 2 whole Granny Smith Apples, peeled
• 2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1-1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 – 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• Cinnamon, To Taste
• 1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda (I used 8 ounces, because I was scared to use the whole can)

Directions:

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. 

Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. You want this mixture to be grainy so don't dissolve the sugar. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples.

 

Now here’s the crazy part.....Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Stop shaking your head and just do it! Sprinkle generously with cinnamon. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. You could serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top, but I'll take mine just straight up. But you might still want to spoon the extra sauce over the top. It is so delicious!

I'll be expecting your thank you notes in the mail!

Roasted Pecans

This is the best little salty snack or treat. If you've never had a roasted pecan, then you obviously don't live in the south! This is a staple for baby and bridal showers, a real southern church reception or any other family gathering. I love to make them around the holidays, but they are really great anytime. I need to make them more often. They are super quick and easy to make too. My parents have pecan trees all over their property and they pick many pounds each year. Pecans have gotten so expensive so I am very lucky that they share these little nuggets of gold with me! And these in the photo are Mayhan pecans, some of the biggest and best you'll ever taste. Perfect size for roasting!

I'll let you in on a little secret that my parents will kill me for......we like to call these Daddy's nuts. :-) So yes, we roast my Daddy's nuts. Yep, they are going to kill me. This is one way to find out if they are reading my blog....and actually, anyone else who reads it!

Back to making....okay, I won't say it again....roasted pecans. They are so easy, let's get started:

Start with as many raw, shelled, pecans as you'd like to cook. I made a small batch this time. I usually make about double this batch. Place the pecans in a baking dish and put many pats of butter on top. I used about 4 - 5 Tablespoons of butter on this one.

Place pan in a 350 degree oven. After the butter melts, about 10 minutes, begin to stir often. I stirred every 1-2 minutes. As you'll see from the picture below, the pecans begin to darken. You want all of the pecans to look like the few dark ones that are scattered throughout.

Keep checking and stirring. This probably takes 10-15 minutes to fully cook them, but they brown quickly so don't leave the kitchen.

Now, when they all look brown, pull them out of the oven and salt to taste, fairly liberally. It takes more salt than you think to coat them. You want to salt them while they are hot so that the salt sticks to the butter coating.

Now you can just eat them out of the pan, or serve in a lovely dish for your next party.

Delicious Dried Apples

Want to learn how to make a tasty and healthy snack? I can teach you how to make stuff that is full of butter and sugar AND I can teach you how to make a yummy and healthy snack. The best of both worlds! My mom used to eat dried apples for a snack back in the early Weight Watcher days. I wasn’t very crazy about her freeze dried packs of them, but they’ve gotten better today. I was browsing on Pinterest the other day and found a recipe for dried apples. Who knew they were so easy to make?? I’ve never thought about making them, but they are super easy. I whipped some up today and have almost eaten them all. I started with just two apples because I wasn’t sure how they were going to turn out. We went apple pickin' and I had some apples left and wanted to put them to good use. You can use any kind of apple. See just how easy they are.....

Ingredients:

2-5 thinly sliced, and cored apples

cinnamon

cooking spray

Directions:

If you have an apple corer, then this will be much easier. I don’t have one so I sliced the apple in half, cut the core out, and sliced the apple on it's side. If you core the apple, you can slice in thin apple rings. You want to make sure you slice the apple thinly.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay the apples on the sheet. I like cinnamon on my apples so I sprayed the apples with cooking spray and sprinkled with cinnamon. If you don't add cinnamon, just pop them into the oven just as they are.

Bake at 200 degrees for 2 – 3 hours. Turn apples over after one hour. Check them at 2 hours, if they aren’t crispy yet, cook a bit longer. I cooked mine for about 2.5 hours.

Now you’ve got a delicious and nutritious treat!