Spoons make a difference!

For tonight's dinner, we are having pot roast with cheesecake brownies for dessert!

I used the crockpot, so I could set and forget it, LOL

While most pot roasts call for chuck, I got most of the ingredients when looking through a weight watcher's cookbook, so I used top round boneless beef roast.  I also learned a secret when cooking meats for a while.  Searing them adds flavor!

I also realized how much I love my wooden spoon!  It doesn't scratch the pans, nor will it melt from the heat!


I got the cheesecake brownie recipe from The Joy of Cooking cookbook.  I mostly use store brand items except for the chocolate.  I use the Gheradelli semi sweet chocolate bars.  What I noticed is that sometime between the publication of the book and now, the amount in certain cooking things has decreased, so I had to use a little math.  For instance, the recipe asks for 6 ounces of chocolate, however the chocolate comes in 4 ounce bars.  Same thing with the cream cheese, it asks for 12 ounces, but the cream cheese comes in 8 ounces.  Not too much,  just used 1.5 bars of chocolate and cream cheese.

Joy of Baking

Ahh, the Joy of Cooking! More like the Joy of Baking!
I got this book several years ago in the bargain area of the book store, I think...
I never really looked at it until we moved here.  I've made various types of breads and I even made cheesecake brownies.
My background in education leads me to love this book.  It is a well written job aid.  Yes, I used some nerdy jargon, LOL

I like that the book gives hints such as use water that is between 105 and 115 degrees farenheit on the yeast and let rest for 5 minutes before adding the other ingredients.  And when it references a technique, it tells you where to find it in the book.

To avoid copying and other legal stuff, I will just post the recipe I used and any changes to ingredients along with any lessons learned.

New Year's Eve

So, we decided to make some grub to celebrate New Year's Eve.  We went with appetizers instead of main dishes.  We had deviled eggs, chorizo cheese dip, and bacon wrapped weenies.  Since most people know how to make deviled eggs, I won't post a recipe.

The bacon wrapped weenies are Yummy and very easy to make.
You need: Li'l Smokies, bacon, brown sugar, toothpicks, crockpot

Cut the bacon into small enough pieces that will wrap around the weenie once.  Thread a toothpick to hold the bacon onto the weenie.  Place the weenie in a crock pot and repeat until weenies or bacon run out.  Add about 3/4 cup of brown sugar to the crock pot and set it and go.  You'll know when the dish is done when the bacon looks cooked.


For the dip, we decided it would be nice to have a dip, but since we didn't plan on it, we were brainstorming.  We came up with a tasty concoction

You need:  chorizo, chopped red onion, hot sauce, cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, tortilla chips

Cook the chorizo and red onion.  While that's cooking, blend cream cheese (2 packages) and 1/4 cup sour cream in a large bowl.  Add the chorizo, salsa, and shredded cheese. Mix until well blended.  Eat with chips.  We didn't really take measurements, we went with what we like.  But it came out very good.  It may end up replacing the weenies for our appetizer that we bring to parties.