Not Baked Beans

K......so I was throwing a birthday party for a friend and we were having bbq chicken, potato salad, pasta salad, green salad, and garlic bread......and I was thinking......is that going to be enough food for 20 people?? Cuz you know....that's what us food people do. So I decided to make beans. But the dilemma was...what kind?? Chili or sweet beans?? I've made chili hundreds of times.....as a matter of fact that reminds me, I have a recipe I made up....I'll post that soon!! ANYWAYS....I decided to go with 'baked beans' I use that term loosely!! I don't know if its just me, or what...but I've never really had great success with "baked" beans. So I decided to go with "Not" Baked Beans. Check out the recipe!!

2 lbs Pinto Beans, washed

1/2 lb Bacon, cut to 1 inch pieces

1 Medium Onion, diced

8 Cloves of Garlic

1 1/2 cups Ketchup

salt to taste

2 T Chicken Bouillon Powder

1 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Molasses

salt to taste

Water

Put cleaned beans in a large stock pot and cover with water. Add onion, 3 cloves of garlic, and chicken bouillon powder. Boil for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When beans are almost done add all other ingredients including remaining 5 cloves of garlic grated on the micro plane, cook until beans are tender. During the first 1-1/2 hours you may have to add more water.

These beans turned out to be a huge success!!!





Chocolate Cobbler

Ummmm........need I say more??? Chocolate and cobbler....who knew they went so well together!!! I got this recipe from a one of the nicest ladies I know. She mentioned on her facebook page that she was eating chocolate cobbler and I messaged her and told her....I MUST HAVE THIS RECIPE!!! I just had to try it....I'd never even heard of this until a week ago......now.....I'm addicted!!! Thank you Diana!!!!

1 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
7 T cocoa powder
1 1/4 c sugar
1/2 c milk
1/3 c melted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 c hot tap water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, 3/4 c of the sugar and 3 T of cocoa. Stir in milk, melted butter and vanilla to flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour mixture into ungreased 8 inch baking dish. In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining sugar (1/2 cup) 4 T cocoa powder and brown sugar. Sprinkle over batter. Pour hot water over all of it. DO NOT STIR.
Bake for 40 minutes or until center is set.
Let stand for a few minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream!!

Empan-acos....what you get when you cross a Empanada with a Taco ;)

Ok....so today I took chicken thighs out for dinner because I totally planned to make oven fried chicken. However.....while trying to nap today....I got an "idea"....now I must be honest with you......my "ideas" drive my husband crazy. He always comes into the kitchen and says......"Oh no, what are you making now?"

Granted, it would have been safe to stick with the chicken.....but who likes safe?? I like to step out and take some risks....ok so maybe it wasn't that big of a risk....but it was definitely something worth writing about!! So here's the story. Last night I made a delicious dinner of pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn. MMm..it was so good....I made a rub of cloves, brown sugar, ginger, ground mustard, garlic powder, cinnamon, paprika and I rubbed that piggy down. Then I seared the rub on Mr Oinky and popped him in the oven. Oh man was it good!! Soooooo.....anyways......I had all these leftovers today and didn't want them to go to waste, and that's how I came up with Empan-acos. Its a cross between a Empanada and a Taco. Get it??? Empanaco????? I thought it was clever!! Typically Empanadas are made with a flour dough like pie crust, but I used Masa!!

Please note when you read this recipe....well one you can use whatever the heck filling you want.....but two I just threw the ingredients in the bowl so my measurements are approximations!! :)

Outer Shell
3 cups Masa
2 T tomato bouillon powder
1 tsp season salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups water (make sure dough is nice and wet and soft)
Filling (I used)
Pork roast
corn
mashed potatoes
Mix all filling ingredients together. Mix all outer shell ingredients together use a tortilla press and use a golf ball sized masa ball to make a tortilla. Put a tablespoon sized scoop of filling on one side of the tortilla and any kind of cheese chunk if you want (I used colby jack). Fold over the 'tortilla' and press edges together. Drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown. Break that puppy open and watch the cheese ooze then bite into it and burn your tongue.