It's So Easy, It's Scary.....

Happy Halloween everyone!! I've made a great treat today that you'll be sure to love. I've said before that there are two things every kitchen must have, and now I'm adding a third item to this essential list.

1. Crock Pot
2. Cast Iron Skillet
3. Electric Ice Cream Maker - Yes, you need one!

Here is ours, but there are several other brands out there. We keep the insert in the freezer at all times, so that we can make ice cream whenever we want. The options are endless and you are really only limited by your imagination.

Here it the basic recipe for vanilla ice cream. From there, you can add whatever you want. We've tried several combinations that were tasty, including chocolate chips and rasberry jam -- it was to die for!!

Today, I used some of our Halloween candy for the flavoring. My sister Katie and I love Hershey's Special Dark, which you can only find in the Hershey's miniatures bags. I chopped up about six of those mini bars and put it in this ice cream. Trust me, it was good!!!

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream:
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 chopped up Special Dark miniature bars (you could use anything to mix in)

Directions:
1. Whisk ingredients together
2. Place ice cream maker insert into the machine and turn on
3. Pour mixture into the ice cream maker
4. Allow ice cream maker to mix 20-25 minutes total
5. After 20 minutes, add your chopped up candy bar (or other mix-in)
6. Place ice cream in freezer

*You can eat the ice cream right away and it has the consistency of a soft-serve ice cream. I always let it set in the freezer for at least an hour before serving so that it can harden just a bit. Homemade ice cream never gets as hard as store-bought ice cream, so it will still be soft. Enjoy!!

Pork Tenderloin Magic

Tonight I took a gamble and it paid off. I decided that I wanted to cook a pork tenderloin for dinner. I decided to get creative and make up my own marinade. So, this morning, I threw a few things in the food processor and created magic. This tenderloin was moist, flavorful and pretty much awesome. Here's how I did it:

Pork Tenderloin Marinade:
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 green onions
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Throw everything into the food processor and mix
2. Rub over the entire tenderloin and let sit all day in the fridge
3. Brown both sides of the tenderloin in an iron skillet (about 3 minutes per side)
4. Stick skillet into a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes

Pumpkin Cake

Our friend Sharla came over yesterday and made her world famous Pumpkin Cake. It was so good and it made the entire house smell like Fall. Jason took one bite and said, "It's not terrible." That's exactly what you want to hear after you've baked something. Then he grabbed four Laffy Taffys and watched Sharla and I sample her cake.

It's really easy, and relatively fat free, because there is no eggs or oil, yet the cake is very moist!!

Pumpkin Cake:
1 box spice cake mix
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together
2. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean (start checking after 15 minutes)

*This recipe will make around 12-18 muffins or about 6 loaves of bread (see picture).

Mexican Cornbread

If there's one thing that instantly takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen, it's Mexican Cornbread. This is her recipe that she perfected over the years. She would make this with almost anything - chicken, pork, casseroles, anything. My grandfather was one of those guys who wanted bread with every meal. This was my favorite!! Somehow my grandmother's cornbread always came out thin and crispy. Mine was fluffy, but moist, spicy, and delicious!!

Mexican Cornbread:
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
1 small can cream style corn
2/3 cup oil pour some in skillet
2 eggs
6 or more jalapeno ringlets chopped
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup buttermilk (or milk) or more if mixture gets too thick -- (I used regular milk)
Cast Iron Skillet

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Mix all ingredients -- the mixture should be thin and runny like cake batter

3. When oven gets to 250 degrees put skillet in to get hot

4. Bake 20- 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown

For some reason, mine stuck to the bottom a little bit, so it broke apart.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Tonight, I made a dish that my mom used to make all the time....Poppy Seed Chicken. This is one of those chicken casseroles that is a staple if you grow up in Alabama. This is real comfort food, but I added a chopped green onion, which my mom never did. I love the flavor of green onions and I like the color and taste that the bring to dishes.

Poppy Seed Chicken:
2-3 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cooked
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 green onion, chopped
1 tube Ritz crackers
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
Minute Rice

Directions:
1. Boil chicken in water and cute into cubes
2. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and line with cubed chicken
3. Sprinkle chopped green onion over the top of the chicken
4. Mix sour cream and soup together
5. Pour over chicken
6. In a sandwich bag, crush crackers and add poppy seeds and butter
7. Pour cracker mixture over chicken
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

***Serve over rice

Fall is here!

Fall is here....the time to carve pumpkins, eat squash, and take pictures next to hay bales. I've got some delicious recipes for you over the next two weeks, so stay tuned. We're celebrating Fall here at Feeding Jason, and we hope you'll join us!!

Feeding Jason is made in the U.S.A.

Grilled Perfection

Tonight, I grilled chicken. After countless Food Network episodes on grilling, I've finally learned my lesson -- don't keep flipping your chicken. Did that come out wrong? You know what I mean. All the chefs say to grill your chicken for 7 minutes or so and then flip once and cook for another 7 minutes.....that way, you always get crispy skin and that dark color that makes it look so good.

There are 10,000 different marinades for grilled chicken, but tonight I kept it simple. One other important tip for grilling. You need to make sure and buy chicken that is on the bone and still has the skin on it. Even if you don't want to eat the skin, it helps lock in flavor and moistness...trust me on this one. For a long time I thought boneless, skinless chicken was healthier, and it is, but it gets dry so easily -- it's just not worth it!!

Simple Grilled Chicken:
4 chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on)
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
Rosemary -- lots of it

Directions:
1. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and drizzle with olive oil
2. Make sure every piece is completely covered
3. Throw in rosemary, salt, and pepper
4. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before grilling
5. See above for grilling instructions