There's No Cookin' Like SNOW Cookin'

I'm out of town, but it's the 100th post! Yay! When I get back in town there'll be a new heading, and new title and a new layout. I'm not going to do it while I'm out of town, I know you all care! (Right, I HOPE all of you, our three loyal readers, care...)

Enjoy your week, I know I will. I've already eaten sushi and Cafe Rio...Gotta love Utah restaurants!

For now prepare for the great upcoming BBQ holiday, Independence Day! Here's a great brisket recipe taken from Allrecipes.com.

BRISKET WITH BARBECUE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS
4 pounds lean beef brisket
2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1 tablespoon onion salt
1 tablespoon garlic salt

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard powder
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Pour liquid smoke over brisket. Rub with onion salt and garlic salt. Roll brisket in foil and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Place brisket in a large roasting pan. Cover and bake for 5 to 6 hours. Remove from oven, cool, and then slice. Put slices back into pan.
In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, ketchup, butter, water, celery salt, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir, and cook until boiling.
Pour sauce over meat slices in pan. Cover and bake for 1 more hour.

U = Utah

Do you know how many jokes I've heard about Utah food? Fry sauce, green jello salad, funeral potatoes...joke away, it's all good. Feel free to try all of these recipes if you've never experienced them before, it'll make you homesick too!

FRY SAUCE

1/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup miracle whip

Mix together...duh! :) Great with onion rings and french fries.

FUNERAL POTATOES

6 medium baked potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 pint sour cream
1/3 cup green onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup cheese, grated
2 cups cornflakes, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat butter and soup. Blend in sour cream, onion and cheese to soup mixture. Grate potatoes on a large hole grater. Stir potatoes into soup mixture. Place in buttered 9x13 inch pan. Mix crushed cornflakes into melted butter. Sprinkle on top of potatoes and bake 45 minutes at 350°.

GREEN JELLO SALAD

1 small package lime jello
1 cup boiling water
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 small whipping cream
1/2 large package softened cream cheese

Mix jello and water. Put in freezer to get soupy. Add pineapple. Whip whipping cream and add cream cheese. Mix together with jello and pineapple. Set in refrigerator.

Menus and memories

One of my resolutions when we moved out here to West Texas and I started being home more, was to make a monthly menu and stick to it. I thought it would be easy and it would simplify grocery shopping...not so much. Menu's don't make themselves and I'm more of a "what should I cook tonight" sort of planner. Today I started working on the menu again, I vow I will conquer this! We have sort of a list of foods we fall back on when I'm not feeling very adventurous, or when we're out of time. Most of the recipes my family is used to take no longer than 30 minutes to make because I had little to no time to cook when working. I could probably publish a recipe book for people who have no time to cook, and who also have kids.
Shane is not a picky eater, thankfully neither are the kids (most of the time). Savannah is trying to be picky and she succeeds more than anyone else in the family, currently she doesn't like peanut butter, anything wrapped up, anything baked...Lincoln doesn't like to see onions or peppers, but likes the taste of them in his food. I'll report back in the next couple of days on whether I was able to get the menu done!
Also, while preparing the menu I started thinking about foods that we can't get out here in West Texas. Mostly restaurants that don't exist here in the middle of nowhere, ie; Cafe Rio, Tsunami, SubZero Ice Cream, Z'Tejas, Ottavios, Asuka, Sakura....I really, really miss eating out in Utah! Apparently the closest place to get good sushi is in Dallas or San Antonio, both 5 hours away. Shane and I both really miss sushi. I'm sure that there are a dozen or so mexican restaurants in town that would put our old favorites to shame, we'll eventually venture out of the house and start trying them. There will/can be no replacement for Cafe Rio though, I can't explain to you the craving I'm having for a salad with cilantro vinagrette dressing...I'm homesick now!