Elizabeth Obsesses...

 Oh, how I've missed this place.  So much space here to stretch out and just write.  But there has been too much stuff happening on the other end of my keyboard for that!  Somewhere, somehow, we've managed get 4 amazing young people through high school and off to the next big adventures of their lives, and they are all doing so incredibly well.   At the beginning of the pandemic, I cooked for over 100 days straight and baked a ton of bread and just STAYED HOME like everyone else, but especially enjoyed being in my kitchen.  In January this past year, I opened up a little Etsy shop, Rusted Roof Creations , and it just took off like gangbusters.  I think it's been the most fun I've ever had.  Through it all, my youngest son Austin has been reminding me to get back to my blog, and he's totally right so here it is,  my first nearly midnight post all over again.  💗

Beefaroni:  A new take on a childhood classic I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I used to love Chef Boyardee Beefaroni when I was a child. My mother used to split one can between my brothers and I and we would each get a little piece of toast to go along with it.  It was so good! Somewhere along the way, I grew up and had children of my own.  One afternoon I wanted to recreate for them one of the meals I loved as a child.  So, I bought a can of this magic stuff and warmed it slowly in a sauce pan while toasting some bread.  I set the table and sat down with my kids to share in this meal from my childhood...and wondered what the hell happened.  This was not delicious.  In fact, this stuff was awful!  And Orange!  The noodles had a weird fake texture...and the meat?  Just what kind of meat was that , anyway?  It didn't taste like beef at all!  Needless to say, that was the end of that. But what if it didn't hav...

Philly-style Steak Sandwiches All Winter, I've been waiting for snow.  I mean, a really good snowfall that would completely shut the roads down encourage us to stay inside and keep warm. Well, this past week it finally arrived!  I was so excited with anticipation that I planned out our snow-day food in advance.  Yeah, not kidding here...just tryin' to keep it real. The plan was to make something hearty, warm, and filling.  This was important because I knew that guy I have a huge crush on would be out shoveling the driveway and sidewalk and I wanted to make something he'd especially love:  Philly-style Steak Sandwiches.   My take on these delicious sandwiches is a little different because it's even heartier than the original IMHO.   I use tender fork-shredded chuck roast slow cooked all day in a delicious marinade which is then reduced to sandwich-ready perfection.  To really top it all off, I served it with my homemade  hand-cu...

Romertopf White Bread:  The easiest loaf of bread you'll ever make! Clay pots or earthen-ware may be the oldest type of cookware ever found.  In fact, they've been unearthed by archaeologists at historic sites all over the world!  We know that these ancient civilizations put these clay pots in the glowing embers of fires, and used them to bake, roast, poach, and braise all sorts of meals.   I admit that I'm new to clay pot cooking.  My mother-in-law gave me a beautiful covered Romertopf roaster for Christmas and when I started learning about how to use it, all I could think about was bread .  I make a lot of bread in my oven, but I was incredibly excited to try it in a clay pot!  After all, I reasoned, this would have to be as close to an authentic brick oven as I was likely to get, and I couldn't wait to get started. The basic bread recipe, which was included with my cookware, was the first one I tried.  Because you soak both p...

Vegetable Lo Mein Lo Mein is a delicious Chinese dish, featuring sliced vegetables and soft noodles that are stir fried and married in a sauce, bringing everything together.  I love it because it's so versatile.  You can make it as an accompaniment to a main course, or it can even be the main course by simply adding some meat to the mix.  It's simple because you can use whatever you have on hand and it always seems to work .  Don't be intimidated by the list of ingredients.  It literally takes 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of sizzle, before you'll be eating and wondering why you didn't try this sooner. I'm always looking for food the whole family will enjoy that's easy to prepare on my busy work night evenings but tastes like I spent all day cooking.  This one came together in a flash, and everyone loved it.   Everyone!  I wasn't sure my sons would try it...not only did they try it, they loved it so much I had to stop them from eat...

Taco phyllo poppers with creamy Chobani yogurt If you're looking for a super easy Super Bowl snack that is equally delicious and beautiful, look no further - you've got to try these taco bites!  Whether you plan on having a big party or it's just you and your family, these mini tacos make the perfect treat. It only takes about 20 minutes to brown ground beef and assemble these treats, but if you plan ahead and "feed your freezer" it takes even less time.   "Feeding your freezer" is one of my favorite time saving techniques where you do the prep work up front and freeze the results for nights when you don't have time.   For example, when I go to the big warehouse stores, I buy five pounds of ground beef at a time! When I get it home, I brown it all in a big dutch oven with onions, but no other seasonings.  After all, it doesn't take that much more time to brown five pounds of meat than it does to brown one! Once it's all browned, I s...

Chobani Vanilla Cheesecake Bites The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and I'm already obsessing about my menu.  After all, the Super Bowl is the um...well, it's the  Super Bowl of cooking holidays!   I know some people might think that Thanksgiving  is the center of the cooking world, but they'd be wrong.  While I love roasting turkey and making all the sides, being constrained by tradition is not nearly as fun as coming up with an outrageously different feast filled with amazing entrees and appetizers for hungry masses every year ! This year, I'm whipping up these delicious vanilla cheesecake bites using vanilla flavored Chobani Greek Yogurt in the batter.  They are amazing and turned out even better than I imagined.  So good, they may just be my new "go-to" cheesecake recipe. Now - what is everyone else having for Super Bowl Sunday?  I need some more ideas, so please respond in the comments! Chobani Vanilla Cheesecake Bites...

Chobani Chicken Fingers with Chipotle Chobani Dip  Years ago, when I was a new mom,  I made it a point to keep a bag of frozen chicken tenders in the freezer for nights when I just didn't have the time to get a "real" dinner on the table.  I thought this was a good mom thing because it kept us out of the local drive-throughs.  Those days are a distant memory now for two reasons:  first, I learned how easy it is to whip up delicious fresh chicken fingers  from scratch and second, my children will no longer tolerate anything that's not "home-made".  I laugh about it, but they're quite serious.  They know the difference and now they won't let me live it down ! These chicken tenders are made using Chobani Greek Yogurt as a base in the marinade instead of buttermilk.   Like buttermilk, it helps to tenderize the meat, adds flavor, and helps to retain the moisture in the chicken throughout the cooking process.  While buttermilk is tangy...

Chobani Ranch Dressing Whether you're dipping chicken strips or fresh vegetables, Ranch Dressing is king in my book.  Especially when it's homemade.  So when Chobani contacted me about helping them come up with great game day recipes to support their #madewithchobani  #deliciousbowl campaign, I knew that I wanted to start with one of my favorite things:  Ranch Dressing. This version is healthier than ones with sour cream, but thankfully you don't have to sacrifice great taste for great health .  It has far less fat and is a great source of protein, too.   Even my kids couldn't get enough!   It only takes less than ten minutes to whip up, and it's far better than the bottled or powdered versions you find in the condiment aisle of the supermarket. This recipe is for a basic ranch dressing, but you can spice it up to suit your own tastes by adding ingredients like jalepenos, dill, chives, chipotle, or rosemary.  The possibili...

Super Moist Carrot Cake Although it's been around since the latter part of the 1800's, Carrot Cake didn't become widely available in American diners until the 1960's - and then it was viewed primarily as a novelty item.  But when viewed under the shimmering light of disco balls with the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever playing in the background, this dessert hit it's stride and achieved righteous cult status in the 1970's.  What I'm saying is Carrot Cake is to the 1970's what Salted Caramel is to the 2010's.   With it's bold orangey color, it could hardly miss.  It fits right in with zig-zag print couches and plaid pants. I guess I'm just a sucker for the '70's because it's always been fashionable in my eyes.  With it's perfect blend of Autumnal spices and a thick layer of vanilla bean speckled cream cheese frosting, this is *the* perfect dessert for any occasion.  Whether you're hosting a dinner or just feedi...

Big news over here! The Chobani Yogurt company emailed me this evening asking me to participate in their Superbowl campaign by developing game day food items and blogging about them. I'm so excited, I just had to share the news! So, be on the lookout for some exciting new recipes over the next two weeks!

Chipotle Chicken Tacos So, earlier this week I made these chipotle chicken tacos, and they were really amazing.   As I mentioned in  Mango Salsa  post, we're having a cold snap here in Delaware, and I'm trying to bring back the tastes and smells of Summer with some really good hot weather food.  It was too cold to stand out and grill them like I would ordinarily ( and by that, I mean like my husband would ordinarily, lol ), so I pan seared them in a screaming hot skillet, then popped them in a 375F oven for 20 minutes.  That's it!  A quick peek inside revealed that they were cooked to juicy perfection. If this was the only meal I could eat every day for the rest of my life, I would be totally okay with that.   In my opinion, the spicy, smoky chipotle peppers are the shining star of this dish, and I use them to make a marinade for the chicken.   Because these guys are bringing the heat, I temper them with a good amount of honey along wit...

Mango Salsa This past week an Arctic Blast has whipping through Delaware, and it has been so c-o-l-d.  While I know other parts of the country have it worse, but here on the East Coast, we don't usually see temperatures that low.   They even had a 2-hour delay for most of the area schools because the temperature was only 10F in the morning. I decided that if I couldn't get the weather to cooperate, I'd bring some color and a little bit of heat back in the form of this bright, citrusy treat.  If you're anything like me, you're looking at this Mango Salsa and longing for the warmer nights of Summer.  The bright flavors and combination of ingredients balance the heat of the Jalepenos perfectly.  Served with warmed tortilla chips or alongside a chicken breast marinated in my  honey chipotle sauce, you can't go wrong.    This recipe can't get any easier and it only takes ten minutes to whip up. Now, I need other recipes to help us warm up! ...

Chili de Salchichas (Sausage Chili) Chili is one of my favorite cold weather  one pot meals.   It's probably one of the first meals I ever made after moving out on my own (oh those many, many years ago) but it's been around since the 1880's.  It's amazing how combining a few bold ingredients can turn them into something completely different and hearty.   It's a versatile dish that can be made many different ways depending on your taste, mood, or even where you're from:  Chicken with white beans, also known as White Chili, Chili Verde, made with chunks of pork and slow cooked in a green chili sauce,  and even Vegetarian Chili are common variations. Equally diverse is what you put under your chili.  While some people choose to have it plain, Cincinnati style is served over spaghetti noodles and topped with cheese.  In the South, it's commonly served over rice with a side of cornbread.  This particular recipe is for Sausage Chili - or Ch...

Italian Meatballs Meatballs - real Italian Meatballs - are among my favorite things to make and I like to have plenty on hand.  While they're not terribly difficult to make, they take more time than I typically have on an average weeknight so I like to make them in advance on the weekends. Pasta and meatballs are a staple here, and are especially perfect for busy nights when I don't have a lot of time.  You know the kind of nights I'm talking about - the ones where you have to take the kids to three different practices and you spend all your time driving and fantasizing about how much easier your life would be if you just hit one of the ten fast food drive throughs you pass on your way home from work?   Don't do it !  With a little advance planning, you can have a hot meal on the table in just a few minutes that is so much better than anything ever passed through a drive through window. When I make these, I usually make enough to roll out about a hundred me...

Salted Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark Salted chocolate toffee pretzel bark is one of my favorite things.  The taste is out of this world, and it makes a perfect hostess gift to bring to your holiday parties.  With a red ribbon and some crushed candy cane as a garnish, it looks like it took all day to make.  It'll be your secret that it really took only 15 minutes from start to finish. I love how this photo turned out, and I have to give credit to my lovely daughter, (tall) Amanda.  Thanks to her creative spirit and food styling skills, we were able to pull the elements of the season  into our shot. Click below for photos of each step and the recipe - but before you do, what are your favorite hostess gifts to bring to your holiday gatherings?  Respond in the comments.

I've been waiting to share some news with my readers all week, and am very excited that I have the green light to finally spill the beans.   Earlier this week, I was interviewed by  Dishfolio about my blog, and last night the interview went live on their website.  You can check out the interview here: Elizabeth Obsesses interview on Dishfolio . For those of you who may not be familiar with Dishfolio , here is an excerpt from their website describing what they're about: At dishfolio, we love food - and food photography. Our motto is "eat. share. drool." and we aim to do just that with every single image we post.     Our goal is to provide you with a portfolio of high quality food images and related recipes from around the food blogosphere. We want the general public to be able to search our site and find, not only delicious-looking images of perfectly prepared foods, but also links to many food blogger's sites and their wealth of recipes.  We hope y...

Blueberry pie with braided crust I also call this recipe Blueberry pie with a LOL crust.  My oldest son, Ryan,  devours blueberry pies.  If I were to make a blueberry pie - just for him - every day of the week, he would never get tired of it.   I love how easy it is to throw a pie together and have it ready in no time, although I'm still perfecting my crust technique, as shown in the photo above (it's ok, I laughed at it too). I've described this before when I wrote about peach pie ...and apple pie ... and even turkey pot pies .  You don't even need to measure things.  Just add sugar and flour to the desired fruit, dot with butter, and add it to the waiting pie crust.  Bake until it tells you it's done.  It tells you when you can smell it...and by bubbling out of the vent holes...and when the crust is golden brown.  It's easy peasy.  Click below to read more.

Sweet potato cookies made from leftover sweet potato casserole Thanksgiving is over, but the memory of beautiful, cinnamony sweet-potato casserole topped half and half with southern praline and oven toasted marshmallows is still fresh in my mind.  It’s aroma wafting through the corners of our house if only as a ghost of Thanksgiving past.   I thought for sure that whatever we didn’t eat on the big turkey day, we’d eat as leftovers.  Sadly, that never happened.  I used up all the turkey in our (Leftover) Turkey Pot Pie , and I just couldn't get the kids to eat the leftovers without the turkey. With a family of six, I’m always looking for ways to save money.  Beyond saving money, I  hate  to waste money, and when you get right down to it… food is money .  So I came up with a plan.  I would give the casserole a  leftover makeover .   With just a handful of ingredients that I already had on hand, I tur...

Potato Leek Soup with an American twist Potato Leek Soup has been around in some form or another for hundreds of years, but it was made  famous by Julia Child, an American woman who wrote the book on Mastering The Art of French Cooking .  She had several different televised cooking shows in the 1970s and 1980s.  Her version, a deliciously creamy soup dubbed Potage Parmentier , typically served either hot or cold, is famous the world over. My Americanized version features the heartier flavors of smoked bacon and rich sour cream in addition to the fresh herbs and vegetable base made famous in her soup but is equally delicious served hot or cold.  I also included fresh lime juice to brighten the flavor.  It pairs perfectly with the velvety broth.  So, what's your favorite soup on rainy nights?  Please respond in the comments!  Click below for the recipe.