I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes lately that call to cook the meal in a Dutch oven.  My mom bought me a beautiful red cast iron Dutch oven for Christmas this year.  And I’ve decided to try it out today on a modified meal.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and it led me to this blog post at Siggy Spice.  This is the original recipe and post.  My husband does not like pork, so I thought I’d modify it and use chicken breasts.  Then I decided to cook it on my stove in my new Dutch oven.  I also added a few ingredients that are not in the original recipe, almost like a stew you might make in the crock pot.  This was a very easy meal to throw together.  Enjoy!

Drunken Chicken and Potatoes:

3 chicken breasts

salt and pepper

1 bottle dark beer (I used Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, just because it’s the only beer I had in the house)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup ketchup

1 cup small carrots

2 lb small russet potatoes (I bought mine from Schwans’, and I believe they might have already been precooked…)

Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of the Dutch oven pan.  Heat oil over medium heat.  Salt and pepper your chicken breasts to taste and brown in hot oil.  Remove from pan and set aside.  While chicken is browning, mix beer, brown sugar and ketchup in a bowl.  Once you have removed the chicken, deglaze the pan with a little bit of the beer mix.  Pour potatoes into the pan, place chicken on top.  Add carrots.  Pour remaining beer mix over entire contents.  Place cover on Dutch oven and turn heat to low.  Allow to cook on low heat for about 3-4 hours, depending on if your potatoes are precooked or not.  Enjoy!

I found this recipe in an issue of Cuisine at Home.  I have modified it a bit, but my oh my.  If you love curry, this soup is for you!  I also tried out my new KitchenAid Mixer and dough handle, making some fresh bread to dip into this soup for dinner tonight.  Great comfort food for a cold winter night.  Enjoy!

Curry Chicken Noodle Soup:

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced red pepper

1 cup diced celery

1 can mushrooms

3 T curry powder

3 T fresh minced ginger

3 T minced jalapeno

2 T minced fresh garlic

2 T olive oil

8 cups low sodium chicken broth

8 oz. Thai noodles

1 can chicken

squirt lime juice, dash of salt and pepper to taste

scallions (optional)

Sweat onion, pepper, celery, mushrooms, curry, ginger, jalapeno, garlic and oil in a large pot over medium-low heat until onion begins to soften.  Stir in broth and chicken.  Bring soup to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 1-2 hours.  About 30 minutes before serving, turn heat back to boiling and add noodles.  Cook until done.  Return heat to low until ready to serve.  Season with salt, pepper and a squirt of lime juice.  Sprinkle sliced scallions on top if desired.  Enjoy!

I found this recipe in one of my Cooking With Paula Deen magazines.  Her recipe actually calls for Kahlua, not Captain Morgan.  But I did not have any Kahlua, so I thought I would try it with Captain.  It turned out awesome!  This is a very easy cake to throw together.  Also a great cake for those of you that don’t like frosting.  It is rich and delicious.  Enjoy!

Captain Morgan Cake:

1 box German chocolate cake mix

1 box chocolate instant pudding mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a Bundt pan.  In a large bowl, mix cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, rum and eggs.  Beat at medium speed until smooth.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Carefully pour hot Captain Topping (recipe below) over the cake.  Let stand, in pan, for 4 hours.  Invert cake and serve!

Captain Topping:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Captain Morgan

1/4 cup water

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring often.

Every year I do a New Years Day photo shoot of my boys in front of a black background, shirts off.  Very simple, yet very fun.  I love to get different expressions and see how they’ve grown through the year.  I normally do them each individually.  I don’t usually try to get a group shot, because it is just so hard to get a nice shot of them all together.  But this year they actually sat nice together and let me take a couple shots of them together.  I am repainting my kitchen/dining/living room this week and cannot wait to have one of these shots blown up into a huge canvas for the wall.  What do you think?  Do you have a favorite?  Which one should I use this year?  Leave your comments!

I found this recipe through Pinterest.  It originates from the blog All Things Delicious.  Check it out, all sorts of yummy stuff there.  I am home today with no plans and thought I would try out my new KitchenAid blender that I got for Christmas.  I was browsing through my recipes saved on Pinterest and came across this simple, fast and easy recipe.  It’s only 8:30am, so what better time to make this breakfast ring.  My boys and I love monkey bread, and this is basically a version of that.  This was so fast and easy to make.  It just might become a new family tradition on Saturday mornings.  Enjoy!

Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring:

1 tube grand buttermilk biscuits