Quick and Easy Puff Pastry Peach Cobbler

This recipe was born because I was craving something sweet for after dinner but I did not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Both Chief and Chase went crazy for this dessert. It was gone before morning!! Chief told me this is a keeper which in our family means it goes in my recipe books that I have been adding recipes too since I was 13 years old.


Ingredients:

Cooking spray
2 cans of peach pie filling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup of caramel bits*
Puff Pastry, thawed but still cold
Cinnamon sugar mixture


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F (Gas mark 4 or 177C).

Spray a 9x9 inch baking pan or dish with the cooking spray.

Add the peach pie filling to the pan. Sprinkle the vanilla extract over the filling. Sprinkle the top of the filling with the nuts and the caramel bits.

My puff pastry topping looks rustic because I used the leftover puff pastry I used to make dinner. You can either do like I did and tear up the pastry and cover the top of the filling or you can roll out the pastry to to fit the dish.

Sprinkle the top of the puff pastry with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. You want the pastry to be a light golden brown but still flaky.

Makes 4 to 8 servings depending on the size of the people you are feeding!

Can serve alone or with ice cream.

*Notes:
If you don't have caramel bits you can make some by snipping store bought chewy caramels into bits with a pair of scissors.

McGee Family Meatloaf

Ingredients:
4 pounds ground beef (mince in the UK)*
2 packets .chicken coating mix*
2 eggs
4 teaspoons garlic powder
Cooking spray
Beef broth
White or red wine


Directions:
Heat oven to 350 F ( Gas mark 4 or 177C).

In a very large bowl place all ingredients. Using your hands squish and mix together all ingredients until well blended. It will start forming a ball when it starts being well blended.

Spray a 13x9" baking pan with the cooking spray. Add enough beef broth and wine to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the beef mixture into the pan and shape into a rectangle. Do Not fill up the pan with the meat just make a rectangle and place in the center of the pan.

Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for an hour and a half or until the meatloaf is no longer pink inside.

I cut the meatloaf in thirds. I have a third of it with mashed potatoes and gravy that night.

Later in the week I make Meatloaf Marinara Subs.

My dad takes the other third and makes SOS with Southern biscuits.


*Notes:
I try to use lean ground beef (mince) but not so lean it falls apart. Usually in the 80/20 range of lean to fat.

I use the "Oven Fry" brand of coating mix.

Praying for Italy

Our hearts go out to Italy and the earthquake victims. This is a tiny bit personal for me as my mother's side of the family is from Italy. Even though we have never met them, we have some family over there in Italy. Dacia and I send our prayers and white light to everyone that has been affected by this earthquake. 

To the People of Yemen

Our hearts and prayers and love go out to the people of Yemen and the doctors, nurses, medical personnel as well as the patients and families at the Doctors Without Borders Hospital.

It is bad enough that we attack people who have really done nothing to us but their governments and our governments act like bullies on a playground and they are caught in the crossfire literally but now they attack the truly helpless to us that is beyond disgusting!

Governments need to settle differences without the taking of innocent lives especially now since we are in the year 2016 and should be beyond this kind of mentality by now!

Slow Cooker/Crockpot Shredded Curry Chicken

Slow Cooker/Crockpot Shredded Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

1 Teaspoon Paprika

1 Teaspoon Turmeric

¼-½ Teaspoon Salt^

¼-½ Teaspoon Pepper^

Olive oil*

4-6 Frozen skinless boneless chicken breast

Directions:

*Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of the slow cooker/crockpot.

**Put as much of the frozen chicken in to make it about 1/3-1/2 full.

Mix the curry powder, paprika, turmeric, salt, and pepper in a small container.

Sprinkle on half of the curry powder mixture onto the chicken.

Put the lid on the slow cooker/crockpot and turn on high for 4 hours.

Take the chicken out and shred with two forks on a plate, then stick either in a bowl or another plate.

Put shredded chicken back into slow cooker/crockpot.

Sprinkle the rest of the curry powder mixture onto the chicken and stir the chicken enough to mix the powder into the juices.

Turn the slow cooker/crockpot on low for 30 minutes.

^This is optional, or you can add up to ½ teaspoon of each salt and pepper. It all depends on your taste for semi-spicy food.

Our Hearts are With Switzerland...

To the people of Switzerland we send our sympathy and well wishes for the victims and their family and friends.

My Top Five Must Haves in the Kitchen

 Wooden spoons and spatulas are always in my kitchen. I don't even own a mixer since I do everything by hand with a bowl and wooden spoon or spatula.

Rice cooker is another piece of equipment my kitchen will never be without. I was taught the usefulness of  a rice cooker while living in Japan when I was younger. Every home I ever visited in Japan had one sometimes two! Makes perfect sticky rice with no fuss. You can make separated rice by rinsing the rice even more.

My old Corningware and Anchor Hocking bowls and bakeware. I have some from the 60's which were my moms. Bakes everything so much better than metal pans in my opinion.

My mom's cast iron fry pan is perfect from frying a steak to baking homemade cornbread.

Slow cooker/Crockpot is another must have in my home. I use mine at least once a week if not more to start a new meal as well as defrosting and reheating leftovers from the freezer! I have a large slow cooker as well as a medium one.

These are  what I need in my kitchen for me to feel at home. I know you need the other things as well but these are the things that I refuse to do without!

My Introduction

Hello, everyone, my name is Jessica. I am the Anne of Rae-Anne. I like sports, music, arts, and crafts. As well as, cooking for the blog, when I have the time. I just have to come up with different recipes to make and then put them on here.

The sports I like are hockey, baseball, football (soccer for all of the American followers), Crashed Ice (downhill ice skate racing), American football, and some others that only happen during the Olympics. For instance; curling, gymnastics, swimming, snowboarding, long jump, and some others. I have gotten to know some major league athletes, it is great to see them live their dreams when they play their sport.

 For music, I can listen to mostly anything. For rap, it depends on the person who is doing the rapping. My favorite band is Kamelot. I also love Amaranthe, Disturbed, Halestorm, Lacuna Coil, Rammstein, Seether, Skillet, and many others. I can listen to their music over and over again.

The arts and crafts are self-explanatory, this is one way to get rid of stress that comes up, from school and everyday life. Some of which, I might sell on here from time to time. Which would be awesome, at least to me, to be able to sell something.

I also go to school. I will have two associate degrees coming up very soon. One is in English and the other in Sociology. This keeps me very busy, as well. I hope to be done with school in the next semester or the following.

One thing I forgot to mention was, that I love to travel. My dream places to go are; London, Sydney, Prague, Paris, Boston, Salem, Vancouver, and a few others. One country I would love to go back to is Switzerland. My favorite places to visit are; New York (upstate and city) and Toronto.

That is some of what I like. I hope you enjoy the blog and the recipes we post.

Last Week...

Last week was a lovely week since my nephews came up to visit from Tuesday to Saturday! They are the most awesome boys and it is so wonderful to watch my son playing video games with them that their dad used to play with him when he was young.

We all had fun making meals and just spending time together watching Harry Potter while playing Pokemon on our 3DS's. The house is too quiet when they leave and Doozie is so sad when her boys are not there to play with or growl at!

Hope everyone has a lovely week ahead!

Chief's Semi-Quick Beef & Vegetable Soup

Chief is my 75 year old dad who still loves too cook on occasion and eat anytime. He makes this soup with my two nephews when they come over. He loves cooking with his grandchildren like he did with all of his kids. My dad has been one of my inspirations in cooking and really all I do!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds stew meat cut into bite sized pieces or smaller if desired
Cooking spray
4 quarts (3786ml) beef broth
2 to 4 carrots, julienned
3 stalks celery chopped*
6 to 8 small potatoes, peeled and quartered*
1 can of green beans, drained
1 can of corn, drained*
1 can of petite peas, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder


Directions:
Spray a small fry pan with cooking spray. Over medium heat quickly heat the beef just until browned on the outside but still raw on the inside.


In a pot that is 6 quarts place in the meat, potatoes, carrots and then the rest of the vegetables. Always place the vegetables that take the longest next to the meat. Cover with the broth and add the garlic and onion powders.

Bring to a gentle boil or simmer. Stir gently to make sure nothing sticks every now and then. Let cook for 30 to 45 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are done. As usual check your stoves user manual to be sure since all stoves have a mind of their own!

Makes 6 to 8

*Notes
We chop the celery about a half an inch since some people are silly about them in their soup! Not gonna say who but they know who they are!

For the corn I usually buy the white and yellow shoe peg corn in one can.

For the potatoes we use the yukon gold organic. In the UK I would use a waxy variety so it can hold up to the simmering and not break apart.

Belgium Has Our Prayers

To the people of Belgium and to the two brave officers Corinne and Hakima we offer our prayers and sympathy. To the officer who stopped this autrocious attack thank you! May you all be blessed in the time ahead.

Good Luck!

We here at Rae-Anne's Recipes wish all the Olympic athletes good luck in their journey during this year's Olympic games.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

 I used to make these before "Gluten Free" became a household word. My family loves them because they have lots of peanut butter flavor! I also use mini chips in it on occasion.

Ingredients:

1 cup (235 ml) white sugar*
1 cup (235 ml) creamy peanut butter
1 egg*
1 teaspoon vanilla
Extra white sugar


Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl add all ingredients and beat together well.  Using two small spoons or cookie scoop place rounded balls of dough onto the parchment paper.

Take a fork and gently press down onto a dough ball then press into sugar, then press back onto the cookie making a crosshatch pattern.

Place cookie sheet into oven for 6 to 10 minutes depending on your oven. You want the cookies to be set but still soft.

*Notes:
United Sates white sugar or granulated sugar is not the same as castor sugar in the UK sadly. "It comes between the UK's granulated and caster sugar" according to usingmainlyspoons.com

Also American eggs sadly tend to be smaller than European eggs. I always bake or cook with either large or extra large to make them somewhat the same as our European counterparts.