Almond Poppy Seed Bread

Source: The Chapo's Kitchen

Ingredients (bread):

• 3 cups flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 TBS. poppy seeds
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/8 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp butter extract

Ingredients (topping):

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbs. orange juice
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. butter extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Beat all ingredients for bread together for 2 minutes.
3. Pour batter in small loaf pans (about 5, or 2 large loaf pans).
4. Bake for 40 minutes, or until brown.
5. While the bread is baking heat the topping ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. When the bread is done & taken from the oven brush the tops with the topping.
6. Let loafs sit for 10 minutes & then remove from pans.

What's Chopping This Week? {2/24/13}

Here's What's Chopping This Week:

Sunday: Meatloaf Cupcakes*
Monday: Crockpot Peach Pork Steaks*
Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu
Wednesday: Baked Ravioli
Thursday:  Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken
Friday: Leftovers!
Saturday: Mini Monkey Bread* & Egg Scrambles

*= new recipe

We want to say THANK YOU to everyone for being patient with us these past couple of weeks. We apologize for not posting, there have been some valid reasons that our blog went by the wayside. Those reasons being sick & needy children, life getting busy with the start of our Financial Peace University attendance  focusing more on our workout routines & the biggest change of all, Tia accepted a new position at a Marketing & PR firm!

That being said, we apologize again for not posting, as we are settling into this new routine of our lives in 2013 we are still trying to adjust to fit everything in our busy lives. We hope that you enjoy this week's menu and look forward to hearing what you have to say about this week's menu. Please feel free to share on facebook, pinterest or any other social media outlet you use. Don't forget to like the Chopping With The Chapos facebook page to get updates, see photos & get even more cooking tips! We love hearing from you.

Happy Chopping,

Baked Ravioli

{Image coming soon!}


Source: The Chapo's Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1lb of your favorite Ravioli, cooked
• 1 16 oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce
• 1 lb of ground beef or turkey
• 1 cup of shredded cheese, motzarella or cheddar is what we use. 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook your beef (or turkey) in a skillet until brown. 
3. Add pasta sauce to your meat in the skillet.
4. Place cooked ravioli in a 5qt casserole dish.
5. Add your sauce to the ravioli & combine
6. top with cheese (you can add more or less depending on how much cheesy goodness you like). 
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly.

Mini Monkey Bread

{Image coming soon!}


Source: The Chapo's Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 4 cans of refrigerated biscuits 
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. mix sugar & cinnamon in a plastic ziplock bag.
3. cut the biscuits into quarters using a pizza cutter or knife.
4. add biscuits to bag of cinnamon and sugar & shake until coated.
5. grease muffin pan with cooking spray or butter.
6. place about 6 pieces of dough in each muffin cup
7. bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. 

Notes: the original recipe for this came from www.rhodesbread.com/blog/blog/sweet-mini-monkey-rolls-x-2. We are modifying it our first time trying it, scary I know. I will let you all know in the comments how it turns out.   If you would like to make a frosting for these yummy treats, click on the link above, they have a couple of  great ideas there. We personally think that frosting would be too much for us and our little ones. No one needs sugar overload! 

We are going to serve these with our egg scrambles, which are essentially scrambled eggs wit our favorite breakfast meat, peppers & onions cooked with scrambled eggs. 

Crockpot Peach Pork Steaks

{Image coming soon!}

Source: http://best-recipes.salamandra-review.com/slow-cooker-pork-steaks/

Ingredients:

• 4 pork steaks,cut into 1/2 inch thick
• 3/4 teaspoon dried basil,crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Dash pepper
• 1 16-ounce (480g) can peach slices,drained,syrup reserved
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon beef bouillon granules
• Cooked rice
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Trim fat from pork steaks.
2. In large nonstick skillet cook trimmings until about 2 tablespoons fat accumulate.
3. Discard trimmings.
4. Cook pork steaks on both sides in hot fat until browned.
5. Sprinkle with basil,salt,pepper.
6. Put peaches in slow cooker.
7. Place prepared pork steaks atop.
8. Combine together peach syrup,vinegar,and beef bouillon.
9. Pour mixture over pork steaks.
10. Cover and cook on low-heat for 8 hours.
11. Arrange slow cooker pork steaks and peaches atop rice on platter.
12. Keep warm.Garnish with parsley.
13. In saucepan blend cold water into cornstarch.
14. Stir in the cooking liquid.
15. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

{Image coming soon!}

Source: http://firstlookthencook.com/2011/11/02/meatloaf-cupcakes/

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup ketchup, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, extra lean (raw)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• Cooking spray

Mashed Potatoes

• 4 cups cubed peeled Yukon gold potato (about 2 pounds)
• 1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

• 3 tablespoons chopped chives
• 4 pieces of bacon cooked and them chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, chopped carrot, dried oregano, and minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Cool.
3. Combine onion mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.
4. Spoon the meat mixture into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Top each with 2 teaspoons ketchup. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 5 minutes.
5. While the meatloaf is cooking, make the mashed potatoes.  Place potato in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain. Put potatoes into a ricer for best results.  Return potato to pan. Add milk and remaining ingredients; stir with a spoon to desired consistency.  If they are not creamy enough for you, add up to 1/4 cup more milk – although they need to be stiff enough to pipe on top.
6. Put the potatoes into a pastry bag with a wide star tip and pipe the mashed potatoes on top of the meatloaf.  Sprinkle with bacon crumbles and chopped chives.

Notes: We left out the oregano & also used prepared mashed potatoes (idohoan, fully loaded) to save some time. Our kids LOVED this recipe!

What's Chopping This Week {2/4/13}

Here's What's Chopping This Week:

Monday: Crockpot Mongolian Beef*
Tuesday: Skinny Crockpot Chicken & Rice*
Wednesday: Mexican stuffed shells*
Thursday:  Crockpot beer chicken*
Friday: 7-Up Pork Chops*
Saturday:  Breakfast Wraps
Sunday: Leftovers!

*= new recipe

As you can see, we are trying a new recipe almost every night this week, I hope they are all as delicious as they sound, otherwise we will be eating a lot of frozen pizza! (just kidding, I am sure they will all be wonderful.)
One of our recipes this week, Mexican stuffed shells, comes to us as a suggestion from a friend, she says her family loves it, so hopefully we do too! We always love to hear what you are chopping, so if you've tried any new recipes, send them our way.

Happy Chopping,