What's Cooking at The Cromer's

Semi Finals Menu Explained

2010-01-11T07:00:00.002-07:00

Pork Wellington is a pork tenderloin that has a Duxelle mash which is mushrooms and some other items pressed on to the sides of the tenderloin then it is wrapped in a puff pastry. I cooked these a year ago in a cook off and burned them.

Asiago Pepper flower is a yeast bread that has Asiago cheese in it, and black pepper in the dough, it is rolled out and made to look like a flower.

Roasted Asparagus spears are roasted in a little oil and have Parmesan cheese on the top. (no pic)

Cowboy Carmel Apple Cake is a scratch white cake spiced and put on top of apples and a Carmel sauce and then turned over when displayed with some roasted almonds sprinkled on the top and served with whipped cream or ice cream. (upside down cake)

Well there they are, all from the Dutch Ovens!

Our Menu for The World Championships!

2010-01-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Semi Finals:

We decided to do some dishe for the semi finals that we are well rehearsed in and are comfortable with. Hopefully they are good enough to get us through that round. Some of the dishes we will be competing against will be very fancy.

So here they are:

Main course:
Pork Wellington with Roasted Parmesan Asparagus Spears

Bread:
Asiago Pepper Flower

Dessert:
Cowboy Carmel Apple Cake

What do you think?

Ok back to Blogging

2010-01-06T12:11:00.007-07:00

As some of you know Connie and I won a Dutch Oven Cook-off last year back in March. So what that means in the Dutch Oven World is, that we qualify to Cook in the World Championships. We needed to be signed up by the end of the year(December 31, 2009)with recipes turned in. So we did it! I signed us up, and sent in recipes for both the semi-finals, and the finals (if we make it). So that is what we will be working on for the next 2 months. It is on March 18, 19, 20, 2010 at the ISE Sportsman's Expo in Sandy Utah. They have 2 semi-final rounds one on Thursday and one on Friday. It sounds like about 24 teams are signed up. only 10 teams total will move on to the finals. Their is a lot of Great cooks that will be cooking so we will just get in there and do our best!

I'm going to try and keep regular blogs going on the cook-off and our practice. We have some dishes that we really need to practice so maybe all out neighbors will be helping again.

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-08-26T07:00:00.004-06:00

Easy Parmesan Breadsticks

12” Dutch Oven

Dough:

2 ½-3 Cups of Flour

1 Package of Yeast

1 Cup of Warm Water

2 Tablespoons of Olive oil

1 Teaspoon of Salt

2-3 Tablespoons of butter melted

Parmesan Cheese

Garlic salt to taste

1 Tablespoon of Sesame seeds

Soften the yeast in the cup of warm water. (About 5 minutes) Add the oil and the salt to the liquid and mix up, then add 1 ½ cups of flour and mix well. Add the rest of the flour about ½ cup at a time until it forms a nice dough. Knead for 5-8 minutes until dough is a nice consistency. Rub or spray with oil and put in a covered bowl until it doubles in size. (About 1 hour) Then punch the dough down and start forming your breadsticks by rolling them in your hands or on the table top. Dip them in butter and place them in your 12” oven. Pour the remainder of the melted butter over the breadsticks. Then sprinkle them with parmesan cheese, garlic and sesame seeds to your taste. Cover and let them raise for 15-25 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees (15 coals on the top and 9 on the bottom) for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy warm plain or add additional toppings! Good Stuff!

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-08-19T07:00:00.003-06:00

Peach Plum Crisp

10” Dutch oven

Ingredients:

Fruit
4 Peaches (we like fresh)
20-25 Small Plums
½ Cup of Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon of Cornstarch

Topping (Crisp)
¾ Cup of Rolled Oats
¾ Cup of White flour
½ Cup of White Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/3 Cup of Peach Yogurt
¼ Teaspoon of Salt
1/3 Cup of melted Butter

Spray your 10” Dutch oven with pam. Prepare your fruit mixture peel the peaches and cut them in slices, cut your plums in half take out the pits (in both) then put the peaches, and plums in the mixture. Add your brown sugar and the cornstarch and mix together. Place all of your topping items in a bowl and mix together. It will kind of look like a cookie dough. Plop that on the top of your fruit by the spoonful. You don’t need to stir it in, just leave it on top. Ok you’re ready to cook! Cook at 350 degrees (7 bottom and 13 on top) for 30-40 minutes. Serve warm or cold, if its warm serve with Ice cream or Whipped cream

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-08-12T07:00:00.002-06:00

Pineapple Blueberry Cobbler (or Dump Cake)
12” Dutch Oven

Ingredients:

1 Yellow or White Cake Mix
1 can of Crushed Pineapple
1 small bag of Frozen Blueberries
¾ - 1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cube of Butter

This is an easy recipe (most dump cakes are) Place your can of pineapple in your Dutch oven juice and all, add the frozen blueberries and spread everything evenly around the oven. Sprinkle your sugar over the entire oven. Open your cake mix and dump it evenly over everything. (Don’t mix it in) slice your cube of butter and put it over the entire dessert. There you go you are ready to cook. Cook this at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (9 coals on the bottom and 15 on the top) the top will brown a little bit and the juice should be bubbling. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Good Stuff!

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-08-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

Susan’s Pizza Chicken

Sauce Ingredients:

6 Chicken Breasts
2 Cans Tomato Sauce
1 Teaspoon Oregano
1 Teaspoon Parsley
½ Teaspoon Garlic
1 Tablespoon Dried Onions
½ Teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch (to thicken sauce)
1 Diced green pepper
1 Can of diced Mushrooms

Top:

1 Can of Sliced Olives
6 Pieces of Mozzarella Cheese

Place chicken in a 12-14” Dutch Oven. Combine all sauce ingredients together in a bowl, pour over the chicken breasts in the Dutch oven. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. During last 5 minutes Put a slice of cheese on the top of each chicken breast and pour sliced olives over entire dish. Cook the last 5 minutes or until cheese melts.
(Add or take away seasonings as desired)

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-07-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

Double Cheese Bacon Nibblers

Ingredients:

20 Rhodes™ Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

6 pieces bacon, fried and crumbled

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Melt butter in the top of a 12" Ultimate Dutch oven (Use the deep lid as your base or bottom). Cut each roll into 3 pieces; roll the pieces in the butter and leave in pan. Sprinkle crumbled bacon over the rolls. Top with grated cheese. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise until double in size. Remove wrap. Bake at 350ºF 20-25 minutes. (15 Coals on top and 9 on the bottom.

(Adapted from Rhodes Bake-N-Serv)

CENTRAL PARK WARD REUNION

2009-07-27T12:21:00.003-06:00

The Central Park Ward is having a reunion! The Ward is 85 years old this year. So we are all trying to spread the word so everyone that wants to can come and join us.

Here are the details:

August 21, 2009
7:00 PM
At the Church (2700 South and 300 East)
See you there!

(Add this to your Blog or Facebooks!
Central Park Ward Reunion
Date: August 21, 2009
Time: 7:00PM
Where: Central Park Ward Church house

Central Park Ward Reunion
Date: August 21, 2009
Time: 7:00PM
Where: Central Park Ward Church hous

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-07-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

Hungry Scout French Toast

1 Tube Sausage or Fruit of choice (1-2 Cups)
1 stick of butter or margarine
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 can 29 oz. peaches
1 loaf Texas Toast
6 eggs
1/2 C. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 big zip lock bag Gallon plus

Break up your loaf of bread into bite size pieces and put them in your zip lock bag, add eggs and milk and mix together in the bag, set aside.
Brown the sausage in your 12" Dutch oven, set aside.
Melt the butter and brown sugar, stir frequently, continue to cook for about 5 minutes.
Pour bread and egg mixture in a 12" Dutch oven. Add sausage or fruit to the Dutch oven and mix it into the bread mixture, pour melted butter and brown sugar mixture over the top. Cook for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. For charcoal figure 8-10 pieces on the bottom and 10-12 on the top. Don't be afraid to check it.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top. Enjoy with syrup or eat just as it is.

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-07-15T07:00:00.001-06:00

Easy BBQ Stick To Your Ribs

12" Dutch Oven

Ingredients:

3-4 Lbs of Pork Ribs
1 Tablespoon of Oil
Seasoning to taste (Salt, pepper, etc…we like a mixed one)
1 Zip lock bag
1 Bottle of your favorite BBQ Sauce
Water to rinse out the bottle

Rub the ribs down with the oil and your seasonings, place them in the zip lock bag and let sit for 30 minutes in the fridge or cooler. Put the ribs in the Dutch oven and cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees (10 pieces of charcoal on the Bottom and 15 on Top) Drain any excess oil inside the oven (be very careful) Pour the whole bottle of BBQ sauce over the ribs and add the water to the bottle and rinse the remainder into the oven. Cook for another 30 minutes at 350. The enjoy them.

Fathers and sons outing

2009-07-10T06:58:00.000-06:00

I have been Going to Father's and Sons Outings for a long time with my sons. I remember the first one with my first son (Byron). I think he was only about 9 months old or something like that. I think both my sons went on everyone with me since they were tiny until the became missionaries and weren't around for a couple of years. A lot of things got in the way as they got older but it still is an annual event that we try and get to.

It was fun when they were small, but we do other things now that they are grown. We played around in the dutch ovens. It was Dallin's Birthday so I made him a ckae in the Dutch oven. It was a fruit cocktail cake with a butter sauce instead of frosting. I thought it turned out pretty good and I'll use it again. We cooked an elk roast that Dallin had, and we made some popcorn.

We got up early and helped with breakfast and tore down camp. Then we went fishing. We got rained on most of the time. Nobody caught any fish so maybe next time.

Uncle Jon and his boys came with us. We gotta catch some fish so they can get more excited about it.

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-07-08T07:00:00.003-06:00

Mountain Man Breakfast

12-16 Eggs

Bacon or sausage 1 pack

Cheese 1-2 cups

Hash browns or tots

Salt pepper

Onions or green peppers if you want

Get up early if you want to eat early. (1 ½ hours before you want to eat.) Brown sausage or bacon in the bottom of the Dutch oven break it all up good. Add peppers and onions (chopped). Add the hash browns and cook just a little. Add the eggs that are already beaten together. Put in just a little cheese, season with salt and pepper. Cook for 40 minutes or so with 9 bottom and 15 top. When it is cooked pretty good add the rest of the cheese on top and let melt just with the top heat.

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-07-01T07:08:00.000-06:00

Apple Spice Cobbler

1 Apple spice cake mix
1 Can of soda (Coke or sprite, or anything)
1 Can Apple pie filling
Cinnamon/Nutmeg
Butter

Put a 1/2 cube of melted butter in the bottom of your Dutch oven. Then pour in the apple pie filling and spread around. And some of the pop (maybe ½ to ¾ of the can) Then pour the cake mix over the filling. Don’t stir, then cut butter chunks on the top and sprinkle with some cinnamon and the nutmeg. 12” Dutch Oven cook for 40-45 minutes with 9 pieces of charcoal on the bottom and 15 on top. Serve with Ice cream while it is still a little warm!

Lots of variations to this recipe!

Chocolate Cake and Cherries

Lemon Cake and Blueberries

White cake and Peaches

Give your favorites a try!

Cooking at Girl's Rough Camp

2009-06-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

This past week Connie, Nicole, and I went up in the mountains and cooked at Girl's Rough Camp. We have fun doing that. We cooked Ribs, Mountain Potatoes (Bacon, cheese, onions), Connie's Veggie dish (broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, cheese, bacon, mushroom soup), Rolls, and a couple ovens of brownies to get them a chocolate fix.
It was all good! we had to snack on a few rolls before we took it over to the pavilion....:) It was a buffet kind of affair when it was cooked we brought it all together then everyone ate. Ours were all gone real fast.

Rolls

Veggie dish

Sunday Dinner Rolls

2009-06-26T07:00:00.002-06:00

I've wanted to improve my bread making skills so I told my wife I want to start making the rolls every week for Sunday dinner. I thought that would be a great way to get better at making bread. I've been doing it now for quite a few months. I've tried numerous recipes and different kinds of flours. I'm getting it narrowed down to a couple basic ones that I will continue to use in our Dutch Oven Cook Offs, and of course Sunday Dinner. Some haven't turned out well and others are getting better. I think I'm learning a lot about Kneading dough! I'll try and start posting some recipes so if you want to try them.

Wednesday's Dutch Oven Recipe

2009-06-24T12:15:00.001-06:00

I thought I would share some EASY Dutch Oven recipes with you for the nest few weeks.

Rhodes rolls

2-3 hours before you are going to cook them, spray your 12” Dutch oven with Pam. Put your frozen rolls in the oven spaced a little bit apart and put the lid on. Place the Dutch oven in a warm place but not to warm. Not in the hot sun. After a few hours they should have thawed out and risen a little bit (be sure and check to see that they have risen). Cook with 9 pieces of charcoal on the bottom and 16 on the top. Put one coal right in the middle on top. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Check at 20 sometimes they cook fast. Rub butter over the top after they are cooked.

Candy Sushi? Anyone?

2009-06-23T07:01:00.001-06:00

I decided that I am going to learn how to make sushi. Most of my family don't like sushi though. But my wife and I like it. I don't like wasabi, it is too hot for me. So I just use soy sauce. I saw some on the Food Network that I would like to try. I told my kids I think they will like it also. They don't think so! I remember one of the first time they tried it was in California on one of our mini vacations. My friend Mark and Carrie took us to a Japanese restaurant and they ordered. We tried all different kinds. All I can say is my kids would have gone hungry except for they spotted an Inn-N-Out Burger close by.

As I was cruising some of the regular "food blogs or sites" that I seem to follow I found this..........

Yep here is a link to the recipe: Candy Sushi

I think they will like this Sushi! hahahah Yep Rice Krispies Treats, Gummy Worms, Fruit Leather

Crazy Dogs!!!!

2009-06-22T07:10:00.006-06:00

I wonder what people think is going on in our back yard when we are gone. Our Labradors have a blast playing together. Sometimes it gets a bit loud but they sure seem to have fun. Ryan caught them in action the other day here is the video. They are pretty funny with the little Chihuahuas getting in on the action.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-20T19:00:00.003-06:00

Another Great Message! I had this as a forward on an email from a couple of GOOD friends and I thought I would pass it along this way!

Hope ya know we had a hard time

2009-06-15T15:14:00.000-06:00

I found this on one of the LDS youtube sites. I thought it is REAL in the business I work in right now. Constructions is really down and we have seen a lot of people laid off. Hopefully things will start picking up and Contractors will start building again.

Why is it so HARD to write in a BLOG regularly?

2009-06-10T06:30:00.001-06:00

I've been trying to decide why it is so hard to right in my blog regularly? I think it is a lot like journal writing. Some folks are really good at that and other "not so good". I guess that is my category! I have started numerous blogs but not finished them up. Like this blog I started back in February. I have lots of things we have been doing and cooking so once again I am going to try and start posting some more regularly. Maybe that is the secret doing it on one specific day and or time? Well I will try it. Lots of things have been going on in the family and I'll try and get you all updated. Plus I've found lots of new recipes that we have been working on to convert to Dutch Ovens. So I'll try to be better. Let me know how you find it easiest to write in your blogs.

Home Canning....Apple Filling

2009-03-02T19:01:00.001-07:00

We made Apple filling last week so I was messing around with the Pics and music for a slide show. I've been working on some other videos also. I'll post as we get some good ones. This apple filling you can use for Pies or what we use it for is mostly apple crisp in the Dutch oven. It also makes a nice and easy dessert in your oven. I'll post the recipes on another post.

Movies

Nice music huh? :)

What is Your Favorite Easy Dinner Recipe?

2009-02-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

Kalee spurred me to think about this with her new food blog. I was trying to think what dinners we enjoy the most. Is it something that takes a long time to cook? Or is it something expensive that we don't buy very often? Maybe it was something our Mom's made for us that we really enjoyed. Maybe it is a combination? I think of a lot of childhood things that I don't really eat anymore. I think a lot of times we eat what is easy to get at and cook!!! What do you think? I think we probably have those same things too often and it is easy to do some other things. Last night we had French Bread Pizza! I thought that was a pretty easy dinner. Or is it Tacos, or Spaghetti? Hamburgers. I think it may change from season to season also. So answer me this..........So what is your "favorite easy dinner"?

McDonald's Gourmet Hot Chocolate...............

2009-02-07T17:55:00.005-07:00

Dallin and I were in a Cook-off today...but this blog is on another subject. On our way down to Provo we decided to stop at a McDonald's because Dal didn't have any breakfast. So I decided that I would get me a nice cup of Hot Chocolate because it was kind of cold and wet, and it sounded good. Dallin drove up to the drive up and I reached in to the ole wallet and broke through the cobwebs and retrieved $1.00 and handed it to him and said get me a Hot Chocolate. We were getting ready to order and I asked him how much it was.........You have got to be kidding me $2.45 for a cup of cocoa. They were advertising it like it was some kind of GOURMET HOT CHOCOLATE. Well we ended up watching her make it for us. It looked like hot water, chocolate syrup and blend. Add about a 1/2 cup of Redi whip from the spray can, then add some more chocolate syrup. It is sounding pretty good huh? OR NOT.... Nastiest stuff we have ever tasted. Not having young children anymore we do not end up ever going to MciD's. So I learned my lesson. We should have just run over to the gas station and got some. What happened to the Dollar menu they advertise on the TV???? Well it was so not worth it. Then we got to the cook off and I started talking with the organizer, and he says; We have Hot chocolate right here for all the competitors. Sp we refilled our cup with some Irish cream Hot Chocolate....Much better and FREEEEEE! OK I'm done ranting! Just Say NO!

Dutch Oven Demonstration for the Boy Scout Troops in Our Area

2009-02-04T07:00:00.003-07:00

On Saturday January 31st we were asked to do a Dutch oven cooking demonstration for the local Boy scouts and their leaders. We cooked up a storm, here is what we cooked:

Easy BBQ Ribs
Susan's Pizza Chicken
Rhodes Rolls
Seasoned Potato Bites
Monkey Bread
Cheddar Bacon Bites
Apple Spice Cobbler
Montainman Breakfast
Hungry Scout Frenchtoast
Debbie's Italian Bread

Next time I will try and let you all know so if you want to come help out and learn some Dutch oven cooking! We had a blast and it was GREAT weather!

Here are some pics:

Here are a bunch of pics:

Famous Bartlett Syrup

2009-01-28T07:29:00.005-07:00

Well I was looking over my recipe book the other day and wondering what I have eaten over the years that my family and I have enjoyed. And I remembered a syrup that we had at the Lombardi's house for pancakes. The Bartlett's have made this syrup for quite a few years and it was new to me. It is really good!! I could not remember the recipe so I contacted Lindsay via the email because they live in Florida now! (and it was 16 degrees here yesterday and snowing today). She says they enjoy the sun! Well anyway here it is! Enjoy it and don't eat too much of it!

Bartlett Syrup: (That is my name for it not theirs)
1 Cup of Cream
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Cup of Butter
Heat it on the stove until right before it starts to boil then remove it from the heat and add some vanilla!

It is good!

Bad Diet...Bad Diet!!

2009-01-19T18:54:00.012-07:00

OK how is your diet going? :) Well last week it was Katy's Birthday! So we went out to dinner, she decided that we should go to The Cheesecake Factory. I think their was about 12 of us that went. Kind of funny how our little family is growing. Everyone brought their spouse or a date! Everyone seemed to get something different. I got the Chicken and Biscuits. I did really well and ate about 1/2 of it, and took the rest home in a doggie bag. Oh I did eat a little bit too much bread also. Well anyways I thought I was doing pretty good and the waiter asked.........OK what kind of cheesecake would you like for dessert? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Connie and I decided we could share one. Their portions seem to be pretty good sized. I think everyone got a different kind and I chose the the one called Chris's Outrageous Chocolate Cake!!! It was good! I'll have a picture at the end here. So anyways We ate about 1/2 of it or so. The next day I'm cruising around on the Internet and find multi stories about how the Chris's Outrageous Chocolate Cake contains almost 1400 calories!!!!!!!!! Well I hope it was worth it? Well you'll have to try it at least once, but only eat part of it! Here it is:

Oh boy what a bunch of calories... plenty of FAT also!

No worries I'm back on the wagon!

Holiday Cooking

2008-12-24T07:13:00.007-07:00

I think this is one of the things that makes the Holiday Season GREAT! Getting together with family and friends and cooking...........Then distributing it around to other friends and family members, or coworkers etc. As you can tell by the pictures we have a fun time. We have tried to teach some of our crafts to lots of people over the years. That is how we learned it by someone teaching us. We have lots of new people in our family this year so they got to learn also. We had fun!!!! Check out the Photos.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

Quick and Easy Christmas Goooooodies!!!!

2008-12-17T20:26:00.018-07:00

Ok I have a few recipes that will make you the hero at your next party or get together. (Or even with the kids) and all three of them are easy to do, and you should be good on your first try.

The first one is Faux Toffee:

Faux Toffee (Tastes like the real thing but easier)

1 Sleeve of Saltine Crackers
1 Cube of Butter
1 Cup of Brown Sugar
1 Bag of Chocolate Chips

Butter a cookie sheet well then spread the crackers over the entire pan, just line them up in order. It should take almost the whole sleeve. Turn the oven on 350 degrees to warm up. In a sauce pan over medium high heat melt the sugar and the cube of butter. Once it is all melted together pour over the crackers and spread evenly. Bake in your oven for 5 minutes. It should be bubbly all over. Bring out of your oven and let sit for just a minute. While it is still hot pour the bag of chocolate chips evenly over the entire surface. Let it sit for a minute then spread the chocolate all around kind of like a frosting. It will melt and spread real easy. Put the cookie sheet in your fridge or the freezer for 30 minutes or so to set up. Break it up in to bite size pieces and enjoy. I use a pizza cutter and kind of roll it around and break it from there.

** A couple of variations you can try: Slivered almonds over the top. Or try using graham crackers in place of saltines.

Next Peppermint Bark:

Peppermint Bark

1 Bag of White Chocolate chips (or use Milk chocolate, or Semi Sweet)
1 cup of crushed Candy canes or peppermint candy
½ Teaspoon of Peppermint Extract

Get a cookie sheet out and cover with waxed paper. Use a double boiler or a microwave on a low power setting and melt the chocolate chips. Take off the heat and add the extract and the crushed candy canes. Mix together thoroughly then pour the mixture out on to the cookie sheet. Spread evenly with a knife around the entire surface. Put in the fridge or freezer to set up for 30 minutes or so. Then break in to bite size pieces. A good knife will work well on this. Enjoy!

Last One Sugared Almonds or Pecans:

Sugared Pecans or Almonds

¼ Cup of Skim Milk (or whatever kind you have)
1 Cup of Sugar
½ Teaspoon of Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of Water
¼ Teaspoon of Vanilla
3 Cups of Pecans or Almonds

In a bigger frying pan over medium high heat cook the first five ingredients until the sugar is dissolved. Add the nuts to the pan and continue cooking until the pecans are completely sugar coated and there is no syrup remaining. Spread on to wax paper to cool. You can store them in an airtight container. Or wrap in fancy little bags to give as gifts. These are great warm also. I have used them as a garnish on pecan pies or for any dessert that you think they would go with. Enjoy!

GIVE THEM A TRY AND LET ME KNOW HOW THEY TURNED OUT?

Were you the hero?

Merry Christmas!!

Family Night Doughnuts! (and Doughnut Holes)

2008-12-09T12:42:00.017-07:00

Family Home Evening last night...
Nicole and I started to make some "Spudnuts" (Doughnuts). Then everyone else seemed to join in and help out. Spudnuts used to be available in Utah but I haven't seen them for years. Spudnuts are doughnuts made with mashed potatoes. When our family goes to California we always seem to hit a Sputnuts shop, they are all over California. I don't remember where I got the recipe from but here it is.

The Recipe:

Spudnuts
½ Cup warm water
1 Package of Yeast
1 Teaspoon Salt
½ Cup of Sugar
2/3 Cup of Shortening
2 Cups hot milk
1 Cup room temp mashed potatoes
2 Eggs
6-7 Cups of Flour
Oil for frying
Pour the yeast in to the warm water and let sit for 5 minutes or so. In a large bowl add salt, sugar, shortening, and milk. Let it cool down a little. Add the potatoes, eggs, yeast mixture to the milk mixture. Add the flour 1 cup at a time till it forms nice firm dough. (A little more if you need or a little less.) Sprinkle some flour on your counter and roll out or press out. Then cut your doughnuts, and doughnut holes. Let them raise for a good hour. Then heat some oil to 350 degrees and start frying. We used canola oil which seems to work really nice. Don’t put too many in your pan or the oil will get too cold. Use some chopsticks or something similar to turn them over so you can cook both sides. Make a thin glaze with 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and some water. Dip each doughnut in your glaze and set on a tray to cool. We added a little cocoa to one bowl of glaze and made chocolate frosting also. It made quite a few so find someone to share them with!

Kind of fun to do but watch the little kids that oil can be dangerous. If you don't want to go to the trouble of making spudnuts try using the canned refridgerator biscuits you get in the store. They are pretty easy to use. You can also shake them in cinnamon and sugar or add some little candies to the glaze if you want to get fancy.

Doughnut holes cooking:

Chocolate and Glazed:

Nothing on them yet:

Maybe we will try Eggrolls next!!!!!! :)

Family Pictures!

2008-12-03T07:00:00.002-07:00

We haven't done this in awhile..... We had some family pics taken. here are a few of them:

Oh and one of our little kiddos.... :)

Wasted Opportunities!

2008-12-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

I was reading something the other day and was fascinated by a statement in it. So I wrote it down. Sorry I don't even remember where I saw it so I can't give credit to that person. I thought it was pretty interesting lets see what you think?

"Wasted opportunities come back to haunt us later in life, but it is never too late to start learning."

So lets keep learning if you have stopped!

Chocolate Lava Cake via the Dutch Oven

2008-11-26T07:09:00.015-07:00

Well here is one of the recipes I have been working on to enter in the contest that I talked about before. it is made in a 6" Lodge Dutch Oven. It is a Chocolate Lava Cake and it is goooood! And it is small enough that you don't really get to over eat with it. Here is the recipe:

Dutch Oven Chocolate Lava Cake

6” Dutch oven

Ingredients:

1 Stick of Butter (no margarine)

4 Squares of Bakers Chocolate (semi-sweet or unsweetened)

2 Egg yolks

2 Eggs

1 cup of powdered sugar

½ Cup of flour

1 Pinch of Cinnamon

In a sauce pan or another Dutch oven melt the butter and the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Take off the heat and add the egg yolks and eggs one at a time mix good, then add the powdered sugar and cinnamon and continue to mix, then the flour and mix. Mix it until all the white is blended in. Pour the mixture in to a greased 6” Dutch oven. (I have also used 2-5” ovens for this too) Cook with 10 coals on the top and 6 on the bottom for about 30-40 minutes. It should be cooked all the way around. Let it sit for a couple of minutes then run a thin knife around the edge and invert it on to the lid. Be sure and use hot pads or leather gloves. Then you can sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top. Cut it open and the chocolate will ooze out. Mmmmmmm….. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Here are some pics:

Mixing the batter

Pour the batter in the oven

Don't forget to start the charcoal

Cook cake

Invert from oven

Add some powdered sugar

Cut the cake

Look at the lava flow mmmmmm.....

Have a piece!!!!

Well that is it! Give it a try it is an easy one. You can cook it in ramekins in your oven in the house also. Set your temp to 425 degrees and cook for 15-20 minutes if you use a couple of ramekins.

Mixed Berry Cobbler in My New Dutch Oven

2008-11-20T07:11:00.020-07:00

Well guess what one of the things was that I got for my birthday? Yep just what I needed another Dutch Oven! It is a small one that Lodge just started making. It is a 6 inch oven that has a 1 Quart capacity. For those smaller meals. One of the groups on the Internet that I frequent is a Dutch Oven Group called The Art of Camp Dutch Oven Cooking. They are having a contest for recipes for the new 6 inch Dutch oven, so I thought that I would try a few different recipes in it and see how they turned out. With it being so small I is a little tougher to downsize my recipes. So I thought that I would start with a Mixed Berry Cobbler. (it sounded easy) I don't have the completed recipe yet because this is my first time trying it. So I will post it later after it gets a little more perfected. It was a little to much like cake for my taste yet so I will keep you updated on the changes then I will post the recipe.

First I mixed the batter part.

Some Butter in the Dutch oven:

Add the berries These were mixed and frozen:

Pour the batter over the top of it:

Then cook it:

I dumped it out to see how it looked:

A close up:

It tasted OK but it was to much like a cake. I like cobbler different than that. So back to the drawing board I will change a few ingredients and see what happens. I think I will try the batter on the bottom also. It is kind of fun cooking smaller, of course I won't be able to share much with neighbors. lol! I have a bunch of other ones I want to try, I guess I will see how they turn out before I post one for the contest.

nOodDlEs Yummy Home Made Noodles!

2008-11-12T07:01:00.003-07:00

Well the other day Connie started some soup that we didn't use. So for dinner the other night Nicole and I made Home Made Chicken Noodle Soup with real Home Made Noodles. As I said in a previous post we won a new Rolling pin (above) in the cook off the other day, and I was anxious to give it a try. So we made a noodle dough as follows:

Egg Noodles:
2 Cups of flour
2 Egg yolks
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons of salt
1/2 cup of Water

We used a food processor but you could do it by hand. Mix the flour, eggs, and salt then give it a pulse, then add the water a little bit at a time until you have a good dough. Put some flour on your counter then roll them out to about 1/8" thick. I don't think it needs to be too fancy. Then we cut them in strips and put them right in the hot soup base and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Yes they were yummy. I wanted to add dumplings but Nicole doesn't like them like her Dad! :) It turned out really good and they are easy. Some people will tell you that you can't put the noodles in like that and you need to dry them first. You don't, and they are a lot more filling then the store bought ones. Try it out you'll like it! It does take a little longer than just dumping them out of the bag. I would post a picture but we ate it all!

Last Chance Cook-Off

2008-11-10T12:28:00.013-07:00

Well Connie and I entered another Dutch Oven Cook off the other day. It was at The Sportsman's Warehouse in Midvale, and put on by the Storm Mountain Dutch Oven Chapter of IDOS. We decided to cook some easy things. I think my new outlook is to cook things that real people would want to try instead of being overly fancy. Now that's not to say we won't do new things because I think that is the fun and the challenge to cook something new.
We started setting up at about 8:45 and it started at 10:00AM It is a fun group to be involved with and it was pretty low key for a cook off. Well we cooked: Country Fried oops Baked Chicken, and Honey Bacon Loaf for our bread. (Disaster) Then for dessert we did Grandma's Chocolate Zucchini Cake. We ended up taking 5th place out of 5 teams. (Not to well, but we had fun) The bread didn't rise correctly so it was a "Boat Anchor". I had to apologize to the judges because they would have to taste it. :) I thought the cake and the chicken turned out well, but not good enough. Some of you know Debbie and Mike Hair they took 1st place and are now eligible to go the the World Championship in March of 2009. woooohoooo!
I joked with some of the guys that I wanted to win a custom made rolling pin that Terry Lewis made. And guess what 4th and 5th place one....Yep the rolling pins! (and a gift certificate from Sportsman's Warehouse..... thank you!) So now I have to work on my pie crusts with Our new rolling pin!
All in all it was a great day. A little cold in the morning for Connie but it heated up pretty nice. I will try and add my recipes as I get some time. Here are some more pics. If you want to see all of them from the day, hit the link for The Storm Mountain Chapter above.

Check this out!

2008-11-06T07:21:00.011-07:00

As I was reading some of my regular Blogs this morning I ran across this. They are amazing! Pretty cool huh?

Happy Halloween ...Have a cookie!

2008-10-31T06:41:00.004-06:00

From Halloween

Nuff Said..........

Dutch Oven Peanut Butter Fudge... Yummy!

2008-10-29T20:22:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend I tried something new in the Dutch oven. Yep...Peanut Butter fudge! It turned out pretty good. I didn't cook it with charcoal though I just did it on the stove top. And yes I could have used charcoal but didn't because I was a little lazy. This is a pretty easy fudge recipe to do. I forgot to take pictures of it!

Here is the recipe:
1 bag of Peanut butter chips (like chocolate chips but peanut butter flavor)
1 Cup of white chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup of pecans
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Pour the milk, and chips (both flavors) in a 10" Dutch Oven (you could use a regular sauce pan for this part if you want.) Cook on low stirring regularly until it is all melted. Butter the sides and bottom of a 10" oven then pour the melted mixture in. Put it in a cold place or in the fridge and let it set up. I waited about an hour.

Then we sliced it up, and ate some of it. The rest of it went to a Halloween party at a Singles Ward that Byron goes to. It was kind of fun to do! It was kind of funny seeing it in the Dutch oven.

New Meat In The Freezer....

2008-10-27T07:08:00.002-06:00

Well we got to play butchers last week. Dallin went deer hunting with his Father in Law, and he brought home a deer.(He did specify that his FIL did shoot it) Now usually when I got a deer I would take it to a processing plant and have them butcher and package it. But Ken (FIL) said he would come over and help us do it. So we did it! We got a bunch of roasts, steaks, stew meat, and some jerky meat. We did take some pics of the process, but I decided that I better not blog those! Now we will be playing with some of the meat and learning some new things that I haven't made before. And of course we will be using the Dutch ovens with some of it also. I'll post some of those venison recipes as we do them. We will make some deer jerky, and also I want to try some summer sausage. So this should be fun!

FAVORITE DESSERT ???????????

2008-10-13T14:03:00.002-06:00

Ok I got an email from my sister the other day and it had a bunch of desserts on it. Maybe you have all seen it or one similar. You pick on and then scroll down and it tells you about your personality etc. And of course at the top it says don't cheat and look at the bottom. Well the list of desserts they had it was kind of hard for me to pick. I wanted like pie or something different then what was shown. If I remember I think the choices were chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake, carrot cake, white cake with chocolate frosting, angel food cake, and probably a couple others I don't remember. Well I chose Carrot cake! But as I chose that I was thinking about my wife's carrot cake. I don't like some others that I have had in the past.
Well anyways here is the question.....What is your favorite dessert? I'm always looking for ideas for upcoming cook-offs and I thought maybe your choices would be better than mine. I have a ton I want to try but their is never enough time. What dessert do you get when you have a choice at the restaurant?

New Recipe I'm working on...Chocolate Pumpkin Tart

2008-10-12T13:00:00.001-06:00

I've been working on a new Dutch Oven dessert recipe so I thought I would post it here to see if I could get any help on what I could add or take away. I may use this one in an upcoming cook-off. It is a Chocolate Pumpkin Tort. OK you'll notice by the picture that it has a Chocolate cookie crumb crust that happens to be mint flavored. (My kids really liked it so that may stay.) Then the next layer is melted Chocolate chips. They were milk chocolate. The original recipe calls for semi sweet. And then a pumpkin pie over it. Here are the things I may change, let me know what you think? I was thinking of changing the Chocolate Chips to white chocolate, to give a good contrast in color when you slice it, then on the top I would swirl or stripe some chocolate chips. Maybe a dab of whipped cream with some pumpkin pie spice on it? What do you think? Remember its all done in a dutch ovens. I'll post the recipe as soon as I'm. done with the practicing and changing. Here is another picture of it out of the dutch oven and cut open on a serving plate:
It was gooooooooooooooood............Now to make it better!

Great comments everyone! I will try some of those. Ok I did it again the other night and here is a couple of pics. It wasn't very pretty! (I had problem with the chocolate on the top) I love the white stripe of chocolate though and again the taste was great!

Auction....I got 5 who'll give me 10?

2008-10-06T12:19:00.015-06:00

Ok on Saturday I did something I haven't ever done before that I thought would be fun to pass on......I went to an Auction! Yep just what you think of going through your mind right now. The auctioneer was standing up on their podium and talking fast.
My Youngest brother called me and said you might be interested in this, so I grabbed Katie and we went over! When you get there you were able to look at all the items that were going to be auctioned. It happened to be a sporting goods auction of some store that had closed down or something. They had sleeping bags, tents, waders, fishing poles, DUTCH OVENS, stoves and all kinds of things. (Yes I know I should have let all of you know about it, but it happened too fast) Katie and I went around the warehouse and marked a sheet of the things we might be interested in. Then we got registered so that we could bid. The auctioneers add 10% to your merchandise that you purchase. I had a bunch of things marked so we sat down and found out what happens. It is pretty fast and furious, but they had so many items it was really slow. We hung around for awhile then we decided this was going to be a long time before they got to the items we were interested in. So we went home and caught the 1st session of conference then I went back over with Dallin. We ended up leaving again and coming back after the 2nd session of conference. But when we got back this time is was just right! The it was game on! hahahahha :) It was pretty fun you see something you want and you start bidding. The one problem we had was not enough money. :( But we did end up purchasing a couple things...a couple more Dutch ovens! They had sleeping bags going for $10.00, nice fishing poles $10.00, I bid on a tent for Katie and Ryan that went for $20.00. Ok I know next time I will try and spread the word! So here is a pic of what we bought.

Cromer / Hender Dog Pack

2008-10-02T07:30:00.000-06:00

Ok this post will let you know just how crazy this Cromer house is!! Most of you know that we had to put down our old dog about a year ago or so. (Cheyenne was her name) I thought our back yard was looking pretty good without a big dog around. Well a couple of months back a friend of mine at work (Tony) told me that some friends of his had some great looking puppies available that live by him in Draper. Well I went to check it out with him. I didn't tell any of the family what I was doing :) We got there and I think they had like 2 little chocolate lab females and 4 other black labs. Darn I latched on to one of the chocolate ones. They were pretty cute but they were a muddy mess. (it was raining that day). Well needless to say I brought one home. Everyone was really excited especially Nicole. She really missed Cheyenne. After a month or so a friend of Dallin found a white lab. They looked all over for an owner and checked to see if it was micro chipped but the could find nothing. They decided they didn't want the little puppy anymore so they let Dallin know. I think he then convinced his Mom and Dad that they should get the pup! hahahahhaha Well Mom went and looked at her and that did it. She is a little white lab and that is what we had before. So much for that back yard looking good. They have started a few excavation sites, and they are a lot of work to clean up after. (fellow dog owners know what I mean there) Well we figure that they are pretty close in age probably about 10 months old. So we have a chocolate lab named Honey, and a white lab named Lily! And don't forget the Hender part of the pack 2 chihuahuas Tater, and Baxter. Yes we have been watching plenty of episodes of "The Dog Whisperer":)... Check out the photo album for the pups here!

Cabela's Utah State Dutch Oven Championships

2008-09-28T15:21:00.007-06:00

Well Dallin and I were in a Cook-off this past weekend At Cabela's in Lehi. There were six teams entered. We got there about 7:30Am to set-up and get things ready. You can't start anything until the starting time. (Which was 9:00) We had what they call a cook's meeting at 8:30 and go over all of the time frames etc. any rules that need talked about and that kind of thing. They gave us a few items just for coming.
It was a three pot cook off IE: Main course, Bread (Yeast), and a Dessert. We cooked a Cherry Glazed Pork Tenderloin for our main course, Italian Stuffed Rolls for our bread, and what we call ohh lala Cinnamon Chocolate Cake. They have time frames for everything that is one of the unique things or differences in cooking in a competition. Dessert was due at 12:00, Bread was due at 1:00, and the Main course at 2:00. The awards were at 3:00pm The Cabela's Cook-off is kind of fun because they give gift cards for the prizes.
Well we had FUN! But we didn't take 1st, 2nd, or 3rd so I guess we have to try a little harder, or maybe cook a little smarter. :) It is fun being in competition but I think you have to be having FUN to do it, or you might go nuts.
Well the good news is that we did win something! We won the Best Bread catagory by the Cabela's employees. After the judges tasted the dishes we took them back to the employee cafeteria area and they got to taste each one and vote for the one they liked the best. Yeehah! I thought everything turned out real well, but I'm sure that is how everyone else that was cooking felt!
Our bread dish was the Italian stuffed rolls. They were an herbed roll stuffed with Salami and Kaseri Cheese. They were good! Here is the link to some pics if you want to see us in action! lol

Our Baby! (Great Title huh?)

2008-09-25T07:31:00.005-06:00

Well "our baby girl" just hit another great milestone I thought I would share it. She received her YW recognition award for getting all of her personal progress completed at Church. She has worked very hard through the summer to finish it up, because she is done in the YW program. She always laughs about my blogging so I'll show her and put her in "The Blog". :) It was nice we had dinner and the program.

Family Night at The Cromer's

2008-09-22T21:36:00.009-06:00

Ok we had quite the Family Night tonight (Monday 22nd) It started pretty early about 4:00PM Jamie and Dallin decided they needed some Spaghetti Sauce. Katie and Ryan helped do some last Saturday. Tomatoes were procured and were waiting for us all when we got home from work.So we began setting up, slicing, straining, cooking, bottling, sealing, and stacking. Sure sounds easy huh? It really is a pretty good family activity. We started doing it years ago now none of the family likes the store stuff so we have to do it. It is pretty convenient though. We have lots of great neighbors that pass us tomatoes and we use the farmers market to purchase them also. ( The new puppies ate our tomatoes and the plant!) Katie and Ryan went and got us dinner while we kept up on the Sauce. We also made some pizza sauce that we have never done before. We will have to try that out later this week. Well here is the pics of our fun! Spaghetti Sauce

Pioneer Craft House Grand Re-Opening

2008-09-18T20:55:00.018-06:00

Well last night we were asked to help do some Dutch Oven cooking at the Grand Re-opening of the Pioneer Craft House in South Salt Lake. It was fun! A bunch of local folks were asked to come over and do some cooking. Their were people cooking Scones, Taco Soup, Cobblers, Apple Streusel Cake, while they were having a ceremony to re-open the Craft house. Its a fun place to visit and see all the exhibits. I guess they have puppet shows there and movies also on the weekends.

Connie and I cooked three different things, two of them we had never done before. (Good time to practice) We cooked a Peach Crisp one of our old stand-bys that we are always ready to cook because Connie bottles the filling, and we keep it in our storage. We also cooked a Pineapple Blueberry Cobbler. They both turned out GREAT! My favorite though was a Peach Plum Crisp that we put together. Fresh plums that Cameron had just picked the night before.

I'll put recipes on as soon as I figure it out. Click on Pioneer Craft house link above to see pics of the event.

Recipes

Peach Plum Crisp

Pineapple Blueberry Cobbler

Let's Block Party...........

2008-09-17T01:00:00.004-06:00

We had some fun about a month ago that I thought I would share around. On August 5th we had a Block Party. Yep we haven't had one of those for awhile. The family was out on the lawn and talking with some of the neighbors and we decided we would have a block party. Well it so happens that is was about the same time frame as the "Night out Against Crime". So I contacted the City of South Salt Lake and arranged with officer Heddlesten to be able to block off our street. He got everything Ok'd through the city and we started to go to work on it. I had a great bunch of folks that helped out. (Thanks everyone). :)

Well I won't bore you with all the details but we had a blast! We covered both sides of Adams Street and both sides of 500 East from Welby to 2700 South. I counted about 110 people there throughout the night. It was Pot luck so we had a little bit of everything. (except Dutch oven) We got to meet a lot of new people that i didn't know before. We had a couple get to know you games and we had some prizes to give away.

Well we had fun! Click on the Block Party link above and you can see some pictures.Sorry all you guys that moved away and missed out! lol

On Your Mark Get Set...Go

2008-09-12T19:43:00.007-06:00

Well here we go! I don't know exactly what I'm doing but I'm going to give it a try. I read enough Blogs now that I should be doing one. I guess you could consider me a major lurker. Well anyways welcome to "Our World". It should be fun. We have a lot of different things going on so I'll just start it up and get going.

I first thought this would just be about Dutch Oven cooking because that seems to be a big focus in my life right now. but I do believe we will try and mix it up a little. I think that will work the best and see where it goes. I do hope to be putting on a bunch of my Dutch Oven Adventures though. We have lots of different things we cook now so hopefully it should be of interest. I will of course add some recipes and instructions, and yes I will put in some easy ones for you beginners.

I'll try and keep you filled in on what's going on around the Cromer Compound (maybe not a good word?) also. Well here we go. I hope I have it set right so you can comment?