GRUB TUB IS MOVING!!!!

Because I am out of photo storage space, the Grub Tub is officially moving all things Grub Tub (from this point forward) to it's Facebook page.

GRUB TUB FACEBOOK

Each recipe will have it's own album. Click the album, follow the pics and the recipe!

Happy Grub Tubbing!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I always start with "it's been awhile," and I'm tired of it...Fact is my life is ridiculously, insanely, exhaustingly exhausting......cooking doesn't happen often anymore.

However, as I get ready to host my first ever Thanksgiving dinner, I am starting to clean up.  As I looked around today, there were 6 pumpkins that my roommate, our families, and I had picked over Halloween.  So I decided to make some roasted, flavored pumpkins seeds. 

So I cut open 2 large pumpkins and 2 of the smaller pumpkins and took all the seeds out (I quit after 4 because the smaller pumpkins are so much harder to cut open).

I then rinsed the seeds in a collander.

 

Then I attempted to pat them dry, but they stuck to everything.

 

Then I melted 2 tbsp of butter and put 2 cups of seeds and the butter in a ziploc bag and shook til everything was well coated.

I preheated my oven to 300, sprayed a cookie sheet liberally with cooking spray. I spread the seeds on the cookie sheet and shook on the seasoning (I made garlic salt and cinnamon and sugar flavors)

Bake for 30 min.  Every 8-10 min stir the seeds to prevent burning.  Then cool and serve.

I didn't add enough garlic salt and they were a little crispy... The cinnamon sugar I cut by 4 min. and they were delish!

Happy Autumn.....look for turkey day postings later this week!

Crockpot: Honey Apple Cider Garlic Chicken and Pears

It's been a long time.  Not going to lie, but I made about 5 posts for August and September and I was just too lazy to post.....so I deleted all the pics and did nothing.  Granted, I haven't been cooking all too often, but when I did, I was too exhausted to post.

However, today I went on a Pinterest binge and found a ton of stuff I want to try.  The first thing I wanted to try today came off a blog about a woman who only cooked with her crockpot/slow cooker for an entire year.  So I wanted to try something, but I didn't want to shop.  So her Honey Garlic Chicken won out.  However, I like to experiment, so I added some apple cider and fresh bosc pears.

I halved her recipe as it was made for 4 pieces of chicken.

Honey, Apple Cider, Garlic Chicken and Pears

2 chicken breasts (mine are frozen)
2 bosc pears (peeled and sliced)
1 heaping tbsp of minced garlic (I don't carry fresh)
1/4 c low sodium soy sauce
1/4 c ketchup
1/2 of a 1/3 cup of honey
a little less than a 1/4 c of Apple Cider
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/8 tsp of onion powder. 

First place chicken and pears in crockpot set on high. Salt and pepper to your desired liking.

In a bowl mix the remaining ingredients well.

Pour sauce over the chicken and pears and mix well. 

Cook in the crockpot on high for three hours or low for 4-6 hours.  The recipe called for 3 hours on high and 3 on low. After my 3 on high my chicken was done. I must have a robo crockpot.  I reduced to low for 2 hours and came back to overdone chicken (still edible).

The chicken was yummy and just starting to get dry.  In the future I will cut the soy sauce a little more and either add more honey or cide.  The pears turned to mush and did nothing for the dish.

Can't wait to try some more Pinterest meals.

Homemade EASY Granola

So there will be no pictures in this post, but if you like Granola, but hate paying out the wazoo for it, I have a simple recipe that makes good granola.  I found it on Pinterest but it's from Shape Magazine  I made 3 batches today.  The second/third batch I cut out some of the peanut butter......  I wanna try playing around with the recipe one day, but I can totally see myself eating a bowl of this for breakfast.

PB Granola
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter (creamy)
2 Tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup Old Fashioned oats

Combine PB and honey in bowl and microwave for 20 second.  Mix well.  Then add the cinnamon and vanilla.  Stir in the oats until they are completely covered in the pb/honey mixture.  Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Spread the oats evenly and bake at 325 for 7-8 mins.  Allow to cool completely.  ENJOY

Biscuits and Shrimp Gravy

So I have an unnatural love for biscuits ad sausage gravy.  However, I don't have any sausage so I wanted to change it up.   I've been playing around with finding a biscuit recipe and was looking for an opportunity to make biscuits......so VIOLA!


Biscuits and Shrimp Gravy (GRAVY RECIPE BELOW)

Biscuits: biscuit recipe
2 Cups AP flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 Tbsp salt
3/4 c milk or water
1/4 c oil

 Mix together dry ingredients.  I also added a healthy dose of pepper to go with the pepper that was the key to the meal.

To dry ingredients add the mixed together wet ingredients and stir til combined.

Then place onto an ungreased cookie sheet in desired amounts.  Bake at 400 for 22 minutes.

The biscuits were really dry.....I made them with water because I needed the milk for the gravy, but I would definately use milk next time.

While the biscuits baked I prepped my shrimp.  I used 10 FROZEN raw shrimp.   I thawed them in cold water. 

While the shrimp were thawing, I prepped the water to boil the shrimp in.  I filled a pot and seasoned the water with a little salt and a TON of fresh ground pepper.

Bring the water to a boil and cook shrimp for about 3 minutes. Remove and place the shrimp in an ice bath to stop the cooking.

I then butterflied the shrimp to maximize the shrimp to gravy ratio.

GRAVY:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp of flour
2 cups milk
Onions (to your pref)
salt and pepper to your taste

In a little butter saute your onions until they are soft.

Remove onions from pan.  Melt 2 tbsp of butter. 

Add the 2 tbsp of flour to make a roux. Whisk together constantly...

Then when well combined.  Then add the milk. Whisk together until combined, then you can switch to a spatula.

Over medium heat, add the shrimp, onions, salt and pepper and stir constantly.  This will take about 15-20 minutes to reduce and thicken.  Remember when you take the pan off the heat it will continue to thicken.

Serve over biscuits....I buttered mine. 

THIS WAS YUMMY!!!! I thought it was going to suck but it was good.  The worst part was the dry biscuits!!!!!

VIDEO.....Coconut Fried Chicken

It's been awhile since I posted a video......so viola....nothing snazzy or hysterically funny, just food.

BBT dip

So the 4th of July is BBQ day in my life.  Every year I go to my Godmother's house and we have a blast.  I try and bring something different each year.


BBT Dip (Bacon, Blue Cheese and Tomato) I made a double recipe but won't again.
for a single recipe
4 oz softened Cream Cheese
1/2 c sour cream
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
5 slices crispy bacon crumbled
4-6 sundried tomatoes diced

First drain your sun dried tomatoes for about 10 minutes to get rid of the excess oils.

Then in a food processor (mine sucks) place all ingredients EXCEPT bacon and mix till combined.

Now if your food processor sucks as much as mine does,  switch it to your kitchen aid stand mixer.

Mix til creamy and fold in bacon crumbles.

Refrigerate for 2 hours then serve.  I used Ritz crackers.

I am still undecided on how I feel about this dip.  Taste testers at the BBQ liked it, but a few recommended that I add garlic and black pepper.  Will try if I ever make again, but just not sure how I feel about it.