Jaime and Jen Dish

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

2012-01-10T15:18:00.001-08:00

If you know me, you know I love all things tea and that most definitely would include SCONES.

I found these online months ago and have been dying to try them

. I'm so glad I finally did and they were delicious!!!

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter
6 tablespoons half and half
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a bowl whisk together the
flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut in the butter pieces.

I cut the butter into little pieces and then I put the dry ingredients along with the butter in a food processor and pulse it a few times. Works like a charm!

Mix together the half and half and beaten egg.

Add the flour mixture along with the cranberries
and the white chocolate chips, and stir until the dough holds
together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and very gently knead for just until dough sticks together.

Form into a 1/2-inch thick round, then cut the round into 8
wedges. I made two rounds and cut into 16 wedges.

Spray a baking sheet with Pam or lightly oil with canola oil, then transfer the wedges
to the sheet.

Bake the scones at 400 degrees for 14 minutes.

Finally!!!

2011-12-20T07:31:00.001-08:00

We are soooo far behind! But we promise to get back on the wagon. We finally got ourselves a Facebook page. Come like us by clicking the Facebook button over to the right. We're still new at this and figuring it all out but we'll work out the kinks. Thanks for hanging with us.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2011-07-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yum. Coffee cake! My son LOVES the Starbucks Coffee Cake so I had to make this treat for him at home. It was silly easy and really tasty. Extremely moist and what's so great about it is that you can substitute the sour cream for your favorite vanilla yogurt.

Ingredients:

1 cup of room temperature butter

2 cups of white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of sour cream or vanilla yogurt

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup of butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Mix in 2 cups of flour, baking powder and salt. Spread 1/2 of batter in the prepared pan.
Prepare the filling: In a medium bowl mix 1/3 cup of flour, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter and cinnamon. Spread second half of batter over the filling and top with remaining filling.
Bake for 45-55 minutes in oven or until toothpick comes out clean.

Summer Squash Casserole

2011-06-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

Another tasty recipe given to me by my mother-n-law who was born and raised in North Carolina. I love yellow squash but I love it even more in this casserole. Summer is all about squash and this is a delish dish to make. When I went to the grocery store this week I was happy to see that the squash was on sale for .99 cents a pound so I had to make this for my family.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds of yellow squash, cut up

2 carrots, grated

1 onion, diced

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

tub of sour cream

1 box of chicken flavored stuffing

1 stick of butter

Directions:

In a large pot of boiling water, add your squash, carrots and onions and cook at a boil for 8 minutes. Drain water well from veggies and put into a large mixing bowl. With a hand blender, blend all veggies together, I like it well blended but a little chunky. Add the sour cream and cream of chicken soup. With a spoon, mix well. Add a pinch or two of salt and a few dashes of pepper. In a separate microwavable bowl, melt a stick of butter and then add your package of stuffing to it and mix well. Take half of the stuffing mix and mix into the veggie mix. Put veggies into a large baking dish or two small baking dishes and top the remaining stuffing on top, cover with foil and bake at 350 degree for 35-40 minutes.

Cake Ball Lollipops

2011-06-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

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They are everywhere, Starbucks, A.J.'s Fine Foods even Saks Fifth Avenue even sells them for $35.00 for six of them. Not sure exactly when cake balls really became popular but I had to try them out after my beefer (aka best friend because I don't like to openly admit that I actually love this girl) Jaime posted a recipe she saw online for cake balls on Facebook.

Went to a super fun graduation party last night so I decided to make some for the girls who were all coming. I made 50. Took about 4 hours.

Because it was my first time, I now know what to do and what not to do. Like freezing the balls before dipping them in hot melted chocolate. And once they are complete don't refrigerate them but freeze them to prevent them from melting.

If you want to get creative I suggest trying these. They are cute and fun and anyone with a sweet tooth should have fun eating one!

For this recipe, I used the following:

Red Velvet Cake (from a box)
Vanilla Frosting (room temp)
2 packages of Melt Away Chocolate (from Party City) these chocolates are used for chocolate molds. Get two different colors, I used milk chocolate brown and red chocolate vanilla.
1 package of white chocolate chips
lollipop sticks (you can purse at Party Stores or Michaels/Joanns)
candy cover bags/ribbons if you want to go all out

Follow instructions on cake box. Once cake has cooled, I take the cake and pulse it in my food processor and then pour into a LARGE mixing bowl. Once all the cake has crumbled up well, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the vanilla frosting and mix well. I then take a cookie scoop and scoop out the mix and roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. I suggest using a cookie scoop because then all your balls will be the same size. Once all the balls are rolled up and placed on the sheet, add the lollipop stick in the center of each ball and place into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. If you don't chill your balls they WILL come apart when you dip them into the melted chocolate and the lollipop stick will not hold. Trust me, I learned from personal experience.

Once the balls have chilled out in the freezer, take your Melt Away Chocolate and melt in the microwave in a plastic bowl. Dip each ball into the chocolate and place onto a new cookie sheet with wax paper. If you place the balls back onto the cookie sheet that you pulled out from the freezer, your chocolate will crack, again, from personal experience. Dip all balls into the chocolate. You can melt other chocolate colors for that cute drizzle and if you do, take a zip-lock back with a few chocolate Melt Aways and microwave for 20-30 seconds then take scissors and cut the corner of the bag, small cut and you can use it to pipe the chocolate onto the balls.

I placed the balls back into the freezer for an hour before I placed into plastic bags and tired a ribbon around it since I was taking these to a party.

Shrimp Thai Toast

2011-04-26T07:04:00.001-07:00

I love Thai toast and so does my family. I decided to make an "easy" version of it with an American twist. Easy, crispy and the topping is YUMMY!

Ingredients:

Oil

bread, cut into strips with crust removed

1 cup of cooked shrimp, diced

4 T of green onions

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper or pepper flakes (more if you like it hot)

1 T of fish sauce

3 cloves of diced fresh garlic

pepper & a pinch of salt

1 package of cream cheese, room temperature

Place oil in frying pan and bring the oil to 375 degrees.

Set bread aside (cut into strips and crust removed)

In a large bowl, add all ingredients and stir well. Take the spread and generously add on each piece of bread. Once the oil is at 375, gently add each piece of bread into the hot oil and cook until the bread itself is a nice golden brown.

Enjoy!

PMS Chocolate Cake

2010-12-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is the perfect cure for PMS. Seriously. I actually got this recipe from the Hershey Website for the "perfect chocolate cake" and they were right, it's seriously perfect! I made two cakes in 2 days because everyone wanted a piece, mom, dad, mother-n-law, kids, husband and of course, me!

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

3/4 cup of Hershey's Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 teaspons of baking soda

2 eggs

1/2 cup of veggie oil

1 cup of boiling water

1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Great and flour 2 9 inch round baking pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

Ingredients for frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa

3 cups of powdered sugar

1/3 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk if needed. Stir in vanilla.

MEATLESS MONDAY - Homemade Manicotti

2010-12-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Jen made these a while back and blogged them but I've actually been to chicken to try and make my own shells, but this looks so delicious and would be perfect for Meatless Monday today. I can't wait to make them!

Here's the recipe! Click here!

MEATLESS MONDAY - Whole Wheat Pesto Pizza

2010-11-29T07:36:00.001-08:00

I'm revisitng this blog post because I love this pizza so much and it's super easy. And the funny thing is, when I posted it originally I wasn't even doing Meatless Monday. I'm glad I kept this recipe around. Pair this with a green salad and you have a great filling meal on this meatless day. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

MEATLESS MONDAY - Mary's Flavorful Red Sauce

2010-11-22T07:37:00.001-08:00

My friend Mary made this for my family years ago and I fell in love with it. It really is so flavorful. It has a very pronounced salty flavor which I love from the olives and capers. It's super quick and easy to make. It's on the thinner side which I also love.

She came over a year or so ago and made it for us again, served it with a red wine and crusty french bread. It was such a treat!

Mary's Flavorful Red Sauce

6 cloves garlic, diced or minced

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cans (soup can size) stewed tomatoes

3 Tbsp capers with juice

3/4 jar black kalamata olives, PITTED & sliced, with juices

4 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup Fat Tire Beer (optional)

In pan over medium heat, add olive oil and garlic. Cook garlic until soft but not brown. Add stewed tomatoes. Mix well. Add capers, olives, balsamic vinegar & beer. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes over low heat. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Wide Awake Coffee Shake

2010-11-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

I know it's freezing outside in most of the world...well at least here in the U.S. But yesterday it was almost 90 degrees here in Arizona. So make this because not only is it delicious but because I'm wearing flip flops in November.

I found this recipe on the Cooking with Trader Joe's blog. I really love that blog. I love Trader Joe's so it gives me some ideas on how to use some of their prepared or packaged food that I otherwise probably wouldn't buy. I'm not a huge fan of prepared or packaged food but for some reason I walk into TJ's and I go nuts...it's pretty self explanatory...that place is just..well...you know...AWESOME!

The original recipe called for Nonfat Plain Frozen Yogurt. I have never used this before. And sad to say, I will never use again. That stuff is GROSS! So I made this with Dreyer's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream....Mmmmm...it was so good!

I also used the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Espresso Beans. These things are like crack. DELICIOUS!

Coffee Shake

2 cups vanilla bean ice cream

1/3 cup cold strong coffee

15 chocolate covered Espresso beans

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.

MEATLESS MONDAY - Spinach Artichoke Mushroom Quiche

2010-11-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

I can't remember where I got this recipe but I'm so glad I found it! It was so yummy and dense. I hate puffy foods and quiche is up there right along with meringue and mousse. BLECH! But this quiche is dense and tasty. I can't wait to make it again.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

1 frozen pie crust, thawed or fresh pie crust

1 1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, chopped or sliced

1 cup half and half

4 eggs

1 cup Italian Blend shredded cheese (I used the Quattro Formagio from Trader Joe's which has Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina and Provolone)

1/2 cup chopped canned artichoke hearts (not marinated)

1 cup spinach, thawed and drained (1/4 packed, after drained)

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375

Saute the mushrooms in olive oil until brown about 3 minutes

Whisk together the eggs and half and half.

Stir in the cheese, artichoke hearts, spinach, mushrooms, nutmeg and salt.

Pour mixture into the pie crust and bake for 40 minutes (check to see if done by inserting a knife through the middle, if it comes out clean, it's done)

Let it cool for 5 minutes

Slice and serve

MEATLESS MONDAY - Vegetarian Taco Salad

2010-11-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

This was super easy and super yummy and VERY filling! I somewhat followed a recipe but you can really add what you like. This is how I made them:

Vegetarian Taco Salad

Chips

Beans

Rice

Salsa

Tomatoes

Lime

Onion

Avocado

Cilantro

Romaine Lettuce

Olive Oil

Chili Powder

Oregano

Salt

Pepper Jack Cheese

Prepare your rice. I used spanish rice, I make it homemade.

In another pan, heat up the oil and soften the minced onions. Add chopped tomaotes and cook for a minute. Drain the beans and rinse them and add them to the tomato/onion mixture, cook for about 5 minutes. Add your spices to the mix. I used oregano, chipotle chili powder and salt. Add in your rice and heat through.

Assemble your salad.

Chips, lettuce, bean/rice mixture, shredded cheese, salsa and guacamole or cut up avocado. Mmmmmm, so good!

Caramel Corn

2010-10-28T10:02:00.004-07:00

I have fond memories of going to Newport Beach every summer and spending time with my hubby's family. It's been a tradition for over 13 years now. Everyone that comes up has their specialities, as far as food goes. Between Vicky's waffles, Sandra's tamales or Donna's Chinese Salad, it's really hard to pick a favorite. But there is one thing I look forward to every year and that's this tasty treat...Caramel Corn! Aunt Vicky has been making this and bringing it up for years. I just found out yesterday it was actually Aunt Sandra's recipe originally. Who's ever it is, I heart them forever for sharing this recipe with me.

Caramel Corn

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup Dark Karo Syrup

2 cups Brown Sugar

2 cups of Popcorn Kernels

1 tsp baking soda

Dash of Cream of Tarter

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Pop 2 cups of popcorn, set aside. I use this bad boy. My mother in law got it for us and we LOVE it! Makes perfect popcorn every time.

In heavy saucepan, melt butter, syrup, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and then let boil for one minute (very important), stirring constantly to caramelize. Remove from heat. Add baking soda and Cream of Tarter. Place popcorn in a new garbage/trash bag. Pour in mixture and mix around so popcorn becomes coated. Pour on cookies sheets and bake at 200 degrees for one hour. Let cool. Enjoy!

I used 3 large cookie sheets but I really could have used 4. It makes that much!

I think I might add cashews next time I make it...YUM YUM!

MEATLESS MONDAY - Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pita Pizza

2010-10-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

We have started doing Meatless Monday a few months ago. I can't lie...it's been a little rough. We are meat eaters in this family but our docs have told us to cut back on our red meat consumption and meat in general to give our bodies a break. I'm thinking, NO PROBLEM, how hard can it be, right? WRONG! If you're not used to a vegetarian diet, it's a little scary and frustrating coming up with main meals that make you feel full and satisfied. Well this pita pizza hit the spot. Not only was it delicious but it was probably the fastest meal I have ever made for dinner, no joke! I was in such a hurry to get my daughter to dance I bought the ingredients, ran in the door and had this on the table in 10 minutes. It was tasty, filling and easy...best COMBO ever when cooking dinner.

SPINACH ARTICHOKE PESTO PITA PIZZA

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Pesto

Can of artichokes hearts, roughly chopped

Fresh spinach

Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Freshly ground black pepper

I didn't include measurements because it's really all up to how much you like and how many family members you have to feed.

Spread pesto over the pita bread

Add the spinach, artichokes, and mozzarella and Parmesan.

Season with black pepper.

Place pitas on a baking sheet and stick under a preheated broiler for about 5 minutes or until your cheese is melted and the top starts to brown.

Your body and your heart will thank you for this meatless dish :)

I got this recipe off the Meatless Monday website. They have some great ideas...check it out: www.meatlessmonday.com

Cream Puffs with Vanilla filling

2010-10-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Left puff is sandwich style. Right puff has vanilla pipped inside.

My mother in law was coming over to spend the night so I decided to make these cream puffs with vanilla filling for her, my son and husband. I can't even tell you how easy they were to put together and fill. These cream puffs would be perfect for a tea-party, baby shower or any special occasion. I filled these puffs with a vanilla pudding but you can add whatever pudding flavor you want. You can also drizzle them with chocolate or add powdered sugar like I did.

What I love about this recipe is that really, it's THAT easy and it looks like you've been baking for hours.

Ingredients needed:

For Filling:
2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk

For Puffs:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Directions:

Make pudding according to directions, except use 2 cups of cream and 1 cup of milk as the liquids. Cover and refrigerate so it can set.

In the meantime, preheat overn to 425 degrees. In a pot, bring water and butter to a boil. Stir in the flour and sald until the mixture forms a ball. Take the dough ball and place into a large mixing bowl. Take the three eggs and add them all at once to the dough mixture and using a stand mixer or a hand mixer and mix on medium for 1-2 minutes until you get a tacky dough.

Drop dough on an ungreased baking sheet using a tablespoon.Bake for 20 minutes. As soon as they are golden brown, remove from oven and using a small sharp knife, poke a hold on the side of the puff to let out steam. Let puffs cool off before piping the vanilla inside. If you don't have a pipping tool, take a zip lock bag, add vanilla pudding inside and cut the tip off of one of the corners to use as a pipping bag. You can also cut the top off of the puff and add vanilla pudding almost like you're making a sandwich.

Enjoy!

BLT Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing

2010-10-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

This salad was so yummy and refreshing. Also quick and easy. You can pretty much put what you want in it. We love BLTs in this house and we love to add cheddar and avocado to them so I adjusted the salad to my taste. And the dressing...OH SO YUMMY!

Romaine Lettuce

Tomato

Bacon

Avocado

Cheese

Croutons

or whatever else you like

Salad Dressing: Recipe below

Avocado Ranch Dressing:

1 whole avocado

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

1 Tbl buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/8 tsp dried parsley

1/8 tsp dried dill weed

1/8 tsp onion powder

1 garlic clove, minced

Mash the avocado in a bowl. Add the mayo, sour cream, buttermilk and vinegar. Add the parsley, dill weed, onion powder and garlic. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

If your dressing is to thick you can add more vinegar or buttermilk to your liking.

Bakin Bacon

2010-10-05T08:51:00.001-07:00

I grew up in a family where we fried our bacon in its own grease. Then we would save that grease and use it to flavor EVERYTHING! Yes I know, heart attack waiting to happen...and it did...several times in our family...no bueno! Last summer I went to stay at my husband's cousin's house, Sarah and Joseph...LOVE THEM! Sarah baked her bacon and it was delicious! I have seen several cooks on Food Network bake their bacon but I really thought it was for speeding things up and really not so much for flavor. But after trying it at Sarah's I was sold. It was crunchier, and so much less greasy than the way I have always made it.

This way of making bacon is less time consuming of YOUR TIME...you won't have to stand over a pan turning pieces of bacon only to find out that your shirt is completely ruined by all the grease splatters and this way also doesn't stink your house and your freshly washed hair to high heaven.

For perfect crispy baked bacon:

First line a baking sheet with foil or place a baking rack over the baking sheet (for less grease).

Lay the bacon out side by side but not touching.

Place in a cold oven and turn the oven to 400 degrees...and WALK AWAY!

I like my bacon super crispy so I left it in there for 30 minutes. But you can check yours after 20 or so minutes and see how you like it.

Once the bacon is done, transfer it to another baking sheet lined with paper towels so the towels can soak up the grease.

I read on one site you can slightly undercook the bacon and then freeze it and when you're ready for it, you can pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. I haven't tried it yet so I have no idea how it tastes. But if it's good, that's a quick way to heat up some bacon for a breakfast sandwich in the a.m. and something even the kiddies could do.

Chicken Katsu & Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce

2010-09-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Anytime we go out for sushi, my son always orders Chicken Katsu. I figured, why not make it at home? It's so easy, delish and something our entire family loves to eat for dinner. The sauce is so delicious too. Perfect for one of those days were you don't want to really cook a big meal and take out isn't an option. You can by Panko crumbs by the breadcrumbs at your local grocery store but I recommend using one from a local Asian store. Either way, it's still very good.

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup oil for frying, or as needed

Directions:

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the flour, beaten egg and panko crumbs into seperate shallow dishes. Coat the chicken in the flour then dip in egg, coat well and then dip into the pank crumbs and press so crumbs cover every part of the chicken breast. Place chicken into a pan that has hot oil in it and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Chicken will turn golden brown.

Tonkatsu Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup of ketchup

4 teaspoons of dry mustard powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper

3 T of worcestershire sauce

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well, refrigerate for at least an hour for all flavor to blend well.

Omelet Torte

2010-09-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

This dish was a hit in our home and though it looks time consuming, it really wasn't. You can even make it the night before, refrigerate and bake as normal the next day. We had this for dinner and we ALL loved it. Lots of flavor and a perfect comfort food.

Ingredients:

1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1/4 cup butter
6 red potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 onion, thinly sliced into rings
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter, divided
6 eggs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
2 tablespoons water
8 ounces cooked ham, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On lightly floured surface, roll each sheet of puff pastry into a 12 inch square. Lay 1 sheet puff pastry into a 10 inch pie plate; set aside.
In a 10 inch skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter until sizzling. Add potatoes, onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until potatoes are lightly browned and crisply tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
In a new skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter until sizzling. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together all omelet ingredients except remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Pour half of omelet mixture (3/4 cup) into heated skillet. Cook over medium heat. As omelet mixture sets, lift slightly with spatula to allow uncooked portion to flow underneath. Continue cooking until set, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slide omelet onto cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining butter and omelet mixture.
Layer ingredients into pie plate on top of puff pastry in the following order: one of the omelets, 4 ounces ham, half of fried the potatoes, 1 cup shredded cheese, remaining potatoes, ham, cheese and 2nd omelet. Top with remaining sheet of puff pastry. Press together edges of both sheets of puff pastry to form a rim; trim off excess. Crimp or flute edges. In small bowl, stir together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water; brush over puff pastry.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes; cut into wedges.

Lahmahjoon Armenian Pizza

2010-09-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have lunch together every Tuesday at a little hole in the wall called Aladdins Kitchen. A lot of my past recipes here is because I wanted to make dishes we eat from the restaurant right at home, here is one of them. We decided to order the Armenian pizza and boy were we glad we did, the flavors are so rich and it was so different, a good kind of different. We were hooked. I had to try it at home, I did and we loved it!!!

Obviously, this isn't any ordinary pizza, if you love ethnic food, you must try!

For the pizza dough, I used the naan recipe (posted below). Here is the topping recipe, you can't get any fresher than this!

1 pound of lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups of finely chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 14.5 ounce can of peeled or diced tomatoes

1 6 ounce can of tomato paste

feta cheese, crumbled

Cook the beef, drain out all fat. In food processor, add the cooked meat and blend until you almost get a paste. Remove and place into large mixing bowl. Add all ingredients and do the same thing, blend well until you get it almost to a paste. Add with the meat and blend well. You can add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Place in refrigerator and let the flavors blend all day long, if you can, let it sit overnight.

If you don't have time to make homemade naan, purchase pita breads and top it with the Lahmahjoon sauce. Place in oven until hot and top it off with some crumbled feta cheese.

Fold over to eat it.

Chicken Shawarma (Middle Eastern)

2010-09-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Chicken Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish that is so easy to make and has tons of flavors. My husband and I love to go to a little hole in the wall called Aladdins Kitchen for their Chicken Shawarma wraps. Because we love the meal so much, I decided to give it a try at home and boy was it worth it. The flavors are so fresh. You can't go wrong with this dish, it really is so easy.

Because I was in the spirit of making this from scratch, I make my own naan (recipe already posted) but you can use store bought naan/pitas though I highly suggest you make your own.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast, cubed

lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of cumin (you can always add more if you desire)

1 T of olive oil

pinch or two of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 garlic clove (diced)

1/2 teaspoon of curry (optional) - I love curry so I added it in the dish

Toppings:

1 purple onion (cut into thin slices)

crumbled feta cheese

garlic sauce (I posted the recipe to roasted garlic, just mash roasted garlic and add a tablespoon of olive oil to it and mix well for the sauce)

1 diced tomato (small cubes)

baba ganoush (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well to blend all flavors and place back in refrigerator for at least 45 mins or more to let the ingredients blend. Once you're ready to cook, add chicken and juices into a large pan and cook until the chicken is done, set aside.

When you're ready to serve, in your pita, add your garlic sauce first, chicken mix, feta, onions and tomato inside the pita. I serve it with a side of baby gadoush as well as a dollop of the garlic sauce to dip the pita sandwich in.

Naan

2010-09-11T07:36:00.001-07:00

I love naan, it's so light and delicious. Anytime we go to an Indian restaurant, we always ask for more naan. I decided to make naan because it had to be simple, right? Guess what? Not only was it simple, it's delicious and we can now have fresh naan anytime we want! Perfect with a salad, turn it into a pita or just drizzle melted butter on it. You'll love it!

Ingredients:

1 (.25 ounce) package of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm water

1/4 cup of sugar

3 T of milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons of salt

4 1/2 cups of bread flour

oil (I use olive oil)

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand for about 10 minutes or until the top of the yeast turns frothy. Stir in the sugar, milk, egg, salt and flour. On a dry surface, add flour and knead dough for a few minutes. Place dough ball into a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. I've made this dough at noon, and let it rise until 7 p.m., or you can just let it rise for an hour, makes no difference really.

Once the dough has risen, punch down the dough to release air. Pinch off small handfuls of the dough, about the size of a tennis ball and place back into oiled bowl, repeat until you have used all your dough and turned into small balls. Place wet towel over the bowl and let rise for another 15-30 minutes.

You can either use your bbq grill to cook these or your oven (I use a natural stone pizza slab to cook these at 500 degrees). Cook for 3 minutes and then flip for another 1 minute. They will puff up a bit.

Because we like burn marks on ours, I place our naan over our gas fire indoor grill and toast them up a bit. If you use your outdoor bbq, you can get great grill marks that way too.

Yorkshire Pudding

2010-09-04T07:34:00.001-07:00

I love watching Kitchen Nightmares on the BBC channel. Chef Ramsey has featured Yorkshire pudding way too many times for me not to at least try making it, after all, on t.v., these Yorkies looked AMAZING! So, yesterday, I made them and they are SO GOOD! Best part of it all, it's so easy! Airy, tasty and with a drizzle of brown gravy, you're set to go! (Will blog beef tips and gravy in a bit).

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour
1 cup of room temperature milk
3 eggs (room temperature)
butter

Preheat your oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, add milk and eggs and whisk together. Add flour and whisk well. The batter will be a thin consistency. While your oven is warming up, take 1/2 teaspoon of butter and place into each tin cup. I can easily make 6 Yorkies with the batter, so put butter in at least 6 tin cups. Once your oven has reached 375, place tin into the oven for 2 minutes so that the butter melts. After the 2 minutes is up, remove the pan and add the batter to each 6 tin cups, all the way to the top of each cup. Drop the temp of the oven to 350 and place pan into the oven for 20-25 minutes until top is a light golden brown.

Once you remove the pan, let the Yorkies rest a bit before you add your gravy or butter.

Really, it's that easy and you have to at least try it once in your lifetime!

Roasted Garlic Bulb

2010-09-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

I love garlic, period. I decided to roast a few garlic cloves for Chicken Shawarma (recipe to come soon). It adds so much flavor to any dish, especially on sandwiches or pita bread. Mash up the cloves, add a little olive oil for a garlic spread for garlic bread. Easy and delish. Kissing optional after eating.

2-3 bulbs of garlic
olive oil
foil

Set temp at 400 degrees. While oven is warming up, cut off the top of each bulb and drizzle with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cover with foil and cook for 40-45 minutes. The garlic clove will pull away from the sides and you can remove it using your finger or a small fork.

Enjoy!

Sandy's Yummy Mexican Appetizer

2010-08-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

I really had no other name to call this. Sandy's Festive Dip....Sandy's Cream Cheese Avocado Dip...wait...what? It's not even a dip. I have no clue what IT is...I just know that it's super tasty!

My cute little friend Paula had us over for a pool party and she was making Street Tacos so a few of us brought over Mexican appetizers. I brought Jaime's To Die For Dip (which my cousin Jana seems to think it's called Jana's To Die For Dip, yeah right, she stole it from us), to be blogged later. And my other friend Sandy (who just moved to Canada :( I am so sad!), brought this appetizer. I had never had it before and I couldn't get enough of it. It has slices of cream cheese, who couldn't LOVE it, right??? Super easy to make.

All you do is slice cream cheese, then top with sliced avocados and then pour your favorite salsa over the top and OLE, it's party time.

Pasta with Prosciutto and Peas

2010-08-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

Super yummy and super tasty. Best combo to have when you're cooking!

Bowtie Pasta with Prosciutto and Peas

12 ounces of pasta (whichever you like, I used Farfalle (bowtie)

1 T butter

1 large shallot finely chopped (sweet yellow onion will work too)

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 small package of peas, thawed (about 10 ounces)

8 slices of Prosciutto, cut in half and thinly sliced crosswise

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese, Grated

Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

1. Boil the pasta, Reserve 1 cup of the pasta to add to the sauce to thin it out

2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium low heat, add the shallot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cream, peas, and prosciutto. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the peas are heated through, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the Parmesan cheese to the sauce. Add the pasta water to thin to your liking. I used about 1/4 a cup. Season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over the pasta and sprinkle with additional Parm if desired. Serve immediately.

Delish! Enjoy!

How Much? How Many?

2010-08-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

I am trying to make Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars and the recipe calls for 1 lb of Brown Sugar. Come again? 1 lb? That's not how I measure...I measure in cups. I did some googling and I'm getting varying answers on what constitutes a pound. Obviously liquids are different than solids but solids can be confusing too based on their texture...i.e. powdered sugar v. packed brown sugar. After a ton of research I think I found my answer. We shall see how they turn out. But in the meantime I found this handy chart for y'all to reference. My friend Lisa always tells me she doesn't understand measurements...after my measurement fiasco with my cookie bars, I feel her pain so this post is dedicated to her! Click HERE to find this handy dandy measurement guide. It has everything from how much liquid equals the juice of one lemon...2 TBS...who knew!...to how many mashed bananas in 1 cup. I love this guide. I'm going to print it out and laminate it and stick it on my fridge.

Again, click HERE to find the guide.

Peanut Butter Pancakes

2010-08-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

I was so hungry Sunday morning when I woke up and I wanted something quick and easy to satisfy my craving and hopefully help get rid of this horrendous headache...think comfort food! I took a peek at my go to foodie blog Rookie Cookie and found this recipe. I never thought to put Peanut Butter IN pancakes. I really have never put peanut butter ON pancakes but Sydney's good friend Kaylee comes over and slathers the stuff all over her pancakes. I thought it was odd...until Sunday, that is. I don't even think I can make pancakes differently now. Not only were they ridiculously easy to make they were super tasty! It's like eating a peanut butter cookie with syrup on it. You HAVE to try these. Whitney at Rookie Cookie is seriously a cooking genius...she has some great recipes...go check her out...you are guaranteed to find something you will love!

Peanut Butter Pancakes

1 1/4 cups flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg
3 Tbsp melted butter

Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. In a large bowl, combine the milk, peanut butter and egg. Whisk until smooth. Combine the flour mixture with the milk mixture and gently stir until just combined. Fold in the melted butter.

Spray non-stick spray on the heated griddle. For each pancake, pour 1/2 cup batter onto griddle. Cooke until golden brown, turn when the edges are slightly dry. Yields 8 pancakes.

Crispy Bacon & Egg Fried Rice

2010-07-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

My son loves fried rice - I hate spending $10 on a dinner size portion so I decided to make him some homemade fried rice with a tasty twist, BACON! Who doesn't love bacon? Two of my favorite things, rice and bacon.

This dish was a breeze and sooo good! Easy, tasty and back to basics!

Ingredients:

2-4 cups of cooked white rice (semi-cooled)

4 eggs

5 strips of diced bacon

2 T of veggie oil

soy sauce (I use the low sodium one)

sesame oil (you purchase this oil in the asian section of the grocery store)

black pepper

I also used a wok - of you don't have a wok, use a large frying pan

Directions:

Add oil and set heat on high, get the oil nice and hot and then add the bacon. Let the bacon cook in the oil until crispy. Add 4 eggs (make sure you scramble them before adding into the hot oil and bacon). Cook until all eggs are scrambled well. Add cooked rice and stir, make sure to blend up the bacon, egg and rice together. Now add soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Fried Chocolate & Peanut Butter Wontons

2010-07-17T14:44:00.001-07:00

This is such a tasty treat and so easy to make. I made two different wontons, one has just milk chocolate in it and the other wonton I added creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate. My boys love this little dessert that has so much flavor.

Ingredients:

wonton wrappers
milk chocolate pieces or morsels
oil
1 egg whipped

Optional:

peanut butter
powdered sugar

Place chocolate in the middle of the wonton wrapper and using your finger, wipe all 4 edges of the wonton with the egg wash. Pinch edges together and then take the 2 corners and match it in the middle, using more egg wash to keep it sealed. Fry in hot oil until golden. Serve warm & add powdered sugar on top.

Pierogi Casserole

2010-07-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 box of dried lasagna noodles
8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large onion (diced finely in food processor)
1 stick of butter
1/3 cup of milk
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of pepper
2 cups of shredded mild cheddar cheese

Full of flavor, this pierogi casserole is nothing short of rich & hearty goodness. My entire family loved it, including my 1 year old baby girl. I was able to make it during the day and quickly bake it before Bart got home for dinner. I served it with a sausage patty which complimented the dish nicely. Cost less than $10 to make and there is plenty of leftovers! If you love pierogis, you'll love this dish, total comfort food!

Directions:

1. Cook pasta accordingly to package. Set aside.

2. Cook potatoes in boiling water for about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and place in a large mixing bowl. Mash well until it's creamy, I used a hand blender.

3. In a large skillet, add onions until tender. Add to mashed potatoes once onions are done.

4. Now add the butter, milk, salt and pepper and 1 1/2 cups of cheese together and stir together with a spoon. Make sure you taste, taste, taste, if you feel it needs more salt, add more, salt, more pepper, add more pepper.

5. Let mix sit for 15-20 minutes for the flavors to mix together.

6. In a casserole dish, spray with cooking spray, add a layer of pasta, potato mixture and then sprinkle with a little more cheese. Repeat this step until all the ingredients are used. Top off with remaining cheese, cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Banana Bread

2010-07-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the foodie blog world for quite some time. I missed it! I sat down one morning with my morning cup of joe and was floored when I started looking up some of my old stomping grounds. The meals were so detailed...and extravagant. I was so overwhelmed, I walked away from the computer...bummed. I stayed away for quite some time after that really thinking that I had lost touch with the food Internet world. But the more I stayed away, the more I longed for it. So once again I decided to give it a whirl. And eventually I found some of my oldies but goodies...Picky Palate, Prudence Pennywise & Rookie Cookie, to name a few. Then one day on Facebook a friend of ours posted that we had all but abandoned our food blog (not naming names..AMBER!) and it made me sad because what people are searching for in this economy are meals that are cheap, easy to make and basically BASIC! I feel that's what people are looking for these days...simplicity.

I remember when I started this blog, I would go nutso writing down recipe after recipe and heading to the grocery store only to spend hundreds of dollars on meals that were mediocre. I missed the good ole days of Fried Chicken and Peach Cobbler. Well I will still have to semi miss those days as we know that Fried Chicken is bad on the thighs and the heart but if it was so bad for us why is the generation of our grandparents living into the 90s and my generation is dying off? It's because back then, ingredients were grown in their gardens and the environment was much kinder to our foods. What I'm getting at, is times are tight and tough and time is precious. Let's get back to our roots and save ourselves some time and money and we might just be surprised at how much we miss it.

My first recipe in my Back to Basics theme is Banana Bread. I know there are zillions of recipes out there for banana bread and I know some of the originals call for sour milk or vinegar and can take up to almost an hour to bake, but I wanted something easy and on any given day I always have every ingredient for this quick and easy recipe. I made this and was so happy with the results...it was so moist and yummy. Give it a try and it might just become one of your basic recipes!

BANANA BREAD

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Coat two loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray

In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the center. (basically pull the flour up the sides of the bowl so when you pour the banana mixture in, it goes in the middle, much easier to combine that way)

Mash bananas in medium-sized bowl (potato masher works GREAT).

Add eggs, sugar and butter and beat with mixer until fairly smooth.

Pour banana mixture into well in dry ingredients and stir just until blended. (Don't over stir as this will make your bread tough and chewy)

Fold in walnuts, then dive batter evenly between prepared loaf pans. (One of my sons is allergic to some nuts so I don't give him any. Before I add the walnuts, I pour half of the mixture in one loaf pan, decrease the nuts by half, mix in with the remaining batter, and pour the remaining batter in the second loaf pan)

Bake loaves for about 35 minutes or until browned and tops spring back lightly when gently pressed. The sides will pull away from the pan as well.

Cool on a wire wrack.

Serve with butter...YUM!

Back To Basics

2010-07-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well it's been almost a year since we updated this blog...SHAME ON US! Life got hectic for both of us. We were having a little too much fun!

But we're BACK! And we're all Back to Basics. In this economy, the basic essential of making a meal for your family can break your budget. I think it's important to get back to our roots and stop getting so overwhelmed by all the extravagances...there will be plenty of time for that later. I'm a mother of 4 and live on a tight budget and my time is precious. I scour the ads every week and I clip coupons (occasionally) but ask anyone that knows me I'm a sucker for a bargain. I want to teach my children to stretch our dollar all while making a healthy home cooked meal. This will be my goal for my next several posts. I want my boys to be able to "fend for themselves" in the kitchen and I want my daughter to have all the skills needed to be a wife and a mother...especially in the kitchen. I don't feel like this is being femanist...I feel like this is being a realist. So without much further ado, I would like to say "Welcome Back" and I can't wait to hear from you all. Drop us a line and let us know how we're doing or what you would like to see on this blog. We are here to make your life easier in the kitchen. Help us help you. I'm so excited!!!

Vanilla Bean Shortbread (Light version)

2009-08-20T09:00:00.001-07:00

I got this recipe out of the Cooking Light magazine. It was sooooo GOOD!!! I love shortbread but when I read that this was a healthier version, I just had to try it out. It has half the butter of normal shortbread so it makes it less fattening (I guess), and more heart healthy (I guess.. ha!). I had some vanilla beans left over from when I got them at a great price at Costco. I made up a batch of these and let me tell ya, they didn't last long in my house. I even sent some over to my mom and she LOVED them! They have an amazing taste and texture. They are so flaky and yummy. They are a perfect compliment with tea. They almost taste like a pecan sandie sans the pecans. But I did do a second batch and added toasted pecans...DELISH!!! These are so easy, you have to try them!

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line bottom and sides of a 13 x 9–inch baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray, and set aside.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.
4. Place butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add oil; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to butter mixture; discard bean. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Spoon dough into prepared pan. Place a sheet of heavy-duty plastic wrap over dough; press to an even thickness. Discard plastic wrap. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; cut into 32 pieces. Carefully lift foil from pan; cool squares completely on a wire rack.

My kiddos couldn't wait for them to cool. They were hovering over them. They were a HIT!

I added toasted pecans to the second batch. Just typing this post makes me want to go make another batch. They are dangerous though. I could eat the entire pan, they are just so good!

Tilapia Fish Tacos

2009-08-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Let's just say I completely rocked it in the kitchen!!! This was so easy to make and the taste was unbelievable. I have never tasted a fish taco anywhere that had this much flavor. The white sauce was so delicious.

I got this recipe from my friend Alexis. I believe she got it from Allrecipes.com. You can use any type of white fish I'm sure but the tilapia was amazing. My hubby was very quiet and the whole time he was eating all I heard was "mmmmm...mmmmm"...so I know it had to be good. We served it with lime wedges and a simple pico de gallo which complimented the flavor even more. Please try this dish, it was super simple...you will not be disappointed.

1 quart oil for frying

1 lb Tilapia or any type of white fish, cut into small strips

1 package corn tortillas

cabbage, shredded

Batter:

1 cup all purpose flour

2 Tbl cornstarch

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup beer

Sauce:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 lime, juiced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1tsp minced capers

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp dried dill

1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

To make beer batter: In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Blend egg and beer, then quickly stir into the flour mixture (may be a little lumpy)

To make white sauce: In a medium bowl, mix together yogurt and mayo. Gradually stir in fresh lime juice until consistency is slightly runny. Sean with jalapeno, capers, oregano, cumin, dill and cayenne.

Heat oil in deep fryer or heavy deep skillet.

Dust fish pieces lightly with flour. Dip into beer batter, and fry until crisp and golden bornw. Drain on paper towels. Lightly fry tortillas, not too crisp. To serve, place fried fish in a tortilla, and top with shredded cabbage, and white sauce.

Blueberries and a 4 year old's Dream

2009-07-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

My kiddos LOVE fruit...especially blueberries. They could eat pounds and pounds of blueberries. The other day, my 4 year old, Luke, opened the fridge looking for the big white bowl of washed blueberries and to his dismay, they were GONE! He was so disappointed. He said to me "Mom, I want to grow a whole bunch of blueberries so I can have them forever and ever". What a GREAT idea!

The problem...I have no garden and I live in Arizona. I guess that's two problems. I have an area reserved to start a garden at the end of the summer. But I have to be honest, I have never heard of anyone in this horridly hot state ever growing blueberries. Does anyone out there know how you grow blueberries and where they actually grow the best? Luke would love you forever if you give me any tips. Thanks.

My very adventerous and future gardener, Luke.

Bacardi Rum Cake

2009-07-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago when I worked as a legal secretary, before I was a mom, there was this guy that came around to our office all the time selling books. I bought the coolest cookbook from him. I've seen similar cookbooks pop up all over the place but I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this one. It is LOADED with recipes. It's called the Best Recipes From The Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars. I bought one for me, one for my mom and one for my greasy granny. Actually I didn't buy one for my greasy granny...I just like to say Greasy Granny.

Anyhoo, this recipe was in the book. After each recipe in this book, there is a little blurp where the recipe came from or some significant fact about the recipe. The blurb underneath this particular recipe reads: "Here's the very first cake to incorporate a pudding mix. It's simply fabulous".

I made this cake and it was GREAT! I think I put too much bacardi in it though because I was totally drunk afterwards...AGAIN...fibbing...I wasn't drunk but there was WAY too much bacardi in the glaze the first time around so I had to half the amount the next time. I also used dark bacardi which could have made a big difference in the taste. Maybe next time I'll try the light bacardi.

Cake:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pecans)

1 18 1/2 ounce package yellow cake mix

1 3 3/4 ounce Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup Wesson oil

1/2 cup Bacardi

Glaze:

1/4 lb. butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Bacardi

Preheat oven to 325 dgrees. Grease and flour Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over the bottom of the pan.

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour the batter over the nuts. Bake for 1 hour
.

Cool. Invert on serving plate.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze:

Melt butter in saucepan.

Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the heat. Stir in the rum.

Poke holes in the top and the sides of the cake.

Pour the glaze all over the cake.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm....ENJOY!!!

We're O.K.!

2009-06-30T19:54:00.001-07:00

A message from Jenifer:

So, things here on DISH have been a little slow lately. I've had major kitchen renovations going on, we pulled out all the 12x12 tile and replaced it with 20x20 (makes such a difference in a kitchen). My husband and I also put granite on our counters in the kitchen as well as a super cool granite country farm sink, new faucets, etc. It got crazy in our home, eating out for over a week!! - The kitchen was totally off limits and they completed the project this week. It's SO nice to be able to walk in the kitchen and cook a meal for my family.

We also have been busy planning our 2 week R.V. trip around the Western part of the U.S.A. - I can't wait to get out of this heat.

My Blogging-BFF, Jaime, has been in California for the past few weeks as well and has been having a great time with her family. I love reading all of her updates on Facebook, the food she talks about makes my mouth water! I sure do miss her!

Summer is always busy for us moms, kids at home, traveling and the such. We haven't forgotten about our foodie friends and we can't wait for life to settle down so we can share more recipes from our kitchen.

Lots of love,

Jenifer

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2009-06-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

If you've ever dined at P.F. Changs, you most likely have tried this. I've always been a fan of this dish and decided to make it at home. It's simple, easy, low carb and a MUST TRY. It's delish. The sauce is out of this world and we loved eating it!

Ingredients:

2 T of sesame seed oil

2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped up well (I used my Cuisinart)

1 cup of water chestnuts

2/3 cup of mushrooms (use canned mushrooms)

3 T of chopped onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

**********

Special Sauce:

1/4 cup of sugar (I used 6 packets of Splenda to cut down the calories)

1/2 cup of water

2 T soy sauce

2 T of rice wine vinegar

2 T ketchup

1 T lemon juice

1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil

1 T of hot mustard

2 teaspoons of water

1-2 T of garlic and red chili paste (use more if you like heat)

******

Stir Fry Sauce

2 T soy sauce

2 T light brown sugar

1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar

Make the special sauce and place in refrigerator until you are ready to use. Make stir fry sauce and set aside. Cook chicken and let cool. Once chicken is cool, dice it up finely (use the processor if you have one) Dice up the mushrooms and water chestnuts (I used the food processor, saves LOTS of time). Once the mushrooms and water chestnuts are diced up, it's time to start cooking. In a large pan, place sesame seed oil until hot and then add chicken, mushrooms and water chestnuts. Add chopped onions and garlic. Add stir fry sauce to the mix and cook on medium low heat for about 8 minutes. Once the mix is nice and hot it's time to assembly. Add mix to a lettuce cup and then add your special sauce, top with rice noodles or crispy Asian noodles if you want extra crunch. - Enjoy!

Oven Fried Parmesan Zucchini Spears

2009-05-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Growing up, we had a Fry Baby and then one year my mom upgraded to a Fry Daddy. Oh how I loved to fry all kinds of morsels in that thing. Nowadays they have all kinds of fry "contraptions". In fact Paula Deen has, not one, but TWO fry baskets built right into her counter. I would love to get myself a fryer but I risk gaining 30 lbs with that sucker so I opt not to fry anything in my house. I made Parmesan chicken fingers in the oven a while back so I figured doing that to any type of veggie would work just as good and it did. This zucchini was delicious. They were really crunchy and had about a million less calories than their fried counterpart. I didn't have any marinara sauce so I whipped me up some spicy creamy dip. It was okay but next time I will serve these with marinara for sure.

Oven Fried Parmesan Zucchini

Zucchini

1/2 cup Bread Crumbs (I used whole wheat)

1/2 cup Parmesan

2 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Salt or to taste

1/2 tsp Pepper or to taste

1 or 2 Eggs

Cut your veggies up, into spears or circles, whatever you prefer.

Lightly beat an egg and put in a shallow bowl. Mix together your breadcrumbs, parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper and place in a shallow bowl.

1. Dip your zucchini into the egg.

2. Roll your zucchini in the breadcrumb mixture.

3. Place onto a greased cooking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Haystack Cookies

2009-05-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

This is my mom's recipe. She made these all the time when we were little. I hated them! That was until I got into my 20's and really started to appreciate coconut. As I child, I thought it was disgusting. Maybe it was because I had braces and coconut and braces do not mix, unless you want to look like a garbage pail kid, that is. Now I look at coconut as the food that keeps on giving because I can chew on a piece of coconut for hours...ewww, gross I know, but I love it! My sister Denise was the one that would eat them all up, she loved these and she still does. The best part about these cookies? There is only 5 ingredients so they are easy and delicious.

Val's Haystack Cookies

3 oz semi sweet chocolate

1 can sweetened condesed milk

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups walnuts, chopped

1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate in top of a double boiler. (I don't own a double boiler so I put a glass bowl over a pan of shallow water...it works like a charm.) Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the milk and cook until thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add coconut, nuts and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. (My stuck to the pan like crazy. Next time I'm using parchment paper or silpat mats). Bake at 275 for 15 minutes.

Crawfish Etouffee

2009-05-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

My husband and I love Crawfish Etouffee. There is a restaurant called Baby Kay's in Phoenix and we love that place but hate the drive. I did go there about a week ago and brought some Crawfish Etoufee back for Bart and you could tell that he liked it but didn't love it. I knew I had to fix that so I made homemade Crawfish Etouffee and he LOVED it! In fact, he told me it was the best he has ever tasted. I have to agree with him, it's DEVINE!

What you need:

1 pound of fresh or frozen, peeled and cooked crawfish tails. (You can get them at Walmart)
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1 large onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped green sweet bell peppers
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of butter
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of sliced green onions
1/4 cup of snipped fresh parsley
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
hot cooked rice

In a 3 quart saucepan stir together the flour and 1/4 cup of butter until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and cook and stir for another 5-8 minutes or until roux has turned a brownish red. Add onion, celery, sweet pepper and garlic to sauce pan and cook for another 5 minutes.
******
Now add 1 tablespoon of butter, stir until melted. Stir in water, green onions, parsley, salt, pepper and the ground red pepper (cayenne). Bring to a boil. Add crawfish. Return to boil, reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered for another 10-12 minutes or until heated through. Serve with hot cooked rice. Garnish with parley if desired.

Chocolate Toffee Brownies

2009-05-11T22:31:00.001-07:00

My family went to Rocky Pointe about a month ago. My sister in law Jennifer told me that a friend of theirs that came with them made like 3 different kind of brownies and that she had been eating them all weekend. Of course I was dying to get the recipes. Next to cookies, brownies are my best friend (sorry Jen...my BBFF (bloggin best friend forever), food will always win out over you) Did I just blog that out loud? So after much stalking, and text messages, I got my sister in law to tell me the recipe for the toffee brownies. You guys are going to be blown away at how easy these are...I know I was. And they were to die for.

I sent most of them to work with my hubby and he said that pretty much all the guys' reactions were "death by chocolate"...hhmmmmmm, is that good or bad? Well, whatever, I liked them and I'm the one that counts so here ya go. I would not recommend eating these if you plan on getting into a bathing suit anytime soon...since I don't plan on doing that in the near future, I ate like half a pan of these. (Well actually I leave for the beach in approximately 5 weeks...OMG...what was I thinking making these!!!?)

Chocolate Toffee Brownies

2 boxes of Brownie mix

(all the ingredients to make the brownies...oil, water, eggs, I'm sure you've all made a boxed brownie so you know the drill)

2 giant size Symphony bars (the ones with the little toffee bits in them) or 3 if you want eat one of them while your brownies bake...that's totally fine too

Mix your brownie mixes according to package direction (in seperate bowls)

Next line a pan with foil and spray it with cooking spray (this makes clean up a breeze and helps to get those gooey brownies out of the pan. Now, you want to pour your first brownie mix into the pan.

After you have scraped the bowl clean and pretty much licked it dry, layer the candy bars all together across the top. The best part about this...two of those little rows of chocolate didn't fit into my pan...oh bummer (munch munch munch)...okay, now where were we?

You know that second box of brownies you made? Well that batter wasn't for you to eat while this was cooking...so if you ate it, go make another box. Pour that batter mixture over the top of the candy bars.

Okay, at this point I would tell you how long to bake this for and at what temperature but of course stupid me threw away the brownie box and have no clue what the starting point was baking these or what the temp was. I wanna say 325 for 28 minutes but honestly...I have no clue.

So here's the dealio...look on the box for the 13x9 glass pan baking time and temp and bake for that time but add 15 to 20 minutes. Take them out and let them cool for like a good hour before you cut them because they are gooier than all get out, but if they are still not done in the middle, just eat out of the pan with a spoon...they're still good and I'm pretty sure the eggs are almost salmonella free...so you're good!

Steam Fresh Bag Recipes...GREAT IDEA!!!

2009-05-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on Facebook one of my friends, Sheridan's status read "Just made 20 Steam Fresh Bags"...so of course, this peeked my curiosity so I commented "what in the world are those?". She wrote me back and said they are bags of uncooked food she makes ahead of time and then throws them in the freezer. She said it has been working out awesome because it's total portion control and her husband has lost 6 lbs in 2 weeks eating these. I told her I wanted to learn more and to send me info. She sent me recipes and pictures of the finished product right out of her freezer.

I'm going to post them here for you guys because I'm giddy excited about this. I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to the store today to buy one of the recipe ingredients and the Steam Fresh Bags. I will make it and do an update. But for now check out this idea...very cool for the moms that work, men that don't cook, or just the all around busy busy person.

Here's her recipes and all the info she sent me:

The intention is to fill the bags with more veggies than carbs. I always make a big salad before with whatever dressing, fat or no fat, and then one of the bags. Daniel is doing really well with these. I just take one hour and make a ton of them and freeze them. I mix up and add or take away so each bag is different. I add full sugar/fat sauces. But you can add spices so that there is barely any additional fat or sugar added. Get creative in the spice section, salt/pepper, curry, lemon/pepper, chili pepper, cinnamon, taco seasoning, you name it. Replace veggies with ones you like if you don't prefer the ones I put. Add nuts too! Each box of medium steam fresh bags have ten each in them (you can find them by the ziploc bags)

Sweet and Sour Chicken:

divide chicken and veggies into 4 portions and put into each bag seperately

1 pound skinless/boneless chicken strips diced
1 can pineapple1 red or green bell pepper diced
1 white onion diced
1 jar of sweet and sour sauce (just put 1 to 2 tablespoons in each bag)
1 bag of Uncles Bens 90 second rice

Teriyaki Chicken and Asparagus:

1 pound skinless/boneless chicken strips diced
1 stalk of asparagus
1 carton of mushrooms
1 onion diced
1 can water chestnuts
Garlic (1-2 cloves per bag)
1 jar of teriyaki sauce (1 to 2 tablespoons in each bag)
1 bag of Uncle Bens 90 second rice

Curry Lamb:

4 lamb steaks (cheap at Bashas,like $2 a piece)
1 small bushel fresh mint (put 3-4 leaves in each bag)
1 tablespoon curry spice
1 Garlic (1-2 cloves per bag)
1 carton of portobello mushrooms
1 zuchinni sliced
1 onion diced
1 bag of Uncle Bens Basmati 90 second rice

Steak and Asparagus:

4 medium sized steaks
1 Garlic (1-2 cloves per bag)
1 onion diced
1 carton mushrooms
1 stalk of asparagus
2 white potatoes diced
1 bag baby carrots
salt/pepper to taste

Buffalo Chicken:

1 pound diced chicken
1 bottle buffalo marinade (1 to 2 tablespoons per bag)
one onion diced
2 white potatoes cubed

Fajitas Fun:

1 pound stir fry beef
1 onion sliced in circles
1 red or green bell pepper
1 jalepeno (if your brave enough)
one pack taco seasonings
one 90 second bag of spanish rice
with or without a pack of tortillas you have fajitas

Honey Mustard Salmon:

1 large salmon sliced into fours
Honey Mustard (1-2 tablespoons to bag)
1 scallion diced
1 garlic (1-2 cloves per pack)
1 yellow squash sliced
1 carton white mushrooms
one pack gnochi

Beef and Broccoli:

1 pound stir-fry beef sliced
1 onion
1 garlic minced
1 stalk broccoli
1 can water chestnuts
1 bag baby carrots
teriyaki or soy sauce to taste
one bag 90 second brown rice

Chicken Tortellini:

1 pound chicken strips
1 onion
1 garlic
1 can spaghetti sauce (2-3 ts per bag)
1 carton portobello mushrooms
1 bag shredded cheese(put a small handful in the bag, or after you cook it)
1 zuchinni diced
1 medium bag frozen cheese tortellini or ravioli

Each Bag States on the front how long each piece takes. I do between 5-7 minutes for each one. You have to live and learn, depending on how your microwave is, your portions sizes ect. If it isnt cooked, put it back in for 2 minutes and you are golden.

Sheridan with her son Carter

Thanks Sheridan...great idea!!!

Shrimp Tempura Rolls

2009-05-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

We love, REALLY love going out and having some great sushi for dinner. It just seems that prices for sushi is going up, up, up. About 5 years ago, I decided that instead of going out for the sushi we love to eat, I'd make it at home. It's been a hit ever since and it's truly a treat. My family and I love making Mama Rolls and Shrimp Tempura Rolls. Next time your craving cooked sushi, make it at home! It really is so easy, anyone can do it. You get more for the money and there's something about sushi made at home. You're family will love you for it.

What you need:

1 package of roasted seaweed sheets
4 cups of cooked Nishiki rice (sushi rice)
cream cheese
1/4 of a cucumber, sliced into thin strips
1 small package of imitation crab
mayo
toasted sesame seeds

Shrimp Tempura:

10 shrimps
1 egg
1 cup of flour
oil

Crab Sauce:

imitation crab, diced finely
1/3 cup of soft cream cheese (room temp)
4 T of mayo

Take your diced imitation crab, 1/3 cup of room temp cream cheese and 4 T of mayo and mix into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Put back in fridge for about 20 minutes.

While your crab sauce is chilling out in the fridge, take your shrimp, de-vained, de-shelled and place into the egg and then into the flour, coat well and put into hot oil and cook until golden brown. Remove and let sit on paper towels until you are ready to assembly the sushi rolls.

Lay down a big piece of saran wrap on a flat board. Take 1 sheet of the roasted seaweed and lay out flat. Take your hands and run them under cold water and then get a handful of the rice (make sure your hands are wet), place the rice all over the seaweed. You want enough rice to cover the sheet. Once it's coated with the rice, take the sesame seeds and sprinkle all over the rice. Carefully flip the seaweed shit over, rice down and with your hands, firmly press down to get the rice nice and tight.

Take your shrimp tempura and cut each shrimp in half, long way. Place shrimp on the short edge of the seaweed, add the crab sauce, add a few slices of cream cheese, sliced cucumbers and if you want, you can even add a slice of imitation crab (I always do). Once you do that, carefully take the saran wrap and the edge of the seaweed and roll up super tight, roll until it's completely rolled up. Using the saran wrap add slight pressure to the roll to get all the ingredients to snug together. Once your roll is finished, I use a bread knife and slowly cut slices. Serve with wasabi, ginger and soy sauce.

Chicken and Mushroom Marsala Casserole

2009-04-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

I subscribe to the Rachael Ray Magazine and I LOVE it! I gotta be honest, sometimes that woman gets on my nerves with all her little EVOO's and her funny little laughs but I have made several dishes from this magazine and we have loved every single one of them. This was not only extremely easy to make but it was delicious and everyone in my family loved it. She's growing on me I guess.

Chicken Mushroom Marsala Casserole

2 tablespoons butter
10 ounces sliced mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas)
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup marsala wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper
1 cup long-grain rice (I used brown long grain)
2 packed cups coarsely chopped rotisserie chicken
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat until just melted. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour on top and stir in for 1 minute. Stir in the marsala and cream and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in 2 cups water, the parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

2. In a greased 9-inch-by-13-inch casserole, spread the rice in an even layer; top with the chicken. Pour the mushroom gravy on top. Cover snugly with foil and bake until bubbly, about 35 minutes. Discard the foil, sprinkle the parmesan on top and bake for 5 minutes more.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

2009-04-25T14:05:00.001-07:00

So, fellow foodies, I'll be out of town for a few days, yipee! Never to worry, awesome, super sweet and my BBFF (blogging best friend forever), Jaime will be here posting her yummy recipes. My husband, son, daughter, mother-n-law and I are heading up to a beautiful, secluded cabin up in North Arizona. We booked this trip months ago and we're totally stoked that it's our turn to veg out in cooler weather, by the creek, in peace. I'll take pictures of this 2 story cabin we're staying in, it's SO neat, so relaxing and I can't wait to get away and rest (can you really rest with 2 kids, one being only 4 months old?) Here's the girl who keeps me up at night!

Anyway, to the real reason you stopped by, Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. It first started with me making a peanut butter bar. When I was done cooking it, something was missing, ya know that special something? I finally added a peanut butter icing I made and then drizzled it with warm strawberry jelly and fresh strawberries, hence, PB & J bars. My husband and son LOVE IT!! They REALLY love it. (If you've read this blog before, I'm still dieting, so no PB & J bars for me). So, here ya go, Mr. PB and Mrs. J Bars.

What you need:

Bottom Layer

3/4 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Peanut Butter Icing

1 cup peanut butter
1.5 cup powdered sugar

Top Layer:

Strawberry Jelly
fresh strawberries (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with foil, extending foil beyond the actual edges. Set aside.

***

In a big mixing bowl beat the butter and peanut butter for 45 seconds. Beat in white sugar and brown sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Now, add the eggs and vanilla, beat until combined. Slow add your flour, mix well and make sure everything is combined well.

***

Spread dough in your foil pan, right over the foil - trust me the foil helps after baking is over. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from the center.

***

Once baked, cool on rack. Remove from pan by lifting foil and place on a large plate/dish.

Now that the base is cooked and cooled, it's time to add the peanut butter frosting. Add the powdered sugar and peanut butter and mix well. Taste, taste, taste! If you want it sweeter, add more sugar. Not enough peanut butter for your taste? Add more! To thick? Add some milk. Play with it...you will get it perfectly, trust me.

Ice the bars now.

I warm the jelly in a coffee cup until liquidy. I then pour the warm jelly over a peice of the bar and then top it off with fresh strawberry.

You can use other flavored jelly as well.

Orange Butter Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle

2009-04-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

My last post here on Jaime & Jen Dish was for my Orange Chicken with Fried Crispy Basil - what I didn't mention in that post was that my family was also treated to another kind of orange that night as well, in a form of a cookie. Let me introduce you to Mr. Orange Butter Cookie with Mrs. Chocolate Drizzle.

***

Both my son, Triston and my husband treated themselves to the cookie dough before I even had a chance to pop them into the oven. If I didn't take away the spoons there would have been no finished baked cookie, apparently the dough is that good.

***

I did take one cookie, cut it in half and ate it. First half cookie in almost 1 1/2 months (stupid diet). It was SO GOOD. Who would have thought orange as the base to a cookie would end up so darn yummers.

***

If you love to bake as much as I do, next time your at the store, purchase orange extract! If you have orange extract, use it!

What you need:

3/4 cup room temp butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons orange extract
1 1/2 cup of white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips (drizzle)

Directions:

***

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, vanilla and orange extract. Combine the flour (I always sift my dry ingredients together), baking powder and salt. Stir dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Bake for 9 minutes-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. When cookie is completely cooled, take the chocolate chips and place into a coffee cup and melt in microwave for 30 seconds or until melted. Place melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag, cut the tip off the corner (make it a VERY small hole) so that you can easily drizzle or decorate the cookie they way you choose to. Let chocolate harden before you serve.

Orange Chicken with Fried Crispy Basil

2009-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

We love anything Asian around here, I'm half Filipina so I grew up with some pretty tasty meals at the dinner table (thanks mom). One dish we love to get whenever we order Chinese food to go (which is seldom - I'd rather make it at home) is Orange Chicken. Any dish with citrus in it is one of our favorites, that is how we roll in our home.

Crispy chicken, delicious sauce, steamed white rice and crispy basil topping? You can't go wrong. We love making this dish - hope you have a chance to try it.

Look at that fried basil! It's like eating potato chips, you can't have just one! (WARNING: If you have never fried basil, you MUST, I repeat you MUST have an oil splatter shield as it does make the oil pop. I use tongs to place basil in oil and then put a shield over the pan until basil is done cooking). Be forewarned, Jaime will tell you it hurts if you don't use basil protection!

What you need:

1 1/2 cups of water

2 T orange juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup of rice vinegar

2 1/2 T soy sauce

1 T of orange zest

1 cup of packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root

1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic

2 T chopped green onion

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

****

3 T of cornstarch

2 T of water

****

4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized cubes

1 to 2 cups of flour

1 to 2 eggs

1 1/2 cup of oil

Directions:

Pour 1 1/2 cups of water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium to high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, green onion and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes prior to pouring over cooked chicken. **BEFORE** you pour this sauce over your cooked chicken, in a small bowl add 3T of corn startch and 2T of water, mix well and pour into sauce and stir until sauce thickens.

***

Take your chicken cubes, add egg, stir until all pieces are coated well with egg. Place chicken in flour and coat well. Place in a hot fryer or pan with oil and cook until golden brown.

***

Once your chicken is done cooking, pour orange sauce over chicken and garnish with sliced green onions and crispy fried basil. Serve with white rice.

Caramel Chocolate Cookies

2009-04-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

I love all things caramel so when I saw this cookie recipe on Rookie Cookie's blog, I had to try it. Holy Smokes!!! These were disgusting! Disgustingly good and addicting, that is. Yummy soft chocolate cookies with little chewy caramel bits. I couldn't stop eating them. I meant to send them to work with my hubby but he got sick and didn't go into work that day so here they were all bundled up nicely in our cookie jar...did I mention that our cookie jar is clear glass??? It was horrible. Everytime I walked by that cookie jar, one of those darn cookies was calling out to me. I gained like 5 lbs eating these and they were worth every bit of that weight. Those little caramel bits...I'm not kidding, you will literally be eating handfuls of those suckers right out of the bag, they are that good.

If you have not checked out Whitney's blog over at Rookie Cookie, you have to take a gander...I'm starting to dislike her very much, she's making me fat with all those great recipes!

Caramel Chocolate Cookies

2 cups flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup caramel bits or chopped up caramel squares

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Set oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar. Add eggs and vanilla until fluffy.

Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.

Stir in caramel bits and chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.Bake 8 to 10 minutes or just until set. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Smoked Salmon Spread

2009-04-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

This time of year just makes me giddy. Okay, so does winter, summer and fall, but spring has sprung and that means showers...bridal showers, that is. And baby showers, and anniversary parties and...I could go and on and on. I'm a sucker for cute quaint parties. I love a party in any way, shape or form especially when there is food involved. I have my go to favorites but I have been trying some new ideas lately. When I need a quick, easy and tasty appetizer, I always turn to the internet and the first person I look to is the Barefoot Contessa. Ina Garten's style is exactly what I love. It's classy yet quick and easy. I saw this salmon spread and had to try it. Not only was this fabulous and will definitely be served at my next tea party or bridal shower, but this spread is so versatile, it can be served on bagels for a morning or afternoon snack for your entire family to enjoy. I used fresh lemon and I just don't think you can do any better than a fresh squeezed lemon, especially with any type of seafood. You have to whip up a batch of this...you won't be disappointed!

Smoked Salmon Spread

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, drained
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound (4 ounces) smoked salmon, diced

Cream the cheese until smooth (my cream cheese was really soft so I just gave it a really good stir). Add the sour cream, lemon juice, dill, horseradish, salt, and pepper, and mix. Add the smoked salmon and mix well. Chill for several hours...overnight is even better. Serve with cut veggies, bagel chips, crackers or crusty bread.

Almond Bread Pudding

2009-04-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

My husband was heading over to my parents home to pick up something from dad when I realized I needed a can of tomatoes from my moms pantry (I didn't feel like going to the store for one thing). I called her and asked if she had a can and she said, "I sure do". When my husband came home he didn't have the can in hand, he had a HUGE bag of food my mom gave us! Lots of boxes of Mac and Cheese for our son, mangos, the can of tomatoes I needed, 3 cans of soup and a big loaf of sliced bread, the good kind. We hardly eat bread in our home but I didn't want to waist this bad boy so I remembered how dad always use to talk about bread pudding, so I made one for him. He & my mom loved it.

Usually bread pudding calls for raisins but I didn't care to add raisins to it, so I left it out but I did include almond extract. Makes the world of a difference. So remember, if you ever have 5-6 slices of bread left, USE THEM UP! Make some bread pudding.

What you need:

6 slices of bread

2 T of butter, melted

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground all-spice (optional)

1 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of almond extract (optional)

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Break bread into small pieces and place into an 8 inch baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over the bread. If you choose to add raisins, sprinkle over bread and butter. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, spices and extracts and mix well.

Pour liquid mix over the bread and take a spoon and flatten the bread down to make sure it's fully coated.

Bake for 45 minutes. Allow 30 minutes to cool and let bread set.

Peanut Butter Chicken On Pan Fried Egg Noodles

2009-04-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was in the mood to make something really different, some yummy, something easy. I remember I had these amazing egg noodles that I purchased at an Asian market in Phoenix. I also had chicken breasts on hand and a brand new bottle of peanut butter, yes, PEANUT BUTTER! Hmmm, delish. Here is a simple yet flavorful dish you must try if you're craving something fun and refreshing. The beautiful egg rolls on the dish were made by hand by my beautiful mom who is from the Philippines.

What you need:

2 T of oil
1 pound of skinless, bonelss chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes with juice
3/4 cup of chicken stock/chicken broth
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 red bell pepper
3 garlic cloves

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces, red pepper flakes and garlic and cook until the chicken starts to turn white. Add the onion, garlic and red bell pepper to the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Pour the tomatoes and chicken stock into the skillet and simmer for about 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in peanut butter and cook stirring constantly until the sauce thickens.

Serve over pan fried egg noodles or white rice.

Almond Balls

2009-04-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

Since I still have my cold, I asked my darling husband to go to the store for me to get a few things for the family. A gallon on milk, salad, a rotisserie chicken, juice and roasted almonds. Almonds is one of my go-to snacks while on this diet of mine (for all the new readers, I had a baby just a few months ago). Anyway, he came home with the groceries and with a big bag of raw almonds. RAW ALMONDS. Who buys raw almonds? Well o.k., maybe a few of you out there but not me, never, no way, no how, H, E to the double LL no. The only problem is this, I opened the bag, took a nibble and then realized they were raw, sigh. It was too late, I couldn't return it opened like this so I closed it, put it in my little dark pantry and went to lay down on the couch, stupid raw almonds, stupid diet and stupid head-cold.

Well, while laying on the couch and resting, I remembered I had a jar of almond extract that I have never used and now that I was given these almonds, I had to figure out something, so I thought, hmmm, almond balls.

My husband and son LOVED these and boy, did they smell good. Bart (yes, my husbands name is Bart) said that these reminded him of childhood cookies....whenever a cookie or any food reminds you of your childhood, it must be good. These cookies are smooth and soft in the center and nutty crunchy on the outside.

I highly recommend almond extract, if you don't have it, next time your shopping, grab yourself a bottle. It's delish.

1 cup of salt, room temp
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 eggs, yokes in one bowl and egg whites in another bowl
1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon of almond extract - drizzle a little more if your darling and love almonds
2 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup of sliced almonds or crushed almonds

Preparation:

Pre-heat over at 350 degress.

Cream the butter then beat sugar in gradually. Add the egg yolks and extracts and beat until fluffy. Stir in about half the flour, add the milk and then beat well. Stir in the remaining flour and knead just until blended in.

Shape into small balls and roll in lightly beaten egg whitse and then into the almonds. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned on bottoms. Cool on rack.

Rough Puff Tomato Basil Soup

2009-04-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was in a funk yesterday, when I woke up, I just sat in my favorite chair, sippin' on tea and sighed. I didn't sigh ever so often, I sighed whenever I could. What was wrong with me? Why the funk? I know I just gave birth 3 1/2 months ago but should THIS much hormones still be in me? I didn't want to do anything, I wanted to sit, stare at the walls and sigh. I tried to Facebook it, all I could do was muster up this status, "I'm in a funk". I'm never like this, usually by noon, I've accomplished so much but no, not yesterday, I wasn't in the mood, I didn't have the energy.

Around 1 o'clock, I decided because I was in a funk it didn't mean I couldn't at least make dinner for my family. Because I wasn't myself, I thought I'd do something to get me in a better mood. I told my husband to watch the baby and I ran into the grocery store.

I go to my favorite store only to realize that my shirt has baby spit all over it, my skirt was not even close to being crisp and ironed, I had no make-up and I knew the Scuba-Pro baseball hat was not working well with what I had on. I didn't care. I, remember, was in a funk.

I got my ingredients, came home and started cooking. Once the meal was over, I looked at the soup, it smelled and tasted delicious but I didn't want to pour soup into a bowl and say, "here ya go, honey, enjoy". So, I decided to take it one more funky step and make a "rough puff". Let me tell ya, next time you make soup and you want to add that extra step that makes you look like you are one killer cook, add rough puff, it's easy and delish!

Oh, by the way, the reason why I was in a funk turned out a stupid cold was coming my way and now I sit here with a sore throat. Sigh. At least I have left over soup for lunch today!

2 28 cans of whole peeled tomatoes (this recipe makes a lot of soup)

1/2 stick of butter (I use Smart Balance - still dieting)

Parmesan cheese (I use a chunk and grate it myself, HUGE DIFFERENCE)

6 gloves of garlic

1 large onion

1 can of tomato paste

1 can of tomato sauce

2 teaspoons of bay leaf

2 teaspoons of thyme

fresh basil

half & half or heavy whipping cream (I used fat free and it was delicious)

Chop up your onion.

Melt you butter and add your onions in a big pot. Cook your onions in the butter at a medium low heat for 5 minutes to soften the onions, you do not want to add color to the onions so make sure you put a lid on it.

Look how the onions are soft and not browned. Add your garlic now. Let cook for another 5 minutes.

Now add your 2 cans of tomatoes, juice and all.

Add bay leaf and thyme, 2 teaspoons each. Of course, you can always add more, you decide. Let veggies cook for 45 minutes on low heat.

This is what the veggies look like after you let it cook .

Add your tomato paste and tomato sauce into the mix and stir well.

Add your fat free half & half or if you're not on a diet, use heavy cream of regular half & half. Stir.

Pour everything into your blender, blend it up really good. Add your fresh basil. I use lots in it, use it all if you want, it won't hurt. Once you blended it up good, add it back into your pot. I have an immersion blender but I wanted to rock it old school and do it this way!

Grate some cheese now.

Add a handful or two of cheese into the soup and stir well. Remove from heat, let it cook at room temp for 30 minutes and then place in refrigerator for at least 1 1/2 hours to let the flavor blend, trust me, let it rest and chill before you eat, the flavor are amazing when you do.

Rough Puff Dough:

1 cup of plain flour

1 pinch of salt

3 T of butter

3 T of lard/Crisco

cold water

Sift the flour into a large bowl

On another plate, take your butter and Crisco and chop them up into small pieces

Add fats to the flour

Add salt to the mix

Add a little cold water until it forms a dough ball.

Hand mix it until well blended. Do not use a rolling pin.

Place back in fridge for 45 minutes.

Carrot Rum Cake

2009-04-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

O.k., yes, I know, I KNOW, it's torture!! Why do I do this to myself? Why make such a pretty cake when I can't even try it? Maybe I'm testing my self control, my will-power, maybe I just simply hate myself. Nah, none of the above, just felt like baking! It was raining on Saturday here in Scottdsale and it was a PERFECT day to bake something warm, bake something that would make my house smell like cinnamon and spice instead of bleach and dirty diapers. So, my fellow friends and bloggers, here is Jen's Carrot Rum Cake. Two words, "it's good!" - I would have said, "it's great" but Tony the Tiger already has that one down pat.

Whatcha need:

3 cuts of grated carrots
1/2 cup of light brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of veggie oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of crushed pineapple, drained well
1 1/2 cup of white flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1 jar of cream cheese frosting
2 teaspoons of imitation rum flavoring extract

optional:

1 teaspoon of all-spice
1 teaspoon of nutmeg

I did it old school and by hand, grated 3 cups of carrots.

Once grated, add your brown sugar and mix well.

Add 1 teaspoon of your rum flavoring, mix well. Let carrots sit in sugar and rum for 45 minutes. Once the 45 minutes is up, drain any extra liquid into a seperate bowl (save fluid should you need to add some to the bread mix for extra flavor).

Lightly beat your eggs in a bowl.

Add your sugar to the eggs.

Add your oil now.

Add your vanilla.

Beat it, BEAT it REALLY good, o.k., don't beat it TOO much, just lightly to encooperate everything.

Take your crushed pineapple (remember to drain ALL liquids) and put it into the egg mix and stir well.

Add flour now.

Now the baking soda.

Let's not forget the salt.

Add your cinnamon.

If you have it, add your all-spice and nutmeg. If you don't have it, no worries...it will STILL taste great.

Once your egg mix is stirred up well, add the carrots (remember to drain the liquids in another bowl). Once you add the carrots, take 2 tablepoons of the carrot juice you drained and add it back into the mix.Add the nuts!

I use a loaf pan. Put your batter in a loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until the center is done, I used a butter knife to see if the center was done.

Once your loaf is done cooking, the top might be a little crisp, so slice it off and put your loaf on a plate, top down, get ready to ice the baby.

I didn't have time to make homemade icing so I used cream cheese frosting and added rum to it- I was told, "it was da bomb!".

Ice the carrot cake, decorate it, do whatever you want with it, just make sure to enjoy it!

Black Bean, Chipotle, Turkey Chili with Avocado Salsa

2009-04-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from a blog that I check often. It's Kalyn's blog. It's full of South Beach Friendly recipes. This black bean chili is hands down my favorite chili I have ever tasted. It's unique and spicy and with the avocado salsa, it's just amazing. The salsa helps to cool down the spicy flavor and makes the chili so creamy. You have to try this. I promise you will LOVE it! I did not use her exact recipe but here is my variation on it.

Black Bean, Chipotle and Turkey Chili

3 cans black beans

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes

1 diced Chipotle chili pepper, from a can of Chipotles in Adobo Sauce

1 lb. very lean ground turkey

2 T Olive Oil
1/2 large onion, chopped (I use a yellow onion)

1 T or more Ancho chile powder

1 T New Mexico chili powder

Pinch ground Chipotle chile powder (optional)

2 tsps Cumin

2 cups chicken stock

1 T tomato paste

Avocado Salsa

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

1/2 red onion chopped

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 avocados, finely diced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Drain 2 cans black beans into colander and rinse until all the foam disappears. While beans drain, use a food processor to puree the third can of undrained beans, diced tomatoes, and chipotle chili pepper. Pulse the mixture until it's smooth. In bottom of heavy soup pot, heat 2 tsp. olive oil and brown turkey, using the back of the turner to break it into small pieces. Remove turkey and place on a paper towl to soak up excess grease. Then add a bit more olive oil and the onions. Lower heat a little and cook onions until they are tender. Add all the chile powders and cumin and saute about 30 seconds. Add stock, browned ground turkey, pureed bean mixture, drained beans from colander and tomato paste and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes or longer.

While Chili simmers, mix together your salsa. Either keep the pit of the avocado in the bowl or sprinkle the lime juice over the avocado before placing in the fridge so as not to have the avocado brown.

Right before you serve your chili, be sure to taste and season with salt and black pepper if desired. Serve Chili hot, with a generous scoop of avocado salsa on top of each serving.

Magic in the Middle Cookies

2009-04-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

O.k., don't be alarmed, I didn't try this cookie (stupid diet) but I have 3 qualified people who did try it and they loved it. My sweet, dear husband, Bart, my sweet boy, Triston and my mommy. All 3 agreed, yummy! My husband said, "this is the best cookie you have ever made". Wait?! The best cookie I've ever made? Hmmm, this is the FIRST TIME, I have ever made a homemade cookie!!! I've made cookies that were made already, ya know, break off and bake sort of cookie but this is my first cookie from scratch. Poor Bart, all this time and he thought I was being some amazing wife and making him and our son homemade cookies. Well, I broke the mold and finally did it and let me say, I'll never buy cookie dough from the store until I am in a time crunch because by the look of it and by the families reaction, making cookies from scratch is the only way to go.

Again, diets sucks but I've lost 14 pounds in less than 30 days, so it's working.

So, where did I get this recipe? Well, let me introduce you to her! She has an amazing blog and has some pretty tasty recipes....Check her out! Joie de vivre. So, thanks my dear for sharing this cookie so I can try and share with my family and friends.

Enjoy,

Jenifer

Whatcha need to make magic:

Chocolate Dough:

1 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of room temp butter
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Peanut butter filling:

3/4 cup of peanut butter
3/4 cup of confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

Preheat oven to 375. and lightly grease 2 baking sheets.

To make the dough, in a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, get the sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanut butter ready to beat.

Did you beat it up good, if you did, it should like the picture above?

Now add the egg and vanilla. Mix well.

Now add the dry mix to the wet mix and.....

...mix it well, this is what it should look like....if it looks too dry, add another egg, that is what I did.

Let's make magic or otherwise known as the filling. In a small bowl, add your peanut butter and confectioners sugar and mix well.

Take the magic mix and start rolling into little balls, aren't my balls pretty?

Now take your chocolate dough and make a walnut size ball and pretty your thumb in the middle to insert the peanut butter ball.

See how cozy my ball looks? It looks like a big ol' eyeball.

Now, it's time to close the eyelid to cover up the eye ball. Gently pinch the chocolate dough around the ball, just like this! Once that is done, use both hands and roll it up into a perfect little circle and place on baking sheet. Take a drinking glass and slightly press on the ball to help flatten it up a bit before baking. Bake cookies for 7 minutes. Let cool slightly before you try.

Look at all these cookies, not one with my name on it.....I hate diets.

Broiled or Grilled Salmon with Creamy Lemon Sauce

2009-04-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

WOW! This was tasty! We have been trying to get more fish in our diet and I am a HUGE fan of lemon. I saw this recipe in the South Beach Diet cookbook and I had to try it. This dish is virtually carb free. It was just amazing. So lemony and the capers just burst with flavor. I loved it and so did Scott. I broiled one piece of salmon and grilled another piece. I wanted to taste the difference. Hands down the grilled salmon took the prize but the broiled was very good as well. This recipe is super easy and super fast.

Salmon with Creamy Lemon Sauce

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup lemon juice

(I used fresh squeezed lemon,

I think it's so much better than store bought lemon juice)

2 tablespoons capers

1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

1/2 cup low fat sour cream

1 1/2 pounds salmon fillet

Preheat the oven to 350 or fire up the grill. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the lemon juice, capers, and lemon-pepper seasoning and cook for 5 minutes. Add the sour cream and cook for 5 minutes, or utnil heated through.

Meanwhile, place the salmon on teh prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the fish is just opaque. Or throw the salmon on the grill. Grill until fish is flaky. Serve with the sauce.

Paella

2009-04-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

So here is my version of Paella (pronounced PIE-A-UH). This dish was very easy to make, the only thing I needed to purchased was Saffron and boy is it worth it! I know this isn't the "normal" when it comes to Paella but it's well worth making it. My boys LOVED it. Because I'm still on my diet, I didn't try this dish but was told it was really good. Can I just say one thing, DIETS SUCK! Seriously, I hate the fact that I put on so much weight while pregnant but when I look at my sweet little Gillian, it obviously was WORTH EVERY BITE!

I will be listing ingredients per cooking instructions.

Marinade for the chicken:

2 T of Olive Oil

1 T of paprika

2 teaspoons of dried oregano

salt and pepper

2 pounds of skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into 2 inch pieces

Mix together and put in refrigerator for about an hour.

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Ingredients for the rice:

2 T of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups of uncooked short grain white rice

1 pinch of saffron threads

1 bay leaf

1/2 bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 quart of chicken stock (do not use chicken broth!)

2 lemons, zested

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or paella pan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, red pepper flakes and rice. Cook, stirring to coat rice with oil for about 3 minutes. Stir in Saffron threads, bay leaf and parsley.

Now add chicken stock and lemon zest to the rice and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Take chicken and your diced onions and add to a pan and cook on medium high heat. Stir in your chorizo sausage (because my husband doesn't like chorizo, I did not add it).

This is what your chicken will look like a few minutes after you start cooking it.

Now add your diced red bell pepper and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add your shrimp on top and cover. Cook until all your shrimp is pink.

Meanwhile, your rice should be cooked. Look at how the Saffron turned the rice this beautiful yellow! It smelled SO good.

Now that the shrimp is pink and the chicken is done, it's time to plate up. Serve meat mix and a spoonful or two of broth in the middle of your rice. Enjoy!

P.S. I added hot sauce to the mix as my husband was wanting MORE spice to it.

Chicken Ricotta Parmesan

2009-04-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

I made a fabulous eggplant parmesan which I already blogged about so yesterday I decided to make chicken parmesan with a twist, adding ricotta. I couldn't believe how ridiculously easy this recipe was and how tasty it was to boot. Easy, all protein and delish, just like I like it. Next time you need something yummy, easy and inexpensive to make, consider this dish!

3 half chicken breasts
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/3 pound of mozzarella cheese purchased at the meat/cheese counter
1 small skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 jar of red sauce
salt and pepper
1/4 cup of flour
olive oil

First thing is first, fillet your chicken, instead of pounding flat a chicken breast, make it easy and cut it thin! So, 3 chicken breasts will turn into 6 for this dish.

Season your chicken with sea salt, pepper and garlic powder, both side. Lightly dust the chicken breast in flour.

Drizzle olive oil over the chicken before adding it into a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, mix your ricotta cheese with half a cup of mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, one egg and a pinch of salt. Mix well and refrigerate until the chicken is done.

This is what the chicken looks like after baking for 30 minutes.

Add your ricotta cheese mix over each chicken breast.

Add a big slice of mozzarella cheese over the ricotta now.

Add your red sauce over the chicken.

Top with more parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Finished dish! Cheesy and delish! Serve with a small Caesar salad.

Spinach Chicken Lasagna

2009-04-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

Umm, four words, you gotta try this! Who would have thought that the ingredients listed below would make an amazing meal! My husband and son LOVE this recipe and I must say that I did take a bite of this bad boy and OMG. (Still dieting so I ate soup). What a great way to replace red meat and red sauce, it's easy to make and pretty inexpensive.

1 package of lasagna sheets (cooked and set aside). If you are daring, try making your own sheets like I did. (see manicotti shell recipe I blogged about)
3 cups of milk (original recipe called for whipping cream)
2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of butter (I used
1 T of olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 can of salt free mushrooms
1 roasted chicken, shredded
salt and pepper
ricotta cheese (I used the low fat kind)
3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large pan, add your milk and cream of mushrooms over medium heat.

Add the parmesan cheese.

Now add the can of sliced mushrooms to the mix. Let mushroom sauce cook on low heat.

In a large pan, saute the onions and garlic.

Once the onions and garlic have been cooked, add the shredded rotisserie chicken.

Get the ricotta cheese ready by adding eggs, cheese, salt and mix well. Put in fridge until you are ready to assemble the lasagna.

Add your cleaned fresh spinach to hot water and cook until tender.

After you have cooked your lasagna sheets or made your own sheets, it's time to assemble. I put a cup of the mushroom sauce on the bottom of the pan then 2 sheets of pasta, top it off with ricotta cheese and spinach.

Add your chicken and add more mushroom sauce over it. Repeat the steps, shells, ricotta, spinach, chicken, cheese and mushroom sauce. Once your done laying, put in over for 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is golden brown.

Finished dish!

Spinach Tortellini Soup

2009-03-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

I'm still dieting and I was tired of eating the same thing OVER and OVER again until I found this bad boy! Spinach Tortellin Soup, light, refreshing, low fat, low cal and HUGE on the flavor level. This soup is easy to make and perfect for anyone who is looking to eat well without losing great taste and flavor in their meals.

2 cans of chicken broth
garlic, minced
onions, chopped small
1 bunch of spinach
1 package of tortellini (I use 3 cheese tortellini)
1 teaspoon of dry basil
salt & pepper

Optional: Franks Red Hot Sauce

First things first, dice your onion. I use 1/2 of a yellow onion.

Add your onion and garlic (1 tablespoon of garlic) to your pot and let the heat sweat out the liquids in the onion.

Add your chicken broth.

Add your basil, salt & pepper.

To add some color, I use one big dollop of tomato paste, freeze the rest.

In another pot, bring water to a boil and add your tortellini cooking them for only 5 minutes, do not cook them longer than 5 minutes as you are going to add them to hot soup which will do the rest of the cooking for you.

Your soup base should be at a boil now, add your clean spinach to it.

As you can see, the spinach adds lots of color and taste to the broth.

Now add your tortellini to the broth.

For additional flavor, I highly recommend adding a splash or two or three or four to the soup. I did and it added lots of extra taste!

As with any soup, add more, add less just make sure you taste taste taste as you go. This soup is AWESOME the next day.

Homemade Manicotti Shells

2009-03-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

This is the easiest recipe ever for homemade manicotti shells, sooooo delicious. I've been to restaurants before where their manicotti shells are so delicate and I've always wondered how in the world they got their shells to be sooo good when the shells I use at home seem so, gross. You can even use this recipe to make the pasta sheets for lasagna as well. You'll love it as much as my family does! Enjoy!

Four eggs

1 and a half cups of flour

1 and a half cups of water

3/4 teaspoon of salt

Take your eggs, flour, water and salt and mix until blended. As you can see in the above picture, the blend is very watery, don't be alarmed, you want it this way!

Lightly oil a frying pan and then heat the pan for about a minute over medium high heat. Spoon in the batter or use a dry measuring cup to pour the batter into the middle of the pan.

Quickly and carefully tild the pan in a circular motion until the batter forms a round, thin layer in the pan. (Similar to a crepe).

Cook about 1 to 2 minutes until the shell surface appears dry.

Carefully turn the manicotti shell over using a spatuland cook for an additional 20-30 seconds.

Stack cooked shells on a plate between waxed paper for later use.

Now it's time to assembly the Manicotti. Take one of your shells and add cheese in the center.

Spoon a generous helping of the ricotta cheese. (Add 3 eggs, salt and cheese to the ricotta cheese at least 30 minutes prior to assembling the Manicotti).

Now fold like a burrito and place in baking pan. Repeat steps until your pan is full of manicotti shells filled with cheese mix.

Pour sauce over the shells.

Top with cheese. Cover with foil. Put into pre-heated oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Finished dish!

Upside-Down Chocolate Chip Cake

2009-03-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

I found this on Rookie Cookie's blog and even though I do not love chocolate cake, I had to make it, it looked delicious. I am a huge fan of coconut and chocolate chips so I tried this one out. It was so yummy. It was fun to make too. I couldn't wait to flip it over onto the cake plate and see all of that yummy gooey chewy goodness. Once you sprinkle the chocolate chips on, they start to melt all over the top...OH MY...you have to try this. And because I need to lose a few El Bees (lbs)...I sent the rest of the cake over to my mom and dad's house and they loved it.

Upside-Down Chocolate Chip Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened and divided

3/4 cup brown sugar, divided

4 tsp water

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Set oven to 350. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a 9 inch round cake pan in the oven. Stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar and water. Sprinkle coconut and walnuts into the pan. Set pan aside.In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Stir to combine. Add milk, 1/4 cup butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips and stir in by hand. Spread batter into prepared pan.Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until cake feels firm when touched. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen sides with a knife and turn out onto a cake plate. Immediately sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Let stand for 30 minutes before slicing.

Lemon Chicken (Low Fat Version)

2009-03-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Jaime and I are big fans of blogger, Mandy. When you have time, check out her cooking blog as well: Home with Mandy

We both came across this recipe for Lemon Chicken, Jaime and I both tried it. Because I'm still on the "gotta lose this baby weight" diet, I made my version low fat and added a few other ingredients. My family loved it, in fact, I made it twice this week so far. It's delish. Thanks Mandy and thanks Cindy (Mandy's mom) for creating this dish!

4 chicken breast

2 cans of low fat cream of chicken

1 can of salt free pieces and stems mushrooms

low fat sour cream

lemon juice

sliced almonds

salt & pepper

garlic powder

flour

olive oil

Take your chicken breasts and slice them thin, just like I did in the above picture.

Add salt & pepper and garlic powder to both sides of the chicken.

Lightly dust in flour.

Dust the other side too!

Becaused I sliced my chicken breast thin, I took 4 half breasts and created 8 breasts. Drizzle lightly with olive olive. In a preheated 400 degree oven, place the chicken in and cook for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, take your 2 cans of low fat cream of chicken in a big saucepan and add your salt free mushrooms.

Add your low fat sour cream to the mix.

Stir really well.

Now this is where you want to taste, taste, taste. A lot of people like citrus in there food and some people find it overwhelming....squeeze a little lemon juice in the mix, stir and taste. Keep adding lemon juice until you get the "perfect" taste. I love lemon but I didn't want to overwhelm the dish with too much of the lemon juice so I was able to get it perfect to my liking. Remember, squeeze juice in, stir and taste.

Cook on low heat until the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes.

Now that the 30 minutes has passed, turn the chicken over and add the low fat cream of mushroom mix all over the chicken. Top it off now with your sliced almonds. Put back in the oven and cook for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

This is what the final product looks like.

Serve with white or brown rice and or a salad.

It's delish! It will be one of your favorite easy dishes to make because surely it's my family's favorite chicken dish to date!

Thanks Mandy!

Brie with Warm Honey and Toasted Almonds

2009-03-24T14:14:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite appetizers to make for a party...it's simple, easy and oh so tasty. I buy the brie from Costco but you can get it from Sam's Club or Trader Joe's...I use the Baby Brie wheel. I buy a small container of honey at Trader Joe's and heat the honey up in the microwave. I buy sliced almonds and toast them in the oven. Place the brie on a platter, pour the warm honey over the brie (the warm honey actually softens the brie so you can cut into easily) and then sprinkle with toasted almonds. I serve this with water crackers, multi-grain crackers or you could serve it with baguettes. Any way you serve it, it's a hit at parties!

Cinnamon Scones with Vanilla Drizzle

2009-03-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

I have been dieting for a few weeks now. My meals consist of salads and grilled chicken, lots of fluids and 1 low fat yogurt cup a day. I haven't cheated. Last night my sweet husband looked at me and said, "I miss all your yummy desserts". I felt bad because when I started my diet, my "cooking" has gone down lots. So I surprised him with scones drizzled with vanilla icing this afternoon.

This was my first time making scones and it was delish according to my husband and my 7 year old son and beleive it when I say, I haven't had a bite of these scones I made because I have pretty good will-power.

I was told they are really good and they want more tonight.

1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter

1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
4 teaspoons cinnamon

In one bowl, add 1 cup of sour cream and baking soda together and stir until mixed well.

In another bowl add flour, cream of tarter, salt and baking powder.

Add sugar to the mix now.

Add room temp cuts of butter to the flour mix and mix until the flour looks like bread crumbs.

I used me hands to mix it up...easier that way.

Now add 1 egg to the sour cream.

Add the cinnamon to the sour cream mix as well, stir until blended.

Add sour cream mix to the flour and FOLD it into the flour.

It should look crumbly looking like this.

Knead dough no more than 10 times. Cut the dough into two and using half the dough, pat into a 3/4 inch loaf. Use circle press to make perfect circle and add to a greased cookie sheet.

Cook for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once you take out the scones, let them set for 5-8 minutes before adding the icing. If you don't have time to make icing or devonshire cream, take half a cup of vanilla icing and microve for 20 seconds. The icing will then pour easily into a zip-log bag. Cut a VERY small hole at the tip and drizzle over the scones for that perfect drizzled look.

I froze the other half the dough for later use!