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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

I made some chicken & black bean burritos today, they were sooo good!


Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

Filling Ingredients:

Cooked, shredded chicken
Black Beans
1 C cheese
2 cans Fiesta Corn 
1 can rotel
1 C sour cream
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
salt & pepper (to taste)
8 lg tortillas, burrito size

Sauce:

Enchilada sauce
1 C sour cream
Top with shredded cheese

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all filling ingredients.  
Take a burrito-size tortilla and scoop some of the filling down the midldle. Roll-up burrito-style and place in a pan.  ** If needed cut the burritos in half, they sometimes fit in the pan better. **

After all the burritos are in the pan, pour almost all the sauce on top, reserving about a cup.  Top with cheese and bake 350º for 25 minutes.  

When the burritos come out the oven add remaining sauce and top with some chopped cilantro.  Serve with mexican rice.  Serves 4-6

Saturday, October 26, 2013

National Pumpkin Day

 It seems like every day is some type of "day".  Today, October 26th is National Pumpkin Day!  In honor of this special day, I whipped up some yummy Pumpkin Crescent Cups.  These are so easy to make!



Pumpkin Crescent Cups

Ingredients:

1 Can Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough sheet
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 pkg cream cheese (divided)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp vanilla
3/4 c powdered sugar (divided)
1 tsp milk

Directions:

Preheat oven 375º 
Unroll crescent dough and with a round biscuit cutter, cut out rounds of dough.  Press rounds into small muffin tin, making sure sides are covered.  

Next mix the filling.

Filling:

1 cup pumpkin, 1/2 pkg cream cheese, spices, vanilla and 1/4 cup powdered sugar.  Mix well.

Fil the cups with the mixture.

Bake 375º for 12 minutes.  

Top with glaze.

Glaze:

1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 pkg cream cheese
1 tsp milk
1/8 tsp vanilla

mix together and drizzle on top of the crescent cups. Serves 24

Friday, October 25, 2013

An Old Favorite

Growing up in Jacksonville, there was a favorite restaurant of ours that we would always take out-of-town guests to that were visiting.  It was called Beach Road Chicken Dinners.


Beach Road not only has the best fried chicken, they have the best side dishes as well.  My favorite side dish of all is their creamed peas.  At Beach Road, chicken dinners were served "family style", all the sides and biscuits you wanted.

I have not been to Beach Road Chicken in years, but I have not forgotten how good the peas were.  with lots of testing, I have re-created the yummy peas.


Creamed Peas

2 cans of sweet peas (undrained)
3 T butter
3 T flour
1/4 C cream
Salt & pepper 
1 tsp garlic power
1 tsp onion powder

Melt butter in skillet, add flour, whisking constantly, add cream and peas (undrained), keep stirring until sauce is thick, add all seasonings, making sure to season well with salt & pepper.  

- For a richer taste, drain peas, and replace with 1/2 cup of chicken broth.

Serve this side dish with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, pork chops or meatloaf.  Makes a great side dish!



Sunday, October 20, 2013

First Chili of the Season

Made my first chili of the season today for our Sunday Dinner.

Chili & Grilled Cheese
The secret to this great chili is V8 Juice!  It's my dad's recipe.  I remember growing up and my dad making the best chili.  My dad died very unexpectedly and I never got his chili recipe.  I had to recreate it myself.  The one thing I always knew is that he used V8 juice.  

I also made some homemade grilled cheese sandwiches.  I used sliced sour dough bread bought from the bakery, spread a thin layer of dijon mustard on one side and thin coat of butter on the other.  I used a longhorn colby and muenster cheeses with some tavern ham. Grill with the buttered side down.  So good!

The full recipe can be found here

Breakfast Toast Cups

Breakfast Toast Cups


Our traditional Sunday morning breakfast is cinnamon rolls.  No, not homemade but these. (The only time I make homemade cinnamon rolls is Christmas morning), or when I feel like it. 

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
I have made them every Sunday for years.  Today I thought I would try a new recipe.  It's a Martha Stewart recipe, which I am usually not a fan because they tend to be somewhat lengthy and complicated, but this one seemed easy, and one that my kids would actually eat.  So,I thought I would give it a try!  So glad I did, everyone loved them.  

Breakfast Toast Cups

Preheat oven to 375º

Ingredients:

6 slices of bread, cut the crust off
6 slices of bacon
2T melted butter
6 Eggs
Salt & pepper

Directions:

Use a pastry bush and brush melted butter into each cup

Flatten out uncrusted bread with a rolling pin 

Press the bread into each muffin cup

Brush bread with any remaining butter

Fry bacon in a pan until almost done.

Place a strip of bacon down into each cup

Crack an egg on top of each piece of bacon

Top with a sprinkle of salt & pepper

Bake 375º for 20-25 minutes.  

Serve warm!




Friday, October 18, 2013

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

The other day I made the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made, even my kids agreed, and that says it all!



DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, use the Toll House recipe on the back of the bag.  For years I did that and and was always disappointed in the outcome.





I have searched and tried many recipes the past few years and I finally found it.  
Tried and true recipe!


new york times chocolate chip cookies

Yield:  20 medium size cookies
Prep Time: 15 min + chill time
Cook Time: 15-18 min

Ingredients:

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons  cake flour
1 2/3 cups  bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (like sea salt)
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks)
1 1/4 cups  packed light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons  granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 20oz Bag chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Directions:

1. Sift together the dry ingredients (flour through salt). I just scraped mine through a fine strainer/sieve since my sifter isn't all that great. Set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars- mixing until the mixture is very light, about 5 minutes. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low, add the dry ingredients and, mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Place the dough in an airtight container and refrigerate a minimum of 24 to 36 hours before baking (and up to 72 hours).
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.
4. I used a cookie scoop and had an overflowing scoop, about 3-4" cookies onto a baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Don't try to fit more on the sheet or you'll end up with cookies baking into each other. 
5. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the center is lighter and soft, 18 to 20 minutes (oven times vary). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.


The secret to these cookies is the make the dough 48 hours in advance, cover it and let it sit in the fridge.  On the day of baking, let it sit for an hour or so and then start baking.

Another tip I have is use parchment paper or baking mat.  The pan varies, I used a Pampered Chef baking stone on some batches and regular aluminum pans on some.  The stone may need a couple of more baking minutes, but keep a careful watch you don't want these overcooked.  

I made these medium-size,  I used a cookie scoop about 3-4" inch cookies.  Baking time varied from 15-18 minutes, every oven is different, so keep that in mind.  

Also let these cool on the baking sheet at least a good 10 minutes before moving them to cooking rack to cool.  


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Chicken & Spinach Lasagna



White Cheese & Chicken Lasagna

Today I probably made the best meal I ever have.  My Tuesdays and Thursdays are normally very busy days for me, but today I was in the kitchen non-stop from 8am until 1pm.  I had two Chicken & Spinach recipes and I couldn't decide which to use.  I made one recipe last night and did not like it.  So I went with the other today.  WOW!  What a difference between the two, like day and night. I will not post the one I didn't like, but the one I did use for today's meal can be found here.

This recipe is definitely worth a try.  The original recipe called for ricotta, but I am not a fan, so I substituted it for cottage cheese.  This recipe has lots of freshness.  I used fresh garlic, baby spinach, onion, basil and parsley.  Northing from a can or jar in this recipe.  The homemade sauce is very easy to make as well.