Thursday, August 27, 2009

Chicken Salad

3 cup diced Chicken
1 1/2 cup diced celery
3/4 - 1 cup mayo
4 stalks of green onions
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 T. parsley
1/3 cup whipping cream, whipped (I use a whole small one)
1 tsp. salt
1 t. Lemon juice
1 cup sliced purple grapes

*optional: pecans or almonds, 1 cup each

Mix all together and chill before serving.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

24 small corn tortillas
1 (24oz) sour cream
2 bags of shredded cheese (I used one cheddar one mozzarella and mixed them together)
1 can of black olives
1 can of black beans
1 can chopped green chilies
1 can of corn
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 28 oz can of green enchilada sauce

Simply layer the tortillas, spread (1/3) of each--sour cream, chicken, black beans, corn, cheese, then add the can of olives, repeat the layers but one one of the layers use the chilies, and end with tortillas. Pour sauce over top and finish with rest of cheese.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Roasted Garlic

I have been having some weird cravings during pregnancy and most of them are not worthy of being posted here (e.g. salad with beets and blue cheese) but this one is. I think!

Roasted Garlic

Ingredients:
1 medium garlic bulb (the whole bulb not just a clove).
2 T. olive oil
Salt to taste

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 320 degrees F (160 degrees C). Slice about 1/4 in. off top of garlic bulb. Place it in a small baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in preheated oven for 30-45 min. depending on size of bulb (until it is slightly browned and the cloves are soft). Remove from oven. When it is cool enough to touch extract each bulb by squeezing slightly. It should pop right out. If you can't wait for it to cool (I rarely can) then just use a fork to take each clove out.
Depending on what you are going to use it on you can add some salt or other spices and you can use the garlic infused olive oil as well. It should spread like softened butter!

It is amazing spread on bread or crackers or mixed into dips (like hummus), pasta sauce or on pizza crust or really it is good on anything. I hope you like it as much as I do. We are having it with a baguette and lasagna for dinner tonight!

I have also read that you can roast garlic cloves already peeled but it seems like so much work when they just slide out after roasting. But suit yourself.

Sorry there isn't a photo for this one but I forgot to take it before eating it all up.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Emily Bell's Salsa

This is great, and very easy to make. Just one word of warning it makes like a gallon of salsa!

6 regular cans of petite diced tomatoes
1 can of El Pato (yellow can)
2-3 jalapenos deseeded and chopped fine
1 banana pepper (fresh or in the bottle over by the pickles)
5-6 green onions
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/2 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste

If you have a good blender I have just been using that to mix it, then you don't have to chop anything, just deseed. You can't fit it all in at once though, so I just do as much as I can and then stir it in a bowl.

Amy's Key Lime Pie



Ingredients:
1 9-inch graham cracker crust
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup key lime juice (try and find Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice)
1 lime
cool whip

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350.
Combine condensed milk, egg yolks and lime juice.
Blend until smooth.
Pour filling into pie crust.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.Allow to stand for 10 minutes before refrigerating.
Let refrigerate for at least 1 hour (overnight is best).
Just before serving top with cool whip and garnish with lime slices.



I have made two different kinds of key lime pies, this is more the traditional kind while the other is more of a cheesecake.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Oatmeal Cake

Okay, this cake is sooo good. I would have never made it if I crossed this recipe, but thanks to my great friend Nikki I am now a BIG fan of this and if I gain 100 pounds from this recipe I will put all the blame on her.

Pour 1 ¼ cup boiling water over 1 ¼ cup oatmeal and 1 cube melted butter. Let stand 20 minutes while you make the rest.

Cream together then add to oatmeal mixture:
1 cup brown sugar1 cup sugar2 eggs¼ tsp. salt1 tsp. vanilla
Stir in 1 ½ cup flour, 1 tsp. soda, 1 tsp. cinnamon. Bake in greased 9 x 13 pan for 30 min. at 350

Frosting
Mix in saucepan: 2/3 cup evaporated milk, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 cube of butter. Cook, stirring constantly until it thickens. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, spread on cool or warm cake.

We made it and did 1 ½ batch of the frosting and poked holes in the cake and dumped it on and it was so yummy this way.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Parmesan Peppercorn Ranch

This dressing has got my kids asking for a salad or raw vegetables for snacks! Anything like that I figured I should pass on.

1 pkg dry Ranch dressing mix
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup milk
1/4 cup powdered Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. black pepper

Mix all together in one of those shaker things and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.