Roasted Red Salsa

Roasted Red Salsa

from: One Particular Kitchen

16 full size tomatoes, or nearly a produce bag full of roma tomatoes (I used roma)

2-3 yellow onions

20-25 serrano peppers (remove caps)  Note:  This many peppers makes it hot!  Feel free to reduce number of peppers, or scrape the seeds out of them

8-10 cloves of garlic

1-2 Tbsp. salt

1-2 bunches of cilantro

Halve the tomatoes and onions and lay cut-side up on a cookie sheet along with the peppers and garlic.

Roast at 375 till the onions look nice and translucent, tomatoes look soft, and peppers are getting a nice char on them. 

Let it all cool a bit, then run through the food processor with salt and cilantro.  

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

from:  Alexandra's Kitchen

Serves 6-8

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

2 tsp. lemon zest or more - zest from 1 lemon

7/8 cup plus 1 tbs. sugar

1 egg, room temp

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350.  Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.  Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk.  Fold in the blueberries.

Grease a 9" square baking pan or something similar, with butter or coat with non-stick spray.  Spread batter into pan.  Sprinkle batter with remaining Tbs. of sugar.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Check with a toothpick for doneness.  If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple more minutes.  Baking for as long as 10 more minutes might be necessary.  Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. 

Pumpkin Sheet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Sheet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

From:  Mommy's Kitchen

15 oz. can pumpkin

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

In a mixing bowl, beat the pumpkin, sugar and oil.  Add eggs and mix well.  Combine the dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture, beating until well blended.  Pour into a greased 10x15 inch baking pan.  Bake for 25-35 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool the cake completely and then frost it with the cream cheese frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, softened (1/2 cup)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

5-6 tsp. milk (I did not need this)

Beat the butter and cream cheese together.  Add the vanilla and blend until smooth.  Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix well.  Add the milk a bit at a time until you get it to a spreadable consistency.  Spread on top of the sheet cake.  You can also top this cake with some chopped pecans or walnuts. 



Cadbury Cookies

Cadbury Egg Cookies
Our Best Bites
print recipe text only

1/2 C Crisco (I use butter flavored)
1/2 C Butter
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 C flour
6T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 10 oz bag Cadbury Mini-Eggs
**If it’s not Easter, or you don’t like Cadbury Eggs, try these cookies with white chocolate or PB chips- they’re fantastic!

Preheat oven to 350. You’ll need to chop up those Cadbury Eggs. I just put them in a ziplock bag and bang on them with a rolling pin. A hammer would work too.

Cream together the butter, crisco, brown sugar and white sugar. Add in eggs one at at a time and the vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture to combine and then mix in the candies. If you want your cookies to look pretty, save a few egg pieces and pop them on top of the cookies before baking so you get those colorful speckles on top!
Drop onto a cookie sheet and cook for about 8-10 minutes.

Cowboy Quesadillas

Cowboy Quesadillas
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1/2 C white rice
1/3 C black beans
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1/3 C fresh frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw)
2/3 C diced tomato
3 Tbs sliced green onion
1 1/2 C shredded cheese (any type or combo you like)
1/4 C bbq sauce
6 small tortillas (fajita size, about 6″)

Dipping Sauce equal parts bbq sauce and ranch dressing (here’s our favorite)
Combine rice, beans, chicken, corn, tomato, green onion and shredded cheese. Add bbq sauce and stir to combine. Place about 1/3 C of mixture on half of each tortilla and fold over to close.
Heat a skillet to medium heat on the stove top. When hot, spray lightly with cooking spray, or drizzle with canola or olive oil. Place quesadillas in pan and cook for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisp. Flip and repeat on opposite side. Cool for a few minutes and then serve with BBQ-Ranch dipping sauce.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
from Frankly Entertaining

Ingredients:
1 Chocolate Cake Mix
2 Eggs
1/3 c. oil
Chocolate covered caramels (rolos or milk duds)

Directions:
Combine cake mix, oil and eggs; mix.
Scoop out 2 Tbsp. of dough and wrap it around a candy; shape into a ball
Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole

Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole

Gina's Skinny RecipesServings: 8 • Serving Size: 1/8th • Old Points: 8 pts • Points+: 9 ptsCalories: 367.2 • Fat: 9.5 g • Carb: 46.8 g • Fiber: 2.0 g • Protein: 20.9 g

2 cups uncooked long grain rice
4 cups water
1 (2.5 oz) sweet Italian sausage link, casing removed
10 oz (.65 lbs) 93% lean ground turkey (1/2 package)
1/4 cup onion, minced
salt and fresh pepper
5 oz frozen peas
16 oz homemade tomato sauce
1/3 cup egg beaters or egg whites
1/2 cup pecorino romano
cooking spray
4 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs, divided
1 1/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella

Cook rice in water according to package directions. Set aside to cool.Meanwhile, sauté sausage meat; cook until brown breaking up into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add turkey and onions and cook until browned, breaking up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add peas and 8 oz tomato sauce and simmer on low, covered, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl combine rice, pecorino romano, eggs, and 3-4 oz tomato sauce and mix well. Rice should be a bit sticky.Spray a 9 x 12 casserole dish with cooking spray, making sure to spray sides too. Add 2 tbsp breadcrumbs to the dish and roll around to coat the bottom and sides.

Take half of the rice mixture (a little more if needed) and cover the bottom of the dish and up the sides; press to form the bottom layer.

Add the meat and peas. Sprinkle mozzarella on top.

Top with remaining rice and press until even. Top with remaining 4 oz of sauce, remaining 2 tbsp breadcrumbs, and remaining mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes. Cut into 8 pieces.

Official Thai Phad Thai

Some people were asking for the recipes from the cooking class we took in Thailand. It was actually really easy to make both the fried rice and the phad thai. However, now that I'm typing this recipe in, and even though I was there and participated in the class, I have no idea what they are talking about. Plus, they measured everyting in Grams, sorry about that. Not sure how to convert so, this is one of those "eyeball it" recipes. So, if you are brave enough to try to interepret, go for it. Sorry there's no picture to help. If anything, it's just pure entertainment to read.

Phad Thai

100 g. noodle (spaghetti noodles will work but there are phad thai noodles. They are white, almost see through)
10 g. dried shrimps
100 g. shrimps
10 g. sheet head (?) yellow hard tofu (I've never bought tofu, have no idea what a sheet head is)
1/2 tea spoon chili powder (again, i left it like they wrote, because it makes me laugh)
10 g. cursory pound roosted peanut (i have no idea, grab some peanuts)
50 g. egg (1 egg) (now you can start to compare what a gram is if one egg is 50 grams)
20 g. bean sprouts
20 g. chinese chives (once again, no idea)
garlic chopped
Tamarind juice (this should be found in the asian section of your grocery store)
Fish sauce (same here)
sugar
50 g. vegetable oil
water

Wok add 2 Tbs. vegetable oil, medium heat, heat enough oil. Add garlic and chopped onion to fry enough. Add cooked shrimp to fry scoop up enough. Add tofu to fried radish head (?) chopped peanuts, dried shrimp, pound line input phad thai. Water and small enough to fry a soft line.
Seasoned with fish sauce, sugar tamarind juice, cayenne pepper, fried enough to hold lap togther.
Hammer to crush eggs until done enough. The lines are already fried to fill fry them up.
Add chinese chives, bean sprouts, fried leaves together. Add fried shrimp already cooked down.

Official Thai Fried Rice

From our cooking class in Thailand. I'm leaving it written just as our cooks did because it makes me laugh.


Fried Rice

1 cup Jasmine rice (cold)
20 grams chicken
1 Tbs. chopped garlic
2 Tbs. soya sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 Tbs. each of onion, tomato, spring (green) onion, diced small

Add vegetable oil to skillet on medium heat. Add garlic chopped to fry enough. Add chicken, fry enough. Add egg and stir fried until cooked. Add jasmine rice, onion, tomato, green onion, salt and soy sauce, stir fried together.

Browned Sugar Cookies

My mom used to take me to this mexican restaurant when I was little that had these delicious candies wrapped and placed in the bottom of the chip basket. The restaurant closed and I've spent my entire life searching for those candies to no avail.

I made these cookies and voila! They reminded me of those candies. The GWAE called them slap yo' mamma good. I didn't want to slap her but I did pick up the phone and call my mom immediately.

Ford had a bunch of boys over and I thought for sure they would not eat them because of the pecans. They ate all of them.

Praline Cookies
From The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 cups browned butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans (reserve 1/3 cup for sprinkling on frosted cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes or until deep brown with small flecks. Butter will melt, bubble, foam and then turn a deep brown, from the bottom up. Be careful at this point, it can burn quite easily once it has turned brown. Remove from heat. Take out ½ cup and set aside for frosting.
Beat slightly cooled remaining butter with brown sugar until it isn’t hot anymore. Add eggs, vanilla, soda, powder and salt. Beat thoroughly. Add flour and 2/3 cup chopped pecans.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes depending on size of cookie you scoop out. Small ones are better because this is a VERY rich cookie. Combine frosting ingredients and beat well. Spread over cooled cookies and sprinkle remaining chopped pecans on top. Makes 4-5 dozen.

Frosting:
½ cup reserved brown butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup hot water
Mix all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Frosting is thick but you can add a tad more hot water to make it spreadable if you need to.

shrimp and pineapple salsa

Shrimp and Pineapple Salsa
The Girl Who Ate Everything

1 Tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh jalapeno pepper
1/2 cup pineapple preserves
1 pound uncooked large shrimp peeled and deveined
2 egg whites
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Directions
Combine lime juice, jalapeno pepper, and pineapple preserves in a small bowl and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl beat egg whites with a hand mixer until soft peaks form.
Place cornstarch and coconut on two separate plates. Hold shrimp by the tail and dip and coat the shrimp with cornstarch. Next, dip the shrimp in the egg whites and finally in the coconut coating well.
Place shrimp on the cookie sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes or until coconut is a golden brown. Make sure to turn it once halfway through (around 8 minutes into cooking time) to make sure both sides brown.
Serve with pineapple dipping sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Several months ago, a friend made this dip. The guys loved it. Total man dip.

Buffalo Chicken Dip
allrecipes.com

2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 bunch celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces
1 (8 ounce) box chicken-flavored crackers

Directions
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.
* I skipped the slow cooker part and baked in the oven. I served with baked tostitos, wheat thins and triscuits.

Heath Bar Cake

The picture does not do this cake justice. It was delicious!

Heath Bar Cake

Printable Version with PicturePrintable Version
*Serves 8-10

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

5-6 (1.4 ounces each) chocolate covered toffee bars (like Heath), chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and center a rack in the middle of the oven. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, white sugar, flour and butter. Crumble these ingredients together with a pastry blender, whisk or two forks until the mixture is crumbly and coarse. Remove 1/2 cup of the crumbs to a small bowl and set aside. To the large bowl with the remaining crumbs, add the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it to the edges. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the reserved crumbs and chopped Heath bars. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is no longer gooey but a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs. The cake may fall slightly in the center leaving the edges raised. No fear! It will still be delicious.

Malcolm's Waffles

York's dad has made these waffles for years at all special occasions. York has carried on the tradition and my kids always look forward to the mornings dad is home and makes grandpa's waffles.

Malcolm's Waffles

1 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. bkg. powder
3 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. milk
3 egg whites, beaten stiff

Measure dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Blend. Combine egg yolks and milk. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in cooking oil. Carefully fold in egg whites. Do not over mix. Pour approximately 1/2 cup batter onto the preheated grid.

Jayme's Strawberry Cake

A friend brought this over one night...it was delicious! She says she always serves it at parties and it's always the first to go. Excuse the toothpicks...they were used to keep the foil from ruining the topping.

Jayme's Strawberry Cake

1 white cake mix
2 Qts. strawberries cored and sliced
1 tub strawberry glaze (Marie Callenders or T Marzetti)
1 brick Philadelphia cream cheese
1 pint whipping cream
2 C. confectioners sugar

Make cake according to package and bake in a jelly roll pan. It will probably only take about 20 or so minutes to bake. It is done when toothpick comes out clean.
Beat cream cheese and 1 cup powdered sugar together and set aside. Beat whipping cream and 1 cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in cream cheese mixture. top cooled cake with whip cream/cream cheese mixture.
Mix strawberries and most of glaze together and carefully spoon on top of cake. With remaining glaze smooth out the top.

Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup
From Peachtree Cooking

Ingredients:
14 oz can tomatoes, undrained
1 med. onion diced
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 big bunch cilantro
1/4 t sugar
Tabasco to taste
5 c chicken broth
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 c monterey jack cheese, shredded
2 medium avocados, cubed
tortilla chips

Directions:In blender, combine undrained tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro, and sugar. Blend until just chunky. In large saucepan, add vegetable mixture and chicken broth and chicken pieces. Simmer 20 minutes.To serve:Place cheese, avocado, and chips on bottom of bowl. Pour hot soup over. Serves 4-6.

*If wanted add 1 can drained black beans and/or 1 can drained white corn

Pomegranate and Pistachio Salad

Divine.

Arugula with Pomegranates, Blue Cheese and Pistachios
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes Servings: 2 • Serving Size: 1/2 • Points: 4 ptsCalories: 195.3 • Fat: 13 g • Protein: 6.7 g • Carb: 13.7 g • Fiber: 3.9 g

4 cups arugula (I used green leaf lettuce)
1/2 cup pomegranate arils
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (I used Feta)
2 tbsp pistachios, shelled Pomegranate Vinaigrette
1 tsp pomegranate juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and fresh pepper

Whisk vinegar, pomegranate juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place arugula on two plates, top with blue cheese, pomegranates, pistachios and vinaigrette.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love this time of year for the pumpkin alone. I love pumpkin everything. My friend Brittany posted this recipe and I had to try them. They were super moist and oh, so yummy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 c. oil
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon•
1 c. pumpkin (canned)
• 2/3 c. chocolate chips

Put beaten eggs in bowl and add sugar and oil and mix. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix. Add pumpkin and mix. Stir in chocolate chips.Fill muffin cups and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Pumpkin Rolls

I've always been a little scared to try anything like this. I'm not good at details, everything sticks when it shouldn't, and my finished product is never pretty.

I was pleasantly surprised when these turned out to be really easy to make. And even more surprised when my end result didn't look like I had let my 6 year old make them.

Pumpkin Rolls The Girl Who Ate Everything

Beat 3 eggs on high speed for 5 min
Slowly add 1 Cup Sugar
2/3 C Pumpkin
1 t. Lemon Juice

Add:¾ C Flour
2 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Baking Powder
½ t. Salt
1 t. Ginger
1 t. Nutmeg

Filling:
1 8oz Cream Cheese
¼ C Butter – soften
1 C Powder Sugar
½ t. Vanilla

Grease and flour cookie sheet – pour batter rectangular shape (don’t fill the sheet) Bake 350 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle ¼ C Powder Sugar on terrycloth towel. I would put more just to ensure that your roll doesn't stick to your cloth. Loosen with spatula and flip on to the towel, gently roll with towel and let cool in fridge. When cooled unroll, put in filling, and roll back up and refrigerate. It's really hard to not crack the dough when rolling but if it does don't stress. Also, slightly dampening the cloth helps. It'll all go back together when you put it in the fridge. It is way better the next day after it's been completely refrigerated. Cut into 1 inch slices to serve.

Chewy Ginger Chocolate Cookies

I could have died happy the day I made these. Perfect fall cookie. Or any time the rest of the year.

Chewy Ginger Chocolate Cookies
makes 4 dozen cookies
by Joy the Baker

Print this Recipe!
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi sweet)
1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling dough balls

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or just spray lightly with cooking spray.
Sift the flour, baking soda, spices and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Spread the granulated sugar into a small bowl. Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough between the palms of your hands into a ball, toss the ball in sugar to coat and place on the prepared baking sheet. Continue making cookies, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 12-14 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days