1 pkg boursin garlic cheese(in deli section of walmart or your grocery store)
1 pkg cream cheese
1 pgk frozen spinach- thawed and drained
1 can artichokes- drained
Throw everything into a food processor until well blended. Add to a small casserole dish and back at 350 for 30 mins. Serve with tortilla chips.
This has to be one of the easiest, yummiest dip/spreads we have made.
3 ingredients easy!
1 cup mayo
1 tbsp chipotle sauce. Tabasco Chipotle is the best but Goya isn't too bad either.
2-3 med size garlic cloves.
Smash your garlic and chop it as small as you can. Add a little salt and drag your knife against it on your chopping board to make a garlic paste. Add to your mayo with the chipotle sauce, mix and lock away in the fridge for an hour or two before use.
We use this w/on:
chicken nuggets
burgers
steak sandwiches
chicken burgers
pulled pork sandwiches
as fry sauce
**Your breath will be awful so keep some breath mints nearby.. it is worth it though!**
This is a family favorite that goes back to my childhood. The recipe started out as my Aunt Mo's but of course, I had to make a few changes along the way. Here is my version of Aunt Mo's honey chicken!
1 lb chicken pieces. I prefer thighs and drumsticks but you can do breast too if that is what you prefer, your cooking time will vary depending on if your breast is split or boneless*
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp ginger(if using fresh grated ginger up it to 1 tsp)
3 tbsp butter(or marg)- melted
Salt pepper and about 3/4 cup flour for dredging.
In a bowl mix a couple shakes of pepper and salt into the flour and evenly coat each piece of chicken, shaking off any excess flour.
Arrange your chicken pieces in a baking dish so they are close but not touching. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
While your chicken is baking, mix together your sauce ingredients in a medium sized bowl. When your chicken is done, take it out of the oven, using tongs you want to roll each piece in the sauce getting a good coating over the whole piece. Put it back in your baking dish and pour the remaining sauce over the chicken. Put it back in the oven at 350 for an additional 25 minutes.
I serve this dish with rice and a nice crisp green veggie, green beans are my favorite side.
*boneless chicken breast will bake at 15 mins then an additional 10 mins with the sauce on, until the juices run clear.
This also makes a great dipping sauce for chicken nuggets.
We got an 8 cup rice cooker for Christmas and we just love it. It steams veggies, it cooks rice and we have also been doing a few rice casserole type dishes. Today, we will talk Taco Rice!
1 lb lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning.
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar or colby jack
2 cups rice
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies
1 small can diced olives
Sour cream and green onions to garnish.
In a pan, prepare your taco meat according to the directions on the package.
In your rice cooker, add the rice with the amount of water suggested by your cooker. Add tomatoes, olives, prepared taco meat and cheese. Set your rice cooker for the normal cycle and walk away!
That is it!
When your cooker turns to warm, let it sit 10 mins then serve with a dollop of sour cream and a few chopped green onions on top.
I also make this recipe with shredded chicken and I add a half cup of thick salsa, omitting the shredded cheese (expect if you want a little for garnish).
Before I married my husband, I had never tried green bean casserole. The commercials made it look gross and I didn't want to even try it. My first Christmas with my new family included green bean casserole. I was hesitant at first but didn't want to be rude so I took some. It was weird at first but not bad... and I eventually grew to really enjoy it. Chris's family recipe is a little different than normal but good.
Here we go.
For a large family you will need:
1/2 pound of bacon, cut into bite sized pieces and cooked into bits
1 can of fried onions.
6 cans of french cut green beans(and don't try and serve Chris whole ones.. he needs his french cut!)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans of mushrooms (I dice them a little more so they aren't huge chunks)
2 jars of old english cheese
I put the green beans and diced mushrooms into a colander for at least an hour to get rid of any liquid. I will even squeeze the juice out because it is not good if it is watery!
In a small sauce pan mix the soup and cheese until creamy and mixed well. Mix well with your drained green beans and mushrooms in a large pammed Cassandre dish. Add bacon on top then the fried onions. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 25 mins or until it is all hot and bubbly!
Last night I made a new recipe for Chris. He has been wanting this for a while and well.. I hated it.
The recipe was for stove top casserole. It was quite simple. Cube and brown some chicken breast, add a can of cream of celery, cream of chicken soups as well as one can of milk with the chicken in a casserole dish, top with prepared stove top and bake for half hour.
He really enjoyed it but I just don't like stove top! Last night, I couldn't sleep. I started think about how I could change the recipe into something better. Something I would actually enjoy. Something I could make and freeze for later. Then it hit me. Of course.. Leftover Thanksgiving!!!
So my plan started out with leftover turkey instead of chicken(although both would be good) and my OWN stuffing which I do enjoy!!
I wanted to leave out the cream of chicken and celery soups and instead add maybe try cream of cheddar broccoli as well as some frozen veggies(really any would be good I think. I think it would be much better if I used the leftover gravy instead of the soup as well. Building in my head. I mixed the soup and veggies together, added them to shredded turkey and topped it with my own stuffing. I really think this would freeze well for a later date. Thanksgiving after thanksgiving. So, now I have a plan for my leftovers! Thanksgiving Shepard's Pie if you will! Wish me luck!
* 6 + 3 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled, save the 3 extra for garnish
* 2/3 c butter
* 2/3 c all-purpose flour
* 6 c whole milk
* 4 large baked potatoes, cubed in very small pieces (you can peel if you want, I like the extra texture of the skin or at least one)
* 4 + 1 green onions, chopped, saving 1 for garnish
* 2 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded, saving 1/2 for garnish
* 1 c sour cream
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp ground black pepper
In a large pot, make a roux by melting the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
Add bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted. Serve with the extra garnishes added on top.
This originated in the Five Roses cookbook but I changed a few things.
Dry:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Wet:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup veg oil
2 eggs- beaten
1 cup mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla
Mix dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls, slowly add wet to dry mixing only until combine. Don't over mix. Add to greased loaf pan(I use pam) Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Let cool 10 mins then transfer to a baking rack to cool for one hour.
A family favorite around my house.
Meatballs:
1 1/2 pound of hamburger
1/2 white rice
1/2 small onion diced finely
1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper
Soup base:
3 cans tomato soup
2 cans water
Add your soup base to a large soup pot and start to heat on med-high or crock pot on high. Mix together your meatball ingredients and form into meatballs a little larger then a bite size, dropping them carefully into the soup base. Simmer for at least an hour on the stove or you can simmer longer in a crock pot on low all day if you prefer. I serve my porcupines with mashed potatoes.
My kids love sloppy joes. My kids love tacos. Why not kill two bird with one stone? Sloppy Taco Burgers!
This recipe makes quite a bit but the meat freezes well for later meals if you prefer.
1 lb lean hamburger or ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can traditional refried beans
1 cup chunky salsa
hamburger buns(larger buns are recommended because they are easier to fill.
Toppers: shredded lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese if you like a little spice.
Brown and drain your hamburger adding taco seasoning with half of the recommended water on package. Add refried beans and salsa. Let simmer around 15 mins.
Lightly toast your buns under the broiler, then pile on the goodies. This is a great messy fun meal to combine two kid favorites!
Chris loves chicken and he loves rice. I'm always trying to find ways to make chicken and rice new and exciting.
The other day I was looking in the cupboard to see what I could come up with and after a couple tweaks here and there I created a new Chris favorite.
2 chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup uncooked rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can finely diced black olives
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 cup water
1 clove of garlic- chopped
2 tbsp salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Garnish- sour cream and green onions.
I started with browning chicken pieces in a large skillet. Adding the tomatoes, olives, garlic, cumin, chili powder salsa, water and rice. Bring to a simmer, add a cover for 20 minutes on med-low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the rice was tender, I stirred in the cheddar cheese. I let it sit covered for 5 mins then served with a small dollop of sour cream and chopped green onions on top.
I love stew. Since I'm Canadian and not American, I never got into the whole chicken and dumplings deal. Where I come from, stew is made with red meat. Deer, Beef, Buffalo, Moose, Elk and Caribou if you're lucky.
My stew is simple, basic and delicious. Stew isn't suppose to be fancy. It sticks to your ribs. This is my stew.
To start, I use a cast iron dutch oven with a lid. Having a pot with lid is very important if you are making dumplings. My cast iron goes into the oven so it is my preferred vessel. You can use a crock pot/slow cooker if you wish.
STEW:
1 large onion
1/4 cup veg oil
1 1/2 to 2 lbs red meat of your choice cut into cubes, dredged in flour
1 large cardboard container of beef stock, *College Inn Bold Stockis great!
Veggies that you may add:
potatoes cut into large pieces
carrots
cubed turnip
green beans
corn
peas
mushrooms
In your large pot on med heat, add oil and onions (and mushrooms if you wish). Cook until they onions are lightly tender then remove and set aside leaving the oil in the pot. Turn your heat med-high and add your meat. You want to brown the outside but not really cook the inside of your pieces. Add onions back to the pot along with one container of beef stock.
Simmer this on your stove top, in crockpot or inside oven at 300 Degrees for 4-6 hours. Stirring every now and then. Add your veggies when you are an hour from serving.
CHEDDAR DUMPLINGS:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup milk
1/2 grated cheddar cheese plus 1/4 cup (optional)
Combine dry ingredients and cut in shortening with a fork or your fingers until crumbly. Add your 1/2 cup of grated cheddar and milk and stir into a soft dough. Drop spoonfuls onto of your cooked stew, cover with lid(DO NOT REMOVE) and cook for 15 minutes.
The next step is something I prefer but is not necessary. After 15 mins is up and your dumplings are fully cooked. Remove lid, sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheddar on top and place pot under broiler until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Please make sure your pot is oven safe before trying this step.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
7-8 medium Potatoes
8 slices fresh white bread
1 package pork sausage meat
2 large onions
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons pepper or garlic pepper if preferred
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon sage
1/2 cup softened margarine
Directions
Cook and mash plain potatoes, cut bread into small cubes, ground onion and uncooked sausage meat in food processor fully cook meat mixture, do not drain fat. Add salt, pepper, sage and poultry seasoning. Mix sausage, potatoes and bread in big bowl. Add margarine and mix well. Add more seasonings to taste. Stuff in raw turkey, chicken or bake in lightly greased casserole dish with tinfoil cover for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
I saw this recipe on Cooking This and That and immediately though, Chris will love this! I am not big on sausage but have started putting hot Italian sausage in my meatballs and don't mind it too much on pizza. I hoped this pasta would be as good for me as it would be for Chris. He saw the recipe and insisted I make it immediately!
1 box of small pasta, she suggested penne but we used rotini
1 large head garlic, top sliced off
1 can of fire roasted tomatos (she used grape tomatoes cut in half, roasted with the rest of the veggies)
1 large red onion, quartered and layers separated
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
large pinches of kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper
8 ounces hot Italian sausage, bulk or remove the casing.
extra virgin olive oil
large handful of grated Parmesan cheese
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, diced
fresh basil to garnish
Instructions quoted from Cooking This and That
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with foil.
Place the garlic, tomatoes, and onion on the baking sheet. Whisk together the vinegar and olive oil in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to spread over vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 30-35 minutes, or until garlic is browned and mushy and other vegetables are slightly charred.
Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to a boil, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble the sausage and cook thoroughly; remove to a paper towel to drain. Wipe out skillet with paper towel.
Once vegetables are done, remove from oven and transfer to skillet the sausage was cooked in. Remove the garlic cloves from the skin. (You may need to wait a little bit for the garlic to cool enough to handle.) Mash the garlic and tomatoes if desired with a fork.
Add pasta, sausage, and Parmesan cheese to skillet. Mix until pasta is coated, adding extra olive oil as needed. Gently mix in the mozzarella and garnish with basil. Transfer to a large bowl and serve immediately.
I love banana bread and so do the kids. Since I'm trying to cook lighter, I made some changes to my regular banana bread recipe. Using shredded apple, I cut the white sugar and the oil!
Here we go. I also put this recipe on Pioneer Woman's new online recipe website.
Tasty Kitchen
* 2 whole Granny Smith Apples
* 3 whole Ripe Bananas
* ¼ cups Sugar
* 4 whole Eggs
* ⅓ cups Vegetable Oil
* 3 cups Flour
* 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
* 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
* ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
* ½ teaspoons Salt
* ½ cups Chopped Walnuts (optional)
Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Peel then shred the apples. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add 4 beaten eggs, oil, sugar, shredded apple and mix together. Add your dry ingredients until combined. Pour evenly into two greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling completely on a wire rack.
My kids love pancakes, so much so that I go through a boxed package in no time. I decided why continue to buy it when I can make it from scratch in the same amount of time?
The Ingredients
1 1/3 cup flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 dash cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
3 tbsp veg oil
1 tsp vanilla
Combine your dry ingredients, add your wet and mix lightly. Do not over mix, its ok if its lumpy!
I love to add to this recipe too
Mashed banana
Pumpkin puree with a little pumpkin pie spice (this is good just the spice as well!)
Mini Chocolate chips (they go great with the mashed banana!)
Berries of any kind
I used Alton Brown's crust recipe which was quite different than my moms. I was very hesitant on trying a new recipe for guests but I did it and it worked out wonderfully!
The Crust (minus the beans of course!)
Ingredients
* 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
* 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lard, chilled
* 6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
* 1/2 teaspoon table salt
* 1/4 cup ice water, in spritz bottle
* Approximately 32 ounces of dried beans, for blind baking
Directions
Place butter and lard in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add lard and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water and pulse again until mixture holds together when squeezed. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, squeeze together until it forms a ball, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place 2 metal pie pans in the refrigerator to chill.
Remove dough from refrigerator. Cut along 2 sides of the plastic bag, open bag to expose dough, and sprinkle both sides with flour. Cover again with plastic and roll out with a rolling pin to a 10 to 11-inch circle. Open plastic again and sprinkle top of dough with flour. Remove pie pans from refrigerator and set first pan on top of dough. Turn everything upside down and peel plastic from bottom of dough. Place second pan upside down on top of dough and flip again. Remove first pan from atop dough. Trim edges if necessary, leaving an edge for meringue to adhere to. Poke holes in dough and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with dry beans. Press beans into edges of dough and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before filling.
The Fillings!!
I was doing strawberry rhubarb and bumbleberry pies.The rhubarb was grown in my very on garden but the rest of the berries were just regular frozen (thawed) mixed berries and a bag of frozen (thawed) strawberries which I cut into small pieces when they were half thawed.
I used 2 cups of rhubarb and 2 cups(1 small bag) of strawberries tossed with 3/4 cup of white sugar and 2 tbps instant tapioca for one pie
I did the same with 2 small bags of mixed berries, 1/2 cup of rhubarb mixed with the same amounts of sugar and tapicoa.
Baked in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.
***The berries are VERY juice and will make a mess in your oven, use a tinfoil covered cookie sheet under the pies to catch the juices before they make a mess! I made the mistake of putting the berry pie on the shelf above the strawberry rhubarb instead of putting them on the same level and had a little dripping. Oh well, extra flavour!
Bumble Berry
I've been a close follower of PW, MM and the Punks for over a year now. The most recent posts have been centered around the visit of Bakerella . PW invited a few contest winners into her home to have a hands on demonstration by Bakerella herself! I am loving her work! I am inspired! I hope to save up some money and head to Michaels to pick up some supplies and try my hand at Cake Pops on my own!
Read more...Since I've been cooking more and more from scratch, we stepped away from our usual mode of pizza which is to call one of the local pizzeria and wait for the delivery. I decided to try my hand at making my own. Chris had done it before but I hadn't tried yet.
Pizza Dough Recipe
I looked up many recipes online and found this was the best fit for the ingredients I had on hand and seemed to be the most simple and straight forward. I love that she includes pictures.
The first night we made a white pizza. For those who don't know what white pizza is, it simply is pizza without the sauce. Some people use an Alfredo sauce so you could do that if you want.
On our white pizza, we brushed on some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, threw on some mozza, cubed (cooked) marinated chicken breast, minced garlic and sliced (seeded) tomatoes. It was great!
Tonight, it's just the kids and I so I used the rest of the dough I had left in an olive oil brushed metal bowl with covered tightly with plastic wrap and let Elizabeth help out.
We made a more traditional pepperoni pizza this time. I really recommend skipping any sauce labeled "pizza sauce" it is usually crap. We bought a tomato pesto by Classico, it was just what was needed. Using a thin layer, it was just the right amount of sauce and flavour. Sargento mixed shredded mozza and cheddar cheese and sliced pepperoni were added on top.
Into the oven at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
Pizza always tastes better on a Scooby Doo pizza plate!!
Now I would love to do lamb (loaf) but I just don't have the equipment so chicken it is. I'm sure this would work for beef, pork or even shrimp if you wanted!
2 chicken breast marinated in:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 squeezed lemon juice
I marinate in that overnight
Then just grill it, slice it and add it to warm pita bread with tzatziki sauce, tomato, romaine lettuce!
Tzatziki sauce:
3 cups Greek Yogurt (or plain but you have to strain it in a cheese cloth to get out the water)
2 chopped seeded cucumbers
1tbsp dried or 2tspn fresh dill
1 garlic clove minced
salt and pepper
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