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St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

Stephanie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:44:04 +0000

St. Patrick’s Day
I love St. Patrick’s Day, even if you weren’t born Irish, you get to be Irish for one day of the year. Holiday’s are celebrated with food. Here is a roundup of my favorite Irish recipes. My grandmother was Irish, and her parents came over from Ireland, so growing up, I would love her potato soup. It is the one recipe I wished I would have gotten from her when I was growing up. We would often have boiled potatoes with butter and onions for dinner, and for lunch the next day, she would make this potato soup. I think she only added milk, but my grandmother would season everything simplistically, something I don’t think I am capable of doing. While I may not have cracked her recipe for potato soup, I can make lots of other Irish inspired dishes perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.

Corned Beef

So I must say, this is a dish that is always served. Thanksgiving gives us turkey, for me St. Patrick’s Day, gives us corned beef. My favorite way to make corned beef is to coat it with Dijon mustard and brown sugar and bake it in the oven.
Baked Corned Beef

While it may be too late this year to make your own corned beef from scratch, yes, you actually brine the meat yourself, this is a great way to use a brisket that is on sale. I have made these before from scratch, they won’t be as pink as what you find in the store, but they are good none the less.
Corned Beef – How to Cure

My friend and fellow blogger Fran from Frantasticfood.com has a wonderful way to use up your left over corned beef. Why not try it Tex-Mex Style. She is even kind enough to shoot a video around this, to make it nice and easy to see.
Serving Up Corned Beef – Tex Mex Style

Side Dishes

Colcannon – Irish Mashed Potatoes
Colcannon has to be one of the least well known side dishes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t delicious. Colcannon was a dish I discovered through one of my best friends, the first time I had this was at Feast in Houston, Texas. Colcannon is creamy mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage inside of them. The cabbage has a wonderful flavor, and it helps make your mashed potatoes to be green.
Colcannon – Irish Mashed Potatoes
Irish Soda Bread
Thankfully this is a bread that not only tastes really well, it also is easy to make, and doesn’t require time to rise like other bread does. This is a crusty and slightly sweet bread that everyone is sure to love. I have made this bread a few times. If you start your bread, before you start your vegetables when cooking dinner, you will have hot bread when your meal is ready to be served.
Irish Soda Bread
Authentic Irish Soda Bread
Raglan Road Guinness Dipping Sauce
This goes well with Irish soda bread. Guinness is combined with sugar, and reduced slowly, you are left with a delicious syrup that tastes so good when you dip your bread into this sauce.
Raglan Road Guinness Dipping Sauce

Dessert

Simon and Seafort’s Irish Coffee
So one more thing we have, is Irish Coffee. This is a sweetened coffee with whiskey and a dollop of whipped cream?
Simon and Seafort’s Irish Coffee
We have lots of recipe suggestions here. I am going to be starting my corned beef today, and tomorrow I am going to enjoy some corned beef, cabbage, and wearing a bit of green.

What are you doing for St. Patrick’s Day? Are you staying in? Are you going out?

Raglan Road Guinness Dipping Sauce

Stephanie — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:59:16 +0000

Raglan Road located in Downtown Disney makes the most wonderful Guinness dipping sauce. When St. Patrick’s Day comes around people are dusting off their recipes for Irish Soda Bread, well I have the perfect dipping sauce for you. Guinness is reduced down along with sugar and makes a wonderful tangy dipping sauce for bread. I would highly recommend dining there if you can, last time I went along with my friend and her husband’s family, this place was on the Disney Dining Plan. We loved everything we tried there; we ate, and ate, and ate.
1 3/4 cup Guinness
1 3/4 cup sugar
In a medium sized pot combine the Guinness and sugar, simmer on low for approximately an hour. This mixture will reduce by at half if not more. The more this reduces the better, as you will end up with a tangy sauce. Do not walk away while this is cooking, it will bubble up while cooking, and you need to stir it from time to time so it does not bubble over the stove. Let the sauce cool to room temperature before serving. When you are ready to serve the sauce place equal amounts of the reduction and olive oil (you do not need to use extra virgin, in fact, don’t, the flavor won’t right). Dip pieces of bread into the reduction and enjoy.

Irish Soda Bread
This is not the Raglan Road’s Irish soda bread, this is an Irish Soda bread that I like to make. I couldn’t get past the delicious dipping sauce to even begin to focus on their bread. Next, time though, I will work on their bread.
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry blender until the butter is well dispersed and the mixture is crumbly. Add buttermilk and stir until just moistened. Knead for 1 minute on a floured surface. Shape into a ball and place into a 1 1/2 quart greased casserole. Use a sharp knife to cut and ‘X’ across the top. Brush with milk and bake for about 45 minutes tenting with foil for the last 15 minutes. Turn loaf onto a wire rack to cool.

Links of Interest
Raglan Road Bread and Butter Bread pudding
History of Guinness Beer

How to make vanilla sugar

Stephanie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:07:36 +0000

Vanilla sugar can be found in high end gourmet and spice stores. Have you ever wondered how to make vanilla sugar? Vanilla sugar does not come inexpensively; you may wonder how to make vanilla sugar. Vanilla sugar can be used in many different ways, instead of regular sugar, use vanilla sugar in your coffee cup in the morning. You can also use vanilla sugar where recipes call for both vanilla and sugar. Want to make some Crème Brule, or even some cupcakes with some vanilla frosting vanilla sugar is the way to take your baked goods to the next level. Also, this makes a wonderful gift for the foodie in your life.
3 cups granulated white sugar
2 vanilla bean pods

You can use regular sugar to make this, and you will need two vanilla bean pods. Vanilla bean pods can be purchased online or they can be found in many grocery stores. Place sugar into an air tight container. Bruise vanilla bean pods by bending and twisting the vanilla bean with your hands. Open the vanilla bean with a knife by splitting down the middle. Scrape out some of the seeds by running the back of the knife down the inside of the vanilla bean pod. Place the vanilla bean pod and the seeds into the container with the sugar. I like to roughly cut my vanilla bean pod into smaller pieces to help liberate some of the vanilla flavor into the sugar.

Once the two pods are sliced open, cut into smaller pieces put the lid onto the container and shake. Your vanilla sugar will be ready in a couple of weeks. Every day or so shake the container, to help mix everything together, this will make your vanilla sugar taste good. You can use the sugar straight from the container, and you can even add a little more sugar as you use some of the vanilla sugar. You will know the vanilla sugar is done because the sugar won’t be white anymore, it will be a lovely off white color with lots of specs of vanilla beans throughout the sugar. One tablespoon of finished vanilla sugar has the flavor of 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Vanilla beans should be soft and pliable when purchased. Do not purchase beans that are hard. The beans should be fat, shiny, and maybe even have some white residue on them. The residue is vanillin, and it s wonderful indicator of the good flavor inside the beans. If you are going to use the seeds for one recipe, consider making vanilla sugar out of the pods that you will have left over from that recipe.

Instead of buying more pricy vanilla syrup for my coffee in the morning, I use vanilla sugar. Do you have any food luxuries that you really enjoy? Can you make any of these luxuries at home to use or even to share with others?

Links of interest
You can purchase vanilla beans here.
More info about vanilla.

Pan Seared Lamb Chops

Stephanie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:21:13 +0000

One of my favorite things to eat when going out is pan seared lamb chops. I don’t know why this happens to be the case, lamb chops aren’t difficult to cook. Lamb chops can be found in your everyday grocery store. Lamb may cost a bit more than beef, but you know it costs less than say a nice steak. Eating at home doesn’t need to mean that you sacrifice anything. I like cooking at home because I get to really choose my food, I get to know exactly what’s in it. This lamb is freshly made, with ingredients that are easy to find. I like lamb simply cooked, the meat is flavorful enough on its own not to require a sauce. Here is my simple recipe on how to pan sear lamb chops.

4 lamb chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced fine
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Trim off any excess fat from the lamb chops, and set aside as you make your marinade. Make a marinade by placing in a small oil two tablespoons of olive oil, minced garlic, rosemary, and juice of half of a lemon. Mix together well. Spread one half of the marinade over the lamb chops, flip the lamb chops over, and spread over the remaining marinade. Ideally, you should let the lamb chops marinade in this sauce for 30 minutes to an hour. Cover the lamb chops, and place into the refrigerator while the flavors mingle together. When you are ready to cook heat a pan to medium-high heat, check to make sure the pan is hot (add a couple of drops of water, and if they sizzle and evaporate immediately, the pan is ready to use). Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, and add the lamb chops. Depending upon how thick your lamb chops are, each side should cook 3 to 5 minutes on each side. When the lamb is cooked on one side, flip over, and squeeze the remaining lemon half over the lamb, and season with kosher salt. Cook lamb to your desired doneness.

While this is being prepared I like to oven roast some small red potatoes, with olive oil, rosemary, and kosher salt. For me, having these flavors mimicked in another part of the meal makes my dining all the more pleasurable.

What should you be cooking at home that you haven’t in awhile? Is there something you haven’t tried, but you have been wanting to try?

Frito Pie – One of my guilty pleasures

Stephanie — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:55:12 +0000

I almost didn’t want to share this with you. I am a grown woman, and I love, no I *LOVE* Frito Pies. My love for a Frito pie happened many years ago, it happened at a football game. Not only was I in love with the half back, well I loved this mysterious dish as well. I didn’t grow up in the South, I moved to Texas when I was 15 years old. Someone said to me, you want a Frito Pie? I had no clue. I know if you don’t live in the South, you may have never heard of one of these. And honestly not many places serve these, I know Jason’s Deli serves these, as well as Sonic if you ask very nicely.

I was making a batch of my Wendy’s Chili, and like anyone who has tasted this magic dish, my follow up thought was man, I wished I had a Frito Pie. What are they you ask? Thanks for asking… A Frito Pie is simply a dish of Frito’s splurge for the name brand here, cover them with chili, and top with cheese sauce, and a squirt of mustard. If you are lucky, someone has some chopped onions available. Yes, it may be a heart burn in the making, but the crisp saltiness of the Fritos smothered in chili, topped with cheese, almost makes me want to go back in the kitchen now.

My secret is out, I just outed myself. While that half back that I was in love with in high school is a long fading memory, Frito Pies are something you can make in your kitchen right now.

Yield: 1 serving
1 cup Fritos
3/4 cup chili (Wolf brand is a favorite on these, trust me)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon chopped onions
Yellow Mustard – optional
Jalapeno slices – optional

In a bowl, pour corn chips to cover the bottom of the dish. Ladle on hot chili, sprinkle with cheese and onions. Top with yellow mustard and jalapeno slices if you desire.

So do you live in the South? Have you tried Frito Pie’s before? What do you top yours with? Better yet, share some of your guilty pleasures. I would never invite someone over for a Frito Pie, but I would sure make one if you hinted you wanted one

Thanks to my friend Denise we have the Frito Bandito!

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Stephanie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:58:40 +0000

The Olive Garden is known for their creamy chicken and gnocchi soup. This is a rich soup that you can make a full meal from this soup alone. This soup features roasted chicken, potato gnocchi, carrots, celery, and spinach. Soup warms the soul, and this soup is no exception. It is not likely that you will have any soup left over when you make this tasty soup.

1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 quart half and half
1 14 ounce can chicken broth
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese – optional
1 pound potato gnocchi – can buy this in the gourmet section of many supermarkets
Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter, when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.

Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Into the roux add in the carrots, celery, and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings.

Comments about this recipe: You can add more chicken if you like. While you could use left over cooked chicken breasts, I really think using the rotisserie chicken that are found in many grocery stores is the best way to get the optimal flavor of this soup. If you want to make the soup lower calorie you can use milk instead of half and half. Half and Half, does taste better, and it also reheats better than milk does.

Now I have shared one of my favorite new soups when I go out to eat, what’s your favorite soup to eat when you go out?

Hamentashen – Cookies for Spring

Stephanie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:45:05 +0000

Some of you might wonder what in the world I am talking about, I know not everyone has heard of Hamentashen. These are delightful cookies you can fill with anything your heart desires. These triangle shaped cookies are traditionally filled with poppy seeds, prune preserves, apricot preserves. I have typically with a bunch of other ladies fill these with strawberry preserves, apricot preserves, and chocolate chips. I can honestly say out of all of the cookies in my life, I have made this particular recipe more than any other in my life.

Yield: 4 1/2 dozen

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspooons vanilla
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 cups flour
Fillings of your choice : fruit preserves, chocolate, nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the eggs, oik, sugar, and vanilla, beat until smooth and creamy. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder (honestly this makes all the difference in the dough). Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixter, and blend together. This dough is a little sticky, you may need to add a bit more flour. Knead dough for about a minute before rolling out.

Roll out on a floured surface the thickness of the cookies should be about 1/4 of an inch, and using a round cookie cutter cut out circles. Place circles onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. You can fit about 12-15 cookies on each sheet. Fill with the filling of your choice. Fold into triangles, pinch together the corners. Brush the unbaked hamentashen with an egg wash which can be made using 1 egg and a tablespoon of water, beaten with a fork to combine.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the cookies just begin to turn golden brown.

What do you fill your hamentashen with? Better yet, do you have any cookies that you make at certain times of the year? I know for me the holidays are never complete without seven layer cookies.

Links of Interest:
Hamentashen – Wiki-Pedia
Seven Layer – “AKA” Hello Dolly Cookies

Denny’s Blueberry and White Chocolate Pancake Puppies

Stephanie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:06:45 +0000

Denny’s is the first restaurant I know that is selling an appetizer for breakfast, those appetizers are pancake puppies. Pancake puppies are crispy balls of pancake that are fried and then rolled in powdered sugar. There are currently two flavors, plain, and then this one, the blueberry and white chocolate pancake puppies. If you like fresh hot donuts, you will enjoy these pancake puppies. While you may feel completely guilty eating these, it won’t be too hard, these are crispy, sweet, and most likely the most unusual way you will ever prepare pancakes.

2 cups Krustez blueberry pancake mix

1 cup water

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup white chocolate chips

4 cups vegetable oil

In a medium sized pot, add 4 cups of oil, and heat oil to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl combine pancake mix, water, and white chocolate chips and mix until blended.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop out pancake batter and drop into hot oil. Turn pancake puppy when the pancake dough ball turns brown, flip over using a slotted spoon, and cook until the other side has been browned.

Remove cooked puppies and drain on paper towels. Roll puppies in powdered sugar, and top with any remaining powder sugar serve with your favorite pancake syrup.

Strawberry Cream Cheese like Philadelphia

Stephanie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:11:36 +0000

Bagels for breakfast are one of my favorite types of breakfast. One thing I really enjoy from the bagel places is the wonderful cream cheese spreads they have available. When made fresh they seem to have a flavor that is free from additives, and your cream cheese spreads so nicely over your bagel. While, I should say I also adore lox, capers, and thinly sliced red onions on my bagel, sometimes I want something sweet.

1 10 ounce package frozen strawberries, thawed
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

Carefully drain off about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the juice from the frozen strawberries. You will not need the strawberries for this recipe. You could make another recipe from the strawberries like the Red Robin Strawberry Lemon Aide. Cut cream cheese into large cubes, add cubes of cream cheese into the bowl of your food processor. Drizzle strawberry liquid over the cream cheese. Pulse the cream cheese and strawberry liquid until well mixed.

This is just a start, you could add some of your favorite liqueur into this, 2 tablespoons of Chambord, and a touch of orange zest gives you a spectacular cream cheese spread.

Now I have shared my two favorite ways of having bagels for breakfast (lox and other goodies, and something sweet), what is your favorite way to have your bagel?

Learn more about the Bagel.

A short history on the bagel.
More about the bagel’s history
Delicious Days Mini Bagels

Frustrated with my spice cabinet

Stephanie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:21:36 +0000

I am so frustrated with my spice cabinet. I can’t even begin to describe how much. I have encountered this a great deal several times in the last week. I have a small galley style kitchen. So while my love for spices is grand, my space for them well is quite frankly not so grand. I am trying to come up with a way to organize my spices and do so efficiently, so I can find them, and so that my spices don’t grow old and lose their flavor.

Before I go into why I find them frustrating on why I hate to store them, let me say I hate the variety that I have. I literally have a medium sized moving box of spices, excluding the wonderful salts that I have. I know this, because I moved twice in 2009. I packed everything up twice. I am beginning to wonder why I need so many spice blends. I am not talking about spice blends such as chili powder, or say curry powder. I think I have a problem with purchasing or acquiring odd ball spice blends like ‘Penzey’s Black and Red’, or the ‘Penzey’s Fox Point’ seasoning. I am beginning to wonder if I should just buy single herbs and spices, and not blend. This is going to be my plan of action, at least until I walk into a spice store and find something so spectacular I will want to have it in my home.

Storage, the physical storage, this is the part that causes me much heart ache. So something that works to my benefit is where I buy my spices. For the most part my spices come from two places. About 8 years back I started to purchase spices from Penzy’s, who has fabulous spiaces and they are often less expensive than what they are in a grocery store. In 2008 I found The Spice House in Chicago. I love The Spice House, again very good prices, and the freshest spices imaginable. So why this is important, is that they come in standard sizes. Everything comes in similar sizes, so I am not combining square containers, large plastic containers, and then goodness knows what else.

The organization of spices is where I really begin to fall apart. A couple of years ago I tried putting all of my spice jars into a drawer. For me, this wasn’t the most successful plan, as all of my jars are round. So everything rolled around in my drawer, and after opening the drawer a few times, I couldn’t read any of the labels. So now I have some tiered shelves in my spice cabinet that works ok. Since it is tiered I can read all of the labels, but I have too many spices, so I have to double stack everything. It is a pain. Last night when making some taco soup, I pulled out a lot of things before I got what I needed, and I was adding bits and pieces of blends trying to purge my cabinets of the spice blends.

My question to you is how do you organize your spices? What spices must you have? What can you live without? I am so frustrated by my having too many spices in too little of a space. Do you have any thoughts?
Write your suggestions below, I will be anxiously waiting to hear what in the world do you do with your spices.
Recommended Sites
My Spice Sage
Penzey’s
The Spice House

Sweets for my Sweetie – How to make chocolate truffles

Stephanie — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:48:59 +0000

Chocolate truffles are rich and creamy mouthfuls of soft chocolate. Truffles in the stores, if you can find them often are very expensive, but with a little time and patience, you will be making sumptuous chocolate truffles for the people you love the most.

Years ago, I used to make lots of chocolates for the holidays. I had a large family, and dipping things into chocolate, or creating chocolate candies, was something I loved to do for everyone. I would make around 50 pounds of chocolate creations Thanksgiving weekend. While others were out shopping, I would be at home making candies for about three days straight. By the time this candy making festivity was over, my back ached from constantly bending over, and I couldn’t handle the sweet smell of chocolate any longer.

Making chocolate truffles is one of my favorite candies to make. You can flavor truffles anyway you like, or not at all. My recipe includes an almond liqueur, but you can add any flavor you like. I have made truffles with coffee flavored liqueur, hazelnut liqueur, dark rum, and orange liqueur. So when you are making your truffles, you can make them any way you like. My truffles are covered in chocolate, but you can simply dust the truffles with cocoa powder. Either way you finish your truffles, they will be a real delight.

For my recipe I am using chocolate in 10 ounce increments. After making the New York Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever, I realized that you can indeed by better quality chocolate in the grocery store if you take time to look. Now, I personally love dark chocolate, you may not. So when I make these, I buy the chocolate chips with a high amount of cacao (how much chocolate liqueur is contained). I have also made these same truffles with Valrhona or Callebaut, and they come out very well. Most of us can’t find these brands at our local grocery stores, thanks to the Internet and online ordering, everything is just a click of the mouse away.

For Ganache (The inside of the truffle)
10 ounces good quality chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons liqueur of your choice

Chocolate Coating (The outside of the truffle)

10 ounces of chocolate

2 tablespoons butter, melted

To make the ganache, bring heavy cream, and vanilla to almost a boil, pour the warm cream mixture over the chocolate. Whisk the chocolate and cream, until it is smooth and the chocolate is melted. When the mixture is smooth and creamy, with no more chunks of chocolate in mixture add in liqueur flavor that you desire. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. You will want to chill the mixture so it will be easy make the individual truffles, until the mixture hardens it will be too soft to make the truffles.

After about 3 to 4 hours, or even overnight, remove the unformed truffles from the refrigerator. Use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon to scoop out the truffle. Place truffle onto a cookie sheet that has been covered with either wax paper or parchment paper. Once all of the chocolate has been scooped out into individual pieces you may need to shape the truffles by rolling them into small balls. Place cookie sheet into the refrigerator while you make the ganache.

Make the chocolate coating for the outside of the truffle by melting two tablespoons of butter and pouring this over 10 ounces of chocolate. You may need to gently heat the chocolate in the microwave, or over a double boiler. Once the chocolate has been melted, you can begin to dip the truffles into the chocolate. Dip the truffle into the melted chocolate, roll the truffle around into the chocolate until it is fully coated, using a fork lift the truffle out of the chocolate and gently tap the fork on the edge of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place the chocolate coated truffle onto parchment paper, and let the chocolate harden.

Before the chocolate sets completely you may chose to dust your chocolate with something extra. Chopped nuts, or even coarse sea salt are perfect additions. If you have never tried sea salt on chocolate, if your palate is a little more daring, you may find this a new flavor that you will love. Let your chocolates fully set and become hard before moving them into a storage container.

Other Resources for making chocolate truffles

Baking 911’s Chocolate Truffle Making

Alton Brown’s Chocolate Truffles

Candyland Crafts – need candy making supplies? I have ordered from them before.

The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz

Sharkie’s Casa Ole Green Sauce

Stephanie — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:51:22 +0000

Sharkie, was our winner of our first Super Bowl Recipe contest. This is her recipe for the Casa Ole Green sauce. This isn’t the real recipe, but, we all think it tastes very much like the real recipe. If you have never had the green sauce that is in many Mexican restaurants, it is a creamy, slightly spicy avocado based sauce. I personally have had so many bowls of this sauce, the numbers reach well above the population of where I went to high school. Are you looking for something a little different when it comes to chips and salsa? If so, try Sharkie’s Casa Ole Green Sauce.

Casa Ole (a restaurant) refused to fork over their recipe for the green sauce they serve, so I set to work in the kitchen and came up with this – I think it’s exact but we shall never know unless we ever get them to relinquish their version. Mines better! *GRIN* ~ Sharkie
4 Hass avocados
1 16 ounce container sour cream
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 4 ounce can green chilies
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 ounces cream cheese

In a food processor combine cream cheese, avocados, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and sour cream, process until smooth. Add in the Rotel tomatoes, and green chilies in, and pulse several times to finish the sauce. Serve with chips.

Vote for your favorite Super Bowl recipe.

Stephanie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:32:00 +0000

I loved all of your comments on what you are serving for the big game day! I loved the idea of cooking contest during halftime. What I liked most is that a few of you shared your recipes with us. Now I want to do something more, I want to feature the 4 recipes that were made by the 4 users, and let you vote on which recipe you like the best. The winner of this contest will have their recipe featured along with an instructional video on how to make their recipe.

So here are our 4 contenders.

Mitzi’s Super Bowl Nachos
My husband likes to have his Nachos every “Super Bowl” Day.
Tortilla Chips
1 can refried beans with 1 tablespoon of jalapeno juice mixed in
1 15 ounce can of chili
8 ounces grated cheddar cheese
Salsa of your choice (hot, medium, mild)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and cover a cookie sheet with either foil, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the cookie sheet with tortilla chips. Mix together the beans and 1 tablespoon of juice that comes out of a jar of jalapenos. Drop spoonfuls of the refried beans over the tortilla chips as evenly as possible. Drop spoonfuls of the chili over the tortilla chips. Cover with cheese, and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with salsa.

Kim’s Chicken Bites
1 pound chicken tenders, or chicken breast
1 pound bacon, cut into thirds
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chili powder
toothpicks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small box mix together the brown sugar and chili powder, blend until the chili powder is mix thoroughly through the brown sugar. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and wrap each piece with bacon, use a toothpick to secure the bacon. Dredge the chicken into the sugar mixture. Place pieces of chicken on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the chicken is done and the bacon is crisp.
Sharkie’s Casa Ole Sauce
Casa Ole (a restaurant) refused to fork over their recipe for the green sauce they serve, so I set to work in the kitchen and came up with this – I think it’s exact but we shall never know unless we ever get them to relinquish their version. Mines better! *GRIN*
4 Avocados
1 (16 oz.) container Sour Cream
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
1 (4 oz.) can Green Chili Peppers
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Lemon juice
3 oz. Cream Cheese
Whip ingredients until smooth. Enjoy with Chips.

Stephanie’s Hot Taco Dip
My hot taco dip comes out for every party. I make it in a Crockpot for big parties. You can freeze portions & put it in a dip crock or microwave as a last minute or no-prep dip.
(1) 12 ounce jar salsa
(1) 15 can chili
(1)8 ounce cream cheese (fat free is great)
(1) 16 ounce sour cream (fat free is great)
1-2 bags cheddar & /or jack cheeses (reduced fat = great)
You just stir it all up as it melts. Serve with tortilla chips of your choice. We get black and gold tortilla chips for Super Bowl parties here in western PA.

So please take a moment to vote for your favorite recipe. Again, the winner will get their recipe made into a demonstration video and the honor of winning this year’s most favorite Super Bowl recipe.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Make light and flaky Cinnabon Stix at home.

Stephanie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:11:46 +0000

Have you ever been walking through the mall and dared to walk by Cinnabon? For me the pungent scent of cinnamon wafting through the air is simply irresistible. If you can ever make it past their delicious cinnamon rolls, you may notice that they have light and crispy Cinnabon stix. The Cinnabon stix are a light and flakey kissed with the delightful flavors of cinnamon and sugar. These make a perfect breakfast or even a dessert.
About the recipe
This is one of the few recipes were I call for parchment paper. Parchment paper can be found in many grocery stores. When the cinnamon and sugar crystallize in the oven, they become sticky. I personally hate doing dishes, so to prevent myself from doing a lot of scrubbing; I suggest that you use parchment paper.
Packaged puff pastry dough can be found in the freezer section of your grocery store. I have typically found this near where pie shells are sold. For defrosting the puff pastry dough, follow the instructions on the box. Do not leave this over night in your refrigerator to thaw, thinking it may save you time. You will end up with a sticky and hard to separate lump of dough.
1 package puff pastry dough
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Allow package of puff pastry dough to defrost according to manufacturer’s directions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine together the sugar and the cinnamon, mix well. Open puff pastry dough and use one sheet and unfold onto a clean counter. Unfold the dough to where the long side is towards you, puff pastry dough is rectangular.
Spray puff pastry dough with non-stick spray (do this so the cinnamon and sugar mixture will stick to the dough), and sprinkle on 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar mixer on the dough. Using a pizza cutter cut the dough in half horizontally. Cut the dough vertically into 10 pieces. Twist each cut piece of dough 2 to 3 times before placing onto the parchment covered cookie sheet. Sprinkle an additional 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar mixer.
Repeat process with other pastry sheet. Bake stix for approximately 15 minutes or until desired toasted color.
Cinnabon Icing
1/2 pound Margarine
1/2 pound cream cheese
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Allow margarine and cream cheese to reach room temperature. Beat cream cheese and margarine together in a bowl with a mixer. Slowly add in all powdered sugar and lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Serve with Cinnabon Stix.
Food courts are a wonderful place to hang out; you are in the center of many different choices of tasty food. I miss the old Corn Dog on a Stick places, there is something about a corn dog that dipped and fried before you. Do you have any favorite foods that are served in shopping malls?

Want some more cinnamon goodness?
Facts about Cinnamon
Baked Cinnamon Donuts
Look what else you can do with puff pastry.
Baked Brie

Share your Super Bowl ideas with us, get a chance to win a free book.

Stephanie — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:15:43 +0000

This will if you post your Super Bowl ideas here, you will get a chance to win a free copy of Tips Cooks Love: Over 500 Tips, Techniques, and Shortcuts That Will Make You a Better Cook! . On Saturday I will pick a winner, and maybe notify you that you have won! It is free to enter, and all you need to do, is write a comment about what you are cooking, serving, would like to cook, would like to eat during Super Bowl!
So take a moment to share your Super Bowl ideas with us, and I wish you luck on receiving your free copy of Tips Cooks Love: Over 500 Tips, Techniques, and Shortcuts That Will Make You a Better Cook!
So what’s my desired menu?

Links of Interest
Home Cook Shares recipes for Super Bowl