Saturday, May 31, 2008

BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich

MAKE THIS!
This doesn't look all that hot but it was sooooo tasty. Notice I started to eat my sandwich before I realized I had to take a picture because it was so good.
Ingredients:
2 pieces of white bread (I use Country White Orowheat bread)
8 slices of sharp cheese ( I use Sharp Tillmook cheese)
leftover BBQ chicken
butter
Directions:
Place 4 slices of cheese down on your bread. Next add the BBQ chicken. Then add 4 more slices of cheese. Close the bread and butter the top. Get your skillet on medium and grill till done. WAHHLAAA! Enjoy!

The Results:
SOOOO GOOD! This was the perfect lunch. You could probably even add some red onion on to this. Perfecto!

BBQ Chicken Salad with Cilantro Ranch Dressing




Ingredients:
3 Cups thinly sliced Green Leaf Lettuce
¼ Cup corn
¼ Cup black beans
8 grape tomatoes, halved
1 cooked grilled chicken breast
¼ Cup favorite BBQ Sauce
¼ Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ Cup prepared ranch dressing
1 heaping Tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro leaves
Directions:
1. Place lettuce into a salad bowl. Layer with corn, black beans and tomatoes. Dice cooked chicken breast and mix with BBQ sauce. Top over salad and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
2. Place ranch dressing and cilantro leaves into a small bowl to combine. Drizzle over salad and serve.
The Results:
I got this recipe from one of my favorite food blogs.http://www.pickypalate.blogspot.com/. Everything Jenny makes looks so good. So of course I had to try this. It was good. Right up my husbands alley. He loves salads. I like the salad better without the ranch dressing but you can do it however you like it. I also hadn't gone to the store for grape tomatoes so we just had roma tomatoes with it.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Cornbread Muffins



Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add egg, oil and milk; stir gently to combine. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
The Results:
I got this recipe from the back of the cornmeal box. These turned out pretty good and they went well with the soup.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Snickerdoodles

Ok so here is the deal. I think when you start a food blog that you keep making recipes and all the other recipes get pushed to the back of the blog. So I have decided to post the first recipe I blogged about. These are the BEST cookies ever. My mom has the same recipe and I also saw the recipe off of allrecipes. I don't think you can make a snickerdoodle to many ways. You either use all butter, all shortening or half and half. These cookies are literally the best cookies though. Love them!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.
The Results:
Only change one thing about this recipe and that is ONLY bake your cookies for 7 minutes. 7 1/2 minutes at the most. My cookies look like they aren't done but after I let them sit for about an hour they settle to PERFECTION.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Spanish Rice


Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups uncooked long grain rice
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 cup onion (chopped)
3/4 cup tomato sauce
4 cups chicken broth (2 cans)
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup corn
Directions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook stirring constantly until golden. While rice is cooking, add in with garlic salt and cumin.
Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Turn down heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add the corn and salsa once done.
The Results:
I thought this was good. I kept looking up recipes for Spanish Rice and Mexican rice and some called for tomato sauce and some called for just salsa. I decided to do my own thing. I would have used fresh garlic but was out. You could even cook your rice in the chicken broth and then just add everything in once the rice is done. I don't think you could really go wrong with throwing stuff in to make a Spanish rice.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Kielbasa and Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 pound polska kielbasa (cut 1/2 inch)
5 medium new potatoes (sliced thin)
1 small onion (chopped)
1 can mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste
Cheddar cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 and spray a 2 quart(11X7) baking dish.
Cut up the kielbasa, potatoes and onion. In your baking dish lay down your potatoes in a row and then your kielbasa and onions. Mix together in a small bowl the mushroom soup, milk, sour cream, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Pour this mixture over the potatoes and kielbasa. Bake in the oven for 1 hour and then top with cheese and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Just make sure your potatoes are fork tender.

The Results:
I always like this. I served it with corn because that's what my family likes. I like that this meal is a one pot dish. Instead of kielbasa you could use ham or ground beef.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients:

3 skinless boneless chicken breast
1 egg beaten
cornstarch
oil

Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
*1/2 can diced pineapple
*1 green bell pepper

Directions:
Cut chicken in bite size pieces. Dip chicken into the egg, then roll in the cornstarch. Heat approx. 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet. Fry the chicken pieces until cooked and just browned. Mix all ingredients for sauce and pour over chicken in skillet. Cook 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice!!!

The Results:
This was so tasty. I couldn't have sweet and sour chicken without the pineapple and green bell pepper so I added it to the recipe and it was perfect. I got this recipe from
www. justmade.blogspot.com.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

BBQ Shredded Chicken Sandwich and Red Potato Salad

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts ( I put them in frozen)
1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce ( I used Tony Roma's bbq sauce, use whatever you want)
1/2 cup onions (chopped)

Directions:
Place the chicken breasts, BBQ sauce, onion in the cockpot on High for 4-5 hours. Shred the chicken with it is done. Serve on a hamburger buns with some cheese. :)
The Results:
This is always quick, easy and good.



INGREDIENTS
1 pound clean, scrubbed new red potatoes
3 eggs
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

* 1 tsp. mustard

* sprinkle of paprika


DIRECTIONS:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and set in the refrigerator to cool.
Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
Chop the cooled potatoes, leaving skin on. Add to a large bowl, along with the eggs, bacon, onion and celery. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Chill for an hour before serving.

The Results:

This was so yummy. I will make it again. I added a tsp of mustard just for an extra kick and I topped it with paprika. I got the recipe from allrecipes but changed it up a little. Don't forget to salt and pepper. That's always a must. :)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Mixed Up Tacos

I wanted to show you what they looked like before I added on all the fixings.
So tonight I came home and couldn't think of anything to fix. So I went with all the quickest meals in my memory bank. TACOS! They are always quick. For some reason I decided to be brave and try to make up a recipe on my own. So here is an introduction to my new taco.
After
Ingredients:
1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium red potato (diced small)
1 carrot (cut down the middle and then sliced)
1/2 medium onion (chopped)
1/2 pound ground beef
1 1/2 tsps salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 TBS Pace Salsa ( or whatever salsa you like)
Directions:
Add the EVOO to a medium saute pan. Add the potato, carrots and onion. Saute on medium-low for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Don't let them burn. If medium-low is to high turn it down to low. Once it is ready add in the ground beef, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and salsa. Cook for about 10 more minutes or until ground beef is done.
Slightly heat up some corn tortillas.
Serve with refried beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and whatever else you want on your taco.:)
The Results:
I thought these turned out pretty good. You can sneak your veggies in it too. Isn't it nice when you can sneak them in?