Most Requested Recipes

Here are 3 of my favorite recipes that other people love too.  I would normally include a photo with each one, because I'm all about the photos, right?  But I've feeling lazy about picture taking lately, and taking food photos means cleaning up my kitchen, making the food, and well... it's just too hot right now to care that much!

Salsa
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 small can diced green chilies
1 small can El Pato (found in mex food isle)
1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
juice of one lime
1 large scoop of garlic (from the jar)
1/4-1/3 c sugar
a pinch of salt
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  I like my salsa less chunky, so I generally take half the bowl, dump it into my blender and liquify it.  Then I mix it back in with the chunky stuff for the perfect consistancy.  Sugar is my secret ingredient in salsa.  El Pato is Sheri's. (I hope she doesn't mind me sharing her secret ingredient.)   She makes amazing salsa too, and mentioned that she adds this stuff, so we gave it a try, and we love how it made our salsa taste!  :)

Broccoli Tortellini Salad
20 ounces cheese filled tortellini (I use the kind you find in the refrigerator section)
3 heads of broccoli, cut into florets (don't use the stems)
6 slices of bacon (I like the precooked kind... just nuke and crumble)
1 c sunflower seeds
1 c craisins
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
2 t cider vinegar
Cook and crumble the bacon.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook tortellini, al dente.  (1-2 minutes less than package indicates.)  Remove tortellini from boiling water, rinse with cold water and set aside to cool.  Bring the pot back to a boil and dump in the broccoli.  Boil for one minute, just until tender, drain.  Mix mayo, sugar and vinegar to create the dressing.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss the dressing over the top.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 egg
2 1/4 flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 cups chocolate chips
Cream together sugars, butter and egg.  Add dry ingredients, mix well.  Add chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.

Fun Family Pics and a Recipe Too...

It only took 11 months for me to meet my newest niece, "M".  Eric's brother and family came for a week long visit during New Year's.  We LOVED having them here.  And M.... she is such a doll!  We all instantly fell in love and I think she liked us too.  She certainly knows how to ham it up for a camera.  It was so fun taking her pictures!

When we have family come into town, I always have fun dreaming up menus of delicious food that feeds a crowd.  Usually things my kids are not super fond of, but most of the normal world loves.  I made my copy cat recipes of the Cafe Rio pork and tomatillo dressing.  My sister-in-law, who is a Provo native and a Cafe Rio expert, was impressed.  She's tried several copy cats and she said mine tasted the best.  (Maybe she was just trying to be nice...)  But here they are anyway, in case you want to try them too.

Cafe Rio Pork
3 lb pork loin or pork roast (boneless)
1-2 cans of coke or pepsi (no diet, you need the sugar to make it work)
1 c. sugar
7 oz can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 tsp dry ground mustard (I often just squirt in a couple tablespoons of real mustard from the bottle)
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp minced garlic

Open the can of chills and remove the chilies, preserving the sauce in the can.  (The chilies are VERY hot, so you only need the sauce from the can to get a kick.  If you like stuff really hot, add 1 chili, but I never do.)  Rinse can of adobo sauce with coke to get all the sauce out, and pour into a blender.  Add remaining ingredients (except meat) and mix in blender until smooth.  Place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it.  If your meat isn't fully covered by the sauce, plan to flip the meat over half way through cooking.  Cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  When cooked, remove pork and shred in another bowl. Drain out coke sauce and save in a bowl.  Put shredded meat back into crockpot and mix just enough sauce to your taste.  I like my meat to be almost dry, but some people like it more juicy.

Serve on warm tortillas with cheese lettuce and tomatillo dressing.

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing
3 fresh tomatillos, husked, washed and quartered
1 pkge buttermilk ranch dressing
1 c. mayo
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
a pinch of cumin
2 drops of green tobasco (opt)
1/4 c. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until no chunks remain.  If possible, let sit in the fridge for at least one hour before serving with the meal.

More Recipes (with photos!)

 

 

Peppermint Bark

2 c. semi sweet choc chips

2 c. white choc chips

8 candy canes, crushed

1/4 t. peppermint extract

Melt semi sweet choc in a glass bowl in microwave.  Heat for 1 minute, then stir, then heat for 30 seconds.  Stir again.  If there are still lumps, repeat heating and stirring every 30 seconds until smooth.  Add peppermint extract and spread onto a foil lined cookie sheet.  Put cookie sheet in fridge (not freezer) for 5 minutes only.  You don’t want it to completely set or the layers will separate later.

Melt white chocolate using same technique.  Spread white chocolate over semi-sweet, spreading carefully to avoid “swirling” the two layers together.  Add crushed candy canes to top of white chocolate layer and freeze.  20 minutes later, pull from freezer, remove the foil and break pieces apart from the foil side, removing foil as you work. 

 

 

Easy Cheese Enchiladas

12 corn tortillas

2 c. shredded cheese

1 small can enchilada sauce

garlic powder, onion powder

In a 9x9 baking dish, pour a small amount of sauce to coat the bottom of the pan.  Then pour a fair amount of sauce into a pie dish.  Microwave the tortillas for 30 seconds to soften them up and then dip them into the pie plate sauce.  On a paper plate, load a small amount of cheese, a shake of onion, and garlic into each tortilla.  Wrap them up and put them in the baking dish.  Pour remaining sauce and cheese over the top.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. 

Recipes

 

Do you ever feel like cooking a normal meal in December is impossible?  I find that when we are running from Christmas party to band concert to football games that I can’t pull together even a basic meal.

 

I wanted to share with you an awesome recipe I discovered online:

 

Root Beer Pork

2 lb. pork loin roast

1 can root beer

1/2 c. BBQ sauce

Put the pork into the crockpot, pour the can of root beer over the top and  cook on low 8-12 hours.  Shred pork, pour BBQ sauce into crockpot and stir to coat.  Serve over rice or on hoagie rolls.

 

And just because I’m feeling super generous, I’m going to share with you my best party recipe.  Whenever I need to bring an appetizer to share, this is usually what I bring.  It’s my secret weapon recipe, and people can’t stay out of them!

Grape Jelly Meatballs

1 large package of frozen meatballs

1 bottle of chili sauce

1 jar of grape jelly

Pour bottle of chili sauce into blender, add equal parts grape jelly and blend until smooth.  Put meatballs and sauce into crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours. 

Givin' Some Recipe Love

Snickerdoodles

For cookies:

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 sticks margarine

2 eggs

2 3/4 c. flour

2 t. cream of tarter

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

For coating:

1/4 c. sugar

1 T. cinnamon

Using your mixer, cream the margarine, sugar and eggs.

Add flour, soda, salt and cream of tarter. 

(Cream of Tarter is the secret ingredient that gives it that amazing flavor!)

Mix well, and refrigerate dough until cold and firm. 

(Usually 2 hours.)

Now mix the 1/4 c. sugar and 1 T. cinnamon and put it in a small bowl.

Scoop the dough, roll into balls and coat in the cinn-sugar mix.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, pat them a little flat, and bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. 

Let cool for 10 minutes and remove to finish cooling. 

I like to put mine on a paper towel, Eric prefers a cooling rack. 

(Each to his own, right?)

Now be ready to guard them with your life because they will disappear right before your eyes!

Recipes for Week 2

Jill, here are the recipes I use for my week 2 dinner menu. See what a good friend I am? Now you have to share some recipes with me! ;-)

Texas Haystacks
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can tomato soup
1 can chili (we prefer no beans, but you can use either kind)
Serve over fritos or tortilla chips. Top with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and ranch dressing.

Albino BBQ Chicken
1 c. ranch dressing (or ceasar dressing)
1 c. italian dressing
2 lbs. chicken breasts
Marinate chicken in dressing and grill.

Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can tomato soup
1/2 c. BBQ sauce (any flavor)

Fajitas
I don't have a recipe for this... I just grill some chicken, then add some julienned peppers and onions. Add lime juice, garlic and some taco seasoning. Serve on warm flour tortillas with cheese, sour cream and lots of guac!

Mandarin Chicken
(strikingly similar to the Panda Express version!)
Grill 1 lb. plain chicken (boneless skinless breasts or thighs) on BBQ while you make the following sauce:
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. vegetable oil
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. minced ginger
1/4 c. water
1 1/2 T. cornstarch
Mix first six ingredients in a saucepan. Combine water and cornstarch, mix well and add to saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce and simmer 5-10 minutes. Remove chicken from grill, (carefully) slice it into bite size pieces. Put chicken in bowl and cover with sauce. Serve over steamed rice.

Ceasar Steak Kabobs
(from my cousin Heidi who blogs here)
1 green pepper
12 plum tomatoes
1 onion
12 small red potatoes (or larger ones cut in half)
1 lb. steak, cut into cubes
1 c. ceasar dressing
Cook potatoes until soft (don't overboil or they will be mushy on your sticks.) Pour 1/3 c. dressing into ziploc bag with steak. Cut veggies into 1" pieces and put into a bowl with the potatoes. Pour remaining dressing over to coat veggies. String veggies, potatoes and steak onto kabob sticks. Cook on grill over med high heat, turning once. Remove from grill when meat is cooked through.