Salads

Summer Slaw

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Springtime has sprung! Get those capris and pretty sandals out and plan a backyard feast! What better time to eat outdoors before the sun is out in full force making us take our plates inside. You might have noticed that I hardly ever post a salad. It’s not that I don’t like salad, I truly do and order them quite frequently. I just have never been a good salad maker. Also, with there being so little tummy room, I just have always chose to fill up the tummy space with other things, like chicken fried steak, meatloaf, chocolate pie, mashed potatoes. You get the idea. But…every once in a while, I come across a salad that catches my eye and looks so simple, that I even try to skip over the baking isle at the grocery store and head over to the fresh veggies. Knowing that Easter is just a week and a half away, this recipe will go great with the potato salad I know you must be having alongside the ham or barbecue. This one will even please any vegan that happens to be there.

2 (12 oz) bags broccoli slaw mix

1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 large yellow bell pepper, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped grean onion

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

2 teas Dijon mustard

1 teas celery seed

1 teas salt

1 teas black pepper

1/2 cup extra-light olive oil

In medium bowl, combine slaw mix, red and yellow peppers and green onion. In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery seed, salt and pepper. Whisk until sugar dissolves. Gradually whisk in oil until well blended.

Pour vinegar mixture over slaw mixture and toss until combined. Cover and place in fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

Now, there, I have posted a healthy salad, so tomorrow I can go back to my regular sugary, starchy, buttery recipes.

Daily Thoughts · Desserts

Paula Deen Bread Pudding

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I did it!!!!! I got out of my comfort zone and made bread pudding. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to do this, but the time was just right. The french loaf was just staring at me at the grocery store and not being able to pass by the hot fresh bread, it somehow ended up in my basket. At home, it dawned on me that this one be the perfect time to make an old fashioned bread pudding and who else would I think about having just the best recipe for this….Dear Sweet Paula. Well, here it is folks and even Randy, who is not a “bread pudding” guy because he says he doesn’t like warm desserts, ate 3 helpings yesterday. It was so simple and the sauce is amazing. I did change a couple of things, adding cinnamon to the pudding and a little whipping cream to the sauce. I know Paula would be proud.

2 cups sugar

5 large beaten eggs

2 cups milk

2 teas vanilla

3 cups cubed French bread, (allow to stale overnight in a bowl, I didn’t do this and it was still so yummyImage)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teas cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick of cold butter)

1 cup chopped pecans

Sauce:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 stick butter

1 egg, beaten

2 teas vanilla

2 tables whipping cream

1/4 cup brandy

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13×9″ pan. Mix together the sugar, eggs and milk in a bowl; add vanilla. Place bread cubes in greased 13×9 and pour egg mixture over cubed bread and let sit for 10 min. (I used about 4 cups of the cubed bread, as 3 cups didn’t quite cover the bottom of the pan)

While mixture is sitting and resting, in another bowl, cut in cold butter with the brown sugar, cinnamon until it resembles crumbs. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle evenly over bread mixture and then place in oven for about 35-40 min or until top is slightly browned and mixture is set. Remove from oven and let sit for about 15 min. Serve with sauce.

Sauce:

Mix together the sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and whipping cream in a saucepan. Stirring continually, bring mixture to where it is just beginning to boil, but take off heat before it does boil. Add the brandy and stir until combined. Drizzle sauce over squares of pudding on individual plates.

Daily Thoughts

A Trip Down Memory Lane, (Oops, I mean to CVS)

Chocolate Castles4 Comments

Yesterday was a turning point in both of our lives. Randy had taken off work because of some back problems and we had an appt with a doctor, hoping to see if he had an answer as to why RC’s back is hurting so much. We survived the “new patient” ordeal quite well and then drove to Walmart to get his new prescription filled. Because he was still not feeling well, he  said he would stay in the car while I went inside to get the meds, all the while feeling so proud of how I was taking care of “my man” when he was enduring really bad back pain. From inside the store,  I called his cell phone to let him know that it was going to take 30 min for them to fill the prescriptions and that I would just stay in the store and wait until I heard my name being called that the meds were ready. He didn’t answer. I thought, “poor thing, he must have fallen asleep in the car and doesn’t even hear the phone ringing,” so I went merrily on my way down the isles at Walmart, picking up a few necessary items, we would need for the weekend, such as cocoa, butter, chocolate Easter candy to nibble on, ice cream, you know, the necessities of life. When I hear my name called, I rush over to the pharmacy to get the medicine that my poor hubby is needing and rush out to the car. I find him, drinking McDonalds coffee and emailing his office. When I ask him about the coffee, he reminds me that he can get a Senior Coffee at McDonalds inside Walmart so he had gone inside to get himself a cup of coffee. It took me a minute to grasp the idea that he was too sick to go inside to get the medicine, but he wasn’t too sick to go inside to get a cup of cheap coffee. I will not be sharing my Easter candy with Mr. Down In the Back. We then head over to CVS to pick up the other things that the Dr suggested might help Randy and the pain he is having that Walmart didn’t have (which I found out after going up and down each isle while Mr. Sicko was “waiting in the car drinking his coffee”) Sorry, a little hostility escaping my thoughts. Anyway, we drive into CVS and I tell him I will be right back and will go in to get the necessary items needed for his “comfort”. He tells me that he needs to get out of the car to try to loosen his back and walk a bit hoping that the shot they had given him is starting to take effect. So now we “hobble” into CVS and as we are looking for the items, we come across a “pill caddy”. Neither one of us has ever seen this. It is a little metal caddy that attaches to your key ring that carries pills. We are standing there looking at it and I remark, “how cute is this” when all of a sudden it dawns on us. We are standing in a medicine isle at a pharmacy, gawking at a “pill caddy” and actually commenting on “how cute” and “how cool” this is and we just look at each other and it dawns on us. Are we now old? Where did the days of looking at cute little “flasks” that carries your favorite wine go? When did standing in a CVS while waiting for a prescription to be filled, looking at pill caddies, start to be fun? OMGosh! We slowly backed away (actually right now, that is his only choice, slowly doing everything, poor guy) and  I hobbled quickly over to the makeup isle and he over to the magazine isle to look through Road and Track. We just pray that no one saw us holding the pill caddy in our hands. That is just not cool and hip. In case they did see us, I loudly yelled over to Randy, “honey, did you want to go ahead and buy that pill caddy for your older brother as a stocking stuffer for next Christmas, I will meet you at the check out counter as soon as I decide on which Sun Tan Lotion to buy” Whew….we knew then that we had entered a season that we are not ready to enter. So we came home, reorganized  and refilled our plastic pill cases with the new meds and turned on our recorded Wheel of Fortune from the night before because we fell asleep before we could watch it,  to remind ourselves that we certainly are not ready to be “old”.

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Chocolate Castles's avatarChocolate Castles

Got your attention now, who ever thought of having enchiladas at Easter? After you see this recipe, you might be inclined to push the ham away and get to the store to buy tortillas and cilantro. These are delicious and the cream cheese in them make them extra special for that pretty Easter buffet.

1 cup diced sweet onion (or if you are in a sour mood, I guess you could use a mean onion)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups fresh chopped baby spinach

2 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chiles, drained

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened *You can use the low fat cream cheese if you really really want, but just don’t get to skinny to fit into that new Easter outfit.

2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese (I used cheddar just because I like the flavor better than the jack…

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Cakes · Fruit

Robert E Lee Bundt Cake

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My neighbor, Nancy and her twin sister, Sally (if you read An Era Gone By a few months ago on the blog, you will remember they are 80 year old twin sisters, who are just the cutest and dearest things, ever, and love cooking magazines.) I come home quite frequently to find the magazines they have finished going through on the table outside my front door. It is such a favorite thing of mine to just sit and look through different recipes. One that they buy and share with me is called, Southern Living Comfort Food, which is a take off from Southern Living Magazine that comes out with special issues. This cake intrigued me. Is it called REL Bundt cake because he made up the recipe?, or because it was one of his fav’s? or just because someone in the south made up this wonderful pound cake, or someone whose dream was to be REL?  Which ever the reason, it is a great cake for our Easter season with it’s fruity theme and gorgeous garnishes.

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)

3 cups granulated sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups flour

1/2 teas baking powder

1/8 teas salt

1 cup milk

4 teas orange zest, divided

2 teas lemon zest, divided

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tables fresh orange juice

Garnishes: fresh raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries (I always want to type goosebumps), fresh mint sprigs

Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter and shortening with mixer until creamy. Gradually add granulated sugar beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Stir together: flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in 2 teas orange zest, 1 teas lemon zest and 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10″ bundt pan.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 5 min to 1 hour and 15 min or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not over bake. Watch closely the last few minutes of baking. Cool in pan on a wire rack about 10 min and then remove from pan. Cool completely. Whisk together the powdered sugar and rest of lemon and orange zest and orange juice. Spoon over cake, Garnish with fresh fruit on platter to serve.

Casseroles · Chicken · Meats

Easter Chicken Enchiladas

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Got your attention now, who ever thought of having enchiladas at Easter? After you see this recipe, you might be inclined to push the ham away and get to the store to buy tortillas and cilantro. These are delicious and the cream cheese in them make them extra special for that pretty Easter buffet.

1 cup diced sweet onion (or if you are in a sour mood, I guess you could use a mean onion)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups fresh chopped baby spinach

2 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chiles, drained

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened *You can use the low fat cream cheese if you really really want, but just don’t get to skinny to fit into that new Easter outfit.

2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese (I used cheddar just because I like the flavor better than the jack cheese)

1/3 cup fresh cilantro (if you have a Trader Jo’s store close by, they sell little frozen trays of cilantro, which you keep frozen and just pop out a square of cilantro, allowing you to always have fresh cilantro on hand) (If using frozen squares, the substitution amounts are on the little tray)

8 (8 in) soft taco-size flour tortillas

Pam cooking spray

Tomatillo Salsa

Preheat oven to 350. Saute onion and garlic in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 5 min or until onion is tender and clear. Add spinach and green chiles and sauté 1-2 min. Stir in chicken and next 3 ingredients and cook stirring continually for about 5 min, or until cheese melts.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla and roll it up. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top.

Place rolled tortillas, seam side down in a greased pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 min or until golden brown. Top with Tomatillo Salsa.

TO MAKE AHEAD:

Prepare recipe as directed through placing the tortillas into a baking dish. Cover and keep in fridge, then allowing to stand at room temp about 30 min before you want to bake. Uncover and bake.

Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Fruit

Strawberry Pie

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

The sunshine that is so gorgeous this time of year just makes me think of strawberry pie. Tonight several young moms are coming over here for dessert after they go for a massage. This is the MOPS ladies (mothers of preschoolers) that sit at my table on Wednesday mornings and I have just grown to love them and appreciate their efforts to grow as Christian wives and moms. They were wanting a night out so I told them to come over here for dessert after they go for massages. What better way to end their night out than with a wonderful strawberry pie and hazelnut brownie cups, with coffee or tea. These pies make wonderful endings to your Easter dinner. Top them with fresh whipped cream and you will be the hit of the day.

2 pie crusts, baked and cooled

2 quarts of fresh strawberries (washed, trimmed and sliced, saving some for top to place on top)

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups water

4 1/2 tables corn starch

6 tables strawberry jello (not sugar free, it won’t work)

Place the water, sugar and cornstarch in a heavy saucepan. Stir continually being sure to break up the cornstarch so they don’t lump together. When mixture begins to boil and becomes thick and clear, take off the heat and stir in the strawberry jello and stir until well blended.

Fill each baked and cooled pie shell with strawberries, dividing between the two pie shells. Pour half of the jello mixture onto each pie, being sure each strawberry is covered with some of the jello mixture. Place in fridge to cool and top with whipping cream, right before serving.photo

 

Beef · Soups

Italian Wedding Soup

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We have had family from Texas here all this week. I made them promise that they would not go home and tell that we didn’t have a home cooked meal here except for breakfast one morning. It is embarrassing to admit that, especially since I write this cooking blog and continually tell you how much I enjoy having company to cook for; but the truth is that we would run around all day to sightsee and by the time we got home, the last thing I wanted to do was cook, so we ended up taking them to several of our new favorite places. On Saturday night, we were all so tired from going all day, we ordered pizza. Today, we are back to being by ourselves and now it’s not as much fun to cook, just for two. Randy wants to know when it is “fun” enough to actually get a home cooked meal. He reminded me that I am always saying, “when we have company, it will be more fun to cook, because there is more than the two of us” but that didn’t work as we would just fall on the couch every night after touring Los Angeles with Don and Janece. Now it is back to the two of us and now it’s not fun anymore to cook, so guess I will wait until more company shows up from Texas. It  will surely be more fun to cook then.

Tonight, I had promised him a home cooked meal and this soup is a great way to, not only please my man, but so easy for me to fix. I already had cooked chicken breasts in the freezer and had bought a package of chopped soup veggie mix (the carrots, onion and celery) so how much easier can you get?

2 cups small pasta shells

2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes

2 tables olive oil, divided

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1 pkg frozen fully cooked italian meatballs (ok, this is where I have to leave this recipe) I just cannot buy meatballs, I love making them and they tastes so much better, homemade, but for convenience sake, I won’t tell if you use the frozen)

1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 pkg frozen-chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 cup chicken broth

2 teas minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teas dried thyme

1/2 teas each, salt and pepper

3/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, when tender and set aside.  Meanwhile in a large skillet, sauté chicken in 1 tables oil until no longer pink; remove and keep warm.

In same skillet, sauté the onion, carrot and celery in remaining oil until tender. Add the meatballs, soup, spinach broth and thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 15 min and then add pasta. Add to soup and sprinkle each bowl with cheese.

Cakes · Chocolate

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Cake

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Do not let this Title scare you. Recently I have had several young moms ask me to post simple recipes that don’t have a lot of ingredients because that scares them out of trying the recipe. They simply don’t have the energy or time to shop for all of the items that so many of the recipes call for. So this is an easy dessert, but so gorgeous, and oh so yummy.

One Duncan Hines plain yellow cake mix

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teas cinnamon

2 medium sized bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 teas banana extract (or you can use vanilla if you don’t have the banana)

Peanut Butter Frosting

Fudge Frosting

Grease 2 (9′) cake pans, then lightly dust with flour. Shake out excess flour. Set pans aside. Place cake mix, brown sugar and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. Add mashed bananas, water, oil, eggs and extract. Blend with mixer on low speed for 1 min, then scrape sides of bowl and beat for 2 more minutes.

Divide the batter between the 2 pans and bake in a 350 degree oven until middle of cake springs back when touched or a toothpick comes out clean after placing in middle of cake.

Cool on wire racks while you prepare the Peanut Butter Frosting.

1/4 cup softened butter (1/2 stick)

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 teas vanilla

1/4 cup milk (add this not all at one time, as mixture just needs to be spreadable, so you might not need all of this)

Blend powdered sugar, butter, peanut butter, vanilla and mix with milk, which you are adding slowly to just make the frosting spreadable.

Place one of the cake layers on a plate and spread the peanut butter mixture on top. Place other layer on top and frost with remaining peanut butter frosting. Do not frost the sides of the cake. Set aside and make the Fudge Frosting

Fudge frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 teas vanilla

1/3 cup milk (once again, do not add all at once, as you might not need all of this)

Combine  all ingredients and slowly add milk (a few tables at a time) until frosting is easy to spread on cake. When you have beat all ingredients until smooth, frost sides of cake and then use remaining fudge frosting to top the cake. Do not worry if some of the peanut butter frosting swirls with the chocolate, just makes it that much more yummy. Store in Fridge, covered until ready to eat. Take out about 1 hour before serving.

Daily Thoughts

Butter Fried Turkey Bacon

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

I tried, I really tried to cook something a little healthier for my sick hubby yesterday. He has been at home for 3 days and I thought I would go to the store and get bacon to make him his favorite sandwich, a BLT…but…when I got there, I thought to myself, if he gets worse and has to go to the hospital and they take his blood, only to find out butter runs through his veins instead of the red stuff, I will really look like a bad wife. I decided to buy turkey bacon instead of the real stuff. It made me so proud that I was buying something halfway healthy, I pranced down the isle to check out actually looking at organic lettuce and tomatoes, but decided to save money and buy the ones with lots of pesticides instead; that way, I have money left over to stop on the way home and buy myself a cupcake…a treat for buying healthy turkey bacon.  When I get home, I wake him up, (bless his heart, he has only slept about 7 hours today already) to let him know I just bought food to make his fav BLT…He got so excited, he actually opened his eyes and almost rolled off the heating pad. It was great explaining to him that since I was really concerned for his health, beginning today, I had substituted turkey bacon for the real thing.  You would have thought I was serving him wheat germ sprinkled over alfalfa sprouts for lunch, by the look on his face. He told me that the only way he would eat the turkey bacon is if I fried it in butter, to give it taste and color. It was then and there that I decided that I am through with trying to be fit and healthy. Butter is our life and bacon is our game. We might not live to be 100, but the years we have will taste mighty good….am headed to the store as we are almost out of butter and I have to make oatmeal cookies for our snack tonight…they must be good for us, they have oatmeal in them, which we have heard on commercials, can help reduce cholesterol. If we eat enough of them, maybe our cholesterol numbers will come down under 300, Will be curious to see if the oatmeal cookies do the trick.