This is an exciting day, not only did I get Randy to wake up singing, “oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner” but he is going to take me to a Dillards two hours away. You might be thinking, why does she want Randy to wake up singing that song? Well, it takes Randy a little while to wake up, so when I can talk him into actually singing a silly song, it makes him laugh, which wakes him up, fast. So I try to think of the most ridiculous songs and tell him to sing them, looking me in the eye all the while singing it with feeling. Right away, we are laughing and begining our day with a smile on our face. But….to top that, he is taking me to Dillards, which is one of my fav stores and we don’t have one here close. He found this one on his way to an office he was headed to and called me and told me he had a surprise for me. I had begun to think I was going to have to live the rest of my life only getting to go to Dillards when I visited Texas, but….today is a special day, we are headed to Dillards and he has informed me that he will sit and drink coffee and just let me go explore the whole store. Now, is that a great husband or what? Tomorrow, we are off to San Diego to visit David Jeremiah’s church, which is one of our favorite pastors, so it is a good weekend. Dillards and David Jeremiah; and we started off our weekend last night with Cold Stone ice cream…..some weekends are just great, aren’t they?
French Onion Soup (from Southern Living)
I hear that back in Dallas you are experiencing a little chill in the air. I thought maybe you might enjoy this really rich, great soup on a Fri night. Yesterday I received in the mail from Amazon my new torch with 4 ramekins to make creme brulee. The instructions said that you could use the torch to melt the cheese on French Onion soup, so tonight that is what we are having. This is a great onion soup recipe and only takes 35 min.
4 large onions, thinkly sliced and separated into rings
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 3/4 cups beef stock or 2 (10 1/2 oz) cans ready to serve beef broth, undiluted
2 cups water
1/4 cup dry white wine *optional
1/4 teas pepper
8 (3/4 in thick) slices of french bread, toasted
8 slices swiss cheese (I use provolone)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Saute onion in butter in a dutch oven over medium heat 20 min or until tender. Gradually add beef broth and next 3 ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer uncovered 15 min.
Place eight ovenproof serving bowls on a baking sheet. Place 1 bread slice in each bowl; ladel soup over bread. Top with 1 cheese slice; sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Broil 5 1/2 in from heat until cheese melts. Or use the torch to melt the cheese. Serve immediately while hot. (I am going to dish up the soup, one at a time, since I am using the torch, that way, it will not get cold while I am torching the cheese)
Stuffed Chicken
Ever since the Dr told both Randy and I to loose weight and get our cholestrol down, we have been searching out new ways to cook foods we love without the butter and cream cheese. I haven’t done very well, but we have made a few changes. Last night I thawed out 2 chicken breasts and pondered what to do with them besides just bake them. So……I pulled out the bag of fresh spinach and cooked half of the spinach. Drained it very well and mixed it with parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, pepper, garlic powder, dill and sliced the breast in two. Stuffed the spinach into the center of the chicken and then sprinkled a little oilive oil, seasoned salt, garlic and pepper over the chicken. Covered it and baked it for 30 min. It was really good. Served it with fresh mozzarella and cut up fresh tomatoes and a side of pasta with had a little pesto sauce over it. It was such a fast and easy dinner with almost no fat. Just a little olive oil and we actually loved it.
That got us so excited about eatting healthy that we decided to go out and celebrate, so we went to get a dish of frozen yogurt which I had a brownie cut up in mine with toffee chips.
You really didn’t expect me to change my entire style of eatting all in one night, did you?
Brown Sugar Pudding Cake
Because the evenings here are still so cool and because Randy hasn’t learned that chocolate is a necessary part of every day’s food chain, every once in a while I venture out of my comfort zone and bake something that has no chocolate. This pudding cake makes a great comfort food, and still gives me the feeling of ooey gooey warm delicious flavor, all the while earning me points with Randy for making him something other than chocolate.
The sauce hiding beneath the brownielike crust is wonderful. Serve this with BlueBell Homemade vanilla and the warmth of the cake will slightly melt the ice cream in with the pudding like cake…..marvelous!
1/2 cup softened butter * (let me stop right now and explain that softened butter is not butter that is melted in the microwave. Do not melt the butter, just let it stand at room temp for about 30 min to 1 hour)
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teas baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 teas ground nutmeg
1 teas ground cinnamon
1 cup milk
1/2 cup raisins (I like to use the golden, much milder flavor)
1 1/2 cups water
Beat butter at medium speed with mixer until creamy; gradually add 1/2 cup brown sugar, beating well.
Combine flour and next 4 ingredients; add to butter mixture alternately withmilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Mix at low speed after each addition until blended. Stir in raisins. Pour batter into a greased 2 qt. souffle dish (or a deep pyrex dish)
Combine remaining 1 cup brown sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour sugar mixture carefully over batter in dish. Bake at 375 for 40 min or until edges are golden and pull away from sides of dish. Let stand at least 10 min before serving. Dessert will be very saucy at bottom of dish, but will thicken as it stands. Yields: 6 servings.
Chocolate Chess Squares
These are amazing! Very gooey and chocolatey and will satisfy your chocolate cravings instantly.
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (very cold)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tables cocoa
1/8 teas salt
2 tables butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
1 teas vanilla
1/2 chopped pecans (opt)
Combine flour and powdered sugar; cut in 1/2 cup butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Press mixture evenly into a 9 in square pan. Bk at 350 for 15 min or until lightly browned.
Combine sugar, cocoa and salt. Add 2 tables butter and eggs; beat 2 1/2 min at medium speed with mixer. Add milk and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in pecans; pour mixture over crust.
Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 min or until middle is set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 2 hrs. Cut into squares. Store in frig. Yields: 3 dz.
Post Mothers Day Blues
If you are like me, you are going through Mothers Day withdrawal! I learned last year to tell all the kids that their placement in our wills depended on the gifts I received for Mothers Day. So…..instead of just getting texts on my phone spelling out, “hi mom, love ya, HMD to you, your little angel”, this year was a little different. A weekend of precious phone calls from children and grandchildren, Randy, taking me out to every meal over the weekend so I didn’t have to cook, the doorbell ringing and trying to answer with a look of “oh my, they shouldn’t have” but accepting the gifts of flowers, edible arrangements or candy, surprise cards in my Bible from Randy when I opened it at church, well, yes, I am a little down today. This past weekend made me remember why I wanted to be a mom in the first place. Last year, I volunteered some of our kids to the Peace Corp for the next two years in Yemen. This year, it was easy to forget all the nights I didn’t get any sleep when they were little. The emergency rooms at midnight when their fever won’t go down; The poop on the front porch because they didn’t want to take the time to come in to use the bathroom, the “oh mom, I volunteered you to bake a cake for 35 kids for tomorrow, which I heard when I tucking the little darling in bed at 9 p.m. But, back to reality..clothes are in the washer, beans are cooking on the stove and my phone hasn’t rang all morning…….So……am trying to think of what I can use to get their attention for my birthday, coming up in July. I’m thinking that I might tell them that since it is very obvious that they struggle with time to shop for their mom, Randy and I will just come live with them to help them raise their children, that way, they will have time for all the important things in life, like shopping for their mom and dad….will let you know about all the great gifts I receive for my birthday!
Sunday Potluck Chicken Enchiladas
As you can tell, I spend a little of each day going back through old recipe magazines and new ones, as they come in the mail. This recipe is from a Paula Deen magazine, 2007 and it is so good, I am thinking of opening up my own Mexican food restaurant here in California, since they DON”T KNOW HOW GOOD TEX MEX IS AND I CAN’T FIND IT HERE…ANYWHERE!!!!
Sorry, I lost it there for a minute. It is a great dish to take to potlucks or serve to company, just have the others bring a salad, chips and homemade salsa and you have a great Mexican dinner. Of course, you will want to top off the night by baking a praline cheesecake for dessert, which you can find on the ole blog……Your guests and family will think you are the “next TV cooking star”!
2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken (yes you can use a store bought chicken, I won’t tell)
1 (10 oz) can mild enchilada sauce (I used the mild green chile sauce since I like it better with chicken)
1 (8 oz) package softened cream cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese, divided
1 (16 oz) pacakge 10-inch flour tortillas
1 (10.75 oz) can Southwest-style pepperJack soup
1 (8 oz) jar picante sauce
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13×9 baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, enchilada sauce, cream cheese and onion; stirring to combine. Add 1 cup cheddar and 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese. Spoon mixture evely down center one-third of each tortilla; roll up tortillas and place seam side down in prepared baking dish.
In a medium bowl, combine remaining cheese, soup and picante sauce. Spoon mixture evenly over tortillas. Bake 30 to 36 min or until hot and bubbly.
Slow Cooker Italian Chicken
For those busy days when you are going to be gone all day, or just don’t want to wait until 4 to figure out what you are going to have, this is a simple and great dinner idea.
1/4 cup butter
1 (.7 oz) package Italian salad dressing mix
2 (10.75 oz) cans golden mushroom soup
1 (8 oz) container cream cheese with chives and onion
1 cup chicken broth
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Hot cooked angel hair pasta
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add dressing mix, stirring to combione. Stir in soup, cream cheese and broth; cook stirring constantly until cream cheese is melted.
Place chicken in bottom of a 6 qt electric slow cooker. Pour butter mixture over chicken. Cook on Low, 4-6 hours. Serve over pasta.
Blonde Brownies (Or Blonde Girl Scouts, ha)
I have been somewhat homesick for Texas the last week or so, and in so doing, got out my “Cooking Texas Style” cookbook. This recipe I started using in the 1970’s and it is like a giant chocolate chip cookie if you add chocolate chips. If not, it is such a gooey, rich dessert that you can serve it with Butter Pecan ice cream or Caramel ice cream and it makes a wonderful summer dessert for family or guests.
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
3/4 teas baking powder
1 teas vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans
*Optional 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Cream softened butter, add sugar and eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder and vanilla and mix well. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips, if using.
Spread the batter evenly in a greased and floured 9×13 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 30-40 min. *A few times, I have broken up Hershey’s bars (6 of them) over the top as soon as I pull them out of the oven, let sit a couple of min and then spread over entire surface. Store in fridge if you do this, but cut them after it sets and hardens a little before placing them in fridge. That way, the chocolate topping won’t crack when you are trying to cut them into bars while the chocolate is hardened from the fridge.*
Spring Veggie Pasta Salad
Micah, you should be proud of me, I am posting a pretty healthy salad here instead of chocolate desserts. Hope you like this. It is really so good and can be served with garlic bread and sliced avacados. Instant lunch!
1 bunch asparagus, about 3 cups diced
1 Tables olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced or 2 Table jarred garlic
12 oz orzo pasta, cooked to al dente and cooled
15 oz can artichoke hearts
1 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, julienned or chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teas kosher salt
1/2 teas fresh ground black pepper
1/3 c olive oil
Bring a medium saucepan full of water to a boil. Turn off the burner, add in asparagus pieces and blanch for 2-3 min. While the asparagus is in the water, heat one tablespoon olive oil in a small saute pan. Add in onions and garlic and saute for 1-2 min, just until tender. Drain the asparagus and rinse in cool water.
In a large bowl, add cooked orzo pasta, asparagus pieces and sauteed onions and garlic. Drain artichoke hearts and quarter them. Add them to the bowl. Add in sun-dried tomatoes with oil and lemon zest. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, white wine vinegar; salt and pepper. Add olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified. Stir the dressing into the salad. Move to the frig for at least 5 hours for flavors to combine. Serve cold.
Chocolate Castles 