Grape and Quinoa Salad

This recipe comes from a cookbook called "Home Cooking the Costco Way".  It's a yearly publication from the warehouse store Costco.  They gather recipes from the companies that sell food at their store and give it away on Thanksgiving weekend.

I've been wanting to try quinoa for a while.  I have some health-conscious friends who swear by this healthy grain.  When I found this recipe, I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 1/2 cups red and green seedless grapes, cut into quarters
1/2 cup dry-roasted hazelnuts, coursley chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Mix quinoa, grapes, hazelnuts and green onion in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk canola oil, lemon juice, sugar and salt.  Pour dressing over the quinoa mixture and stir to combine.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Mine's not as pretty as the one in the book, probably because I only had green grapes.  But I'm sure it still tasted just as good.

Now, be forewarned, if you've never used quinoa before, as it's cooking it doesn't have the most pleasant scent.  It kinda smelled like weeds.  But the finished product was scrumptious.

Mexican Meatballs

I am a huge fan of this recipe. If you follow it completely, you get delicious meatballs, but it's also really easy to change and edit to your taste. I went on a meatball making binge after making these. Each batch was different than the last, and we loved them all!

Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 gloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried or 2 tbsp. fresh oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 lb. lean ground turkey
8 oz. uncooked or cooked smoked chorizo sausage, finely chopped (I made my own chorizo by flavoring plain sausage. Will share that recipe later.)
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Spray 9x13 with cooking spray. Mix together in large bowl the eggs, bread crumbs, cilantro, garlic, oregano, 1 1/2 tsp. of the chili powder, salt and cumin. Add the ground turkey and chorizo sausage; mix well. With damp hands or a small ice cream scoop (I used my hands) form into 24 to 30 meatballs. Combine oil and remaining 1/2 tsp. chili powder, brush over meatballs. Bake meatballs 22 to 25 minutes or until cooked through (165 degrees). With slotted spoon, remove meatballs to a serving bowl.

We ate with rice. They were awesome. If you make the meatballs as uniform in size as possible, they cook more evenly. I have to say, I love baking meatballs. I have always hated cooking them on the stovetop. Anytime I find a meatball recipe, I make them and cook them to this recipes directions. Love baking meatballs! Then you can even make them earlier in the day and refrigerate til it's time to bake.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

This is another Pillsbury recipe. I really liked it. But anything with french fried onions is usually great in my book.

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1 pckg (8 oz) sliced fresh baby portabella mushrooms (I bought these and was so excited about them, but they got moldy before I used them. Sad. So I just used canned mushrooms.)
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard (standard mustard for me)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups cut-up cooked chicken
1 lb. frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
1 can  (8 oz) sliced water chesnuts, drained (I'm not a fan, so I left these out)
1 cup shredded American-cheddar cheese blend (4 oz)
1 can french fried onions (2.8 oz)

Heat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook 4-6 minutes, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are browned. In large bowl, mix soup, milk, mustard, salt, thyme and pepper. Stir in mushrooms, chicken, broccoli and water chesnuts. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover dish with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle french fried onions over top. Bake uncovered about 15 minutes longer or until mixture is hot and bubbly.

Here's my son's plate. He's always asking me to take a picture of his food when I do this. So this time I did. This meal is pretty child friendly I think. Except that my kid has broccoli issues. And occasional mushroom issues. But I really liked it and thought it was very yummy.

Cajun Seasoning

This is the cajun seasoning Aaron used for our crispy fish.

Ingredients
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground red pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. black pepper

Applebee's Chicken Fajita Rollup

This is another Top Secret Restaurant recipe. Yummy.

Marinade Ingredients
2 cups water
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp ground chipotle pepper or 1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp hickory smoke flavoring
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground black pepper

4 chicken breast fillets

Mexi-Ranch Dipping Sauce Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp diced tomato
1 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp canned chopped mild green chiles
3/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
pinch dried dill weed
pinch ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper

Pico de Gallo Ingredients
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

4 large tortillas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shreded Monterey Jack cheese
4 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

The chicken needs to marinate for 2 hours, so make the marinade first by combining the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Add four chicken breasts to marinade, cover and chill for 2 hours. Don't let the chicken marinate for much more than that or it could get tough.

While the chicken marinates, prepare the dipping sauce by combining the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well then cover and chill. This will allow all the flavors to develop nicely while parked in the fridge.

The pico de gallo will also develop nicely in the fridge. Combine all those ingredients, then cover and chill it as well.

When you're ready to make your roll-ups, preheat your grill to medium/high heat. Grill the chicken breasts for 4 to 7 minutes per side or until done.

Build each roll-up by first laying a large flour tortilla in a large skillet over low-heat. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the combined cheeses over the surface of the tortilla while it heats up in the pan. When the cheese begins to melt, remove the tortilla from the pan. Sprinkle about 1 cup of shredded lettuce in a strip across the center of the tortilla, followed by about 3 tbsp of pico de gallo. Slive one grilled chicken breast into bite size chunks and arrange the chicken on the lettuce. Fold the ends of the tortilla over the filling, then roll the tortilla from the bottom. Make a diagonal cut across the center of the roll-up and serve with a small dish of the dipping sauce on the side.

I just poured dipping sauce right in mine. Super tasty!

Microwave Monkey Bread

My friend Valerie gave me this recipe, and it's been used a number of times in my household.  It makes a perfect dessert for a breakfast for dinner type of evening.

Ingredients:
Topping:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
2 tbsp whipping cream (I rarely have this around the house so I haven't ever used it.)
optional: 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Rolls:
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 can pillsbury Grands! buttermilk biscuits (5 to 8) cut into quarters

In a 9" glass pie plate (or if you can't find it like me, a 9 x 9 square pan), plate 1/4 cup butter.  microwave uncovered on high 40 to 60 seconds or until melted. Stir in remaining topping ingredients except pecans.  Microwave uncovered on high 1 minute.  Stir; sprinkle evenly with nuts.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup brown sugar and cinnamon.  Dip biscuit quarters into the melted butter, then into cinnamon mixture to coat well.  Arrange biscuits in circle over topping in pie plate, being careful to leave the center open.  Microwave uncovered on high 4 to 6 minutes or until centers of the biscuits are no longer doughy.  Cool in pan 30 seconds.  Invert over serving plate (or in my case, a cookie sheet).  Serve warm.

Rice and Broccoli Timbales

This is a favorite of Ryan, my husband.  I like it too.  I think most normal kids would, but due to just plain stubbornness, mine take their two requisite bits and run away from the table.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (the original recipe calls for wild rice, but I use plain old white)
1 10-oz package chopped broccoli, cooked until tender-crisp and chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup spaghetti or marinara sauce, heated

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except the marinara sauce in a bowl.  Blend well.
Put a spoonful of marinara sauce on each plate and spread around.  Spray a 10 oz custard cup with nonstick cooking spray.  Press 3/4 cup mixture into cup; invert onto serving plate.  Repeat with remaining mixture.  If desired, pour remaining sauce over timbales.  Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

The last time we made this, we decided to entice the kids even more by shaping them with cookie cutters.  It didn't work, but they looked good.

 Forming the timbale with a heart cookie cutter.

 I have a new picture editing program and I turned these pictures in the program, but can't get them to show up that way.  Sorry about that.  But here is the heart for my daughter.

And the teddy bear for my son.

Enchiladas v 2.0

So I've been revamping a bunch of old recipes. Just little tweaks here and there really. But I'm super excited about how it's coming out. This is one of the first ones I did and they still taste great! This is such a classic recipe. Here's the original. Now, I did roll these ones. You can check out the pic at the end. So, here's the revamped version.

Ingredients
1 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
½ cup wheat flour
2 tbsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
4 cups hot water
2 beef bouillon
1 pound ground turkey
1 can kidney or black beans
½ pound grated cheddar cheese
10 flour tortillas

Combine first six ingredients. Add water. Stir (use a bouncer or whip). Add bouillon and cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Cook the ground beef while you are making the sauce. Drain and put in a bowl. Add the grated cheese to the ground beef, saving some to go on top. Dip tortillas in the sauce to soften, place on a plate and put a spoonful of the cheese/beef mixture near one side, spreading it out. Roll up and place in a 9x13 casserole dish. Pour remaining sauce over the rolled enchiladas. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and put the saved cheese on top. Return to the oven until the cheese is melted.

The beans add an surprising amount of spice to the enchiladas. They have quite a bit more kick than the normal recipe. And I just thought of another addition I'll do next time. Flaxseed. Look at me getting all healthy and sneaky. :)

Second Annual Gingerbread Houses

These were our gingerbread houses from Christmas 2010. Emery's has a flat roof since she ate half of it while we were decorating. The kids had a blast. We used the royal icing from our other gingerbread house events.

Island Fries

This is another Top Secret Recipe from Island's Restaurant. They were mighty tasty. :)
Ingredients
2 medium russet potatoes
3-5 cups vegetable oil
3-5 cups peanut oil (We only had vegetable oil.)

Garlic/Onion Salt
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine garlic salt, onion salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slice potatoes with a slicer or mandoline set to 1/4-inch thick slices. Hold potato at a slight angle when slicing to produce fries that are about 2 to 3 inches in length. (I have a fry slicer, like one of those apple slicer/corers. It makes them pretty easily, if not a bit thicker.) Drop sliced potatoes into a bowl of water to rinse away starch. Pour out water, then fill bowl again. Pour out that water, then fill bowl again with water and add some ice. Let potatoes sit for 1 hour in the ice water.

Heat oils in fryer to 350 degrees. When the potatoes are done soaking, drain them, then pour them out onto a clean dish towel. Blot fries dry. When fries are dry drop about half into the hot oil and blanch for 2 to 3 minutes (fries should be soft in the center). Remove the fries onto a towel to cool. When all the fries are blanched, let them sit to cool for about 30 minutes. When fries are cool, fry them for a second time for 5 to 7 minutes or until fries are golden and crispy. Pour fries onto a rack or towels to drain. Toss fries with several pinches of the garlic/onion salt and serve hot.

These came out great. I didn't do all of the soaking for the precise times because I made these somewhat last minute. But they were really yummy.

Chili's Chicken Crispers

These are from Top Secrets Restaurant Recipes. I really love this recipe. I think it's just as good as McDonalds, and I made them at home! It does require a deep fryer.

Ingredients

Batter

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 cup self-rising flour (I don't have that, so I used all-purpose)

6-10 cups shortening or vegetable oil. (We used oil.)

10 chicken tenderloins (We cut ours up into smaller nuggets)

1/2 cup flour

Heat shortening or oil in fryer to 350 degrees. Combine beaten egg, milk, chicken brother, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk for about 30 seconds to dissolve salt. Whisk in 1 cup flour. Let batter sit for 5 minutes. When you are ready to fry the chicken, coat each piece with dry flour, then dunk the chicken into the batter. Let a little batter drip off the chicken and lower it into the hot oil and fry for 7 to 9 minutes or until it's golden brown. Depending on the size of your fryer, you should be able to fry 3 or 4 tenderloins at the same time. Drain fried chicken strips on a rack or paper towels for a minute or so.

These were great!

Crispy Fish & Peppers

Here's a recipe from Reader's Digest. I couldn't find it for a while, but I'm glad I did. We've recently made it a few times and enjoy it even more than the first time. It's one of our most successful breading recipes. (You know how some breadings will come off on the pan, etc. This one is great!)

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh small fish filets

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp cajun seasoning

1 cup flour

vegetable oil

1-2 miniature sweet peppers

Rinse 1 lb. fish and pat dry. In a shallow dish, combine buttermilk, egg and cajun seasoning. Place 1 cup flour in another dish. Dip fish in buttermilk mixture then flour; repeat. Carefully add fish to hot vegetable oil and cook until golden (3 to 5 minutes per side), working in batches and adding more oil if needed. Drain on paper towels. Pour oil from skillet; wipe clean with paper towel. Add 1 or 2 sliced miniature sweet peppers. Cook 2 minutes. Sprinkle over fish.

The first time we made this, we didn't have cajun seasoning. We have since found this recipe. The breading comes out so great. We also haven't tried it with the mini peppers. But last time we made this, we cut up some bell peppers and fried those. It was a great addition. I'll definitely have to find some of those mini peppers they talk about. One of our new favorites!

Chicken-Vegetable Chowder

This one is a Pillsbury Annual Recipe. I've used a lot of theirs. Mostly they include crescent rolls. But this one doesn't. I made it while in the middle of pregnancy, so I wasn't really digging it. But Aaron said it was good, so I might have to make it again once my gag reflex is in check.

Ingredients

1 lb chicken, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup carrots (chopped or baby carrots sliced in half)

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I used canned)

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp thyme

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup milk

3 tbsp flour

1 box (9 oz) frozen broccoli

In slow cooker, mix chicken, carrots, mushrooms, onion, water, garlic powder, thyme and broth. Cover; cook on low heat for 7 to 9 hours. About 35 minutes before serving, skim fat from slow cooker. In small bowl, beat soup, milk, and flour with wire whisk until smooth. Add soup mixture and broccoli to chicken mixture. Cover; cook on low heat setting 30 minutes longer or unti broccoli is tender.

I think you could easily adjust this to stovetop cooking if you didn't have time to start it early.

Taco Chili

We found this one online and really liked it. I think it's a pretty mild chili (a bit more kid friendly) but it's really flavorful!

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey or beef (I think we used beef, but I'd totally use turkey)

1/4 cup chopped onion (I probably used at least half an onion)

2-3 cloves minced garlic (again, you can totally sneak in more if you want)

1 1/2 cups celery, chopped

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 small can green chiles

1 15 oz. can stewed or diced tomatoes (You can use 2 cans)

4-16 oz. cans of beans (mix and match. We used kidney and black. And we might not've used 4, but less. Can't remember. You don't need to drain or rinse most. But I would drain and rinse black beans.)

1 pckg taco seasoning

1 pckg ranch dressing mix

2 tsp cumin

16 oz. bag frozen corn

1/2 cup water optional

Brown turkey (or beef), adding onions, garlic, and celery about halfway through. One by one, add the remaining ingredients. Do not drain anything, just dump. The 1/2 cup water is optional. It makes it more soupy and with the addition of more canned tomaotes or even one more can of beans, it's really not needed. Heat through. Simmer for awhile if you'd like.

This recipe is really open. You can use more beans or less. I think we used less because it was looking a little too beany for me. If it's not soupy enough, you can add the extra diced tomatoes, or just water. It's really versatile, and the flavors are great.

Halloween Candied Popcorn

This is an old family favorite. I had never made it before, so I was a little anxious about it. In the end it wasn't really that hard. We used to make it as a treat for any time of year. But since you can color it, I made it orange for Halloween. However, if you want a traditional popcorn ball, you have to mold it right away. Once the candy hardens, the popcorn doesn't stick to itself anymore. So mine weren't traditional popcorn balls (what I was originally shooting for) but were just baggies filled with yummy candied popcorn.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

4 tbsp water

1/2 tsp almond extract

Food color optional

Boil sugar, butter and water until it drops off a spoon slow. (After it comes to a boil, it takes about 3 minutes. You just have to experiment to know what "slow" is.) Add almond extract and color. Pour and stir over popcorn.



If you do want to make them into balls, I would possible wear a glove, or be prepared for really gross and sticky hands. It will also be a tad warm. As for the "slow" part, I was totally clueless, but just did my best to see it get a tiny bit thicker so it came off the spoon slower than it did in the beginning. If I didn't ruin it, anyone can make it!

Halloween Ice Cubes

I know the picture isn't very good, but it was hard to take a picture of this.  But it's super easy and the older kids loved finding their worms as their ice melted!

Ingredients

ice cube tray

gummy worms

Fill up your ice cube trays. Drop one gummy worm in each ice cube. You could probably even do 2 in each. Then freeze!

When the ice freezes, you can't see the worms, or I would've taken a picture of just the ice. You can see a dark shape on the bottom of this cup. That's the gummy worm. Joseph loved finding his as he drank his punch. We had tons leftover and he enjoyed ever single one of them for the few weeks after Halloween!

Halloween Mini Pizzas

We had a Halloween party for Joseph and his preschool friends. So I racked my brain to come up with Halloweeny treats for them to eat. This was one which I was very excited about. It's super easy, very yummy, and you don't have to save it for Halloween!

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury Golden Layers refrigerated flaky biscuits
2/3 cup pizza sauce
1 package sliced pepperoni
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Separate dough into 10 biscuits. On cookie sheets, press or roll each biscuit to 5-inch rounds, forming ¼ inch rim around outside edge. Spread about 1 tbsp pizza sauce just to rim of each biscuit. Sprinkle with oregano. Top each with pepperoni and cheese (or other toppings if preferred). Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

To make the bat pepperonis, I just took the pepperoni slices one at a time and folded them in half. Then I used my kitchen scissors to cut a small half circle out of each end. When you unfold them, you have a bat shape! I used to eat bologna this way when I was a kid. Apparently I'm one of the only ones, but that's okay! You can also use large pepperoni slices if you wanted to make this on a grander scale and not have to cut so many small ones. My mom did that and said it worked great.

These are way easy to adapt to your own topping desires. I love the biscuits as pizza dough. I think they're so addicting! I ate more than the kids did.

Second Annual Haunted Houses

We made these in 2010 too. (I know, it's almost April. Sorry!) I just thought I'd share some of our pictures with everyone. Aaron picked out candy for the houses this year, so except for the requested candy corn and pumpkins, the decorations were pretty random. But the kids still had a blast.

Here's a link to last year's pics and the recipe for the Royal Icing.

Applesauce Muffins

These were a hit with our preschool group, as well as at home in general.

Ingredients
Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Topping
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. Coat muffin tin with spray or baking cups. To make topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the butter.

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix - it will be lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. 18-20 minutes.

I would even press the topping into the batter a little bit. A lot of ours fell off. But if you get it stuck to the muffins, less falls off.

These were really yummy. We ate them in no time and the kids were getting some extra veggies without stressing about it!

Calzones

Here's a link to my post with pizza crust. This is just a slight variation on prep methods. But to be honest, my kids like this better than normal pizza. Don't know why, but they do!

So after making the dough, you separate it into small balls. I generally would make up to 8. When you get rolling them out, you'd be amazed at how big they can be. Although, I will sometimes only do 6. Splitting half the dough into 4, the other half into 2. So that way me and the hubs can eat bigger ones.

I try my best to flatten them into circles. Then I put the sauce, cheese, and fillings on one half of the circle. Making sure to leave space around the edge for sealing. About an inch or so. Once it's filled, fold the other half of your circle over, and use a fork to seal the edges. I like to brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic powder. Then I give it a few slashes with a knife to let steam out while it cooks. I cook it at about 450 for 10-12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and see how your oven does with them. This pictures shows 2 of my best. They frequently explode. I've tried using oil or water on the edges when I seal them (brushing the edge of the circle dough with water or oil), but can't figure out if one works better than another. I'm notorious for over-filling things like this. My burritos and tacos are a joke. They're always humongous. So as long as you're modest in your fillings, they shouldn't overflow. Another adjustment I've made is instead of using salt for the dough, I'll substitute that with garlic salt, and even add italian seasoning (maybe a tsp or so) to do the dough so you have more flavor in each bite.

 

These are seriously the best. We took them to a football game last fall and it was so great. I might forever associate these with going to football games. It was such a great time!

Crispy Oven-Fried Fish

The hubs found this one, and I must say it's one of my new fave ways to cook our fish.

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh or frozen skinless white fish

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs (ours are Italian bread crumbs. More flavor the better I always say!)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp dried dill (We used this the first time. I like it much more without.)

1/8 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp butter, melted

Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish; pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 4 serving size pieces, if necessary. (If using filets, not necessary) Place milk in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. In a third shallow dish, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, dill, and pepper. Add melted butter, stir until combined.

Dip fish in the milk; coat with flour. Dip again in the milk, then in the bread crumb mixture. Place fish on a greased baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, in a 450 oven for 4 to 6 minutes per 1/2 inch thickness. The thicker the fish, the longer you should let it go. Should flake easily when done.

I'm pretty sure the second time the hubs made this one, he might have spiced up the seasonings bowl. It's so easy to do. So add some garlic powder if you're a garlic fan, or maybe some onion. Or a multi-seasoning.

Smokey Potato Chowder

We got this recipe courtesy of the best man from our wedding. It wasn't his recipe, but a woman from his family.

Ingredients

6-8 large potatoes

1 quart milk

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

2 tsp liquid hickory smoke

1 can cheddar cheese soup or 1 1/2 cups cubed Velveeta

8-10 sausage links, cooked

onion (dried or fresh, to taste)

salt & white pepper

Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Put into large saucepan, cover with water and cook until tender by still slightly firm. While potatoes are cooking,k put milk into wuart har with flour and shake until blended. Drain water off potatoes. Put potatoes back on low heat. Stir in butter, being careful not to mash the potato cubes. Pour in milk. Add cheddar cheese soup, rinse soup can with milk. Sti careful until well blended. Season with salt, white pepper, onion, and liquid smoke to your own tastes. Stir often to keep milk from sticking to bottom. Cut cooked sausage links into slices and add to soup. Heat until milk has thickened. Taste for any additionla seasonings needed. More milk may be added if soup is too thick or more flour may be stirred in it too thin.

I doubt we stay to these directions to staunchly, so feel free to vary where you want to. It's a great soup, nice flavor, and really comforting on a cold day.

Mint Chocolate Brownies

I made these by request for our church choir. They ended up being really simple and so delicious. Really. They're so good. I was so glad we had leftovers!

Ingredients

1 box brownie mix

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered)
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or mint)
dash green food coloring (or any color of desire)
Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup butter
6 oz chocolate chips

Bake brownie mix according to directions on box. Cool completely. In a mixing bowl, combine frosting ingredients; beat until creamy. Spread frosting over cooled brownies. For glaze, melt chocolate chips and butter; stir until smooth. Spread over frosting. Refrigerate for 20 min or until filling and glaze are set.

Then enjoy! (Seriously, they're so amazing. Wishing I had a brownie mix right now...)

Alfredo Pizza

We got this courtesy of Aaron's brother Jared.

Ingredients

1 loaf french or Artisan bread
1 can Alfredo sauce
1 lb. pork sausage
2 halves different colored sweet bell peppers, chopped
½ sweet onion, chopped
1 can fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cups shredded cheese (yellow or white, whatever you like better)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook and drain sausage. Add peppers, onion and mushrooms to sausage. Sautee for a 3-5 minutes. (adjust time depending on how cooked you like your veggies) Add Alfredo sauce. Simmer 1 minute. Cut the bread lengthwise, then into desired chunks from there. (We generally make ours pretty big, but with kids, you might make some smaller) Lay cut side face up on baking sheet and cover bread with sauce. Cover sauce with cheese. Warm in oven to melt cheese and warm bread, 10-12 minutes.

You can see with this one, we used a white cheese, the sauce is more of a tannish color. Anyhow, we've used cheddar too and it works great too. Sometimes we like to sprinkle some parmesan ontop before baking too. It adds a nice flavor.

Peanut Butter Snack Balls

This recipe is courtesy of my mom. I've had it forever, but hadn't ever tried it. It's super easy and fast.

Ingredients

1 cup dry milk powder

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

Mix everything together and roll into balls. You do not have to bake this. I'm not usre how man it makes, but mak ehte balls about the size of a walnut, so they are about 2 bites.

I probably made mine bigger than she recommended. They were more like 2 adult bites. They're really simple and I don't remember having any left over, so they must've been a hit!

Beef and Bean Stir Fry

This one came from Reader's Digest. Unfortunately I partially botched the recipe a bit. But it wasn't irreparable. I just don't doubt that it could've tasted way better than it did.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb. boneless beef top loin steak, trimmed of fat and cut in thin strips (I used ground beef. Not too fancy, I know.)

2 gloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger (I didn't use fresh ginger, but ground)

2 carrots, thinly diagonally sliced

3 1/2 cups brooli florest (8 oz.)

6 green onions, cut in long thin strips (I'm pretty sure I didn't have any. Don't recall if I substituted with yellow onions or not.)

1/4 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed, or orange juice (Here's where I messed up. I put the whole container of concentrate, then when I realized, tried to scoop some back out. Needless to say, ours was a bit heavy on the orange flavor.)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 15-oz. can cannellini beans

In 12-inch skillet with flared sides or a large wok heat 1 tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef, garlic, and ginger until beef is browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from skillet. Heat remaining oil. Add carrots and broccoli; cook and stir 3 minutes. Add green onions; cook 1 minute more.

Add orange juice concentrate, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper; toss to coat. Add cooked beef and beans; cook until heated through.

We serve with rice. Although the flavor was a bit off, I still recall enojoying it and know that if I followed the recipe better (and added green onions) it would be even better. Perhaps one of you can cook it properly and let us know? :)

Mini Pies

This was a random creation. We had a container of pie filling, but it was partially used, and I'm not one to just eat pie filling. So I decided to try and make little mini pies. These two came out best. My biggest problem was adding too much filling, which made them messy.

Ingredients

Any pie filling of your choice

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup cold water

Sift flour with salt. Combine oil and water in measuring cup. Beat rapidly with fork until thick and creamy. Pour over flour, all at one time. Toss and cut with fork until blended. Form into ball, divide dough in half. Form into balls. Roll between sheets of waxed paper to 1/8 inch thickness. Remove top paper. Cut out desired size shape for pies. Use any bowl as stencil and cut around it. Put a small amount of filling into center, and cover with another circle shaped pie crust piece. Seal edges with fork, pierce top for venting. Bake according to pie filling instructions.

These were really fun to make and pretty darn simple if you're familiar with making pie crust. Of course, you can always substitute a homemade crust with some from the store. And you can cut the pie crust recipe in half if you don't have a lot of the filling, or use a full recipe for most of a can full.

Garden Fresh Quesadilla

This was a random creation I made last summer whilst enjoying the fresh yumminess out of the in-laws garden. I don't recall if the tomatoes were garden fresh. I don't think so, but the asparagus and spinach were. This was so delish, I can't wait til next summer so I can make it again!

Ingredients

1 handful of fresh spinach

1-2 stalks of asparagus (depending on your supply and desire)

1 roma tomato (again, use as much as you want)

one warm quesadilla (I bet you all know how to make that)

1 tsp. Oregano

1 tsp. Onion powder

1 tsp. Garlic powder

Chop your asparagus and tomato. Put in a pan with seasonings. Cook to desired doneness. After washing fresh spinach, layer on plate and put quesadilla ontop. Put freshly cooked garden veggies ontop. Enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Made it a few times last summer. It's easy to tweak and change per your liking. Perhaps this will inspire some of you to garden!

Fish in a Pouch

This is one of Emeril's recipes. I think it's really flavorful, so we enjoy it. And the butter mixture gives you a nice amount of sauce when it's done so you can mix it in with your rice, if you eat it with rice.

Ingredients

1 stick butter, room temp
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
4 (8 oz.) white fish fillets
2 tsp. Baby Bam

Preheat oven to 375. In a small mixing bowl, combine the butter, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, garlic, salt and white pepper. Use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients well until smooth. Season each fillet with ½ tsp. of the Baby Bam. Lay each fillet in the center of a piece of aluminum foil and spoon 2 tbsp. of the compound butter over the top of the fish. Seal aluminum foil pockets. Lay pouches on a baking sheet and place in oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove and watch out for steam when opening packets.

It took me a few tries to master the butter compound business and not burning myself with steam opening these up. But it's a super flavorful fish, and we definitely enjoy it!

PB&J

I know... there's nothing really exciting about good ol' peanut butter and jam.  But I saw this idea in a magazine and thought I'd share.  I used a cookie cutter to cut out the bear and then did the heart shape with a small knife.  (I've added "small heart cookie cutter" to my list of things I want.)  The kids thought it was fun.

Cheez-it Chicken

This recipe came from a good friend's mom.  I'm not sure if she made it up or got it from somewhere, but we it's really simple and we all liked it.  

Ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Cheez-Its

Sour Cream

 Directions:

Put your Cheez-Its in a food processor or blender and run until they're coarse crumbs.   Put sour cream on one plate and the Cheez-Its on another.  Dip each chicken piece in sour cream and then the Cheez-Its, making sure to coat all sides.  Cook at 350 for 1 hour.

The taste of the chicken and Cheez-Its together was unexpectedly fun.  Next time, though, I think I'll use chicken tenders or nuggets instead of the breasts so there's more cheezy goodness in each bite.  If you do use smaller pieces, adjust your cooking time since they'll cook faster.