HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

In honor of Matt's birthday tomorrow (Sunday), I'm posting three recipes. The first one is Orange Chip Scones and they are amazing! I have some baking right now and the house smells soooo good. The other two are recipes from my new friend Lilliana from Mexico. She came in the store the other day and we swapped recipes. Enjoy and Happy Birthday Matt, we love you!

Orange Chip Scones (but more like cookies)
4 c flour
1 c sugar
4 tsp baking soda
1 c mini chocolate chips
1 Tbsp grated orange peel
1 c butter cut into pieces and softened
1 c buttermilk
3 eggs
1 tsp orange extract
1 Tbsp milk

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soday and salt. Add chocolate chips and orange peel; mex well. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Combine butter milk, 2 eggs, and orange extract in small bowl. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture; mix just until a sticky dough is formed. Do not overmix. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Combine remaining egg and milk in small bowl. Brush egg mixture over top of dough. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool. Drizzle with icing: 2 c powdered sugar, 1/4 c orange jui8ce, 1 Tbsp grated orange peel, 1 tsp orange extract. Mix until smooth and drizzle over top of cooled scones!

Pico de Gallo

10 tomatoes
1 can corn (drained)
1 can black beans
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 med onion chopped
juice of 2-3 limes

Chop up the tomatoes, cilantro and onion. Stir all ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips.

Guacamole

5 avocados, smashed
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
juice of 1 lime
dash of oregano, salt and pepper

Mix together and eat with tortilla chips.

Two recipes from mom

Mom has been sending my recipes so I'm going to post two of them here today.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 C. flour

4-6 med green tomatoes, sliced ½ inch thick

1 egg beaten

¼ C milk

1 C seasoned dry bread crumbs

3 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp cooking oil

Combine sugar & flour. Place on a shallow plate. Dip both sides of each tomato slice into the mixture. Combine egg & milk & dip each tomato slice in liquid; then dip in bread crumbs. In a skillet heat butter & oil and fry until brown but firm.

SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN

Cut chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Dip into cornstarch then into beaten egg. Fry until golden brown. Drain well on paper towels. Place on cookie sheet. Pour sauce over chicken. Bake 350 for 1 hour. Turn occasionally.

SAUCE

¾ c sugar

½ c white vinegar

4 Tbsp catsup

¼ C chicken stock

1 Tbsp soy sauce

Dash salt

Heat in sauce pan until sugar is dissolved

Southwestern Eggrolls

Well, here they are...the best superbowl appetizers you'll ever make or eat!

Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls

Posted by: Wildhare 09-08-99 4:49 PM

Top Secret Recipes version of Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls

1 chicken breast fillet
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1/3 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons diced, canned jalapeno peppers
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
five 7-inch flour tortillas


Avocado-Ranch Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup smashed, fresh avocado (about half of an avocado)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
dash dried dill weed
dash garlic powder
dash pepper


Garnish:
2 tablespoons chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped onion


Preheat barbecue grill to high heat.

Rub chicken breast with some vegetable oil then grill it on barbecue for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Lightly salt and pepper each side of chicken while it cooks. Set chicken aside until it cools down enough to handle.

Preheat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a medium-size skillet over medium-high heat. Add red pepper and onion to pan and sauté for a couple minutes until tender.

Dice cooked chicken into small cubes and add it to pan. Add corn, black beans, spinach, jalapeno peppers, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne pepper to pan. Cook for another 4 minutes; stir well so that spinach separates and is incorporated into mixture. Remove pan from heat and add cheese; stir until cheese is melted.

Wrap tortillas in a moist cloth and microwave on high temperature for 1 1/2 minutes or until hot.

Spoon approximately one-fifth of mixture into center of a tortilla. Fold in ends and then roll tortilla over mixture. Roll tortilla very tight, then pierce with a toothpick to hold together. Repeat with remaining ingredients until you have five eggrolls.

Arrange eggrolls on a plate, cover plate with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

While eggrolls freeze prepare avocado-ranch dipping sauce by combining all of ingredients in a small bowl.

Preheat 4-6 cups of oil to 375 degrees.

Deep fry eggrolls in hot oil for 12-15 minutes and remove to paper towels or a rack to drain for about 2 minutes. Slice each eggroll diagonally lengthwise and arrange on a plate around a small bowl of dipping sauce.

Garnish dipping sauce with chopped tomato and onion.

Serves 3-4.

Comment on Recipe

Matt called me tonight and said they had made the Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup recipe and it was wonderful! I can't wait to try that one. I'm too tired tonight to post more recipes but in the morning I'm putting up some that would be good for the superbowl. We had a class at work tonight with chef Philip Cardon and he made some wonderful stuff! Can't wait for Feb. 1 now!!

Olive Garden, Baby!

Oh my goodness, I just ran across a great website! It's part of the Olive Garden website and they share some of the Olive Garden recipes! I'm stoked. I was browsing the site because I want to go there for dinner tonight but wanted to check the menu and prices...I was thinking, "man, I wish I knew how to make some of this stuff, it would be so much more cost effective" when I saw the link for recipes. I'm including it here for you as well. Happy eating!

http://www.olivegarden.com/recipes/featured_recipe/

Kooky Cookies

This is a great cookie recipe. You could even add chocolate chips if you wanted to.

1 c vegetable oil
1 c butter, softened
1 c white sugar
1 c packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c cornflakes
1 c rolled oats
1 c chopped walnuts
1 c unsweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Beat butter and sugars until fluffy. SLowly add oil and beat until oil is well incorporated. Add egg and vanilla and beat to mix.
In a small bowl, combine flour, soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and stir just until mixed. Combine corn flakes, oatmeal, nuts and coconut and add to cookie mixture; mix just until combined.
Use a cookie scoop to produce consistently sized cookies, but you can drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, if you don't have a scoop. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. You can also form the dough into balls and freeze them to bake at a later time. Yummy!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada's and Reneka's Salad

Mom sent me some recipe's today so I'm going to post two of them. I think the salad would go great with the enchiladas! Thanks Mom!

SOUR CREAM CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

2 cans cream chicken soup

3/4 C milk

1-4oz can mild green chilies chopped

1- 16oz container sour cream

1 bunch green scallions

2 tbsp instant chicken boullion granules dissolved in ¼ C hot water

3 chicken breasts cooked

1 Dz tortillas

1 lb grated cheese

Cook in 300 degree oven for 45 min. Add cheese the last 15 min

RENEKA’S SALAD

1 small package baby spinach

1 lb bacon cooked and crumbled

1 pkg sliced mushrooms

1 ½ C grated Swiss cheese

4 or 5 red onion rings

DRESSING

1 TBSP poppy seed

½ C rice vinegar

1 C olive oil

½ c sugar

½ tsp dry mustard

¼ C chopped up red onions

Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup

Oops! I forgot to post yesterday. Sorry, so busy. Today's recipe comes from an online friend of mine and I haven't tried it but it sounds intriguing. I'm thinking it's a good Super Bowl recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup

1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 cup (4 Tbs) butter
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
14 oz. Can chicken broth
2 cups cooked & diced chicken (1 used 3 breast)
4 oz. Velveeta cheese
1/4 to ½ cup Franks Red Hot or Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce
1/4 cup sour cream
Bleu Cheese Crumbles (if desired)

Cook onion and celery in butter until tender, stir in flour. SLOWLY whisk in milk and chicken broth. Add chicken. Add velveeta and stir until melted. Add hot sauce, sour cream and sprinkle with bleu cheese to your taste preference. Cook low, stirring constantly until heated through and bleu cheese is melted. SERVE!

This make enough for about 4 people. It is a big hit and the pot is usually scraped clean.

You may use rotisserie chicken from the grocery store if desired.

Strawberries!

Well, this isn't the background I wanted but it will do for now. Send more recipes everyone! I think when it gets close to a holiday or special occasion, I'll ask for recipes for that theme, for instance, Super Bowl is the beginning of February so the week prior to that, we'll post appetizers for the game. Well, off I go to fix lemon chicken for the kids and I then it's downstairs for the season premier of American Idol and Marshmellow Brownies!

Patience

OK, I am trying to find a cuter template to use for the blog. My favorite free template website is down, so for now, it will just be this plain one.

Gorilla Poop Cookies

Remember these? They are an old family favorite, partly because of the name and mostly because they are filled with peanut butter, chocolate, oatmeal goodness! P.S. I usually double this recipe.

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal

Mix sugar, cocoa, peanut butter, milk and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a full boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in oatmeal and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls onto waxed paper and let cool. Best when eaten with a nice cold glass of milk!

Love ya all!

Coconut and Ginger Chicken Strips

Today's recipe comes from Matt and Holli. I wish they were closer so I could sample some of this goodness from their kitchen!

Matt says:

We made this the other night and it was really good. I thought it would be blog worthy. If you don't like curry you can leave it out. I would recommend leaving the curry out of the chicken or the sauce. Curry in both was a little too much for me. Also I would like to request a recipe to be added to the blog, Josh's avocado salsa that he got from Maria from work. I have been wanting to make that for a while.

Coconut and Ginger Chicken Strips

Ingredients

1/3 Cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. crushed pineapple with juice*

1 Tsp. ground ginger, divided

3/4 Tsp. curry powder, divided (optional)

3/4 Cup flaked coconut

3 Tbsp. plain dry breadcrumbs

1/2 Tsp. ground red pepper or cayenne

1 Pkg. fresh chicken tenders (about 14 oz.)

2 Tbsp. honey

1 Tsp. lemon juice or orange juice

Directions

In small bowl blend sour cream, pineapple, 1/4 teaspoon of the ginger and 1/4 teaspoon of the curry powder, if desired. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In blender or food processor, combine coconut, breadcrumbs, remaining 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon curry (if desired) and cayenne. Pulse to blend. Place in shallow dish; set aside.

Sprinkle chicken tenders with salt, if desired. Cut tenders in half crosswise. Blend honey and lemon juice in separate shallow dish. Coat chicken pieces in honey and then in coconut mixture. Place on baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink (170°F).

Serve chicken with sour cream sauce.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Today's recipe comes from Aunt Sandy. She gave it to me on New Years Eve when we were up at Kim's for the night. I've heard of this recipe for a long time but was never able to find one so imagine my excitement when Aunt Sandy gave me this one! Enjoy, I can't wait to try them.

Sauce:
1/4 c evaporated milk
2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
12 ozs. grape jelly
1 bottle chili sauce
pepper to taste

Mix well and heat. Can use a crockpot. Add meatballs, stir to coat. Simmer till hot.

Tip: if you buy one bag of meatballs at Costco, you would use 1/2 bag for 1 recipe of this sauce!

Bacon Wrapped Hillshire Farm 'lil Smokies

This is awesome that you did this Deb! I do have one that you can post. Its from Jeff's Mom. She makes these little weenies every Christmas Eve. I finally made them on New Years Eve for our party, here at the house, and boy did they go fast!! So here it is... Bacon Wrapped Hillshire Farm lil Smokies. 1 pkg. Hillshire Farm lil smokies 1 pkg. Bacon 1/2 cup brown sugar Toothpicks Slice bacon in thirds, and wrap the bacon around the weenies, then use the toothpick to hold them together. Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray with pam. Put the smokies in the pan lined up and sprinkle them with brown sugar. Cook at 350 for an hour After they are cooked, I put them in a slow cooker on low heat, to keep them warm. They are soo yummy!! Enjoy! (Rule of thumb, 1 pkg. of bacon is equal to 1 pkg. lil smokies. And 1 batch is NEVER enough! ) :-)

Dried Cranberry Balsamic Chicken Breasts!

This is soooo good. It's easy and did I mention good. It's a Coats favorite ;)


Dried cranberry Balsamic Chicken Breasts


Ingredients
1 Tbsp. flour
1/2 Tsp. dried basil leaves
1/2 Tsp. salt
1/4 Tsp. pepper
4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, divided
1/2 Small onion, halved and sliced
1/3 Cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 Cup chopped dried cranberries



Directions:
Combine flour, basil, salt and pepper in large resealable plastic bag; shake to mix well. Add chicken. Seal and shake to coat; set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts. Place onion around edges of chicken. Cook chicken 4 minutes per side to lightly brown; stir onion occasionally.

Pour broth and vinegar around chicken. Add cranberries to pan. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 4 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 170°F. Remove chicken to platter; cover to keep warm.

Increase heat until mixture bubbles; cook 2 to 4 minutes to reduce liquid, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; stir in remaining 1 tablespoon) butter until blended. Serve chicken with sauce, spinach salad and hot crusty bread, if desired.

Taquito Enchiladas

I'm posting three recipes today. The first two are from Matt and Holli and the last one is from Wendy. I hope you're all enjoying these!


matt and i have a recipe that is super easy that we love.... we are both pretty excited about your blog! i'm sure we will have more recipes!

Taquito Enchiladas

Matt and I make this when we need something that is easy to make and requires little prep time.

1 can enchilada sauce (we prefer green enchilada sauce, but red also works)

1 1/2 c cheese

1 box frozen taquitos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place frozen taquitos in a single layer in a greased casserole dish. Pour enchilada sauce over the top and cover with cheese. Bake 20-30 minutes or until taquitos are heated all the way through. Serve with sour cream and VOILA! A delicious dish!

Cherry Chocolate Cake

This recipe is from Holli's friend Spencer. It's easy and tastes great! Enjoy

1 box devils food cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling
1 container cool whip
oil, eggs and water as directed on back of cake mix box

Follow directions on the box for the cake mix, but omit 1/3 of the water (or something close to it). After it is mixed, stir in the can of cherry pie filling. Bake at directed temperature. Cake generally has to bake longer because of the cherries, usually 30-45 minutes depending on cake mix brand and your own oven. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean of batter. Let cool, then frost generously with cool whip. This cake is better if it is refrigerated before serving.

Grandma Behrmann's Coffee Cake

Everyone loves this breakfast delight. The best part about it is that it's so easy to make and sooo delicious! Enjoy

1 1/2 c sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter (melt 1 cube and save the rest for later in the recipe)
3 beaten eggs
Mix these together and add:
3 tsp. baking powder
3 c flour
1 1/2 c milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix until smooth and pour into greased 9X13 inch cake pan. Over the top pour:

3/4 c brown sugar mixed with 2 Tbsp. cinnamon, then pour melted butter over top. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until center is done. Dave like to put butter on it after it's cooked.