Cheese Bread

This is a great recipe to make when you want some extra special bread to go with your meal. Goes great with lasagna, spaghetti, or any soup! The recipe is originally from my Grandma and is made with Kraft Roka Cheese spread. Since I have a hard time finding this cheese spread at some of the stores I shop at, I have come up with my own variation. Of course the original is still my favorite but this variation is pretty delicious, too! It is normally spread onto sliced French Bread but the last time I made it I used some leftover Kaiser Rolls cut in half. And you normally will want to spread each piece much more generously than I did in this picture!



Cheese Bread

1/2 pound (2 sticks) softened butter
1 (4 oz.) jar Kraft Roka Cheese Spread

Mix together and spread generously on slices of French Bread. Place on cookie sheet and put under the broiler until lightly brown and bubbly. Keep a close eye on them as they brown quickly!

Variation:
1 stick butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

Mix together and proceed as above.

Confetti Salad

I found this recipe in the July/August 2008 Family Fun Magazine. It was very tasty and colorful! I didn't make the homemade ranch dressing but I'm sure it would be good. I just used some Light Ranch dressing. I also substituted cucumber for zucchini since I didn't have any at the time. Another addition I added was a can of rinsed garbanzo beans. The kids loved that it was served in the pepper rings! They thought it was so fancy! I think this salad would be delicious stuffed in tomatoes, too!



Confetti Salad

1 cup couscous
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4 cup diced zucchini (I used 1 cucumber)
3/4 cup diced red bell pepper
3/4 cup fresh corn kernels, from about 2 ears (I used frozen corn)
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch-tall rings (I used a green bell pepper)

Ranch Dressing:
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1/8 tsp. salt, or more to taste

Measure the couscous into a medium bowl. Stir in the boiling water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside until the water is absorbed (about 10 minutes). Fluff the couscous with a fork and then let it cool to room temp.

Add the zucchini, bell pepper, corn, celery, and parsley to the couscous and toss the mixture well. (I also added a can of rinsed garbanzo beans here.)

Make the dressing by combining the buttermilk, sour cream, vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl and vigorously whisking the mixture. Stir in the chives and the salt.

Pour enough dressing over the couscous and vegetables to coat them lightly, then toss them again. Season the salad with salt and pepper, as you like. Place a pepper ring on each serving plate and fill it with the salad. Serves 4-6.

Pasta Salad

This is your traditional pasta salad... my family loves it. This was for a 4th of July side dish, but we like to add chicken to make it a main dish.

1 package of noodles (rotini or penne are my favorite)
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 small can of olives, sliced
1 handful or two of shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan
parsley flakes
house Italian dressing

cook the noodles, drain and rinse under cold water until cool. add noodles, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and shredded cheese. toss with dressing. add parmesean and parsley flakes to your taste. If you use chicken I use about 3 breasts just cut up and cooked in the house italian, and add it before I toss it all with the dressing.

Bacon Cheese Topped Chicken

I found this chicken recipe a few years ago and thought it sounded like a type of chicken breast you would get in a restaurant. When I tried it, I was right! It is so delicious and yes, very high in fat and calories. The chicken is marinated in a honey-Dijon sauce and then basted with it before it cooks with all the cheeses, bacon, and mushrooms on top of it. To save some time, I used mushrooms from a can, pre-shredded Mexican blend cheese, and I pre-cooked the bacon on a plate in the microwave to avoid more mess.

1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
4-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dash paprika
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
8 bacon strips, partially cooked
2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

In a bowl, combine the mustard, honey, 1-1/2 teaspoons oil and lemon juice. Pour 1/2 cup into a large resealable plastic bag; add the chicken. Seal the bag and turn to coat: refrigerate for 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate the remaining marinade.

Drain and discard the marinade from chicken. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the chicken in remaining oil on all sides. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika. Transfer to a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish.

In the same skillet, saute the mushrooms in butter until tender. Spoon reserve marinade over chicken. Top with cheeses and mushrooms. Place bacon strips in a crisscross patter over chicken. Bake, uncovered at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 4 servings

Fondants au chocolat

Ingrédients :

100 grammes + 8 carrés de chocolat patissier

3 oeufs

80 g. de sucre

50 g. de beurre

1 cuillère à soupe de farine

Faire fondre les 100 grammes de chocolat et ajouter le beurre.

Dans un saladier mélanger les oeufs, le sucre et la farine.

Incorporer le chocolat et mélanger.

Remplir les ramequins au 3/4, ajouter 2 carrés de chocolat et recouvrir avec le reste de la préparation.

Four 180-200°C.

Faire cuire environ 15 minutes et démouler tiède.

Bon appétit !

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Ingredients:

4 ounces + 8 squares of chocolate
3 eggs
1/3 cup of sugar
¼ cup of butter
1 tbsp of flour

Melt the 4 ounces of chocolate and add butter.
In a salad bowl, mix eggs, sugar and flour.
Then add the chocolate and mix.
Fill up ramekins ¾ , add 2 squares of chocolate and cover up with the rest of the preparation.
Bake at 374 about 15 minutes and turn out lukewarm.

Enjoy!

Cinnabun Cake

I found this recipe recently on the Sisters Cafe blog and have made it a couple of times. It is sooooo delicious. It takes just like a real, frosted, gooey, buttery cinnamon roll. I made it for our family and for a birthday brunch for a friend's birthday. Everyone who has tasted it loves it! It's one of our new favorites!
Cinnabun Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ cups milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 T. butter, melted

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 T. flour
1 T. cinnamon
2/3 cups nuts, optional

2 cups powdered sugar
5 T. milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In an electric or stand mixer mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix the 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center.
Place powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Fiesta Pasta Salad

As you can tell I'm on a salad kick right now. Nothing better during the summer in my opinion! This is our most favorite salad of all time. We could live off this stuff. It's nice to have a pasta salad that is flavored with something other than Italian dressing. You could also add cooked or canned chicken to this recipe. I never have. We like it so much without. The dressing is what really makes this recipe. I ended up changing the oil and vinegar amounts to 1/3 c. instead of the 1/2 c. Taste it and add a little at a time until you have your own perfect combination! So yummy! Our family can almost eat the entire bowl in one sitting!


Fiesta Pasta Salad

Dressing:
1 pkg Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch dip mix
1/2 c. oil (I use olive oil and I only use 1/3 c.)
1/2 c. vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar and only use 1/3 c.)

Salad:
1 bag garden rotini (colored spiral noodles)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can black olives, halved
2 -3 tomatoes, chopped (I like to use small grape tomatoes sliced.)
1 cup frozen corn
1 lb cooked, shredded chicken (about 1 ½ to 2 breasts), if desired

Mix dressing mix, oil, and vinegar in small bowl and set aside. Combine cooked pasta, beans, olives, tomatoes, and chicken in large bowl. Add dressing (to taste) and frozen corn about 20 minutes before serving. Be sure to toss again just before serving, as the dressing will seep to the bottom. Enjoy eating your little piece of heaven.

Orange Sesame Salad

I decided to try a new salad tonight and it was great! So refreshing and it had a great flavor! The kids all gobbled it up. The dressing is very mild so if you're looking for something with a little more kick you might want to taste it before you put it on the salad and doctor it up if you need to. To make it a main dish you could always add some cooked chicken or some garbanzo beans.



Orange Sesame Salad

1/2 pound vermicelli (or thin spaghetti), broken in half
1 1/2 cups snow peas, cut in half
1 small yellow summer squash, cut into thin strips
1 small zucchini, cut into thin strips
2/3 cup shredded carrots (I used my favorite Broccoli Cole Slaw mix instead)
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage
3 Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted if desired
Orange slices to garnish

Citrus-Sesame Dressing
1/4 c. fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. honey
4 Tbsp. rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil (this added a GREAT flavor! Found with the oriental foods like soy sauce and teriyaki sauce)
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c. olive oil (I only added half this amount. I'd probably add a little more orange juice next time to make up the difference.)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse pasta under cold running water and drain again.


In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, snow peas, summer squash, zucchini, carrots, and cabbage.


Combine the orange juice, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, and salt in blender and mix well. (Or you could whisk the mixture vigorously by hand.) Add the olive oil and blend.


Pour dressing over the pasta and vegetables to coat them lightly and toss. Just before serving top the salad with orange sections and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. Serves 6-8.

Cornmeal Waffles

These are some of our favorite waffles to make. We've been out of our whole wheat to grind into flour so we've been making this cornmeal variety a lot lately. We use our grinder to grind popcorn into fresh cornmeal and it makes such a difference! So fresh! They still turn out great even if you don't grind your own cornmeal though! Top with your favorite waffle topping. We enjoy the no sugar added flavored applesauce by Motts.

Cornmeal Waffles

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
3 eggs
3 cups milk (we use soy milk and have the same results)
1/4 c. oil (I usually reduce to 2 Tbsp. or omit entirely.)

Mix dry ingredients together. In separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and mix well. Bake on waffle griddle that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Homemade Play Dough

Although this recipe isn't for the eating...it is still a nice one to have! We've made a few batches recently and the boys have been having so much fun playing with it. We just put it in zip top plastic baggies and it stays nice and soft. Of course you could also let their creations air dry, too! It's so easy to just mix up another batch!




Homemade Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. cream of tarter


Cook in medium saucepan over medium heat stirring constantly. Heat until dough pulls from sides. Divide into smaller balls and add food color. *I usually place the dough in a plastic bag, add the drops of food color, and squeeze outside of bag to mix the color in. Much easier than stirring and not as messy as using your hands.

Brooke's Curry Chicken and Rice

Here is another one of our family favorites that I made up a few years ago. It's a recipe I tend to forget about but every time I make it the kids go crazy over it! They love it and I love having a different flavor! It can easily be adapted to a vegetarian recipe by leaving out the chicken, sour cream, and cooking with vegetable broth or water instead of chicken broth. We have tried it both ways and love it either way!



Brooke's Curry Chicken and Rice

1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
2-3 chicken breasts
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (I prefer cranberries)
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted (350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, stir often)
1/2 cup dry lentils
1-2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp. curry (microwave for 30 seconds to release flavor oils)
2 cups frozen peas and carrots
1 cup sour cream, if desired
salt and pepper to taste

Cook brown rice according to package directions. Cook lentils in separate pan according to directions. In a large skillet, sprinkle chicken with enough curry powder to cover. Add water about half way up chicken. Cover and cook about 10 minutes on each side if frozen or until done. Dice and set aside. In same skillet, add chicken broth, frozen peas and carrots, and 1-2 tsp. curry (microwave first). Add cooked rice and cooked lentils, chicken, and craisins. Salt and pepper as needed. Add more chicken broth or water if rice absorbs too much liquid. Add sour cream and serve with toasted almonds on top.

Aztec Couscous

Sorry, the picture is so blurry. We ate this with some salsa, and guacamole garnished steak. It was really good, especially if you like that cilantro and lime taste. I don't remember where I got the recipe from, but I've been carting it around ever since I had a couscous dish at the British Museum.

1 cup plain couscous
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
Mix together in a heatproof bowl. Pour 1 cup boiling water over couscous. Cover tightly and let sit until water is absorbed, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Toss In:
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/4 cup purple onion, finely chopped or minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped or minced
1 jalapeno, minced (I had to reduce this to 1/2 jalapeno so my kids would eat it)
Mix in :
1-2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
Serve warm or at room temperature.