Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Perfect dinner

I've never made salmon before, so when I found a simple salmon recipe, I decided to try it. When I went to the store to get salmon, I found something just as great and it was cheaper! It was vacuum sealed frozen salmon in a bag. It was fresh and I decided to try it to see if there was a huge difference in taste. It had been sitting in my freezer since the 14th, and tonight was the night to try it. I ended up not using the salmon recipe I found and just did my own thing.
I got it out, and decided to bake it because that meant no defrosting. I put some foil on a cookie sheet, put some olive oil on the foil, and placed the salmon (skin side down), on the foil. I baked it at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes. Next time, I will loosely wrap the salmon in foil, so it is less dry on top. It was still perfectly fine, but a little dry on top. I did not season it at all, and ended up just sprinkling a little garlic salt on top.
I made some pasta and asparagus as well, it was lovely.

Pasta sauce
Ingredients
Pasta of your choice (I used penne)
1 1/4 cup Heavy whipping cream/chicken broth
1/4 cup pesto
1 clove garlic
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Cook the pasta, drain.
2. Melt butter in a pan, add garlic. Once melted, add whipping cream.
3. Add pesto and parmesan cheese.
4. Stir in pasta and mix.
5. All done!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tapioca Puddin

My husband got his wisdom teeth out last week and one of his requests was that I make tapioca pudding. I had never made it before and thought it felt funny, so I was nervous to make it because I just thought it was weird. I took on the task, got everything I needed at the store, which ended up only being the tapioca and some whole milk.

Ingredients
1/2 cup quick tapioca
1/2 cup white sugar
3 cups whole milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
1. Add the tapioca, sugar and milk to a saucepan. Stir at medium heat until boiling. Lower the temperature to low, while stirring about 5 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup of the milk to the beaten eggs 2 Tablespoons at a time. Add slowly back into the tapioca.
3. Continue stirring until thick enough to coat a spoon.
4. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir. Eat while warm, or place in a container and eat it cold. It's good either way.

Ingredients

Sugar, Tapioca and Milk

Before adding the egg

It's all done, coated the spoon!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Chicken and Rice

The easy version...I love chicken and rice. My mom used to make it, but it was in the oven. Of course, there is nothing wrong with cooking it in the oven, just sometimes...I like things fast. :)
What ever chicken you have, use it! This recipe is simple and my own. It took me 30 minutes from start to finish. I used chicken thighs, because it's all the chicken I had. Our store has them in monster packages, so I cooked it all and saved about half so I can make chicken fried rice with peas tomorrow.

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
Chicken, however much or little you want to use.
Cream of mushroom soup (I used Campbells 98% fat free)
Rice (I used 2 boil in a bag)
Water
Salt
Garlic (if you want)

Directions
1. Cook the chicken until done.
2. Cook the rice. Boil in a bag takes 9 minutes. Place it in the water, and boil.
3. Empty the soup, plus a can of water into a saucepan.
4. Add the chicken and the rice when they are done, stir while it heats.
5. Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, and 2 cloves of garlic. The garlic salt and garlic cloves are your choice...I really enjoy garlic, so I added it, and it tasted yummy.

Cook the chicken...ignore the pan please! I had cooked other chicken before.

Boil the rice

And, voila!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Baked Penne

This recipe uses the Philadelphia Cooking Creme: Italian Cheese & Herb. I used the Santa Fe Style before with Fajitas and it was so good, I wanted to try some other recipes with the new Cooking Cremes. I found this on the Philadelphia cream cheese website, along with some others I will post as soon as I make them. There are a couple recipes on the Cooking Creme containers too!

I used ground venison, and did not cover the pan. I couldn't even tell the difference from venison to ground beef and not covering the pan was perfectly fine. This meal was great, and would be perfect for kids! You can't even tell there is bell pepper or onion.

There are pictures of my process after the directions. Happy eating! :)

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes    Ready in: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup extra lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chopped onions
  • 1/2 cup chopped green peppers (about half a bell pepper)
  • 1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1 (10 ounce) tub PHILADELPHIA Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme, divided
  • 1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
  • 3 cups hot cooked penne pasta

  • Directions:
  • 1. Heat oven to 350F.
  • 2. Chop onion and green bell pepper.
  • 3. Brown meat with veggies.
  • 4.  Stir in spaghetti sauce, 3/4 cup cooking creme and 1/2 cup mozzarella: cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until mozzarella is melted. Add pasta; mix lightly.
  • 5. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole; top with remaining cooking creme and mozzarella. Cover.
  • 6. Bake 20 min. or until heated through, uncovering after 15 min.

Ingredients needed

Browning the meat with the veggies

Finished


Sunday, April 17, 2011

Chicken Pesto Pizza

I am always looking for new pizza recipes, and I found this one on what else, but AllRecipes! I love chicken and artichoke, so I had to try this one out. I just bought a Bertolli pizza crust, but next time I will probably make my own. It's so simple, and very yummy!

Prep Time: 10 minutes      Cook Time: 10 minutes       Ready In: 20 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients
1/2 cups pesto basil sauce
1 (12 inch) pre-baked pizza crust
2 cups cooked chicken breast strips
1 (6 ounce) jar artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Spread the pesto over the pizza crust. Arrange the chicken pieces and artichoke hearts over the sauce, and sprinkle with the cheese.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese is melted and lightly browned at the edges.

Pesto with artichokes
After adding the cheese

After baking and cutting

Pretzels!

Better than mall pretzels

So, I made pretzels today for mine and my husbands movie day. They were great and much better than the mall or movie pretzels. I find it's always better to make your own of something than buy it, if you have the time. :) This was my first time making pretzels, but I had heard awesome things about this recipe, so I had to try it out. I try a lot of new recipes from AllRecipes and then make them my own with a few changes. Here's my recipe:

Prep Time: 2 hours            Cook Time: 12 minutes               Ready in: 2 hours 12 minutes           Servings: 8-12

Ingredients
4 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packets)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup baking soda
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

Directions
1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let it stand until creamy, around 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp towel, place in the oven (it should be off), and let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
4. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all the dough is shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 8-12 minutes, until browned.
before baking

All finished


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Marshmallow chocolate chip pie

This one is quick to make, but takes awhile to set. It is worth it in the end though, it tastes like a s'more in pie form!


Prep time: 30 minutes
Ready in: 13 hours

Ingredients

  • 16 graham crackers, crushed
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 30 large marshmallows
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup hot milk
  • 1/2 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate, grated

Directions

  1. Mix crushed graham crackers with butter or margarine. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this mixture for the top of the pie. Press remaining mixture in pie pan.
  2. Cook milk and marshmallows in a double boiler until marshmallows are melted.
  3. Cool marshmallow mixture. Fold in whipped cream, and add grated chocolate.
  4. Pour chocolate marshmallow mixture into graham cracker pie shell, and put reserved crumbs on top. 
  5. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Melting the marshmallows
Finished pie with homemade graham cracker crust

Friday, April 8, 2011

Yummy homemade Chinese!

I found this recipe on another blog called Amber's Delectable Delights. While browsing through recipes one day, I came across this one and it seemed just as appealing to my husband as it did to me. I have made this dish 3 times since I found the recipe, it's really that good! I have made a few alterations, because I didn't have any cornstarch, and it still turns out great. The first time I made it, I only had brown rice on hand, so I did a brown fried rice, since then I've done white fried rice. They are both really good.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

-Makes 4-6 servings-

Chicken
1 pkg of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (they usually come in a LB to LB and a half packages)
1 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c oil

Wash, and cut up the chicken to bite size pieces. Salt and pepper the flour, then drop the chicken pieces in to coat. Once all pieces are coated, put in the eggs to get wet. Heat the oil and put the chicken in the pan. Brown both sides, but not cooked through, then place in a baking dish.

Sauce
1/4 c ketchup
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c vinegar
1 Tbl soy sauce
1 teas garlic salt

In a skillet, heat up all sauce ingredients until somewhat thickened. Pour over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes. This helps the chicken breast stay moist. Serve with rice, plain or fried.

cooking the chicken

The sauce all ready to go

Chicken ready to be sauced
Finished product!
Update to add more pictures...

Fried Rice

This is my simple recipe for fried rice, enjoy!

Fried Rice

Lately I've been using boil in a bag rice, but use whatever you have on hand.
1 bag of rice, cook as directed

3 eggs, beaten
1/4 c oil
salt and pepper
1 Tbls soy sauce

Heat oil on medium heat. Add eggs and scramble. Add rice, then soy sauce. Mix and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Homemade shamrock shake

I always hear friends talking about shamrock shakes from McDonalds, but I've never had one, and probably never will. I like to make my own shakes! Here is my recipe for a minty green goodness that I call shamrock.

Shamrock Shake
2 scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4-1/2 cup milk (depends on how chunky you want it)
10 mint cookies
green food coloring (add as much as you'd like to make the green you desire

Blend everything to your desired consistency, and then enjoy!



Love to cook, bake and make new things!

I have started this blog to chronicle all recipes I've tried and liked. I usually get my recipes from old things my mom used to make, but now I've started getting recipes from here, and I just found this blog that I've started looking for new recipes as well. I have found some really great recipes and will be happy to share them all with everyone who reads.

Please leave comments if you try the recipe and have feedback, anything is appreciated! :)