Chili Dip

This might be one of the easiest dips ever (and slightly W.T. if you know what I mean), but I guarantee everyone is going to want the recipe. You can decide for yourself if you want to dilvulge the recipe.

Chili Dip

2-8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 15 oz can of chili, no beans
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
3-4 chopped green onions
Diced seeded tomato

Spread cream cheese in 8x8 baking dish, heat chili and pour over cream cheese, top with cheddar cheese.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
Top with onion and tomatoes and serve with tortilla or corn chips.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

A friend of mine recently asked me for this recipe and I had fogotten how much I liked it. It is super yummy and fairly good for you too.

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Cooking Light, Sept. 2000, pg. 133

2 cups (8 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
½ cup fat-free sour cream
¼ cup (1 oz) grated fresh parmesan cheese, divided
¼ tsp black pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
1 (8 oz) block 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
½ (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
Crackers or chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tbsp parmesan, & next 6 ingredients (through spinach) in a large bowl, and stir until well-blended. Spoon mixture into a 1 ½ quart baking dish. Sprinkle with ½ cup mozzarella and 2 tbsp parmesan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with crackers or chips.

Chicken Poppers

I don't make a lot of fried foods, but these are really good and one of our family's favorites. It was actually Sam's request for his first day of school special dinner. I always make extras because they are delicious leftover, even to eat cold out of the fridge.

Ingredients:
About 30 vanilla wafers, crushed finely
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
3/4 ground red pepper
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/3 cup flour, divided
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
5-6 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (boneless/skinless chicken tenders work great)
1 cup oil
Ranch dressing

1. Stir together first 4 ingredients and 1 cup of flour
2. Stir together milk and egg
3. Dredge chicken pieces in remaining 1/3 cup of flour, dip in egg mixture, dredge in wafer mixture
4. Pour oil in skillet. Heat to 375
5. Fry on each side until done and browned on outside
6. Drain on paper towels
7. Serve with ranch dressing

Pork Marinade

I found this on the internet a couple of weeks ago and we tried it last night. Super easy and everyone ate it (an important factor in all my recipes these days! ;)

Pork Marinade

* I used a pork tenderloin, but it would be good with pork chops, chicken breasts, or even beef

Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2-3 tablespoons lemon pepper seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions
1. In deep bowl mix all marinade ingredients.
2. Marinate at least 2 hours.
3. Remove from marinade and cook over medium heat on greased grill until done.

Snickerdoodles

I know, its shocking - I'm finally posting a recipe! I'm so sorry I haven't been on top of this, but I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your yummy new ideas.

I made these cookies last week and just had to post this today on the first day of school for so many of our little friends. My mom used to make Snickerdoodles on the first day of school every year, so it's a fun memory for me. You may all have a recipe for these, but I made them last week and got a little nostalgic, so here goes:

Mix together thoroughly...
1 cup soft shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Sift together and stir in...
2 3/4 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Chill dough for at least an hour. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in mixture of 2 Tbsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Place about 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned, but still soft (about 10 minutes.) Note: these cookies puff up at first then flatten out with crinkled tops.

Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

Remember that commercial? My girls call this Cheesy fish. You can have your cheese and eat healthy.
I think I'm in love. *SIGH*



Parmesan Crusted Tilapia & Hot Pan Spinach Salad
aka Cheesy Fish

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (I cheat and use Kraft's Parmesan Romano already shredded)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
4 Tilapia filets
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Peppa (Puh-Puh-Puh-Push it)


Oven to 400. In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in cheese mixture. (I press on the cheese so that it sticks better) Place on a FOIL LINED baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part. (10 to 12 minutes) Serve with lemon wedges.

While the fish is cooking fix this:
( I know. bossy. bossy. )

1 large bunch of Spinach, about 12 cups of leaves
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves worth of minced garlic
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 TB pine nuts, roasted

Wash spinach thoroughly. Heat oil in large saute pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and lemon juice and saute for one minute. Turn the heat to high, add the spinach, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Wilt the spinach, tossing the leaves with tongs to coat with hot oil and garlic. Toss in pine nuts. Serve immediately.

Tip: I like to toss in one of those Uncle Ben's 90 second rice pouch of brown rice. (Not into the salad. Into the microwave. ) It's also nice to put the salad on top of some angel hair pasta.

The whole thing takes about 15 minutes.
I love cheese.
Karise

Kristen's Pot Roast Recipe

(courtesy of Paula Deen & my mom)

1 2-3 pound chuck roast
seasons to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder, season all, onion powder -- really whatever you like to season meat with in your pantry)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1-2 onions thinly sliced
3 bay leaves
3-4 beef bouillon cubes, crushed (I buy the jar that already has them crushed up). (You can use a can of beef broth instead)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (sometimes I use a bit more)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 chardonnay wine (optional)

Season the roast on all sides (season well). In medium hot skillet, brown roast on all sides in oil. Place roast in crock pot (I use those crock pot liners and it works fine cooking in that and is a breeze to clean up!). On top of roast, layer onion, bay leaves, bouillon, garlic, and cream of mushroom soup. Add wine (optional). Cover with just enough water to covver all the ingredients suffiently. Cook on low setting approx 8 hours.

About 3-4 hours before done, I add in new potatoes and carrots. Cook until tender.

Barbecue-style Pork Chops

These are a hit with everyone in our family! Enjoy!

6 center cut pork chops
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 14 1/2 oz can whole tomatoes, crushed
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown chops in oil. Drain, then place in greased 13x9 baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients and spoon over chops. Bake for 45 minutes. Great served with mac & cheese!

pot roast and veggie side dishes

first, thanks to Bonki who has started this blog....

1. The Pot Roast Question..

I think I make mine similar to Emiley. I use a can of cream of Mushroom Soup, a package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix, a package of brown gravy mix. It makes a good gravy so I don't have to!

Squash casserole
I tried this on Sunday because my mother said it was wonderful, and it was.

3 lbs of summer squash - chopped
1 small onion
Boil for 5 minutes and drain
Mix a can of cream of chicken and 1 cup of sour cream, add to squash/onions
Prepare a box of stuffing mix ( I used stove top - traditional)
In a 9x9 dish, place half of the stuffing mix, the squash mix, the other half of the stuffing, top with mozerella cheese and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. It is very tasty.

3. Other side I tried.....Bacon Green Beans

2 lbs of fresh green beans
sautee in 2 T of butter
Add one package of hidden valley ranch mix, toss to coat
Top with crumbled bacon

Ok, I have officially posted. Now I do not feel so guilty for only taking recipes!

Orange Roughy with Ginger/Lime Marinade

Before I begin this post I feel the need to insert a quick apology... :}
It occurred to me only today that quite often I add in many little "shortcuts" that I take with my recipes (i.e., minced garlic instead of the real stuff,etc.,etc.) and I realized most of you probably don't need my jr. cooking sidenotes! So, sorry for that--I'll try to be better about posting the recipes without so much running commentary! :)

O.k., on to the marinade (I don't know what it is with me and marinades these days)...I got this one off the side of the orange roughy fillet package and thought it was yummy!

Ingredients:
1 pkg orange roughy fillets
3 fresh limes
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 onion finely chopped
1 piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 large garlic clove, minced

Instructions:
Finely grate the rind of one lime, squeeze the juice from all three.
Mix the juice, lemon pepper, chopped onion, grated ginger and minced garlic in bowl.
Add thawed fillets and coat with the mixture.
Let marinade for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Drain fillets and place into lightly greased oven pan.
Baste with mixture.
Place into preheated oven for 6 minutes; check fillets for doneness--do not overcook.

I served this with a mixed vegetable medley and brown rice pilaf.

P.S. If any of you have other great ways to cook fish--please post them, I've decided our family needs to eat more of it!

Chipotle's Chicken Marinade & Basmati Rice Recipe

I love Chipotle, but could go broke frequenting that place! I looked online for some of their recipes and found a site that had some.
I tried making their chicken using this marinade and it was great! I made the rice and loved it too--anyway, I plan on keeping this recipe so thought I'd post it here to have it handy. :)

Chipotle's Chicken Marinade

Ingredients:
1 (2 oz) pkg dried ancho chiles (these are just those red peppers that have been dried--I found a nice small pkg of them at Walmart in the produce section)
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cumin pwd
2 TBS fresh oregano, chopped ( I didn't have fresh- I used dried and it seemed to work)
6 cloves garlic (again I improvised :} I use the minced kind that I keep in the fridge--I think I used about 2 tsp of it)
1/2 red onion, quartered
1/4 C vegetable oil
4 chicken breasts

Instructions:
*soak dry chiles overnight in water (the chiles in the pkg I bought were already kind of soft so I soaked them, but not for long); remove seeds. Add all ingredients except the chicken in food processor. Puree until smooth.
*Spread mixture over chicken and refrigerate for at least one hour, up to 24hrs (I put mine in a ziploc to marinate--I think next time I will generously salt & maybe also garlic salt them before coating them with the marinade--that was my only complaint about flavor)
*After marinating, heat grill to about 400 degrees or if cooking inside, heat small amt of oil in skillet or grill pan over high heat. Salt meat to taste & grill lightly, turning only once, until done.


Chipotle's Basmati Rice
1 tsp vegetable oil or butter
2 tsp fresh cilantro
2/3 C white basmati rice
1 C water
1/2 tsp salt
juice from 1 lime

*In a 2 qt heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat.
*add rice & lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water & salt, bring to a full rolling boil
*At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and water absorbed (about 15 min?) add in the cilantro
*Fluff rice with fork

Roast Posts??

Hey girls--Holly and I were talking the other day about roast recipes...what is your favorite way to cook a roast? what type of roast do you typically buy?
I'll post the way I cook mine, and then if some of you want to post yours too that would be great! or you could just reply in the comments section, whatever is easier!
Thanks! :)

P.S. I called my mom to ask her what type of roast she recommends (usually I call her on my cell phone while I'm standing in the meat section of the store trying to make up my mind :)) she said that: arm, shoulder, & chuck roasts are usually good.

My Basic Roast Recipe:

I cook mine in a crockpot all day long--I salt, pepper & garlic salt the roast really well on both sides before sticking it in the pot--then I dump a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix on top of it--I kind of rub it into both sides of the roast.
I've recently started adding a can of beef broth to the pot as well (tip from Julia! :)) and then I'll put all my veggies in (new potatoes, carrots, mushrooms)...cover and cook all day on low.
I may add a little water too so that it won't get dry.

That's about it!

Your turn!