by Suzanne on April 15, 2013
When you receive a blog assignment whose author is a registered dietitian your hands start to sweat a bit. Heart races, blood pressure inches up and a panic attack seems imminent. Then, as you read through the blog, you start to calm and tell the 911 operator that you dialed the wrong number. Such were my feelings when I received Erin’s blog, WholesomeRD. Then, when I decided on the recipe that I was going to make I was cool, calm and collected. There were LOTS and LOTS of great recipes. As Erin says, “Here you’ll find tasty and (mostly) healthy recipes!” And she is exactly right! But when I saw this one, the search was over. At least for the moment. My husband and I were scraping the cheese “scraps” from our oven baked tacos the other night. We almost got in a knock down drag out over who was going to get the little crispy cheese goodies in the bottom of the pan. Mountain Man said, “Wow, I’ll bet just some cheese in the oven would be really good!” And I couldn’t agree more. (Then he told me to get my fingers out of the pan.) It was a moment of epic proportions. Yet, I hadn’t done anything about capitalizing on his idea. Until now. Enter Erin’s recipe for Spicy Cheese Crisps. Someone pinch me. At least, check my pulse. Make sure I haven’t died and gone to heaven! 5.0 from 2 reviews Print Spicy Lacey Cheese Crisps Author: Suzanne Collier, adapted from WholesomeRD Recipe type: appetizer Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 7 mins Total time: 17 mins Serves: 10 Quick, easy, and a good thing that it makes about 60 crisps. Although I should double the recipe next time. Ingredients 4 c Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese 1 minced clove of Garlic 2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes Instructions Preheat oven to 400 degrees Grate your cheese as fine as possible Combine garlic and red pepper flakes with cheese and mix Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat Take a small finger full of cheese and place on lined baking sheet. Bake in oven for 6-7 minutes, until brown around outside. Let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to cookie rack to cool. 3.2.1230 These are awesome, delicious, addictive, impressive, and also great dipped in a little marinara sauce. I think I’m going to try some sharp [...]
by Suzanne on April 5, 2013
Quite frankly, this is THE best meatloaf in a ten county area. Not kidding. I know I should do this a lot more often, but this is the first time in a while that I’ve tried a recipe and been so impressed that I just had to blog about it as soon as we finished dinner. Before you turn up your nose at the idea of dill pickles in your meatloaf (like Mountain Man did), just make this and taste it. Then, if you don’t think it is a great meatloaf, then I’ll refund you the price you paid to sign up for my blog. I first found the recipe on AllRecipes.com. It had been sumitted by CaraMeg. When I took a look at it I thought, “There’s nothing here that makes it sound all that tasty.” My usual yummy recipe for meatloaf generally includes salsa or green chiles, lots of onion, chile powder, etc. ‘Cause I’m a spicy kinda gal. But we’ll leave that one alone. Regardless of my doubts, I decided to go for it. I had lots of one pound packages of ground elk and there is never a day I don’t have dill pickles on hand. Let’s do this! So, “we” did. I use “we” very loosely because, as I said in the beginning, Mountain Man already was starting to turn up his nose before I even started cooking. Oh sure, he LOVES my meatloaf, and he kinda likes a little dill pickle every now and then with a sandwich or hamburger. But you see, I think pickles are their own food group. Same as chips and dip. Ummmmmm . . . . Sorry, I kinda drifted over into my own personal food group pyramid. Or plate. Or bowl. Whatever. I’m here to tell you that MM’s eyes rolled back in his head and I thought I was gonna lose him. This is not just a good meatloaf, this is a great meatloaf. The author said that the dill pickles were the secret ingredient. But I disagree. There IS a secret ingredient, however. I let you figure it out. 5.0 from 2 reviews Print Mai’s Ah-Mai-zing Dill Pickle Meatloaf Author: Suzanne Collier, adapted from CaraMeg Recipe type: Main course, meat Cuisine: Comfort food Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour Serves: 6 Don’t let the name scare you away! This is a keeper meatloaf [...]
by Suzanne on March 10, 2013
Yep. Southwestern Irish Cottage Pie. Not exactly what you were expecting? You should know by now that THIS is the place to come to where you can least expect the expected. I know there is a lot of Irish in my genes. Irish, German, English, Tennesseean, and Texan. When people meet me, they do NOT think of Leprechauns and four-leafed clovers first. I guess that’s because of my cowgirl boots. Oh, and I have a slight Texas accent. Very slight. Ask Katrina. When I saw that my Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month was Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, I was beyond thrilled. I love Miz Helen. She is so sweet and friendly and her blog has lots of really wonderful, down home comfort food recipes. I knew I was going to feel right at home as I perused her blog for my SRC post. Then, when I saw her recipe for Irish Cottage Pie, I was there! Miz Helen served her Irish Cottage Pie with Green Tossed Salad and Spicy Apples with Ice Cream. Well, my daughter and her husband and our grandson, Kaison, were over at our house to enjoy this meal with us. My daughter, Jeni, made some Giradelli Brownies and we topped it off with some Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream. Regular, plain Jane vanilla. I like Vanilla Bean, but no one else does. I get Vanilla Bean ice cream on my birthday. Once a year. *read, poor woe is me* I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes. Problem is, that I had some Hatch Green Chile calling my name. . . “What the heck”, I thought to myself. There are no rules saying I can’t do this. And since there are no rules, I had about a cup of green peas in the freezer that I didn’t use for another dish. Insert peas. Voile’! And, speaking of rules and since this IS a southwestern kinda thing now, I substituted ground elk for ground beef. Elk that my husband and his two hunting buddies brought back from New Mexico just this past December. Be still my heart! So, without further ado . . . 5.0 from 2 reviews Print Southwestern Irish Cottage Pie – SRC Author: Suzanne Collier, adapted from Miz Helen’s Cottage Recipe type: Main Cuisine: Irish, Southwestern, Comfort food Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour Serves: 10 This is a [...]
by Suzanne on February 11, 2013
Recently I have come to notice several recipes from the Amish being blogged and it raised my curiosity. What is Amish Chicken and what makes it different from chicken-chicken. Camille’s blog, Growing Up Gabel, was my Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month. Hoping to find out more about this Amish pollo, I started reading her post and recipe. Then I got to the part that said, “I’m not really sure what is “Amish” about this recipe, but it makes some mighty fine chicken.” Looks like Camille and I are rowing in in the same boat together. On with the research. I found lots of recipes for Amish chicken. But no explanations. All of the recipes included chicken. Duh. But different recipes used different parts. All of the recipes included mixing some spices with some flour. But not all of the recipes called for the same spices. *sigh* And, what I thought was a big clue, the chicken was baked. Well, they were all baked but not a big clue. Strike three. Then I came across a story that was being told in a corporate communications class about knowing your audience. It goes something like this. Lady goes to a restaurant and the menu includes Amish Chicken. She asks the waiter to describe Amish Chicken, to which the waiter replies without hesitation, “That just means they have funny looking beards and ugly wives with mustaches.” She happened to have many relatives who were Amish and was a sensitive sort. Queue the proverbial lead balloon. Seeing that he might have offended The Princess of the Square Table, he quickly recovered and offered a true and reasonable explanation. “It’s called Amish Chicken because it is free-range chicken raised by someone of the Amish faith.” No wonder there is little consistency in the recipes that I perused. Well, even though I have titled this post, Amish Chicken, the fact is I went to the grocery store, bought the family pack of thighs – 10 nice thighs, skin on, for $5.04. Not bad. But not Amish. I’m sure they would have been labeled as such and cost a lot more. But I was happy with my $.50 per thigh regardless. Camille has so many fabulous recipes that it was very difficult to pick just one. And I have to say I was sold on her Amish Chicken from the moment I saw the spices [...]
by Suzanne on January 14, 2013
Holy Schamoly! This is so good! I’m not going to waste your time by singing the virtues of this snack other than to tell you . . . It is going to knock your socks off! You will never be the same after snacking on this! MaryLoo Who will NEVER be the sweetheart of Junior League again! Denise over at Eat, Laugh Love is my new BFF! Denise’s Asian Chex Mix is my new favorite Super Bowl snack! OK, so this recipe is quick, easy, and just down right amazing. You are just going to have to make it for yourself because, well, mine is ALL gone. Time to make some more!! 5.0 from 4 reviews Print SuperBowl Asian SuperChex Mix! Author: Suzanne Collier Recipe type: Appetizer, Snack Cuisine: Asian Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 55 mins Serves: 10 Don’t rest until you make this snack for your family and friends. They will love you forever. Promise! Ingredients Makes 10½-cup servings 2 C Corn Chex 2 C Wheat Chex 4 C Sesame Sticks 2 C Small Pretzel Twists 1½ C Wasabi Peas (4.9 oz can) 1 C Salted Peanuts 4 T Unsalted Butter 1 T Honey 1 Tbsp Curry Powder 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1 tsp OnionPowder 1 tsp Ground Cumin ½ tsp Pink Himalyan Sea Salt 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper Cooking Spray Instructions Preheat oven to 200°. Combine chex, sesame sticks, pretzels, wasabi peas and peanuts in a large bowl. Set aside. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture, tossing gently to coat. Spread the mixture into a large roasting pan or jelly roll pan, coated with cooking spray. Bake at 200° for 45 minutes, stirring a couple of times during the baking time. After removing from oven, stir again. Cool completely before serving. 3.1.09 While you’re at it, you may as well make a double batch. Seriously. It is THAT good. You must check out Denise’s blog. On the same page of her blog with this snack recipe is a recipe for Baked Wontons with Cilantro-Peanut Sauce. I just bought the wonton wrappers and already have all the other ingredients. I have about half of a leftover roasted chicken that I am going to use instead of the ground [...]
by Suzanne on November 16, 2012
Yesterday I told you about my friend Katrina’s birthday and the treats I sent to her. Lemon Balls and Orange Pinwheel Cookies. I also promised that I would deliver a recipe for the cute little Orange Pinwheel Cookies that I sent her – and that you can see above. So, without further delay, here’s the cookie recipe. Print Orange Pinwheels Author: Suzanne Collier, adapted from www.SprinkleBakes.com Recipe type: cookie, dessert, snack Prep time: 7 hours Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 7 hours 15 mins Serves: 24 These are really fun cookies and perfect for a birthday party or celebration of any kind. They take a while to make, but are delicious! You will be the hit of the party and they will be worth every minute you spent on them. Ingredients 2 cups Unsifted Cake Flour ½ tsp Baking Powder ¼ tsp Pink Himalayn Salt ⅔ cup Unsifted Powdered Sugar ¼ cup Granulated Sugar 2½ sticks Unsalted Butter 1 tsp Vanilla ½ tsp Orange Extract ½ tsp concentrated Orange food coloring (like used for cakes in the little jars) 1½ cups Multi-colored Sprinkles Instructions Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugars in a food processor and process briefly to mix. Add the butter in 1 tablespoon pieces, one at a time; process with on/off bursts until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal. Add the vanilla and process until the mixture just forms a ball. Remove all of the dough from the processor and divide the dough into 2 equal portions Return one of the portions to the food processor and add the orange extract and food coloring and process until just incorporated. Roll out each portion of dough between sheets of waxed paper. You want a rectangle about 11 × 8½ inches by 4 inch thick. Be sure your edges are the same depth as the center, about ⅛th inch all around. This will make it MUCH easier when you get ready to roll them together. Leave the dough between the sheets of waxed paper and slide onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. Remove dough pieces from refrigerator. Pour the sprinkles into a shallow rectangular dish that will be long enough to accommodate the roll. Peel off the top sheet of waxed paper from both the vanilla dough and the orange dough. Brush the bottom (vanilla) dough very [...]
by Suzanne on November 15, 2012
You can tell by looking at this picture that the candle is the “focus” (ha!) on this plate, not necessarily the treats. So, let’s talk about the candle first! Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, birthday to my cyber-foodie friend that I have actually met in person. And we still like each other. Actually, we love each other. Funny how things work out. Today is Katrina’s birthday. I think she is 24 or 25. But, then she has these four handsome boys – and a husband – so that makes me think maybe she is a little older than that. Maybe 29. I think that is part of the reason she calls her blog Baking and Boys. Ya think? But I digress. Katrina and I met online through a Yahoo! food group. We chatted in the chat room, ’cause that IS what you do in a chat room. And found that we really enjoyed each others sense of humor. Shelby from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch was also a part of that group and we all drifted toward each other like earth magnets. And we have stuck together ever since. We keep saying that we are going to have a girls’ night out – which for us would mean traveling from Texas, New York, and Utah to a place that could handle the three of us for a night. Well, more like a long weekend. We are still searching for a town that will allow us to stay that long. I’m sure we will find something. . . My Mountain Man and I traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, a couple of years ago and I emailed Katrina to see if she wanted to meet up and have lunch. You can read all about it by clicking here! Both of us have made a little sumpin’-sumpin’ for Katrina for her birthday and have mailed it to her for “munching” pleasure. Click on the link for Grumpy’s Honeybunch to see her birthday wishes and recipe. In my case, there are two treats, one of which you will see below. The other will be coming up tomorrow. Check your mailbox, Katrina!!!! No, silly. The one by your driveway. 4.5 from 2 reviews Print Lemon Balls Author: Suzanne Collier, Adapted from Snack Girl Recipe type: dessert, sweet, coconut, almonds, lemons Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: [...]
