Sunday, May 15, 2011

Fruit Cocktail Cake

I have had this recipe for years (I think it came from one of my Aunts) and kind of forgot about it, and Dad discovered it recently and has made it several times. It is super easy and really moist and delicious.

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 15 oz. can fruit cocktail not drained, pour in juice and all
2 cups flour
2 eggs
Pour everything in a bowl and mix well, pour into Pammed 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle with coconut if desired. Bake at 325 for 40 min. When it is almost done make the topping:
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 pound butter
3/4 cup canned milk
Put all ingredients in saucepan and bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 3 minutes. Pour over cake while cake is hot.
It will sink down in the middle a bit but it is really yummy even if it isn't beautiful.

Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions

2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small flour tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray


Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green sals
a, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken an
d cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Dip 'em in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or this dressing

Note: I first tried this with corn tortilla's and it did NOT work. The corn tortillas are too stiff and dry and would crack and split when I tried to roll them up. So unless you know a special way to make them more bendable, I would recommend using flour tortillas.
I copied this recipe from Lisa's Recipe Box to see if it would work, and it does. Just right click and copy then paste it in. Easy way to share.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Pan Fried Fish Fillets

I was hungry for fish the other day and asked Dad to get whatever he could find even if it was frozen fish fillets. He got flounder and this is how we cooked it. It was delicious.
First set up a breading station:
1) a plate of seasoned (salt and pepper) flour
2) a dish with about 3 beaten eggs and 2 Tbsp. water
3) Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and Old Bay Seasoning

Dip fillets in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Heat about 1/4 inch oil in a large skillet and cook fillets about 1-2 minutes a side. The flounder needed to be cooked very quickly or it got mushy. But it worked well when done quickly. This is the same way we do popcorn shrimp, except we deep fry it.
Tartar Sauce
1/2 cup mayonaise
1 Tbsp chopped onion
1 Tbsp dill pickle chopped or dill relish
1 tsp chopped capers (optional, but really adds flavor)
1 tsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients and serve with fish

We had hash browns, and corn with the fish.

Clarification

I just wanted to leave a note to let you all know that this is not a blog for party food only.  This blog is to showcase any and all recipes that you feel should be shared around and also any meal plans that you feel might help others.  I plan on putting recipes here that I don't want to have to find in my cook books.  This way we can have a place where we can come and find the recipes we want.  I would encourage you to post your favorites so that everyone else can try them too.  Also, just to get you started, Nicole-- we'd like you to post Pink Pancakes.  We love them!!!  Anyway, hope that helps.  I look forward to seeing hundreds of favorites!!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

French Toast Casserole

Kristina made this for our Mothers day dinner

1 Loaf bread
2 8 oz packages cream cheese
2/3 cup maple syrup
12 eggs
2 cups
11/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
11/2 tbsp cinnamon

Melt brown sugar, butter and cinnamon until it forms a paste, spread into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Cut bread into cubes. Put half of the bread on top of the paste. Soften cream cheese in the microwave stir in syrup. Pour mixture over bread, spread on until even. Combine eggs and milk together. Put remaining bread cubes on top of cream cheese mixture pour egg mixture over bread. Sprinkle top with cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or over night. Cook on 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until set.

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

This is Carolee's contribution to our Mothers day:

Cake:
1/2 C butter, softened
1 3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 C flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C milk
3 C fresh or frozen blueberries
In mixing bowl cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients.  Add alternately with milk.  Fold in blueberries.  Pour into greased 9 x 13 inch pan.
For topping:
3/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 C cold butter
Combine sugar and cinnamon.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs.  Sprinkle over batter.  Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire rack.

Mexican Weekend Brunch Bake

We decided to uphold our "breakfast for mothers day dinner" tradition (which we started last year) and this is Gayle's contribution:

2 lbs. Italian Sausage
2 cans chopped green chilies (4 1/2 oz.)
10 corn tortillas cut in one inch strips
2 C shredded cheese
1 C milk
12 eggs
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
paprika
1 tomato thinly sliced
Salsa (Mom likes mango)
Sour Cream

Brown sausage breaking it up as you go.  Drain well.  In lightly greased slow cooker, layer half of the green chilies, half of the tortilla strips, half the sausage, half the cheese.  Repeat layers.  Mix together milk, eggs, and cumin.  Pour over sausage mixture.  Refrigerate overnight if desired.  When ready to cook, top with tomato slices and paprika.  Cover and cook on low 4 hours.  Serve with salsa and sour cream.

This is really easy to throw together and super tasty!!  Who knew eggs in the crock pot would be a good thing?  Yum!

Our new blog

We decided to start a family recipe blog to share recipes that are tried and true favorites!!  We spend a lot of our time together eating so this will be a place to store the recipes that we don't want to have to remember where we stuck that recipe.  Happy Eating!!