Friday, January 13, 2012

Bisquick Quiche

     Speaking of box mixes yesterday, here is a recipe that I use a box mix for. I love quiche, and this is the easiest quiche to make! You mix it all in a blender and bake. No fancy pie crust here. It makes it's own crust.


1/2 C Bisquick
4 eggs
1/2 lb. bacon cooked and crumbled
dash of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 C milk
1 small onion, sauted
2 C grated Swiss cheese
parsley

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray 10 inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
  3. Mix Bisquick, milk eggs and seasonings in a blender.
  4. Pour into pie plate.
  5. Fold in cheese, bacon, and onion. (Can substitute any other meat or cheese or veggies you like.)
  6. Bake for 45 minuted until firm and golden on top.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pancakes

     I used to use the just-add-water pancake mixes until I discovered this little gem of a recipe. It's really not that hard and I LOVE how they turn out. So much better than a box mix and all from scratch!

1 1/2 C flour
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 T sugar
1 1/4 C milk
1 egg
3 T butter, melted

  1. Sift together dry ingredients in a batter bowl.
  2. Add wet ingredients and wisk together. If batter is too thick you can add more milk.
  3. Heat griddle. Melt more butter onto griddle.
  4. Make pancakes using about 1/4 cup of batter for each one.
  5. Flip pancakes when bubbles in batter start to pop.
  6. Serve hot with warm syrup.
  7. Can add blueberries or other fruits to batter before cooking if desired.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mexican Rice

     As promised, here is the Mexican Rice from the picture of yesterday's Creamy Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas.

3 T. vegatable oil
1 C. uncooked  long grain rice
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 C. chopped onion
1/2 cup (4 oz) tomato sauce
2 C chicken broth

  1. Heat oil in a pot.
  2. Add rice and onion. Cook until rice is puffed and golden and onions are translucent.
  3. Add garlic salt and cumin.
  4. Add tomato sauce and chicken broth.
  5. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.
  6. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  7. Fluff with a fork.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Creamy Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

     These enchiladas are really good and don't use and cream of anything soup. It's all from scratch. I love recipes like that. I like to know what all is going into my meals. I also like to use the raw tortillas that you can buy at Costco and cook yourself for this recipe. Tomorrow I'll share the recipe for the Mexican Rice in the picture. It's all from scratch too!

10 soft taco sized tortillas
2 C. cooked and shredded chicken
3 T. butter
3 T. flour
2 C. chicken broth
1 C sour cream
1(4oz.) can fire roasted diced green chilies

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
  2. Mix chicken and 1 cup of cheese.
  3. Roll chicken and cheese into tortillas and arrange in pan.
  4. In a saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour, and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
  6. Stir in sour cream and chilies. Do not boil, you do not want to curdle the sour cream.
  7. Pour sauce over enchiladas in the pan and top with remaining cheese.
  8. Bake about 20 minutes and then broil in the oven for about 3 minutes to brown the cheese on top.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Pizza Sauce

     This recipe came to me from my sweet friend Tracie. Tracie moved away to Maui so I haven't seen her in a few years. She recently moved back to the main land in Oregon. This has pros and cons... pro - I might actually have a chance to see her and con - now I have nowhere to stay if I decide to take a trip to Maui. This sauce is sooo good! It has a great depth of flavor and is super quick and easy to whip up. I usually have a stash in my fridge for making pizza or dipping breadsticks or pizza rolls.


15 oz. tomato sauce
1/3 C. red cooking wine
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. italian seasoning
1 T. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Italian Sausage Soup

This soup is hearty and filling. It is full of TONS of veggies and is oh so good. I made this for our family Christmas Eve party this year. This recipe came from Miss Bunny McGreggor. She was the lady at our elementary school, Shelyn Elementary in Rowland Heights California, that would walk down the lunch line and hand out our lunch tickets. The school put together a cookbook one year and our mom picked out this recipe and we have been making it ever since. So thanks Miss Bunny!

I've also decided that soup and casseroles do not photograph very well. It just looks like a big mess in a bowl. I also could probably use some food photography lessons...But don't let that stop you from trying this soup. Oh look! You can see my ceiling fan and me taking the photo in the reflection of the spoon. Is that called art, or just bad photography skills? I'll go with art.


1 medium onion diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
4 stalks celery diced
1 green pepper diced
5 Italian sausages cooked and cooled (I HATE fennel so I substitute German sausages and just add Italian Seasoning to the soup. Feel free to do the same because fennel is gross!)
carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, and any other veggies you like, diced.
8oz. shell pasta
4 C. beef broth
1 1/2 C. water
1/2 can tomato paste
salt and pepper


  1. In a large soup pot, saute together in olive oil the onion, celery, garlic, and green pepper.
  2. Cut up sausage into bite sized pieces and add to pot along with all the other ingredients except the shell pasta.
  3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until veggies are tender. 
  4. Add shells and cook 10 minutes more. You can add more liquid if needed.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Pastel Cream Wafers

Happy New Year!
These are a family traditional cookie that we make around the holidays. They are light flaky cookies with delicious creamy filling. As I made these last week I wondered why we don't make them year round. We really should!

They are so delicate... and yummy.

Okay enough tasting, here's the recpie.


Cookies
1 C. butter softened
1/3 C. heavy cream
2 C. flour
 
Filling
1/4 C. butter softened
3/4 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg yolk (weird, I know, but trust me on this)
food coloring of choice (we always divide the frosting and do 1/2 green and 1/2 red, which turns out to be pink but that's just how it's always been so we don't mess with it.)
  1. Mix the butter, cream, and flour. (The dough is NOT sweet as you can see so don't taste it unless you like eating pie dough.)
  2. Chill dough for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
  3. Roll out dough out thin and cut with a small round cookie cutter.
  4. Dip rounds in sugar to coat.
  5. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and prick each cookie four times with a fork.
  6. Bake 7-9 minutes. Do not over bake.
  7. Whip all filling ingredients and make little sandwiched using filling and two cookies.