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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bundt Pan Caramel Rolls

We Love Caramel Rolls. Our mom has been making these for years. So easy to prep the night before, let rise over night, and bake in the morning.

 

16-18 frozen dough rolls

1 cube (1/2 C.) butter

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 small box cook and serve butterscotch pudding

1/2 C. chopped nuts (if desired)

1. Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Put frozen rolls in the pan and sprinkle with nuts.
3. In a small saucepan melt the butter and add the brown sugar and pudding. Sir until dissolved.
4. Pour sauce over rolls.
5. Cover the pan with foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
6. Let rise overnight.
7. In the morning, remove foil and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
8. Turn rolls out onto large plate or platter.

Grandpa's Peanut Butter Pie

Is there any better combination than peanut butter and chocolate. I think NOT! This pie is sooooo good. My grandpa made it for me when I went to visit. He found this recipe on Smuckers.com . He knows of my love of PB and chocolate. It's nice and cold and full of smooth peanut butter. I may or may not have eaten if for breakfast the next morning....

.

1 c. and 2T. creamy peanut butter
1- 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. sugar
1 - 12oz. container whipped topping
1 prepared chocolate pie crust
1 - 11.5oz. jar of hot fudge ice cream topping

1. Beat together 1 cup peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar until well combined.
2. Gently fold in 3 cups of the whipped topping.
3. Spoon mixture into pie crust and smooth filling to edges with a spatula.
4. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the hot fudge topping in the corner of a resealable sandwich bag to pipe onto the top later. Microwave remaining hot fudge for 1 minute and stir.
5. Spread hot fudge topping over pie.
6. Refrigerate until set.
7. Spread remaining whipped topping over hot fudge layer being careful not to mix the two layers.
8. Cut a small corner from the bag containing the reserved hot fudge topping. Pipe over top of the pie.
9. Put the remaining 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter in a another resealable sandwich bag, cut a small corner out and pipe the peanut butter over the top of the pie.

Hashbrown Quiche

I made this a while ago. I love how it makes a nice potatoey crust. Yum!

3 c. shredded frozen hashbrowns, thawed

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

4 large eggs, beaten

1 c. half and half

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

5 strips of bacon, sliced

1/2 of 1 onion, diced

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Gently press the thawed hashbrowns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. Toss the hashbrowns with the melted butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Press the hashbrowns into a 9 inch pie plate into the bottom and up the sides forming a crust. bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.
3. Saute the onions and bacon in a small saute pan. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Stir in the cooked bacon and onions. When the hashbrown crust is ready pour the egg mixture into it and return it to the oven.
4. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.
5. Enjoy!

You cansubstitute the filling with any ingredients you would like such as swiss cheese, spinach, ham, broccoli, etc. I will definitly be playing with this recipie with what ever I find in my fridge.

Fruit Tarts

I know it's the middle of winter, but stash this one away for a warmer day. Every summer I make fruit tart topped with strawberries. It's one of my husband's favorites.

 

1 package premade sugar cookie dough (I cheat with premade most of the time but feel free to make your own)

1- 8oz. package cream cheese softened (I use the fat free)

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1tsp. vanilla extract

any chopped fruit you like (I used strawberries and mangos this time)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray 24 mini muffin tin cups with cooking spray.
3. Place one ball of cookie dough in each cup.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
5. Let cool completely. The centers of the cookies will sink slightly.
6. Whip the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together.
7. Pipe into cooled cookie cups.
8. Top with chopped fruit.

 SUPER easy and OHHH so good!