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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Zesty Ravioli Skillet

This is a recipe I found on the pampered chef website. It was so good.

⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
4 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach leaves
6 oz Provolone cheese, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 cans diced tomatoes with onions, undrained
½ tsp salt
½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 pkg small frozen cheese ravioli (about 24 oz)
Halved grape tomatoes (optional)


Add oil to skillet; heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Add chopped jalapeño; cook and stir 1 minute or until crisp-tender. Add garlic to skillet; cook and stir 15-20 seconds or untilfragrant.

Add tomatoes, salt and black pepper to skillet; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until simmering. Add ravioli; stir to coat. Cook, uncovered, 4-5 minutes or until tender. Stir cream into skillet. Cook, uncovered, 1-2 minutes or until simmering. Sprinkle spinach over ravioli; cook, covered, 1 minute or until spinach starts to wilt.

Remove skillet from heat. Top with cheese; cover skillet and let stand 1-2 minutes or until
cheese is melted. Garnish with grape tomatoes, if desired.

Chinese Chicken Salad

I found this recipe on this blog.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast (grilled and chopped)
1/2 head of lettuce
2 stalks of celery
1 stalk of green onion
2 8 oz. cans of mandarin oranges
1 8 oz. can of water chestnuts
4 oz. of slivered or sliced almonds (I left these out due to our little nut allergy in the family)
1/2 cup of sugar

Dressing:
1 cup of canola oil
2/3 cup rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
Heat almonds and sugar at medium heat in a small pan. Stir continuously until the sugar has heated through and coated the almonds with a nice caramelized coating. (Don't worry if the sugar gets all clumpy and seems to not be working. Just keep stirring.....it will melt.) Then spread over foil and let cool completely. Chop up all of the remaining salad ingredients and mix together in bowl. In a cruet, mix in all the ingredients for the dressing. Shake until completely blended. The dressing isn't soluble so you'll have to shake again right before pouring over your salad.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Deluxe Cheeseburger Salad

This is a recipe I found on the Pampered Chef website.

4 sesame seed hamburger bun tops
1 small red onion, divided
2 plum tomatoes (I used 1 regular tomatoe)
¾ lb 95% lean ground beef (I used 1 lb of ground beef)
½ cup finely diced dill pickles
¾ cup ketchup
1 tbsp yellow mustard
8 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce (I used iceburg lettuce)
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425°F. Slice bun tops into ¼-in. strips (if bun tops are very thick, slice bottoms off horizontally before slicing into strips). Arrange in a single layer on pan; bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove to cool completely.

Slice half of the onion crosswise into thin rings. Dice tomatoes. Set onion and tomatoes aside.

Cook ground beef until no longer pink. Chop remaining onion. Finely dice pickles. In large bowl, combine chopped onion, pickles, ketchup and mustard. Add cooked ground beef; mix well.

To serve, arrange lettuce on large serving platter. Spoon beef mixture over lettuce. Top with cheese, tomatoes and sliced onion. Arrange hamburger bun croutons around edge of platter. Serve immediately.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Peppermint Crunch Cookies

1 roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups vanilla baking chips or semisweet chocolate chips
8 round hard peppermint candies crushed
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in 1/4 cup flour until well blended. Shape dough into balls. Bake 10-14 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.

In small microwavable bowl microwave vanilla chips and 1 tbsp vegetable oil uncovered on Medium for 2-3 minutes, stirring once halfway through until melted. Stir until smooth.

Dip half of each cookie into melted chps mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper. Sprinkle each with about 1/2 tsp crushed candy. Let stand until set.

Cokie Caterpillars

1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookies.
3/4 cup vanilla frosting
10 drops green food coloring
10 pretzel sticks
16 miniture candy coated chocolate baking bits

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shaped tsp of dough in balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 9-12 minutes. Cool 1 minute. Allow to cool completely.

In small bowl mix frosting and food coloring until well blended. Spread about 1 tsp frosting between 2 cookies. Add more frosting and cookies using 18 cookies to make each caterpillar. Repeat with remaining cookies to make 2 caterpillars.

Dip pretzels stick halves in frosting. Attach 4 sticks on each side of caterpllar to resemble leggs and 2 sticks on top to resemble antennae. Spread frosting on 2 baking bits and attach to resemble eyes, Spread on 6 more candy bits to resemble mouth. Add addition baking bits to resemble spots if desired.

Almond Sandwhich cookies

This is another recipe only this time from a Pillsbury calendar.

Cookies
1 roll refrigerated sugar dough
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp granulated sugar

Filling
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine softened
4 tsp milk
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 drop red food coloring

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in flour and almond extract until well blended.

Shape dough into balls. Place balls 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press bottom of glass dipped into sugar on each ball until 1/4 inch thick. Prick top of each cookie with a fork.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes unteil set but not brown. Cool 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in small world beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Spread aout 1 tsp filling on bottoms of half of the cookies. Top each with another cookie. Bottom side down; press gently. Store in refrigerator.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Ham and Cheese Calzone

This is a pampered chef recipe I found online. We had it for dinner the other night and it was really good

2 tbsp mayo
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 8-oz slice smoked deli ham
½ small onion
8 oz Swiss cheese, grated, divided
1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
2 pkg refrigerated pizza crust
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF . Combine mayo and mustard in bowl; mix
wel. Cut broccoli into small florets; dice ham. Chop onion. Combine broccoli, ham, onion and half of the Swiss cheese in bowl with mayo and mustard. Mix well.

2. Lightly brush pan with 1 tsp of the oil. Unroll one package of dough onto bottom of pan, gently stretching and pressing dough to cover bottom. Sprinkle with remaining Swiss cheese to within 1 in. of edges; spoon ham mixture over cheese. Unroll remaining dough directly over filling, matching edges of dough and shaping to fit as dough is unrolled. Press edges to seal. Brush remaining oil over dough. Cut 12 slits, in three rows of four each, into top crust.

3. Bake 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over calzone. Return calzone to oven; bake 2-3 minutes. Slice and Serve.

Cheesey Ranch Chex Mix

One final recipe from my Betty Crocker Calendar

9 cups Corn chex, Rice Chex, or Wheat Chex Cereal or a combination
2 cups bite sie pretzel twists
2 cups bite size cheese crackers
3 tbsp butter or margarine
1 package ranch dressing and seasoning mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In large microwavable bowl, mix cereal, pretzels, and crackers. Ins small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 30 seconds or until melted. Pour over cereal mixture. Stir until evenly coated. Stir in dressing mix and cheese until evenly coated.

Microwave uncovered on high 3 minutes, stirring each minute. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

Easey Brownie Torte

This is another recipe from my Betty Crocker Calendar.

1 box Brownie Mix
water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on brownie box

1 container of chocolate frosting

Chocolate curls if desired.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13x9 inch pan with foil so foil extends about 2 inches over sides of pan. Spray foil with cooking spray.

Make and bake brownies as directed on box for 13x9 pan using water, oil, and eggs. Cool completely about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove fromm pan by lifting foil. Peel foil away. Cut brownie crosswise into thirds. Place one piece on serving plate.

Spoon frosting into microwavable bowl. Microwave uncovered on high for 15 to 20 seconds. Stir frosting until smooth.

Pour 1/3 of the frosting over brownie piece on serving plate. Place another brownie on top, and pour half of remaining frosting over second brownie. Top with remaining brownie piece, and then remaining frosting. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set. Garish with chocolate curls. Store loosely covered.

Grilled Picnic Taco Nachos

I actually haven't made these. They were on a Betty Crocker Calendar from last year I was going to throw away. They were something I wanted to try so I thought I would record them on here so that I have it when I get a chance to make them.

5 cups tortilla chips
1 can black beans, drained, and rinsed, and mashed
1 can chopped green chiles drained
2 tsp taco seasoning mix
2 plum tomatoes
2 green onions sliced
2 cups shredded colby-monterey Jack cheese blend

Heat gas or charcoal grill. Spray 12/18 inch foil pan with cooking spray. spread tortilla chips in pan.

In medium bowl mix beans, chiles, and taco seasoning. Spoon evenly over tortilla chips. Top with tomatoes and onions. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover pan with foil.

Place foil pan on grill over medium heat. Cover grill. Cook 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Carefully remove foil.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Bread Machine Buttery Rolls

1 cup warm milk (70-80 degrees)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 sugar (I used sucanat.)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour (I used half fresh-ground whole-wheat and half unbleached flour.)
2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

Add ingredients in the order list to your bread machine. Run on dough cycle. When dough is complete, divide into 20-24 portions and shape into balls.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-16 minutes until golden brown. Yield: 20-24 rolls