Fried Jalapeno Slices

- 4 medium jalapeno peppers
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 eggs
-1 cup Corona (any beer)
-1/2 qt vegetable oil for frying

 Slice jalapenos into 1/4-1/2 in pieces. Mix flour, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, eggs, and beer in small mixing bowl. Batter will be thick. Using a fork, dip jalapeno slices into

 batter and drop in preheated oil 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.

 Eat plain or serve with ranch dressing.

Skillet Spaghetti

- 1 box spaghetti
- 1 lb mild Italian sausage, browned and drained
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 sm red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup black olives, sliced
- 1 cup green olives, sliced
- 2 halves roasted sweet red pepper, chopped
- 40-50 slices hot pepperoni, halved
-1 jar spaghetti sauce, any flavor

Boil pasta in heavily salted water, 5-7 min. (It is the only time you have to actually flavor the pasta.) Brown sausage in heavy cast iron skillet and drain (leave about a tbsp of grease in skillet). Add veggies to skillet and cook about 7 min.

Add in spaghetti sauce and cook another 5 min or until sauce starts to bubble.

Add cooked pasta to the sauce, and add one cup of pasta water. Toss together, and let simmer 5 min. 

Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

1 pkg.  OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 4-1/4 cups), divided

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Milk Chocolate, melted 1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S White Chocolate, melted 

**if using only milk chocolate, use 2 pkgs.

-Mix cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.

-Shape into 1-inch balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.

-Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator. Makes roughly 4 dozen truffles.

Monkey Bread

3/4 c white sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c butter, melted

4 cans refrigerated biscuits

3/4 c chopped hazelnuts (or any nut) *optional

Mix white sugar and cinnamon in bowl. Cut each biscuit into 4 separate pieces and shake in cinnamon sugar mixture and drop in greased or sprayed Bundt cake pan.

Stir melted butter and brown sugar together in small bowl and pour over biscuits.

Bake 350 for about 35-40 min or until golden. 

Turn bread out onto a serving platter.
*Optional: For a quick and easy topping, warm up 4 tbsp of cream cheese frosting or maple syrup and drizzle over top.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

• Filling
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Crust

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 stick butter, melted

1 tbsp white sugar

Stir together and pour into spring form pan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Beat together the cream cheese and the sugar, add the pumpkin and the spices. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add salt. Beat until creamy. Pour the batter into crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 minutes or until the knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool then top with whipped topping, if desired.

   

Beat cream cheese and sugar. Stir in spices and pumpkin.

 Add each egg separately and mix well.

 Stir together crumbs, butter, and sugar. Press into spring form pan.

  

Pour batter over crust. *Optional: Add hazelnuts to top.

  Bake at 350 for 45-50 min, or until toothpick inserted comes clean.

Top with fresh whipped cream and grated nutmeg.

Sweet Potato Bake

-1 lg can (40 oz) sweet potatoes, drained
-1/4 c packed brown sugar
-2 tbsp maple syrup
-1 tbsp butter
-1 tbsp milk
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp nutmeg
-2 cups mini marshmallows
-1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional, stir into mixture after mixing)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray baking dish or pie pan.
Combine sweet potatoes, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, milk, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in mixing bowl. Beat with mixer until smooth and creamy.

Pour mixture into baking dish. Bake 10 minutes.

Put marshmallows on the top and bake 5-10 min longer until potatoes are heated through and marshmallows are golden brown.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

-1/2 pkg refrigerated pie crust (1 crust)
-3 eggs
-1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
-2 tbsp (1/4 stick) butter, melted
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 c coarsely chopped walnuts
-1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Place pie crust in 9 in pie pan. Flute edges of crust.

Put eggs in mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 1 min. Add the milk, butter, and vanilla. Beat 1 min. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Pour into pie crust.

Cover edges of crust with foil or pie crust shield. Bake 20 min. Remove foil strips and bake and additional 20-25 min, or until crust is golden brown and pie is firm. (You can check this by inserting knife or toothpick in center of pie.) Cool completely before serving.

Top with a drizzle of melted chocolate chips with 1 tbsp shortening or butter. For a fast and mess-free drizzle....melt 2 tbsp of premade chocolate icing. Top with a few more chopped walnuts.

For Rob :) Chicken-n-Rice

Rob loves my chicken-n-rice. I'm always changing the way I make it, but it's never far from the original. Never have any complaints either. Doesn't take much to please him. Even though he is a thousand miles away, he's always the first one I think of when I make it. So this post is for him. :)


Chicken-n-Rice
-3 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
-3 c white or brown rice
-2 c chicken stock
-1 c water
-3 tbsp unsalted butter
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-1/2 small white onion chopped
-1 stalk celery diced
-1 clove garlic
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese 
-1/4 c black olives sliced
-20 Ritz crackers crushed
-S & P to taste


Melt 2 tbsp butter in sauce pot on med high heat. Stir in rice, and lightly toast about a minute. Add in chicken stock and water, bring to a boil. Cook rice about 5 min. Remove from heat, let cool, pour into a large mixing bowl, and lightly fluff rice.

Saute olive oil, garlic, onion, and celery over medium high heat until veggies are translucent. 

Stir in cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup. If mixture seems too thick, add a splash of water or chicken stock. Bring to a low boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour mixture into the mixing bowl with the rice. In same saute pan, lightly brown chicken. When chicken is golden brown, add to rice mixture. Stir in cheese and black olives.

 Pour mixture into a 13x9 baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Top with crushed crackers and dab the remaining tbsp of butter on top of crackers. Bake 15-20 min at 350 or until crackers are golden brown.

Love you Baby :)

Disappearing Guacamole

Everyone in my house loves avocados. So its no surprise that guacamole disappears fast. Good guac always starts with nice ripe avocados. How do you know they're ripe? The squeeze test is always a guaranteed tell. Ripe avocados will be firm, but should have a little give when squeezed. If there is too much give...they are too ripe and will not be very appetizing. Don't go by color. Most ripe avocados will have a darker skin color, but this is not always the case, so trust in the squeeze test. 

When you cut into one, the fruit should be a nice pale yellowish-green color. Over-ripe avocados tend to have bits of brown dots or "vines" throughout and will not taste very good.

As soon as you cut into one, you want to make sure to sprinkle lime or lemon juice over the fruit to prevent browning. A quick and easy way to get your avocado out of the skin is to take a small paring knife and make criss cross lines across the fruit. Then just scoop it out with a spoon in a circular motion, staying close to the skin.

Guacamole
-3 large Hass Avocados 
-juice of 1 lemon or lime (about 1/8 c.)
-1/2 sm red or white onion diced fine
-1/4 c plain whipped cream cheese
-1 sm tomato chopped
-1/2 sm jalapeno diced very fine
-S&P to taste
-cilantro, chopped (optional)


-Mash avocados with a potato masher. Add in lemon juice, onion, cream cheese, tomato, and jalapeno. Stir until well incorporated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cilantro.

For entertaining and parties, save the skin as a vessel for your guacamole. ENJOY!

Key Lime-Margarita Cupcakes