Delicious Meliscious - a cooking blog by Melissa

Mexican-Style Chicken with Penne

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:47:00 +0000

You're probably thinking it's about time I make something other than a dessert! (Don't worry, I do have more desserts planned - but it seems like our dinners have all been repeats or nothing worth blogging lately.) We tried this recipe over the weekend and it turned out really great. It was quick to put together and had nice flavors full of fresh tomatoes, spiciness from the peppers, and a little bit of gooey cheesy goodness.

I made a few adjustments: used boneless/skinless chicken breasts, added a seeded jalapeno, hot banana, and sweet lipstick pepper, and completely forgot the corn (I always forget something!). We both really liked this recipe a lot. It was a bit spicy for me, but I was trying to make good use of our peppers so they didn't go to waste. The tomatoes and garlic also came from our garrden and I like to think the flavor was better than store-bought :) This recipe makes quite a bit and would be good for a crowd or just to have leftovers the next day.

Source: Food & Wine

Ingredients:
3/4 pound penne rigate
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch dice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 large garlic clove, minced
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 large chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and minced, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/4 pound queso blanco or mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated (1 1/3 cups)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook until al dente. Drain the penne.

Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened and the chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, chipotle and adobo sauce and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the corn, season with salt and pepper and cook until the corn is heated through, about 1 minute.

Add the penne and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the sauce and toss to coat. Add 1 cup of the queso blanco and toss. Transfer the pasta to bowls, sprinkle with the remaining queso blanco and the cilantro and serve.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Not being a fan of chocolate covered strawberries, I was happy to find these CHEESECAKE stuffed strawberries on The Novice Chef. You only need a few ingredients to put these together and they turn out to be quite impressive. Try them - you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:
2 quarts of fresh Strawberries
1 box Jello No Bake Cheesecake (I used this box mix and it came with the graham cracker crumbs. This was good, but next time I think I'd try making my own filling - just to compare.)
Crushed Graham Crackers
Milk Chocolate for drizzling (I also used white chocolate because I had some)

Directions:
Wash the berries and hollow out the centers. I used a small paring knife for this. Mix the cheesecake according to the directions. Put the cheesecake in a piping bag and fill each strawberry until slightly overfilled. Then, place the graham cracker crumbs into a bowl and dip each strawberry into the crumbs to coat the top. Melt the chocolate in the microwave (I used just 1 block of the bark type chocolate from Kroger) in 30 second increments stirring between. Again, transfer to a piping bag with a narrow tip and drizzle onto each berry. Refrigerate until you're ready to eat!

Thomas the Train Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:43:00 +0000

My latest cake this month was for a Thomas the Train themed birthday party for our friends' son Sebastian - turning 5! Done in all buttercream with fondant railroad tracks. This is an easy design that was inspired by several cakes on cakecentral.com

Soccer Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:44:00 +0000

The second birthday cake last weekend was for a soccer player turning 7. I have never made a ball-shaped cake, so I was a little worried it might end up not quite looking like a ball, but it was surprisingly very easy and took little time to put together. I used the wilton soccer pan and found a template online for cutting out the white/black fondant shapes to piece over the ball. The stitches were made using a toothpick. I think it turned out pretty good and I'm ready to make another one of these!

The ball pan can be used to make cakes other than sports balls - check out some of the fun ideas from Wilton.

Ladybugs & Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:38:00 +0000

Another round of birthdays...another round of cakes! My next few posts are just some pictures of a few birthday cakes I've been making this month. Last weekend I made 2 cakes, one of which was this ladybug & flower cake for a 2 year old birthday! This was fun to make and I always like making girly cakes. The cakes are iced in buttercream and decorated using gumpaste.

Corn & Zucchini Pizza with Lime & Cilantro and White Garlic Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:43:00 +0000

The name is a bit misleading because I modified somewhat, but that's the name of the pizza that inspired this creation. After seeing this pizza on This Week's Menu Blog, I knew it would be another good way to use up some zucchini.

I'm not sure if I've ever had pizza without any kind of sauce, and I figured no sauce AND no meat would be pushing the limits with Aaron, so I needed sauce. I decided to try a white garlic sauce, which I've had when we've had pizza out, but never made myself at home. More about the sauce below...

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust (I used a frozen pizza dough)
1.5 cups mozzarella cheese
3 oz. feta cheese

sliced and/or chopped vegetables:
onions
zucchini
ear of sweet corn, removed from cob
bell peppers
cherry tomatoes, halved

...and whatever else you have or like!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread the crust out and bake it on the pizza stone sprinkled with corn meal at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Then, spread a thin layer of the garlic sauce, half of the mozzarella cheese and the veggies. Sprinkle feta cheese and the rest of the mozzarella on top and bake for 10-15 minutes longer.

After baking, the pizza is topped with cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice. We both really liked this pizza - the vegetables were crunchy and flavorful, especially the fresh sweet corn. It was a perfect summer dinner!

White Garlic Pizza Sauce
I looked at a few recipes to get an idea of where to start and ended up with this sauce...very garlicy & very good. The following can be adjusted to your taste as I didn't measure everything as I went.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Olive Oil
3-4 tbsp Flour
milk (I used 1% milk and did not measure the amount)
salt
minced garlic
red pepper flakes

Directions:
Melt the butter in a small saucepan with the olive oil. Once melted, whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook for a minute, then begin adding the milk, a little at a time, whisking as you go. I used probably 1-2 cups total. You can adjust to get the consistency of sauce you are looking for. Once the sauce is smooth, it's time to season it up. I added a heaping small spoonful of minced garlic, along with 2-3 spoonfuls of the garlic juice (is it called garlic juice?). Add salt to taste and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I had enough sauce to make 2 large pizzas, so next time I would only make half this amount.

Zucchini Spice Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:59:00 +0000

Overgrown zucchini were taking over our kitchen counter. We've been eating zucchini on the grill, zucchini in spaghetti sauce, stuffed zucchini, zucchini fritters and roasted zucchini, but I figured it was time for something sweet. Sure, I could make more zucchini bread, but we already have some of that in the freezer and I was ready to try a new recipe. I found this cupcake recipe on Erin's food Files Blog and comes from Martha Stewart Cupcakes. I loved that I didn't even have to pull out the mixer for this (except for the frosting). Everything was easily combined with a wire whisk. They are moist (I threw in a browning banana we had, too), fluffy and the cream cheese frosting makes them irresistable.

Source: Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Yields: 24 cupcakes

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 cups packed grated zucchini
1 cup walnuts (about 3 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Now for the Cream Cheese Frosting:
You must make this frosting to go with these cupcakes! The recipe does make quite a bit. I even used 16 oz. of cream cheese because I bought 2 blocks and I knew I would never use the other 4 oz. for something else, so why not mix it in? Unless you want to pipe a mountain of frosting on each cupcake (I piped a decent swirl on the tops and still have plenty of frosting to spare), I think 1/2 batch would do just fine.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla, and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 3 days in an airtight container; before using bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Mexican Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Just another variation on our favorite Mexican dinners - pizzas! These are very filling and fun to make. You could modify this recipe different ways to suit your taste. I went for the semi-healthy, semi-spicy version by baking the tortillas instead of frying them, using fat-free beans, skipping the sour cream (ok, I really just forgot it), and adding hot peppers to the meat and the tomatoes - jalapenos, hot banana and another green chile - a Big Jim maybe?

Source: Adapted from Cooking This and That

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef (I brown the meat with chopped onion and a hot pepper)
taco seasoning (My seasoning was made of a combination of cumin, chili powder, pinch of salt, and a spoon of minced garlic)
1/4 cup water
4 flour tortillas (10 inch)
cooking spray
2 tbsp chopped green onions
1/2 can (8 ounces) refried beans
1 cup diced tomatoes (I made pico de gallo for extra flavor - tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, cilantro, lemon juice and salt)
1/2 cup taco sauce (I used homemade enchilada sauce)
1 cup shredded cheese
sliced black olives, optional

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and cook the ground beef until brown, drain. Return to the heat and add the onion & pepper, taco seasoning and water. Continue to cook for several minutes, until cooked through, stirring often.

Spray both sides of each tortilla with cooking spray and place directly on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for about 6 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden brown and crispy. Watch carefully so they do not burn. Remove to a baking sheet.

Microwave the refried beans for 30-60 seconds, or until spreadable.

Lay 2 tortillas out on a baking sheet; top each with a spoonful of the beans, ground beef, and 1/4 cup cheese. Top with another tortilla and lightly press down.

Top the second tortillas each with 1/4 cup taco sauce. Layer with diced tomatoes, cheese, green onions and a few black olives.

Bake for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges and top with sour cream and/or salsa if desired.

Jalapeno Corn Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:08:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite things to make to go with pretty much any Mexican style dinner. Normally I would see this long list of ingredients and skip right over the recipe, but most of the items you probably already have. I make one batch (12 muffins) and freeze the leftovers for the next time. It's a quick side - just microwave the frozen muffin for a few seconds (maybe 30?) and it's just like fresh baked. The muffins aren't really spicy (but you could make them as spicy as you like), and still have good flavor and texture between all of the the cheese, jalapeno, corn and honey. They are really soft and would be great with chili!

Source: Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup fresh corn kernels
Pinch salt plus 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/3 cup shredded Cheddar
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon minced green jalapeno, seeds and stem removed
1 tablespoon minced red jalapeno, seeds and stem removed
3 tablespoons honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small saute pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook until soft and golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the fresh corn and a pinch of salt and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt, cayenne pepper, and cheese. In a second bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, jalapenos, and honey. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Stir in the cooled onions and corn.

Spoon the batter into lightly greased, regular size muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake muffins for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from muffin tins and cool on wire rack. Serve warm.

Yield: 12 muffins

Double Chocolate Brownie Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Today I was in the mood to bake something, but didn't want to go out in the rain to run to the store for anything. I have a good baking stash in the pantry, but decided on this Double Chocolate Brownie Cake that calls for very few ingredients. It's a simple doctored cake mix and turns out really dense, moist, and chocolately. Since the cake itself is fairly rich, I just dusted powdered sugar on top instead of making a glaze or frosting of some kind. Yum!

Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, sour cream, oil and water. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Cupcake Burgers & Fries

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Here's a fun treat for your next BBQ. I saw these cupcakes on several blogs this summer and decided I needed to make them. I went the easy route and used box mixes for the cake and brownies and used canned icing.

I made the cupcakes mini sized and used one of the big wilton tips as a cutter for the brownies to fit just right on the cupcake.

You'll need:

1 box yellow cake mix made 50-52 mini cupcakes. I used liners for the cupcakes. Next time I would be more careful about how much batter went into each one because the ones that overflowed the top didn't have matching top/bottom bun sizes.

1 box brownie mix baked in a 9x13 pan was plenty for 50 cupcakes.

1 can of white icing - color some red, some yellow and some green.

sesame seeds (optional)

To assemble the burgers, start by cutting the cupcakes in half. Then top with a brownie burger, pipe some red, green, and yellow icing on top. Brush the top bun with a little bit of water and spinkle sesame seeds on top.

The burgers were fun to make and not too time consuming, but the fries were a different story for me. I bought refrigerated sugar cookie dough and rolled it out and cut it into strips using a pizza cutter. The idea was to peel away every other fry and place it on another cookie sheet so when it baked, it had room to spread.

Well...after rolling/cutting, the dough was pretty warm, so I popped it in the fridge for a while, but apparently not long enough. The dough was way too soft to be able to lift/move each individual fry. It was a long process to try and get the fries to keep their shape...and in the end, they didn't. They spread too much on the pan and didn't look much like fries. Oh well, they tasted fine and right after baking I threw them in a brown paper bag with some granulated sugar to look like salted fries.

Stuffed Jalapeños

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:57:00 +0000

I had these stuffed jalapeños at a party recently and they were great - not too spicy. I knew I'd want to make them myself with jalapeños from our garden, so I did!

To take some of the heat out of the peppers, I seeded them all the day before and soaked them in milk overnight. It's the first time I tried that trick and I can't really say how much it helped, since I couldn't compare the before pepper to the pepper that was soaked. However, most of the peppers were mild enough that I didn't need a drink immediately after eating one. After reading the reviews, I also added a big spoonful of crushed pineapple to the cream cheese. I also used turkey bacon and 1/3 less fat cream cheese to cut out a lot of the fat.

Instead of cutting each pepper in 1/2, I cut a "T" shape into the pepper. I cut a line down the length of the pepper, and a smaller cut across the top below the stem, just big enough to be able to get the seeds out.

Source: Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
12 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 (8 ounce) package whipped cream cheese
12 slices bacon, cut in half

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Stuff each jalapeno half with whipped cream cheese. Wrap a half slice of bacon around each stuffed jalapeno half.
Arrange wrapped jalapeno halves in a single layer on a medium baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven 45 minutes, or until bacon is evenly browned and crisp.

Chile-Beef Stuffed Zucchini

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:48:00 +0000

After seeing this recipe on Sweet Tea In Texas's blog, I starred it because
I knew I wanted to plant zucchini in the garden this year and would need some different ideas to use it. I'm shocked, but we are starting to get zucchini already! I picked the first one last night and made this recipe for a quick dinner. I also picked 2 small red tomatoes and used those as well.

Instead of the 1/2 cup jarred jalapenos that the recipe calls for, I picked a hot pepper from our garden. I forgot to check which plant it was from. We have THAT many different kinds of hot peppers, but I do have a garden key I created so I can look them up if I remember where I got it.

Overall I liked this recipe a lot, but I also made changes and it turned out a little dry - nothing a little fat free sour cream couldn't fix! Some of my changes were to add chili powder and a little bit of jarred salsa to help with the dryness (I should have used even more).

Source: Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
2 Zucchini (halved lengthwise & seeded)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 pound ground beef
1 tsp cumin
salt & pepper
1 tomato, seeded & chopped
1/2 Cup jarred pickled jalapenos
1 bag of Mexican style shredded cheese.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450°. Arrange the zucchini cut side up in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Add 1/2 cup water to the dish, cover with foil and bake until the zucchini begins to soften, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the beef and cumin and cook, breaking the meat up, until just browned, about 4 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes and pickled jalapeños

Uncover the baking dish, pour off the water and season the zucchini with salt. Fill with the beef mixture and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake, uncovered, until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

Chicken Florentine Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:26:00 +0000

Last night for dinner we had this baked pasta dish and it turned out really good! We don't eat much pasta, but I love it, so I was happy to get this one into the dinner plans this week. I followed the recipe below almost exactly, my changes are noted - I also sauteed some sliced mushrooms and threw those in. This made quite a lot of food! Really any veggies you like would be a great addition. I would make this again using broccoli and/or bell peppers.

Source: Cooking This and That

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
12 ounces farfalle pasta (I had 1/2 box of shells to use up, so we used those)
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of basil, oregano, parsley
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
kosher salt and coarse ground pepper, to taste
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped (I forgot to get this, so I just chopped a fresh tomato)
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese, divided
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray. (Or, use this method to make two separate dishes.)

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook pasta as directed, to al dente. Drain and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-heat. Add the onions and cook 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add the chicken and herbs and red pepper flakes and cook until heated through. Remove from heat, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt and pepper. Stir in the chicken mixture, Monterey Jack cheese, artichokes, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, half of the Parmesan, and cooked pasta.

Transfer to prepared baking dish(es). Bake, covered with foil, for 20 minutes. In small bowl, combine remaining Parmesan, bread crumbs, paprika, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture over pasta and continue baking, uncovered, 10 minutes more or until golden.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:02:00 +0000

Who doesn't love peanut butter and jelly? I've wanted to make these cookie bars for a while, and I am glad I finally did. But, get the milk ready - these are very stick-to-your-mouth, can't-talk-for-5-minutes, peanut buttery!

Overall I liked the recipe and would make them again, but with changes. I thought there was about twice as much peanut butter cookie dough as needed. As I pressed the dough into the 9x13, I was thinking these are going to be really thick cookie bars. So, I pressed about half of the dough into a 9x13 and then got out a muffin pan and easily made another 12 pb&j muffin bars. The only other change I would make is to use more jelly. Again, because I thought the cookie itself was more dry/hard to eat and extra jelly might have helped with that.

Source: Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

Beach Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:06:00 +0000

We just returned from a great trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida. I miss the beach and ocean already! While we were there, we ate lunch at Sharky's one day in Venice. As we were waiting for our food, we saw the waitress carry a plate of bread past us that looked so good! It was covered in melted cheese and diced tomatoes. We didn't order it, we didn't need that much food, but I did look it up on the menu and figured out that it was Beach Bread. I made sure to remember it so I could look it up and make it at home! Wasting no time, we had some with dinner this week. I found this recipe online, and since we didn't actually taste it in Florida, I can't say how similar the taste was, but I really liked it!

Make sure you toast the bread under the broiler on both sides before moving on to the dressing, tomatoes and cheese. I buttered the bread, sprinkled a little garlic powder on, then broiled until a little brown. Then added the dressing, tomatoes, and threw in some chopped green onion. For the cheese, I just used a mix of a few kinds we had left - mozzarella, cheddar, and Monterrey jack.

Source: Recipezaar

Ingredients
1 loaf French bread or Italian bread
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup blue cheese dressing
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups diced tomatoes (1 large tomato)

Directions
Slice the bread in half lengthwise

Butter lightly and put under broiler (If watching calories skip the butter) toast lightly.

Spread the blue cheese dressing equally over both halves.

Top with grated cheese and diced tomatoes.

Place under broiler until cheese melted

(Optional Ingredients: Garlic powder, diced onion, mushrooms, chicken, pepperoni or mix cheeses to taste. Original is great, so give it a try first).

Blueberry Banana Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:50:00 +0000

The overripe bananas are begining to take over my inside freezer. Today I had to do something about that. It's been a while since I've baked something for home, so banana bread sounded pretty good. I've seen a few recipes lately that also have blueberries and/or coconut in the banana bread, so I'm trying this Paula Deen recipe, with the addition of both! This recipe makes 2 loaves.

I ended up baking this for about 1 hour and 20 minutes because it was still gooey in the middle, but you can tell the outside got pretty dark. Despite baking it for an extra 20 minutes, it was still moist on the inside. I really liked the addition of coconut in this bread and will definitely add it again the next time.

Source: Adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups ripe, mashed, bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup coconut
1 tsp. coconut extract (I only added this because I bought it for the coconut cake, and really...when else am I going to use it?)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.

In a medium bowl and with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring well. Add bananas and pecans, stirring just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 1 hour, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans, and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Coconut Cream Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:44:00 +0000

If you like coconut, this one is for you! It came out light and moist, with just the right amount of coconut flavor. The whipped topping was creamy and fluffy and with a bite of strawberry, was the best part to me.

The shortcut of using a boxed mix, with a little doctoring, makes this super simple to put together, but still homemade and great-tasting. Instead of a 9x13 cake, I wanted to make a 3-layer cake. One box mix will get you 2, 8-inch layers. I doubled the recipe and made 4, 8-inch rounds (knowing that at least one would probably fall apart and you have to have one to taste test, right?). I also made extra whipped topping (used 3 cups of heavy cream) since I had layers to fill and then frost the whole outside, too.

I made one other change after reading the reviews. It was recommended several times to only use 1/2 the amount of coconut cream and sweetened condensed milk to soak into the cake. I didn't want it to end up soggy, and I needed to be able to pick up the layers without them crumbling to pieces, so I followed that advice. It still turned out moist and flavorful on the inside, so I would stick to that amount the next time, too.

Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
3 eggs (I only used egg whites)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1 (14 ounce) can coconut cream
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup flaked coconut

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, water and coconut flavoring. Beat for 2 minutes and pour into 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

In a medium bowl, combine coconut cream with sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth. When cake comes out of the oven, poke holes into it in even rows using a large fork or chopsticks. Pour milk mixture over, allowing it to soak into the cake. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle top with flaked coconut.

Super Sloppy Joes

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Aimee, my cousin, highly recommended this recipe for sloppy joes and not wanting to miss out, I decided to try it. This recipe calls for a chopped red bell pepper, which is great because we still have plenty in the freezer from the garden last year. The flavor of the pepper really stood out and was different than the sloppy joes we usually eat, which have more of a bbq taste and not as prominent as the tomato flavor in this recipe.

I've only made homemade sloppy joes once before. Ours usually come from a can. You know the song..."You don't have to be a man to love Manwich. You don't have to be a witch either, it's true." Be glad there is no audio here and you don't have to listen to me sing that!

Source: Rachael Ray

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 crusty rolls, split, toasted, and lightly buttered

Directions
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning. Add sugar and spice mixture to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, pile sloppy meat onto toasted, buttered bun bottoms and cover with bun tops.

Cupcakes for my Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:57:00 +0000

I know some of you have noticed my cooking & blogging has practically come to a screeching halt the last couple of months. I just haven't had much of an appetite or felt like cooking anything new. Bloggy friends - that's because we're having a baby! We're really excited to have this new addition, due to arrive October 30th. I'm into my 4th month now and starting to feel good again, so I'm back to blogging.

To make this food related, I'll share these cupcakes I made and brought in to announce to my coworkers. Nothing too fancy here. I made a box mix of chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream and strawberry cake topped with lemon buttercream. Then, each cupcake was topped with a daisy and a baby item - either a bottle, diaper pin or pacifier in pink or blue, all made from fondant.

California Chicken Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:21:00 +0000

After seeing this salad on Stephanie's blog, Macaroni and Cheesecake, I starred it right away and added it to our menu for this week. It was great for a light dinner and super fast to throw together. It's funny that I wanted to make this because normally I am not a fan of fruit in my salad, or a fan or avocados. But, in the past year, I think I am starting to like avocados a lot more and decided to just give the fruit a chance.

I used a pre-packaged bag of salad mix and was able to get 3 salads out of this recipe (yay, leftovers for lunch!). I used 2 chicken breasts, pounded thin and then seasoned with blackened seasoning. I really liked the variety of flavors in the salad. The sweet strawberries, slightly tart mango (I think it was a bit under-ripe actually), and the creamy avocado came together very nicely mixed with the greens.

Taking Stephanie's lead, I made the same balsamic poppy seed dressing she used. Again, something I would not normally choose because I don't really care for balsamic vinegar. But, I went with it because I do like the other ingredients and have never had a poppy seed dressing before. It turned out just fine - but I personally did not care for it, solely based on the balsamic vinegar flavor. But if you like the flavor, it's great and I'd recommend it!

Even Trixie was scoping it out, hoping to get a taste of the chicken.

Source: Adapted from Jillian Michael's Making the Cut

Ingredients:
4-5 cups mixed salad greens
5 large strawberries, sliced
1 mango, peeled and sliced
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
2 chicken breasts, grilled & diced

Directions:
In a large bowl, place salad greens, then add all other ingredients. Serve drizzled with the poppy seed dressing below, or the dressing of your choice.

Balsamic Poppy Seed Salad Dressing
Source: Adapted from a post on the CookingLight.com Community

Ingredients:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 tsp. splenda or sugar
1 tbsp. fat free mayo (optional)

Directions:
Whisk together all the ingredients.

Spiderman Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:10:00 +0000

Feels like forever since I've made a cake, but I'm back! My nephew Sean LOVES Spiderman, so it's only fitting that he get a spiderman cake for his birthday. I had a hard time getting the buttercream to be really red. For a double batch of buttercream, I used an entire bottle of the no-taste red, plus some burgundy, plus a little more red. In the end I was happy with the color, but for a while I was really afraid this was going to be the first pink spiderman cake. The longer it sits, the darker it gets.

The cake itself is a white cake that I striped blue by dividing the batter into 2 bowls and dying one bowl blue, and leaving the other white. Then, alternating by a spoonful at a time, I layered the colors into the pan before baking. My circles were not quite concentric as the center seemed to spread all over the place. I think my counters aren't level. But, it all worked out because the cake was frosted, so you couldn't tell. My nephew thought they looked like webs through the cake. That works!

Chicken Enchilada Dip Rollups

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:54:00 +0000

This weekend we went up to visit my family to celebrate a couple of birthdays. We had some really great food for lunch made by my mom and sister, along with these Chicken Enchilada Dip Rollups I brought that I've wanted to try for a while now. They were fantastic! I used a tomato basil wrap we had, but any kind will do. You can adjust the amount of heat you like in these. I made these mild since I knew the kids probably wouldn't eat anything too spicy. These would be perfect game day food - maybe with a jalapeno inside, too!

Lucky for me, Joelen is hosting a foodie film event this month for Mexican inspired recipes, in honor of Cinco de Mayo. These enchilada rolls would be the perfect addition to any Cindo de Mayo party.

Source: Cook Like a Champion

Ingredients:
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/3 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced (I used the zester for this. A garlic press would work nicely, as well.)
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
cayenne pepper to taste
salt to taste
1 small, southwest flavored rotisserie chicken, skinned and shredded
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
10-oz. can Rotel tomatoes
1 package jalapeno cheddar tortillas

Directions:
-Mix cheeses together until well blended.
-Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.
-Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.
-Place one heaping spoonful onto tortilla.
-Spread to edges using a metal spatula.
-Roll and cut into slices.

Skyline Chili Pizza & Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:46:00 +0000

Last year we started making our own Skyline Chili at home in big batches and then freezing to save time and use for a quick dinner. This stuff is good on top of spaghetti, baked potatoes, hot dogs, in tortillas as a wrap/burrito, and yes, on pizza! Shame on me for not dragging out my light box to take this photo.

This post is actually for 2 recipes - the skyline chili pizza and the whole wheat pizza dough. This was my first time using whole wheat flour and now I'm really not sure why I didn't try it sooner. It was great! I'll definitely make it again. We usually make one crust fresh and freeze the second dough for another time.

To help the crust get a little more crispy/not soggy, I spread out the dough onto the pizza stone and bake 5-7 minutes by itself. Then, I take it out, add the chili, cheese and onions.

Pizza Dough Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl combine flour, wheat germ and salt. Make a well in the middle and add honey and yeast mixture. Stir well to combine. Cover and set in a warm place to rise for a few minutes.

Roll dough on a floured pizza pan and poke a few holes in it with a fork.
Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until desired crispiness is achieved.

Source for Skyline Chili Pizza: I think Donato's or Dominoes offered this in our area for a limited time, so we decided we could make this ourselves.

Ingredients:
Skyline Chili (probably about 2 cups for a large pizza)
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 small onion, chopped

Directions:
Make the pizza dough as directed above. Spread the dough onto a pizza stone and bake at 45 for 5-7 minutes.

Remove crust from oven and top with the chili, cheese, and onions and bake for 15-20 minutes longer.

You could also put black olives on this pizza!

Apple Spinach Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:58:00 +0000

In our house, salads are usually pretty boring. Maybe boring isn't the right word, but they are defintely always the same old mundane salads. Romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, whatever other veggies we have, croutons and dressing. Over and over. It gets kind of old and makes it harder to want to eat salad.

Not anymore! We had this salad at a party this past Christmas and Aaron and I both loved it. Unfortunately, it took me this long to make it at home for the first time, but it is my new favorite. I love the tart, crunchy granny smith apples, the sweet raisins, the crunchy toasted almonds (I used almonds, the recipe calls for cashews) and the sweet and tangy dressing on top of the spinach.

Ingredients:
1 6 oz package fresh baby spinach
2 small Granny Smith Apples, chopped
1/2 c. Cashews
1/4 c. Golden Raisins
1/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 c. Vegetable Oil (I used olive oil)
1/4 tsp. Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp. Celery Salt

Directions:
Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large salad bowl. Whisk together sugar and next 4 ingredients, until blended. Serve with salad.

You can chill the dressing for up to 1 day. Whisk well before serving.