Dats Sum Good Cornbread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter 2/3 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup cornmeal 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2.	Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Amish Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 2 3/4 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 18 tablespoons warm water

DIRECTIONS

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread cycle; press Start.

2. When the dough has raised once and second cycle of kneading begins, turn machine off. Reset by pressing Start once again. This gives the dough two full raising cycles before the final raising cycle prior to baking.

Butternut Squash Bisque

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1/2 cup diced onion 3/4 cup diced carrots 4 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

3 cups vegetable stock salt and ground black pepper to taste ground nutmeg to taste 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Directions:

1.	Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion in the butter and oil under tender.
2.	Mix the carrots and squash into the pot. Pour in vegetable stock, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender.
3.	In a blender or food processor, puree the soup mixture until smooth. Return to the pot, and stir in the heavy cream. Heat through, but do not boil. Serve warm with a dash of nutmeg.

French Baguettes

Ingredients:

1 cup water 2 1/2 cups bread flour 1 tablespoon white sugar 1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast 1 egg yolk 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1.	Place 1 cup water, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast into bread machine pan in the order recommended by manufacturer. Select Dough cycle, and press Start.
2.	When the cycle has completed, place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
3.	Punch down dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 16x12 inch rectangle. Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
4.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves.
5.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Homemade Tomato Soup

  Ingredients

• 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with 1/4 cup of the olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted chopped canned tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add basil and cream, if using. Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth.

Comfort Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons shortening 3/4 cup milk

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2.	In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the shortening and mix until in little pieces. Add milk a little at a time and mix until it forms a ball.
3.	Roll out on floured board to 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out in desired size and dip in melted shortening. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.
4.	Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes.

Chicken Noodle Soup...the Real Deal

Ingredients

• 1 (3 to 4-pound) whole chicken
• 1 quart chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 quarts water
• 2 medium onions, quartered
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 or 6 parsley stems
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 ounces whole button mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup small-diced celery
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 pound dried vermicelli noodles
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Place the chicken in a large stockpot or Dutch oven and cover with the chicken stock and 2 quarts water. Add the onion quarters, roughly chopped carrots and celery, thyme, parsley stems, and the bay leaf. Bring mixture to a boil, partially cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour. The chicken should easily pull away from the bones.

Using tongs, remove the chicken from the broth and set aside until cool enough to handle. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine-meshed sieve, lined with cheesecloth, discarding the vegetables and reserving the stock. Pull the chicken meat off the bones, discarding the bones, skin, and any fat. Shred and reserve meat.

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Add the diced onions, carrots, and celery and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in reserved cooked chicken. Add reserved chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

Season the soup with salt and pepper. Add vermicelli and simmer until noodles are cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in parsley. Serve hot.

Homemade Tortillas

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons lard 1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

1.	Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
2.	Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer; continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough.

Mexican Corn Chowder

One of my favorite soups yet!!! 

Mexican Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 clove garlic, minced 3 tablespoons butter 2 cubes chicken bouillon 1 cup hot water 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cups half-and-half cream 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese 1 (14.75 ounce) can cream-style corn 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles 1 dash hot pepper sauce 1 tomato, chopped fresh cilantro sprigs, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1.	In a Dutch oven, brown chicken, onion, and garlic in butter until chicken is no longer pink.
2.	Dissolve the bouillon in hot water; Pour into Dutch oven, and season with cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3.	Stir in cream, cheese, corn, chilies, and hot pepper sauce. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cheese is melted. Stir in chopped tomato. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with Homemade Tortillas!

Potato Ham Chowder & Easy Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

4 C. peeled and diced potatoes             

1/2 C. Diced celery

1/2 C. chopped onion

1/2 C. chopped carrots

3/4 C. diced cooked ham

4 C. water

2 T. chicken bouillon granules

1 t. black pepper

salt, to taste

5 T. butter

5 T. all purpose flour

2 C. milk

Directions:

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrots, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil and reduce over medium heat until the potatoes are fork tender5 – about 10 minutes or so. Stir in the chicken bullion and pepper.

2. Melt butter over medium heat in a separate sauce pan. Whisk in flour, and cook, stirring constantly until thickened – about 1 minute. Slowly add milk as you whisk the mixture until all the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium heat until thickened – about 5 minutes.

3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot and cook soup until heated through.

4. Add salt to taste. (Do this last because the ham will add a nice salty flavor – and you can decided how much is needed.)

easy crescent rolls

Ingredients:

1/2 C. warm water (110 degrees)

1/2 C. warm milk

1 egg

1/3 C. butter, softened

1/3 C. white sugar

1 t. salt

3 3/4 C. all purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) pkg active dry yeast

1/4 C. butter, softened

Directions:

1. Place water, egg, 1/3 C. butter, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast in the pan on the bread machine in the order recommended by manufacturer. Select dough/Knead cycle and press START.

2. When finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 12 inch circle. Spread 1/4 C. softened butter over the entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; Place point side down on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel and put in a warm place. Let rise 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden

Easy Chicken Fajitas

Meet my best friend.

World Harbors Fajita Sauce and Marinade

This stuff is SO stinkin’ good.

It has a sweet smokiness to it.

Almost a Caribbean flair.

Not too strong…Not too tame.

I recently discovered that Wal-Mart is now selling it on their gourmet racks. In days of old, I bought it at the butcher and had to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Thank you to Wal-Mart for “working on a rollback….prices goin’ down down.”

Ingredients:

3-4 Large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or chicken tenders)

1 large sweet yellow onion

2 peppers (I prefer red and yellow)

Directions:

1. Slice chicken into thin strips.

2. slice onions into thin strips.

3. Slice peppers into thin strips.

(are you catching on here?)

4. Combine in a bowl and pour a bottle of your new BFF over top and marinate for about an hour.

5. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a large skillet and sauté away over medium high heat until cooked through.

6. Drain and Heat these in a separate sauce pan. Add nothing…they are perfection.

7. Serve fajita mixture and black beans in warm flour tortillas. My kids like them with shredded cheese, salsa, and light sour cream.

8. Oohlala.

Scrumptious Slow Cooker Beef Stew

*I combined three of my favorite beef stew recipes to create this one...Delish!*

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds Lean Beef Stew Meat
1/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt

3 T. olive oil

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
4 carrots, quartered
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 onions, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 T. dried parsley
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 t. paprika
1 t. black pepper

2 C. boiling water
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 C. frozen green peas
1 C. beef broth
1 T. Worcestershire sauce


Directions:

1. Place meat in large Ziploc bag. Combine the flour and salt; shake to coat.

2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add coated stew meat and cook until evenly browned on the outside.

3. Transfer meat to slow cooker and add canned tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, parsley, garlic, pepper, paprika and bay leaf.

4. In a bowl, combine 2 C. boiling water and dry soup mix. Pour into slow cooker.

5. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook for 6 hours or until meat is fork tender.

6. Remove Bay leaf. Rinse frozen peas in warm water to help defrost. Add to slow cooker.

7. In a small bowl, combine 2 Tablespoons of flour with 1/4 C. warm water. Mix well and stir into stew. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes or until thickened. For thicker consistency - keep adding flour/water mixture.

Sitck to yer Ribs Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 heaping Tablespoon wheat germ
• 1 heaping Tablespoon ground flaxseed
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil - May substitute applesauce
  
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar - May substitute splenda
  
• 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)
• Blueberries
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grind the oats in a blender or food processor until fine. In a large bowl, combine ground oats, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder,wheat germ, flaxseed, and salt.
2. In another bowl, combine buttermilk, milk, oil, egg, and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Mix wet ingredients into dry with a few swift strokes.
3. Lightly spray griddle, and preheat it to medium heat. Ladle 1/3 cup of the batter onto the hot skillet; sprinkle walnuts and blueberries on top on the cooking batter. Cook the pancakes for 2 to 4 minutes per side, or until brown.
4. Serve with real maple syrup.
   

Tom's Birthday Dinner

Appetizer: Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients:

3 gloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 C. tomato sauce
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. chopped fresh basil
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 pounds fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
skewers

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients but the lemon and vinegar. Add the shrimp to the bowl and stir until evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Add vinegar and lemon juice the last 30 minutes of marinating...to avoid having the acid toughen the shrimp.
3. Skewer and grill shrimp on lightly oiled grill - 2 or 3 minutes each side. Do not overcook.

Salad: Mixed Greens with Warm Pancetta Dressing

Ingredients:

1/4 pound pancetta thinly sliced and chopped
1/3 C. olive oil
1 T. white wine vinegar
1 T. lemon juice
nice pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 T. pine nuts
1/4 pound goat cheese
1 pound mixed greens (red leaf, arugula, radicchio, or whatever you like)

Directions:

1. Saute the pancetta until slightly crispy. DRAIN FAT.
2. Mix olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar. simmer for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the cooked pancetta and keep warm.
3. toast the pine nuts by heating them in a frying pan over medium heat until golden brown. Shake while toasting to prevent burning.
4. Toss greens with warm dressing, toasted pine nuts, and crumbled goat cheese. Serve immediately.

Side: Creamed corn with Roasted Poblano and Red Peppers.

Ingredients:

2 T. butter
1/4 red onion, small dice
1 poblano pepper
1 red pepper
8 ears of fresh corn
2/3 C. water
1/2 to 1 C. heavy cream
2 T. sugar
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2-1 T. cornstarch

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roast the peppers on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes. Remove and place in bowl covered with towel for 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel away the skin. Remove stem, split open, and remove seeds. Slice the peppers into small dice. Use however much you like...i used 1/2 of each pepper.
2. Shuck corn and remove silk. Cut the kernels off the ears.
3. Saute onion in butter over medium heat - cook 3 minutes or until translucent.
4. Add the corn and peppers to the onions and butter. Add 2/3 C. water and the remaining 1 T. butter. Bring to simmer, reduce heat and cover. Cook for 10-15 minutes until corn is tender.
5. Add the sugar, nutmeg, and cream to the corn. Cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. I added a bit of cornstarch mixed into cream to thicken. Much better texture this way.

Main: Filet Mignon in a Port Shitake Reduction

Ingredients:

2 filet mignon (7 - 9 oz cut)
salt and pepper
2 T. oilve oil
2 C. shitake or portabello mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 C. port wine
1 T. red seedless raspberry jam
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 C. beef broth

Directions:

1. Let meat stand and reach room temperature.
2. season with salt and pepper
3. Add the mushrooms to another pan with 1 T. olive oil and cook until they have wilted - about 5 minutes. Set aside.
4. Pour wine into the skillet and bring to boil over high heat. Boil until port has reduced by half then whisk in jam, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth and mushrooms. Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced to 1/2 C. About 30 minutes.
5. Heat 1 T. olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add steak to pan and let it sear. do not use tongs to flip...just your hands - to avoid juices being dispersed. Flip and sear the other side and edges. Add 1 T. butter and place skillet (if oven safe) directly into the oven. Turn half way through....cook based on how you liked it done.
6. I also made some garlic, herb butter - and put a dollop on each steak....drizzle the reduction over the steak.

Panini - "The Conference"

What does a girl do on a beautiful spring day ... when her car is in the shop...nowhere to go...nothing to do?

She breaks out the Panini Grill!

This particular panini was "born" on General Conference weekend....hence the name,
"The Conference".

Ingredients:

Multi grain bread - I prefer the round loaf....for presentation, of course
Turkey lunch meat
Butter
Swiss cheese
Avocado Slices
Thinly Sliced Red Onion
Baby Spinach
Red raspberry jam
Roast red pepper and onion relish (both of these available at my local butcher)

Directions:
Butter one side of each slice of bread, lightly. Spread raspberry jam on one side of the bread - and the red pepper onion relish on the other side. Place turkey, cheese, avocado, onion, and spinach leaves on top...and grill at about 375 degrees until done to your liking. I prefer mine hot and crispy. The beauty of the panini - is that no matter how crispy you get the outside...the middle stays soft and gooey. Yum!

Steak Tacos with Cilantro Citrus Avocado Salsa

Steak Tacos

1 T. Chili Powder
2 cloves of garlic, minced (about 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
pinch of cayenne (optional)
1 1/4 pound top sirloin steak
12 - 6 inch tortillas (white or corn)
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges

also: Grated cheddar cheese and sour cream

In a small bowl combine the dry spices. Rub the spice mixture on both sides of the steaks.
Grill the steaks for 5 minutes per side - flipping only once. Remove from grill and let sit for about 5 minutes. Carve into thin slices. (your mama sometimes doubles the dry rub recipe and coats a couple of chicken breasts, as well. Requires longer cooking time)

Warm the tortillas by placing between two moist paper towels and microwave for a minute.

Place carved meat, tortillas, cabbage, cilantro, lime wedges, shredded cheese, sour cream and Avocado mixture in serving dishes and let your diners make their own tacos at the table.

Cilantro-Lime-Avocado Salsa

2 medium Firm-ripe avocados, peeled, chopped
1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro
1 lime juiced
1 lemon juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

Dump it all together and mash. If you want to make it more of a traditional guac - add 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped and 1/2 red onion, diced.