Turkey Black Bean Burgers with Salsa

I am not a huge fan of burgers, but loved the idea of these turkey burgers with salsa. They were very flavorful, which is hard to come across sometimes with turkey burgers. They were very easy to make, and I actually halved the recipe which gave me 3 smaller sized bugers, which is a perfect size for me.

I also made some of my homemade salsa and just added some grilled corn to it.

You can find the original recipe which is by the Deen Brothers here.

Turkey Black Bean Burgers with Salsa

Burgers:
-- 1/4 cup olive oil
-- 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
-- 1/2 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained, and lightly mashed
-- 1 cup crushed tortilla chips
-- 2 teaspoons The Lady and Sons House Seasoning, recipe follows
-- 1 tablespoon chile powder
-- 1 tablespoon ground cumin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, or prepare your grill (I cooked these out on my grill, and did not use the olive oil).

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, beans, tortilla chips, House Seasoning, chile powder, and cumin. Use your hands to form the mixture into 8 equal sized patties, working in batches if necessary. Cook the patties until no longer pink in the middle, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the patties to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

To serve: Spoon the salsa mixture over the burgers. Top with avocado slices and sour cream or whatever your choice of toppings.

The Lady and Sons House Seasoning:
-- 1 cup salt
-- 1/4 cup pepper
-- 1/4 cup garlic powder
-- 1/4 cup onion powder

Combine all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 6 months.

Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf and Macaroni & Cheese

Last week I tried Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf and Macaroni & Cheese. I have been obsessed with trying Ree's recipes from her cookbook (especially after having met her a few weeks ago), and I have been wanting to try these two recipes for some time.

They weren't too bad. I used ground turkey for the meatloaf (trying to make it a little more healthy) and it was pretty moist. The Macaroni & Cheese was really good, but I wished I had put some breadcrumbs on top. I did put cheese on top and baked it, but I think having the breadcrumbs would make it really crunchy and tastey.

Meatloaf

Ingredients

Meatloaf:
-- 1 cup Whole Milk
-- 6 slices White Bread
-- 2 pounds Ground Beef
-- 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
-- ¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
-- ¾ teaspoons Salt
-- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
-- ⅓ cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
-- 4 whole Eggs Beaten
-- 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce:
-- 1-½ cup Ketchup
-- ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
-- 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
-- Tabasco To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients
-- 4 cups Dried Macaroni
-- 1 whole Egg Beaten
-- ¼ cups (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter
-- ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
-- 2-½ cups Whole Milk
-- 2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry Mustard, More If Desired
-- 1 pound Cheese, Grated
-- ½ teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
-- ½ teaspoons Seasoned Salt, More To Taste
-- ½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
-- Optional Spices: Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Thyme

Preparation Instructions

Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.

In a small bowl, beat egg.

In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.

Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.

Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.

Add in cheese and stir to melt.

Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed! DO NOT UNDERSALT.

Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.

Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

Bowtie Lasagna

Just wanted to share another fun recipe from The Pioneer Woman's website. If you read earlier in the week, I had the opportunity to meet Ree last weekend, so I am dedicating a couple of posts to her.

I found this Bowtie Lasagna through someone's Menu Monday post about a month ago, and I immediatly printed this recipe. I then found it on The Pioneer Woman's website and she had it categorized as a 16-min meal, which made me want to try it even more. It's actually from the Tastey Kitchen site, but PW featured it on her main site. It is going to become one of my go-to recipes since it was 1) very tastey, 2) so simple and easy, 3) it makes a ton, and 4) did I mention it was quick!

Ingredients:
-- 1 pound Ground Chuck (I used Ground Turkey)
-- 5 cups Bow Tie Noodles
-- 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce (or Pizza Sauce, Whatever You Prefer)
-- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
-- 1 teaspoon Salt
-- ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
-- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)
-- ½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
-- ½ cups Sour Cream

Directions:
I am a “make it and taste it as I go” cook. I made this in a hurry tonight, and was amazed at the results; my girls could NOT get enough of it. (I love that kind of response, don’t get it as often as I wish.)

Fry ground chuck in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.

After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce. (I can’t guarantee your results on this, because I’m spoiled; I am a “home canner” and have the BEST sauce on my shelf, a home canned marinara sauce that I use for lots of stuff—pizza, spaghetti, and of course, THIS.)

Add your fried hamburger, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serve to your family and be prepared to have it disappear before your very eyes.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

In honor of meeting The Pioneer Woman this last weekend, I just had to try making her famous cinnamon rolls. I was a little nervous about making these, everytime I use yeast I always wonder if it will actually rise, and it suprises me when it does!

It wasn't too hard of a recipe, but it did take about 2 hours to make. So if you are expecting to have cinnamon rolls early in the morning, you better grab the ones in the can! Of course, they won't be as good as these are, and they were totally worth the 2 hours it took to make them. I made these on Sunday, and just added some bacon on the side and called it brunch!

Ree's recipe makes like 4 dozen rolls. I totally did not need that many cinnamon rolls, even in my freezer, so I halved the recipe. I also used skim milk instead of whole milk because that is what I have. They still tasted very good, and I can only imagine how they would taste with the whole milk. Next time I might try splenda just to help the calorie count on these bad boys, but who knows if they will be as tastey.

Below is the recipe from her site, but I would highly recommend going to her site directly as she has step by step pictures, which I found very helpful. I totally recommend you try these! The Maple Frosting is to die for!!

Please note this recipe makes 4 dozen.

Ingredients:

-- 1 quart Whole Milk
-- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
-- 1 cup Sugar
-- 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
-- 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
-- 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
-- 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
-- 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
-- Plenty Of Melted Butter
-- 2 cups Sugar
-- Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

MAPLE FROSTING:
-- 1 bag Powdered Sugar
-- 2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
-- ½ cups Milk
-- ¼ cups Melted Butter
-- ¼ cups Brewed Coffee
-- ⅛ teaspoons Salt

Preparation Instructions:

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees (see note below) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Favorite Food Network Stars

I am obsessed with the Food Network. I really got into this channel about 2 years ago. I thought if I watched a bunch of cooking shows, I could learn how to cook, kind of like learning through osmosis. Well, it actually kind of worked. I am getting better, and have been trying lots of fun things.

My boyfriend thinks my obsession with the Food Network is crazy. He says I only need 3 chanels on my cable box (Food Network and Bravo being 2 of them). When I found out about the Cooking Channel he was like "Oh great, another reason for you to never leave the house!"

Well I do love my cooking shows, and I have a few Food Network stars that I watch every week.

Ok, so not only is she beautiful, and has an adorable little girl name Jade, and a cute husband, this girl can cook! She loves pasta and chocolate, my 2 favorites!! Sometimes her things look complicated, but once you really break down her recipes, they are pretty easy.

This is my all time favorite recipe of her's Baked Penne with Roasted Vegtables. I also love this recipe for Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet.

It took me a little while to warm up to The Neeleys, but now I totally love them! I so wish I had a cute husband to cook with me in the kitchen (maybe I was jealous!). I love BBQ, and that is totally their thing, so that is probably why I like them the best. I am trying to convince my boyfriend to go to Nashville with me so we can stop by their restaurant.

I tried making their BBQ sauce a few months ago (sorry never posted about that, but I should), and used it on chicken and pizza. It was awesome and totally worth the time it took to make it (took a few hours on the stove). I also recently made this recipe for Butterscotch Apple Crisp and oh my it was wonderful (I highly suggest you try it!).

Some people love her, some people hate her, but I love Sandra Lee. Probably mostly because her recipes really taught me how to cook. They are pretty easy, especially since they use a lot of ready made ingredients. She uses a lot of dry mixes also, so you don't have to buy a bunch of spices. I also love her color coordinating sets and tablescapes, and of course Cocktail Time! Ok, Cocktail Time is my favorite, but who doesn't love a good cocktail?!?

I have tried too many recipes to mention, but one of my favorite cocktails is her Blueberry Sangria Lemonade. I make this for all my girly parties and it's a huge hit! (Oh and it's really easy to make also!).

And we can't forget Paula. She is my favorite! I love her so much that when we were in Savannah last year, we totally had to stop by her restaurant The Lady and Sons. I keep joking that I would love for her to be my mother-in-law, and she could totally teach me some southern cooking tips!

These are just a few of my favorite Food Network Stars. Who are your favorites?

Cider-Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter Pecan Rice

I have seen this recipe on many Menu Monday posts, and I just had to try it out. First of all, the cider glaze was AMAZING! Loved it! I will have to try this again, it was so good.

I was a little nervous about pan frying chicken (I get nervous about it not getting cooked all the way), but I just pounded them down pretty thin, and it worked out great. I wasn't crazy about the Brown Butter Pecan Rice, it was just ok for me. Next time I just might make the brown rice with some chicken stock.

I ended up making 2 chicken breast cutlets, and 1 packet of Uncle Ben's boil-in-bag brown rice, and it was enough for 2 meals.

Cider-Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter Pecan Rice (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:
-- 1 (3.5-ounce) bag boil-in-bag brown rice (such as Uncle Ben's)
-- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
-- 1 pound chicken breast cutlets (about 4 cutlets)
-- 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
-- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
-- 1/2 cup refrigerated apple cider
-- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
-- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
-- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation:
1. Cook rice according to package directions in a small saucepan, omitting salt and fat; drain.

2. While rice cooks, melt 1 teaspoon butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan. Add cider and mustard to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until syrupy. Add chicken to pan, turning to coat. Remove from heat; set aside.

3. Melt remaining 5 teaspoons butter in saucepan over medium-high heat; cook for 2 minutes or until browned and fragrant. Lower heat to medium; add pecans, and cook for 1 minute or until toasted, stirring frequently. Add rice and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; toss well to coat. Serve rice with chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chippers

I found this recipe on Picky Palate and it is A-maz-ing! I love peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips, or any kind of chips in them, but this recipe has you melt 1 cup of butterscotch chips and mix with the peanut butter, which give the cookies a really rich/sweet taste. Then adding more butterscotch chips make them even better! I highly recommend you make these, but becareful, you may eat the entire batch! My family went through the entire batch in 2 days!!

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chippers

-- 1 stick softened butter
-- 1/2 Cup brown sugar
-- 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
-- 1 1/4 Cups smooth peanut butter
-- 1 Cup melted butterscotch chips
-- 1 egg
-- 1 teaspoon vanilla
-- 1 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
-- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
-- 1 Cup butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Melt butterscotch chips over a double boiler until melted. Add melted butterscotch chips and peanut butter to beaten butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.

2. Place flour, baking soda and salt in bowl; mix to combine. Add to wet ingredients until just combined then pour in butterscotch chips. Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough, roll in sugar then place onto baking sheet. Press tops with tines of a fork if desired. I did it both ways and both are great. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are cooked through. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

4 dozen cookies

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

I found this recipe through Rachel's blog, and I think she found it through another blog, but when I went back to try and find it I couldn't. It was pretty good, and uses yogurt instead of cream, so it's not too bad for you.

I'll admit, the soup itself is kind of bland, but the toppings are what really make it good. I also discovered that mixing Kansas City Steak Seasoning with it really makes it pop! I discovered this one time when I made potato skins, and the recipe called for seasoned salt, and I only had steak seasoning on hand. I highly recommend trying it to help punch things up a bit. I also used  bacon and cheese, but you could also use salsa, tomatoes, sour cream, or really anything you desire.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
-- 1.5 tbs olive oil
-- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
-- 2 cloves garlic, minced
-- 2.5 lbs potatoes, diced
-- 3 cups chicken stock
-- 1/2 cup plain yogurt

Directions:
Set a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the oil, onion and garlic and cook for 5 mins, or until the onions are just starting to become translucent.

Add the diced potatoes and simmer for another couple of mins, then add the chicken stock. Let the stock come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 20-30 mins, or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the heat and stir in the yogurt.

The recipe then calls to transfer half of the soup to a blender, but I just used a potato masher to help break up some of the potatoes. I like my potato soup kind of chunky, so I didn't do this too much.

Serve immediatly with your choice toppings.

Butterscotch Apple Crisp

I have a few fun dessert recipes to share today, and hopefully it will cause you to want to make something sweet this weekend!

I was watching Down Home with the Neely's a few weeks ago (love this show!), and have been dreaming about trying this dessert ever since. It was nothing short of amazing! If you try it, be sure to use tart apples such as Granny Smith (which are my fav anyway), because the butterscotch chips are pretty sweet.

Butterscotch Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

Filling:
-- 5 Granny Smith apples (about 2 pounds), peeled and roughly chopped
-- 1 (11-ounce) bag butterscotch chips
-- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
-- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
-- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (I used nutmeg because that is what I had on hand)
-- 1 lemon, juiced
-- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, plus more for greasing (I didn't use this, I had already used too much butter as it was, and just used Pam to spray the baking dish)

Topping:
-- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
-- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
-- 1/2 cup quick oats
-- Pinch kosher salt
-- 1/2 cup butter
-- 3/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 2-quart baking dish (or just spray with Pam).

For the filling: Toss the apples, butterscotch chips, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, allspice, and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add to the buttered baking dish and dot with butter (I didn't do this, but it turned out ok).

For the topping: In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, oats, and salt. Blend the butter into the mixture until it forms pea size lumps. Stir in the pecans and sprinkle over the filling.

Bake until the apples are tender and butterscotch is bubbling, about 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. This would be wonderful with ice cream on top! Unfortunatly I only had Peppermint and Pumpkin ice cream, and I wasn't sure how that would work out. The Neely's suggest Butter Pecan ice cream. Yum!

Mocha Chip Angel Food Cake

Another new recipe I tried a few weekends ago was from the January 2011 issue of Everyday Food. This issue was called "The Light Issue" and there were a ton of fun low calorie/low fat foods in this issue that I totally want to try. I especially liked the dessert recipes!!

I immediatly wanted to try this recipe, and it was pretty good. The only thing that shocked me was that it took 12 egg whites. Talk about using up a whole dozen eggs! I didn't have anything to do with the egg yolks, so I felt pretty wasteful. Otherwise this was a very tastey recipe, although it wasn't as low fat as I would have expected Angel Food Cake to be. I assumed it would be fat free, but the recipe had 183 calories and 5 grams of fat per slice (of the Angel Food Cake only, not including the chocolate ganache).

Mocha Chip Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:
-- 2 tbs instant expresso powder
-- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
-- 12 large egg whites (at room temperature)
-- 1 tsp cream of tarter
-- 1 1/4 cups of sugar
-- 1 cup of cake flour (**See note at bottom)
-- 1/2 tsp coarse salt
-- 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)
-- 1 recipe for Mocha Ganache (see below)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together the espresso powder, vanilla and 1 tbs of water until powder dissolves.

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 12 egg whites on med-high until foamy, about 1 min. Add cream of tarter and beat until soft peaks form, about 4 mins. Continue to beat, gradually adding sugar, until stiff glossy peaks form, about 2 mins.

Place cake flour** and salt into a fine-mesh sieve and sift over egg-white mixture in three additions, gently folding with a rubber spatula after each addition. Gently fold in espresso mixture and chocolate chips. Gently spoon batter into an ungreased angel-food cake pan with a removable bottom (mine didn't have a removeable bottom, I used a bunt pan, and I did have some trouble removing it). With a knife, cut through batter to release air bubbles, then smooth top. Bake until cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed, about 30 - 35 mins (I think I baked this for 30 mins and stopped because it was starting to burn in some areas, don't have it too close to the heating element, that might have been my problem).

Invert pan on a baking sheet and let cake cool in pan, about 1 hour. Run a thin knife around pan and tube, then unmold cake. As I mentioned above, mine didn't come out very clean, I had to work the knife a bit to get it out. Served drizzled with ganache (see recipe below).

Mocha Ganache:
Place 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz), 1/2 cup skim milk and 2 tsp instant espresso powder in a medium heat-proof bowl and set over (not in) a pot of simmering water. Stirl until chocolate metls and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and serve with cake. Refrigerate for up to 1 week. Makes 1 cup.

**Cake Four note: If you cannot find cake flour, which I could not, you can take a 1 cup measuring cup, and add 2 tbs of corn startch, and then fill up the remainder of the cup with all purpose flour. Luckily my mom found this quick fix on the internet (while I was at the grocery store searching for cake flour!!). I tend to call her all the time when I can't find something at the store, and she quickly googles substitutions for me. I guess I could do that on my phone, but I am always in a tizzy at that point...ha!

Grilled Rosemary Chicken with Chunky Tomato Salsa

So I tried a couple of new recipes this weekend, so I will have lots to share this week. For the most part, they turned out awesome. One of my favorites was the Grilled Rosemary Chicken with Chunky Tomato Salsa from the Cooking Light Fres Food Fast: Weeknight Meals cookbook. It is actually supposed to be Chunky Tomato-Avacado Salsa, but I left the avacado out of the recipe because I knew I would have leftovers, and although I LOVE avacado, I hate how it browns within a couple of hours (and believe me, I have tried all the tricks, and still no luck!).

The chicken smelled heavenly while is was cooking, and I have decided that rosemary and chicken should always go together. I totally want to now try and grow a rosemary plant just to put on my chicken all the time!

I think the Chunky Tomato Salsa would go great on a salad, especially if you cut this chicken up into pieces, they would both be wonderful on a bed of salad greens. I would definitly recommend this recipe!

Grilled Rosemary Chicken:

Ingredients:
-- 2 tbs olive oil
-- 2 tbs red wine vinegar
-- 1 tbs chopped fresh rosemary
-- 1 tbs minced garlic
-- 4 (4 oz) chicken cutlets (I only cooked, 2, but wished I would have cooked 4!)
-- 1/4 tsp salt
-- 1/4 tsp black pepper
-- Cooking spray
-- Chunky Tomato Salsa (see recipe below)

Directions:
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; place chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/4 inch thickness using a meat mallet (or small heavy skillet like I did); sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, and add to the bag; seal and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 mins.

The recipe then called to grill the chicken, but I baked it in a dish at 350 degrees for 25 mins because it was too cold out to grill. Add the Chunky Tomato Salsa before serving.

Chunky Tomato Salsa:

Ingredients:
-- 1 tbs chopped fresh oregano (I didn't have this, so I just used dried italian seasoning, and it was good)
-- 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
-- 2 tbs red wine vinegar
-- 1 garlic clove minced
-- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
-- 1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese
-- 1 ripe peeled avacado, chopped (if you prefer)

Directions:
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; add tomato halves and cheese and avacado (if desired) and toss gently; spoon over chicken. Makes enough for 4 servings.

Spicy Chipotle Turkey Chili

As I mentioned before, my goal is to try 50 new recipes this year. This is my second new recipe of the year, that worked! Ha! I tried a new receipe last week, but for some reason I cannot make pesto to save my life. It was the second time trying to make it, and I think maybe my food processor just wasn't meant to make pesto, or maybe it's me. Who knows, but we live and move on.

This recipe came from the Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast: Weeknight Meals. It wasn't too bad, but I think I have had much better chili. A couple of things I liked was that it was fast (took like 15 mins to make, although you could probably put it in a crock pot if you preferred), it was pretty healthy, and it didn't take a ton of ingredients.

It was a little bland for me, and not as hot and spicy as I was expecting. This could be due to the fact that I didn't have chipotle chili seasoning (I just used regular), and I only used half of the poblano pepper (I wasn't sure how hot it was going to be), and I used mild salsa. I did end up adding some extra chili seasoning to it, and it was much better. Next time I will probably use the whole poblano pepper, more chili seasoning, or maybe a medium salsa.

I also tried the corn muffins that was suggested on the same page, and I was not impressed. They were kind of dry, and not very flavorful.

Spicy Chipotle Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

-- 1 tbsp olive oil
-- 1 pound ground turkey
-- 1 large poblano pepper, seeded and finely chopped
-- 2 cups water
-- 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
-- 2 (16-ounce) cans of pinto beans, rinsed and drained
-- 1 (16-ounce) jar mild chipotle salsa
-- Chedder cheese, sour cream and other toppings

Directions:
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; add turkey and pobalo pepper; cook for 5-10 minutes or until turkey is brown; stir to crumble.

Stir in water and next three ingredients; cover and bring to a boil; mash the beans lightly with a potato masher until the soup is slightly thickened; 6 servings. Garnish with favorite toppings (I used chedder cheese and fat free sour cream) and serve.

Southwest Chicken Pizza

This year, one of my goals is to try out 50 new recipes. I have so many cookbooks, and I am always trying new recipes, so I figure this should be a lot of fun! It will equal out to about 1 per week (and sometimes I might try 2 per week, so that will make up for week's I take off, or make a repeat item).

I actually tried 2 recipes this week, but I am still trying to perfect one of them, so I'll share that one later. This week I wanted to share Southwest Chicken Pizza from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book (the pink edition). This recipe actually came from Sandra Lee (in the new pink section). I love trying out new pizza recipes, and will probably try out even more this year. I also love Mexican food, so this was a great combination.

A couple of things to note, I used a premade pizza crust. In the recipe it states to use a pizza crust mix and mix in 1/4 cup of mashed black beans. I love the Mama Mary pizza crusts, and I was looking for something easy, so that is what I did, but maybe sometime I will try the mix with the mashed black beans.

Also, I would suggest using canned corn instead of frozen corn like I did. I don't think the corn really cooked long enough, and wasn't very warm. I had to heat it up a little more in the microwave to get it warm enough to eat.

Also, I would drain your corn really well, and your salsa a little. My pizza had a little too much juice, and my toppings kept falling off. It was good, but next time I will drain my ingredients a little more.

Southwest Chicken Pizza (my version):

Ingredients:

-- Premade pizza crust

-- Olive oil

-- 1/2 cup (or more if you like) of salsa (I used my own homade version, see below)

-- 1/3 cup of Mexicorn, drained (suggest using from can)

-- 1/2 cup (or more if desired) fiesta blend shredded cheese

-- 1 cup cooked diced chicken

Directions:

Preheat oven per directions on the pizza crust (mine was at 450 degrees I believe).

Brush olive oil over your premade crust. Then spread on salsa evenly over dough, leaving about a 1" border. Top with the corn, chicken and cheese and other ingredients as desired.

Bake according to the directions on your premade crust (I believe I cooked mine for 12 - 14 mins) until golden brown.

Homemade Salsa:

For my homemade salsa, add to a food precessor, 4-5 small Roma tomates (cut in half), 1/2 of a red onion (also cut up into smaller chunks), 1 tbs lime juice, 1 tsp salt (or more to taste), and a handful of cilantro. Mix together in your food processor and then take a taste to see if it needs more salt or lime juice. I don't like to mix too much or else it gets runny. It's even better after it sits in the fridge for a day or so. Enjoy!



Spinach Manicotti in Creamy Tomato Sauce

One of my favorite types of pasta is Manicotti. When I came across this recipe in the December 2010 issue of Every Day Food, I just had to make it. I have actually had the ingredients on hand to make it for a few weeks now, I just finally found the time to make it. This is very tastey, and very rich. The recipe makes a ton of spinach/cheesy filling, so you don't have to worry about skinny little shells! Probably not something I will make all the time (or else I will be 500 pounds), but something I might make every few months.

Spinach Manicotti in Creamy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
-- 8 manicotti shells
-- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
-- 1 container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
-- 1 cup finely grated Parmesan
-- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
-- 1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
-- 2 cups prepared marinara sauce
-- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
-- 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta shells according to package instructions. Drain well and arrange in a single layer on an oiled rimmed baking sheet.
 
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, and lemon zest. Stir in spinach and season filling to taste with salt and pepper.
 
Transfer filling to a zip-top plastic bag. Twist and squeeze bag so filling is in one corner. With scissors, snip a 3/4-inch opening in corner.
 
Pipe filling into both ends of each pasta shell. Arrange stuffed shells in an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
 
In a medium bowl, whisk togerther marinara sauce, oregano, and cream. Pour sauce evenly over stuffed shells and top with 1/2 cup Parmesan. Please note I added some shredded mozzarella cheese because I just can't have enough cheese!!
 
Bake until sauce in center of dish is bubbling and Parmesan is browned in spots, about 30 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Sugar Crinkles -- Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipe

I love making christmas cookies. Every year I always like to try a new recipe, but I also have my favorites I love to make year after year. A few years ago I purchased one of my favorite cookie cookbooks.

Southern Living Incredible Cookies

One of my favorite recipes from this cookbook is the Sugar Crinkles. They are a sugar cookie that is rolled into balls, and then rolled into sugar. They are similar to a molasses sugar cookie because they have that crinkled sugary coating. What I love about them though is they have a slight lemon flavor. Sugar and lemon to me is a great flavor combination. I love to add red and green sprinkles to my sugar to make them even more festive. Below is a picture of the cookies I made last year.

Sugar Crinkles

Yield: about 5 1/2 dozen

Ingredients
-- 1 cup shortening
-- 1 1/2 cups sugar
-- 2 large eggs
-- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
-- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-- 2 teaspoons baking powder
-- 1/2 teaspoon salt
-- 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Beat shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar at medium speed of an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and flavorings, beating until blended.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to shortening mixture, beating well. Cover and chill dough.

Shape dough into 1" balls. Roll balls in 1/4 cup sugar. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350° for 8 to 9 minutes or until barely golden. Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I am posting this recipe for Beverly's Pink Saturday

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Source

I totally cannot believe it's already December! Where did the time go?? I keep putting November dates in my emails, so hopefully I can get into the groove of writing December.

Today we had our first snow fall, so it's starting to look like December! All throughout the day we had some flurries, but now the roads are icing over. They even had to shut down the interstate due to so many accidents. I am getting ready to enjoy some hot cocoa and curl up with a good book and my pup dog.

I came across this fun recipe the other day, so I think I might try it. It looks really good!

Cocktail o'Clock: Rocky Road Hot Chocolate

In a large ovenproof mug combine 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1½ cups hot milk and 1½ ounces amaretto. Top with miniature marshmallows and place under broiler until golden brown and puffed.


From Every Day Food

Pioneer Woman Pecan Pie and Whisky Maple Cream Sauce

Last weekend the Pioneer Woman was on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. I love Ree (aka Pioneer Woman), and was excited to see her on this show. They did a great job showing her life in Oklahoma with Marlboro Man and her kids on their ranch. It totally made me want to live on a ranch as it was so beautiful out there!

One of the things she made, which I believe helped her win, was Pecan Pie with a Whisky Maple Cream Sauce (which by the way I now can't stop saying P-can pie, thanks to Miss Paula Deen!). It looked sooo good, and I have been wanting to make it all week.

We had two Thanksgiving Dinners this week -- one with my Grandparents and my Mom's family in WVa and one with my brother's family (my brother and sister-in-law had to work on Thanksgiving). I ended up making Pumpkin Whoopie pies for the WVa dinner, and the Pecan Pie for my brother's dinner.

This Pecan Pie was de-lic-ious! My entire family raved about it! And the Whisky Maple Cream Sauce was to die for! I would totally recommend this sauce to be put on anything really. It had just enough of a kick to balance out the sweet pie (it's a little too rich to eat by itself, yes I did try though!).

Pioneer Woman's Pecan Pie:

Ingredients:

-- 1 whole Unbaked Pie Crust (Ree uses "Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust" recipe, I used a premade one)
-- 1 cup White Sugar
-- 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
-- ½ teaspoons Salt
-- 1 cup Corn Syrup
-- ¾ teaspoons Vanilla
-- ⅓ cups Melted Butter (Ree suggests salted, but I used unsalted and it turned out fine)
-- 3 whole Eggs Beaten
-- 1 cup (heaping) Chopped Pecans

Preparation Instructions:
First, whip up your pie crust using “Sylvia’s Perfect Pie Crust” found on Tasty Kitchen or purchase one like I did (which my Mom said was cheating).

Next, mix sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl.

Pour chopped pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie shell.

Pour syrup mixture over the top. Cover top and crust lightly/gently with foil. Bake pie at 350º for 30 minutes. Remove foil, then continue baking for 20 minutes, being careful not to burn the crust or pecans.

NOTE: PIE SHOULD NOT BE OVERLY JIGGLY WHEN YOU REMOVE IT FROM THE OVEN. If it shakes a lot, cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minute or until set. Required baking time seems to vary widely with this recipe. Sometimes it takes 50 minutes; sometimes it takes 75!

Allow to cool for several hours or overnight. Serve in thin slivers.

Whisky Maple Cream Sauce:

Ingredients:

-- 1-½ cup Heavy Cream
-- 5 Tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup
-- 3 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
-- 1 Tablespoon Whiskey (can Add More If Desired)

Preparation Instructions:
Combine cream, maple syrup, and corn syrup in a saucepan and stir to combine. Cook over medium-low to medium heat, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes or until sauce is reduced and thick (sauce should bubble slightly as it’s cooking.)

When sauce is thick, remove from heat and stir in whiskey. Return to heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour into a container and refrigerate until completely chilled. Stir before serving.

Drizzle over pies (or anything)!

New Recipe Blog -- Sweet Pea in the Kitchen

If you are stopping buy from Mingle Monday...Welcome, welcome!!

I wanted to share with everyone that I have started a new recipe blog Sweet Pea in the Kitchen. I love trying new recipes, and I could totally fill up this blog with them, so I figured I would start a new blog dedicated to recipes.

You can always access the recipe blog through this blog through the link on the right hand side and every once in a while I'll share in this blog what I am up to over there. I am still adding some of my favorite recipes and trying to organize it, but if you get a chance, stop by and check it out. You will find some amazing recipes such as:

Peach Cobbler

Skinnygirl Mojitos

Tomato-Peach Pizza

So check it out and let me know what you think!

New Kitchen Things, Home Goods Finds & Molten Lava Cakes

A few weeks ago, I came across this cute sugar and creamer set at Anthropology and just had to pick it up.

I then found this cute crock to hold all of my kitchen tools at Home Goods and thought it kind of matched. It actually was a canister and came with a lid, but there was only one, so I figured I would use it to hold my tools. This picture also shows my new Paula Deen salt box I got this week in the mail.

I also found at Home Goods these cute little ramekins that sort of matched as well and I had to make these fun individual Molten Lava Cakes. Boy let me tell you, they were delish.

I love when things sort of match, and you can mix and match things. I think I have a new theme going on in my kitchen, so I'll have to find other things to match. I would like to find some cute white place-settings and a platter in this same theme, so I'll be on the lookout for that next. Of course, who knows what I might come across next. I love a shopping challenge though!

Recipe for Molten Lava Cakes

Look at that ooey gooey goodness!

Recipe from Down Home with the Neely's

**Please note I cut this recipe in half because my ramekins were smaller and this gave me 6 individual cakes (which is more than I really needed anyway), but just so you know you can cut it in half if you don't want as many cakes..

Ingredients

-- 2 sticks butter, unsalted, plus more for ramekins

-- 4 teaspoons sugar
-- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-- Pinch cayenne
-- Pinch nutmeg
-- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
-- 1 cup all-purpose flour
-- 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
-- 6 large eggs
-- 6 large egg yolks
-- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Butter 8 (6-ounce) ramekins and sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

In a saucepan combine butter, cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg, and chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth; stir frequently. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, eggs and yolks, vanilla extract and almond extract until creamy. Add melted chocolate to the batter and whisk together.

Pour into prepared ramekins.

Bake cakes until the top is stiff and cracked and the edges are dark, about 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake with a small paring knife then invert onto plates while warm.

Tips Tuesday -- Splenda Mint Simple Syrup

A few months ago I participated in a weekly blog hop called "Tips Tuesday." Each week, on Tuesday, we shared different tips about whatever the topic was of the week. I loved these posts, and although that blogger is no longer hosting it, I thought I would go ahead and bring it back and make it my own. Therefore, each Tuesday I am going to try and share a different tip of my own, or a tip that I have come across during that week.

I have also put together my own little "Tips Tuesday" button (I am sure you are all impressed...lol) which is located in the upper right hand corner of my blog if you want to go back and reference any tips I may have posted.

Ok, so just to side track a little, the other day I was making potato skins, and I couldn't find  my recipe, so I just went to my blog and looked it up. I thought, isn't that funny I am referencing my own blog for something.

So this week's tip is making a mint simple syrup out of Splenda. I LOVE sweet tea, especially when it has a little mint in it, and I could probably drink it by the gallon. But sweet tea = like a million calories. Therefore I was curious if you could make, and get the same results, by making simple syrup out of Splenda which would cut the calories down to almost nothing.

After a little Googling, I found that you can make simple syrup out of Splenda pretty much the same way you make it with regular granulated sugar. Just heat up 1 part water and then mix in 1 part Splenda until it dissolves. Then add in a handful of mint and let it steep until it cools.

One thing to note, Splenda dissolves rather quickly and I actually just heated up the water in a measuring cup in the microwave until it was boiling (took about 2 or 3 mins), and then added in the Splenda, and it dissolved immediatly. Also, I think that Splenda is a little sweeter than regular granulated sugar, so I would start off by adding a little bit at a time. I think I only needed about 1/4 cup of the simple syrup (1/2 cup if you are making a really big pitcher of tea). I would make maybe a 1/2 - 1 cup but then add only a little bit at a time until you get the taste/sweetness you are looking for. You can keep whatever else you make in the refrigerator and use it later.

Splenda does have a slightly different taste than sugar (I am not going to lie there), but I think adding the mint to it helps a lot and makes it taste a little fresher. I am starting to get used to Splenda, so I don't automatically notice the difference. I think you do need to experiment with it a little and figure out the correct amount to get the sweetness you desire, otherwise it is going to taste a little funky. If you get it too sweet it just doesn't taste right, where as if you put in too much sugar, it just tastes even better!! =) Overall, if you are going to have people over, splurge on the sugar, but if you just want something to sip by the pool, try the Splenda, you might even like it.

Also, I have posted a few recipes using mint simple syrup, so I am sure you can use this for any of them. You can check them out here:

Mock-Mint Julip

Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet

I hope you enjoyed this tip, and I look forward to posting even more each week.