Bean Dip

This is a recipe that my mom made all the time when I was growing up. She actually made up this recipe on her own after trying many different recipes. This is always a great appetizer for a party or even just a nice and easy dinner!

What you need:

2-3 14oz. cans Spicy Jalapeno Rosarita Refried Beans

2-3 Cans diced green chili peppers

1 8oz. package of cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 onion, diced

Cilantro, chopped

Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Mix all ingredients well in a large mixing bowl. I typically put almost all the cilantro in and probably a cup or more of cheese (it depends on what you like). Pour bean dip into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Cover the top of the bean dip with more cheese (as much as you would like). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with chips!

Banana Bread

This recipe was given to me by my great aunt Mary. She is an excellent cook! Everything that she makes is so delicious! I have never been disappointed with any of the recipes that I have made of hers in our families cookbook. This recipe is so delicious!

What you need:

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 large bananas

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar until it is mixed well. Add well beaten egg. Mash bananas well and then add to the mixture. In a seperate bowl sift dry ingredients together and then add to everything else. You can add chopped pecans or walnuts to this mix as well. Grease an 8 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan. Pour into pan and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes and then take bread out and let cool on a cooling rack.

Potato Soup

My mom makes the best potato soup! This however is not entirely hers. She uses a different base than I did for this soup, but my husband gave it an 8 out of 10 so I thought I would share it with you! My mom deserves a lot of the credit though because besides the base of the soup everything else is how she makes hers!

What you need:

2 cups milk

4 cups chicken broth

2-3 Bay Leaves

1/4 cup Flour

4 Tablespoons Butter

1 1/2 cups carrots

1 1/2 cups celery

3-4 Russet Potatoes

1 1/2 cups sausage

Salt

Pepper

Fresh Chives

In a pot boil milk and chicken broth. In a sauce pan stir butter and flour to make a roux. Once roux is made add it slowly, while stirring constantly to the chicken broth and milk. Add bay leaves. Shred (cuisinart food processor works great for shredding) or cube potatoes and add them. While that cooks on medium heat, cook sausage and then add to the soup. Chop carrots and celery and add. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cut chives and add. Let cook for about 15-20 minutes and serve with rolls or cheesy bread or anything you like!

Coconut Cream Cheese Cake

My good friend Jessi started her own cooking blog http://www.nummiesforyou.blogspot.com/ about a year ago! She has posted many wonderful recipes, but this cake is by far my favorite! I'm so happy she let me post it on my blog! The only difference between her cake and mine is the frosting. I loved the cream cheese frosting, but found it was a little too much. So I asked my father what might work as a different frosting and he told me about the white chocolate cream cheese frosting that he uses on his carrot cakes!

What you need:

2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
5 eggs
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup buttermilk2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 cups flaked coconut

Frosting

1/2 cup butter

2, 8 oz packages cream cheese
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2 cups powdered sugar

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz. package of Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 cup White Chocolate Chips

1 pint whipped cream

1 teaspoon Coconut extract

1/2 - 1 Cup Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans, set aside. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beat well. Mix in coconut flavoring. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, mixing well with each addition. Add 1 cup coconut. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Cool completely once baked. (I put it in the freezer for an hour)

Cream Cheese Frosting
While it is baking, cream powdered sugar and butter, adding in the rest of the frosting ingredients after.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

While it's baking melt white chocolate chips in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds at a time, take them out and stir. Repeat until melted. Careful not to burn or cook the chocolate chips too long because they will harden. Next cut room temperature cream cheese into quarters or smaller. Thoroughly mix each cream cheese quarter into the melted white chocolate chips. Set aside. Mix whipping cream in a mixer until light and fluffy then add powdered sugar until the whipping cream is tastes as sweet as you want it. Gently fold a spoonful at a time of whip cream into the cream cheese mixture. Once the cream cheese mixture starts to look fluffier you can add bigger amounts of whip cream in, carefully folding in each amount until the whip cream is all combined with the cream cheese. The cream cheese mixture should be as fluffy as the whip cream was when you started. Gently fold in the coconut extract.

Tear off 4 thin strips of foil or waxed paper and place them around the edges of a cake stand or platter. Once the cakes are cooled completely, remove and place one on the foiled cake stand, making sure that the foil covers all parts of the stand. Frost the top of the cake on the stand and place the other cake on top. Frost the rest of the cake, all sides covered. Sprinkle the remaining coconut on the top and sides of the frosted cake, covering as much as you'd like. Remove the foil and reveal a beautifully clean cake stand with a gorgeous cake on it, with no frosting smudges on the stand!

Fideo (Mexican Soup)

This is a soup that I learned to make from my cute mother-in-law! There are actually several ways that you can make this soup. Sometimes I add an extra can of tomatoe sauce to make it thicker and then eat grilled cheese sandwhiches with it!

What you need:

7 oz. package of Fideo noodles (found in the mexican isle of the grocery store)

8 oz. can Tomatoe Sauce (mexican style if possible)

15 oz. can Chicken Broth

2 Serrano Peppers, cut in half (only if you want soup to be spicy)

Chicken Boullion

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Water

Mexican Table Cream (Optional)

Feta Cheese (Optional)

In a soup pan add olive oil, fideo noodles, serrano peppers, and garlic. Brown fideo noodles on medium high heat. Add Tomatoe sauce and using the tomatoe sauce can add 2 cans of water. Add chicken broth and 2 cans of water, add chicken boullion to taste (about 1 tablespoon). Boil for about 20 minutes or until noodles are tender. Serve plain or with the table cream and feta cheese.

Lemon Bars

This is a family favorite!

What you need:

Crust

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 sticks or 1 cup butter (softened)

Whip softened butter and then add powdered sugar and flour. Mix thoroughly, like a pie dough. Pat into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges.

Filling (meanwhile mix)

2 cups sugar

4 beaten eggs

juice of two lemons or 4-6 tablespoons lemon juice, depending on how lemony you like

4 tablespoons flour

Pinch of salt

After crust is baked, pour filling mixture over the crust and bake for 20 minutes more, at 350 degrees. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar!

Barbeque Beef or Pork

My Grandma Hart made a cookbook called "Fit For A King" a while back. She has made many wonderful recipes over the years that she has passed down to her children. This is one of the many fabulous recipes that my family has used over and over again!

What you need:

Beef or Pork (preferably cooked in a crock pot or boiled)

1 can tomatoe sauce (about 8oz.)

1 cup ketchup

1 cup chili sauce

3/4 cup brown sugar (or more depending on how sweet you want the sauce)

4 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 cup Wine Vinegar

4 Tablespoons oil

2 cloves crushed garlic

2 Teaspoons Salt

1/2 Teaspoon pepper

1 Teaspoon dry mustard

1 cup Sweet Baby Rays Barbeque Sauce (I add this to make it a little more sweet)

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

Mix all ingredients together. Marinate the meat in the sauce for about half hour or so. Cook covered at 350 degrees for about 1 and a half to 2 hours depending on how much longer meat needs to cook. Towards the end I uncover and let cook for aobut 20 minutes (you can also add a little brown sugar on top). The barbeque sauce makes about 4 cups.

Corn Soup

What you need:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup onion, cut into 1/4 inch, diced

4 cups fresh corn kernels cut from about 7 ears

3 cups chicken broth

2-3 Russet potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

Salt, to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup half and half

2 tablespoons chopped chives, for garnish

Place butter in a pot over low heat. Add diced onion and wilt for about 10 minutes.

Add the corn and the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Cook partially covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Puree the soup in a blender in 2 batches. Return to pot. Add salt, pepper, potatoes (optional), and half and half; cook over low heat for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ladle soup into bowls. Before serving, top with the chopped chives.

Lemon Poppyseed Bread

What you need:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Grated peel and juice of 1 Lemon (or 4 tablespoons Lemon Juice)

1/4 cup poppyseeds

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan.

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream butter. Add sugar and eggs and mix until light and fluffy. Add milk alternately with the flour mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture; mix well. Add grated lemon or 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and poppyseeds.

Pour batter mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for about 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for about 5 minutes.

Mix together 3 tablespoons lemon juice and powdered sugar to make a glaze. Remove the bread from the pan. Pour the glaze over the warm bread (poking holes in the bread first so that the bread absorbs more of the glaze).

Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

What you need:

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

2 1/2 Cups Flour

Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Greese mini muffin tins so that cookies will not stick. Soften butter in microwave for about 10 seconds. In a mixing bowl whip butter. Add all other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place .25 cent quarter size balls of cookie dough into mini muffin tins. Cook for 8 minutes only! Take out of oven and immediately place unwrapped reeses peanut butter cups in the middle and press down in cookie. Let cool for about 5 minutes before removing cookies from the pans. Then cool again on cooling rack or place them in the fridge to cool.

Green Salsa (Tomatillo Salsa)

What you need:

6-7 Tomatillos

2-3 Serrano Peppers

8-9 Strings of Cilantro

1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 of a 1/4 of an Onion

Boil tomatillios for about 4-5 minutes. Do not over cook! In a blender mix serrano peppers and onion. Add the tomatillios and blend well. Add cilantro and salt, blend well. Serve! If you like spicy add more serrano peppers!

Caldo de Pollo

What you need:

whole shredded chicken

2 cans chicken stock

water

Salt

2-3 tablespoons Chicken Boullion/base

1/2 onion

2-3 Serrano Peppers (cut stems off)

1 Bag of Carrots (or as many as you would like)

2 whole Zuchinnies (peeled and chopped into circles)

1/2 Medium Cabbage (chopped)

3-4 Russet Potatoes (cut into large quarters)

Cilantro (diced)

In a large stew pot boil whole chicken. Add salt and a few bay leaves. Boil for about 2-2 and a half hours. If I have time I prepare the chicken a day ahead and store the whole pot in the refrigerator with the cooked chicken and water inside. This makes a great chicken stock base for the soup. After chicken is cooked remove from the pot and set aside to cool. Once cooled shred the chicken and set aside.

Pour the chicken stock from the large pot into a large bowl using a strainer to get rid of the drippings from boiling the chicken. Pour chicken stock back into pot and add the two cans of chicken stock and two cans of water. Add chicken boullion. Turn heat to medium high. Take the half onion and the serrano peppers and blend them together in a blender. Add a little of the chicken stock to the mixture for an easier blend. Add to the chicken stock. Add carrots and cut up potatoes. Let boil for about 10 minutes then add shredded chicken. Boil for about 20 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are almost cooked.

Add zuchinnies and let cook for about 5 minutes. Finally add cilantro and cabbage. Let boil on medium high heat for about 5-10 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve. I also add limes, rice, and green salsa to this soup to make it spicy because it is more of a mexican type of chicken soup. The green salsa is the tomatillo salsa in this blog.

Saltine Cracker Chicken

What you will need:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in half, fillet each halved breast

1 cup flour

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

Half of a package of saltine crackers

1 teaspoon Paprika

1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Cummin

Salt and Pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Butter

In a bowl mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, cummin, salt and pepper and set aside. In another small bowl whisk the egg and milk together and set aside. In yet another bowl crush the saltine crackers until no large chunks are present.

In a large skillet combine butter and olive oil and set heat to about medium. Cover chicken in the flour mixture, then dip in the egg mixture, and finally cover with the cracker crumbs. Cook chicken in skillet for about ten to fifteen minutes making sure to brown each side.

This chicken goes great with either mashed potatoes or any kind of rice and vegetables. This is a family favorite and is so easy to prepare!