Spinach Tortellini Soup

It doesn't get any easier or healthier or faster than this, and it doesn't use anything fresh so you can have the supplies on hand always.  I make this through a big batch of Costco tortellini (quality tortellini is important), then we take a break for a while.  We eat it with crackers and lots of parmesan cheese on top.  The only downside is price.

Spinach Tortellini Soup


2 cups chicken broth
1 can italian style diced tomatoes
1 c. frozen spinach
2 c tortellini

Bring broth, tomatoes and spinach to a boil. Add tortellini and simmer 10 min. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Recipe Review: 7 Layer Bars

If you like butterscotch chips, this is definitely a 5-star recipe!  I ate the whole pan myself!  This recipe is from Cookie Madness.  Get it here.

Pumpkin Fruit Pizza

Happy Halloween! Try this at home with sugar cookie dough, frosting, and some fruit!

Winger's Sticky Finger Salad

I wanted to copy the sticky finger salad that I'm always ordering at Wingers, using the Amazing Sauce that we bought from them.  Here's what I did.

Sticky Finger Salad

Green Leaf Lettuce, chopped
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
craisins
Sticky fingers
cherry tomatoes (optional)
Ranch Dressing

Layer on the plate just before serving.  It's as simple as that!  The magic is in the craisins, yum, yum.

 Sticky Fingers


First, I bought a bag of frozen pre-breaded chicken tenders from Costco, which cook for around 20 minutes.  Five minutes before they are done, I take them out and cut them into strips and return them to the oven.  Then I cook them 10 minutes longer (five minutes over time) so they are nice and crunchy.  I pull them out, put them in a bowl, and drizzle the Amazing Sauce over and I have sticky fingers for under $2.50/lb.  I estimate that I am using $1 worth of sticky fingers on each salad (and that is the most expensive part).

Note- Here is an attempt at reproducing Winger's Amazing Sauce.  I use 3 cups brown sugar and boil it with 1 cup Frank's hot sauce.  Tastes just like it!

Angel Food Cake

Hmmmm....a little shabby?  

No recipe. This was from a box.

Ham/Turkey Stuffing Rollups

Ham or Turkey Stuffing Rollups

6 peices of Ham or Turkey.

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 c. sour cream

1 box of stove top stuffing, cooked according to package

leftover swiss, provolone or mozerella slices

Roll the stuffing up in the slices of ham or turkey.  Combine sour cream and cream of chicken soup and pour over rolls.  Top with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for half an hour.

Oreo Cookies

This recipe comes with a short story.  I had tried chocolate chip cookies in a pie pan (for a bar cookie...it didn't work) and happened to have it with me while I was studying for my spring term class 5 years ago.  I remember we were doing homework at the whiteboard - a typical engineer's setting - and I shared it with my study buddy.  The next day in class, a bag of these oreo cookies plopped on my desk in return.  I think that's when I figured he must like me.  They were marvelous and amazing.  Later we got married I adopted this recipe as my own.  I understand now why it's a good recipe for a guy: with 3 ingredients and one is a cake mix, you can't go wrong!

Easy Oreo Cookies

1 box milk chocolate cake mix

2 eggs

2/3 c. shortening

Filling

2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 TBSP margarine

1 tsp vanilla

Mix cookie dough and form VERY small drop cookies with them.  Cook on a light cookie sheet for exactly 8 minutes at 375 degrees.  Cool on wire rack before frosting.  Keep in an airtight container and the next day the frosting will be harder and the cookies will be softer.  Yum!

Thai Lettuce Wraps

I love this recipe.  I got this recipe from a great cook and friend several years ago.  I hope she doesn't mind that I share it.  It is a real gem because it is so healthy and tasty.  The key to the tasty is the marinading.  I always skip the bean sprouts and the chow mein noodles because I don't keep them on-hand.  This is also one of the few recipes I make with brown rice every time because it actually tastes better.

Thai Lettuce Wraps

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup orange juice
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
2 chicken breasts

Mix all the ingredients (reserving about ½ of it and pour over the chicken in a plastic bag. Marinate for at least one hour, and grill the chicken until cooked through brushing often with marinade. With the rest of the liquid, pour into a pan. Heat up stirring constantly until hot. Thicken with cornstarch.

Romaine lettuce (I use green leaf)
Bean Sprouts (I skip this)
Onions soaked in basalmic vinegar mixed with a dash of oregano and basil
Steamed Rice
Grated Carrots
Crunchy chow mein noodles (I skip this)

Once the chicken is done, slice it into thin pieces. Pull off the lettuce leaves and put them out whole. Stuff a lettuce leaf with chicken, the leftover thickened sauce, rice, onions, bean sprouts and grated carrots and roll up like a burrito.

Nicole's Granola

Sorry for the picture being sideways.  I once ran an experiment for the best granola.  Every batch failed.  But this granola is fail-proof!  I think it is the amount of honey/butter/brown sugar.  You can also add raisins at the end, which I don't usually do.  But one thing I have done is add a spoonful of peanut butter (heated with the butter).  That tasted very good.

Half Batch of Nicole's Granola

5 cups quick oats
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. coconut
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1/4 c. melted margarine

Mix together and bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, stirring at least once.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Here is a twist on an old family favorite.  Originally it just has the eggs and mayo, kind of like a grilled tuna fish sandwhich (you can try that too if you've never had one).  I think it really improves the sandwhich to cut it like this:

Egg Salad Sandwhiches

3 Eggs
4 peices of bread
2 spoonfuls of mayonaisse
1 spoonful of shredded cheese
2 spoonfuls leftover chicken, turkey, or tuna (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Scramble the eggs and add the mayo, meat, cheese, salt, and pepper.  Spread onto bread to make it a sandwhich.  Spread outside of sandwhich with butter and grill on both sides.

Meatloaf on Foccasia

This is an easy way to use leftover meatloaf: slice it and use it in a sandwhich!  This particular sandwhich is excellent.

Meatloaf On Foccasia

Leftover Meatloaf
Foccassia Bread (or my Mancatchers Recipe)
BBQ Sauce
Lettuce (optional)
American Cheese (optional)

Waldorf Salad

This was a staple growing up but we don't eat as many apples so I only make it in a crunch because it is fast and easy. 

Waldorf Apple Salad

2 apples, diced

1/2 c. marshmallows

1/2 c. raisins

1/4 c. crushed walnuts (we use pecans)

Dressing

1/4 c. mayonnaise
2 TBSP sugar
a few drops lemon juice

Mix everything together just before serving!

Recipe Review: Bacon Veggie Pasta

I give Bacon Veggie Pasta a 3/5.  I found the recipe on Light and Tasty (i.e. Taste of Home).  However, I do make it on occassion because it has many healthy vegetables in it that I usually have on hand, and it is cheap.

5-Star Recipe Review: Rice Crispy Peanut Butter Bars

I first had these at a company potluck and loved them.  So I found a recipe on Cooks.com.  I made them once and edited the recipe ever so slightly (but importantly).

Rice Crispy Peanut Butter Bars

1 c. white sugar

1 c. Karo syrup
Dash of salt
2 c. peanut butter
6 c. Rice Krispies

Combine syrup, sugar and salt; stir over heat until almost boiling.  Stir in peanut butter and add Rice Krispies. Pat into jellyroll pan to cool.

Glaze:
1/4 c. margarine
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Melt butter and mix with brown and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth, then add vanilla.  Spread over bars.

Poppyseed Glaze Bread with Strawberry Jam

I found this recipe on the internet years ago and I make it ALL the time. But I don't have the reference to give credit to. I've made a couple of changes.

Almond Poppyseed Cake


* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
* 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
* 3 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 2 1/4 cups white sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
* 1/4 cup orange juice
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease bottoms of two 9-inch loaf pans. Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds, oil, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and almond flavoring. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for one hour. Poke holes in top of loaves and pour glaze over.

Glaze: Mix orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and sugar.

Orange-Pinneapple-Raspberry Sherbet

This recipe comes from Prudence Pennywise in May 2008.  I have the claim to fame that I used to live next door to her youngest sister when they first moved to Utah.  I got lots of the family recipes, then lost them all, much to my dismay, before I had a chance to try them.  The whole family is very talented.

The sherbet gets icy - more the longer it waits - but it is SO easy that I don't mind.  Just think italian ice, not ice cream.   It fits two batches in my Cuisinart pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl, so I make it twice and eat it fresh.  Here is her site but in case you can't find the recipe:

Orange-Pineapple-Raspberry Sherbet
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
4 cups orange soda
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juices
1 small banana, chopped
1 and 1/2 cups frozen rasberries, slightly crushed

In a large bowl, stir together milk, soda, and pineapple. Process in ice cream maker until almost set; add in banana and raspberries. Freeze until serving time.

Blueberry Oat Bars

I found the Blueberry Oat Bars recipe on Cookie Madness.  I would say cook the bottom less time because it was too crunchy, double the blueberry layer because they were lacking in flavor, and cut all the salt because they are very salty with the baking soda.  And the nuts are questionable.  I think next time I'll leave them out.

Winger's Amazing Sauce Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

We are just raving this week that I finally found a burger that's tastier than going out to eat.  The key was to buy a bottle of sauce from our favorite place to get burgers.  The second key was to make hamburger buns with the recipe from Prudence Pennywise.  That is one of the most successful "try a new recipe" experiences I've had.  I had the mistaken impression that hamburger buns were just rolls, but these are exceptional.

So for the hamburgers, just grill up your beef and when it is done, pat out the grease and let a piece of swiss cheese melt on the top.  Add lettuce, tomatoes, winger's sauce, and ranch dressing.  Serve with my made-up recipe for Sweet Potato Fries.

Sweet Potato Fries

Shredded yams
Bread crumbs
Garlic salt
Flour
Molly McButter
Oil

Toss yams in oil until sticky.  Add a hand full of flour in equal parts with bread crumbs, then add 1/2-1 tsp. garlic salt and a sprinkle of Molly McButter.  Toss everything together and then, I don't know if this is necessary, I refrigerated overnight.  Pouring some oil in the bottom of the pan, I cooked these in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through.  The oil in the pan in the oven made it kind of like frying them, which turned out to be important because yams make really soft fries and needed some crisp.

Cheesecake Favorite Recipes

I have TWO excellent baked cheesecake recipes: a fast, sweet, and creamy one and a slow, textured, tasty one. One takes about 15 minutes (plus an hour baking and 4 hours waiting), the other about an hour (plus 2-3 hours baking and 6 hours waiting).

White Chocolate Cheesecake

2 pkg. cream cheese

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2/3 c. melted white chocolate

1 graham cracker crumb crust

Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla thoroughly, then add eggs one at a time. Stir in the white chocolate, pour into crust, and bake 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Leave in oven to cool if you want to prevent cracking. Refrigerate before eating.

The second:

Oreo Cheesecake is beautiful and TOTALLY worth the wait.

 

Copycat Tim Tams

There is an Australian cookie called Tim-Tams and I changed around a recipe from a college roommate to make it resemble this cookie. The trick is how to EAT the cookie. You nibble off the top, and you nibble off the bottom, then you suck hot chocolate through the cookie, and eat it up before it has a chance to fall into your cup of hot chocolate.

Copycat Tim-Tams

Almond Bark (dipping chocolate)
Town House butter crackers
Chocolate Frosting and Powdered Sugar
OR Peanut Butter
Colored Candy Chocolate (optional)

Add powdered sugar into the chocolate frosting until it becomes dry/thick/mold-able. Spread/mold it onto half the crackers and use the other half to make a sandwich. OR make the sandwich with peanut butter and crackers (this is not as good for hot chocolate dipping). Dip in the melted almond bark. Pipe colored candy chocolate on the top.

Maple Syrup and Strawberry Syrup

I developed the strawberry syrup from our family recipe for maple syrup. You can use other kinds of berries instead of strawberry. The picture with the animal waffles is actually raspberry syrup.

Maple Syrup	Strawberry Syrup
2 Cups Sugar	2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Water	1 Cup Strawberry (Pureed)
Few Drops of Mapleine	Few Drops of Lemon Juice
Bring sugar and water to a slight boil, turn off and add maple.	Bring sugar and strawberry to a slight boil, simmer 10 minutes, turn off and add lemon juice.

5-Step Garlic Chicken Pizza

5-Step Garlic Chicken Pizza:

Step #1 - Precook the chicken in a crock pot (that's the trick to all things chicken). Just move from freezer to crock pot (on high) at least 3 hours before you need the chicken.

Step #2 - Prepare pizza dough.  Spray and coat pizza pan with cornmeal so the pizza won't stick later. 

Step #3 - Spread with a white sauce (like ranch dressing).

Step #4 - Add Oil, italian seasoning, garlic salt, and fry the chicken in a really hot frying pan.  I cube it out of the crock pot and then it only has to grill for a minute or so.

Step #5 - Spread on the toppings: the garlic chicken, a can of tomatoes (squeeze out the juiciness like you would putting pinneapple on pizza), and cheese.  Bake according to pizza dough directions.

P.S. Sorry, the picture is of the COLD pizza the next day :)