Chocolate Snow Cream

In an effort to keep my sanity with three boys running through the house due to a snow day, I had to use a little bit of bribery.  I promised them ice cream if they behaved...........but oops! I didn't have any!  So I allowed Mother Nature to help me out on this one.  I filled a huge bowl with snow (it held about 6 cups) and  I used about 6 cups of snow, I added 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder.  I mixed the cream, sugar, vanilla and cocoa powder together and then poured it over the snow.  I mixed it until it looked like the consistency or ice cream.  You have to serve immediately.   They enjoyed it so much that this might have be our new family tradition when it snows!

- Kelly

Brussel Sprout and Carmelized Onion Grilled Cheese

          

One word....YUM!

So I've been snowed in for a few days and I'm cooking out of boredom and to use what I have in the fridge.  I had some leftover roasted Brussels sprouts that I heated through and added red pepper flakes.  I Caramelized some onions with balsamic and topped each slice of bread with mozzarella cheese.  I'm sure another type of cheese would have been better like Gruyere or Swiss, but I'm using what I had on hand.  Either way it tasted delicious!

          

Breakfast Sandwich

                                    

This was an "I can't decide what I want for breakfast" sandwich.  It turned out pretty good! Cooked an omelet and filled it with cheese, topped it with bacon, and put it between two buttered blueberry waffles. Pretty simple! The Sriracha is my breakfast condiment of choice so it added an extra kick.

Sweet Chipotle Bacon

My new Food Network magazine is all about bacon, so I decided to make some bacon of my own. I don't care what you do with bacon, it's always good!  It's a good thing I didn't make much more because I would eat every bit of it!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and mix together 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 3/4 tablespoons of chipotle rub or seasoning.  Cook the bacon for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle with the sugar/spice mixture, and return to the oven for 15 minutes to finish cooking. Drain on a paper towel and devour it!

Asian Tuna Salad

So I was looking for something to do with leftover tuna steaks without having to simply reheat it and have it the same way I did before. A tuna salad sandwich didn't sound good, but a salad with Asian dressing did, so into the kitchen I went to create a dressing. My experiment turned out to be a success and I plan on using the dressing to create an Asian inspired slaw or as a marinade.

For the dressing:

3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp lime juice

1 Tbsp sweet hot mustard

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp *Bangkok seasoning

Add all of the ingredients to a small mason jar and shake to combine. Pour over salad. (makes enough for 2 large salads).

For the salad: (use whatever you like)

Iceberg lettuce

Sliced cucumber

Thinly sliced onion

Baby carrots, halved

Bangkok seasoning is a mixture of ancho chili pepper, garlic, ginger, Tellicherry black pepper, galangal, crushed red pepper, lemongrass, cayenne, paprika, basil, and cilantro. It can be found at www.penzeys.com.

Rotisserie Chicken Salad

My friend Meredith swears that this is the best chicken salad she has ever had!  The recipe is a result of having a rotisserie chicken that needed to be eaten, being hungry, and just throwing things together.  I figured that I would write down the ingredients as I made it this time because I never knew what the exact measurements are.  Find it under the recipes tab!

Corn Muffins

I made these yesterday and I'm finding myself eating them as a snack, with my chili, for breakfast........doesn't matter, I'm just looking for an excuse to have one!  Just combine a box of Jiffy, 1 can of cream corn, and 1 egg.  Pour into a well-greased muffin tin and bake about 20 minutes.  Do the toothpick trick if you're not sure.  Add a little butter while they're still hot, mmmmmmmmmm!

Photo courtesy of: silk.com 

Spicy Cilantro Lime Ranch

Photo courtesy of: thegardengrazer.com 

This was really good and it's making me want to eat more and more salad!!  That's probably not a good thing if its covered in Ranch dressing!  If I had some chicken, black beans, and corn it would have made the salad, but the dressing is good on plain old lettuce if that's all you have.

To 1/2 Cup of Ranch dressing, I added the juice of half a lime, 2 Tbsp of finely chopped cilantro, and 1 finely chopped small jalapeno.  

Banana Craisin Bread

I'm am not a baker, so I usually steer clear of desserts and breads.  I had a bunch of very ripe bananas and didn't want to waste them so I figured I would try to make banana bread.  Worst case, it would taste horrible and I would have to throw it away.  Two ingredients I never seem to have on hand are baking soda and baking powder, but Bisquick has all of the necessary ingredients so it worked out perfectly.  The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

2 1/3 Cups Bisquick Mix
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Eggs
3 Ripe Bananas
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 Cup Craisins

Directions:

Combine the Bisquick, sugar, eggs, and oil together.  Beat well*.  Mash and add the bananas to the batter.  Stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, and craisins.  Pour into 2 loaf pans and bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 - 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Serve dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with chocolate syrup.  Yum!


*The batter was a little too thick so I added about 1/3 Cup of milk

Photo courtesy of: oikosyogurt.com

Vegetarian Ideas

My sister recently posted this recipe for me on Facebook after I was asking about some new healthy ideas.  Much of the food that I make is tasty and filling, but she has changed her eating habits to that of a vegetarian and, I must say, is pretty creative.  I'm gonna give this one a try and photograph it with my crappy camera for you.  I'll let you know what I think!

This is for about 6-8 people.

8 ounces baby mixed greens (I like spring mix)
1 bunch of chives cut into 2 in pieces
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons evoo
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
salt and pepper to taste.
Mix the chives in with the salad, whisk together vinegar, evoo, shallots and salt and pepper.

I always add tomatoes and cucumber to my salad its awesome