Cornbread Stuffing

Cornbread Stuffing
by Carlotta Shannon

• 1 pone of cornbread or 12 cornbread muffins (not sweet cornbread...unless you like it that way. I used Jiffy muffin mixes and it was sweet however it still tasted pretty good )
• 1/2 loaf of bread, any kind, broken up into pieces
• 1/2 - 1 pound of plain sausage, crumbled up. (this is your preference...I use half but some people like more sausage in theirs.)
  
• 1 onion chopped
• 4 ribs of celery chopped
• 2 chicken boullion cubes
• 1 stick margarine
• 2 Tbs sage
• 1 Tbs garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Crumble up all the breads into a large bowl. Add sage and garlic powder to the breads and mix up. Cook raw sausage in skillet and drain off the grease. Cook chopped onions and celery with margarine and boullion cubes in 1 quart of water til butter is melted and boullion is disolved and water is simmering. Add sausage and water w/onion and celery to bread mixture. Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste. Add more water if needed. Pour into greased cake pan and bake at 350 for 30 -45 minutes or until hot all the way through.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from a friend of mine at church and she got it from a friend of hers. It is soooooo worth passing along that I am giving you my version of it here. Im not a big fan of Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...usually they are too thin or too crispy for my liking. However, these are amazing. I could eat 100 of them and after I figured out how good they were, I made them like 6 times in one week! The dough is another story...Ive been tempted to make it just so I could eat the dough.

I know I haven't been very good with this recipe blog but lets face it....my repertoire is pretty lame. We eat the same things every week and usually it doesn't even require a recipe. So occasionally when I find a good recipe, then I will post it here.

Big Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Our Scoop

CREAM TOGETHER
1/2 cup Margarine
1/2 cup Butter (I used another 1/2 cup of margarine instead of butter)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup White Sugar

In a separate bowl mix:

2 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla

Tip: Mixing Vanilla and Eggs together in a separate bowl will bring
out the Vanilla flavor more in the cookie.
Add Eggs and Vanilla to the Sugar/Butter mix.


In a separate bowl mix:

2 cups Oats
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Bag of Butterscotch Chips (the original recipe calls for semi-sweet here)
1/2 Bag of Milk Chocolate Chips


Mix all together

Use 1/4 cup of cookie dough for one cookie: This makes Ginormous cookies....I scaled it down a bit and only used about 1/8 cup.


Bake @ 350

13-14 min. Not too long or they get too crispy

Let cool on pan for 2-3 min.

Makes about 24 cookies or double if you reduce the scoop size!

No-Bake Cheesecake

I got the idea for this cheesecake from Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart and I have to say I was a little intimidated with that little fact. However, it was not difficult at all and the results were amazing! This was seriously so good.....I was surprised. I made this for my sons birthday cake at his request! I had planned on finding some really cool spiders to top it with but got overwhelmed with other things this weekend so I threw these little spiders on it. Still turned out cute, I think.

No-Bake Cheesecake

Martha Stewart

FOR THE CRUST

Vegetable oil cooking spray

18 ounces chocolate wafers (about 90), finely ground (4 1/2 cups) - (I used 2 boxes of chocolate Teddy Grahams but it was a little too much and should have either added a little more butter or just not used all of the cookies! The crust didnt mold together as good as it should have.....)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher)

FOR THE GANACHE

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used semi-sweet & it was just great)

1/2 cup heavy cream

FOR THE FILLING

32 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher)

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold

Make the crust:

Coat a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Mix wafers, sugar, butter, and salt in a medium bowl. Pat mixture into pan, pressing firmly into bottom and all the way up sides. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to fill.

Make the ganache:

Place chocolate in a food processor. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate. When chocolate begins to melt, process until smooth. Reserve 4 tablespoons ganache for decorating, and spread the remainder evenly on bottom and all the way up sides of crust. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to fill.

Make the filling:

Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and slowly add sugar and salt. Raise speed to medium-high, and beat until very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla.Whisk cream until medium-stiff peaks form. Whisk 1/4 of the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, then fold in remaining whipped cream. Pour filling into crust, and spread evenly. Gently tap bottom of pan on counter to release air bubbles.

Transfer reserved ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Starting in the center of the cheesecake, pipe a spiral, spacing lines about 1/2 inch apart. Pull the tip of a paring knife in a gently curved line from the center of the spiral to outer edge. Wipe knife clean, and repeat every inch or so to form a web. Cover, and freeze for at least 1 hour or overnight. Unmold cheesecake, garnish with candy spiders if desired, and serve immediately.

Southwest Chicken Tortilla Soup....

We had this soup Sunday for my son's birthday party. I forgot to take pictures of it....I know, I know, Im sorry. Bad food blogger, what can I say. I will definiately be making this soup again and will get a picture next time. For now you get to see how much of it was left after the party. This should tell you how good it was. I got the recipe from my friend Kristin. She made it for our Bunko game night and it was soooooo good.

Southwest Chicken Tortilla Soup
Kristin Fowles

1 small white onion diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbs oil
1 lb chicked diced or shredded (I just used a rotisserie chicken from the store)
2 14oz cans chicken broth
1 15 oz can diced tomatos
1 15 oz can diced tomatos with green chilis
1 7 oz can green chilis
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp corriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1 15 oz can white beans (I used great northern beans)
2 cups corn (I just used canned corn, 2 cans)
pepper
chopped cilantro
shredded cheese
tortilla strips

- heat oil. Cook onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chicken broth, tomatos, green chilis, and spices. Bring to boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add corn, chicken, and beans then simmer for another 5 minutes (at this point I transferred mixture to a crock pot because it wouldnt all fit in my skillet.) Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Top with chopped cilantro, cheese, tortilla strips and sour cream.

Dinner Rolls....

I know, another roll recipe! What can I say except that I love bread. We had dinner last night and I've made my go to roll recipe so much lately that I decided to try something new. I found this recipe from "The Picky Palate"....a favorite food blog that I frequent. Mine weren't quite as pretty as hers but that is OK because they were so delicious! I have made a couple of little changes to her actual recipe because I am not privileged enough to own a Bosch or a KitchenAid. I make bread the old fashioned way.....a bowl and a spoon and lots of elbow grease! This roll is very sweet and dense. It reminds me a lot of the rolls you get at Texas Roadhouse......heaven.

Dinner Rolls......adapted from "The Picky Palate"

2 c. milk
1 c. sugar
1 c. oil (I use vegetable)
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 Tbs yeast with 1 tsp. sugar
8 c. flour

Step 1- warm milk in microwave for 1 minute - add sugar, oil and salt to large bowl with the warmed milk

Step 2 - dissolve yeast in 1/2 c. warm water with the tsp. of sugar - set aside

Step 3 - add 2 c. flour to liquid in bowl

Step 4 - beat in 2 eggs ( used my hand and spoon here, mixer is better I'm sure :)

Step 5 - add yeast mixture, mix

Step 6 - mix in 3 c. flour

Step 7 - mix in 3 c. flour

If you don't have a fancy schmancy mixer, then please knead the dough for a few minutes until it is nice and smooth. I did it for about 2-3 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and let rise for 3 hours or until doubled in volume. Divide into 4 balls. Roll out into a pie shape and cut into long triangles. Roll the dough from the widest to the narrowest if you want crescent rolls. This recipe makes a lot and so I did some crescent and others I just rolled in to big balls and put in a greased casserole dish about an inch apart. Let rise for an hour. Bake at 325 fro 15-20 minutes. Brush with butter

**I always turn on my oven when I start making rolls so that the kitchen will heat up and my dough will rise faster. It can cut the rising time literally in half and if you are as busy and time restricted as I am, this is a good thing!**

Sweet & Sour Chicken.....

Here is another yummy recipe from my friend Melanie at "My Kitchen Cafe" . You might think that I use her food blog the most because she is a friend of mine but you would be wrong! I frequent her blog more often than others because every recipe I have tried, I have loved! More importantly, my family loves them and you should know that I have some very picky eaters. I almost always have at least half of the ingredients for her recipes and they are very simple, which is a bonus for me since I dont really have a lot of time or patience to cook complicated meals. So, I encourage you to check out her blog for more recipes that are sure to please!

I changed a couple of little things to save myself some time on this. The recipe calls to cut chicken into chunks but I find that it takes so much time to dip each one and fry and turn that I decided to use chicken strips or tenders rather than whole breasts. Its really about preference but this does save me a lot of time.

Without further ado.........

Sweet & Sour Chicken
adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks...or... 1 pkg of boneless chicken tenders
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

Cut breasts into chunks unless you are using tenders. Season with salt and pepper. Pour cornstarch into a platter or just on a plate. Dip chicken into cornstarch covering both sides then dip into the egg. Fry a little in the oil on each side until brown but not cooked all the way through. Place the chicken in a single layer in a baking dish (9x13 at least). Mix sauce ingredients together (below) and pour over the chicken.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you want extra sauce with this then make another batch of the sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes or until sauce is thickened and reduced.

Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbs ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt


Another little side note....I have never turned the chicken every 15 minutes like the recipe calls for and it has turned out fine. This would be another thing that would take too much time for me so, again it would be a preference thing. I also heat my oven to 350 degrees and cook it for 45 minutes.....nothing like shaving 15 minutes off cooking time! If you are impatient like I am, this works great!

French Bread Rolls......

Ok, Ive been meaning to post this recipe for quite some time but everytime I cook them (which is frequently) I forget to get the camera out. I remembered tonight though! This recipe has seriously become so near and dear to me. Thanks to Melanie from "My Kitchen Cafe" for sharing this gem. I seriously make them at least once a week. Ive used the dough for cinnamon rolls too and I must say they are quite tasty. You can make rolls of any shape or size or if you prefer, you can form all of it into a nice french bread loaf. The best part about this recipe is the fact that they are dairy free. Thats right....no butter, no milk, no eggs. My mom cant believe they could taste good without all of that but Im telling you they are Amazing......If you want to make them crusty instead of soft like a true French bread, spray some water into the oven three times in the first five to six minutes of baking and brush them with an egg white/water mixture prior to baking. I prefer soft, melt in your mouth, rolls and so I skip the water and egg and when they come out of the oven, I rub a stick of butter over the tops of them (guess that cancels out the dairy free part......)

French Bread Rolls
adapted from "my kitchen cafe"

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 8-10 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour and mix that together. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume. This can take anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes depending on how warm your kitchen is and what kind of yeast you are using (I use rapid rise and it only takes 30 minutes to double) I also heat my oven when I begin the dough to warm my kitchen up (Im not very patient :) ) .

Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 30-40 minutes or until you get sick of waiting..... Ive never had a batch not turn out. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.