Saturday, September 11, 2010

Rocking Rice Salad

This was another true winner! I would like to make this with Brown rice! It was so amazing and yummy...whoever made this recipe is my hero!

Rocking Rice Salad

2 (16 oz) cans black or red beans

2 C cooked white rice

2 ears (or 1 (10 oz.) package) of frozen corn, thawed

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 small (6 oz) can sliced black olives

2 red bell peppers, seeded & diced

½ C chopped cilantro

Salt & pepper to taste

Dressing

2 T Balsamic vinegar

¼ C fresh lime juice

¼ C olive oil

2-3 T Worcestershire sauce

2-3 t soy sauce

Toss salad ingredients until well combined. In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Makes 14 servings (1/2 C each) Make a day ahead.

Marinated Corn Salad-Girls Camp

This is a recipe from the Girls Camp Cook Book. I loved this when at camp, I can hardly wait to make it!!


Marinated Corn Salad

2 (12 oz) cans white shoepeg corn (we just used niblets at camp)

2 stalks celery, chopped

½ C green pepper, chopped

½ C onion, very finely chopped

2 (2oz) jars pimiento, drained

½ C apple cider vinegar

½ C sugar

½ C vegetable oil

1 t salt

½ t pepper

Combine 1st five ingredients; mix well. Combine remaining ingredients, blending well and pour over vegetables. Refrigerate overnight. Drain some of the liquid off before serving…Serves 8-10.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Janey's Taco's/Burrito's

We LOVE Taco Dinner Night! We love it so much that we often have visitors that find out we are making Taco's and show up! Enjoy!

Taco's
2 lbs ground beef cooked well and drained
Add:
one Cup of water and one pkg of Taco Seasoning mix
1 16oz can of Tomato Sauce
Heath through and set aside on low to keep warm
(This mixture should be runny you will see why later!)

Warm up a large can of refried beans or two or 3 smaller can's
Chop up
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Grate Cheese
Pull out the sour cream and salsa and hot sauce!
Serve meat with a slotted spoon!

Serve with flour tortillas for soft taco's or Fry Flour tortillas in veg. oil for that crispier texture.
Layer:
Beans
Meat
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
sour cream or salsas etc.

When everyone is done.....
Make Burritos!

Mix the leftover beans, with the leftover meat (this is where the sauce comes in handy)
Add about 1/3 C. Bean/meat mixture into a flour tortilla and roll,
place in 9x13 or 9x9 pan (depends on the ammt. of leftovers)
Continue till pan is full then pour the remaining mixture over the burritos (there needs to be enough to cover all the burrito's.
Add the leftover cheese to the top grate more if needed.
Cover in foil and pop in fridge till tomorrow!
Bake at 350 for 30-40 min till cooked through and bubbly.
If you are going to wait a few days to bake this wait to put the cheese on till the last 15 min of cooking.

Quick Tiramisu

Once upon a time Chef Gordon Ramsey had a cook along.. We actually participated as a family! Each of the older kids came in to help on one of the segments. It was very fun! We pulled one of our little TV's into the kitchen and tried to keep up... which was NOT easy! This recipe is from that show.

Link to a video of this recipe:
https://www.google.com/search?q=gordon+ramsay+quick+tiramisu&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS560US560&oq=Gordon+Ramsay+quick+ti&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l2.7828j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

Ingredients:
1 C. Mascarpone
1/4 C. Powdered sugar
4 T. Marsala, or sweet dessert wine (we used an alcohol free flavoring that we had on hand I think it was hazelnut flavored)
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 C. Heavy Cream
1 C. Cold Strong Coffee (We omitted this part since we do not drink coffee)
4 Italian Ladyfingers
piece of Chocolate to grate as garnish

Sift the powdered sugar into the Mascarpone. Add the vanilla extract and flavoring to the Mascarpone and mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk the cream till it forms soft peaks.
Mix the cream and the mascarpone together and refrigerate.
Break the Ladyfingers in half and dip very briefly in the cold coffee. Divide them into the bottom of 4 serving glasses. Spoon the Mascarpone mixture on top.
Grate over a little chocolate.
Serve!

These were VERY yummy!! And so pretty! I added a mint leaf from our garden too.

The Perfect Crostini

This can be the perfect start to any number of appetizer dishes! And it's a cinch to make a day or two ahead of time!

Take a baguette or two and slice into 3/8 inch slices.

Brush each side with a little olive oil (I have fallen in love with the silicone brushes, you need one-really!)

Toast in a 400 oven for 5 min or until lightly browned, remove from oven and flip each slice of bread then return to oven to bake for another 5 min. (You know your oven better than I do so, adjust accordingly) You want each bread slice to be a medium brown, not too dark, not too light.

Let them sit for a few min till they are not too hot to handle, they should be hard to the touch but inside hopefully they will be soft.

Get a nice size clove of garlic and peel and chop the hard end off. Rub the garlic over one or both sides of the Crostini. The smell of the olive oil and garlic should have your family running into the kitchen at this point to steal one or two pieces when you are not looking... so beware!
You may need more garlic....
When these little gems are completely cooled you can store them in tupperware or zip-lock bags!

These have a variety of uses:
Bruchetta
Float in soup
cut up and use as crouton on salad
eat plain...
add some goat cheese and spices
Serve with any other cheese spread

Friday, September 3, 2010

9 Layer Salad

This is my own take on the layered Salad. The nice thing about this one is you actually need to make it a day ahead of time!

1 C. Thinly sliced Celery (or diced if you prefer)
1 Lg. Bell pepper any color diced
1 sm onion chopped-I like red but green onions or a yellow onion work too
1 pkg frozen peas
1 head of lettuce Washed, Dried and chopped (make sure it's well dried!) Iceburg tastes the best to me but has no nutritional value so use whichever is best for your family.
1 C. Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 C. Crumbled Crispy cooked bacon
(Just before serving dice on large or 2 med/small ripe tomatoes)

Dressing:
1 C. Mayo
1 C. Sour Cream
1/2 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 T. sugar
2 t. Lemon Juice

Layer as follows
1-Lettuce
2-Celery
3-Bell Pepper
4-Onion
5-Peas
6-Dressing
7-Cheese
8-Bacon
9-Tomatoes (just before serving)