Recipe #96 - Chicken Artichoke Dip

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In a mixing bowl stir together the sour cream, milk, mayonnaise or salad dressing, lime juice, dried oregano, and salt.

Stir in the finely chopped chicken, avocado, tomato, onion, and jalapeno (optional). Stir until ingredients are thoroughly combined. Cover and chill until serving time.

If desired, garnish the dip with avocado slices. Serve with tortilla chips.

This was really tasty and easy to make if you needed to quickly whip some thing up for a party. The longest part is chopping up all the veggies (but the food processor is pretty handy with recipes like this).

Rating: 7
Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 10 (as an appetizer dip)
Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken, finely chopped (about 3 cups)
3 medium ripe avocados, seeded, peeled and chopped
3 small tomatos, seeded and chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped
6 tablespoons pickled jalapeno peppers, rinsed and chopped (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup dairy sour cream
3/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons mayonnaise or salad dressing
6 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
avocado slices (optional)
tortilla chips

Recipe #92 - Frame Family's Traditional Banana Bread

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Now we've been making this same Banana Bread recipe since I can remember. We've tried several throughout the years, but always seem to migrate back to this one. Probably because it's the best! Now I can't tell you how this book fell into out possession, but I can tell you that this is the only recipe we've used out of it. When you open the book it automatically drops to this page, mostly likely because it has years and years worth of dried flour and bananas layered on it. All of the other pages look like new. It's become a sort of family tradition.  

(Note: I doubled the recipe, because we had a lot of bananas going bad. For single recipe just follow the ingredients listed at the end of the post.)

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream margarin and sugar. Add eggs. 

Fold in dry ingredients.

Whip bananas until light and semi-smooth.

Add the bananas to batter.

Bake in greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan for 1 hour (or until center is set). 

Pull out of oven and let cool. 

The top of my loafs were getting kind of dark, so I put aluminum foil over the tops for the last 10 minutes until it had finished setting. Other than that, it turned out perfect! As usual!

Rating: 10

Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

(makes one loaf)

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

3 ripe bananas

Recipe #91 - Momma's Fudge

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Every year, the week before Christmas, my mother has make this Kraft fudge recipe. I remember being really little and begging her to make it in the spring or summer, but she wouldn't budge. She always said that fudge is a Christmas treat and we wouldn't appreciate it as much if we had it all year around. Of course, she was right (like usual). 

So it seemed only right that this recipe is put in my blog (at the appropriate time of year)!

Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. 

Mix together sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a 3-quart saucepan.

Bring mixture to a full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly (so that it doesn't burn on the bottom). Cook 4 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F, again stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate....

...and then the marshmallow creme; stil until melted. Add nuts (if you decided you wanted nutty fudge, ew!) and vanilla extracts; mix well. 

Pour into the prepared pan; spread to cover bottom of pan. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift fudge from pan before cutting into squares.  

Place the yummy fudge into a decretive dish and share with your friends and family! 

(Note: Friends and family may hate your guts for cooking this recipe because it's too good to stop eating... and semi-actually-kinda-really fattening.)  

Rating: 10+++

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 20, about 2 squares each

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

2/4 cup butter or margarine

1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (about 2/3 cup) (Do not use sweetened condensed milk.)

1-1/2 package (12 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped

1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme

1 cup PLANTERS Walnuts, chopped (completely optional) 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Recipe #90 - Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Cream Sauce

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I found this recipe on EatingWell.com while searching for a health recipe for my brother (who is trying to eat better).

Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once or twice and adjusting the heat to prevent burning, until brown. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add shallots to the pan and cook, stirring, untili fragrant, about a minute. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes. Pour in vermouth (or wine like I used); simmer until almost evaporated, scraping up any browned bits, about 3 minutes.

Pour in broth and cook until reduced by half, 2-4 minutes. Stir in cream and chives (or scallions); return to a simmer.

Returen the chicken to the pan, turn to coat with sauce and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

Place the chicken on a plate, coat with sauce and serve with a veggie of your choice (I used fresh steamed green beans!)

This was delicious! I thought it was interesting to make my own mushroom cream sauce rather than using it out of the can like I have been for the last 25 years of my life. I never really thought about making it from scratch, but am glad I did. I like the more large chunks of mushrooms in the sauce. (Though I know that over half the people I cooked it for did not! Lol. I ended up eating all the mushrooms they were picking out.... so wrong!)

Rating: 9
Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
Nutrition, per serving: 275 calories | 15 g fat | 84 mg cholesterol | 5 g carbohydrates | 25 g protein | 1 g fiber | 373 mg sodium | 370 mg potassium
Nutrition Bonus: Selenium (34% daily value).
Exchanges: 1 vegetable | 3 lean meat | 2 fat
Ingredients:
4 5-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs like I used), trimmed and tenders removed
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon canola oil
2 medium shallots, minced
2 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps
4 tablespoons dry vermouth, or dry white wine
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons minced fresh chives, or green scallions

Recipe #89 - Shrimp & Grits (Paula Dean Style)

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My next door neighbors caught me cutting the lawn a few months back. They had cooked this recipe a few times before and couldn't bare the thought of me not having it in my blog!

Bring water to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Add grits and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese. 

Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; drain well. In grease, add shrimp. Cook until shrimp turns pink. Add lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes. 

Spoon grits into a serving bowl. Add shrimp mixture and mix well. Serve immediately.

So it took me a few months to finally get around to cooking it, but well worth the wait! Though it'll probably take the next few months to work off all the butter, cheese and bacon! Hehe. It was very, very good. A little dry, but nothing a little more water wouldn't fix.

Rating: 7
Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients: 
4 cups water
Salt and Pepper
1 cup stone-ground grits
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
6 slices bacon, chopped
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 large clove garlic, minced 

Recipe #88 - Passo Gravy

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This recipe was one that my friend (who works at one of highest rated restaurants in Memphis) got me for Thanksgiving dinner. Now my mother wasn't too excited about having a ham gravy with the turkey, so she still made her turkey gravy as well. We ended up with two gravies and A LOT of leftovers... 

Saute ham to cook and render any fat.

Add onions, garlic, peppers and celery to ham. Sweat for 6-8 minutes. 

Deglaze the mixture with 5 quarts chicken stock, the veal stock and cream. Simmer for 20 or so minutes. 

Add ruex little at a time for thickening. I couldn't find any ruex, so I mixed flour with a little water and poured into the gravy through a very, very time holed strainer. (I don't usually like doing this in large amounts because the straight flour messes with the consistency of the flavors. But it's a great quick fix!)

Side note: Apologies for the lack of pictures in the last two steps. I guess that's what happens when I try to cook 6 recipes simultaneously! 

Seeing as we had too much food on the Thanksgiving table this year (as if that is ever possible), the Passo Gravy made an EXCELLENT topping for our biscuits the next morning for breakfast. Actually, it made so much that we had it several mornings in a row just trying to use it up. Not that that was a burden, the gravy was very rich and flavorful. It seemed to get better each day to. It's never bad to have a great ceipe like this in you back pocket. I will be making this one again!

Rating: 10

Time: 1 hour (ish)

Serves: 10

Ingredients: 

1 pound Passo ham (or what ever you can find that's not deli sliced ham), finely diced

1 1/2 large yellow onions, finely diced

1 1/2 green peppers, finely diced

3 celery sticks, finely diced

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/2 gallon chicken broth

1 cup veal stock (or beef stock if you can't find veal, bc I never can!)

1/2 quart 40% heavy whipping cream

Ruex medium brown (can use flour and water if you can't find it)

Recipe #87 - Memphis Bell Pecan Pie

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I thought I'd give our traditional Thanksgiving dessert a little spin this year. This is a recipe that they use at Flight as one of their gourmet desserts. The pecans where all hand picked from the pecan trees in my parents' back yard and hand shelled by yours truly. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix all of the ingredients except the pecans and chocolate in a medium sized bowl. 

Place the pecans in a zip lock baggy (save a few back for decorating the top of the pie) and crush however you like. My mom uses a rolling pin. I used a hammer ;)

Place the chocolate and crushed pecans in the bottom of the pie crust. I recommend putting the chocolate down first, because I didn't and it tried to float to the top of the mixture after I poured it in. 

Pour mixture into the crust. 

Decorate the top with the left over whole pecans. Wrap the crust with aluminum foil to keep the crust from burning. Place the pie in the oven for 1 hour or until golden brown. Remove the aluminum foil about ten minutes before the pie is done. 

I didn't get a finished picture of this unfortunately. Just picture the one above, but perfectly golden and amazing :) Because that is how it turned out. Perfect. I served it, like they do at Flight, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

I've never been a fan of pecan pie until now. The sweetness of the chocolate took the edge off the bitterness that the pecans usually have naturally.

Rating: 10 (I'll def make this again next year.)

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Serves: 6-8 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup light corn syrup

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 ounce melted butter

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

8 ounces pecans

3 ounces chocolate

Recipe #86 - Cheese Straw-Spinach Casserole

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A Betty Crocker recipe served at this years Thanksgiving feast.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13"x9"-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter, stirring frequently, until golden.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and flour until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in salt and pepper. Beat in half-and-half with wire whisk until blended. Add spinach, Cheddar cheese and onion mixture. 

Spoon mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese straws (aka cheese crackers). 

Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly. 

It was a little dryer than I'd like.  I think I would have added a little less spinach and a little more onions and half-and-half. I also didn't enjoy the Cheese Nips. I'm more of a Cheese-Its kind of girl. So all-in-all not my favorite recipe. I think it was geared more towards trying to get little kids to eat something at Thanksgiving. Not an "adult" recipe. Lol.

Rating: 5 

Time: 50 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Per serving: Calories384; Total fat 31 g; Sodium 714mg; Total Carbohydrates 12g; Protein 12g.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 large onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups half-and-half or milk

5 boxes (9oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed ro drain

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8oz)

2 cups cheese straws, coarsely crushed (I used Cheese Nips)

Recipe #85 - Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro and Chiles

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I made this recipe as a side dish for this year's Thanksgiving dinner. I was tired of always eating the cranberry sauce straight out of the can every year. This definitely shook things up a bit.

Preheat over to 200 degrees. 

Place cranberries on a cookie sheet and let simmer in the oven until softened and juicy. Small bubbles should break the surface around the edges of the berries. The Payoff: Simmering softens the berries and allows enough time for all the flavors to meld. For more of a bitter taste, place the cranberries directly in the food processor. Simmering them will bring out the sweetness.

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add pepitas; stir until golden, about 1 minute. Transfer too plate; sprinkle with sea salt.

Place cranberries in processor. Using on/off turns, process until finely chopped. Transfer to bowl. Add onions, cilantro, and chiles. Stir sugar and lime juice in another bowl until sugar dissolves. Do Ahead: Cranberry and lime mixtures can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover separately; chill. 

Add cranberry mixture and pepitas to lime juice mixture; still to combine.

Rating: 7

Time: 40 minutes

Serves: Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons pumpkin seed oil

1/2 cup natural unsalted papitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

Sea salt

2 cups fresh cranberries or frozen, thawed

1 1/3 cups chopped green onions (dark green parts only; 2 bunches)

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons minced seeded serrano chilles

6 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons fresh lime juice