Salsa Bar

For my best friend’s bridal shower we had a FIESTA theme! Holli loves chips and salsa so we had a salsa bar with different homemade salsas. I got the idea from here but used a few different recipes. 

Salsa
[from this lady]

Ingredients 

• canned tomatoes
• 6 fresh jalapenos
• 3 fresh green chilies (I used Serrano cause I couldn’t find green chilies at my grocery store. I know, lame.)
• 2 bunches green onions
• 2 bunches cilantro
• 4 cloves garlic
• heaping tablespoon kosher salt (I used regular… I don’t know if that made a difference but I just forgot to buy kosher salt)

Directions:

1. Wash jalapenos and green chilies and roast them on a hot skillet. Let the skins char and blister and remove from heat.
2. Trim roots from green onions and give them a rough slice
3. Wash and drain cilantro, cut them just above the rubber band, and place them on top of green onion slices
4. Mince onions and cilantro until desired size (I cannot mince for the life of me but I tried!)
5. Remove and discard stems from chilies and peppers. Depending on how hot you want, leave seeds and veins in or take them out. Cut chilies and peppers into one inch slices.
6. Peel garlic cloves.
7. Toss garlic, chilies, and peppers into blender. Spoon tomatoes and juice until canister is about 2/3 full. Blend well.
8. Pour into mixing bowl and blend more tomatoes (it says about 2 more blenders full but I did one more)
9. Combine to onions and cilantro
10. Add kosher salt and taste.

 

Tomatillo Salsa Verde
[from here]

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb tomatillos (I used canned tomatillos)
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 1/2 cilantro leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (I used bottled since that’s what I had on hand. Maybe it made a difference??)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 jalapeno pepper or 2 Serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well.
   (I used canned so I skipped to the third step)
2. Roasting method Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.
   Boiling method Place tomatillos in a saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tomatillos with a slotted spoon.
3. Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, chili peppers, sugar in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.

 

Corn Salsa
[from here]

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) can yellow corn, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can white corn, drained
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 bunch finely chopped cilantro
• 5 green onions, finely sliced
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup lime juice (again, bottled)
• 1 avocado – peeled, pitted, and diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste

Directions:

1. Stir the yellow and white corn, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, green onion, red onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large bowl.
2. Gently mix in the lime juice and avocado.
3. Drizzle with olive oil to serve.

 

Guacamole
from McCormick packet :)

 

ENJOY!

Garlic Lime Chicken

I tried this recipe the other night and loved it so so much! And basically, I feel super legit when I fry breaded chicken.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into strips
• 1 cup butter
• 2 medium heads garlic, diced
• 1 lime, halved (I used bottled lime juice… but maybe a fresh lime would taste better?)
• lemon pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix flour, salt and pepper together in a resealable plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag and shake to coat. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté 3 to 4 minutes, until it starts to change color. Sauté coated chicken strips with butter and garlic for 10 to 15 minutes, until cooked through and juices run clear.
3. Squeeze lime over chicken and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Serve hot.

ENJOY!

Hawaiian Haystacks

This is our favorite family go-to meal. Adam loves this and it’s so easy to make. [Except we never have as many toppings because Adam hates anything healthy :)] This recipe is all about the sauce. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.

Sauce:
Ingredients

• 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 cup of chicken broth
• 2 cups of chicken

Directions

1. Boil chicken.
2. Use 1 cup of the chicken broth and mix with cans of soup.
3. Shred or cut chicken into cubes and add to sauce
4. Serve over rice
5. Add toppings

Toppings:

• cheese
• chow mein noodles
• pineapples
• celery
• green onions
• bell pepper
• tomatoes
• almonds
• coconut
  (these are all suggestions, you can add or experiment how you'd like)

ENJOY!

Chicken Tetrazinni

 
(did I tell you I’m so bad at taking food pictures??)

Loved this recipe!! Great new take on chicken and noodles. And it has lots of different flavor elements that make it really good!

Ingredients:

• 8 Chicken Breasts
• 1 lb. Thin Spaghetti
• 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
• 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups Cream
• Butter
• Flour
• Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

• Cook chicken with salt and pepper. If using whole chicken, debone and reserve broth
• Cook spaghetti according to directions. Drain and pour into 9x13 baking dish
• Melt 3 Tbsp. of butter in bowl and add lemon juice. Pour over noodles.
• In large saucepan melt 4 Tbsp. butter and add 3 heaping Tbsp. of flour. Stir with whisk until blended.
• Add brother and nutmeg and continue stirring until smooth
• Remove from heat.
• Add cream and chicken. Pour over noodles and top with lots of Parmesan cheese.
• Bake at 350 degrees until heated completely.

ENJOY!

Anneli’s Stroganoff

I love making this recipe as 2nd meal if we have pot roast some night. It’s really simple and really tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1-2lbs. Beef Stew Meat
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 pkg. Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1 cup of Sour Cream
• Noodles of choice (I like egg noodles)

Directions:

1. Combine beef, cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix in a crock pot and cook 4-6 hours
2. Right before serving add sour cream
3. Serve over noodles

Variations:
French Dip:

• Cook meat (often a roast) with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and 1 can of water.
• Serve as French Dip sandwiches the first night and use leftover meat and au jus to make stroganoff for next meal
• For stroganoff just add soup to the meat and juice (may need to add a little flour to thicken)
• Then add sour cream
• Serve over noodles

Roast:

• Cook meat with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and 1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (can also add other spices if desired)
• Serve as roast for first meal and use leftover meat and au jus for stroganoff
• Add sour cream for stroganoff
• Serve over noodles.

Ta-Da!!
lots of different choices out of 1 crockpot

Fettuccine Alfredo #1

One of the many recipes I have been exposed to for homemade Alfredo sauce. They all have the basics with some slight variation to them. So you can decide which is your favorite!

Ingredients:

• 1 Package of Fettuccine
• 1/2 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 Cup of Butter
• 2/3 Cup of Light Cream or Sour Cream (I’m pretty sure I used the sour cream cause that’s what we had on hand)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package direction.
2. Melt butter in microwave.
3. With a whisk, add Parmesan cheese and light cream. Whisk together very well.
4. Pour sauce over hot pasta and toss to coat well.
5. Serve with addition Parmesan cheese. (Variation: Add a tablespoon or two of pesto before pouring over pasta.)

If I’m feeling like my little family is slacking on some good vitamins {which they always are I’m sure}, I like to add chicken, broccoli or mushrooms to the mix.

YUM!

Thanksgiving Meal: Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Cream Pie

I got my pumpkin pie recipe from Martha Stewart. Again, not a huge fan of this traditional Thanksgiving dessert but I love love LOVED it!! I even made it again a couple of weeks later. Although I put the link, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 Basic Pie Crust, rolled and fitted into a 9-inch pie plate (I used a premade Pillsbury pie crust to save time and energy)
• 1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for serving
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce envelope)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

The gelatin part might sound weird, but it helps the homemade whip cream keep its shape. You can’t taste it so no worries!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press a sheet of aluminum foil onto crust, draping over rim of pie plate. To blind-bake: Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until edge of crust is firm, about 20 minutes. Remove beans and foil; let crust cool completely, and set aside.
2. Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Make filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, pie spice, vanilla, and salt; whisk in cream. Pour mixture into cooled crust; place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until filling is set, about 1 hour. Let cool on a wire rack, 1 hour; refrigerate to cool completely, about 2 hours.
3. Make topping: Place 3 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan; sprinkle with gelatin, and let soften, about 5 minutes. Place pan over very low heat; stir until gelatin dissolves. Let cool slightly. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream and sugar until very soft peaks form. While beating, slowly add gelatin mixture; continue to beat until soft peaks form.
4. With a rubber spatula, mound topping in center of chilled pie. Refrigerate at least 1 hour more (or up to 1 day). Sprinkle with more cinnamon before serving.
   

Take Home Gift: Potted Pumpkin Pies

I found this really cute idea for a party favor here and had to try it! I used the Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cream Pie recipe but then just put it in little mason jars for people to take with them. It was a hit!

You can find the directions here to make your own!

 

And that was our Thanksgiving Dinner!!

Hope you enjoyed the little walk through. Let me know if you try the recipes and how you like them!

Thanksgiving Meal: My Mother’s Famous Rolls

My Mom’s World-Famous Rolls

This may not be the best picture…. but I’m telling you these rolls are GOLD!! And I’m going to share the recipe (from my mom’s own words) with the blog world right now. You can thank me later :)

Full Recipe (Half Recipe in parentheses)

• 5 cups warm water (2 ½ cups warm water)
• 4 tablespoons yeast (2 tablespoons yeast)
• 1 cup sugar (½ cup sugar)
• 2/3 cup instant powdered milk (1/3 cup instant powdered milk)
• 1 cup canola oil (½ cup canola oil)
• 4 eggs (2 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons salt (1 tablespoon salt)
• 16 cups flour (5 pounds) (8 cups flour) (My mom likes bread flour)

This is in my mom’s words (she does this by memory, by the way):

I run the water out of the tap until it is at its hottest. Measure 5 cups hot water into a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Add the sugar and mix with a spoon or whisk. Let the yeast mixture sit for about 20 minutes to let the yeast grow. Halfway through the yeast mixture “sitting” sprinkle in the instant powdered milk, canola oil and eggs. After 20 minutes, add 6 cups of flour (3 cups if using the half recipe). Mix until everything is smooth. Add another cup of flour and the salt. Mix again until smooth. Keep adding a cup of flour at a time. If you are using a Bosch mixer, change the whisk attachment to the dough hook when the dough becomes too stiff for the whisk. (I can’t remember how many cups of flour this would be.) After changing to the dough hook, keep adding the flour until it doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. Then knead for 8 minutes.

Grease a large bowl with shortening or a tablespoon of oil. Put the dough in the bowl and turn to coat all sides. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled. Punch dough down and turn again in the bowl and let rise until doubled.

Shape into rolls and place in pans greased with cooking spray. Spray the tops of the rolls with the spray and let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. It all depends upon your oven.  Take the rolls out and cool on in the pan on a cooling rack.  Rub the top of the rolls with Crisco shortening on a paper towel while they are still hot.

Thanksgiving Meal: Ham & Turkey

 Ham

This was easy enough. We just bought a large ham from the store and followed the heating directions. Adam also poured honey over it and then put it in the oven for a couple more minutes to heat up. Good stuff!

Turkey Breasts with Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 frozen turkey breast
• 1 can cranberry sauce (I used a can of whole cranberries)
• I packet of instant onion soup mix

Directions

• Place frozen turkey in crockpot
• Mix cranberry sauce and soup mix in bowl then pour over turkey
• Cook on HI for 2 hours then LOW for 4-6 hours

I don’t have a picture of the turkey but it was SO GOOD! My sister gave me this recipe from when she made it one year for Thanksgiving. I am not a fan of turkey either cause I think it’s too dry and has no taste. But this recipe was not the case. And it’s so easy! LOVED IT!

Thanksgiving Meal: Mashed Potatoes

Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes

 

Ingredients:

• 5-6 large potatoes, peeled and boiled until soft, (I can’t remember how many exactly I used… especially cause the potatoes I had were smaller. But just go by how many people you are serving)
• Butter and milk to mash potatoes
• 1 5.2oz. container of semisoft cheese with garlic and herbs (I used the Laughing Cow cheese wedges with Garlic and Herbs. It worked really well. I think I used about 6 wedges to get the ounces right.)
• 3 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley (I cheated and used dried parsley)
• Canned French-fried onions (optional)

Directions:

• Cook potatoes until soft enough to mash. Mash with butter and milk (I don’t measure so just enough to your liking)
• Stir in cheese and parsley. If desired, sprinkle with French-friend onions

Makes 4-6 servings

Thanksgiving Meal: Sides

Salad

• Head of lettuce or Romaine lettuce
• Baby spinach
• Green onions
• Red onions-sliced very thin
• Tomato
• Cucumber
• Feta cheese
• Walnuts
• Croutons

Toss all ingredients together with Caesar dressing

YUM!

My mother-in-law helped me with this. She seriously makes the best salads! It seems really simple and maybe everyone knew that you could put all this stuff, but my salads were always really boring. So thank you Mom Robinson for telling me your tricks!

 

Oh-So-Good Corn Bread Stuffing

I found this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens when I was trying to decide my menu. I’m not a big stuffing girl but this was awesome!

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped, peeled, raw sweet potatoes
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 5 cups coarsely crumbled corn bread
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 to 4 tablespoons chicken broth
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter

Directions:

1. In a large skillet cook sweet potatoes, onion, and celery in hot margarine or butter for 5 to 7 minutes or until just tender.
2. Spoon mixture into a large mixing bowl. Stir in cilantro and ginger. Add cornbread and walnuts; toss gently to coat. Add enough chicken broth to moisten.
3. Use to stuff one 8- to 10-pound bird (didn’t do) or place stuffing in a 1-1/2 to 2 quart casserole.
4. Bake casserole, covered, in a 375 degree F. oven about 45 minutes or until heated through. Makes about 6 cups stuffing

(10servings).
Make-Ahead Tip: Prepare stuffing; cover and chill up to 24 hours. Do not use to stuff bird. Bake in casserole as directed.

Thanksgiving Meal: in parts

Since it was voted on my home blog that people still wanted to know what we did for the holidays, I figured I would post our menu and recipes for Thanksgiving dinner.

This Thanksgiving I really wanted to go all out. {At the time} I thought it was going to be our last Thanksgiving here in Provo with our cousins and friends. And since we had extra grocery money, I really wanted to try to cook it all from scratch!

And I did!

[minus the pie crust]

Here is what was on the menu:

Salad

Corn Bread Stuffing

Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole*

Corn*

Sweet Potato Casserole*

Jello Salad*

Turkey

Ham

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Key Lime Pie*

*made by guests

Hope you enjoy it!

Chicken with Mustard Gravy

 

Taste of Home, gotta love it!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 teaspoons honey mustard
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

• Rub chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter for 6-8 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170°. Remove and keep warm.
• In the same skillet, combine the mustard, milk, basil, parsley, and remaining salt and pepper. Cook and stir over low heat until heated through. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream. Serve with chicken. Yield: 4 servings.

{my two cents:} This recipe was really tasty but a little too salty for my taste. It could be because I was in a hurry and didn’t measure exactly…. But I would probably still cut down a little on the salt next time. Adam loves  salt and I’m sure it will kill him someday. But I figure if he wants it to be more salty he can put it on himself instead of tainting the whole meal. :)

Grilled Pork Chops

 

This is another Taste of Home recipe. (I love that cookbook!) I changed a couple of things but it still tasted yummy!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 bone-in pork loin or rib chops (about 1-1/2 inches thick)

Directions

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first five ingredients; set aside 1/3 cup for basting. Add pork chops. Seal bag and refrigerate overnight.
• Drain and discard marinade. Grill chops, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 12-16 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160°, turning once. Brush occasionally with reserved marinade. Yield: 6 servings.

{my two cents:} I’m pretty sure I didn’t use chili sauce because I didn’t have any on hand. Instead I just added some chili powder to the marinade. Also, I am pretty sure I used the cheapest pork loins from the store which were small and didn’t have the bone. I don’t know if would make a difference with the bone.. but it tasted great to me!